abracanabra | Entries tagged with book

Persephone Station by Stina Leicht (2021)
TBR Stack, Book 1 of 52

This is the cyberiest of cyberpunk, with an overlay of "first alien contact gone wrong." It reminded me quite strongly of CJ Cherryh's more action-driven SF, and of Pat Cadigan's steampunk work.

Set in the far future on a hostile alien planet and starring a rag-tag crew of enforcers that are as much family as they are battle-buddies... No, starring an immortal, nonbinary gangster don with secret enemies and allies... No, I take that back, the real star of the book is an empathetic AGI (artificial general intelligence) newly decanted into a biological body on a mission of mercy. Eventually all their different conflicts converge, and the ending was a satisfactory series of new beginnings.

Recommended.

Apparently there's another in the series?!? Different main characters, and it came out last year in 2023. Hey, this "52 Books in a Year" challenge was supposed to be *shrinking* my TBR stack!

Great technology thriller (think Crichton) with steadily escalating stakes as the main character goes deeper and deeper into the conspiracy. One of my favorite things about this book is the way it introduces us to a huge cast of minor characters and makes each one of them come to life, if only briefly. This is a big fat book, but it reads fast. I haven't read Dean Koontz in ages and ages, and I'm glad I picked the book up.

Story: The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz
Genre: I think it's being sold as a thriller? It's got one significant creepy SF element, too.
Published: June 2017, Bantam
Length: Really long novel.
How I got it: Library
Writer notes: Seriously, self, go back and look at how he wrote minor characters like that. With the PoV and such.
Biases: I'm a fan of the Parasol Universe, and I'm fine with M/M romances.

inktea asked for my science fiction favorites, and yes, I have a few.

In no particular order except how they were on my (unalphabetized) bookshelf:
The Warrior's Apprentice - Louis McMaster Bujold
Foreigner (and the whole series) - C.J. Cherryh
Cyteen - C.J. Cherryh
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War - Max Brooks (I would argue this is science fiction--disease hits modern world, society changes)
Islands in the Net - Bruce Sterling
Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive - William Gibson
The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, and The Naked God - Peter F. Hamilton
Starfish - Peter Watts
The Book of the Long Sun series - Gene Wolfe
The Madness Season - C.S. Friedman
Adulthood Rites - Octavia Butler
In Death series - J.D. Robb (guilty pleasure)
Liaden Universe series - Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (guilty pleasure)
Have Spacesuit--Will Travel, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Methuselah's Children - Robert A. Heinlein
Foundation and Empire, The Naked Sun - Isaac Asimov
Picnic on Paradise - Joanna Russ
Dancer of the Sixth - Michelle Shirey Crean
The Postman, Kiln People - David Brin
Tea from an Empty Cup - Pat Cadigan
Jumper (original) - Steven Gould
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Skeen's Leap, Skeen's Return, Skeen's Search - Jo Clayton
Brain Plague - Joan Slonczewski
Vacuum Flowers - Michael Swanwick
Brasyl - Ian McDonald
everything by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Snowcrash, Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson
Bellwether - Connie Willis (now part of Futures Imperfect)

07:46 The urge to hibernate was particularly strong this morning.
10:11 Because I am super-efficient, I have finished all the work at the on-site, and now have that magical thing known as "downtime." Yay!
10:42 My name is too long to search on Facebook and find me. I am tinyurl.com/cpnmp7
10:47 Translated Eastern Bloc LOLcats: rolcats.com/
14:02 Dear NYT.com: Do *not* post an article rhapsodizing over Chinese-American cashew chicken and fail to include a recipe! ::is hungry::
14:20 Barley and roasted tomato risotto sounds delicious: (Mayo Clinic) ping.fm/8wZ9E
14:50 Failed my willpower roll vs. blueberry cheese danish.
14:58 Underground art/dinner parties sounds amazing! Wish I could afford it. (Citypages) ping.fm/7DeZJ
15:02 Grooming my Pandora music station. They are clearly lacking the "circus music" tag.
15:17 Free ebook of deLint's Spirit Walk (out of print): (Tor) ping.fm/TxMGf

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Palimpsest is a sexually-transmitted city.

