Not from me.
I think i read three of his early books…three characters…and each book focussed on a different person, none of whom made me want to read about them.
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One that won’t be for too many people in this thread, but young urban fantasy is quite popular nowadays so maybe people know someone who does like it. Given that …
I want to give some kudos to an Australian author that I discovered during lockdown. Andrea K Host has written a number of urban fantasy and science fiction books/series, many revolving around protagonists who are young women on the verge or just crossing into adulthood. The one I would call out is the Touchstone series. For those who enjoy the urban fantasy genre, but want something fresh, this may be a very good choice.
The series revolves around a young Australian who accidentally goes through a gate on her way home in Sydney, and finds herself in another world. After initially being stranded alone, she struggles to survive and then encounters a human civilization who take her in. That civilization is both more advanced than us, and has psychics (effectively magic). Cassandra has a steep learning curve even with the benefit of the technology to learn the new world’s language, culture and history. And learn about the world-endangering issue they have.
Although the protagonist has as it turns out powers, and has important powers, unlike so many urban fantasy novels she can’t just smash enemies left and right. Its more in how she can help others. Across a number of books she works to make friends, learn what she can do, and help the civilisation overcome the threat.
The writing style is journal entries, and works very well. Cassandra has a fantastic sense of sarcastic humour at herself and own circumstances, and writing to herself captures that well. It also lets her talk about her experiences with the new world and civilisation through a lens where she can put down for herself what she’s thinking in an earth context. The books are incredibly touching, although there may not be enough action for some. And its so great to have her referring to Australian cities, culture, and using phrases we know. Like “not happy JAN!”. Given how US and UK centric the genre is.
I heartily endorse and recommend them. Plus a lot of Andrea’s other books.
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Interesting…
I’m freakin’ over Aussie bush noir.
I’ve been reading some H.P. Lovecraft for the first time lately and i get that the mythos is pretty cool, i find overall his work pretty underwhelming. I guess the way he writes gives the stories credibility, but second hand accounts of events lack immediacy of dangers and things that are supposed to scare.
I thought The Dunwich Horror was good. The Call of Cthulu was pretty meh for something that is the most renowned. The Whisperer in Darkness decent i suppose.
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Anyone read Shadowboxing by Tony Birch? Saw a great review this week and have been looking for it in Perth bookshops since to no avail. Looks like eBay it is…
Well that just made me feel bad about how I spent the pandemic…
For any Sanderson fans, critical video to watch.
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kickstarter is already up close to $19mill AUD.
Was having a look at getting on board but basically with shipping being about equal to the cost of the boxes might give it a miss
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Lovecraft’s inventions inspired much better writing in others than he personally produced himself I’ve always thought.
Shadow Over Innsmouth is his best work in the mythos I think. But it’s been a long time since I’ve read his stuff. He’s certainly the creator of the genre, but it moved beyond him long ago.
A horror so terrible I dare not describe it!
He did some descriptions that gradually went from normal to a little off to genuinely unsettling really well.
But his dialogue was absolute pants.
Cool stories, though, and obviously a trailblazer.
But I will proceed to do so anyway in seven paragraphs of increasingly overwrought and polysyllabic prose!!!
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Oddly as well, i thought the term “cosmic horror” was a term someone else had used to describe his works, not a phrase that is regularly repeated in the stories themselves
I’m onto The Mother by senatorial candidate Jane ■■■■. Miriam is a recently-widowed North Shore estate agent who fears her younger daughter is being gaslighted (gaslit?) by her veterinarian husband and is considering what to do about it. About halfway through.
And on Audible, just finished The Sisters by Dervla McTiernan - I suspect this was only a novella because the audible book is only 3 hours. It’s about two young Dublin sisters, Aifric, a new barrister, and Carrie, a garda. It was enjoyable but a little lightweight.
Now onto Charles Dickens’s later works starting with one of his most famous, the semi-autobiographical bildungsroman David Copperfield. I read this and Great Expectations at school, and it’s quite clear to me now that I didn’t understand it at all.
I still have a stack of Australian outback noir novels on the table, and more to acquire over the next month.
I think David Copperfield is Dickens’ best, and I agree, you need a bit of maturity to appreciate Dickens. There are about 10 different unabridged versions on Audible. The one I have is read by Frederick Davidson, but I don’t think it’s available any more. Avoid Charlton Griffin and Flo Gibson; they are dreadful.
Is that a prequel to the Cormac Reilly books?
No…those are all based in Galway…this is Dublin. He doesn’t appear at all.
I’ll have to wait for the end credits, but it sounded very much like Colin Firth voicing Mr Murdstone.
Finished The Mother. The incel brigade will not like this at all…nor the LNP crumb maidens.
Onto The Torrent by Dinuka McKenzie. It opens with the discovery of a body swept away in the floods on the Northern Rivers…so according to Barnaby, must have happened 3,500 years ago. A heavily pregnant detective sergeant is asked to investigate further, before going on maternity leave.
Sounds like Frances McDormand in Fargo.
All the hot-button issues.
Having a fun time reading Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall. He’s got a great sense of humour, it must be said.
Finished The Torrent. Was a good read but i did wonder why she continued to pursue one investigation. I wouldn’t have.
Onto another Oz thriller, Resurrection Bay, by Emma Viskic, a world-class clarinettist living in Melbourne. Her hero is Caleb Zelic, a deaf PI. This is the first of four (so far) Zelic novels.