Books read in 2020

FICTION

1. Alliance Rising by C.J. Cherryh & Jane Fancher (science fiction).
2. Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh (science fiction). I felt the need to re-read this after reading the new ‘prequel’, Alliance Rising. It is still a great book, but it is very noticeable now that the tech is paper printouts and paper ID documents instead of reading stuff on a screen.
3. The Farm by Joanne Ramos (science fiction).
4. Damnificados by J.J. Amaworo Wilson (mainstream/magical realism). This is lovely. Funny, poignant, political and with touches of magical realism now and then. It was an impulse buy at an Eastercon, and I’m so glad I did. The author doesn’t seem to have written any other novels, which is a shame.
5. Four Days to Veracruz by Owen West (thriller).
6. The Bear & the Serpent by Adrian Tchaikovsky (fantasy). Vol 2 of Echoes of the Fall.
7. Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky (science fiction). Loved this.
8. Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky (science fiction). Curiously unengaging. Possibly a combination of the narrative structure and the fact the hero spends most of the book trying to avoid getting involved in anything?
9. Hidden Sun by Jaine Fenn (science fantasy). Vol 1 of the Shadowlands Duology.
10. Broken Shadows by Jaine Fenn (science fantasy). Vol 2 of the Shadowlands Duology. I’d like to read more in this setting.
11. The Last by Hanna Jameson (science fiction). The blurb on the book makes it sound like it is a serial killer picking off victims one by one. It is really not that at all! Nice portrait of people over-reacting and going a bit weird at the end of the world.
12. Special Purposes: First Strike Weapon by Gavin G. Smith (horror). The Soviet Union starts the zombie apocalypse in the 80s. Fun when its character stuff and a bit of action. Gets dull when it is page after page of zombie-killing.
13. Fluency by Jennifer Foehner Wells (science fiction). Confluence vol 1. Interesting in bits, nice ideas, but heroine too much of a Mary-Sue in other bits, and does that REALLY annoying romance trope of having the hero and heroine almost become a couple, then stop that story arc dead in the water so the author can spend the whole of the NEXT volume doing the will-they-won’t-they thing all over again. So I’m not going to read the next one!
14. Song of the Night by Zoe Burgess (fantasy/romance).
15. Rosewater by Tade Thompson (science fiction).
16. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (fantasy). Broken Earth vol 1. Reading too much sub-D&D, comparable to Tolkien at his most ripped-off, lost heirs to the kingdom, put me off fantasy for decades. It is books like this one which are proving to me that fantasy is actually worth reading. Lovely writing, interesting characters, doing stuff with timelines and narrative which I can’t mention for fear of spoilers. I finished it and immediately ordered the 2nd volume from the library. Then the library shut due to Covid-19, so I couldn’t pick it up! Oh noes!
17. The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin (fantasy). Broken Earth vol 2. Since I couldn’t get the library copy, I bought the second volume!
18. The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin (fantasy). Broken Earth vol 3.
19. Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (science fiction). The Expanse volume 1. Re-read this in preparation for running some one-offs of The Expanse RPG.
20. Caliban’s War by by James S.A. Corey (science fiction). The Expanse volume 2. Ditto.
21. Scatterstones by Fiona Lane (science fantasy). Set in Storm Constantine’s Wraeththu Mythos universe.
22. Breathe My Shadow by Storm Constantine (science fantasy). A Wraeththu Mythos novel.
23. Blood, The Phoenix & A Rose by Storm Constantine. A Wraeththu Mythos novel.
24. Citizen Andri by Philippa Sidle (science fiction). Spaceforce Vol 3. Philippa complains that she’s had her title ‘Spaceforce’ gazumped by Donald Trump and now by the Netflix TV series, so she’ll have to re-brand the series.
25. The Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan (fantasy). Vol 3 of the Memoirs of Lady Trent.
26. In the Labyrinth of Drakes by Marie Brennan (fantasy). Vol 4 of the Memoirs of Lady Trent.
27. Within the Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan (fantasy). Vol 5 of the Memoirs of Lady Trent.
28. Updraft by Fran Wilde (YA fantasy). Bone Universe Vol 1. Someone recommended this to me, but I almost gave up on it. Mainly because it does ‘Boot Camp’ TWICE in one fekking book. First the heroine is training to fly and be a trader’s apprentice, then, just when I’m going ‘Thank Grud that’s over, hopefully we’ll get to the plot now’, she gets sent off to start training to be in the ‘police/priesthood’.
29. Love Beyond Body, Space & Time: An Indigenous LGBT Sci-fi Anthology ed. by Hope Nicholson.
30. Starters by Lissa Price (YA science fiction/dystopia).
31. The War of the Worlds:The Anglo-Martian War of 1895 by Mike Brunton. A spoof military history book from Osprey.
32. American War by Omar El Akkad (science fiction).
33. People of the Canyons by Kathleen O’Neal Gear & W. Michael Gear (prehistorical).
34. Abandoned by W. Michael Gear (science fiction). Donovan vol 2.
35. Pariah by W. Michael Gear (science fiction). Donovan vol 3.
36. Act of Grace by Anna Krien (mainstream).
37. Dead Bad Things by Gary McMahon (horror/crime).
38. The Exile Waiting by Vonda McIntyre (science fiction). It’s been reprinted, with a short story set in the same universe.
39. Daughter of Kura by Debra Austin (prehistorical).
40. The Last Wave by Rick Vancey (YA science fiction). Vol 3 in the Fifth Wave series.
41. One of Us by Craig Dilouie (science fiction).
42. The Eagle & the Raven by Pauline Gedge (historical). Another book I recall being fantastic when I first read it, but on a re-read is just okay.
43. Stasi 77 by David Young (crime).
44. How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang (historical).
45. The Sentinel by Lee Child & Andrew Child (thriller). Jack Reacher vol 25
46. The Survivors by Kate Furnival (thriller). Was on the recommended shelf in the library. Set in a displaced persons camp in the aftermath of WW2. I’ll probably see if the library has her other books.
47. The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths (crime). Enjoyed it but it is a sequel to another book I probably should have read first!
48. The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey (YA science fiction). First in a series.
49. Dune by Frank Herbert (science fiction). Re-read it after enjoying playing the quickstart version of the Dune RPG. Still enjoyable, but I’d forgotten (or not noticed) all the problematic bits, like Jessica being purchased as a sex slave for the Duke, and all the gay and bisexual characters are eeeeeevil. I wonder how they are going to deal with that in the new movie?
50. All That’s Dead by Stuart MacBride (crime).

NON-FICTION

1. Complete Guide to Acrylics by Lorena Kloosterboer.
2. Figments of Reality: The Evolution of the Curious Mind by Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen.
3. A Concise History of Sunnis & Shi’is by John McHugo.
4. The Price of Altruism: George Price & the Search for the Origins of Kindness by Oren Harman.
5. Insatiable: The Rise & Rise of the Greedocracy by Stuart Sim.
6. British Battle Tanks: Post-War Tanks 1946-2016 by Simon Dunstan.
7. Grimoire Dehara: Kaimana by Storm Constantine.
8. The Horse: A Biography of Our Noble Companion by Wendy Williams.
9. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge.
10. Sisters in Arms: Female Warriors from Antiquity to the New Millennium by Julie Wheelwright.
11. The Happy Brain by Dean Burnett (neuroscience). Why isn’t some of this stuff common knowledge?

GRAPHIC NOVELS

1. The Terrible Elizabeth Dunn Against the Devils in Suits by Arabson.
2. The Nightly News by Jonathon Hickman
3. A Shadow Within: Evil in Fantasy & Science Fiction by Francesca T. Barbini (ed.)
4. Six Days: The Incredible Story of D-Day’s Lost Chapter by Robert Venditti, Kevin Maurer & Andrea Mutti.
5. Unnatural Selections by Gary Larson. Okay this isn’t exactly a graphic novel, but this is the best section to put it in…
6. Cows of Our Planet by Gary Larson.
7. The Far Side Gallery 3 by Gary Larson.
8. The Prehistory of the Far Side by Gary Larson.
9. Orphans 1: The Beginning by Recchioni & Mammucari (military science fiction). THIS is how you do Boot Camp – skip over it and then flashback to any bits of it which turn out to be relevant.
10. They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Eisinger, Scott, Becker.
11. You Brought Me the Ocean by Sanchez & Marsh.
12. Love the Lion by Brremaud & Bertolucci
13. Orphans 2: Lies by Recchioni & Mammucari (military science fiction).
14. Orphans 3: Truth by Recchioni & Mammucari (military science fiction).
15. Orphans 4: Winners & Losers by Recchioni & Mammucari (military science fiction). Not sure if this is the end of the series, or if there will be another.
16. Snowpiercer Vol 3: Terminus by Bocquet & Rochette. Didn’t realise it was Vol 3, but it is a stand-alone story.

BOOKS I DIDN’T FINISH

1. Edges by Linda Nagata (science fiction). Inverted Frontier volume 1. I was fooled into buying this by that “volume 1”. It isn’t – it’s a sequel to another series. So it is written as if you know who these characters are (I didn’t), what their backstory and relationship is (I didn’t), and therefore care about it and them (I most certainly didn’t). So do I want to spend several hours reading about smug, irritating guy? Or find out if his relationship with famous but personality-free woman will rekindle on this dangerous mission? Nope, I don’t.
2. Invisible Ecologies by Rachel Armstrong (science fantasy). Nice writing, neat ideas. But the poetry chapters did nothing for me. And the prose chapters were all character portraits with very little actual plot. I wanted something with a bit more drive and grab for my lockdown reading.
3. Future Perfect by Katrina Mountfort (YA science fiction). Dystopian society where everyone has to be Body Perfect, must only be interested in shallow celebrity culture, and sex is banned. Started okay, but it lost me when the heroine – who has banged on about how no-one is allowed outside the city dome and how much she’d like to know what it is like out there – get sent outside with hunky romantic interest and hardly reacts at all to the experience because the landscape isn’t pretty. This is not the author being ironic or doing character development.
4. Metrophage by Richard Kadrey (cyberpunk). I kept this, so I obviously liked it back in the 80s when I originally read it. This time round I just didn’t care about anything that was happening or who it was happening to.
5. Wolf Wind by Jane Wade Scarlet (western). Plodding and with characters displaying sudden changes of opinion for no reason. One minute a person is saying “we must be kind to this poor boy” and the next they hate him.

RPG BOOKS READ IN 2020

Your Best Game Ever by Monty Cook
Kids on Bikes
Bite Marks
Hack the Planet
Scum & Villainy
Judge Dredd & the Worlds of 2000AD
Cortex Prime
Ghost Ops
Tribe 8 (re-read to run a campaign for the Tue group)
Paleomythic
Liminal
Android: Shadow of the Beanstalk
Alien
Legacy: Life Among the Ruins
Worlds of Legacy: Primal Pathways – worldbook for Legacy RPG
Cortex Prime – the very, very late kickstarter finally turned up
Mythic D6
Terra Oblivion - worldbook for Mythic D6 RPG
The Company - only just started reading this one.