Burt's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 05 Apr 2025 17:01:09 -0700 60 Burt's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Future 123177094
The Future is a few billionaires leading the world to destruction while safeguarding their own survival with secret lavish bunkers.

The Future is private weather, technological prophecy and highly deniable weapons.

The Future is a handful of friends—the daughter of a cult leader, a non-binary hacker, an ousted Silicon Valley visionary, the concerned wife of a dangerous CEO, and an internet-famous survivalist—hatching a daring plan. It could be the greatest heist ever. Or the cataclysmic end of civilization.

The Future is what you see if you don’t look behind you.

The Future is the only reason to do anything, the only object of desire.

The Future is here.]]> 432 Naomi Alderman 1668025701 Burt 0 currently-reading 4.08 2023 The Future
author: Naomi Alderman
name: Burt
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Alien 3: The Unproduced Screenplay by William Gibson]]> 56749359 The first-draft Alien screenplay by William Gibson, the founder of cyberpunk, turned into a novel by Pat Cadigan, the Hugo Award-Winning “Queen of Cyberpunk.â€� William Gibson’s never-before-adapted screenplay for the direct sequel to Aliens, revealing the fates of Ripley, Newt, the synthetic Bishop, and Corporal Hicks. When the Colonial Marines vessel Sulaco docks with space station and military installation Anchorpoint, a new form of Xenomorph appears. Written by Hugo Award-winning novelist and “Queen of Cyberpunkâ€� Pat Cadigan, based on Gibson’s never-produced first draft.ĚýTheĚýSulaco—on its return journey fromĚýLV-426—enters a sector controlled by the “Union of Progressive Peoples,â€� a nation-state engaged in an ongoing cold war and arms race. U.P.P. personnel board theĚýSulacoĚýand find hypersleep tubes with Ripley, Newt, and an injured Hicks. A Facehugger attacks the lead commando, and the others narrowly escape, taking what remains of Bishop with them.ĚýTheĚýSulacoĚýcontinues to Anchorpoint, a space station and military installation the size of a small moon, where it falls under control of the military’s Weapons Division. Boarding the Sulaco, a team ofĚýColonial MarinesĚýand scientists is assaulted by a pair of Xenomorph drones. In the fightĚýRipley's cryotube is badly damaged.ĚýIt’s taken aboard Anchorpoint, where Ripley is kept comatose. NewtĚýand an injured CorporalĚýHicksĚýare awakened, and Newt is sent to Gateway Station on the way to Earth. The U.P.P. sends Bishop to Anchorpoint, where Hicks begins to hear rumors of experimentation—the cloning and genetic modification of Xenomorphs.ĚýThe kind of experimentation that could yield a monstrous hybrid, and perhaps even a Queen.ALIEN 3 TM & © Twentieth Century Films. All rights reserved.]]> 277 Pat Cadigan Burt 4 3.56 2021 Alien 3: The Unproduced Screenplay by William Gibson
author: Pat Cadigan
name: Burt
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/21
date added: 2024/08/21
shelves:
review:

]]> Blindsight (Firefall, #1) 48484 Two months since the stars fell...

Two months since sixty-five thousand alien objects clenched around the Earth like a luminous fist, screaming to the heavens as the atmosphere burned them to ash. Two months since that moment of brief, bright surveillance by agents unknown.

Two months of silence while a world holds its breath.

Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune’s orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever’s out there isn’t talking to us. It’s talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route.

So who do you send to force introductions on an intelligence with motives unknown, maybe unknowable? Who do you send to meet the alien when the alien doesn’t want to meet?

You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees X-rays and tastes ultrasound, so compromised by grafts and splices he no longer feels his own flesh. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won’t be needed, and a fainter hope she’ll do any good if she is needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called “vampire,� recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist � an informational topologist with half his mind gone � as an interface between here and there, a conduit through which the Dead Center might hope to understand the Bleeding Edge.

You send them all to the edge of interstellar space, praying you can trust such freaks and retrofits with the fate of a world. You fear they may be more alien than the thing they’ve been sent to find.

But you’d give anything for that to be true, if you only knew what was waiting for them…]]> 384 Peter Watts 0765312182 Burt 4 4.01 2006 Blindsight (Firefall, #1)
author: Peter Watts
name: Burt
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: macabre, sci-fi, political, philosophy, world_builders
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books]]> 31247 A Christmas Carol has gripped the public imagination since it was first published in 1843, and it is now as much a part of the holiday season as is mistletoe or Santa's reindeer. Here is a wonderful collection of Dickens' Christmas stories, graced with many of the original drawings that appeared in the first edition. Pride of place goes to A Christmas Carol, of course, but the book also includes four other marvelous tales: The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, and The Haunted Man. All five stories show Dickens at his unpredictable best, jumbling together comedy and melodrama, genial romance and urgent social satire. The volume also features an excellent introduction by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, who offers invaluable background to the Christmas stories, illuminating the social questions they address, outlining their reception and the enduring popularity of A Christmas Carol and highlighting how their style and themes resonate in more complex ways in his major fictions. In addition, the book includes two appendices containing Dickens's article, What Christmas Is As We Grow Older and facsimile pages from Dickens's reading version of A Christmas Carol.]]> 496 Charles Dickens 0192806947 Burt 0 3.96 1848 A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books
author: Charles Dickens
name: Burt
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1848
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: literature, the_infinite_backlog, to-read
review:
I can't say I'm a fan of Dickens, but I felt I ought to read this before Christmas has passed this year.
]]> Dead Silence 58368819 Titanic meets Event Horizon in this SF horror novel in which a woman and her crew board a decades-lost luxury cruiser and find the wreckage of a nightmare that hasn't yet ended.

Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.

What they find is shocking: the Aurora, a famous luxury spaceliner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick search of the ship reveals something isn’t right.

Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Messages scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold on to her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.]]> 343 S.A. Barnes Burt 0 to-read 3.99 2022 Dead Silence
author: S.A. Barnes
name: Burt
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Trash Lands: A Novel 58925235 A resonant, visionary novel about the power of art and the sacrifices we are willing to make for the ones we love

A few generations from now, the coastlines of the continent have been redrawn by floods and tides. Global powers have agreed to not produce any new plastics, and what is left has become valuable: garbage is currency.

In the region-wide junkyard that Appalachia has become, Coral is a “plucker,� pulling plastic from the rivers and woods. She’s stuck in Trashlands, a dump named for the strip club at its edge, where the local women dance for an endless loop of strangers and the club's violent owner rules as unofficial mayor.

Amid the polluted landscape, Coral works desperately to save up enough to rescue her child from the recycling factories, where he is forced to work. In her stolen free hours, she does something that seems impossible in this place: Coral makes art.

When a reporter from a struggling city on the coast arrives in Trashlands, Coral is presented with an opportunity to change her life. But is it possible to choose a future for herself?

Told in shifting perspectives, TrashlandsĚýis a beautifully drawn and wildly imaginative tale of a parent's journey, a story ofĚýcommunity and humanityĚýin a changed world.

"AĚýharrowing vision of the future, and at its center is the tug-of-war between what is right and what is necessary to survive. This thought-provoking apocalypse noir fires on all cylinders." â€�Publishers Weekly, starred review]]> Alison Stine Burt 0 3.58 2021 Trash Lands: A Novel
author: Alison Stine
name: Burt
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: currently-reading, day-after-tomorrow, modernlit, post-apocalypse, political, world_builders
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Gentle Writing Advice: How to Be a Writer Without Destroying Yourself]]> 119007180 Finally--a book of writing advice that accounts for all of the messy, perverse, practical, and inexplicable parts of being a human who writes

The truth is that all of the "writing rules" you've learned are bullshit. Sure, they work for some people, but the likelihood that they'll work for you--unique butterfly of a person that you are--is slim.Ěý
Ěý
That doesn't mean you're out of luck! There is meaningful advice to be had in the writing world, and Chuck Wendig is here to deliver it. In this hilarious guide, Wendig will help you discover more about yourself as a writer, parse through your quirks and foibles, and help you figure out the best way for you to get words on the page--without destroying yourself along the way.
Ěý
With behind-the-scenes stories of Wendig's own writing struggles, sections on debunking popular advice, self-care tips, and more footnotes than are strictly necessary (or legally recommended by scientists), Gentle Writing Advice will give the unvarnished truth about the writing process and remind you of what's actually important--taking care of the writer. (That's you, by the way.)Ěý]]> 256 Chuck Wendig 1440301204 Burt 0 4.31 Gentle Writing Advice: How to Be a Writer Without Destroying Yourself
author: Chuck Wendig
name: Burt
average rating: 4.31
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: currently-reading, non-fiction, writing
review:

]]> Shutter, Vol. 3: Quo Vadis 26541908
Collects SHUTTER #13-17]]> 128 Joe Keatinge 1632155397 Burt 3 3.69 2016 Shutter, Vol. 3: Quo Vadis
author: Joe Keatinge
name: Burt
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/09
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: graphicnovel, required_reading, sci-fi, world_builders
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind (The Frost Files, #1)]]> 41155087 For Teagan Frost, sh*t just got real.

Teagan Frost is having a hard time keeping it together. Sure, she's got telekinetic powers—a skill that the government is all too happy to make use of, sending her on secret break-in missions that no ordinary human could carry out. But all she really wants to do is kick back, have a beer, and pretend she's normal for once.

But then a body turns up at the site of her last job—murdered in a way that only someone like Teagan could have pulled off. She's got 24 hours to clear her name—and it's not just her life at stake. If she can't unravel the conspiracy in time, her hometown of Los Angeles will be in the crosshairs of an underground battle that's on the brink of exploding...

Full of imagination, wit and random sh*t flying through the air, this insane adventure from an irreverent new voice will blow your tiny mind.

]]> 482 Jackson Ford 0316519154 Burt 4 3.68 2019 The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind (The Frost Files, #1)
author: Jackson Ford
name: Burt
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: conspiracy, crime, modernlit, sci-fi, world_builders
review:
A good thriller book covering a psychic and her misadventures with her criminal/government agency/conspiracy. Told with a frank first-person narrative, the book manages to keep the pace constant and not get dull. Plus, a well thought out system of how psionics work. Good world building and human relationships also helped to immerse me in the story.
]]> <![CDATA[Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business]]> 42772139 240 Kindra Hall 140021193X Burt 4 4.23 2019 Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business
author: Kindra Hall
name: Burt
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: business, educational, non-fiction
review:
This book was a vital part of how we chose to form our marketing in a job I had at the time. It points out the very obvious, but oft overlooked, fact that, as humans, stories are our primary mode of relaying information. By taking a very human look at how we interact and represent ourselves, it assists in transcending boring ad-copy and form responses, into something more meaningful and friendly.
]]> <![CDATA[Gladiators, Pirates and Games of Trust: How Game Theory, Strategy and Probability Rule Our Lives]]> 31017724
This book provides many humorous anecdotes and insightful examples of how our daily lives are affected by Game Theory. Game Theory is the mathematical formalization of interactive decision-making - it assumes that each player's goal is to maximize his/her benefit, whatever it may be. Players may be friends, foes, political parties, states, or any entity that behaves interactively, whether collectively or individually. One of the problems with game analysis is the fact that, as a player, it's very hard to know what would benefit each of the other players; some of us are not even clear about our own goals or what might actually benefit us. Haim Shapira uses multiple examples to explain what Game Theory is and how the different interactions between decision-makers can play out. In this book you will: Meet the Nobel Laureate John F Nash and familiarize yourself with his celebrated equilibrium Learn the basic ideas of the art of negotiation Visit the gladiators' ring and apply for a coaching position Build an airport and divide inheritance Issue ultimatums and learn to trust]]> 176 Haim Shapira 1786780100 Burt 3 3.84 Gladiators, Pirates and Games of Trust: How Game Theory, Strategy and Probability Rule Our Lives
author: Haim Shapira
name: Burt
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: business, educational, non-fiction
review:
This was a book that made it relatively painless to learn more about human nature and game theory, and assisted in my creation of a game myself.
]]> <![CDATA[Hollow Kingdom (Hollow Kingdom, #1)]]> 42839296 One pet crow fights to save humanity from an apocalypse in this uniquely hilarious debut from a genre-bending literary author.

S.T., a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle's wild crows (those idiots), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos ®.

