By Slanted Light

As with Pros fic, it's not that I haven't been reading books... it's that I haven't been finishing them! I had three books on the go that I kept being distracted from - and then oddly enough I came back to this one and just wolfed it down, and want the next one in the series now! It's the second Lady Astronaut book, and I can barely remember the first half, but the second half definitely grabbed me again.

The space race is still on - not as a competition between the USSR and US, but as a race to escape to other worlds before the earth's climate finishes the catastrophic warming it began when a metereorite hit the earth in 1952. So it's an alternative history in some ways, but it's very much dealing with the world as it was for people back then as well, which is also interesting. Fated Sky takes us to 1961 - the moon landings are in the past, and the next stop - is Mars. *g*

I thought I was going to dive into this game with A, because coincidentally that was the book on top of my pile - but then the library told me this one was due back and I couldn't renew it, so I figured I should read it first. So I'm starting at the very centre of the board instead!

I didn't dislike this story, but I must admit I'm not hugely bothered about whether I read the second (third, fourth, whatever) book. It strikes me as somewhat Hunger Games for boys, although there is a token girl in it (sort of in it). It's not badly written as such, but there were some odd inconsistencies and jumps in places, which I presume they figured we'd never notice (or more likely they didn't notice them...) because the story does move along at a relatively cracking pace. But I did notice them, and it annoyed me on behalf of teenage boys (as the books market, I presume) - they deserve a bit of care taken!

So mostly now I'm just thinking "Ah, that's what that book I saw being promoted/the film are all about..." Interesting enough idea so far, and the lead character isn't dislikeable, but it was pretty clear who was going to cop it at the end, and the whole thing played pretty fast and loose with no one ever talking to each other/answering each other's questions as a plot device. So... well, that's all quite critical I suppose, but I did keep reading it.... hmmn, damning it with faint praise, aren't I...!

Mount TBR so far = 7/24 (still!)
Lj Book Bingo Masterpost

When geek girl Ellie Wittimer sees a cosplay contest sponsored by the producers of Starfield, she has to enter. First prize is an invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. Elle's been scraping together tips from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck behind her stepmother's back, and winning this contest could be her ticket out once and for all - not to mention a fangirl's dream come true.
Teen actor Darien Freeman is less than thrilled about this year's ExcelsiCon. He used to live for conventions, but now they're nothing but jaw-aching photo sessions and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Federation Prince Carmindor is all he's ever wanted, but the diehard Starfield fandom has already dismissed him as just another hearthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, closet nerd Darien feels more and more like a fake - until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.
Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom.

( With a tagline like that... )

I'm behind, I'm behind, what happened to February?! Not that I wasn't reading, I was reading, just... not posting about it. Oops.


Mount TBR so far = 7/24
Lj Book Bingo Masterpost

Lord Alexander Pyne-ffoulkes, the younger son of the Duke of Ilvar, has a bitter grudge against his wealthy father. The Duke intends to give his Duchess a priceless diamond parure on their wedding anniversary - so Alec hires a pair of jewel thieves to steal it.
The Duke's remote castle is a difficult target, and Alec needs a way to get the thieves in. Solder-turned-criminal Jerry Crozier has the answer: he'll pose as a Society gentleman and become Alex's new best friend. But Jerry is a dangerous man: controlling, remote and devastating. He effortlessly teases out the lonely young nobleman's most secret desires and soon he's got Alec in his bed - and the palm of his hand.
Or maybe not. Because as the plot thickens, betrayals, secrets, new loves, and old evils come to light. Now the jewel thief and the aristocrat must keep up the pretence, find their way through a maze of privilege and deceit, and confront the truth of what's between them... all without getting caught.

This was an automatic-buy for me, since it's by KJ Charles, although I was good and waited for it to come out in paperback rather than buying the e-book because it's published first and then having to buy the paperback later (cos I want her books in paperback - I enjoy them more that way, as I do any book). Happily it also fits the Published this Year square for ljbookbingo - yeay!

