woodwardiocom

Counting these is always tricky. If I count only non-comics works, that I finished, I get 42, which isn't bad. Comics TPBs (which I often read in a sitting) would add dozens more. Books I started and didn't finish would add another ten, maybe. (I do need to get better at knowing when to stop reading a book, instead of being stubborn.)

It looks like this will be the last year I track this, as I'm finding better things to do with my time. Thanks for reading!

• Trickster's Choice/Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce


• Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson


• Dwellers In The Mirage/The Face In The Abyss by A. Merritt


• The Corporation Wars by Ken MacLeod


• The Books Of Earthsea by LeGuin, illustrated by Charles Vess


• Remaking History And Other Stories by Kim Stanley Robinson


• Kings Of The Wyld and Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames


• The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie


• Competence by Gail Carriger


• Fantastic Four: Mr. And Mrs. Grimm by Slott, Simone, Braga, Kuder, Hughes, Allred


• Avengers: No Road Home by Waid, Ewing, Zub, Medina, Izaakse, Barberi


• Warriors Of The Spider-Verse: Electroverse by Costa, Baldeon


• Spider-Geddon by Divers Hands


• West Coast Avengers v1 & v2, by Thompson, Caselli, Farrell, Di Nicuolo, Lim, R.


• Tony Stark: Iron Man v1 & v2, by Slott, Schiti, Delgado, Zub, Villanelli


• The Iron Tactician by Alastair Reynolds


• Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds


• Redshirts by John Scalzi


• Agent To The Stars by John Scalzi


• 24 Frames Into The Future by John Scalzi


• The Complete Uncle by J.P. Martin


• Marvel Masterworks: The Savage She-Hulk, Vol. 2 by Kraft, Vosburg, et al


• Niels Bohr by Ruth Moore


• The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum


• Star Wars: Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn


• Star Trek: The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane


• Witch Hat Atelier by Kamone Shirahama


• The Mammoth Book Of SF Stories By Women, edited by Alex Dally MacFarlane


• Flashing Swords v1 & v2, edited by Lin Carter


• The Journal Of The Two Sisters by Amy Keating Rogers


• Daring Do And The Marked Thief Of Marapore by G.M. Berrow (writing as A.K. Yearling)


• Romancing The Inventor by Gail Carriger


• The Warlord Of The Air by Michael Moorcock


• Hiero's Journey by Sterling E. Lanier


• The Silver Call Duology by Dennis L. McKiernan


• Line To Tomorrow by Lewis Padgett


• The Dreamblood Duology by N.K. Jemisin


• Vision: The Complete Collection by King, Walta, Bellaire


• Ms. Marvel: Destined by Ahmed, Jung, Vlasco, Herring


• Marvel Comics #1000 by Divers Hands


• Infinity Warps: Two-In-One by Divers Hands


• The Immortal Hulk: Abomination by Ewing, Bennett, José, Mounts


• Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by Taylor, Cabal, Cinar, Franchin


• Champions: Beat The Devil by Zub, Cummings, Ramírez, Menyz


• Asgardians Of The Galaxy by Bunn, Buffagni, Landini, Lolli


• Swamp Thing: Roots Of Terror by Wein Et Al


• At the Mountains Of Madness by Gou Tanabe


• Sandman: House Of Whispers by Gaiman, Hopkinson, Stanton, Rauch


• Goddess Mode by Quinn, Rodriguez, Renzi


• Savage Avengers by Duggan, Deodato, Martin


• Heathen by Alterici, Deering


• Synergy: A Hasbro Creators Showcase by Divers Hands


• BPRD: The Devil You Know: Ragna Rok by Mignola Et Al


• Real Science Adventures: The Nicodemus Job by Clevinger, McClaren, Wiedle, Murphy, Stone


• Die: Fantasy Heartbreaker by Gillen, Hans, Cowles


• Mage: The Hero Denied by Matt Wagner


• A Collection Of Fantasy Maps by Guillaume Tavernier


• The Marvel Art of Conan The Barbarian


• Hornblower's Navy by Steve Pope


• House of X/Powers of X by Hickman, Larraz, Silva, Gracia


• Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide To Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff Vandermeer


