Sunday Morning Book Thread 08-16-2015: Trump Card [OregonMuse]

"Who is like unto Donald Trump? And who is able to make war with him?" Rev. 13:4^*

(* loose paraphrase)

Good morning to all of you morons and moronettes and bartenders everywhere and all the ships at sea. Welcome to AoSHQ's stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread. The Sunday Morning Book Thread is the only AoSHQ thread that is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Or kilts. Also, assless chaps don't count. Serious you guys. Kilts are OK, though. But not tutus. Unless you're a girl.

Book thread MULTIPLE TRIGGER WARNINGS for TRUMP, and then also TRUMP, and TRUMP and then TRUMP ALL THE TIME ALL DAY LONG, TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP!!

I quit reading conservative political books about 10 years ago, maybe longer. We all know what the problems are and who is causing them. I don't need a book to tell me what it is.
-Dack Thrombosis

Who Can Trump Trump?

On this thread on Friday, I twitted ace by commenting "I guess Friday is Trump day here at the HQ" since that was the 3rd thread about Donald Trump in a row. Which prompted ace to rejoin "every day is now Trump day all over the internet", and of course he was right. Donald Trump has succeeded in sucking the oxygen out of virtually every national conversation, leaving nothing but him. This must be gratifying to his yuuuge ego.

But rather than to praise or condemn him, this being the book thread and all, let's take a look at some of the books he has written. Or, perhaps I should say, books that have him listed as the author.

Trump's most famous book is probably Trump: The Art of the Deal which is now available on Kindle for $4.59. This one was a huge, excuse me, I mean a YUUUUGE bestseller.

Even a maverick plays by rules, and here Trump formulates his own eleven guidelines for success. He isolates the common elements in his greatest deals; he shatters myths (“You don’t necessarily need the best location. What you need is the best deal”; he names names, spells out the zeros, and fully reveals the deal-maker’s art.

Yes, but is it any good? I've never read it, but the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. However, I must admit I'm a bit put off by stuff like:

TRUMP ON TRUMP: “I like thinking big. I always have. To me it’s very simple: if you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”

Whatever the merits of the content, the writing just comes off as artless and crude. In the British TV adaptation of the Wodehouse "Jeeves" novels, Jeeves and Wooster, they would occasionally have dealings with American businessmen, who were completely over-the-top caricatures: uniformly loud, rude, obnoxious, easily angered, and of course, filthy rich. In other words, just like Donald Trump.

One of the 1-star reviews on Amazon is pretty funny, 7 Reasons Donald Trump-- the King of Chapter 11-- is a Baboon.

And then there are the Trump "how to make money" books:

Trump: How To Get Rich. This one has more 1-star reviews than any other. Apparently it's not really advice, it's just Trump talking about all the stuff *he* did to earn a pile. In other words, he's talking about his favorite subject, himself.

Most of the reviews of Trump University Wealth Building 101: Your First 90 Days on the Path to Prosperity were quite positive. There really is a Trump University that holds seminars and classes that teach enrollees Trump's real-estate investment strategies and techniques. TU is currently embroiled in a number of lawsuits alleging that a lot was promised for their money but not much was delivered. (Update: And, according to this piece from the sidebar, Trump University is now defunct, even though the lawsuits are ongoing).

(Wow. On NRO, it was one anti-Trump hit piece after another. They really hate him. It looks like it's "noTrump" day, every day over there.)

I thought Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again was the book he wrote for his campaign, and perhaps it's being pressed into service for that reason, but it was actually published in 2011:

President Obama has been a disaster for this country. He’s wrecked our economy, saddled our children with debt, and gone around the world apologizing for America - as if the greatest nation in the world needed to apologize for being the land of opportunity and freedom that we were before Obama became president.

Now, America looks like a broken country - stripped of jobs, stripped of wealth, stripped of respect. And what does President Obama do about it? He plays nice with the very same foreign governments who are eager to watch America burn.

This can’t go on. And if Donald J. Trump has anything to say about it, it won’t.

Trump has been all over the map on any number of issues, so who knows how much that's written here he really believes now, or will try to implement should he be elected. Not unusual for a Trump book, thee are a large number of 1-star reviews, and many of them are really over-the-top vitriolic, moreso than I usually see in 1-star reviews of other authors' books. It got so bad that the conservative reviewers accused liberals of artificially "salting" the reviews with low ratings for a book they've never read.

And what's amazing is that I made it through the entire Trump section without making a hair joke (except for the photo).

Penguin Paperback Science Fiction Book Covers

From a thread from last week, here is some classic paperback book cover art:

We've compiled a selection of the Penguin science fiction series to show you. The covers chosen range from the early 1960s (when Penguin began deviating from their traditional color-coded designs) all the way through to the 2000s. The majority of our favorites, however, feature the more psychedelic artwork from the late 1970s.

Take a look.

And thanks to moron commenter 'Mike Hammer' for the tip.

And I bring up 10 SF/F Books You Pretend to Have Read But Ought to Really Read, mentioned on an ONT earlier this week, because there's only one out of the ten I have actually never heard of, much less read, namely, the 1955 novel The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett (who, incidentally, wrote the script for 'The Empire Strikes Back').

TLT takes place in a post-atomic holocaust America where people have turned against science and technology (kind of like they did in the classic novel A Canticle For Leibowitz). So the country is dominated by the Mennonites, or a group very much like them, and there is a Constitutional amendment forbidding any cities above a population of 2000. Two teenaged boys find a radio from a passing trader, and discover a place out west called "Bartorstown", where the old, forbidden technology is being revived. And then, as they say, zany hijinks ensue.

One more item: another one of the books on the list, Olaf Stapledon's classic Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future is available on Kindle for $2.95. I read this one back in high school, and I remember thinking I had never read a book quite like it.

Riddle Me This

For crossword puzzle fans, here is a "literary" crossword puzzle from thriller author Christopher J. Yates. I hadn't heard of him, but his book Black Chalk sounds interesting:

It was only ever meant to be a game played by six best friends in their first year at Oxford University; a game of consequences, silly forfeits, and childish dares. But then the game changed: The stakes grew higher and the dares more personal and more humiliating, finally evolving into a vicious struggle with unpredictable and tragic results...The twists are meticulously plotted, making it the perfect puzzle for mystery fans. This is not surprising considering Yates' background in puzzle writing.

This is Yates' first novel.

Is This Real Life? Is This Fantasy?

Ripped from the AOSHQ sidebar: A group of British architects wish to build a fully-functional, life-sized replica of Minas Tirith, the capital city of Gondor in J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels.

Yes, really:

"We are an ambitious team of architects and structural engineers who are passionate about creating a beautiful, inspirational and fully-functioning replica of Peter Jackson's depiction of Minas Tirith, as seen in his Lord of the Rings films," Wilson wrote on the campaign's IndieGoGo page.

How much are they asking? £1.5 billion. Building entire cities doesn't come cheap, you know. I'm sure a lot of the collected funds will probably go to municipal graft, kickbacks and embezzlement, featherbedding jobs for cronies, and payoffs to unions and organized crime (BIRM).

So far, they've raised nearly £70,000. They've got a long way to go. I wonder if these guys ever sat down after they calculated the cost and asked themselves, seriously, where the money would come from? From the millions of worldwide Tolkien fans, only a small percentage would be interested in helping fund a project like this.

This has inspired fantasy author Tom Stacey to crowdsource a counter-project. The Destroy Minas Tirith project has so far managed to acquire £22 of the estimated ٟ billion that's going to be required to smash the place to smithereens. Trebuchets and oliphaunts don't come cheap, you know.

The Time of Man has ended!

The Time of the Orc has begun!

Ancient History

In a thread earlier this week, the subject of ancient history came up. Long time moron Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing recommended Ancient Egypt on 5 Deben a Day by Donald P. Ryan. This is a good, general overview of life in ancient Egypt, what people wore, what they ate, what you would see if you were there:

The book encourages the reader to consider ancient Egyptian culture through the eyes of an Egyptian traveler ca. 1250BC during the New Kingdom reign of Ramesses II. This is a pleasing twist on more traditional and frequently drier tourist/academic literature. The scope is wide-ranging but doesn't skimp on detail. Ryan provides general information for the visitor - what to wear, when to go, money, food, drink and social norms as well as a giving a broader perspective of the ancient land - its history, geography, religion, art and building practices.

It turns out that that book is just one in the "Traveling on 5" series of history books. One you finish it, you can read Ancient Athens on 5 Drachmas a Day and then continue with Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day, both by Philip Matyszak.

And of course there are others I haven't mentioned. But they all sound like they'd be worth reading.

Books By Morons

Moronette author Elisabeth Wolfe has scheduled the release of her new Loyal Valley novel, Loyal Valley: Captives for August 31st. It is available for pre-order now.

Murder, especially mass murder, will out. When civilian investigators stumble upon part of Number Seven’s schemes in the summer of 1870, Lt. Col. Clint Donovan and two of his teammates must race halfway across Texas to save their lives and find out what they know. But even that may solve only half of the problem—especially when Clint and his men meet the ladies involved.

Also available on Smashwords.

Ms. Wolfe also would like you to know:

Also, for 'rons and 'ettes who are new to the series, I'm offering the first two ebooks for 99 cemts apiece on Smashwords for the next month. The coupon code for Assassination is ZB26E and for Bystanders is DR88E.

Here are the Smashwords links for the first two books:

Loyal Valley: Assassination
Loyal Valley: Bystanders

___________

In last week's book thread, moronette Donna (she of the abundant ampersands) commented thus:

I'd like to put in a plug for my cousin Tom Janikowski's book of extremely short and extremely bizarre short stories, "A Martini and a Pen." Tom is a Renaissance man- a Anglican priest, a musician, an author, a NRA instructor, and politically as conservative as any member of the Horde could wish. I had brunch with him and his pleasant wife when they were here in November and he never mentioned his "flash fiction." I have to admit, I didn't realize Tom had such a surrealistic sense of humor - a Midwestern grocery store shopper comes across an ancient Egyptian priest performing a mummification in the canned good aisle, a small town librarian named Drusilla Hackett comes to a bad end ..... It's fun light reading although I now believe my cousin is far stranger than I suspected.

With a title like "A Martini and a Pen", you know it has to be serious moron material. Also, the title story concerns "a desperate man discussing his future with a bartender", which includes a nice drink recipe.

The Amazon blurb likens Janikowski's writing style to "'A Prairie Home Companion' on 'shrooms."

To that, I can add nothing.

A Martini and a Pen is available in paperback. Suggestion to Donna: tell cousin Tom to release an e-version. He'll probably get more sales.

___________

A lurking moron informed me that he has just released his new fantasy novel
The Winter Blade, which is book 1 of his "Harbinger Relics" trilogy:

When an enemy kingdom launches a surprise attack against the Clanlands in the dead of winter, life becomes a race for survival against an overwhelming force. During the attack, an avalanche separates childhood friends Graven and Tevlin of Clan Mal from the rest of their Clan and each other, it begins for them a journey to reunite with their people and help to defend their homeland. Along the way they will be pursued by assassins, make new friends, form alliances, find love, and discover hidden truths about themselves.

$2.99 on Kindle

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as you all know, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 08:44 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 First?

Posted by: Bob's House of Flannel Shirts and Wallet Chains at August 16, 2015 08:50 AM (yxw0r)

2
A couple of weeks ago, Gregory Benford gave an Irish How You Do to Kim Stanley Robinson's new anti-space novel Aurora.

This week, Stephen Baxter, and James Benford join in on the fun and thrash the overrated lefty scribe on the science of the book:

www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=33838

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at August 16, 2015 08:50 AM (kdS6q)

3 YAY BOOK THREAD! Thanks, OregonMuse, both for the thread and the plug!
As I mentioned to Anna Puma on the ONT last night, I'm working on the last round of proofreading on Captives and have the paperback proofs in hand, so assuming school doesn't eat me alive this week, the paperbacks should be available on the 31st along with the ebooks.

As for what I've been reading this past week: Hesiod's Theogony and Book 1 of The Aeneid. Throwing my kiddos in at the deep end, you betcha!

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 16, 2015 08:54 AM (iuQS7)

4 have read one of those sf books but haven't pretended to read any of them either

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at August 16, 2015 08:57 AM (U3h1u)

5 Has anybody read the latest Harper Lee? It is like a time warp. Written in the 50s and yet feels like it could have been written last week with all the talk of federal government out of control. Bet the liberals hate it.

Posted by: curious at August 16, 2015 08:58 AM (x8Wor)

6 There's a Trump goin round takin names.�
And he decides who to free and who to blame.�
Everybody won't be treated all the same.
There'll be a golden ladder reaching down.�
When the Donald comes around.

Posted by: Donny Cash at August 16, 2015 09:02 AM (qd6sQ)

7 Looks like we know who is going to win the Iowa caucus.

Posted by: Nicholas Kronos at August 16, 2015 09:07 AM (z4tjN)

8 Finally finished the moron-recommended 'The Forgotten Soldier', Guy Sajer. Grim recounting of the WWII Eastern Front experience of a German soldier. Grim time.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 16, 2015 09:10 AM (9mTYi)

9 When Trump comes to town
He's gonna
crack that whip
When Trump comes to town
Free chopper trips!

Everyone else is just screwing around
The fun always starts
When Trump comes to town.

Posted by: freaked at August 16, 2015 09:10 AM (BO/km)

10 I fell into a burning ring of debt
It sure looked like
My assets would get et.
But I escaped
The ring of debt
The ring of debt

Posted by: Donny Cash - The YUUUUUGE Hits at August 16, 2015 09:11 AM (KUa85)

11 Has anybody read the latest Harper Lee? It is like a
time warp. Written in the 50s and yet feels like it could have been
written last week with all the talk of federal government out of
control. Bet the liberals hate it.

Posted by: curious at August 16, 2015 08:58 AM

Never read the original, and don't intend to read the "new" one. Saw the movie, and was less enchanted than many/most viewers. But then, I tend to believe Greg Peck didn't really do much worth seeing except Twelve O'Clock High.

Found a copy of Seven Days in May at the local (free) Book Barn. Re-read it for the first time since roughly 1970 and this time around found myself rooting for the Eeeeeevil Right-Wingers who were plotting to remove a wimpy President (who got suckered into a bad treaty), and not said Preezy and the Brave, Patriotic Marine Captain who pulled his chestnuts out of the fire.

But authors of political/conflict stories, from Knebel to Clancy, have an unfortunate tendency to take the soft, Politically Correct, Poppin' Fresh way out when writing climactic scenes.

Posted by: MrScribbler at August 16, 2015 09:13 AM (0atQl)

12 ...in the summer of 1870, Lt. Col. Clint Donovan and two of his teammates must race halfway across Texas...

