Sunday Morning Book Thread - 05-22-2022 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (I prefer crafting them for imaginary people). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material, even if it's nothing more than the directions for a new woodchip grill (ht: Diogenes). As always, pants are required, especially if you are wearing these pants...(when your Kindle isn't available or runs out of juice.)

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

(NOTE: Today's entry is quite girthy! Enjoy!)

PIC NOTE

This was just a random pic sent to me by Kindltot, but it got me thinking a bit. Libraries can come in all shapes and sizes. They can be set up for all sorts of different purposes. In this case, the owner of this library chose to make a sort of igloo out of books. It could be a very cozy place to read if you installed a small lamp and some blankets/cushions. Also note how the spines of the books are all facing inward, so all you have to do is turn around inside the dome to find a book. Of course, if you try to pull a book from the arched wall in order to read it, then welcome to Jengadome!

BOOKS FOR FUN!

Not every book has to be an epic tale of heroism and adventure. Nor do they have to be dusty, dry tomes recounting factual information, like Financial Planning & Analysis and Performance Management (ht: Weasel) (I'm sure it's a very useful book, but it doesn't quite scream "read me!"--kind of like A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, which is particular to my own professional area of interest)

Some books can just exist to give us momentary diversions and spark creativity.

Hello,
Long-time lurker. Think I've only posted a comment once or twice though. Anyway, I'm a contributor in an art book that perhaps some readers might enjoy. It's a (free) annual compilation of mazes by various graphic artists. It's available online at:
https://www.matthewsmazes.com
So far maze2020 and maze2021 are out, with a new volume planned each year.
I'm only in maze2021 but hope to contribute to the next volume.
Anyway, if any of your readers like mazes and free stuff, perhaps you might kindly consider mentioning us. Thanks!
Regards,
--William Leonard
my personal maze instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wgleonard3/

Comment: I always enjoyed mazes and labyrinths when I was a kid. I loved trying to trace the path from one end to the other. I also dabbled in the art of maze creation myself. Mine tended to feature a lot of traps, monsters, and other hazards, which is probably why I played Dungeons and Dragons. Sounds like it's a very popular pastime and with the power of the internet, you can share your mazes with the entire world. William very kindly sent me three SIGNED copies of the mazes2021 book, which will be handed out at the TXMOME in October. The mazes in this book are truly works of art and extremely challenging! Please take the time to visit the website above. These are great for kids and adults of all ages. And the electronic version is FREE!

NOTE: If you would like to contribute a maze, it looks like submissions are being accepted through May 31, 2022. The next volume will be released near the end of this year.

WHO DIS

CLUE 1 - He was a big supporter of the women's suffrage movement.

CLUE 2 - He often used female pseudonyms for his less famous stories.

CLUE 3 - He created one of the most successful and celebrated franchises in all of chldrens' literature.

++++++++++

++++++++++

BOOKS BY MORONS

Longtime lurker, infrequent poster here.
Back in September the Book Thread kindly made mention of my book, The Last Viking. Despite not being released until that month, it became my publisher's best seller for 2021 and is now in its fifth printing. Many thanks to any morons who made the purchase!
Two Sundays ago you posted about books on Roman history. I would like to suggest my upcoming book, At the Gates of Rome. It tells the story of the fall of the city in AD 410, as seen through the eyes of Roman general Stilicho and Alaric, King of the Goths.
It's now available in hardcover and as an audiobook in the UK and due out in the US on May 17th. Cover image attached. Free sample chapters and links to buy at the website.
--
Don Hollway

Comment: Don begins his tale with a quote from Sullust that seems remarkably prescient, considering the times we live in now: "When through persistence and honor the republic achieved power, when great princes had been conquered by war, when barbaric tribes and peoples had been subjugated, when Carthage, Rome's rival for dominion, had been totally destroyed, and every sea and land was part of her domain, then fate turned against her." Just think about that in the context of current events...

He also did a podcast about his book this past week:

+++++

Long-time reader and very infrequent commenter on AoSHQ. Nonetheless, for your weekly Book Thread I wanted to submit my future history of Machine Civilization. Taking place from about, well, now (US dollar replaced as world reserve currency, massive economic collapse, W Europe overrun by MENA barbarians) to about three generations from now, I explore the relationships of friends, families, lovers, and nations in this post-Breakup world. My works are mostly novels, will a novella, short story collection, and children's early reader picture book. I've also turned one of my stories into an audiobook.
It's classed as science fiction; I write stories about people. It is just that many of the people I write about are thinking machines.
If you have any questions or need additional information, please let me know.
Clayton Barnett

Comment: Clayton's fictional world sound eerily prophetic.

+++++

Rob Kroese's got a new trilogy in process called "Mammon", book three of
which comes out in a few months.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robkroese/mammon-a-scifi-trilogy-about-a-different-sort-of-apocalypse
He also commissioned a bunch of short stories to take place in the
Mammon universe called "Mammon: Collateral", which yours truly has an
entry in:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09WG8MGB6
Mammon is basically a near-SF take on the Mississippi Scheme, whereby an
Elon Musk-esque entrepreneur attempts to lasso an asteroid and provide
hope to a flagging America, and the "Collateral" stories are about the
consequences of the failure of that.
"Collateral" comes out on the 27th of April. Book 3 of the trilogy,
"Mammon: Nemesis", comes out July 28th.
Might be of interest to SF&F-oriented morons.
===Blake (moviegique)===

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NOTE: The Lone Star Book Festival has been cancelled for this year. However, Sgt Mom has compiled a list of links to authors who were scheduled to be in attendance. They could all use a little love and support from the Horde, even if they might disagree with us on fundamental issues. Like a lot of authors, they tend to skew liberal/left. As long as they tell a good story, without injecting toxic politics, that's what really matters.

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MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

For children's books let me throw in a plug for the Oz books. The ones by L. Frank Baum, anyway. Great stories to read to little ones, and perfect for when they're starting to read for themselves.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2022 09:30 AM (QZxDR)

Comment: This is one series that I never read, though I did at least read the first one. A former coworker of mine is a HUGE fan of the series, though. She has tons of Wizard of Oz merchandise, as well as multiple versions of the movies and books. Supposedly this series was Baum's attempt to write a distinctly American fairy tale. Whether he succeeded or not is left up to the reader.

+++++

I'm a long-time lurker from the days when Monty hosted the book thread. Every so often I would poke my head up and recommend a book, but it's been quite a while since I did so. Since I got to this late, and to avoid a pixy ban, I'll send this recommendation directly.
With all of the news about Disney and the aftermath of inciting the Wrath of DeSantis, a long OOP Conservative Book Club selection from 1998 should get some new attention. Disney: The Mouse Betrayed by Peter and Rochelle Schweizer details about several issues Disney swept under the rug or deflected (like the abysmal safety records of its theme parks.) The big one is the corruption started by Michael Eisner shortly after he became CEO in 1984. Now while Eisner deserves credit for resurrecting the animation division and guiding the company out of junk bond status, he deserves harsh criticism for involving them in the adult film industry to the extent that much of their broadcast and production talent was hired away from the Playboy Channel.
Definitely worth a read--if one can find a copy.
Cesspit Pariah

Comment: So it looks like Disney's problems have been around a long, long time, though they do their best to keep their issues out of sight. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if they can weather the current storm...

+++++

I finally started reading a book. Its been awhile. Its called Black Ops-The life of a CIA shadow warrior. Its written by a retired CIA counter terrorist chief of operations, Ric Prado. He was the dude who spearheaded organizing the Contras to fight the Sandinistas. He escaped cuba as a young kid, came to America, and eventually went into the military. Die hard pro-American, fiercely anti communist, and doesn't have any love for the media, the left, and academia. Joined the CIA as a way to pay back the marxists for destroying his family. I'm about half way through, its been a good read.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 15, 2022 09:55 AM (VwHCD)

Comment: Sounds like this guy could be an honorary Moron, if he's not a lurker...Also a reminder that there just might be some people working behind the scenes to take down the Marxists that ruin lives...

+++++

20th Century philosopher John Passmore published a book, The Perfectibility of Man in 1970. He went through religions and political philosophies, starting with the ancient Greeks, and points out the weaknesses of all, with the belief being that human nature can be perfected the basic flaw.
Posted by: Wethal at May 15, 2022 11:52 AM (ZzVCK)

Comment: You can find a PDF version of this book HERE.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (Over 150 Moron-recommended books so far!)

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

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

The Heart of What Was Lost by Tad Williams - Sequel to his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series detailing the Siege of Nakkiga.

Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers - Work-related book. My office plans on hosting a Summer Book study program with several faculty members.

Life Unworthy by Christopher R. Taylor - Came highly recommended last week so I'm giving it a shot. It was well worth the read!

The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton - Part of my epic haul from the library book sale a few weeks ago.

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 - 05-15-22 (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 page)

1 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at May 22, 2022 09:01 AM (2JoB8)

2 Ole!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 22, 2022 09:01 AM (Dc2NZ)

3 Frank L. Baum

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 22, 2022 09:01 AM (Dc2NZ)

4 hiya

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 09:01 AM (arJlL)

5 Good morning book enthusiasts
Still creeping through Richard Pipes Russian Revolution

We sure seem to be rhyming their Revolution

Posted by: Skip at May 22, 2022 09:02 AM (2JoB8)

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

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 09:02 AM (arJlL)

7 I read and enjoyed The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein. I'm catching up on the classics I missed sixty years ago.

Posted by: Zoltan at May 22, 2022 09:03 AM (WqAy2)

8 And right after building that library and getting yourself in, safe from the outside world, you'll break your glasses.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 22, 2022 09:03 AM (7bRMQ)

9 Nice chapeau, PS!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 22, 2022 09:04 AM (PiwSw)

10 If you need a good YA book (more for girls), you could do worse than Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall Trilogy. The second, "Dragonsinger", is a delight. I've been enjoying this trip down memory lane with SF and fantasy from my yute.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 22, 2022 09:04 AM (Dc2NZ)

11 Booken morgen horden!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 09:05 AM (kf6Ak)

12 I like the way you feature moron authors, Perfessor. It's nice with the cover art.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 22, 2022 09:06 AM (45fpk)

13 Those broads on the guilty pleasure book...no.

Those pants...might wear them around the house.

The Who Dis is ZARDOZ!

More coffee.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 22, 2022 09:06 AM (R/m4+)

14 Morning again, all,

That could be Baum. I also thought of Hugh Lofting, the creator of Dr. Doolittle. By the way, did we ever find out who the mystery click was on the Hobby Thread last night? Dean Martin and John Wayne were easy, but the third guy I thought was Guy Madison (?).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 09:07 AM (c6xtn)

15 Hiya Grammie !

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 09:07 AM (arJlL)

16 Ah man, I thought the squirrel would be juggling three books!

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 22, 2022 09:07 AM (Om/di)

17 Hiya JT!

Posted by: grammie winger at May 22, 2022 09:08 AM (45fpk)

18 If you need a good YA book (more for girls), you could do worse than Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall Trilogy. The second, "Dragonsinger", is a delight. I've been enjoying this trip down memory lane with SF and fantasy from my yute.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 22, 2022 09:04 AM (Dc2NZ)
---
I, too, have really enjoyed visiting some of my favorite books from my youth. It's amazing how well they hold up, even through the eyes of my advanced 29 years...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:08 AM (K5n5d)

19 7 I read and enjoyed The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein. I'm catching up on the classics I missed sixty years ago.
Posted by: Zoltan at May 22, 2022 09:03 AM (WqAy2)

If you need ideas, the publisher Gollancz has the collection SF Masterworks that's worth perusing.

https://www.gollancz.co.uk/tag/sf-masterworks/

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

20 I've been loading our Kindles with books for vacation. I will need 8. Rev will need 2. He mostly naps.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 22, 2022 09:09 AM (45fpk)

21 Librarian Jenga.
Also librarian Tetris when shoving different sized books into boxes.
And the famous librarian book cart racing.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 09:09 AM (kf6Ak)

22
I've started "The Guns of Avalon," the second book in Roger Zelazny's Amber series. I've been looking forward to this because of one line in the previous book: "... I promised myself that guns would blaze within the immortal city ..."

As most fantasy stories seem to happen in medieval worlds that have no gunpowder or other explosives, I'm intrigued as to what will happen. I hope for slam-bang action.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 22, 2022 09:09 AM (Om/di)

23 Is it Baum? Because I was going to guess A.A. Milne.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 22, 2022 09:10 AM (PiwSw)

24 I like the way you feature moron authors, Perfessor. It's nice with the cover art.
Posted by: grammie winger at May 22, 2022 09:06 AM (45fpk)
----
Thanks. One of these days I will do a post focusing on book cover art. To me, it's an essential component of the reading experience.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:10 AM (K5n5d)

25 Edward Stratemeyer? Head of Stratemeyer syndicate of ghostwriters of Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Bobbsey Twins, etc., books?

Posted by: Wethal (shy lurker) at May 22, 2022 09:10 AM (ZzVCK)

26 Also note how the spines of the books are all facing inward, so all you have to do is turn around inside the dome to find a book.
Posted by: PROFESSOR SQUIRREL!

I don't think the bookigloo uses the Dewey Decimal System...

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 22, 2022 09:10 AM (56+8G)

27 All Hail Eris nailed it at comment 3... I tried to find a less obvious picture, but the only other option was one from when he was a child.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:11 AM (K5n5d)

28 Last week the Laura Wilder books was discussed and thought a great idea for my Grand Neice but my mom has already beat me to it.

Posted by: Skip at May 22, 2022 09:11 AM (2JoB8)

29 I, too, have really enjoyed visiting some of my favorite books from my youth. It's amazing how well they hold up, even through the eyes of my advanced 29 years...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:08 AM (K5n5d)

Maybe because the writers expected prior knowledge and ability out of their readers instead of 26 year old infants who can't read at a high level and know nothing?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 22, 2022 09:11 AM (7bRMQ)

30 Sorry pErfessor.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 22, 2022 09:12 AM (56+8G)

31 Good Sunday morning, horde!

I always appreciate the links to Moron authors. Some of my favorite reads have been written by the likes of them. I've really enjoyed The Last Brigade series by William Allen Webb. I read them on kindle, but it's another of those that I think I'll start gathering in paperback.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at May 22, 2022 09:12 AM (OX9vb)

32 Yay book thread!

Almost done with Pu-Yi's memoir, which - other than the dizzying number of Chinese names - is a very easy read. It's written quite conversationally, as if the ex-emperor is sitting across with you having a drink and reminiscing about his lift. Obviously, he became a Chi-com at the end, but given the corruption (and weirdness) of the Imperial Court, it's kind of hard to blame him.

I've breached 52,000 words on my China book, and I'm now in the Warlord Era. Broomhandle Mausers for everyone! I'm behind schedule, but hoping that I can make a concerted effort to sprint to the end because frankly, I'm getting burned out.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:13 AM (llXky)

33 Great to see Ric Prado mentioned. I've known him for many years and I'll tell you, this book doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of his illustrious career. He's a great Patriot, American, mentor, and friend. Might also recommend Changiz Lahidji, Full Battle Rattle. Stories almost too wild to be true, but, I think they were a bit underscored.

