First things first: Dina – Stunde des Schicksals is now out. If you are looking for the whole Innkeeper series in German, here is the link.
A. writes,
I wanted to ask you about your knitting and if you could knit at all with your hand problems? Or with all the stress with Hugh´s book, Diamond Fire, Innkeeper, selling the house etc. you just had to skip this hobby of yours. Is knitting calming?
Knitting is calming, but I haven’t been able to do it. We finally finished the edits on the Diamond Fire yesterday, so I thought I would fire up the PlayStation. I got my new game, I got my controller, my blanket, my glass of tea, the dogs have arranged themselves around me, I pressed the Playstation button… and fifteen minutes later, my hands said, “Yeah, no.”
I was very sad.
It looks like this will be a long healing process. Gordon is cool with Innkeeper dictation, so that’s where we are.
Stressful crap keeps happening, but I am determined to vacation.
Watching Megalobox about boxing with a beautifully retro style and a completely silly Isekai Izakaya, which is about a little eatery that opens into another world, a kind of Medieval Germany. All they do is eat. It’s great if you want to snack.
Read Paper Magician. A cool concept, but didn’t think there was enough done with it. There is a sequence inside an heart in the middle of it that just goes on and on and on. It’s well written, so it’s more of a case of misplaced expectations. I wanted an exploration of a cool magic system and awesome adventures, but the author wrote a book about the condition of being human instead. It’s in KU, if you’re interested.
Read a translation of a Russian book for a quote. :shudders: No. Just no.
Would love to read some cool SF.
Playing Empyrion again.
Good Luck with the hands!
Some Sci-fi suggestions on top of all the above: ‘Terminal Alliance’ and ‘Perdition (The Dred Chronicles Book 1)’ are both good (if very different) books. T.A. has a funny more wacky feel and Perdition is definitely darker.
If you want a Fantasy book that feels like it’s in an MMO try ‘Threadbare Volume 1: Stuff and Nonsense’. It’s both funny and gritty in my opinion. The main character is a teddy bear, but it’s not as cutesy as that makes it sound.
Here are a few recommendations :
Their’s Not to Reason Why Series by Jean Johnson – SF
The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearn – UF
Odyssey One Series by Evan Currie – SF
The Nine Kingdoms Series by Lynn Kurland – Fantasy
The Soulwood and Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter – UF
The SPI Files series by Lisa Shearin – UF
The Katherine “Kitty” Katt series by Gini Koch – SF
The Vatta’s War Series by Elizabeth Moon – SF
Pretty much anything by Mercedes Lackey
Nalini Singh had a recommendation for Laura Florand and she was right – CR
I second the Vatta’s War series. I generally like Elia eth Moon’s writing, but sometimes she goes too far in some direction for me. For example, I liked the first few books in The Serrano Legacy series (I think the series had a couple of other names before that and are like two or three series that are linked.) but one character along the way who became the main character for several books, kept being alternately lauded and vilified, book after book. It’s like the power sstructure kept forgetting how much she had done. But some of the books I liked a lot.
Also, Remnant Population by Moon. Main character is in her 60s or 70s. One of my all-time favorite books.
I second Remnant Population!
Another vote for Remnant Population, and also The Speed of Dark (same author). Demon of Undoing by Andrea Alton. Tanya Huff, C. J. Cherryh and Spider Robinson are all great. Robert Silverberg (Majipoor trilogy among others) is interesting.
Sorry your hands are recovering slowly, it seems frustrating to have so many of your favorite relaxing activities off limits. Best wishes for your recovery.
I second Faith Hunters Jane Yellowrock and Soulwood series and the Iron Druid series. Another UF series not mentioned here is Chloe Neils Chicagoland Vampires series
I really enjoyed the Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown by Robin Mckinley . War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. Breakers Ruin and Bramble Burn by Autumn Dawn. Jennifer Esteps Elemental Assassin Series, and Christopher Stasheff’s Warlock in Spite of Himself series. I have read and re-read all of these many times. I hope any or all reasonate with you and bring bring you the pleasure they have given me.