Yeah? Racing halfway across Texas in 1870. Texas is big. Bigger before automobiles. Big and empty. A scene like that could be as exciting as that part in Two Towers where the gang was walking. And walking. And walking. Then there was more walking.

-i keed, i keed!

Morning, bookworms!

Milady finished Girls of Atomic City (reviewed in last week's book thread) and says she'd like to write a follow-up review. She probably won't, though, because she has plunged right into Levin's newest.

I... read some blogs.

Posted by: mindful webworker - one page at a time at August 16, 2015 09:13 AM (dGKUu)

13 Listening to The House of Seven Gables on audiobook. Better now than it was in high school. While at the Cape last week I read "Sand In Their Shoes" by Frank and Edith Shay, a 1950s collection of old Cape Cod biographies, stories, legends, songbooks, poetry, documents, etc. dating back to before the Pilgrims. Very good site- specific reading. Also read a paperback by the guy who wrote The Alienist, Caleb Carr. His version of a Sherlock Holmes tale, complete with Baker St., Mycroft, etc. It was okay. Can't remember the title.

Posted by: Lincolntf at August 16, 2015 09:17 AM (2cS/G)

14 * runs to interwebz to look up "Hesiod's Theogony" *

Posted by: mindful webworker - l'arn sumpin ever' week at August 16, 2015 09:18 AM (dGKUu)

15 I've read several of the Ancient-Travels-on-5-coins-per-day books; they are a lot of fun, and the authors do a great deadpan of a typical travel writer - they discuss slavery, natural disasters and diseases very matter-of-factly, as things the traveler has to watch out for.

"Go Set a Watchman" - the WSJ printed the first chapter a few weekends ago, and it reads like early Flannery O'Connor - Southerner who has been long resident in New York is coming home by train to visit aged, failing parent. Pretty good, I thought, and I may yet pick it up.

Posted by: Annalucia at August 16, 2015 09:21 AM (a5bF3)

16 I've actually read 3 of the 10 books, Dune, 1984 and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. 3 out of 10 ain't too bad. Also, I started Gravity's Rainbow. Does that count?

Posted by: Tuna at August 16, 2015 09:21 AM (JSovD)

17 This week I read Shadow Country: A New Rendering of the Watson Legend by Peter Matthiessen. The book is a fictional account of the life of Edgar J. Watson, a real-life frontier entrepreneur, sugar cane farmer; and, if the legend is believed, a multiple murderer whose ultimate demise was at the hands of his neighbors gunning him down enmasse. The story is primarily set in the Ten Thousand Islands area of southwest Florida during the late 1800's and early 1900's.

Matthiessen tells Watson's story three times. In book one, it is told through the voices of his relatives and neighbors. In book two, the story is told several decades after Watson's death through the voice of Edgar's youngest son, Leslie, a historian, as he tries to research and write a true history of his father's life. In book three, the story is told by E. J. Watson himself.

The same story told from three perspectives worked for me. This is a great story that is well-written. For me the story and the great writing were more than enough to forgive Matthiessen's leftist views.

The back story to this book is rather interesting. When Matthiessen submitted his first draft manuscript it was more than 1500 pages long. His earliest research records were over 20 years old. The publisher balked at such a large volume and instead published it as a trilogy: Killing Mr. Watson (1990), Lost Man's River (1997) and Bone By Bone (1999).

In an interview in 1999 Matthiessen said he intended to devote a year to redoing the story so that it would be published in one volume, which was his original wish. Over six years of cutting and distilling reduced the work by almost 400 pages. The result was Shadow Country (200

Posted by: Zoltan at August 16, 2015 09:21 AM (lFkeD)

18 I've read Cryptonomicon and the Foundation (and Robots - they tie together) series, but I couldn't get through the first 30 pages of Dune, and I tried twice. I just don't know what folks see in that book.

1094 - I have been meaning to read it, but never seem to think of it when looking for something to read. I have read Animal Farm, and it is a on-point allegory of the Progressive state ideal.

The rest of them? I'm Charlie Gibson and I never heard of 'em. Since this is iO9, it must be a list of what the SMOG/CHORF/SJW crowd think is important - message fic, heavy on the lefty message.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer - Nutty Professor at August 16, 2015 09:22 AM (Edob3)

19 The Italian Secretary is the title you're looking for.

Posted by: admiral marcus at August 16, 2015 09:22 AM (0u/CC)

20
I really believe trump wont win nomination and all this non stop 24/7 trump talk is a big turn off.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 16, 2015 09:23 AM (iQIUe)

21 Edgar J. Watson, The Original Florida Man

Posted by: Lincolntf at August 16, 2015 09:24 AM (2cS/G)

22 Ugh - 1984, not 1094. WTF?

Posted by: CP-642B/USQ-20 at August 16, 2015 09:24 AM (Edob3)

23 Off, computer sock!

Posted by: Jeff Weimer - Nutty Professor at August 16, 2015 09:25 AM (Edob3)

24 Yup, thanks, The Italian Secretary.

Posted by: Lincolntf at August 16, 2015 09:25 AM (2cS/G)

25 Texas is big. Bigger before automobiles. Big and empty.

And HOT. Don't forget hot.
Spoiler: I don't *actually* narrate much of that part of the trip beyond "This sixty-miles-a-day business is for the birds."

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 16, 2015 09:25 AM (iuQS7)

26 ...Trump haters will hate!

Posted by: marcus tullius cicero at August 16, 2015 09:26 AM (SmCFT)

27 I am looking forward to reading John Burdett's The Bangkok Asset, which was released last week. It is #6 in the Sonchai Jitpleecheep series, which has lots of sex violence, moron lifestyle and, strangely, Buddhism.

Obligatory Trump comment: Trump said last week that he would deport all illegal aliens. Now if he can convince me that he's serious, he has my vote. All of the other candidates are either amnesty or amnesty-lite.

Posted by: cool breeze at August 16, 2015 09:27 AM (6Cu7i)

28 Too bad the Chinese have hit hard times,be the perfect people to build Minas Tirith for.Be more interesting than their other empty cities.

Posted by: steevy at August 16, 2015 09:28 AM (sPO3u)

29 I'm about two-thirds of the way through John Hawkwood: An English Mercenary in Fourteenth Century Italy. It'sa good book that looks at the life of a very interesting man. How the hell this isn't an HBO series, I don't know. Hawkwood starts out fighting for England in the Hundred Years War and then heads into Italy with the White Company, where he spends the next twenty years building a fortune in land and investments while becoming the most feared and desired military commander in the region.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at August 16, 2015 09:28 AM (2ZWCr)

30 26 ...Trump haters will hate!
Posted by: marcus tullius cicero at August 16, 2015 09:26 AM (SmCFT)

Cuz if there's one thing Trump supporters lack, it's hate.

Posted by: AD at August 16, 2015 09:28 AM (s4wTA)

31 Good morning to OM and all.

I started Michael Dirda's latest book, Browsings. It is a series of essays he wrote over the last few years. I had seen a small number of them but most were unfamiliar. Thoroughly enjoying the book so far, as expected. But this led to internet searches for more of his columns and I hit a mother lode of them done for Barnes and Noble over the years.

As you value your time, your (possible) sanity, your wallet, your allotted e-reader space amd your book shelves, DO NOT READ HIS ESSAYS AND COLUMNS. Michael Dirda is probably the most dangerous book person on the planet. You will be swept up in his enthusiasm and great writing, spending hours, maybe days, researching all the wonderful authors and books he mentions. Then, of course, you have to locate the books somewhere. The only other person as dangerous in this way is CS Lewis.

You have been warned.

Posted by: JTB at August 16, 2015 09:29 AM (FvdPb)

32 light reading heh

The Sybil by Par Lagerkvist
http://www.unz.org/Pub/LagerkvistPar-1958

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at August 16, 2015 09:29 AM (YX/be)

33 The second book I read this week was Beautiful Ghosts, the fourth in the Inspector Shan series by Eliot Pattison. In this book Inspector Shan, a disgraced Beijing official banished to Tibet, travels to Beijing and the United States in pursuit of art thieves who commit a murder or two along the way. Once again, a good detective story and one learns tidbits about Tibet culture as a bonus.

Posted by: Zoltan at August 16, 2015 09:30 AM (lFkeD)

34 Trump is the new Jenner, and that's a good thing.

Posted by: Bruce Boehner at August 16, 2015 09:30 AM (qd6sQ)

35
Also, I finished King, Warrior, Magician, Lover, by Robert Moore. Gushie recommended it. It's a book about masculine archetypes, their mature forms and their dysfunctional forms. It's one that I'd recommend every guy, and every writer read. Guys will find it useful as a book to reflect on, and writers will find it useful because the archetypes described are often present in good characters. The books was written in the 80s, I believe, and the author does get a little hippy-dippy at times, but not so blatant as to completely ruin the book.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at August 16, 2015 09:31 AM (2ZWCr)

36 As I was telling Elisabeth last night, attended a new writers group yesterday. Woman who was in charge had just returned from some big industry event in NYC.

For the past 18 months, e-book sales have held steady at 23% of market. But before anyone cheers that dead tree is alive, all the shelf space lost to closings or brick+mortar stores selling other items will probably never return.

Apparently the feud between traditional published authors and indie e-book authors is dead. A new buzz-word is 'hybrid' for authors who publish both traditionally and via e-book. I guess money can make believers of many.

Another big buzz-word is 'pre-orders' and for authors to have it ready 90 days before book launch.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 09:32 AM (hbrUV)

37 So you haven't read his most famous book, but that won't stop you from trying to develop a negative opinion of it anyway.

When the bloggers here start acting like SJWs in their zeal for shaping the facts to fit their worldview instead of, you know, sticking to the facts like a realist is supposed to do...

Talk about circling the drain. Between fact-free nonsense like this and idiot GOP lifers like Gabe, there's little reason to come here anymore. Why come to a place just seeking to push an opinion down your throat?

Posted by: Raz at August 16, 2015 09:32 AM (Yg/dg)

38 Almost finished with Monster Hunters Club,they gave it away free for Kindle.I think it's okay,don't think I will be buying the later books.

Posted by: steevy at August 16, 2015 09:32 AM (sPO3u)

39 Morning all.

Will it ever be Morning in America again?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at August 16, 2015 09:33 AM (DUoqb)

40 Posted by: steevy at August 16, 2015 09:28 AM (sPO3u)

Yes, it does sounds like a Chinese government project, doesn't it?

1. Big empty city
2. No one can live there
3. All for show

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 09:34 AM (270sC)

41 Dan Simmons has an interesting twist on the Holmes oevre, where he attempts to debunk Doyle's take but has a more interesting consequence.

Posted by: admiral marcus at August 16, 2015 09:34 AM (0u/CC)

42 My most fun reading of the week was Lovecraft's "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," followed by "Once More from the Top" by Scott Glancy. Glancy related the tale of the Innsmouth Raid of 1928, his story picks up at about the same time as Lovecraft's ends. You can find the story in "The Book of Cthulhu 2," or one of the Delta Green anthologies, I believe it was "Delta Green: Dark Theatres." Would have liked to follow them up with a modern-day take on Innsmouth, but there's nothing quite so good that comes immediately to mind. The novella "The Innsmouth Syndrome" is not bad, but doesn't quite fit the bill.

Read the "Tales Out of Innsmouth" anthology this week but was unimpressed.

Also reading "The Bracken Anthology," collected blog posts by Matthew Bracken. Sort of a prepper/gun enthusiast/why we're all DOOMED set of works, heartwarming and suitable for small children. Okay, maybe not those last bits. The author wrote the "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" books.

Posted by: Agent J at August 16, 2015 09:35 AM (3Gnpr)

43 "Whatever the merits of the content, the writing just comes off as artless and crude."

He's talking about A BOOK HE HAS NOT READ.

*flush*

Posted by: Raz at August 16, 2015 09:35 AM (Yg/dg)

44 I've read 1984, Dune, and Gravity's Rainbow.

I don't get "Gravity's Rainbow" being on a science fiction list.

Yeah, it's got science in it and yeah, it's fiction.

But, no.

It's not science fiction.

More of a farce surrounding the V2 project during WWII.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 16, 2015 09:36 AM (KUa85)

45 OregonMuse, just go full SJW next time and lie about having read the book.

Half-lying is pointless. You're already going down the 'perception is reality route' so just go whole hog, baby.

Posted by: Raz at August 16, 2015 09:37 AM (Yg/dg)

46 Almost halfway through Brad Thor's "Code of Conduct." Meh. [No spoilers, below.]

I'm a Brad Thor fan, but this one doesn't quite seem to hang together. One can see where the "A" plot thread and the "B" plot thread will come together, but it all seems like quite a reach.

The evil rich guy protagonist seems like a Bond bad guy, but on steroids. The associated characters and plot seem altogether improbable, at best.

The female character in the Africa thread seems almost like the writings of a male college sophomore. Some of the associated characters are extremely stereotypical.

Thor says that he always tries to top himself. Maybe he needs to turn it back down to 11 or 10. To mix my metaphors, this one jumped the shark.

***

Picked up a collection of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short stories. I've only read "Silver Blaze" so far. Timeless!

Posted by: doug at August 16, 2015 09:37 AM (sDmPX)

47 43 "Whatever the merits of the content, the writing just comes off as artless and crude."
He's talking about A BOOK HE HAS NOT READ.
*flush*
Posted by: Raz at August 16, 2015 09:35 AM (Yg/dg)

I actually block-quoted the text I was referring to. You did see that, didn't you?

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 09:38 AM (270sC)

48 Freeman Dyson tells the story of Von Neumann's elephant

In desperation I asked Fermi whether he was not impressed by the agreement between our calculated numbers and his measured numbers. He replied, "How many arbitrary parameters did you use for your calculations?"

I thought for a moment about our cut-off procedures and said, "Four."

He said, "I remember my friend Johnny von Neumann used to say, with four parameters I can fit an elephant, and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk."

With that, the conversation was over.

Posted by: Enrico Fermi at August 16, 2015 09:38 AM (e8kgV)

49 Trump/Cruz 2016 - Fuck You, War!!

Posted by: Kreplach at August 16, 2015 09:39 AM (WVvzl)

50 Raz, perhaps you should change your nic to "Sandy Vagina".

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 09:39 AM (270sC)

51 Just a word of advice to fellow Trump supporters. Please get his books from a library or buy them on abe. Don't get them new. He could be entering this race merely to drum up book sales, and if that is the case, he may drop out once he reaches his target.
We want to keep his hairpiece in the ring for as long as possible.

