2010 TBRs

I'm "unofficially" affliliating myself with the TBR Challenge on the Avidbookreader blog.  My Leaning Tower of TBR is legendary, and I have high hopes (pun intended) to chip away at it during the coming year.  I don't post reviews on every book I read, just the standouts, so if you see a review here, you'll know it's a good read (at least IMHO).

Here are just a few of the books in my Leaning Tower of TBR(C).

1. The Last Colony (John Scalzi)
2. Close Encounters (Katherine Allred)
3. The Warlord's Daughter (Susan Grant)
4. An Accidental Goddess (Linnea Sinclair)
5. Atlantis Unleashed  (Alyssa Day)
6. Labor Day (Joyce Maynard)
7. Jupiter (Ben Bova)
8. Oceanspace (Allen Steele)
9. No Words Alone (Autamn Dawn)
10. Something About Polly (Barbara Elsborg)
11. Anna in the Middle  (Barbara Elsborg)
12. Born of Night (Sherilyn Kenyon)
13. Born of Ice (Sherilyn Kenyon)
14. Storm Front (Jim Butcher)
15. Star Wars: Champions of the Force (Kevin Anderson)
16. Insufficient Mating Material (Rowena Cherry)
17. Knight's Fork (Rowena Cherry)
16. Salvation in Death (J.D. Robb)
17. Before the Scandal (Suzanne Enoch)
18. Rescue Me (Christy Reece)
19. Duchess By Night (Eloisa James)
20. Spin (Robert Charles Wilson)
21. Command Decision (Elizabeth Moon)
22. Too Good to Be True (Kristan Higgins)
23. Black Ice (Anne Stuart)
24. Born of Fire (Sherilyn Kenyon)
25. More Than Robotics (Lynn Crain)
26. Doubleblind (Ann Aquirre)
27. Zoe's Tale (John Scalzi)
28. Too Hot for a Spy (Pearl Wolf)
29. Dragonfly: Mir
30. First Draft in 30 Days (Karen Wiesner)
31. Writing the Breakout Novel (Donald Maass)
32. How I Write (Janet Evanovich)
33. Techniques of a Selling Writer (Dwight Swain)

New Releases in 2010:
34. Doing the Right Thing (Barbara Elsborg)
35. Finding the Right One (Barbara Elsborg)
36. Digging Deeper (Barbara Elsborg)
37. Beyond the Shadows (Jess Granger)
38. Bewitched & Betrayed (Lisa Shearin)
39. Sureblood (Susan Grant)

Favorite Re-reads

40. Strangers (Barbara Elsborg)
41. Lucy in the Sky (Barbara Elsborg)
42. The Outback Stars (Sandra McDonald)

Anyone else care to share their list of 2010 TBRs?  Are you going to take the TBR Challenge?

New Bricks for my Leaning Tower of TBR

Today I stopped by Borders and had a field day.

First of all, I went on my usual mission and faced the books I found for some of my favorite authors--Lisa Shearin, Linnea Sinclair and Susan Grant. (I couldn't find any by Sandra McDonald. :( )

Then I started scouting out new building material and added four more SF/F books to my Leaning Tower of TBR(c) including a couple I've been meaning to purchase for some time including OLD MAN'S WAR by John Scalzi and HIS MAJESTY'S DRAGON by Naomi Novik (pssst...Amazon says this one is currently $0.00 for the Kimble download, if that's correct). I also stumbled on a couple of finds, as in, I hadn't heard about these yet and I bought them based on the blurb. One is SPIN by Robert Charles Wilson and the other is COMMAND DECISION by Elizabeth Moon. I also zeroed in on a reference novel for one of my upcoming projects.

Just doing what I can to support the publishing industry. :)

While I was in the area I had a delicious meal at the Elephant Bar, grabbed a hot cocoa at Starbucks and checked out several laptops at the Mac store. I started out a Mac user many moons ago before switching to PCs due to non-compat issues that are no longer the case, and I've been threatening to defect back to my first love with my next purchase.

