Off the Bookshelf: Summer’s End 2021

For the first time in years, I completed my summer reading list during the summer. The final tally was 15 books (11 novels, 3 non-fiction books, 1 short story collection), 2 novellas, and 8 graphic novels. So what were the standouts on this summer’s reading list? Children of Time and its follow-up Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky easily top the … Read more

Summer Reading List 2021

A collection of science fiction and fantasy book covers

Welcome to Nuketown’s 14th annual summer reading list! This year’s list welcomes back Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet series, returns to Iain Bank’s The Culture books, re-reads Richard Adam’s Watership Down and tries out some new series, including Elizabeth Bear’s White Space books and Martha Wells’ Murderbot novellas. All in all, the list consists of 14 books (10 novels, 3 non-fiction books, … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: The Ancient Ones, Excession, Wise Man’s Fear

The trailing edge of this summer’s reading list included David Brin’s The Ancient Ones, Iain Bank’s Excession, and Patrick Rothfuss’s The Wise Man’s Fear. It also saw a considerable slow down in my reading pace due to the style of book I was reading. While The Ancient Ones was a breezy comedy, Bank’s Excession – … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: Fall, The Last Emperox, The Dreaming Stars, Auberon, The Bohr Maker

Nuketown’s Summer Reading List for 2020 is in full swing. During my summer vacation at Lake Champlain, I finished up Fall (or Dodge in Hell) and knocked out The Last Emperox, The Dreaming Stars, and Auberon (an Expanse novella). I also launched into The Bohr Maker, which I completed when I got back from the … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: The Unicorn Project, Bone Silence, Arcana of the Ancients

Nuketown’s summer reading list for 2020 is in full effect. In May and June, I finished two books – The Unicorn Project and Bone Silence – and picked up Arcana of the Ancients, a hefty new science fantasy RPG  sourcebook for my new lunchtime campaign. The Unicorn Project The Unicorn Project (Amazon), Gene Kim’s follow-up to The Phoenix Project … Read more

Summer Reading List 2020

After last year’s summer reading list took me nine months to complete, I decided to make this year’s list more manageable. I certainly had fun with last year’s list – 19 books, 5 graphic novels – but by summer’s end, I’d only read 11 of the 19 books. There were a lot of reasons for … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: The 5th Season, Salvation Lost, Recursion

Nuketown’s 2019 Summer Reading List is finally complete. After beginning in May 2019, I finally finished the last book on the list – The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin – in February 2020. That left me free to get in a few new books before brainstorming my (probably much shorter) 2020 summer reading list. … Read more

Brainstorming Nuketown’s Summer 2020 Reading List

It’s April and we’re under “stay at home” orders in Pennsylvania. Work from home – and remote learning – are the order of the day for my family. Summer seems a hell of a long way off, and even when it arrives, it’s anyone’s guess what it will look like. That said, one thing is … Read more

Top of the Pile: X-Men Resurgence

The X-men step through an otherworldly portal.

The X-Men are back. After years of being sidelined in the Marvel comic book universe, the X-Men have returned to their rightful prominence. Heralded by the twin six-issue series House of X and Powers of X, the X-Pantheon is back with a full-line up of comic book titles consisting of X-Men, New Mutants, Excalibur, Marauders, X-Force, and Fallen Angels. Thanks to a … Read more

Off the Bookshelf: The Past Through Tomorrow, The Goal, The Light Brigade

A space-suited (battle armored?) figure flies through blue light.

I went Old School with the first two books on my list on my summer reading list: Robert Heinlein’s The Past Through Tomorrow is a collection of his “Future History” short stories, novellas, and novels written in the 1940s and 1950s. It was a time when the future was atomic, women working in space was a radical idea, … Read more