Sunday Morning Book Thread - 02-11-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(Yes, that's the purple pimp hat I received at the TXMOME in 2023!)

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. 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...

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

PIC NOTE

Believe it or not, this weekend marks the 104th Sunday Morning Book Thread since I took over in February 2022. Someone will need to check my math, but that's about 2 full years of Sunday Morning Book Threads under my belt. In a couple of decades, I might actually know what I'm doing. So why not celebrate with a current picture of part of my library?

Things have shifted quite a bit over the past couple of years as I've acquired more books and retired other books to the garage, where they will eventually go to a library book sale or community book shelf in the English department at the university where I work. I think it's in the nature of libraries to evolve over time. In the library in which I work (but do not work for), the entire second floor has become devoid of bookshelves. All of the books are now in the basement (outside my office) or on the third floor. So much content has been moved into the digital arena that libraries may soon become devoid of books entirely...

LACK OF MALE AUTHORS?

In this heretical video, the creator argues that there are natural differences between male and female authors. He also argues that both male and female authors have their strengths when it comes o writing. There is now a female "hegemony" in publishing that is promoting female authors over male authors and is determined to exclude male readers. Male authors in particular seem to be adept at capturing the zeitgeist of society with their writing, with daring, bold, stylish stories that are popular with both male and female readers. Where are those authors today? Are male authors being forced to conform to particular writing styles and stories because of the gatekeeping in traditional publishing by female editors?

I do know that young men and boys are being steered toward reading stories that they don't find all that compelling in K-12. This will ultimately turn them off as lifelong readers and they will decide that reading just isn't for them. That will have long-term personal consequences for them, but also affects society when they are being discouraged from sharing their own imaginations in story telling. We NEED both male AND female authors. One of the main themes of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series is that men and women are *different* but *complementary* (yin and yang). All of the greatest works in the story are accomplished with men and women working together to perform feats that neither gender could accomplish on their own. It would be nice if we could get back to that idea in society.

Men and women will also approach writing characters of the opposite gender in different ways. Men--being men--can easily misrepresent women's' interests and concerns, as illustrated in this comment that appeared on a recent Art Thread:

m brings up a fascinating point (not a book thread but the painting is interesting that way!): when men write female characters they almost ALWAYS forget, 'The Bag'. I can't recall any situation in which I have seen a woman go anywhere at all without some satchel or purse or bag or backpack.
It's a dead giveaway for a male writer.
Posted by: LenNeal at February 01, 2024 10:38 AM (43xH1)

++++++++++

(HT: Iris)

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"DANGEROUS" BOOKS - The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

What makes a book "dangerous?" H.P. Lovecraft and his fellow writers that created the Cthulhu Mythos created a number of fictional, arcane, mystic tomes of power that would drive the reader mad if they were to fully comprehend the contents (e.g., the Necronomicon, De Vermis Mysteriis, and Unaussprechlichen Kulten). However, there are plenty of books in the real world that have been deemed "dangerous" by various groups. Among these are the Bible and the Koran. Both contain laws of behavior deemed as moral and proper for society to follow. Yet both have their critics, who feel that people should not read these books because of their effects on the reader.

Other "dangerous" books are relatively less popular, but still capture enough readers that they can have a significant impact on both the reader and society around them. One of these books is Robert Greene's The 48 Laws of Power. This YouTuber introduced me to this book. His arguments tend to ramble on a bit, but it's clear that he's disturbed by this book and sees that it could have a very negative impact on the reader.

What makes this book so dangerous? Well, at its core it's a "how-to" manual on becoming a psychopath. Seriously. If you begin to implement these laws in your life, you will destroy all of your relationships. You will view people as nothing more than pawns in your own plans towards achieving power and wealth. I was unable to find a complete list of the 48 laws, but I did find a partial list and even that list was pretty disturbing. One might be tempted to think this is satire. It's not. Greene is deadly earnest in encouraging the reader to follow some or even all of these laws. He's written other books on the subject of power and relationships (e.g., The Art of Seduction and The 33 Strategies of War) in which he provides "advice" on how to manipulate everyone around you to get what you want. In YouTube videos he tends to come across as a harmless academic or scholar. It's all an affectation and a smokescreen to put you at your ease, as described by Law 3 - Conceal Your Intentions. This is a very, very dangerous man. He's a true believer in his own BS and gets his jollies by manipulating the people around him.

One of the greatest dangers of this book is for those who want to read it to protect themselves from others who may by employing the 48 Laws. You'll begin to interpret the actions of your friends and loved ones differently because you will secretly assume that they are using one of the laws against you to their benefit. You run the risk of subconsciously becoming more and more paranoid of those around you and you will then start employing the laws defensively, but in the process you will be corrupted by them.

In case you are thinking I might be exaggerating, here is a sample excerpt from "Law 1 - Never Outshine Your Master." Each chapter ends with a "Reversal" section where Greene shows how you can exploit these Laws in case they are used against you. Here he points out that while it's best never to outshine the master when he's strong, once he is weak enough, then it's time to strike (emphasis added by me):

You cannot worry about upsetting every person you come across, but you must be selectively cruel. If your superior is a falling star, there is nothing to fear from outshining him. Do not be merciful--your master had no such scruples in his own cold-blooded climb to the top. Gauge his strength. If he is weak, discreetly hasten his downfall: Outdo, outcharm, outsmart him at key moments. If he is very weak and ready to fall, let nature takes its course. Do not risk outshining a feeble superior--it might appear cruel or spiteful. But if your master is firm in his position, yet you know yourself to be the more capable, bide your time and be patient. it is the natural course of things that power eventually fades and weakens. Your master will fall someday, and if you play it right, you will outlive and someday outshine him. (Law 1, page 7.)
Greene, R. (2000). The 48 Laws of Power. Penguin Books.

This book is very popular among certain segments of the population. It's sold over a million copies. Among those who seek it out are those in the rap and hip-hop musical communities, as well as those in prisons--though it's been banned in many prisons because the inmates will use it to become even more dangerous. I guarantee you there are men and women in Washington, D.C., that have this book on their shelves. All you have to do is look at recent actions by our Congresscritters to see some evidence of these laws being used:

Sean Davis
@seanmdav
Let this be a lesson to any Republican stupid enough to go out on a limb to do McConnnell's dirty work: he will leave you out to dry, then cut off the limb you're standing on to save his own behind.
Make no mistake: McConnell picked Lankford for this kamikaze mission because 1) Lankford isn't up for re-election until 2028, and 2) Lankford didn't have the experience or wits to accomplish anything substantive against Schumer and Biden, whose goals on immigration and Ukraine perfectly align with McConnell's.
It was vintage Mitch McConnell: work feverishly behind the scenes on behalf of his donors and the Uniparty to fleece taxpayers, pick an unsuspecting dupe to bear the public burden of carrying McConnell's slop bucket, then throw the poor dupe right under the bus when everything goes sideways.

48 Laws is not the most vile and disgusting book out there, though it's definitely quite high on the list. Duncanthrax helpfully provided a link to a list of other books that are equally dangerous in their own way.

What's the most dangerous book YOU have read?

COMMENTS FROM THE HORDE

There were a couple of comments from the Horde last week that I wanted to address:

1,200-plus pages in paperback! How do you keep the spine from cracking in these doorstops?
Posted by: Weak Geek at February 04, 2024 09:15 AM (p/isN)

Short answer: Packing tape. I've found that packing tape is a pretty good way to prevent the spines of books from cracking, especially if they are new. For doorstoppers like the Malazan books, you do need to use more than one strip of packing tape down the spine, but it still works. I also have gotten in the habit of always using a bookmark instead of laying the book facedown flat with both sides splayed out around the spine.

Well, MPPPP- there is an alternative to cynical despair, and that is the oxymoronically named "cynical optimism". I think the despair stems from a feeling of a lack of individual capacity to enact change. Optimism resides in accepting the fact that an individual is largely powerless to effect change, but a group or subset of the broader populace can. If you can't find like-minded folks, you are bound to feel despair. That is what a community, a society, a congregation is, and it can be powerful.
As my wife and I often say, solitude is something best enjoyed with somebody else.
Posted by: Muldoon at February 04, 2024 09:51 AM (991eG)

MP4 is clearly struggling with major depression. I wish him well in his struggle and I think the fact that he has us to turn to does help him. He's stuck in a deep, deep blue part of the country, surrounded by people that believe in values antithetical to his own beliefs. So he can come here to find like-minded people. I can say from my own experience in struggling with loneliness and depression that finding a good church to go to last year was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Finding those groups are critically important to us as human beings. We are not meant to travel the road of life completely alone.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

There were not too many Moron Recommendations in the comments last week because y'all got sidetracked into debating the merits of various electronic reading devices. Nothing wrong with that!

Anyone looking for new puzzle mysteries is hereby directed towards Janice Hallett, who has come up with her own twist (in all senses of the word) on the classic epistolary novel. I especially recommend The Twyford Code from 2022, and the brand-new (well, in the US - the UK edition has been out for nearly a year) The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, which folds in on itself more than an origami crane....
Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at February 04, 2024 10:52 AM (SPNTN)

Comment: I do enjoy a good puzzle mystery, though I also like it when they are spliced in with fantasy/science fiction. But it's the MYSTERY that keeps me truly entertained. That's one reason why I enjoyed the Agent Pendergast novels so much. There's always a bit of a puzzle that needs to be cracked. Sometimes I get it halfway through the story. At other times I only see the solution as it's explained at the end. Some mysteries have an X-Files component, while others are grounded in the real world, but are unusual circumstances that present as something other-worldly.

+++++

This week's book is The White Pill by Michael Malice. The White Pill is a history of the birth, bloody life, and whimpering death of the Soviet Union. Malice has compiled all of the often overlooked facts and anecdotes that give the true picture of the evil empire. The story of Russian exile Ayn Rand is here, along with the team of Reagan and Thatcher, and how their cooperation caused the first cracks to appear in the Soviet monster. Also here is the story of Lenin and his criminal successors including the bank robber turned tyrant Stalin. And of course we also see the unvarnished truth of the western left, who knew about the repression and starvation of the people enslaved by this system and hid it. We see socialists Upton Sinclair, Walter Duranty, and Henry Wallace, who deliberately lied to America about the system which stole everything from their people except their thoughts, and murdered 60 million people. The book is an excellent chronological summary of the true story of the USSR and stands as a warning to everyone to not only stand against socialism, but to challenge the left on their lies about it. In one volume Malice has captured the entire scope of the true story.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 04, 2024 09:14 AM (H/zBy)

Comment: Communism is evil. Socialism (sometimes viewed as "Communism lite") is also evil. The people today who are attempting to foist Communism on us here in America--to some degree of success--are happy to add to that death toll if it means they can reman in power. They would kill every man, woman, child, cat, and dog that stand against their evil plans. Never, ever forget that.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (1000+ Moron-recommended books!)

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WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

After reviewing some of OregonMuse's old Book Threads, I thought I'd try something a bit different. Instead of just listing WHAT I'm reading, I'll include commentary as well. Unless otherwise specified, you can interpret this as an implied recommendation, though as always your mileage may vary.

Malazan Book of the Fallen 7 - Reaper's Gale by Steven Erickson

We now return to the Letherii Empire, which was the subject of Book 5, Midnight Tides. In fact, Midnight Tides was just a 900-page prologue for Reaper's Gale. The mad emperor Rhulan rules over a broken land, secretly ruled by the Letherii he supposedly "conquered." In the meantime, Rhulad's people--the Tiste Edur--have returned home after slaughtering a fallen remnant of their race on the outskirts of the Malazan empire. The Malazans--who considered the Tiste Edur colony as part of their protectorate--don't take kindly to this and pursue the Tiste Edur home so they can inflict punishment and vengeance on the brutal Tiste Edur. While all this is going on, various gods are waking up and picking their chosen pieces on the gameboard of the world during their own covert war. Reaper's Gale, like all of the Malazan books is full of intrigue, betrayal, and just balls-to-the-wall insanity from start to finish. Good stuff.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 02-04-24 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

("Huggy" Squirrel embracing his inner Dark Lord of the Sith)

Disclaimer: No Morons were harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. "Huggy" Squirrel's plans for world domination will soon be put into effect--just as soon as he's finished his book...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Nope. No reading again last week. It's becoming a bad habit. Need to find a way to stop....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 08:59 AM (Angsy)

2 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at February 11, 2024 09:00 AM (k0dJB)

3 1

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 11, 2024 09:00 AM (ENQN6)

4 Aloha, Book Fags!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 09:00 AM (+RQPJ)

5 1

Posted by: Reforger at February 11, 2024 09:00 AM (nLeCA)

6 I did not read this week.

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 11, 2024 09:00 AM (ENQN6)

7 That's a beautiful library, Perf. I may hang my framed map of Narnia in mine once I have the room just so.

And congratulations on your bookiversary!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 09:03 AM (+RQPJ)

8 Happy Book Thread anniversary, Perfessor! Thank you for taking up the mantle after the loss of our beloved Oregon Muse.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 11, 2024 09:04 AM (OX9vb)

9 Need more men authors? Probably. I have noticed there are quite a few more women authors on YT who give advice about writing than men.

That's fine, as it goes, but when you check out the authors history, you find they've published two or three books - and some of the reviews are scathing. Maybe it doesn't matter as much who you are, but they don't have enough seasoning to be telling people how to write. I've seen male authors with a thin bio too. How can I learn something from someone with a sparse record?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 09:04 AM (Angsy)

10 hiya

Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 09:05 AM (T4tVD)

11 Currenly still reading Anne McCaffrey's Elemental Masters series,

Posted by: vic at February 11, 2024 09:06 AM (A5THL)

12 I got out of the US Navy on this date many moons ago.

Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 09:07 AM (T4tVD)

13 Deep into Book 2 of the original Tarzan series. Loving them so far.

Posted by: goatexchange at February 11, 2024 09:07 AM (nNfXY)

14 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to boogie at the Perfesser Squirrel's Book Thread Second Anniversary Party.

No I wouldn't. But happy anniversary anyway Squirrel!

Posted by: fd at February 11, 2024 09:07 AM (vFG9F)

15 I got out of the US Navy on this date many moons ago.
Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 09:07 AM (T4tVD)
---
So *that's* why the Navy is falling apart now...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 09:07 AM (BpYfr)

16 Took a recommendation from the Thread (thanks, whoever you are!) and I'm now reading Niven and Pournelle's "Footfall", about an alien invasion and our reaction to it.

I'm only a few chapters in, but it reminds me of Ringo's "A Hymn Before Battle" in that science fiction writers are present at the initial discussions, because who's gamed out the scenarios more than they? Ha!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 09:09 AM (+RQPJ)

17 (Yes, that's the purple pimp hat I received at the TXMOME in 2023!)

At first I thought ya meant the cake in the front and I thought ya had a GIANT head !

Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 09:09 AM (T4tVD)

18 Speaking of that Donkersgoed quote: I just started reading a book I bought 20+ years ago. So, yeah.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 09:09 AM (PiwSw)

19 Morning, Book Folken! I'm reading an anthology called Westward: A Fictional History of the American West, edited by Dale Walker. It's a collection of short stories spanning 1541 (yes!) to 1913. I've only read a couple so far, but they seem well done. The first, the 1541 story, focuses on the first Indian to see a horse and a white man. He calls the animal an "elk-dog," and thinks the man's torso and head are made of shiny metal. Well, what would you think if you saw an alien in armor riding a multiple-footed animal you'd never seen before?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:10 AM (omVj0)

20 Morning fellow Bibliophiles.
Too much going on this week for much reading.
I did work on reorganizing my map collection as the Putin interview caused me to do a dive into central and western European history.
I have almost all NatGeo maps since the 60's with only 2 that I could find being usefull. One is from the Clinton war crime time of bombing Serbia.
I also must admit I kind of don't really like Tucker. Glad for the historic interview but he did a shitty job. He was vastly out of his league and out classed. That interview should have gone on for as long a Putin wanted to let it.

Posted by: Reforger at February 11, 2024 09:10 AM (nLeCA)

21 Do you apply the packing tape before you read the book?

*******
I thought that "Radio Live! Television Live! When Horses Were Coconuts" by Bob Mott would relate the development of sound effects in broadcasting, but it's a collection of funny anecdotes with historical detail such as how the size of studio camera cables (circumference of a ball bat) made it difficult to move the cameras easily.

Mott was a hyphenate -- showbiz lingo for someone with two jobs, such as writer-producer. He began as a radio SFX tech and became a comedy writer.

I was surprised at how common cursing was in the business, even among the women. Only in New York?

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 11, 2024 09:10 AM (p/isN)

22 Took a recommendation from the Thread (thanks, whoever you are!) and I'm now reading Niven and Pournelle's "Footfall", about an alien invasion and our reaction to it.

I'm only a few chapters in, but it reminds me of Ringo's "A Hymn Before Battle" in that science fiction writers are present at the initial discussions, because who's gamed out the scenarios more than they? Ha!
Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024

***
And the characters are based on real-life SF writers Niven and Pournelle knew, such as Heinlein.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:10 AM (omVj0)

23 The only thing I have been reading is ceiling tiles in the hospital. I had a cardiac catherization then sent straight to the hospital for bypass surgery. I love these nurses

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 11, 2024 09:12 AM (5Btku)

24 A good book that list some other dangerous books is 10 Books That Screwed Up The World ( And 5 Others That Didn't Help) by Benjamin Wiker

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 09:13 AM (PiwSw)

25 At first I thought ya meant the cake in the front and I thought ya had a GIANT head !
Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 09:09 AM (T4tVD)

Ha, thanks, I wasn't the only one.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 11, 2024 09:13 AM (OX9vb)

26 Congrats on the anniversary perfessor.

How old was OregonMuse?
I know he attended some meet-ups,and even though I looked for weeks after he passed, still not sure if he was in 60s, 70s or older.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at February 11, 2024 09:13 AM (3uc2w)

27 The first, the 1541 story, focuses on the first Indian to see a horse and a white man. He calls the animal an "elk-dog," and thinks the man's torso and head are made of shiny metal. Well, what would you think if you saw an alien in armor riding a multiple-footed animal you'd never seen before?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:10 AM (omVj0)

Well, it's his own fault. If they didn't kill off all the pre-columbian horses on the NA continent, he'd have known what they are.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 09:14 AM (Angsy)

28 Oh wow ow Berserker! I hope you are up and feeling great soon.

Posted by: fd at February 11, 2024 09:15 AM (vFG9F)

29 I guess the Pants Guy is all set for Mardy Grass.

Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 09:16 AM (T4tVD)

30 Geez, Berserker, glad you're still with us! Prayers for a speedy recovery!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 11, 2024 09:16 AM (OX9vb)

31 First Tolkien reference has reached a new threshold, appearing at the top of the photo above the body of the original post.

ALWAYS bet the Under.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 09:17 AM (991eG)

32 Get well soon Berserker !

Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 09:18 AM (T4tVD)

33 I think that, as a man, I could write a book about manly men doing manly things to save the world. It would be pretty short though. More of a newsletter.

Posted by: fd at February 11, 2024 09:18 AM (vFG9F)

34 Two unique building projects were underway in 1892. One project involved the construction of hundreds of structures for the 1893 Chicago Exposition. The other was an abbatoir for a serial killer to dispose of his victims. This is the theme of The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. The tale of the frenzied construction of the White City in time for the world exposition is entertwined with the story of H H Holmes, one of the first serial killers, who used the bustle of the fair as a stalking ground. The Exposition would introduce a new invention, the Ferris wheel, showcase Buffalo Bill's wild west show, and all of it was lit by a brand new spectacle, thousands of light bulbs powered by electricity. Today, only two buildings remain from the fair, the art museum and the Field museum, and modern detective work is much more sophisticated, but Larson captures the intense labor required to build and run the fair, which welcomed 750,000 people a day, as well as the devious nature of Holmes to entrap, kill, and dismember his victims. As with his other works, Larson manages to tell two stories that mesh with each other in time and space. This is another engrossing book by Larson.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 09:18 AM (rKMQG)

35 Get well soon, Bers! Send that blockage straight to he-e-e-elll!
*savage riffs*

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 09:18 AM (+RQPJ)

36 At first I thought ya meant the cake in the front and I thought ya had a GIANT head !
Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 09:09 AM (T4tVD)

That's not the pimp hat?
I was kind of all "Ookaay... I don't know any pimps but if that's the thing now who am I to say shit."
I'll take another look.

Posted by: Reforger at February 11, 2024 09:18 AM (nLeCA)

37 That's fine, as it goes, but when you check out the authors history, you find they've published two or three books - and some of the reviews are scathing. Maybe it doesn't matter as much who you are, but they don't have enough seasoning to be telling people how to write. I've seen male authors with a thin bio too. How can I learn something from someone with a sparse record?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 09:04 AM (Angsy)
---
A high percentage of modern authors don't actually have anything worthwhile to say, they just want to style themselves an author.