Posted by: Sua Sponte at May 22, 2022 09:13 AM (zGpsz)

34 Hiya JT!
Posted by: grammie winger

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 09:14 AM (arJlL)

35 I've really enjoyed The Last Brigade series by William Allen Webb. I read them on kindle, but it's another of those that I think I'll start gathering in paperback.
Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at May 22, 2022 09:12 AM (OX9vb)

He really really needs to finish the trilogy. Seriously, Bill. Finish the trilogy.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 22, 2022 09:15 AM (PiwSw)

36 Haven't the Woketards tried to cancel L. Frank Baum?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 22, 2022 09:15 AM (XqnKU)

37 “what librarians do when no one’s around.”

But someone is around, and that is a huge fine!

Posted by: Joe Bookman, Library Cop at May 22, 2022 09:16 AM (QxEBj)

38 My main read this week is "All the White Spaces" by Ally Wilkes, about an ill-fated (aren't they all?) expedition to Antarctica in 1919. After her brothers are killed in WWI, "Jo" Morgan decides to step up and take the trip they'd all fantasized about in their youth when gazing at a map of Antartica -- to explore the uncharted white spaces beyond the coast. Accompanied by her brothers' friend, she stows away aboard the expeditionary ship as "Jonathan". There are problems early on. Their charismatic leader insists on continuing even though it is late in the season, and of course they get trapped in the ice. Their ship is destroyed in a fire (sabotage?), and they are forced to retreat to the interior as the long night descends.

Ant/arctic horror is one of my favorite horror subsets. It's man vs. nature vs. The Crazy.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 22, 2022 09:17 AM (Dc2NZ)

39 Haven't the Woketards tried to cancel L. Frank Baum?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 22, 2022 09:15 AM (XqnKU)
---
On the contrary. The gheys have co-opted Oz into their agenda.

I read a book this week where the author had a conversation with one of her students who refused to see how awesome Glinda was for the ghey agenda.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:18 AM (K5n5d)

40 I'm amazed that the Horde has such talented writers.
Thanks, Professor.

Posted by: dantesed at May 22, 2022 09:18 AM (88xKn)

41 By the way, did we ever find out who the mystery click was on the Hobby Thread last night? Dean Martin and John Wayne were easy, but the third guy I thought was Guy Madison (?).
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 09:07 AM (c6xtn)

I assumed that was Bing Crosby.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 22, 2022 09:19 AM (XqnKU)

42 I've been listening to the collected plays of Shakespeare and...I really don't like them. The problem may be the media since I've liked the plays I've actually *seen* well enough. It's an older Kindle compilation which means there's no navigation within the book at all, which makes the various plays all blend together.

The problem may also be me. I try really hard not to bring demands for modern sensibilities into historical things I'm reading, but I may be doing so now. I'm in the comedy section and I *hate* most of the relationships, and most of the characters, and the entire plot. So much revolves around a woman being possibly ruined socially, and back then that *meant* something, and I'm afraid I end up agreeing with the feminists "That's not funny!" even though I know it will all be fine by closing curtain.

I think I may take a break and listen to some biographies for a bit before trying again.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 22, 2022 09:19 AM (nC+QA)

43 Do libraries charge fines any more?

I used to joke with the staff at our local branches that our fines alone paid for the system's expansion.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 22, 2022 09:19 AM (Om/di)

44 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to barbecue on the back deck if the book over the crotch said "Moby Dick" on the spine.

Posted by: Call Me Fishsmell at May 22, 2022 09:19 AM (vrz2I)

45 Pu Yi, or not Pu Yi, that is the question.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 09:20 AM (FVME7)

46 Those pants are fine. If it had a matching shirt you might get away with saying "stacked!".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 22, 2022 09:20 AM (Dc2NZ)

47 On the contrary. The gheys have co-opted Oz into their agenda.

I read a book this week where the author had a conversation with one of her students who refused to see how awesome Glinda was for the ghey agenda.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:18 AM (K5n5d)

I thought there was some noise about him being rayciss.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 22, 2022 09:20 AM (XqnKU)

48 Speaking of writing, two years ago this month I was blitzing through Long Live Death, my history of the Spanish Civil War. Lots of folks here helped out (and got mentioned in the acknowledgements - you know who you are), and looking back on it, it's scary how much what happened in Spain is being replicated here. Some examples:

Election corruption: This was essential to the left regaining and then consolidating political power. It also destroyed the confidence of the center-right that they could "vote their way" out of the situation.

Unequal justice: If you were an Anarchist, you could burn a business with impunity, but if you were a business owner or landowner, fighting back was a crime. One of the first acts of the Popular Front when they regained power was to release all the Anarchist terrorists from prison.

Church burnings: Oh hell yeah! Lots of them, including famous cathedrals. At least they aren't killing the clergy. Yet.

to be continued...

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:21 AM (llXky)

49 Those pants are fine. If it had a matching shirt you might get away with saying "stacked!".
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Works for me.
-Dolly

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 22, 2022 09:22 AM (56+8G)

50 Polliwog, to me the comedies' problem is that the words have changed meaning. His puns and plays on words don't mean much if you're not current with what the words meant in 1590. And if you're frequently consulting footnotes for explanations, that ruins the comedy aspect.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 09:22 AM (c6xtn)

51 Funny. Twice now, Brave has popped up a notice that this site wants me to install Gurgle's widevine DRM scam. Have blocked it, of course. I wonder if that is attached to one of the photos?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 22, 2022 09:23 AM (XqnKU)

52 I recently read "I Killed - stories of the road from America's top comics"

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 09:24 AM (arJlL)

53 Happens when I renew the comments page. Maybe the top pic?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 22, 2022 09:24 AM (XqnKU)

54 I thought there was some noise about him being rayciss.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 22, 2022 09:20 AM (XqnKU)
---
Yeah, against Native Americans, I think. Hardly surprising, though, as most white Americans were also racist against the Natives at that time. His descendants apologized to the Sioux nation in 2006, according to Wikipedia.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:25 AM (K5n5d)

55 finished Cartographer's Guild. a good read w/a subtle Indiana Jones reference (cute!) well set up for the next episode.

i was reminded of IJ&TSFTLA as well, it had a nice feel to it.

Posted by: yara at May 22, 2022 09:26 AM (hBsVD)

56 Loving the number of excellent Lurker authors in the Horde.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 22, 2022 09:26 AM (CJsZH)

57 @52 --

JT, would you please name some of them? That sounds interesting.

I watched practically every stand-up comedy cable show in the '80s.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 22, 2022 09:26 AM (Om/di)

58 the corruption (and weirdness) of the Imperial Court

-
I know it's heresy to mention a movie, but the Chi Com movie The Curse of the Golden Flower is stunningly beautiful. Perhaps not the most uplifting movie ever made. It is about corruption in the Imperial Court. It's fiction, I believe.

-

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 09:26 AM (FVME7)

59 A.H. Lloyd the exact reason I got Long Live Death for the rhyming history we are living through.

Posted by: Skip at May 22, 2022 09:27 AM (2JoB8)

60 Off to Mass, but just wanted to mention this for Mrs. Peel, who expressed her dislike for Latin American fiction in an ONT.
You might try Jorge Amado, a Brazilian writing from the 1950's on. I'd suggest Tent of Miracles, Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands or Tereza Baptista, my three personal favorites.

Posted by: sal at May 22, 2022 09:27 AM (bJKUl)

61 His descendants apologized to the Sioux nation in 2006, according to Wikipedia.

-
They didn't bow low enough!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 09:28 AM (FVME7)

62 Continued...

Purging the military: You don't actually need to court-martial all the officers, just one or two to convince them to quit. The Popular Front actually offered buy-outs to get those awful conservatives out of the way. A lot of Spain's military "purged itself." Looking at the falling end strength (the Army alone is 20,000 troops short), I'd say things are going swimmingly.

Economic dislocation: Nothing spurs a revolution like spiraling food prices and inflation, amirite?

Redefine "opposition" as "treason": if you want to know where the whole "everyone who disagrees with me is a fascist," came from, the answer is Spain. The Phalange was in fact a fascist organization, but it was tiny. However, the left tarred everyone from the parish priest to the small farmer as being a fascist stooge who needed to be shot.

Democracy as Dictatorship: Everything the Popular Front did they did in the name of "democracy." Burning churches? Democratic. Killing land owners and taking their farms? Democracy in action. Murdering opposition politicians? Why that's protecting democracy from fascism.

Continued...

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:28 AM (llXky)

63 He really really needs to finish the trilogy. Seriously, Bill. Finish the trilogy.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 22, 2022 09:15 AM (PiwSw)

Haha, theres' that.

Posted by: April--dash my lace wigs! at May 22, 2022 09:30 AM (OX9vb)

64 Book thread, baroque music, breakfast. "What is best in life?"

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 22, 2022 09:31 AM (Dc2NZ)

65 Loving the number of excellent Lurker authors in the Horde.
Posted by: Sharkman at May 22, 2022 09:26 AM (CJsZH)
===
They come for the cruelty.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 22, 2022 09:32 AM (EZebt)

66 Posted by: Sua Sponte at May 22, 2022 09:13 AM (zGpsz)

I think I have that in my TBR pile. Maybe that's the one I'll read to take a break from Shakespeare.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 22, 2022 09:32 AM (nC+QA)

67 Library spies and the post office agents have a shoot out.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 22, 2022 09:32 AM (J8LnB)

68 Thanks for the recommendation for the Abner Fortis series. The 1st of the series: Cherry Drop by P.A. Piatt.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 22, 2022 09:33 AM (56+8G)

69 They come for the cruelty.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 22, 2022 09:32 AM (EZebt)
---
But they stay for the snark...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:33 AM (K5n5d)

70 There should be a maze, The Shining-style, before the White House. Or at least one to get in the Oval Office, the replica or the real thing. Nothing too complicated, just three or four turns to remember.

Posted by: Anacleto Mitraglia at May 22, 2022 09:34 AM (n5apT)

71 ...final.

Obviously there are differences. American institutions are less fragile than Spain's, which bounced back and forth between dictators for decades before the Second Republic.

Still, the left's playbook hasn't changed because it often works. Hell, Antifa is still establishing "autonomous communes."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:34 AM (llXky)

72 Larrt Miller, Ron Shock,David Tyree, Ant,Robert Schimmel,Jay Leno,John Fox, Mack Dryden,Bobcat,

and a shitload of others.

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 09:34 AM (arJlL)

73 hey y'all

Posted by: Nearsighted Cyclopes at May 22, 2022 09:34 AM (4TZI4)

74 I hope those shelf pants stay up better than Ace's shelves.

What kind of glue do Eskimos use to hold their house together?

Eglue of course.

Posted by: fd at May 22, 2022 09:35 AM (vrz2I)

75 Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

-
I mentioned on the movie thread last night, I watched Talk of Angels the other night about an Irish nanny who takes a job in Spain just before the war. According to it, the cause of the war was vicious gangs of Franco's roaming the country killing the innocents. There is much talk of the threat Franco is. So much bullshit I had to stop watching.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 09:36 AM (FVME7)

76 AHL, to expand on the parallels between what we're living and 1930's Spain, the same transnational "progressives" that were propping up the PF are in action today, but who, if anyone, would support a modern Franco?

Posted by: Retief at May 22, 2022 09:36 AM (yrl3V)

77 I'm reading a Hard Case Crime issue of a unpublished novel by Donald E. Westlake, Memory. Not a comic novel at all. The hero is a pro actor who is injured while on tour and loses part of his memory -- short-term memory, we'd say today. He's stuck in a town 1000 miles from his home in NYC and wants to get back there in hopes his memory will improve. At the moment he's working in a tannery -- and the local cops are interested in him for some reason. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 09:36 AM (c6xtn)

78 Book thread, baroque music, breakfast. "What is best in life?"
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes

Broken meat with baroque music ?

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 09:37 AM (arJlL)

79 For a future book thread: The Plot Against the King by Kash Patel

Kids book retelling of the Hillary plot against Trump

amazon.com/dp/1955550123

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 09:38 AM (kf6Ak)

80 Hi Cyclopes.

Which eye drops do you suggest?

Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 22, 2022 09:38 AM (J8LnB)

81 hey y'all
Posted by: Nearsighted Cyclopes

Hiya Cy !

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 09:38 AM (arJlL)

82 Boned, rolled, and extruded meat, JT (Spam).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 22, 2022 09:38 AM (Dc2NZ)

83 Hell, Antifa is still establishing "autonomous communes."
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

I see that there is a new autonomous commune being established in South Atlanta.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 09:38 AM (FVME7)

84 Book recommendation: I really recommend the Chilton's manual for the 99 Camry. It has helped me keep ol' Betsy on the road a couple extra years.

That and YouTube.

Posted by: 496 at May 22, 2022 09:38 AM (U1eOr)

85 Thanks for The Book Thread, Perfesser !

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 09:39 AM (arJlL)

86 I LOVE Spam !

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 09:40 AM (arJlL)

87 I know it's heresy to mention a movie, but the Chi Com movie The Curse of the Golden Flower is stunningly beautiful. Perhaps not the most uplifting movie ever made. It is about corruption in the Imperial Court. It's fiction, I believe.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 09:26 AM (FVME7)
---
Great film, I own it and rewatched it not long ago. It's set in the Tang Dynasty, so quite a while ago and it's a meditation on order vs chaos. Lots of Confucian symbolism in there that I missed when I originally watched it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:40 AM (llXky)

88 @72 --

So, more recent comedians.

I was hoping for older guys.

Playboy Channel (I was single then) had a series in which comedians like Jack Carter and Dick Martin talked about their careers. Harvey Korman was the host.

Of course, as it was Playboy, the discussion would quickly degenerate into "what you can say now," but I still enjoyed their accounts.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 22, 2022 09:41 AM (Om/di)

89 Vmom, I would love to get a copy of Patel's book and hide it in the children's section of our library, but you just know it would be rooted out as heretical teaching.

Also, "Kash Patel" is a great name.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 22, 2022 09:41 AM (Dc2NZ)

90 Nifty book thread as always, Perfessor, I went to the library yesterday and grabbed some fiction, it has been quite a while since I've been able to relax and read a good story. A couple of weeks back there was a moron author who had written some golf mysteries, does anybody recall the author's name? I was going to tuck a few of those in a thank you basket for my neighbor who has been so generous with his time and labor the last few years.