( Any Old Diamonds... )

( Booklist 2019 )

Mount TBR so far = 5/24
Lj Book Bingo Masterpost

Who says you can't run away from your problems? Arthur Less is a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the post: it is from an ex-boyfriend of nine years who is engaged to someone else. But Arthur can't say yes - it would be too awkward; he can't say no - it would look like defeat. So he begins to accept the invitations on his desk to half-baked literary agents around the world. From France to India, Germany to Japan, Arthur almost falls in love, almost falls to his death and puts miles between him and the plight he refuses to face. Less is a novel about mishaps, misunderstandings and the depths of the human heart.

I bought this last year at an airport, and then proceeded to carry it around with me for the rest of the trip... I thought the blurb sounded entirely promising, and I rather fancied something joyful and funny.

( The trouble with Arthur Less... )

Well this was unexpected... yeah, I've had a fairly lazy, cosy Saturday in today... *vbg*


Book Bingo Masterpost

It is the winter of 1952, and Isabel Carey is struggling to adjust to the realities of married life in Yorkshire. Isolated and lonely, she is also intensely cold. And her husband - a doctor - is rarely home. And then one night she discovers an old RAF greatcoat in the back of a cupboard. She puts it on her bed for warmth - and is startled by a knock at her window. Outside is a young man. A pilot. And he wants to come in...

( This is our bookgroup book... )

Isn't it bliss to be choosing the next book to read! *vbg*

( Books 2019 so far )

I'm just not getting the hang of this posting-and-working thing, am I? I'll try for a monthly book post, I think! So this was my January reading - counting long-ish Prosfic, but only short fics if I remember to add them at the time.

I ended up reading three books for the Sci-Fi Experience challenge (but with no way to link/post/comment to the challenge itself, it feels a bit odd this year) and I've read three books (and two fanfics, though I don't supposed they'd officially count) for Mount TBR - so off to a pretty decent start, I think.

1. Helstrom's Hive by Frank Herbert
2. Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold
3. Encounters by Jason Wallace
4. The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
5. Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell (book group)
6. His Maggie May by Spotty Dog (Pros fic)
7. So This is Us by Jojo (Pros fic)


Helstrom's Hive I've already reviewed.

( Warrior's Apprentice... )

( Encounters... )

( The Wee Free Men... )

( Instructions for a Heatwave... )


I finally worked out how to get into my Kobo again, just before Christmas (it was the cable I was using for the connection that was the problem, which seems odd to me, but was definitely the issue) and so finally got into the Prosfic I'd loaded way back when - hurrah!

His Maggie May was an excellent read, in that it felt fresh and made me want to keep reading Pros again. I thought Doyle was a bit less Doyle than in the eps - I don't think we get much canon that suggests he'd take drugs while on duty, for instance - and Bodie was a bit too much more diligent and professional in comparison (I'd say the eps suggest the opposite characterisation, personally) but the writing meant that I could go with it, and was able to trust the author rather than having to wince and put the story down, so... yeay! I had a feeling our Snailbones might be a fab Pros author to go with all her shiny artwork... *g*

I always feel in safe hands with Jojo's Pros fic too, so I was a bit wary when So This is Us turned out to feature a teacher (Doyle) and a hairdresser (Bodie) - but luckily it also turned out to be properly convincing in both cases, and another excellent read. *g* I'm especially wary of the way teachers are often portrayed in fic (and even on Doctor Who) as being able to take time off from their basically good-hearted ragamuffin classes whenever they need to, because they have such wonderful colleagues that they can magically provide cover for days at a time (just what-what-what?!) but the teaching part of the story was written with a light and realistic touch too, so phew! Also, hee for Cowley as the headteacher... *g*

And that was January, I think! Did anyone else read anything good?

I had such plans for a nice day today. R would be at school and then she was going on a playdate, so when A woke from her nap I was going to take her to a playground where she could play without R taking things over. We'd have dinner, then pick up R, and go home to a quiet evening of CBeebies, cos Mum was going to be late home and a long day for us all - it'd been a second early start this week too.

