Sunday Morning Book Thread - 07-02-2023 ["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 (a fun romp through Renaissance Italy). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants (forget the weedwhacker, break out the flamethrower!)

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

PIC NOTE

I went looking for unique personal libraries and found this picture. No idea where it's located or who owns these books. However, I do like the look and feel of this space. Though I think I might replace the chair with something a bit more comfy. Or it could be an exceptionally comfortable chair. I love how the books just wrap around the reader, making it feel like an intimate personal space between the reader and all his favorite "friends." I have no idea where the spiral staircase goes, but if it were my house, that would be my bedroom space, so that I can pass through the library, grab a book, and head on up to bed at night. All that's missing are some feline friends lounging around the library and on the stairs.

WRITING TECHNIQUES - POINT OF VIEW

A few weeks ago both OrangeEnt and Wolfus Aurelius suggested a discussion about "writing techniques." I was thinking about this as I read a couple of books this past week and noticed a distinctive approach that two authors used in presenting "points of view" for characters in a story. Remember that there are a few different points of view that are common: first person (use of pronoun "I" by main character who is narrating the story), third person limited (where you only have access to one person's inner thoughts and feelings, as that character observes other people), and third-person omniscient (where you are given a peek in to anyone's thoughts and feelings). There are others, of course, one of which I'll describe below, but these seem to be the most common ways of presenting the viewpoints of characters in a story.

The two stories I read are Still Life with Crows by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, part of their Agent Pendergast series, and Halting State by Charles Stross. Both have a common structure in how they tell their stories, but beyond that they diverge wildly in the point of view presented by the characters within the stories.

Let's start with Halting State. This is a cyberpunk thriller that takes place in the near "future" of 2018 (the book was written in 2007), where most of society is wrapped up in "augmented reality." Everyone wears goggles that allow them to be connected online all the time for phone calls, web browsing, etc. They can also superimpose information over their normal vision. Scotland, where the story takes place, has achieved independence from the UK and is now a member state of the EU. Within this world, someone has committed a supposedly impossible crime by robbing a virtual bank within the world of a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) (like World of Warcraft). This crime in virtual space has real-world relevance because of the implications of digital artifacts with real-world value being stored in a supposedly secure online vault. The main protagonists are a Scottish police detective (Sue), an insurance investigator (Elaine), and a software engineer/game developer (Jack).

Halting State is unusual in that each chapter gives us a viewpoint of one of the main protagonists, but instead of using "Sue," "Elaine," or "Jack" when describing actions, Stross only uses the second-person voice of "you" when describing the events of the story. In each chapter, the reader is addressed as "you talk to so-and-so" or "you go to back to the hotel to rest before your next activity." Furthermore, unless Stross is describing a flashback event, the story is told in the present tense. This style takes a lot of getting used to by the reader, as the chapters cycle between the three main characters. You have to really pay attention to which chapter you are in, especially when the three main characters start interacting with each other. For instance, a "Sue" chapter might have her questioning both Jack and Elaine, so you have to remember as you are reading it that "you" in this context is referring to "Sue." In the next chapter, Elaine and Jack might be talking about gaming. Jack is an expert in his field, so his viewpoint will be highly technical. Elaine's expertise is in financial shenanigans, so her viewpoint will tend to reflect that while being confused at times by Jack's technical acumen. It does make for a slightly surreal reading experience.

Still Life with Crows is a murder mystery of sorts, taking place in a remote corner of Kansas in the summertime. The town where the murders occur is a typical small town where everyone knows everyone else. The local sheriff and his deputy are scratching their heads at who might be committing a bizarre series of murders. Then a mysterious stranger shows up and starts taking an active hand in the investigation...

Still Life with Crows is a much more conventional style of storytelling. Although each chapter tends to change the viewpoint character between both main characters and side characters, we don't have to work so hard to understand which character's viewpoint is "active." Preston and Child stick to the tried-and-true "third person omniscient" viewpoint as we are privy to the thoughts and feelings of various characters throughout the book. They do take a creative approach to how they present the main protagonist, however. These stories are named after Special Agent Pendergast of the FBI, but in this book, we barely get to experience his viewpoint at all. Instead, we mainly see Pendergast through the eyes of the characters around him. He is a very strange man, so much so that I wasn't quite sure if he was entirely human. His entire bearing just seems "off" to most people he encounters. When we do get a brief glimpse into his mind, we see that he's a very dangerous, disciplined man, capable of near superhuman feats when pushed to his limits.

Charles Stross and the writing team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child both play around with "point of view" in their stories. It makes for an interesting and engaging reading experience for the most part. I had to read a number of chapters of Halting State before I managed to get a handle on what was happening. Charles Stross is also keen on throwing a lot of technobabble at the reader, expecting us to figure it out in context, which adds to the challenge of reading his stories.

Who else likes to play around with points of view in your reading experiences? Did it help or hinder the story?

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MORON AUTHOR UPDATE

Some time ago, I promoted UNSUNG: Quiet Voices of the US Navy's EOD Warriors and Their Families by Joseph E. Shaffer III and his wife, Dr. Paula Greene. Well, it turns out the Navy Special Operations Foundation took notice:

Perfessor: wife and I self-published UNSUNG: Quiet Voices of the US Navy's EOD Warriors and Their Families, which you graciously touted on Ace of Spades a while back--and thanks again for that--here's an update for ya'.
One of our three goals when writing the book was to split half the earnings from book sales with Navy Special Operations Foundation and EOD Warrior Foundation, which we do on a quarterly basis. Earlier this month, NSOF held their annual fund-raising gala in Norfolk and we were invited to attend as "guests of honor." They also recognized us for writing the book (see photo, below). It was quite a bash and they raised a bunch of money from the folks in attendance.
So, thanks again for helping us spread the word about the book.
Here are the links to the two foundations and to our book at Amazon.
https://www.nsof.org/
https://eodwarriorfoundation.org/
Amazon Link

So if you are an aspiring Moron Author with a tale that MUST be told, especially if it's for a worthy cause, you just never know what kind of impact you can have on the lives of others. One thing I've really learned from taking over the Sunday Morning Book Thread is just how important it is you all. Thanks for making it special!

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IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR WORD POWER

I came across the word below in an academic paper on "decentering" humans from environmental engineering. The paper was as whacked out on fruities as you can imagine. I know the author of that paper. Generally a pretty nice guy, but rabid environmental Leftist. I had to go look up the origin of this word just to verify that it was truly a word that was used in other contexts.

Chthulucene - n. - an ongoing temporality that resists figuration and dating and demands myriad names.

OK. Trying to find an actual definition of the word is a bit challenging because the person who came up with this, Donna Haraway, is a Leftist lunatic who is keen on posthumanism. Note that the spelling of the root word, "Chthulu" is slighly different than the spelling H.P. Lovecraft typically used for his chthonic entity of the deeps, Cthulhu. This is not an accident. Both words harken back to the ancient Greek word "chthonios," which means "of, in, or under the earth and seas."

In Haraway's diseased mind the Chthulucene era, which takes place in an epoch after our current "Capitalocene" era (another word she made up), "must collect up the trash of the Anthropocene, the exterminism of the Capitalocene, and chipping and shredding and layering like a mad gardener, make a much hotter compost pile for still possible pasts, presents, and futures."

Did everyone catch that? She is specifically referring to humanity as a compost pile in the future.

You can read the full article here: Tentacular Thinking: Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene by Donna Haraway. Good luck trying to decipher her gibberish!

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MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

I finished The Ends of the Circle by Paul O. Williams, book 2 in the loose Pelbar Cycle. I read it originally in the 80s when it came out
The Pelbar Cycle revolves around the redevelopment of society along the Heart (Mississippi) river after "the burning times" which left radioactive ruins of cities, depopulation and almost total loss of knowledge. The Matriarchal Pelbar live in stone keeps in the bluffs above the Heart, protected from the Shumani who follow the wild cattle, and the Sentani who migrate from the great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. The series follows the incursion of the Tantal who attempted to conquer the Heart Valley, forcing the peoples there to work together.
In the second book, Stel is nearly killed in an ice-cutting accident and figuring his in-laws were trying to kill him, he leaves the Heart to look for the great ocean rumored in the West. His wife Ahroe, a member of the city guard, follows him to bring him back. They meet in the Southwest in a battle between two tribes over access to water.
Paul O Williams was a poetry professor and his prose is so incredibly READABLE. So many modern writers are harsh and hard to follow. His world building is wonderful.
Posted by: Kindltot at June 25, 2023 10:07 AM (xhaym)

Comment: I have an interesting essay that I plan on linking to sometime in the near future that talks about the problems of modern writing. It's not an accident that so many modern writers are "harsh and hard to follow." This sounds like an interesting story taking place in a post-apocalyptic America where we have been reduced back to a pre-technological civilization. Based on what the WEF plans to do to us, it's not as far-fetched as it may have once seemed.

+++++

My other reading this week was China's Small Arms of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) by Shih Bin.
It may seem odd to pick this up after publishing Walls of Men, but I was actually trying to run to ground a theory about 1938-stamped Mosin 1891/30s being in Spain, and to do that, I needed to rule out Chinese origin.
Given the circumstances, that's not possible to do with absolute certainty, but I think the preponderance of evidence points to the fact that it would have been very difficult for these rifles to have come from China. Spain is the most likely origin.
As a bonus, I reached out to the author for additional information, and he was courteous enough to reply. I love when that happens. Stanley G. Payne also was nice enough to answer my fan mail.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 25, 2023 09:35 AM (llXky)

Comment: When doing research, it's important to rule out possibilities as well as find information that confirms your hypothesis. It's also neat that the author was available to answer questions.

+++++

Long-time lurker; I love the book thread. I've just started reading To Your Scattered Bodies Go, the first book in the Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer. I've wanted to read it for a long time. I enjoyed his novella "Riders of the Purple Wage" as a pre-29-year-old, even though it sought.to glorify the Great Society, just stylistically I guess, and it's version of LA reminds me of the way the New Jerusalem is described in Revelation, though I don't know if that was intentional.
Posted by: Norrin Radd at June 25, 2023 10:20 AM (3W1gU)

Comment: I have a rather interesting series of books where Philip Jose Farmer served as a coordinator of other authors' writing. In the introduction, he talks about all of the stories that influenced his own writing. I would not be surprised if Farmer's depiction of LA was intentional, as he was quite well-read, especially the works of classical Western literature, which would include many religious themes (e.g., Dante's Inferno).

+++++

David Grann, who also wrote the excellent The Lost City of Z, weaves historical narrative like a novel. The Wager is about a disastrous 1740 mission in which the HMS Wager set out to seize a Spanish galleon stuffed with treasure. It instead wrecked off the southwest coast of Patagonia, and after months of privation the marooned men managed to cobble together a rickety craft and sail back home, where they were hailed as heroes.
Until a second group of survivors made land in Chile and claimed the first group were a pack of filthy mutineers!
The description of scurvy is horrifying.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at June 25, 2023 09:11 AM (CCf9N)

Comment: So which group were the mutineers? Or is this a book I have to read now in order to figure out the plot twist? Still, a historical novel about this harrowing experience sounds pretty interesting.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (855 Moron-recommended books so far!)

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WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK:

I read one of the Agent Pendergast novels by Preston & Child that I bought at a recent library book sale. So I decided to buy a few more to fill in the gaps in the storyline. The books are largely independent (with a few exceptions), but it helps to read all of them to get a better picture of the overall story arc. Also, they are pretty well written and highly entertaining.

Special Agent Pendergast Book 3 - The Cabinet of Curiosities

Special Agent Pendergast Book 5 - Brimstone

Special Agent Pendergast Book 7 - The Book of the Dead

Special Agent Pendergast Book 11 - Cold Vengeance

Special Agent Pendergast Book 12 - Two Graves

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

Still Life of Crows by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child -- Although the overall mystery was fairly predictable after a certain point, the book still managed to capture my attention enough so that I powered through the entire book in one day. I rarely do that anymore. Furthermore, it inspired me to order more books in the series. Agent Pendergast is an intriguing character.

Dance of Death by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child -- There is a brief gap of one book between the previous one (Still Life of Crows) and this one. Somehow, Agent Pendergast went missing, presumed dead, so part of the mystery is discovering what happened to Pendergast. Characters from previous stories play a pivotal role in this one, unlike Still Life of Crows where Pendergast was on his own.

Halting State by Charles Stross -- Lots of technobabble gibberish in a "near" future society (takes place in 2018 ) where people are constantly plugged into augmented reality. The book is also very British.

The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child -- Agent Pendergast must solve a hundred-year-old mystery while also stopping a murderer in the present.

That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding the 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 discussion topics 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 - 06-25-23 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

(AR goggles not included)

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 First?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 08:59 AM (omVj0)

2 Mentioned in dispatches!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 09:00 AM (Angsy)

3 Currently doing a re-read of the Mitch Rapp series.

Posted by: vic at July 02, 2023 09:01 AM (A5THL)

4 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Perhaps with an Independence Day connection. Mine included rereading of the Declaration of Independence.

Posted by: JTB at July 02, 2023 09:01 AM (7EjX1)

5 Tolle Lege
Well into Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe's Escape, a Napoleonic historical novel

Posted by: Skip at July 02, 2023 09:01 AM (xhxe8)

6 Happy Sunday

Posted by: rhennigantx at July 02, 2023 09:03 AM (BRHaw)

7 Morning, book people!

POV can be a challenge sometimes. You the reader know which view it is, but sometimes it's a challenge to a writer to know which way to go. The member of my writing group whom I've complained about recently, I've read 3/4 of his novel. Not only am I annoyed by the lack of editing, he suddenly shifts from 1st person to 3rd after 20 chapters, gives us 2 like that, and then back to 1st. And the 3rd-person deals with his hero in them are not ones where other characters, such as the villains, observe his hero and we get their take on him. No, it's 3rd limited where we are privy to his thoughts and feelings. What did he do that for?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:04 AM (omVj0)

8 When Cthulhu calls, he calls collect.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at July 02, 2023 09:04 AM (X+Ku8)

9 That personal library is nice. You can smell the book smell and the wood polish.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 09:04 AM (CiQt2)

10 Like the floor.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at July 02, 2023 09:04 AM (4Gcp4)

11 Oh, and there is 2nd person, where "you" is used throughout. I know a few short stories where that is done, and one novel, Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City (the basis for the '86 movie with Michael J. Fox). It works in that case because the story is fairly short for a novel, and it's funny.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:05 AM (omVj0)

12 [iNo, it's 3rd limited where we are privy to his thoughts and feelings. What did he do that for?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:04 AM (omVj0)

*Herman Melville has entered the chat*

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, MD (Hollywood Upstairs Medical College) at July 02, 2023 09:06 AM (PiwSw)

13 I miss William Safire's columns on language.

Heck, I miss Safire, period.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 02, 2023 09:07 AM (p/isN)

14 "Pronto" by Elmore Leonard lives up to its name. The story moves fast.

Harry the skimming bookie has laid plans to skip town in a few months and beetle off to his secret villa in Italy. However, the feds short-circuit his scheme by framing him for a phony skim in a ploy to turn him against Jimmy the boss, who sends Tommy the flashy Italian import and Nicky the inept muscleman to kill Harry, who eludes them and gets to Italy, where he sends for Joyce his girlfriend, who is tracked by the mobsters and Rayland the marshal, a business acquaintance of Harry's. They wind up in the town where Harry has his villa. On top of this, Harry has hired Robert the U.S. expatriate as a bodyguard/assistant, Tommy wants to take over all of Jimmy's operations, and Nicky wants to cut Tommy down to size -- permanently.

Rayland faces long odds; Tommy can draw on local talent. But the federal frame is collapsing, and Rayland is betting that he can persuade Harry to come back. All he has to do is get Harry and Joyce past Tommy and his associates.

For an Elmore Leonard novel, this has been relatively calm -- only two dead so far. But I expect that total to rachet up quickly. Or should I say pronto?

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 02, 2023 09:07 AM (p/isN)

15 Remember to rate and review moron author books that you've bought and enjoyed!

Including mine.

If you please.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at July 02, 2023 09:07 AM (LvTSG)

16 My other reading this week was China's Small Arms of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) by Shih Bin.
-

I'm inspired by this to author a book on Trump's tiny hands.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 02, 2023 09:08 AM (odVni)

17 Reread an very emotionally satisfying book by the once quite popular English author Nevil Shute, Ruined City. I read the American title published as Kindling.

The theme in this novel is the dignity of work, spanning all classes, whether a Corsican bar hostess in the Balkans, a commercial banker, charity hospital workers, or shipbuilders.

Shute's novels are written in a simple, highly readable style, with clearly delineated plot lines. He has characters you care about. This is his first book to really hit the dignity of work, something he returned to in subsequent novels.

