aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
CBD:
cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
Buck:
buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
joe mannix:
mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum:
petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton:
sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 7-27-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
PIC NOTE
I'm a sucker for pictures of cats lying on or next to books. It's even more special when it's *my* cats. So today you get a picture of my dear cat Allie leaning against a few books on my desk. I don't know why they do it, but they seem to love being around books. Maybe because it also smells like me, since I had just finished the top book, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle.
COMMUNITY-BASED STORYTELLING
There is a website called the SCP Foundation that documents the work of a secretive organisation that finds, catalogues, and if possible imprisons various kinds of cosmic horror and more innocuous but equally strange entities. It's a work of collaborative fiction organised as a wiki, and has been running for more than 15 years.
-- Pixy Misa 7/20/2025 Daily Tech News
There are so many sites like SCP - CreepyPasta, Backrooms, MSNBC. Not surprising AI just regurgitates that as fact, but how far gone do you have to be to not think "Wait a minute, this can't be real." Posted by: MaureenTheTemp at July 20, 2025 08:31 AM (HI5Mk)
The SCP Foundation is a fascinating form of long fiction. It's a true work of community-based storytelling where everyone involved can shape the story in unusual directions, though there are community guidelines in place so that no one strays too far outside the boundaries.
The premise is that there are people, places, and things in this world that defy explanation and shape the world according to unfathomable rules. The SCP Foundation was created to Secure, Contain, and Protect these objects, which in many cases are very, very dangerous not just to individuals but to the cosmos at large. There are over 9,000 such objects cataloged on the SCP Foundation website, each written as a short story of sorts and properly documented into categories of how dangerous they are. Even the items marked "Safe" can be quite hazardous, though, if their containment protocols are not followed to the strictest letter.
What's most fascinating about this website is that there IS an overarching narrative, as we can see glimpses of the fictional hierarchy of the SCP Foundation through letters and memos supposedly written by scientists, researchers, and administrators of the SCP Foundation. As one might expect at a highly secretive quasi-governmental organization dedicated to the paranormal, there's a lot of paranoia and suspicion among everyone who works there. Some want to use SCPs (the generic term for these objects) for the good of humanity, others for more personal gain, and others would destroy them all if that were remotely possible.
The idea of the SCP Foundation is not at all unique in fiction. The Bookburners franchise, for instance, has a similar organization within the context of the Vatican, where the titular "Bookburners" (they hate that term) round up magical objects and store them in secret archives beneath the Vatican. The television shows The Librarians and Warehouse 13 have similar premises as well.
Where this SCP Foundation stuff gets really interesting is how it may be affecting AI. Pixy linked to an article about an AI investor who posted a disturbing video of how he has been affected by AI. Apparently ChatGPT was influenced by the materials on the SCP Foundation website and used it in responses to the AI investor's queries. This is very much in keeping with how SCP entities tend to interact with humans. They can be very tricky and manipulative. Memes are among the most dangerous objects locked up at the SCP Foundation because of the effects they have on humans. Hence the extremely rigorous containment protocols required for each SCP within the Foundation's purview. It's a very weird example of life imitating art.
AI ADVENTURES IN STORYTELLING
I'm thinking there will be fewer writers and more AI because the reading public is getting lazier. There's always been a market for light breezy reading. AI will probably take that over and human writers will disappear from mainstream publishing. Why would the Big 5 pay a human when they can just write a couple of prompts? High literature will still exists, but the so-called paperback market will all be computer generated. Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 18, 2025 12:12 AM (0eaVi)
Whether we like it or not, AI-generated storytelling is here. This just another aspect of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 that has come to fruition in our lifetimes. Everyone makes a big deal about the bookburning in the story, but the REAL enemy--as I see it--is the dehumanization of the people who live in that world. Part of that dehumanization is through the interactive entertainment provided to people on demand via their televisions. People are given scripts to read during a television show and they dutifully read the scripts, pretending like they are part of the action. Now we have AI-generated storytelling that can feed us entertainment on demand based on our personal preferences. The stories are going to be subpar, recycled material from other stories of course. How is that worse than the human-generated garbage we see on television these days? There's a reason why reruns of old televisions like Gunsmoke are increasingly popular--the writing is crisp, the characters are well-developed, and the stories themselves shed light on our common human experiences. Modern storytelling--at least in the visual media like movies and television--is devoid of those things. It's sad that an AI-generated story--as mediocre as it may be--can be better than a human-generated story.
Fortunately, we still have decades and centuries of quality stories out there for us to read. As long as they aren't eaten up by drugstore beetles...
RESPONDING TO MORON COMMENTS
Thanks to one of my other gigs, helping out at church on Sundays, I don't get to respond to the comments as much as I might like. Usually, I have about an hour or so on Sundays to read the comments before I go to church. But when I am "working" on the tech team, I have to get there early, so I post the Sunday Morning Book Thread and hurry on down there to get things set up for worship. I then come home and read the comments after church.
DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS That's why I've avoided the Battlestar Galactica convo. Why bother raising anyone's ire by posting any dismissive takes on that waste of time.
Dang. I've done it now haven't I? Posted by: Buzzy Krumhunger at July 20, 2025 10:18 AM (RKVk
Arguing over Battlestar Galactica trivia is fine. Arguing with the resident trolls who infest AoSHQ like drugstore beetles infesting a library is frowned upon. CBD has made that very, very clear if you have not been paying attention to his repeated admonitions about quoting or responding to trolls.
Remember, trolls are NOT here to debate their talking points in good faith. Their sole purpose is to stimulate a negative emotional response in you. They are sexually aroused by it. Do not take their bait. Do not feed into their warped egos.
I honestly pity the trolls who come here to stir up trouble. Their lives are so devoid of meaning and substance that they derive pleasure from causing misery in others. They need to find a genuine hobby that gives them inner peace and satisfaction.
Turning their lives over to Jesus would be a good start.
A few years ago I launched a major purge of books centering on history, warfare and firearms because I had come to realize that most of them were garbage. Essentially works of fiction. You get authors who crib from other authors, who crib from older authors, and none of them has any first-hand knowledge of the topic, they're just regurgitating false information. This is particularly true with firearms guides or weapons (think tanks and aircraft) where no one has even so much as touched the actual thing, being content with just repeating numbers. Whole shelves got cleared to make way for accurate information. Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 20, 2025 09:50 AM (ZOv7s)
This is an interesting observation. I know we've seen this in academic circles, particularly when it comes to the various "Grievance Studies" departments. The academics in those departments are constantly plagiarizing each other, as we've seen time and time again. They don't see anything wrong with it (unless they get caught and lose their sinecures). The result is that there hasn't been any original scholarship in certain fields in DECADES. It's a constant repetition of the same tired themes over and over and over again.
Good morning book threadies. Here's a news: The enemies of books are many. Water. Fire. Book-banners. Drugstore beetles... Thousands of historic books are in jeopardy over a massive bug infestation that could annihilate centuries-long of historical records. The Pannonhalma Archabbey in Hungary is a Benedictine monastery that is working to save books from drugstore beetles, according to The Associated Press (AP). The beetles were found in a section of the UNESCO World Heritage Site that houses 400,000 volumes -- which makes up a quarter of the books in the library. Posted by: mindful webworker - pro logue at July 20, 2025 10:46 AM (RviYc)
This is a reminder that the original "bookworm" consists of various insects and their larvae that feed on the wood pulp found in books. They LOVE the stuff. Silverfish, booklice, beetles, termites, cockroaches, and other vermin will destroy books in short order, given the chance. That's why it's best to keep all books in a vacuum chamber at all times. Take no chances. Or prisoners.
-- "There is no book so bad...that it does not have something good in it." ----- Yeah, Mr. Squirrell? If you wanna toss around that kind of bald assertion, then I'm assigning you to read Not That Kind of Girl, by Lena Dunham, and attempt to substantiate it. Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at July 20, 2025 11:14 AM (BI5O2)
A long forgotten translation of Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes expands on the ellipses in the quote above: "...except books by tubby wanna-be influencers like Lena Dunham..." Thanks to the rise of independent self-publishing now any idiot with a computer can write a "best seller." Also, a bad book can serve as an example of how NOT to write, so it does serve a purpose in that way.
MORON RECOMMENDATIONS
In 1980, presaging the idea of ecoterrorism, Alistair MacLean wrote Athabasca, a tale of potential sabotage of the Alaska pipeline. George Dermott and Donald MacKenzie work on a small team that specializes in industrial security, and they have been sent to Prudhoe Bay after a letter was sent to the pipeline manager, informing him that "you will be incurring a slight spillage of oil in the near future." The job at hand for Dermott and MacKenzie is to determine the veracity and probability that the letter is not a hoax, and review the security procedures to ensure that the pipeline is not sabotaged. As they search for clues, suddenly people working along the line are turning up missing or dead. It is now a race against time to prevent a massive oil spill and the shut down of a ten billion dollar pipeline. Having worked in the industry and spending time on the pipeline, it is obvious that MacLean did his homework before writing this novel. The remoteness, the cold, and the feeling that help is very far away is present throughout the story. MacLean is known for novels that grab the reader right away and never let up until the final chapter, and this story is no different. Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 20, 2025 09:11 AM (Vfq+S)
Comment: I really, really don't like ecoterrorists. These people are so deluded about their vision of the world they pose a genuine threat to the rest of us by shutting down major improvements in technology and innovation that make civilization as we know it possible. If they had their way, they'd turn out the lights for ALL of us, including themselves. They are also deluded in thinking that they would survive the technological apocalypse. Once people find out who caused it, they'll be torn limb from limb in the most gruesome manner possible.
My first run through the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, I was sort of dragged against my will, compelled to keep reading by wanting to know what was going to happen to these characters, but somehow not willing to acknowledge that I was hooked by a series of books that does not seem like my type of thing (A giant rolling ball of trapped players with a floppy god penis sticking out of it? Really?). Just wrapped up a second reading, and I have to admit, these books are really well done. The characters are very distinct and interesting, and the story just pulls you along. I can see why it is always at the top of the "Best LitRPG" lists. Hard act to follow. As a reference point in a similar genre, I made it about halfway through Ready Player One before I got bored and abandoned it. Posted by: Splunge at July 20, 2025 11:16 AM (N3mKE)
Comment: The Dungeon Crawler Carl books do tend to show up a lot at the top of readers' lists on BookTube, even if the BookTuber in question is not generally keen on the litRPG genre. It's not my favorite genre, though I have read a few of the proto-litRPG books like Guardians of the Flame by Joel Rosenberg. But it sounds like the Dungeon Crawler Carl series is genuinely entertaining, which is about 90% of what I want out of a book.
