I’ve had some good reads lately. I’ve been reading more and more on my Kindle, just because it’s so darned convenient. I have tons of books by the likes of Stephen King, Jeffrey Deaver, Michael Connelly, CJ Box, Robert Crais and others on my stacks, sitting there unread, but since I’ve been reading when I’m in bed after lights out or in situations where I don’t have great lighting, the Kindle’s been the go-to source of stories.
Anyway, here’s a few things I’ve been reading recently. I’m not going to make too many comments, just say whether I liked them or not.
- DON’T LEAVE ME, James Scott Bell. Liked it a lot. Four to five stars.
- SEASICK, Iain Rob Wright. Good horror story, set at sea. 4 to 5 stars.
- UNDER THE EMPYREAN SKY, Chuck Wendig. Neat fantasy set in a cool world. A little slow on the uptake. 4 stars.
- SLOW BURN 6: BLEED, Bobby Adair. Zombie fiction, pretty good, lots of action. 4 stars
- SLOW BURN 7: CITY OF STIN, Bobby Adair. Zombie fiction, sorta slow with not as much happeniing. 3.5 stars
- VLAD V: VAMPIRE, Mit Sandru. A relatively short introductory novel, good enough that I want to read more. 4 to 5 stars
- COLD MOON, Alexandra Sokoloff. Satisfying third book in a series. Very fun and tense read. 5 stars
- HEART OF STONE, H. Lynn Keith. Very good thriller with SF elements and interesting characters. 5 stars.
- SPOOKED, Tracy Sharp. Good horror story with great pacing and characters. 4 to 5 stars.
- INTRUDERS: THE INVASION, Tracy Sharp. Another zombie story, but this one has aliens as well. Great first book in a series. Looking forward to the rest. 5 stars.
That’s enough for now. Interestingly, all of the above are indie authors. Something there for everyone!!!
On the docket: VLAD V: THE DEATH OF A VAMPIRE RIP by Mit Sandru, I, LAWYER FRAT PARTY by John Ellsworth, MORE THAN HUMAN: THE MENSA CONTAGION by Steven M. Moore, TIME HOLE by Mit Sandru, INVASION and CONTACT by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant.
Have a great day!
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Hi Scott,
Writers should be readers, so you’re doing well. I average about a book a week (the bio on Churchill’s taking me forever, though), but you seem to do more. How do you find the time? I realize TV’s not worth much during the summer unless one pays for all those special services, but I find less and less time for reading nowadays.
You’re right about the indies, of course: solid entertainment for a reasonable price. I just bought three ebooks yesterday for about $6–and I’m very picky about what I read for my own entertainment because of my time constraints.
r/Steve
PS. One of my Goodreads groups is having a discussion about indie v. traditional. We’ll see what people say there. I tend to be a lurker for such discussions–obviously I’m biased. 😉
Well, a lot of them are relatively short. And the way I compiled my list was to go through my Kindle Fire and just note the titles that I’ve read recently, like this summer. Got some read on vacations and otherwise I just read over lunch or when I had a few free minutes. Some of them really grabbed me, like James Scott Bell’s book and Alexandra Sokoloff’s story. The one by Chuck Wendig was one I started a while ago but finally finished.
I was also reading the book that Jon Stewart’s movie ROSEWOOD was based on. Now that one is slow going. Also am about half-way through a bio of P.L. Travers. But they’re easy to put down.
I got a bit of writing done over the weekend as well. Worked on two horror stories and added about 6K words to this post-apocalyptic thing I was writing. Then I started reading THE MENSA CONTAGION and it made me get into this a bit more, especially the conspiracy theory parts at the beginning. Great story so far. I should have it done soon.
A recommendation for you: Mit Sandru’s TIME HOLE. It’s cerebral science fiction set on the moon. I enjoyed it a lot.
Hi Scott,
I’ll check out Time Hole. Never heard of Sandru, but it’s hard to keep track of everyone. It’s daunting to think that the number of books I read in a year is about the number published in a month (or is it a week now?). It’s also daunting to think that I’m really missing out on some really good stuff!
Post-apocalyptic has always seemed like an oxymoron to me. If there’s an apocalypse, there’s no one left afterwards, right? Everyone’s dead. 🙂 Employing the conventional usage, though, Kornbluth’s Not This August would be post-apocalyptic I guess. I just call it dystopian. That movie Book of Eli is also dystopian for me. I guess what happens in More than Human a social mutation, but it started out looking like an apocalypse.. 😉
Anyway, 5k-10k words is about all I can do in a day, integrated over all my writing activities, so you’re doing great! (I’ve never kept a running tally on what I do, though.) Political op-eds take a wee bit more time, though, so the regular writing comes easier.
r/Steve