Kindling is distilled from his own experiences starting an aircraft manufacturing company in the Great Depression.

I am a very large Nevil Shute fan, and have all his books.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at July 02, 2023 09:08 AM (u82oZ)

18 A third of the way into "The Miniaturist," set in 1686, in the Dutch Republic's golden century, and wow is it a masterfully-done piece.

I look at images of the Vermeer paintings, and imagine them as film-lot sets for the movie.

Wait! PBS did it, it's a three part miniseries, starring the same woman that played the chess master in "The Queen's Gambit." We'll watch that after we've both read this.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at July 02, 2023 09:09 AM (4ZE6o)

19 TheJamesMadison,

I reviewed your book the Battle of Lake Eire last week on the book thread.

Good book.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at July 02, 2023 09:10 AM (u82oZ)

20 Currently I'm on a Lawrence Block kick. Resume Speed is a 2016 novella in book form; crime is involved only on the edges, and it's still terrifically readable. Right now, his short story collection Catch and Release from Hard Case Crime. It contains one story, "Dolly's Trash and Treasures," featuring the ultimate hoarder. The writing is a tour de force: There are no dialog tags, no "he said" or "He scratched his chin," dialog only. Yet we always know who is talking because characters address each other by name, and the voice of the title character is very different from the people from Child Protective Services who are visiting her, etc.

I want to copy a page or two of this and bring it to the guy in my writing group who complains he often does not know who is speaking in my work. He seems to think you have to have a dialog tag a lot more often than you do.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:10 AM (omVj0)

21 Someone went nuts with the sconce fixtures in the library. But it’s bag-end charming and cozy looking.

Posted by: 13times at July 02, 2023 09:11 AM (7eMFb)

22 A couple of weeks ago someone suggested looking at Tasha Tudor for kids books and illustrations. They were right. I got (used, of course) The Art of Tasha Tudor: A Retrospective. It's a nice combination of biography and her paintings. Despite the children's books and Victorian lifestyle, she was a rather tough little woman. Reminds me of Beatrix Potter's life. Also, got a copy "Corgieville Fair" which has been a delight. Youngsters would enjoy the simple story and parts of the illustrations. But there is an element of playfulness in both the text and drawings that are intended for adults. Tudor is now added to my list of children's book creators that I enjoy.

Posted by: JTB at July 02, 2023 09:11 AM (7EjX1)

23 I did a Pinterest pull on "bathroom libraries" and there were some splendiferous, nay, commodious examples of luxe libraries.

Some are centered on the bathtub, but a few brave examples show a terlit surrounded by shelves.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 09:12 AM (CiQt2)

24 I am a very large Nevil Shute fan, and have all his books.
Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at July 02, 2023

***
I've liked everything of his I've read. Trouble is, I can't find copies easily. Some are being reissued, and my suburban library has some, but not all.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:12 AM (omVj0)

25 I'm re-reading Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia because why not.

Posted by: lin-duh at July 02, 2023 09:13 AM (UUBmN)

26 Read James Rollins' "Deep Fathom", which I would characterize as an "airport novel". Plot-heavy actioner about extreme solar flares kicking off earthquakes and floods and triggering volcanic activity throughout the Pacific Rim. Our ex-Navy SEAL/astronaut hero in his submersible discovers an artifact from an ancient civilization that could disrupt the modern world. Oh, and Air Force One crashed into the sea above this artifact, and the world is on the brink of WWIII. Among other plot threads. It's like Clive Cussler on steroids.

The more I read, the more I felt like I was shame-eating a party box of Taco Bell nachos in the parking lot. You know you should stop, but....

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 09:14 AM (CiQt2)

27 No, it's 3rd limited where we are privy to his thoughts and feelings. What did he do that for?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023
*
*Herman Melville has entered the chat*
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, MD (Hollywood Upstairs Medical College) at July 02, 2023

***
I had no idea HM had done that. In Moby Dick alone, or in other things?

The trouble is, this is nominally a mystery (really more of a crime thriller), not a literary or experimental novel. It's disorienting for a reader.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:15 AM (omVj0)

28 On the Kindle I finished the second trilogy, The Discovery Trilogy, in the Not Alone series by Craig A Falconer. After initial contact with the Messengers, it is discovered that another alien race, the Architects, set up the space portal and used the Messengers as a buffer between them and the intelligent and dangerous humans. A second portal is discovered, a space/time portal, which leads to a fourth species, small human-like people living in the future. The Architects make a second visit to Earth, thousands of years after their first, and tell our heroes that they have found only four species in the universe. I bought the third trilogy of the series.

Posted by: Zoltan at July 02, 2023 09:16 AM (t98tm)

29 Finished this week:

Jim Curtis (JL Curtis):
"Grey Man - Sunset"
"Country Boys (and Girls) will survive"

Jan Stryvant (John Van Stry writing under his more NSFW/salacious writings pen name):
"Bellicose" (Valens Heritage book

Starting:
Jim Curtis's "Into the Green" (the first book in his Rimworld science fiction series)

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at July 02, 2023 09:16 AM (nRMeC)

30 Started a book last week, "One Way to Eldorado," by Hollister Noble. Thought it was about building a railroad in the Old West, but it's a modern. Dense, small print, a little boring in the early going, not sure if I'll finish it. But I probably will.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 09:16 AM (Angsy)

31 Wolfus, re Shute:

You can find a number of ebook editions of Shute at fadedpage.com

and re Block:

In case you haven't seen it already, Block's just published THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MATTHEW SCUDDER. Haven't read it yet, but I've never read a book in his Scudder series that I didn't like.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023 09:16 AM (a/4+U)

32 19 TheJamesMadison,

I reviewed your book the Battle of Lake Eire last week on the book thread.

Good book.
Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at July 02, 2023 09:10 AM (u82oZ)

=======

I missed that, but thank you!

Reviews on Amazon and Goodreads help us indie authors a lot, so if you could get it on those platforms, that would be great!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at July 02, 2023 09:17 AM (LvTSG)

33 Donald Westlake's first Parker stories, written under the name Richard Stark, were split into four parts. The first two focused on Parker, the third on somebody else in the story, and the last back on Parker. All in third-person past.

And Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm books were all written in first-person past.

I've read short humor pieces written in first-person present, but I don't know whether I could stand a whole book like that.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 02, 2023 09:17 AM (p/isN)

34 . . . and re Block:

In case you haven't seen it already, Block's just published THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MATTHEW SCUDDER. Haven't read it yet, but I've never read a book in his Scudder series that I didn't like.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023

***
Gotta find that!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:17 AM (omVj0)

35 I’ve just started reading a biography of Shirley Jackson.

Posted by: 13times at July 02, 2023 09:17 AM (mOsyf)

36 Good Sunday morning, horde!

That is a beautiful library, and the chair would be fine for me, if it only had a footstool with it.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 02, 2023 09:19 AM (OX9vb)

37 I guess I should say that I finished the first half of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun (Shadow and Claw, the second half being Sword and Citadel).

It's weird being in the hands of someone who seems to completely in control of the narrative and his writing while making something that just feels genre-defining.

I sort of remember where the story goes overall, where Severian ends up by the end, but that's about it from high school. There's something entrancing about this movement through a dying Earth.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at July 02, 2023 09:20 AM (LvTSG)

38 I recently read an oldie-but-still-goodie: The Conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar (by Julius Caesar). It's nothing but an account of battles, marches, massacres and betrayals -- and yet it's fascinating and very "readable." All the Romans have basically the same three or four names in different order, and all the Gauls have incomprehensible mishmashes of vowels and Xs, but Caesar's a good enough writer that you never have any trouble following what's going on, or who's betraying who.

One rather grim but evocative element is how Caesar's treatment of the Gauls gets worse over time. At first he's trying to win hearts and minds, resolve their disputes with each other and treat them fairly, but after a decade of this shit he's selling entire tribes into slavery and cutting off the hands of all the men in a village to get his message across that you Don't Fuck With Caesar.

Anyway, it's a classic, it's good, and I have no idea which of the dozens of English translations is the best one.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 02, 2023 09:20 AM (QZxDR)

39 I've read short humor pieces written in first-person present, but I don't know whether I could stand a whole book like that.
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 02, 2023

***
It seems to be all they teach in MFA classes these days. One of my tests as to whether a modern book is worth my time is whether it's written in present tense. If it is, and the writer is a woman (usually with an MFA, go figure) with a female protagonist, I will probably put it back on the shelf.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:20 AM (omVj0)

40 wait how does that work, why not do it in the third person,

Posted by: no 6 at July 02, 2023 09:21 AM (PXvVL)

41 Wolfus ,

The Scudder autobiography is available now as an ebook and trade paperback. Hardcover (considerably pricier) will be coming from Subterranean Press -- I don't think that one's out yet.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023 09:21 AM (a/4+U)

42 TheJamesMadison

I had to look up the narrator, James Alexander Perry. Alas, he died at 21. All his promise unfulfilled. No other details on his life were given.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at July 02, 2023 09:22 AM (u82oZ)

43 wait how does that work, why not do it in the third person,
Posted by: no 6 at July 02, 2023

***
The general guideline is that if the story is one that strongly affects the protagonist, and his/her thoughts and feelings are super important, then first is a pretty good idea. Or if your narrator is a "Watson" to the detective, or is the detective himself (a la Philip Marlowe in Chandler, Spenser in Robert Parker, etc.). Doesn't have to be done that way; Ellery Queen's stories about Ellery are third person, as are Agatha Christie's Poirot and Miss Marple stories.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:24 AM (omVj0)

44 If the bitch in the Word Power section is so keen on 'posthumanism' and delights in the destruction of humanity, why hasn't she cut her own throat and fertilized the earth (maybe the Earth Goddess) with her blood?

Yeah, I absolutely despise the loony left greenies as well as their BS word creation. How did you guess?

Posted by: JTB at July 02, 2023 09:24 AM (7EjX1)

45 LOL one of the front page ads is "HIV Symptoms Every Woman Should Know."

Wut?

I guess those are like "if your husband is rocking out to Sam Smith and is super worried about Madonna after her recent health scare, get tested immediately."

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at July 02, 2023 09:25 AM (oINRc)

46 I recently read an oldie-but-still-goodie: The Conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar (by Julius Caesar). It's nothing but an account of battles, marches, massacres and betrayals -- and yet it's fascinating and very "readable."

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 02, 2023 09:20 AM (QZxDR)
---
It's been said that a more accurate title of the book would be "The Scrounging, Foraging and Scavenging of Gaul," because from my recollection, a huge portion of the text was how they got this much wheat from this Seminones, traded Belchic slaves for some livestock and then plundered that crap out of the Vodaphones and all that was how Asterixtorix got beating in a tactical donut.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 09:25 AM (llXky)

47 TheJamesMadison

For some reason Amazon will not allow me to review item I bought. Maybe because I did not list a credit card?

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at July 02, 2023 09:25 AM (u82oZ)

48 It's going to be a rainy day here. I'm reading William Kotzwinkle's hardboiled "Blood Martini: a Felonious Monk mystery".

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 09:26 AM (CiQt2)

49 What did he do that for?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:04 AM (omVj0)

Wolfus, I had the same complaint about that book (Mardi Gras Madness, by Xavier DeSoto, for those interested). I mentioned it in my Amazon and Goodreads review. I couldn't decide if he did that on purpose, or if he just didn't edit.

I also am not fond of the start to his book. Guy wakes up in the morning, starts his day, how boring is that? And he criticizes you for starting with the action and working backward? Ho, hum.

I had multiple problems with his book. Could be a great thriller if he edited, but there are just some plot quirks, also.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 02, 2023 09:26 AM (OX9vb)

50 First-person present.

If memory serves, using present tense in a story was presumably supposed to lend the narrative some immediacy, some degree of urgency. ('Oh, this is all happening now.') But it never really worked that way for me. I usually found it sort of keeping me at arm's length. Distance rather than immediacy.

Of course, a lot of my reading tastes were set before the extensive use of present tense became fashionable. YMMV.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023 09:26 AM (a/4+U)

51 You can read the full article here: Tentacular Thinking: Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene by Donna Haraway. Good luck trying to decipher her gibberish!

Oh My!

Posted by: Kurt Eichenwald at July 02, 2023 09:27 AM (PiwSw)

52 I've read short humor pieces written in first-person present, but I don't know whether I could stand a whole book like that.
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 02, 2023 09:17 AM (p/isN)
________

It was SOP for Damon Runyon. Short stories, all. I think Little Miss Marker has the only past tense in the lot. But it's been a while.

Posted by: Eeyore at July 02, 2023 09:27 AM (brAQZ)

53 got it, then again some found what I wrote in my sample a little hard to follow,

Posted by: no 6 at July 02, 2023 09:28 AM (PXvVL)

54 Wolfus, I had the same complaint about that book (Mardi Gras Madness, by Xavier DeSoto, for those interested). I mentioned it in my Amazon and Goodreads review. I couldn't decide if he did that on purpose, or if he just didn't edit.

I also am not fond of the start to his book. Guy wakes up in the morning, starts his day, how boring is that? And he criticizes you for starting with the action and working backward? Ho, hum.

I had multiple problems with his book. Could be a great thriller if he edited, but there are just some plot quirks, also.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 02, 2023

***
Exactly my reaction too. My group people complain, though rarely to me, about "being thrown out of the book." Well, I can stand a lot of oddness if a story holds me. But when I hit his narrator writing about a wealthy character that "he was as rich as Creases" [sic], I pretty much gave up.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:28 AM (omVj0)

55 Lloyd: yes! I was commenting to my wife afterward that if I had a nickle for every time the phrase "secured a supply of corn" was used, it would pay for a new copy of the book.

Note that Caesar's quaestor (=quartermaster, sort of) was Marcus Antonius. My son, who is a Roman history buff, was aghast at putting Marcus in charge of anything requiring careful administration, but I pointed out that a big part of the job of supply officer was going out and telling people to give you grain or you'd stab them in the face. Marcus would be good at that part.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 02, 2023 09:28 AM (QZxDR)

56 JTB--

I loved Tasha Tudor when I was a girl. Because I could already read when I entered first grade, I was given library privileges. Spent as much time as I could there and read as many books as possible. I can still see (and smell) the library and myself at a tiny table with "A is for Annabelle" open in front of me.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at July 02, 2023 09:28 AM (fTtFy)

57 The Cthool-Tones would be a great name for a Lovecraft-inspired band.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 09:29 AM (CiQt2)

58 I just finished Robert E. Howard’s The Lost Valley of Iskander last week. I have not read nearly enough Howard. It’s a collection of fast-paced stories

This is not a Conan story, but a story about an American (a Texan, in fact) in relatively modern times, in and around Afghanistan and the Great Game. Not sure a date was mentioned, but it could have been contemporary with when Howard was writing it, though it was probably earlier due to the Great Game reference.

Lost civilizations, a revolution solely for vengeance, and a wild spy escape. This Francis X. was an active dude!

Artwork throughout by Michael Kaluta that really helps evoke the middle-eastern locales.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at July 02, 2023 09:29 AM (EXyHK)

59 I'm just I don't need a Twitter account to see the library puc.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 02, 2023 09:30 AM (RIvkX)

60 Someone mentioned an AOS writers group some weeks back. How does one connect with that?

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at July 02, 2023 09:30 AM (9yUzE)

61 Good day, horde. Another good post Perfessor. Thanks.

Finished "When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach." Learned a lot - including how much of today's private space activity traces back to Reagan-era SDI. Moved on to: "The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life."

Posted by: TRex at July 02, 2023 09:30 AM (IQ6Gq)

62 ah eichenwald's hentai fetish, never gets old, michael tracey is absolutely savage on him

some fault lovecraft for his racism, but he wasn't really keen on people in general, no matter what their orgin,

Posted by: no 6 at July 02, 2023 09:30 AM (PXvVL)

63 47 TheJamesMadison

For some reason Amazon will not allow me to review item I bought. Maybe because I did not list a credit card?

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at July 02, 2023 09:25 AM (u82oZ)

=======

They put limits on who can review, mostly around how much you spend over the previous year.

So, thanks for the effort, and I'm really glad that you enjoyed the book!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at July 02, 2023 09:30 AM (LvTSG)

64 My recommendation this week is Impact, by Douglas Preston, of Preston and Child.fame. Abbey Straw is a young woman with remarkable intelligence and a limited potential, growing up poor in a coastal Maine town. Working as a waitress, she has to regularly decide between saving to return to college or buying things like lenses for her telescope. One night, she is out with her telescope, and sees a meteor hit the earth. Driven by discovery and the potential for selling a valuable specimen, she goes in search of the object. Meanwhile, Wyman Ford is tasked by the US government to travel to literally the other side of the world to trace the source of some gemstones that appear to be nothing ever seen on the planet before, that have a refraction index higher than diamonds, and which also happen to be radioactive. At the same time, a NASA scientist has found evidence for a gamma ray point source on the planet Mars. How are these three separate incidents related?