All you proto-authors out there in the Horde please remember: If you don't have anything significant to say, don't bother. I'm not saying it has to be profound, I just mean different from what's already out there. And yes, Beowulf in space counts, so does Jane Austen's Dune or - to venture away from shameless self-promotion - writing about Hollywood in the silent film era.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 09:19 AM (llXky)

38 Mazel tov perfesser and gracias!

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 11, 2024 09:20 AM (RIvkX)

39 Okay. Time for my Stephen King rant.

I'm a big fan of his work and have been for decades. When you picked up an SK book, you always knew you were in for a good-to-great read. NOt all of his works clicked (Tommyknockers I cannot re-read), but the ones that do -- Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Dead Zone, Different Seasons, and 11/22/63 -- REALLY work.

That said: He is losing his skills thanks to Trump Derangement Syndrome. The one I tried most recently, Gwendy's Final Task (written w/ a co-author), starts off pretty well, with a junior senator from Maine (who is terrified of encroaching Alzheimer's) going on a jaunt to a space station. But the senator is a Dem, of course. And King cannot resist naming Trump and telling us over and over how bad he and his policies are, and how sensible the policies and attitudes held by Senator Gwendy are.

(cont.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:20 AM (omVj0)

40 Congrats on the anniversary, Perfessor. I think OM would be proud.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 09:20 AM (sNc8Y)

41 Una Woodruff is one of my favorite fantasy illustrators, and I found out she drew the illustrations for "Catwitch" by Lisa Tuttle. It's a charming tale about a cat who becomes a witch's familiar, and Una's drawings are like Roger Dean for the kid lit set. There's lots of detail, which I loved as a tot. Why do some adults think children want simple drawings? Because that's all they can manage at that age? If I could have laid down the ink and crayon like Arthur Rackham, I would have!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 09:21 AM (+RQPJ)

42 I have numerous unread books that I acquired decades ago. One of my New Year's resolutions was not to buy or borrow any books but read what I have. That got blown to smithereens as soon as I saw the cover for "The Multiple Man" on a website devoted to paperback covers. And I've bought two
comics TCs -- although one is a replacement for a 1980s miniseries that I can't find.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 11, 2024 09:21 AM (p/isN)

43 (cont., re: Stephen King's Gwendy's Final Task)

King did not do this earlier in his career. There might be slight digs at Republicans, yes, but they were not front and center like in this book. It wouldn't be so bad if he set it up as an alternate timeline and gave Trump a different name, e.g., "President Davis." But it comes off as a lecture. What author was described as "trading his birthright for a pot of message"? This is like that.

I hate to say this, but I tossed the book aside and doubt I will finish it. It's the first time in decades with a King book that I have done that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:22 AM (omVj0)

44 Ha! I've been watching vids and reading about book covers, Perfessor. That "Reaper's Gale" hits every mark for sci-fi/fantasy they talk about: One color plus black; silhouetted figure; cover shows what kind of story it is, but tells you nothing about the story. It could be interchangeable with any other fantasy tome. Apparently, for indie authors anyway, pix like that are constantly reused on various books by various authors.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 09:22 AM (Angsy)

45 The only thing I have been reading is ceiling tiles in the hospital. I had a cardiac catherization then sent straight to the hospital for bypass surgery.

Um, wow. Get well soon, B.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 09:23 AM (sNc8Y)

46 And speaking of angioplasty, I just pulled a cheesy sausage-y breakfast casserole out of the oven all hot 'n' bubbly.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 09:24 AM (+RQPJ)

47 Perfessor, you doing a great job keeping up the book thread. Much appreciated.

Posted by: dantesed at February 11, 2024 09:26 AM (88xKn)

48 I also have gotten in the habit of always using a bookmark instead of laying the book facedown flat with both sides splayed out around the spine.

-

When I am king, splaying books face down and dog earing pages will both be felonies. Any piece of paper for a bookmark is always at hand.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 09:27 AM (MHK/T)

49 Well, I am going to have to skim my way through "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan. It's about the folks that survived the Dust Bowl. I tried to red it before, figured the author was a Leftist idiot and put it down. But I managed to read a few of the stories of these people and I need to find out what happened to them.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at February 11, 2024 09:27 AM (dfztv)

50 All you proto-authors out there in the Horde please remember: If you don't have anything significant to say, don't bother. I'm not saying it has to be profound, I just mean different from what's already out there. And yes, Beowulf in space counts, so does Jane Austen's Dune or - to venture away from shameless self-promotion - writing about Hollywood in the silent film era.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 09:19 AM (llXky)

Aw crap! Does that mean I need to shut down "A Literary Horde???"

Back later.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 09:27 AM (Angsy)

51 I suppose the ones with scathing reviews and sparse records can serve as horrible examples.

Not a lot of reading this week. Revisited Harlan Ellison's novella "All the Lies That Are My Life," dipped into Joe Lansdale's collection The Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team, and sped through most of Alan Dean Foster's The Director Should Have Shot You (an account of the movie-novelization part of his career). The Lansdale is fun, the Ellison is one of his best, and the Foster is delightful.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 09:27 AM (q3u5l)

52 Get better soon, Berserker. And let us know how many tiles you counted.

Regarding Wolfus Aurelius's bit about King. I'm not surprised. I'm also under the impression that Stephen does not like people in general which is why so many of his characters are miserable and unlikeable.

Posted by: NR Pax at February 11, 2024 09:27 AM (lXCUP)

53 45 The only thing I have been reading is ceiling tiles in the hospital. I had a cardiac catherization then sent straight to the hospital for bypass surgery

So they did the cath and THEN you needed bypass?
Shit.
Best wishes my grey box friend. I hope it isn't as bad as it sounds.

Posted by: Reforger at February 11, 2024 09:28 AM (nLeCA)

54 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 09:28 AM (zudum)

55 I read a fluffy bit of pop lit the other day and the author had to ruin everything by adding stuff like characters reminiscing on the heady day of Biden's victory and everyone in their Brooklyn neighborhood cheering. I checked the pub date and it was 2023. So, three years into the worst administration on record and she still has to inject propaganda into it, despite the evidence of lived experience?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 09:29 AM (+RQPJ)

56 Only a little bit of light-hearted, amusing reading this week (Loretta Chase's Lord of Scoundrels, et al), mostly because at age 70 I'm starting on a long-time goal of reading Homer in his own Greek--or something close to that anyway. Pharr's Homeric Greek 4th ed.

Posted by: sinmi at February 11, 2024 09:29 AM (SIX3A)

57 Shhhh! I'm browsing Perfesser's lieberry

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:29 AM (L4her)

58 Ha! I've been watching vids and reading about book covers, Perfessor. That "Reaper's Gale" hits every mark for sci-fi/fantasy they talk about: One color plus black; silhouetted figure; cover shows what kind of story it is, but tells you nothing about the story. It could be interchangeable with any other fantasy tome. Apparently, for indie authors anyway, pix like that are constantly reused on various books by various authors.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 09:22 AM (Angsy)
----
Interesting. There are some subtle details that tell you about the story when you look close enough. The texture of the figure's skin is mottled. These are the gold coins that were seared into his flesh after he died. Now he's been resurrected by the sword he carries. His stance is one of weariness and exhaustion because he's compelled to fight champions again and again until he finally finds one that can kill him for good.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 09:29 AM (BpYfr)

59 Congrats on the anniversary, Perfessor. I think OM would be proud.
Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 09:20 AM (sNc8Y)

Seconded !

Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 09:30 AM (T4tVD)

60 It was a good week for magazines at Maison JTB. The latest issues of Muzzleloader, Backwoodsman, and Woodcarving Illustrated all arrived. Lots of fun, episodic reading I can stretch out for many days.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 09:31 AM (zudum)

61 I get my content online, to read on a Kindle, using Libby for free books, and getting some free and some at low cost from Amazon.

I only finish half of those books I start reading.

One I got and keep in the background, going back to it to read another chapter or two, is "History of the American Frontier - 1763 to 1893," by Frederic L. Paxson.

One I just put down unfinished is "When the World Goes Quiet," by Gian Sardar. Set in Bruge in October 1918, the city under German occupation with the front within earshot, the central character is a young woman who works as a housekeeper for the German vizeadmiral.

The book is about art and artists. She is an untrained painter and uses a bombed out house as her studio. A German soldier also and artist is in the picture.

Air squadrons are overhead night and day. I had to look up airplanes in WW1 to learn how many different planes were used by both sides.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at February 11, 2024 09:31 AM (KiBMU)

62 I had a Heart cath done ages ago. been OK "heartwise" since.

Posted by: vic at February 11, 2024 09:31 AM (A5THL)

63 As said last week was going to get the next book in Bernard Cornwall Sharpe series and did, got a email confirmation but it didn't show up all week. Finally Friday tried opening my Kindle app and go for My Library and it finally showed up Sadly no time this weekend to read yet.

Posted by: Skip at February 11, 2024 09:31 AM (fwDg9)

64 Berserker-Dragonheads, may your recovery be smooth and fast.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:32 AM (L4her)

65 I continue to work my way through St. Augustine's Confessions. I've reached the passage near and dear to college students everywhere: "Lord make me chaste, but not just yet."

It's kind of funny seeing "religious scholars" who claim Christianity was an attempt to fuse Platonism to Judaism. Augustine (who would know) lays it out clearly: the Platonists converted because they realized Christ was always there, and their attempts to rationalize Greek myth was merely avoiding God's truth.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 09:32 AM (llXky)

66 Departed in the desert with aspects of casino royale and other films

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at February 11, 2024 09:33 AM (PXvVL)

67 Congrats on your bookversary, Perfesser!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:33 AM (L4her)

68 The most dangerous book I have read?. Hmmm. The Anarchist Cookbook, maybe? (It could be all bullshit but we thought it was cool in HS and a lot of us openly carried it and read it in class.)

While not a book, I have been going through the East Germany Investigated channel on YouTube. A time suck, as right around 40 years ago as a third grader (still 29, magically) I began obsessing over Berlin, and reading everyth8ng I could about the place, and the Wall. This will shed light on the evil of Communism. (As will The Black Book of Communism, a hefty tome consisting of a series of articles written by various authors. They scarcely mention East Germany in it but the rest of the Second World gets investigated in detail in that book, including North Korea. Highly recommended. Share with a useful idiot near you.)

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 09:33 AM (8sMut)

69 @48 --

You can start by putting out an APB for Nero Wolfe. The man dog-ears every book he reads.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 11, 2024 09:33 AM (p/isN)

70 Is that big framed picture one of Lovecraft reading, Perf? Reminds me of the statue of HPL in Guillermo del Toro's deliciously creepy library.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 09:33 AM (+RQPJ)

71 Perfessor,
If I had doubts about your taste, which I did not, That map of Middle-Earth in the library photo is the same one I have on display. I used it to follow the movements in my latest rereading of LOTR and it made the story come alive even more.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 09:34 AM (zudum)

72 The female take-over of the publishing industry is analogous to the woke take-over of academia. Get a few in, hire only like-minded colleagues, and eventually gain control. Purge men and hire only women, then go on to publish only women.

And to be clear, these are not just any women but AWFLs, the true scourge of our times.

Posted by: Candidus at February 11, 2024 09:34 AM (V1yiu)

73 So, three years into the worst administration on record and she still has to inject propaganda into it, despite the evidence of lived experience?
Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 09:29 AM (+RQPJ)

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

--Some guy named Blair

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 09:34 AM (PiwSw)

74 Regarding Wolfus Aurelius's bit about King. I'm not surprised. I'm also under the impression that Stephen does not like people in general which is why so many of his characters are miserable and unlikeable.
Posted by: NR Pax at February 11, 2024

***
Well, he always has been sort of gloomy in his work, which fits the genre of horror/SF/dark fantasy he really made his own. And as I've gotten older I've come to dislike people in the mass more and more, as well.

I've almost always liked his characters. I wouldn't want to *be* them (except maybe the time-traveling hero of 11/22/63, who really enjoys 1958-1963 America and falls in love while he's there). But I understand people like Jack Torrance and Johnny Smith and the father and daughter in Firestarter. And I enjoy hating his villains like John Rainbird and his vampires, and others.

But he didn't used to lecture us like this.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:34 AM (omVj0)

75 I hate to say this, but I tossed the book aside and doubt I will finish it. It's the first time in decades with a King book that I have done that.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:22 AM (omVj0)

I haven’t read a King novel since Needful Things. That was in 1992.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 09:35 AM (8sMut)

76 Congratulations to Perfessor on his two year anniversary with the thread. You have done a wonderful job and the thread is one of the highlights of my week.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 09:35 AM (zudum)

77 The only thing I have been reading is ceiling tiles in the hospital. I had a cardiac catherization then sent straight to the hospital for bypass surgery. I love these nurses
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 11, 2024 09:12 AM (5Btku)

Holy shit, Berserker. You get well soon, hear? Good people are scarce.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 09:35 AM (tkR6S)

78 Speedy recovery Berserker.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 09:36 AM (991eG)

79 RE - 48 Laws
Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, sometimes not at all, music and lyrics have had an effect on me.
If you're gettin' on in years you may remember a song, The Games People Play.
I have always hated those games. The downside, was always slow on picking up when I was being played. Has cost me dearly a few times.
Once it became clear, goodbye.

Posted by: TeeJ at February 11, 2024 09:37 AM (o3xwr)

80 But he didn't used to lecture us like this.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:34 AM (omVj0)

Have you read his "On Writing". It's kind of fun to read how he came up with his earlier stuff (including the one he threw away and his wife Tabitha rescued from the trash can and told him to finish it.)

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 09:37 AM (PiwSw)

81 I got done reading My Effin Life by Geddy Lee a week ago. I’ll need to review it soon.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 09:37 AM (8sMut)

82 I read fiction almost exclusively and I will read anything that sounds good. It does not matter whether it's written by a man or woman. I have noticed that my ILL requests are generally for male authors. I think it's because the library board in my little town, being women, focuses on female authors and they are in ample supply on the new book shelves.

Posted by: huerfano at February 11, 2024 09:37 AM (Q4KYm)

83 You can start by putting out an APB for Nero Wolfe. The man dog-ears every book he reads.
Posted by: Weak Geek at February 11, 2024

***
Not every one. There are the books Archie notes he clearly thinks more of, because he uses a thin gold bookmark with those.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:37 AM (omVj0)

84 The 'these pants' example this week should have stayed in the hippie chick's closet.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 09:38 AM (zudum)

85 Duncanthrax helpfully provided a link to a list of other books that are equally dangerous in their own way.

***

This is a list of books about penguins

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:38 AM (L4her)

86 Re:Stephen King.
I agree with you Wolfus. King would spend a sentence taking a shot at Nixon or Reagan, but never so much that it jumped out of the story and hit you.
I tried reading ‘Holly,’ but between the continuous lectures about how non-vaxed people should all die because they were threats to the ‘smart,’ vaxed folks and the continued Trump bashing for paragraphs in each chapter, I put it aside and likely am done with King. I too have read all his stuff since ‘Carrie.’ He seems to have nothing else to say these days.

Posted by: Timur Lenk at February 11, 2024 09:38 AM (2SJG3)

87 Is that big framed picture one of Lovecraft reading, Perf? Reminds me of the statue of HPL in Guillermo del Toro's deliciously creepy library.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 09:33 AM (+RQPJ)
---
More or less. HPL is standing on the landing of a staircase with an open book in hand. Surrounding him in the shadows are vague, unwholesome entities left better to one's imagination...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 09:38 AM (BpYfr)

88 79 RE - 48 Laws
Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, sometimes not at all, music and lyrics have had an effect on me.
If you're gettin' on in years you may remember a song, The Games People Play.
I have always hated those games. The downside, was always slow on picking up when I was being played. Has cost me dearly a few times.
Once it became clear, goodbye.
Posted by: TeeJ at February 11, 2024 09:37 AM (o3xwr)

“I didn’t mean to cause you pain. It’s just a part of the game.” - Stream of Passion “Games We Play”

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 09:38 AM (8sMut)

89 I started Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy this week, supposedly the rightful successor to the Great American novels Moby Dick and As I Lay Dying. Violence worthy of a rejected John Wick script, but I do not see the characterization quality of even a Spiderman comic.

The forward by Harold Bloom is near orgasmic, I have to say I just don't get it. Is it the run-on sentences or thesaurus/1890s dictionary that make a work classic?

Posted by: Candidus at February 11, 2024 09:39 AM (V1yiu)

90 But he didn't used to lecture us like this.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024
*
Have you read his "On Writing". It's kind of fun to read how he came up with his earlier stuff (including the one he threw away and his wife Tabitha rescued from the trash can and told him to finish it.)
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024

***
I have; I love reading about how published stories I know and enjoy came to be. That one was Carrie, I think -- his first gigantic success. He himself said (I think in the book you mention) that when he rereads it now, it's as if someone else wrote it, or as if he penned it while suffering from the flu.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:39 AM (omVj0)

91 The most dangerous book I ever read was How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Rodney

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 11, 2024 09:40 AM (RIvkX)

92 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:37 AM (omVj0)

I do have bookmarks but I found it's easier just to use a scrap piece of paper instead.

Posted by: dantesed at February 11, 2024 09:41 AM (88xKn)

93 First, I must complement the Boleswaviec mug in the picture from Iris - it's my pattern and the shape is perfect for warming your hands on a cold morning with hot coffee!

I bought my kids tons of books for Christmas, and they both asked for old series - Grisham and Grafton to be exact. I started reading Sue Grafton's alphabet series, and I discovered that I really dislike her main character as a person and that the stories are mindlessly formulaic and thus, oddly comforting. Is that why people purchase and read those tacky romance paperbacks - because they are the equivalent of store-brand oreos? Cheap, enjoyable and don't require any thinking? I need to rethink my writing exercises, because these things sell.

Posted by: Moki at February 11, 2024 09:41 AM (wLjpr)

94 It is cool, overcast, and rainy today. Since I don't give a hoot in hell about the NFL generally and the Super Bowl specifically, that is excellent reading weather.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 09:41 AM (zudum)

95 57 Shhhh! I'm browsing Perfesser's lieberry
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:29 AM (L4her)

Heh. I was just doing the same thing.
I can't make out any titles.
I would have expected more hard cover books though.
For me there are two kinds of soft cover books.
Ones that will be replaced with hard covers when I find one and ones I have replaced with hard covers.

I wish I had a basement to convert. I filled my walk in closet years ago and now my shop is... well nevermind.
A basement would cure a lot of woes.

Posted by: Reforger at February 11, 2024 09:41 AM (e0TUo)

96 Wolfus -- spot on re: King. King always leaned left (I dimly recall reading a piece by him about why he was voting for Gary Hart). But he managed to keep his works from descending into lecture until Trump.

I started giving his novels a pass a while back. His collaboration with his son Owen (Sleeping Beauties?) didn't sound like a good time at all; neither did The Outsider or The Institute. Tried a few chapters of Holly, but it was very heavy on lecture, so didn't finish. I don't recall that TDS has infected his short fiction as badly (King's remaining instincts as a pro maybe -- he knows there's not as much room for that crud in a short piece). He's got a new collection of short fiction this spring; if they're heavy on lecture too, I'll be giving up on him completely. A shame, because when he was cooking, he REALLY cooked.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 09:41 AM (q3u5l)

97 I started Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy this week, supposedly the rightful successor to the Great American novels Moby Dick and As I Lay Dying. Violence worthy of a rejected John Wick script, but I do not see the characterization quality of even a Spiderman comic.

The forward by Harold Bloom is near orgasmic, I have to say I just don't get it. Is it the run-on sentences or thesaurus/1890s dictionary that make a work classic?
Posted by: Candidus at February 11, 2024

***
Pretty much my reaction to CMcC. Run-on sentences and absolutely no quotation marks -- not even the introductory dashes used by Euro authors -- to tell you when someone is speaking. You figure it out by context, yes, but you shouldn't have to.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:41 AM (omVj0)

98 I tried to red it before, figured the author was a Leftist idiot and put it down. But I managed to read a few of the stories of these people and I need to find out what happened to them.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at February 11, 2024 09:27 AM (dfztv)

I hated that he treated people who had lost everything because they lived above their means as equal victims to those who had lost everything by having it stolen.

He also managed to make the area I grew up in completely alien and foreign. Although, I admit that the introduction of the car and convenient filling stations on the interstate highway system may be the cause of that.

I felt he had a particular view he was pushing and I also didn't finish it. Don't know as that I ever will.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 11, 2024 09:41 AM (nC+QA)

99 This is a list of books about penguins
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:38 AM (L4her)

vmom, that's a riff on the ongoing battle between the Moron pro-Bat anti-Penguin and pro-Penguin anti-Bat factions....

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 09:42 AM (PiwSw)

100 This was a heavy torch to pick up and run with, but you have done so and made this your own. Congrats on the anniversary, Perf. : o )

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 09:42 AM (8sMut)

101 Perfessor.... I see a framed "Future" magazine cover. I had a subscription to that rag back in the 70's for a couple years. I'd have been in my teens back then.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at February 11, 2024 09:42 AM (Q4IgG)

102 Healing prayers for you Berserker. Is Mrs. B holding up okay?

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 11, 2024 09:42 AM (nC+QA)

103 Thanks for the Book Thread, Perfessor!

And happy second anniversary to your stewardship of the Book Thread! Keep up the great work!

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at February 11, 2024 09:43 AM (a8Rgt)

104 Have you read his "On Writing". It's kind of fun to read how he came up with his earlier stuff (including the one he threw away and his wife Tabitha rescued from the trash can and told him to finish it.)

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 09:37 AM (PiwSw)
---
The useful part of the book was King's autobiography, which explained a lot about his style and subject matter.

His advice on how to write is awful, because it's basically him passing on his style, which I cordially despise.

It is interesting that his greatest work was completely while he was black-out drunk, yet now he acts like a paragon of virtue.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 09:43 AM (llXky)

105 To me, a good author is a good author, no matter their sex. I think Margery Allingham is as good a writer as John Dickson Carr. The problem I see is that so many modern authors don't spin a good tale. Almost all of the books I have really enjoyed were written in the twentieth century and almost none from the twenty first.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 09:44 AM (FRuMV)

106 @83 --

You're right. I remembered that Wolfe has a gold strip bookmark, but didn't recall that he used it.

Speaking of bookmarks, when I was in the local used-book store a few months ago, a girl was selling bookmarks that she had made from cardstock that she had colored in various patterns. I bought a couple -- even if they were 50 cents each -- because I like to encourage young entrepreneurship.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 11, 2024 09:44 AM (p/isN)

107 81 I got done reading My Effin Life by Geddy Lee a week ago. I’ll need to review it soon.
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 09:37 AM (8sMut)

I just started that this week. I love the story of how he came to be called Geddy. I don't think it's any big spoiler to tell this: His real name is Gary, and his friend wanted to know why his mother called him Geddy. Well, because with her Polish accent, that's how she pronounced Gary. The friend says, I'm going to call you Geddy, too!

And so he became Geddy.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 11, 2024 09:45 AM (OX9vb)

108 The most dangerous book I ever read was How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Rodney
Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 11, 2024 09:40 AM (RIvkX)

Dangerfield ?

Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 09:45 AM (T4tVD)

109 I pausedmy Kate Daniels reread at the genie book and am reading Paladin's Grace by T Kingfisher

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:45 AM (L4her)

110 This was a heavy torch to pick up and run with, but you have done so and made this your own. Congrats on the anniversary, Perf.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 09:42 AM (8sMut)
---
Indeed! Many happy returns of the day!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 09:45 AM (llXky)

111 104: one piece of advice from King is quite good: to write, read, read and read some more.

But yes, the problem with King is that he gets in his own way by not knowing when and how to close the sale. He never learned how to SHUT UP and get to the point.

His lack of artistic restraint undermines him as a writer.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 09:46 AM (8sMut)

112 "23 The only thing I have been reading is ceiling tiles in the hospital. I had a cardiac catherization then sent straight to the hospital for bypass surgery. I love these nurses
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division"

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Posted by: Tuna at February 11, 2024 09:46 AM (oaGWv)

113
It is interesting that [Stephen King's] greatest work was completely while he was black-out drunk, yet now he acts like a paragon of virtue.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024

***
At least his recovery gave us the novelette Tthe Library Policeman."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:46 AM (omVj0)

114 Heh. I was just doing the same thing.
I can't make out any titles.
I would have expected more hard cover books though.
For me there are two kinds of soft cover books.
Ones that will be replaced with hard covers when I find one and ones I have replaced with hard covers.

I wish I had a basement to convert. I filled my walk in closet years ago and now my shop is... well nevermind.
A basement would cure a lot of woes.
Posted by: Reforger at February 11, 2024 09:41 AM (e0TUo)
----
Here's a link to a larger image:

http://tinyurl.com/e6fmbtt6

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 09:47 AM (BpYfr)

115 Yeah I had the cath. 2 arteries were 100% blocked. The Widow maker artery was 95 and a 4th one was 80, so I had a quad. The hospital is great, staff is great. The nurses are on a whole different level. Mostly young but very good. I got here Tuesday. I'm still in icu, but might be home in a few days. Not in a rush, my room is a starship. 60 inch TV, and a touch pad that controls everything from the shades to lighting, to heat. Real nice.
.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 11, 2024 09:47 AM (5Btku)

116 Reading - In a Ring of Fire: Memories of a Partisan by Ivan Vasilevich Ovcharenko

The book is part non-fiction memoir, and in sections, Glavlit historical fiction. Ovcharenko is a true believer Bolshevik. His militia hideout is in the galleries of an abandoned gravel quarry in eastern Crimea.

The Whites are unable to fully root them out. Later, naval bombardment plays a major role - they get rocked.

http://tinyurl.com/mr3s6am4 archive.org

Posted by: 13times at February 11, 2024 09:47 AM (Ac87V)

117 88 Re: 79 - 48 Laws ... "song, The Games People Play".

Was a book first. I hated it because it seemed to me to be a manual for how to manipulate people. My father, OTOH, loved it because he said it showed how other people manipulate people. Maybe he was right, but I hated it anyway.

Reread Brat Farrar, Josephine Tey (Elizabeth Macintosh?) and finished Doug Boulter's Retribution. Started Schlichter's Attack. Realistic enough to think you're reading actual history.

Posted by: yara at February 11, 2024 09:47 AM (jwDtS)

118 Speaking of bookmarks, when I was in the local used-book store a few months ago, a girl was selling bookmarks that she had made from cardstock that she had colored in various patterns. I bought a couple -- even if they were 50 cents each -- because I like to encourage young entrepreneurship.
Posted by: Weak Geek at February 11, 2024 09:44 AM (p/isN)

Money-making opportunity for the Horde: a Bluetooth-enabled bookmark that pings your phone with a nag message if you have neglected a book too long.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 09:48 AM (tkR6S)

119 Reading adjacent (I don't read much due to vision deficits):

Missus M. and I finished R.C. Sproul's 50-lecture series A Systematic Overview of Theology. Each video session is about 20 minutes long. Learned a lot of things that I already had knowledge of, but in greater depth and with greater contextual organization. We also appreciated a greater sense of continuity between Old and New Testaments.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 09:48 AM (991eG)

120 @88 - Catch
Never heard of that one or them. Post 1980?
The metal that started in earnest around then ran me off the radio.

Posted by: TeeJ at February 11, 2024 09:49 AM (o3xwr)

121 Here's a link to a larger image:

http://tinyurl.com/e6fmbtt6
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 09:47 AM (BpYfr)

Dan Simmons 👍

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 09:49 AM (PiwSw)

122 To me, a good author is a good author, no matter their sex. I think Margery Allingham is as good a writer as John Dickson Carr. The problem I see is that so many modern authors don't spin a good tale. Almost all of the books I have really enjoyed were written in the twentieth century and almost none from the twenty first.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 09:44 AM (FRuMV)
---
Agreed. A lot of female authors disguise their gender by using their initials (e.g., P.C. Hodgell or J.K. Rowling).

A good story is a good story, regardless of gender (or other identity).

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 09:49 AM (BpYfr)

123 Regarding the 48 rules, it sounds like a Satanic guide to advancement in this world. Assume everyone is as evil as you are, feel nothing for them, and at the end you'll have power, riches, and no one you can trust and will die old and alone as your manipulations wind down.

Wow, such a win.

It's amusing that it's popular in the prison carousel, which I noticed never ends. What percentage of those fellows die natural deaths in old age?

It's interesting how servants of the Enemy describe people who are loving and trusting as saps to be played, and yet measured purely on their own standards of individual satisfaction, they're the ones who never sleep easily at night.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 09:49 AM (llXky)

124 Agreed. A lot of female authors disguise their gender by using their initials (e.g., P.C. Hodgell or J.K. Rowling).

A good story is a good story, regardless of gender (or other identity).

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 09:49 AM (BpYfr)
---
Wait, now I'm a chick?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 09:50 AM (llXky)

125 I don't see a poster of Christie Brinkley or Farrah Fawcett on the Perfessor's wall. Very disturbing.

Posted by: dantesed at February 11, 2024 09:50 AM (88xKn)

126 Morning Horde.

Just finished Pappyland by Wright Thompson. Interesting read about the Van Winkle family. Julian Van Winkle likes his bourbon on the rocks with a twist.

I learned more about bourbon than I ever wanted to know while sitting in the ER waiting room for 14 hours with my husband. All is well now.

Posted by: mpfs, Hey, where's my Sweetdick?! at February 11, 2024 09:50 AM (jROj9)

127 Don't think ever read a dangerous book, but might have if by dangerous definition is something a Leftist would ban as forbidden knowledge.

Posted by: Skip at February 11, 2024 09:50 AM (fwDg9)

128 >>I haven’t read a King novel since Needful Things. That was in 1992.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 09:35 AM

The last I read was The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, which was something of a departure for him. After that, nah.

Posted by: huerfano at February 11, 2024 09:50 AM (Q4KYm)

129 How can I learn something from someone with a sparse record?
Posted by: OrangeEnt

I'll give another plug for the Writer Dojo podcast.
Both hosts are male.
They talk about very practical stuff.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:51 AM (L4her)

130 I finished Burma Surgeon by Gordon Seagrave (LtC, MC US armed forces in China, Burma, Inda ) a fourth generation Baptist Missionary who had set up a Mission hospital in eastern Burma, and then became attached to the British and Chinese efforts in Burma prior to Pearl Harbor. After the US Entry in the war he was attached to the American effort where he was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel for the medical corps, and was part of Stillwell's walking retreat to India, bringing most of his native nurses out.
Seagrave worked initially with second hand surgical instruments with his wife as a nurse, and trained up local girls as a nursing staff, and building a hospital with mostly borrowed equipment, some from the US aircraft manufacturer that was established to support the Chinese. Eventually he could get lend-lease trucks for ambulances and was travelling a circuit to pick up and treat patients as well.
He operated under Japanese air raids, suffered ongoing malaria and infected feet, and spends a lot of time praising his native nurses, who were vital for his hospital, and for walking across Burma to India ahead of the Japanese Army.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 11, 2024 09:51 AM (D7oie)

131 To me, a good author is a good author, no matter their sex. I think Margery Allingham is as good a writer as John Dickson Carr. The problem I see is that so many modern authors don't spin a good tale. Almost all of the books I have really enjoyed were written in the twentieth century and almost none from the twenty first.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024

***
With the caveat that Margery's *kind* of mystery storytelling is not anything like Carr's -- I don't think Allingham ever set Albert Campion to solve a locked-room murder -- I agree. Carr was very good at characterization; personalities often provide a clue to the solution in his work. But Carr was not one to write a story like Dancers in Mourning or Flowers for the Judge, either.

Josephine Tey is another like that. You read her for atmosphere and flavor and characterization, the fun of spending time with her Inspector Grant and the people he meets. Her mysteries are well-constructed, but it's not the focus, not a grand puzzle in the Ellery Queen-JDC sense.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:51 AM (omVj0)

132 Laws of Power book sounds disturbing

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:51 AM (L4her)

133 Agreed. A lot of female authors disguise their gender by using their initials (e.g., P.C. Hodgell or J.K. Rowling).

A good story is a good story, regardless of gender (or other identity).
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 09:49 AM (BpYfr)

Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell have entered the chat.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 09:52 AM (PiwSw)

134 Not every one. There are the books Archie notes he clearly thinks more of, because he uses a thin gold bookmark with those.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:37 AM (omVj0)

Now that is thinking. Bookmarks that rate the book for future reference (as I suck at finishing books and often return, sometimes years later, to read more.)

I'll chop up the grands construction paper later today.
I am implementing this ASAP.

Posted by: Reforger at February 11, 2024 09:52 AM (lkZz0)

135 For me there are two kinds of soft cover books.
Ones that will be replaced with hard covers when I find one and ones I have replaced with hard covers.

I wish I had a basement to convert. I filled my walk in closet years ago and now my shop is... well nevermind.
A basement would cure a lot of woes.
Posted by: Reforger

I am in the same boat. I am trying to replace the good paperbacks with hardcovers when I can find a good replacement at a good price, but it also means my bookshelves are getting tighter.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 09:52 AM (1Tvzu)

136 I read a recent Stephen King book - Fairy Tale. I agree with whoever said King sucks at endings

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:53 AM (L4her)

137 I got a D&D-style manual on how to incorporate Nazi occultism into your gameplay.

The illustrations are a scream -- Ernst Schaefer meeting with the Panchen Lama, who is flanked by yeti guards; Afrika Korps soldiers encountering an angry genie in the desert; USAF battling Nazi saucers and UFOs over Antarctica.

I wonder what kind of list I'm on, with all the freaky stuff I request from the library system.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 09:53 AM (+RQPJ)

138 For various reasons I have started re-reading Shelby Foote's Civil War Narrative. It's easy to forget just how effective he is with these books. He makes you feel you are witnessing the actual events and people. To hell with the academic critics. Foote makes the era come alive for the reader. I can live without endless, interrupting, footnotes.

One added delight I've mentioned in the past, I hear the books in my head in Foote's wonderful accent.

It's strictly a personal point of interest that Foote was an inveterate pipe smoker and wrote the whole trilogy, and all his books, using dip pens and bottled ink.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 09:54 AM (zudum)

139 Sad news. The coffee maker has died. I think the spray of acid onto its little circuit board just toasted its brain. Panel lights up, and shows random scrambled numbers, but heater won't power up. I will dig into it later, and replaced the digital timer with a toggle switch. In the meantime, I boiled water in a saucepan and poured over the basket, so I have coffee to drink.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 09:54 AM (tkR6S)

140 I wish I had a basement to convert. I filled my walk in closet years ago and now my shop is... well nevermind.
A basement would cure a lot of woes.
Posted by: Reforger

A basement is a terrible place for books. Damp willmkill them.
An attic would be better.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:54 AM (L4her)

141 "cynical optimism".

Reminiscent oof Candide - living in the best of all possible worlds.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 09:54 AM (991eG)

142 The problem I run across with modern female authors (MFAs) is that everything is about relationships in some fashion. That has its place, but it should not be everything in a mystery novel or an SF tale. The other problem with MFAs is that many of them tell you what someone said, then spend a line or more telling you what the someone *meant*. Then another character replies, and we get told what she meant. Then . . .

It's exhausting. Writers like Tey, Allingham, and Anne Rivers Siddons (Peachtree Road) didn't do that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:56 AM (omVj0)

143 Currently reading Murray McDonald - "Scion". Okay so far. Lately I've started too many books and then either discarded them or just stopped reading them. The latter has happened when the story has dragged on for too long, an editor's job to tell the author to wrap it up there? Occasionally it has lost its urgency, flow or occasionally even the story.
Before Vietnam books on war or thrillers, had the good guys as regular joes. Nam meant that every 'hero' or 'vet' had to have had some horrifying moment, less than glorious, and left him a mental problem to deal with forever. In my experience, people like that would no longer be in a role involving good guys vs bad, cops, etc. They would be working in an office or construction or similar. Maybe I'm naive.

Posted by: Ciampino at February 11, 2024 09:56 AM (qfLjt)

144 I read 48 Laws when it first came out thinking it might be helpful in advancing my academic career. I gave it up about 1/3rd of the way through, repelled at the notion of so distorting ones ethics to succeed.

I guarantee that the one group that buys this book more that the rap music industry is Hill staff & congressional aides.

Posted by: Candidus at February 11, 2024 09:56 AM (V1yiu)

145 Muldoon, would a Kindle set to a larger font help?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 09:56 AM (PiwSw)

146 AOP, that's a certified emergency!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:57 AM (L4her)

147 Congratulations on the anniversary, Perfessor. You have done an admirable job.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 09:57 AM (1Tvzu)

148 Oof!!

oof = of

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 09:57 AM (991eG)

149 Thank you, Perfessor, for another thoughtful book thread.

Actually got some reading done last week. I first read the second story in James Bartlett's Swamp Yankee series, Cold Secrets. It was a fun read which is exactly what I was looking for.

I was listening to a podcast interview of author Nicholas Kotar who was talking about Russian fairy tales and his writings based on them. The Kindle version of first book in his Raven Son series is free on Amazon right now. I liked it and will go ahead and purchase the second book in the series.

I am also working my way through Jay Richard's Eat Fast Feast which recommends a keto diet as a way to make fasting easier, and improve your health in the process. Lent begins this Wednesday and I am miserable when I fast. I'm hoping Richard's strategies help make it easier.

Posted by: KatieFloyd at February 11, 2024 09:57 AM (1HVjA)

150 Laws of Power book sounds disturbing

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:51 AM (L4her)
---
Is the author the absolute ruler of some smallish nation or a billionaire? If not, his advice is worthless.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 09:57 AM (llXky)

151 . . . Afrika Korps soldiers encountering an angry genie in the desert . . .
Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024

***
I'd read a story like that in a second.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:58 AM (omVj0)

152 Congratulations on the anniversary, Perfessor. You have done an admirable job.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 09:57 AM (1Tvzu)

Seconded!

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 09:58 AM (tkR6S)

153 JTB - I have Foote's Civil War series in a box somewhere. I got about 2/3 of the way through the first book when life got in the way and I never picked it back up, though I plan to some day. I do recall being frustrated by some of his overly convoluted sentences that sometimes ran half the length of the page. It's like he objected to the simple declarative sentence with religious fervor.

Posted by: PabloD at February 11, 2024 09:59 AM (bBWBE)

154 The problem I run across with modern female authors (MFAs) is that everything is about relationships in some fashion. That has its place, but it should not be everything in a mystery novel or an SF tale. The other problem with MFAs is that many of them tell you what someone said, then spend a line or more telling you what the someone *meant*. Then another character replies, and we get told what she meant. Then . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:56 AM (omVj0)
---
When I was still active on facebook, I had 'friends of friends' who dabbled in writing novels, and it was all "here's my story about this quirky self-insert hero! Buy it and validate me!"

In the spirit of Christian fellowship, I replied to the announcement by noting that I also had written several novels, and maybe we could promote each other's work.

Silence.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 10:00 AM (llXky)

155 Two years already, Perfessor?

Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?

Congrats.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 10:00 AM (q3u5l)

156 I bought the "Dangerous Boofor Boys" for my young (10) nephew. His parents looked at like "What were you thinking??
http://tinyurl.com/yczwphd7

Goodreads says: "
Recapture Sunday afternoons and long sum
mer days. This is a wonderful collection of all things that make being young, or young at heart, fun." But the first review is, I suspect, by a feminazi who doesn't think that most boys tend to have interest that don't align with those of girls.

Yes. I know; I'm old school, from before smart phones

Posted by: JM in Ill -- Behold the Manchurian Candidate at February 11, 2024 10:00 AM (pyzA7)

157 Money-making opportunity for the Horde: a Bluetooth-enabled bookmark that pings your phone with a nag message if you have neglected a book too long.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

Oh, please, no. I'm already becoming a technological Luddite, and I probably have over a dozen books in various stages of reading. I keep a lot of books going at once; I'm definitely not a one book at a time reader.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 10:01 AM (1Tvzu)

158 Money-making opportunity for the Horde: a Bluetooth-enabled bookmark that pings your phone with a nag message if you have neglected a book too long.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 09:48 AM (tkR6S)
----

*goes stark raving mad from all the incessant pinging*

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 10:01 AM (+RQPJ)

159 Muldoon - R.C. is as good as they come on a lot of things. A few things, not so much.
You're a sharp guy. With him as with every one of "them," be a Berean.

Posted by: TeeJ at February 11, 2024 10:01 AM (o3xwr)

160 I've started reading The Canterbury Tales. It will be a long, slow read.

Posted by: Northernlurker at February 11, 2024 10:01 AM (zssUw)

161 I guarantee that the one group that buys this book more that the rap music industry is Hill staff & congressional aides.

Posted by: Candidus at February 11, 2024 09:56 AM (V1yiu)
---
The rappers read at a much higher grade level than the staffers, who all went to Ivy League schools. Just sayin'...