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at May 22, 2022 09:43 AM (a4EWo)

91 Also, "Kash Patel" is a great name.
Posted by: All Hail Eris,

I think that really is his name lol

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 09:43 AM (kf6Ak)

92 That's my boy L. Frank, of course.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 09:44 AM (QZxDR)

93 After witnessing the violence inherent in the system, I would be down with a conservative autonomous collective. Well, more like a high-walled redoubt.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 22, 2022 09:45 AM (Dc2NZ)

94 Nifty book thread as always, Perfessor, I went to the library yesterday and grabbed some fiction, it has been quite a while since I've been able to relax and read a good story. A couple of weeks back there was a moron author who had written some golf mysteries, does anybody recall the author's name? I was going to tuck a few of those in a thank you basket for my neighbor who has been so generous with his time and labor the last few years.
Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at May 22, 2022 09:43 AM (a4EWo)
---
I believe the author you are referring to is James Y. Bartlett:

https://www.jamesybartlett.com/

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:45 AM (K5n5d)

95 Swap out baroque, replace with blues.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 22, 2022 09:46 AM (Om/di)

96 Good Morning fellow book enthusiasts.
I'm reading Elantris , which is Brandon Sanderson's first book. It has taken me a little longer to get into it than the others, but it is interesting to see him beginning to test out his unique approach in creating an alternate universe. I can see some parallels in his later characters. He seems to always have a balance between a strong female character and yet have an equally smart brave male character.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 22, 2022 09:46 AM (Y+l9t)

97 So much content! Boggled, my mind is. Off to church.

Posted by: Eromero at May 22, 2022 09:46 AM (0OP+5)

98 ZOD the Great and Terrible recommended Clay Blair's "Hitler's U-Boat War". He warned it really got into the weeds with the stats, and he was right. A little too dense for me. Midwit middlebrow and totally okay with that. I'm not a numberwang:

https://tinyurl.com/2xpfsc99

I did enjoy the bits on building the cryptologic bombes. The best stuff (to me) was often tossed off in the footnotes.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 22, 2022 09:47 AM (Dc2NZ)

99 As a 'break' from Shakespeare, my own recommendation is to watch contemporary movies of the comedies. Taylor/Burton 'Taming of the Shrew' and Branaugh/Thompson 'Much Ado About Nothing'. Seeing and hearing the language well spoken makes a big difference. YMMV

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 22, 2022 09:47 AM (MIKMs)

100 Nothing spurs a revolution like spiraling food prices and inflation, amirite?

-
I went shopping yesterday and was surprised at the lack of selection. My tastes aren't to bizarre but Orowheat Jewish Rye Bread and blueberry cream cheese could not be had for love or money. I thought of a bastard child of Joe Biden and Tomahawk Lizzie Warren saying, "You didn't build that back better!"

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 09:47 AM (FVME7)

101 Weak Geek

Search the book title on Amazon.

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 09:47 AM (arJlL)

102 Again, too busy writing to do a whole lot of reading this week. I did re-read _The Ionian Mission_ by Patrick O'Brian.

That dude's a textbook on how to break all the rules and still write great books. He frequently starts a book with Captain Aubrey et al on a particular mission -- blockade, ferrying a diplomat to the Far East, whatever -- and then about halfway through he sends the characters a new set of orders and the previous plot just gets shelved.

Any Creative Writing instructor would shriek and tear out his or her hair, but O'Brian makes it work.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 09:47 AM (QZxDR)

103 There is much talk of the threat Franco is. So much bullshit I had to stop watching.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 09:36 AM (FVME7)
---
Yes, Franco was not a national political figure at all prior to the war. He wasn't even part of the coup until the last minute. Emilio Mola laid the groundwork and Jose Sanjurjo was the recognized leader until he was killed in a plane crash.

Franco didn't take full command until Oct. 1, 1936, three months into the war.

Franco was apolitical, and he became leader because the generals respected him. Other than that, he was chiefly famous because his brother Ramon had flown across the South Atlantic.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:48 AM (llXky)

104 I have been reading a lot of fiction - mostly fantasy, my favorite way to escape current events.
One of my favorite writers released the 6th installment in a series - the previous book was in 2016. So I went back and reread books 3 - 5 to prepare for book 6. Rereading was fun, but the new book, sadly, is not up to her usual standards. Too many threads she's trying to pull together, then ends in a complete cliffhanger.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 09:49 AM (kf6Ak)

105 >>> 39 Haven't the Woketards tried to cancel L. Frank Baum?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 22, 2022 09:15 AM (XqnKU)
---
On the contrary. The gheys have co-opted Oz into their agenda.

I read a book this week where the author had a conversation with one of her students who refused to see how awesome Glinda was for the ghey agenda.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:18 AM (K5n5d)

Book Glinda >>> ditzy Movie Glinda

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at May 22, 2022 09:49 AM (llON8)

106 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:40 AM (llXky)

I was watching a Chinese animated series called 9 Songs of the Moving Heavens, a prequel to another series Qin's Moon. Found out recently that the main character is historical and the creator of the Legalism school of philosophy.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 22, 2022 09:50 AM (nC+QA)

107 A couple of weeks back there was a moron author who had written some golf mysteries, does anybody recall the author's name?

-
Also there was mention of a Nero Wolfe book in which various writing styles were demonstrated. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 09:51 AM (FVME7)

108 Yeah, against Native Americans, I think. Hardly surprising, though, as most white Americans were also racist against the Natives at that time. His descendants apologized to the Sioux nation in 2006, according to Wikipedia.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:25 AM (K5n5d)
---
What a joke. I'm not responsible in any way for what my grandparents did.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:51 AM (llXky)

109 One of my favorite writers released the 6th installment in a series - the previous book was in 2016. So I went back and reread books 3 - 5 to prepare for book 6. Rereading was fun, but the new book, sadly, is not up to her usual standards. Too many threads she's trying to pull together, then ends in a complete cliffhanger.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 09:49 AM (kf6Ak)
---
Your comment prompted me to check Amazon to see if one of my favorite authors has any forthcoming books...YES!

It's scheduled to come out Oct 4, so I went ahead and pre-ordered it. WOOT!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:51 AM (K5n5d)

110 Book Glinda is basically Saruman with an army of chorus girls instead of Orcs.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 09:51 AM (QZxDR)

111 My other reading to report: is trying to finish SPQR The Year of Confusion and I borrowed Alloy of Metal (next to rrad).
I also borrowed some books on Confucianism, because of somebody here (Robert?) mentioning Mencius (say that 3x quickly).

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 09:51 AM (kf6Ak)

112 It's scheduled to come out Oct 4, so I went ahead and pre-ordered it. WOOT!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

What's the book/author?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 09:52 AM (kf6Ak)

113 The whole wicked series that flips the script was terrible

Remember the comintern attacked social democrars in germany anarchists and trotskyites in spain that was dos passos awakening.

Posted by: No 6 at May 22, 2022 09:53 AM (i0Lci)

114 Book Glinda is basically Saruman with an army of chorus girls instead of Orcs.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 09:51 AM (QZxDR)
---
I'm assuming there are a list of countries eager to be invaded by such legions?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:53 AM (llXky)

115 @107 --

I think that Wolfe book was "Plot It Yourself."

I've read it, but that mash of styles went right past me. Need to reread it.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 22, 2022 09:53 AM (Om/di)

116
Also there was mention of a Nero Wolfe book in which various writing styles were demonstrated. Anyone know what I'm talking about?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022

***
Possibly Plot It Yourself, in which Wolfe is hired to find and stop plagiarism suits against the works being put out by an NYC publisher. It's necessary during the course of the story for Wolfe to analyze the putative originals that are being used to claim the plagiarism.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 09:54 AM (c6xtn)

117 Remember the comintern attacked social democrars in germany anarchists and trotskyites in spain that was dos passos awakening.
Posted by: No 6 at

I must have missed class that day

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 09:54 AM (kf6Ak)

118 It's scheduled to come out Oct 4, so I went ahead and pre-ordered it. WOOT!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

What's the book/author?
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 09:52 AM (kf6Ak)
----
Deathless Gods, in the open-ended (so far) Chronicles of the Kencyrath by P.C. Hodgell. One of the best fantasy series I've ever read (easily in my top 5).

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 09:55 AM (K5n5d)

119 Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 22, 2022 09:41 AM (Dc2NZ)

If they give you trouble about the book raise hell about them "Silencing brown voices". Throw their buzzwords back at them.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 22, 2022 09:56 AM (nC+QA)

120 Jan valtin albert krug was a longshoremen on the docks of hamburg was on the ground floor of that

Posted by: No 6 at May 22, 2022 09:56 AM (i0Lci)

121 Remember the comintern attacked social democrars in germany anarchists and trotskyites in spain that was dos passos awakening.

Posted by: No 6 at May 22, 2022 09:53 AM (i0Lci)
---
Orwell's Homage to Catalonia comes to mind. I read it years ago and had no idea what was going on. When I revisited it, it made a lot more sense.

As we know, the left eats its own, and I can't help but wonder if the Durham thing isn't an attempt by the Obama faction to finish off the Clintons.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:57 AM (llXky)

122 So, if i invent a better screwdriver, i need the screw's permission?

Posted by: humphreyrobot at May 22, 2022 09:58 AM (J8LnB)

123 Thanks, Perfessor, that's the author, I might try some of his Swamp Yankee mysteries for my own self.

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at May 22, 2022 09:58 AM (a4EWo)

124 I was watching a Chinese animated series called 9 Songs of the Moving Heavens, a prequel to another series Qin's Moon. Found out recently that the main character is historical and the creator of the Legalism school of philosophy.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 22, 2022 09:50 AM (nC+QA)
---
The First Emperor was a Legalist. He wasn't popular, but didn't care. His dynasty ended over the building of his ludicrously large tomb. His kid couldn't hold things together, and that cleared the way for the Han.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:59 AM (llXky)

125 Where do you think the order came from perkins and coie was obamas firm way back

Posted by: No 6 at May 22, 2022 09:59 AM (i0Lci)

126 I think the adoption of Baum by the gheys went something like this:

1. Gay men identify with Judy Garland
2. Gay men adopt Wizard of Oz movie iconography because it had Judy in it
3. Somebody actually reads the Oz books and notices the immense amount of weird shit in them, including but not limited to:
Transgenderism, female domination, lesbianism, polyamory, and giant-fetishism.
4. L. Frank is saved from the book-burners forever.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 10:00 AM (QZxDR)

127 Time to get ready for church.

I would say "you bearded guys have it easy," but I tried a beard for a few months, and I couldn't keep it symmetrical.

No. 2 son, however, looks great with his.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 22, 2022 10:00 AM (Om/di)

128 Vmom, can't wait to hear what you think of The Alloy of Metal.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 22, 2022 10:01 AM (Y+l9t)

129 I think that Wolfe book was "Plot It Yourself."

-
Thanks.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 10:03 AM (FVME7)

130 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:59 AM (llXky)

The Emperor and his chief advisor are also characters and I know, from the previous series, that the main character ends up dead so it looks like it will follow the historical arc (just with more magic and martial arts).

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 22, 2022 10:05 AM (nC+QA)

131 L. Frank is saved from the book-burners forever.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 10:00 AM (QZxDR)

You forgot all those big, strapping guards of the Wicked Witch with their long, curved spears ready to penetrate all who disobey!

(faints)

Posted by: Adam Schiff, Ed Buck's Close Close friend at May 22, 2022 10:05 AM (R/m4+)

132 Deathless Gods, in the open-ended (so far) Chronicles of the Kencyrath by P.C. Hodgell. One of the best fantasy series I've ever read (easily in my top 5).
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

I think I tried that series years ago but couldn't really get into it.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 10:06 AM (kf6Ak)

133 I can't help but wonder if the Durham thing isn't an attempt by the Obama faction to finish off the Clintons.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

It's the only time I wish success to the Obatear peeps.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 22, 2022 10:07 AM (56+8G)

134 As we know, the left eats its own, and I can't help but wonder if the Durham thing isn't an attempt by the Obama faction to finish off the Clintons.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:57 AM (llXky)

Good theory. These people, for the most part, all hate each other.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 22, 2022 10:09 AM (4ErMj)

135 Anyone know why a slew of Harlan Ellison's books have been removed from the Kindle store? Something piqued my curiosity about an Ellison book a couple of weeks ago, and I went to check the price at Amazon. Most of his modern books seem to be missing, unless the Kindle search service has gone wonky.

Posted by: Ex-CopyEditor at May 22, 2022 10:09 AM (FlzJ+)

136 Kissingers joke about the viciousness of acadenic politica applies

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

137 Started reading Stalin's War again after noticing how many other Horde members were enjoying it. The book is really a wealth of information For example I didn't realize how badly the Georgian Gimp fucked up early on dealing with Finland, thinking they'd be a pushover and getting thoroughly trashed in the process. Only by throwing more troops and munitions at them were they able to reverse things (and England wasn't exactly helpful in assisting the Finns). But it was far from the expected cakewalk and really pretty much an embarrassment.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 22, 2022 10:10 AM (y7DUB)

138 I just added both Don Hollway books to my wish list.

I have to get through all my 100+ bought books before I get more.

Gibbon to a certain degree blames Christianity for the fall of the Roman empire. Hard to believe when we are living through Heinlein's crazy years.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at May 22, 2022 10:10 AM (ybIRR)

139 The Emperor and his chief advisor are also characters and I know, from the previous series, that the main character ends up dead so it looks like it will follow the historical arc (just with more magic and martial arts).

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 22, 2022 10:05 AM (nC+QA)
---
I may have to check that out. When I drive around, I listen to The Lord of Spirits podcast, which is a couple of Orthodox Gen X-er priests talking about the scriptural basis for demons, giants, vampires and stuff. Add in Lorenzo Scupoli's The Spiritual Combat, Diary of an American Exorcist, and I'm totally on the Catholic Mystic train.

I still present a calm, rational demeanor, but at my last drill weekend, I was chatting idly with an NCO about something or other and he made an offhand comment that sent me into full raving lunatic mode on the current only spiritual warfare.

Anyhow, when I was done he said: "You know, you've always been one of the most ruthlessly logical people I know. If this stuff is getting to *you*, I may have to look into it."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:11 AM (llXky)

140 Oh, I have a non-fiction book I've been "reafing" (mostly looking at the photos)
Creative Mending by Hikaru Noguchi. Ideas for mending clothes in a way that the mending stands out like decoration.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 10:11 AM (kf6Ak)

141 Anyone over 18 who mentions Harry Potter is to be given 10 random Terry Pratchett novels. Anyone over 30 is given a mercy pillow.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at May 22, 2022 10:12 AM (ybIRR)

142 134 As we know, the left eats its own, and I can't help but wonder if the Durham thing isn't an attempt by the Obama faction to finish off the Clintons.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 09:57 AM (llXky)

Good theory. These people, for the most part, all hate each other.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 22, 2022 10:09 AM (4ErMj)

Then why all the incestuous marriages within the leftist crime families?

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at May 22, 2022 10:14 AM (Qhnrt)

143 128 Vmom, can't wait to hear what you think of The Alloy of Metal.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 22, 2022 10:01 AM (Y+l9t)

Looking forward to it!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 10:14 AM (kf6Ak)

144 In a thread earlier in the week, someone mentioned in passing that people were forcing 'the message' into the comic/childrens' novel series "Wings of Fire." Is that true? How bad does the wokeness get? I have a niece who is obsessed with dragons, and that would have made the perfect gift...

