Sunday Morning Book Thread - 05-08-2022 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(Click for larger image - ht: IrishEI)

Good Morning, Horde! Also, Happy Mother's Day to all members of Horde who have borne children! Or is it Happy Birthing Parent Day? I can't keep up with the times...

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 (asking for a friend!). 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 [CENSORED BY DISINFORMATION GOVERNANCE BOARD]. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(Deep fryer not included - ht: Misanthropic Humanitarian, who posted these on the ONT for Monday, May 2, 2022)

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, heat up that [CENSORED BY DISINFORMATION GOVERNANCE BOARD] for your mom, and crack open a new book. What are YOU reading this fine Mother's/Birthing Parent's Day?

PIC NOTE

IrishEi sent me some pics of the Czech National Library, which has been undergoing some conversations about redesigning the existing, beautiful structure with
THIS MONSTROSITY--in every sense of the word, since it resembles some Lovecraftian horror engorged with books. Fortunately, the proposed design was rejected because sometimes common sense can rule the day. Prague is arguably one of the most spectacular cities in all of Europe. Why would anyone want to defile it? (Yes, I know, lefties in the art world have neither taste nor appreciation for classics in either literature or art. Idiots.) Anyway, the Czech National Library is a cultural treasure that deserves to be preserved for all time.

PONDERING THE IMPONDERABLE

Christopher R Taylor posted the following in an afternoon thread a few weeks ago:

This is completely off an amusing and heart-warming topic, but I realized something last night as I was drifting off: nearly all fantasy has a very "conservative" or traditional good vs evil moral and world outlook. Its almost always good people who are traditionally and Biblically understood as righteous, against evil people who are traditionally understood as evil.
There are some more recent aberrations like the woeful His Dark Materials crap and some more woke silly fantasy that hasn't caught on at all, but fantasy is one of the few, rare pockets of old fashioned understandings of good and evil.
Westerns used to be, but they've gone full deconstruction and now there's no real daylight between the hero and their opponents (see Unforgiven, for example).
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at April 19, 2022 02:00 PM (KZzsI)

I think he makes an excellent point that fantasy, perhaps moreso than any other genre, really explores the dichotomy of good v. evil. Ideally, the "good" side should win in the end, though often the heroes have to go through enormous struggle and suffering to achieve that end. They take us on that journey of suffering and we get to see how they wrestle with the question of good v. evil. The temptation is always there to give in to evil. Overcoming that temptation is a key challenge in the hero's character development.

A friend of mine who teaches a fantasy literature class says that there are three main characteristics to fantasy literature. First, as mentioned above, is the struggle between good and evil (sometimes presented as order v. chaos--see Michael Moorcock). Second, there must be metaphysical and/or supernatural elements to the story. Most often this is presented as magic or fantastic creatures, but it could also be some representation of a divine or infernal presence (i.e., drawing upon Christian mythos). Third, it must have a "hero's journey" somewhere within the story. You can have fantasy without it, I suppose, but it's usually present in some fashion or other. The classic fairy tale is a prime example of fantasy literature.

Are there any genres of literature that do an equal or better job of exploring the conflict between good and evil? How do those genres do it differently than traditional fantasy?

Wolfus Aurelius chimed in with the following comment last week:

Larry Niven's comment on fantasy (yes, he has written some very good stuff in the genre) was that if you are writing fantasy, you have an obligation to deal with universal concepts. He added, "One may ignore any obligations, of course."
Knowing LN's work as I do, I'm sure he's never let "dealing with universals" get in the way of a good story.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 01, 2022 11:11 AM (c6xtn)

Fantasy deals with larger-than-life, universal concepts such as good v. evil, order v. chaos, the fate of nations or worlds, the hero's journey, etc.

If you prefer a different genre, what are the key characteristics that define that genre? For example, mysteries seem to be characterized by a puzzle for the reader to solve. What "universal concepts" does your preferred genre explore?

How are "universal concepts" explored in nonfiction?

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(Confession time! Which Moron's library is this?)

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BOOKS BY MORONS

I've been reading Ace of Spades for at least a decade and since retiring from the Air Force last year, I've been following my real passion of writing books. My first book series, The Vixen War Bride is available at Amazon.com (sorry, it's not available anywhere else yet. I was taking the path of least resistance). Link and blurb are below.
The fourth book in the series comes out next month, and I sure wouldn't mind an Ace of Spaces recommendation to help me with the sales. I also wouldn't mind sending you a signed hardcopy or two (not that they're worth anything) if you would like to use as door prizes, fire wood, etc.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Thomas J. Doscher
The Vixen War Bride
With the destruction of their home colony, Captain Ben Gibson and his Army Rangers have nowhere else to go.
Six months after humanity's victory in Earth's first ever interstellar war, a group of soldiers are tasked with running a convoy refueling base in a rural part of the occupied enemy world. When they arrive, they find the local village has been abandoned in anticipation of their arrival by the panicked residents. Fearing a possible humanitarian crisis, the troops have to go into the alien wilderness to find them, reassure them that the humans are not the savages they've been taught they are and bring them back.
And it won't be easy. They will have to overcome language barriers, a fearful and hostile population, cross-cultural miscommunications, almost no support from the Army, and their own demons to succeed. With no idea where to start, it looks nearly impossible until the sudden arrival of a dirty, disheveled priestess who confesses to a host of war crimes and demands she be executed for them.

Comment: This looks like there's quite a bit of weirdness going on in this story! Throw an army platoon into hostile enemy territory with little to no information and see what shakes out. What could possibly go wrong?

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Moron author Robert Zimmerman from the website Behind the Black is looking for a freelance indexer to help him create the index for the print version of his book Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space.

Anyone interested in being a freelance indexer can simply post a comment at Behind the Black.

It's currently available in electronic format at the usual sources at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc., or you can purchase it directly from his publisher HERE.

You can also find his other books under the Books drop-down menu on his website.

In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice. The book shows that slavery was never inevitable, and that the different response to the lure of slavery between the southern and northern colonies in America demonstrated this fact. While the evil of slavery grew and prospered in the south, in the north it was soundly rejected. Instead, the northern British colonies established free societies, so free that their descendants inevitably rose up to fight a war to end slavery in the south.
These are the same conflicts at the heart of today's current events. Individual freedom, limited government, and personal responsibility are being constantly challenged by the modern cultural focus on power, race, identity politics, and a blind dependence on centralized government. By showing the contrast between those failed southern colonies and the rest of America, Conscious Choice will give modern Americans the historical background of their country that they need in order to make the right choices for the future.

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MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Currently reading portions of A Companion to JRR Tolkien by Stuart D. Lee. Mainly because lots of people here talk about LoTR. I'm mostly interested about the origins of Galadriel and Ungoliant. And as I was looking through the various chapters one sentence jumped out. [...] "the Battle of Pellenor Fields; the eucatastrophe of Aragon's unexpected arrival..."
This past week we've been witness to a secular-temporal eucatastrophe; the Fall of Twitter, Major Stronghold of the Woke. Elon Musk's unexpected arrival, the sudden joyous turn of events and sudden joyous moment.
Posted by: 13times at May 01, 2022 09:57 AM (QcZeT)

Comment: This should not be confused with The Complete Tolkien Companion by J.E.A. Tyler and Kevin Reilly. Or The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Boxed Set by Wayne G. Hammond. There are a lot of Tolkien Companions out there! Don't be fooled by imitations! Though the three mentioned on this page are certainly all excellent sources for anyone who really wants to know about Tolkien and his works. I like the one by Tyler and Reilly because it's a handy reference book for much of the lore, rather than focusing on Tolkien himself. Great to have on hand when reading Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, or The Silmarillion.

J.R.R. Tolkien is credited with coining the term "eucatastrophe," which affixes the Greek root "eu-," meaning "good," to "catastrophe," which normally denotes something bad happening in a story. The end result is a word that means a good ending out of a situation that normally ends badly. As 13times points out, we are living through some eucatastrophic events in history right now. The end is still very much in doubt, but we can pray for a happy ending.

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Cracked open a used book copy of a novel I had read in the early '70's- The Peaceable Kingdom by Jan de Hartog.
It's an admittedly fictionalized account of the beginning of the Quaker movement in 17th cent England and the challenges they faced in mid-17OO's America a century later.
Very long and dense, vivid characters, and an unobtrusive sense of place and time.
For me, this is one reason why re-reading novels is not a waste of time- the insights and understanding that I brought to the book 40+ years later improved the reading experience immensely.
Posted by: sal at May 01, 2022 11:24 AM (bJKUl)

Comment: I'm not that familiar with the time period or the Quakers in general. However, sal makes an excellent point that re-reading a book years or even decades later can lead to deeper enjoyment based on accumulated life experiences. I know I've had that epiphany recently when re-reading books that I first read when I was a young squirrel. I find so much more meaning to them, now that I have a broader and deeper well of knowledge from which to draw.

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I actually have something for the Book Thread for once! It's getting willowed, but I'm still posting it.
Yesterday my order of the three Guild Wars books (Ghosts of Ascalon, Edge of Destiny, Sea of Sorrows) arrived. I've read the two that were published in 2011 and 2012 when they came out, but never the one from 2013. They did a fantastic job of introducing the world and gameplay without going into specifics like skills and attributes. Plus the writing was great ("You're the jackass brother I never had!").
Posted by: pookysgirl, GW2 fan...atic at May 01, 2022 01:30 PM (XKZwp)

Comment: Just because you are late to the party doesn't mean I'm not watching! For those who are not in the know, Guild Wars is a "massive multiplayer online role-playing game" (MMORPG). Like a lot of them, it has its own dedicated fanbase and even a book franchise. I'm not familiar with this particular game and book series, but I've read a few of the novels published for World of Warcraft (another MMORPG). They aren't too bad. It helps when the author already has experience writing for this genre. For instance, Jeff Grubb, the co-author of this series, is a frequent author for Dungeons and Dragons books and materials.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE!

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

If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or 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 OUR library at libib.com/u/perfessorsquirrel. Since I added sections for AoSHQ, I now consider it OUR library, rather than my own personal fiefdom...

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 05-01-22 (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 BOING!

Posted by: Biden's Dog at May 08, 2022 09:00 AM (viHpT)

2 Good morning, fellow bibliophiliacs!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at May 08, 2022 09:00 AM (Dc2NZ)

3 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 09:00 AM (2JoB8)

4 th?

Posted by: SPinRH_F-16 at May 08, 2022 09:00 AM (DSTSG)

5 Working on Richard Pipes Russian Revolution, still in pre 1917 but seeing Russian society was screwed being stuck in century old system.

Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 09:02 AM (2JoB8)

6 Trying to read the the Socialist Phenomenon.

Posted by: Trabant Owner at May 08, 2022 09:02 AM (yrol0)

7 Good morning to all the fellow alumni in the Horde, and to the Horde.

Or Guten Tag, if you're closer to my time zone.

I finished Taylor's _Principles of Scientific Management_ this past week and am on to Henri Fayol's _General and Industrial Management_.

Posted by: SPinRH_F-16 at May 08, 2022 09:03 AM (DSTSG)

8 "This year, the human race is letting down its hair, flipping its lip with a finger, and saying 'Wubba, wubba, wubba.'" -- Potiphar Breen, statistician, in Heinlein's "The Year of the Jackpot"

Here it is in Galaxy Magazine:

https://tinyurl.com/5n8accnm

This story appears to fit in the early "Crazy Years" on his "Future History" timeline. A business consultant who in his spare time is a hobbyist statistician, Potiphar Breen loves gathering oddball information and finding patterns in all the seemingly disparate data. He has charted recurrent trends and is noticing cycles of inexplicably weird lemminglike behavior among the populace.

It's funny how Heinlein predicted the mass outbreak of ergot hallucinations we know as "social media". Breen jokes that they are living in Fortean Times.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 09:03 AM (Dc2NZ)

9 Good morning Bookists, and Happy Mothers Day!

Reading Alamo in the Ardennes, yet another Battle of the Bulge book that misses the forest for the trees.

And have re-discovered the Internet Archive, a trove of free reading, if you don't mind reading online.

Thanks Squirrel, great job!

Posted by: goatexchange at May 08, 2022 09:03 AM (APPN8)

10 Back in awhile. . . gotta go mow the lawn.

Posted by: SPinRH_F-16 at May 08, 2022 09:04 AM (DSTSG)

11 Finishing up The Anglo Saxons. Then I ordered some 4-5 books on Roman Empire history.

Evelyn Nielsen Wood, where are you when I finally need you?!

Posted by: Biden's Dog at May 08, 2022 09:04 AM (viHpT)

12 Currently doing a re-read of the Mich Rapp series.

Posted by: Vic at May 08, 2022 09:04 AM (mZwKe)

13 The German Instrument of Surrender (German: Bedingungslose Kapitulation der Wehrmacht

was the legal document that effected the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and ended World War II in Europe. The decision to surrender was made public on 8 May 1945.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 08, 2022 09:04 AM (yrol0)

14 Click for larger image

*image gets smaller*

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at May 08, 2022 09:04 AM (bg3iC)

15 Happy Mother's Day, book nerds!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 08, 2022 09:05 AM (kf6Ak)

16 Book Recommendation: Cloud-Castles, by Dave Freer. Brilliant book, very emotionally satisfying ending.

I will let Sarah Hoyt do the review:

https://is.gd/c81WKe

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 08, 2022 09:05 AM (PiwSw)

17 Another Sunday book thread. There goes my allowance.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 08, 2022 09:05 AM (45fpk)

18 Little reading done this past week, not even Sefton's output, owing to the collapse of T-Mobile service. Grrr.

Instead, I bought even more books.

Picked up a trade collection of Iron Man comics (in color!), ending with Iron Man No. 1.

Then decided to get MP4's new novel. The Amazon sample sold it. I try to avoid Amazon, but this is a good cause. Don't let me down, MP4.

Finally, I came across an old essay online on W.C. Fields playing a cardsharp. (Been on a Mae West binge, including "My Little Chickadee," with Fields.) Blurb at the end said it was to be part of a book, "Poker and Pop Culture," on the influence of poker in the U.S. Checked AbeBooks and found that it had been published. Bit the bullet and ordered it.

Maybe I'll get some reading done this week.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 08, 2022 09:06 AM (Om/di)

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 08, 2022 09:07 AM (yrol0)

20 Click for larger image

*image gets smaller*
Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy

It may be opposite day.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 08, 2022 09:07 AM (bJxw1)

21 I read Never by Ken Follett. In this novel the law of unintended consequences runs amok, and there is ample evidence to prove that the road to Hell is pave with good intentions. Responses to minor hostilities keep escalating the situations despite everyone involved saying that their response should be measured and proportionate so as not to escalate tensions. This is a very good thriller, but the reader must put up with a fair share of wokeness.

Posted by: Zoltan at May 08, 2022 09:08 AM (BqmrH)

22 nearly all fantasy has a very "conservative" or traditional good vs evil moral and world outlook. Its almost always good people who are traditionally and Biblically understood as righteous, against evil people who are traditionally understood as evil.

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Yes, it's one of the reasons I like it so.
There are woke writers that try to subvert it, specially at Tor, iirc.
I try to steer clear of them, as they leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 08, 2022 09:10 AM (kf6Ak)

23 Happy Mother’s Day to all!
I am reading the Colleen Hoover book It Ends With Us. It is a fairytale, or might as well be. Daughter wanted me to read it. So I am

Posted by: Jmel at May 08, 2022 09:10 AM (bVhJi)

24 6 Trying to read the the Socialist Phenomenon.
Posted by: Trabant Owner at May 08, 2022 09:02 AM (yrol0)
===
Reading it and driving it.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 08, 2022 09:11 AM (EZebt)

25 Men have nipples because in the womb we all start out as tadpoles.

Those pants....yummy!

More coffee.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 08, 2022 09:11 AM (R/m4+)

26 If you prefer a different genre, what are the key characteristics that define that genre? For example, mysteries seem to be characterized by a puzzle for the reader to solve. What "universal concepts" does your preferred genre explore?

Mysteries are chiefly about the puzzle, but really good mysteries also develop characters that you care about. I'm currently reading 'Thin Air', which is one of a series based in the Shetland Islands, by Ann Cleves. She does a good job of this. If you've ever watched the series 'Shetland' on TV, you'll see how her characters come to life in an atmosphere that draws you in.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 08, 2022 09:12 AM (45fpk)

27 24 6 Trying to read the the Socialist Phenomenon.
Posted by: Trabant Owner at May 08, 2022 09:02 AM (yrol0)
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Reading it and driving it.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 08, 2022 09:11 AM (EZebt)

Funny I did not see that my handle from an old comment match the current one!

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 08, 2022 09:13 AM (yrol0)

28 I've been re-reading Tom Wolfe lately. That man had an eye for social changes. In the early Sixties he noticed there was this thing called "youth culture" and began chronicling its rise. In the Eighties he noticed there was this place nicknamed "Silicon Valley" and started writing about its rise. And toward the end of his life he began to notice how societies all over the world were reverting to kinship tribalism.

