I’ve been doing more fiction reading

To say I’ve been reading a lot since the new year might be an understatement. I don’t have an exact count because I’ve also re-read some older stuff. My best guess is at least 24 new books, plus I partially read another 14 books (partial means anywhere from 10-20 pages to half a book), almost all of my Alphabet Challenge contributions, a couple of Dresden Files novels, my second NaNoWriMo novel, and a few older works.

These, again, will not be in-depth reviews because I have a lot of material to cover. I’ll also not link to most of the books because Amazon doesn’t pay me to advertise for them, so I rather not link to them, and since not all series have a Wikipedia page, I’ll not link to any. If interested, you can easily search for them.

However, I’ll tell you whether investing a part of my remaining life to read these books was a good decision. Here we go . . .

In December, I left you as I was winding down The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells, reading Network Effect. Shortly after that, I read the following two books in the series, Fugitive Telemetry and System Collapse. I also read a couple of short (very short) stories with the same character and enjoyed them all. I’m not sure there will be more, and if the author asked my advice, I’d say: good enough. I say that because as much as I liked the series, the last two books were variations on the plot of the previous five, and I’m not sure there’s much more to mine in that universe. Plus, the main character’s personality and thinking are the main attractions of the books, and by now, there are no surprises left to explore Murderbot’s personality. I could be wrong.

It bears repeating that I would recommend Murderbot and his adventures to any fan of SF, humor, action, or good writing in general.

By mid-December, I was done with Murderbot and decided to try some fantasy. I figured I would start with award-winning authors and stories.

T. Kingfisher’s Nettle and Bones fantasy story deals with abuse, fighting back, and magic. Somewhat engaging, but only barely enough to keep me reading. I would say it’s aimed at an audience much younger than a 70-year-old man and more likely at females than males. Still, I kept reading as a lesson about just how much you can push the fantasy genre. I’m not sure I would recommend it unless readers are fans of fantasy, fans of women — or anyone — who fights against evil, and fans of magical and possibly demonic chickens.

Next, I tried Andrew Mayne’s Hollywood Pharaohs – I liked most of Mayne’s books, but not all of them, and this book falls in the latter category. It has a kind of 1950s detective novel vibe but written in a modern style that grated on me. I didn’t get far before returning it, mainly because none of the characters engaged me, and their behaviors were not endearing in the least.

T. Kingfisher’s The Seventh Bride – having read “Nettle and Bones”, I thought I’d try another of her fantasy offerings. I really like the titular character . . . but I’m not enamored with the plot. This is one of a few books I’m currently reading that I’ve yet to decide if I’ll continue. Again, the character is nicely written and fleshed out, but what she encounters doesn’t move me, and the premise is sketchy at best. We’ll see if I can continue to the end, but it doesn’t bode well that I don’t rush back to it when I’m looking for something to read, and it’s already been four months. Again, I think it might appeal more to female readers since the protagonist is a female navigating complex challenges. I often write female protagonists, so it’s not the gender issue but the setting and action (or lack thereof) that’s giving me pause.

This brings us to the end of 2023, and in the final days of December, I downloaded Peacemaker Wars by J. N. Chaney and Terry Maggert. This is a variation on The Hero’s Journey template with a WW I soldier from Iowa, Mark Tudor, being offered a ride to the stars and making a name for himself. You can get all that from the tagline: Would you choose to live an ordinary life. . . or embrace a destiny among the stars?

Let me veer from the book reviews to comment about J. N. Chaney. The guy has his fingers in many books, most of which are long series (more about that later).

“How can he do it?” you ask . . . well, for almost all the book series (HERE), he collaborates with others (HERE). Frankly, I cannot imagine co-writing a story with anyone. I know several authors do it, but I can’t relate. I guess I don’t have that kind of personality. The only way I can imagine it is for one writer to flesh out the plot and characters and the other to write action scenes to fit the narrative and protagonists.

One thing I’d like to know is precisely how much each author contributes to each series . . . but it’s only idle speculation since I really don’t care as long as I like what I read.

Anyway, I liked Peacemaker Wars. I’ve read the first three books, and I’m waiting for the fourth book, The Means War, due out in May.

