Sunday Morning Book Thread - 2-23-2025 ["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 (zombie mice not included). 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, unless you are wearing these pants...(reminds me to phone home once in a while).

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

PIC NOTE

It's hard to believe, but I've been doing this Sunday Morning Book Thread thing for three full years now. That's over 150 threads! By the time I reach 200 threads, I might finally know what I'm doing. Today's image was created courtesy of Adobe Firefly, a free AI image generator. I told it to create an image of a squirrel in a library reading a book. On the squirrel's head he should be wearing a birthday hat and a birthday cake with three candles should be in front of him. Firefly will provide four initial drafts, but you can input more data to refine the image.

Thank you for all of your support over the past three years! Your active engagement in the Sunday Morning Book Thread is much appreciated!

THE DANGER IN WRITING A BOOK SERIES

The YouTuber above uses back-of-the-envelope calculations to demonstration why writing a book series is not a good idea, especially for newer authors. The dark reality is that the VAST majority of books only sell a few hundred to a few thousand copies. There are so many books being published these days, both from traditional publishing houses and by independent authors, that keeping a reader's interest so that they will be inclined to wait for the next book in a series to be released is a daunting challenge.

When I look back through my own library, I can see that many of my favorite authors did release standalone books *before* tackling the challenge of writing a multi-volume series. For instance, Terry Brooks wrote The Sword of Shannara, The Elfstones of Shannara, and The Wishsong of Shannara as three standalone novels, though they are connected through three generations of Ohmsfords who answer the call to adventure, and the events of one novel do have some influence on successive novels. But it's not necessary to read them in a given order to fully enjoy those stories. His sequel series, The Scions of Shannara, is a proper multi-volume story where all of the books are intimately connected to one another and you do need to read them in order to fully understand the story.

There are exceptions, of course. John Gwynne, author of the four-volume series The Faithful and the Fallen, seems to have found commercial success by focusing on writing series of books rather than standalone novels. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman were commissioned by TSR, Inc. to write the original Dragonlance Chronicles and have also tended to focus on writing series of books rather than standalone novels. Tad Williams only had one standalone novel (Tailchaser's Song) before writing Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn.

Many authors will write a standalone novel, and if they experience success, they will continue to write stories about those characters as part of an open-ended series, so that readers don't have to worry about waiting for the next novel to arrive. If it does, great! If the author takes time off to work on other projects, the readers aren't left in limbo until the author decides to return to their series. Both Jim Butcher and Larry Correia fit into this category somewhat. Butcher has taken time off from writing his Dresden Files to focus on other projects. Correia has a pretty big cliffhanger in his most recent Monster Hunter novel, but now that he's finished The Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, I'm sure he'll get back to that story eventually.

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(HT: mindful webworker)

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AMAZON KINDLE SCREWING OVER READERS!

A number of videos like the one above have popped into my YouTube feed recently. The premise behind these videos is that Amazon Kindle is about to deny readers the ability to download their books onto their own devices/computers, as of February 26, 2025. In other words, you can only access your books in the cloud, so you WILL need to have internet connectivity or something in order to read the books. Or something like that. As of now, it's still possible to download books from Kindle, strip them of digital rights management using anothre app, and thus have a personal copy of the book that can exist independent of the internet. We'll see how this affects Kindle's business model, I suppose. I know people are paranoid about digital content being changed without notice--with some justification because this DOES happen. And of course, we all like to believe that if we paid for content, we OWN it. I OWN all my physical copies of books. I don't pay taxes on them (other than the initial sales tax, of course) and I don't have to pay any recurring license fees to keep them.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Save Our Souls by Matthew Pearl is the true story of the wreck of the shark-fishing ship Wandering Minstrel on the coral reefs of Midway Island in 1887. Captain Walker, his wife, their three sons, and surviving members of the crew managed to scrabble to shore in the storm.
When the castaways awoke the next morning they discovered the island had one inhabitant already, a giant Dane named Hans, who quickly took them under his wing and helped them survive on the island's meager resources.
But Hans was no mere hard luck castaway. He was a murderer whose crew mates stranded him and left him to fend for himself. And now Hans plotted the death of the captain and sons and to abscond with a repaired boat, bent on getting revenge on the people who marooned him.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 16, 2025 09:56 AM (kpS4V)

Comment: Sounds like a fascinating story. In fact, when I read the blurb above, I could swear I've read variations of this story elsewhere. Perhaps they were inspired by this tale. I find it interesting that instead of workign *with* the marooned family to escape, Hans conspired *against* the family for his own selfish ends. Clearly NOT a good guy.

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Currently I'm reading The Graveyard Apartment, a horror story set in 1980s Tokyo. The novel, by one Mariko Koike, was translated from the Japanese, and the person did a fine job. The characters are very likable by Western standards and speak very much like Westerners (though I have no idea how real modern Japanese speak among themselves). A young couple moves into a high-rise apartment building that is situated by a graveyard and an abandoned Buddhist temple, and strange things begin to happen to the people who live there.
As the cover blurb says, you'll never be comfortable in an elevator or a basement again.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 16, 2025 10:00 AM (omVj0)

Comment: That cover blurb quote is a bit curious since I don't find either elevators or basements particularly comfortable. OK, I am quite comfortable in my office in the basement of the campus library, but I've also been in some *very* dark and creepy basements in my time. Elevators are also not known for "comfort." In a high-rise building, we tend to forget that an elevator may be suspended hundreds of feet above the ground, with nothing to stop it falling other than cables and safety brakes. Damaged elevators often serve as tense moments in movies...

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (1000+ Moron-recommended books!)

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WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK:

First King of Shannara by Terry Brooks -- I'm a completionist. It's the only Shannara book I didn't have.

Star Wars - Corellian Trilogy Book 1 - Ambush at Corellia by Roger MacBride Allen -- We get to meet Han Solo's extended family in the form of a power-hungry cousin seeking to dominate the five habitable worlds of the Corellian system.

Star Wars - Corellian Trilogy Book 2 - Assault at Selonia by Roger MacBride Allen

Star Wars - Corellian Trilogy Book 3 - Showdown at Centerpoint by Roger MacBride Allen

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

After reviewing some of OregonMuse's old Book Threads, I thought I'd try something a bit different. Instead of just listing WHAT I'm reading, I'll include commentary as well. Unless otherwise specified, you can interpret this as an implied recommendation, though as always your mileage may vary.

Star Wars - New Jedi Order - Force Heretic I - Remnant by Sean Williams & Shane Dix

The Force Heretic subseries takes a break from the main action of the Yuuzhan Vong war. Luke, his wife Mara, and their nephew Jacen Solo begin a magical mystery tour of the Unknown Regions of the galaxy in search of the enigmatic wandering planet Zonama Sekot, which may be connected to the Yuuzhan Vong. Meanwhile, Han, Leia, and their daughter Jaina begin their own magical mystery tour of the known galaxy to re-establish communication channels among the remote regions. The Yuuzhan Vong have disrupted communications to the point that no one really knows what allies, if any, remain. On the planet formerly known as Coruscant--now renamed "Yuuzhan-tar"--the disgraced Yuuzhan Vong executor and infiltrator sparks a rebellion among the Shamed Ones, the lowest caste of Yuuzhan Vong, who believe the Jeedi are their greatest hope of reclaiming their rightful place among their oppressors.

Star Wars - New Jedi Order - Force Heretic II - Refugee by Sean Williams & Shane Dix

Han and Leia are sucked into a conflict among the Bakurans, as the nearby Ssi-Ruuk Imperium seeks to conquer the planet again through their vile "entechment," where the souls of their victims power their technology. This is a callback to one of the earliest Star Wars novels, A Truce at Bakura. In their own way, the Ssi-Ruuk are very nearly as despicable as the Yuuzhan Vong. Treacherous and violent in the extreme. Meanwhile, Luke and his family continue to search for Zonama Sekot by exploring the library of the Chiss Ascendancy. They are surprised to find out the Chiss use actual BOOKS instead of computer terminals like a proper library. They, too, are beset with treachery from within as not all Chiss are on board with joining the Galactic Alliance against the overwhelming threat of the Yuuzhan Vong. Although the Chiss are capable of repelling minor incursions, they are no match for the full might of a Yuuzhan Vong fleet.

Star Wars - New Jedi Order - Force Heretic III - Reunion by Sean Williams & Shane Dix

Luke, Mara, and Jacen discover--or perhaps RE-discover--the sentient planet Zonama Sekot. Luke's father Anakin Skywalker found it decades ago, while traveling with his master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Now Luke must convince an intelligent planet that's deeply connected to the Force to ally itself with the Jedi. However, Zonama Sekot fled into the Unknown Regions to avoid the pain and suffering it found in the known areas of the galaxy. Now it wants to be left alone. Han and Leia have connected with a new communication channel, one consisting of the most overlooked people in galaxy. They've also convinced the Imperial Remnant to join the Galactic Alliance as an equal partner. Like the Chiss, the Imperial Remnant may be able to fend off isolated attacks, but they are outmatched and outgunned by a serious Yuuzhan Vong incursion.

Star Wars - New Jedi Order - The Final Prophecy by Greg Keyes

The Yuuzhan Vong "Prophet" Nom Anor attempted to destroy the sentient planet of Zonama Sekot, but failed. Instead of dying, the planet leapt into hyperspace, journeying towards the Known Regions of the galaxy. Luke succeeds in convincing the wandering planet to rejoin the galaxy it left behind, especially now that they better understand the key role the planet plays in the Force and its relationship with the Yuuzhan Vong. The Galactic Alliance starts to gather its own forces for one final push to recapture Coruscant, the jewel of the galaxy, now the new homeworld of the Yuuzhan Vong, where Supreme Overlord has grown his throne.

Star Wars - New Jedi Order - The Unifying Force by James Luceno

This is it--the final chapter in The New Jedi Order series. Everything converges on Coruscant. Zonama Sekot warps into the system, inspiring hope among the Shamed Ones, and terror among the elite caste of the Yuuzhan Vong, as they now believe their gods are angry with them. The Galactic Alliance has unleashed a terrifying weapon on one of the Vong-conquered worlds that threatens to obliterate not only the Yuuzhan Vong, but could turn against the many varied species of the galaxy as well. The Jedi, always striving for peace, seek a resolution whereby the Yuuzhan Vong can be made to see where they went wrong as a species/culture, instead of being extinguished. As the title of this book indicates, deeper truths about the Force will also be revealed and made manifest.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 2-16-2025 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.

Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. This Sunday Morning Book Thread will self destruct in five seconds.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Read A Journey to the Center of the Earth as a follow up to the prior week's reading of Around the World in Eighty Days. Sent a review to the Perfessor.

I don't have Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:00 AM (0eaVi)

2 It's hard to believe, but I've been doing this Sunday Morning Book Thread thing for three full years now.
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wow! seems like yesterday !

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 09:00 AM (g47mK)

3 Three years! Thanks for picking it up and running with it, Perfessor!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 23, 2025 09:00 AM (OX9vb)

4 First?

Posted by: Darles Chickens at February 23, 2025 09:00 AM (vOKvj)

5 Read A Journey to the Center of the Earth as a follow up to the prior week's reading of Around the World in Eighty Days. Sent a review to the Perfessor.

I don't have Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:00 AM (0eaVi)
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Don't worry. Your review will be posted next week!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 23, 2025 09:01 AM (BpYfr)

6 Happy birthday. Or book day. Or book thread day.

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 09:01 AM (g47mK)

7 Foiled yet again!

Posted by: Darles Chickens at February 23, 2025 09:01 AM (vOKvj)

8 Booken morgen horden!

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 23, 2025 09:01 AM (0JWOm)

9 Read Robert Galbraith's The Running Grave (partly on audio partly as ebook)

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 23, 2025 09:02 AM (0JWOm)

10 Three years?!

Happy anniversary!

I love the Book Thread. It's the highlight of my week.

Keep on keepin' on, Perfesser.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:03 AM (p/isN)

11 One doesn't need connectivity or even electricity for a physical book. Just space.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 23, 2025 09:04 AM (HHmgW)

12 Rereading Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers. The Wimsey's on their honeymoon and a mystery breaks out.
Fun read, interesting characters.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at February 23, 2025 09:05 AM (2NHgQ)

13 Regarding the Amazon review cartoon:

"I can live for two months on a good compliment."

~ Mark Twain

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 23, 2025 09:05 AM (dg+HA)

14 Three years already? You're doing a good job, Perfessor.

Posted by: dantesed at February 23, 2025 09:06 AM (Oy/m2)

15 Congrats, Perfessor! Been a great three years of book talk!

Posted by: Dr. T at February 23, 2025 09:06 AM (lHPJf)

16 The characters are very likable by Western standards and speak very much like Westerners (though I have no idea how real modern Japanese speak among themselves).

I've seen a few "shorts" on YT from Japanese giving lessons in learning the language. They say, "this is how it's said, but nobody says it that way in real life conversation." So, who knows, but I wouldn't be surprised if how the author wrote it is how they speak it too.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:07 AM (0eaVi)

17 I should have read this book last week, when the snow was falling. That's because "Slippery" Jim diGriz spends a lot of time on a planet of endless snowfall in "The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You!" by Harry Harrison.

He didn't expect to wind up there. His assignment was to disrupt a planned massacre of humanity by an alien coalition. But strings are being pulled ...

