Sunday Morning Book Thread - 04-16-2023 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (my boss has this book and thinks it's hilarious!). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, especially if you are wearing these pants...

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, scarf down some leftover jelly beans, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

An anonymous Moron sent in today's pic. It's taken from the International UFO Museum and Research Center Library in Roswell, NM. Roswell, of course, is the home of one of the most famous UFO incidents in U.S. history (1947), now known as the Roswell Incident. The theory is that a UFO crashed somewhere near Roswell, NM, and the government is covering up what they've discovered. It's provided endless fodder for conspiracy theorists and has been the subject of several television shows (Roswell, The X-Files, one episode of Futurama, etc.)

SUBTITLES: Do they work and why?

Today's brief topic is brought to us by the Limericist Laureate of AoSHQ:

Hey Perfessor - Here's a suggestion for a future book thread topic. Subtitles. The Use and Abuse thereof. When does a subtitle add to a reader's interest in reading a book and when does it detract?
Posted by: Muldoon at April 09, 2023 09:28 AM (ykeLU)

This is a question I've thought about myself from time to time. Subtitles on books seem to be most common in non-fiction as compared to fiction, and even more common in books written by academics for other academics. In the academic world, subtitles on their scribblings (journal articles, presentations, and books) may just be a way of summarizing their findings in order to "hook" other academics into their research topics. Many of my textbooks have subtitles, for instance, such as Adventurous Thinking: Fostering Students' Rights to Read and Write in Secondary ELA Classrooms or Teaching the Canon in the 21st Century Classrooms: Challenging Genres. You can find subtitles in other works, though, intended for more general audiences, such as our own A.H. Lloyd's Walls of Men: A Military History of China 2500 B.C. to A.D. 2020. I remember A.H. Lloyd asking the Moron Horde for advice in selecting a title last year (or maybe the year before), though he seemed to have a good idea for the subtitle. So which comes first? The title or the subtitle?

You can certainly include a subtitle on fictional works, though it seems to be far less common. I do see subtitles on a number of anthologies and collections, such as 999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense edited by Al Sarrantonio and Alone Against Tomorrow: Stories of Alienation in Speculative Fiction by Harlan Ellison. Within my novel collection, subtitles are few and far between, though I do have a couple of examples there as well, such as: The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Do subtitles work? Probably to some degree, especially for academic works, at least for me. Are they guaranteed to work? Of course not. However, they can also be used to distinguish one author's works from another, if they have similar titles. I know when I go searching on Amazon to find the ISBNs of book recommendations so that I can add them to the AoSHQ Book Recommendation library, subtitles can be quite helpful in identifying the correct book.

What do y'all think of subtitles?

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BOOKS BY MORONS

Last week I featured the little town of Little Penwick, Rhode Island, as an example of a fictional community set in the real world. Well, it turns out Moron Author James Y. Bartlett has a new entry in his Swamp Yankee series set in that town! I thoroughly enjoyed Glitter Girl so I will probably pick up the rest of the series at some point.

Thanks for mentioning my fictional Little Penwick, Rhode Island in yesterday's Sunday Morning Book Thread! Just for the record, Little Penwick is located in Newport County, Rhode Island. And it shouldn't be too hard to find for anyone who's visited these parts! BTW, I've been reliably informed that Little Penwick (or its non-fictional counterpart) is NOT the smallest town in the smallest state. That honor apparently belongs to the town of New Shoreham, RI, which most people know as "Block Island." Of course, in the middle of summer, New Shoreham is Rhode Island's fifth or sixth most populated town, thanks to the summer trade!
Anyhoo, your mention joggled my memory to send you news about the just-published (like, last week) fourth book in the Swamp Yankee Mystery series, entitled Family Affairs. The working title for this one was "Preston Knox gets his due," Knox being the corrupt Rhode Island Attorney General who started causing the Haddock family problems back in Book 1.
He does get his due, since he's found murdered in Chapter One, just a few weeks before he was to get elected as governor. And Julius Haddock, the ex-police chief turned private eye, who had a bone to pick with Preston, goes from chief suspect to appointed member of the state police task force searching for the killer.
Just the usual Rhode Island fun and games!
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From Suspect to Sleuth!
When Rhode Island Attorney General Preston Knox is brutally murdered in his home, just weeks before getting elected Governor, the state police immediately pull in Julius Haddock for questioning.
After all, Julius, the now-retired chief of police in the town of Little Penwick, had a beef with the AG, when Knox drummed up some fake charges and put him in jail. (Glitter Girl, Book 1)
But Julius didn't do it, and has an unshakeable alibi-he was out having breakfast with his son Gus Haddock, the current chief in Little Penwick. So the outgoing governor appoints Julius to the task force investigating Preston Knox's murder because she was impressed with his recent work on a cold case (Cold Secrets, Book 2).
And that's how Julius Haddock went from suspect to sleuth, working with the state police to track down leads and eliminate suspects, one by one. Along the way, Julius is befriended by a local kid on a bike, who has some family secrets of his own; and with his partner Siggi, Julius has to try and convince the last surviving member of an old Little Penwick family to consider donating his land to the Little Penwick Land Trust. But there are old family ghosts in the way there, too.
Family Affairs [Amazon Link - PS], Book 4 in the Swamp Yankee Mystery series, is another page-turning adventure of police procedural, small-town relationships and family secrets. Just the kind of stew that makes James Y. Bartlett's inventive new series so popular with readers.

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MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the recommendation of a now-forgotten moron I read The Comanche Empire by Pekka Hämäläinen. It's not on a subject I would normally spend much time on, but it was a real eye opener into the development of a new Indian culture after the introduction of the horse. The Comanches were not originally a big power, nor even Plains Indians, but the horse allowed them to adopt a pastoral, nomadic lifestyle built around harvesting bison and selling horses to the Man. There was a complex interaction between the rising Comanche Empire, the declining Mexican / Spanish empire, and the new big dog, the Americans. There were lots of interesting tidbits, but one I found particularly interesting was that the Comanche, being nomadic, didn't farm, and so because they only harvested meat, had a real problem with protein poisoning. They had to deal with other, more agriculturally-based tribes, in order to secure carbohydrates. Unfortunately, this led to a reliance on raiding other peoples, (read pillaging) and slavery for a labor source.
All in all, it was a very interesting look at a vanished world and how its inhabitants coped with the same problems we all do.
Posted by: Archimedes at April 09, 2023 09:24 AM (eOEVl)

Comment: I vaguely remember this book being recommended since I took over the Sunday Morning Book Thread, so I thought I'd include the recommendation above as well. The problems of humanity will never go away, simply because we are human. The Native Americans did get quite a raw deal from the U.S. Government in many ways. But their life was hardly all sunshine and roses before we showed up. It was quite brutal and savage, though some tribes just wanted to be left alone to raise their families in peace. The book I recently read, The Ghost Dance Judgement by R.S. Belcher was very much about the escalating tit-for-tat relationship between tribes that wanted to eradicate the white man and the factions of white men that were all to eager to return the favor.

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Book that had an impact on me was Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living. I got a copy of the original mimeographed pages at Powell's in Portland. Carla printed the book herself and mailed it out in sections. Any question you might have about livestock or country living was answered in the book, interspersed with thoughts about her life. I wore my copy out and bought the new printed version to find out how it ended.
I talked to my husband about it and he was able to find me a used, pristine copy of the mimeographed version, which I have now. If the burning times come, it's a book you'll want to have.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 09, 2023 09:50 AM (u7leW)

Comment: On this recommendation, I decided to go ahead and purchase the paperback version of the 50th Anniversary edition. For a little more money you can purchase a spiral-bound version, so you can easily lay it flat when reading it as a reference book. It does seem to have TONS of useful and interesting information for those who want to survive in the country. It's the kind of book I'd want to have with me, just in case.

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Impactful books: I was fascinated by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness in college and wrote my senior essay on it, in a school where we did essays instead of exams, St. John's College. The book showed how we all carry the possibility of evil within us, and how civilization may be transitory, an important lesson for today.
Posted by: Norrin Radd at April 09, 2023 10:36 AM (CyJhQ)

Comment: This seems to be the quintessential novella exploring the evils within the human condition. It's certainly inspired a number of other stories, as well as affectionate parodies, such as this one from Seinfeld:

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This week, I acquired The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto. De Soto is in one of the premier think tanks of the world, and spent years using hundreds of associates and grad students to compile data on worldwide capital accumulation. His question is, why is capitalism so successful in certain countries, yet a failure in others? His thesis is that in the successful countries, property rights exist, along with title to the lands, which allows for capitalization to proceed. In a majority of third world countries, the vast majority of people have no title to the land they live on, which prevents them from mortgages and loans to develop their businesses. I think he is onto something, and in a world where the influencers want nobody to own anything, it points to a dismal future.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at April 09, 2023 11:30 AM (2YxH9)

Comment: Weirdly, much of human history can be traced to "property rights." In the ancient world, kings and pharaohs believed they owned the people (and did, in the case of slaves) as well as all of the resources of the kingdom. So when they warred with each other, it was a sort of personal insult--"He's taking my stuff!" The idea of the individual having personal property rights that must be respected by the government is a fairly recent invention. As we see today, governments around the world--including our own--seem to have lost sight of that, believing that what is theirs is theirs and what is yours is theirs. The WEF, being an extra-governmental body that could arguably be over and above governments, believes that YOU should own nothing from the day you are born to the day you die. You exist to serve THEM. All your labor belongs to THEM. All of your capital belongs to THEM. You are, at most, recipients of their largesse, or an annoyance to be swatted if you get out of line, like stepping on a cockroach.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (730 Moron-recommended books so far!)

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WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK:

Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 1 - Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia

Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 2 - House of Assassins by Larry Correia

Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 3 - Destroyer of Worlds by Larry Correia

Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 4 - Tower of Silence by Larry Correia

The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 50th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual for Living Off the Land and Doing It Yourself by Carla Emery -- This was highly recommended recently and sounded like a good resource, just in case I might need it...

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

Gloriana: Or the Unfulfill'd Queen Being a Romance by Michael Moorcock -- An epic quest for an expy of Queen Elizabeth I to find sexual gratification...(seriously)

Forgotten Realms - Homecoming Book 1 - Archmage by R.A. Salvatore -- The archmage of the dark elf city of Menzoberranzan unleashes demons throughout the Underdark.

Forgotten Realms - Homecoming Book 2 - Maestro by R.A. Salvatore -- The Companions of the Hall struggle to rebuilt the Hosttower of the Arcane while Demogorgon is unleashed on the Underdark...

Forgotten Realms - Homecoming Book 3 - Hero by R.A. Salvatore -- The conclusion of the Homecoming saga. I started reading it then realized it was book THREE of the series instead of Book 1, so I put it aside until I finish reading the first two. Explains why I was so lost after 120+ pages as the characters kept referring to events I didn't remember reading in previous books in the series...

That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding the Sunday Morning Book Thread. This is a very special place. You are very special people (in all the best ways!). The kindness, generosity, and wisdom of the Moron Horde knows no bounds. Let's keep reading!

If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or discussion topics that you'd like to see on the Sunday Morning Book Thread, you can send them to perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com. Your feedback is always appreciated! You can also take a virtual tour of OUR library at libib.com/u/perfessorsquirrel. Since I added sections for AoSHQ, I now consider it OUR library, rather than my own personal fiefdom...

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 04-09-23 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:16 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 First!! maybe

Posted by: Reforger at April 16, 2023 09:00 AM (WIakE)

2 hiya

Posted by: JT at April 16, 2023 09:00 AM (T4tVD)

3 I feel like I'm being watched by that pic, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:01 AM (Angsy)

4 Lucifer's Hammer, a bit dated but stiill mostly good.

BIG CAST of CHARACTERS. wonder if the Hollywood elite are starting to feel like Tim Hamner?

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:01 AM (Lzpvj)

5 Tolle Lege
Have David Walder's biography of Admiral Nelson but haven't barely started it

Posted by: Skip at April 16, 2023 09:01 AM (xhxe8)

6 Interesting memorial to the books burned by Nazis in Berlin.

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/tImsAHhCfHI

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 16, 2023 09:02 AM (FVME7)

7 I don't think the Pants guy owns a weedwhacker. (if you catch my drift...)

Posted by: JT at April 16, 2023 09:02 AM (T4tVD)

8 What do y'all think of subtitles?

They're a distraction. I prefer dubbed instead.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:03 AM (Angsy)

9 Subtitles to me can help explain content but don't have to be there.

Posted by: Skip at April 16, 2023 09:04 AM (xhxe8)

10 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Especially Tolkien related.

That last line was for Muldoon.

Posted by: JTB at April 16, 2023 09:05 AM (7EjX1)

11 6 Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 16, 2023 09:02 AM (FVME7)

I am willing to bet she has no problem with cancel culture or twatter engaging in politically charged censorship or the games the NYT plays with the best seller lists and that she has every intention to burn people.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:06 AM (Lzpvj)

12 Four books? Doesn't sound as if that warrior wasn't forgotten.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 16, 2023 09:07 AM (Om/di)

13 BOOKZZZ!!!

Btw I got an error that my ip is banned
Posting via cell no wifi

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 16, 2023 09:07 AM (iFP8K)

14 Enough snark.

I have a bad habit of leaving books unfinished. Resolved: Clear the backlog.

First up was an early Nero Wolfe mystery, "The Rubber Band." Too complicated to summarize. Halfway through, I thought I knew what was going on. I also thought of a solution that seemed too obvious. I was wrong twice. Well, they say you don't read Nero Wolfe books for the mystery but for the characters and atmosphere.

One particular scene in this book is mentioned in several later books, so I'm glad I read it. Why I set it aside the first time, I have no idea.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 16, 2023 09:08 AM (Om/di)

15 You're only *now* starting Correia's new series, Perfesser?!

Seriously though, I think you will enjoy the world-building, and Ashok is an entertaining grumpy bastard.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:08 AM (llON8)

16 Lucifer's Hammer had one of my favorite lines, which I'll have to paraphrase: "Feminism died 30 seconds after the impact of the first meteor."

Posted by: PabloD at April 16, 2023 09:08 AM (AYd5v)

17 I read Greeks Bearing Gifts by Philip Kerr. Bernie has evaded the Stasi, made it back to Germany, and has obtained new identity papers. He is hired by an insurance company to investigate suspicious claims. He is sent to Greece to investigate the sinking of a boat. Soon Bernie is embroiled in Nazis searching for sunken treasure stolen from Greek Jews during the war. The Greek police and the Mossad are also involved in the story.

Greeks Bearing Gifts was published in 2018, and it marks the literary end of Bernie Gunther. That same year Philip Kerr died of bladder cancer. He was only 62.

Posted by: Zoltan at April 16, 2023 09:08 AM (sDFJU)

18 I did not read this week.

Posted by: rhennigantx at April 16, 2023 09:08 AM (BRHaw)

19 8 Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:03 AM (Angsy)

I use CC period, the brain processes the heard and read word differently so it helps with immersion and retention.

The story in "Cash Truck (2004)" I posted last night worked with subtitles, one of the flaws in dubbing is it is hard to match precisely the vocal delivery to the subtle physical nuances of the acting so sometimes you get mood dissonance.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:09 AM (Lzpvj)

20 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Especially Tolkien related.

That last line was for Muldoon.
Posted by: JTB at April 16, 2023 09:05 AM (7EjX1)
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It's worth noting that the subtitle of The Hobbit is: "or There and Back Again."

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 16, 2023 09:09 AM (BpYfr)

21 16 Posted by: PabloD at April 16, 2023 09:08 AM (AYd5v)

It is funny comparing and contrasting where the left is accused of wanting to go in 70s fiction and where they wound up in reality.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:10 AM (Lzpvj)

22 Common fiction subti:
"A Novel"
I find this pretentious and will usually make me NOT read it

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 16, 2023 09:10 AM (iFP8K)

23 >>> 4 Lucifer's Hammer, a bit dated but stiill mostly good.

BIG CAST of CHARACTERS. wonder if the Hollywood elite are starting to feel like Tim Hamner?
Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:01 AM (Lzpvj)

I don't get it, where is Ben R to explain to me...

I'd think the Hollywood nitwits would be more like the big exec news producer (?) who showed up at the Senator's place and was chased off, or more likely, the crowd that accumulated with the former National Guard and the psycho preacher.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:10 AM (llON8)

24 22 Common fiction subti:
"A Novel"
I find this pretentious and will usually make me NOT read it
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 16, 2023 09:10 AM (iFP8K)

Yeah, what is the point of that?

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:11 AM (Zzbjj)

25 Somebody has written a parody of Prince Harry's Spare.

Spare Us!: A Harrody by Bruno Vincent.

https://amzn.to/3KKrC8G

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 16, 2023 09:11 AM (FVME7)

26 Reading Brent Weeks Night Angel trilogy. Just finished first book (The Way of Shadows) last night. This author kills off more characters than George RR Martin. The culmination of the first book even reminds me of the "Red Wedding".

-SLV

Posted by: Shy Lurking Voter at April 16, 2023 09:11 AM (e/Osv)

27 >>> 24 22 Common fiction subti:
"A Novel"
I find this pretentious and will usually make me NOT read it
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 16, 2023 09:10 AM (iFP8K)

Yeah, what is the point of that?
Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:11 AM (Zzbjj)

I think it's to annoy me, because whenever I see it I want to smack the dumbass who picked it.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:12 AM (llON8)

28 The story in "Cash Truck (2004)" I posted last night worked with subtitles, one of the flaws in dubbing is it is hard to match precisely the vocal delivery to the subtle physical nuances of the acting so sometimes you get mood dissonance.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:09 AM (Lzpvj)

On the movie thread? I don't usually catch it, doing other things on Sat late afternoons, not back until ONT.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:12 AM (Angsy)

29 I find book subtitles to be very helpful, at least for nonfiction books. Authors and publishers want a short, clever title, which may not convey the actual theme of the book. The subtitle is a quick way to glean that information without having to thumb through the book to see what it is about.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at April 16, 2023 09:13 AM (maK6p)

30 Hernando de Soto?....thought he was dead.

Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 09:13 AM (AwYPR)

31 Subtitles are like the secondary heds on newspaper articles.

Being in smaller type, they offer more detail about the story.

I'm reminded of a "Shoe" comic strip in which the banner headline over a story on pesticides was "THOUSANDS DEAD!"

Needed context.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 16, 2023 09:13 AM (Om/di)

32 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes.

I use subtitles myself, since my two (eventually three) books are a series: A Theda Bara Mystery. And I used a subtitle in the one short story - Thirteen Moons: A Supernatural Story Starring Theda Bara - to give readers a heads-up as to what it was.

WRT Roswell, I highly recommend Kal Korff's The Roswell UFO Crash: What They Don't Want You to Know. It's an excellent debunking book, which accepts the "Project Mogul" Air Force explanation as to what exactly crashed in the desert in 1947. Korff also tears apart the various Roswell 'witnesses,' especially Maj. Jesse Marcel, whom he calls out as a complete liar whom you wouldn't believe if he told you the sky was blue.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 09:14 AM (AW0uW)

33 Good Sunday morning, horde!

This week I am reading "Crossings: consisting of three manuscripts," by Alex Landragin.

Hey, fiction with a subtitle. It's my son's choice for family book club. The book is written to be read two ways: front to back as normal, or starting somewhere in the middle, and at the end of each chapter, a note to tell you what page to go to next. Almost like I imagine Choose Your Own Adventure books to be, though I never read those.

to be continued...

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 16, 2023 09:14 AM (OX9vb)

34 Yeah, what is the point of that?

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:11 AM (Zzbjj)

Could be the title reads as if it's a non-fiction book?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:15 AM (Angsy)

35 I think it's to annoy me, because whenever I see it I want to smack the dumbass who picked it.
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:12 AM (llON

It bothers me too, but I've always assumed that the author is touting the book's truthiness and suggesting that you wouldn't know it was fiction without that label. I don't read much new fiction, anyway.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:15 AM (Zzbjj)

36 My favorite subtitle is "Or The Preservation Of Favoured Races In The Struggle For Life."

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at April 16, 2023 09:15 AM (PiwSw)

37 Gone With the Wind: A Guide to Interior Design and Dress Making

Posted by: rhennigantx at April 16, 2023 09:17 AM (BRHaw)

38 Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 09:14 AM (AW0uW)

MP4, do you use an editor? How do you know when your story is ready to publish?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:17 AM (Angsy)

39 >>> 35
==
It bothers me too, but I've always assumed that the author is touting the book's truthiness and suggesting that you wouldn't know it was fiction without that label. I don't read much new fiction, anyway.
Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:15 AM (Zzbjj)

"truthiness", heh. That just makes me agree with vmom more.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:17 AM (llON8)

40 36. Origin of the Species

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:18 AM (Zzbjj)

41 23 Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:10 AM (llON

Almost as much fun is reading the modern Sci-Fi "fan" dissections of it.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:18 AM (Lzpvj)

42 I found out that e-books can be read on my computer. Read most of a Clifford Simak collection of Sci-fi, had to "return" it. Might look for something different next. No romance stuff though.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:19 AM (Angsy)

43 cont...