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 10:01 AM (llXky)

162 Totally off books, but if any of you have a fear of roller coasters, which is common, here's something to add to it. 14 Injured in Spain as tree falls on roller coaster.

Posted by: From about that Time at February 11, 2024 10:01 AM (4780s)

163 Berserker,

Sending you well wishes and prayer for your recovery.

Posted by: mpfs, Hey, where's my Sweetdick?! at February 11, 2024 10:02 AM (jROj9)

164 Oh, please, no. I'm already becoming a technological Luddite, and I probably have over a dozen books in various stages of reading. I keep a lot of books going at once; I'm definitely not a one book at a time reader.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 10:01 AM (1Tvzu)

Heh! I wouldn't buy one, either. But you know there are people who would.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 10:03 AM (tkR6S)

165 I’m reading “The Attack” by Kurt Schlichter that a few people here have commented on. Disturbing, and completely believable that it could actually happen. I liked how they got rid of Biden - no spoilers.

Posted by: Norrin Radd, sojourner of the spaceways at February 11, 2024 10:03 AM (hsWtj)

166 Congrats, Perfesser, on two years of meeting a deadline and delivering top-notch brain material.

Posted by: JM in Ill -- Behold the Manchurian Candidate at February 11, 2024 10:04 AM (pyzA7)

167 Congratulations on the anniversary, Perfessor. You have done an admirable job.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 09:57 AM (1Tvzu)

Seconded!
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 09:58 AM (tkR6S)

Thirded !

Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 10:04 AM (T4tVD)

168 I enjoy learning to draw and sketch with ink and graphite. Two books aimed at beginners that are proving very helpful: "Pen and Ink Drawing" by Alphonso Dunn and "Rendering In Pen and Ink" by Arthur Guptill. Dunn is a young, by my standards, artist and an excellent teacher. His YT channel is also excellent. The Guptil book was written around 1930 and is considered, deservedly, as a classic. Aside from the general material on tools and techniques, he provides hundreds of examples of classic pen and ink images and what makes them so effective.

Then I remembered a third book, "Learn To Draw Realistic Animals With Pen and Marker" by D. L. Miller. I've done a couple of the examples from this book and his technique works. Talent still helps but even I can use his approach with minimal hilarity.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 10:06 AM (zudum)

169 Muldoon, have you ever given the Lord of Spirits podcast a listen? It's at the intersection of metaphysical and nerdy that I really enjoy.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 10:06 AM (L4her)

170 I always have at least half a dozen books going at once. Who are these laser-focused robo-readers who can focus on one book to completion?!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 10:06 AM (+RQPJ)

171 Muldoon, would a Kindle set to a larger font help?
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes,

********

To a certain point, but hard to read longer works.
Six words to a page is tiring.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 10:07 AM (991eG)

172 ...How can I learn something from someone with a sparse record?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 09:04 AM (Angsy)

Eh, the basic tools of writing are the basic tools of writing.

I get the impression that what you are asking is: how do you write something that someone will read?

Or, how do you write a best seller?

And that involves well a lot that's beyond your control-

As i've mentioned before, I was shadow-banned by someone(s) at Amazon for a few years. Reviews would literally disappear from the page for "Wearing the Cat" if they were positive. Fortunately, that person seems to have moved on and now reviews are slowly trickling in. So, that's good.

My point (beyond whining) is that luck and time and place can define success. Do you think Stephen King would be as successful today if he wrote exactly the same bestsellers as he wrote in the 70s-80s? I don't.

Not that I think "WtC" would've been the next monster bestseller, however you write so that people will read what you've written.

The way I do that is to write the sort of novel that I would like to read. Those novels aren't being written.

(con't)

Posted by: naturalfake at February 11, 2024 10:07 AM (nFnyb)

173 Congratulations on the anniversary, Perfessor. You have done an admirable job.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 09:57 AM (1Tvzu)

Seconded!
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 09:58 AM (tkR6S)

Thirded !
Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 10:04 AM (T4tVD)

Fourthded!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 10:07 AM (+RQPJ)

174 I'd read a story like that in a second.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:58 AM (omVj0)
---
The problem is that in the current age, few people can pull it off. They'll try to subvert expectations, throw in some self-insert characters.

When the movie "Renfield" came out, the premise looked pretty funny, and in capable hands, it could have been a laugh riot, but apart from a few successful gags, the whole thing was labored, as if the writers knew there was funny stuff in there, but were afraid to bring it out because it might get them in trouble.

So I'm pretty sure any comedy about Nazis would be peppered with "of course they are bad people, and remind me of Trump."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 10:07 AM (llXky)

175 My kids used to laugh at me because things were smelly to me. I couldn't watch Seinfeld because Cramer smelled. I understand that it's not possible. Nevertheless it would drive me from the room.

Same same with Stephen King. He has an acrid, sour smell that I can't tolerate. I've seen and enjoyed movies of his works, most often of short stories. But the books themselves? Can't do it.

Posted by: Wenda at February 11, 2024 10:08 AM (IaGYs)

176 I always have at least half a dozen books going at once. Who are these laser-focused robo-readers who can focus on one book to completion?!
Posted by: All Hail Eris

For me, one-book-to-completion is when I have found an amazing author who really hits my sweet spot. Otherwise, right there with you AHE.

Posted by: Candidus at February 11, 2024 10:08 AM (V1yiu)

177 For Berserker

https://youtu.be/qMiB0zNRg5Y

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 10:08 AM (sNc8Y)

178 I always have at least half a dozen books going at once. Who are these laser-focused robo-readers who can focus on one book to completion?!
Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 10:06 AM (+RQPJ)
---
*raises hand*

I used to read multiple books at once, but since I've been tracking my reading more closely now I only read one at a time for the most part. I sometimes deviate and read a chapter or two in a nonfiction book, but not often.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 10:09 AM (BpYfr)

179 Wenda that sounds like synesthesia

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 10:09 AM (L4her)

180 Muldoon, have you ever given the Lord of Spirits podcast a listen? It's at the intersection of metaphysical and nerdy that I really enjoy.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 10:06 AM (L4her)
---
The first two years of it are awesome. Highly recommend. After that, they began to run out of material and it turned into a lecture on why Eastern Orthodox is right and everyone else is wrong, especially those dirty Catholics.

But the first two years are awesome.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 10:09 AM (llXky)

181 23 ... "The only thing I have been reading is ceiling tiles in the hospital. I had a cardiac catherization then sent straight to the hospital for bypass surgery. I love these nurses"

Beserker,

Our prayers for a quick and complete recovery are up. (Since my mom and most of her friends were all RNs, I'm sure they would have appreciated your sentiments.)

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 10:10 AM (zudum)

182 I read 'Burma Surgeon' a long time ago and it's a fascinating read. I also recall being amazed at those Burmese nurses, who, while all the White people were struggling and dying seemed to find it no chore at all and seemed to think it was nothing out of the ordinary!
"Oh yeah, just another day in the jungle. Tea?"
The contrast between the immense difficulties everyone else suffered, and the Burmese girls sort of finding it a... 'routine walk in a park' was... rather humbling.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:10 AM (43xH1)

183 My morning headache is still here
I might skip.mass

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 10:10 AM (L4her)

184 All you proto-authors out there in the Horde please remember: If you don't have anything significant to say, don't bother. I'm not saying it has to be profound, I just mean different from what's already out there. And yes, Beowulf in space counts, so does Jane Austen's Dune or - to venture away from shameless self-promotion - writing about Hollywood in the silent film era.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd
________________

My only quibble with this is that it applies to all of Naturalism, which at base really has nothing at all to say. Yet I still enjoy a lot of it. Conrad, Crane and Chekhov in particular.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at February 11, 2024 10:11 AM (Dm8we)

185 I read and can recommend "The Battle of Lake Erie: One Young American's Adventure in the War of 1812" by David Vining. The subject is off my beaten path, but I was intrigued because it involved Lake Erie (which I visited once, briefly) and a battle I had never heard of. A thin thread to be sure, but it lead to a well-told story of a famous naval battle as told by a 13-year-old midshipman, whose older brother commanded the ship.

I was prepared to be bored but the story told was a real page-turner and I could not put it down. The story deftly wove together the fierce battle engagement, interesting and likeable characters, true leadership on display at multiple levels, and the bravery of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. The detail of life aboard ship in our nation's early naval history added intriguing detail and enriched the story.

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at February 11, 2024 10:11 AM (a8Rgt)

186 Thanks for the larger image of the shelves, Perfessor. I see a number of editions that I owned at one time or another; lots of nice Simak (need to revisit him too...). Gotta ask -- is that a slightly worn copy of The Science Fiction Hall of Fame v.1 next to the second Legends volume?

Love looking at titles when people post pictures of their shelves. If I'm visiting someone I can't resist looking at what's on the shelves. Photos of writers' work spaces usually set my teeth on edge because you can seldom read the titles in the bookcases.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 10:11 AM (q3u5l)

187 My kids used to laugh at me because things were smelly to me. I couldn't watch Seinfeld because Cramer smelled. I understand that it's not possible. Nevertheless it would drive me from the room.

Same same with Stephen King. He has an acrid, sour smell that I can't tolerate. I've seen and enjoyed movies of his works, most often of short stories. But the books themselves? Can't do it.

Posted by: Wenda at February 11, 2024 10:08 AM (IaGYs)
---
This! I never thought of putting it that way, but that's exactly the repulsion I got from King's writing. It was like my eyes were being rubbed raw just seeing the words. I was physically repelled.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 10:11 AM (llXky)

188 139 Sad news. The coffee maker has died. I think the spray of acid onto its little circuit board just toasted its brain. Panel lights up, and shows random scrambled numbers, but heater won't power up. I will dig into it later, and replaced the digital timer with a toggle switch. In the meantime, I boiled water in a saucepan and poured over the basket, so I have coffee to drink.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 09:54 AM (tkR6S)

Sorry for your loss. Perhaps it's a model that you could pick up on Ebay inexpensively for parts.

Posted by: JM in Ill -- Behold the Manchurian Candidate at February 11, 2024 10:12 AM (dtHqC)

189 Perf, how do you track your reading?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 10:12 AM (+RQPJ)

190 If a basement is damp all the time it means it was not sealed properly. This problem an fixed (mostly) by coating the basement walls with tar and then painting over it with a good latex paint.

Posted by: vic at February 11, 2024 10:13 AM (A5THL)

191 King did not do this earlier in his career. There might be slight digs at Republicans, yes, but they were not front and center like in this book. It wouldn't be so bad if he set it up as an alternate timeline and gave Trump a different name, e.g., "President Davis." But it comes off as a lecture. What author was described as "trading his birthright for a pot of message"? This is like that.

[ . . . ]
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 09:22 AM (omVj0)[

there is a neologism that describes this: Schismogenesis
Defining yourself by what you oppose or hate, or creating an us v them system.
It happens a lot, I don't know if it is fear, or an attempt to create a community based on "predator pressure" holding it together.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 11, 2024 10:13 AM (D7oie)

192 Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 10:06 AM (zudum)

I've seen some of Alphonso Dunn's YT tutorials. He's a good teacher.

Do you think Guptil's book would help with drawing plants and flowers?

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 11, 2024 10:13 AM (nC+QA)

193 IF IT STILL gETS DAMP ET dehumidifier.

Posted by: vic at February 11, 2024 10:14 AM (A5THL)

194 "Instead, think of your bookcase as a wine cellar."

That is a brilliant way to describe how I regard my library.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 10:14 AM (zudum)

195 My only quibble with this is that it applies to all of Naturalism, which at base really has nothing at all to say. Yet I still enjoy a lot of it. Conrad, Crane and Chekhov in particular.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at February 11, 2024 10:11 AM (Dm8we)
---
But they did have things to say, and they also said it well. I mean, if you have superlative writing skill, that counts, and Conrad's lush descriptions of the vanished Far East are captivating.

Even if the purpose is just to recreate a moment in history, a sense of the unknown, that still counts.

That's a lot different from the current crop who live insulated lives and the only thing they "know" is their own neuroses.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 10:15 AM (llXky)

196 Good morning.
I don't think the author's sex has as much to do with the audience as the genre. I read a lot and a number of different genres but a lot of people have a more direct path. For example, I think a lot of women read romance pretty exclusively. When I look at the lists of romance books that the library buys, it is pretty lengthy. Books are usually short and huge number of female authors. I don't think many men read this genre.
With Sci-fi and mystery books, I don't think it matters much whether the author is male or female. Or Fantasy, unless it is paranormal fantasy which tends to lean into the romance genre.
I do not read non fiction or pure history or political books. I get enough of that on the internet but my guess is it leans to male authors as that is the prime audience.
Comments?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 11, 2024 10:15 AM (t/2Uw)

197 t turned into a lecture on why Eastern Orthodox is right and everyone else is wrong, especially those dirty Catholics.

But the first two years are awesome.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

They do bash all non-Orthodox, but genially, and I don't take it personally.
The more recent ones either are back to roots or I've become inured to the bashing.

Fr Stephen de Young also has a bible study lecture podcast "The Whole Council of God" that is pretty nerdy and enjoyable. It restarted a couple months ago and is still in Genesis 17 right now.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 10:15 AM (L4her)

198 It's very rare for me to read 2 books at a time, only in that case I have 2 books not in the same place so can read 1 then other.

Posted by: Skip at February 11, 2024 10:15 AM (fwDg9)

199 Books purchased this week:
'Slide Rule', Nevil Shute. Read a few pages, it's amazing. I'm however saving it for a plane ride or another situation where I can give it full attention.
'The Divine Wind', Inoguchi & Nakajima, kamikaze stuff in WWII. I didn't get it for the history but rather the transcribed letters, which are very insightful for a look at the mentality of that type of self-annihilation. I read the letters but will return to the book later to read the History part. I think I may have read it years ago, it seems familiar.
Both for $5 at a local antique mall; vintage paperbacks.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:16 AM (43xH1)

200 Sorry for your loss. Perhaps it's a model that you could pick up on Ebay inexpensively for parts.
Posted by: JM in Ill -- Behold the Manchurian Candidate at February 11, 2024 10:12 AM (dtHqC)

Naw, it's a Black and Decker from a yard sale nearly a decade ago. The coil got clogged with lime, and when trying to clear it with acid, a hose popped off inside, and sprayed the circuit boards. I did get it cleared, and ran through two rinses of water last night; thought I had it fixed. But I guess acid and digital electronics don't play nice together. Doh!

So it's either shitcan the electronics, and run the element with a toggle switch, or find another thrift shop coffee maker.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 10:16 AM (tkR6S)

201 Gotta ask -- is that a slightly worn copy of The Science Fiction Hall of Fame v.1 next to the second Legends volume?

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 10:11 AM (q3u5l)
----
Yep. Edited by Robert Silverberg.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 10:16 AM (BpYfr)

202 Wenda that sounds like synesthesia

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 10:09 AM (L4her)

Gesundheidt !

Posted by: JT at February 11, 2024 10:17 AM (T4tVD)

203 (con't)

I like serious novels written as comedies. I like novels where the characters change through their experiences and where other layers of the characters within are revealed as time goes by. I like to be surprised by a novels and not know where it leads the minute I start reading it. I like a novel that trusts my intelligence as a reader and doesn't over-explain or, God forbid, lay out the message in big bold print. I like a novel that wraps up cleanly and where everything makes sense.

Is that a formula for massive success? Probably not.
Or, maybe so.

i think being a writer is a lot like being an actor. You hope for tremendous success(a huge readership)
but the fact is that most actors and writers do not have anywhere near the success that the big dogs do.

You write because you have to or want to. But, if there was a surefire way to learn to write for massive success that could be taught...well, heck everybody would be talking those lessons.

YMMV.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 11, 2024 10:18 AM (nFnyb)

204
A basement is a terrible place for books. Damp willmkill them.
An attic would be better.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:54 AM (L4her)

I don't have one of those either.
Average humidity where I am is around 4%. Rain dries out here before it hits the ground sometimes.
I have a shed I built in the back yard that I intend on finally finishing (I do projects like books) someday that I'll organize into my Library.

*wife voice in my head just died laughing at "organize"

Posted by: Reforger at February 11, 2024 10:18 AM (nXfv5)

205 153
convoluted sentences that sometimes ran half the length of the page. It's like he objected to the simple declarative sentence with religious fervor.

Posted by: PabloD at February 11, 2024 09:59 AM (bBWBE)
----
At school for 'O' Levels we did Dickens "Pickwick Papers" and "Nicholas Nickleby", amongst other boring stuff. I described to the class, in the absence of teacher, that Dickens' sentences were paragraphs for mere mortals, and his paragraphs went on sometimes to a page.
(other boring stuff: HG Wells: "The History of Mr Polly" - the last book of Wells that I would choose.;
Arnold?: "Balder Dead";
Goldsmith: She Stoops To Conquer.
Did not like 'formal' English Lit studies as the language tended to be arkane and long-winded - scientists are terse, concise, and precise, the Journals demand it - PRINT SPACE IS PRECIOUS)

Posted by: Ciampino at February 11, 2024 10:18 AM (qfLjt)

206 Weirdly my biggest objection to Orthodox Christianity is that they don't have Latin prayers

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 10:18 AM (L4her)

207 I received a bit of surprise in the mail last week: "The Complete Aztec Ace," a collected edition of a comic book series from the early 80's. I ordered the book off of Kickstarter....back in 2018. I guess putting the book together was too big a project for the 1-man company that was attempting it...

Story-wise, the comic appears to be about a hero-time-traveler who is thwarting a villain-time-traveler's attempts to alter the timeline. With a lot of gimmicky and non-nonsensical future-tech to make things 'interesting.' (Imagine re-creating Dr. Who from scratch.) The title is justified because the hero seems to be descended from Aztecs, has his home base in pre-conquest Tenochtitlan, and the villain has an Aztec (or maybe Mayan) name.

I'm only a few issues in, but I think I'd enjoy the book more if it had a simpler premise. Oh, well, it's something different from the usual comic fare. The coloring is certainly different! Rather than the usual comic book cell shading, it looks like water colors applied directly to the original inked page...

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 11, 2024 10:19 AM (Lhaco)

208 Perf, how do you track your reading?
Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 10:12 AM (+RQPJ)
---
I use a spreadsheet. It lists all of my books arranged by how they are on the shelf. I then go in and flag which ones I've read and which ones are TBR. I have another flag for books "In Progress." I keep track of pages read for that book and flag it when it's done.

I've been using this system since March 2020 (during COVID) and it's worked out really well.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 10:19 AM (BpYfr)

209 They do bash all non-Orthodox, but genially, and I don't take it personally.
The more recent ones either are back to roots or I've become inured to the bashing.

Fr Stephen de Young also has a bible study lecture podcast "The Whole Council of God" that is pretty nerdy and enjoyable. It restarted a couple months ago and is still in Genesis 17 right now.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 10:15 AM (L4her)
---
The breaking point for me was a discussion of miracles and Father Stephen said that Orthodox Eucharistic miracles come from God, but Catholic ones are likely from the devil. Plus, the shows just weren't as fun.

But that initial run was brilliant!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 10:20 AM (llXky)

210 A.H., I'm glad I'm not alone!

vmom, I had never heard of synesthesia before and looked it up. Thank you. Interesting that in all the cross/sensory examples described, no one mentioned smell. But no doubt the patterns are similar.

Posted by: Wenda at February 11, 2024 10:20 AM (IaGYs)

211 182 I read 'Burma Surgeon' a long time ago and it's a fascinating read. I also recall being amazed at those Burmese nurses, who, while all the White people were struggling and dying seemed to find it no chore at all …
Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:10 AM (43xH1

Burma Surgeon Returns by Gordon S. Seagrave

http://tinyurl.com/24zvz33p another archive.org book

Posted by: 13times at February 11, 2024 10:20 AM (fVruI)

212 *wife voice in my head just died laughing at "organize"
Posted by: Reforger

It's not complex. Decide on what the biggest group of books is.
Have a collection for that group, shelve by Author*
Repeat for remainder of books.

*unless nonfiction, then you might have a different scheme - like Subject/Author

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 10:21 AM (L4her)

213 The first two years of it are awesome. Highly recommend. After that, they began to run out of material and it turned into a lecture on why Eastern Orthodox is right and everyone else is wrong, especially those dirty Catholics.

But the first two years are awesome.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd'

Well, the 'official' line is that Orthodox is right and the only true Church, but that nobody can really know God so if He chooses to accept someone in another faith, or no faith at all, it's not up to any human being. My take on that is the presentation can be made but don't get it in your individual head that your own perceptions are absolutely right. You're a human being and therefore fallible with questionable judgments and perceptions. It's not a good idea for, say, me, to declare that any other human being is going to Hell for not being Orthodox.
Obviously, this position is often not adhered to.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:22 AM (43xH1)

214 The breaking point for me was a discussion of miracles and Father Stephen said that Orthodox Eucharistic miracles come from God, but Catholic ones are likely from the devil.'