HH puts his opinions into these stories through Slippery Jim, and that annoys me. In the first book, he asserts that Heaven doesn't exist. This time, diGriz speaks against capital punishment, declaring that it isn't a deterrent. I wonder whether HH got letters about that.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:08 AM (p/isN)

18 I just finished Cause for Alarm, a novel written by Eric Ambler in 1938. Englishman Nick Marlow needs a new job, and takes an posting to Milan for a British armaments tooling manufacturer in Mussolini's Italy. He soon finds out that Milan business is a mixture of bribery and espionage. Once enmeshed in the scene, he finds that Italian agents are interested in arresting him, or perhaps shooting him as he 'attempts to escape' because bribery and spying go together.

The novel follows Nick as he learns just how business is done in a police state that has replaced the mafia, but utilizes its people and tactics. Once Nick is on the run, he is assisted by the mysterious Andreas Zaleshoff, an American of Russian descent, whose loyalties are never clear. They engage in a harrowing race to get out of the country ahead of the Italians.

While reading, I felt that this book was part of the transition from the hard boiled novels of the early 1930s to the spy novels of the 1950s. In describing the scenes, Ambler also captures the internal insights and fears of the protagonist in a way that foreshadows how Hitchcock would capture the moods in his films.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 23, 2025 09:08 AM (HHmgW)

19 Read a few Nero Wolfe novels.Looking at finishing The Frontiersmen by Eckert this coming week.

Posted by: 13times at February 23, 2025 09:08 AM (9MTg1)

20 Oh -- we lucked out. Maybe 2" of snow. I had no trouble driving to work.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:10 AM (p/isN)

21 Recently, I did something I should have done long ago: I read The Hobbit for the first time. I'd read LOTR long ago, but never got around to what came before.

It was an enjoyable read. A bit different, since you could tell Tolkien hadn't really got going on his worldbuilding yet, but the foundations were there, and by the end, I could appreciate the story in its own right, and not just as a prelude.

Would read again.

Posted by: Dr. T at February 23, 2025 09:10 AM (lHPJf)

22 Happy book birthday, Perf! Thanks for providing a relaxed, pantsless forum for discussing books.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 23, 2025 09:10 AM (kpS4V)

23 What are YOU reading this fine morning?

I'm reading two reports, one, the final tally of last week's non-pants or leopard-print onesie wearers, and two, the number of readers who have other things on their shelves besides books.

Posted by: Bob from NSA at February 23, 2025 09:11 AM (a3Q+t)

24 Jordan did some Conan books before WoT. Tolkien (which is a very special case.)

Eddings, maybe. I cannot remember any standalones for him.

Donaldson, but he is a gigantic weirdo.

Butcher has only done stand alone stuff after the fact.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 23, 2025 09:11 AM (bss/y)

25 Morning, Perfessor.

Howdy, Horde.

I've been using the Kindle download-and-transfer-via-usb for quite a while, though not so much during the last year. Will catch up on some of that over the next few days depending on whether I feel like keeping the books in question permanently or think they're likely candidates for Ministry of Truth alterations by their publishers. The elimination of that option is just another example of 'some people don't behave so we'll make things harder for those who do', kinda like gun control. As for stopping piracy, it'll probably work as well as gun control does.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 23, 2025 09:12 AM (q3u5l)

26 I read Donald Stratton’s All the Gallant Men last week. He was on the Arizona when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It’s an incredible story. He doesn’t sugarcoat what he felt then and to a good extent still feels about the sneak attack and the people who carried it out.

…here is where we reach the limits of storytelling.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 23, 2025 09:12 AM (EXyHK)

27 Don't worry. Your review will be posted next week!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 23, 2025 09:01 AM (BpYfr)

Oh, I know, Perfessor. You posted that "don't start writing a series" vid I sent you. I didn't finish the story until Friday morning. I had no expectation it'd be on this week's thread.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:13 AM (0eaVi)

28 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Mine was a bit difference.

And happy three years to Perfessor who has done a wonderful job with the thread that first got me involved with you people.

Posted by: JTB at February 23, 2025 09:13 AM (yTvNw)

29 John Ringo posted a short synopsis of Walter Russell Meade's exposition on Jacksonianism on his X/Twitter feed that engendered quite a bit of discussion. Ringo's position that while Reagan was Jacksonian, he was limited by the Bush/Dole faction. Trump 1.0 was likewise limited. Trump 2.0 is full on Jacksonian so far.

Inspired me to download ALL of Ringo's "Black Tide Rising" books (including the anthologies) onto the Kindle.

-SLV

Posted by: Shy Lurking Voter (also Dead Mark Twain) at February 23, 2025 09:13 AM (e/Osv)

30 Found paperbacks of Leon Uris's first book 'Battle Cry' about his time in WW2, and Michener's 'Centennial'. Found both for a buck each at the gunshow.
I first read both the summer of 1975 - sitting on the porch of the bunkhouse at my summer job on a buffalo refuge in Arizona.
I expect to be awash in nostalgia for the foreseeable future while I re-read them.

Posted by: retropox at February 23, 2025 09:13 AM (rMxB2)

31 After reading Edward Ashton's two books in his Mickey 7 series, I picked up another book (stand-alone) from the same author called "Mal Goes to War". (Sorry fans of Firefly, not the same Mal.)

The idea is that "Mal" is a digital entity/person, created and inhabiting solely the world of "infospace" where there are other entities like him; friends of his. They can take over robotic and cybernetic enhancements and push themselves into the real world and interact with it, but most of them find humans and their corporeal experience to be squishy, messy, and at times, disgusting. (Honestly, they're not wrong.)

The story starts with Mal wondering what this is like, not having done this, and he injects himself into the enhancements and exoskeletal system around what looks to be an soldier of some type, only to find that the soldier within has just been killed. And thus begins Mal's experience of being thrust into the physical human world as a sorta-not-quite-undead robot thing.

And then he gets cut off from the broadcast tower for infospace in the local area. He can't escape at whim, and he's trapped in a hot war. Things are not off to an auspicious start for Mal.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 23, 2025 09:13 AM (O7YUW)

32 THe Yuzhang Vong are a little like the Cielcin of Ruocchio's Suneater series, a fiearsome foe, I like this version of Luke vs the shell of a man, that the sequel trilogy gave us,

Posted by: miguel cervantes at February 23, 2025 09:14 AM (dJR17)

33 And happy anniversary, Perfessor. The book thread's been a highlight of my week for quite some time.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 23, 2025 09:14 AM (q3u5l)

34 You've done a great job Perfessor!

Now that Melania's back we need a brave moron to step up & resurrect the chess/dress thread.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at February 23, 2025 09:15 AM (L1omb)

35 Love that top photo. What an adorable hoot.

Posted by: JTB at February 23, 2025 09:16 AM (yTvNw)

36 I love Journey to the Center of the Earth. It's a lot of fun.

Currently (re)reading Amity Shlaes's bio of Coolidge. He did a ton of budget cutting and oversaw economic growth "even though!!" he made fedgov smaller and cut taxes. Food for thought, you would think.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at February 23, 2025 09:16 AM (Y+AMd)

37 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at February 23, 2025 09:16 AM (fwDg9)

38 I picked up a well-used copy of Alan Dean Foster's STAR WARS novel _Splinter of the Mind's Eye_ lately, and read it over breakfast. It's a very fast read.

Apparently George Lucas asked Foster to come up with a story for a Star Wars sequel, but this was when he still wasn't sure about funding, so he asked Foster to keep it cheap. The result: a story set on a perpetually fog-shrouded planet (Mimban) where the Empire is running a secret mining operation. In other words, no location shooting. The only spaceships are an X-Wing and a Y-Wing, so no new models and very few FX shots needed.

It's also intriguing to see this fossil remnant of the pre-Empire Strikes Back world of Star Wars: the sexual tension between Luke and Leia is pretty strong, because they hadn't been retconned into siblings. Darth Vader is a major badass -- but he's still just one Imperial functionary among many and gets dropped into a pit.

The MacGuffin is the Kaibur Crystal, which eventually made its way into "official" canon. In this it's kind of an all-purpose Force Holy Grail. The influence on Raiders of the Lost Ark is intriguing.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 23, 2025 09:18 AM (78a2H)

39 The YouTuber above uses back-of-the-envelope calculations to demonstration why writing a book series is not a good idea, especially for newer authors.
---
Point of order! I think there is a clear distinction between what is essentially a multi-volume work (LotR) and a series of books about the same character (Flashman, Richard Sharpe, Sherlock Holmes, etc.).

I think having a series is a good move and people tend to gravitate to new authors if they see that they have multiple titles rather than just one.

The multi-volume work, on the other hand, has been undermined by George R.R. Martin and others failing to nail the landing or even finish it.

My advice is to finish the whole work before publishing the first volume. You need not have it all tidied up, but at least have a solid draft of the ending at hand. That was how I dealt with Man of Destiny and it worked very well. Indeed, I find it kind of interesting how the second volume for some reason is the highest rated.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:18 AM (ZOv7s)

40 "[Merry] loved mountains, or he had loved the thought of them marching on the edge of stories brought from far away; but now he was borne down by the insupportable weight of Middle-earth. He longed to shut out the immensity in a quiet room by a fire."

I finally finished "The Return of the King" a couple days ago (sans appendices). I've read the tales many times, but it had been years and years since last I visited, and I got so much more this time around.

In "King", the utter hopelessness of the situation leads many to despair, yet duty and honor compel them to continue the fight in spite of their grim chances. I didn't remember how bleak it looked for all concerned.

It also struck me just how long the supposedly insular Shire was being infiltrated by outsiders. And that bastard Saruman stealing all the pipeweed!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 23, 2025 09:20 AM (kpS4V)

41 What are YOU reading this fine morning?

==

One of Douglas Murray's books written in 2017 called (get this !) The Strange Death of Europe.

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 09:20 AM (g47mK)

42 The other reason not to tackle a big multivolume work is that it's HARD. A big sprawling story with dozens of characters is not easy to plan or execute. Maybe boil your idea down to something which can fit into one volume. The legendary SF writer Howard Waldrop once said that when he got an idea for a novel he'd lie on the couch until he had reduced it to a short story, and then wrote that.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 23, 2025 09:22 AM (78a2H)

43 It's also intriguing to see this fossil remnant of the pre-Empire Strikes Back world of Star Wars: the sexual tension between Luke and Leia is pretty strong, because they hadn't been retconned into siblings. Darth Vader is a major badass -- but he's still just one Imperial functionary among many and gets dropped into a pit.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 23, 2025 09:18 AM (78a2H)
---
The concept art for Star Wars is fascinating. Luke and Vader squaring off with Luke needing an oxygen mask because the ship has been depressurized.

Luke at one point being female.

Lucas' odd need to insert an "American Graffiti" subplot, which his wife wisely edited out.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:22 AM (ZOv7s)

44 Speaking of Larry Correia -- a new Monster Hunter International anthology, Monster Hunter Fantom, was just released. This is a collection of stories written by Czech authors (apparently MHI is really Big in Czechia), with the exception of one by Correia himself.

I started on it yesterday. So far it's pretty good.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 23, 2025 09:23 AM (W5ArC)

45 One of Douglas Murray's books written in 2017 called (get this !) The Strange Death of Europe.

Posted by: runner

Great book, and they are still facing the same issues, despite the many warnings.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 23, 2025 09:23 AM (HHmgW)

46 My advice is to finish the whole work before publishing the first volume. You need not have it all tidied up, but at least have a solid draft of the ending at hand. That was how I dealt with Man of Destiny and it worked very well. Indeed, I find it kind of interesting how the second volume for some reason is the highest rated.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:18 AM (ZOv7s)

One point I would make is that you don't want to keep people waiting years for the next installment, so they move on and you lose a sale.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:24 AM (0eaVi)

47 After finishing the annual LOTR reading I want some pithier, shorter reading. Much of it is profound, or at least awakes the imagination, but is usually less than thirty pages. First are a couple of volumes of George MacDonald short stories which show the same levels of creativity as his longer works like "At the Back of the North Wind". And he brings that level of atmosphere and description typical of Victorian era fiction that I enjoy. (It seems to annoy some younger, modern readers who can only think in two minute segments.)

Posted by: JTB at February 23, 2025 09:24 AM (yTvNw)

48 That looks like naked Greek lads playing leapfrog around the sides of that birthday cake...

Posted by: Gene Hackman at February 23, 2025 09:24 AM (/iMjX)

49 The other reason not to tackle a big multivolume work is that it's HARD. A big sprawling story with dozens of characters is not easy to plan or execute. Maybe boil your idea down to something which can fit into one volume. The legendary SF writer Howard Waldrop once said that when he got an idea for a novel he'd lie on the couch until he had reduced it to a short story, and then wrote that.
Posted by: Trimegistus at February 23, 2025 09:22 AM (78a2H)
---
On a scale of difficulty, Man of Destiny was the toughest fiction book by far, but Walls of Men absolutely destroyed it in terms of mental effort, and it 1/3 of the length.

The key is knowing the story you want to tell from the outset and understanding that these plot threads are not going to take care of themselves. You have to know why you are creating this side quest and its downstream effect.

Most importantly, before publication you have to walk back the cat and make sure everything lines up.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:25 AM (ZOv7s)

50 I asked Grok to create the squirrel images:

https://tinyurl.com/ej48xk3d

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 09:25 AM (1o8D5)

51 It's also intriguing to see this fossil remnant of the pre-Empire Strikes Back world of Star Wars: the sexual tension between Luke and Leia is pretty strong, because they hadn't been retconned into siblings. Darth Vader is a major badass -- but he's still just one Imperial functionary among many and gets dropped into a pit.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 23, 2025 09:18 AM (78a2H)
---
The concept art for Star Wars is fascinating. Luke and Vader squaring off with Luke needing an oxygen mask because the ship has been depressurized....

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:22 AM (ZOv7s)

Lukas was a good story teller. And as all good story tellers, he was drawing on what he knew - own life and experience. In the New Hope trilogy he is reflecting on (antagonistic) relationship with his own father. As he got older, that was not that dominant, but the breakup of his marriage was. So the first trilogy was a reflection of that. The last one, of course, is not his product and he wanted nothing to do with it.

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 09:27 AM (g47mK)

52 Ah, I was going to try that adobe firefly, but they want info about you. Too bad. Don't mind creating a user name and using a burner e-mail, but they don't need to know my real name and birthdate.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:28 AM (0eaVi)

53 @50 --

Cute!

I prefer the image on the left.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:29 AM (p/isN)

54 One of Douglas Murray's books written in 2017 called (get this !) The Strange Death of Europe.
Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 09:20 AM (g47mK)

Spoiler alert!!!!!!!!!!

Suicide.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:30 AM (0eaVi)

55 9 Read Robert Galbraith's The Running Grave (partly on audio partly as ebook)
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 23, 2025 09:02 AM (0JWOm)

I've listened to this whole series, rather than read it myself. I really like the reader of these, and even if I should pick up the next one, if there ever is one, and read it, I will have his voice in my head. But I'd rather hear him read it.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 23, 2025 09:31 AM (OX9vb)

56 One point I would make is that you don't want to keep people waiting years for the next installment, so they move on and you lose a sale.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:24 AM (0eaVi)
---
To a point that's true, but when your next book comes out, people who missed the first one will go back and get it.

Sales of Man of Destiny reached its peak upon publication of the final volume. The fact that it was done drew a lot of people in who had sat on the sidelines. I think we are seeing even more of this now.

Because it was a unified work, the timeline on writing it was pretty short. I wrote the initial treatment of the first book over a weekend in December of 2015. Publication of the final volume was August 31, 2017.

Seemed like it took longer at the time.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:31 AM (ZOv7s)

57 Thank you for carrying a beloved thread, Perfessor. You have taken up the mantle Oregon Muse left and have done a fantastic job!

i'm reading The Forgotten 500 by Gregory A Freeman, which I am almost 100 perfect sure was recommended by someone on a book thread It's about a mission in 1944 to rescue over 500 downed Army Air Forces pilots who landed in occupied Yugoslavia and were sheltered from the Nazis by locals. It reads like a novel, yet is a factual account. When H'wood claims they have no new material, you can tell they aren't good readers or bother looking at the Sunday Morning Book thread - the suggestions here could queue up releases of new movies for decades.

Posted by: Moki at February 23, 2025 09:31 AM (wLjpr)

58 If you happen to be in or near Oxford (UK) this summer I recommend Alice Day, a community fair celebrating local denizen Lewis Carroll, author of Alice In Wonderland and others. Charles Dodgson, Carroll's real name, was a math and logic professor at Christ Church College, as you probably know. and Christ Church itself is celebrating its 500th anniversary. This year is different, as an American book collector gave his enormous Alice collection to the library there and they will exhibit books, photos, posters, and letters at Alice Day. Some of the collection is already viewable online wt Christ Church library online, and more is being added as they scan it.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 23, 2025 09:31 AM (vpxZ8)

59 I prefer the image on the left.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:29 AM (p/isN)
-

#metoo

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 09:32 AM (1o8D5)

60 Right now I'm reading the horror novel "Our Winter Monster" by Dennis Mahoney, in which a tiny picturesque ski town is under attack by some sort of snow beast. The thing seems to be psychologically linked to the characters and whatever issues they are struggling with.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 23, 2025 09:32 AM (kpS4V)

61 I have an original kindle fire that Amazon cut off all support years ago, just use it for bedtime free cell while waiting to fall asleep, as I have two other kindles.
But, it can still up and download books.
So I guess I will review my cloud library and download as many "keepers" as feel necessary. Should have enough room as most of my books are read and trash.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 09:32 AM (n4GiU)

62 well this is really more Alan Dean Foster's vision as much as Lucas, isn't it, the prequels don't really make sense with the way they were presented in the original series, a thousand generation were undone by one long war,

Posted by: miguel cervantes at February 23, 2025 09:33 AM (dJR17)

63 I love Journey to the Center of the Earth. It's a lot of fun.

The 1959 film with James Mason and Pat Boone is one of my favorite cheesy movies.

Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at February 23, 2025 09:34 AM (kTd/k)

64 Other short readings this week are the volumes of columns by Malcolm Guite which he does for a church newsletter, called The Poet's Corner". The three volumes are "Heaven In Ordinary", Sounding Heaven and Earth", and "In Every Corner Sing". They are delightful. In a couple of pages he can bring out observations of simple, everyday matters that open to reflection on the wonder of life and God's creation. They often include applicable lines of poetry, often George Herbert whose work supplied the book titles. The writing is simple in what it describes but brings out the enchantment that can come from such moments. They are delightful.

Posted by: JTB at February 23, 2025 09:34 AM (yTvNw)

65 Here's more realism, the element of mundane military bureaucracy in Star Wars offsprings like Rouge One+Andor where the human Clone Project is closed down, instigating subsequent struggle for funds and resources between project Stardust and Moff Gideon's super soldiers.

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 09:35 AM (g47mK)

66 >50 the left side book cover art is very nice. AI fails in interesting ways - always surreal-weird - in this instance both cakes are strange.

Posted by: 13times at February 23, 2025 09:35 AM (UZTa9)

67 OK, authors --

Would you prefer that your book be read in one sitting, or would that make you think that your hard work was being skimmed?

Or does it not matter because you already have the sale?

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:35 AM (p/isN)

68 The book which became the Adelsverein Trilogy started as a single, stand-alone book, but it kept growing and growing, as I extended it beyond the first few years of the German settlements in Texas - but I finished the whole thing and divided it into three volumes before releasing all at once. Subsequent books in the sort-of-series are all free-standing. I don't think it's really fair to readers to force them to read every book in order to know what's going on in the series.
On the other hand ... yes, I do need to finish the last concluding book of the Luna City Chronicles...

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at February 23, 2025 09:36 AM (Ew3fm)

69 Suicide.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:30 AM (0eaVi)

you think ? The full title is The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam.

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 09:36 AM (g47mK)

70 One Sunday many years ago, Vic recommended David Weber's Honor Harrington series. I will be forever grateful I took his advice.

Posted by: extybeebeachbum at February 23, 2025 09:36 AM (C9A5T)

71 Not having a new book was listening to Napoleonic Wars podcast a local professor was on the episode, Frederike Baer and her book Hessians; German soldiers in the American Revolutionary War. So after listening on a long commute home at night thought to get the book. The sticker shock stopped me. $70.11 for a ebook. For hat much wanted would want hard back.

Posted by: Skip at February 23, 2025 09:37 AM (fwDg9)

72 I asked Grok to create the squirrel images:

https://tinyurl.com/ej48xk3d
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 09:25 AM (1o8D5)

This is what Tensor Art came up with. Using your exact prompt:

https://tinyurl.com/ynsxaxxs

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:37 AM (0eaVi)

73 And as all good story tellers, he was drawing on what he knew - own life and experience. In the New Hope trilogy he is reflecting on (antagonistic) relationship with his own father. As he got older, that was not that dominant, but the breakup of his marriage was. So the first trilogy was a reflection of that. The last one, of course, is not his product and he wanted nothing to do with it.
Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 09:27 AM (g47mK)
---
The remarkable feature of the prequels (which inspired Man of Destiny) is that the love story is completely lifeless. They express no particular interest in anything about each other than that they are attractive people in attractive places. Lucas also trashed his own lore in writing the story, and the inspiration for Man of Destiny was to restore that lore and use it.

Thus: Adam Flyte is not a little kid, but a talented young man who joins with a rogue knight to rescue an influential politician's daughter and eventually they fall in love in something of a Han/Leia parallel - he's a pilot and adventurer, she's glamorous and gorgeous.

cont

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:37 AM (ZOv7s)

74 Finished Red Rising by Pierce Brown. The story takes place on Mars where people ae divided by class designated with colors with Reds being the lowest working class and Golds being the elite governing class. All classes seemingly live in underground strata where the Reds mine what is necessary to terraform the world above. The Reds seem to accept their lot in life until some become aware that there is a secret rebel group hoping to change things.
It is th first in a series but story line comes together at the end but sets the stage for the next book which I already have on reserve.
Recommended.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 23, 2025 09:37 AM (t/2Uw)

75 Reading Drizzt for the first time. Really enjoying it. I am something like 10 books in. They seem like standalones to me with every ending be conclusive, but leaving me ready for the next book.

Posted by: Van Helsing at February 23, 2025 09:37 AM (N462N)

76 Congratulations Perfessor

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 23, 2025 09:37 AM (RIvkX)

77 Read Robert Galbraith's The Running Grave (partly on audio partly as ebook)
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 23, 2025 09:02 AM (0JWOm)
------------------
I just finished that one too. More soap opera about the the two main characters than detective novel was my reaction. I skip over a lot of the relationship interplay in hopes of getting to an actual clue, I admit.

Don't you think Robin bears a striking physical resemblance to the author herself? But, while TERF she may be, J.K.Rowling can write.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 23, 2025 09:39 AM (MimCE)

78 67 --

Doesn't matter. The reader will read the book in whatever way is convenient for him. One sitting or ten, it's up to him.

Just got a crazy image of the ghosts of Tolstoy, Dickens, Proust, Gibbon, Henry James, et.al., tormenting readers who didn't read their books in one sitting...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 23, 2025 09:40 AM (q3u5l)

79 yes the building of the Death Star would have been a Titanic undertaking, depriving many systems of men and materiel, and the destruction of same would have had a great impact,

similarly the Scarif mission, would have strained the new Rebel Alliance to the breaking point, where would they have gotten the ships you see in Empire for instance,

Posted by: miguel cervantes at February 23, 2025 09:40 AM (dJR17)

80 i'm reading The Forgotten 500 by Gregory A Freeman, which I am almost 100 perfect sure was recommended by someone on a book thread It's about a mission in 1944 to rescue over 500 downed Army Air Forces pilots who landed in occupied Yugoslavia and were sheltered from the Nazis by locals. It reads like a novel, yet is a factual account. When H'wood claims they have no new material, you can tell they aren't good readers or bother looking at the Sunday Morning Book thread - the suggestions here could queue up releases of new movies for decades.

Posted by: Moki

That is a great story. Another book begging for a movie is Lucky 666, about a B17 converted for solo reconnaissance missions to photograph amphibious landing sites in the Pacific, and was involved in the longest dogfight in history. That mission earned two medals of honor, and other medals for every member of the crew.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 23, 2025 09:41 AM (HHmgW)

81 Just got a crazy image of the ghosts of… Dickens… tormenting readers who didn't read their books in one sitting.

I don’t know about the others but Dickens wouldn’t expect that. He wrote his books as serials first.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 23, 2025 09:42 AM (EXyHK)

82 @72 --

No candles.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:42 AM (p/isN)

83 70 One Sunday many years ago, Vic recommended David Weber's Honor Harrington series. I will be forever grateful I took his advice.
Posted by: extybeebeachbum at February 23, 2025 09:36 AM (C9A5T)

Weber is on my "re-read often" list. Also recommend the accompanying "Crown of Slaves" Honorverse books as they fill in a LOT of the details on the villains.

-SLV

Posted by: Shy Lurking Voter (also Dead Mark Twain) at February 23, 2025 09:42 AM (e/Osv)

84 Way back in the days when I read a lot of fantasy one of my favorite writers was Lord Dunsany.

Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at February 23, 2025 09:43 AM (kTd/k)

85 Currently reading "First Comes Love," by Dr. Scott Hahn, which is about the Trinity. Great book.

After that, I'm going to read "Government Gangsters," by FBI Director Kash Patel. That promises to be another great book. I'm hoping Peter Schiff is finally going to be brought to justice. Not holding my breath, of course, but if anyone can make it happen, it's Kash.

Posted by: Sharkman at February 23, 2025 09:43 AM (/RHNq)

86 Wilbur Smith, didn't really intend a great series with his first novel, which is about antecedents of his family tree, but the Courrtney saga continued for some 20 books, with the Ballantynes of Rhodesia thrown in,

Posted by: miguel cervantes at February 23, 2025 09:43 AM (dJR17)

87 I finished the Slough House/Slow Horses series this week. Back to reading more Harry Bosch. I think Connelly is thinking of killing him, as Harry (spoiler alert!) seems to be old and ill suddenly.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 23, 2025 09:44 AM (GzoiM)

88 (cont) I think the reason "Rise of the Alliance" (book 2) is so highly rated is that it's mostly character portraits and development. With war looming, Adam Flyte joins the first class of fighter pilots and we see him adapt to the military lifestyle, and he also has a fling with a hot blonde chick.

Arrin Morra (Leiaish) meanwhile establishes herself as a leading anti-war politician, leading to a rupture with her family.

The characters are therefore quite dynamic. When Adam subsequently meets Arrin in his uniform, he's no longer a slouch and a smuggler, and of course the subsequent outbreak of full hostilities now creates a wartime romance.

I think I was able to write it so quickly because all those ideas seemed obvious to me, elements that should have been in the story and were inexplicably left out. Including them does change the story significantly, but the themes remain.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:44 AM (ZOv7s)

89 expect to be awash in nostalgia for the foreseeable future while I re-read them.
Posted by: retropox
====
Damn straight foreseeable future. Both those guys could turn out the pages.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 09:44 AM (n4GiU)

90 81 --

True. Maybe Thackeray did that as well? Can't recall.

Was thinking doorstop rather than original manner of publication. Oh, well...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 23, 2025 09:45 AM (q3u5l)

91 This is what Tensor Art came up with. Using your exact prompt:

https://tinyurl.com/ynsxaxxs
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:37 AM (0eaVi)

Tensor: Sorry, OEnt, I know not of birthday cakes. Have another book instead.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 23, 2025 09:45 AM (OX9vb)

92 Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 09:25 AM (1o8D5)

Thanks for the Grok link. Much appreciated.

Posted by: dantesed at February 23, 2025 09:45 AM (Oy/m2)

93 Because it was a unified work, the timeline on writing it was pretty short. I wrote the initial treatment of the first book over a weekend in December of 2015. Publication of the final volume was August 31, 2017.

Seemed like it took longer at the time.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:31 AM (ZOv7s)

Just over a year and a half for how many volumes? is pretty good. Making someone wait three, four, or more is likely to cause a reader to give up.

Of course, I don't think any of my work is good enough at this point to ever see print, but my two scifi novels have an opening for further stories, but my two westerns do not. I sort of don't like the idea of latching on to one character to write nothing but sequels.*

* So, of course, the Richard Allen mystery we're writing at A Literary Horde mucks up my stated position on sequels....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:45 AM (0eaVi)

94 Sort of reading related. So much of my reading lately, poetry and LOTR, used description to evoke a mood. I've been listening to music that, without lyrics (usually) can bring out an emotional response. The solo acoustic albums by Phil Keaggy, Barber's Adagio, the soundtrack to LOTR, and Bach concertos are examples. They feel like an adjunct to the reading. It's mildly annoying to have to take out my hearing aids to use the Bose headset but worth it for the best clarity of the notes and blending of harmonies.

Posted by: JTB at February 23, 2025 09:46 AM (yTvNw)

95 No candles.
Posted by: Weak Geek

*********

Candles are on the book he is holding.

No cake.

Posted by: muldoon at February 23, 2025 09:46 AM (/iMjX)

96 The thing I like about Galbraith's Strike books is that it feels like a real detective agency. He has employees, money issues, personnel issues. They do stakeouts. Robin becomes a partner, not romantic filler even though there is sexual tension. Next book due out in September.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 23, 2025 09:47 AM (t/2Uw)

97 Coruscant is meant to evoke Foundation's Trantor, but without the stakes, it doesn't really work

Posted by: miguel cervantes at February 23, 2025 09:49 AM (dJR17)

98 Here's more realism, the element of mundane military bureaucracy in Star Wars offsprings like Rouge One+Andor where the human Clone Project is closed down, instigating subsequent struggle for funds and resources between project Stardust and Moff Gideon's super soldiers.
Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 09:35 AM (g47mK)
---
Having dealt a lot with bureaucracies, I had some fun with that aspect, as well. Near the end I tucked in a vignette where the ranking officer left at headquarters (after the Imperial Rebellion) works in finance, and informs the victorious rebels (who are veterans) that the new cost of living adjustment should be going through soon. He also reflects happily that he'll be receiving a pay bonus himself for exercising command responsibility at the flag level.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:49 AM (ZOv7s)

99 Christ Church (Oxford) Online Library

Scroll down for soecial collections of music, old manuscripts, maps, and Lewis Carroll

https://tinyurl.com/mwk5uk7u

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 23, 2025 09:50 AM (EoHsW)

100 Not even 10AM and I've already handled a dead opossum. The day can only get better from here.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 09:50 AM (DIweC)

101 I just downloaded all of my not-yet-on-my-Kindle books to my PC. I have a 2012 vintage Kindle, which stopped being able to download books wirelessly some years back (per Amazon, apparently). I bought a lot of novels on Kindle ("what the heck, it's only $2.49!") but this is a really annoying change. Increasingly I only buy books in hardcopy; if I bought it, I own it. Same reason I still buy CDs and rip them myself.

Posted by: Disillusionist at February 23, 2025 09:51 AM (+5Dz8)

102 @95 --

So there are. However, I see only two.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:51 AM (p/isN)

103 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at February 23, 2025 09:51 AM (bFBDu)

104 Still working..........

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at February 23, 2025 09:51 AM (bFBDu)

105 Congrats on the anniversary, Perfessor. Other than that, I can't stick around today, I'm still skiing with my dad. Read on, all!

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 23, 2025 09:52 AM (Lhaco)

106 The only thing worse than a live opossum is a smelly dead one

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 23, 2025 09:53 AM (EoHsW)

107 Clerks; What about the innocent contractors on the Death Star?

Posted by: Van Helsing at February 23, 2025 09:53 AM (N462N)

108 Just over a year and a half for how many volumes? is pretty good. Making someone wait three, four, or more is likely to cause a reader to give up.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:45 AM (0eaVi)
---
Four volumes, 250,000 words, 1,000 pages total.

I'd been thinking about it for a long time, and had already worked out what I hated about the prequels and how they could be fixed. A lot of it felt like taking dictation from myself.

As for your own work, put it out there and check the box. Having something published is kind of cool, not the least because you can give out signed copies as gifts. I used to keep a full library of my work at my desk on base, and when someone would remark on it, I'd whip out a pen, sign a copy and hand it over.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:54 AM (ZOv7s)

109 you think ? The full title is The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam.
Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 09:36 AM (g47mK)

As a joke, yes. As reality, yes. Vance's speech seems to have set it out rather well. Haven't read the whole thing, though, but the Euro-peon's reactions are telling, no?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:54 AM (0eaVi)

110 Having dealt a lot with bureaucracies, I had some fun with that aspect, as well. Near the end I tucked in a vignette where the ranking officer left at headquarters (after the Imperial Rebellion) works in finance, and informs the victorious rebels (who are veterans) that the new cost of living adjustment should be going through soon. He also reflects happily that he'll be receiving a pay bonus himself for exercising command responsibility at the flag level.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:49 AM (ZOv7s)

...his dreams shattered when Intergalactic Super Virus code name "OVID" is released....

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 09:54 AM (g47mK)

111 This is what Tensor Art came up with. Using your exact prompt:

https://tinyurl.com/ynsxaxxs

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:37 AM (0eaVi)
-

Great. Now it's gonna be the weekly prestigious book-burning thread!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 09:55 AM (1o8D5)

112 I read Shepherds For Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded The Truth For A Leftist Agenda by Megan Besam. Basham explains how powerful forces outside the church have infiltrated our pulpits to have pastors let the culture rather than Scripture dictate the content of their teachings. Money, is often involved. Climate change, illegal immigration, critical race theory, LGBT ideology, the high jacking of of the pro-life movement, and others are covered. Institutions like Christianity Today ad Trinity Forum have been taken over by woke ideology. Parishioners are fighting back by leaving these woke churches, but there is much work to be done.

Also, thanks to the many recommendations here, I finally read the classic, The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield.

Posted by: Zoltan at February 23, 2025 09:55 AM (N7rdn)

113 Question for Horde Indie Authors: What's your marketing approach? Who do you send free copies to? Where do you buy adverts? Asking for reasons.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 09:55 AM (DIweC)

114 Congrats, Perf. Time flies when you're having fun. The hard-learned wisdom of middle age is that time also flies when you're not having fun. So you might as well.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 23, 2025 09:57 AM (/y8xj)

115 Reading this week: I'm all over the place, thinking about writing again, digging out old manuscripts for recycling reuse. Those books not fueled by revisionist hate come from this.

Right now I've got two files with 41,000 words waiting to be hammered into something else. Meanwhile, I'm going through Bulfinch's Mythology, 1 Enoch, Secret of Atlantis by Otto Muck, and the Bible, bouncing ideas around.

Diary of an American Exorcist also surfaced, so we'll see.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:57 AM (ZOv7s)

116 All classes seemingly live in underground strata where the Reds mine what is necessary to terraform the world above. The Reds seem to accept their lot in life until some become aware that there is a secret rebel group hoping to change things.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 23, 2025 09:37 AM (t/2Uw)

Mining zenite, perhaps?

Note: do not look up zeenite. (shudder)

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:58 AM (0eaVi)

117 77 Read Robert Galbraith's The Running Grave (partly on audio partly as ebook)
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 23, 2025 09:02 AM (0JWOm)
------------------
I just finished that one too. More soap opera about the the two main characters than detective novel was my reaction.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 23, 2025 09:39 AM (MimCE)
---------------------

I'm not a reader of romance, typically, but I don't mind that aspect of this series. But, I'm a girl, and I think we're more tolerant of that dimension. I was interested in the exploration of cult mentality in The Running Grave. Jonestown happened when I was in high school, and it was so astounding that I did a lot of research about cults at the time.

You'd think I would have been immune to cult mentality after that, but I still got drawn in by the commies in college. SMH

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 23, 2025 09:59 AM (OX9vb)

118 How does self-publishing differ from vanity press?

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:59 AM (p/isN)

119 ...his dreams shattered when Intergalactic Super Virus code name "OVID" is released....
Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 09:54 AM (g47mK)
---
It would definitely have a different feel if written after 2020.

I think that is partly what pushed me into non-fiction. I wrote Long Live Death with a ferocious sense of urgency, manic energy that took me only six weeks to complete the first draft. I don't think I'll ever write like that again.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:00 AM (ZOv7s)

120 As a joke, yes. As reality, yes. Vance's speech seems to have set it out rather well. Haven't read the whole thing, though, but the Euro-peon's reactions are telling, no?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:54 AM (0eaVi)

It is worth reading. His response to some Euro trash was also exceptional:

https://tinyurl.com/9ne93ddp

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 10:00 AM (g47mK)

121 No candles.
Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:42 AM (p/isN)

Squirrel must have been reading Fahrenheit 451.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:02 AM (0eaVi)

122 For retirement from full-time work back in 2010, the staff gave me a Kindle. One of the keyboard devices -- no wifi then, so it downloaded either by Amazon to PC to Kindle or by 3G wireless (or was it 2G - who remembers?). I can still put books on it by cable from PC, but once the 3G networks went away no more wireless download.

The amazing thing is that device still works.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 23, 2025 10:02 AM (q3u5l)

123 > 118 How does self-publishing differ from vanity press?
Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:59 AM (p/isN)

Vanity presses charge you for publishing your book.

Self-publishing venues (such as Amazon Kindle Direct) pay you.

The difference between paying and getting paid is pretty significant. :-)

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 23, 2025 10:02 AM (W5ArC)

124 Mining zenite, perhaps?

Note: do not look up zeenite. (shudder)
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 09:58 AM (0eaVi)
====
Do you mean zienite?

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 23, 2025 10:04 AM (RIvkX)

125 I knew, very off-topic.

Israel did a fly-by in memory of Nasrallah at his funeral today.

Warning - do not drink coffee while simultaneously looking at the pics:

https://tinyurl.com/54bdca8d

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 10:04 AM (1o8D5)

126 Thanks for the dandy Book Thread, Perfessor!

And happy third anniversary! You've done an outstanding job!

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at February 23, 2025 10:04 AM (rxCpr)

127 Sort of related to the concerns about Amazon and Kindle ebooks. I had editions of "Federalist Papers" and "Anti Federalist Papers" on Kindle. No matter who is in the White House, I don't really trust any such works to the machinations of political correctness whenever they can get away with it. So I got paper versions of both books. This is something I am doing more and more often when a book is worth preserving on the shelf and could be under threat by electronic and political gremlins.

I don't regret using ereaders but am always aware that the medium itself is ephemeral and subject to manipulation. I can have a perfectly usable book on the shelf that is two hundred years old. I can't trust computer related stuff, which includes ebooks, for more than a few years at most.

Posted by: JTB at February 23, 2025 10:05 AM (yTvNw)

128 Question for Horde Indie Authors: What's your marketing approach? Who do you send free copies to? Where do you buy adverts? Asking for reasons.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 09:55 AM (DIweC)
---
I didn't even bother with one when I was starting out. I had no cash to spare, and my wife said that when she looks for books, she wants established authors with a decent catalog, so that was where I put my energy.

The Book Thread under Oregon Muse was giving Horde authors a boost, and that contributed heavily to whatever sales I got. Writing at other outlets also increased exposure and that in turn drove traffic to my blog, further increasing sales.