Just for kicks, I decided to try the second way. The basic theme of the book is that there are two characters from an 18th century tribe on a south Pacific island. The tribe has a tradition of "crossing," or switching bodies with another person. These two perform the crossing illegally, with multigenerational consequences.

I am really disoriented reading a book this way. I can't tell if I am still near the beginning, or near the end, or what. Apparently, I like to be able to measure my progress in reading a book, and this method takes that away.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 16, 2023 09:20 AM (OX9vb)

44 Sub titles are useful in that, you can't copyright a title. It's possible then to have more than one book (or song, or movie, etc.) with the same title.
The sub title is a way to differentiate.

Posted by: gourmand du jour, a literal ray of sunshine at April 16, 2023 09:20 AM (jTmQV)

45 As for this new drumbeat about "nazi book burnings", the alphabet crowd is saying that these events slowed down "transitions" by decades and use the words nazi and antisemitism to try to win allies for the trans cause. I don't see this winning allies at all.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:20 AM (Zzbjj)

46 28 Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:12 AM (Angsy)

Roger, https://youtu.be/iiksy-tFjjU Cash Truck 2004

Ought to look a lot like one of the installments in "Jason Statham-ACTION MOVIE!"

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:21 AM (Lzpvj)

47 yes they had lucifers hammers and they produce the trash like 'don't look up'

Posted by: no 6 at April 16, 2023 09:21 AM (PXvVL)

48 Still have the page up for "A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman".
Going to order it today as yesterday was plagued with more important stuff to do. Thank you to the forgotten name who recommended it yesterday.

Nearing the end of book 2 of Legacy of the Drow by RA Salvatore.
I don't know. Maybe my 10 ish years of only Non-fiction has doomed me for fiction but I am finding it tedious. If I do 40 pages in a night it a miracle. I usually fall asleep with a book on my chest after 80 or so pages but this one I close and roll over to not sleep. I read to konk myself out and this Legacy book doesn't do it.

Posted by: Reforger at April 16, 2023 09:21 AM (84QXQ)

49 Morning, all,

Subtitles in the title of a book bring up a very old-fashioned vibe, as in "Wully: The Story of a Yaller Dog" by Ernest Thompson Seton (one of the pieces in his Wild Animals I Have Known). The movie Dr. Strangelove does it by adding Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 09:21 AM (omVj0)

50 Also, those pants are fine, and I would wear them to barbecue in the back yard, or to run out to the Dollar General for some potato chips.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 16, 2023 09:21 AM (OX9vb)

51 Hey Perf! Hey, fellow bibliophiliacs!

Put me down as someone mildly annoyed by those subtitles. I have been for a long time. They have a whiff of the pretentious.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at April 16, 2023 09:22 AM (Dc2NZ)

52 45 Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:20 AM (Zzbjj)

They are probably rehabilitating the book burners more than swaying the people not already on their side, also given they are politically allied with a team of the Stasi and Cancel Inc it rings hollow.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:22 AM (Lzpvj)

53 Hey, in regard to fictional towns:

Where do you think Bayport was?

My assumption was Connecticut. The Hardy brothers seemed to go to New York City a lot.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 16, 2023 09:22 AM (Om/di)

54 "It was shocking to see how easily one's thinking could be shaped by the endless repetition of dogma; received knowledge, instead of earned understanding."
--- from "Escape Orbit" by Patrick Chiles

This near-future hard SF tale isn't just a ripping yarn about an anomaly detected at the end of our solar system, and what it means for humanity. It's also a timely story about the consequences of being in economic thrall to a totalitarian regime, of space policy by committee, and trying to live authentically when your every move is under a social credit microscope.

Definitely read the preceding novel first.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at April 16, 2023 09:22 AM (Dc2NZ)

55 One of Carla's daughter's has a You Tube channel and talks about her life here: https://youtu.be/2czCiry8lDw

Carla was driven to write that book. You can read it in her little stories, scattered in the book. She wanted to be a good wife and mother, but wound up traveling all over the country selling the book. Then she and her husband opened a school for homesteading for awhile. Then the marriage fell apart. I got the newer edition, just because I wanted to find out what happened.

If you find Carla's book interesting, try Possum Living by Dolly Freed. It's another interesting story: https://tinyurl.com/28cyzsft

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 09:23 AM (u7leW)

56 MP4, do you use an editor? How do you know when your story is ready to publish?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:17 AM (Angsy)

No, I don't. As far as spelling, grammar and such go, I (though I say it) am pretty good, so that's not something I need an editor for. I do, however, have a small circle of readers who will look at the first major draft of my story and give me honest feedback, which usually results in a few months of rewrites and restructuring before sending it back for more thoughts.

I publish through Amazon (I know, I know). I had an agent about 20 years ago, but no house saw a market for my books.

For me, a story is 'ready' when my beta readers say that it is. Hope that helps. I suspect the more experienced Moron authors could answer the question better than I.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 09:23 AM (AW0uW)

57 We all know the purpose is semi-porn or porn in schools. It is to make children think adult things they are not equipped to handle and force them into bad decisions and situations.

Posted by: rhennigantx at April 16, 2023 09:23 AM (BRHaw)

58 1984: A Guide for Good Government and Public Health

Posted by: rhennigantx at April 16, 2023 09:24 AM (BRHaw)

59 Gone With the Wind: A Guide to Interior Design and Dress Making
Posted by: rhennigantx

With a delightful Forward by Carol Burnett.

Posted by: Tonypete at April 16, 2023 09:24 AM (qoGsy)

60 >>> 47 yes they had lucifers hammers and they produce the trash like 'don't look up'
Posted by: no 6 at April 16, 2023 09:21 AM (PXvVL)

Hollyweird-current could never produce a faithful adaption of Lucifer's Hammer as pretty much the entire thing would be a REEEEEEE fest for leftists.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:24 AM (llON8)

61 57 Posted by: rhennigantx at April 16, 2023 09:23 AM (BRHaw)

"You have to allow books that would have made Hefner blush in the 50s, or you are literally a Nazi!"

//The democrats

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:25 AM (Lzpvj)

62 Off to go help a cousin build a shed
Later all

Posted by: Skip at April 16, 2023 09:25 AM (xhxe8)

63 Nearing the end of book 2 of Legacy of the Drow by RA Salvatore.
I don't know. Maybe my 10 ish years of only Non-fiction has doomed me for fiction but I am finding it tedious. If I do 40 pages in a night it a miracle. I usually fall asleep with a book on my chest after 80 or so pages but this one I close and roll over to not sleep. I read to konk myself out and this Legacy book doesn't do it.
Posted by: Reforger at April 16, 2023 09:21 AM (84QXQ)
----
Legend of Drizzt is a 30+ novel soap opera. Not really a series in the conventional sense...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 16, 2023 09:26 AM (BpYfr)

64 You're supposed to read the colon of a subtitle as an audible "HURRK!" for maximum comedic effect.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at April 16, 2023 09:26 AM (9UlRk)

65 62 Off to go help a cousin build a shed
Later all
Posted by: Skip at April 16, 2023 09:25 AM (xhxe

is that a euphemism?

Posted by: rhennigantx at April 16, 2023 09:27 AM (BRHaw)

66 Title: A subtitle expanding on the topic >>>>>>> Title: A Novel

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:27 AM (llON8)

67 Common fiction subti:
"A Novel"
I find this pretentious and will usually make me NOT read it
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 16, 2023

***
Yes, or Serial Killing: A Love Story. (Yes, I made that up. I think. Someone may actually have used that title for a movie or novel.)

Pretentious, too, are the novels written in present tense. I am so bloody tired of that. When I see it I am sure (and am usually right) that the author is a graduate of an MFA program in creative writing or English.

Exception: Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City, which is not only cast in present tense but in second person instead of first or third. But it works, because it is often very funny and the author doesn't hit us with long slugs of paragraphs, but makes the thing move.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 09:27 AM (omVj0)

68
Went out to a bar to eat with the inlaws yesterday.

Now official; ordering a Bud Light is done as a joke.

Zima got more respect.

Posted by: Auspex at April 16, 2023 09:27 AM (j4U/Z)

69 No review on it yet, but I picked up Tolkien and the Great War as a Audible book this week (Audible because I have credits I need to use). Someone mentioned that Tolkien was gassed during the Somme offensive and I wanted to learn more. I need to get back into reading about World War I. I have several books on it and am still trying to make sense of it.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 09:28 AM (u7leW)

70 Off to go help a cousin build a shed
Later all
Posted by: Skip at April 16, 2023 09:25 AM (xhxe

is that a euphemism?
Posted by: rhennigantx

cues the music from Deliverance.....

Posted by: JT at April 16, 2023 09:28 AM (T4tVD)

71 Salvatore is far from the best D ampersand D writer- I'd say is Rose Estes.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:29 AM (Lzpvj)

72 57 We all know the purpose is semi-porn or porn in schools. It is to make children think adult things they are not equipped to handle and force them into bad decisions and situations.
Posted by: rhennigantx at April 16, 2023 09:23 AM (BRHaw)

Exactly correct. And keeping books out of schools is not banning them.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:30 AM (Zzbjj)

73 For me, a story is 'ready' when my beta readers say that it is. Hope that helps. I suspect the more experienced Moron authors could answer the question better than I.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 09:23 AM (AW0uW)

Thanks. That's the problem I guess as someone thinking they might have the ability to write something. I'm starting to have a pile of stuff, but not sure what to do with it. Only sent out one so far and it was rejected, and they gave no reason why, so it makes you think maybe the stuff's no good.

Does anyone think self pub through Amazon or other sites - what other sites are there? - might be a good avenue for a beginning writer to get their stuff out?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:31 AM (Angsy)

74 Yay book thread! I (obviously) think subtitles are very important for the simple reason that simply stating the topic of a non-fiction book leads to endless repetition.

For example: The Spanish Civil War. Go do a search and see how many books carry that *exact same title.*

If you want to refer someone to it, you have to then use the author's name, and it's just annoying.

I can just tell people to go look up Long Live Death or Walls of Men and tell them what it's about. Much, much easier.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:31 AM (llXky)

75 I finished Return of the King this week and started Anthem by Any Rand. My daughter read Anthem for her private-tutor lit class and is now recommending to everyone she knows.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at April 16, 2023 09:31 AM (64aAI)

76 "There were lots of interesting tidbits, but one I found particularly interesting was that the Comanche, being nomadic, didn't farm, and so because they only harvested meat, had a real problem with protein poisoning. They had to deal with other, more agriculturally-based tribes, in order to secure carbohydrates."
---

Innnnteresting. I was told by one history teacher that one of the reasons the Aztecs practiced ritual cannibalism was that they had a protein shortage. After the corpses came a-tumblin' down the steps, they would be made into soup, a la that palace dinner/orgy scene in Conan.

It's a shame the Aztecs and Comanches couldn't get together to solve each other's dietary issues. "You got peanut butter on my chocolate!/You got chocolate in my peanut butter", except with flesh/gruel.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at April 16, 2023 09:32 AM (Dc2NZ)

77 I need to get back into reading about World War I. I have several books on it and am still trying to make sense of it.

I don't think anybody -- from grunts to generals and the civilian leadership -- made any sense of WWI.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 16, 2023 09:33 AM (Om/di)

78 Thank you for the Book Thread Perfessor! I finished Joe Sharkey*s true crime book, Above Suspicion, about a rookie FBI agent in 1980s Eastern Kentucky, and his relationship with a local female informant, which goes horribly wrong. I thought the book was extremely well written and Marc Cashman*s narration performance was excellent. I am familiar with the area where the book is set and was actually working nearby some of the time during which the story takes place. There is a recent movie version of the story available on Prime or Netflix. The movie tells the tragic story well, and Emilia Clarke is fantastic in her role, as the tragic and doomed Susan Smith. The book's layers of detail really flesh out the story and create a lot of depth for the stories of all involved in the events. Just a sad and tragic story all the way around, but it is a fascinating read or listen.
Just started Michael Connelly*s Desert Star. It is the most recent Harry Bosch/Renee Ballard book, and was released last Fall. Harry Bosch is my absolute favorite literary character and I hold all new Bosch releases until *just the right time* to read them, so I can thoroughly lose myself in the story.

Posted by: SuperMayorSuperRonNirenberg-Give Me My 4th Term You Peons at April 16, 2023 09:33 AM (/Hc9U)

79 As for my reading, I'm still reading sections of Dominion, and also reading Thomas Wolfe's, The Good Child's River, a heavily fictionalized version of Aline Bernstein's family in New York.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:33 AM (Zzbjj)

80
Exactly correct. And keeping books out of schools is not banning them.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:30 AM (Zzbjj)
---
Some weeks ago a liberal coworker of mine were chatting about library drama and he started in on "can you believe these right-wing nuts trying to ban kids' books?"

And I replied: "Oh, like Huckleberry Finn? People are always doing that. What else is new?"

He was crestfallen.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:33 AM (llXky)

81 Just finished Savage Continent by Keith Lowe. It was recommended here a couple of weeks ago, though I cannot recall by whom. Thx to whom. Started rereading The Best and The Brightest. The arrogant nitwits in the Biden administration should read it, but not as a how to book

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 16, 2023 09:34 AM (cHmTg)

82 69 Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 09:28 AM (u7leW)

World War One is best understood as western decency blowing its brains out.

https://youtu.be/ZMCEK7pJvZg

The Westphalian Nation State model coupled with the drive to colonialism probably made it inevitable, it would have been less savage had it occurred twenty years earlier or later. The civilization it killed was probably on the whole a better one than we live in. Literacy was higher as was the economic gains enjoyed over the preceding 30 years.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:34 AM (Lzpvj)

83 My reading this week was really varied, even for me. A couple of 'children's books' came my way: "Gnomes" by Huygen and "Wind in the Willows" with the Arthur Rackham illustrations. Both are an absolute delight. (I'm not saying they are wasted on children but believe adults get more from them.

Then there was "The Christian Pipe Smoker", a short piece on how the use of a pipe and the way people enjoy them echoes how we should approach Christianity. That is with preparation, taking the time for contemplation, taking a long term approach to living and salvation, and sharing fellowship. Smoking, as such, is not necessary for these things and cigarettes and even cigars are not as conducive to the desired qualities. The authors are sincere but I sensed a playfulness in their writing. They end the short piece with a selection of pertinent quotes and poems.

More to follow.

Posted by: JTB at April 16, 2023 09:34 AM (7EjX1)

84 Legend of Drizzt is a 30+ novel soap opera. Not really a series in the conventional sense...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 16, 2023 09:26 AM (BpYfr)

You're saying the stories go on and on and nothing ever gets resolved?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:35 AM (Angsy)

85 Does anyone think self pub through Amazon or other sites - what other sites are there? - might be a good avenue for a beginning writer to get their stuff out?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:31 AM (Angsy)

Strictly from my own POV, Amazon is good in that they will publish most anything (hell, they pub dinosaur porn, FFS), so a beginning writer might want to use them as a market.

My caveat would be that putting stuff out there sets an example, and if your stuff isn't very good (NOT saying yours isn't; this is an example), then it would be hard to get readers to ignore the first subpar thing and get them to read your world-beating story that would knock Hemingway's socks off.

I think Wolfus would have more authority to speak on this, since he submits a lot to various magazines and contest sites.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 09:35 AM (AW0uW)

86 Currently I'm reading Dan Simmons's The Crook Factory, which focuses on the anti-Nazi spy operation that Hemingway created and led out of Cuba in WWII. The narrator is a black-ops FBI agent who doesn't think much of Hemingway, his wife Martha Gellhorn, or the other amateurs Ernest has recruited for his spy group. The fun is the real people who appear: So far, besides Ernest and Martha, we've seen Ian Fleming, Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman (who were good friends with Hemingway in real life), and Hoover himself, and we get mentions of Sir William Stephenson ("the quiet Canadian") and "Wild" Bill Donovan, the chief of the OSS.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 09:36 AM (omVj0)

87 For me, a story is 'ready' when my beta readers say that it is. Hope that helps. I suspect the more experienced Moron authors could answer the question better than I.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 09:23 AM (AW0uW)
---
My stories are done when I reach the point of physical nausea at the sight of the text.

Time to hit the "publish" button.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:36 AM (llXky)

88
I have trouble keeping track of the maine characters in some of Steven King's books.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at April 16, 2023 09:37 AM (enJYY)

89 Pretentious, too, are the novels written in present tense.

This was the most off-putting thing for me with Stephenson. And not just present tense as in "Joes goes into the store" but whatever tense it is that's "Now Joe is going into the store." I am hating that.

Posted by: Oddbob at April 16, 2023 09:37 AM (nfrXX)

90 if youve read victory forsaken, you know halberstam got the story all wrong, mary mcgrory, no rightist, pointed out that he misrepresented many characters and situations,

Posted by: no 6 at April 16, 2023 09:37 AM (PXvVL)

91 73
==
Does anyone think self pub through Amazon or other sites - what other sites are there? - might be a good avenue for a beginning writer to get their stuff out?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:31 AM (Angsy)

Sarah Hoyt ( accordingtohoyt.com ) abandoned trad pub years and years ago because it's full of commies.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:38 AM (llON8)

92 Legend of Drizzt is a 30+ novel soap opera. Not really a series in the conventional sense...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 16, 2023 09:26 AM (BpYfr)

You're saying the stories go on and on and nothing ever gets resolved?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:35 AM (Angsy)
----
Well, yes, actually. It's low fantasy, so there aren't the same world-shattering stakes you find in high fantasy. It's about an ongoing war between the dwarves of Mithril Hall, led by King Bruenor and the dark elves of Menzoberranzan, led by Matron Mother Baenre. It takes place over a couple of centuries from start to finish with lots of back and forth between the two factions.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 16, 2023 09:39 AM (BpYfr)

93 91 Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:38 AM (llON

The gatekeeping in publishing is insane, the Bud Light kerfuffle was played out decades ago in lit.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:39 AM (Lzpvj)

94 Let's try this wifi

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 16, 2023 09:39 AM (vHIgi)

95 *does snoopy dance of unbanned joy*

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 16, 2023 09:40 AM (vHIgi)

96 Legend of Drizzt is a 30+ novel soap opera. Not really a series in the conventional sense...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 16, 2023 09:26 AM (BpYfr)

I did the Icewind Dale saga as they came out about 30ish years ago, haven't found the hardcover set version in any local secondhand bookstores yet but am looking. I lost my first attempt at a Library in an unfortunate storage unit mishap and am trying to replace as I can. Worst loss was all my first edition Heinlein books.

I think there were deadlines to meet and the quality suffered with Legacy. I don't think RA's heart was in it.

Posted by: Reforger at April 16, 2023 09:40 AM (ENT01)

97 Strictly from my own POV, Amazon is good in that they will publish most anything (hell, they pub dinosaur porn, FFS), so a beginning writer might want to use them as a market. . . .

I think Wolfus would have more authority to speak on this, since he submits a lot to various magazines and contest sites.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023

***
MP4, the news that Amazon is not a very high bar is encouraging to me at least. I doubt my stuff would get any kind of a nod from modern first readers at publishing houses or at agents. Not woke enough.

I haven't submitted much to magazines. Contests, yes. In fact I have been awarded another honorable mention from the Writers of the Future (Scientology) contest, which makes three from them. If there were submission fees to their quarterly contests, I'd have long ago suspected that nobody ever gets above HM, but submitting is free. (Cont.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 09:40 AM (omVj0)

98 yes the two power blocks, had organized a series of alliances to prevent from going to war, but there had been a number of tripwires, like the agadir crisis, where they could have triggered, a decade earlier of course the likes of vickers and blohm and voss and krupp made a fortune arming all parties involved, (that has no relation to the present day)

Posted by: no 6 at April 16, 2023 09:41 AM (PXvVL)

99 In reading news, I just finished Perelandra by C.S. Lewis. It is part of his "space" trilogy.

I'm going to buck the tide here and say that while it has its moments, Lewis is guilty of every crime (falsely) attributed to Tolkien: his description is endless and his conversations produce text blocks the size of the entire page.