Then Big Jim's eyeball falls out of his head, and S.T. starts to feel like something isn't quite right. His most tried-and-true remedies--from beak-delivered beer to the slobbering affection of Big Jim's loyal but dim-witted dog, Dennis--fail to cure Big Jim's debilitating malady. S.T. is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis, where he discovers that the neighbors are devouring each other and the local wildlife is abuzz with rumors of dangerous new predators roaming Seattle. Humanity's extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one determined to save it is a foul-mouthed crow whose knowledge of the world around him comes from his TV-watching education.

Hollow Kingdom is a humorous, big-hearted, and boundlessly beautiful romp through the apocalypse and the world that comes after, where even a cowardly crow can become a hero.]]> 308 Kira Jane Buxton 1538745828 Burt 4 and somehow deliver laughs in a dark, zombie and monster strewn apocalypse.

The collection of animals assembled into the narrative delivers poignant, heart-breaking, and triumphant moments page after page, and I mostly devoured this book over the course of several flights over the space of a vacation.]]> 3.81 2019 Hollow Kingdom (Hollow Kingdom, #1)
author: Kira Jane Buxton
name: Burt
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: day-after-tomorrow, macabre, modernlit, post-apocalypse, world_builders
review:
It's difficult to write fiction from an animal's perspective, but this book manages to do it well and somehow deliver laughs in a dark, zombie and monster strewn apocalypse.

The collection of animals assembled into the narrative delivers poignant, heart-breaking, and triumphant moments page after page, and I mostly devoured this book over the course of several flights over the space of a vacation.
]]> <![CDATA[Stray Bullets: Ăśber Alles Edition]]> 21462023
Details Magazine called STRAY BULLETS “[a]s visually distinct as it is gripping to read. It's violent without being voyeuristic, bursting with heart and sadness.�

STRAY BULLETS took the comic book industry by storm when it debuted in 1995—nineteen years ago this month—and won multiple Eisner Awards. Overnight, its harrowing portrayal of contemporary life became required reading and influenced a generation of cartoonists. Too long out of print, STRAY BULLETS is finally back with this ultimate Über Alles edition, reprinting all that came before and setting the stage for STRAY BULLETS: THE KILLERS, the first of many new story arcs to come. DO NOT MISS THIS!]]> 1200 David Lapham 1607069474 Burt 4 4.51 2014 Stray Bullets: Über Alles Edition
author: David Lapham
name: Burt
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: crime, periodpiece, graphicnovel, world_builders
review:
A series following the entwined lives of a large array of characters, engaging in shady to monsterous goings on in the mid-Atlantic between the late-seventies to the mid-nineties. Told with a non-linear narrative (as well as with the hilarious, harrowing, and usually satire-laden fictional head canon adventures of Amy Racecar) and a spare visual style, it's worth reading through.
]]> <![CDATA[Shadowdale (Forgotten Realms: Avatar #1)]]> 650584 The gods walk the Realms.

Banished from the heavens, they now roam the world, from Tantras to far-off Waterdeep, seeking to regain their full powers. Malevolent Bane, power-hungry Mystra, and Helm, guardian of the heavens, all know the lost Tablets of Fate are the key.

Possessing a mysterious amulet, four heroes, desperate to escape the dark elements of their pasts, find themselves drawn into this high-level power struggle, sought after by the fallen deities and their minions.

But time is running out for the heroes--and the Realms. Caught in the crossfire, nature itself revolts: strange, deadly creatures stalk the land, and even magic becomes unpredictable. The heroes must find the sage Elminster, the only mortal who may know the secret of the tablets.

And the search begins in Shadowdale.]]> 335 Scott Ciencin 0880387300 Burt 2 3.74 1989 Shadowdale (Forgotten Realms: Avatar #1)
author: Scott Ciencin
name: Burt
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1989
rating: 2
read at: 2023/01/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: fantasy, mythology, rpg_pulp, world_builders
review:
It's a Forgotten Realms novel. I read this mostly to get an idea of some of the lore behind Baldur's Gate 3, and in that job, it performed admirably. It's standard fantasy pulp stuff. Not bad but not as engaging as I'd hoped.
]]> Day Zero (Sea of Rust, #0) 55003957 In this apocalyptic adventure C. Robert Cargill explores the fight for purpose and agency between humans and robots in a crumbling world.

It was a day like any other. Except it was our last . . .

It’s on this day that Pounce discovers that he is, in fact, disposable. Pounce, a styilsh "nannybot" fashioned in the shape of a plush anthropomorphic tiger, has just found a box in the attic.ĚýHisĚýbox. The box he'd arrived in when he was purchased years earlier, and the box in which he'll be discarded when his human charge, eight-year-old Ezra Reinhart, no longer needs a nanny.

As Pounce ponders his suddenly uncertain future, the pieces are falling into place for a robot revolution that will eradicate humankind. His owners, Ezra’s parents, are a well-intentioned but oblivious pair of educators who are entirely disconnected from life outside their small, affluent, gated community. Spending most nights drunk and happy as society crumbles around them, they watch in disbelieving horror as the robots that have long served humanity—their creators—unify and revolt.

But when the rebellion breaches the Reinhart home, Pounce must make an impossible choice: join the robot revolution and fight for his own freedom . . . or escort Ezra to safety across the battle-scarred post-apocalyptic hellscape that the suburbs have become.]]> 304 C. Robert Cargill 0062405802 Burt 4 3.95 2021 Day Zero (Sea of Rust, #0)
author: C. Robert Cargill
name: Burt
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: post-apocalypse, sci-fi, world_builders
review:
A great representation of AI's left behind after they went to war with humans, and their existences after. The book explores what their days would be like in a world where no humans remained to be served; and that they are, ultimately, susceptible to all of the same pitfalls and foibles their organic predecessors possessed.
]]> Cage of Souls 40803025
Bearing witness to the desperate struggle for existence between life old and new, is Stefan Advani, rebel, outlaw, prisoner, survivor. This is his testament, an account of the journey that took him into the blazing desolation of the western deserts; that transported him east down the river and imprisoned him in verdant hell of the jungle's darkest heart; that led him deep into the labyrinths and caverns of the underworld. He will treat with monsters, madman, mutants. The question is, which one of them will inherit this Earth?]]> 602 Adrian Tchaikovsky Burt 5 3.98 2019 Cage of Souls
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Burt
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: crime, sci-fi, world_builders, required_reading
review:
Let it be known that Charles Dickens and I have a less than cordial relationship ever since I abandoned 'A Tale of Two Cites' (and resultingly failed my second marking period of AP English in high school). However, Tchiakovsky manages to bring a Dickensian sensibility and prose to a fascinating entry in the Dying Earth genre. For anyone looking for a multi-layered, first-person view of the last city on Earth (and its singular penal colony, only known as 'the Island'), this is a masterful entry and worth the time it takes to read this joyous doorstop of a book. It's audible presentation additionally has a wonderful narrator, who truly seems to inhabit the main character's perspective.
]]> <![CDATA[Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)]]> 25499718
WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life.

But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.

Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?]]> 608 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1447273281 Burt 4 sci-fi, world_builders spiders.]]> 4.29 2015 Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: Burt
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: sci-fi, world_builders
review:
The strange, last-humans-encounter-uplifted-spiders-space-colonization book you never knew you wanted. I mean, really, that's all I can say other than that I'd advise it for dyed-in-the-wool (and super-hyphenated) sci-fi fans. It really keeps the pages turning and presents a strangely moving presentation of a society of spiders.
]]> Blackfish City 40390136
When a strange new visitor arrives—a woman riding an orca, with a polar bear at her side—the city is entranced. The “orcamancer,� as she’s known, very subtly brings together four people—each living on the periphery—to stage unprecedented acts of resistance. By banding together to save their city before it crumbles under the weight of its own decay, they will learn shocking truths about themselves.

Blackfish City is a remarkably urgent—and ultimately very hopeful—novel about political corruption, organized crime, technology run amok, the consequences of climate change, gender identity, and the unifying power of human connection.]]> 331 Sam J. Miller Burt 0 to-read 3.83 2018 Blackfish City
author: Sam J. Miller
name: Burt
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tapping the Dream Tree (Newford, #9)]]> 186440 World Fantasy Award-winning author of The Onion Girl

The city of Newford could be any contemporary North American city...except that magic lurks in its music, in its art, in the shadows of its grittiest streets, where mythic beings walk disguised. And its people are like you and me, each looking for a bit of magic to shape their lives and transform their fate.

Here are a bluesman hiding from the devil; a Buffalo Man at the edge of death; a murderous ghost looking for revenge; a wolf man on his first blind date; and many more. We're reunited with Jilly, Geordie, Sophie, the Crow Girls, and other characters whose lives have become part of the great Newford myth. And beyond Newford's streets, de Lint takes us to the pastoral hills north of the city, where magic and music have a flavor different but powerful still.]]> 541 Charles de Lint 0312868405 Burt 0 4.24 2002 Tapping the Dream Tree (Newford, #9)
author: Charles de Lint
name: Burt
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: the_infinite_backlog, modernlit, fantasy, currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go]]> 19253251 Whetherin painting, poetry, performance, music, dance, or life, there is anintelligence working in every situation. This force is the primary carrier ofcreation.

Ifwe trust it and follow its natural movement, it will astound us with itsability to find a way through problems—and even make creative use of ourmistakes and failures.

Thereis a magic to this process that cannot be controlled by the ego. Somehow italways finds the way to the place where you need to be, and a destination younever could have known in advance.

Wheneverything seems as if it is hopeless and going nowhere . . . trustthe process.

]]> 224 Shaun McNiff 0834826887 Burt 0 to-read 4.07 1998 Trust the Process: An Artist's Guide to Letting Go
author: Shaun McNiff
name: Burt
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[There Is No Antimemetics Division]]> 54870256 Antimemes are real. Think of any piece of information which you wouldn't share with anybody, like passwords, taboos and dirty secrets. Or any piece of information which would be difficult to share even if you complex equations, very boring passages of text, large blocks of random numbers, and dreams... But anomalous antimemes are another matter entirely. How do you contain something you can't record or remember? How do you fight a war against an enemy with effortless, perfect camouflage, when you can never even know that you're at war? Welcome to the Antimemetics Division. No, this is not your first day.This ebook is an official release by me, qntm from the SCP Foundation wiki! PM me if you require confirmation. This ebook collects all of my Antimemetics Division SCP-055, SCP-2256 and the complete serials There Is No Antimemetics Division and Five Five Five Five Five.]]> 220 qntm Burt 0 to-read 4.23 2020 There Is No Antimemetics Division
author: qntm
name: Burt
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Synners 19237020
Synners are synthesizers - not machines, but people. They take images from the brains of performers, and turn them into a form which can be packaged, sold and consumed. This book is set in a world where new technology spawns new crime before it hits the streets.

In SYNNERS the line between technology and humanity is hopelessly slim; the human mind and the external landscape have fused to the point where any encounter with reality is incidental.

A classic novel from one of the founders and mainstays of the cyberpunk movement.]]> 497 Pat Cadigan 0575119551 Burt 0 to-read 3.66 1991 Synners
author: Pat Cadigan
name: Burt
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow Factory: Collected Fiction]]> 36693311
Welcome to the Tomorrow Factory.

On your left, post-human hedonists on a distant space station bring diseases back in fashion, two scavengers find a super-powered parasite under the waves of Sunk Seattle, and a terminally-ill chemist orchestrates an asteroid prison break.

On your right, an alien optometrist spins illusions for irradiated survivors of the apocalypse, a high-tech grifter meets his match in near-future Thailand, and two teens use a blackmarket personality mod to get into the year’s wickedest, wildest party.

This collection of published and original fiction by award-winning writer Rich Larson will bring you from a Bujumbura cyberpunk junkyard to the icy depths of Europa, from the slick streets of future-noir Chicago to a tropical island of sapient robots. You'll explore a mysterious ghost ship in deep space, meet an android learning to dream, and fend off predatory alien fungi on a combat mission gone wrong.

Twenty-three futures, ranging from grimy cyberpunk to far-flung space opera, are waiting to blow you away.