Posted by: Trumpycat at August 16, 2015 09:39 AM (qd6sQ)

52 At two o'clock in the morning, if you open your window and
listen,
You will hear the feet of the Wind that is going to call the sun.
And the trees in the shadow rustle, and the trees in the moonlight
glisten,
And though it is deep, dark night, you feel that the night is
done.

-The Dawn Wind, Kipling

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at August 16, 2015 09:40 AM (Y/8e0)

53 It's the dog days of summer, so I decided to break down and read some light fiction. Because fiction readers are Trump voters.

Anyway, I read:
Ghost Fleet, Childhood's End, Moriarty, and The Swarm.

GF is a competent Clancy-esque military thriller about a disconcertingly possible military confrontation between China/Russia and the US. It was quite similar in that regard to a 1985 book, The Third World War, which dealt with many of the same themes, namely how badly we could potentially come off in such a conflict. It (GF) was pretty good, but nothing to write home about.

Childhood's End: I first read this in HS, and I'd have to say that while Clarke is one of my favorite SF authors, this book wasn't nearly as good as I remembered it. It has many of the standard Clarke tropes, with humans transfiguring into superhumans.

Moriarty: This is a Sherlock Holmes thriller by (obviously) another author. It's quite well done. I recommend it.

The Swarm: one of most badly written, badly edited, and overall crappy books I've read in a long time. Giant bugs devour the earth. All is lost. Nuff said.

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2015 09:40 AM (LAe3v)

54 I never see any mention of Zelazny (Lord of Light) maybe it wasn't as good as I remember. Loved "Canticle for Leiborwitz" and the Hawkwood story should go to film.

Posted by: Sennacherib at August 16, 2015 09:42 AM (Ou8RH)

55 18 I've read Cryptonomicon and the Foundation (and Robots - they tie together) series, but I couldn't get through the first 30 pages of Dune, and I tried twice. I just don't know what folks see in that book.
Posted by: Jeff Weimer - Nutty Professor at August 16, 2015 09:22 AM (Edob3)

So funny, I was the opposite. I devoured the first few Dune books (before they got weird with the Honored Matres and infinite numbers of Duncan clones and strange mind-control sex) but Foundation and Robots, meh.

Posted by: Agent J at August 16, 2015 09:43 AM (3Gnpr)

56 Talk about circling the drain. Between fact-free
nonsense like this and idiot GOP lifers like Gabe, there's little reason
to come here anymore. Why come to a place just seeking to push an
opinion down your throat?

Posted by: Raz

You're right. I wouldn't if I was you.

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2015 09:43 AM (LAe3v)

57 It's going to be Trump wire to wire, and then I should expect a formal apology from the naysayers. Oh, and they tried to mess up his wedding day by releasing the nudes of his wife on that day, duly saved on my computer for posterity sake.

Posted by: AC at August 16, 2015 09:43 AM (TzeLs)

58 20
I really believe trump wont win nomination and all this non stop 24/7 trump talk is a big turn off.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 16, 2015 09:23 AM (iQIUe)

backlash is inevitable

Posted by: BignJames at August 16, 2015 09:44 AM (+UGHU)

59 53 There was a 70's movie The Swarm about killer bees.

Posted by: steevy at August 16, 2015 09:45 AM (sPO3u)

60 The Swarm: one of most badly written, badly edited, and overall crappy
books I've read in a long time. Giant bugs devour the earth. All is
lost. Nuff said.

59
53 There was a 70's movie The Swarm about killer bees.

Posted by: steevy

I believe there is a movie in production now. It's about Trump voters.

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2015 09:47 AM (LAe3v)

61 59 53 There was a 70's movie The Swarm about killer bees.

Posted by: steevy at August 16, 2015 09:45 AM (sPO3u)

They lured them into the Superdome and lowered the t-stat?

Posted by: BignJames at August 16, 2015 09:47 AM (+UGHU)

62 Yay book thread!
Thanks Oregon Muse!

The list of books ppl pretend to have read:
Jonathan Strange is one of my favorite reads (did you get yo watch the tv series?)
I could not make it through Cryptonomicon; put me off trying any other Stephenson.
Loved the Foundation series (read as much Asimov as I could lay my hands on as a kid). Read the first 3 Dune books as a kid also.
I honestly don't remember if I read 1984 or not which probably means I did not although I do remember being grossed out by Brave New World.
The only Delany I remember reading is Babel-17.
Don't think I read any of the others.
Infinite Jest sounds interesting - is it?

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 09:48 AM (cbfNE)

63 @48
Dyson obviously learned from the master. If you get the chance, read interviews with him, or see vids or get the chance to hear him speak. When Dyson slaps you down, you crawl away on your belly, quivering, like the cucked husband of the woman Paolo is shagging.

I had the tremendous pleasure of attending a lecture series by Dyson back in college. For three, maybe four nights, he held an audience packed into the largest auditorium on campus, about 500 people, absolutely spellbound.

Posted by: Agent J at August 16, 2015 09:48 AM (3Gnpr)

64 I couldn't support Trump for real, but I really, really enjoy seeing the Dems, MSM (BIRM), and the GOP establishment getting their panties in a wad.

Bonus points for getting National Review to go off the rails.

Posted by: doug at August 16, 2015 09:48 AM (sDmPX)

65 If you want bad 70s movies The Food Of The Gods has to be near the top of any list

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at August 16, 2015 09:49 AM (Cq0oW)

66 Wait, I did read a Stephenson book, the one with a young girl's primer ...

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 09:49 AM (cbfNE)

67 Posted by: doug at August 16, 2015 09:48 AM (sDmPX)

This x1000

Honestly....it's the only grownup approach to Trump.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 16, 2015 09:49 AM (Zu3d9)

68 @63
He's also a climate change denier. Stone him!

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2015 09:50 AM (LAe3v)

69 New issue of Popular Science arrived in the mail Friday. Guess who's on the cover. Go ahead guess.

Good thing mag is reserved for the reading room.

Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at August 16, 2015 09:50 AM (MfLHV)

70 20

I really believe trump wont win nomination and all this non stop 24/7 trump talk is a big turn off.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 16, 2015 09:23 AM (iQIUe)

Remember 8 years ago when Obama couldn't win the nomination and all the talk about him was a turn off? Good times.

Posted by: schizoid at August 16, 2015 09:50 AM (vA1B6)

71 Speaking of farces...

I'm rereading Tom Sharpe's "The Throwback".

And as always, Sharpe is hilarious.

He's a bit like if Wodehouse developed the cynicism of Waugh and the nasty disposition of Kingsley Amis only he's cruder than any of those writers ever were.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 16, 2015 09:52 AM (KUa85)

72 54 I never see any mention of Zelazny (Lord of Light) maybe it wasn't as good as I remember. Loved "Canticle for Leiborwitz" and the Hawkwood story should go to film.

Posted by: Sennacherib at August 16, 2015 09:42 AM (Ou8RH) .

I've always liked Zelazny and have been a big fan of his 'Amber' series. Lord of Light is good, as is Creatures of Light and Darkness. I've just not had the occasion to talk about him.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 09:52 AM (270sC)

73 Posted by: Enrico Fermi at August 16, 2015 09:38 AM (e8kgV)

Who are you, and what the hell do you know about SCIENCE?

Posted by: AGW scientists everywhere at August 16, 2015 09:52 AM (Zu3d9)

74 Amazon offers a whole series of "Megapacks", collections of short stories of different genres, for $0.99 a pop. Most of the titles contain 25 or more stories of varying quality. I tore through 5 or 6 of the "Classic Ghost Stories" and am now reading the "Victorian Rogues " collection. The "Lone Wolf" stories about a pre- and post-WWI reformed jewel thief/spy are pretty entertaining.

Posted by: That SOB Van Owen at August 16, 2015 09:52 AM (xrET7)

75 I actually read Infinite Jest, over the course of a summer. It's a large, dense book, filled with footnotes and 10-page non sequiturs, but there are parts that I still think of all the time. "The Entertainment" (no spoilers), "Eschaton", a few other story tracks that I really enjoyed. Also a couple long stretches where I felt that DF Wallace owed me hours of my life back.

Posted by: Lincolntf at August 16, 2015 09:54 AM (2cS/G)

76 Jonathan Strange is one of my favorite reads (did you get yo watch the tv series?)

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 09:48 AM (cbfNE)

No, I have all seven episodes downloaded and ready to go, but Mrs. Muse and I just haven't got to it, yet.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 09:54 AM (270sC)

77 I can bet that Trump has read a hell of a lot more books than Baraka has.

Posted by: Soona at August 16, 2015 09:55 AM (P25Hh)

78 >>>Would have liked to follow them up with a modern-day take on Innsmouth, but there's nothing quite so good that comes immediately to mind.

There's no need for that. Just take the NYC E train on a weekday morning and you'll see what that's like. :^

Innsmouth makes a pretty good metaphor for what this administration has done to this country, except in this case the Feds aren't coming to the rescue. They're the ones enforcing the problem.

Posted by: Captain ObaMarsh at August 16, 2015 09:55 AM (qd6sQ)

79 L. Sprague deCamp, besides his science fiction, also wrote a series of historical fiction based around the classical and Hellenistic period in the Mediterranean. However, to study the area and the cities and the history, he and Alan E Nourse (and their wives) went on a tour around the Eastern Med and India.

He then wrote two non-fiction books, Great Cities of the Ancient World, and Engineering of the Ancient World, which discusses the engineering of these places. (deCamp was a civil engineer too)
He visited and discussed Rome, Athens, Carthage, Jerusalem, Memphis, Constantinople, Nineveh, Anduradhapura, and pretty much everything else in between.

It is a fairly light history and travelogue, but it focuses on the history and the cities, not on the author.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2015 09:58 AM (3pRHP)

80
Was Peter Matthiessen banging the people he interviewed? He has a history of doing that, too. lol

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 16, 2015 09:59 AM (iQIUe)

81 No, I have all seven episodes downloaded and ready to go, but Mrs. Muse and I just haven't got to it, yet.

--

It was well done, imo. Mr Norrel is actually a sympathetic character in the show (vs the book).

On Trump's wording being artless and crude, did you read Scott Adam's blog post on that?
It's still in browser history:
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/126589300371/clown-genius

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 09:59 AM (cbfNE)

82 77 I can bet that Trump has read a hell of a lot more books than Baraka has.
Posted by: Soona at August 16, 2015 09:55 AM (P25Hh)

I bet both have gigantic shelves of unread books, ala Gatsby. There are still companies that install those.

Posted by: Bob's House of Flannel Shirts and Wallet Chains at August 16, 2015 10:00 AM (yxw0r)

83 I am not a Trump supporter or hater. I don't know the man or his books. I don't know if he really believes what he has been saying. But I do know that his words of late are exactly what many people have been screaming at their TVs and radios for a long time in their frustration and rage with GOP leadership betrayal, a sneering and biased press, and traitorous Dems.

This isn't a defense of the man, just surprised that anyone is surprised at his current notoriety.

Posted by: JTB at August 16, 2015 10:00 AM (FvdPb)

84 What's in it Fermi?

Posted by: Freeman DeGrasse Dyson at August 16, 2015 10:01 AM (qd6sQ)

85 OT a bit, but I just watched some episodes of True Detective last night. It was my first exposure to the show. It's really good.

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2015 10:04 AM (LAe3v)

86 Enjoying the Destroyermen series, thanks Horde. Can't find #7 in the library catalog, Doh!

Posted by: DaveA at August 16, 2015 10:04 AM (DL2i+)

87 I can bet that Trump has read a hell of a lot more books than Baraka has.

Posted by: Soona at August 16, 2015 09:55 AM

I would bet the average third-grader has read many more books than Choom Boy has, too.

Perhaps Moooooo-chelle is not only his beard, but reads to him.

Posted by: MrScribbler at August 16, 2015 10:04 AM (0atQl)

88 Well Firefox just locked up tighter than Gaylord's transcripts. Waiting to see if it recovers since I wrote a long piece on what publishers are looking for. If it crashes will try to recreate what I wrote, but hope it recovers.

The Neal Stephenson book about a young girl's primer is The Diamond Age.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 10:04 AM (hbrUV)

89 77
I can bet that Trump has read a hell of a lot more books than Baraka has.

Posted by: Soona

Big deal. So have I.

Posted by: pep's dog at August 16, 2015 10:04 AM (LAe3v)

90 There are some moronworthy moments in cryptonecromicon if one stays with it.

Posted by: admiral marcus at August 16, 2015 10:05 AM (0u/CC)

91 But I do know that his words of late are exactly what many people have been screaming at their TVs and radios for a long time in their frustration and rage with GOP leadership betrayal
---
He's selling a product, and I think he will deliver that product. It's what he does, and I haven't heard of him not delivering on a customer deal.

Posted by: AC at August 16, 2015 10:06 AM (TzeLs)

92 I bet both have gigantic shelves of unread books, ala Gatsby. There are still companies that install those.
Posted by: Bob's House of Flannel Shirts and Wallet Chains at August 16, 2015 10:00 AM (yxw0r)

------------------------

I could probably bet that 98% of people with large libraries have only read a fraction of the books.

Posted by: Soona at August 16, 2015 10:06 AM (P25Hh)

93 62 I didn't think Infinite Jest was worth the effort of slogging through its 1000+ pages. It does have some fascinating characters and good settings, but the plot is a mess with no resolution and the author is constantly trying to show off about what a genius he is. It is definitely one of those books that people pretend to have read because the literati all ooh and aah over it, but in this case pretending to have read it is probably preferable to actually doing so.

Posted by: cool breeze at August 16, 2015 10:07 AM (6Cu7i)

94 Well, dang. I wrote a question and then lost internet connection just as I hit "post".

It was about Tor getting better cover art. The art was so bad (mostly a perspective issue, and no I couldn't do better but I don't get paid for that stuff either) throughout my childhood, teen, and young adult years that I figured they had decided to make it a signature of their sci-fi/fantasy brand. The cover of Sanderson's Well of Ascension is a complete departure though so I was curious when they'd made the change.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 16, 2015 10:08 AM (GDulk)

95 Zelazny's Amber series was one of my childhoid joys. Very surprised it's never made it to the screen.
L.Sprague de Camp's Harold Shea series with his syllogismobile too - I remember trying really hard to travel that way.

