Sunday Morning Book Thread - 07-14-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. 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, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

[NOTE: I know it's tempting to talk about the assassination attempt on Trump. We'll be talking about it for days, if not months. But let's put that aside for a couple of hours and immerse ourselves in the world of books. Or at least observe the 100 Comment Rule. CBD will be along at Noon, ET, with a relevant political thread, -- PS]

HARD TRUTHS FOR WRITERS

For those who are not inclined to watch the video above, here are the main 5 points:

Writing is mostly boring - This is very true, regardless of what you are writing. Although writing can be collaborative, the main writing process where you dump your story down onto the page is going to take a lot of solitary time where you are doing nothing more than writing, writing, and writing. If you want to turn writing books into a career, you have to be willing to spend several hours a day at the computer writing.

You will never reach your potential - As the YouTuber above points out, this is true for nearly every human endeavor. Unless you are willing to go all out and work, work and work some more at perfecting just ONE skill, you will never reach the maximum human potential. Think of the sacrifices Olympic-class athletes have to make to compete at the highest levels.

Many of your ideas won't work - Writers abandon ideas all the time because they don't work in the story they are trying to tell. That's OK. Perhaps the ideas that don't work in one story are better suited for a different story. Writing is a creative process. That means exploring ideas to see which ones will best match your creative vision. No one will ever see those abandoned ideas unless you share them with others.

Your ideas don't matter - As the YouTuber above points out, a bad idea executed well is better than a great idea executed poorly. Most story ideas are just variations on the same ideas, but the memorable ones are those where the writer introduces a new twist, thus creating moments of surprise and wonder in the reader. How many locked-room mysteries are there? How many romances where the main character has to sort through feelings for one or more love interests? How many epic quests can the Hero's Journey take us on? These ideas are timeless and fascinating, because we always want to find a new spin on them based on how well the writer is able to execute their version of that idea.

Your novel is never finished - At some point, you will have to walk away from your story. Once it's been submitted for publication, it may be out of your hands entirely. It's up to the editors and proofreaders to clean up any lingering errors or mistakes. Though they can still creep in and then you have to live with those from now on.

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MAKING A MEDIEVAL BOOK - Complete Process from Start to Finish

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Reminded by comments last week, I recommend A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell. This is a foundational work to understand the dichotomy in our political and social discourse. Many of you have read this seminal work; for those who have not, it truly is required reading in order to understand how so many issues have two sides that can rarely even properly debate. The constrained vision, the one that conservatives relate to, so brilliantly argued by Adam Smith, believes that humans are imperfect and selfish, and their self interest drives them to improve themselves and indirectly benefits their fellow man. The unconstrained vision, exemplified by Rousseau, believes man is perfectible, and can not only be molded to perfection, but that it is a moral imperative to do so and this end justifies any means. To an unconstrained mind, when a mob surrounds a courthouse to threaten a judge or jury to return a ruling they want, this is not damaging to the legal system, it is forcing the system to do the "right" thing. To a constrained mind, the ends never justify the means. For one to truly understand the driving force behind these divisions, this book is a vital resource.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 07, 2024 09:09 AM (zctuX)

Comment: To anyone who has been paying attention these last few years, it's very clear that the American people are divided into two main camps. We have already seen a very clear difference between Trump's America and Biden's America. The voters will pick one or the other in November (with a little assist from the Dem cheat machine, of course).

+++++

I'm just about finished reading Dracula, apparently for the first time. It's one of those books that is so ingrained in our culture that it felt like I'd already read it until I started rereading it. Pretty much nothing like the movies, although the old Bella Lugosi version comes closest.
It's brilliant. It's a real team book, and told in I think the phrase is epistolary form via diaries, doctors' notes, news clippings circling into the true horror of what is happening to these women.
The hard part is that so much of it has since become standard. I'm pretty sure we know a lot more going in than readers of its era, because it was so deservedly successful.
It is hard to believe that the same author wrote Lair of the White Worm.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at July 07, 2024 09:47 AM (EXyHK)

Comment: Even if you've never read Dracula, you are probably already familiar with the story as it has been retold and reimagined by both Hollywood and writers over the past several decades. Dean Koontz' Frankenstein series even alludes to it with one of the characters named Jonathan Harker, who was the main viewpoint character in the novel. I think my favorite adaptation so far is Kim Newman's Anno Dracula, which blends Dracula with the Jack the Ripper story. In this version, Dracula has taken over England and infected many of the people with his disease. Other vampires have also emerged from the shadows to take their place in open society. Meanwhile, a vicious killer stalks the streets of London, butchering and dismembering newly-turned vampires...

+++++

I'm reading the first in Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden magic/PI series, Storm Front. A lot of fun so far. The cover illustration of Harry in his duster (and with a tall straight black fedora) makes me think of Hugh Jackman in the role. Since the first of the X-Men movies with Jackman as Wolverine didn't appear until 2000, the year this book came out, I don't know if Butcher could have had HJ in mind when he wrote the novel in the late '90s. But I might not be surprised.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 07, 2024 09:06 AM (omVj0)

Comment: I love the Dresden Files series. The first two are a bit rough, as Butcher is still trying to figure out his character and set up the world in which Harry lives. Butcher starts to hit his stride with Book 3, Grave Peril, which introduces the character of Michael Carpenter, Harry's best friend and moral compass. Michael is a "Knight of the Cross" and has been blessed to carry the sword Excalibur. Although Michael doesn't show up in every story, Michael is the rock around which Harry centers his entire world. It's a fun urban fantasy series. I'm looking forward to the final books...whenever Butcher gets around to them...

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

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WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK:

I recently read Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series. Well, it turns out that there are two book in addition to the original three volumes in the series. Victor Frankenstein was crazy prepared...

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein 4 - Lost Souls

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein 5 - The Dead Town

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.

The Harpers Book 13 - Silver Shadows by Elaine Cunningham

The half-elf assassin and Harper agent Arilyn Moonblade is tasked with finding peace between the wild forest elves of Tethyr and the humans who are encroaching on their territory. From the beginning, it's clear that the conflict between them is being orchestrated by a third party. Is it the Knights of the Shield? The Zhentarim? What is the end goal here? The elves are overmatched by the human cunning and ferocity (and numbers), but they don't want to abandon their forest for the sanctuary offered by Evermeet, the elven homeland.

Salvation by Peter F. Hamilton

Hamilton takes the Rule of Cool and just runs with it for his science fiction novels. The big "cool idea" in Salvation is that humanity has mastered the art of quantum spatial entanglement and uses it for instant teleportation anywhere they can set up a portal. They still have to haul a portal across the galaxy via slower-than-light drives, but they can "cheat" by harnessing the power of the suns to drop a portal into a sun and siphon fuel (i.e., hydrogen/helium) directly into the reaction chambers of starships. This means they don't need to carry any fuel onboard and never, ever have to stop for gas. It also means they can accelerate ships to a sizable fraction of the speed of light. Hamilton gives a fairly detailed chronology of "future history" at the end of the book. His world building is top notch and that's why I've enjoyed his novels.

For the actual story, it involves a pilgrimage of sorts as a team of crack investigators heads out on an alien world to find and examine an alien artifact. Along the way, we find out the backstories of each of the characters. This is all interspliced with future events, when mankind has been reduced to a small enclave, and this remnant of humanity must now rediscover the lost arts of war and reconquer the galaxy. The structure is very reminiscent of Dan Simmons' Hyperion but I can't tell if it an intentional homage or not.

Sandman Slim Book 4- Devil Said Bang by Richard Kadrey

Sandman Slim, a.k.a James Stark, is trapped in Hell once again. This time, he's the guy in charge, since Lucifer decided to go on vacation in Heaven and left all his power and authority with Stark. Now Stark has to find his way back out of Hell and to the L.A. he knows and loves to stop a serial killer that might be his alter ego.

The Sandman Slim series is mostly ludicrous black comedy and usually entertaining fun. Kadrey does seem to have a thing for Donald Trump though--and not in a positive was--as Trump is often mentioned by name. This book was written in 2012, long before Trump became a political figure.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 07-07-24 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Disclaimer: No Morons were harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. Prayers for President Donald Trump, his family, and the family of the poor unfortunate victim who was killed.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2024 09:00 AM (fwDg9)

2 Will there be a book out soon about yesterday?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024 09:00 AM (0eaVi)

3 The first Matt Helm book I read was "The Interlopers," in which Helm was sent to Alaska to find and kill a Soviet assassin who had been assigned to kill the next president immediately after the election. The book mentioned recent sniper killings. This was in 1968, when I was a kid, but I can imagine the effect on adult readers for whom those attacks were all too real.

Now it's our time. Where are you, Matt?

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 14, 2024 09:01 AM (p/isN)

4 Wait, Perf. That's a woman in them there pants. You want her to take them off?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024 09:01 AM (0eaVi)

5 I did not read this week.

I traveled to Hill Country.

Posted by: rhennigantx at July 14, 2024 09:01 AM (CpxQv)

6 ZOD.

Posted by: ZOD at July 14, 2024 09:01 AM (P+D4R)

7 Will there be a book out soon about yesterday?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024 09:00 AM (0eaVi)
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I bet you could have AI write one in about 24 hours or less.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 09:02 AM (BpYfr)

8 If you want to turn writing books into a career, you have to be willing to spend several hours a day at the computer writing.

What??

Posted by: Legal Pad and Pen at July 14, 2024 09:02 AM (0eaVi)

9 Oh, I'm sorry, Prof!

I posted before reading the column, a switch for me.

I apologize.

Posted by: Weak Geek feels chagrin at July 14, 2024 09:03 AM (p/isN)

10 Posted by: Legal Pad and Pen at July 14, 2024 09:02 AM (0eaVi)
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Get with the times, dude!

Posted by: Microsoft Word at July 14, 2024 09:04 AM (BpYfr)

11 Most story ideas are just variations on the same ideas

Well, there are only seven stories, right?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024 09:04 AM (0eaVi)

12 Oh, I'm sorry, Prof!

I posted before reading the column, a switch for me.

I apologize.
Posted by: Weak Geek feels chagrin at July 14, 2024 09:03 AM (p/isN)
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No worries. It was a book-related comment. There are tons of books about Presidential assassinations, both real and fictional. Those are within the rules...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 09:05 AM (BpYfr)

13 Anno dracula would make a good film but they would probably botch it like the league film

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 09:05 AM (PXvVL)

14 Good morning dear horde and thank you Perfesser

b"h for protecting Donald Trump

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 14, 2024 09:06 AM (RIvkX)

15 Finishing Waterloo Casualties by Paul L Dawson
He is going over the battle of Waterloo and using French Casualties reports to see what units were in thick of fighting or in supporting rolls.
He also, not that it hasn't been suggested before, that tje Battle was a anvil and hammer, the British allies just had to stay in position and survive until the Prussians arrived on the French flank. It does cover that flank better than other books of Waterloo I have.

Totally a coincidence, going to Historicon miniatures next weekend Friday and Saturday and have Waterloo games both days

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2024 09:06 AM (fwDg9)

16 I'm still slowly reading "The Life of Lenin." This is going to take some time.

In the interim, my night table to-read pile is now around 8 books tall, from "The Age of Napoleon" to what just arrived today in the mail, Jack Posobiec's "Unhumans."

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 14, 2024 09:07 AM (MeDDJ)

17 Recently read the first two Salvation Books, and am waiting for the third one from the library. Really enjoyed them, and the quantum portals and their practical effects really flesh out the worldview. Good story structure, too.

Relatively easy read, unlike the Malazan books, so far ( early in Book 2). The Malazan books just pop you in, have a large number if characters, and things are not always as they seem. Not complaining, just different.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at July 14, 2024 09:07 AM (ufFY8)

18 I was reading a book entitled "Within Earshot" when I heard what I thought were firecrackers. It was a book about a man who does stuff. Then I heard screaming and saw the blood. The man in the book is from Duluth, Minnesota, but isn't "Minnesota nice." He shoots people in the ear. In the last chapter an FBI agent shoots his brains out and people cheer.

327 pages long.

Posted by: ZOD at July 14, 2024 09:07 AM (P+D4R)

19 I read Mission To Paris by Alan Furst. Vienna born Hollywood actor, Fredrich Stahl, comes to Paris in 1938 to make a movie. When Nazi operatives try to use him for propaganda purposes, he goes to the American embassy where he is recruited to become a carrier carrying cash to Germany to run spy operations there and returning with reports from those spies. Furst always captures the mood and the settings while spinning a good spy yarn.

Posted by: Glenn Mackett at July 14, 2024 09:07 AM (rGaN8)

20 No truly organized type reading this week. Am skipping around in Charles Shields' THE MAN WHO WROTE THE PERFECT NOVEL: JOHN WILLIAMS, STONER, AND THE WRITING LIFE. Haven't read Williams' other novels (BUTCHER'S CROSSING, etc), but read STONER 7 or 8 yrs ago and liked it a lot.

Did reread Simenon's THE HAND (aka THE MAN ON THE BENCH IN THE BARN) and started dipping into Don Robertson's huge Civil War novel THE RIVER AND THE WILDERNESS.

May actually finish some of what I'm reading Real Soon Now...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 14, 2024 09:08 AM (q3u5l)

21 I think the varied treatments of Dracula inspired movie makers to follow the same path in the James Bond films. Take a good story, keep a few elements, and then make up something entirely different.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 14, 2024 09:08 AM (SoEv+)

22 Relatively easy read, unlike the Malazan books, so far ( early in Book 2). The Malazan books just pop you in, have a large number if characters, and things are not always as they seem. Not complaining, just different.
Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at July 14, 2024 09:07 AM (ufFY

---
It took me two tries to get through Deadhouse Gates, but when I did, I was glad I stuck with it. Then the rest of the books were fairly easy and digestible, despite the Loads and Loads of Characters. Book 3 gets INTENSE in Act 2. Well worth it.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 09:09 AM (BpYfr)

23 I went through another Perry Mason book. Now that I have nearly all of them, I'm reading them in order. This was "TCOT Sleepwalker's Niece," still from 1936.

The Constitution mandates speedy trials, but I doubt that they really happened less than a month after the crime. Also, once again the killer is identified but not arrested. Gardner liked to snip plot threads quickly.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 14, 2024 09:09 AM (p/isN)

24 Waterloo...

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2024 09:06 AM (fwDg9)
-

"The Age of Napoleon"

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 14, 2024 09:07 AM (MeDDJ)
-

“The freaks of chance are not determinable by calculation” - Thucydides

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 14, 2024 09:09 AM (MeDDJ)

25 Reading The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz

Kinda reminds me of A Series of Unfortunate Events crossed with ... I'm not sure what yet.

Reminds me though, do we have a list of non-Leftist writers to rey instead of popular Leftist ones?

For example , if you like
Stephen King, try Dean Koontz

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at July 14, 2024 09:09 AM (Ka3bZ)

26 Don Delillo's "Libra", Philip Kerr's "The Shot", Loren Singer's "The Parallax View" and James Ellroy's "Underworld USA" trilogy all seem apropos today.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at July 14, 2024 09:10 AM (W9ZQN)

27 I think the varied treatments of Dracula inspired movie makers to follow the same path in the James Bond films. Take a good story, keep a few elements, and then make up something entirely different.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 14, 2024 09:08 AM (SoEv+)
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It helps that Dracula is in the public domain, so anyone can write any story they like with those characters.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 09:10 AM (BpYfr)

28 In preparation for our trip in September I am reading an "unauthorized history" of Australia.

Girt by David Hunt. I read a lot of history so I don't care much for the sardonic take on everything. Not everyone is a hipster, bro.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 14, 2024 09:14 AM (RIvkX)

29 It took me two tries to get through Deadhouse Gates, but when I did, I was glad I stuck with it. Then the rest of the books were fairly easy and digestible, despite the Loads and Loads of Characters. Book 3 gets INTENSE in Act 2. Well worth it.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 09:09 AM (BpYfr)

Yeah. After a while with Gardens of the Moon, I was, like, yeah ok, it is falling into place. So I am sticking with it. It is my last read of the day, so I am creeping along. Probably not the best method to use to get into the swing of the story, either, lol.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at July 14, 2024 09:14 AM (ufFY8)

30 In light of the assassination attempt on pres. Trump, I recommend Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan Del Quentin Wilber. Fascinating account of what happened that day, and as you read you will see that there inflection points throughout the timeline , that can only be described as miraculous.

Posted by: runner at July 14, 2024 09:15 AM (V13WU)

31 'Most story ideas are just variations on the same ideas, but the memorable ones are those where the writer introduces a new twist, thus creating moments of surprise and wonder in the reader."