This is a fast paced and well written book, and like his books co-written with Lincoln Child, the science is accurate, if unbelievable. Highly enjoyable.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 02, 2023 09:30 AM (DZzNH)

65 f memory serves, using present tense in a story was presumably supposed to lend the narrative some immediacy, some degree of urgency. ('Oh, this is all happening now.') But it never really worked that way for me. I usually found it sort of keeping me at arm's length. Distance rather than immediacy.

Of course, a lot of my reading tastes were set before the extensive use of present tense became fashionable. YMMV.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023

***
To me, since I see it so often, it smacks of "Look how well I'm writing! Look how literary I am!"

Bright Lights, Big City's use of second person present worked, despite being a novel, because McInerney knows how to be funny. It's a laugh-out-loud book in many sections, and you forget about the person business and just go along.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:31 AM (omVj0)

66 On 3rd person narration, my father used to call the 3rd person singular and plural, the latter being the "omniscient" view. Which is actually pretty rare, when you get down to it. Far more common is a shifting 3rd person singular.

For instance, in LOTR, the perspective is always a hobbit's but whose varies among the four. (Actually, five, as very briefly Fattie Bolger is the focus.) Or, with a more limited cast, it's always either Jack or Stephen in the Aubread.

Charlie Chan novels do use a somewhat omniscient narrator. And of course there's Tom Jones.

Posted by: Eeyore at July 02, 2023 09:32 AM (brAQZ)

67 Someone mentioned an AOS writers group some weeks back. How does one connect with that?
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at July 02, 2023

***
OrangeEnt brought up the idea, and I'd love it, but not many people showed interest. Or maybe I missed it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:32 AM (omVj0)

68 I find the review comes up when finishing the book, and yet to review Colonial Nightmare

Posted by: Skip at July 02, 2023 09:32 AM (xhxe8)

69 The good news: I'm almost done with my Ford Madox Ford biography.

The bad news: There is a second volume.

Right now the book is addressing his best-known book, The Good Soldier, which is told in first person but the narrator is ludicrously unreliable, changing the narrative as the story progresses. You start out with this charming tale of two couples who met on the Edwardian "cure" circuit (visiting various spas in France and Germany) and everything is great, but slowly hints begin to emerge that things are not as they seem.

The accomplishment of Ford the way the narrative shifts and goes from what seems a dull, wholesome tale to something really sordid for the time period.

It is told in the first person, so one gets the sense of the narrator actually coming apart as he gets to the really bad parts and finally comes clean on everything that happened. Ford collaborated with Joseph Conrad, who also knew a few things about using first-person narration.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 09:32 AM (llXky)

70 I just added The Wager to the TBR list. I read Killers of the Flower Moon, and that was good. I am definitely interested in reading more David Grann.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 02, 2023 09:33 AM (OX9vb)

71 The Cthool-Tones would be a great name for a Lovecraft-inspired band.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023

***
And their signature tune would be "Campus Crusade for Cthulhu"!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:33 AM (omVj0)

72 You know what's infinitely worse than first-person present tense? SECOND person present.

"You wake up in the room, and you wonder where the woman is. You think about the way her hair smelled the night before. You light a cigarette and smoke it, looking out of the window at the rooftops of Guadalajara. They are red, like her lipstick. You wonder what the name of that color is, then decide it doesn't matter. Time to smash capitalism, you think to yourself."

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 02, 2023 09:33 AM (QZxDR)

73 I'm finally on Vol 6 of Pliny's Natural History. Vol 5 was a slog, full of descriptions of plants and ridiculous remedies for ailments that we still suffer to this day.

The most interesting things though are the side trips and new words. For example, the giant clam's name, "Tridacna", comes from the Latin for "To bite thrice", meaning
"they are so large as to require three bites in eating them".

So not only am I gaining the collected knowledge of Pliny's ancient world, I'm also learning Latin and tidbits about clams.

Posted by: fd at July 02, 2023 09:34 AM (iayUP)

74 Darn. The sun is shining, and I have to run out to Walmart in a little while. Much rather stay here.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:34 AM (omVj0)

75 For instance, in LOTR, the perspective is always a hobbit's but whose varies among the four. (Actually, five, as very briefly Fattie Bolger is the focus.)

Posted by: Eeyore at July 02, 2023 09:32 AM (brAQZ)
---
Tolkien switches this a bit though, because while the hobbits are writing it down, he has passages where we rely on another character for the story. Legolas and Gimli speaking of the Paths of the Dead is a great example of this.

I didn't even notice it for many years, but it is just another example of what a brilliant writer Tolkien was.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 09:35 AM (llXky)

76 I'll use FP present in short notes to relatives about a recent experience. "I dump out my beach shoes and out with the sand comes a quarter. Where did that come from, I wonder. Turns out that the pants I wore the last time I had on those shoes have a hole in the pocket."

Yeah, I'm no fiction writer.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 02, 2023 09:35 AM (p/isN)

77 You know what's infinitely worse than first-person present tense? SECOND person present.

"You wake up in the room, and you wonder where the woman is. You think about the way her hair smelled the night before. You light a cigarette and smoke it, looking out of the window at the rooftops of Guadalajara. They are red, like her lipstick. You wonder what the name of that color is, then decide it doesn't matter. Time to smash capitalism, you think to yourself."
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 02, 2023

***
That's why McInerney's book is such a breath of fresh air.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:35 AM (omVj0)

78 oh that does sound terrible,
then the bug typrewriter attacks you

Posted by: no 6 at July 02, 2023 09:35 AM (PXvVL)

79
g'mornin' again, 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at July 02, 2023 09:36 AM (ENBF0)

80 I love that reading room in the top photo. Good books deserve such a setting to be enjoyed and appreciated in comfort. It does need a personal reading lamp and a small side table to hold a drink, pipe rack and humidor of good pipe tobacco.

Posted by: JTB at July 02, 2023 09:37 AM (7EjX1)

81 I love that reading room in the top photo. Good books deserve such a setting to be enjoyed and appreciated in comfort. It does need a personal reading lamp and a small side table to hold a drink, pipe rack and humidor of good pipe tobacco.
Posted by: JTB at July 02, 2023

***
A vote for a burley blend tobacco! Or maybe a mild English if the weather is cooler.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:38 AM (omVj0)

82 The reading this week was the usual eclectic mish-mash. First, the latest issue of Muzzleloader Magazine with all that history, craftmanship, and black powder firearms. Then several books on how to draw animals. Then a massive copy of Ken Waters' Pet Loads with decades of testing and background on reloading cartridges. If you are interested in ammunition, reloading, or firearm performance, this volume is a treasure. (I'll give more detail on the Gun Thread.)

Posted by: JTB at July 02, 2023 09:38 AM (7EjX1)

83 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes.

My memory may be playing tricks on me, but I believe the library in Hammond Castle in Gloucester MA is an entire circle and based on Jefferson's library at Monticello.

https://tinyurl.com/32kk6d5y

I would certainly love to live in a house that had a library like that. Of course, the lady of the house would have to look something like this:

https://tinyurl.com/bsfzb5s2

Bought some books over the past week, including a history of the leadup to WWI, but the weather here has been awfully humid, which gives me headaches and I haven't had the energy to read or do much else beside sit and brood.

Haven't been able to write, either. Ugh.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at July 02, 2023 09:38 AM (AW0uW)

84 Julius Caesar was one of the biggest shits of history (sorry, Dante), but to Latin students, he's a godsend. None of the bizarre labrynths so beloved of Cicero and Virgil. The word order you're taught is actually used (for once!)

Also, I got a Churchillian gift from God on a final. (See his My Early Life.) There had been a board game that came out that semester on the Battle of Alesia. So I and a roommate were playing it. On the final, the sight reading was the setup, the double ring of seiges.

Posted by: Eeyore at July 02, 2023 09:39 AM (brAQZ)

85 @52 --

I recently read a collection of Runyon pieces, but I wasn't thinking of them at all when I mentioned humorous stories. Shows how much staying power they had with me.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 02, 2023 09:39 AM (p/isN)

86 Yesterday evening I did get an idea for a new short story, maybe part of a series. If you know the TV series Grimm, that was sort of my jumping-off point.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:39 AM (omVj0)

87 hiya

Posted by: JT at July 02, 2023 09:40 AM (T4tVD)

88 I would certainly love to live in a house that had a library like that. Of course, the lady of the house would have to look something like this:

https://tinyurl.com/bsfzb5s2

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at July 02, 2023

***
She looks hard to please.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:40 AM (omVj0)

89 Julius Caesar was one of the biggest shits of history (sorry, Dante), but to Latin students, he's a godsend.

Posted by: Eeyore at July 02, 2023 09:39 AM (brAQZ)
---
I like Churchill's take on Cromwell: "I learned he killed many people and this made him a Great Man."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 09:41 AM (llXky)

90 Writers, don't let this happen to you:

https://is.gd/Izc0X8

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 02, 2023 09:41 AM (PiwSw)

91 imagine in pompey had won, or down the line sulla, how Rome woud have been,

Posted by: no 6 at July 02, 2023 09:42 AM (PXvVL)

92 I have the Libby app for downloading books to read on Kindle, and set the search filter for thrilling mystery crime. Hoping for Elmore Leonard type fare.

It seems like 90 percent of the search results are women authors, and the protagonists are women with boy-like names: Alex, Charlie, Danny.

As expected, I guess, in this turned-around world we live in today.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at July 02, 2023 09:42 AM (4ZE6o)

93 Thank you for the recommendation of "To Your Scattered Bodies Go". Philip Jose Farmer, the Sage of Peoria, Illinois, is one of my favorite sci-fi authors who came of age in the 1950s. "Riverworld" is the best known of his series, but my favorite is his World of the Tiers series, and its hero Kickaha (aka Peter Jarius Finnegan); this is pure pedal-to-the-metal action throughout, one hell of a ride. (Ignore the last book in the series, far inferior to the first five.) Other authors have written stories set in Riverworld; the anthology "Quest to Riverworld" has some of the best. And I highly recommend Farmer's "Jesus on Mars", which is provocative, yet a fun read, and his biography of Tarzan, "Tarzan Alive!"

Posted by: Nemo at July 02, 2023 09:42 AM (S6ArX)

94 Also, got a copy "Corgieville Fair" which has been a delight.

Thanks. I'm starting a library for the grandkid (current age 3 months). That just went on the list.

Posted by: Oddbob at July 02, 2023 09:42 AM (nfrXX)

95 Grimm takes place in Portland, and it makes perfect sense in retrospect,

Posted by: no 6 at July 02, 2023 09:43 AM (PXvVL)

96 Currently reading Hayek's The Road to Serfdom with the Intellectuals and Socialism. Spot on dire warnings that went unheeded. Also reading Watership Down. Authoritarian rabbits. Who would have known?

Posted by: Sock Monkey * Ungovernable at July 02, 2023 09:43 AM (UAnY8)

97 Writers, don't let this happen to you:

https://is.gd/Izc0X8
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 02, 2023

***
A shopping list of eggs, pickles, and a goldfish? That could start a story in and of itself.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:43 AM (omVj0)

98 I also am not fond of the start to his book. Guy wakes up in the morning, starts his day, how boring is that? And he criticizes you for starting with the action and working backward? Ho, hum.

I had multiple problems with his book. Could be a great thriller if he edited, but there are just some plot quirks, also.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 02, 2023 09:26 AM (OX9vb)

Guess the guy doesn't watch writing vids. Quite a few of them have said, "don't start your story with someone getting out of bed on a normal day." It's too boring and people will put your book down. Unless maybe there's a horse head in it.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 09:43 AM (Angsy)

99 "You wake up in the room, and you wonder where the woman is. You think about the way her hair smelled the night before. You light a cigarette and smoke it, looking out of the window at the rooftops of Guadalajara. They are red, like her lipstick. You wonder what the name of that color is, then decide it doesn't matter. Time to smash capitalism, you think to yourself."
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 02, 2023 09:33 AM (QZxDR)
---
This is why Halting State was so jarring. However, I think Stross was trying to put the reader in a setting where the virtual world and real world blend together, so you are never quite sure in which world you engaging. It took some getting used to, but by the end of the story it was usually obvious whose point of view I was reading at the time.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 02, 2023 09:43 AM (BpYfr)

100 I think the reading room is great, although it isn't big enough. I had something similar (but square) at the house, but now the collection has spread to other rooms.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 02, 2023 09:44 AM (DZzNH)

101 95 Grimm takes place in Portland, and it makes perfect sense in retrospect,
----

A common joke among the characters was, "Is it supernatural weirdness, or just Portland?"

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 09:46 AM (CiQt2)

102 by the end of the story it was usually obvious whose point of view I was reading at the time.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 02, 2023 09:43 AM (BpYfr)

Hold my beer!

Posted by: Cormac McCarthy at July 02, 2023 09:46 AM (PHmov)

103 Thanks. I'm starting a library for the grandkid (current age 3 months). That just went on the list.
Posted by: Oddbob at July 02, 2023 09:42 AM (nfrXX)

Go ahead and buy the Narnia books, and put them in the right order (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is #1)

*looks at cover* Hokey Smokes! Lewis did not use the Oxford Comma!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 02, 2023 09:46 AM (PiwSw)

104 81 ... "A vote for a burley blend tobacco! Or maybe a mild English if the weather is cooler."

Oh yes! Lately I've been enjoying more burley blends, even over Virginias. A mild English blend is always in fashion. My favorite at the moment is Stokkebye's 17 English Luxury blend. The Stokkebye 306 English Oriental Supreme is a close second.

Posted by: JTB at July 02, 2023 09:46 AM (7EjX1)

105 OrangeEnt brought up the idea, and I'd love it, but not many people showed interest. Or maybe I missed it.

Ah, I see. I thought it might help me locate a beta reader for me. And... Not too far off the topic.... It's because I'm finishing up a pair of books that tell them same story from the POV of two separate and very different protagonists. I'm still mentally reading protagonist the Plinkett way. Proh-tah-GO-nist.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at July 02, 2023 09:46 AM (9yUzE)

106 She looks hard to please.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:40 AM (omVj0)

I have a thing for icy, unobtainable women. **shrugs**

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at July 02, 2023 09:47 AM (AW0uW)

107 Narrative voice is also a key part of what story you are trying to tell. Is it an old man speaking of some long-ago adventure or a fast-paced action story?

I think the third person plural is pretty common, and my take on it is to limit narration to visible description. That means no internal monologues and no narrative discussion of history, etc. What you see (and hear) is what you get, which keep the story moving and prevents me from getting bogged down in minutia.

Non-fiction is of course very different, but I think a "voice" is just as important. In both of my histories, I've tried to keep the tone conversational and throw in humorous asides whenever I can. One of my test-readers objected to a footnote in Walls of Men where I remarked that The Last Samurai is a terrible movie, but I kept it in precisely because it was unexpected and out of place.

When I read history, I love those moments where the author becomes less formal and engages the reader on a personal level.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 09:48 AM (llXky)

108 I think Caesar was just a guy, nothing particularly horrid about him. Not that he was a good guy, but not terrible either.

Just a talented officer and politician during the dying days of a Republic. Rome was going to lose representational government to a self-aggrandizing tyrant no matter what. By then, it was just a matter of who it would be, not whether it would be, and he decided it ought to be himself.

Something very similar will play out here, soon. All we can do is pray that whoever formally topples our dead Republic and makes himself Imperator is less bad than the others looking to do it.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at July 02, 2023 09:48 AM (oINRc)

109 I'm not a big fan of first person singular. I recall that the pulp Executioner books were all written in that style. Second person is probably worse; to me it sounds like reading the text of a 1980's computer simulation game. "You have been eaten by a grue"

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 02, 2023 09:49 AM (DZzNH)

110 95 Grimm takes place in Portland, and it makes perfect sense in retrospect,
----

A common joke among the characters was, "Is it supernatural weirdness, or just Portland?"
Posted by: All Hail Eris

So, its no Mitten Kingdom ?

