Tag: books

Reading List 2023

Whereas 2022 was primarily devoted to Japanese murder mysteries, I binged on two Italian detective series in 2023, one written by a Sicilian set in Sicily and the other by an American set in Venice. On the whole, I tend to slightly prefer Commissario Brunetti to Inspector Montalbano, but both series are thoroughly entertaining and well worth exploring. Of the 119 books I read in 2023, I’d say the best of those I read for the first time were From Caesar to the Mafia, Some Prefer Nettles, and Chronicles of a Liquid Society.

Caravan of the Damned, Chuck Dixon
Westmark, Lloyd Alexander
Kestrel, Lloyd Alexander
Beggar Queen, Lloyd Alexander
A Death in Tokyo, Keigo Higashino
The Illyrian Adventure, Lloyd Alexander
The Lake, Banana Yoshimoto
Asleep, Banana Yoshimoto
Lizard, Banana Yoshimoto
Hardboiled Hard Luck, Banana Yoshimoto
Novelist as a Vocation, Haruki Murakami
First Person Singular, Haruki Murakami
Black and White, Junichiro Tanizaki
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami
The Shape of Water, Andrea Camilleri
The Terra-Cotta Dog, Andrea Camilleri
The Snack Thief, Andrea Camilleri
Voice of the Violin, Andrea Camilleri
Excursion to Tindari, Andrea Camilleri
The Scent of the Night, Andrea Camilleri
Rounding the Mark, Andrea Camilleri
The Patience of the Spider, Andrea Camilleri
The Paper Moon, Andrea Camilleri
The Wings of the Sphinx, Andrea Camilleri
August Heat, Andrea Camilleri
The Track of Sand, Andrea Camilleri
The Potter’s Field, Andrea Camilleri
The Age of Doubt, Andrea Camilleri
The Dance of the Seagull, Andrea Camilleri
Treasure Hunt, Andrea Camilleri
Montalbano’s First Case, Andrea Camilleri
Angelica’s Smile, Andrea Camilleri
Game of Mirrors, Andrea Camilleri
A Beam of Light, Andrea Camilleri
A Voice in the Night, Andrea Camilleri
A Nest of Vipers, Andrea Camilleri
The Pyramid of Mud, Andrea Camilleri
Death at Sea, Andrea Camilleri
The Overnight Kidnapper, Andrea Camilleri
The Other End of the Line, Andrea Camilleri
The Safety Net, Andrea Camilleri
The Sicilian Method, Andrea Camilleri
The Cook of the Halcyon, Andrea Camilleri
Studies in Napoleonic Warfare, Charles Oman
Forbidden Colors, Yukio Mishima
The Jungle Grows Back, Robert Kagan
The Return of History and the End of Dreams, Robert Kagan
Quantum of Nightmares, Charles Stross
The Pit of the Blind God, Chuck Dixon
People of the Lie, M. Scott Peck
Death at La Fenice, Donna Leone
Death in a Strange Country, Donna Leone
The Anonymous Venetian, Donna Leone
Venetian Reckoning, Donna Leone
Acqua Alta, Donna Leone
The Death of Faith, Donna Leone
A Noble Radiance, Donna Leone
Fatal Remedies, Donna Leone
Friends in High Places, Donna Leone
A Sea of Troubles, Donna Leone
Wilful Behaviour, Donna Leone
Uniform Justice, Donna Leone
Doctored Evidence, Donna Leone
Blood from a Stone, Donna Leone
Through a Glass, Darkly, Donna Leone
Suffer the Little Children, Donna Leone
The Girl of His Dreams, Donna Leone
About Face, Donna Leone
A Question of Belief, Donna Leone
Drawing Conclusions, Donna Leone
Beastly Things, Donna Leone
The Golden Egg, Donna Leone
By its Cover, Donna Leone
Falling in Love, Donna Leone
The Waters of Eternal Youth, Donna Leone
Earthly Remains, Donna Leone
The Temptation of Forgiveness, Donna Leone
Unto Us a Son Is Given, Donna Leone
Trace Elements, Donna Leone
Transient Desires, Donna Leone
Intervention, Julian May
Jack the Bodiless, Julian May
Diamond Mask, Julian May
Magnificat, Julian May
Marshal of Victory, Giorgy Zhukov
Present Dangers, Robert Kagan, ed.
The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler
The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
The High Window, Raymond Chandler
The Lady in the Lake, Raymond Chandler
The Little Sister, Raymond Chandler
Farewell, My Lovely, Raymond Chandler
Stupefying Stories 24, Rampant Loon
T, Haruki Murakami
Dead-End Memories, Banana Yoshimoto
The Last Train, Michael Pronko
The Moving Blade, Michael Pronko
Tokyo Traffic, Michael Pronko
Tokyo Zangyo, Michael Pronko
Azabu Getaway, Michael Pronko
Some Prefer Nettles, Junchiro Tanizaki
Red Roofs and Other Stories, Junchiro Tanizaki
Longing and Other Stories, Junchiro Tanizaki
A Cat, a Man, and Two Women, Junchiro Tanizaki
Levon’s Time, Chuck Dixon
Levon’s Home, Chuck Dixon
Season of Skulls, Charles Stross
From Caesar to the Mafia, Luigi Barzini
Things That Happened Before the Earthquake, Chiara Barzini
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
A Night in the Lonesome October, Roger Zelazny
Between Planets, Robert Heinlein
Red Planet, Robert Heinlein
Tunnel in the Sky, Robert Heinlein
Margin of Victory, Douglas MacGregor
Pirate Freedom, Gene Wolfe
Equal Danger, Leonardo Sciascia
An Italian Education, Tim Parks
Chronicles of a Liquid Society, Umberto Eco

