Nicholas Bruner
Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Young Adult Author
What I’m Reading: Sabriel
Sabriel by Garth Nix is a YA fantasy novel with epic sweep, an intriguing setting, and great characters. Nevertheless, I found it a bit disappointing–but that’s based almost solely on my own expectations. Garth Nix is one of my wife’s favorite authors, and I had a read a glowing review of one of his books a few years ago. Those two things led me to believe this would be one of those rare fantasy novels to transcend its genre and be true literature, like Lord of the Rings or the Amber series. It’s not quite at that level.
What I’m Reading: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
One might think I would hardly have to describe Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. It’s been done so often in the movies that pretty much everybody knows the concept. Yet, I think the book itself is probably not read very often, so I’ll just give a quick rundown.
What I’m Reading: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Somehow I never read The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, despite reading Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers multiple times in middle and high school. Especially odd because at that time I tended to go deep on science fiction authors I liked, like Frederick Pohl and Frank Herbert.
Secrets, Lies, & Sighs: New Anthology from the Writers of Chantilly Released!
We all have secrets, parts of our pasts we’d rather keep hidden. Inside the pages of this anthology, you’ll find secrets uncovered. A church confessional come to life, who knows what you’ve really been up to. A happily married woman reflecting on a college romance, and the unexpected revelation that ended it. A private school principal who finds kicking a student out of school may lead to public revelations of his own unsavory past. These secrets and more lie hidden in these pages, waiting only for you to discover them.
The new anthology from the Writers of Chantilly, Secrets, Lies, & Sighs, is available now at Amazon.
What I’m Reading: The Martian
I admit I was a bit skeptical when someone loaned me The Martian recently and told me I should read it. The Martian? That new movie with Matt Damon? Isn’t that an airplane book, not real literature? (Yes, despite my devotion to comics and genre science fiction, I am quite a snob in certain respects.) Well, I did read it, and am glad I did so, despite some reservations with the book.
What I’m Reading: The Hand of Oberon
I recently finished The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny, the fourth in the series of Amber novels (see here and here for write-ups on previous novels in the series). Last month I also read the third book in the series, Sign of the Unicorn, but did not write it up. Alas, I’ve been extremely busy lately and have neglected this blog!
What I’m Reading: The Screwtape Letters
The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis, is an epistolary novel containing the letters of a demon, Screwtape, to his nephew Wormwood. Wormwood is a tempter, assigned to lead a human being astray so Satan can take his soul, and he’s having some trouble with his charge. Screwtape offers his nephew advice, mostly in the form of explanations of the human mindset and human behavior, and which strategies for leading a human astray might prove effective.