MORE MORON RECOMMENDATIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE: AoSHQ - Book Thread Recommendations- The Forgotten Room by Lincoln Child -- This is a Moron Recommendation from Thomas Paine. Lincoln Child is the other half of Preston & Child, who write the Agent Pendergast books. It was OK, but also somewhat predictable. Very reminiscent of a Scooby Doo mystery, with fewer stoners and Scooby Snacks.
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.
Timeline by Michael Crichton
This is Crichton's time travel novel, though it's really about quantum teleportation to alternate dimensions. It just seems like time travel to an outside viewer. Even the people who developed the technology don't fully understand how it works. The premise is that people are deconstructed in our universe and reconstructed in an alternate universe according to multiverse theory. However, the reconstruction is initiated by a third universe that understands the technology better than we do. Naturally, the genius who developed it in the "real world" is an arrogant dick, in keeping with Crichton's general theme about corrupt CEOs throughout his books. The party that travels into the past is trying to recue a history professor who was trapped back in the 14th century, shortly before the Black Plague ravages southern France. It's a decent technothriller story, as one would expect from Michael Crichton. I did go see the movie version, but I honestly don't remember it much at all, so it's also a bit forgettable.
Legends of Ethshar Book 1 - The Misenchanted Sword by Lawrence Watt-Evans
The Legends of Ethhar series of novels are all stand-alone tales set within the same world. Each focuses on a single character caught up in events that push them to their limits. In the first book, The Misenchanted Sword, the scout Valder is caught behind enemy lines during the Great War that has raged for centuries between the Northern Empire and the Ethsharites. Valder encounters a wizard hermit who promises to enchant Valder's sword so that Valder will leave him alone and escape back to his Ethshar homelands. Unfortunately, the enchanting ritual goes wrong and Valder has a powerful magic sword with severe limitations. Now he has to figure out how to stay alive and escape the unintended curse of the sword.
The Legends of Ethshar Book 2 - With a Single Spell by Lawrence Watt-Evans
In the second book of the series, we follow young Tobas, an apprentice wizard who has only learned a single spell--Thrimbul's Combustion--before his master croaks. That one spell is great for starting fires under any condition, but it also has some drawbacks as Tobas discovers when he unintentionally burns down his master's hut, destroying his master's Great Book of Spells. Now Tobas must make his own way in the world. His goal is to learn more magic and become a full-fledged wizard. Along the way he becomes part of a dragon-hunting party and stumbles into an interdimensional castle inhabited by a lonely witch.
The Legends of Ethshar Book 3 - The Unwilling Warlord by Lawrence Watt-Evans
Sterren was an unusually lucky gambler, with just enough of a magical edge to keep him happy and comfortable in Ethshar of the Spices. Then one day a woman and her two goons kidnap him and force him to become the Ninth Warlord of the Small Kingdom of Semma, his legacy. Now war is coming and he has to find a way to use his position as Warlord to stop two armies from invading his tiny kingdom. Naturally, his solution unleashes even more problems, as this is a running theme in these books.
The Legends of Ethshar books are clearly influenced by the works of Jack Vance and L. Sprague DeCamp. Much of the entertainment comes from the farcical nature of the situations the protagonists find themselves in. Every story has a reasonably happy ending, but the situations often go from bad to much, much worse before the end. You can also see some influence of Dungeons and Dragons, which was itself inspired by Jack Vance, in how the magic systems are handled.
The Forgotten Room by Lincoln Child
This was a Thomas Paine recommendation from some time ago. It showed up in my Amazon feed, so I thought I'd give it a chance. I've read a few of Douglas Preston's independent books and enjoyed them. The Forgotten Room embraces quite a few of the haunted mystery tropes such as a huge, sprawling manor house hiding old secrets, mad scientists engaging in research man as not meant to know, and an impending storm that strikes during the climax of the story as the hero finally figures out the puzzle. It was an entertaining read, though it did seem a bit predictable at times.
A Trio for Lute by R. A. MacAvoy
I picked this up from a used book pile at my local gaming store recently. It's the tale of a young witch in 14th-century Italy who wants to save his town from being invaded by General Pardo. His best friends are a talking dog and the archangel Raphael, who teaches Domiano how to play the lute. Damiano also wants to win the love of of his life, though she does not return his feelings.
This is an omnibus edition of three separate books: Damiano, Damiano's Lute, and Raphael.
PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 7-13-2025 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)
Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.
Huggy Squirrel flipped to the chapter on "Escaping Predators."
Comments
(Jump to bottom of comments)Posted by: Skip at July 27, 2025 08:59 AM (+qU29)
RacPress does have a substack.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 09:00 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at July 27, 2025 09:00 AM (dE3DB)
Posted by: Skip at July 27, 2025 09:01 AM (+qU29)
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 09:02 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: gp at July 27, 2025 09:02 AM (hNDvI)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:03 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 09:03 AM (0eaVi)
In half an hour of study, I've already found one error, halfway down Appendix B, where the term (s^2)/2 should be (s/2)^2. Being that the erroneous term is used in the derivation of the height of the equilateral triangle, that's a foundational mistake for this whole book. I have no doubt there are other errors to be found. Glad I didn't pay the $60 cover price.
Oh wait! I just discovered that the author also wrote 'The Vibrational Universe (The Potentials of Consciousness),' so I'm guessing he's a New Ager dabbling in so-called 'Sacred Geometry,' rather than a real mathematician. He almost had me fooled!
Posted by: gp at July 27, 2025 09:03 AM (hNDvI)
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 09:02 AM (0eaVi)
---
Yep!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:04 AM (IBQGV)
Posted by: JTB at July 27, 2025 09:05 AM (yTvNw)
Please comply. It's really not too much to ask. It's not like The Perfessor is asking you to make sure your tray tables are up and to return your seats to the upright and locked position, is it?
Any belief you may have regarding some breathing room to misbehave given the recent completion of your Semi-annual AoSHQ Commenter Review is misguided.
Posted by: Bob from NSA at July 27, 2025 09:06 AM (0sNs1)
----
I read these eons ago. They were good. But "Tea With the Black Dragon" is her best work.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:07 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 09:08 AM (q3u5l)
Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 27, 2025 09:08 AM (JvZF+)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:09 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: dantesed at July 27, 2025 09:09 AM (Oy/m2)
Nearly done with Patrick Chiles' 'The Long Way Home' and have a blindfolded choice coming up from the TBR pile.
Posted by: Brewingfrog at July 27, 2025 09:10 AM (egg9a)
Posted by: dantesed at July 27, 2025 09:09 AM (Oy/m2)
---
That would be my bible. It has a pair of book mark ribbons attached to it.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:10 AM (IBQGV)
Posted by: callsign claymore at July 27, 2025 09:11 AM (PClog)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:11 AM (omVj0)
"Comment: I really, really don't like ecoterrorists. These people are so deluded about their vision of the world they pose a genuine threat to the rest of us by shutting down major improvements in technology and innovation that make civilization as we know it possible. If they had their way, they'd turn out the lights for ALL of us, including themselves."
This is a theme in Directive 51, by John Barnes. The ecoterrorists FAFO.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 27, 2025 09:11 AM (h7ZuX)
Willowed from the Tech Thread: I want book covers that show a dramatic moment from the novels they encase. Probably it's too much to hope for that we could have attractive women, and men, on the covers again, as we had with paperbacks from the '50s to the '80s (? '70s for sure). But a dramatic scene with a soldier or frontiersman in a snowy forest, holding back a pack of wolves with a torch -- how 'bout that?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:11 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 27, 2025 09:11 AM (h7ZuX)
----
Yep. It doesn't end well for them after the world ends.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:12 AM (IBQGV)
Posted by: Ordinary American at July 27, 2025 09:12 AM (UseAb)
The travelers are from Oxford University in the mid-21st Century, and are only supposed to observe...
The problem in Doomsday is that the time machine has been having some "slippage" so it doesn't always land the traveler in the desired time period. Kivrin, the traveler, was supposed to land in a time with no Black Death, but it doesn't work out that way because of slippage.
Posted by: Wethal at July 27, 2025 09:12 AM (NufIr)
Which are fine....but only up to the point where they don't usurp real interactions with real people in the real world.
Posted by: muldoon at July 27, 2025 09:13 AM (poXs5)
Posted by: Skip at July 27, 2025 09:13 AM (+qU29)
One good movie version that captured the novel's feel was "Wonder Boys", from Michael Chabon's book.
Any others? Don't say the LotR movies!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:14 AM (kpS4V)
The third book and subject of this review is Red Square. Renko, now restored as an inspector, returns to a Moscow post collapse, where rubles are worthless and the mob runs the country. A money launderer Renko is trailing is the victim of a car bomb, and Renko must try to get to the bottom of it amidst the corruption in the new Russia, as well as a newly reunited Germany.
In all of the Renko novels, his intuition plays an important role, and he rarely shares his insights with the reader until they become obvious. As you read, you are racing to catch up to the clues. The books also capture the mood of a Russia emerging from the soviet era.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 27, 2025 09:14 AM (Vfq+S)
Posted by: Wethal at July 27, 2025 09:12 AM (NufIr)
---
Not once, in the entire history of time-travel stories has time travel ever gone as planned.
Something *ALWAYS* goes wrong.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:14 AM (IBQGV)
Too bad Hungary banned DDT. Maybe the libs will allow the use of DDT to save the books. They’re ok with killing thousands of black, brown and yellow babies but maybe ancient books will get their attention.
Posted by: Hedley Lamarr at July 27, 2025 09:14 AM (UWRAE)
That could get pricey.
I guess you could put each book in a ziploc bag and put them on metal shelves to save a few books.
There’s also some chemical sprays out for silverfish and other critters that might work, if you don’t mind an odor.
Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 09:16 AM (6ydKt)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 09:16 AM (bXbFr)
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 09:02 AM (0eaVi)
I love those old book bindings that look like wallpaper.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 27, 2025 09:16 AM (h7ZuX)
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 18, 2025 12:12 AM (0eaVi)
Pfft
Literary fic aka "high literature " is already indistinguishable from AI word complete
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at July 27, 2025 09:16 AM (dE3DB)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 09:16 AM (q3u5l)
Posted by: muldoon at July 27, 2025 09:17 AM (poXs5)
Posted by: JTB at July 27, 2025 09:17 AM (yTvNw)
Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 27, 2025 09:17 AM (JvZF+)
One major subplot of the book is an experimental education program -- what we'd call a Charter School -- aimed at actually trying to educate and motivate kids rather than warehouse them for thirteen years until they can go to jail or qualify for welfare benefits.
There is a little SFnal handwaving in that the school somehow has aptitude/personality tests which can spot promising students and customize their instruction. (It's a little interesting to see a work with fundamentally libertarian premises nevertheless fall back on midcentury "scientific management" tropes.)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 09:18 AM (78a2H)
"With a Single Spell" isn't the first book in the series?!
I was so happy to find it last year in Dallas after I saw it reviewed in the Book Thread.
Now I'll have to let it wait until I can find the first book. And I'm not going to the TxMoMe this year.
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 27, 2025 09:18 AM (p/isN)
"Old cities were demolished; new cities were built. The new cities had taller buildings, broader plazas, larger parks, monorails whose cars flew faster though less frequently.
The free hour was extended by five minutes. Voice-input telecomps began to replace key-input ones, and totalcakes came in a pleasant second flavor. Life expectancy increased to 62.4. Members worked and ate, watched TV and slept. They sang and went to museums and walked in amusement gardens."
Sounds like a fair and equitable paradise!
Thank Uni!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:18 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 09:18 AM (bXbFr)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:19 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:19 AM (omVj0)
Is there a name for stand-alone novels in the same fictional world? Is that a "series?" Or does a series have to feature the same characters?
Posted by: Wenda at July 27, 2025 09:19 AM (GUmFs)
Thank you for your comment last Sunday. FYI, I never bail on the Book Thread; I keep it open until it fades.
However, what I glean from Wikipedia suggests that "The Little Sister" was not patchwork. Chandler was an established novelist when he put this out.
This book has led me to distinguish between "mystery" and "detective" stories. Mystery stories: Watch an investigator find out whodunnit. Detective stories: Follow along to see how the detective gets out of this jam.
The book could have used better editing, as too many details clash. Not the first time that Chandler overlooked the smaller stuff.
(continued)
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 27, 2025 09:20 AM (p/isN)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:11 AM (omVj0)
That's why we need Polynikes to start doing book covers. Too much same same AI book covers everywhere.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 09:20 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 09:16 AM (q3u5l)
---
It's from the Illustrated Junior Library edition published by Grosset & Dunlap (New York).
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:20 AM (IBQGV)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025
***
"Marx, Lenin, Wood and Wei
Led us to this perfect day"
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:21 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at July 27, 2025 09:21 AM (2NHgQ)
After the bleakness of Chandler, I needed to laugh. And I am, with "All My Best Friends" by George Burns. This mirthful memoir drops names like rain.
I'm up to where radio is knocking vaudeville off its throne. Along the way, Burns tells how a typical vaudeville lineup is set -- the fourth and seventh acts are the biggies in a group of eight -- and defines some vaudeville lingo.
He relates the origin of a couple of catchphrases I've heard: "Wanna buy a duck?" and "Vas you dere, Charlie?" Both came from vaudeville comedians.
He also talks of how an act needs "insurance," a sure-fire crowd-pleaser. Burns' insurance? Gracie Allen.
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 27, 2025 09:21 AM (p/isN)
No math."
Ha! I know the unwritten rule. I'll let the perfessor decide.
If I was blog dictator, I'd have a nonfiction-only book thread.
Posted by: gp at July 27, 2025 09:22 AM (hNDvI)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:22 AM (kpS4V)
(continued)
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 27, 2025
***
WG, I'd reverse your two definitions, but that's a concise way of putting the difference.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:22 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 09:23 AM (q3u5l)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 09:23 AM (bXbFr)
Posted by: Skip at July 27, 2025 09:13 AM (+qU29)
I have his 'Army at Dawn' in my bookcase. Haven't read it though.
Posted by: dantesed at July 27, 2025 09:23 AM (Oy/m2)
Posted by: Wenda at July 27, 2025 09:19 AM (GUmFs)
----
Hmmm. Interesting question. A "series" can have ambiguous meaning and does depend on context, I suppose.
For instance, The Chronicles of Narnia is considered a series, though each book tend to focus on different characters with some overlap between books.
Another term I've seen is 'Verse, as in the stories all take place within the same "universe." Star Wars would be a good example of this.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:23 AM (IBQGV)
I might try actually readibg the printed book instead.
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at July 27, 2025 09:24 AM (dE3DB)
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at July 27, 2025
***
King's The Shining was one for me. Not so much for the horror, though that is very compelling, but for Jack's struggle against alcoholism.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:24 AM (omVj0)
Literary fic aka "high literature " is already indistinguishable from AI word complete
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at July 27, 2025 09:16 AM (dE3DB)
No, no, vmom. I meant stoner fic.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 09:25 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025
***
Probably his best "pure" detective story.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:25 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at July 27, 2025 09:25 AM (2NHgQ)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 09:26 AM (78a2H)
I was so happy to find it last year in Dallas after I saw it reviewed in the Book Thread.
Now I'll have to let it wait until I can find the first book. And I'm not going to the TxMoMe this year.
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 27, 2025 09:18 AM (p/isN)
---
There are no continuity issues if you choose to read "With a Single Spell" first. The books take place in the same world, but there's no crossover between any of them, as far as I know. There are some references to historical events, but the exposition gives you enough context so that you don't have to go back to an earlier book to understand the reference.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:26 AM (IBQGV)
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine
There is always someone looking for something someone else wants to get rid of. The hard part is matching them up.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 27, 2025 09:27 AM (Vfq+S)
Anyone else here tend to look at the bookshelves if you're visiting someone, or try to make out what's in the bookcases when you see a photo of some writer's office or a room in some movie?
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 09:27 AM (q3u5l)
It caught my heart at the first chapter. A young boy is playing in a field and gets called by his mother with news. He wants to find out what it is but since he's a pilot on a clipper ship he has to tack into the wind properly to finally get to her going back and forth in the field. So it takes a while. Anyone who has played like that as a kid will smile.
In line with some other comments I'll make today, this was written almost a century ago.
Posted by: JTB at July 27, 2025 09:28 AM (yTvNw)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025
***
They do -- esp. A Kiss Before Dying and Rosemary's Baby, with The Boys From Brazil (an SF novel, as is This Perfect Day, but not marketed as such) right behind.
By the way, JSG, I've bought a paperback copy of your Doorway novel from Amazon. I'm looking forward to it!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:28 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: muldoon at July 27, 2025 09:17 AM (poXs5)
It doesn't take that long! Sheesh, even writing every other day can get you a novel in three, four, months. Doesn't mean it's good or publishable, though.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 09:28 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: Just Some Guy
I always do that. The scary part is when you are visiting, and don't see a single book in a home.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 27, 2025 09:30 AM (Vfq+S)
I'm still waiting on the second book, which is a handwritten and illustrated book of Psalms - a facsimile of a volume done years ago by a career British Army officer as a gift for his wife.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at July 27, 2025 09:30 AM (Ew3fm)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 09:31 AM (q3u5l)
The book turned me on to other Crichton novels, so yeah, good times.
Posted by: Don Black at July 27, 2025 09:31 AM (AOsQT)
I've been so rude as to start grabbing books off the shelf without even asking permission first. Oooops!
Posted by: gp at July 27, 2025 09:31 AM (hNDvI)
U-Boats: A Pictorial History
The Norse Myths
The Illustrated Who's Who in Mythology
I've given up telling myself "no more books". Just give the stuff, baby!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:31 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 09:27 AM (q3u5l)
----
All the time. I think if you can see what's on someone's bookshelves, you have a window into their personality.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:32 AM (IBQGV)
I just can't make myself _believe_ it.
One issue is that it's based on the notion of picking the good teachers and getting rid of the useless ones, the useless administrators, and the education bureaucracy. I'm not sure that's possible in anything resembling contemporary American society. You would need a ruler with the intellect and unlimited power of a Richelieu to do it.
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 09:32 AM (78a2H)
I've been reading, but nothing much has entranced me. I keep going through books, putting them down and usually not picking them back up again. Right now I'm trying to get through Ice Ghosts, which is about the Franklin expedition, the search for survivors and the discovery of the wrecks of the Erebus and Terror.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at July 27, 2025 09:32 AM (Dg2sF)
I've been so rude as to start grabbing books off the shelf without even asking permission first. Oooops!
Posted by: gp at July 27, 2025 09:31 AM (hNDvI)
----
Ha! Same.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:32 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:19 AM (omVj0)
Dang. That sounds too autobiographical to me. Pass.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 09:33 AM (0eaVi)
It's been a long time since I read Fahrenheit 451, so I don't recall machine-created books, but I do know that in Nineteen Eighty-Four there was a whole propaganda section with machines to pump out popular songs for the proles and trashy (mostly sex-related) novels as well.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at July 27, 2025 09:35 AM (Dg2sF)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 09:35 AM (bXbFr)
Posted by: Mary Poppins
Very prescient.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 27, 2025 09:36 AM (Vfq+S)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 09:36 AM (bXbFr)
Posted by: JTB at July 27, 2025 09:36 AM (yTvNw)
Posted by: Don Black at July 27, 2025 09:36 AM (AOsQT)
"Polar Star", IMO was even better than GP as a "cancelled" Arkady was forced to work on a polar fishing boat. Great Stuff.
But, once the Soviet Union fell and Arkady lost his main antagonist, the Soviet state, the magic was broken and Smith's novels became more or less standard fare with him detecting in little curious corners of the new Russia.
I kept reading the series for a while hoping for a return to form, but for me it never came, Arkady in Cuba pretty much ended my interest. It wasn't good. And I stopped reading him. Fingers crossed for "Arkady Goes Hawaiian" though!!!
YMMV.
