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December already, 2022 is almost done.

I read the excellent graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke

I did pretty good last month, missed one Lunar Chronicle and I'm half way through the fourth Dune book.

But now the real deadline approaches (well, for me anyway since I'm doing a year theme). This is what I've got left on my pile (and it is literally a pile on my floor!):

2.5 Dune books and 1 short story and 1 graphic novel
1 Asimov anthology that had a couple Robot stories in it
1 Ender/Shadow novel, plus as many short stories/graphic novels I can find for free
5 Lunar Chronicles (at least if they don't fit they match next year's theme!)
2 SF books I got from a free book exchange
1 Ray Cummings novel on my eReader

And I discovered my library was associated with Hoopla, where one can borrow graphic novels, but only 6 a month. The Dune one will use up 4 since they were separate issues, but that still leaves me 2. One I can use to finish the Blade Runner graphic novel series, I'd read 8 out of the 9 in physical form, but the last wasn't available yet.

My Hero Academia, Vol. 4 by Kohei Horikoshi

The Lost Metal

My Hero Academia, Vol. 5 by Kohei Horikoshi

My Hero Academia, Vol. 6 by Kohei Horikoshi

Finished Upgrade.

I finished Dead Blood: Book One. As previously mentioned, an interesting premise - how would a vampire react to the zombie apocalypse? Unfortunately, the book is poor, really poor.

See my full review here - /review/show...

One star eh? Hmmm, that's a shame, that sounded like such a good idea. :-(

Finished Navigators of Dune. I mean, these books aren't terrible, but while I just couldn't get enough of Tolkien's Middle Earth, apparently I didn't feel the urge to have that much more about Dune, other than to wrap up the series since it ended on a cliffhanger. Anyway, now I can finish the last story in Sands of Dune without fear of spoilers.

Next, I'm going to continue Void Star by Zachary Mason. I've been reading it on and off for a little while but I should maybe put some effort into actually reading it. I'm probably not doing it justice by reading just a bit here and there.

Robin wrote: "One star eh? Hmmm, that's a shame, that sounded like such a good idea. :-("

Yep, I was keen to read it after I read the blurb. There were some nice passages of prose, but far too many internal inconsistencies, and his version of vampires aren't really close to traditional vampires.

Yeah, that's a cardinal sin. Any invented world must first and foremost be internally self consistent. It's a bit like football. If you can't do anything else with the ball, at least keep possession of it. That sounded such a promising idea. I was up for dropping that into my 'want to read,' like but now I think I won't bother. ��

My Hero Academia, Vol. 7 by Kohei Horikoshi

I'm reading When the Earth Had Two Moons: Cannibal Planets, Dreadful Orbits, Icy Giants, Dirty Comets and the Origins of Today's Night Sky, which is really cool. And starting an indie science-fantasy, Step Right Up. Finishing up The Wright Brothers so I can get back to Doomsday Book on audio.

I have started reading The Frame-Up, a so-far humorous story about a comic-book creator who notices scenes from her favourite comic being recreated. Lots of comics jokes and pop culture references.

Finished Void Star. Ok, this wasn't a book that benefitted from me reading a few chapters then putting it down for a bit, I ended up forgetting stuff that was important. So I finished the second half in two days...and still couldn't quite figure out everything that was going on. A cyberpunk novel that really blurred the lines between what was real and what was virtual, and then makes one wonder what is reality anyway (kinda like the Matrix in some ways). This one might make for a good re-read, knowing what you learn later on but having that knowledge from the start would really change things up a bit, especially for certain characters POV's.

*drumroll* The last Ender/Shadow book is next!! The Last Shadow by Orson Scott Card. Well not quite the last, there is one graphic novel and a bunch of short stories I still intend to tackle, but it is the last novel!

I do need to read The Last Shadow, especially after Children of the Mind left a lot of questions open. But I should re-read all the Shadow books first to refresh my memory.

Audrey wrote: "I do need to read The Last Shadow, especially after Children of the Mind left a lot of questions open. But I should re-read all the Shadow books first to refresh my memory."

Shadow in Flight seems to be the key one, the others would lead up to why "the shadow" is "in flight" in the first place but has little bearing on the storyline otherwise. Just in case you wanted to save some reading time :)

On the other hand, The Last Shadow completely contradicts the short story Messenger. While short stories are usually written such that key pieces are not added which readers of the novels require, at the same time, usually they are considered "canon" and should fit properly into the novels. Maybe Card changed his mind how he wanted to handle the character of Hyrum Graff...

Did Aaron Johnston assist with these last books? (I knew him in college.)

I finished my re-read of Sharpe's Assassin, and I enjoyed it even more this time around!

Now I'm reading Dreadnaught.

I finished Pariah, 3rd book in the Donovan series. I am now starting the 4th one, Unreconciled.

Audrey wrote: "Did Aaron Johnston assist with these last books? (I knew him in college.)"

His name doesn't show up on this one, seems it was more Formic War prequels that he was involved in. I didn't get around to those this year, ran out of time :)

I finished The Frame-Up and really enjoyed it. It's a crime story, so not strictly SFF, but it does have a comics tie in, and a ton of pop culture and geek references. In proper comic book fashion, it leaves one major plot point unresolved to set up the sequel.

