Sunday Morning Book Thread - 03-13-2022 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Good morning, Horde! Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (fartclam not included). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material, even if it's nothing more than the instructions on how to get the battery off the Ryobi drill. (ht: creeper). As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...have some extra straps handy, just in case!

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, pop open a tin of bacon-flavored SPAM^®, and crack open a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

NOTE ON COMMENTS:

As a general rule on specialty threads (Book, Pet, Gun, Food, Gardening, etc.), please keep comments mostly relevant to the specialty of that thread. Comments that are simply about the events of the day don't really belong here. That's why we have the EMT and ONT, though maybe a COB could create a mid-day Open Thread for discussions of current events and political topics (or anything goes). At the very least, a good rule of thumb is to obey the "100 comment" rule, where all comments should by relevant to the specialty subject until after 100 comments or so. Thank you.

Now on to the meat (or gelatinous meatlike byproduct) of the Sunday Morning Book Thread!

PIC NOTE

The Tripitaka Koreana sounds like it would be quite interesting to visit, even if you don't read or speak Korean. Not all libraries contain "books" in the sense that we normally understand the word. The Tripitaka Koreana consists of a collection of wooden printing blocks dating back to the 13th century. There are no known errata or errors in the 52-million+ characters carved into the wooden blocks. It's apparently the most complete collection of Buddhist treatises, laws, and scriptures in the entire world. There's a crazy amount of dedication and skill required to create a library like this one.

IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR WORD POWER

noosphere - [noh-uh-sfeer] - noun

the biosphere including and modified by such human activities as agriculture, forestry, husbandry, urbanization, and industrialization.

in philosophy, the part of the biosphere affected by human thought, culture, and knowledge.

The "noosphere" is a rather fascinating concept blending evolution, philosophy, and sociology. How much influence has the human mind had on the development of the Earth over the past several millenia? How does evolution account for our creativity? What are the limits of the development of human consciousness? Are there other stages of evolution beyond the maximum human consciousness?

portmanteau - [pawrt-man-toh or pawrt-man-toh] - noun

a word that combines the form and meaning of two other words; a blend.

something that combines or blends several items, features or qualities

Note that "noosphere" is an example of a portmanteau word because it's derived from the Greek word "noos" (mind/reason) and the word "sphere" (ball, globe, implying the whole of the Earth). It should also be noted that "fartclam" is actually a compound word, rather than a portmanteau word. Here are some more examples of portmanteau words: "bromance," "frenemy," "mansplain," and "SPAM®." What are some other portmanteau words that we've used here at AoSHQ? Ace is great at coming up with clever turns of phrase (e.g., "fartclam"). What other portmanteaus can our brilliant commenters create?

GREAT QUOTES IN LITERATURE

From time to time, I come across passages and quotes in my readings that are very thought provoking. Today's entry comes from Lloyd Alexander's The High King, Book 5 of The Chronicles of Prydain. If you are not familiar with the series, it's one of the best fantasy series ever written for younger readers, right up there with The Chronicles of Narnia. Alexander explores many of the same themes that J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used in their respective works. Just some darned good reading, even after all these years.

With horror, Taran listened to the words of of Pryderi as he spoke to the High King.
"Lay down your arms. Abandon the weaklings who cling to you for protection. Surrender to me now. Caer Dathyl shall be spared, and yourself, and those I deem worthy to rule with me."
Math raised his head. "Is there worse evil?" he said in a low voice, his eyes never leaving Pryderi's. "Is there worse evil than that which goes in the mask of good?" (emphasis added)

CONTEXT: King Pryderi was supposed to support High King Math's military campaign to ride against Arawn Death Lord, but decided to thrown in his lot with Arawn instead, believing the Death Lord to be victorious eventually. These words come back to bite him when Pryderi attempts to assault the good enchanter Dallben at Dallben's farm. PRO TIP: Whether you are a good guy or a bad guy, it's *always* a bad idea to storm a wizard's stronghold. You WILL pay a high price even if you are successful in striking him down.

The force of the old man's voice was like a cold wind. "You have steeped your hands in blood, and in your pride sought to pass judgment on your fellow man. Was it your concern to serve Prydain? You chose an evil means to do it. Good cannot come from evil (emphasis added). You leagued yourself with Arawn for what you deemed a noble cause. Now you are a prisoner of the very evil you hoped to overcome, prisoner and victim. For in The Book of Three you are already marked for death."

SPOILER: Pryderi suffers an agonizing--yet karmic--death.

What are some of your favorite passages from literature? What gives them meaning to your life?

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS:

18th century American history is one of my favorite periods to study for many reasons. And the Townsends YouTube channel is outstanding for bringing that time to life by delving into the culture, technology, and attitudes of the period.
The channel just started a 'sort of' book club. Jon Townsend will read portions of a period book on a YouTube live stream each Wednesday at 4pm eastern and offer context for what was read. It is like an audio annotated book. The first is "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin". The first session went well with commenters asking questions that occurred to them. I've had seminars by acclaimed professors that weren't as good. Unless you are a history nerd, a reading like this is very helpful.
Franklin's Autobiography is worth reading on many levels.
Posted by: JTB at March 06, 2022 09:40 AM (7EjX1)

Comment: We live in a time of marvels because we can enhance our reading experience through complementary media. I like the idea of an "audio annotated book" even though I'm not really into audio books. A livestream reading punctuated with questions and answers from the audience sounds pretty neat.

+++++

Recently finished Omnibus numbers 5 and 6 of the Conan the Barbarian comic. They were kind of a slog. The original comic writer left, they had run out of Robert E Howard stories to adapt, and the new writers were.....middling, at best. Between the two books, there was a two-year stretch of almost nothing: generic adventures with no over-arcing story, no supporting cast, and no real change of scenery. But it was still Conan, and the art was still fantastic.
And now Omnibus number 7 is about to come out. So I will be 'all caught up' for one whole week...
Posted by: Castle Guy at March 06, 2022 09:32 AM (Lhaco)

Comment: I have yet to finish reading Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Kull stories and the Solomon Kane stories, even though some of them are incomplete fragments. Conan is a larger-than-life character that's just perfect for comic book or graphic novel format. Of course, it really only works if you have a good writer who understands the character and his motivations. You can have great art and bad (or middling, in this case) stories, unfortunately.

+++++

Soviet writers the Strugatsky brothers wrote a lot of fantasy and sci-fi fiction beginning in the very late fifties; Roadside Picnic, It's Hard to be a God and Solaris among them. The theme in one of the books being a solely Eurasionist concept of a noosphere-like middleman consciousness connecting earth and another planet to the greater universe. Interwar Russian Eurasianist thinkers wanted to create a unified field theory of everything social, scientific and artistic for Soviet eurasia. The problem being no one had discovered this new academic discipline called 'personology'. The Strugatsky novels use these interwar themes as narrative fodder.
Posted by: 13times at March 06, 2022 10:15 AM (yxp1g)

Comment: I'm not familiar with the Strugatsky brothers, though I may check them out as this sounds intriguing. I'm only familiar with a few other Russian fantasy and science fiction authors. But as I've said before, Russian literature may be up there among the greatest cultural literature in the world. *sigh* I just ordered Roadside Picnic as it's considered to be one of the greatest science fiction novels to come out of Russia.

+-----+-----+-----+-----+

That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding my Sunday Morning Book Thread. I hope I am able to continue doing this for the foreseeable future.

If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or writing projects that you'd like to see on the Sunday Morning Book Thread, you can send them to perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com. Your feedback is always appreciated! You can also take a virtual tour of my library at libib.com/u/perfessorsquirrel.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 03-06-22 (hat tip: vmom stabby stabby stabamillion) (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at March 13, 2022 08:00 AM (2JoB8)

2 Hi Skip!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:01 AM (PiwSw)

3 The noosphere?! Call the FBI!!!!!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:01 AM (7bRMQ)

4 Morning, Horde...How goes it?

I used to wait eagerly to read the Sunday Morning Book Thread...

It's still a bit weird to realize that I *wrote* the Sunday Morning Book Thread...

Enjoy!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 08:02 AM (K5n5d)

5 SQUIRREL!

Posted by: Biden's Dog at March 13, 2022 08:02 AM (bGDe5)

6 Thank you again, Perfessor, for carrying on OM's tradition.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at March 13, 2022 08:02 AM (y7DUB)

7 Thank you Perfessor for a fantastic Book Thread!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:03 AM (PiwSw)

8 Dutifully notified
Reading two books, a rare for me
Race Marxism by James Lindsay is really eye opening but heavy reading
Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia is a novel but getting into that as well, found that on Gutenberg

Posted by: Skip at March 13, 2022 08:03 AM (2JoB8)

9 Have gone back for a re-read of Louis L'Amour stuff. I used to have every one of his books in Paperback My ex-wife came around while escorted by 3 county cops and took every one of them plus a LOT of other stuff. I am currently reading a few that I have reloaded on my Kindle.

Posted by: Vic at March 13, 2022 08:03 AM (mZwKe)

10 Wait. King Math? That'll send shockwaves through this thread.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:04 AM (7bRMQ)

11 Why, I had a glass of portmanteau just the other evening!

Posted by: Biden's Dog at March 13, 2022 08:04 AM (bGDe5)

12
Portmanteau.

Isn't that just a list of requirements for a classic case of gout?

Posted by: naturalfake at March 13, 2022 08:04 AM (5NkmN)

13 Book Thread!

I went to the good suburban library yesterday -- no face diapers. Came home with 4-5 good books. At least I hope they are. Currently I'm reading Edna Ferber's Giant, the basis for the movie with Rock Hudson, Liz Taylor, and James Dean. For some reason it was in the Westerns section, though it deals with modern-day (1952, anyway) Texas.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:05 AM (c6xtn)

14 From Race Marxism
Indeed, the entire Black Lives Matter movement was predicated upon a hyperreal projection of allegedly racist police violence on the back of several high-profile stories, all of which fell apart on more careful scrutiny

Posted by: Skip at March 13, 2022 08:05 AM (2JoB8)

15 Why, I had a glass of portmanteau just the other evening!

Posted by: Biden's Dog at March 13, 2022 08:04 AM (bGDe5)

There's a sailor in every port, and some port in every sailor!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:06 AM (7bRMQ)

16 I read two novellas in the Murderbot series, Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy, by Martha Wells. Murderbot, a rogue security bot, continues his adventures protecting humans. To his chagrin he notices that he is becoming more human in his thoughts and feelings. Always funny with lots of action, this series should be read in order.

Posted by: Zoltan at March 13, 2022 08:06 AM (QcU44)

17 "Portmanteau" was an actual concrete object once upon a time -- a piece of luggage. I think I recall Wells telling us that Griffin, the Invisible Man, carried a portmanteau when he arrived in the small English town where the action occurs.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:06 AM (c6xtn)

18 Another Strugatsky novel worth checking out is The Inhabited Island -- the previous English-language version of the book was heavily censored by the Soviets.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:06 AM (PiwSw)

19 12
Portmanteau.

Isn't that just a list of requirements for a classic case of gout?
Posted by: naturalfake at March 13, 2022 08:04 AM (5NkmN)

The name of Natalie Portman's manservant?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:08 AM (PiwSw)

20 Good morning Professor!

Posted by: Diogenes at March 13, 2022 08:09 AM (axyOa)

21 Still slogging away to complete a reread of Proust and book 1 of The Raj Quartet. Slog isn't the right word since both are gorgeously written; more like something was bugging me, surely our dogshit government, to preclude making more progress. And this fucking time change.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at March 13, 2022 08:09 AM (y7DUB)

22 I went to the good suburban library yesterday -- no face diapers. Came home with 4-5 good books. At least I hope they are. Currently I'm reading Edna Ferber's Giant, the basis for the movie with Rock Hudson, Liz Taylor, and James Dean. For some reason it was in the Westerns section, though it deals with modern-day (1952, anyway) Texas.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:05 AM (c6xtn)

There's a cowboy hat in it. So, a western.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:09 AM (7bRMQ)

23 Good morning morons

My favorite Jack Vance is Emphyrio. It would make a great movie.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 13, 2022 08:10 AM (EZebt)

24 On the Kindle I read In Hitler's House, Book Two: A Story of Espionage and Stolen Love by Jonathan Lane. This novel, written as a memoir, continues the story of a rich American, William Weber, who has become a member of Hitler's inner circle while serving as a spy for the British. It's an interesting story, but the weird sex scenes are off-putting.

Posted by: Zoltan at March 13, 2022 08:11 AM (QcU44)

25 Nice Tripitaka!

Those pants....never mind.

I saw Zombie Teachers open for Loverboy at Pete's Bar in Neptune Beach back in 1980.

More coffee.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 13, 2022 08:11 AM (R/m4+)

26
I just ordered Roadside Picnic as it's considered to be one of the greatest science fiction novels ~~to come out of Russia~~

FIFY, Perfesser.

It's a wonderful read. Particularly, because it suggests so much beyond the scope of the story and characters.

It succeeds in doing what Clarke's "Rendezvous with RAMA" failed to do.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 13, 2022 08:11 AM (5NkmN)

27 Another Strugatsky novel worth checking out is The Inhabited Island -- the previous English-language version of the book was heavily censored by the Soviets.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:06 AM (PiwSw)
----
I've been reading Roadside Picnic. It's a really weird book, but quite good.

I can see it as the inspiration behind other novels that explore true alien strangeness, such as Jeff vanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy or Richard E. Gropp's Bad Glass.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 08:11 AM (K5n5d)

28 hiya

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 08:11 AM (arJlL)

29 My zoom book club has three males, veteran, and two females who are attorneys and while we never talk politics, I suspect are politically liberal. At least they are huge fans of Hillary Clinton. I guess nothing is more persuasive than identity.

Anyway one of the women suggested Three Body Problem as our most recent book, and it fits in well with our award winning SF reading plan. I was a bit wary. It is cover blurbed by President Obama (wildly imaginative, he says!). And it won its Hugo in the woke times.

And there are lots of woky references at the beginning. First section is called Silent Spring, for example. But I am about halfway through and so far it is not woke at all. I think the Chinese author stuck the references in subversively to hook Westerners. It's a pretty good book though it has been a challenge accessing the Chinese-ness of it.

Posted by: blaster at March 13, 2022 08:11 AM (9otr5)

30 For those of you who write: I am beginning to think that I am no longer being served by my long-time writing critique group. I've been a solid member since early 2006, and their commentary and critique has been invaluable in sharpening my writing skills. It's not that I write to please the group, but that I know I can't slip any sloppy writing or plot constructions past them.

Well, that *was* true for years. Now we are down to 3 guys, all of us over 65. One is a lefty loon who can't consider anything not spouted by CNN and MSNBC. The other, the group's founder, is more sensible, but he seems to have lost all joy and interest in most things, is dismissive of anything he doesn't like, and doesn't submit much. He didn't used to be like this. I'm not sure they have anything left to teach me, or that they are learning anything from me. Perhaps it is time to move on. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:12 AM (c6xtn)

31 Kevin Kelly (one of the co-founders of the Whole Earth Almanac) is a big lefty, but people might enjoy this list of his favorite books, as well as lists from other people:

https://kk.org/cooltools/books-that-chan/

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:12 AM (PiwSw)

32 Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia is a novel but getting into that as well, found that on Gutenberg
Posted by: Skip

Was he boinking her ?

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 08:13 AM (arJlL)

33 I'm reading Last Stands, by Michael Walsh.
Damn!
I got to page 20 and took a picture of the cover and sent it to several friends saying they HAD to get this book. It is excellent!!!

Posted by: Diogenes at March 13, 2022 08:13 AM (axyOa)

34 For some reason it was in the Westerns section, though it deals with modern-day (1952, anyway) Texas.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:05 AM (c6xtn)
*
There's a cowboy hat in it. So, a western.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022

***
That's about what I'd guess. However, they do have a pretty good selection of Westerns old and new.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:14 AM (c6xtn)

35 So I am reading the fall of the roman republic....

And am watching hln explain thc oil basketball chick has to be innocent because lesbian...

Posted by: Sven at March 13, 2022 08:14 AM (Y++kB)

36 Roadside Picnic was the inspiration for the Andrei Tarkovsky film Stalker.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:14 AM (PiwSw)

37 Portmanteau.

Isn't that just a list of requirements for a classic case of gout?
Posted by: naturalfake

Is there a Starboardmanteau ?

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 08:15 AM (arJlL)

38 It is cover blurbed by President Obama (wildly imaginative, he says!). And it won its Hugo in the woke times.

Posted by: blaster at March 13, 2022 08:11 AM (9otr5)

Isn't that a reverse recommendation, then?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:15 AM (7bRMQ)

39 Great thread Perfessor Squirrel! Thank you!

Posted by: Ladyl at March 13, 2022 08:15 AM (TdMsT)

40 Kevin Kelly (one of the co-founders of the Whole Earth Almanac) is a big lefty, but people might enjoy this list of his favorite books, as well as lists from other people:

https://kk.org/cooltools/books-that-chan/
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:12 AM (PiwSw)
----
He points out that these are books that specifically changed his life profoundly in some way. That's an excellent topic for discussion in a future book thread, I think...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 08:16 AM (K5n5d)

41 @OrangeEnt - indeed. Red flags and alarm bells all over it.

And yet - it's a pretty good book.

Posted by: blaster at March 13, 2022 08:17 AM (9otr5)

42 JT no, Napoleoni bragged he could have if he wanted but I have my doubts. She was his mortal enemy, sadly she died before 1813 rekindled the war

Posted by: Skip's Phone at March 13, 2022 08:17 AM (sJG57)

43 Nice Tripitaka!

Down Memorylanemanteau ?

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 08:17 AM (arJlL)

44 30 wolfus Aurelius,

If the place does not aid your writing and is an emotional drain, use grammarly

Posted by: Sven at March 13, 2022 08:17 AM (Y++kB)

45 This is about a book-0ne I don't want to read -Work, pray, code. This article is about how Silicone Valley taught America to regard work as a religion -which I find a disturbing thought. I'm a pastor and even I don't regard my work as my religion. Sounds like a recipe for burnout, and the account of employees at Panda Express is like a cult.

https://tinyurl.com/yeysuy5a

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 13, 2022 08:17 AM (d0d1W)

46 Earlybird book thread!

Still reading the Churchill bio "Hero of the Empire" by Candice Millard. What enormous drive he had from an early age, fueled by a conviction that he was destined to do great things. As he wrote to his dear Mama, "I do not believe the Gods would create so potent a being as myself for so prosaic an ending." But how to make a splash in the public arena? Following in his brilliant politician father's footsteps didn't pan out. Military exploits and a shiny medal might do it. And as he was in need of money, he became a war correspondent.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 08:18 AM (Dc2NZ)

47 38 It is cover blurbed by President Obama (wildly imaginative, he says!). And it won its Hugo in the woke times.

Posted by: blaster at March 13, 2022 08:11 AM (9otr5)

Isn't that a reverse recommendation, then?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:15 AM (7bRMQ)

I would imagine some "gratuity" changed hands for his recommendation. I can't imagine Barry reading anything more taxing that NCAA basketball tournament brackets.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:18 AM (PiwSw)

48 Good Sunday morning, horde!

Thank you for continuing the book thread, Perfesser Squirrel.

