What Are You Reading?

[Nunavut Pants]

My wife visited Malta recently, and brought back the book "The Cross and the Ensign". It's about the naval history of the island, from the 1700s up to 1978, when the British officially departed. I'm through the Napoleonic section, and now into the WWI section. I think the WWII part will be by far the largest part, though. The folks on that island went through an awful lot in the 1940s!!

[Ironclad Alibi]

I am now reading the third book of the trilogy, "Glorious" by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven

Glorious continues the hard science fiction Bowl of Heaven series from multi-award-winning authors Gregory Benford and Larry Niven.

Audacious astronauts encounter bizarre, sometimes deadly life forms, and strange, exotic, cosmic phenomena, including miniature black holes, dense fields of interstellar plasma, powerful gravity-emitters, and spectacularly massive space-based, alien-built labyrinths.

Tasked with exploring this brave, new, highly dangerous world, they must also deal with their own personal triumphs and conflicts.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I have moved on to "Shipstar" by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven, the second of a trilogy.

Investigating the Bowl, or Shipstar, the human explorers are separated—one group captured by the gigantic structure's alien inhabitants, the other pursued across its strange and dangerous landscape—while the mystery of the Shipstar's origins and purpose propel the human voyagers toward discoveries that transform their understanding of their place in the universe.

[Eireann]

I read multiple books at the same time. Right now, I'm revisiting my Sherlock Holmes stories, in addition to John Sandford's Shock Wave.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I am reading "Bowl of Heaven" by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven, the first of a trilogy.

In this first collaboration by science fiction masters Larry Niven (Ringworld) and Gregory Benford (Timescape), the limits of wonder are redrawn once again as a human expedition to another star system is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space: a bowl-shaped structure half-englobing a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths…and it's on a direct path heading for the same system as the human ship.

[Nunavut Pants]

FINALLY finished "Spitfire: The History"!

Decided on some major "comfort" reading: Murderbot. Grabbed and devoured "All Systems Red". Not sure how many times I've read it, now, but it is always a fast and fun read!

[Ironclad Alibi]

I just finished "Monopoly X" Phillip E. Orbanes.

Monopoly X is the fascinating true story of what is arguably the most unusual and best-kept secret operation of World War II. The masterminds at England’s top-secret MI-9, and later America’s MIS-X, created a special version of the popular game, hiding tools, maps, and money within game boards—delivered by fictitious charities—to captured Allied servicemen held at gunpoint behind barbed wire in German prison camps. This ingenious and complex plot, dubbed “Monopoly X,” was never discovered by the Nazis and led to many successful Allied breakouts.

[dalesys]

Just re-read the Monster Hunter series by Larry Corriea. Major factual error: “Contrary to the Lone Ranger, silver bullets really suck compared to good old-fashioned lead. Silver’s too hard, and it doesn’t fully engage the rifling. It’s lighter than lead, so you get really lightweight projectiles with lousy accuracy.”

Burp. If and only if you are still shooting pure lead with black powder.

Silver is 92.55% as dense as pure lead. If the jacket volume is more than ~10% the solid silver will be heavier.

They are using 7.62x51 NATO, .45 ACP & .50 BMG, which are typically jacketed in copper, brass or *steel*, not bare lead.

[Ceir]

Star Trek: Ship of the Line, by Diane Carey - set between Generations and First Contact, with flashbacks to the episode Cause and Effect. It's a pretty good background and romp through the backstory for Kelsey Grammar Morgan Bateson, who I always thought was criminally limited to the single episode.

[Pixilated]

If ever there was an apropos title for one of his books, these days....

I know, right??

[Pixilated]

*snip*

I'm also halfway through "Timetrap" by David Dvorkin, which is just *meh* as far as I'm concerned.

Well, my original opinion of this book was definitely *meh* and I'm not sure I'd change that ... but I'm close to the end and THAT was a twist I didn't see coming!

[Jay 2K Winger]

I am now reading a collection of short stories: Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman.

If ever there was an apropos title for one of his books, these days....

[Nunavut Pants]

Still slogging through "Spitfire: The History". Getting very near to the final variants, I think. I'm ignoring the lists of every serial number of Spitfire produced, most with notes of where they served and their final fate.

Read "Breed To Come" by C.J. Cherryh while I was traveling. Older book by an SF master, about a post-Human Earth and several of the various forms of life that inhabit it. I won't spoil the reveal, but the cover kind of does some of that.

I also read Mercedes Lackey's "Arrows of the Queen", about the Heralds of Valdemar. She is another master-level author of mass-market fantasy. This is a decent coming-of-age-with-a-special-magic-talent story, not quite a "the chosen one" story, set in the familiar world of Valdemar. Familiar, at least, to Lackey's fans. The heroine is a horse-girl, and the Heralds are Extra Special Horse People whose Companions (like horses, but much smarter and magical to boot) choose them. It feels a bit of a Mary Sue in places, but is still an enjoyable read. Some elements are pretty progressive for the mid-80s when it was written, as well.

Hopefully I'll finish the Spitfire book soon...

[Pixilated]

Going through a manic Star Trek (TOS) phase, courtesy of a local used bookstore. I'm currently re-reading "The Wounded Sky" by Diane Duane, which is good (as is all of her writing) but complex. I'm having to re-read it because I really didn't quite "get" it the first two times I read it.

I'm also halfway through "Timetrap" by David Dvorkin, which is just *meh* as far as I'm concerned.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I am now reading a collection of short stories: Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman.