Tsana's Reads and Reviews: Tsana's September Status

Monday, 15 September 2014

Tsana's September Status

Since I last posted one of these updates I went to LonCon 3, travelled around England and Wales, and come home to an unpleasant infestation of builders. I would like to talk more about the first two things, but the last is making it difficult for me to string two thoughts together. Nevertheless, I'll give it a shot.

LonCon3 was pretty great. I met new friends and old — including old online friends for the first time — sat on a couple of panels, went to some panels, the Hugo Awards. I also hung out in the Dealers Room at the Twelfth Planet Press table which was more fun than it might sound. We also supported the 2020 bid for a New Zealand WorldCon and went to the NZ bid party. We also went to the Ticonderoga party and took another opportunity to spend time with Aussie fans. Both parties were good, but I wasn't a fan of way parties were run out of tents in the fan village.

And, of course, I bought a pile of books. Also won some and a few were freebies. The Feist below is hubby's signed limited edition copy which he won. He also won a set of signed and numbered George RR Martin quote posters, so a good haul in all.

This is my pile of books. (Plus Kaleidoscope, which I took to get signed.)

We had fun dragging the books around the rest of England and then Wales afterwards. In each hotel I took all the books out and made a little pile. In one B&B we stayed in they were haphazardly split into two piles because of space. I had left Sex Criminals in between two normal-sized books and the cleaning lady pushed it further in so that the spin wasn't visible. I'm imagining her clutching at her pearls when she saw it.

The second most geeky thing we did was visit the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff. I highly recommend it for fans, although it did remind me that I didn't like Eleven very much (and we went after watching the first Capaldi episode, so it felt a bit backwards). The museum was pretty good and so were the effects in Experience. The gift shop also tried our restraint. We walked away with posters and I bought more books there, but they were presents, so they don't count. Actually, I was pretty excited that they had some books with Leela, my mum's favourite companion.

On a completely different note, my round-up for the Australian Women Writers Challenge, which I wrote in a sleep-deprived haze and have little memory of.

What Have I Read?

Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer — a writing advice guide.
Angel Rising by Dirk Flinthart — read on the tube and the train out of London to Oxford
Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb — the start (and alas only a start) of a new trilogy about Fitz and the Fool.
Kaleidoscope edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios — a pretty awesome read of diverse YA fiction
Sex Criminals Volume 1 by Matt Fraction — an amusing comic, read in a hotel in Cardiff
Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld — one of the best books I've read this year
Guardian by Jo Anderton — the third book in the Veiled World trilogy. Read in Wales and on the flight home
Prickle Moon by Juliet Marillier — an exquisite short story collection
Aurora in Four Voices by Catherine Asaro — audiobook of a short story collection. Hard SF.

What Am I Currently Reading?

Again, too many books. I blame the builders.

The novel I'm reading is Shatterwing by Donna Maree Hanson. Dark fantasy, first of a series, expect to see a review soon.

I'm also reading Terry Pratchett's essay collection, A Slip of the Keyboard, which is a mix of essays written for various reasons. It's a very compelling read. I'm not sure Pratchett is capable of writing anything uninteresting. It's not quite out yet, but look out for my review probably in a couple of weeks, close to the release date.

And finally, I also started reading Help Fund My Robot Army!!! and Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects. Which is also amusing. I've put it a bit on the back-burner for now because it was supposed to be my insomnia book, but because of the form it's too choppy to successfully lull me adequately. Pratchett is better.

New Booksies

I'm running out of steam and awakeness, so these aren't getting comments this month. Rest assured I am excited about all of them. Non-review books all came from LonCon3.