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 10:08 AM (cbfNE)

96
I could probably bet that 98% of people with large libraries have only read a fraction of the books.Posted by: Soona at August 16, 2015 10:06 AM (P25Hh) There's nothing wrong with owning books that you've never read. There's a difference between owning books that you hope to one day read or think you may need, vs owning books that you have no intention of reading but only want other people to think that you've read.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at August 16, 2015 10:09 AM (2ZWCr)

97
I prefer to check books out from the library. If it is really good, I may buy it after reading it.

Art/art instruction books I buy bc after a thousand grimy fingers have touched it, the illustrations look like nothing you see in a new copy.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at August 16, 2015 10:10 AM (iQIUe)

98 My compendium of the Skylark series arrived this week and I started in on "The Skylark of Space". Damn, it's fun: accidental discovery leads to a spaceship built in a back yard, love interests and a wonderful bad guy. Made me drag out my old slide rule to see if I still remembered how to use it. (Answer: sorta.) It's nice to read the stories again without having the pages fall out of my old paperbacks.

Posted by: JTB at August 16, 2015 10:10 AM (FvdPb)

99 Almost done with the Martian. It's a good book but a little slow. I appreciate the authors extensive research on Mars and the problem solving skills of the protagonist. I'll probably see the movie- on DVDs and despite my dislike of Matt Damon. Someone above said they finished The Forgotten Soldier- great book.

Posted by: Dana author of Outward Frontier- a military science fiction novel that shows America great again. A at August 16, 2015 10:10 AM (eTvJc)

100 Are Trump supporters properly called 'Trumpies' or 'Trumpers'?

Posted by: Captain Kirk at August 16, 2015 10:11 AM (qd6sQ)

101 After listening to one of the AoSHQ podcast, with Brad Thor as the guest, I downloaded and took his first three books on the VIA Family annual vacation, and Charleston Lowcountry house hunting expedition.

They were entertaining.
By the beginning of the third one, it started to become formulaic.

But a good vacation read.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 16, 2015 10:11 AM (VPLuQ)

102 69 New issue of Popular Science arrived in the mail Friday. Guess who's on the cover. Go ahead guess.

Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at August 16, 2015 09:50 AM (MfLHV)

Trump?

Posted by: rickl at August 16, 2015 10:12 AM (sdi6R)

103 There's nothing wrong with owning books that you've never read.
There's a difference between owning books that you hope to one day read
or think you may need, vs owning books that you have no intention of
reading but only want other people to think that you've read.

If your library is heavily stocked with pristine, leather-bound "designer" editions, arranged by size rather than topic, you may be a poser.

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2015 10:12 AM (LAe3v)

104 6
It's a beautiful day in the trump-erhood,
a beautiful day in the trump-erhood,
would you be mine?
could you be mine?

Posted by: Mr. Rogers at August 16, 2015 10:12 AM (9HJf4)

105 Has anybody read the latest Harper Lee? It is like a time warp. Written in the 50s and yet feels like it could have been written last week with all the talk of federal government out of control. Bet the liberals hate it.

-
I quite liked it. They never really say but I think it's Brown v. Board of Education that Atticus and Scout are all worked up about.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 16, 2015 10:13 AM (LImiJ)

106 100
Are Trump supporters properly called 'Trumpies' or 'Trumpers'?

Posted by: Captain Kirk

Pinheads. (j/k)

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2015 10:13 AM (LAe3v)

107 Zelazny's Amber series was one of my childhoid joys. Very surprised it's never made it to the screen

=====

same. tried envisioning how it might be done, how it might change. biggest might be the Trumps become iPhone apps...

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at August 16, 2015 10:14 AM (Cq0oW)

108 Trumpettes.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 16, 2015 10:14 AM (VPLuQ)

109 So, for the upcoming YUUUGE-o nominations, should Trump's supporters divide themselves into Sad Trumpies and Rabid Trumpies?

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at August 16, 2015 10:15 AM (NqQAS)

110 Another great book post!
I had no idea Trump had written so many books. Bet his NBC tv show will flop w/whomever they get to host it.

Only read (unmentionable) fluff this week, so I'll include a link to the 2015 Bulwer-Lytton contest for worst opening sentence for a book:

Seeing how the victim's body, or what remained of it, was wedged between the grill of the Peterbilt 389 and the bumper of the 2008 Cadillac Escalade EXT, officer "Dirk" Dirksen wondered why reporters always used the phrase "sandwiched" to describe such a scene since there was nothing appetizing about it, but still, he thought, they might have a point because some of this would probably end up on the front of his shirt.

http://bulwer-lytton.com/2015win.html

Posted by: Lizzy at August 16, 2015 10:15 AM (NOIQH)

111 The Diamond Age, that was it, thanks Anna.

I could probably bet that 98% of people with large libraries have only read a fraction of the books.

I realized long ago that I could not support my reading habit if I bought every book I read.
I owe a huge debt to Andrew Carnegie and his legacy of public libraries.
Trying to train my two bookworm kids the same way. If they see a book in the store they want, I make them look it up in the library (thanks to smartphones and free wifi, they can do instantly)

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 10:15 AM (cbfNE)

112 Sadly, Polliwog, I fear it was with the death of Darrell K Sweet.
The man could illustrate. He could do decent horses and fairly OK space suits, and he apparently did an Asia album cover or two, but I never figured out how a professional illustrator could have such trouble drawing interesting or realistic human figures with tolerable composition.

Those covers made me "aargh!!"

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2015 10:16 AM (3pRHP)

113 Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 10:15 AM (cbfNE)

And now that many (all?) libraries have e-book borrowing, it's even easier!

Posted by: AGW scientists everywhere at August 16, 2015 10:17 AM (Zu3d9)

114
Posted by: Colorado Alex at August 16, 2015 10:09 AM (2ZWCr)

------------------------------

I know a couple of people with large libraries that'll tell anyone they have no intention reading all of them. They just find comfort in being surrounded by them. They're still avid readers though. They just don't find it necessary to boast about how literary they are.

Posted by: Soona at August 16, 2015 10:18 AM (P25Hh)

115 Are Trump supporters properly called 'Trumpies' or 'Trumpers'?

--
Trumpets..
A sexy female supporter of course would be a sTrumpet.

I keed, I keed.

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 10:18 AM (cbfNE)

116 >>If your library is heavily stocked with pristine, leather-bound "designer" editions, arranged by size rather than topic, you may be a poser.

Heh. I've seen decorating advice on arranging your books by color, so you have this nice rainbow effect when looking at bookshelves. Uh...how do you find stuff?

Posted by: Lizzy at August 16, 2015 10:19 AM (NOIQH)

117

I know a couple of people with large libraries that'll tell anyone they have no intention reading all of them. They just find comfort in being surrounded by them. They're still avid readers though. They just don't find it necessary to boast about how literary they are.

Yup, and I'm sort of the same way. I have books that I'd like to read one day, if I can find the time, but they're not high on my list. But the idea of a house not full of books? Horrifying.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at August 16, 2015 10:19 AM (2ZWCr)

118 "We are an ambitious team of architects and structural engineers who are
passionate about creating a beautiful, inspirational and
fully-functioning replica of Peter Jackson's depiction of Minas Tirith,
as seen in his Lord of the Rings films," Wilson wrote on the campaign's
IndieGoGo page.

Turning aside to myths continues apace.

Posted by: Doomed at August 16, 2015 10:19 AM (bGLSw)

119 "I couldn't support Trump for real, but I really, really enjoy seeing the Dems, MSM (BIRM), and the GOP establishment getting their panties in a wad."

Me likewise -- I rather doubt that he is 100% serious - but likely he is making it possible for other GOP candidates to see that they can talk about hot-button issues which resonate with voters instead of sweeping them under the bed and hoping they will go away.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at August 16, 2015 10:20 AM (95iDF)

120 107 Zelazny's Amber series was one of my childhood joys. Very surprised it's never made it to the screen

I think the only Zelazny work to make it to the screen is Damnation Alley, and it was so excrementally bad that Zelazny fought like hell to get his name removed from the credits. Don't know if he succeeded.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 10:21 AM (270sC)

121 YA continues to be hot. But publishers are not looking for the next Twilight, Hunger Games, or Divergent anymore. One publisher is apparently looking for YA Game of Thrones which made my jaw drop and hit the table. Another publisher seemed enthusiastic for dragons and unicorns, plenty of both.

Harlequin and Kensington are looking for Upmarket Woman's Fiction: a balance of literary and commercial fiction where the plot doesn't focus on men, family or babies. The only novel we could think of to fit this is Steel Magnolias.

Kensington is accepting unagented submissions in all genres. They have a pretty granulated selection of sub-genres.

Grand Central, part of the Hachette Group, is looking for Band of Brothers, dark and gritty type stories. No paranormal stories unless author has a strong platform. Agent submissions only.*

Grand Central and Forever Yours, different part of the Hachette Group, are looking for RS, New Adult*, historical inspirational, erotica, and westerns. They are not looking for YA or Mystery at this time.

Avon Impulse is looking for RS, super sexy contemporaries, and trilogies.

*Apparently it is now okay to write stories about the Korean War or Vietnam. Nixon Era is called Near History.

**New Adult means a person just out of high school until mid-20s. So can write about more serious subjects but with characters that are still inexperienced.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 10:21 AM (hbrUV)

122 I love that you can now check your local library's catalog online, and not only see which branches have the book you want, but that you can place a hold on it.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 16, 2015 10:21 AM (NOIQH)

123 @74 Megapacks

First I've heard of them. Thanks, I think?!?

Search for MEGAPACK in the Kindle store gets 637 hits! Something for everyone.

Philip K. Dick Megapack, 15 stories, $0.99, 94 reviews, 4.5 stars.

Posted by: doug at August 16, 2015 10:22 AM (sDmPX)

124 Are Trump supporters properly called 'Trumpies' or 'Trumpers'?

-
Some moron came up with Trumpkins.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 16, 2015 10:22 AM (LImiJ)

125 Trump-loeil

~~Trompe~~ Trump-loeil (French for "deceive the ~~eye~~ voter"), is an ~~art~~ public relations technique that uses realistic imagery to create the ~~optical~~ electoral illusion that the depicted ~~object~~ candidate exists in three dimensions.

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2015 10:22 AM (LAe3v)

126 On the other hand, I still get freaked out when I visit a home that has no books anywhere.

Posted by: Bob's House of Flannel Shirts and Wallet Chains at August 16, 2015 10:23 AM (yxw0r)

127 What surprises me the most are the outright lies so many distribute about trump's position on pp.

He has an official statement on it, but so many cite to interviews, which are not inconsistent just incomplete, as to trump's views.

Only with trump do we outright ignore his official statements as to his views. No worries, we just say what they are.

Posted by: Prescient11 at August 16, 2015 10:23 AM (VMZsK)

128 Posted by: rickl at August 16, 2015 10:12 AM (sdi6R)

Heh. No.

Neil deGrasse Tyson. That's Doctor Neil to you pleeb.

Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at August 16, 2015 10:23 AM (MfLHV)

129 So I just hopped over to drudge and he has a pic of Cankles with a turkey leg in her hand.. I click the story and apparently she gave some thrilling speech to Iowa voters and got all sorts of laughs about how she loves snapchat cause her emails disappear. Haha. Only a Clinton could make light of an absolutely egregious violation of national security and get applause. I live south of Seattle which is full of her salivating useful idiot supporters. Makes me think of that line uttered by Lord Helmet in Spaceballs: " I knew it I'm surrounded by assholes!" And now with trump in the fray, who will go third party, we'll probably get her highness in the Oval Office. Might as well punch through the bottom of the barrel if we're gonna go down. Rant off!

Posted by: Dana- author of Outward Frontier- a military Sci fi novel available on Amazon at August 16, 2015 10:24 AM (eTvJc)

130
I could be imagining, but I swear I hear an echo every time I hit a letter on the keyboard.

I'm starting to think all the 'rons are way too busy reading the blog to have time to pick up a book.

It's the "I don't want to chance missing anything" syndrome.

Posted by: GBruno at August 16, 2015 10:24 AM (u49WF)

131 Someone did a "trailer" for Nine Princes in Amber.

With a soundtrack by Queen - Princes of the Universe.

How good are you at reading Cyrillic, by the way?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFp2SQbVuQA

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2015 10:24 AM (3pRHP)

132 >>On the other hand, I still get freaked out when I visit a home that has no books anywhere.

Heh. "MTV Cribs" - no books evah, but almost always a Scarface movie poster.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 16, 2015 10:24 AM (NOIQH)

133 Wait, what?

I've been quoted?

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Oh, and TRUMP!

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at August 16, 2015 10:25 AM (oFCZn)

134 Trumpets..

A sexy female supporter of course would be a sTrumpet.

I keed, I keed.
Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 10:18 AM (cbfNE)

Trompetistas!

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2015 10:25 AM (3pRHP)

135 121 YA continues to be hot. But publishers are not looking for the next Twilight, Hunger Games, or Divergent anymore. One publisher is apparently looking for YA Game of Thrones which made my jaw drop and hit the table. Another publisher seemed enthusiastic for dragons and unicorns, plenty of both.

--
My older daughter has been complaining about being tired of dystopic and post-apocalyptic YA settings.
Maybe the demographic is ready for more upbeat settings.

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 10:29 AM (cbfNE)

136 Yesterday on Sarah Hoyt's site, she had a guest post celebrating pulp-era fiction, with links to several sites in the article and comments that showed cover collections.

Posted by: SDN at August 16, 2015 10:30 AM (p/ktF)

137 @119 Sgt Mom

The dilemma for the GOP candidates is whether to talk about what the establishment/donor class wants or to espouse (real or fake) the views of the voters.

The two sets of views do not overlap.

So far, the donor class views win, except for Trump and some occasional jabs from Cruz or Fiorina.

Posted by: doug at August 16, 2015 10:30 AM (sDmPX)

138 Genius george will:

Reagan voters - kamikazes

Trump voters - trumpites

Hilarious

Posted by: Prescient11 at August 16, 2015 10:31 AM (VMZsK)

139 He could do decent horses

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2015 10:16 AM (3pRHP)

Lol, I hadn't noticed that, but you're right. The *horses* in the Wheel of Time books are in perspective but the humans are vaguely creepy in their lack there-of.

I wondered if it meant the illustrator had died. How on earth did he get a decades long gig at something he was nearly *bad* at (and can I get one of those)?

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 16, 2015 10:31 AM (GDulk)

140 126 On the other hand, I still get freaked out when I visit a home that has no books anywhere.

Posted by: Bob's House of Flannel Shirts and Wallet Chains at August 16, 2015 10:23 AM (yxw0r)

I know, right? Mrs. Muse's half-sister's house contains absolutely no books of any kind whatsoever. Not one. Not even a copy of TV Guide in the crapper. They just don't read.

I can't imagine what life would be like without books.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 10:31 AM (270sC)

141 >>Genius george will:

Kamikazes and trumpies are code for angry white men, amirght?