At some point, I may try advertising or using Kirkus Reviews because while an individual book may not catch first (Scorpion's Pass has terrible sales), people seeing lots of titles feel more comfortable about making a purchase.

I will say nonfiction is where the money is at, as least for me. I'm just burned out on it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:05 AM (ZOv7s)

129 Morning, Book Folken! I'm back from the grocery (ouch) and sipping some coffee. I'm flattered that the Perfessor quoted me about The Graveyard Apartment. Though I have to say it was quite readable -- until a letdown of an ending. Unless the author was deliberately leaving it open-ended for a sequel. Something about the tone of the book, however, says "no" to that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 10:05 AM (omVj0)

130 Vance continues his schooling after that tweet, I picked up pieces of it at RedState (which I don't read but that is where the search led me).

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 10:06 AM (g47mK)

131 here is a gem : "3) On the specifics of the negotiation, I"m not confirming details publicly for obvious reasons, but much of what I've seen leaked ranges from entirely bogus to missing critical info. The president has set goals for the negotiation, and I am biased, but I think he's awfully good at this. But we're not going to telegraph our negotiating posture to make people feel better. The president is trying to achieve a lasting piece, not massage the egos or anxieties of people waving Ukraine flags."

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 10:07 AM (g47mK)

132 Tensor: Sorry, OEnt, I know not of birthday cakes. Have another book instead.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 23, 2025 09:45 AM (OX9vb)

Yeah, it has a habit of not doing what you want it to, even with clear instructions. That's why I wanted to try the Adobe AI generator the Perf mentioned above, but no, they don't need my name and birthdate.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:07 AM (0eaVi)

133 Authors, have you tried Grok to edit your works in progress?

https://tinyurl.com/4pn8p5y8

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 10:08 AM (1o8D5)

134 Don't you think Robin bears a striking physical resemblance to the author herself?

Posted by: Huck Follywood

Now that you mention it! *dope slaps self*

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 23, 2025 10:08 AM (0JWOm)

135 > I can't trust computer related stuff, which includes ebooks, for more than a few years at most.

I'm not trying to dismiss your concerns (which are quite real) but both have advantages and disadvantages.

If you have a house fire, your paper books are just gone. With a Kindle, you can buy a new one and all the books are still right there.

Moving a substantial paper library is a gigantic pain in the ass (and back!), and a significant expense.

And so on.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 23, 2025 10:08 AM (W5ArC)

136 99 ... "Christ Church (Oxford) Online Library

Scroll down for soecial collections of music, old manuscripts, maps, and Lewis Carroll

https://tinyurl.com/mwk5uk7u"

HF,
Thanks for that link. The site looks very interesting.

Posted by: JTB at February 23, 2025 10:08 AM (yTvNw)

137 How does self-publishing differ from vanity press?
Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:59 AM (p/isN)
---
Sites like Amazon typically do print-on-demand or e-books, which cost you nothing.

Vanity press will do a fixed run of books, which you then have to sell. One of the local chains will carry your books on the shelf if you do this, and even do a signing event.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:09 AM (ZOv7s)

138 I was interested in the exploration of cult mentality in The Running Grave.

--

Me too!
Robin's undercover chapters were the most interesting to me.

The villain reveal surprised me.

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 23, 2025 10:09 AM (0JWOm)

139 Authors, have you tried Grok to edit your works in progress?

https://tinyurl.com/4pn8p5y8
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 10:08 AM (1o8D5)

This is scary! How are they going to teach creative writing??

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 10:10 AM (g47mK)

140 Ace-endorsed A H Lloyd, I started Three Weeks with the Coasties but have barely gotten to New Orleans. But it's a great start. Also reading With the Third Wisconsin Badgers by Van R. Willard. One of the best Civil War memoirs(?) I've ever run across. There's a question mark because it seems every few months he'd sit down and write up his experiences as a soldier, so far. So not exactly a memoir and not exactly a diary either.

Posted by: who knew at February 23, 2025 10:10 AM (+ViXu)

141 I don't regret using ereaders but am always aware that the medium itself is ephemeral and subject to manipulation. I can have a perfectly usable book on the shelf that is two hundred years old. I can't trust computer related stuff, which includes ebooks, for more than a few years at most.
Posted by: JTB at February 23, 2025 10:05 AM (yTvNw)

Unfortunately, as I've gotten older, I've found I can't change the font size on a printed book, like I can on an ereader. Got a BUNCH of boxes of books that the kids want to know when I'm donating or selling.

-SLV

Posted by: Shy Lurking Voter (also Dead Mark Twain) at February 23, 2025 10:10 AM (e/Osv)

142 OrangeEnt, we discussed Vance's speech in Munich last night at dinner with Girl F. and SiL because both Mrs. F. and I were very impressed with it.

They felt it was "rude" for him to speak to the Europeans that way "in their own house."

I told them please stop reading The Economist

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 23, 2025 10:11 AM (RIvkX)

143 118 --

And the vanity presses will charge you PLENTY.

A good description of the trap can be found in the essay 'On Vanity Publishing' by Martin Baron. It's in the first editions of Bill Henderson's THE PUBLISH-IT-YOURSELF HANDBOOK; some of that book is dated now (it pre-dates Amazon and the whole ebook environment), but that essay is must reading for anyone considering vanity presses.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 23, 2025 10:11 AM (q3u5l)

144 I don't see why series books can't be open-ended. The James Bonds are; you can read each one (except maybe for On Her Majesty's Secret Service and its two successors) as a stand-alone. The same is true of the Nero Wolfes, the Ellery Queens, and others. The modern "mystery," aka the cozy, seems to be like that too.

If you're trying to produce an epic a la Tolkien in which each book depends on the previous ones in the series, I'd guess that could be a stumbling block for some readers.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 10:12 AM (omVj0)

145 For the Heinlein completist, here's The Virginia Edition, leather-bound:

https://tinyurl.com/bhjawvay

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 23, 2025 10:13 AM (kpS4V)

146 They felt it was "rude" for him to speak to the Europeans that way "in their own house."

I told them please stop reading The Economist
Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 23, 2025 10:11 AM (RIvkX)

Rude ? Question, did either of them bring up Greta Thunberg by chance ??

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 10:13 AM (g47mK)

147 By the way, I don't mean to disparage the Perfesser (happy anniversary!) in regard to book promotion but with Oregon Muse it was kind of a new thing, and the revelation that there were authors among us was something of a discovery.

The buying power of the Horde was also a pleasant surprise, and we're now seeing a more fully developed ecosystem emerging. We're also seeing people seeking out promotion who are not particularly active here. Years ago, the only people getting attention were frequent commenters because no one really thought of this place a a marketing hub. It was more along the lines of: "Hey everybody, so and so wrote a book!"

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:13 AM (ZOv7s)

148 Everything I needed to know about book series I learned from The Hardy Boys.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 23, 2025 10:13 AM (dg+HA)

149 *Thunberg

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 10:14 AM (g47mK)

150 Went to look up what was mined in Red Rising and fell into a black hole. There is a huge fandom for the Pierce Brown books. They are being made into a TV series. Multiple sites devoted to wish casting the actors for the series. (Main character: Liam Hemsworth, Henry Cavill, Channing Tatum). Gets compared to the Hunger Games a lot which was much initial take but because it is Sci Fi more potential for expanding the Universe, literally.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 23, 2025 10:14 AM (t/2Uw)

151 This is scary! How are they going to teach creative writing??

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 10:10 AM (g47mK)
-

That's easy!

https://tinyurl.com/339ph69v

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 10:15 AM (1o8D5)

152 148 Everything I needed to know about book series I learned from The Hardy Boys.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 23, 2025 10:13 AM (dg+HA)

Can I get an "AMEN!" Think I read the first 80-90 (all the library had).

-SLV

Posted by: Shy Lurking Voter (also Dead Mark Twain) at February 23, 2025 10:16 AM (e/Osv)

153 Big fan of the Hardy Boys as a kid

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 23, 2025 10:16 AM (VRUam)

154 I am a long time reader here under a number of different nics and I want to say I appreciate your contributions to this thread AH.

Posted by: Van Helsing at February 23, 2025 10:17 AM (N462N)

155 Oh, and I guess I should address the obvious for folks who weren't here.

Ace is a big Star Wars fan (being 29 like me) and so I began emailing him, calling him out in the comments because I wanted to give him copies of the books. I don't think he ever read them, but he put me on the sidebar and said something to the effect of "This guy won't shut up, so buy his books, they look neat."

That's how my nick became what it is now (except on the gun thread).

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:18 AM (ZOv7s)

156 148 Everything I needed to know about book series I learned from The Hardy Boys.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty

+++

I'm sitting right here...

Posted by: Nancy Drew at February 23, 2025 10:19 AM (dg+HA)

157 As for your own work, put it out there and check the box. Having something published is kind of cool, not the least because you can give out signed copies as gifts. I used to keep a full library of my work at my desk on base, and when someone would remark on it, I'd whip out a pen, sign a copy and hand it over.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 09:54 AM (ZOv7s)

There's the question, tradpub, or selfpub? Trad doesn't cost money, selfpub does. I don't even know if it's good, so I certainly wouldn't want to put out junk. I've had beta readers, but no professional editor has looked at them. Poor people have a harder row to hoe to publish.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:19 AM (0eaVi)

158 I'm finishing Dean Koontz's 1981 The Mask and finding it un-exciting. I think we're finally going to be told by one of the characters what the cause behind all of the supernatural goings-on is. Koontz also seems to have this thing where all of his major characters, male or female, are hyper-talented -- English professors who are also novelists and do charity work; psychiatrists who find time to lecture, contribute to charities, do postdoctoral work on autism, do needlepoint, and tend a vegetable garden. Certainly it's better than reading about losers who do very little with their lives, but I feel exhausted just reading their accomplishments.

I have his Lghtning also out from the library. I think I read it years ago; I'll dip into it to see.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 10:20 AM (omVj0)

159 I'm sitting right here...

Posted by: Nancy Drew at February 23, 2025 10:19 AM (dg+HA)
-

Get up and make me a sammich!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 10:20 AM (1o8D5)

160 Authors, have you tried Grok to edit your works in progress?

https://tinyurl.com/4pn8p5y8
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 10:08 AM (1o8D5)

I was reading that thread. Thin line. If you ask AI to rearrange your book, but don't ask it to add content, I personally think it's probably ok. But probably not acceptable on amazon.
I dunno

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 23, 2025 10:21 AM (0JWOm)

161 I'm still reading Wind and Truth. Now 850 pages in. I have to read on my IPad so 3 more days and then wait for another ecopy to be available. Actually working out so I don't get bored with it. It really should have been more than one book, but because the different story lines take place simultaneously I think Sanderson had to do it in one book. How he managed to keep track of everyone and every place and every time is pretty amazing.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 23, 2025 10:21 AM (t/2Uw)

162 I'm sitting right here...
Posted by: Nancy Drew at February 23, 2025 10:19 AM (dg+HA)

Ok, read about 40-50 of those too. Really enjoyed it when TV had series on the characters (including the few crossovers).

-SLV

Posted by: Shy Lurking Voter (also Dead Mark Twain) at February 23, 2025 10:22 AM (e/Osv)

163 If you're trying to produce an epic a la Tolkien in which each book depends on the previous ones in the series, I'd guess that could be a stumbling block for some readers.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 10:12 AM (omVj0)
---
Yep. My advice to aspiring authors is to avoid the epic trilogy and just go with the adventures of an interesting character. That's how professional authors pay their bills.

I'm no longer a tourist, but writing is more of a creative outlet than a serious sidegig. That may change as I get more free time from the empty next and have some cash to put into marketing, but there is a clear divide between people who need writing income and those who don't.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:22 AM (ZOv7s)

164 Perfesser, happy book thrwad anniversary btw!

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 23, 2025 10:22 AM (0JWOm)

165 Everything I needed to know about book series I learned from The Hardy Boys.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty

+++

I'm sitting right here...
Posted by: Nancy Drew at February 23, 2025 10:19 AM (dg+HA)

I see you

Tom Swift

Posted by: BignJames at February 23, 2025 10:23 AM (Yj6Os)

166 156 148 Everything I needed to know about book series I learned from The Hardy Boys.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty

+++

I'm sitting right here...
Posted by: Nancy Drew

Anyone ever read The Bobsey Twins?

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 23, 2025 10:23 AM (0JWOm)

167 Thank you Perfessor for the wonderful thread! It’s one I so look forward to.
Thanks to the person who recommended Extinction. Quite the crazy barn burner of a fun weekend read.
Love all the books I have found through you all and are so grateful!

Posted by: Paisley at February 23, 2025 10:23 AM (0uL1O)

168 I am a long time reader here under a number of different nics and I want to say I appreciate your contributions to this thread AH.
Posted by: Van Helsing at February 23, 2025 10:17 AM (N462N)
---
Thank you! Writing is like any other skill, and the more you do it, the better you get. Old-timers will recall that a lot of my ideas and concepts were tested here, and other authors have done that as well.

There seems to be an operational pause by a lot of the authors, but for a while "writing updates" were a thing.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:24 AM (ZOv7s)

169 I read Cherry Ames Nurse.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 23, 2025 10:24 AM (t/2Uw)

170 Get up and make me a sammich!
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 10:20 AM (1o8D5)

As soon as I find the hidden kitchen!

