BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
Off Topic and Technical Support => Off Topic => Topic started by: Bedwyr on 25 May 2016, 14:01:14
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Ok, the old thread was due for a shutdown anyhow. I removed a couple posts for moderator action. These threads are usually pretty sedate so I don't welcome things like, say, politics rearing their ugly head. Kapische?
On a lighter note:
- Finally working *all the way* through Hitchiker's Guide. I know I know. It's like when my English professor whispered to his class with shame "I, umm, actually haven't read Moby Dick." It's ok. He's a medievalist.
- After that I'll go through Canticle for Liebowitz.
Nonfiction!
- Without discussion (please!) I'm going to try and chew through a fair bit of Plato's Republic and the Federalist Papers.
- Also working through some review of a couple textbooks: Linear Algebra (8th) by Wlliams, Modern Control Systems (11th) by Dorf
- And looking through a new one: Modeling and Simulatino of Aerospace Vehicle Dynamics by Zipfel (3rd).
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Just finished Fatal Thunder by Larry Bond.
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Conan!
(https://sp.yimg.com/xj/th?id=OIP.M818daba9f9e4e03cc4d5d4081106a2d6o0&pid=15.1&P=0&w=300&h=300)
Just finished Turtledove's The Misplaced Legion. (wondered if displaced wasn't a better word), have to hunt down the other books in the series.
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Doug Seacat's The Blood of Kings, from the War Machine/Hordes game. I'm starting it tonight, we'll see how it goes.
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Just got through the Guenive Undead collection and the Amber Short Stories, Re Reading the Martian ATM and next on the Shelf is the Complete Amber Omnibus after than perhaps some Gibson or Reilly or Birmingham.
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Conan!
(https://sp.yimg.com/xj/th?id=OIP.M818daba9f9e4e03cc4d5d4081106a2d6o0&pid=15.1&P=0&w=300&h=300)
Just finished Turtledove's The Misplaced Legion. (wondered if displaced wasn't a better word), have to hunt down the other books in the series.
One of his best series - he knew when to stop ;) Not that I won't buy his others. "Bombs Away" - Korean War goes nuc - pedestrian. Still got it & read it.
"The God Engines" by John Scalzi. Enjoyed it; more of a mood novella, but well done. I was reminded of my (then young) son's reaction to the ending of Larry Niven's "Protector" ;)
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Just finished Lev Grossman's Magicians Trilogy. Intrigued by how the TV series started and found the books to be one of the few trilogies that improved over its course.
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Poking around in the Clavicula Salomonis for inspiration.
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Read Termainal Lance: The White Donkey and A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, and The Hound of the Baskervilles on my flights recently.
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I'm finally getting around to reading American Gods.
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Damned fine book.
A couple of weeks ago, I read two short story collections - Mieville's "Three moments of an explosion", and Gaiman's "Trigger Warning". The Mieville collection was well written, less fantastical than his New Crobuzon books, and somewhat unsettling. Gaiman's was lyrical, unsettling, and deeply satisfying.
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Damned fine book.
Seconded. American Gods was a very fun read.
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Yeah, I've been meaning to read it for years anyway, and Amazon just had a 10th Anniversary Special on it- $2 on Kindle for the Author's Preferred Edition.
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I finished XCom 2: Resurrection recently. Makes me sad I can't play the new PC game, since it's only available via Steam. :'(
Currently reading Alien: Invasion (Book 2 of the Rage War Trilogy), and Javelin Rain (the sequel to Gemini Cell), and both are pretty good so far. The first features Aliens controlled by Androids, each named after a Famous General. We've seen Alexander, Montgomery, Patton, and Rommel so far. They're attacking Humans AND Predators, now known as "Yautja", and the 2 have established a rough Truce to deal with the Rage (the Android/Alien forces).
The latter is based on the idea that there IS Magic in the world, though very few can harness it. In the 1st Book a Navy SEAL died and "Gemini Cell" had their Sorcerer put the soul of a Jinn in his body, though for once, the human's soul stayed inside as well, and eventually "kicked out" the Jinn. He HAD been working for Gemini Cell, going around and killing other Sorcerers that weren't working for GC, until he kicked the Jinn out. Now he's on the run with his young son (about 7-8?), because they're like "The mob". You're either in (and get to live), or you're out, (and get Whacked!). There have been a few Interesting developments so far, and it will be interesting to see how things turn out.
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I wrote up a fairly indepth review of The White Donkey, and put it up here a couple of weeks ago.
http://travellersandbox.blogspot.com/2016/05/book-review-terminal-lance-white-donkey.html
[/Shameless Self Promotion]
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I've been rereading my Isaac Asimov collection...
Ruger
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Finished The Lies of Locke Lamora recently. Rereading Sweet Silver Blues now, while waiting for next 1634 and the Expanse books from library.
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Roger Macbride Allen's "Chronicles of Solace" - books 1 and 2 down, starting book 3.
I'd read his "Aliens and Allies" - aka "Torch of Honor", and its sequel whose name escapes me. I enjoyed the first book - romance of space exploration, sequing into sci-fi military. The Chronicles books are more cerebral, but have pulled me in and kept me reading. Like Asimov, there's a dearth of blasters and tentacles, and some of the most important scenes take place in libraries and a special museum. But highly recommended for those days when space opera seems not what you're looking for.
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Like Asimov, there's a dearth of blasters and tentacles, and some of the most important scenes take place in libraries and a special museum. But highly recommended for those days when space opera seems not what you're looking for.
Like Orson Scott Card once said of Asimov's work: "all talk, no action--but Asimov's talk is action."
Ruger
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buddy from great britain sent me complete set of e pubs of james bond...will be a while till i get t see nd read where the bond franchise got its start...
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Finishing up Richard Dansky's "Lasombra". Then onto Jason Schmetzer's "Embers of War".
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I am slowly working my way through The Wheel of Time Companion, at 'de' currently, and am finding more about the series frequently.
Also of note, there is an interesting essay on Tor.com about Robert Jordon being the American Tolkien. Not trying to stir a pot but found the article interesting.
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Just finished Garth Nix's 'Clariel'. Trying to decide if I want to move on to the last book in the trilogy straight away or pick up something else for a bit.
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Just started on Octavia Butler's Lilith's Brood trilogy. Been so long since I read the first book (the only one that our local library had) that I'd forgotten a lot of things. Like just how colossal of jerks the aliens were. Or the quaintness of reading a story where the USSR was a bad guy.
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Finished Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. It's so-so.
Currently reading:
The Once and Future King by TH White (2 chapters just before bed)
and
SEAL Survival Guide by Cade Courtley for research purposes.
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I'm reading Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There. Originally web novel, then edited for print novel series, then each novel got turned into 2 light novels, those who have translated it into english don't know japanese so they translate it from chinese. Are you confused yet? I'm at third novel volume or at 5th light novel. Usually I read it at work while eating, or while I sit in the toilet.
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I'm reading Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There. Originally web novel, then edited for print novel series, then each novel got turned into 2 light novels, those who have translated it into english don't know japanese so they translate it from chinese. Are you confused yet? I'm at third novel volume or at 5th light novel. Usually I read it at work while eating, or while I sit in the toilet.
....so it was originally a web novel? then edited for DTF then adapted into light novels and then adapted into manga and then adapted into anime... :D
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....so it was originally a web novel? then edited for DTF then adapted into light novels and then adapted into manga and then adapted into anime... :D
Order is:
Web novel
Print novel
Manga (on-going)
Light novel
Anime
I've been told print novels & light novels have identical writing, but light novels have pictures while novels have only covers and little (or nothing) else. Manga seems to be faithful adaptation of the novels but adds fan service (bathing with much details, not so much in unofficially translated light novels). Anime cuts off much of the gorn: dead have bullet holes in their armor but no blood, little in fan service, no sex/rape. Towards the end story got rushed, like trying to cover more of the timeline than what was originally planned for.
In my opinion manga is the best. (Light) novels add some details and insight, like what characters are thinking. But some things just don't seem to fit. According to the novels, leather armor worn by the dark elves covers whole body from neck down to the boots like superhero outfits. But in none of the pictures (http://a.mhcdn.net/store/manga/11854/026.0/compressed/hgate004_045.jpg?v=1414896228) (nor in the anime for that matter) does it look like that.
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Has there been any good cutting edge scifi novels that has come out? I've been wanting get into something of a space opera type. I've been always levitating to "try-true" or "old and forgotten" books series, like Honor Harrington Series (Battletech, but I'm still sticking with that one. ;)). I ended my self-impossed boycott of reading "new" core Honor Harrington such A Rising Thunder, and the side-story Shadows of Freedom book.)
Any recommendations?
I enjoyed Shadows of Freedom, thou for David Weber, it was shorter book. Sounds like Weber is going after the 800-pound gorilla in the room in next in the side-series. Admiral Gold Peak and her 10th fleet is going pay visit in Mesa. I bet thats going be more political than slash, smash, and seeya Mesa Alignment fans.)
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I just finished "A Company of Heroes" by Brotherton. It really makes one reflect on a variety of things.
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Has there been any good cutting edge scifi novels that has come out? I've been wanting get into something of a space opera type. I've been always levitating to "try-true" or "old and forgotten" books series, like Honor Harrington Series (Battletech, but I'm still sticking with that one. ;)). I ended my self-impossed boycott of reading "new" core Honor Harrington such A Rising Thunder, and the side-story Shadows of Freedom book.)
Any recommendations?
I enjoyed Shadows of Freedom, thou for David Weber, it was shorter book. Sounds like Weber is going after the 800-pound gorilla in the room in next in the side-series. Admiral Gold Peak and her 10th fleet is going pay visit in Mesa. I beat thats going be more political than slash, smash, and seeya Mesa Alignment fans.)
Did you read Cauldron of Ghosts? It wraps up the Torch storyline a bit.
I just finished R. A. Salvatore's "Maestro", mildly discombobulated and poorly edited at times but enjoyable.
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Stiletto, the long awaited sequal to Daniel O'Malley's excellent book Rook
Sudden Appearence of Hope, by Clare North. I absolutely loved First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, and this one has been good read thus far.
Dav
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Has there been any good cutting edge scifi novels that has come out? I've been wanting get into something of a space opera type. I've been always levitating to "try-true" or "old and forgotten" books series, like Honor Harrington Series (Battletech, but I'm still sticking with that one. ;)). I ended my self-impossed boycott of reading "new" core Honor Harrington such A Rising Thunder, and the side-story Shadows of Freedom book.)
Any recommendations?
You could be interested about stuff written by Michael McCollum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McCollum). Antares Dawn & sequels are good stuff. If scifi ground warfare is of any interest, among the best on that front is The Complete Hammer's Slammers.
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Just finished Scalzi's "The Human Division" after picking it up at the bookstore last night. It apparently came out while I was overseas, and I just couldn't put it down. The only reason I didn't have to fight my wife to read it is she chose to read the new David Drake RCN book first. Now I wait until she's done (she chose to sleep last night).
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David Drake RCN book
RCN = ???
Also what is the Human Division like?
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RCN = "Republic of Cinnabar Navy", aka the "Lt. Leary" books. They're very good on the whole, basically Aubrey/Maturin "in space!". Start with "With the Lightnings", the first in the series.
"The Human Division" is a continuation of Scalzi's "Old Man's War" universe. He writes a LOT like Heinlein, and works very hard for consistency. In this latest installment, we're following Harry Wilson around, one of the original characters from the first books. The main character from earlier in the series (John Perry) is only mentioned as part of the background. I think Scalzi has more in the works for this series, but I could be wrong. This particular book certainly raised more questions than it answered.
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In the last month, I've read Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by Mark Olshaker & John Douglas. Cross of Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German War Machine, 1918-1945 by John Mosier, and Caliban's War by James S. A. Correy. Finishing up Secrets of Ancient Man: Revelations from the Ruins by Don Landis and Stealing from God: Why Atheists Need God to Make Their Case by Frank Turek
Next on deck: Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947 by D.M. Giangreco
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RCN = "Republic of Cinnabar Navy", aka the "Lt. Leary" books. They're very good on the whole, basically Aubrey/Maturin "in space!". Start with "With the Lightnings", the first in the series.
"The Human Division" is a continuation of Scalzi's "Old Man's War" universe. He writes a LOT like Heinlein, and works very hard for consistency. In this latest installment, we're following Harry Wilson around, one of the original characters from the first books. The main character from earlier in the series (John Perry) is only mentioned as part of the background. I think Scalzi has more in the works for this series, but I could be wrong. This particular book certainly raised more questions than it answered.
The final(?) book in the series is The End Of All Things. It came out just about a year ago.
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Just got around to finishing Jim Butcher's Codex Alera last week. I read the first one and a bit a couple of years ago, and decided to go back and finish them off. Overall I really enjoyed them.
Next on the list for fiction is a re-read of Peter Moorwood's Horse/Demon/Dragon/War-Lord set, and for non-fiction I'm reading Anthony Beevor's history of the Spanish civil war, The Battle for Spain.
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Has there been any good cutting edge scifi novels that has come out? I've been wanting get into something of a space opera type.
Have you read Ancilary Justice by Ann Leckie? It's a space opera set in a declining empire who use human bodies controlled by the AIs of their starships as soldiers. The narrator is a ship's computer, shifting between a point 19 years in the past which lead to the ship's destruction, and the present day where the last remaining body it controlled is on a mission of revenge.
While the setup is quite standard, Leckie's writing style is truly impressive, especially the flashback sequences where the ship describes what's happening in multiple places at once that either it or its bodies can see. There's a literary trick as well where the empire doesn't have gendered pronouns, and so it defaults to she/her to describe everyone, with only a handful of characters given explicit genders. It makes for a very interesting read.
The book was critically lauded when it came out. It won the Hugo, Nebula and Arthur C. Clarke award (the first book to win all three), and the two sequels have been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula as well.
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"Calming your Angry Mind" by Jeffrey Brantley and Barbara Frederickson
"Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius
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It's been a moderately busy month for reading - I seem to have been picking up more comics lately, which have been cutting into my novel time - and I've been working my way through some series that were new to me.
I read through several historical romance series - the first three novels of Sarah Maclean's Love by Numbers series (I didn't like the male protagonist much in the first novel, but the second and third novels were excellent), the first two novels in Jennifer McQuiston's Seduction Diaries (well above average) and the three novels of Miranda Neville's Burgundy Club (wasn't that keen on the first novel, liked the second, really liked the third).
I've been meaning to finish off Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series, so I read the prequel novel The Bat and picked up the final few novels I've not read yet second hand, although they're currently lurking in my kitchen along with a few other books like the sequel to The Alienist and a copy of Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition.
I finished Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid series in May, so started reading the Kitty Norville novels by Carrie Vaughn this month; I've read the first four, and thoroughly enjoyed them - particularly the fourth. My copy of the fifth novel didn't transfer onto my phone properly, so I need to reupload that, and because I'm impatient and lazy at the same time, I started the Dragon Age novel The Stolen Throne at lunchtime yesterday and the first Cainville novel, Omens by Kelly Armstrong, on the way into work this morning. The Dragon Age novel's been reading quickly and well - I'm playing through Inquisition at the moment, so it's nice to be able to read some stories set in that universe - and Omens is off to a very promising start. I've heard mixed reviews of the series - a lot of PnR fans don't seem to like that romances are fairly slow-burn in the series, or don't like that the mystery is taking a while to unfold, but I'm really enjoying the setup and pacing at the moment, and a friend of mine was up til 1am (with a start for work at 4.30am) finishing the third novel the night before last, so I have high hopes for it.
Today is new comic book day for me, though...
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I'm reading the First Succession War handbook.
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Well, aside from "Embers of War", I've never read any other Battletech novels. So, I took the plunge and purchased a small selection of the older books. Currently reading "Decision at Thunder Rift".
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With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge. Found a copy in a used bookstore and snapped it up. I'm glad I did. Probably one of the greatest novels of a marine's first hand account of being in war. I'm only on chapter 2 and I'm already at the edge of my seat.
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Storybundle have posted up a bundle of Japanese sci-fi novels that look interesting - has anyone here read any of them, and if so, would they be willing to give an opinion on them? Money's a little tight this month, but if the books are good I can always walk more and bus less!
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I've been eyeing the bundle up as well (pay day is tomorrow). I'm tempted just for Legend of Galactic Heroes, as I quite like what I've seen of the anime based on it.
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I've finished reading Collision of Empires by Prit Buttar. Currently ready Germany Ascendant by the same author. Good reads so far on the eastern front, ww1.
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I just reread a splendid little book called The Wars of Reaving. Third time through (three and a half, really), and still plenty of subtle details to pick up on. Especially in the details of the many varied absorptions and reavings that rocked the Ice Hellions, the Goliath Scorpions, and the Fire Mandrills - as well as the Society, the Coyotes, and Burrocks, the WOB, whispers of the Not-Named, and the mighty antagonism between the Jade Falcons and the subtleties of their tracking with the Ghost Bears and Hell's Horses shift to help shape and contain the Wolves in the background of everything going on in the whole bloody tapestry.
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Yesterday I finished Deathfire and today I picked up Legion (both Hours Heresy novels) for yet another read through. Deathfire was just so dlsad I needed a pallet cleanser and so went to my favorite of the series.
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Death's Bright Day by David Drake. I've become a fan of the RCN series. I find my inner historian delighted when I come across all the classical references he uses.
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My wife and I bought that and Scalzi's "The Human Division" for our birthdays, which are three days apart. We swapped books as soon we finished.
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Death's Bright Day by David Drake. I've become a fan of the RCN series.
What can you tell about it? Can you make comparisons to other similar scifi works? I've read Antares Dawn & sequels and handful of the Honor Harrington series.
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The closest analogy is probably a space opera version of the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. Definitely start with "With the Lightnings".
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My wife and I bought that and Scalzi's "The Human Division" for our birthdays, which are three days apart. We swapped books as soon we finished.
That is very cool! Make that a tradition!
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If we could get Drake and Scalzi to play along, we totally would! :D
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dont know how my youngling found the hard copies of my chung kuo series all 8 books by david wingrove but for some strange reason i want ot start reading them again
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My family had bough bunch of semi-recent Star Trek novels, part of the Lost Era series.
They highlight characters during time periods the Televisions shows / movies hadn't covered.
I just finished up, The Sundered: The Lost Era 2298 (Star Trek Lost Era) By Michael Martin. Pretty darn good book after reading it. The further adventures of Captain Sulu and some other original ST crew who are part of Excelsior's crew including Lt. Tuovk and Chekhov. Story centers around mysterious race causing problems with the Tholians. We get see what the Tholians are really like, years after original Enterprise crew encounter them. I recommend it, despite that like all stories novels, nothing is concrete canon, but the Lost Era books are to a degree inter-connectivity.
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from old trek paperbacks only 3 i enjoyed were how much for just a planet uhuras song and strangers from the sky
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My family had bough bunch of semi-recent Star Trek novels, part of the Lost Era series.
They highlight characters during time periods the Televisions shows / movies hadn't covered.
I just finished up, The Sundered: The Lost Era 2298 (Star Trek Lost Era) By Michael Martin. Pretty darn good book after reading it. The further adventures of Captain Sulu and some other original ST crew who are part of Excelsior's crew including Lt. Tuovk and Chekhov. Story centers around mysterious race causing problems with the Tholians. We get see what the Tholians are really like, years after original Enterprise crew encounter them. I recommend it, despite that like all stories novels, nothing is concrete canon, but the Lost Era books are to a degree inter-connectivity.
We got to see them in Enterprise series though.
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I've been enjoying of The Iron Teeth: A Goblin's Tale. It's a web serialization available on Royal Road Legends. Fantasy story where main character is a goblin. Quite interesting read. Or at least different.
We got to see them in Enterprise series though.
In Enterprise we also see Romulan ships using cloaking devices. Doesn't really match with what is said in TOS episode Balance of Terror (Best TOS Episode Ever).
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In Enterprise we also see Romulan ships using cloaking devices. Doesn't really match with what is said in TOS episode Balance of Terror (Best TOS Episode Ever).
They agreed with you that it was a mistake; see quote below
Several staff writers on Star Trek: Enterprise – among them Producer Mike Sussman – believed that 22nd century Romulan ships should not have been equipped with cloaking devices, in keeping with "Balance of Terror". Season Four showrunner and Co-Executive Producer Manny Coto decided that Romulan ships would not have cloaks in any subsequent encounters.
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Rereading Lord Hornblower. 8)
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Rereading Lord Hornblower. 8)
Haven't read that in nearly 30 years. Good on you.
I just finished Bloodlines and Aftermath: Life Debt.
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from old trek paperbacks only 3 i enjoyed were how much for just a planet uhuras song and strangers from the sky
Personally, I think my favorites in the old Trek books were Chain of Attack and its sequel The Final Nexus...
Ruger
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Personally, I think my favorites in the old Trek books were Chain of Attack and its sequel The Final Nexus...
Ruger
Mine are The Final Reflection, How Much for Just the Planet, and Spock, Messiah!
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Mine are The Final Reflection, How Much for Just the Planet, and Spock, Messiah!
lol if they get the guts to do adaptation of how much for just a planet i will definetly watch it
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lol if they get the guts to do adaptation of how much for just a planet i will definetly watch it
"Somebody give your Captain a pie!"
or maybe even better
"3rd Hole. Par 4. Bunker left, minefield right."
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"Somebody give your Captain a pie!"
or maybe even better
"3rd Hole. Par 4. Bunker left, minefield right."
i was partial to falling apart again...
and the slave revolt uprising
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Well as a confessed complete Pothead I bought and read The Cursed Child the moment it came out in stores, finished today. I can imagine the play must be great. As a book though it is too compact for the timeframe of the plot - in the original Harry Potters elements in the 1st few books paid off several books and hundreds of pages later. Nonetheless it is pretty good, the characterisation of Scorpius was a pleasant surprise though I must say Albus Potter was indeed whiny, I get the distinct feeling he only had himself to blame for much of the issues in the book.
Not as enjoyable as Goblet of Fire or Order of the Phoenix, but better than Chamber of Secrets though there are thematic similarities with Chamber and Half-Blood Prince.
Rereading Lord Hornblower. 8)
Other than the very cool beginning, possibly my least favourite Hornblower. Though not my favourite, I have a soft spot for West Indies, its the first Hornblower I read.
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Hornblower and the Hotspur is by far my favorite, though I might chalk that up to my current rank. If you're referencing the West Indies, I think you mean Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies. Lord Hornblower took place in Europe.
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Not as enjoyable as Goblet of Fire or Order of the Phoenix, but better than Chamber of Secrets.
Not surprising, Goblet and Order are two of the best novels in the series, while Chamber was probably the worst.
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Would Hornblower TV-series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornblower_(TV_series)) be worth of buy?
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if you like it its worth it...
i am still hunting down vhs and dvd versions of zorro from 1956 disneys series
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if you like it its worth it...
i am still hunting down vhs and dvd versions of zorro from 1956 disneys series
Oh? The black and white show? I loved that show!
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Would Hornblower TV-series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornblower_(TV_series)) be worth of buy?
Yes. I've got it. It's a decently faithful filming of Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, Lieutenant Hornblower, and good enough of Hornblower and the Hotspur.
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Oh? The black and white show? I loved that show!
i got so far 1 through 39
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Re-reading the Mobile Suit Gundam omnibus (Awakening, Escalation, & Confrontation) by Yoshiyuki Tomino.
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Would Hornblower TV-series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornblower_(TV_series)) be worth of buy?
Yes. It is an excellent series. I was hoping they would make more, but the series was cancelled.
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I've started the 'Horseclans' series of novel by Robert Adams. I wish the series could have been finished.
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ok looks like navigators of dune by brain herbert and kevin j anderson are coming out next month
cant wait to see what happens after gilbertus albans death ...and what led the navigators guild to be what it is...
still not too fond of the prequels and sequels still its fun to revisit dune universe now and then...
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I'm currently juggling:
The Norman Conquest: The Battle of Hastings and the Fall of Anglo-Saxon England by Marc Morris.
Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich.
Foods of the World series by Time Life, circa 1968.
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ok looks like navigators of dune by brain herbert and kevin j anderson are coming out next month
cant wait to see what happens after gilbertus albans death ...and what led the navigators guild to be what it is...
still not too fond of the prequels and sequels still its fun to revisit dune universe now and then...
The Herbert part of Dune died a long time ago. Whats left IMHO is fanfiction by Kevin J Anderson complete with all the flashy action bits not found in the original three.
Trying to get into cyberpunk, so I am beginning Neuromancer.
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I started a bit out of order, but I just finished Changeling (Kubasik), and just before that was Never Trust An Elf (Charrette). Now I'm on 2XS. It's always nice to get back to a Findley book. I decided to get through the series again. It's been too long since I read most of them. I read all of the older books, have all of the sourcebooks (1st-3rd eds), and never got to play the game. :(
Meow Liao
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Master and Commander by Patrick O'Bryan- not bad, but not great either. Middling but entertaining.
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Dance of Demons by Gary Gygax the last part of Gord the Rogue series.
First read for me, only part the series I've read (i didn't realize there was one, this was random book i picked up.)
Written in old fashion way, i enjoy the book immensely. This is a fantasy based in the old Grayhawk RPG universe but this felt like was constrained by tight rules that comes with RPG, but was meant to tell a tale of Gord, man who would become more than he started off to be.
Some may find this corny incomparison to other works in genre, but i tend like the old fashion (perhaps corny) was he told his story how Gord became Champion of Balance, that Gord and his companions were ultimately going save the multi-universes. This last bit may throw people off, but it does work and doesn't feel like it's ubsurb for the setting. Its not quite predictable as you would think. Gary really was a good writer and story teller. I'm glad I found it.
If your a fan of old RPG, this book and other the series i would highly recommend if you can find them. Thou i don't have e-read, i'd say read from the beginning of the series! ;D
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Lullaby Book 7 of the Ellie Jordan Ghost Trapper series; really recommend if you are into down to Earth supernatural stories
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down to Earth supernatural stories
What the Hell?
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Finished Django Wexler's The Thousand Names and it strikes me as a cross between Bernard Cornwall's Sharpe series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not a bad thing actually.
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As in the focus more on the science emphasis on ghost hunting with not too much on the occult side of it; mentioned but not part of the overall plot so to speak. Think the "Ghosthunters" tv show but with a story
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As in the focus more on the science emphasis on ghost hunting with not too much on the occult side of it; mentioned but not part of the overall plot so to speak. Think the "Ghosthunters" tv show but with a story
No, not that but instead the feeling of the uninformed stumbling across magic and getting caught up in it while trying to keep their day job.
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Reading Joseph Campbell's Romance of the Grail. 3 chapters in and I'm hooked on it that I want to get a copy of my own after I return the library copy.
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No, not that but instead the feeling of the uninformed stumbling across magic and getting caught up in it while trying to keep their day job.
I really liked the pair of books where the uninformed stumbled across magic and got demon succubus and angel as his loyal & willing slaves while trying to keep his normal life at the college: Good Intentions and Natural Consequences, by Elliott Kay.
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They weren't slaves, they were just bonded to him.
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I love inter-library-loan. We have that for Iowa. I was able to find this interesting look at a potentially different early cosmology, with close passes of Mars shifting things on the Earth up to 701 BC when calendars around the world saw a sudden addition of 5 days. Interesting stuff.
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51lSVCpUDtL._SX332_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Next, I'll be delving into the Gap Theory regarding potential ages before man. Don't remember the name of the book right off hand.
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Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein (nonfict)
I'd read his website before and picked up the book without knowing who he was. Interesting, funny, revealing, ultimately tragic.
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I've got three books on the go at the moment, but the one that's grabbed my attention the most is Bunch of Five, by Frank Kitson:
(http://pictures.abebooks.com/HONEYDUKES/2482540140.jpg)
Technically, it's an autobiographical work, covering his time in service from 1952 to 1967, during which time he was deployed to Kenya, Malaya, Oman and Cyprus, in time to end up embroiled in events like the States of Emergency in Kenya and Malaya. Frank Kitson's the author of several books (others include Low Intensity Operations and Warfare as a Whole) and for a long time has been cited as an authority on staging counter-insurgency operations, based on his experience with gathering and using low-level intelligence.
The book's been a great read so far; I've read through the sections on Kenya and Malaya, and they've both been entertaining and well-told. In each section he gives enough of the background to give a decent idea as to the reason for the insurgency, but he avoids going into huge detail there so that he can instead concentrate on the operations, fieldwork and thinking behind them. Some of the particularly interesting sections were about things like the way people joined and left the Mau Mau and their motivations for doing so, how the counter-gangs were formed that were apparently so successful at breaking up Mau Mau groups, and the personal anecdotes about the various members of the Communist terrorist groups in the districts of Malaya Kitson was deployed to, including those he met who changed sides. I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who's interested in the gathering and use of tactical intelligence and who's interested in learning a bit more about the various conflicts/theatres and what living and fighting in them was like.
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Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner.
This novel is NOT about the founder of Clan Star Adder. :D
Actually, this is a pretty good classic novel, if a tad bit tedious. It has almost no dialogue, as it's framed as a young man recording his family's and family friend's recollections of times in the deep south ranging from before the American Civil War, to during, and the harsh decades after.
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Read Betrayal of Ideals.
Well written and it's nice to see that Blaine can write something without a ton of American Civil War references, but I thought that the Wolverines were a little too squeaky-clean. Would have been nicer if they'd been shown playing a little dirty before everyone turned on them instead of it just being a story about how they were so much better and more awesome than everyone else which caused all the haters to burn them down.
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Read Betrayal of Ideals.
I have read it too and it has been discussed before. Somewhere. Once upon a time. Someone made a claim it hasn't been in print and thus is not canon. What do you say?
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It's an official Battletech novel. Unless Catalyst says otherwise, the way it depicts everything unfolding is canon.
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I have read it too and it has been discussed before. Somewhere. Once upon a time. Someone made a claim it hasn't been in print and thus is not canon. What do you say?
Just looked at the summary of it. Wow and yeah that would fit in with the canon for the clans.
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i am looking for a book series about 30 years back and read them about 22 years back for love of all that i know of i cannot remember the series
it was 5 books set it was about search by rebels to find 5 rings that would deactivate the computer that runs the humanity.
earth is a cradle of human civilization and where computer is located.
humans live in pre industrial stages and are supervised by other humans the supervisors. supervisors are made to live like their subjects every few years and mind wipes are manditory and when they come back they get their minds back
enforcer droids that computer uses are called val
and humans on other planets are altered to fit the environment by use of matter transmutation.
the 5 rings are used as symbols of power by leaders of the planets. there is one ring per planet and computer is not allowed to destroy them if one is lost it has to be replaced.
any one know this series?
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I finally got, Embers for War. WOW, what great novel. Heavy Mech combat, intrigue, and more.
I so well...want Shadow of Faith to come out soon, what great lead in to this.
Edit : Im idot, i wrote wrong title name...sorry guys.
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The Invisible War - by Donald Grey Barnhouse: Explores the 'Gap Theory' regarding the hidden age or ages between Genisis chapter 1 and 2.
Old, but interesting.
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Hey elf25s... Sounds like the Jack L. Chalker series Rings of the Master.
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Speaking of Chalker, I really need to re-read the Saga of Well Worlds again. An awesome series of books from three decades or more ago
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Jack L Chalker is a pretty awesome writer overall. Charlie Tango and I both collect his books.
The first five Well World novels are great. I still have my copy of the "Midnight at the Well of Souls" RPG. I also love the "River of the Dancing Gods" series, which knowingly plays with a lot of fantasy memes - you might say it's "written in" to the universe ;) Then there's the "Soul Rider" series - head-bending on identity/reality/human nature.
The "Quintara Marathon" - also great. And some of his standalones - like "The Devil will drag you under" - repay reading.
The only ones I don't really like are the "Changewinds" books. Missed it for me.
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The thing I never got was his author's notes in one of the Dancing Gods novels where he complained about people considering the series to be fantasy-comedy considering that that was exactly the way he wrote it.
The Changewind series didn't even make sense.
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Hey elf25s... Sounds like the Jack L. Chalker series Rings of the Master.
yah thats the one! my kid bro borrowed them 20 years back and i could not remember them since he has them now
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Time for a Trial of Posession!
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Reading The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford.
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Reading The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford.
Such a good book ...
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Just finished reading King's The Dark Tower books, in chronological order. Now reading O'Rourke's Parliament of Whores which is still relevant 25 years later.
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Old Man's War by John Scalzi. First time read for me. Scifi novel about how old people are given second chance @ life ask soldiers for human colonies. The charcters are really depicted well and author really makes them interesting since there raised and grew up like people today. Its nice read but i thought it felt too short.
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Space Cadet by Robert A. Heinlein. Found my much battered paperback from 20 years ago.
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Old Man's War by John Scalzi. First time read for me. Scifi novel about how old people are given second chance @ life ask soldiers for human colonies. The charcters are really depicted well and author really makes them interesting since there raised and grew up like people today. Its nice read but i thought it felt too short.
There's a total of six or seven books in the series now.
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Space Cadet by Robert A. Heinlein. Found my much battered paperback from 20 years ago.
I just gave my eleven-year-old my old copy of The Star Beast from when I was her age.
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Someone posted scans of the 1992 Robocop vs The Terminator. Nostalgia trip. Hasn't aged well, and wasn't too good to begin with. But, i miss some of the 90's comic art. Not Jim Lee stuff.
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There's a total of six or seven books in the series now.
Are they continuation of the main character of the 1st book or separate story in the same universe? I notice in the preview of the next book the main character love interest was in it thou she was retired.
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The Last Colony and Zoe's Tale are continuations of the same story. The other books feature some of the same characters and all tie into the overarching metaplot, but aren't direct sequels in the sense that they're not all the same characters doing the next chronological event. I do recommend reading all of them to get the complete story.
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Space Cadet by Robert A. Heinlein. Found my much battered paperback from 20 years ago.
Excellent story!
I recall John Ford mentioning it in his novel The Final Reflection.
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(http://i.imgur.com/zrGX76B.jpg)
So far so good, she's done her research and its highly entertaining. O0
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Been a while since i posted in this thread. I just finished couple book actually.
- Come Endless Darkness - 2nd to the last book of Gord the Rogue series original run by Gary Gygax.
I picked that up the book just before reading Dance in Darkness not knowing it was the prequel. :P Well, it was it's own adventure and it was a good read. Man does demon kind in the Greyhawk universe look mighty nasty. I've read off and on D&D adventures. Wow, does Mr. Gygax get into detail with nasties in this realm. It makes Forgotten Realms universe look like a cakewalk in comparison. Dance in Darkness literately destroys Greyhawk universe for another reality where Gord and his lady love and friend live in better life. - Star Trek: The Lost Era novel, Catalyst of Sorrows by Margaret Wander Bonanno - Again a gem of a novel. This one features rather older Admiral Uhura who is in charge of Star Fleet Intelligence, who needs resolved a mysterious plague which effect Romulan/Vulcans type humaniods and spreads. This takes place 10 years before the pilot of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was good story, I'm not much for pandemic sort of stories, but this was well done and nice see where Uhura ended up after the events of Enterprise B.
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By this time I only have two trilogies of DnD high fantasy to my name, and those are the Dark Elf Trilogy and the Dragonlance Legends. Plus the Legend of Huma, which could stand alone as a very good book in the overall genre, beyond being a series based novel. IMO.
If I stumble across the Greyhawk stuff again, I'll give it a shot. I've only read Gygax DnD and ADnD adventure modules and books like the PH of DMG, or the old red and aqua and blue DnD rule books. I've read Chainmail, the original yellowed panphlet, twice. But not his novels.
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We call the Player Handbook and DMG rulebooks or core set. XD
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By this time I only have two trilogies of DnD high fantasy to my name, and those are the Dark Elf Trilogy and the Dragonlance Legends. Plus the Legend of Huma, which could stand alone as a very good book in the overall genre, beyond being a series based novel. IMO.
If I stumble across the Greyhawk stuff again, I'll give it a shot. I've only read Gygax DnD and ADnD adventure modules and books like the PH of DMG, or the old red and aqua and blue DnD rule books. I've read Chainmail, the original yellowed panphlet, twice. But not his novels.
I was fortunate. The gentleman who ran my FLG store was selling his prized collection for a song. I found i like the early DND novels more than recent one. I've bough and read number Pathfinder novels, which are on par with quality of story (smaller scale) of TSR books.
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navigators of dune ...will start tonight
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Just finished Rising Tide (The Threat from the Sea Book 1) by Mel Odom. A Forgotten Realms book, set way past the Avatar series and events of "Mongolian" Horsemen invasion *i don't know what nation is actually called but their styled like Mongolians*. Rising Tide is unsurprisingly a sea base event, where ancient threat from early day life on Toril, the world Forgotten Realms Set. The story is focused on number characters, but the primary movers is a young sailor and the ancient evil whom is plotting invade the surface world by using other races of the oceans and manipulating evil aligned surface dwellers.
It was very good read (first time read for me), there 2 other books in the series I need find as well as anthology done by other authors. It's nice change pace of fighting on the seas.
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That was one of the last 2nd Edition Forgotten Realms novels released. At the time, it was promoted as being the biggest world-shaking event since the Time of Troubles, but when the 3rd Edition rolled around it barely rate a single sentence in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting book.
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That was one of the last 2nd Edition Forgotten Realms novels released. At the time, it was promoted as being the biggest world-shaking event since the Time of Troubles, but when the 3rd Edition rolled around it barely rate a single sentence in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting book.
Nothing sea base from what i've read in the past of other franchise seems to get any notice. I'm not surprised. My beloved Spelljammer-series of books got the same treatment. Given shake up of the company, anything related to the faded away. The ships, the Spelljammers in 4th edition registered as some kind of inter-dimensional vehicles not sailing ships used to cross the Stars.
Next book i'm reading is The Dawning of a New Age, 1st book of the Dragonlance's Dragons of New Age. Only begun reading the first book and it seems ok. Not fan when Magic dies myself, so i'm trying get through reading it. I always had problems reading Dragonlance books, not finding them as compelling as the Forgotten Realms books.
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The Dragonlance setting always felt cramped to me, like there were too many intelligent races crammed into a single continent that was nowhere close to being large enough to actually fit them all. And then the books set after the Twins trilogy just seemed out of place.
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Hostage by Robert Crais. I have read a couple of Crasis' books (The Two-Minute Rule and The Monkey's Raincoat ) and usually enjoy his stile. (The Two-Minute Rule was outstanding.) Apparently they made a movie about it with Bruce Willis, so I may dig into that later.
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The Dragonlance setting always felt cramped to me, like there were too many intelligent races crammed into a single continent that was nowhere close to being large enough to actually fit them all. And then the books set after the Twins trilogy just seemed out of place.
I read the Dragonlance books but I didn't keep them. They were ok but a steel economy just seemed silly to me; no one should be able to afford armor and weapons ;D
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Yeah, that was just one of the things that made no sense in the setting. I liked it in junior high, but I'd really moved on to other series by the time I got to high school.
I actually met Margret Weis at GenCon once. Seemed kinda grouchy and strangely reluctant to talk about what she was selling.
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I actually met Margret Weis at GenCon once. Seemed kinda grouchy and strangely reluctant to talk about what she was selling.
For a few years there Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman were cranking out so many stories we used to joke about the "Weis & Hickman Book of the Month Club" ;)
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Funny thing is i was it lead me to to try read stuff from Dragonlance universe due to when i picked up early anthology, not reading the books she and her partner Hickman wrote. It initially was very rich description of world that was refreshing different from the typical D&D setting. Admittedly, i found most of the 1st gen or early D&D novels had more original interpenetration of same world they were on, such as Ed Greenwood very first Elminster novel, Gary Gynx's Gord the Rogue series (Set in Greyhawk setting). Which had magic work differently.
I know it wasn't popular but the six Spelljammer novels have always been my favorite as series form. Which kinda made possible blend worlds together while they still stood unique in each their own locations. I know it was bit more over the top than others, had certainly nasty monster scenes in it. I really did like how it story was told despite switching off between authors. I started trying again to dabble into Dragonlance since main character was originally from Krynn (the world of Dragonlance). It helps to have some good authors writing it Nigel, Mel Odom, among writers contributing to the series. Thou i am a fan of space and naval related stories too.
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Hostage by Robert Crais.
Fun fact, Bialar Crais in Farscape is named for Robert Crais.
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... It helps to have some good authors writing it Nigel, Mel Odom, among writers contributing to the series. Thou i am a fan of space and naval related stories too.
I'd not consciously read anything by Mel Odom before that I could remember, but a few months ago I finished reading the trilogy of novels he wrote set in the Android/Android: Netrunner series. I found them to be a pretty solid read; I only really know the Android universe through the board game and the handful of novels written for it, but the books kept me entertained, so you might fancy giving them a try? The trilogy is called the Identity trilogy, and the three novels are Golem, Mimic and Rebel. They're based around the second Android ever to become a detective for the New Angeles police department, and what happens when he starts having memories and reactions he can't explain.
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I read the Dragonlance books but I didn't keep them. They were ok but a steel economy just seemed silly to me; no one should be able to afford armor and weapons ;D
I liked that point in Feist's Riftwar books. The entire point of the Tsurani invasion was Kelwan was metal starved and Midkemia had an abundance. Trade would have made more sense, but then there wouldn't have been a story... (I liked the first six or eight books of the Cycle.)
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ok i know its bit off beaten track and my aunt had sent me these to read so i will not forget how to read or speak the home tongue...i forgot how much i enjoyed them as a kid tho...so i took some time and started to read to my eldest youngling....she sent me following
czterej pancerni i pies / four pancers and a dog
kajko i kokosz polish comic book series which my daughter finds funny whenever their pet dragon milus gets involved with farm stock in the fort they live in.
alfa a sci fi science art magazine a mixture of science articles and sci fi stories both as articles and comics
relax magazine a whole bunch of them a magazine that was a showcase of polish comic book art
orinoko a book about a man who goes native and lives in their village on orinoko river
pan samochodzik first 12 books its about aman who has a peculiar car which turns into a speed boat he also works for a museum services kind of like indiana jones but in the 60s thats when first books had been written.
swiat mlodych discontinued youth magazine that all kids used to read it was a must read for any one in boys scouts funny she kept buyng it till it stopped publishing because i liked it as a kid.
w pustini i w puszczy in desert and jungle story set in time of suez canal construction in africa 2 children get kidnapped by religious fanatics and after getting away they make their way home by crossing african continent...
faraon fictional story set in time of kings in egypt when pyramids had been just finished
love my aunt but all that reading over few weeks will make sore between the temples since i had not read any polish lit in about 2 decades...keep in mind i tried keeping the titles as close as possible to english
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Re-read Roar of Honor by Pardoe.
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I just finished first book of the Fifth Age in the Dragonlance series, The Dawning of a New Age by Jean Rabe.
Having not read many Dragonlance books, frankly not ones i actually found i'd like. This one was like fresh new start, while it does respected the past.
I know this book is like ancient history, but it's fun read and feel world epic effects across the story as Krynn tries come to the grip with a world of just mortal and return of Dragons try to rule them.
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I liked what they tried to do with that book and was disappointed when it seemed like they turned around and brought back all the original elements for the final novels while ignoring much of the world-building that had been done. Seemed like a huge missed opportunity.
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Finished 'The Neverending Story'. Magical.
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Personal Demons by Elliott Kay.
Warning: Personal Demons contains explicit sex, explicit violence, explicit language, explicit use of implications, open relationships, polyamory, blasphemy, sacrilege, heresy, paganism, sorcery, portrayals of matters divine and demonic bearing little or no resemblance to established religious canon, prejudice, murder, mass murder, singular murder, alley murder, conspiracy to commit murder, regicide, treason, dismemberments, impalement, arson, defenestration, racially charged ‘Nam flashbacks, trash-talking, smuggling, mansplaining, spoiled Christmas surprises, numerous state and Federal firearms violations, organized crime, transnational crime, avian conscription, disturbances of the peace, paranoia, Doomsday preppers, illegal immigration, party fouls, public endangerment, underage drinking, human sacrifice, destruction of cell phones, false identification, consumption of alcohol, mayhem, attempted kidnapping, mass vehicular collisions, reincarnation, conspiracy to commit sexual promiscuity, threesomes, assault and battery, banditry, reverse banditry, eye-gouging, cultural misappropriation, trespassing, lies, innuendo, intrigue, foreplay under false pretenses, bribery, political corruption, spiritual corruption, misuse of military facilities, a blanket fort of ill repute, home invasion, warfare, espionage, mercenary activity, consumption of sentient beings, panhandling, lingerie, cohabitation outside of marriage, missed homework assignments, too much pizza, toxic masculinity, abbreviated sex scenes, fully descriptive sex scenes, romantic sex, casual sex, mild dom/sub play, mystic servitude, stalking, knife-throwing, weaponized alcohol, weaponized furniture, weaponized human remains, drone strikes, slavery, eternal damnation, mind control, carjacking, spitting, biting, vandalism, gossip, sexual objectification, immolations, feminist solidarity, zombie terrorists, pissy ex-boyfriends, too much information from Grandpa, and a flagrant narrative disregard for common standards of decency.
Looks to be as much of fun as previous entries in the series, which are:
Good Intentions
Natural Consequences
Life in Shadows
Now I have something good to read while I do my business in the toilets O0
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...defenestration AND a blanket fort of ill repute. Pushing the bounds of decency there.
Finished Django Wexler's books through Guns of Empire. Kind of ambivalent as to whether I'll continue or not.
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Finishing up The Frontiersman by Alan Eckert. The Prophet has just screwed over all the Northwestern tribes.
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I discovered that Admiral Nimitz's Gray Book is available for free download as a pdf, so I grabbed all 8 volumes and am working my way through them.
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I am currently reading Dr. Phillip Thomas Tucker's Pickett's Charge A New Look at Gettysburg's Final Attack Detailing General Lee's last offensive push of the battle, it is superlative and bloody. The hook for me was confirmation of a, "rumor" I heard years ago about how Lee's actual plan of attack was clean and masterful; maximised by use of combined arms to protect the infantry's flanks by use of flying artillery and six brigades of cavalry led by J.E.B. Stuart assaulting the rear of the Union Army right as the Infantry was hitting the stone wall.
Bungled execution of Lee's plans by Longstreet (especially concerning the timing of the infantry assault before the Artillery ran out of ammo and was unable to support. Col. Alexander of the artillery planned for a bombardment of 20-30 minutes to ensure ammo would remain for infantry support but Longstreet stretched it to nearly 2 1/2 hours...along with poor fuses and a bombardment of the reverse slope of Cemetery Ridge instead of the stone wall) and Hill killed the chances of a highly successful assault (little-known Barksdale's charge July 2 had broken the Union center but was withdrawn when there were no units to exploit the gains).
As seems par for the course, Lee's genius was no match for his Corps Commander's abilities to wreck his plans. An excellent book, IMHO. It is very bloody.
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The good old adage "No plan survives the first contact intact.." and in this case your own subordinates!
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As seems par for the course, Lee's genius was no match for his Corps Commander's abilities to wreck his plans. An excellent book, IMHO. It is very bloody.
That sounds... almost exactly like Waterloo. Either a heck of a serendipity or someone's reading into it. Either way, I'll look for this O0
Finished reading Ghosts of Cannae by Robert L. O'Connell and Battle of Midway by Craig L. Symonds.
The former was a very good attempt to peer past the cloak of history and propaganda into the actual political and tactical considerations surrounding Hannibal's campaign, very highly recommended.
The latter was not just an in-depth look into the battle but also includes the story of the Kido Butai's 'short victorious war' in the Pacific from Pearl Harbour running up to the disaster at Midway, so just be prepared not to dive straight in.
I'm told both books are seminal works on their subjects, and I think I quite agree. Next: The Marne, 1914.
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Picked up, and finished, Matthew Reilly's new book the Four Legendary Kingdoms yesterday. Absolutely fantastic, if you like your novels fun, fast and slightly fantastic I can't recommend it highly enough.
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I am currently reading Dr. Phillip Thomas Tucker's Pickett's Charge A New Look at Gettysburg's Final Attack Detailing General Lee's last offensive push of the battle, it is superlative and bloody. The hook for me was confirmation of a, "rumor" I heard years ago about how Lee's actual plan of attack was clean and masterful; maximised by use of combined arms to protect the infantry's flanks by use of flying artillery and six brigades of cavalry led by J.E.B. Stuart assaulting the rear of the Union Army right as the Infantry was hitting the stone wall.
Bungled execution of Lee's plans by Longstreet (especially concerning the timing of the infantry assault before the Artillery ran out of ammo and was unable to support. Col. Alexander of the artillery planned for a bombardment of 20-30 minutes to ensure ammo would remain for infantry support but Longstreet stretched it to nearly 2 1/2 hours...along with poor fuses and a bombardment of the reverse slope of Cemetery Ridge instead of the stone wall) and Hill killed the chances of a highly successful assault (little-known Barksdale's charge July 2 had broken the Union center but was withdrawn when there were no units to exploit the gains).
As seems par for the course, Lee's genius was no match for his Corps Commander's abilities to wreck his plans. An excellent book, IMHO. It is very bloody.
What exactly are they basing this claim on? I mean, the Battle of Gettysburg is one of the most well documented battles in American history, so it seems odd that someone would suddenly have new information about what really led to the Union victory.
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I've recently finished Heir to the Dragon, which I very much enjoyed.
I'm now working on David Weber's Shadows of Victory, the latest installment of the Honorverse series, and it's quite disappointing. I'm a little over 300 pages into an 800 page (on my Nook) book, and so far nothing has happened. None of the major characters have even appeared yet! I'm going to push on and finish it in the hopes that the main plot gets advanced in the second half, but I'm not optimistic.
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The Harry Potter books. I read the first years ago but it did nothing for me, but I am giving it another chance as I read it to the kid.
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Just finished David Weber's latest Honorverse and Safehold books.
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Currently finishing up V20: The Endless Ages Anthology.
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In my replay of the Shadowrun series I hit Shadowplay. Another Findley book, and nice timing. The book takes place from Nov 12-16. Just in 2053.
Meow Liao
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What exactly are they basing this claim on? I mean, the Battle of Gettysburg is one of the most well documented battles in American history, so it seems odd that someone would suddenly have new information about what really led to the Union victory.
Dr. Tucker is basing it off of years of research into personal documents of the participants and analysis of battlefield tactics of the day, especially Napoleonic warfare. While the Gettysburg campaign is well-documented, it doesn't mean that a mythology surrounding the events couldn't have arisen to protect the reputations of certain Southern generals excepting General Lee.
The book is heavily footnoted with primary sources and provides the most in-depth analysis of the immediate participants of Pickett's Charge I have ever read. I believe this excellent tome will continue to revolutionize the masses' understanding of that assault and how close it came to breaking the Union line and if properly supported by Longstreet and Hill, destroying the Army of the Potomoc. Like Waterloo, Gettysburg was, "a damn close run thing."
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Just finished David Weber's latest Honorverse and Safehold books.
Working through Safehold #7, with #8 in queue. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure - I know it's not good for me, but like potato chips, so easy to keep on munching ;)
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Working through Safehold #7, with #8 in queue. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure - I know it's not good for me, but like potato chips, so easy to keep on munching ;)
Right there with you.
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So, uh.
I just read ALL of the Dresden Files last week. Kinda funny just how much time you can put into a series when you don't do the silly things like eat or sleep.
Overall, I like it. It's not GREAT, but I think it's better than the Anita Blake series - at least this one didn't degenerate into mediocre porn. I don't mind porn, but it's not what I'm reading a series about modern horror and magic for.
Do wonder where he's going with it. He seems to have a solid plan ahead.
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Question: is it fair to class spinoff novels from games, etc as "pulp fiction"? The some hundreds of Dragonlance novels made me wonder if this was a good classification for them.
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I've described the BattleTech novels as trashy but fun sci-fi.
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Question: is it fair to class spinoff novels from games, etc as "pulp fiction"? The some hundreds of Dragonlance novels made me wonder if this was a good classification for them.
I'd say so.
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I'm trucking though (slowly) the Dragons of a New Age trilogy from the Dragonlance novels.
