So, what’s been interesting this year on the traditional fiction side?

While working on Invisible Enemy, I read a mix of military science fiction and some WWII submarine fiction to get a sense of the genre and how to approach a warlike atmosphere.

I pulled up Edward Beach’s Run Silent, Run Deep, which is echoed in the movie of the same name, but there are fundamental differences between the two versions. I highly recommend it as a glimpse into the life of a WWII submarine commander, even fictionalized. Most nonfiction are more clinical, Flukey’s Thunder Below notwithstanding.

I also took a swing at Harry Homewood’s Final Harbor (which is marketed as a series as Silent Sea #1, but the only series about it is there are submarines in each book). It was a weaker read compared to Run Silent, Run Deep, combining different WWII stories into a single one with a bit of a sudden ending. Also, I love the cover.

At the top of the traditionally published books I was looking forward to this year, Tiamat’s Wrath (The Expanse #8) by James SA Corey and Children of Ruin, the sequel to the amazing Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Children of Ruin blew me away in terms of story. I’m just sucked into his universe and the world building is enthralling. I loved revisiting the alien spiders of the first novel who’ve grown together with the rescued humans. The new uplifted alien race and the entirely new alien was engrossing.

The Expanse novel I was less enamored of. For me, the villain of the series has gotten progressively weaker in the last couple of novels. The writing is also beginning to wear on me. Still, we’re close to the end and I’m invested in the series and will see it to the end.

I also listened (because it’s so much better that way) to William Gibson’s Alien III, the intended sequel to Aliens in the franchise. The actual sequel Alien 3, falls short by comparison. The audiobook is an engaging read and I’m glad it surfaced and was published.

There are a lot of other books on the list, including some older works that I had meant to read for ages (Lucifer’s Hammer, Shards of Honor, Sundiver, The Andromeda Strain, etc.) among a few newer works. I’m reading through Jack Campbell’s ​Lost Fleet ​series—the first book was a rocky start, but it’s improved dramatically in characterization in his follow-on books. I will write a separate post in 2020 with some of my observations.

A massive bulk of my fictional reading has been science fiction for good reason—that’s what I’m writing. However, I’ve been searching for an engaging re-entry into the fantasy realm. I have a new series in development that has heavy fantasy elements. I dipped into litrpg with some less than stellar results. I found a book I am (as I write this) tearing through with a ridiculous amount of enjoyment—so much so I can’t help but mention it even though I’m not finished reading. That is Nicholas Eames’ Kings of the Wyld (The Band #1), a wild romp that mixes fantasy with a bit of modern humor. My best analogy for it is to imagine your best friends having gotten together after years apart to play one last grand campaign with old characters, but instead of the characters’ voices, the voices are the players themselves. Don’t get me wrong—it’s fantasy, NOT litrpg, but it is decidedly couched with modern humor, sarcasm, and delivery.

Finally, while this isn’t traditional, I found a new series that’s just about to launch that has science fiction Arthurian Legend elements similar to my first series. It’s Luke Mitchell’s The Eighth Excalibur (The Excalibur Knights Saga Book 1). I’ve placed my preorder and I’m looking forward to the read. It’s only $.99 for a short time (which is why I’m mentioning it now and not next week with my indie read post).

That’s it! If you want to see what else I’ve read, check out my goodreads page. See you next time with my final post in the 2019 Reading series! What are some of your great traditional fiction reads of 2019?

1. All of these links are Amazon Affiliate links. You can, for the most part, find most of these works on all platforms or search them for yourself.