Posted by: Nancy Drew at February 23, 2025 10:25 AM (OX9vb)

171 My granddaughter who is 8 is reading some updated version of Nancy Drew books.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 23, 2025 10:26 AM (t/2Uw)

172 My big news a la the book world is that I've placed another short story! This one was accepted (after a couple of small revisions they asked for) by Black Cat Weekly (https://blackcatweekly.com/), an online magazine that publishes both mystery and SF/fantasy. They pay a cent a word, so that's something.

This tale features Penhaligus, a young magician who is something of a cross between Nero Wolfe, Hercule Poirot, and Max Bialystock (if Max were not a con man, that is). It's a mix of mystery and fantasy, so I guess that's what they liked about it. I'll let you know when the tale is to appear!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 10:26 AM (omVj0)

173 There's the question, tradpub, or selfpub? Trad doesn't cost money, selfpub does. I don't even know if it's good, so I certainly wouldn't want to put out junk. I've had beta readers, but no professional editor has looked at them. Poor people have a harder row to hoe to publish.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:19 AM (0eaVi)
---
Amazon costs nothing. Okay, you do have to pay for a hard-copy proof, which I highly recommend. Read it aloud with pencil in hand. Something about holding an actual book makes typos stand out in a way they don't on a screen or a standard sheet of paper.

I've gone through and done that with older books, and loaded updated manuscripts as a result.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:27 AM (ZOv7s)

174 How does self-publishing differ from vanity press?
Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 09:59 AM (p/isN)

You spend money on apps to set the text and covers which you can reuse instead of paying a person to set the text and covers that are probably no better than yours that you have to pay for every time.

In both cases, you have to market the book yourself.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:28 AM (0eaVi)

175 The nice thing about Amazon is that you can get feedback from readers and make updates almost instantly, even for the print versions.

I got lots of feedback on Long Live Death and updated it three or four times to fix the errors. Since then I use the read-aloud method as well as my test readers, etc.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:28 AM (ZOv7s)

176 > 171 My granddaughter who is 8 is reading some updated version of Nancy Drew books.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 23, 2025 10:26 AM (t/2Uw)

I recommend that you inspect them for wokeism before letting her read them.

While I haven't heard anything about Nancy Drew in particular, it pays to be vigilant.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 23, 2025 10:28 AM (W5ArC)

177 One doesn't need connectivity or even electricity for a physical book. Just space.
Posted by: Thomas Paine

And glasses.

Posted by: Burgess Meredith at February 23, 2025 10:30 AM (L/fGl)

178 Hmm. Still reading the Lloyd Lewis Sherman biography, 'The Fighting Prophet', when the dogs allow. It's good.

Bruce Catton remains a catty bitch in his continuation of Lewis' research with 'Grant Moves South'. I don't really appreciate his authorial asides. The information (I'm assuming collected by Lewis) is interesting and it goes more into depth about who Grant was and what he was doing between battles. It's a little too kind to Halleck but I assume that is Catton.

I did buy Dan Abnett's new novel 'Interceptor City' at full price, $13, which is criminally overpriced for an e-book but with Black Library books, if you don't buy them when you can, they are very frequently removed from Amazon. Because Games Workshop hates their fans.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Buy ammo at February 23, 2025 10:30 AM (xcxpd)

179 Good morning Perfessor, Horde

Posted by: callsign claymore at February 23, 2025 10:30 AM (4k2Ek)

180 You spend money on apps to set the text and covers which you can reuse instead of paying a person to set the text and covers that are probably no better than yours that you have to pay for every time.

In both cases, you have to market the book yourself.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:28 AM (0eaVi)
---
Amazon asks you what size you want, and then you download the template and plug your text into it, and then you pick the cover format, which used to be a much better selection. You can customize them with your own artwork, which is what I do.

That being said, Three Weeks with the Coasties and Vampires of Michigan are off the shelf cover designs, I just tweaked the colors.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:30 AM (ZOv7s)

181
*As soon as I find the hidden kitchen!
Posted by: Nancy Drew*

Haha.
This place.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 23, 2025 10:31 AM (dg+HA)

182 but no, they don't need my name and birthdate.
Posted by: OrangeEnt
====
Whenever I get this, my poor, deceased sister rises from her grave.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 10:31 AM (n4GiU)

183 Abandon by Blake Crouch was this week's read. I really like Crouch, Upgrade and Recursion being two great novels and Wayward Pines and Dark Matter both having been turned into TV series.

Abandon is an earlier work, and is one of those books that are really hard to place in a genre. Horror, Western, Thriller, Mystery? Any and all. The story runs in two parallel time periods, 1893 and 2009. There's murder, betrayal, twists, lust, and gold. I preferred the 1893 story line as the 2009 had a bit of a Mary Sue element. 3/5 Trumps.

Posted by: Candidus at February 23, 2025 10:31 AM (XLyNn)

184 It is worth reading. His response to some Euro trash was also exceptional:

https://tinyurl.com/9ne93ddp

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 10:00 AM (g47mK)

I'll look up the speech later. His response was the truth, they just don't want to hear it because it affects their access to graft and children.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:32 AM (0eaVi)

185 Do you mean zienite?
Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 23, 2025 10:04 AM (RIvkX)

It's spelled both ways. Don't know how it was spelled in the script.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:33 AM (0eaVi)

186 There are different ways of doing a series, the traditional one is the trilogy that turns into a longer series, we have seen those. The downside is if a newby finds volume 3 of an eight part series, he may not look much further if volume 3 doesn't make sense without the prior volumes.

Then there is David Drake's Into the Breach series, which follows a main character but focuses on the other people within his orbit, and how the deal with what they encounter - in this case commerce piracy and raids.

The other is like what Hugh Cook did in his extended series, Chronicles of an Age of Darkness, where he built a world collapsing under the surge of monsters, and then each volume is just following a notable character as they blunder, scheme and prevail.

Then there is Discworld, where the same thing goes, but the main characters tend to be minor characters from previous books, which is incredibly successful tactic.

At some point I think a main character, even Conan, winds up with so much history and derring do, he is no longer realistic, and the same character winds up doing the same thing over and over and winds up feeling like a parody of itself.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 23, 2025 10:34 AM (D7oie)

187 And glasses.
Posted by: Burgess Meredith at February 23, 2025 10:30 AM (L/fGl)

---------

YOU ARE OBSOLETE!

Posted by: The Chancellor at February 23, 2025 10:35 AM (hY4dx)

188 Now with an open-ended series, the adventure in that book needs to be self-contained and the major problem(s) wrapped up by the last page -- or the reader feels cheated. (See the ending of Anne Rice's The Witching Hour. Gah.) If it's a murder mystery, the murderer must be identified and brought to justice in some fashion, even if by his own hand.

You can have an overarching, continuing story, of course -- see Stout's Nero Wolfes, in which Wolfe does battle with his own Moriarty, a crime lord named Arnold Zeck. The base murder in each one is solved, but the problem with Zeck remains (until in the third one Wolfe and Archie mark his account permanently closed!). Even if you happen to read the concluding Zeck story first, the previous two have their own storylines, and you can enjoy them just as much.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 10:35 AM (omVj0)

189 Congratulations Wolfus Aurelius on the story placement, the step from writer to professional writer has to be one of the greatest feelings in the world.

And congratulations to the Perfessor for the three year anniversary. We all really appreciate the dedication and professionalism of the SMBT.

Posted by: Candidus at February 23, 2025 10:35 AM (XLyNn)

190 sorry, David Drake's Through the Breach series - based on the Elizabethan age of exploration and Sir Francis Drake.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 23, 2025 10:36 AM (D7oie)

191 O/T , but very important, our Treasury Secretary confirmed to the American on camera that there is a yearly audit of gold at Ft. Knox, that there is a report from 9/30/2024 and, further, that "All the gold is there". Phew ! I waz worried!

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 10:38 AM (g47mK)

192 Authors, have you tried Grok to edit your works in progress?

https://tinyurl.com/4pn8p5y8
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 23, 2025 10:08 AM (1o8D5)

Personally, I'm not sure I'd want an AI editor. Still stuck in the past, I guess. I'd prefer a living human to help me see if my work is publishable.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:38 AM (0eaVi)

193 Rodrigo Borgia: "
The difference between paying and getting paid is pretty significant. :-)" That's what Ismael said right before he signed up as a crewman on the Pequod.

Posted by: who knew at February 23, 2025 10:39 AM (+ViXu)

194 It's spelled both ways. Don't know how it was spelled in the script.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:33 AM (0eaVi)
====
Just remember, don't sniff it.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 23, 2025 10:39 AM (RIvkX)

195 Authors, have you tried Grok to edit your works in progress?

https://tinyurl.com/4pn8p5y8

Yes. Also ChatGPT. My observations.

1. They are pretty good for getting through writing blocks. "I need a paragraph that expresses this characters feels bad about the 23 people she murdered, but still thinks getting the last bottle of merlot at Trader Joe's was worth it." And it will give me something I wouldn't use, but I could work with.

2. Actually, GPT won't work on that example because it has an aversion to violent content.

3. Both tend to rely on the same metaphors over and over again. If you edit a battle scene, they will both overuse pkrases like "chaos of battle" and/or "symphony of chaos" repeatedly.

4. As for editing, I have had output in both Grok and ChatGPT that contained typos (rare but it happens), words repeated within the same sentence, and other gaffes.

As with anything, it's a tool, but don't rely on it for everything.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 10:39 AM (DIweC)

196 Happy Anniversary, Perfessor! That's a great picture. And thank you for the past 3 years.

I finished the Phantom Tollbooth last week. It was fun. I've since moved on to Jonathan Kellerman's The Ghose Orchid. It's another fun read.

I'm later than usual this week, so I'm off to read the comments.

Posted by: KatieFloyd at February 23, 2025 10:40 AM (QbxQ/)

197 At the library yesterday, I found, amazingly, a John Dickson Carr novel about Dr. Gideon Fell, The Black Spectacles from 1939. It had a different title in America, the back cover blurb begins, but the library stuck its barcode across that text! Still, I grabbed it; I've never read it. Apparently it's one of the few non-impossible crime tales Carr did.

Also on my shelf now is The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder by Lawrence Block -- a memoir "by" his long-time mystery series character, former cop and recovering alcoholic Matt Scudder. Block is one of those people whose work I grab even before reading the cover blurb.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 10:41 AM (omVj0)

198 172 ... "It's a mix of mystery and fantasy, so I guess that's what they liked about it. I'll let you know when the tale is to appear!"

Wolfus,
Congrats! And do let us know. It sounds like a fun story.

Posted by: JTB at February 23, 2025 10:41 AM (yTvNw)

199 Big thanks to you who (quite awhile back) recommended the Pendergast series by Preston & Childs. Sadly, I think I've read them all now.

Posted by: Marybel Smiles at February 23, 2025 10:41 AM (uueuu)

200 They felt it was "rude" for him to speak to the Europeans that way "in their own house."

I told them please stop reading The Economist
Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 23, 2025 10:11 AM (RIvkX)

They think that's bad! What about the Guy who details exactly what He's going to do to people if they don't straighten up and fly right?

Don't forget to point them here.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:42 AM (0eaVi)

201 Amazon asks you what size you want, and then you download the template and plug your text into it, and then you pick the cover format, which used to be a much better selection. You can customize them with your own artwork, which is what I do.

And it usually takes a few tries to get the sizing right.

I think I've gotten better at covers. But I may be fooling myself.

https://tinyurl.com/yz96h9mt

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 10:42 AM (DIweC)

202 The Carr novel The Black Spectacles was also known in America as The Problem of the Green Capsule. That, I've heard of, but never found.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 10:43 AM (omVj0)

203 Any of you authors read Steven Pressfield’s how to be a writer /artists books? He has 4 or 5 of these books.

The one title I particularly like is ‘ Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit : Why that is and what you can do about it’

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 23, 2025 10:43 AM (VofaG)

204 Another Hardy Boys fan checks in.

Read them throughout grade and middle school, then switched to the Executioner and other Pinnacle series. Yep, I like series.

Still have my Hardy Boys books, plus a couple of the originals I got from Dad. Those, however, are missing their jackets.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 10:43 AM (p/isN)

205 Joy Reid cancelled? Guess I'll have to get my daily dose of raycism elsewhere.

Posted by: BignJames at February 23, 2025 10:43 AM (Yj6Os)

206 Currently reading The Two Towers. LoTR is a solace for me during trying times. i am currently in the midst of moving to Idaho, and it really helps me decompress. It occurred to me that the last time I read it was when I was in Montana caring for my ailing Dad.

Posted by: Pug Mahon in Idaho at February 23, 2025 10:44 AM (bDNzX)

207 Question: In a scifi novel, do you think readers want to know precisely when it is set? Is it enough to say, "800 years after the first exosolar colonies were established" or do you have to "In the late 32nd century" or even more, "The year is 3169?"