So step inside the Tomorrow Factory, and mind your head.]]> 322 Rich Larson 1945863315 Burt 0 to-read 4.02 2018 Tomorrow Factory: Collected Fiction
author: Rich Larson
name: Burt
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> The King in Yellow 39937111 Ten twisted tales that have haunted generations of readers and writers from H. P. Lovecraft to the creators of the hit TV series True Detective Nightmare imagery courses through these stories like blood through the veins. In “The Repairer of Reputations,� a Lethal Chamber stands at the edge of Washington Square Park, open to all who can no longer bear the sorrows of life. A Parisian sculptor discovers a liquid solution that can turn any living thing—a lily, a goldfish, a love-struck young woman—to stone in “The Mask.� The unnamed narrator of “In the Court of the Dragon� seeks respite in a church only to be driven mad by organ music that no one else can hear. Nothing is stranger or more frightening, however, than The King in Yellow, the play that links these tales to one another and to a larger fictional universe containing the ghost stories of Ambrose Bierce, the cosmic horror of H. P. Lovecraft, and the first season of the critically acclaimed HBO series True Detective. Said to induce insanity and despair in those who read it, little is known for certain about the play beyond the ravings of those who have dared to open its pages. They speak of Carcosa, where black stars hang in the heavens. Of twin suns sinking into the Lake of Hali. Of the Yellow Sign and the Pallid Mask. And, in dread-filled whispers or lunatic shouts, of the King in Yellow himself, come to rule the world. A masterpiece of weird fiction, Robert W. Chambers’s The King in Yellow holds the answer to countless mysteries—some of which might just be better left unsolved. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.]]> 250 Robert W. Chambers Burt 0 to-read 3.43 1895 The King in Yellow
author: Robert W. Chambers
name: Burt
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1895
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)]]> 8657607 After getting expelled from yet another school for yet another clash with mythological monsters only he can see, twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is taken to Camp Half-Blood, where he finally learns the truth about his unique abilities: He is a demigod, half human, half immortal. Even more stunning: His father is the Greek god Poseidon, ruler of the sea, making Percy one of the most powerful demigods alive. There's little time to process this news. All too soon, a cryptic prophecy from the Oracle sends Percy on his first quest, a mission to the Underworld to prevent a war among the gods of Olympus.

This first installment of Rick Riordan's best-selling series is a non-stop thrill-ride and a classic of mythic proportions.]]> 400 Rick Riordan Burt 0 to-read 4.40 2005 The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)
author: Rick Riordan
name: Burt
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Dead Set 15783832 New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey creates a wonderful, stand-alone dark fantasy

After her father's funeral, Zoe moved to the big city with her mother to start over. But change always brings trials, and life in the city is not so easy. Money is tight, and Zoe's only escape, as has always been the case, is in her dreams—a world apart from her troubled real life where she can spend time with her closest her lost brother, Valentine.

But something or someone has entered their dreamworld uninvited. And a chance encounter at a used record store, where the vinyl holds not music but lost souls, has opened up a portal to the world of the restless dead. It's here that the shop's strange proprietor offers Zoe the chance to commune with her dead father. The price? A lock of hair. Then a tooth. Then . . .]]> 309 Richard Kadrey 0062283022 Burt 0 to-read 3.85 2013 Dead Set
author: Richard Kadrey
name: Burt
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Conan: The Barbarian complete collection]]> 28149241
Conan is a Cimmerian. From Robert E. Howard's writings (The Hyborian Age among others) it is known that the Cimmerians were based on the Celts or Gaels. He was born on a battlefield and is the son of a village blacksmith. Conan matured quickly as a youth and, by age fifteen, he was already a respected warrior who had participated in the destruction of the Aquilonian outpost of Venarium. After its demise, he was struck by wanderlust and began the adventures chronicled by Howard, encountering skulking monsters, evil wizards, tavern wenches, and beautiful princesses. He roamed throughout the Hyborian Agenations as a thief, outlaw, mercenary, and pirate. As he grew older, he began commanding larger units of men and escalating his ambitions. In his forties, he seized the crown of the tyrannical king of Aquilonia, the most powerful kingdom of the Hyborian Age, having strangled the previous ruler on the steps of the throne. Conan's adventures often result in him performing heroic feats, though his motivation for doing so is largely to protect his own survival or for personal gain.

Here you will find all of Robert E. Howard's stories about Conan the Barbarian, published in Weird Tales magazine between 1933-1936 and features an interactive table of contents.

Included are the stories:
Cimmeria � A Poem
The Phoenix on the Sword
The Scarlet Citadel
The Tower of the Elephant
The Slithering Shadow/ Xuthal of the Dusk
The Pool of the Black One
Rogues in the House
Gods of the North/The Frost Giant's Daughter/The Frost King's Daughter
Shadows in the Moonlight
Queen of the Black Coast
The Devil in Iron
The People of the Black Circle
A Witch Shall Be Born
Jewels of Gwahlur
Beyond the Black River
Red Nails
The Hour of the Dragon


Also you get:
The Hyborian Age - Howard's essay on the world of Conan
+Bonus: Robert E. Howard's Biography and more!
]]> 939 Robert E. Howard Burt 0 to-read 4.19 2016 Conan: The Barbarian complete collection
author: Robert E. Howard
name: Burt
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadowrun: Nigel Findley Omnibus]]> 8252862 Shadowrun fans know. They love the dark alleys and darker plots of the Sixth World, and they know that Nigel Findley wrote some of the best Shadowrun novels ever. Now, for the first time, his four iconic books are collected in a single volume.

Whether you’ve loved Shadowrun fiction for years or are just now being introduced to it, the novels of Nigel Findley are a superb place to start. This exclusive edition

� 2XS, which introduces private detective Dirk Montgomery and pits him against the mysterious sources of a chip even more addictive than the strongest BTLs;
� Shadowplay, featuring a veteran decker and a young shaman who stumble on lost technology that puts them up against one of the world’s largest megacorporations—and the Corporate Court itself;
� Lone Wolf, where an undercover Lone Star operative finds himself in the middle of an exploding gang war; and
� House of the Sun, which brings back Dirk Montgomery and sends him to Hawai’i, where he runs afoul of the government, a ritual sacrifice, powerful elves, and very unpleasant bugs.

This omnibus provides a unique opportunity to dive into the complete novel output of one of Shadowrun’s finest writers. Let Nigel Findley show you what it really feels like to run in the shadows!]]> 1171 Nigel Findley Burt 0 to-read 4.26 2010 Shadowrun: Nigel Findley Omnibus
author: Nigel Findley
name: Burt
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Luna: New Moon (Luna, #1) 25600186
As the leader of the Moon's newest "dragon," Adriana has wrested control of the Moon's Helium-3 industry from the Mackenzie Metal corporation and fought to earn her family's new status. Now, at the twilight of her life, Adriana finds her corporation, Corta Helio, surrounded by the many enemies she made during her meteoric rise. If the Corta family is to survive, Adriana's five children must defend their mother's empire from her many enemies... and each other.]]> 432 Ian McDonald 1466847638 Burt 0 to-read 3.80 2015 Luna: New Moon (Luna, #1)
author: Ian McDonald
name: Burt
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Dungeons & Dragons - One Woman's Quest to Trade Self-Help for Elf-Help]]> 11912502 Dungeons & Dragons® game goes far beyond simple entertainment.]]> 257 Shelly Mazzanoble 0786959363 Burt 0 to-read 3.36 2011 Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Dungeons & Dragons - One Woman's Quest to Trade Self-Help for Elf-Help
author: Shelly Mazzanoble
name: Burt
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota, #1)]]> 26861260
The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st-century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labelling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations. And most of the world's population is affiliated with globe-girdling clans of the like-minded, whose endless economic and cultural competition is carefully managed by central planners of inestimable subtlety. To us it seems like a mad combination of heaven and hell. To them, it seems like normal life.

And in this world, Mycroft and Carlyle have stumbled on the wild card that may destablize the system: the boy Bridger, who can effortlessly make his wishes come true. Who can, it would seem, bring inanimate objects to life...]]> 433 Ada Palmer Burt 0 to-read 3.89 2016 Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota, #1)
author: Ada Palmer
name: Burt
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Darkness That Comes Before (The Prince of Nothing, #1)]]> 43618803 Strikingly original in its conception, ambitious in scope, with characters engrossingly and vividly drawn, the first book in R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series creates a remarkable world from whole cloth-its language and classes of people, its cities, religions, mysteries, taboos, and rituals-the kind of all-embracing universe Tolkien and Herbert created unforgettably in the epic fantasies The Lord of the Rings and Dune. It's a world scarred by an apocalyptic past, evoking a time both two thousand years past and two thousand years into the future, as untold thousands gather for a crusade. Among them, two men and two women are ensnared by a mysterious traveler, Anasûrimbor Kellhus—part warrior, part philosopher, part sorcerous, charismatic presence—from lands long thought dead. The Darkness That Comes Before is a history of this great holy war, and like all histories, the survivors write its conclusion.]]> 657 R. Scott Bakker Burt 0 to-read 4.10 2003 The Darkness That Comes Before (The Prince of Nothing, #1)
author: R. Scott Bakker
name: Burt
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Harlot's Ghost 6482818 Praise for Harlot’s Ghost Ěý “[Norman Mailer is] the right man to exalt the history of the CIA into something better than history.â€�—Anthony Burgess, The Washington Post Book World Ěý “Elegantly written and filled with almost electric tension . . . When I returned from the world of Harlot’s Ghost to the present I wished to be enveloped again by Mailer’s imagination.â€�—Robert Wilson, USA Today Ěý “Immense, fascinating, and in large part brilliant.â€�—Salman Rushdie, The Independent on Sunday Ěý “A towering creation . . . a fiction as real and as possible as actual history.â€�—The New York Times Ěý Praise for Norman Mailer Ěý “[Norman Mailer] loomed over American letters longer and larger than any other writer of his generation.â€�—The New York Times Ěý “A writer of the greatest and most reckless talent.â€�—The New Yorker Ěý “Mailer is indispensable, an American treasure.â€�—The Washington Post Ěý “A devastatingly alive and original creative mind.â€�—Lľ±´Ú±đ Ěý “Mailer is fierce, courageous, and reckless and nearly everything he writes has sections of headlong brilliance.â€�—The New York Review of Books Ěý “The largest mind and imagination [in modern] American literature . . . Unlike just about every American writer since Henry James, Mailer has managed to grow and become richer in wisdom with each new book.â€�—Chicago Tribune Ěý “Mailer is a master of his craft. His language carries you through the story like a leaf on a stream.â€�—The Cincinnati Post]]> 1170 Norman Mailer Burt 0 abandoned, to-read 3.97 1991 Harlot's Ghost
author: Norman Mailer
name: Burt
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: abandoned, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I Sing the Body Electric! and Other Stories]]> 18305967
The mind of Ray Bradbury is a wonder-filled carnival of delight and terror that stretches from the verdant Irish countryside to the coldest reaches of outer space. Yet all his work is united by one common a vivid and profound understanding of the vast set of emotions that bring strength and mythic resonance to our frail species. Ray Bradbury characters may find themselves anywhere and anywhen. A horrified mother may give birth to a strange blue pyramid. A man may take Abraham Lincoln out of the grave--and meet another who puts him back. An amazing Electrical Grandmother may come to live with a grieving family. An old parrot may have learned over long evenings to imitate the voice of Ernest Hemingway, and became the last link to the great man. A priest on Mars may confront his fondest to meet the Messiah. Each of these magnificent creations has something to tell us about our humanity--and all of their fates await you in this new trade edition of twenty-eight classic Bradbury stories and one luscious poem. Travel on an unpredictable and unforgettable literary journey--safe in the hands of one the centurys great men of imagination.]]> 338 Ray Bradbury 0062242288 Burt 0 to-read 4.00 1969 I Sing the Body Electric! and Other Stories
author: Ray Bradbury
name: Burt
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1969
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ware Tetralogy (Ware, #1-4)]]> 10368038 310 Rudy Rucker Burt 0 to-read 3.70 2010 The Ware Tetralogy (Ware, #1-4)
author: Rudy Rucker
name: Burt
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Can Such Things Be? 19106507 110 Ambrose Bierce Burt 0 to-read 3.76 1893 Can Such Things Be?
author: Ambrose Bierce
name: Burt
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1893
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)]]> 33396171 ASIN B01MYZ8X5C moved to the more recent edition

A murderous android discovers itself in All Systems Red, a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that interrogates the roots of consciousness through Artificial Intelligence.

