TBL Book club

Book cover via Amazon

The more reading I do online, the more I am drawn to the old school medium of the printed page.  Weirdly enough, not newspapers or magazines, as I believe that short form is now the domain of the internet.  But I'm drawn to the book and the worlds trapped within.

I know that I'm not alone because even with the new charge towards digital media, the humble book sells well, and is really the only media that has not swapped out for something better despite the hundreds of years that it has been around.

So in an effort to offer you an insight to the inner working of the person operating the fingers behind TBL, I thought that I might share what I'm reading and listening to.

Books
One of favourite writers when it comes to Fantasy/Sci-fi is Michael A. Stackpole, and at the moment I am working my way through "A Sacred Atlas" which is the first book in the "Age of Discovery" trilogy.  I'm not normally a trilogy guy as it takes me a while to work through a book, and to get to the end just to be rewarded with the story spinning off into another 600+ page book just doesn't seem like good use of time.  My beautiful wife on the other hand can move through a good size book a day, and if I don't buy her multi-book stories, it isn't long before I'm putting into action her latest redesign of the backyard.

Stackpole is one of the best writers I have read.  I found him many years ago with his books in the StarWars series, and followed him to his own fantasy series the "Dragoncrown War Cycle".  His writing is very intelligent but never makes you feel stupid.  And the worlds and characters are so well thought out and explained that you don't get those "haven't I read that before" moments.

"A Secret Atlas" is an excellent political/adventure tale of a Kingdom and a family of Cartographers.  Yes, Cartographers! and yes, Mr. Stackpole has created a world with the trimmings of medieval, with the mystery of ancient magic and war.  Lots of funky sword work and political intrigue makes for a good read.

Audio Book
I began listening to Audio Books at work in an effort to relieve the boring parts of my job and get through some technical reading.  Once I found Audible, I started to listen to books more and more, and have exhausted most of my favourite authors.  So I have started stabbing in the dark a little, and seeing what fights back.

It has to be said that I haven't been having much luck, but my latest find "The Protectors War" by S M. Stirling, looks to be a 20+ hours well spent.  The world has been thrown back to the Middle Ages because, for some reason, complex chemical reactions, like those needed for engines, electricity, guns and anything silicon have stopped working.

With technology moving back to the Middle Ages, so has society, and what ensues is a story of humanity getting back on its feet in a new version of survival of the fittest.  There are lots of horses, swords, bows and chain mail.  Also a return to knights and kings, and naval battles without cannons. 

I'm about half way through and it is holding up well, despite some early time shifting which was beginning to get annoying.  The story starts about 7 years after the "Charge" and even though I have no idea why the world is the way it is, Stirling has kept well to the premise and never forgets the effect of the decaying modern world.

The attention to detail, and the vastness of the stories Stirling tells, makes this a thought provoking and exciting sword and arrow/fantasy/Sci Fi/medieval read.


Jason Remnant