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 10:45 AM (DIweC)

208 "It's a mix of mystery and fantasy, so I guess that's what they liked about it. I'll let you know when the tale is to appear!"
*
Wolfus,
Congrats! And do let us know. It sounds like a fun story.
Posted by: JTB at February 23, 2025

***
I think it is. Penhaligus featured in a novel of mine which I intend to market this year. This short piece is a prequel from early in his long career. He's bombastic, positive he's the best around ("I got no 'talents,' me. I got genius or nothing!"), will eventually be married and divorced six times, drinks and belches and leers at every pretty woman he sees -- but he IS good at what he does.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 10:46 AM (omVj0)

209 Certainly it's better than reading about losers who do very little with their lives, but I feel exhausted just reading their accomplishments.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 10:20 AM (omVj0)

Well, you won't want to read my "Harry" stories, then....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:48 AM (0eaVi)

210 @176 --

I agree, but, granddaughter. It's not her child, and Mom and/or Dad might resent the intrusion.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 23, 2025 10:51 AM (p/isN)

211 Okay, time to go. Thanks again, Perfesser and congratulations!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:51 AM (ZOv7s)

212 Only 1 ebook would I miss, and don't go to it often but maybe only one I have numerous times. I wanted the hard back but didn't get how to make that happen and not get ebook version.

Posted by: Skip at February 23, 2025 10:52 AM (fwDg9)

213 I think "800 years after the first exosolar colonies were established" is plenty of information for sci-fi. In sci-fi it's plot, pacing, characters; don't sweat the details.

Posted by: Candidus at February 23, 2025 10:53 AM (XLyNn)

214 Happy 3rd anniversary Perfessor and thanks for the past three years of the Book Thread. Always a great Sunday morning read.

Posted by: Rufus T. Firefly at February 23, 2025 10:55 AM (mEJdU)

215 There seems to be an operational pause by a lot of the authors, but for a while "writing updates" were a thing.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:24 AM (ZOv7s)

I've posted a few times about "A Literary Horde" and the work going on there, but the cork just sits on the surface. There's Morons there who may need some beta reading and editing advice, but many who asked to join the group never did, or never show up. So, there are some of us doing things, but it goes un-noticed. Not complaining by the way.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 10:56 AM (0eaVi)

216 Every thing I know about Joy Reid I learned against my will.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 23, 2025 10:57 AM (dg+HA)

217 There seems to be an operational pause by a lot of the authors, but for a while "writing updates" were a thing.

I am going to finalize the covers this week, but I really want to have a marketing plan in place before I launch.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 10:58 AM (DIweC)

218 Question: In a scifi novel, do you think readers want to know precisely when it is set? Is it enough to say, "800 years after the first exosolar colonies were established" or do you have to "In the late 32nd century" or even more, "The year is 3169?"

"Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away" seems sufficient for most stories.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 23, 2025 10:58 AM (/y8xj)

219 I hired a beta reader from Fiverr.... didn't cost too much and gave me a lot of good input.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 10:59 AM (DIweC)

220 Both my granddaughters are avid readers, reading well above grade level. They were homeschooled to start and now attend Parochial school. I have been reading to them and with them since they were babies, now age 6 and 8. I know my son keeps track of what they read because they don't like to read anything "scary" yet. This means I have to hold off on The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Unicorn Diaries it is for now.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 23, 2025 11:01 AM (t/2Uw)

221 I've posted a few times about "A Literary Horde" and the work going on there, but the cork just sits on the surface. There's Morons there who may need some beta reading and editing advice, but many who asked to join the group never did, or never show up. So, there are some of us doing things, but it goes un-noticed. Not complaining by the way.

The thing about the Horde is we're not really joiners. We skew toward the "leave us alone" end of the social continuum. Consider any progress in getting some of us to work together a success on the scale of teaching a cat to use the toilet.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 11:05 AM (DIweC)

222 I read all those kid book series, girl series and boy series. Some you never hear of now. Rick Brant, Ken Holt for two.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 11:05 AM (n4GiU)

223 Question: In a scifi novel, do you think readers want to know precisely when it is set? Is it enough to say, "800 years after the first exosolar colonies were established" or do you have to "In the late 32nd century" or even more, "The year is 3169?"
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 10:45 AM (DIweC)

Overall, no one's going to care.

In your f'risnstance, there are exosolar colonies. So, gotta be in the relatively far future, unless the discovery of how to travel was made "tomorrow', then you might want to explore the repercussions of that.

Otherwise, who cares if it's two hundred years in the future or two thousand or two million.

Just go with your story, if it's good it will work regardless of the exact date.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 23, 2025 11:05 AM (iJfKG)

224 If the Marxists ever get control of government, I would expect books to get banned and your verboten ebooks confiscated.

Posted by: Skip at February 23, 2025 11:06 AM (fwDg9)

225 Amazon costs nothing. Okay, you do have to pay for a hard-copy proof, which I highly recommend. Read it aloud with pencil in hand. Something about holding an actual book makes typos stand out in a way they don't on a screen or a standard sheet of paper.

I've gone through and done that with older books, and loaded updated manuscripts as a result.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 23, 2025 10:27 AM (ZOv7s)

I know, but as you say, it's not completely cost free. Reading the Divine Ms. H's Mad Genius Club page, shows there's work involved. As I've shown today, Tensor doesn't really work as a way to make book covers. I can't draw for nothin', so I'd need an artist to do the book covers. AI book covers all look the same to me. I'd want something that stands out. I also don't think newby artists would be that good, just cheap.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:06 AM (0eaVi)

226 Tom Swift, Senior and Junior.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 11:06 AM (n4GiU)

227 Question: In a scifi novel, do you think readers want to know precisely when it is set? Is it enough to say, "800 years after the first exosolar colonies were established" or do you have to "In the late 32nd century" or even more, "The year is 3169?"

"Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away" seems sufficient for most stories.
Posted by: Oddbob at February 23, 2025

***
I would have no trouble with any of the three, or any two, e.g., "In the late 32nd century, some 800 years after the founding of the first exosolar colonies . . ." As long as you get to the story quickly, one sentence helps ground the reader. And I think a lot of SF fans like a certain amount of detail. It helps make the story more realistic. See Larry Niven's early Known Space stories, where he tells us, for example, "General Products spaceship hulls are delivered fully transparent and you use paint where you feel like it." Or his limitation to star travel: three days to the light year.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 11:07 AM (omVj0)

228 Over 40°, been awhile. Ice sliding off roof entertaining.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 11:07 AM (n4GiU)

229 but no, they don't need my name and birthdate.
Posted by: OrangeEnt
====
Whenever I get this, my poor, deceased sister rises from her grave.
Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 10:31 AM (n4GiU)

I wonder if a completely fake name and birthdate of over 21 would go through? I suppose they can verify user of a hotmail acct though.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:09 AM (0eaVi)

230 Whenever I get this, my poor, deceased sister rises from her grave.
Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 10:31 AM (n4GiU)

Oh, and she probably voted for Harris in November....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:10 AM (0eaVi)

231 In your f'risnstance, there are exosolar colonies. So, gotta be in the relatively far future, unless the discovery of how to travel was made "tomorrow', then you might want to explore the repercussions of that.

The premise of humans becoming interstellar in present day and entering a universe we are utterly unprepared for is fascinating. Farscape and Season 1 of Space 1999 explored this premise a bit.

I'm chatty today. Must be the spring weather.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 11:10 AM (DIweC)

232 Just finished downloading keeper books to an old Fire. Will USB to laptop and to a thumb drive later. Thanks for the heads up.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 11:12 AM (n4GiU)

233 Just remember, don't sniff it.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 23, 2025 10:39 AM (RIvkX)

(wipes nose)

What you mean?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:14 AM (0eaVi)

234 Oh, and last night, out to dinner, we stopped at one of those "Leave a Book, Take a Book" birdhouse libraries. Someone had left the first three volumes of the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series. The first book sounded sort of intriguing, and, you know, free, so I took it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 11:16 AM (omVj0)

235 An easy way to check for errors in mss is to switch to a different font. What passes in Times New Roman may show up bigly in Courier and vice versa.

Posted by: Wenda at February 23, 2025 11:16 AM (JJBpm)

236 much as Asimov's Robot series, set some 2000 years in the future if memory served, but they did't quite spell it out,

Posted by: miguel cervantes at February 23, 2025 11:17 AM (dJR17)

237 and she probably voted for Harris in November....
Posted by: OrangeEnt
====
She's been dead a long time now, but recent enough where she had an online presence. Which I've kept slightly alive over the years. A real/not real identity can be useful at times.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 11:18 AM (n4GiU)

238 Question: In a scifi novel, do you think readers want to know precisely when it is set? Is it enough to say, "800 years after the first exosolar colonies were established" or do you have to "In the late 32nd century" or even more, "The year is 3169?"
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 10:45 AM (DIweC)

Whichever fits the story best. Give a date if it will matter in the story.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:18 AM (0eaVi)

239 An easy way to check for errors in mss is to switch to a different font. What passes in Times New Roman may show up bigly in Courier and vice versa.

Oh... thank you for that.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 11:18 AM (DIweC)

240 and she probably voted for Harris in November....
Posted by: OrangeEnt

Kevin Dalton@TheKevinDalton
Kamala Harris accepting the presidential runner up award at the NAACP Image Awards.

-
Finally she getting the recognition she deserves!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at February 23, 2025 11:22 AM (L/fGl)

241 I think it is. Penhaligus featured in a novel of mine which I intend to market this year. This short piece is a prequel from early in his long career. He's bombastic, positive he's the best around ("I got no 'talents,' me. I got genius or nothing!"), will eventually be married and divorced six times, drinks and belches and leers at every pretty woman he sees -- but he IS good at what he does.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 10:46 AM (omVj0)

So, you're gonna kill off Lelorna!!??

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:23 AM (0eaVi)

242 She's been dead a long time now, but recent enough where she had an online presence. Which I've kept slightly alive over the years. A real/not real identity can be useful at times.
Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 11:18 AM (n4GiU)

Unless Elon finds out!

Posted by: Kindltot at February 23, 2025 11:23 AM (D7oie)

243 Re downloading keepers to Kindle or fire tablet.

Doing that brings down your Kindle books to that device, but you wouldn't be able to move the files to another device if they have drm. The download carries an identifier for that specific device; downloading wirelessly to a Kindle gives a file that can be read only on that Kindle. To use it on other devices, you'd have to use download and transfer with USB to download the file to your computer where the DRM can be removed . Amazon's getting rid of the download and transfer with USB option because ebook pirates use that function to strip away DRM before they shotgun the files to all the pirate sites.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 23, 2025 11:24 AM (q3u5l)

244 Kevin Dalton@TheKevinDalton
Kamala Harris accepting the presidential runner up award at the NAACP Image Awards.

-
Finally she getting the recognition she deserves!
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at February 23, 2025 11:22 AM (L/fGl)

maybe her dream of debating JD Vance will finally come true!

🤣😂🤣😂🤣

Posted by: runner at February 23, 2025 11:25 AM (g47mK)

245 'Morning, all!

Kid series: I have an almost complete set of the Jerry Todd mysteries that belonged to my dad (1927-201

.
They were published in the '20s and '30s.
The author, Leo Edwards, had several series going at the same time.

What I like about them is that the kids could do concrete things well- build stuff, fix engines, handle boats, camp, etc.
The gang follows the basic template: there's Scoop, the Leader + Brain, Peg, the Muscle, Red, the Comic Relief, who's the mechanic, and Jerry, who tells the story.

Posted by: sal at February 23, 2025 11:27 AM (f+FmA)

246 I hired a beta reader from Fiverr.... didn't cost too much and gave me a lot of good input.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 10:59 AM (DIweC)

I've noticed there are quite a few cheap ones, but that's better for a short story. If you want novels read and edited, it runs into the hundreds. Don't have money for that at the moment. I also would have to say something to the better half about spending the money....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:27 AM (0eaVi)

247 Penhaligus featured in a novel of mine which I intend to market this year. This short piece is a prequel from early in his long career. He's bombastic, positive he's the best around ("I got no 'talents,' me. I got genius or nothing!"), will eventually be married and divorced six times, drinks and belches and leers at every pretty woman he sees -- but he IS good at what he does.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025
*
So, you're gonna kill off Lelorna!!??
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025

***
I hadn't planned on that -- but I guess, after a long life with six ex-wives, at least one is bound to pass on sooner or later. I'd hate to do it, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 11:28 AM (omVj0)

248 Amazon's getting rid of the download and transfer with USB option because ebook pirates use that function to strip away DRM before they shotgun the files to all the pirate sites.
Posted by: Just Some Guy
====
Thanks. I'll just make a copy then, not transfer the files. To have if I need to muck with it someday.
Then upload the back up to Amazon Cloud.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 11:30 AM (n4GiU)

249 172 My big news a la the book world is that I've placed another short story! This one was accepted (after a couple of small revisions they asked for) by Black Cat Weekly (https://blackcatweekly.com/), an online magazine that publishes both mystery and SF/fantasy.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 10:26 AM (omVj0)

Congratulations! I'm looking forward to reading your work. Please do let us know when it's published and it's issue #.

Posted by: KatieFloyd at February 23, 2025 11:31 AM (t2/eg)

250 Whichever fits the story best. Give a date if it will matter in the story.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:18 AM (0eaVi)

And if you're writing a family saga or anything with dates and ages, please make them match up.
This is one of my pet peeves.
Petty, I know.