All in all it was a fun day and a nice break from my WIP. Love these refreshing little sidetrips.

Category Five

Woohoo! A find. And one more for my Leaning Tower of TBR. I stumbled on this one in my wanderings. It's not SciFiRom, per se, but it's close enough for me. (Ya think this might have sometime to do with my involvement in Hurricane Ike relief efforts?)

Here's the blurb:

In the Atlantic Ocean, hurricane Helena is gathering strength, becoming the most powerful storm in recorded history. As Helena bears down on Bermuda, Donovan Nash and other members of the scientific research organization Eco-Watch are called to fly in and extract key government people who have been studying Helena. For Nash, the routine mission turns deadly when an attempt is made on the life of the lead scientist--and a woman from his past--Dr. Lauren McKenna. In a bold attempt to diffuse the power of the hurricane, Eco-Watch is called upon to conduct a final flight above the massive fury of Helena.

And here are the endorsements:

"For those of us with a love/hate relationship with the weather, Category Five is a great book. The last 100 pages were better than most movies. . . I could feel myself drowning."
- Steve Thayer

New York Times best selling author of The Weatherman and The Wheat Field.

"Category Five is a first rate thriller filled with believable characters and lots of inside information! I can't wait for Donlay's next book!"
- Vince Flynn

Author of Executive Power and Term Limits

And the Tower Grows Taller

I just placed another book order and I'll soon have three new SciFiRoms for my Leaning Tower of TBR (TM).

GRIMSPACE by Ann Aquirre
I've heard a lot of good things about this one.

CORDELIA'S HONOR by Lois McMaster Bujold
Thanks to the Shelfari Science Fiction Romance gang for the recommendation.

SHADES OF DARK by Linnea Sinclair
Can't wait for the continuing adventures and trials of Chaz and Sully.

Another one for the Leaning Tower

GRIMSPACE by Ann Aquirre is another addition to my towering TBR stack.

I've heard a lot of good things about this one.

Check out Ann's blog here: http://www.annaguirre.com/blog/

The Leaning Tower of TBR

I've added several books to my TBR list. Here they are in no particular order:

THE OUTBACK STARS by Sandra McDonald
Why? It's a debut novel and it was nominated for the Compton Crook award. Supporting my fellow Skiffy Rommers (SciFiRom writers) is reason enough, but I've read good things about this novel, and a sequel is in the works.

THE HOST by Stephenie Meyer
Why? Two words. Stephenie Meyer. I haven't read anything of hers yet, and the premise of an alien host living in a human body and a "love triangle between only two people" sounds mesmerizing. The Twilight series has been highly acclaimed, but I'm not so much of a YA fan, so I think this will be a great one to start with.

THE MIRRORED HEAVENS by David J. Williams
Why? It's a debut novel and the blurb hooked me. BIG TIME. Tia featured this one on her Fantasy Debut blog (where I pick up a lot of ideas for my TBR tower) and I was intrigued. It sounds like straight Sci Fi, and hard Sci Fi/military at that, but it also smacks of a fascinating read. Here's the blurb so you can judge for yourself: "In the 22nd century, the first wonder of a brave new world is the Phoenix Space Elevator, designed to give mankind greater access to the frontier beyond Earth. Built by the U.S./Pan-Asian Coalition, the Elevator is also a grand symbol of superpower alliance following a second cold war. And it’s just been destroyed." There's more but that was enough to send my fingers flying to the search function at Amazon.

THE CAT STAR CHRONICLES: SLAVE by Cheryl Brooks
By accident, I stumbled on a blog this author had posted on and read the blurb for this novel: I found him in the slave market on Orpheseus Prime... Oh yeah, she had me. Looks like a great read and I'm also curious about similar elements this one may have to my own SciFiRom, P2PC.

* * *

Those already on order from Amazon include:

MOONSTRUCK by Susan Grant
WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL by Donald Maass