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You are here: Home / Archives for Books & Music / Books / Recommended Reading

Recommended Reading

Recommended Reading #6: Audio Drama Edition

by Major Major Major Major|  September 14, 20191:57 pm| 71 Comments

This post is in: Books, Books & Music, Recommended Reading

I’ve been a sucker for a good audio drama ever since middle school, when my dad introduced me to the old classics. He’d bought some sort of anthology collection on tape, and took to playing it during long drives. I have a fond memory where we were driving through the mountains at night listening to Suspense and The Shadow. Later, in high school, a friend introduced me to the inestimable Nick Danger, Third Eye, which I still think about more than is probably healthy.

So I have absolutely no idea why I waited until 2019 to start listening to audio drama podcasts. It turns out there are a lot of good ones! Some are so good, I wanted to share them. They’re 100% free, so check them out at no risk to your pocketbook:

Steal the Stars (from Tor Labs, written by Mac Rogers) tells the story of Dakota Prentiss, security chief at a secret facility to study a crashed alien ship. It’s set in a recognizable near future, where such things are done by indentured servants at a defense contractor megacorporation, and the employees are forbidden to fraternize. One day, new hire Matt Salem joins the team, and you can probably see where this is going. Taped in a warehouse, Steal the Stars has the distinction of actually sounding like it takes place in its setting. Tightly-written, easy to follow, very well-executed. Available as fourteen 40-ish minute episodes. (Warning: the link contains some spoilers in its description.)

"TANIS" is filled with images of nature, on a black background.Tanis (from the Public Radio Alliance) is an odd duck. It’s told in the format of a public radio podcast, like Serial or Radiolab. In it, fictional podcast host Nic Silver investigates the fictional myth of Tanis, a legendary locale known only from a few cryptic references. Aided by a team of irregulars he picks up as he digs deeper, he aims to uncover the truth behind these bizarre stories, which seem to gravitate around the woods of the Pacific Northwest. The first season of twelve 45-ish minute episodes works as a standalone, and I highly recommend it. Each episode seamlessly blends strange real-world events with the story’s developing mythos, in a manner I would characterize as Borgesian. Recommended especially for fans of weird fiction.

If you’re looking for something lighter, check out StarTripper!! (from Whisperforge, written by Julian Mundy). This zany space opera follows Feston Pyxis, a bored bureaucrat who sells his belongings, buys a starship, and starts a podcast narrating his adventures. Each 25-ish minute episode finds him at a new locale, within which hijinks ensue. Think Buck Rogers meets Futurama. It’s an indie production, so the audio isn’t as good as the above two, but don’t let that stop you.


What sort of audio dramas do y’all enjoy? I know it’s a niche genre, so feel free to talk about books and stories, too! I’m reading This Is How You Lose The Time War and Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, both of which are great. I think the latter was a recommendation from one of these posts…

Recommended Reading #6: Audio Drama EditionPost + Comments (71)

Open Thread: Time Travel As Cultural Barometer

by Major Major Major Major|  August 9, 20191:30 pm| 159 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Open Threads, Politics, Recommended Reading

Leon Trotsky once wrote, “Art, it is said, is not a mirror, but a hammer: it does not reflect, it shapes.” I suspect that this phenomenon is more intense in works of speculative fiction* than, say, spy thrillers. These stories are well-positioned to plumb and amplify the pressing issues and paranoias of their times; more to the point, they often offer high-concept utopian solutions, be they progressive or reactionary.

So I was amused to see the Guardian ask: Why are there so many new books about time-travelling lesbians?

In 2016, I sat down with my co-author Max Gladstone to write our novel This Is How You Lose the Time War, which follows two time-travelling female spies as they fall in love. That same year was also when I first heard people speaking earnestly and frequently about feeling as if they were in the wrong timeline, as the Brexit referendum results rolled in and Donald Trump was elected US president.

[…] But our novel is just one of several recent stories of queer women time-travelling. There is Kate Heartfield’s Nebula-nominated novella Alice Payne Arrives and its sequel Alice Payne Rides, which see two 18th-century women – lovers – become embroiled in a war. There are also Kameron Hurley’s The Light Brigade, Kate Mascarenhas’s The Psychology of Time Travel, Kelly Robson’s Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach and Annalee Newitz’s The Future of Another Timeline.

[…] I wrote to each of these authors in anticipation of this piece and it turns out we were all drafting our books in 2016.