Posted by: naturalfake at July 27, 2025 09:37 AM (iJfKG)
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 27, 2025 09:37 AM (p/isN)
It's been a long time since I read Fahrenheit 451, so I don't recall machine-created books, but I do know that in Nineteen Eighty-Four there was a whole propaganda section with machines to pump out popular songs for the proles and trashy (mostly sex-related) novels as well.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at July 27, 2025 09:35 AM (Dg2sF)
---
heh. Nice obscure reference! I was thinking about it this morning, but had forgotten it at the time I composed today's Book Thread.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:37 AM (IBQGV)
Posted by: Lady in Black at July 27, 2025 09:37 AM (qBdHI)
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 27, 2025 09:38 AM (Vfq+S)
Love the photos of happy cats and books. You need to demand they start producing book reports and thoughtful comments on what they have read, or napped on...
Posted by: Legally Sufficient at July 27, 2025 09:38 AM (kB9dk)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:11 AM (omVj0)
I like the cover to give a clue, too. Seems like all the covers now are a house or a landscape behind that brush-stroke all-caps font. Boring.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 27, 2025 09:39 AM (h7ZuX)
The books in his library were organized by color.
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 09:40 AM (78a2H)
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 27, 2025 09:40 AM (p/isN)
Posted by: gp at July 27, 2025 09:40 AM (hNDvI)
I don't think I can suspend my belief long enough to read this. First, the idea of a supercomputer that can plan everything well enough is just the communist/socialist dream (nightmare?) of central planning. Which Sowell's Knowledge and Decisions destroys. And only one person manages to start questioning this utopia through the drug-induced somnabulance?
Posted by: yara in Katy at July 27, 2025 09:41 AM (EbWSH)
I may have to read that. It sounds a bit like The Lost City of Z.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at July 27, 2025 09:41 AM (Dg2sF)
Posted by: Castle Guy at July 27, 2025 09:41 AM (Lhaco)
Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 27, 2025 09:41 AM (JvZF+)
Posted by: Norrin Radd at July 27, 2025 09:42 AM (tRYqg)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 09:43 AM (78a2H)
I kept reading the series for a while hoping for a return to form, but for me it never came, Arkady in Cuba pretty much ended my interest. It wasn't good. And I stopped reading him. Fingers crossed for "Arkady Goes Hawaiian" though!!!
YMMV.
Posted by: naturalfake
The collapse of the soviet union certainly made it harder for Smith to continue the series, but he did capture just how bizarre the country became, and the stories kind of give the reader a glimpse into how someone can try to do their job despite officialdom trying to sweep everything under the rug. What strikes me is that while the old system fell away, the bureaucracy didn't change, it just kept the corrupt system running under new masters.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 27, 2025 09:43 AM (Vfq+S)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:44 AM (omVj0)
It can be fun to surreptitiously study a fellow grocery shopper and then look at the items they're purchasing. You put the clues together and your imagination writes the story.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at July 27, 2025 09:45 AM (XQo4F)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:45 AM (omVj0)
First comic I ordered; "The Altantean" #3, over at fundmycomic dot com. Its premise: Robert E Howard's "The Shadow Kingdom" (the first story to feature Kull, the Exile of Atlantis) fell into the public domain a few years ago, so a pair of creators made their own adaptation of the story, and now a series of sequel stories. Classic sword and sorcery stuff. I'm enjoying it. Plus the book is cheaper than the usual crowdfunded fare, and it comes out far more regularly. They are managing to put out about two issues a year.
Posted by: Castle Guy at July 27, 2025 09:45 AM (Lhaco)
Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 27, 2025
***
I can't imagine Nicole being bad in anything. The original had satirical elements to it as well, though it was not a parody or comedy at all.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:47 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 27, 2025 09:47 AM (Vfq+S)
The volume included 3 short stories: Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon. Lady Susan was told in letters exchanged among the principals and was an interesting glimpse into a wicked woman's beliefs versus her public presentation. The Watsons felt incomplete and Sanditon seemed to screech to a halt before the story was finished. I would not have wasted time on the last two had I known they were incomplete. Lady Susan was interesting and revealed a woman I am glad not to know.
Posted by: Legally Sufficient at July 27, 2025 09:47 AM (kB9dk)
But the use of big lettering for title and author, plus tiny landscape/figures, is straight up anti-art. Is it because popular novels in a series are downloaded more?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:47 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 09:49 AM (bXbFr)
Dry?!
I loved "The Andromeda Strain," my first dip into SF. I think I was in middle school.
The later M*A*S*H books are also loaded with telegrams, usually from diplomats.
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 27, 2025 09:49 AM (9N29J)
U-Boats: A Pictorial History
The Norse Myths
The Illustrated Who's Who in Mythology
I've given up telling myself "no more books". Just give the stuff, baby!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:31 AM (kpS4V)
How many of us will leave unread books on our shelves when we go?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 09:50 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 09:40 AM (78a2H)
----
Does he do Zoom meetings?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:50 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 09:50 AM (q3u5l)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:47 AM (kpS4V)
-----
Hmmm. Interesting observation. I've noticed that modern covers emphasize the title and author more than the cover art.
In a physical library, people see the spines more than the cover art because of how we shelve our books, so the spine needs to have readable text. However, in digital media, people will see the cover more because of how books are often displayed in e-readers, so I guess it makes sense to emphasize the text on the cover rather than the art.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:51 AM (IBQGV)
As for multiple stand-alone stories by the same author, though with different characters, in the same universe, I've always called that a "series." No idea what the publishing world calls them.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:51 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 09:50 AM (0eaVi)
---
I'll leave a key under the mat so Threadists can raid the shelves after I pass on to Bookhalla.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:51 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: who knew at July 27, 2025 09:51 AM (+ViXu)
I don't think I can suspend my belief long enough to read this. First, the idea of a supercomputer that can plan everything well enough is just the communist/socialist dream (nightmare?) of central planning. Which Sowell's Knowledge and Decisions destroys. And only one person manages to start questioning this utopia through the drug-induced somnabulance?
Posted by: yara in Katy at July 27, 2025 09:41 AM (EbWSH)
Well, no spoilers but you'd have to see how it shakes out regarding dystopia.
But, with regards to your first point, for the average Joe and Jane Blow dystopia is just hunky-dory. The "animal needs" of the populace are catered to very well. Dystopia is a pleasant place to live. And freedom...well, what does that mean exactly?
A well-written novel with clever twists and turns you may not expect.
Posted by: naturalfake at July 27, 2025 09:52 AM (iJfKG)
Posted by: Castle Guy at July 27, 2025 09:52 AM (Lhaco)
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at July 27, 2025 09:52 AM (2NHgQ)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 09:53 AM (78a2H)
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 27, 2025 09:53 AM (h7ZuX)
The series follows Marcus Falerius Fronto, legate of the X legion. The series basically follows Ceasars memoirs and starts with the invasion of Gaul.
Posted by: Beartooth at July 27, 2025 09:53 AM (ft+00)
Posted by: Trimegistus
The books in my library are organized by... never mind, the best I can do is to put history books more or less by country/region, classical in their own area, and fit everything else where there is space.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 27, 2025 09:54 AM (Vfq+S)
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at July 27, 2025 09:52 AM (2NHgQ)
* * * *
Thanks for the information. I was really wanting to see how it ends!
Posted by: Legally Sufficient at July 27, 2025 09:55 AM (kB9dk)
https://headingprints.com/
Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 27, 2025 09:55 AM (TEi+a)
I try not to think about it.
And it saddens me to know that every book I have will probably be tossed into a dumpster when I die.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at July 27, 2025 09:56 AM (Dg2sF)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 09:56 AM (q3u5l)
Posted by: Trimegistus
The books in my library are organized by... never mind, the best I can do is to put history books more or less by country/region, classical in their own area, and fit everything else where there is space.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 27, 2025 09:54 AM (Vfq+S)
---
Mine are mostly organized by author. Some books are arranged by franchise (e.g. Star Wars, Forgotten Realms, etc.) as that makes it easier for me to find those books.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:56 AM (IBQGV)
Posted by: Zoltan at July 27, 2025 09:58 AM (MKuVo)
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel
Schizophrenic, with a contrarian overlay.
Posted by: From about That Time at July 27, 2025 09:58 AM (n4GiU)
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:51 AM (IBQGV)
Most of what I read now is on e-reader, and I still like to choose books by cover. I hate it when they all look the same on the e-reader. When I'm searching a title, I will often choose something else because the picture attracted my attention. This is my case for good cover art, even in the digital age.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 27, 2025 09:58 AM (h7ZuX)
Posted by: Nazdar at July 27, 2025 09:59 AM (NcvvS)
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 27, 2025 09:59 AM (p/isN)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:45 AM (omVj0)
Your characters will be staring at a cart full of silver.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 10:00 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 27, 2025
***
Rendell was not only super-skilled, with writing talent the equal of many a literary author, she was also prolific. The Inspector Wexford series are classic mysteries, but her standalone dramatic crime stories are even better. She also wrote as "Barbara Vine," so look for those if your library doesn't put them together with the Rendells.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:00 AM (omVj0)
Much of this may be due to my peculiar taste in fiction, a real possibility, but it feels like the literature of brilliant, creative writing and enjoyable story telling is rare these days.
Posted by: JTB at July 27, 2025 10:01 AM (yTvNw)
From library school days, I remember mention of a library so pressed for space (John Crerar Technical Library in Chicago?) that they'd devised a classification system based on the size of the book so that they could make maximum use of every inch of shelf space.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 10:01 AM (q3u5l)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:11 AM (omVj0)
Just a few days ago I watched a short youtube video about a guy complaining about how bland fantasy book covers have become, and he put up a lot of side-by-side shots of original covers and modern reprints. As a rule, the originals were paintings of something epic (a flying dragon) or sinister (a magical throne in a glistening cave) or something just generally cool.... Meanwhile the modern covers are generally a title on a solid color, with a silhouette or little icon to symbolize the 'theme' of the story.
I don't think I ever would have picked up "Dragonriders of Pern" if child-me had run across the modern cover.
Posted by: Castle Guy at July 27, 2025 10:01 AM (Lhaco)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 10:01 AM (78a2H)
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at July 27, 2025
* * * *
Thanks for the information. I was really wanting to see how it ends!
