Writer's Grove

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #9

I’m cheating a little bit with this one and including some science fiction. This is a good thing; ’tis not often anymore that I’m able to find science fiction that grabs me. But here goes, stuff I’ve recently read or will be reading shortly:

Amongst the grapefruit, apples, grapes and bananas you will find: The Human Blend by Alan Dean Foster, The Native Star by M.K. Hobson, Zero History by William Gibson, The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells, and Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler.

Foster’s near-future world where the icecaps have melted and Miami is gone doesn’t seem all that far-fetched right now. I enjoyed this first installment of a three-book series, but since I’m a Foster fanboy, what else would you expect? I’m always entertained by his writing.

I haven’t read The Native Star yet—and I have to say that normally I wouldn’t pick up a book that has a romance-looking cover—but the old-west-steampunk-magic premise grabbed me. I’m looking forward to reading it…but probably not in public. There’s always that one guy in Starbucks who will check out what you’re reading and raise an eyebrow. I hate that guy. He’s usually reading an economics textbook.

Gibson’s Zero History was full of his delightful sentences. I wrote a post about them here. I mourn a little bit for the death of cyberpunk; its spawn are thriving (steampunk, et. al) but grandpa punk is either dead or gasping away in an iron lung. This novel, like the other Bigend novels, are set in the modern day.

I’ve just begun The Mage in Black (which inspired the apples here), and I’m digging it so far. I tried to find Jaye’s first book (Red-Headed Stepchild), but it wasn’t in stock at the store I visited, so I had to start with book two of her Sabina Kane series. Action! Explosions! Apples! And some funny bits, too! I’m not lost at all, so don’t be afraid to start here if you can’t find book one either.

Hunger was extremely moving and not. Fair. At all. Maybe I was in a vulnerable state of mind because of that guy at Starbucks—sure, let’s blame it on him, he’s a dick—but I got all weepy at the end and it took me by surprise. Highly recommended. I’ve already pre-ordered the second book, Rage, and a box of tissues.

Hope you all are reading something fabulous!