I have 8 books planned for August and 10 short stories for book club.
Reading at Fantasy Buddy Reads-
MYTH. LEGEND. NIGHTFALL HAS LONG BEEN RUMOURED TO BE NOTHING MORE THAN WHISPERS ON THE BREEZE.
IF ONLY IT WERE SO…
In
those halls of darkness, where children are taken from the world and
given to shadow and dust, Asher is destined for that same fate. He will
become the myth. He will become the legend. He will become the whisper
of Death itself.
That which he was is dead, forgotten. Now he is a blade in the dark, a weapon to be wielded by his masters. A killer.
Yet,
despite all his training and years of spilling blood, there is a crack
in Asher’s conditioning. Something within him is broken, unbound even. A
sliver of humanity has survived and dreams of freedom. Now, standing on
a knife’s edge, his mind threatens to unravel, taking him from the only
path he has ever known and away from the clutches of Nightfall.
It has never been done. Exile is not a choice. It is a death sentence.
But
there is another life that calls to him, a life roaming the wilds and
protecting the innocent from the monsters which would prey upon them.
Hunting monsters, however, is no easy task, especially when Asher
himself is hunted by those who would drag him back to Nightfall. Back to
the darkness.
Sequestered in the blackness of the dreaded
Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas, and surrounded by nameless creatures
of evil, archmage Raistlin Majere weaves a plan to conquer the
darkness—to bring it under his control.
Two people alone can stop
him. One is Crysania, a beautiful and devoted cleric of Paladine, who
tries to use her faith to lead Raistlin from the darkness. She is blind
to his shadowed designs, and he draws her slowly into his neatly woven
trap.
The other is Raistlin’s twin, Caramon. Made aware of his
brother’s plan, a distraught Caramon travels back in time to the doomed
city of Istar in the days before the Cataclysm. There, together with the
ever-present kender Tasslehoff, Caramon will make his stand to save
Raistlin’s soul.
Or so he believes.
Nearly ten years after the unexpected return of the starship Phoenix, the alien atevi have three functioning space shuttles, and teams of atevi
engineers labor in orbit to renovate the space station. But these
monumental advances not only add a dangerously powerful third party to
an already precarious diplomatic situation, but rouse pro- and
anti-space factions in atevi society to incendiary levels. To help negotiate these treacherous diplomatic waters, Tabini-aiji, the powerful head of the atevi's Western Association, has sent the only human he fully trusts into space: his own paidhi, Bren Cameron.
However, the threat of possible invasion by hostile aliens who attacked Phoenix's station in a far-off sector of space hangs over them all. And when one of the senior captains of the Phoenix
confesses that this station was not completely destroyed, as had been
previously thought, the crew mutinies. How can Bren hope to mediate on a
station overcome by a rebellious crew intent on taking the Phoenix on a rescue mission back into hostile alien territory?
The long-running Foreigner series can also be enjoyed by more casual genre readers in sub-trilogy installments. Defender is the 5th Foreigner book. It is also the 2nd book in the second subtrilogy.
Reading with the mystery book club-
Lady Kiera Darby and her dashing husband,
Sebastian Gage, hope they’ve finally found peace after a tumultuous
summer, but long-buried family secrets soon threaten to unravel their
lives . . .
October 1832. Kiera is enjoying the slower pace of
the English countryside. She, Sebastian, and their infant daughter have
accompanied her father-in-law, Lord Gage, home so that he can recuperate
from the injuries he sustained in a foiled attempt on his life. But as
the chill of autumn sweeps across the land, they receive a summons from
an unexpected quarter. Lord Gage’s estranged uncle—a member of the
notorious Roscarrock family—has been murdered, and his family is
desperate for answers. Despite Lord Gage’s protests, Kiera and Sebastian
press on to Cornwall to assist.
It isn’t long before they discover
that almost nothing is as it seems among the Roscarrocks, and they’ve
been lured to their isolated cove under false pretenses. There are
whispers of a lost treasure and frightening allusions to a series of
murders stretching back decades that touch the lives of the family
personally. Kiera and Sebastian are left with no choice but to uncover
the truth before the secrets of the past threaten to destroy them all.
The day Adam Dunne's girlfriend, Sarah, fails to
return from a Barcelona business trip, his perfect life begins to fall
apart. Days later, the arrival of her passport and a note that reads
"I'm sorry--S" sets off real alarm bells. He vows to do whatever it
takes to find her.
Adam is puzzled when he connects Sarah to a
cruise ship called the Celebrate--and to a woman, Estelle, who
disappeared from the same ship in eerily similar circumstances almost
exactly a year before.
To get answers, Adam must confront some
difficult truths about his relationship with Sarah. He must do things of
which he never thought himself capable. And he must try to outwit a
predator who seems to have found the perfect hunting ground ...
Reading with my book club-
We're reading a bunch of short stories for book club this month. We each picked one for everybody to read. After trying out a lot of short stories in July, my pick was Signal Moon by Kate Quinn. I probably won't listen to it again since it's still fresh in my mind. Here are the others:
The advanced technology of a house first pleases then increasingly terrifies its occupants.
In a universe filled with habitable worlds why
have we had no contact with extraterrestrial intelligence? David Brin's
"The Crystal Spheres" offers a fantastic explanation for the Great
Silence. Instead of being late-comers - might humanity have come upon
the scene too early? This haunting tale was voted one of the "most
beautiful of the eighties. Winner of the 1985 Hugo Award.
