When evidence is uncovered suggesting humanity was seeded on Earth by extraterrestrials, a tiny crew of specialists is sent on a one-way mission into deep space to find our makers. Pulled out of stasis ahead of schedule, the team find that first contact is no easier when you’re the advanced, space-faring aliens.
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Gully Foyle is trapped in a dying spacecraft. When the only vessel he’s seen in months ignores his distress signal, his rage finally drives him to patch up his ship in order to take revenge. The world and its mega-corporations will come to fear the wrath of a simple man.
I commented a while back that this was at risk of turning into nothing but a bookblog, and I suspect that 2014 will see it go one step further and become largely dormant as my bookblogging transitions across to LibraryThing. However, I started so I’ll finish – my final round-up of 2013 before my look back at the year to see whether any of it was really up to scratch.
Yes, I’m procrastinating. Two posts in one day? What else could possibly be going on? I’ve got a document to draft by Tuesday, and I meant to have it finished by Thursday evening. It’s far from done, so I’m crossing off other bits of mental laundry so that tomorrow can be as productive as physically/mentally possible. Terrifyingly, it’s nearly 6 months since I last jotted notes here on my recent reading. In the meantime, I’ve finished 32 books (what can I say, the longer commute and the part-time work suit me down to the ground). As last time, links go to my commentary elsewhere online.
Anderson Lake is a Calorie Man, hunting Bangkok’s markets for foodstuffs long thought to be extinct. There he meets the windup girl Emiko – one of the New People, engineered to satisfy a rich man’s whims, then abandoned to the slums. Welcome to a near-future where oil has run out, seas are rising, and food safety is in the hands of a ruthless few.
So it seems I will be returning to work for the dog days of August. After numerous casual meetings, formal interviews and agonies trying to select outfits I could bear to wear in the July heat, I’ve been offered an appealing consultancy contract with a well-respected design company.
As some of you are aware, I’ve been lucky enough to have some extended time off this year, which inevitably means that I’ve been reading like the dedicated bookworm that I am. I’m likely to read as many books by the end of June as I’ve read in an entire year (during a lean year, anyway), and I’ve loved every minute. It’s been a couple of months since I last captured what I’ve thought of this mountain of material, so I wanted to do another recap – although I have had the time to be much, much better about logging reviews and ratings on my LibraryThing, which is increasingly becoming my main platform for all book-related activity.
When Niall has a heart attack mid-commute, he is rescued by Blackbird, a little old lady who is demonstrably more than she appears. She introduces him to the Feyre and none-too-gently informs him that he is part-Fey – and consequently on the Untainted’s death list.
Niall must master his talents, dodge his pursuers, help Blackbird stop the barrier keeping the wraithkin at bay from crumbling, and earn the protection of a Feyre Court if he and his daughter are to have any sort of future…
A quick flit through my first quarter of reading, before I forget the details. It’s been a book-heavy year, with lots of opportunities to get some quality reading time in during the Christmas break in Australia and my boy’s month-long absence in India (not to mention my time off in March). I’ve put this to good use and read like the bookworm I am, devouring 20 books to date – most of them fresh reads rather than old favourites.
I like to say that I don’t watch much tv. It’s true as far as it goes: I get very excited about my annual fix of Sherlock and Doctor Who (yes, I enjoy Moffat), but otherwise tend to watch the odd satirical news quiz and movies. And every now and again I indulge in some high production value US series on DVD, and wonder why it’s taken me so long.
I avoided reading Jacqueline Carey for years, put off by the avalanche of cliche and exploitation that oozed […]
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scott-lynch has posted the entire prologue of The Republic of Thieves on his website. That funny sound in […]
For those of you who are fannish, yet have somehow missed the news, HBO have released the next update on casting for the pilot of A Game of Thrones.
onemore.org 