Review: Loyalty in Death - J.D. Robb

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My Books of the Year 2018

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Helena Kennedy with Nihal Arthanayake | Penguin Podcast
Lawyer, broadcaster and author Helena Kennedy talks to Nihal Arthanayake about her latest novel, ‘Eve Was Shamed’. The book comes 25 years after her first book ‘Eve Was Framed’ which led to a number of key reforms for women. Out Now: https://amzn.to/2C9JpnV Her latest work sees how the British Justice system is still failing women. Helena brought along objects that inspire her including her father’s rosary and beach pebbles that help her come up with new ideas. #PenguinPodcast ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Penguin channel: http://bit.ly/2ygTzig Follow us here: Twitter | http://www.twitter.com/penguinukbooks Website | http://bit.ly/xNmtGX Instagram | http://bit.ly/2ygyyo2 Facebook | http://bit.ly/2wmBKky

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“Serious and playful” – The Fountain in the Forest by Tony White

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“Serious and playful” – The Fountain in the Forest by Tony White

"The Fountain in the Forest smartly maps an experimental, Oulipo-inspired structure onto a well-executed police procedural, with both elements of White’s story-telling enhancing the other. The switch between present day and history is a little jarring at first, but these transitions become smoother as the novel progresses, while the somewhat grand guignol violence of the hanged man and his missing nose is justified within the conventions of the genre..." - Thom Cuell reviews The Fountain in the Forest by Tony White

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Review: Conspiracy in Death - J.D. Robb

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Review: Saga Volume 7 - Brian K Vaughan & Fiona Staples

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Crawling from the wreckage

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Review: Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood - Marjorie M. Liu & Sana Takeda

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Review: Tangled Webs - Anne Bishop

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Books I Read in December 2018

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Release Blitz: The Weird Girls - Cecy Robson

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Creating 'Inside Black Mirror'
Inside Black Mirror: The Illustrated Oral History is out now: https://amzn.to/2ru7aAN. Check out the Black Mirror filters: http://bit.ly/2Ae2h3F ‘Black Mirror is hands down the most relevant program of our time, if for no other reason than how often it can make you wonder if we’re all living in an episode of it.’ – New York Times What becomes of humanity when it’s fed into the jaws of a hungry new digital machine? Discover the world of Black Mirror in this immersive, illustrated, oral history. This first official book logs the entire Black Mirror journey, from its origins in creator Charlie Brooker’s mind to its current status as one of the biggest cult TV shows to emerge from the UK. Alongside a collection of astonishing behind-the-scenes imagery and ephemera, Brooker and producer Annabel Jones will detail the creative genesis, inspiration and thought process behind each film for the first time, while key actors, directors and other creative talents relive their own involvement. ‘Brooker continues to solidify himself as one of the most creative writers in the medium. Even when the unfair creep of expectations rears up, Black Mirror and Brooker deliver.’ – The Hollywood Reporter ‘Black Mirror: the future is already here, and it's terrifying’ - Telegraph Instagram/Twitter – @appliedworks @zoebather Facebook – http://bit.ly/2SnwZ17 Website – http://bit.ly/1jXtMmw http://bit.ly/2SpVTNV ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Penguin channel: http://bit.ly/2ygTzig Follow us here: Twitter | http://www.twitter.com/penguinukbooks Website | http://bit.ly/xNmtGX Instagram | http://bit.ly/2ygyyo2 Facebook | http://bit.ly/2wmBKky

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Is the Book Always Better? The Big Adaptations of 2018

We're all on Team Book here at Goodreads. But we're loyal, not oblivious. Every once in awhile, movie and television adaptations can be as good—or even maybe surpass—their source material.



With that in mind, we looked back at the adaptations that hit the big screen and the small screen this year. Do we think all of them were better than the book? Of course not! They did provide a lot of entertainment, though, from jump scares during a binge of Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House to laughter from the antics in Crazy Rich Asians.



Browse some of the top adaptations below, and let us know which ones you've seen in the comments! Were any of them better than the book?

How many of these adaptations did you see, and which ones were your favorite? Let's talk in the comments!