I just finished The Day of the Tempest, which the 2nd book. The writing continues to be well written, but the quest to get remaining magic of the world to fight the good fight against the dragon overlords is getting nastier for the heroes. Jean Rabe wrote a good triology, with alot twists and turns in the plot but still entertaining. The 1st Book was better thou, the main character maybe going down a dark road soon from what I've read into it.
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Question: is it fair to class spinoff novels from games, etc as "pulp fiction"? The some hundreds of Dragonlance novels made me wonder if this was a good classification for them.
I read a lot of actual pulp fiction--short stories, read by a mass audience, and published in magazines up to about '55 (around when the format died)--so my general reaction is to say "no". On the other hand, I see what you're getting at, in that we increasingly use the term to mean any sort of disposable writing, which actual pulp writing was certainly intended to be (and I'm sure game fiction publishers have little faith that their stuff is going to be read much beyond a few years). So it does kind of work as a convenient shorthand, even though some of the original pulp writing is leagues better than any game fiction is likely to ever reach (Chandler and Hammett have Library of America collections now, for instance, and deservedly so).
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I've described the BattleTech novels as trashy but fun sci-fi.
I think the older series are mostly better than the Dark Age novels: one of the Dark Age books had agromechs harvesting winter wheat in the snow... ::)
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I think the older series are mostly better than the Dark Age novels: one of the Dark Age books had agromechs harvesting winter wheat in the snow... ::)
I think the latter two thirds of the Dark Age novels have a better average quality to the classic BattleTech ones, but the older novels have better great novels than the Dark Age, if that makes sense.
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Ground through all of the Harry Potter novels and the play. Enjoyed it, but didn't fall in love with it as so many have. I did tear up a bit at one point (Dobby's burial) and laughed out loud quite a bit, so that was good. I agree with Steven King's assessment of Rowling's writing (she's "never met an adverb she didn't like,") and it was distracting at times but not unreadable by any means. (My favorite new, horrible example for writers: "'Quiet' said Dumbledore quellingly." I have yet to read a line more likely to take the target audience out of the story than that one.)
The characters were mostly interesting, they all had strengths and faults, the stories moved well, and I liked how the play tied off some story lines. Not a wasted week, so there you go.
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My biggest beef with the HP series was how criminally incurious Harry was. He's just been introduced to a world of magic and monsters and all kinds of awesome stuff, and he absolutely never bothers to try to learn about any of it on his own time because Hermione needs to be the exposition fairy in order to contribute anything to the group.
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Read Holger's Marne 1914, highly unrecommended. Far more interesting were Evan Wright's Generation Kill, E.B. Sledge's With The Old Breed (the book which is the basis for the HBO Pacific miniseries), and Dan Mills' Sniper One.
I think modern American war memoirs try far too hard to be "this generation's Platoon" instead of telling a balanced story. Generation Kill was more less partisan but still tended towards this. Its somewhat off-putting.
My biggest beef with the HP series was how criminally incurious Harry was. He's just been introduced to a world of magic and monsters and all kinds of awesome stuff, and he absolutely never bothers to try to learn about any of it on his own time because Hermione needs to be the exposition fairy in order to contribute anything to the group.
Granted, Harry doesn't learn much for himself up until Book 4 when his posterior is thrown into the fire(y cup), but he develops further in the subsequent books. His exam results also show he's not a complete blockhead either. However the level of arcane (both the magical and nonmagical sense) knowledge Hermione learns probably would not have been needed in most (not war) conditions.
After all, our own world is every inch as rich, richer in fact, than the Potterverse. But how many fifteen year olds study and apply the contents of their history, chemistry and physics textbooks to the extent Hermione does? Or maybe more applicable university subjects like finance, programming, engineering?
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The problem was that he was thrown into this brand new magical world that he thinks is just so awesome yet he never takes any initiative to try learning anything about it. It's understandable that he'd skip things like history (since the Hogwarts history professor is terminally boring) but he doesn't show any initiative when it comes to actually looking up things that he does like or that are relevant to his immediate goals.
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Human Bullets.
Its a first hand account of a Japanese Infantry Lieutenant in the Port Arthur campaign during the Russo-Japanese War.
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The problem was that he was thrown into this brand new magical world that he thinks is just so awesome yet he never takes any initiative to try learning anything about it. It's understandable that he'd skip things like history (since the Hogwarts history professor is terminally boring) but he doesn't show any initiative when it comes to actually looking up things that he does like or that are relevant to his immediate goals.
I've enjoyed Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London" series. The protagonist - a young PC who stumbles into the magical world, complete with an eccentric (and very marginal) official "magic police" element - has been engaging with the interaction between the new 'world' and his existing one of PCs, internet, and mobile phones.
For example, magic damages powered-up electronics in close proximity, preventing a policeman for calling for support when things turn pear-shaped. His response - the 'screamer', a disposable phone with a built-in panic button with a short delay, kept powered off. When in trouble, run, press the button, throw it hopefully out of danger, and the 'screamer' does a robo-call for help including it's current location.
Using technology around magic's limitations and vice versa.
Now reading Watt's "Rifters" trilogy. I think it was Charles Stross who said "When I start enjoying life too strongly, I read Rifters". Crapsack world, yeah. But the hard sci-fi is very well thought out.
W.
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"Rivers of London?" I'll have to look that up.
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I had been reading Napoleon's Wars by Charles Esdaile (quite fascinating, an attempt to put not only Napoleon and his wars in the broader picture of European policy and politics), however my copy of The Red Sphinx arrived today, so everything else can wait. :D It's Alexandre Dumas, it's the first time it's been in English in over a hundred years, & its a direct sequel to The Three Musketeers..."All for one, and one for all" wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! (Oh, and it's translated by one of the early major writers of TSR Hobbies.)
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Tiger Tank Owners Workshop Manual by Haynes
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Finishing up a re-read of Yoshiyuki Tomino's "Gundam" trilogy then onto "First Strike" by Christopher Verspeak.
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The Starfish trilogy by Peter Watts. This is a dystopian's version of crapsack world, but the science is strong. Also a little torture in the last book, which is not fun, but not necessarily gratuitous.
Working through "Blindsight", also Peter Watts. More depressing than Starfish, and the science is even stronger.
Will probably retreat to Stuart Slade's "The Big One" books for some total wish-fulfilment time with fission weapons :)
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just in case anyone is interested
Amazon has the kindle version of the Complete Collection of Conan the Barbarian for free
Dave
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Is that just REH's finished works, REH's unfinished & essays, or the ... other ones?
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Collected here in the chronological order they were first published are Robert E. Howard's definitive stories of Conan, exactly as he wrote them. A foreword and afterword by Stephen Jones provide a biography of Howard along with a comprehensive overview of his writing and background on the world of pulp fiction. World Fantasy Award-nominee Les Edwards contributes a black and white frontispiece, along with a gold embossed work on the leather-style cover, while Hugo Award- and Bram Stoker Award-winning editor and author Stephen Jones provides an insightful afterword.
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Chronicles-Conan-Robert-Howard/dp/0575077662/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1484888502&sr=8-4&keywords=conan+the+barbarian
looks like just the REH stuff
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I've already got two DTF complete Conans, plus then and another in e-form, but ... darn! Kindle only! I'm an Android reader >:(
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You can get a Kindle app on an Android device.
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or you can try calibre to convert it to format you use its free
i have multiple devices and platforms....it helps a lot
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the only kindle in the house is for the kid
I use the app on my 3 droids and my Win10 desktop, wife uses her iphone6
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I'm reading Nova by Laura E. Rasmussen. It's an interesting sci-fi novel though the author overindulges in purple prose on occasion, like saying that someone was struck hard enough to literally break their neck. Because, you know, being struck hard enough to figuratively break someone's neck is a thing that happens all the time. Or talking about "midnight colored light." But in spite of that it's a good read so far.
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Finished The Mote In God's Eye this weekend, and picked up The Gripping Hand and West of Honor at a used book store.
The Moties are an utterly alien race.
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Mote is a book I'd purely love to see in film. Easily doable now.
Don't forget to look for the third Mote book by Jerry Pournelle's daughter. It's interesting. But not as fun as Mote.
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Mote is a book I'd purely love to see in film. Easily doable now.
Don't forget to look for the third Mote book by Jerry Pournelle's daughter. It's interesting. But not as fun as Mote.
there was a third mote book?
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there was a third mote book?
Outies by Jennifer Pournelle.
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The Traitor Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson. The main character is an accountant. Battles are fought with loans, taxes and commodity trading. There are far more political fights than battles. But Dickinson weaves all that into an immersive, white-knuckle ride of excellent hard fantasy. An expansion of his short story "The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Her Field-General, and Their Wounds" (which you should not read if you read the novel), it covers gender issues, the evils (and goods) of colonialism, politics, some great battle scenes, the costs or war and power. The characters are solidly built, especially Baru, who works at becoming a chess master but still forgets the other pieces have their own views on the matter. It is a fantastic, though far from uplifting, novel. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
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I'm currently working on The Essential Star Wars Atlas. Interesting book, especially now that I've picked up the Rebellion board game. It's kinda neat to see what some of the more obscure worlds are on the map, considering the extent of my Legends knowledge is limited and relatively glossed over.
Before that, I finished the 1st Hammers Slammers compilation. I recall reading this in High School and not really appreciating the collection. Some of it was neat, but it wasn't the pulp sic-fi action I wanted to read as a kid. Having reread it, I think better of it, but there are still some things I don't like about some of his prose choices, and some of the narrative. But, that might be because it's a compilation of short stories, which really don't have room to go into world building. It makes me wonder, though, if any of the novels he wrote will actually be worth my time.
And, next on my docket: The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman. It looks to be another future of vietnam type sic-fi.
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In the way you can say that Starship Trooper is just another post-Korean War book. Arguably, those two are some of the finest works of military S/F. THe fact that both make you think is not a coincidence, even though they do this in completely different ways.
("Forever Peace" is not connected in any way with "The Forever War"; I personally didn't like it, but it's not badly written. "Forever Free" is a direct sequel to "The Forever War", but goes in a completely different direction. Recommend "Free", not "Peace".
I keep SST & TFW next to each other on my shelves, along with a copy of Harrison's "Bill, the Galactic Hero".
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I like Drake's Slammers books, but I LOVE his Republic of Cinnabar Navy (RCN) series. He's a good writer, but he was definitely working through some PTSD when he wrote the Slammers.
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I like Drake's Slammers books, but I LOVE his Republic of Cinnabar Navy (RCN) series. He's a good writer, but he was definitely working through some PTSD when he wrote the Slammers.
Aye, the Cinnabar books are excellent.
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In the way you can say that Starship Trooper is just another post-Korean War book. Arguably, those two are some of the finest works of military S/F. THe fact that both make you think is not a coincidence, even though they do this in completely different ways.
("Forever Peace" is not connected in any way with "The Forever War"; I personally didn't like it, but it's not badly written. "Forever Free" is a direct sequel to "The Forever War", but goes in a completely different direction. Recommend "Free", not "Peace".
I keep SST & TFW next to each other on my shelves, along with a copy of Harrison's "Bill, the Galactic Hero".
Actually, I'm pleasantly surprised by Forever War, so far. It's a quick and easy read. A lot of detail I have to fill in with my own imagination, though. A guy with the last name Mandella has to be of the darker skinned persuasion, right? I'm using Wil Smith as his stand-in while the Rock is Cortez.
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I currently have several Shadowrun books on backlog to read, as well as two of the original series I found this past Friday (only 3 to have them all!)...also found 3 Greyhawk novels to, I think, finish out that series...but first I have to finish this Conan novel I'm reading, and then there's the 5 I found this past Friday that I didn't already have...
Ruger
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A guy with the last name Mandella has to be of the darker skinned persuasion, right? I'm using Wil Smith as his stand-in while the Rock is Cortez.
Have you hit where he explains why that's his last name? I took it that his parents were well-off, middle class anglo hippies who dropped out, tuned in, and got high a lot ... but you could entirely be right
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Just started reading Blaine Lee Pardoe's "Betrayal of Ideals".
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Just got Silence Fallen, the latest Mercy Thompson novel by Patrica Briggs.
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Just got Silence Fallen, the latest Mercy Thompson novel by Patrica Briggs.
I love these books. A different look at the paranormal/supernatural world.
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Just finished Old Man's War. I really liked this one. Are the sequels any good?
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Just finished Old Man's War. I really liked this one. Are the sequels any good?
Yes.
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I love these books. A different look at the paranormal/supernatural world.
Yeah, I always liked that Mercy had a real job and that she's stuck with it the whole series no matter what type of supernatural shenanigans occur. She actually has a life, which is pretty rare for an urban fantasy main character.
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Yes.
Seconded! But be forewarned... the sequels have different points of view.
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i know read it before but my oldest youngling asked me about the book and why was i chuckling...a very rare occurance in itself since i almost never laugh or smile.
cyberiad by stanislaw lem aka robot salies
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just finished Angry Lead Skies by Glen Cook. First one of his books I have read in about 16 years. Looks like I have some catching up to do.
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I just read through How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 1 Kindle Edition. That's a mouthful for a Japanese light novel. Should I say something about it? Young Japanese man finds himself facing
Lord British a king in medieval style castle. Where have I seen that before? In Ultima IV I believe, and something along that line is mentioned in the light novel itself. So demon king is conquering the continent and small kingdom is having serious problems with incoming refugees, shortage of food, and declining economy. What is a hero to do? Someone says:
“It is said that a hero is ‘one who leads the change of an era,’”
Japanese hero thinks he can work with that, and light novel takes a sharp turn from RPG cliches to strategy game with heavy emphasis on economy. Light novel has some 256 pages with a number of pictures. Main character is very capable with handling the crumbling economy, thanks to his modern education on the matter. Good number of side characters are also likable. Though there are number of cliches & tropes we may have seen in a good number of other Japanese light novels, manga, and anime, there isn't anything that made me think: "Not this shit again!" I really liked and enjoyed of what I read. I quote you part of the book:
After calling her over and practically forcing her to sit next to me, I pushed two stacks of paper in her direction. “Please compare these two sets of documents and look for places where the values, or the number of items, don’t agree and mark them.”
“Huh? What? What kind of work is this?”
“What, you ask? Digging for buried treasure. That’s what.” I explained to the perplexed girl in uniform. “For ‘unaccounted-for expenditures,’ to be precise. One pile is requests for budgetary appropriations, the other is income and expenditures reports. Even if the amount requested and the amount spent match, if the number of items differs, that can be indicative of either wasteful investment undertaken to fully use up their budget, or embezzlement disguised as investment. We’ll check those, and if any laws have been broken, we’ll make each of the responsible parties pay to make up the loss. If we uncover personal embezzlement, we will mandate repayment, and in the event they cannot pay, we will arrest the offender and seize their assets.”
“U-Understood.”
Perhaps she had been intimidated by the threatening air of a man who had gone without sleep, because the girl nodded along as I talked.
Good.
Does that make any sense to you?
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Just got done reading The Terran Privateer and Duchess of Terra by Glynn Stewart. Earth has been expanding into space and has just discovered a method of creating ultra-dense material they call compressed matter. The first warship built using compressed matter armor has just been commissioned when an alien fleet arrives and announces that they're here to add the planet to the local space empire. The entire Terran fleet beside the lone compressed-matter hulled Tornado is wiped out, and the Tornado is given orders to flee the system and become a privateer to capture materials that Earth can use to fight off the attackers. It's a pretty good pair of books even if the author is prone to using excessively high numbers when it comes to things like damage capability.
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Does that make any sense to you?
Given my son's an accountant, yes. But it presumes that there's a culture of record-keeping in a way which allows comparison between sources. Much rennaisance trading required considerable record-keeping, but the way each trading house/family tracked these things was quite intentionally different, and not necessarily apparent to outsiders (like local lords wanting taxes). Sound more like early Victorian culture, than medieval, but ... not a problem if the story's good.
Pretty sure the girl is doing what she thinks will make the scary man go away ;)
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Pretty sure the girl is doing what she thinks will make the scary man go away ;)
She's female lead, and after realizing Japanese's capabilities, she wants him to stay.
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I've bought & read first volume of Konosuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! It's not yet available for Kindle, so I bought it from iTunes instead and read it with iBooks app on my iPhone 4 (NOT available for Windows). 16 years old Japanese dies, he meets a girl claiming to be a goddess, and this girl asks Japanese to save a fantasy world from demon king. Goddess lets guy choose one thing to take along with him to fantasy world. Guy chooses goddess, and off they go. So guy has great expectations for a great adventure in fantasy world along with powerful goddess like in JRPGames he's very familiar with. Light novel even has number of RPG terminology which would fit perfectly to tutorial in RPG video game. Then reality kicks his ass, hard, and hilarity ensues. Light novel parodies fantasy (game) cliches with a style. Though there are some comical monsters (giant toads larger than a cow, flying cabbage), main focus of the ridicule are the characters, many of them with (TV Tropes warning!) crippling overspecialization (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CripplingOverspecialization). One of the characters explain it as this:
"Nope. Not to brag, but I have high HP and Strength. If I were able to actually hit monsters most of the time, I might defeat them before they ever got a chance to hit me in return. I could hold back and let them attack me on purpose, but...it's not the same. It's like...to go in there swinging my sword as hard as I can, but it's just not enough, and they overpower me...that feels so good, you know?"
Male lead sums it up:
My party can't be this dysfunctional.
Anime adaptation is pretty close match. However, anime left out some things, like first meeting with Wiz. Anime introduces Wiz in her store with some short reference about main characters meeting her up earlier. Light novel has that first meeting in good detail. However, fight with flying cabbage was about the same like aftermath of "I give you Capellan Confederation" in Riposte. It means there is a good reason to read the light novels even if you have also watched the anime. Though some details are little different, there are no significant conflicts between the 2 medias, and going through both of them gives you the whole story bigger, longer & uncut.
I also bought manga by mistake (didn't expect that to be available for iBooks). It is clearly the bottom performer, cutting off several scenes and shortening others. I suppose it could be used to introduce the franchise to your friends in shorter order than anime episode. If you get it on paper or on iPad (iPhone's screen is too damn small). Otherwise I can't recommend it.
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On my Shadowrun flashbacks, I just finished Fade to Black. It might be my favorite story from the Shadowverse.
I am mixing in the old BT novels now. Just finished the Warrior trilogy. I've had my fill of phantom mech for another 10 years or more. Currently about a third of the way through Wolves on the Border.
Meow Liao
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Just finished Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. Not at all what I was expecting. It was pretty much just a telling of the traditional Norse myths. I guess I was expecting more of a modern novel format to Gaiman's book. I've always had an interest in Norse myths so I still enjoyed it but if you don't share that interest you might find this book a tough slog.
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How censored is it? Is it pretty accurate to the original poems or was it toned down any?
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Finished Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. I started the second week of November and finished this past weekend. I know that it isn't most folks' cup of tea but I find it tremendously immersive. Tempted to dive right back in again but may catch up on the latest Star Wars Novels or something.
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I am currently reading: Calming your Angry Mind, Speaker for the Dead and a CompTIA/A+ book.
I recently finished: The Grey Death Legion Trilogy and Marcus Aurelius "Mediations."
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The Collapsing Empire- John Scalzi.
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i am sure this was one of short stories by Isaac Asimov but for life of me i cannot find the book it was in
story goes something like this;
a scientist who is considered a nut job or peculiar by his colleagues has a research project about why jokes even when they are old are funny.
he succeeds and proves indirectly that humanity is a long term project and the jokes are funny because they are part of a control for the experiment. as a result the controllers take away the ability to laugh from humanity.
i read this story about 10 years back any one read it? or knows which compilation of short stories it was in?
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I found some of my father's old paperbacks and I have been reading them. He loved Louis L'amour, and I just finished Mustang Man and have started on The Sky Liners.
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I remember reading a Louis L'amour short story in English class in high school. One of the questions we had to answer afterword was how it compared to other Louis L'amour stories we'd read.
I put "this is the only Louis L'amour story I've read."
It was marked wrong.
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I remember reading a Louis L'amour short story in English class in high school. One of the questions we had to answer afterword was how it compared to other Louis L'amour stories we'd read.
I put "this is the only Louis L'amour story I've read."
It was marked wrong.
You should have read it twice and then said "this is exactly like all the Louis L'amour I have read"
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I remember reading a Louis L'amour short story in English class in high school. One of the questions we had to answer afterword was how it compared to other Louis L'amour stories we'd read.
I put "this is the only Louis L'amour story I've read."
It was marked wrong.
Dumb question to start with.
But yes, he does pulp western, one doesn't have great expectations of it... my eyes were more opened when I stepped outside of LL in fact
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Still worth it for a history of western lit course I took. :)
You know you're having a fun cheeky time when Blazing Saddled gets assigned.
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Louis L'Amour's "The Walking Drum" is one of my all time favorite books. Not a Western. Come to think of it I've never read any of his Westerns.
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My Father really liked L'amour's stories. My reading his old paperbacks is a way to connect with him even after he's been gone now fifteen years. Next Saturday would have been his 100th birthday. 8)
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My Father really liked L'amour's stories.
Mine too...
Ruger
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There is a strange glory to the old pulps. Face it - Howard's Conan was pure pulp, and it's still great reading in its genre. More modern examples - the Perry Rhodan novels, EC Tubb's "Dumarest" saga, Doc Savage Man of Bronze - even classic ERB Tarzan and John Carter - all have their moments in the sun, and like a fast-food franchise, deliver exactly what they promise every time.
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There is a strange glory to the old pulps. Face it - Howard's Conan was pure pulp, and it's still great reading in its genre.
I don't know about the genre, but I feel Conan is overvalued today. I've got & read good number of Conan stories (Kindle versions from Amazon), and it just doesn't do it for me. TOWER OF THE ELEPHANT is so meh. Fine, there are some good ones too. My personal favourites are THE FROST GIANT'S DAUGHTER and A WITCH SHALL BE BORN (Kindle version capitalizes the titles). Most of the rest don't seem any better than BattleTech novels. But that's just me.
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there is also a difference in age, when I read Howard, it was the early 80s, had just seen the movie, but for a lot of us there werent many things to compare it with
we had Fafyrd & the Grey Mouser, the Xanth books, a few other books by DeCamp and Carter (who had finished the Conan series), heck at the time AD&D only had 3 books
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Just finished an unusual one. "Why England Slept" by John F. Kennedy. He wrote it as a Senior at Harvard in 1940 about the British lagging in military buildup in the years leading up to WWII.
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Well I know that has to do with war weariness from the World War One in which Britain had an entire generation ground up in the trenches and an Economy that was straining on the war footing. One of the reasons why they were so enthusiastic for the naval treaties; they couldn't afford to strain their economy anymore in a naval arms race, or at least a new cabinet not interested in keeping it up.
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And they still got it a lot better than France had.
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Finished Lonely on the Mountain which brings me to the end of my Louis L'Amour reading.
I've been thinking about picking up a biography of George C. Marshall.
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Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
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That book was an excellent piece of fiction.
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I don't think that Rich Dad, Poor Dad was that fictional. When reading business books you always need to remember that which was yesterdays hype is tomorrows bankruptcy or criminal court case. I remember Atari being hyped in some business books, along with the recently departed CEO of Yahoo. I tell you one thing that was spot on in that book that if the advice had been heeded, it would have lessoned the blow from the housing implosion. And that would be "your house does not belong in the asset column, it belongs in the liability column" Maybe if that were heeded, less people would have gotten neck deep into houses they couldn't afford because at the time they were told and they fooled themselves into "well its an asset, and assets are good"
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I don't think that I can offer a thorough analysis of the book without violating forum rules, but I will note that most of the advice in the book is boilerplate self-help guru stuff. In general, it's a really good idea to be wary of people who are offering to sell you the secrets of financial success.
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Anyone can recommend any good military novel series?
I've finally run through all of Sharpe, Hornblower and Harrington.
I don't think that Rich Dad, Poor Dad was that fictional.
(snip)
And that would be "your house does not belong in the asset column, it belongs in the liability column" Maybe if that were heeded, less people would have gotten neck deep into houses they couldn't afford because at the time they were told and they fooled themselves into "well its an asset, and assets are good"
Except that Robert Kiyosaki strongly advocated investing in the property market, and claimed rental returns could cover mortgage instalments, taxes and maintenance. To be brief: it's not that simple. Plus the 'fictional' part comes in because some property investments he claimed to have made were proven not to have been.
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When questioned over who the "Rich Dad" was, he also said something to the affect of him being a "parable like Harry Potter." So the rich guy that the book is allegedly about is not a real person.
The most telling thing I've seen about him was (paraphrased): some people make money, then write a book. Kiyosaki wrote a book, then made money. In other words, he wasn't someone who had been successfully investing prior to writing Rich Dad, Poor Dad, which casts a big question over just how useful any of the advice it gives is.
Anyone can recommend any good military novel series?
I've finally run through all of Sharpe, Hornblower and Harrington.
Have you tried Glynn Stewart? His Castle Federation series (currently Space Carrier Avalon, Stellar Fox, Battle Group Avalon, and Q-Ship Chameleon, with a fifth book coming out) is decent. Maybe not quite as good as the better Harrington novels but they're still decent. Also free on Kindle Unlimited, if you're a subscriber to that.
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Have you tried Glynn Stewart? His Castle Federation series (currently Space Carrier Avalon, Stellar Fox, Battle Group Avalon, and Q-Ship Chameleon, with a fifth book coming out) is decent. Maybe not quite as good as the better Harrington novels but they're still decent. Also free on Kindle Unlimited, if you're a subscriber to that.
Read synopsis of Book 1, sounds promising!
I'll hunt for it in my local scifi bookstore
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Thrawn by Zhan.
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Anyone can recommend any good military novel series?
I've finally run through all of Sharpe, Hornblower and Harrington.
Ian Douglas, pseudonym for William Keith Jr, has some good three-book series connected over time. The Heritage Trilogy, Legacy Trilogy, and Inheritance Trilogy map Humanity's progress from fighting in the Solar System to fighting across the Galaxy.
Keith's Warstrider series - an attempt to start a giant robot franchise which he owned, not FASA - are interesting, but go a little wierd towards the end.
For fantasy, I cannot recommend Glen Cook's "Black Company" series strongly enough. Get the first three, and then decide if you want more. His "Dread Empire" books are also good.
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Giving a good reading to Bushido: The Soul of Japan, by Inazo Nitobe. Dont know why the spanish translation changed the subtitle to "Precepts of the Samurai`s Honor".
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Giving a good reading to Bushido: The Soul of Japan, by Inazo Nitobe. Dont know why the spanish translation changed the subtitle to "Precepts of the Samurai`s Honor".
Well, both subtitles are accurate.
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for life of me i cannot remember the book and my memory is pretty solid when it comes to those things...
i read this over 27 years back and did not think of it till recently when my buddy and i started talking about wormholes and doctor who( yah been a nerd and always will be )
story goes something like this
in near future earth get anew small moon in shape of an asteroid that pretty much appeared out of no where. expedition is sent and it is found empty but for a human city inside...to make things more fun the asteroid seems to be a doorway to a tunnel that seems to have no end
i recall there being at least two books of the series
any help ?
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Anyone can recommend any good military novel series?
I've finally run through all of Sharpe, Hornblower and Harrington.
The Complete Hammer's Slammers is about armored tank regiment with 170 ton hover tanks that can shoot up to satellite orbit. Written by veteran of Vietnam War, and it shows. A lot.
Antares Dawn and sequels are space warfare written by NASA engineer, and it shows. A lot.
Starship Troopers by legendary Robert A. Heinlein. It is about Battle Armor infantry whose arsenal goes all the way up to nukes. Over here bugs have guns and starships.
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in near future earth get anew small moon in shape of an asteroid that pretty much appeared out of no where. expedition is sent and it is found empty but for a human city inside...to make things more fun the asteroid seems to be a doorway to a tunnel that seems to have no end
i recall there being at least two books of the series
any help ?
"Eon", by Greg Bear. Bear writes flawed masterpieces, but "Eon", and the completely unrelated "Forge of God", are his 100% perfect books IMHO.
The sequel, "Eternity", expands on "Eon", but only hits the 80% mark (again IMHO), and has a weak ending.
The prequel, "Legacy", is a pile of steaming ****, and I highly recommend avoiding it.
But grab "Eon", and "Forge of God" if you see it.
W.
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"Eon", by Greg Bear. Bear writes flawed masterpieces, but "Eon", and the completely unrelated "Forge of God", are his 100% perfect books IMHO.
The sequel, "Eternity", expands on "Eon", but only hits the 80% mark (again IMHO), and has a weak ending.
The prequel, "Legacy", is a pile of steaming ****, and I highly recommend avoiding it.
But grab "Eon", and "Forge of God" if you see it.
W.
THANKS! i just could not remember for life of me
i read some of his stuff on and off but he never made an impression on me that would last
i prefer niven alot more
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I'm an old Niven junky. Shame he's too old, and seemingly infirm, to still be writing. (In the back of "Burning Tower", Jerry Pournelle talks about visiting the Grand Canyon with Larry, and having to get Larry's wheelchair down the canyon.)
Try Alastair Reynold's "Revelation Space". If you like that, then the rest of that arc, and all of Reynold's other books.
Ken MacLeod's "Engines of Light" trilogy, for some more euro-centric stuff.
"Permutation City" and "Diaspora" by Greg Egan, for hard-tech mind-stretching.
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I'm an old Niven junky. Shame he's too old, and seemingly infirm, to still be writing. (In the back of "Burning Tower", Jerry Pournelle talks about visiting the Grand Canyon with Larry, and having to get Larry's wheelchair down the canyon.)
Try Alastair Reynold's "Revelation Space". If you like that, then the rest of that arc, and all of Reynold's other books.
Ken MacLeod's "Engines of Light" trilogy, for some more euro-centric stuff.
"Permutation City" and "Diaspora" by Greg Egan, for hard-tech mind-stretching.
never cared for his ring series much...
but i did enjoy protector and mote a lot
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Celtic Visions
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Currently working my way through "The Doomed City" by Boris & Arkady Strugatsky.
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^ thanks guys
took a break from the scifi and finally finished I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan. Going to get into The Sandman: Book of Dreams by Neil Gaiman, still wondering if his Norse Mythology is worth the dollars.
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still wondering if his Norse Mythology is worth the dollars.
It's simply a retelling but with a more coherent narrative and easier reading.
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Anyone can recommend any good military novel series?
I've finally run through all of Sharpe, Hornblower and Harrington.
I've read quite a few other military scifi books:
- The Hammer's Slammers series by David Drake (a series of novels and short stories about a mercenary armored company)
- The Valor Confederation series by Tanya Huff (a series of novels about a marine officer and her troops).
- The Forever War series by Joe Haldeman (a series about infantrymen in an war against an alien species and the results of trying to return to civilian life after experiencing relativistic interstellar travel)
- The Old Man's War series by John Scalzi (a series were old recruits are transferred into younger bodies to fight an interstellar war).
- The Kris Longknife series by Mike Shepherd (a series that follows the career of a space navy recruit from a well to do family).
Finally, while it isn't a series any discussion of military scifi has to address Heinlein's Starship Troopers. If your only exposure to this story was the movie of the same name, be aware that the made gigantic changes from the book.
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Finally, while it isn't a series any discussion of military scifi has to address Heinlein's Starship Troopers. If your only exposure to this story was the movie of the same name, be aware that the made gigantic changes from the book.
Originally movie didn't suppose to have any relation to the novel. Then someone noted manuscript has similarities to the novel, license was bought, and script was modified to match the novel better.
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At lunch I started Storm Front, book one of the Dresden Files. Nice smooth writing. I got through about twice what I normally read at lunch. I'll get through more tonight. For the first time in a long time, I'll make time for some non-lunch reading.
Meow Liao
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Yes, I've read Starship Troopers. I'm hoping for a more novel-accurate film adaptation sometime in the future... but the political overtones of the novel might kill or significantly distort such a project. Its too thinky to be a blockbuster. Hell, as it is, it seems most people have difficulty understanding the satire inherent in the 3 very dumbed-down ST movies.
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Yes, I've read Starship Troopers. I'm hoping for a more novel-accurate film adaptation sometime in the future... but the political overtones of the novel might kill or significantly distort such a project. Its too thinky to be a blockbuster. Hell, as it is, it seems most people have difficulty understanding the satire inherent in the 3 very dumbed-down ST movies.
ok good news is there is some serious talk to make another ST movie that is totally unrelated to the franchise but is closer to the book...
last i hears they were talking directors and budget
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Yes, I've read Starship Troopers. I'm hoping for a more novel-accurate film adaptation sometime in the future... but the political overtones of the novel might kill or significantly distort such a project. Its too thinky to be a blockbuster.
Honestly, the political tones of the original novel are at this point so archaic that I think it would be hard for much of the public to identify with them.
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StarShip Troopers - post Korean war sci-fi military novel
The Forever War - post Vietnam war sci-fi military novel
So what's the post-Gulf War sci-fi military novel? Kratman's "The Liberator"? (hopefully not) Scalzi's "Old Man's War"? not John Ringo's "Ghost" series #P. Comments?
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StarShip Troopers - post Korean war sci-fi military novel
The Forever War - post Vietnam war sci-fi military novel
So what's the post-Gulf War sci-fi military novel? Kratman's "The Liberator"? (hopefully not) Scalzi's "Old Man's War"? not John Ringo's "Ghost" series #P. Comments?
Where does Steakley's Armor fit into this?
Ruger
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Only read the first few, but it's pretty stock space opera, to my recollection.
Hammer's Slammers (and Dagger Point) are clearly reactions to the Vietnam war, IMHO. In different directions.
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StarShip Troopers - post Korean war sci-fi military novel
The Forever War - post Vietnam war sci-fi military novel
So what's the post-Gulf War sci-fi military novel? Kratman's "The Liberator"? (hopefully not) Scalzi's "Old Man's War"? not John Ringo's "Ghost" series #P. Comments?
I'm not sure if the Gulf War ever really had the lasting effect on the civilian consciousness that the Korean and Vietnam Wars did. I think we might have to wait for the post Afghanistan War sci-fi military novel.
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Hammer's Slammers (and Dagger Point) are clearly reactions to the Vietnam war, IMHO. In different directions.
Hammer's Slammers is based on author's (David Drake) experiences in Vietnam War. He describes writing the series as therapy. He also gives some details about what are the common points in the stories to his personal experiences and where he deviated from. For example, Night March has number of common points with one time in Vietnam, but he didn't experience a battle at that night.
[edit]
Author's narrative is written at least in The Complete Hammer's Slammers which I have read.
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Williamson's "A Long Time Until Now" could be seen as post-Afghan military science fiction, but it's certainly not in the vein of the Slammers.
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Re-reading the RCN series by Drake. I'm on The Far Side of the Stars. (#3)
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if i get the time i will start reading all ian flemings 007 series...this weekend...
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StarShip Troopers - post Korean war sci-fi military novel
The Forever War - post Vietnam war sci-fi military novel
So what's the post-Gulf War sci-fi military novel? Kratman's "The Liberator"? (hopefully not) Scalzi's "Old Man's War"? not John Ringo's "Ghost" series #P. Comments?
I've heard good things about Embedded by Dan Abnett (of "and Andy Lanning" fame), Linda Nagata's The Red trilogy, and Marko Kloos' Frontline series. Would Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy count as military SF, or is it more Space Opera?
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Embedded is a good book. I read it a couple of years back. Triumff, also by Abnett, is a change of pace for him as it involves humor and satire. Elements I had not seen in any of his previous works that I read.
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Had some time today to read, so I finished The Sandman Book of Dreams... hit and miss I'm afraid. Also borrowed Gaiman's Norse Mythology off a friend. Okay fine, as an introduction for a first timer its good, but I've heard a couple of the tales retold in a more interesting manner. Still, I wouldn't mind if he made it a series and tackled a few other mythologies the same way, specially ones I'm not familiar with.
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After hearing about the series earlier in the thread I looked into David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" series and picked up all three volumes of "The Complete Hammer's Slammers". Looking forward to starting in on these books tonight.
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Joe Abercrombie's "Half a ..." trilogy.
"Half a king" - really enjoyed this. Runs near a whole bunch of fantasy tropes, but avoids all the cliches, and produces some excellent twists & turns.
"Half the world" was good, but somehow not quite as satisfying.
"Half a war" - not finished it yet; interesting, but I think I see how it'll end.
Still Abercrombie is an enjoyable writer, and I've had good fun reading his other books.
Next, "War Factory" - Neal Asher's next Polity book.
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finally got around to finishing
leo frankowskis
copernics rebelion and boy and his tank
some fun short time with ideas that are little off beaten path
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Storybundle has a bundle of military sci-fi ebooks running at the moment, but I don't recognise many titles. I recognise a few of the authors, though!
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Stalin's Hammer: a novel of the Axis of Time
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I'm reading a superhero story right now. The characters are okay, but it's painfully obvious that the author has no idea how the US Legal System actually works: he keeps having things occur involving laws that would never happen that way in real life. He's also prone to inserting in author's notes in the middle of chapters to reassure as that he's not actually trying to make a political statement with his ridiculously caricatured politician character or what game system he got the name for a type of superpower from: in other words, stuff that should have gone into an author's foreword or author's notes section rather than go into the story itself.
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Now on House of the Sun in my return to the sixth world. This gives me an excuse to again mention how much I enjoyed Findley's work on Shadowrun. A few weeks ago I found his Earthdawn novel, and I am saving it for next Saturday (Findley's birthday).
Meow Liao
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James D. Hornfischer's The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at War in the Pacific, 1944-1945
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Poul Andersons Tau Zero. It was a bit depressing, but okay.
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Just finished Bernard Cornwell's Waterloo The History of Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles
Storm of Swords is probably next.
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ok for life of me i cannot remember the title of book by larry niven that had the sea statue loose on earth.
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World of Ptaavs, elf25!
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somehow i knew you would know and be first one to know it LOL
thanks...!
now where did i put the box with that book?
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Just finished reading "The Age of Wonder: The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science" by Richard Holmes. Fascinating book. (It's hard to pick a favorite section, it was all equally fascinating. But I would have to say the section about the Herchels and ballooning were both fantastic). If only they had taught science class like that in school I might of actually paid attention!
Next one up is "Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration" by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto.
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Where can I find good reference material for uniforms, branch insignia, and branch colors of the Japanese Self Defense Force?
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I got a sci-fi anthology (A Fistful of Credits) on my Kindle recently. Started reading it until I got to an author's blurb about antimatter not being real.
Deleted it on the spot. Was a Kindle Unlimited book so not out any money.
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Reading several books: Seven Fallen Feathers, Salt: A World History, The Witchwood Crown, and The Tiger's Daughter.
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I just started reading Alistair Reynolds' book Pushing Ice. So far, its starting out a bit like Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama. Humans trying to investigate an giant alien ship before it leaves the solar system. I'll have to see what the author does to make this story unique.
Re-reading the RCN series by Drake. I'm on The Far Side of the Stars. (#3)
Like a lot of us here, I suspect, I'm generally a fan of military SF. For some reason I just could not get into this series, though. :-\
Also borrowed Gaiman's Norse Mythology off a friend. Okay fine, as an introduction for a first timer its good, but I've heard a couple of the tales retold in a more interesting manner.
I was really disappointed in Gaiman's Norse Mythology. As you said, they were a serviceable retelling of the old stories, but I was really expecting an author like Gaiman to do something interesting with them, not just regurgitate them. :(
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If you haven't read "Century Rain", get that after "Pushing Ice". They're not at all connected.
Have you read the whole "Revalation Space" series? "The Prefect" is my absolute favourite of a series of darned good books. And "Terminal World" is a wonderful novel.
Side issue - China Mieville's "Railsea" is a wonderfully subversive piece of narrative.
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Like a lot of us here, I suspect, I'm generally a fan of military SF. For some reason I just could not get into this series, though. :-\
I was really disappointed in Gaiman's Norse Mythology. As you said, they were a serviceable retelling of the old stories, but I was really expecting an author like Gaiman to do something interesting with them, not just regurgitate them. :(
It's a book I'd recommend to teens or well-read preteens who have zero idea about Norse mythology. So there is that. I shouldn't fault it for not living up to previous retellings I've read... but I do. Gonna try Ocean at the End of the Lane next.
Drake's RCN reads like Honor Harrington fanfiction, IMHO.
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I finished A Storm of Swords last week, it was a slog to get all the way through that for some reason and I'm halfway through A Feast For Crows this week. A better book, imho. I'm also reading What to Expect: The First Year for babies.
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I just finished Chain of Command by Frank Chadwick. Its a very enjoyable (IMO) piece of military Scifi involving a conflict between humans and another member of the interstellar confederation they belong to. The main character is serving on an American space destroyer and it follows him and the ship through the conflict.
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Currently reading Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything. So far, very enjoyable and interesting.
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Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, all ten books. Currently up to Reaper's Gate. Really amazing series, especially when Erikson's humor comes to the front, which it does quite a bit from Midnight Tides and on.
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Reading Born A Crime by Trevor Noah.
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I stayed up late into the night listening to a BBC audio theater version of Gibson's Neuromancer. So well done I couldn't turn it off.
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That sounds interesting... link? O:-)
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@Daryk: YouTube recording here: https://youtu.be/S89BHnaxULo (https://youtu.be/S89BHnaxULo)
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Excellent, thanks! O0
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Reading Born A Crime by Trevor Noah.
A very interesting read.
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A very interesting read.
I don't think too many other people could take the story of the time their mother threw them out of a moving car because the driver was going to murder them and make it quite so hilarious.
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Making my way through "Hunters of the Dark Sea" by Mel Odom. So far I want to say it's good (not really like any of his Shadowrun novels). It's about whalers encountering something out in the deep...
There's two main POV characters: one is fairly good, the other seems terribly anachronistic, so that character's portion grates...
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Just got my copy of Persepolis Rising (The Expanse #7). Dug in far enough so far to see the time-jump only. :o This is gonna be interesting.
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Re-reading Plato`s The Republic after almosta decade since i readed originally. Also got myself a copy of Marcus Aurelius`s Meditations.
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I'm currently trying one of John Scalzi's novels for the first time, Old Man's War; to go with it, I'm also reading Seven Days of Joyeux, a prequel novella to Tansy Robert's Musketeer Space adaptation of the Three Musketeers, as I found the full novel to be great fun.
I just finished Lucy Hounsom's first World builder novel, Starborn, which wasn't as good as I'd hoped.
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I'm currently trying one of John Scalzi's novels for the first time, Old Man's War; to go with it, I'm also reading Seven Days of Joyeux, a prequel novella to Tansy Robert's Musketeer Space adaptation of the Three Musketeers, as I found the full novel to be great fun.
I just finished Lucy Hounsom's first World builder novel, Starborn, which wasn't as good as I'd hoped.
I loved old.mans war, i think you'll enjoy his sense of humor.
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What Foxx said... I like to periodically re-read Old Man's War. It's really good.
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What Foxx said... I like to periodically re-read Old Man's War. It's really good.
That entire series is quite good.
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True! But I have to admit, I like the first one the best... :)
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A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.
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Currently reading A God in the Shed by J-F. Dubeau.
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I received several book for Christmas and the first that I am going through is by a professor of ancient Greek history titled Why the West Has Won. Its very interesting.
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I've been reading military sci-fi short story anthologies. They're a good length for the morning subway commute, and you get a range of settings and styles that's very refreshing. Downside is the quality always varies from writer to writer.
Three I've read recently are:
Infinity Wars (https://one-way-mirror.blogspot.jp/2018/01/at-least-partially-on-target.html)
Total Conflict (https://one-way-mirror.blogspot.jp/2018/01/conflicting-views.html)
War Stories (https://one-way-mirror.blogspot.jp/2017/12/military-scifi-without-much-of-either.html)
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I have bought third volume of Konosuba light novel and I'm enjoying it.
Again, I wasn't, like, in love with Darkness or whatever. But still... for some reason, it just made me really angry.
...
If we didn't do something, our beloved Crusader was going to be somebody's bride.
Our...beloved...hmm? Hmmm?
Kazuma is so tsundere it is adorable ;D
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Since I last posted, I killed off both A Feast For Crows and A Dance With Dragons. I've also fully read two of the three volumes of The Rational Male (with the third soon to follow) by Rollo Tomassi, as well as 1177BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline. Also, Hilarity Ensues by Tucker Max.
I'm planning to read Operation Bagration, 23 June-29 August 1944: The Rout Of The German Forces In Belorussia by Richard Harrison (and the Soviet General Staff). Afterward, I'll probably finish reading Kevin Leman's The Birth Order Book. I'm also thinking about re-reading The Killing Star by C. Pellegrino.
...and a couple of Battletech books soon.
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I just finished reading Down Among the Sticks and Bones (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31450908-down-among-the-sticks-and-bones?ac=1&from_search=true), but Seanan McGuire. Its a prequel to her book Every Heart a Doorway (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25526296-every-heart-a-doorway). The idea is that all those children's stories about children finding hidden doors or magic mirrors or mysterious storms that take them to other worlds are true. The first book focuses on a boarding school for the children that actually returned to the normal world and have trouble coping. This prequel is about two of the characters (Jack and Jill) and their trip to and eventual return from a different world. Its pretty dark, with lots of emotional and mental trauma, and a fair bit of blood and gore.
I like a lot of Ms. McGuire's books, she has some interesting and original ideas and a sly and at times snarky sense of humor. I think she's best known for her urban fantasy books, but she's also done a very funny series about an ex-superhero and some SF books under the pseudonym Mira Grant. I think there are one or two more books in this series that I need to track down and read now.
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Funny, I've just been reading her In Cryptid novels.
Decent enough if you can overlook the absurdity of using an alligator snapping turtle as a means of quickly disposing of a human body (an alligator snapper could eat around 5-10 pounds of meat in a sitting and would then have to take a long time to digest it).
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Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photography of Edward Curtis- Timothy Egan.
A great biography about turn-of-the-century photographer Edward Curtis, who photographed numerous Native American people such as Chief Joseph and Geronimo, and was in large part responsible for changing a great deal of public opinion about them at the time. He also pioneered outdoor photography of places like Mount Hood and Alaska.
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Just starting into "The Morning After: The 1995 Referendum and the Day That Almost Was"... basically about what the leaders of the time thought and planned on had Quebec voted for separation in 1995.
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Well, not this quite counts since it just arrived in the mail today, but just got the first volume in a new series:
A Hero Born by Jin Yong (the series is "Legends of the Condor Heroes"). I believe the original Chinese version was a trilogy, but this English translation is supposed to run to 12 volumes I believe. O.o
(The trilogy has been described as the Chinese wuxia Lord of the Rings.) Needless to say I'm excited to dive into it.
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Well, not this quite counts since it just arrived in the mail today, but just got the first volume in a new series:
A Hero Born by Jin Yong (the series is "Legends of the Condor Heroes"). I believe the original Chinese version was a trilogy, but this English translation is supposed to run to 12 volumes I believe. O.o
(The trilogy has been described as the Chinese wuxia Lord of the Rings.) Needless to say I'm excited to dive into it.
Accurate enough. Or the Chinese Star Wars.
My favourite is the 3rd novel, Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre.
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Accurate enough. Or the Chinese Star Wars.
My favourite is the 3rd novel, Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre.
I'm excited to read it...but the second volume had a release date of January 2019. :o
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I'm excited to read it...but the second volume had a release date of January 2019. :o
Some of us have been waiting decades! We thought this day would never come! :D
I myself considered writing a retelling of HSDS from the single complete fan translation available... it would sound better with a single voice, style manual and retold rather than transliterated. Getting away from direct translation would capture more of the flavour of the story... for example the 3rd book would sound lots better in English as "The Sword of Divine Mandate and the Dragonslayer Sabre".
As it is half the world is torn between whether it is the Condor or Eagle heroes....
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Just finished reading two books about aerial combat, Lords of the Sky by Dan Hampton and Carrier Pilot by Norman Hanson (https://one-way-mirror.blogspot.jp/2018/03/flying-off-pages.html). Now working on Bomber by Len Deighton. It covers a single British bombing raid over Germany over roughly 24 hours. Agonizingly slow build-up but man, does Deighton know his stuff. Great read.
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working thru rules for Bolt Action, German OOB (Nafziger) and for lighter reading
the Liberal Redneck Manifesto by Crowder Morgan and Forrester
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Just started The Savior Generals by Hanson.
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Wess'har Wars #1 City of Pearl - 3/10
Background is a vegan treehugger's dream come true, but as I was looking for military scifi its not what I signed up for. Traviss loves characters who are hard-as-titanium-nails SOBs who don't give a flying fornication about anything else but themselves and their perceived mission. IRL we call them anuses. In fiction this is great in setting up plot and developing conflict; not so great when its the protagonist one is supposed to be rooting for, even less so when events are written so they are right.
Many interesting background elements such as megacorporate takeover of Govt, overpopulation, body enhancement etc are inadequately followed up. The book is obviously an introduction to a long series but its not a good one. I won't be reading further.
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"The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle.
Most striking thing about it so far is how closely a lot of the background/setup to the book parallels the BattleTech setting: The year is 3017 (vs. 3025), humanity is recovering from the Secession Wars (Succession Wars), there is a hereditary nobility, there's a planet filled with people who speak in phonetic Scots despite living 1,000 years in the future (Skye/Nortwind), interstellar travel is accomplished by Alderson Drives that allow ships to jump from point to point, though these points must be far away from stars or large planets.
The actual writing/story is a bit pedestrian by comparison. The verra nae ken we noo Scots engineer is an irritating stereotype, and the main character is so dull he could be played by Sam Worthington. Still early going yet, it may pick up.
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I just finished re-read the three books of the Dragonlord Chronicles by Thorarinn Gunnarsson.
I have to say I enjoy these books. It certainly old style of telling a tale of fastasy setting, but i like setting as well as well story in general.
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Just finished reading the Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie. Space Opera, baby!
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Currently reading "Borne" by Jeff Vandermeer. It's okay so far, feels like a bit of a slog at times. I definitely liked his Southern Reach trilogy better.
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Recovering from surgery has giving me quite a bit of time for reading! I finished an edited autobiography of Baron Jean-Baptiste Marbot, an officer in Napoleon's army from Italy through Waterloo, finished a biography of James B. McPherson, a remarkable general who served under Sherman, and finished a sci-fi novel Though Hell Should Bar the Way, the latest of the Republic of Cinnabar Navy series.
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Ah! There's a new RCN book! I obviously need to get to a book store!! :drool:
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I am a third of the way through a newly issued edition of A Dreamer's Tales (April 2018) and it is living up to the hype.
How can a book of short stories first published in 1910 have hype?
It is written by a man whom the following authors have all said inspired their own writing:
Arthur C. Clarke
Ursula K. LeGuin
J.R.R. Tolkien
H.P. Lovecraft
Robert E. Howard
David Eddings
Gene Wolfe
Michael Moorcock
Peter S. Beagle
Gary Gygax
Yeah, I am really liking this book thus far, and thus far I have seen a few premonitions of what I have read in Tolkien, LeGuin, Beagle and Lovecraft. I am eager to find more!
*edit* The author's name is Lord Dunsany.
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I am a third of the way through a newly issued edition of A Dreamer's Tales (April 2018) and it is living up to the hype.
How can a book of short stories first published in 1910 have hype?
It is written by a man whom the following authors have all said inspired their own writing:
Arthur C. Clarke
Ursula K. LeGuin
J.R.R. Tolkien
H.P. Lovecraft
Robert E. Howard
David Eddings
Gene Wolfe
Michael Moorcock
Peter S. Beagle
Gary Gygax
Yeah, I am really liking this book thus far, and thus far I have seen a few premonitions of what I have read in Tolkien, LeGuin, Beagle and Lovecraft. I am eager to find more!
*edit* The author's name is Lord Dunsany.
found a free copy on Amazon's Kindle, thanks for the recommendation.
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Just finished reading the Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie. Space Opera, baby!
I read the first one but heard series quality drops off precipitously after that. What's your take?
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I read the first one but heard series quality drops off precipitously after that. What's your take?
Not so much a quality change, but a tonal change. I found books 2 and 3 to be just as enjoyable as the first.