"Get the Plotter!"
Seriously, (and not to turn this into a Movie Thread) you need to watch "Blonde Inspiration" about the pulp trade.

Posted by: sal at July 14, 2024 09:15 AM (y7DxH)

32 You know how you can tell Dracula is a great book? It keeps getting made into a movie even though most of those movies are terrible.

Seriously: watch the Bela Lugosi film. That made him a star, that made Dracula a household word. It's a terrible movie. Watch most of the Christopher Lee movies -- they may be fun, but they're terrible. In one of them Lee doesn't actually have any lines at all. Watch the Coppola film -- it's objectively awful.

But we still love them because they are DRACULA movies. And Dracula is such an awesome story.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 09:16 AM (78a2H)

33 *there are

Posted by: runner at July 14, 2024 09:16 AM (V13WU)

34 Rawhide, for those who do not know, was the SS code name for RR.

Posted by: runner at July 14, 2024 09:17 AM (V13WU)

35 @19...Furst hasn't published a new one in a few years. "Under Occupation", the last one, was bad. Lazy, boring. Like he was tired with the whole thing, half assed it. It continued a trend. Glad you like "Mission To Paris", but that's the one where a decline started. The formula took over, the characters were less compelling. Prior to that, all great stuff.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at July 14, 2024 09:17 AM (W9ZQN)

36 "I bet you could have AI write one in about 24 hours or less.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel"

I thought about composing a comment by "AI Assassination Author", but just thinking about the text gave me a headache.

Those pants are just one half of a wingsuit.

Posted by: fd at July 14, 2024 09:17 AM (vFG9F)

37
For reasons unknown, not much reading this week. Guess I'm just lazy.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 14, 2024 09:17 AM (1Nxff)

38 I read a book about Garfield's assassination. Candace Mallard, I think was the author.

Posted by: dantesed at July 14, 2024 09:17 AM (Oy/m2)

39 Bela Lugisi played Dracula on Broadway, before the movie. It was his first English speaking role.

Posted by: Megthered at July 14, 2024 09:18 AM (W1XW9)

40 Lots of good reading as normal.
Doesn't really feel that important though.
But I'll second the 'Rawhide Down' recommendation.

Thanks for all your work on the book thread Perfesser.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at July 14, 2024 09:19 AM (L1omb)

41 I'm still going through my massive backlog of e-books. The one I'm reading now is a collection of various myths and fairy tales.

The Hans Christian Andersen collection was surprisingly brutal to read. This guy had no problem just straight up killing protagonists for no good reason. Like, just to be an asshole. He couldn't tell a story about someone overcoming adversity and finding happiness in a life that maybe wasn't the life they expected. No, the person sits down outside in the middle of a damn blizzard to contemplate his sorrows and freezes to death. That makes a much better story as far as this fucker is concerned.

I now officially hate Hans Christian Andersen.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at July 14, 2024 09:19 AM (Y+AMd)

42 Thx Professor. I'm reading the Colony Mars series by Gerald Kirby. Nothing really innovative, but good reading.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 14, 2024 09:19 AM (sjqp6)

43 Thanks, Perfesser!
Wish I could read this in real time, but heading out to Mass. With lots of thanksgiving...

Posted by: sal at July 14, 2024 09:19 AM (y7DxH)

44 Parallax is an interesring artefact of the 70s they havd run it rather frequentlt on the movies channel

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 09:20 AM (PXvVL)

45 38 I read a book about Garfield's assassination.

--

Oh no, is Odie ok?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at July 14, 2024 09:20 AM (Ka3bZ)

46 I got a replacement copy of "The Hot Rock" this past week, with an introduction by the author, Donald Westlake. This is the first of his Dortmunder series.

He wrote that it began as a Parker thriller, then became comic when he realized that it was too funny for Parker.

But he ran into a block and shelved the manuscript for a few years, digging it out only when they were cleaning the house for a remodeling project. He'd forgotten about it.

He reread it, enjoyed it, and wanted to know how it ended. He cleared the block and finished the book, and John Dortmunder took his place in literary history.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 14, 2024 09:20 AM (p/isN)

47 This week I've been too busy teaching youngsters to write, and working on a book of my own, that I haven't had much opportunity to read.

I did read Chesterton's poem "The Ballad of the White Horse," about King Alfred fighting the Danes. Good stuff. I think that was a Moron recommendation but I don't recall when.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 09:20 AM (78a2H)

48 The Hans Christian Andersen collection was surprisingly brutal to read. This guy had no problem just straight up killing protagonists for no good reason. Like, just to be an asshole. He couldn't tell a story about someone overcoming adversity and finding happiness in a life that maybe wasn't the life they expected. No, the person sits down outside in the middle of a damn blizzard to contemplate his sorrows and freezes to death. That makes a much better story as far as this fucker is concerned.

I now officially hate Hans Christian Andersen.
Posted by: Mrs. Peel at July 14, 2024 09:19 AM (Y+AMd)

hold up , hold up . I love Andersen, so let's talk! Are you familiar with his biography ?

Posted by: runner at July 14, 2024 09:21 AM (V13WU)

49 "Finishing Waterloo Casualties by Paul L Dawson"

That sounds like something #2 son would like, Skip. I'll have to find a copy for him.

I just looked it up. It just came out!

Posted by: fd at July 14, 2024 09:21 AM (vFG9F)

50 38 I read a book about Garfield's assassination.

--

Oh no, is Odie ok?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at July 14, 2024 09:20 AM (Ka3bZ)
----
Nermal was the mastermind....

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 09:21 AM (BpYfr)

51 For reasons unknown, not much reading this week. Guess I'm just lazy.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 14, 2024 09:17 AM (1Nxff)

Just sat around taking it easy, huh?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024 09:21 AM (0eaVi)

52 I haven't been reading anything but I have started listening to Alexander Scourby read Scripture.

His reading of Lamentation is magnificent. He also did reading of apocryphal works and reading of the Book of Enoch is sublime.

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at July 14, 2024 09:22 AM (2fIO4)

53 Before a trip to Australia one should read Walkabout
Just in case you are the lone survivor of a plane crash in the Outback

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2024 09:22 AM (fwDg9)

54
Just sat around taking it easy, huh?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024 09:21 AM (0eaVi)

__________

Retirement, it's wonderful.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 14, 2024 09:23 AM (1Nxff)

55 I'm currently reading 'Escape from Shadow Physics', Adam Kay. Kay has a PhD in Literature from Cambridge and a PhD in Mathematics from Oxford (just like The Perfessor). A fascinating attempt to understand the reality underlying quantum mechanics, starting with a historical discourse on natural philosophy.

The French could really do math at one point in time, maybe they should bring back the aristocracy after the Revolution.

The entire 'shut up and compute' school of physics is an abomination. A mathematical model that predicts correctly but that you not only don't understand but refuse to try to understand is not natural philosophy.

Posted by: Candidus at July 14, 2024 09:23 AM (dfcuM)

56 Funny coincidence... I'm just watching Friends in the background and Phoebe just mentioned Richard Simmons! [This was the regularly-scheduled episode, Part 2 of Joey in Las Vegas episode, and not a 'tribute' airing.]

Posted by: andycanuck (Jh5b+) at July 14, 2024 09:23 AM (Jh5b+)

57 Robert K Massie was a historian who left us several excellent biographies of notable Russian Tsars, and his book Peter the Great follows the life of a truly transformative leader. Peter was a 6' 7" giant of a man who lived at a pace far beyond that of his contemporaries, and was fascinated by technology and modernisation. He took power as a young man, after overthrowing the regent put in place during his childhood. He traveled incognito to Holland and England as a craftsman to learn how to build ships and then returned to build a navy for Russia. He decided that Russia's future was facing west, so he built St Petersburg in a swamp on the Baltic coast and forcibly moved the capital there. He demanded that Russia transform from a medieval society to a modern one, from clothing and beards to religious rituals, and literally imposed the transition. He can properly be described as manic, but to read the details of his life and rule, one can see how driven this man was, and why he was titled "The Great". He was the driving force behind a massive modernisation of his country, and whose reign still echoes.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 14, 2024 09:24 AM (SoEv+)

58 I read "Vision of the Anointed" by Thomas Sowell. Great book too.

Posted by: No one of any consequence at July 14, 2024 09:25 AM (+H2BX)

59 I read a book about Garfield's assassination.
Way to mess with the cob, there, Dantesed. Well played.

But I reckon a thread about great assassination books would be richly rewarding, even with the Booth conspirators left out. Maybe...later.

Next up? An endless assassin film thread!

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at July 14, 2024 09:26 AM (zdLoL)

60 I read book 6 in Jack Carr's "Terminal List" series, called "Only The Dead," which was excellent, as all his books have been. Took me a day and a half.

On to book 7, "Red Sky Mourning," which just came out. Carr is a former Navy SEAL, and a very good writer.

Highly recommended.

Posted by: Sharkman at July 14, 2024 09:26 AM (/RHNq)

61 Retirement, it's wonderful.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 14, 2024 09:23 AM (1Nxff)

Yes. I'll say though, sometimes you just don't have the power to do anything....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024 09:27 AM (0eaVi)

62 Thanks to a recommendation here on Ye Olde Book Thread I've been listening to John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley.
Really enjoying it.
I hope to do something similar upon the commencement of my retirement.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at July 14, 2024 09:27 AM (dg+HA)

63 Massis whole series about peter the grear catherine is very i formative on recent events its a good primer which im sure the policy makers have not read

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 09:28 AM (PXvVL)

64 Proofreading and punctuation.
If there's any thread where they are important, it's this one.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at July 14, 2024 09:30 AM (dg+HA)

65 St Petersburg is only a swamp in summer,

In winter, it is a frozen wasteland.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 14, 2024 09:30 AM (RIvkX)

66 Massies it illuminates the whole russian imperial mode

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 09:31 AM (PXvVL)

67 What's the story behind today's picture?

Posted by: BonnieBlue is tired of the lies at July 14, 2024 09:31 AM (/UkMn)

68 Good morning!

Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 14, 2024 09:33 AM (u82oZ)

69 @55 : "The entire 'shut up and compute' school of physics is an abomination. A mathematical model that predicts correctly but that you not only don't understand but refuse to try to understand is not natural philosophy."

A long time ago I read couple of books by Heisenberg where he talks about that. I think it was in Physics and Beyond.

I suspect that most physicists don't care about natural philosophy.

Also, I'm still trying to figure out the difference between quantum mechanics and gravitational and EM forces: Tell, me, exactly why do masses and like charges attract? And at exactly the inverse square of the distance? (yea, I know general relativity weasels out of that by warping space)

Posted by: yara at July 14, 2024 09:33 AM (P1BRd)

70 What's the story behind today's picture?
Posted by: BonnieBlue is tired of the lies at July 14, 2024 09:31 AM (/UkMn)
---
None. I just thought it was an interesting book-related picture.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 09:34 AM (BpYfr)

71 Thomas Sowell sounds a lot like some of my best teachers in h.s. when he speaks.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 14, 2024 09:34 AM (RIvkX)

72 He can properly be described as manic, but to read the details of his life and rule, one can see how driven this man was, and why he was titled "The Great". He was the driving force behind a massive modernisation of his country, and whose reign still echoes.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 14, 2024 09:24 AM (SoEv+)

He also had the staying power and focus to win the Great Northern War against the Swedes and their allies.

Posted by: mrp at July 14, 2024 09:34 AM (rj6Yv)

73 What's the story behind today's picture?
Posted by: BonnieBlue

You have heard of coffee table books, this is a multi-family housing book.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 14, 2024 09:34 AM (SoEv+)

74 If we're talking presidential assassinations, let me again recommend "The Multiple Man," in which POTUS is found dead in an alley outside a speaking venue. Trouble is, the body matches one found a few months earlier. No evidence of plastic surgery.

When I tell you that this is a SF book, you can guess the secret.

Dammit, I've forgotten the author's name! Too lazy now to look for it.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 14, 2024 09:35 AM (p/isN)

75 Ben bova

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 09:35 AM (PXvVL)

76 Multiple Man -- for some reason, I'm thinking Ben Bova. But I could be wrong.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 14, 2024 09:36 AM (q3u5l)

77 He also wrote an ur musk type in daniel hamilton randolph starting with privateers

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 09:37 AM (PXvVL)

78 Yay Book Thread!

I just have to say that those five truth are pure b.s. If writing is boring, you're doing it wrong. I love writing, and since I can't find the quiet space to write a book at the moment, I amuse myself with columns at Bleedingfool.com and posts for my blog.

As for reaching my potential, who knows what that even is? Are we like a phone with a visible battery bar with "untapped potential" showing? No. I've found that as I've written more, my potential has grown to the point that I've exceeded what I thought I would do.

As for ideas not working, duh. Water is also wet at room temperature. Thanks for nothing, genius.

The ideas that DO work DO matter, and you can always add something new and different. No, we're not all Shakespeare, but we can amuse, explain or inspire - or at least entertain.

Finally, my novels are DONE. I don't want to work on them anymore. I didn't "walk away" from them (which implies a certain level of incompleteness), I finished what I had to say.

This dude sounds like a burned out cynic trying to act superior.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 09:37 AM (llXky)

79 Guilt compelled me to look for it. "The Multiple Man," was by Ben Bova.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 14, 2024 09:39 AM (p/isN)

80 Book reading this week: almost finished with Rays of the Rising Sun, an incredible esoteric and dry book about Japanese 'puppet' forces in China and Manchuria during the 1930s and 40s. Needs an editor, but deep research went into it.

Still working through Waugh's Helena as a bedtime book. Progress has slowed due to domestic unrest. I hear tell there's a used book store in Holt that's selling stuff cheap, so I may drop by and pick up some Graham Greene, who I've been meaning to start reading.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 09:39 AM (llXky)

81 Only books read this week were Paratime by H. Beam Piper and the novella The Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Once you read one Bujold, it is hard to stop before you read more of her stories.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 14, 2024 09:39 AM (u82oZ)

82 There's no biography that's going to make me okay with reading story after story after story of protagonists dying in despair for no good reason. It wouldn't have been as bad if I'd read them interspersed with other works, and there were several stories that I would have liked to see expanded into novels, but in the end, the relentless onslaught of death and despair was just too much for me. It was really hard for me to pick up my ereader knowing I was almost certainly going to be faced with yet another horribly depressing tale.

Well, back to work...got a document to finish drafting, and another one I also really need to tackle.

Posted by: Mrs. Peel at July 14, 2024 09:41 AM (Y+AMd)

83 This dude sounds like a burned out cynic trying to act superior.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 09:37 AM (llXky)

Or, a failed writer.

(looks at self in mirror)

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024 09:41 AM (0eaVi)

84 Thanks for mentioning the additional two Koontz Frankenstein books, Perfessor! I enjoyed the first three and had no idea there were more. Adding them to the list.

Posted by: She Hobbit at July 14, 2024 09:41 AM (ftFVW)

85 Now it's our time. Where are you, Matt?
Posted by: Weak Geek at July 14, 2024 09:01 AM (p/isN)

Matt Helm gave up on the spy stuff and settled for hanging out in Las Vegas with Frank. The chicks were awesome and the booze was free!

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024 09:41 AM (pgG81)

86 I read a book about Garfield's assassination.
------
Poisoned lasagna??

Posted by: andycanuck (Jh5b+) at July 14, 2024 09:41 AM (Jh5b+)

87 A. H.

Will second your disagreement re writing being boring. It ain't.

Frustrating, maybe, when what seemed like a bright perfect thing at first thought turns into sludge when you put it on paper. But not boring.

Worth a look: Nicanor Parra's poem "I Take Back Everything I've Said."

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 14, 2024 09:42 AM (q3u5l)

88 That wasnt really matt helm but deanos twist on it

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 09:44 AM (PXvVL)

89 -- Michael is a "Knight of the Cross" and has been blessed to carry the sword Excalibur. --

The sword is named Amoracchius. It's one of three such. The others are Fidelacchius and Esperacchius.

Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at July 14, 2024 09:44 AM (Nmmyc)

90 good morning Perfessor, Horde

Posted by: callsign claymore at July 14, 2024 09:44 AM (JcnCJ)

91 His reading of Lamentation is magnificent. He also did reading of apocryphal works and reading of the Book of Enoch is sublime.
Posted by: MAGA_Ken at July 14, 2024 09:22 AM (2fIO4)
---
Unless you're Ethiopian, in which case it is canonical.

The first book of Enoch is by far the most 'metal' of all Scripture. The series of threats to sinners in terms of torment and all the woe (so much woe!) is great.

Jonathan Edwards has nothing on Enoch.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 09:44 AM (llXky)

92 >>pick up some Graham Greene, who I've been meaning to start reading.

Intelligent choice.