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 22, 2022 10:14 AM (Lhaco)

145 Anyone over 18 who mentions Harry Potter is to be given 10 random Terry Pratchett novels. Anyone over 30 is given a mercy pillow.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at May 22, 2022 10:12 AM (ybIRR)
---
Anyone over 40 is a pillow biter.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:14 AM (llXky)

146 How come the byzantine empire lasted 1,000 years then there was something else going on there.

Posted by: No 6 at May 22, 2022 10:14 AM (i0Lci)

147 Then why all the incestuous marriages within the leftist crime families?

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at May 22, 2022 10:14 AM (Qhnrt)
---
Right, because families tied together by marriages never wage war on each other right? Right?

Posted by: Every Western European Monarch at May 22, 2022 10:15 AM (llXky)

148 Good theory. These people, for the most part, all hate each other.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory

And I agree with all of them.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 10:15 AM (FVME7)

149 Much like the familes in the lansraad conspired against the atreides

Posted by: No 6 at May 22, 2022 10:16 AM (i0Lci)

150 My last book I read for fun was David Spade's autobiography, Almost Interesting.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 10:16 AM (jNAzB)

151 Re: Ellison. I think (could be wrong, but I think...) the executor of the estate, J. Michael Straczynski, is working on getting the books reissued in a way that will also get them back into bookstores. Open Road Media kept ebooks easily available, but I don't recall that they had much penetration into the brick and mortar stores. JMS has announced the publication of Last Dangerous Visions for some time in 2023, to be available both in print and ebook, with reissue of Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions at the same time. If there will be ebooks on those, the rest will probably follow.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at May 22, 2022 10:16 AM (JzDjf)

152

Seems unlikely given that Obama and Biden were briefed on Hillary's attempt to tie Trump to Russia and did nothing to stop it. In fact, he assisted it.

Speaking of Kash Patel he's coming up on Maria Bartiromo's show right now.

Posted by: JackStraw at May 22, 2022 10:17 AM (ZLI7S)

153 I've been doing Non-ficton for quite some time now. I hit a point where I only wanted my fantacy/Sci-fi from the MSM.

Really doing a seemingly endless dive into the Hundred Years War and loving it. What a time 1300 - 1450 is. Like Lord of the Rings but real.
For those looking for another resource I found this site during my research.
https://erenow.net
I'm currently doing a book on Joan of Kent called Joan of Kent, First Princess of Wales. Who is probably my 21st or so G.Grandmother and mother of John of Gaunt, who is the thread running through all the European royal class leading back to Charlemagne. A thread tied into a knot at a few points.

Posted by: Reforger at May 22, 2022 10:17 AM (SnzBG)

154 Anyone over 18 who mentions Harry Potter is to be given 10 random Terry Pratchett novels. Anyone over 30 is given a mercy pillow.
=====

Heh. My current recommendation is 'Witches Abroad' (early 90s, I think) for younger folk just discovering the Narrative Imperative.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 22, 2022 10:18 AM (MIKMs)

155 How come the byzantine empire lasted 1,000 years then there was something else going on there.

Posted by: No 6 at May 22, 2022 10:14 AM (i0Lci)
---
In Gibbon's reading, it was falling from 476 onwards, just really, really slowly.

If you think he hates on Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox with their icons send him to the next level of petty snark.

My 6-volume set included two copies of volume 5, which I didn't notice until I got to 6. I'm not that motivated to slog through to the end.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:18 AM (llXky)

156 Anyone over 40 is a pillow biter.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May

Or a parent who read the books to her kids and her kids developed a love of reading. And she got to spend a LOT of time with her kids, without distractions. Reading.

Posted by: nurse ratched at May 22, 2022 10:18 AM (U2p+3)

157 Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 10:11 AM (kf6Ak)

I've been doing that a lot lately. Enough to get a book on "boro" the Japanese rural mending tradition. YouTube has a lot of stuff as well that shows a variety of techniques.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 22, 2022 10:18 AM (nC+QA)

158 Then why all the incestuous marriages within the leftist crime families?

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at May 22, 2022 10:14 AM (Qhnrt)
---

Common goals. They can also keep an eye on each other.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 22, 2022 10:19 AM (4ErMj)

159 Seems unlikely given that Obama and Biden were briefed on Hillary's attempt to tie Trump to Russia and did nothing to stop it. In fact, he assisted it.

Speaking of Kash Patel he's coming up on Maria Bartiromo's show right now.

Posted by: JackStraw at May 22, 2022 10:17 AM (ZLI7S)
---
Forming a united front to keep Trump out of the White House does not mean that they can't subsequently turn on each other over who will run the country.

The Popular Front kept it together for a while, but couldn't even wait to win the war before fighting about who was to run the show.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:20 AM (llXky)

160 Over such a long span of course there will be slippage

Posted by: No 6 at May 22, 2022 10:21 AM (i0Lci)

161 Reference to Stalin and Finland reminded me of a conversation I had this morning about the current Russian saber-rattling in that direction:

"If Russia actually goes to war with NATO it will turn into a race between Poland and Finland to see who can burn down Moscow first."

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 10:21 AM (QZxDR)

162 If you think he hates on Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox with their icons send him to the next level of petty snark.

Yet he gives the nuttery of the rock worshipers an almost complete pass.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 22, 2022 10:21 AM (y7DUB)

163 I've been doing that a lot lately. Enough to get a book on "boro" the Japanese rural mending tradition. YouTube has a lot of stuff as well that shows a variety of techniques.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette

Yes, that's what it is. Are you doing that? Cool!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 10:21 AM (kf6Ak)

164
Or a parent who read the books to her kids and her kids developed a love of reading. And she got to spend a LOT of time with her kids, without distractions. Reading.

Posted by: nurse ratched at May 22, 2022 10:18 AM (U2p+3)
---
Lots of people did that, including my wife. They also don't use it as THE moral framework to explain life.

Which is who we are talking about.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:22 AM (llXky)

165 I did try to read a book on the mental side of playing tennis just recently called The Inner Game of Tennis. It's a classic first published in the 70's. It was basically a psychological study of why we do things and it can be applied to all sports . I accept that what was being said is probably accurate but I hate psychological babble and didn't finish it.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 10:23 AM (jNAzB)

166 Last Week I read
Levon's Home (book 7 in the Levon Cade series, great stuff).
The Leeward Islands (sea novels, book 2 but while its pretty good the writing has poor pacing and few of the characters are distinct)
Along the Clipper Way (very fine selection of writings about Clipper ships or those that follows the same trade routes around the world).

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 22, 2022 10:24 AM (KZzsI)

167 Yet he gives the nuttery of the rock worshipers an almost complete pass.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 22, 2022 10:21 AM (y7DUB)
---
To his credit, he does go into the problem of there being no contemporaneous historical mention of Mohammed.

He then essentially says that since Christianity is also made up, no harm, no foul.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:24 AM (llXky)

168 I'm currently reading Peter F. Hamilton's The Dreaming Void. From what I can tell so far, humanity has advanced to around 2.5 on the Kardashev scale of galactic civilization. The most advanced civilization is around 2.9. Both of them are outclassed by a Type 4 (maybe) that's penetrated the galactic core and is expanding. That's right. The supermassive blackhole in the center of our galaxy is not quite what we think it is.

Lots of weird technical gibberish, but overall very cool setting.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 10:24 AM (K5n5d)

169 Gibbon, to me, is a lot like Mencken: the first time you read his work it's mind-blowing. But when you re-read it you start to notice the flaws, and they get worse with each re-reading.

Interestingly, another writer with that flaw for me is Chesterton.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 10:24 AM (QZxDR)

170 Why does amazon keep telling me to "stay safe"? What am I staying safe from?

I am reading "Rome Sweet Home" on Kindle, about a Presbyterian minister's conversion to the Catholic Church. I think I've read it before so it's more of a waiting-room book where you don't have to concentrate too hard to follow it.

I am reading "Killing Deep States" which I found via Sarah Hoyt. It's a short book but I haven't been reading it very fast.

And on my regular Kindle I am reading "In God's House" which is about the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal, the explosion of which has just had the fuse lit in Louisiana. Right now I'm inclined to say "too many lawyers" but I'm not all that far into it because reading in bed has been awkward lately due to new and exciting shoulder issues.

And I continue to work on my book which I think will be much easier to do when I complete The Great Mucking Out and get my furniture and carpet cleaned in the living room so I can have music on while I'm working.

Posted by: Tonestaple at May 22, 2022 10:24 AM (InThs)

171 Great to see Ric Prado mentioned. I've known him for many years and I'll tell you, this book doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of his illustrious career. He's a great Patriot, American, mentor, and friend. Might also recommend Changiz Lahidji, Full Battle Rattle. Stories almost too wild to be true, but, I think they were a bit underscored.

Posted by: Sua Sponte at May 22, 2022 09:13 AM (zGpsz)

I finished his book. The dude got balls that clank. I worry a little less about the country's future knowing there are people like him out there.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 22, 2022 10:25 AM (VwHCD)

172 I hate psychological babble

-
Submitted without comment.

Tim Graham
@TimJGraham
On CNN, Michael Eric Dyson says "the insistence that abortion be banned, and that White babies, in particular, be born? This is all of a larger piece. And that larger piece is the fear of Whiteness disappearing in the face of a worldwide global expansion of people of color."

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 10:26 AM (FVME7)

173 I also just purchased another survival book called , How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It by James Wesley, Rawles.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 10:26 AM (jNAzB)

174 Re: Ellison one more once.

Depending on which book you're after, it might be worth your while to check out harlanellisonbooks.com -- they're slowly reissuing a number of his titles (a tad pricey, but worth a look) and they may have some copies of previous editions on hand.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at May 22, 2022 10:26 AM (JzDjf)

175 Interestingly, another writer with that flaw for me is Chesterton.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 10:24 AM (QZxDR)
---
What I've read of him I enjoyed. I think he goes "out there" at times, but that's okay because his prose is excellent.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:27 AM (llXky)

176 And that larger piece is the fear of Whiteness disappearing in the face of a worldwide global expansion of people of color."
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

Aka why you should love genocide

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 10:27 AM (kf6Ak)

177 One of the better used bookstores in Massachusetts -- Grey Matter Books in Hadley -- is having their semi-annual big blowout sale this weekend. I scored some books there, but my primary emotion inside the store was sadness. How many of these books will be around in fifty years? How many will be forgotten, if not actually suppressed?

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 10:28 AM (QZxDR)

178 On CNN, Michael Eric Dyson says "the insistence that abortion be banned, and that White babies, in particular, be born? This is all of a larger piece. And that larger piece is the fear of Whiteness disappearing in the face of a worldwide global expansion of people of color."
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at May 22, 2022 10:26 AM (FVME7)

Gotta keep the retards with an attention span of a gnat whipped up in a frenzy.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 22, 2022 10:28 AM (4ErMj)

179
Aka why you should love genocide

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 10:27 AM (kf6Ak)
---
I have to pause and appreciate the amazing way black people have been persuaded to kill off their unborn children as a way to get back at white people.

Or something.

Talk about a Big Lie...

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:29 AM (llXky)

180 Crimethink could lead to insurrectionism

Dyson thats why skynet, professional clown hemry rodgers thinks hes baldwin coates thinks hes dubois

Posted by: No 6 at May 22, 2022 10:29 AM (i0Lci)

181 Has anyone read The Tunnel by William Gass? I've had it in my bookshelf since it came out in 1995 but got too distracted by other things to crack it open until now. Gass with all his weirdness and negativity turns a lot of people off but when he gets it going he can be really really good. It's a huge book which probably kept a lot of potential readers at bay and I was checking to see if anyone here had tried it.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 22, 2022 10:30 AM (y7DUB)

182 Seriously, how many more black people would be alive in the US today if abortion was restricted? 10 million? 20?

Amazing mind control.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:30 AM (llXky)

183 Remember folks: everything the left calls an atrocity, a crime, the Worst Thing Ever is okay when they do it.

Because reasons.

This also goes back to Spain. Secret prisons. Torture. Executions.

All in the name of "protecting our democracy."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:31 AM (llXky)

184 Are you doing that? Cool!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 10:21 AM (kf6Ak)

Yes. Several of my kurtis are wearing thin in spots and needed mending. I've also started making simple garments, kaftan and wrap skirt, from old saris that often have small/medium holes.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 22, 2022 10:32 AM (nC+QA)

185 I've never read Harry Potter and I probably never will but I can see myself picking it up to see what all the fuss is about.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, my trench is full of chickens at May 22, 2022 10:32 AM (eGTCV)

186 153 "Who is probably my 21st or so G.Grandmother and mother of John of Gaunt..."

I thought John of Gaunt's mother was Philippa of Hainault.

Posted by: Brett at May 22, 2022 10:32 AM (Sm9Ko)

187 Then why all the incestuous marriages within the leftist crime families?
Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at May 22, 2022 10:14 AM (Qhnrt)
---
Common goals.

Once they're married they can hate on each other's relatives.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 22, 2022 10:33 AM (56+8G)

188 Gibbon, to me, is a lot like Mencken: the first time you read his work it's mind-blowing. But when you re-read it you start to notice the flaws, and they get worse with each re-reading.

I skipped the first step. He illustrates to me the perils of an autodidact.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 22, 2022 10:34 AM (y7DUB)

189 Seriously, how many more black people would be alive in the US today if abortion was restricted? 10 million? 20?

Amazing mind control.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:30 AM (llXky)

The Democrats War on Poverty and push for 'planned parenthood' were contradictory. They gave incentives to the poor single black woman ( and white) to have babies while pushing them towards abortion. Confusing to say the least.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 10:35 AM (jNAzB)

190 Howdy y'all. Here's a glimpse behind the scenes at the Anzio beach head on this day in 1944, as the Allied forces are prepositioning for the long-awaited breakout, set to start tomorrow. From my dad's WWII diary:

22 May –
No change. We moved to a little valley south of Conca (977 212). There is a little farm house here - we eat in the stable. The farmer has a wife and three kids with a fourth on the way. How they can live in this nest of activity I don’t know. Tomorrow is the day.

I presume 977 212 is a map coordinate. Conca is a small village about 6 miles inland from Nettuno, and had been square in the middle of no man's land for nearly 5 months. Imagine being that farm family, endeavoring to persevere through all that...

Posted by: Muldoon at May 22, 2022 10:36 AM (cPDW+)

191 Northernlurker been 10 years since read the Potter series, picked up a early but not beginning book on vacation and liked it enough to catch up then as they came out finished them.
Think it's a well thought out fantasy series and for its complexity she did a good job.