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found a free copy on Amazon's Kindle, thanks for the recommendation.
didn't catch it free but the compendium has it and 9 other stories for .99
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An Army at Dawn: The War In North Africa 1942-1943, by Rick Atkinson
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Wrapped up the English edition of Timur Vermes' "Look Who's Back"
It's a fantastically subversive little satire about Adolph Hitler waking up in a park in Germany in 2011, getting mistaken for a method actor and his focusing on his bumbling struggles with modernity. Discussion of most of the themes of the book would violate forum political rules, but by the end of it, I realized that somewhere along the way Adolph had somehow made the leap to "likable friend" and I was cheering his little victories.
That sort of terrified me, which is what I think Vermes was aiming for.
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As it is the 100th anniversary of the US fighting in Europe in WWI I have re-read My Fellow Soldiers, an excellent account of the AEF.
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I am a third of the way through a newly issued edition of A Dreamer's Tales (April 2018) and it is living up to the hype.
How can a book of short stories first published in 1910 have hype?
It is written by a man whom the following authors have all said inspired their own writing:
Arthur C. Clarke
Ursula K. LeGuin
J.R.R. Tolkien
H.P. Lovecraft
Robert E. Howard
David Eddings
Gene Wolfe
Michael Moorcock
Peter S. Beagle
Gary Gygax
Yeah, I am really liking this book thus far, and thus far I have seen a few premonitions of what I have read in Tolkien, LeGuin, Beagle and Lovecraft. I am eager to find more!
*edit* The author's name is Lord Dunsany.
Just picked this book up as well, I'd always heard of Lord Dunsany, but, never read any of his works. Once I finish up reading Operation Audacity I'll be starting in on it.
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There's a reissued paper copy with commentary by James Portnow (the design consultant that writes for Extra Credits). The Kindle edition is $1. I do recommend getting that as he's got some good thoughts on Dunsany's place in history.
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An Army at Dawn: The War In North Africa 1942-1943, by Rick Atkinson
Okay, taking a break from this. I'm really starting to doubt the quality of the research that went into this book, given that the author made some glaring errors that I know about: first, they repeated the line about M4 Shermans being known as Ronsons even though the "light's up the first time, every time" slogan wasn't used until after WW2 ended, and second he gets the American Tank Destroyer Doctrine completely wrong.
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NOS4A2, Joe Hill. The blood-covered apple has not fallen far from the scary tree.
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Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline.
I had acquired the book prior to seeing the movie, but held off wanting see the film first since i know alot is dropped from the books. I enjoyed the film, but after reading the novel. I thought the book was better, Spielberg cut alot content and arranged things from the book to fit story. Admittedly the book get's around issue with copy right issues the film wouldn't be able handle.
The book prior to me reading it, people had given me mix signals their feeling with it. Alot nostalgia built plot, but the scifi world it takes place was interesting. Not the happy not so dark world the film was set. Its worth a read if you grew up in the 80s. Its more to offer aside from nostalgia.
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8 Million Ways to Die, Lawrence Block. After watching A Walk Among the Tombstones, I decided to dig back into the Matt Scudder books. I always liked Block's turn of a phrase with titles as well, with When the Sacred Ginmill Closes (a line from "Last Call" by Dave Van Ronk) standing out for me.
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The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
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"Where's my cow?" and "Felicity Beedle's The World of Poo", both by Terry Pratchett.
Yes, new granddaughter. Start'em right young ;)
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War As I Knew It by General George S. Patton Jr.
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I remember reading that in high school.
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I remember reading that in high school.
It's been quite an enjoyable read so far!
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Just remember that Patton was a shameless self-promoter who tended to blame other people whenever anything went wrong.
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Just remember that Patton was a shameless self-promoter who tended to blame other people whenever anything went wrong.
I'm well aware of this, nevertheless I will continue to read his book! ;)
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Oh, I'm not saying you shouldn't, it's a good read after all. Just making sure that you're aware of Patton's tendencies while you're doing so. :thumbsup:
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Oh, I'm not saying you shouldn't, it's a good read after all. Just making sure that you're aware of Patton's tendencies while you're doing so. :thumbsup:
I'm well aware that he was quite the grand-stander!
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3 Commando Brigade in the Falklands: No Picnic by Julian Thompson
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Just started reading "Wisconsin Death Trip" by Michael Lesy. Quite the interesting read so far, I must say.
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I've been rereading the mainline Honor Harrington series, in anticipation of the upcoming release of the latest novel. I'm reminded of how enjoyable the books were first time through, but also how repetitive some of them were.
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I've been rereading the mainline Honor Harrington series, in anticipation of the upcoming release of the latest novel. I'm reminded of how enjoyable the books were first time through, but also how repetitive some of them were.
Hear, hear. I look forward to tilting at that windmill in the near future myself.
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I've been rereading the mainline Honor Harrington series, in anticipation of the upcoming release of the latest novel. I'm reminded of how enjoyable the books were first time through, but also how repetitive some of them were.
I can only stomach them in small doses. Honor's infallibility grates very quickly, as does that frickin cat-thing. I do like the description of combat though.
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Betrayal of Ideals...just picked it up recently...Prompted me to work to put together a couple 'Mechs I had in blisters still today...
Edit: And it will be followed by today's acquisition: Brief Cases, the new Harry Dresden anthology of short stories...
Ruger
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I can only stomach them in small doses. Honor's infallibility grates very quickly, as does that frickin cat-thing. I do like the description of combat though.
I found the side story with Honor's friend Mike was better. They're not as ubber in it as they are in spine series. Unquestionable Honor is ending they should done years ago. End Game was suppose to be ending but i don't know how well split series with focus on Honor's children (her son the space fighter, her daughter spy)
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Brief Cases, Jim Butcher. His second short story collection, most previously published in other anthologies, but including one new story, "Zoo Day." A lot of stories from different characters POVs, including Luccio, Molly, Butters, Marcone, Maggie, and Mouse. It is a solid collection, and shows how Butcher's writing has improved since the stories in Side Jobs. I hadn't read most of these before hand, and, fitting the title, a lot of them were stories when Harry was a broke-ass PI rather than the Winter Knight. And as much as I love the latter books, I miss that era. But my favorite is "A Fistfull of Warlocks," with Warden Luccio in Dodge City hunting warlocks with Wyatt Earp. Butcher says in the forward to the story that he has a couple of books of Luccio in wild west in his head, and I really really really want him to get them on paper.
It makes the wait for Peace Talks somewhat less excruciating.
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It's also got three stories about Bigfoot, which were referenced in Skin Game.
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The Looming Tower- about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the events leading up to 9/11. Riveting and infuriating all at the same time.
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And probably not something that should be discussed here.
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I'll put it this way. The material could be a very good historical treatment and even then it invites political discussion because of the subject matter. Even in a mostly anodyne list of one-liners about what we're doing. So my judgment is nothing further along those lines please; inherently rule 4 territory.
Moderator
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Im already a member in another political debate forum, so I have no desire whatsoever to discuss politics here. As per the thread, I'm only going to state what Im reading and thats it. 8)
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EARC for "A Pillar of Fire" by Tom Kratman. 1 more to go and then he says that series is concluded.
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Brief Cases, Jim Butcher.
I just read that too. I understand there was only one new story in the collection, but I had not read a number of them before. My favorites were probably the "Big Foot" stories but they were all pretty good.
Now if he would just finish the next novel! ::)
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5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands by Nicholas Van der Bijl.
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Rereading the entire Safehold Series (so far) by David Weber, again, in anticipation of the next book due out HOPEFULLY this fall. But more likely next spring... 😣
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(https://i.imgur.com/x52Vy5U.jpg)
Soldier of the Mist- Gene Wolfe
His books are very unique in that Wolfe doesnt tell you what the story really is about because his characters tend to be unreliable narrators, so you have to read slowly and in between the lines to figure it out.
In this book's case- its doubly that. Latro is an ancient Greek soldier, but a head injury makes him forget everything once he falls asleep, so the book is about his journal in trying to remember what happened to him. He is also able to see and talk to invisible gods, but so far Im not sure if he's imagining it or its truly real.
So far so good, but I only just started.
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No Way Out by Major Adam Jowett
an interesting book about British troops in Helmand in 06 author was the officer commanding for the action he writes about and the last chapter reminds one how dreadfully ones grateful country treats you after the event
and Cherry Blossom Girls 2: A Superhero Harem Adventure by Harmon Cooper
fun bubble-gum level reading
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Just finished Brandon Sanderson’s Warbreaker.
Now deciding whether to pick up something new or to go back to Sanderson’s Stormlight books to see how they fit together with Warbreaker.
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Just read The Grasslands by Kenneth Tam, the first book of his His Majesty's New World series. A new take on the 'discovers a gateway to another planet' genre. Not bad. I think all 6 in the series are available. I'll be getting the next one in August. The Canadian Royal Newfoundland Regiment on another world circa 1920-ish.
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Just finished The Anvil, which is available for immediate download here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/battletech-blaine-lee-pardoe/1129158317?ean=2940161932520
(https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/battletech-blaine-lee-pardoe/1129158317?ean=2940161932520)
I have to wait until the 1st for A Splinter of Hope though. :(
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I read Dark Tower IV:Wizard and Glass not that long ago. Good thing I did, because Roland really tries to make a reader not like him much. His backstory helped. It was a heartbreaking tale, but I like stories like that.
Currently reading The Silmariliion again. Like all great art, you get something new every time you gaze at it.
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I also read several books of The Stainless Steel Rat series a little while back. Very satisfying reading, hilariously clever.
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Read the Three Body Problem, a translation of a Chinese SF story that won a ton of awards. Secret society of people disillusioned with modernity plot to bring about an alien invasion.
Didn't think the translation was that great really, a bit too wooden and overloaded with footnotes. The structure of the story itself is also very different from a western/English novel in that it starts slow, develops very slowly, then suddenly throws a twist and rushes to the end.
Full review in my blog (see link below)
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I just started Chasing the Demon: A Secret History of the Quest for the Sound Barrier and the American Aces Who Conquered It by Dan Hamilton.
Very good read. The father of one of my dad's friends was actually an aviation mechanic who worked with Chuck Yeager when he broke the speed of sound and then went on to become an engineer for NASA and was one of the people who'd figured out how to jury rig the air filter for Apollo 13.
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I just started Chasing the Demon: A Secret History of the Quest for the Sound Barrier and the American Aces Who Conquered It by Dan Hamilton.
Very good read. The father of one of my dad's friends was actually an aviation mechanic who worked with Chuck Yeager when he broke the speed of sound and then went on to become an engineer for NASA and was one of the people who'd figured out how to jury rig the air filter for Apollo 13.
I'm gonna have to grab a copy of this book. It sounds really interesting.
Currently I'm reading Loren L. Coleman's Patriots and Tyrants.
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Just finished The Chaos Balance by L.E. Modesitt Jr. It's part of the The Saga of Recluce series, now numbering like 20 books in it's Fantasy/Scifi/Steampunk setting. Series has a like two fields of magic with two completely different sides, with very blurry sides who actually a good guys. Ive read the series before, so i am reading now just about the "White" Magic users. From their grand Colony from Colony expedition to their descents splitting up with some living becoming the Brotherhood of WhiteWizards of Fairhaven and the mighty Empire of Hamor.
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Omega Force: Legends never die. (OF10) by Joshua Dalzelle.
An entertaining read, continues the broader scope of OF9, with Omega Force chasing down a mystery that is actively trying to kill them.
If you're a fan of Sci-Fi, and lets face it we all are, I'd strongly recommend reading all of Josh's books.
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More Lawrence Block. Reading A Ticket to the Boneyard today.
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Pulled an oldy off the used book store shelf yesterday. Picked up a copy of Dune for 50 cents. Tried to read it when I was 14 but just couldn't get into it, now I'm older and more patient I think I'll appreciate it better. Hell, if I can make it through the Game of Thrones books now, Dune will be easy!! 😆
Also grabbed a copy of The Bourne Identity. The plot is SO MUCH better than the movie! But I love Cold War spy and intrigue novels!
If anyone can recommend any good espionage books set in the 50s, 60s and 70s, I'm all ears!! 😁
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As far as the rest of the Dune series, I thought books 5 and 6 were the best, though 4 wasn't too bad. Two and three were hard to read, even though they were shorter.
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If anyone can recommend any good espionage books set in the 50s, 60s and 70s, I'm all ears!! 😁
Robert Ludlum is a lot of fun in that genre, and John le Carré is a master and created of the medium's great characters, George Smiley. Call for the Dead is his first book, and they get better from there. Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy is arguably the best spy novel ever written.
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The latestTinker Tailor is the best spy movie I've ever watched - that is, spy, not action - but I'm sorry, I find John Le Carre's prose much too convoluted and the payoff too dull for really enjoyable reading.
The prose of Frank Herbert's Dune and Tolkien's LOTR is just as difficult to comprehend (and some say GRRM's Song of Ice and Fire too) for different reasons, but the payoff is well worth it. Not really so for the Smiley trilogy.
Perhaps I'm spoiled as I read loads of espionage expose memoirs and some other spy and political fiction (Jack Higgins, Jeffrey Archer, Fredrick Forsyth) before attempting Le Carre. So a lot of tropes in the books were to me nothing new.
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Currently reading The Rational Male by Rollo Tomassi
Eye-opening book to say the least.
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Hellfire by Ed Macy
Eye opening insider's view into UK Apache ops, though a little brief and could do with more detail. I didn't know just how deadly automation, sensors and networking really makes just one flight of AH-64Ds... possibly even several times more effective than the first Apaches I daresay.
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Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson
Honestly, felt like a pretty straight copy of World War Z by Max Brooks, only dumbed down a lot. Still, it's an easy read, like of like the literary equivalent of a Transformers movie.
More on my site: https://one-way-mirror.blogspot.com/
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I think i got that book from the library, read three chapters, and returned it.
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Yeah, it's a very returnable-after-reading-just-three-chapters book.
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Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson
I think it has a great core idea, but it never had the scope to pull off a World War Z/The Good War-level story. On the whole I found it very unsatisfying. That said, however, there are some scenes and sections that are very effective. One was the part where the AI threatens the young daughter of a Congresswoman through an Internet-connected doll. The build up and conversation are effective and creepy, enough so that that scene is one of very few that had any impact. I think it would have been better as a straight novel rather than an oral history.
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WWZ itself is kind of light, though it does cover a wide scope geographically
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Yeah, I was annoyed by how gobsmack stupid the military was in WWZ.
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Yeah, I was annoyed by how gobsmack stupid the military was in WWZ.
I think Max Brooks used it to push some political views which were... not necessarily plot-relevant.
I get that he had to find some way to negate military firepower so the zombies have an actual winning chance. But there are other ways to do it. In hindsight all that guff about how basically M1 Garands are supposedly better than M16s for killing zombies... ::)
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Because let's face it, zombies just aren't threatening if the other side remembers it has artillery and close air support.
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Because let's face it, zombies just aren't threatening if the other side remembers it has artillery and close air support.
WWZ did some other countries well, where the apocalypse pushes simmering geopolitical hotspots over the boiling point such that the military has its hands full dealing with more conventional threats on top of the zombies. But again that's where the book feels thin... it could have spent more time detailing those conflicts than on ramrodding his "technology is an American crutch" spiel.
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It is a great zombie novel, but that sets a pretty low bar...
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You know, after years of either schlocky or goofy zombie books and movies (Shaun of the Dead), I remember WWZ feeling very fresh when I first read it, back in '08 or whenever it was. I'm not normally a fan of the genre, but I appreciate the thought that went into it, and the oral history style was also a breath of fresh air.
Yeah, pretty much any zombie apocalypse book has to massively cripple the military in order to explain how it's defeated by an enemy lacking any kind of anti-tank, anti-aircraft or anti-shipping capability (or even any kind of ranged weaponry), but it was interesting the way Brooks used the zombies = virus/disease analogy and made it work.
Certainly, it feels much more grounded than Robopocalypse, with its magic-eyed girl and freedom-singing fembot right out of Robotech. :P
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I liked Shaun of the Dead just because I have trouble taking zombies seriously as a threatening opponent, at least on anything larger than a small-group-of-trapped-people scale.
But yeah, WWZ really beat the heck out of Robopacalypse.
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by pure happenstance, (and thanks to my local library) I am now reading Conan the Barbarian by Robert Howard. :P
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You know, after years of either schlocky or goofy zombie books and movies (Shaun of the Dead), I remember WWZ feeling very fresh when I first read it, back in '08 or whenever it was. I'm not normally a fan of the genre, but I appreciate the thought that went into it, and the oral history style was also a breath of fresh air.
True
Have you read the one before WWZ? Zombie Survival Guide? It's dry but again, fresh format to approach the genre. It was the popularity of the Guide that led to WWZ.
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by pure happenstance, (and thanks to my local library) I am now reading Conan the Barbarian by Robert Howard. :P
The stories are quite entertaining. I have a whole collection of Conan stories that I re-read periodically.
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After playing conan exiles I decided I'd like to know more about the character/world. Nothing better than the original material
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The stories are quite entertaining. I have a whole collection of Conan stories that I re-read periodically.
I have the three volume collection that has all of REH's original Conan works...I'm also about a half dozen or so books away from having at least one each of all the other Conan novels written by other authors over the years...but other than the Savage Sword of Conan compilations, best not remind me of how many of the comics I have to go...
Ruger
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I recently read:
Assumption of Risk by Michael Stackpole
Bred For War by Michael Stackpole
Be Unstoppable by Alden Mills
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Reading. Killer Angels. By Michael Shaara. About Gettysburg. Wish he wouldn't. You know. Chop his sentences. Like this. And insert. The occasional irrelevancy. Or well. Vocal tic. Bit dry. When a history book. Or Wikipedia. Is more interesting. And this. Is a novel. It kind of. Really. Doesn't say much. About the writing.
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We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young by Hal Moore.
Im surprised that the movie covered so little of what was written in the book. All in all, very good, though the formatting is kinda messy since Im reading the pocketbook edition.
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Alpha Strike intro rules.
Also my notes for tomorrow's game.
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Reading. Killer Angels. By Michael Shaara. About Gettysburg. Wish he wouldn't. You know. Chop his sentences. Like this. And insert. The occasional irrelevancy. Or well. Vocal tic. Bit dry. When a history book. Or Wikipedia. Is more interesting. And this. Is a novel. It kind of. Really. Doesn't say much. About the writing.
Which is funny when you consider it was one of the main inspirations for Joss Whedon's Firefly. Because say what you will about Joss, his dialog is never stunted or dry.
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Tor's free eBook Club is giving a free ebook copy of the Black Company by Glen Cook if you haven't read that already, or want to reread it. (A new Black Company novel is coming out next month, Port of Shadows).
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Tor's free eBook Club is giving a free ebook copy of the Black Company by Glen Cook if you haven't read that already, or want to reread it. (A new Black Company novel is coming out next month, Port of Shadows).
I haven't read any of his Black Company stuff, but I loved his Garrett, PI line...
Ruger
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Which is funny when you consider it was one of the main inspirations for Joss Whedon's Firefly.
That is why I decided to read it. But I'm in Day 2 of the battle and it's still quite boring. Not a single character stands out, and I fancy Microsoft Word would go insane highlighting all the fragmented sentences in the book.
"Inspiration" is probably stretching it very thin.
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Not really, but more in tone than in the battle itself. He read it and thought "what would surviving loosing a battle like that do to one of the men fighting later in his life?" Thus came the Battle of Serenity Valley, the last decisive battle of the Unification War, and Mal.
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Tor's free eBook Club is giving a free ebook copy of the Black Company by Glen Cook if you haven't read that already, or want to reread it. (A new Black Company novel is coming out next month, Port of Shadows).
Another one? I thought the last one pretty definitively ended the series...
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It looks like a Book of the North when they are in the Lady's service, so before the Battle of Juniper in Shadows Linger.
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The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
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It looks like a Book of the North when they are in the Lady's service, so before the Battle of Juniper in Shadows Linger.
That makes sense... I'll probably pick it up, then. Thanks! :thumbsup:
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Just started Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," but frankly the gimmick of having the narrator speak like Star Trek's Chekov asking for nuclear wessels is already starting to grate. Classic of the genre and all (1966), but think I might pass.
Think I might start on "The Wrong Stars" instead, as it comes highly recommended as something similar to the Expanse.
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I've found that reading most sci-fi from that time is pretty hard now.
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Just started "The Lords of Silence" by Chris Wraight. George R.R. Martin's "Nightflyers" is next on my list.
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I had to put aside the weighty tome of Dune for a bit and started rereading the Ciaphus Cain novels from 40K Black Library. Probably my favorite 40K novels. Also read "the Soft Apocalypse" short novel over the last week. Can't remember the author, but it was good, in a disturbingly dark dystopian sort of way...
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As for me, I'm starting up The Fellowship of the Ring again...
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UNCTAD's classification on non tariff trade barriers.
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Just started Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," but frankly the gimmick of having the narrator speak like Star Trek's Chekov asking for nuclear wessels is already starting to grate. Classic of the genre and all (1966), but think I might pass.
Think I might start on "The Wrong Stars" instead, as it comes highly recommended as something similar to the Expanse.
To be honest, I thought The Moon is a Harsh Mistress to be total crap. Actually, I think the only Heinlein novel I still think highly of is Starship Troopers, rereading them isn't pleasurable for me.
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I am starting to believe I am in a minority as a Heinlein fan. Just gave my daughter my old copies of The Star Beast and Tunnel in the Sky. And I loved The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
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I decided to go back and reread some of Michael Moorcock's books. Finished the Nomad of Time today, and it was just as good as I remember.
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I decided to go back and reread some of Michael Moorcock's books. Finished the Nomad of Time today, and it was just as good as I remember.
The Godfather of Grimdark. Great stuff.
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To be honest, I thought The Moon is a Harsh Mistress to be total crap. Actually, I think the only Heinlein novel I still think highly of is Starship Troopers, rereading them isn't pleasurable for me.
It's the fake accent thing that just kills it for me. I work in automotive publishing, working with Japanese manufacturers, so I have to do a lot of Japanese-to-English translation, so I think that's made me a bit hypersensitive to the way languages and translation are handled in fiction.
I really struggled with "Ancillary Justice" for the same reason: There, the conceit is the story has been 'translated' into English from some space empire language that doesn't mark gender (e.g. no he/she, there's only a single neutral, unisex pronoun). The author's aim, I think, is to make you evaluate each character's behavior on their own merits rather than in relation to our cultural norms, but as a translator it drove me batty. A translator writes for clarity for the audience in the target, translated language--not to mechanically copy the original one.
For example, Japanese verbs lack a future tense, but if I translated every Japanese sentence in the present tense it would be incomprehensible. Insisting on a confusing word-for-word translation when the meaning is totally clear for the original speakers is just poor business practice.
I imagine people with science degrees get the same reaction with a lot of SF, or historians with historical fiction. Turns out, language is my bugbear.
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I hear you there. Authors trying to get cute with language and try to make their society have some funny way of talking to show how different they are does not add anything positive to most books.
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It's painfully obvious when RL political issues are inserted into books. Fine when the author is trying to explore the situation, critique it, and integrate it into the plot. Less fine when it's just bashing the reader over the head with the "moral" through a thinly-disguised contrivance...
...and dat's all Ah've got to say 'bout dat.
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You guys make me sad.
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Just to clarify I'm not debating the merits of the point "Ancillary Justice" is trying to make--since that's teetering on the edge of politics and probably off-limits for these boards anyway--but rather the point that I think we've all got certain triggers or pressure points or whatever that will take you out of the story, and language seems to be one for me. "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" is, as I understand, at least partly about Heinlein's economic theories, but I can't make it past the language of chapter 1.
To take BattleTech as another example, I know there are canon fanatics who get upset when the universe contradicts itself or is inconsistent, while I really don't mind if minor details are wrong. But then I roll my eyes when a Combine soldier swears by saying 'Jigoku' (hell)--since hell isn't a curse word in Japanese, and someone swearing to themselves after screwing up would say 'Chikusho.' (And don't give me 'linguistic drift' handwavium: that's not how it works).
Earlier in the thread, some people were saying they can't get into zombie novels because those books require the military to be absent or incompetent to work ... While other people just enjoy the tension and scares. Again, it's interesting to me how we all seem to have these boundaries beyond which we are unwilling to suspend disbelief, and those boundaries are wildly different from person to person.
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I believe everything I read... everything... :drool:
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I believe everything I read... everything... :drool:
You're about to give me all your money.
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Just finished "The Sisters Brothers" by Patrick deWitt. It's sort of an oddball, satirical Western, like a Coen Brothers version of A Fistful of Dollars. I think the movie version, with Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal and John C. Reilly is out later this month. The humor is quite dry, but the book was a quick, fun and enjoyable read with its own distinct character, and I really enjoyed it (and I don't really like Westerns, except maybe Unforgiven).
Wrote a longer review on my blog (link in my sig).
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I just finished "Her Majesty's American". It's set in an AU where the American Revolution fizzled out and the British Empire survived and had reached the level of interstellar travel, with a space navy and several human settled world. The book is by Steve White, who wrote the Starfire series of novels. This book really wasn't up to his previous efforts, though. The story is a mish-mash of space opera, spy thriller and first contact that just doesn't work. The rather shallow, stereotyped characters don't help.
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Reading The Wheel of Time's The eye of the world.
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I finished Dune and the other books I was reading. Now I'm reading "the Complete Sherlock Holmes" collection, and Combat Manual Kurita. Next I'll be starting the "Shadows of the Apt" fantasy series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. 18 volumes so far...
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Reread Wolf Pack.
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It's been a relatively quiet month for books because of work stuff, but this is what I've managed:
The Furthest Station by Ben Aaronovitch - I like the Rivers of London series; I'm not sure I'd agree that it's the British Harry Dresden, but I find them generally pacey and engaging, with a vein of familiar humour in them. I particularly like the combination of having to work on criminal cases involving magic, and working within a police system that doesn't really want to believe magic exists. This novella and the recent Water Weed comic book series have made me really want the next full novel in the series to be out soon.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/The Girl Who Played With Fire/The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson - I'm a fan of the movies and I'd read the graphic novel adaptations, but I'd never read the novels, so I thought it was time I should. In general, I enjoyed them, but what surprised me was how much I enjoyed the third novel in the trilogy; I knew relatively little about the last few decades of politics in Sweden, the nature and operation of the Swedish intelligence services, and so on. I don't know how accurate the novel is, but I really enjoyed watching the characters working to unearth the conspiracy. I think my only major criticism of the series is that I find it a little odd that Blomqvist seems to be walking catnip on legs for every woman he meets.
High Heat/Heat Storm by Richard Castle - these Castle pseudo-tie-in novels are a nice bubblegum read, but I found I didn't like Heat Storm as much as I expected. I'm used to the exaggerated tone of the books, but I think I found Derrick Storm to be a bit too much of an absurdity for me.
Stone Spring by Stephen Baxter - I've wanted to read this one for a while, because it's an AU novel set in prehistoric Doggerland that forms the first part of a trilogy in which Doggerland ends up not being flooded. I was really interested in seeing what the cultures who lived in the area were like, as envisioned by the author, and learning more about those who came before them, and how they viewed the world. Unfortunately, the book was a disappointment. The things I was most interested in formed a relatively minor part, while the bulk of the book consisted of creating characters and then have them generally develop - often in jumps - into genuinely unlikeable people, interspersed with violence and an almost obsessive attention to bodily functions. Pass.
A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis - a nice, fast YA novel about a secret magic society hiding within late Regency or early Victorian Britain, told from the point of view of a teenage girl who's learning what it means to have inherited magic from her mother. There are at least two more books I'm going to get from the library to check out, and then as I've got my fifth niece arriving literally any minute now, I'm bookmarking these to be presents for my nieces in ten or twelve years time.
The Dragon With a Chocolate Heart/The Girl With A Dragon Heart by Stephanie Burgis - two more YA novels with early teen girls as leads, this time in a fantasy world, revolving around a city called Drachenburg. In the first one, a young dragon ends up enchanted by a food mage and turned into a human, and ends up finding her place in the city, working as an apprentice in a chocolate house; in the second, the best friend of the protagonist from the first book has her own adventure, involving the disappearance of her parents while they were refugees travelling through Elfenwald, a forest ruled by elves. Frankly, involving chocolate as a serious plot point would be enough to endear these books to me, but they're also going on the future-novels-for-nieces pile.
The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman - I like the Invisible Library series, but for some reason, this one felt like the weakest book in the series. I'm not sure why; having one book that revolved around a plot amongst the fae, having another that revolved around a plot amongst the dragons makes sense, and the bulk of the book taking place in a world that resembled 1920s America should've been interesting, but this one just didn't quite click for me. I think it was maybe missing the sense of threat that the other novels in the series have had?
Radio Girls by Sarah Jane Stratford - this pre-WWII mystery set in the early infancy of the BBC was pretty interesting, and I definitely enjoyed it. I know a few liberties have been taken with regards to the real people involved, but the look at how the BBC developed and a plotline about a conspiracy amongst a British fascist movement to seek to influence the public via a scheme to control the BBC and newspapers were engrossing. The other part of the plot, about the female protagonist carving herself out a place at the BBC, was less interesting, although the conflict between her boss - who, in real life, was apparently involved with MI5 and had a remarkable if unfortunately short life - and the establishment as embodied by the positively Victorian head of the BBC was very interesting. Seeing how the BBC talks were provocative and a subject of fierce arguments within the BBC was interesting as well - something I'd not thought of much, I must admit.
City of the Lost/A Darkness Absolute by Kelley Armstrong - I decided to try this series because I really liked the author's Cainsville series. The two don't have a lot in common; there's nothing supernatural about this series, which are basically crime novels with a twist. That twist is the location and backdrop; they're set in a small community hidden in the Yukon. Why's it hidden? Because a shadowy group known as something like the Council have created it as a great place for people with something to hide to go and hide in. The majority of the people there are criminals who could afford to pay to hide there, although others are there because they're escaping. In some ways, it feels like a gold rush town - the town is 75% male, and perhaps the same percentage criminals of one kind or another. Everyone gets a new identity there, and the Council are paranoid about keeping it secret - no electricity, no telephones, and a long, long way from anywhere. That makes things problematic when someone goes on a murder spree, because the work needed to keep the community alive has to be done by the residents, and for every person with a useful skill for living in the wilderness, you've got someone else who's an office worker with no talents related to survival at all. There's also no-one there trained to investigate murders, just a sheriff largely charged with keeping people safe and making sure the community remains a secret, so the protagonist ends up being recruited to come in and solve the murder, with the leverage being that she and a friend need somewhere to disappear. The sequel is another murder mystery. There are a lot of interesting plot elements at play - almost everyone lies about who they are, so you never know who to trust; the community is deliberately in the back end of nowhere, but there are also other people living in the woods - other groups of settlers, many of whom left the hidden community, and "hostiles", who seem to have reverted to a kind of permanent savage hostility towards everyone. Everyone has something to hide, and everyone has to work hard to keep things going. I found the second novel better than the first, because the male lead in the first spends a long time acting like a tosser before there's any particular explanation of why they act like a tosser so much - and even then, their personality grated. In the second novel, I found that character a bit more nuanced, and the mystery moved along quickly.
The Kremlin's Candidate by Jason Matthews - the third in the Red Sparrow series, this one was... vaguely disappointing, I guess. The ending surprised me in some ways, which was good, but this one felt like the poor relation to the previous two novels, and I found that there seemed to be far less by way of fieldcraft/tradecraft and investigation, and what felt more like technological McGuffins. I think I prefer my novels a bit more Cold War in feel. I'm still going to try some of the recipes at the end of each chapter, though.
Cold Welcome/Into the Fire by Elizabeth Moon - this, the Vatta's Peace series, is a sequel to the earlier Vatta's War series. There were elements of the story I really liked - surviving a shuttle crash in the open ocean, exploring a hidden facility with possibly alien origins, dealing with a conspiracy amongst elements of the military - that was all good. The downside is that the protagonists felt largely infallible, and I never felt that they were under any particular threat, nor did I doubt that they'd win at what they were planning to do, which took most of the tension out of the novels. Still, I did enjoy watching experienced Warrant Officers/Petty Officers driving plotlines and getting a chance to shine, which felt like a strong element of the second novel.
The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer - I can see why Heyer is a big name in the historical romance world, and there were a lot of elements to this book I liked, particularly those that involved humour, but I found the language a little stilted for me, and in general I think I just prefer historical romance novels from the period written by more modern authors. I am intrigued by the AU world she's apparently created where the regency culture continued into the modern world, though.
The City of Brass by S. A. Charkraborty - I've not read many fantasy novels that draw heavily from middle eastern influences, and this Napoleonic Wars-era story set amongst the djinni, Daeva and ifrit turned out to be rather good - I'm looking forward to the sequel. While I'm not sure I'd cite it as something that's going to become one of my favourites, to me it felt original (possibly because of my lack of familiarity with a lot of the subject matter) I liked that a lot of the plot elements felt unpredictable to me, and a number of times I thought I knew what was going to happen, only for the author to subvert my expectations or subvert the trope I'd been anticipating.
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Let's talk books, since this thread has been described as being rather "anodyne"...
I go to a bookstore (site), take down a book (link), and read the back page (Wiki synopsis). Inadvertently if it's a Teen, Young Adult or even some (allegedly) Adult-targeted books, the plot tends to run:
Normal McOrdinaryson is a normal, ordinary, somewhat boring and looked-down-on working-class drone living a humdrum if not downright miserable life in some quiet suburb, dead-end job, moisture farm, etc. Suddenly one day, a Hero's Call occurs that plunges Normal into:
- (Techno/Spy/Crime) the High-Stakes Murder Mystery that could be the Key to Upsetting the Megacorps/National Security/Illuminati Secret Cabal that Runs...
-(Fantasy) the Hidden World of Magyk which is Richly Populated with Lore, Creatures, Made-Up Words and Weird Spellings Of Common Names that Underlies...
- (SF) the Plucky Rebellion against the Evil Dystopia that, with Moustache-Twirling Evil, Rules...
...the World As We Know It. Normal McOrdinaryson finds that he is in fact the Only Person Talented Enough/Prophesied Chosen One/Long-Lost Heir who can Solve the Mystery/Bring Balance to the Universe/Operate the Metal Gear in order to Defeat the Bad Guys, Save the World, and Get the Girl/Prove to the Boys She's More than Just A Pretty Face.
Preferably in at least a trilogy, because three-act structure Hollywood adaptation, ho!
Am I plain wrong? Jaded? Looking at the wrong books?
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I've finally gotten around to reading Betrayal of Ideals. I'm about halfway through so far and, well... I don't think I'm much of a fan? I'm not fond of the whole "The Wolverines were just too good for this terrible world" vibe, where they've won almost every battle, only lost one because the other side grossly outmatched them, and they're the only ones doing research and development, while the other clans are mostly petulant children.
I think some of that is early installment weirdness (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EarlyInstallmentWeirdness). It was published years before everything else written about the period, so the differences stand out.
I'll finish reading it, but as I said, not much of a fan, and the only way I can reconcile what the novel says and what the later books say is that the novel itself isn't the "real" story either.
Also, for some reason the use of the word "Progressive" in the blurb on the back bugged me. The wolverines were pushing to hold on to some of the old ways and uncomfortable with the changes Nicholas was putting into place and his new order, from a literal standpoint, they weren't progressive, they were conservative. The clans weren't old enough at this point for Nicky's ways to be really "traditionalist" yet.
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I've finally gotten around to reading Betrayal of Ideals. I'm about halfway through so far and, well... I don't think I'm much of a fan? I'm not fond of the whole "The Wolverines were just too good for this terrible world" vibe, where they've won almost every battle, only lost one because the other side grossly outmatched them, and they're the only ones doing research and development, while the other clans are mostly petulant children.
I was wondering if I was the only person who thought that. I felt like calling them Clan Mary Sue after reading it.
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Read "The Last Wish," the first in the Witcher series. Probably more famous as a series of video games, as well as a Netflix series coming next year, but it's originally based on these books by Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski.
It's a short story collection, with each episode told in flashback and strung together within a framing story. Each short story is a kind of grim, twisted version of a fairy tale: Beauty and the Beast but the beauty has an ulterior motive, or a mashup of Rapunzel and Snow White where the princess is out for bloody revenge on those who tried to imprison and poison her.
The main character, Geralt of Rivia, is about as believable as Conan the Barbarian, but I enjoyed this return to pulpy fantasy that is happy to be about nothing weightier than swashbuckling adventure. I think the other books in the series get a bit heavier, but this one at any rate was a very fun read and I'll be looking forward to the series.
As always, more blah blah blahing on my blog (in the sig).
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I've just finished Altered Carbon. I quite enjoyed it.
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I'm working through Battletech: Legacy. It's an interesting series of stories focused on a Grasshopper that was built during the Ameris Coup and all the pilots it had and battles it fought in.
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I've just finished Altered Carbon. I quite enjoyed it.
An enjoyable read. The next two throw you for a bit of a loop.
I'm working through Battletech: Legacy. It's an interesting series of stories focused on a Grasshopper that was built during the Ameris Coup and all the pilots it had and battles it fought in.
Well, not quite ALL of its pilots. Just a good selection.
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I've finally gotten around to reading Betrayal of Ideals. I'm about halfway through so far and, well... I don't think I'm much of a fan? I'm not fond of the whole "The Wolverines were just too good for this terrible world" vibe, where they've won almost every battle, only lost one because the other side grossly outmatched them, and they're the only ones doing research and development, while the other clans are mostly petulant children.
I think some of that is early installment weirdness (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EarlyInstallmentWeirdness). It was published years before everything else written about the period, so the differences stand out.
I'll finish reading it, but as I said, not much of a fan, and the only way I can reconcile what the novel says and what the later books say is that the novel itself isn't the "real" story either.
Also, for some reason the use of the word "Progressive" in the blurb on the back bugged me. The wolverines were pushing to hold on to some of the old ways and uncomfortable with the changes Nicholas was putting into place and his new order, from a literal standpoint, they weren't progressive, they were conservative. The clans weren't old enough at this point for Nicky's ways to be really "traditionalist" yet.
I disliked almost everything about that book... and funny enough, the Wolverines were the part I liked Best! 😂 in 3050 the Clans are portrayed as hokie comic book villains/noble savages, which I hate anyway, but at least thats after 200+ years of social engineering so i can swallow that... But with BoI being so soon after the formation of the Clan structure (founded by people who had living memory of Kerensky and the SLDF remember?) I expected the early Clans to be less....contrived and 2-dimensional... but Nope! They went STRAIGHT to cartoon bad guys! And ol' Nick Kerensky could have played double as Cobra Comander!! 😂😂😂
I felt the Wolverines played the better part, showing the difficult transition to hardcore Clan ideology and the moral issues that raised vs thier SLDF heritage.
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I disliked almost everything about that book... and funny enough, the Wolverines were the part I liked Best! 😂 in 3050 the Clans are portrayed as hokie comic book villains/noble savages, which I hate anyway, but at least thats after 200+ years of social engineering so i can swallow that... But with BoI being so soon after the formation of the Clan structure (founded by people who had living memory of Kerensky and the SLDF remember?) I expected the early Clans to be less....contrived and 2-dimensional... but Nope! They went STRAIGHT to cartoon bad guys! And ol' Nick Kerensky could have played double as Cobra Comander!! 😂😂😂
I felt the Wolverines played the better part, showing the difficult transition to hardcore Clan ideology and the moral issues that raised vs thier SLDF heritage.
It would have been better if all of the clans were shown as still being in transition between the Star League they were and the Clans they became, rather than just the Wolverines.
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I've just finished Altered Carbon. I quite enjoyed it.
An enjoyable read. The next two throw you for a bit of a loop.
What are the next two, and are they chronological sequels?
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What are the next two, and are they chronological sequels?
Broken Angels and Woken Furies, and yes they are chronological sequels... in the uniquely "Altered Carbon universe" sense
because of the whole digital-consciousness-storage schtick of the universe, people can be stored for literal hundreds of years and then wake up to take part in life again
so there's an interesting tonal shift in the books - Altered Carbon is about Takeshi Kovacs playing detective, Broken Angels is about Takeshi Kovacs a hundred-odd years later playing Indiana Jones-esque archaeologist, and Woken Furies is about Takeshi Kovacs another hundred-odd years later playing revolutionary guerilla
just remember that the base genre is really sci-fi military - since that is exactly what Kovacs is - and things shouldn't look that odd. I quite enjoyed the whole series, and I feel it's prematurely ended - Woken Furies had Kovacs and the universe both reaching a certain degree of maturity, and it ends all poised to reach some kind of narrative climax, but the author has declared the series ended.
I won't deny, it feels like quite an interruptus...
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Just arrived this saturday in the mail..."Uncompromising Honor" by David Weber.
in hardback.
:)
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Just arrived this saturday in the mail..."Uncompromising Honor" by David Weber.
in hardback.
:)
I finished that a couple of nights ago.
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Just arrived this saturday in the mail..."Uncompromising Honor" by David Weber.
in hardback.
:)
Properly going be another year before i can read it as fast media paperback. xp Need fit it in my lunch bag and have complete my collection of Honor books since this is fin for the original series.
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The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. It revisits Lovecraft's "The Horror of Red Hook" from the stand point of a black street hustler in contact with Robert Suydam, a pawn of The Great Old Ones. Seemed a good choice for October, and Del Ray is giving it away as an ebook for free, so the price was right.
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Just arrived this saturday in the mail..."Uncompromising Honor" by David Weber.
in hardback.
:)
The last Honor Harrington book I read was A Rising Thunder. It looks like there have been several since then. How lost would I be if I skipped them and read Uncompromising Honor?
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I recently finished "The Dictator's Handbook" by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita. While the subject matter is very Rule 4 territory, it makes building believable (and even sympathetic!) villains very easy.
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I'm about 1/2 way though "Lockheed Blackbird: Beyond the Secret Missions" by Paul Crickmore. I'll probably read either "Shattered Sword The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway" or "Neptune's Inferno The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal" next. I'm doing a bit of palate cleaning after making my way though a few of the Star Trek Voyager relaunch novels. ;D
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I recently finished "The Dictator's Handbook" by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita. While the subject matter is very Rule 4 territory, it makes building believable (and even sympathetic!) villains very easy.
Very interesting, I'll look for it. It's a theory that has a little academic standing actually.
Unfortunately it's probably going to take a back seat to literature more directly and less tangentially-connected to my postgraduate studies...
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The last Honor Harrington book I read was A Rising Thunder. It looks like there have been several since then. How lost would I be if I skipped them and read Uncompromising Honor?
I don't think you miss any major plot points that aren't referenced sufficiently in some fashion in Uncompromising Honor.
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Just finished Glen Cook's "Port of Shadows", Black Company book 1.5.
It's ... interesting. Without spoiling, he does provide a rationale why some significant things happening in the book don't get referenced in the following 9 books. But I don't know if he's doing this to come to fruition in the potentially forthcoming book 11 (after Soldiers Live) - it does have that "other shoe waiting to drop" feel.
But it's Glen Cook, and it's Black Company. We addicts goona buy it!
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Very interesting, I'll look for it. It's a theory that has a little academic standing actually.
Unfortunately it's probably going to take a back seat to literature more directly and less tangentially-connected to my postgraduate studies...
If you're pressed for time, CGP Grey has an excellent video (Rules for Rulers) that summarizes the book's main points in about 20 minutes without real world examples. He also did a shorter follow up on why dynasties are a thing.
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But it's Glen Cook, and it's Black Company. We addicts goona buy it!
Crap, didn't know that was out yet. Amazon, here I come!
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If you're pressed for time, CGP Grey has an excellent video (Rules for Rulers) that summarizes the book's main points in about 20 minutes without real world examples. He also did a shorter follow up on why dynasties are a thing.
Thanks, but tis the real world examples which are fun to read. Otherwise it's like reading the academia on the subject, which is no fun.
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Crap, didn't know that was out yet. Amazon, here I come!
Or Bookdepository, for the rest of the world.
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Thanks, but tis the real world examples which are fun to read. Otherwise it's like reading the academia on the subject, which is no fun.
Grey makes it amusing with his stick figure animations... I daresay rather more interesting than the academia on the subject. :)
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Grey makes it amusing with his stick figure animations... I daresay rather more interesting than the academia on the subject. :)
Well anyway the library has it and I've just placed a hold on the book.
Academia is okay, clinical, lacking much context and case study, often subtly coloured by opinion despite the facade of "clinical" and "unbiased". Also far from practical and outdated before publishing.
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Cool... I'll be interested to hear what you think as you read through it. :thumbsup:
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Just picked up Port of Shadows by Glen Cook, so I am re-reading the Books of the North so I can read it in order. Love the Black Company.
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Currently reading the first Volume of "Another" by Yukito Ayatsuji. Really enjoying it so far, thing are finally getting explained and I'm getting the feeling that events are about to get even worse.
Sadly, it doesn't look like Volume 2 of the novel is available in English in DTF at the moment, so, I may actually break down and purchase the Ebook version.
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Currently reading the first Volume of "Another" by Yukito Ayatsuji. Really enjoying it so far, thing are finally getting explained and I'm getting the feeling that events are about to get even worse.
Sadly, it doesn't look like Volume 2 of the novel is available in English in DTF at the moment, so, I may actually break down and purchase the Ebook version.
Very good read(s). Have you seen the anime?
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Very good read(s). Have you seen the anime?
I haven't, yet. I'll probably be remedying that soon. I may look into picking up the Manga as well.
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Rod Machado's "How to Fly an Airplane Handbook" even though I am a seasoned pilot, I picked this up to help with some of my instruction technique. I also think it would be hilarious if I ever became an ATP to be seen reading this in the airport lounge.
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I just recently finished reading a couple of new (to me at least) BattleTech books; Embers of War and Legacy. The first was an intersting mercenary novel, with an open ending for a sequel. The second was an anthology that followed the pilots of a StarLeague era Grasshopper over the centuries. I though it was an interesting concept and some if the stories were really quite good.
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Dreadnought by Robert K Massie
The buildup to World War One from a naval perspective
Can highly recommend it
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The Way of Kings, Sanderson. I have taken the plunge. I like the worldbuilding more than the storytelling so far.
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As I do most years, reading The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore.
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Hogfather, because tradition
As I do most years, reading The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore.
Hah! I absolutely love his San Fran books, and Lamb... it's been a long while since I read a book that reaffirmed my faith, let alone such a... :D
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Hogfather, because tradition
I've been reading the Discworld books to my kids over the last few years. We finished Soul Music on Thursday and made a start on Interesting Times
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I've been reading the Discworld books to my kids over the last few years. We finished Soul Music on Thursday and made a start on Interesting Times
...hrm. Discworld is kind of... advanced. In the sense that if you don't know tropes and myths and literary and film memes its not as amusing. And somehow... I just don't find Rincewind at all interesting.
I first started with Mort and the Death series (I absolutely love any kind of ironic take on psychopomps, so Gaiman's Sandman, Christopher Moore and Pratchett are favourites of mine) up to Soul Music and Moving Pictures.
Then went to the Watch (again, love British procedurals) up to Fifth Elephant. Then the Witches up to Lords and Ladies. Then Pyramids and Small Gods and The Truth. Then Hogfather (uniting quite a few plot threads). Then Thief of Time and continued to Thud. Then the Lipwig novels and finishing with Tiffany Aching.
I think it's more or less in series order minus Rincewind. Somehow I think I stumbled into a very coherent overall narrative.
This is an interesting map.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_%28cropped%29.jpg/760px-Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_%28cropped%29.jpg)
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...hrm. Discworld is kind of... advanced. In the sense that if you don't know tropes and myths and literary and film memes its not as amusing.
They're 13 & 15 now but still enjoy "stories with daddy" because it was one of the few chunks of stability I could give them back during the divorce.
They only got about half the references in Soul Music on their own, but stopping and discussing the books has become part of the tradition
I first started with Mort and the Death series (I absolutely love any kind of ironic take on psychopomps, so Gaiman's Sandman, Christopher Moore and Pratchett are favourites of mine) up to Soul Music and Moving Pictures.
Then went to the Watch (again, love British procedurals) up to Fifth Elephant. Then the Witches up to Lords and Ladies. Then Pyramids and Small Gods and The Truth. Then Hogfather (uniting quite a few plot threads). Then Thief of Time and continued to Thud. Then the Lipwig novels and finishing with Tiffany Aching.
I think it's more or less in series order minus Rincewind. Somehow I think I stumbled into a very coherent overall narrative.
I started them on the Tiffany Aching books since they were aimed at younger readers. That was probably 3-4 years ago now, just after I finished the last of Arthur Ransom's Swallows & Amazons stories with them. I went through the Witches up to Lords & Ladies, then jumped back to Death and the City Watch stories. My daughter thinks Granny Weatherwax is a great role-model :)
For myself, I discovered them about the time Equal Rites came out and read them as they were published, with the sole exception of Raising Steam. I picked that one up late and it stayed on the shelf for a couple of years because I didn't want to live in a world were there were no more Pratchett books to come. I finally read it this summer.
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They're 13 & 15 now but still enjoy "stories with daddy"
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My daughter thinks Granny Weatherwax is a great role-model :)
...
I finally read it this summer.
Damn, that's sweet. It seems these days few people really believe in quality time any more.
Ah, that brings me back... at that age I used to like all the Weatherwax type characters as well. Then I thought I wanted to be more like Nanny Ogg, but I'm really not that type neither.
Granny's "kill or cure", "no pain no gain" methods are appealing but usually impractical.
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Been reading Wars of Reaving again. It doesn't get old.
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I read Charles Stross' Halting State a while back. It's a sort of police mystery set in a future independent Scotland where Google Glasses are ubiquitous, everyone plays VR games, and a bunch of orcs ("with a dragon for fire support") just robbed a bank of precious artifacts and weapons worth millions of real euros.
Nominated for a Hugo Award, which I would heartily endorse, except that it's written in 2nd person AND the thickest Scots brogue I've ever seen on paper. Which makes it an incredible slog to read.
As near future speculative fiction though it's pretty good. It predicted Pokemon Go before Pokemon Go.
Which is why I'm now starting the sort-of sequel, Rule 34. The first few chapters already paint a world where the police work under a carbon emissions allowance, update a Wiki as part of their duties, and every device is DRM-ed, networked, and remote monitored. A very charmingly PC place. And because of this, there's a vibrant trade in black market sex toys catering to fetishes which are most definitely un-PC, now connected to a murder.
Looking forward to where this goes and what else is in this pleasant little near-future dystopia. Not looking forward to the continued 2nd-person Scottish narration.
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The second-person Scottish narration was what got me to drop that book. Reading it was just too much of a chore.
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Starting Leviathan Wakes, aka The Expanse series.
The second-person Scottish narration was what got me to drop that book. Reading it was just too much of a chore.
Ah, great, I'm not the only one.
Actually Rule 34 dropped the brogue waaay down, making it actually readable, and this time (or perhaps "again"), Stross delivers another veeeeerrrry interesting look into the near-future of technology. I want to say this cute little nanny-state u/dystopian Scotland of his won't come true, but key bits of it has already come to pass in various forms around the world. It might be worth looking the man up for stock tips or this week's lotto.
8/10 would read again, except for one nitpick: the ending was one of those unresolved type what-have-we-done scenarios, featuring a literal deus ex machina, which was a trifle unfulfilling that I attribute to something Stross said about writing whodunits - he writes 80% of the book and then decides who is the most likely murderer. Which can lead to very obviously telegraphed solutions to the case.
Nonetheless Rule 34 is a must-read, repeat must-read, for anybody who wants a glimpse into the future.... or the now.
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Just finished Conagher, a good Louis L'Amour western.
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Just finished "Death's Angel's" book 1 of the Terrarch series by William King, grand patriarch of the Warhammer Fantasy Gotrek and Felix novels. I liked it, King writes his fantasy fairly gritty and dark. Not Glen Cook gritty, but close.
Now I'm working my way through the Crimson Worlds series by Jay Allen again so I can catch up on the story before I start the follow up series. It's good solid space marine sci fi. Mass battles, high tech armor, implacable enemies, and even mechs eventually!!! Add romance some heroic angst and a big scary robo-alien and the series is a fun read.
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Just finishing up "Fire & Blood", George R.R. Martin's history of the Targaryan's. Not sure what's next, but I've got a pile.
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Just started Betrayal of Ideals. It’s my first BT novel after playing the game for twenty plus years
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Recently started Ghost Fleet for work (we're going to have the author in to speak to the class). It started pretty slow, but picked up a bit in Part 2. We'll see how Part 3 goes...