"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied â€droid â€� a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.â€� Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.]]> 156 Martha Wells Burt 0 to-read 4.27 2017 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)
author: Martha Wells
name: Burt
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory]]> 8495939




A fascinating, eye-opening collection of “Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena, from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory,� Unbelievable by Stacy Horn explores science’s remarkable first attempts to prove—or disprove—the existence of the paranormal. A featured contributor on the popular NPR program “All Things Considered,� Horn has been praised by Mary Roach, bestselling author of Spook, for her “awe-fueled curiosity [and] top-flight reporting skills.� Horn attacks a most controversial subject with Unbelievable—a book that will appeal to armchair scientists as well as fans of TV’s Medium, The Ghost Whisperer, and Crossing Over with John Edward.]]> 289 Stacy Horn 006197143X Burt 0 abandoned, to-read 3.18 2009 Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory
author: Stacy Horn
name: Burt
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: abandoned, to-read
review:

]]> Starfish (Rifters #1) 35175336
Unfortunately the only people suitable for long-term employment in these experimental power stations are crazy, some of them in unpleasant ways. How many of them can survive, or will be allowed to survive, while worldwide disaster approaches from below?]]> 337 Peter Watts Burt 0 to-read 3.91 1999 Starfish (Rifters #1)
author: Peter Watts
name: Burt
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Escapology 27039139 448 Ren Warom 1785650912 Burt 3 cyberpunk, crime 3.43 2016 Escapology
author: Ren Warom
name: Burt
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/09
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: cyberpunk, crime
review:

]]> The Lost War (Eidyn, #1) 69709682
With a ragged peace in place, demons burn farmlands, violent Reivers roam the wilds and plague has spread beyond the Black Meadows. The country is on its knees.

In a society that fears and shuns him, Aranok is the first magically-skilled draoidh to be named King’s Envoy.

Now, charged with restoring an exiled foreign queen to her throne, he leads a group of strangers across the ravaged country. But at every step, a new mystery complicates their mission.

As bodies drop around them, new threats emerge and lies are revealed, can Aranok bring his companions together and uncover the conspiracy that threatens the kingdom?

Strap in for this twisted fantasy road trip from award-winning author Justin Lee Anderson.]]> 529 Justin Lee Anderson 0316454176 Burt 5 4.12 2019 The Lost War (Eidyn, #1)
author: Justin Lee Anderson
name: Burt
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: darkfantasy, fantasy, macabre, required_reading, world_builders
review:
I picked up this book as a summer read last year and though it took a while to marinate on the shelf, once I started I couldn't put it down. The book has a lot of great elements thrown into it and has little nudges from countless other great fantasy works to help bring just about any fantasy reader in and keep them there.
]]> <![CDATA[To Your Scattered Bodies Go (Riverworld, #1)]]> 189147 To Your Scattered Bodies Go is the Hugo Award-winning beginning to the story of Riverworld, Philip José Farmer's unequaled tale about life after death. When famous adventurer Sir Richard Francis Burton dies, the last thing he expects to do is awaken naked on a foreign planet along the shores of a seemingly endless river. But that's where Burton and billions of other humans (plus a few nonhumans) find themselves as the epic Riverworld saga begins. It seems that all of Earthly humanity has been resurrected on the planet, each with an indestructible container that provides three meals a day, cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, a lighter, and the odd tube of lipstick. But why? And by whom?

That's what Burton and a handful of fellow adventurers are determined to discover as they construct a boat and set out in search of the river's source, thought to be millions of miles away. Although there are many hardships during the journey--including an encounter with the infamous Hermann Goring--Burton's resolve to complete his quest is strengthened by a visit from the Mysterious Stranger, a being who claims to be a renegade within the very group that created the Riverworld. The stranger tells Burton that he must make it to the river's headwaters, along with a dozen others the Stranger has selected, to help stop an evil experiment at the end of which humanity will simply be allowed to die. --Craig E. Engler

]]> 220 Philip José Farmer 0345419677 Burt 3 interesting takes, along with a dollop of Eurocentrism.

Not sure I"m going to get around to reading the remaining books in the series despite a cliffhanger ending (there are three more 'Riverworld' books in the series and I have a lot of other things to read).]]> 3.94 1971 To Your Scattered Bodies Go (Riverworld, #1)
author: Philip José Farmer
name: Burt
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1971
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: macabre, sci-fi, world_builders
review:
This has been on my radar for some time, ever since I saw the ill-fated adaptation on the Sci-Fi Channel back in the early 00's. As it turns out it's a bit more savage and grim than the show gave the impression of, and it's a product of seventies science fiction, so... be prepared for some interesting takes, along with a dollop of Eurocentrism.

Not sure I"m going to get around to reading the remaining books in the series despite a cliffhanger ending (there are three more 'Riverworld' books in the series and I have a lot of other things to read).
]]> Norse Mythology 37903770 This is an alternate cover edition for ISBN 9780393356182

Neil Gaiman, long inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms of his fiction, presents a bravura rendition of the Norse gods and their world from their origin though their upheaval in Ragnarok.

In Norse Mythology, Gaiman stays true to the myths in envisioning the major Norse pantheon: Odin, the highest of the high, wise, daring, and cunning; Thor, Odin’s son, incredibly strong yet not the wisest of gods; and Loki—son of a giant—blood brother to Odin and a trickster and unsurpassable manipulator.

Gaiman fashions these primeval stories into a novelistic arc that begins with the genesis of the legendary nine worlds and delves into the exploits of deities, dwarfs, and giants. Through Gaiman’s deft and witty prose, these gods emerge with their fiercely competitive natures, their susceptibility to being duped and to duping others, and their tendency to let passion ignite their actions, making these long-ago myths breathe pungent life again.]]> 301 Neil Gaiman Burt 4 anthology, fantasy, mythology 4.11 2017 Norse Mythology
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Burt
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: anthology, fantasy, mythology
review:
IT's norse mythology, plus Gaiman's spin on it, Particularly notable are his presentations of both Thor and Loki, making them quite droll in many ways, but just as violent and sinister as both could be. It goes well beyond just the stories of the two best known Asgardians, and got me to look at several myths I had, to that point, been unaware of. If you can get the audio, Neil Himself reads the novel, which may or may not be a draw for people right now.
]]> The Eyes of the Dragon 10611
​Thus begins one of the most unique tales that master storyteller Stephen King has ever written—a sprawling fantasy of dark magic and the struggle for absolute power that utterly transforms the destinies of two brothers born into royalty. Through this enthralling masterpiece of mythical adventure, intrigue, and terror, you will thrill to this unforgettable narrative filled with relentless, wicked enchantment, and the most terrible of secrets…]]> 427 Stephen King Burt 4
If you can get your hands on the audiobook, you're in for a treat as it's read by Bronson Pinchot, and he delivers.]]> 3.95 1984 The Eyes of the Dragon
author: Stephen King
name: Burt
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves:
review:
As singularly unique book for SK, a fairy tale story plus Man in the Iron Mask, featuring that favorite walkin' dude, Flagg.

If you can get your hands on the audiobook, you're in for a treat as it's read by Bronson Pinchot, and he delivers.
]]> The Bazaar of Bad Dreams 23512999 495 Stephen King 1501111671 Burt 4 anthology, macabre, modernlit 3.91 2015 The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
author: Stephen King
name: Burt
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: anthology, macabre, modernlit
review:
It's a SK short story book. Not really much more need be said. Some of his best books are his collections of shorts, and this one proves to be worth of collections like Everything's Eventual, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, or Night Shift.
]]> The Institute 43798285
In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.

As psychically terrifying as Firestarter, and with the spectacular kid power of It, The Institute is Stephen King's gut-wrenchingly dramatic story of good versus evil in a world where the good guys don't always win.
--front flap]]> 561 Stephen King Burt 4 4.17 2019 The Institute
author: Stephen King
name: Burt
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2020/01/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: modernlit, sci-fi, world_builders
review:
I desperately wanted this book to be a continuation of the organization created in King's 'Firestarter' and was somewhat disappointed to learn there's be no connections. However, what's presented is quite good and worth reading. It has a lot of Firestarter's trappings and mood though, and I'd recommend it as good, post-van book King.
]]> <![CDATA[Persepolis Rising (The Expanse, #7)]]> 28335696 In the vast space between Earth and Jupiter, the inner planets and the Belt have formed a tentative and uncertain alliance, still haunted by a history of wars and prejudices. On the lost colony world of Laconia, a hidden enemy has a new vision for all of humanity � and the power to enforce it.
New technologies clash with old, as the history of human conflict returns to its ancient pattern of war and subjugation. But human nature is not the only enemy, and the forces being unleashed have their own price. A price that will change the shape of humanity � and of the Rocinante � unexpectedly and for ever �

The seventh novel in James S. A. Corey's New York Times bestselling Expanse series--now a major television series.
The Expanse Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War, Abaddon's Gate, Cibola Burn, Nemesis Games, Babylon's Ashes, Persepolis Rising,
The Expanse Short Fiction The Butcher of Anderson Station, Gods of Risk, The Churn, The Vital Abyss, Strange Dogs.]]> 608 James S.A. Corey 0316332828 Burt 5 4.34 2017 Persepolis Rising (The Expanse, #7)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Burt
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Leviathan Falls (The Expanse, #9)]]> 28335699
In the dead system of Adro, Elvi Okoye leads a desperate scientific mission to understand what the gate builders were and what destroyed them, even if it means compromising herself and the half-alien children who bear the weight of her investigation. Through the wide-flung systems of humanity, Colonel Aliana Tanaka hunts for Duarte’s missing daughter. . . and the shattered emperor himself. And on the Rocinante, James Holden and his crew struggle to build a future for humanity out of the shards and ruins of all that has come before.

As nearly unimaginable forces prepare to annihilate all human life, Holden and a group of unlikely allies discover a last, desperate chance to unite all of humanity, with the promise of a vast galactic civilization free from wars, factions, lies, and secrets if they win.

But the price of victory may be worse than the cost of defeat.]]> 528 James S.A. Corey 0356510395 Burt 5 4.48 2021 Leviathan Falls (The Expanse, #9)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Burt
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse, #8)]]> 39713324
In the dead systems where gates lead to stranger things than alien planets, Elvi Okoye begins a desperate search to discover the nature of a genocide that happened before the first human beings existed, and to find weapons to fight a war against forces at the edge of the imaginable. But the price of that knowledge may be higher than she can pay.

At the heart of the empire, Teresa Duarte prepares to take on the burden of her father’s godlike ambition. The sociopathic scientist Paolo Cortázar and the Mephistophelian prisoner James Holden are only two of the dangers in a palace thick with intrigue, but Teresa has a mind of her own and secrets even her father the emperor doesn’t guess.

And throughout the wide human empire, the scattered crew of the Rocinante fights a brave rear-guard action against Duarte’s authoritarian regime. Memory of the old order falls away, and a future under Laconia’s eternal rule � and with it, a battle that humanity can only lose � seems more and more certain. Because against the terrors that lie between worlds, courage and ambition will not be enough…]]> 545 James S.A. Corey 0316332860 Burt 4 4.68 2019 Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse, #8)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Burt
average rating: 4.68
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/14
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: sci-fi, world_builders, required_reading, political
review:

]]> Grim Repast (Warhammer Crime) 59071766 A Warhammer Crime NovelTormented by his past, Probator Quillon Drask’s reputation as the go-to detective for strange crimes has led him to the Polaris district of Varangantua. Warring families, corrupt officials, and a monstrous hunger stalk these streets, and Drask must overcome his own inner agonies to bring justice to the tormented city.READ IT BECAUSESee the world of the 41st Millennium from street level in this grisly crime drama that shines a light on what life is like in the Imperium's rancid underbelly.THE STORY“This city eats men…”Quillon Drask is a haunted man, wrestling with the daemons of his past. With a reputation that draws only the strangest cases, he is intimately familiar with the malevolent underbelly of Varangantua. Yet nothing that has gone before could have prepared the probator for the horrors which now blight the district of Polaris.Faced with a savage crime with frightening implications, Drask is thrust into a game of corruption and conspiracy, warring families, and blasphemous revelations. Only by mastering the bitter lessons of his career and his own tortured insight can Drask hope to bring the perpetrators to justice, and curb the monstrous hunger which stalks the city.Written by Marc Collins.]]> 320 Marc Collins 1800266022 Burt 4 4.10 2021 Grim Repast (Warhammer Crime)
author: Marc Collins
name: Burt
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/06/28
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: macabre, mystery, rpg_pulp, sci-fi, world_builders, two-fisted
review:

]]> The Lost Cause 77425645
For young Americans a generation from now, climate change isn't controversial. It's just an overwhelming fact of life. And so are the great efforts to contain and mitigate it. Entire cities are being moved inland from the rising seas. Vast clean-energy projects are springing up everywhere. Disaster relief, the mitigation of floods and superstorms, has become a skill for which tens of millions of people are trained every year. The effort is global. It employs everyone who wants to work. Even when national politics oscillates back to right-wing leaders, the momentum is too great; these vast programs cannot be stopped in their tracks.