Posted by: ZOD at July 14, 2024 09:45 AM (P+D4R)

93 Morning, Book Folken! I am return-ed from the grocery. Nice to see my comment on Storm Front by Jim Butcher. If his series really hits its stride with Book Three, that's much like what happened with Robert B. Parker and his Spenser series. He did not introduce Spenser's long-time love, Susan, until Book Two, and did not bring in Hawk, the dark side of Spenser, until Four. With that book, and for quite a few more, the series really sings.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 09:45 AM (omVj0)

94 Our man in havana which transposed events in portugal where greene was statione

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 09:46 AM (PXvVL)

95 Dean Koontz has become what Stephen King should have been. He’s gotten better and better over time; King…. well that’s obvious.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024 09:47 AM (pgG81)

96 The sword is named Amoracchius. It's one of three such. The others are Fidelacchius and Esperacchius.
Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at July 14, 2024 09:44 AM (Nmmyc)
---
Yeah, I know. I just couldn't remember the actual name and was too lazy to look it up. That's on me.

It's clearly patterned after Excalibur. The other two swords are also based on fictional mythical blades...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 09:47 AM (BpYfr)

97 Peter's strategy against the Swedes was to keep losing battles until the Swedes sued for peace.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 09:47 AM (78a2H)

98 The first two are a bit rough, as Butcher is still trying to figure out his character and set up the world in which Harry lives.

You’re a lot kinder than I was after reading the first book! I have to wonder why the publisher gives that one out free. The ostensible reason is to draw people into the series, but after reading it I have to wonder if they’re not trying to warn people away.

Posted by: Perpetually Pessimistic Stephen Price Blair at July 14, 2024 09:47 AM (EXyHK)

99 Our man in havana which transposed events in portugal where greene was statione
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 09:46 AM (PXvVL)
---
Another example of *my* most important rule of writing: write what you know.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 09:48 AM (llXky)

100 He did not introduce Spenser's long-time love, Susan, until Book Two, and did not bring in Hawk, the dark side of Spenser, until Four. With that book, and for quite a few more, the series really sings.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 09:45 AM (omVj0)
---
Heh. Dresden also has a love interest named Susan...Coincidence?

Probably not. Butcher is clearly drawing upon the noir detective genre for much of his series.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 09:48 AM (BpYfr)

101 Poisoned lasagna??
-------

Ha!
That comment was pretty Odie-ous

Posted by: haffhowershower at July 14, 2024 09:49 AM (NMT5x)

102 Peter's strategy against the Swedes was to keep losing battles until the Swedes sued for peace.
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 09:47 AM (78a2H)
---
Attrition is a viable (and proven) strategy. Works against us every time.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 09:49 AM (llXky)

103 Sincere question from an ignorant unbeliever: what is the Church (or the Churches) position on apocryphal books of the Bible? Are you encouraged to read them, or are there some questionable doctrines you should be wary of?

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 09:49 AM (78a2H)

104 I've never read "Our Man in Havana," but I saw the movie a few years ago. Recommended.

I knew it was based on Greene's experiences. Portugal, huh?

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 14, 2024 09:50 AM (p/isN)

105 Good morning! Well ya'll know I rarely show up for the book thread and not because I don't like Perfessor lol! I read in spurts. Anyhoo... a friend recommended a few books for me to read as I begin trying a holistic approach to my illness. I just finished a very good one. It's called Dying To Be Me by Anita Moorjani. She had a near death experience and when she came out of her coma her body began healing. Just within a few months she was cancer free. Doctors were stunned. You don't have to be suffering from an illness to enjoy this book.

Posted by: jewells45fuckcancer at July 14, 2024 09:50 AM (iF0sF)

106 Jewels, good to see you here.

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 14, 2024 09:53 AM (p/isN)

107 Graham Greene's "The Human Factor" must have driven John le Carre crazy. It's le Carre's wheelhouse, and better than anything le Carre wrote. A master, near the end, showing the (relative) upstart how it's done.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at July 14, 2024 09:53 AM (W9ZQN)

108 The doctor is supposedly based on hjalmar schacht steven hunter revisited the milieu for havana about 50 years later

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 09:53 AM (PXvVL)

109 Apparently most British authors alive in the 1940s were doing spy work in Portugal. Greene, Fleming -- wasn't Roal Dahl there, too?

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 09:53 AM (78a2H)

110 *casts shrewd look at the Perfesser*

While not mentioning recent events, I will remark that there are certain historical parallels worth studying. To wit, here is yet another shameless promotion of Long Live Death: The Keys to Victory in the Spanish Civil War. The precipitating event was a political assassination which happened on...wait for it...July 13, 1936.

The Rising started four days later, for those of you keeping score at home.

If you've already bought my book (and multiple copies for friends and families) and want to know more, Stanley G. Payne is your man. I've corresponded with him and he's a very nice, thoughtful scholar. He's probably the leading authority on revolution and also co-authored the definitive biography of Franco.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 09:54 AM (llXky)

111 Ha!
That comment was pretty Odie-ous
Posted by: haffhowershower
======
I'm not Nermal.

Posted by: andycanuck (Jh5b+) at July 14, 2024 09:54 AM (Jh5b+)

112 I received a surprise package last week: "The Shadow Kingdon," a crowdunded graphic novel I ordered a while back. Those are always a surprise when they finally show up. The book is a comic-book adaptation of Robert E Howard's "The Shadow Kingdom", the first published Kull story, which may make it the first modern sword and sorcery story, and also possibly the first appearance of shape-shifting lizard-people who are infiltrating our society.

What makes the book interesting is that is seems to be an unauthorized adaptation of the story, made without permission of the REH estate. Which is actually legal, since the story was published in 1929, and has just fallen into the public domain. But (from everything I've heard) Trademarks work differently than Copyright, so the book cannot be marketed as a "Kull" book. In the story itself, Kull is allowed to be Kull, and everything from his first story is fully intact, but nowhere on the cover (front, back, or spine) is the word "Kull" mentioned. Just the story title, the original author, and the team behind the adaptation....

Posted by: Castle Guy at July 14, 2024 09:55 AM (Lhaco)

113 Bram Stoker's Dracula changes narrator with each chapter, and you gather the perspectives together. The author is feeling out the well-known mythology (EG garlic and silver) for the first time AFAIK.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at July 14, 2024 09:55 AM (lhenN)

114 This week I finished Peter S. Beagle's The Way Home, a collection of two novellas set in the world of his The Last Unicorn. Disclaimer: I loved his 1980s short story "Lila the Werewolf" and consider it one of the best short fantasy stories ever written. That said, I found Unicorn to be kind of slow and talky. I 'm not sure I even finished it. And while the first novella in this pair, a Hugo- and Nebula-winning story, was quite good, the second and longer (never before published) suffered from that same slowness to the point I almost did not finish that one.

I don't insist that a fantasy story be slam-bang action, no. But *something* has to happen, and you have to wonder what the characters will do next. This one had me wondering why I was reading it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 09:55 AM (omVj0)

115 The book on the Garfield assassination is Destiny of the Republic by Candace Millard. It is a very good book, covering the improbable rise of Garfield to the presidency, and the growing insanity of Charles Guiteau, the assassin. Garfield was almost an accidental president. He went to the Republican convention to give a speech supporting William Tecumseh Sherman for president, and by the time he had finished, the crowd wanted him instead. Garfield didn't die from the wounds he received, he died from infection months later, due to the doctors probing for a bullet with unsterilized fingers. This assassination is what led to the secret service transforming from a counterfeit investigation team into a presidential protection team.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 14, 2024 09:56 AM (SoEv+)

116 I read No Bugle, No Drums by William Hopkins, Colder Than Hell by Joseph Owens, and On Desperate Ground by Hampton Sides. The first two are first person accounts at Chosin Reservoir. The last is an overview of the battle. All were worth the read. I did not read The Frozen Chosen. I may try again later but did not care for the style. Amazing battle and retreat, incredible endurance on both sides. And I still think McArthur is an ass.

Working on Lewis Puller Jr's Fortunate Son and Shelby Foote's Civil War book, and still reading the WWI book. I guess I need something light.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 14, 2024 09:56 AM (xjTDL)

117 I read Paul Johnson's superb History of the Jews. (I've been on a Johnson kick lately) I'm sure some of you know more about that history than I did, but it's still a really good cover of a very interesting topic.

It starts (naturally) with Abraham leaving Ur and starting what would turn into Judaism, and then covers the bibilical period (Moses, David, Solomon, the destruction of the temples and the Diaspora. However, it isn't just a dry recitation. It delves into the various factions within Judaism, including the conflict between the more conservative elements who wanted to isolate themselves from the greater society, and those who wanted to assimilate. Assimilation was a real problem because those who did tended to either lose their faith or at least become much less doctrinaire, including in how the interacted with the world.

(cont)

Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 09:56 AM (xCA6C)

118 I finsished Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, it is the one book she wrote about her Husband, Almanzo Wilder's childhood on a farm in NY state on border with Canada (Malone NY)
Almanzo is the youngest child of the family at 10 years old and doesn't much want to go to school as he would rather work on the farm and raise and train horses like his Father. The book covers one year, from winter to winter, with school, sugaring, plowing and clearing, sowing crops with his father, shearing, harvesting, cutting ice, and trianing up the two calves his father gave him as yoke oxen. Farming in the 1870's is hard, even for a prosperous farmer with money in the bank. Almonzo loves horses more than anything else.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 14, 2024 09:56 AM (D7oie)

119 Thank you Weak Geek. Hope you are doing well.

Posted by: jewells45fuckcancer at July 14, 2024 09:58 AM (iF0sF)

120 This assassination is what led to the secret service transforming from a counterfeit investigation team into a presidential protection team.

==

..and in 2024 into the Ringling Bros. !

Posted by: runner at July 14, 2024 09:58 AM (V13WU)

121 American intelligence see fontova was just slightly less daft they had rauls future wife vouch for them

As my third cousin was an army major and brigade commsnder at giron beach

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 09:58 AM (PXvVL)

122 I have an English-language Soviet published copy of Graham Greene's The Quiet American given to me by a member if the Yaroslavl Communist Youth League.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 14, 2024 09:58 AM (RIvkX)

123 Thanks for mentioning the additional two Koontz Frankenstein books, Perfessor! I enjoyed the first three and had no idea there were more. Adding them to the list.
Posted by: She Hobbit at July 14, 2024 09:41 AM (ftFVW)

=====

Same here! Although I might wait and see if he thinks they're any good first.

Posted by: Jordan61 at July 14, 2024 09:59 AM (16NmB)

124 On to better things: At my local public library, which rarely has books older than the 1990s, I found a copy of a John D. MacDonald crime story, Weep For Me, from 1951. I had never seen it before, even in paperback (or I'd have bought it). A bank teller in western New York state, engaged for several years to a girl in his home town, meets another and more exotic woman who works upstairs in his bank, and is immediately attracted to her. A John D. story is rarely predictable. I can guess that, since a bank is involved, a heist or some kind of absconding with bank money will be involved . . . but I trust John D. to make it fascinating.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 10:00 AM (omVj0)

125 87 Will second your disagreement re writing being boring. It ain't.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 14, 2024 09:42 AM (q3u5l)

If your writing is boring, it's probably because you are writing something boring.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 14, 2024 10:00 AM (OX9vb)

126 The current leader of SS is from Pepsi. I am sure she is good at whatever the head of security of Pepsi does but she is NOT law enforcement of SS level.

Posted by: rhennigantx at July 14, 2024 10:00 AM (CpxQv)

127 (cont)
This dichotomy continued through the middle ages, with deep thinkers like Maimonides, and Jews who lost their faith altogether, e.g. Spinoza. The history leading up to the founding of Zionism reflects this conflict, with many Jews thinking it was sacrilegious to claim that the founders were entitled to that privilege. In many cases, they were accused of being false Messiahs; a consistent theme throughout the history of the Jews. The Holocaust and the Arab wars were also covered, although I was already more educated on those topics. Still, it was worth having the historical context to how it all developed.

Johnson does a superb job of describing the Jewish character, without veering into caricature. They are brilliant, fractious, and always ready for an argument, sometimes to their detriment, since they would argue sometimes when what was required was action to meet a threat. At other times, they were passive, and hoping for a threat to dissipate, rather than meeting it head on. In light of their history, it's easy to see why.

To my Hebraic friends: if there is anything in this review that you find offensive, that was not intended.

This book is HIGHLY recommended.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 10:01 AM (xCA6C)

128 I recently started George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin. Also Hyperion.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at July 14, 2024 10:01 AM (lhenN)

129 i found Bram Stoker's Dracula difficult to read. maybe I am not into gothic horror, could not fully appreciate whatever made it a klassik...

Posted by: runner at July 14, 2024 10:02 AM (V13WU)

130 I have been rereading books I read as a kid/teen. This week is was the first three of Piers Anthony's Xanth novels: A Spell for Chameleon, Source of Magic, and Castle Roogna. The series continues from there, but I'm skipping to Ogre, Ogre. Then I'lll stop.

My basic impression as a teen was that every other book was good. That seems about right.

A Spell for Chameleon introduces Bink, who has no discernible magical talent. To avoid being banished to Mundania - the fate of all talentless citizens - he journeys to the Good Magician Humphrey to discover his talent. But he's banished just as an exiled Evil Magician is amassing an army of Mundanes to conquer Xanth.

It's a fun book, setting up the puns and practices of the world. Bink thinks things through, even reconsidering whether the invasion might be the best thing for his country.

Source of Magic begins well. But after the stupid source is discovered, the plot requires Bink to act uncharacteristically boneheaded. But Xanth is saved because... reasons.

Castle Roogna is fun, as Bink's son goes on a quest with a borrowed body. But there are fun-killers: a sidekick saves him repeatedly and his thoughts are often too adult.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at July 14, 2024 10:02 AM (gJoNf)

131 If your writing is boring, it's probably because you are writing something boring.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 14, 2024 10:00 AM (OX9vb)
---
Or simply formulaic. A lot of authors find success in grinding out the same books with minor changes. I mean now many variations of bodice-ripper plots are there?

I guess it's like any other job - after a while it's routine. Maybe at some point I'll find widespread success, but as far as I'm concerned, that's besides the point. I like writing an people seem to enjoy the results.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:03 AM (llXky)

132 I finsished Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, it is the one book she wrote about her Husband, Almanzo Wilder's childhood on a farm in NY state on border with Canada (Malone NY)

Posted by: Kindltot

Farmer Boy may be my favorite of the series. But the darn story makes me want to eat, eat, eat all the things they talk about eating in the story. And, not being a farmer laboring all day, such eating would have disastrous results.

Posted by: She Hobbit at July 14, 2024 10:03 AM (ftFVW)

133 And having SS as part of Homeland seems way to political. SS should be independent of an appointed agency head and report directly to joint commission of Senate and House.

Posted by: rhennigantx at July 14, 2024 10:03 AM (CpxQv)

134 Its epistolary composed of letters and observations

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 10:04 AM (PXvVL)

135 While not mentioning recent events, I will remark that there are certain historical parallels worth studying. To wit, here is yet another shameless promotion of Long Live Death: The Keys to Victory in the Spanish Civil War. The precipitating event was a political assassination which happened on...wait for it...July 13, 1936.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd
=====
That is a pretty eerie coincidence. But as they say history rhymes. I would also wish to mention that Long Live Death is an excellent primer to how the Spanish Civil War evolved.

Before reading it, I knew mostly of the Spanish Civil War from general history of the West and from particular biographies of politicians and AH fills in a lot of blanks on who, what, when, where, and how. Good read and Wall of Men is also proving to be useful. Knew the political history of China, more or less, AH gets into the actual military nitty gritty of the struggles for power in China both internal and against external enemies.

Both are good reads.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:04 AM (mIs2x)

136 Bram Stoker's Dracula changes narrator with each chapter, and you gather the perspectives together. The author is feeling out the well-known mythology (EG garlic and silver) for the first time AFAIK.
Posted by: BourbonChicken at July 14, 2024

***
Stoker was a theatrical stage manager in his main life. No doubt he absorbed "dramatic" from his early years, which made Dracula the classic it is.

It must have been a real "shocker," as the British call thrillers, in its day. He shows us Victorian society, and then pulls back a curtain to reveal horrors upon horrors existing side by side with it and beneath it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 10:04 AM (omVj0)

137 ...To my Hebraic friends: if there is anything in this review that you find offensive, that was not intended.

