Finished Carl's Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman, book 2 of Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Started Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski. Book 2 of The Witcher series. This is the second short story collection, after which comes the 5 book novel series. I read the series quite a while ago, but never finished all the novels, so re-reading the earlier books to finally complete the series.

What about all of you? What have you all been reading or listening to lately?

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I hit a wall on finding the energy for getting into a new book and went back to a comfort series: The Morningstar Strain by Z. A. Recht. First book is The Plague of the Dead, which is one of the first zombie apocalypse novels I ever read. It's like slipping on a well broken-in slipper. It has been so long since I originally read it, but the plot and characters are still compelling.

"Blood Of Victory" by Alan Furst. Not my favorite Furst novel, but the one I decided to reread. I'm sticking with it because he is fantastic at creating an atmosphere. Every hotel, nightclub, and train car seems authentic.

It's set in 1939. Britain is holding on by a thread, and the Nazis are enjoying life in Paris. A Russian writer has resident alien status in France, and is being recruited by various governments to act as an agent. "Oh, you met her? She'd recruit God."

Currently reading Buried Mage, book 4 of the Fledgeling God series by Michael Taggart. It is a slightly cracky a heavily gay modern setting fantasy progression series. The magic is explored in interesting enough ways to be fun, the characters are a little one dimensional sometimes, but the whole thing is a lot of fun. It doesn't take itself too seriously and is just there for a good time, so it never feels to desperate or reaching.

I would give it a solid 80% rating, but I am very picky, I am currently listening to the series for the 3rd time so it is good enough to get repeated listenings.

Finished Martha Wells' "The Death of the Necromancer". It was okay. Honestly, it dragged a bit.

I'm loving "Over the Wine Dark Sea" by H.N. Turteltaub. 40% through it, buuuut, I'm taking a break because

Finally reading "Children of Strife" by Adrian Tchaikovsky! Book 4 of his I don't actually know what this series is called. Is it Children of Time, named after Book 1? Anyways, I didn't care much for Book 3, but I'm into this so far, gonna fly through it fast

Shift

It's the 2nd novel in the Silo series and I tried reading it a couple years ago now and couldn't get in to it but now (after catching up on the TV show) I'm listening to the audiobook and really enjoying it.

Malka Older's delightful Investigations of Mossa and Plieti.

The Mimicking of Known Successes

The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses

It's a Holmsian cozy murder mystery sci fi sapphic romance set on Jupiter after the earth becomes uninhabitable.

Great read, very fun, good autistic rep.

Still trying to read through Revenge of Odessa and I’m reading, ahem, Switch On! Doujinshi/H.

Revenge of Odessa is really good but sometimes a bit heavy on the mind and mood. It is fiction and about a journalist that tries to figure out why a Nazi group did something that’s related to him.

Switch On! Is surprisingly enjoyable. Simple story but decent. I will leave the details out since I’m not sure how the rules are here regarding erotic content.

I'm 2/3 of the way through The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp. It's been an easy, entertaining read so far, and I enjoy the gimmick of it being the manuscript of an unreliable narrator that someone else has added clarifying material to. It is starting to feel overlong, though; not sure if it's me, the pacing, or if the story's just wearing a bit thin.

I'm nearly a third of the way through Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. It's surprisingly easier to read than I expected, and he doesn't go off on heavily religious tangents like Dostoevsky does. There's this nice flow between characters, and you get to see things from quite a range of perspectives. I also like how nuanced the characters feel.

It's probably going to take me a while to get through this one, and I don't mind that at all. It's very charming.

I'm currently reading The Conspiracy Against the Human Race by Thomas Ligotti. I am currently about 1/5 of the way into it. I find his anti-natalist arguments somewhat lacking so far, but his apologies for philosophical pessimism are interesting. His metaphors about human existence, woven in with incorporating Zapffe's The Last Messiah are worth a read; if nothing more than to challenge one's own preconception about the preciousness of existing itself.

Vagabond by Tim Curry, and about to finish Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett today. Not sure yet what I'll pick after that's finished.

Started Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir the other day after I finished The Martian by him.
I am currently on a hard sci-fi run, and I am really enjoying his books so far.