I haven't read much this week. I started the re-read of Ship of Theseus, by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst. There is the book, and then there are all of the extra pieces and the margin notes that make a second story. It's a little ADD for my taste, but my son gave it to me and wants to be able to talk about it with someone, so, I'm doing my best.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at March 13, 2022 08:18 AM (OX9vb)

49 The Tripitaka Koreana sounds like it would be quite interesting to visit, even if you don't read or speak Korean.

I understand Roof Korean.....

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 08:19 AM (arJlL)

50 45 Fenton spoke,

Work is an offering to God, to a donk Marx is God.

Posted by: Sven at March 13, 2022 08:19 AM (Y++kB)

51 So I am reading the fall of the roman republic....
=====

Littleboots!

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 08:20 AM (MIKMs)

52
If the place does not aid your writing and is an emotional drain, use grammarly
Posted by: Sven at March 13, 2022

***
I'll have a look. I am already pretty good at grammar and spelling, if I do say so myself (years of editing experience). But things like clarity and precision are harder to spot in your own work.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:20 AM (c6xtn)

53 Ah but it has been rumored Queen Louisa was doing Czar Alexander but again I think it was enemies of the Queen who spread that.

Posted by: Skip's Phone at March 13, 2022 08:21 AM (sJG57)

54 I would suggest languages like German or Russian that are highly inflected have a a greater love for the portmanteau than English. Hell, they had to borrow from the Fwench for their word!

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 13, 2022 08:22 AM (EZebt)

55 I'm leavening my Perry Mason binge with "Imperial Stars," a space fiction novel purportedly by "Doc" Smith but actually by Stephen Goldin. Wikipedia says Goldin adapted a Smith short story into this book, which resulted in a series throughout the '70s. Smith's name, however, is prominent, and that's the only reason I snagged this. (Only 50 cents!)

It's about a family of circus performers who are actually the top secret agents of a space empire that includes Earth. Yes, in this setting, the Commies won, and our republican form of national government fell under the thumb of emperors and expresses. I'm not sure I want to root for this family.

The lead characters, brother and sister acrobats, are described as short with thick wrists and ankles. So naturally the cover shows a tall drink of water in glorified shorts and suspenders.

As for the PM books, my current one, "TCOT Mythical Monkeys," was made into a TV episode that involved organized crime. I'm looking forward to how Gardner will describe this.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 08:22 AM (Om/di)

56 So another female tennis player goes crying game...

I am so glad I never watch the news...

Posted by: Sven at March 13, 2022 08:24 AM (Y++kB)

57 I sgree with you, Sven.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 13, 2022 08:24 AM (d0d1W)

58 It is cover blurbed by President Obama (wildly imaginative, he says!). And it won its Hugo in the woke times.

Posted by: blaster at March 13, 2022 08:11 AM (9otr5)

Isn't that a reverse recommendation, then?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:15 AM (7bRMQ)

I would imagine some "gratuity" changed hands for his recommendation. I can't imagine Barry reading anything more taxing that NCAA basketball tournament brackets.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes

Actually has to be a fake quote as there is no actual proof that the ultra-maroon can or every has read.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 13, 2022 08:24 AM (hfAS6)

59 Lloyd Alexander should not have dealt Llonio Son of Llonwen such a fate.

Posted by: Downcast at March 13, 2022 08:25 AM (AEMfu)

60 Actually has to be a fake quote as there is no actual proof that the ultra-maroon can or every has read.
=====

I would like to find actual proof that BhoBho can write.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 08:26 AM (MIKMs)

61 Come on - wildly imaginative!

Clearly this is his favorite book in the whole world.

Posted by: blaster at March 13, 2022 08:27 AM (9otr5)

62 Don't bread much last 2 weeks, spending too much time on internet due to Ukrainian war.
Finished 2 books
Joe Haldeman "The Hemingway hoax", Hugo and Nebula winner. Very good read and If you Hemingway fun this is book for you.

Posted by: redmonkey at March 13, 2022 08:27 AM (0+Ppk)

63 It's about a family of circus performers who are actually the top secret agents of a space empire that includes Earth. Yes, in this setting, the Commies won, and our republican form of national government fell under the thumb of emperors and expresses. I'm not sure I want to root for this family. . . .

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022

***
I once wanted to do a story about a star-traveling acting troupe like the one in Trek's "Conscience of the King." But I didn't have the secret agent element to the concept. That would have made it really go.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:27 AM (c6xtn)

64 One of my favorite phrases is from "The Saint Sees It Through." It mentions a song "whose lyrics are described as 'sophisticated' by those who like to think of themselves as sophisticated."

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 08:27 AM (Om/di)

65 Joe Haldeman "The Hemingway hoax", Hugo and Nebula winner. Very good read and If you Hemingway fun this is book for you.
Posted by: redmonkey at March 13, 2022

***
Haldeman in style and approach was/is very much a Heinlein disciple.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:28 AM (c6xtn)

66 Prof, no hat this week?

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 08:28 AM (Om/di)

67 It's about a family of circus performers who are actually the top secret agents of a space empire that includes Earth. Yes, in this setting, the Commies won, and our republican form of national government fell under the thumb of emperors and expresses. I'm not sure I want to root for this family. . . .

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022
----
A long, long time ago, I was in a roleplaying campaign where we went "undercover" as a troupe of circus performers: Kartoffeln and his Troupe of Troubadours.

We were also agents of a secret organization called the Lost Wisdom Society.

It was a really fun and weird campaign.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 08:29 AM (K5n5d)

68 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to a barbeque in my back yard.

Posted by: An Assless Chap at March 13, 2022 08:29 AM (vrz2I)

69 And on a happier note, I highly recommend for Christians, "With Christ in the school of prayer" by Andrew Murray, who was a Dutch Reformed Minister in the late 19th and early 20th century. I have read it several times now and it is a uplifting and encouraging book on prayer

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 13, 2022 08:29 AM (klcqt)

70 Prof, no hat this week?
Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 08:28 AM (Om/di)
---
Da pimp hat only comes out if I'm "pimping" a moron author...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 08:29 AM (K5n5d)

71 Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 13, 2022 08:17 AM (d0d1W)

Ha! The story referenced "best selves."

Last night's sermon, the pastor talked about how we try to be our best selves, and not only isn't it good enough to reach God, but it doesn't even satisfy ourselves in the end. We know our best selves are still failures. Pagan crap from these retreats and programs. You notice there aren't any orthodox Christian groups involved in this stuff.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:30 AM (7bRMQ)

72 I loved the Prydain series and moved on to a tetrology also based on the Welsh Mabinogion, witten by Evangeline Walton: Prince of Anwyn, The Children of Llyr, The Song of Rhiannon, and Island of the Mighty.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 08:30 AM (Dc2NZ)

73 I don't buy the "Noosphere" as much more than a worry-stone for those who don't wish to believe in God or, even those that do.

It implies that human intelligence was guided and sought "the universe/the planet/Ma Gaia". So, essentially, Guided Evolution, and...Oh, Look! There's God peeking around the corner.

And, that's how the fight started, officer.

Also, it supports the fun but silly SF trope, that since the "universe" tilts toward intelligent development, that any creature left alone over a long enough time period will develop into a "human" of sorts.

For instance, tapirs! If we just left the noble tapir alone long enough, it would develop into a highly intelligent race of of prehensile nosed, spectacularly long-donged men.

It's kind of a silly idea (unless you bring in God) but fun to think about.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 13, 2022 08:31 AM (5NkmN)

74 I would imagine some "gratuity" changed hands for his recommendation. I can't imagine Barry reading anything more taxing that NCAA basketball tournament brackets.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:18 AM (PiwSw)

Puts him ahead of LeBron....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:31 AM (7bRMQ)

75 Second book - Last book of "Russian History" by Boris Akunin. Cover last Russian tsar Nicolas II. What strike me is similarity between current situation in Russia and years on Nicolas II. 1904 - start war against weaker neighbor to solve problems at home. As result - lost war and revolution at home.

Posted by: redmonkey at March 13, 2022 08:31 AM (0+Ppk)

76 Anyway one of the women suggested Three Body Problem as our most recent book, and it fits in well with our award winning SF reading plan. I was a bit wary. It is cover blurbed by President Obama (wildly imaginative, he says!). And it won its Hugo in the woke times.

Posted by: blaster at March 13, 2022 08:11 AM (9otr5)
---
I've had several people recommend this book to me as part of my Chinese military history project, so I will be interested to see what you think.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 08:31 AM (llXky)

77 It succeeds in doing what Clarke's "Rendezvous with RAMA" failed to do.
Posted by: naturalfake at March 13, 2022 08:11 AM (5NkmN)

Rendezvous with RAMA was an odd duck in Clarke's oeuvre because it left the reader hanging without even an oblique hint of why the giant spacecraft showed up. Maybe it was Clarke's intention to do so but after books like Childhood's End and The City and the Stars I was expecting more.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at March 13, 2022 08:32 AM (y7DUB)

78 "sought by"

Yeesh. Stupid brain.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 13, 2022 08:33 AM (5NkmN)

79 Good morning Horde, Thank You Squirrel!! nice job.

Random thoughts. I waited until the mask requirement was dropped before I did an author's book signing at a local bookstore.
I am saving Last Stands for this summer's Bourbon Trail week with my brothers.
Watching Women's World Cup Cricket. Yes, they kneel.... but NOT during their national anthems. Otherwise they are far less woke than US sports. Plus, chicks with bats running back and forth.

Posted by: goatexchange at March 13, 2022 08:33 AM (APPN8)

80 Did not read books this week!

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 13, 2022 08:33 AM (yrol0)

81

When by mutation a new rose is born in a garden, all
the gardeners rejoice. They isolate the rose, tend it,
foster it. But there is no gardener for men. This little
Mozart will be shaped like the rest by the common
stamping machine. This little Mozart will love shoddy
music in the stench of night dives. This little Mozart is
condemned. ..What torments me is not the humps nor hollows nor the ugliness. It is the sight, a little bit in all these men, of Mozart murdered.

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 08:33 AM (ONvIw)

82
During yesterday's visit to the local branch of our library with the gKids, I encountered the Dog Man books. Dog Man is a comedic graphic novel series by American author and cartoonist Dav Pilkey and published by Scholastic Corporation. the series is about a dog-headed cop protecting the city with his friends.

As gDaughter is younger and not yet reading in her own, I read her selection to her, "Dog Man Unleashed". The art is not great (this is the Captain Underpants author, so, of course), but the story was filled with enough absurdities and out of nowhere plot zigs and zags that it amused a preschooler. I was laughing throughout it, as I enjoy such antics. When I finish reading a book to the gKids I sometimes ask them if they want to hear how the rest of the story went and I take it to weird juxtapositions and flights of word play that "You're weird, Grandpa" is often their rejoinder. ("Stop it!" is not uncommonly heard, too.)

At nearly two hundred pages, my audience said the book was too long for one reading to complete the full thing. I agreed with that. But we had a fun 3/4 of an hour together and that made it all worthwhile.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars at March 13, 2022 08:33 AM (pNxlR)

83 I learned a portmanteau yesterday: Barococo (which is a comedy-of-errors play):

https://tinyurl.com/2rvh6awc

Fop Till You Drop!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 08:33 AM (Dc2NZ)

84 My Book Thread pipe this week is a squared-off sandblast billiard that I've dubbed the "Wolf pipe," as it reminds me of my late black cat: large and dark and rugged. The leaf was some Prince Albert -- which, jokes aside, is an excellent tobacco and not expensive. There's a good reason it's been around for more than 80 years.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:33 AM (c6xtn)

85 I don't think the pants guy owns a weedwhacker. (I you catch my drift)

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 08:34 AM (arJlL)

86 One of my favorite phrases is from "The Saint Sees It Through." It mentions a song "whose lyrics are described as 'sophisticated' by those who like to think of themselves as sophisticated."

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 08:27 AM (Om/di)

The Murphy bed, quaint to the unsophisticated.

Posted by: Silent Movie at March 13, 2022 08:35 AM (7bRMQ)

87 Greetings:

Shouldn't there be some K-Pop girlies in that library ??? Maybe Mamamoo or Lee Hi (1,2,3,a,4) ???

Posted by: 11B40 at March 13, 2022 08:35 AM (uuklp)

88 Finished the last of the Flashman series. Not a bad one in the lot. Flashman at the Charge probably my favorite, and Royal Flash at the bottom, but not a wide variance.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at March 13, 2022 08:35 AM (YFAIE)

89 Speaking of fantasy books, I would recommend Ukrainian fantasy book "Vita Nostra" by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko.

They are best SI FY and Fantasy writers in Russia and Ukraine now.

Posted by: redmonkey at March 13, 2022 08:36 AM (0+Ppk)

90 Joe Haldeman "The Hemingway hoax", Hugo and Nebula winner. Very good read and If you Hemingway fun this is book for you.
Posted by: redmonkey at March 13, 2022

***
Haldeman in style and approach was/is very much a Heinlein disciple.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

Possibly why I liked The Forever War when I read it newly published.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 13, 2022 08:36 AM (nAHlT)

91 My writing news is mostly reading news because I decided to call a halt to the writing side of the book. Instead, I dug into my source material so that I could knock out some power writing later on.

At this point, I can semi-recommend The Open Empire by Valarie Hansen. It is a history of China up to 1800.

So far it tracks well with my other research and the author does add in some nice "slice of life" bits and pieces, so that's good.

The problem is that she's clueless about her own culture arrogance, which is rooted in modern feminism. There's a caption showing Tang scultures that is actually titled "When Fat Was Beautiful."

Yes, let's celebrate elite women overeating in the age of subsistence agriculture and frequent famines!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 08:37 AM (llXky)

92 The ending of Wind, Sand, and Stars is quite exquisite. St. Exupery looking at a peasant child, a beautiful little boy, and realizing that he, like so many others, will never know his potential.

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 08:37 AM (ONvIw)

93 I started and finished "A History of Georgia Railroads". I'm not really into trains but I am interested in GA History. If you've ever wondered why East Point GA, which is SW of Atlanta, is named East Point, I found out why. Also, Atlanta use to be called "Terminus" before it was called "Marthasville".

Posted by: fd at March 13, 2022 08:37 AM (vrz2I)

94
Puts him ahead of LeBron....
Posted by: OrangeEnt

Hey! YOU try slogging through Table of Contents pages! Those numbers keep changing from book to book! It takes a keen analytical mind to keep them in their proper order!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars at March 13, 2022 08:38 AM (pNxlR)

95 Anyway, I reread Christie's Death on the Nile, and began the highly recommended Demons.

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 08:38 AM (ONvIw)

96 I may be in the minority here, but I find epic fantasy fiction novels filled with mythical creatures, strange lands, elaborate fake languages, dark villains and shining faced innocents to be generally tedious, overwrought, ponderous and tough slogs that dull the senses. I avoid titles such as 'Chronicles of Anywhere (or Anybody)' like I avoid Jonas Brothers concerts.

To paraphrase Fran Leibowitz, "Original epic fiction is like original sin, both were done before you were born by people you could not possibly have met."

But go ahead, endeavour to persevere, and have fun storming the castle...

... (of Bordlock where the dark Forlanthian overlords of Mysognia reign over the fun-loving Fribnabbians!).

Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 08:39 AM (m45I2)

97 (con't) I just find it funny that the exact same people demanding "cultural sensitivity" are so thoughtless when it comes to their own beliefs.

In many ways, she reminds me of Barbara Tuchman's discourses within A Distant Mirror where she can't stop herself from observing that if only those sexist superstitious dopes had late 20th Century feminism, things would have been better for everyone.

I just find it really arrogant to look at a 3,500-year-old culture and say "You're doing it wrong," while posing as a voice of tolerance.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 08:39 AM (llXky)

98 *keeps an eye on Muldoon*

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:40 AM (PiwSw)

99 71- sounds like a good sermon, OrangeEnt.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 13, 2022 08:40 AM (rJlE0)

100 Haldeman in style and approach was/is very much a Heinlein disciple.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
*
Possibly why I liked The Forever War when I read it newly published.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 13, 2022

***
It was running as independent short stories in Analog when I first began to read that magazine. As I recall, Haldeman was unsure that Heinlein would like the novel, as it is very different in attitude from RAH's Starship Troopers -- but Heinlein complimented him on it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:40 AM (c6xtn)

101 91 A.H. Lloyd,

Feature not a bug, so now "healthy baby" for idiocy the food baby left unuttered....

Femynysts seek to be the new elite they thus never hate the poison fruits thereof just who gets to nibble them.

Posted by: Sven at March 13, 2022 08:42 AM (Y++kB)

102
Got to go test out hooking up my laptop to our lapidary society's A/V system so that I can share views of our accounts for my audit next week. What fun!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars at March 13, 2022 08:43 AM (pNxlR)

103 I may be in the minority here, but I find epic fantasy fiction novels filled with mythical creatures, strange lands, elaborate fake languages, dark villains and shining faced innocents to be generally tedious, overwrought, ponderous and tough slogs that dull the senses. I avoid titles such as 'Chronicles of Anywhere (or Anybody)' like I avoid Jonas Brothers concerts.
----
They ain't for everyone, sure. All of us have our preferred genres. I certainly won't judge.

Part of the fun of the Sunday Morning Book Thread is to see what others are reading and maybe try something different or new.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 08:44 AM (K5n5d)

104 I may be in the minority here, but I find epic fantasy fiction novels filled with mythical creatures, strange lands, elaborate fake languages, dark villains and shining faced innocents to be generally tedious, overwrought, ponderous and tough slogs that dull the senses. I avoid titles such as 'Chronicles of Anywhere (or Anybody)' like I avoid Jonas Brothers concerts. . . .

... (of Bordlock where the dark Forlanthian overlords of Mysognia reign over the fun-loving Fribnabbians!).
Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022

***
Me too, Muldoon. A lot of fantasy bores me. So many novels seem to begin with Princess Sordida looking out of her tower and remembering the good old days when King Arglebargle ruled the land. I tend to write, not about princes and lords and ladies, but about retired soldiers, prostitutes young and old, wizards who like their wine and women, and -- here's one for you -- doctors!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:44 AM (c6xtn)

105 I avoid titles such as 'Chronicles of Anywhere (or Anybody)' like I avoid Jonas Brothers concerts.
=====

My own avoidance is the second volume of any 'chronicles' shelfbuster. Third volume is usually back to the story and action.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 08:44 AM (MIKMs)

106 Just started "Servants Of War" by Larry Correia and Steve Diamond. 47 pages in and I gotta say it's of the "please don't put me down" ilk.

I know a sci-fi book is good when it drags you into its universe and won't let you go.

I STILL get that effect when I re-read something by Heinlein.

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at March 13, 2022 08:44 AM (fBtlL)

107 Did somebody read Joe Haldeman non SY FI novels about Vietnam? Is it worst reading?

Posted by: redmonkey at March 13, 2022 08:45 AM (0+Ppk)

108
I guess we won't be seeing a "Chronicles of Muldoon" offering anytime soon.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars at March 13, 2022 08:45 AM (pNxlR)

109 I think, I'll also go back and reread Wind, Sand and Stars. I love the ending of the book, but St.Exup writes so many lovely and knowing passages, that it seems a shame to not read it through again.

