Books of the Week! 2/23-3/2

It’s coming a day late, but I have a feeling you’ll forgive me… right?

*ominously waves a pair of children’s scissors*

And yes, that’s a threat. Forgive me my tardiness, or else!

Oh, really? Just like that? Well, thank you. I didn’t expect that to be so easy. You’re very agreeable.

*ominously puts pair of children’s scissors on the table*

Anyways, before we hop into the Books of the Week I just wanted to catch ya’ll up on the happenings. I got the cover back for Mind Breach (Book 2 in the Firstborn Saga) and will be revealing that in a few weeks. Release for Mind Breach is still a few months out, but if you’re interested in getting yourself an Advanced Reader Copy I’ll be adding a sign-up form in a couple days and you’ll get a FREE copy of the story weeks before its actual release. If that doesn’t make you feel special then I don’t know what will.

Same thing goes for Infinity Lost, a novella in the Firstborn Saga universe which fits nicely between books one and two. Keep your eyes to the ground and ears to the sky for news on how you can get yourself free copies of Mind Breach and Infinity Lost in the coming weeks.

I’ve got a short story, Purgatory, that’s collecting dust on the hard-drive at the moment. It’s just sitting here waiting for a beautiful cover and then it’ll go live. If you want to grab yourself a free copy head over to OneLazyRobot.com, sign up for the newsletter there, and when the book is released you’ll be getting yourself a free handy little download. Pretty spiffy, huh?

Also, don’t know if you heard ’round the grapevine, but by signing up for the newsletter at OneLazyRobot you also get another free story, your choice between Parallel and Sins of the Father.

All for the price of your email address which I only ever use to send you news on releases and more free stuff. So what’re you waiting for? Scuttle on over there all crab-walk style and get some free stories.

Alrighty, is everybody caught up and loaded to the gills with free stories, knick-knacks, literary baubles, and chatzkies? Good, then lets get to the Books of the Week!

*ominously picks up children’s scissors and starts reviewing books of the week!*

1) In the Beginning…Was The Command Line – Neal Stephenson 3/5 stars (For those interested in the perspective of a computer nerd during the late 90’s computer revolution)

It’s true, I read an eclectic mix of books. Sometimes they are painfully dated (such as In The Beginning…) but there’s an interesting nostalgic process that takes place when you read through works that are no longer relevant. It’s like time traveling to the past and peaking over the shoulder of those poor saps stuck in the temporal upstream who think they have it all figured out. With the benefit of fifteen years hindsight, everything pre-millennium appears a little quaint.

And that’s what we get here. Neal Stephenson is best known for his fantastic science fiction, but one of the things that makes Stephenson such a power player in the genre is his intimate understanding of computer systems. As the old adage goes, Write What You Know, and Stephenson does. This adds a layer of complexity and unspoken authenticity to his fictional pieces. In this work, In the Beginning,…There Was The Command Line, we take a step back to the late 90’s and get an interesting peak behind the curtains of the computer revolution in relation to Operating Systems.

Stephenson explains the apparent strengths and weaknesses of Apple and Windows products while generally expounding on the bad-assery of Linux. He makes some interesting predictions for the future of computing, which ya know, living in the future now, we can accurate judge the accuracy of these claims.

Some of his points were on, some were off, as you would expect. Can’t hit all the balls out of the park. (I’m pretty sure they say that in some sport where the relocation of balls is important.)

Anyways, I don’t really recommend this book for any particular reason unless you’re just looking to take a walk down memory lane and get a behind the scenes peak at the thought processes of one of science fiction’s most influential writers in recent years.

2) Storm Front – Jim Butcher 5/5 stars (For those who like dark, snarky urban fantasy)

Storm Front, Book One of the Dresden Files, was Jim Butcher’s debut novel and Holy Cheese Lactating Cows was it good. Seeing as how there are another 11 books in the series it must mean that I’m not alone in that assessment.

I’ve been following Jim Butcher for years, mostly because he was very active for a time in putting out articles on writing here at his Live Journal. If you’re an aspiring writer, you should go check it out. There are a number of invaluable lessons there.

Interestingly enough I’d seen a couple episodes of the Television show, The Dresden Files, before ever picking up the books so I had a pretty good idea what I was getting in for. Harry Dresden is a working wizard in Chicago. He’s in the phone book which should tell you pretty much everything you need to know about this wacky world.

What you get in Storm Front is a well-written protagonist by way of Harry Dresden who goes parading around the city, protected by his bad-ass knowledge of wizardy and a healthy dosage of snark. Dresden is one of the better, more rounded characters, I’ve read about recently. Sure, he’s funny, and tends to deal with the majority of his problems in comical fashion, relying on a half a tubes worth of sarcasm, but there is a depth behind the character that pulls the reader in. By the end, you’re legitimately rooting for Harry, which is a sign that the author has done something correct.

If you’re looking for a well-paced, funny, heart-felt book about wizards living in modern day Chicago, this is pretty much your book.

Public Service Announcement: If you just Google the words Storm Front you will be taken to a white supremacist site. If you’re into that sort of thing then good for you (you closed minded clump of dirt), but if not, do yourself a favor and add the word Jim Butcher or Harry Dresden to the search.

3) No Way Home Anthology 4/5 Stars

I’ve already written two reviews on this compilation of short stories, so go read those for my thoughts on this excellent tome.

So, what did you read this week? Anything good? Anything fantastic? Anything I should avoid like the plague? Get to the comments and let me know!