Posted by: JT at July 02, 2023 09:50 AM (T4tVD)

111 OrangeEnt brought up the idea, and I'd love it, but not many people showed interest. Or maybe I missed it.
*
Ah, I see. I thought it might help me locate a beta reader for me. And... Not too far off the topic.... It's because I'm finishing up a pair of books that tell them same story from the POV of two separate and very different protagonists. I'm still mentally reading protagonist the Plinkett way. Proh-tah-GO-nist.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at July 02, 2023

***
VTK, OrangeEnt and I have been exchanging short stories and doing the beta reading. If you have an email, let me know.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:50 AM (omVj0)

112 As mentioned before, I read Domestic Extremist by Peachy Kennan. She has a nice sense of humor. Her idea for saving civilization is to get women back into the home and having more babies. Eo radical. She embraces it as a radical idea. Good book for handing out to young folks. She does go over how a woman's fertility changes and how young men can find women that wanta family. But it's mostly written for young women.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 02, 2023 09:51 AM (ouTlx)

113 Someone mentioned an AOS writers group some weeks back. How does one connect with that?
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at July 02, 2023

***
OrangeEnt brought up the idea, and I'd love it, but not many people showed interest. Or maybe I missed it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:32 AM (omVj0)

Nobody's said anything to me about it.

Anyway, gotta run an errand. Keep on book threading, and I'll be back for you, later!
(puts down Mr. Microphone)

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 09:51 AM (Angsy)

114 Guess the guy doesn't watch writing vids. Quite a few of them have said, "don't start your story with someone getting out of bed on a normal day." It's too boring and people will put your book down. Unless maybe there's a horse head in it.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023

***
Or unless he wakes up and is suddenly in the middle of a battle or firefight!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:51 AM (omVj0)

115 Art Rondolet @ 56, same here. Read early, library privileges too

and loved Tasha Tudor.

I also remember a huge (to me, then) and rather old Grimms Fairy Tales book with full page amazing illustrations. Ornate and colorful; I was entranced by them. Do you remember anything like that?

JTB, bought Brambly Hedge on your recommendation. Thanks for enjoining the Art of Tasha Tudor; will look that up.

Posted by: skywch at July 02, 2023 09:52 AM (uqhmb)

116 I have a thing for icy, unobtainable women. **shrugs**

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at July 02, 2023 09:47 AM (AW0uW)
---
Obtainable by Pirate Fabio, based on all the bodice-ripper covers of the 80s.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 09:52 AM (llXky)

117 A Vic sighting !

Hiya Vic !

Posted by: JT at July 02, 2023 09:52 AM (T4tVD)

118 If not for Pliny, I might never have heard of the fish known as the "cackerel".

Posted by: fd at July 02, 2023 09:53 AM (iayUP)

119 Off to WM before it gets too hot. I hope to be back before the thread winds up. Thanks for the encouragement on my writing, though. To know I'm not the only one who found DeSoto's work lacking is worth gold to me.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:53 AM (omVj0)

120 Chuck Dixon wrote an essay on starting a comics story, pointing out that the first page had better grab the reader's attention.

He cited John Byrne's "The Last Galactus Story," saying that Byrne dared the reader to continue the story. It consisted of a full-face view of Galactus thinking, "I ... am ... dying ..."

Now that I think of it, I do want to read that.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 02, 2023 09:53 AM (p/isN)

121 News chyron here, now:

Twitter issues temporary limits on the number of posts users can view to address several site issues.

Posted by: andycanuck (Vwz3I) at July 02, 2023 09:55 AM (Vwz3I)

122 One rather grim but evocative element is how Caesar's treatment of the Gauls gets worse over time. At first he's trying to win hearts and minds, resolve their disputes with each other and treat them fairly, but after a decade of this shit he's selling entire tribes into slavery and cutting off the hands of all the men in a village to get his message across that you Don't Fuck With Caesar.

Anyway, it's a classic, it's good, and I have no idea which of the dozens of English translations is the best one.
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 02, 2023 09:20 AM (QZxDR)

The Senate knew this guy was coming back to Rome eventually too....

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 09:55 AM (OCCqg)

123 "Or unless he wakes up and is suddenly in the middle of a battle or firefight!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius"

Or next to my wife, Morgan Fairchild.

Posted by: John Lovitz at July 02, 2023 09:55 AM (iayUP)

124 56 Art Rondelet of Malmsey
My late aunt was the head librarian of a school district *and* a serious doll collector. She had the exact doll in A is for Annabelle AND had made all the costumes, by hand, and found or made all the gear mentioned. She would put up a display case in the school library with the doll and the book and do each letter in turn. How lucky those kids were! And how lucky I was

She gave me a miniature, hand-made leather-bound copy of "Jabberwocky"

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at July 02, 2023 09:55 AM (P+D9B)

125 Hmm, used a new word in my comment at 115. Enjoining is not what I meant, lol. Not sure how that came out of "recommending."

Posted by: skywch at July 02, 2023 09:55 AM (uqhmb)

126 56 ... "Because I could already read when I entered first grade, I was given library privileges. Spent as much time as I could there and read as many books as possible. I can still see (and smell) the library and myself at a tiny table with "A is for Annabelle" open in front of me."

Art Rondolet,

Pretty much the same here. Our town library was
converted from an early Victorian mansion with all that original oak woodwork that smelled of almost a century of polishing and books with their own perfume. They opened a new, modern library when I was in high school but, while bright, colorful and open, it was soulless.

Posted by: JTB at July 02, 2023 09:56 AM (7EjX1)

127 @109 --

The Executioner books were first-past except for the passages that took the reader inside Bolan's head.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 02, 2023 09:57 AM (p/isN)

128 116 I have a thing for icy, unobtainable women. **shrugs**
--------------
How you doin'??

Posted by: Mike Obama at July 02, 2023 09:58 AM (Vwz3I)

129 unless you are wearing these pants (forget the weedwhacker, break out the flamethrower!)

Don't use the flamethrower if I'm wearing the pants !

Posted by: JT at July 02, 2023 09:58 AM (T4tVD)

130 "first-person past"

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 02, 2023 09:59 AM (p/isN)

131 Donna appears to be developing what would in any other realm of the universe be considered impossible; the 'Innsmouth look.'

West Coast, Represent!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at July 02, 2023 09:59 AM (KVGVf)

132 I'm reading a very strange novel "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov. It's a surrealist novel set in Moscow in the 1930's and the characters include Satan, Jesus, Pilate, and a huge talking cat. Supposedly, it inspired Mick Jagger to write "Sympathy for the Devil."

Bulgakov was a tragic case- didn't leave the USSR when the rest of his family did and then, after his work was attacked by the Commies and he couldn't get anything published, he couldn't leave. He kept on writing at night though, with no hope that anything he wrote would ever be published. He died in 1940 and though the efforts of his widow his works started being published in the 1960's. He's lucky he didn't end up in the gulags.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at July 02, 2023 10:00 AM (HabA/)

133 unless you are wearing these pants (forget the weedwhacker, break out the flamethrower!)

Don't use the flamethrower if I'm wearing the pants !
Posted by: JT at July 02, 2023 09:58 AM (T4tVD)
---
You'll thank me later!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 02, 2023 10:03 AM (BpYfr)

134 Good morning all.
Had an interesting experience this week. I actually went into the library and did more than pick up my reserved book and leave. I had walked to drop off a read book(Kim Harrison's newest Demons of Good and Evil)(if you like this series, you'll like this one), and it was hot and library has A/C. Went in and for the first time, no one was wearing a mask. Decided to peruse the stacks. Found the mystery shelves and picked up a Robert Parker, Paper Dolls.
To be cont.....

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at July 02, 2023 10:03 AM (t/2Uw)

135 Here I thought Watership Down was a kid's book, not a Animal Farm

Posted by: Skip at July 02, 2023 10:04 AM (xhxe8)

136 >>> love that reading room in the top photo. Good books deserve such a setting to be enjoyed and appreciated in comfort. It does need a personal reading lamp and a small side table to hold a drink, pipe rack and humidor of good pipe tobacco.

Posted by: JTB

>One of your lamps is out, bub. This is unacceptable!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at July 02, 2023 10:04 AM (KVGVf)

137 I have finished reading James Fenimore Cooper's "The Spy".
It is a novel about espionage and fighting during the American Revolution, providing an interesting window into a different era and a different (upper class, somewhat Tory) sensibility. It can be captivating at times.
The sentences are longer and the descriptions go on for a bit longer than standard English-language writing does nowadays. Perhaps it hasn't felt the influence of college writing classes.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Posted by: PG at July 02, 2023 10:04 AM (84jHt)

138 'My other reading this week was China's Small Arms of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) by Shih Bin.'

Looked through it! Google Books has excerpts, which vary from time to time so I think I've seen most of it. It's a fascinating read, so much information about a completely obscure time and place. It explains a great deal about all the incredible oddities that came out of China back in The Day, 'gun people' will remember that.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:05 AM (43xH1)

139 Hoo boy is that Donna Haraway article some authentic academic gibberish.

I am going to have to deduct some woke points for no gratuitous swipes at Trump, though.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 02, 2023 10:06 AM (PiwSw)

140 72 You know what's infinitely worse than first-person present tense? SECOND person present.

"You wake up in the room, and you wonder where the woman is. ...
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 02, 2023 09:33 AM (QZxDR)

Good point. I thought first-person present was the worst, but I hadn't thought of this nonsense. I am not sure I've ever come across a book written in second person. I would put that s**t down immediately.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 02, 2023 10:06 AM (OX9vb)

141 I'll cop to often neglecting to check out the pants pics, but 'flamethrower' suckered me in... Jeez.

The flamethrower might not be enough -- tactical nukes, maybe.

Gotta wonder who'd feel like walking around wearing a 1950s big bug movie...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023 10:07 AM (a/4+U)

142 I have to step aside, too. Church is finally getting back on track after the past two Sunday services were canceled because the power was out.

I'll pop back in afterward.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 02, 2023 10:08 AM (p/isN)

143 My first hometown library was also an old Victorian house, and I loved settling in with a good book in one of the little side rooms. Book oubliette!

Don't get me wrong, our new shiny citadel of books is great, and it has lots of quiet areas next to picture windows looking out on the extensive gardens. But the open floor plan so beloved of modern architects, and the push for a "community meeting place" and all that rot, makes for a less personal and more institutional feel.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 10:08 AM (CiQt2)

144 Looked through it! Google Books has excerpts, which vary from time to time so I think I've seen most of it. It's a fascinating read, so much information about a completely obscure time and place. It explains a great deal about all the incredible oddities that came out of China back in The Day, 'gun people' will remember that.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:05 AM (43xH1)
---
Yes, it's fascinating how China had a bunch of oddball workshop weapons but then perfectly adequate, arsenal-produced Mausers as well. I mean, the Hanyang rifles were made on the same tooling as the 1888 Commission rifles. Pretty cool.

The ammo markings and various arsenal stamps are neat to have handy should I collect from that part of the world.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 10:09 AM (llXky)

145 James Anthony Froude wrote a fascinating short book about Julius Caesar. He called it a Sketch because he openly admits to the actual lack of information on the subject. As too few writers on Rome do.

It's short and really well written. It's a very very pro-Caesar view. And there's lots of interesting backstory re Froude as a person.

Roman history is pretty much a Rorschach test. Hell, Roman history was a Rorschach test for the Romans. They were famous for their amnesia.

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:09 AM (OCCqg)

146 :::VTK, OrangeEnt and I have been exchanging short stories and doing the beta reading. If you have an email, let me know.:::

Norsekhet at the gee mails

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at July 02, 2023 10:10 AM (9yUzE)

147 I have finished reading James Fenimore Cooper's "The Spy".
It is a novel about espionage and fighting during the American Revolution, providing an interesting window into a different era and a different (upper class, somewhat Tory) sensibility. It can be captivating at times.
The sentences are longer and the descriptions go on for a bit longer than standard English-language writing does nowadays. Perhaps it hasn't felt the influence of college writing classes.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Posted by: PG at July 02, 2023 10:04 AM (84jHt)
---
I'll have to make the obligatory reference to Mark Twain's superb essay "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses."

I think that was probably the first example of popular literary criticism in the US as well.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 10:11 AM (llXky)

148 I have a thing for icy, unobtainable women. **shrugs**

Unless you're Chad they're pretty much all icy and unobtainable.

Posted by: Aren't in the top tier of men, then you're out in the cold at July 02, 2023 10:11 AM (dE+9W)

149 I had recently read a Jesse Stone book which I enjoyed, but like the movies, a lot of dialogue. Witty and clever but a lot.
Paper Dolls is a Spenser mystery. From page 1, I loved Spenser. The opening conversation sets his character and his method of solving crimes. It was a quick read so went looking for the first book in the series only to find out there are about 40 of them. Was able to get book 1 from my MA library as the entire Montgomery County system only owns 5. That is ridiculous.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at July 02, 2023 10:11 AM (t/2Uw)

150 Damn, that is one nice library. That is not sitting in a average house, thats for sure. The ornateness continues past the books.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at July 02, 2023 10:11 AM (VwHCD)

151 To be cont.....

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at July 02, 2023 10:03 AM (t/2Uw)

Well?

I have read everything Parker wrote using Spenser, and if you are just starting out I would recommend that you start from the beginning. "The Godwulf Manuscript."

The progression of the character is pleasing, and as a bonus you get to find all of the mistakes Parker made...for instance, he didn't know shit about guns!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 02, 2023 10:12 AM (PHmov)

152 Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at July 02, 2023 10:00 AM (HabA/)

Love that book! It's incredibly surreal. But it works. Brilliant.

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:12 AM (OCCqg)

153 I started a number of books (and misplaced them) but I finished the Tommy Hambledon spy novel Concrete Crime by Manning Coles.
Tommy Hambledon, who has been doing something or another for the Foreign Office since 1914 is asked to sit in on an investigation of an attempted shooting of a safecracker in London by a French criminal named Louis Magid, who seems to be linked to a criminal gang in France known as the D'alroy Circus.
On pursuing leads, Tommy travels to France, lives on the street as a vagabond, picks grapes in Beune, and with the help of the French police and a fellow transient named Victor Dinel, uncovers links to a ghastly crime during the war by a doctor who promised to help people flee to safety from the Gestapo, instead murdered them and took their belongings.
It is the usual bluff hearty fun in a country still recovering from WWII, with moments of absolute horror, and Tommy is the bluff, hearty Englishman who is as much a horror as his opponents

Concrete Crime refers to the unique way that the gang disposes of bodies.

Manning Coles is the pseudonym of two British writers, Adelaide Frances Oke Manning and Cyril Henry Coles and the books begin with WWI and goes on.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 02, 2023 10:12 AM (xhaym)

154 Manning Coles spy novels are always lovely, and the prose is remarkably pleasant for the genre, and apt at building the scene and mood. The first sentences in Concrete Crime is:

"It was a wet dark night and the Stepney streets were running with water which reflected light in greasy streaks upon the ground and made every shadowed doorway and narrow entry a pit of darkness. The streets were almost deserted since it was that dead quarter of an hour before closing time when it is too late to be worth turning in and, once inside, one might as well stay in the dry for as long as possible."

Measured and stately, it starts out like Bulwer-Lytton and ends like Douglas Adams.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 02, 2023 10:12 AM (xhaym)

155 There was a used bookstore in Houston, near I-10 west and the loop, that was in an old house. Each room was dedicated to a genre, and was stacked to the ceiling with books. That was a fun place to spend hours perusing, and the smell of books was intoxicating. I wonder if it is still there?

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 02, 2023 10:14 AM (DZzNH)

156 A few weeks ago, Wolfus (I think) mentioned "Once a Crooked Man" by David McCallum, the actor. Just started it but it is a fun read. While nominally a crime and suspense novel, the core is a not too dark humor that is proving to make for a pleasant read. Turns out our local library has an audio CD version read by McCallum. I might check it out at some point if the book continues its promise.

Posted by: JTB at July 02, 2023 10:15 AM (7EjX1)

157 Good point. I thought first-person present was the worst, but I hadn't thought of this nonsense. I am not sure I've ever come across a book written in second person. I would put that s**t down immediately.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 02, 2023 10:06 AM (OX9vb)
---
One of my theories about good writing is that experience is more important than education. If you want to write a book, go out and live. That's much more useful than creative writing classes.

Talking with one of my old friends about this, and we recalled that a high school classmate of mine did just that - got his masters and all, posted about writing, his wife wrote a novel, etc.

Meanwhile, I was machining out a book a year and I remember when her first book came out and he was pimping it, I said I'd absolutely help promote it so long as they promoted my books in return. No reply.