• Scooby Apocalypse, Volume 6 by Giffen, DeMatteis, Oliffe, Palmer


• The Lavalite World by Philip José Farmer


• Spaced Out (Three Novels Of Tomorrow) by Judith Merril and C.M. Kornbluth


• The Sea Wolf by Jack London


• The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers


• Hide Me Among The Graves by Tim Powers


• Chicks Dig Gaming, edited by Brozek, Smith?, and Pearson


• Frankenstein and Foreign Devils by Walter Jon Williams


• Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee


• Unknown Worlds Of Science Fiction and Epic


• Enough As She Is by Rachel Simmons


• Scratch Monkey by Charles Stross


• The Willful Princess And The Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb


• Giant Lizards From Another Star by Ken MacLeod


• Deathworld by Harry Harrison

Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee

Conclusion to the Machineries of Empire trilogy, in which a fascist interstellar empire is riven to its core by disparate, odd revolutionaries. A very different take on space opera, highly recommended.

Frankenstein and Foreign Devils by Walter Jon Williams

A nice collection of short stories, several of them being alternate histories featuring Elvis, Mary Wollstonecraft, and others. Recommended.

Chicks Dig Gaming, edited by Brozek, Smith?, and Pearson

A fine collection of essays by women gamers, often touching on the sexism rampant in the hobby, but always speaking of the joys found in it. Recommended.

Hide Me Among The Graves by Tim Powers

A fine occult tale of pseudo-vampires and ghosts in Victorian London. I like Powers a bit better when his setting is the 20trh century, but this was still a fun read. Recommended.

The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

A mostly-episodic tale of a small spaceship crew tasked with "digging" wormholes through space. It's primarily about relationships intimate, friendly, strained, and other. Comparisons to Firefly are obvious. It doesn't quite hold together as a novel, but you're mostly there for the characters. Recommended.

Scooby Apocalypse, Volume 6 by Giffen, DeMatteis, Oliffe, Palmer

"What if the Scooby Gang were caught up in a nanotech monster apocalypse? What if Scooby was a cybernetically-enhanced dog? What if it was a lot less funny?" This epic alternate take on the Scooby-Doo franchise comes to an end here. People live, people die, people are born, and the apocalypse ends, for better or worse. I certainly wasn't bored by this tale, and my biggest complaint is that Giffen & DeMatteis only have a few tricks for writing dialogue -- and they wear thin after a few volumes. (Well, and the weird back-up stories starring Secret Squirrel and Atom Ant are pretty much a waste of paper.) Mildly recommended.

Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide To Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff Vandermeer

A solid writing guide, if maybe just a bit too quirky. Still, lots of interesting writing exercises. Recommended.

House of X/Powers of X by Hickman, Larraz, Silva, Gracia

A whole new status quo for the X-Men, in which they have declared themselves a nation, established a utopia, conquered death, and dared the rest of the world to provoke them. It is genuinely good SF, and a very interesting take on the X-Men. It expects you to pay attention and take notes. I do have some criticisms, which are unfortunately rooted in the nature of X-Men as a serial medium: First off, they've done this before. The last Utopia storyline wasn't that long ago. Second, we know it won't last. Comics always return to the status quo ante eventually. Third, in order for this story to work, a lot of the X-Men are acting out of character, to the point that I think it's on purpose -- is Xavier mind-controlling them all? Regardless, they've got me intrigued for now!

Hornblower's Navy by Steve Pope

A light introduction to the Age of Sail, well-illustrated. Fine for its purpose.

The Marvel Art of Conan The Barbarian

A lot of great artists worked on this title back in the day, and this is a fine collection of their work, as far as it goes. The problem is that Marvel had two Conan titles back when: the traditional comic Conan The Barbarian, and the black-and-white magazine with fully-painted covers, Savage Sword Of Conan. I was rather expecting this book to cover both titles, and was looking forward to those covers, but noooooo, there's a companion volume for "Savage Sword" coming out in a few months. I feel a bit ripped off.

A Collection Of Fantasy Maps by Guillaume Tavernier

A beautiful collection of this guy's map and illustrative work, including lovely cross-sections and orthograpic maps. Highly suitable for fantasy RPGs. Recommended.

