Kristi’s Read, Play List and Norwescon 38

Hi Folks! As some of you know, I was at Norwescon 38 this weekend as a panelist. It was awesome. This was my first time out at a conference as a debut author and GRR Martin was GoH. I repeat — it was awesome. Thanks so much to Norwescon for inviting me, and Philip K. Dick award nominee, Rod Duncan, and 2015 Hugo nominee, Jennifer Brozek, for being my Periscope interview test bunnies. In short — PERISCOPE — Twitter’s new live video and audio feed is awesome … now, if they could only get the Twitter and linking functions sorted out, it’d be that much more awesome…. In the meantime, for those interested, download Periscope from the app store and go follow me and Brent to see the videos (or wait until they get the twitter function sorted). If you like what you see, we’ll be using it at WorldCon.

What else happened at Norwescon?

Oh yeah, the Hugo Award nominees were announced. You can find them HERE. I don’t care to comment on the controversy surrounding them, Brent and I do that in Episode 293. For my part, I am against punishing any artist for producing work. As such, I intend to read and listen to each and every nominee and discuss them here. That is all.

READING

Speaking of Norwescon 38, man, oh man, I made off like a bandit … well, I paid for the loot, but still … I now have the following signed and personalized copies on my to read list: Django Wexler’s THE THOUSAND NAMES, John A Pitts’ BLACK BLADE BLUES, Rod Duncan’s THE BULLET CATCHER’S DAUGHTER, Pierce Brown’s RED RISING, and Dave Bara’s IMPULSE. I will be reading all of them. For the observant ones out there, you’ll notice the ARC I mentioned last week, UNSEEMLY SCIENCE, by Rod Duncan. It is, in fact, the sequel to the BULLET CATCHER’S DAUGHTER, both from Angry Robot.  Let’s just say I haven’t been this impressed by a book in a while. One of the cool things about getting ARCs to read is finding books outside your normal reading wheel that manage to surprise and delight. UNSEEMLY SCIENCE is a beautifully written steampunk, alternate history style novel that manages to evoke the aesthetic without turning itself into a reflection of the rest of the trope out there. Elizabeth, the main protagonist, is a feminist heroine I can get behind — smart, intelligent, and void of the typical fantasy heroine. It’s a slow burn mystery but so intelligently written and with a well developed world, I barely put it down. I’ll have a more in-depth review next week, and we’ll hopefully be having Rod on the show in the near future. If I were to recommend you pick up anything this week, THE BULLET CATCHER’S DAUGHTER and UNSEEMLY SCIENCE are it. AUDIOBOOKS: I finished BLOOD RITES by Jim Butcher — as always an entertaining listen. I also listened to John Scalzi’s FUZZY NATION, narrated by Wil Wheaton. Highly recommend this. Wil Wheaton is a fantastic narrator and the novel is full of sci-fi adventure. The main protagonist, Jack Holloway, is as grey and rogue as you can get. I shot through this audiobook in one weekend. And I want his dog. I enjoyed it so much I picked up the audiobook for RED SHIRTS.

PLAYING

BLOODBORNE is finished.  As far as play goes, I’m not sure this entry did anything spectacularly new over the previous incarnations, DEMON SOULS and DARK SOULS, but I don’t think that was the goal either. Story wise? Slugs and umbilical cords. If you have played the game you’ll get that. If you haven’t played, yes, it’s a weird as it sounds. I’m not sure I got everything that happened, but I think that was intentional and kind of cool. Up next? BORDERLANDS 2. I’m a few levels in, and let me tell you there are some issues with the split screen couch co-op. Still fun, love the characters, but Friday expect a discussion about user interface. Have a great week, and make sure to let me know what you are reading and playing!