Maybe it was the wartime thing, but he desperately needed a ruthless editor who could say "We get it, it's like a Christian liturgy, point made."

I'm looking forward to That Hideous Strength which contains the odd author's note that there's no need to read the two previous books. I think even he knew this wasn't his best work.

I do like the hard-ish sci-fi element and the overall concept. It's the execution that could have been better.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:41 AM (llXky)

100 Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

The Forgotten Man : A new History of the Great Depression

The Great Good Thing : A Secular Jew Comes to Faith in Christ

Don't Go to College : A Case for Revolution

Clearly, I like subtitles.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at April 16, 2023 09:41 AM (5u1+1)

101 One of my favorite subtitles is for "Three Men In A Boat (To Say Nothing of The Dog). The other is "English Literature in the Sixteenth Century (Excluding Drama). I love the 'excluding drama' subtitle. I half expect it to end with 'So There!'

Posted by: JTB at April 16, 2023 09:42 AM (7EjX1)

102 And I replied: "Oh, like Huckleberry Finn? People are always doing that. What else is new?"

He was crestfallen.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:33 AM (llXky

Good. I just can't fathom the depravity of people who support sex books for kids, or softening the evil of "transing". The picture from some book used in the "health class" in NJ districts was stomach turning in it's deception.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:42 AM (Zzbjj)

103 I don't know. Maybe my 10 ish years of only Non-fiction has doomed me for fiction but I am finding it tedious.
Posted by: Reforger

Funny, I have the opposite reaction. I usually read a lot of nonfiction, especially history, and read fiction for escapism. I am reading a lot more fiction these days.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at April 16, 2023 09:42 AM (oglWZ)

104 I think there were deadlines to meet and the quality suffered with Legacy. I don't think RA's heart was in it.
Posted by: Reforger at April 16, 2023 09:40 AM (ENT01)
----
I think at one point Salvatore wanted to end the Drizzt stories, but he didn't have creative control over the character, so Wizards of the Coast would be able to write new stories with Drizzt. He wasn't cool with that, so he continued to write more stories with Drizzt, even if he's sometimes a secondary character.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 16, 2023 09:42 AM (BpYfr)

105 Currently in Wil McCarthy's "Poor Man's Sky", a sequel to "Rich Man's Sky", which centered on the tech barons who were making trillions in the space race. This story is about a murder on the Moon and its possible relation to a huge public contest to become one of the lucky few selected to be a Mars colonist. Did somebody knock off a contestant just to go up the list?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at April 16, 2023 09:42 AM (Dc2NZ)

106 Hiya Heidi ! (I know you're in here....)

Regards to The Artist Formerly known as Da Cannibal....

Posted by: JT at April 16, 2023 09:42 AM (T4tVD)

107 98 Posted by: no 6 at April 16, 2023 09:41 AM (PXvVL)

Keegan said in his excellent piece on WW1 a time traveler from Europe 1913-1919 would come to modern Europe and ask "what has changed?"

Aside from the wave migration precious little has, it is ethnic minorities in the Russian orbit and their games driving events.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:43 AM (Lzpvj)

108 (continued) I plan to submit a 6400-word fantasy adventure to the Baen contest the Perfessor mentioned here about two weeks ago. Again, it's free to submit, and there is always the chance of doing well. If you don't submit, of course, your chance of winning is zero.

My best deal so far was the short story that wound up in 2019 in the anthology The Wand That Rocks the Cradle: Magical Stories of Fantasy. It's still available on Amazon (and it ties in with the subtitle subject this week too!). I look at the printed book now and am astonished that I wrote that tale.

So I don't know how submitting to contests can be a bad thing, as long as the story is the best you can make it and you still believe in it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 09:44 AM (omVj0)

109 Thanks for the h.t. Squirrel.

The genre where I find subtitles particularly prevalent is political opinion writers.

E.g. Ann Coulter ¡Adios, America!: The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole

Or Mark Levin Plunder and Deceit: Big Government's Exploitation of Young People and the Future

Perhaps those two examples are influenced by their appearances on other media, but reading the subtitle I can pretty well guess what they are going to say based on previous experience. The subtitle doesn't lead me to expect anything new.

Posted by: Muldoon at April 16, 2023 09:44 AM (ykeLU)

110 >>> 102
==
Good. I just can't fathom the depravity of people who support sex books for kids, or softening the evil of "transing". The picture from some book used in the "health class" in NJ districts was stomach turning in it's deception.
Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:42 AM (Zzbjj)

Consider this has been around for *decades* for (supposed) adults, and how in the fck any sane medical licensing board could have approved these "surgeries"...

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:45 AM (llON8)

111 OT but I was looking for something to do this afternoon. Yay, the Obama portraits are on tour at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts! I can hardly contain myself.

Posted by: Oddbob at April 16, 2023 09:45 AM (nfrXX)

112 My stories are done when I reach the point of physical nausea at the sight of the text.

Time to hit the "publish" button.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:36 AM (llXky)

But you have the benefit of having written and published already, so you have a feel as to what's good and what's ready to go. It's the beginners who aren't sure.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:46 AM (Angsy)

113 Obama's portrait should have had D.C. in flames behind him.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at April 16, 2023 09:47 AM (Dc2NZ)

114 Sarah Hoyt ( accordingtohoyt.com ) abandoned trad pub years and years ago because it's full of commies.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:38 AM (llON

---
There is definitely a divide between professional authors and semi-hobbyists like me. If you are trying to make a living, Amazon may not be the best fit.

I've found it to work for me. The entry cost is low, people have heard of the site, and as you build out a body of work, you can make a little money.

One thing I know nothing about is marketing. I have not spent a penny on it, and that was partly because I was broke when I started, and partly because I figured the time to make a push was when I had a catalog big enough to benefit from it. I've noticed that when one book launches, sales of others tick up as people decided to check out my other stuff.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:47 AM (llXky)

115 What about redundant or reiterative subtitles?

E.g. Muldoon's Library of Limericks: A Collection of Humorous Limericks by Seamus Muldoon

Posted by: Muldoon at April 16, 2023 09:47 AM (ykeLU)

116 I love much of C.S. Lewis' work, and my life was changed forever by reading Mere Christianity. Having said that, the space trilogy could disappear tomorrow and his canon would not be diminished one iota, imho.

Posted by: PabloD at April 16, 2023 09:47 AM (AYd5v)

117 well there were millions of lives expended since then, which made it possible to downgrade or virtually eliminate god worship in much of Europe, excepr for the alien power, of the Prophet and the Skydragon, and the old Gods of the Babylonians and the Levant,

Posted by: no 6 at April 16, 2023 09:48 AM (PXvVL)

118 The rest of my varied reading this week consisted of Robert E. Howard's "Hour of the Dragon" (it includes Howard's essay on the Hyborean Age), "Death of a Citizen", the first Matt Helm book, and some articles on handloading for military surplus bolt action rifles.

Anyone trying to follow my reading habits will either fall asleep from boredom or get whiplash going back and forth on the varied selections.

Posted by: JTB at April 16, 2023 09:49 AM (7EjX1)

119 And I replied: "Oh, like Huckleberry Finn? People are always doing that. What else is new?"

He was crestfallen.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:33 AM (llXky

A college friend of mine from my student co-op days is a story writer with a few published pieces and used to take the liberal line about these things. Her FB page was cluttered with rainbow flags and Obama stuff. All of a sudden it is all gone and she, who was so pro-gay in college, thinks it's time to stop. I didn't push her on the topic, but I think it's the intrusion of these books in the schools, now that she has grandchildren.

She's the wort of writer who writes about things she doesn't know and people whose lives she only imagines. Given her colorful college days, she should have lots of material, but doesn't touch that stuff.

I wonder what makes people choose their characters and why they choose types so utterly foreign to them.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:49 AM (Zzbjj)

120 This week I read "Proof of Heaven" by Eben Alexander III. (BTW it has a subtitle that accurately describes the contents: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife.) Alexander gives you enough of a memoir to put the critical events of the book into context. He is a very accomplished neurosurgeon who, in 2008, suffered a sudden and catastrophic illness. At first his medical team could not diagnose the illness and when they did it seemed that he would almost certainly die and if he didn't he would be left in a vegetative state. (continued)

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at April 16, 2023 09:49 AM (fTtFy)

121 I've read only two or three of Piers Anthony's Xanth fantasy books, and that was more than 30 years ago, but I liked how minor characters in the earlier books became the stars of later books.

One way to keep the franchise going and yet be able to end stories.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 16, 2023 09:50 AM (Om/di)

122
Good. I just can't fathom the depravity of people who support sex books for kids, or softening the evil of "transing". The picture from some book used in the "health class" in NJ districts was stomach turning in it's deception.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:42 AM (Zzbjj)
---
They are in denial, plain and simple. They do not want to see what is being put out. If you challenge them, or hold up a copy, they avert their eyes. We've got the footage of school boards killing the microphone to prevent it being read aloud.

There are a lot of people who want to feel good about themselves, convince themselves they are the side of the angels, so they have to warp reality itself to make that happen.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:50 AM (llXky)

123 >>> 85
==
My caveat would be that putting stuff out there sets an example, and if your stuff isn't very good (NOT saying yours isn't; this is an example), then it would be hard to get readers to ignore the first subpar thing and get them to read your world-beating story that would knock Hemingway's socks off.
==
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 09:35 AM (AW0uW)

Heh. An anthology I picked up on a whim had a couple decent entries by authors I'm familiar with, along with several names I did not recognize. One of the entries was a good example of this - there may have been an interesting story buried somewhere but I ended up skimming because it was so poorly written.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:51 AM (llON8)

124 122 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:50 AM (llXky)

Quite, the books are vital to have available for 7 year olds but you get arrested if you read them at a school board meeting-square that circle.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:51 AM (Lzpvj)

125 . . . I've found [Amazon] to work for me. The entry cost is low, people have heard of the site, and as you build out a body of work, you can make a little money.

One thing I know nothing about is marketing. I have not spent a penny on it, and that was partly because I was broke when I started, and partly because I figured the time to make a push was when I had a catalog big enough to benefit from it. I've noticed that when one book launches, sales of others tick up as people decided to check out my other stuff.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023

***
The work involved to create a website for myself and my work, to deal with social media, etc., sounds exhausting. I'd be pretty good at it; I'm good at writing blurbs for my own and others' stuff. But getting started with it, and continuing with it when I should be doing something creative, does not seem attractive.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 09:51 AM (omVj0)

126 One thing I know nothing about is marketing. I have not spent a penny on it, and that was partly because I was broke when I started, and partly because I figured the time to make a push was when I had a catalog big enough to benefit from it.

Same here. My writing is a hobby, and if I were signed to a house, I couldn't crank out Theda Bara books to match the demands of a contract. This way, I can take my time (and a good thing, because I am incurably lazy).

If I were more energetic, I could revamp my website and do more to 'push' my books, but (1): I'm happy where I am and (2): there's not much of a market for silent film mysteries, anyway.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 09:51 AM (AW0uW)

127
Consider this has been around for *decades* for (supposed) adults, and how in the fck any sane medical licensing board could have approved these "surgeries"...
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:45 AM (llON

I know it's been around as plenty of them ended up in psych hospitals for depression. I wonder if a book on these types would get published. I doubt it.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:52 AM (Zzbjj)

128 E.g. Muldoon's Library of Limericks: A Collection of Humorous Limericks by Seamus Muldoon

Posted by: Muldoon at April 16, 2023 09:47 AM (ykeLU)
---
I'm sorry, is that Muldoon's Library of Limericks: A Collection of Humorous Limericks by Himself (From the Seamus Muldoon Library)?

Because that's the imprint I have.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:52 AM (llXky)

129 Anybody read Alan Smale's "Clash of Eagles" trilogy? It's an alternate history tale about a Roman Empire that didn't collapse, made it to the New World, and encountered the Cahokia civilization.

Is it any good? I liked Smale's "Hot Moon" and thought about adding this to my teetering TBR ziggurat.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at April 16, 2023 09:52 AM (Dc2NZ)

130
The Little Way: reflections on the joy of smallness in GOD's infinite love - St. Therese of Lisieux

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 09:52 AM (rj6Yv)

131 @111 --

Got your tomato soup?

Oh, wait, you're not a leftist. You'd be jailed.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 16, 2023 09:53 AM (Om/di)

132 While his Alexander's condition was being treated (ineffectively) he was in a coma for 7 days. During this time he went to Heaven. (Yes, this is a non-fiction book.) He describes his experiences there but, as he often tells the reader, they weren't really describable by words. After seven days Alexander suddenly wakened from his coma. Although it took some time, he fully recovered from the disease. So basically two miracles.

I found the book intensely moving and illuminating. Its message is very uplifting for Christians and, I would think for everyone else.

I would be very interested to hear the reactions of other morons who have read this book.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at April 16, 2023 09:53 AM (fTtFy)

133 Sarah Hoyt ( accordingtohoyt.com ) abandoned trad pub years and years ago because it's full of commies.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:38 AM (llON

I read that. Still, has anyone collected stats comparing sales from trad pub compared to self pub? Can you even get true numbers from trad pub with all the fake sales of politicos "books?" I think many people considered self pub works to be inferior. "If it was that good, a publishing house would have bought it."

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:53 AM (Angsy)

134 Of course, political writers generally are targeting a particular readership and use the subtitle to signal to the choir that This Sermon contains some Red Meat. A form of confirmation bias if you will.

Posted by: Muldoon at April 16, 2023 09:53 AM (ykeLU)

135 Dash, I read Crossings a while back because someone here recommended it. This book should not be confused with the movie concept of switching bodies. The book is fascinating and not something I would have found if not for this thread.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at April 16, 2023 09:54 AM (Y+l9t)

136 On the topic of my reading, I'm pretty amazed that Thomas Wolfe hasn't been completely banned.

I'm also looking for some more science biographies for the grandsons. The older one, soon to be 10, is interested in astronomy, so recs on age appropriate books would be appreciated.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:54 AM (Zzbjj)

137 Read Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy. If you want to know what
McCarthy thinks and feels about the state of modern mathematics, quantum physics, psychology and life in general then this novel about a supergenius young woman is written jiust for you!

His other recent novel The Passenger - Comac's foray into weird fiction - was okay.

Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy is truly weird compared to The Passenger.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 09:54 AM (rU8+6)

138 If I were more energetic, I could revamp my website and do more to 'push' my books, but (1): I'm happy where I am and (2): there's not much of a market for silent film mysteries, anyway.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 09:51 AM (AW0uW)
---
At least you have a genre. I'm all over the place. I figure my post-China burnout will subside by the fall, but I have no idea what I will do next.

Then again, chaining myself to the Wheel of Pain that is Chinese history wasn't something I was planning on, either. I was actually thinking a sequel (!) but then mania hit...

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:54 AM (llXky)

139 Arriving today:

Long Live Death: The Keys to Victory in the Spanish Civil War

By ... uhhh So quite the range of interest.

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 09:54 AM (rj6Yv)

140 On the topic of my reading, I'm pretty amazed that Thomas Wolfe hasn't been completely banned.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:54 AM (Zzbjj)
---
Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh. Buy a copy before the left finds out about it.

Weirdly, there is a new edition that just came out.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:55 AM (llXky)

141 I have that Dad Joke book.

Groan inducing perfection

Posted by: Diesel Jones, Biologist at April 16, 2023 09:56 AM (kRAxH)

142 Black Mischief by Evelyn Waugh. Buy a copy before the left finds out about it.

Weirdly, there is a new edition that just came out.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:55 AM (llXky)

I have a copy, but never read it. Is the new edition "edited"?

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:57 AM (Zzbjj)

143 . . . there's not much of a market for silent film mysteries, anyway.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023

***
Considering how many "cozies" clog the bookstore shelves, I'm surprised. Mysteries always sell pretty well, at least compared to literary novels. Tell you what, put at least one cat in your stories and feature a cat in the cover artwork, and I'll bet you see more sales. There are more felines on and between the covers of paperback "cozy" mysteries than I can count, or stand (and I love cats).

Of course the cozies are written to a (to me, dull) formula. Lead character, female, often single, runs a small business in a small town that would never support such a business (and the writer is usually in that same line), etc.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 09:57 AM (omVj0)

144 Read Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy. If you want to know what
McCarthy thinks and feels about the state of modern mathematics, quantum physics, psychology and life in general then this novel about a supergenius young woman is written jiust for you!

His other recent novel The Passenger - Comac's foray into weird fiction - was okay. . . .

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023

***
Does he still eschew quotation marks and the like? I read the one they made the film from with Javier Bardem as the villain, and decided McCarthy is not for me.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 09:58 AM (omVj0)

145
Long Live Death: The Keys to Victory in the Spanish Civil War

By ... uhhh So quite the range of interest.

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 09:54 AM (rj6Yv)
---
Yeah. I drive my family nuts.

At least my kids like seeing their name in the books. My middle daughter did the illustrations in Long Live Death and the youngest did the maps in Walls of Men. They're pitching them for me. They didn't really promote my other books so enthusiastically.

Nor have they bothered to read any of my stuff. My wife has, though, which is nice. I actually read Walls of Men aloud to her to get the final edit. Very helpful!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 09:59 AM (llXky)

146 Of course the cozies are written to a (to me, dull) formula. Lead character, female, often single, runs a small business in a small town that would never support such a business (and the writer is usually in that same line), etc.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 09:57 AM (omVj0)

Sounds like a Hallmark Movie...set at Christmas?

Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 09:59 AM (AwYPR)

147 I'm going to buck the tide here and say that while it has its moments, Lewis is guilty of every crime (falsely) attributed to Tolkien: his description is endless and his conversations produce text blocks the size of the entire page."

Tolkien and Lewis were good friends and met often - supposedly Treebeard, and especially his style of speaking, is a friendly caricature of Lewis.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 16, 2023 10:01 AM (q3gwH)

148 . . . there's not much of a market for silent film mysteries, anyway.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023

I'm a bit surprised by this. The period in question includes the 20s which seems like a source of endless fascination for many, and inspires many, too many, costume dramas and mysteries, Christie's Beresfords for example.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:01 AM (Zzbjj)

149 I have a copy, but never read it. Is the new edition "edited"?

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:57 AM (Zzbjj)
---
Not that I've heard. Waugh's descendants are pretty gutsy devil-may-care types, so I don't think they would accept any revisions.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:01 AM (llXky)

150 Consider this has been around for *decades* for (supposed) adults, and how in the fck any sane medical licensing board could have approved these "surgeries"...
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:45 AM (llON

The same ones that will pull a pediatrician's license for not pushing every patient's parents into accepting the full series of childhood vaccinations

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 10:01 AM (xhaym)

151 11 killed in Chicago this weekend as of 8AM per HeyJackass. Highest for this weekend in last ten years. Groot is going out with a bang

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 16, 2023 10:01 AM (cHmTg)

152 Considering how many "cozies" clog the bookstore shelves, I'm surprised.

Well, it was 20-odd years ago, so the market may have changed. And Loren Estleman does pretty well with his novels about a character "Valentino" who is a silent film scholar - but then again, Estleman has a yuge catalog and is a veteran writer.

I like 'cozy' for my work, because I have no interest in police procedurals and, in fact, the real subjects of my stories are not so much the 'mystery,' per se as it is making the reader think they are right there in 1915 or 1917 or 1922, on location or at a movie studio and seeing how things were made and what the world was like.

And yes, cozies are overwhelmingly female and Mary Sues at a lot of times. I just don't think I would fit in.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 10:01 AM (AW0uW)

153 Speaking of "A Distant Mirror" by Barbara Tuchman, we were discussing the Black Death yesterday and its inflection points. 50% of the Catholic clergy succumbed to it. Priests would go out to give Extreme Unction to the dying and get infected. Chapter 5 "This is the End of the World" : The Black Death (LOL, another subtitle!) is great. So many things. The Nobility tried to invoke wage and price controls, because labor became scarce. It didn't work. A person could move away and get better wages elsewhere.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at April 16, 2023 10:02 AM (5u1+1)

154 >>> 133 Sarah Hoyt ( accordingtohoyt.com ) abandoned trad pub years and years ago because it's full of commies.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:38 AM (llON

I read that. Still, has anyone collected stats comparing sales from trad pub compared to self pub? Can you even get true numbers from trad pub with all the fake sales of politicos "books?" I think many people considered self pub works to be inferior. "If it was that good, a publishing house would have bought it."
Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 09:53 AM (Angsy)

I'm not aware of stats comparing the two (and I'm not sure of the value given that you concede trad pub has BS baked in, what with political "deals") but she makes a living doing what she does, as do many others.