Posted by: Lizzy at August 16, 2015 10:32 AM (NOIQH)

142 pixy misa, if you were interviewing with my company, I'd circular file your resume based on the simple fact that setting up a website to handle html in comments is a pretty fundamental skill that you don't seem to have.

Posted by: SDN at August 16, 2015 10:33 AM (p/ktF)

143 Yup, and I'm sort of the same way. I have books that I'd like to read one day, if I can find the time, but they're not high on my list. But the idea of a house not full of books? Horrifying.
Posted by: Colorado Alex at August 16, 2015 10:19 AM

------------------------

A house without books is like a house with a kitchen full of cooking utensils that have never been used. I get a feeling of emotional sterility when I'm in one.

Posted by: Soona at August 16, 2015 10:33 AM (P25Hh)

144 I like Trump. I hope he goes at least 3 of 4 today with 5 RBIs.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at August 16, 2015 10:33 AM (DUoqb)

145 what i am finding interesting.....the people that hate trump......really hate him....while the people who don't hate him.....don't love him very much or even like him......(yes, there are hardcore trumpephants) but find what he's saying on the campaign trail....what's been going through their very heads the last 8 yrs or so....he's mostly upsetting the establishment......and then there's a group that claimed to not be establishment but hate him for the same reasons, using the same talking points as the establishment....which makes me think......that they were only pretending to be non establishment all along.....

Posted by: phoenixgirl, i was born a rebel at August 16, 2015 10:35 AM (0O7c5)

146 It's the "I don't want to chance missing anything" syndrome.

Posted by: GBruno at August 16, 2015 10:24 AM (u49WF)

So true. It's why I keep *saying* I could quit this blog at any time and yet haven't succeeded over the last couple of years.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 16, 2015 10:36 AM (GDulk)

147 Thank you, OregonMuse, for plugging my humble novel :'the Winter Blade'

- J. D. Begley

Posted by: J. D. Begley at August 16, 2015 10:36 AM (LZosW)

148 J.G. Ballard is known for books such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, but he wrote a lot of science fiction and post-apocalyptic novels much earlier in his career. I always wondered if they were any good. I'm thinking some of them have to be because the dude can definitely write.

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at August 16, 2015 10:37 AM (oFCZn)

149 What a thread!

Posted by: KT at August 16, 2015 10:37 AM (qahv/)

150 A house without books is like a house with a kitchen full of cooking utensils that have never been used. I get a feeling of emotional sterility when I'm in one.Posted by: Soona at August 16, 2015 10:33 AM (P25Hh) This. And it's often the same effect. Living off junk food, living off tv, the end result is to weaken you and make you lazy and fat.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at August 16, 2015 10:37 AM (2ZWCr)

151 Phoenixgirl,

You just nailed it.

Mic drop.

Posted by: Prescient11 at August 16, 2015 10:37 AM (VMZsK)

152 Argh! Didn't capitalize the 't'. Shouldn't comment before coffee.

Posted by: J. D. Begley at August 16, 2015 10:38 AM (LZosW)

153 I grew up in a house with books. Both parents read. Father worked a blue collar job that allowed for some reading on the job and co-workers discussed and traded books. Mother's side of the family loved mystery books and magazines, traded them around, and discussed them.

I went to schools that encouraged the love of reading, taught sentence diagramming, and made us write about the books we were reading.

And now you know I must be an old guy...

Posted by: doug at August 16, 2015 10:38 AM (sDmPX)

154 Have a great weekend honkies.

Posted by: Prescient11 at August 16, 2015 10:40 AM (VMZsK)

155 Just finished Jim Harrison's latest novel, "The Big Seven", which is aligned with the Moronic lifestyle. Lots of booze, guns, and sex in a murder mystery.

Posted by: scrood at August 16, 2015 10:40 AM (3b9U4)

156 I wondered if it meant the illustrator had died. How
on earth did he get a decades long gig at something he was nearly *bad*
at (and can I get one of those)?
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 16, 2015 10:31 AM (GDulk)

2011. RIP.
He did Pratchett covers too, for some reason, after Equal Rites came out, Roc/Penguin decided they couldn't use the British Kirby covers, so they had Sweet do THE EXACT SAME COVER WITH LESS ABILITY!!11!!1!!

(*still makes me stomp and tear my hair*)

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2015 10:40 AM (3pRHP)

157 86 See if your library has a system for patrons to recommend purchases. Ours has a form to fill out. They seem to like it if you point out a hole in a series they already have. As a reward, if they decide to purchase your recommendation, they place you at the top of the wait list and you get to read it first when it is ready for circulation. The downside is that the whole process takes about three months.

Posted by: Zoltan at August 16, 2015 10:41 AM (lFkeD)

158 Oh, I remember sentence diagramming! Think we should bring that back for academic papers....

Posted by: Lizzy at August 16, 2015 10:41 AM (NOIQH)

159 The list of sci-fi books is interesting I'll have to take a closer look later, I've only read the Foundation trilogy, Dune (1st 3 books) and 1984 all of which were pretty good.

Listened to Monster Hunter Alpha (MHI #3) by Larry Correia, which focuses on Earl Harbinger, top dog at MHI and werewolves. Very entertaining, look forward to seeing what Correia does with the next book.

Read Lights Fantastic (Discworld #2) by Terry Pratchett, which was a lot of fun and a step up from the first book. So many Discworld books to go.

Posted by: waelse1 at August 16, 2015 10:42 AM (nZqqJ)

160 Trumpelos

heh

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at August 16, 2015 10:43 AM (Cq0oW)

161 Trump candidacy? Never heard of it.

Posted by: Charlie Gibson at August 16, 2015 10:44 AM (1CroS)

162 I would guess I've read about 70 percent of the physical books currently on my shelves. Those I haven't are mostly recent additions over the last few years, mainly colonial and early American history and a lot of CS Lewis, Wodehouse, and classics from the Victorian era.

The e-readers are another matter. It is so easy to download inexpensive or free copies of books and collections like the Magapacks mentioned above (most of which are pretty good) or the Complete Works of (fill in the author's name) from Delphi publishers. I have several decades worth of reading on Kindle and Nook.

Posted by: JTB at August 16, 2015 10:45 AM (FvdPb)

163 This isn't a defense of the man, just surprised that anyone is surprised at his current notoriety
=========
That's just it, with their sneering:

"We don't believe you really want the border closed--you should be listening to us, not Trump."

Fuck you NRO and GOPe.

Posted by: RoyalOil at August 16, 2015 10:45 AM (ZvKdv)

164 Oh, I remember sentence diagramming! Think we should bring that back for academic papers....
Posted by: Lizzy at August 16, 2015 10:41 AM (NOIQH)

And draft legislation too, and the diagramming should be attached to the final voting copy and entered into records, so that even if the clownshow votes for it, us poor schmoos that have to live according to the new rules can have some idea as to the intent and meaning.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2015 10:45 AM (3pRHP)

165 158 Oh, I remember sentence diagramming! Think we should bring that back for academic papers....
Posted by: Lizzy at August 16, 2015 10:41 AM (NOIQH)

------------------------

And for most professional journals. The writing in most have become disgustingly incoherent.

Posted by: Soona at August 16, 2015 10:47 AM (P25Hh)

166 We talk of the Sad Puppies and the Hugos. There was a similar display of ill manners at this event. Event was handing out awards for categories like Best First Novel and Best Inspirational.

Apparently when this one woman's name was called out for Best Inspirational, some in the audience reacted with Boos. Yeah making rude noises in a room full of writers, that will certainly will win people over. Not. Her work was also nominated for Best First Novel. Pretty heady stuff right? Turns out the novel dealt with a very dark and controversial subject - the forbidden love between an SS camp guard and a Jewess in the concentration camp.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 10:47 AM (hbrUV)

167
153 I grew up in a house with books. Both parents read. Father worked a blue collar job that allowed for some reading on the job and co-workers discussed and traded books. Mother's side of the family loved mystery books and magazines, traded them around, and discussed them.

I went to schools that encouraged the love of reading, taught sentence diagramming, and made us write about the books we were reading.

And now you know I must be an old guy...

Posted by: doug at August 16, 2015 10:38 AM (sDmPX)

******

That reminds me so much of how I grew up!

My Dad will be 94 this year and still possesses the eyesight and mental capacity to read voraciously. He still gets two newspapers everyday and there are always stacks of books lying around that he is reading or referencing. He downsized to a smaller house about 10 years ago and gave away a lot of books, but his book shelves still literally sag with all the books he kept.

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at August 16, 2015 10:49 AM (NqQAS)

168 "We have a disproportionate interest, being that if there is a war, our community is always disproportionately part of the armed services, and that a lot of the debate is by people who will not have family members who will be at risk," Sharpton said.

"I am calling on ministers in black churches nationwide to go to their pulpits Sunday and have their parishioners call their senators and congressman to vote yes on the Iran nuclear plan."

What ? Black community is always disproportionately part of the armed services ?
13% of US population
17% of US military (21.5% of army)

DOJ !! Hello

Posted by: Daesh at August 16, 2015 10:49 AM (e8kgV)

169 >>And draft legislation too, and the diagramming should be attached to the final voting copy

YES.
There should also be a page limit, too, but that's another issue altogether...

Posted by: Lizzy at August 16, 2015 10:50 AM (NOIQH)

170 Oh, I remember sentence diagramming! Think we should bring that back for academic papers....

-
I'm a big Sherlock Holmes fan so I got The Definitive Furies collection of Holmes stories. Not only are the stories not good, the grammar is atrocious. For example, the author used "whomever" as the subject of a sentence, a mistake that Holmes, Watson, or Conan Doyle would never make.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 16, 2015 10:51 AM (LImiJ)

171 I am convinced Trump is a big government guy that's what he has done his entire life. That he talks a big game of tossing illegals out I don't think the two are constable in his world. In 30 years of my working life illegals are a very big problem.

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2015 10:51 AM (5UTx3)

172 Roger Kimball of Encounter Books has an interesting PJM post on Michael Walsh's new Encounter book "The Devils Pleasure Palace: The Cult of Critical Theory and the Subversion of the West."

http://bit.ly/1K01IcY

Posted by: doug at August 16, 2015 10:54 AM (sDmPX)

173 Compatible, you stupid kindle.

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2015 10:54 AM (5UTx3)

174 As long as Trump is sucking the oxygen out of the room, there's no place for many intelligent and electable Republicans to get a word in edgewise.

This is exactly what the media and the Democrats want. The last thing on Earth they need right now is somebody actually LOOKING at the two parties' respective bench of candidates.

Everyone just keep chasing that Trump mechanical rabbit around the track. The people holding the control levers are laughing their asses off.

Posted by: TB at August 16, 2015 10:55 AM (8u/5i)

175 Her work was also nominated for Best First Novel. Pretty heady stuff right? Turns out the novel dealt with a very dark and controversial subject - the forbidden love between an SS camp guard and a Jewess in the concentration camp.Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 10:47 AM (hbrUV) Was the book any good?

Posted by: Colorado Alex at August 16, 2015 10:55 AM (2ZWCr)

176
Listened to Monster Hunter Alpha (MHI #3) by Larry Correia, which focuses on Earl Harbinger, top dog at MHI and werewolves. Very entertaining, look forward to seeing what Correia does with the next book.
=======
Devoured the entire series in less than 2 months. Easy, fun reading, can knock out each one in a day or so. Highly recommended, especially for the reason that he makes the SJW cry.

Posted by: RoyalOil at August 16, 2015 10:56 AM (ZvKdv)

177 Votermom I think so. There is only so much dystopia a person can take. And when reality is turning into a dystopia, there is less incentive to read about them.

Autocucumber - teaching people the technique of proof-reading before posting.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 10:56 AM (hbrUV)

178 Colorado Alex, for the book to get nominated at least three judges or as many as five had to say the book was perfect or near perfect.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 10:57 AM (hbrUV)

179 OT: I see from Drudge that Japan is getting ready for Fukishima II: The Volcanoing. I don't know what a volcano would do to a nuclear power plant but if it isn't one thing, it's another.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 16, 2015 10:58 AM (LImiJ)

180 6 out of 10 - I'm not sure either Gravity's Rainbow or Infinite Jest belong in there, but, whatever.
Tried bravely to read Dhalgren a couple of times, but just never connected. My secret theory is that no one has ever read Dhalgren it's just trotted out by posers to one-up people. The Leigh Brackett sounds good, I'll have to look it up, and ditto Jonathan Strange.
The past weeks reading has been entirely technical & thus not of general interest. Well, I had some forced idle time early on, and the only reading matter to hand was a paperback Atlas Shrugged.
Say what you will about Rand as a literary stylist and I won't give you much argument, but she was a helluva prophet of the pit our nice civilization has dug for itself.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 16, 2015 10:58 AM (go6ud)

181 That picture of Trump is corny.

Posted by: deepred at August 16, 2015 10:59 AM (xv5cf)

182 >>I don't know what a volcano would do to a nuclear power plant...

Godzilla origin story?

Posted by: Lizzy at August 16, 2015 11:00 AM (NOIQH)

183 100 Are Trump supporters properly called 'Trumpies' or 'Trumpers'?
Posted by: Captain Kirk at August 16, 2015 10:11 AM (qd6sQ)

Trumptards! Get with the program, man!

Posted by: Insomniac at August 16, 2015 11:02 AM (mx5oN)

184 last thing on Earth they need right now is somebody actually LOOKING at the two parties' respective bench of candidates.

=====

I see it the other way around. he's bringing people who would never look twice at the GOP around out of curiosity.

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at August 16, 2015 11:03 AM (Cq0oW)

185 He can't be reasoned with, he can't be bargained with, he absolutely will not stop ever until the honey badger living on top of his head chews your face off.....

Posted by: Scene from "The Trumpinator" at August 16, 2015 11:04 AM (hiFuj)

186 124 Are Trump supporters properly called 'Trumpies' or 'Trumpers'?

-
Some moron came up with Trumpkins.
Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 16, 2015 10:22 AM (LImiJ)

Trumpkin is a character from The Chronicles of Narnia.

Posted by: Insomniac at August 16, 2015 11:05 AM (mx5oN)

187 Ballard's Vermilion Sands is a collection of related short stories that I found entertaining, never read much else of his.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 16, 2015 11:05 AM (go6ud)

188 Trump sucking the air out of everything...

With people taking about trump more than obama talks about himself that is what is going to happen.

Posted by: Burnt Toast at August 16, 2015 11:06 AM (NaeCR)

189 There weren't a lot of books in our house besides some Perry Mason mysteries. Most reading was the morning and evening newspapers. But my folks and grandparents always encouraged reading, one of their greatest gifts to me. This began my love affair with public libraries. I must have worn a path from our home to the local library during grade school. My interests these days are rather esoteric for a pubic library but I still love to go there and browse. Never know when some gem will be waiting for me on a shelf. It's like prospecting.