A lot of people want to "write a book," without having anything to actually write about.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 10:16 AM (llXky)

158 Other than that, still assembling the sci-fi book; did all the justification/character motivation work, which ended up creating a series of set-pieces, mostly conversations, that if put all in one 'scene', drag on too long, so I'm quick-writing some interjection moving-around/action pieces to break them up.
I had concerns this would make the book too long, but so far it's in two parts of (8-1/2x11, 12 point text, single spaced) about 45 pages each, so that's pretty good. So there is room for some addition, not too much, to break up the expositions.
Nobody likes a big stinky dump of exposition.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:17 AM (43xH1)

159 Ah, CBD, just started the Godwulf manuscript. Reason I'm late is because I couldn't put it down. I like the contrast with the Galbraith books where Strike is fielding a company of agents and Spenser is out there all by his lonesome.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at July 02, 2023 10:17 AM (t/2Uw)

160 ::

amn, that is one nice library. That is not sitting in a average house, thats for sure. The ornateness continues past the books.::;

Right? My library is on three Ikea bookcases

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at July 02, 2023 10:18 AM (9yUzE)

161 'https://is.gd/Izc0X8
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 02, 2023
A shopping list of eggs, pickles, and a goldfish? That could start a story in and of itself.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius'

One book i have not done, but which people have expressed an interest in, is a compilation of the 1,000+ discarded shopping lists I have picked up at my supermarket job.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:19 AM (43xH1)

162 I did a Pinterest pull on "bathroom libraries" and there were some splendiferous, nay, commodious examples of luxe libraries.

Some are centered on the bathtub, but a few brave examples show a terlit surrounded by shelves.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 09:12 AM (CiQt2)

Heheheh. "Commodius" prefigures "terlit" in a bathroom!

Posted by: Kindltot at July 02, 2023 10:19 AM (xhaym)

163 *looks at cover* Hokey Smokes! Lewis did not use the Oxford Comma!
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 02, 2023 09:46 AM (PiwSw)

The Oxford comma is only rarely needed and largely a meme.

The comma is just the shortest pause length in speech.

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:20 AM (OCCqg)

164 Or unless he wakes up and is suddenly in the middle of a battle or firefight!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:51 AM (omVj0)

But not waking from a dream. For the love of humanity, not that!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 02, 2023 10:20 AM (OX9vb)

165 Roman history is pretty much a Rorschach test. Hell, Roman history was a Rorschach test for the Romans. They were famous for their amnesia.

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:09 AM (OCCqg) f
---
Roman history is a superb example of a sophisticated, technologically advanced society that is ruled by wicked gods. We don't have nearly as much information about the other pagan societies, but Rome we can see up close how their virtues inevitably bend towards will-to-power.

People who critique Christianity don't have much ground to stand on in terms of offering positive counterexamples.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 10:20 AM (llXky)

166 18- Wait! PBS did it, it's a three part miniseries, starring the same woman that played the chess master in "The Queen's Gambit." We'll watch that after we've both read this.
Posted by: Mr Gaga at July 02, 2023 09:09 AM

Thanks for the tip! I just put it on my PBS passport watchlist. Speaking of which, for those who might not be aware, donations to PBS are well worth it because you get access to the passport and can watch just about any of their programs. I pay $60 per year for it and I love having it.

Posted by: Moonbeam at July 02, 2023 10:23 AM (rbKZ6)

167 'I mean, the Hanyang rifles were made on the same tooling as the 1888 Commission rifles. Pretty cool.
The ammo markings and various arsenal stamps are neat to have handy should I collect from that part of the world.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd'

For my 'China' book I went so far as to buy an old 1888 Commission rifle, and in one sequence managed to insert the old DWM cartridge code number.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:23 AM (43xH1)

168 "It was never a sure thing with Tess. Did she hate her wardrobe? Or did it hate her? Today's choice seemed to imply mutual hate. How else to describe the brown tartan dress with spaghetti straps and a mid-thigh hemline that was matched with white knee-high socks snugging Tess' expansive frame?"

Posted by: Anna Puma at July 02, 2023 10:24 AM (fSNP4)

169 Love the library pic, but delightful though it is, I don't think I'd want it for myself any more.

Mrs Some Guy and I both worked at Kroch's in Chicago for 9 years and when we moved out of Illinois we shipped more than 100 large boxes of books. The house once had bookshelves in every room except the kitchen and bathroom. Finally started downsizing (some sold or given to libraries, and some replaced with ebooks). The home library now fits on a few bookcases and the kindles. We just didn't have the space any more, and neither did the offspring.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023 10:25 AM (a/4+U)

170 It seems to be all they teach in MFA classes these days. One of my tests as to whether a modern book is worth my time is whether it's written in present tense. If it is, and the writer is a woman (usually with an MFA, go figure) with a female protagonist, I will probably put it back on the shelf.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:20 AM (omVj0)

But it passes the Bechdel test, isn't that what is important?

Posted by: Kindltot at July 02, 2023 10:25 AM (xhaym)

171 People who critique Christianity don't have much ground to stand on in terms of offering positive counterexamples.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 10:20 AM (llXky)

Dumezil's Archaic Roman Religion is truly brilliant.

We can see the form shift over time but I doubt we know much about the experience of the believers.

Early/Archaic Romans had a whole lot in common with the Brahmin-ists.

They were also incredibly neurotic lol.

And yeah, at some point evil influences entered and then dominated. Thankfully overthrown by Christ.

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:26 AM (OCCqg)

172 Read this week: The Devil's in the Cows. Flash Fiction by Sippican Cottage. Give the man an old black and white photo of the before times, and he'll give you back a quiet, evocative sounding of the people who were my parents, grand parents, extended family and community.
I'm going to pass it on to my two kids so they can have a bit better understanding of how I felt about and viewed the world of those people who had deposited me on this good earth.
I imagine a lot of 'rons and 'ettes may be familiar with Sippican Cottage. I started following Sipp in the early 'oughts; he posts irregularly on family and community. Seems to have started up again, and this book, available on amazon, was linked to his site. Well worth checking out.

Posted by: From about that Time at July 02, 2023 10:27 AM (4780s)

173 Mrs Some Guy and I both worked at Kroch's in Chicago for 9 years
Posted by: Just Some Guy'

I probably met you at some point. I used to take the train into Chicago to go to Kroch's and Brentanos and Rose Records.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:27 AM (43xH1)

174 Lots of comic novels use the Close 3rd, where you only use 3rd person on the protagonist, so that everything is seen thru his filter but also he is objectively seen through the author's filter.

It's a great technique. I like it quite a bit.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 02, 2023 10:27 AM (fb7jX)

175 One book i have not done, but which people have expressed an interest in, is a compilation of the 1,000+ discarded shopping lists I have picked up at my supermarket job.
Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:19 AM (43xH1)

That's a great premise for someone to get involved in hijinks!

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:28 AM (OCCqg)

176 Back from a constitutional with the delightful and athletic Mrs naturalfake.

Lease what else is upstairs.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 02, 2023 10:28 AM (fb7jX)

177 >>>Damn, that is one nice library. That is not sitting in a average house, thats for sure. The ornateness continues past the books.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division

>Right? And Perfessor Squirrel has a "bedroom space." Suddenly, I don't think we're being given the full picture.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at July 02, 2023 10:28 AM (KVGVf)

178 I've nearly finished Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry. It's an entertaining review of various Greek myths that I haven't really thought much about since high school.

It brings to mind an interesting recurring scenario that I'll pose as a question: what element of their biography was common to all of these mythical-historical figures?

Moses
Oedipus
Romulus and Remus
Sargon

Show your work.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at July 02, 2023 10:29 AM (s12c9)

179 Len,

Could be. Late 1976 - late 1985. I was in the paperback dept.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023 10:29 AM (a/4+U)

180 Joseph O'Connor's "Ghost Light" is spoken in the second person present.

I read his excellent "The Star of the Sea," a murder mystery aboard a famine ship bound for New York from Ireland, and it was terrific. It was done in the more traditional third person past.

Maybe I can find this one, "Ghost Light," in Kindle format.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at July 02, 2023 10:29 AM (4ZE6o)

181 Caesar was a hell of a writer; it may have been the first of his talents, since he was usually in some trouble of his own making and saved himself by how he told the story, until right at the very end. It's his writing style more than his generalship that got him his "Seven Ancient Worthies" status. His mission in Gaul was shameful before he even got there, since a couple of neighboring tribes had planned a migration and like good neighbors let Rome know. Caesar et al were sent to fall upon them. Typical Roman dick move. Why we revere these mafia pricks evades me, other than Caesar's measured prose entries.

FWIW, Caesar wrote in "the historical present" tense all the time; it was a thing to do (to be done) in Latin. A few framing sentences to set the historical case, and then off into "I go, he goes." Yes, if you did it in English, you'd sound like a self-centered teenager.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at July 02, 2023 10:30 AM (4PZHB)

182 I also finished Anna Puma's Golden Isis. The whole time I was reading it, I kept thinking it should be made into a movie. It has a feel like Raiders of the Lost Arc. The gritty 1930s New York setting makes it feel like a noir detective novel but no detective. The action moves quickly and you are immediately in the story.
For those of you who don't like 900 page tomes, you will enjoy the quick ride. Sit back and enjoy the movie.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at July 02, 2023 10:30 AM (t/2Uw)

183 Moses
Oedipus
Romulus and Remus
Sargon

Show your work.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at July 02, 2023 10:29 AM (s12c9)

Fostering?

Stephen Fry is a horrible human being btw. If the "comedian" Fry wrote the book.

Nagy's The Greek Hero in 24hrs is brilliant if you are still interested in the subject matter.

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:32 AM (EhKd0)

184 This week I finished off an Osprey book about historical ninjas. It was kinda weird to read that the ninja ranks from Naruto were actually historically accurate.

After that, I noticed I had a book about Chinese armies in my Osprey collection. I must have got in a bundle of books from ebay, because I have "Imperial Chinese Armies (2) 590-1260)", but I don't have volume 1. So far, the text just summarizes the succession of the imperial dynasties of the era, which makes just a shorter retread of "Walls of Men" which I am also currently reading. But at least it does have a few full-color paintings of various soldiers. Those are, after all, the whole reason to buy Osprey books...

Posted by: Castle Guy at July 02, 2023 10:33 AM (Lhaco)

185 Love the library pic, but delightful though it is, I don't think I'd want it for myself any more.

Mrs Some Guy and I both worked at Kroch's in Chicago for 9 years and when we moved out of Illinois we shipped more than 100 large boxes of books. The house once had bookshelves in every room except the kitchen and bathroom. Finally started downsizing (some sold or given to libraries, and some replaced with ebooks). The home library now fits on a few bookcases and the kindles. We just didn't have the space any more, and neither did the offspring.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023 10:25 AM (a/4+U)

For me, its not even the books. I had built an epic wall of book cases in the old house. The book cases themselves were actually more ornate than the book cases in that library pic. I had to leave them behind when I moved. I don't know if I have it in me to it again just to leave them behind if I ever move again. Although, seeing the books now sitting in the old book cases I replaced originally is starting to piss me off.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at July 02, 2023 10:33 AM (VwHCD)

186 I imagine a lot of 'rons and 'ettes may be familiar with Sippican Cottage. I started following Sipp in the early 'oughts; he posts irregularly on family and community. Seems to have started up again, and this book, available on amazon, was linked to his site. Well worth checking out.

omg THANK YOU! I had forgotten about Sipp; very interesting

Posted by: BlackOrchid at July 02, 2023 10:34 AM (AcWfM)

187 Snippets from "The Miniaturist," set in 1786 Amsterdam.

The burgomasters run the show and they are hard puritan Dutch-reformed nasty old men.

Thieves get hands cut off.

Gays are bound hand and feet, a big rock tied to their neck, and tossed off the wharf.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at July 02, 2023 10:34 AM (4ZE6o)

188 I remain sort-of unhappy with past-tense writing for no particular reason. "He went to the store." I like the idea that 'it' is happening NOW and don't really like past tense but anything else is kind of... forced. It's a convention, so whatever.
Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a weird one. A narrator tells the story. The typesetter must have almost lost his mind placing all those triple quote marks for dialogue.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:35 AM (43xH1)

189 Idk. Roman history is one long running propaganda fight.

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:35 AM (EhKd0)

190 Those are, after all, the whole reason to buy Osprey books...
Posted by: Castle Guy at July 02, 2023 10:33 AM (Lhaco)

I buy Osprey books because of autism lol.

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:36 AM (EhKd0)

191 That personal library is nice. You can smell the book smell and the wood polish.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 09:04 AM (CiQt2)

I am thinking the circular shelves might be awkward for books, because the backs of the shelves are necessarily wider than the faces of the shelves. A thin, narrow book could get squoze to the back and disappear entirely.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 02, 2023 10:36 AM (fYPrE)

192 One book i have not done, but which people have expressed an interest in, is a compilation of the 1,000+ discarded shopping lists I have picked up at my supermarket job.
Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:19 AM (43xH1)

I hate to break it to you....

https://tinyurl.com/54rjmxpk

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 02, 2023 10:37 AM (OX9vb)

193 Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a weird one. A narrator tells the story. The typesetter must have almost lost his mind placing all those triple quote marks for dialogue.
Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:35 AM (43xH1)

English was Conrad's what? 4th Language? 5th?

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:37 AM (EhKd0)

194 Bright Lights, Big City's use of second person present worked, despite being a novel, because McInerney knows how to be funny.

My mind went straight to BLBC when I saw the discussion of points of view. It called you you, but it was about me. I was first real job in NYC, not the New Yorker, nor did I have the preppy friends or cocaine budget, but I was squandering potential as fast as beer and pot could take me.

McInerny's next book about Dharma bums sucked.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at July 02, 2023 10:38 AM (GzDfN)

195 Late 1976 - late 1985. I was in the paperback dept.
Posted by: Just Some Guy'

Yes, we would have run into each other. I would not remember your name if I ever knew it, but I'm sure I bought a book or two from you.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:39 AM (43xH1)

196 OK, folks, it's a drizzly, humid day here at Stately Poppins Manor. Think I'll throw on some Bach and have another cup of tea.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at July 02, 2023 10:39 AM (AW0uW)

197 I should also point out: thanks for posting the link to the to the Based Book Sale last week (or whatever it was called). I ended up buying a few 99-cent fantasy novels. Haven't read any of them yet, but it's nice to add novels to the que without paying too much for them.

Posted by: Castle Guy at July 02, 2023 10:40 AM (Lhaco)

198 "I'll have to make the obligatory reference to Mark Twain's superb essay "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses.""

Definitely there is room for criticism; especially from a leftist point of view. Cooper was an abolitionist and shows some upper-class sympathy for lower-class people. The deep thoughts and witticisms he puts in the mouths of his upper-class characters do not always carry over well, though I suppose this is how educated people talked to each other back then. The novel includes the n-word, but puts it in the mouth of an ambiguous character. It makes fun of Black and Irish people, humorously reproducing dialect speech. Both Black and Irish characters are used for comic relief.

In general, I like Cooper's style, similar to Walter Scott's, though this second novel of his is still a bit rough around the edges and inferior to some of Scott's. Obviously, Mark Twain must have hated it, as he parodies this kind of stuff in "A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court", which I also liked and reread quite a few times.

Posted by: PG at July 02, 2023 10:40 AM (84jHt)

199 I am thinking the circular shelves might be awkward for books, because the backs of the shelves are necessarily wider than the faces of the shelves. A thin, narrow book could get squoze to the back and disappear entirely.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 02, 2023 10:36 AM (fYPrE)

Not to mention having to build all those curves. Damn...

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at July 02, 2023 10:40 AM (VwHCD)

200 As an Army EOD type I suppose I am obligated to pick up that EOD book even if it about the Navy.

Posted by: blaster at July 02, 2023 10:40 AM (pwExq)

201 37 I guess I should say that I finished the first half of Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun (Shadow and Claw, the second half being Sword and Citadel).

It's weird being in the hands of someone who seems to completely in control of the narrative and his writing while making something that just feels genre-defining.

I sort of remember where the story goes overall, where Severian ends up by the end, but that's about it from high school. There's something entrancing about this movement through a dying Earth.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, perfectly captured in the frame by William Wyler at July 02, 2023 09:20 AM (LvTSG)

If you still have interest in that kind of esoteric subject matter after finishing New Sun, R A Lafferty is really cool (if you haven't read him).

Past Master is brilliant. And stylistically opposite to New Sun but about the same stuff.

I compulsively recommend Lafferty.

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:41 AM (EhKd0)

202 I hate to break it to you....
https://tinyurl.com/54rjmxpk
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs!'

Oh, I know, it's a thing, with blogs and such. My 'collection', which was never intended to be so big, is from a single store in a single location. They're all from the same place; and they are all the same subject: grocery store shopping lists. It has local/regional interest, and the few times I've shown them to people they always want to see more of them.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:42 AM (43xH1)

203 English was Conrad's what? 4th Language? 5th?

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:37 AM (EhKd0)

The way I write people think the same thing about me. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at July 02, 2023 10:42 AM (VwHCD)

204 I am thinking the circular shelves might be awkward for books, because the backs of the shelves are necessarily wider than the faces of the shelves. A thin, narrow book could get squoze to the back and disappear entirely.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

That is the thing I noticed. I am planning the library for my next house, and am going with rectangular. One loses space in the corners, but I think it will be the most efficient in terms of space utilization.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 02, 2023 10:42 AM (DZzNH)

205 187 Snippets from "The Miniaturist," set in 1786 Amsterdam.