It's a damned shame he decided he should be a novelist. He wrote a couple of great books, but I keep thinking about all the nonfiction he didn't write as a result.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 08, 2022 09:13 AM (QZxDR)

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

Posted by: JT at May 08, 2022 09:13 AM (arJlL)

30 Three weeks to go to the Lone Star Book Festival in beautiful downtown Seguin! Lots of independent Texas authors, and live music. I've got a booth assignment, M5, which seems to be on Donegan St. in front of the courthouse, and across from the bandstand in the square. Hope to see as many of the Texas 'rons who can come and revel in books and music.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at May 08, 2022 09:13 AM (xnmPy)

31 I've liked everything by T. Kingfisher so far. Her stories are dark but have gallows humor. "Nettle and Bone" is a fairy story in which a princess, with the help of a knight, a witch, and a fairy godmother, attempts to rescue her sister from the clutches of an evil prince.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 09:13 AM (Dc2NZ)

32 Happy Mother's Day jmel !

Posted by: JT at May 08, 2022 09:14 AM (arJlL)

33 29 I don't think the pants guy owns a weedwhacker.(if you catch my drift....)
Posted by: JT at May 08, 2022 09:13 AM (arJlL)
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I don't! What is the provenance of the weedwhacker/Chadliness thing?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 09:14 AM (Dc2NZ)

34 This week I finally got around to Steinbeck's "East of Eden."

It's an ambitious novel, with many inelegances. The philosophical dialogues appear above many of the characters' pay grades, and are not as believable as, say, Dostoevsky's. The saga of two families reads like two novels, not always successfully integrated.

Given the flaws, it's nonetheless a great read. It covers two generations in depth, two families, two sets of brothers, and two women, one wise and the other evil. Along the way Steinbeck addresses race prejudice, the individual evil that leads to violence and war, and the paradox that the individual must remain the standard of value over the collective.

It's also a love song to the Salinas Valley, undeveloped and developed. The area underlies the clarity of Steinbeck's prose as much as Yoknapatawpha County does the chaos of Faulkner's.

All in all, a good week for reading.

Posted by: Brett at May 08, 2022 09:16 AM (Sm9Ko)

35 Whoa. Full thread!

This week's reading has been:

"With the Jocks, A Soldier's Struggle For Europe 1944-45", by Peter White. A young Brit officer leading a platoon of Scotsmen in frozen NW Europe. Excellent book about some very brave men.

"Eyes of the Void", sequel to "Shards of Earth", by Adrian Tchaikovsky. He is the author of "Children if Time" and "Children of Ruin" about sentient spiders and squids, respectively. Eyes of the Void and Shards are about humanity being nearly exterminated by yuge alien planet killers. Much hijinks with several very odd alien races. All of Tchaikovsky's science fiction is very strange and compelling.

Finishing up "Rubicon", by Tom Holland. Caesar making his fateful decision. Excellent history well-written.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 08, 2022 09:16 AM (8gxrg)

36 Reading it and driving it.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 08, 2022 09:11 AM (EZebt)

Starting, cold, engine: One has to be standing at or near the blades fan prepared to introduce a hammer force sufficient to render aid to the starter.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 08, 2022 09:16 AM (yrol0)

37 Anyone ever have to go back into an earlier written section or a work to support a plot point developed later in the story?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 09:16 AM (7bRMQ)

38 I also read A Delayed Life: The True Story of the Librarian of Auschwitz by Dita Kraus. This is an interesting account of a concentration survivor. Her revenge on the Nazi is that she survived and became the matriarch of a family of fourteen descendants.

During the past two years I've read quite a few books dealing with the Nazi camps and Hitler's rise to power. I guess I'm trying to pick up some survival tips for the future.

Posted by: Zoltan at May 08, 2022 09:17 AM (BqmrH)

39 That library! I wonder how long it took to dig that tunnel?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 09:18 AM (7bRMQ)

40 Working on Richard Pipes Russian Revolution, still in pre 1917 but seeing Russian society was screwed being stuck in century old system.
Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 09:02 AM (2JoB

One of the themes of Jay Winik's The Great Upheaval was that the feral violence of the French Revolution led Catherine the Great to defer liberalizing policies which ended up keeping the pressure on which ended up being as violent as it was in the early twentieth century

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 08, 2022 09:18 AM (y7DUB)

41 It's a damned shame he decided he should be a novelist. He wrote a couple of great books, but I keep thinking about all the nonfiction he didn't write as a result.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 08, 2022 09:13 AM (QZxDR)

I do not think Bonfire or I am Charlotte are totally fiction. Both show real insight and real world experiences with the people that makes me think he studied real live walking talking people.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 08, 2022 09:19 AM (yrol0)

42 Morning.
Happy Mother's Day.

Thanks Mom for encouraging me to read all those books you got for me when I was little.

Posted by: dantesed at May 08, 2022 09:19 AM (88xKn)

43 This Christopher R. Taylor chap seems quite the erudite and clever fellow.

The Horde is reminded that his "Life Unworthy" is an outstanding novel involving a werewolf, Nazis, Roma, the occult and devastated wartime Poland. I hate werewolf stories with he fiery heat of a trillion exploding suns, but I absolutely loved this book. Cannot recommend it more highly.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 08, 2022 09:20 AM (8gxrg)

44 I don't think the pants guy owns a weedwhacker.(if you catch my drift....)
Posted by: JT at May 08, 2022 09:13 AM (arJlL)
---

I don't! What is the provenance of the weedwhacker/Chadliness thing?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread

(there's one in every thread.....)

Posted by: JT at May 08, 2022 09:20 AM (arJlL)

45 It's a damned shame he decided he should be a novelist. He wrote a couple of great books, but I keep thinking about all the nonfiction he didn't write as a result.

Yeah, he peaked early with Bonfire of the Vanities. I Am Charlotte Simmons and A Man in Full were both books that tried to hard. Wolfe seemed to be parodying his own earlier writing style, which was great in his prime, but wasn't in those two works.

Posted by: Brer Normal Man at May 08, 2022 09:22 AM (ZsR3z)

46 One book I'm not reading because it hasn't come out yet is _Aspects_, the last (unfinished) novel by the late John M. Ford. Ford was an awesome SF and fantasy writer who wasn't at all snobbish about roleplaying games and movies. He wrote the two best Star Trek novels ever, and a poem about 9/11 called "110 Stories" which is like an icepick to the brain.

He was very active on Usenet back in the old days (the 20th century) and was very clever but very opinionated. I suspect that if he had lived into the age of Trump and Cancel Culture I probably wouldn't admire him nearly as much.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 08, 2022 09:23 AM (QZxDR)

47 Orange - are you speaking about reading, or writing? And in any case, 'yes' to both.

Posted by: goatexchange at May 08, 2022 09:24 AM (APPN8)

48 Interesting observations on fantasy. This "Imperial Stars" book that I am resuming has the protagonists trying to find an illegitimate heir to the throne of the space empire and a document that his father, the previous emperor, signed that declares the bastard the true heir. A legitimate offspring was born afterward.

The goal is to prevent civil war. Laudable, but I can't see the bastard son as evil -- the machinations of his mother notwithstanding -- so I'm torn as to whom to root for.

Despite the setting, this may not qualify as fantasy, as it's a secret-agent adventure with space trappings.

So which will triumph -- evil or evil? That's to be determined.

So much could have been avoided if the previous emperor had understood marital fidelity.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 08, 2022 09:24 AM (Om/di)

49 this week I finished The Long Winter by Laura Ingrahm Wilder, the fifth book about Laura's childhood.

Charles Ingrahm had settled a claim on Silver Lake and broke sod for planting. In October an early blizzard convinced them to move back into town where Charles owned a store building, to winter there instead of in the claim shanty. A series of severe blizzards cut off the railroad for supplies of food and the town was left to survive on the stores they had, which sold out. The family was reduced to burning twists of hay instead of coal for fuel. Laura talks about waking up with the windows iced over and the nailheads in the walls being white with frost. Because of the poor fuel the family lives in the kitchen where the stove puts out not enough heat, and celebrate when a farmer brings in meat, or Ma brings out Salt Cod she had been saving back, to make gravy for their bread.

With the whole town running out of supplies, Almanzo Wilder, who Laura later married, rode out to find a farmer who was rumored to have seed wheat and brought back enough for the town. In March the Chinook winds started the Spring thaw and the trains were able to get through again.

It is a good book.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 09:25 AM (xhaym)

50 dammit, INGALLS not Ingrahm.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 09:26 AM (xhaym)

51 Those pants are fine. I would wear them on casual Fryday.

Posted by: fd at May 08, 2022 09:26 AM (vrz2I)

52 Wolfe's books on art and architecture do have the flaw that he seemed confident that the whole vast grift of postwar "high culture" was going to collapse any minute now. He's gone but the grift goes on.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 08, 2022 09:26 AM (QZxDR)

53 I do not think Bonfire or I am Charlotte are totally fiction. Both show real insight and real world experiences with the people that makes me think he studied real live walking talking people.
Posted by: rhennigantx at May 08, 2022

***
Tom Wolfe is something like Herman Wouk. Both paint on big canvases portraying the America of their times, or in Wouk's case on occasion, World War II. Both (once you get past Wolfe's little stylistic flourishes) write as if they were talking directly to you. Wouk was much more prolific, but they are much alike as writers.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:28 AM (c6xtn)

54 46 One book I'm not reading because it hasn't come out yet is _Aspects_, the last (unfinished) novel by the late John M. Ford. Ford was an awesome SF and fantasy writer who wasn't at all snobbish about roleplaying games and movies. He wrote the two best Star Trek novels ever...
----

I didn't know he wrote "How Much For Just the Planet?"! I love that novel. A Star Trek story as Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera. I need to reread that.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 09:28 AM (Dc2NZ)

55 He added, "One may ignore any obligations, of course."

********

This is a nonsensical statement. What's his point?

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 09:28 AM (kXYt5)

56 Can I get those pants supersized?

Posted by: 4thewin at May 08, 2022 09:29 AM (8Dwik)

57 Morning, Horde...How goes it? I would have been here sooner, but I had to call my mother this morning (of course).

I finished A Crown of Swords, book 7 of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. It still holds up pretty well, though the ending is a bit anticlimactic. Next month I start book 8, The Path of Daggers.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 09:30 AM (K5n5d)

58 James Bartlett’s swamp Yankee series that you mentioned last week sounds fun. I just bought the first book, Glitter Girl. It’s next up for me after I finish the current book I’m reading, On Valor’s Side (a recollection of boot camp and the Pacific Theater in WWII by an enlisted marine.)

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at May 08, 2022 09:30 AM (d9Cw3)

59 I think what Niven meant is that "Fantasy writers should try to tackle universal questions -- unless it gets in the way of a good story in which case f--- that noise."

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 08, 2022 09:30 AM (QZxDR)

60 I didn't know he wrote "How Much For Just the Planet?"! I love that novel. A Star Trek story as Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera. I need to reread that.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 09:28 AM (Dc2NZ)
---
A surprising number of Star Trek novels have been written by established authors. I have "How Much for Just the Planet" somewhere in my own library.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 09:31 AM (K5n5d)

61 Orange - are you speaking about reading, or writing? And in any case, 'yes' to both.

Posted by: goatexchange at May 08, 2022 09:24 AM (APPN

Yes, writing. Thanks.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 09:31 AM (7bRMQ)

62 Hey, all! How flattering to be quoted on the Book Thread!

I think the Perfessor has the requirements for good fantasy nailed. The "hero's journey," though, I believe does not have to require the hero to traverse vast distances; it can be a much smaller literal distance, or it can be a distance within his own soul. Since I do not tend to write about lords or princes/princesses, but about more common people like prostitutes or retired soldiers, it's difficult for them to drop their lives and take off on a literal long journey. So if they must, the impetus has to be really great -- saving their own lives, say, or that of someone very important to them.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:32 AM (c6xtn)

63 20 Click for larger image

*image gets smaller*
Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy

It may be opposite day.
Posted by: Tonypete at May 08, 2022 09:07 AM (bJxw1)

-

Size matters.

Posted by: Biden's Dog at May 08, 2022 09:32 AM (viHpT)

64 Reading report. Borrowed 2 Steven Saylor books: Roma and Roman Blood.
But I am super excited that I also borrowed the new book by Wen Spencer, one of my favorite writers who is very slow in writing. Harbinger is part of the Tinker series, and it's been years since the previous book. I've forgotten a lot!
I am torn between jumping right in or reading the previous books.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 08, 2022 09:33 AM (kf6Ak)

65
This story appears to fit in the early "Crazy Years" on his "Future History" timeline. A business consultant who in his spare time is a hobbyist statistician, Potiphar Breen loves gathering oddball information and finding patterns in all the seemingly disparate data. He has charted recurrent trends and is noticing cycles of inexplicably weird lemminglike behavior among the populace.

It's funny how Heinlein predicted the mass outbreak of ergot hallucinations we know as "social media". Breen jokes that they are living in Fortean Times.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 09:03 AM (Dc2NZ)

The m waiting for the amateur street corner ecdysia.

Posted by: Shamy at May 08, 2022 09:33 AM (KA0tm)

66 Orange - hardly a professional writer here, with one whole book to my credit. I circled back repeatedly, to add or modify previous passages in order to strengthen a later point. Constantly. My progress was around a page a day, as a result.

Posted by: goatexchange at May 08, 2022 09:34 AM (APPN8)

67 I think the Perfessor has the requirements for good fantasy nailed. The "hero's journey," though, I believe does not have to require the hero to traverse vast distances; it can be a much smaller literal distance, or it can be a distance within his own soul. Since I do not tend to write about lords or princes/princesses, but about more common people like prostitutes or retired soldiers, it's difficult for them to drop their lives and take off on a literal long journey. So if they must, the impetus has to be really great -- saving their own lives, say, or that of someone very important to them.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:32 AM (c6xtn)
---
I very much agree that the Hero's Journey is not always about a physical, grueling external adventure. An internal conflict or struggle can be just as enchanting (pun intended!).

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 09:34 AM (K5n5d)

68 THIS MONSTROSITY...

Looks like a giant amoeba is eating the library, which-

I don't approve of.

However, a giant amoeba eating Congress-

I do approve of.

I welcome Our New Amoeba Overlords!

Posted by: naturalfake at May 08, 2022 09:35 AM (5NkmN)

69 Evelyn Nielsen Wood, where are you when I finally need you?!
Posted by: Biden's Dog at May 08, 2022

***
The Nattily Wood became the crotchety old Evelyn.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:35 AM (c6xtn)

70 Thinking about Wolfe and SF and pop culture in general it occurs to me that we're seeing today in "geek culture" what we saw in "high culture" in the 1960s. The creators stopped trying to appeal to the audience and were only looking to critics and award juries. Popularity became vaguely shameful.

We're seeing that now with moviemakers calling their audiences racists for not liking their preachy, shitty movies. We're seeing it with computer game creators calling their audience sexists for not likeing their preachy, shitty games. And comics. And toys.

When High Culture got turned into a navel-gazing status game among a bunch of gay New York millionaires, the public simply abandoned it for what became known as Pop Culture. Now that it's happening to Pop/Geek Culture, where do we go?

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 08, 2022 09:36 AM (QZxDR)

71 that seems certainly so, catherine's successor paul, well he didn't last long, alexander was no reformer, see what he did to the decembrists, Nicholas 1st was a reach autocrat, though, he got into the Crimean War stupidly, he spent most of his term taming the Caucasus,

Posted by: no 6 at May 08, 2022 09:36 AM (i0Lci)

72 He's gone but the grift goes on.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 08, 2022 09:26 AM (QZxDR)

bom bom bom bom bom
and the grift goes on

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 08, 2022 09:36 AM (yrol0)

73 Believe the book "History of the World Map by Map" was mentioned on this thread some months ago. It looked neat, but I passed on it. But then last weekend I saw it at Barns and Noble. And in-person, even at full price, it looked too cool to pass up. So now I have an oversized hardback book of maps of historical empires.

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 08, 2022 09:38 AM (Lhaco)

74 saylor in roman blood, suggests sulla got the bad end of the stick, as sallust was a partisan of caesar and hence marius, also he was the one responsible for capturing jugurtha, but marius got the credit,

Posted by: no 6 at May 08, 2022 09:38 AM (i0Lci)

75 I read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books when I was about 10. Bought the series for both of my daughters at about that same age and they devoured them. Wonderful stories.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 08, 2022 09:39 AM (8gxrg)

76 The Amazon self-publishing service suggests that as a marketing tool you seek out blogs or chat groups of like minded people or related topics and join in the conversation, as a way to broach the fact that you are an author and "oh, by the way I wrote a book about this that may be of interest." I don't think a first ever comment such as "Hey, I've read your blog for a long time, buy my book!" is what they are suggesting.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 09:39 AM (kXYt5)

77 Now that it's happening to Pop/Geek Culture, where do we go?

European High Culture?

