What book(s) are you reading?

[Phoenix Dark]

He meticulously researched how much Nazis hated black people and came up with "a lot".

[ZephyrFate]

Timequake is the best Vonnegut novel. Old beer in new bottles; old jokes in new people.

[Eric P]

Sick of manly men maiming mainly menacing nazis, i picked up D for Deception which is about Dennis Wheatley's wartime work for the British War effort and it's kind of fascinating how a social climber turned novelist was able to get his current job and basically sit there and theorize ways to manipulate Nazi expectations to get the desire result from false intelligence and then dream up of ways that the Nazis would invade the UK which could then be prevented.

It's $2 and a very quick read.

Before Ian Fleming there was Dennis Wheatley. A best-selling spy novelist at the outset of World War II, Wheatley became a master of deception for Great Britain, turning pulp fiction fantasies into real-life espionage. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Tina Rosenberg tells the amazing true story of one man who applied the plots of his own novels to the battlefield—and changed the course of history.

I heard about it through Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, a weekly podcast featuring two RPG designers talking about...well stuff.  History, gaming, culture and esoterica. 
 

interview w/ author

http://harpers.org/blog/2012/12/d-for-deception/

the book on kindle
http://www.amazon.com/D-Deception-Kindle-Single-ebook/dp/B008S1267S

the Ken and Robin episode (2nd segment)
http://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/index.php/episode-30-ring-tailed-and-fructivorous/

[chronovore]

PURCHASED! and thanks for the heads-up on that podcast. I am a big Ken Hite fan, and didn't know he'd teamed with Robin for this. I've got some stuff from Robin, and follow his LJ.

[Dickie Dee]

Sick of manly men maiming mainly menacing nazis, i picked up D for Deception which is about Dennis Wheatley's wartime work for the British War effort and it's kind of fascinating how a social climber turned novelist was able to get his current job and basically sit there and theorize ways to manipulate Nazi expectations to get the desire result from false intelligence and then dream up of ways that the Nazis would invade the UK which could then be prevented.

It's $2 and a very quick read.

Before Ian Fleming there was Dennis Wheatley. A best-selling spy novelist at the outset of World War II, Wheatley became a master of deception for Great Britain, turning pulp fiction fantasies into real-life espionage. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Tina Rosenberg tells the amazing true story of one man who applied the plots of his own novels to the battlefield—and changed the course of history.

I heard about it through Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, a weekly podcast featuring two RPG designers talking about...well stuff.  History, gaming, culture and esoterica. 
 

interview w/ author

http://harpers.org/blog/2012/12/d-for-deception/

the book on kindle
http://www.amazon.com/D-Deception-Kindle-Single-ebook/dp/B008S1267S

the Ken and Robin episode (2nd segment)
http://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/index.php/episode-30-ring-tailed-and-fructivorous/

Bought!

(That podcast sounds fantastic as well, will subscribe)

[ZephyrFate]

Starting Life of Pi soon. Excited

[Eric P]

yowza.  i almost thought this was a parody at first

Today's Kindle SciFi/Fantasy Daily Deal is Apprentice Swordceror ($1.99), by Chris Hollaway.

    Book Description
    Apprentice Swordceror, the first volume of the Blademage Saga, is a debut novel that tells the story of a young man trapped between the separate and incompatible worlds of Wizards and Warriors. The main character, Kevon, is easily identified with, possessing the raw talent we all wish we had, and the naiveté we hope we lack. His journey through betrayal, love, loss, and personal growth is accentuated by the friends and allies that he comes to surround himself with. The story will appeal to classic fantasy fans, while the different angles on magic and standard fantastical races will satisfy those who need something different than the usual fare.

[Joe Molotov]

Swordceror 

[Great Rumbler]

Checked the preview on Amazon and...well...predictably, it's not that great.