I am SO sorry. My arthritis, my cervical neck and nerve issues, etc. have all led to having issues with my hands. I hope you find some way to work through this.
Dear Ilona, I wish you the patience to give your hands the time they need to heal and that any crap that happens can be solved without involving your hands.
Have you read Lorna Freeman: Borderlands Novels 1-3? Unfortunately they are only available in German on Kindle, but the English paperback editions are still available. Fantasy with a lot of humor, an unlikely naive hero, intrigue, interesting magic and only a bit of romance. Light-hearted fun, but warm – a bit like the first books by Patricia Briggs.
More Fantasy without the “urban”: (almost) any book from Barbara Hambly and Mercedes Lackey (Valdemar series, close to 2m on my shelf). And for classic SF: the old masters Isaak Asimov, Robert Heinlein or far back Jules Verne. Some of their stuff reads funny today, a lot is timeless.
And if you want to give your brain a break: have you tried gardening (since you moved to a new home there should be plenty of opportunities for creative adaption to your preferences) or skulpting with wood or clay?
All the best and again lots of patience.
I loved Lorna Freeman, I wished she had finished the 4th book.
I really enjoyed Marie Lu’s Warcross, although it may not be SF enough for you. If nothing else, it might appeal to the gamer in you.
Each time you post about knitting or yarn, I think about picking up the needles again!
Check out the Atrocity Archives by Charles Stress. Higher order mathematics summons eldritch horrors like cuthulu.
Not being able to game….is awful…
I haven’t read Paper Magicians (it’s in my kindle but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet) but if you are looking for a book with some fun magicians have you read Night Circus? I absolutely love this book, the world building is so interesting and out if this world and it’s got a sweet romance to boot.
Night circus is one of my favorite books!
I loved that book. Very lovely writing style and all the cool magic and sweet romance were really nice.
The Night Circus is by Erin Morgenstern. It is really fantasy as literature and an excellent read.
Speaking of Russian books. Have you read The mind dimensions by Dima Zales? It’s written in English and set in the US but had a very Russian SF feel to it. Made me feel quite nostalgic reading it
Bless your heart, that sucks not being able to even relax with your hands! I wish you a speedy and steady healing.
Also, I’ve been binge watching this comedy youtube channel called “It’s a Southern Thing” where they even have a segment called Back Porch Bickering and I kept thinking of you and wondering how much of a southern you truly are and which sides of the porch you would choose , e.g: sweet or unsweetened tea, etc. I think you would like it 🙂
I’ve developed tennis elbow and can’t knit right now. It’s driving me crazy. I can spin a little bit but it’s not portable. I have Anxiety Disorder and it’s my favorite coping mechanism. I hope you can get back to the fun stuff soon.
I had to stop knitting and spinning for my hands so I could keep paying the bills too. It is sad, and I have all this expensive yarn I can’t do anything with. I should do a yard sale eventually.
Are you on Ravelry? You can sell it there for closer to what you paid for it. Especially if it’s indy dyed yarn.
If you can’t get back into knitting or whatever, donate to your public library. Libraries are beginning to offer free lessons, usually led by a volunteer. They could use some good yarn.
So I like intelligent writing (hence big fan of yours) and decided to go back to solid favorites on my reading. I started re-reading Bujold (big award winner) and re-read three of her series. Then Istarted on the Vorkosigan Saga which I had not read. The covers looked a little too retro for my taste, very 80’s. But since I loved the rest of her work, I decided my prejudice on the covers was foolish. Glad I did because it is a wonderful and complicated series. Like IA, she enjoys dense layers to her characters and fascinating plot lines. There is a touch of Russian influence — again like IA. Great love stories. I imagine you have read Bujold, but maybe like me, you missed the earlier works. I should point out that this series continues into 2015 with new books, and I am hoping that Bujold adds a few more.