It is a virus, an addiction, a heaven and a hell. It is a city that lives within the body: those who visit it find their flesh marked with black lines like a streetmap, a tattoo that cannot be removed.

That's

yuki_onna talking about Palimpsest over on Scalzi's blog.

Her stories are jewels inlaid in a lattice of myth and magic and heartbreak, and she's a skilled artisan. (Her blog posts aren't half-bad, either, if you're looking for somebody else to follow.) I've been following her blog for years now. She has another book out, Palimpsest. I'm pimping it (as yet) unread, with all confidence in her skills. The Orphan's Tales was beautiful and filled with thought-provoking chewy bits, and I expect Palimpsest to be better.

All about the music and jewelry and art and perfume and chocolate and other wonderful things inspired by this.

10:37 Phil, driving me in to work: I didn't get home until 5 AM. Me: ! Phil: It's okay, I'll drive *between* the pink elephants.
15:27 "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies" - Everything's better with zombies! ping.fm/gXVgt

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Note to self:
Read The Pirate Queen: In Search of Grace O'Malley and Other Legendary Women of the Sea. (The introduction can be read here.)

Current Mood: content
Current Location: Bush Foundation
Current Music: MPR Classical

Cool thing about being a science fiction writer: I can read "How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion" by Daniel H. Wilson and honestly say that I'm doing essential story research. This book is hilarious to read, and it's based on very good science that is explained in detail by a robotics expert. I've found good source material that I'll be using in the story, not to mention gaining valuable advice for surviving the future.

I mean, now I know what to look for when my future robotic smart house turns against me!

* Lost messages, dropped phone calls, etc.
* Hesitation to carry out commands.
* Doors that mysteriously close on your fingers.
* A kitchen that refuses to cook dinner until you "inspect oven."
* Alarm system that warmly invites burglars inside.
* Drawn-out philosophical conversations on the meaning of life and death.

I take sick-leave for two days and everybody's freaking out about deadlines.... Of course, they do that anyway, but this time I get the feeling that they believe I can fix everything.

I bet accountants practice signing their name in ways illegible to mortal man.

Found out a long time ago that hook-kicks are a terrible idea when wearing jeans with holes in the knees. Straight-leg spin-kicks, though, seem to work just fine. A dog barked tentatively at me from his balcony four stories up as I practiced brown-belt basics in the tiny park behind the building. My toes squish in not-quite-dry grass, and the balls of my feet carve divots out of the ground.

Neurotic Southern woman is still neurotic and completely lacking in self-awareness.

The fridge is a spawning ground for empty paper bags. I knew they had to reproduce somewhere.

Target has safety pins in dark metallic shades of green and purple and blue and red.

Things taken out of my backpack:
1 pocket tape-player with the battery held in by hairband
1 orange hairband
1 old MN Timberwolves game ticket - Minnesota Timberwolves vs Toronto Raptors
1 Victoria's Secret gift certificate, as yet unspent
1 AMC Movie Theatre gift certificate, as yet unspent
1 homemade bookmark made from HR Geiger calendar
1 ghost-print water bottle three-quarters full of water faintly flavored by orange Kool-Aid
1 7" long metallic silver laurel, long separated from the car it belonged to
1 1" long solid appliqué piece of a hand and rose covered in black felt
1 spool of white thread
1 bag small semi-sweet chocolate chips

( After I got home )

In Rome, faults in statuary could be concealed by the use of beeswax to smooth out or correct the error. Sans cere, or "without wax," was used to refer to the honest, 'sincere' dealers.

I am currently reading "Sweetness & Light: The Mysterious History of the Honeybee" and greatly enjoying it. I am pondering bees and honey and Ancient Egypt and story ideas.

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Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

Being the journal of an all-too-human writer, reader, and eater of deliciousness

Books Read: Persephone Station

Book: The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz

Science Fiction Favorites

Details of the Day - I Think I Was Hungry

Book: Palimpsest

Details of the Day - Ridiculous Enjoyable Things

Book to Borrow

I Will Survive the Robot Overlords

Maybe not a one-time experiment

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April 2025

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