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Family sent me Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology, which has been on my list to read for a while. I am also binging the 2005 revival of Doctor Who and just came to the 6th series' "The Doctor's Wife," which Gaiman wrote as well. I love synergy. (And it is the most delightful 45-mins of television I have watched in some time.)
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Finished Ghost Fleet last night. Glad I don't have to read that again.
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Just finished "Though Hell Should Bar the Way" by David Drake, the latest in his RCN series. It was told from a different perspective than the others, but was still pretty good. Definitely worth picking up.
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Reread my old Wilf Brim series by Baldwin.
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Reread the Sarah Beauhall series over the Christmas holidays (and found out about a fourth book in the series of which I was unaware)...nearly finished now with The Nellus Academy Incident. Next up is Embers of War, followed by the first hardcover Firefly novel, Big Damn Hero...
Ruger
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Book 10 of David Weber's "Safehold" series comes out in TWO DAYS!!!! Today I threw all my current books in a box and barried it in a shallow grave in anticipation!!!!
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Here's the winter reading list so far (all reviews faintly tongue in cheek, be warned):
Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle: A classic far beyond any words of mine to either help or harm. Got a Vonnegut collection from my brother for Xmas, so working my way through that.
David Drake, Hammer's Slammers Vol. 1: Interesting to see it obviously gestated in the same juices as BattleTech, with its intergalactic mercenaries and monocultural colony worlds lifted straight from 20th century stereotypes. Started off promising with some good rip-snorting scifi action (reminded me more of Renegade Legion than BT, but anyway), but I find the constant slaughter of civilians faintly nauseating (let's massacre these surrendering guerillas, let's drop a nuke on this village, let's not bother distinguishing between combatants and non-) so I've given up halfway through.
Joe Abercrombie, Heroes: Set over the course of a sort of medieval Gettysburg, a three-day battle between the barbarian Northerners and the civilized Union. Anachronisms abound, including late medieval armies organized into divisions and regiments, but a lot of the hack and slash is entertaining. Started reading Abercrombie years ago, when I quite enjoyed his destruction of fantasy genre conventions (the kindly wizard is a manipulative schemer, the dashing hero is brain-dead, the torturer is the nicest character, the mute gets the best jokes, etc. etc.) but over the years his grimdark anti-trope style has itself become a trope, so I found a lot of this predictable: the worst people will come out on top, the nicest people in the latrine, and so on. Still, Abercrombie's still a vivid and entertaining writer, so it's a fun read.
(Read a hilarious and unprintable send-up of the book here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/385334385?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1)
Martha Wells, All Systems Red: Novella about a self-aware security cyborg tasked with defending a survey team when everything starts to go wrong. Won both the Nebula and Hugo awards for best novella, and though I'm still only halfway through, I haven't been too impressed. Too much seems to ride on the cyborg's indestructible nature and ability to hack any system, while the baddies are boilerplate corporate bad-guys we've been seeing in scifi since, like, Alien.
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Drake used the Slammers to help work through his PTSD from Vietnam. He was an interrogator with an Armored Cavalry unit.
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(Read a hilarious and unprintable send-up of the book here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/385334385?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1)
Nice. The squad introduction is pretty damning of nearly the entire sci-fi military trope isn't it?
My winter list is simple. The entirety of the Expanse series. Can't believe I hadn't read these earlier!
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If you want to try a good Drake book or series read his Republic of Cinnabar Navy (RCN) series. Excellent stories.
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My winter list is simple. The entirety of the Expanse series. Can't believe I hadn't read these earlier!
You're in for a treat!
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Drake used the Slammers to help work through his PTSD from Vietnam. He was an interrogator with an Armored Cavalry unit.
Good for him, but the general lack of likable, much less heroic characters makes the series hard to read. "Everyone's a *bleep* doing awful things to each other" is not a terribly compelling setting.
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Good for him, but the general lack of likable, much less heroic characters makes the series hard to read. "Everyone's a *bleep* doing awful things to each other" is not a terribly compelling setting.
sound like he used Slammers as a release for his Vietnam experience. Which is what Daryk said.
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Reading somebody's fictional catharsis from whatever it may be doesn't necessarily make for great or edifying or any way enjoyable experience
...just ask John Ringo...
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I enjoyed both Drake's Slammers' and RCN series. Yes, the Slammers has some depressing things in it, but it feels very real. Humans rarely rise to their ideals, especially in stressful situations. The RCN series has a little of that, but far more joy in it (Howard Tayler from Schlock Mercenary would call them "stand up and cheer" moments), as the principal hero tries to draw the best out of the rest. That he often succeeds is satisfying, if not realistic. He usually doesn't see when he fails, so his enthusiasm is undampened.
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The Slammers didn't fail to rise to their ideals, they failed to have ideals to rise to. Watching the Slammers win wasn't fun because the Slammers never acted like a group of people I'd actually want to win.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarknessInducedAudienceApathy
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Compared to the people they were usually fighting, I generally preferred the Slammers to win.
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Nice. The squad introduction is pretty damning of nearly the entire sci-fi military trope isn't it?
Hadn't thought of it that way, but now that you mention it, I'm definitely looking guiltily back over my own scribblings...
I really enjoyed the first two books in the Expanse series but kind of drifted off while reading the third one. The main character is a bit cardboard bland, but the setting and supporting characters more than make up for it. However, it started to feel a little bit like "Lost", where there are a series of enigmas thrown at you and, rather than resolving them, the series presents just more weirdness.
Though that might have been resolved in later books and I was just too impatient?
The Slammers didn't fail to rise to their ideals, they failed to have ideals to rise to. Watching the Slammers win wasn't fun because the Slammers never acted like a group of people I'd actually want to win.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarknessInducedAudienceApathy
This is kind of it for me. I think the short story format works against Drake here, in that I never really developed any attachment or sympathy for these people or saw how they might be driven to such callousness (without getting too into spoilers: the closest for me was the female comms officer who saves her village ... but then is quite happy seeing another one sacrificed so the Slammers can catch the French).
On that score my favorite Vietnam novel of recent years was Matterhorn, by Karl Marlantes (a former marine). It gets into the futility of that war and the way it wore people down, without wallowing in it.
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Occupation of Japan. Its not a novel nor a history book: its the official 70 page report of the 98th Infantry Division. (Part of the BiblioGov Project). Reading all these typewritten pages takes me back to high school. The format reminds me of my time on Brigade staff.
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Occupation of Japan. Its not a novel nor a history book: its the official 70 page report of the 98th Infantry Division. (Part of the BiblioGov Project). Reading all these typewritten pages takes me back to high school. The format reminds me of my time on Brigade staff.
The title is Occupation of Japan. By 9th Infantry Division?
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Re: The Expanse.
I don't know what the writers have said, but I'm sure there's a "let's do a spiritual Firefly tribute" vibe going on here. Holden, Naomi, Amos and Alex map exceedingly accurately to Mal, Zoey, Jayne and Wash. Yes there are differences - like basically the entire Serenity crew's amorality concentrating in Amos, and Alex being nowhere near as funny as Wash. But it comes pretty darn close.
But that's okay, as it makes for a fast read. Plot and universe are great. The space combat occupies a comfortable middle between Battletech's oversimplified age-of-sail-in-space and David Weber's let's-see-which-is-bigger-the-missile-swarm-or-the-infodumps. Both have plenty to learn from this series.
I really enjoyed the first two books in the Expanse series but kind of drifted off while reading the third one. The main character is a bit cardboard bland, but the setting and supporting characters more than make up for it. However, it started to feel a little bit like "Lost", where there are a series of enigmas thrown at you and, rather than resolving them, the series presents just more weirdness.
Though that might have been resolved in later books and I was just too impatient?
I've been binge-reading through the series, they're like Pringles, you really can't stop at one. They're clearly written for TV syndication though, or at least in very episodic style.
Books 1 through 4 are the "look at all this weird shit we're discovering" books, yes strong vibes of Edgar R Burroughs/Jules Verne/Henry R Haggard; discover something, fight over it, blow shit up, ponder on the stupidity of man sort of thing.
Books 5 to 6 are the "past coming back to haunt" combined with "President Clancy, we have a Broken Arrow" straight military sci-fi stuff. Having gotten used to the tone of the previous books, I think the series loses a lot of its charm starting here. Which is a shame, because Book 5 finally began fleshing out the crew a little.
I'm only starting Book 7, but there's a timeskip and the crew are getting old, so I'm guessing that it might be a handover to a new generation. But with only 2 more books in a projected 9-book series, it's not that likely.... we'll see.
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Compared to the people they were usually fighting, I generally preferred the Slammers to win.
The least smelly poop is still poop
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Good for him, but the general lack of likable, much less heroic characters makes the series hard to read. "Everyone's a *bleep* doing awful things to each other" is not a terribly compelling setting.
If you haven't read them, I would suggest Drake's The Sharp End, based on Hammett's Red Harvest and The Glass Key, which also was made into Yojimbo and then again as A Fist Full of Dollars and Last Man Standing. The characters are an incognito advance team, scouting two groups who are looking to hire the Slammers against each other. The other one is Rolling Hot, based on the Tet Offensive. One of the primary characters is a native of the planet, a newsman who's family is on the other side of the enemy breakout that Task Force Jungblud, an ad hoc force of damaged soldiers and equipment, has to get through. He provides an outsider's view, and makes it interesting, and as they are avoiding built up areas, there aren't noncombatants for the most part.
Both seem to be written on the other side of whatever darkness Drake was working through in his early short stories.
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I know I read The Sharp End in high school. I'm pretty sure I got Rolling Hot and returned it to Waldenbooks due to rampant typos and inkblots that obscured large sections of the pages. It convinced me to stop reading Baen for years after that.
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My copy (well, my wife's copy) of Rolling Hot didn't have those problems... I don't actually know when she bought it.
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It might not have been Rolling Hot. I read several Slammers novels at roughly the same time and know that one of them, which was the newest one at the time, was an utter failure of editing and quality control.
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I'll have to review her collection. I read them all shortly after we got married and combined our libraries, and don't recall any issues on that scale.
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Given how extensive the issues with that book were, I'm certain that it got a reprint to fix it.
The one detail I can remember with certainty was that it was released as a paperback without a hardcover edition.
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She probably picked up a reprint, then. Probably worth checking out in your case, since you seem to have liked his other stuff.
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Not terribly motivated. That was "stuff I liked in high school" and there's a lot of that that I don't care for anymore.
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Not terribly motivated. That was "stuff I liked in high school" and there's a lot of that that I don't care for anymore.
Alright, what are you into these days then?
Speaking of high school, last night I dumped Expanse 7 and picked up Henry V.
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The title is Occupation of Japan. By 9th Infantry Division?
Occupation of Japan
98th Infantry Division Headquarters
(Fun fact! The US Army fielded 91 divisions in WW II, 3 of them never saw combat; the 98th was one of them. The other two were the 13th Airborne Division and the 2nd Cavalry Division)
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About halfway through Embers of War. Unsure how I’m supposed to feel about the protagonists knowing their units get wiped out fairly quickly after the end of the story
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jumping in a time machine back to Lethal Heritage. I'd do the warrior trilogy next but I'm not getting the new printing until next month and people insist on selling En Garde for $50 (i'm not really an ebooks guy)
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I'm seriously blessed i own all the books with couple exceptions. I've read them chronically from Sword & Dagger to just end of the Dark Age novels. They need get bonfire of worlds into print somehow. I just can't read pdfs that well. xp
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I have everything except some of the early stuff, all of the missing items are quite expensive in both the original fasa and roc reprints. En Garde is the only warrior novel I don’t have, which is comically inconvenient. I’m also missing decision at thunder rift and heir to the dragon. All of them tend to run $50+ unless they’re in really ratty condition
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Just finished "Thin Air" by Richard K Morgan, the author of "Altered Carbon" and the other Takeshi Kovacs series.
This is kind of Morgan returning to its roots, as Thin Air is more like Altered Carbon than anything he's published in the intervening years. There's a cynical, hard-bitten, quasi-military protagonist who now works independently, dragged into a missing person investigation that turns out to be part of a bigger conspiracy ... which is pretty close to the setup of Altered Carbon. The action takes place on a barely- slash badly-terraformed Mars rather than Earth and the gee-whiz technology is cybernetic implants rather than digitally backed-up consciousness, but the tone, setting and story beats are all pretty familiar.
I suspect whether you like this or not will depend on how you felt about Altered Carbon, and whether you wanted more of the same. Personally, I enjoyed the overall style and tone, but the hero is a little too super-powered for my taste, and like a lot of whodunits a lot rides on suspects or baddies revealing their entire plans in lengthy monologues in unlikely situations, and plus I think the conspiracy is a little too convoluted for its own good.
Maybe the biggest change, other than the surface details of the setting, is there's a kind of acceptance in the writing that wasn't there 16 years ago--the world is shit, but it's the world we gotta live in, so we might as well make the best of it. Despite the noir style there is an almost, if not quite hopeful, then almost zen feel to the ending.
So, if you liked A.C. this will definitely scratch almost exactly the same itch. If not, probably not your thing.
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Finished "The Tiger's Daughter", about halfway through "The Phoenix Empress", both by K. Arsenault Rivera. Quite enjoyed the first, enjoying the second so far.
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I just finished Marine by Joshua Dalzelle, another book set in the Omega Force universe, a good enjoyable read, even if Josh isn't going to win any literary awards anytime soon.
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Just finished "Thin Air" by Richard K Morgan, the author of "Altered Carbon" and the other Takeshi Kovacs series.
I've just started Thirteen, which I think is the 1st book of this series.
Have you read Morgan's Market Forces?
Both are generally enjoyable, in a near-future hard-ish sci-fi techno-thriller kind of way, but not as much as AC. Thirteen being a little more realistic near-future than either MF or AC, Richard Morgan indulges his soapboxing significantly which I find to be a turn-off.
Market Forces in particular turns the satire up to 11 which quite spoils the immersion. Perhaps it's not wrong for what seems to be an outright pastiche of classic John Grisham, but it's a loss for a concept that could easily have been played straighter.
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I've just started Thirteen, which I think is the 1st book of this series.
Have you read Morgan's Market Forces?
Both are generally enjoyable, in a near-future hard-ish sci-fi techno-thriller kind of way, but not as much as AC. Thirteen being a little more realistic near-future than either MF or AC, Richard Morgan indulges his soapboxing significantly which I find to be a turn-off.
Market Forces in particular turns the satire up to 11 which quite spoils the immersion. Perhaps it's not wrong for what seems to be an outright pastiche of classic John Grisham, but it's a loss for a concept that could easily have been played straighter.
In theory, Thirteen is the first book in the series, but Thin Air is essentially a standalone, and the only common point is the idea of creating genetically modified people for specific roles. Got to admit, I didn't like 13 or Market Forces that much. I found the eugenics ideas in 13 mildly offensive, and Market Forces just reminded me of the 80s tabletop game Car Wars, so I couldn't take it seriously.
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In theory, Thirteen is the first book in the series, but Thin Air is essentially a standalone, and the only common point is the idea of creating genetically modified people for specific roles. Got to admit, I didn't like 13 or Market Forces that much. I found the eugenics ideas in 13 mildly offensive, and Market Forces just reminded me of the 80s tabletop game Car Wars, so I couldn't take it seriously.
Yeah Market Forces went full Death Race stupid on that score. Which is a shame, because corporate shenanigans in a mercenary venture capitalist group is totally a thing that needs to be played straight.
13... well lets put it this way, Richard Morgan vented his spleen out vociferously albeit vicariously through the words of this characters, and made his view of things abundantly clear.
Now, as a SF writer one can and should be charting and projecting the course of human societal and cultural development - it's in fact almost a prerequisite of the genre - but a good writer should also be as impartial as possible, deliver the pros and cons, critique and judge them fairly. A writer of course pushes the side s/he favours, but at least a fair trial as it were ought to be held before arriving at a conclusion. Which is not what happens here, because RM takes aim at a couple of apparently favourite bugbears and fires away with maximum sneering snark.
Another point is that in the 13 universe, RM seems to buy heavily into some gender and dominance models which have been debunked heavily criticised, to put it kindlier. 1 of them is "alpha male" theory, plus mixed with a heavy dose of eugenics (I think this is what you refer to?) to create the justification for his titular super-soldier.
Well I'll read it for the whodunit and the noir cyberpunk appeal. But it's not fully enjoyable.
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Yeah Market Forces went full Death Race stupid on that score. Which is a shame, because corporate shenanigans in a mercenary venture capitalist group is totally a thing that needs to be played straight.
13... well lets put it this way, Richard Morgan vented his spleen out vociferously albeit vicariously through the words of this characters, and made his view of things abundantly clear.
Now, as a SF writer one can and should be charting and projecting the course of human societal and cultural development - it's in fact almost a prerequisite of the genre - but a good writer should also be as impartial as possible, deliver the pros and cons, critique and judge them fairly. A writer of course pushes the side s/he favours, but at least a fair trial as it were ought to be held before arriving at a conclusion. Which is not what happens here, because RM takes aim at a couple of apparently favourite bugbears and fires away with maximum sneering snark.
I hate authors that do that. Even on the times that it's something I agree on, it usually comes across as pretentious and frequently it's so badly done that the flaws are easy to spot. If you want to put real-world discussions or arguments into your speculative fiction, you should at least make a point of actually knowing what the heck the arguments for and against it are and not resort to weak straw-manning.
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I hate authors that do that. Even on the times that it's something I agree on, it usually comes across as pretentious and frequently it's so badly done that the flaws are easy to spot. If you want to put real-world discussions or arguments into your speculative fiction, you should at least make a point of actually knowing what the heck the arguments for and against it are and not resort to weak straw-manning.
For one, Richard Morgan likes to use (his target) as the punchline of exaggeration, e.g.:
"Wow, that's bad."
"What, like (target) bad?"
"Nah, not that bad."
Hardy har har. This happens several times in more than one form.
Or he salts descriptions of (target) liberally with epithets and slurs that are otherwise not necessary. I mean, come on, grow up, who are you trying to kid? we're all mature readers here, we all know the psych behind repeated casual, petty and snide belittling... why even try it?
But he goes even further. He has the temerity to lambast (target) for straw-manning and caricaturising things they don't like, while in the same book featuring caricatures of (target) as subject for his own innumerable potshots. That's really jaw-dropping hypocrisy.
That's the problem I perceive with 13 and Market Forces. Altered Carbon was okay. Maybe cause the former are obvious soapboxing platforms, while the latter goes more into areas where he doesn't hold strong views.
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Ouch. :facepalm:
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Finished Lisbeth Salander trilogy, RIP Stieg Larsson
Was a very interesting peek into Swedish culture, and obviously Mr Larsson was pointedly critiquing various key contemporary issues.
The books could really have been a duology I think. It was a good establishing arc, and tails off on a promise of more to come. Sadly it was not to be.
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Finished Lisbeth Salander trilogy, RIP Stieg Larsson
Was a very interesting peek into Swedish culture, and obviously Mr Larsson was pointedly critiquing various key contemporary issues.
The books could really have been a duology I think. It was a good establishing arc, and tails off on a promise of more to come. Sadly it was not to be.
Interesting! I'll admit I only read the first book, and wasn't very impressed so I never read the other two. I enjoyed the slow unraveling of the mystery in the first book--it reminded me of a slightly more serious, more sober Dan Brown perhaps--but felt the main character was far too obviously a stand-in for Stieg himself (same job, same age, etc.), which made his runaway success with every woman in the book a little eye-rolling.
I agree, it was an insight into some of the darker aspects of Swedish culture, which (at least in Canada) we don't usually hear much about, such as the disturbingly high incidence of violence towards women. There was also a bit about Swedish economics, from what I recall, which was again something I'd never heard about (though also an excuse for Stieg to go on a rant about how useless the stock market is).
'Could do with trimming down' was also my impression after the first book. There was the kernel of a really interesting, slow-burning tale there, but it got a little lost amid the bloat. Perhaps the same goes for the trilogy as a whole.
Trying to decide what to read next myself ... possibly Charles Yu (writes beautifully, but self-consciously nerdy and overly complex sometimes), or one of Iain Banks's mainstream novels (I've read and loved his SF but never his literary fiction ... but I've heard there's a lot of supernatural weirdness in his other books, so may give them a try).
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Interesting! I'll admit I only read the first book, and wasn't very impressed so I never read the other two. I enjoyed the slow unraveling of the mystery in the first book--it reminded me of a slightly more serious, more sober Dan Brown perhaps--but felt the main character was far too obviously a stand-in for Stieg himself (same job, same age, etc.), which made his runaway success with every woman in the book a little eye-rolling.
I would liken it to a slower-moving John Grisham.
Mr Larsson wrote what he knew, which in this case is the Swedish media industry. (He shows his knowledge gaps in other areas quite blatantly.) Blomkvist is indeed a bit of a Gary-Stu, but he's a co-protagonist of Lisbeth Salander and the later books lay the foundation for more of an ensemble cast. His womanising is indeed detailed, but IMO is really just a matter-of-fact statement of his various relationships. Mr Larsson's portrayal of urban upper-class Swedes is that they are generally and casually promiscuous. Blomkvist is not much of an exception.
I agree, it was an insight into some of the darker aspects of Swedish culture, which (at least in Canada) we don't usually hear much about, such as the disturbingly high incidence of violence towards women. There was also a bit about Swedish economics, from what I recall, which was again something I'd never heard about (though also an excuse for Stieg to go on a rant about how useless the stock market is).
There's much more of that in the latter books. Again I get the feeling that Mr Larsson was hitting at contemporary Swedish issues, unsurprising given his background.
'Could do with trimming down' was also my impression after the first book. There was the kernel of a really interesting, slow-burning tale there, but it got a little lost amid the bloat. Perhaps the same goes for the trilogy as a whole.
Larsson wrote some things in excruciating detail - artifacts of journalist-esque writing perhaps - but it does help set the scene, which I appreciated as a sort of tour of Swedish life. Do we need to know every stick of furniture Lisbeth Salander bought for her flats? Perhaps not. Did it emphasize the role of IKEA in Swedish life, provide a contrast against home decor of poorer and richer Swedes, and spark insights into various characters' personalities? Absolutely. It's actually world-building done right, and many sci-fi/fantasy authors could learn from this approach.
Trying to decide what to read next myself ... possibly Charles Yu (writes beautifully, but self-consciously nerdy and overly complex sometimes), or one of Iain Banks's mainstream novels (I've read and loved his SF but never his literary fiction ... but I've heard there's a lot of supernatural weirdness in his other books, so may give them a try).
How's Haruki Murakami? Lots of hype but never really caught my interest.
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How's Haruki Murakami? Lots of hype but never really caught my interest.
A robust defense of Steig there. Perhaps I'm too critical, I often am, though at least in part it's because I felt it was an okay book that could have been great.
Murakami is probably something of an acquired taste, one of those authors people either adore or detest. I've sort of fallen out of love with his novels, but they're always beautifully written, though virtually plotless and filled with the bizarre and the surreal. They always seem to hint at greater depth, there's more going on than appears, hint at some deeper meaning, but never come out and say anything out loud. For some people, I think that's energizing and stimulating, makes them think and create their own meaning, but I think it's frustrating for others.
Norwegian Wood is probably the most straightforward and transparent, while Wind Up Bird Chronicle was more opaque but more enjoyable for me. Haven't read the later ones, like 1Q84 or Kafka On the Shore.
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I agree, it was an insight into some of the darker aspects of Swedish culture, which (at least in Canada) we don't usually hear much about, such as the disturbingly high incidence of violence towards women.
One thing to keep in mind about that is that the legal definition of violence in Sweden is different from most other countries and they have a more robust system for reporting sexual assaults in particular. There's more reporting of violence because they track statistics differently, not because Sweden is inherently a more violent place than Canada or the US.
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A robust defense of Steig there. Perhaps I'm too critical, I often am, though at least in part it's because I felt it was an okay book that could have been great.
Oh I'm just pointing out the good bits. Other than that it was a by-the-numbers mystery, the twist being that most of the protagonists are a do-gooder media crew who profitably and ethically run a magazine dedicated to exposes. Which is probably a journalist fantasy ::) and the other protaganist, Lisbeth Salander, also commits the sin of being the classic autistic-abused-orphan-photographic memory-world's top hacker... mentally solves Fermat's theorem to boot... turn all the tropes up to eleven...
If it had been American, it's doubtful the books would have made it far up the New York Bestselling list. Being Swedish, it has rarity and exotic value.
Norwegian Wood is probably the most straightforward and transparent, while Wind Up Bird Chronicle was more opaque but more enjoyable for me. Haven't read the later ones, like 1Q84 or Kafka On the Shore.
Hrms. I'll give it NW a shot. Ordinarily I hate surreal, but surreal and Japan sometimes goes well together in my experience.
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Hrms. I'll give it NW a shot. Ordinarily I hate surreal, but surreal and Japan sometimes goes well together in my experience.
Wood has literally zero surreal weirdness, very straightforward coming of age tale about a guy whose gf gets committed to a mental institution, so he's dealing with that, plus he meets another girl and then feels guilty for being happy, and he's trying to work all this out. It's totally unlike anything else Murakami has written, which makes it very accessible, but not a good guide to his works.
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From Where the Sun Now Stands I have grown to like Westerns, and this one by author Will Henry is one of the best. It's about the Nez Perce war and is told from tje point of view of a young warrior close to Chief Joseph. Highly recommended
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The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang.
Self-published asian epic fantasy. Great characters, and an amazing detail of world-building that fits in well. Makes me want to try to do something with House Kurita. It starts off feeling like a young adult school story, but it gets dark. It's an epic tragedy. Perhaps most surprising are the fight scenes, with BattleTech I often just skim over them. Wang does a great job of making the fights evocative and meaningful, especially once it gets to actual battle.
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Operation Trojan Horse by the late John Keel. Quite an interesting, if weird, topic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Trojan_Horse_(book)
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Heading to Gettysburg next week, so reading The Killer Angels Michael Shaara again.
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I just picked up Forever Faithful by Blaine Lee Pardoe, along with Spice and Wolf Vol 13 by Isuna Hasekura. Good Day.
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Coastal Dawn by Andrew Bird
The story of Bristol Blenheims in Europe during WW11 to the Battle of Britain in 1940
Prolonged very high loss rates over months make it rather upsetting in parts
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Just finished Blaine Pardoe's Battletech novel, Forever Faithful.
This what i been hoping to read for a long time. Mr. Pardoe did not disappoint us with this one.
Truly the spiritual part of the Twilight of the Clan series and more.
I hope able follow up with another gem like this. Balance in action, intrigue, universe changing events and more.
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I agree, it was an insight into some of the darker aspects of Swedish culture, which (at least in Canada) we don't usually hear much about,
I quite liked The Almost Nearly Perfect People: The Truth About the Nordic Miracle by Michael Booth but it's mostly just a Brit humorously carping about living in Scandinavia.
Anyway, The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross, and Monster Hunter Memoirs: Saints by Larry Correia.
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I also just finished Blaine Lee Pardoe's "Forever Faithful". Not going to spoil it, but, there's one particular scene that just gave me chills. Such an awesome book that dropped some really interesting hints and bits of information.
Currently I have started reading D.P. Prior's "Ravine of Blood and Shadow" Book 1 of The Annals of the Nameless Dwarf.
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Skimmed through a couple of Economics texts. Not totally happy with them. Can you guys recommend any ones which are written clearly, don't waffle, and don't delve too much into politics?
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Would you also like some square circles while you're at it?
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Ogre has a point... economics and politics are inextricably linked.
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Well I just want something that explains the theories without needlessly segueing into diatribes of capitalism vs socialism every couple of pages. If I crack upon a Marketing text for example, I don't get inundated every chapter with funfacts about how it's all a bloody scam to chisel dollars out of the consumer - even though Marketing in particular is a buyer's market for cheap shots. That's not too much of an ask is it? ****** Wikipedia manages it, surely a textbook can?
And no, the answer isn't "so go read Wikipedia", because the stuff in there isn't organised formally or completely enough.
P.s. I'm flashing back to the bar scene from Good Will Hunting: "Of course that's your contention. You're a first year grad student. You just got finished reading some Marxian historian, Pete Garrison probably, you’re gonna be convinced of that until next month when you get to James Lemon, then you’re gonna be talking about how the economies of Virginia and Pennsylvania were entrepreneurial and capitalist way back in 1740. That's gonna last until next year, you’re gonna be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talkin’ about, you know, the Pre-revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization."
He's right. These chaps can't seem to keep their personal views out of the books.
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I think that might require finding an economics textbook that was written by a chemistry major.
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Would you also like some square circles while you're at it?
Ogre has a point... economics and politics are inextricably linked.
I think that might require finding an economics textbook that was written by a chemistry major.
This is why we need likes/upvotes/whatever.
Kidd, you will find that economics changes based on which branch of political science is being used as control/interpretation. What makes sense in one, doesn't in the other. It is, sadly, very much an apples and oranges kinda thing, and you need to have at least a basic grasp of the politics for certain economic issues to make sense.
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"unbiased" is just the bias you don't detect. Lord Acton talked about a concept we apply a lot in historical source analysis called Double Subjectivity - the author of the thing you're reading has biases, blind spots, and agendas - you have them as well. subverting those biases into subtext by feigning some sort of objectivity is disingenuous. best to note them up front and juggle the merits of different arguments until you find your own understanding.
as to not waffling, economists are just the people that don't understand economics the least - or as a student of mine said in class "economics is just astrology for boys"
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economists are just the people that don't understand economics the least
Hah. Good one.
Yeah well, that's the whatchamacallit - interpretivist view of research? Our views of the world are coloured by our own biases? I forget.
I'm not that much an ogre as to force any author to be wholly objective. All I want is for the chap is to present both sides of the story as fairly as possible, then chip in with his opinions - not pepper the text all over with snooty asides every couple of paragraphs. Isn't that how it's done? Isn't that how everyone else does it? I mean, you don't see a tax textbook speechifying all over about whichever sides of income vs consumption tax the author happens to favour... (then again, maybe they exist; except they're just boring enough that nobody cares...)
Maybe I'll try Economics For Dummies instead.
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I took a cost accounting course for engineers that had a pretty anodyne text book. Probably not quite what you're looking for, though.
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I took a cost accounting course for engineers that had a pretty anodyne text book. Probably not quite what you're looking for, though.
No, I'm an accountant, so I'm good on that. Never took the Econs elective though. I know a bit of it through various desultory reading but totally unstructured, hence my hunting around for something like a university textbook on the subject.
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after a few months of deal hunting, i'm good for a bit.
i am aware i have zero chill
(http://puu.sh/CYUa7/b09ab9ea1f.png)
(http://puu.sh/CYUcB/29ea112070.png)
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Absolutely hnnnngghhh.
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Reading Things Our Father's Saw Volume 1, the Pacific Theater.
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I just watched a video on YouTube where Shad Brooks mentions writer Brandon Sanderson. Has anyone in here read his writings and what can you tell about him?
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I know I've read some of his stuff, but he made zero impression and even looking up his bibliography I can't actually remember the names of what I read.
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I just watched a video on YouTube where Shad Brooks mentions writer Brandon Sanderson. Has anyone in here read his writings and what can you tell about him?
I know he finished the Wheel of Time series, but I despised those books, amazed I got as far through as I did. :P
This is why we need likes/upvotes/whatever.
Kidd, you will find that economics changes based on which branch of political science is being used as control/interpretation. What makes sense in one, doesn't in the other. It is, sadly, very much an apples and oranges kinda thing, and you need to have at least a basic grasp of the politics for certain economic issues to make sense.
Reaching back a few years here, but economics is a tool of politics that borrows heavily from most of the branches of science and humanities. My high school text book for economics actually laid it out fairly well, even though it was still somewhat incomprehensible.
Unfortunately, you can't explain economics to people using what is, to them, "real world" examples, and I'll be perfectly honest that most of the macroeconomic theories and mathematics are well beyond my ability. All I really remember is that most economic theory relies upon assumptions based around normative values and averaged behavioural trends, be they individual, group, corporate or national. This is why two different economists can come to such radically different answers when given the same data set, and why macroeconomic behaviours can have wildly variable results in otherwise identical circumstances.
In short, it's a mad house that I avoid talking about as much as possible, that creepy uncle that you never mention to your GF or wife because you don't want them to be exposed to it. :P
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I just watched a video on YouTube where Shad Brooks mentions writer Brandon Sanderson. Has anyone in here read his writings and what can you tell about him?
the only stuff i recognize from his bibliography is the mistborn series but i've never read any of them
I know he finished the Wheel of Time series, but I despised those books, amazed I got as far through as I did. :P
i unwittingly started the first book, only knowing it was part of a series and stopped halfway through once i saw the quagmire i was about to sink into
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I read one Wheel of Time novel when I was in high school. The length didn't bother me, the sheer number of characters, most of whom were completely boring, did.
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I read one Wheel of Time novel when I was in high school. The length didn't bother me, the sheer number of characters, most of whom were completely boring, did.
yeah that certainly didn't help. i'm at the point now where i'm not going to invest in a series unless it's finished first. thank god i got tired of game of thrones around feast for crows so i don't care if Martin ever finishes
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I just watched a video on YouTube where Shad Brooks mentions writer Brandon Sanderson.
Addendum: Shad seems to be fan of Brandon and calls his novels realistic fantasy. Response here seems to be... underwhelming?
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I also just finished Blaine Lee Pardoe's "Forever Faithful". Not going to spoil it, but, there's one particular scene that just gave me chills. Such an awesome book that dropped some really interesting hints and bits of information.
Currently I have started reading D.P. Prior's "Ravine of Blood and Shadow" Book 1 of The Annals of the Nameless Dwarf.
Glad you liked it.
Blaine "Buck" Pardoe
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Addendum: Shad seems to be fan of Brandon and calls his novels realistic fantasy.
Here it is (https://youtu.be/j10vzGs576I?t=840). Do you say yay or nay?
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Here it is (https://youtu.be/j10vzGs576I?t=840). Do you say yay or nay?
My opinion on Brandon Sanderson.
His stuff seems to sell well.
He's a good writer, pace wise, structurally, even world-building.
Nothing he's written to date grabs me. It's not soulless, just sorta shallow.
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I'm currently reading Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway: The Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway, by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. I'm only up to the point where they launch the first strike against Midway, but it's been an interesting read so far.
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I'm sure you'll find it an interesting read... hopefully the author covered the heroic efforts of the shipyard at Pearl Harbor. The last workers left the ship by boat as it sailed out of harbor on the way to Midway.
And I DEFINITELY hope the author covered then-CDR Rochefort's efforts at Station HYPO.
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I'm sure you'll find it an interesting read... hopefully the author covered the heroic efforts of the shipyard at Pearl Harbor. The last workers left the ship by boat as it sailed out of harbor on the way to Midway.
And I DEFINITELY hope the author covered then-CDR Rochefort's efforts at Station HYPO.
It's mostly the story from the Japanese side, but they do touch on the repairs to Yorktown and what the US was getting from HYPO.
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Yes, I meant the repairs to YORKTOWN... could have sworn I named her when I typed that... :P
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I just watched a video on YouTube where Shad Brooks mentions writer Brandon Sanderson. Has anyone in here read his writings and what can you tell about him?
I am still trying to chew through the first book of The Stormlight Archives, which is supposed to be his best work. And I only read the first Mistborn book; I couldn't get into the second and let it go about three chapters in.
He is an outstanding world builder. But he is much less a good storyteller.
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Turning Points Fronc Reaches.
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He is an outstanding world builder. But he is much less a good storyteller.
Thanks! So good source material for RPG like GURPS?
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Thanks! So good source material for RPG like GURPS?
Yes.
You do have some writers who can combine both the incredible deep world building and really strong story telling; Malazan Book of the Fallen being my favorite modern example. It was started as an RPG project and ended up as a truly epic series.
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Does anyone in here know about Aeon 14 universe? A novel series based on it, Rika's Marauders, hit on my eye on Amazon. Retired manei domini gets dragged back to action the hard way and she finds it difficult to refuse. Know it? Recommend it?
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Manei Domini can retire? ???
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It's not really manei domini, it's just a series of sci-fi novels about an ex-military cyborg lady.
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Ah, I see... that makes so much more sense...
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It's not really manei domini, it's just a series of sci-fi novels about an ex-military cyborg lady.
So is it any good?
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Don't know. I just looked it up.
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I have an extra, free, Kindle version of ML Wang’s Sword of Kaigen. It’s a stand-alone fantasy novel. Looking to find someone to gift it to.
https://www.amazon.com/Sword-Kaigen-Theonite-War-Story-ebook/dp/B07MNWKF2M/
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I just finished the old Dark Sun books. Prism Pentad, then I started the Chronicles of Athas for a switch to single books. But book 3 follows the Tribe of One trilogy, so I had to read them before finishing the five Chronicles. It was nice to revisit that world for a while.
Next will be 'The Final Reflection', the old Star Trek novel. I haven't read it since the old days. I've been working on my SFB merchant campaign idea again, and this should help keep the mood. And it will give me some time to organize my unread stuff.
Meow Liao
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I just finished the old Dark Sun books. Prism Pentad, then I started the Chronicles of Athas for a switch to single books. But book 3 follows the Tribe of One trilogy, so I had to read them before finishing the five Chronicles. It was nice to revisit that world for a while.
I love all of those. There are also three more Dark Sun novels about a decade later, during the 4th edition release of Dark Sun. I didn't think they were as good though.
Ruger
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Feeding Nelson's Navy, by Janet McDonald.
I cannot recommend this book strongly enough for anybody the least interested in the Napoleonic wars and late 18th century military feeding. Superbly written page turner conjured out of painstaking research into countless ships' logs and contemporary letters and even some experimental research. Several long-held and oft-repeated "facts" about vermin, Vitamin C and la vie d'un chef cuisinier de Royal Navy are blasted away most convincingly in the process, enlivened by a scattering of anecdotes here and there.
5/5 this one's a keeper.
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Historical: Brush Wars.
I like the classroom style of the Ronin War part. I was more interested in FWL conflicts (Andurien crisis and Anton's revolt), but found them to be quite boring once I started reading them. the style drags compared to the Ronin Wars, specially the Andurien crisis.
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The Magicians, Lev Grossman.
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The Star Kings by Edmond Hamilton. This is a collection of short-stories written by Ed during from 1930s to 1946. I bought my copy strangely to me on Google Play for a dollar.
It was nice time killer at work, its old fashion pub-science fiction. Which is fine with me, i tend to be retro in my tastes. The book i read has his collection of stories expanding 2 thousands years. I wish there were more, though he did write Interstellar Patrol and Captain Future. Which later apparently had adaption to a anime i need check out.
Edmond Hamilton was also married to Leigh Brackett a science fiction writer in her own right, which she wrote early version draft of Empire Strikes Back which wasn't used.
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Ted Chiang "Exhalation" short story collection. He wrote the short story "Story of Your Life", which the movie "Arrival" was based on.
Chiang's stories tend to feature people's ideals or beliefs getting challenged or thrown out of whack by scientific discoveries. That continues to be a strong theme in the new collection. The title story, for example, is about a race of automatons dealing with the knowledge of the inevitable closure of their universe. How do you go on living when you know the world is destined for destruction? In another, on an alternate Earth where humanity has found objective scientific proof that the universe was created by a god (nothing older than 8,000 years old exists) they then have to confront the fact that their planet is moving with respect to background radiation--meaning their planet is not the center of creation.
Generally, the collection is up there with his previous work, remaining both touching and thought-provoking. Only two criticisms really.
First, the longest story in the collection, "The Lifecycle of Software Objects," is also the dullest and most meandering and could probably have delivered the same punch in a quarter of the length.
Second, I'd already read many of the stories as they're available online from various sites. I'd already read both "Exhalation" and "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" and one other story, so the $20+ price tag for the Kindle edition felt a bit steep. They're good stories, but maybe wait for this one to go on sale?
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Ted Chiang "Exhalation" short story collection.
I checked it out on your recommendation. Reminds me of the good old Asimov short collections.
Decent overall, great writing, highly enjoyable, won't re-read; 7/10.
Alchemist's Gate - Well-deserving of its awards. I'm a sucker for time travel stories where you can't change the past.
Exhalation - Brain auto-surgery gave me the jeebies but otherwise, eh. (Yet) another spin on the ol' "by the time you read this, our civilisation will be dead".
What's Expected - Great concept, dumb punchline.
Lifecycle of Software - Admittedly when it comes to fiction I am a humanist through and through; I have no truck nor patience for "what if AI is living" genre. No it's not, get over it. So yes, it was a pain to read through this ode to Tamagotchi. Fans of the genre should find it very well written though.
Patent Nanny - I've always felt museum exhibits should be accompanied by not less than 500 words telling the (hi)story of the item. As a child I spent dozens of hours in museums reading every single info card thoroughly (thanks Pa for putting up with it). If only they were all as interesting.
Truth of Fact - Bad parenting doesn't get any better, it just swings the other way. Analogy is heavy-handed.
Great Silence - So long and thanks for all the crackers.
Omphalos - The ending revelation is indeed, well, revelatory for the main character; but the trouble is... it's the status quo for us in our universe. Ever since Copernicus this is where we are. So where is the great lesson here?
Anxety is the Dizziness - Someone clearly saved the best for last. The concept and "science" behind it was cool. Ending pulls no punches about the morality of man, and I like that. Does that make me a horrible human being I wonder?
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I checked it out on your recommendation. Reminds me of the good old Asimov short collections.
Decent overall, great writing, highly enjoyable, won't re-read; 7/10.
Hey, awesome! Liked your comments Kidd, especially the bit about museum exhibits. Like you, I also thought the last story was the best, though I think it and Omphalos are the only two that are actually new for the collection, with the rest reprints from elsewhere.
With Omphalos, I guess the difference is humanity in the story has clear, scientific proof of God's (or a small-g-god's) existence, but no proof He/She/It actually has anything planned for them. Would that alter the nature of belief? For the main character the answer is ultimately 'No', i.e. the status quo, but I guess the author's message for us in our post-Copernicus universe is "Regardless of whether God/gods exist or not, it's still going to be up to you to find the meaning of your life."
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Internet has been down at my house for a week, so going back through a pile of unread used books.
Red Phoenix, Larry Bond, 1989. A second Korean War set in 1989. Tries to be a little to Clancy (Bond was a collaborator on Red Storm Rising, so understandable) on some of the political end of things, but the "military technothriller" end of things holds up pretty well. But he is even worse than Clancy when it comes to non-military human interaction. There is a love story that is not only unnecessary but really poorly written. Their dialog is bad. But skip those (pretty easy) and it makes a nice diversion.
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As bad as Clancy was, he was the best of the crop - kind of like a Roland Emmerich in a field of Michael Bays. I haven't found anyone else to scratch the ol' military techno-thriller itch since.
Digging through my storeroom I found Beau Geste, which I had not picked up since my age was double digits. God P.C. Wren is so bloody pointlessly depressing.
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Going back to the classics. Started Moby Dick and got 1/3 through and had to put it down for a while. Now to War of the Worlds
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Reading through the Mad Amos collection from Alan Dean Foster for my 5 year old. Thinking that Vincent D'Onofrio would make a good Mad Amos if they ever put any of the stories as part of a TV anthology series.
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Read Grendel by John Gardner. It's a retelling of the Beowulf myth from Grendel's point of view, only using it as the basis to explore modern philosophical viewpoints. I'll sketch the evolution, as the plot obviously isn't a spoiler, and the point of the book is the mental journey Grendel goes on:
Grendel starts off with only animals for company, and realizes he's the only intelligent thing around, so comes to a kind of solipsistic/nihilist view: Nothing means anything. He meets the dragon from the Beowulf tale, who further tries to convince Grendel of a dumb, mechanistic universe, where everything is determined by cause and effect, nothing more.
Then he meets humans, and at first he hates them for their boasting and pretensions to grander things, but is drawn to their stories about God and heroes, which almost make him believe in an order and purpose to the universe.
He tries to join them, but is attacked as a monster, so he decides he and the humans can give one another meaning: He can be the monster the humans see themselves as opposing or better than, the monster that inspires them to make the heroism of their stories a reality.
This backfires though when Beowulf arrives, who is physically a hero but who doesn't believe in heroism -- merely in might makes right, the same kind of nihilism Grendel is trying to escape.
It's an engagingly written book, with many great turns of phrase ("I create the whole universe, blink by blink"), though the language is very modern, which might throw some people expecting a more 'fantasy' style. The dragon, for example, tries to tell Grendel about molecules. For video game fans, I strongly suspect the style heavily influenced Bungie's fluff for the game 'Destiny' -- it has that same mix of academic terminology and magic.
It's also a quick read, at under 200 pages, so it's something you can go back to again and try to puzzle through for meaning of your own.
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Reading through the Mad Amos collection from Alan Dean Foster for my 5 year old. Thinking that Vincent D'Onofrio would make a good Mad Amos if they ever put any of the stories as part of a TV anthology series.
I don't know. If Robbie Coltrane could do an American accent, I think he pulls off the big, hairy, weathered look better.
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I don't know. If Robbie Coltrane could do an American accent, I think he pulls off the big, hairy, weathered look better.
I just remember Vincent from playing his part in the horrible Magnificent Seven remake and figure that he might do a good job.
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I remember that I've seen that movie, but I don't remember anything about it. :P
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I quite liked it.
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It wasn't as good as the original, no, but "horrible"? I don't think so...
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Uncompromising Honor by David Weber. The long delayed end of the main story of his Honorverse has come to a close. I weirdly bought the book (for me) on Google Books for less 10 bucks. Which was good deal, though i haven't gotten used reading like that.
About the book: For storied and awaited end, i though it was disappointing. I was hoping he would do epic fleet actions using less-than high-advanced technology after the sneak attack on Manticore. However, that's not what we got. What was written was a story about Honor's life getting dark, Mesa doing it's dirty tricks and a lot of Solarian League going down the crapper, with it's hidden leadership finally answering for crimes against the League. I like balanced story, these later years been hit in miss with Weber's main stories. This one was not as good to me. I'm fleet action sort guy, the hyper superiority of the Grand Alliance (Republic + Manticore) made it REALLY a disappointing read. There was some action but, a lot of it was very lopsided. There was a lot intrigue going on in the story which was fine, but Mesa part of it felt...undone and bit missing somethings. Then things they did to Honor to get her finish the conflict well and the plot, while these parts were good writing but he used to me tiring methods getting us to the story's finish line. The way he ended it as well felt like that said in so many words "I'm DONE!" and that's that. Supposedly now the spin series is done, I'm not sure if the universe will be same. Frankly the old "stop point" for Honor's story "End Game" and springing off to Honor's children would been very much better ending. He's really wrote him into a self a corner, with extensive technology achievements and listening to people cry about main character's original destiny of being bumped off like Admiral Horatio Nelson was not right. There are lose ends to allow continuation, but Mr. Weber needs change things up more.
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I found that Weber had a bad habit of going "and by the way, here are some gratuitous political views" in the Honorverse that got in the way of the story.
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The only thing ever worth slogging through miles of infodump was the fleet battles, and when that stopped... well I couldn't care less.
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I completely agree.
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The first two novels were absolutely top notch. This last one was about as bad as a Stackpole story full of "and it just so happens that..."
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Crimson Skies: Rogue Flyer right now. I need to try and find the rest of these novels too.
Ruger
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The first two novels were absolutely top notch. This last one was about as bad as a Stackpole story full of "and it just so happens that..."
I gave up on the Honorverse after At All Costs, having been switching between frustrated and enjoying the books for a bit before that. Anything that focused on life on a ship and small-scale, detailed action (like the first two books, and Honor Among Enemies especially) I really liked, but as the scale of the action grew the naval sequences descended into "Side A fired 8,000 missiled with a velocity of 240,000 km/h, which overtook the enemy fleet 8 minuted after launch.", and the battles were mostly one-sided with an ambush or the losing side underestimating the enemy. Combined with increasingly infantile political narration - the High Ridge government on Manticore and Pierre's cabal on Haven were cartoony villains rather than powerful and interesting enemies - I found I wasn't enjoying them at all.
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Honor of the Queen and Honor Among Enemies are my two top favorites.
Currently reading through the Greybooks of Admiral Nimitz (his official journals written during the war). They have been scanned into PDF and are available as free downloads.
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I'm a little over half way thought Tiamat's Wrath, the latest book in The Expanse series. If they're setting up what I think they're setting up....hoo boy is the second half going to be interesting.
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Yeah, Tiamat's Wrath goes a little... weird.
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Yeah, Tiamat's Wrath goes a little... weird.
But also awesome.
I'm currently reading River of Stars, by Guy Gavriel Kay. Alt history/dimension take on feudal China that ties into his larger tapestry.
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Can anyone recommend to me any newer authors for fantasy, sci-fi or historical fiction? Someone in the vein of CJ Cherryh, H. Beam Piper or Robert Heinlein?
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Are you already reading any Scalzi? He's very much in the vein of Heinlein, and also did "Fuzzy Nation" as a homage to Piper (with the estate's blessing).
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Have you tried Sarah Gailey? They've got an interesting alternate history series involving hippos being released into the Mississippi in the 19th Century (which was actually something that the US government considered doing).
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there is also a decent FB group for Piper
https://www.facebook.com/groups/57935645782/
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Just saw that Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse, book eight) is out. I'll be devouring that shortly (plus the two new BT books/anthologies.)
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Just saw that Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse, book eight) is out. I'll be devouring that shortly (plus the two new BT books/anthologies.)
I just finished it last week. No spoilers, but the ending wasn't quite what I was expecting. It was still good, though. And I'm wondering about some things they seemed to be setting up for the future.
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The Camel Club, David Baldacci. An a little out there, yet fun, political thriller. I like some of the twists.
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it's that time again (september qualifying exam)
Radicalism of the American Revolution, Wood
Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, Bailyn
The Unknown American Revolution, Nash
Revolutionary Mothers, Berkin
Forced Founders, Holton
Capitalism and a New Social Order, Appleby
Original Meanings, Rakove
that should keep me busy until about... monday. i'm not going to be sober for a week when this is over.
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Good luck with the exam! :thumbsup:
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Thanks. It’s one of those wonderful pass or find something to do affairs xp
Perhaps the most obnoxious part of the process is that I work exclusively post-1880 so my future is being dictated by material I’ll never look at again :crazy:
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Madness, I say! Sorry to hear your field is that... rigid? ???
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Just the one particular professor on my committee. He has a... reputation
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Sadly, that's usually enough... still, best of luck! :)
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I was thinking the other day about how it had been a long time since I had read "The Songs of Distant Earth" by Arthur C Clarke, so I bought it on Kindle and am about 1/2 way through. I've also got a collection of his short stories to read next.
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Logistics in the Falklands War, by Kenneth Privratsky
Fascinating and very detailed insight into the war from the perspective of logistical challenges and operations. Easy read, very well written, very well researched.
10/10 will be reading again
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Just finished up David Morrell's "First Blood".
I've also been on a major V:tM kick again, and finally picked up some of the Revised Clan Books to expand on what I've read in "V20: Lore of the Clans". Currently reading through "Clan Book: Gangrel" at the moment.
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Read A Wizard of Earthsea yesterday and starting The Tombs of Atuan today. Not sure if I will read The Farthest Shore.
All three are part of the Earthsea trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin. Pretty sure most of you know that already though...
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Just finished up a re-read of the Witcher novels. On to Redemption Rift!
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Starting Bonfire of Worlds for first time on google books. Feel bad for Tucker. Eesh.
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The European Guilds: An Economic Analysis by Sheilagh Ogilve. I've got the Kell Hounds novella trilogy on standby in case the medieval macroeconomics make my eyes too heavy
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By the Sword by Richard Cohen
A look at sword fencing through the ages with diversions into other areas
Rather interesting
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Halfway through Descent Into Darkness by Edward Raymer, an account of this Navy diver's time salvaging the battleships in Pearl Harbor
He gave a very frank description of ships like the Arizona which were filled with the bodies of the poor crew. Gruesome details in spoiler. Salvage ops were hindered by the masses of decomposing flesh fouling the water, as well as fuel oil. The gases released from the mixture were poisonous and even killed some crewmembers.