Posted by: JTB at August 16, 2015 11:06 AM (FvdPb)

190 Here is what is reported as the Leigh Brackett script for The Empire Strikes Back. Looks like George Lucas has been ret-conning his story arc since 1978.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/osnnuuj

The only extent copies of the actual script resides in two places, one of them being of course Lucas. And in both cases, the script can't be checked out.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 11:09 AM (hbrUV)

191 I visit the library maybe once every other week, often I never get beyond the New Books section. Over the years I think it might be the one thing I pay taxes for that I have actually gotten more out of than I've put in.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 16, 2015 11:11 AM (go6ud)

192 Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 16, 2015 10:51 AM (LImiJ)

There is an old edition of "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" for free at Amazon.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 16, 2015 11:12 AM (Zu3d9)

193 "Behold the power of this fully operational comb over!" - Darth Trump

Posted by: Butch at August 16, 2015 11:13 AM (IWSgf)

194 Godzilla origin story??

http://www.ufunk.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/selection-du-weekend-153-21.jpg

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 11:14 AM (hbrUV)

195 "Not unusual for a Trump book, thee are a large number of 1-star reviews, and many of them are really over-the-top vitriolic, moreso than I usually see in 1-star reviews of other authors' books. It got so bad that the conservative reviewers accused liberals of artificially "salting" the reviews with low ratings for a book they've never read."

That's to be expected with a book that talks about politics, national issues, and Obama instead of one that talks about money, real estate, and business success. In 2011 his army of paid shills were (and still are) out in force.

Posted by: Misfortune & Pestilence at August 16, 2015 11:16 AM (xupNw)

196 A lot of the anti- Trump complaints from pundits sound like "he's crashing MY party! And drinking all the booze and kissing the hot girls! "

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 11:17 AM (cbfNE)

197 Holy shit.

Read Trump's immigration policy on his website.

He just went Full Honey Badger.

He's going to shove that policy up your ass. Lol

Posted by: Prescient11 at August 16, 2015 11:17 AM (VMZsK)

198 On The Stump For Trump

http://webesisters.com

Should become a moron favorite.

Posted by: drowningpuppies at August 16, 2015 11:18 AM (aeRWb)

199 what does President Obama do about it? He plays nice with..."

Yes but just as accurately you could just say he plays golf. I think he's closing in on 250 rounds.

Posted by: ADK46er at August 16, 2015 11:20 AM (AQYnQ)

200 Not a fan of denim dungarees per se but if I had to go with a pair give me a good old fashioned pair of Roebucks any day.

This Jeb Bush, now I haven't a clue of whether or not he has any blue jeans in his wardrobe but if he did, I'd bet they'd be Roebucks- and that just emanates class and adventure.

Teddy Roosevelt style class and adventure.

Posted by: George F. Will at August 16, 2015 11:20 AM (hiFuj)

201 Nevergiveup: That was fuuny, good one.

Posted by: Prescient11 at August 16, 2015 11:22 AM (VMZsK)

202 Almost finished with Monster Hunters Club,they gave
it away free for Kindle.I think it's okay,don't think I will be buying
the later books.

Posted by: steevy at August 16, 2015 09:32 AM (sPO3u)

Same here, then I picked up the first of the Grimnoir Chronicles and enjoyed the heck out of the series~

Posted by: Hrothgar at August 16, 2015 11:23 AM (ftVQq)

203 "A lot of the anti- Trump complaints from pundits sound like "he's crashing MY party! And drinking all the booze and kissing the hot girls!"

Haha. Yep. It's the political-industrial-complex losing their minds. That's what helped to seal the deal with my support of Trump.

Posted by: Misfortune & Pestilence at August 16, 2015 11:23 AM (xupNw)

204 @197 Trump got the attention of "The Federalist" -- "Donald Trump's Immigration Plan: Make America A Police State" -- http://bit.ly/1NkTVHO

Posted by: doug at August 16, 2015 11:24 AM (sDmPX)

205 Which one of your Morons wrote this book???

http://www.ufunk.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/selection-du-weekend-153-56.jpg

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 11:24 AM (hbrUV)

206 My interests are varied (to be kind) but I can no longer abide reading books by current politicians or about current politics. The stuff from the Libs are just more of the same lies they spout on every news program and in every speech. The books from 'our' side just get me enraged if they are accurate or pissed off and disappointed if they aren't. It's tiresome to live at a full boil without respite. And there are so many wonderful books I can spend time with that enrich and entertain.

Posted by: JTB at August 16, 2015 11:26 AM (FvdPb)

207 205 Which one of your Morons wrote this book???

--

LOLOLOLOL

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 11:27 AM (cbfNE)

208 I guess only angry people can support Trump! I can't wait to hear what Meghan McCain thinks!

Posted by: Hadoop at August 16, 2015 11:28 AM (2X7pN)

209 American jewish musician was invites to perform at a music festival in Valencia Spain

Concert organizers said before he would be allowed to perform he had to sign a statement supporting the Palestinian state and criticizing israel as racist

He refused. His invitation to perform was rescinded.

Posted by: ThunderB, Sharia Compliance Officer at August 16, 2015 11:28 AM (ahTtl)

210 Federalist cites gawker to attack trump.

Trump has exposed fox and 3/4 of so called con media.

It's awesome.

And i don't give a shit if you like or hate him.

Posted by: Prescient11 at August 16, 2015 11:29 AM (VMZsK)

211 Anna, I refuse to retell the story about a foreclosed house that had the central vacuum cleaner system, and why, in one of the bedrooms a large section of the wall was cut away with a sawzall...

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2015 11:30 AM (3pRHP)

212
He's going to shove that policy up your ass. Lol

lol x2!

Can't wait for the Republicans to tell me yeah, we want all the things Trump was talking about, too, but we'd like to take a different approach to them. Sure you do, assholes,

Posted by: Soothsayer rose above the noise and confusion just to get a glimpse beyond the illusion at August 16, 2015 11:32 AM (xUkfn)

213 large section of the wall was cut away with a sawzall...

George Takei, "Oh my!!!!"

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 11:32 AM (hbrUV)

214 @204

Guess the Federalist is using a modified you broke you bought it argument with regards illegal immigration.

This has Malors finger prints all over it.

Fuck that shit.

Trump/Cruz 2016 - Fuck you, WAR!!

Posted by: Kreplach at August 16, 2015 11:32 AM (mysAS)

215 "The Federalist" -- "Donald Trump's Immigration Plan: Make America A Police State"

Yeah, going back to having actual borders, actual enforced borders, and serving actual citizens instead of illegals is a police state. It's ludicrous.

It's bizarro world to have politicians and the government wooing illegals, supporting illegals, and encouraging illegals at our expense. It's like a cloned army of jokers are in charge of the mayhem.

To add insult to injury, they want to replace us and our rights while having us still bound by our obligations and want us to pay for our own hangings.

No thanks. Build the wall and deport.

Posted by: Misfortune & Pestilence at August 16, 2015 11:33 AM (xupNw)

216 The corn photo with Trump is hilarious.; Thanks. I also liked it when Y-not but it up some days ago.

I will look for Elizabeth Wolfe's books. She's such a dear, interesting intelligent poster, And I will have to look for Donna "Amersands" cousins book too-because ditto for her and if she recommends it it must be iinteresting.

I am reading a massive biography of Calvin Coolidge about 400 pages by Amity Shlaes So far in the book CC has made it out of Amherst and has started on his law studies but not without his 39 year mother and his sister dying. Because I know something about him I know that the son of he and Grace dies while they are in the White House. Anyway, I am enjoying the book, enjoying what I'm learning about CC and his wife Grace and enjoying that Cooilidge was a fiscal conservative. I think he was one of the more underrated Presidents in history-maybe because he was such a quiet man with a non flashy personality, but he was a man of determination and perseverance which helped him well in life.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 16, 2015 11:33 AM (OSs/l)

217 Everything every commenter has complained about on here is literally reflected in Trump's immigration policy.

He's even talking about a serious green card reduction and attacks zuckerberg directly.

It is yuuuuuuuge.

The tell, watch how lying "conservative" media reacts. Federalist, we know where you stand unless that is changed by editors.

Posted by: Prescient11 at August 16, 2015 11:34 AM (VMZsK)

218 And i don't give a shit if you like or hate him.

Posted by: Prescient11 at August 16, 2015 11:29 AM (VMZsK)

Trump is pissing off all of the right people, the GOPe and the donor classes of both parties, and that I like.

I find all of this hugely entertaining, and I mean YUUUUUGE.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 11:34 AM (270sC)

219 I just read the Trump position on immigration on his site.
I think I just had a trumpgasm.

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/immigration-reform

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 11:34 AM (cbfNE)

220 He refused. His invitation to perform was rescinded.

He took the only correct stand, however, and I hope that he will continue to find other places to perform. That's appalling.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 16, 2015 11:35 AM (OSs/l)

221 I am not a "Trump-lover"; Trump was never much on my radar until recently -- always there in the background, doing what big-time, egotistic (aren't they all) entrepreneurs do. I am a hater of those who turned the Democratic party over to communists, islamists and worse. I am a hater of financiers and crony-corporate Republican big-time funders and the corruptocrats and politicians who suck the teat with America turned to shit as the only outcome.

Along comes Trump. I haven't seen anyone else truly able to challenge the Repub establishment and the conservative flavor-of-the-month embarrassment in 2012 soured me on depending on "conservatives".

So about books and Trump. I will order his, giving Ace the Amazon credit. And if you want a really good read that is now almost a book look at author Sundance on conservativetreehouse-c on how Trump was the only one who really and truly got "it". Try reading these chapters and go out and get to work. Small donations also.

Posted by: pyromancer76 at August 16, 2015 11:36 AM (sPfLU)

222 Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 16, 2015 11:33 AM (OSs/l)

Dad had the pictures of two presidents in his office. One of Coolidge and one of Fillmore. I asked why once, and he said they were perfect, they never did anything, they should have been the model for all presidents.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2015 11:38 AM (3pRHP)

223 Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 16, 2015 11:33 AM (OSs/l)

That is an excellent book. Read it last winter. He was a fascinating man. IIRC, he told the unions to pound sand.

Posted by: Infidel at August 16, 2015 11:39 AM (pVxmd)

224 As long as Trump is sucking the oxygen out of the room, there's no place for many intelligent and electable Republicans to get a word in edgewise.

If those "intelligent and electable Republicans" were in play to begin with, Trump would never have had room to take root.

Trump is the punishment for the GOP's legion sins of omission. Period.

Posted by: Brother Cavil, hither and yon at August 16, 2015 11:40 AM (m9V0o)

225 And I should probably out this in a later thread, but I'll be out a lot today. Thanks for your prayers for healing for them. It's greatly appreciated.

FenelonSpouse has gout and is in a lot of pain. The pills help some but FS needs to be back on their feet and not hobbling around to do bus training tomorrow.

One of the lay servants I work with at the church has an infection in his foot and since he has diabetes this is of great concern. He's on medication too. His name is Harry.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 16, 2015 11:40 AM (OSs/l)

226 The thing with Trump is that the way it would work in a perfect world--or the way it used to work in politics, is that when he started railing against illegal immigration, the other candidates would pick up the baton and talk about the issue. But that doesn't happen these days and that's why there is so much frustration. With a bit more softened language, Illegal immigration is a WINNING issue for any candidate who has the balls to touch it.

Posted by: JoeF. at August 16, 2015 11:41 AM (lncxx)

227 "Can't wait for the Republicans to tell me yeah, we want all the things Trump was talking about, too, but we'd like to take a different approach to them. Sure you do, assholes,"

I know, that's why I will only support Trump. Even the best of the Republican candidates are owned. They've got to get those millions of dollars from somebody and those somebodies are not giving it away for free. There are strings attached for all of them but Trump.

The media salivates every four years for the shot in the arm of billions of dollars in campaign ad money. It truly is a political-industrial-complex with American citizens needs not only not even being considered they are purposefully ignored.

After a taste of the beatings Trump is handing out to the political-industrial-complex there is no going back to bought and paid for candidates.

Posted by: Misfortune & Pestilence at August 16, 2015 11:42 AM (xupNw)

228 224---I agree. Trump has simply filled a void.

Posted by: JoeF. at August 16, 2015 11:42 AM (lncxx)

229
As long as Trump is sucking the oxygen out of the room, there's no place for many intelligent and electable Republicans to get a word in edgewise.

Hahahahahahaha, urine idiot.

Posted by: Soothsayer rose above the noise and confusion just to get a glimpse beyond the illusion at August 16, 2015 11:43 AM (xUkfn)

230 @210 "Trump has exposed fox and 3/4 of so called con media." Well said. I've adjusted my reading accordingly.

Bottom line: Dems want illegal voters, Chamber of Commerce wants illegal gardeners and maids, Hi-Tech wants H1Bs and illegals to lower labor costs, Contractors want illegals to lower labor costs, Low Information Voters want illegals because they were told to.

Obama doesn't like the rule of law, Hillary doesn't like the rule of law, Congressional Dems don't like the rule of law, and Big GOP also doesn't like the rule of law.

Since I like the rule of law, I must be a fascist. QED.

Posted by: doug at August 16, 2015 11:43 AM (sDmPX)

231 Illegal immigration is a WINNING issue for any candidate who has the balls to touch it.
Posted by: JoeF. at August 16, 2015 11:41 AM (lncxx)

Yes, except that it is NOT a winning issue for the donor classes of either party, especially the GOPe and the Chamber of Commerce business crowd who loves them some sweet, sweet cheap labor.

So it's going to be an uphill battle.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 11:45 AM (270sC)

232 In my long and sordid career (the parts that I was conscious for, anyway) I observed that when there is a noticeable upsurge in advertising for books and seminars on How to Get Rich in the Real Estate Markets, that a major down-turn in the real estate markets was in the offing: usually within 2 or 3 years.

In 2006, The Donald Himself was out on a speaking tour of How to Get Rich in Real Estate. Holy moly, I thought to myself, The Donald is personally hawking Real Estate Get Rich schemes. This one's going to be a doozy!

And it was. Not only a real estate collapse, but a whole 40% market contraction from which we still haven't recovered.

Posted by: LCMS Rulz! at August 16, 2015 11:45 AM (nUNmO)

233 If it's Jeb vs. Hillary and Trump runs as an independent, he just might win. That's what has the usual suspects freaking out.