The article is a quick and a good read. I haven’t picked up This Is How You Lose the Time War yet, but it’s near the top of my list. I did read two books last year that featured time-traveling lesbians, though, just chewing through a random pile of space opera.

This article reminded me of a fun piece on Doctor Who**, which found that the Doctor was significantly more likely to overthrow the government during the Thatcher era.

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More recently, interviews revealed that this was quite intentional:

[Script Editor] Cartmel said it was almost a job requirement to detest Thatcher.

When asked by John Nathan-Turner, the producer, what he hoped to achieve in being the show’s script editor, he recalled: “My exact words were: I’d like to overthrow the government.

And right now, in the show’s thirty-eighth season, the Doctor is a woman for the first time.

I’ve touched on the alt-right attempts to ‘reclaim’ speculative fiction before; may their number of victories continue to be zero.

Open thread!


*I will once again not apologize for using this industry umbrella term, which refers fantasy, sci-fi, most horror, “weird”, magical realism, etc.

**Written by trans spec-fic author Charlie Jane Anders, incidentally.

Open Thread: Time Travel As Cultural BarometerPost + Comments (159)

Recommended Reading #5: Armageddon, With Social Justice & Rock Wizards

by Major Major Major Major|  June 9, 201912:37 pm| 166 Comments

This post is in: Recommended Reading

Welcome back to Recommended Reading! I hope your Sunday is going well. I woke up to a short story rejection, so I lopped off 350 words and sent it in to another place. Excelsior!

To some, today’s trilogy needs little introduction. Each book won the Hugo Award, three years running, the first time an author had accomplished this feat. And the author, N.K. Jemisin, has been central in the fight to get the vocal alt-right trolls in the speculative fiction* community to shut the fuck up**.

In an acceptance speech that’s being hailed as one of the best ever made at the Hugos, Jemisin defiantly raised a “rocket-shaped finger” (a reference to the rocket-ship design of the massive Hugo statue) to the racist rhetoric that positions the recognition of her work as being about identity politics rather than her own talent.

“It’s been a hard year, hasn’t it,” she began. “A hard few years, a hard century. For some of us, things have always been hard. I wrote the Broken Earth trilogy to speak to that struggle, and what it takes to live, let alone thrive, in a world that seems determined to break you — a world of people who constantly question your competence, your relevance, your very existence.”

The Broken Earth trilogy takes place in a world called the Stillness, where geological cataclysms periodically decimate the population, through both the initial events and the ensuing nuclear winters. Some people, called orogenes, are born with the power to harness and redirect the earth’s energy. They are hated and feared, and the dominant imperial power collects them as children, to break them and train them to serve the empire.

One day, after deciding such a civilization is unfit to continue, an orogene of immense power rips the continent in half.

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The story begins that day, following a handful of orogenes and their associates as they try to survive. For a fantasy epic, it’s very intimate; as with all the best stories, the conflicts are between individuals with different goals, each for understandable reasons.

I ordinarily would pick something less famous to write about, but this one is just so good. You should check it out! The first book is called The Fifth Season, and is probably available wherever books are sold.

What have you been reading lately?

*I know some of you love to hate this umbrella term for stories about worlds other than the one we live in; I don’t care.

**I was chatting with my friend about this the other day. I said, “I guess I could see how your stereotypical libertarian reader might disagree with some of the themes, but it’s a very nuanced take on prejudice and empire.” He said, “You’re acting like these people opened the book after they saw a picture of a black woman on the back.” Touché!

Recommended Reading #5: Armageddon, With Social Justice & Rock WizardsPost + Comments (166)

Recommended Reading #4: 2018 in Review

by Major Major Major Major|  January 20, 20194:12 pm| 114 Comments

This post is in: Books, Recommended Reading

Good afternoon and welcome back to Recommended Reading! I’ve been putting this post off all month. Now, my current short story is resting between drafts; I’m going to be hiding at home from a cold front for twenty-four hours; and I’m making myself do some writing before I start playing Octopath Traveler. It’s the perfect moment to talk about the best books we read last year.

According to Goodreads, I read around thirty-two novels last year. Here are the titles that stood out to me, in no particular order. (Many of them were recommendations by y’all, so thanks!)

  • The Player of Games, Iain M. Banks

This was my first foray into the Culture books. Interesting universe, great starship names, fun story.