This book is HIGHLY recommended.
Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 10:01 AM (xCA6C)
===
Too bad about your weather tomorrow.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 14, 2024 10:04 AM (RIvkX)

138 (continued from 112)
As for an actual review of "The Shadow Kingdom" graphic novel, it's pretty good. The linework is competent, but not inspired. Like the work of a very dedicated amateur. The coloring is a little bit old-school; cell shading with occasional highlights/shadows, it relies a lot on the hatches of the linework for depth and such. The story follows Robert E Howard's original very closely, almost to the letter. That is sometimes to its detriment, as some of the narration in the captions gets to be overwrought...

Overall, an enjoyable read. And the creators (under the banner of Arrow Comics) are promising a follow up. I'm actually kind of excited for the sequel, as it will have to be a new story, and hopefully it will be a continuation of the lizard-people infiltrating society storyline. One downside of Robert E Howard was that all his stories were stand-alone, and he never really followed up on concepts that had could have/should have had bigger implications. So maybe this adaptation will pick up the lizard-people story-arc and run with it.

Posted by: Castle Guy at July 14, 2024 10:05 AM (Lhaco)

139 Some of Piers Anthony's books, especially the later ones where the publisher just did a quick proof-read for spelling and then sent it to the printer, have an odd amount of attention paid to the sexual thoughts of young characters. I don't know if it was just that he never got over the 1970s zeitgeist or thought he was sticking it to the prudes, or something more worrisome.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 10:05 AM (78a2H)

140 >>> 137 ...To my Hebraic friends: if there is anything in this review that you find offensive, that was not intended.

This book is HIGHLY recommended.
Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 10:01 AM (xCA6C)
===
Too bad about your weather tomorrow.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 14, 2024 10:04 AM (RIvkX)

"How the fck is it raining sous vide wands and maple syrup?!" -- Archimedes tomorrow, probably

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at July 14, 2024 10:06 AM (VavZF)

141 He can properly be described as manic, but to read the details of his life and rule, one can see how driven this man was, and why he was titled "The Great". He was the driving force behind a massive modernisation of his country, and whose reign still echoes.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at July 14, 2024 09:24 AM (SoEv+)

Joel Mokyr (who's book I am reading) named Peter the Great as having identified the backwardness of Russia's economy and technological development as the principal threat to its existence as an independent country, and did something about it.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 14, 2024 10:06 AM (D7oie)

142 i found Bram Stoker's Dracula difficult to read. maybe I am not into gothic horror, could not fully appreciate whatever made it a klassik...
Posted by: runner at July 14, 2024

***
Admittedly, the writing style is rather dense by today's standards. I've never been able to read Jane Austen for the same reason (despite my writing hero Rex Stout's love for her work), and never wanted to major in English. That would have required reading millions of words by people like Austen and Henry James. Uh, no thanks.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 10:07 AM (omVj0)

143 "Storey's Guide To Raising Chickens" by Gail Damerow.

Practical.

Posted by: ZOD at July 14, 2024 10:07 AM (P+D4R)

144 Yes dracula was not the first presentation on the material carmilabut thr most widespread also the vampyr

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 10:08 AM (PXvVL)

145 131 If your writing is boring, it's probably because you are writing something boring.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs!
===========
Academic writing, for the most part, is boring and tedious. There is a reason that finishing the dissertation is the usual separator for graduate students versus graduated students.

In academic writing, one has to add a lot of caveats, footnotes, etc. to placate editors and reviewers (or your dissertation committee members). Then, after bowing in obeisance to the current academic fads, they have you eviscerate your lit review and a lot of your reasoning in order to fit more articles in a volume.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:08 AM (mIs2x)

146 Has anyone proposed that elected officials demonstrate the ability to say "Ka Nama Kaa Lajerama" before they are sworn in? I suspect some incumbents might fail.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 10:08 AM (78a2H)

147 "How the fck is it raining sous vide wands and maple syrup?!" -- Archimedes tomorrow, probably
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at July 14, 2024 10:06 AM (VavZF)

Rofl!!

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 14, 2024 10:08 AM (RIvkX)

148 Jewish Character...

lt's in the eye of the beholder, just like "American Character", "French Character", "English Character".

Posted by: runner at July 14, 2024 10:08 AM (V13WU)

149
It starts (naturally) with Abraham leaving Ur and starting what would turn into Judaism…”

The location of Abraham’s Ur is a fascinating topic, I don’t know if Johnson goes into it. We equate Ur with the great ruin in Southern Iraq, but there is a city in southeastern Turkey still named Urfa, which has for at least 2500 years (documented) said “no, WE were the real home of Abraham.” The fact that both Isaac and later Jacob were sent to this region to pick wives lends a lot of credence to the claim.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024 10:09 AM (pgG81)

150 Too bad about your weather tomorrow.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 14, 2024 10:04 AM (RIvk

*snort

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 14, 2024 10:09 AM (OX9vb)

151 If your writing is boring, it's probably because you are writing something boring.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 14, 2024

***
Elmore Leonard is on record as saying about his own writing, "I try to leave out the parts people tend to skip." If what you're writing is boring, the reader will find it dull too. Find a way to skip or summarize the dull recitation of "what the police found at the murder scene and who they questioned," and move on to something more interesting, like an attempt on the detective's life.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 10:10 AM (omVj0)

152 SheHobbit, agreed about the food in Farmer Boy! The author of the Little House cookbook posited that Laura wrote those descriptions of food (told to her by Almanzo) from a very wistful point of view, since she didn't grow up with that much plentiful variety.

Posted by: skywch at July 14, 2024 10:10 AM (uqhmb)

153 140 >>> 137 ...To my Hebraic friends: if there is anything in this review that you find offensive, that was not intended.

This book is HIGHLY recommended.
Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 10:01 AM (xCA6C)
===
Too bad about your weather tomorrow.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 14, 2024 10:04 AM (RIvkX)

"How the fck is it raining sous vide wands and maple syrup?!" -- Archimedes tomorrow, probably

I'm just glad if I can dodge the space-faring sharks with lasers on their heads.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 10:10 AM (xCA6C)

154 >>151 If your writing is boring, it's probably because you are writing something boring.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at July 14, 2024

If your writing is boring, kill yourself.

Posted by: ZOD at July 14, 2024 10:11 AM (P+D4R)

155 I have been rereading books I read as a kid/teen. This week is was the first three of Piers Anthony's Xanth novels: A Spell for Chameleon, Source of Magic, and Castle Roogna. The series continues from there, but I'm skipping to Ogre, Ogre. Then I'lll stop.

My basic impression as a teen was that every other book was good. That seems about right.
----
He's one of several authors whom I enjoyed but cannot imagine re-reading. It's kind of like TV shows you enjoyed as a kid that are cringe-inducing now. I'll keep my happy memories intact.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:11 AM (llXky)

156 "Or simply formulaic. A lot of authors find success in grinding out the same books with minor changes."

This is about me, isn't it?

Posted by: Harry Turtledove at July 14, 2024 10:11 AM (89Sog)

157 The location of Abraham’s Ur is a fascinating topic, I don’t know if Johnson goes into it. We equate Ur with the great ruin in Southern Iraq, but there is a city in southeastern Turkey still named Urfa, which has for at least 2500 years (documented) said “no, WE were the real home of Abraham.” The fact that both Isaac and later Jacob were sent to this region to pick wives lends a lot of credence to the claim.

To the best of my recollection, it was the Iraqi city, but I'd have to go back and check.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 10:11 AM (xCA6C)

158 except Nimrod's court was in UR, and not in (today's) turkey

Posted by: runner at July 14, 2024 10:12 AM (V13WU)

159 something more worrisome.
Posted by: Trimegistus

The 50's thru the 80's sci-fi and fantasy writers had a lot of deviants in the community and now it appears that the mainstream lit community of that era did as well.

Turns out free love, drugs, booze, etc. no boundaries ethos ended up resulting in child abuse, widespread sexual harassment of fans at conventions, and and perversion.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:12 AM (mIs2x)

160 Never could get into Beagle's The Last Unicorn, but I recall liking A Fine and Private Place; and some of his short fiction is really nice. There's a two volume collection of his best short work available now (The Essential Peter S. Beagle, I think) and the novels are being reissued too.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 14, 2024 10:12 AM (q3u5l)

161 Admittedly, the writing style is rather dense by today's standards. I've never been able to read Jane Austen for the same reason (despite my writing hero Rex Stout's love for her work), and never wanted to major in English. That would have required reading millions of words by people like Austen and Henry James. Uh, no thanks.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

Reread Pride and Prejudice for the first time in a LONG time last year and was surprised by how humorous I found it this time. I'm not sure if that was intended, but it seemed like Austen was hiding humor in all those many words that I just missed when I was a kid.

Posted by: She Hobbit at July 14, 2024 10:13 AM (ftFVW)

162 Poisoned lasagna is Tottenham Hotspur

Posted by: Jamaica at July 14, 2024 10:13 AM (FjEs9)

163 Yes dracula was not the first presentation on the material carmilabut thr most widespread also the vampyr
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024

***
Yes, there was a real pulp fiction story (though I don't think the Victorians used that term) called Varney the Vampire, or, The Feast of Blood some years before Stoker's. And LeFanu's "Carmilla," as you mention, which I think had a subtext of lesbianism. (Not all pre-1960s writers were staid types. Read some of Swinburne's poetry!)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 10:14 AM (omVj0)

164 Reread Pride and Prejudice for the first time in a LONG time last year and was surprised by how humorous I found it this time. I'm not sure if that was intended, but it seemed like Austen was hiding humor in all those many words that I just missed when I was a kid.
Posted by: She Hobbit at July 14, 2024

***
Maybe I'll try it again. It took me three tries to understand, enjoy, and finish Hammett's Maltese Falcon.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 10:16 AM (omVj0)

165 156 "Or simply formulaic. A lot of authors find success in grinding out the same books with minor changes."
=======
The Gunsmith Western series is on something like 400+ serial novels and a couple of spin offs.

A while back (twenty years or more), I remember software being sold that was more or less paint by numbers to construct novels and dialogue. Would not be surprised that something like that is now highly possible in a serial series.

Even some writers that I have liked, like the late David Drake and his RCN series had repetitive bits of sentences inserted in book after book that bothered me a bit.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:16 AM (mIs2x)

166 ====
That is a pretty eerie coincidence. But as they say history rhymes. I would also wish to mention that Long Live Death is an excellent primer to how the Spanish Civil War evolved.“

July 13? I did not remember that! The original source of the quote was Karl Marx, who actually said some very insightful things from time to time. What he said was “Of course History repeats; but the first time asTragedy, the second time as Farce.”

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024 10:17 AM (pgG81)

167 The fact that both Isaac and later Jacob were sent to this region to pick wives lends a lot of credence to the claim.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024

***
I wish I'd had a "region" I could have gone to in order to "pick" a wife! Can't imagine how I could have done worse that way than I actually did. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 10:18 AM (omVj0)

168 But the darn story makes me want to eat, eat, eat all the things they talk about eating in the story. And, not being a farmer laboring all day, such eating would have disastrous results.

When I was in grade school, I think third/fourth grade, one of the nuns read one of the LHotP books. Pretty much all I remember is the endless lists of incredible food. Breakfast would have had me covered for the whole day.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at July 14, 2024 10:18 AM (U/yhi)

169 *Johnson does a superb job of describing the Jewish character, without veering into caricature. They are brilliant, fractious, and always ready for an argument, sometimes to their detriment, since they would argue sometimes when what was required was action to meet a threat. At other times, they were passive, and hoping for a threat to dissipate, rather than meeting it head on. In light of their history, it's easy to see why.*

The Chosen.

Posted by: Come and see at July 14, 2024 10:18 AM (dg+HA)

170 156 "Or simply formulaic. A lot of authors find success in grinding out the same books with minor changes."

This is about me, isn't it?
Posted by: Harry Turtledove at July 14, 2024 10:11 AM (89Sog)

Oh pish posh.

Posted by: Edgar Rice Burroughs at July 14, 2024 10:20 AM (PiwSw)

171 When I was in grade school, I think third/fourth grade, one of the nuns read one of the LHotP books. Pretty much all I remember is the endless lists of incredible food. Breakfast would have had me covered for the whole day.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at July 14, 2024

***
Oh. Little House on the Prairie. My sick mind was thinking of something else with that acronym. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 10:20 AM (omVj0)

172 Even some writers that I have liked, like the late David Drake and his RCN series had repetitive bits of sentences inserted in book after book that bothered me a bit.
Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:16 AM (mIs2x)
---
***Zombie Robert Jordan has entered the chat...***

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 10:20 AM (BpYfr)

173 To my Hebraic friends: if there is anything in this review that you find offensive, that was not intended.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 10:01 AM (xCA6C)
-

You have received this shmendrik's seal of approval.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 14, 2024 10:20 AM (MeDDJ)

174 If memory serves, Weep for Me is one of the novels John D. MacDonald didn't want to see reprinted; another was his novelization of the movie I Could Go On Singing. Think I read somewhere that Fawcett could have reissued these any time they liked, but JDM had let it be known that he'd be really unhappy come contract renewals time if they did so, and there was the probably-not-real-but-why-risk-it manuscript in which JDM would kill off Travis McGee out there as extra leverage.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 14, 2024 10:20 AM (q3u5l)

175 14th of brumaire

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 10:22 AM (PXvVL)

176 I wish I'd had a "region" I could have gone to in order to "pick" a wife! Can't imagine how I could have done worse that way than I actually did. . . .
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 10:18 AM (omVj0)

Just stay away from Angeles City. Get a provincial girl.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024 10:22 AM (0eaVi)

177 Pretty much all I remember is the endless lists of incredible food. Breakfast would have had me covered for the whole day.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at July 14, 2024 10:18 AM (U/yhi)
---
It takes a lot of calories to work on a farm. Especially back in those days.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 10:22 AM (BpYfr)

178 Turns out free love, drugs, booze, etc. no boundaries ethos ended up resulting in child abuse, widespread sexual harassment of fans at conventions, and and perversion.
Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:12 AM (mIs2x)
---
Yeah, and I recall a lot of Piers Anthony's work have weird sexual stuff going on, which was fascinating as a teen but if I re-read it I'm sure I would be creeped out.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:23 AM (llXky)

179 41 The Hans Christian Andersen collection was surprisingly brutal to read. This guy had no problem just straight up killing protagonists for no good reason. Like, just to be an asshole. He couldn't tell a story about someone overcoming adversity and finding happiness in a life that maybe wasn't the life they expected. No, the person sits down outside in the middle of a damn blizzard to contemplate his sorrows and freezes to death. That makes a much better story as far as this fucker is concerned.

I now officially hate Hans Christian Andersen.
Posted by: Mrs. Peel at July 14, 2024 09:19 AM (Y+AMd)

Earlier this year I watched an anime adaptation of "The Little Mermaid" (via RiffTrax) that stuck closer to the original than the Disney version. Ariel didn't win the prince's heart, thus failed her bargain with the witch, and dissolved into the surf. Even though the anime tried to put a bittersweet spin on things (the prince did end up happy with another woman, and Ariel was happy for him), it still left me feeling kinda hollow. It seems that the House of Mouse knows what they're doing when they disregard the source material. Or at least they did, before the 2010's...

Posted by: Castle Guy at July 14, 2024 10:23 AM (Lhaco)

180 I was planning on starting Long Live Death again last night.
It didn't happen.
Tonight it will.
Got Grandson #2's birthday today. He turns 4.
Yesterday he invited the entire service department of subaru. A random 6'5" Indian walking down the street. Everyone at the McDonalds playplace. Everyone at the frozen yogurt shop and the disabled neighbor.

Posted by: Reforger at July 14, 2024 10:23 AM (xcIvR)

181 And having SS as part of Homeland seems way to political. SS should be independent of an appointed agency head and report directly to joint commission of Senate and House.

Posted by: rhennigantx at July 14, 2024 10:03 AM (CpxQv)

...and what's the deal with counterfeiting? Shouldn't that be Treasury? Printing and Engraving?

Posted by: BignJames at July 14, 2024 10:23 AM (AwYPR)

182 If memory serves, Weep for Me is one of the novels John D. MacDonald didn't want to see reprinted; another was his novelization of the movie I Could Go On Singing. Think I read somewhere that Fawcett could have reissued these any time they liked, but JDM had let it be known that he'd be really unhappy come contract renewals time if they did so, and there was the probably-not-real-but-why-risk-it manuscript in which JDM would kill off Travis McGee out there as extra leverage.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 14, 2024

***
Maybe so. This is a 2003 imprint from a British publisher, long after John D. was gone.

Heck, even a poor story by him is better than a lot of modern authors' work.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 10:24 AM (omVj0)

183 "I wish I'd had a "region" I could have gone to in order to "pick" a wife! Can't imagine how I could have done worse that way than I actually did. . . ."

No shit. I used to poke a bit of fun at my Indian friends about going back and marrying someone their family had chosen after dating American women.

