The Reading List

Still working through a pile of books, and to keep things straight, this is what I've got going:

Currently Reading:

Ambassadors from Earth: Pioneering Explorations with Unmanned Spacecraft, Jay Gallentine This is a book that has been on my to-read list for a little while, and after several science fiction novels, it feels like a good diversion while not getting too far away from the genre. This book documents the history behind unmanned space probes, and thus far, it's an interesting, and different subject than the other books in the Outward Odyssey series.

Pattern Recognition, William Gibson After reading through River of Gods, I had the urge to read some more of William Gibson. I've read only one of his earlier books, and this one is one that's been kicking around my shelves for a while. Plus, his new book, Zero History, has just been released, and that looks to be quite interesting, as does Spook Country.

Stories, edited by Neil Gaiman I'm picking away at this book story by story. Some of them, such as Jodi Picoult's story, was absolutely heartbreaking, and the anthology is just simply fantastic to read. The stories are short enough to be a good break as I read chapters from other books.

Learning to Eat Soup With a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam, John Nagl Nagl has been in the news lately as the United States begins to draw down its forces overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. This book looks to Malaya and Vietnam to the experiences there and how an organization such as the Army needs to learn and adapt to changing conditions.

Next Up:

The City and the City, China Mieville This book has been winning awards for most of the year, and as announced today, is one of the co-winners of the Hugo Award (Along with The Windup Girl). I've heard numerous good things, and I think that it's about time to crack it open.

Footprints in the Dust: The Epic Voyages of Apollo 1969-1975, edited by Colin Burgess Same case as Ambassadors from Earth, except this book picks up the rest of the Apollo stories that haven't been told yet. I also can't wait to read this one.

Nights of Villjamur, Mark Charan Newton Mark Newton's first book - it's come highly recommended from several fellow blogger people, and it looks like a really good read.

Robert A. Heinlein: Volume 1: Learning Curve 1907 - 1948, William H. Patterson Jr. Heinlein's authorized biography. This should be fascinating.

Andvari's Ring, Arthur Peterson Book of translated Norse epic poetry. It's not as pretentious as it sounds: this is a fantastic mythological tale, and I was about halfway through before I set it down for something else.

Kraken, China Mieville After The City and The City, Kraken is another Mieville book that I really want to get into.

The Dervish House, Ian McDonald After reading River of Gods by McDonald, this book is high up on my anticipated reads. Set in Turkey, a terrorist bombing in 2027 puts 6 story lines into motion, in a similar formula to his other book.

Masked, edited by Lou Anders Anthology of superhero stories - I've read the first couple, and really liked what I've read thus far. I love the idea of superheroes, but not in a comic book. Austin Grossman's book, Soon I Will Be Invincible, is another excellent example of superhero prose.

The To Read List

My reading list has been build up again with stuff, some of it fun, some for review and some for research and general interest. I just wish that there were more hours in the day.

Currently reading: American Gods, Neil Gaiman - This is a book that I read a number of years ago, and while I enjoyed it, read it over a couple of months/years, and probably didn't get as much out of it as I am now. Selected as the first 1 Book, 1 Twitter crowdsourcing movement, the book is being read piecemeal over a couple of weeks, and I'm sticking with a couple of chapters a week to stick to the schedule. Thus far though, I'm really enjoying it, and it's bringing back memories from when I first read the book.

The Burning Skies, David J. Williams - The follow up to the first book in the Autumn Rain series, The Mirrored Heavens, that I just reviewed, The Burning Skies continues the trilogy. I've only made it about a chapter or so of the way in, but I'm hoping to finish it up a bit faster than the last one.

Third Class Superhero, Charles Yu - This book is one that I'm burning through, and is a collection of short stories by acclaimed author Charles Yu. He's about to release his first novel later this year, (which I'll get to in a moment), but I wanted to read up on him, given the praise that's been heaped on his short fiction already. So far, Third Class Superhero is a surreal, interesting and highly entertaining collection of stories.

Next to Read: Learning to Eat Soup With A Knife, John Nagl - This book is a work on how militaries learn from their prior battles. A particular interest of mine at the moment is this very thing, especially as a historian - how do militaries learn from their past mistakes, and how to they use those lessons to prepare for the upcoming challenges? This book is quite highly acclaimed, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

Ambassadors from Earth, Jay Gallentine - One of the latest books in the Outward Odyssey series, this book focuses on unmanned space systems. Given the quality of the research and stories that this series is telling, I have high hopes for this one.

The Machinery of Light, David J. Williams - The third and final book in David J. William's Autumn Rain trilogy, coming out tomorrow, and this book looks to finish up the series. Unfortunately, this one is somewhat contingent on me finishing Burning Skies. I am looking forward to finishing up the series.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu - This book is one that I've been really looking for. Yu, as noted before, has previously released Third Class Superhero, which I'm still working through. This book, which deals with time travel and parallel universes, looks to be like it'll be quite a bit of fun, and hopefully, a little surreal like his first collection of stories. It's his first novel, and already, it's getting some good reviews from people, when the book isn't out until September.

The Reading List

Over the past couple of weeks, I've received some new books. Here's what I've got coming up next:

Spellwright, Blake Charleton. I came upon Blake's book through an interview that he participated in with Geek's Guide to the Galaxy, where he talked a bit about his life, namely the problems that he faced with severe dyslexia, his education and becoming a full time writer and medical student. Since his book has been released, it's been getting a number of really, really good reviews, and I'm very excited to get through this one.

This book looks to be fascinating in how Charleton is using his own experiences and the value of the written word in with the magic that the characters wield. I believe in the power of words and prose, and for that reason alone, I'm really looking forward to this one.

The Gaslight Dogs, Karin Lowachee. Karin Lowachee wrote a trilogy of novels back in 2002-2005 (I think), Warchild, Burndive and Cagebird, then vanished for a couple of years. I almost wrote her off as having abandoned the writing profession, when I came across a posting that she had a new book coming out: The Gaslight Dogs. This time, she's going to fantasy/steampunk with a novel that looks really interesting. I've really liked her prose in the earlier books, so there are high hopes for this one.

The Mirrored Heavens, David J. Williams. A little while ago, I wrote an article for io9 called Your Military Science Fiction Isn't Military Science Fiction. I got a number of e-mails, good and bad, from people who read it, and one of them brought my attention to David William's book The Mirrored Heavens. This is gritty military science fiction, and I like how the book has started off, and it has a promising storyline, especially when you look into the Military SciFi field.

Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942-1945, Barrett Tillman. This book is part of a research project that I'm embarking on, looking at Air Power theory following the Second World War. Based on the review in the Wall Street Journal, and it's kickass cover, I picked it up to read up on something that I don't know enough about: how the US bombed Japan and its major cities during WWII. It's a horrifying and terrible subject, but one that's incredible influential in American and international history. This book is already very interesting to read.

Ambassadors from Earth: Pioneering Explorations with Unmanned Spacecraft, Jay Gallentine. I've written extensively about the University of Nebraska Press's series The Outward Odyssey, and the latest installment, Ambassadors from Earth has just arrived. Where the prior books discuss the human element of space travel, this one is about the unmanned systems that have gone into space. Presumably, this will talk a lot about the planetary and solar system probes that have gone out, but I wouldn't be surprised to see something about satellites as well. The prior four books have been excellent, and I have high expectations for this one.