[hampster]

Oh wow, the author's bio on amazon and the book cover are great

[Eric P]

holy SHIT i didn't even look at the bio

Chris Hollaway was born in St. Johns, Michigan, in 1975. In 1977, his family settled in Idaho, where he has lived ever since.
In school, he read as much as he could, usually a book a day. This was in between dodging the larger students, who were particularly fond of placing him in the trash can. Armed with a brain chock-full of Science-Fiction and Fantasy, two grants,some loans, and a small scholarship, he stormed in to the University of Idaho. Nine months later, (No, I know what you're thinking, but no.) he returned to his hometown after the worst year of his life.
He tried his hand in the Manufacturing sector, helping build farm machinery. Three months later, after a seasonal layoff, he moved to the big city. After interviewing twice at a large semiconductor manufacturing company, and waiting, he failed an interview at the Dairy Queen because he laughed when the interviewer quite seriously asked, "Where do you see your career taking you here, at Dairy Queen?'. Fast forward fourteen years, where constant night shift work at a retail grocery chain, a new wife and two kids, selling phone service and vacuums on the side, and finally, more night shifts at the semiconductor company that *finally* gave him the third interview, have finally caused our hero's... Ahem. Our author's brain to start leaking some of the leftover Fantasy/Adventure out in some typing practice.
Chris started writing in earnest in 2008, devoting lunches, breaks, and whatever time he could manage to squirrel away at home to his first book. In 2010, he started shopping his manuscript around. Discovering that most Literary Agents, Editors, and Publishers were mostly frauds, and probably the same lady with a powerful robo-e-mailer and a long form letter with horrid misspellings, he gave up.
Instead of trying to impress random people with the quality of his work, he found local talent to help him improve it. Friends and an actual editor read and re-read, and Chris polished the manuscript until he was happy with it. Then he immersed himself in studying marketing, promotion, and self publishing. Unable to fully concentrate on the business side, he began working on the second book in the series.
In 2012, he discovered Kindle Direct Publishing, formatted and submitted 'Apprentice Swordceror'. Cover art, print versions, and a second book in the 'Blademage Saga' are forthcoming.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

snatching victory from the jaws of defeat

[Cormacaroni]

Apprentice Authoriter

[Dickie Dee]

"Kevon"

[Eel O'Brian]

i bet he sells what i would consider a fuckton off that daily deal spotlight, too 

[Great Rumbler]

i bet he sells what i would consider a fuckton off that daily deal spotlight, too 

It's hit #151 in the paid Kindle store, so yes.

[ZephyrFate]

I'm going to finish The Dream Metropolis by MH Cressman over the break, I've decided. Will post a review when I'm done. I read the first few dozen pages, and it's pretty good so far.

How tough would it be to get Cressman a spot in one of those Daily Deals?

God I'd love that.

(and also im not going by that author moniker until my next novel)

[Phoenix Dark]

How tough would it be to get Cressman a spot in one of those Daily Deals?

[chronovore]

Apprentice Authoriter

[Phoenix Dark]

A friend of mine highly recommended The Way Of Kings. I've never read any of Sanderson's shit, anyone familiar with this? The amazon write up is interesting...

[Eric P]

wait you mean gargantuan multi-billion dollar industries DON'T have our best interests at heart?
why, that's crazy.

[hampster]

A friend of mine highly recommended The Way Of Kings. I've never read any of Sanderson's shit, anyone familiar with this? The amazon write up is interesting...

I've never read Way Of Kings but I enjoyed Warbreaker by Sanderson. He creates some really unique and intricate magic systems (which was my favorite part of Warbreaker). I have the Emperor's Soul lined up to read soon (which is also by him)

He does enjoying raising eyebrows a lot. Every scene someone is raising an eyebrow at something. It gets repetitive after awhile but other than that hes a good author. The man is a machine too, he is cranking out a lot of books lately. I'm looking forward to Steelheart by him later this year

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

(Image removed from quote.)

wait you mean gargantuan multi-billion dollar industries DON'T have our best interests at heart?
why, that's crazy.

I suppose it is a sad thing that I know where all of those letters originate from.

[Eric P]

Amazon has The Last Policeman which I rather enjoyed for $2.24

http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Policeman-Novel-ebook/dp/B0076Q1GW2/

[Cormacaroni]

they have Angela's Ashes for 2.99 as well

http://www.amazon.com/Angelas-Ashes-A-Memoir-ebook/dp/B000FBJFSC/ref=br_lf_m_1000706171_1_6_ttl?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&pf_rd_p=1531191082&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000706171&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0XS35FYEWV93HDTWTC5H

[Dickie Dee]

Frank McCourt

[Dickie Dee]

(Image removed from quote.)

wait you mean gargantuan multi-billion dollar industries DON'T have our best interests at heart?
why, that's crazy.

This is next up for me, can't wait. Even reading one of the articles based on it changed my eating in a way no diet book could.