Asgardians Of The Galaxy by Bunn, Buffagni, Landini, Lolli

An oddball team of Asgard-related heroes (Angela, Valkyrie, Throg, Loki, Skurge) get out into the universe to deal with Asgard-related threats. Fun, but requires some knowledge of Thor lore.

Champions: Beat The Devil by Zub, Cummings, Ramírez, Menyz

Our favorite team of young social justice warriors deal with the trials of teenager-hood, and the fallout when Mephisto makes a deal with two of them... and you should never, ever, deal with the devil. Recommended.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by Taylor, Cabal, Cinar, Franchin

A "back to basics" Spider-Man title, except that it deals with a major geographic addition to Spidey's New York-based mythos. It nevertheless captures the "everyday" nature of Spider-Man. Recommended.

The Immortal Hulk: Abomination by Ewing, Bennett, José, Mounts

This horror title continues to be scary, deconstructing how gamma-based transformations are both body-horror and mind-horror, and how the impermanence of comic-book death is not all skittles and puppies. Creepy, but recommended.

Infinity Warps: Two-In-One by Divers Hands

A collection of stories set in the "warps" universe, where everyone has been combined, giving us the Soldier Supreme, Iron Hammer, Ghost Panther, and more. These are mostly a bunch of fun non-canon stories with weird heroes, and they occasionally even illuminate aspects of the original characters. I found the Weapon Hex story, however, to be too fetishistically interested in pretty women in tight costumes getting dismembered. Otherwise mildly recommended.

Marvel Comics #1000 by Divers Hands

One thousand months have passed since Marvel Comics #1. This is an 80+-page collection of one-page stories telling tales from throughout Marvel's history, often with hints of plots yet to come. There's bound to be something in there that pleases you. Recommended.

Ms. Marvel: Destined by Ahmed, Jung, Vlasco, Herring

Ms. Marvel gets a new writer, who takes her into space, where an alien race insists she's the Chosen One. Unfortunately, her parents came along for the ride, and they think Chosen-One-ing is far too dangerous. Recommended.

Vision: The Complete Collection by King, Walta, Bellaire

I'm late coming to this series, a 12-issue deconstruction of, well, many things. The Vision has built himself a nuclear family, and bought a house in the suburbs, where they try very hard to be normal. Alas, when your family tree includes several mass-murderers, that's not easy, and their barbecue pit begins to acquire a body count. I suspect this series worked better as monthly issues, when your brain had time to fill in blanks between issues. In one volume, you notice how single incidents are meant to stand in for status quos. It is, nevertheless, entirely worth reading. Highly recommended.

Daring Do And The Marked Thief Of Marapore by G.M. Berrow (writing as A.K. Yearling)

A My Little Pony spin-off, this is a pulp archaeology adventure, notionally written by a character from the show, and set in the same universe. Daring Do must track down three magical relics that have protected three villages from the neighboring volcano -- but who would steal them, and why? Fun, and it hits the right pulp notes, but it hasn't prompted me to seek out the others in the series.

The Journal Of The Two Sisters by Amy Keating Rogers

Another MLP spin-off, half of this is the diary of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in the time before Nightmare Moon, as they built their castle and grew into their power. My headcanon says that Celestia is more into pranks than this text suggests, but otherwise it's solid. The second half is the Mane Six writing about their adventures after Twilight Sparkle leveled up, with some interesting hints sprinkled in. Again, fun, but not scintillating.

Flashing Swords v1 & v2, edited by Lin Carter

Two original anthologies of sword & sorcery fiction, written in the 1970s. Contributors include Leiber, Vance, Anderson, De Camp, Moorcock, Norton, and Jakes. There's a fair amount of variation in quality, and how well they have aged over the past 40 years. (E.g., there's some sexual assault by the heroes.) While it's a genre for which I'm nostalgic, the best of these stories I have in other volumes (e.g., the Elric and Fafhrd-Mouser tales), and the worst are not worth keeping. I suspect they'll go into my giveaway shelf in short order.

The Mammoth Book Of SF Stories By Women, edited by Alex Dally MacFarlane

Exactly what it says on the tin, amounting to 500 pages and 30-odd stories. Contributors include Fowler, Le Guin, Okorafor, Kress, Hopkinson, Bear, Cho, and more. While the "Mammoth" series books tend to be churned out like sausage, it's nevertheless a solid anthology, and recommended.