"Used to".

Posted by: pawn at July 14, 2024 10:24 AM (QB+5g)

184 I mentioned upthread that I'm an unbeliever . . . but one thing that sometimes gives me pause is this: all evil movements and tyrants in history eventually turn against the Chosen People of God.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 10:25 AM (78a2H)

185 Heh. Dresden also has a love interest named Susan...Coincidence?

Probably not. Butcher is clearly drawing upon the noir detective genre for much of his series.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel
======
Part of the interruption in the Dresden series is I think that Butcher had some life changes in the past couple of years and perhaps his other fantasy series were selling better or he hit writer's block on Dresden.

Both Dresden and Correia have the creative issue (Dresden/Monster Hunter) that the monsters under the bed keep getting bigger and bigger for their heroes to overcome and it risks becoming formulaic. Working on alternative series might be the relief to get new fans and to keep the creative juices flowing.

Little mentioned here, and he is a out and proud Trotskyite, is Stefan Brust with his Vlad series. Brust is probably close to twenty or so of his primary series and then add in a takeoff on the Three Musketeers that is set in that world for another half dozen or so. If you are a student of writing, he does a pretty decent job of mixing it up as far as story technique and character development.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:25 AM (mIs2x)

186 It takes a lot of calories to work on a farm. Especially back in those days.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 10:22 AM (BpYfr)

I'm a big operation...takes a lot to run me.

Posted by: BignJames at July 14, 2024 10:26 AM (AwYPR)

187 Well abrahan was from nineveh if memory serves

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 10:26 AM (PXvVL)

188 Nimrod is a mostly mythological character. Undoubtedly there was someone of that name, but even in Genesis the references are mainly “some guy we heard about way back when”. The time he is said to have lived is different in every mention, sometimes he’s a grandson of Noah, sometimes he’s much later. May have been multiple men using the name, like Louis in France.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024 10:27 AM (pgG81)

189 We are fighting not against men but principalities and powers of the air

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 10:27 AM (PXvVL)

190 How well-attested is Abraham? Do archaeologists think he's a real guy, or is he like the founders of Rome?

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 10:28 AM (78a2H)

191 One of my favorite long-term rants (to bookies here, anyway) is that some 'classic' authors are represented to young students by their 'literary' works.

For students, have them read 'Frankenstein' because much shorter and still the modern mythology ties. 'Dracula' is a tough read, even for dedicated and advanced students. Took me a while to slog through.

'Northanger Abbey' rather than 'Pride and Prejudice'.

Posted by: mustbequantum at July 14, 2024 10:28 AM (AYNL4)

192 Part of the interruption in the Dresden series is I think that Butcher had some life changes in the past couple of years and perhaps his other fantasy series were selling better or he hit writer's block on Dresden.

Both Dresden and Correia have the creative issue (Dresden/Monster Hunter) that the monsters under the bed keep getting bigger and bigger for their heroes to overcome and it risks becoming formulaic. Working on alternative series might be the relief to get new fans and to keep the creative juices flowing.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:25 AM (mIs2x)
----
Yep. That's definitely become an issue for both writers. Correia is trying to finish up his Saga of the Forgotten Warrior and recently announced the final volume is going to be split up into TWO books instead of cramming it all into one.

Then he might get back to Monster Hunter, which is at a pretty big cliffhanger at the moment.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 14, 2024 10:28 AM (BpYfr)

193 I’d like to recommend The Presbyterian Standards by Francis R. Beattie.

Posted by: Eromero at July 14, 2024 10:29 AM (DXbAa)

194 Unless you're Ethiopian, in which case it is canonical.

The first book of Enoch is by far the most 'metal' of all Scripture. The series of threats to sinners in terms of torment and all the woe (so much woe!) is great.

Jonathan Edwards has nothing on Enoch.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 09:44 AM (llXky)

——-

Agree. I was thinking “that’s hardcore”.

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at July 14, 2024 10:29 AM (+Xb5w)

195 Nimrod is a biblical figure, so if he is "mythological" , so are all the other...including Noah, his direct ancestor...

Posted by: runner at July 14, 2024 10:29 AM (V13WU)

196 How well-attested is Abraham? Do archaeologists think he's a real guy, or is he like the founders of Rome?

Johnson treats him as a real historical figure. Naturally, there are others who strongly disagree.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 10:30 AM (xCA6C)

197 I mentioned upthread that I'm an unbeliever . . . but one thing that sometimes gives me pause is this: all evil movements and tyrants in history eventually turn against the Chosen People of God.
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 10:25 AM (78a2H)
---
Not really. The vast majority of the global population spent the vast majority of recorded history in complete ignorance of the Jewish people.

Westerners (and Americans in particular) assume that our history is the only history, but it's not.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:32 AM (llXky)

198 Modern biblical scholarship is hot garbage as one convert attested

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 10:32 AM (PXvVL)

199 Yeah, and I recall a lot of Piers Anthony's work have weird sexual stuff going on, which was fascinating as a teen but if I re-read it I'm sure I would be creeped out.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

If you have the stomach for it, read Moira Greyland's story about her mother Marion Zimmer Bradley and her father who was a pedophile rapist. Lots of big names in sci fi knew what was going on but did not want their own sexual peccadilloes examined.

As the true stories leak out over the famed conventions of yore, a lot of fantasy and sci fi writers turned out to be really sick and twisted folks. Look up Forry Ackerman for example, what Randall Garrett did, Asimov's behavior and the fact his son was a major collector of child pron, Heinlein's predilection for weird group sex and his relationships with Jack Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard.

The whole Alice Munro revelations also indicate a similar sickness in lit of the time as well. Those that did not participate in the sickness kept their mouths shut because what went on in the community--stayed in the community.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:32 AM (mIs2x)

200 If anyone's looking for a non-Nero Wolfe book by Rex Stout, I'd recommend The President Vanishes. It's still a mystery book about the president vanishing for (I believe) a couple of weeks, and the search for him. It might have inspired The Road to Gandolfo, by Robert Ludlum.

Posted by: Hour of the Wolf at July 14, 2024 10:33 AM (VNX3d)

201 196 How well-attested is Abraham?

Well rocka my soul...

Posted by: In his bosom at July 14, 2024 10:33 AM (dg+HA)

202 Some of Piers Anthony's books, especially the later ones where the publisher just did a quick proof-read for spelling and then sent it to the printer, have an odd amount of attention paid to the sexual thoughts of young characters. I don't know if it was just that he never got over the 1970s zeitgeist or thought he was sticking it to the prudes, or something more worrisome.
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 10:05

Yes. The woman-disparaging character Crombie the soldier ends up being less misogynistic than Bink and his prepubescent son Dor. As an adult reader, I was startled to read Dor think of a female as a "snatch".

Posted by: NaughtyPine at July 14, 2024 10:35 AM (gJoNf)

203 Agree. I was thinking “that’s hardcore”.
Posted by: MAGA_Ken at July 14, 2024 10:29 AM (+Xb5w)
---
My copy of Enoch has a preface by one of the experts who describes how after Enoch was rediscovered (thanks to the Ethiopians), a scholarly consensus was formed about when the books were written and when each part was added.

Then they found the Dead Sea Scrolls and it was completely wiped out. So much for "Biblical scholars."

Science now tells us that the allegorical section of 1 Enoch was in fact written 100 years before the coming of Christ, proving that it was indeed a prophesy with amazing accuracy. It therefore lends credence to the fact that prophecies weren't written after the fact, but recorded because they were fulfilled, which makes sense.

I hate how written records that describe things modern secularists don't like are considered unreliable by default.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:36 AM (llXky)

204
195 Nimrod is a biblical figure, so if he is "mythological" , so are all the other...including Noah, his direct ancestor...
Posted by: runner at July 14, 2024 10:29 AM (V13WU)

Many may think this heresy, but I (and I’m not the only one) look at the first 11 chapters of Genesis differently from the rest, since none of those are first person accounts, rather they are a compilation of ancient oral traditions. That’s not to say they’re not valid, but I don’t regard them as being on the same level as a writer saying “I saw this happen with my own eyes.” The first person accounts begin with Abraham.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024 10:36 AM (pgG81)

205 Also at the library this week, picked up Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard, the one that became a movie with John Travolta, and two more of Loren D. Estleman's "Valentino" series, Vamp and Brazen.

My only problem with Leonard's crime stories, at least the middle and later ones, is that he reproduces the way scumbags talk so accurately that -- without indicators, sometimes, of the *way* they say it -- I'm left wondering if I should laugh or not. From what I understand, the film version of GS is well done, and that might be why: You can see the body language and expressions of the characters. I don't have that problem with his Westerns.

That said, Leonard's 52 Pick-Up and Mr. Majestyk, his first two non-Westerns (?), are top-notch crime/action novels.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 10:37 AM (omVj0)

206 So, I tried to read Herbert's Dune Messiah and didn't finish it.. I read Dune decades ago.. Before this I read Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance.. Good book..

Posted by: It's me donna at July 14, 2024 10:39 AM (IyPmt)

207 146 Has anyone proposed that elected officials demonstrate the ability to say "Ka Nama Kaa Lajerama" before they are sworn in? I suspect some incumbents might fail.
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 10:08 AM (78a2H)

I think Biden actually did said that during his inauguration, but only because his brain fritzed out for a moment.

I kid, because I obviously understand that reference...

Posted by: Castle Guy at July 14, 2024 10:40 AM (Lhaco)

208 Yep. That's definitely become an issue for both writers. Correia is trying to finish up his Saga of the Forgotten Warrior and recently announced the final volume is going to be split up into TWO books instead of cramming it all into one.

Then he might get back to Monster Hunter, which is at a pretty big cliffhanger at the moment.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel
========
Manly Wade Wellman is a personal favorite of mine simply because he relies on John's wanderings through Appalachia rather than ramping up the monsters that John faces for variety. Strong Christian basis as well and a safe series for children. Wellman also wrote quite a bit of popular history of the US and was a newspaper guy way back when who traveled the globe and settled in rural North Carolina for the last twenty or so years of his life.

Prefer his horror stories for re reading much more than Lovecraft.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:40 AM (mIs2x)

209 If you have the stomach for it, read Moira Greyland's story about her mother Marion Zimmer Bradley and her father who was a pedophile rapist. Lots of big names in sci fi knew what was going on but did not want their own sexual peccadilloes examined.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:32 AM (mIs2x)
---
I don't have the stomach for it, and am glad that I stuck with Tolkien and an increasing amount of non-fiction.

I will say that Anthony gave me a weird vibe and while the satire was fun for a while, it got boring.

I read Mists of Avalon and thought it very creepy and despite being raised to distrust organized religion, I found the elevation of paganism and disparagement of Christianity odd and annoying.

I mean, if paganism was real, and powerful, how could it possibly succumb to people with zero spiritual power? Cast a fireball at the Eucharist and be done with it, wizardboy. Oh, you can't? Well, I guess you deserve to lose.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:42 AM (llXky)

210 I've been on a tear the last couple of years, mining the past to find enjoyable detective fiction. It has been very productive. I've found Hammett, Chandler, Robert Parker, and more.

The latest find is the Frederic Brown Ed and Am series books, a series that starts with The Fabulous Clipjoint, and follows the two protagonists as they switch from being carnies to private detectives. They are very well written books, and ones for which, as with the Nero Wolfe books, the mystery plot takes a back seat to the pleasure of being around the characters as they have their adventures. Great books! Some of the Kindle transcriptions are horribly error-ridden, but I was able to read past that.

I knew Frederic Brown only from two of my favorite books, The Mind Thing, which is science fiction with a stunner of a premise, and Night of the Jabberwock, which weaves Lewis Carroll quotes through a book that takes place on one drunken night full of adventures. Now I know he wrote some great mysteries, too.

Posted by: Splunge at July 14, 2024 10:43 AM (hmKaK)

211 Regarding reference to patriarch Abraham, I think the earliest can be found in a paper titled "THE EARLIEST OCCURRENCE OF THE NAME OF ABRAM." By JAMES HENRY BREASTED, The University of Chicago.

/waiting for a popular moron comment

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 14, 2024 10:43 AM (MeDDJ)

212 The devil is like a roaring lion to kill and devoee you

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 10:44 AM (PXvVL)

213 Modern biblical scholarship is hot garbage as one convert attested
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 10:32 AM (PXvVL)
---
One of the factors that aided my conversation was that both the evangelical atheists and the Wiccans really pissed me off. Their arguments were pathetic and always begged the question. I probably would have converted in college had one of the cute girls in the Campus Crusade been open to my advances.

The Wiccans were at least a lot more available.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:45 AM (llXky)

214 I thought the Secret Service was under the Treasury Depart for some reason

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2024 10:45 AM (fwDg9)

215 I read Mists of Avalon and thought it very creepy and despite being raised to distrust organized religion, I found the elevation of paganism and disparagement of Christianity odd and annoying.

I mean, if paganism was real, and powerful, how could it possibly succumb to people with zero spiritual power? Cast a fireball at the Eucharist and be done with it, wizardboy. Oh, you can't? Well, I guess you deserve to lose.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd
========
MZB purposefully rejected Christianity to wallow in her perversions and sexual abuse of children along with her equally vicious husband Walter Breen. They preyed on new child victims at cons as well as thoroughly abusing their own children.

Now it appears that Alice Munro and her husband had a similar arrangement and lit writers in her circle of friends like Margaret Atwood are now being questioned about what they knew and when did they know it.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:45 AM (mIs2x)

216 Thank you Perfessor and good morning horde. No "books" read in the past week, but a lot of genealogy reading. I have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War. Interesting to read after-action accounts, descriptions compiled for reunions, etc. and then accounts written based on those materials. History is written by the victors but history is also written by those with fallible memories and incomplete knowledge of events. The fog of war works backwards too.

Posted by: TRex at July 14, 2024 10:46 AM (IQ6Gq)

217 He's one of several authors whom I enjoyed but cannot imagine re-reading. It's kind of like TV shows you enjoyed as a kid that are cringe-inducing now. I'll keep my happy memories intact.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:11 AM (llXky)

On the flipside, The Chronicles of Prydain were as good as I remembered.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at July 14, 2024 10:47 AM (gJoNf)

218 Fredric Brown did a bunch of nifty stand-alone mystery/suspense novels too. If you haven't run across them yet, check out The Far Cry and Knock Three-One-Two. Delightful stuff.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 14, 2024 10:47 AM (q3u5l)

219 Now it appears that Alice Munro and her husband had a similar arrangement and lit writers in her circle of friends like Margaret Atwood are now being questioned about what they knew and when did they know it.
Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:45 AM (mIs2x)
---
I would love to see Atwood canceled.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:47 AM (llXky)

220 Used to be before 2003 and the dhs consolidation fwiw

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 10:47 AM (PXvVL)

221 We prayed the Intention prayers and community prayer for Pres Trump at today's mass .

Posted by: LASue at July 14, 2024 10:48 AM (9JTO6)

222 >>From what I understand, the film version of GS is well done, and that might be why: You can see the body language and expressions of the characters.

It helps that the casting was superb. They sure look like they enjoyed the heck out of their roles.

Posted by: Lizzy at July 14, 2024 10:49 AM (+oRno)

223 Woe? Whoa!

Posted by: The Duke of Ted at July 14, 2024 10:49 AM (KaULO)

224 55 The entire 'shut up and compute' school of physics is an abomination. A mathematical model that predicts correctly but that you not only don't understand but refuse to try to understand is not natural philosophy.
Posted by: Candidus at July 14, 2024 09:23 AM (dfcuM)

I don't think that's quite a fair reading of Feynman's quote. He was not expounding a deep philosophy of physics; he was speaking to students, telling them in effect that he knew they were naturally going to be drawn into the deeper "why" questions about the baffling nature of quantum mechanics, but that it was not a good way to spend their time, as it was unlikely to get them anywhere, and learning the actual physics was going to be a hard challenge in itself, so it was a distraction from the goal.

Posted by: Splunge at July 14, 2024 10:49 AM (hmKaK)

225 /waiting for a popular moron comment
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 14, 2024 10:43 AM (MeDDJ)
---
If he had a sister, the jokes write themselves.

And, later on, adult films.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:50 AM (llXky)

226 I've been reading The Man Who Fell From the Sky by William Norris about the 1924 death of Alfred Loewenstein, a fabulously wealthy financier of the day. He fell from his privately owned Fokker trimotor over the English Channel. The unsolved mystery is whether he jumped, fell, or was pushed and each seems equally unlikely approaching impossible.

I found this description of upper class parties at a fox hunting venue a few months before his death interesting.