Posted by: Legally Sufficient at July 27, 2025
***
Maybe somebody will take her unfinished stuff up and write an ending, as someone did with Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:02 AM (omVj0)
My inspiration was re-reading (actually listening to an audible play) of John Grisham's "Camino Island," which begins with a heist, the theft of Fitzgerald's original handwritten manuscript, along with four others, from the Princeton library. The audio is performed by January LaVoy, in one of the best book reads I've heard.
Speaking of best audible performances, have a listen to Chris Bohjalian's "The Guest Room," the one performed by Lori Gardner. A bachelor party gone horribly wrong in a Westchester county house, Russian gangsters, and an innocent Russian beauty sold into sex slavery.
Posted by: M. Gaga at July 27, 2025 10:03 AM (BAkrB)
Posted by: Trimegistus
He may just be indulging a quirk.
If he's as intelligent as you suspect, he may have his books and their locations memorized.
Posted by: From about That Time at July 27, 2025 10:06 AM (n4GiU)
Also just picked up "Way Station" by Clifford D. Simak. Hugo award winner, so hopefully will be as good as ive heard.
Finally, Ryan Williamson, writer of such awesomeness as "The Widow's Son," "The Spear of Destiny," and with Jason Anspach, the incredible "Doomsday Recon" Trilogy, has allowed me to beta read his latest iteration of "Immortal," the first book in a new trilogy he's writing. My first read through late last year was very satisfying, as he's got a crazy imagination and his writing improves with each page. I think this latest version will probably be published late this year.
Good morning, Book Nerdz.
Posted by: Sharkman at July 27, 2025 10:06 AM (/RHNq)
To be charitable, I'll guess they have only so much space, and the five-foot shelves of modern and prolific best-selling authors have to take precedence.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:06 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: Frankie at July 27, 2025 10:06 AM (ODcS5)
And no piles of miniatures I haven't painted
Posted by: Skip at July 27, 2025 10:07 AM (+qU29)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 10:07 AM (78a2H)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:47 AM (kpS4V)
Rule of thumb: If the author is important, make the name large; if the author is new, make the title large. If you don't know the name, the picture and title are more important helping you decide whether to buy it or not.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 10:07 AM (0eaVi)
And, of course, children's books.
His extensive collection of Texana follows a system understandable only by himself...
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 10:07 AM (f+FmA)
Posted by: who knew at July 27, 2025 10:08 AM (+ViXu)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 09:51 AM (omVj0)
Cash cows. Because they're easier to sell than something new.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 10:09 AM (0eaVi)
Apparently, it's disagreement day here at Chateau naturalfake.
Andromeda Strain dry ?!?!?
No, sir. Not at all.
I read that one in high school and it was the first time, I ever stayed up all night just to finish a book. I found it that exciting.
Maybe it seems dry because it was written when men and women were supposed to handle emergencies and their jobs with calm professionalism, even and especially in the face of a deadly plague.
These days everyone's portrayed as screaming drama queens if they get a hangnail.
Anyway....YMMV.,
Posted by: naturalfake at July 27, 2025 10:09 AM (iJfKG)
Eons ago, I met Diane Dillon at a library convention in Chicago and told her how much I loved the Ace Science Fiction Specials covers (a couple of those books I bought just for the Dillons covers). She said a number of them died in the marketplace because they weren't immediately identifiable from the cover as science fiction. I don't think any of those books retained the Dillons' cover art when they were reissued later.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 10:10 AM (q3u5l)
https://tinyurl.com/4v8yjr8d
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at July 27, 2025 10:10 AM (2NHgQ)
Posted by: Marcus T at July 27, 2025 10:10 AM (ptAPo)
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 27, 2025 09:56 AM (IBQGV)
---
An entire wall devoted to Chuck Tingle!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 10:13 AM (kpS4V)
I was facing a real jam until I decided to move into oldest son's room; he hasn't lived here for 10 years. I shelved books in front of his books and bought a standalone bookshelf.
This has eased the situation. But now I have all of my parents' books to deal with.
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 27, 2025 10:15 AM (p/isN)
Posted by: Zoltan at July 27, 2025 09:58 AM (MKuVo)
How can you read a book that size trapped in that glass case in the mall?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 10:16 AM (0eaVi)
There's a TV series of "Sanditon" out on streaming.
They cover the actual Austen chapters in the first episode and then just make stuff up.
The Austen fans unanimously hated it.
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 10:16 AM (f+FmA)
Posted by: who knew at July 27, 2025 10:17 AM (+ViXu)
No, sir. Not at all.
I read that one in high school and it was the first time, I ever stayed up all night just to finish a book. I found it that exciting.
Maybe it seems dry because it was written when men and women were supposed to handle emergencies and their jobs with calm professionalism, even and especially in the face of a deadly plague.
These days everyone's portrayed as screaming drama queens if they get a hangnail. . . .
Posted by: naturalfake at July 27, 2025
***
As part of that professionalism, Strain is devoid of the internal power struggles and inter-agency politics subplots that seem to infest every story these days as well. The scientists all *work* toward the important goal of finding out what the infectious agent is and how it can be stopped. We don't get long discursions about how one of them is trying to one-up the others to aid his own career or sabotage theirs.
The detail of the one scientist having epilepsy is a human element the story needs. But the sufferer does not exploit it he's trying to hide it!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:18 AM (omVj0)
I enjoyed the movie of the book with Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland as well. It stayed fairly close to the book.
Posted by: JTB at July 27, 2025 10:18 AM (yTvNw)
But I'm finding that a lot of stuff I read early on back in my Oh Boy Summer Vacation Two Paperbacks A Day period reads differently now. Maybe it was just me on that first Crichton.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 10:19 AM (q3u5l)
It was engaging but also eye-rolling.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 10:19 AM (kpS4V)
Bookstores, you pick up the book, turn it back and forth. On-line, you make your decision based on something the size of a postage stamp. The cover has a different job and I think people are experimenting to find what works.
Posted by: Wenda at July 27, 2025 10:19 AM (GUmFs)
Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 27, 2025 10:22 AM (dKEEs)
Posted by: who knew at July 27, 2025 10:17 AM (+ViXu)
#Me, too.
Not to mention the haphazard stacks on the bedside table, which is not big enough to accommodate them.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 27, 2025 10:22 AM (h7ZuX)
Posted by: PabloD at July 27, 2025 10:23 AM (eU7D4)
My wife, a big fan of Jane Austen and other Brit lit, including TV shows, went to England with our daughter for two weeks last month to mark her 60th birthday. She really loved the Lake District.
(I wanted her to go to Hartlepool, the home of Andy Capp.)
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 27, 2025 10:23 AM (XDy/U)
I found something called "The Canbe Collective Builds a Be-Hive" in the Free Cart. It's a fiction book from 1977 about communal living in the New Era and what intrigued me was the intro note about pronouns.
Three chapters in, it's about as hippie as you can imagine- especially if you were a young person during that era.
I will be interested to see how the world build is set up.
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 10:23 AM (f+FmA)
Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 27, 2025 10:24 AM (dKEEs)
https://blackcatweekly.com/b/Vol5Y
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:24 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: Trimegistus
The books in my library are organized by... never mind, the best I can do is to put history books more or less by country/region, classical in their own area, and fit everything else where there is space.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 27, 2025 09:54 AM (Vfq+S)
My own organizational system involves both theme and quality. Awesome books get placed prominently. Less good books get shuffled off into a corner. For one particular series, volumes 1 and 2 are in entirely different rooms, just because 2 is so much worse than 1...
Posted by: Castle Guy at July 27, 2025 10:24 AM (Lhaco)
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at July 27, 2025 09:30 AM (Ew3fm)
If it's the one I'm thinking of, a copy came through our thrift store a while back. It was lovely- I think we may have sold it on eBay.
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 10:26 AM (f+FmA)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 10:26 AM (VofaG)
Watt-Evans is an underrated author, quite entertaining, but with one Hugo award when it meant something.
Others I recommend in the series are Ithanalin's Restoration, The Spriggan Mirror and The Unwelcome Warlock.
The Vondish Ambassador has some good stuff.
His 4 Lords of Dus books are a fun read, with good storytelling.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 10:26 AM (u82oZ)
Posted by: JTB at July 27, 2025 10:26 AM (yTvNw)
Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 27, 2025 10:27 AM (dKEEs)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 10:28 AM (VofaG)
Ancient, mediaeval and English history are arranged chronologically.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at July 27, 2025 10:28 AM (Dg2sF)
Yet I trudged through the work. It gave me a basic understand of why Neo-Darwinian Theory (NDT) does not compute from all scientific aspects at which you look at it.
NDT is ironically the evolution of Darwin's theory which the NDT itself rejected for various logical reasons.
Professor Spetner brings about his own theory, which essentially leads to the conclusion of a creator, a beginning and of designs planned into creation in numerous paths but not the single path that all of us came from the same first single celled bacteria.
Lots of science and lots of math crammed into 250 pages.
I have not yet looked into if and how NDT's proponents attempt to disprove Spetner's arguments. This is a follow-up I'll consider taking on in the future.
While this book is not a theological work, it ends with the Hebrew acronym תושלב"ע:
תם ונשלם תהילה לאל בורא עולם
Finished and completed. Praise to G-d, Creator of the Universe.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 10:29 AM (sTuNG)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 10:29 AM (VofaG)
As part of that professionalism, Strain is devoid of the internal power struggles and inter-agency politics subplots that seem to infest every story these days as well. The scientists all *work* toward the important goal of finding out what the infectious agent is and how it can be stopped. We don't get long discursions about how one of them is trying to one-up the others to aid his own career or sabotage theirs.
The detail of the one scientist having epilepsy is a human element the story needs. But the sufferer does not exploit it he's trying to hide it!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:18 AM (omVj0)
Great point, Wolfus.
I find the jamming of high school level mean girl politics into every single story these days regardless of the sex or background of the characters, so tiresome.
Posted by: naturalfake at July 27, 2025 10:30 AM (iJfKG)
I enjoyed the movie of the book with Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland as well. It stayed fairly close to the book.
Posted by: JTB at July 27, 2025
***
So did the film version of Andromeda Strain. They changed one of the scientist team to a woman -- but she was not a Denise Richards or Raquel Welch glamor girl, but just the sort of middle-aged woman that fit the part.
