Reading: Recently

I should have never switched from my monochrome Sony CLIE S320 to a LifeDrive. It’s done true damage to my ability to capture information. The rotten 50% recognition rate of Classic Graffiti grafted onto the LifeDrive makes using it, at the very least, more trouble than it’s worth and, at its worst, a instrument of self-inflicted torment.

Thus the kind of notes I would usually take in order to properly write-up a book I’ve read are no longer possible. And if I don’t do that sort of thing while reading a book, what I wind up with are pitifully-brief things of the sort below.

A Prayer for Dawn by Nathan Singer

Unlike any other book I’ve read, Singer assembles some very strange people from the margins of society — as well as those at the heart of society — and tosses them all together in a non-linear plot that is as unpredictable as it is glorious to behold in its handiwork. This is not a trivial book and it’s one I’m going to read again. Singer can write.

Chasing the Wolf by Nathan Singer

Singer turns his hand to high-class science-fiction/fantasy with this one. He has created the notion of time paths that exist in everyday life that one can unexpectedly come upon and wind up in a different time period and place. Singer doesn’t shy away from touchy subjects in his books and this one contains some heartbreak to illustrate his points. Although Singer attempts to be linear in plot, he can’t resist himself. This is a time travel story, after all, and twisting things around is just about mandatory. Singer also shows a deft hand with historical research and there are people mentioned here I’ll have to look up. It’s too bad SF has fallen into such a state of disrepair that this book hasn’t attracted more attention. It deserves to.

The Fever Kill by Tom Piccirilli

Tom Piccirilli is a writer I made a MySpace Friend before I knew anything about his work. This is the first book of his I’ve read, mainly because it had a intro by Ken Bruen. Bruen lavishly praised the book in the intro — and he was right to do so! Piccirilli has a body of work behind him mainly in horror/suspense fiction. This is his first crime fiction novel and I hope it won’t be his last. Piccirilli can write. He’s also a great observer of human behavior and there are no false steps in this book. Everything flows. And there are some surprises in here — real ones too, not sleight-of-hand cheats. Piccirilli is a writer I’ll be reading. He also maintains a blog on MySpace which is must-reading for all writers.

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