Posted by: Skip at May 22, 2022 10:36 AM (2JoB8)

192 I've never read Harry Potter and I probably never will but I can see myself picking it up to see what all the fuss is about.
Posted by: N.L. Urker

Read them to my kids, 1st time to the older 2 and 2nd time to the younger 2. Wife told me the older 2 sat outside the room where I was reading to the youngers listening in again.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at May 22, 2022 10:36 AM (56+8G)

193 How do you end up with the talented tenth unless you thin the herd thats why dubois and sanger were of like minds

Posted by: No 6 at May 22, 2022 10:37 AM (i0Lci)

194 Posted by: Muldoon at May 22, 2022 10:36 AM (cPDW+)

Civilians surviving in the middle of a war was always intriguing to me.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 10:37 AM (jNAzB)

195 Greetings:

Kash Patel shows up on the New Tang Dynasty channel and EPOCH TV. A Falun Gong over the air channel that has several interesting shows; Wide Angle being one.

This week's read: "ZULU: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879" by Saul David. Lately I seem to be coming across a lot of "Deep State-ing" in the histories I'm reading.

Posted by: 11B40 at May 22, 2022 10:39 AM (uuklp)

196 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Had some errands to run this morning so I'm a bit late to the thread. Bummer!

Posted by: JTB at May 22, 2022 10:41 AM (7EjX1)

197 This week's read: "ZULU: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879" by Saul David. Lately I seem to be coming across a lot of "Deep State-ing" in the histories I'm reading.
Posted by: 11B40 at May 22, 2022 10:39 AM (uuklp)

I think 'Deep Stating' had been around as long as civilization has existed.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 10:41 AM (jNAzB)

198 While sitting here reading and thinking I had a hair brained thought of doing a fictional family history-from the forests of northern Germania to conversion to Christianity, to becoming followers of Menno Simons, to migration to Ukraine, to migration to Canada, to the present.
Too bad I don't have the talent.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, my trench is full of chickens at May 22, 2022 10:43 AM (eGTCV)

199
Kash Patel shows up on the New Tang Dynasty channel and EPOCH TV. A Falun Gong over the air channel that has several interesting shows; Wide Angle being one.

This week's read: "ZULU: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879" by Saul David. Lately I seem to be coming across a lot of "Deep State-ing" in the histories I'm reading.
Posted by: 11B40 at May 22, 2022 10:39 AM (uuklp)

Deep states have been killing civilizations since the beginning of humankind.

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at May 22, 2022 10:43 AM (Qhnrt)

200 Trying to read The Three Apologies of G.K. Chesterton. The style is opaque. He has written popular novels such as the Father Brown mystery series, which I assume are in a different style (have not read). It is hard to understand why he chose a difficult prose style for the Apologies, sort of like some of CS Lewis' writings which are inscrutable without a translation at hand.

Posted by: EdmundBurkesShade at May 22, 2022 10:46 AM (mCh4j)

201 My zoom book club is reading Stranger in a Strange Land. I read it in high school some number of years ago.

It's a fun read. Heinlein could write.

Posted by: blaster at May 22, 2022 10:47 AM (wBcdF)

202 I'm beginning to think peoples reluctance to talk about their war experiences are more due to others not really interested in hearing about them than anything else.

Posted by: Javems at May 22, 2022 10:47 AM (AmoqO)

203 The bravery of those at rorkes drift and isandwanda is undeniable but why did they end up there because lord caernavon and chelmsford

Posted by: No 6 at May 22, 2022 10:48 AM (i0Lci)

204 I've never read Harry Potter and I probably never will but I can see myself picking it up to see what all the fuss is about.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, my trench is full of chickens at May 22, 2022 10:32 AM (eGTCV)
---
I went out of my way to avoid the books, which fascinated my wife and kids. As far as I can tell, it's the same book that just repeats with variations on details.

When this was pointed out to J.K. Rowling, she killed characters (apparently at random) to break it up a bit.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:48 AM (llXky)

205 Based on Perfessor Squirrel's mention, I got a nice hardcover edition of "The Neverending Story". This came out decades after I would have children's books and before I started enjoying them in my 60s.

Just a couple of chapters into the book but it is delightful. Youngsters could enjoy the basic story and adults will get the 'older' aspects. It reminds me of "The Hobbit" in the way it can appeal to a wide swath of ages. I'm really looking forward to reading the whole book. (No intention of watching the movie, however.)

Posted by: JTB at May 22, 2022 10:48 AM (7EjX1)

206 Or perhaps it should be "is more".

Posted by: Javems at May 22, 2022 10:49 AM (AmoqO)

207 Lately I seem to be coming across a lot of "Deep State-ing" in the histories I'm reading.
Posted by: 11B40 at May 22, 2022 10:39 AM (uuklp)
---
It used to be called "court intrigue," and was why monarchs couldn't enforce their will in their own realm.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:49 AM (llXky)

208 Here's a cool little library being created in a old dynamite storage cave in the ghost town of Cerro Gordo. This guy is doing some cool stuff in this mining town he bought.

https://youtu.be/yRkUPVAkd14

Posted by: Bonnie Blue - no longer playing the game at May 22, 2022 10:49 AM (9qiMu)

209 Good morning Morons!
Lots of great books for me to get to- very interested in "At the Gates of Rome."

I'm still reading The Brotherhood of War: The Colonels and Why are you still sending your kid to school?

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 10:50 AM (ecTS1)

210 200 Trying to read The Three Apologies of G.K. Chesterton. The style is opaque. He has written popular novels such as the Father Brown mystery series, which I assume are in a different style (have not read). It is hard to understand why he chose a difficult prose style for the Apologies, sort of like some of CS Lewis' writings which are inscrutable without a translation at hand.
Posted by: EdmundBurkesShade at May 22, 2022 10:46 AM (mCh4j

Reading CS Lewis is like trying to read one of congress' two thousand page omnibus pork budget bills.

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at May 22, 2022 10:50 AM (Qhnrt)

211 Ah, perfect. Tune in just in time to see a diary entry from Muldoon's dad. Thanks for those, doc.

Since you noted the civilians in a war zone thing, and it's the Book Thread, I'll repeat my recos from earlier about the two James Holland books about Sicily and the Italian campaign (Sicily 1943, and Italy's Sorrow, respectively). Holland makes an explicit effort to document the experience of the non-combatants.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 22, 2022 10:50 AM (OTzUX)

212 @138 --

I have to get through all my 100+ bought books before I get more.

Keep telling that to yourself. Maybe it will take.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 22, 2022 10:50 AM (Om/di)

213 I'm done with Lee Child's The Killing Floor and now starting T. Kingfisher's Nettle & Bone. The library system also located China Miéville's The City and the City. So I'm set for at least a week.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at May 22, 2022 10:51 AM (/+bwe)

214 I've never read Harry Potter and I probably never will but I can see myself picking it up to see what all the fuss is about.
Posted by: N.L. Urker, my trench is full of chickens at May 22, 2022 10:32 AM (eGTCV)

You could watch the first movie, which is a pretty straightforward rendering of the book. If you like it, read the book, then dive into the rest. Around book 3 the movies do tend to diverge a bit, mainly because somebody had "a vision," but also the more complex the stories got, the harder it was to show it all on film.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 10:51 AM (47mFt)

215 The 'bookloo' is interesting and could be comfortable. Problems might arise if you need to search for a book to read.

Posted by: JTB at May 22, 2022 10:51 AM (7EjX1)

216 I've never read Harry Potter and I probably never will but I can see myself picking it up to see what all the fuss is about.
Posted by: N.L. Urker, my trench is full of chickens at May 22, 2022

***
Ignore the naysayers and J.K. Rowling's politics, and enjoy good stories well told. There is imagination, tongue-in-cheek humor, a classic battle of good against evil, a hero (Harry) who is not immediately the best at everything (he has to learn how to control and use what he can do) and who is loyal to his friends, and even a puzzle mystery tucked into each novel. And the books get a little darker and more mature with each one as Harry grows.

If these novels had not been the blockbuster successes they have become, a lot of Potter-haters would probably be urging people to read them as wonderful entertainment.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 10:51 AM (c6xtn)

217 Trying to read The Three Apologies of G.K. Chesterton. The style is opaque. He has written popular novels such as the Father Brown mystery series, which I assume are in a different style (have not read). It is hard to understand why he chose a difficult prose style for the Apologies, sort of like some of CS Lewis' writings which are inscrutable without a translation at hand.

Posted by: EdmundBurkesShade at May 22, 2022 10:46 AM (mCh4j)
---
Obviously he felt that style was more appropriate. It's interesting to see how even Evelyn Waugh changed from rapid-fire cynical satire to more meaningful, delicate descriptions.

Compare Black Mischief and Brideshead Revisited. Both are witty and well-written, but Basil Seal is a such an anti-hero that he's hard to take seriously.

Sebastian Flyte, on the other hand, is painfully believable.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:52 AM (llXky)

218 Well, time for Mass. I might pop in, otherwise thanks again "Perfesser!"

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 22, 2022 10:52 AM (llXky)

219 So occasional YA books like Harry Potter or The Hunger Games are my guilty pleasures. It is not a defining moment of my life but there is no wrong reading. Anything that encourages kids to read is good.
When my younger son started reading, he read Calvin and Hobbes pretty exclusively while his brother had jumped into books like C.S. Lewis. I asked the pediatrician if it was a problem that he only read cartoons and she answered: as long as he is reading.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 22, 2022 10:53 AM (Y+l9t)

220 198 While sitting here reading and thinking I had a hair brained thought of doing a fictional family history-from the forests of northern Germania to conversion to Christianity, to becoming followers of Menno Simons, to migration to Ukraine, to migration to Canada, to the present.
Too bad I don't have the talent.
Posted by: N.L. Urker, my trench is full of chickens at May 22, 2022 10:43 AM (eGTCV)

My father's family had much the same history; except instead of going to Ukraine, they migrated to upstate New York in the 1740's. Then, along with about 50,000 other Mennonites, they all moved to Canada during the American Revolution. Not so much because they were pro-British, but because the group very strongly was against War, and they ended up with both sides being against them during the Revolution. They ended up in Berlin, Ontario which for obvious reasons changed its name to Kitchener at the beginning of WW1.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 22, 2022 10:53 AM (q3gwH)

221 I'm beginning to think peoples reluctance to talk about their war experiences are more due to others not really interested in hearing about them than anything else.
Posted by: Javems at May 22, 2022 10:47 AM (AmoqO)

I wish my Dad would have shared his with me. (Marine in Korea) .

My Great Uncle ( mom's uncle) when he was 89 wrote a summary of his experience in the Pacific Theater and distributed it to his kids and nieces and nephews.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 10:53 AM (jNAzB)

222 I'm done with Lee Child's The Killing Floor and now starting T. Kingfisher's Nettle & Bone. The library system also located China Miéville's The City and the City. So I'm set for at least a week.
Posted by: NaughtyPine

I'm currently re reading the Midnight Line

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 10:54 AM (arJlL)

223 This week's new book purchase, based on the Academia of Ace notes in the book thread, is "Black Ops: The Life of a Shadow Warrior". Thanks for the ideas.

Would be nice to find there really are more than a few good men ... but after all that has been allowed and covered up, the villainy that has been thrust upon us and into us (vax for example) ... seems there is a more powerful globalist element in charge.

Posted by: illiniwek at May 22, 2022 10:54 AM (Cus5s)

224 Has anyone read The Tunnel by William Gass? I've had it in my bookshelf since it came out in 1995 but got too distracted by other things to crack it open until now. Gass with all his weirdness and negativity turns a lot of people off but when he gets it going he can be really really good. It's a huge book which probably kept a lot of potential readers at bay and I was checking to see if anyone here had tried it.
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 22, 2022 10:30 AM (y7DUB)

Oy, Captain Hate, yer killin' me here.

Long ago and far away, I read "Omensetter's Luck" by Gass. I did not care for it and it's one of the few books I just gave up on.

Basically, IIRC Gass is simply a guy who'd rather be clever and avant-gardey instead of telling a story. And he wants you to recognize how clever and avant-gardey he's being and even better if you're a square who's offended by his cleverness and avant-gardeyness. He's the smartest person in the room, don't you see?

I was probably at the right age for his crap (early 20s) and still didn't care for it.

Good luck on your journey thru "The Tunnel".

Posted by: naturalfake at May 22, 2022 10:54 AM (5NkmN)

225 The Democrats War on Poverty and push for 'planned parenthood' were contradictory. They gave incentives to the poor single black woman ( and white) to have babies while pushing them towards abortion. Confusing to say the least.
Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 10:35 AM (jNAzB)

It's an industry all onto itself. Plus, there is an extensive underground economy in the ghettos across the land from drugs to prostitution to stolen goods, etc. Most folks don't live off of the welfare state, it's looked on as a bonus from Uncle Sugar to pay for the purple drank and newports.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 22, 2022 10:54 AM (R/m4+)

226 My zoom book club is reading Stranger in a Strange Land. I read it in high school some number of years ago.

It's a fun read. Heinlein could write.
Posted by: blaster at May 22, 2022

***
He could. His unofficial disciple Spider Robinson said that "Heinlein is incapable of writing dull." I personally think Stranger is not his best book -- I'm awfully fond of Job: A Comedy of Justice, a fantasy/SF-based retelling of that Bible book -- and The Door Into Summer. But he always grabbed you on Page One.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 10:55 AM (c6xtn)

227 I have to get through all my 100+ bought books before I get more.
--------------
Keep telling that to yourself. Maybe it will take.
Posted by: Weak Geek at May 22, 2022 10:50 AM (Om/di)

It's definitely a problem, if one is trying to read books on current events. Events keep changing. I started Carol Roth's "The War On Small Business," and found myself getting nothing I didn't already know. She's a fine writer and all (and easy on the eyes), but I really don't need to dig much deeper into the topic.

So I started Douglas Murray's "War On the West," (lots of wars going on!), and while Douglas is a terrific writer, it's basically the same thing. I already know all this!

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 10:56 AM (47mFt)

228 Trying to read The Three Apologies of G.K. Chesterton. The style is opaque. He has written popular novels such as the Father Brown mystery series, which I assume are in a different style (have not read). . . .

Posted by: EdmundBurkesShade at May 22, 2022

***
My memory of the Father Brown short tales is that they are solid little stories, rather pared down as compared to a lot of the Edwardian authors of the time. Not Hemingway or James M. Cain, now, but quite swift and to the point.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 10:58 AM (c6xtn)

229 He could. His unofficial disciple Spider Robinson said that "Heinlein is incapable of writing dull." I personally think Stranger is not his best book -- I'm awfully fond of Job: A Comedy of Justice, a fantasy/SF-based retelling of that Bible book -- and The Door Into Summer. But he always grabbed you on Page One.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 10:55 AM (c6xtn)

I enjoyed Heinlein's writing, and read many of his books. Haven't read Stranger... One I read years ago was called "Time Enough for Love" and the whole incestuous angle really threw me.
Oh, I guess I did read Farnham's Freehold around the same time- that was an unusual one.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 10:58 AM (ecTS1)

230 I wish my Dad would have shared his with me. (Marine in Korea) .

My Great Uncle ( mom's uncle) when he was 89 wrote a summary of his experience in the Pacific Theater and distributed it to his kids and nieces and nephews.
Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 10:53 AM (jNAzB)

Neither of my grandfathers talked too much about it.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 22, 2022 10:58 AM (4ErMj)

231 Based on what we are seeing today I would highly recommend Steven Pressfield's, The Profession . It's got a Clancy technical feel to it while providing what he thinks the world will be like in the 2030's.