Do you think the people who think a trad pub house is superior will like what you have to write? Do you want to write stories they'll enjoy?

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 10:02 AM (llON8)

155 How does a book get to be a "cozy", and what is it?

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:02 AM (Zzbjj)

156 A well-chosen subtitle can be helpful in explaining what a book is about - emphasis on "well-chosen".

I've also found that a subtitle can tell when not to read a book. For example, if the subtitle contains the word "as", it's probably a woke tract. Other words that damn a book include "liberation", "equality", "oppression", and "struggle" - the first two because, in all likelihood, the author will yammer about liberation and equality while advocating oppression and hierarchy.

So, yes, whether positive or negative, I find subtitles helpful.

Posted by: Nemo at April 16, 2023 10:03 AM (S6ArX)

157 Heh. An anthology I picked up on a whim had a couple decent entries by authors I'm familiar with, along with several names I did not recognize. One of the entries was a good example of this - there may have been an interesting story buried somewhere but I ended up skimming because it was so poorly written.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:51 AM (llON

Blame it on the editors?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 10:03 AM (Angsy)

158 Wulfus - no quotation marks.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 10:04 AM (rU8+6)

159 If I were more energetic, I could revamp my website and do more to 'push' my books, but (1): I'm happy where I am and (2): there's not much of a market for silent film mysteries, anyway.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 09:51 AM (AW0uW)

Any idea who coined the word 'movie'?

Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 10:06 AM (AwYPR)

160 TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA: Or, The Marvelous and Exciting Adventures of Pierre Aronnax, Conseil, His Servant, and Ned Land, a Canadian Harpooner
Verne, Jules

The 1875 edition my father inherited from his family had SEAS for SEA. Wish I could find it. I always had the impression that subtitles were a 19th century thing, if not older.

Posted by: Jim at April 16, 2023 10:06 AM (2subk)

161 I once had a nice collection of Col. Jeff Cooper's books. One of them included an essay on the origin of the Toledo sword, which, in turn, led to Cooper's reflections on the siege of Toledo during the Civil War and the leadership of the garrison's commander (whose name fails me at the moment). Inspiring.

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 10:06 AM (rj6Yv)

162 The work involved to create a website for myself and my work, to deal with social media, etc., sounds exhausting. I'd be pretty good at it; I'm good at writing blurbs for my own and others' stuff. But getting started with it, and continuing with it when I should be doing something creative, does not seem attractive.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 09:51 AM (omVj0)

Of course, Wolfus, I don't know the cost, but there are people who do that for money. All you would have to do is maintain it.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 10:06 AM (Angsy)

163 I'm a bit surprised by this. The period in question includes the 20s which seems like a source of endless fascination for many, and inspires many, too many, costume dramas and mysteries, Christie's Beresfords for example.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:01 AM (Zzbjj)
---
Yeah, period pieces remain very popular.

On the broader topic of genres and profitability, I will admit that Long Live Death's commercial success did influence my thinking on the next book. It has by far outsold everything else combined.

Part of that is the topic, and part of it is the nature of non-fiction. When people are interested in a thing, if your book stands out, they take a look.

The decisive point was being at a wargaming exercise involving China. At that point I knew the book had to be written (because people are clueless about China) and I knew that there was a waiting audience.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:06 AM (llXky)

164 I think at one point Salvatore wanted to end the Drizzt stories, but he didn't have creative control over the character, so Wizards of the Coast would be able to write new stories with Drizzt. He wasn't cool with that, so he continued to write more stories with Drizzt, even if he's sometimes a secondary character.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 16, 2023 09:42 AM (BpYfr)

I would buy that. It shows.

Well. Thank you for the book thread but Home Depot calls and I gotta get a freezeproof faucet replacement done so my yard doesn't die. No plumbing project on this POS I bought is ever easy. Have 3 x 3 foot section of sidewalk broken out I have to do also.
Long day ahead.
Later all.

Posted by: Reforger at April 16, 2023 10:07 AM (ENT01)

165 "I would be very interested to hear the reactions of other morons who have read this book."

I will put it in my queue. I've read other, similar books dealing with near death experiences (NDE). It is a fascinating subject, to me, anyway. I have several acquaintances who were supposedly in a coma or persistent vegetative state who later awakened. Interestingly, they didn't experience the passage of time even tho' they were out for days or more. According to them, they were lights out, and then, a mere second later, awake and aware. I experienced the same when I recently had surgery. I thought I was out for a minute, but it was several hours.

Posted by: gourmand du jour, a literal ray of sunshine at April 16, 2023 10:07 AM (jTmQV)

166 @153 I reread the Decameron during COVID-19 crap . Could just as easily been written today. A Distant Mirror was a great book. How anyone survived the 14th century in France is beyond me

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 16, 2023 10:08 AM (cHmTg)

167 Based on the topic meme up there I am a blessed superhero of book rescue.

Posted by: exdem13 at April 16, 2023 10:08 AM (W+kMI)

168 How does a book get to be a "cozy", and what is it?

In general, a 'cozy' mystery is one which takes place in a small town or limited location and in which blood and sex always takes place offstage.

The normal world is upended, but by the end evil is punished, good is rewarded and everything goes back to where it was.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 10:08 AM (AW0uW)

169 Recently read a couple of John Ringo books grabbed at random at Half Price Books; his Aldenara series.

I've no interest in reading the rest. I'm not sure why, there's just a lot of problems. I guess the biggest is, the plots are just not interesting.
It's like a scifi version of Weekly Reader "Stories of WWII" but with aliens--except only the alien have advanced tech. 5 years into this war and the humans are still fighting almost entirely with WWII tech.
And:
Billions of humans have been killed and he spends chapters on the President agonizing over using nukes as it could effect reelection. AYFKM?

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at April 16, 2023 10:09 AM (5EnGD)

170 Of course the cozies are written to a (to me, dull) formula. Lead character, female, often single, runs a small business in a small town that would never support such a business (and the writer is usually in that same line), etc.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 09:57 AM (omVj0)

To be catty, and besides the fact that an ex-GF liked them for comfort reading, they are in the used bookshops, and not kept and cherished because they are not as engaging for multiple reads like the Discworld books or stuff by Simak and Eric Frank Russell.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 10:09 AM (xhaym)

171 Speaking of "A Distant Mirror" by Barbara Tuchman, we were discussing the Black Death yesterday and its inflection points. 50% of the Catholic clergy succumbed to it. Priests would go out to give Extreme Unction to the dying and get infected. Chapter 5 "This is the End of the World" : The Black Death (LOL, another subtitle!) is great. So many things. The Nobility tried to invoke wage and price controls, because labor became scarce. It didn't work. A person could move away and get better wages elsewhere.
Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at April 16, 2023 10:02 AM (5u1+1)

Scarce labor also placed an emphasis on machines and industry to compensate. Also, a dearth of scribes meant finding alternative means of publish, leading to the printing press.

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 10:10 AM (rj6Yv)

172 gourmand--

If you are interested in NDEs then I think you would like "Proof of Heaven." Since his experience Alexander has become involved with the NDE community and while there are lots of similarities of experiences among NDEs there are things that make his experience unique. His perspective as a neurosurgeon (and previous skeptic) are particularly illuminating.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at April 16, 2023 10:11 AM (fTtFy)

173 On the whole "Subtitles: Threat, or Menace?" thing I am guilty, but I had a reason! I'm tying together a) serializations of b) a trilogy and I wanted readers to know all the way through it was the same story.

Now if you want an example of over-the-top titles Japan has us completely beat. A typical manga can feature something like "I tried to go to the corner store for ice cream but a beautiful elf girl kidnapped me so now I sell ice cream in a magical world, but I like it." If you can read it without taking a breath you get a prize.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at April 16, 2023 10:11 AM (LEuDt)

174 It bothers me too, but I've always assumed that the author is touting the book's truthiness and suggesting that you wouldn't know it was fiction without that label. I don't read much new fiction, anyway.
Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 09:15 AM (Zzbjj)
"truthiness", heh. That just makes me agree with vmom more.
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 09:17 AM (llON

I sort of disagree.

I can see putting "A Novel" on the title page if the title itself is something that might suggest that the book is nonfiction of some sort.

Like "Einstein's Theory of Relativity"
or
"How to Get a Girlfriend in 2 Weeks"
or
"Cats Love Cat Food More Than They Love you"

just to make things clear.

Buuuuuuut, if your title something like-

"Dark Eclairs Rising Darkly", then yeah, unnecessary fru-fru.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 16, 2023 10:11 AM (RJQ8g)

175 I get a list of new purchases from the library sorted by category. I noticed that in the mystery category almost all now have a subtitle telling you it is a (name of detective character)mystery. It draws the eye immediately if you are into those books.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at April 16, 2023 10:11 AM (Y+l9t)

176 129 Anybody read Alan Smale's "Clash of Eagles" trilogy? It's an alternate history tale about a Roman Empire that didn't collapse, made it to the New World, and encountered the Cahokia civilization.

Is it any good? I liked Smale's "Hot Moon" and thought about adding this to my teetering TBR ziggurat.
========
I saw it on the shelves back in the day, but they disappeared after a while. Would it be recommended alt history reading?

Posted by: exdem13 at April 16, 2023 10:12 AM (W+kMI)

177 Any idea who coined the word 'movie'?
Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 10:06 AM (AwYPR)

I'd have to take a long trawl through my library, but my off-hand recollection is that one of the major fan magazines - Motion Picture or Photoplay or one of the others - held a contest in the early teens to come up with a short, punchy name for motion pictures.

Although the term 'movie' as a shortened form of 'moving picture' was around from at least 1910 or so, I think.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 10:12 AM (AW0uW)

178 I really enjoyed the novel No Country for Old Men. The movie leads people to believe the bad guy was a sort of spirit demon, whereas the novel presents him as super intuitive and much smarter than his opponents.

The lack of quotes doesn't bother me. I don't know why. It just doesn't.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 10:12 AM (rU8+6)

179 The normal world is upended, but by the end evil is punished, good is rewarded and everything goes back to where it was.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 10:08 AM (AW0uW)

"Feel good" murders. St Mary Mead.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:12 AM (Zzbjj)

180 135 Dash, I read Crossings a while back because someone here recommended it. This book should not be confused with the movie concept of switching bodies.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at April 16, 2023 09:54 AM (Y+l9t)

True--I don't do the concept justice with that very abbreviated description. It's not Freaky Friday!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 16, 2023 10:13 AM (OX9vb)

181 69 "I need to get back into reading about World War I. I have several books on it and am still trying to make sense of it."

I had to limit my reading about WW I and what led to it. Hubris, avarice, entitlement, and stupidity by military leaders, are just some of the factors. It set the stage for WW II and almost completely destroyed what was of value in Europe. (Tolkien, Lewis, the Inklings, and a few others are very apparent exceptions.) We are feeling the echoes of it in our cultures today. It is both depressing and infuriating.

Posted by: JTB at April 16, 2023 10:13 AM (7EjX1)

182 OK, folks, must run. I have my narrator in a tense standoff with Paramount prexy Adolph Zukor and have to get him out of the office with his job intact.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at April 16, 2023 10:14 AM (AW0uW)

183 Subtitles are very old. Thomas Malthus's work uses them and it is very much a book of the 18th Century

An Essay on the Principles of Population,
as it affects The Future Improvement of Society
With Remarks
On the Speculations of Mr Godwin,
M. Condorcet,
and Other Writers.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 10:14 AM (xhaym)

184 If you've noted my absence from the blogs it's because I am reading Len Deighton's "Samson" series, 9 books. Pretty good. The plots are convoluted but good. A few holes though. I'm on book 4.

Posted by: Ciampino - We have kittens at April 16, 2023 10:15 AM (qfLjt)

185 We are feeling the echoes of it in our cultures today. It is both depressing and infuriating.
Posted by: JTB at April 16, 2023 10:13 AM (7EjX1)

And so timely. Yet Americans throw it on the back burner and focus on WWII.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:15 AM (Zzbjj)

186 I once had a nice collection of Col. Jeff Cooper's books. One of them included an essay on the origin of the Toledo sword, which, in turn, led to Cooper's reflections on the siege of Toledo during the Civil War and the leadership of the garrison's commander (whose name fails me at the moment). Inspiring.

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 10:06 AM (rj6Yv)
---
The siege of the Alcazar, Col. Jose Moscardo, commanding. Moscardo's son was captured and a call was patched through to give Moscardo "proof of life." He was informed that if he did not surrender, his son would die. Moscardo instructed his son to be brave and let his last words be Viva Espana and die like a hero. His son was subsequently executed.

When the Alcazar was relieved, Moscardo paraded his battered force. Asked by the commander of the relieving force to report, he replied with the Spanish equivalent of "nothing significant to report."

And epic story.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:15 AM (llXky)

187 Jacket quotes from fellow genre authors always seemed a bit fishy to me, even when I agreed to the sentiments expressed. I rarely see blurbs from actual critics now.

It reminds me of Spy Magazine's "Logrolling In Our Time", in which authors scratched each other's backs for a good review.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at April 16, 2023 10:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

188
Ciampino's Rescue kitties NOW LIVE Streaming!!!
https://www.twitch.tv/kittenwatch

WE HAVE AT LEAST 3 KITTENS FROM SCARLET, THE GRAY.

We had a bad storm last night, including tornado
watch, hail and inline winds, and the kitties
were a bit frightened. That may have
induced labor. She may not be finished. They are
under the bed. Black and gray maybe. No pix yet.

There's also another photo update at link below

Take a look if interested. Make sure to click on
"See Older Updates" as well if it's your first time.
https://is.gd/WQ5JcT

Posted by: Ciampino -- We have kittens at April 16, 2023 10:16 AM (qfLjt)

189 82 69 Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 09:28 AM (u7leW)

World War One is best understood as western decency blowing its brains out.

https://youtu.be/ZMCEK7pJvZg

The Westphalian Nation State model coupled with the drive to colonialism probably made it inevitable, it would have been less savage had it occurred twenty years earlier or later. The civilization it killed was probably on the whole a better one than we live in. Literacy was higher as was the economic gains enjoyed over the preceding 30 years.
==========
My entire view of The War To End All Wars was changed forever after I read The Proud Tower. The West was doing very well about 1910-1912. Everyone thought so too! No one worried about a war among the major powers except the few diplomatic & bureaucratic professionals whose job it was to worry about such things. Then The Guns of August were heard, and nothing was the same again.

Posted by: exdem13 at April 16, 2023 10:17 AM (W+kMI)

190 Re: the eternal question of "when is my writing done?" and "is it any good?" another source of feedback, besides tossing it up on Amazon, is using some of the serialization sites like Wattpad or Radish. Lots of newbie writers put stuff up and there are lots of *readers* too, so it is much easier to get feedback. When you start getting angry comments like "where's the rest????" you know you are doing it right

It is also useful for practicing story structure, which is one of those things that is hard to learn except by lots of reading of people who do it well.

And speaking of the Great Brazilian River, you can use a pseudonym ( or *another* pseudonym) if you want to try something out.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at April 16, 2023 10:17 AM (LEuDt)

191 This week I read "Proof of Heaven" by Eben Alexander III.
Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at April 16, 2023 09:49 AM (fTtFy)
-

I can't bother looking them up but there are several websites with NDE patient testimonies from all religious backgrounds.

For a read from a doctor who now realizes there's something out there but not necessarily from a specific religion's perspective, I recommend reading "Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience", by Dr. Pim van Lommel:

https://tinyurl.com/3kvceems

(Amazon)

I read it twice.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at April 16, 2023 10:18 AM (MBGMJ)

192 Interesting mention of Block Island in Little Penwick. One of my ancestors founded Block Island, Trustrum Dodge.

Posted by: Sua Sponte at April 16, 2023 10:18 AM (zGpsz)

193 I reread the Decameron during COVID-19 crap . Could just as easily been written today. A Distant Mirror was a great book. How anyone survived the 14th century in France is beyond me

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 16, 2023 10:08 AM (cHmTg)
---
The opening chapters were great, but as she got deeper into the text, it felt very much like first-wave feminist triumphalism. "Why, everyone knows women can do what men can!"

It makes the book feel very dated.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:19 AM (llXky)

194 I only have one word from Pliny this week, "Smegmata". Yes, that's a real word.

Posted by: fd at April 16, 2023 10:19 AM (iayUP)

195 @170 --

I concur. I think the reason that some books are rarely found in the secondhand stores is because the original purchaser keeps them. I call those "estate" books.

Doesn't say much for most of what you do find on the shelves.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 16, 2023 10:20 AM (Om/di)

196 Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at April 16, 2023 10:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

I suspect the goal is to sell not to illuminate. I can't recall the last time that I read the NYT book reviews as they seemed more political than critical. I guess Amazon gives you a wider range of reviews and is generally less censorious of bad reviews, unless you're a big democrat.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:20 AM (Zzbjj)

197 Jacket quotes from fellow genre authors always seemed a bit fishy to me, even when I agreed to the sentiments expressed. I rarely see blurbs from actual critics now.

It reminds me of Spy Magazine's "Logrolling In Our Time", in which authors scratched each other's backs for a good review.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at April 16, 2023 10:15 AM (Dc2NZ)
---
Any time one of the hacks at National Review came out with a book, everyone had to talk about it and how great it was, fawning review, etc. So transparent.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:20 AM (llXky)

198 129 Anybody read Alan Smale's "Clash of Eagles" trilogy? It's an alternate history tale about a Roman Empire that didn't collapse, made it to the New World, and encountered the Cahokia civilization

***
Sounds interesting!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 16, 2023 10:20 AM (vHIgi)

199 Do you think the people who think a trad pub house is superior will like what you have to write? Do you want to write stories they'll enjoy?

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 10:02 AM (llON

Well, I've mostly done western short stories and a couple of depression era stories, so who knows. I've written a sci-fi: novel, a western novella and "weird" story or two. Not sure any of that is high on the list of publishing house wants.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 10:21 AM (Angsy)

200 While not an NDE, exactly, I did have a lucid dream in which I had died, my body was on a table, I was a silent observer while a demon and an angelic being were arguing over who would take my soul. I wasn't able to argue on my own behalf. It was a terrible dream.
Which reminds, me, I'm off to church.

Posted by: gourmand du jour, a literal ray of sunshine at April 16, 2023 10:21 AM (jTmQV)

201 187 Jacket quotes from fellow genre authors always seemed a bit fishy to me, even when I agreed to the sentiments expressed. I rarely see blurbs from actual critics now.

It reminds me of Spy Magazine's "Logrolling In Our Time", in which authors scratched each other's backs for a good review.
=========
I think genre readers are more inclined to react favorably to a recommendation (the blurb) from another writer than a paid critic (not necessarily a professional one) who probably isn't a fan of that genre and whose tastes probably gravitate towards "literature" genre fans wouldn't read with a gun to their heads. One sometimes wonders if the paid reviewer has been mortally offended by having to review a genre work, and takes it out in the review.

Posted by: exdem13 at April 16, 2023 10:22 AM (W+kMI)

202 Jacket quotes from fellow genre authors always seemed a bit fishy to me, even when I agreed to the sentiments expressed. I rarely see blurbs from actual critics now.

It reminds me of Spy Magazine's "Logrolling In Our Time", in which authors scratched each other's backs for a good review.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at April 16, 2023 10:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

I used to have some small publisher science fiction books that used literary reviewer quotes from small papers on the cover to entice people to buy them.
One quote was from a Eugene, Oregon paper that I am pretty sure never existed

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 10:23 AM (xhaym)

203 Of course the cozies are written to a (to me, dull) formula. Lead character, female, often single, runs a small business in a small town that would never support such a business (and the writer is usually in that same line), etc.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023
*
Sounds like a Hallmark Movie...set at Christmas?
Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023

***
Exactly!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 10:23 AM (omVj0)

204 No one worried about a war among the major powers except the few diplomatic & bureaucratic professionals whose job it was to worry about such things. Then The Guns of August were heard, and nothing was the same again.