Witch Hat Atelier by Kamone Shirahama

A manga series, up to three volumes in America, about a young girl who stumbles onto the secret of magic, and into a nesting series of magical conspiracies. The magic system is intelligently developed, and since magic is all written with fancy pens and ink, will appeal to a Certain Sort. Recommended.

The Complete Uncle by J.P. Martin

I helped Kickstart this book, despite not being familiar with the stories, on the strength of reviews. About halfway through the first story, I've decided it's not for me. It's no secret that the conflict between the rich, benevolent Uncle and the poor, filthy Badforters is a satire of English class struggle, but it's a satire where all the sympathy lies with the rich, and in this day and age, I find that unsettling. It's going in my giveaway pile.

24 Frames Into The Future by John Scalzi

This is a collection of a hundred-plus columns, by Scalzi, on science fiction film, written for a website between 2008 and 2011. It suffers a lot from being collected in one volume, alas. For starters, there were only so many SF films over that period, so Scalzi ends up talking about the same films over and over. And, because the columns were written weeks apart, he needs to assume that his readers have forgotten stuff he said previously, so he says the same things over and over. Individually, each column is breezy, sometimes informative, and insightful. In a collection, it's like listening to a pop song on endless repeat. I like Scalzi a lot, but I can't imagine needed to return to this book, so it goes in the giveaway pile.

Agent To The Stars by John Scalzi

We've got a bit of a theme of Scalzi and Hollywood, here. In this volume, our protagonist is a Hollywood agent who's hired to help aliens integrate with society. The oddness of the premise is much commented upon, by our hero, who is also disheartened that the aliens are smelly blobs. A lot of the novel is the agent dealing with his conventional clients, but it all dovetails quite neatly in the end, and it seems an interesting look into the Hollywood machine. Recommended.

Redshirts by John Scalzi

Our heroes are crew on a Union spaceship, the Intrepid, an Enterprise clone under the command of a Kirk clone, etc. And they can't help but notice that things don't make a lot of sense, and they don't make sense in a way that routinely gets them killed. The fourth wall is eventually rent asunder amidst much philosophical angst. Shares some plot points with Agent, but worth it, in its own right.

Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds

In this novella, the world's ecology is shutting down. The only thing that can possibly save it is a supply of seeds from the past -- but the seed banks collapsed years ago. Time travel could solve the problem, but the only time machines can't bring physical things forward, and can't send anyone back unless there's a time machine waiting on the other end. Fortunately, there are tricks to solve those problems, but time is running out in the grim Russian winter. Recommended.

The Iron Tactician by Alastair Reynolds

Another novella, a space opera, which I read long enough ago that the details have escaped me, but as I recall it's about someone clever scamming a less-clever civilization to gain a Precursor artifact. I recall liking it, so: Recommended.

Competence by Gail Carriger

Third in the Custard Protocol series, and something-in-the-teens for Carriger's steampunk fantasy books. This volume alternates between the POVs of Primrose and Percy Tunstell, siblings and officers on the Spotted Custard dirigible. This volume is about shenanigans in Singapore, a trans-Pacific flight, and South American vampires, but is also about Primrose coming out to herself as a lesbian, and Percy grumpily trying to figure out social rules. If you liked the previous books, you'll probably like this one, though it feels like not much actually happens.

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

A fantasy novel from the author of the Ancillary SF series, this is an engaging, imaginative read. Told in the second person (for interesting reasons) it's a tale of court and church politics in a pivotal coastal town, in a world where gods are real but very cautious. Highly recommended.

Kings Of The Wyld and Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames

Being the first two books in the Heartwyld series, a world where heroes organized like rock bands have Dungeons & Dragons-style adventures. The first is the story of Getting The Band Back Together to rescue the daughter of their frontman from a monster horde, with plenty of slayings, death, betrayal, and beer along the way. It plays with a lot of classic fantasy tropes. E.g., one of our heroes saved a kingdom and married a princess, becoming king along the way... and he's utterly desperate to get back on the road again. Rose is about the aforementioned daughter, now a grown adventurer herself, and how she lives in her father's shadow while tearing a bloody swath across the country and incidentally getting caught up in the aftrmath of volume one. Fun, briskly paced, recommended.

