samvara

Science fiction, part of the Culture series and totally accessible. The story follows four royal siblings of the Sarl (a not particularly advanced race) in their quest to not die from murdering intrigue (with dubious success) and explores the various mentor relationships that exist between the more 'advanced' races.

I love that even the Culture isn't sure if the Veil or the Iln were in the right. I love the way Djan interacts with her assigned combat done - especially when she has to leave it. I like the way being part of the Culture is a state of mind that allows people to choose meaning in their lives.

Walking on Glass by Iain Banks. Complex and interesting enough to keep me reading but failed to come together enough to satisfy. Three disparate tales told that try to come together in the end. Don't let this stop you reading his other science fiction which is top notch.

The Night of Morningstar, Dead Man's Handle, A Taste For Death, Dragon’s Claw and The Impossible Virgin by Peter O'Donnell, the creator of Modesty Blaise. I'm in it for the action, the cunning escapes, Willie’s amusing anecdotes, the delightful secondary characters and much more. O'Donnell has a gift for arch phrasing and deep love for an amusing type of British.

Anita Blake (001) and (002) The First Death by Laurell K. Hamilton. Back story attractively illustrated. Not sure how this would hold up for non fans but thoroughly enjoyable for me. Dolph, Zerbrowski and Edward all make appearances.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Issue 7, 8 & 9 by Brian K. Vaughan. I’m still happy with them, not as funny as the first five but worth the time spent reading. Oh Faith.

Supernatural: Origins 5 and 6 by Peter Johnson and drawn by Matthew Dow Smith. It hurts me and rumours that the comic will be revisited and ‘fixed’ are welcome. More specifically this storyline and the choice of artwork don't mesh with my understanding of canon and the oft times visually beautiful choices in the show.

A lot of 'I'm sick' re-reading going on.

Shards of Honor, Barrayar, The Warrior's Apprentice, Falling Free, The Borders of Infinity, Brothers in Arms, The Vor Game, Mirror Dance, Cetaganda, Memory, Komarr and A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. Beauty: A Re-telling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast, Rose Daughter, Spindle's End, The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. The Player of Games by Iain Banks.

The Universe against Her by James H. Schmitz retrieved from the dusty confines of Books Etcetera¹ which was a childhood favourite. It's light space opera about a young genius telepath and terribly attractive. ED: The blonde_peril ate my book [cries]. Thankfully the complete series is downloadable so I'm abandoning my plan to glue all the little scraps back together again.

¹A most interesting bookshop in North Perth, it looks to be tiny but goes back forever and has a large range. Beware though; they are stacked in piles as well as on shelves and are hard to navigate. Plus owner doesn't get out much and needs to have more conversations.

Apologies to ascetic_hedony who spent last night hearing me squeak "Listen to this!" and having to listen to me reading out my favourite bits - which I kept finding until the book was over.

The Culture, with it's incredibly sophisticated sentient machines and it's people genetically tailored to within an inch of their lives is a utopian society where you can live exactly the life you want to.

'But if someone kills someone else?'
'They're slap droned.'
'Ah! This sounds more like it, What does this drone do?'
'Follows you around and makes sure you never do it again.'
'Is that all?'
'What more do you want? Social death, Hamin; you don't get invited to too many parties.'
'Ah; but in your Culture, can't you gatecrash?'
'I suppose so," Gurgeh conceded. "But nobody'd talk to you.'

But for Jernau Morat Gurgeh the boredom is slowly destroying him, he is a player of games, The Player in fact. When the Culture's Special Circumstances branch asks him to travel to a distant Empire to play their incredibly complex and dangerous game he accepts the challenge. This is no ordinary game though, the rulership of the Empire rests upon it's outcome and the stakes are correspondingly high. No-one is too poor to play Azad, you can always bet self-mutilation or offer to amputate something valuable.

One of the things I loved was the names of the spacecraft, the Culture never came to terms with having been involved in the Iridian war and the names reflect this uneasiness.

GCU Flexible Demeanour, GSV Unfortunate Conflict Of Evidence, (D)ROU Zealot, GOU Limiting Factor, GSV Youthful Indiscretion, GSV Little rascal and the fabulous GSV Of Course I Still Love You

Finished Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter, thank you cricketk. Am still rating The Bloody Chamber as finest moment so far but H&V was hallucinatory and beautiful.

Read The Thief of Always by Clive Barker - loved it, especially the illustrations, one of those dark dark kids fairy stories with a core.

Starting Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Story of a Friendship by Colin Duriez, only 25 pages in but looking promising. Also re-reading Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks, have acquired sequel.

Dipped into Firefly slash, still forming a reaction.