Posted by: exdem13 at April 16, 2023 10:17 AM (W+kMI)
---
I disagree. There had been repeated international incidents that got people worked up. Also keep in mind that with the exception of the UK, every Western nation had a massive army recruited by conscription. That's a very different world from today where a huge proportion of the population does not know any actual military people.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:23 AM (llXky)

205 #186

That's it! Thank you.

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 10:24 AM (rj6Yv)

206 My recommendation this week is The Codex by Douglas Preston. Preston is one half of the team of Preston and Child, who have many best sellers to their name.

Maxwell Broadbent is a multimillionaire who has terminal cancer. He writes to his three decidedly different sons and asks them to meet up at his house. When they arrive, they find he is missing, presumed already dead, and his legacy, millions of dollars worth of ancient artifacts, many obtained through dubious means, missing. He leaves a videotape explaining that the sons, who rarely even speak to one another, will have to cooperate if they are to find their inheritance. They know the treasure has been secreted to Central America and into a tomb Maxwell has built for himself. The brothers each have a plan to go it alone, despite their father's admonition, and other treasure hunters have gotten wind of the potential bonanza. The brothers, using their unique skills and the vague clues their father has left, then race to Central America to try and find the treasure. The story is fast paced and well written. If you have read The Ice Limit, you will enjoy this one.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at April 16, 2023 10:24 AM (+MaYJ)

207 Reading Ultra in the Pacific. A history of SIGINT for that Theater of War in WW2. Detailed, well written and interesting. I recommend it.

Posted by: Diogenes at April 16, 2023 10:24 AM (anj39)

208 200 While not an NDE, exactly, I did have a lucid dream in which I had died, my body was on a table, I was a silent observer while a demon and an angelic being were arguing over who would take my soul. I wasn't able to argue on my own behalf. It was a terrible dream.
Which reminds, me, I'm off to church.
Posted by: gourmand du jour, a literal ray of sunshine at April 16, 2023 10:21 AM (jTmQV)

I did have an NDE, and before I woke up, I had the sense that everything would be ok as my grandmother was there. Not really a heaven and hell moment, I know, but a weird tranquility.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:25 AM (Zzbjj)

209 Just starting "Hyperion" by Dan Simmons. Hmmmmm. Very interesting.

Last couple of weeks I've been reading a very strange three book series by Alastair Reynolds about two young girls who go to space and become pirates in the far, far future of the solar system. The books are: "Revenger", "Shadow Captain" and "Bone Silence". Excellent plot, world building, characters, and a very odd universe, the way Reynolds always writes.

On May 2, Adrian Tchaikovsky's third book of the The Final Architecture trilogy comes out: "Lords of Uncreation", following the outstanding "Shards of Earth" and "Eyes of the Void". I can't wait to read it. Tchaikovsky is a very, very creative storyteller.

Posted by: Sharkman at April 16, 2023 10:25 AM (PMYn/)

210 Dash, I read Crossings a while back because someone here recommended it. This book should not be confused with the movie concept of switching bodies.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at April 16, 2023 09:54 AM (Y+l9t)

True--I don't do the concept justice with that very abbreviated description. It's not Freaky Friday!
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs!

Yes. The book is a completely unique way of telling a story and impossible to describe in a brief synopsis. To me this is a sign of true genius.
We make light of "the Horde" but there are books and movies that would never have come to my attention if not for the incredibly erudite interests of the readership here.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at April 16, 2023 10:26 AM (Y+l9t)

211 When the Alcazar was relieved, Moscardo paraded his battered force. Asked by the commander of the relieving force to report, he replied with the Spanish equivalent of "nothing significant to report."

And epic story.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023

***
Five of the most ringing words in Spanish:

"El Alcazar no se rinde!"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 10:26 AM (omVj0)

212 @193 I could have done with the parts about women's fashion, but still thought the research on the history of the time , alliances , treaties etc was excellent

Posted by: Smell the Glove at April 16, 2023 10:26 AM (c0WYT)

213 While not an NDE, exactly, I did have a lucid dream in which I had died, my body was on a table, I was a silent observer while a demon and an angelic being were arguing over who would take my soul. I wasn't able to argue on my own behalf. It was a terrible dream.
Which reminds, me, I'm off to church.
Posted by: gourmand du jour, a literal ray of sunshine at April 16, 2023

***
A grand beginning for a story . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 10:27 AM (omVj0)

214 I disagree. There had been repeated international incidents that got people worked up. Also keep in mind that with the exception of the UK, every Western nation had a massive army recruited by conscription. That's a very different world from today where a huge proportion of the population does not know any actual military people.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:23 AM (llXky)

I agree. Even my generation was more personally connected to the military. Our dads were in WWII or Korea and we knew people who enlisted or were drafted. Today's young adults are largely disconnected and have no understanding of the military, except to condemn it.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:28 AM (Zzbjj)

215 It is funny comparing and contrasting where the left is accused of wanting to go in 70s fiction and where they wound up in reality.
Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 09:10 AM (Lzpvj)

Just re-read "The Stepford Wives" (Ira Levin, 1972) (a copy came into the Thrift Store).
My thoughts were "Oh, honey- you ain't seen nothin' yet."

Of course, you could argue that here the Right are wanting to go somewhere: 'Will no one rid us of these troublesome feminist wives?"

Posted by: sal: tolle adversarium et afflige inimicum at April 16, 2023 10:29 AM (wE246)

216 I did have an NDE, and before I woke up, I had the sense that everything would be ok as my grandmother was there. Not really a heaven and hell moment, I know, but a weird tranquility.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:25 AM (Zzbjj)
---
As she was on her deathbed, my grandmother's sister died. My mother felt she should know and upon getting the news my grandmother just nodded and said "yes, I know."

"How did you know?"

"Why she just told me!" She died not long after.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:29 AM (llXky)

217 Finished up the Conan the Barbarian (comic book) run by Jim Owsley (now Christopher Priest) and drawn by Val Semeiks. Pretty good, and a definite step up from the comics that had immediately preceded them. The stories took Conan on a bit more of a modern (80's style) sword and sorcery epic, and even if the writing was occasionally choppy, it made for a nice change of pace. And the second of Owsley's grand story-arcs was much better than the first.

One interesting note, in issue 210, they introduce a 'the Kothian Escapment': a mile high wall/cliff, stretching from horizon to horizon, separating civilization from the wild land beyond. ...I'm not suggesting that George RR Martin ripped off this comic when he created 'The Wall' in Game of Thrones (the comic was released in 1988, GoT in 1996) but the similarity was....striking.

I'm taking a break before I continue the series--Conan can get a little too repetitive if binged....but I'm worried about what comes next. There are too many names on the next book, which means the creative is going to get shaken up a lot, and story may not have too much continuity of theme, style, or even plot....

Posted by: Castle Guy at April 16, 2023 10:30 AM (Lhaco)

218 I'm not sure when or why I began to subtitle the limericks I post in the Comments here with

Title - a limerick

Perhaps it was to give a signal early in the comment for people who prefer to skip past. A danger signal like a rattlesnake's rattle.

Posted by: Muldoon at April 16, 2023 10:30 AM (ykeLU)

219 Again, not reading, but I am going through the Lord of Spirits podcasts in order. Now about to start #3

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 16, 2023 10:31 AM (vHIgi)

220 Currently reading Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett, and Atomic Habits when I'm in waiting rooms. I need to step up my pace, the To Read pile is getting out of hand again. That, or stay out of bookstores.

Posted by: Nancy at 7000 ft at April 16, 2023 10:31 AM (0tmoY)

221 I agree. Even my generation was more personally connected to the military. Our dads were in WWII or Korea and we knew people who enlisted or were drafted. Today's young adults are largely disconnected and have no understanding of the military, except to condemn it.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:28 AM (Zzbjj)
---
Yes, and my point is that the WW I generation very much understood the knife-edge upon which Europe was balanced. Mobilization meant more than the 82nd Airborne flying someplace or a few reservists getting called up. The entire nation would come to a standstill as all railroads were commandeered as troops trains.

That it still happened tells us we're much closer to the brink, because no one in charge know has any idea how fragile things are.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:32 AM (llXky)

222 "Why she just told me!" She died not long after.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:29 AM (llXky)

Interesting. As a younger person, I always connected this sort of story with the old person's perceived isolation from their surroundings and focus on the past. I'm less sure of that now, but then, I'm an older person, myself, now.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:32 AM (Zzbjj)

223 I read Hyperion. I liked it and looked forward to reading the sequel but it turned out to be Meh.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at April 16, 2023 10:32 AM (Y+l9t)

224 Off to tackle the day. Thanks for another great Book Thread, Perf!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at April 16, 2023 10:33 AM (Dc2NZ)

225 A grand beginning for a story . . .
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 10:27 AM (omVj0)

Indeed. I would read that.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 16, 2023 10:33 AM (OX9vb)

226 Again, not reading, but I am going through the Lord of Spirits podcasts in order. Now about to start #3

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at April 16, 2023 10:31 AM (vHIgi)
---
Great! I really enjoy them. Perfect for a long drive, too because you can download them and take them with you.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:33 AM (llXky)

227 I think the book I was reading was The Sleepwalkers and they cover all the main players in WWI in great detail. Lots of information on the Serbs and the French. I've read one of Lynn McDonald's books and think I still have another kicking around the house somewhere. But really thought The Beauty and The Sorrow is a brilliant book. It shows the cost to ordinary people.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 10:34 AM (u7leW)

228 The British and the French were hell-bent on keeping Germany bottled up.

Germany effed up by trying to re-rob the Bank of France, something they successful did in the Franco-Prussian War. It didn't work. Western European Christendom was slaughtered.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at April 16, 2023 10:35 AM (5u1+1)

229 Someone should write a book, Royal Yoko: The Meghan Markle Story.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 16, 2023 10:36 AM (FVME7)

230 One interesting note, in issue 210, they introduce a 'the Kothian Escapment': a mile high wall/cliff, stretching from horizon to horizon, separating civilization from the wild land beyond. ...I'm not suggesting that George RR Martin ripped off this comic when he created 'The Wall' in Game of Thrones (the comic was released in 1988, GoT in 1996) but the similarity was....striking.

Posted by: Castle Guy at April 16, 2023 10:30 AM (Lhaco)
---
Martin is hugely derivative. The whole Game of Thrones thing is the War of the Roses and even uses a cockeyed map of England. Goodness, one side is called "Lancaster" oh wait "Lannister." Not at all obvious.

That's fine, we all borrow but Martin is such a jerk that he deserves to be heaped with scorn.

Also: finish the series!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:36 AM (llXky)

231 Live your life in such an eventful way that when Death comes and your life flashes in front of your eyes that the scenes last so long that the Reaper gets tired of waiting and wanders off out of boredom.

/Stuff my grandma used to say

Posted by: Muldoon at April 16, 2023 10:36 AM (ykeLU)

232 I have been trying to remember a series I read back in the early 80's. Sci fi. Girl lead and mysteries. I must have purged the books when I moved. It's driving me crazy.

Posted by: Infidel at April 16, 2023 10:36 AM (/0+YE)

233 That it still happened tells us we're much closer to the brink, because no one in charge know has any idea how fragile things are.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:32 AM (llXky)

Certainly they think the predominance of NATO will last forever. I don't know how men like Blinken and Milley could not understand, though. Milley is about my age and from a time when we studied the wars and couldn't opt for "history of the past 10 years" type stuff.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:37 AM (Zzbjj)

234 I visited the local public library's book sale yesterday. It looked like any of the *real* finds had been snapped up on the first day, Friday. What was left: "choice" fiction (very modern stuff), mystery paperbacks and hardcovers, a hardcover copy of Somerset Maugham's complete short stories, hobby and reference books like The Reader's Digest Guide to Car Repair ca. 1981, and "collectible" books, which were in their own section. I suspect I would not have been able to afford, or wanted to pay their prices for, those.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 10:37 AM (omVj0)

235 I think the book I was reading was The Sleepwalkers and they cover all the main players in WWI in great detail.

-
Very, very great detail.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 16, 2023 10:37 AM (FVME7)

236 Everything I know about Meghan Markle I learned against my will.

Posted by: Just sayin' at April 16, 2023 10:37 AM (DhOHl)

237 83 My reading this week was really varied, even for me. A couple of 'children's books' came my way: "Gnomes" by Huygen and "Wind in the Willows" with the Arthur Rackham illustrations. Both are an absolute delight. (I'm not saying they are wasted on children but believe adults get more from them.
======
I dearly loved my edition of The Wind in the Willows with those wonderful illustrations that brought the story to life. I still have it with me, somewhere. Probably under several others, like as not. The stand-alone chapter "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" is a magical mystical celebration of being in the woods at springtime. I did like Gnomes but I ended up being much more taken by Faeries, an excellent collection of old lore illustrated by Brian Froud and Alan Lee.

Posted by: exdem13 at April 16, 2023 10:37 AM (W+kMI)

238 t the scenes last so long that the Reaper gets tired of waiting and wanders off out of boredom.

*****

Like Lawrence of Arabia

Posted by: Muldoon at April 16, 2023 10:37 AM (ykeLU)

239 Reading Ace Atkins' "White Shadow," set in 1955 Tampa, begins with old retired gangster Charlie Wall getting whacked, and the story progresses from there.

Gets you deep into the criminal history of cigar city in the times of the sicilians and cubans battling for turf in Ybor City, and also into the mob and Meyer Lansky in Havana.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at April 16, 2023 10:38 AM (KiBMU)

240 One interesting note, in issue 210, they introduce a 'the Kothian Escapment': a mile high wall/cliff, stretching from horizon to horizon, separating civilization from the wild land beyond. ...I'm not suggesting that George RR Martin ripped off this comic when he created 'The Wall' in Game of Thrones (the comic was released in 1988, GoT in 1996) but the similarity was....striking.

Posted by: Castle Guy at April 16, 2023 10:30 AM (Lhaco)
---
Since GRR Martin rewrote the history of England, the Wall in his story is almost certainly taken from Hadrian's Wall in England.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 16, 2023 10:38 AM (BpYfr)

241 Interesting. As a younger person, I always connected this sort of story with the old person's perceived isolation from their surroundings and focus on the past. I'm less sure of that now, but then, I'm an older person, myself, now.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:32 AM (Zzbjj)
---
At that point I had already entered the Catholic Church, so I found it something of a confirmation of the new world I had recently discovered.

Spirits are not bound by the constraints of time and space, and it clearly unnerved my mother, who had left the faith some years earlier.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:38 AM (llXky)

242 Martin is hugely derivative. The whole Game of Thrones thing is the War of the Roses and even uses a cockeyed map of England. Goodness, one side is called "Lancaster" oh wait "Lannister." Not at all obvious.

That's fine, we all borrow but Martin is such a jerk that he deserves to be heaped with scorn.

Also: finish the series!
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023

***
He wasn't always derivative. His Fevre Dream from about 1983 is a new take on vampires (no, they are NOT sympathetic), set in a pre-Civil War American South and with two of the most unusual heroes ever.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 10:39 AM (omVj0)

243 Martin is hugely derivative. The whole Game of Thrones thing is the War of the Roses and even uses a cockeyed map of England. Goodness, one side is called "Lancaster" oh wait "Lannister." Not at all obvious.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:36 AM (llXky)

I suspect few of his followers have much knowledge of the War of the Roses, apart from a few previous novelizations.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:39 AM (Zzbjj)

244 I have been trying to remember a series I read back in the early 80's. Sci fi. Girl lead and mysteries. I must have purged the books when I moved. It's driving me crazy.
Posted by: Infidel at April 16, 2023 10:36 AM (/0+YE)
---
Venus Prime?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 16, 2023 10:39 AM (BpYfr)

245 I modernized and updated a old 1921 book about the 1918 Finnish civil war. By modernized I mean adding some high quality photographs, a new map, created a new cover, title page, and added a new forward and concise history primer. All of it free and public domain.

The only time the Whites decisively defeated the Red and thus Finland remains free to this day.

archive.org/downloads/the-1918-red-insurrection-in-finland

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 10:40 AM (rU8+6)

246 176 129 Anybody read Alan Smale's "Clash of Eagles" trilogy? It's an alternate history tale about a Roman Empire that didn't collapse, made it to the New World, and encountered the Cahokia civilization.

------

You know, that description sounded interesting, but when I actually read the blub on Amazon, it gives off an annoying Dances-With-Wolves vibe. So......But at least the price isn't outrageous for the ebook version.

Posted by: Castle Guy at April 16, 2023 10:40 AM (Lhaco)

247
Certainly they think the predominance of NATO will last forever. I don't know how men like Blinken and Milley could not understand, though. Milley is about my age and from a time when we studied the wars and couldn't opt for "history of the past 10 years" type stuff.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:37 AM (Zzbjj)
---
Look at his demeanor. Watch him speak with the sound off so all you see is his body language. He is hunched over, withdrawn into himself. His hands move within a very narrow frame. He knows he is lying and is ashamed of his lies, but lacks the courage to resign. He is a broken man.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:41 AM (llXky)

248 245 Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 10:40 AM (rU8+6)

The Whites could have strangled the reds in the crib in Russia itself if they had been 1/2 as worried about ending the reds as they were about jockeying for position.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 10:41 AM (Lzpvj)

249 Perf-doesn't ring a bell. It wasn't over the top.

Posted by: Infidel at April 16, 2023 10:42 AM (/0+YE)

250 247 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:41 AM (llXky)

Eh he is ashamed he is not a better liar not ashamed of the lies, a person genuine in their shame would explain who told him it was a great idea to leak our strategic disposition to the ChiComs.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 10:43 AM (Lzpvj)

251 And speaking of the Great Brazilian River, you can use a pseudonym ( or *another* pseudonym) if you want to try something out.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at April 16, 2023 10:17 AM (LEuDt)

Thanks for the info. I've vaguely heard of Wattpad, but wasn't sure watt it was. I stumbled upon Sarah Hoyt's post about just asking. I was going to ask her about "how do you know," but she has no contact info.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 10:43 AM (Angsy)

252 The only time the Whites decisively defeated the Red and thus Finland remains free to this day.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 10:40 AM (rU8+6)
---
Disagree. Hungary also defeated the Communist dictatorship of Bela Kun. And of course Franco beat the Reds quite soundly.

Interestingly, many Finns served in Spain, because fighting the Reds was something they enjoyed doing.

Stanley G. Payne's Civil War in Europe 1905-1949 is a great reference book.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:44 AM (llXky)

253 The blogger Maxed Out Mama was in an extended coma. She blogged once about the experience. Her husband never gave up on her and she did finally re-awaken. Interestingly, her IQ went up several points afterwards. She always questioned the "brain dead" prognosis.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 10:44 AM (u7leW)

254 252 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:44 AM (llXky)

Poland pantsed the Red Army so badly that Stalin cut a deal with Hitler to kill it.

Commies rely on subversion and traitors and when a nation does not allow either they fail.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 10:45 AM (Lzpvj)

255 I usually paid attention to blurbs if they were coming from other writers. Depending... For horror novels, a blurb from Stephen King could be hit and miss because he seemed to like everything, but more often than not I found good stuff that I might have passed by if not for the blurb. If I saw a nice comment from Lawrence Block or Harlan Ellison or John D. MacDonald on the front or back cover, the book was worth checking out.

Newspaper reviews or Publishers Weekly or the library review mags? Not so much.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 16, 2023 10:45 AM (a/4+U)

256 hes general blimp, he has failed upwards through every instance of the Afghan and Iraq expeditions, and learned nothing from the exercise, he's not paid to learn any lessos

Posted by: no 6 at April 16, 2023 10:46 AM (PXvVL)

257
Eh he is ashamed he is not a better liar not ashamed of the lies, a person genuine in their shame would explain who told him it was a great idea to leak our strategic disposition to the ChiComs.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 10:43 AM (Lzpvj)
---
Yes, and now the Chinese won't return his calls. The US military foolishly decided to tie advancement to academic accomplishment, theoretically so we could fight smarter, but now we're just as uncreative as the woke schools they attend.

Milley is the embodiment of that failure, holding his troops in open contempt, yet begging at the left's table for respect. He will go down in history as the worst Chairman of the Joint Chiefs in history (assuming there is one after him) and he knows it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:46 AM (llXky)

258 (How does it feel to kill people?)

I wouldn't know I have only ever killed communists.