Check out more recent articles:

The YA Trends of 2018

Mystery Solved: The Thriller Trends of 2018

Catch Up Now: These Big Series All Have Books Coming Out in 2019

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Where To Start With Science Fiction & Fantasy Board Games

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Where To Start With Science Fiction & Fantasy Board Games

“Where to Start With” is our ongoing series of essays detailing where one can start with any number of SFF/popgeekery topics, from where to begin with the morass of X-Men comics to diving into the expanded Star Wars canon. Today, we’re thrilled to present guest writer Sara Kadhim’s point of view, on where to start with SFF board games.

Board games are currently in their golden age. While most people have played Monopoly or Clue, over the past ten years, modern board games have become a blossoming industry. These days, board games are as complex and different from each other as novels, though they might share different genres. While we think of science fiction, fantasy, and horror in speculative fiction writing genres, board games are largely split between the affectionately named “Euros” and “Ameritrash.” (While “Ameritrash” is sometimes seen as a bit pejorative, it is a tongue-in-cheek designation.)

Euros truly drove the board game industry resurgence. tend to be heavy on mechanics, don’t rely on luck or combat, and stereotypically have very dry themes. Lots of Euros have a reputation of being “multiplayer solitaire”–the lack of combat mechanics means you can usually only affect other player’s indirectly (by taking the moves they wanted to take, or picking up cards that would help them just to spite them). The most established name in Euros is Agricola by designer Uwe Rosenberg, in which you’re a farmer trying to feed your family. BoardGameGeek is the board game equivalent of Goodreads, and Agricola, released in 2007, was voted #1 on the site for over two years. Yup, that’s #1 out of every board game you can think of. It presented a meaty game, with endless replayability thanks to the variable cards and, because of the imminent threat of your family starving, tension you could cut with a knife. It was the old style game of sitting round your table for hours, filled with analaysis paralysis as you decided your next move and bemoaned everyone else taking a full 20 minutes to decide theirs. But it was also extremely unfriendly to new players–on top of the bland theme, the rules are complex, the game unforgiving of mistakes, and if you play with anyone who knows it much better, you’ll be left in the dust.

Euros have been getting more exciting since, mind: Feast of Odin, by the same designer as Agricola, lets you play as Vikings, exploring and setting up your villages, and is just one example. But what they’ve really succeeded at is being more inviting to new players, with more intuitive rules, and the ability to right any mistakes you make in the early game.

Ameritrash, on the other hand, relies much more heavily on luck-based mechanics and combat. Much is dependent on dice rolls, and there’s a ton of conflict and generally more interaction overall. Ameritrash games are sometimes called “thematic” games, since the games tend to be immersive, and gameplay is dictated by the setting and characters.

Within Ameritrash and Euro, there are also plenty of subgenres, but they are too vast to cover here.

Of course, this is very prescriptive, and many games don’t fit either genre–for instance, party games are a genre onto themselves. Many games straddle the lines between Ameritrash and Euro besides.

But caveats aside, unsurprisingly, science fiction and fantasy games are usually Ameritrash, but that’s not always the case.

Entry Level

Maybe you want a game that won’t scare of your non-board gaming friends, with a doorstopper rulebook or needing to set aside a day to play. Or maybe you want to unwind at the end of long play session with something light and fun. Perhaps you just don’t want to spend an hour setting up all the fiddly pieces! If that’s you, these are the games to grab!

The Resistance: Avalon

The Resistance: Avalon is my absolute go-to game for newbies and big crowds. The game accommodates 5-10 players, and plays in about 20 minutes. You’re each handed a card, which contains your secret role that you must keep closely guarded. Some of you are straight-shooting men and women of Merlin, but a few will be sinister Minions of Mordred who must pass themselves off as good guys. And one of you? One of you gets to be Merlin, who is the only good guy who knows who the Minions are. You must gently guide your fellow Arthurian Knights towards victory, without tipping the bad guys off–because if the Minions work out who you are at the end of the game, they’ll win by assassinating you!

This game is all social deduction–players will get a chance at being the “King”, and decide who goes on missions with them. If they pick Minions of Mordred, the Minions can and probably will purposefully fail the mission. And so, the accusations begin flying around the table as you try to read each other’s poker faces, try to remember who went on what mission, and check if anyone is giving another player meaningful looks… This game is lively as hell, and the perfect start or end (or both!) to an evening, because you can play so many rounds in quick succession. You can also have fun trying out different techniques to deduce or deceive.

