November was the month of getting back into routine after a long trip abroad. Happily, I’m now mostly settled back at home, though my sleep cycle took a beating for a while. Between that and work, I didn’t have time to do a lot of the blogging I planned to. I didn’t really commit to SciFiMonth beyond my usual TBR shenanigans, and the less said about NaNoWriMo the better. nevertheless, I had a surprisingly good month of reading even with everything else going on. With November fading into the rear-view mirror, it’s time for a quick recap.

Reading Stats

• Books Read: 11
• Pages Read: 3891
• Average Star Rating: 3.73
• Book of the Month: Creed: Ashes of Cadia, by Jude Reid
• Remaining TBR: 14

Book Haul

Following a bumper USA haul in October, November was more sedate, with a mere three acquisitions. Galaxy of Horrors is the latest Black Library anthology to hit my shelves, and I grabbed a copy of Rhuairidh James’ Da Gobbo Rides Again as a Christmas treat for myself while I was in the Warhammer store. The other purchase probably won’t arrive for a while, but takes the form of The Dregs of Empire & Other Stories, the final collection for now from Christopher Ruocchio’s Sun Eater series.

Reading & Reviews

I didn’t quite read every book I planned to this month, but aside from two recent duds, have been pleasantly surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed the month as a whole. I’ve reviewed most of them already, but here’s a quick recap of the whole lot:

• The Avatar Duology and Rising Son by S. D. Perry showcase the varying quality of the Star Trek Litverse
• The Fall of Cadia by Robert Rath and Creed: Ashes of Cadia, by Jude Reid proved to be the perfect double bill of grimdark military SF.
• Four-Day Planet, Lone Star Planet, and The Cosmic Computer all proved to be wonderful returns to the worlds of H. Beam Piper.
• Mars Life by Ben Bova was an unexpectedly depressing return to the Grand Tour series, but worthwhile nonetheless.
• Carbide Tipped Pens, edited by Ben Bova and Eric Choi was a mixed bag of hard SF storytelling that took up most of my listening time this month.
• The Imperial Stars by Poul Anderson was the sort of story I ought to love, but which fell apart in the delivery.
• Man Plus by Frederik Pohl had some good ideas, but floundered in the execution.
• A Soldier’s Duty by Jean Johnson proved to be a fun palate cleanser for those who like their military SF served with a dose of popcorn.
• The Light of Ancient Mistakes by Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate is an album as weird as the name suggests, but full of fun references to science fiction novels.

Articles

Articles were the big casualty of my busy month, but I intend to make up for that in December.

Updates

Not much to add here. I’m happy with my views and engagement (even if Dune does continue to drag the crazies out of the woodwork). I’m toying with a few ideas for next year, but no major overhauls of how I do things. After all, if ain’t broke, don’t fix it.