Posted on April 2, 2021 Posted by John Scalzi 32 Comments
No foolin’, April’s first stack of new books and ARCs has got something for just about everybody in it. What here is a book you’d like to have for your own this spring? Share in the comments!
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New Matt Ruff!!!
Broken Kingdom
Murderbot Diaries
Best of Walter Jon Williams
murderbot diaries
Murderbot is a treat! An original (at least in my experience) “reluctant” hero.
I am jealous every time I see those Sub Press books there.
That’s a very attractive pile of books.
I loved the Queendom of Sol quadrilogy, so the new Wil Mccarthy jumped out at me. I hope there’s more with collapsium-based inventions.
LOVE the Murderbot stories
Out of curiosity, are the Subterranean books numbered or publisher’s copies?
Um, Murderbot all in one volume? Yes, please. And I’ll take any and all Jemisin that she wants to write.
Lafferty and Winters!
I’m just gonna one more time note that however much you hate Larry you still put his books here.
Good on you.
I’ve read a couple of his books, not my cuppa tea, but damn, good on you for taking the high side.
88 Names, certainly.
Murderbot Diaries for the win! One of the most interesting premises, executed fabulously!
I am rereading All Systems Red in order to finally plunge into the rest of the series. Love Murderbot so much! Murderbot is all of us!
Lawrence Block’s a master at whatever he writes. That particular collection I remember from 20+ years ago when he was writing the fiction column for Writers Digest, about he and his wife driving around the country visiting towns and cities called Buffalo.
A lot of this seems to be older stuff — I read 88 Names a while ago, and definitely Broken Kingdoms and Murderbot are not new either. (I’m not complaining, there’s always been re-issues in these piles, just seems like a higher proportion.) If Winters is the guy who did The Last Policeman , I’d like to see his book.
“If Winters is the guy who did The Last Policeman, I’d like to see his book.”
He is.
kdb
I helped proofread The Best of Walter Jon Williams, and it is excellent. I highly recommend it. For different reasons, I also highly recommend the very different but excellent The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.
I’ve read the Lawrence Block and if you like his non-fiction (and why wouldn’t you?) I’d definitely recommend it. Good stuff.
Looking forward to reading the Lafferty collection and the Ben H. Winters.
Mark Terry – yes, that is where the Block title came from, but the book has lots of other pieces too.
I missed out on the Subterranean Press limited edition of The Murderbot Diaries because I’m on the wrong coast. The Best of Walter Jon Williams is probably excellent too.
Subterranean Press editions are always SO nice. A joy to own and read.
@ Carl R — I missed out, twice, because I’m at the other end of the world…
RA Lafferty!
Lafferty for the win!
John, just cirious: what do you do with the ARCs you receive? Keep a few, and donate the rest to schools, libraries, etc.?
It occurred to me this week that the whole “Q” phenomena could very well just be Larry Correia finding out the hard way about Heinlein’s “World as myth” and the reason why Hazel Stone gave up writing bad guys.
I’ll read anything N.K. Jemisin writes…The Broken Kingdoms was so good; the whole series was excellent.
88 NAMES is brilliant. I just read it.
For sheer title adoration, HUNTING BUFFALO WITH BENT NAILS? And Lawrence Block wrote it. I’m in.
I bought The Second Bell after reading the Big Idea piece about it here. For anyone interested, I found it readable and it has a happy ending. It’s also a lovely book to read, physically, with scored covers that open equally, and it lies open, though a paperback, without any of that nasty spine-cracking stuff needed. I was unaware of Lawrence Block’s nonfiction, so I’ll have to check that out.
Best of Lafferty (but I’ll have to see if I don’t already have all the stories).
Of these, I want to read: The Best of RA Lafferty, The Murderbot Diaries, and The Broken Kingdoms.
I really liked the Best of Walter Jon Williams. (I had a review ebook.) And I am a big Lafferty fan so it is great that Tor is bringing the Best of collection to the USA.