Once you’ve worn yourself out on the basic mechanics, you can then add in special characters cards, such as Oberon, who is a Minion ignorant of who their fellow bad guys are, or Morgana, who impersonates Merlin.

Available on Amazon

Zombies, Run!

If you want to play a game where the story unfolds around you, there’s the Zombies, Run! Board Game! We released this just last year, and it has 10 hours of audio narrative, including guest encounters by Elizabeth Bear, Joanne Harris and more. The story starts as you arrive on an island on holiday, and just as your plane lands, the zombie outbreak begins. You know, typical vacation shenanigans. You and your friends will play a real-time card game while listening to a story on the app – and you’ll have to make snap decisions, figure out both physical and digital puzzles (some of which come in super secret envelopes!) and navigate the island without getting caught by zoms.

It makes for an interactive, fast-paced game that can be played in as little as 30 minute chunks, with an app that saves your progress (with no input needed from the players!) so you don’t have to spend ages setting up at the beginning of each play session. Perfect for those who don’t want to commit to a 3-hour sesh.

Available on zombiesrunboardgame.com

Leveling Up

These games are slightly more complex, but still fun and interactive. Great for when you want to while away an evening, creating stories with your friends.

Betrayal at House on the Hill

Nothing says Ameritrash quite like Betrayal at House on the Hill. It’s one of my favorite lightweight games, developed by Wizards of the Coast, with all sorts of amazing guest writers in the brand new expansion. Each player gets a character with different levels of sanity, intelligence, strength and speed, which can change depending on what happens in the game. You then get to go out exploring a haunted house, with room tiles that make your game table into a beautiful tapestry, and each new game delivering a brand new house. Sort of dungeon crawler lite!

As you come across rooms with an omen icon, you must roll to check if the betrayal has begun. That’s because, at some point in the game, one player will become the Traitor–and will get one of 50 scenarios (in the base game, with 50 more in the new expansion) to play out. The Traitor and the survivors are then given two different rulebooks, and have no idea what the other party’s objectives are. They could be a giant snake that, each turn, grows much larger. They could be a vampire, who only has until sunrise to kill you…

I can’t say more without spoiling scenarios, but this is such a fun little game. It allows you to create stories–of the time you and your fellow survivors desperately needed to get down to the basement to retrieve an artefact but couldn’t for the life of you find the elevator, or the time one of you accidentally set off a bomb too early, blowing everyone to smithereens, or… You get the idea.

Unfortunately, not all scenarios are created equal. Some of them are silly or atrociously unbalanced, leading to disappointing and sometimes even boring games. But, some of them are tense and frightening and fantastic. It’s a real mixed bag, but I think the good scenarios are worth it.

Available on Amazon

Mice & Mystics

Is your group more interested in tabletop RPGs? Mice & Mystics might be a good stepping stone. You play as–you guessed it–mice! With needle blades and thimble helmets, this game is a delightful Redwall-esque adventure across flagstone kitchens, battling cats and other predators. The game comes with campaigns for you to play through, and beautifully illustrated map boards.
Not only that, but it has detailed figurines for anyone who loves miniature painting.

M&M is also perfect for children and family games, as it is lighthearted, without heavy mechanics. The stories are well-written, and there are a few expansions for when you’ve struggled across the finishing line of the base game.

Available on Amazon

Sink Your Teeth In

You might already be well-versed in board games, or just aren’t afraid of diving headfirst into some head-scratchers! Here’s the games that take longer to play, but are oh-so-rewarding when you watch your carefully planned strategy fall into place.

Terraforming Mars

Terraforming Mars is one of the few science fiction Euros that is actually thematic. You are—as you may have guessed—terraforming the red planet. Each player chooses a corporation, which helps you decide your strategy. Then it’s off to the races while you try to buy and then pay to play cards that both give you points and resources, and that help increase the amount of oxygen, lower the temperature, and increase ocean coverage on the face of the planet. This latter element means this game is semi-cooperative as you’re all working towards the same goal. But, you can trip up other players by say, increasing temperature to the point in which they can no longer play a card they were holding back.