Posted by: Brer Normal Man at May 08, 2022 09:39 AM (ZsR3z)

78 I had an excellent book haul this week...

Two Tad Williams books (The Heart of What was Lost and Brothers of the Wind).

Three excellent novels sold on Amazon as a package deal for around $50: The Neverending Story (hardcover), The Princess Bride (30th anniversary edition hardcover), and The Last Unicorn (trade paperback).

And one of you generous 'ettes sent me quite a few signed copies of your books which will be distributed to some lucky winners at the TXMOME in October! (I won't reveal your name--it's going to be a surprise!)

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 09:39 AM (K5n5d)

79 69 Evelyn Nielsen Wood, where are you when I finally need you?!
Posted by: Biden's Dog at May 08, 2022

***
The Nattily Wood became the crotchety old Evelyn.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:35 AM (c6xtn)
-

That's... going overboard!

Posted by: Biden's Dog at May 08, 2022 09:39 AM (viHpT)

80 keying off the sidebar, the clone wars is said to be happening in our interval, and the nuclear about 30 years from now, of course we may be hastening the cycle, thanks to shambling,

Posted by: no 6 at May 08, 2022 09:40 AM (i0Lci)

81 I'm with All Hail Eris, while the meaning of the weedwhacker thing is obvious, I still end up pondering every week why it is I don't quite get the drift.

No progress on any real books because I've been sucked into "My Reality TV Show" by Douglas R. Heim. I went to Jr. Hight and High School with him and he became a minor Green Bay celebrity. He put out this autobiography and I won't give it any style points but as a local, I find it really interesting. He was quite the entrepreneur and started a number of local businesses.

Posted by: who knew at May 08, 2022 09:40 AM (4I7VG)

82 I think I've said this before but it bears repeating. The best historical atlas series I've ever seen is the Penguin series by Colin McEvedy. The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History, . . . Medieval History, . . . Modern History, and . . . Recent History. They go up to about 1980 and are just a series of maps of Europe -- same projection, same scale every time -- with the borders moving around and a dense commentary on the facing page. Read them and you've got a solid understanding of Western history.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 08, 2022 09:41 AM (QZxDR)

83 When High Culture got turned into a navel-gazing status game among a bunch of gay New York millionaires, the public simply abandoned it for what became known as Pop Culture. Now that it's happening to Pop/Geek Culture, where do we go?
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 08, 2022 09:36 AM (QZxDR)
----
We start our own culture! With hookers and blackjack!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 09:41 AM (K5n5d)

84 Good morning fellow Book Threadists and Happy Mothers Day as applicable. I hope everyone had a great week of reading.

Posted by: JTB at May 08, 2022 09:41 AM (7EjX1)

85 Orange - hardly a professional writer here, with one whole book to my credit. I circled back repeatedly, to add or modify previous passages in order to strengthen a later point. Constantly. My progress was around a page a day, as a result.

Posted by: goatexchange at May 08, 2022 09:34 AM (APPN

Thanks, gx. I've only done it once. The stuff I try to do is usually short story. I'm trying a novella now and that's where I went back. Just added a few more words to a dialog to set up the point later.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 09:42 AM (7bRMQ)

86 I read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books when I was about 10. Bought the series for both of my daughters at about that same age and they devoured them. Wonderful stories.
Posted by: Sharkman

My grandma got me the first one for Christmas at about that age. I also devoured the entire series and thus begun reading adventures.

Posted by: Infidel at May 08, 2022 09:43 AM (M0FJx)

87 Posted by: Trimegistus at May 08, 2022 09:41 AM (QZxDR)
-

I just bought The Smithsonian's 3rd ed. of "History, From the Dawn of Civilization to the Present Day", published by DK.

Hernia alert.

Posted by: Biden's Dog at May 08, 2022 09:44 AM (viHpT)

88 If you can simply ignore an obligation, it isn't really an obligation, is it?

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 09:44 AM (kXYt5)

89 I just bought The Smithsonian's 3rd ed. of "History, From the Dawn of Civilization to the Present Day", published by DK.

Hernia alert.
Posted by: Biden's Dog at May 08, 2022 09:44 AM (viHpT)
---
Does it come with its own forklift?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 09:45 AM (K5n5d)

90 I'm with All Hail Eris, while the meaning of the weedwhacker thing is obvious, I still end up pondering every week why it is I don't quite get the drift.
Posted by: who knew

Are ya happy now Eris ?

Posted by: JT at May 08, 2022 09:45 AM (arJlL)

91 He added, "One may ignore any obligations, of course."

********
This is a nonsensical statement. What's his point?
Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022[/i

***
I think Niven meant that telling a good story is paramount, and one should not let his desire to speak to universals or to the human condition get in the way of telling that story.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:46 AM (c6xtn)

92 88 If you can simply ignore an obligation, it isn't really an obligation, is it?
Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 09:44 AM (kXYt5)

Depends on our definition. If it's taxes, or car registration...no. If it's a moral obligation, it sems pretty easy for some to ignore, sometimes with great gusto

Posted by: CN at May 08, 2022 09:47 AM (ONvIw)

93 Gagg ... That rejected library design looks like a Smurf hat.

Good to know some places still have sanity.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 08, 2022 09:47 AM (Om/di)

94 That's... going overboard!

Posted by: Biden's Dog at May 08, 2022 09:39 AM (viHpT)

Yeah, that kind of joke should be on a Mundy.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 09:48 AM (7bRMQ)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:50 AM (c6xtn)

96 The Cistine Library. Very nice.

Posted by: creeper at May 08, 2022 09:50 AM (cTCuP)

97 Good morning everyone! Perfessor Squirrel, nice posting! Long and girthy- exactly what a Smart Military Blog calls for.

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle teamed up to write two books that riffed off of Dante's Inferno;
Inferno and,
Escape from Inferno. Both are highly recommended.

Congrats to the other Moron authors on publishing your books- will have to check them out.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 09:51 AM (l/Jkq)

98 We here at the Horde HQ are all adults who know the basic tenets of morality and real, pedestrian, good v evil. For those who do not, raising good and evil to the level of society's very existence, makes good v evil, spectacular and rare, and something you can basically ignore.

If evil is black and white and there is no nuance or slippery slope, it may be fun fiction, but little else.

Posted by: CN at May 08, 2022 09:51 AM (ONvIw)

99 So Plutarch at least partially relied of sullas memoirs, thats where saylor gets some of this, Sallust and co, did most of the hagiography, because to the victors go the spoils, would the republic have collapsed the same way, we will never know,

Posted by: no 6 at May 08, 2022 09:51 AM (i0Lci)

100 Thanks for the shout-out, Perfersser Squirrel! I'll tell the stray cats in my yard not to chase you if they spot you.

The Complete Tolkien Companion by J.E.A. Tyler and Kevin Reilly is very well done, and I strongly recommend keeping a few bookmarks handy when reading due to the excellent cross-references. It's also how I found about the people of Haleth, the (very loose) basis for the fantasy book I'm writing.

Posted by: pookysgirl, fan of obscure lore at May 08, 2022 09:51 AM (XKZwp)

101 Oh- and Happy Mother's Day to any 'Ettes on here currently.
Wait, I just assumed both your gender and if you are a birthing person.

I denounce myself.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 09:52 AM (l/Jkq)

102 This week I started reading "Theistic Evolution," a collection of essays that explore the viability of the argument that God used the forces of random mutations and natural selection to create humans and all the other critters. It also delves into whether these forces, quite apart from the existence of God, could have caused humans to develop. I have about 800 more pages to go, so I can't evaluate the quality of the arguments yet. I will applaud the writers and editors for making the essays accessible to the non-scientifically educated layman. I don't want the 6th grade version, but I don't have a degree in molecular biology either. I'll give my final review in about 6 months when I'm done...

Posted by: PabloD says start up the rotors at May 08, 2022 09:52 AM (ZfIh5)

103 Maybe a good series to get my grand-neice for Christmas ( if find she doesn't have them) the Laura Ingalls books

Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 09:53 AM (2JoB8)

104 Anyone ever have to go back into an earlier written section or a work to support a plot point developed later in the story?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022

***
All the time. It's kind of like telling a joke; you have to have in the setup everything that makes the joke funny, or it doesn't work. In a long fantasy story of mine, I had to go back to plant a point about an amulet, that it had been stolen and not sold or given, in order to make the payoff at the end work out.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:53 AM (c6xtn)

105 I know my sister loved them as a kid

Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 09:54 AM (2JoB8)

106 Tolkien's Catholic-spiritual eucatastrophe is bound to Christian notions of the Miraculous; Providence, Grace, Joy. At least that is in general how I understand it. I downgraded it to a secular event for Elon Musk, knight errant. People describle him as unstable or chaotic. Very flawed. Pro abortion. The thing is, I really don't know much about the man.

Posted by: 13times at May 08, 2022 09:54 AM (9bvVb)

107 The Zimmerman book looks good as it does not see slavery as an exclusively race based thing. Making better choices, though? I hope so, but current mess says we're ignoring history.

Posted by: CN at May 08, 2022 09:54 AM (ONvIw)

108 If "telling a good story is paramount", words matter, and words have meanings, which also matter.

obligation n.

1. A social, legal, or moral requirement, such as a duty, contract, or promise, that compels one to follow or avoid a particular course of action.
2. The constraining power of a promise, contract, law, or sense of duty.
3. A document in which a person binds himself or herself to undertake or refrain from doing a particular act.

This does not comport with being something one can ignore.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 09:55 AM (kXYt5)

109 I welcome Our New Amoeba Overlords!
Posted by: naturalfake
----
Speaking of amoeba's...an old high school friend texted me Friday night. She was at a long time club listening to a band. She went to the bathroom and there was a group of girls talking about amoeba's in the Comal river and how dangerous it was since you could die!!! She remarked that she's been hundreds of time and "I'm not dead!" Anyways she told her husband and he didn't get the reference so she texted me because we use to watch that movie in high school.. I had forgotten about it until she mentioned it. Anyway, it gave me a smile and nice memory.
I started to read, Live Free or Die, on a recommendation from last week. Haven't gotten too far but not bad so far.

Posted by: lin-duh at May 08, 2022 09:56 AM (UUBmN)

110 82 I think I've said this before but it bears repeating. The best historical atlas series I've ever seen is the Penguin series by Colin McEvedy. The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History, . . . Medieval History, . . . Modern History, and . . . Recent History. They go up to about 1980 and are just a series of maps of Europe -- same projection, same scale every time -- with the borders moving around and a dense commentary on the facing page. Read them and you've got a solid understanding of Western history.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 08, 2022 09:41 AM

That might be worth looking into, sometime. Over the winter, due to recent events, I got into a discussion about when the Ukraine was (and wasn't) an actual independent nation. I tried to look up some historical maps on-line, but the clearest and most 'useful' maps turned out to alternate-history maps created by some guy on DeviantArt....

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 08, 2022 09:56 AM (Lhaco)

111 Clearly defined Good and Evil limits opportunity for smarty pants types to demonstrate how intellectually superior they are.

Posted by: davidt at May 08, 2022 09:56 AM (sReZj)

112 Brett, East of Eden I think is Steinbeck's masterwork, much more riveting than Grapes of Wrath. His portrait of Cathy the monster is a classic. I've never found the speeches he put in the mouths of the self-educated people in the story to be out of place.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:57 AM (c6xtn)

113 All the time. It's kind of like telling a joke; you have to have in the setup everything that makes the joke funny, or it doesn't work. In a long fantasy story of mine, I had to go back to plant a point about an amulet, that it had been stolen and not sold or given, in order to make the payoff at the end work out.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:53 AM (c6xtn)

Ok, so it isn't just me. The new idea had to be referenced earlier to make sense later. Thanks.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 09:57 AM (7bRMQ)

114 As for reading this week, my wife asked me to read "Why Are You Still Sending Your Kids to School."

Apparently the idea is loosely based on the Montessori method of kids becoming self learners at home instead of enduring the semi-useless curriculum most schools force.

My angle is countering the woke stupidity in addition to the lackluster teaching and concepts I know my kids won't use- like advanced algebra. Anyway, I just started it, so we'll see if the book proves its case.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 09:58 AM (l/Jkq)

115 I truly enjoyed Quo Vadis and received Without Dogma, a Sienkiewicz modern book, yesterday. It looks like my kind of book. Introspective, and looking at the consequences of smaller good v evil choices.

Posted by: CN at May 08, 2022 09:59 AM (ONvIw)

116 hat's... going overboard!

Posted by: Biden's Dog at May 08, 2022 09:39 AM (viHpT)

Yeah, that kind of joke should be on a Mundy.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022

***
It took me a moment to get that. Nattily Wood -> overboard --> married to Robert Wagner, who played Alexander Mundy.

The original gag is from Bored of the Rings, in case nobody got it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:00 AM (c6xtn)

117 112 Brett, East of Eden I think is Steinbeck's masterwork, much more riveting than Grapes of Wrath. His portrait of Cathy the monster is a classic. I've never found the speeches he put in the mouths of the self-educated people in the story to be out of place.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:57 AM (c6xtn)

I loved that book, it could have gone into more about what created the monster, but that's ok.

Posted by: CN at May 08, 2022 10:01 AM (ONvIw)

118 Pro-tip for Moron authors on here-

I just learned that Amazon won't let customers who purchase your books leave comments unless they have spent at least $50 that month on Amazon.
So if you find that you've got lots of sales but no comments, that could be why.
It's really frustrating. Almost as frustrating as releasing a new version of a book and not being able to download it automatically to your kindle.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:01 AM (l/Jkq)

119 I don't think a first ever comment such as "Hey, I've read your blog for a long time, buy my book!" is what they are suggesting.
Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 09:39 AM (kXYt5)

We need some kind of password

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 08, 2022 10:02 AM (kf6Ak)

120 I know my sister loved them as a kid
Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 09:54 AM (2JoB

=====

I think Boxcar Children was my favorite. At least you have alternatives!

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 08, 2022 10:02 AM (MIKMs)

121 I like how regions in Europe keep their traditional names regardless of what political boundary encompasses them. Tyrolia and Silesia, for example. I learned of these when I played Diplomacy.

That map book sounds intriguing.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 08, 2022 10:02 AM (Om/di)

122
This does not comport with being something one can ignore.
Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 09:55 AM (kXYt5)

But some of our most tragic fiction occurs when the characters do ignore moral and social even legal obligations. This is the kind of good v evil fiction I like best.

Posted by: CN at May 08, 2022 10:03 AM (ONvIw)

123 In a long fantasy story of mine, I had to go back to plant a point about an amulet, that it had been stolen and not sold or given, in order to make the payoff at the end work out.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

Was the amulet hidden in an omelet ?

Posted by: JT at May 08, 2022 10:04 AM (arJlL)

124 I haven't read Conscious Choice, though I have seen it advertised in a couple places. Based on that blurb alone, though, I'm highly suspicious of its narrative. It sounds a bit too much like the neo-abolitionist version of history parroted by Eric Foner and some other Leftist scholars of the past few decades. I'm sure Zimmerman's heart is in the right place, but it sounds like there's a lot to take issue with there.

Posted by: Dr. T at May 08, 2022 10:04 AM (tp+tP)

125 I think Boxcar Children was my favorite. At least you have alternatives!
Posted by: mustbequantum

I had forgotten about those. Another series I read as a kid. They were fun.

Posted by: Infidel at May 08, 2022 10:04 AM (M0FJx)

126 CN

Are you a doctor ?

Posted by: JT at May 08, 2022 10:05 AM (arJlL)

127 I think the first "Little House on the Prairie" was the first book I ever read on my own...I was probably 8 or so. I remember my dad had gotten me a starter set of 6 or so books. It had the first novel of several series. "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" and "A Wrinkle in Time" are the only other one I can remember. I've been a pretty prolific reader since. Now it's more online than novels because time.