Finished The Last Shadow, will admit it didn't go the way I expected, in fact most everything about it went in unexpected directions, but then as he points out in the end, real life has a tendency of doing that too. Of course can't say more not wanting to spoil it. I didn't pull out any kleenex but it was still pretty good if odd. Anyway, now to focus on the graphic novels and short stories I can find, I downloaded the whole Intergalactic Medicine Show online-zine so will need to start working on that, many of the stories are there.

Next up is another book I got from that book exchange box, Canto Bight, a collection of four Star Wars stories. I'm more a Star Trek person but the occasional Star Wars is good too.

I finished reading Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan. It’s Book 9 of the Wheel of Time. It features Rand, Elayne, Mat, and Perrin. I’m reading The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson. It is the seventh book of the Mistborn series and the last book of Mistborn Era 2 featuring Wax and Wayne. It is intimately tied to the Cosmere series and it will be interesting to connect all the dots between the different series. I plan to read The Tommyknockers by Stephen King next.

Finished Doomsday Book! That was 25-30 hours long; how many pages?? It seemed huge.

I just finished an older book, SunshineI loved it. It had some tense moments, but overall, was just the sort of quieter book I needed to read. @Audrey Upgrade is my next read. How'd you like it?

Upgrade was pretty good. I went in blind, and I think that made it better.

Georgann wrote: "I just finished an older book, SunshineI loved it. It had some tense moments, but overall, was just the sort of quieter book I needed to read.

It's amazing

Oni the Lonely by C. Chancy

I have finished reading The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood. This fascinating book provides a comparison of Flood stories from ancient Mesopotamian civilisations, and compares them to the story from the Bible.

Reading Big Damn Hero and Step Right Up.

I have started reading The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove.

Reading Dragon's Egg. It's a fascinating sci-fi story but sometimes it reads more like a documentary with robotic characters.

Richard Kadrey’s “Sandman Slim��. Urban fantasy. It’s holding my interest so far.

Tell No Tales by C. Chancy

Finished Dune: The Duke of Caladan, actually kind of enjoying this one. Seems the prequels that happen within one generation of the Dune novel as the ones I like best, the distant past ones, or the ones that take place at the same time I don't care for as much.

Still working on that Star Wars collection of tales, but next novel in line will be Scarlet by Marissa Meyer which will complete my BINGO by filling in the young adult slot.

I finished Unreconciled and just started Adrift in the Donovan series.

Finished Canto Bight...in fact, I enjoyed it a lot, maybe because it wasn't about the Empire or the Rebels or even the Jedi but just regular...(err...could aliens with four eyes or frills on their head be considered regular) people trying to make a living in the gambling city of Canto Bight. And though it was four different authors, all four stories were nearly equally good. I might end up keeping this after all

Posthumous Education by Drew Hayes

Andrea wrote: "Finished Canto Bight...in fact, I enjoyed it a lot, maybe because it wasn't about the Empire or the Rebels or even the Jedi but just regular...(err...could aliens with four eyes or frills on their ..."

Very regular indeed.

I finished reading The Minders by John Marrs


I've read all his books now! Eagerly waiting for the next one.

My review:
/review/show...

My review of Lost in Time by A.G. Riddle

/review/show...

So, another month another Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction finished. Another fine edition, particularly enjoyed contributions by Y M Pang and Nina Kiriki Hoffman.

Well now, after the edition for November/December 2018, what do you think I will be reading next?

Hah! No... fooled you. Not the edition for January/February 2019.

No, I have recklessly spent the princely sum of £0.99 on an e-book called "More Winter Ghosts." I Read "Winter Ghosts" a collection of mainly Victorian and Edwardian Ghost stories set in and around Christmas and the winter months some years ago. Mr Amazon (Jeff to his friends) has a long memory and suggested I might like the follow up. (one of the less bizarre things Mr Amazon suggests).

Well, why not I thought, it is nearly Christmas... :-)

I’ve read The War that Saved my Life, Breadcrumbs (Anne Ursu), Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer, The War I Finally Won, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan, Salt to the Sea by Rita Sepetys, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson, and Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins. Currently reading A Christmas Carol.

favs this month are The War that Saved My Life, The War I Finally Won, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, & Gregor the Overlander.

Finished reading Scarlet, think I liked this second book in the series better than the first.

Now I have a three leftover Robot stories by Asimov, two are in Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection which I have so started reading that. The other is in The Early Asimov: Volume 3 which is available on Open Library, don't think I'll have time to read the whole book, but I can hop in, read the one story (Mother Earth) and then return it, handy dandy.

Asimov's robot stories are so imaginative. 🙂

I love how he takes his 3 laws, which all make sense on paper, and then tries to subvert them, clearly real AI will have its work cut out to follow those laws without the weird side effects they can have. Last night I just finished the last of the stories, I'm now onto his his short essays, so I can officially say I finished the Robot Stories + Novels, whooo!

Can't say that yet about the Ender or Dune series yet, in the former I have about 10 short stories to see how many I can find, and for Dune there are two more books (though I refuse to pay near $40 for the last one LOL so that will have to wait till I find it on sale)

Yikes, we only have a week and a day left of the year!! I've got 5 full books and 3 half ones still to wrap up. Fortunately I have a few which overlap both this year's and next year's reading themes so they can just carry over :)

Haley and the Miraculous Potion by M.C.A. Hogarth

I gave up looking for the copy I was reading, so I bought another copy of Tanequil by Terry Brooks. Yes, I know exactly where my copy of Straken is, for when I finish.