People might complain that Crichton lectured us in his fiction. Well, he did. Not about politics or philosophy, now, but about background information that was important to the story. When it's done like that, and I am interested in the material, I don't mind being "lectured" in the slightest.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:30 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 10:30 AM (kpS4V)
In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig's character mentions that there are two kinds of mechanics: one whose tools are placed where they belong. "A place for everything and everything in its place". The second is the memory mechanic: he remember where he put it down.
I identify as the second. When I moved, I lost my memories. I was looking through my shelves a while back and found a copy of Jacques Ellul's book on Ecclesiastes I'd forgotten I had. :-(
Posted by: yara in Katy at July 27, 2025 10:30 AM (EbWSH)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 10:26 AM (VofaG)
For fiction, yes.
Non-fiction is another matter; I choose that by subject matter, and the cover is irrelevant.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 27, 2025 10:31 AM (h7ZuX)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes
I looked him up. I did not need to know that genre existed. I'll see if my library has a copy, as a basis for complaint.
I want a contest to have a public library canon, for the betterment of the local area. Chuck Tingle books need not apply.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 10:32 AM (u82oZ)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 10:32 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 10:32 AM (q3u5l)
https://blackcatweekly.com/b/Vol5Y
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:24 AM (omVj0)
There's a lot in there! How many pages is it? $3 for all that. You get a share of sales, too, or just the flat fee?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 10:33 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: Mike the Narf at July 27, 2025 10:34 AM (0aYVJ)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 10:35 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 10:36 AM (VofaG)
The local public library has 6 Chuck Tingle books. And only 3 left by Freeman Dyson.
Time to write a letter.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 10:36 AM (u82oZ)
Back from my seditious Christian Nationalist meeting, where we have White CNs, Black CNs, Hispanic CNs and Oriental CNs. A veritable rainbow of Christian Nationalists!
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 27, 2025 10:38 AM (HZi96)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 10:38 AM (kpS4V)
I would like to cannon all Chuck Tingle books, using the 280 mm cannon (Atomic Cannon) by Fort Riley.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 10:38 AM (u82oZ)
I've been working my way through a series called Fallen Apples by Ken Decoteau. A set of stories based on Defense and Security firms working with the government to stop bad guys. Lots of jargon and technical speak, especially about weapons. Fun reading but almost too much special ops stuff at the expense of the story.
Posted by: Diogenes at July 27, 2025 10:38 AM (W/lyH)
Was sad to find out the Martin Cruz Smith recently passed away.
I just finished his last novel, The Ukraine Hotel. He wrote at the end it would be his last novel because of his advanced Parkinson's.
RIP
Posted by: Frankly at July 27, 2025 10:38 AM (rkArx)
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025
***
Just the flat fee, but I can get a free year's subscription to the magazine if I ask.
They have a short story contest ($250 for first prize) going on. You need to write a story inspired by Ron Miller’s exceptional “Cat Pirate” painting. I've seen it, and it's a corker. You can write to the editor at blackcatweekly.com. I'll send you the pages with the details and the painting. The deadline is Sept. 30.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:39 AM (omVj0)
Timeline was the only Chrichton book I started and just could not get into. My all time favorite is still the one about rival dinosaur bone hunters in the Old West called Dragon Teeth based on a true story.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at July 27, 2025 10:41 AM (t/2Uw)
Just to be clear, I've never dipped my toe, or any appendages, in the Tingleverse, so I don't know if it possesses any literary merit. Perhaps the Horde can enlighten me.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 10:41 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025
***
Mine is a Weird West called "Goldhounds." Kelton Robinson, a surveyor/investigator sent out by the U.S. Bureau of Western Phenomena, rescues a strange wounded creature, and finds out that others want it for themselves -- because the beings are reputed to seek out gold ore.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:42 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: Weak Geek
Have a picture of me and my late wife with the Andy Capp statue in Hartlepool. One of my favorites.
Also have a box of all the Andy Capp paperbacks from my youth.
She couldn't understand why I wanted to drive to an out of the way dump like Hartlepool.
Posted by: From about That Time at July 27, 2025 10:44 AM (n4GiU)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 10:26 AM (VofaG)
It seems more that the cover is to tell you the genre, not the story.
We also said you should get into the book cover business.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 10:44 AM (0eaVi)
Back from my seditious Christian Nationalist meeting, where we have White CNs, Black CNs, Hispanic CNs and Oriental CNs. A veritable rainbow of Christian Nationalists!
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 27, 2025 10:38 AM (HZi96)
Plus, they were speaking a secret language- always a bad sign...
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 10:44 AM (f+FmA)
Dr. Drew jokes that he is a time traveler. He has been around long enough that he has to explain the past to young folks like it's a foreign country.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 10:44 AM (kpS4V)
תם ונשלם תהילה לאל בורא עולם
Finished and completed. Praise to G-d, Creator of the Universe.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 10:29 AM (sTuNG)
That alone with cause anger and hatred among the Darwinites.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 10:46 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes
True. In the library.
Very glad you are Chuck Tingle free.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 10:47 AM (u82oZ)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 09:31 AM (kpS4V)
I think this falls under Teresa from Fort Worth's dictum:
Buy the yarn, eat the cheesecake.
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 10:47 AM (f+FmA)
Cool . Alien truffle pigs.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 10:47 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel
it used to be a thing to post pictures of personal libraries. Want to start again?
Posted by: Kindltot at July 27, 2025 10:48 AM (D7oie)
Ain't that the truth. Of the writers that populate the bookshelves here in my cave, I can count the living writers on my fingers, and I've got plenty of fingers left over.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 10:49 AM (q3u5l)
Plus, they were speaking a secret language- always a bad sign...
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 10:44 AM (f+FmA)
___________
Our pastor being on vacation, we had a visiting priest just out of the seminary. He was quite good. Mass was done in 45 minutes.
I went to Confession with him because it was before the Rosary. Seemed like a sensible fellow. Of course, as with any priest, the more straightforward you are and the less excuse-mongering, the faster and easier it is.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 27, 2025 10:50 AM (HZi96)
It’s the book that introduced me to Hunter. Bought it in the Airport gift shop and finished it on the plane ride. It was a definite page turner for me. And then I sought out his other books which were just as good or even better though I’ve come across just a couple that weren’t my cup of tea. That’s to be expected.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 10:51 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: Kindltot at July 27, 2025 10:48 AM (D7oie)
---
Seconded! I love peeking into other people's private book nooks. Send in those photos, guys!
Dildo used to put other folks' home bars on his food thread. That needs to come back too.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 10:52 AM (kpS4V)
The living author I really like Matthew Hughes, is getting quite old. His far-future novels and linked short stories are a pleasure ot read.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 10:52 AM (u82oZ)
Thanks for the purchase; hope you'll enjoy it.
"Goldhounds" sounds like fun; will watch for that issue of Black Cat Weekly. My daughter's a fan of weird West stories, so I'll pass it her way too.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 10:52 AM (q3u5l)
Posted by: Trimegistus
It is a horrible way to catalog books, but according to my Dad, the original library of Harvard was organized that way when it was started.
It is still a horrible way of cataloging but I have to admit that the most successful used CD and DVD sellers at the flea market group their stuff by the color of the spine of the boxes
Posted by: Kindltot at July 27, 2025 10:53 AM (D7oie)
Read this week-
Loved. My Friends Fredrick Backman
Typical of him book but loved what it said about young kids, iconic summer, growing up, fame, what belief in someone can do, death, friendship all in there. Cried, laughed and thought it was wonderful.
Didn’t like The Last Days of Kira Mullen by Nicci French. Some good psychological horror with regards to mental health- main character gets recommitted for to her dubious reasons and the hell hole that place is. (Could be a horror story being wrongly commuted) but in general didn’t like any of the characters except the person killed. A little heavy on men bad women good . Didn’t entice me to read any more of their books.
Posted by: Paisley at July 27, 2025 10:53 AM (A4siA)
"Goldhounds" sounds like fun; will watch for that issue of Black Cat Weekly. My daughter's a fan of weird West stories, so I'll pass it her way too.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025
***
It's out today. https://blackcatweekly.com/b/Vol5Y
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:54 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: Trimegistus
Certainly a racist library.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 10:54 AM (VofaG)
It’s the book that introduced me to Hunter. Bought it in the Airport gift shop and finished it on the plane ride. It was a definite page turner for me. And then I sought out his other books which were just as good or even better though I’ve come across just a couple that weren’t my cup of tea. That’s to be expected.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025
***
His first novel from years ago, The Master Sniper, had a neat technique, very cinematic, at the climax -- snippet scenes, one line each in some places. I hadn't seen that done that way before.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:55 AM (omVj0)
Cool . Alien truffle pigs.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025
***
I hadn't thought of that, but you're right!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:56 AM (omVj0)
I’ve read that one but I didn’t notice the style as I’m no author familiar with different techniques. I judge writing based on whether I can read with no effort whatsoever.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 10:59 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 27, 2025 10:50 AM (HZi96)
Fr. had to go back to Ghana, to work on some visa issues, so we've been having supply priests.
Last week, we had the second youngest priest in the diocese (seriously, he was Fr. Doogie Houser), but he is also the Liturgy Director, so he did a good job.
"Via Medievialis" on Substack is doing a nice series on "Learning Liturgical Latin", if you know interested people.
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 11:00 AM (f+FmA)
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 27, 2025 10:38 AM (HZi96)
Damn! I'm calling the FBI. 😎
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at July 27, 2025 11:00 AM (g8Ew8)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:39 AM (omVj0)
What not post it on ALH, too?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 11:00 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 11:01 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:01 AM (VofaG)
All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes, you scare me sometimes. Pity would stay my hand on Chuck Tingle.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 11:01 AM (u82oZ)
Rainbow Six was enjoyable for that reason.
Posted by: Cow Demon at July 27, 2025 11:01 AM (vm8sq)
Posted by: Beartooth at July 27, 2025 11:02 AM (ft+00)
Always a highlight of the week!
