John Scalzi is an entertaining writer. Past president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. 

He is best known for his Old Man’s War series.

This book is not nearly as engaging for me as Old Man.

The Collapsing Empire is a 2017 space opera novel, the opening book of The Interdependency trilogy, a sci-fi series focused on political intrigue, economic monopolies, and a looming climate-like cosmic crisis.

Travel between distant star systems is exclusively possible via “The Flow,” a naturally occurring extra-dimensional field that acts like an interstellar highway.

Unfortunately, The Flow is shifting away from its current entry and exit points (called “Shoals”) near the planets of the Interdependency. Each will become isolated.

Interesting main characters:

• Cardenia Wu-Patrick: The newly crowned Emperox (empress) of the Interdependency who is thrust into power following her father’s death and her brother’s racing accident.
• Marce Larson: A dedicated scientist who travels across space to bring definitive, terrifying data about the collapse of the Flow directly to the Emperox.
• Kiva Lagos: A fiercely independent, profane, and fiercely sharp starship captain and scion of a major Merchant House who stumbles onto a dangerous political conspiracy

Restless in the Grave is 19th in the series. Kate Shugak, Alaska private investigator.

Alaska aviation entrepreneur Finn Grant died in the fiery crash of his Piper Super Cub. Someone sabotaged his engine, and virtually everyone in southwestern Alaska has a motive, including his betrayed wife, his bullied children, and Liam’s wife, bush pilot Wyanet Chouinard.

Working undercover as—of all things—a waitress at Bill’s Bar and Grill, Kate learns over beer and burgers that Grant’s business had expanded meteorically over the last two years.

After buying the closed Air Force base south of town from the federal government at a bargain-basement price, he became a fixed-base operator running his fishing, hunting, and flight-seeing business, servicing planes flying through the area, and most interestingly and lucratively, getting into the air freight business.

But what kind of freight was he moving, and where?

Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the greats of early Science Fiction. I became a fan after reading The Left Hand of Darkness in my youth.

She mocked contemporaries like Robert Heinlein for publishing  “white man conquers the universe” stories. 😀

A Wizard of Earthsea is a seminal 1968 high fantasy novel.

As the foundational first entry in the acclaimed Earthsea Cycle, it is widely regarded as a classic of children’s and fantasy literature that pioneered major genre tropes, including the concept of a wizard school.

A reckless young village boy goes by the name Sparrowhawk.

Recognizing his immense innate magical talent, the master wizard Ogion takes him in before sending him to the renowned school of wizardry on the island of Roke.

Themes

The Magic of True Names: Magic in Earthsea relies on the “Old Speech.” Knowing the true name of a person or object grants absolute power over them. 

Cosmic Balance (Equilibrium): Strongly influenced by Taoist philosophy, the story emphasizes that magic must not be used recklessly, as altering one part of the world disrupts the ultimate balance of nature. 

Confronting the Self: The shadow serves as a psychological manifestation of Ged’s own pride, fear, and capacity for evil

There was an animated adaptation. And a TV mini series or two.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Bad Blood – Book 20 of 23: A Kate Shugak Investigation.

Another good read.

One hundred years of bad blood between the Alaskan villages of Kushtaka and Kuskulana come to a boil when the body of a young Kushtaka ne’er-do-well is found wedged in a fish wheel.

Sergeant Jim Chopin’s prime suspect is a Kuskulana man who is already in trouble in both villages for falling in love across the river.

But when the suspect disappears, members of both tribes refuse to speak to Jim.

When a second murder that looks suspiciously like payback occurs, Jim has no choice but to call in Kate Shugak for help. This time, though, her Park relationships may not be enough to sort out the truth hidden in the tales of tragedy and revenge.

A great story teller.

A Prison Diary is a series of three books of diaries written by Jeffrey Archer during his time in prisons following his convictions for perjury and perverting the course of justice.

Each volume is named after a part of Dante‘s The Divine Comedy. The volumes become progressively longer due to his stay being longer and longer at each prison in which he was confined.

Volume 1: Belmarsh: Hell

This book, written under the nom de plume FF 8282, documents Archer’s introduction to the prison system.

He was to spend the first 22 days and 14 hours in HMP Belmarsh, a double A-Category high-security prison in South London. Although Archer spent less than a month there, Belmarsh is described as a real hell-hole. Despite this, many of the inmates are extremely kind to him and regale him with anecdotes, which he duly records.

One such prisoner apparently spoken of is the inspiration to one of his short stories from Cat O’Nine Tales, “It Can’t Be October Already”.

On the other hand, some of the information Archer learns in his three weeks at Belmarsh is extremely disturbing, and he makes great play of imagining that the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, ought to be reading it and asks for his attention.

One theme is the fact that some inmates are thrown into cells for first time offences even though the cellmate is a hardened criminal or murderer and/or drug addict.

No One to Trust (2002) by Iris Johansen is a kinda dumb, easy to read, fast paced thriller.

The story follows Elena Kyler, a trained military sniper and assassin on the run from Rico Chavez, a ruthless Colombian drug lord and the father of her five-year-old son.

Desperate to keep her son from being raised in Chavez’s image, she turns to Sean Galen, a mysterious and capable operative.

Together, they flee across the country, facing a trail of murders and a final showdown as they realize there is truly “no one to trust”.