Does someone have similar recommendations by any chance?

In my opinion Andy Weir isn't that hard sci-fi, which is ok because I don't like hard sci-fi that much. Most people here seem to agree that the Bobiverse series by Dennis E Taylor is similar in tone and maybe even settings.

Still reading volume 2 of "the Wandering Inn" by Pirateaba. It's a long book, still pretty good. I might take a break from the series after this volume though.

Plus one for the Bob, fun series, and good science, but with a casual tone for sure.

Just finished The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie, which was the fifth book released in The First Law Universe, though four, five, and now six, which I'm on now, represent large gaps in time compared to the first three, which occured immediately concurrent to one another. I enjoyed The Heroes a lot. Joe Abercrombie did as he does and

::: spoiler Light spoilers.
tells a story, only to flip things on their head, of a sort, in the last act. It was the least miserable of his endings, IMO.
:::

I'm now on to Red Country, and this book has come out hot in a way previous books didn't, and I'm hooked. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Also listening to The Bedlam Bride, book 6 of DCC. The fun continues.

EDIT: Spoiler tags are not intuitive, on top of which I'm dumb, poor combination. Fixed now.

The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey. Great books and I enjoyed the show as well.

Nice! Im listening to the 7th book in DCC and I’m reading Batman: Resurrection by John Jackson Miller. It’s an interesting book as it’s the Michael Keaton Batman and set between the first and second movies.

I made like no progress over the last week reading. Had a few days off work and just ended up playing some video games so I am still in the middle of Morning Star, book 3 in the Red Rising trilogy and Between Two Fires.

Morning Star is getting really interesting so I hope to finish it by weeks end.

Finished “Practical Magic”. Easy, fun read. I have the sequel book in my queue. I’ve heard the sequel movie doesn’t follow the books, so it will be interesting to compare.

I'm on book 3 of the tyrant philosophers series from Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's been pretty good it reminds me of some parts in the Malazan books

Picked up Stephen King's Duma Key in a Little Free Library and am enjoying that so far (3/4 of the way through it).

Just finished "Just over the Horizon". The first of three short story collections by Greg Bear. Really enjoyed them, especially the unmade episode of the outer limits that he pitched.

Have picked The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub next, as King has been promoting a 3rd book he wrote in the series after Peter's passing and it peaked my interest.

King is my comfort author. I find him so easy to read, so interested to see how this collaboration works.

Last week I read the Red Rising trilogy (first three books). Read Dungeon Crawler Carl over the weekend but I'm switching to audiobook for the rest due to critical acclaim of the VA talent.

This week I plan to read Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers, and Watership Down by Richard Adams. I might sprinkle some Existential Kink by Carolyn Elliott or Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman to mix some nonfiction in there.

The amount of people that sleep on King's astounding storytelling because they assume it's all horror is pretty sad.

I read the trilogy last week. So good. Setting aside the seriee until the last book comes. I think Morning Star is a good stopping point.

With a touch of humor - the Bobiverse series.

With a barrel of misery, but also a can't miss and some of the best sci-fi characters ever put to page, The Expanse series.

Listening to Big Damn Hero by James Lovegrove, Nancy Holder. Its the first of a series of Firefly novels that take place after the show and before the movie (Serenity).

I'm still in the first few chapters, but the story is classic Firefly so far. I'm extremely pleased with the narrator, James Anderson Foster. He does a great job of voicing all the characters in much the same way they were in the show.

Like I said, still early in the book, but so far I'd recommend it if you're a fan of the show.

I adore Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, and I've done something like 8-10 full readthrus. I'm currently near the end of one, in Unseen Academicals.

Usually when I read a Discworld, the first time is good, the second time is better, adn the third time it becomes very very dear to me.

I don't know if it was because as he got closer to the end, his last 2-3 novels he wasn't able to edit and refine as much, or if his style just evolved past the point where I love it quite as much, but while Making Money was great, Unseen Academicals is.....a little meh.

It may be the obsession with soccer, too. I dunno.

