It's Monday......and I'm baaaaaack.

 It's Monday, it's been a very rough couple of months, and an even worse couple of past weeks, but things are better now.  Hopefully they'll stay better, but I'm grateful for the improvement that's taken place so far.   I might be able to concentrate a little better on reading and blogging.

Now it's time for the Monday reading posts that many of us have been doing for ages...some more regular than others ;)

Hosted by Sheila of Book Journey, a place to talk about what we've been reading and see what others have been reading.

What I've finished Reading

I'm ashamed (sort of) to admit that in the past month I have finished....  only one novel.  This is absolutely the worst that I've done for reading - 

The one novel I managed to finish was interesting, I just couldn't focus...

Dust

Elizabeth Bear

an extremely interesting mix of SciFi and Fantasy - I believe it's listed under SciFi, but there are very strong fantasy elements incorporated into the novel.  I enjoyed the hell out of it, even if it did take me a long time to read (no fault of the author)  So far, I've enjoyed all of the Bear SciFi novels I've read.  I haven't tried any of her fantasy, but I do have some of her Blood/Iron series. Actually, it's called the Promethean Age and one of these days, I'm going to dive into the series....

in the meantime, I'm currently working on the second of the

Jacob's Ladder series, the sequel to Dust which is called Chill.  I'm enjoying this one also.  Although I have noticed that it's still a bit hard for me to focus, but I'm working on it.

I've been reading another publication - this one is a collection of steampunk stories edited by one of my favorite authors - Julie Campbell, aka J.A. Campbell.  Her first editing publication - of the anthology variety.

Steampunk Trails is a new magazine featuring Steampunk stories.  The first issue is full of goodness, and I've read a few stories so far, but I am being horribly slow at posting things about it - if you like steampunk, though, you should give this a try.  If you don't know if you enjoy steampunk, but you like quirky fiction, then you'll enjoy this.

Julie has not only been writing her own fiction, but she's working on a few websites - being an editor of the above mag and starting up a new e-book publishing co. with a few partners.  Girl is a very hard worker/writer AND she trains a border collie along with a horse.  whew - I wish I had a quarter of her energy or drive.  But she's young, I'm not - so I console myself with that (i.e. use it as an excuse - LOL).  click on her name above and you can explore her blog and fiction.  

I don't have a whole lot else to say - still feeling rough around the edges and I've started a new job.  I picked up an evening shift along with the night shift I've been doing, so now my hours range from mornings and early afternoon at the school to an evening every Monday and a regular Wednesday overnight shift and whatever else I can pick up when someone calls in sick.    So things are actually looking up. :)