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Studies in the Napoleonic Wars

Book 4 in the Castalia History series, the subscription book for January-February-March, is Studies in the Napoleonic Wars by Sir Charles Oman. This is an excellent book that will be enjoyed by those who are familiar with Napoleonics as well as by those who are not. It’s esoteric enough to appeal to the subject matter expert while also being sufficiently accessible and interesting to those who know nothing about military history.

To subscribe to Castalia History, click here. Please note that Books 2 and 3 are already sold out. We are therefore increasing the print run for Book 4 from 550 to 650 books.

Also, the January newsletter has been sent out to all of the Library, Libraria, and History subscribers on the mailing list. If you are a subscriber who did not receive the email, email me and request being added to the mailing list. Of possible interest is the discount code for a complimentary copy of A SEA OF SKULLS, the complete edition, as previously promised. A complimentary copy of THE ALTAR OF HATE is also included.

Another good way to stay up to date is to join the Castalia Library Collectors group on LibraryThing. It also serves as a useful reference for the historical subscriptions.

We have not yet announced the January-February book for the Library/Libraria subscription as we are waiting to see if we can announce a new acquisition in time for this yet or not. We anticipate making that announcement sometime in the next two weeks.

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Cancelling the Cancel Pigs

According to recent a recent report on Fandom Pulse, things are not going well for the SJWs in the comics industry. Apparently, it wasn’t enough for them to bite the hands that feed them, so they proceeded to attack the very stores that sold their products:

Now it looks like the chickens have come home to roost. First, there was the news that cancel pig Mags Visaggio was begging for money online on X: “We could use some help till our next paycheck (invoiced Dec 7) following a pretty catastrophic month.”

Now, a new bombshell dropped when award-winning writer of science fiction, steampunk, and comics Jon Del Arroz tweeted on New Year’s Day: “I’ve heard from a retailer insider that several shops are refusing to order books by the “cancel pigs” who insulted shop owners. Not a good start to 2024 for the mainstream comic industry!”

Why Marvel and DC writers ever thought it a good idea to attack the retailers that are selling your comics will be a mystery for the ages. Now it looks like the cancelled pigs are the ones who are going to be cancelled.

Cancel Pigs Are Getting Cancelled, FANDOM PULSE, 2 January 2024

If you don’t listen to your audience, and if you not only refuse to take their concerns into account, but actually attack them for the mere fact of possessing those concerns, you should not be surprised to eventually discover that you do not have an audience.

In respect of this principle, and after dozens of discussions with various parties, the Castalia team has decided that we are not going to attempt to save the independent publishing industry from itself in 2024. Why should we be more concerned about its fate than those who actually depend upon it are? As one member of our team sagely observed: “It’s too soon. They’re worried, but they aren’t panicked yet. They still have faith in the status quo.”

So, what we’re going to concentrate on this year is improving our processes, reducing our production times, and elevating each element of the operation to the highest possible level of quality and service. We improved in 2023, but we still have a long way to go. Once our own House is entirely efficient and in order, perhaps we can spare a few thoughts for those whose livelihoods and businesses are being systematically destroyed by a certain corpocratic behemoth.

And on a not-unrelated note, the Library email will go out tonight.

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Mailvox: a brief review of ASOS

AD writes the first review of the complete A SEA OF SKULLS.

I’ve finished A Sea of Skulls. Bought it, set out to read a chapter a night…which became two, and then three, and by the time I reached about the 1/3 point, I put the whole world on hold and finished it in two days.

