What fiction book are you currently reading?

[Big Don]

I have this thing, I have to read in published order, his first book, Practical Demonkeeping, will be here tomorrow.

Koontz's latest was very good. Back to how he used to write, rather than the past 5-10 books.

 

[granfire]

sounds like fun. Putting him on my list to check out.

So far I ma still reading Pratchett, 'Interesting times' atm, 'Making Money' is up after...

 

[Sukerkin]

Still working may way through the Honor Harrington series so that I can read the new ones that my missus bought me for Xmas .

Am up to "Ashes of Victory" presently - my problem being that computer gaming is eating far too deeply into my reading time - that's something I need to get a handle on I reckon.

 

[Big Don]

sounds like fun. Putting him on my list to check out.

So far I ma still reading Pratchett, 'Interesting times' atm, 'Making Money' is up after...

After ten in a row, I needed a change up.

 

[granfire]

Also got Rita Mae Brown 'Cat of the century' on my nightstand...so far the last Mrs Murphy book.

 

[Apache Kid]

I write my own novels. My first sci-fi novel (The Sword of Urmas) had this scene: Setting - the Great Pyramid, in a parallel timeline.

"Stuart's eyes glinted with a deadly sheen in the moonlight. "It's time for my revenge, Caldwell. You're gonna love it." He pointed toward the pyramid entrance. Move!"
Caldwell's mind raced into overdrive, sorting through his catalog of dirty tricks for anything that would deliver him from a fate he concluded would be horrible at best. Newfound respect for his adversary precluded him from trying anything stupid. He would have to wait for his moment.
At Stuart's bidding, Caldwell climbed upward to the pyramid's entrance. Just before reaching the entrance level, he lashed out with a well aimed side-kick at Stuart. His boot caught Stuart on the forehead, knocking him backward onto one of the huge stone blocks of the pyramid's superstructure. The Remington clattered down the pyramid's stepped sides.
Stuart grabbed for the pistol in his belt a split-second too late. Caldwell leaped upon him, punching with desperate fury, grabbing for the weapon. Stuart shifted his weight and rolled, pulling his opponent onto the slab below. Caldwell, stunned, released his death-grip on Caldwell's gun. Stuart stood and staggered backward.
Caldwell rolled onto his left forearm and kicked at Stuart's knee, sending him over the edge. Quick as a cat, Caldwell leaped down and caught Stuart's hand with a front snap-kick. The weapon flew off into the Egyptian night, clattering its way to join the Remington. Caldwell saw his opportunity for escape, and gave Stuart a sweeping side-punch to the temple before scrambling upward across the pyramid's face.
Stuart shook his head, then launched himself in pursuit. He caught up with Caldwell at the eighth masonry level above the entrance. Caldwell tripped and quickly recovered to face his attacker.
A moment of quietness loomed as preamble to a deadly martial arts duel. Both combatants were aware there could be but one winner. Caldwell adopted the 'cat' position, as manifestation of his Tae-Kwon-Do fighting style. Stuart, who preferred Judo and Pak-Ua, crouched low, weight evenly balanced, and waited for the inevitable kick.
Stuart feinted, drawing back suddenly in mid-stroke. Caldwell's foot stabbed the air. Stuart lunged, spun 180 degrees, and struck Caldwell in the solar plexus with the heel of his down-turned foot. Caldwell reeled backward along the ledge, gasping for breath, then recovered and counter-attacked.
Stroke! Parry! Lunge! Kick! In the course of the mortal struggle, the combatants stood silhouetted in the silver moonlight like two arch-enemies from the Kabuki Theater. Caldwell struck from a distance, Stuart from in close. Cuts opened and blood spattered the sides of the ancient structure as the fighters ranged across its face. Harshly drawn lines of fatigue etched themselves on their faces.
Caldwell took a deep breath and went on the offensive, releasing a deadly series of kicks and punches. The more disciplined Stuart gave ground. Caldwell sent a bone cracking whirl-kick to Stuart's ribs and a reverse-punch to the gut. Stuart staggered from the gut blow.
Caldwell moved in to finish Stuart off, only to find he had moved in too close. Stuart parried the blow with both elbows forward, fists upward, moving into Caldwell at the same time. He grabbed Caldwell's jacket, then dropped, pulling Caldwell forward and off balance. Stuart rolled backward— with his foot in Caldwell's gut— still grasping the lapels. He launched Caldwell upward and behind him, relishing the heavy thud when Caldwell came to rest on the stone slab.
Stuart rose to his feet in an instant. He delivered a downward punch into Caldwell's windpipe. Caldwell rolled off the ledge and lay gasping for breath. Stuart followed him, pulled him up by the hair, and hit him in the teeth with a punch he had saved for five months. The blood-spattered Caldwell sagged like a rag doll.
Stuart screamed in primal fury, "That's for what you did to Golda!" He grabbed Caldwell's lapel and pulled him to his feet, then drove two swift punches to the groggy man's mid section. Caldwell bent forward and slumped to his knees.
"That's for trying to drown me!" Stuart snarled through clenched teeth.
Caldwell staggered to his feet and cocked his right arm for one last desperate punch. Still in the heat of battle-fury, Stuart parried, then drew up his right thigh for the final blow. The kick slammed into Caldwell's groin without restraint. Caldwell slowly collapsed into a writhing puddle of Master-Race jelly.
"That's for trying to fry my balls, you worthless scum-bag!"
The desert wind whipped along the upper reaches of the pyramid singing its banshee song, almost drowning out the muted sobbing of the would-be storm trooper. Stuart grabbed Caldwell by the collar and began the laborious task of dragging him down to the entrance.

