Dean Koontz had a Frankenstein series of books that was really quite good. But the original is still the best!

Yup! Read those also as well as Mary Shelley's.

Me too, oldbroad!

I just finished Cut and Run by Mary Burton which was an excellent thriller, I am now about 60% into Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, I'm not impressed with his writing, he does repeat himself & goes on & on about how blue the sky is or how green the grass is. I find myself skimming pages, but I will finish it because I never leave a book unread half way through, I always have to finish it.

I purchased Mary Shelley's Frankenstein from Amazon this past month. I can't believe I still haven't read this book. Will do so soon. And to think that she was 19 years old when she wrote it! The backstory can be found here.

That backstory is almost better that the original Frankenstein novel! Thank you, Marian.

Interesting, thanks Marian!

I just started Dean Koontz's Velocity. I'm just a couple of chapters in but so far it's good.

I read that one a few years ago and had a hard time putting it down until I was finished.

Oh that's great Marian, this will be another book I'll be saying "just one more chapter" when I should be asleep LOL.

It's a distinct possibility, judith!

The day I finally unpacked my books and put them on shelves, I had to laugh because 95% of what I own is Science fiction and fantasy, and most of them are by just a few authors:

CJ Cherryh
Robin Hobb
Dan Simmons
Iain Banks
Terry Pratchett
Alistair Reynolds
Peter Hamilton
Lois McMaster Bujold
Neal Stephenson

And several others, including the more classic SF like A Canticle for Leibowitz.

Granted, I did get rid of about 50% of my books recently, most of them one-offs or books that were falling apart.

Incidentally, if you haven't read Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, it's about as good as it gets.

That's a list of very familiar names, Hagatha, and I agree with you about the Vorkosigan series. I'm also hoping for C. J. Cherryh's next Bren Cameron book this year but haven't seen any signs of one yet.

I was looking for a change of pace when I started Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, and it turned out to be a wonderful novel about Marcellus, a grumpy giant Pacific octopus living in an aquarium in Washington State, and Tova, the kind old woman who cleans there at night in order to keep her losses at bay. Part of the story is narrated by Marcellus, and there's a rich cast of other characters that interact with them in the ficticious town of Sowell Bay. I recommend this one highly.

I have read all those authors hagatha except LMB although I have had a copy of Paladin of Souls on my bookshelf for ages. I note that it is a sequel; do you recommend reading the first novel or does this one sufficiently stand alone?

Some interesting ideas from hagatha and LadyK for which thanks.

I have just started on an interesting little collection of spooky stories by various authors: The Haunting Season. Definitely worth a look, and fairly cheap on UK kindle.
https://drlauratisdall.wordpress.co...on-ghostly-tales-for-long-winter-nights/

I see that there are also subsequent volumes.

Flotsam,
Paladin of Souls is a newer series than the Vorkosigan saga. The first book I read was Vorkosigan's Game. It contains both The Vor Game and Borders of Infinity. I followed Miles' adventures through several books after that before I discovered two books that deal with the lives of his parents. I think getting to know Miles first is important. He's a memorable character and so are his escapades.

Lex,
I like a good ghost story, so I made a note of your recommendation.

I don't like LMB's fantasy novels nearly as much as her Vorkosigan books. Paladin of Souls is, I believe the sequel to the Curse of Chalion, and yes, they should be read in order. They're good books but nowhere near as wonderful as the Vorkosigan Saga, which absolutely MUST be read in order.

She also wrote a series called The Sharing Knife, which was awful, in my opinion.

The Vorkosigan Saga sparkles with wit and wonderful characters. It's so worth reading.

I just finished a murder mystery called All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers. The main character is a reporter who returns to the small town in Indiana where she grew up. Her uncle, who raised her, is having a difficult time adjusting to his wife's death and is showing signs of early dementia, so she decides to stay with him to help out while investigating a little girl's kidnapping similar to one that happened when she was a kid. The story has decent twists and turns in it, some predictable and some definitely not. I was really enjoying it until the climax of the main story in which there's a struggle which could mean death for the protagonist, but the author never explains what happens. She doesn't make it a cliff hanger, she just stops the action with the character thinking she'll do anything to survive. There is an epilogue from another character's perspective which ties up the loose ends of earlier events, but the end of main story is never addressed. I thought there was a page ripped out when I read it. It just fizzled as if the author had no idea how to end it.

Just finished an enjoyable and quite thought provoking bit of SF by an author new to me: The Last Astronaut by David Wellington (who appears to be mainly known for horror and vampire tales) - no connection with the film of the same name as far as I am aware.

I might have to look that one up, Lex. I think it came through one of my recommendation emails a while back.

I'm reading the 2nd book in the Burn Box trilogy. Bobby Adair writes post-apocalyptic fiction and does it well. This one is about how the gene editing tool CRISPR has become available to anyone and conspiracy theorists and crazies began making new viruses which have pretty wiped out the population of the world. A cruel government goes around and uses portable "burn boxes" to incinerate the dead before they spread their disease further. Of course, they are now using it on their perceived enemies. The classic group of a guy, a girl, an eccentric CRISPR expert and a dog are off to save the world!

I got tired of the Shetland series, so I've started re-reading C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series, which I haven't looked at for about 15 years. There are several more books in the series since I last picked it up, so something to look forward to.

I finished The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Not sure what's up next.

I'm reading Richard Osman Thursday Night Murder Club series. I believe it has 4 books with more planned. Light hearted reading just right for bedtime

I'm reading Robert Heinlein's Friday ... a most excellent sci-fi yarn.

Excellent choice. In the Frankenstein book the work of a Dr. Darwin is mentioned, to give science cred to the story. That Darwin is not the famous Charles but his grandfather Erasmus.