STG's

Video War - by Stephen Manes - is seriously old - 1983. I actually got it into a video game related bundle at StoryBundle, and was fairly sure it was a new book that was very retro :-) The main story is about an attempt to ban arcades in a small town. Of course, the story also veers into the political organization create to avoid this, and the personal life of the protagonists. The book is pretty light and very "young adult", but was still very enjoyable.

The Aeronaut's Windless, by Jim Butcher, was a wonderful surprise to me. I don't always like the steampunk style, but since I knew the author from the Dresden files, I decided to try the sample. After finishing, I immediately bought it, and proceeded to sleep much, much, later than usual - I just couldn't put it down. The story setting is certainly off the beaten path - people live on huge spires because the ground and mist are full of very dangerous predators. The tech level is mostly steampunk, and the Builders are constantly referred to, which clearly implies that the spires were created by much more advanced tech. Weapons are mostly based on crystals that can deliver huge blasts of energy, edged weapons or rarely, gunpowder based guns, because rust is pretty common and dangerous here. There are huge airships, which are of course a large part of the focus on the story. They stay aloof using lift crystals and power crystals, which take their energy from the "ae...

BrainWeb, by Douglas E. Richards, is the sequence to Mind's Eye - where a man gets kidnapped and experimented on, and as a result gets implants that allow him to use the web and read minds. In this sequel, he is working for the government when an impressive terrorist attacks takes place. The idea for it is pretty awesome, and it is unstoppable. The action here is great. You might assume that the books end with the attack being stopped. But no, this is just the beginning of the book. The rest is still good, but this start was a tough act to follow. It is still pretty good, however. Recommended, but read the first novel before reading this one - it is not really required but it will be much more enjoyable.

The Shepherd's Crown is the last book by Terry Pratchett in the Discworld. I've read a ton of the novel, mostly a few years ago when I first started following the series. I haven't read most of the latest. The book is good, as usual, although not really in the scale it'd need to truly be a satisfying end for the series - which could only be possible if it was an epic. Still, very enjoyable. I'd like to see the series continue with other writers, but that seems unlikely right now. It reminds me of the trilogy of new Foundation books by Bear, Brin and Benford which were pretty good and took it on innovative paths... I imagine a lot of people will instead think of the new books in the Dune series by his son - some of which I personally liked but that were really battered for not being as good as the original...

Prompt Me, by W.P. Kimball, is a harder book than usual to define. It is a set of many short stories inspired by Reddit's WritingPrompts subreddit - where the post authors send writing prompts and people can write their own stories as comments. I got it because I occasionally read these (when they end up on the Front Page for me, usually), and I've grow to notice how many good stories the author posted. There are plenty of great stories in this book, in several genres. Some are touching, some are clever, and some made me LOL hard. Very much recommended.

Windows 8.1 Missing Manual - by David Pogue - is a nice view into many ways of doing things in Windows 8.1 that you probably ignored. Pretty good, and full of useful tidbits. Obviously less relevant with Windows 10 already out.

Aftermath: Star Wars: Journey to The Force Awakens - by Chuck Wendig - is a book in the Star Wars universe. It takes place after the last movie in the original trilogy, and is itself part of a trilogy. The book mostly covers a tiny bit of the aftermath - an Empire meeting, and the people who stumble on them - Captain Wedge Antilles, a Y-Wing pilot returning home, her son and a bounty hunter. On other words, mostly the minor characters. Chewie and Han Solo do appear, but it is just like there was a checkbox that demanded they appeared in the book. Maybe they will do more in the rest of the trilogy. People seem to really have disliked the book (2 and a half stars on Amazon right now). Personally, I enjoyed it, but it is definitely nothing memorable.