There is an element of randomness in Terraforming Mars, introduced by the drawing of the cards. But this can be negated by card drafting. Basically, each person draws 5 cards, and then they pick one of the cards to keep. The cards are then passed to the person on their left. The fun thing here is that it introduces a little more interactivity, because you can now “hate draft”! Which, I won’t lie, is one of my favourite things to do. Is the person in the lead building up animal-based cards? Steal them before they can get to them!

This one is pretty atmospheric, and there are tons of ways to win points – so you can play it loads without running out of strategies to try. This is the game that has hit my table the most in the last year, as my play partner just can’t get enough.

Available on Amazon

Android: Netrunner

Do you like Magic: The Gathering? Well, even if you don’t, Android: Netrunner is a gorgeous, well-thought out, “living” card game. It’s a two-player game that is cyberpunk to its core–this is the lovechild Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell. One person plays as a massive corporation, and the other plays as a hacker, trying to break through the corporation’s system. It’s an asymmetrical deck builder, which means you can either play with a rulebook-suggested deck, or build your own out of the cards. There are many different corporations and hackers to choose from, too, so you can figure out the way you like to play.

If you get really into this, there are even leagues and tournaments. But, you can stay small with the base game and still have really varied play. The art is also gorgeous!

Available on Amazon

And lastly…

Arkham Horror

You can’t really talk about SFF games without talking about Arkham Horror. This game is huge–both figuratively and literally. Each player works as an investigator (with suitably eye-roll-worthy artwork of women), travelling around Arkham, collecting clues and trying to close gates to stop monsters and horrors crawling through. Each game will have a different big bad for a final battle–Shoggoth, Cthulhu, you know, the usual suspects.

Arkham Horror is a hallmark of modern boardgames, but to me? I just never got into it. The game took me about 4 hours to learn and do a single play through. It’s bloated and the mechanics are ridiculously convoluted. (Plus Fantasy Flight’s older rulebooks are troublesome and not intuitive at all! You might find the mention of a “X” mechanic which “Y” mechanic is reliant on in Page 4, but then “X” mechanic isn’t actually explained until Page 15. That kind of thing.)

The one tip I have picked up, but have yet to try, is having everyone take their turn simultaneously. This will cut down on playtime significantly. It’s not my cup of tea, but it’s been a mainstay of the hobby since 1987. It’s clearly stuck around for a reason, and someone out there is enjoying it!

Available on Amazon

There really is an amazing world of board games out there. If you find you like a particular element or mechanic of one game, a quick scroll through BoardGameGeek’s catalogue will net you 50 other games to try that are similar! Dip your toes in, and you’ll have an out of control collection of beautiful board games in no time.

The post Where To Start With Science Fiction & Fantasy Board Games appeared first on The Book Smugglers.

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12 Fictional Book Things on Readers' Christmas Wish List

Santa Claus has his work cut out for him this year. We asked on Facebook and Twitter: What fictional book thing do you want for Christmas? Here are your most requested items! (If ol' St. Nick actually does deliver on any of these, please let us know.)

Invisibility Cloak
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
by J.K. Rowling

Who would give it to you: It's a mystery! An owl flew into your house and dropped the cloak off, but didn't stay long enough to let you know what human sent it.
What you could do with it: Manage mischief.

Babel Fish
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams

Who would give it to you: Your spacey two-headed brother-in-law.
What you could do with it: Stick it in your ear and finally understand what your distant relatives are saying about you. (It's not great.)

Mary Poppins's Umbrella
Mary Poppins
by P.L. Travers

Who would give it to you: Your magical nanny, of course.
What you could do with it: Skip all that terrible Christmas traffic and fly through the sky via umbrella transportation.

Time Machine
The Time Machine
by H.G. Wells

Who would give it to you: A cousin whose name you can't remember.
What you could do with it: Travel back in time to buy that forgettable cousin a better present than a Starbucks gift card.

Ella's Enchanted Book
Ella Enchanted
by Gail Carson Levine

Who would give it to you: Your friendly neighborhood fairy.
What you could do with it: Open it up and magically find exactly what you want and need to read waiting for you.

Clean-Up Machine
The Cat in the Hat
by Dr. Seuss

Who would give it to you: Your mother. Definitely your mother.
What you could do with it: Hop aboard and start your cleaning adventure.

