My #2 Daughter gave me a gift certificate to Bookshop.org, where part of every purchase benefits local book stores. As you might suspect, I had no sooner received the certificate than I spent it. I bought the final (so far) Grishaverse duology by Leigh Bardugo, natch, but I also bought a novella by Martha Wells.
I can’t remember who recommended Martha Wells to me, but I’m grateful for it. The book I chose at random was ALL SYSTEMS RED, the first novella in THE MURDERBOT DIARIES. Listen to this first paragraph:
I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don’t know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.
Martha Wells, ALL SYSTEMS RED
How could I resist that? I couldn’t, that’s how. I’m about halfway through, and still loving it.
My nails this week are pretty snazzy. The base coat is Live Love Polish’s Artemis, a blue/purple color shift magnetic polish which I magnetized on the diagonal. The stamping polish is Born Pretty’s In Fire, and the stamping plate is Maniology’s Bundle Monster + de briz BM-XL215.
And remember: If you buy anything from Maniology, use my coupon code MomGoth10 at checkout for 10% off.
A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: Someone is bad at a job it’s good to be bad at.
MA
acflory
October 5, 2021 at 8:01amCoincidence? I love both books.:)
I first read Martha Wells when she was an Indie. Brilliant writer. Ditto Leigh Bardugo. Wells’ Books of the Raksura is a 5 volume series that has wonderful characters and world building but there’s not a human in sight. Some of her stand alone stories are great as well. I haven’t read the rest of the Murderbot series because it’s now way out of my price range, but I’m sure it’s as good as the first book. Enjoy!
Marian Allen
October 5, 2021 at 8:13amI’ll have to look for the Raksura series. The Murderbot novellas aren’t pricey if you buy them in paperback. Or maybe I can just afford them while I’m not going to conventions to sell books (and buy stuff and eat and pay for a hotel).
acflory
October 5, 2021 at 10:19pmlol – every time I’m on Amazon I look at the paperback and used prices and sigh. The books may be cheap but getting them out to Australia costs and arm and a leg. Them’s the breaks.
Btw the price hikes for both Wells and Bardugo occurred after they signed with publishers. That makes me sad because they were already famous as Indies. Not sure what they’ve gained by signing on the dotted line.
Marian Allen
October 6, 2021 at 8:59amI just can’t believe (except that I do believe it) that Amazon.au doesn’t have the books for local delivery! Try another place. See if Bookshop.org operates IN Australia.I just did a search for indie bookstores in Australia and found quite a few, including Boomerang Books Online https://www.boomerangbooks.com.au/. Good luck!
acflory
October 6, 2021 at 7:10pmI heard that Amazon is going to open a POD facility in Australia. When I don’t know. Once the facility is up and running, Indie books will be much cheaper. Not sure about trad. pub. books. Any book that has to be imported will still cost an arm and a leg. That’s one reason I became an early adopter of ebooks. I’ll check out boomerangbooks. Thanks for the link!
Marian Allen
October 7, 2021 at 9:22amI hope Boomerang can help. Do that search, too, because it pulled up lists of “10 best indie book stores in Sydney”, etc.
acflory
October 8, 2021 at 1:17amWill do. š
acflory
October 6, 2021 at 7:16pmp.s. just checked out Bardugo at Boomerang and Six of Crows would cost me about $24 AUD including postage. Ah well. Thank goodness I have the e-versions. š
Marian Allen
October 7, 2021 at 9:23amLike you, I like eBooks for the price (sometimes — sometimes the eBook costs what I THINK a paperback should still cost), but I like paper books, because Amazon can never decide to delete the paper books from my bookshelf.
acflory
October 8, 2021 at 1:16amI agree with you re Amazon. The thought that all my ebooks might simply disappear one day is the worm in the apple. I still love the feel and…smell…of print books, but even without the price consideration, I need to be able to make the font bigger or wear glasses like the bottom of a coke bottle. š
Marian Allen
October 8, 2021 at 10:22amYup. And getting Large Print paper editions adds another layer of price.
acflory
October 9, 2021 at 1:12amYes, especially for someone like me who devours books like there’s no tomorrow. Before ebooks came along, I’d only buy new books from my favourite authors. In between times, I’d read and re-read the books I already had. I’ve read the entire Dune series about eight times. š
Marian Allen
October 9, 2021 at 11:37amOh, my gosh! I’ve read most of the Dune series once. Loved what I read, but I guess I got distracted by something else shiny. I even started a fanfic filk song. It was to be sung to the tune of Do Not Forsake Me, Oh, My Darling and it started out “Do not forsake me, Gurney Halek”.
acflory
October 9, 2021 at 6:41pmLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are a crazy woman. Love it. My secret pinup was more Duncan Idaho but….;)
Marian Allen
October 10, 2021 at 10:33amWhich one? Original or new and improved? Or new or new or new or new or new?
acflory
October 10, 2021 at 6:50pmDamn…that’s hard. I liked the original but the new improved version had a much bigger better storyline. Hmm…now I’m going to have to read them all AGAIN. Dammit…
Marian Allen
October 11, 2021 at 8:46amš
RAAckerman@Cerebrations.biz
October 4, 2021 at 9:00pmThree hands. Very interesting
Marian Allen
October 5, 2021 at 8:11amLOL! One hand, three pictures. š
Dan Antion
October 4, 2021 at 7:21amThat snippet is hard to resist. Lovely nails.
Marian Allen
October 4, 2021 at 9:33amGlad you like the nails. š The book is a treat. But now I have to buy the rest in the series. Woe is me! š