So, what’s the series about? It has Robert Heinlein and John Scalzi vibes, and the author says you should like it if you’re a “fan of Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, or Indiana Jones“. I am a fan of Firefly, and the story has some of the same vibes, but kicked up a notch to maybe a bit less realistic levels, if that’s even possible in something called “fiction”.

There’s lots of killing, bad guys, good guys banter, dire situations for the heroes, a clear moral code, etc.

Frankly, it’s escapist literature, so it’s fortuitous that it’s precisely the kind of literature I like.

Between those books, I tried reading a couple of John Scalzi books. I mentioned John Scalzi’s vibes, and I’m referring strictly to his Old Man’s War series (except the last book). Those vibes have not been present in anything else I have read by Scalzi; however, I’ve not read everything he’s published.

Case in point, I tried reading The Kaiju Preservation Society and Slow Time Between the Stars, and put them down right quick. He has a new book out whose name I can’t recall now, but unless I can read it for free, I’m not willing to risk another disappointment.

Venturing into the new year, I once more turn to J. N. Chaney and Terry Maggert, this time with Backyard Spaceship. This series is a sequel to Peacemaker War, with Mark Tudor’s nephew — Van Tudor — inheriting Mark’s ship, the AIs that accompany it, Mark’s Moonsword and contacts, and becoming a Peacemaker. Brace yourselves . . . the series (so far) has 20 books (I just downloaded #20, published on April 7^th). I had read 19 of them by the end of February.

Between reading those, I read Skyler Ramirez’s The Worst Ship in the Fleet. Basically, a ‘loser’ gets assigned to a ‘loser’ ship with ‘losers’ for a crew and does OK. It wasn’t great, but I liked it enough to download the next book in the series, The Worst Spies in the Sector. Sensing a theme here? I returned that book after reading about 40 pages, and I’m done with that series.

I also tried another fantasy book, Daniel Shinhofen’s Morrigan’s Binding, then quickly returned it because it made little sense since I’m not a gamer. Yup, lots of gaming references . . . and gods and stuff I’m not interested in reading about.

I started The Last Hunter series by J. N. Chaney and Terry Mixon at the beginning of March. The premise is something like Battleship, the movie from a few years ago. A huge space dreadnaught mothballed and turned into a museum is called back into service because aliens are invading the galaxy, the same aliens the dreadnaught was instrumental in repelling centuries ago. The first two books were really engaging, but the third started to drag, and I can’t yet bring myself to read the fourth (there are 14 books in the series), although I probably will.

Side note: The problem with these long series is the same problem that plagued series like Star Trek. Essentially, the writers are under pressure to create tension with every book (or episode, in the case of a TV series), and they have two choices; one, come up with more and more outlandish challenges, or, two, forget something that was established earlier in the series because if used, it would easily solve the current problem. There is another choice that’s occasionally employed; the protagonists find themselves without all the neat stuff they accumulated in the past books (or episodes) and have to make do with sub-par stuff . . . and they still prevail. Wait . . . there’s one more option, and that’s to get repetitive, which many of these long series do after three or four books.

I mentioned the Backyard Spaceship series has 20 books. It is plagued with plot holes — or plot devices — that conveniently have the heroes face made-up struggles that have me, the reader, say things like, “Well shoot! Why don’t they use the phase cannon and rail guns with smart ammunition they introduced four books back?”

Another thing with long series is that there are so many threads and so much stuff happening that the authors occasionally forget stuff that was important at one time but is never mentioned again.

The Last Hunter has those issues, but also stuff like scraping by some battles by the skin of their teeth and, in other battles, casually wiping out an even stronger opponent without breaking a sweat because they are focused on some other issue or have to keep to a schedule and don’t have time for a protracted battle.

I’m not sure I’ll continue reading it because long series tend to lose the thread that hooked me in the first place.

In early March, I tried another series by J. N. Chaney, this one with Chris Kennedy, Symbiote Wars. I think I got 15 pages in before I canned it.

I then tried Junkyard Pirate by Jamie McFarlane. This was a case of trying too hard and too soon with an improbable plot to the service of improbable characters not properly introduced to the reader . . . did not engage me.