Da fuq? Yeah I'd have turned it off too that's absurd.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:23 AM (43xH1)

215 You write because you have to or want to. But, if there was a surefire way to learn to write for massive success that could be taught...well, heck everybody would be talking those lessons.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 11, 2024 10:18 AM (nFnyb)
---
There's also the fact that you write what you know. You can know something by experiencing it, or researching it, and this is a huge part of what makes the work interesting.

All other concerns aside, your book provided a snapshot of a vanished time and place, and you wrote with the confidence of someone who absolutely knew the ground.

Too many authors want to skip the "knowing" part, and it shows.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 10:24 AM (llXky)

216 To mark the 25th anniversary of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Disney is putting it back in theatres in May.

Die Jar Jar Maus die.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 11, 2024 10:25 AM (M2+H+)

217 The problem is that in the current age, few people can pull it off. They'll try to subvert expectations, throw in some self-insert characters.

When the movie "Renfield" came out, the premise looked pretty funny, and in capable hands, it could have been a laugh riot, but apart from a few successful gags, the whole thing was labored, as if the writers knew there was funny stuff in there, but were afraid to bring it out because it might get them in trouble.

So I'm pretty sure any comedy about Nazis would be peppered with "of course they are bad people, and remind me of Trump."
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024

***
I know; I'd probably be disappointed in a modern version of such a tale. My version, if I knew anything in depth about the Afrika Korps or wanted to research it, would be straight-ahead serious: "Professional soldiers in the desert, to save their own lives, must defeat a magical entity with centuries of experience manipulating humans."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 10:25 AM (omVj0)

218 Late in last week's comment-thread, we started discussing Barnes and Noble's Nook e-readers, and discovered that B&N was ending support to some of their older devices. No more software updates, and after this summer, the old devices won't be able to connect to the B&N webstore, or download new material. (But we'll still be able to side-load 3rd party files onto the device from our own computers.) B&N will still keep purchased books on our account, but we'll need a newer device to access them. Chalk this up as another data-point in the digital vs physical media debate.

I have an old Nook Simple Touch, and its still my device of choice for epub books I get off of Humble Bundle or the like. So its a little sad to see the device get sunsetted...

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 11, 2024 10:25 AM (Lhaco)

219 I do not read non fiction or pure history or political books. I get enough of that on the internet but my guess is it leans to male authors as that is the prime audience.
Comments?
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice)

I think in a very generalized way, that is correct. Male authors are heavily represented in history books, for example. But, some of the best history books I have read were written by women. If the writer is passionate about the subject, I don't think their sex matters, and it shouldn't matter to the reader, either.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 10:25 AM (1Tvzu)

220 I read the article on the plastic ban bag from the earlier thread and this part is hilarious

It shows that the plastic bag ban that we passed in this state in 2014 did not reduce the overall use of plastic. It actually resulted in a substantial increase in plastic

So, you know instead of just removing the last law that made things worse let's pass...another law.

This is like "The Old Lady that swallowed a Bat"

Posted by: 18-1 at February 11, 2024 10:26 AM (ibTVg)

221 Back.

Interesting. There are some subtle details that tell you about the story when you look close enough. The texture of the figure's skin is mottled. These are the gold coins that were seared into his flesh after he died. Now he's been resurrected by the sword he carries. His stance is one of weariness and exhaustion because he's compelled to fight champions again and again until he finally finds one that can kill him for good.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 09:29 AM (BpYfr)

That would mean something to a reader of previous tales in the series, I suppose. Seeing it for the first time, story unknown, just clues the reader in to what kind of story it is. That's what seems to be the gist of what I've watched and read. Fiction books need to have a cover with people in it so the reader knows what they're getting. It's an interesting subject.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 10:27 AM (Angsy)

222 AOP, my Mr Coffee machine was about $35 new and only the second one I had to buy in I don't know how many years. I grind my beans every morning and get a fine cup of coffee.
Just sayin....

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 11, 2024 10:28 AM (t/2Uw)

223 Concerning the need for actual men writers: oh yeah!! One of VERY MANY reasons I read so little modern literature and even academia is it is written by females for female audiences, chosen by female editors who think that anything masculine is a threat to their little world and the planet in general. I won't even get into that most of their books are just poorly written and boring.

If it wasn't for the few Moron women writers like Sgt. Mom, Sabrina Chase, and a couple of others (I enjoy all their books) my reading of women authors would have stopped with Shirley Jackson, Dorothy Sayers, Ayn Rand (sometimes), the Amelia Peabody series and the Brother Cadfael books.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 10:28 AM (zudum)

224 It's not a good idea for, say, me, to declare that any other human being is going to Hell for not being Orthodox.
Obviously, this position is often not adhered to.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:22 AM (43xH1)
---
It's especially fraught in a time when the various Patriarchs are declaring anathemas against each other over Ukraine.

It's also a one-way hate: the Catholic Church regards the Eastern Rite Churches as legitimate heirs to the apostolic succession and their sacraments are valid. It's now just a political/power thing.

In the spiritual world, the two faiths are identical. Sure, different folkways, culture, history and impacts, but the theology is the same, which is why I found the show so interesting.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 11, 2024 10:28 AM (llXky)

225 The breaking point for me was a discussion of miracles and Father Stephen said that Orthodox Eucharistic miracles come from God, but Catholic ones are likely from the devil.'

That's hilariously myopic and some high-powered Catholic hatred there.

I haven't heard the guy but that alone makes me suspect everything that he says is a large load of baloney.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 11, 2024 10:29 AM (nFnyb)

226 Went on an Arthur C. Clarke tear.

Reread most of his novels and short stories. With one exception, the surprisingly good Fountains of Paradise (except for the aliens), all were earlier than Imperial Earth.

Prelude to Space, written in 1951 was entertaining, with one massive howler in space launch technology.
I liked the novel Deep Range about whale ranching.
Against the Fall of Night and The City and the Stars are the same basic story, with some changes. Was mind-stretching in my youth. Not so much now. Both stories have a melancholy patina.

My favorite short story is "Rescue Party". As it is his first story sold, as Clarke wrote many more stories, he got exasperated when told this was a person's favorite of his.

For thoughtfulness I like "The Next Tenants."
For humor I like "Security Check" and "The Food of the Gods."

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 11, 2024 10:29 AM (u82oZ)

227 Happy anniversary, Perfessor!

Get well soon, Berserker and enjoy the attentions of the young nurses.

Not reading as much this week because reasons, but I finished The Hobbit. Of course, I loved it. I read a bit of it out loud to Mom and she started reading it herself, but she's been too tired even to read much due to anemia. Now I'm in the middle of a Sebastian St Cyr mystery. Up next on the pre-trip list is the Space Trilogy.

A male author that I thought wrote very convincingly in a female voice is Wally Lamb, in his first book She's Come Undone. Yes, it was an Oprah book club pick, but I love this book.

Posted by: screaming in digital at February 11, 2024 10:30 AM (1eY81)

228 Perfesser Squirrel, we use packing tape on book spines and bookmarks, but occasionally have to go looking for bookmarks carried off by cats.

Posted by: Eromero at February 11, 2024 10:30 AM (DXbAa)

229 Book ordered: A weird one. A guy, CD, did a thesis back in 1988 (!!!) on Organization Todt. I knew about it, it's been sitting in hard copy at his UK uni this entire time. I never sought it out, assumed it was some minor thing. CD recently retired, reclaimed his thesis, and bookified it: last year! He sat on this for 35 YEARS. I was very, very wrong about it, it's a WOW. This guy put an incredible effort into it. I've read excerpts from it and if the rest of it is similar, it's going to be a vital resource, right up there and along with the original OSS/CIA report from 1944-45, and the British Intelligence assessment of 1944. It has to do with research into a labor camp in the Balkans, I got it for that.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:31 AM (43xH1)

230 It's especially fraught in a time when the various Patriarchs are declaring anathemas against each other over Ukraine.

It is interesting that in Ukraine the government throws religious followers it believes are too favorable to "the enemy" in jail, whereas during the WoT we *brought* those same sort of people here and...put them on welfare.

Posted by: 18-1 at February 11, 2024 10:31 AM (ibTVg)

231 Is the modern expression "subvert expectations" a new phrase for "plot twist"? I suspect not, if the subversion in question involves having a black transvestite dwarf, say, show up as a good wizard just to display virtue points.

If a reader expects a lead character to live at the end of a story or film, and instead he dies (preferably heroically), that subverts expectations. Also known in simpler times as a "surprise."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 10:31 AM (omVj0)

232 >>vmom, I had never heard of synesthesia before and looked it up.

John Mayer claims to have synesthesia. Says he sees colors when he hears music.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 11, 2024 10:32 AM (LkLld)

233 "Professional soldiers in the desert, to save their own lives, must defeat a magical entity with centuries of experience manipulating humans."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 10:25 AM (omVj0)
---
Huh. This shows up a couple of times in the Malazan Books of the Fallen...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 10:33 AM (BpYfr)

234 ...occasionally have to go looking for bookmarks carried off by cats.
Posted by: Eromero at February 11, 2024 10:30 AM (DXbAa)
----

Minnie? She looks like a pistol!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 10:33 AM (+RQPJ)

235 153 ... "I have Foote's Civil War series in a box somewhere. I got about 2/3 of the way through the first book when life got in the way and I never picked it back up, though I plan to some day. I do recall being frustrated by some of his overly convoluted sentences that sometimes ran half the length of the page. It's like he objected to the simple declarative sentence with religious fervor."

PabloD,
I had to smile about your comment. It's true but I've read so much18th and 19th century literature, where endless sentences were the norm, I probably didn't notice Foote's use of them. Mrs. JTB says I am the world's biggest fan of the comma and semicolon, even in conversation.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 10:33 AM (zudum)

236 Women running the publishing industry is one reason that the science fiction section of the bookstore has been squeezed down to one shelf, in favor of fantasy, manga, and young adult fiction. Sci-fi used to be about bold ideas and bolder men tackling the problems and challenges of the future; it is now focused on the challenges of gender identity in a corporo-fascist state.

Posted by: Candidus at February 11, 2024 10:34 AM (V1yiu)

237 I think in a very generalized way, that is correct. Male authors are heavily represented in history books, for example. But, some of the best history books I have read were written by women. If the writer is passionate about the subject, I don't think their sex matters, and it shouldn't matter to the reader, either.
Posted by: Thomas Paine
This is the point though. I think the sex of the author doesn't really matter but how many male versus female authors has to do with the genre. Yes, there are female authors who write history and political,works but how many men write Romance novels. I so,etimes read 2 or 3 books in a week? How many people read 2 or 3 history books in a week.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 11, 2024 10:34 AM (t/2Uw)

238 B&N frosted me beyond belief when they bought Fictionwise and put an end to the ereader format and its DRM setup, which was the most user-friendly DRM imaginable. Want your book on a dozen devices? Cool. Want to share it with a friend? Cool. Just put in the unlock key -- which is the credit card number you used to buy the book. Ain't nobody gonna shotgun that out on the internet...

So annoyed by their elimination of Fictionwise that I went kindle instead.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 10:34 AM (q3u5l)

239 Went on an Arthur C. Clarke tear.

Reread most of his novels and short stories. With one exception, the surprisingly good Fountains of Paradise (except for the aliens), all were earlier than Imperial Earth.

Prelude to Space, written in 1951 was entertaining, with one massive howler in space launch technology.
I liked the novel Deep Range about whale ranching.
Against the Fall of Night and The City and the Stars are the same basic story, with some changes. Was mind-stretching in my youth. Not so much now. Both stories have a melancholy patina. . . .

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 11, 2024

***
His A Fall of Moondust was a disaster thriller years before movies like Poseidon Adventure. As far as I know, it was one of the only SF novels ever to appear in a Reader's Digest Condensed Books volume; those editors shunned SF and fantasy like smallpox. Later Michael Crichton's The Terminal Man showed up, but for decades they avoided the genre completely except for Clarke's book. Which is very exciting, by the way.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 10:35 AM (omVj0)

240 Prelude to Space, written in 1951 was entertaining, with one massive howler in space launch technology.
Posted by: NaCly Dog'

Ha! I'll seek that one out, I love outdated Space stuff

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:35 AM (43xH1)

241 A little time before church. I have a question. Does anyone have suggestions of fiction for a young man in his twenties that is an uplifting sort of novel
Full of "manly" virtues? My son reads lot of non fiction. I think he needs to broaden his reading a bit. I thought about Patrick O" Brian novels but am stumped now. For girls and exhibiting traits of courage, endurance and joy in simple things I would recommend the "Anne of Green Gables" series, but I can't give him that. Thanks so much,

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 11, 2024 10:35 AM (cmzZG)

242 Is the modern expression "subvert expectations" a new phrase for "plot twist"?

"Subvert expectations" == "shock the squares." Subverting expectations is expected now. Go figger.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 10:36 AM (sNc8Y)

243
John Mayer claims to have synesthesia. Says he sees colors when he hears music.
Posted by: JackStraw at February 11, 2024 10:32 AM (LkLld)

It’s only a number
It’s only a death
The soldier died in action
The telegram regrets

-Porcupine Tree, “Synesthesia”

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 10:37 AM (8sMut)

244 Prayers up for health and healing, Berserker! And prayers for God's comfort and strength for Mrs. B.

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at February 11, 2024 10:37 AM (a8Rgt)

245 Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Berserker. Husband went through a very similar process 5 years ago. (We had to wait 10 days between cath and surgery though. Be glad yours was immediate.

The blockages were caught early and so there was no damage to the heart--yay! Be sure and do cardiac rehab if you can.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at February 11, 2024 10:38 AM (FEVMW)

246 I finished "The Attack” by Kurt Schlichter yesterday. A somewhat different style for him, but if you've read any of his other stuff you can tell it's him. Snarky.

It is disturbing because it's entirely plausible. Maybe even likely.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at February 11, 2024 10:38 AM (Q4IgG)

247 So, three years into the worst administration on record and she still has to inject propaganda into it, despite the evidence of lived experience?
Posted by: All Hail Eris

I picked up a cheap three book set about a professor and his dog who solve mysteries. I knew it wasn't Pulitzer Prize material but I like dog stories and thought they'd be fun. About 1/4 way through the first and out of nowhere, TDS is inserted. I haven't been able to go back since.

I wondered if authors don't see that insulting half their audience doesn't make sense. Perhaps their editors require it so they can still eat lunch at the cool kids table. Or the authors may include it thinking it'll be easier to find a publisher.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 11, 2024 10:39 AM (FVME7)

248 Yes, there are female authors who write history and political,works but how many men write Romance novels.'

At least one man writes those Amish romances and does quite well. But it's not usual. I was once told by a guy, after reading some 'short fiction' I did, that I had discovered a specific genre: 'Romantic fiction for tough guys'.
I thought that was an interesting assessment...

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:39 AM (43xH1)

249 In the "Saint Tommy" books the main character perceives a horrible odor any time he is in the vicinity of a supernaturally evil antagonist.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 11, 2024 10:39 AM (llON8)

250 192 ... "Do you think Guptil's book would help with drawing plants and flowers?"

Good morning, Polliwog,

The Guptil book shows examples of plants and flowers but mostly as parts of a landscape. The Dunn book, and his follow-on workbook, would probably be more helpful. And I know there are a number of YT videos about ink drawing for plants, especially mushrooms for some reason.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 10:39 AM (zudum)

251 That would mean something to a reader of previous tales in the series, I suppose. Seeing it for the first time, story unknown, just clues the reader in to what kind of story it is. That's what seems to be the gist of what I've watched and read. Fiction books need to have a cover with people in it so the reader knows what they're getting. It's an interesting subject.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 10:27 AM (Angsy)
---
The next book in the series, Toll the Hounds, has an image of a glowing, snarling hellhound on the cover.

I've noticed that a lot of modern covers tend to be expressions of abstract art that don't tell you anything about the story inside at all.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 10:39 AM (BpYfr)

252 The 48 rules...
As are many things in this life, it is a perversion of what God wants. Scripture says, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." This book seems to say, "Be a wolf, be a serpent".

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at February 11, 2024 10:40 AM (ynpvh)

253 John Mayer claims to have synesthesia. Says he sees colors when he hears music.
Posted by: JackStraw

He's a racist!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 11, 2024 10:40 AM (FVME7)

254 The outdated tech in classic sci fi doesn't bother me; I just imagine an alternate retro-future.

The personal portable computer and communications link we average joes and janes carry in our pocket really is...Astounding.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 10:40 AM (+RQPJ)

255 Fenelon:

Kipling?

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 10:40 AM (q3u5l)

256 Bought naturalfake's book Wearing the Cat, which is on deck.

Also on deck, are The Devil's Horsemen : The Mongol Invasion of Europe by James Chambers and Great True Spy Stories
by Allen W. Dulles.

Have a great day, everyone.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 11, 2024 10:41 AM (u82oZ)

257 This book seems to say, "Be a wolf, be a serpent".
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia)

And eat the lambs and doves.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 11, 2024 10:41 AM (FVME7)

258 62 Totally off books, but if any of you have a fear of roller coasters, which is common, here's something to add to it. 14 Injured in Spain as tree falls on roller coaster.
Posted by: From about that Time at February 11, 2024 10:01 AM (4780s)

Why do people spend their hard earned money to undergo negative feelings (like being scared)?

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 10:41 AM (8sMut)

259 it's either shitcan the electronics, and run the element with a toggle switch, or find another thrift shop coffee maker.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 10:16 AM (tkR6S

There are some things in this life that are just not worth fiddly fucking around with. Coffee is high on the list
Lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 11, 2024 10:41 AM (5Btku)

260 I'll give another plug for the Writer Dojo podcast.
Both hosts are male.
They talk about very practical stuff.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 09:51 AM (L4her)

I'm a reader and a watcher, vmom. I can't sit still to listen to audio alone.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 10:41 AM (Angsy)

261 >>He's a racist!

The man escaped Taylor Swift. He's paid for whatever crimes he's committed.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 11, 2024 10:42 AM (LkLld)

262 Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 11, 2024 09:12 AM (5Btku)

Prayers for healing, B-D

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 11, 2024 10:42 AM (cmzZG)

263 Yes, there are female authors who write history and political,works but how many men write Romance novels. I so,etimes read 2 or 3 books in a week? How many people read 2 or 3 history books in a week.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice)

I'm now wondering how many male authors use a female pseudonym to sell romance books? It is interesting to think about, though. Why did J K Rowling use only her initials? To hide she was a woman at first? And why use another name for her new books? Maybe it is indeed a marketing thing.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 10:44 AM (qWCcc)

264 of novel
Full of "manly" virtues? My son reads lot of non fiction. I think he needs to broaden his reading a bit. I thought about Patrick O" Brian novels but am stumped now.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke'

I recall liking 'Life With Father', it was a decent book about the son's relationship with his dad. Not a novel but well-written. Nobody in it is perfect, but it's got some good points in it.
My go-to is 'Marine At War', Russell Davis, but that's not a novel and it's extraordinarily brutal and violent. WWII Pacific.
Let me think.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:44 AM (43xH1)

265 Read The Greek East and the Latin West several years ago.

All I remember now is something, something, filioque clause.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at February 11, 2024 10:44 AM (Dm8we)

266 Sigh ... sick this week with the seasonal flu, so not reading much.
I'll throw this out to the collected memory of the Horde - there was a YA novel from the 1930s that my mother had as one of her favorites when she was a youngling. The book itself probably burned with their retirement house in the Paradise Mt. Fire in 2003, and I cannot remember the author or the title ... but it was a YA mystery, set in the back-country of Southern California, near the Mexican border. The main character was a boy named Billy Deane, his family had a small rancho, and they were hosting his girl cousin from the city. There was a mystery about a spring which watered the ranch suddenly going dry, a cave in the back country hills which was a hiding place for cross-border smugglers. Billy had a friend from the local Indian reservation, and at some point he rescued the grandson of the local Indian leader from being trampled at rodeo. Does this ring any bells for the Horde?

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at February 11, 2024 10:44 AM (xnmPy)

267 The personal portable computer and communications link we average joes and janes carry in our pocket really is...Astounding.

Imagine telling the average person in the 60s that we'd have a device in the future that would give you direct access to most of human knowledge and the ability to instantly communicate with most people around the globe and we mostly use it to...watch cat videos and see the vacation pictures of our acquaintances...

Posted by: 18-1 at February 11, 2024 10:45 AM (ibTVg)

268 The outdated tech in classic sci fi doesn't bother me; I just imagine an alternate retro-future.

The personal portable computer and communications link we average joes and janes carry in our pocket really is...Astounding.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 10:40 AM (+RQPJ)

It's also more or less murdered a lot of the old-style mysteries and thrillers even SF..