As usual, your writing skill and style are impeccable–entertaining and engaging. For every plot thread closed you’ve managed to dangle three more…though, I think the next book will have to crack the planet and drain an ocean to top this ending.

Thoroughly enjoyable. I appreciated how the races have their own issues that so perfectly mirror modern ones, and enjoyed working out the foreign words from context. And I remain impressed by your skills–you managed to take a thoroughly repulsive Orc, turn him into a viewpoint character, and make him understandable, if not necessarily empathetic. I was convinced he was going to join Skuli any minute when he was ordered to throw himself onto the shield wall.

And, speaking of Skuli, his last quest was excellent. Here’s to the next book–unless, of course, you retire to the tropics and dump the whole thing into the lap of Brandon Sanderson.

I think Brandon Sanderson is too busy counting his crowdfunding money these days to be available to finish off anyone else’s epic fantasy series. So, I’ll just have to finish it myself.

UPDATE: The Didact graciously named A SEA OF SKULLS one of his best books of 2023:

Has he stuck the landing with the full version of Book 2?

Mostly, yes, he has.

ASOS has a few flaws to it, most of which relate to the difficulties in keeping the various plot-lines straight. You may have to go back and read the first book again to understand all the machinations behind the Amorran side of things – it has, after all, been eleven years since the first book saw the light of day, and quite a lot has happened since then.

The biggest flaw with the book has to be the ending, which definitely feels rushed and more than a little forced. I get the distinct impression that OBADSDL(PBUH) found himself getting lost in the details and realised this giant door-stopper of a book was getting really crazy – the full book will probably clock in at around 914 (!!!!!) pages, and that is a monumental text by any measure.

None of this changes a fundamental fact:

This is one of the best high fantasy books ever written.

High praise indeed. And while I never object to any reader’s impressions – they are simply what they are – in the interests of accuracy I will point out that the endings were neither rushed nor forced from my perspective, as they were always bound to take the various shapes they did by virtue of the character perspective limits. Remember, I’m not George Martin, and while I don’t do outlines, I do strictly limit how many characters get their own perspective and how many sections they get apiece. So, I always know roughly how much space I have with which to work in order to get to the close I have in mind.

You may notice that the word and page counts are almost identical to ATOB. That’s not an accident. And AGOG will be the same.

This isn’t to say one can’t reasonably criticize the particular sections of the story on which I choose to concentrate the detail. Perhaps it would be better if the middles were shorter and the ends longer. My choices are almost certainly suboptimal in some senses, and some characters get less “camera time” while others get more than various readers would prefer.

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Traffic Report 2023

At last, this blog appears to be, like its author, clearly past its peak. As I mentioned last year, the torch has been effectively passed to the community as a whole, and to other platforms and media. It’s neither frustrating nor to be lamented that the ideas can be transmitted so efficiently now that they reach people who have absolutely no direct contact with VP, the Darkstream, or any other traditional communications vehicle. See: Sigma Male. To the contrary, the current situation is to be viewed as an accomplishment and as a relief.

This is not an elegy or a farewell note for Vox Popoli. It’s simply a clear-eyed observation of how things have been playing out of late. Whether we like it or not, everything has a lifespan, time is limited, and it therefore behooves us to be realistic and practical about where things are, so that we can focus our efforts and energy appropriately. That’s why I track these numbers and write these summaries.

In 2023, Vox Popoli had 10,593,334 WordPress pageviews, down 11.9 percent from last year. The blog is now running at an average rate of 29,023 daily pageviews, down 10.1 percent from an average 32,926 last year. Total historic blog views closed out the year at 275,166,140. The running annual pageview totals are as follows:

2008: 3,496,757

2009: 4,414,801

2010: 4,827,183

2011: 5,422,628

2012: 6,098,774

2013: 9,340,663

2014: 11,236,085

2015: 16,211,875

2016: 25,817,343

2017: 31,216,357

2018: 32,260,094

2019: 32,757,068

2020: 41,338,037

2021: 38,884,355

2022: 12,018,040

2023: 10,593,334

The big news for 2023 was that I finally finished, and published, the complete edition of A SEA OF SKULLS. It appears to have been received well by the Selenoth fans as a worthy successor to A THRONE OF BONES, and since it is not available for review on Amazon, I will post the first mini-review that I have received from a reader here later today. I have already started working on the final book in the Arts of Dark and Light series, which will be called A GRAVE OF GODS, and which I plan to publish in 2026.

Last year I said that “the Bindery, Selenoth, and a revival of Castalia’s traditional publishing are my top priorities for the new year.” We made excellent progress on all three fronts, and we have improved the infrastructure to the point that we can expect to publish one or more conventional books a month in 2024. We also expect to print, bind, and ship The Iliad and The Odyssey to the Bindery backers this year; those who missed the crowdfund but wish to support the Bindery will be given the opportunity to purchase copies before we start printing them.

