As I’ve posted, I’ve been dealing with cancer in the immediate family, which has pretty much shot my love for complexity (got enough of it, thank you very much).  My favorite kind of fiction, which is dense and complex science fiction, is just not holding onto me  — my little monkey-enabled brain is wandering off the path whenever it can find an excuse.   And depressing stuff is awful.  I love Jodi Picoult, but anything like that would just reduce me to a puddle right now.   I’m not only turning to comfort food, I’m also turning to comfort reading.  For me, that’s kick ass urban fantasy.   Two books I’ve just finished that are rather deep into favorite series are Devon Monk’s Magic on the Storm and Patty Brigg’s Silver Bourne. Things common to both series:

• Complex, interesting heroines involved in complicated love affairs with guys I like and find interesting, too.
• Worlds close to me – Devon has created a magical Portland and Patty a magical Tri-cities.
• Thriller style plots written at a high level of craft – I know in both cases that I won’t be disappointed or bored.
• Both writers are keeping the series interesting – sometimes I drop series if the books start feeling like repeats, and so far these are not.

I might actually describe these as the beach reads of the geek crowd.  And as a side note, I find comfort reading is best done in physical paper books with spines (or my new favorite – well produced audio fiction).  I’ve gone completely to the ipad for news but my fiction is better in audio or in a real book except for those the publishers insist on putting out in 6 point fonts. So let’s hear it for the real thing of our past.