A Job with SpecOps27
The Eyre Affair
by Jasper Fforde

Who would give it to you: Your great-grandmother, who just happens to look a lot like you.
What you could do with it: Become a kick-ass Literary Detective, investigating literature-related crimes on a fairly reasonably salary.

Dragon
Dragonflight
by Anne McCaffrey

Who would give it to you: Your community Weyrleader.
What you could do with it: Fly through the air on your new dragon friend and save the world from Thread (which is something your Weyrleader has been trying to get you into for ages).

The Luggage
The Color of Magic
by Terry Pratchett

Who would give it to you: A frumpy wizard who runs through your annual holiday party and shoves the hastily wrapped gift at you.
What you could do with it: Literally trample your enemies.

Wardrobe Made from a Narnian Apple Tree
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
by C.S. Lewis

Who would give it to you: Your professor.
What you could do with it: First, you'd use it to totally win at hide-and-seek. Then you'd use it to travel to a magical kingdom, overthrow a dictator, and become royalty.

Portrait Session with Basil Hallward
The Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde

Who would give it to you: Your first cousin, twice removed, who clearly doesn't know you at all.
What you could do with it: Hang it up in your room and proceed to stop aging while your portrait does it for you.

The One Ring to Rule Them All
The Fellowship of the Ring
by J.R.R. Tolkien

Who would give it to you: Crazy Uncle Sauron.
What you could do with it: Use the ring to turn invisible and peek at all your other presents. Rule the world. Possibly go insane.

What fictional book item would you love to find under your Christmas tree? Tell us in the comments!



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Merry Christmas!

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Michael Palin with David Baddiel | Penguin Podcast
A special live edition of the Penguin Podcast with comedian, actor, and writer Michael Palin is hosted by David Baddiel. Having been in Monty Python’s Flying Circus and made award-winning travel documentaries around the world, Palin talks about his latest book, ‘Erebus; The Story of a Ship’. Out now: https://amzn.to/2Qtnu3v He brings objects that have inspired him included an African stool, a piece of fuselage from Ernest Hemingway’s plane and a postcard written by Spike Milligan. #PenguinPodcast ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Penguin channel: http://bit.ly/2ygTzig Follow us here: Twitter | http://www.twitter.com/penguinukbooks Website | http://bit.ly/xNmtGX Instagram | http://bit.ly/2ygyyo2 Facebook | http://bit.ly/2wmBKky

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“Strange…funny…lyrical…surreal…affecting…” – Bookmunch Best Of 2018

Daniel Carpenter: If there’s a book that I read this year that deserves to be crowned book of the year then it’s Frankenstein in Baghdad. This novel about the cyclical nature of violence is astonishingly good. Not just moving and strange, but funny to boot. Ahmed Saadawi is a fantastic author and not nearly enough […]

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“Strange…funny…lyrical…surreal…affecting…” – Bookmunch Best Of 2018

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Our Favorite Holiday Tradition: Iceland's Christmas Book Flood

In our perfect world, every present underneath the Christmas tree would be readable. So this year take a page from Iceland's book and celebrate Jólabókaflóð.



What is Jólabókaflóð—and how do you pronounce it? The Icelandic word translates roughly into English as "Christmas book flood" and is pronounced yo-la-bok-a-flot. It refers to the country's traditional publishing peak: The majority of books in Iceland are sold between late September and early November, just in time for the holidays.



And the best part of Jólabókaflóð happens on Christmas Eve. "The culture of giving books as presents is very deeply rooted in how families perceive Christmas as a holiday," says Kristjan B. Jonasson, president of the Iceland Publishers Association. "Normally, we give the presents on the night of the 24th and people spend the night reading."



That sounds like holiday perfection to us. Now we just have to convince our family members and friends to embrace the magic of Jólabókaflóð. Here are some of Goodreads members' favorite books to read during the holidays to get you started.

Do you have any bookish holiday traditions? Share them with us in the comments!




Check out more recent articles:

The 24 Most Popular Book Club Picks of the Year

Goodreads Staffers' Top Three Books of the Year

The Sci-Fi & Fantasy Trends of 2018

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Trash & Treasure: Between the Firmaments by J.Y. Yang and In the Vanishers’ Palace by Aliette de Bodard

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