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 08:46 AM (ONvIw)

110 Noosphere: the biosphere including and modified by such human activities as agriculture, forestry, husbandry, urbanization, and industrialization

Know-nothingosphere: the biosphere including and modified by such social activities as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 08:47 AM (m45I2)

111 . . . I find epic fantasy fiction novels filled with mythical creatures, strange lands, elaborate fake languages, dark villains and shining faced innocents to be generally tedious, overwrought, ponderous and tough slogs that dull the senses. . . .
Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022

***
A great many of these authors would do well to study the styles of Hemingway, Steinbeck, and James M. Cain. I call my stuff "hard-boiled fantasy": worlds where magic works, but people still have to earn a living, and they talk like people instead of fake Shakespeareans.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:47 AM (c6xtn)

112 108 Krebs v cannot,

Eh I may write "the chronicles of Davis" a satire of modern journalism through that prism

Posted by: Sven at March 13, 2022 08:47 AM (Y++kB)

113 Heinlein complimented him on it.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

Heinlein complimented R.Aspirin for his 1st work and heralded Aspirin as a future great S.F. writer. The 1st was the only one that was good.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 13, 2022 08:48 AM (nAHlT)

114 I read that circus story when I was a kid. The performers grew up on a high-gravity planet. I remember it was fun but kinda swashbuckling.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 13, 2022 08:48 AM (EZebt)

115
I STILL get that effect when I re-read something by Heinlein.
Posted by: TANSTAAFL at March 13, 2022

***
Heinlein was incapable of writing dull. Okay, maybe The Number of the Beast -- was a slog, but he was ill with a brain tumor then. He came roaring back with Friday and was on a great roll to the end.

Early Larry Niven is the same way: never dull, occasionally funny, and full of the "sense of wonder."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:49 AM (c6xtn)

116 Muldoon, I'm with you. If the back cover is filled with weird names and references to times past with magic and monarchs -- and is part of a multibook saga -- it stays on the store shelf.

And yet the stores are cluttered with such material. Somebody must be buying it.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 08:49 AM (Om/di)

117 Finished two books this weekend (and it's only half over)! The Dos Passos collection was worth it but spotty, as you'd expect in a collection. I thought the non-travel essays were the best. Also got to the end of The Scarlet Pimpernel. That is one rip-roaring adventure story and I thought only one of the many plot twists was telegraphed in advance. Started on John Buchan's The Thirty Nine Steps. Chapter 1 puts the hooks into you and makes it feel like it will be a quick read because you can't wait to see what happens next. We'll see about that.

Posted by: who knew at March 13, 2022 08:49 AM (4I7VG)

118 Last night's sermon, the pastor talked about how we try to be our best selves, and not only isn't it good enough to reach God, but it doesn't even satisfy ourselves in the end. We know our best selves are still failures. Pagan crap from these retreats and programs. You notice there aren't any orthodox Christian groups involved in this stuff.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:30 AM (7bRMQ)
----
The god they worship is materialism, and the Boomers really got that cult going.

It actually makes sense because technology was just rolling forward in so many ways that getting the newest thing really was exciting and there was always another thing coming after it. To go from 45s to LPs to cassettes and CDs and from slide shows to home movies to VCRs and DVDs...the list goes on.

And then you're old, surrounded by stuff. And young people who have no idea of what a relationship looks like find themselves in a total desolation so that they don't even know if they are male or female.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 08:49 AM (llXky)

119 Part of the fun of the Sunday Morning Book Thread is to see what others are reading and maybe try something different or new.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 08:44 AM (K5n5d)

The Horde is skilled at describing why they like certain books. Sometimes that's all it takes to add it to a to-read list.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at March 13, 2022 08:49 AM (y7DUB)

120 Princess Sordida looking out of her tower and remembering the good old days when King Arglebargle ruled the land.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:44 AM (c6xtn)

I saw King Arglebargle open for Argent at JFK Stadium in Philly in 1972.

More coffee.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 13, 2022 08:50 AM (R/m4+)

121 I'm easily distracted these days with all the butlering for the League, but

I am trying to remember the Aussie author who wrote of some warlord (lady) who grabbed all the peasant children who could 'calculate' to create a human computer.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 08:50 AM (MIKMs)

122 Heinlein complimented R.Aspirin for his 1st work and heralded Aspirin as a future great S.F. writer. The 1st was the only one that was good.
Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 13, 2022

***
Well, RAH was not perfect. But he was capable of enjoying works by people who disagreed with him on politics and other things. I've read that he quietly made loans to Philip K. Dick when the latter needed them -- never made a big thing about it. And he and Dick were just about as far apart as writers as 2 guys could be.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:50 AM (c6xtn)

123 I can't stand Hemingway's work. I disliked his stuff ever since I had to read him in high school and didn't gain appreciation of his works in college.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 13, 2022 08:51 AM (GezNK)

124 Ace introduced us to a couple of great portmanteaus a few years ago: "Procrasturbating" and "F-ckcessful." ( my apologies for being off color on a Sunday morning...just quoting Ace.)

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at March 13, 2022 08:51 AM (d9Cw3)

125 Muldoon, I'm with you. If the back cover is filled with weird names and references to times past with magic and monarchs -- and is part of a multibook saga -- it stays on the store shelf.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 08:49 AM (Om/di)
---
In high school I read that kind of thing, hoping it would be as good as LotR. It wasn't, and I also discovered that most writers have a hard time bringing and epic to a satisfying conclusion.

Now it seems that they don't even try. How overdue is George RRR Martin's last book?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 08:52 AM (llXky)

126 keeps an eye on Muldoon*
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes

*******

That's fine.

As long as its not The Mystic Eye of Nebulon the Great Orcnard Warrior Dragon Emperor, from whence the Orb of All Knowingness gleans its life and death control of The One True Universe.

That would creep me out a little.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 08:52 AM (m45I2)

127 I think early Heinlein is best Heinlein. The later stuff, with Lazarus Long, I didn't care for.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:53 AM (PiwSw)

128 . . . I find epic fantasy fiction novels filled with mythical creatures, strange lands, elaborate fake languages, dark villains and shining faced innocents to be generally tedious, overwrought, ponderous and tough slogs that dull the senses. . . .
Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022

This, so much, this. And a world where problems can be solved by magical interventions, and wars won by dragons and monsters, seems to change the psyche as much as garbage like Fifty Shades, violent rap music, and other destructive genres.

A lot of people have chosen unreality, but then they impose it on those around them, and life becomes dreadful.

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 08:53 AM (ONvIw)

129 Muldoon, I'm with you. If the back cover is filled with weird names and references to times past with magic and monarchs -- and is part of a multibook saga -- it stays on the store shelf.

And yet the stores are cluttered with such material. Somebody must be buying it.
Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022

***
The "multi-book saga" is the dead giveaway. Each volume is long enough, it appears, to make a new Fellowship of the Ring, but then there are 4 more in the series . . .? Uh, no.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:53 AM (c6xtn)

130 Part of the fun of the Sunday Morning Book Thread is to see what others are reading and maybe try something different or new.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

But hold onto yer weedwhackers....

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 08:53 AM (arJlL)

131 Now it seems that they don't even try. How overdue is George RRR Martin's last book?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 08:52 AM (llXky)
---
I've given up completely on George R.R. Martin ever finishing his story. When the author himself doesn't seem to give a damn about his own story, why should I bother?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 08:54 AM (K5n5d)

132 As long as its not The Mystic Eye of Nebulon the Great Orcnard Warrior Dragon Emperor, from whence the Orb of All Knowingness gleans its life and death control of The One True Universe.

That would creep me out a little.
Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 08:52 AM (m45I2)

You had me at "whence".

Posted by: weirdflunky at March 13, 2022 08:54 AM (cknjq)

133 That would creep me out a little.
Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 08:52 AM (m45I2)

I'm just going to validate any Book Recommendation, especially if it has "Beet' in the title...

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:55 AM (PiwSw)

134 I can't stand Hemingway's work. I disliked his stuff ever since I had to read him in high school and didn't gain appreciation of his works in college.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 13, 2022

***
I'll agree that most of his stuff can be boring unless you're into bullfighting or whatever. For Whom the Bell Tolls is great at beginning and end, but sags in the middle. (So did the Gary Cooper film.) But everyone who wants to write needs to read a little of him, if only so you know what it is he did. My ex-father-in-law said he "brought the English language back from rococo."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:56 AM (c6xtn)

135 I finished "Gun Runner" by Larry Correia and John Brown. Very much enjoyed it. The afterword mentioned that they'd kept the concept of "What's cool?" in the forefront of their minds when they wrote it, and that does seem to have held true.

I've started "Servants of War" (Larry Correia + Steve Diamond); 5 chapters in out of 37. I really hope it picks up the pace soon.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 13, 2022 08:56 AM (nRMeC)

136 I call my stuff "hard-boiled fantasy": worlds where magic works, but people still have to earn a living, and they talk like people instead of fake Shakespeareans.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:47 AM (c6xtn)

Forsooth, fellow! What dost thou mean? Art thou works not festooned with the brightness of yon fields of ichor, providing sweet, sweet nourishment to thy mind?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:56 AM (7bRMQ)

137 I'm currently working through Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe" series, which I have somehow managed to not read up until now.

Pretty good stuff.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 13, 2022 08:56 AM (bW8dp)

138 I saw King Arglebargle open for Argent at JFK Stadium in Philly in 1972.

Posted by: Hairyback

What did they call the result 9 months later?

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 13, 2022 08:56 AM (nAHlT)

139 Spoiler,

My writing has devolved from a sparky deconstruction of xianity and the middle ages into a hate note aimed at the gop-I can't finish the story with the gop out of power....

//Georrge RRRR Marrtinn

Posted by: Sven at March 13, 2022 08:56 AM (Y++kB)

140 "...how to get the battery off the Ryobi drill..."

It's not the difficulty of figuring it out that gets you. It's the feeling of total humiliation when you finally figure out that all you needed to do was push--not pull.

You appear to be in fine fettle this morning, Perfesser.

Posted by: creeper at March 13, 2022 08:57 AM (cTCuP)

141 Early Larry Niven is the same way: never dull, occasionally funny, and full of the "sense of wonder."
=====

Niven, as excellent as he is/was, partnering with Pournelle became great.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 08:57 AM (MIKMs)

142 As long as its not The Mystic Eye of Nebulon the Great Orcnard Warrior Dragon Emperor, from whence the Orb of All Knowingness gleans its life and death control of The One True Universe.

That would creep me out a little.
Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 08:52 AM (m45I2)
---
Whoa! Deja vu, man...I've been reading Jack Vance and I'm pretty sure that exact phrase was used somewhere in his Tales of the Dying Earth.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 08:57 AM (K5n5d)

143 > Now it seems that they don't even try. How overdue is George RRR Martin's last book?

Another author on Fecesbook pointed out that, in the time since Martin put out the last volume, he (the Fecesbook author) has written and published 10 books (or something like that), earned two master's degrees, got married, and had two children.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 13, 2022 08:58 AM (bW8dp)

144 I'd read The Chronicles of Muldoon. But, like Muldoon I avoid the multi volume fantasy genre. Too much of a time investment for the payoff (with a few exceptions).

Posted by: who knew at March 13, 2022 08:58 AM (4I7VG)

145 While not a Boomer (he's technically a War Baby), my father's house is a virtual museum of obsolete technology that he's collected over decades, always seeking the newest toy.

His parents were devout Methodists, by my old man instead has buried himself in Dan Brown and the works of Bart Ehrman, trying desperately to prove God doesn't exist. He hasn't visited us in two years and has never held his great-grandchildren because he fears losing even one day of life.

His siblings are out and about in the world, knowing our time isn't guaranteed and they just shake their heads when I talk about him.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 08:58 AM (llXky)

146

Tales may make some swoon
About fairies and trips to the Moon
Just give us a story
Of God, guts, and glory
And that would suit our Muldoon

Posted by: fd at March 13, 2022 08:58 AM (vrz2I)

147 Forsooth, fellow! What dost thou mean? Art thou works not festooned with the brightness of yon fields of ichor, providing sweet, sweet nourishment to thy mind?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022

***
Skog that and skog those fools over there and skog the horses they rode in on. More wine!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:58 AM (c6xtn)

148 I started The Three Body Project a few months ago, but it didn't hold my interest. I was trying to read it before bed, and IIRC, there is a lot of technical language in it, and I just couldn't follow.

It's another of the books my son wants to read for a family book club, so I'll probably give it another go soon.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at March 13, 2022 08:59 AM (OX9vb)

149 Grok the caveman intelligence analyst

Posted by: Sven at March 13, 2022 09:00 AM (Y++kB)

150 > Niven, as excellent as he is/was, partnering with Pournelle became great.

And then became less so when they started adding third authors.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 13, 2022 09:00 AM (bW8dp)

151 As long as its not The Mystic Eye of Nebulon the Great Orcnard Warrior Dragon Emperor, from whence the Orb of All Knowingness gleans its life and death control of The One True Universe.

That would creep me out a little.
Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 08:52 AM (m45I2)

You had me at "whence".
Posted by: weirdflunky

Good neighbors make good whences.

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 09:00 AM (arJlL)

152 Early Larry Niven is the same way: never dull, occasionally funny, and full of the "sense of wonder."
=====
Niven, as excellent as he is/was, partnering with Pournelle became great.
Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022

***
And he pulled Pournelle up with him. I've never been captured by any of Pournelle's solo fiction, but his collaborations with LN, including those with Steven Barnes, are terrific.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 09:00 AM (c6xtn)

153
//Georrge RRRR Marrtinn
Posted by: Sven

How could he possibly write the final book when he has left his lead characters hidden or hanging all over his story line?

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 13, 2022 09:00 AM (nAHlT)

154 theres two books, one I had read earlier, leslie silbert's the intelligencer, about marlowe's last days in the 16th century, and ties to the present day, with a spy plot involving a whole cast of modern spies and middlemen of shady persuasion, (she's supposed to be working on a follow up about caravaggio but it's been four years since her last update)

then there was one about the Real story behind Raiders, an expedition that began in the latter 19th century, with a future hero of the Boer war, Charles Warren, and there is a cipher created by a Swedish surveyor, that leads Monty Parker, the analog to Indiana Jones, on this quest, along with a team of others, now it doesn't lead to Egypt, there is a Well of Souls though, just not where you would think it

Posted by: no 6 at March 13, 2022 09:00 AM (hMlTh)

155 Niven, as excellent as he is/was, partnering with Pournelle became great.
Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 08:57 AM (MIKMs)

And Steven Barnes, in the Heorot novels.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 09:01 AM (PiwSw)

156 My ex-father-in-law said he "brought the English language back from rococo."
=====

Shirley Jackson did it better. Prose so tight it is poetry.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 09:01 AM (MIKMs)

157 I've been listening to Pale Fire on Audible. I wonder if it could be written today, what with narrator Charles Kinbote being a homosexual who is insane and a misogynist rather than the magic gay that seems required today.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at March 13, 2022 09:01 AM (eGTCV)

158 Good morning everyone!

Nice to see another Squirrel on here! Thanks for putting this together, Perfessor.

I'm currently reading "Gladius, the World of the Roman Soldier" by Guy de la Bedoyere. So far, it's been a great book and really gets into the details of the Roman army. The book flap states that the book is a ground level creation of what it is like to be a Roman soldier. Very informative so far.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:01 AM (qF9hv)

159 > And he pulled Pournelle up with him. I've never been captured by any of Pournelle's solo fiction, but his collaborations with LN, including those with Steven Barnes, are terrific.

Now here we differ. I like Pournelle's solo stuff a lot, and don't care for any of the Barnes collaborations.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 13, 2022 09:01 AM (bW8dp)

160 The "multi-book saga" is the dead giveaway. Each volume is long enough, it appears, to make a new Fellowship of the Ring, but then there are 4 more in the series . . .? Uh, no.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:53 AM (c6xtn)
---
The thing about LotR is that it is a single book, published in three volumes for convenience.

It ran as long as it did because that's how long the story took to tell. A lot of authors really pad their stuff today. I blame word processors.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:01 AM (llXky)

161 Lord of the Rings is a big book, but when you read it you see that Tolkein wrote very tightly. It's got (eventually) four major plotlines and a big cast of characters but he keeps those balls in the air very deftly. Nothing irrelevant in that book.

If he'd written it Martin style the first three books would have gotten the characters as far as Bree.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 13, 2022 09:01 AM (QZxDR)

162 Good morning y'all

Colorado Morondezvous is on!

Saturday April 30th
6:30pm til ???

Details.......

wds dot aoshq at proton mail dot com

Posted by: westminsterdogshow at March 13, 2022 09:01 AM (/UQ/R)

163 I'm just going to validate any Book Recommendation, especially if it has "Beet' in the title...
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes

*******

I apologize yet again for sending you on a wild goose chase. To atone, let me recommend a delightful little book titled "Chasing the Wild Goose: My Year in Bulgaria...

Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 09:02 AM (m45I2)

164 How could he possibly write the final book when he has left his lead characters hidden or hanging all over his story line?

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 13, 2022 09:00 AM (nAHlT)
---
All setup and no payoff. The curse of our time.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:02 AM (llXky)

165 I got the first "Song of Ice and Fire" book as a Christmas present and was reading it when oldest son borrowed it. He returned it, but by then I had read so much criticism about the saga that I've left it on the shelf.

I never finished the HBO series, either.

I still don't know what happened at the Red Wedding.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 09:03 AM (Om/di)

166 I can't stand Hemingway's work. I disliked his stuff ever since I had to read him in high school and didn't gain appreciation of his works in college.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 13, 2022

something something Steinbeck

Posted by: weirdflunky at March 13, 2022 09:03 AM (cknjq)

167 Well done, fd. Muldoon will love it. (And probably come up with an appropriate limerick in response.)

Posted by: creeper at March 13, 2022 09:03 AM (cTCuP)

168 I'm still waiting to be paid for enriching my wordpower.

Posted by: Weasel at March 13, 2022 09:04 AM (0IeYL)

169 > Shirley Jackson did it better. Prose so tight it is poetry.

"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met nearly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone."

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 13, 2022 09:04 AM (bW8dp)

170 Lord of the Rings is a big book, but when you read it you see that Tolkein wrote very tightly. .

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 13, 2022 09:01 AM (QZxDR)
---
Tolkien is one of the most efficient writers I've ever encountered. He can paint a picture that's as vivid as if you're looking out the window at in with a minimum use of words.

I think Waugh also can be very terse when he wants to. It must be an English thing.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:04 AM (llXky)

171 I still don't know what happened at the Red Wedding.
Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 09:03 AM (Om/di)

SPOILER: "And then the murders started..."

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 09:05 AM (K5n5d)

172 Portmanteau > Neologism

Posted by: San Franpsycho at March 13, 2022 09:05 AM (EZebt)

173 I started The Three Body Project a few months ago, but it didn't hold my interest. I was trying to read it before bed, and IIRC, there is a lot of technical language in it, and I just couldn't follow.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at March 13, 2022 08:59 AM (OX9vb)

So did I. Boy, was I disappointed when I found out it wasn't a how to.

