Tanya Huff’s Peacekeeper series continues the story of Torin Kerr and her associates. The war over and retired from the marines, they’re now working for the Justice Department to address the new sorts of law enforcement problems: Humans First extremists, hostage takers, gun runners, etc. The first two books are An Ancient Peace and A Peace Divided.

Elizabeth Moon’s new Vatta’s Peace series follows on from Vatta’s War with two volumes released so far: Cold Welcome and Into the Fire. I got sick of waiting for the mass market release and bought the trade paperbacks of these two and they are next in my reading queue.

Mike Shepard’s Kris Longknife series is a long one: Kris Longknife - Admiral and Kris Longknife - Emissary are something like the 15th and 16th books that focus on Kris herself. Contrary to the adage, you’re pretty safe judging these books by their covers: an easier reading, more popcorn-y Honor Harrington with dirt-side gun fights instead of capital ship engagements.

Caitlin R. Kiernan’s Agents of Dreamland and the newly released Black Helicopters feature the operatives of several agencies dealing with Kafkaesque bureaucratic dysfunction and horrors from beyond. Think the X-Files versus Cthulhu, and something like the Atrocity Archives played straight.

Margaret Killjoy’s The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion and The Barrow Will Send What it May series follows travelling anarchist Danielle Cain and a few companions in some sort of anarchist Scooby Doo contemporary fantasy horror where the cops are at least as much a threat as the monsters.

Kylie Chan’s Scales of Empire is something of an odd one. Human settlement of other systems is just getting underway - news of the first few generation ships to reach their destinations is just getting back to Earth - when contact is made with a space-going dragons and the galaxy spanning empire they rule. I’d call it more fantasy in space and sci-fi.

I really enjoyed Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti and Binti: Home and have Binti: The Night Masquerade waiting for me in my to-read pile. Kabu Kabu is a collection short stories from a different, but still super great, vein.

Dick Francis was a jockey and then went on to write mystery novels which (as far as I know) all involved horses in some way. I recently re-read The Edge and Comeback after first reading them on paper when my uncle left them behind on a vist in the 90s.

In 2009 I supported Robin Sloan’s Kickstarter project to write and publish a book (I’d called it a novella). It was the only successful Kickstarter project I ever backed and produced Annabel Scheme (I still have a few copies somewhere). Sourdough is more recent and I bought and read it on my Kindle well after publishing. Both are great, but I enjoyed Sourdough quite a bit more.

Hiromi Kawakami’s The Nakano Thrift Shop (translated by Allison Markin Powell) is a slice of life novel with no particularly fascinating characters and no exciting or momentous events. Still a good read.

There was quite a lot more, but this is probably the cream of the crop. Feel free to contact me to discuss or suggest books.

I’ve just finished reading Undead and Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson (who has a blog), the first in her Undead series. It was a good read and it is certainly an interesting departure from the other books in this genre I’ve read (though Betsy did remind me of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse).

I’m not sure if the next book will continue the theme (judging by the excerpt, I think not), but Betsy brought to mind David Eddings’ description of his hero, Garion, as a “Sir Perceval”:

Sir Perceval […] is dumb – at least right at first… A dumb hero is the perfect hero, because he hasn’t the faintest idea of what’s going on, and in explaining things to him, the writer explains them to his reader.

In any case, I’ll definitely have a look at the rest of Davidson’s books.

This type of book focuses on a female main character who is dragged into (or perhaps is already a part of) the seedy underworld of the supernatural. Some of these books (the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series for example) have a gritty, realistic edge to them: the more or less human characters are caught up in a whirlwind of violence and death managing to survive only by chance, by the sufferance of monsters, or (by the skin of their teeth) by their own abilities.

Others of this genre (the Sookie Stackhouse Vampire Mysteries for example) sport a softer, less harshly-realistic look at the denizens of the night and their associates. Sporting just as many fatalities, these books offer a lighter, more accessible and more palatable read.

I’ve only read the first two Sookie Stackhouse books, but I found them more enjoyable, if slightly less intense, than the Anita Blake books. If you like the Hamilton, Huff or Armstrong’s books, you’ll probably enjoy Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse Vampire Mysteries.

Happily her latest work, if the rest of the book is at all like the first few pages, seems to have taken a less grating approach to the supernatural. The prologue, an entry from the journal of a character, has about it a charm reminiscent, to my mind at least, of the era in which it is set. The odd turn of phrase seems a little too modern, but the overall effect is most pleasing.

If you like fantasy, and are not averse to a bit of incarnation-hopping, then I’d thoroughly recommend giving Traci Harding a read.

On a related note, Voyager are celebrating their 10th birthday. Part of this (see the link) is a book containing a “sneak peek” of some of this years new books. I’m looking forward to a number of them, especially Trudi Canavan’s new book: Priestess of the White, due for release in November.

Another book on my list of eagerly awaited new titles is Katherine Kerr’s new book: The Gold Falcon. There are two excerpts available on her web site.

Another recent find (this time of the on-line variety) is a science fiction story called “The Outers” by “The Angst Guy”. Though it is a piece of fan fiction (based on the only good thing MTV has brought to the world Daria), The Outers is an enthralling read. Perhaps its only fault is that it The Angst Guy is not continuing it (or not currently, at least).

I finished reading the eleventh book in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series last night. It was good, but I can remember lowering the book (to change position as I switch sides quite frequently when I read lying down) and thinking “There isn’t much time left to wrap up the mystery.” I seem to recall thinking something like that while reading a number of these books. It doesn’t detract from them, indeed the frantic pace of the last couple of chapters lends them something that some other books don’t have.

I had intended to get the latest book in the series (Incubus Dreams) today, but I became engrossed reading some more of the Handbook chapter I wrote about yesterday and missed closing time. I’ll just have to get it tomorrow (or rather, today).

A while ago (probably sometime in November) I got Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong on a whim. For some reason I like these sorts of books now. Maybe it is that they tend to be more mature than the genre fantasy I have read almost to the exclusion of all else ’til now. That they are similar is obvious (even the publisher’s website agrees with me), but I’m fairly sure I’m not in their target demographic. For some reason the realistic, gritty nature of these books involving the supernatural (even film media like Channel 4’s Ultraviolet) is attractive to me right now.

I’d appreciate any suggestions of more books similar to those above.