Recent Reading
The Stars Dispose, by Michaela Roessner, copyright 1997; Tor/Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.; first mass market edition March 1998; ISBN 0-912-55014-5. An interesting look at a fantasy Florence.
Lacking Natural Simplicity
Random musings on books, code, and tabletop games.
Recent Reading
Three Days to Never, by Tim Powers, copyright 2006; Harper/HarperCollinsPublishiners; First Harper paperback printing December 2007; ISBN: 978-0-380-79837-7; ISBN-10: 0-380-79837-0. Another interesting novel from Tim Powers.
Recent Reading
Sethra Lavode, Book Three of The Viscount of Adrilankha, by Steven Brust, P.J.F, copyright 2004; Afterward copyright 2004 by John M. Ford; Tor/Tom Doherty Associates, LLC., first mass market edition March 2005; ISBN-13: 978-0-8125-3418-4, ISBN-10: 0-8125-3418-2. At last we come to the end of the story. Well worth the journey.
Recent Reading
The Lord of Castle Black, Book Two of The Viscount of Adrilankha, by Steven Brust, P.J.F., copyright 2003; Afterward copyright 2003 by Neil Gaiman; Tor/Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.; first mass market edition: April 2004; ISBN 0-812-53419-0, EAN 978-0-812-53419-1.
Recent Reading
The Paths of the Dead, Book One of The Viscount of Adrilankha by Steven Brust, P.J.F., copyright 2002; “Publisher's Note” copyright 2002 by Emma Bull; “Some Notes Toward Two Analyses of Auctorial Method and Voice” copyright 2002 by Teresa Nielsen Hayden; Tor/Tom Doherty Associates, LLC; First mass market edition August 2003, 3rd printing; ISBN 0-812-53417-4. Continuing his Dragaeran homage to Alexandre Dumas, in this, the first part of the third book of the series if you follow the author's numbering or the entire third book of the series if you follow the publisher's numbering, we are reunited with old friends hundreds of years after Adron's Disaster and introduced to new characters who link this series with his Vlad Taltos series. It's very nice to find out yet more about the history of Dragaera.
Recent Reading
Five Hundred Years After, by Steven Brust, copyright 1994; Tor/Tom Doherty Associates, Inc., first mass market edition March 1995; 2nd printing; ISBN 0-812-51522-6. We return to Steven Brust's homage to Alexandre Dumas, set in the Dragaeran Empire hundreds of years prior to his Vlad Taltos books. This particular entry in the series sees some of the most formative events in the history of Dragaera.
Recent Reading
The Phoenix Guards, by Steven Brust, P.J.F., copyright 1991; Tor/Tom Doherty Associates, Inc., first edition August 1991, ISBN 0-312-85157-X. This is the first book in Brust's fantasy homage to Alexandre Dumas, set in Dragaera, the empire he introduced in his Vlad Taltos series, but much earlier. We get to meet people who are pivotal in the history of Dragaera and contribute much to the Taltos books. Lots of fun.
Antiquity: From the Birth of Sumerian Civilization to the Fall of the Roman Empire, by Norman F. Cantor, copyright 2003; Harper Perennial/HarperCollinsPublishers; ISBN: 0060930985; Edition: Paperback; 2004-09-01. This book covers all of antiquity from the birth of Sumerian civilization to the decline of Rome and the rise of Christianity in 240 pages and does it surprisingly well.
Recent Reading
The Demon and the City, A Detective Inspector Chen Movel, by Liz Williams, copyright 2006; Nightshade Books, copyright 2008, ISBN: 978-1-59780-111-0. Inspector Chen is on vacation at the beginning of this, the second novel in the series, and the focus is on his demon partner Zhu Irzh.
Recent Reading
Madman by Rob Thurman, copyright 2008 by Robyn Thurman; ROC/New American Library/Penguin Group (USA) Inc., March 2008, ISBN 978-0-451-461-46196-2. Half-human Cal and Niko Leandros are back in the third book of the series about them and their preternatural detective agency.
Recent Reading
Usagi Yojimbo, Book 4: The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy, by Stan Sakai, copyright 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991; Fantagraphics Books, fourth edition, May 2005; ISBN 1-56097-063-4.
Usagi Yojimbo, Book 5: Lone Goat and Kid, by Stan Sakai, copyright 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992; Fantagraphics Books 1992, third edition November 2003; ISBN 1-56097-088-X.
Usagi Yojimbo, Book 6: Circles, by Stan Sakai, copyright 1992, 1993, 1994; Fantagraphics Books, 1994, fourth edition August 2005; ISBN 1-56097-146-0.