Posted by: lin-duh at May 08, 2022 10:05 AM (UUBmN)

128 It's kind of like telling a joke; you have to have in the setup everything that makes the joke funny, or it doesn't work. In a long fantasy story of mine, I had to go back to plant a point about an amulet, that it had been stolen and not sold or given, in order to make the payoff at the end work out.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:53 AM (c6xtn)

Ok, so it isn't just me. The new idea had to be referenced earlier to make sense later. Thanks.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022

***
That's where rewriting comes in. I suppose in writing a very short story your brain will know where to put in all the
essential elements. But in anything longer, there's bound to be something that comes up that either has to be in there to make your payoff work, or something that improves it, and you have to plant it earlier. sort of like planting a clue in a mystery.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:05 AM (c6xtn)

129 And one of you generous 'ettes sent me quite a few signed copies of your books which will be distributed to some lucky winners at the TXMOME in October! (I won't reveal your name--it's going to be a surprise!)
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 09:39 AM (K5n5d)
---

So can I sign a copy of Guderian's "Panzer Leader" or Tolkien's LotR and get my name put into the pot?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 10:06 AM (Dc2NZ)

130 Another rule of fantasy - a company's guide should say "Behold!" at least thrice.

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at May 08, 2022 10:06 AM (ISCBD)

131 40 Working on Richard Pipes Russian Revolution, still in pre 1917 but seeing Russian society was screwed being stuck in century old system.
Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 09:02 AM (2JoB

Skip- that is a great book. I read it several years ago. Its a great way to prime yourself in the facts of how bloody and ruthless Lenin and Stalin were.
The libs like to look upon those two and the glorious revolution through rose colored glasses. Same libs who Lenin would have labeled "useful idiots" and later lined up against a wall and mowed down with machine gun fire.
Eh, what's the old phrase, those who fail to read history are doomed to repeat it...

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:06 AM (l/Jkq)

132 good morning.

Thanks again, Perfessor.

So, two clunkers read for me this last week:

Jory Sherman's "Shadow Rider" and Clifford D. Simak's "Time and Again."

Sherman is an award winning Western writer, I guess, but, I certainly didn't see anything award winning in what I read.

Mr. Simak's book, stylistically, wasn't bad, but, the premise was just off, shall we say?

Fortunately, both books were picked up at the bargain bin and ended their lives in the dustbin.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 10:06 AM (5pTK/)

133 One of the themes of Jay Winik's The Great Upheaval was that the feral violence of the French Revolution led Catherine the Great to defer liberalizing policies which ended up keeping the pressure on which ended up being as violent as it was in the early twentieth century

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 08, 2022 09:18 AM (y7DUB)

IMHO, the wave of European revolts in 1846 against the the European order established at the end of the Napoleonic wars also convinced Nicholas I that Catherine was right.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 10:06 AM (xhaym)

134 "Penguin Atlas of Ancient History"

Not much to it really. Basically eat, swim, and screw.

Posted by: The Emperor Penguin at May 08, 2022 10:07 AM (vrz2I)

135 It took me a moment to get that. Nattily Wood -> overboard --> married to Robert Wagner, who played Alexander Mundy.

The original gag is from Bored of the Rings, in case nobody got it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:00 AM (c6xtn)

You got it, that's all that matters!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 10:07 AM (7bRMQ)

136 He added, "One may ignore any obligations, of course."
This is a nonsensical statement. What's his point?
Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022
I think Niven meant that telling a good story is paramount, and one should not let his desire to speak to universals or to the human condition get in the way of telling that story.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:46 AM (c6xtn)

Yeah, two things that will make me lose interest in a novel instantly.
A character suddenly acts, says, does something totally out of their established because the message of the novel requires it. Or-
A character or characters, stop or impede the action and plot of the novel to barf out the author's point of view or message, to make sure we didn't/don't miss it.

That is just piss poor writing. A good novel is a bit like a computer program, instead of using code, it uses character, action, and plot. A good writer can use these elements without waving a huge flag to let the reader think about things via what is going on within the context of good plot and characters. A great writer is one where the thinking sticks around long after being read.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 08, 2022 10:07 AM (5NkmN)

137 Thanks to Trimegistus for recommending author James Cambius. I got two of his books and read The Darkling Sea this past week. A very good one-shot sci-fi adventure of reasonable length - not a sixteen book space opera. Next up: the Godel Operation.

Posted by: 13times at May 08, 2022 10:09 AM (9bvVb)

138 Off to a Mothers' Day Brunch. See you next Saturday

Posted by: CN at May 08, 2022 10:09 AM (ONvIw)

139 The original gag is from Bored of the Rings, in case nobody got it.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:00 AM (c6xtn)
---

I did, Wolfus!

*preens*

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 10:09 AM (Dc2NZ)

140 If you can simply ignore an obligation, it isn't really an obligation, is it?

No, it is a desideratum. I suspect Niven was using "obligation" just to oversell his point rhetorically.

Posted by: Oddbob at May 08, 2022 10:10 AM (nfrXX)

141 Speaking of mysteries: Yes, the puzzle is very important, and so are characters. But the mystery is at its core about imposing order over chaos, law and order over crime. In an early novella, "The Lamp of God," Ellery Queen the detective runs across an impossible mystery -- a house, a real solid house he's been inside of, vanishes without a trace overnight. The initial reaction of Ellery and the other characters is to wonder if the natural order of things has been overturned. Has gravity temporarily been suspended? Has the house taken wing and flown off the face of the Earth?

Ellery imposes logic on the puzzle to bring order out of chaos -- which is at bottom what the mystery is all about.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:10 AM (c6xtn)

142 40 Working on Richard Pipes Russian Revolution, still in pre 1917 but seeing Russian society was screwed being stuck in century old system.
Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 09:02 AM (2JoB

Pipes' work is great, but also depressing. Aside from the events themselves, you just kind of get the sense that there was nothing that could realistically be done to prevent Russia from falling into some kind of revolution.

Posted by: Dr. T at May 08, 2022 10:10 AM (tp+tP)

143 A great writer is one where the thinking sticks around long after being read.
Posted by: naturalfake at May 08, 2022 10:07 AM (5NkmN)

THIS. Spot on.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:10 AM (l/Jkq)

144 THIS MONSTROSITY

-
Yet some say we should legalize drugs.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 10:10 AM (FVME7)

145 Somebody mentioned Gail Honeyman's "Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine" -- great suggestion! Eleanor is what we'd call "on the spectrum" (weird), having to mimic typical personal interactions and conversation, living her life on a timetable, one day like the next. Germaphobe. We find out, over the story, how she is overcoming a horrific childhood, having nothing to model normalcy on. Her pleasant, scruffy IT coworker slowly ingratiates himself into her life, and it isn't until he invites Eleanor over to him mother's house that she can observe a normal family and a kind, loving mother, about whom nobody would say "After reviewing psychiatric reports, Betty was refused bail on grounds that she posed an extreme risk to the general public." Unlike SOME mothers.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 10:11 AM (Dc2NZ)

146 Some book I bought a few years ago wanted to leave a review but Amazon said had to spend $50 to do that.
Been on a book buying spree lately so haven't had that come up.

Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 10:11 AM (2JoB8)

147 There is a book titled "The Beautiful Snow" by Cindy Wilson which covers that winter in Laura Ingalls Wilder's book. It was an amazing winter storm and surprising that people survived it.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at May 08, 2022 10:11 AM (YynYJ)

148 The m waiting for the amateur street corner ecdysia.
Posted by: Shamy at May 08, 2022 09:33 AM (KA0tm)

That is one of the new forms of protest but you have to wait until spring.
The problem is, as with all amateur productions, quality control.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 10:12 AM (xhaym)

149 And one of you generous 'ettes sent me quite a few signed copies of your books which will be distributed to some lucky winners at the TXMOME in October! (I won't reveal your name--it's going to be a surprise!)
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 09:39 AM (K5n5d)
---

So can I sign a copy of Guderian's "Panzer Leader" or Tolkien's LotR and get my name put into the pot?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes
---
As the TXMOME "Prize Wench", I assure you, the drawings are on the up and up except when we do "special" drawings like for Ben Had or Weasel. Sponge winning the "First" mug was divine intervention and absolutely hilarious!!! My daughter drew tickets last year.

Posted by: lin-duh at May 08, 2022 10:12 AM (UUBmN)

150 Sherman is an award winning Western writer, I guess, but, I certainly didn't see anything award winning in what I read.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 10:06 AM (5pTK/)

Whew! So there is hope for us wannabees!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 10:13 AM (7bRMQ)

151 Crossing the streams here . . .

One of my favorites growing up was Tom Swift. Even more than Hardy Boys. One of the OTA channels (CW?) is advertising a new Tom Swift series.

No doubt I will be disappointed because it will be filmed in the darkest chiaroscuro and I'll have to keep the subtitles on, but as always, I'm optimistic that a really fun series will blossom.

(Stop it, right now. I know I am an almost irrationally optimistic. Pollyanna ain't got nuthin' on me.)

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 08, 2022 10:13 AM (MIKMs)

152 Off to a Mothers' Day Brunch. See you next Saturday
Posted by: CN

(Guess she's gonna eat a lot....)

Posted by: JT at May 08, 2022 10:14 AM (arJlL)

153 Another rule of fantasy - a company's guide should say "Behold!" at least thrice.
Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at May 08, 2022

***
I try to have my fantasy characters (some of whom are illiterate) talk like real people instead of me trying for false Shakespeare, which I don't think I'm good enough to carry off anyway. A little slang (some of which can be made up), the occasional curse word (ditto), and I try to keep their language from sounding 20th-21st century American or English; but I let them talk.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:14 AM (c6xtn)

154 Pipes' work is great, but also depressing. Aside from the events themselves, you just kind of get the sense that there was nothing that could realistically be done to prevent Russia from falling into some kind of revolution.
Posted by: Dr. T at May 08, 2022 10:10 AM (tp+tP)

I'm not sure there was. I recently read a long speech by a retired Finnish Army Intel Colonel who discussed the history and, more importantly, the psychological history of the Russian people. The bottom line was that they have been constantly attacked throughout the ages and have lived under strongmen who ruled with an iron fist. Its what they know. Remains of the Roman empire, chieftains, Mongols, Tsar, Communists, Putin...tyrants.
It's sort of baked into the cake.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:14 AM (l/Jkq)

155 I love the old atomic era Tom Swift books. I never read them as a kid but loved their BIG SCIENCE covers and read one as a lark -- hooked! I found a bunch on sale at the library book sale, and a few at used book stores, so now I have a pretty decent library.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 10:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

156 Journalist behind anti-right/conservative false flag vandalism in Portland:

https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/
1523087528634593282#m

More on the moron by clicking through. Use private mode to avoid the Twatter scroll-lock feature.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at May 08, 2022 10:15 AM (UHVv4)

157 I use to read a lot of epic Fantasy books. I only read the occasional Sci-Fi but I like sci-fi movies and shows.

Posted by: lin-duh at May 08, 2022 10:15 AM (UUBmN)

158 As a kid, my favorite time of year was summer vacation so I could stay up and read as late as I wanted. Turns out retirement works the same way. Was up til the wee hours finishing the third book in the second section of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, The Bands of Mourning. So, actually book 6. This series seems a departure from his others in that his characters are so much fun to read. It is like a classic Western set in an alternate universe. There are train robberies, stagecoach chases but strange powers and fantasy characters.
One more book to come, The Lost Metal but not due out til November. Sigh...I can hardly wait.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 08, 2022 10:15 AM (Y+l9t)

159 I try to have my fantasy characters (some of whom are illiterate) talk like real people instead of me trying for false Shakespeare, which I don't think I'm good enough to carry off anyway. A little slang (some of which can be made up), the occasional curse word (ditto), and I try to keep their language from sounding 20th-21st century American or English; but I let them talk.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:14 AM (c6xtn)
------------

I would think it's difficult to get dialogue to work when characters lack the vocabulary to express themselves. Not that it can't be done, but, I would think from a writing perspective, it presents a challenge.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 10:16 AM (5pTK/)

160 Sponge winning the "First" mug was divine intervention and absolutely hilarious!!! My daughter drew tickets last year.
Posted by: lin-duh at May 08, 2022 10:12 AM (UUBmN)
---
Agreed. Absolute proof that there is a God and He has a brilliant sense of humor.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 10:17 AM (K5n5d)

161 ...the argument that God used the forces of random mutations...

Ah, this is obviously some strange use of the word random that I wasn't previously aware of. (With apologies to Mr. Adams)

Posted by: Oddbob at May 08, 2022 10:17 AM (nfrXX)

162 I did, Wolfus!

*preens*

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 10:09 AM (Dc2NZ)

Hmmm, but not the weedwhacker....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 10:18 AM (7bRMQ)

163 Was up til the wee hours finishing the third book in the second section of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, The Bands of Mourning.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 08, 2022 10:15 AM (Y+l9t)

Oh, I have The Hero of Ages on my to-read pile

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 08, 2022 10:18 AM (kf6Ak)

164 I love the old atomic era Tom Swift books. I never read them as a kid but loved their BIG SCIENCE covers and read one as a lark -- hooked! I found a bunch on sale at the library book sale, and a few at used book stores, so now I have a pretty decent library.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 10:15 AM (Dc2NZ)
------------

"Hardy Boys," "Tom Swift," "Chip Hilton," were the books of my youth. I do believe I read most of them.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 10:19 AM (5pTK/)

165 I love the old atomic era Tom Swift books. I never read them as a kid but loved their BIG SCIENCE covers and read one as a lark -- hooked! I found a bunch on sale at the library book sale, and a few at used book stores, so now I have a pretty decent library.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 10:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

Wholley Kau! Did I love Tom Swift as a wee lad!

I wish I still had all of those old books. I had quite a collection.

And yes! The covers made you want to buy that book to read that adventure.
Great commercial art from someone or someones.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 08, 2022 10:19 AM (5NkmN)

166 Whoever mentioned the idea of buying books to avoid the Regime scrubbing them everyday to be in accordance with Doublespeak- your advice is proving sound.

Just read that Merck Manuals, who provide medical textbooks, just scrubbed the definition of gender dysphoria from its pages because Florida's surgeon general dared to cite it.

At this rate, we're going to fly past Orwell's 1984 and right into Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:19 AM (l/Jkq)

167 No doubt I will be disappointed because it will be filmed in the darkest chiaroscuro and I'll have to keep the subtitles on, but as always, I'm optimistic that a really fun series will blossom.

(Stop it, right now. I know I am an almost irrationally optimistic. Pollyanna ain't got nuthin' on me.)
Posted by: mustbequantum at May 08, 2022 10:13 AM (MIKMs)
---
I'd be much more worried about the showrunners introducing as much "wokism" as they can cram into the first season (or second season as they may go light on the first season)

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 10:19 AM (K5n5d)

168 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: What a great title. Another writing triuism I've found: Complete sentences make great titles. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Wait Until Dark, All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By, The Last Camel Died At Noon.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:20 AM (c6xtn)

169 I've been reading "The Golden Christmas: A Tale of Lowcountry Life " by William Gilmore Simms in antebellum South Carolina. I heard about it by chance on a pipe smoking video. It is a delightful window into the times and characters of 1850s Charleston during the Christmas season. There are elements of Romeo and Juliet, a cast of 'interesting' characters, the reality of a sophisticated South, and some humor, all presented with spritely writing. I hadn't heard of Simms before although he was an important, well-known author of the period. It is enjoyable reading. He also wrote a biography of the Swamp Fox. I'm looking forward to getting that one.

I'm sure today's snowflakes would be appalled by the culture and times involved. The same idiots who think Mark Twain encouraged slavery and racism. All the more reason why people should read Simms' books, if only to help counter the so sensitive imbeciles with big mouths.

Posted by: JTB at May 08, 2022 10:22 AM (7EjX1)

170 Look, I get that being handy with tools is a manliness marker. Just....how did the weedwhacker joke get started?

Why a weedwhacker?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 10:22 AM (Dc2NZ)

171 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: What a great title. Another writing triuism I've found: Complete sentences make great titles. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Wait Until Dark, All Heads Turn When the Hunt Goes By, The Last Camel Died At Noon.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:20 AM (c6xtn)
---
"Why Do Men Have Nipples?"

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 10:22 AM (K5n5d)

172 possibly except there wasn't a real awakening in Russia, in that era maybe pushkin and we know how that turned out,

Posted by: no 6 at May 08, 2022 10:22 AM (i0Lci)

173 Watching s2 of All Creatures Great and Small and one character is reading Biggles Goes to War
(Episode is set when Neville Chamberlain goes to Germany)

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 08, 2022 10:24 AM (kf6Ak)

174 At this rate, we're going to fly past Orwell's 1984 and right into Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:19 AM (l/Jkq

A Brave New World is my dystopia of choice. At least your get Soma.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 08, 2022 10:25 AM (jUOQH)

175 Some Moron last week was bemoaning that there are only two of Ashley Gardner's Leonidas the Gladiator ancient Roman mysteries. There is now a third, Blood Debts. (Although I'm not exactly sure of the enumeration since this takes place between the first and second books so maybe 1 1/2.)

https://amzn.to/3wcJKAR

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 10:25 AM (FVME7)

176 I would think it's difficult to get dialogue to work when characters lack the vocabulary to express themselves. Not that it can't be done, but, I would think from a writing perspective, it presents a challenge.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022

***
It is and does. But remember that widespread literacy is a pretty new thing in human history, and yet societies managed to run themselves (even into the ground, eventually) just fine.