Jeb and Hillary are both so unpopular that the only votes they will get will be from LIV idiots who vote D or R out of sheer habit.

Posted by: rickl at August 16, 2015 11:46 AM (sdi6R)

234 "He's even talking about a serious green card reduction and attacks zuckerberg directly."

Haha. That is friggin' awesome. I can't stand that little prick Zuckerberg. Where does that guy get off thinking his demands supersede 330 million of us?

Just damn. Go Trump!

Posted by: Misfortune & Pestilence at August 16, 2015 11:46 AM (xupNw)

235 Trump is the punishment for the GOP's legion sins of omission. Period.

Posted by: Brother Cavil, hither and yon at August 16, 2015 11:40 AM (m9V0o)

This.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 11:46 AM (270sC)

236 Nood Eurotrash

Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at August 16, 2015 11:46 AM (MfLHV)

237 As long as Trump is sucking the oxygen out of the room, there's no place for many intelligent and electable Republicans to get a word in edgewise.

Ah, yes, 'electable'. They've had years to do say something, and there's nothing stopping them now.

Posted by: t-bird at August 16, 2015 11:47 AM (FcR7P)

238 Fatima Rifqa Bary, "Hiding In The Light". This is one of that genre of Christian books which comes with a Discussion part at the end. (As a result I keep wanting to spell Rifqa like the post-Temple Jews spell Rebecca, with a v.) Still enlightening, though...

The Bary family is Tamil from Sri Lanka, and Muslim. When Rifqa was about six her older brother Muhammad Rilvan whacked her right eye with a toy and mostly destroyed it. The family got a visa to come to the US for medical treatment and then stayed. They moved into an Ohio neighbourhood with lots of other Muslims around, who viewed the Bary patriarch with respect, because he'd been respected in the mosque in Sri Lanka.

The brother Rilvan grew up to despise women, and to lack a certain measure of self-control. Even Rifqa's "Mummy" (as the Anglo-Indian term goes) was a victim; at one point Rilvan wanted a cooked meal, and pulled a knife on Mummy to get it. Nice guy! But as Rifqa notes, that's what women are for in this culture, domestic service for men.

Rifqa for some reason doesn't note much about how Rilvan shamed his family in public too. If any moronettes here (or Arthur C Clarke fans) are interested in "Carmel love ...with a big d!ck" -
http://pamelageller.com/2009/12/rifqa-barys-allegedly-abusive-brother-busted.html

I can certainly understand why you'd *not* be interested. Rilvan's shenanigans, which involve an underage piss-up he'd hosted at the Bary home, are what convinced various juries and case-workers at least to boot the case around the courts until Rifqa grew up.

Rifqa was intermittently neglected and abused at home as a result. She then converted to Christianity and snuck out to church services, but not on Sundays (that would have looked suspicious). Someone ratted her out, her dad threatened to beat her with her laptop, and then her mosque got involved. So she fled. She didn't flee to a shelter, though; a pastor drove her to an aeroport and she fled to Florida.

And then her problems REALLY started. The article I posted above shows how stalkers kept finding out her foster-home, so she kept having to move. Rifqa didn't know about a lot of this until later, so left specific names out of her book. And then Rifqa caught two(!) forms of uterine cancer at once. But finally Rifqa became 18 and so all that stuff about whether or not she had to return "home" became moot.

Takeaways:

- This book does not, I think, mention (especially) Pamela Geller's efforts to raise Bary's profile amongst America at large.

- If Islam is going to join the civilised family of religions, it will have to teach the Qur'an in English, and to show how it's compatible especially with Syriac Christianity (Gabriel Said Reynolds has done great work here). Instead, as Bary describes it, it is rote-memorisation held in by the fist, a fist applied by men.

- Rifqa associated the bad men in her life, all Muslim, with Allah. She had no male authority figures who loved her. Since she apparently did not run across very many Christians this ugly, Jesus presented himself as that father figure. So, Islam will need to do something about too for its own survival.

- Charlie Crist is a big phony (I think Rifqa is angrier at him more than at her older brother). Crist made a big show of how he had only Rifqa's interests at heart, and then quietly plotted to fling her, like a sack of garbage, back into Ohio. Even if you don't believe Rifqa (I believe maybe 90% - she did leave a lot out), we can all agree that Crist is an oily sleaze. I'd send *him* to Sri Lanka except that he'd probably just move into Arthur C Clarke's house IYKWIM.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at August 16, 2015 11:48 AM (AVEe1)

239 I don't think Trump is that unusual an American character, and find that the aura of phenomenon around him in politics is quite telling. My father was a CEO of a major company. I grew up within the business/executive world. As a child I met quite a few men like Trump. My father had certain of Trump's executive characteristics. Trump of course brings to politics certain personality qualities steeped in other aspects of Americana. But why are these seen as so remarkable or discomfiting either? It really says more about the divorce of politics from reality, from the world of the "bottom-line" according to which all businesses and really all functioning, responsible people must live, from actual achievement and accountability and basic performance standards that politics under our progressive, emotional and illusion-based drift finds alien and repulsive. Trump represents a shocking image of the problem-solving, reality-based executive that politicians, lost in their confectionary castles of promises and "other people's money," can hardly comprehend nor want to. Trump, as an individual, is also sort of the anti-android of harsh truth in a world of androids programmed to lie.

Anyway, he's flamboyant for sure, but the essential message, the means of communicating, is very basic.

Posted by: rrpjr at August 16, 2015 11:51 AM (s/yC1)

240 How about Crazy Uncle Joe saying it like it is and calling the Chattanooga shooter a "perverted Jihadist?"

I believe he's getting ready to announce.

Posted by: JoeF. at August 16, 2015 11:53 AM (lncxx)

241 I've read Dhalgren a couple of times. I'd even started a post on it, but couldn't figure out what I wanted to say about it.

It's primarily about a town. It has its own traditions and celebrities. There's a lot of sex in the book. Some of it is pretty graphic (lots of gay sex and a biker chick pulling a train scene). I suspect the book doesn't hold up and I'd find it boring now. I've read Dune and Foundation, but stopped reading scifi some time ago. Got tired of authors that couldn't tell a story in a single book.

And no Harlan Ellison on that list.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at August 16, 2015 11:55 AM (Lqy/e)

242 Prayers for healing your way Fen.

Posted by: ThunderB, Sharia Compliance Officer at August 16, 2015 11:59 AM (ahTtl)

243 - Rifqa associated the bad men in her life, all Muslim, with Allah. She had no male authority figures who loved her. Since she apparently did not run across very many Christians this ugly, Jesus presented himself as that father figure. So, Islam will need to do something about too for its own survival.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at August 16, 2015 11:48 AM (AVEe1)

Of course, this is not unique to Muslim culture. The same holds true in Christian families as well.

Since God presents himself to us as "Father", how an earthly father behaves and treats his family is very significant in the lives of his children. How the father is, that's how they come to view God. If children have daddy issues, they usually have God issues as well.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 12:04 PM (270sC)

244 So the Iowa State Fair refuses to let Trump land his helicopter on the grounds, so he finds away around bureaucracy to get something done and lands outside the Fairgrounds.

And gives kids rides at the same time. The GOP and the RNC deserves everything their about to get.

Today's forecast, coming soon, a 10 point bullet plan on how to fix the country in writing for the press and the lames as wannabes presidential contenders to copy as their own. Those in power have no clue how pissed off people are at whats "NOT" getting done in Washington.

Don't get me wrong i LOVE Cruz dearly, and a few others, but for most part their golden opportunity has just passed them by.

You just cant by this kinda free press.

Frodus

Posted by: Frodus at August 16, 2015 12:04 PM (7OAjN)

245 Trump-a-teers!

Posted by: tomc at August 16, 2015 12:05 PM (lAppW)

246 Prayers for FS & Harry, Fen

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 12:10 PM (cbfNE)

247 How about Crazy Uncle Joe saying it like it is and calling the Chattanooga shooter a "perverted Jihadist?"

I believe he's getting ready to announce.

Posted by: JoeF. at August 16, 2015 11:53 AM (lncxx)

Heh. I was listening to an oldies station on the radio, driving down I29 in South Dakota last evening. They did a short news break, two items, one an air traffic schmozzle on the East Coast, and Joe Biden's address to the families of the bereaved in the recruiting center shootings. The woman presenter ended by very carefully pronouncing the full name of the murderer, and then stated, there is still no official reason for his motive. And the vocal stress she put on "official" was just like scare quotes. Pretty plain she knew the truth, and wasn't shy about letting the listeners know that.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 16, 2015 12:14 PM (s+Y2D)

248 "Today's forecast, coming soon, a 10 point bullet plan on how to fix the country in writing for the press and the lames as wannabes presidential contenders to copy as their own."

Trump is already working with Jeff Sessions to write up a plan on the illegal immigration issue. He's the defacto nominee at this point and I can't see how the bought and paid for establishment candidates are going anywhere but down.

Posted by: Misfortune & Pestilence at August 16, 2015 12:16 PM (xupNw)

249 "perverted Jihadist"

That's redundant.

All Jihadists are perverted. It's baked into the cake.

Posted by: Misfortune & Pestilence at August 16, 2015 12:19 PM (xupNw)

250 Prayers for FS and Harry.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at August 16, 2015 12:20 PM (Lqy/e)

251 244 So the Iowa State Fair refuses to let Trump land his helicopter on the grounds, so he finds away around bureaucracy to get something done and lands outside the Fairgrounds.

And gives kids rides at the same time. The GOP and the RNC deserves everything their about to get.

Posted by: Frodus at August 16, 2015 12:04 PM (7OAjN)

This is classic Trump. Somebody hands him a lemon, he takes it and makes lemonade.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 12:24 PM (270sC)

252 Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 16, 2015 10:58 AM (go6ud)
---
Ha ha, I read "Dahlgren" years ago and loved it, but "Nova" is his best and most accessible IMHO. He is a literary SF writer and I adore the richness of his language, but you have to be ready for some stream-of-consciousness stuff.

I have "Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia" on my shelf, unread, right next to Kathy Acker's "Pussy, King of the Pirates" and a Joanna Russ and a Rudy Rucker. Now that I see that, I realize how weird that particular shelf is.

His "Babel-17" is on my mini-shelf of unread books at work. Yes, I have unread books even at work. You never know when the system will be down and you have a few spare moments to squeeze in some sci-fi.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at August 16, 2015 12:36 PM (jR7Wy)

253 224
Preach it brother!!

Posted by: Tuna at August 16, 2015 12:36 PM (JSovD)

254 Jeb and Hillary are both so unpopular that the only votes they will get will be from LIV idiots who vote D or R out of sheer habit.

-
Beats thinking.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at August 16, 2015 12:39 PM (LImiJ)

255 Several of Roger Zelazny's short stories have been adapted for TC but finding them can be difficult for lack of proper IMDB entries. These were mostly on UK produced shows but one US work was 'The Last Defender of Camelot' on The Twilight Zone in 1986.

'Lord of Light' is still an amazing work because it can be interpreted in several ways. It's SF, it's mythology, it's a superhero tale, etc. Like 'The Watchmen' you'll never get everything that is happening from one reading. It would be worthy of a Game of Thrones level budget for a mini-series, say six to eight hours.

Posted by: Epobirs at August 16, 2015 12:55 PM (IdCqF)

256
"This is classic Trump. Somebody hands him a lemon, he takes it and makes lemonade."

It's comedy at its best. Whatever the lying GOP establishment attempts, the Donald finds a way to turn it around on them. Their mouths must be puckered up after eating that lemon that Trump shoved down their throats.

Posted by: Tuna at August 16, 2015 12:55 PM (JSovD)

257 I read or slogged through, as it is plainly designed to be unreadable in any coherent fashion, 'Dahlgren' in the late 70s. What a non-shock to later hear the author was a big NAMBLA supporter and the reason a lot of families would not attend the same cons he was known to be attending.

Posted by: Epobirs at August 16, 2015 01:03 PM (IdCqF)

258 I have been reading some Thor and Correira(sp?)
to support conservative writers who are loud & proud of their conservatism.

Trump is not my guy but I have been thoroughly enjoying the show. The more he is demonized and hated the bigger and louder he becomes. Who ever said Trump was the GOP's F*ck you candidate nailed it. The more our betters try to tell us that Trump is all wrong, we're idiots for supporting him but if we will get with the program they will take us back, the more people support Trump as a F*ck You!!! Yet, the establishment still doesn't get it. It is they who need to listen and get with our program.

Posted by: lindafell de Spair at August 16, 2015 01:07 PM (xVgrA)

259 Jeb and Hillary are both so unpopular that the only votes they will get will be from LIV idiots who vote D or R out of sheer habit.
Posted by: rickl
-------------
Yes, but those 'only votes' for Hillary amount to 47%. Another 3.5% would likely vote for her just to avoid Jeb or The Donald. Game goes to Hillary, and her coattails.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 16, 2015 01:11 PM (9mTYi)

260 "I remember my friend Johnny von Neumann used to say, with four parameters I can fit an elephant, and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk."
-------------------

Remarkable man Von Neumann. I recall a quote by one of his friends," Johnny's not the rest of us... you know, human."

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 16, 2015 01:16 PM (9mTYi)

261 Those of you who like sentence diagramming should check out "Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog". It's all about sentence diagramming. Funny, too.

Posted by: biancaneve at August 16, 2015 01:33 PM (kBiy2)

262 At two o'clock in the morning, if you open your window and
listen,
You will hear the feet of the Wind that is going to call the sun.
And the trees in the shadow rustle, and the trees in the moonlight
glisten,
And though it is deep, dark night, you feel that the night is
done.

-The Dawn Wind, Kipling
Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich
-------

And it's six in the morning
Gave me no warning; I had to be on my way
...

Posted by: Tom Waits at August 16, 2015 01:35 PM (9mTYi)

263 Still sorting through boxes of books. Found my dad's old 1943 War Department (!) Italian language guide, a phrase book for military personnel.

"Italian is spoken by some 42 million people in Italy as well as by some 300,000 in Libya and in former Italian West Africa."

I know of Italian EAST Africa, but West?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at August 16, 2015 01:45 PM (jR7Wy)

264 I wish we still called it the War Department.

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 01:49 PM (cbfNE)

265 All Hail Eris, I would guess that is a typo. I think the 1943 culture guide for Iraq said 'don't ask why the men are holding hands.'