"At Craven Lodge, the princes held a constant succession of dinners and fancy dress parties, with male guests frequently in drag and many of the women dressed as animals or children. The ladies of society vied for invitations like pigs at a short trough. It was a paradise for snobs, a feudal fantasy. It was also, according to those few still alive who took part, great fun."

I guess there were furries, pedophiles, and other perverts among the elite in those days too.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Free the Trump 45! at July 14, 2024 10:50 AM (L/fGl)

227 WSJ reporting that the shooter has explosive devices in his car. Of course it might be firecrackers so withhold certainty

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 14, 2024 10:51 AM (sjqp6)

228 For those with a strong stomach, here is Moira Greyland summarizing what happened to her and others. https://tinyurl.com/muwpfuvd

Here is her money quote, "My observation of my father and mother’s actual belief is this: since everyone is naturally gay, it is the straight establishment that makes everyone hung up and therefore limited. Sex early will make people willing to have sex with everyone, which will bring about the utopia while eliminating homophobia and helping people become “who they really are.” It will also destroy the hated nuclear family with its paternalism, sexism, ageism (yes, for pedophiles, that is a thing) and all other “isms.” If enough children are sexualized young enough, gayness will suddenly be “normal” and accepted by everyone, and the old fashioned notions about fidelity will vanish. As sex is integrated as a natural part of every single relationship, the barriers between people will vanish, and the utopia will appear, as “straight culture” goes the way of the dinosaur. As my mother used to say: “Children are brainwashed into believing they don’t want sex.”

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:51 AM (mIs2x)

229 Thank you, Perfessor, for another enlightening Book Thread.

Not much time for reading this week. I started The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel. The Arthur Conan Doyle estate authorized this novel written by Anthony Horowitz. I'm just starting to get into the story and it looks promising but will report back when I finish it.

Posted by: KatieFloyd at July 14, 2024 10:52 AM (oDN7F)

230 WSJ reporting that the shooter has explosive devices in his car. Of course it might be firecrackers so withhold certainty
Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 14, 2024 10:51 AM (sjqp6)
---
Let's talk about that later, okay? Give us about an hour and then have at it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:52 AM (llXky)

231 I probably would have converted in college had one of the cute girls in the Campus Crusade been open to my advances.

We've all been there, my friend, we've all been there.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 10:52 AM (xCA6C)

232 I guess there were furries, pedophiles, and other perverts among the elite in those days too.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks
======
Yes, and by and large those types are concentrated in the upper and wealthy classes that endlessly rationalize their evil as actually good aka stupid chants like love is love.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:53 AM (mIs2x)

233 NBC headline:

Trump says he was shot in ear.

Posted by: It's Happening at July 14, 2024 10:53 AM (bILdU)

234 233 NBC headline:

Trump says he was shot in ear.
Posted by: It's Happening

As a media critic, I would say that "NBC says it is reporting news".

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:54 AM (mIs2x)

235 As my mother used to say: “Children are brainwashed into believing they don’t want sex.”
Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:51 AM (mIs2x)
---
A lot of people will describe that as "cultural Marxism" when the correct term is "demonic."

I highly recommend Dom Lorenzo Scupoli's The Spiritual Combat, which is a short, readable guide to victory in spiritual warfare. It sits next to my comfy chair for easy reference.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:55 AM (llXky)

236 Richard Simmons, Ruth Westheimer, Shelley Duvall, now Shannon Doherty. Not just threes anymore.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 14, 2024 10:55 AM (sjqp6)

237 @230 no problem

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 14, 2024 10:55 AM (sjqp6)

238 Lord blackwood the pre moriarty is supposedlh based on aleister crowley even though victorian cultufe eas wasnt that depraved yet probably

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 10:56 AM (PXvVL)

239 190 How well-attested is Abraham? Do archaeologists think he's a real guy, or is he like the founders of Rome?
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 10:28 AM (78a2H)

I'm not sure archeologists are the right people to ask. Biblical Abraham was a nomadic shepherd, albeit one who eventually had a substantial following. Even so, that's not going to leave much that is archeologically distinctive...

Per a "The Great Courses" lecture I listened to a while back, we (or at least, certain scholars) think that the 'Ur of the Chaldees' that Abraham came from was in northern Iraq, as the culture of that region seems to line up with the culture/traditions that were described in Abraham's life.

Posted by: Castle Guy at July 14, 2024 10:56 AM (Lhaco)

240 I downloaded "Long Live Death" quite some time ago, but I think I'll start on it this week.

Posted by: PabloD at July 14, 2024 10:56 AM (MrwVp)

241 >>Sex early will make people willing to have sex with everyone. . . If enough children are sexualized young enough, gayness will suddenly be “normal” and accepted by everyone, and the old fashioned notions about fidelity will vanish.

1. Explains why the Left's activists are always also sexual perverts: same goals.
2. Blogger Bookworm nailed this years ago: ". . .the Left works assiduously to decouple sex from a person's own sense of bodily privacy and, by extension, self-ownership. If a person has no sense of autonomy, that person is a ready-made cog for the statist machinery.

Once a child individuates, he becomes aware of being his own self. ... The most basic thing one can own is one's own self, and not letting others touch that self in ways you don't like is an exercise in self-ownership.

Posted by: Lizzy at July 14, 2024 10:57 AM (+oRno)

242 Supposedly culure wasnt damn autocucumber

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 10:57 AM (PXvVL)

243 We've all been there, my friend, we've all been there.
Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 10:52 AM (xCA6C)
---
Fittingly, my wife was the one who suggested we enter the Church. She was raised Baptist, so it was quite a surprise.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:59 AM (llXky)

244 Supposedly culure wasnt damn autocucumber

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at July 14, 2024 10:57 AM (PXvVL)

You're doing fine.

Posted by: BignJames at July 14, 2024 10:59 AM (AwYPR)

245 Richard Simmons, Ruth Westheimer, Shelley Duvall, now Shannon Doherty. Not just threes anymore.
Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 14, 2024

***
Shannen Doherty is gone??? Damn. I always thought, despite her reported "difficult" nature on the sets of her shows, that she was quite talented.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 11:01 AM (omVj0)

246 That top picture sure hit home this week. with the leaning books.

My wife decided we should rearrange our store and put the fiction near the back and the gifts and souvenirs on new shelving up front.

Since I am moving both books and shelves, it was box up books and move the boxes; take down, move, and reassemble the shelving, then reshelve the books. It's not an enormous number of books (about 125') but taking them down is way easier than putting them back up in order.

Posted by: Ronald Kornblow at July 14, 2024 11:01 AM (pXRYM)

247 Splunge,

A very good interpretation of where Feynman was coming from in my opinion. Feynman thought Philosophy. in general, was basically mental masturbation but that you could actually "learn" something from Physics.

Posted by: pawn at July 14, 2024 11:01 AM (QB+5g)

248 Feynman thought Philosophy. in general, was basically mental masturbation but that you could actually "learn" something from Physics.
Posted by: pawn at July 14, 2024

***
I think it was Heinlein, perhaps in the voice of Lazarus Long, who said, "Philosophy is searching in a coal cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 11:03 AM (omVj0)

249 236 Richard Simmons, Ruth Westheimer, Shelley Duvall, now Shannon Doherty. Not just threes anymore.
Posted by: Smell the Glove

After yesterday almost five.

Posted by: You're On Your Own Nobody Is Coming To Save You at July 14, 2024 11:03 AM (/U5Yz)

250 Once a child individuates, he becomes aware of being his own self. ... The most basic thing one can own is one's own self, and not letting others touch that self in ways you don't like is an exercise in self-ownership.
Posted by: Lizzy at July 14, 2024 10:57 AM (+oRno)
---
The reason why #metoo failed was that it was astroturf. No one in power believed in it, it was pushed by ageing starlets who didn't get what they paid for and then they tried to pin it on Trump, who laughed it off.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:03 AM (llXky)

251 After yesterday almost five.
Posted by: You're On Your Own Nobody Is Coming To Save You at July 14, 2024 11:03 AM (/U5Yz)
---
Once again, Boomers trying to outdo everyone.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:03 AM (llXky)

252 The theory is Marx was a Satanist

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2024 11:03 AM (fwDg9)

253 I would love to see Atwood canceled.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd
========
Atwood and her other lit friends are acting like an octopus and spreading black ink to obscure who, what, when, where, and how. Which is just like Democrat politicians do when a particular criminal nutjob is tied to them. Aka Lone Wolf syndrome.

Same thing that the sci fi fantasy conglomeration did with MZB and Breen (and Forry Ackerman for that matter) etc.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 11:03 AM (mIs2x)

254 203

Then they found the Dead Sea Scrolls and it was completely wiped out. So much for "Biblical scholars."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:36 AM (llXky)

The Dead Sea Scrolls made scholars re-think a lot of things. There was one instance where they found two copies of a certain book (I forget which), one which matches up really well with our current translation, and one of which diverges greatly from the current copy. It suggests that the early-modern and medeval copiers were more accurate that we sometimes give them credit for.

I got that tidbit from a "The Great Courses" lecture series on the topic, which I really should listen to again, sometime.

Posted by: Castle Guy at July 14, 2024 11:03 AM (Lhaco)

255 Feynman thought Philosophy. in general, was basically mental masturbation but that you could actually "learn" something from Physics.

Posted by: pawn at July 14, 2024 11:01 AM (QB+5g)

You might not realize it's "physics", while you're learning it.

Posted by: BignJames at July 14, 2024 11:04 AM (AwYPR)

256 I downloaded "Long Live Death" quite some time ago, but I think I'll start on it this week.
Posted by: PabloD at July 14, 2024 10:56 AM (MrwVp)
---
The timing seems right. Let me know what you think.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:04 AM (llXky)

257 The book I read was William Dietz, War World (1986) as re-released Galactic Bounty. Dietz might be better known for the Halo 2 novelization.
War World is a debut and it... shows. He did a lot of worldbuilding but maybe doesn't exposit it ideally. The characters are fairly forgettable especially since there is a shape shifter who takes others' forms all the time.
As plot goes, the War World was a site of ancient aliens, now gone. Other aliens, and Humanity F0q Yeah, are now hunting for it. Some obsessive human thinks he has found it and McCabe, our hero, needs to stop him before he betrays the secret to the Il Ronn. (Who are the devils of Childhood's End. Might refer to Hubbard, like the Breen refer to that paedo who married MZB.)
So, lots of confusing double crosses lightened up by military action.
Overall, meh. I assume he gets better, he definitely is creative, and the book might be early enough its tropes aren't boring yet.

Posted by: Boulder Terlit Hobo at July 14, 2024 11:06 AM (pOV2e)

258 The theory is Marx was a Satanist
Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2024 11:03 AM (fwDg9)
---
Marxism is best understood as a religious heresy, a corruption of Christian doctrines regarding charity and an attempt to immanentize the eschaton (in Buckley's phrase).

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:06 AM (llXky)

259 Reread Dom Dellilo's White Noise recently. Better then when I read it the first time.
Also I thought The Handmaiden's Tale was boring. I don't think there can be worse criticism of a book

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 14, 2024 11:07 AM (sjqp6)

260 Still reading the Oppenheimer book- I'm up to the part where the powers that be conspire to ruin his reputation, because he didn't think a massive stockpile of thermonuclear weapons was a good idea

Posted by: Don Black at July 14, 2024 11:07 AM (/7KEl)

261 Castle Guy, that would be Jeremiah. The Greek is now verified as a translation of a real Hebrew variant. Mostly a better one.

Posted by: Boulder Terlit Hobo at July 14, 2024 11:07 AM (pOV2e)

262 248 I think it was Heinlein, perhaps in the voice of Lazarus Long, who said, "Philosophy is searching in a coal cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 11:03 AM (omVj0)
***
Great quote.

Posted by: TRex at July 14, 2024 11:08 AM (IQ6Gq)

263 Not much time for reading this week. I started The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel. The Arthur Conan Doyle estate authorized this novel written by Anthony Horowitz. I'm just starting to get into the story and it looks promising but will report back when I finish it.
Posted by: KatieFloyd

Far and away my favorite non-Conan Doyle Holmes.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Free the Trump 45! at July 14, 2024 11:08 AM (L/fGl)

264 Well, one thing is certain. That young lady can wear those pants a hell of a lot better than I ever could.

Morning Hordemates.

Posted by: Diogenes at July 14, 2024 11:08 AM (W/lyH)

265 252 The theory is Marx was a Satanist
Posted by: Skip
======
Rottenness seeks to hide from the Lord and Marx's religion is the opiate of the masses remarks come from a vile person that sought to do as he wilt without constraint. Vile people consistently believe they are enlightened as part of their conceit.

It is really hard to be a committed Christian (other than a wolf in sheep's clothing to get prey) and live like Marx did (or Rousseau--the hideous pervert that he was). To avoid cognitive dissonance about being a bad person doing evil things, they have to deny the Lord if not actually proclaim their allegiance with Stan.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 11:08 AM (mIs2x)

266 I'm up to the part where the powers that be conspire to ruin his reputation, because he didn't think a massive stockpile of thermonuclear weapons was a good idea

Posted by: Don Black at July 14, 2024 11:07 AM (/7KEl)

Because we'd be encouraged to use them?

Posted by: BignJames at July 14, 2024 11:10 AM (AwYPR)

267 "You might not realize it's "physics", while you're learning it."

By the time you get to where Feynman's insights are useful, you pretty much know what Physics is.

One of Feynman's greatest accomplishments that kind of go unsaid is rescuing Physics grad students from the hopelessness of the endeavor of understanding what quantum Physics is leading them to.

Posted by: pawn at July 14, 2024 11:10 AM (QB+5g)

268 I got that tidbit from a "The Great Courses" lecture series on the topic, which I really should listen to again, sometime.
Posted by: Castle Guy at July 14, 2024 11:03 AM (Lhaco)
---
This goes back to the core tension between people who demand proof and then decide that some proof arbitrarily doesn't count.

Thus, when the Romans describe a battle, it is assumed to be true, but when they describe the auguries, that's just nonsense. When they describe political debates, that happened, but accounts of strange events, mutated animals or supernatural events, that's nonsense.

The people who built arches with hand tools obviously are too stupid to know cause and effect when it comes to sacrifices and auguries.

Logical reasoning, everyone! All hail science!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:11 AM (llXky)

269 >>The reason why #metoo failed was that it was astroturf.

Yes. John Ringo had some interesting insight, too, in a guest post at Instapundit:
"Deflection in abuse syndrome: Are Hollywood Actresses really angry at Conservative men? Or is it all just a sham? The simple answer to the question is: Yes. But not because conservative men have abused them. Because they are forced to be silent, for various sociological and psychological reasons, about their abuse at the hands of the ‘in-crowd’ of liberals by which they are surrounded. And they lash out at any convenient target. . .
It’s all part of abuse syndrome, people. I’d wondered about it for some time but the ‘revelations’ about Harvey Weinstein just make it crystal clear. People who are subject to long-term abuse MUST find an outlet for the anger that bubbles in them all the time. They don’t, dare not for various reasons, lash out at their abusers. Think of children in abusive homes. How can they lash out at their parents who are abusing them? They are powerless. They are powerless. So they become bullies in turn. . ."

Posted by: Lizzy at July 14, 2024 11:12 AM (+oRno)

270 Mrs.anxhorbabe is watching a saccharine Aurora Teagarden Hallmark thing.

Alexa Daig....mmmmm.

Cameron Bure is easy on the eyes, too.

Posted by: anchorbabe fashion cop at July 14, 2024 11:13 AM (ufFY8)

271 One of Feynman's greatest accomplishments that kind of go unsaid is rescuing Physics grad students from the hopelessness of the endeavor of understanding what quantum Physics is leading them to.

Posted by: pawn at July 14, 2024 11:10 AM (QB+5g)

I'm thinking more Newtonian stuff.

Posted by: BignJames at July 14, 2024 11:13 AM (AwYPR)

272 "Boulder Terlit Hobo"

Look who's back!!!

I'm glad you didn't die.

Posted by: pawn at July 14, 2024 11:13 AM (QB+5g)

273 BNO News @BNONews 5m
BREAKING: Shannen Doherty, of 'Beverly Hills 90210' and 'Charmed,' has died of cancer at 53.

Posted by: andycanuck (Jh5b+) at July 14, 2024 11:13 AM (Jh5b+)

274 Kindletot - Even though I haven't read Farmer Boy since I was in grade school, I still remember it well. The whole Little House series made a huge impression on me. I loved those books and should really re-read them.

She Hobbit - I laughed out loud when I read your comment on the food. I was fascinated by the amount of food they ate, especially for breakfast - the pies, the crullers and so on. Now I'm getting hungry...