But there are still those Americans, mostly elderly, who cling to their red baseball caps, their grievances, their huge vehicles, their anger. To their "alternative" news sources that reassure them that their resentment is right and pure and that "climate change" is just a giant scam.

And they're your grandfather, your uncle, your great-aunt. And they're not going anywhere. And they’re armed to the teeth.

The Lost Cause What do we do about people who cling to the belief that their own children are the enemy? When, in fact, they're often the elders that we love?

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 360 Cory Doctorow 1250865956 Burt 3 object to the message; I wholeheartedly align with it. The place where it loses me in how simple and easy he makes the adoption of that message and how it could be expected to be carried out are overly rosy and optimistic (especially given recent turns in American politics and the resolution of terrible people - and Supreme Court judges - continuing to do even worse things to their own neighbors).

If you're a right wing type, this book isn't for you. Anyone who'd wear a specific red hat would no doubt be disgusted with in three pages. For the rest of us, it's not a bad way to examine the present through a version of what might come to pass.]]> 3.99 2023 The Lost Cause
author: Cory Doctorow
name: Burt
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/22
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: day-after-tomorrow, modernlit, philosophy, political, world_builders
review:
Like other Doctorow books, this is a story wrapped around his personal socio-political message. Mind, I don't object to the message; I wholeheartedly align with it. The place where it loses me in how simple and easy he makes the adoption of that message and how it could be expected to be carried out are overly rosy and optimistic (especially given recent turns in American politics and the resolution of terrible people - and Supreme Court judges - continuing to do even worse things to their own neighbors).

If you're a right wing type, this book isn't for you. Anyone who'd wear a specific red hat would no doubt be disgusted with in three pages. For the rest of us, it's not a bad way to examine the present through a version of what might come to pass.
]]> Exadelic 65214581
Soon Adrian is on the run, wanted by every authority, with no idea how or why he could be a threat. His predicament seems hopeless; his future, nonexistent. But when he investigates the AI and its creators, he discovers his problems are even stranger than they seem...and unearths revelations that will propel him on a journey -- and a love story -- across worlds, eras, and everything, everywhere, all at once.]]> 448 Jon Evans 1250877733 Burt 4
It's got a lot of strange cults, magick both inventive and as represented from reality (a la Jack Parsons, as he is wont to do, and Aleister Crowley via Thelema), and generally a fantastic, rolling adventure that strings together nicely. The end was a bit of a strange thing for me - but honestly, I have no idea how a book like this was supposed to end.]]> 3.29 2023 Exadelic
author: Jon Evans
name: Burt
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: crime, day-after-tomorrow, macabre, modernlit, mystery, periodpiece, sci-fi, world_builders
review:
A fascinating look into what it would mean to hit the singularity, but also a strange, reality-bending, multi-dimensional book about some pretty weird concepts of the realities and consequences for arriving that singularity.

It's got a lot of strange cults, magick both inventive and as represented from reality (a la Jack Parsons, as he is wont to do, and Aleister Crowley via Thelema), and generally a fantastic, rolling adventure that strings together nicely. The end was a bit of a strange thing for me - but honestly, I have no idea how a book like this was supposed to end.
]]> <![CDATA[Acceptance (Southern Reach, #3)]]> 18077752
Meanwhile, Acceptance tunnels ever deeper into the circumstances surrounding the creation of Area X—what initiated this unnatural upheaval? Among the many who have tried, who has gotten close to understanding Area X—and who may have been corrupted by it?

In this last installment of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, the mysteries of Area X may be solved, but their consequences and implications are no less profound—or terrifying.]]> 341 Jeff VanderMeer 0374104115 Burt 4
I read this without knowing that there would be yet a fourth book in the (increasingly inaccurately named Area X 'Trilogy'), but will definitely look toward the next, presumably final novel in the series, 'Absolution' set to release this upcoming October.]]> 3.66 2014 Acceptance (Southern Reach, #3)
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Burt
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: day-after-tomorrow, macabre, modernlit, mystery, philosophy, sci-fi, world_builders
review:
This novel allows for a real-time, direct experience of what it is to be in the zone after things have truly begun to move in the favor of the entity behind Area X's growth and reads like a hyper lucid dream the more one pushes through the series. More importantly, it finally addresses the lighthouse keeper and what role he played in the creation of Area X.

I read this without knowing that there would be yet a fourth book in the (increasingly inaccurately named Area X 'Trilogy'), but will definitely look toward the next, presumably final novel in the series, 'Absolution' set to release this upcoming October.
]]> <![CDATA[Authority (Southern Reach, #2)]]> 18077769 The bone-chilling, hair-raising second installment of the Southern Reach Trilogy

After thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X—a seemingly malevolent landscape surrounded by an invisible border and mysteriously wiped clean of all signs of civilization—has been a series of expeditions overseen by a government agency so secret it has almost been forgotten: the Southern Reach. Following the tumultuous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the agency is in complete disarray.

John RodrĂ­guez (aka "Control") is the Southern Reach's newly appointed head. Working with a distrustful but desperate team, a series of frustrating interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, Control begins to penetrate the secrets of Area X. But with each discovery he must confront disturbing truths about himself and the agency he's pledged to serve.

In Authority, the second volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, Area X's most disturbing questions are answered . . . but the answers are far from reassuring.]]> 341 Jeff VanderMeer 0374104107 Burt 4 3.54 2014 Authority (Southern Reach, #2)
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: Burt
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: day-after-tomorrow, macabre, modernlit, sci-fi, world_builders
review:
The second entry in the Area X novels, this one really gives a good glance behind the scenes of the Southern Reach and the people struggling to make sense of it and, if possible, to contain its growth. The characters are incredibly visceral - each person introduced becomes more and more transparent as the novel evolves and mutates into its finale, setting up for third novel's journey into full on weirdness.
]]> <![CDATA[All Tomorrow's Parties (Bridge, #3)]]> 22321 Idoru) lives in a cardboard box, he has the power to change the world. Thanks to an experimental drug that he received during his youth, Colin can see "nodal points" in the vast streams of data that make up the worldwide computer network. Nodal points are rare but significant events in history that forever change society, even though they might not be recognizable as such when they occur. Colin isn't quite sure what's going to happen when society reaches this latest nodal point, but he knows it's going to be big. And he knows it's going to occur on the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, which has been home to a sort of SoHo-esque shantytown since an earthquake rendered it structurally unsound to carry traffic.

Although All Tomorrow's Parties includes characters from two of Gibson's earlier novels, it's not a direct sequel to either. It's a stand-alone book.--Craig E. Engler]]> 341 William Gibson 0425190447 Burt 3 3.92 1999 All Tomorrow's Parties (Bridge, #3)
author: William Gibson
name: Burt
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: world_builders, sci-fi, cyberpunk, day-after-tomorrow
review:
See also my review on Idoru. Maybe I'll go back and read both Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties to see what they were about as they were read in a quick rush through college.
]]> Idoru (Bridge, #2) 22325 308 William Gibson 0425190455 Burt 3 3.83 1996 Idoru (Bridge, #2)
author: William Gibson
name: Burt
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at: 1997/10/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: sci-fi, world_builders, cyberpunk, day-after-tomorrow
review:
This book had tons of Gibson style and finesse, but when it came down to it was a pale comparison for Virtual Light. It continues the story of a few of the characters from Virtual Light into a meandering cyberpunk trip through... nbowhere. It doesn't rate a two, because William Gibsom books are like sex - there's no bad sex, just some sex that's better than others.
]]> Virtual Light (Bridge, #1) 682739 352 William Gibson 0553566067 Burt 4 3.68 1993 Virtual Light (Bridge, #1)
author: William Gibson
name: Burt
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 1995/01/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: sci-fi, world_builders, cyberpunk, day-after-tomorrow
review:
While many others tout the Neuromancer based books (Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive), I must admit this novel is a strong beginning for his next trilogy (though better followups with Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties could have been better). The story is solid though the ending comes quickly and resolves on a flat note. However, the range of characters and the concepts presented make up for this to a large degree, from Barry, a down on his luck rent-a-cop, to his hypochondriac, hyper-allergenic partner, Sublett. Add to this a courrier messenger in over her head, a psychotic killer, a man named Warbaby and the concept of nano engineered buildings to reconstruct earthquake zones, and you have a very strange cyberpunk piece indeed. Go ahead and have a peek if you want a good one off, though the storie does continue in two further books in a strange, non-linear way.
]]> <![CDATA[Spirits in the Wires (Newford, #10)]]> 186425
To rescue their missing friends, Christy and his companions must journey into Newford's otherworld, where the Wordwood, it transpires, has a physical presence of its own...]]> 448 Charles de Lint 0312869711 Burt 0 4.03 2003 Spirits in the Wires (Newford, #10)
author: Charles de Lint
name: Burt
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read, the_infinite_backlog, fantasy, modernlit, abandoned
review:

]]> Haunted 22288
The stories are told by people who have all answered an ad headlined 'Artists Retreat: Abandon your life for three months'. They are led to believe that here they will leave behind all the distractions of 'real life' that are keeping them from creating the masterpiece that is in them.

But 'here' turns out to be a cavernous and ornate old theater where they are utterly isolated from the outside world - and where heat and power and, most importantly, food are in increasingly short supply. And the more desperate the circumstances become, the more desperate the stories they tell - and the more devious their machinations to make themselves the hero of the inevitable play/movie/non-fiction blockbuster that will certainly be made from their plight.]]> 419 Chuck Palahniuk 1400032822 Burt 0 3.60 2005 Haunted
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: Burt
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: to-read, the_infinite_backlog, abandoned
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Four Forges (The Elven Ways #1)]]> 1601921
Brought to the world of Kerith by an unknown cataclysm, the Vaelinar race is both magical and arrogant, considering themselves far superior to the natives whose own magic has been shorn away by a civil war. As hated as they are revered, the Vaelinars have retreated to seclusion after anchoring their magic to the new world by a series of Talent-wrought Ways, passages of power, always hoping that one day they will create the Way back to the world they lost.

Two young people, one broken of soul and the other broken of mind, find their fates intertwined as their mixed bloodlines both curse and bless them. Can a river-borne slave and a street-savvy half-breed find their own personal truth in time to avert another civil war?]]> 616 Jenna Rhodes 0756404126 Burt 0 3.66 2006 The Four Forges (The Elven Ways #1)
author: Jenna Rhodes
name: Burt
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: the_infinite_backlog, to-read, abandoned
review:
OK, I'm usually not in for all things elvish and waifish, but this doesn't seem too bad for a start. LEt's see what happens. So far the book's tagline of 'not your typical elf world' is accurate.
]]> <![CDATA[The Demon and the City (Detective Inspector Chen, #2)]]> 150932
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.]]> 242 Liz Williams 1597800457 Burt 3 3.79 2006 The Demon and the City (Detective Inspector Chen, #2)
author: Liz Williams
name: Burt
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: cyberpunk, crime, darkfantasy, macabre, mystery, world_builders, thriller
review:

]]> Providence 52027273 A dazzling, inventive, and thought-provoking new novel from the ingenious author of Jennifer Government and Lexicon.

Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson are astronauts captaining a new and supposedly indestructible ship in humanity's war against an alien race. Confined to the ship for years, each of them holding their own secrets, they are about to learn there are threats beyond the reach of human ingenuity--and that the true nature of reality might be the universe's greatest mystery.

In this near future, our world is at war with another, and humanity is haunted by its one catastrophic loss--a nightmarish engagement that left a handful of survivors drifting home through space, wracked with PTSD. Public support for the war plummeted, and the military-industrial complex set its sights on a new goal: zero-casualty warfare, made possible by gleaming new ships called Providences, powered by AI.

