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24. Terry Pratchett "Moving Pictures"
After finishing up "A History of Mechanical Inventions", Terry Pratchett's roast of Hollywood was a very fun read. It is obvious Pratchett loves the subject matter and there is so much to make fun of in movie tropes. This book introduces Gaspode the Wonder Dog, who is a particular favorite of mine.
25. "The Long List Anthology Vol. 7"
This is the first of the Long List anthologies which I've read. It was a pretty good collection with many strong stories. There were a few which didn't do much for me, but the majority were good to great. I'd recommend picking this up if you like shorter works and definitely if you can find it on sale (as I did). I have a few more volumes in this series which I will be sprinkling in between my novels length reading.
26. Asimov's Science Fiction Sep/Oct 2023
"The Break-In" worked better than most of the Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I think the jumping between character perspectives helped the energy level and flow. However, the ending made it feel like just part of a story, not really as stand alone work. My favorites for this issue were the novelettes. Dean Whitlock's "Deep Blue Jump", Michele Lafromboise's "Tears Down the Wall" and David Erik Nelson's "The Dead Letter Office" were my favorites. Several of the short stories were doing different things this month. None of them really hit on all cylinders for me, but I appreciate the variety and the effort.
26. Jasper Fforde "The Fourth Bear"
I can't remember when I last read "The Fourth Bear", but it's been a while. I'm always amazed by the number of references Fforde can stuff into a single book (and that's just the ones I pick up on). I had forgotten how he placed this book within the Thursday Next universe, so there is some crossover to the other series. This book feels a little less zany than "The Big Over Easy", but it is still out there with nursery rhyme characters and psychotic murderous baked good (cookie or cake?). How does he come up with all this stuff?!
27. Terry Pratchett "Reaper Man"
How did I forget so many of the parts of this book? Even though this one takes place fairly early in the Discworld saga, I ended up reading it quite a while after the books around it. That being said, much of it was new to me again on the re-read. Really this book is two stories which take place between the same two covers which really don't bother to interact with each other. I think Pratchett probably had both ideas, but neither made a full novel and he needed to have a full novel. They really could have been done as one of those back to back books where you read halfway through for one story, then turn the books upside down and start reading from the other cover for the other story. In one storyline Death gets great character development and the author gets to play with an extended metaphor. In the second storyline it is lovely how Pratchett excoriates suburbs and malls. Some of the plot points are a bit clunky, but the descriptions of rural life and rural and wizard personalities are worth it.
After finishing up "A History of Mechanical Inventions", Terry Pratchett's roast of Hollywood was a very fun read. It is obvious Pratchett loves the subject matter and there is so much to make fun of in movie tropes. This book introduces Gaspode the Wonder Dog, who is a particular favorite of mine.
25. "The Long List Anthology Vol. 7"
This is the first of the Long List anthologies which I've read. It was a pretty good collection with many strong stories. There were a few which didn't do much for me, but the majority were good to great. I'd recommend picking this up if you like shorter works and definitely if you can find it on sale (as I did). I have a few more volumes in this series which I will be sprinkling in between my novels length reading.
26. Asimov's Science Fiction Sep/Oct 2023
"The Break-In" worked better than most of the Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I think the jumping between character perspectives helped the energy level and flow. However, the ending made it feel like just part of a story, not really as stand alone work. My favorites for this issue were the novelettes. Dean Whitlock's "Deep Blue Jump", Michele Lafromboise's "Tears Down the Wall" and David Erik Nelson's "The Dead Letter Office" were my favorites. Several of the short stories were doing different things this month. None of them really hit on all cylinders for me, but I appreciate the variety and the effort.
26. Jasper Fforde "The Fourth Bear"
I can't remember when I last read "The Fourth Bear", but it's been a while. I'm always amazed by the number of references Fforde can stuff into a single book (and that's just the ones I pick up on). I had forgotten how he placed this book within the Thursday Next universe, so there is some crossover to the other series. This book feels a little less zany than "The Big Over Easy", but it is still out there with nursery rhyme characters and psychotic murderous baked good (cookie or cake?). How does he come up with all this stuff?!
27. Terry Pratchett "Reaper Man"
How did I forget so many of the parts of this book? Even though this one takes place fairly early in the Discworld saga, I ended up reading it quite a while after the books around it. That being said, much of it was new to me again on the re-read. Really this book is two stories which take place between the same two covers which really don't bother to interact with each other. I think Pratchett probably had both ideas, but neither made a full novel and he needed to have a full novel. They really could have been done as one of those back to back books where you read halfway through for one story, then turn the books upside down and start reading from the other cover for the other story. In one storyline Death gets great character development and the author gets to play with an extended metaphor. In the second storyline it is lovely how Pratchett excoriates suburbs and malls. Some of the plot points are a bit clunky, but the descriptions of rural life and rural and wizard personalities are worth it.