Posted by: KatieFloyd at July 14, 2024 11:14 AM (pWyh/)

275 The theory is Marx was a Satanist
Posted by: Skip

It's only fair. Satan is a Marxist.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Free the Trump 45! at July 14, 2024 11:15 AM (L/fGl)

276 I mentioned this last week about Kindle Unlimited books and how the last one I'd read had an almost obligatory trashing of conservatives. So I read the other I had downloaded (both SciFi) and sure as hell, the author had to trash President Trump.
So as advised by a hordemate, I'm going back to classics and known quality.
I'm rereading Hunt For Red October.

Posted by: Diogenes at July 14, 2024 11:15 AM (W/lyH)

277 As a media critic, I would say that "NBC says it is reporting news".
Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 10:54 AM (mIs2x)

Just like another headline:

Trump falls at rally.

Posted by: It's Happening at July 14, 2024 11:16 AM (bILdU)

278
The people who built arches with hand tools obviously are too stupid to know cause and effect when it comes to sacrifices and auguries.

Logical reasoning, everyone! All hail science!
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:11 AM (llXky)

I used to wonder how intelligent Romans could “read” chicken entrails, but now I look at what our officials pump out in support of faux vaccines and “climate change”, and I get it.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024 11:17 AM (pgG81)

279 I'm glad you mentioned the Harry Dresden novels. As a born-and-bred Chicagoan (though I moved away seven years ago), Dresden's depiction of Chicago is, shall we say, flawed. For example, when he writes of the acres of parking around Wrigley Field. Also, the first 11 books are really good, peaking (IMHO) with "Turn Coat". In the 12th, "Changes", the series jumps the shark. The two collections of short stories - "Side Jobs" and "Brief Cases" - are really good, though they assume that the reader is acquainted with Harry Dresden's world.
As for recommended books: Robert Graves' "Lawrence and the Arabs", which is about T. E. Lawrence and the Arab revolt. Graves was a close friend of Lawrence's; this book, published in 1927, had a lot of input from Lawrence himself, though it came out before "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom". Graves later suppressed the book and it had been long out of print; now it's entered the public domain. For anyone interested in the Middle East, or in that amazing character Thomas Edward Lawrence, this is a must-read - and it's available for free on gutenberg.org.

Posted by: Nemo at July 14, 2024 11:18 AM (S6ArX)

280 I'm up to the part where the powers that be conspire to ruin his reputation, because he didn't think a massive stockpile of thermonuclear weapons was a good idea

Posted by: Don Black at July 14, 2024 11:07 AM (/7KEl)

Because we'd be encouraged to use them?
Posted by: BignJames at July 14, 2024 11:10 AM (AwYPR)
---
One of the old Cold War tropes was that no one every built weapons without using them, which is objectively false. Most ironclads never fired a shot in anger. The vast dreadnought fleets saw little if any action. Most US coastal forts did little more than target practice. And so on.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:18 AM (llXky)

281 Goat entrails >> chicken entrail

Jvst saying, yo!

Posted by: Ancient Roman Augoror at July 14, 2024 11:19 AM (ufFY8)

282 [NOTE: I know it's tempting to talk about the assassination attempt on Trump. We'll be talking about it for days, if not months. But let's put that aside for a couple of hours and immerse ourselves in the world of books. Or at least observe the 100 Comment Rule. CBD will be along at Noon, ET, with a relevant political thread, -- PS]

With deference to your admonition above PS, I'll be on my way to Church when CBD opens his thread. I haven't been to church in 3 years due to a crippling back surgery, but feel I have to make the effort today out of gratitude for the divine intervention I witnessed yesterday.

That having been said, I would just like to say that my wish is that in the very near future we change our National Anthem to God Bless America. This would be in recognition of the fact that we are facing arguably the most troubling and evil times in our nation's history - certainly on par with the Civil War in my opinion - and would demonstrate a humble acknowledgement of our need for His guiding hand.

Please forgive my intrusion on the thread.

Posted by: Chairborne!...Desk From Above! at July 14, 2024 11:19 AM (law2T)

283 The Dead Sea Scrolls made scholars re-think a lot of things. There was one instance where they found two copies of a certain book (I forget which), one which matches up really well with our current translation, and one of which diverges greatly from the current copy. It suggests that the early-modern and medeval copiers were more accurate that we sometimes give them credit for.

I got that tidbit from a "The Great Courses" lecture series on the topic, which I really should listen to again, sometime.
Posted by: Castle Guy

I think that is the Book of Isaiah.

Posted by: whig at July 14, 2024 11:20 AM (mIs2x)

284 When you're choosing the site for a new settlement, it's not a bad idea to examine some of the local wildlife and see if they've got any systematic abnormalities. Might show there's something wrong with the water, or parasites in the soil. So, do the auguries when you found a city.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 11:20 AM (78a2H)

285 Also I thought The Handmaiden's Tale was boring. I don't think there can be worse criticism of a book
Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 14, 2024 11:07 AM (sjqp6)

It must have been hard to write, then.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024 11:20 AM (0eaVi)

286 Ok, this is sort of book related. Sort of.

Early yesterday morning found me sitting in my SUV waiting for Tractor Supply to open up at 8:00 AM. I noticed a line of 15 to 20 people (mostly aged 29+) waiting in line at another store further down the strip mall. It wasn't obvious what door they were waiting to open.
At 8:00 sharp the line began to move and I saw they were entering a Hallmark card store. The door was being held open by a woman in a goofy looking costume. As I made my way towards TSC I saw a second woman in a different goofy looking costume. Sorta made me think of a munchkin.
Well, sure enough, that's what it was: the 85th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz.
Look, it's a free country. Do what you want, celebrate whatever floats your boat. None of my business.
But to think there's that many people with that much disposable time and income...

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at July 14, 2024 11:20 AM (dg+HA)

287 As to 1 Enoch: the full text is in Geez, an Ethiopian language close to Tigray, less so to Amharic. Qumran preserves four of its five books mostly Aramaic, although part of book 1 is Hebrew. Book 1 is what Jude quotes. Book 2 is missing.
The Astronomy Book is 3 and is garbled in Geez and fragmentary in Aramaic.
The prophecies are in 4 and 5, although also fragmentary. Some doctoral student named Dugin argued that Barnabas knew all of 4... but that Qumran did not, so that prophecies were added to it over the years of Roman rule.
Overall Book 1 and 3 are considered Ptolemaic in date, 4 early Hasmonean then edited, 5 I don't know. Also somewhere after 3's first Edition is Jubilees.

Posted by: Boulder Terlit Hobo at July 14, 2024 11:22 AM (pOV2e)

288 I used to wonder how intelligent Romans could “read” chicken entrails, but now I look at what our officials pump out in support of faux vaccines and “climate change”, and I get it.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024 11:17 AM (pgG81)
---
They had guide books, which were very important. This was how they communicated with the fallen angels (demons) who in turn helped their armies win. Much of ancient history is about trying to find stronger gods, i.e. demons.

Not all angels fell to the same extent and in the same way, which is why the gods are differentiated, and the same types of gods repeat (war, fertility, storm) because they moved around.

But only one god is God, which is why the Bible lays such a heavy emphasis on what otherwise seems a redundant declaration.

There's also the succession myths, which imply that the actual creator was destroyed/overthrown by his children, which is an obviously Satanic teaching.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:23 AM (llXky)

289 As to 1 Enoch: the full text is in Geez, an Ethiopian language close to Tigray, less so to Amharic. Qumran preserves four of its five books mostly Aramaic, although part of book 1 is Hebrew. Book 1 is what Jude quotes. Book 2 is missing. The Astronomy Book is 3 and is garbled in Geez and fragmentary in Aramaic. The prophecies are in 4 and 5, although also fragmentary. Some doctoral student named Dugin argued that Barnabas knew all of 4... but that Qumran did not, so that prophecies were added to it over the years of Roman rule. Overall Book 1 and 3 are considered Ptolemaic in date, 4 early Hasmonean then edited, 5 I don't know. Also somewhere after 3's first Edition is Jubilees.
Posted by: Boulder Terlit Hobo

Will this be on the test?

Posted by: Tonypete at July 14, 2024 11:23 AM (H8v0I)

290 Also somewhere after 3's first Edition is Jubilees.
Posted by: Boulder Terlit Hobo at July 14, 2024 11:22 AM (pOV2e)
---
I believe Jubilees was really big in the Qumran community. They were all about the calendars and stuff.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:25 AM (llXky)

291 My next book is Gambling With Armageddon, co-authored by one of the American Prometheus writers

The cold war years are an interesting period of history for me

Posted by: Don Black at July 14, 2024 11:25 AM (/7KEl)

292 The Devil and Karl Marx is a good read or you can watch the interview from Jordan Peterson on YouTube

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2024 11:25 AM (fwDg9)

293 Castle Guy, that would be Jeremiah. The Greek is now verified as a translation of a real Hebrew variant. Mostly a better one.

Posted by: Boulder Terlit Hobo

Glad to see you back.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 11:28 AM (xCA6C)

294 Will this be on the test?
Posted by: Tonypete at July 14, 2024 11:23 AM (H8v0I)

Alls I know is somebody begat somebody who begat somebody else.

I know it matters to those doing the begatting, but I fail to see how it should matter to me.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 14, 2024 11:28 AM (Cp+5w)

295 Woman: You've got Qumran in my Geez!

Man: You've got Geez in my Qumran!

Posted by: Discarded ad idea at July 14, 2024 11:29 AM (ufFY8)

296 What was the movie GS?

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024 11:29 AM (pgG81)

297 I know it matters to those doing the begatting, but I fail to see how it should matter to me.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 14, 2024 11:28 AM (Cp+5w)

it was a census

Posted by: BignJames at July 14, 2024 11:30 AM (AwYPR)

298 Get Shorty

Posted by: pawn at July 14, 2024 11:30 AM (QB+5g)

299 My Zoom book club just read Brave New World.

I had read it some years ago and I did not remember much beyond pneumatic girls and soma.

I was surprised at how well it was written and how good the satire was. It's not even that far off from today.

It kind of fell apart at the end but for 90% of the book it was really good.

Posted by: blaster at July 14, 2024 11:30 AM (IFNME)

300 A while back (twenty years or more), I remember software being sold that was more or less paint by numbers to construct novels and dialogue. Would not be surprised that something like that is now highly possible in a serial series.

A friend of mine has a co-worker who "writes" a book every weekend using ChatGPT and self-publishes on Amazon. I have no idea what topic or genre. He's not looking to have a big hit with any one of them. His idea is that if he can sell (sucker) one or two copies a month X hundreds of titles, it adds up to a nice supplimental income.

Posted by: Oddbob at July 14, 2024 11:31 AM (/y8xj)

301 The people who built arches with hand tools obviously are too stupid to know cause and effect when it comes to sacrifices and auguries.
Logical reasoning, everyone! All hail science!
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:11 AM (llXky)

Romans really didn't "do" science, the Greeks did, but what the Romans did was engineering and technical skills.
Romans saw technology as the way to get the same result from the same process every time, the Renaissance saw technology as the way to get new results by altering the process in an expected way, and the proof is what allowed successful innovations. Science demands proof because anything else is the medieval explanation "it does so because it is its nature to do so" and shuts down all other innovation. How can you change an unchanging world?
The kicker is the realization of "and yet it does do things" outside of the current understanding means you have to start looking into it again.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 14, 2024 11:31 AM (D7oie)

302 Sunday morning book recommendation:

A Lie Too Big To Fail: The Real History of the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, by Lisa Pease.

Just because.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 14, 2024 11:31 AM (Cp+5w)

303 I've also been reading Black September 1918: WWI’s Darkest Month in the Air by Norman Franks, Russell Guest, and Frank Bailey. September 1918 was the worst month of the war for the RAF which is surprising given that the war ended mere weeks later on November 11. The book is highly detailed in that it describes each loss and claim in near chronological order identifying, in many cases, both victor and victim. Not as much fun as it should be, given the death and destruction, in that details of the individual combats are not provided.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Free the Trump 45! at July 14, 2024 11:31 AM (L/fGl)

304 When you're choosing the site for a new settlement, it's not a bad idea to examine some of the local wildlife and see if they've got any systematic abnormalities. Might show there's something wrong with the water, or parasites in the soil. So, do the auguries when you found a city.
Posted by: Trimegistus at July 14, 2024 11:20 AM (78a2H)
---
Lots of helpful knowledge is bound up in religion, proving that treating it as something that should be kept locked in a closet is stupid.

The pagans also kept "sacred" animals, however, ones dedicated to particular shrines, and these were constantly monitored for health so that the gods would get only a pure sacrifice and rule out natural defect.

Hence the Roman admiral whose sacred chickens wouldn't eat, which indicated the gods would not support them in battle. He wanted to fight, and after the chickens continued to fast, he said "then let them drink!" and threw them overboard.

His fleet was subsequently crushed and he had to pay a heavy fine and offer lavish sacrifices upon his return to Rome (and lose his command).

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:32 AM (llXky)

305 So I am new bookless

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2024 11:32 AM (fwDg9)

306 I know it matters to those doing the begatting, but I fail to see how it should matter to me.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 14, 2024 11:28 AM (Cp+5w)

it was a census
Posted by: BignJames at July 14, 2024 11:30 AM (AwYPR)

Call me when it becomes a dollarus.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 14, 2024 11:32 AM (Cp+5w)

307 Again

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2024 11:33 AM (fwDg9)

308 I know it matters to those doing the begatting, but I fail to see how it should matter to me.

Posted by: BurtTC

I've started a Bible reading plan through church. Genesis, Chapter 10, be hard for me. . .

Posted by: Tonypete at July 14, 2024 11:33 AM (H8v0I)

309 There's also the succession myths, which imply that the actual creator was destroyed/overthrown by his children, which is an obviously Satanic teaching.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:23 AM (llXky)

Amazingly widespread idea. Cronus and the Titans, Ra and Apophis.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024 11:33 AM (pgG81)

310 The difference between Roman mining in Spain and German mining in Bavaria a thousand years later was not a matter of different technology, it was different application. The Norias the winching tackle, the water wheels and pumps were the same, the difference was a matter of application.
same thing with water mills, though there were innovations, but medicine was actually better in Roman times

Posted by: Kindltot at July 14, 2024 11:34 AM (D7oie)

311 Science demands proof because anything else is the medieval explanation "it does so because it is its nature to do so" and shuts down all other innovation.

This is precisely Hawking's explanation of how/why the entire universe sprang from nothing. It's just a property of the universe.

Posted by: blaster at July 14, 2024 11:34 AM (IFNME)

312 Thank you pawn.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024 11:34 AM (pgG81)

313 the 85th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz.

85th anniversary of the remade movie.

Original Wizard of Oz was practically a philosophical novel, with major political commentary, and sort of all things to all people at the turn of the XX century. It got quoted in discourse much like Harry Potter or LOTR are now. Fans of the story arc were dismayed it was cheapened into the Friends of Dorothy club.

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at July 14, 2024 11:34 AM (zdLoL)

314 There are hundreds of books if not thousands , both fiction and non fiction on the subject of assassination. I never thought of that until just now.

Posted by: Minnesota Siamese Twins at July 14, 2024 11:34 AM (rrmPi)

315 I've also been reading Black September 1918: WWI’s Darkest Month in the Air by Norman Franks, Russell Guest, and Frank Bailey. September 1918 was the worst month of the war for the RAF which is surprising given that the war ended mere weeks later on November 11. The book is highly detailed in that it describes each loss and claim in near chronological order identifying, in many cases, both victor and victim. Not as much fun as it should be, given the death and destruction, in that details of the individual combats are not provided.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Free the Trump 45! at July 14, 2024 11:31 AM (L/fGl)

Obviously air power became a very big thing later on, but I always had the sense WWI aces were more akin to gunslingers, testing their skills against each other, not because it was strategically important, but because they were men who enjoyed the thrill of it all.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 14, 2024 11:35 AM (Cp+5w)

316 Off sock.

Posted by: polynikes at July 14, 2024 11:35 AM (rrmPi)

317 My however-many-greats grandfather Zemri was a sodbuster at the same time as Charles Ingalls and appears in some of the same old South Dakota pictures--interchangeable because of beards. Great stories have come down, like having to shoe the oxen like horses because the soil of the great plains was so deep and rich, otherwise their cloven hooves would sink into it and break their legs.

Posted by: Wenda at July 14, 2024 11:37 AM (ryt6Q)

318 Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at July 14, 2024 11:34 AM (zdLoL)

Alice in Wonderland, Gulliver's Travels, etc.

Posted by: polynikes at July 14, 2024 11:37 AM (rrmPi)

319 I'm glad you mentioned the Harry Dresden novels. As a born-and-bred Chicagoan (though I moved away seven years ago), Dresden's depiction of Chicago is, shall we say, flawed.