I ran across a line quoted somewhere that if nobody had even learned to read, very few people would fall in love. So my young couple in the long novel, one a former soldier and the other a young whore who was forced into the life, fall in love, but they never say the word. It's clear each is bound up in the other and would sacrifice his/her life for the other, but they never say "I love you." They simply show it. (I hope.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:26 AM (c6xtn)

177 If you can simply ignore an obligation, it isn't really an obligation, is it?
Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 09:44 AM (kXYt5)

Depends, *waggles hand* If you can't ignore an obligation, then it isn't and obligation, it is an imperative or a necessity. You can't ignore breathing or pooping, for example.

Erick Frank Russell wrote a short story called And Then There Were None about an Earth military ship contacting an Anarchist colony planet for the first time in a century and learning about "obs" which were the local currency. An ob is an obligation to reciprocate, and people are free to disregard an ob. However if it gets out that someone skips out on obligations, no one wants to deal with that person ever again.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 10:27 AM (xhaym)

178 Off to chill with Mater.

Happy Mothers' Day to all our Horde moms! And thank you Perfessor Skwerl for another great Book Thread.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at May 08, 2022 10:27 AM (Dc2NZ)

179 Went to make a trash run and it looks like I blew and engine on the backstretch at Daytona.

About 50 quarts of oil.

Rolls truck back and check under not 1 single drop of oil.

So my guess is the truck next to me must have had a oil filter ring it oil plug fail. His Sunday is not gonna be fun!

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 08, 2022 10:27 AM (yrol0)

180 8 ... "It's funny how Heinlein predicted the mass outbreak of ergot hallucinations we know as "social media"

AHE,
I have sometimes wondered if Heinlein had a time machine when writing about the 'crazy years'. He really seemed to anticipate the BS so prevalent the last 50 years. Or did he know about them?

Posted by: JTB at May 08, 2022 10:27 AM (7EjX1)

181 That Czech National Library looks like a Soviet era train station.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 10:28 AM (xhaym)

182 Posted by: JTB at May 08, 2022 10:22 AM (7EjX1)

I've read Simms' biography of Marion. It was pretty good, if I recall; showed the South's division between Patriots and Tories very vividly.

Posted by: Dr. T at May 08, 2022 10:28 AM (tp+tP)

183 However if it gets out that someone skips out on obligations, no one wants to deal with that person ever again.
Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 10:27 AM (xhaym)

Is not that also the Moon is a Harsh? If someone does not pay their bills they find themselves in hard time and maybe without the right equipment.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 08, 2022 10:28 AM (yrol0)

184 fantasy has a very "conservative" or traditional good vs evil moral and world outlook.

-
The Indian Ghost Spirit from Hell cackled to her minion, "We'll kill the children and sodomize the survivors!"

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 10:29 AM (FVME7)

185 A great historical fiction series about Rome is by Robert Harris. I listened to his book "Imperium." It is written from the perspective of Cicero's slave/secretary, Tyro. All three books are highly recommended. Basically about the fall of the Republic and ushering in Caesar. Dovetail's nicely with watching the "Rome" miniseries.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:30 AM (l/Jkq)

186 (Episode is set when Neville Chamberlain goes to Germany)
---------------------
BTW, DOCTOR!!! Jill is in Eastern Europe this week/weekend visiting Ukrainian refugees and making speeches as if she were President.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at May 08, 2022 10:30 AM (UHVv4)

187 I am reading William F. Buckley's spy novels, all of which feature "Blackford Oakes," and while the plots are appropriately interesting, I find that Buckley is trying too hard to convince all of his readers of his erudition.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 08, 2022 10:31 AM (XIJ/X)

188 I have sometimes wondered if Heinlein had a time machine when writing about the 'crazy years'. He really seemed to anticipate the BS so prevalent the last 50 years. Or did he know about them?
Posted by: JTB at May 08, 2022

***
He was remarkably observant. He'd probably seen a slow decline in societal standards from his teens into his adult years (and no doubt pored over the "silly season" items in the newspaper), and said to himself, "What if this goes on?" ("If This Goes On --", with the dash, is a title of one of his early novellas.) Our decline has accelerated, and has gone out of control since he died in '88.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:31 AM (c6xtn)

189 This does not comport with being something one can ignore.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 09:55 AM (kXYt5)

Anyone can ignore an obligation, or be unable to fulfill it.
That is why we have foster homes, impeachment proceedings and bankruptcies.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 10:31 AM (xhaym)

190 BTW, DOCTOR!!! Jill is in Eastern Europe this week/weekend visiting Ukrainian refugees and making speeches as if she were President.
Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at May 08, 2022 10:30 AM (UHVv4)
----------------

That gal aggravates me to no end. Someone needs to shake that bottle blond bimbo and tell her she's not 25 any more.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 10:32 AM (5pTK/)

191 I'm not sure there was. I recently read a long speech by a retired Finnish Army Intel Colonel who discussed the history and, more importantly, the psychological history of the Russian people. The bottom line was that they have been constantly attacked throughout the ages and have lived under strongmen who ruled with an iron fist. Its what they know. Remains of the Roman empire, chieftains, Mongols, Tsar, Communists, Putin...tyrants.
It's sort of baked into the cake.
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:14 AM (l/Jkq)

The sheer size of Russia pretty much dictated against a system like we developed. Even the more or less protagonist White Russians refused to understand that returning to czarist rule was NOT an option. But never stopped pimping that concept.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 08, 2022 10:32 AM (y7DUB)

192 112 Brett, East of Eden I think is Steinbeck's masterwork, much more riveting than Grapes of Wrath. His portrait of Cathy the monster is a classic. I've never found the speeches he put in the mouths of the self-educated people in the story to be out of place.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 09:57 AM (c6xtn)

Totally agree. "Grapes" left me thinking for months.

Timshel.

Posted by: creeper at May 08, 2022 10:33 AM (cTCuP)

193 I suspect Niven was using "obligation" just to oversell his point rhetorically.
Posted by: Oddbob

******

Which returns us to my original observation that the statement is nonsensical.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 10:33 AM (kXYt5)

194 Ahoy bookfagz!

Posted by: Insomniac - Outlaw. Hoarder. Wrecker. Honker. at May 08, 2022 10:33 AM (II3Gr)

195 That gal aggravates me to no end. Someone needs to shake that bottle blond bimbo and tell her she's not 25 any more.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 10:32 AM (5pTK/)

My question is what value is she or, for that matter, Pelosi, bringing to this conflict by visiting the Ukraine? Other than pissing off the Russians and forcing them to consider options they had previously kept off the table...
And perhaps that is the point.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:34 AM (l/Jkq)

196 Another fan here of Tom Swift Jr. Read as many of those as possible in grade school. I liked how new inventions in the earlier books became standard gear in later books.

I never read any of the original Tom Swift books. His inventions sounded so plebian -- "His House on Wheels"? -- but maybe they also had crackling adventure tales.

Heh, I just thought: Tom Swift, inventor -- T.S. -- inspiration for Tony Stark, inventor?

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 08, 2022 10:35 AM (Om/di)

197 The sheer size of Russia pretty much dictated against a system like we developed. Even the more or less protagonist White Russians refused to understand that returning to czarist rule was NOT an option. But never stopped pimping that concept.
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 08, 2022 10:32 AM (y7DUB)
---
How *did* Russia manage to claim so vast a territory? I mean, there's not a whole lot going on between Eastern and Western Russia. Why has it not devolved into a number of smaller nation states?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 10:36 AM (K5n5d)

198 I am reading William F. Buckley's spy novels, all of which feature "Blackford Oakes," and while the plots are appropriately interesting, I find that Buckley is trying too hard to convince all of his readers of his erudition.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 08, 2022 10:31 AM (XIJ/X)
------------

Indubitably, literacy and erudition are the the glue of societal interaction!

Posted by: Col. John Rennwick at May 08, 2022 10:36 AM (5pTK/)

199 The sheer size of Russia pretty much dictated against a system like we developed. Even the more or less protagonist White Russians refused to understand that returning to czarist rule was NOT an option. But never stopped pimping that concept.
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 08, 2022 10:32 AM (y7DUB)

Yeah, and I think that was the guy's point. He mentions the vastness of Russia, fear of Europe, and the competing ideas of being Asian and European, but it goes back to the strongman. Very much like the middle east.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:37 AM (l/Jkq)

200 I find that Buckley is trying too hard to convince all of his readers of his erudition.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 08, 2022 10:31 AM (XIJ/X)

I think that can be said about him in all of his locutions.

Posted by: Ordinary American at May 08, 2022 10:37 AM (H8QX8)

201 That gal aggravates me to no end. Someone needs to shake that bottle blond bimbo and tell her she's not 25 any more.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 10:32 AM (5pTK/)

Look at me doing this goodwill trip!!! I'm First Lady! Really!!!!

Posted by: "Doctor" Jill at May 08, 2022 10:38 AM (tp+tP)

202 My question is what value is she or, for that matter, Pelosi, bringing to this conflict by visiting the Ukraine? Other than pissing off the Russians and forcing them to consider options they had previously kept off the table...
And perhaps that is the point.
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:34 AM (l/Jkq)
------------

They're like the employees at Initech trying to prove to the Bob's they're relevant.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 10:39 AM (5pTK/)

203 My angle is countering the woke stupidity in addition to the lackluster teaching and concepts I know my kids won't use- like advanced algebra. Anyway, I just started it, so we'll see if the book proves its case.
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 09:58 AM (l/Jkq)

My Grandfather was PhD in Mathematics, specializing in teaching math teachers. He believed that Algebra is not math, it is logic using math as a basis to separate it from "noise" that the real world brings. (that story problems put back in, dammit)

I will say, I hated Algebra, but I found understanding it, both how to manipulate unknown elements in an equation and how to order functions to be extremely useful in creating Excel spreadsheets with high end calculations I used in billing and parts and labor management.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 10:39 AM (xhaym)

204 Anyone can ignore an obligation, or be unable to fulfill it.
That is why we have foster homes, impeachment proceedings and bankruptcies.
Posted by: Kindltot

******

So you might say that you can try to ignore an obligation, but it won't ignore you. There are consequences. The compulsory aspect of an obligation will attempt to assert itself.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 10:40 AM (kXYt5)

205 Charles Ingalls had settled a claim on Silver Lake and broke sod for planting. In October an early blizzard convinced them to move back into town where Charles owned a store building, to winter there instead of in the claim shanty. "

my great great grandfather and his family homesteaded a site about 20 miles from Silver Lake at about the same time the Ingalls family did. That winter was legendary; they stayed on the farm and had stored enough grain and salted meat to survive, but they only a rather primitive and low ceilinged farm house/shed, maybe 600 sq ft. (it still exists, I've seen it) To help some neighbors, 9 people ended up spending 3 months in that building, at a time when they had to hack trenches through snowdrifts over their heads, just to get out the door.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 08, 2022 10:40 AM (q3gwH)

206 I think that can be said about him in all of his locutions.
-------------------
Indubitably.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at May 08, 2022 10:40 AM (UHVv4)

207 Journalist behind anti-right/conservative false flag vandalism in Portland:
-
Related. Our new Ministry of Truth Fuehrerin identifies the real problem.

It's not conservatives being silenced on social media. Liberals and minorities are the ones being silenced.

-
Check the link for video crazy eye.

https://bit.ly/3yqPeL1

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 10:41 AM (FVME7)

208 Heh, I just thought: Tom Swift, inventor -- T.S. -- inspiration for Tony Stark, inventor?
Posted by: Weak Geek at May 08, 2022

***
I never thought of that! I wouldn't be at all surprised. Stan Lee and his writers were inspired by (borrowed or stole from) the best. S.H.I.E.L.D., for instance, was inspired by the organization in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Lee has admitted it more than once.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:41 AM (c6xtn)

209 How is it that the demoncraps have managed to have their last 3 first wives be the mostest popular evah???? A-mazing!!!!///

Posted by: lin-duh at May 08, 2022 10:41 AM (UUBmN)

210 I like the discussion about why fantasy literature can be so appealing. The good vs. evil dichotomy, the struggles, the epic sweep of events in the story. But it is all shown through the individual characters, which brings the huge issues down to the level, and apprehension, of each reader. Fantasy done properly, envelops the reader and lets them participate through how the story affects them as an individual.

Tolkien disliked allegory because the writer was steering the story to preach a point, which weakened the power of the book. He preferred fantasy where the readers could apply the story events to their experiences and so be more involved, finding more enjoyment.

Posted by: JTB at May 08, 2022 10:42 AM (7EjX1)

211 Heinlein probably just studied the history of the Peloponnesian Wars and ancient Athens.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 08, 2022 10:42 AM (jUOQH)

212 Vmom, you have to read the first 3 because the universe is the same, but the Wax and Wayne books are so much better I think. The characters, the dialog, the twists and turns and action...it is like watching a movie. A lot of How the hell are they going to get out of this one?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 08, 2022 10:43 AM (Y+l9t)

213 I will say, I hated Algebra, but I found understanding it, both how to manipulate unknown elements in an equation and how to order functions to be extremely useful in creating Excel spreadsheets with high end calculations I used in billing and parts and labor management.
Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 10:39 AM (xhaym)

Kindltot,
That may be the first real world application of algebra anyone has actually articulated to me. Mind you, like Ace, I'm around 26, so you know, haven't been around THAT long...

Algebra for me is like trying to read Mayan hieroglyphics and then sounding them out in their language. And I think my kids inherited my defective math gene.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:43 AM (l/Jkq)

214 Anyway, thanks for indulging me this morning.

Much obliged!

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 10:44 AM (kXYt5)

215 Somebody needs to tell the left about Ukraine's abortion laws. There's a 12 week limit, with special exceptions made between 12 and 28 weeks (a commission of physicians needs to agree to it).

Russia has one of the highest abortion rates in the world. Clearly, the leftists are backing the wrong horse here.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at May 08, 2022 10:45 AM (HabA/)

216 They're like the employees at Initech trying to prove to the Bob's they're relevant.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 10:39 AM (5pTK/)

"What is it you say you do here?"

They are people persons, dammit!!

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:45 AM (l/Jkq)

217 No, Muldoon...thank YOU for keeping it real.

Posted by: creeper at May 08, 2022 10:45 AM (cTCuP)

218 I hated Algebra, but I found understanding it, both how to manipulate unknown elements in an equation and how to order functions to be extremely useful in creating Excel spreadsheets with high end calculations I used in billing and parts and labor management.
Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022

***
As did I. But I grew up before calculators to handle the arithmetic parts of math class, and would invariably get something wrong. You're right that it comes in handy; the old "What're you ever gonna use algebra for once you get outta school?" is silly.

Years ago I had to calculate the standard deviation on some figures for work. I'd had stats, so I knew there are population SDs and sample SDs. Thus I knew to use the population SD function in Excel. (For fun I calculated it with the sample SD function. Different answer entirely.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:46 AM (c6xtn)

219 I had erudition but a little penicillin cleared it up. That's the last time I date from classifieds in porn magazines!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 10:46 AM (FVME7)

220 Anyway, thanks for indulging me this morning.

Much obliged!

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022

***
Keeping us honest, that's Muldoon!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:47 AM (c6xtn)

221 I had erudition but a little penicillin cleared it up. That's the last time I date from classifieds in porn magazines!
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022

***
Stolen!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:47 AM (c6xtn)

222 How *did* Russia manage to claim so vast a territory? I mean, there's not a whole lot going on between Eastern and Western Russia. Why has it not devolved into a number of smaller nation states?
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 10:36 AM (K5n5d)

My guess is that Siberia was always too primitive, with no independent power centers ever having developed. China thought it too remote, and ever since the Great Wall was built had culturally decided that everything north of it was unworthy of their attention. Japan didn't start to think about expansion until the Russian Empire was already established.

So it was all basically free land with no competition for it. And in order for a city to break away from a central power and claim independence, it has to be capable of being self sufficient - but as I understand it, both Czarist and Communist Russia *never* allowed those to develop. Some critical supplies always had to come from Moscow, so breaking away was impossible.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 08, 2022 10:48 AM (q3gwH)

223 As a kid , I developed my based ten perception of numbers / math by keeping bowling scores.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 08, 2022 10:48 AM (jUOQH)

224 I don't understand why more people do not appreciate John Bunner's "Stand on Zanzibar" and the follow up, "The Sheep Look Up"

https://www.nwcbooks.com/download/stand-on-zanzibar/

Posted by: Ancient at May 08, 2022 10:48 AM (5LCqK)

225 Perfessor Squirrel- Actually my main interest, along with my main hobby is Czarist Russia, like other nations land grabs were a common occurrence just that Russia grabbed neighbors and other Europeans went overseas..
Europe all through 1400 -1900 was breakup and conglomeration of land by regimes.

Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 10:49 AM (2JoB8)

226 186 BTW, DOCTOR!!! Jill is in Eastern Europe this week/weekend visiting Ukrainian refugees and making speeches as if she were President.

but mostly delivering ketchup.