Other than that, a quaint and straightforward description of an America, and Americans, in a time long past. He is equally frank in describing less than perfect fellow servicemen and adventures on liberty. Seems interesting.
The bodies were usually headless as the neck would decompose or be scavenged first, severing the skull. When he entered a compartment, the movement of the water would bring the bodies towards him as if they were swimming to him and grabbing at him. The extremities were skeletonised fast, within a couple of weeks. He described the exposed bones clicking on his hardsuit like "windchimes". Very quickly however he adjusted to regarding the corpses as merely fallen brothers in arms.
Recovery was attempted by his crew but quite unfeasible as they were basically just bringing up masses of flesh and bone. Dogtags were scattered rendering identification impossible. [/quote]
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Finished Descent into Darkness with how the author deployed to Guadalcanal and fought in The Slot, making repairs to the rudder of the heavy cruiser USS Portland. Interestingly, he claims that the currently widely-accepted story that Portland was towed all the way to Sydney by the tug Navajo (which is what Wikipedia states) is inaccurate, as he sailed to Sydney on board the Portland and she was under her own steam. He states that the ship's log bears out his version of events.
8/10, nice.
Next I hit up Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, for its collection of Japanese ghost stories. Very nicely written in the old style, lots of unique and uniquely Japanese stories.
10/10, would read again.
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Last Enfield - SA80: The Reluctant Rifle by Steve Raw and R.Blake Stevens.
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rereading Glynn Stewart's Castle Federation series
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Just finished up "Redemption Rift" and starting on "A Bonfire of Worlds".
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Giving the Horus Heresy series another shot... Gave up midway through book 2 last time. Just felt that grimdark is okay, but it needs some relief, a bit of humor, otherwise it's just dreary and oppressive. There's a lot in the W40K universe that is so ludicrously over the top, I think a wink and a smile here and there are needed.
Like some of the worst BTU novels though, the series often feels focused on lore and plot to the exclusion of all else. This happened and then this happened and then THIS happened and it's a bit wearing after a while.
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Spent the weekend on a couple of Cold War-turned-hot novels which have long been on my reading list.
Arc Light by Eric Harry.
In an alternate history WW3 where the Sino-Soviet Split led to war between the USSR and PRC, a couple of Soviet military coups and American politicking inadvertently leads to nuclear war.
Well-written and enjoyable from a what-if perspective oozing with huge infodumps of war procedure. However the focus is on the national high-level leadership of both countries. There are a few obligatory cutscenes here and there of a rifleman, tank driver, and civilian point of view, but they feel generally irrelevant although the author tries his best to link them to the various decisions made by the leadership. Possibly because as a reader I never felt emotionally connected to the characters.
Overall, a good effort by someone who is apparently very knowledgeable of such scenarios. 7.5/10, would read again.
Team Yankee by Harold Coyle
In contrast, this take on the Hot War genre focuses exclusively on the adventures of a tank company commander.
I stopped reading less than halfway because this isn't a book. It's a draft. An unfinished draft. While it too is also replete with detail of tank operations, clearly from an ex-tank commander of some kind, there is almost no dialogue in the book.
It goes: "X saw that Tank 14 was improperly camouflaged. X told Lieutenant Y so. Y was a raw second lieutenant and he stammered out apologies. X told Y that sorry would not be good enough in a shooting war. X left without hearing another word. He went next to Tank 16, led by Sergeant Z who was a good man. Z's tank was well-organised. X praised Z for his reliability."
And on and on and on, for endless pages. There is a smidgen of dialogue every now and then, but most of it is in narrative style as above. Which turns what could be a very fascinating and colourful book into something not very worth reading.
2/10, did not finish.
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Very helpful reviews, thanks! :thumbsup:
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I have started reading a book that I picked up years ago at a library sale and then forgot I had: its a western by Andre Norton of all people. Stand to Horse. I'm in chapter 5 and its quite good.
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Adrian Goldsworthy's The Complete Roman Army.
As it says on the tin, very comprehensive analysis of all things Roman Army. The subject is covered by thousands of books, blogs, documentaries, reenactors, YouTube videos, etc in varying detail and accuracy. But if you want the authoritative source for all of that stuff then THIS. IS. IT.
Unlike the above sources, controversial areas and alternate opinions are always pointed out by the author before moving forward with his own opinion. Much appreciated, that.
10/10, would reference again.
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Awesome! I have a colleague who is teaching a course on Roman military history... I'll point this one out to him! :thumbsup:
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Awesome! I have a colleague who is teaching a course on Roman military history... I'll point this one out to him! :thumbsup:
He should know of Goldsworthy, who is quite a name in the field. Would be interesting to know his opinion ;)
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I'll ask him tomorrow... he's more soldier than scholar, so I give it a 50/50 shot that he's heard of Goldsworthy.
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A friend was telling me about a ST:NG novel he once read. A subplot was that Starfleet made some modifications to the ships computer so that it was snarky and annoying. "Tea, earl grey, hot." "Are you sure that's a good idea?" He can't remember the title. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
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I'll ask him tomorrow... he's more soldier than scholar, so I give it a 50/50 shot that he's heard of Goldsworthy.
Whoops... totally forgot to follow up with this. He has three Goldsworthy books on the bookshelf in his office, so yeah, he's familiar... :)
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Just found out that the next Dresden Files novel, Peace Talks, finally has a release date.
July 14th of 2020.
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Just found out that the next Dresden Files novel, Peace Talks, finally has a release date.
July 14th of 2020.
Finally!
Ruger
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Currently reading Mira Grant's "Newsflesh" series.
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Just found out that the next Dresden Files novel, Peace Talks, finally has a release date.
July 14th of 2020.
bastille day? ok
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And the song by Rush pops into my head.
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And the song by Rush pops into my head.
Nothing wrong with that 😁
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Cibola Burn by James S A Correy. It's been about two years since I read an Expanse novel so I am glad to return to the series.
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The 8 books released so far are in groups of 3 (if that makes sense). You may think the sixth book is a high point. Wait until you get to the end of book eight.
Excellent series.
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The 8 books released so far are in groups of 3 (if that makes sense). You may think the sixth book is a high point. Wait until you get to the end of book eight.
Excellent series.
There were at least three points in book 8 where my jaw literally dropped. Can't wait for the last one next year.
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Human Bullets by Tadayoshi Sakurai. Its a memoir of a young Japanese Army officer during the Russo Japanese War. This is my second reading.
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I'd read Cixin Liu's three novels in the "Three Body Problem" trilogy. I enjoyed them - definitely not Western sci-fi, and some big ideas.
So I picked up "Wandering Earth", a collection of short stories, and "The Supernova Era".
"Wandering Earth" had some good work, but was clearly the author's earlier work. Plus he can be a bit didactic with the dinosaurs and ants too often.
"Supernova Era"- everyone over 13 dies. After a third of the book, I wish I had too. Avoid, sorry.
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I'd read Cixin Liu's three novels in the "Three Body Problem" trilogy. I enjoyed them - definitely not Western sci-fi, and some big ideas.
So I picked up "Wandering Earth", a collection of short stories, and "The Supernova Era".
"Wandering Earth" had some good work, but was clearly the author's earlier work. Plus he can be a bit didactic with the dinosaurs and ants too often.
I haven't read past Three-Body Problem yet, but I enjoyed it.
Have you seen the movie of Wandering Earth? It's very different to the short story from what I understand, but it was a very fun hard-ish SF romp
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12 Rules for Life. Christmas present. Probably a bit too late for me, ;) but hopefully I can use it to help my boys grow up.
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Started one of the books I received for Christmas / Birthday, The Ghost Mountain Boys. It follows men of the 32nd Infantry Division in the New Guinea campaign. The 32nd spent more time in combat than any other US Army division in WWII.
12 Rules for Life. Christmas present. Probably a bit too late for me, ;) but hopefully I can use it to help my boys grow up.
I got that too! Looking forward to it; I enjoy his podcasts.
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Finished The Ghost Mountain Boys yesterday. I knew, intellectually, the Buna campaign, like all the fighting in New Guinea, was very rough. Man did I get an education.
I'm going to shar a small tidbit from near the end of the book. Its not going to spoil anything but it will give a clear image of how the fighting at Buna was perceived by the military of the day:
An officer of the 32nd (Sam) was recuperating in an Australian hospital after the campaign, recovering from gunshot wounds, malaria, and skin sores. Sharing his room were several Marine officers who had served in the Guadalcanal campaign. They frequently spoke of Guadalcanal and talked about what happened there. One day Sam had to report somewhere so he donned his uniform blouse and his room mates saw his Combat Infantry badge, Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross.
"Hey Sam, where'd you pick those up?"
"Buna" he replied.
For the rest of his stay the Marine officers never mentioned Guadalcanal again whenever he was around.
That passage really struck me, and I think will stick with me for a long time.
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ok
re read few over thanks giving and new year
a old star trek novel How much for just a planet?
still puts a bit of chuckle out of me
stanislaw lem books robotic salies and cyberiad along with few pilot pirx novels still enjoy truls machine and automathiews friend
re read 8 chung kuo series david wingrove
original dune ...
but since i had few books destroyed in storage i am still looking to replace
i am looking for older series of books
premise is quest for the rings that can shut down a computer master system that watches over humanity. computer took over and sent humans away from earth to other planets transformed the populations according to the belif systems and altered them to fit their environments . it keeps watch on humans through vals which can look like humans and assassinate folks through them if any one finds about the control rings.
main character who gets started finds a pit with carved heads of scientists that designed the computer and ask him for input since he did not have the keys he got expelled. another character is a teen girl of a governor who would do anything not to go with manditory assignment her father has to take in what was china
wish i remembere more but it had been over 25 years since i read it
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You want Jack Chalker's "Rings of the Masters" series. Ask me or Charlie Tango about any Jack Chalker works, we're big fans. You'd probably also like the "Four Lords of the Diamond" series. I also highly recommend the first three of the "Well of Souls" series, and the "Quintara Marathon".
Chalker's books are all about transformation in one form or another.
Did you know David Wingrove made a restart on the "Chung Kuo" series? The 8th book in the original version is ... disappointing, but his publisher had originally promised him 9 books, then after 7 books told him "one more, that's it." The rewrite starts earlier in the piece. Despite the ending, Chung Kuo is a flawed masterpiece, with original world-building.
And do try and find "The Final Reflection", a TOS Star Trek book written by John Ford, who wrote "How much for just the planet?". They're the only two TOS novels I've bothered to keep. Read "The Final Reflection", and weep for what the Klingons could have been portrayed as.
And yes, few things equal Dune.
I approve heartily of your reading list! :thumbsup: :wheelchair:
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You want Jack Chalker's "Rings of the Masters" series. Ask me or Charlie Tango about any Jack Chalker works, we're big fans. You'd probably also like the "Four Lords of the Diamond" series. I also highly recommend the first three of the "Well of Souls" series, and the "Quintara Marathon".
Chalker's books are all about transformation in one form or another.
Did you know David Wingrove made a restart on the "Chung Kuo" series? The 8th book in the original version is ... disappointing, but his publisher had originally promised him 9 books, then after 7 books told him "one more, that's it." The rewrite starts earlier in the piece. Despite the ending, Chung Kuo is a flawed masterpiece, with original world-building.
And do try and find "The Final Reflection", a TOS Star Trek book written by John Ford, who wrote "How much for just the planet?". They're the only two TOS novels I've bothered to keep. Read "The Final Reflection", and weep for what the Klingons could have been portrayed as.
And yes, few things equal Dune.
I approve heartily of your reading list! :thumbsup: :wheelchair:
yah thats the one ! thanks btw are you safe down under?
i have final reflection also
wingrove i did know and read some of them but still i go back to original 8 novels the new series is supposed to be 22 or 23 books total and original 8 tossed in
and i was so disappointed in 8th book
for life of me i cannot remember who wrote original fuzzies series..i recall author dying before finishing the book and sequel was so lack luster i totally forgot about it.
still replacing my books i lost...so i come across few bits and what nots
bit surprised you did not mention stanislaw lem...a lot of his books especially futuroligical congress(?) are a lot of tongue in cheek and a lot of social observation i do recommend cyberiad and its reprints with illustrations...they are a bit disturbing but fit the stories very well...robot sallies is hard to get or find but well worth a read
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gateway and the whole series fredrick pohl
outnumbering the dead was pretty good
starchild trilogy was unique
Ark Liberty by Bradley, Will was a bit of nice take on global climate catastrophy
and my fave judge dredd complete case files 1 through 33
btw does any one remember a origin story of dark judges death mortis fire and fear ? i recall judge death befor he became judge death coming across sisters of death who were also not dead yet
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God Wants You Dead by Sean Hastings - Paul Rosenberg
interesting take on ideas and how they propagate deep look at meme and how it evolved along side with religions and their ideas
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for life of me i cannot remember who wrote original fuzzies series..i recall author dying before finishing the book and sequel was so lack luster i totally forgot about it.
H. Beam Piper. He wrote the first book, Little Fuzzy, and a sequel, Fuzzy Sapiens, which was published the year he committed suicide. Another sequel in partially complete form was discovered and published in 84, and other authors have also published their own sequels.
Also, John Scalzi wrote a "reboot" of the original called Fuzzy Nation that was published a few years ago.
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Fuzzy Nation is pretty good... As I recall, Piper's family was quite happy with Scalzi's work.
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Yeah, IIRC Scalzi sought their blessing on it before publishing.
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and my fave judge dredd complete case files 1 through 33
btw does any one remember a origin story of dark judges death mortis fire and fear ? i recall judge death befor he became judge death coming across sisters of death who were also not dead yet
There's been a couple of origin stories for the Dark Judges down through the years. I remember one that ran as an Anderson serial in the Meg maybe 10 years ago that had gorgeous Arthur Ranson art. And apparently there's a big ongoing early years of Deadworld thing in the Tooth at the moment, but I've not read it in ages.
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and my fave judge dredd complete case files 1 through 33
btw does any one remember a origin story of dark judges death mortis fire and fear ? i recall judge death befor he became judge death coming across sisters of death who were also not dead yet
Love that series, but only have 1-16 as that is all that’s currently been released in the States in that series to my knowledge.
Ruger
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There's been a couple of origin stories for the Dark Judges down through the years. I remember one that ran as an Anderson serial in the Meg maybe 10 years ago that had gorgeous Arthur Ranson art. And apparently there's a big ongoing early years of Deadworld thing in the Tooth at the moment, but I've not read it in ages.
i know its so annoying its like having apiece of popcorn stuck between your teeth...you know its there you know it will come out but not when you want it to come out...the one i want is when death was not death and his dad was a traveling dentist(?) that was good ut really tortured people and death picked some of daddys attitude....it had been over 20 years since i read it i think
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i know its so annoying its like having apiece of popcorn stuck between your teeth...you know its there you know it will come out but not when you want it to come out...the one i want is when death was not death and his dad was a traveling dentist(?) that was good ut really tortured people and death picked some of daddys attitude....it had been over 20 years since i read it i think
Is that Young Death: Portrait of a Superfiend?
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Currently re-listening-to Blood of Elves before I start the rest of the Witcher books
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Is that Young Death: Portrait of a Superfiend?
!!!! thats the one!
thanks!
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Charlie Martz and Other Unpublished Stories of Elmore Leonard. I can see why most of these were unpublished...
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The Book of Ninja: The Bansenshukai translated by Antony Cummins and Yoshie Minami
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So I'm reading three books concurrently. Two at work and one at home.
At home, I'm nearly done with The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan. I'm somewhere between my sixth and eighth re-read of the series. Two of my co-workers are listening to the audio version of the series. I bring this up because today is the 30th Anniversary of The Eye of World being published.
At work, I'm alternating between Successful Professional Wargames: A Practitioner's Handbook and Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms. The latter uses to Battletech and The Duke to briefly illustrate movement points and tile movement respectively. Handy books, these.
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You aren't, by chance, going to be at the wargame in Quantico in a couple of weeks, are you? :)
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PM sent.
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Just finished William Gibson's latest, called "Agency."
It's set in the same world as "Peripheral", involving future-humans whose hobby is to manipulate the course of alternate/ parallel past Earths. This time, there's a new alternate Earth, which occurs in 2017 and where an independent AI is emerging (one having "agency", hence the title).
Honestly, I was a little disappointed with this. Which is a shame, as Gibson has been one of the few truly reliable writers out there, a master stylist if not a masterful plotter. But this time, he's basically rehashed the emergent AI plot line from "All Tomorrow's Parties" with a carbon copy of the blessed-with-undefined-technological-affinity protagonist from "Pattern Recognition."
The main character spends the book getting transported around California, exercising precious little agency for a book with that as a title, getting vaguely threatened but never very convincingly by bad guys with obscure goals, then it all gets suddenly resolved with a URL. No, I'm not joking.
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The Black Rifle, by R. Blake Stevens. I have it on loan from the library but I may have to buy it. There a is a lot of stuff going on and want to reread parts and maybe take notes.
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The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Cristopher Clark
I knew a lot of what he wrote before, but still had to fight of the urge to facepalm every few minutes.
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bio of space tyrant
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The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Cristopher Clark
I knew a lot of what he wrote before, but still had to fight of the urge to facepalm every few minutes.
"sheesh, these people were stupid," facepalm
or
"No, Clark, you have that backwards," facepalm?
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bio of space tyrant
Now there's an author I haven't heard about in a while.
Probably not for good reason- that man has issues when it comes to women.
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"sheesh, these people were stupid," facepalm
or
"No, Clark, you have that backwards," facepalm?
I haven't encountered any glaring historical omissions yet, although I have a feeling he is understating the influence of Prussian officer class on German politics somewhat. Anyway decision making that led to WWI was even worse mess then what I expected.
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"Mess" doesn't even begin to describe it...
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Doing a read-through of an oldie but goodie series from John Christopher.. The Tripods. First novel - White mountains.
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I remember reading those books in junior high. Wow, does that set off a chain of related memories.
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The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Cristopher Clark
I knew a lot of what he wrote before, but still had to fight of the urge to facepalm every few minutes.
Currently teaching wwi in my world history classes. Sleepwalkers is always on my desk this time of year
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Never Say Die, Robert Hayes. Asian Fantasy about a swordswoman that is "recruited" by a boy with the power to raise the dead to join his band of risen heroes to defeat an evil emperor.
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The Spy and the Traitor
The story of how MI6 ran and managed to extract Gordievsky from Russia
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Never Say Die, Robert Hayes. Asian Fantasy about a swordswoman that is "recruited" by a boy with the power to raise the dead to join his band of risen heroes to defeat an evil emperor.
Really? I wonder the people putting the James Bond movie by the same name knows that.
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Plot twist: James Bond is the swordsman
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Really? I wonder the people putting the James Bond movie by the same name knows that.
They would be happy to know I thought of their movie when the book is actually just Never Die.
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Doing a read-through of an oldie but goodie series from John Christopher.. The Tripods. First novel - White mountains.
It's been about 25 years since I read those but I still remember them. Thanks to the vagaries of 2nd had book stores and libraries I read them out of order - 2,3,1 - And I also remember a TV (BBC?) adaption of them. now I want to go & read them again!
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took a break from bio of space tyrant...went with dracos tavern forgot how much fun it was to read
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Currently cycling alternate books from
- Horus Heresy (in the mid 40s),
- Charles Stross' Laundry series,
- Katherine Kerr's Deverry series,
- Mark Hodder's steampunk Burton & Swinburn series, and
- assorted Ken McLeod novels, including the Cosmonaut Keep trilogy.
Finish one, move onto the next in the next series.
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Deadliest Enemy - I'm finding this interesting given the current situation.
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just finished reading count of monte cristo in french un abridged...forgot how much fun it was...that and it gave me a good refresher in french which i had not used in awhile
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I'm currently reading Treasure Island to my son as a bedtime story. Before that, it was The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings back to back.
Since before we moved house when I was seven years old, i.e. in the mid/late 70s, I had an audio play cassette of a prequel story to Treasure Island. I loved it to death, literally. The cassette tape broke one day, but my young self loved it so much that I removed the short end and clipped it back together, losing only a few seconds at the start/end of the tape. At some point the tape was lost though, and I've been looking for it for decades.
Reading TI to my son somehow put that prequel back in my mind, and some internet research later I'm fairly confident that it was probably an audio version of the semi-official TI prequel Porto Bello Gold - I can only recall fragments of the story from the audio tape, but among what I can recall is that the whole treasure came from the capture of a single galleon (the Santisima Trinidad), that it was seized in not a chance encounter but a planned action, and that one of the protagonists' name was Ormerod. The latter is probably the most important hint. I also recall there was some sort of double-cross, a kidnapping/hostage situation, and that one other protagonist was dutch. (Weird how childhood memories seem to cling to completely random bits of information. I can't for the life of me remember the actual story.)
Now I'm hunting down that book. I want it sitting on my shelf, badly. And read it, of course - the online reviews are pretty glowing and suggest it is a very solid book on its own, and very respectful of TI.
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I just finished the PRINTED version of the Battletech Novel (novella?) Redemption Rift. 3139 Actions of the Wolf's Dragoons contract in the Draconis Reaches. Which i think was a spectacular read. I really really liked it. I think shows time of the times, with the Spider's Web is still around but as a combine arms "Strike Battallion" where they mix clan formations and inner sphere designations in. So Star Clan Mechs, Star of Battle Armor, and Two Stars of Regular Tanks and couple points aerospace fighters along with other elements of the Dragoons working for the dragon. I wish Jason Schmetzer had written follow up novel as they Dragoons charge into House Davion. This was really good book guys, its worth every penny.
The sneak peak of the Grey Watch Protocol was included in the book. It looks promising as well.
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ok this may sound bit odd i had been looking for a book from either late 70s or early 80s.bunch of short stories
the premise of it is a man who invents a time machine because he wants to meet h g wells.
so soon as he invents it by using crystals he travels back to meet wells but by mistake sets his alarm clock a bit to wake him up when machine arrives in desired time. well he had set a clock to wake him up at a time of hg wells birth and gets to meet him while hg wells is still a baby. realizing his mistake he goes foreward to meet him when hg wells is an adult. he meets him tells hg wells he was the inspiration for him inventing the time machine and leaves. oops moment is he arrived before hg wells pens the time machine.
then this story is followed by few short stories about others who try to preserve the time line and those that want to make money f time travel. one particular story was about 2 knights that are really agents for preserving the time line who come across a friar who offers them brandy which had not been invented yet for at least 20 years yet.
this damn thing had been nagging at me since i re watched original time machine from the 1960s
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I've just finished Leviathan Wakes, the first book of the Expanse series, and I have to say I was really disappointed with it. I thought it began well and I liked its visualisation of a colonised solar system and the tensions between the different factions but it completely lost me with the whole billion year old alien bioweapon feeds on people and becomes sentient thing. It felt like a cheap cop-out to me :(
The fact that the sample chapter of the 2nd book seems to be continuing with that storyline is enouh for me to give the rest of the books (and the TV show) a miss.
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Thanks for the warning... that plus my initial reservations about the not so good physics I saw in the first season change my soft pass to a hard pass...
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Sorry you didn't find them interesting - I've really enjoyed all 8 books, and after the cliffhanger at the end of the eighth, I'm hanging out for the ninth more than I'd ever care about the last GoT book.
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GoT was the only book (series) my wife every actually threw away… As a result, I've never seen them.
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They're OK - I strongly prefer Cook's Black Company series, or Erikson's Malazan series. Martin does enjoy his grimdark, let's say. I read an interview which said he doesn't so much plot the story, as create the characters, and lets them go where they want/need to go. It's interesting, and largely responsible IMHO for the failure of the last TV season, where a very different style was used by the scriptwriters.
If you can pick them up cheap, and want to fill time with big thick books with lots of names, they're worth it.
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+1 for The Black Company! I liked those...
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+1 for The Black Company! I liked those...
I’ve never read the Black Company books, but I love Cook’s Garrett PI series.
Ruger
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Then I'd give them a try. Shame the Garrett series seems to have reached a stopping point.
If you like the Black Company, try Cooks' Dread Empire series - you can see some of the same thinking, but DE goes in quite different directions. And it would be a marvellous place to run an RPG campaign ...
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Thanks for the warning... that plus my initial reservations about the not so good physics I saw in the first season change my soft pass to a hard pass...
I didn't have any problems with the physics apart from one thing that the *spoiler* bit did. In general I felt it did physics better than a lot of medium-hard sci-fi
Sorry you didn't find them interesting - I've really enjoyed all 8 books, and after the cliffhanger at the end of the eighth, I'm hanging out for the ninth more than I'd ever care about the last GoT book.
Does the alien goo/protomolecule stay a major component of the later books? If it drops out of the storyline I'd be willing to give some later books a go.
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Does the alien goo/protomolecule stay a major component of the later books? If it drops out of the storyline I'd be willing to give some later books a go.
It remains important, though often in the background.
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I didn't have any problems with the physics apart from one thing that the *spoiler* bit did. In general I felt it did physics better than a lot of medium-hard sci-fi
*snip*
It was the inconsistency of it... they did good with the rotating reference frame, but BAD with the whole 30g acceleration nonsense.
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My main problem with the Expanse is that I read it after Watts's Blindsight - and I cannot sing the latter book's praise enough.
The Expanse is actually decent, but after Blindsight it wasn't top notch anymore and the protomolecule is indeed a somewhat crude plot.
However, I think I have to defend the Expanse here: It was created as background setting for an online game. The first book is about the discovery of the protomolecule, the second and third about how the setting's stargate comes about and is unlocked by humanity. Do not think of these events as plotlines. Think of them as universe-building, as the canvas on which the characters and conflicts play out. The Expanse has strong characters and well-done conflict stories, imho (even in the first books when the setting was still being set up). "You guys don't even know where your riot gear is" may be my favorite line from the first book, the plot is just... Stackpolian.
My favorite little gem is how one character in the second book (Prax) is chewed out by public media in a concerted action to undermine his credibility, to the point of his ex-wife, apparently under orders from the bad guys, publicly accusing him of being a pedophile. Only, there is a half sentence early on in the book where that character actually wants to go to an illegal child brothel. Blink and you'll miss it, the book never revisits that point and doesn't dwell on the question wether or not he's really a pedophile afterwards. The guy is a protagonist otherwise and genuinely cares for his little daughter who was abducted in the prologue.
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Peter Watts is in a completely different league, agreed. Read Blindsight & Echopraxia, or the Rifters trilogy, for mind expansion, not for cheering up, though. Science hard, cold, cruel, and edgy indeed.
But while I read Erikson, I also have enjoyed Eddings (just not as re-readable ;) ). Likewise, the Expanse is good fun, well told. And there's usually a McGuffin somewhere in all stories. If I can enjoy the film Armageddon ...
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+1 for The Black Company! I liked those...
As do I!
Another mercenary series I really enjoy if Falkenberg's Mercenaries by Jerry Pournelle.
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Peter Watts is in a completely different league, agreed. Read Blindsight & Echopraxia, or the Rifters trilogy, for mind expansion, not for cheering up, though. Science hard, cold, cruel, and edgy indeed.
Echopraxia is sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read. I might leave it a while longer though...
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to break my decision paralysis on what to read next i've employed my two year old to grab a something off my unread shelf
first out of the gate: Ferdinand de Saussure's Course in General Linguistics
girl's already got a mean streak ;D
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Picked up the new Patricia Briggs novel in the “Mercy Thompson” series, Smoke Bitten. Reading that right now.
Ruger
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Picked up the new Patricia Briggs novel in the “Mercy Thompson” series, Smoke Bitten. Reading that right now.
Ruger
I read that one yesterday.
As in, I read the whole thing in one day.
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Finished Warlord a week or so back. It's Book 3 of the Makaum War Trilogy, by Mel Odom.
Currently reading The Alien Enigma: The War to Become Immortal by Michael David. He goes by the handle HeadlessHorseman over on LotB, and maybe a few other BT Forums. It isn't BT, and it's set in a Universe of his own imagining. Pretty Good so far! :thumbsup:
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Mel Odem? There's an author I haven't thought about in a while.
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If you liked Heinlein's writing, I can't recommend Scalzi enough. Old Man's War (and it's sequels) is just a sample of his abilities. Fuzzy Nation was great, and even approved by the Piper estate. Agent to the Stars was also entertaining.
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If you liked Heinlein's writing, I can't recommend Scalzi enough. Old Man's War (and it's sequels) is just a sample of his abilities. Fuzzy Nation was great, and even approved by the Piper estate. Agent to the Stars was also entertaining.
I did enjoy Old Man's War. I haven't read any others in the series. How are they in comparison?
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IIRC second great, then the level of engagement dropped off in the third, and got no further.
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The thing about the other books is that the focus is different. John Perry is pretty much around the edges in the others. I did like the first one best, but would still recommend the others.
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So I come, hat in hand, asking for the impossible. I am looking for a book series about dinosaurs from my childhood, unfortunately i remember neither the name nor the author(s). The series was made up of graphic novel/comic and book hybrids I think it was 4 or 5 books long. Each soft cover book featured a couple of pages of info about a dinosaur or groups of dinosaurs, or maybe the prehistoric world, then there several pages of comics about said dinosaurs/habitat, and they then repeated with a different subject, with each book having 3 or 4 sections. They were written in either late 90's or early 2000's and had pretty good artwork, with colorful but realistic (and very modern) dinosaurs. One thing that always struck with me was that the comics did not shy away from blood and violence, and tended to emphasize the more ruthless aspects of nature. If this description sounds familiar to anyone I would appreciate your suggestions. Again I know I ask the impossible.
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So I come, hat in hand, asking for the impossible. I am looking for a book series about dinosaurs from my childhood, unfortunately i remember neither the name nor the author(s). The series was made up of graphic novel/comic and book hybrids I think it was 4 or 5 books long. Each soft cover book featured a couple of pages of info about a dinosaur or groups of dinosaurs, or maybe the prehistoric world, then there several pages of comics about said dinosaurs/habitat, and they then repeated with a different subject, with each book having 3 or 4 sections. They were written in either late 90's or early 2000's and had pretty good artwork, with colorful but realistic (and very modern) dinosaurs. One thing that always struck with me was that the comics did not shy away from blood and violence, and tended to emphasize the more ruthless aspects of nature. If this description sounds familiar to anyone I would appreciate your suggestions. Again I know I ask the impossible.
Hmm...I don't quite think it fits all of the criteria, but, would it perhaps be Ricardo Delgado's "Age of Reptiles"?
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So I come, hat in hand, asking for the impossible. I am looking for a book series about dinosaurs from my childhood, unfortunately i remember neither the name nor the author(s). The series was made up of graphic novel/comic and book hybrids I think it was 4 or 5 books long. Each soft cover book featured a couple of pages of info about a dinosaur or groups of dinosaurs, or maybe the prehistoric world, then there several pages of comics about said dinosaurs/habitat, and they then repeated with a different subject, with each book having 3 or 4 sections. They were written in either late 90's or early 2000's and had pretty good artwork, with colorful but realistic (and very modern) dinosaurs. One thing that always struck with me was that the comics did not shy away from blood and violence, and tended to emphasize the more ruthless aspects of nature. If this description sounds familiar to anyone I would appreciate your suggestions. Again I know I ask the impossible.
I was trying to find a book from the 70's a while back, and CranstonSnord pointed me to this place.
https://www.sffchronicles.com/forum/book-search/ (https://www.sffchronicles.com/forum/book-search/)
I had to join to post (No surprise there), but someone had an answer for me within 2 hours of my post. Maybe 1 hour? Anyway, might want to give them a shot! :thumbsup:
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Thanks for the suggestions guys. I found it. "Dinosaurs a Celebration" from Marvel Comics 1992.
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The most recent book I've read was "The subtle art of not giving a f*ck" by Mark Manson.
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Despite the fact that Book 16 of the Dresden Files has not yet been released, Book 17 now has a release date.
Called Battle Ground, it's set to drop September 29th of this year.
Guess we know why it's taken so long since the last one if Butcher was working on finishing multiple novels simultaneously.
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Despite the fact that Book 16 of the Dresden Files has not yet been released, Book 17 now has a release date.
Called Battle Ground, it's set to drop September 29th of this year.
Guess we know why it's taken so long since the last one if Butcher was working on finishing multiple novels simultaneously.
About time. We went from basically one a year for quite a while there to a drought and now we have a minor flood this year.
Ruger
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Yeah, it was one a year up to Changes, and then switched over to about one every two to two and a half years until Skin Game, and it's been six years with nothing except for the anthology and that doesn't really count since almost all of it was stories that were published elsewhere first.
He did say that he was planning to finish with an apocalypse trilogy, I wonder if the rapid publishing this year is the start of that.
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I'm about 4/5 of the way into Leviathan Wakes, the first book of the Expanse series. I'm a tad surprised Chrisjen Avasarala isn't in here. Wiki says she's introduced in Book 2.
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Chapterhouse Dune is close to 50%. My first reading past Children of Dune. Very interesting, though, like the Matrix, you can't experience the mystery of discovery a second time. The first book remains the classic for many substantial reasons.
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I'm about 4/5 of the way into Leviathan Wakes, the first book of the Expanse series. I'm a tad surprised Chrisjen Avasarala isn't in here. Wiki says she's introduced in Book 2.
That's right. The show made some changes for tv pacing. Book one is all about Holden and the crew.
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I'm reading 2 book series at the sand time right now: I'm rereading Jay Allen's "Crimson World" series book 1; Marine. A great self-published "starship troopers" style military sci-fi series.
I've also decided to try Herbert's "Dune" series again. I tried to read it in high school many years ago but it just to dry and long for my attention span back then, now I'm older and wiser (and slower...) I figured I'd give it another read.
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Chapterhouse Dune is close to 50%. My first reading past Children of Dune. Very interesting, though, like the Matrix, you can't experience the mystery of discovery a second time. The first book remains the classic for many substantial reasons.
Do not go past the genuine Frank Herbert books. The Anderson/Herbert's son books make Highlander II look high art.
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While those prequel books aren't any means good those did give us some interesting things and look at things that led to Dune like why Baron Harkonnen is way he is in Dune and why Lady Jessica defied orders she was given and gave Leto male heir not to mention idea that Bene Gesserits can choose gender of they child. So really reading those did help me to understand Dune and it's sequels better.
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I take your point, but the writing is so flat, straight-line, and lacking in anything approaching intrigue.
A bit like an Alan Dean Foster novelisation of any sci-fi or fantasy movie - he writes what you see. Nothing else. Unlike Matthew Stover's excellent novelisation of "Revenge of the Sith", which is a glorious experience that fills in most of the gaps in the movie, and unlike the movie, makes sense all the way through!
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Chapterhouse Dune is close to 50%. My first reading past Children of Dune. Very interesting, though, like the Matrix, you can't experience the mystery of discovery a second time. The first book remains the classic for many substantial reasons.
Dune Messiah and Children of Dune were very dry. God Emperor of Dune wasn't as bad, but still a slog. It DID set up Heretics and Chapterhouse pretty well, though. The last two are by FAR my favorite of the whole series.
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Dune Messiah and Children of Dune were very dry. God Emperor of Dune wasn't as bad, but still a slog. It DID set up Heretics and Chapterhouse pretty well, though. The last two are by FAR my favorite of the whole series.
I’ve read through God Emperor of Dune, but never got around to the other two.
Ruger
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They are worth your time, seriously. I found them WAY more entertaining than anything since Dune itself.
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I liked Dune Messiah. Got pretty deep into the cost of predestination (raised again in God Emperor), the cost of success, and the price of dreams.
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Messiah, Children and God Emperor were definitely INTERESTING... just not as entertaining as Dune, or the last two books.
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Last books.
The name of the wind. Boring. Very Mary due main character. Too long for what it ended up showing.
And them some battletech:
Chaos born
Chaos formed. The 2 books on the chaos irregulars. Nice. But it is not my period and sometimes I thought the writing could have appreciated the work of a style editor.
Grey markets. I really enjoyed this one of units down on their luck.
Will try wolves.on the border later.
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God Emperor was the first one I read. i was big into Dune II on PC in junior high with only an inkling of the existence of the books. we had to select one of the novels the librarian had put out on the table. God Emperor was one of them and i was like "hey i know about dune!"
i was super confused. my underdeveloped brain also was NOT prepared for an allegorical exploration of agency, fate, and the grand machinations of a terrestrial god.
for reasons i can't identify, my favorite two were the original and heretics.
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Recent reads.
Foundryside and Shorefall by Robert Jackson. Pre-steam industrial fantasy, if that makes sense. Highly recommended. Third book yet to come.
Bone Silence by Alastair Reynolds. Last of the Revenger trilogy. I'm glad Reynolds must have enjoyed writing this, but not my favourites of his work. If you haven't read his Relevation Space series, or superb single books like Century Rain or Terminal World, or pretty much anything else of his, highly recommended.
Swords vs Cthulhu - collection of short stories which is pretty much what it says on the tin. Entertaining; borrow your bud's copy.
False Values - latest Rivers of London novel by Ben Aaronovitch. Good read.
Currently up to book 55, Solar War, of the Horus Heresy. Last bunch have been average to bad - Titandeath particularly disappointing; the author admits he's the one they call on when they need a book written in a hurry. He delivered a competent job, but ... very average read on the Great Slaughter of Beta-Garmon, I expected epic, did not get epic. And every RPG gamer who's ever been railroaded by the GM will emphasise with the protagonist of The Buried Dagger; makes Mortarion whiny and far worse, boring. But ... but! The Solar War is delivering! Epic with capital EEEEAAAAARGHHHH!!
Also finished re-reading Turtledove's Darkness series (WW2 with a fantasy re-skin). But read the books in reverse order. Interesting; the highlighting becomes clearer, which means he did write it reasonably well. Seven Big Thick Books worth. Again, borrow your bud's copies.
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I remember trying the Darkness series when it came out.
It felt like they'd agreed to pay him by the word and he was trying to put his kids through college. In an Ivy League school.
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I prefer his Peachtree trilogy - reskinning the US Civil War in a fantasy environment. Shorter, tighter story - much better.
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American Demon by Kim Harrison.
Ruger
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from dune prequels i really enjoyed the machine crusade....
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That's right. The show made some changes for tv pacing. Book one is all about Holden and the crew.
I'm in book 2 now and DAMN! I think Avasarala is even MORE brutal in the books...
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I'm in book 2 now and DAMN! I think Avasarala is even MORE brutal in the books...
Yep, they toned her down quite a bit for the show.
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Books and TV complement each other well. Like Peter Jackson's riffs on Tolkien, the changes work for a tighter TV show.
Holden in the TV show is competent, Alex grew on me, Naomi's actor I find a little weak, but Amos ... damn. The actor has him perfectly.
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Recently finished John Langan's "The Fisherman", and now reading through a collection of his short stories: "The Wide Carnivorous Sky & Other Monstrous Geographies".
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Amos ... damn. The actor has him perfectly.
Wes Chatham actually read The Churn to get a feel of Amos and rereads it before filming to get back into character.
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Books and TV complement each other well. Like Peter Jackson's riffs on Tolkien, the changes work for a tighter TV show.
Holden in the TV show is competent, Alex grew on me, Naomi's actor I find a little weak, but Amos ... damn. The actor has him perfectly.
I agree. One of the aspects o Avasarala that would be very difficult to translate to the screen is the lightening fast analysis she does. Like when Soren gave her the faked report that Bobbie was really a Martian intel agent. One tiny facial tic and that was all she needed to see the whole Go board.
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Most recently I have read:
Wounded Tiger by T. Martin Bennett
And I've re-read:
Death's Bright Day and A Sea Without a Shore by David Drake
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Lessee, finished off three books recently, waiting for delivery on two more.
Waiting for the Barbarians--About to become a movie with Johnny Depp and Mark Rylance, pandemic willing, so I thought I'd read the book first. An administrator in a colonial border town of a nameless empire has his comfortable/indolent existence turned upside down when internal security forces show up and claim the barbarians are about to attack. Not a comfortable read, but an interesting character study.
This is How You Lose the Time War--Won an award for best novella recently. Epistolary story about two agents, named just Red and Blue, on opposite sides of the titular "Time War" who fall in love with one another through the letters they exchange. The writing, description and inventiveness is top-class, but I found the story at the center rather hollow. It's beautiful writing in the service of not a lot.
https://one-way-mirror.blogspot.com/2020/06/this-is-how-you-lost-time-war.html
No Country for Old Men--I've heard so many good things about McCarthy so I thought I'd start with this one. Suitably impressed. Interesting style, very VERY specific and concrete language and gives you this feeling of unstoppable, inevitable action. It was interesting to see what had been added, omitted or changed for the movie, as well. It's sort of half a love letter to Texas, which I'll admit didn't do much for me as I've never been there, but the more philosophical bits about you being the culmination of everything you've done made me go "Oooh" and think for a bit. Everyone says I have to read "Blood Meridian" next...
Now waiting for "The City and the City" by China Mieville and "The Quantum Thief" by Finnish author Hannu Rajaniemi. Read an excerpt on Kindle and it seemed like a very fun space opera, so I'm really looking forward to it.
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Recently finished the second Firefly novel The Magnificent Nine , and now about 50 pages into the new Dresden Files book, Peace Talks.
Once I finish that (depending on timing) will either be the third Firefly novel, The Ghost Machine, or the second Avatar Kyoshi novel, Shadows of Kyoshi.
Ruger
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I've been working my way through Gladwell's David and Goliath. It's non-fiction, but interesting.
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Recently finished the second Firefly novel The Magnificent Nine , and now about 50 pages into the new Dresden Files book, Peace Talks.
Once I finish that (depending on timing) will either be the third Firefly novel, The Ghost Machine, or the second Avatar Kyoshi novel, Shadows of Kyoshi.
Ruger
You got Peace Talks already? Did you buy a digital copy? I'm still waiting on delivery on mine and they're saying to expect it tomorrow.
On the other hand, I did only pay $11 for the hardback edition, so good deal there.
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You got Peace Talks already? Did you buy a digital copy? I'm still waiting on delivery on mine and they're saying to expect it tomorrow.
On the other hand, I did only pay $11 for the hardback edition, so good deal there.
Ordered the signed hardcover from BAM.
Ruger
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Recently finished the second Firefly novel The Magnificent Nine , and now about 50 pages into the new Dresden Files book, Peace Talks.
Once I finish that (depending on timing) will either be the third Firefly novel, The Ghost Machine, or the second Avatar Kyoshi novel, Shadows of Kyoshi.
Ruger
Finished my digital of Peace Talks, too.
This one was a bit disappointing. Every other novel was a self-contained story that laid the stones for a bigger story. This one was just the setup for the next. It was also the shortest since Death Masks. On the other hand, Battleground is due out in 2 months.
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I discovered that I can read kindle ebooks in my phone, and i have been catching up in some battletech here, especially BattleCorps.
FRANK SHERRY, Raiders and Rebels, a history of the golden age of piracy. A very nice and entertaining book to finish my perusal of the piracy period of 1650-1740.
Chaos Born & Chaos Forged. I found them less entertaining than I thought they would be.
Gray Markets. Battlecorps anthology
The Corps. Battlecorps Anthology
First Strike. Battlecorps anthology (do you see a pattern here?)
Edge of the Storm. Stories of Lennox's Light Horse
Now starting Wolves on the Border. I told you I was catching up in old BT fiction.
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I discovered that I can read kindle ebooks in my phone, and i have been catching up in some battletech here, especially BattleCorps.
FRANK SHERRY, Raiders and Rebels, a history of the golden age of piracy. A very nice and entertaining book to finish my perusal of the piracy period of 1650-1740.
Chaos Born & Chaos Forged. I found them less entertaining than I thought they would be.
Gray Markets. Battlecorps anthology
The Corps. Battlecorps Anthology
First Strike. Battlecorps anthology (do you see a pattern here?)
Edge of the Storm. Stories of Lennox's Light Horse
Now starting Wolves on the Border. I told you I was catching up in old BT fiction.
fbreader is free and does other formats than epub try it. and you can use calibre converter to change formats
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On a lighter note:
- Finally working *all the way* through Hitchiker's Guide. I know I know. It's like when my English professor whispered to his class with shame "I, umm, actually haven't read Moby Dick." It's ok. He's a medievalist.
Don't feel too bad. I think I read it in 9th grade. But its like many movies where you really don't need to see it because every nerd in the world quotes it so many times. My last boss EVERY @#%$ing time I or anyone else would say "hey i have a question" his answer was "42"
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Finished my digital of Peace Talks, too.
This one was a bit disappointing. Every other novel was a self-contained story that laid the stones for a bigger story. This one was just the setup for the next. It was also the shortest since Death Masks. On the other hand, Battleground is due out in 2 months.
I just got done reading it myself. The reason it's like that is because it was turning into a Robert Jordan sized doorstopper so the editor suggested splitting it into two books. That's also why Battle Ground is coming out so quickly.
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by sheer accident the book fell into my hand when i was cleaning up my shelves...count of monte christo....had not read that one in 20 odd years...
well no visitors no calls (turning off the phone for the day) stretch on loinger have supply of hot tea on stand by...and some crunchies...i am set for the weekend!
and gods help any one who knock on my door...because downstairs will become rather crowded
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I just got done reading it myself. The reason it's like that is because it was turning into a Robert Jordan sized doorstopper so the editor suggested splitting it into two books. That's also why Battle Ground is coming out so quickly.
I do hope this doesn't become the new format. If it does... Well, I'll keep buying them until the Big Apocalyptic Trilogy, or they stop being good.
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Join Together- The Who
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I do hope this doesn't become the new format. If it does... Well, I'll keep buying them until the Big Apocalyptic Trilogy, or they stop being good.
I get the feeling that the Big Apocalyptic Trilogy is coming soon. I mean, given the way things went in Peace Talks there's not a lot of room for further escalation.
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I get the feeling that the Big Apocalyptic Trilogy is coming soon. I mean, given the way things went in Peace Talks there's not a lot of room for further escalation.
The original plan was a 20 novel story. Then it became 20 books plus the Big Apocalyptic Trilogy. Now it's "keep writing until my son graduates college."
As to room for escalation... might I recommend the Lensman series? ;)
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Recently finished Abaddon's Gate. I kinda of dragged my feet on this one, mostly because I didn't particularly enjoy season 3 of the Expanse. The book worked WAY better.
Although I liked Ashford's characterization in the show. The show made him a competent, experienced leader, just as committed to the cause as Johnson, Drummer, or Naomi, but with different politics. He was a man that I could disagree with and butt heads and argue with all day long at work, but at 5:30, I could have a beer with him. The book's Ashford was a one dimensional, almost cartoonish figure.
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I'm blasting through the 'Murderbot Diaries' by Martha Wells. Pretty basic, but fun. Can't always read hefty tomes of world changing events.
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The original plan was a 20 novel story. Then it became 20 books plus the Big Apocalyptic Trilogy. Now it's "keep writing until my son graduates college."
As to room for escalation... might I recommend the Lensman series? ;)
Eh, once you've got an actual god rampaging through Chicago with an army of sea monsters, there's a limit to how much higher you can raise the stakes and actually feel like they're really being raised.
Though the other question I have is: What's going to happen to Karrin? She's entirely too squishy survive a major fight, so will she end up accepting a Mantle or other power-up or will the inevitable happen?
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Eh, once you've got an actual god rampaging through Chicago with an army of sea monsters, there's a limit to how much higher you can raise the stakes and actually feel like they're really being raised.
Though the other question I have is: What's going to happen to Karrin? She's entirely too squishy survive a major fight, so will she end up accepting a Mantle or other power-up or will the inevitable happen?
I'm thinking she becomes a Valkyrie or an Einherjaren.
I had to go to the Dresden Wiki to figure out how to spell Einherjaren and I stumbled onto Christmas Eve (https://dresdenfiles.fandom.com/wiki/Christmas_Eve). Butcher put the full short up on Google Docs. It's a touching little piece.
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I'm thinking she becomes a Valkyrie or an Einherjaren.
I had to go to the Dresden Wiki to figure out how to spell Einherjaren and I stumbled onto Christmas Eve (https://dresdenfiles.fandom.com/wiki/Christmas_Eve). Butcher put the full short up on Google Docs. It's a touching little piece.
Thanks for the link. Wasn’t aware of that story.
When is that story set is the question though? Almost sounds like after Battleground?
Ruger
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It isn't possible for it to be set between Peace Talks and Battle Ground.
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Recently finished Abaddon's Gate. I kinda of dragged my feet on this one, mostly because I didn't particularly enjoy season 3 of the Expanse. The book worked WAY better.
Although I liked Ashford's characterization in the show. The show made him a competent, experienced leader, just as committed to the cause as Johnson, Drummer, or Naomi, but with different politics. He was a man that I could disagree with and butt heads and argue with all day long at work, but at 5:30, I could have a beer with him. The book's Ashford was a one dimensional, almost cartoonish figure.
Yes, Ashford in the TV series was top-notch. Just finished series 4 on the TV show, looking forward to series 5. Also waiting for book 9.
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It isn't possible for it to be set between Peace Talks and Battle Ground.
Pretty sure it's pre-Peace Talks
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According to the wiki entry, it's set after Peace Talks. Of course, that's an entry on a fan wiki.
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According to the wiki entry, it's set after Peace Talks. Of course, that's an entry on a fan wiki.
Well, not that many have died at the end of Peace Talks. That’s why I said it seems like it may belong after Battleground. That plus some of the stuff said in this short story seem to indicate it comes after for instance, Molly saying she would be back at her parents’ place for Christmas, when in Peace Talks, she hadn’t seen them since becoming the Winter Lady, or at least that was the impression I got. Not to mention the “tens of thousands injured and thousands more dead” part
Guess how that one ends may confirm or deny that though.
Ruger
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Anybody here into Warhammer 40K? There's a site called Cold Open Stories that runs unofficial fan fiction contests, and a lot of them are fun to read, not least because one of them was written by me :)) Seriously, there are some great and fun little stories on the site.
https://www.coldopenstories.com/category/fast-fiction/
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Anybody here into Warhammer 40K? There's a site called Cold Open Stories that runs unofficial fan fiction contests, and a lot of them are fun to read, not least because one of them was written by me :)) Seriously, there are some great and fun little stories on the site.
https://www.coldopenstories.com/category/fast-fiction/
Sorry, not a fan of the grimdark.
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Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman, one of the funniest books I ever read, even funnier than Patchett's Discworld works
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Finished off "The Poppy War" by R.F. Kuang and am now reading its sequel "The Dragon Republic".
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Reading the Silmarillion, again. I never tire of the tales of the Elves and the loyal Humans as they struggle against Melkor/Morgoth in ancient fallen Belleriand.
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The TV adaptation is pretty darned good too.
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The TV adaptation is pretty darned good too.
I'll have to look for it! Thanks for letting me know.
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Amazon Prime, I believe. Highly recommended.
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Excellent! Because that's the service I have. I'll look later tonight. Thank you for clueing me in.
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Reading the Silmarillion, again. I never tire of the tales of the Elves and the loyal Humans as they struggle against Melkor/Morgoth in ancient fallen Belleriand.
I completely agree.
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Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman, one of the funniest books I ever read, even funnier than Patchett's Discworld works
they did a nice adaptation for tv of the book...it is pretty close to source material...and funny
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The Gulag Archipelago arrived from Amazon today. I have been wanting to read this. I don't expect it to be pleasant but I think I should read it.
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It won't be.
If you get through that, find "Cancer Ward" by the same author - it's more a classic novel, and there's more enjoyment (and tears) in it. Also "The First Circle".
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The Gulag Archipelago arrived from Amazon today. I have been wanting to read this. I don't expect it to be pleasant but I think I should read it.
I tried reading this as a teenager and I never finished it for whatever reason.
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I tried reading this as a teenager and I never finished it for whatever reason.
I did the same thing with Crime and Punishment. Also for whatever reason... (too depressing)
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Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman, one of the funniest books I ever read, even funnier than Patchett's Discworld works
I have very fond memories of the conversation of the angel and the demon while they are totally wasted. A sea full of brains!
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Outcasts of Order by L. E. Modesitt Jr in fast media paperback. Yep, i like my books small and printed. ;)
L. E. Modesitt Jr.'s 20th book in the Saga of the Recluce series, set in timeline before the rise of the White Wizards of Fairhaven.
