The months are falling of the calendar this year, and the seasons here in New England haven’t quite separated. One day it’s 40 degrees, the next it’s 70. What a wild time we live in. Enough about the weather, this is about books. The past few months I found myself reading an array of books scattered across genres. I got a little non-fiction in there, with some post-cyberpunk fun, a splash of classic horror, and a generic thriller we’ve all seen before. Wild times indeed.
The Diamond Age – Neal Stephenson
If there’s an author out there that intimidates me it’s Neal Stephenson. He manages to weave future technology into engrossing stories about humanity with such depth that it feels seamless. Not sure why I picked Diamond Age but glad I did. It’s a heavy coming of age tale weaved with AI, nanotechnology, commentary on social class, and escaping abusive situations. It’s tense. It’s deep. It’s also structured as a child’s fantasy story within the story, in a way that only Neal Stephenson could pull off.
Description & Setting – Ron Rozelle
Every year I read at least two books on the craft of writing. The Write Great Fiction series is a solid series covering some of the basics of writing. This was another that helped me hone in on some aspects of my writing I’d like to be better at. Putting the reader in the situation and knowing how to get them there is important to keeping them turning pages. We’ll see if it pays off in my next novel.
Since I write in the technothriller / espionage thriller genre primarily, I like to read a couple thrillers per year. Reading the ones from the authors that dominate the space is important to know what readers are looking for, and to help me figure out what I like and don’t like about the genre I write in. Zero Day is a perfect fit, paint by numbers genre thriller. If you like Jack Reacher, or research info dump chapters about nuclear weapons, this book is for you. Nothing ground breaking, but comfort thriller. I also have a chip on my shoulder about it because I was planning on using the title Zero Day for my third novel, safe to say this one has nothing to do with Zero Day flaws…which…irks me. Anyways, 70 degrees today in November. Woof.
I’ve written before that I’m behind on the times with Stephen King but I’m catching up. I love his writing style: it’s easy, breezy, beautiful, and cooks along. Figure I should check out where it all started with Carrie. This is one of those situations where I’d seen the movie (original one) before reading the novel. What’s wild is while reading I still felt this constant buildup of dread. I knew the moment was coming, I knew what it was, and even how it played out. But reading it still pulled me in and gave me goose bumps. It’s also flat out mean to the main character. They say you should put your main character through the ringer so their change is profound, well, Carrie does that and it’s ruthless. Next up, The Shining.
The Dark Net: Inside The Digital Underworld – Jamie Bartlett
I’ve been doing research on how hackers operate and communicate using the dark web and forums. This came across my radar and I thought I’d give it a read. It doesn’t get into hackers per say but gets into how people interact when they’re hidden behind an anonymous handle or avatar. Basically people turn into jerks. It started out interesting and getting into some dark topics about how people obtained illegal, and explicit content, with case studies, but then shifted to stories about surface web stories that didn’t hold with the rest of the “dark net” focus. Interesting, terrifying, and pointed at how people will do things they think is right under the misguided (misunderstood?) use of freedom of speech and privacy.
