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Category: recommendation
Book Recommendation: Causes of Separation
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Yes, I’m recommending it while it’s still in prerelease and it’s book two in a series, I don’t normally do either of those things, but I read this already as part of the author’s Kickstarter, and it’s every bit as good as the first in series. If you didn’t already pick up Powers of Earth, then do it now. If you’ve already read the first, then preorder the second.
This is a modern-day The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, with the rich depth and length of a series.
Earth in 2064 is politically corrupt and in economic decline. The Long Depression has dragged on for 56 years, and the Bureau of Sustainable Research is hard at work making sure that no new technologies disrupt the planned economy. Ten years ago a band of malcontents, dreamers, and libertarian radicals bolted privately-developed anti-gravity drives onto rusty sea-going cargo ships, loaded them to the gills with 20th-century tunnel-boring machines and earthmoving equipment, and set sail – for the Moon.
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Book Recommendation: The Stars Entwined
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The Aryshan Empire and Earth are on the brink of war!
After several recent attacks along the border of Aryshan space, internal affairs agent Sean Barrows is brought to Palmer Station to ensure the Interplanetary Navy’s on the right track in their terrorism investigations. What he discovers could lead to the biggest war the galaxy has ever seen. Sean’s work leads him to his most dangerous assignment yet—into the heart of Aryshan territory as a spy.
Meanwhile, Aryshan Commander Tamar is being groomed by the Ruling Committee to one day assume leadership of her people. First, she needs to prove herself in warship command. As tensions increase with Earth, Tamar finds herself increasingly isolated as one of the few in opposition to the war. Her troubles deepen when she comes face to face with a new member of her crew, the most intriguing man she’s ever encountered.
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Book Recommendation: The Sculpted Ship
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Starship engineer Anailu Xindar dreamed of owning her own ship, but she didn’t find the courage to actually go for it until she was forced out of her safe, comfortable job. She goes shopping for a cheap, practical freighter, but she ends up buying a rare, beautiful, but crippled luxury ship. Getting it into space will take more than her technical skills. She’ll have to go way outside her comfort zone to brave the dangers of safaris, formal dinners, a rude professor, and worst of all, a fashion designer. She may even have to make some friends… and enemies.
I saw The Sculpted Ship in the new releases a couple months ago and passed it by – the cover didn’t really appeal to me, though the description sort of did. Then I saw it again on Nathan Lowell’s Peer Reviewed and decided to check it out.
I found myself in agreement with Lowell’s evaluation — there are some issues. I would have liked to have seen a lot more of the story, rather than be told about it, and there’s a bit of deus ex machina in the end.
But, that being said, it’s a solid start — what appears to be a first book — and an enjoyable story. I look forward to seeing it continue and, though it’s not in Kindle Unlimited, the $2.99 price tag makes it a low risk to check out.
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Book Recommendation: Critical Failures (Caverns and Creatures Book 1)
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Tim and his friends find out the hard way that you shouldn’t question the game master, and you shouldn’t make fun of his cape.
One minute, they’re drinking away the dreariness of their lives, escaping into a fantasy game and laughing their asses off. The next minute, they’re in a horse-drawn cart surrounded by soldiers pointing crossbows at them.
Tim now has the voice and physique of a prepubescent girl. Dave finds that while he lost a foot or two in height, he somehow acquired a suit of armor and a badass beard. Julian’s ears have grown ridiculously long and pointy. And Cooper… well Cooper has gotten himself a set of tusks, a pair of clawed hands, and a bad case of the shits. He also finds that he’s carrying a bag with a human head in it – a head that he had chopped off when they were still just playing a game.
Shit just got real, and if they want to survive, these four friends are going to have to tap into some baser instincts they didn’t even know existed in their fast-food and pizza delivery world.
It’s fight, flight, or try to convince the people who are trying to kill them that they don’t really exist.
Meanwhile, a sadistic game master sits back in the real world eating their fried chicken.
Rude, crude, foul, crass, and course — exactly how I remember sessions of D&D going when I was younger. Not for those who object to profanity or scatological humor, but uproariously funny if you can deal with that. 🙂
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What I’m Reading: Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error
In the tradition of The Wisdom of Crowds and Predictably Irrational comes Being Wrong, an illuminating exploration of what it means to be in error, and why homo sapiens tend to tacitly assume (or loudly insist) that they are right about most everything. Kathryn Schulz, editor of Grist magazine, argues that error is the fundamental human condition and should be celebrated as such. Guiding the reader through the history and psychology of error, from Socrates to Alan Greenspan, Being Wrong will change the way you perceive screw-ups, both of the mammoth and daily variety, forever.
Intriguing book, though I think the author herself falls into a trap of defining some things as wrong when they’re really a difference of opinion. It does, though, make one stop and think a bit about why we’re so afraid to be wrong — and some of the implications of that with regard to civil discourse and disagreement.