Remaking History And Other Stories by Kim Stanley Robinson

I like Robinson's work quite a bit -- I named a city after him in one of my own books -- but in these stories he tends to focus a bit too much on the quotidian. Mildly recommended.

• The History Of The Lord Of The Rings by Christopher Tolkien
  
• J.R.R. Tolkien: Architect Of Middle Earth by Daniel Grotta-Kurska
  
• Cibola Burn and Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey
  
• Delicious In Dungeon Volumes 3-5, by Ryoko Kui
  
• Josephine Baker by Catel & Bocquet
  
• Marvel Generations by Divers Hands
  
• The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur, The Unstoppable Wasp, and Ironheart by Divers Hands
  
• Spider-Man/Red Sonja by Claremont, Byrne, Oeming, and Rubi
  
• Wonder Woman/Conan by Gail Simone, Lopresti, Ruan, and Broome
  
• Future Echoes by Al Davison and Yen Quach
  
• If It's For My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat A Demon Lord by Hota and Chirolu
  
• Black Panther by Christopher Priest, et al
  
• Gotham City Garage by Kelly, Lanzing, et al
  
• Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds
  
• The Nightmare Stacks and The Delirium Brief by Charles Stross
  
• Thrawn by Timothy Zahn
  
• Flowers Of Luna by Jennifer Linsky
  
• Artemis by Andy Weir
  
• Sisters In Fantasy, edited by Shwartz & Greenberg
  
• Quag Keep by Andre Norton
  
• The First Swords by Fred Saberhagen
  
• Seafaring Women by David Cordingly
  
• Big Planet by Jack Vance
  
• The Fellowship: The Literary Lives Of The Inklings by Zaleski And Zaleski
  
• Vatta's War by Elizabeth Moon
  
• Rise Of The Black Panther by Coates, Narcisse, Renaud, Pina
  
• Weapon H v1 by Pak, Smith, Anindito, Hollowell
  
• Exiles v1 by Ahmed, Rodriguez, Lopez, Reis
  
• The Mighty Thor v4 by Aaron, Schiti, Gandini, Beredo
  
• Delilah Dirk And The Pillars Of Hercules by Tony Cliff
  
• Songs For The Dead by Fort, Heron, Beck, Bennett
  
• Monstress by Liu, Takeda
  
• Henchgirl by Kristen Gudsnuk
  
• Zodiac Starforce v2 by Panetta, Gancheau, Stern
  
• Rat Queens v5 by Wiebe, Gieni, Ferrier
  
• Bombshells United v1 by Bennett, Sauvage, DiChara, Oum
  
• The Long List Anthology (v1), edited by David Steffen
  
• Tess Of The Road by Rachel Hartman
  
• Ciaphas Cain: Saviour Of The Imperium by Sandy Mitchell
  
• Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
  
• Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey
  
• The Cold Ruins Of Lastlife by Brendan Conway
  
• The Green Law Of Varkith by Brendan Conway
  
• Fate Horror Toolkit by Divers Hands
  
• Tachyon Squadron by Clark Valentine
  
• Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
  
• Cadaver & Queen by Alisa Kwitney
  
• Imprudence by Gail Carriger
  
• The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi
  
• How Long 'Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin
  
• Tatja Grimm's World by Vernor Vinge
  
• Star Wars: Last Shot by Daniel José Older
  
• Berserker and Berserker Man by Fred Saberhagen
  
• Behind The Walls Of Terra by Philip José Farmer
  
• The Lost Valley Of Iskander by Robert E. Howard
  
• Wotakoi: Love Is Hard For Otaku by Fujita
  
• Binti: The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor
  
• She Walks In Shadows, edited by Moreno-Garcia & Stiles
  
• More Magic, edited by Larry Niven
  
• Runaways v2: Best Friends Forever by Rowell, Anka, Wilson
  
• Doctor Strange v1: Across The Universe by Waid & Saiz
  
• Domino v1: Killer Instinct by Simone, Baldeon, Shefer, Aburtov
  
• The Mighty Thor v5: The Death Of The Mighty Thor by Aaron, Dauterman, Wilson
  
• Marvel Masterworks: Sgt. Fury v1 by Lee, Kirby, Ayers
  
• Star Wars: Doctor Aphra: Remastered by Gillen, Spurrier, Laiso, Rosenberg
  
• Mystik U by Kwitney, Norton, Bellaire
  
• Jughead by Zdarsky, Henderson
  
• Star Wars: Thrawn by Zahn, Houser, Ross, Woodard
  
• Astro City: Broken Melody by Busiek, Anderson, Ross
  