 

[CoryKS]

Some of you sci-fi fans might be interested in this. I just found out via Instapundit that the Baen Books website has a number of books available in electronic format for free. Looks like those Honor Harrington books that Sukerkin mentioned are included in that. Website is here: Baen Free Library

 

[Big Don]

Some of you sci-fi fans might be interested in this. I just found out via Instapundit that the Baen Books website has a number of books available in electronic format for free. Looks like those Honor Harrington books that Sukerkin mentioned are included in that. Website is here: Baen Free Library

Yeah, I've known about this for a while now, Eric Flint was the driving force behind it. He has written some pretty entertaining books, including The Philosophical Strangler and 1632.

I'm rereading Term Limits by Vince Flynn while I wait for the library.

 

[Sukerkin]

Thanks for pointing that out, Cory - that's something I should have done myself as I spead the word of Harrington .

It was a case of just assuming that everyone already knew .

 

[Omar B]

It's Superman - Tom DeHaven

What an intersting book! It came out a while ago in hardback but I didnt get it but yesterday I noticed the paperback and had to.

It's a Superman story set in middle America in and around the great depression. It's written as Slagel and Shuster originally wrote Superman back when they started, he's a champion of the downtrodden man, his powers are back down to a less god-like level (Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerfull than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound). Like the original it's also set in NY and LA, this is before the invention of Metropolis.

There are all the trappings of a Superman story, the big battles, giant robots, Lex. But what's great is how it captures who he is, and the country at that time, the people's desperation in small farm towns and in city slums. I gotta say, it's very Steinbeck meets Chabon.

http://www.amazon.com/Its-Superman-Novel-Tom-Haven/dp/0345493923

 

[Big Don]

Just starting Practical Demonkeeping, to see if Cryo is as much of a pusher as Omar.

 

[granfire]

Just starting Practical Demonkeeping, to see if Cryo is as much of a pusher as Omar.

But Omar has the biggest spectrum of goods he pushes...

 

[Big Don]

But Omar has the biggest spectrum of goods he pushes...

True.

 

[Omar B]

Wait! Now I'm sounding like the bad guy here.

And you will read that Superman book I recommend or you will be hearing from me!

LOL

 

[Big Don]

Wait! Now I'm sounding like the bad guy here.

And you will read that Superman book I recommend or you will be hearing from me!

LOL

No, no, not a bad guy, just a pusher of addictive reading materials.
I already requested it from the library.

 

[granfire]

Wait! Now I'm sounding like the bad guy here.

And you will read that Superman book I recommend or you will be hearing from me!

LOL

Yes, pushing the consumption of literature is truly evil!

 

[Big Don]

OK, Practical Demonkeeping was very funny.

 

[Big Don]

I just finished my sixteenth of the year, Tick Tock, by James Patterson. Typical Patterson page turner, short chapters, quick read, entertaining fluff. I'm amazed more of his books haven't been made in to movies.

 

[Ken Morgan]

Gwenhwyfar by Mercedes Lackey. First one of her's I've read in ages, so far so good. Just entertianment.

 

[Big Don]

Gwenhwyfar

Coming across a word I can't instantly pronounce drives me nuts. Thanks Ken.