Rafał Gan-Ganowicz

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 10:47 AM (Lzpvj)

259 kornilov wanted to, but kerensky benched him, of course jonh reed got the story entirely wrong,

Posted by: no 6 at April 16, 2023 10:47 AM (PXvVL)

260 Sharon. Dan Simmons' The Hyperion series is a four book set. The third book is a sci-fi travel log and the fourth gets mired in ninja zombies and westernized Buddhism.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 10:47 AM (rU8+6)

261 . . . If I saw a nice comment from Lawrence Block or Harlan Ellison or John D. MacDonald on the front or back cover, the book was worth checking out. . . .

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 16, 2023

***
Those who hate Stephen King should remember that John D. MacDonald wrote the intro to his first collection of short stories, Night Shift.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 10:47 AM (omVj0)

262 Poland pantsed the Red Army so badly that Stalin cut a deal with Hitler to kill it.

Commies rely on subversion and traitors and when a nation does not allow either they fail.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 10:45 AM (Lzpvj)
---
Yes, but that was a state-on-state conflict, Russia vs Poland. Finland, Hungary and Spain were civil wars.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:48 AM (llXky)

263 Been reading (and in some cases re-reading) the Alex Hawke series of novels by Ted Bell. Love them! The books are generally over 500 pages and crammed with character development, detailed background information on relationships and weaponry, and an engaging and interesting plot line. They also feature as lead characters "good guys" who follow a moral code and old-fashioned sense of duty, ingrained by military service and long family tradition.

Ted Bell focuses on China, Russia and Iran as the bad guys, and presents believable analysis of their long-term goals and how they intend to arrive at them, which are to dominate the world and to see a devastated America run off the world stage. The books Bell wrote well over ten years ago are fresh and read almost as current events. I find myself continually hoping that reality does not mirror his fiction.

I started reading spy novels back when The Hunt For Red October by Tom Clancy came out. Took a brief break after 9/11 because the novels were just a little "too" real. Dove back in to the genre with Brad Thor, Vince Flynn, and Ted Bell and have been devouring them ever since. Bell is a much better writer than Clancy.

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at April 16, 2023 10:48 AM (xS8eR)

264 Look at his demeanor. Watch him speak with the sound off so all you see is his body language. He is hunched over, withdrawn into himself. His hands move within a very narrow frame. He knows he is lying and is ashamed of his lies, but lacks the courage to resign. He is a broken man.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:41 AM (llXky)

Nearly all of DC is lying, but the need to protect themselves is more important than the truth.

I wonder if their history will all be hagiographic?

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:48 AM (Zzbjj)

265 Good morning all you bookish people. I'm rather surprised that the sneering hit piece on Brandon Sanderson wasn't mentioned and thrown out for discussion.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 16, 2023 10:49 AM (MIKMs)

266 >>> 258 (How does it feel to kill people?)

I wouldn't know I have only ever killed communists.

Rafał Gan-Ganowicz
Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 10:47 AM (Lzpvj)

Isn't there a commenter here who uses this as a nic?

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at April 16, 2023 10:49 AM (llON8)

267 I used to get into these arguments with folks that find reading history boring. It's because they think that history was carved in stone, that there was no other way for things to go than the way that they did. But it's not like that at all and they'd realize it if they applied their thoughts to their own life. There are so many points where things could have gone in another direction. The cluelessness of the world leaders pre-WWI seems amazing now, but not so surprising when you look at our leaders today.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 10:50 AM (u7leW)

268 Good morning all you bookish people. I'm rather surprised that the sneering hit piece on Brandon Sanderson wasn't mentioned and thrown out for discussion.
Posted by: mustbequantum at April 16, 2023

***
At the library book sale yesterday I looked for something by Sanderson but saw nothing.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 10:51 AM (omVj0)

269 At the library book sale yesterday I looked for something by Sanderson but saw nothing.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 10:51 AM (omVj0)
---
Not too surprising. He's probably on their list of books that are checked out frequently, so they wouldn't be in a hurry to dispose of him.

Might check used bookstores, though.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 16, 2023 10:52 AM (BpYfr)

270 ALH. I'm talking about defeating the Reds for good. Once and for all. The Finns fought their way through the first half of the 20th century. I admire them as a people and culture. They earned their freedom the hard way. So, why not read the book?

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 10:53 AM (rU8+6)

271 Sharon. Dan Simmons' The Hyperion series is a four book set. The third book is a sci-fi travel log and the fourth gets mired in ninja zombies and westernized Buddhism.
Posted by: 13times
Guess it's good I didn't get last book 2.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at April 16, 2023 10:54 AM (Y+l9t)

272 Test

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 16, 2023 10:54 AM (Hmpmb)

273 Not too surprising. [Brandon Sanderson]'s probably on their list of books that are checked out frequently, so they wouldn't be in a hurry to dispose of him.

Might check used bookstores, though.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 16, 2023

***
I visit the suburban library every three weeks. Next week I'll look over their SF/fantasy section (which is not small, but focuses mostly on more recent authors than Heinlein and Simak).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 10:54 AM (omVj0)

274 Nearly all of DC is lying, but the need to protect themselves is more important than the truth.

I wonder if their history will all be hagiographic?

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 10:48 AM (Zzbjj)
---
Military officers think of themselves as being superior to mere politicians, and consider themselves paragons of integrity. The problem is that integrity often requires sacrifices, and most of them aren't up the challenge.

Milley knows the troops hate him. He knows they are leaving as fast as they can. Usually senior leaders go around and do "town halls" and such with the troops. The current crop hides in DC for obvious reasons. No, I don't think anyone would be fragged, but there could be some awkward infractions of discipline from people just don't give a shit.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:56 AM (llXky)

275 It seems my IP or ISP is banned. But my userid and email aren't. Am I banned? If so, fine. It's Ace's site and I won't post again. How would I confirm banning?

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 16, 2023 10:57 AM (Hmpmb)

276 The Niven/Pournelle Trifecta of Awesome is "The Mote in God's Eye", "Lucifer's Hammer" and "Inferno". Love all three and have reread them all many times.

And then Pournelle has his John Christian Falkenberg novels which are also excellent: "Falkenberg's Legion", "Prince of Mercenaries", "Go Tell The Spartans", and "Prince of Sparta". The last two written with SM Stirling. Outstanding military sci fi.

Posted by: Sharkman at April 16, 2023 10:57 AM (PMYn/)

277 Castle Guy --

Get Priest's run on Black Panther. The first story is told in a disconnected fashion, but stick with it, and it all comes together. Then it gets even better.

Without Priest's ideas, T'Challa probably never would have wound up in a movie.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 16, 2023 10:57 AM (Om/di)

278 Uhhh... for airplane reading I picked up two books at Salvation Army: 'There Will Be War', an old TOR collection of short sci-fi stories by PKD, Niven, Heinlein, others. Haven't read that one yet because I've been reading...
THE DEATH MERCHANT #26, 'The Mexican Hit' (197

! Which is one of the most lurid, over-the-top trash paperbacks I have ever read in my life. It's hilarious. Mexican terrorists, the Mafia, a lesbian agitator described as 'a commie dyke', Mexicans are 'chili peppers', etc. It's totally insane. TDM kills approximately 7,426 people while never suffering a scratch. I've enjoying it immensely!

Posted by: LenNeal at April 16, 2023 10:58 AM (Z94Ov)

279 ALH. I'm talking about defeating the Reds for good. Once and for all. The Finns fought their way through the first half of the 20th century. I admire them as a people and culture. They earned their freedom the hard way. So, why not read the book?

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 10:53 AM (rU8+6)
---
I'm not opposed to reading the book, which looks interesting. I'll have to make a note of it.

My point is that you were incorrect. The Hungarians did the same thing and the Red Army imposed Communism, they never adopted it. Finland was fortunate that it was strategically more isolated.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 10:58 AM (llXky)

280 When we were having that discussion about the Guardsman that released the secret documents, I was thinking about an incident in the Civil War. Don't remember the details, but Union soldiers found a letter with the Confederate plans for the battle. Odd things can happen.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 10:58 AM (u7leW)

281 Wolfus --

Noticing the presence of that MacDonald intro on the hardcover of Night Shift was what got me to pick up King in the first place. I don't recall that MacDonald gave a lot of blurbs, so when I saw one, I took a closer look at the book.

For a while King seemed to blurb everything. But I might have passed on Harris' Red Dragon without the King blurb, and probably would have missed out on reading Don Robertson's work without King's intro to The Ideal Genuine Man (a book that King published).

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 16, 2023 10:59 AM (a/4+U)

282 Wolfus, there is no inter library system where you live? I can go online and reserve a copy of a book and when it becomes available at any library in my county, they will send it to my local library. There are usually multiple copies of popular books so usually don't have to wait too long. Plus I get to walk to the library so helps my Gainzzz.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at April 16, 2023 10:59 AM (Y+l9t)

283 I should add that Finland is currently disgracing itself with sucking up the US and casting aside its tradition of independence and neutrality. Seriously, is modern Russia more of the threat than the USSR??? Heck no.

Finland also seems pretty heavily secularized and their (now former) prime minister was something of a joke.

Hungary, by contrast, is seriously red-pilled. Crimson. Much respect.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:00 AM (llXky)

284 Between those little cars up on the shelf and those goldbricking aliens, there would be a smash up and some crybaby greys gimping around! That's got to be worth at least a chapter, let's get serious!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at April 16, 2023 11:01 AM (V4X9X)

285 When we were having that discussion about the Guardsman that released the secret documents, I was thinking about an incident in the Civil War. Don't remember the details, but Union soldiers found a letter with the Confederate plans for the battle. Odd things can happen.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 10:58 AM (u7leW)
---
Lee's orders during the Antietam Campaign. And still McClellan dithered.

One of the many times the Union could have won the war outright.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:02 AM (llXky)

286 A friend of my cousin wrote a children's book titled "Tiny the Cowboy" by Renetta Jean Kennedy about a little boy who wants to help out on his family's ranch at branding time. It's short, simple and well drawn, so my cousin bought copies for her grandsons and my great nephews.

It's available online.

Posted by: huerfano at April 16, 2023 11:04 AM (dTFZY)

287 How would I confirm banning?
Posted by: Thesokorus at April 16, 2023 10:57 AM (Hmpmb)

If you were banned, your post wouldn't show up?

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 16, 2023 11:04 AM (OX9vb)

288 I have been trying to remember a series I read back in the early 80's. Sci fi. Girl lead and mysteries. I must have purged the books when I moved. It's driving me crazy.

Posted by: Infidel

Here's a list of 881 sci fi books with female leads that might be a good place to start:

tinyurl.com/Girlz-Rule-Boyz-Drool

Good luck.

Posted by: Sharkman at April 16, 2023 11:04 AM (PMYn/)

289 The European powers that colonized the world for hundreds of years chose not to issue titles? Why was that ?

Posted by: Paul at April 16, 2023 11:04 AM (bmCXq)

290 Wolfus, there is no inter library system where you live? I can go online and reserve a copy of a book and when it becomes available at any library in my county, they will send it to my local library. There are usually multiple copies of popular books so usually don't have to wait too long. Plus I get to walk to the library so helps my Gainzzz.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at April 16, 2023

***
Oh, there is, but I still like to browse the shelves and if something catches my eye, bring it home. Looking at the cover blurb and page one of an actual physical book is pretty helpful. There have been lots of serendipitous discoveries of authors at the library -- Ellery Queen, John Dickson Carr, Harris's Red Dragon, Heinlein, and many more.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 11:05 AM (omVj0)

291 GRR Martin is the worst author on the face of the earth and I regret immensely the time I spent reading his books. I will never watch GOT or read another one of his books as long as I live.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at April 16, 2023 11:06 AM (Y+l9t)

292 I'm aware of the Poles defeating the Reds. The Red Poles didn't stay defeated. The White Finns didn't mess around. They dragged the Reds out their hidey-holes and summarily shot them in the streets of Tampere and Helsinki and Viipuri.

A Chinese historian cites the above for the the Finns' lasting victory where others failed, namely, killing the Reds en masse before they killed you. Viscous determination. Chiang failed at that. Pildusky, too.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 11:06 AM (rU8+6)

293 Noticing the presence of that MacDonald intro on the hardcover of Night Shift was what got me to pick up King in the first place. I don't recall that MacDonald gave a lot of blurbs, so when I saw one, I took a closer look at the book. . . .

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 16, 2023

***
And John D. was one of SK's literary heroes. Imagine having one of your favorite authors publicly endorse and praise your work.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 11:07 AM (omVj0)

294 Speaking of the Russian Civil War, Stanley G. Payne has noted that one of the big differences between the situation there an in Spain was the power of the Catholic Church vs Russian Orthodox.

The Church in Spain was in decline, Mass attendance was regarded as effeminate and yet when the Popular Front began attacking churches, the common people rallied to their defense. It didn't hurt that Franco was one of the very few military officers who practicing Catholics.

In Russia, the peasants often joined in the attacks on churches, seeing them as part of the Imperial state.

The business in Ukraine (where Russian churches and clergy are being persecuted) is therefore interesting insofar as it may well create new interest and a more robust faith.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:07 AM (llXky)

295 Also, I read that book about inflation during the French Revolution period, what is it's title, Fiat Money Inflation In France, it's on another device back at the hotel.
THAT is one of the most disturbing books I have ever read, period. As in, it left me seriously disturbed, kind of upset and nervous. It raises multiple very important questions about US money policy at this present time, and how on Earth any of these 'geniuses' could do something that's been done many, MANY, times in the past with the exact same results.
Frightening book.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 16, 2023 11:09 AM (Z94Ov)

296 And John D. was one of SK's literary heroes. Imagine having one of your favorite authors publicly endorse and praise your work.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 11:07 AM (omVj0)
---
Yet now he's just a nasty old woman. Sad.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:09 AM (llXky)

297 yes mcclellan was a joke, kornilov was not,

what weighed down kerensky was continuing to wage the war, lenin did pact with the germans which was very on popular, the social revolutionaries popped mirbach it's was a catch 22 situation,

Posted by: no 6 at April 16, 2023 11:09 AM (PXvVL)

298 Yep, that's it. And that's my problem with audio books. I don't retain information as well as I do if I read the actual book.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 11:09 AM (u7leW)

299 When we were having that discussion about the Guardsman that released the secret documents, I was thinking about an incident in the Civil War. Don't remember the details, but Union soldiers found a letter with the Confederate plans for the battle. Odd things can happen.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 10:58 AM (u7leW)

It was leading to Gettysburg IIRC, where the battle orders or dispositions were written in code and concealed by wrapping them around cigars as a parcel.
The Confederate code was three alphabets and one of them was recognized by Union codebreakers as a form of haberdasher code that we know now as "pig pen" or "rosicurcian" code. That was the entry into breaking the code of the document

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 11:09 AM (xhaym)

300 Thank you, Perfessopr, for another awesome book thread. And thanks to you all for excellent recommendations.

I finally finished Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra last night. Loved it. It was fun to read as all the pieces of the story fell into place. I especially appreciated the way the author, Alan Vanneman, would hint at what was to happen before it would actually occur. It provided a good and much needed diversion from current events.

Posted by: KatieFloyd at April 16, 2023 11:10 AM (ob77J)

301 A Chinese historian cites the above for the the Finns' lasting victory where others failed, namely, killing the Reds en masse before they killed you. Viscous determination. Chiang failed at that. Pildusky, too.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 11:06 AM (rU8+6)
---
Poland is vulnerable on three sides; Finland is far more remote.

Chiang Kai-shek could have wiped out the Reds in 1937 but Japan invaded. Check out my book and see how it all went down.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:11 AM (llXky)

302 Good luck.
Posted by: Sharkman

Thanks Sharkman. Hope kids are well.

Maybe they were older than that. It will come to me sometime. There was no gore, just adventure.

Posted by: Infidel at April 16, 2023 11:11 AM (/0+YE)

303 I always wondered why the Tsar’s secret police only imprisoned the scum like Lenin or Stalin among others instead of hanging them in the public square. They had all of that gang in their jails at one time or another but were too nice.

There is a lesson in there somewhere…

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 16, 2023 11:11 AM (R/m4+)

304 ALH. Dragging current politics into a discussion about Finland 1918 is just sand in the eyes and goalpost shifting. blah.

Lame.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 11:12 AM (rU8+6)

305 It was leading to Gettysburg IIRC, where the battle orders or dispositions were written in code and concealed by wrapping them around cigars as a parcel.
The Confederate code was three alphabets and one of them was recognized by Union codebreakers as a form of haberdasher code that we know now as "pig pen" or "rosicurcian" code. That was the entry into breaking the code of the document

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 11:09 AM (xhaym)
---
It was before Antietam. McClellan waved it around and said "If I can't beat Bobby Lee with this, I will go home!"

He didn't, and he did.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:12 AM (llXky)

306 I had an experience with serendipity this week.

Last week, we'd briefly discussed Robertson Davies'
"The Deptford Trilogy" (The Fifth Business/The Manticore/World of Wonders).

Anywho, I wandered into a used bookstore and there I was surprised to see a beautiful near fine copy of TDT published by a boutique publisher in 2007.

The price was extremely, shockingly good but I dickered around anyway and got it discounted another 33%. So...everybody happy!

That was particularly nice to find TDT that way, because the original hardcovers are difficult to find and I'm very slowly trying to find hardback copies of books/writers I admire since the publishing industry has decided letting ignorant lunatics mutilate the works of the past.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 16, 2023 11:14 AM (RJQ8g)

307 ALH. Check out the book I'm pitching. Its free.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 11:14 AM (rU8+6)

308 Frightening book.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 16, 2023 11:09 AM (Z94Ov)

That's only because we've never done it. It will work this time!

Posted by: Those Geniuses at April 16, 2023 11:14 AM (Angsy)

309 It seems my IP or ISP is banned. But my userid and email aren't. Am I banned? If so, fine. It's Ace's site and I won't post again. How would I confirm banning?

********

If you are referring to the URL box above the comments box, there are some domains that Pixy does not allow, as an anti-spamming mechanism. I don't recall off hand, but I think youtube is one such.

Posted by: Muldoon at April 16, 2023 11:15 AM (ykeLU)

310 ALH. Dragging current politics into a discussion about Finland 1918 is just sand in the eyes and goalpost shifting. blah.

Lame.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 11:12 AM (rU8+6)
---
First off, my initials are "AHL." There's another poster who uses "ALH."

Second off, you're the one bragging that Finland is a shining beacon that never fell to Communism. Fine, but like almost every other European state, it has fallen into decadence. It's sad to see, but that's where we are.

If you want to pick a date where the "game ends" (say 1975 or 1991) go ahead, but we are where we are. I'd say 1975 Spain was looking pretty good - massive increases in prosperity, education and the only Western nation that returned to traditional values and faith. Now? Not so much. Same as Finland, really.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:16 AM (llXky)

311 If you were banned, your post wouldn't show up?
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 16, 2023 11:04 AM (OX9vb)

Posting from phone and not using wifi. If I use wifi the posts register for about 3 secs and then disappear.

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 16, 2023 11:16 AM (wOSO7)

312 I think I am going to finally break down and try to write the book that's been percolating in my head for 20 years about political theory. My thesis is that there is no "Left" and "Right". There are just psychopaths, totalitarian and criminal gangs on one side and normal people who want to be left the fuck alone on the other. I'm tired of the usual theorizing. It's bullshit.

Posted by: Sharkman at April 16, 2023 11:16 AM (PMYn/)

313 Finland borders Russia. Hardly remote.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 11:17 AM (rU8+6)

314 303 I always wondered why the Tsar’s secret police only imprisoned the scum like Lenin or Stalin among others instead of hanging them in the public square. They had all of that gang in their jails at one time or another but were too nice.

There is a lesson in there somewhere…
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 16, 2023 11:11 AM (R/m4+)

Stalin learned that lesson, in spades.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 16, 2023 11:17 AM (q3gwH)

315 I slept way, way in today and had a really bizarre dream. Can't remember much of it, just right before I woke up. But it was Tommy Tuberville back when he was coaching for Auburn, and an elderly James Earl Jones is trying out for the team. Tuberville watches him run a couple of routes, and says "well, he's pretty good, but they should have sent Mike Tyson. I like him."

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 16, 2023 11:17 AM (oINRc)

316 Dan Simmons is astonishing. He skips around among genres (SF, horror, historical); he has Unapproved Opinions and isn't shy about voicing them in public; yet his books are best-sellers and he gets movie deals.

Apparently if you don't give a f**k about what people with weird hair and Twitter accounts think, they have no power over you.

Posted by: Trimegistus at April 16, 2023 11:17 AM (QZxDR)

317 204 No one worried about a war among the major powers except the few diplomatic & bureaucratic professionals whose job it was to worry about such things. Then The Guns of August were heard, and nothing was the same again.