PS: Yarn can make your fingers worse because dragging it through your fingers while you knit/ crochet irritates the ends of your fingers.
Try doodling? Or hot wax dips for your hands? Paraffin plus baby oil heated in a wax heater for hands. One box paraffin plus 1 small bottle of baby oil. Dip those babies in the hot (not too hot) wax and stick them in plastic bags so the heat soaks in. Good for arthritis, too.
I agree about Lois Mcmaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series. I used to go through bouts where I would read only mysteries, or only romance or only sci-fi/fant. It was never totally satisfing. Then I discovered Ms. Bujold’s books. They have a seamless and skillful blend of all the elements that I most enjoy. For three months, I couldn’t read anything else. As a ” book a day ” reader this led to some frustration but at the time, it was the only thing that worked for me. My local librarian (an absolute jewel of a human being) helped me find other authors with similar abilities (including Ilona Andrews). J. D. Robb’s “In Death…” series, while it’s mystery, interwoven with romantic themes, is more sci/fi and fantasy than most people realize. Since it’s set in the not too distant future, there is a great deal of flexibility to its ” reality”. You might consider Molly Harper’s “Jane Jameson” or “Halfmoon Hollow” series for the lighter side. She writes with a lot of snark and humor. It’s quite enjoyable. As an “oldie but goody”, there’s Karen Marie Moning’s “Highlander Series”. It’s hard to beat time traveling, mystical Hunks from Scotland. For a little “creep” factor, check out Charlaine Harris’ “Midnight, Texas” trilogy or her ” Harper Conelly” quadology( is that a real word?). While Ilona Andrews is the only author whose blog I follow, there’s still a lot of other good writing happening, if you can find it, so, here’s me sharing with you. Take care all.
If you haven’t enjoyed these yet,
Genevieve Cogman- The Invisible Library
N.K. Jemisin- The Fifth Season
I can’t remember if you’ve said if you’ve read the Murderbot series by Martha Wells yet, but if not you really should.
Murderbot is great stuff!
thirding Murderbot!
Ilona, go to webtoons.com and read unOrdinary. A great story on a what if someone lived in world where everyone had powers, but him…
It’s a great comic and it’s free.
Vacation; a long one, to heal. If you’re looking for a bit of an oddball humor read and it hasn’t been mentioned, James Alan Gardner’s “All Those Explosions Were Somebody Else’s Fault” tickled my twisted funnybone.
I’m going to suggest an oldie. Author is Rick Cook and the series starts with “The Wiz Biz.” It mixes up programming with fantasy and some good satire.
The Last Dog on Earth – by Adrian J Walker – near future, post-apocalyptic – dual narrator – dog (1) and his ‘master’ (2) – set in London. Possibly scarily prescient…. Interesting take on subject and (for me) a page turner
Cold Bath Street – by A J Hartley – ya / ghost / horror – publisher said she couldn’t put it down and read through the night – scaring herself silly. Published in the UK .
Little Eve by Catriona Ward – only 1/3 way through – set in Scotland and parts of England in the 1920s – each chapter in different year – not chronological. Could be classified as fantasy – the author is a wordsmith
i just got 40K:Gladius (4x) and it is very cool, no diplomacy in this dark future there is only war. Also C Vaughns’ second Bannerless novel came out today.
Ilona I hope your hands feel better soon, I’m so sorry that’s happening to you. I use my hands quite a bit (I’m a leather worker and sewist) and would be very sad as well if I lost use of them for a time.
I’m very glad you posted about the SciFi, I will be perusing the suggestions here as well.
I’ve enjoyed Lindsey Buroker’s Fallen Empire Series, and just finished Andy Weir’s Artemis, it was interesting as it’s protagonist is a woman who is also a not-criminal. On the Moon. Fun.
As always I enjoy your work and hope you can do it again soon, but I can wait. Take care.
PS- thanks for keeping us updated!
I am also currently “not knitting”.