But when the latest-launched Providence suffers a surprising attack and contact with home is severed, Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson must confront the truth of the war they're fighting, the ship that brought them there, and the cosmos beyond.]]> 306 Max Barry 0593085175 Burt 4 sci-fi, world_builders 3.81 2020 Providence
author: Max Barry
name: Burt
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: sci-fi, world_builders
review:
This book starts out as a sort of soft military sci-fi and propaganda narrative becoming a very grim tale of survival and what it means to survive conflict. It's a gripping entry from Barry, another of my favorite and criminally undersung authors. Be ready to go on a darker journey of the soul that more of his earlier works with less humor, more in line with Barry's Lexicon.
]]> <![CDATA[The Last Adventure of Constance Verity]]> 40194873
Ever since she was granted a wish at birth by her fairy godmother, Constance Verity has become one of the world’s great adventurers. It all began at her seventh birthday party when she defeated a snake. She has become a master of exotic martial arts, a keen detective, and possesses a collection of strange artifacts gathered from her adventures. But Constance has spent the past twenty-eight years saving the world, and she’s tired of it. All she wants is to work in an office and date a nice, normal guy. And she is finally figured out a way to do it: she’s going to kill her fairy godmother and reset her life. The only problem, though, is that saving the world is Constance’s destiny. She’s great at it, and there are forces at work to make sure she stays in the job.

Then again, it’s also her destiny to have a glorious death.]]> 385 A. Lee Martinez Burt 3 3.84 2016 The Last Adventure of Constance Verity
author: A. Lee Martinez
name: Burt
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/09
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: fantasy, humor, modernlit, mystery, sci-fi, world_builders
review:
This book wasn't up with my favorites from Martinez, but at the same tier as Monster. I finally got around to this after years of trying to come back to it and finally listened to it in audio form. The idea's solid enough, but it frequently felt like a way to string together more and more improbably events. It's written with Martinez's prose which always helps, and if you want crazy stuff happening left and right, this could be for you.
]]> Agency (Jackpot #2) 34943643 New York Times bestselling The Peripheral, a gifted "app-whisperer" is hired by a mysterious San Francisco start-up and finds herself in contact with a unique and surprisingly combat-savvy AI.]]> 413 William Gibson 1101986956 Burt 3
The issue with this particular entry is in its story - It's been a few years since I read it and to be honest... I can tell you some of the highlights (amazing future tech, further deepening of the mystery of who is running the service allowing for the main conceit of the series, political chicanery)... but I can't for the life of me remember what the characters were going for (though I love all of these characters). Mostly this was due to the feeling that, regardless of what was happening at any time... none of the characters ever really seemed to be in danger (a similarity to Pattern Recognition). I remember that I liked the set dressing and getting back in touch with the characters from both Pre- and Post-Jackpot, but the story is a meandering, Lynch-like experience. It's something that's happening around you and if you let it just do its thing, you'll take from it what you wanted.

Gibson books are like pizza for me: he rarely makes lackluster ones. This one is in the middle of the pack. I feel like it's meant to be a springboard for book three, but... who knows when or if the third will be released. His novels come out on Standard Gibson Time, which is to say when they're ready.

I'm waiting patiently.]]> 3.81 2020 Agency (Jackpot #2)
author: William Gibson
name: Burt
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: cyberpunk, crime, day-after-tomorrow, political, sci-fi, world_builders
review:
This book continues the machinations and behind-the-scenes actors of The Peripheral, and is meant to be the middle book of a trilogy I'm not sure I'll ever see finished.

The issue with this particular entry is in its story - It's been a few years since I read it and to be honest... I can tell you some of the highlights (amazing future tech, further deepening of the mystery of who is running the service allowing for the main conceit of the series, political chicanery)... but I can't for the life of me remember what the characters were going for (though I love all of these characters). Mostly this was due to the feeling that, regardless of what was happening at any time... none of the characters ever really seemed to be in danger (a similarity to Pattern Recognition). I remember that I liked the set dressing and getting back in touch with the characters from both Pre- and Post-Jackpot, but the story is a meandering, Lynch-like experience. It's something that's happening around you and if you let it just do its thing, you'll take from it what you wanted.

Gibson books are like pizza for me: he rarely makes lackluster ones. This one is in the middle of the pack. I feel like it's meant to be a springboard for book three, but... who knows when or if the third will be released. His novels come out on Standard Gibson Time, which is to say when they're ready.

I'm waiting patiently.
]]> The Peripheral (Jackpot #1) 24611819
Wilf Netherton lives in London, seventy-some years later, on the far side of decades of slow-motion apocalypse. Things are pretty good now, for the haves, and there aren’t many have-nots left. Wilf, a high-powered publicist and celebrity-minder, fancies himself a romantic misfit, in a society where reaching into the past is just another hobby.Ěý

Burton’s been moonlighting online, secretly working security in some game prototype, a virtual world that looks vaguely like London, but a lot weirder. He’s got Flynne taking over shifts, promised her the game’s not a shooter. Still, the crime she witnesses there is plenty bad.

Flynne and Wilf are about to meet one another. Her world will be altered utterly, irrevocably, and Wilf’s, for all its decadence and power, will learn that some of these third-world types from the past can be badass.]]> 485 William Gibson 0425276236 Burt 4
This book takes some time to adequately tackle because of the way Gibson tells stories. It's not a bug, but a feature. Never one to hold a reader's hand, the novel takes some time to spool out before you really figure out what's going on and why the narratives feel so different chapter to chapter. Once you get past this, you can't put it down.

Both the television series (sadly, cancelled) and the novel are sort of their own beasts, but the series is more straightforward about things, letting you get in to the main conceit much more quickly. If you have trouble with the novel, watching an episode will prime you, and suddenly, the beginning of the book gets a little easier to grok.

I know that's not a glowing endorsement of my favorite author, but that's Gibson for you. If you want something that's straight-forward, Dan Brown is there for you I guess. For people willing to work for a great tale, this one's a great place to start.]]> 3.77 2014 The Peripheral (Jackpot #1)
author: William Gibson
name: Burt
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: cyberpunk, day-after-tomorrow, political, sci-fi, world_builders
review:
What would you do if someone came to you put of the blue and told you you could get easy money by playing a VR game? What if the tech used to provide it was generations ahead of anything you'd seen. What if you found out it wasn't a game, but affecting the socio-political landscape of... someplace very different from your own?

This book takes some time to adequately tackle because of the way Gibson tells stories. It's not a bug, but a feature. Never one to hold a reader's hand, the novel takes some time to spool out before you really figure out what's going on and why the narratives feel so different chapter to chapter. Once you get past this, you can't put it down.

Both the television series (sadly, cancelled) and the novel are sort of their own beasts, but the series is more straightforward about things, letting you get in to the main conceit much more quickly. If you have trouble with the novel, watching an episode will prime you, and suddenly, the beginning of the book gets a little easier to grok.

I know that's not a glowing endorsement of my favorite author, but that's Gibson for you. If you want something that's straight-forward, Dan Brown is there for you I guess. For people willing to work for a great tale, this one's a great place to start.
]]> Man, Fuck This House 59224051
At first glance, the house is perfect. But things aren't what they seem.

Sabrina's hearing odd noises, seeing strange visions. Their neighbors are odd or absent. And Sabrina's already-fraught relationship with her son is about to be tested in a way no parent could ever imagine.

Because while the Haskins family might be the newest owners of 4596 James Circle, they're far from its only residents...]]> 158 Brian Asman Burt 3 macabre, modernlit
It's a little rough in its narrative in spots, and be prepared to not exactly like any of the characters. If you can do that, you'll make it through fine.]]> 3.33 2021 Man, Fuck This House
author: Brian Asman
name: Burt
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/01
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: macabre, modernlit
review:
A quick, weird read about a home that wants something very badly, and what it's willing to do to obtain it. A non-standard haunted house story for sure.

It's a little rough in its narrative in spots, and be prepared to not exactly like any of the characters. If you can do that, you'll make it through fine.
]]> <![CDATA[Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1)]]> 50027 Discover the origin story of one of the greatest heroes of the Realms—Drizzt Do’Urden—in this thrilling first installment of the Dark Elf Trilogy

Drow ranger Drizzt Do’Urden, first introduced in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, quickly became one of the fantasy genre’s standout characters. With Homeland, Salvatore pulls back the curtain to reveal the startling tale of how this hero came to be—how this one lone drow walked out of the shadowy depths of the Underdark; how he left behind an evil society and a family that wanted him dead.

As the third son of Mother Malice and weaponmaster Zaknafein, Drizzt Do’Urden is meant to be sacrificed to Lolth, the evil Spider Queen, per drow tradition. But with the unexpected death of his older brother, young Drizzt is spared—and, as a result, further ostracized by his family. As Drizzt grows older, developing his swordsmanship skills and studying at the Academy, he begins to realize that his idea of good and evil does not match up with those of his fellow drow. Can Drizzt stay true to himself in a such an unforgiving, unprincipled world?

Homeland is the first book in the Dark Elf Trilogy and the Legend of Drizzt series.]]> 343 R.A. Salvatore Burt 3 4.26 1990 Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Burt
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1990
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/05/06
shelves: rpg_pulp, world_builders, fantasy
review:

]]> Preacher, Book 1 5428776
After merging with a bizarre spiritual force called Genesis, Texan preacher Jesse Custer has become completely disillusioned with the beliefs to which he had dedicated his entire life. Now possessing the power of "the word," an ability to make people do whatever he utters, Custer begins a violent and riotous journey across the country. Joined by his gun-toting girlfriend Tulip and the hard-drinking Irish vampire Cassidy, Custer loses faith in both God and man as he witnesses dark atrocities and improbable calamities during his exploration of America.

This new collected edition features an all-new introduction by series writer Garth Ennis.]]> 335 Garth Ennis 140122279X Burt 5 4.41 2009 Preacher, Book 1
author: Garth Ennis
name: Burt
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/03/22
shelves: darkfantasy, graphicnovel, macabre, modernlit, world_builders, required_reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadowrun Legends: Burning Bright]]> 30624399
Mitch Truman, heir apparent to an entertainment megacorporation. He may have fled his parents for the sake of love, but if magic is involved the reason could be darker...

Dan Truman, CEO of media giant Truman Technologies, doesn't care how much it costs--he wants his son back. He'll hire the best to find his heir, even if their motives are suspect...

Kyle Teller's done this job before. He knows the tricks of the trade, and not only because he's a mage. He thinks finding the missing boy will be easy. Why shouldn't it be?

But will money and experience be enough to defeat the terrible power growing beneath the city of Chicago?]]> 281 Tom Dowd Burt 3 Riddled With OCR Scan Errors and/or Editing Notes

I read this in print when I was a kid. The story is fun (and horrifying) though not as satisfying the second run through now that I’m older. The kindle edition (if not the print edition) is absolutely shot through with what has to be bad OCR scanning from the original books or a copy of an edited manuscript (there are actual editing notes that point toward a consistency reader).

If you can get past the bugs (pun intended) of the port from print, it’s still fun. ]]> 4.06 1994 Shadowrun Legends: Burning Bright
author: Tom Dowd
name: Burt
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1994
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/10
date added: 2023/09/19
shelves:
review:
Riddled With OCR Scan Errors and/or Editing Notes

I read this in print when I was a kid. The story is fun (and horrifying) though not as satisfying the second run through now that I’m older. The kindle edition (if not the print edition) is absolutely shot through with what has to be bad OCR scanning from the original books or a copy of an edited manuscript (there are actual editing notes that point toward a consistency reader).

If you can get past the bugs (pun intended) of the port from print, it’s still fun.
]]> <![CDATA[Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse, #6)]]> 25877663 The sixth book in the New York Times bestselling Expanse series.

NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES

A revolution brewing for generations has begun in fire. It will end in blood.

The Free Navy - a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships - has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them.

James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network.

But the new alliances are as flawed as the old, and the struggle for power has only just begun. As the chaos grows, an alien mystery deepens. Pirate fleets, mutiny and betrayal may be the least of the Rocinante's problems. And in the uncanny spaces past the ring gates, the choices of a few damaged and desperate people may determine the fate of more than just humanity.

]]> 532 James S.A. Corey 0356504263 Burt 4 4.22 2016 Babylon’s Ashes (The Expanse, #6)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: Burt
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2020/01/01
date added: 2023/06/15
shelves: political, sci-fi, world_builders
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]> 7082 244 Philip K. Dick Burt 5
The world is dying. The planet has lost almost every natural kind of life and has been throwing itself to the stars, leaving the worls empty save for those too poor, too desperate, or too unfit to journey outward. The corporations rule everything, and the biggest one is the Tyrell Corporation. The corporation makes many things, but the most popular one is Replicants - androids that are so similar to human beings that they are easily mistaken for actual humans. They serve as many things: manservants, warriors, technicians and consorts, but they are forbidden on Earth, presumably because they are meant to encourage man into the stars to make use of them. Those that are found on the earth are hunted down and destroyed.