Posted by: Hunter B at March 13, 2022 09:05 AM (7bRMQ)

174 The best writing on magic treats it practically, as a commodity that needs replenishing, severely drains the user, or as a dangerous practice that has severe repercussions if used incorrectly, almost like nuclear energy/radiation.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 09:05 AM (Dc2NZ)

175 I've got one other book in the queue. My friend, also a sci fi geek, lent his copy of "Dies the Fire" by S.M. Stirling. Premise is some kind of event renders all electronics and gunpowder inoperable, so people band together and become knights, dukes and warlords. He really enjoyed it. I'm guessing the author was probably a LARPr or some kind of SCA guy. Anyone else read it?

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:05 AM (qF9hv)

176 If he'd written it Martin style the first three books would have gotten the characters as far as Bree.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 13, 2022 09:01 AM (QZxDR)

and there would have been several chapters about the sexual proclivities of Tom Bombadil.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 13, 2022 09:06 AM (evAgx)

177 Just give us a story
Of God, guts, and glory
And that would suit our Muldoon
Posted by: fd

******

That about sums it up. Well done!

Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 09:06 AM (m45I2)

178 I've been listening to Pale Fire on Audible. I wonder if it could be written today, what with narrator Charles Kinbote being a homosexual who is insane and a misogynist rather than the magic gay that seems required today.
Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at March 13, 2022 09:01 AM (eGTCV)

Probably not. In addition to that caveat Nabokov doesn't try to hide his low opinion and contempt of the contemporary literary critical world.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at March 13, 2022 09:06 AM (y7DUB)

179 My ex-father-in-law said he "brought the English language back from rococo."
=====
Shirley Jackson did it better. Prose so tight it is poetry.
Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022

***
She began her writing career when Hemingway had been a force in publishing for about 20 years, I think. She may have been influenced by him -- how could she not? But her storytelling is much better. I can't image EH writing something like The Haunting of Hill House, or that superb little short story of SJ's about the small town little old lady who sends anonymous poison-pen letters to her neighbors.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 09:06 AM (c6xtn)

180 I haven't read a lot of fantasy except for Tolkien, and Pratchett and C.S. Lewis all of which i enjoyed. I don' recall any of them doing the "Foosooth" bit. Oh, yes, I read something by a fantasy writer and the book had something to do with "Mirror" and "her" I think the author was mentally disturbed.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 13, 2022 09:07 AM (GezNK)

181 92 The ending of Wind, Sand, and Stars is quite exquisite.
Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 08:37 AM (ONvIw)

That is exquisite. I was hoping you would reference the book you quoted; thanks!

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at March 13, 2022 09:07 AM (OX9vb)

182 > I still don't know what happened at the Red Wedding.

Barack married Michelle.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 13, 2022 09:07 AM (bW8dp)

183 Meant "book title" had something to do with.....

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 13, 2022 09:07 AM (GezNK)

184 Erk. Time for me to get dressed; Miss Linda will be here soon for our expedition to darkest Walmart.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 09:07 AM (c6xtn)

185 I never finished the HBO series, either.

I still don't know what happened at the Red Wedding.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 09:03 AM (Om/di)
---
I watched the first season, realized that it was all about bad people winning and good people getting killed and tuned it out. My wife and daughter stuck with it to the bitter end.

After a time, I discovered the NY Post was doing episode summaries, so I contented myself with reading those so that I was current on the stupidity.

I correctly predicted that they'd botch the ending because so many balls were in the air that there was really only one feasible option to tie it all up but it was so obvious that it couldn't be allowed to happen because SUBVERT EXPECTATIONS is all the books are really about.

Problem with that is you can only do it so often before you render the work incoherent. QED.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:08 AM (llXky)

186 Good morning.
I got a notice yesterday that Artemis's new book in the Acton and Doyle series was available and promptly bought it.
Read it last night. Her plots are so devious that I get sucked in immediately trying to figure out what is actually going on. I got to the end and in most mystery novels, the author usually fills in some plot points and sums everything up so was expecting some of that. But instead was left with some big questions.
To be continued

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 13, 2022 09:08 AM (Y+l9t)

187 182 Rodrigo Borgia,

Sobs softly....

//Love, Reggie Love

Posted by: Sven at March 13, 2022 09:09 AM (Y++kB)

188 > I've got one other book in the queue. My friend, also a sci fi geek, lent his copy of "Dies the Fire" by S.M. Stirling.

I like some of Stirling's stuff, but it always seems to get sidetracked into some kind of nasty nonconsensual S&M scene at some point. Not my cup of tea.

Some people call him "S&M Stirling".

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 13, 2022 09:09 AM (bW8dp)

189 I've picked up a friends Kindle book that he wrote with his mother. Yea, go figure!
"Rise of the Red Crescent" by K.C. Lindberg
I hope to sit down with it soon.

Posted by: Paladin at March 13, 2022 09:09 AM (Bcz7H)

190 The best writing on magic treats it practically, as a commodity that needs replenishing, severely drains the user, or as a dangerous practice that has severe repercussions if used incorrectly, almost like nuclear energy/radiation.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 09:05 AM (Dc2NZ)
---
Agreed. The best stories usually establish boundary conditions on the use of magic. Rules that limit how it can be used by the practitioners. This establishes that magic cannot be used to solve all problems. Indeed, magic can often cause more problems than it solves, especially if there is a brutal price to be paid for its use.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 09:09 AM (K5n5d)

191 127 I think early Heinlein is best Heinlein. The later stuff, with Lazarus Long, I didn't care for.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 08:53 AM (PiwSw)

My friends and I were talking about Heinlen at work the other day and mentioned that very series he wrote. I'll give it to RH, he explored every taboo you can in writing. He lost me on "Time Enough for Love" when Lazarus decided he was in love with his mother and seduced her.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:10 AM (qF9hv)

192 Wanted to call her up and say WTH? Had to go back and eread portions of the book. What did I miss? Then I started thinking that there has been a subtle undercurrent in the previous books I missed. Luckily I own them all, all 15 of them, and now think I have to reread them all. Unless , Artemis, you're here and want to give me your phone number.
Sigh. Needless to,say, Highly Recommended.
Murder in Immunity by Anne Cleeland.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 13, 2022 09:13 AM (Y+l9t)

193 174 The best writing on magic treats it practically, as a commodity that needs replenishing, severely drains the user, or as a dangerous practice that has severe repercussions if used incorrectly, almost like nuclear energy/radiation.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 09:05 AM (Dc2NZ)

Maybe, but it remains unreal. Mature people, at least some, can read magic and leave it in the book, the play, the movie. A lot of people, an increasing number, look for the unreality, expect impossible solutions, and retreat back into magic. What is transgenderism but a desire for a magic wand.

For all of Hemingway's faults, or other writers of his type, people chose real solutions. Sometimes they work, sometimes they fails, and there are always unintended consequences. But that's life. I hate magic based fiction.

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 09:13 AM (ONvIw)

194 Agreed. The best stories usually establish boundary conditions on the use of magic. Rules that limit how it can be used by the practitioners. This establishes that magic cannot be used to solve all problems. Indeed, magic can often cause more problems than it solves, especially if there is a brutal price to be paid for its use.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 09:09 AM (K5n5d)
---
This is also the great difficulty of using RPGs as inspiration for stories or doing RPG tie-ins to book series'.

Magic is so powerful it can only be used sparingly, but who wants a character with only one spell per gaming session? It's fascinating to see how various game designers have struggled to solve the conflict between magic and all other forms of combat to prevent wizards from completely taking over the adventure.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:13 AM (llXky)

195 The TBR piles are getting out of control according to my wife. I blame you guys on the book thread. I take no responsibility for it. LOL

Posted by: RetsgtRN at March 13, 2022 09:13 AM (5uNrs)

196 Concur about Antoine St. Exup. Amazing writer (except for Little Prince, which I loathe).

I think SLA Marshall is a master of written language, and I often stop and ponder his profound observations. He never takes the easy way with a perfectly acceptable well-used phrase. Instead, he makes one of his own.

Posted by: goatexchange at March 13, 2022 09:14 AM (APPN8)

197 Re: Haldeman's '1968' -- very much worth reading. I haven't read all of his work, but this one's my favorite of those I have read.

And re: early Heinlein -- 'The Puppet Masters' is imho the best invasion from space story anyone ever wrote.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 13, 2022 09:15 AM (JzDjf)

198 137 I'm currently working through Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe" series, which I have somehow managed to not read up until now.

Pretty good stuff.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia

++++

Read the historical notes ate the end of the books.

I picked up a fascination with Wellington reading some of his recommendations.

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at March 13, 2022 09:15 AM (fBtlL)

199 Three Body Problem was really good. There is no way Barack Obama read that book. Between the details of Chinese history (which do NOT paint the Commies in a positive light) and the details on orbital mechanics, there is just no way.

Math ap Mathonwy is a figure in Welsh mythology. My phone actually suggested "Mathonwy" when I had typed "Math ap".

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at March 13, 2022 09:15 AM (8548M)

200 175 I've got one other book in the queue. My friend, also a sci fi geek, lent his copy of "Dies the Fire" by S.M. Stirling. Premise is some kind of event renders all electronics and gunpowder inoperable, so people band together and become knights, dukes and warlords. He really enjoyed it. I'm guessing the author was probably a LARPr or some kind of SCA guy. Anyone else read it?
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:05 AM (qF9hv)
---

Yes! Loved the first two books, as moderns struggled to adapt to the new world order. As the characters found out, it was hardest on the generation brought up in ease and technological splendor; their children born afterward had nothing to compare their life to except the tales told by their parents.

By the third novel is was just a medieval fantasy world that happened to be our own. I lost interest. Anybody else keep up with the series?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 09:16 AM (Dc2NZ)

201 Magic is so powerful it can only be used sparingly, but who wants a character with only one spell per gaming session? It's fascinating to see how various game designers have struggled to solve the conflict between magic and all other forms of combat to prevent wizards from completely taking over the adventure.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:13 AM (llXky)
---
Yeah, RPGs usually fail at that after a certain point. There's a reason why Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards is a trope. Magic is so overly powerful that it really unbalances most games eventually.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 09:16 AM (K5n5d)

202 And thank you Perfesser for the book thread. I enjoy seeing what everyone is reading and trying a bit of everything.

Posted by: RetsgtRN at March 13, 2022 09:16 AM (5uNrs)

203 @175 --

There was a comics series, Lady Pendragon, set in a world in which something destroyed electricity, and that led to the return of magic. Like so many indie series, it didn't last past 10 issues or so.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 09:16 AM (Om/di)

204 198 137 I'm currently working through Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe" series, which I have somehow managed to not read up until now.
Pretty good stuff.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia
++++
Read the historical notes ate the end of the books.
I picked up a fascination with Wellington reading some of his recommendations.
Posted by: TANSTAAFL at March 13, 2022 09:15 AM (fBtlL)

I haven't read the books, but understand that Sharpe is an older British television series or mini-series. It looked interesting to me but I have yet to watch it.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:17 AM (qF9hv)

205 travelocity - my favorite

fartclam may not qualify, but fartscam arguably does.

a scam involving more than one fart.

Posted by: portman's toe at March 13, 2022 09:18 AM (vcv8B)

206
Maybe, but it remains unreal. Mature people, at least some, can read magic and leave it in the book, the play, the movie. A lot of people, an increasing number, look for the unreality, expect impossible solutions, and retreat back into magic. What is transgenderism but a desire for a magic wand.

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 09:13 AM (ONvIw)
---
Yes, and another form of this is the 90-pound woman beating up a room full of NFL linebackers to the point where people actually believe that the only thing stopping women from being Delta Force operators is sexism.

I have developed a reflexive dislike for lithe women in full plate armor that even an MMA champion could not carry without suffering stress fractures.

I remind people that Vasquez from Aliens was a professional dancer in peak condition but even she couldn't carry her prop gun for more than a few minutes at time because it was based on a steadycam.

The cameramen carried them for far longer because...they were men.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:18 AM (llXky)

207 Yes! Loved the first two books, as moderns struggled to adapt to the new world order. As the characters found out, it was hardest on the generation brought up in ease and technological splendor; their children born afterward had nothing to compare their life to except the tales told by their parents.

By the third novel is was just a medieval fantasy world that happened to be our own. I lost interest. Anybody else keep up with the series?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 09:16 AM (Dc2NZ)

Thanks, Eris! Guess I'll stick to the first two and call it good!

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:19 AM (qF9hv)

208 Sharpe, Hornblower, and Flashman - best series for historical fiction.

Posted by: goatexchange at March 13, 2022 09:19 AM (APPN8)

209 I think SLA Marshall is a master of written language, and I often stop and ponder his profound observations. He never takes the easy way with a perfectly acceptable well-used phrase. Instead, he makes one of his own.

Posted by: goatexchange at March 13, 2022 09:14 AM (APPN

---
At one point he lived down the street from my grandparents. My grandmother recalled him being a total jerk.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:20 AM (llXky)

210 I just finished reading a book called Blood River, about a journalist who retraced (most of) Stanley's route along the Congo River. Kind of interesting. He talked about the various people from the UN and aid organizations trying to help the Congolese, and what I noticed was two things: (1) most of the people he described genuinely wanted to help (though some were jaded and just marking time) and (2) none of them were doing anything that was truly helping.

I wonder if the Congolese would be better off with no interference. But with the natural resources in their area, especially the minerals, I suspect no interference is an extremely unlikely outcome.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at March 13, 2022 09:20 AM (8548M)

211 There was a comics series, Lady Pendragon, set in a world in which something destroyed electricity, and that led to the return of magic. Like so many indie series, it didn't last past 10 issues or so.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 09:16 AM (Om/di)

Unfair! I only got one issue! I hate everything about this society! I should rule you alllllll..............

Posted by: Green Hair Fat Lesbian Powerless Superhero You Must Bow Down To! at March 13, 2022 09:21 AM (7bRMQ)

212 Don't listen to me, Squirrel! It may be a good series. I just, uh, Squirrel! too quickly with some stories.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 09:21 AM (Dc2NZ)

213 Once again, I'd like to thank the guy that told me of the existence of Kings Go Forth, by Joe David Brown.

I'm about a third through it. The author's descriptions of the combat experiences of the character's has the ring of truth.

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 09:22 AM (arJlL)

214 *finishes reading comments*

Ah, Muldoon...what would the HQ be without you?

Posted by: creeper at March 13, 2022 09:22 AM (cTCuP)

215 I heard the same about SLAM. Very difficult person to be around. He is buried in the Army cemetery in El Paso, at Fort Bliss. Whenever I visit my parents' grave sites, I stop in to chat with SLAM as well.

Posted by: goatexchange at March 13, 2022 09:22 AM (APPN8)

216 Hey Secret Squirrel, just ordered Outward Frontier! Looking forward to reading it!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 09:22 AM (PiwSw)

217 Yes, and another form of this is the 90-pound woman beating up a room full of NFL linebackers to the point where people actually believe that the only thing stopping women from being Delta Force operators is sexism.

I have developed a reflexive dislike for lithe women in full plate armor that even an MMA champion could not carry without suffering stress fractures.

I remind people that Vasquez from Aliens was a professional dancer in peak condition but even she couldn't carry her prop gun for more than a few minutes at time because it was based on a steadycam.

The cameramen carried them for far longer because...they were men.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:18 AM (llXky)

A.H., your post just reminded me of the book by Michael Crichton called "Timeline." Plot is time machine is invented and the company conducting the research sends people back to the middle ages. Crichton did his research, and hammers home the very point you are making: wearing armor and hacking people to death with heavy swords required tremendous strength, training, and calories- and it was men doing it, not the ladies. A good book, btw.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:23 AM (qF9hv)

218 The best stories usually establish boundary conditions on the use of magic. Rules that limit how it can be used by the practitioners. This establishes that magic cannot be used to solve all problems. Indeed, magic can often cause more problems than it solves, especially if there is a brutal price to be paid for its use.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022

***
I consider magic to be like our electricity. The entire society runs on it, but there are rules and safety precautions for its use. Certain practitioners are better than others, through talent, long experience, or both -- and even they can make a fatal mistake.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 09:23 AM (c6xtn)

219 Good (late) morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading.

Damn this clock changing crap.

Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 09:23 AM (7EjX1)

220 The noosphere?! Call the FBI!!!!!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:01 AM (7bRMQ)

Could be worse: The Onosphere.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 13, 2022 09:24 AM (P3gRi)

221 The clocks changed?

Posted by: creeper at March 13, 2022 09:24 AM (cTCuP)

222 I think the discussion of Hemingway has to include that the best writers write what they know. Name the writer and you see how the experience shaped their views. Hemingway saw a lot of the world. Tolkien's life experience is part of what shaped Middle Earth.

A lot of modern authors have only other authors as references, not any life-experience. My idea of a strong female character is shaped by what I've seen. I went through co-ed basic training and I saw how even with lower standards, the females were injured at twice the rate of the men and that when we had to cover obstacles, they were useless. The men got into position and basically carried them over whatever we had to cross.

Someone who hasn't seen that will easily write of Strong Princesses Who Kill Death Knights, but someone who hasn't can't do it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:24 AM (llXky)

223 What is transgenderism but a desire for a magic wand.

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 09:13 AM (ONvIw)

Then why do they want to keep cutting it off?

Posted by: ? at March 13, 2022 09:24 AM (7bRMQ)

224 I hate magic based fiction.
Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 09:13 AM (ONvIw)

I usually do too until I read Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus. It was a book group choice that I, and everyone else in the group, expected to despise, but for whatever reason it drew me in. Maybe it's how she presented characters or narrated completely inexplicable situations well but it held my interest all the way.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at March 13, 2022 09:25 AM (y7DUB)

225 I had started reading Unknown Remains by Peter Leonard (Elmore's son)

And Final Justice by W.E.B. Griffin.

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 09:25 AM (arJlL)

226 The clocks changed?
Posted by: creeper at March 13, 2022 09:24 AM (cTCuP)

Magic

Posted by: weirdflunky at March 13, 2022 09:25 AM (cknjq)

227 It is a paradox of history (or maybe geography) that natural resources don't make countries rich. Netherlands is a really rich country. What have they got? Mud. Switzerland is a really rich country, with a bunch of glaciers and some cows. Singapore is a really rich country, with nothing but humidity.

When you can get rich just by digging stuff out of the ground, there's no reason to build or innovate or hustle. Just charge a fee for digging stuff out of the ground. Personal advancement means your tribe kills off the people currently charging the fee and takes their place.

The one exception I can think of is Texas.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 13, 2022 09:25 AM (QZxDR)

228 216 Hey Secret Squirrel, just ordered Outward Frontier! Looking forward to reading it!
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 09:22 AM (PiwSw)

Awesome, thanks!! I just updated it- I did a pretty severe overhaul on the grammar and characters. Oregon Muse was kind enough to feature it on the Book Thread some six years ago when I first published it. I was shocked to hear he had passed.
The sequel to Outward Frontier, ALAMO, will be published next week. Been pounding away on it, but finally got my groove back. If you like Outward Frontier, buckle up, ALAMO takes it to 11.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:26 AM (qF9hv)

229 Heinlein was probably the best SF writer of all time.

Posted by: Vic at March 13, 2022 09:26 AM (mZwKe)

230 "Magic"

The stove says it's 8:28. Tablet and computer say 9:28.

War.