On of my medications has gifted me with numbness in my fingertips. I can use my hands, I just drop things because I am not holding them tight enough. My hands also cramp, because I am holding things too tightly.
Which brings me to reason 2 why I am not knitting. Her name is Lady Alvina and I call her Karat. She is 4 pounds of Maine Coon kitten. At 3 1/2 months, she is somewhere between hyper and berserk when awake. (My 20 month old kitten is exhausted trying to keep up.)
Knitting won’t happen for a while – maybe quite a while…
Oh I am so sorry to read that 🙁 maybe Kinect or Wii instead? On the book front, I am currently re-reading and loving the Fortune’s Pawn series which I think I picked up after one of your recommendations. A while ago, I enjoyed Fortune’s rising by Sara King (incredible world building and super interesting character development) and the starship mage series by Glynn Stewart (feels a bit like furies of Calderon – Jim Butcher in Space), maybe you haven’t read those?
Wish you a speedy recovery and lots of fun finding new sf! (Please recommend if you like, I have adored about 90% of your suggestions on the blog:D)
Best, Yu
Paper Magician left me feeling similar. It’s good writing, an interesting concept, and even has a decent villain. Yet I felt like it lacked the depth I wanted. It feels a little like a regency romance, a little like a YA novel, and a little like a fantasy, but somehow managed to be not enough of any of those. It’s not bad. It just doesn’t really stand out to me.
I looked but didn’t see anyone suggesting these writers – I know you don’t normally read UF but may I suggest Charles DeLint? He writes UF but most of his is more about the things that you might see from the corner of your eye and the writing is
frequently almost lyrical.
For something newer try Laura Anne Gilmans Devil’s West trilogy; Silver on the Road, The Cold Eye and Red Waters Rising – the newest came out 2 weeks ago.
I can’t wait to read the last in the Devils West triology. What a super story teller LAG is!
An oldie, out-of-print book that I love as much as any of your books, Taming the Forest King by Claudie J. Edwards. She is a strong female leader, put into a strange patriarchal society to help them with famine. A clash of mores and principles is inevitable.
Edwards prepped me for your books…
Is the Dina book a different version of innkeeper or is it just a translation in German, please?
Dina is the main character of innkeeper. Though they are currently writing about her sister Maud. The book that just came out is the German translation.
It’s the german translation for ‘One Fell Sweep’
I’ve been watching Restaurant to Another World based on a comment blurb on Isekai Izakaya.
Murderbot by Martha Wells was a fun read.
Hope the hands are recovering. Some reading suggestions:
Nathan Lowell: His “Share” series and the follow ons. Nathan is great in that he writes great characters without a lot of blood and gore.
Black Tide Rising series by John Ringo
Minds of Men by KC Ezell WW2 alt history
Sarah A Hoyt’s shifter books or Darkship series.
Glynn Stewart Starship Mage series
Empire of Bones series by Terry Mixon
Ilona,
I am so sorry that the state of your hands means you can’t knit right now. Hope it gets better FAST. Knitting is my favorite way to unwind and I am miserable when I can’t do it…
For cool SF, I just finished Exile by Glynn Stewart ; he is a canadian author and fairly “new”, but quite good and IMHO getting better with each book.
Otherwise, I definitely second (or third, or whatever the number is by now!) Lois McMaster Bujold and the Vorkosigan saga or her most recent Penric’s books, but those are Fantasy not SF.
Best wishes for a full and fast recovery.
Try “Rivers of London” the goddesses of old still exist in modern London along with magical CIDs : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Grant_(book_series)
About the hands, that really sucks.
Are there any professional musicians in your area?
It’s possible they know someone who can help with your hands and prevent any recurrence.
I enjoyed The Indranan War trilogy by K.B. Wagers. Pretty standard space opera, but it’s well-plotted and well-paced. I also second (or third) the MurderBot suggestion – they’re novelettes, so easy to finish in one sitting if that’s what you’re in the mood for.