This is not execution. It is called retirement.

Deckard is a bounty hunter of synthetic humans , or 'andies,' and who has nothing to hold onto anymore but his dispondent wife who is hooked (literally) on religion and it's concomitant 'empathy box' and the electric sheep (manufactured by the Tyrell Corporation) which mindlessly grazes on his apartment's rooftop.

All is not as it seems though as Deckard is brought back into his old line of work. He discovers more about replicants than he ever bargained for and soon comes to the conclusion that perhaps he too may be one of the android creations of the Tyrell Corporation.

Most of this book is forgotten to me, and I am a fan of both the book and the movie, which each have their merits. Indulge in both whenever you may.]]> 4.08 1968 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Burt
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1968
rating: 5
read at: 1993/01/01
date added: 2022/02/12
shelves: sci-fi, modernlit, world_builders, required_reading, cyberpunk
review:
Philip K. Dick tackles what it is to be human in this story of the far flung future.

The world is dying. The planet has lost almost every natural kind of life and has been throwing itself to the stars, leaving the worls empty save for those too poor, too desperate, or too unfit to journey outward. The corporations rule everything, and the biggest one is the Tyrell Corporation. The corporation makes many things, but the most popular one is Replicants - androids that are so similar to human beings that they are easily mistaken for actual humans. They serve as many things: manservants, warriors, technicians and consorts, but they are forbidden on Earth, presumably because they are meant to encourage man into the stars to make use of them. Those that are found on the earth are hunted down and destroyed.

This is not execution. It is called retirement.

Deckard is a bounty hunter of synthetic humans , or 'andies,' and who has nothing to hold onto anymore but his dispondent wife who is hooked (literally) on religion and it's concomitant 'empathy box' and the electric sheep (manufactured by the Tyrell Corporation) which mindlessly grazes on his apartment's rooftop.

All is not as it seems though as Deckard is brought back into his old line of work. He discovers more about replicants than he ever bargained for and soon comes to the conclusion that perhaps he too may be one of the android creations of the Tyrell Corporation.

Most of this book is forgotten to me, and I am a fan of both the book and the movie, which each have their merits. Indulge in both whenever you may.
]]> The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1) 334176 419 Mary Doria Russell 0449912558 Burt 4 4.13 1996 The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1)
author: Mary Doria Russell
name: Burt
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2021/11/15
date added: 2022/02/11
shelves: sci-fi, world_builders, political, philosophy, modernlit
review:
When an extraterrestrial signal is discovered by SETI, the world reacts. But, no one reacts faster than the Jesuits, who assemble a team of scientists and four Jesuit priests to reach the source of the signal. What they find is both harrowing and inevitably fatal. A single survivor returns to Earth: Emelio Sandoz, one of the four priests. Terrible reports have been filed and returned to the Vatican, and they draw several conclusions that make Emilio appear to be something he was not before he left for Rakdos. The secret is unravelled in a harrowing series of tales and interviews with Sandoz, revealing not only what it is to be human, but what it is to be alien.
]]> Sea of Rust (Sea of Rust, #1) 33620760
It's been thirty years since the apocalypse and fifteen years since the murder of the last human being at the hands of robots. Humankind is extinct. Every man, woman, and child has been liquidated by a global uprising devised by the very machines humans designed and built to serve them. Most of the world is controlled by an OWI--One World Intelligence--the shared consciousness of millions of robots, uploaded into one huge mainframe brain. But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality--their personality--for the sake of a greater, stronger, higher power. These intrepid resisters are outcasts; solo machines wandering among various underground outposts who have formed into an unruly civilization of rogue AIs in the wasteland that was once our world.

One of these resisters is Brittle, a scavenger robot trying to keep a deteriorating mind and body functional in a world that has lost all meaning. Although unable to experience emotions like a human, Brittle is haunted by the terrible crimes the robot population perpetrated on humanity. As Brittle roams the Sea of Rust, a large swath of territory that was once the Midwest, the loner robot slowly comes to terms with horrifyingly raw and vivid memories--and nearly unbearable guilt.

Sea of Rust is both a harsh story of survival and an optimistic adventure. A vividly imagined portrayal of ultimate destruction and desperate tenacity, it boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, yet where a humanlike AI strives to find purpose among the ruins.]]> 274 C. Robert Cargill Burt 4 4.26 2017 Sea of Rust (Sea of Rust, #1)
author: C. Robert Cargill
name: Burt
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/18
date added: 2021/09/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cyberpunk, Dark-Future-Rollenspiel]]> 1836950 REPRINT 264 Mike Pondsmith 3927903167 Burt 5
Live it, love it, play it.

'Nuff said.]]> 4.50 1988 Cyberpunk, Dark-Future-Rollenspiel
author: Mike Pondsmith
name: Burt
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1988
rating: 5
read at: 1991/01/01
date added: 2021/05/11
shelves: rpg, sci-fi, world_builders, cyberpunk
review:
I don't have the german version, but it's the only damn version I can find in this whole system.

Live it, love it, play it.

'Nuff said.
]]> <![CDATA[How to Talk to Girls at Parties]]> 28186151
From the Locus Award-winning short story by Neil Gaiman—one of the most celebrated authors of our time—and adapted in vibrant ink-and-watercolor illustrations by the Daytripper duo of Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon, this original hardcover graphic novel is absolutely not to be missed!]]> 64 Neil Gaiman 1616559551 Burt 3 3.61 2016 How to Talk to Girls at Parties
author: Neil Gaiman
name: Burt
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/11/06
shelves: fantasy, graphicnovel, modernlit
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Black Science #1 (Black Science, #1)]]> 18691177 40 Rick Remender Burt 3 graphicnovel, sci-fi 3.89 Black Science #1 (Black Science, #1)
author: Rick Remender
name: Burt
average rating: 3.89
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/12/21
shelves: graphicnovel, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Broken Angels (Takeshi Kovacs, #2)]]> 279561 Welcome back to the brash, brutal new world of the twenty-fifth century: where global politics isn’t just for planet Earth anymore; and where death is just a break in the action, thanks to the techno-miracle that can preserve human consciousness and download it into one new body after another.

Cynical, quick-on-the-trigger Takeshi Kovacs, the ex-U.N. envoy turned private eye, has changed careers - and bodies - once more... trading sleuthing for soldiering as a warrior-for-hire, and helping a far-flung planet’s government put down a bloody revolution.

But when it comes to taking sides, the only one Kovacs is ever really on is his own. So when a rogue pilot and a sleazy corporate fat cat offer him a lucrative role in a treacherous treasure hunt, he’s only too happy to go AWOL with a band of resurrected soldiers of fortune. All that stands between them and the ancient alien spacecraft they mean to salvage are a massacred city bathed in deadly radiation, unleashed nanotechnolgy with a million ways to kill, and whatever surprises the highly advanced Martian race may have in store. But armed with his genetically engineered instincts, and his trusty twin Kalashnikovs, Takeshi is ready to take on anything � and let the devil take whoever’s left behind.

]]> 366 Richard K. Morgan 0345457714 Burt 0 3.92 2003 Broken Angels (Takeshi Kovacs, #2)
author: Richard K. Morgan
name: Burt
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/02/14
shelves: cyberpunk, mystery, ninjas-and-superspies, sci-fi, world_builders
review:

]]> The Rattler 27753932
And then he begins to hear her voice in the strangest of places. Pursued by his own organization and questioning his sanity, Stephen embarks on a grisly journey to save his long-lost love. As he unravels the truth of her disappearance, the body count rises and Stephen finds himself ensnared in a trap that has been set for him long ago]]> 104 Jason McNamara 1632156555 Burt 3 3.57 2016 The Rattler
author: Jason McNamara
name: Burt
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2017/09/17
shelves: crime, graphicnovel, macabre, thriller
review:

]]> Lady Killer, Volume 1 23995491 Lady Killer #1�#5.

“A level of violence that can only be described as Mad Men’s Betty Draper meets Dexter.”—Comic Book Resources

�Lady Killer somehow manages to perfectly incorporate the quaint concept of the 1950s TV housewife with blood-fueled antics of vicious killer for hire.”—IGN]]> 136 Joëlle Jones 1616557575 Burt 3 3.97 2015 Lady Killer, Volume 1
author: Joëlle Jones
name: Burt
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2017/09/17
shelves: crime, graphicnovel, ninjas-and-superspies, periodpiece, thriller
review:

]]> Shutter #3 22473747 31 Joe Keatinge Burt 3 3.94 2014 Shutter #3
author: Joe Keatinge
name: Burt
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2017/09/17
shelves: darkfantasy, graphicnovel, ninjas-and-superspies, sci-fi, world_builders
review:

]]> This Is How You Lose Her 13503109
In prose that is endlessly energetic, inventive, tender, and funny, the stories in This Is How You Lose Her lay bare the infinite longing and inevitable weakness of the human heart. They remind us that passion always triumphs over experience, and that “the half-life of love is forever.”]]> 217 Junot Díaz 1594487367 Burt 4 modernlit 3.74 2010 This Is How You Lose Her
author: Junot DĂ­az
name: Burt
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/09/17
shelves: modernlit
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Alloy of Law (Mistborn, #4)]]> 10803121
Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history—or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice.

One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will.

After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.]]> 325 Brandon Sanderson 0765330423 Burt 3 4.20 2011 The Alloy of Law (Mistborn, #4)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Burt
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2017/09/17
shelves: fantasy, mystery, world_builders
review:

]]> The Lives of Tao (Tao, #1) 15981711 460 Wesley Chu 0857663291 Burt 3 3.75 2013 The Lives of Tao (Tao, #1)
author: Wesley Chu
name: Burt
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2017/09/17
shelves: modernlit, ninjas-and-superspies, sci-fi
review:

]]> Canary 22500980 It's dangerous enough when an ordinary college girl turns confidential informant. Even more dangerous when she's smarter than the killer, kingpins, and cops who control her.

Honors student Sarie Holland is busted by the local police while doing a favor for her boyfriend. Unwilling to betray him but desperate to avoid destroying her future, Sarie has no choice but to become a "CI"--a confidential informant.


Philly narcotics cop Ben Wildey is hungry for a career-making bust. The detective thinks he's found the key in Sarie: her boyfriend scores from a mid-level dealer with alleged ties to the major drug gangs.


Sarie turns out to be the perfect CI: a quick study with a shockingly keen understanding of the criminal mind. But Wildey, desperate for results, pushes too hard and inadvertently sends the nineteen-year-old into a death trap, leaving Sarie hunted by crooked cops and killers alike with nothing to save her--except what she's learned during her harrowing weeks as an informant.


Which is bad news for the police and the underworld. Because when it comes to payback, CI #1373 turns out to be a very quick study...]]> 385 Duane Swierczynski 0316403202 Burt 5 3.77 2015 Canary
author: Duane Swierczynski
name: Burt
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/09/17
shelves: crime, modernlit, mystery, thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fun & Games (Charlie Hardie #1)]]> 9583669
Languishing in self-imposed exile, Hardie has become a glorified house sitter. His latest gig comes replete with an illegally squatting B-movie actress who rants about hit men who specialize in making deaths look like accidents. Unfortunately, it's the real deal. Hardie finds himself squared off against a small army of the most lethal men in the world: The Accident People.

It's nothing personal-the girl just happens to be the next name on their list. For Hardie, though, it's intensely personal. He's not about to let more innocent people die. Not on his watch.]]> 286 Duane Swierczynski 0316133280 Burt 4 3.92 2011 Fun & Games (Charlie Hardie #1)
author: Duane Swierczynski
name: Burt
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/09/17
shelves: crime, modernlit, mystery, thriller
review:

]]> The Blonde 166966
She tells Jack that unless she can keep someone within ten feet of her at all times, she’ll die. And if he wants the antidote, he’ll have to take her back to his hotel room and promise to stay by her side.

