Humble Bundle and recent reads

I was able to snag a Humble Bundle book deal a little while ago (actually, it was Sue that spotted it!) and downloaded it to my Kindle before going to Sweden. I'm a big fan of the Kindle, by the bye, and I've found that it makes such a difference to packing weight.

I read a couple of books while I was out there. On the flight out, I read the entirety ofArcanum 101: Welcome New Students, by Rosemary Edghill and Mercedes Lackey which is a fun book set in the present day, but one where magic, elves and arcane happenings occur. It was brief but interesting; most of the books in the humble bundle were on this sort of topic, and there are lots of shared ideas, or common points from which they draw. I think it was a quirk of the formatting on my Kindle that the shift from the first character's point of view to the second's was something I had to read over twice, to pinpoint exactly when it happened.

I probably could have gotten more reading done actually during the week, but in the end I only read Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton and found it really inspirational. He details some of the things that lead from where he was, pretty much known only for being in Star Trek TNG, struggling to get more acting parts and finally putting two fingers up at it to focus on writing. I know I haven't had anything like that sort of struggle, but it was kind of comforting to read about someone else going through some of the same questions about trying to get into writing full time. I'll definitely be reading the other Wil Wheaton book that came with the bundle, The Happiest Days of Our Lives.

I read Sunstorm on the way home, by Arthur C Clarke and Stephen Baxter. It's excellent, but then I've come to expect that from both authors. It was also exceptionally handy as research for Noctis Point, set as it is on Mars, the Moon and Earth. I got the idea that there was a bigger world here, on the scale of the Xeelee by Stephen Baxter, which I suppose makes sense. The FirstBorn give the impression of that kind of all-knowing power. Certainly, for anyone looking for a nice solid sci-fi adventure that can be read in about five hours, this is a good option. I finished it actually on the Underground, pulling in to Brockley station, which works just fine for me.

Recording has started for Pocket Fiction, my new project. This is slightly procrastination forNoctis Point but not really, because I have lots of other things I could be procrastinating on, like making cakes for the next NomCake outing or, y'know, preparing work for the new term that starts in about twelve days.