War Department gets the point across, you mess with us and really bad things will happen to you. cf. Hiroshima.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 01:59 PM (hbrUV)

266 86 Enjoying the Destroyermen series, thanks Horde. Can't find #7 in the library catalog, Doh!
Posted by: DaveA at August 16, 2015 10:04 AM (DL2i+)

Try the "Raly Cry" the lost regiment
It's the same premise but with a Union army unit that gets sent to another planet,

Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at August 16, 2015 02:01 PM (c4yY7)

267 Or read David Drake and his Roman legion books. The legions that Crassus lost to the Parthians were actually bought as mercenary soldiers by aliens to fight on other planets.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 02:04 PM (hbrUV)

268 265 All Hail Eris, I would guess that is a typo. I think the 1943 culture guide for Iraq said 'don't ask why the men are holding hands.'

War Department gets the point across, you mess with us and really bad things will happen to you. cf. Hiroshima.
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 01:59 PM (hbrUV)
---
Thanks Anna, I thought it must be a typo, unless, like the Nazis in Antarctica, the Fascisti had bases that have been expunged from official modern records

I wish I still had dad's other guide books. The Chinese phrase book had helpful hints like taking photographs was offensive to Chinese people, don't be too forward with the girls even though they're wearing tight silk Shandong dresses slit up to there, and amazingly, a "spot the Jap" guide comparing Han and Japanese facial structure and other differences (Japanese feet have a gap betwixt big toe and the others from wearing flip-flops). Dreadfully racist-y.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at August 16, 2015 02:20 PM (jR7Wy)

269 ssshhh...... the Nazis have secret Lunar bases.

The Japanese would wear those odd flip-flops to give that gap. Though Japanese wearing the wooden getas and walking, now that is funny. And lets not forget how the Chinese would bind the feet of girls to ensure their feet stayed small.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 02:23 PM (hbrUV)

270 And lets not forget how the Chinese would bind the feet of girls to ensure their feet stayed small.
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 02:23 PM (hbrUV)
---
When I was at school in NoCal there was an old Chinese lady hobbling around who had bound feet. Hard to believe there were still remnants around in my own lifetime.
Says me, with her library of heels.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at August 16, 2015 02:25 PM (jR7Wy)

271 Well the difference is, that old Chinese lady had no choice. Her family started the process when she was a child.

Now you as an 'ette have the choice of being fashionable and in pain. Or comfy and oh so mundane. Choose wisely and in moderation.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 02:28 PM (hbrUV)

272 You're right. The choice is obvious!

*hobbles back to continue sorting books*

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at August 16, 2015 02:31 PM (jR7Wy)

273 And all across the Internet, Morons of the Horde swoon and topple over from abrupt nose-bleeds.... all because All Hail Eris is killing the naughty librarian look in high heels and artfully perched set of glasses.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 02:36 PM (hbrUV)

274 Are Trump supporters properly called 'Trumpies' or 'Trumpers'?
Posted by: Captain Kirk at August 16, 2015 10:11 AM (qd6sQ)

Trumppests.

Posted by: LochLomondFarms at August 16, 2015 02:50 PM (oX3bN)

275 Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at August 16, 2015 11:48 AM (AVEe1)
I remember this, she lived near me. I will have to read this.

Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at August 16, 2015 02:55 PM (c4yY7)

276 Are Trump supporters properly called 'Trumpies' or 'Trumpers'?
Posted by: Captain Kirk at August 16, 2015 10:11 AM (qd6sQ)
---
Trumpeters.

Trumpy is magic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pjDQlY2D3s

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at August 16, 2015 02:55 PM (jR7Wy)

277 Siriusly All Hail Eris, thought you would link to 'The Thing That Couldn't Die'

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 03:02 PM (hbrUV)

278 better trumpests than obamanauts

Posted by: torabora at August 16, 2015 03:12 PM (pWyLL)

279 267 Or read David Drake and his Roman legion books. The legions that Crassus lost to the Parthians were actually bought as mercenary soldiers by aliens to fight on other planets.
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 02:04 PM (hbrUV)

Anna do you remember a title in that series? Sounds interesting.

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 03:21 PM (cbfNE)

280 I'm reading Johnny Carson by Henry "Bombastic" Bushkin. Hardly a bio of Carson, Bushkin has woven in his own story of how a young, 20-something, wet-behind-the-ears lawyer became the consigliere to one of Tinseltown's most-celebrated legends. It's like a time machine to another era and eminently readable.

Posted by: RushBabe at August 16, 2015 03:33 PM (1WSHx)

281 New Kingdom reign of Ramesses II.

Pffft. Poseur.

Posted by: Muwatalli II at August 16, 2015 03:42 PM (7YlUk)

282 280 I'm reading Johnny Carson by Henry "Bombastic" Bushkin. Hardly a bio of Carson, Bushkin has woven in his own story of how a young, 20-something, wet-behind-the-ears lawyer became the consigliere to one of Tinseltown's most-celebrated legends.

Posted by: RushBabe at August 16, 2015 03:33 PM (1WSHx)

...and cost that Tinseltown legends a crap ton of money thanks to his bad investment advice. All those jokes Carson made on the tonight show about flakey investment counseling from the 'bombastic' bushkin actually had a factual basis. Put quite a strain on their friendship, or so I've heard.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 03:57 PM (270sC)

283 votermom,

Here is a link to the Amazon Kindle version of the first book Ranks of Bronze.

Part of the blurb -
They were Roman soldiers --
and they were still alive because there
were no better killers in the galaxy.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/ofrgu5s

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 03:59 PM (hbrUV)

284 I actually enjoyed Kirsten Powers' book, "The Silencing." It was like a conservative had written it. I checked it out of the library.

Posted by: microcosme at August 16, 2015 04:05 PM (8QCtS)

285 I've almost completed neatening up my book collection, and I've come to the conclusion that while it may look perfectly normal to a bibliophile, to the casual observer my place looks completely crazypants.

Like in CSI where they visit the apartment of the mild-mannered civil servant, revealing the obsessive weirdo beneath the placid exterior.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at August 16, 2015 04:14 PM (jR7Wy)

286 I'll probably get discovered half-mumified with Scrivener open still trying to edit.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 04:20 PM (hbrUV)

287 I've just about completed reading the entire works of William Law, 18th century Anglican mystic. His "Appeal to All that Doubt", "Serious Call" and "Practical Treatise on Christian Perfection" are especially appropriate for today. His other more mystical works are very good too".

Posted by: Ken at August 16, 2015 04:37 PM (SQok6)

288 Flipping through "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich. I love that Kelly Johnson hired Francis Gary Powers as a test pilot following his release from Soviet prison, when others wouldn't go near him.

Also, I want to buy the Stealth Ship for trips to my skull-shaped island fortress. *note to self - buy lottery ticket*

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at August 16, 2015 04:41 PM (jR7Wy)

289 How interesting, Ken. The only book I had read by Law was "Serious Call" which I enjoyed His works were-as you probably know-a great Influence on John Wesley. I will have to look for some other works by Law. Thanks.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 16, 2015 04:43 PM (OSs/l)

290 Fenelon,

They are all available on Google Books. Law's mysticism was greatly influenced by Jacob Behmen.

Two big things I took away:

1) ex nihlio creation is wrong, all things were created from God's glory

2) being born again is the birth of Christ in you

2)

Posted by: Ken at August 16, 2015 04:52 PM (SQok6)

291 Well the Powerball rolled over again, that might help.

And I have managed to get another ten pages done. At this rate, will get finished sooner than the estimated time for the heat death of the universe.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 05:02 PM (hbrUV)

292 I just re-read my textwall on Bary's book and there was a mistake in it - maybe not barrelworthy though:

It wasn't an "aeroport" that the pastor drove her to; it was a bus station - Greyhound, I think. So, yeah; Bary (aged 16), in order to get out of Ohio, had to sit in a bus next to fat smelly hobos for two days with no food, and with bus-station tap water to drink.

For those of us raising kids? Don't raise them so they feel like doing that to get out of the house.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at August 16, 2015 05:06 PM (AVEe1)

293 41
Dan Simmons has an interesting twist on the Holmes oevre, where he
attempts to debunk Doyle's take but has a more interesting consequence.

admiral marcus- had no idea this existed. See what one can learn on the book threads. Put it on my "to read" list after the price comes down a bit.

Posted by: Charlotte at August 16, 2015 05:17 PM (5etLx)

294 Thanks Anna! My local lib has it as part of an anthology (Foreign Legiobs) - putting on hold.

Posted by: @votermom at August 16, 2015 05:19 PM (cbfNE)

295 I have read some of Jacob Beehm; I like him.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 16, 2015 05:20 PM (OSs/l)

296 But then, I tend to believe Greg Peck didn't really do much worth seeing except Twelve O'Clock High.

Captain Horatio Hornblower. Ahab in Moby Dick. Captain McKay in The Big Country. All three excellent movies and great performances by Peck.

Posted by: HTL at August 16, 2015 05:23 PM (gVyJ+)

297 But then, I tend to believe Greg Peck didn't really do much worth seeing except Twelve O'Clock High.

---
Hello...Boys From Brazil!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at August 16, 2015 05:28 PM (jR7Wy)

298 You welcome VoterMom, do hope you enjoy it.

I thought The Boys From Brazil was when Gregory Peck's career jumped the shark. You can't forget him in The Guns of Navarone.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 05:34 PM (hbrUV)

299 Thanks for the kind words, FS! Hope you enjoy the books.

And prayers for Harry and FenelonSpouse.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at August 16, 2015 05:38 PM (iuQS7)

300 I've been reading Brad Torgersen's The Chaplain's War. I started it as a buddy read with Masha but I kind of blew right past her and now I'm 80% done. It's quite good and an innocent over the short stories that formed the basis of the novel.

Posted by: BornLib at August 16, 2015 05:44 PM (zpNwC)

301 296
Hitchcock's Spellbound with Ingrid Bergman. Very young and very, very handsome.

Posted by: Tuna at August 16, 2015 05:56 PM (JSovD)

302 Okay, I stand corrected, there are at least three people who have read Dhalgren. I salute (non-sarcastically!) your stick-to-it-iveness. Maybe I'll give it another go sometime.

I remember reading Lord of Light and enjoying it when it was new; recently bought a copy and it has held up well. Most Zelazny has. The Amber series was fun, but eventually lost me when he used the Deus Ex Machina once or twice too often. So it goes.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 16, 2015 05:58 PM (go6ud)

303 *does victory lap*

One chapter and 28 pages down. Now for dinner. And then another chapter or two or three. Plus feed the cats.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 06:05 PM (hbrUV)

304
So what can a volcano do to a nuclear power plant?

So long as it doesn't get hitin a direct lava flow path or a hot pyroclastic flow, the main thing is the dust. It clogs up the air filters in the emergency diesel generators and the control room intake. The US has one nuke susceptible in Eastern Washington state. I worked on the post-Fukushima fixes and for volcanos, we stocked a warehouse with spare filters and put oil air filters on portable and truck engines. This plant already had experience from Mount St. Helens back in the 80's and came through OK.

Thevolcano in Japan is 30+ miles from the nearest nuke (per Drudge) so is probably OK with spare filters. One nuke in the Philippines was abandoned before it opened because of it being in the flow path from a volcano.

Posted by: Whitehall at August 16, 2015 08:57 PM (Clt6L)

305
Just finished Paul Johnson's "History of Christianity" - which is misnamed as it's focus is the Roman Catholic Church, of which Johnson is an adherent.
Of the five or six of Johnson's books that I've read, this is my least favorite. He overwhelms with depressing facts, often in page long paragraphs. Lots and lots of facts with a surprising, for Johnson, lack of analysis and conclusion.

Interesting facts at times though. The great cathedrals of Europe where built as part of the relics business and quickly fell from use as the relics business came to an end. Luther was theologically more Catholic than the pope at the time of the Reformation. Lots more in the BIG book.

Posted by: Whitehall at August 16, 2015 09:22 PM (Clt6L)

306 "I read or slogged through, as it is plainly designed to be unreadable in any coherent fashion, 'Dahlgren' in the late 70s. What a non-shock to later hear the author was a big NAMBLA supporter and the reason a lot of families would not attend the same cons he was known to be attending."

Point of information: Delany has said supportive things about NAMBLA in the past, but the person that families were avoiding cons over was someone else (Walter Breen, husband of Marion Zimmer Bradley and a convicted child molester).

As far as I know, no one's ever accused Delany of messing with any children or annoying anyone at a con.

Posted by: jaed at August 16, 2015 09:33 PM (Ns+A6)

307 They were also avoiding cons because of Edward Kramer... yet another pedobear to add to ACC, MZB, and SD.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at August 16, 2015 09:49 PM (AVEe1)

308 307 They were also avoiding cons because of Edward Kramer... yet another pedobear to add to ACC, MZB, and SD.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at August 16, 2015 09:49 PM (AVEe1)

Huh. The things you learn on the book thread. I was not aware that sci-fi cons were events entire families went to. I thought the attendees were mostly nerds and fanbois.

Posted by: OregonMuse at August 16, 2015 10:37 PM (270sC)

309 36 As I was telling Elisabeth last night, attended a new writers group yesterday. Woman who was in charge had just returned from some big industry event in NYC.

For the past 18 months, e-book sales have held steady at 23% of market.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 16, 2015 09:32 AM (hbrUV)

I don't think that's a realistic number. To quote Author Earnings

"All of the industry's official ebook market-size estimates thus rest on a single key assumption: that ebooks without ISBNs do not represent a significant portion of consumer purchases, and can thus be safely ignored in calculations of ebook sales and market share."

"30% of the ebooks being purchased in the U.S. do not use ISBN numbers and are invisible to the industry's official market surveys and reports; all the ISBN-based estimates of market share reported by Bowker, AAP, BISG, and Nielsen are wildly wrong."

"The claim that ebooks make up only 30% of all books purchased in the U.S. (or only 25% now, or even less, depending on who you ask) - and the claim that print books continue to account for over 70% of all U.S. book sales - both fall apart."

"There is also the curious but rarely remarked-upon fact that Nielsen BookScan's survey of annual U.S. print sales and the AAP/BISG BookStats estimate of annual U.S. print sales differ by over 250%."

"Ignoring the AAP/BISG BookStats-reported 512.7 million ebooks with ISBNs sold in the U.S. in 2013, Nielsen instead projects 205 million U.S. ebook sales for 2013, based on analysis by their recently-acquired PubTrack Digital subsidiary."

"These "Nielsen numbers" for ebook and print sales get presented to the industry at "Publishers Launch" conferences and are cited in Publisher's Lunch articles titled "Real Data on Print Sales In The eBook Era - And the eBook Plateau.""

Posted by: BornLib at August 17, 2015 05:11 AM (zpNwC)

310 Guys, if you want to understand Trumps popularity read Thomas Carlyle. He understood that history is made by "great men".

Posted by: Joe at August 18, 2015 06:04 PM (9jlkg)

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