The burgomasters run the show and they are hard puritan Dutch-reformed nasty old men.

Thieves get hands cut off.

Gays are bound hand and feet, a big rock tied to their neck, and tossed off the wharf.
Posted by: Mr Gaga at July 02, 2023 10:34 AM

A comedic tour de force, then?

Posted by: Moonbeam at July 02, 2023 10:43 AM (rbKZ6)

206 If the bitch in the Word Power section is so keen on 'posthumanism' and delights in the destruction of humanity, why hasn't she cut her own throat and fertilized the earth (maybe the Earth Goddess) with her blood?

Yeah, I absolutely despise the loony left greenies as well as their BS word creation. How did you guess?
Posted by: JTB at July 02, 2023 09:24 AM (7EjX1)

Fist bump.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 02, 2023 10:44 AM (fYPrE)

207 So far, the text just summarizes the succession of the imperial dynasties of the era, which makes just a shorter retread of "Walls of Men" which I am also currently reading. But at least it does have a few full-color paintings of various soldiers. Those are, after all, the whole reason to buy Osprey books...

Posted by: Castle Guy at July 02, 2023 10:33 AM (Lhaco)
---
I have all the Osprey books on China I could find and used them as sources, to technically *my* book is the "retread."

The purpose of Walls of Men was to bring all that information together into an useful, cohesive whole. That was also the genesis of Long Live Death, but in that case I also wanted to combat all the lies that continue to be spread about the Spanish Civil War.

I think Walls of Men does have some original work in terms of Chiang Kai-shek's generalship and highlighting Chinese successes against Japan.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 10:46 AM (llXky)

208 in the house now are two about 5x5 hardwood bookcases with glass doors that years ago I ripped out of a 1920s house scheduled to be demolished. We got in and I snagged them from either side of a fireplace. They are now installed on either side of my fireplace, and are portable-enough. I've dragged them along through three moves.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:47 AM (43xH1)

209 Hi, Alberta Oil Peon! I'm sure you've been asked this already, but how bad is the air there? Here in SE Wisconsin, the haze only cleared yesterday. I kept thinking if it's this bad here, the Canucks must be walking around in pea soup fog - or has Justin Castro sent all the bad smoke our way?

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at July 02, 2023 10:47 AM (HabA/)

210 There used to be a website displaying found notes; I forget the name. But they were fascinating, like fragments from a story. Some professing love, or poignantly wondering where someone was; some blistering with rage, some just shopping or to-do lists, but you wondered what project (or crime) was brewing.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 10:47 AM (CiQt2)

211 Speaking of home libraries, when selling my last house, the realtor wanted me to store my books offsite. "People don't read anymore." I got the last laugh. The first person to view the house made an offer that I accepted, specifically because of the den I had converted into a library.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 02, 2023 10:48 AM (DZzNH)

212 The Cthool-Tones would be a great name for a Lovecraft-inspired band.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 09:29 AM (CiQt2)

The real Cthulhu would gobble up Donna Haraway's wizened soul, and shit out an Obama. And maybe he did, already?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 02, 2023 10:48 AM (fYPrE)

213 It has local/regional interest, and the few times I've shown them to people they always want to see more of them.
Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:42 AM (43xH1)

It is weirdly fascinating. I always pick up the lists when I see them. And wonder about the combination of items, and who needed them.

Heck, I look at some of my own lists, and laugh at the absurdity of them, wondering what someone would think if they found it.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 02, 2023 10:49 AM (OX9vb)

214 203 English was Conrad's what? 4th Language? 5th?
Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:37 AM (EhKd0)
The way I write people think the same thing about me. lol
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division'

"English, M********R, DO YOU SPEAK IT?"

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:49 AM (43xH1)

215 58 I just finished Robert E. Howard’s The Lost Valley of Iskander last week. I have not read nearly enough Howard. It’s a collection of fast-paced stories

This is not a Conan story, but a story about an American (a Texan, in fact) in relatively modern times, in and around Afghanistan and the Great Game. Not sure a date was mentioned, but it could have been contemporary with when Howard was writing it, though it was probably earlier due to the Great Game reference.

Lost civilizations, a revolution solely for vengeance, and a wild spy escape. This Francis X. was an active dude!

Artwork throughout by Michael Kaluta that really helps evoke the middle-eastern locales.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at July 02, 2023 09:29 AM (EXyHK)

Huh. That story isn't in either my Del Rey "El Borak" or "Sword Woman" collections. Now I'm disappointed that my R E Howard collection is less than complete...

Posted by: Castle Guy at July 02, 2023 10:49 AM (Lhaco)

216 I remain sort-of unhappy with past-tense writing for no particular reason. "He went to the store." I like the idea that 'it' is happening NOW and don't really like past tense but anything else is kind of... forced. It's a convention, so whatever.
Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a weird one. A narrator tells the story. The typesetter must have almost lost his mind placing all those triple quote marks for dialogue.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:35 AM (43xH1)
---
Conrad wants the reader to "see" Marlowe as he tells his story. His pauses, sighs, etc. add to a simple third or first-person account.

And of course Conrad did go up the Congo. He wrote what he knew.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 10:49 AM (llXky)

217 I'm reading a very strange novel "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov. It's a surrealist novel set in Moscow in the 1930's and the characters include Satan, Jesus, Pilate, and a huge talking cat. Supposedly, it inspired Mick Jagger to write "Sympathy for the Devil."

Bulgakov was a tragic case- didn't leave the USSR when the rest of his family did and then, after his work was attacked by the Commies and he couldn't get anything published, he couldn't leave. He kept on writing at night though, with no hope that anything he wrote would ever be published. He died in 1940 and though the efforts of his widow his works started being published in the 1960's. He's lucky he didn't end up in the gulags.
Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at July 02, 2023 10:00 AM (HabA/)

The kiddos got together a got me the snazzy new Folio Society printing of "TMaM" with the snazzy newish translation for Father's Day.

I'm excited to read it because "TMaM" is one of my favorite books. I just hope this is one of the translations that captures all of the humor in that story, because while it is a "serious" novel it's also a very funny one.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 02, 2023 10:49 AM (fb7jX)

218 212 The Cthool-Tones would be a great name for a Lovecraft-inspired band.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 09:29 AM (CiQt2)

I pity the Chthool!

Posted by: Mike Tyson, in the Amazon Prime A-Team reboot at July 02, 2023 10:50 AM (PiwSw)

219 The way I write people think the same thing about me. lol
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at July 02, 2023 10:42 AM (VwHCD)

I meet ppl who've only read my writing and they are SHOCKED because of how I talk because I just can't be formal in speech. I mean, I can, but it feels so phony.

"Dude, no, dude that's just NOT gonna work."

"Excuse me?"

"What?"

*lots of blinking*

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 10:50 AM (EhKd0)

220 210 There used to be a website displaying found notes; I forget the name.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 10:47 AM (CiQt2)

foundmagazine.com

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 02, 2023 10:52 AM (OX9vb)

221 Morning Hordemates!

Posted by: Diogenes at July 02, 2023 10:53 AM (e4fEA)

222 Speaking of home libraries, when selling my last house, the realtor wanted me to store my books offsite. "People don't read anymore." I got the last laugh. The first person to view the house made an offer that I accepted, specifically because of the den I had converted into a library.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 02, 2023 10:48 AM (DZzNH)

Same here. They saw the book cases and it was game on. The women's exact words were "I'm going book shopping"

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at July 02, 2023 10:53 AM (VwHCD)

223 Was able to get 3 free months of Kindle unlimited recently. Walls of Men was first book I downloaded. So far vary pleased & appreciate the maps. I'll make sure to leave a review once finished.
Did so for LLD, another great high level intro to history that'll never be taught to the general public.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at July 02, 2023 10:54 AM (JMBn7)

224 I think Walls of Men does have some original work in terms of Chiang Kai-shek's generalship and highlighting Chinese successes against Japan.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd'

I think it does too.
It's an excellent book. I owe you Amazon reviews which I keep forgetting to do because I hate writing reviews about anything.
Don't be offended, but it reminds me of young-adult books I read when maybe 9-12 years old about WW2, which had the purpose of giving a solid framework of knowledge into which more knowledge could be fitted. Your work isn't YA obviously but it serves the same purpose. I feel MUCH better educated about both Spain and China.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:54 AM (43xH1)

225 Many moons ago, I ran across Joseph Epstein's essay "Books Won't Furnish a Room" which described the downsizing of his own library. In the essay he also talked about having to handle the disposition of the library of Edward Shils -- believe he said there were 15000 volumes in Shils' Chicago apartment (shelves in every room), and more books in a residence in England.

While it would have been fascinating to peruse those shelves, the prospect of being surrounded by such lost its appeal for me long ago. Orwell's "Bookshop Memories" essay caught up with me, I guess.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023 10:56 AM (a/4+U)

226 Fist bump.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 02, 2023 10:44 AM (fYPrE)
---
It is very clear from reading some of the recent Supreme Court dissents that the leftist elites not only have no respect for law or traditional liberties, but also zero knowledge of history.

They actually seem to think that people will just "say the words!" if sufficient force is applied. Countless conflicts (including our own war for independence) prove otherwise.

What I think is going on is projection. If told to say something at gunpoint, 99.99% of lefties will do so, and afterwards they will be smug about how their lie saved their lives.

Yet as countless saints and martyrs attest, not everyone does that. If you push people of faith hard enough, they will push back. The left likes to celebrate "fearless revolutionaries," but nowhere in Spain did the Republicans fight with the dogged determination that characterized the Alcazar or Teruel.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 10:56 AM (llXky)

227 I'm excited to read it because "TMaM" is one of my favorite books. I just hope this is one of the translations that captures all of the humor in that story, because while it is a "serious" novel it's also a very funny one.
Posted by: naturalfake at July 02, 2023 10:49 AM (fb7jX)

Yeah, it is. I'm enjoying it. It's easy to see why the Commies hated the author.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at July 02, 2023 10:56 AM (HabA/)

228 I meet ppl who've only read my writing and they are SHOCKED because of how I talk because I just can't be formal in speech. I mean, I can, but it feels so phony.

The stupidest advice I ever got in high school was "write like you speak."

Posted by: Oddbob at July 02, 2023 10:57 AM (nfrXX)

229 Thanks to my public library, I found a new "cozy" mystery series:' "The Secret, Book, & Scone Society" by Ellery Adams. Set in the town of "Miracle Springs, NC, the main character, Nora, owns a bookstore and has a gift for what she calls "bibliotherapy.":. Finding the right books to help you through whatever your trauma may be. The other three women also have secrets that have impacted their lives. A mysterious death that may or may not have been a murder brings them together as they work to uncover the truth.

After the heavy lifting of "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men," (James Agee), these novels are a nice change of pace. A former co-worker described these types of books as "chewing gum for the eyes." Not a lot of woke in Books 1 & 2, hints of some in Book 3; fortunately, it's not obnoxious. Yet.

Oh--each chapter begins with a quote, which is kind of fun.

Posted by: March Hare at July 02, 2023 10:58 AM (WOU9P)

230 The stupidest advice I ever got in high school was "write like you speak."
Posted by: Oddbob at July 02, 2023 10:57 AM (nfrXX)

If I had written like I spoke in HS, every sentence would have ended with "like" and "you know."

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at July 02, 2023 10:59 AM (HabA/)

231 Speaking of fantasy, this from the NYT . . .

President Biden has worked over the past half-century to make his last name synonymous with family values and loyalty. The strength of his political persona, which emphasizes decency, family and duty, was enough to defeat Mr. Trump the first time around, and he would need to keep it intact if Mr. Trump is the Republican nominee in 2024.

On a proclamation issued on Father’s Day, Mr. Biden said that his father had “taught me that, above all, family is the beginning, middle and end — a lesson I have passed down to my children and grandchildren.” He added that “family is life’s greatest blessing and responsibility.”

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at July 02, 2023 10:59 AM (FVME7)

232 Don't be offended, but it reminds me of young-adult books I read when maybe 9-12 years old about WW2, which had the purpose of giving a solid framework of knowledge into which more knowledge could be fitted. Your work isn't YA obviously but it serves the same purpose. I feel MUCH better educated about both Spain and China.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 10:54 AM (43xH1)
---
That's great to hear! That was my intent - to give people a starting point on both topics for further research.

Honestly, that's not a bad review. Copy/paste is your friend.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 10:59 AM (llXky)

233
Back from my seditionists meeting (conducted in Latin as a code), where white, black, Hispanic and Oriental white supremacists met to plot the overthrow of Our Democracy.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 02, 2023 11:00 AM (MoZTd)

234 231 Speaking of fantasy, this from the NYT . . .

"fantasy" is a funny way to spell "fellatio"

Posted by: BlackOrchid at July 02, 2023 11:00 AM (AcWfM)

235 The stupidest advice I ever got in high school was "write like you speak."
Posted by: Oddbob at July 02, 2023 10:57 AM (nfrXX)

I'm a highly strung idiot with no patience and great affection for slang and casual racisms so that was clearly not going to work for me.

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 11:00 AM (EhKd0)

236 Just for the record, a quick search reveals that LOTR and/or Tolkien makes a first appearance today at comment #66. This shows remarkable restraint on the part of the entire group. Well done!!

Posted by: Muldoon at July 02, 2023 11:02 AM (kXYt5)

237 The Family is Everything.

Posted by: Michael Corleone at July 02, 2023 11:02 AM (SYTee)

238 236 Just for the record, a quick search reveals that LOTR and/or Tolkien makes a first appearance today at comment #66. This shows remarkable restraint on the part of the entire group. Well done!!
Posted by: Muldoon at July 02, 2023 11:02 AM (kXYt5)

I laughed. Because it is a mania I don't share.

I did compulsively recommend Lafferty again though.

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 11:03 AM (EhKd0)

239 Re: Blaster--you can find the book at Amazon and as noted, we contribute to EOD Warrior Foundation which supports EOD guys from all four services.

Posted by: FIIGMO at July 02, 2023 11:04 AM (5Xtai)

240 With POVs etc. with this last one I'm inserting a couple of POV shifts so the whole thing doesn't dwell in a single character. The reader 'sees' the protagonist from a few different perspectives.

For tenses, try editing/proofreading translations of Slavic languages. What a mess.
I've had high-level academic treatises with a LOT of money behind them that will have 3-4 tense changes in a single sentence! No fooling. And when pointed out the original writer will insist on leaving it exactly that way, 'Just edit/proofread it!'
Impervious to arguments it makes their work look unprofessional and careless in English, and there is no way to proofread/edit something like that in that form.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 11:05 AM (43xH1)

241 The stupidest advice I ever got in high school was "write like you speak."

Posted by: Oddbob at July 02, 2023 10:57 AM (nfrXX)
---
Actually, that's what I do. Writing is a bit different insofar as I can correct things before uttering them. By that I mean that I can try to convey a thought as it occurs to me, then go back and make it better.

But it's basically what I would say out loud.

"Conversational writing," as it were.

I should add that spoken words were heavily edited in my home. If I asked if I "can" do something, I would be told the correct word was "may" and have to repeat the question. "Like" was forbidden.

Basically I spoke two dialects, one at home, one with everyone else.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:05 AM (llXky)

242 TheJamesMadison,

I reviewed your book the Battle of Lake Eire last week on the book thread.

Good book.
Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at July 02, 2023 09:10 AM (u82oZ)

Thanks for the reminder, NaCly. i just submitted my long-overdue review, too.

Posted by: mrp at July 02, 2023 11:05 AM (rj6Yv)

243 Gays are bound hand and feet, a big rock tied to their neck, and tossed off the wharf.
Posted by: Mr Gaga at July 02, 2023 10:34 AM (4ZE6o)

Does this lobster taste queer to you?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 02, 2023 11:07 AM (C/f5u)

244 Just got back. Lots of comments to catch up on.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 11:09 AM (Angsy)

245 Actually, that's what I do. Writing is a bit different insofar as I can correct things before uttering them. By that I mean that I can try to convey a thought as it occurs to me, then go back and make it better.

But it's basically what I would say out loud.

"Conversational writing," as it were.

I should add that spoken words were heavily edited in my home. If I asked if I "can" do something, I would be told the correct word was "may" and have to repeat the question. "Like" was forbidden.

Basically I spoke two dialects, one at home, one with everyone else.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:05 AM (llXky)

Writing is only transcribed speech. Ppl get captured by the idea it is something else, or something "more". It isn't.

But there are different ways of speaking...