That's 85, more-or-less, though many are comics I read in a single sitting. Still, that's about typical for me these days. Looking forward to reading more in the new year!

Runaways v2: Best Friends Forever by Rowell, Anka, Wilson

The reunited Runaways deal with relationship issues, Doombots, evil destinies, and time travel. Delightfully inclusive, deals very interestingly with issues of disability, and recommended.

Doctor Strange v1: Across The Universe by Waid & Saiz

I do like it when writers put heroes outside their comfort zones. Dr. Strange loses his magic, and borrows a spaceship from Tony Stark to go looking for more power out among the stars. He hooks up with an arcanologist, gets in lots of varied trouble (such as fighting the Super-Skrull for an Infinity Stone), and compromises his ethics more than once. Plus, a surprising twist ending! Recommended.

Domino v1: Killer Instinct by Simone, Baldeon, Shefer, Aburtov

The lusty, laughing, lucky mutant merc hangs out with her girlfriends, gets a dog, learns a little more about her origin, gets an archnemesis, learns kung fu from the (damnfine) master thereof, and generally has advenutres well worth the read. Recommended.

The Mighty Thor v5: The Death Of The Mighty Thor by Aaron, Dauterman, Wilson

We all knew, of course, that Jane wouldn't stay Thor forever. The conflict shaking the Nine Realms reaches its peak, the Mangog walks again, and Thor makes a final sacrifice. Recommended.

Marvel Masterworks: Sgt. Fury v1 by Lee, Kirby, Ayers

It's 1963, and Lee and Kirby are writing some of the hottest superhero comics in the world. So, they take the time to do something different: A war story, based in part on their respective military careers, and with a constant refrain of the evils of bigotry and the strength of America as a diverse land. Fury's Howling Commandos include Irishman Dugan, WASP Jonathan, African-American Gabe, Jewish Izzy, Italian Dino, Southern Rebel, and Englishman Percy, and their day is not complete unless they've all punched some Nazis. While dated in some ways, the message had never been more timely.

Tatja Grimm's World by Vernor Vinge

Interesting SF novel about technological development and first contact on an alien world. Our protagonist is a teenage girl from a "barbarian" tribe, who makes her way to "civilization" in search of someone her intellectual equal, because she's a genius beyond measure, and is desperate to find someone who understands her. She fails, and decides to bootstrap her world into a space program, and damn the cost. Interesting questions of ethics arise. Recommended.

Star Wars: Last Shot by Daniel José Older

A Han and Lando novel by famed SFF author Older. This story interweaves between four different timeframes (three pre-A New Hope, one post-Return Of The Jedi) showing us the rise of a galaxy-spanning threat. It takes time to give us character development for Han and Lando, though Han's realization that he's not a great father is alternately funny and tragic. Recommended.

Berserker and Berserker Man by Fred Saberhagen

A collection, and a novel, set in Saberhagen's Berserker-verse, where ancient machines scour the stars seeking to eliminate all life. The tone varies a lot, from military SF to teen coming-of-age to cosmic weirdness. They have also dated in a tiresome manner.

Behind The Walls Of Terra by Philip José Farmer

Fourth in his World Of Tiers series, this is one not set on the Tiers, but rather on Earth, in the 1970s. About half the plot is our hero sneering at how the world has changed since the 1940s, and half is discovering that an interdimensional god with access to superscience can't seem to buy decent security for his California hacienda. Kind of tedious.

The Lost Valley Of Iskander by Robert E. Howard

Three adventures of one of Howard's minor creations, Francis Xavier Gordon, in the Middle East. Solid adventure, though often racist and predictably sexist.