[Eric P]

i read about 60 pages of it last night and everything i read is just "ugh"
if i weren't already in the "no processed foods" category, I would be there post-haste
it's just utterly disgusting

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

i read about 60 pages of it last night and everything i read is just "ugh"
if i weren't already in the "no processed foods" category, I would be there post-haste
it's just utterly disgusting

I got the book based on your posts and I'm all :dwill

At this point everyone and their dog has written some expose on the processed food industry but this one seems to explore a lot of new territory.  It's very addicting.

[Steve Contra]

i read about 60 pages of it last night and everything i read is just "ugh"
if i weren't already in the "no processed foods" category, I would be there post-haste
it's just utterly disgusting

I have a friend who is all about this book and rails on about how the food industry has pulled the wool over our eyes and we should all wake up.  He also wants the FDA and FCC disbanded and wants no government in business.

Libertarian-Paleos

[Eric P]

last night bankers showed up in the book and it was kind of funny at how cartoon eeeeeeeeevil they were

kraft (at the time owned by philip morris, who knows a thing or two about selling you shit that will kill you) had taken on a healthy initiative and have tried to cut back sugar and fat from their products which lead to lower sales because the products didn't taste as good (or rather didn't manipulate the hormonal pathways as efficiently)

page 257

And what about all this talk about fighting obesity? asked an analyst from Prudential Securities.  How was the company going to meet its projected sales growth of 3 percent if it was worrying about people's waistlines? "You've obviously made a statement on obesity," this analyst added. "but can you clarify the company's efforts in achieving a volume increase? You're going to try to grow your volume 2 to 3 percent domestically, it's almost got to make us fat."

edit: to be fair to your libertarian friend, there are sections where it talks about how the gov't is basically paying for the marketing of foods to American another department of govt says will kill you if you eat too much of them

[Eric P]

finished the book and returned it.  not quite as life changing to me as Good Calories, Bad Calories but more lifestyle enforcing.

i seriously wish i had known better when i was younger.

[Eric P]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0049P23PW/?tag=ehorrorbargains-20

The Light at the End is currently free for two days in the UK and US on Kindle.  It's a good horror book about blue collar people fighting a vampire in NYC in the 80s.  It's VERY 80s but the characterization is good and the plotting is also good.  It's a kind of important book because it's one of the first "splatterpunk" books which while eventually being known for just upping the gore quotient in horror a the time was actually a way to bring a kind of street level "not cutting away" realism to the genre at the time.  It's not really gory by today's standards at all (see Edward Lee if you want that kind of thing) but if you compare to other stuff at the time, it's fairly intense. 

So yeah, it's a good fast read and is highly recommended to anyone who likes horror.

[chronovore]

Finally finished DFW's "Infinite Jest." I feel like I've been dropped on my ass. What an ending.

[drew]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/12/world-war-ii-s-strangest-battle-when-americans-and-germans-fought-together.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thedailybeast%2Farticles+%28The+Daily+Beast+-+Latest+Articles%29

tells the story of a seige by the SS five days after Hitler shot himself against German and US troops holed up in a midevil Austrian castle for days protecting French VIPS, whose wives even fought alongside them.  this is the first time the story is being translated into English.  It was also the first and probably last time American troops have ever defended a castle. Amazing stuff.

[Eric P]

that does sound fascinating.  thanks for the heads up.

I'm currently reading Darklore Volume 7 which is a journal of Fortean and other Esoteric writing.  It has a FASCINATING article (like 30 pages long) on the KLF and Discordianism.  You can read a shortened version of that article here; http://www.dailygrail.com/Guest-Articles/2013/5/The-Strange-Journey-the-KLF



I'm also reading Karl Marx; a 19th Century Life which is an attempt to dissociate Marx from current times thinking and instead place his ideas in the time and place of where they originated.  It's very informative.  I know broad strokes about the man but this drills down quite a bit.  This probably goes without saying, but Jews had it kind of rough.

[Dickie Dee]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10049454/Dont-make-fun-of-renowned-Dan-Brown.html

[chronovore]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10049454/Dont-make-fun-of-renowned-Dan-Brown.html

She was as majestic as the finest sculpture by Caravaggio or the most coveted portrait by Rodin. I like the attractive woman, thought the successful man.

[Beezy]

Borrowed this from a friend and read it over the weekend:

[Robo]

I read I, Claudius.  Now I'm reading Claudius the God, and if I'm not yet tired of reading about people getting fucked and murdered, I'll probably read The Twelve Caesers as well.