Beyond totally ignoring the cellphone as a thing, which surprisingly some do.

Most thrillers/etc these days have to come up sith some phony-baloney reason the phone was left behind or forgotten or "out of range"(hard to do, man!) or out of power/battery or broken.

Instant universal communication is a thing, people!

Posted by: naturalfake at February 11, 2024 10:45 AM (nFnyb)

269 I've noticed that a lot of modern covers tend to be expressions of abstract art that don't tell you anything about the story inside at all.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel'

"SO?"

Posted by: 1960s Science Fiction Paperbacks at February 11, 2024 10:46 AM (43xH1)

270
I've noticed that a lot of modern covers tend to be expressions of abstract art that don't tell you anything about the story inside at all.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024

***
It's not new, though. Ballantine Books used a lot of abstract compositions on the covers of its SF and fantasy books in the '60s and '70s. Maybe they thought they were capturing the acid-dropping crowd with that?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 10:46 AM (omVj0)

271 Finished two! books this week. The Confessions of Felix Krull Confidence Man by Thomas Mann. Mostly meh but funny in places and an easier rad than any other Thomas Mann I have attempted. And a reread of The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. That was every bit as good as I remembered. Apparently I'm going all in on war for awhile as their successors are a biograph of Pershing and the first book of Ian Toll's WWII in the Pacific trilogy.

Posted by: who knew at February 11, 2024 10:47 AM (4I7VG)

272 Yeah I had the cath. 2 arteries were 100% blocked. The Widow maker artery was 95 and a 4th one was 80, so I had a quad. The hospital is great, staff is great. The nurses are on a whole different level. Mostly young but very good. I got here Tuesday. I'm still in icu, but might be home in a few days. Not in a rush, my room is a starship. 60 inch TV, and a touch pad that controls everything from the shades to lighting, to heat. Real nice.
.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads

May you have buxom, blonde nurses for bath time. Be well, sir.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at February 11, 2024 10:47 AM (R4t5M)

273 A little time before church. I have a question. Does anyone have suggestions of fiction for a young man in his twenties that is an uplifting sort of novel
Full of "manly" virtues? My son reads lot of non fiction. I think he needs to broaden his reading a bit. I thought about Patrick O" Brian novels but am stumped now. For girls and exhibiting traits of courage, endurance and joy in simple things I would recommend the "Anne of Green Gables" series, but I can't give him that. Thanks so much,
Posted by: FenelonSpoke

I think the Hornblower series is excellent in this regard.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 10:47 AM (qWCcc)

274 Bought naturalfake's book Wearing the Cat, which is on deck.

Also on deck, are The Devil's Horsemen : The Mongol Invasion of Europe by James Chambers and Great True Spy Stories
by Allen W. Dulles.

Have a great day, everyone.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 11, 2024 10:41 AM (u82oZ)

Thanks, Salty! i hope you enjoy it.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 11, 2024 10:48 AM (nFnyb)

275 Hope you feel better soon Sgt. Mom!

I have recently been on a kick of reading your work. Chronicles of Luna City, Lone Star Sons and sundry others. You write some excellent stories, thank you!

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at February 11, 2024 10:48 AM (jjfDF)

276 Fenelonspoke, possibly Zane Grey?
Not all of his work is stereotyped Westerns. I read a lot of those and they appear in my memory as featuring more or less upright guys.

Or, you know, any of the 'Lonestar' paperbacks, those are good too.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:49 AM (43xH1)

277 Bers, prayers up for a smooth recovery and no further complications. Hope Mrs B and the rest of the family are ok too.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 11, 2024 10:49 AM (llON8)

278 Why did J K Rowling use only her initials? To hide she was a woman at first? And why use another name for her new books? Maybe it is indeed a marketing thing.

My understanding is that she started the Cormorant Strike books under a pseudonym because she specifically wanted them to succeed on their own merit and not on her name.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 10:50 AM (sNc8Y)

279 Die Jar Jar Maus die.
Posted by: Anna Puma

Didja see Maus Haus is doing a female Pirates of the Caribbean? I guess they figured it was time to destroy another IP.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 11, 2024 10:50 AM (FVME7)

280 Ballantine and Berkley did a lot of abstract covers -- believe Richard Powers was the guy who did many of them. Some of those are still among my favorite book covers ever. A number of the covers for the Ace Science Fiction Specials leaned that way too; Leo & Diane Dillon did those (their cover for the original publication of LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness is one of the loveliest in that series).

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 10:51 AM (q3u5l)

281 My eyes are affected by music too. I wouldn't describe it as "seeing colors" but alone with the bass turned up I can close my eyes and "see" the music. More like a 3d digital sort of rendition.
I enjoy it. It's the reason I listen so much and for years have tried to play.

Posted by: Reforger at February 11, 2024 10:51 AM (nXfv5)

282 I can't sit still to listen to audio alone.
Posted by: OrangeEnt

I listen to stuff while doing chores or walking

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 10:52 AM (L4her)

283 273 A little time before church. I have a question. Does anyone have suggestions of fiction for a young man in his twenties that is an uplifting sort of novel
Full of "manly" virtues? My son reads lot of non fiction. I think he needs to broaden his reading a bit. I thought about Patrick O" Brian novels but am stumped now. For girls and exhibiting traits of courage, endurance and joy in simple things I would recommend the "Anne of Green Gables" series, but I can't give him that. Thanks so much,
Posted by: FenelonSpoke

I think the Hornblower series is excellent in this regard.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 11, 2024 10:47 AM (qWCcc)

Also I would recommend the first series of the Tarzan books by ERB.

Posted by: vic at February 11, 2024 10:52 AM (A5THL)

284 >>> 279 Die Jar Jar Maus die.
Posted by: Anna Puma

Didja see Maus Haus is doing a female Pirates of the Caribbean? I guess they figured it was time to destroy another IP.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 11, 2024 10:50 AM (FVME7)

"It worked *great* for Ghostbusters!" -- Boob Iger, SOOOOPER genius

(also, I'm stealing Jar Jar Maus)

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 11, 2024 10:52 AM (llON8)

285 AOP, I got a combination regular coffee maker/Keurig machine. Running for three years now, love it. So I can make a little or a lot.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 10:53 AM (8sMut)

286 Oh, at the thrift store found two of those horrible tourist photo-booklets people buy at gift shops, these from likely the early 1970s going by the cars in the photos. Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
They've got those garish Sears Catalog colors and are quite the artifacts!

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:53 AM (43xH1)

287 Fenelonspoke, possibly Zane Grey?
Not all of his work is stereotyped Westerns. I read a lot of those and they appear in my memory as featuring more or less upright guys.

Or, you know, any of the 'Lonestar' paperbacks, those are good too.
Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024

***
Maybe Louis L'Amour? His Hondo is great, and he had a modern (ca. 1990) fantasy thriller set in the West called The Haunted Mesa.

David Westheimer's Von Ryan's Express would be a good choice, too!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 10:53 AM (omVj0)

288 Sgt. Mom, can I ask in a fb group that is pretty good with old books?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 10:54 AM (L4her)

289 www.richardmpowers.com

There is a whole website of his wild covers. It's a bit overwhelming all at once...

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:54 AM (43xH1)

290 Also I would recommend the first series of the Tarzan books by ERB.
Posted by: vic at February 11, 2024

***
Books One and Six, focusing on Tarzan's youth in the jungle, and a later one called Tarzan and the City of Gold, are all good choices.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 10:54 AM (omVj0)

291 Had a thought about pseudonyms.
A lot of authors use pseudonyms when they write in a different genre. It's like creating a new audience for their writing. J.K. Rowling wanted a different audience for her Cormoran Strike books than maybe read her Harry Potter books. For the record, I enjoyed both but they are really different. Other point, she writes the Strike character extremely well even though she is a woman.
The point I have been trying to make is that statement about needing more male authors is bullshit. Good writers write great books regardless of whether they are male or female. The audience they attract may not be evenly divided.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 11, 2024 10:54 AM (t/2Uw)

292 Leo & Diane Dillon
---

I Gurgled their book covers and there were many I recognized or had. Great stuff!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 10:55 AM (+RQPJ)

293 Fenelonspoke, possibly Zane Grey?
Not all of his work is stereotyped Westerns. I read a lot of those and they appear in my memory as featuring more or less upright guys.

Or, you know, any of the 'Lonestar' paperbacks, those are good too.
Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:49 AM (43xH1)

I've read two Zane Grey. One was set in Australia and the other was set in the US western frontier, when the western frontier was Ohio and Michigan.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 11, 2024 10:55 AM (nC+QA)

294 41 ... "Why do some adults think children want simple drawings? "

AHE,
I agree. I loved looking at complicated drawings as a kid. It was fun trying to follow all the details whether a Rube Goldberg design or the rigging on a sailing ship. The fact that I couldn't draw like that (and still can't) didn't stop my interest. If I had a youngster on my lap looking through the Brambly Hedge stories, I bet we would both get lost following all the details in her illustrations.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 10:56 AM (zudum)

295 Berserker,
Glad you got treated quickly.
Hope for speedy recovery.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at February 11, 2024 10:56 AM (3uc2w)

296 Didja see Maus Haus is doing a female Pirates of the Caribbean? I guess they figured it was time to destroy another IP.

Expectations subverted! Nah, not really.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 10:56 AM (sNc8Y)

297 Fenelon,

I'll second Wolfus' Louis L'Amour recommendation.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 10:57 AM (q3u5l)

298 Leo & Diane Dillon did those (their cover for the original publication of LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness is one of the loveliest in that series).
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024

***
Is that the one with the snowy landscape of the planet at night, with an enormous ice sculpture of male/female faces (the novel's main theme) rearing up like an Easter Island statue?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 10:57 AM (omVj0)

299 Fenelon,

And some of Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels might work too.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 10:58 AM (q3u5l)

300 Those R. Powers covers are really cool.

Posted by: 13times at February 11, 2024 10:59 AM (L8KBT)

301 vmom, I had never heard of synesthesia before and looked it up. Thank you. Interesting that in all the cross/sensory examples described, no one mentioned smell. But no doubt the patterns are similar.
Posted by: Wenda at February 11, 2024 10:20 AM (IaGYs)

I have something similar, different writers have different tactile feelings for me, and it is very odd to experience if I dwell on it.
H. Bean Piper is very different from Terry Pratchett, for example, and as Pratchett got sicker it changed as well.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 11, 2024 11:01 AM (D7oie)

302 JackStraw - I'll surely mess up the numbers and Don know a hertz from kz but...
Was watching an interview with Skunk Baxter who along with being a great guitarist is also a "rocket scientist" electronics wise. Self taught type.
He was talking about tones and said something along the lines of if you take 440hz (a standard tuning thing) and multiply it times 1X10^23 you get the color green.

Posted by: TeeJ at February 11, 2024 11:01 AM (o3xwr)

303 Oh, also at the thrift store, a book that... well, it's a copy of The Little, Brown Handbook, the longstanding writer's guide to structuring English. Naturally I've never owned a copy, all my writing is based on whatever the formidable Mrs. Brauch hammered into my head in First Grade English.
In this edition it begins with 'Critical Ideas' and, I am not making this up, spends a beginning entire chapter 'deconstructing' Thomas Sowell, making every possible effort to shred his arguments, statements, and essentially dismiss and destroy him as an author and thinker. It's demented. I had no idea basic writing/grammar 'textbooks' were doing this kind of shit.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:01 AM (43xH1)

304 Umm... the 'Lonestar' suggestion was a joke...

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:02 AM (43xH1)

305 Burma Surgeon Returns by Gordon S. Seagrave

http://tinyurl.com/24zvz33p another archive.org book
Posted by: 13times at February 11, 2024 10:20 AM (fVruI)

I found out that Dr. Seagrave was jailed by the Burmese government for aiding the Karens who were in rebellion against the Burmese after the war. He refused to run away though he had the option to do so.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 11, 2024 11:03 AM (D7oie)

306 55 I read a fluffy bit of pop lit the other day and the author had to ruin everything by adding stuff like characters reminiscing on the heady day of Biden's victory and everyone in their Brooklyn neighborhood cheering

Eris, who is the author, that I may avoid her

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 11:03 AM (L4her)

307 Think Jill Biden has "Power of Attorney"?...She should.

Posted by: BignJames at February 11, 2024 11:03 AM (AwYPR)

308 Fen, serious question. Why does it have to be "uplifting"? Helping someone learn that reading for pure enjoyment is wonderful. Maybe enthralling, mysterious, fantastical is the way to go.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 11, 2024 11:03 AM (t/2Uw)

309 Wolfus, re cover for LeGuin's LHoD:

Nope. I never got into the tiny url stuff, but if you search for LeGuin at isfdb.org and pull up the info for the Ace 1969 edition, you should get an option to see that cover (maybe all covers) for LHoD.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 11:04 AM (q3u5l)

310 Reminiscent oof Candide - living in the best of all possible worlds.
Posted by: Muldoon

My life's goal is to eat the best of all possible pizzas.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 11, 2024 11:04 AM (FVME7)

311
In case you want to know why male authors are disappearing, here's a look at the machinery of today's publishing industry.

https://youtu.be/3gK1SBY4VIs?si

Posted by: Blobster at February 11, 2024 11:04 AM (ny95y)

312 Fenelon,

And some of Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels might work too.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024

***
Yes! A big part of Spenser's characterization has to do with honorable behavior, even though he's in a business (private eye) where that is often dangerous to do. I'd recommend the earlier ones especially. And Parker wrote a one-off, a "Young Spenser" YA novel, in which we get to see him as a young teen in Wyoming and see the things that formed him (many mentioned in the main books over the years). It's called Chasing the Bear.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 11:04 AM (omVj0)

313 just finished.."Deep River Jim's Wilderness Trail Book", paperback outdoor adventure/howto of tracking, trailing, camping, hunting, fishing, trapping, survival, animal identification, habits...and recipes.
Pub.1937, 320pgs, terribly foxed, crumbling paper, falling apart. Found in a box of my fathers childhood stuff. Complete with notes, underlining, bent corners and glued in additions from his 6-8yo former self. Reading it and following his "Tracks" opened a window into the 92yo man that lives upstairs.
It could NOT have been written by a woman, or girl...though todays girls would be well served to read it. Sadly not even todays Boy's are likely to ever be exposed to such a thing. To the best of my recollection females never even get a mention, maybe/perhaps the term "Mother" might have been used...if so it was only in an "asking permission to borrow from her kitchen/sewing kit" sort of way. The final chapters are about how to join/start a "Pioneers Club", including the national chapter started by the author, how to achieve varying "Ranks" winning eagle feathers and arrowheads, similar to the Boy Scouts(of olde).

Posted by: birdog at February 11, 2024 11:04 AM (SFGDK)

314 I think some writers use different pseudonyms for different styles/audiences. A "name" that would appeal to them. Or a "name" that just sounds like it would write the the type of book they're selling.

Plus it keeps the nut jobs at bay.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at February 11, 2024 11:05 AM (Q4IgG)

315 It's the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dragon. In honor of that, and for no other reason except entertainment, I'll get out a copy of "Hour of the Dragon" by Robert E. Howard. It's his only Conan novel-length story and one of my favorites.

Posted by: JTB at February 11, 2024 11:05 AM (zudum)

316 Dr. Seagrave was jailed by the Burmese government for aiding the Karens'

I'd jail him too! Lock him up and throw away the key!

Oh wait wrong Karens.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:06 AM (43xH1)

317 Fenelon, probably preaching to the choir here but he could do worse than Lonesome Dove.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 11, 2024 11:08 AM (FVME7)

318 Didja see Maus Haus is doing a female Pirates of the Caribbean? I guess they figured it was time to destroy another IP.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

I've said this elsewhere, and I'm going to keep saying it until it's a thing: Pirates of the Carribean with a female lead is just Cutthroat Island.

...Which was not a terrible movie. Sure, it wasn't great, but it wasn't kill-an-entire-studio terrible...

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 11, 2024 11:08 AM (Lhaco)

319 Interesting. There are some subtle details that tell you about the story when you look close enough. The texture of the figure's skin is mottled. These are the gold coins that were seared into his flesh after he died. Now he's been resurrected by the sword he carries. His stance is one of weariness and exhaustion because he's compelled to fight champions again and again until he finally finds one that can kill him for good.
------
While I am re-reading the series on Kindle, I do own the entire series in hardcover. My book has Silchas Ruin and his group on the cover. I believe mine is a SF&F Club version from 2007. They were printed a bit smaller and on cheaper paper. They were half the price of most hardcovers.

Posted by: EyeofSauron at February 11, 2024 11:08 AM (u0bih)

320 289 www.richardmpowers.com

There is a whole website of his wild covers. It's a bit overwhelming all at once...
Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:54 AM (43xH1)

I love those book covers, brings back memories of a true golden age of sci-fi literature. Wish I had some of those still!

Another of my favorite cover artists was Frank Kelly Freas; a cover of his from "Astounding Science Fiction" became internationally famous when Queen used it as an album cover for "News of the World."
http://tinyurl.com/bdhj5kxm

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 11, 2024 11:08 AM (S6gqv)

321 He was talking about tones and said something along the lines of if you take 440hz (a standard tuning thing) and multiply it times 1X10^23 you get the color green.

And did he explain the connection between compression waves in the air (sound) and electromagnetic waves in the air (radio and light) other than they are both measured in cycles per second? This strikes me as something that we're expected to take as meaningful just because a smart person said it.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 11:09 AM (sNc8Y)

322 120 @88 - Catch
Never heard of that one or them. Post 1980?
The metal that started in earnest around then ran me off the radio.
Posted by: TeeJ at February 11, 2024 09:49 AM (o3xwr)

2009. I managed to see them live in 2013 in the Netherlands and hung out with the band, even. Great group of guys and gal. Marcela Bovio, the lead vocalist, is extremely down to earth.

Give them a spin sometime.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 11:09 AM (8sMut)

323 Wolfus, re cover for LeGuin's LHoD:

Nope. I never got into the tiny url stuff, but if you search for LeGuin at isfdb.org and pull up the info for the Ace 1969 edition, you should get an option to see that cover (maybe all covers) for LHoD.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024

***
Thanks, JSG. I dug down and found the cover I had in mind was by one Alex Ebel ca. 1975.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 11:09 AM (omVj0)

324 Sigh, Don should be don't

Posted by: TeeJ at February 11, 2024 11:09 AM (o3xwr)

325 We interrupt the Sunday Morning Book Thread with an important Sunday Morning Book Thread update...

I'm now 10% of the way through Malazan Book of the Fallen 8 - Toll the Hounds. So far, not much has happened.

Only 1,142 pages left to go...

Now back to your usual Sunday Morning Book Thread shenanigans.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 11, 2024 11:10 AM (BpYfr)

326 Synesthesia is a theme in the book All the Light We Cannot See and at the back of this fiction book the author mentions a non-fiction book about a blind member of the French resistance that inspired the creation of the protagonist in his book.

I forget the name of the book, but found a copy of it at the library- what luck!

Posted by: 13times at February 11, 2024 11:10 AM (Df1rq)

327 I read a fluffy bit of pop lit the other day and the author had to ruin everything by adding stuff like characters reminiscing on the heady day of Biden's victory and everyone in their Brooklyn neighborhood cheering. I checked the pub date and it was 2023. So, three years into the worst administration on record and she still has to inject propaganda into it, despite the evidence of lived experience?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 09:29 AM (+RQPJ)

It probably wasn't that kind of book, but-

Wow! Talk about the author missing a low, slow pitch.

That heady moment, which could have been described ecstatically, should also have been the moment when everything around the character starts to fail. Irony and all that.

It doesn't even have to be spelled out or political. Just an ironic introduction to life as it's actually been led the last 3+ years.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 11, 2024 11:11 AM (nFnyb)

328 >>JackStraw - I'll surely mess up the numbers and Don know a hertz from kz but...
Was watching an interview with Skunk Baxter who along with being a great guitarist is also a "rocket scientist" electronics wise. Self taught type.
He was talking about tones and said something along the lines of if you take 440hz (a standard tuning thing) and multiply it times 1X10^23 you get the color green.