Posted by: exdem13 at April 16, 2023 10:17 AM (W+kMI)
---
I disagree. There had been repeated international incidents that got people worked up. Also keep in mind that with the exception of the UK, every Western nation had a massive army recruited by conscription. That's a very different world from today where a huge proportion of the population does not know any actual military people.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd
----
AH is right. There were at least two crises--one resulted from a 1905 Moroccan spat between France and Germany and then the Panther gunboat crisis in 1911 in the same country.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:19 AM (EKz4W)

318 The game ended when the Soviet Union fell. Game. Over. Finland resolute.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 11:19 AM (rU8+6)

319 an Simmons is astonishing. He skips around among genres (SF, horror, historical); he has Unapproved Opinions and isn't shy about voicing them in public; yet his books are best-sellers and he gets movie deals.

Apparently if you don't give a f**k about what people with weird hair and Twitter accounts think, they have no power over you.
Posted by: Trimegistus at April 16, 2023

***
I believe he was a graduate of one of Harlan Ellison's writing seminars. If you can survive HE, you can survive Twatter SJWs with ease.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 11:19 AM (omVj0)

320 312 I think I am going to finally break down and try to write the book that's been percolating in my head for 20 years about political theory. My thesis is that there is no "Left" and "Right". There are just psychopaths, totalitarian and criminal gangs on one side and normal people who want to be left the fuck alone on the other. I'm tired of the usual theorizing. It's bullshit.
Posted by: Sharkman at April 16, 2023 11:16 AM (PMYn/)

You should look up Horseshoe Theory and the French writer, Jean Pierre Faye.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 16, 2023 11:19 AM (q3gwH)

321 I'd say 1975 Spain was looking pretty good - massive increases in prosperity, education and the only Western nation that returned to traditional values and faith. Now? Not so much. Same as Finland, really.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:16 AM (llXky)

Pls write a book abt Salazar. Portugal is very interesting. And I think did better than Spain. Their colonial approach was remarkable and effective.

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 16, 2023 11:19 AM (wOSO7)

322 Posted by: Sharkman at April 16, 2023 11:16 AM (PMYn/)

Your theory is correct. There are two Parties in America, but they aren't Dem and GOP. There are just a small handful of ruling class psycho gangsters, and a teeming throng of subjects whom they hate, fear, and relentlessly dominate.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 16, 2023 11:20 AM (oINRc)

323 Finland borders Russia. Hardly remote.
Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 11:17 AM (rU8+6)

The way Panama and Brazil border Colombia. The map is not the terrain. Much in the way that political ideals aren't what actually happens

Also, it is Pilsudski

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 11:20 AM (xhaym)

324 I think I am going to finally break down and try to write the book that's been percolating in my head for 20 years about political theory. My thesis is that there is no "Left" and "Right". There are just psychopaths, totalitarian and criminal gangs on one side and normal people who want to be left the fuck alone on the other. I'm tired of the usual theorizing. It's bullshit.

Posted by: Sharkman at April 16, 2023 11:16 AM (PMYn/)
---
The right-left formulation has some pretty obvious limitations. One that I've discovered is that there is a such a thing as "libertarian communism." It's called Anarchism.

I think the US is embracing that vision - not just in the breakdown of law, but in the empowerment of conglomerates and the use of "individual rights" to burden others.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:21 AM (llXky)

325 An audio book I can recommend is the Chris Bohjalian novel, "The Guest Room," which is read by a terrific British woman voice actor. She does all the first person parts extremely well, in particular the sex slave woman, a Russian, a key character in this thriller.

Referring to their shaved heads, she calls her heavily muscled armed keepers "cue ball babies." The cops are "police guys," and cannot be trusted, of course.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at April 16, 2023 11:22 AM (KiBMU)

326 Christos Anesti

Posted by: FortWorthMike at April 16, 2023 11:23 AM (wbIlJ)

327 IIRC, The Russian Tsar was the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, in much the same way that Charles III is the Head of the Church of England. There was also a religous-influenced revolt in Mexico - The Cristero War of 1926-1929 between Christian militias and the Leftist government of Mexico. the Cristeros' battle cry was Viva Cristo Rey!

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 11:25 AM (rj6Yv)

328 THAT is one of the most disturbing books I have ever read, period. As in, it left me seriously disturbed, kind of upset and nervous. It raises multiple very important questions about US money policy at this present time, and how on Earth any of these 'geniuses' could do something that's been done many, MANY, times in the past with the exact same results.
Frightening book.
Posted by: LenNeal

Two economic historians, Rogoff and Carmines wrote a book about 10 years ago or so, 'This Time It's Different' and they cover almost every major economic crisis going back to the twelfth century AD in multiple countries. Basically, when a country's 90 percent debt to GDP when exceeded results in either a hard default in the near future (usually countries with external debt loads) or a soft one via inflating the currency which gets out of hand.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:25 AM (EKz4W)

329 Pls write a book abt Salazar. Portugal is very interesting. And I think did better than Spain. Their colonial approach was remarkable and effective.

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 16, 2023 11:19 AM (wOSO7)
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I appreciate the request, but I lean towards military history. Portuguese politics would be a stretch.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:26 AM (llXky)

330 >>>I think I am going to finally break down and try to write the book that's been percolating in my head for 20 years about political theory. My thesis is that there is no "Left" and "Right". There are just psychopaths, totalitarian and criminal gangs on one side and normal people who want to be left the fuck alone on the other. I'm tired of the usual theorizing. It's bullshit.

Posted by: Sharkman

>Cast aside the tribalism that humans have embraced for over 5000 years and you may have the makings of a noteworthy temporal tome of the ages.

Our linear brains and language always fuck this up.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at April 16, 2023 11:26 AM (V4X9X)

331 Reread Starship Troopers. I had forgotten how much of a polemic it was.

Seems like the real reason that people say Heinlein is a fascist is not the only military can vote thing, but rather because he says Marxism is bad.

Can't have that getting out.

Posted by: blaster at April 16, 2023 11:27 AM (pwExq)

332 Dan Simmons' Ilium and Olympos are awesome. He mashes Shakespeare with the Iliad and popular science and a noosphere and crazy physics and robots and finds time to punch down on Jew hating Islamists. All in two books. Genius.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 11:27 AM (rU8+6)

333 Sharkman, socialism, fascism and technocracy are all incredibly well suited to the main goal of centralized government, which is to be the center of power and authority excluding all others.
Hans Hermann Hoppe writes extensively about this, along with online lectures, and Ralph Raico wrote and lectured on the same subjects.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 11:27 AM (xhaym)

334 A piece of ST I had forgotten and is spot on: the downfall of Western Civilization comes about because people let minors get away with all sorts of criminality.

Posted by: blaster at April 16, 2023 11:28 AM (pwExq)

335 I read the diary of Vera Brittain, author of Testament to Youth. The way she tells it, there seemed to be about a month, when British public opinion went from anti-war to pro war. Reminded me of the change in US public opinion about the Vietnam war.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 11:30 AM (u7leW)

336 IIRC, The Russian Tsar was the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, in much the same way that Charles III is the Head of the Church of England. There was also a religous-influenced revolt in Mexico - The Cristero War of 1926-1929 between Christian militias and the Leftist government of Mexico. the Cristeros' battle cry was Viva Cristo Rey!

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 11:25 AM (rj6Yv)
---
Yes, state churches have tended to do poorly down the stretch. It's interesting how the separation between church and state is often interpreted as being a guard against Popish interference, but Catholic countries have a rather conflicted existance with the Church, which is generally a good thing.

Interesting to note that the Cristero War had so many elements similar to the fighting in Spain. Latin elites who see their culture as backward and want to "modernize" it.

(Also - many of the leading opponents of the Church were Freemasons. People make fun of Franco for hating on them, but almost everyone in the Popular Front leadership was a Freemason.)

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:31 AM (llXky)

337 I did buy This Time It's Different. Still working on it, but it's a good read

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 11:31 AM (u7leW)

338 The right-left formulation has some pretty obvious limitations. One that I've discovered is that there is a such a thing as "libertarian communism." It's called Anarchism.

I think the US is embracing that vision - not just in the breakdown of law, but in the empowerment of conglomerates and the use of "individual rights" to burden others. Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd
--------
Hedley Bull wrote about that but his attempts at theory building simply don't work much. Essentially, anarchism is barbarianism under another name which is the rejection of reason/rule of law to the acceptance of using power to inflict violence and destruction on others in society.

The result is something like Somalia today with warlords--however, despite no real state there--Somalia is at least ruled by clans which implies certain reciprocal obligations. Modern anarchism in the West is by and large not regulated by family based clans and relationships but it is more unstable as reciprocal relationships in modern anarchism is based on immediate circumstances and needs, not long term by any means.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:32 AM (EKz4W)

339 Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 4 - Tower of Silence by Larry Correia

Ahhh...if he's the forgotten warrior, how did he get up to 4 books?

Posted by: Diogenes at April 16, 2023 11:33 AM (anj39)

340 335 I read the diary of Vera Brittain, author of Testament to Youth. The way she tells it, there seemed to be about a month, when British public opinion went from anti-war to pro war. Reminded me of the change in US public opinion about the Vietnam war.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 11:30 AM (u7leW)

I read a couple of her books and enjoyed them as memoirs, the serialization on PBS was pretty good, too.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 11:33 AM (Zzbjj)

341 Two economic historians, Rogoff and Carmines wrote a book about 10 years ago or so, 'This Time It's Different' and they cover almost every major economic crisis going back to the twelfth century AD in multiple countries. Basically, when a country's 90 percent debt to GDP when exceeded results in either a hard default in the near future (usually countries with external debt loads) or a soft one via inflating the currency which gets out of hand.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:25 AM (EKz4W)
---
A currency crisis isn't the end of the world. They happen quite regularly and while they may result in a change of government, they don't necessarily destroy society.

I'll go out on a limb and say that a collapse of the dollar will have less impact that people think precisely because we are a nation of debtors, not savers. Even people with savings probably have far larger mortgages or car loans.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:33 AM (llXky)

342 I'd say 1975 Spain was looking pretty good - massive increases in prosperity, education and the only Western nation that returned to traditional values and faith. Now? Not so much. Same as Finland, really.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:16 AM (llXky)

Concur. Mocedades comes to mind when I think of Spain in the 1970s.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 16, 2023 11:34 AM (R/m4+)

343 You should look up Horseshoe Theory and the French writer, Jean Pierre Faye.

Posted by: Tom Servo

Will do. Thanks for the tip.

Posted by: Sharkman at April 16, 2023 11:35 AM (PMYn/)

344 337 I did buy This Time It's Different. Still working on it, but it's a good read
Posted by: Notsothoreau

--------
Economics is the dismal science and reading countless ways that countries go wrong is not the most pleasant of readings when you consider that we have blown past the 90 percent GDP ratio.

AH Lloyd and others (no insult here) though are in the field of tragic science aka history when you see so much unneeded slaughter simply because unreasonable people force disputes into widespread societal violence.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:35 AM (EKz4W)

345 Hokay, got to take care of some chores around Chez Wolfus. Cleaning the litterbox is the worst, but there are other time-consumers on the list. P'raps I'll be able to drop in again on the Gun/Cigar Thread!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 16, 2023 11:37 AM (omVj0)

346 The result is something like Somalia today with warlords--however, despite no real state there--Somalia is at least ruled by clans which implies certain reciprocal obligations.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:32 AM (EKz4W)
---
Somalia is not an Anarchist state, it is a feudal one.

I'm not talking about an absence of all government, I'm talking about the Marxist notion of Anarchism, one in which the state is abolished and replaced by commercial relationship. That's what the left is pushing today - a hyper-individualism where syndicates work out the rules while government impotently fades away.

The trans thing was not voted on, it was imposed by conglomerates using the language of individual rights. The "buh muh private business" is a call to this form of anarchy.

It's very similar to corporatism, but that typically involves a partnership with the state, not its overt replacement.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:37 AM (llXky)

347 US financial support for the warring parties in the Cristero War is interesting: The Knights of Columbus raised money for the Cristeros, the KKK sent money to the Mexican Government.

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 11:37 AM (rj6Yv)

348 Get Priest's run on Black Panther. The first story is told in a disconnected fashion, but stick with it, and it all comes together. Then it gets even better.

Without Priest's ideas, T'Challa probably never would have wound up in a movie.
Posted by: Weak Geek at April 16, 2023 10:57 AM (Om/di)

That run is on my radar.....but its low on the list. I already have about 10 omnibuses that I own but haven't cracked open yet....plus a handful I plan on buying, and lot of crowdfunded/indy books I need to get around to reading...Yeah, I have a big to-be-read pile to tackle before I start buying new Marvel characters.

Posted by: Castle Guy at April 16, 2023 11:38 AM (Lhaco)

349 Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 4 - Tower of Silence by Larry Correia

Ahhh...if he's the forgotten warrior, how did he get up to 4 books?

Posted by: Diogenes at April 16, 2023 11:33 AM (anj39)
---
You know, I don't remember.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:39 AM (llXky)

350 A currency crisis isn't the end of the world. They happen quite regularly and while they may result in a change of government, they don't necessarily destroy society.

I'll go out on a limb and say that a collapse of the dollar will have less impact that people think precisely because we are a nation of debtors, not savers. Even people with savings probably have far larger mortgages or car loans.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd
-------
The problem is that currency crises usually end up in deflation as values are reset which destroys asset values including most of those held by the middle class.

For example, would you buy a home in Venezuela right now, I suspect you could get one cheap. Chateaus after the French Revolution also went quite cheap as people could not in many cases afford to purchase and keep them up. Post WWII Great Britain is the peaceable example where many of those great estate houses were given to the government in order to preserve remaining wealth.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:39 AM (EKz4W)

351 I'll go out on a limb and say that a collapse of the dollar will have less impact that people think precisely because we are a nation of debtors, not savers. Even people with savings probably have far larger mortgages or car loans.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:33 AM (llXky)

If what I read is true...that a large % can't cover a $400 emergency...it's amazing we haven't already seen a collapse. I've spent that much @ a restaurant.

Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 11:39 AM (AwYPR)

352 AHL. Sorry, I'm dyslexic. Truly. No insult intended.

Kindltot. I'm fully aware of the terrain bordering Finland and the USSR. Still doesn't stop me from admiring a people capable of routing the Soviets on Raate road. And the spellcheck. I'm on my kindle paperwhite and tabbing out to check is impossible. I can never remember how to spell that man's name.

Posted by: 13times at April 16, 2023 11:40 AM (rU8+6)

353 Ah well I spent my life studying history, economics, and logistics all depressing fields....

that said for a palate cleanser I suggest watching, reading of, and mocking sovcits....

https://www.youtube.com/@TRUTH_SCIENCE151

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 11:40 AM (Lzpvj)

354 Somalia is not an Anarchist state, it is a feudal one.

I'm not talking about an absence of all government, I'm talking about the Marxist notion of Anarchism, one in which the state is abolished and replaced by commercial relationship. That's what the left is pushing today - a hyper-individualism where syndicates work out the rules while government impotently fades away.

The trans thing was not voted on, it was imposed by conglomerates using the language of individual rights. The "buh muh private business" is a call to this form of anarchy.

It's very similar to corporatism, but that typically involves a partnership with the state, not its overt replacement.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd
-------
I've read the theory but at its heart is power justifies its actions--whether you call it feudalism etc. it is at the heart barbarianism.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:40 AM (EKz4W)

355 US financial support for the warring parties in the Cristero War is interesting: The Knights of Columbus raised money for the Cristeros, the KKK sent money to the Mexican Government.

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 11:37 AM (rj6Yv)
---
It's no coincidence that the Dems want to make membership in the Knights (which is mostly about life insurance!) some sort of terrorist thing.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:40 AM (llXky)

356 Thanks for the thread, Perfessor. Have something to do. Now, it's the saddest part of Sunday morning....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at April 16, 2023 11:41 AM (Angsy)

357 351 Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 11:39 AM (AwYPR)

I owe a house, I also have about 14,000 in savings....the two are not mutually exclusive although admittedly if I had the wherewithal to be able to reach into my right pocket and leverage a home I would probably have a dozen of them.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 11:41 AM (Lzpvj)

358 For example, would you buy a home in Venezuela right now, I suspect you could get one cheap. Chateaus after the French Revolution also went quite cheap as people could not in many cases afford to purchase and keep them up. Post WWII Great Britain is the peaceable example where many of those great estate houses were given to the government in order to preserve remaining wealth.
Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:39 AM (EKz4W)

What's the use of owning a large estate when your entire male labor pool has been conscripted into the new-fangled national army?

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 11:42 AM (rj6Yv)

359 AH Lloyd and others (no insult here) though are in the field of tragic science aka history when you see so much unneeded slaughter simply because unreasonable people force disputes into widespread societal violence.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:35 AM (EKz4W)
---
I find it calming, actually. People have been through worse, much worse, and yet good has come of it. Fat, happy and stupid people turn away from God, imagine that they know more, embrace every perversion.

We're about to be held to account. Prepare yourselves accordingly.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:43 AM (llXky)

360 358 Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 11:42 AM (rj6Yv)

Estates are nice, and I am pretty sure I would be a more benign force in the people who relied on my wealth's lives than the globe is dancing at Schwab Soros, and Buffet's whim.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 11:44 AM (Lzpvj)

361 I recommend reading "Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience", by Dr. Pim van Lommel:

Is that really his REAL name ?

Posted by: JT at April 16, 2023 11:44 AM (T4tVD)

362 I've read the theory but at its heart is power justifies its actions--whether you call it feudalism etc. it is at the heart barbarianism.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:40 AM (EKz4W)
---
All of Marxism has a certain about of will-to-power. I mean "who, whom?" right?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:44 AM (llXky)

363 I definitely see the point being made here. Individual rights being disingenuously championed by a loose coalition of NGOs, government actors, and corporations, bound by mutual interest, obviating our Constitutional framework and representative government, so they can dominate everyone else, free from the constraints of law. Buh muh corporations iz peeple, they shout.

It's a very real phenomenon. A shiny, modern technocratic reversion to the Law of The Jungle.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at April 16, 2023 11:45 AM (oINRc)

364 Dave Barry -

If you're in here : write another novel !

Posted by: JT at April 16, 2023 11:45 AM (T4tVD)

365 This week I read another book in a new Naval series beginning with the Man from Bere. It started with a little boy who starts his career in the navy as a Captain's servant at age 9, and by Newly Made Gentleman he's in his 20s and captain in the fourth book.

The advance is sadly too rapid, there are a lot of stories to tell in the years in between, but sea novel authors seem in a stampede to get their character to captain (it took 2 books to get Hornblower to master & commander, for example. O'Brian starts there and wrote later he regretted not starting earlier in Aubrey's career).

But its still fun, and each book gets better both in writing but in handling naval issues.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 16, 2023 11:45 AM (0hOvj)

366 I appreciate the request, but I lean towards military history. Portuguese politics would be a stretch.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:26 AM (llXky)

Ah. Ok. But keep in mind the POR were cutting edge SOF nation. The Flecha et al were the base model for SAfrica and Rhodesia and our own Green Berets.

The Portugese colonial history is suppressed for reasons.

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 16, 2023 11:46 AM (wOSO7)

367 360: And Gates, never leave him out.

I found Schwab's writing to be illuminating. Puts out his ideas and their "potential for good" and always tosses in "but they could be used to cause great harm". He's a fucking eel

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 11:46 AM (Zzbjj)

368 Karl Hess (Goldwater's speechwriter) had an article about local community rule. He thought most of the governing should be done at that level and it would be an easy matter to move to a neighborhood more in tune with your point of view.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 11:47 AM (u7leW)

369 We're about to be held to account. Prepare yourselves accordingly.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:43 AM (llXky)

This.
But when it comes to preparations, I'm finding it difficult to sort out the good advice from the bad.