The biggest new development in 2023 was the launch of the Castalia History subscription. This was a massive success, as it is already two-thirds as large as the Castalia Library subscription. Books 2 and 3 are scheduled to be bound the first week of February and Book 1 will be bound soon after. Book 4 will be announced tomorrow, both here, on LibraryThing, and via the mailing list tomorrow. With regards to 2024, we recently signed deals with two major publishers and acquired the rights to two significant series, one fiction, one history, so we will be introducing two special limited edition subscriptions later this year.

THE CAMBRIDGE MEDIEVAL HISTORY Vols. I and II

Both Castalia and Unauthorized are extremely healthy and technologically sound. Arkhaven remains strong despite the ongoing collapse of the comics industry, and has even introduced a new and improved frontend. While we are, as usual, behind on a number of our projects, and while we face a variety of challenges, the infrastructure is more solid than it has ever been, and for the first time, we are not reliant upon any cloud services of any kind for any of our various projects. In general, 2023 was a solid year and I believe it has laid the a foundation for a 2024 that promises to be both interesting and a strong step forward.

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Paperbacks Unlimited

Just to put it on the record, here is where I think Amazon is headed over the next three years, and the effect its actions will have on the publishing industry over the next decade. I could well be wrong. I very much hope that I will be wrong, but as it stands, please note that I wasn’t pessimistic enough about the long-term effects of Kindle Unlimited when it was introduced in 2014.

2024: Audible Unlimited. Like Kindle Unlimited, but for audio. Authors get paid by the listened hour from a collective pot that is funded by Amazon’s additional $7.99 charge on top of the $11.99 paid by KU subscribers.

2025: Paperbacks Unlimited. Subscribers can pay $19.99 per month and receive any three KDP paperbacks of their choice. Authors are paid $0.99 per paperback shipped. A hardcover option will follow the next year, which will be available at a lower price point, but the subscriber will only receive one book per month, with the ability to pay more to get two or three. Hardcover compensation pays authors $2 per book shipped. It’s essentially the old book club model, writ very, very large.

The introduction of Virtua Voice makes the former viable. The purchase of print-on-demand facilities in the USA and the UK make the latter viable. And most of the bestselling KAP Unlimited authors will either be a) AI-assisted independents cranking out a new series book every month or b) fake authors created by Amazon.

If you’re an author or a publisher, you had better prepare accordingly. Because these programs are coming, and they will have the same effect on audiobook and print sales as KU has had on ebook revenues. I estimate that KAP Unlimited will have the potential to shrink total US consumer books sales from $17.4 billion to under $5 billion by 2035.

UPDATE: Apparently Audible Unlimited already exists, in the form of Audible Plus. What has changed is the ability of Amazon to inexpensively convert all of its KDP ebooks to Audible Plus audiobooks using Virtua Voice.

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Orcs in the Korokhurmagh

This is a previously unreleased excerpt from the newly released full edition of A SEA OF SKULLS, which is now available in an ebook edition at the Arkhaven store.

Lugbol growled and slapped at one of the forest’s infernal insects that was busily engaged in biting his left bicep. He crushed it under his horny palm, felt a pop, and looked down to see he’d smeared his own dark green blood along with the remnants of the bug that had bitten him across his upper arm. He shook his head, knowing that the bite was going to start itching momentarily, then slapped fruitlessly at another one that had just bitten his calf.
“I don’t remember them being this bad before,” he complained.
“They had all the dead to feed on then,” Ghurash replied. Even though it had been less than three weeks since they’d fled the dark shadows of the Korokhurmagh, already the denizens of the forest had all but picked the thousands of dead bodies clean of flesh. They were rapidly approaching the western edge of the great wood and soon they would be encroaching on the true Man lands, not merely the pillaging the small villages and hamlets that had been carved out of the trees by the lesser tribes and clans.
The Hagahorn’ugh had been cocky and full of contempt for the martial abilities of the Szavon’agh as they passed through the burned-out remains of the villages overrun by Zlatagh’s army, but they gradually fell silent and their mood turned grim as they began to come across one large-skulled, thick-boned skeleton after another. There were few Man skeletons, and the bones of those they encountered were eagerly snatched up and divided among sqwaaks and younger kors seeking clubs or remains to decorate their armor.
More than a dozen fights broke out over the Man bones, the worst of which began when a boar rider commandeered a large thigh bone another kor had intended for a club, then cracked it open and sucked out the marrow. By the time Lugbol and Karnuhg, one of the cavalry grun-kors, managed to put a stop to the fracas, four mountain orcs and two Black Fists were dead, and another Hagahornu was so badly wounded that he ended up in the cookpot that evening.
The kral chewed him out for the needless death of his orcs, of course, but Lugbol had the sneaking suspicion that the older orc was secretly impressed at how Lugbol’s veteran kors managed to more than hold their own against the bigger mountain orcs. In fact, knowing that Lugbol, being Goghu and half the size of his Hagahornu officers, could never pose a threat to his rule, Nekheru had proven increasingly inclined to give his new hadvezer more responsibilities as they marched through the forest toward the Man lands. In addition to commanding the light infantry and the goblin cavalry, Lugbol was now serving as the liason between the farkh’agh and the various shugaba’ugh and grun-kors whose kors had the annoying habit of feasting upon their fellow marching companions whenever they couldn’t find adequate meat to sate their appetites.
Two large goblins, wearing the ornate headgear favored by their shugaba’agh, approached him now, escorted by a nervous-looking bodyguard of twelve lightly-armored yellowskins carrying pikes. Lugbol groaned. Given the angry expressions on their hook-chinned, hook-nosed faces, he had a pretty good idea of why they were coming to see him, even though they were attached to units outside his command.