I dislike it less and less, and I actually appreciate a lot of it this go around, but it's still not a favorite. :(

And next up is Raising Steam and then on to Shepherd's Crown, which I know will make me cry again.

Highly recommend The Expanse. The two writers of the novels were behind the show. They made some changes, but they might have actually improved things. But the books are fantastic. If you get a bit put off by the 'magic' in the first book..... give it some time, there's arguably science there. And the rest of it is pretty much on the harder science side of things (i.e. no warp drive, no transporter, stuff like that)

Witches Abroad is next, of course. :P

(just being silly, although I am a proponent of publication order, and of course a Discworld should always be next. hehehe)

Just started The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Never read it before, really like it so far

I just started listening toHowling Dark, the second book in Christopher Ruocchio's Sun Eater series. Without getting spoilery I enjoyed the first book, kind of a mix between Red Rising and Dune.

Into the Blue by Emma Brodie. Supposed to be an amazing love story. I have been reading so many depressing articles and lately consuming a lot of horror movies. This should be a nice break.

Hey! I just finished that book. It's fantastic. Project Hail Mary has a lot of the feel of what I enjoyed in The Martian while still having its own vibe. It had that "gotta read one more chapter" page-turner quality that I don't always get from books these days.

You're in for a treat. I love Andy Weir's writing.

I wouldn't blink if you said "Children of Time series" to me in a conversation.

I really enjoyed the series. I do think Children of Time itself was the best of the lot, but I think I enjoyed Book 3 more than you did. "We're going on an adventure!" made me laugh.

Someone on here made a video game that makes me think of the starship from the book. Dead Reckoning I think?

I just finished Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I loved it. Fantastic. The sense of exploration worked nicely, the past/present split storytelling worked well to drive the plot, and I absolutely adored the chance friendship that developed.

I'm still in the middle of A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan. I'm enjoying it, reading a chapter or two each day.

I've also started Soul Music by Terry Pratchett. I'm hit or miss on Pratchett, so I'm happy to be enjoying this one.

I've read a couple of Andrzej Sapkowski's books, but it's been a bit. I should maybe request the next one from the library.

Husband and I just started listening to the sixth Bobbiverse book which was recently released on Audible. I really enjoy the narrator, Ray Porter, and the series itself is quite entertaining.

How To Do Nothing, by Jenny Odell. I just barely started it, but so far it makes a great argument against "hustle grindset" culture.

I like the sound of this. The term "side hustle" rubs me wrong, and hustle in general.

Oh no way, didn't realize there was a series of novels!

Finished Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt by Ben Reeves. A story of death living in a dingy flat in the modern world. Some really interesting concepts, and some amazing characters. I'm super glad to have read it.

Thank you for your recommendations!
What would you consider hard sci-fi?

I already have it on my wishlist, really looking forward to it as well since I enjoyed the show. Thank you!

I got Bobiverse recommended from another person as well. Will definitely look into that!
Thank you!

The Expanse is already on my list, really looking forward to it!

For me hard sci-fi are writers like Adrian Tchaikovsky or Ken MacLeod. Lot's of people love the "Children of time" series by Tchaikovsky, but when reading the first book it was too much world building too little story for me. On the other hand, I did like his book "Service Model".

Out of curiosity, have you seen the Project Hail Mary film? I read The Martian long before I saw the movie. Loved both, but I think having many years between helped me not compare them too much.

This time around I've seen Hail Mary, and am wondering what the experience might be like to read the book after.

I'm only 3/4 of the way on my first read-thru, but already dreading the end. It's taken several years as well, so not looking forward to that post-partum XD

*editing to add: I'm on Going Postal at the moment

Please don't keep Shepherd's Crown aside, though. It is the perfect ending. But it is not The End, because you can start over and enjoy them all again. <3

That said, I can't imagine being on my first. It must be delightul. lol. My wife introduced me when we met. Around Fifth Elephant was when I picked up reading them when they came out, so I got to catch up and then keep up. heh.

Currently reading The Haar by David Sodergren for the podcast and also reading The Salt Bind by Rebecca Ferrier, which is a very enjoyable read if you like 18th Century working-class witchy fiction - which I do.