Posted by: anachronda at May 08, 2022 10:50 AM (qkvsg)

227 132 So, two clunkers read for me this last week:

Jory Sherman's "Shadow Rider" and Clifford D. Simak's "Time and Again."
...
Mr. Simak's book, stylistically, wasn't bad, but, the premise was just off, shall we say?

Fortunately, both books were picked up at the bargain bin and ended their lives in the dustbin.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 10:06 AM (5pTK/)

I enjoy Time and Again, despite its flaws. I reread it occasionally, when I am in a mood for its kind of weirdness. I can easily imagine not liking it, though.

Posted by: Splunge at May 08, 2022 10:50 AM (71xoW)

228 Algebra for me is like trying to read Mayan hieroglyphics and then sounding them out in their language. And I think my kids inherited my defective math gene.
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON

***
Mystery writer John Dickson Carr hated math in all its forms and imparted that to several of his characters. In his initial appearance in Hag's Nook, Dr. Gideon Fell makes some dark remark about algebra, and, we're told, ". . . glared at his salad as if expecting to see a binomial theorem lurking in the lettuce."

My best friend in jr. high labeled his math notebook "Algerbia," as if the process was a foreign country he was forced to travel through. And in a way, it was.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:50 AM (c6xtn)

229 I also bought Grocery Row Gardening, by David the Good, which is trying to be a new type of garden management to pull together the benefits of an orchard with annual row type crops and avoid the problems with both.
He is working from ideas that have been shown to work in the tropics and is adapting it to temperate areas.
I need t read it through a couple of times, to comment on it, but it is an interesting take on an alternate way of growing food on limited land.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 10:51 AM (xhaym)

230 Recently finished Larry Correia's first book in what is to be a new military/fantasy series, Servants of War. Interesting characters, interesting story, interesting worldbuilding. It's a collaboration with Steve Diamond, and is easily my favorite of Correia's collaborations that I have read. I look forward eagerly to the rest of the books in the series.

I had not heard of Steve Diamond before this, and plan to check out his other writings.

Posted by: Splunge at May 08, 2022 10:51 AM (71xoW)

231 Greetings:

Reading "The Boer War" (1979) by Thomas Pakenham this week.

Amazing parallels to our date and state. Deep State colonial office guy (Milner) scheming with the Gold and Diamond guys (Rhodes and Beit et al.) to start a war with the trek Afrikaners in order to get the latter's goods and lands. Trump style betrayals plus Putinesque thwarting by today's Ukrainians. Plus horses and long range rifle shooting.

Recommended. Plus neat black and white photos of the guys and times.

Posted by: 11B40 at May 08, 2022 10:51 AM (uuklp)

232 Buckley versus Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXqPVAXRO-I

1:26 minutes

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at May 08, 2022 10:51 AM (UHVv4)

233 I think the prime reason that Fantasy stays centered on issues of universal Good and Evil is that, if your taste runs to tales where Evil wins and Chaos rules, and "good" appears to be defeated every day, all you have to do is watch the news.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 08, 2022 10:51 AM (q3gwH)

234 Algebra for me is like trying to read Mayan hieroglyphics and then sounding them out in their language. And I think my kids inherited my defective math gene.
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:43 AM (l/Jkq)

Exactly how I felt.

It is sometimes embarrassing for me, working as a sub, to drop into a 5th grade math class and find myself scrabbling to keep up. I can figure out the fraction problems but it takes a minute and in the meantime, the students wait and start goofing off while I'm sitting there thinking "where is the damned KEY to this page!"
The terminology can throw me because I haven't used those terms since my own school days. It's quite a humbling experience and one of many reasons why I do not sub in high schools. I can at least figure out 5th grade math (after a few humbling moments of WTF). I would make a fool of myself in algebra (I rather liked geometry though - it has pictures!)

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at May 08, 2022 10:52 AM (HabA/)

235 I don't understand why more people do not appreciate John Bunner's "Stand on Zanzibar" and the follow up, "The Sheep Look Up"

https://www.nwcbooks.com/download/stand-on-zanzibar/
Posted by: Ancient at May 08, 2022

***
Brunner? I just never got around to him back in my early SF-reading days. Maybe I need to try his work.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:52 AM (c6xtn)

236 How is it that the demoncraps have managed to have their last 3 first wives be the mostest popular evah???? A-mazing!!!!///
Posted by: lin-duh

I saw an ad for a new series about First ~~Ladies~~ Whatever featuring Mooch, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Barbara Bush. I'll bet Hillz and Dr. Jill are seething with jealousy.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 10:52 AM (FVME7)

237 How is it that the demoncraps have managed to have their last 3 first wives be the mostest popular evah???? A-mazing!!!!
Posted by: lin-duh at May 08, 2022 10:41 AM (UUBmN)

It's the tape that does it...

Posted by: Big Mike Obama, Taped Up And Swinging at May 08, 2022 10:53 AM (R/m4+)

238 Greetings:

Fox is starting a new Tom Swift TV series with the lead having a melatonin level more appropriate for the Black Ascendancy Era.

But this is definitely not (not I repeat) cultural appropriation.

Posted by: 11B40 at May 08, 2022 10:54 AM (uuklp)

239 Buckley versus Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXqPVAXRO-I

-
Even the way Buckley sits a chair screams arrogant asshole.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 10:54 AM (FVME7)

240 BTW, DOCTOR!!! Jill is in Eastern Europe this week/weekend visiting Ukrainian refugees and making speeches as if she were President. ---

Good reminder that the former First Lady would be able to speak with a couple of those Eastern European countries in their language. Well at least Slovenian. She also speaks French, German and Serbian.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 08, 2022 10:55 AM (jUOQH)

241 209 How is it that the demoncraps have managed to have their last 3 first wives be the mostest popular evah???? A-mazing!!!!///

more importantly, how toned are dr. jill's arms? enquiring minds want to know.

Posted by: anachronda at May 08, 2022 10:55 AM (qkvsg)

242
My best friend in jr. high labeled his math notebook "Algerbia," as if the process was a foreign country he was forced to travel through. And in a way, it was.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:50 AM (c6xtn)

Heh. My high school algebra 3/4 trig class was taught by a Navy Reserve Chief. I think he might have been a nuke sailor. But he said essentially the same thing- algebra is like learning another language. The concepts started to cement a bit as I hit my senior year and a bit in college, but as a high school frosh through junior, I was hosed. I just couldn't grasp it.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:55 AM (l/Jkq)

243 A Public Service Announcement:

The 8th of May is Outdoor Intercourse Day.

You're welcome.

Posted by: nurse ratched at May 08, 2022 10:56 AM (U2p+3)

244 I have to admit when I saw Good Will Bunting I had no idea what type of mathematical problem he was solving on the blackboard with all the dots.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 08, 2022 10:57 AM (jUOQH)

245 Greetings:

Fox is starting a new Tom Swift TV series with the lead having a melatonin level more appropriate for the Black Ascendancy Era.

But this is definitely not (not I repeat) cultural appropriation.
Posted by: 11B40 at May 08, 2022 10:54 AM (uuklp)
---------------

Honestly, skin tone doesn't bother me that much. What bothers me is the rest of the agenda: normalizing homosexuality, gender bending, etc. Though, when commercials went all in on melanin and "spot the white person" became a parlor game, well, that was a bit much.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 10:57 AM (5pTK/)

246 My best friend in jr. high labeled his math notebook "Algerbia,"
-----------------------
Before or after studying Labya in geography?

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at May 08, 2022 10:58 AM (UHVv4)

247 The 8th of May is Outdoor Intercourse Day.

You're welcome.

Posted by: nurse ratched at May 08, 2022 10:56 AM (U2p+3)
-----------

I'm guessing Outdoor Intercourse includes mastication and libation?

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 10:58 AM (5pTK/)

248 My fantasy/speculation about Siberia and trans-Caucasus area; what if the Czars had allowed a homesteading/private ownership avenue for anyone in those regions, such as the United States did with the Great Plains? Could those areas have turned into the equivalent of American's farm states now?

It's easy to forget how astounding it was that America, between 1870 and 1900, was able to settle and develop nearly a million square miles of land, all based on private effort, not government expenditure.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 08, 2022 10:58 AM (q3gwH)

249 The terminology can throw me because I haven't used those terms since my own school days. It's quite a humbling experience and one of many reasons why I do not sub in high schools. I can at least figure out 5th grade math (after a few humbling moments of WTF). I would make a fool of myself in algebra (I rather liked geometry though - it has pictures!)
Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at May 08, 2022 10:52 AM (HabA/)
It doesn't help that they have changed the terms we knew growing up. I learned "carrying over" when adding- now they call it "regrouping." I was near useless helping my kids with teh new maths that are out there. My oldest in high school- there is no helping her with math (she is in advanced algebra). I'm totally combat ineffective.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 10:59 AM (l/Jkq)

250 Greetings:

All I remember from Calculosia is "Just do the problems."

Posted by: 11B40 at May 08, 2022 11:00 AM (uuklp)

251

Rangers?

20 bucks says they butt fuck the aliens in the first 30 pages....

Posted by: Just Sayin at May 08, 2022 11:00 AM (pxfp5)

252 The 8th of May is Outdoor Intercourse Day.

You're welcome.

Posted by: nurse ratched at May 08, 2022 10:56 AM (U2p+3)

And May 9th is the highest purchase of Calamine Lotion for the year,

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 08, 2022 11:01 AM (jUOQH)

253 My fantasy/speculation about Siberia and trans-Caucasus area; what if the Czars had allowed a homesteading/private ownership avenue for anyone in those regions, such as the United States did with the Great Plains? Could those areas have turned into the equivalent of American's farm states now?. . .

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 08, 2022

***
My God, sir! That could lead to an outbreak of, of democracy!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:01 AM (c6xtn)

254 Well, Mrs. Squirrel is up. Gotta go.

Pefessor, another great thread. You all have a great Birthing Person Day!!

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of ALAMO and Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 08, 2022 11:02 AM (l/Jkq)

255 Anarchist colony planet for the first time in a century and learning about "obs" which were the local currency. An ob is an obligation to reciprocate, and people are free to disregard an ob.

-
So like student loans?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 11:03 AM (FVME7)

256 ||Ncuti Gatwa will take over from Jodie Whittaker as the Time Lord in Doctor Who, the BBC has announced.

The 29-year-old will become the 14th Doctor on the popular BBC show after Whittaker announced last July she would be leaving the role.

The Scottish actor, who was born in Rwanda, starred as Eric Effiong in Netflix’s hugely popular Sex Education about the socially awkward high school student Otis (Asa Butterfield) and his sex therapist mother Jean (Gillian Anderson). He will become the first black actor to play the title role full-time.||

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at May 08, 2022 11:03 AM (UHVv4)

257 This week I finished "Histories" by Herodotus.
Covers a lot ground. Ask me anything about Darius or Xerxes.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 11:03 AM (jTmQV)

258 Isaac Asimov once said that all math was obvious. Until you hit the level that wasn't obvious to you. That class you could grnd your way through and pass but you weren't going on to the next level. I topped out in algebra. That seemed perfectly obvious to me and the mistakes I made were usually stupid, the kind where I knew what I'd done wrong just a couple of minutes too late. Calculus was never obvious and that is where I topped out.

Posted by: who knew at May 08, 2022 11:03 AM (4I7VG)

259 I've bought Miss Linda a Mother's Day card. After all, she was the late Chekov's unofficial human mom. The card has a fluffy silver tabby kitten on it. No doubt I'll be able to come up with an appropriate signature message inside.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:03 AM (c6xtn)

260 239 Buckley versus Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXqPVAXRO-I
-
Even the way Buckley sits a chair screams arrogant asshole.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 10:54 AM (FVME7)

That was Joe Flaherty, amazing! I'd never seen that one before.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 08, 2022 11:04 AM (q3gwH)

261 A Public Service Announcement:

The 8th of May is Outdoor Intercourse Day.

You're welcome.

Posted by: nurse ratched at May 08, 2022 10:56 AM (U2p+3)

Folsom Street Fair is today!!! Why didn't anyone remind me?!

Posted by: Inflated Scrotum Guy at May 08, 2022 11:04 AM (7bRMQ)

262 Finished Philip K. Dick*s Time Out Of Joint, published 1959. It was an enjoyable read. The plot was pretty straightforward and his words created a fun world to exist in during the read. I*ve read several PKD books. They are always right up my reading alley.

Glad the fry pants were featured again! They are simply too glorious to be a one off! Thanks for the Book Thread, Perfessor!!!

Posted by: SuperMayorSuperRonNirenberg-Cooking Bacon In The SuperRon Garage at May 08, 2022 11:06 AM (L5YYu)

263 Don't worry, you can suck at algebra and still be an failure at life.

Posted by: Insomniac - Outlaw. Hoarder. Wrecker. Honker. at May 08, 2022 11:06 AM (II3Gr)

264 110 ... "The best historical atlas series I've ever seen is the Penguin series by Colin McEvedy. The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History, . . . Medieval History, . . . Modern History, and . . . Recent History. "

I have a few of those from the 1980s and should dig them out. I recall they were excellent.

Posted by: JTB at May 08, 2022 11:06 AM (7EjX1)

265 a black Dr. Who and a black Tom Swift? I thought they'd reached Peak Stupid, but no they're just getting started. Well that's why I'm checked out of anything they make these days.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 08, 2022 11:07 AM (q3gwH)

266 Muldoon, to get back to you initial comment, Niven's fantasy read like his science fiction. And in a way, it was science fiction dressed up as fantasy. But the two genres are closely related. Niven specialized in stories that were more like detective novels, with the clues being around physics, whizbang and personalities. His fantasy was the same, mostly.

John Campbell, the editor of Analog, famously stated that it was impossible to have the elements of a detective novel in a fantasy story because magic excused too much, and then Randall Garrett wrote the Lord Darcy stories for him, where magic was set up as a rational element in the world. But they were detective novels with new parameters, not really fantasy as set up around the Hero's Journey. Garrett was not the only author like that, they were writing novelettes , after all. Niven followed that path.
I suppose you could claim Niven didn't write real fantasy in spite of all the dragons and wizards.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 11:08 AM (xhaym)

267 Which returns us to my original observation that the statement is nonsensical.

I am (trying to, at least) agree with you. But by using the "wrong" word, he makes the reader take notice. The incongruity calls attention to the point he wants to make. Sometimes writers can be a bit too clever for their own good, FYKWIM.

Posted by: Oddbob at May 08, 2022 11:08 AM (nfrXX)

268 222 How *did* Russia manage to claim so vast a territory? I mean, there's not a whole lot going on between Eastern and Western Russia. Why has it not devolved into a number of smaller nation states?
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 10:36 AM (K5n5d)

Short Answer: The late-era Mongols (The Golden Horde) ruled the Russian Steppes with their horse-archer army, and crushed any would-be nations that bordered the stepped, turning them into docile tribute-paying populations. Then gun development reached a point where regular soldiers could finally best an army of horse-archers in open combat. Moscow was the first entity to rise a gun-powder army that could beat the Golden Horde, and as they pushed out Mongols, they acquired all the lands and peoples that the Horde and been ruling over. And thus, Russia stretches from the Urals to the Pacific...

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 08, 2022 11:10 AM (Lhaco)

269 37 Anyone ever have to go back into an earlier written section or a work to support a plot point developed later in the story?
----
Yes but don't ask me what, when, where.
Electronic books are great because one can do a quick search for a character, place, etc. Paper copies are more pleasant to re-read sections, etc.
Paper copies are more personal somehow. Electronic copies great for old fingers, arms and rheumatic joints in general as well as loss of arm strength.

Posted by: Ciampino at May 08, 2022 11:11 AM (qfLjt)

270 I'm listening to the audiobook of JD Vance's Hillbilly Elegy and enjoying it very much. His "Mamaw" is a character for the ages.

Posted by: Linnet at May 08, 2022 11:11 AM (xi2gr)

271 Heh, I just thought: Tom Swift, inventor -- T.S. -- inspiration for Tony Stark, inventor?

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby rarely had original thoughts, but they had many very original and fresh interpretations of old thoughts. For example, the Fantastic Four were just another explorer family like Lost in Space, but they were given a fresh and exciting spin.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 11:11 AM (KZzsI)

272 That was Joe Flaherty, amazing! I'd never seen that one before.
----------------------
And here he is on busing...
https://tinyurl.com/43tsb8xe
[on Reddit]

It looks like Buckley versus Meatloaf isn't at YouTube etc.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at May 08, 2022 11:12 AM (UHVv4)

273 Yes but don't ask me what, when, where.

Posted by: Ciampino at May 08, 2022 11:11 AM (qfLjt)

Ok, thanks. So, what, when, and where did you do it?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 11:13 AM (7bRMQ)

274

Say Nurse R, would you care for a nice walk in the woods?