[Phoenix Dark]

I read I, Claudius.  Now I'm reading Claudius the God, and if I'm not yet tired of reading about people getting fucked and murdered, I'll probably read The Twelve Caesers as well.

Bah I still need to finish the show; I have two eps left. It's awesome but I got busy with other stuff. Definitely interested in getting the novels as well.

[Robo]

I'm absolutely watching the show once I've wrapped up Claudius the God.  Can hardly restrain myself from watching clips on Youtube.

[Robo]

[Eric P]

new short story from Lavie Tidhar.

it's ridiculous.  When the rug is pulled out from under the narrative I gave a short sharp bark of laughter.

http://www.apex-magazine.com/titanic/

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I don't like this book.  I don't know why I bought this book. 

[Eric P]

I enjoy his sitcom but I think a book would get tiring

[Eric P]

Iain Banks has died.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047

Iain Banks dies of cancer aged 59
Iain Banks Iain Banks was best known for his novels The Wasp Factory, The Crow Road and Complicity
Continue reading the main story   
Related Stories

    Iain Banks statement in full
    Author Banks has terminal cancer

Author Iain Banks has died aged 59, two months after announcing he had terminal cancer, his family has said.

The Scottish writer revealed in April he was suffering from terminal gall bladder cancer and was unlikely to live for more than a year.

He was best known for his novels The Wasp Factory, The Crow Road and Complicity.

In a statement, his publisher said he was "an irreplaceable part of the literary world".

[nudemacusers]

I enjoy his sitcom but I think a book would get tiring

I've never seen his sitcom, but I do enjoy the podcast. That said, eeeeehhhhh don't think I would read a book.

[Joe Molotov]

Fuck some cancer.

[Eric P]

Reading The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes, her third book and her first with a major publisher.  It's quite good so far.  It's about a woman who was almost murdered and the man who almost murdered her.  The book is being sold as a serial killer tale but it's not really full of the mastermind serial killer tropes which annoy the living hell out of me.  I've managed to read about 150 pages in just a few hours and will do my absolute best to finish this as quickly as possible.

edit had a weird nightmare where a friend and i were kidnapped by a shady livery cab who attempted to rob us, so i woke up and finished the final 100 pages this morning.

excellent book.  if anyone wants a good fast thriller with a veneer of the unusual or unexplained, you could certainly do much worse than this one.

[Eric P]

i'm about 150 pages into The Center of the World which is a book about a scandalous painting which had been lost and the people who came into contact with it.

   
Alternating between nineteenth-century England and present-day New York, this is the story of renowned British painter J. M. W. Turner and his circle of patrons and lovers. It is also the story of Henry Leiden, a middle-aged family man with a troubled marriage and a dead-end job, who finds his life transformed by his discovery of Turner’s The Center of the World, a mesmerizing and unsettling painting of Helen of Troy that was thought to have been lost forever.
 
This painting has such devastating erotic power that it was kept hidden for almost two centuries, and was even said to have been destroyed...until Henry stumbles upon it in a secret compartment at his summer home in the Adirondacks. Though he knows it is an object of immense value, the thought of parting with it is unbearable: Henry is transfixed by its revelation of a whole other world, one of transcendent light, joy, and possibility.
 
Back in the nineteenth century, Turner struggles to create The Center of the World, his greatest painting, but a painting unlike anything he (or anyone else) has ever attempted. We meet his patron, Lord Egremont, an aristocrat in whose palatial home Turner talks freely about his art and his beliefs. We also meet Elizabeth Spencer, Egremont’s mistress and Turner’s muse, the model for his Helen. Meanwhile, in the present, Henry is relentlessly trailed by an unscrupulous art dealer determined to get his hands on the painting at any cost. Filled with sex, beauty, and love (of all kinds), this richly textured novel explores the intersection between art and eroticism.

So far I loathe the character of Henry who seems content to just drift and allow the painting to fill his life to the point of destroying his relationship with his wife and his job due to his obsession with the artwork which he has found.  This may change. I don't know the arc of his character yet, but I hope he doesn't "learn a lesson" in the Literary Fiction mode, because that shit is obnoxious.

[Eric P]

From the "Oh. I see" files

Clerks meets Buffy the Vampire the Slayer in this original urban fantasy eBook about Geekomancers—humans that derive supernatural powers from pop culture.

Ree Reyes’s life was easier when all she had to worry about was scraping together tips from her gig as a barista and comicshop slave to pursue her ambitions as a screenwriter.