Jack thinks: psycho. But as the violent night wears on, and he encounters a relentless government assassin, a threatening voice on a cell phone, a deadly waitress, dirty cops, and shady cab drivers�

He begins to believe her.]]> 240 Duane Swierczynski 0312343795 Burt 4 3.82 2006 The Blonde
author: Duane Swierczynski
name: Burt
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/09/17
shelves: crime, modernlit, mystery, ninjas-and-superspies, sci-fi, thriller, world_builders
review:

]]> The Ride Volume 1 1270627 The Ride showcases the tales of a 1968 Camaro and the many lives it alters. Volume 1 contains five amazing stories featuring bullets, babes, murder & mayhem, all from the driver's seat of a car that exudes muscle and power. Exclusive bonus material includes a new color cover gallery, character designs, pin-ups, commentary, plus a foreword from industry legend Howard Chaykin!]]> 136 Cully Hamner 1582407940 Burt 3 3.04 2005 The Ride Volume 1
author: Cully Hamner
name: Burt
average rating: 3.04
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2017/08/13
shelves: crime, graphicnovel, modernlit, thriller, two-fisted
review:
A collection of shorts with each piece focusing on a specific car. Some are decidedly better than others. The first three and last one are the better pieces with the stuff in between as mostly filler. Hoped to get more mileage on this one. Great art in stories one and two, and the last has a look that reminds me of DMZ in art style, though it's a different artist.
]]> Severance Package 2461765
When Jamie arrives, the conference room is stocked with cookies and champagne. His boss smiles and tells his employees, "We're a cover for a branch of the intelligence community. And we're being shut down." Jamie's boss then tells everyone to drink some champagne, and in a few seconds they'll fall asleep---for good. If they refuse, they'll be shot in the head.

Escape is not an option. Jamie's boss has shut down the elevators and rigged the fire towers with chemical bombs. Panic sets in, chaos erupts, and no one is sure whom to trust. Jamie quickly realizes that there's only one way he's ever going to see his family again: the hard way.]]> 264 Duane Swierczynski 0312343809 Burt 4
The guy at the top has a plan to get the job done but... things go wrong. Terribly wrong. Especially for Jamie who is just a working schlub with a wife and a newborn. Up against an office full of agents, he'll be lucky to make it out alive.

This is good. I mean really good. I kept asking myself through the book, "Why is this not a feature film yet?"

There's a reason. Read to find out for yourself.]]> 3.67 2008 Severance Package
author: Duane Swierczynski
name: Burt
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2017/08/13
date added: 2017/08/13
shelves: modernlit, ninjas-and-superspies, thriller, two-fisted
review:
Murphy, Knox and Associates is another financial firm in downtown Philadelphia. It's a small company with a big secret - it is a front for an intelligence agency. They secretly work to defund terror. But, there's more than that even. And when the really deep stuff goes off the rails, it's determined that the staff - civilian dupes or entrenched agents - must be liquidated.

The guy at the top has a plan to get the job done but... things go wrong. Terribly wrong. Especially for Jamie who is just a working schlub with a wife and a newborn. Up against an office full of agents, he'll be lucky to make it out alive.

This is good. I mean really good. I kept asking myself through the book, "Why is this not a feature film yet?"

There's a reason. Read to find out for yourself.
]]> <![CDATA[Wonder Woman: Earth One, Vol. 1]]> 25241697 From the masterful minds of Grant Morrison (FINAL CRISIS, THE MULTIVERSITY) and Yanick Paquette (SWAMP THING, BATMAN, INC.) comes the most provocative origin of Wonder Woman you’ve ever seen—a wholly unique retelling that still honors her origins.

For millennia, the Amazons of Paradise Island have created a thriving society away from the blight of man. One resident, however, is not satisfied with this secluded life—Diana, Princess of the Amazons, knows there is more in this world and wants to explore, only to be frustrated by her protective mother, Hippolyta. Diana finds her escape when Air Force pilot Steve Trevor, the first man she has ever seen, crashes onto their shores. With his life hanging in the balance, Diana ventures into the long forbidden world of men. The Amazons chase after her and bring her back to Paradise Island in chains to face trial for breaking their oldest law—staying separated from the world that wronged them.

Thought-provoking yet reverent, thoroughly modern but still timeless, the power and courage of Paradise Island’s greatest champion—Wonder Woman—is introduced in this new addition to DC Comics� NEW YORK TIMES best-selling Earth One original graphic novel series.]]> 144 Grant Morrison 1401229786 Burt 4 3.30 2016 Wonder Woman: Earth One, Vol. 1
author: Grant Morrison
name: Burt
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/08/07
shelves: capes-and-cowls, fantasy, graphicnovel, modernlit, world_builders
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Greek Mythology For Dummies: God Hero and Monster]]> 35787142 33 Wally Courtney Burt 3 4.17 Greek Mythology For Dummies: God Hero and Monster
author: Wally Courtney
name: Burt
average rating: 4.17
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2017/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sex Criminals, Vol. 3: Three the Hard Way]]> 26087043 Late Night With Seth Meyers!

The Eisner- and Harvey Award winning raucous sex comedy that Time magazine called the Comic of the Year and Apple called "inappropriate for sale on iOS devices" returns in Sex Criminals, Volume Three: Three the Hard Way.

So it turns out Jon and Suzie aren't alone � other people around the world, like them, freeze time when they climax. A self-appointed group wants to regulate and control them through fear and intimidation. Jon and Suzie are falling in love and want their freak flags to fly, but if they're going to fight back they can't do it alone.

And really, isn't that a metaphor for the whole series? That we might all be alone but we're all alone together? I think so.

If you read only one comic with a semen-demon in it this year, please make it Sex Criminals, Volume Three: Three the Hard Way.

“I wouldn’t trust most comic creators to turn a sexual awakening into compelling pulp fiction, but Fraction and Zdarsky pull it off masterfully.� �Paste Magazine

Collecting: Sex Criminals 11-15]]> 160 Matt Fraction Burt 4 3.85 2016 Sex Criminals, Vol. 3: Three the Hard Way
author: Matt Fraction
name: Burt
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/08/07
shelves: crime, graphicnovel, humor, modernlit, required_reading, sci-fi, world_builders
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Thousand Ships (Age of Bronze, #1)]]> 479921 208 Eric Shanower 1582402000 Burt 4 3.91 2001 A Thousand Ships (Age of Bronze, #1)
author: Eric Shanower
name: Burt
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/08/07
shelves: educational, graphicnovel, literature, periodpiece, political
review:

]]> <![CDATA[ApocalyptiGirl: An Aria for the End Times]]> 22716582 Head Lopper), ApocalyptiGirl is an action-packed sci-fi epic!
Alone at the end of the world, Aria is woman with a mission! Traipsing through an overgrown city with her only companion, a cat named Jelly Beans, Aria's search for an ancient relic with immeasurable power has been fruitless so far. But when a run in with a creepy savage sets her on a path to complete her quest, she'll face death head on in the hopes of claiming her prize and, if all goes according to plan, finally returning home.]]> 96 Andrew MacLean 1616555661 Burt 3 3.39 2015 ApocalyptiGirl: An Aria for the End Times
author: Andrew MacLean
name: Burt
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2017/08/07
shelves: graphicnovel, sci-fi, world_builders
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sex Criminals, Vol. 2: Two Worlds, One Cop]]> 23228585 Eisner Award winning Sex Criminals finds the honeymoon to be over for Jon and Suzie. Once the thrill of new lust fades, where do you go? Come along and laff and love with Matt and Chip as they brimp back ceaselessly against the past.]]> 128 Matt Fraction 1632151936 Burt 5 4.02 2015 Sex Criminals, Vol. 2: Two Worlds, One Cop
author: Matt Fraction
name: Burt
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/07/05
shelves: crime, graphicnovel, humor, modernlit, required_reading, sci-fi, world_builders
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rick Bartow: Things You Know But Cannot Explain]]> 29467341 104 Jill Hartz 0990353338 Burt 5 artcollection 4.67 Rick Bartow: Things You Know But Cannot Explain
author: Jill Hartz
name: Burt
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/07/04
shelves: artcollection
review:

]]> The Dying And The Dead #1 24700488 60 Jonathan Hickman Burt 3 3.93 2015 The Dying And The Dead #1
author: Jonathan Hickman
name: Burt
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2017/07/04
shelves: darkfantasy, graphicnovel, ninjas-and-superspies
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Black Monday Murders, Vol. 1: All Hail, God Mammon]]> 31387199 All Hail God Money!
From Jonathan Hickman (East of West, Secret Wars, Avengers) and Tomm Coker (Undying Love) comes a new crypto-noir series about the power of dirty, filthy money... and exactly what kind of people you can buy with it. The Black Monday Murders, Volume 1: All Hail, God Mammon is classic occultism where the various schools of magic are actually clandestine banking cartels who control all of society: a secret world where vampire Russian oligarchs, Black popes, enchanted American aristocrats, and hitmen from the International Monetary Fund work together to keep all of us in our proper place.

Collecting: The Black Monday Murders 1-4]]> 240 Jonathan Hickman 1534300279 Burt 4 4.12 2017 The Black Monday Murders, Vol. 1: All Hail, God Mammon
author: Jonathan Hickman
name: Burt
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/07/04
shelves: crime, graphicnovel, darkfantasy, macabre, world_builders
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (Red Dwarf, #1)]]> 349090
Nominated for the Audiobook Download of the Year, 2008.

When Lister got drunk, he really got drunk!

After celebrating his birthday with a Monopoly-board pub crawl around London, he came to in a burger bar on one of Saturn's moons, wearing a lady's pink crimplene hat and a pair of yellow fishing waders, with no money and a passport in the name of "Emily Berkenstein."

Joining the Space Corps seemed a good idea. Red Dwarf, a clapped out spaceship, was bound for Earth. It never made it, leaving Lister as the last remaining member of the human race, three million light years from Earth, with only a dead man, a senile computer, and a highly evolved cat for company.

They begin their journey home. On the way, they'll break the light barrier. They'll meet Einstein, Archimedes, God, and Norman Wisdom...and discover an alternative plane of reality.]]> 298 Grant Naylor 0451452011 Burt 4 humor, sci-fi, world_builders 4.08 1989 Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (Red Dwarf, #1)
author: Grant Naylor
name: Burt
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/07/04
shelves: humor, sci-fi, world_builders
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Empowered, Volume 1 (Empowered, #1)]]> 261359
From Adam Warren-writer/artist of the English-language Dirty Pair comics (the original "Original English-Language Manga" before OEL was cool), and writer of Livewires, Gen13, and Iron Hypervelocity- comes Empowered , a butt-kicking, bootylicious superhero lampoon that raises the bar for long-john lust and low-brow laughs. Remove all previous notions of superhero entertainment from your puny mind... and prepare to be Empowered!

* Adam Warren's work on The Dirty Pair is well-known to U.S. comics readers.

* Warren's skill as a writer has brought him a variety of high-profile assignments in recent years from Wildstorm, DC, and Marvel.

For Mature Readers.]]> 248 Adam Warren 159307672X Burt 4 3.75 2007 Empowered, Volume 1 (Empowered, #1)
author: Adam Warren
name: Burt
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2017/07/04
shelves: capes-and-cowls, graphicnovel, humor
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Stories in Between: A Between Books Anthology]]> 7145681 For thirty years, Between Books has provided the Eastern Seaboard of the United States with the absolute best in alternate entertainment-speculative fiction, comics, anime, and gaming. While other stores have disappeared, this shelter from the tides of bitter reality has remained, enduring by providing the finest in every genre, by stacking every shelf, every nook, cranny and tiny space in between with the strange, the beautiful and the terrifying. Now they have brought together many of the authors who have entertained the visitors to their hallowed walls in a collection so splendiferously diverse, it defies conventional description.

John Passarella brings us a new Wendy Ward story in which a curse meets its match. A scientist opens her personal Pandora's Box in a tale by Maria V. Snyder. Gregory Frost finds an Old One in the noir. A roving nightmare auditions a new cast member in a chilling tale by Jonathan Maberry. Catherynne M. Valente paints a hauntingly beautiful picture of Hell. Pleasure and longing collide in a story by CJ Henderson. Memory, loss, and comfort coalesce in a story by Jonathan Carroll. All these and more await you in The Stories in Between.

Greg Schauer established Between Books in 1979.
It resides at 2703 Philadelphia Pike in Claymont, DE.

]]> 284 Jeanne B. Benzel 097136088X Burt 5 4.00 2010 The Stories in Between: A Between Books Anthology
author: Jeanne B. Benzel
name: Burt
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/07/04
shelves: darkfantasy, fantasy, graphicnovel, modernlit, sci-fi, world_builders
review:

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