  • The Quantum Thief, Hannu Rajaniemi

Many authors fail to find the line between telling you just enough and being too obscure; Rajaniemi is not one of them. The Quantum Thief is a richly imaginative and wonderfully-wrought heist story.

  • A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge

This was one of the best attempts I’ve read at writing from the perspective of an alien.

  • The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester

A science-fiction classic for a reason; incidentally one of William Gibson’s favorite novels.

  • The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers

Absolutely brilliant characters. Looking forward to my next foray into this universe.

What did you read last year that you loved?

Recommended Reading #4: 2018 in ReviewPost + Comments (114)

Recommended Reading #3: Revenge, Served Satanic

by Major Major Major Major|  October 13, 20182:51 pm| 45 Comments

This post is in: Recommended Reading

Hello and welcome to Recommended Reading, the feature where we talk about books! In honor of October, and the impending election, I would like to recommend a book about clawing your way out of Hell to exact revenge on the people who sent you there: Sandman Slim (Sandman Slim #1), by San Fransiscan Richard Kadrey.

It tells the story of Stark, a sorcerer brut and member of Southern California’s hidden, magically-attuned society. His erstwhile friends banish him to Hell, and after ten years of gladiatorial combat, he murders his way out seeking vengeance.

But he wonders: are Los Angeles, and this mission, really all that different from his last decade?

It’s a bloody good read, with some of the best hard-boiled imagery that I’ve ever come across.

When I was Downtown, I learned a lot about making threats. Make them big. Make them outrageous. You’re never going to kick someone’s ass. You’re going to pull out their tongue and pour liquid nitrogen down their throat, chip out their guts with an ice pick, slide in a pane of glass, and turn them into an aquarium.

Oh, and there’s loads of old movie references, if that’s your thing. (More quotes, the kind that might make even certain commenters blush, can be found at Goodreads.)

I’m usually loath to recommend the first book in a series, but it works as a standalone. Four out of five stars, seasonally appropriate. Content warning, extreme violence and Satanism.


What are some of your favorite pieces of revenge porn? What else have you been reading? I’m on book 1.5 of Peter F. Hamilton’s Night’s Dawn trilogy.

As always, if you’re going to buy anything, go through the Balloon-Juice Amazon Affiliate link (or support your local bookstore)!

Recommended Reading #3: Revenge, Served SatanicPost + Comments (45)

Recommended Reading #2: Her Majesty’s Extremely Secret Service(s)

by Major Major Major Major|  August 18, 20184:40 pm| 159 Comments

This post is in: Books, Recommended Reading

It’s not a huge surprise when multiple works deal with the same basic idea. Some ideas are quite obvious: a robot renegade cop; a murder in a small town struggling with encroaching modernity; World War II time travel. What’s much more interesting is when the works share a very narrow scope.

Sometimes a newer work’s creator is (apparently) unaware of their predecessor. For instance, Suzanne Collins said she didn’t hear about Battle Royale until after she turned in the MS for The Hunger Games. Yet each work is about teenagers, selected by lottery, being forced into an undisclosed location, where they are armed, surveilled, and encouraged to kill each other; all in order to help prop up a deranged society.

Then again… Christopher Nolan claims he was mostly unaware of Paprika while making Inception… so maybe we shouldn’t be so credulous when Westerners say they aren’t ripping off the Japanese.

via https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/five-ways-daniel-omalleys-stiletto-doubles-down-on-skullduggery/

But we’re getting away from what I wanted to talk about: books addressing bureaucratic dysfunction in the secret branch of the British government that protects the homeland from supernatural threats. The two primary series here, that I’m aware of, are Charles Stross’s The Laundry Files and Daniel O’Malley’s Checquy series. Both are very fun combinations of workplace humor and sci-fi/horror action. Stross, who began first, leans more into horror. O’Malley leans more into humor, but they’re definitely walking the same territory. Remarkably, O’Malley says he hadn’t heard of the Laundry series before his first book came out and people started calling it a rip-off. (Source: my friend asked him at a book signing).

Honorary members of this category are:

  • Apparent commenter favorite the Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch, otherwise ineligible by being about the Metropolitan Police
  • Torchwood, otherwise ineligible by being a TV show

—

What’d I leave out? What are some extremely specific genres you like? Or you can say anything at all about reading recommendations, really.

(Remember to buy any books via the Balloon-Juice Amazon affiliate link!)

