Bought a book recently?

[Nickslikk2112]

Just finished reading Giant Steps: My incredible Journey from Stage Lights to Executive Heights by Derk Shulman.

It was OK, covers his youth and Simon Dupree, then Gentle Giant then his Music Executive career. I found it a bit hard going because it's written in American English, also a couple of errors on things. No tales of excess apart from what he relates of others in the business.

He also seems proud of inflicting Bon Jovi and Nickleback on the world.

[Thenop]

Bought the Infinite Dreams Iron Maiden book. It a labour of love from Steve Harris, nice pictures, good stories. And all in a hardbound coffeetable book.
Worth shipping around though, got mine for 46 EUR only. Elsewhere mostly 65..

[Fishy]

Just finished reading Giant Steps: My incredible Journey from Stage Lights to Executive Heights by Derk Shulman.

It was OK, covers his youth and Simon Dupree, then Gentle Giant then his Music Executive career. I found it a bit hard going because it's written in American English, also a couple of errors on things. No tales of excess apart from what he relates of others in the business.

He also seems proud of inflicting Bon Jovi and Nickleback on the world.

Yes the worst excesses they did was a curry and a pint i think

[R6GYY]

Prompted by one of those youtube "Best Science Fiction Books" videos which I occasionally watch, I have purchased a book which caught my attention and sounds right up my street.

I purchased the omnibus edition which is called Firefall and contains both books in the series; Blindsight and Echopraxia. Bizarrely, the Kindle omnibus edition was about half the price of either individual book in the series. Go figure.

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[Nickslikk2112]

Just finished reading Giant Steps: My incredible Journey from Stage Lights to Executive Heights by Derk Shulman.

It was OK, covers his youth and Simon Dupree, then Gentle Giant then his Music Executive career. I found it a bit hard going because it's written in American English, also a couple of errors on things. No tales of excess apart from what he relates of others in the business.

He also seems proud of inflicting Bon Jovi and Nickleback on the world.

Yes the worst excesses they did was a curry and a pint i think

Somebody once spiked his drink with LSD and he spent 6 hours clinging to a lamppost.

[pxr5]

Prompted by one of those youtube "Best Science Fiction Books" videos which I occasionally watch, I have purchased a book which caught my attention and sounds right up my street.

I purchased the omnibus edition which is called Firefall and contains both books in the series; Blindsight and Echopraxia. Bizarrely, the Kindle omnibus edition was about half the price of either individual book in the series. Go figure.

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Thanks Reg. Looks right up my street too. I looked it up and not sure if you are aware but there is a mid book too (Firefall 1.5) called The Colonel https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22572511-the-colonel

[pxr5]

I've nearly finished Rebel, the 3rd in the Eyes Forward series by Emma Ellis. I've got a lot to pick from, but I fancy a good horror next - probably Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica.

[R6GYY]

Thanks Reg. Looks right up my street too. I looked it up and not sure if you are aware but there is a mid book too (Firefall 1.5) called The Colonel https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22572511-the-colonel

Ah yes, thanks. I was vaguely aware of it, but have looked into it now. Not essential reading from what I gather, sort of a taster for the 2nd book. A shame they didn't include it in the omnibus edition. Whether of not I fork out for it as a standalone depends if I become a fanboi or not  .

[Fishy]

Stephen King You Like It Darker

[pxr5]

Finished A View From the Stars (articles and short stories by Cixin Liu) and now on to the latest Hunger Games book - Sunrise on the Reaping. This one is the 50th games and follows the year when Katniss' mentor Haymitch Abernathy took part and of course, won.

[pxr5]

Just finished the latest Hunger Games book - Sunrise on the Reaping. It was more brutal this one and some horrible outcomes. Adamant to read a horror next I have gone with Penpal by Dathan Auerbach. I'm only 2 chapters in and hooked already. I love his style of writing too:

"In an attempt to make sense of his own mysterious and unsettling childhood memories, a man begins to reconstruct his past.

As the games and adventures of his youth become engulfed by a larger story, he finds that it forms a tapestry of unbelievable horror that he never could have expected. Each chapter completes a different piece of the puzzle for both you and the narrator, and by the end of it all, you will wish that you could forget what he never knew."

[pxr5]

Finished Penpal. As a horror it's very subtle, and because of that it feels more unsettling as much is left to the imagination. Very good though.

Next I read Tender is the Flesh - set in an alternative world where a virus in nature causes all animal flesh to become toxic to humans. So of course we turn to eating human flesh. It follows a manager a meat processing plant. Oddly the book is always in the first person which gives it an weird feel and the ending is a sudden unexpected twist. A decent read but not really horror as I would see it.

Enough of horror for now, I've moved to sci-fi with the first book of the Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I'm loving this so far - lots to get through though with 2 more books in the series.

[Slim]

I finished the Callan novel Death and Bright Water. Quite an involved plot involving wealthy Greek expats, the Greek military dictatorship and a communist resistance. In the short stories, which are also very good, we don't really see the trademark Callan anti-authoritarian streak, the cynical aspect of his character. But here, it's present in spades. Hunter, the implacable head of The Section, even has him beaten up to coerce him into returning to the section to accept a dangerous job.

I thought the Greek politics element of the plot was a bit overcooked, a bit over-indulged. But it's a cracking yarn overall. I listened to the audiobook and although the narrator's voice doesn't sound like Edward Woodward's, he gets the mannerisms and the personality spot-on. His malodorous sidekick Lonely is beautifully done as well. Cockney criminal underclass done to a T.

[pxr5]

I've finished Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (the first in what I thought was a trilogy, but there is a 4th book coming soon). I've almost completed the 2nd one - Children of Ruin and then I'll go straight to the 3rd. I love the detail expressed in his writing and as he's a strong interest in flora and fauna he uses this knowledge in his books; Children of Time is spiders and Children if Ruin is octopuses. Great sci-fi.

[pxr5]

Finished Children of Ruin and moved on to the next - Children of Memory.