So R slumped around as she often does, but finally managed to get dressed and ready - and then promptly puked all over the stairs. Yup, the carpeted stairs. Alot. *sighs* Nothing serious (which is good, obviously), it's a cyclical vomiting thing rather than a virus or anything, but... vomit. No school. No playdate. No extra time for A. And because R is just wiped out around the vomiting, CBeebies was on sooner and for a long time rather than for a final treat... Oh, and no break at A's naptime either, cos R is there... *headdesk*

It actually worked out better than it could have - Mrs came home to watch R while I took A to her music class, so A got a little bit of time where she was the focus, and R actually napped a bit while A was napping, so I managed a little bit of a break. I didn't go outside and take a photo though, so... what was my happy?

Well, taking fifteen minutes of that dual nap time to read more Death at Fountains Abbey - and coming home and looking around for photo inspiration, and being surrounded by books to read. So yeay. Happiness is a good book, and many more books to come!

Sara has never left Sweden but at the age of 28 she decides its time. She cashes in her savings, packs a suitcase full of books and sets off for Broken Wheel, Iowa, a town where she knows nobody.
Sara quickly realises that Broken Wheel is in desperate need of adventure, a dose of self-help and perhaps some romance too. In short, this is a town in need of a bookshop.
With a little help from the locals, Sara sets up Broken Wheel's first bookstore. The shop might be a little quirky but then again, so is Sara. And as Broken Wheel's story begins to take shape, there are some surprises in store for Sara too...

This was the perfect book to read when I'd just got back from holiday to ordinary life again, because it's one of those gorgeously cosy-adventuresome reads that is just sunshine from one end to the other. *g* It's not what the blurb says though - the first paragraph is right, but the second makes me think that the blurb-writer didn't actually bother to read it at all. In fact, Sara had struck up a letter-writing relationship with a women from Broken Wheel when she was still in Sweden, and when the bookshop she works for closes down she decides to take Amy up on her offer, and go and visit her for a holiday - just to do something different with her life, so that one day she can look back and say when I was young I lived in a small American town for two months...

( When she gets there... )

Edinburgh, 1888. A violinist is murdered in his home. The dead virtuoso's maid swears she heard three musicians playing in the night. But with only one body locked in the practice room - and no way in or out - the case makes no sense.
Fearing a panic over another Ripper, Scotland Yard sends Inspector Ian Frey to investigate under the cover of a fake department specializing in the occult. However, Frey's new boss, Detective "Nine-Nails" McGray, actually believes in supernatural nonsense.
McGray's tragic past has driven him to superstition, but even Frey must admit that this case seems beyond reason. And when someone loses all reason, who knows what they will lose next....

This has been on my shelf for a while - though not quite long enough to count for my Mount TBR challenge, according to the photo of my shelves - but it seemed to fit the Readers Imbibing Peril challenge nicely, with a murder and supernatural elements... And I enjoyed it! ( In some ways I shouldn't have... )

I also started my Peril of the Short Story challenge this morning, with two wee stories written by Mr M.R. James. The first was A School Story, about... well, I won't tell you what it's about, cos that's kind of a spoiler. *g* But it starts off with two men chatting about the ghost stories that schoolboys tell - and of course one of them has come across something himself... *g* Actually, what I thought was the spookiest bit has nothing to do with the story, it's the kind of throw-away that is done very well in this tale - one of the men is thinking of the different stories he'd heard - "Also there was the lady who, on locking her bedroom door in a strange house, heard a thin voice among the bed-curtains say, 'Now we're shut in for the night.'" - eeeh!

The second story was The Rose Garden, which is rather Nightmare on Elm Street in a way, because how often do we really know why that part of the house we've just moved into, for all its inconvenience, actually shouldn't be cleared away/altered/disturbed at all...? *g* Hmmn - it's hard, with short stories, to avoid spoilers, isn't it! I shall read more in this collection, though... *g*


Mystery - The Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel
Suspense - Dark Tides by Chris Ewan
Thriller
Gothic - Raven's Head by Karen Maitland
Gothic - The Madness by Alison Rattle
Horror
Dark Fantasy
And actually that means I've successfully completed this Peril the First challenge (to read four books) even before it got to October! I shall keep going though... *g*


A School Story by M.R. James
The Rose Garden by M.R. James