Skunk is one of the most interesting guys in rock to me. Clearly very intelligent and talented. A lot of rockers are cement heads but there are some very smart people in the mix as well.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 11, 2024 11:11 AM (LkLld)

329 enelon, probably preaching to the choir here but he could do worse than Lonesome Dove.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 11, 2024

***
True. Amazing how many Westerns get recommended when the criterion is "manly/honorable behavior."

Jack Schaefer's Shane and his short story "Sergeant Houck" should also be on that list.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 11:11 AM (omVj0)

330 Ha! I'll seek that one out, I love outdated Space stuff
Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:35 AM (43xH1)

You might want to read Willy Ley then. He wrote about rockets and was the popular authority on space travel for a while. He had an article in Astounding

Posted by: Kindltot at February 11, 2024 11:12 AM (D7oie)

331 Fen:

I've talked to more than a few guys who near-revered Travis McGee in the John D. MacDonald novels, saying the characterization really had an effect on them, about those so-elusive lessons on 'how to be a man'.

Worth a look, I guess?

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:12 AM (43xH1)

332 Wolfus,

The Dillon cover for LHoD can also be seen at
https://biblioklept.org/tag/leo-and-diane-dillon/

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 11:12 AM (q3u5l)

333 There are some things in this life that are just not worth fiddly fucking around with. Coffee is high on the list
Lol
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 11, 2024 10:41 AM (5Btku)

I will not let this machine defeat me!

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 11:13 AM (tkR6S)

334 I forget the name of the book, but found a copy of it at the library- what luck!

Posted by: 13times at February 11, 2024 11:10 AM (Df1rq)

Stop that....I'm easily confused.

Posted by: BignJames at February 11, 2024 11:13 AM (AwYPR)

335 You might want to read Willy Ley then. He wrote about rockets and was the popular authority on space travel for a while. He had an article in Astounding
Posted by: Kindltot'

Already have a bunch of his stuff! I loaded up on Ancient Space History for that SF book.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:14 AM (43xH1)

336 I will not let this machine defeat me!
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon'

Studebaker engine swap?

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:14 AM (43xH1)

337 Fen, serious question. Why does it have to be "uplifting"? Helping someone learn that reading for pure enjoyment is wonderful. Maybe enthralling, mysterious, fantastical is the way to go.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 11, 2024

***
If "fantastical" is on the table, then Watership Down is one of the greats. A thriller laced with heroic (and villainous) actions.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 11:14 AM (omVj0)

338 I don't think the Parker Spenser books are all that great. Yes, I read them but mostly as filler. There are way better YA authors. I'd recommend Robin Hobb, James Islington, Patrick Rothfuss. Coming of age books with strong male characters. Even Harry Potter. Rowling, Hobb, Rothfuss all recommended to me by my son by the way. He is an avid reader and a conservative. I thoroughly enjoyed them all.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 11, 2024 11:15 AM (t/2Uw)

339 Wolfus,

The Dillon cover for LHoD can also be seen at
https://biblioklept.org/tag/leo-and-diane-dillon/

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024

***
A good example of the "abstract art on SF book covers" we mentioned earlier!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 11:16 AM (omVj0)

340 Oh, most dangerous book I've ever owned?

Improvised Munitions Handbook, purchased when I was 12. I'm astonished I survived that one.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:16 AM (43xH1)

341 The final chapters are about how to join/start a "Pioneers Club", including the national chapter started by the author, how to achieve varying "Ranks" winning eagle feathers and arrowheads, similar to the Boy Scouts(of olde).
Posted by: birdog at February 11, 2024 11:04 AM (SFGDK)

I inherited my grand-mother-in-law's 1930's scout book. I want to say it's a girl scout but I'm not sure. Goes into almost all pioneer level skills. Lots of social behaviour stuff too.
I need to find that book.

Posted by: Reforger at February 11, 2024 11:17 AM (nXfv5)

342 Fen:

I've talked to more than a few guys who near-revered Travis McGee in the John D. MacDonald novels, saying the characterization really had an effect on them, about those so-elusive lessons on 'how to be a man'.

Worth a look, I guess?
Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024

***
Seconded. I encountered the McGee novels when I was sixteen, and they definitely had a solid effect on me. Deep Blue Goodby, A Purple Place for Dying, Darker Than Amber, and Bright Orange for the Shroud are four of the best. Though MacDonald was never dull.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 11:18 AM (omVj0)

343 *sees purple hat*
*looks at sweat stained baseball cap*

Sigh...

Posted by: Diogenes at February 11, 2024 11:18 AM (W/lyH)

344 Fenelon, I suggest The Cosmic Computer by H Beam Piper.

I will also suggest Captain Thomas Fenelon, Master Mariner by Garland Roark since it is a rags to riches history that is well written about a young man who went from scrubbing decks on canal boats to being a master mariner. And the title always makes me think of you

Posted by: Kindltot at February 11, 2024 11:18 AM (D7oie)

345 "The Book of Gold" essay by John C. Wright

https://is.gd/7iJCVx

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 11:18 AM (PiwSw)

346 18-1 said: "Imagine telling the average person in the 60s that we'd have a device in the future that would give you direct access to most of human knowledge and the ability to instantly communicate with most people around the globe and we mostly use it to...watch cat videos and see the vacation pictures of our acquaintances..." I've made almost the exact same comment a thousand times, except my version ends with 'we mostly use it to take pictures of our lunch'

Posted by: who knew at February 11, 2024 11:19 AM (4I7VG)

347 It's not new, though. Ballantine Books used a lot of abstract compositions on the covers of its SF and fantasy books in the '60s and '70s. Maybe they thought they were capturing the acid-dropping crowd with that?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 10:46 AM (omVj0)

The stuff I came across when looking into the subject says to avoid that. Maybe times have changed again.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 11:19 AM (Angsy)

348 241 A little time before church. I have a question. Does anyone have suggestions of fiction for a young man in his twenties that is an uplifting sort of novel
Full of "manly" virtues?
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 11, 2024 10:35 AM (cmzZG)

Fen, the Horde moron who knows organizes 99c sales with non woke writers, has a book series that I think fits.

The Hidden Truth by Hans G Schwartz
His site is aetherczar.com

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 11:20 AM (L4her)

349 Skunk is one of the most interesting guys in rock to me. Clearly very intelligent and talented. A lot of rockers are cement heads but there are some very smart people in the mix as well.
Posted by: JackStraw at February 11, 2024 11:11 AM (LkLld)

My favorite Steely Dan guitar solo ( on "My Old School" ) is his.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 11:21 AM (PiwSw)

350 Berserker, get better. I have a friend who had a quadruple and did lots better

I wound up with a stent and an angioplasty and it certainly has made the mornings easier to get up and going.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 11, 2024 11:21 AM (D7oie)

351 How about Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian series?

Posted by: Notsothoreau at February 11, 2024 11:21 AM (dfztv)

352 Most thrillers/etc these days have to come up sith some phony-baloney reason the phone was left behind or forgotten or "out of range"(hard to do, man!) or out of power/battery or broken.

Instant universal communication is a thing, people!
Posted by: naturalfake at February 11, 2024 10:45 AM (nFnyb)

That's one reason to set your stories in the past, before the uc explosion, or in the far future where tech has devolved.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 11:22 AM (Angsy)

353 A MacDonald that never really got much play (it was a short piece done for the Library of Congress, later picked up for a while by the Book of the Month Club) was his essay "Reading for Survival." He did it as a sort of dialogue between Travis McGee and Meyer -- nice statement on the value of reading. And also not dull.

Haven't read all of MacDonald, but have read a lot, and I can't recall ever finding a dull page.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 11:22 AM (q3u5l)

354 Actually Mr whatever, I think he may have touched on that in the process.
And in case you're doubting his bona-fide on the subject, you may want to look into it. Ended up with a very high clearance and working for the pentagon after writing a paper and sending it to them. To the point where he'd get beeped with a we need you right now and a minute later two guys in black suits are yanking him out of a recording session with Ringo.

Posted by: TeeJ at February 11, 2024 11:22 AM (o3xwr)

355 I take "uplifting" to mean not grimdark cynical, or despairing.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 11:22 AM (L4her)

356 Seconded. I encountered the McGee novels when I was sixteen, and they definitely had a solid effect on me. Deep Blue Goodby, A Purple Place for Dying, Darker Than Amber, and Bright Orange for the Shroud are four of the best. Though MacDonald was never dull.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 11:18 AM (omVj0)

I used to love those Travis McGee books. I thought to get the Kindle version of some of those but the publisher wants a fortune for them.

Posted by: vic at February 11, 2024 11:22 AM (A5THL)

357 And did he explain the connection between compression waves in the air (sound) and electromagnetic waves in the air (radio and light) other than they are both measured in cycles per second? This strikes me as something that we're expected to take as meaningful just because a smart person said it.
Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 11:09 AM (sNc8Y)

Perhaps it has to do with how both signals are processed in the brain?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 11:23 AM (tkR6S)

358 Just finished God's Children by Howard Coyle.
Read it years ago. It holds up as does just about everything Coyle writes. I fully recommend him.

And many thanxs to you Perfessor! Really appreciate what you do here.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 11, 2024 11:23 AM (W/lyH)

359 New format jokes: Taylor Swifties

"Oh Travis, I hope Mahomes throws the ball to you," Taylor said in passing.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 11:24 AM (991eG)

360 Imagine telling the average person in the 60s that we'd have a device in the future that would give you direct access to most of human knowledge and the ability to instantly communicate with most people around the globe and we mostly use it to...watch cat videos and see the vacation pictures of our acquaintances...
Posted by: 18-1 at February 11, 2024 10:45 AM (ibTVg)

"I have a dark mirror that I carry in my pocket that brings me sadness, strife and cat videos"

Posted by: Kindltot at February 11, 2024 11:24 AM (D7oie)

361 >>Actually Mr whatever, I think he may have touched on that in the process.
And in case you're doubting his bona-fide on the subject, you may want to look into it. Ended up with a very high clearance and working for the pentagon after writing a paper and sending it to them.

Wrote a paper on how to convert an Aegis ship based missile defense system into a complete missile defense system. He had no training, he just read about stuff and figured it out.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 11, 2024 11:25 AM (LkLld)

362 It's not new, though. Ballantine Books used a lot of abstract compositions on the covers of its SF and fantasy books in the '60s and '70s. Maybe they thought they were capturing the acid-dropping crowd with that?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 10:46 AM (omVj0)

I had heard that one of the editors had a daughter who like to paint, and her work was not expensive to use.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 11, 2024 11:26 AM (D7oie)

363 Well, back to so-called reality...

Perfessor, thanks again for the thread. Always a pleasure.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 11:27 AM (q3u5l)

364 >>My favorite Steely Dan guitar solo ( on "My Old School" ) is his.

One of my favorites too.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 11, 2024 11:27 AM (LkLld)

365 I listen to stuff while doing chores or walking
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 10:52 AM (L4her)

I don't have any of those portable listening devices. If it plays on pc, then maybe.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 11:27 AM (Angsy)

366 Snowed in. Might read another book soon.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 11:27 AM (8sMut)

367 Perhaps it has to do with how both signals are processed in the brain?

Perhaps. If so, it would be interesting to hear some evidence. For example, do a large number of people with tone/color synesthesia associate 440hz with green? If so, that might be meaningful. In the absence of any evidence, it's just a numerical coincidence.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 11:27 AM (sNc8Y)

368 "I hope Mahomes gives the ball to the running back!" Taylor said offhandedly.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 11:28 AM (991eG)

369 A MacDonald that never really got much play (it was a short piece done for the Library of Congress, later picked up for a while by the Book of the Month Club) was his essay "Reading for Survival." He did it as a sort of dialogue between Travis McGee and Meyer -- nice statement on the value of reading. And also not dull.

Haven't read all of MacDonald, but have read a lot, and I can't recall ever finding a dull page.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024

***
I'd love to find that. No, John D. was never dull. There are some complex business dealings going on in the McGee Pale Gray for Guilt, but you can actually skim that and find his characters' summary of what it all means. I have most of the McGees, but also a lot of his stand-alone novels -- whenever I see one at a bookstore I grab it. He wrote three SF novels too and they were very good; but he said the amount of work each required compared to the pay (in those days) sent him back to crime fiction.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 11, 2024 11:29 AM (omVj0)

370 I have not been very active on the writer's group as I'm STILL battling with the 'earthquake' project and it's private/personal material. Not the only problem with it either, and it's the reason I'm plunging into research on cosmologies. I'm having to cope with an incredible array of warring belief systems, and at the same time deal with this man who has 'called in a very big chip', which involves an insistence on not just a narrative, which is fine, but *amplifying* and celebrating a belief system/cosmology/religious outlook with which I cannot possibly agree.
It's incredibly stressful and not really material for the Writer's Group, as I suspect it would lead to a total off-topic discussion of who knows what, that would probably end in acrimony.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:29 AM (43xH1)

371 New format jokes: Taylor Swifties

"Oh Travis, I hope Mahomes throws the ball to you," Taylor said in passing.
Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 11:24 AM (991eG)

Heh!

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 11:29 AM (tkR6S)

372 Chesterton, in a review of the works of Dickens, makes reference to a (Maxim?) Gorky book titled Creatures that On e Were Men.
I've never heard of the book but that title intrigues me.

Posted by: Northernlurker at February 11, 2024 11:30 AM (zssUw)

373 @349 - Shadout
Pretty sure the one on Ricky Don't Lose That Number is too.

Posted by: TeeJ at February 11, 2024 11:30 AM (o3xwr)

374 365 You can still get one of those small MP# players.

Posted by: vic at February 11, 2024 11:30 AM (A5THL)

375 "I hope Mahomes gives the ball to the running back!" Taylor said offhandedly.
Posted by: Muldoon'

I beat you to it a few days ago!

"I love Taylor Swift in a totally heterosexual way," Travis Kelce said gaily.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:30 AM (43xH1)

376 >>My favorite Steely Dan guitar solo ( on "My Old School" ) is his.

One of my favorites too.
Posted by: JackStraw at February 11, 2024 11:27 AM (LkLld)

I like his steel playing on "Pearl of the Quarter"

Posted by: BignJames at February 11, 2024 11:31 AM (AwYPR)

377 Well, yes - when you have a country laboring under a regime which is inherently racist and sexist, it inevitably leads to a massive loss of diversity, as you isolate and silo off a large portion of the population. It's even worse in our peculiar situation, since it's fully half of the half of the population being frozen out to begin with (men), and the racial group being marginalized is the *majority.*

That's going to have bad consequences everywhere in society, but it will necessarily be worst in the intellectual arena, since you're not just saying that whites, males, and straights need not apply. You're also demanding that the minorities and women you're elevating at their expense are rigidly ideologically conformist.

There's no such thing as woke manufactured goods or woke food or woke textiles or woke whatever - just lower quality and less of it. In the arts and so forth, the work product itself will reflect the ideology of this perhaps ten percent of the people in the actual society.

IOW, useless to the broad mass of the population.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 11, 2024 11:31 AM (0FoWg)

378 Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:29 AM (43xH1)

Perhaps if you pray on it...

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 11:32 AM (L4her)

379 Even better, do people with tone/color synesthesia associate proportional changes in tone with proportional changes in color spectrum? Now that would be interesting!

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 11:32 AM (sNc8Y)

380 If you multiply the frequency of Whoopi Goldberg's voice by eleventy you get the color purple.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at February 11, 2024 11:32 AM (63Dwl)

381 Just wanted to note that Jerry Boyd just released #43 in his "Bob's Saucer Repair" series. It's a rather lighthearted space opera, with surprisingly little swearing or sex. Dare I say, it is almost wholesome?
If you miss the old days of science fiction, before the business was taken over by unhappy wokesters, I think you'll enjoy the series.

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at February 11, 2024 11:33 AM (3UsVM)

382 New format jokes: Taylor Swifties

"Oh Travis, I hope Mahomes throws the ball to you," Taylor said in passing.
Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 11:24 AM (991eG)
***

Taylor Swift is playing? Name like that the dude better be fast.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 11, 2024 11:33 AM (W/lyH)

383 Perhaps. If so, it would be interesting to hear some evidence. For example, do a large number of people with tone/color synesthesia associate 440hz with green? If so, that might be meaningful. In the absence of any evidence, it's just a numerical coincidence.
Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 11:27 AM (sNc8Y)

And, judging by the quote, that all it was offered as, an interesting coincidence. "Gee, that's interesting, I wonder if there is any explanation for it?" Asking questions like that is how Science gets done. Or, at least it used to be.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 11:33 AM (tkR6S)

384 Even better, do people with tone/color synesthesia associate proportional changes in tone with proportional changes in color spectrum? Now that would be interesting!

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 11:32 AM (sNc8Y)

What color is B#?

Posted by: BignJames at February 11, 2024 11:34 AM (AwYPR)

385 WOW, just noted that the first of the Travis McGee books are on sale as audio books for FREE at Amazon

Posted by: vic at February 11, 2024 11:34 AM (A5THL)

386 Fen, the Tarzan books by Burroughs, and also his Mars sci fi stuff.
And also get him going with the Howard stuff, Conan and the like.
Mindless quick entertainment, but the undercurrent is conventional values, not their opposite.

Posted by: From about that Time at February 11, 2024 11:35 AM (4780s)

387 Oh, at the thrift store found two of those horrible tourist photo-booklets people buy at gift shops, these from likely the early 1970s going by the cars in the photos. Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
They've got those garish Sears Catalog colors and are quite the artifacts!
Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 10:53 AM (43xH1)

And Lileks pouts.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 11:35 AM (Angsy)

388 Wolfus,

Search for Reading for Survival at archive.org -- one of the hits will let you read it online.

Later.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 11, 2024 11:37 AM (q3u5l)

389 Fen, the Tarzan books by Burroughs, and also his Mars sci fi stuff.
And also get him going with the Howard stuff, Conan and the like.
Mindless quick entertainment, but the undercurrent is conventional values, not their opposite.
Posted by: From about that Time at February 11, 2024 11:35 AM (4780s)

Can't go wrong with the classics: Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, and Treasure Island.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 11:37 AM (tkR6S)

390 Also I would recommend the first series of the Tarzan books by ERB.
Posted by: vic at February 11, 2024 10:52 AM (A5THL)

Pronounced, HERB.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 11:37 AM (Angsy)

391
Berserker,

My best wishes for a speedy recovery. I am mostly a lurker. I love reading your comments.

Posted by: four seasons at February 11, 2024 11:38 AM (PisyI)

392 Perhaps it has to do with how both signals are processed in the brain?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 11:23 AM (tkR6S)

There are different sections of the brain that handle different perceptions, and they can develop in a way that they interpenetrate (like a wiring harness by Lucas). My personal theory is that when they are very mixed, the different areas "leak" into each other when activated.

It could be functional too. None of my opinions are based on anything other than something I thought up while taking a shower.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 11, 2024 11:38 AM (D7oie)

393 @361 - That was it, JackStraw. Glad someone around here has a more functional memory than mine.
Also want to say I've really been appreciating you, MoronRobbie and a few others around here lately.
The old brain ain't what it used to be and combine that with slow, one finger typing on the phone and tiring of so many who can't let go of their programming, to the point of just ready to throw my hands in the air...

Posted by: TeeJ at February 11, 2024 11:38 AM (o3xwr)

394 Vmom, go ahead and ask in your group - see if it will ring any bells at all.

And thanks for the good recommend on Luna City and the Lone Star series, John F! I had a blast writing them both!

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at February 11, 2024 11:39 AM (xnmPy)

395 And, judging by the quote, that all it was offered as, an interesting coincidence.

Maybe I'm just yelling at clouds but my point is that without even a hint of meaning attached, it's not an interesting coincidence. It's just a coincidence. I kind of have a problem with smart people saying stuff that means nothing (looking at you, Neal deGrasse Tyson, OK "allegedly smart" in his case) and expecting the listener to go "Ooooh, that's interesting" when it really isn't.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 11:39 AM (sNc8Y)

396 389 Fen, the Tarzan books by Burroughs, and also his Mars sci fi stuff.
And also get him going with the Howard stuff, Conan and the like.
Mindless quick entertainment, but the undercurrent is conventional values, not their opposite.
Posted by: From about that Time at February 11, 2024 11:35 AM (4780s)

Can't go wrong with the classics: Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, and Treasure Island.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 11:37 AM (tkR6S)

Heinlein's Juveniles, beginning with Rocket Ship Galileo and concluding with Have Space Suit Will Travel.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 11:40 AM (PiwSw)

397 Perhaps if you pray on it...
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion'

"Hermeticists believe in a prisca theologia, the doctrine that a single, true theology exists, that it exists in all religions, and that it was given by God to man in antiquity."