It's the 2nd book in Mongrel Mage story arc, it's a fantasy setting magic using physics. Its story of mage who forced to leave his home being chased by its power hungery leader, and him again flee from his new home in supposedly neutral land twice. It's interesting book, it's not as action than the first one, it's more world building showing how world is in this distant time (book series takes place in span of 2000 years, but focus mostly in later part of it, but after completing the end of the Saga, L. E. Modesitt Jr. is backfilling places he skipped.) Mongrel Mage arc setting up the time how the old city of Haven became the capital of the White Wizards. This black mage maybe how it came about.
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Just got a signed copy of "Don't Burn This Book" by Dave Rubin. Looking forward to reading it over the next couple weeks on my layovers.
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Just had my eyeballs trace over the word shapes on the pages of China Mieville's 2009 novelletic publication, "The City and the City."
Bit of a weird premise: There's a city divided into two halves, a vaguely Slavic/Eastern Orthodox one and vaguely Turkic/Muslim one. Only, through some ancient pact or other (never made clear) the two halves have integrated into their societies the custom of completely and utterly ignoring the other half, effectively pretending it doesn't exist. This is then the background for a murder mystery in which the killer has apparently done the unthinkable and crossed the boundaries between the two halves.
I think the idea is neat, an interesting take on the things we ignore in our daily lives (poverty/street people, etc.) but setting it in an otherwise mundane, ordinary modern world increasingly stretches credulity. Why would the rest of the world allow these evident lunatics to live like this? The murder mystery didn't use the idea very effectively either, I thought, without much of a villain and wrapping the mystery up far too quickly.
So, all right if you like thought experiments, but not so great if you were looking for a good scifi/fantasy thriller or mystery.
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sounds like the premise of a star trek TOS episode
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sounds like the premise of a star trek TOS episode
Good analogy. Yeah, it's very high-concept, to the point that the plot sort of becomes an excuse to talk about the background setting ideas. There's definitely a market for this kind of thing, for example I think "The Three-Body Problem" had similar strengths and weaknesses: some neato SF ideas wrapped in a so-so plot.
With Mieville at least the writing itself is great, it's just the detective story/noir mystery itself is a bit ho-hum.
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Franklin Lindsay: Beacons in the Night
It's good to see outsider's perspective of events I was familiar with.
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Spear of the Emperor by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
One of better 40k novels about Space Marines. This is because author knows how to make Space Marines seem like actual people instead of caricatures. It follows Primaris Space Marines from Emperor's Spear chapter (successor chapter of the Ultramarines) in they war against Chaos Demons.
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Divided We Fall with Honor's Gauntlet to follow.
Also reading Graham Allison's Destined For War Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap? and Guy Windsor's The Fiore Translation Project Part Two Longsword Mechanics.
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Spear of the Emperor by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
One of better 40k novels about Space Marines. This is because author knows how to make Space Marines seem like actual people instead of caricatures. It follows Primaris Space Marines from Emperor's Spear chapter (successor chapter of the Ultramarines) in they war against Chaos Demons.
Could you do me a favour? Which books cover the return of Roboute Guilliam, the rise of Belesarius Cawl, and the re-kick-off of the moving storyline? Would be much appreciated.
Pretty much up to date on the Horus Heresy. Aaron D-B is one of the more reliable authors. About 1/3 of the books are derivative drivel, about 1/3 are competent genre fiction, and about 1/3 are gripping. I missed my stop on the train because I was finishing "The Mark of Calth", that one really got me.
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Those would be Dark Imperium novels (Dark Imperium and Dark Imperium: Plague War) by Guy Haley. Of course a lot happened before those in Gathering Storm source books from 7th edition as Dark Imperium covers events after that.
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Could you do me a favour? Which books cover the return of Roboute Guilliam, the rise of Belesarius Cawl, and the re-kick-off of the moving storyline? Would be much appreciated.
Pretty much up to date on the Horus Heresy. Aaron D-B is one of the more reliable authors. About 1/3 of the books are derivative drivel, about 1/3 are competent genre fiction, and about 1/3 are gripping. I missed my stop on the train because I was finishing "The Mark of Calth", that one really got me.
Do the novels have anything resembling hope or optimism? From what one friend has told me, some looks at the wiki, and some youtube, the setting is all grimdark, all the time, with an extra help of grimdark on the side.
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Well it's 40k so thigs are always grim dark even when there is little bit what resembles hope after Gulliman returned, took over from highlords of Terra, started Indominus Crusade with his new Primaris Space Marines created by Cawl and has Eldar faction on his side.
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Just finished taking my time reading Bryan Young's Honor's Gauntlet. A good book, shade shorter than I'd like good novel, but plenty action and unique perspective since the featured person is a moderate (temperament) Jade Falcon. Small unit (binary) action story, dealing with normal Falcons trying deal with taint of the Mongolized Falcon faction trying pressure normal ones out any way they can. How stupid the Mongol way is.
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Currently reading Rainbow Brigade by JA Pitts, which I believe was his last novel before his death if I correctly read the info in the back.
Ruger
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Burned through Pentagon Wars in just under 24 hours.
I was kinda shocked that as satirical and hyperbolic as the movie was, it painted a kinder picture of the Pentagon that the book. :(
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I did the same thing with Crime and Punishment. Also for whatever reason... (too depressing)
I was trying to get through Crime and Punishment, reading 2 pages back and 3 pages forward every once in a while. Then an exgf stole my copy (i think out of spite) and I never did replace it. Some day, after working my way through the rest of my shelf.
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X
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Omega Force 12, The Pandora Paradox, by Joshua Dalzelle.
Been waiting for this one for a while, it's going well so far.
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The name of the wind. Subpar Mary Sue main character. Uninteresting fantasy.
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Thrawn: Ascendancy :thumbsup:
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The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson.
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ok had been going through some of my old files and found omni magazines about 23gb worth
guess who is going to be reading them over next few weeks?
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X
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Have you read his Black Fleet trilogy? It's pretty good. Spaceships are my second love after mechs, so any space fleet action novels are my jam. :thumbsup:
Of course I have. :-)
He writes Navy ok for an Air Force guy, some little pick up points here and there, but altogether pretty good.
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Currently reading Caleb Carr's "The Alienist".
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Just read the latest October Daye novel, A Killing Frost. Very exciting and with a lot of long-term stuff being set up for future novels.
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Just started Terry Prachett's Discworld series over fromnthe beginning. It is still great work, but it us sobering how different my reactions are 20 years later.
Cheers,
LCC
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Also how his writing matured, as the Discworld found it's voice. Or should I say FOUND ITS VOICE. Simple fantasy pastiche developed a life of its own.
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Pratchett really did find a clear voice as the series progressed and it carried over into his other works. I read his YA work ahead of my daughters and the tone and tolerance carries through. Its hard to find boks for the kids like that, delivering a message you agree with, but also challenging at the same time.
On another note, I just finished Interesting Times again and it is crazy how it changed from a book about my parents to a book about me 20 years down the line ^-^
Cheers
LCC
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Just finished the Gray Death Trilogy. I enjoyed it! Wolves on the Border was good too.
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I'm reading the Discworld books to my kids. They're teenagers now and don't need me to read to them, but bedtime stories on Skype were important to us during the bad bits of the divorce and none of us really want to stop. I starting them with the Tiffany Aching books, then went back to Equal Rites because they wanted more Granny Weatherwax :) We are currently half-way through The Lost Continent.
As a side note, I didn't read Raising Steam until 2018 because for a long while I just wasn't ready to live in a world with no new Discworld stories to come :(
On a more cheerful note I'm currently indulging my nostalgia by re-reading Raymond Feist's Magician. I'll follow it up with the Daughter/Servant/Mistress trilogy. I think the four of them are his best work.
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Just finished "The Quantum Thief" by Hannu Rajaniemi. Fun little book if you like gonzo scifi with out-there tech like a walking city full of immortal people with physical privacy filters who communicate by sharing GIFs and who periodically "die" to spend a couple of years in a kind of community service as mindless drones that do public works, before returning to regular existence. And that's scratching the surface of the weirdness.
Also, if you've ever played Bungie's online shooter Destiny, it's like every time the game's writers got stuck they flipped open this book to a random page and used whatever they found there: The book has Archons and cyrptarchs and warminds and... yeah.
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outnumbering the dead fredrick pohl
immortality is real in the future mortals are like gems very rare
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Grinding though David Golemon's "The Event Group" novels. Gottem for a quarter each at a garage sale.
They are walking that fine line between "awesome" and "so silly I want to throw them against a wall." I like them. ;D
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Since having the "pleasure" of reading the first few Books from the Dark Age era, i put the whole thing on the line and started with Honor Harrington again, just started with The Shadow of Saganami.
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It's worth skipping forward to "By Temptations and War", NightSarge. The storyteliing picks up. From "Swords of Sedition" onwards they're the equal of the BT novels, but the ones between those two do some significant scene-setting.
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My problem with the Honor Harrington series was that the longer the series went on, the more blatant Honor's plot armor became.
Also, Weber's bludgeoning the reader in the face with his political beliefs.
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I'm focussing myself on the main line right now, because i haven't read the last two by now. Got them while Reading BT, and after ending them i didn't want to take a hard turn a dive into the deep end right away. So i gave myself the whole series again.
The plot armor thing is a thing i noticed for myself quite early on. There are quite a few moments where she alone is the decider of fate for many peoples and nations. Knowing hat i focus myself more on the military and technical part and its ok for me.
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I chewed through as much of the Honorverse as I could stomach. I got about a quarter of the way through At All Costs, the eleventh, before realizing it wouldn't get better again and that I no longer cared.
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The latest Dresden Files book, Battle Grounds, releases today.
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Finished Icons of War, great book from Jason. He slips a surprise for all us when new plot book / novel comes out. it will be entertaining. The book certainly opens up part of the Clans you've never seen before really in fiction.
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I chewed through as much of the Honorverse as I could stomach. I got about a quarter of the way through At All Costs, the eleventh, before realizing it wouldn't get better again and that I no longer cared.
That's about as far as I got too. Or at least I finished that book. The depiction of space naval life was the big appeal to me, but that faded away in favour of the epic melodrama, but Weber didn't have the writing skills to make the grander political drama believable - the internal antagonists in both Manticore and Haven were 2-dimensional while the protagonists in both arcs are far more fleshed out, but also ultracompetent. At the same time the combat sequences went from these interested detailed fights where you can feel the ships falling apart as they take damage to a maths exercise as thousands of missiles fly past one another and one side or ther other gets wiped out.
I don't begrudge anyone who still enjoys it,but definitely no longer for me, to the point I sold off my books.
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I read them in 2005. I ditched it after the mantocore navy became an aircraft carrier fleet. Dunno what point that is but it had been repetitive for a while. Since I was studying an MA in politics at the time the politics of Manticore were rather funny in how I see superhero movies: good for a laugh from time to time but really shallow and bad. No real interest there.
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That's about as far as I got too. Or at least I finished that book. The depiction of space naval life was the big appeal to me, but that faded away in favour of the epic melodrama, but Weber didn't have the writing skills to make the grander political drama believable - the internal antagonists in both Manticore and Haven were 2-dimensional while the protagonists in both arcs are far more fleshed out, but also ultracompetent. At the same time the combat sequences went from these interested detailed fights where you can feel the ships falling apart as they take damage to a maths exercise as thousands of missiles fly past one another and one side or ther other gets wiped out.
I don't begrudge anyone who still enjoys it,but definitely no longer for me, to the point I sold off my books.
Being a completest, I've read through most of the series, including the final spiral novel. I personally thought it was not his best work. Essentially the War on the Solarian League, essentially finishing off the universe. He try ramp things down technology wise by engineering the Pearl Harbor event which sabotaged their overpowered missiles. However, didn't seem make different. I personally, thought he should ignored everyone, just all Harrington die in At All Costs novel, let her children pick up the pieces decades later. Giving room for story, perhaps tech slide to make the conflict Solarian League some teeth and not make it walk througth it was. I guess he rush finish up. Now it's mess. Sad.
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I enjoyed Weber's Honorverse books but felt that the later ones were weaker and the last one felt "not with a bang, but a whimper." I also found some of the side novels suffered for me because I don't know any eastern european langauges so I couldn't work out how to pronounce most of the character and place names which left me feeling totally disconnected from what was going on.
On the topic of what I'm reading now, I've just finished British Submarine Warfare 1939-1945 by Alastair Mars, which I quite enjoyed, and am getting into Sea Harrier over the Falklands by "Sharkey" Ward.
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Finished Icons of War, great book from Jason. He slips a surprise for all us when new plot book / novel comes out. it will be entertaining. The book certainly opens up part of the Clans you've never seen before really in fiction.
Yeah, not from Jason.
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Yeah, not from Jason.
ACK, i did it again. Sorry, Craig!
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It is October, so I am reading Zelazny's last, and one of his best, A Night in the Lonesome October, a chapter a day.
As this October starts and ends on a full moon, and 2020 being what it is, maybe it is prophetic?
If you haven't read it, the main narrator is Jack the Ripper's dog, Snuff. They are good guys. The Lovecraft's Old Ones? They are the bad guys. Everyone else from gothic and classic horror literature? They may be good (Closers) or bad (Openers,) or otherwise, but everyone keeps their cards close. It is perfect Halloween fare, creepy, funny, a little gory, and a bit twisty. Zelazny has a lot of fun with this.
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Jack the Ripper is about the last person who I'd expect to see being turned into a work's hero. Except for maybe Charles Manson.
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The latest Dresden Files book, Battle Grounds, releases today.
Yes, yes it did. Hell of a ride.
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I have decided that Jim Butcher is a jerk.
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I have decided that Jim Butcher is a jerk.
I’m only a little over halfway through Battleground, but that loss in the middle of the book...hurt.
Ruger
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Yeah.
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(http://s3.amazonaws.com/epicstreamlive/assets/uploads/ckeditor/images/E(1).jpg)
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I have it. I haven't started it yet, which is really weird for me. I was really really disappointed in the quality of Peace Talks.
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Jack the Ripper is about the last person who I'd expect to see being turned into a work's hero. Except for maybe Charles Manson.
It has to do with a curse, and that is as far as the book touches on that, or his crimes. It is an odd little whimsy.
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I have it. I haven't started it yet, which is really weird for me. I was really really disappointed in the quality of Peace Talks.
Battle Ground is definitely the better of the two, aside from the thing nobody's going to spoiler.
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They were meant to be one book, but the publisher put their foot down, meaning what ended up Peace Talks had to be extended, instead of basically act 1 of the combined book.
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Because it had turned into a Robert Jordan-sized doorstopper by that point.
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I think Peace Talks was actually stronger than Battle Ground. Yes, lots of big important stuff happened in Battle Ground but with the exception of that bit in the middle, there was important stuff at the beginning, and at the end, and most of the book was fights and battles that did didn't move the story forward. Okay, I'll soften that. Every fight did something to advance the plot, but it still felt like I was reading a Micheal Bay movie. All that said, the next couple books will get VERY interesting.
Oh, and that bit in the middle.... That's not over yet.
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I started a new thread to discuss Peace Talks and Battle Ground so that people who haven't read them yet don't risk seeing any spoilers here.
https://bg.battletech.com/forums/off-topic/discussion-thread-for-the-novels-peace-talks-and-battle-ground-*heavy-spoilers!/
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ok i need help finding author and a title on a book i read about 14 or 15 years back. sci fi genere as i recall it was a part of trilogy
book is about a planet sized ship that travels through out the milky way galaxy. when it came to earth system it introduced virtual immortality by use of ceramics that self repair and it took these immortals with it to explore the galaxy....the ship contains a secret compartment that has a planet inside and some human explorers that are on board had found it and became trapped on it. to escape they started to build a tower to escape the planet...
wish i had more:( but it had been 15 years or so
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Book is called Marrow. Good book, weaker sequel. Can't recall author, but name should be enough.
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Book is called Marrow. Good book, weaker sequel. Can't recall author, but name should be enough.
thanks i figured you would be the first with the answer btw i just won 20 bucks, my buddy did not belive me you would be the one to know this one
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ok author is robert reed and series is called the great ship title is as worktroll said marrow
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thanks i figured you would be the first with the answer btw i just won 20 bucks, my buddy did not belive me you would be the one to know this one
Next time you're out this way, you owe me a beer :thumbsup:
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Next time you're out this way, you owe me a beer :thumbsup:
fosters? or something special?
if you hit new york city i am just a train ride away
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fosters? or something special?
if you hit new york city i am just a train ride away
Aussies don't drink Foster's, as it is piss.
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Years ago, someone on this forum, unfortunately I can't remember who, stated that if Foster's was worth drinking, they wouldn't sell it to us Yanks.
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Correct. Consulted with Fosters Brewing Group. Short form, they make big batches of a particular beer. 20% is good, gets bottled as Crown Lager. The rest gets canned as Fosters and extradited to Ghu-forsaken countries.
FBG people at that time drank Cascade of preference.
I confess that while I'm a hop-head and love my IPAs, I have a weakness for the old VB.
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Correct. Consulted with Fosters Brewing Group. Short form, they make big batches of a particular beer. 20% is good, gets bottled as Crown Lager. The rest gets canned as Fosters and extradited to Ghu-forsaken countries.
An ancle and aunt of mine moved to Oz with their kids in the early 90s, and on maybe their first trip home they revealed with some satisfaction that nobody drinks Fosters or watches Neighbours or Home and Away. My understanding is that these days those two shows are only still being made because of their popularity in the UK
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sorry dont drink so i cannot say if fosters or any beer is any good to me alcohol smells like a dead skunk that had been left for dead on hot highway after being ran over few times...heck i cannot even drink wine champagne brandy or even wine coolers never mind a vodka thanks to the smell...but funny enough i get a buzz from candies like jolly ranchers chocolates jellies and such...to add apparently i inherited my grandparents on both sides and my parents high resisstence to alcohol.
even rubbing alcohol i use from time to time on models i worked on does not make me happy
but offer of a drink still stands LOL
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Just finished reading The Hearts invisible Furies for my english class. Some quite brutal scenes, but a very interesting read overall.
And now, because it's the right time in Autumn, I read Lord of the Rings again, like every year <3
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Let’s see. Lately, I’ve read Icons of War, then Forever Faithful, then A Splinter PF Hope/The Anvil. Next up is Shell Games.
Ruger
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I just read Icons of War a couple of days ago. It is easily the best Battletech story i've seen in years.
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Ben Bova died.
I remember reading a bunch of his Orion novels in junior high, though I haven't got a clue if he ever finished the series.
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Ben Bova died.
I remember reading a bunch of his Orion novels in junior high, though I haven't got a clue if he ever finished the series.
damn...
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damn...
You said it, one of my favourite authors. Been years since I've seen a new book from him though.
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Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising. It goes over Thrawn's backstory.
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Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising. It goes over Thrawn's backstory.
zahn or some one else writing?
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Zahn. It's probably in his contract that nobody else can touch Thrawn xp
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No one else should touch Thawn.
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Currently reading Icons of War. Got to love a BattleTech heist novel. The ultimate heist, really. So far so good!
A long time ago I predicted the Homies would try to use Aleksandr's DNA to make their own Kerensky bloodlines. I'm very glad that loophole is now closed.
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ok went old school...
arsene lupin
forgot how much i enjoyed when i was 8 over 35 ears back
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From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back. It's an anthology about background characters in the movie. Like, random rebels on echo base, the wampa, a tauntaun, etc. I'm about 1/3 thru and it's still better than the A New Hope anthology, which isn't saying much. I can only hope there's an Ugnaut story, or a lizard on Dagobah.
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ok finally got my replacements to my cobra series by timothy zhan cant wait
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Darkness in the Blood by Guy Haley
With new Blood Angels Codex Supplement out I am in mood for some Blood Angels focused stories and this one is right at my ally with main characters being Lord Commander Dante and Chief Librarian Mephiston. Focus of story is of course them trying to desperately find solution of red thirst and black rage that Blood Angels are cursed with.
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Currently reading Icons of War. Got to love a BattleTech heist novel. The ultimate heist, really. So far so good!
A long time ago I predicted the Homies would try to use Aleksandr's DNA to make their own Kerensky bloodlines. I'm very glad that loophole is now closed.
I really enjoyed what Craig did with that story.
Blaine "Buck" Pardoe
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I recently started rereading the first Man-Kzin Wars novel again. So many sci-fi authors have contributed to those novels over the years and have enjoyed reading them, though I don't remember how far along I was. So many novels in the series...
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There's good, there's bad, then there's great (The Children's Hour). Managed to pick up pretty much the whole lot - up to about XIV - in a second hand book shop a while back.
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i only had been able to get 4 first books of the man kzin wars...loved most of the stories...especially the first story of how bad cats met humans for the first time...lol i felt so sorry for the telepath
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I really enjoyed what Craig did with that story.
Blaine "Buck" Pardoe
I like it too. He was bold in conceiving and executing his ideas. We should all be that way when we write, you never know where it will take you. (Or, where it will take us, as it were)
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No one else should touch Thawn.
Oh don't get me started. I happen to be reading the Thrawn trilogy to my son for bedime story these days.
I wasn't ever as deeply into Star Wars as I was into BattleTech. But for me the Thrawn trilogy was the high water mark for that franchise, before it ebbed with the world-building snafus and pedestrian narrative of the prequels and was then shattered beyond repair with the Legends being cut from canon. Thrawn, as a character, was a villain worthy of, and on eye level with, Vader and the Emperor. Being shoehorned into the Rebels cartoon with sub-standard writing compared to the original character took so much out of that great, carefully crafted character, to the point where I simply walked away. Name-dropping in the Mandalorian can only twist the knife here. (I believe I don't hate the new Star Wars. Rogue One was the second-best Star Wars movie ever after ESB, and The Mandalorian is mostly enjoyable. But as universe building goes, my rose-tinted childhood love for SW got snuffed out over the last 20 years. Which was probably good for BattleTech. ;) )
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wonder what would zhan do to battletech? i mean thrawn took star wars book out of the slump and i still enjoy heir to the empire today
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ok went back looked through some old boxes and rediscovered my stanslaw lem collection first book i grabbed cyberiad and robotic salies both in polish...lets see how much i remember how to read and comprehend of it.....still artwork in cyberiad if you are fortunate to find it with artwork is sureal
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Just finished the Poppy War series (The Poppy War, The Dragon Republic, The Burning God) by R.F. Kuang a week ago. Very well written, compelling characters, would recommend.
Now reading the Legend of Galactic Heroes (all ten volumes) by Yoshiki Tanaka. Old school space opera. A little heavy on the numbers (ships, personnel, galactic population) but thankfully the story shines through. I had watched the old anime, and what there is of the new anime, then realized I'd never read the books. So I'm now correcting that.
Shrapnel #3 is next. Hopefully all that will see me through to the turn of the year and the release of Hour of the Wolf.
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Freakonomics - various economic theories applied beautifully in diverse subjects (re-read, first time was a speed read now detailing)
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That's certainly an interesting read, but one to be cautious over. The author tries claim a much stronger relationship between various situations than is actually borne out by the evidence.
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That's certainly an interesting read, but one to be cautious over. The author tries claim a much stronger relationship between various situations than is actually borne out by the evidence.
QFT.
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ok i think i may have come across very first story that describes nanotech cyberiad by stanislaw lem
there is a story a the second sally where the constructors klapacius and trurl create a creature for king krool to hunt. and the way it works and way it reacts when confronted with weapons as well as other things it does through out the story cannot be anything than nanotech. keep in mind the story originally had been written in mid 60s when even word nanomite or nanotech ninite had not existed at least not with same meaning they have today. also the stories in cyberiad are about robots and so no magic is involved.
anything earlier that comes close to describing nanotech than this story?
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Finished Children of Kerensky yesterday. Just in time to be able to start the rest of the BTech PoD novels I’m getting for Christmas today.
Ruger
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I received two books today which I very much looking forward to reading: Neptune's Inferno by James Hornfisher and Supreme Commander by Seymour Morris Jr.
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I got the book "I'm No Hero" by Charlie Plumb for Christmas. I've wanted to read it for a while, but I don't know if I can handle a book about being a POW at this time.
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I just started Katie Mack's "The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)". It looks to be quite good! :thumbsup:
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I received two books today which I very much looking forward to reading: Neptune's Inferno by James Hornfisher ...
Hornfischer's books are so good to read. There is no better description of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal I have found than what you are about to read. Positively nail biting.
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Currently reading through "The Boats of the "Glen Carrig"" by William Hope Hodgson. It's a highly enjoyable read, I'll have to check out some of his other works now.
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Vietnam an Epic Tragedy by Max Hastings.
The Last NARC by Hector Berrellez.
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"The Space Shuttle Decision" by T.A. Heppenheimer. Pre-Columbia Disaster by like 4 years, but gives a deep dive into the forces that shaped the existence and design of the Space Shuttle, be they aerodynamic, technical, industrial, economic, military or political.
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Ephrael Stern: Heretical Saint by David Annandale. This is my first Black Library published book with new 40k logo as well as my first book about this specific character.
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Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield Reread.
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wow. I had forgotten this thread series existed; so many good suggestions for series to dip a toe into...
anyway, with the Plague stalking the land, enjoying a good book at home is so much more satisfying than watching the Tube.
My daughter got me the first 7 iterations from the Tom Clancy-styled Op-Center series.
But I've just finished re-reading "Daughter of the Empire" by Feist & Wurst: always a favorite.
It was preceded by "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy", a biography.
Prior to that was "Shiloh" by Shelby Foote.
A regular reference that I keep close to hand is The Shooters' Bible, 2019 version.
And since someone mentioned Tim Zahn, I've got an autographed hardback of "The Last Command" that I purchased because I had worn out my paperback copy.
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Just read Seanen McGuire's latest novella: Across the Green Grass Fields. It's another novella set in the Wayward Children series, though this one isn't tied to the main plot in any way.
Fun read, though rather short.
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4 books by Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target, the Drowning Pool, The Way Some People Die, The Ivory Grin
When it comes to hard-boiled detective fiction, two authors are considered the classic ones who defined the genre: Dashiell Hammett (who wrote The Maltese Falcon) and Raymond Chandler (who wrote The Big Sleep), but the one author who has been overlooked by most of the public these days is Ross Macdonald. To me, he is sort of like the third man when it comes to being the best of the genre.
Macdonald's Lew Archer started out in the same vein as Philip Marlowe, but as more of the series was written (there are around 18 books in the series that were written from the 1940's all the way to the 1970s), Macdonald found his own voice and added Greek tragedy into his hardboiled plots.
Two of the first books were made into movies starring Paul Newman (renamed Harper), but obviously the books are better- darker and more cynical. If youre looking to read more books like The Big Sleep, then I would suggest you check out the Lew Archer series. They are classics.
Ratings:
The Moving Target: 6/10
The Drowning Pool: 8.5/10
The Way Some People Die: 8/10
The Ivory Grin: 7.5/10
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I just finished Orders of Battle by Marko Kloos. It's book 7 of the Frontlines series, and a damned good read just like the rest of the series.
For those who don't know, the Frontlines series are a lower down look at the Mil SciFi concept, the main character is a tactical grunt who ends up involved in most of the major upheavals befalling humanity.
It changes up the formula of Mil SciFi in some ways, and presents a gritty picture of the future.
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Like Drake's Hammer's Slammers books? ???
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4 books by Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target, the Drowning Pool, The Way Some People Die, The Ivory Grin
When it comes to hard-boiled detective fiction, two authors are considered the classic ones who defined the genre: Dashiell Hammett (who wrote The Maltese Falcon) and Raymond Chandler (who wrote The Big Sleep), but the one author who has been overlooked by most of the public these days is Ross Macdonald. To me, he is sort of like the third man when it comes to being the best of the genre.
Macdonald's Lew Archer started out in the same vein as Philip Marlowe, but as more of the series was written (there are around 18 books in the series that were written from the 1940's all the way to the 1970s), Macdonald found his own voice and added Greek tragedy into his hardboiled plots.
Two of the first books were made into movies starring Paul Newman (renamed Harper), but obviously the books are better- darker and more cynical. If youre looking to read more books like The Big Sleep, then I would suggest you check out the Lew Archer series. They are classics.
Ratings:
The Moving Target: 6/10
The Drowning Pool: 8.5/10
The Way Some People Die: 8/10
The Ivory Grin: 7.5/10
Have you read Block's Matthew Scudder books? They are pretty solid in that same vein, with Matt Scudder as an alcoholic ex-NYPD cop turned unlicensed PI. Very gritty '70's ascetic, but very character driven. They did two movie adaptations, Eight Million Ways to Die which should be avoided as both a film and a book adaptation (it is honestly horrible); and 2014's A Walk Among the Tombstones which is far, far better. Either way, there are some very solid books, and I consider When the Sacred Ginmill Closes as one of the best detective novels I have read.
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Like Drake's Hammer's Slammers books? ???
Those are pretty good.
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I like them enough to periodically re-read them. :thumbsup:
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A friend got me hooked on the So I'm a Spider, So What? light novels. I've read 7 out of 10 of them in the last week.
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I like them enough to periodically re-read them. :thumbsup:
Rolling Hot is one of my favorites, and I ran a series of Battletech scenarios based on the book. They were fun :)
Recently finished Neptune's Inferno. Outstanding book.
Also finished Supreme Commander. In the first 50 pages it felt like the author wanted to have MacArthur's baby. Still I did get out of it what I hoped I would: details on what actions were taken by the occupation forces in Japan after WWII.
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My father in law was the public health officer in Tokyo (on MacArthur's staff). He ended up getting out of the Army as soon as they would let him go because they wouldn't let him bring his wife overseas.
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Have you read Block's Matthew Scudder books? They are pretty solid in that same vein, with Matt Scudder as an alcoholic ex-NYPD cop turned unlicensed PI. Very gritty '70's ascetic, but very character driven. They did two movie adaptations, Eight Million Ways to Die which should be avoided as both a film and a book adaptation (it is honestly horrible); and 2014's A Walk Among the Tombstones which is far, far better. Either way, there are some very solid books, and I consider When the Sacred Ginmill Closes as one of the best detective novels I have read.
I havent read anything by Block yet, but thanks for the heads up. I'll add it to the list.
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Hour of the Wolf.
I've also got the latest Thrawn novel and the second Alphabet Squadron novel for Star Wars for Christmas that I haven't read yet. And picked up Wolf and Raven for Shadowrun, finishing off the original line of novels in that series for me. Just need to pick up the last novel in the second generation of S-run novels to have all of those, and there's at least 8 in the current run available through PoD that I still need to get as well. Also snagged three Deadlands dime novels I didn't have, and the second two novels in their line that I also did not have. Along with several other BTech novels in backlog, I have some reading to do.
Ruger
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The Roman army, by Polybius.
Short book. Nice.
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I’m about 70% through a silence in the heavens. It’s my bathroom book, which is probably appropriate
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I just finished the two most recent Dresden Files books. I started reading them in the hospital years ago and enjoy them.
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before taking on the other proving grounds books, i've swung back and started with Ghost War. Stackpole is a much more technically competent writer but there's always been something that's bugged me about his writing style
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Some weird science fiction book my wife bought me called Recursion. About memories, interesting but only 50 pages in.
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Just finished "We Ride the Storm" and "We Lie with Death" the first two parts of the 'Reborn Empire' trilogy by Devin Madson. Really interesting eastern fantasy realm, fleshed out characters, shifting alliances, a four-way war, and intriguing world building. Looking forward to the third part when it comes out :)
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I finished my re-read of Drakensis' excellent "Davion and Davion (Deceased)" this morning... really good stuff! :thumbsup:
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If anyone has read the Powder Mage series by Joseph Mallozzi, what were your impressions of the books?
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Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield Reread.
I have also read this book.
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Had to stop my Ross Macdonald binge reads- his plots are the same in every book!
Now reading: Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command
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ok i read this book when i was 9 or so...and cannot remeber the author or the title bit this story stuck with me for almost 4 decades.
ot is a story about explorers that are trying to make contact with a alien species which is highly advanced the species moves extremely fast due to time manipulation and use cybernetic brain back up that is called double brain and creatures are tri pods with 3 arms. as story goes one of the researchers gets pregnant and ends up somehow in the city living in accelerated time with the creatures...from her point of view she spent 10 years or so with the aliens while the contact/research group spent about 10 to 20 days.
for life of me i cannot remember the book or the author but now and then i run the story in my mind. publication i think was 1965 or 1974 and author was british
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Had to stop my Ross Macdonald binge reads- his plots are the same in every book!
Now reading: Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command
There are a lot of writers who make their living writing the same story over and over.
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Battletech Jihad series
Seemingly endless expanse of cases and filings ;P
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There are a lot of writers who make their living writing the same story over and over.
LOL youre so right. I've written close to 30 books and my best sellers are the ones that follow the same story over and over. :))
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The Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons. I'm currently in the Fall of Hyperion.
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There are a lot of writers who make their living writing the same story over and over.
Hallmark movies
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Don't forget the school of thought that insists there are only 5 plots (or some other single digit number). From a certain point of view, there are NO new stories... ::)
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Yeah, Joseph Campbell. The difference is that Hallmark doesn't bother trying to make their stories interesting.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa7baSCfl4U
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THAT was funny! ;D
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Very.
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Rock of the Republic, BLP. I had looked forward to this story since well before Shattered Fortress. The idea of the Remnant, fighting for fifteen years without support, and what that would do to the fighters after they found out Terra was too busy supporting other nations to help out at all when they could have, would make a fascinating story. Fighting to save the people you promised rather than the planet who abandoned you? Great story. This wasn't it. If you are going to crib "Heart of Darkness"/Apocalypse Now, go all the way. And it makes Redburn's low-key emo whining about "hating" Stone in Hour of the Wolf that more anemic.
And is it just me or is having the last scene in a hospital bed becoming Pardoe's thing now?
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Pardoe is a... repetitive author.
I'm currently working on Calculated Risks, the latest of Seanan McGuire's Incryptid series.
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Taking a break from Sci-fi to read Ninety Percent of Everything, an absolutely fascinating look into the world of merchant shipping. It gives a new perspective to my waiting for little plastic miniatures to come from across the sea.
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I was thinking about my Father recently and remembering one of his favorite authors: Louis L'Amour.
So I swung by Barnes & Noble and picked up The Lonesome Gods. It should be a good read.
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Pardoe is a... repetitive author.
I'm currently working on Calculated Risks, the latest of Seanan McGuire's Incryptid series.
Based on the fact you were, what, ten books in? I took a shot at the first one, Discount Armageddon. I am about three chapters in, and this book is so freaking twee, I am not sure I am getting past that. She is so wrapped up in "tee-hee, I am a hot researcher/monster hunter-ballroom dancer-cocktail waitress! And quirky! Aren't I quirky?" that my pancreas is threating to strangle me. I don't mind sarcastic first-person narrator who loves a good quip - I love Dresden, and Mercy Thompson, and Zelazny is my favorite author of all time. But so far this is trying way too hard. Does it get less...whatever?
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I’m reading Decision at Thunder Rift by William Keith currently.
Actually, I think the ebook copy I have included the other two books in the original GDL trilogy as part of it, even though both of the other books are also sold separately at the vendor I bought from. Hm.
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Based on the fact you were, what, ten books in? I took a shot at the first one, Discount Armageddon. I am about three chapters in, and this book is so freaking twee, I am not sure I am getting past that. She is so wrapped up in "tee-hee, I am a hot researcher/monster hunter-ballroom dancer-cocktail waitress! And quirky! Aren't I quirky?" that my pancreas is threating to strangle me. I don't mind sarcastic first-person narrator who loves a good quip - I love Dresden, and Mercy Thompson, and Zelazny is my favorite author of all time. But so far this is trying way too hard. Does it get less...whatever?
Yeah, Verity is only the protagonist for the first two novels (and IIRC the fifth). The third and fourth novels have her brother as protagonist, while the sixth, seventh, and eighth have her younger sister. The last two books star her cousin. Each of them is radically different in personality and most of them find Verity to be annoying.
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Just got the Leviathans Anthology, Armored Skies, delivered (from Amazon). I'm gonna get on this ASAP. It's got some high profile historical writers in the book (S.M. Stirling, Harry Turtledove) as well as several BT writers (Keith, Stackpole et al).
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I’m reading Decision at Thunder Rift by William Keith currently.
Actually, I think the ebook copy I have included the other two books in the original GDL trilogy as part of it, even though both of the other books are also sold separately at the vendor I bought from. Hm.
Just listened to the audio book version.
I just kept thinking is there no hpg on trell 1?
Also these mech fights are incredibly farfetched.
Wolves on the Border Heir to the Dragon and Lethal Heritage I could have done without the sound effects.
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I think that Thunder Rift was written before they codified things in the universe like HPGs and the fact that mechs function on the Walking Tank principle rather than being more anime-inspired.
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I think that Thunder Rift was written before they codified things in the universe like HPGs and the fact that mechs function on the Walking Tank principle rather than being more anime-inspired.
Really does come across that way but still I'm supposed to seriously believe a trio of light mechs and conventional forces could hold off two companies? Or that a Shadow Hawk can survive a Marauder and Crusader?
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Really does come across that way but still I'm supposed to seriously believe a trio of light mechs and conventional forces could hold off two companies? Or that a Shadow Hawk can survive a Marauder and Crusader?
I noticed long ago that Grey Death novels tended to have a climax that consisted of "things are bad for the Legion- things are worse for the Legion- the Legion has suddenly won with no explanation for how they actually pulled it off."
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I noticed long ago that Grey Death novels tended to have a climax that consisted of "things are bad for the Legion- things are worse for the Legion- the Legion has suddenly won with no explanation for how they actually pulled it off."
Oof. It was pretty bad in Decision at Thunder Rift. That it is a recurring theme is worrying.
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To me it was all apart of the original view of the state of the universe. We you loosing armor? Armor is expensive. And the danger of losing a Mech, against this stupid, backwater world wasn't worth the risk.
The universe moved on, as it were.
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Yeah, Verity is only the protagonist for the first two novels (and IIRC the fifth). The third and fourth novels have her brother as protagonist, while the sixth, seventh, and eighth have her younger sister. The last two books star her cousin. Each of them is radically different in personality and most of them find Verity to be annoying.
Actually about chapter Four she seemed to settle down into character, and it was pretty much a popcorn book from there. I actually got to like Verity, but I freaking love the Aeslin mice. I have jammed through the first four and starting Chaos Choreography.
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Actually about chapter Four she seemed to settle down into character, and it was pretty much a popcorn book from there. I actually got to like Verity, but I freaking love the Aeslin mice. I have jammed through the first four and starting Chaos Choreography.
Outstanding. You're giving me an urge to go back and reread the older books in the series. Then go back and reread the October Daye series.
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Started reading, Leviathans: Armored Skies Anthology. Seems good. I hope more come out.
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Fall From Glory and the recent Leviathans anthology. Enjoying both.
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ok found my other old smart android phone and looked at it after charging it
looked through apps found my free fb reader
opened it and found old copy of star trek book with original crew
how much for just a planet?
and read it again chuckling every now and then
when i was a kid loved the old st books but this one for weird reason i keep coming back and re reading it once in a blue moon
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Because John M. Ford is a real author. Try and find "The Final Reflection", his other Trek book, and weep for the Klingons we could have had, not the lobster-foreheaded technobarbarians.
Also his "The Dragon Waiting", or any of his other books.
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Because John M. Ford is a real author. Try and find "The Final Reflection", his other Trek book, and weep for the Klingons we could have had, not the lobster-foreheaded technobarbarians.
Also his "The Dragon Waiting", or any of his other books.
wt have read it enjoyed it a lot....wish a lot more authors were like him
btw had you ever read robot salies aka cyberiad by stanislaw lem? my favorite is still truls machine when i read it when i was about 6 years old. there was a sequel to cyberiad but i cannot seem to find the translation in any language even in german which a lot of his books had been translated. original title to sequel is bajki robotow and as far as i can tell it never got translation. last time i read it was in 84....it had a lot of good stories even better than its prequel cyberiad
ohhh while i have this on tip of my tongue if you can find a1972 or 1974 edition to cyberiad with illustrations...very disturbing stuff in a lot of ways
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Will be starting Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs pretty soon.
Ruger
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About to start that as well.
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wt have read it enjoyed it a lot....wish a lot more authors were like him
btw had you ever read robot salies aka cyberiad by stanislaw lem? my favorite is still truls machine when i read it when i was about 6 years old. there was a sequel to cyberiad but i cannot seem to find the translation in any language even in german which a lot of his books had been translated. original title to sequel is bajki robotow and as far as i can tell it never got translation. last time i read it was in 84....it had a lot of good stories even better than its prequel cyberiad
ohhh while i have this on tip of my tongue if you can find a1972 or 1974 edition to cyberiad with illustrations...very disturbing stuff in a lot of ways
I read all the Lem I could get my hands on, in my 20s. Long time ago. Saw the Russian adaptation of Solaris, infinitely superior to the George Clooney version.
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I read all the Lem I could get my hands on, in my 20s. Long time ago. Saw the Russian adaptation of Solaris, infinitely superior to the George Clooney version.
Yeah the Russian version is awesome. Have you seen Stalker? Its made by the same director, and based on a sci-fi book by the Stugarsky brothers.
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Most definitely. Little if anything to do with the computer game series that took its name. I love Stalker, and the only thing comes close is Annihilation, for the sense of "it doesn't have to wrap up neatly".
I've always had an abiding interest in things Soviet - so many logical choices that turned left at Albuquerque. And now I'm working for a Byelorussian boss (here in Oz), and I freak him out from time to time with little nuggets.
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by far 1972 adaptation of solaris was the best
did you read futurological congress? or fiasco? return from the stars was also good but it was never explained why such drastic step as betterization had to be taken
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If you havent watched the 2013 adaptation of Hard to be a God yet, I suggest you not eat anything while watching it. Not for the squeamish.
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by far 1972 adaptation of solaris was the best
did you read futurological congress? or fiasco? return from the stars was also good but it was never explained why such drastic step as betterization had to be taken
I think it was a period/culture thing. Lem lived in a period where the delivery of "true communism" promised a perfect world of plenty and goodwill. The concept of perfecting society was a real thing - and not only in the Soviet empire, but in the minds of Western industrialists, as well as ideologists of all colours. A mandated removal of aggressive impulses? Think how many historical regimes would have leapt on that!
So it's basically a semi-dystopian prediction. Even if the protagonist buys into it at the end.
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While I was on extended vacation in Florida (and amidst a slow motion moving process), I read Sargeant Rex, by Mike Dowling. Its about a Marine trained bomb sniffing dog and his handler, as well as the bond they share while doing their job in Iraq. Very cool read, and an excellent work by a first time author. Of course, his editor probably helped a lot, but still, it inspired me to feel better about my own submission to Shrapnel.
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Was paging through my compilation of Jane's US Navy ships recently. The build for World War II was crazy, and the draw down just as much. The book was published in the early 1990s, and they only had the rights to the Janes information through 1980.
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Indominus by Gav Thorpe
Story of this one ties into Indominus boxed set that was limited run release. It follows Gulliman and his Ultramarines as they try to fight off Necrons. Yes sure it stars most boring Space Marine chapter in entire 40k but I am not holding that against this book because it was written by my favorite 40k author Gav Thorpe who knows what he is doing when it comes to 40k lore and how to write stories based on it as well as how to make even most generic characters seem interesting. And based on what I have read so far he has succeeded in that.
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The Anglo-Saxon World by Higham and Ryan.
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The Daleks, the ultimate collector’s edition of the classic 1960s strip (“TV Century 21” newspaper-style comic strips that is).
Ruger
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Just finished the Leviathans Anthology. Wow! What great book. Snap shot of the world if there were flying warships. Slipping into the "Great War" aka World War I. I hope they come up with more. It was good.
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Reading Mercenary’s Star. Not sure I like how Decision at Thunder Rift resolved the battle in the final act, but I think the rest of the book was fairly decent for what it was. ;D
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Mercenary's Star at least makes the conflict a little more plausible even if the GDL should have still ended up a shattered command after that. Not to mention probably heavily in debt.
Still overall a better listen than Decision at Thunder Rift.
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Decision at Thunder Rift set up the GDL as the team that spends an entire battle losing but manages to win offscreen.
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So I haven`t read a book in a long time, but I`m really into webtoons these days. My favorite, which I would recommend, are:
-The Boxer
-Lookism
-True Beauty
-The remarried Empress
The Genre of the first two Webtoons are action, fighting and the other two are drama-like. But all of them are really interesting!
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So i just finished Blood Will Tell by Jason Schmetzer. I want to say this. This is the third novella I've read from him. I only have one thing to say. Magnificent.
He by far is my favorite of the writers whom in last couple years joint CGL writers ranks. Seriously, this is one his best novels. He made 380 page short novel into something with depth, scope and feel of full novel. He balanced action, personal dramas of main and secondary characters giving them more than passing mention. It was awesome to ready. His book doesn't FEEL like it's constrained by the source books running up from Shatter Fortress and up and coming ilClan source book. It's just great. Really.
He gives House Liao a completely different feel from or different movement we had not seen in decades. It was wonderful book i can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to what he decides to tackle next, but i do HOPE HECK he writes a follow on story of Liao's misadventures trying get Terra
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Like a true fan, I'm currently reading Battletech Legends: Decision at Thunder Rift. Enjoying it so far but I'm only a few chapters in. If this turns out to be a great read I'll consider picking up the whole Legends Anthology on Amazon. D@TR was only $0.99 on Amazon Kindle so I couldn't pass it up.
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"Seven Fallen Feathers" by Tanya Talaga.
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MORE by Philip Coggan. Talk about the cure for Fasanomics! ::)
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He codifies everything down to the nearest cent or something?
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Currently started reading "The Four-Wheeler's Bible: 3rd Edition" I've long been interested in off-roading, and had heard this book is a pretty good resource for those of us who are just starting out.
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He codifies everything down to the nearest cent or something?
It's a very readable overview of economics "from the Iron Age to the Information Age".
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Ah
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Just started on Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's "Hard to be a God".
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Weapons free, the battlecorps anthology. The number 6 I think.
Thoroughly enjoyed it after the drag that was the Case White abthology
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My significant other and I have been exchanging reading suggestions. She likes to read My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanfiction, and I like to read crossover fanfiction, with most of them being MLP crossovers recently. Of the books in our shared reading list, I’m currently reading A Storm of Chaos, a Doctor Who crossover.
I like it well enough so far as I’ve got, but there’s some issues with these early chapters at least. Something’s a bit off with the characterization, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Most of the stories in our reading list are short stories, and not even full-length ones at that. I put Mercenary’s Star on hold for until after I’ve cleared the list we’ve built thus far, which is currently populated with one more story. A Storm of Chaos was one of my additions to the said list; the other is one of hers.
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Introduced my younger lad (25) to Michael Moorcock's "The Jewel in the Skull", first of the Hawkmoon series. And he's loving it.
He's well read enough to realise that this is one of the motherloads that other people have been stealing from inspired by for decades. Right up there with Robert E Howard and "Doc" E.E. Smith.
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97 pages into "My Experiences in the World War" by Pershing. Its part of my continuing study of the AEF and its commander. The man was absolutely astonishing.
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Thunder Moon Rising by Jeffrey J. Mariotte, the second Deadlands novel.
Ruger
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damn it every few years i go back to re reading original chung kuo 8 books by david wingrove...still some stuff is too damn good not to go back to
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I listen to Agatha Christie audiobooks on youtube while working on stuff. I'm currently on At Bertram's Hotel (a Marple mystery), which is a triumph of prose.
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Million Dollar Demon by Kim Harrison.
Ruger
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Terry Mancour has an interesting Fantasy series called "The Spellmonger" that's quite good. He has an overall vision with a definite ending, and is working his way there at a decent pace. Book 13 (of a planned 30(!)) comes out in a few days, I am rereading the last one to catch up.
That and Pierce Brown's First Three Red Rising books, but I'm more listening to those.
Davout73
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Trees in Anglo-Saxon England, Della Hooke
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Trial Under Fire by Loren Coleman
Reading it alongside Mercenary’s Star somewhat, as I seemingly cannot buy it on Apple Books unlike the latter and many of the other BattleTech novels that exist. It’s my hope that every novel in the series, including the ones nobody seems to like, eventually becomes available on Apple Books, or at least available as an EPUB so that I can read it through Apple Books that way. I like reading in an ebook format, and I also like having all my books in one place. ;D As someone relatively new to the novels, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
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American Tabloid by James Ellroy. It's about 3 men in late 50s early 60s America who get involved with the Kennedys, J Edgar Hoover, the Mob, and the Bay of Pigs. I liked his earlier book LA Confidential, but I'm not digging this one. The 3 protagonists are extremely unlikable- they kill people who look at them the wrong way and it doesnt bother them, plus theyre also racists, misogynists and a whole lot of other unsavory characteristics. And there isnt much of a plot either. I was planning to get other books written by Ellroy, but Im starting to rethink that. Rating: 4/10
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Finished Trial Under Fire, and now my full attention has returned to the Gray Death Saga.
I've got a lot of edits to make on Sarna regarding the characters in the former novel. ;D For whatever reason, several of the characters were treated as apocryphal – to be fair, they were at first, but Trial Under Fire canonized them and most of the game's events with some tweaks, really only leaving the events of Pirate's Moon in apocryphal status – and the articles in question could use some clean up and/or expansion besides.
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Just started in on Ronnie James Dio's Autobiography, "Rainbow in the Dark".
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hey worktroll since you enjoyed turtlrdove did you get to read his the case of magic toxic dump?
that was a little off beat from his more alternative history stuff
finally after 40 years i got my paws on copy of staninslaw lems bajki robotow/ aka robot sallies an unofficial sequel to cyberiada
too bad it is in polish and my polish is so rusty lol still it was my fave when i was a kid so ill suffer
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hey worktroll since you enjoyed turtlrdove did you get to read his the case of magic toxic dump?
that was a little off beat from his more alternative history stuff
That book was trippy.
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Been a while since I read Spell Dump, elf25s. Might be time to read it again.
On one hand, just finished Paul Theroux's Pillars of Hercules. Not keen on his fiction, but enjoy his travel work, like Riding the Iron Rooster, or the Great Railway Bazaar.
On the other, chewing through Flint & Drake's Belesarius series. Slightly a guilty pleasure - not as bad as John Ringo, at least. But well crafted, if somewhat of a Gary Stu series.
And Elf, agree on Chung Kuo, even if book 8 is quite naff - the publisher had promised him 9 books, then told him the next one was the last. Did you ever see his rework of the series? Got as far as 8 books, which covered before & most of the three books of the original series, before that too fell over for financial reasons. What a waste ...
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WT glad you read it i just re read it recently
i was thinking about re reading copernicks rebelion and conrads time machine series by leo frankowski before i go to read brian herberts duke leto atreidis...
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NO! RUN!! RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!!
There's nothing good in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson books. Remember GOT last season? These take the same linear A-to-B-to-C approach , totally without grace or life. Avoid! Avoid!
And I love all the Frank Herbert Dune books, even Messiah, and Heretics of.
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I always thought Heretics and Chapterhouse were the best ones. Did you mean Children of Dune, perhaps?
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I think the tally on the use of the word “Abomination” in children of dune might surpass the word count of some novellas ;D
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Heretics and Chapterhouse tend to get some negativity because they're not about PAUL! They're different, evolutionary, and that's why I love them. Similarly, Messiah.
And National Lampoon's Doon. If you haven't, find it and read it!
(https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556850055l/45442477._SY475_.jpg)
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i dont particulary care expanded dune universe ...6 dune books are the IT for me when it comes to dune
only one part i enjoyed from expanded universe and that was machine crusade
and i was always curious why leto the just was sent to arrakis...
and the redact what or who were the marty and david(?)daniel(?) annoyed me to no end and annoyed is an under statement
as for GOT you all are not going to belive this...i never seen the show or read the books...seen the covers of the books but never read them as for the show? that stuff had been gathering dust over 2 years or more now because i had not watched it or touched it unless it was to move them to dust. and i keep forgetting to tell my buddy to take the disks back
conversation goes him so did you watch it yet?
me noe just had not found the time
him not taking them until you finish watching them
me sure should be maybe this week...
repeat same conversation over 2 years
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question about david wingroves series road to moscow trilogy
had any one read it?