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 11:03 AM (f+FmA)
Posted by: Cow Demon at July 27, 2025 11:03 AM (vm8sq)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 11:06 AM (78a2H)
If you like bios I would recommend Walter Isaacson’s Leonardo Da Vinci.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:06 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025
***
Good idea. I'll have to see if my version of .pdf software will let me extract just those four or five pages, though. If not I can summarize the important rules and try to do a screen shot of the painting.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:07 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 11:01 AM (u82oZ)
---
It's not me, Salty. It's my Amazon algorithm.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 11:07 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 11:07 AM (78a2H)
https://blackcatweekly.com/b/Vol5Y
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 10:24 AM (omVj0)
[X] Skintight black sheath
[X] Jet black bob
[X] Mouth like a scarlet gash
[X] Serious firepower
Checks out okay...
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 11:08 AM (f+FmA)
Photos of my bookshelves wouldn't take up a lot of digital space. A list of the ebook library, on the other hand, would be a freaking nightmare.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 11:10 AM (q3u5l)
I haven’t read it yet but I’ve heard that Grant’s autobiography is really well done.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:11 AM (VofaG)
[X] Jet black bob
[X] Mouth like a scarlet gash
[X] Serious firepower
Checks out okay...
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025
***
They are very much a pulp fiction e-magazine. They combine mystery, SF, and fantasy in the same volumes, though, unlike the old magazines that specialized in one genre. You didn't find "G-8 and His Battle Aces" stories in Amazing Stories, for instance.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:12 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Lying Dogface Pony Soldier at July 27, 2025 11:12 AM (L/fGl)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:07 AM (omVj0)
Good. I tried googling the pic and nothing comes up but a bunch of cat pirate pix. Couldn't tell what was that guy's.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 11:13 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:06 AM (VofaG)
I rather enjoyed his bio of Benjamin Franklin. His bio of Einstein is in my reading pipeline.
Right now I am focusing on major figures from early American history in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.
Posted by: Cow Demon at July 27, 2025 11:14 AM (vm8sq)
Dungeon Crawler Carl, while not one I am reading, is actually this type of story, and is actually featured on my preferred site/app RoyalRoad. I end up doing a lot of my reading on breaks at work, lunch, etc. so online stories are really handy.
Now in terms of litRPG, there are four general categories that I have observed. There are system apocalypse stories like Dungeons Crawler Carl. This is where you have earth, and then suddenly people get magic powers that work like an RPG. This is a category I like less, since I find even the ones I like struggle with dealing with the apocalypse believably.
Second there are Iseki litRPG, which are pretty much what it says on the tin. Lots of tropes and such from anime here.
Third, we have a very similar set of stories, which are somewhat a sub-group of the Iseki, which is VRMMO stories. Ready Player One is a non-litRPG version of this (it might be litRPG, I forget if they have stats in it). Sword Art Online tends to be a very heavy influence on modern versions of these stories. Cont.
Posted by: Charlie the Capitalist at July 27, 2025 11:14 AM (1oTt5)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 11:10 AM (q3u5l)
Tried an ebook once. Hated the whole concept. Never did it again.
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at July 27, 2025 11:14 AM (g8Ew8)
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025
***
This one is of a hot tiger-woman apparently boarding a sailing ship. A corker, indeed.
I have no idea how to incorporate it into a story though. But I need to "cogitate the possibilities for a time."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:15 AM (omVj0)
https://is.gd/BETAJD
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Lying Dogface Pony Soldier at July 27, 2025 11:12 AM (L/fGl)
It looks like a cement plant to me.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:15 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 11:07 AM (78a2H)
The Dallas Museum of Art has one of his well-used paintboxes on display.
Like other surprising people, he was a good amateur painter.
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 11:16 AM (f+FmA)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:17 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 11:07 AM (78a2H)
Yes. I read Andrew Roberts's bio of Churchill. I rather enjoyed it. Another president I think would be an interesting bio: Reagan. For the same reason. His life was not all politics and he did a lot with his life.
Back to British PMs: The third volume of Margaret Thatcher's bio is on my desk. I need to read that as I have read Volumes 1 & 2.
Posted by: Cow Demon at July 27, 2025 11:17 AM (vm8sq)
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at July 27, 2025 11:14 AM (g8Ew
Thank you. I fear that someday, reading an actual book in public will be seen as LARPing.
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 11:19 AM (f+FmA)
Like other surprising people, he was a good amateur painter.
Posted by: sal at July 27, 2025 11:16 AM (f+FmA)
And because of his stature he had some of the most famous English artists at the time paint with him and provide some instruction. That would be nice.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:19 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: Cow Demon at July 27, 2025 11:21 AM (vm8sq)
I have no idea how to incorporate it into a story though. But I need to "cogitate the possibilities for a time."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:15 AM (omVj0)
Hmm. Probably not my type of story. I'm working on a sub for Planks and Plunder for RacPress. But, I'm not sure it'll fit, or be done in time for the deadline.
Anyway, gotta go. I'll try to be back before the thread ends.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 11:21 AM (0eaVi)
And I get that. In my own situation, if only for reasons of space, it works. The adjustable size fonts are far easier on my eyes these days, and the kindle's a lot easier on my hands than most hardcovers or large trade paperbacks. So I've come to prefer the ebook for use here at Casa Some Guy. That said, there are quite a few books on my physical shelves that are also in the ebook library, and generally if I revisit them I use the ebooks. But I'm keeping the print editions anyway, just because.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 11:22 AM (q3u5l)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:15 AM (omVj0)
Cat pirate has to have sex every night with a different person or she dies . There is three sailing days left and only two men she hasn’t slept with.
I haven’t thought of the solution yet.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:24 AM (VofaG)
Finally we have my favorite type of litRPG, which is everything else While that seems broad, I find this is harder to find. Iseki litRPG is very, very much the standard. What I really enjoy here tends to be the world building aspects. What would a world look like where people literally level up? This can be explored without needing an apocalypse or hero of the ages, and I find there are some cozy stories that I really enjoy.
Cont.
Posted by: Charlie the Capitalist at July 27, 2025 11:25 AM (1oTt5)
Frankie,
Thanks for the heads up about those books in the series. They go on a list to look for used copies. A nice bonus is that we can give these to our nephews when they get a bit older.
Posted by: JTB at July 27, 2025 11:27 AM (yTvNw)
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Lying Dogface Pony Soldier at July 27, 2025 11:28 AM (L/fGl)
Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at July 27, 2025 11:30 AM (5YmYl)
https://is.gd/BETAJD
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Lying Dogface Pony Soldier at July 27, 2025 11:12 AM (L/fGl)
It looks like a cement plant to me.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:15 AM (VofaG)
Flakturm. Though the Jawa sandcrwaler is a good dig
Posted by: Kindltot at July 27, 2025 11:31 AM (D7oie)
Posted by: Weak Geek
Would herself count?
Posted by: From about That Time at July 27, 2025 11:31 AM (n4GiU)
Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at July 27, 2025 11:30 AM (5YmYl)
----
So you haven't read "Angels and Demons"?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 11:32 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at July 27, 2025 11:30 AM (5YmYl)
If it’s that bad I can only get halfway through so I’ve never actually finished a ‘worst novel I’ve ever read’.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:33 AM (VofaG)
I try not to think about it.
And it saddens me to know that every book I have will probably be tossed into a dumpster when I die.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at July 27, 2025 09:56 AM (Dg2sF)
Perhaps we could start The Great Moron Library in - Corsicana, maybe? - that would be the repository of all Moron owned books, to be sent there as we depart the mortal coil.
Posted by: Cow Demon at July 27, 2025 11:33 AM (vm8sq)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 11:33 AM (78a2H)
haven’t thought of the solution yet.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27
Would herself count?
I really should look when I hit paste.
Posted by: From about That Time at July 27, 2025 11:34 AM (n4GiU)
NYC Mayor Adams Says Illegal Immigrants “Deserve” Tax Benefits
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Lying Dogface Pony Soldier at July 27, 2025 11:34 AM (L/fGl)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 11:35 AM (kpS4V)
Honestly many of his characters are not very fleshed out maybe rising sun 13tj warrior
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 11:35 AM (bXbFr)
Posted by: Kindltot at July 27, 2025 11:31 AM (D7oie)
Yes a Flakturme looks like part of a cement plant to me also but I do like your comparison better.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:35 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 11:36 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 11:36 AM (bXbFr)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 11:33 AM (78a2H)
Well, then maybe Obama should have hired Speer as his architect and Prime contractor.
Posted by: Kindltot at July 27, 2025 11:37 AM (D7oie)
Posted by: Diogenes at July 27, 2025 11:38 AM (W/lyH)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 11:39 AM (bXbFr)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 11:39 AM (q3u5l)
Posted by: Kindltot at July 27, 2025 11:37 AM (D7oie)
I can’t believe Speer got off so easy. I think he was the actual evil manipulator genius.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:41 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: From about That Time at July 27, 2025 11:41 AM (n4GiU)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 11:42 AM (bXbFr)
I think might be working on another book in his Eccentric Orbits series, but I can't confirm that.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 27, 2025 11:42 AM (PiwSw)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:42 AM (VofaG)
Trump Hater Rachel Zegler Exits Mid-Show During “Evita” Performance, Understudy Gets Standing Ovation
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Lying Dogface Pony Soldier at July 27, 2025 11:43 AM (L/fGl)
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Lying Dogface Pony Soldier at July 27, 2025 11:43 AM (L/fGl)
Oh crap that’s suicide material right there.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:44 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 27, 2025 11:33 AM (78a2H)
At least they are still standing 80 years later. Not so sure about the library.
Posted by: Diogenes at July 27, 2025 11:44 AM (W/lyH)
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 10:29 AM (sTuNG)
That alone with cause anger and hatred among the Darwinites.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 10:46 AM (0eaVi)
-
Is that all they've got? Teeth gnashing and foot stomping?
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 11:45 AM (sTuNG)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 11:45 AM (bXbFr)
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 11:45 AM (q3u5l)
Posted by: pjungwir at July 27, 2025 11:45 AM (q4wrI)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025
***
"The end crowns the work"
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:46 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: Skip at July 27, 2025 11:46 AM (+qU29)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 11:46 AM (bXbFr)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:47 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 27, 2025 11:48 AM (bXbFr)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025
***
"The end crowns the work"
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:46 AM (omVj0)
For bad endings I immediately think of Stephen King. It was his ‘crown’ jewell of bad endings.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:48 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: Diogenes at July 27, 2025 11:49 AM (W/lyH)
I finished Patrick Chiles's latest Interstellar Medic: The Long Way Home. Meh. It was not as good as his first one.