I'm dealing with a wide range of people in and around Anatolia many of whom have variants of this belief, and expect me to amplify it, which is a problem as I believe it to be bullshit. It's an issue as, as far as I can tell, it's not inorganic: not recent! This stuff has been around in this region since... ever, and it's so old it doesn't appear to have an origination point that I can find. So it's an integral feature of the area, not some New Age nonsense someone adopted yesterday. So I've been having to do as much research into it as I can, just to have some idea what these people are even talking about, as their words don't mean the same things as mine do.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:40 AM (43xH1)

398 Tom Cruise in Talks for Role in Quentin Tarantino’s Final Film

-
Seems an usual match but I guess they both like money.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 11, 2024 11:41 AM (FVME7)

399 New format jokes: Taylor Swifties

"Oh Travis, I hope Mahomes throws the ball to you," Taylor said in passing.
Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 11:24 AM (991eG)

"Oh Patrick, I hope your father's legal issues are resolved quickly," Taylor said with conviction.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 11, 2024 11:41 AM (Ntc77)

400 Bought naturalfake's book Wearing the Cat, which is on deck.
====
Bot two of those (can't remember 2nd title) a while back when I needed mindless entertainment. Enjoyed.
Should go and leave reviews. As a matter of fact, I will. 5 stars +.

Posted by: From about that Time at February 11, 2024 11:41 AM (4780s)

401 Time to make the chili.
Thanks for the thread Perfesser.
Maybe next week I'll have read something worth talking about.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 11, 2024 11:41 AM (t/2Uw)

402
What color is B#?
Posted by: BignJames

Mr. B Natural is white.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at February 11, 2024 11:41 AM (63Dwl)

403 Daughter of Diogenes is a TS fan. She named her Roomba the Swifter

Posted by: Diogenes at February 11, 2024 11:43 AM (W/lyH)

404 "Honestly, I like some of those AI generated nudes of me," Said Taylor, openly.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 11, 2024 11:43 AM (Ntc77)

405
I read The White Pill on the strength of Thomas Paine's recommendation. A very good book. Recommended for Moron reading and edification.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at February 11, 2024 11:43 AM (MoZTd)

406 The point I have been trying to make is that statement about needing more male authors is bullshit. Good writers write great books regardless of whether they are male or female. The audience they attract may not be evenly divided.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 11, 2024 10:54 AM (t/2Uw)

You're right, but it seems we're not getting great books out of the currently leftist female dominated publishing world today. I read no matter who wrote if it's something I might like. All the pushed books are either anti-conservative, or anti-America, or pro queer "other voices" stuff that's been put out since at least the 70s. I'll not spend any time or money on that clap-trap.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 11:43 AM (Angsy)

407 "Time to start this play!" Taylor snapped.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 11:44 AM (991eG)

408 "These are my real boobs!" Taylor Swift said falsely.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:45 AM (43xH1)

409 Travis didn't send me flowers before the game!" Taylor said lackadaisically.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 11:46 AM (991eG)

410 Cheers Teej.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 11, 2024 11:46 AM (LkLld)

411 "Oh Travis, the ref is signaling a first down,"Taylor said pointedly.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 11, 2024 11:46 AM (W/lyH)

412 Will say never was a Steely Dan fan

Posted by: Skip at February 11, 2024 11:47 AM (fwDg9)

413 I was tempted to use a Tom Swiftian phrase for a Taylor Swiftie, but it's Sunday...

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 11, 2024 11:47 AM (PiwSw)

414 Travis didn't send me flowers before the game!" Taylor said lackadaisically.
Posted by: Muldoon'

Oaahhh you win.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:47 AM (43xH1)

415 If you just do what is right instead of trying to scheme and anticipate actions against you , you don't have to worry about the 48 Laws.

That's not to say to be purposely ignorant of those scheming against you or to be a cuck. Doing right also includes fighting evil scheming people when you come across them.

Posted by: Naples Yellow at February 11, 2024 11:47 AM (w6AZl)

416 "it's true, I am an op, here to secretly spread the Deep State's message," Taylor said cryptically.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 11, 2024 11:47 AM (Ntc77)

417 What color is B#?
Posted by: BignJames

Gunship Gray.

Posted by: Reforger at February 11, 2024 11:47 AM (nXfv5)

418 Oh for the love of...
That was not the focus of the interview but it seemed to me that simple logic would then lead one to think that different tones would translate to different colors.
I may have to go back to checking nice before reading comments.

Posted by: TeeJ at February 11, 2024 11:48 AM (o3xwr)

419 Eris, who is the author, that I may avoid her
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 11:03 AM (L4her)
---/

Jennifer Wiener (I think).

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 11:48 AM (+RQPJ)

420 Time to make the chili.
Thanks for the thread Perfesser.
Maybe next week I'll have read something worth talking about.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 11, 2024 11:41 AM (t/2Uw)
***

Doing a big dish of baked ziti here with fresh baguette and wine.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 11, 2024 11:48 AM (W/lyH)

421 Another well-documented cross-senses is Blum, the founder of Blum's department store. It began as a store for jade, and the owner, I think Joseph, Blum was for decades was the world's authority on jade.

He was blind. He judged entirely by touch.

Posted by: Wenda at February 11, 2024 11:48 AM (IaGYs)

422 Travis didn't send me flowers before the game!" Taylor said lackadaisically.

*******

"Okay, I'll get you twice as many tomorrow," Travis replied morosely.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 11:49 AM (991eG)

423 "I hope Mahomes gives the ball to the running back!" Taylor said offhandedly.
Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 11:28 AM (991eG)

Lol

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 11, 2024 11:49 AM (nC+QA)

424 The Chiefs will officially change their offensive name .

The Kansas City Swifties will have a big set of red lips as their team logo.

Posted by: Naples Yellow at February 11, 2024 11:49 AM (w6AZl)

425

I hope Swift's team loses swiftly.

Celebrity adoration is huge factor in the downfall of our country.

Posted by: four seasons at February 11, 2024 11:50 AM (PisyI)

426 Every young boy should read Treasure Island.

Be careful, some think it is a life guide. I've heard.

Yo ho

Posted by: JackStraw at February 11, 2024 11:50 AM (LkLld)

427 Headline link at Fox:

Top medical school teaches future doctors borders are evil, illegal immigration crisis 'imagined'

Posted by: vic at February 11, 2024 11:50 AM (A5THL)

428 "Oh no, Travis failed to catch..." Taylor Swift said, incompletely.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 11:50 AM (tkR6S)

429 Luckily no idea who Tay-Tay's team is or care

Posted by: Skip at February 11, 2024 11:52 AM (fwDg9)

430 Anyway, I did not at all expect this Anatolia project to morph into a business involving a bunch of Pre-Christian Pagans who have adopted a variety of 'religions', like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc. but regard them as mostly mere surface expressions of an underlying cosmology that has been around since The World began!
Our Priest at our Church in the Balkans is kind of freaking out about all this and when I was there last, I got driven around to some pretty crazy remote monasteries to talk to old priest-monks just to get a handle on this; as I appear to be the only actual 'Christian' in the entire situation.
Did not see this coming at all.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:52 AM (43xH1)

431 In before the Tolkien geeks put on their pants.

Damn!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at February 11, 2024 11:53 AM (EEgXH)

432 While the quarter-century old, "The 48 Laws of Power," might have aided my career, it came out approximately a quarter-century too late for my benefit. Instead, I relied on, "Rivethead, Tales from the Assembly Line," which came out early in my career as an atom in a tooth of an ancillary gear of the worldwide integrated circuit design and production machine.

Posted by: Marooned at February 11, 2024 11:53 AM (kt8QE)

433 I read The White Pill on the strength of Thomas Paine's recommendation. A very good book. Recommended for Moron reading and edification.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at February 11, 2024 11:43 AM (MoZTd)

If you listen to Malice these days, he is very dismissive (as he is about a lot of things) of the notion that today's elites are communists.

And I agree with him, but he's got a great big blind spot when it comes to labeling what they really are: fascists. He can't quite get over the fact that fascism, as practiced in the last century, had a rather large anti-Semitic component to it, and keeps placing the fascists on the "right" side of the political spectrum.

It's weird, but he's basically autistic about this stuff. He gets all dithered whenever anyone doesn't accept all of his conclusions.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 11, 2024 11:54 AM (Ntc77)

434 Muldoon really is the Punster Supreme.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 11, 2024 11:55 AM (L4her)

435 Pants are on. And thus ends another great Book Thread. Thanks Perfessor!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 11, 2024 11:56 AM (+RQPJ)

436 "I'm sure that was an illegal hit on Travis!" Taylor said painfully.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 11, 2024 11:56 AM (W/lyH)

437 The Chiefs will officially change their offensive name .

The Kansas City Swifties will have a big set of red lips as their team logo.
Posted by: Naples Yellow at February 11, 2024 11:49 AM (w6AZl)

I'm not sure what they owners are saying, but I find it hard to believe they WON'T change the name. Probably within days of this silly game.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 11, 2024 11:57 AM (Ntc77)

438 Fascists are Communists that are just a bit more anti semitic .

Mussolini who created fascism was a Marxist who thought it didn't go far enough.

Goebbels was a Marxist that joined the Nazis because Marxism was too Jewish.

Posted by: Naples Yellow at February 11, 2024 11:58 AM (w6AZl)

439 Luckily no idea who Tay-Tay's team is or care
Posted by: Skip at February 11, 2024 11:52 AM (fwDg9)

You must have an airtight way of keeping all corporate media out of your A.O.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 11, 2024 11:58 AM (Ntc77)

440 Is "The 48 Laws of Power" on the West Point required reading list?

If you think the Ivy League grads think of themselves as 'The Elite" just by virtue of just graduating from an ivy league you should meet some of the Academy grads.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at February 11, 2024 11:58 AM (cOq4q)

441 I'm not sure what they owners are saying, but I find it hard to believe they WON'T change the name. Probably within days of this silly game.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 11, 2024 11:57 AM (Ntc77)

Kansas City Queens!

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 11:58 AM (tkR6S)

442 Anybody read "We Were the Lucky Ones?"

The upcoming series (Hulu?) has Joey King in it. I'm not a fan of hers, but Ms G's cousin's youngest son is married to her. He graduated Uni of Wisc film school, wrote a screenplay, filmed it on the cheap up in Wi dairyland somewhere, got it shown at SXSW and the rest is history. He is fourteen years older than Ms King.

That's my degree of separation.

I got the book via Libby, and it is on Ms G's Kindle.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at February 11, 2024 11:58 AM (KiBMU)

443 Daughter of Diogenes is a TS fan. She named her Roomba the Swifter
Posted by: Diogenes at February 11, 2024 11:43 AM (W/lyH)

What is it with naming Roombas? My kids apparently just got one and they named it Vlad the Inhaler.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 11, 2024 11:59 AM (nC+QA)

444 Two books this week for me:

John Van Stry's "Taking Ground", the second in his Wolfhounds series. An excellent entry in the series, and if you like a fight to take back an empire from an usurper, complete with battlemechs, this is a series for you. Very entertaining.

Next up is a novella of about 130 pages from Jim Curtis (JL Curtis) called simply "Ice". This story follows the life path of a young man who watched pirates callously take the life of his father right after he lost his mother to a small meteorite strike which destroyed the habitat she was in. We follow how that changed and guided him into the same career path his father had, and how those early events formed him and guide him even much later. If you're Navy, you'll love this story.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 11, 2024 12:00 PM (qPw5n)

445 Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 11:29 AM (43xH1)

Golly, I'm way behind on the comments. Just read your post, Len. Don't worry about it. There is one person who wants some sci-fi alternate timeline stuff read, but I've already asked people to take a look. Come back when you have time.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 11, 2024 12:00 PM (Angsy)

446 Lots of people like to ignore the fact all the big Fascists began as Communists. Hitler's first political position was as a propagandist in the Communist Party.

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 12:00 PM (43xH1)

447 Fascists are Communists that are just a bit more anti semitic .

Mussolini who created fascism was a Marxist who thought it didn't go far enough.

Goebbels was a Marxist that joined the Nazis because Marxism was too Jewish.
Posted by: Naples Yellow at February 11, 2024 11:58 AM (w6AZl)

Try telling Malice.

Really, I don't believe the anti-Semitism was an essential component of it. More a fact that these people who were instrumental were monstrous people, who hated who they hate... and also happened to have a particular perspective on the socialist order.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 11, 2024 12:00 PM (Ntc77)

448 In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do, and say
Is in the pill you took today

-
NY Post Editorial Board: Big Brother Biden Wants AI To Control What You Read, Say And Think

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at February 11, 2024 12:00 PM (FVME7)

449 What is it with naming Roombas? My kids apparently just got one and they named it Vlad the Inhaler.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 11, 2024 11:59 AM (nC+QA)

I'd name mine the Flying Sucker.

Posted by: Naples Yellow at February 11, 2024 12:01 PM (w6AZl)

450 And I snuck my comment in just as the Illustrious Book thread was ending.

We has a NOOD by CBD: "The Hypocrisy Of The West Is Exposed By Their Separate Morality For Israel"

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 11, 2024 12:01 PM (qPw5n)

451 WE HAZ A NOOD

Posted by: Skip at February 11, 2024 12:01 PM (fwDg9)

452 nood

Posted by: vic at February 11, 2024 12:01 PM (A5THL)

453 I'm not sure what they owners are saying, but I find it hard to believe they WON'T change the name. Probably within days of this silly game.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 11, 2024 11:57 AM (Ntc77)

Kansas City Queens!
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 11:58 AM (tkR6S)

Would Kansas City Fa**ots be too obvious?

Posted by: BurtTC at February 11, 2024 12:01 PM (Ntc77)

454 Roombas? My kids apparently just got one and they named it Vlad the Inhaler.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette'

Awesome!

Posted by: LenNeal at February 11, 2024 12:01 PM (43xH1)

455 Thanks for the great series of Book Threads, a Sunday morning highlight!
Don't recall if this has been recommended, but I recently read the novel "Toward the Gleam" by T.M. Doran, and enjoyed it greatly--it actually features Tolkien, Chesterton, Agatha Christie in a dark adventure.

Posted by: V at February 11, 2024 12:02 PM (TJBEb)

456 Male authors? I'm considering writing a romance/jungle adventure novel now that Valentine's is just days away. The video will also be available on onlyfans.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at February 11, 2024 12:02 PM (EEgXH)

457 Oh for the love of...
...
I may have to go back to checking nice before reading comments.

Respectfully, I don't see the problem. No one is attacking anyone else. Someone raised a topic and someone else made a comment and some discussion evolved. That's what we do here.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 12:02 PM (sNc8Y)

458 The current Steely Dan touring band is preternatural.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoebEunmPZ8

I was there

Posted by: Ignoramus at February 11, 2024 12:02 PM (Gse2f)

459 Law 1: Never Outshine the Master

Follows "Engineer Rule Number One" - Always let your boss think he is making the decisions, give them a choice even if there is only one correct answer, make the correct answer obvious if it matters.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at February 11, 2024 12:03 PM (cOq4q)

460 What is it with naming Roombas? My kids apparently just got one and they named it Vlad the Inhaler.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 11, 2024 11:59 AM (nC+QA)

Hah! Very clever.

Maybe they get named because they take independent action which mimics intelligence?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 12:03 PM (tkR6S)

461 What is it with naming Roombas? My kids apparently just got one and they named it Vlad the Inhaler.

********

I was trying to find a suitable name for my sourdough starter and my granddaughter suggested "Bubbles".

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 12:06 PM (991eG)

462 Maybe they get named because they take independent action which mimics intelligence?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

********

Yeah- just like sourdough starter. "Bubbes" is nearly seentient.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 12:07 PM (991eG)

463 Maybe they get named because they take independent action which mimics intelligence?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 12:03 PM (tkR6S)

Seems like a decent theory. I think Eldest Kidlet said they'd decided to put googly eyes on it as well.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 11, 2024 12:08 PM (nC+QA)

464 Taylor Swift is playing? Name like that the dude better be fast.
Posted by: Diogenes
====
Actually, as a player, just sew sew.

Posted by: From about that Time at February 11, 2024 12:13 PM (4780s)

465 "Travis, you didn't make your cut toward the middle of the end zone on time," Taylor postulated.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 12:17 PM (991eG)

466 I feel like a whole new world has opened up for Muldoon.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 11, 2024 12:18 PM (sNc8Y)

467 The current Steely Dan touring band is preternatural.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoebEunmPZ8

I was there
Posted by: Ignoramus at February 11, 2024 12:02 PM (Gse2f)

Hey...that was pretty good....I'd never heard it.

Posted by: BignJames at February 11, 2024 12:18 PM (AwYPR)

468 "My goodness, I think Coach Reid benched Travis?" Taylor opined.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 12:19 PM (991eG)

469 I feel like a whole new world has opened up for Muldoon.
Posted by: Oddbob

*******

You think you're odd, Bob? Inside my head is a strange and foreign country.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 12:21 PM (991eG)

470 My brain is full of holes. It encysts upon itself.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 12:23 PM (991eG)

471 Okay, I'll quit now. Thought I might get the Perfessor to 500 comments for his anniversary, but it isn't in the cards. Hasta Lumbago!

Posted by: Muldoon at February 11, 2024 12:25 PM (991eG)

472 Greene's book is very dangerous and was widespread in DC and two universities I later worked at. Actually saw use of some of his rules several times. I got the book in DC and still have it. Not one of my favorites.

Posted by: GUNNER at February 11, 2024 12:26 PM (AtNH5)

473 “You’ve everyone’s problem. That’s because every time you open a book you’re unsafe. I don’t like you because you’re dangerous.”
THAT’S RIGHT! Perfessor…I am dangerous!

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 12:35 PM (8sMut)

474 I still say the football team in Washington should be called the Red Guards.

Every touchdown celebrated by playing “March of the Volunteers”. Every halftime show at home featuring local police beating rich people or other people they simply don’t like to death in the middle of the football field. The football helmets will all have different quotations from The Helmsman in Mandarin.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 12:42 PM (8sMut)

475 460 What is it with naming Roombas? My kids apparently just got one and they named it Vlad the Inhaler.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at February 11, 2024 11:59 AM (nC+QA)

Hah! Very clever.

Maybe they get named because they take independent action which mimics intelligence?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 11, 2024 12:03 PM (tkR6S)

Each of my guns has a girl’s name. : o )

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at February 11, 2024 12:43 PM (8sMut)

476 Late to the thread, but a "digital library" is pretty much an oxymoron. While I don't argue against the space-savings of digitizing books, to my mind a library exists to transmit information to future generations.

Digitized information is incredibly vulnerable. Even absent malign intentions, something as seemingly innocuous as a developmental change in the storage media can result in that information no longer being available. Of course, somebody with malign intentions can fairly easily delete or change the information.

I now find myself thinking about future generations besides my own interests when making book-buying decisions.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at February 11, 2024 01:03 PM (pJWtt)

477 Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 11, 2024 11:03 AM (t/2Uw)

Uplifting because he is sometimes affected by depression and doesn't need to be further in a " slough of despond" because of heroes turning out to be villains or dying because of being done in by villains.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 11, 2024 01:07 PM (Ch9gw)

478 Out to for the SuperBowl Commercials Party this afternoon:

Potato skins
shrimp cocktail
chicken-blue cheese sliders
pigs-in-blankets
chicken wings
assorted dips, cheeses, chip, olives

Posted by: Candidus at February 11, 2024 01:39 PM (V1yiu)

479 Wow! Look at the post total!

That's the way to honor Prof's BT anniversary.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 11, 2024 01:53 PM (p/isN)

480 Whoo -- nearly went into the Barrel.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 11, 2024 01:54 PM (p/isN)

481 My God, Bers, I hope things went well with your bypass, and that Mrs. B isn't too freaked out. Do y'all have help for awhile?

Posted by: Tammy-al Thor at February 11, 2024 02:08 PM (Vvh2V)

482 Oh my goodness, MP4 hasn't shown up today. Hope all is OK with him.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 11, 2024 02:24 PM (p/isN)

483 Just wanted to say I really dig the hat

Posted by: logprof at February 11, 2024 05:45 PM (H+dm/)

484 Most dangerous book I've read? 120 Days in Sodom by THE Marquis de Sade. Before I read it (which required permission and a key from the librarian) I was pretty much "censor nothing!". Afterwards, I was "no, some works do need to be locked up - not destroyed, but locked up".

That book made me so jaded that it inoculated me against being shocked by any sexual kink or paraphilia of the 20th and 21st century. I just laugh at such attempts to be edgy. Pansexual? Yawn. Ace? Rolls eyes. Auto-fellatio asphyxiation with hot wax? Chapter four of a book written and smuggled out of prison 250 years ago!

As for Stephan King? I loved his early work, especially his short stories. But when he started the self-indulgent Dark Tower series, I walked away and have never looked back. And now he is a partisan hack shrieking at an dwindling audience, has talent and artistry reduced by ego and abuse of his muse.

Feel to disagree as this is just IMHO.

Posted by: ZilWerks at February 12, 2024 01:11 PM (0MpOC)

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