He nails a lot of things IMHO.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 10:59 AM (jNAzB)

232 If these novels had not been the blockbuster successes they have become, a lot of Potter-haters would probably be urging people to read them as wonderful entertainment.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 10:51 AM (c6xtn)

Yup. And Rowling is one of the few people with enough clout to take on the transjenner crowd, on obvious points, and be heard.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 10:59 AM (47mFt)

233 Perfesser, thanks for another great book thread!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 10:59 AM (kf6Ak)

234 Probably due to a momentary derangement, I started reading "The Canterbury Tales" in middle English. (I have a modern version handy.) To my surprise, I'm getting about 90 percent of it. The key is to sound out the words, not rely only on the spelling. The sound of middle English words has remained a lot longer than I would have thought possible. Slow going, of course, but fun.

I had the same sort of reaction back in junior high school (approx. a gazillion years ago) when I did a letter for letter transcription of Greek words. I was astonished that so many of the words had modern versions

Posted by: JTB at May 22, 2022 10:59 AM (7EjX1)

235 Reading CS Lewis is like trying to read one of congress' two thousand page omnibus pork budget bills.
Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at May 22, 2022

***
I delved a little into his Classic Christianity and found his prose quite clear; and his Perelandra trilogy was likewise easy to read.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:00 AM (c6xtn)

236 Thank you Perfessor for rekindling my interest in finishing adding my library to libib dot com. I'm working on doing a shelf a night -- or every other night or every third night.

I have found that a larger than expected number of my books are pre-ISBN and so I get to scan the covers and manually enter them. For books with an ISBN, it's a breeze.

Also, I've got some relatively beat-up jackets and covers. Guess I should be more careful than I have been when reading and shelving.

Posted by: Peter (My friends call me Pete) Zah at May 22, 2022 11:00 AM (a4vvV)

237 I'm not a Harry Potter hater but it's not a genre I like. And some Harry Potter fans can be just as annoying as their haters. I call that normal life.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 11:02 AM (jNAzB)

238 I regret not even asking my FiL anything of his WWII experience, not a word. And through other found information could have with a few questions got a world of understanding.

Posted by: Skip at May 22, 2022 11:02 AM (2JoB8)

239 Dunno if Anna Puma is here, but a while back I mentioned I was first in line at the local library system for a new book that was supposed to be coming in - The Secret Horsepower Race by Douglas Calum. About the fighter engine competition between Axis and Allies in Europe.

So it's coming up on 10 months, they still haven't apparently received the book. To my astonishment, while browsing through the history section of a Japanese-owned used bookstore chain store up in Orange County (Book-off) a few weeks back, I came across the book. It's a tome. A textbook, yuuuge. With high quality graphics and art/photography etc.

Can't recall the price, but I should have probably bought it, then passed it along to Anna or other WWII aviation geeks here. I did pick up a nice Historical Atlas of WWII for a whole $9.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 22, 2022 11:03 AM (OTzUX)

240 JK Rowling's success story is pretty amazing though and another example that supports capitalism.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 11:03 AM (jNAzB)

241 Just started book by Tom Lea called The Wonderful Country. Story takes place in El Paso region after the Civil War-maybe 1880s. Could be called the brutal country with constant wind blowing grit and dust on everything. And the dry conditions.
Good writer with just enough description. Tom Lea was also an excellent artist. He illustrated his own book. Lea also was a war correspondent artist. He did one piece called "The 2000 yard Stare".

Posted by: Barney Rubble formerly Glenn John at May 22, 2022 11:05 AM (HKku6)

242 Thought experiment:

Would you, would the universe, survive an encounter with a Harry Potter fan-boi Vegan?

Or, would all be swept away in the flood of verbal diarrhea and inconsequence?

Posted by: naturalfake at May 22, 2022 11:06 AM (5NkmN)

243 I'm not a Harry Potter hater but it's not a genre I like. And some Harry Potter fans can be just as annoying as their haters. I call that normal life.
Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 11:02 AM (jNAzB)

Yeah, that's true of just about everything. Especially now that everyone can shout everything out loud on social media... well, not everyone. But everyone whose views are approved.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 11:06 AM (47mFt)

244 217 There are other authors who switch between a "learned" style and popular fiction. Washington Irvings' biographies of Washington or Columbus are much different than his popular books, but (to me) Irvings' formal style is comprehensible.

Posted by: EdmundBurkesShade at May 22, 2022 11:06 AM (mCh4j)

245 I enjoyed Heinlein's writing, and read many of his books. Haven't read Stranger... One I read years ago was called "Time Enough for Love" and the whole incestuous angle really threw me.
Oh, I guess I did read Farnham's Freehold around the same time- that was an unusual one.
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022

***
Much of Time Enough is wonderful. Mrs. Wolfus No. 2 said she thought it analogous to the Bible -- vivid, memorable stories with a series of guidelines of how to relate to and get along with other people (and sometimes to survive what they want to do to you). If the climactic sequence had not involved Lazarus Long's mother, it would have come off as a classic time travel love story (and even with that, in a way it is).

The novella within it, "The Tale of the Adopted Daughter," is a classic.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:06 AM (c6xtn)

246 Do not underestimate the influential power of Harry Potter. I've known some millennials who have HP tattoos- who swear by those books and the messaging within them. Now, don't get me wrong- I won't go all Jack Posobic and make the sign of the cross and scream "witches!" at the sight of an HP novel or book. and I can appreciate a good story as well. But I feel like the Potter series is and was being used to influence kids toward the woke-ness we have today. I don't know. Just and observation. It is fitting that once JK Rowling went woke and made a character teh ghey, the left still went after her.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:07 AM (ecTS1)

247 I thought the Harry Potter books were pretty good for young folks, sometimes they verged on clever. To my mind, their biggest value was to get kids reading books, not watching a damn screen. I recall reading at the time about how the kids were branching out to Tolkien and some classic stories like "Treasure Island".

Posted by: JTB at May 22, 2022 11:08 AM (7EjX1)

248 Would you, would the universe, survive an encounter with a Harry Potter fan-boi Vegan?

Or, would all be swept away in the flood of verbal diarrhea and inconsequence?
Posted by: naturalfake at May 22, 2022 11:06 AM (5NkmN)

You could make a list of the people who would cause one's ears to bleed and head explode, if forced to listen to them long enough.

Current crop includes the new dingbat press sexretary, and the Ministry of Truth lady.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 11:08 AM (47mFt)

249 > Re: Ellison. I think (could be wrong, but I think...) the executor of the estate, J. Michael Straczynski, is working on getting the books reissued in a way that will also get them back into bookstores.

I was going to guess it was something to do with the state, given that Ellison died not all that long ago.

While what you've heard is related to bookstores, it also really bugs me when literary estates don't make the books available on Kindle. Do they not understand that they're leaving money on the table? Maybe not, in some cases... the executor may be some 90-year-old third cousin who doesn't even know what a Kindle is.

One example is Frank Yerby. He was an excellent writer who wrote a lot of great books, almost none of which are out on Kindle. My family had some of his books when I was a kid. They were almost the first "grownup" books I remember reading. They were pretty racy for a kid of my age.

I didn't know until I was an adult that Yerby was mixed race (black, white, and Seminole), because he didn't club people in the head with it. He took a lot of criticism from the "activists" of the day because his books weren't "woke" enough.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:08 AM (bW8dp)

250 Someone mentioned "The Empire of the Summer Moon" by S.C. Gwynn, so I gave it a go.
It was a very good account of the Comanche nation as it was first under Mexico, later, Texas.
Some truly heartbreaking stories are therein.

Posted by: gourmand du noir at May 22, 2022 11:09 AM (jTmQV)

251 While I share the regrets of so many about not getting more first-hand impressions of WWII from those gone/now passing, I did manage to at least do some vet interviews for the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project. Those with an interest - and it's for veterans, and involved civilians, of all conflicts, not just WWII - should check it out at loc.gov.

Though I still regret not being more aggressive about it. I found a few "victims" at a museum where I volunteered, but I knew of one even richer hunting ground that I never did explore. People I interviewed had very diverse experiences, from Navy nurse to Marine aviation ordnance to the junior radar tech on the USS West Virginia at the time of Leyte Gulf (his ship was the first to spot - with radar - the Japanese column, and open fire, in the Surigao Strait portion of that battle - quite a story he had).

Posted by: rhomboid at May 22, 2022 11:09 AM (OTzUX)

252 Much of Time Enough is wonderful. Mrs. Wolfus No. 2 said she thought it analogous to the Bible -- vivid, memorable stories with a series of guidelines of how to relate to and get along with other people (and sometimes to survive what they want to do to you). If the climactic sequence had not involved Lazarus Long's mother, it would have come off as a classic time travel love story (and even with that, in a way it is).
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:06 AM (c6xtn)
I like your lady's take on it- and now that I think on it, that's a very good way to view Time Enough.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:09 AM (ecTS1)

253 I thought the Harry Potter books were pretty good for young folks, sometimes they verged on clever. To my mind, their biggest value was to get kids reading books, not watching a damn screen. I recall reading at the time about how the kids were branching out to Tolkien and some classic stories like "Treasure Island".
Posted by: JTB at May 22, 2022

***
Rowling cleverly tailored the stories to her original intended audience, junior high kids, the 11-12-13 year old set. It's eerily similar to what I recall of my junior high, except that we were not studying magic and nobody was threatening my life -- but that was exactly the kind of story I'd have wanted to read at that age (along with my Man From U.N.C.L.E. stories and Alfred Hitchcock suspense anthologies).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:12 AM (c6xtn)

254 Just and observation. It is fitting that once JK Rowling went woke and made a character teh ghey, the left still went after her.
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:07 AM (ecTS1)

It was kinda dumb of her to decide after the books were done, to announce Dumblydore was always supposed to be teh ghey. But I guess that's better than the alternative. He could have been a ghey pedo, and given how much time he spent alone with Harry, no doubt there are many who would have preferred things went that way.

Honestly, if you read the books as an adult, and such a thing did not at least occur to you, I don't know why not.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 11:13 AM (47mFt)

255 Greetings:

My Dad was an infantryman of the BAR ilk on Saipan and Peliliu. He never talked about any specifics. When I pestered him for something, he gave me a cookie tin filled with polished seashells.

But as I look back on my rearing, I seem to see a method to his approaches. Our family had a summer place (that my mother called the bungalow and my father called the cabin) upstate about 60 miles in Putnam County. During our summers there, my father taught me about surviving in the woodlands, shooting long guns (22s, 12 gauges, and 30 cal), and I was driving by 14. In high school, I disappointed him by declining to take typing on a typewriter.

As my own draft approached, my father got a bit more specific in a none gory way. My mother chipped in with info about after my father returned home.

The biggest surprise was the morning my father took me down to the Induction Center. He told me that if, after my training, I didn't think I could do the job to come back home and we would get it straightened out.

Posted by: 11B40 at May 22, 2022 11:13 AM (uuklp)

256 Much of Time Enough is wonderful. Mrs. Wolfus No. 2 said she thought it analogous to the Bible -- vivid, memorable stories with a series of guidelines of how to relate to and get along with other people (and sometimes to survive what they want to do to you). . . .
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022
*
I like your lady's take on it- and now that I think on it, that's a very good way to view Time Enough.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022

***
I should have written "ex-Mrs. W No. 2." She was a sociopath, but she was smart.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:14 AM (c6xtn)

257 And thank you to Perfesser Squirrel for the weekly book thread.
Great job carrying on after the loss of Oregon Muse.

Also, just finished Traveller by Richard Adams. Thanks to whoever recommended that special book about Robert E Lee's horse.

Posted by: Barney Rubble formerly Glenn John at May 22, 2022 11:15 AM (HKku6)

258 > [Yerby] took a lot of criticism from the "activists" of the day because his books weren't "woke" enough.

Maybe that's why his books are out of print and not on Kindle, come to think of it.

While he did write some books about slavery and/or the antebellum South, he also wrote books about the Crusades, pirates, ancient Greece, etc.

In other words, he was a writer who happened to be mixed-race, not a "mixed-race writer".

I think Sarah Hoyt has talked about that. She is an immigrant from Portugal, so publishers wanted her to write books about the "Immigrant Portuguese woman experience", when she wanted to write science fiction.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:16 AM (bW8dp)

259 It was kinda dumb of her to decide after the books were done, to announce Dumblydore was always supposed to be teh ghey. But I guess that's better than the alternative. He could have been a ghey pedo, and given how much time he spent alone with Harry, no doubt there are many who would have preferred things went that way.

Honestly, if you read the books as an adult, and such a thing did not at least occur to you, I don't know why not.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022

***
I did read them as a grownup, and I never got any such flavor. They were adventure/mystery.imagination stories. If pedo/ghey stuff appears as much as I hear it does in modern YA work, then I'm glad I don't read it. Heinlein's juveniles feature adult mentors of kids and teens, real mentors, and yet there is no hint of any such thing in them.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:17 AM (c6xtn)

260 It was kinda dumb of her to decide after the books were done, to announce Dumblydore was always supposed to be teh ghey. But I guess that's better than the alternative. He could have been a ghey pedo, and given how much time he spent alone with Harry, no doubt there are many who would have preferred things went that way.
Honestly, if you read the books as an adult, and such a thing did not at least occur to you, I don't know why not.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 11:13 AM (47mFt)

I missed the boat on the HP - never read the novels, but did watch a couple of the movies.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:18 AM (ecTS1)

261 This may already have been said, in which case apologies for the repeat. And I came by it in bits and pieces, so assume it's about 75% correct.

For the Brandon Sanderson fans here, he had a recent kickstarter for 4 novels that will be outside his regular canon. Did his trad publisher reject them? Did he want to dip his toes in indie? Don't know. Anyway, there was a commitment of $10,000,000 (sic) in the wink of an eye.

So he used some of that ten million to complete the kickstarters of other writers! Isn't it lovely when someone you assume is a nice guy really is a nice guy?

Posted by: Wenda at May 22, 2022 11:18 AM (TK9+5)

262 Greetings:

Comanches. you want Comanches, "The Comanche Empire" by Hamalanien is recent and not too Progressive. Ferenbach's "The Comanches: The History of a People" was my original. Now it's been re-titled to "The Comanches: The Destruction of a People" for all the misguided reasons in the world.

Posted by: 11B40 at May 22, 2022 11:18 AM (uuklp)

263 ***
I should have written "ex-Mrs. W No. 2." She was a sociopath, but she was smart.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:14 AM (c6xtn)

LOL- I've heard most are!