There are a bunch of good books in the above comments. If you haven’t already read them try Terry Pratchett’s Diskworld novels. Also, “The Paper Magician” is the first of at least three YA novels with basically the same characters…
Glass Magician was much better than Paper Magician, I had the same criticisms that you did regarding Paper, but Glass I really enjoyed. Have you read “Kill the Farmboy” by Kevin Hearne and Delilah Dawson yet? JUST came in the mail today, I’m so excited for it! The other that has really appealed to me lately was “Threadbare” books 1, 2 and 3 by Andrew Seiple, they are LitRPG which I didn’t think I’d like but the way it is integrated into the story was so cool. Oh and Hot and Badgered by Shelley Laurenston, love her Honey Badgers! Hugs for the hands, I hate that. I type a lot all day long, and have discovered that I can no longer crochet in the evening after work. I still can for a couple hours if I haven’t typed but 🙁 I’ve been playing Oxygen Not Included for months now, I use my roller ball mouse for that and seems to keep hands much better.
I second Jean Johnson’s There’s Not to Reasin Why and her Salik War trilogy. Salik War trilogy was written after TNTRW but occurs before. I can’t recommend them enough. Feel better
I went through a similar thing. I beat my hands up pretty good a few jobs back when I had to work long hours and was doing a lot of a/b-ing via keyboard. Constant toggling of keys really did a number on me for months.
I hope you are able to recover quickly. Maybe try some tablet games with a stylus?
Thank you for continuing Innkeeper in spite of all this. Get that vacation time in!
You need beautiful cut flowers!
Sorry to hear about your hands. But it does sound like some progress is being made with all the rest.
Have you ever thought of trying weaving? I got a small rigid heddle loom when someone suggested that it was an excellent, inexpensive way to use up all the odd bits of yarn that a knitter collects from finished and failed projects. At the time, I was saving any scrap longer than 1 yard. (Yes, I know.) My hand are, now, also not so fond of knitting (arthritis) so I find that weaving is more my friend. I can still play with all that lovely string and make pretty things while attaining that meditative state that knitting provides.
There are all sorts of video classes that you can take. You Tube is free, craftsy.com is much better but costs. My current favorite is yarnworker.com. Liz Gipson is an excellent teacher and responds quickly to questions.
I hope your hands feel better soon. I found a series that’s a little out there called Super Powereds by Drew Hayes. The first three are available through KU – they are fun and a bit different from my normal reading material. An old throwback – the Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon books from Spider Robinson. They are very light and full of dreadful puns, and were some of the first SF books I read. Then there are the Incarnations of Immortality stories of Piers Anthony. And if you haven’t yet read Jim Butcher, you should although they are more UF for Dresden and pure fantasy for Codex Alera. Another favorite in the fantasy world is Michelle Sagara’s Chronicles of Elantra.
I’ll second anything by Drew Hayes. I’m particularly fond of the Fred the Vampire Accountant series.
I’m sorry to say but I read all of the sf recommendations here and I didn’t like most of the books others recommended. I have a suggestion for you how to find good sf. If you are member of audible, check out sf. I find the best books when I read reviewers by readers that like the same sf as me. It’s almost never a miss.
I am sorry about your hands.
I love Lindsey Buroker’s books. Cover art isn’t my favorite but she builds good worlds.
I also love Tamora Pierce books.
Carol Berg’s, Song of the Beast was a favorite of mine too.
Take care of yourself.
You might enjoy “The Expanse” series by James S.A. Corey, amazing storytelling imho. The Others series by Anne Bishop is pretty amazing as well; I’ve only read “Written in Red” thus far but I loved it. Faith Hunter Rogue Mage trilogy was fantastic as well.
I truly hope you get the rest you need so your hands heal up. Rest, massage, and inflammation control all the way. On the gaming front, I think you might be able to find over-sized controller mods that are designed for people with grip difficulties.
