Booooks

[thewayne]

A couple of series/authors/whatever to recommend. Well, truthfully, it's just me babbling about books.

Tanya Huff has written a great series of detective stories. Victoria "Vickie" Nelson was a homicide inspector with the Toronto Police until a degenerative eye disorder that would ultimately render her blind forced her retirement. Unable to give up the profession that she loved (and needing money) she becomes a private eye. Literally stumbling upon a ghastly murder and reuniting with her ex-partner, Vickie enters the world of ghosts, zombies, werewolves, mummies, and, of course, vampires. In this case, singular, in the body of Henry Fitzroy, the bastard son of Henry the VIII.

Henry and Vickie continue for five books, IIRC, then Henry moves out west. There are five books in the Blood series: Blood Price (1991), Blood Trail ('92), Blood Lines ('92), Blood Pact ('93), and Blood Debt ('97). Henry and Tony, a friend of Vickie's, continue in two additional books, Smoke and Shadows (2004), and Smoke and Mirrors (2005).

I recommend them all! I'm not a fan of detective fiction, but adding a well-done supernatural element makes them quite enjoyable.


Huff has a (currently) pair of science fiction books called Valor's Choice and Better Part of Valor. These are military SF following a platoon of space marines who end up in some very tight battles.


So that's nine books by Huff, that should keep you reading for a couple of weeks.


I also want to mention Aaron Alston. Aaron was extremely instrumental in the growth of Car Wars, a very cool board game by Steve Jackson Games. He turned his hand to writing, in addition to a couple of Car Wars books (which I have not yet read) Aaron is best known for his Star Wars: Wraith Squadron books. These came out shortly after Mike Stackpole started his Rogue Squadron series, in all honesty I like Aaron's books better.

Somewhere I stumbled upon the book title Doc Sidhe. Having been a huge Doc Savage fan, I was intrigued. A couple of weeks ago I finally found a copy. There's two books, the aforementioned and Sidhe Devil, a novel set in the same universe.

The basic premise is that there is another earth. The one upon which we nominally live is called the Dark World, the land that Doc Sidhe lives in is the Fair World: magic works, ferrous metals are frequently deadly to the residents, all the cars look like they're concept cars from the 30's, airships, etc. Basically take Doc Savage and put him into an active Celtic mythos and you sort of get Doc Sidhe.

The story revolves around a former Olympic Tae Kwan Do kick boxer who is getting past his prime. His girlfriend dumps him, he gets drunk, then goes back to her place to argue. Unbeknownst to him, a group from the Fair World is busy with an agenda of assassinating people who managed to cross over between the two worlds. They weren't off to kill his girlfriend, just kidnap her. He rescues the damsel who escapes, trounces the bad guys, but he's inside the magic circle when it reactivates and ends up in Fair World, wounded, not having a clue about the strange world he has found himself in.

I quite liked it, tonight I was fortunate and came across a copy of the second book. Believe it or not, I set Harry Potter aside to start this. I love the way the new Potter started, but I have such fresh memory of Doc Sidhe that I want to follow it up first.

If you like Doc Savage, and you like Celtic mythos, you might like this one. They've been out of print for a while, so you might have to do some scrounging. I would love to see a GURPs world book published for the Doc Sidhe universe, i.e. the Fair World, but I ain't holdin' me breath.

Comments

[deborak]

Bill and I just started listening to Order of the Phoenix on audio cd (neither one of us would ever finish a book that long, LOL). I really love the HP universe and characters, but god, JKR is one of the most plodding and decriptively redundant writers I've encountered. I get these books are for kids, but even children don't have to be told the same thing several hundred times. I think she mentioned Harry's head hurting at least 37 times in the first two chapters . . .

Perhaps I'm impatient because I've read so much HP fic that I'm already familiar with the people and settings.

funny you should mention that

[paulmc.livejournal.com]

My wife and I also were listening to Order of the Phoenix and we just stopped half-way. We didn't mean to, and we mean to get back to it .. but we're just not that compelled to get back to it. It just wasn't gripping me a whole lot.

I suppose if I was listening to it in the car during my commute I'd get through it, but just listening together at home, it just ain't happening.

[cardigirl.livejournal.com]

I've had Tanya Huff recommended before and never quite gotten around to her. This sounds good, and if I can retain the thought in this brain-like-a-stainless-steel-sieve for another month or two, until after NASFiC, I'll have to give her a try.

Aaron Alston is a great fellow, fine writer, and all around good guy. I applaud anyone spending their hard-won sheckels on his books.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Do you know if Aaron has a web site? I haven't been able to find one, and there are disturbingly few references to him on the web.

[cardigirl.livejournal.com]

I don't know but I'd guess someone with your computer saavy would be able to find it if it were out there. Did you want to get ahold of him? I don't have an email addy myself but know who I could ask for it (not the ex). As for few references -- that surprises me, a little. He was one of the Steve Jackson cohorts for many years, so maybe he's net-shy because of the fuss that took place there (gods how many years ago now???).

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I once briefly corresponded with him via email, but I think it's in a system that's archived. Hopefully once I get moved I'll be able to find it again.

you just need to know where to look

[paulmc.livejournal.com]

They've been out of print for a while, so you might have to do some scrounging.

Actually, Doc Sidhe is available for free as an e-Book at the Baen Free Library. http://www.baen.com

I actually downloaded it at one point, but never got around to reading it.

Re: you just need to know where to look

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

That's cool! I really should spend more time on that site. Then again, I am reading one ebook right now: Moby Dick, and I'm not stopping until I've finished the white whale! (which, at the rate that I'm reading, will be around 2007).

Re: you just need to know where to look

[cardigirl.livejournal.com]

Oi -- more power to you! Moby Dick truly is a book that should have had an energetic editor. It's probably one of the few books, even among the classics, that it's generally considered "just fine" to read it in an abridged form. Melville (or as he preferred it "Melvil") was definitely someone who didn't know when NOT to put in all the research just on account'a he'd done the work.