Reviews and Comments

This sounds like a great followup to Tracers in the Dark, so I'm going to start this right after I finish that one.

I guess I'm really liking these. I blew through the second one, in which I found the characters equally amusing, a little bit more sentimental, and the mystery a tad bit better than the first one.

I'm betwen a 3 and a 4, but went with 4 based on how quickly I finished this. It was a fun read and definitely engaging. I really enjoyed the pacing and the action. The world-building was good, though I thought it relied a bit on me to fill in the blanks of a cyberpunk dystopia for it (which I am happy to do).

It also sometimes read as a Gen Z version of Neuromancer, which is to say it borrowed from the best and built a good story that stands on its own.

Found this as one of those "recommended by the staff" books at Copperfield's bookstore in Petaluma, CA. Copperfields is a great bookstore, so check if out if you're ever in the area.

Anyway, this was billed as a "what Ready Player One should have been" type book, it was last on the shelf, and I was in a buying mood, so I grabbed it and started reading a couple days later. 30% in, the book is fun, the character descriptions pretty good, but I don't know if it's a knock-your-socks-off title. Still, I keep turning the pages, so that's something.

they did a fireside chat with Cory Doctorow recently in San Francisco, and I'm really interested to check out some of their work

This is such a pleasurable book with so many great characters. I love the author's wit and the way he portrays the inner thoughts of his characters. A fun read that is great for the pool- or beach-side as we head into summer. (If you're looking for that kind of thing)

it's a murder mystery sporting its fair share of twists and turns as thee "investigators" work through the clues an interrogate suspects. All the primary characters are pretty well fleshed-out, making them 2.5, if not three-dimensional. This has a great pacing, and I love the short chapters, allowing one to read the book and get to a stopping point even when one is prone to interruptions.

I've heard a lot about this one, and it starts out quite fun.

I didn't finish this. It was kind of obvious and overall not that interesting.

I came across the New Orleans field guide at River City books on Magazine St. Even though I already had the trip planned out, I had to get this tiny gem of a guide book. Unlike those huge books with lists of lists of things to do and places to go, the field guide offers a quickly-consumable glimpse into the city and its history, treasures, and problems.

This guide is amazing because it's just as useful after you've traveled to New Orleans as when you're planning to travel there, shedding insights on things you saw and stuff you missed through story-telling, interviews, and timelines of major events.

I'm currently in the process of defining success for an internal red team capability, so this looks promising.

This novel and its author are new to me, but they came highly recommended by a good friend that knows The Thin Man is my favorite movie I try to watch every year around the holidays. This book is by no means a retelling of that classic, but it does draw some inspiration while updatring with touchs like characters introducing themselves with their pronouns, the protagonist having a disability that's a daily reality, and it takes place in SPACE!

Next, as I do witrh most recommendations, I looked to borrow it from the library. However, I noticed that the ebook was DRM-free, so I immediately headed to ebooks.com and grabbed a copy The surest way to get me to buy a book is to offer it without DRM.

And then I realized that this book is a two-for-one! It is both a novel and a cocktail recipe book. Each chapter is named after a classic cocktail (except the few the author made up herself) and is then preceded by the recipe for that cocktail. Both the print and ebook editions provide a quick reference for some excellent cocktails, which I plan to work through in the next year. Warning to the intrepid reader: the chapters are short and beg to be read quickly, so it would be unwise to attempt to drink each chapter's namesake as one proceeds through the book.

The Spare Man gets a lot closer to the protagonist than Dashiell Hammett's Thin Man. We really get a sense of what Tesla feels as she interacts with the other characters in the story, creating a real connection for the reader. Also, the book exhibits a great element of good, readable science fiction in that the Sci-Fi is hardly noticeable. There are places where it is a serious part of the setting and plot, however, the general story could stand anytime on its own.

Overall a fun, quick read and highly recommended for people that like some combination of noir, sci-fi, mystery, and cocktails.

I love the MurderBot series. Martha Wells does such a great job exploring what it means to be a sentient being that I'm often tearing up and laughing within the span of a couple pages. Rinse and Repeat. Start reading and I promise you'll love MurderBot and be aching to read the remainder of the novellas to follow its travels and exploits.

Leslie (i.e. @hacks4pancakes@infosec.exchange ) and much of infosec.exchange says it's good, so I'm adding it to my reading list.