Rappaccini's Daughter is a short story written
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1844. The story takes place
in Padua, Italy, and centers around a young man named Giovanni Guasconti
who becomes enamored with his neighbor, Beatrice Rappaccini. Beatrice
is the daughter of a brilliant scientist, Dr. Rappaccini, who has been
experimenting with poisonous plants and their effects on humans. As
Giovanni becomes more involved with Beatrice, he begins to realize that
she has been poisoned by her father's experiments and is herself
poisonous to others. The story explores themes of love, obsession, and
the dangers of scientific experimentation. It is considered one of
Hawthorne's most famous and well-regarded works, and has been adapted
into various forms of media, including opera and film.
Together with a crew of other miners and
cart-pullers, Hillalum is recruited to climb the Tower of Babylon and
unearth what lies beyond the vault of heaven. During his journey,
Hillalum discovers entire civilizations of tower-dwellers on the
tower—there are those who live inside the mists of clouds, those who
raise their vegetables above the sun, and those who have spent their
lives under the oppressive weight of an endless, white stratum at the
top of the universe.
“Tower of Babylon” is a rare gem—a winner
of the prestigious Nebula award, the first story Ted Chiang ever
published, and the brilliant opening piece to Chiang’s much-lauded first
collection, Stories of Your Life and Others.
We will be reading the story The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths from this collection.
We will be reading the story The Disk from this collection.
A tale of kidnapping gone awry. A little boy,
self proclaimed "Red Chief", is taken from his home, and has so much fun
he never wants to go back, much to the chagrin of the kidnappers.
Reading the story One Man's Courage.
Faith is the greatest battle. To fallen paladin
Ederras, right and wrong aren't as clear as they once were, and even the
forces of good seem tainted by sin. Lost and broken, the formerly
righteous warrior joins up with the crusaders of Mendev, the last
bastion of civilization fighting desperately against the demonic tides
of the Worldwound. There he plans to rediscover his faith—or die trying.
Yet even on the edge of total destruction, humanity's base nature runs
rampant, leading any crusader to is there anything left worth fighting
for? From rising star author Liane Merciel comes a tale of battle both
physical and ideological, set in the award-winning world of the
Pathfinder campaign setting.
Betrayed by his companion and robbed of
everything down to his boots, Rodrick wakes to find himself in the very
tomb he meant to rob. Fortunately, Rodrick can still turn a profit—he
just needs to slip past a slumbering linnorm, retrieve a talking sword
with a wit as sharp as its blade, and return in one piece to his
employer. Yet a talking sword may have goals of its own... From Hugo
Award-winner Tim Pratt comes a dark comedy of theft and danger set in
the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
My Pick it for me Book-
Freya runs from her past, but trouble seems to follow her everywhere she goes.
Years after discovering her parents’ marriage was invalid, and
she illegitimate, Freya continued to struggle with the scandal hanging
over her head. When her father reappears with his real wife and
daughter, Freya flees London entirely.
With an inherited country
house, Freya at least has somewhere to run. She looks forward to meeting
her faithful steward, who writes the most diverting letters. However,
Mr. Daniel Bryce is not the old gentleman she expected, but young,
handsome, and eligible.
Freya struggles with her growing feelings
for her steward as they work together to renovate the only home she has
left. When a stranger shows up and threatens to reveal Freya’s past,
will she find the strength to remove herself from the scandal’s shadow?
A clean and wholesome Regency romance, Love for the Spinster is the second book in the Women of Worth series. It can be read apart from the series but works best in proper order.
The Hercule Poirot Book-
The legendary detective saves his best for last
as he races to apprehend a five-time killer before the final curtain
descends in Poirot’s Last Case, the last book Agatha Christie published
before her death.
The crime-fighting careers of Hercule Poirot
and Captain Hastings have come full circle—they are back once again in
the rambling country house in which they solved their first murder
together.
Both Hercule Poirot and Great Styles have seen better
days—but, despite being crippled with arthritis, there is nothing wrong
with the great detective and his “little gray cells.” However, when
Poirot brands one of the seemingly harmless guests a five-time murderer,
some people have their doubts. But Poirot alone knows he must prevent a
sixth murder before the curtain falls.
Other books I want to read-
Be bright but do not burn. Embrace the shadows but do not live in the darkness.
Those
are more than just words; they are truth revealed to only the bravest
of souls, those who have the power to change the course of history and
rewrite a future otherwise etched into Kingfall's flesh itself. But will
good finally overcome the storm of evil brewing in the north? Or will
the ancient invaders have their pound of flesh? The answers to these
questions may surprise both heroes and villains alike.
In the
east, Sampson, Grym and Charlotte seek to unearth the seventh and final
godblade. But to do so, they must overcome the wiles of the magical
forest of Echoeswood while facing enemies lurking in every shadow.
In
the west, dragonriders Peony and Dane must unite what is left of the
fractured nations of Kingfall, but a surprise visitor has the potential
to destroy what small measure of peace the bondmates have managed to
restore to Travail.
In the north, Rose must come to terms with her own undeadness while facing demons no living human has ever faced.
In
the south, Ando and his merry band of misfits journey the Loslandian
wilderness in search of their purpose, a purpose that destiny always
knew would lead them back to Kingfall. But will they arrive in time with
their entire crew intact?
And all the while, the enemy draws
closer, the creatures known as the Thousands drawn by the scent of human
blood and the promise of chaos. If they reach Kingfall's shores, gods
save us all.