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Yep. Starts off very well, but gets a bit tangled in the end. Given the nature of the books, perhaps inevitable?
Hint: All You Zombies did it better. Not exactly the same, but timey-wimey loopey-loopey.
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In a Malazan re-read and hopefully finally completion (I go through The Bonehunters the first time, and lost it for a while.) This is a series that benefits from a re-read, as a lot of things that seem disjointed the first time around fall into position on the second.
Currently in Toll the Hounds.
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NO! RUN!! RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!!
There's nothing good in the Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson books. Remember GOT last season? These take the same linear A-to-B-to-C approach , totally without grace or life. Avoid! Avoid!
And I love all the Frank Herbert Dune books, even Messiah, and Heretics of.
Funnily enough we were just talking about Dune in a discord server and it motivated me to reread Dune & Dune Messiah. The latter is definitely more of a slog to get through--far less plot, far more philosophy and politics. Still, I think the bones of the story are solid--what really happens "happily ever after" and why a hero might not be a good thing.
Never read Children, as I hear it's the same only moreso.
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Just finished Vapor Trails by Joshua Dalzelle, the third Terran Scout Fleet book.
It certainly didn't disappoint! We finally got to see TF Obsidian meet up with Omega Force, with all the fireworks you would expect, and gave us a clearer picture of Jason Burke's enhancements.
There were a couple of things I didn't really like about the book, one of them was the speed at which the fireworks were worked out, that felt a little rushed, but on the whole it's a great read and well worth the time I invested.
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I've been reading the first three Asimov Foundation books in the run up to the new show.
And frankly it's been an eh... time. They just aren't doing anything for me. I dislike the serial nature of them, especially in Second Foundation and the writing is just kind of stiff.
I've read the Robots stuff up to Robots and Empire and many of his short stories, and really enjoyed them.
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*snip*
Never read Children, as I hear it's the same only moreso.
I can confirm this. God Emperor is a bit better, but as I said earlier, I think Heretics and Chapterhouse are the best of the whole series.
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I've been reading the first three Asimov Foundation books in the run up to the new show.
And frankly it's been an eh... time. They just aren't doing anything for me. I dislike the serial nature of them, especially in Second Foundation and the writing is just kind of stiff.
I've read the Robots stuff up to Robots and Empire and many of his short stories, and really enjoyed them.
Considering, IIRC, they were originally written in parts for submission to sci-fi type magazines, the serial nature makes sense. They were also different from most in that there is very little actual action in what became the first three novels of the series.
The upcoming series looks to be doing this latter item somewhat differently, with more action than the original material.
Ruger
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Considering, IIRC, they were originally written in parts for submission to sci-fi type magazines, the serial nature makes sense. They were also different from most in that there is very little actual action in what became the first three novels of the series.
The upcoming series looks to be doing this latter item somewhat differently, with more action than the original material.
Ruger
Yeah I knew that going in with the first one, and actually didn't mind it there. Mostly what jarred me was The Mule getting wrapped up with little fanfare and another kind of drastic perspective shift about halfway through the third one.
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Walter J Williams - Impersonations
It's a book set in his Praxis universe, I've massive regard for the guy. Been a fan ever
since his Hardwired novel, kinda annoyed he's not better known. The Praxis stuff is
fantastic.
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Just in the middle of Mercenary's Star .
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Walter J Williams - Impersonations
It's a book set in his Praxis universe, I've massive regard for the guy. Been a fan ever
since his Hardwired novel, kinda annoyed he's not better known. The Praxis stuff is
fantastic.
Ah, Hardwired, definitely a classic. Find/read if you haven't before.
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Blood Will Tell and The Proliferation Cycle.
Ruger
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The Price of Glory, by William Keith Jr.
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Legions of Pigs in the Early Medieval West by Jamie Kreiner
fascinating meditation on the nature of human knowledge, classification, and the surprisingly ecologically conscious 8th century people who tended the unruly beasts
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Re-reading IlClan. I have a story idea and I want to see how and where it fits in.
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Purchased the Dune Saga Collection. Currently re-reading "Dune" and hoping to finally make it the full way through the series. Maybe this time I can actually finish "Dune Messiah" when I get to it. As much as I love the first book, I have always had a terrible time getting into the second one. Hopefully I can make it through it this time.
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If you can't, try skipping to the fifth one (Heretics of Dune). I think it and Chapterhouse: Dune (the sixth) are the best of the series.
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Currently reading House Marik Handbook, the original Fasa one. Very interesting stuff.
Do people in the IS still refer to the Captain-General as "The Marik"? I love that!
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Currently reading House Marik Handbook, the original Fasa one. Very interesting stuff.
Do people in the IS still refer to the Captain-General as "The Marik"? I love that!
I feel like it pops up a couple of times in more recent source material but I can't point to a specific place.
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It's something that only appeared in really early books, I think.
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Purchased the Dune Saga Collection. Currently re-reading "Dune" and hoping to finally make it the full way through the series. Maybe this time I can actually finish "Dune Messiah" when I get to it. As much as I love the first book, I have always had a terrible time getting into the second one. Hopefully I can make it through it this time.
Dune Messiah feels almost like an interlude than a full-fledged volume in the series. Children was a slog for me as well. I am forever scarred by the world abomination now. I enjoyed God Emperor when I first read it in junior high (despite only having played the RTS before picking it up and was quite confused throughout) and again about ten years ago. Heretics was fine. Chapterhouse lost my interest in places and it took a while to finish.
Currently working on Legions of Pigs in the Early Medieval West by Jamie Kreiner.
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I liked the first Dune novels, when the series was still explicitly the Arab Revolt In Space.
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Yeah, I think if "Dune Messiah" bogs down too much for me again, then I'll skip to book three and see how I fare from there. *laughs* Just keep jumping from book to book until I hit one that isn't a slog.
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My money is on you not hitting that point until Heretics...good luck! :thumbsup:
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My money is on you not hitting that point until Heretics...good luck! :thumbsup:
*laughs* Thanks! I'm gonna need it.
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*laughs* Thanks! I'm gonna need it.
Not going to lie, I read Dune once years ago, and it was a slog! No way was I reading more of them.
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Over all personally I find first 3 to be best in series. Only reason why I ended up reading rest as well back in day was because I felt like I had to.
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I liked the first Dune novels, when the series was still explicitly the Arab Revolt In Space.
I agree. I thought it was GoT before GoT. I actually read Children of Dune first, because I when I was 12 I was intimidated by just how thick the first book was. Watching the 1984 movie on VHS beforehand also got me to understand it better.
I tuned out when Herbert started delving into his pseudo-philosophy in God Emperor of Dune, but I read all of his books anyway. I'm a purist so no way am I reading the prequel stuff- I heard they were badly written too.
Currently reading: Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett. This book was a huge influence on movies and one of the first hard-boiled novels ever. Started out well, but too many characters and they get bumped off at the very next chapter, so it gets confusing trying to figure out who murdered who. Rating: 6/10
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I have yet to hear a single good word about the Dune prequels (which were NOT written by Frank Herbert).
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Those are not very good but I like that those give more context to some things in first Dune novel so it's not all bad IMO.
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Those are not very good but I like that those give more context to some things in first Dune novel so it's not all bad IMO.
From what I heard they made a lot of retcons from Frank Herbert's original material. That's blasphemy, imo.
Also the original Dune stuff pretty much spells out what happened in the past, so there's no need for prequels, imo.
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*snip*
Also the original Dune stuff pretty much spells out what happened in the past, so there's no need for prequels, imo.
Pretty much this, IMO too.
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Pretty much this, IMO too.
Eh, the entire idea about a prequel is to provide greater detail and explaination about things that are pretty well spelled out in the existing text. Sometimes they mesh well, sometimes they suck, it's really pot luck.
My big annoyance is when they author of the prequel decides they are going to turn the original authors text into an unreliable narrator in parts, changing key elements and claiming that the original text was a lie, and the character knew it.
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My big annoyance is when they author of the prequel decides they are going to turn the original authors text into an unreliable narrator in parts, changing key elements and claiming that the original text was a lie, and the character knew it.
AKA retcons ;D
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I'm in the middle of the Great Wheel of Time Re-read. After that will be founding of the clans 2, then Brothers of the Wind.
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I'm in the middle of the Great Wheel of Time Re-read. After that will be founding of the clans 2, then Brothers of the Wind.
Not going to lie, the Wheel of Time books had me contemplating self harm as the less painful option. Really not a fan of Robert Jordan's writing style.
The story would have been gripping, if he didn't spread it so thin over such an annoying cast and take a literal eternity to get to the point.
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Not going to lie, the Wheel of Time books had me contemplating self harm as the less painful option. Really not a fan of Robert Jordan's writing style.
The story would have been gripping, if he didn't spread it so thin over such an annoying cast and take a literal eternity to get to the point.
I remember finding the middle stretch of books pretty slow, but I'm generally a quick reader, so I'm not concerned. It's also in that middle stretch that some of the urgency is lost. But the world-building is excellent. And I want the story fresher in mind for when I watch the show.
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I'm in the middle of the Great Wheel of Time Re-read. After that will be founding of the clans 2, then Brothers of the Wind.
Good for you! I need to start a re-read again; maybe I'll do that in the New Year. Wonderful story to fall back into each time I read it. It remains the most approachable I've read. I used to restart the series each time a new book came out. I got my wife to read the series on a drunken dare and my step-mother swaps between the audiobooks of it and Harry Potter regularly in her retirement. If Star Wars was my childhood, Battletech my teen years, then The Wheel of Time has been present since I started the series in the early '90s in college.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your re-read, the show, and others to give either or both a try.
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Finished A Rock and a Hard Place, now on Levithans: Armored Skies.
Ruger
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robert heinlein
have spacesuit will travel
job
and starship troopers
still i enjoyed stranger in strange land
one thing always bothered me with starship troopers both book and movie
both imply that both have high tech and during war with the arachnids neither mentions automated drone systems that can be build faster than bugs can replace their losses and machines could had been used to just wipe out the bugs without killing the MI troops
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one thing always bothered me with starship troopers both book and movie
both imply that both have high tech and during war with the arachnids neither mentions automated drone systems that can be build faster than bugs can replace their losses and machines could had been used to just wipe out the bugs without killing the MI troops
Maybe because the book was written in 1959? Drones were, to say the least, not yet in the public conscious and the armoured suits were revolutionary enough at the time.
The movie is a little different, but it was also written for a different purpose than the book. Drone warfare wasn't really at the forefront in the 90s, either.
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dont see why not? i mean back in late 30s and early 40s germans were deploying radio controlled mini vehicles with guns on them. had seen footige of is soldiers playing with few on news reels in late 70s. radio controled machinery was already there
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Drone warfare and solid military tactics were totally not the point of the book.
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Drone warfare and solid military tactics were totally not the point of the book.
i know that i was asking why the author did not use drones
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Because remote-controlled weaponry was not something that was part of the public consciousness and the author didn't bother using them. Not something worth getting hung up over, especially since drone warfare remained a thing that's not prominent in speculative fiction today. It's used now, but there are still plenty of works that don't bother with it.
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dont see why not? i mean back in late 30s and early 40s germans were deploying radio controlled mini vehicles with guns on them. had seen footige of is soldiers playing with few on news reels in late 70s. radio controled machinery was already there
What you were seeing were demolition 'robots'- wire-controlled tracked demo packages. Which was a cool idea at the time, but not particularly helpful (as with so many German inventions of the period.)
(https://external-preview.redd.it/6AGyxLR2uTdF4WL0tumUsgqY0L3D6aKmmb148AKlhvs.jpg?auto=webp&s=e2d78be59bbb9c05a0df562f1ef7f2c3dd0eb606)
Caption: American troops have a bit of fun with captured "Goliath" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliath_tracked_mine) demo vehicles on "Utah" beach, 1944
Never had guns mounted on them.
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I have seen some sources claim that the Soviets experimented with mounting weapons on such platforms and the result was about as effective as their attempt to train dogs to stick anti-tank mines to the undersides of German tanks.
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I have seen some sources claim that the Soviets experimented with mounting weapons on such platforms and the result was about as effective as their attempt to train dogs to stick anti-tank mines to the undersides of German tanks.
the dogs...i can tell you was a real thing from first hand accounts from my grandfather and mother...
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I'm aware that it was a real thing. That failed. Hard.
What I'm saying is that I've heard that the Soviets also experimented with sticking weapons like machine guns and flamethrowers onto remote controlled tracked vehicles, whether they were captured Goliaths or a home-grown version I don't know, and the result was an abject failure.
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i know that i was asking why the author did not use drones
I think the simplest reason I can give you, is because the author was showing the soldiers journey, not a war story. This is very similar to the heroes journey myth, there are a lot of points in common, but they are distinct from each other.
The soldiers journey starts with a volunteer, they sign up and go through basic training. This will entail some hardship, usually a personal tragedy such as their partner leaving them what have you. Usually they will contemplate withdrawing but will remain.
After basic training, they will have their first battle, where their performance can be wildly variable but they will learn something and show their willingness to learn.
The story will progress, generally glossing over or skipping a lot of battles and end up with the soldier now a veteran, a leader, who mentors someone just like them. Usually unmarried due to their commitment to the military, bonus points if there's a failed marriage in there, preferably with kids to one day take up the mantle.
Eventually they end up in a command position, and will achieve victory against great odds. The story may end with them retiring or leaving to start a relationship/family, might go into politics.
That's the type of story Heinlein was telling with Starship Troopers, it's the story of Juan Rico, civilian to officer in command. It's not a war story, it's a story of a soldiers life from cradle (militarily speaking) to command. The machines of war are somewhat less relevant than the soldier caught up in it.
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I'm aware that it was a real thing. That failed. Hard.
What I'm saying is that I've heard that the Soviets also experimented with sticking weapons like machine guns and flamethrowers onto remote controlled tracked vehicles, whether they were captured Goliaths or a home-grown version I don't know, and the result was an abject failure.
There were attempts to make radio controlled version of the T-26 - controlled from another tank, it was a failure, a few were used against Mannerheim line during Winter War, experiment was abandoned due to German invasion.
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Finished the great Wheel of Time re-read yesterday, blasted through "Visions of Rebirth" today. It was an enjoyable read, with much better characterization of early Clan characters than seen in other, previous works (BoI). Looking forward to the third book, which looks like it'll be OP Klondike.
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Will be interesting to get a narrative for Andary's last battle.
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I read The Girl with Seven Names. Really powerful.
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I finished Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey, the final Expanse novel. It was a proper epilogue to the series. I will say, the last third of the book spent a lot of time describing the same scene from three characters' points of view, so that felt like filler.
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Reread a truly funny classic Star trek novel: How Much for Just the Planet?
It even ends with a pie fight.
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Reread a truly funny classic Star trek novel: How Much for Just the Planet?
It even ends with a pie fight.
John M. Ford, who wrote that and, I think it was The Final Reflection, wrote a bunch of the old FASA Star Trek RPG books too. His take on the Klingons is still held in very high regard by some older Trekkies.
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Like this one. Oh, what we could have had, instead of lobster-headed techno-barbarians ... :'(
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ahhh finally got my claws of cyberiad and robot sallies in original polish by stanislaw lem...gods above and below forgot how much i forgot of polish...and now re reading them for 3rd time...
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Dune by Frank Herbert
It had been about 20 years since I read it previously so it was time to re-read it.
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Finally finished up Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho". All I can say is that I'm glad to be done with that one.
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Mostly work related stuff at the moment. I should dig out my copy of "Castles of Steel" and "A Storm in Flanders" to re-read, but haven't gotten to that. Good, if depressing reads. Wish I could find the massive UK set of books called "The Great War"... yes it's slanted, but pretty comprehensive.
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John M. Ford, who wrote that and, I think it was The Final Reflection, wrote a bunch of the old FASA Star Trek RPG books too. His take on the Klingons is still held in very high regard by some older Trekkies.
True.
Ford presented the Klingons in a way that actually made sense if they, as a species, were going to survive and make it into space with their culture, and how they have managed to continue to survive. Definitely not two-dimensional cookie-cutter villains.
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Like this one. Oh, what we could have had, instead of lobster-headed techno-barbarians ... :'(
At least the Ferengi didn't get stuck as slightly shorter techno-barbarians.
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Just got done reading Elements of Treason: Duty. Decent novel but not fantastic. Really had way too much time on the Arcturus Nobles Doing The Same Freaking Things They'd Done In Every Prior Scene.
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Do nobles ever do anything else? ??? ^-^
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It would have been more tolerable if those characters had had less focus, but by the midpoint of the book it started to feel like padding.
OTOH, I was pleased to see that mech pictures were once again in the back of the book.
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At least it wasn't all a bad ride...
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Just finished Craig Reed's Elements of Treason: Duty.
Loved it, I loved the fleshing out the characters who help build the Tamar Pact
Craig really tells a good story balance the action and drama, taking short novel and making feel like it's full novel.
P.S. I was disappointed not seeing no Wombat, Achoo, cameo of certain turboturtle. (J/K)
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timothy zhan
original cobra trilogy
warhorse
triplet
spinneret
and manta gift
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I finished David Bodanis' "The Art of Fairness" yesterday. The vignettes are very interesting (especially the one about Captain Bligh... I figure you all know I'm Navy by now), but the framework he uses to present them is less so ("koan" has made the list of my least favorite words). The overall structure is very 19th century: thesis, antithesis, synthesis. It's a good message overall, even if the antithesis part is hard to get through (all Rule 4 reasons there... explanations by PM only).
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Just finished up "Mexican Gothic" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and now doing a re-read of Hideaki Sena's "Parasite Eve".
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Reread the Hornblower Saga last week. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower to Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies. A good acquaintance to return to.
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Reread the Hornblower Saga last week. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower to Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies. A good acquaintance to return to.
Nice!
I cracked open Kent's To Glory We Steer a couple of years ago. A nice respite that was. I ought to hit up Hornblower again, too.
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third week of dreary weather with another ten days in store got me to pick W. Jeffery Bolster's The Mortal Sea: Fishing in the Atlantic in the Age of Sail up off the stack.
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Nice Nerd! :thumbsup:
I think my favorite is still Hornblower and the Hotspur, though Commodore Hornblower and the last one are up there too! :)
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Nice Nerd! :thumbsup:
I think my favorite is still Hornblower and the Hotspur, though Commodore Hornblower and the last one are up there too! :)
To think Hornblower got us Ramage, Bolitho, Sharpe, Lewrie, and in to the future with Harrington and likely a dash of influence on Kirk and Picard. I remember reading some early Star Trek novelizations of the movies and picking up all of Hornblower's ships: Lydia, Sutherland.
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Lydia was a cool story, but with a sad end... :-\
Sutherland was even sadder in my opinion... :'(
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Lydia was a cool story, but with a sad end... :-\
Sutherland was even sadder in my opinion... :'(
I think (and I'm reaching back to memories from '87 on this) that in the novelization the Lydia-Sutherland got steamrolled by the alien satellite looking for whales. So, maybe sad was the point?
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Certainly the author's point... he was definitely setting up follow on stories by then...
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Reread the Hornblower Saga last week. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower to Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies. A good acquaintance to return to.
Well done!
Every few years I break down and pick up a warhammer book. I am reading Alpharius at the moment.
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Regarding Hornblower, there was an intersting short about Admiral of the Fleet Hornblower encountering the soon to be Napoleon III... It was as well written as the rest, and touching in many ways. Hope you've seen it! :thumbsup:
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Regarding Hornblower, there was an intersting short about Admiral of the Fleet Hornblower encountering the soon to be Napoleon III... It was as well written as the rest, and touching in many ways. Hope you've seen it! :thumbsup:
Oddly, that's one of the few scenes I remember quite well.
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It's not that odd... it was very memorable! :thumbsup:
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Regarding Hornblower, there was an intersting short about Admiral of the Fleet Hornblower encountering the soon to be Napoleon III... It was as well written as the rest, and touching in many ways. Hope you've seen it! :thumbsup:
Oddly, that's one of the few scenes I remember quite well.
It's included to pad out Hornblower and the Crisis, and the title is "The Last Encounter".
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Finished reading my family story down to its current length (1300-2020). There is more material goiung back to 1150 acording to my mother. A true work of academic research by my mother and aunt digging in the archives of the Cown of Aragon and parish registers.
I am specially amused(?) by a pair of suspected serial killers in the family tree. A father and son that went around marrying mother-daughter pairs in double weddings. The women always were heirs. 3 times in a row the mother-daughter pair was dead less than 2 years after the wedding and the pair of men left the village. Suspicious neighbours with pitchforks? Likely.
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It's included to pad out Hornblower and the Crisis, and the title is "The Last Encounter".
That was it, thanks nerd! :thumbsup:
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Oddly, that's one of the few scenes I remember quite well.
It's included to pad out Hornblower and the Crisis, and the title is "The Last Encounter".
That, I wouldn't have been able to recall as well.
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Every few years I break down and pick up a warhammer book. I am reading Alpharius at the moment.
Thanks to my nephew, I did go through the Horus Heresy books in sequence up to just about the battle for Terra. About 1/3 were competent genre books, about 1/3 were crap, but that last 1/3 .... wooh! Great stuff!
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Reread the Hornblower Saga last week. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower to Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies. A good acquaintance to return to.
I just picked up the Hornblower books again at the weekend, although I started with "The Happy Return" and I'm now halfway through "A Ship of the Line"
Much as I enjoy Hornblower, I never managed to get on with the Bolitho or the Aubrey/Maturin stories for some reason.
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I just picked up the Hornblower books again at the weekend, although I started with "The Happy Return" and I'm now halfway through "A Ship of the Line"
Much as I enjoy Hornblower, I never managed to get on with the Bolitho or the Aubrey/Maturin stories for some reason.
I have most of the Hornblower novels, but haven’t read them yet. Too many other novels to get through, while also being distracted by watching MCU stuff, Star Wars stuff, Critical Role campaigns and now finding out that a Spelljammer themed campaign will start airing this Wednesday.
Currently reading the Critical Role novel Kith & Kin.
Ruger
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Currently reading the Critical Role novel Kith & Kin.
Ruger
How is that?
I never managed to get on with the Bolitho or the Aubrey/Maturin stories for some reason.
Can't same the same about Bolitho but I agree with Aubrey/Maturin. Never understood the draw...oh well, my loss I guess.
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Never got into the books, but the movie Master and Commander was pretty good! :thumbsup:
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How is that?
Pretty good so far. I haven’t watched anything but snippets of the first CR campaign nor seen the Legends of Vox Machina first season, but I’ve liked what I’ve read so far. Between this and the comics, I’m really looking forward to the actual campaign. Just want to finish out Exandria Unlimited first before starting.
Ruger
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Pretty good so far. I haven’t watched anything but snippets of the first CR campaign nor seen the Legends of Vox Machina first season, but I’ve liked what I’ve read so far. Between this and the comics, I’m really looking forward to the actual campaign. Just want to finish out Exandria Unlimited first before starting.
Ruger
To stay on topic, I think I'll lean into it then. The latest Drizzt novel didn't keep me interested and I'm looking for something to read on my non-Wheel of Time workout days.
I didn't finish Exandria Unlimited but am keeping up with Campaign 3. I got one of my co-workers to start watching from the beginning of Campaign 1. Both of us enjoyed Legend of Vox Machina and I've been wondering about the graphic novels. Are they worth it?
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To stay on topic, I think I'll lean into it then. The latest Drizzt novel didn't keep me interested and I'm looking for something to read on my non-Wheel of Time workout days.
I didn't finish Exandria Unlimited but am keeping up with Campaign 3. I got one of my co-workers to start watching from the beginning of Campaign 1. Both of us enjoyed Legend of Vox Machina and I've been wondering about the graphic novels. Are they worth it?
Oh yes. The Vox Machina ones show (from what I understand) some of the adventures that were not shown in the actual play series, so you see how the group first meets and such. As to the Mighty Nein ones, you get to see their backstories, but these are incomplete so far, with only (to my knowledge) Jester’s and Caleb’s stories thus far released (of course, these were my two favorites of the group, so it works for me).
Ruger
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I'm on a Japanese horror novel kick at the moment. Working through Koji Suzuki's "Ring" series again. I recently finished up "Ring", and I'm now starting on "Spiral".
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I just finished up The Splendid And The Vile by Erik Larson. It's about Winston Churchill from when he was elected Prime Minister until the US joined World War 2.
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Almost halfway through Shardik, by Richard Adams. I'd read Watership Down, Tales from Watership Down, and The Plague Dogs all a couple Decades back, but only recently heard about Shardik. Managed to find a copy, and now I'm reading it. Seems like a mix of "Real World" and a World created by Mr. Adams. Yeah, Pretty Sure I liked the old Watership novels better, but it isn't "bad" at least. :-\
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I remember seeing that book on the shelf in the school library when I was in junior high, but since the cover didn't actually say anything about what the book was actually about I never read it.
What's it about?
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Spent my weekend on a re-read of Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series. I enjoyed them just as much on second reading as I did the first time.
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I remember seeing that book on the shelf in the school library when I was in junior high, but since the cover didn't actually say anything about what the book was actually about I never read it.
What's it about?
About 526 pages. :thumbsup:
;D
From the Wiki.
Shardik is a 1974 fantasy novel by Richard Adams. Shardik is his second novel, and first of two novels set in the fictional Beklan Empire. The events revolve around the discovery, capture and military and symbolic uses made of an incredibly large bear, called Lord Shardik by those who subscribe to a set of religious beliefs in the novel.
I'm picturing it as either a Grizzly or Kodiak bear. Come to think of it though, doesn't seem like the area in the novel is cold enough for Kodiaks. But it's HUGE, and makes quick work of killing people. :o And I've now ordered a copy of the 2nd book, Maia, which is set in the same land (Bekla), about 12 years later, but apparently only 2 from Shardik make an appearance.
Cool map in the front, but it's over 2 pages, so a bit of detail is lost in the fold. :(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shardik
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About 526 pages. :thumbsup:
;D
But that's not important right now. ;D
From the Wiki.
I'm picturing it as either a Grizzly or Kodiak bear. Come to think of it though, doesn't seem like the area in the novel is cold enough for Kodiaks. But it's HUGE, and makes quick work of killing people. :o And I've now ordered a copy of the 2nd book, Maia, which is set in the same land (Bekla), about 12 years later, but apparently only 2 from Shardik make an appearance.
Cool map in the front, but it's over 2 pages, so a bit of detail is lost in the fold. :(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shardik
Kodiaks and grizzlies are the same species- the brown bear. The difference is just where they're from: Kodiak is the name used for the Coastal Brown Bears found on Kodiak Island in Alaska, while grizzly is used for brown bears native to the interior of North America.
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just got my paws on children of time by adrian tchaikowsky
not heard anything about it so no spoilers please other was it good or not k?
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I am reading The Legacy of Heorot by Niven, Pournelle and Barnes. Good sci-fi colonization story.
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I am reading The Legacy of Heorot by Niven, Pournelle and Barnes. Good sci-fi colonization story.
If you have not yet read it, I can recommend "The Mote in God's Eye" as well.
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just got my paws on children of time by adrian tchaikowsky
not heard anything about it so no spoilers please other was it good or not k?
It's really good
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It's really good
is there a sequel? some one i know in real life said this to me that there is a sequel
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is there a sequel? some one i know in real life said this to me that there is a sequel
There is a sequel, Children of Ruin. I've not read it yet but people I know liked it.
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There is a sequel, Children of Ruin. I've not read it yet but people I know liked it.
cant wait till monday to start reading the book
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I remember seeing that book on the shelf in the school library when I was in junior high, but since the cover didn't actually say anything about what the book was actually about I never read it.
What's it about?
A bear. Who gets taken to be a god.
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If you have not yet read it, I can recommend "The Mote in God's Eye" as well.
Yup, read that one a few decades ago :)
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A bear. Who gets taken to be a god.
Pretty Much! :thumbsup:
Got my copies of Maia and The Iron Wolf and Other Stories in the mail today (5-9-2022). Got them from the same eBay Seller, and Apparently, OBVIOUSLY, paid ZERO attention to the "Page Count" info for either book. The former has 1,123 pages, and the later has only 142! :o
In MY opinion, we get a better map of "The Beklan Empire", for 2 reasons. First, while it's still over 2 pages, it doesn't have nearly as much obscured by the fold between the pages as the map in my copy of Shardik does. Second, it has more details than the original map, though they comment on this at the beginning of the book also. They omit some places from the earlier map, because they don't impact this story, and others appear that had no impact on the first book. Sounds like some "CYA" BS to me but whatever. ;D
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My mother had a friend in the UK, who worked in the wonderfully named "Department of Ancient Monuments." Where I belong.
Anyway, one of the other workers there, Dick, was considered "strange". He didn't socialise much, and spent all his time scribbling in notebooks, which he locked up in his desk at the end of the day. At one point someone jimmied a desk drawer, and the notebooks were full of dense handwriting and sketches of rabbits.
Yes, that odd little man was Richard Adams.
Pro tip - avoid his The Girl In The Swing.
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Cool about the someone knowing the someone that worked with Richard Adams. ;D
And after looking up The Girl In The Swing, and reading the Wiki entry on it (which is really about the MOVIE based on the novel), yeah, I'll pass. xp I'm more into Fantasy or Sci-Fi, or the occasional "Military Fiction" (I've read Team Yankee twice, though the last time was over 30 years ago!), plus Whatever Zombie books are "Classified" as. But after I read Maia and The Iron Wolf and Other Stories, I'm probably done with Richard Adams. ;D
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Finished Kith & Kin. Now reading Elements of Treason: Duty.
Also read some of the short stories in the new urban fantasy short story collection Heroic Hearts (especially the Jim Butcher Dresden Files and Patricia Briggs ones).
Ruger
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Reread On Basilisk Station and The Honor of the Queen on two flights this week.
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Reread On Basilisk Station and The Honor of the Queen on two flights this week.
Honor of the Queen was actually the first book I read in that series. Found it on a paperback rack when we sneaked in on a supply run when I was in the field on a two week exercise. I have the entire series now of course, and am waiting patiently for the next one.
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Reread On Basilisk Station and The Honor of the Queen on two flights this week.
How do they hold up?
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How do they hold up?
Not to speak for Nerd but I've read the whole series a few times and enjoyed them each time.
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Not to speak for Nerd but I've read the whole series a few times and enjoyed them each time.
Ah. Well, not all fiction ages gracefully and I've heard complaints about the later books in the series.
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Ah. Well, not all fiction ages gracefully and I've heard complaints about the later books in the series.
True. I don't recall anything terrifically off-putting. Weber made some choices not everyone likes. To each, their own? Enjoy as you will; stop when you want?
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How do they hold up?
I enjoy Weber more when he had to be edited.
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I can't think of a single author who got famous enough that they could avoid having their books edited before publication and their works got better and more coherent.
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Started Redemption Rites yesterday.
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Immune by Philipp Dettmer, the guy who founded Kurzgesagt. It's a plain language explanation of the human immune system, with gorgeous artwork to back it up. Dettmer's background as a science communicator really shines here.
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Redemption Rites by Jason Schmetzer, best damn Battletech novel to come out in years. He officially my personal favorite author now after writing this book and having read previous books.
Hard hitting action, real gut wrenching situations, and still keeping it feel like BattleTech!
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Terry Pratchett's Jingo.
(I'm re-reading the Guards series, after re-reading Night Watch on 25th May.)
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Half-way through the Origins octilogy associated with MW5Mercs, which to my knowledge, is fully canon unlike the game it’s written for.
The characters really seem to come out better in these shorts than they did in the game where they appeared.
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Just read The Law, a new Dresden Files short story. It takes place about a year after Battle Ground. Not very long, obviously, but does provide some info on what's been happening for both Harry and other various characters.
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Just read The Law, a new Dresden Files short story. It takes place about a year after Battle Ground. Not very long, obviously, but does provide some info on what's been happening for both Harry and other various characters.
Is this in a compilation of short stories? I have loved this series for a while
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I finished Immune, and have started Thomas Rid's Active Measures. It's no less interesting, but entirely Rule 4...
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Is this in a compilation of short stories? I have loved this series for a while
No, it's just one new story. But it's available through Kindle Unlimited.
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Reading the Date A Live light novels; amazing how much was left out from the Anime; which was expected but some background info that would have helped explain a few things should have been added.
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Picked up volume 2 of Elfquest: Stargazer’s Hunt yesterday. Been waiting for that series to be completed for some time.
Also have started on Redemption Rites.
Ruger
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Started Betrayal of Ideals this morning.
Wanted to learn more about Clan Wolverine; figured there are few better ways to do so than to read a novel in which they appear.
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Betrayal of Ideals is kind of a weird place in the canon. It doesn't really mesh well with stuff that was written before or after it.
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I just finished Jessamine Chan's The School for Good Mothers which is awesome and terrifying and I'm working my way through Jane McGonigal's new book Imaginable (a brilliant futurist, author of Reality is Broken, one of the best academic texts ever about video games).
I also just read the Carlyle's Commandos short story "Eyestorm" by William H. Keith from the AGoAC boxed set (nice touch, CGL!) and it sent me back to my old taped-together copies of the Gray Death Legion books from the 90s, a delightful nostalgia-cocoon and a reminder that one never loves anything the quite same way as the stuff one loves when they're 12.
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Empire Alone
Ruger
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Just finished Betrayal of Ideals. ;D Now I am beginning Mercenary's Honor.
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Django Wexler and Brian McClellan have become favorites. Just finished Ashes of the Sun, Wexler, followed by In the Shadow of Lightning, McClellan. Two excellent beginnings to new series from each of them.
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cixin ciu
the 3 body problem trilogy...as i hear it there is now 4th book
i had not read the books yet so no spoilers save one is it good?
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I had Nick Cutter's works recommended to me. So, I picked up "The Troop", "The Deep", and "Little Heaven". Finished the first two novels: "The Troop" I really enjoyed, but, "The Deep" I really didn't care for that one as much. It was a slog for me to finish up. Hopefully "Little Heaven" will be more enjoyable for me.
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Reading Ideal War right now.
I seem to be on a streak with BattleTech reading at the moment. This is my third book in a row. ;D
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Currently reading The Dawn of Yangchen, before the next Mercy Thompson series novel comes out in a few weeks. Will likely delve into one of the BTech or Srun novels I’m behind on once I finish off this one before the other gets here.
Ruger
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Finished Ideal War, and now I'm moving on to Wolves on the Border.
4-streak for BattleTech reading! Think I'll close the streak with A Rock and a Hard Place and Hunting Season, then go read something else for a while. ;D I love BattleTech books, but in focusing so hard on these novels, novellas, and short story anthologies, I have neglected somewhat my other favorite reading pasttime: crossover fanfiction. :D
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Cannonshop has done some of those too, and I can't recommend them highly enough! :thumbsup:
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I'm reading the Leviathans anthology that was released last year.
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cixin ciu
the 3 body problem trilogy...as i hear it there is now 4th book
i had not read the books yet so no spoilers save one is it good?
First book, brilliant.
Second book, frustrating but good.
Third book, nope, didn't do it for me.
His short story collections are good.
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"Abbott Abides". Neither SF nor military so maybe not this forum's target market, but it's a wonderful look at what it's like to be a dad. Doesn't sugarcoat anything, but does try to find meaning in the little moments of an average day, which I found delightful.
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Teaching a Law and Society course this fall for the first time and have been wading through Lawrence M Friedman’s tome A History of American Law
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A book on Greek-history with emphasis on the Mycenae and their palace-system.
Teaching a Law and Society course this fall for the first time and have been wading through Lawrence M Friedman’s tome A History of American Law
I recall only having maybe and lecture or two on the history of American-law in law-school.
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my graduate work focused a good deal on the intersection of law and how seemingly powerless or disadvantaged individuals learned to use legal systems to their advantage. it's a bit of a professional obsession
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No, it's just one new story. But it's available through Kindle Unlimited.
I totally missed this, thanks.
I picked up and read The Last Blade Priest by WP Wiles
I enjoyed it, it took a while to build the world before stuff started to make sense.
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I'm bouncing between Tartine Bread, Firepower: A History of the American Heavy Tank by Hunnicut, and the Code Book by Singh
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Finished Divided We Fall. This one was better than Forever Faithful but that is such a low bar that it is not funny. I'd give it a solid 6/10. The way things transpired are more believable but it still has an air of doing more telling than showing and being forced into a particular end result that keeps it from being as good as it could be.
Also a good chunk into the Price of Glory right now. I have a pretty major problem with it. Paint is cheap. As scarce as mechs are in the point of the timeline the story takes place it still would not be that difficult to get the right ones. So it just comes across weird that people who should be quite familiar with false flag attacks are coming down so hard on Carlyle and are not showing at least a little doubt. Even in the worst case scenario it'd take some damn politically reliable units to condemn people that can't possibly have done anything wrong and come down on them as hard as they did.
So yeah my exploration of Battletech novels is going poorly. The best of them have been at best okay. Nothing great or special. A few now are just downright terrible.
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Just finished Wolves on the Border and started A Rock and a Hard Place.
I see Wolf's Dragoons has a pattern of declaring war on employers who (apparently, at least) stabbed them in the back during their contracts. ;D
BattleTech fiction streak: 5
Also a good chunk into the Price of Glory right now. I have a pretty major problem with it. Paint is cheap. As scarce as mechs are in the point of the timeline the story takes place it still would not be that difficult to get the right ones.
Wouldn't it, though? The specific variants they're using?
Without much in the way of an alibi, I'd actually argue it's pretty convincing for the GDL to get framed in this manner. Your mileage may vary, though.
I will say that I find I enjoy more recent BT work over most of the older stuff, regardless of what era they took place in. Redemption Rites so far has been my favorite, followed by The Price of Duty and Mercenary's Honor. Incidentally, all three of those were written by Jason Schmetzer...
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Just finished Wolves on the Border and started A Rock and a Hard Place.
I see Wolf's Dragoons has a pattern of declaring war on employers who (apparently, at least) stabbed them in the back during their contracts. ;D
BattleTech fiction streak: 5
Wouldn't it, though? The specific variants they're using?
Without much in the way of an alibi, I'd actually argue it's pretty convincing for the GDL to get framed in this manner. Your mileage may vary, though.
I will say that I find I enjoy more recent BT work over most of the older stuff, regardless of what era they took place in. Redemption Rites so far has been my favorite, followed by The Price of Duty and Mercenary's Honor. Incidentally, all three of those were written by Jason Schmetzer...
The GDL doesn't use special variants, so no it still would not be too difficult to frame them.
But to add more context the Steiner and Davion spies fairly early on that Carlyle meets with are exactly the sort of people who should have at least a little doubt. And the Legion and their dependents on Helm clearly could not have participated in such activities and as such sure they should be watched, scrutinized, and maybe then because of the inexperience of the Legion officer left in charge of Helm tragedy could still strike growing out of miscommunications and other mis-steps for this situation and maybe they'll get into that later in the novel than where I'm at but I kind of doubt it since I'm already at a point where a survivor has given at least partial perspective and none of this was actually hinted at as it seems the FWLM just came in gung ho guns blazing from what's been stated in the novel so far.
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Just finished Wolves on the Border and started A Rock and a Hard Place.
I see Wolf's Dragoons has a pattern of declaring war on employers who (apparently, at least) stabbed them in the back during their contracts. ;D
I thought that was the GDL's shtick...
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I thought that was the GDL's shtick...
The GDL didn't kick the crap out of any FWL subfactions for holding their civilians hostage while they were working for them. That was the Wolf's Dragoons.
Grayson Carlyle didn't go up to Takashi Kurita at Hanse and Melissa's wedding after a friend of the unit committed seppuku for fighting them on orders from a Warlord trying a somewhat similar trick as the FWL above and failing, and tell him directly that they were now at war. That was Jaime Wolf.
The GDL didn't declare war on Clan Wolf after getting their numbers absolutely savaged at the Battle of Terra and telling them to shove it. That was the Wolf's Dragoons under Hack Kincaid. I'm not even sure how the dates line up, but I'm pretty sure there was no GDL at all at the time. :P
Now, did the (first generation) GDL get betrayed by employers before? I only know of one case so far, and that was the FWL going after their people on Helm – there may be more cases in the later books of the saga, but I haven't read them yet – whereas other betrayals were turncoats or double agents who were working for the enemy from the start. ;D And that one betrayal didn't send Carlyle on the warpath the way Wolf's Dragoons tends to go.
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The GDL didn't kick the crap out of any FWL subfactions for holding their civilians hostage while they were working for them. That was the Wolf's Dragoons.
Forgot about that one.
Grayson Carlyle didn't go up to Takashi Kurita at Hanse and Melissa's wedding after a friend of the unit committed seppuku for fighting them on orders from a Warlord trying a somewhat similar trick as the FWL above and failing, and tell him directly that they were now at war. That was Jaime Wolf.
Dragoons made it clear to the Combine that they were through, Samsonov pursued them, and Wolf waited until the contract had expired, before he shot back.
The GDL didn't declare war on Clan Wolf after getting their numbers absolutely savaged at the Battle of Terra and telling them to shove it. That was the Wolf's Dragoons under Hack Kincaid. I'm not even sure how the dates line up, but I'm pretty sure there was no GDL at all at the time. :P
Haven't read that one.
Now, did the (first generation) GDL get betrayed by employers before? I only know of one case so far, and that was the FWL going after their people on Helm – there may be more cases in the later books of the saga, but I haven't read them yet – whereas other betrayals were turncoats or double agents who were working for the enemy from the start. ;D And that one betrayal didn't send Carlyle on the warpath the way Wolf's Dragoons tends to go.
They were betrayed by the planetary governor and the nominal employers in Blood of Heroes
Tactics of Duty saw them fighting Davion forces that worked for one cabal or another.
Operation Excalibur picks up right after and has the same cabal now laying siege to Glengarry.
I don't recall the Dying Time all that well but it was FedCom Civil war so it's debatable if they are fighting their nominal employer.
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Dragoons made it clear to the Combine that they were through, Samsonov pursued them, and Wolf waited until the contract had expired, before he shot back.
That is correct. Wolf could have stopped at Samsonov, though, at least in theory I think. He didn’t; he took it straight to the top. There’s probably reasons for that, but I’m not aware of the Legion even threatening to go that high with anybody. ;D
They were betrayed by the planetary governor and the nominal employers in Blood of Heroes
Tactics of Duty saw them fighting Davion forces that worked for one cabal or another.
Operation Excalibur picks up right after and has the same cabal now laying siege to Glengarry.
I don't recall the Dying Time all that well but it was FedCom Civil war so it's debatable if they are fighting their nominal employer.
Right, but all those (except perhaps the first, I need to read it to get better context) fall short of declaring war against the nations who employed them after being screwed over by them for one reason or another. They didn’t declare war on the Federated Suns/Commonwealth as a whole for the second and third cases, I’m pretty sure, and I think they were under the employ of the Lyran Alliance for the last…
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Just got the latest Mercy Thompson novel, Soul Taken. Finally we learn what happened with the chocolate Easter Bunnies.
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Just got the latest Mercy Thompson novel, Soul Taken. Finally we learn what happened with the chocolate Easter Bunnies.
That just sounds hilariously absurd out of context. I almost want to read just to see what you’re talking about. ;D
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This is the thirteenth book in the series and that was exactly as much context as we've been given for the last twelve.
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Just got the latest Mercy Thompson novel, Soul Taken. Finally we learn what happened with the chocolate Easter Bunnies.
Got my signed copy yesterday myself.
Ruger
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Got my signed copy yesterday myself.
Ruger
Oh nice! I've got a signed copy of one of Patricia Briggs's early novels but none of the Mercy Thompson series.
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That just sounds hilariously absurd out of context. I almost want to read just to see what you’re talking about. ;D
Go-Go-Gadget Interlibrary Loan!
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Oh nice! I've got a signed copy of one of Patricia Briggs's early novels but none of the Mercy Thompson series.
I think the only signed book I have is from one of my history professors...
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In my grand tour of Battletech novels that I am trying to work though I can now add Rock of the Republic to the list and should note I finished Price of Glory.
How to judge Rock of the Republic is a tough one. It was clear that it was meant to get Stone back in the picture and back in charge of the Republic but the hero worship and cult style kool aide that every one clearly drank to make that happen just made it a hard one to get through but how much of that can I really blame the author for? 3/10.
Price of Glory see my previous comments but also add this: I actually have a hard time believing that Comstar would do what they did at the end there. What makes it stand out is there would be a fairly minor but important distinction I think they would make and force the GDL to sign off on. That it was someone pretending to be a Comstar Precentor and misusing the good name of Comstar and people's trust in the order to carry out such a foul plot. That would be a lot more believable to me for Comstar of that era than throwing themselves under the bus like that for what frankly should be a fairly minor mercenary unit that has an over inflated ego about their reputation.
Started now on Embers of War. I'm struggling with a pretty central plot element of this one too. I'm not sure the Word of Blake has earned enough evil reputation by this point for enough of the Successor States to overlook that the AMC has become politically and economically powerful enough that they are no longer mere mercenaries, even if it is the Chaos March. To me that sets a very dangerous precedent that even the most virtuous Successor Lord would be absolutely foolish to let stand and would be a very major PR coup just in itself for the Word of Blake.
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Just finished Centers of Gravity by Marko Kloos. This is the culmination of the Frontlines series, which have been exceptional IMO. This one doesn't really hold up the standard set by earlier books, but is a good read in it's own right.
I can stronly recommend this series it is very entertaining and is quite a novel take on the military sci-fi genre. Later books do trend towards formulaic plots, but remain entertaining and contribute to the overall storyline.
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Just finished Centers of Gravity by Marko Kloos. This is the culmination of the Frontlines series, which have been exceptional IMO. This one doesn't really hold up the standard set by earlier books, but is a good read in it's own right.
I can stronly recommend this series it is very entertaining and is quite a novel take on the military sci-fi genre. Later books do trend towards formulaic plots, but remain entertaining and contribute to the overall storyline.
I am up to book #6 (Points of Impact)
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I have been indulging myself with my new Kindle Fire and recently finished The Maiden's War which I really enjoyed.
The second volume, Valkyrie Knight, should be out before the end of the year.
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Finished Embers of War this morning.
I'm having a tough time with this one still. I do think part of it is I'm just missing/forgetting something the Word of Blake had already done at this point to earn enough of a reputation that enough people would look the other way when it comes to how the AMC was behaving. Still I do feel like the AMC did point out a far better plan for the Word to go with which kind of wound up making the Word feel a bit clownish. 5/10 that can be raised if there is something I am indeed missing/forgetting.
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Now adding Icons of War to my list of completed Battletech novels.
Every novel that has a Clan focus leaves me with the impression that it is a miracle that Clan Society lasted as long as it did and that it probably never really held to it's supposed ideals.
But overall plotwise it was not bad. I'm pretty sure we've done similar shenanigans in my groups RPG history. Solid attention to detail and actual setup and payoff. 7/10.
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A Bonfire of Worlds.
It's not the worst offender of Alaric is great and can do no wrong but it is in contention for that.
6.5/10 just because of how much it drove home Alaric and Malvina are the destined one and a bad charicture respectively.
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some light reading for curriculum development
A History of American Law and American Law in the 20th Century by Lawrence Friedman
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Recently finished rereading Dune for the first time in twenty or so years. Interesting, but very much a product of the time, with religious syncretism, ecology, and drug induced mysticism.
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Marauder.
Ruger
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went back to read asimov
caves of steel and i robot series first time in 20 odd years
forgot how much i enjoyed them along with foundation...
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went back to read asimov
caves of steel and i robot series first time in 20 odd years
forgot how much i enjoyed them along with foundation...
I loved those books, and have periodically reread them every few years since the 6th grade.
Ruger
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The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
By Ron Hansen
Saw the movie years ago by just getting around to reading the book and. Wow. Delightful. I'm a sucker for writers with distinctive styles, McCarthy and Gibson and Banks and Kay and Murakami and add Hansen to the list. If you've seen the movie you know the charming diction "I've lost some of my curiosities" and so on. Well it's carried over to the text too. Love the way he throws unexpected verbs at you, they "horse" a tree trunk across the tracks, James "regains his height" instead of standing up. Love it, just a joy to read.
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I've personally "horsed" things around when necessary. Not sure that's as rare as you think it might be... ???
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Finished up Shaun Hutson's "Slugs" and "Breeding Ground". Now on to a re-read of Stephen King's "The Shining".
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I'm reading lots of books; I went to the local-library the other day and got a bunch of history-books; I read a chapter or two a day from each and I think about them.
I've been reading New World of Darkness, because, well, I've never played it, though, I've played the older-version. My mind wanders on what I can do with it.
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X-Wing: The Krytos Trap
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Jaguar’s Leap
Ruger
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Just finished Fox Tales.
I have to say, the most unbelievable part of this story is a mercenary group operating for more than five years without any fatalities and nobody replacing their mech.
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I'm almost finished reading "Between Two Fires" by Christopher Buehlman.
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Jaguar’s Leap
Ruger
And now, I’ve also finished Wolf and Raven for Shadowrun. Still need the last book they put out in their second run of novels (the one by Dedman) to finish out my collection of all the old books.
Will have to decide what to read next. More BTech, more S-run or something else? Still have a lot of Firefly novels to read as well as many other things.
Ruger
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I went to the library today to pick up my hold:
GRRM's The Rise of the Dragon.
And I also picked up, Colonial Horror Stories and the Mountains of Madness, graphic-novel.
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Just finished A Higher Call by Adam Makos. It was a very good read. I recommend it, particularly my fellow veterans out there.
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Might have to give that one a look, Top. I've certainly read about the story over the years. He wrote Spearhead, so I imagine this one was good as well.
Just finished Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II by John Prados (Naval Institute Press, 1995). It really frames all of the actions of the War in the Pacific most expertly and reads very well and quite fast considering its length (735 pages, not counting notes and bibliography). It also shows how much more advanced the USN intelligence apparatus Pearl was over its counterpart in D.C.--and what that meant for the poor SOBs in Pearl (like Rochefort, who deserved so much more than he ever got in life),
Very highly recommended if you want to see how American (and to a lesser but not inconsequential regarding page-count extent, Allied) military intelligence evolved and gestated to become what it is today. And how that growth changed the complexion of the Pacific War as directly compared to the IJN that never quite grasped the importance of such endeavors.
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Just started with Betrayal of Ideas.
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So, I read The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, from Colonial-Horrors: I started it a few days ago: I only read the first few chapters at first, about how who so-n-so didn't age and thought, "Wow, H.P. Lovecraft's take on Portrait of Dorian Grey'; then I picked it up again and I had no idea what was going on; it was like a bunch of stuff happened and I was lost. After I got done reading it, I was like, what was going on?
So I went to the Wiki-page and read the summery. I had no idea Charles Dexter Ward reincarnated one of his ancestors, what was a necromancer-warlock, that killed him, possessed his body and such.
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Lovecraft's writing style could sometimes be very confusing. That was one of his less-coherent stories, IIRC.
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So I finished GRRM's Rise of the Dragon today; I was up late last night reading the Dance of the Dragons chapters; the book needs to include a fantasy-map of the areas they are talking about as well as a character-glossary so when I read about Ser, So-N-So, getting a gelding, I'll know who they are talking about. Yes, I know I can look it up online, but I'm in bed and don't want to get out of the covers to go to my desk.
After a while, GRRM's stories are basically the same; full of great betrayals, beloved characters dying and there always some manipulative D*****bag at court. Ser Cristen Cole was replaced by, Ser Udwin, that continued on manipulative D****baggery.
There were some stuff I liked, like Northmen coming South to die fighting because there won't be enough food for them in the North and finding Nettles and Sheepstealer hiding in the Vale.
Reading the book is kinda like watching the Witcher; you have all these characters introduced that die on the next page.
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Back when I was in college I heard a joke that GRRM didn't have a Twitter account because he'd already killed more than 140 characters.
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Just finished the final collection of IDW's 2019 Transformers. It's well done and makes me sad that Hasbro yanked the license.