Posted by: creeper at March 13, 2022 09:27 AM (cTCuP)

231 For a film-noirish take on magic in a modern (196

world, there is James Blish's Black Easter. It's unlike any other story of magic I've ever read.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 09:27 AM (c6xtn)

232 > Sharpe, Hornblower, and Flashman - best series for historical fiction.

Aubrey/Maturin needs to be in there as well.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 13, 2022 09:27 AM (bW8dp)

233 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:18 AM (llXky)

Yep, and replacing reality with magical thinking and impossible people, gives us the idiocy that surrounds us. People taking the 90 pound woman who destroys linebackers, the shape shifting gender bending bullshit and making it real (women in combat), via legislation, and criminalizing the denial of the magic, the wish casting, the total falseness. The desire for the magical outcomes we see in theater, read in books, and create in our own minds to keep the impossible "alive", weakens us.

Now if you look at some of the sci-fi, the star trek type stuff, with incredible technology that was developed by people, it gives one something to strive for, and idea that could, with adequate effort, become real. We, however, have no dragons, mythical creatures, or magical power, and striving for these things or needing them for a good outcome is crushing in the immature society we have become.

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 09:28 AM (ONvIw)

234 I don't read a lot of fantasy because nobody writes the kind of fantasy I want to read, and I'm not ready to write it.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 13, 2022 09:28 AM (QZxDR)

235 232 > Sharpe, Hornblower, and Flashman - best series for historical fiction.

Aubrey/Maturin needs to be in there as well.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 13, 2022 09:27 AM (bW8dp)

BTW I thought that the miniseries A&E did for Horatio Hornblower was very entertaining.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:29 AM (qF9hv)

236 A.H., your post just reminded me of the book by Michael Crichton called "Timeline." Plot is time machine is invented and the company conducting the research sends people back to the middle ages. Crichton did his research, and hammers home the very point you are making: wearing armor and hacking people to death with heavy swords required tremendous strength, training, and calories- and it was men doing it, not the ladies. A good book, btw.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:23 AM (qF9hv)
---
Yes, and that's where historical fiction and fantasy really diverge. It's not just the magic, it's the fundamental physical unreality of the thing.

Not to cross the threads, but firearms ballistics is all about the energy of the projectile, the "foot-pounds" that come out of the barrel and go into the bullet.

The same is true of physical combat. Weight = power and while you can use training to put the absolute highest amount of your weight into a strike, if you don't weigh much, you still won't hit that hard, even if you get a vulnerable area. This used to be known.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:29 AM (llXky)

237 I think the discussion of Hemingway has to include that the best writers write what they know. Name the writer and you see how the experience shaped their views. Hemingway saw a lot of the world. Tolkien's life experience is part of what shaped Middle Earth.
----
That is an excellent point. Critical Drinker talked about that recently. It's one reason why Hollywood turns out so many bad stories. Their writers have NO real lived experience that they can draw upon to build characters and situations that seem plausible to the viewer. Many authors are in the same boat.

If you haven't gone out and done something in the real world, it's hard to create believable stories.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 09:29 AM (K5n5d)

238 Finished The Romanovs and also Vince Milam's The Texas Job. Both well done. Started on Waller Newell's Tyranny. Read Prelude of Fate: The Obisidian Valley. which really needed an editor. LOTS of spelling mistakes messing up a good premise and a reasonably good presentation.

Posted by: yara at March 13, 2022 09:29 AM (hBsVD)

239 Speaking of unrealistic depictions of women in combat, A Practical Guide to Evil finally concluded. I loved the story overall. Just two nits: LGBTQ people were WAY overrepresented. Out of a few dozen significant characters, I can think of two heterosexuals, and basically every one-scene character was some flavor of non-straight. Sometimes it seemed like the author was rolling a die every time a new character entered, and every letter in the alphabet soup was weighted evenly with straight.

The second nit was the overrepresentation of women in the army. Mage corps, sure, that makes sense. Women with superpowers, sure. Nonhuman women, sure. But bog-standard human women in heavy infantry? COME ON. Especially when it's been explicitly noted multiple times that the lands raising the armies are running low on people. You wouldn't send women to the front until things got REALLY desperate. (Things do get desperate in the story, but women are at the fronts the entire time. There isn't a moment when a ruler reluctantly expands conscription to include women.)

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at March 13, 2022 09:30 AM (8548M)

240 Could be worse: The Onosphere.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 13, 2022 09:24 AM (P3gRi)

Populated by those with no ears.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 09:30 AM (7bRMQ)

241 My favorite excerpt/ quote from a book is from Steven Pressfield's Tides of War. It begins:

Athenians are bold but not courageous........

It goes on to perfectly describe what I believe is the difference between the Left and the Right.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at March 13, 2022 09:30 AM (PmzDg)

242 One reason Blish's Black Easter is so good is that he doesn't sugar-coat or evade the core of historical magic: it's powered by the Devil.

The book does have a great scene pitting SAC against the infernal city of Dis.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 13, 2022 09:30 AM (QZxDR)

243 The clocks changed?
Posted by: creeper

Nah

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 09:31 AM (arJlL)

244 So, I'm going back to Demons now, and later I'll hunt down Wind, Sand and Stars. Later in the week, I'll root through my Christie collection for a Beresford book called N or M?

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 09:31 AM (ONvIw)

245
A lot of modern authors have only other authors as references, not any life-experience. . . .
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022

***
So many beginning fantasy writers seem to have a lot of scenes in taverns. There were other venues in ancient and medieval life: blacksmith shops and soldiers' barracks and leather workers and saddlers. There were other jobs besides tavern keepers -- like the boys who carried urine from the public urinals to the fullers (who used the ammonia to clean clothing), and plenty more.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 09:32 AM (c6xtn)

246 I don't read a lot of fantasy because nobody writes the kind of fantasy I want to read, and I'm not ready to write it.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 13, 2022 09:28 AM (QZxDR)

Psst. Those are kept behind the curtain.

Posted by: Wink at March 13, 2022 09:32 AM (7bRMQ)

247 You wouldn't send women to the front until things got REALLY desperate. (Things do get desperate in the story, but women are at the fronts the entire time. There isn't a moment when a ruler reluctantly expands conscription to include women.)

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at March 13, 2022 09:30 AM (8548M)
---
It's worse than that - they wouldn't be able to keep up on the march. They can't carry the actual arms and equipment.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:32 AM (llXky)

248 That is an excellent point. Critical Drinker talked about that recently. It's one reason why Hollywood turns out so many bad stories. Their writers have NO real lived experience that they can draw upon to build characters and situations that seem plausible to the viewer. Many authors are in the same boat.
If you haven't gone out and done something in the real world, it's hard to create believable stories.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 09:29 AM (K5n5d)

That's a great point. Tolkien was in WWI, if I recall. I'll say this, the Army provided me with a lot writing material to draw from- much of it ended up in my books.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:33 AM (qF9hv)

249 ... and that's when the fight began....

For me, as much as I enjoyed all of the Aubrey/Maturin books, I think Forester is a superior writer with his Hornblower. Forester says in 20 words what O'Brian takes three pages to describe. Yes, O'Brian is detailed beyond what Forester presents, but I think Forester is a better write. My opinion, anyway.

Posted by: goatexchange at March 13, 2022 09:33 AM (APPN8)

250 So many beginning fantasy writers seem to have a lot of scenes in taverns.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 09:32 AM (c6xtn)
---
It was the one part of the Ren Faire where they fit in. They tried the blacksmith experience, but couldn't figure out how to swing the hammer.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:34 AM (llXky)

251 I remind people that Vasquez from Aliens was a professional dancer in peak condition...

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:18 AM (llXky)

I'm not sure that is true. She was at Circle In The Square after high school, and that isn't a dance school.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 13, 2022 09:34 AM (XIJ/X)

252 JTB -

Hiya, IIRC last week you were looking for something humorous.

I HIGHLY recommend Big Trouble and Tricky Business by Dave Barry.

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 09:34 AM (arJlL)

253 Another book I read this week is F. Paul Wilson's Wardenclyffe. It's part of his Secret History of the World. This particular story involves Nicola Tesla's experiments with electricity in Long Island and why he had to give them up.

His goals were noble, but he became mixed up with the wrong crowd who funded his experiments in the wrong place at the wrong time for humanity. Naturally, the current history books ignore these pesky details...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 09:34 AM (K5n5d)

254 250 So many beginning fantasy writers seem to have a lot of scenes in taverns.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 09:32 AM (c6xtn)
---
It was the one part of the Ren Faire where they fit in. They tried the blacksmith experience, but couldn't figure out how to swing the hammer.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:34 AM (llXky)

OG craft breweries

Posted by: weirdflunky at March 13, 2022 09:35 AM (cknjq)

255 like the boys who carried urine from the public urinals to the fullers (who used the ammonia to clean clothing)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 09:32 AM (c6xtn)

Ah, the glamour job!

Posted by: Jacques at March 13, 2022 09:35 AM (7bRMQ)

256 Leftism is magic thinking.

Believe hard enough and men will change.

And if they don't send them to the gulag.

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at March 13, 2022 09:36 AM (fBtlL)

257 Now that I think about it, there were also too many women in the heavy cavalry. Light cavalry I could accept. Heavy cavalry? No.

I'm not saying there are absolutely ZERO women who could be heavy infantry or heavy cavalry, but I will say it is pretty damn close to zero. Definitely wouldn't be thirty or forty percent of the company.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at March 13, 2022 09:36 AM (8548M)

258 That's a great point. Tolkien was in WWI, if I recall. I'll say this, the Army provided me with a lot writing material to draw from- much of it ended up in my books.
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:33 AM (qF9hv)
----
Yep. If you have that experience, it lends a great deal of believability to your stories. If you don't have it, then you need to go find someone who *does* have the experience you need to lend their credence to your story.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 09:36 AM (K5n5d)

259
Yep, and replacing reality with magical thinking and impossible people, gives us the idiocy that surrounds us. People taking the 90 pound woman who destroys linebackers, the shape shifting gender bending bullshit and making it real (women in combat), via legislation, and criminalizing the denial of the magic, the wish casting, the total falseness. The desire for the magical outcomes we see in theater, read in books, and create in our own minds to keep the impossible "alive", weakens us.

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 09:28 AM (ONvIw)
---
It's interesting to contrast The Karate Kid with Harry Potter.

Everyone wants to be the Special Kid who has innate talent that they only need how to tap and now they are a True Hero.

The notion of just going to practice, doing the drills, fighting through physical pain and maybe losing - that story isn't being told much today.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:36 AM (llXky)

260 Rendezvous with RAMA was an odd duck in Clarke's oeuvre because it left the reader hanging without even an oblique hint of why the giant spacecraft showed up. Maybe it was Clarke's intention to do so but after books like Childhood's End and The City and the Stars I was expecting more.
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at March 13, 2022 08:32 AM (y7DUB)

Wasn't there a sequel?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 13, 2022 09:37 AM (P3gRi)

261 I clicked on Perfesser Squirrel's page and they're ALL cookbooks.

Hmmm.....seems like I oughtta know him.....

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 09:38 AM (arJlL)

262 Lived experiences and movies/tv: I'd also guess that the people who wrote a lot of the classic films grew up reading more heavily than the current crop of writers, who probably grew up on other movies and may not bring as strong a sense of story to the job?

Posted by: Just Some Guy at March 13, 2022 09:38 AM (JzDjf)

263 Speaking of military sci-fi, if anyone knows William Alan Webb, he needs to finish his Showdown Trilogy....

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 09:38 AM (PiwSw)

264 That's a great point. Tolkien was in WWI, if I recall.

+++++

See his descriptions of Mordor as Frodo and Sam marched through it.

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at March 13, 2022 09:38 AM (fBtlL)

265
His goals were noble, but he became mixed up with the wrong crowd who funded his experiments in the wrong place at the wrong time for humanity. Naturally, the current history books ignore these pesky details...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 09:34 AM (K5n5d)

So...no interesting conspiracy theories about the government shutting down Tesla's tower that could broadcast power? Or was it a deathray...? Ancient Aliens may have covered that.

Yeah, I read a book (can't recall the title) that covered those pesky details. Never mind the fact that Tesla was hard to get along with, he was a first generation immigrant, really bad with money, and might have been on the spectrum. The guy definitely had idiosyncrasies. No doubt about his brilliance, though.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:39 AM (qF9hv)

266 I clicked on Perfesser Squirrel's page and they're ALL cookbooks.

Hmmm.....seems like I oughtta know him.....
Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 09:38 AM (arJlL)
---
There are different collections on the left-hand side of the page. I trust you *did* notice a common theme among my cookbooks?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 09:39 AM (K5n5d)

267 Continuing with the 100 Dys of Dante program and LOTR. The Paradise segment is fascinating but one of the more difficult sections, at least for me, to reconcile with modern thought. The key is to concentrate on what the poem meant to Dante and his time. The videos for each Canto help as does the commentary by Dorothy Sayers.

The reading is quick as each Canto is short. But I spend some time afterwards tracking down the echoes of other works that occur to me. "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius and aspects of CS Lewis are the strongest echoes. It's a fun exercise.

Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 09:39 AM (7EjX1)

268 Didja see this?

Website lists trigger warnings for over 6,000 classic novels

https://bit.ly/3CC4Tak

Let's just burn these 6,000 books and then utopia!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Proprietor of the Outrage Outlet at March 13, 2022 09:39 AM (FVME7)

269 I'm not saying there are absolutely ZERO women who could be heavy infantry or heavy cavalry, but I will say it is pretty damn close to zero. Definitely wouldn't be thirty or forty percent of the company.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at March 13, 2022 09:36 AM (8548M)
---
It would be zero over the long term. Stress fractures, overstressed muscles that never heal, etc.

When the whole women in the combat arms came up a few years back, a female Afghan vet listed all her injuries and said women were simply not capable of doing it - their bone structure is working against them and no amount of exercise or training can fix it.

We're seeing the reverse with the dudes in skirts dominating women's sports. It's just a non-starter.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:40 AM (llXky)

270 I trust you *did* notice a common theme among my cookbooks?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 09:39 AM (K5n5d)

Sous Vide?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 13, 2022 09:41 AM (XIJ/X)

271 > Yes, O'Brian is detailed beyond what Forester presents, but I think Forester is a better writer.

I like the details. And, while I do enjoy Hornblower, his non-stop self-hatred/guilt trip starts to wear on me after a while.

A lot of O'Brian's best jokes are subtle -- the Danish captain "Ole Bugge", for instance. I think I was probably on my third reading of the series when it occurred to me that "Ole Bugge" sounds just like "Holy bugger" in a Cockney accent. And then I realized why the English sailors were amused.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 13, 2022 09:42 AM (bW8dp)

272 Part of the fun of the Sunday Morning Book Thread is to see what others are reading and maybe try something different or new.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 08:44 AM (K5n5d)

I don't think I've read anything in the last seven or eight years that I learned of on my own--my TBR list is developed right here, every Sunday morning.

*That's probably not entirely true--I've done some shelf surfing at the library and the used bookstore and found some interesting reads, but, for the most part, it's all horde.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at March 13, 2022 09:42 AM (OX9vb)

273 I've squirrelled away a few books to read while I'm recovering from gallbladder surgery next week (I'm more worried about pain during the recovery than I am about the surgery.)

Among them is a book I ordered after hearing it mentioned on a history podcast; "Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present." Tons of illustrations and chapters on flammable dresses, mercury in men's top hats, arsenic in green dyes, etc. Victorians were basically wrapping themselves in yards of toxic materials every day.

Looks like a book Eris would enjoy!

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at March 13, 2022 09:42 AM (HabA/)

274 137 Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia I am working on it too but keep hoping to find next at a used book store, they don't show up there often. Sharpe's Gold is my next.

Posted by: Skip at March 13, 2022 09:42 AM (2JoB8)

275 > See his descriptions of Mordor as Frodo and Sam marched through it.

"I was an orc in the Great War." -- J.R.R. Tolkien

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at March 13, 2022 09:42 AM (bW8dp)

276 221 The clocks changed?

Posted by: creeper at March 13, 2022 09:24 AM (cTCuP)

Mine turned into a bowl of petunias and said "Oh no, not again" as it fell to the floor and smashed. I'm pretty sure I'm not awake yet and need another coffee.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 13, 2022 09:44 AM (nRMeC)

277 266 No Squirrel recipes?

Posted by: Skip at March 13, 2022 09:44 AM (2JoB8)

278 The mean COVID death age was 73 to 79 (depending how countries calculated).
The Spanish flu was 27.

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 13, 2022 09:44 AM (yrol0)

279 if you're cheap, there's a free pdf of Roadside Picnic @ https://tinyurl.com/musncdbz

Posted by: yara at March 13, 2022 09:44 AM (hBsVD)

280
Wasn't there a sequel?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 13, 2022 09:37 AM (P3gRi)
----
A couple I think. Big fan of Clarke in general and the series in particular.

Posted by: Weasel at March 13, 2022 09:45 AM (0IeYL)

281 I suspect that Elon knew full well how nutty Nicola Tesla was.

Posted by: klaftern@yahoo.com at March 13, 2022 09:45 AM (taPSh)

282 "Slouching Towards Bethlehem," by J. Deadyone. Disjointed; but, butt, she occasionally makes an interesting observation. Doubt she was a nice person. Nice she took up writing, though. "The Year of Magical Thinking" was better.

Posted by: Marooned at March 13, 2022 09:45 AM (w6hJ9)

283 The movie Bright on Netflix is a pretty good depiction of what it would be like if the world of Tolkien was modern.

A magic wand is like a nuclear weapon.

And while it is trying to do a racism angle, it's very deftly done as the races are different species it can't be all woke about it.

Posted by: blaster at March 13, 2022 09:45 AM (9otr5)

284 128 . . . I find epic fantasy fiction novels filled with mythical creatures, strange lands, elaborate fake languages, dark villains and shining faced innocents to be generally tedious, overwrought, ponderous and tough slogs that dull the senses. . . .
Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022

I generally feel that way - but in the hands of a master like Tolkien (who basically invented the genre and its' conventions), it works. I really was drawn into the world of LOTR.

The problem is his many imitators don't have the skill Tolkien did, or his strong moral vision.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at March 13, 2022 09:46 AM (HabA/)

285 Rendezvous with RAMA was an odd duck in Clarke's oeuvre because it left the reader hanging without even an oblique hint of why the giant spacecraft showed up. Maybe it was Clarke's intention to do so but after books like Childhood's End and The City and the Stars I was expecting more.
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at March 13, 2022 08:32 AM (y7DUB)

Wasn't there a sequel?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 13, 2022 09:37 AM (P3gRi)

According to Goodreads it looks like a mini cottage industry sprung up after the original. By the time that happened I was over my SciFi obsession and didn't pursue it.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at March 13, 2022 09:46 AM (y7DUB)

286 Perfessor,

Thanks for another wonderful book thread. Excellent job. And thanks for mentioning my post about the Townsends book club with "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin". The second session was even better than the intro segment. The context provided by Jon's comments and answers to questions is very helpful. But it doesn't get in the way of Franklin's words and spirit.

The next segment is this Wednesday at 4 eastern time. I recommend it and the entire channel to anyone, no matter their age or level of study of the period.

Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 09:46 AM (7EjX1)

287 We're seeing the reverse with the dudes in skirts dominating women's sports. It's just a non-starter.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:40 AM (llXky)

Sigh. The only reality to women in infantry combat is to go full powered combat armor suites- aka Starship Troopers (and, shameless plug, in my book as well). The Army is still trying to develop powered armor, but I think it's safe to say that tech will be a reality in the future (well, if they can solve that tricky power system). And really, that is the only way to get true gender parity in a combat arm such as the infantry. But that is only on the physical level. We haven't even touched the emotional side of things.
I now denounce myself for my patriarchal thinking!

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:47 AM (qF9hv)

288 268

Guess the book:
Trigger Warnings
Angels Antisemetism Concepts of Heaven and Hell
Cult worship Extremist religious ideas Fornication
Genital mutilation Incest Murder
Polygamy Racism Rape Semitism
Sex Violence War

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 13, 2022 09:48 AM (yrol0)

289 The mean COVID death age was 73 to 79 (depending how countries calculated).
The Spanish flu was 27.
Posted by: rhennigantx at March 13, 2022 09:44 AM (yro

And many 73 to 79 year olds died with pneumonia prior to Covid?

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at March 13, 2022 09:48 AM (1pZw2)

290 Some people call him "S&M Stirling"
=====

For Fenelon -- I think you are referring to Donaldson. Yes, those are waaaay too dark for me. Stirling is not nearly as rough.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 09:48 AM (MIKMs)

291 Vasquez from Aliens owns a business that caters to women size D and up. Because, you know, underserved community and all that.

The more you know....

Posted by: blaster at March 13, 2022 09:48 AM (9otr5)

292 268

HA

Create the page "Koran" on this wiki! If you are searching for a specific name or phrase, using double quotes (") around your search terms may produce cleaner results.

There were no results matching the query.

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 13, 2022 09:49 AM (yrol0)

293 The Spanish flu was 27.

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 13, 2022 09:44 AM (yrol0)

There is a theory that the Spanish Flu hit the young very hard and seemed to be less virulent with older people because a previous flu that only older people had been exposed to had some phenotypical similarities.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 13, 2022 09:49 AM (XIJ/X)

294 'Tesla "might have been on the spectrum." '

You have to read his autobiography where he describes his early life. He certainly had a unique mind.

Posted by: fd at March 13, 2022 09:49 AM (vrz2I)

295 The next segment is this Wednesday at 4 eastern time. I recommend it and the entire channel to anyone, no matter their age or level of study of the period.
Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 09:46 AM (7EjX1)

JTB that channel is really fun to watch. I like cooking, and it's pretty fascinating to see him recreate recipes.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:50 AM (qF9hv)

296 Wasn't there a sequel?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 13, 2022 09:37 AM (P3gRi)

There were but I think they were all written by some other dude.(Gennry? Gandry? something like that), with Clarke's name stuck on.

Anyway they weren't very good and got wa-a-a-a-ay off topic.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 13, 2022 09:50 AM (5NkmN)

297 There's a sailor in every port, and some port in every sailor!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 08:06 AM (7bRMQ)
-

You might be able to take Salem out of the country but you can't take the country out of Salem.

Posted by: Biden's Dog at March 13, 2022 09:50 AM (bGDe5)

298 Looks like a book Eris would enjoy!
Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at March 13, 2022 09:42 AM (HabA/)
---

Yes. Yes it does!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 09:50 AM (Dc2NZ)

299 Last night, in a moment of weakness, I bought 6 Osprey military history books off of Ebay. I think I was feeling secretly embarrassed about ordering a hardcover collection of Gen13 comics, and wanted to pick up some legitimate books to make up for it.

....Mmmmm. J. Scott Campbell drawing Kaitlyn Fairchild. Mmmmm.....

Posted by: Castle Guy at March 13, 2022 09:51 AM (Lhaco)

300
Wasn't there a sequel?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

2 sequels.
The 2nd was a slog and I didn't bother getting the 3rd
(and I read everything an author writes when I find a good one).

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 13, 2022 09:51 AM (KM4pJ)

301 Posted by: rhennigantx at March 13, 2022 09:48 AM (yrol0)

The Bible.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 13, 2022 09:52 AM (GezNK)

302 Muldoon, try Brandon Sanderson.

Y the way, also read Dawnsherd, a novella by Sanderson that takes place in between books 3 and 4 of the Stormlight Archive. It is an excellent tale featuring The Lopen, a somewhat comical character who through his jokes reveals some interesting insights on life.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 13, 2022 09:53 AM (Y+l9t)

303 Guess the book:

The Bible?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 09:53 AM (Dc2NZ)

304 Guess the book:
Trigger Warnings
Angels Antisemetism Concepts of Heaven and Hell
Cult worship Extremist religious ideas Fornication
Genital mutilation Incest Murder
Polygamy Racism Rape Semitism
Sex Violence War

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 13, 2022 09:48 AM (yrol0)

Is it one of the world's best sellers?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 09:53 AM (7bRMQ)

305 Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 09:48 AM (MIKMs)

Yes; Donaldson. Thanks. Only book I've ever thrown in the trash I loathed it so much.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 13, 2022 09:54 AM (GezNK)

306 I haven't had much time to read this week: I have a new puppy! She's a rescue about nine weeks old, golden retriever mixed with something else, perhaps Great Pyrenees.

It's house breaking time. For new puppy owners, I recommend "Puppy Preschool," by John Ross and Barbara McKinney, a book I first used twenty-five years ago. Their followup book, "Dog Talk," is excellent for adult dog training.

I'm re-reading those right now.

Posted by: Brett at March 13, 2022 09:54 AM (vk6wS)

307 Elon is not really like Tesla. Tesla was a genius but terrible promoter. He could visualize his inventions working in his mind down to the smallest detail before he ever put them on paper. I don't think Musk is that kind of inventor. He may be a nutty genius, but that's where comparison stops.

Much like Steve Jobs.

Posted by: fd at March 13, 2022 09:54 AM (vrz2I)

308 Guess the book:

Winnie-the-Pooh

Posted by: naturalfake at March 13, 2022 09:54 AM (5NkmN)

309 229 Heinlein was probably the best SF writer of all time.
Posted by: Vic

Phillip K. Dick for my money. Certainly wins the prize for SF author most optioned into movies. With some of those options exercised almost 50 years after he wrote the story.

Posted by: portman's toe at March 13, 2022 09:55 AM (vcv8B)

310 Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 13, 2022 09:49 AM (XIJ/X)

My underside The Spanish Flu caused the immune system to go into hyper overdrive. Because young adults had a strong immune system it effect them more.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at March 13, 2022 09:55 AM (1pZw2)

311 "During yesterday's visit to the local branch of our library with the gKids, I encountered the Dog Man books"

DogMan is hugely popular with elementary school kids. (Being a sub, I am becoming familiar with kid lit and learning what the "in books" are.) Pete the Cat books are also fought over in the library.

It warms my heart that kids still love the Dr. Suess books I read when I was a kid. I read "Green Eggs and Ham" to a 1st grade class the other day and entertained them by really "hamming" it up. When I read to kids, I don't drone on - I go for the dramatics.

Which is why I lost my voice yesterday.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at March 13, 2022 09:56 AM (HabA/)

312 280 Wasn't there a sequel?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 13, 2022 09:37 AM (P3gRi)
----
A couple I think. Big fan of Clarke in general and the series in particular.

would expect two. i mean, the last line in the book was worrying about the implications of the fact that ramans do everything in threes.

i've read one sequel, but got busy with life and lost track after that.

Posted by: anachronda at March 13, 2022 09:56 AM (l+ype)

313 Speaking of fantasy, after finishing Wheel of Time, I get why people made the Tolkien comparisons, but I think any comparisons are very superficial - here is a medieval-ish world with magic and a Big Bad and some people who travel a long way from home. The biggest contrast is that Tolkien was writing about ordinary people with ordinary powers. Not supermen with magic powers so intense they bend probability for miles around them.

Wheel of Time could be better compared to A Practical Guide to Evil, actually - ta'veren and Named are very similar concepts.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at March 13, 2022 09:57 AM (8548M)

314 The thing that bugged Tesla about Edison is Edison did a million experiments to end up with the final invention whereas Tesla had the whole thing visualized before he started.

Posted by: fd at March 13, 2022 09:57 AM (vrz2I)

315 229 Heinlein was probably the best SF writer of all time.
Posted by: Vic

Phillip K. Dick for my money. Certainly wins the prize for SF author most optioned into movies. With some of those options exercised almost 50 years after he wrote the story.
Posted by: portman's toe at March 13, 2022 09:55 AM (vcv8B)
---
I'll see both Heinlein and Dick and raise you one Clifford D. Simak. Really some of the finest science fiction I've ever read, anywhere.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 09:57 AM (K5n5d)

316 Underside = understanding

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at March 13, 2022 09:58 AM (1pZw2)

317 314 fd,

Scoreboard

//Tommy E

Posted by: Sven at March 13, 2022 09:58 AM (Y++kB)

318 Guess the book:
Trigger Warnings
Angels Antisemetism Concepts of Heaven and Hell Cult worship Extremist religious ideas Fornication Genital mutilation Incest Murder
Polygamy Racism Rape Semitism Sex Violence War

******

Green Eggs and Ham?

Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 09:58 AM (m45I2)

319 293 The Spanish flu was 27.

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 13, 2022 09:44 AM (yrol0)

There is a theory that the Spanish Flu hit the young very hard and seemed to be less virulent with older people because a previous flu that only older people had been exposed to had some phenotypical similarities.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 13, 2022 09:49 AM (XIJ/X)

Heard the theory. Sounds reasonable. My paternal Grandfather died from the Spanish Flu. He was 39. My Dad was 2.

Posted by: Javems at March 13, 2022 09:59 AM (AmoqO)

320 Guess the book:
Trigger Warnings
Angels Antisemetism Concepts of Heaven and Hell
Cult worship Extremist religious ideas Fornication
Genital mutilation Incest Murder
Polygamy Racism Rape Semitism
Sex Violence War
=====

Heh. Fallen Angels.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 10:00 AM (MIKMs)

321 "Scoreboard
//Tommy E
Posted by: Sven"

There is something to be said for the brute force approach.

Posted by: fd at March 13, 2022 10:00 AM (vrz2I)

322 The thing that bugged Tesla about Edison is Edison did a million experiments to end up with the final invention whereas Tesla had the whole thing visualized before he started.
Posted by: fd at March 13, 2022 09:57 AM (vrz2I)

fk you!

Posted by: zombie Edison's elephant at March 13, 2022 10:00 AM (cknjq)

323 Mine turned into a bowl of petunias and said "Oh no, not again" as it fell to the floor and smashed. I'm pretty sure I'm not awake yet and need another coffee.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at March 13, 2022 09:44 AM (nRMeC)

Yanno, that was worth getting out of bed for.

Posted by: creeper at March 13, 2022 10:00 AM (cTCuP)

324 Westinghouse treated Tesla a lot better than Edison.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at March 13, 2022 10:01 AM (1pZw2)

325 Green Eggs and Ham?
Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 09:58 AM (m45I2)

Well, "Green Eggs and Ham" does have the Fornication, Genital mutilation, Incest, and Murder.

But, not the rest of it. I think that's the wrong answer.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 13, 2022 10:02 AM (5NkmN)

326 Speaking of fantasy, after finishing Wheel of Time, I get why people made the Tolkien comparisons, but I think any comparisons are very superficial - here is a medieval-ish world with magic and a Big Bad and some people who travel a long way from home. The biggest contrast is that Tolkien was writing about ordinary people with ordinary powers. Not supermen with magic powers so intense they bend probability for miles around them.
----
I very much tend to agree. That comparison is superficial and overly simplistic. Jordan was open about how Eye of the World had a lot of Tolkien influence, but the story diverged A LOT after the first novel. He took a lot of different influences (including, but not at all limited to Tolkien) and forged a truly unique story that stands on its own.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 10:02 AM (K5n5d)

327 I am trying to remember the Aussie author who wrote of some warlord (lady) who grabbed all the peasant children who could 'calculate' to create a human computer.
Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 08:50 AM (MIKMs)

Sean McMullen, "Souls in the Great Machine."

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 10:03 AM (PiwSw)

328 Kind of off thread but the Decades channel is running a "The White Shadow" marathon.

Current episode: Coach Reeves asks a fellow teacher out on a date and he finds out that she is also a stripper.

Posted by: fd at March 13, 2022 10:03 AM (vrz2I)

329 328 fd,

We call that "monday" now...

Posted by: Sven at March 13, 2022 10:04 AM (Y++kB)

330 The Tomb of Theragaard by Kenneth Cromwell and Charles Cromwell

No SJW stuff, a young Monk wants to be a Knight and secretly trains with his friends when a Necromancer arrives looking for clues to an ancient weapon,

Christian Themes
Did the Audiobook version

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at March 13, 2022 10:05 AM (dKiJG)

331 Muldoon, I'm with you. If the back cover is filled with weird names and references to times past with magic and monarchs -- and is part of a multibook saga -- it stays on the store shelf.

And yet the stores are cluttered with such material. Somebody must be buying it.

-
I think many people have given up on reality and are looking for an escape. Used to be the lotus eaters but now the lotus readers.

I should talk. I'm on a cyberpunk binge. High tech and low lives.
I've been reading the stories in the anthology Neo Cyberpunk by A.W. Wang (heh heh "Wang"). Some are quite good.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Proprietor of the Outrage Outlet at March 13, 2022 10:05 AM (FVME7)

332 Well, "Green Eggs and Ham" does have the Fornication, Genital mutilation, Incest, and Murder.

******

It's got the antisemitism and rape

I would not eat them with a Joo
I would not eat while raping you

Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 10:06 AM (m45I2)

333 He took a lot of different influences (including, but not at all limited to Tolkien) and forged a truly unique story that stands on its own.
=====

Well, for me and mine, I can only hope that the fashion for shelfbusters has burned out.

(How do I transition my excuses for 'insulation' stacks at room perimeters when summer is a' cumin' in?)

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 10:06 AM (MIKMs)

334 Green Eggs and Ham?
Posted by: Muldoon

Biden's new nutrition plan?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Proprietor of the Outrage Outlet at March 13, 2022 10:06 AM (FVME7)

335 307 Elon is not really like Tesla. Tesla was a genius but terrible promoter. He could visualize his inventions working in his mind down to the smallest detail before he ever put them on paper. I don't think Musk is that kind of inventor. He may be a nutty genius, but that's where comparison stops.

Much like Steve Jobs.
Posted by: fd

Musk is not an inventor. His name is on one lousy software patent from decades ago. Most of what Tesla builds was already worked out in the 90s (e.g. I found the design for the new model 3 motor in an IEEE paper from 1997).

Must is more P.T. Barnum than Nikola Tesla or Steve Jobs.

Posted by: portman's toe at March 13, 2022 10:06 AM (vcv8B)

336 328 Kind of off thread but the Decades channel is running a "The White Shadow" marathon.
Current episode: Coach Reeves asks a fellow teacher out on a date and he finds out that she is also a stripper.
Posted by: fd at March 13, 2022 10:03 AM (vrz2I)

I remember watching that show late on Nick at Night way, way back in the day.
Speaking of shows, but on topic (hey, I recommended a book about Rome!) I am re-watching the Rome series on HBO. I had forgotten John Milius was one of the writers and producers, and he is great. An outstanding series.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 10:06 AM (qF9hv)

337 "Biden's new nutrition plan?"

That's not ham.

Posted by: Sam I ain't at March 13, 2022 10:07 AM (vrz2I)

338 Vasquez from Aliens owns a business that caters to women size D and up. Because, you know, underserved community and all that.

The more you know....

Posted by: blaster at March 13, 2022 09:48 AM (9otr5)
---
Uh, I think that's pretty well served, based on shopping with my daughters.

The underserved seems to be the non-overweight category.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 10:08 AM (llXky)

339 I'm not a sci-fi literature fan but I did like John Carter of Mars when I was a kid. Not as much as Tarzan though.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at March 13, 2022 10:08 AM (PmzDg)

340 Hey, my comment from last week made the main post! Thanks. Too bad my Dad is visiting me this week and I don't have much time to read through the rest of the thread...

Posted by: Castle Guy at March 13, 2022 10:09 AM (Lhaco)

341 I finished The Green Hazard, a WWII spy novel set in 1941 Berlin by Manning Coles

Tommy Hambledon, MI-6 Spy, was in Switzerland to investigate a Swiss inventor who had developed Ulsenite, a powerful explosive. Tommy is kidnapped, the lab is blown up to kill him, and, only escaping by the skin of his teeth, he is then kidnapped in turn by the SS and whisked away to a luxurious lab in Berlin to make explosives for Germany, subject to German wartime rationing. Tommy spent a lot of time in Berlin prior to the war, and knew all the political people and only escaped detection because he was supposedly dead, and now wore a beard.
Refusing to be extracted because of the possibilities to commit sabotage, and getting closer and closer to being exposed, Tommy finally escaped by getting himself deported as an inconvenient Swedish national.

The book was published in 1945 when wartime rationing, closing businesses and air raids were a current issue, it is very depressing, though generally upbeat, charming, and reluctantly blood-thirsty.
One of the minor plot points was that the Germans were convinced the Russians were set to invade, and preparing for that muddied security.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 10:09 AM (xhaym)

342 (cont'd)

"Manning Coles" the author of the Tommy Hambledon stories, was actually two neighbors, Cyril Coles and Adelaide Manning. Cyril Coles was a spy for MI-6 during WWI through the cold war, and during the war Adelaide Manning worked for the War Ministry.

The books themselves are set during WWI, WWII and the cold war, and Tommy, a heavy set polyglot spy, causally walks through the world, committing sabotage, dispensing bad intel, and from time to time assassination and coverup, frustrating his enemies and superiors, and making it out alive

I like Tommy better than James Bond, and I suspect Cyril Coles was far less of a snob than Ian Flemming

The best two books to recommend are A Drink to Yesterday and A Toast to Tomorrow, which are a very fictionalized take on Cyril Cole's experiences in WWI and afterwards

Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 10:09 AM (xhaym)

343 The best two books to recommend are A Drink to Yesterday and A Toast to Tomorrow, which are a very fictionalized take on Cyril Cole's experiences in WWI and afterwards
Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 10:09 AM (xhaym)

Kindltot,
if you like military books, or WW2 ones, the series "The Brotherhood of War" by WEB Griffin is very enjoyable. Not a lot of spy aspects, though one of the characters is a military intelligence officer who does some sneaky stuff. Series kicks off in WW2 and ends in Vietnam.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 10:11 AM (qF9hv)

344 4 Morning, Horde...How goes it?

I used to wait eagerly to read the Sunday Morning Book Thread...

It's still a bit weird to realize that I *wrote* the Sunday Morning Book Thread...

Enjoy!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 08:02 AM (K5n5d)

An enjoyable read Perfessor...

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at March 13, 2022 10:12 AM (BgMrQ)

345 "I remember watching that show late on Nick at Night way, way back in the day."

It's so old and dated I'm surprised they dedicated a whole day to it. Just the name ought to trigger half the country.

Posted by: fd at March 13, 2022 10:12 AM (vrz2I)

346 Wait a minute. I thought Solaris was written by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem? Is there "another Solaris" from the Strugatsky brothers?

Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at March 13, 2022 10:12 AM (z/nZY)

347 Reading "Mickey 7" right now, light sci-fi. Pretty good, mostly as so far no sucker-punches. It's really all I ask for at this point.

Posted by: motionview, a National Divorcee at March 13, 2022 10:12 AM (kyWWM)

348 I don't feel tardy.

Posted by: Count de Monet at March 13, 2022 10:12 AM (4I/2K)

349 Since Russia's rich history is on topic, I posted this on the dead Georgia thread yesterday.

This is a free "book", a debate (of sorts) between Dugin of Russia and Olavo de Carvalho of Brazil. The topic is this new world order interpreted. It's 169 pages in pdf.

https://is.gd/XUFbqR

Carvalho lays out a lot about the failures of the powers that be, or their success I guess, in terms of global domination wars. I found the last half or so especially interesting, where Carvalho responds to how Dugin tries to frame Carvalho as not really independent, but a tool of those dirty Americans.

Some was more philosophy than I really grasped, but a lot of history from their different viewpoints. On the new world order thing, Carvalho has good insight into their evil intent, and control in the USA and beyond. "Does he (Dugin) see with horror the globalist project of the Rockfellers and Soros? So do I."

But explains in detail how the communists are no saintly answer (as in not saving Ukraine from the Nazis).

Posted by: illiniwek at March 13, 2022 10:13 AM (Cus5s)

350 If you can find a copy, I'm really enjoying Modern China: Continuity and Change 1644 to the Present by Bruce A. Elleman and S.C.M. Paine.

It appears to be a college texbook, but it's a great resource and really brings a lot of things together.

Lots of cool sidebar pieces about Chinese culture, foot-binding, and also a discussion of Western thinking vs Chinese thinking.

It's from 2010, and doesn't pull punches about what it calls the Beijing Massacre of 2010. I'm not all the way through it, but it's been hugely useful for my research.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 10:13 AM (llXky)

351 Thank you for the book thread! I am distracted as they just delivered my new Kindle Paperwhite. I had one several years ago, but I think someone walked off with it. I thought it was a bit slow. But I am moving. I have books I want to take but haven't read that are available in Kindle format. So I'm hoping to be able to just replace them.

And Edna Ferber is one of my favorite authors! So Big is a favorite! I still remember when the widow tries to sell her vegetables all cleaned up and the grocers tell her that women should just clean the dirt off themselves. There were some very good women authors in the 50s and 60s (like Janice Holt Giles). They sold a lot of books but aren't read much these days.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at March 13, 2022 10:13 AM (YynYJ)

352 Has Skip posted an update on his dad recently?

Posted by: creeper at March 13, 2022 10:13 AM (cTCuP)

353 Sean McMullen, "Souls in the Great Machine."
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 10:03 AM (PiwSw)
=====

Thank you. I remember it being a horror story.

From the Butler to the Housekeeper.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 10:14 AM (MIKMs)

354 Solaris was written by Lem. Both Roadside Picnic and Solaris were made into movies by Andrei Tarkovsky, so that may be where the confusion lies.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 13, 2022 10:14 AM (PiwSw)

355 Sorry, I meant 1989. Great maps and a very handy conversion table from Pinyin to Wave-Giles translation systems.

If I had only one book on China to keep in my library when the book is done, this is the clear winner.

(That's a false premise, though. I'll keep almost all of them.)

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 10:14 AM (llXky)

356 Speaking of fantasy . . .

The Democrats
@TheDemocrats
We'll keep repeating it: Democrats brought our economy back.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Proprietor of the Outrage Outlet at March 13, 2022 10:15 AM (FVME7)

357 Speaking of fantasy . . .

The Democrats
@TheDemocrats
We'll keep repeating it: Democrats brought our economy back.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Proprietor of the Outrage Outlet at March 13, 2022 10:15 AM (FVME7)
----
If that's the current standard for fantasy writing these days, I can see how that would turn people off.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 10:16 AM (K5n5d)

358 The best two books to recommend are A Drink to Yesterday and A Toast to Tomorrow, which are a very fictionalized take on Cyril Cole's experiences in WWI and afterwards
Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 10:09 AM (xhaym)

I found these at the used bookstore next to my office, three novels in one book. I liked the vintage dust jacket, and I like spy novels, so I figured I'd enjoy it. I did.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at March 13, 2022 10:16 AM (OX9vb)

359 It's got the antisemitism and rape

I would not eat them with a Joo
I would not eat while raping you
Posted by: Muldoon at March 13, 2022 10:06 AM (m45I2)

If I ever feel like getting fired, I'll toss your revision in there - just to make sure the rug rats are paying attention.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at March 13, 2022 10:16 AM (HabA/)

360 Might do some more fantasy mapping just for S&G. When I was a lass making my own fantasy atlas, Lin Carter's "Imaginary Worlds" was a wonderful resource, as was J.B. Post's "Atlas of Fantasy". And of course all the maps found in my favorite novels.

I just got "Fantasy Mapping: Drawing Worlds" by Wesley Jones.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 10:17 AM (Dc2NZ)

361 350 If you can find a copy, I'm really enjoying Modern China: Continuity and Change 1644 to the Present by Bruce A. Elleman and S.C.M. Paine.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 10:13 AM (llXky)

Awesome, will check that out.
If you are interested in seeing how we go to where we are today with Russia, I recommend "A Concise History of the Russian Revolution" by Richard Pipes. The blurb on Amazon says, "he chronicles the upheaval that began as a conservative revolt but was soon captured by messianic intellectuals intent not merely on reforming Russia but on remaking the world." Sound familiar?

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 10:17 AM (qF9hv)

362 252 ... "I HIGHLY recommend Big Trouble and Tricky Business by Dave Barry."

Mornin', JT,

Thanks. I've read both of them and some of his other books over the years. Funny stuff.

Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 10:23 AM (7EjX1)

363 Here's an earworm for Muldoon. Theme song for Beverly Hillbillies, replace Jed Clampett with Joe Bisen.

Posted by: Sock Monkey * Ungovernable at March 13, 2022 10:24 AM (CfSKC)

364 Terrific movie about Tesla and Edison: The Current War with Benedict Cumberbatch.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 13, 2022 10:25 AM (Y+l9t)

365 Time to make the dog food. Have a great day, horde!

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at March 13, 2022 10:25 AM (OX9vb)

366 Before I forget --

Found a Potemkin biography on my shelves and will keep it on the to be reread pile. By Montefiore and I remember that it was fascinating, but that was a long, long time ago. Let me know if anyone else has read it or their takes on the author.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 10:26 AM (MIKMs)

367 Awesome, will check that out.
If you are interested in seeing how we go to where we are today with Russia, I recommend "A Concise History of the Russian Revolution" by Richard Pipes. The blurb on Amazon says, "he chronicles the upheaval that began as a conservative revolt but was soon captured by messianic intellectuals intent not merely on reforming Russia but on remaking the world." Sound familiar?

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Ou
---
Stanley G. Payne has a book called Civil War in Europe 1905-1949 that has a nice overview of all the revolutions, including the Russian one. What's neat is that he looks at the similarities and differences.

Lots of good stuff, but one element that surprised me is that there was sort of a White Army At Large that went around fighting Bolsheviks wherever they found them. Finns and folks from the Baltics mostly, they dropping into Spain to partake of the fun.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 10:26 AM (llXky)

368 creeper yesterday morning, going to go see him after lunch, he has to get oxygen level up so he can get out of hospital for out patient care

Posted by: Skip at March 13, 2022 10:26 AM (2JoB8)

369 If that's the current standard for fantasy writing these days, I can see how that would turn people off.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 10:16 AM (K5n5d)
---
They "brought it back" to the Carter era. Terrible choice of language, but what I'd expect from clueless hacks who went to j-school for dummies.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 10:27 AM (llXky)

370 Well, I'm off. Need to get back to editing. You all have a great day!

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 10:28 AM (qF9hv)

371 The Democrats
@TheDemocrats
We'll keep repeating it: Democrats brought our economy back.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Proprietor of the Outrage Outlet at March 13, 2022 10:15 AM (FVME7)
----
If that's the current standard for fantasy writing these days, I can see how that would turn people off.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

I laughed. I cried.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Proprietor of the Outrage Outlet at March 13, 2022 10:28 AM (FVME7)

372 Awoke from a dream this morning. I was in a room with other people, and we had been taken captive by space aliens. They said, "we are taking over your world because you have become degenerate".
I said "Shouldn't you be negotiating with our leaders?" Alien flashed up images of Biden and Trudeau, and I said, "you got me there, pal."

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 13, 2022 10:28 AM (P3gRi)

373 Franklin's Autobiography is worth reading on many levels.
Posted by: JTB at March 06, 2022 09:40 AM (7EjX1)

I'm doing this book club, too! I am concurrently reading the autobiography AND a biography. Very interesting man and there is a lot I didn't know about him (like almost everything except he was a founding father and a printer)

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - no longer playing the game at March 13, 2022 10:29 AM (hlxe7)

374 Has Skip posted an update on his dad recently?
Posted by: creeper

Skip said dad has cancer, caught early and will go home when they can get his O2 up and stabilized.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 13, 2022 10:29 AM (nnAEY)

375 As JT reminded me, I mentioned last week that I was in the mood for reading some humorous stuff. To that end I've been dipping into Edmund Ware Smith, Pat McManus, and parts of the MASH series of books. The second and third MASH books (MASH Goes to Maine and MASH Mania) were written by Hooker and they combine subtle and laugh out loud humor with moments of poignancy. Very different from the later MASH Goes to X series.

I can hear some of the dialog in the old time Maine accent. Ayuh!

Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 10:30 AM (7EjX1)

376 creeper yesterday morning, going to go see him after lunch, he has to get oxygen level up so he can get out of hospital for out patient care
Posted by: Skip

Sorry Skip, didn't think you were still here.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 13, 2022 10:30 AM (nnAEY)

377 Franklin's Autobiography is worth reading on many levels.
Posted by: JTB at March 06, 2022 09:40 AM (7EjX1)

I'm doing this book club, too! I am concurrently reading the autobiography AND a biography. Very interesting man and there is a lot I didn't know about him (like almost everything except he was a founding father and a printer)

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - no longer playing the game at March 13, 2022 10:29 AM (hlxe7)
----
Obligatory mention of his "Advice to a young man," which used to be out on the internet.

With that, I'm off to Mass.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 10:30 AM (llXky)

378 I was wrong. Edna Ferber was from the 20s and 30s. She got a Pulitzer for So Big. I must have found her in those book club books my mom would get.

I just picked up So Big. I saw a review by a man that said "I don't know why I liked this book but I did". It's because the main character is so fascinating. She is very real

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at March 13, 2022 10:32 AM (YynYJ)

379 Awoke from a dream this morning. I was in a room with other people, and we had been taken captive by space aliens. They said, "we are taking over your world because you have become degenerate".
I said "Shouldn't you be negotiating with our leaders?" Alien flashed up images of Biden and Trudeau, and I said, "you got me there, pal."
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 13, 2022 10:28 AM (P3gRi)
---
I once had an idea for a short story where aliens come to earth. They promise all the world leaders a trip to visit their homeworld where they will share the secrets of their technology and longevity. On the way, the aliens dump the politicians out of an airlock and congratulate themselves for saving the human race.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 10:32 AM (K5n5d)

380 373 ... " I am concurrently reading the autobiography AND a biography. Very interesting man and there is a lot I didn't know about him (like almost everything except he was a founding father and a printer)"

Bonnie Blue,
What is the biography you are reading? The Autobiography is whetting my appetite for more about the man.

Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 10:32 AM (7EjX1)

381 Reading a book (a compilation of essays really) called Are Canonizations Infallible? with essays taking both positions. Also a book called Mexican Martyrdom, a reprint by Tan publishers of a book about the Cristero wars.

Posted by: MammaB at March 13, 2022 10:33 AM (WvPzZ)

382 366 ... Potemkin biography ...

sounds like a delightfully obscure way to say "hagiography"

Posted by: anachronda at March 13, 2022 10:33 AM (I8U9h)

383 This week I finished another book off my "50 Classics to Read in 5 Years" list.

The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. I expected to hate this book, and was quite surprised that I did not hate it. A sort of prequel to Jane Eyre, it tells the story of Mr. Rochester and the "crazy wife in the attic" Bertha - how they met and married. The reviews on Goodreads were widely varied - it is apparently, a hate it or love it book. Most of the "love its" seemed to be from people eager to blame Mr. Rochester for Bertha's madness, casting her as complete victim. Now I'm no Jane Eyre fangirl (which makes me weird, I know) but I don't think the book proved that it was all Mr. Rochester's fault for how he treated poor, poor Bertha.

Rhys' evocation of the tropics - the heat, the color, the smell, the *difference* from England, was quite good and I can see why people from "outside" were just overwhelmed by the "muchness" of everything. My take on the book was that poor Bertha was well on her way to crazy before Rochester even got there.

Posted by: SummaMamaT - the one always late to the party at March 13, 2022 10:34 AM (USQVR)

384 I almost always read all of the book thread, when ONT was only thing going before Day sometimes read all of that.

Posted by: Skip at March 13, 2022 10:34 AM (2JoB8)

385 On the way, the aliens dump the politicians out of an airlock and congratulate themselves for saving the human race.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

If only.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 13, 2022 10:35 AM (nnAEY)

386 My take on the book was that poor Bertha was well on her way to crazy before Rochester even got there.

Posted by: SummaMamaT - the one always late to the party at March 13, 2022 10:34 AM (USQVR)

The Maxwell wasn't known as a hot rod, so....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at March 13, 2022 10:36 AM (7bRMQ)

387 I read a lot this week because every day it was the same news over and over. Nothing changed. Just unrelenting bad news. So, escape to the world of books.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at March 13, 2022 10:38 AM (Y+l9t)

388 sounds like a delightfully obscure way to say "hagiography"
=====

Name alone is worth the time. I'll report back when I have reread. BTW, impressive endnotes and index.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 10:38 AM (MIKMs)

389 I don't think the pants guy owns a weedwhacker. (I you catch my drift)

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 08:34 AM (arJlL)

1) not convinced that is a guy
2) certainly aren't any pockets

Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 10:39 AM (xhaym)

390 NET:ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID

Getting tired of the private internet.

Posted by: t-bird at March 13, 2022 10:41 AM (D6lWx)

391 I laughed. I cried.
=====

I heard that in the voice of Larry the Cucumber. 'It moved me, Bob.'

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 13, 2022 10:41 AM (MIKMs)

392 Posted by: SummaMamaT - the one always late to the party at March 13, 2022 10:34 AM (USQVR)

The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. I expected to hate this book, and was quite surprised that I did not hate it"

I remember reading that book too and being pleasantly surprised by it - for the reasons you mention.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at March 13, 2022 10:42 AM (HabA/)

393 The "New World Order" has revealed the truth about "our Democracy."

It's a scam. They've been stuffing ballot boxes forever.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at March 13, 2022 10:43 AM (lKAqb)

394 I once had an idea for a short story where aliens come to earth. They promise all the world leaders a trip to visit their homeworld where they will share the secrets of their technology and longevity. On the way, the aliens dump the politicians out of an airlock and congratulate themselves for saving the human race.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 13, 2022 10:32 AM (K5n5d)

Maybe call the alien race the Pinochetrians.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 13, 2022 10:43 AM (VwHCD)

395 Stanislaw Lem wrote Solaris. Of course I get quoted on my glaring error. I also shorthanded the Soviet-Eurasionist concepts of a noosphere, or zones of passionarity or compassionarity or personology. All being Soviet-humanist concepts meant to replace western science and religion. Again, I'm shorthanding this stuff.

Think of all these different Soviet zones to be somewhat analogous to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. But weirder.

Posted by: 13times at March 13, 2022 10:45 AM (yxp1g)

396 I can understand Muldoon's lack of interest in those never-ending fantasy series. I've started a few over the years and they lacked the qualities that make LOTR and a few older fantasies so enjoyable. Part of the difference, I think, is that Tolkien wrote one book that happened to get broken up into a trilogy. It isn't a series to be continued for eternity. Same for the older fantasies by MacDonald and Eddison: one complete story, not a soap opera with violence.

Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 10:45 AM (7EjX1)

397 Hiya Donna of the Ampersands !
Fancy meetin' you here !

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 10:46 AM (arJlL)

398 Bertha was effing cray-cray. Rochester did his best because the insane asylums at the time were really not nice places.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at March 13, 2022 10:46 AM (lKAqb)

399 Hiya Marlene !

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 10:46 AM (arJlL)

400 227 It is a paradox of history (or maybe geography) that natural resources don't make countries rich. Netherlands is a really rich country. What have they got? Mud. Switzerland is a really rich country, with a bunch of glaciers and some cows. Singapore is a really rich country, with nothing but humidity.

When you can get rich just by digging stuff out of the ground, there's no reason to build or innovate or hustle. Just charge a fee for digging stuff out of the ground. Personal advancement means your tribe kills off the people currently charging the fee and takes their place.

The one exception I can think of is Texas.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 13, 2022 09:25 AM (QZxDR)

It's a natural result of comparative advantage (in trade) and technological advancement. If you have oil, your country will focus on oil, if you have farmland, your country will focus on farming. Places with neither, just people, will have sectors that only require human labor.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at March 13, 2022 10:46 AM (z5Vrg)

401 It's a natural result of comparative advantage (in trade) and technological advancement. If you have oil, your country will focus on oil, if you have farmland, your country will focus on farming. Places with neither, just people, will have sectors that only require human labor.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at March 13, 2022 10:46 AM (z5Vrg)

The US used to have all three.

Then the insane children took over.

Posted by: weirdflunky at March 13, 2022 10:47 AM (cknjq)

402 Obligatory mention of his "Advice to a young man," which used to be out on the internet.

With that, I'm off to Mass.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 10:30 AM (llXky)

Haha! Yes! I just read that in the biography yesterday! What a hoot! And likely very true.

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - no longer playing the game at March 13, 2022 10:48 AM (hlxe7)

403 I was told a long time ago that "Babylon 5" was written as a complete story and that the author refused to add anything more when the story was over. When the five years of the series were over, it was over.

So, any truth to that?

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at March 13, 2022 10:48 AM (lKAqb)

404 379 ... "I once had an idea for a short story where aliens come to earth. They promise all the world leaders a trip to visit their homeworld where they will share the secrets of their technology and longevity. On the way, the aliens dump the politicians out of an airlock and congratulate themselves for saving the human race."

Perfessor,

Please. It's not nice to tease us.

Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 10:49 AM (7EjX1)

405 I'll agree that most of his stuff can be boring unless you're into bullfighting or whatever. For Whom the Bell Tolls is great at beginning and end, but sags in the middle. (So did the Gary Cooper film.) But everyone who wants to write needs to read a little of him, if only so you know what it is he did. My ex-father-in-law said he "brought the English language back from rococo."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 08:56 AM (c6xtn)

That is like saying Gropius and the Bauhaus movement saved architecture from neo-Italianate style, but no one who has been oppressed by modern office buildings will ever say "thank you"

Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 10:49 AM (xhaym)

406 Skip -

Continuing prayers....