Posted by: A pleasant and presentable gentleman at May 08, 2022 11:13 AM (pxfp5)

275 But by using the "wrong" word, he makes the reader take notice. The incongruity calls attention to the point he wants to make. Sometimes writers can be a bit too clever for their own good, FYKWIM.
Posted by: Oddbob

********

Sure, he may have been using it ironically on purpose. It just struck my brain as incongruent.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 11:13 AM (kXYt5)

276 We sometimes get references from "Bored of the Rings" on the book thread. I get them every time. Now to decide if that is a point of pride or shame!

Posted by: JTB at May 08, 2022 11:14 AM (7EjX1)

277 208 Heh, I just thought: Tom Swift, inventor -- T.S. -- inspiration for Tony Stark, inventor?
Posted by: Weak Geek at May 08, 2022

***
I never thought of that! I wouldn't be at all surprised. Stan Lee and his writers were inspired by (borrowed or stole from) the best. S.H.I.E.L.D., for instance, was inspired by the organization in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Lee has admitted it more than once.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 10:41 AM (c6xtn)

Stan Lee mentioned that Howard Hughes was the inspiration for Tony Stark.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at May 08, 2022 11:14 AM (vuisn)

278 sulla got the bad end of the stick, as sallust was a partisan of caesar and hence marius, also he was the one responsible for capturing jugurtha, but marius got the credit,
Posted by: no 6

Marine is haste, repent at leisure.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 11:15 AM (FVME7)

279 archive.org/details/lettersfromrussia-1919

Free public domain book. The letters were written by P.D. Ouspensky and smuggled out of Russia for publication in England.

Ouspensky was a very perceptive man, he understood what was happening as events were unfolding.

Posted by: 13times at May 08, 2022 11:16 AM (9bvVb)

280 We sometimes get references from "Bored of the Rings" on the book thread. I get them every time. Now to decide if that is a point of pride or shame!

Posted by: JTB at May 08, 2022 11:14 AM (7EjX1)

Dunno, how do you feel if you show up on the leading commenters or sock puppet list?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 11:16 AM (7bRMQ)

281 For my next writing project I'm thinking of doing an exposé of the affordable housing crisis in the Middle East.

Working title: Low Rents of Arabia

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 11:16 AM (kXYt5)

282 Tolkien disliked allegory because the writer was steering the story to preach a point, which weakened the power of the book. He preferred fantasy where the readers could apply the story events to their experiences and so be more involved, finding more enjoyment.

He and CS Lewis used to write a lot about the power and important of what they called "fairy stories" because the term fantasy fiction had not yet been accepted as common usage. They probably came to that understanding because of GK Chesterton's thoughts on the same topic, and he taught both of them in university.

Fantasy is generally understood to be vast grand sweeping epic stories, but it doesn't have to be. The stories of Conan or Fafhrd and Gray Mouser present a very different approach: nobody is saving the world, they're just living their lives in a fantastic setting, but the struggle of good vs evil is still there.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 11:18 AM (KZzsI)

283 51 Those pants are fine. I would wear them on casual Fryday.

Gabardine?

Posted by: Ciampino at May 08, 2022 11:19 AM (qfLjt)

284 I owe a big "thank you" to LA Sue for her recommendation of Ward Farnsworth 's chess books. I haven't seen her on the blog lately, but I've been thoroughly engrossed in the books.

Outstsnding for beginner to intermediate chess players. Very clear, conversational style.

Posted by: JM in Florida at May 08, 2022 11:20 AM (L7jyl)

285 The Horde is reminded that his "Life Unworthy" is an outstanding novel

-
I quite liked it.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 11:20 AM (FVME7)

286 So you might say that you can try to ignore an obligation, but it won't ignore you. There are consequences. The compulsory aspect of an obligation will attempt to assert itself.
Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 10:40 AM (kXYt5)

Lots of people get their parental rights terminated and go on with their lives, and bankruptcy is there as well. It does mean someone else has to pay the cost of dealing with the wreckage, or not, but if people did not walk away from things they were required to do we would not find a need for social safety nets and liability insurance.

Obligation is a social requirement, not a physical one that cannot be ignored. It is not impossible to forgo an obligation, though like a physical constraint, there is a cost. Usually of being excluded from society if it is impossible to fulfill it, or make whole the cost of not fulfilling it.

Writing this I am thinking of the difference between obligation and compulsion: both of them are a "must" but one is a form of leading or pulling, and the other is being driven. Do you think this is where we are conflicting?

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 11:21 AM (xhaym)

287 The Horde is reminded that his "Life Unworthy" is an outstanding novel

Thank you for your kind words

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 11:21 AM (KZzsI)

288 A Public Service Announcement:
The 8th of May is Outdoor Intercourse Day.
You're welcome.
Posted by: nurse ratched at May 08, 2022 10:56 AM (U2p+3)

It's 56 and drizzling here so I'm going boycott this new holiday.

Posted by: lowandslow at May 08, 2022 11:22 AM (qH6FZ)

289 The Scottish actor, who was born in Rwanda, starred as Eric Effiong in Netflix’s hugely popular Sex Education about the socially awkward high school student Otis (Asa Butterfield) and his sex therapist mother Jean (Gillian Anderson). He will become the first black actor to play the title role full-time.||
Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at May 08, 2022 11:03 AM (UHVv4)

"The Scottish actor, who was born in Rwanda..." Hmm, what's wrong with this picture?

Having a black Doctor beats having a woman Doctor, I guess, but I was really hoping the rumors of them bringing back David Tennant were true.

Posted by: Dr. T at May 08, 2022 11:22 AM (tp+tP)

290 "in conflict" I meant

"verbing wierds English" is my motto

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 11:22 AM (xhaym)

291 Just dropping in to request that if you've read one of my books and liked it, please do find a chance to write a review of a few kind words at either Amazon or Goodreads (or both!).

It helps.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, believes a man can fly with Superman at May 08, 2022 11:24 AM (LvTSG)

292 Do you think this is where we are conflicting?
Posted by: Kindltot

******

I don't really think we are conflicting. The degree of compulsion can certainly be argued. Your points are valid and rationally stated and therefore likely have no place on this blog.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 11:25 AM (kXYt5)

293 sulla got the bad end of the stick, as sallust was a partisan of caesar and hence marius, also he was the one responsible for capturing jugurtha, but marius got the credit,
Posted by: no 6

Marine is haste, repent at leisure.

-
Damn autocucumber ruined my joke! It's supposed to be "Marius in haste", a reference to . . . Oh, never mind.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 11:27 AM (FVME7)

294 Niven's fantasy read like his science fiction. And in a way, it was science fiction dressed up as fantasy. But the two genres are closely related. Niven specialized in stories that were more like detective novels, with the clues being around physics, whizbang and personalities. His fantasy was the same, mostly. . . .

I suppose you could claim Niven didn't write real fantasy in spite of all the dragons and wizards.
Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022

***
And don't forget the giant snail guardian in "What Good Is a Glass Dagger?"! Niven calls it "the bungalow-sized beast."

Yes, I think you're right about the rationality of his stories. His notion is that mana makes magic work, and the mana has run out; it's why magic no longer works in our world. That rationality is why I like his stuff. He wrote long ago that he loved Ellery Queen, and when I got a chance to ask if he'd ever read Rex Stout, he admitted he had.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:27 AM (c6xtn)

295 Do you think this is where we are conflicting?
Posted by: Kindltot
*****
I don't really think we are conflicting. The degree of compulsion can certainly be argued. Your points are valid and rationally stated and therefore likely have no place on this blog.
Posted by: Muldoon

i had to double check i was at the correct place, reading these two comments riht out of the bag like this.

happy mother's day to all the 'ettes.

Posted by: BifBewalski @ (UgAdJ) - at May 08, 2022 11:29 AM (UgAdJ)

296 A Public Service Announcement:
The 8th of May is Outdoor Intercourse Day.
You're welcome.
Posted by: nurse ratched at May 08, 2022 10:56 AM (U2p+3)

Is this just another way of saying "putting out"?

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 11:29 AM (xhaym)

297 There are two books I want to recommend regarding modern events and woke atttidues:

Hallow Mass, by JP Mac
Control Alt Revolt! by Nick Cole

The only thing wrong with Hallow Mass is that it promises to be part of a trilogy and isn't yet

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 11:29 AM (KZzsI)

298 Given the second and third definitions of 'obligation in @108 above, ignoring an obligation is akin to 'breaking a promise'.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 08, 2022 11:31 AM (kXYt5)

299 Ask me anything about Darius or Xerxes.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 11:03 AM (jTmQV)

Which ones?

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 11:31 AM (xhaym)

300 A Public Service Announcement:
The 8th of May is Outdoor Intercourse Day.
You're welcome.
Posted by: nurse ratched

Give 'till it hurts.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 08, 2022 11:31 AM (bJxw1)

301 We sometimes get references from "Bored of the Rings" on the book thread. I get them every time. Now to decide if that is a point of pride or shame!

Posted by: JTB at May 08, 2022
*
Dunno, how do you feel if you show up on the leading commenters or sock puppet list?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022

***
Pride in both cases. (Obligatory: I've been on the latter list a couple of times in the last few years, and have begun checking the list on Monday morning. Sort of like scanning the obituaries in the paper to see if you're there, and if not, you can go on with your day.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:32 AM (c6xtn)

302 155 ... "I love the old atomic era Tom Swift books"

I loved those and read them all in grade school. Those along with the Hardy Boys, Treasure Island, and the Lensman and Skylark series took care of my fiction needs until I discovered Tolkien in 7th grade. It was years later I found out about the original Tom Swift series that started in the pre-WW I era. By that time I was old enough to appreciate the excitement for readers of that cutting edge technology: motorcycles, submarines, and so forth. Sort of the appeal of Jules Verne in the 1850s.

Posted by: JTB at May 08, 2022 11:32 AM (7EjX1)

303 Your points are valid and rationally stated and therefore likely have no place on this blog.

Posted by: Muldoon

Heh.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 08, 2022 11:32 AM (f+TLg)

304 Jonathan Turley
@JonathanTurley
Justice Kavanaugh's neighbor is organizing the protest outside his home. Teacher Lacie Wooten-Holway declared "We're about to get doomsday, so I'm not going to be civil to that man at all."

-
I guess they don't make doomsdays like they used to. Or civility.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When? at May 08, 2022 11:32 AM (FVME7)

305 So Senator Incitatus enters a bar and the bartender says, "Would you like a Marius Mule, Senator?"

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at May 08, 2022 11:32 AM (UHVv4)

306 Niven's fantasy read like his science fiction. And in a way, it was science fiction dressed up as fantasy

I liked The Magic Goes Away, but you're right it did not really feel like fantasy. It had all the prerequisites: monsters, magic, wizards, fantastic doings. But it was so clinical and scientific in its handling of these things that it ended up feeling like odd science fiction instead. The wonder and mystery of magic was too systematic.

The Dragonriders of Per feels the same way. It has dragons, it has time and space travel by teleportation, it has kings and so on, but was basically light science fiction.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 11:33 AM (KZzsI)

307 Happy Mother's Day, 'Ettes.

Posted by: Comrade flounder, wrecker, hoarder, saboteur at May 08, 2022 11:34 AM (SH2Zi)

308 Having a black Doctor beats having a woman Doctor, I guess, but I was really hoping the rumors of them bringing back David Tennant were true.
Posted by: Dr. T at May 08, 2022 11:22 AM (tp+tP)
---
At this point they are just checking diversity boxes. They really kicked it up a notch with Season 10, where Bill, the doctor's companion, was a triple crown diversity winner of black (check), lesbian (check), and woman (check).

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 11:34 AM (K5n5d)

309 Thank you for your kind words

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

You are most welcome. I've not forgotten about that project related to Life Unworthy you and I spoke about last year. I'm about ready to get started on it.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 08, 2022 11:34 AM (f+TLg)

310 Ask me anything about Darius or Xerxes.

Was Xerxes really 9 feet tall and golden?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 11:34 AM (KZzsI)

311 Fantasy is generally understood to be vast grand sweeping epic stories, but it doesn't have to be. The stories of Conan or Fafhrd and Gray Mouser present a very different approach: nobody is saving the world, they're just living their lives in a fantastic setting, but the struggle of good vs evil is still there.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022

***
The latter is much more the kind of thing I prefer to read and to write. I like Fleming's early James Bonds because Bond is at his best when he is the lone agent. When you start ringing in scads of other agents or entities as in Thunderball, I lose interest. A smaller but still exciting story is what I prefer.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:35 AM (c6xtn)

312 "Was Xerxes really 9 feet tall and golden?"

In those days they measured in cubits.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 11:36 AM (jTmQV)

313 I usually skip fantasy, but a recommendation here to read "Age of Iron" drew me in with its good writing and (mostly) believable story.

Posted by: JM in Florida at May 08, 2022 11:36 AM (L7jyl)

314 That gal aggravates me to no end. Someone needs to shake that bottle blond bimbo and tell her she's not 25 any more.
=====

Mrs Macron and she are confuzzled in my brain.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 08, 2022 11:36 AM (MIKMs)

315 The Dragonriders of Per feels the same way. It has dragons, it has time and space travel by teleportation, it has kings and so on, but was basically light science fiction.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022

***
I got tired of the Dragonriders stories very quickly. Not sure why.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:37 AM (c6xtn)

316 Herodotus had him at 5 cubits.
So, NBA size.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 11:37 AM (jTmQV)

317 304 Jonathan Turley
@JonathanTurley
Justice Kavanaugh's neighbor is organizing the protest outside his home. Teacher Lacie Wooten-Holway declared "We're about to get doomsday, so I'm not going to be civil to that man at all."

-
I guess they don't make doomsdays like they used to. Or civility.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, If Not Now, When?

I wonder if Ms Kavanaugh will bring cupcakes.

Posted by: nurse ratched at May 08, 2022 11:38 AM (U2p+3)

318 Great. Now Penny fell asleep on top of the book I've been reading...Guess I'll have to select something else for a while!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 11:39 AM (K5n5d)

319 Well, the Lad's plane just landed in Joburg, so my long night of watching him fly on the FlightAware app has ended. Now to the store to buy ammo, go to Latin Mass in Rosamond, CA and to my buddy's ranch to blast away for an hour.

Have a good day, Most Excellent Horde.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 08, 2022 11:40 AM (f+TLg)

320 I see that the new "blockbuster" biography of DOCTOR!!!! Jill sold only 250 copies its first week. LOL!

I just finished reading a Kindle edition of Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters, an early 70s SF thriller that came up in conversation here sometime last week. It's about a bacterium that develops the ability to digest plastic, and then the SHTF.

It held up pretty well... still an exciting story, and they did go to some effort to make the (admittedly far-fetched) premise at least quasi-scientific.

One issue with the Kindle edition is that there's a block of text (a couple of paragraphs) that's been put in the wrong place. But it's pretty easy to figure out, and the Kindle book is cheap.

Recommended.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 08, 2022 11:41 AM (bW8dp)

321 I can't do fart jokes all the time, Muldoon!

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 11:41 AM (xhaym)

322 In my opinion the first book of the Song of Fire And Ice (Game of Thrones) was not fantasy at all. It was just some alternate world historical thing. There was one monster, eventually, but it wasn't all that unusual. I was given one of the books to read with very high recommendation and was very underwhelmed.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 11:41 AM (KZzsI)

323 Despite my stated dissatisfaction with Paul Scott's The Day of the Scorpion, I took one for the book club team and finished it. Even though it's well written the story concentrated way too much on Brit mixed feelings on their last outpost of Empire to the point of making them all sound like neurotic loons. Which can be entertaining if done the right way, which this wasn't. The Indians and English are mostly talking past each other plus during WW2 the foreign policy goals of one country aren't necessarily shared by the other. What a fucking mess.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 08, 2022 11:41 AM (y7DUB)

324 304 Jonathan Turley
@JonathanTurley
Justice Kavanaugh's neighbor is organizing the protest outside his home. Teacher Lacie Wooten-Holway declared "We're about to get doomsday, so I'm not going to be civil to that man at all."

------

This neighbor would have been a key playrr back in Salem, or down south with the KKK.

Posted by: JM in Florida at May 08, 2022 11:41 AM (L7jyl)

325 I got tired of the Dragonriders stories very quickly. Not sure why.

I liked the prequel trilogy better, with the little dragonlings. But like you, I read a few and got tired of them. Its actually surprising nobody has tried to make a movie or HBO series out of them.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 11:42 AM (KZzsI)

326 Herodotus had him at 5 cubits.
So, NBA size.
Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022

***
I ask, with Bill Cosby: "Uh, Lord? What's a cubit?"

My memory, a poor thing but mine own, says something about it being reckoned as the length of a man's forearm?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:43 AM (c6xtn)

327 I loved the covers on those 1950s Tom Swift books. Talk about effective! Not sure if they appealed to adults (probably not) but they just grabbed the attention of youngsters.

Posted by: JTB at May 08, 2022 11:43 AM (7EjX1)

328 A cubit was from your elbow to your middle fingertip, but some measured it to the start of your middle finger knuckle.
Real precise, I know, right?