Loads of positive, healing thoughts for you. And holy cow I LOVED “Iron and Magic”!! Can’t wait for “Magic Triumphs”.
Hi Ilona,
Best wishes for those hands! I’m very hopeful that using Dragon dictation will give you enough of a break to allow them to heal. I’ve used Dragon dictation since the first version, and it felt stupid at first, but now I use it constantly. It allowed me to work from home (I’m a lawyer) and it’s drastically faster than my typing (which is around the speed of a lethargic turtle). Hang in there and get well soon.
Try David Eddings, Belgarian, slow start about the first 2 chapters, then get really good, 2nd series same people is the Malloreon. The Elenium and The Tamuli are also good so highly recommend them too, if you haven’t read them yet. They are still my favorite, for magical sci-fi. As for romance with magical abilities, Marjorie M. Liu, earlier stuff starts with Tiger eyes. Sorry just thought I’d throw those out there
Oh 🙁 No, hands, heal hands! I’ve been there. I hope they continue to heal.
As for scifi suggestions….*points at M.C.A. Hogarth* She has some dark stuff and some lighter stuff. Less about action and more examination of people.
We are a sci fi family. My daughter is an Aerospace engineer. We are always looking for good science fiction. Some of my favorites are: Tanya Huff’s Confederation series, Sirantha Jax series by Ann Aguirre, Ancillary Justice, first of the Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie (so original and mind bending)
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky is the epitome of cool sci-fi. Single book, not a series. No one does anthropomorphism like this man. So good.
I would recommend House of Blades, by Will Wright. I thought it had great concept.
Here’s to a speedy recovery.
So I haven’t read through all the other comments but would like to suggest Anna Hackett. She is a splendid Australian author and you and she are the authors I refer the most to any one that stands still long enough to listen. 🙂 She writes Hell Squad series which is post apocalyptic with a hopeful outlook! The first book in Hell Squad is Marcus. She also writes a series that starts with a human space station at Jupiter and launches into outer space. The first book is called Gladiator. The theme being that even with unexpected adversity humans can triumph. I really like the world building and the characters. The women are all strong in their own way. The other series she writes is present day adventure. It’s cool because its based on real stuff. The first book in that series is Undiscovered. Hope you enjoy!
Just a couple recs:
For hard SF with a bit of romance Catherine Asaro’s Skolian Empire Series. She’s a RL physicist so her tech is pretty cool and she combines the romance in that I sometimes miss in other really hard SF.
John Scalzi also has a couple.
Old Man’s War is a series. I would consider it moderate to hard SF. Interesting premise of when you get old you can trade in your body for a new government upgraded one in exchange for enlisting in space forces to fight the aliens.
Also Redshirts. Stand alone. If you like Star Trek this will crack you up as it explores the world of Star Trek as experienced by the characters- who don’t know they are characters being written on and killed off for no apparent reason. It’s lighter fair bit highly entertaining.
And one Fantasy throw in. Annette Marie. The Immortals Triology. Japanese gods with a touch of slow burn romance.She’s an indie on KU and off the beaten path but all of her stuff is so very well written. One of the very few absolute jewels I have found on KU.
I know people have flooded your inbox with suggestions – I hope these are some new ones!
John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series is fabulous. The mix of humor and politics is similar to Ilona Andrews.
So sorry to hear about your continued hand trouble and the lack of knitting. I too had to stop knitting for a while due to an injury, and it was really frustrating. Fortunately time really did do the trick, and I’m back knitting again.
SF books: I would heartily recommend the Paradox series by Rachel Bach, but from previous comments it sounds like you’ve already discovered those. So some older-but-goodies: The Price of the Stars by Debra Doyle and James MacDonald (another writing team!); Hell-Spark by Janet Kagan (back in print!); The Gate of Ivory by Doris Egan; and for sheer silly fun, The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz (preferably the original version, not the edited one, but that’s probably hard to find these days).
Good luck, and keep giving your hands all the time they need!