It’s WWW Wednesday – May 11, 2016

WWW is a meme hosted by Sam A. Stevens at Taking on a World of Words. To participate, answer these 3 questions, and add your blog link to the comments on the linked article above.  If you’d like to participate and don’t have a blog, never fear!  You can visit Sam Stevens’ blog and leave your W’s in a comment on her Wednesday posts.

I’d love to hear about what you are reading, as well, so please leave me a comment, too!

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The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

What I’m currently reading:
After: The Shock, Scott Nicholson

This is a post-apocalyptic tale.  I’m in chapter 3 and I’m just not in the mood for post-apocalyptic fiction this week, probably because the US 2016 Election news is more than enough apocalypse for me.  I like the writing style and I’m curious what happened to cause this grim future with its zapheads.  Right now, I’m imagining massive sunspot activity that somehow fried the neural synapses of most of humanity.  But, that can’t be it!  Too many plot holes!  I think this question is intriguing enough to keep me reading for now.

What I recently Finished Reading:
The Succubus in a Red Dress, Daniel Garcia

This story was a fun romp.  Though most of the minor characters are not too fleshed out, I found the protagonist likable in a geeky, awkward way that was hilarious in a femme fatale.   I want to learn a little more about the Urban Fantasy genre, though I think the stories I currently have in mind to write are probably more in the modern fairy tale vein.  This story was a decent introduction to the genre, but Delilah was no brooding, mercurial Vampire Lestat.

What I think I’ll Read Next:
Our Lady of Darkness, Fritz Leiber

This will be a reread, and is one of a few science fiction and fantasy novels set in San Francisco and the SF Bay Area that I’d like to read during the next few months.  My novel, The Gideon Effect is set in the Bay Area, and memories of Our Lady of Darkness inspire me to treat the setting — the landscape and culture — almost like a character as well as a setting.  Lieber’s novel is a particularly good example of what I’d like to accomplish in my story.  I read this book before I moved to the San Francisco area, and I made it a point to trace his story and its settings in my early explorations of the city.  Walking about in locales where the story took place was thrilling.  In researching my novel, I’ve spent hours on Google Maps studying the streets, universities and neighborhoods where my story takes place.  But, physically walking those streets and visiting the schools and neighborhoods, seeing for myself what can be seen from the top of a particular hill or building has given me a tactile and visual sense of my settings that I hope to make as real to my readers as Lieber made his vision of San Francisco to me.

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What are you reading and how are you enjoying it?  What have you read recently that you would recommend?  Please post your blog link, or answers in the comments.  I’d love to hear from you!

One thought on “It’s WWW Wednesday – May 11, 2016”

  1. I don’t think I’ve read much Urban Famtasy either. I’ve been thinking of a book idea that might fall in that genre so I need to check it out. Happy reading and thanks for participating in WWW Wednesday!

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