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 11:09 AM (EhKd0)

246 Lake Eire ?

Posted by: JT at July 02, 2023 11:09 AM (T4tVD)

247 Back from my seditionists meeting (conducted in Latin as a code), where white, black, Hispanic and Oriental white supremacists met to plot the overthrow of Our Democracy.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 02, 2023 11:00 AM (MoZTd)
---
Yesterday's homily was seriously lit. The priest highlighted the second reading from St. Paul to the Romans by saying "We're all dead. Everyone clear on that? Everyone here is already dead. We need to understand that."

Lots of folks nodding their heads in agreement. Talk about knowing what time it is.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:10 AM (llXky)

248 Hello book nerds!
I love that library pic!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at July 02, 2023 11:10 AM (vHIgi)

249 Thanks, Dash!

Down the rabbit hole I go.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at July 02, 2023 11:11 AM (CiQt2)

250 Snippets from "The Miniaturist," set in 1786 Amsterdam.

The burgomasters run the show and they are hard puritan Dutch-reformed nasty old men.

Thieves get hands cut off.

Gays are bound hand and feet, a big rock tied to their neck, and tossed off the wharf.
Posted by: Mr Gaga at July 02, 2023 10:34 AM
---
So there were no problems with repeat offenders, then?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:11 AM (llXky)

251 As far as comic book reading: I continued reading additional volumes of "A Bride's Story" at a frightening pace. One volume (#7) sucked, and was immediately re-shelved in a dark, forgotten recess of my house, where it will never be picked up again. #8 and #9 were better. Volume 10 looks genuinely fun, as it appears to primarily feature steppe horse archers hunting in the mountains! That is the sort of imagery and setting that convinced me to buy a series that is so outside my normal set of interests...

One thing I'll say about this series in particular; it's really easy to flip through and re-read chapters of it while waiting out commercial breaks on tv.

Posted by: Castle Guy at July 02, 2023 11:12 AM (Lhaco)

252 Hi, Alberta Oil Peon! I'm sure you've been asked this already, but how bad is the air there? Here in SE Wisconsin, the haze only cleared yesterday. I kept thinking if it's this bad here, the Canucks must be walking around in pea soup fog - or has Justin Castro sent all the bad smoke our way?
Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at July 02, 2023 10:47 AM (HabA/)

It has been good here in my part of Alberta. Then we had a big T-storm yesterday, with a tornado that damaged a bunch of homes near the town of Carstairs. After that, the wind shifted to the North, and swept the storm away, and replaced with overcast, and some smoke. It was gloomy when I awoke this morning, but the Sun is breaking through now.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 02, 2023 11:12 AM (C/f5u)

253 Does this lobster taste queer to you?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 02, 2023 11:07 AM (C/f5u)
---
It's faaaabulous!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:12 AM (llXky)

254 I'll use FP present in short notes to relatives about a recent experience. "I dump out my beach shoes and out with the sand comes a quarter. Where did that come from, I wonder. Turns out that the pants I wore the last time I had on those shoes have a hole in the pocket."

Yeah, I'm no fiction writer.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 02, 2023 09:35 AM (p/isN)

So, make your story a letter to a friend. Your technique would work for that.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 11:15 AM (Angsy)

255 VTK, OrangeEnt and I have been exchanging short stories and doing the beta reading. If you have an email, let me know.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 09:50 AM (omVj0)

+1. If anyone's interested, or even just being a reader, say something here.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 11:16 AM (Angsy)

256 I read Jurassic Park this week. It is considerably different from the movie including some who die in the movie survive in the book and vice versa. Although the theme is quite similar, the plot is considerably different. One rather amusing corner the author wrote himself into is that Malcolm dies but then is need in the sequel, The Lost World, and so is resurrected. The means is that the stupid third world medics who declared him dead were wrong and when they got the body back to civilization, real doctors noticed he was still alive. The character most defamed by the movie is Gennaro who, in the book, is reasonably brave and loyal (although Grant rags on him for reasons I really don't understand.) The character most elevated by the movie is Lex who, unlike her computer expert incarnation in the movie, is whiny and several times endangers everyone by her unreasonable demands. Hammond is presented as more evil than in the movie and is eventually killed by compies, not a very dignified was to go.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at July 02, 2023 11:17 AM (FVME7)

257 Writing is only transcribed speech. Ppl get captured by the idea it is something else, or something "more". It isn't.

But there are different ways of speaking...
Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 11:09 AM (EhKd0)

But, Iain M Banks took it "Fa' t' fa'" in Feersum Endjinn

Posted by: Kindltot at July 02, 2023 11:17 AM (xhaym)

258 Actually, that's what I do. [ ... ]

"Conversational writing," as it were.

Then I guess the moral is that what works for some people works for... some people.

Posted by: Oddbob at July 02, 2023 11:17 AM (nfrXX)

259 The other thing I'm doing with this latest project is inserting slightly modified quotes from a classic book (long in public domain) to emphasize a specific progression of a motivation. So I'm at the office working on that, selecting short excerpts for insertion into the greater narrative.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 11:19 AM (43xH1)

260 The discussion on Caesar is timely, as I finished the last of SJA Turney's 15 'Marius' Mules' books dealing with the Conquest of Gaul, and subsequent Civil Wars, and finally winding up with the Ides of March. Turney tells the tale from the view of a close compatriot and, later, friend of Caesar. The entirety of the work is impressive, from the intricate descriptions of the methods of fighting, equipment, and the portrait of Gaul in the years of the Conquest. Turney obviously did a ton of research, hung around with re-enactors, and pored over maps and visited the sites described in Caesar's work.

I have been reading these books one at a time, as Turney wrote and published them (starting in 2009) over the many years. It was always a pleasure to see a new one pop up in my Amazon feed, and even though we know how it will end, the journey was a lot of fun.

So, there's a substantial addition for your already tall TBR pile! Enjoy!

Posted by: Brewingfrog at July 02, 2023 11:19 AM (E0Ivz)

261 I think Jurassic Park is that rare bird where both the book and the movie were very good despite being quite different. Many of the changes in the movie can be accounted for by time constraints and adjusting to a visual medium.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at July 02, 2023 11:21 AM (FVME7)

262 Ooop, nevermind. The Robert E Howard story "The Lost Valley of Iskander" actually is in my "El Borak" collection after all! Indeed, it's the first story in that collection. It's just been re-titled as "Swords of the Hills." A much more bland name, which blends together with a lot of other titles.....but I guess it doesn't spoil the surprise twist of the story.

Posted by: Castle Guy at July 02, 2023 11:22 AM (Lhaco)

263 Robert E Howard knew a lot more than seems reasonable for his circumstances.

Or so it always seemed to me.

Posted by: Thesokorus at July 02, 2023 11:24 AM (EhKd0)

264 I should add that spoken words were heavily edited in my home. If I asked if I "can" do something, I would be told the correct word was "may" and have to repeat the question. "Like" was forbidden.

Basically I spoke two dialects, one at home, one with everyone else.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:05 AM (llXky)

Urrrr. It makes my hair stand up on end when people use the word "like" over and over. Or, "you know" every fifth word or thereabouts. It took some time, but I managed to wring those habits out of my younger relations, without wringing their necks...

Posted by: Brewingfrog at July 02, 2023 11:26 AM (E0Ivz)

265 Was late to last week's book thread, where "herniatic door stoppers" was brought up. One of my favorites is The Urantia Book, a mighty 2000+ pages, originally only available in a big, pricey hardback. I know of one that was actually employed as a replacement couch leg. (I was telling some stories about the UBook on book threads until I was discouraged from doing so by OM.)

Back in the '90s, some UB fans insisted that the book should not be held in exclusive copyright by the publisher (U.Foundation) and should be "liberated" so anyone can freely print all or some of it.

I dood a comic strip regarding the movement to "fill the world" with Urantia Books, whether they were wanted or not: Other uses besides door-stopping and couch-legging:
https://bit.ly/too-many-ubs

Posted by: mindful webworker - this IS my secret identity at July 02, 2023 11:27 AM (4JRvL)

266 George Thorogood's Shopping List

Since you're going to the grocery store, dear
We need toilet paper, Brussels sprouts and Cheer
Eggplant, bread (whole wheat),
Rice cakes, and organic beets
But no Scotch, no Bourbon and no beer

Posted by: Muldoon at July 02, 2023 11:27 AM (kXYt5)

267 Perfessor, Thanks for picking up the Book Thread duties, you're doing a great job. This week exceeded normal number of wishlist/shopping cart additions!

Was also clearing out some very old open browser tabs. I knew one was from OM when I saw a who dis in a book thread.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at July 02, 2023 11:28 AM (JMBn7)

268 Posted by: Brewingfrog at July 02, 2023 11:26 AM (E0Ivz)

+1000

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 02, 2023 11:28 AM (PHmov)

269 I have a thing for icy, unobtainable women. **shrugs**

Unless you're Chad they're pretty much all icy and unobtainable.

Posted by: Aren't in the top tier of men, then you're out in the cold at July 02, 2023 10:11 AM (dE+9W)

She looks like the woman on the opening credits of The Wild Wild West.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 11:29 AM (Angsy)

270 Good point. I thought first-person present was the worst, but I hadn't thought of this nonsense. I am not sure I've ever come across a book written in second person. I would put that s**t down immediately.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 02, 2023

***
Dash, see my comment at 11. That's an exception to the unpleasantness; you might like it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 11:29 AM (omVj0)

271 Gays are bound hand and feet, a big rock tied to their neck, and tossed off the wharf.
Posted by: Mr Gaga at July 02, 2023 10:34 AM

Those are called “Ugandan Sea Bass”.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at July 02, 2023 11:31 AM (R/m4+)

272 If I asked if I "can" do something, I would be told the correct word was "may" and have to repeat the question.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:05 AM (llXky)

When I am asked that I always answer, "I don't know, can you?"

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 02, 2023 11:32 AM (PHmov)

273 I am trying to only buy sequels when I finished the previous book. My list on audible is rediculous anyway. I am trying to have three spots that rotate, but it ends up being four.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at July 02, 2023 11:32 AM (ybIRR)

274 What are YOU reading this fine morning?
----------

'An American Sickness', Rosenthal

goodreads review: https://tinyurl.com/2y75mcn4

Those of us over 29, have at least tacitly observed the changes in how healthcare has evolved over the years. Here, in all of its horrid complexity, is a succinct explanation. The review is worth reading. Clue: things are worse than you think.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 02, 2023 11:35 AM (Ga8Fv)

275 But it passes the Bechdel test, isn't that what is important?
Posted by: Kindltot at July 02, 2023

***
Buffy did that without breaking a sweat.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 11:35 AM (omVj0)

276 Here I thought Watership Down was a kid's book, not a Animal Farm
Posted by: Skip at July 02, 2023

***
Not so much an Animal Farm, Skip, as a thriller with rabbit heroes and villains. It starts a little slowly, yes, but by the time I hit the exploration of rabbit abnormal psych (no, not kidding), I was hooked. One of the great fantasy adventure novels.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 11:37 AM (omVj0)

277 Ah! Second cup of covfefe. Bright, blue-sky day out there now. No smoke. Clouds off to the southeast, but none to be seen to the West from whence most of our weather comes.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 02, 2023 11:37 AM (fzMwG)

278 2 If I asked if I "can" do something, I would be told the correct word was "may" and have to repeat the question.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:05 AM (llXky)

When I am asked that I always answer, "I don't know, can you?"
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 02, 2023 11:32 AM (PHmov)

I hope you do that only with children in an attempt to teach.

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:37 AM (MNhXM)

279 I think Jurassic Park is that rare bird where both the book and the movie were very good despite being quite different. Many of the changes in the movie can be accounted for by time constraints and adjusting to a visual medium.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at July 02, 2023 11:21 AM (FVME7)
---
A key difference is that Crichton usually has really obnoxious characters. As in: you hate all of them, and want them to die, but the story is interesting.

Translate a book to the screen, and you'll see considerable improvement if for no other reason that high-profile actors (who will draw big box office) often are innately charismatic.

This leads to situations where the movie/TV role usurps the written one, such as Tom Selleck's Jesse Stone.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:38 AM (llXky)

280 She looks like the woman on the opening credits of The Wild Wild West.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023

***
She reminds me of that -- perhaps actress Marj Dusay. We know her best for her "Brain and brain! What is 'brain'?" line in Trek's worst episode, but she had quite the career in the '60s and '70s.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 11:38 AM (omVj0)

281 I always thought that "Watership Down" was a shipwreck story. Eventually I did read it, although I retain nothing of it.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 02, 2023 11:38 AM (fzMwG)

282 I always thought that "Watership Down" was a shipwreck story. Eventually I did read it, although I retain nothing of it.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 02, 2023 11:38 AM (fzMwG)
---
Wait, it isn't?

Good to know.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:39 AM (llXky)

283 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:38 AM (llXky

My favorite book to movie is Captains Courageous.

Kipling was a genius.

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:40 AM (MNhXM)

284 I hope you do that only with children in an attempt to teach.

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:37 AM (MNhXM)

Why?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 02, 2023 11:40 AM (lIySD)

285 I always thought that "Watership Down" was a shipwreck story. Eventually I did read it, although I retain nothing of it.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 02, 2023

***
I had that idea too, until I actually read it. Gen. Woundwort is one of the great villains in fiction.

"Bigwig --! When I catch him, I'll *blind* him!"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 11:40 AM (omVj0)

286 If anyone's interested, the Reedsy website gives weekly short story prompts that's open from Saturday through Friday. The winner gets $250. Runners up get $25 site credit. (They have pay classes, and a marketplace where you can pay someone to edit or help pub your work.) There's an entry fee of $5, though.

They've started a magazine that comes out quarterly, I think, featuring winners of various contests. You give first pub rights and maybe rights to print in the magazine. It's sold on Amazon as a print issue and Kindle.

https://tinyurl.com/367sy2yu

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 11:42 AM (Angsy)

287 I had that idea too, until I actually read it. Gen. Woundwort is one of the great villains in fiction.

"Bigwig --! When I catch him, I'll *blind* him!"
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
-------

*imagines Book Threaders haring off to the library*

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 02, 2023 11:42 AM (wAqo5)

288
My favorite book to movie is Captains Courageous.

Kipling was a genius.

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:40 AM (MNhXM)
---
Brideshead Revisited is to my mind the gold standard of book adaptations. Capture's Waugh's story perfectly. It's almost a "videobook" of the novel.

And with that Waugh reference, the thread becomes official.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:43 AM (llXky)

289 Moses
Oedipus
Romulus and Remus
Sargon

Show your work.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at July 02, 2023 10:29 AM (s12c9)

They were all Akkad?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 11:44 AM (Angsy)

290 Moses
Oedipus
Romulus and Remus
Sargon

Show your work.
Posted by: Cicero

None knew their actual family as family. Moses was an abandoned Jew raised as a Prince of Egypt. Oedipus was also abandoned although he later reunited with his family under u fortunate circumstances. Romulus and Remus were abandoned and raised by wolves which they came to resemble in their actions. Sargon was the illegitimate son of a princess who abandoned him to be raised by a gardener.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at July 02, 2023 11:45 AM (FVME7)

291 277 Ah! Second cup of covfefe. Bright, blue-sky day out there now. No smoke. Clouds off to the southeast, but none to be seen to the West from whence most of our weather comes.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

I too just poured my second cup of coffee. It's gorgeous out here too. 60 and sunny. High will be mid 70s

I just started "Empire of the Summer Moon." Two chapters in. Seems well written and very interesting.

Any thoughts?

Posted by: nurse ratched at July 02, 2023 11:46 AM (U2p+3)

292
The stupidest advice I ever got in high school was "write like you speak."
Posted by: Oddbob at July 02, 2023 10:57 AM (nfrXX)

Author James Gould Cozzens served in the Army Air Corps during WWII. He had some sound advice for officers writing reports.

"By keeping carefully to the real subject of his letter, report, or memorandum, and by resisting the often fierce temptation to give himself a boost on the side, the average writer can greatly simplify his labors. As a rule, he knows what he wants to say, and once he has reconciled simply to saying it without wondering how it sounds, or whether the reader is going to form a high opinion of him, he will find he is no longer at a loss for words or tangled up in relative clauses. Plain facts practically write themselves. After he has put the plain facts down in words he is used to using - sparing himself mental anguish and the army's time and paper - he can send them off with sober confidence. The reader, astounded to get something sensible, simple, and short, may even conclude that the writer must be a pretty smart guy."

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 02, 2023 11:46 AM (MoZTd)

293 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:43 AM (llXky)

Was Brideshead a movie or TV series?

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:46 AM (MNhXM)

294 I also finished Anna Puma's Golden Isis.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at July 02, 2023 10:30 AM (t/2Uw)

Isis. Mmmm, Joanna Cameron.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 11:46 AM (Angsy)

295
Was Brideshead a movie or TV series?

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:46 AM (MNhXM)
---
Both. The series is outstanding.

