Dead Six

Diverging from the sci-fi/fantasy fare a little, and because I picked up a signed copy from Uncle Hugo’s, I just finished reading [amazon_link id=”1451637586″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Dead Six[/amazon_link]. It’s a collaboration between Larry Correia and Mike Kupari, and is more along the lines of an action thriller than his previous offerings. If you liked John Ringo’s Ghost series, you’ll like this one.

It tells a single story from two different points of view, and kept me guessing until the end. The action is well written, with lots of firearms references throughout. You can read the dust jacket notes on Amazon for a better plot teaser than I could write. But like I said, if you like military thrillers, you’ll probably enjoy this one.

Replacing The Jeep’s Thermostat Again

Thanks to our record breaking summer heatwave, the thermostat on the Jeep had failed in the permanently open position. While we were experiencing 100+ degree days, week after week, it wasn’t noticed because the engine would still come up to temperature. But now that the heat has backed off, my check engine light has been on, throwing a P1281 code (engine too cold for too long). I picked up a new thermostat and gasket a couple weeks ago and finally got time to do the replacement today. As I suspected, once I pulled the housing, the thermostat was locked open. After cleaning up the gasket residue and lining up the new gasket, I bolted everything back together and fired it up. There was one small leak, but a re-torque of the bolts solved it. The engine’s coming up to normal operating temperatures and hopefully the light will go out soon. I don’t have an OBD-II scanner yet, so I’ve got to wait until it goes through enough cycles.

The Demon and the City

[amazon_link id=”1597801119″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Demon and the City[/amazon_link] is the second book in Liz Williams’s Detective Inspector Chen series. It follows the demon Zhu Irzh’s investigation of the killing of the child of a rich family and the plot to really screw the world up that she had gotten involved with. I really like these books because they’re a quick read, with well written characters and plots that aren’t transparent. It’s also nice to see a different (read non-western) theme, instead of always drawing from european legends and mythos.

Black Magic Sanction

I’m still getting caught up on the ginormous to be read pile, though much slower due to school work taking priority. I just finished Kim Harrison’s [amazon_link id=”0061138045″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Black Magic Sanction[/amazon_link], one of the books in the Rachel Morgan series. I’m not caught up on this series yet, but getting closer. I’m really liking the way this series is going, there’s a lot more complexity, some more history and exposition, and a good bit of action. Rachel’s still in a really bad situation and trying to dig her way out, though not everything goes according to plan. She does get a chance to clean things up, but still has some hoops to jump through, and knowing how the author likes to throw in twists, they’ll be flaming hoops. But in the process of that she’s made some more enemies and found out some things that might actually put her in more danger. Too bad I’ve got over 40 books left to read before I buy any more. It’s going to be a while before I get back to this series…