Books read in 2015 - For Board Members

BevVincent

I got to spend the weekend with Chuck last month at Necon. He calls 'em like he sees 'em!

Lou_Sytsma

Ah cool! Yes he sure does.

Lou_Sytsma

26) A Head Full Of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

Wow! This is one chilling book. Tremblay structures the book in such a way that you are led to believe the expected climax of the book is one that will haunt you but what does haunt and linger with you after reading the last page is something else entirely.

Fifteen years after her older sister Marjorie Barrett was believed to be possessed, twenty-three year old Meredith - Merry - Barrett recounts those events to a writer chronicling those events. Most of the events are recalled from a then eight year old Merry's perspective making her the unreliable narrator of the story. With her religious father out of her work and her mother unable to earn enough to prevent the loss of their home, Marjorie's medical bills force the Barrett's to make a tough decision. They reluctantly accept a lucrative offer to have a TV crew come in and air a reality show chronicling Marjorie's fall into madness and eventual exorcism.

This is one lean and mean scary book.

BevVincent

@StephenKing: A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS, by Paul Tremblay: Scared the living hell out of me, and I'm pretty hard to scare.

Lou_Sytsma

Yeah it sure does.

Lou_Sytsma

27) Nightshift By Stephen King

Haven't revisited this in a long time - doing so for an upcoming podcast. Somewhat uneven but the good stories are still good. Quitters, Inc, The Ledge etc

Lou_Sytsma

28) The Flicker Men by Ted Kosmatka

Mind blowing and ultra-awesome use of the double slit experiment. Parallel universes, Gabriel's Horn, a test for the soul? are just some of the cool concepts in Kosmatka's latest book.  Filled with a lot of great ideas, may be slightly too heavy on some of the science for casual thriller readers, this story is literally the tip - or a  thin slice - of the iceberg. 

Kosmatka continues to write in his terse, often pedal to the metal, style that creates engrossing page turning reads that will have you finishing his books in a couple of days. The pace of this book is relentless which sacrifices characterization somewhat and this book contains enough ideas to easily do a trilogy.

Kosmatka has established himself as a techno thriller writer who obviously adheres to the showbiz creedo of - "Always leave them wanting more."

Of this book I definitely wanted more. More! MORE!

Lou_Sytsma

29) Leviathan Wakes: The Expanse series - Book 1 by James S.A. Corey

Read this in prep for the upcoming Syfy TV series.

Fast paced mix of mystery noir, horror, and space opera. Interesting mix of characters set against a fascinating backdrop where the human race has conquered the solar system but the stars are still out of reach. A possible solution to interstellar is hinted at in future books.

Didn't care much for Holden but he was offset by the fascinatingly complex Miller.

Lou_Sytsma

30) The Ocean At The End Of The Lane - Neil Gaiman

A reread of this book. I love it. It's only 180 pages but it blows me away how many ideas it contains. This is about the small - the loss of innocence and the big - the workings of the universe. Simply Amazing.

Lou_Sytsma

31) Caliban's War: The Expanse series - Book 2 by James S.A. Corey

More of a political thriller this time out and as such not nearly as engrossing for me. 

The Holden character is flawed but not in interesting ways for me. Enjoy the rest of the characters better and the series is taking on the GRRM multicharacter POV chapters motiff. I preferred the back and forth chapters with Miller and Holden in the first book more.

Lou_Sytsma

32) Tower Hill by Sarah Pinborough

Solid Salem's Lot style of horror story. Pinborough paints interesting characters and cooks up a new form of horror.  

Lou_Sytsma

34) The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

Loved it. All collection of stories that range from very good to excellent. Not a clunker among them.

My only quibble was closing the book out with Summer Thunder. My pick for last story would have been Mister Yummy.

In rereading Mile 81 - King's ability to craft layered characters in an awesome display of his writing talent.

Lou_Sytsma

35) The Three by Sarah Lotz 

36) Future Visions: Original Science Fiction Inspired by Microsoft

by Elizabeth Bear (Goodreads Author), Greg Bear, David Brin (Goodreads Author), Nancy Kress (Goodreads Author), Jack McDevitt (Contributor), Robert J. Sawyer (Contributor), Ann Leckie (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Seanan McGuire (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) , Blue Delliquanti (Contributor),Michele Rosenthal (Contributor) 

Pretty cool anthology mix of heavy SF writers and 1 graphic novel.

Free too. Check your local Amazon.

Lou_Sytsma

37) The Realms of the Dead: Crossfades and Bleedovers by William Todd Rose.

Received an early copy of this book in exchange for a review.

It is comprised of two novellas dealing with the same world and characters.  Rose has set up an intriguing world dealing with the 'worlds' that exist between life and death and the protagonist Charlie who is a 'whisk' or cleaner who helps souls trapped in these pocket universes. 

Some are simply lost souls, others are capable of manipulating forces  for their own evil purposes.

Really enjoyed the main character - Charles Grainger - who bears an eerie resemblance to Harry Dresden. That was fortunate as the opening novella starts off, unintentionally, with a seeming white room scenario which is usually a kiss of death. 

Lou_Sytsma

38) The Taken by Sarah Pinborough

This is my second Sarah Pinborough book and her writing is really growing on me.

The Taken is a grim take on the Pied Piper and Pinborough makes me feel the guilt, the terror, the regret, the love and the joy of so many characters. This is a story of the best type, a story of victory with a high price.

At the heart of fiction is truth. Pinborough taps into truth with this book.

I look forward to reading more by this author.