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:19 AM (ecTS1)

264 Morning Hordemates.
My fun book is a compilation of photos taken on the moon by the astronauts who landed there. It is really kind of cool.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 22, 2022 11:19 AM (anj39)

265 It is fitting that once JK Rowling went woke and made a character teh ghey, the left still went after her.

Was it the left, or Voldemort? Is there a difference?

Posted by: Sweeney Todd at May 22, 2022 11:19 AM (ZsR3z)

266 I'm done with Lee Child's The Killing Floor and now starting T. Kingfisher's Nettle & Bone. The library system also located China Miéville's The City and the City. So I'm set for at least a week.
Posted by: NaughtyPine

Nettle & Bone is on my to-read also.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 11:21 AM (kf6Ak)

267 Speaking of pirates, the latest "woke" bullshit I've seen is criticizing pirate stories because the pirates don't get informed consent before ravishing the wenches they've captured.

Yeah, you betcha.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:22 AM (bW8dp)

268 Honestly, if you read the books as an adult, and such a thing did not at least occur to you, I don't know why not.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022

***
I did read them as a grownup, and I never got any such flavor. They were adventure/mystery.imagination stories. If pedo/ghey stuff appears as much as I hear it does in modern YA work, then I'm glad I don't read it. Heinlein's juveniles feature adult mentors of kids and teens, real mentors, and yet there is no hint of any such thing in them.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:17 AM (c6xtn)

No, I mean he's an adult, hanging around with a teenage boy. Not saying there's any suggestion of anything inappropriate in the books, just that as an observer of such things, in this age, if one notices ANY adult spending a lot of time hanging around teenagers, you have to at least consider the possibility they're doing so for their OWN reasons.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 11:22 AM (47mFt)

269 So he used some of that ten million to complete the kickstarters of other writers! Isn't it lovely when someone you assume is a nice guy really is a nice guy?
Posted by: Wenda at May 22, 2022 11:18 AM (TK9+5)

Yes it is. These days it pays to be cynical but it's nice to see this.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 11:22 AM (jNAzB)

270 Posted by: 11B40 at May 22, 2022 11:13 AM (uuklp)

I never realized why my dad never wanted to talk about his time in war until I experienced it myself.

Then I realized that war didn't give you stories to tell everyone, but it did give one wisdom on how fragile life and a civilized nature can be. I think THAT was what my dad tried to teach me from it.

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at May 22, 2022 11:22 AM (Qhnrt)

271 Heinlein's "Time Enough For Love" isn't my favorite of his books. But it does have some of my favorite writing that he did. The 'side' stories like the Twins, the Dora segment, and the man too lazy to fail are simply wonderful.

And his description of the pre-WW I years as the last happy time in America has always stayed with me.

Posted by: JTB at May 22, 2022 11:23 AM (7EjX1)

272
One example is Frank Yerby. He was an excellent writer who wrote a lot of great books, almost none of which are out on Kindle. My family had some of his books when I was a kid. They were almost the first "grownup" books I remember reading. They were pretty racy for a kid of my age.

I didn't know until I was an adult that Yerby was mixed race (black, white, and Seminole), because he didn't club people in the head with it. He took a lot of criticism from the "activists" of the day because his books weren't "woke" enough.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:08 AM (bW8dp)

Omg me too! Rrad Odor of Sanctity as a kid and I was blown away. Read all the other Yerby books I could find, but I still think that was the best.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 11:23 AM (kf6Ak)

273 > No, I mean he's an adult, hanging around with a teenage boy.

I don't recall reading any of the books. I might have seen part of one of the movies.

Isn't he a teacher at a school for teens? How could you manage to do that without "hanging around with teens"?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:24 AM (bW8dp)

274 Thanks for the Comanche titles, I will check them out.
My reading isn't limited to just comanches, but any Native American tribe.
I finished a 25 hour long lecture series "Native Peoples of North America" by Daniel Cobb.
Also interesting to me. I am a non-fiction, history geek at heart.

Posted by: gourmand du noir at May 22, 2022 11:25 AM (jTmQV)

275 Re: Ellison again.

Believe Straczynski has said the Dangerous Visions deals will include ebook editions. I don't think he's planning to ignore that side of publication at all. Blackstone Publishing will be doing the DV anthologies -- my guess is that earlier titles will follow in both print and ebook form. Open Road's had them for a while, and it's not unheard of for titles to change hands both in print and ebook. A lot of Lawrence Block's work was available from Open Road, for instance, but after the deal's time expired, the books moved from Open Road to Block's own imprint. Same thing will probably happen with Ellison's work.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at May 22, 2022 11:25 AM (JzDjf)

276 > Omg me too! Rrad Odor of Sanctity as a kid and I was blown away. Read all the other Yerby books I could find, but I still think that was the best.

I really wish they were out on Kindle. I'd love to reread them, and I literally have no space left for physical books.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:25 AM (bW8dp)

277 Oddly enough, even though my dad left the daily diary covering Nov 1943 to Jan 1945 (abruptly stopped writing after his unit crossed from the Rhone into southern Germany), he never talked with me about any of it. I never knew of the diary's existence until after he had died. I suspect that he stopped writing in the diary as the reality of the concentration camps and extermination camps came starkly into focus, and that it affected him deeply. He kept a photo publication showing the conditions at Dachau deep in the bottom of a desk drawer.

He went on to focus on raising us seven boys with self sufficiency and specific toolsets (camping, shooting, an instilled work ethic, and integrity), and extended that into being a Boy Scout leader and role model for dozens of young boys. Devout Christian, donated several gallons of blood through the years.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 22, 2022 11:27 AM (cPDW+)

278 255 Greetings:
My Dad was an infantryman of the BAR ilk on Saipan and Peliliu. He never talked about any specifics.
Posted by: 11B40 at May 22, 2022 11:13 AM (uuklp)

11B40- my dad was the same way about Nam. Not until I came home from Afghanistan did he then open up and tell me some of the things he saw and experienced. And as I look back upon that, that is probably about the best way to do it. War can be described, but can never really be understood until experienced.
And now as I ruminate on my response, I realize that for family and friends- on the one hand you want them to know what you've experienced. On the other, you don't want them to know anything about the war other than the mundane details- because- why share that burden with them?
I don't know. I'm not articulating this well.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:28 AM (ecTS1)

279 No, I mean he's an adult, hanging around with a teenage boy. Not saying there's any suggestion of anything inappropriate in the books, just that as an observer of such things, in this age, if one notices ANY adult spending a lot of time hanging around teenagers, you have to at least consider the possibility they're doing so for their OWN reasons.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022

***
I'd agree if he were unconnected with the school in some way and simply hanging around the kids. But it was his *job* as headmaster to spend some time with the boys and the girls too when need be, to help guide their education. And the mysterious backstory involving Harry's parents and Voldemort and other forces (as I recall) is another good motivation for his watching out for Harry.

There is an U.N.C.L.E. episode where the young Kurt Russell plays a typical 12-year-old boy who latches onto Solo while he is on a mission, hoping that Solo will find his (Kurt's) widowed mother attractive enough to marry. If anybody interprets that as "Solo has an unhealthy interest in a young boy," that would be a sad commentary on our times.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:29 AM (c6xtn)

280 Isn't he a teacher at a school for teens? How could you manage to do that without "hanging around with teens"?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:24 AM (bW8dp)

You'd have to read the books to know the extent of the time he spent alone with Harry.

Or you'd have to spend time with teachers to realize how many of them "hang around with teens" for their own nefarious purposes.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 11:29 AM (47mFt)

281 Isn't he a teacher at a school for teens? How could you manage to do that without "hanging around with teens"?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:24 AM (bW8dp)

I agree with that but speaking of being cynical these days you are almost forced to question Scout Masters, Volunteer coaches, Boys Club volunteers, etc.

I love kids but as a grown man I avoid any contact without the parents being present . I hate the time we're living in.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 11:30 AM (jNAzB)

282 Except that Dumbledore doesn't "hang around" with Harry or his pals. One of Rowling's favorite plot devices is to make it difficult or impossible for Harry to get access to Dumbledore with some vital information. Because of course when your school headmaster is Gandalf plus Doctor Strange it kind of wrecks any plot if you can get him to help.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 11:31 AM (QZxDR)

283 > Or you'd have to spend time with teachers to realize how many of them "hang around with teens" for their own nefarious purposes.

I had several teachers who spent a lot of time with me, much to my benefit, and it wasn't because they wanted to fuck me.

Yeah, pedos exist, but it's a real shame if we've gotten to a point where a teacher isn't allowed to be a mentor.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:31 AM (bW8dp)

284 270 Posted by: 11B40 at May 22, 2022 11:13 AM (uuklp)
I never realized why my dad never wanted to talk about his time in war until I experienced it myself.
Then I realized that war didn't give you stories to tell everyone, but it did give one wisdom on how fragile life and a civilized nature can be. I think THAT was what my dad tried to teach me from it.
Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at May 22, 2022 11:22 AM (Qhnrt)

Pork Chops- great response. Way better than my cumbersome attempt above.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:32 AM (ecTS1)

285 Except that Dumbledore doesn't "hang around" with Harry or his pals. One of Rowling's favorite plot devices is to make it difficult or impossible for Harry to get access to Dumbledore with some vital information. Because of course when your school headmaster is Gandalf plus Doctor Strange it kind of wrecks any plot if you can get him to help.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022

***
Good point; I'd forgotten that. And your description of Dumbledore is spot on.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:33 AM (c6xtn)

286 I'd agree if he were unconnected with the school in some way and simply hanging around the kids. But it was his *job* as headmaster to spend some time with the boys and the girls too when need be, to help guide their education. And the mysterious backstory involving Harry's parents and Voldemort and other forces (as I recall) is another good motivation for his watching out for Harry.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:29 AM (c6xtn)

Well, I don't mean to dwell on this too much (too late?), but he isn't JUST a teacher at a school, and he doesn't just guide Harry's education. He whisks him around the countryside, including taking him to another bachelor's house, to try to entice the man to come back to the school as a teacher. A man known for "collecting" bright students.

Aaaaand, how much time did Harry spend alone with Dumblyedore in his office, after hours at night? Plenty.

So again, you don't have to think anything of any of this, just that if it's 2022, and you know the kinds of people who teach in schools, you can't really say there's no there there, unless you just don't want to even consider it.

Which is fine.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 11:33 AM (47mFt)

287 > You'd have to read the books to know the extent of the time he spent alone with Harry.

So you're claiming that a *fictional character* is a pedo, despite not being depicted as being a pedo in the books?

Doesn't that seem a little weird to you?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:34 AM (bW8dp)

288 Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:28 AM (ecTS1)

I understand that. I think that's why my father was involved with the VFW . Shared experiences that could be said or left unsaid. I had a lot of opportunity but I never asked any of the members to tell me stories when my father was Commandant of his Post.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 11:35 AM (jNAzB)

289 I thought John of Gaunt's mother was Philippa of Hainault.
Posted by: Brett at May 22, 2022 10:32 AM (Sm9Ko)

Oops. You are correct. John was her uncle/cousin. I have to figure out how I got that tree messed up.
Thank you. I have two family lines that converge there and they now conflict. I have to redo a lot now.
Dad was Edmond of Woodstock brother of Edward II. Which...

Damn.

Posted by: Reforger at May 22, 2022 11:35 AM (21yK7)

290 Yeah, pedos exist, but it's a real shame if we've gotten to a point where a teacher isn't allowed to be a mentor.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:31 AM (bW8dp)

Yes. It's a shame.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 11:35 AM (47mFt)

291 I'm going to be an instructor at a summer camp in a few months and we've been told flat out that we cannot be alone with a student, ever. If they want to talk privately we still have to be in visual range of someone else. I don't blame them, either. Especially in this era of "I don't know what that means so it must be racist."

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 11:36 AM (QZxDR)

292 So you're claiming that a *fictional character* is a pedo, despite not being depicted as being a pedo in the books?

Doesn't that seem a little weird to you?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:34 AM (bW8dp)

I'm sorry this bothers you so much. But no, I didn't claim that. At all. Go back and read what I said.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 11:36 AM (47mFt)

293
I love kids but as a grown man I avoid any contact without the parents being present . I hate the time we're living in.
Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 11:30 AM (jNAzB)

Same here. Even with nieces and nephews.

Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at May 22, 2022 11:36 AM (Qhnrt)

294 [ii]So you're claiming that a *fictional character* is a pedo,

******

Speaking of which, I heard that Sponge Bob Squarepants is gay. I'll see if I can find the link.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 22, 2022 11:37 AM (cPDW+)

295 Creepiest teacher in Harry Potter was Dolores Umbridge.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 11:37 AM (kf6Ak)

296 Posted by: 11B40 at May 22, 2022 11:13 AM (uuklp)
I never realized why my dad never wanted to talk about his time in war until I experienced it myself.
Then I realized that war didn't give you stories to tell everyone, but it did give one wisdom on how fragile life and a civilized nature can be. I think THAT was what my dad tried to teach me from it.
Posted by: Pork Chops & Bacons at May 22, 2022 11:22 AM (Qhnrt)

Pork Chops- great response. Way better than my cumbersome attempt above.
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:32 AM (ecTS1)

Grandfather who landed on Omaha never picked up a gun again. He’d seen enough.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 22, 2022 11:37 AM (4ErMj)

297 > I understand that. I think that's why my father was involved with the VFW .

In one of Larry Correia's Monster Hunter books there's a bit where two of the characters have just gone through some traumatic zombie-related shit. One of them says "You want to talk about your feelings?" The other one says "Nope". First one says "Good. Let's get drunk."

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:38 AM (bW8dp)

298 Also interesting to me. I am a non-fiction, history geek at heart.

Posted by: gourmand du noir at May 22, 2022 11:25 AM (jTmQV)

Hear, hear. I'm really interested in the Spanish expeditions in the southeast...Carolinas, Tenn., N. Georgia, but most of the reading I'm able to find is scholarly stuff...so pretty dry.

Posted by: BignJames at May 22, 2022 11:38 AM (AwYPR)

299 And Dumbledore, not to put too fine a point on it, is *trying to save Harry's life*. He knows Voldemort and other forces the Big Guy can muster will try to kill Harry as they did his parents. The steps he takes in the stories are not just to further Harry's magical education, the regular teachers are doing that, but to keep Harry alive long enough that he can fight for himself.

If, knowing what he knew, he'd refused to try to protect Harry, he would have been a despicable character. And Rowling was not telling that kind of story.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:38 AM (c6xtn)

300 Speaking of which, I heard that Sponge Bob Squarepants is gay. I'll see if I can find the link.
Posted by: Muldoon at May 22, 2022 11:37 AM (cPDW+)

Non binary

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 11:39 AM (jNAzB)

301 I heard that Sponge Bob Squarepants is gay. I'll see if I can find the link.
Posted by: Muldoon

I don't see it. He's got a huge crush on Sandy the Squirrel.
Squidward is totes ghey thoigh.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 11:41 AM (kf6Ak)

302 > I'm sorry this bothers you so much.