When a scruffy-looking guy storms into the shop looking for a comic like his life depends on it, Ree writes it off as just another day in the land of the geeks. Until a gigantic “BOOM!” echoes from the alley a minute later, and Ree follows the rabbit hole down into her town’s magical flip-side. Here, astral cowboy hackers fight trolls, rubber-suited werewolves, and elegant Gothic Lolita witches while wielding nostalgia-powered props.

Ree joins Eastwood (aka Scruffy Guy), investigating a mysterious string of teen suicides as she tries to recover from her own drag-your-heart-through-jagged-glass breakup. But as she digs deeper, Ree discovers Eastwood may not be the knight-in-cardboard armor she thought. Will Ree be able to stop the suicides, save Eastwood from himself, and somehow keep her job?

Check out the sequel to Michael R. Underwood’s Geekomancy, Celebromancy, out on July 15 from Pocket Star:

Things are looking up for urban fantasista Ree Reyes. She’s using her love of pop culture to fight monsters and protect her hometown as a Geekomancer, and now a real-live production company is shooting her television pilot script.

But nothing is easy in show business. When an invisible figure attacks the leading lady of the show, former child-star-turned-current-hot-mess Jane Konrad, Ree begins a school-of-hard-knocks education in the power of Celebromancy.

Attempting to help Jane Geekomancy-style with Jedi mind tricks and X-Men infiltration techniques, Ree learns more about movie magic than she ever intended. She also learns that real life has the craziest plots: not only must she lift a Hollywood-strength curse, but she needs to save her pilot, negotiate a bizarre love rhombus, and fight monsters straight out of the silver screen. All this without anyone getting killed or, worse, banished to the D-List.

Biography
Michael R. Underwood grew up devouring stories in all forms. He holds a B.A. in Creative Mythology and East Asian Studies from Indiana University and an M.A. in Folklore Studies from the University of Oregon, which have been great preparation for writing speculative fiction.

Because he abhors boredom, Michael went immediately from finishing his M.A. to the Clarion West Writers Workshop. He landed in Bloomington, IN, but is now living in Baltimore as the North American Sales & Marketing Manager for Angry Robot Books. In his rapidly-vanishing free time, he games, dances, and studies historical martial arts.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[Joe Molotov]

He holds a B.A. in Creative Mythology and East Asian Studies from Indiana University and an M.A. in Folklore Studies from the University of Oregon

Now there's some degrees that'll take you places.

[Steve Contra]

He holds a B.A. in Creative Mythology and East Asian Studies from Indiana University and an M.A. in Folklore Studies from the University of Oregon

Now there's some degrees that'll take you places.

[Phoenix Dark]

Should have gone for West Asian Studies, that's where all the money is at.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I stumbled across this book while reading about the sovereign citizen movement.  I have an uncle who likes to send extreme right stuff through e-mail and I've heard about the fringe movements like these so this book is interesting to me.  Nobody else will probably give a shit.

[Eric P]

 this stuff is actually fascinating to me

[Boogie]

(Image removed from quote.)

I stumbled across this book while reading about the sovereign citizen movement.  I have an uncle who likes to send extreme right stuff through e-mail and I've heard about the fringe movements like these so this book is interesting to me.  Nobody else will probably give a shit.

Actually, I think I'd definitely have interest in that book.

Our own sovereign citizen movement in Canada is growing, but hasn't demonstrated the same tendency for violence as in the States yet, but the potential is there.

So I have a professional interest in this shit, at least.

[Robo]

I'm reading the Master and Margarita.  It's about managing the finances of an S&M-themed Mexican restaurant.  I like it!

[Phoenix Dark]

anecdote: I spent my tweens/teens living in the suburbs/nice part of a city. It was a housing complex with a shit ton of houses, next to a beautiful golf course, etc. I'd say about 70% white with the rest being black or Asian. A few years ago my mom told me that white supremacy groups would ride through the neighborhood at night and deliver mailers/pamphlets to white families, randomly, to "get the message out" basically; she learned this years ago after a concerned white neighbor showed her the pamphlet in shock, but didn't tell me back then so I didn't get scared or concerned.

Super liberal city/district, I'm sure 98% of the families who received the mailers threw them away; overall it just was not the type of place you'd expect that type of shit. I have since learned some families were indeed members of these groups, and it's just a weird feeling knowing for sure that you lived a few houses down from someone who hates you.

Same thing with "preppers." You never know exactly who your neighbors are.