Onward with Saberhagen

Finally cracked open Of Berserkers, Swords & Vampires by Fred Saberhagen today. It's a posthumous collection with stories that sample across his different series settings - and some stand-alone tales.

In honor of October/Halloween, I jumped to the vampire (his version of Dracula) tales at the end. Now, aside from the introduction (which I also read) I'm ready to start at the beginning.

I finally finished Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes. I was not as enraptured by this collection as his earlier collections (Night Shift and Skeleton Crew) but there were some solid tales. King certainly knows how to bring characters to life and pull a reader in - even in stories where things are left unexplained. My favorite tale from this collection isn't even a horror tale. I enjoyed the fantasy tale, "The House on Maple Street" the most, I think.

Currently writing a Lovecraftian historical tale. It's slow going because of real life distraction, but I hope to get enough headway on it. The deadline goes until Dec 1st.

Other writing ideas - big and small - are piling up. I am going to need to add some writing New Year Resolutions to the list for January!

Last reads of 2009

My last reads of 2009 were...



Brother Berserker by Fred Saberhagen.

Another entry in Saberhagen's long Berserker series. This story featured time travel, as the Berserkers attempt to change the history of a world. Nice touches, interesting time combat, and Saberhagen just has a knack for storytelling that I really enjoy. An enjoyable, if short, entry in the series.

(note: this novel is more commonly known as Brother Assassin - I think I read the British edition/title)

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The Sun Over Breda by Arturo Perez-Reverte

The third adventure in the Captain Alatriste series. I liked it but the constant asides and poetry quotations disrupted the narrative. It does have sharp characters that pop off the page and some memorable combats scenes.

I think without the asides, it might have been better served as a novella.