The movie is terrible.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:47 AM (llXky)

296 Just found out my grandson is sick so afternoon plan canceled. Hmmm. What to do with my day. Think I'll go to the pool and read a book.😎

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at July 02, 2023 11:48 AM (t/2Uw)

297
Was Brideshead a movie or TV series?

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:46 AM (MNhXM)
---
Both. The series is outstanding.

The movie is terrible.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:47 AM (llXky)

I saw the series and hated all the characters. I read the book and didn't think much better of them. Sadly, it's colored by opinion of Waugh altogether.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 02, 2023 11:49 AM (MoZTd)

298 Was Brideshead a movie or TV series?

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:46 AM (MNhXM)
---
Both. The series is outstanding.

The movie is terrible.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:47 AM (llXky)

Okay. That said I didn’t read Shogun so I wonder if people have the same opinion on that mini series. That is that it was a better than good adaptation?

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:50 AM (MNhXM)

299 I admit I have not been reading books this past week, more working on my own. About the only thing has been reading through a Substack, 'Black Mountain Analysis'. The guy calls himself Aleks and indications are he's based either in Serbia or Montenegro. He has some interesting viewpoints on Russia v. Ukraine, which are at least different than what is usually seen. If he's in Serbia he for-sure has an opportunity to talk to both sides informally and assess from that. The only problem I have with him is his analysis on the potential for this thing going nuclear.
He says/insists, 'Western Elites aren't insane and don't want to die'.
I am not, at all, convinced of that.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 11:51 AM (43xH1)

300
*imagines Book Threaders haring off to the library*
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 02, 2023

***
It's about *rabbits,* not hares!

Oh. Wait.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 11:51 AM (omVj0)

301 I'm listening to Atheist Delusions by David Bentley. The book speaks to Delusions about Christianity held by atheists. Well duh.
The author has a most trenchant wit. For instance he describes The Da Vinci Code as the most profitable book ever written by a borderline illiterate. I laughed.
Enjoying the book.
I've never read The DA Vinci Code so I don't actually have an opinion.

Posted by: That Northernlurker what lurkd at July 02, 2023 11:52 AM (aCNZ6)

302 Reading Fall of Arthur, short fragment of a head-rhyme poem by Tolkien, with background/comment by his son Christopher and The Guns at Last Light, by Rick Atkinson. Both worth my while.

Posted by: Marylander at July 02, 2023 11:52 AM (g72Py)

303 Reading history and learning stuff that was never taught in public schools. In my freshman year of high school we all took a "Western Civilization" course, a topic which bored the teacher who would rather talk about the Red Sox.

I discovered Lars Brownworth who writes history of the Vikings and Normans. I had no idea of the scope of their murdering, pillaging, and political influence. Dublin, Ireland was created by these savages of the North. And for a while they ruled over four of the five existing kingdoms in Britain.

Vikings tribes from Sweeden called the Rus occupied eastern Russia and ultimately integrated with the Slavic locals while creating a central government, i.e. created Russia. For about three generations, their offspring, the Normans (i.e. "Vikings with manners") took control of Sicily and dominated the Mediterranean, coming very close to conquering Constantinople.

Posted by: levin at July 02, 2023 11:52 AM (CJXlM)

304 Just found out my grandson is sick so afternoon plan canceled. Hmmm. What to do with my day. Think I'll go to the pool and read a book.😎
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at July 02, 2023 11:48 AM (t/2Uw)

Oooooo! A pool. Fancy!
Around here you have to hold a hose over your head.

Posted by: Diogenes at July 02, 2023 11:52 AM (e4fEA)

305 Posted by: That Northernlurker what lurkd at July 02, 2023 11:52 AM (aCNZ6

I also just lol . First time I heard it.

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:53 AM (MNhXM)

306 ". . . After he has put the plain facts down in words he is used to using - sparing himself mental anguish and the army's time and paper - he can send them off with sober confidence. The reader, astounded to get something sensible, simple, and short, may even conclude that the writer must be a pretty smart guy."
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 02, 2023

***
My mantra! (Pretty long for a mantra, though; aren't they usually 6-10 words at the outside?)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 11:53 AM (omVj0)

307 Moses
Oedipus
Romulus and Remus
Sargon

Show your work.
Posted by: Cicero
------

Tarzan

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 02, 2023 11:54 AM (TyYgv)

308 I just started "Empire of the Summer Moon." Two chapters in. Seems well written and very interesting.

Any thoughts?
Posted by: nurse ratched at July 02, 2023 1

***
It's perfect reading matter for a road trip into Texas and to Palo Duro Canyon, the preferred winter quarters for the Comanche. I brought it with me on my trip there in 2014. Fascinating stuff.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 11:54 AM (omVj0)

309 Block's just published THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MATTHEW SCUDDER.

-
I'm just finishing up the first Scudder book, Sins of the Fathers.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at July 02, 2023 11:55 AM (FVME7)

310 Was Brideshead a movie or TV series?

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:46 AM (MNhXM)
---
Both. The series is outstanding.

The movie is terrible.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd
-----

A book, oddly enough.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 02, 2023 11:56 AM (wAqo5)

311 Gen. Woundwort is one of the great villains in fiction.

More than a villain. Tyrannical, cruel, despot with loyalty instilled by fear.

Posted by: Sock Monkey * Ungovernable at July 02, 2023 11:56 AM (UAnY8)

312 If you've never read Watership Down you'd better hop to it!

Posted by: Muldoon at July 02, 2023 11:56 AM (kXYt5)

313 I just started "Empire of the Summer Moon." Two chapters in. Seems well written and very interesting.

Any thoughts?

I thought it was outstanding. Enjoy.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at July 02, 2023 11:56 AM (Xrfse)

314 'Western elites aren't insane and don't want to die.'

He's probably half right on that one -- these days, I'm thinking that they are insane, but they figure on other people doing all the dying.

I can dimly remember a time when I didn't think that. Dimly.

Back to Simenon. Or Jonathan Carroll. Or...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023 11:57 AM (a/4+U)

315 In my freshman year of high school we all took a "Western Civilization" course, a topic which bored the teacher who would rather talk about the Red Sox.

-
Soon to be retitled Civilization Lost.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at July 02, 2023 11:57 AM (FVME7)

316
Oooooo! A pool. Fancy!
Around here you have to hold a hose over your head.
Posted by: Diogenes
-----

We can put our head under the pump.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 02, 2023 11:57 AM (+apjR)

317 I saw the series and hated all the characters. I read the book and didn't think much better of them. Sadly, it's colored by opinion of Waugh altogether.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 02, 2023 11:49 AM (MoZTd)
---
When I first encountered the show, I thought it was a well-done but depressing story of a dysfunctional aristocratic family. I think a lot of people see it that way.

But it is actually the conversion story of Charles Ryder, and if you see it that way, the point of it is transformed.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:57 AM (llXky)

318 307 Moses
Oedipus
Romulus and Remus
Sargon

Show your work.
Posted by: Cicero
------
Tarzan

Posted by: Mike Hammer

Barack

Posted by: davidt at July 02, 2023 11:58 AM (SYTee)

319 Thank You, Wolfus!

I'm hoping it doesn't get all "red man good, white man bad" on me.

Posted by: nurse ratched at July 02, 2023 11:58 AM (U2p+3)

320 Gen. Woundwort is one of the great villains in fiction.

More than a villain. Tyrannical, cruel, despot with loyalty instilled by fear.
Posted by: Sock Monkey * Ungovernable at July 02, 2023

***
Yes; despite not being human, he's a stronger figure than, say, Doctor No or Mr. Big. He has a vision of creating a stronghold where "his" rabbits will be safe from all enemies. HIs method of doing that, however, owes more to Lenin and Mao than to Churchill.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 11:58 AM (omVj0)

321 For those who want a less elegaic Waugh, there are the Smart Set books and also the Sword of Honour trilogy.

If you want something that will tear the paint off the walls, Black Mischief is your book - one of the most politically incorrect tomes you will find today. Still amazed that it is in print.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 11:58 AM (llXky)

322 226
'have no respect for law or traditional liberties, but also zero knowledge of history'

Hell, they get angry at the suggestion that they *should* respect law and know history. The left is among other things, a revolt against being an adult.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at July 02, 2023 11:59 AM (roH4R)

323 Barack
Posted by: davidt
------
Thread winner.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 02, 2023 11:59 AM (+apjR)

324 A book, oddly enough.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 02, 2023 11:56 AM (wAqo5

Of course we were talking about adaptations.

But that snark reminded me of the Get Smart bit where max and another agent were exchanging code .

Max : Who wrote Little women?

Agent : The Book or the Screenplay?

Max: There was a book ?

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:59 AM (MNhXM)

325 Thank You, Wolfus!

I'm hoping it doesn't get all "red man good, white man bad" on me.
Posted by: nurse ratched at July 02, 2023

***
The author makes it clear that the Comanche were some of the fiercest and most vicious Plains tribes there were. He mentions that the Apaches -- you know, those guys who killed and tortured settlers so often? -- they were afraid of the Comanches.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 12:00 PM (omVj0)

326 WE HAZ A BUD NOOD

Posted by: Skip at July 02, 2023 12:01 PM (xhxe8)

327 He has a vision of creating a stronghold where "his" rabbits will be safe from all enemies.
--------

Well, my advice is to avoid Mr. McGregor's garden.

Posted by: Peter at July 02, 2023 12:01 PM (+apjR)

328 Anonosaurus --

There was a long gap between the first three Scudders (done as paper originals) and the 4th (A Stab in the Dark, if memory serves) which was published in hardcover. The series really took off with that 4th novel. IMHO.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023 12:01 PM (a/4+U)

329 In the interest of seeing older Sci-Fi movies I never got around to watching, I watched Soylent Green with Big Chuck. It's not nearly as campy as I thought it would be, although rather different in point than the book (Make Room! Make Room!, Harry Harrison), which is one of the most depressing things I've ever read in my entire life.
Heston in the movie is kind of a dick, really. At least at first he's a sneering, dirty cop, quite unlike the protagonist of the book.
And yes, it's all propaganda, etc. I know, I know.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 12:02 PM (43xH1)

330 Hell, they get angry at the suggestion that they *should* respect law and know history. The left is among other things, a revolt against being an adult.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at July 02, 2023 11:59 AM (roH4R)
---
Yes, the same people who wanted Shakespeare removed as a requirement for a degree in English. Too hard.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 12:02 PM (llXky)

331 Noodus CBD

Thanks to Perfessor S. for another outstanding Book Thread! (Any thread where he quotes me has got to be outstanding, right? Right?)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 12:02 PM (omVj0)

332 Tried watching the 3rd season of Witcher last night. Stopped watching during the first episode when they went vegetarian.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at July 02, 2023 12:02 PM (BdMk6)

333 The author makes it clear that the Comanche were some of the fiercest and most vicious Plains tribes there were. He mentions that the Apaches -- you know, those guys who killed and tortured settlers so often? -- they were afraid of the Comanches.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 12:00 PM (omVj

I think they said that in the John Wayne movie, Comancheros.

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 12:02 PM (MNhXM)

334 what element of their biography was common to all of these mythical-historical figures?

Moses
Oedipus
Romulus and Remus
Sargon

********

It's all relative. Moses was a grandma, Oedipus was his own stepfather, Romulus and Remus were twin sons of a wolf-mother and Sargon was the Father of an Empire.

Posted by: Muldoon at July 02, 2023 12:03 PM (kXYt5)

335 In the interest of seeing older Sci-Fi movies I never got around to watching, I watched Soylent Green with Big Chuck.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 02, 2023 12:02 PM (43xH1)
---
I watched it in high school (Sci-Fi Club) and IIRC, it's almost noir in the way the plot unfolds.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 12:04 PM (llXky)

336 LOL one of the front page ads is "HIV Symptoms Every Woman Should Know."

Wut?

I guess those are like "if your husband is rocking out to Sam Smith and is super worried about Madonna after her recent health scare, get tested immediately."
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at July 02, 2023 09:25 AM (oINRc)

Back in the day, when I worked in this field, I read virtually everything published on the topic of HIV, AIDS, and STDs. What was obvious back then was how much misinformation (disinformation?) was being disseminated by CDC, WHO, and the corporate media. They were hellbent on keeping the public in the dark about so much of this, primarily the fact that if you weren't being buggered by men, or sharing needles, your risk was anywhere from very low to essentially non-existent.

Having gone through that experience prepared me for the Covid world, which was of course exponentially worse in terms of how those same entities (hiya, Tony F!) lied to the public.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 02, 2023 12:04 PM (bFMjy)

337
I think they said that in the John Wayne movie, Comancheros.
Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023

***
It's certainly implied that the Comanche are vicious and ferocious in The Searchers, but I don't recall a mention of the Apache in there.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 02, 2023 12:04 PM (omVj0)

338 271
'Those are called “Ugandan Sea Bass”.'

That would be a hell of a throw. Uganda is landlocked.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at July 02, 2023 12:04 PM (roH4R)

339 Thanks again, Perfesser!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 02, 2023 12:05 PM (llXky)

340 It's all relative. Moses was a grandma, Oedipus was his own stepfather, Romulus and Remus were twin sons of a wolf-mother and Sargon was the Father of an Empire.
Posted by: Muldoon at July 02, 2023 12:03 PM (kXYt5)

I wish I was smart enough to know why/how this is funny.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 02, 2023 12:06 PM (bFMjy)

341 And one final shout out to moron authors. Good job. I feel comforted somewhat knowing that there is a family of right leaning authors in a Leftist industry.

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 12:07 PM (MNhXM)

342 When I am asked that I always answer, "I don't know, can you?"

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 02, 2023 11:32 AM (PHmov)

That's what I say to the kid. When it's something I'll let her do, otherwise, Nope.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 12:09 PM (Angsy)

343 334 -- Somehow, there should be a way to insert an "I'm My Own Grandpa" reference into that.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023 12:10 PM (a/4+U)

344 Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 02, 2023 12:15 PM (a/4+U)

345 Combining a couple of running themes, partly for Just Some Guy: I bought 'The Lost Valley of Iskander' at the Kroch's & Brentano's on Wabash ca 1983. I worked in Streeterville in the early-mid 80s and spent lunch at K&B once a month for the whole time.

Posted by: Nazdar at July 02, 2023 12:15 PM (9XWKq)

346 Okay. That said I didn’t read Shogun so I wonder if people have the same opinion on that mini series. That is that it was a better than good adaptation?

Posted by: polynikes at July 02, 2023 11:50 AM (MNhXM)

Way too late to post now, I guess. But I liked both. Can't really remember how true to the book it was, but it kept me entertained, had quality actors too.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 12:18 PM (Angsy)

347 Gee, I was so far behind after getting back home, I didn't even notice the thread had ended fifteen minutes ago!

Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 02, 2023 12:24 PM (Angsy)

348 Is this pool, ah, how you say, privada?

Posted by: Paolo at July 02, 2023 12:24 PM (KVGVf)

349 Thanks for the Curiosities suggestion. Starting out it's hooked me.

Posted by: Marybel Smiles at July 02, 2023 12:26 PM (b2Tnl)

350 It's just been re-titled as "Swords of the Hills." A much more bland name

That’s almost as bad as retitling “A Princess of Mars” to “John Carter”.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at July 02, 2023 12:36 PM (EXyHK)

351 "The reader, astounded to get something sensible, simple, and short, may even conclude that the writer must be a pretty smart guy."

Sure, sure, I had that beaten into me both as a student and as a cadet. Bear in mind that about a half-generation of up-and-comers had their career prospects marginalized as every single resume writer was trained to do just the opposite, in business and academe, and rate themselves first. The whole STARS system of application and interview maximized bloviation. We live with its upshot today.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at July 02, 2023 12:42 PM (4PZHB)

352 I wonder if the library nook in the photo is in a dollhouse. There's nothing for scale.

Posted by: m at July 02, 2023 12:52 PM (LdYi7)

353 With my first grandchild on the way I've become much more interested in children's books, so this week I revisited A Wrinkle In Time. I loved it as a kid but didn't remember at all. It definitely held up, and deserved its Newberry Award. I also ordered a complete set of the Little House books (and Dr. Seuss) and may pick up Caddie Woodlawn - another one I liked but have totally forgotten.

Posted by: LASue at July 02, 2023 02:06 PM (Ed8Zd)

354 I'm making $90 an hour working from home. I never imagined that it was honest to goodness yet my closest companion is earning sixteen thousand US dollars a month by working on the connection, that was truly astounding for me, she prescribed for me to attempt it simply. Everybody must try this job now by just using this website... www.Payathome7.com

Posted by: www.Payathome7.com at July 03, 2023 06:41 AM (kQPSj)

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