It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas. The tree is up, we've received a couple of cards, I've been given a 2026 calendar, and we had the Bear Alley Books Xmas Party on Wednesday.
The latter was basically dragging Mel and my Mum down to the pub for lunch, which we haven't had a chance to do since August — coordinating everyone can be tricky at times — when we took a trip out to Maldon. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were well fed and watered at the Horse and Groom; we then had a relaxing afternoon and evening and it was lovely just to have some time off.
I'm planning to do the same thing next week with two of Bear Alley's authors, John Chisnall and George Coates, whose books—AND THE WHEELS WENT ROUND and A LAVERDA JOURNEY—I designed.
On the days I didn't take off, I've managed to crack on with the ACTION book and I'm heading towards the point where it merged with BATTLE. Another push and I might have it almost done by the end of next week, depending on how much I drink down the pub and what other distractions come along. Hopefully it'll be good news next week.
I'm reading—or, rather, re-reading—Dave Hutchinson's EUROPE IN AUTUMN, a fantastic SF/spy story set in a fractured Europe, split by a deadly pandemic (and various economic crises (this was published in 2014) and now broken down into little republics, polities and nations who no longer trust the internet; information, artefacts and even people are smuggled across borders by couriers trained in spy tradecraft.
I read the first book back in 2019 on a tablet that had all four of the books on it (a fifth was subsequently published). Then my tablet went belly-up and I never got to read the other three. I saw a mention of the series recently and decided to get the physical books. Four were easily available second-hand. The fourth (EUROPE AT DAWN) has been trickier to source. I have a copy on order.
Having a lousy memory, I've been enjoying the book afresh. At one or two points in the plot I've had a flash forward of what is about to happen, but it's really like I'm reading it for the first time... and I'm really enjoying it all over again.
Talking of memory, I was trying to remember what books I'd read over the past few months. I'm picking up the pace a little. I used to be able to read a book in a day when I was much younger and just discovering SF. When I was in work I often had a bus or train ride to fill, but nowadays I do more reading for whatever I'm working on than for pleasure. And books these days are often twice or three times the size of books I used to read. For many years I've been taking months to finish a book, a situation I'm now trying to resolve by making sure I read a chapter or two every evening before bed.
I dug out the last few books I've read: a ratio of 5:3 SF over crime. I love the Mick Herron Slough House books and have heard them all as audiobooks, but I'm reading physical copies ahead of each new series of the TV show. I was inspired to read TATIANA by the death of Martin Cruz Smith and the realisation that I had fallen behind on reading his Arkady Renko novels. I still have three to go. THE FLIGHT OF THE HORSE I re-read half of as it contained Niven's delightful Svetz fantasy stories and I was planning to read his RAINBOW MARS novel, which was a late addition to the series. But then they announced the coming release of the fifth season of SLOW HORSES, so Svetz is on hold.
I picked up THE STARDROPPERS while I was wandering around ahead of Invasion Colchester and started reading it on the bus home. I have to say that it's minor Brunner, but I have shelves full of books I've never read, so I want to try and get through at least some in the hope of finding a gem. I will re-read books that I remember enjoying, so that will mean more Brunner at some point (THE SHEEP LOOK UP, THE JAGGED ORBIT, STAND ON ZANZIBAR, THE SHOCKWAVE RIDER... there are plenty!).
I'd had PROJECT HAIL MARY on the shelf for some while, but thought I'd treat myself after finishing the writing on the AIR ACE book. I loved THE MARTIAN and I think ARTEMIS was an OK follow-up. This was even better, if a little long; every time it jumped back in time I found myself wishing those bits were over so we could get back to the interaction between human and alien (I'm trying not to spoiler the book).
Talking of slow-moving... WORLDS. I may be imagining this, but I get the feeling that this and its sequel (WORLDS APART) were meant to be one book, with a slow build to something explosive happening at the halfway mark. Then someone said, "Why not turn it into two books, Joe?" and that left the first book as a travelogue and me sat there wishing that something would happen, which it did, eventually, right at the end. Now that the thing has happened, hopefully book two will pick up the pace.
I love Murderbot, but this wasn't quite up to the scratch of earlier novellas and novel. Too many characters and a plot that would have made a sprightly novella rather than a slightly disappointing novel. Maybe, just maybe, part of my frustration was down to Tor forcing me to buy a hardback as, after two years in print, there is still no sign of a paperback. There's a new Murderbot novel out next year which I'm excited about because you shouldn't let one dip in quality ruin a whole series for you. SYSTEM COLLAPSE was still very readable.
I've rambled on for too long. Better get some work done.
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