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 11:44 AM (jTmQV)

329 My memory, a poor thing but mine own, says something about it being reckoned as the length of a man's forearm?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:43 AM (c6xtn)

Where was that eight cubits you promised me last night?

Posted by: Persian Wife at May 08, 2022 11:45 AM (7bRMQ)

330 I'm currently reading Miles Swarthout's The Last Shootist, the sequel to Miles's father's The Shootist, which became John Wayne's last film. Also from the library, I have a Ruth Rendell which I think I've read already, 2 Hard Case Crime reissues of serious Donald E. Westlakes, and a recent novel by Dennis Lehane.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:46 AM (c6xtn)

331 A cubit was from your elbow to your middle fingertip, but some measured it to the start of your middle finger knuckle.
Real precise, I know, right?
Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 11:44 AM (jTmQV)

about two spans, right?

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 11:46 AM (xhaym)

332 I see that the new "blockbuster" biography of DOCTOR!!!! Jill sold only 250 copies its first week. LOL!

I just finished reading a Kindle edition of Mutant 59: The Plastic Eaters...

You didn't put those two sentences close together by accident, did you?

Posted by: Oddbob at May 08, 2022 11:48 AM (nfrXX)

333 A cubit was from your elbow to your middle fingertip, but some measured it to the start of your middle finger knuckle.
Real precise, I know, right?
Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022

***
So about 15-20 inches? If Xerxes was really 5 cubits in height, then, he would have been very close to, or even over, 7 feet tall?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:48 AM (c6xtn)

334 Library overload!

Just ordered:

Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in WW2 Era America

and:

The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government

Posted by: Biden's Dog at May 08, 2022 11:49 AM (viHpT)

335 about two spans, right?

Posted by: Kindltot at May 08, 2022 11:46 AM (xhaym)

So now come the measuring puns?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 11:49 AM (7bRMQ)

336 Thanks Mom, for not aborting me (and other stuff too!)

Posted by: ghost of hallelujah at May 08, 2022 11:49 AM (sJHOI)

337 Xerxes was big-boned.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 11:49 AM (jTmQV)

338 Where was that eight cubits you promised me last night?
Posted by: Persian Wife at May 08, 2022

***
If you'd bathe once in a while and use some of those face paints and perfume I brought you, and lose a few pounds, you'd be in for a nice surprise.

Posted by: Persian Husband at May 08, 2022 11:50 AM (c6xtn)

339 I think a Cubit got standardized at around 18"

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 11:50 AM (KZzsI)

340 Hola, any more news on the tunnel compadres?

Posted by: El Chapo at May 08, 2022 11:51 AM (049lr)

341 I got tired of the Dragonriders stories very quickly. Not sure why.
=====

Tremeraire (Dragonriders meets Patrick O'Brien) is pretty much the same for me, although I would recommend the Novik books for YA readers just like the Pern books.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 08, 2022 11:52 AM (MIKMs)

342 I've read "The Devil's Chessboard" 2 separate times. The first time was several years ago and I thought it was biased and very partisan.
The re-read was last year and I though it made a lot of things come in to focus.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 11:52 AM (jTmQV)

343 Read "Thrawn" and "Thrawn Alliances" in the last week. Can't find anything woke about the first two books and both were pretty enjoyable.

Gonna start with "Thrawn Treason" here shortly. So far the series has been a very good addition to the written SW universe.

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at May 08, 2022 11:53 AM (1DgE4)

344 I've read the 18" equivalent too, Christopher.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at May 08, 2022 11:53 AM (UHVv4)

345 Tremeraire (Dragonriders meets Patrick O'Brien) is pretty much the same for me, although I would recommend the Novik books for YA readers just like the Pern books.
Posted by: mustbequantum at May 08, 2022

***
You know, I think I read the first of those. It was pretty original.

Posted by: Persian Husband at May 08, 2022 11:53 AM (c6xtn)

346 That redesign of the Czech library is hideous.

The existing library looks just the way you want a ‘big ass house of books’ to look

https://tinyurl.com/Exterior-Czech-Library

Posted by: Pmrich at May 08, 2022 11:53 AM (mrX66)

347 I have tried reading a multiple of Star Wars books but other than Splinter In the Mind's Eye, I just cannot get into them. Even Aaron Allston's stuff didn't grip me at all.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 11:54 AM (KZzsI)

348 The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government
Posted by: Biden's Dog at May 08, 2022 11:49 AM (viHpT)
----------

If you can cancel the order for "The Devil's Chessboard" I'd do so. I've read it. As coolbreeze put it, "700 pages of frustration."

The author is unable to leave his leftist bias at the door and it shines throughout the book. Not to mention the book really does little to impart any knowledge.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 11:54 AM (5pTK/)

349 If a neighbor was the instigator of protests at my house all kinds of stuff might go on at 3am

Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 11:55 AM (2JoB8)

350 I liked the prequel trilogy better, with the little dragonlings. But like you, I read a few and got tired of them. Its actually surprising nobody has tried to make a movie or HBO series out of them.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 11:42 AM (KZzsI)

I think the McCaffery Estate/Anne's Son may have a 'no adaptations' policy. I remember (20 years ago) there being a no-fanfiction policy on fanfic sites. They seem rather protective of theirs works, which I can respect.

I read almost all the original Dragronrider books back as a teen. The first trilogy, the Dragonsong trilogy, and the whole sequence through 'the end' of the saga.....But I haven't read them since (and haven't read any of the recent books) so I can't say how well they hold up.

I also remember one Dragonrider book dealing with a worldwide flu pandemic (in the middle of a thread-fall cylce). That book would probably hit too close to home to re-read today...

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 08, 2022 11:55 AM (Lhaco)

351 If a neighbor was the instigator of protests at my house all kinds of stuff might go on at 3am

Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 11:55 AM (2JoB

Outdoor Sex Night?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 08, 2022 11:56 AM (7bRMQ)

352 That redesign of the Czech library is hideous.

The existing library looks just the way you want a ‘big ass house of books’ to look

https://tinyurl.com/Exterior-Czech-Library
Posted by: Pmrich

I looked at the redesign and thought it was little spongebobs running up the ramp.

Posted by: Infidel at May 08, 2022 11:56 AM (M0FJx)

353 The re-read was last year and I though it made a lot of things come in to focus.
Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 11:52 AM (jTmQV)
------------

I read it last year, and I thought it was complete garbage. The author could not let go of his leftist bias. The author went out of his way to elide over just how complicit Democrats were in the rise of the Deep State.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 11:57 AM (5pTK/)

354 I have tried reading a multiple of Star Wars books but other than Splinter In the Mind's Eye, I just cannot get into them. Even Aaron Allston's stuff didn't grip me at all.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022

***
Did they ever buy ones from actual published SF authors? Some of them could have made Lucas's universe work on the printed page, I bet. James Blish did a great job with the Trek adaptations. He made Kirk the viewpoint character and gave him a sense of humor (I know Shatner did, but Kirk was pretty serious at the start) as he reacted to the events around him.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:57 AM (c6xtn)

355 I read that as 'The Devil's Cheeseboard'

Posted by: ghost of hallelujah at May 08, 2022 11:58 AM (sJHOI)

356 I read that as 'The Devil's Cheeseboard'
Posted by: ghost of hallelujah at May 08, 2022

***
A great title!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:58 AM (c6xtn)

357 "The author could not let go of his leftist bias. "

I thought it interesting that at the time he wrote it, he thought the CIA was a corrupt organization. I didn't agree with him on the first reading, like you said.
Now, I consider the CIA to be a corrupt organization. We all should, in light of current events being revealed in real time.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 12:00 PM (jTmQV)

358 For your afternoon enjoyment
NOOD

Posted by: Skip at May 08, 2022 12:01 PM (2JoB8)

359 Great. Now Penny fell asleep on top of the book I've been reading...Guess I'll have to select something else for a while!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022

***
When my cats were on my book or something I wanted I'd click my tongue at them, as you do to a horse. They quickly learned that and would trot away. I hate to disturb a cat, but he can always go back to sleep. As I quoted SFGoth this morning, cats have many ailments, but I never knew one to have insomnia.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 12:02 PM (c6xtn)

360 Devil's Cheeseboard used to tour with Nine Inch Nails back in the day, IIRC.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at May 08, 2022 12:02 PM (jYQlA)

361 BUY MY BOOK OR ELSE!

Posted by: DOCTOR Jill Biden! at May 08, 2022 12:02 PM (I2/tG)

362 BUY MY BOOK OR ELSE!
Posted by: DOCTOR Jill Biden! at May 08, 2022

***
"Buy my book or the country gets it!" -- DOCTOR Jill

Sorry, Jill, too late. Your hubby has already given it to us.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 12:03 PM (c6xtn)

363 Thanks for another swell thread Perfesser!

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 12:04 PM (jTmQV)

364 I thought it interesting that at the time he wrote it, he thought the CIA was a corrupt organization. I didn't agree with him on the first reading, like you said.
Now, I consider the CIA to be a corrupt organization. We all should, in light of current events being revealed in real time.
Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 12:00 PM (jTmQV)
--------

My problem is: The book could have been a lot more than it was, but, again, because the author is a leftist dirtbag, he wouldn't really dig deep into the subject.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing (5pTK/) at May 08, 2022 12:05 PM (5pTK/)

365 As a break from reading "Venus Equilateral"s tiny print, I read Niven & Pournelle's "Inferno". It's a decent take on Dante's version, but a couple of screw-ups regarding the historical person acting as guide threw me out of the mood.

First was the description as "A fat man, tall, but dumpy and chunky." OK, fantasy, but if you're going to use historical characters with easy-to-find descriptions, get 'em right. Said individual was 5' 6.5" and 154 lb -- about current ideal weight for his height.

Later he was able to fly a glider, supposedly due to piloting one when rescued from a mountain location. Sorry, but the escape plane was a Storch, not a glider, and was flown by its usual pilot. I don't think I'll be reading the rest of the series.

Posted by: Ann Wilson, aka Empire 1 at May 08, 2022 12:06 PM (y0zVi)

366 The Monster Hunter books are pretty based too, making fun of the wokesters at times, but not in a major way. The first book was pretty good but too damned long and huge in its scope.

It bothers me when people introduce a new setting and world and feel like it has to be about saving the universe and HUGE SWEEPING PLOTLINES instead of "here's who they are and what they do" setups.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 12:06 PM (KZzsI)

367 Media is meh nood.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at May 08, 2022 12:07 PM (jYQlA)

368 I hate to disturb a cat, but he can always go back to sleep.

Yeah I think its cute and nice when a cat climbs onto me to sleep (mmm warm lap) but I don't feel any particular concern about waking them up. They sleep 20 or so hours a day, they can go back to sleep somewhere else.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 12:07 PM (KZzsI)

369 He wrote truthfully about the CIA. They sent troops in to other nations, installed governments sympathetic to US corporate interests, color revolutions. All kinds of ops.
Recently, they've done it to us.
That is the only distinction I can detect.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 12:09 PM (jTmQV)

370 Holy shit, they actually seriously considered changing that epic looking Czech library into something that looks like a frigging magic mushroom? I think somebody spent way too much time playing the Elder Scrolls III Morrowind game.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 08, 2022 12:10 PM (VwHCD)

371 Read "Thrawn" and "Thrawn Alliances" in the last week. Can't find anything woke about the first two books and both were pretty enjoyable.

Gonna start with "Thrawn Treason" here shortly. So far the series has been a very good addition to the written SW universe.
Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at May 08, 2022 11:53 AM (1DgE4)
---
Those were written by Timothy Zahn, so they are pretty decent books, IMHO. About the best we're going to get from the new Disney Star Wars canon...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 12:11 PM (K5n5d)

372 Time to be off and about a few chores, my nap, and then a few more chores before I can settle down with my current book this p.m. Enjoy the Sunday, all!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 12:12 PM (c6xtn)

373 Remember the CIA tv recruiting ads?
Remember who appeared in those ads?
Nobody normal, that's who. They want the LGTB trans, pierced lips, green haired, multiple tatted, ritual scarified, people who don't know what they are, today.
That is their target talent pool.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 12:14 PM (jTmQV)

374 56 Can I get those pants supersized?

----

You mean like clown size? Ask Stacy Abrams.

Posted by: Ciampino at May 08, 2022 12:15 PM (qfLjt)

375 The Amazon self-publishing service suggests that as a marketing tool you seek out blogs or chat groups of like minded people or related topics and join in the conversation, as a way to broach the fact that you are an author and "oh, by the way I wrote a book about this that may be of interest."

Yeah the best method is to become part of a community, establish yourself, be respected and at least not disliked, then mention what you do for a living and perhaps people might like the work.

I mean, why buy a book from some new guy that just showed up and spammed an ad, or someone you barely know? I cannot afford to buy all the books I WANT to get, let alone new stuff I know nothing about.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 12:16 PM (KZzsI)

376 Did they ever buy ones from actual published SF authors? Some of them could have made Lucas's universe work on the printed page, I bet. James Blish did a great job with the Trek adaptations. He made Kirk the viewpoint character and gave him a sense of humor (I know Shatner did, but Kirk was pretty serious at the start) as he reacted to the events around him.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 08, 2022 11:57 AM (c6xtn)
---
Oh, yes...

Timothy Zahn kicked off a whole new expanded universe with his Thrawn trilogy.

Besides Alan Dean Foster, authors include Steve Perry (Matador Series), Kevin J. Anderson (co-authored Dune novels, among others), Michael Stackpole (did a Battletech series that was pretty decent), R.A. Salvatore (Drizzt novels from Forgotten Realms), and Troy Denning (numerous D&D novels), and those are just from my personal library of Star Wars novels.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 08, 2022 12:20 PM (K5n5d)

377 Related to CIA discussion, this book:
"Confessions of an Economic Hit-man"

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 08, 2022 12:37 PM (jTmQV)

378 @304 --

Hey, Teach. Fewer babies leads to smaller schools leads to the unemployment line for you.

You ought to be there now.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 08, 2022 01:23 PM (Om/di)

379 I've been reading Peter Nealen lately, he writes war fiction and monster hunting fiction, the monsters could be from the Abyss or just old fae types, very good books.

Posted by: Grog at May 08, 2022 01:47 PM (esAC9)

380 if your taste runs to tales where Evil wins and Chaos rules, and "good" appears to be defeated every day, all you have to do is watch the news.
Posted by: Tom Servo at May 08, 2022 10:51 AM (q3gwH)

Ain't that the truth

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 08, 2022 02:30 PM (kf6Ak)

381 my great great grandfather and his family homesteaded a site about 20 miles from Silver Lake at about the same time the Ingalls family did. That winter was legendary; they stayed on the farm and had stored enough grain and salted meat to survive, but they only a rather primitive and low ceilinged farm house/shed, maybe 600 sq ft. (it still exists, I've seen it) To help some neighbors, 9 people ended up spending 3 months in that building, at a time when they had to hack trenches through snowdrifts over their heads, just to get out the door.
Posted by: Tom Servo at May 08, 2022 10:40 AM (q3gwH)

Great piece of family history!

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - no longer playing the game at May 08, 2022 05:25 PM (9qiMu)

382
110 Stories
--John M. Ford
http://nielsenhayden.com/110.html

Posted by: zigzag at May 08, 2022 06:43 PM (T0HGA)

383 takin a sock off, here, Boss!

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at May 08, 2022 06:43 PM (UHVv4)

384 The winter of 87-88 destroyed the cattle industry and killed many people. Then it happened again the next year.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 08, 2022 08:00 PM (KZzsI)

385
Posted by: Tom Servo at May 08, 2022 10:51 AM (q3gwH)

I guess this is another reason I don't appreciate the fantasy lit that makes good and evil black and white. Such a view allows people to see evil as a severe, entire "universal" thing and a powerful one, while ignoring all the little steps and increments required to get there, or, worse, to minimize the individual's evils as almost completely inconsequential. They are not. One evil sort of build on itself, a little lie becomes an ability to be a facile liar. Entitlement in one area becomes permission to act badly in another.
So, it is important to not brush off small transgressions for the sake of "keeping the peace" be it familial, social, or political. Rewarded behavior is repeated behavior, and transgression intensifies until it is purposefully stopped. Barring that it grows into our fantasy villains, be they impossible magicians or evil oligarchs who have never been told no.

Posted by: CN at May 08, 2022 09:55 PM (ONvIw)

386 385. So my favorite little book of fiction on the subject remains Screwtape Letters by Lewis. One falls by increments and inconsequential temptations until you have blotted out the idea of obligation.

Posted by: CN at May 08, 2022 09:57 PM (ONvIw)

387 I wish Patrick Rothfuss would effing finish The Kingkiller Chronicle or tell us he isn't going to.

Posted by: Archie B.'s daughter at May 09, 2022 04:31 PM (A2uJD)

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