Continue reading “Orcs in the Korokhurmagh”

A SEA OF SKULLS Full Edition

Castalia House is pleased to announce that the full text of A SEA OF SKULLS is now complete at an estimated 914 pages and is available in a new ebook edition at the Arkhaven store for $7.99. This is the initial text edition and therefore lacks an appendix and the additional images that will be added to the print edition, which is expected to be released in the spring and should clock in around 924 pages.

A coupon for a free download will be sent out to the readers who purchased the abbreviated edition back in 2016 and sent in their proofs of purchase from Amazon. The first batch have gone out already, the remainder will go out before midnight. If you don’t get one, or if you didn’t send in your Kindle proof of purchase for it already, please don’t do so now. I’m sure it will be on the various pirate sites before the weekend is out. The coupon for a free download will also be provided to all Castalia Library, Libraria Castalia, and Castalia History subscribers in the December monthly newsletter, which will go out next week.

Merry Christmas, Librarians…

The two leather volumes will be included in the Castalia Library and Libraria Castalia subscriptions sometime next year. An audiobook+ edition will be released once Jeremy Daw has finished recording it. I do not intend to make either the ebook or the audiobook available through Amazon, at least not at this time.

I hope you will enjoy the latest edition to the epic fantasy saga. If you discover any typos or errata, please do not send emails to me as you encounter them, but compile a list and send it to me after you have finished the book. As we did with A THRONE OF BONES, we will do iterative corrections and update the ebook accordingly.

In Selenoth, the war drums are beating throughout the land. The savage orcs of Hagahorn and Zoth Ommog are on the move, imperiling Man, Dwarf, and Elf alike. The Houses Martial of Amorr have gone to war with each other, pitting legion against legion, and family against family, as civil war wracks the disintegrating Empire. In the north, inhuman wolf-demons besiege the last redoubt of Man in the White Sea, while in Savondir, the royal house of de Mirid desperately prepares to defend the kingdom against an invading army that is larger than any it has ever faced before. And in the underground realm of the King of Iron Mountain, a strange new enemy has been attacking dwarf villages throughout the Underdeep.

Beneath the widespread violence that has seized all Selenoth in its grasp, a select few are beginning to recognize the appearance of a historic pattern of almost unimaginable proportions. Are all these conflicts involving Orc, Elf, Man, and Dwarf the natural result of inevitable rivalries, or are they little more than battlegrounds in an ancient war that began long before the dawn of time?

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Collecting the Library

For those who are interested in following along what Castalia is doing with the Library, we’re going to make a concerted effort to keep the Castalia Library Collectors group up to date. The group is approved admission only, so feel free to sign up and then request permission to join the group. Among other things, it has official lists of what the past and present subscription books are for Library/Libraria, History, as well as the non-subscription books.

And while it’s too soon to announce any specifics, I’m very pleased to be able to say we have reached agreements with three major publishers regarding books we plan to offer as separate subscriptions. In a few special cases, one book, or at most two books, in the series will be offered as part of either the Library or the History subscription, but in such cases we will design the book(s) in such a way as to make it clear to which subscription it belongs.

On the bindery front, we still have one final issue to resolve, and two issues that we believe are resolved, but must be further tested to ensure they are, in fact, resolved, before we declare it fully operational and begin work on Heidi (Deutsch) and the two Homers.

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