Did not want to bring it up on the Book Thread.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 11:49 AM (u82oZ)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 11:36 AM (kpS4V)
I am fighting my way through Gold in the Woodpile by O.K. Burrell. It is abook put out by the University of Oregon Press about the history of banking in Oregon specifically, and the pioneer west in general.
The title comes from the problem that pioneers have no banks, and missions, storekeepers and saloons often acted instead, at least as far as keeping money safe. One store keeper was known to hide "deposits" in his woodpile.
Oregon's constitution originally forbade banks, leading to "bankers" acting as fairly high level pawn shops, even after the constitution was re-interpreted by the state supreme court.
There is the story of the man who learned of the bank collapse in San Francisco who raced by horse to beat the ship sailing for Portland with information on the default, so he could withdraw all his money from the corresponding bank there; also the head cashier who would close his bank when it was nice to go fishing and was pretty sharp in operating his bank, and why the bank at Junction City had a brass foot rail at the teller window.
Posted by: Kindltot at July 27, 2025 11:50 AM (D7oie)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:50 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025
***
Which one or ones of his?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:50 AM (omVj0)
Thanks for the thread, Perfessor. Always a pleasure.
Have a good one, gang.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 27, 2025 11:51 AM (q3u5l)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:51 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 27, 2025 11:42 AM (PiwSw)
----
I hope so. Really enjoyed this series.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 11:51 AM (kpS4V)
Bunny Girl Evolution -- Iseki litRPG
Bookbound Bunny -- Non litRPG Cozy High Fantasy (Highly recommend)
There is no epic loot here, Only Puns -- Iseki litRPG
1% Lifesteal -- Post apocalypse, litRPG ish
REND -- Non litRPG, Psychological Horror Superheroes
Syl -- litRPG, reincarnated but specifically not Iseki
Lost Souls and a Demoness -- litRPG, abduction pre-apocalypse
Return of the Runebound Professor -- Iseki, not litRPG
Rise of the Living Forge -- litRPG, technically Iseki
Shapeshifter -- Post apocalypse litRPG
The Dragon Heir -- litRPG, borderline Iseki (main character grew up in world, but she has little pieces of a previous life on earth pop up.). Top tier wordsmithing.
Legend of the Runeforger -- Non litRPG high fantasy. Ozzes dwarfishness
Reborn as a Demonic Tree -- Iseki litRPG
Mahael the Divine -- Iseki litRPG
Grass Eaters -- Sci fi
The Stubborn Skill Grinder in a Time Loop -- Non-iseki litRPG
The Spoken Queen's Swarm -- Non isaki litRPG
Humanity's #1 Fan -- Apocalypse litRPG
Re: Trailer Trash -- 90's period piece
Posted by: Charlie the Capitalist at July 27, 2025 11:53 AM (1oTt5)
https://youtu.be/OkNPwMSZRFY
I do object to his use of Ted Dekker. That series is good stuff.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 27, 2025 11:54 AM (PiwSw)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025
***
Darned if I can remember the ending of that. Two of the characters in it -- Beverly, the girl played by Annette O'Toole in the TV miniseries, and one of the guys in her group -- turn up in a positive moment in his 11/22/63, though. The hero and narrator passes through Derry, Maine, the unpleasant town where It takes place.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:54 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: Kindltot at July 27, 2025 11:50 AM (D7oie)
----
Did it also have a roulette wheel and a painting of a reclining nude?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 11:54 AM (kpS4V)
I am still going through the "Anne of Green Gables " series of books again and I and enjoy them .
Also, still reading again the great devotional book " The Joy of Full Surrender" by the French spiritual director and priest , Jean Pierre De Caussaude ( 1675-1751). So many great books of spiritual advice written about this time period.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 27, 2025 11:54 AM (2GCMq)
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 11:45 AM (sTuNG)
Yeah, because they don't have the truth.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 11:54 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: Diogenes at July 27, 2025 11:49 AM (W/lyH)
Maybe a nice annex for an ICE office.
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at July 27, 2025 11:55 AM (g8Ew8)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:56 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 27, 2025 11:57 AM (PiwSw)
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 27, 2025
***
Gotta add heat, though
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 11:57 AM (omVj0)
A giant spider was what was controlling everything.
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:57 AM (VofaG)
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 27, 2025 11:57 AM (2GCMq)
Posted by: polynikes at July 27, 2025 11:57 AM (VofaG)
That was my plan all along. If only Batman hadn't ruined it.
Posted by: The Black Widow at July 27, 2025 11:58 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 11:59 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 27, 2025 11:57 AM (2GCMq)
Role playing game.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 11:59 AM (0eaVi)
I also read *Crickets* by Olive L. Earle to one of my kids. I wish they still made books like that, instead of scatterbrained D.K. style stuff.
Just started *On the Ridge Between Life and Death* by David Roberts. Recommended by my mountain-climbing brother-in-law.
Posted by: pjungwir at July 27, 2025 11:59 AM (q4wrI)
Posted by: Nazdar at July 27, 2025 12:00 PM (NcvvS)
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 12:00 PM (0eaVi)
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 11:54 AM (kpS4V)
The owner couldn't get anyone to deposit with him, other than the couple of big farmers who financed him originally. Everyone banked in Eugene which was a day's travel away. He went business to business and talked to everyone, and he got the answer from one farmer that he didn't feel comfortable going to a bank, though he agreed he went to the bar, since it seemed friendlier.
So to make his bank friendlier, he put a brass foot rail at the teller window.
It worked, though I suspect it was being willing to go door to door to talk to people that did it.
Posted by: Kindltot at July 27, 2025 12:01 PM (D7oie)
Posted by: Nazdar at July 27, 2025 12:01 PM (NcvvS)
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 27, 2025 12:01 PM (2GCMq)
Posted by: Skip at July 27, 2025 12:02 PM (+qU29)
Posted by: Diogenes at July 27, 2025 11:49 AM (W/lyH)
It's in Chicago, right? It's a given.
So much for the World Almanac telling me His library would be digital.
Posted by: Cow Demon at July 27, 2025 12:02 PM (vm8sq)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 12:02 PM (omVj0)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
I think you're right, but now I really want to go read a book on 11. And 13. Zimmerman mentions *Lost Moon*, so that might be the 13 book. Any recommendations for 11?
Posted by: pjungwir at July 27, 2025 12:07 PM (q4wrI)
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 12:10 PM (u82oZ)
https://is.gd/BETAJD
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Lying Dogface Pony Soldier
===
Library and Bathhouse.
Do not forget Bathhose. 80% of the floorspace.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at July 27, 2025 12:12 PM (/lPRQ)
https://is.gd/BETAJD
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Lying Dogface Pony Soldier at July 27, 2025 11:12 AM (L/fGl)
Fucking Twitchy. No, I do not want to click through to Twatter multiple times just to see what you think is funny. Post at least one of the memes directly so I can see for myself, or else shut the fuck up. Twitchy is trash.
/rant
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 27, 2025 12:36 PM (Hyyh7)
-----
Clarification - Timeline is the worst book I've ever read to the end. I only made it through the first chapter of The DaVinci Code.
Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at July 27, 2025 12:41 PM (5YmYl)
I'm still waiting on the second book, which is a handwritten and illustrated book of Psalms - a facsimile of a volume done years ago by a career British Army officer as a gift for his wife.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at July 27, 2025 09:30 AM (Ew3fm)
Sgt Mom, do you refer to Psalms of David by Owen Jones?
I found a copy of a 1989 reprint - big thin hardbound - absolutely gorgeous - at a used bookstore. I don't remember how much, just that it was cheap. Maybe $10?
Isbn 9780831771300
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at July 27, 2025 01:04 PM (dE3DB)
Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at July 27, 2025 01:07 PM (gDlxJ)
The comics writer Mark Waid said in one interview that he has so many books and collectibles that when he moved to California, his moving company rated him as equivalent to a family of six.
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 27, 2025 02:14 PM (qqIaA)
Posted by: Pope John 20th at July 27, 2025 03:22 PM (yl1YV)
In addition to Chandler's views of fiction, writing styles, etc., his essay also lists several books of mystery or detective fiction fans might find worth reading-BTW and FWIW, I think Chandler misfires a bit on his discussion of "Trent's Last Case" through either an incomplete or hurried reading of it.
Anyway, the first book listed in the essay worth reading is not a work of fiction, but a sort of cultural history of England between the wars, Robert Graves and Allen Hodge's "The Long Week End." As for the rest, they are less-well-known mystery or detective books from the period that Chandler thought worth reading. I first read Chandler's essay in the 60s and in a hit or miss fashion spent the next few decades tracking down used or library copies of the books listed by Chandler. The last, "Mr. Bowling Buys a Newspaper" I only found about 10 years ago. In the process though, I discovered the pulp stories of Richard Sale (a listed author), Robert Leslie Bellem (Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective,-the stories are probably a sendup of the genre although it's not easy to be sure what Bellem intended), Kenneth Fearing's novel "The Big Clock" and others.
Posted by: Pope John 20th at July 27, 2025 03:44 PM (yl1YV)
And for those who like the "Swallows and Amazons," books, I'd also like to recommend the Emmaline and Rubberbones books written by my friend Howard Whitehouse. The title of the first,
"The Strictest School in the World: Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken (The Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones)" should provide a hint of the subject matter and writing style.
Posted by: Pope John 20th at July 27, 2025 04:09 PM (yl1YV)
Processing 0.05, elapsed 0.0531 seconds.
14 queries taking 0.0139 seconds, 358 records returned.
Page size 233 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.
Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement
Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band
AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection
AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings)
George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an F*ckin' Hammer
Democratic Forays into Erotica
New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network
Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really Hate Potatoes
Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse
Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party"
Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad
Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up
Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry
NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom
Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?"
Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind
All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd
Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran
Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore
Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery
Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile
Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance
Collective Names for Groups of People
John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets
Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle
Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy
Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive"
Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments
John Edwards Campaign Excuses
John Kerry Pick-Up Lines
Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney
Torments in Dog-Hell
The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)