What I’m Reading: The Alchemy of Chaos: A Novel of Maradaine (Maradaine Novels)
Veranix Calbert is The Thorn—the street vigilante-turned-legend—and a danger to Willem Fenmere, the drug kingpin of Dentonhill. Veranix is determined to stop Fenmere and the effitte drug trade, especially when he discovers that Fenmere is planning on using the Red Rabbits gang in his neighborhood. But Veranix is also a magic student at the University of Maradaine, and it’s exam week. With his academic career riding on his performance, there’s no time to go after Fenmere or the Red Rabbits. But when a series of pranks on campus grow deadly, it’s clear that someone has a vendetta against the university, and Veranix may be the only one who can stop them…
Not indie, but reasonably priced and a good series. Maresca tells an entertaining story and has an ambitious plan for his world, with three series planned in it. I’ve read the first books in two of those series and now the second in the Thorn series and haven’t been disappointed.
Book Recommendation: The Miracle of Dunkirk
“Stranded on the beach with the Nazis closing in, the British army managed one of the most unlikely maneuvers in modern military history
In May of 1940, the remnants of the French and British armies, broken by Hitler’s blitzkrieg, retreated to Dunkirk. Hemmed in by overwhelming Nazi strength, the 338,000 men who gathered on that beach were all that stood between Hitler and Western Europe. Crush them, and the path to Paris and London was clear. And so, unable to retreat any farther, the Allied soldiers set up defense positions and prayed for deliverance.Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered an evacuation on May 26th, expecting to save no more than a handful of his men. But Britain would not let its soldiers down. Hundreds of fishing boats, pleasure yachts, and commercial vessels streamed into the Channel to back up the Royal Navy, and in a week nearly the entire army was ferried safely back to England. Assembled from interviews with hundreds of survivors who witnessed the evacuation, The Miracle of Dunkirk is a striking history of a week when the fate of Britain hung in the balance.”
Moving farther afield in recommendations this time, with a non-fiction title, but it seems appropriate with the release and success of The Little Ships. Nothing I could write can capture the bravery and amazing achievement of the men who evacuated Dunkirk more than their own stories. If you found the The Little Ships at all interesting, I encourage you to read the history that inspired it.
Book Recommendation: The King’s Coat
THE FIRST NOVEL IN THE CLASSIC SERIES OF ALAN LEWRIE NAVAL ADVENTURES1780: Seventeen-year-old Alan Lewrie is a brash, rebellious young libertine. So much so that his callous father believes a bit of navy discipline will turn the boy around. Fresh aboard the tall-mastedAriadne, Midshipman Lewrie heads for the war-torn Americas, finding–rather unexpectedly–that he is a born sailor, equally at home with the randy pleasures of the port and the raging battles on the high seas. But in a hail of cannonballs comes a bawdy surprise… Previous book recommendations have been both science fiction and indie authors. I plan to continue that trend in the future, but thought I’d throw this particular book into the mix, even though it’s neither of those.
Many readers of the Alexis Carew series are fans of both science fiction and Age of Sail novels, as I am myself. Some, though, may have come to the series as strictly science fiction fans. If that’s you, and you like the tone and feel of Alexis Carew, then I recommend taking a look at some of the Age of Sail series out there.
Book Recommendation: Rookie Privateer by Jamie McFarlane
When you are old enough to finally become an Earth Mars citizen, everything should be perfect. Right? Not for Liam Hoffen. He’s stuck on a mining asteroid called Colony 40, helping his father work a claim that is never going to pay out. His best friend, Nick James is set for life in James’ Rental business and Liam just discovered that the girl he’s known forever thinks he’s pretty great and now she’s leaving for the Mars Naval Academy. Liam dreams of sailing the stars. Whenever he gets the chance, he jets into space and floats, wishing to be free of the asteroid that has claimed him. What he doesn’t realize is that fate is about to change everything.
Sometimes you have to lose parts of yourself to gain the stars, and Liam discovers that while it isn’t easy to literally lose parts of yourself to the pirates who attacked your home, gaining the stars is worth everything.
He and Nick are about to find out what the real world has to offer and they end up meeting exciting people along the way.
This is a fun series. McFarlane has created an interesting world and he’s written several stories of varying lengths with a lot of different characters. Well worth checking out!
Book Recommendation: Quartershare by Nathan Lowell
If you’re looking for something to read while you wait for the next installment in Alexis Carew story, I heartily recommend Quartershare by Nathan Lowell: The Golden Age of Sail has Returned — in the Year 2352
When his mother dies in a flitter crash, eighteen-year-old Ishmael Horatio Wang must find a job with the planet company or leave the system–and NerisCo isn’t hiring. With credits running low, and prospects limited, he has just one hope…to enlist for two years with a deep space commercial freighter. Ishmael, who only rarely visited the Neris Orbital, and has never been off-planet alone before, finds himself part of an eclectic crew sailing a deep space leviathan between the stars.Join the crew of the SC Lois McKendrick, a Manchester built clipper as she sets solar sails in search of profit for her company and a crew each entitled to a share equal to their rating.
This isn’t a run-and-gun, space-based, shoot-em-up, but it’s an enjoyable, entertaining read. I’ve always thought that books didn’t have to be about the hero saving the world, they could just be about someone living their life in different circumstances. That’s what Quartershare accomplishes.
Lowell really captures what life onboard a deep space trader might be like. His characters are fleshed out and interesting.