It doesn't bother me at all. But then, I'm not the one who sees pedos behind every bush.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:41 AM (bW8dp)

303 Speaking of which, I heard that Sponge Bob Squarepants is gay. I'll see if I can find the link.
Posted by: Muldoon at May 22, 2022 11:37 AM (cPDW+)

Non binary
Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 11:39 AM (jNAzB)

It's also true that starfish will devour sponges in the most gruesome ways, so the chances of Patrick and Spongebob getting it on are quite remote.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 11:42 AM (47mFt)

304 OT though related: James Garner has a featured role in a B & W Randolph Scott movie, 1957's Shootout at Medicine Bend. This would have been just about when he was starting to film the Maverick series. His character seems to have a lot of the technique of getting along as Bret Maverick does.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:42 AM (c6xtn)

305 After I came back from Desert Storm, my dad started sharing more of hisWW2 experience. I grew up hearing about the fun stuff. But now it was different.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 22, 2022 11:42 AM (anj39)

306 Posted by: naturalfake at May 22, 2022 10:54 AM (5NkmN)

I can't refute anything you wrote and maybe I'm getting conned into thinking he's better than he really was. My first exposure to him was through a short story in one of those Best American collections in the late 70s; I think it was called "Wood" and I can't find anything further about it other than I wrote his name down to check out further. That led to me picking up a collection In the Heart of the Heart of the Country and Other Stories which contained "The Pederson Kid" which I still occasionally reread. Maybe the short story is the right way to read him; if so I've got a Herculean task of disappointment awaiting...

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 22, 2022 11:43 AM (y7DUB)

307 297 > I understand that. I think that's why my father was involved with the VFW .
In one of Larry Correia's Monster Hunter books there's a bit where two of the characters have just gone through some traumatic zombie-related shit. One of them says "You want to talk about your feelings?" The other one says "Nope". First one says "Good. Let's get drunk."
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at May 22, 2022 11:38 AM (bW8dp)

heh. I've got a lot of friends who've tried that approach. Works in the short term. Long term it leads to a whole host of problems. I'm not saying we need to sit in a circle and sing kumbayah and find our inner child, but if you've got PTSD or some kind of traumatic event has gone down, that is a toll on your psyche. And that toll must be repaid in some way by your or you'll force family and friends to pay it.
Good friend of mine finally came to the realization he was losing it after seeing some of the most unspeakable things in Iraq. Got some help from VA; he's done a 180.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:44 AM (ecTS1)

308 My father was born in 1907: too young for WWI, too old for WWII and later conflicts, so I never heard any war stories or any tales about what he or my mother did during the second war. I think they met after 1945.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:45 AM (c6xtn)

309 308 My father was born in 1907: too young for WWI, too old for WWII and later conflicts, so I never heard any war stories or any tales about what he or my mother did during the second war. I think they met after 1945.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:45 AM (c6xtn)

But I bet he had some very interesting stories about growing up during the Great Depression.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:46 AM (ecTS1)

310 I just looked up Frank Yerby. Interesting guy. I thought it was amusing that he left the USA in the Fifties to protest racial inequality -- but had no trouble living thirty years in Franco's Spain.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 11:47 AM (QZxDR)

311 My grandfather on my mother's side was 4F during WWII, and I remember my grandmother telling me of his lifelong shame.
He wanted to serve so badly, everyone else was.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 22, 2022 11:48 AM (jTmQV)

312 275 Just Some Guy: I found a Facebook page of Straczinski's, and he said he's compiling definitive versions of all the Ellison books. He didn't specifically say that's why many of them were gone from Kindle, but I suppose it has a lot to do with it. He also went into the mountain of work involved in a project like that. It sounds grueling.

Posted by: Ex-CopyEditor at May 22, 2022 11:49 AM (FlzJ+)

313 Finished reading two books by James Cambias: The Darkling Sea and the Godel Operation. The Darkling Sea's setting is an ice-capped ocean world with life-sustaining hot water vents on the sea floor. No need to be a sci-fi fan to enjoy this book - since it's a scuba adventure book. With aliens. The Godel book pairs a sentient AI and a pit fighter. The AI is the jokey-wise majordomo-Jeeves type and the fighter a genial chap with a heart of gold. Both are one-shot books which means the stories are tight and complete and not a gateway to a 17,000 page, 12 volume series.

Posted by: 13times at May 22, 2022 11:49 AM (hLlnK)

314 It's also true that starfish will devour sponges in the most gruesome ways, so the chances of Patrick and Spongebob getting it on are quite remote.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 11:42 AM (47m

The love that dare not speak its name .

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 11:49 AM (jNAzB)

315 Well, time to go and get some household tasks knocked out. Perferssor Squirrel, thanks for the thread.

You all have a great day.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:49 AM (ecTS1)

316 My father served in WWII, and from what I can tell he detested every moment from the time he went off to Basic until V-J Day. But he apparently enjoyed his time in the Occupation forces in Japan. I guess not having to worry about suddenly dying does wonders for your morale.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 11:51 AM (QZxDR)

317 Greetings, gourmand du noir:

@ 274

The Comanche Empire author also wrote "Lakota America" about the more northern folks. Also a good read. And Ferenbach wrote Texican and Mexican histories that I enjoyed.

Posted by: 11B40 at May 22, 2022 11:53 AM (uuklp)

318 I don't see it. He's got a huge crush on Sandy the Squirrel.
Squidward is totes ghey thoigh.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 22, 2022 11:41 AM (kf6Ak)

Sandy "friend zoned" him pretty hard though, so maybe that's what turned Spongebob teh ghey.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 22, 2022 11:53 AM (47mFt)

319 My father served in WWII, and from what I can tell he detested every moment from the time he went off to Basic until V-J Day. But he apparently enjoyed his time in the Occupation forces in Japan. I guess not having to worry about suddenly dying does wonders for your morale.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 11:51 AM (QZxD

I'm sure having someone constantly telling you what to do grated on a lot of people whose personality conflicted with that atmosphere.

Posted by: Anti doesn't matter at May 22, 2022 11:55 AM (jNAzB)

320 It's actually nice to get to the comment part of any thread on aos, although I would like to read the whole thread. However, being bombarded with obnoxious and annoying advertising continuously begs me to ask "what would it actually take to rid one's self of the advertising?" Seriously, on any website. I will look for an answer later, have to mow lower 48.

Posted by: sidney at May 22, 2022 11:55 AM (itAo5)

321 My father was born in 1907: too young for WWI, too old for WWII and later conflicts, so I never heard any war stories or any tales about what he or my mother did during the second war. I think they met after 1945.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022
*
But I bet he had some very interesting stories about growing up during the Great Depression.
Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022

***
Not much that I recall. My mother (b. 1916) told better stories of her childhood in prairie Canada, and then her life near Orlando, FL, starting in '29, and her days in nursing school here in Da Swamp.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:56 AM (c6xtn)

322 Time to run off and do a few chores, all. Back later!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 22, 2022 11:57 AM (c6xtn)

323 > 11840 Months ago I got the Comanche Empire on your recommendation. Thanks. I think it's better than Empire of the Summer Moon which I bought for ¢50 at a library sale.

Posted by: 13times at May 22, 2022 11:59 AM (hLlnK)

324 Seriously, on any website. I will look for an answer later, have to mow lower 48.
Posted by: sidney

States ?

You've got your work cut our for ya !

Posted by: JT at May 22, 2022 11:59 AM (arJlL)

325 ...answer later, have to mow lower 48.
Posted by: sidney

*******

Are you starting in Florida and working your way gradually north and west to Seattle? Or strictly East-West strips? Either way that might take a couple days.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 22, 2022 12:00 PM (cPDW+)

326 JT!! Quicker on the draw than I was. Darn you to heck!!

Posted by: Muldoon at May 22, 2022 12:01 PM (cPDW+)

327 A NOOD IS APON US

Posted by: Skip at May 22, 2022 12:02 PM (2JoB8)

328 Just in case you double check, Sidney, use an adblocker if on a computer. Can't say about a phone but an adblocker for android didn't block ads on You Tube on cell phone.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 22, 2022 12:08 PM (7bRMQ)

329 I met Rex Stout in 1966, when he was in Houston touring to promote Death of a Doxy. There wasn't a crowd, so we got to talk for over an hour. I told him I had read all the Nero Wolfe books. He asked what other authors I had read so thoroughly. I named Robert Ruark, L.Frank Baum, and Sax Rohmer.

He asked which was my favorite, and I said the collections of Ruark's The Old Man and the Boy stories, that taught me everything I know about hunting, fishing and sportsmanship.

Posted by: Buck Joefiden (nee Ofama) at May 22, 2022 12:18 PM (+tJ7h)

330 312 - Cool. I'd have been surprised if he wasn't doing something like that. If Straczynski's Ellison reissues contain extras like the editions coming from harlanellisonbooks.com, I may have to buy a bunch of 'em again.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at May 22, 2022 12:20 PM (JzDjf)

331 Picked up a few books at the library book sale. Fifty cents each and all in very good condition. Meaning I can sell them to the used book store guy after reading them. He pays cash or trade credit. I opt for the meager cash payment. The other local used book store is trade only. I hate trade only. Plus, the trade only guy rubber stamps his books with a huge ugly stamp. Which really ticks me off. The flaw in the trade-only scheme was underscored during the lockdown.

Posted by: 13times at May 22, 2022 12:21 PM (hLlnK)

332 Thanks for the thread, Perfesser!

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 22, 2022 12:25 PM (jTmQV)

333 Excellent Book Thread!

As usual, I now have several more things to read downloaded onto the Kindle: 'Long Live Death' and some MilSciFi, and a book on the CIA.

Sad to hear the Texas Authors Shindig is waved off...

Posted by: Brewingfrog at May 22, 2022 12:36 PM (VJJQf)

334 Sock on

Posted by: andycanuck (Jtln5) at May 22, 2022 12:36 PM (yikp0)

335 Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 22, 2022 11:28 AM (ecTS1)

Hi. Just as you and 11b40 we’re stating, I was a cop for twenty years. Worked in the worst ghettos in this country. I never told my wife and kids about anything I did at work unless it was a funny story. The faces of the dead children I held in my arms, killed by their parents, will haunt me until the day I die. I know it’s not like combat, but there are certain things that we don’t discuss at the dinner table.
Thanks guys for being here.

Posted by: RetSgtRN at May 22, 2022 12:43 PM (NVtgT)

336 At The Gates of Rome sounds fantastic.
Ordered.

Posted by: JoeF. at May 22, 2022 01:14 PM (mR6Gs)

337 me: "The Trials of Harry S. Truman," by Jeffrey Frank.

Not a bio. Focuses on his decisions as president.

The author faults Truman for permitting the Army to pursue the defeated, retreating NORKs across the 38th parallel. I don't see how Truman could've done otherwise.

I do fault the intelligence community for failing to take Chou's VERY explicit warnings more seriously. No-one believed China would enter the war.

Posted by: mnw at May 22, 2022 01:15 PM (NLIak)

338 On the contrary. The gheys have co-opted Oz into their agenda.
-------

AntiFa/BLM -> Flying monkeys

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 22, 2022 01:41 PM (dx9uU)

339 > What are YOU reading this fine morning?

Still marching through Baxter's "Xeelee" novels. In the middle of "Transcendence."

A very impressive series. Some of the hardest hard SF available.

Posted by: ArthurK at May 22, 2022 01:42 PM (/P8Pv)

340 @336 At The Gates of Rome sounds fantastic.
Ordered.

Thanks, Joe!

Posted by: Don Hollway at May 22, 2022 01:46 PM (KuVA8)

341 Again, too busy writing to do a whole lot of reading this week. I did re-read _The Ionian Mission_ by Patrick O'Brian.

That dude's a textbook on how to break all the rules and still write great books. He frequently starts a book with Captain Aubrey et al on a particular mission -- blockade, ferrying a diplomat to the Far East, whatever -- and then about halfway through he sends the characters a new set of orders and the previous plot just gets shelved.

Any Creative Writing instructor would shriek and tear out his or her hair, but O'Brian makes it work.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 22, 2022 09:47 AM (QZxDR)

The only thing O'Brian did that bugged me was the offhanded manner by which he handled the death of Maturin's wife. She was a fascinatingly well drawn character and deserved better. I think someone mentioned that O'Brian was going through a personal loss at the time; if so that's unfortunate but could have been dealt with differently and better.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 22, 2022 02:08 PM (y7DUB)

342 To Weak Geek @22 above, if you are interested in fantasy fiction that incorporates gunpowder weapons, I would strongly recommend Walter Jon Williams' "Quillifer" series ("Quillifer", "Quillifer the Knight" and "Lord Quillifer"). These are set in a fictional world that resembles Europe about the time of the first Queen Elizabeth. One interesting twist is that in this world the dominant religion is not a faux Christianity but "The Way of the Compassionate Pilgrim" which strongly resembles Buddhism.

We see guns used in battle and, when Quillifer (the titular hero) finds himself reluctantly sent off on a quest to kill a marauding dragon, he very sensible decides that if he is going up against a fire drake he had better be packing some fire power of his own. He takes along an experimental model of cannon.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at May 22, 2022 02:09 PM (x8uSI)

343 Captain Hate @343, I agree entirely. O'Brian did a brilliant job over several volumes of the series in depicting two totally incompatible people who somehow managed to fall passionately in love with each and then just dropped it. Very annoying.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at May 22, 2022 02:15 PM (x8uSI)

344 Once again, my thanks to Perfessor Squirrel for his work in keeping the Book Thread going.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at May 22, 2022 02:16 PM (x8uSI)

345 Still marching through Baxter's "Xeelee" novels. In the middle of "Transcendence."

A very impressive series. Some of the hardest hard SF available.
Posted by: ArthurK at May 22, 2022 01:42 PM (/P8Pv)
---
I agree that the Xeelee Sequence is some truly great SF. Baxter is a worthy successor to Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, etc.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 22, 2022 02:19 PM (K5n5d)

346 @240 --

I wouldn't go that far. Rowling was on the dole while she was writing the first Potter book.

So maybe the British taxpayers should have received a share of the profits.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 22, 2022 02:32 PM (Om/di)

347 It's an igloo made out of books.

A book igloo.

Or a boogaloo.

Posted by: Mitchell Strand at May 22, 2022 04:51 PM (br55T)

348 "The library system also located China Miéville's The City and the City. So I'm set for at least a week."

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If you're still here reading comments, please do report on how you liked it (or didn't).

Posted by: Taro Tsujimoto at May 22, 2022 05:21 PM (5YmYl)

349 The only thing O'Brian did that bugged me was the offhanded manner by which he handled the death of Maturin's wife. She was a fascinatingly well drawn character and deserved better

I hated her from the start, her death was welcome and the less anyone dwelt on it the better.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 22, 2022 08:10 PM (KZzsI)

350 I hated her from the start, her death was welcome and the less anyone dwelt on it the better.

Your vivid reaction to her bolsters my point.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at May 22, 2022 08:58 PM (y7DUB)

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