Recommended Reading #2: Her Majesty’s Extremely Secret Service(s)Post + Comments (159)

On the Road and In Your Backyard

by Alain|  July 31, 20185:00 am| 14 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Readership Capture, Recommended Reading

Good Morning All,

More from previous submissions. I’ll have two mega-posts this week; as the form is down, I don’t think BillinGlendale will be tomorrow, but I’m not sure. I’ll see what I’ve got stored up!

Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!

 

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Today, pictures from valued commenter otmar.

This is the third batch of pictures from Oslo.

On the last day I managed to visit Frognerpark and see the sculptures made by Gustav Vigeland. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frogner_Park

As Wikipedia puts it: “Frogner Park contains, in its present centre, the well-known Vigeland installation, a permanent sculpture installation created by Gustav Vigeland between 1924 and 1943.”

Looking at some of the reviews, this has irritated some American tourists, as it basic contains 212 bronze and granite sculptures of naked humans. In order to keep this mostly “save for work”, I tried to make my selection of pictures rather modest.

Bronze statue from the bridge.

The fountain. (regrettably without water due to renovation works)

The wheel of life, on the top of the installation.

View towards the Monolith and the surrounding sculptures.

Closer to the Monolith.

Granite statues.

More granite.

 

Thank you so much otmar, do send us more when you can.

 

Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.

 

One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email

On the Road and In Your BackyardPost + Comments (14)

Recommended Reading #1–Bone (+ special guest ruemara)

by Major Major Major Major|  July 28, 20186:00 pm| 253 Comments

This post is in: Books, Recommended Reading

Hello and welcome to Recommended Reading, a new twice-monthly feature where we discuss books that we like, and offer suggestions to others about books that we think they might like.

Today, I would like to say a little something about the Eisner-award-winning comic epic Bone.

Published in installments from 1991 to 2004, Bone is now available in a single 1,332-page volume. It tells the story of the Bone cousins, three Pogo-esque slapstick scam artists who get run out of Boneville. They become separated and lost in a mysterious valley where, as it turns out, a high-fantasy epic war is brewing. There ensues love and hate, laughter and tears, unnecessarily-long homages to Moby-Dick, and stupid, stupid rat creatures!

This is the graphic novel I recommend to people who are looking to get into graphic novels.

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It’s approachable because it rests on the familiar elements of epic fantasy and the Sunday funnies. There’s obviously much to love if you are already a fan of the form, too. The art is both functional and stunning. Finally, it contains my favorite dragon: The Great Red Dragon, a chainsmoking, world-weary thing with puffball ear fringe.

The overall feel will be familiar to fans of Terry Pratchett. 11/10 highly recommended please read.


We also have a special guest recommender today, one of the only other Juicers known to have met Samwise–ruemara!.

She writes,

  • Dead Boys by Gabriel Squailia – a fairly amazing and complex heroes journey, see review here
  • The Last Policeman – the only police book I want to see made into a series, review here
  • Chew, the graphic novels – weird, gruesome yet somehow fun, graphic novel series about Tony Chew, a cibopath. That means, “gets psychic flash on whatever he eats”. Yeah, a steak can be pretty horrible for him. No posted review for the graphic novels, but here’s a link.

What books are you bursting at the seams to share? Or maybe you’re looking for something to read–please ask, the hive-mind would be happy to help!

(If you go looking for any of these books on Amazon, remember to click through the Balloon-Juice affiliate link to get there.)

Recommended Reading #1–Bone (+ special guest ruemara)Post + Comments (253)

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Johngcole avatarJohn Cole@Johngcole·
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basically only losers drink crystal pepsi but you knew this already

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Johngcole avatarJohn Cole@Johngcole·
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cool do the White House next

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Johngcole avatarJohn Cole@Johngcole·
2h 1204573471726096384

right on

Someone Is Putting Cowboy Hats on Pigeons in Las Vegas

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Johngcole avatarJohn Cole@Johngcole·
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the climate crisis is now

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Johngcole avatarJohn Cole@Johngcole·
5h 1204527750889037824

I had Mexican for lunch, got a pedicure, and now I am going to take a nap with Lily and Steve. Today was a good day.

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Johngcole avatarJohn Cole@Johngcole·
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Twitter feed video.
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12h 1204434755200045058

Trump must feel besieged and wronged by the articles of impeachment so it’s nice he’s meeting with the Russian foreign minister this morning to get some moral support.

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