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 10:49 AM (arJlL)

407 " aliens dump the politicians out of an airlock and congratulate themselves for saving the human race."

we have more of a Body Snatcher situation. Any decent politician that goes to DC is replaced by a reptilian globalist wearing the former politician's skinsuit.

(not actually sure if that was the plot in Body Snatchers)

Posted by: illiniwek at March 13, 2022 10:49 AM (Cus5s)

408 SMOD and aliens always disappoint.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at March 13, 2022 10:49 AM (lKAqb)

409 "Laugha whilea you canna, monkey boy."

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at March 13, 2022 10:51 AM (lKAqb)

410 When describing the media and most of the DC crowd, I have applied two fabricated words, both of which I believe to be examples of portmanteau:

Progressive + Prostitute = Progresstitute

Smug + errr, let's say "Karen-ish" = Smunty

Posted by: Matthew Kant Cipher at March 13, 2022 10:51 AM (kuJJV)

411 Bonnie Blue,
What is the biography you are reading? The Autobiography is whetting my appetite for more about the man.
Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 10:32 AM (7EjX1)

Benjamin Franklin an American Life
by Walter Isaacson (published 2003)

I picked it up at the library used book store for a dollar. It references/cites pieces of the autobiography as well as other biographies written by other authors. Very enjoyable read.

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - no longer playing the game at March 13, 2022 10:51 AM (hlxe7)

412 Books with exclusion zones: Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy; M. John Harrison's three novel cycle Light, Nova Swing and Empty Space; Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep and Children of the Sky.

Posted by: 13times at March 13, 2022 10:52 AM (yxp1g)

413 Well, Book Thread is winding down. Time to put on pants.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 10:52 AM (Dc2NZ)

414 It's a scam. They've been stuffing ballot boxes forever.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at March 13, 2022 10:43 AM (lKAqb)

As long as there have been ballot boxes. This reminds me of the Churchill quote about democracy.

Posted by: TC at March 13, 2022 10:52 AM (6h3rL)

415 My son was telling me about Rhodes Island yesterday. Except for Providence and some other city, it is red. My first though was "They've been cheating for a century at least."

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at March 13, 2022 10:54 AM (lKAqb)

416 Mrs. JTB just finished reading the latest Nora Kelley series, Diablo Mesa, by Preston and Child. The same team that writes the Pendergast books. She really enjoyed it both for the story and the way the authors bring in characters from the other books which keeps all their books in the same 'universe'.

Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 10:55 AM (7EjX1)

417 And he pulled Pournelle up with him. I've never been captured by any of Pournelle's solo fiction, but his collaborations with LN, including those with Steven Barnes, are terrific.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 09:00 AM (c6xtn)

King David's Spaceship is one, though I suspect he was one of those authors who is best when constrained by someone else's vision.

Pournelle used to talk to a talk show host locally, for some reason Lars Larson used to be able to call him up to chat on-air.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 10:55 AM (xhaym)

418 Well, Book Thread is winding down. Time to put on pants.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes

I just came in from outside....time to remove some clothes.

Posted by: JT at March 13, 2022 10:56 AM (arJlL)

419 411 ... Bonnie Blue,
Thanks for the Franklin biography title. Time to hit the used book store this week.

Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 10:57 AM (7EjX1)

420 Eris found something amusing for book thread, as soon as figure out how will send it.

Posted by: Skip at March 13, 2022 10:57 AM (2JoB8)

421 363 Here's an earworm for Muldoon. Theme song for Beverly Hillbillies, replace Jed Clampett with Joe Bisen.
Posted by: Sock Monkey * Ungovernable at March 13, 2022 10:24 AM (CfSKC)

Jed Clampett is a MUCH better person than Joe could every hope to be.

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - no longer playing the game at March 13, 2022 10:57 AM (hlxe7)

422 I did?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 10:58 AM (Dc2NZ)

423 That is like saying Gropius and the Bauhaus movement saved architecture from neo-Italianate style, but no one who has been oppressed by modern office buildings will ever say "thank you"
Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 10:49 AM (xhaym)

Isn't Bauhaus epitomized by the cube hotel built for the Canadian Worlds Fair, and then converted into apartments?

Posted by: Fox2! at March 13, 2022 10:59 AM (qyH+l)

424 President Biden issued a warning to his party about the possibility of Republicans taking control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections during remarks to Democratic National Committee members on Thursday evening.

He encouraged Democrats to use the same work ethic, enthusiasm and energy they had in the 2020 election as they seek to keep control of the House and Senate, and to add seats.

"If we don't do that, don't do that, it''s going to be a sad, sad two years. Think about Republicans if they controlled the Congress these last two years," the president said to members at their winter meeting in Washington, D.C.

-
"same work ethic, enthusiasm and energy they had in the 2020 election"? So more better vote fraud?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Proprietor of the Outrage Outlet at March 13, 2022 10:59 AM (FVME7)

425 422 I did?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 10:58 AM (Dc2NZ)

"I" see what you did there.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 13, 2022 10:59 AM (zVb98)

426 Nood

Posted by: Skip guy who says NOOD at March 13, 2022 11:02 AM (2JoB8)

427 I'm guessing the author was probably a LARPr or some kind of SCA guy. Anyone else read it?

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of Outward Frontier, a military sci-fi novel on Amazon at March 13, 2022 09:05 AM (qF9hv)

I started it because it was set in the Willamette Valley, but a quick glance ahead in one of the volumes had a scene-by-scene recreation of the siege of the hospital, including the dialogue with different character names, from the movie Zulu, so I figured I had better things to do with my time.

The Peshwar Lancers and The Difference Engine I will suggest to anyone, they were fantastic, well crafted books that were fun to read.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 11:03 AM (xhaym)

428 The god they worship is materialism, and the Boomers really got that cult going.
The central base thing at the root of all modern problems is exactly this. Not that everyone lived by the rules of Christ by a long shot in the pre modern era, but considering what God might think of your actions was at least in the back of the mind of every Western human who wasn't a full-fledged psychopath. It served as a bit of a check. When that became replaced by "you only live once" "you do you" and "smart financial decisions mean you always think what's in it for me" the door was opened for today's awful societal mess.

Posted by: azjaeger at March 13, 2022 11:18 AM (3/XaG)

429 Janice Holt Giles! Six Horse Hitch is my favorite by her; read it as a stand-alone but apparently it's the culmination of a series about the fictional Fowler family. Read it if you want to know what it's like to be on the box of a stagecoach driving six horses across a barely-tamed frontier. That woman could write, and puts you into a totally immersive experience from page one. I love an author who can do that. Currently re-reading my collection of Georgette Heyer regency romances, just for something light-hearted and fun, starting off with "Powder And Patch."

Posted by: tankascribe at March 13, 2022 11:19 AM (rcloO)

430 When you can get rich just by digging stuff out of the ground, there's no reason to build or innovate or hustle. Just charge a fee for digging stuff out of the ground. Personal advancement means your tribe kills off the people currently charging the fee and takes their place.
The one exception I can think of is Texas.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 13, 2022 09:25 AM (QZxDR)

Joel Mokyr writes a lot about this, but I won't suggest any of his books, because I am a year and a half into reading Culture of Growth, which is interesting but he is a difficult read and tends to invent his own terminology.

A far more accessible book on this subject is Guns, Sails and Empires by Carlo M. Cipolla, who looks at technological change from agriculture to Industrial Revolution by following development of cannon and sailing technology. Both Cipolla and Mokyr argue that the changes that supported this transformative technological change actually put an end to Western culture and allowed the development of what we call Modernity. These two authors approach the same question in very different perspectives.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 11:22 AM (xhaym)

431 T no, Napoleoni bragged he could have if he wanted but I have my doubts. She was his mortal enemy, sadly she died before 1813 rekindled the war
Posted by: Skip's Phone at March 13, 2022 08:17 AM (sJG57)

He did say she was the best man in the Prussian government

Posted by: Oldcat at March 13, 2022 11:30 AM (EJbIh)

432 For me, as much as I enjoyed all of the Aubrey/Maturin books, I think Forester is a superior writer with his Hornblower. Forester says in 20 words what O'Brian takes three pages to describe. Yes, O'Brian is detailed beyond what Forester presents, but I think Forester is a better write. My opinion, anyway.

Posted by: goatexchange at March 13, 2022 09:33 AM (APPN

Forester was a writer who wrote about characters
O'Brian was a poet who wrote about language and personalities
Dudley Pope was a sailor who wrote about sailing.

so, Forester's focus was plot and motivation and character, O'Brian was focused on language and interactions between difficult people who had to accommodate each other with plot as the vehicle for it all, and Dudley Pope, who wrote the Lord Rammage books, was never so lyrical as when he discussed ships and sailing them.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 11:31 AM (xhaym)

433 And he pulled Pournelle up with him. I've never been captured by any of Pournelle's solo fiction, but his collaborations with LN, including those with Steven Barnes, are terrific.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at March 13, 2022 09:00 AM (c6xtn)

I think Pournelle grounded Niven - Niven's solo stuff kept getting painted into corners by some of his worldbuilding whereas the world of Mote is pretty believable in its background of a cooperation between superpowers.

Pournelle solo is a bit too grounded, little aspiration.

Posted by: Oldcat at March 13, 2022 11:39 AM (EJbIh)

434 Since Russia's rich history is on topic, I posted this on the dead Georgia thread yesterday.

This is a free "book", a debate (of sorts) between Dugin of Russia and Olavo de Carvalho of Brazil. The topic is this new world order interpreted. It's 169 pages in pdf.

https://is.gd/XUFbqR

OMG, Dugin inspired Putin and Carvalho inspired Bolsinaro.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 11:44 AM (xhaym)

435 I've both the Hornblower and the Aubrey-Maturin books several times. Both are very good, but they are very different. Forester said that when he wrote :Beat to Quarters", he wanted portray "the man alone", who had to make difficult decisions without being able to refer to anyone else. He succeeded well. However, Hornblower is the only fully realized character in the saga; everyone else, from Bush through Brown to Barbara and Maria, are one-dimensional. O'Brian, by contrast, created an ensemble piece, where the wildly contrasting characters of the bluff, hearty seaman Aubrey plays off the intellectual, guarded, Irish/Catalan physician Maturin, both fully realized.

IMHO, the Hornblower books are superior in their adherence to history and in their portrayal of the sea and the difficulties of command. By contrast, the Aubrey-Maturin books have humor, women, and music. It's worthwhile to contrast the one scene that both series portray: the passage of the Kattegat into the Baltic Sea. Hornblower is all seamanship; whereas Aubrey tells Maturin about the time he had to dress in drag to play Ophelia in a shipboard production of "Hamlet".

Posted by: Nemo at March 13, 2022 11:54 AM (S6ArX)

436 Continue to work my through the Moron-recommended 'The New Dealer's War'. It is astonishing that the Left/Prog/Lib/Dem playbook is so consistent, so disastrous, and yet remains so effective.

Reading of Roosevelt and his fellow travelers, there is very little difference between them (and their 'policies', and the consequences) and the Democrats in power now.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at March 13, 2022 11:59 AM (WZ5i4)

437 Hannah Fowler and the Believers are my favorite Giles books. I haven't read it but she did a meticulously researched book on the engineers that her husband served with in WWII

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at March 13, 2022 12:01 PM (YynYJ)

438 It's a natural result of comparative advantage (in trade) and technological advancement. If you have oil, your country will focus on oil, if you have farmland, your country will focus on farming. Places with neither, just people, will have sectors that only require human labor.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at March 13, 2022 10:46 AM (z5Vrg)

The problem with comparative advantage is that as understood it presupposes unchanging ability and fixed economic benefits. It is like saying a kid is a really good Starbux barrista so there is no point in going to welding school even if it will make him more money.
Adam smith missed the industrial revolution, and the cultural switch from agriculture.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 13, 2022 12:02 PM (xhaym)

439 It would be zero over the long term. Stress fractures, overstressed muscles that never heal, etc.

When the whole women in the combat arms came up a few years back, a female Afghan vet listed all her injuries and said women were simply not capable of doing it - their bone structure is working against them and no amount of exercise or training can fix it.

We're seeing the reverse with the dudes in skirts dominating women's sports. It's just a non-starter.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 09:40 AM (llXky)

The Israeli army found the same - and outnumbered as they are they had great motivation to find the opposite - that even "ordinary" route marches with packs could give women, even fit ones, disabling knee injuries and the like.

Posted by: Oldcat at March 13, 2022 12:03 PM (EJbIh)

440 BTW, this week I've been reading the autobiogaphy of Lady Elizabeth Butler, which can be downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg. Lady Elizabeth, nee Thompson, was an artist of the Victorian era who specialized in military scenes. Her "Defense of Rorke's Drift" perhaps her best known painting, or "Scotland Forever!" depicting the charge of the Scots Grays in the Crimean War. She was born to wealth, had many opportunities in life, and made the most of them. She was enormously talented, and worked very hard at her art, while maintaining a successful marriage and bearing six children. She's not a mesmerizing writer, but she writes clearly and without the braggadocio that afflicts many autobiographies of artists. Worth reading, if only for its portrayal of a woman who was completely of her time.

Posted by: Nemo at March 13, 2022 12:04 PM (S6ArX)

441 Yes, that's true about Babylon 5. The only change was after the first season. The actor playing Sinclair had a psychotic break and had to be written out. He went back and did an alternate for every single character, in case something like that happened again. And he kept the actor's secret until after his death.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at March 13, 2022 12:05 PM (YynYJ)

442 I just find it funny that the exact same people demanding "cultural sensitivity" are so thoughtless when it comes to their own beliefs.

In many ways, she reminds me of Barbara Tuchman's discourses within A Distant Mirror where she can't stop herself from observing that if only those sexist superstitious dopes had late 20th Century feminism, things would have been better for everyone.

I just find it really arrogant to look at a 3,500-year-old culture and say "You're doing it wrong," while posing as a voice of tolerance.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at March 13, 2022 08:39 AM (llXky)

Yes, I discarded a book on Parthian Empire where Iraq and Iran is now because if its anti-Americanism. How you stuff America in is quite a wonder, it being some 1800 years before America was founded.

Posted by: Oldcat at March 13, 2022 12:08 PM (EJbIh)

443 Continue to work my through the Moron-recommended 'The New Dealer's War'. It is astonishing that the Left/Prog/Lib/Dem playbook is so consistent, so disastrous, and yet remains so effective.

Reading of Roosevelt and his fellow travelers, there is very little difference between them (and their 'policies', and the consequences) and the Democrats in power now.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at March 13, 2022 11:59 AM (WZ5i4)

Moral sanction for being a petty wastrel has a far longer history than just the time of Roosevelt. Society is built to discourage that to the point of kicking your butt out entirely.

Posted by: Oldcat at March 13, 2022 12:11 PM (EJbIh)

444 440 ... The Elizabeth Butler autobiography is also available as a free Kindle book.

Posted by: JTB at March 13, 2022 12:15 PM (7EjX1)

445 #236 and #237 - yes, agree with the Professor and Lloyd. The Critical Drinker was absolutely right. Having had a real and interesting life makes for being able to write believable characters and situations. I noticed very early on that almost all of the authors (some of them great and once part of the English literature canon) had done something else for a while, before turning to writing: Shakespeare was an actor, producer and entrepreneur, Mark Twain was a lot of things, including a reporter, Raymond Chandler was in the oil bidness, Hemingway was also a reporter and had served in a war, like JRR Tolkien.
I could write about a lot of stuff much more convincingly at the age of 50+ than I could as a college-age twenty-something.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at March 13, 2022 12:47 PM (xnmPy)

446 This discussion of creating believable characters puts me in mind of the Robert Townsend movie "Hollywood Shuffle." Premise: aspiring actor, who is black, finds that too many roles for blacks are stereotyped. He winds up with the lead in "Jivetime Jimmy's Revenge," but ...

The movie ends with all the characters rapping about their viewpoints. The JJR writer, a nebbish who is white, says, "I learned about black people from TV."

Great comedy. Recommended.

In the same vein, I think that too many writers had a terrible time in high school, especially in PE. Have you even seen a gym teacher portrayed in a positive light?

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 13, 2022 01:31 PM (Om/di)

447 Oof, DST got me.
Thanks for the thread, Perfesser!

Posted by: gourmand du jour at March 13, 2022 01:32 PM (jTmQV)

448 Posted by: Sgt. Mom at March 13, 2022 12:47 PM (xnmPy)

This is important, but the odd writer can write about an interesting incident growing up and make a splash, then continue to write about "relationships" Francoise Sagan comes to mind, as does Austen. Sagan was all of 18 when she wrote Bonjour Tristesse, Austen 36 when Sense and Sensibility was published. Austen wrote work called her "Juvenilia" (like the Brontes, I presume) from a much earlier age.
I suppose it all depends on what you want to write, or rather what you do write successfully. Everyone can write about their growing up and family life from various age perspectives, not everyone can write convincingly about a period of time not their own, or about a profession in which they have never worked. (I laughed a lot at hospital TV shows and their prescriptions, which always work well. I recall a doc on ER giving a patient "1mg haldol IM, stat" which put the patient immediately to sleep. I could give them 5-10mg stat and have it take hours to work, and not always well, as it's not a very sedating drug Yet ER was a popular show and nobody knew the difference as it as often as not focused on relationships, not disease.)

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 02:18 PM (ONvIw)

449 cont. When we wrote fiction in HS, we were told we'd do best to fictionalize events we knew about, change the names, add tidbits to make a composite character. Flaubert said Emma Bovary was himself, but obviously a composite of himself and at least one woman.

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 02:22 PM (ONvIw)

450 Thanks for your hard work, Perfessor!

Posted by: CN at March 13, 2022 02:23 PM (ONvIw)

451 Re dies the fire:
Yes! Loved the first two books, as moderns struggled to adapt to the new world order. As the characters found out, it was hardest on the generation brought up in ease and technological splendor; their children born afterward had nothing to compare their life to except the tales told by their parents.

By the third novel is was just a medieval fantasy world that happened to be our own. I lost interest. Anybody else keep up with the series?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 13, 2022 09:16 AM (Dc2NZ)

Like Eris, I really enjoyed the first few books of the series. Somewhere around book four it turns into Pagan Left Behind for a bit. That's about where Stirling starts indulging in his love of characters who are twins and those who are lesbicans. I read the whole series because, as many issues as his writing contains, I rather enjoy it for some reason. But it does take a pretty hard turn after those first three books.

Posted by: J. Random Dude at March 13, 2022 02:42 PM (FfJxM)

452 Just finished "Every Drop of Blood" by Edward Achorn. The book covers Lincoln's re-election (not a sure thing) and his Second Inaugural Address. Mr. Achorn shows the mood of the country, especially Washington, D.C., through the perspectives of both Northerners and Southerners, players major and minor, the famous and the infamous, rather than that of President Lincoln. D.C. was a swamp, literally and figuratively, with as much back-biting and palace intrigue as now. Women controlled the social pecking order; a lot of intrigue happened at parties hosted by wives and daughters of influential men. A different perspective of a time that still has ramifications for today.

Posted by: March Hare at March 13, 2022 03:18 PM (lwrAe)

453 Scammer

Posted by: Shirley at March 13, 2022 08:02 PM (NFytM)

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