Posted by: sal at February 23, 2025 11:31 AM (f+FmA)

251 Look! A squirrel in a festive little hat!

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle for festive little hats at February 23, 2025 11:32 AM (p9LZO)

252 series: I have an almost complete set of the Jerry Todd mysteries that belonged to my dad (1927-201.
===
Never heard of this one. Perhaps a new chase down activity for me.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 23, 2025 11:32 AM (n4GiU)

253 I hired a beta reader from Fiverr.... didn't cost too much and gave me a lot of good input.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025

***
VTK, I've noted that site. Looks like it might be a good place for me to offer my own editing services.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 11:32 AM (omVj0)

254 Congratulations! I'm looking forward to reading your work. Please do let us know when it's published and it's issue #.
Posted by: KatieFloyd at February 23, 2025

***
The editor said the contract will be along shortly. They pay on publication, so I hope it's soon.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 11:33 AM (omVj0)

255 An easy way to check for errors in mss is to switch to a different font. What passes in Times New Roman may show up bigly in Courier and vice versa.
Posted by: Wenda at February 23, 2025 11:16 AM (JJBpm)

Does it make that much of a difference? Might try it.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:34 AM (0eaVi)

256 Of interest to the Trad Catholics, mostly:
Dr. Peter Kwasniewski often does reviews of new book releases over at his substack "Tradition and Sanity".

Many of them are from the publisher he works for- Os Justi- but he includes works from other good sources.

I usually find at least one thing to buy, so it's a bit hard on the budget, but worthwhile.

Posted by: sal at February 23, 2025 11:37 AM (f+FmA)

257 An easy way to check for errors in mss is to switch to a different font. What passes in Times New Roman may show up bigly in Courier and vice versa.
Posted by: Wenda at February 23, 2025

***
Wenda, I had it suggested to me long ago that I read the manuscript in reverse -- last word of the sentence, then the penultimate one, then the word before that, etc. When you read forward, you sort of expect the next word in the sequence, and tend not to look at its spelling as critically. If you isolate each word by going backwards, you can do it.

It sounds like a lot of hard work, and I haven't done it except for very short items. Your font change technique might work better.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 11:38 AM (omVj0)

258 And if you're writing a family saga or anything with dates and ages, please make them match up.
This is one of my pet peeves.
Petty, I know.
Posted by: sal at February 23, 2025 11:31 AM (f+FmA)

Yeah, messing up a timeline or location can cause trouble if you don't catch it early.

(whistles innocently)

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:38 AM (0eaVi)

259 Morning hordemates.
Just started the Raiding Force series by Phil Ward.
Set in WW2, it is a fun and quick read. The author has clearly done the research for small unit tactics.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 23, 2025 11:41 AM (W/lyH)

260 VTK, I've noted that site. Looks like it might be a good place for me to offer my own editing services.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 11:32 AM (omVj0)

Just name dropping here, but Sarah Hoyt told me she thought the quality of the work from there can be iffy. When you see people advertising for $5 a job, it makes you wonder how experienced they are.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:42 AM (0eaVi)

261 Mr. S writes short articles for the local history journal and I'm his proof reader and editor.
He has begun having AI read them to him and finds it useful for catching awkward phrasing, overuse of a word and general clarity.
Then I get it to check for spelling, etc.

Posted by: sal at February 23, 2025 11:43 AM (f+FmA)

262 Another disaster brought to you by Blo Jiden:

Hooters Seeking Uplift Via Filing for Bankruptcy

Posted by: Ferd Berfall at February 23, 2025 11:43 AM (A2iSa)

263 the prequels don't really make sense with the way they were presented in the original series, a thousand generation were undone by one long war,
Posted by: miguel cervantes at February 23, 2025 09:33 AM (dJR17)

'Sup.

Posted by: the Sasanids at February 23, 2025 11:43 AM (nGCR4)

264 The Carr novel The Black Spectacles was also known in America as The Problem of the Green Capsule. That, I've heard of, but never found.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

I recently read Close to Death, a Hawthorne and Horowitz mystery by Anthony Horowitez. In it, he discusses, not entirely favorably, Carr's The Hollow Man. Accordingly, I'm reading it and am about 2/3 of the way through. I'm not prepared to render an opinion yet although the writing itself does not appeal to me. This book is apparently the grandaddy of locked room murders, which is the exact point on which Horowitz criticizes him as he solves, so to speak, his own locked room murder.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at February 23, 2025 11:45 AM (L/fGl)

265 Thank you, Perfesser- can't believe it's been three years!
We are so grateful for your work keeping this well-loved thread going.

Posted by: sal at February 23, 2025 11:46 AM (f+FmA)

266 I tend to turn off a lot of the error check functions in Word or Google Docs when I'm working because they've often tried to 'correct' things that don't need correcting and because I find them annoying when I'm trying to work. But when I'm done, I'll run the pages through a spell check to catch things like 'hte' for 'the' which is where I usually make most of my mistakes. YMMV. If the other functions flag anything when I'm done working, I give their suggestions a look before turning the things off again.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 23, 2025 11:46 AM (q3u5l)

267 He has begun having AI read them to him and finds it useful for catching awkward phrasing, overuse of a word and general clarity.

Posted by: sal at February 23, 2025 11:43 AM (f+FmA)

I notice in many interviews, "you know" is still prevalent.

Posted by: BignJames at February 23, 2025 11:47 AM (Yj6Os)

268 I still have a subscription to the Economist -- I started getting it about twenty years ago because I liked their foreign coverage and their (relatively) neutral stance about US politics.

But lately it's become the "ORANGEMANBAD" Magazine. I wondered why so I looked up the Wikipedia entry about The Economist.

Yep. Zanny Minton Beddoes, first woman editor of The Economist, on the job since 2015.

All is clear to me now. Time to look for a news source.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 23, 2025 11:47 AM (78a2H)

269 I've noticed there are quite a few cheap ones, but that's better for a short story. If you want novels read and edited, it runs into the hundreds.

I paid about 80$ and tipped another $20. Not bad for a 240 page novel.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 11:48 AM (DIweC)

270 I got no reading done this whole week. Not sure why, but never had a free moment most days. Anyway, I'm watching the pearl clutching across the pond, where the German polls are about to close. Brace for tears, wailing and rended garments if AfD does as well or better as many predict.

Posted by: Lincolntf at February 23, 2025 11:48 AM (2cS/G)

271 Perfessor,
You have taken the book thread and made it your own and all of us are grateful.
Many thanxs!

Posted by: Diogenes at February 23, 2025 11:49 AM (W/lyH)

272 Having said that, I would have preferred having a scifi fan from the Horde beta read for feedback, but like Orange Ent said, that dog doesn't hunt.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 11:50 AM (DIweC)

273 Happy 3rd Anniversary!

Posted by: Weasel at February 23, 2025 11:50 AM (iu4Pw)

274 Off to deal with annoying real-world stuff.

Perfessor, thanks for today's thread, the three years previous, and the threads to come. Always a pleasure.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 23, 2025 11:51 AM (q3u5l)

275 I paid about 80$ and tipped another $20. Not bad for a 240 page novel.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 11:48 AM (DIweC)

How was the work? What were the reader/editor's quals? Was it just a read, or dev edit or something else?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:51 AM (0eaVi)

276 I recently read Close to Death, a Hawthorne and Horowitz mystery by Anthony Horowitez. In it, he discusses, not entirely favorably, Carr's The Hollow Man. Accordingly, I'm reading it and am about 2/3 of the way through. I'm not prepared to render an opinion yet although the writing itself does not appeal to me. This book is apparently the grandaddy of locked room murders, which is the exact point on which Horowitz criticizes him as he solves, so to speak, his own locked room murder.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at February 23, 2025

***
The Hollow Man, aka The Three Coffins, is utterly brilliant and is rightly considered one of the finest of "locked room" stories. The writing is clear and readable, given that Carr wrote it 95 years ago. He continually brings in surprises and twists, including in the dialogue. Fell's discourse, "The Locked Room Lecture," doesn't seem to fit the story somehow -- but it's utterly fascinating to read. Maybe Carr should have separated it and published it as an essay.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 11:51 AM (omVj0)

277 Don't know if you guys caught this on the tech thread.

>>>Elonnuel Goldmusk has taken only a month to set back the communist poisoning of the American soul by decades. (The Verge) (archive site)

>>>We can only wish that the screeching of the lunatics is true.

https://archive.is/zOwtH

Worth a read.

Posted by: Comrade Flounder, Disinformation Demon at February 23, 2025 11:53 AM (i24o9)

278 Anyone ever read The Bobsey Twins?
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 23, 2025 10:23 AM (0JWOm)
--------------
Loved the Bobsey Twins back in elementary school.

Also, Tom Swift.

The Weekly Reader Book Club was a birthday present the year my dad left the navy and we moved to Ohio. Best present ever.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 23, 2025 11:54 AM (kDIcw)

279 Having said that, I would have preferred having a scifi fan from the Horde beta read for feedback, but like Orange Ent said, that dog doesn't hunt.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 11:50 AM (DIweC)

Perf's reading list seems to be scifi heavy, but there does seems to be a large contingent of fantasy readers here. I try more than one genre to see what I do best. Not interested in fantasy, though.

Great. Wife wants to leave for work early. Guess I'll miss the rest of the thread. Thanks, Perfessor!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 11:55 AM (0eaVi)

280 Thanks to whichever moron suggested Thrift Books, which I use to buy used books for our grandchildren.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at February 23, 2025 11:57 AM (ehP+W)

281 John Dickson Carr was also adroit in popping humor into his classical mysteries. Apparently the stories about Sir Henry Merrivale as detective often featured comedy -- which served a second purpose beyond entertaining the reader: It was a great way to slip a clue into the text and get it past even the discerning reader.

His narration is often funny as well. He describes the *very* heavy-set Dr. Fell (modeled on G.K. Chesterton) as using two canes to walk, and in one story he mentions that "Dr. Fell stood, swaying like a tethered elephant." Dr. Fell, like his creator, dislikes mathematics; we're told in a scene at dinner where he complains about mathematicians, "Dr Fell glared at his salad, as if expecting to find a binominal theorem lurking in the lettuce."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 11:57 AM (omVj0)

282 Anyway, looks like we're done for another week. Thanks for the fine thread, Perfessor, and all of you!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 11:58 AM (omVj0)

283 Correction: Carr published The Three Coffins in 1935 -- 90 years ago, not 95.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 23, 2025 12:00 PM (omVj0)

284 Nood.

Posted by: Nazdar at February 23, 2025 12:02 PM (NcvvS)

285 How was the work? What were the reader/editor's quals? Was it just a read, or dev edit or something else?

I got back a four page report which covered overall assessment, bits that worked well, bits that didn't work, the bulk of the criticism was that my protagonist was not compelling. On his advice, I made my protag less ambiguous about his motives (I actually liked that he was unsure about why he was doing the things he did, but apparently readers want someone whose motivations are clear), added in a love interest and a badass robot.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 12:08 PM (DIweC)

286 Definitely finish writing the series before publishing the first book, or at least have it thoroughly ironed out and outlined. Just "winging it" leads to reader aggravation and tune-out.

Example: Alastair Reynolds wrote a lovely hard SF book, 'Revelation Space' which set up a modified take on the "Berserker" ideas of Fred Saberhagen. A sequel came out which deepened and enlarged the tale, and brought us new and memorable characters. Then, the third novel arrived... and it stunk. Reynolds had written himself into a corner, wandered around looking for a clue for 200 pages, and in the last 20 pages or so, punted in a most pathetic and lame manner. I was so put out by this that I literally never put up with another of his books, and those hardbacks went to a used bookstore many years ago.

It was evident that he hadn't thought things through, and whether it was pressure from the publisher or whatever, he went to print with an unfinished work that was wrapped up in bailing wire and Elmer's glue.

Posted by: Brewingfrog at February 23, 2025 12:15 PM (3Ck6U)

287 Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 12:08 PM (DIweC)

Late back, but thanks. Fiverr is always an option. Now what you received seemed to definitely be worth the money. Unfortunately, I'm sure there are plenty not worth the money.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 23, 2025 12:47 PM (0eaVi)

288 I assume the name choice was deliberate (I do not love thee, Dr. Fell)?

I know the thread is over now, but let me just take a moment to complain about the "Barnes & Noble Classics" editions and how stupid they think we readers are. I just read their Sherlock Holmes, and they footnoted things like what the Regency was, what VR stood for, what a brougham was, etc. Someone who is reading Sherlock Holmes doesn't need to be told what a brougham is!

(Of course, I also understood everything the old Yorkshireman said in Dracula (it was a lengthy passage written phonetically in archaic Yorkshire dialect. The B&N Classics edition had a footnote that translated the whole thing into modern English), so I might just not be their audience.)

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at February 23, 2025 01:08 PM (Y+AMd)

289 Happy to share my reviewer with anyone who needs to know. DM on the X

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 01:12 PM (du1c2)

290 I know the thread is over now, but let me just take a moment to complain about the "Barnes & Noble Classics" editions and how stupid they think we readers are

They used to have attractive, classy covers. Now they look like junk.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 23, 2025 02:19 PM (DIweC)

291 Congratulations, Perfessor, on three successful laps around the Sun 👏🎊🥳

Posted by: Yumanbean58 at February 23, 2025 06:29 PM (c9a9O)

292 Have you ever hard a Grey Squirrel? then the Digger Squirrels/Ground Squirrels also known as Road Zippers

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