Nor did Starship For Rent by M. R. Forbes. It was another gamer novel, but with an even more unsophisticated plot and characters I did not care for.

I tried another J. N. Chaney (with Matthew A. Goodwin) offering, Star Scrapper. I got about halfway through the book before I realized I was forcing myself to continue. I stopped reading it and returned the book because the plot development was uninteresting, and the characters were flat and inconsistent in their motivation and resolve.

I then tried another Skyler Ramirez offering, Rogue Agent. The writing was stinted, the plot hurried, and the characters unrealistic (yes, I know it’s fiction).

I then tried Evan Currie’s On Silver Wings, the first of a five-book series, which I won’t be reading. This time, I made it through about a third of the book. It features cardboard characters and a nonsense plot.

Evan Currie wrote another book, one I liked. The Knighthood has a mix of science fiction and religious mythology that manages to work (if you accept the underlying premise) and moved me to read the sequel, Risen. I was slow to get into the second book, but then it engaged me, and I finished it in a couple of days.

Edited to Add: OK, so, this is a trilogy, but Amazon lists Risen as the second book and conclusion to the series. I thought they had maybe combined the last two books, but it is, in fact, the third book. I realized this was an error in the listing because I just came across the second book in the series, titled The Demon City. That explains why I was slow to get into Risen, because it referenced past events I wasn’t familiar with. I just assumed the author was using a roundabout way to tell the reader what had happened.
Anyway, for anyone wanting to read this trilogy in order, here are the titles of the books:
– The Knighthood (listed as the first book)
– The Demon City (listed as the second book)
– Risen (listed as the second book and conclusion)
That means I read the first and third books, and having just come across the second book, I’ll now read it even though it’s out of order.

Again, it is an intriguing blend of various religious interpretations of the natural and supernatural world viewed through the lenses of science and magic. Overall, it’s not a bad read if the description interests you. Oh, it’s another Hero’s Journey story, if you like those.

Finally, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Despite having some annoying plotlines, it’s holding my interest, but only just. Some characters have stories that interest me, but others are overdone and boring. I think there’s an effort to be clever, and I would rather the author had concentrated on telling the intertwined stories. Those are interesting enough without all the fluff.

There are four books in the series, and how this first book ends up will determine if I keep reading the series.

Frankly, I’m ready for stories self-contained into one or, at most, two books.

As a side note, I’m also submitting some stories (from the Alphabet Challenge) and editing my books. I’m not hopeful about the submissions, but I enjoy the editing.

The great thing about writing books is that I get to reread them. Honestly, I wish I had written more books because I really, really like them (Duh! I wrote them for me!).

Looking Ahead

Whether the latest Backyard Spaceship book wraps up the series or not, and barring extraordinary writing and plot development, it will be the last one I read for that series. Same with the Peacemaker War book coming out in May.

I’ll also be reluctant to start any open-ended series.

For instance, I have We Are Legion (We Are Bob) cued up, Book 1 of the Bobiverse Series by Dennis Taylor. Really, it’s only my affinity for using the name Bob in my casual writing that has me checking this out. However, there are four books; the last one, Book 4, talks about the heroes discovering an existential threat. This means that the series isn’t over with Book 4.

Also cued is Triana Moore, Space Janitor: The Complete Series by Julia Huni. It says it’s a complete series, but there’s a series after it, so we’ll see if 1) I like the books and 2) I’m moved to read the second series.

There’s another supposedly complete series by J. N. Chaney and Jonathan P. Brazee titled Sentenced to War Box Set: Books 1-6. It’s touted to be in the vein of Old Man’s War, but again, we’ll see.

Mostly, I’ll try to find stand-alone books, but those are more likely to be in the Mystery and Thriller genre than Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Since I have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, I also subscribed to a couple of monthly Mystery magazines—Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine—along with two SF magazines—Uncanny Magazine and Analog Science Fiction and Fact.

I used to avidly read Analog but unsubscribed in 2014 as their offerings drifted from my reading tastes. We’ll see if anything they currently offer aligns with what I want to read.

Until my next report, good reading to you.

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