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Just finished the final collection of IDW's 2019 Transformers. It's well done and makes me sad that Hasbro yanked the license.
i enjoyed the tale on them and what surprised me was the way they took with megatron toward the end but optimus not so much...
starscream...well one story he was n where he got everything thing he wanted and found out it was not what he wanted and megatron pointed it out to him and punished starscream to live with what he had done...
have to admit some stories especially when cybetron was being reconstructed where beyond generic but honestly very good especially with ironside
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I liked many of the new characters they introduced, like Geomotus and Leviathan, as well as the way they reimagined some old characters like Windchaser and the Rainmakers. Also very happy that Computron got a prominent role since he was my favorite Combiner as a kid and didn't even make it into the previous IDW series.
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I really enjoyed IDW2, it started out slow but with promise, and as it ramped up that early buildup worked really well. I loved the cast selection, and I think Ruckley did a great job of giving a feeling of depth to so many characters with a relative handful of lines each.
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I'm close to finishing Battleship Commander: The Life of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr.
Going to read some back issues of Shrapnel next, then a book on AS England.
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Recently finished Alien: Inferno's Fall, currently reading Alien: Colony War. Which I SHOULD have read First. :-[
For those playing the new Alien RPG, both novels have an RPG scenario in the back, complete with PCs. Only 4 though, which seems like a small group to me considering "Aliens!!!", though in both scenarios 1 of each group is a Synth.
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Read No Greater Honor, the ELH anthology.
It was okay. Didn't blow me away, and in the final segment treating the news that the regiment that was stationed on Huntress was definitely gone as a big reveal made no sense. There was some sort of implication as if Julian Davion had received recent intel from the Homeworlds, when you'd think that there would have been a legal resolution of that regiment's status in far less than 80 years.
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Cronica o Llibre dels Feyts, by Jaimes I of Aragon and Catalonia. It is his autobiography (1208-1276) A lot of useful information wrapped in State propaganda. A very nice reading in Old Catalan. I juat found out that Asparagus (like the edible plant) was a common name in the period. And that everybody ignored him in the invasion of Mallorca. He was 21 at the time, and judt leaving a long regency period after the disaster of Muret (1213) where his father died. Basically it describes a feudal state where personal interests are waaaaay more important than state and collective interests and people act in accordance with that. Because puting personal interests first has NEVER resulted in problems in military matters... It went well enough for him, but it could have been the other way around easily. He had to negotiate with his subjects all the time, and play ones against the others to get his way. As said, q very nice view into military matters in Catalonia at the time and into the XIII century mindset
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Currently reading Convergence for Star Wars The High Republic.
Next up will be The Mighty Nein The Nine Eyes of Lucien, followed by Legends & Lattes.
Ruger
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I just got back from the local city-library, and really, I live only ten-minute walk away, so I should be going there more often.
So, a few days ago, I just returned a book about the Russian Tsars to the County-library; Ever Tsar-reign, there's always a war with their neighbors, a rebellion, an attempted coup, and most Tsars died of natural-causes.
So, to follow up, I got the thickest book about Russia, the Romanovs, and I'm reading that along with a book caleld, "Rewired", a Post Cyberpunk Anthology. I also grabbed a graphic-novel; I'm trying to grab at least one I am interested in, just to learn a new story. It's called, The Children of the Woods.
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Reading Betrayal of Ideals right now.
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The novelization of "My Bloody Valentine" by Armando Munoz.
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Mercenary's Star
Red Storm Rising
Rereading old favorites.
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Still reading Betrayal of Ideas
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Slowly reading The Damocles Sanction by Michael Ciaravella, this is the FedSuns novel set in the time period covered by the Dominions Divided sourcebook.
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Reading Wizard, the second book in John Varley's Gaea trilogy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaea_trilogy).
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ok not a book but took some looking to find
judge dredd a to z enciclopedia sadly it stops about into 15 or 17 years into the stories of current dredd and dredd been around for over 40 years
still worth looking and finding it
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ok not a book but took some looking to find
judge dredd a to z enciclopedia sadly it stops about into 15 or 17 years into the stories of current dredd and dredd been around for over 40 years
still worth looking and finding it
I’m just wishing they’d get more of the Complete Case Files compilations (American editions) out. I only have up to like volume 15 or 16, and my flgs says they don’t see any more listed.
Ruger
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Qitab Tarih Al Mayurca
Describes the fall of the isle of Mallorca (Majorca for you English speakers) to the invading forces of Catalonia and Aragon in 1229. The companion book to the Book of the Facts (Llibre dels Feyts) of James I. A nice book that shows light on things that the sarracens were having a freaking CIVIL WAR at the time, and one that reduces the numbers of the invading forces boasted by James I in his opus. An interesting read with a lot of tinny snippets that bring to life aspects that are quite dry in the other book. Better written for sure.
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from robot series based on isaac asimov
calliban trilogy
finally have time to read it after it had been sitting in my to read pile for about ohhh lets see 13 years? yah tad behind
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Listening to The Godfather on audiobook for the first time
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from robot series based on isaac asimov
calliban trilogy
finally have time to read it after it had been sitting in my to read pile for about ohhh lets see 13 years? yah tad behind
The original Robot City books were what got me into Asimov back in the fifth grade.
Ruger
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The original Robot City books were what got me into Asimov back in the fifth grade.
Ruger
my gateway drug to asimovs verse was robots and empire and foundation 1952 print
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Catyalist Game's House Davion Handbook. I got it off of Amazon; I can't find anything about the four-freedoms mentioned in the original House Davion book; the House Kurita book was selling for $2,999.99; really. Look it up.
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Catyalist Game's Shrapnel issue 12. Going slow, digesting everything in.
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Almost finished with Aliens Vs. Predators: Rift War (by Weston Ochse & Yvonne Navarr), then I'm probably going back to my BT backlog. ;D I've still got The Damocles Sanction, Fox Tales, and Jaguar's Leap to read (not necessarily in that order), along with Down These Dark Streets for Shadowrun. I've also got Alien 3, the unproduced first-draft screenplay, and several others to get to at some point. xp
I'm telling you, switching from dialup to broadband has severely cut into my reading time! :D
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Time Life books such as, Deserts, The Universe and The River Plate Republics. They're from the '70's I think, but they are soothing.
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Peter Elstob - Warriors for the working day
Man, their first battle was the hill 112 and yes, every German tank is a Tiger
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Decided to start a re-read of Astrodragon's The Whale Has Wings over on the Alternate History forums
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Decided to start a re-read of Astrodragon's The Whale Has Wings over on the Alternate History forums
I actually liked going to AR-forums; they had a good mix of ideas and I especially liked their memes threads, but, the admins are nuts.
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1809: thunder on the Danube Vol.III. By John Gill
Third book in the series exploring the 1809 Napoleonic campaign in Austria up to Wagram (and consequences) and the side theatres (like Poland). Very well written, reads in a breeze and it is extremely well researched. Top notch book if you are interested in the period.
Yes, there are 3 books in the series.
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I finished Black Snow (James Scott) a few weeks ago. Its about the fire bombing campaign against Japan, and chiefly focuses on the massive raid in April on Tokyo. Not for the faint of heart, yet it is an extremely good read IMHO.
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Started Heir to the Dragon; got it (and many others I didn't yet have) from the latest BattleTech Humble Bundle.
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Neuromancer. William Gibson
130 pages in, and it looks good. The net is less exciting than when it was released in the 80s though. It is the part of the book that visually does not appeal to me., The rest of the book and its society is fantastic. I can see why it has been described to me as the cornerstone of the cyberpunk genre.
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Dropships and Jumpships via my tablet as a .PDF. Back in the early-90's, a book store, that was literally, across the street from me, had it, but I didn't buy a hard-copy despite having it in my hand. I think if I did buy in then, my Battletech and Mechwarrior RPG games would have been different.
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That book definitely impacted my game play! :)
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House Davion Handbook (new one); so, I read a bit and I looked up the Six-Liberties, which, I remember clearly reading in the Federated Suns: House Davion back from ('87?); it was one page 153, but I didn't find it, so I looked up wiki to find the exact reference. I can't find my original House Davion book so I found a .PDF, but it doesn't have page-numbers, so, well.
The first Battletech book I read, was Draconis Combine: House Kurita back in the early'90's; it was OK, until I got to the Pillar of Ivory section, then I completely understood House Kurita and was able to run awesome Mechwarrior-games.
That book definitely impacted my game play! :)
Back then, and perhaps now, I was more interested in FTL space-travel than owning my friends in Battletech, though, owning's fun!!!
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Started Heir to the Dragon; got it (and many others I didn't yet have) from the latest BattleTech Humble Bundle.
That and Wolves on the Border helped me STOP Hating House Kurita. :thumbsup:
When someone started a 1st Ed. MW RPG, he wanted us to write a background for our character. About all I knew about the BT Universe was "The Kentares Massacre", and Jurita's "Death to Mercenaries" decree! So I HATED Kurita from the start. Novels like WotB and HttD got me to see the Current (back THEN!) leaders as decent human beings. I never came to "Like" them, but now I'm Neutral to them rather than outright Hating them. :thumbsup:
Dropships and Jumpships via my tablet as a .PDF. Back in the early-90's, a book store, that was literally, across the street from me, had it, but I didn't buy a hard-copy despite having it in my hand. I think if I did buy in then, my Battletech and Mechwarrior RPG games would have been different.
That's been one of MY favorites from the start. :thumbsup: Cool info about the Dropships and Jumpships. Like one DS has a large lounge, where the crew can catch reruns of The RFL-3N. While it was before my time, I've seen a few reruns of The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors! Apparently, someone with FASA liked it as a kid! ;D
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fiasco
by stanislaw lem
read it decades ago in polish and recently re read it in english
good story about preconceptions and anthromoporsing things and creatures
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Star Wars: Ahsoka.
I haven't read a Star Wars novel since Vision of the Future back in the 90s. These days I mostly classify myself as an ex-Star Wars fan due to the toxicity that erupted over the Sequels. Only reason I got it was because it was free on Kindle Unlimited.
It's not a bad book but it's also not a very substantive one. Don't think it's going to get me back to reading Star Wars fiction.
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ok it had been 15 years since i even picked up a copy of any frank herbert dune books
so i started to re read original dune..
silly question am i only one that when they re read a book after long time the "flavor" of the book changes?
not sure how to describe it but its like story feels its changed in some way sometimes for the better or for worse?
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ok it had been 15 years since i even picked up a copy of any frank herbert dune books
so i started to re read original dune..
silly question am i only one that when they re read a book after long time the "flavor" of the book changes?
not sure how to describe it but its like story feels its changed in some way sometimes for the better or for worse?
I want to read the Dune-Series, but then again, I don't. But, I wish I read the books when I was playing/running Renegade-Legion; I think I could have used a lot of their material in my games.
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The Rise and Reign of the Mammals- Steve Brusatte
It's a new paleontology book tracing the history of mammals all the way back from the split between Synapids and Sauropsids some time around 320 million years ago all the way up to the present.
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The new Hollows book by Kim Harrison.
Ruger
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The Rise and Reign of the Mammals- Steve Brusatte
It's a new paleontology book tracing the history of mammals all the way back from the split between Synapids and Sauropsids some time around 320 million years ago all the way up to the present.
I've been watching a lot of Youtube videos about synapids etc.
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A fascinating subject and one that honestly doesn't get enough mainstream attention.
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Neuromancer. William Gibson
130 pages in, and it looks good. The net is less exciting than when it was released in the 80s though. It is the part of the book that visually does not appeal to me., The rest of the book and its society is fantastic. I can see why it has been described to me as the cornerstone of the cyberpunk genre.
When you think that this book was written on a mechanical typewriter, before almost any of what we consider the interwebs existed, yes, it does deserve its reputation.
And like the original Star Wars trilogy, the first book of the Sprawl Trilogy deserves its kudos for blazing brightly, even if I personally think the second book (Count Zero) is better written. The third book (Mona Lisa Overdrive) is also very good, just not quite as stellar as the first two.
If you haven't read it already, Elmoth, Neal Stephenson's "Snowcrash" does for the concept of metaverse what Neuromancer did for hackers, and again was written before the thing existed. And has one of the coolest villains around - Raven. Get it & read it!
Me, I just finished the 61st book in the Horus Heresy series. Now it must be said that, up to about book 50, it's been
- one-third competent genre fiction
- one-third rubbish genre fiction
- one-third gloriously written enthralling adventure in a genre universe.
When they get up to the Siege of Terra, the last 10 books or so, though - they only let the writers in the last third play. And they're damned good books. Not quite finished yet either ... the 62nd book comes out in November according to plan, and there's a feeling there'll be another one after that mebbe.
I do recommend starting from the beginning, if you can access the books. A LOT of thread-building & connection laying down happens in the beginning, and they are tying a lot of it together. THey're managing a great balance of dealing with real-world old lore, sometimes subverting it in interesting ways, sometimes playing to the base, occasionally even ripping up the old lore (after all, the 'lore' was written from the point of view some 10,000 years later.)
If I wasn't a BattleTech tragic since 1984, I'd be all over the new Epic incarnation. As it is, I'll keep my eye out for cheap plastic Rhinos for BattleTech APCs ...
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I was going through some storage boxes and found my old paperbacks of The Black Company (by Glen Cook) original trilogy. I grabbed them and just finished rereading them this morning. I truly enjoyed revisiting Croaker and the inane magical duels between One Eye and Goblin! :grin:
As I recall The Silver Spike was a good one-off, however I do remember reading the continuation series (The Books of the South) and as I recall I began losing interest, although I can no longer remember specific reasons why. In any case the original trilogy works well and ends satisfactorily, I think, without a requirement for a continuation.
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The series did wander off, but wasn't bad. Not as good as the original trilogy as you said, but not bad.
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Dune: House Corrino
I'm not a fan of Dune, but, I'll try and read this book to see if I might like it.
But, I won't get far; I'm dead tired; I went to the beach today after the hurricane.
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finally dune universe the caladan trilogy is complete...will be atleast a month till i get to read it
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The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime, and Consequences in Revolutionary America by John Wood Sweet
it narrates the first public rape trial in American history (1793)
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The Underworld: Journeys To The Depths Of The Oceans by Susan Casey. It's a fascinating book about the history of the exploration of the deepest parts of the ocean, including the author's own experiences riding (or piloting) submersibles down to the hadal zone.
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Dune: House Corrino
I'm not a fan of Dune, but, I'll try and read this book to see if I might like it.
But, I won't get far; I'm dead tired; I went to the beach today after the hurricane.
The Anderson/Brian Herbert books show all the originality & flair of Season 7 of Game of Thrones. And for similar reasons, IMHO.
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The Anderson/Brian Herbert books show all the originality & flair of Season 7 of Game of Thrones. And for similar reasons, IMHO.
I actually thought of GRRM's works, when I was reading it; I really thought the book was going to be about the House of Corrino, not, jump back and forth to everything, happening at once. It does have some gems, like how the Emperor makes everyone wait and his insecure-thoughts, which is good game-material, but, really a guy just walks into his court, the most powerful man in the universe, the ruler of a million-worlds, because he's the dude at Arrakis?
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The "dude" at Arrakis IS the most powerful man in the universe... ;)
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The "dude" at Arrakis IS the most powerful man in the universe... ;)
It wasn't him; it was, I believe, the Chief "Planetologist" or something; it was the Worm-Dude, or the future Wormporer.
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out on the road will not be home for at last 2 weeks so
i put some of the old stanislaw lem books on my phone
put old fave of mine cyberiad aka the robot salies and return from the stars and few pilot pirx things on...and a bit of comedy futuroligistical congress
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It wasn't him; it was, I believe, the Chief "Planetologist" or something; it was the Worm-Dude, or the future Wormporer.
Leto II was particularly terrifying to mere mortals... ;)
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Nearing the end of Shift, book 2 of the Silo Trilogy, by Hugh Howey, reading at home. Will Probably go to book 3, Dust, once I'm finished. The Synopsis on the Wiki for Dust seems wrong, from what I've read in Shift. A guy that gets killed in 2 is back alive and in control in 3? :rolleyes:
Reading at work I'm near the end of Going Dark, book 3 of The Red Trilogy by Linda Nagata. Need to find something else to take to work I guess. :undecided:
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Well, Duncan Idaho appears in just about every Dune book, so... ;)
Of course, he's never in charge... ;D
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look me in the eye (my life with asperger's) by John Elder Robinson. As a parent with an autistic son, it's offered me a bit of insight.
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look me in the eye (my life with asperger's) by John Elder Robinson. As a parent with an autistic son, it's offered me a bit of insight.
Hmm gotta look this one up
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Hmm gotta look this one up
Yeah I am trying to be patient with him. He is genius level IQ (got that from me;). But he also can be really weird at times (also got that from me). One of the things the author points out is that if someone has a visible handicap (like in a wheelchair) they wouldn't be shamed at work for not using the stairs. But when it comes to things like Autism, you get labeled for responses that are out of "the norm." I look back on some of my reviews: Not a team player, poor communication, etc. I'm hoping that I can help him leverage his talent and not get shafted by those that play the political work games that he just won't see coming.
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One of the things the author points out is that if someone has a visible handicap (like in a wheelchair) they wouldn't be shamed at work for not using the stairs. But when it comes to things like Autism, you get labeled for responses that are out of "the norm."
Boy is that ever the case. Even if you've got all the appropriate documentation, far too many people don't regard it as a real disability and won't make the accommodations they're legally required to for it.
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Boy is that ever the case. Even if you've got all the appropriate documentation, far too many people don't regard it as a real disability and won't make the accommodations they're legally required to for it.
Yeah when asked what my "weakness" was in interviews, I used to say "I've been told I am a bit too candid" and when asked to explain, I used to say "I don't have a filter"
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Sleep No More, which is the 17th book in the October Daye series. Book 16 ended on a doozy of a cliffhanger, so this as been pretty exciting. It's also a two-parter, with book 18 due in a month.
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I'm started to lose interest in finishing Dune: House Corrino: it's got a few gems and it screams Battletech more than any other book(Barons, etc), but, just don't care about the plot or the characters.
That, and I'm started to get interested in the Butlerian-Jihad.
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I've been reading all the fiction I got from the BattleTech Legends Humble Bundle. I'm currently reading I am Jade Falcon, which has been interesting so far.
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So, I got about half-way through House Corrino, then I returned it to the library as it was due today; it had some gems, but it was scattered; I liked how the Imerial-Bastard tried to kill the emperor and the Freman's, "Retribution", to a water-merchant (don't give me ideas I can use against my players!).
I just picked up the Dune: Butlerian Jyhad; So, the first couple of pages describes an attack on Saludas Secondus, which the Thinking-Machine's fleet could move at speeds greater than humans can thanks to not having flesh; I was like, "Great, no acceleration-compensator needed" (From Leviathan and Interceptor). Then, they described the various stages of machines from full on AI to human-brain in a machine and I was thinking how that applies to Cyberpunk 2020's full-borgs and AI-units in the game. I don't think the Blake Jyhad has rules for full on cybernetic-replacements, just rules for cybernetics.
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So, I got about half-way through House Corrino, then I returned it to the library as it was due today; it had some gems, but it was scattered; I liked how the Imerial-Bastard tried to kill the emperor and the Freman's, "Retribution", to a water-merchant (don't give me ideas I can use against my players!).
I just picked up the Dune: Butlerian Jyhad; So, the first couple of pages describes an attack on Saludas Secondus, which the Thinking-Machine's fleet could move at speeds greater than humans can thanks to not having flesh; I was like, "Great, no acceleration-compensator needed" (From Leviathan and Interceptor). Then, they described the various stages of machines from full on AI to human-brain in a machine and I was thinking how that applies to Cyberpunk 2020's full-borgs and AI-units in the game. I don't think the Blake Jyhad has rules for full on cybernetic-replacements, just rules for cybernetics.
i enjoyed butelerian jihad a bit more than house series
cymechs were interesting agamemnon was idealistic when he started ajax was hedonistic and afraid to die ajax joined out of boredom...and every one eventually who was titan went insane,,,it may be variety of factors prolonged life and lack of bodies and eventually treated every thing like a RPG game that he and his lover juno were fond of playing before they took over the empire of man the titans forgot how to live and be human. evermind saw everything as a game with goal to control everything but failing even with its intellect that it is impossible cognitors cutting off almost all sensory perception and could not tell what was real and treating world outside their sensory depreviation as a dream ,league of worlds pretending that they are doing something while doing nothing. erasmus is a pinochio yet failing to use what he had to become a real human choosing to instead to explore dead end paths. basically world in statis for about 1000 years...only sorceres seem to had a glimer to evolve to be more and take human kind with them yet choosing instead to play heroics instead of breeding true the traits and get rid of most promising candidates....
btw those were the impresions i got from the book that i read over 12 years back so you may get a different ine after reading it. i enjoyed second book where spice is discovered and precoursor of fremen were just group if hardy survivors....and beginings of tleilaxu are shown to have darker origins also roots of orange catholic bible show up in small things....third book was a bit dissapointing with its ending and split over harkonen and atredies was wrenching in away that it should not had happened....oth we got genesis of both the guild the mentats and bene geserits along with what eventually become choam
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i enjoyed butelerian jihad a bit more than house series
cymechs were interesting agamemnon was idealistic when he started ajax was hedonistic and afraid to die ajax joined out of boredom...and every one eventually who was titan went insane,,,it may be variety of factors prolonged life and lack of bodies and eventually treated every thing like a RPG game that he and his lover juno were fond of playing before they took over the empire of man the titans forgot how to live and be human. evermind saw everything as a game with goal to control everything but failing even with its intellect that it is impossible cognitors cutting off almost all sensory perception and could not tell what was real and treating world outside their sensory depreviation as a dream ,league of worlds pretending that they are doing something while doing nothing. erasmus is a pinochio yet failing to use what he had to become a real human choosing to instead to explore dead end paths. basically world in statis for about 1000 years...only sorceres seem to had a glimer to evolve to be more and take human kind with them yet choosing instead to play heroics instead of breeding true the traits and get rid of most promising candidates....
btw those were the impresions i got from the book that i read over 12 years back so you may get a different ine after reading it. i enjoyed second book where spice is discovered and precoursor of fremen were just group if hardy survivors....and beginings of tleilaxu are shown to have darker origins also roots of orange catholic bible show up in small things....third book was a bit dissapointing with its ending and split over harkonen and atredies was wrenching in away that it should not had happened....oth we got genesis of both the guild the mentats and bene geserits along with what eventually become choam
When I first played Battletech, the mechs were similar to Cymeks (know that I've read a bit and know what they are). I knew they were going after the shield-generators.
The opening-battle gave me inspiration for a Leviathan/Battlespace game in which, well, the point of a planetary-assault is to attack the planet; to do so, you need to your GROPOS to the surface; so, stopping to fight the enemy, defending-fleet is moot. You have two possible-outcomes; either you defeat them or they defeat you and your GROPOS; but, if you go right through their defending-ships, do a, "Fly-by", style of attack, going near full-speed, and then proceed directly to the planet, you have a better chance of success; sure, some of your vessels will be hit and so will theirs'. After the release, you turn your entire fleet against the defenders and again, two possible outcomes, but, if you lose, at least your GROPOS will be on world, fighting while the next reinforcements show up.
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Also, it's looking more like Saludas Secondus, wasn't initially resource-poor, and the soldiers were, in fact, the survivors of a post-apocalypse, of sorts on that world. So, they turned into Dark Sun.
And, the idea of slaves coming from groups of cowards, makes perfect sense for a TOG-world, or perhaps, Kurita.
And I do like the Buddallahs. I like my made up religions.
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Making It So, Patrick Stewart's memoirs. Not very far in but it's been fascinating so far. Lots of stuff about his childhood.
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I'm rereading Fasa's Centurion game book. It's a nice read on the bus. Back in the day, we played Centurion once or twice, but mostly played Battletech. There's a lot of stuff that I either missed, didn't understand or have forgotten like, grav-vehicles can only decelerate at the end, of their movement-phase: that they ground automatically if they enter a hex in which they don't have movement-points for (that is common in video-games): painting a target gives a bonus to ALL friendly-units and it acts like an Inner-Sphere C3-computer.
There was a time, when I made Mech-sheets for use in Centurion. I used auto-cad because that was the only software I had at the time.
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just re read futurological congress and return from the stars and solaris
same author stanislaw lem
cant still wrap my head around how same author wrote in 3 totally differnt stylies
ohhh if any one cares look up russian movie adaptation of solaris from 1972 i think youtube may have few copies ...worth a watch will make you uneasy and think
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1972 version is indeed brilliant; the Clooney version is ... not.
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1972 version is indeed brilliant; the Clooney version is ... not.
surprised you knew this one and even more so that you were able to catch it down under and actually see it
ok try catching this one its old russian comedy direct translation into english title is world is laughing
i think mel brooks got inspired with this one when he made 12 chairs there are russian and polish adaptations including czech
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surprised you knew this one and even more so that you were able to catch it down under and actually see it
We're civilised here Down Under, mate - we get all sorts of movies. There's actually a TV station, SBS, dedicated to world shows - news, documentaries, sport, and yes, movies. Got Stalker, too.
And I was reading Lem in the 1970s.
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We're civilised here Down Under, mate - we get all sorts of movies. There's actually a TV station, SBS, dedicated to world shows - news, documentaries, sport, and yes, movies. Got Stalker, too.
And I was reading Lem in the 1970s.
what i meant is russia at the time did not export stuff past iron curtain...i caught it on 1979 in a local movie theater in warsaw where i grew up my fault should had said so in first place btw did not catch original star wars till 1981 and barely caught empire strikes back...and for return of the jedi i was able to catch it in 1985 in st lous mo in US
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A lot of stuff got exported to both sides of the Iron Curtain via Finland.
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And Yugoslavia. And Romania...
USSR was convinced it's culture was superior and did it's best to export it, but people of the world preferred the American popular culture.
Somewhat related, just finished the Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna, a story about machinegun platoon during the Continuation War. Funny thing, the book came out here while we were still a part of Yugoslavia, so it has a preface about how USSR was not really the bad guy when it comes to Finland during WWII. I doubt it convinced a single reader.
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Transparent land grabs are transparent... ::)
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stupid question
when you re read something few years later does the "flavor" of it changes in some way?
as i kid one of my favorite books was cyberiada and robot salies by stanislaw lem i read both in polish and english and when i re read them nearly 20 years later they seem to have changed same books same stories they just seemed different
i am re reading the original 6 dune books which i had not touched in nearly 23 years and its the same feeling
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Started reading When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman. I have a love/hate relationship with Historical Fiction, but I'm going to give it a go. It is about one of my favorite periods in history: the 12th Century, & the Civil War between Empress Mathilda & King Stephen of England. Hoping it is not to disappoint
Damon.
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stupid question
when you re read something few years later does the "flavor" of it changes in some way?
as i kid one of my favorite books was cyberiada and robot salies by stanislaw lem i read both in polish and english and when i re read them nearly 20 years later they seem to have changed same books same stories they just seemed different
i am re reading the original 6 dune books which i had not touched in nearly 23 years and its the same feeling
That's pretty common. You're not the same person reading the book as you were when you read it the first time, so you tend to see things in a different way than the first time.
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That's pretty common. You're not the same person reading the book as you were when you read it the first time, so you tend to see things in a different way than the first time.
Reference Matt Smith’s Doctor’s monologue during his regeneration to Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. It is one of the best speeches about this sort of thing I’ve ever heard.
Ruger
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I tend to miss things that I read in the past; I was reading a book about ancient Europe that stated the indo-Europeans invaded the Balkans using chariots and the defenders had arrows, but, alas, I couldn't find that anywhere in the book.
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Currently about 1/3 into The Hammer & The Eagle - Icons of Warhammer, which is an Anthology with WH40K and WH fantasy stories. I admit, I bought it solely because it has a new Gotrek story! :grin: Though it's Gotrek in the new WH world, AFTER they/Chaos blew up the old one. :undecided:
First 20 are WH40K, last 7 are WHF, at the end of each one they have a page pointing you towards a novel/anthology involving the Character(s) you just read about. I've only ever bought WHF novels in the past, starting with some early Gotrek & Felix novels, then getting any involving Dwarves I could find. Got the Sigmar trilogy because I thought the 1st novel involved Dwarves a LOT more than it did, but they're barely mentioned other than giving him his hammer. :tongue: Eh, still enjoyed it, and I've enjoyed the WH40K stories for the most part.
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Recently finished Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree. It’s a prequel to his novel Legends & Lattes. Reread the first one after I finished its prequel.
They call them High fantasy novels with low stakes. Highly enjoyable, and I’m not sure I can recommend them enough.
Also saw that Jim Butcher’s second Codex Alera novel is now out. Of course, I need to read the first one first.
Ruger
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Barely into Aliens: Vasquez, and enjoying it! Turns out Vasquez and Drake were in prison together (yes, Co-Ed prison, though cellmates were all same-sex), AND both joined the USCM to get out of prison. Had to sign their lives away also, as in, the Corps had them For Life. Which they did, Literally I guess. :undecided:
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ok it had been 15 years since i even picked up a copy of any frank herbert dune books
so i started to re read original dune..
silly question am i only one that when they re read a book after long time the "flavor" of the book changes?
not sure how to describe it but its like story feels its changed in some way sometimes for the better or for worse?
I've always felt that it's less about the story changing and more about us re-reading them through the lens of many years of new experiences means that we take different things from them on re-read.
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Me, I just finished the 61st book in the Horus Heresy series. Now it must be said that, up to about book 50, it's been
- one-third competent genre fiction
- one-third rubbish genre fiction
- one-third gloriously written enthralling adventure in a genre universe.
When they get up to the Siege of Terra, the last 10 books or so, though - they only let the writers in the last third play. And they're damned good books. Not quite finished yet either ... the 62nd book comes out in November according to plan, and there's a feeling there'll be another one after that mebbe.
I do recommend starting from the beginning, if you can access the books. A LOT of thread-building & connection laying down happens in the beginning, and they are tying a lot of it together. THey're managing a great balance of dealing with real-world old lore, sometimes subverting it in interesting ways, sometimes playing to the base, occasionally even ripping up the old lore (after all, the 'lore' was written from the point of view some 10,000 years later.)
I got stalled somewhere around book 35, it felt like I hit a run of books that were all the middle type and lost interest waiting for them to get back to anything that looked relevant to the main plotlines. Are there any you can recommend as safe to skip if I have another go at them?
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Barely into Aliens: Vasquez, and enjoying it! Turns out Vasquez and Drake were in prison together (yes, Co-Ed prison, though cellmates were all same-sex), AND both joined the USCM to get out of prison. Had to sign their lives away also, as in, the Corps had them For Life. Which they did, Literally I guess. :undecided:
To clarify, Vasquez and Drake MEET in prison, they didn't know each other before. She was accused of killing a Police Officer, but he was actually shot by another Officer, who then blamed her. No idea What Drake's "Crime" was.
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First few chapters are about Jenette Vasquez, the rest of the book is about her twin children, Leticia (F) and Ramon (M). :undecided: When I first heard about it I thought it had more to do with her. Maybe show us what she did as a Marine BEFORE going to LV-426. Nope. :tongue:
Still interesting read so far though! :smilie_happy_thumbup:
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Vasquez was also John Conner's Foster-Mom.
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Reading Betrayal of ideals right now
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Decision at Thunder Rift at the moment
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Going through the BT novel bundle in timeline order, I started D.R.T. yesterday evening.
I’m not expecting much from this, as I didn’t enjoy the first mr Rose story that much. We’ll see.
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Atomic Habits. Now I'm trying to develop new habits, good habits, and this book is kinda helping.
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Fiducia Supplicans, a Vatican press release [finished in two sittings. short.]
Fr. Gobbi's Blue Book, Marian Movement of Priests [took me about 3 months of reading. Finally!]
The Justice And Necessity Of Taxing The American Colonies: Demonstrated. Together With A Vindication Of The Authority Of Parliament. [a short read. finished in one sitting.]
Next: A collection of state-papers, relative to the first acknowledgment of the sovereignity of the United States of America.
Currently working on:
*Now It Can Be Told by philip Gibbs [39% complete. Def. not an easy read. Better digested in chunks spread out long.]
*Spells and Chrome, Shadowrun [54% complete. All Shadowrun seems to remind me of William Gibson fiction. My favorite short story author is still Gene Wolfe, Lord rest his soul.]
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Well, Gibson was a massive influence on Shadowrun, the original idea for the game could be summed up as ''what if we superglued Neuromancer and D&D together?''. I reckon his Sprawl trilogy is mandatory reading for anyone working on franchise.
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Well, Gibson was a massive influence on Shadowrun, the original idea for the game could be summed up as ''what if we superglued Neuromancer and D&D together?''. I reckon his Sprawl trilogy is mandatory reading for anyone working on franchise.
Of course, when someone asked Gibson what he thought of Shadowrun he wasn't amused, didn't like the idea of adding fantasy ideas to cyberpunk at all. A while back as an April Fool's joke CGL released a sell sheet for Shadowrun: Gibson edition, where man meets machine. Sadly it's no longer up on the Shadowrun website but archived copies are floating around.
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Well, Gibson was a massive influence on Shadowrun, the original idea for the game could be summed up as ''what if we superglued Neuromancer and D&D together?''. I reckon his Sprawl trilogy is mandatory reading for anyone working on franchise.
I had always thought so! But I never knew Gibson's perspective on Shadowrun. There are some cringe moments, granted, but the universe really does grow on you. Burning Bright remains one of my favorites so far. To be fair, there is nothing out there on the level of Gibson that I have seen. The only other author that makes you read between the lines so much was Gene Wolfe, except that Wolfe was almost cryptic and withheld information on purpose. He didn't just scatter things around while looking in a different direction, he made you dig for it. The Soldier in the Mist series was especially so. But it's hard to recommend Wolfe, since he comes across as so dry to most who wouldn't bother applying the microscope to intentions and clues dropped by lesser characters that the protagonist glosses over or ignores. Damn, I'll miss him.. But he left us the gift of reading his work over again and enjoying it that much more each time. There are about 3-4 books of his I haven't finished, his most recent releases, that I have been saving for later. Last year I finished the Sorcerer's House.
It's interesting to see the influences of Gary Gygax also. I see a lot of this silliness in Jack Vance's fiction. The lisps and flawed characters, the objects that occupy their interests. Vance even lists a few of his own greatest influences in one of his last collections of shorts, the Jack Vance Treasury (2007): Jeffery Farnol, Lord Dunsany, PG Wodehouse. With special mention on Wodehouse. I list them for anyone interested. All three are available for free at the Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org) for anyone with an ereader. The entire collection of PG Wodehouse is also available in a zip at archive.org.
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I really tried with Shadow-Run, but, alas, I like Cyberpunk 2020 more. The fantasy wasn't the reason; more like the rules-system.
I'm reading a book on the Celts; I don't like the ancient-Celts, but, I don't hate them either; I don't know much about them so I'm reading up on them.
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I am at least 30 books behind on my "new" reading material, however have been hit with the nostalgia bug and have been revisiting my stored library
very recent ( last 3 weeks) consumption has been
Shattered Stars by Richard McEnroe
Armor by John Steakley
Rogue BOLO by Keith Laumer
Shadow trap (Formerly Caverns of Socrates) by Dennis McKiernan
A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt
Dragon Blood / Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs
Sacketts Land by Louis L'Amour
Thunderbolts of the Gods by David Talbott
Wrath of the Wendigo by Clay Martin
Concrete Jungle by Clay Martin
Glass Box by Michael Straczynski
And neither least nor last This Was Easier on the Tabletop by Chris O"Farrell
complete re-read after pleasantly discovering his latest addition to the entertaining saga!!
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the BOLO series is ALWAYS a great read.
heck, vast majority of BOLO fanfiction is a great read.
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i got bored a little went back to re reading timothy zahns star wars heir to the empire
still fun read after 30 years but i still enjoyed his original cobra trilogy more and black collar his tri rail series seemed a bit rushed in places
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I've been re-reading the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant for the first time in about twenty years. Just finished book 2, The Illearth War. God, I love how bleak and desolate these books are. Even when the good guys win, they lose. It's also refreshing to have a main character who isn't a hero, but a pathetic loser who causes constant harm to himself and everyone around him.
I find hilarity in the repetitive situations where the characters are in trouble, and they beg Covenant to save them, and he replies, quite honestly, "I can't!' Then they get out of danger with some kind of loss, and make a point of forgiving him for not helping, even though he clearly does not have any ability to do so. Then he adds the weight of that guilt to his self-loathing, even though none of it was his fault.
There's a whole hell of a lot of allegory and metaphor in these books. They're a hard read, though, because of heavy exposition and info dumps written by an author who kept his thesaurus close at hand and consulted it often. Many readers can't get past one particularly despicable act that Covenant performs early on, despite its incredible importance to the story and its deep allegories, and the fact that he spends three books beating himself up over it. If you're one of those people who understands that it's fiction, then you can just roll with it and enjoy a good story. Well, there's still the endless Tolkien-esque descriptions of landscapes, but that's a product of its time. The books came out in the 70s.
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git bored so i decided to re read cyberiada by stanislaw lem...in polish gods how my polish usage had deteriorated...i may have to re read few books in polish to get up to speed and flex my brain muscles faraon and w pustini i w puszczy seem to be next on my list over 2 weeks
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The Inquisitor Cycle by Dan Abnett. This is the Eisenhorn + Ravenor + Bequin books and short stories. (last book is still pending).
Halfway through the Eisenhorn part :) Reading them in the recommended order by Abnett.
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boy and his tank leo frankowski...fun romp through about a tank warfare and how thinking tank formed a relationship with its pilotand vice versa
enjoyed his conrad stargard series sadly he passed away before he could do the 8th book
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I hear "thinking tank" and it reminds me of Bolo.
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i had not read any book bolo tanks series in decades
might take a look at it again
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was looking for a read for the weekend...came across breserker series complete which i did not know i still had....
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boy and his tank leo frankowski...fun romp through about a tank warfare and how thinking tank formed a relationship with its pilotand vice versa
Did you get a chance to read the sequel, "The War with Earth"?
enjoyed his conrad stargard series sadly he passed away before he could do the 8th book
Read that series too, but only books 1-5 IIRC. It had a few good moments in there where the main character wanted to do something but the lower tech level didn't allow it (i.e. boards to make beehives with to make removable frames). Instead the local woodworker had an idea - he burned hollows in a split piece of trunk then tied the trunk together with rope. Not as efficient as removable frames, but it was far more practical to make. Conrad realizes that in spite of his own book education he had a lot to learn.
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i had read it i think there were total of 4 books in series
actually behives were made that way for ages in that part of europe at the time so leo describes very very old tech
its not surprising since he was originally an designing engineer
take a look at his fata morgana it was interesting take on legend of floating island that existed in time of mythical king arthur and why it was never discovered
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Not quite a book per say, but live & very detailed fan story on Space Battles.com/forums which I've been slow to read since I want it to last. Princess of Mandalore (Youjo Senki/Star Wars) being written by L4 of the WEST. I don't know what this guy does for work, but he write very interesting & detailed fan story inserting long tormented soul of Tanya Degurechaff from the anime / manga The Saga of Tanya the Evil and has her reborn again as Mandalorian nobility. Inserted right at the dawn of the Prequels of the Star War/Clone Wars era. He writes good, damn good. Makes me forget sometimes I'm actually reading fan story and not official Star Wars novel. It's that good.
Here (https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/princess-of-mandalore-youjo-senki-star-wars.987688/unread)
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got my paws at a thrift store on firefox and firefox down
first was made into movie with one of action greats clint eastwood second was a book sequel
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got my paws at a thrift store on firefox and firefox down
first was made into movie with one of action greats clint eastwood second was a book sequel
Showing my age. Went and saw the movie in the theater when it came out.
Ruger
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I was young enough I had to wait for HBO. That would have been cool to see in a theater... :/
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i also recall the arcade cabinet it was cool and it was one of the first ones to use laser disk as a background image source.....mach 3 came later but dragons lair used same tech and was the first.
in second book i did not like that they were able to drain and dry the plane and make it usable as if nothing happened
heck chanook even tho it was designed for water drop and recovery still needs at least at minimum 80 of fixes and repairs to make it flightworthy and its engines are on top
and i was lucky i was able to see it in theater when they had retro movie nights didnt have thx sound still kicked buttom
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I also watched Firefox at the theater! :smilie_happy_thumbup:
Back then I never thought to look for the novelization though, so I never read it or had even HEARD of Firefox Down. :undecided:
Currently about halfway through Redliners, by the late David Drake. :sad:
YEARS back I read another sci-fi story where the plants were against humans as they are in Redliners, but I don't remember the Author much less the title. :undecided:
Looking at his Bibliography, aside from reading most (if not all?) of the Hammer's Slammers books, I've read Ranks of Bronze (which had 2 Sequels I'm JUST NOW finding out about!), Dagger (from Thieves' World), Killer, and probably some of his other works. I know Northworld sounds familiar (after looking at the Wiki for it), so I Think I've read it (when it was NEW!), but don't think I read the other 2 in the trilogy. :undecided:
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The interview linked by beachead1985 over in the RIP thread discusses Northworld, if you're interested.
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Currently reading Aftermarket Afterlife, the latest InCryptid novel by Seanan MacQuire.
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Reading Mercenary's Star right now
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Currently reading Aftermarket Afterlife, the latest InCryptid novel by Seanan MacQuire.
I've read her Newsflesh stories and enjoyed them all. Not sure Why she feels she "Needs" 2 different pseudonyms (3 "names" total) to write in this day and age though. Sure, back in the 40's, 50's and even 60's women HAD to use them if they wanted to be published, but that's LONG passed by this point.
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Some authors like using pseudonyms if they write several different styles and don't want people mistaking stuff that's very different from their normal stuff. Newsflesh is very different from the novels she's published under her own name: InCryptid, October Daye, or Wayward Children are all books you could expect to see on the Teen shelf at the library. The stuff that she published as Mira Grant? Not so much.
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harry turtledove
case of toxic magic dump
he actually shines in that one his other one are too formulaeic and dont feel like its a lived in universe
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I remember that one. It was interesting. I do agree that a lot of his stuff was very formulaic. Especially any of his alternate universe war novels.
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Currently reading Sword and Fire, slowly working through my BattleTech backlog. I've got 30 left to go of the books I have so far, it doesn't include any I might buy as I continue reading.
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Reading WWE Wrestler Becky Lynch's book. The Man, Not Your Average Average Girl
Not bad just your typical wrestler book.
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Last night at work I finished book 4 of the Guardians of the Flame series, The Heir Apparent. I'm 57 now, last time I read it I was in my mid-20's. First time I was in my early 20's. :grin:
A couple months back I'd finished the Omnibus of books 6 & 7 (The Road to Ehvenor & The Road Home, respectively), To Home and Ehvenor. I haven't read Book 5 (The Warrior Lives) in a few decades either, and I haven't read books 8-10 (Not Exactly the Three Musketeers, Not Quite Scaramouche, Not Really the Prisoner of Zenda, respectively) ever. :undecided:
Currently reading The Wild Shore at home, not sure what I'll be reading at work (on break) just yet. :undecided:
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Went to the local-library; returned some books. Looking for a book an ancient-Russia; none, really. There was a Russian-history books that talked about it, briefly, but, it was like a WIKI-page. The only place I can find serious books on ancient-history is a university-library.
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I'm hunting for a specific book.
can't recall the name or the author.
it is a fantasy sword/lance/sandal story.
the primary character is a crippled master swordsman who cries out to MODI! his sword god when he goes into battle.
a link would be greatly appreciated.
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I'm hunting for a specific book.
can't recall the name or the author.
it is a fantasy sword/lance/sandal story.
the primary character is a crippled master swordsman who cries out to MODI! his sword god when he goes into battle.
a link would be greatly appreciated.
I did a Google, only got the Crippled Masters, '79 Kung-Fu movie with Jackie Chan.
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did a new search with a few more inebriated brain cells and found exactly what I was looking for:
The Last of the Renshai
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1096473.The_Last_of_the_Renshai
last read it about 25 years ago: twas an excellent read then. Gotta find a copy now to see if it holds up to my memories.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPpla7dAcGk
normally i despise audio books and will not bother listening to one or even short stories...
but my friend insisted...and he almost never recommends anything but he recommended this short story abut 6 times before i caved in...have to say it had me laughing for first time in about a4 month period...if there are gods hope he gets their blessing for his one...i really really needed this
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Read the Marauder anthology. I enjoyed it well enough, and I like the idea of superstitions spreading among MechWarriors.
My BattleTech backlog went from 30 to 80 when I bought that BattleTech fiction Humble Bundle. I had several of the books in this new bundle, but plenty I didn't have that it was worth the price at the second-highest tier.
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Just finished Rats, Bats, and Vats by Eric Flint & David Freer, and started on the sequel, The Vats, The Bats, and the Ugly.
Cloned human conscript and some uplifted military animals vs alien invaders, with a good dose of humour.
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I remember reading the first one many years back. Didn't realize it ever got a sequel.
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The sequel is worth it I think, it does a nice job of covering the fall-out of Chip, Ginny, & Fitzhugh's actions in the first book.
The bats & rats get to testify during the court martial...
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Still reading Mercenary's Star right now.
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Reading a book about Gypsies; it turns out, they pretty much sprang up in Europe at the 15th-century. They're considered refugees from the collapse of the feudal-system and their genetic make-up was not necessarily from Egypt or India, but most were European.
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Reading a book about Gypsies; it turns out, they pretty much sprang up in Europe at the 15th-century. They're considered refugees from the collapse of the feudal-system and their genetic make-up was not necessarily from Egypt or India, but most were European.
actually they are descendants of groups that ghenghis khan displaced when he started his empire a lot of them initially came from central asia and their lines got pretty diluted by the time they reached europe around late 13th century
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And they mixed with local European populations off and on throughout the centuries.
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actually they are descendants of groups that ghenghis khan displaced when he started his empire a lot of them initially came from central asia and their lines got pretty diluted by the time they reached europe around late 13th century
I have read that the Khans were actually descended from Scythian lords who were the originators of the feudal system. It was the Persians who borrowed this to form satrapies. And that the Persians themselves were considered to have homogenized to these systems being that they were neighbors and RELATIVES of the Scythian royal Aryan bloodlines. See Beckwith's, The Scythian Empire.
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actually they are descendants of groups that ghenghis khan displaced when he started his empire a lot of them initially came from central asia and their lines got pretty diluted by the time they reached europe around late 13th century
More likely, a group was, and another was from India, etc. People in Medieval-times tended to lump groups together; if you were an outsider, no matter where you were from, you're a Gypsy. Like, if you were sick, you were a Leper, regardless if you actually had leporsy or not.
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More likely, a group was, and another was from India, etc. People in Medieval-times tended to lump groups together; if you were an outsider, no matter where you were from, you're a Gypsy.
Actually, the people made a fairly homogeneous cultural group as they spread around Europe, keeping similar customs even among the ones who migrated all the way to Ireland and Wales as well as keeping their own language.
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Actually, the people made a fairly homogeneous cultural group as they spread around Europe, keeping similar customs even among the ones who migrated all the way to Ireland and Wales as well as keeping their own language.
Given the intense-persecutions in the 16th and 17th, centuries, that group may have been the only ones that survived.
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Mortar Gunner on the Eastern Front
I am enjoying the view from a that of a Private rather than a General, politician or historian.
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Still iterating through the first humble bundle of epubs, from Thunder Rift to Endgame, I'm now wrapping up Stackpole's Twilight of the Clans pt. 2 "Grave Covenant" which might be the one with smallest amount of 'Mech action so far :thinking:
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It and Prince of Havoc were both pretty bad in that regard.
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Read Jaguar's Leap from the new BT bundle, and now back to the old with Threads of Ambition.
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I've been on a PKD binge these past few months:
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick (1977) I finally managed to snag a new print edition of this book, and it's typical PKD at his best and worst: a tremendous goldmine of ideas, yet almost undone by opaque writing. It's set in the near future when America lost the drug war. Bob Arctor is a narc whos tasked with finding the supplier of a new drug called Substance D, a powerful opiate that can split the mind in half and destroy it. Arctor is an unreliable narrator because he becomes addicted to the drug, and he ends up becoming two people: one being a leader of a small group of junkies whos paranoid about police being out to get him, and another being a narc who spies on his other self.
The book is partly autobiographical since PKD opened his house to a group of junkies and stopped writing for a few years after his first divorce when his wife left him. The writing is also dense and stilted, and I had to reread a number of passages in order to fully grasp what was going on. Nevertheless, its a mindbender of a novel, and was even made into a movie starring Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr. Rating 8/10
The Penultimate Truth by Philip K Dick. I think my bookstore has me figured out. They know I buy a PKD book all the time, so they always stock another one that I havent read yet, and so I end up buying it. Damn them!
This one is a post apocalyptic tale about a group of people whove been living underground in a fallout community shelter for over a decade, building robots to send out onto the surface to keep fighting WW3, but... things might not be what they seem. If this sounds like the plot for a ton of Hollywood movies and TV shows like Fallout and Silo, thats because it is... only PKD did it first!
The first chapter, in which someone is dictating words to an AI computer thats eerily reminiscent of ChatGPT blew my mind away. To think that PKD thought this up back in the early 1960s is just mind-boggling. Sadly though, it kinda goes downhill after that. In the end, its not his best book and the stodgy writing once again makes it a tough slog, but I think its still worth anyones time purely because of the awesome ideas he thought of well before everyone else copied them into cliches. Rating 7/10
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick- The one time I read this was when I was 12, and had discovered my uncle's stash of sci-fi books at grandma's house. I was a huge fan of Bladerunner, and I expected the book to be the same thing. Boy I was wrong.
Reading it again after all these years, I think I can understand it better now. The movie only touches on the events happening in the book, and makes it sort of like a noir detective thriller. But the book itself is far, far more. There's just so many things happening. Yes, the protagonist is a bounty hunter who hunts androids, but thats where the similarities with the movies end.
PKD's world building is phenomenal. There's empathy devices that can change someone's mood at the touch of a button, there's a new age religion called Mercerism that one can experience a Jesus-like messiah via virtual reality, and most of all, real animals have become status symbols, because almost all species went extinct due to a nuclear war, so almost everyone's pet has been supplanted with fake ones: hence the book's title.
It's all about what is real and what is fake. The protagonist kills fake things, but things are not like what they seem anymore. If you havent read it yet, and are a sci-fi fan, youve got to read it. Trust me, its that good. Rating 9/10
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I've been on a PKD binge these past few months:
The book store will never carry his Exegesis, while some of his lesser known works like the tripple stigmata of palmer eldritch or Valis will be harder to come by. Try your county library and save a buck. When my family grew more accustomed to using the request features and how accessible the online library sites are, it becomes very easy to get a book from a neighboring stock brought in. To say nothing of the amount of money you save if your children are also devouring books.
As much as I loved PKD as a teenager and in my early 20's, he did a lot of harm to the Science Fiction community with an elitist type mindset for American authors in creating a group mind that should or shouldn't approve who is acknowledged or not by "the best" in the genre. And that goes a long way for a person who is just plainly an author and story weaver. He's a product of his time with space flight and "martian canals" being discovered and the heavy psychotropic scene exploding. In the end, he was never honest with the vision he was given and this caused as much consternation in him personally that he became a facsimile of many of his protagonists. He was very much like HG Wells.
I'm stuck myself on Warhammer fiction, wishing that the library here had them in stock. Halfway through the Horus Heresy series and impressed by the level of quality fiction found in these books. Certainly a step up from where the fiction in this universe started.
Books I myself killed lately: Secret Societies: A Discussion of their character and claims, by Edward Beecher; The Atonement of Fire, by David Annandale; Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia, by Guy Haley; Ghost of Nuceria, by Ian St. Martin; Utopia, by St. Thomas More; Aesop's Fables (was reading two fables to my children 3-4 days a week); Chronicles of the Future Paul A Dienach; Valedor, by Guy Haley; All That Remains, James Swallow; Aurelian, Aaron Dembski-Bowden (one of my favorite 40k authors, right behind Dan Abnett); Dark Vengeance Collection, by CZ Dunn (if you want a flavor of what I felt 40k was before it became great); Valdor: Birth of the Imperium, by Chris Wraight (not a bad place to start for foundational background for the Horus Heresy series); Blades of the Traitor, Various.
Working on The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer and Pope Francis' 2013 apostolic exhortation evangelii gaudium. Talk about two contrasting works! Oh boy. I'm finding it impossible to read them together.