Posted by: Diogenes at April 16, 2023 11:47 AM (anj39)

370 I signed up for Kindle Unlimited this year, to try it out and so far I have been pretty happy. Its about 10 bucks a month, but you get a gigantic library of especially new writers to try out. I am not sure what the max is of "checkouts" but its at least 10. I like it because I won't pay full price to try a new unknown author but I can get 10-15 books a month to read on this and tear through them, finding some junk and a lot of good.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 16, 2023 11:49 AM (0hOvj)

371 369 Posted by: Diogenes at April 16, 2023 11:47 AM (anj39)

Go long on non-perishable foodstuffs or make your own, wife and I are making pemmican these days.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 11:49 AM (Lzpvj)

372 But when it comes to preparations, I'm finding it difficult to sort out the good advice from the bad.

Posted by: Diogenes at April 16, 2023 11:47 AM (anj39)

buy ammo

Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 11:49 AM (AwYPR)

373 We're about to be held to account. Prepare yourselves accordingly.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:43 AM (llXky)

I'm afraid we are. Turning Magnus Hirschfeld into some kind of martyred saint is just a sign of this.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 11:49 AM (Zzbjj)

374 I find book subtitles to be very helpful, at least for nonfiction books. Authors and publishers want a short, clever title, which may not convey the actual theme of the book. The subtitle is a quick way to glean that information without having to thumb through the book to see what it is about.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at April 16, 2023 09:13 AM (maK6p)

Agree. One excellent example, and a book I can wholeheartedly recommend to the Horde, is by J. E. Gordon, entitled "Structures". Sounds pretty dry, doesn't it? Engineering text, maybe? Then you get to the subtitle, "Why Things Don't Fall Down, (and Why, Sometimes, They Do)." I put the second half of the subtitle in brackets, because I am pretty sure it existed in the copy I had, but cannot find it on Amazon. In any case, the subtitle makes it clear that the book is intended as a popular work, and not as a textbook. Everything from why an arch stays up to why your newly-patched blue jeans tear right next to the patch.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 16, 2023 11:50 AM (tkR6S)

375 I remember being roused from my sleep by my grandmother's voice, calling my name, as if she had been standing by the side of the bed. My father called me later that day, saying my grandmother passed early in the morning.

Posted by: mrp at April 16, 2023 11:50 AM (rj6Yv)

376 372 Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 11:49 AM (AwYPR)

Depends on whether your plan is to shelter in place or go mobile.

Too much ammo is as bad as too little.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 11:50 AM (Lzpvj)

377 The thread is winding down and before it goes away, I have another piece of advice for aspiring independent authors: Get a decent web site.

No, it doesn't have to be top-notch graphics and stuff, but get your own domain and make it simple so people can find it. When I first started writing, my web site was garbage - complicated AND expensive. I eventually gave up and started over with something simple but that I could use.

I also suggest putting content on it. Folks here know I do a bit of blogging (not every day, but a few times a week) and that seems to drive traffic, which is steadily going up. For example, I wrote a blog about The Crow being a Catholic movie and damn if that does not get a bunch of hits. Not sure why, but maybe those turn into sales.

I'd stay away from politics (though I do talk about religion quite a big), but YMMV.

Anyhow, I've gone from days without a view to 20 a day. Obviously I comment here, but I also have a column at Bleedingfool.com and I go on gaming forums - all of which increase exposure.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:51 AM (llXky)

378 Preparations? Can't go wrong with that Carla Emery book

Honestly, no one can give you that advice, because no one knows what we are in for. Save money, prepare for bad times, build community, trust in God.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 11:51 AM (u7leW)

379 I owe a house, I also have about 14,000 in savings....the two are not mutually exclusive although admittedly if I had the wherewithal to be able to reach into my right pocket and leverage a home I would probably have a dozen of them.
Posted by: sven
-------
Now is a time for wealth preservation, not investment. When the interest rates hit about 6-8 percent or greater, better to keep money locked up in short term financial investments.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:52 AM (EKz4W)

380 Guenon and Unamumo were quite right but v diff when they said the drive is toward "undifferenitated matter" and not "individualism". It's not even toward large groups. It is toward pure undifferntiated material. The materia secunda of Aquinas.

The elites prob see themselves as undergoing the opposite process of becoming more and more distinguished from each other. More pure individuals. Approaching the Angelic state of each being a genera. Obv demonic in reality but then they are Luciferians and Satanists (which are not the same).

Posted by: Thesokorus at April 16, 2023 11:52 AM (wOSO7)

381 378 Preparations? Can't go wrong with that Carla Emery book
Honestly, no one can give you that advice, because no one knows what we are in for. Save money, prepare for bad times, build community, trust in God.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 11:51 AM (u7leW)

Yep. Preparations are in order. I might take a look at Emery's book, but suburban NJ is not a place for survivalists

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 11:53 AM (Zzbjj)

382 379 Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:52 AM (EKz4W)

Just saying the cost of a house is wildly out of proprtion with the average wage, and I am far from a prog on the matter. Part of me thinks corporations should not be in the housing market to the degree they are. Black Rock is driving working people out of ownership and aggregating the property to inflict their political will they cannot attain through legislation through contract.

Posted by: sven at April 16, 2023 11:54 AM (Lzpvj)

383 buy ammo
Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 11:49 AM (AwYPR)

Yes.
But I was thinking more. House is paid for, cars too. Larder is full. Money in the bank...not a huge sum but enough to pay for funeral.
What else?
But a couple acres in Idaho?
Buy gold?
Buy sand bags for bunker building?
It's kinda wide open on what next steps should be.

Posted by: Diogenes at April 16, 2023 11:54 AM (anj39)

384 365 This week I read another book in a new Naval series beginning with the Man from Bere. It started with a little boy who starts his career in the navy as a Captain's servant at age 9, and by Newly Made Gentleman he's in his 20s and captain in the fourth book.

The advance is sadly too rapid, there are a lot of stories to tell in the years in between, but sea novel authors seem in a stampede to get their character to captain (it took 2 books to get Hornblower to master & commander, for example. O'Brian starts there and wrote later he regretted not starting earlier in Aubrey's career).

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

One could assume the rush is due to a fear of the series being cancelled/ignored before you get to the good stuff, or the author not wanting or not being comfortable writing the hero in the lower ranks. (I'm sure it requires a different style/approach when the character is staking orders, rather than giving)

Adaptations can suffer the same fate. In the Sharpe's Rifles BBC movies, Sharpe goes from Sergeant to Major in five movies. But in A&E's Hornblower movies, it actually takes until the 7th movie before Horatio is Captain.

Posted by: Castle Guy at April 16, 2023 11:55 AM (Lhaco)

385 Spanish Anarchism was Anarcho-syndicalism, which attempted to put the highest level of controlling authority on the worker collective, using the power that labor had in the market place to leverage control over the industries that needed them for labor. It has its roots in the public workhouses from the Paris Commune period and the Italian labor movements.

Libertarian communism (which is less meaningful than jumbo shrimp) is an attempt to create an all powerful state that will be controlled in theory by the entire population and will always fall under the iron rule of oligarchies and be the new totalitarian state. it is also an outgrowth from the Paris Commune period

Anarchism is best described as "without a superior controlling authority" Anarcho-syndicalism has the highest level of controlling authority vested in the workers' collectvies, Anarcho-socialism has the highest level of controlling authority vested in the govenment, Anarcho-capitalsim h has the highest level of controlling authority vested in the individual actions of the consumers.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 11:55 AM (xhaym)

386 But when it comes to preparations, I'm finding it difficult to sort out the good advice from the bad.

Posted by: Diogenes at April 16, 2023 11:47 AM (anj39)
---
Always trust Horde advice!

One thing I have been trying to do is engage the people around me. Get to know them better. And yes, this includes the local cops.

I also recommend getting more involved with your church or finding one if you don't currently have one, because historically churches have stepped in when governments have faltered.

Americans love rugged individualism and there's this recurring fantasy of a family sitting on piles of food, ammo and standing off the world. I don't think that's practical. Humans are social animals, and when disaster strikes, the key to survival is working in groups.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:55 AM (llXky)

387 Emery is not really a survivalist. It's about gardening, livestock, raising kids, using old technology. I can't do the homesteading stuff any more but am going to put in what I can and what I think I can handle in the future.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at April 16, 2023 11:57 AM (u7leW)

388 One could assume the rush is due to a fear of the series being cancelled/ignored before you get to the good stuff, or the author not wanting or not being comfortable writing the hero in the lower ranks. (I'm sure it requires a different style/approach when the character is staking orders, rather than giving)

Posted by: Castle Guy at April 16, 2023 11:55 AM (Lhaco)
---
I wonder how many writers have any idea of what shipboard life was like for the lower ranks?

A guy like Conrad could write it because he lived it. Much easier to imagine yourself striding around the quarter deck giving commands while sailors mysteriously do all the technical stuff.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:58 AM (llXky)

389 Americans love rugged individualism and there's this recurring fantasy of a family sitting on piles of food, ammo and standing off the world. I don't think that's practical. Humans are social animals, and when disaster strikes, the key to survival is working in groups.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:55 AM (llXky)

Good point.
I've kidded in the past about my local 42nd Street militia...but I do have a cohort of colleagues. We watch out for each other.
We live in interesting times.

Posted by: Diogenes at April 16, 2023 11:59 AM (anj39)

390 So Microcrank decided to upgrade my meager notebook from Win10 to Win11 just now. They pulled it off without a hitch so I can't complain and I wasn't engaged in a serious porn moment.

I hate these fucks!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at April 16, 2023 12:00 PM (V4X9X)

391 Spanish Anarchism was Anarcho-syndicalism, which attempted to put the highest level of controlling authority on the worker collective, using the power that labor had in the market place to leverage control over the industries that needed them for labor. It has its roots in the public workhouses from the Paris Commune period and the Italian labor movements.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 11:55 AM (xhaym)
---
The Spanish Anarchists were all over the place. Dizzying disputes and factions.

Libertarian Communism is what you get when the state orders your religious leaders to commit blasphemy in the name of individual rights.

Or corporations decide to withhold credit and food sales because of beliefs they dislike. It's a very weird critter.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 12:00 PM (llXky)

392 We haz a nood

Posted by: Skip at April 16, 2023 12:01 PM (3Vkwq)

393 Always trust Horde advice!
***

Keep a hot iron handy.

Posted by: Diogenes at April 16, 2023 12:01 PM (anj39)

394 I was going to read a book once but then Bo and I were drafted by President Murphy, a strong Irish lad, who showed any one can grow up in Scranton and go on to drive a semi truck while winning the Heisman trophy, which I did twice, where was I, oh yes, Xi and I were flying first class together to get some take out in Shanghai when I said "Dr. Jill is a real doctor and a good one," no kidding, true story.

Posted by: Joe Biden at April 16, 2023 12:03 PM (rdanb)

395 Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 16, 2023 12:05 PM (a/4+U)

396 The Spanish Anarchists were all over the place. Dizzying disputes and factions.

Libertarian Communism is what you get when the state orders your religious leaders to commit blasphemy in the name of individual rights.

Or corporations decide to withhold credit and food sales because of beliefs they dislike. It's a very weird critter.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 12:00 PM (llXky)

My cousin's husband was a Spanish Civil War vet and loud proud anarchist. He lived off her money and was a largely unsuccessful writer.

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 12:06 PM (Zzbjj)

397 I've read the theory but at its heart is power justifies its actions--whether you call it feudalism etc. it is at the heart barbarianism.
Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 11:40 AM (EKz4W)

Feudalism is a specific decentralized economic and political system that revolves around putative centralized power and held together by obligations, blood ties, economic requirements, and the possibility that the central power will rally your peers to beat you if you step out of line.

Barbarism generally does not have a centralized power and is not so much decentralized as fragmented. and any alliance is a local one, not directed by a central authority. There is also less emphasis on property

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 12:06 PM (xhaym)

398 There was a series of books in the '70s....kinda' 'how to' 'survivalist'...that I cant remember...started w/ "fire..."?

Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 12:07 PM (AwYPR)

399 Libertarian Communism is what you get when the state orders your religious leaders to commit blasphemy in the name of individual rights.
Or corporations decide to withhold credit and food sales because of beliefs they dislike. It's a very weird critter.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 12:00 PM (llXky)

I smell a lot of *things I hate* rolled together in what you say. Perhaps I have not been reading the same political theory books as you, so it might be solely my faulty understanding

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 12:09 PM (xhaym)

400 I've read the first two books in James Bartlett's swamp Yankee series ("Glitter Girl" and "Cold Secrets.") I'm about to start book #3. I strongly recommend. It's quick, enjoyable reading in the detective/mystery format.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at April 16, 2023 12:13 PM (d9Cw3)

401 369 We're about to be held to account. Prepare yourselves accordingly.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 11:43 AM (llXky)

This.
But when it comes to preparations, I'm finding it difficult to sort out the good advice from the bad.
Posted by: Diogenes
-------
Two dystopic books, one over the Argentine financial crisis in the 2000's where the currency collapses but no war, and the other comes from a former Yugoslavian that lived through their time of troubles in the 90's. Both give hints as to what to consider in your planning.

Argentina (link goes to amazon)
https://tinyurl.com/3yfc95ay

Can't locate the Yugoslavian one but it was recently in print.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 12:14 PM (EKz4W)

402 I smell a lot of *things I hate* rolled together in what you say. Perhaps I have not been reading the same political theory books as you, so it might be solely my faulty understanding

Posted by: Kindltot at April 16, 2023 12:09 PM (xhaym)
---
Follow the thread that links these together. First you have individual "rights" that require others to submit to them. Deadnaming, pronoun use, gay marriage, etc. All of these are to preserve an individual right by imposing obedience to it on others - and using the state to do it.

At the same time, the state is powerless if private corporations "choose" not to conduct commerce with people whose opinions they dislike. Again, that's "muh private corporation" talk. So you get a situation where classical Libertarian goals (absolute individual freedom, unregulated private enterprise) actually creates a communist form of government where the targeted economic/social classes face liquidation.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at April 16, 2023 12:16 PM (llXky)

403 Feudalism is a specific decentralized economic and political system that revolves around putative centralized power and held together by obligations, blood ties, economic requirements, and the possibility that the central power will rally your peers to beat you if you step out of line.

Barbarism generally does not have a centralized power and is not so much decentralized as fragmented. and any alliance is a local one, not directed by a central authority. There is also less emphasis on property
Posted by: Kindltot
---------
You have to consider how the system was set up in the first place--the answer is violence--then feudalism was set up to preserve status quo. However, if you substitute corporations for titles of aristocracy with the ceos and the like, you get something similar where nominal obligations exist but in reality you get maximal freedom to plunder your patch and that is enforced by violence.

Theory should always be informed by actual historical facts--places like East Europe were nominally feudal but the failure to apply strict primogeniture made it a much weaker sort of feudalism than in somewhere like France or England.

Posted by: whig at April 16, 2023 12:19 PM (EKz4W)

404 398 -- Think those books might have been by William Johnstone. First one maybe Fire in the Ashes?.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 16, 2023 12:28 PM (a/4+U)

405 404 398 -- Think those books might have been by William Johnstone. First one maybe Fire in the Ashes?.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 16, 2023 12:28 PM (a/4+U)

Just remembered it's the "Foxfire" series

https://tinyurl.com/ypmw643m

Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 12:32 PM (AwYPR)

406 It seems my IP or ISP is banned. But my userid and email aren't. Am I banned? If so, fine. It's Ace's site and I won't post again. How would I confirm banning?
Posted by: Thesokorus at April 16, 2023 10:57 AM (Hmpmb)

You aren't banned, and I have not seen any calls for that. You probably simply have the misfortune of sharing an ISP with some banned poster or spammer. e-mail a Cob.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 16, 2023 12:33 PM (tkR6S)

407 Foxfire manuals?

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at April 16, 2023 12:33 PM (LEuDt)

408 Foxfire manuals?

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at April 16, 2023 12:33 PM (LEuDt)

Southern Appalachian life & how to.

https://tinyurl.com/ypmw643m

Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 12:40 PM (AwYPR)

409 More on Hernando de Soto, from some right-wing journal I read years ago:

Not only do many Latin Americans not own the land they live on, even the ones who do have fewer rights. American land-owners own everything under it, right down to the center of the earth. If you're a-huntin' on your land and spot some bubblin' crude, it's your lucky day: hire an oil company to drill and they have to pay you for every barrel they pump, because you own it.

In Latin America, the government owns everything under the surface: oil, coal, gold, silver, whatever. The last thing you want to see on your land is a government prospector looking for oil under your land. If there is, you'll have all the noise and dirt of trucks and boring machines and workers taking the oil, and won't get a penny.

(As I recall, it comes from the difference between Anglo-Saxon and Roman law: the Spanish king owned all the minerals underground, George III didn't.)

This is one thing that keeps Latin America relatively undeveloped: there's no incentive to develop subterranean resources, in fact there's a strong incentive to do a "shoot, shovel, shut up" on government prospectors.

Posted by: Dr. Weevil at April 16, 2023 12:44 PM (0LYmU)

410 Late to the post webwork plugola
-------------------
Turing Circuits
From pure potentiality to self-realization.

The achievement of self-aware personality of survival value in a God-centered universe. Ultimately, that was the desire of Dr. Frankenstein's monster, the puppet Pinocchio, Asimov's I Robot, Data the Star Trek android, and every one of us.

Including this guy.

5-page comic from 2013, linked in nic

Posted by: mindful webworker - better latte than nerfer at April 16, 2023 12:54 PM (x/Ee2)

411 "Considering how many "cozies" clog the bookstore shelves, I'm surprised. Mysteries always sell pretty well, at least compared to literary novels."

The "success" of low quality mysteries have been a fact of life for decades (I'd say for more than a Century-see the early mystery and detective pulps). As Raymond Chandler put it in "The Simple Art of Murder:"

"The average detective story is probably no worse than the average novel, but you never see the average novel. It doesn’t get published. The average—or only slightly above average—detective story does. "

Posted by: Pope John 20th at April 16, 2023 12:55 PM (cYrkj)

412 American land-owners own everything under it, right down to the center of the earth. If you're a-huntin' on your land and spot some bubblin' crude, it's your lucky day: hire an oil company to drill and they have to pay you for every barrel they pump, because you own it.

Posted by: Dr. Weevil at April 16, 2023 12:44 PM (0LYmU)

Not necessarily. You may not own "mineral rights". That's one of the reasons you do a title search before purchasing.

Posted by: BignJames at April 16, 2023 01:15 PM (AwYPR)

413 412:
Thanks. Yes, they can be sold separately - I'd forgotten. But they don't automatically belong to the government always and everywhere, as they do (Soto says) in Latin America.

Posted by: Dr. Weevil at April 16, 2023 01:18 PM (0LYmU)

414 SubTitles?
"Illusions"
Confessions of a reluctant Messiah.
Richard Bach.
Perhaps the best title "Hook" of all time.
And also a provocative read. Interesting, likable characters, in interesting likable locations, doing interesting likable things.

Posted by: birddog at April 16, 2023 01:54 PM (uAI4S)

415 "The meek may inherit the Earth, but not the mineral rights."

John D. Rockefeller

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 16, 2023 02:07 PM (Om/di)

416 Alberta Oil Peon,

I couldn't agree with you more about James Edward Gordon's "Structures, Why Things Don't Fall Down" (My copy doesn't have your parenthetical addition subtitle, your's might be a different edition). It's a great book on structural engineering and its development for non-engineers. Also excellent is Gordon's "The New Science of Strong Materials, or Why You Don't Fall Through the Floor." "The New Science..." was written first, and, IIRC, there is some overlap between the two books-or to put it another way, "Structures" seems to be an expanded version of "The New Science..." And "The New Science..." has the advantage of being available for borrowing at the Internet Archive.

Also, if you want something a bit more applicable to modern politics, try Nick Eberstadt's "The Tyranny of Numbers." In it Eberstadt shines a light on the left's misuse of social science "research," or, as Eberstadt puts it, misrule by the numbers.

Posted by: Pope John 20th at April 16, 2023 02:13 PM (cYrkj)

417 Oops, Gordon's "Structures" is also available at Archive dot org, and as a pdf download.

Posted by: Pope John 20th at April 16, 2023 02:16 PM (cYrkj)

418 415 "The meek may inherit the Earth, but not the mineral rights."

John D. Rockefeller
Posted by: Weak Geek at April 16, 2023 02:07 PM (Om/di)

The WEF goons now want water rights

Posted by: CN at April 16, 2023 02:20 PM (Zzbjj)

419 I have visited Roswell. My grin started immediately upon entering the town limits (a billboard stating "We don't cover up") and didn't stop until banners celebrating 50 years of Roswell were in the rear view mirror-I think Leonard Nimoy was the featured famous person.
Anyway, the picture.
What looks like books are actually (mostly) VHS cassettes. World repository for all things alien. Like the full series run of 'the Invaders', for example.

Posted by: Michael at April 17, 2023 07:48 AM (BCV0P)

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