I could be misremembering but I think I read somewhere that Butcher intended to set the stories in New York but for some reason, his publisher convinced him to move them to Chicago.

Posted by: Oddbob at July 14, 2024 11:37 AM (/y8xj)

320 A Zoom book club?

Is a Zoom book club an excuse for drinking just like all the in-person book clubs?

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at July 14, 2024 11:37 AM (dg+HA)

321 Science demands proof because anything else is the medieval explanation "it does so because it is its nature to do so" and shuts down all other innovation.

-
The purpose of science is to blame conservatives.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Free the Trump 45! at July 14, 2024 11:38 AM (L/fGl)

322 This is precisely Hawking's explanation of how/why the entire universe sprang from nothing. It's just a property of the universe.
=====
Eh.

mustbequantum

Posted by: mustbequantum at July 14, 2024 11:39 AM (AYNL4)

323 I've started a Bible reading plan through church. Genesis, Chapter 10, be hard for me. . .
Posted by: Tonypete at July 14, 2024 11:33 AM (H8v0I)

Wait'll you get to Leviticus, that one's really fun.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 14, 2024 11:40 AM (YWhxe)

324 Well, off to annoy the cat and to perform other useless activities.

Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at July 14, 2024 11:41 AM (q3u5l)

325 A Zoom book club?

Is a Zoom book club an excuse for drinking just like all the in-person book clubs?
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at July 14, 2024 11:37 AM (dg+HA)

Jeffrey Toobin called and said no, not just drinking.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 14, 2024 11:42 AM (YWhxe)

326 >>> 241 Sex early will make people willing to have sex with everyone. . . If enough children are sexualized young enough, gayness will suddenly be "normal" and accepted by everyone, and the old fashioned notions about fidelity will vanish.
==
1. Explains why the Left's activists are always also sexual perverts: same goals.
2. Blogger Bookworm nailed this years ago: ". . .the Left works assiduously to decouple sex from a person's own sense of bodily privacy and, by extension, self-ownership. If a person has no sense of autonomy, that person is a ready-made cog for the statist machinery.

Once a child individuates, he becomes aware of being his own self. ... The most basic thing one can own is one's own self, and not letting others touch that self in ways you don't like is an exercise in self-ownership.
Posted by: Lizzy at July 14, 2024 10:57 AM (+oRno)

Is this about us?

Posted by: Baader-Meinhoff gang at July 14, 2024 11:42 AM (VavZF)

327 Late to the thread, dammit! As to 'these pants'...

As someone who, even when down to the proper weight, will always qualify as bulky, skinny people wearing stupidly wide and loose clothes ticks me off.

Posted by: JTB at July 14, 2024 11:42 AM (zudum)

328
317 My however-many-greats grandfather Zemri was a sodbuster at the same time as Charles Ingalls and appears in some of the same old South Dakota pictures--interchangeable.”

One of my great great grandfathers also moved there with his family at the same time, near Sisseton and Watertown. Some relatives still live there. Mary Ingall’s dad was a bad farmer, that’s why they had to keep moving.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 14, 2024 11:43 AM (pgG81)

329 I could be misremembering but I think I read somewhere that Butcher intended to set the stories in New York but for some reason, his publisher convinced him to move them to Chicago.
=====
From what I recall, Butcher lived/s in NE Indiana.

Posted by: mustbequantum at July 14, 2024 11:43 AM (AYNL4)

330 Quantum theory and Theory of Relativity get along like republicans and democrats.

Posted by: polynikes at July 14, 2024 11:43 AM (rrmPi)

331 But of course. CBS News: the biggest threat is MAGA backlash.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Free the Trump 45! at July 14, 2024 11:43 AM (L/fGl)

332 Romans really didn't "do" science, the Greeks did, but what the Romans did was engineering and technical skills.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 14, 2024 11:31 AM (D7oie)
---
The Romans were all about science, though. Books and everything.

My point is that science is supposed to use evidence, but people who claim to use it routinely discard evidence that they find inconvenient.

They do it in regards to history and increasingly they do it as a matter of course to get more grants, more institutions and more power.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:43 AM (llXky)

333 I've started a Bible reading plan through church. Genesis, Chapter 10, be hard for me. . .
Posted by: Tonypete at July 14, 2024 11:33 AM (H8v0I)

Wait'll you get to Leviticus, that one's really fun.
Posted by: BurtTC

Leviticus, like Hell, is unending punishment.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Free the Trump 45! at July 14, 2024 11:45 AM (L/fGl)

334 The relative plug don't fit the quantum jack.

Posted by: Humphreyrobot at July 14, 2024 11:47 AM (J8LnB)

335 Sunday morning book recommendation:

A Lie Too Big To Fail: The Real History of the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, by Lisa Pease.

Just because.
Posted by: BurtTC at July 14, 2024 11:31 AM (Cp+5w)
-

Shawn Ryan Show

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - CIA Propaganda & Information Manipulation

June 17, 2024

https://youtu.be/cAuYKHAGLOA

So much covered.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 14, 2024 11:47 AM (MeDDJ)

336 327 Late to the thread, dammit! As to 'these pants'...

As someone who, even when down to the proper weight, will always qualify as bulky, skinny people wearing stupidly wide and loose clothes ticks me off.
Posted by: JTB at July 14, 2024 11:42 AM (zudum)

I hope you make an exception for David Byrne's Big Suit.

Posted by: Splunge at July 14, 2024 11:48 AM (hmKaK)

337 But of course. CBS News: the biggest threat is MAGA backlash.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Free the Trump 45! at July 14, 2024 11:43 AM (L/fGl)
---
They're actually correct, though. The assassination of Jose Calvo Sotelo 88 years ago yesterday was what kicked off the Spanish Civil War. June saw the 110th anniversary of Franz Ferdinand's assassination.

We're reaching a point where the left is converting its fever dreams into reality. Serious FAFO territory.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:48 AM (llXky)

338 The Left form conclusions and then try to get the science to fit it.

They do the same thing with every aspect of life. There is not one Leftist justice that does not already have a set opinion and works backwards writing their decisions to try and fit it.

Posted by: polynikes at July 14, 2024 11:49 AM (rrmPi)

339 Our journalist heroes.

https://is.gd/tMXmIc

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Free the Trump 45! at July 14, 2024 11:51 AM (L/fGl)

340 I decided to read neal stephenson’s Termination Shock. I had initially avoided it because it’s about global warming, but he’s one of my favorite authors. Upon carefully rereading the jacket I could see it’s really about the dangers of fixing global warming. His previous novel Anathem ( don’t ask me how to pronounce that) is an absolute stunning masterpiece. Both are sci fi.

Posted by: Max Power at July 14, 2024 11:51 AM (+hny1)

341 Was wondering why a new YouTube video came up on Wizard of Oz

And also Friday and Saturday have a game each day of the Wars of Oz

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2024 11:52 AM (fwDg9)

342 Just began re-reading the Codex Alera series so I can set a TTRPG in that setting for my gaming group.

Posted by: insurgens ad opus at July 14, 2024 11:53 AM (pCwyU)

343 Shawn Ryan Show

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - CIA Propaganda & Information Manipulation

June 17, 2024

https://youtu.be/cAuYKHAGLOA

So much covered.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 14, 2024 11:47 AM (MeDDJ)

It's interesting being in the early phase of this moment in history. There WILL be much misinformation spilled on this one, as there was on the two Kennedy kills, the MLK kill, and many others that were less significant to history.

Trump's survival will have many books written about it. My hope is those of us present at this time don't let the narrative get too far distorted too quickly, because there are a LOT of things that don't make sense.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 14, 2024 11:53 AM (OfSkg)

344 That top picture sure hit home this week. with the leaning books.

FWIW, that is one of my OCD things.

Posted by: Oddbob at July 14, 2024 11:53 AM (/y8xj)

345 The Left form conclusions and then try to get the science to fit it.

Posted by: polynikes at July 14, 2024 11:49 AM (rrmPi)
---
This applies to most Biblical scholars as well. They take it a given that there is no God, and then try to prove all the texts are incorrect or unreliable. Getting back to Enoch, the assumption was that every prophecy that was subsequently validated is fraudulent.

Yet in a secular history book where we read someone predicted something and it happened, no one bats an eye. This ignores the very logical argument that people write what they observe and history does in fact include failed prophecies as well as fulfilled ones.

Basically, their position is: "We believe written sources can be trusted only when they agree with us."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:53 AM (llXky)

346 Wizard of Oz was held by some to be an allegory of the large political issues of the day, namely finance and money e.g. the nature of money.

"Follow The Yellow Brick Road", therefore, was support of the Gold standard. In the novel, the girl's magic slippers were silver. I think the novel was published around the time of Bill Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech. He very narrowly lost the election for president against Bill McKinley.

Posted by: Common Tater at July 14, 2024 11:54 AM (yoSgP)

347 I wonder if I could find the first few Oz books by Baum at my college library. Outside the Rare Books and Special Collections and Offsite Depository sections, that is.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 11:54 AM (omVj0)

348 334 The relative plug don't fit the quantum jack.

Posted by: Humphreyrobot at July 14, 2024 11:47 AM (J8LnB)

Reverse it one more time. It takes three tries.

Posted by: USBA Plug at July 14, 2024 11:54 AM (ynpvh)

349 As someone who, even when down to the proper weight, will always qualify as bulky, skinny people wearing stupidly wide and loose clothes ticks me off.
Posted by: JTB at July 14, 2024 11:42 AM (zudum)

I wear oversized clothes /active wear when I want to be most comfortable. Proper fitting is best though for public consumption. Skinny jeans should be banned.

Posted by: polynikes at July 14, 2024 11:54 AM (rrmPi)

350 @340 like Stephenson a lot , Baroque Cycle, Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash , Seveneves but Anathem kind of lost me

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 14, 2024 11:54 AM (sjqp6)

351 "Follow The Yellow Brick Road", therefore, was support of the Gold standard. In the novel, the girl's magic slippers were silver. I think the novel was published around the time of Bill Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech. He very narrowly lost the election for president against Bill McKinley.
Posted by: Common Tater at July 14, 2024 11:54 AM (yoSgP)
---
I believe there was an article in The Economist that laid out the allegory theory, which is neat, but completely unproven. Baum wrote a bunch of books that got left out of the analysis.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:55 AM (llXky)

352 Graves also wrote "Goodby To All That", about his experience in combat in World War I. This was an assigned reading in a history class at university, and it always kind of stuck with me. He was a good writer - and I think that's the real test of a good writer, how far it might get incorporated into your "operating system" as it were. Might need to read it again for a refresher.

Posted by: Common Tater at July 14, 2024 11:56 AM (yoSgP)

353 Well, it's getting that time again. Thanks, Perfesser!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 11:56 AM (llXky)

354 339 Our journalist heroes.

https://is.gd/tMXmIc

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Free the Trump 45! at July 14, 2024 11:51 AM (L/fGl)

Read that this morn with "Alleged shooter" and other such language. BBC had a piece where they said Crook was a registered Republican and mentioned none of his antifa activities other than say he donated $15 to Biden.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at July 14, 2024 11:57 AM (ynpvh)

355 Worst part of Sunday morning. The end of the Book Thread. Thanks, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024 11:57 AM (0eaVi)

356 Worst part of Sunday morning. The end of the Book Thread. Thanks, Perfessor.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024

***
"The Best Part of Waking Up
Is a Book Thread in Your Cup!"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 11:58 AM (omVj0)

357 The tactics of Hamas and the American Left are the same: attack and then claim YOU'RE the victim. Crybullies.

Posted by: Anti-Faucist at July 14, 2024 11:58 AM (qUkBO)

358 Thx , Perfessor (autocucumber didn't get it this time)

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 14, 2024 11:58 AM (sjqp6)

359 "The Best Part of Waking Up
Is a Book Thread in Your Cup!"
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 11:58 AM (omVj0)

You're right. Anyway, gotta go!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 14, 2024 11:59 AM (0eaVi)

360 Renowned author and historian Michael Beschloss (spit), is on NBC to offer his perspective on the Trump assassination attempt. Probably the most detestable anti-Trumper on the planet.

Posted by: mrp at July 14, 2024 11:59 AM (rj6Yv)

361 What has struck me as an aside. Fashion.

When did the style start about 10 years ago maybe? Everybody wears suits that are tailored too tight. Coupled with the dorky "smart" glasses, everybody looks tailor-made ready for a swirly, ready for a wedgie, stuffed in the locker, you name it. This is purposeful as well, if you think about it.

Posted by: Common Tater at July 14, 2024 12:00 PM (yoSgP)

362 The tactics of Hamas and the American Left are the same: attack and then claim YOU'RE the victim. Crybullies.
Posted by: Anti-Faucist at July 14, 2024 11:58 AM (qUkBO)

It's like one of my favorite analogies.

The Left murder their parents and then whine and cry that they are orphans.

Posted by: polynikes at July 14, 2024 12:01 PM (rrmPi)

363 Since we were on vacation and needed a break from my family, I started reading "The Redemption of Althlalus" by David Eddings. It's a go-to comfort book for Pooky and myself (and probably Pookette, once she's old enough). After reading the 12-book-cycle of The Belgariad and the 6-book-cycle of The Elenium, it's amusing to watch Eddings cram all of that storytelling into one book. There isn't even a map to reference! But I think if Eddings had a favorite type of character, it would be the wily thief: Silk, Talen, Althalus/Gher.

I'll leave you with the first line, because it's fantastic: "In defense of Althalus, it should be noted that he was in very tight financial circumstances and more than a little tipsy when he agreed to undertake the theft of the Book."

Posted by: pookysgirl, trying to unwind at July 14, 2024 12:01 PM (dtlDP)

364 Or simply formulaic. A lot of authors find success in grinding out the same books with minor changes. I mean now many variations of bodice-ripper plots are there?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at July 14, 2024 10:03 AM (llXky)

Angela Thirkell, the author of the Barchester series, included an author character in the novels as a sort of alter ego. This woman described her works as all being exactly alike, but that her public would be furious if she changed them.
This is a sly dig at Thirkell herself, as all her novels repeat scenarios and characters.

Posted by: sal at July 14, 2024 12:01 PM (y7DxH)

365 WE HAZ A NOOD

Posted by: Skip at July 14, 2024 12:02 PM (fwDg9)

366 "...is on NBC to offer..."

I think I've found your problem. Turn it off. The whole network has zero credibility.

Go read a book instead.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at July 14, 2024 12:02 PM (dg+HA)

367 Posted by: sal at July 14, 2024 12:01 PM (y7DxH)

Misery

Posted by: polynikes at July 14, 2024 12:03 PM (rrmPi)

368 >>>The devil is like a roaring lion to kill and devoee you

Posted by: Miguel cervantes

>What makes men turn to evil? Is it a rejection of social and cultural norms?

Are G_d's laws, nature's laws, man's laws just guidelines?

Why do we tolerate evil?

Posted by: Dr. Bone at July 14, 2024 12:06 PM (2UBPP)

369 What has struck me as an aside. Fashion.

When did the style start about 10 years ago maybe? Everybody wears suits that are tailored too tight. Coupled with the dorky "smart" glasses, everybody looks tailor-made ready for a swirly, ready for a wedgie, stuffed in the locker, you name it. This is purposeful as well, if you think about it.
Posted by: Common Tater at July 14, 2024

***
True. Many men today, when they actually do wear a suit, looks as if they are wearing their little brothers' clothes. A tie is not supposed to peep out below your suit coat, people, and your belt is not either.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 14, 2024 12:07 PM (omVj0)

370 367 Posted by: sal at July 14, 2024 12:01 PM (y7DxH)

Misery
Posted by: polynikes at July 14, 2024 12:03 PM (rrmPi)

Yes, but sweet and fun. She is a sort of supporting character, until the last book.

Posted by: sal at July 14, 2024 12:10 PM (y7DxH)

371 What has struck me as an aside. Fashion.

When did the style start about 10 years ago maybe? Everybody wears suits that are tailored too tight. Coupled with the dorky "smart" glasses, everybody looks tailor-made ready for a swirly, ready for a wedgie, stuffed in the locker, you name it. This is purposeful as well, if you think about it.
Posted by: Common Tater at July 14, 2024

I bet the level of testosterone and conversely estrogen is much different in these male millenniasl/GenXers/whatever generation, than what was in the men of 50 years ago.

Posted by: LASue at July 14, 2024 12:13 PM (llS7k)

372 A while back (twenty years or more), I remember software being sold that was more or less paint by numbers to construct novels and dialogue.

This sort of “software” predates computers. I’m pretty sure there is at least one “write by card” sets from before the personal computer, and at least one “write by dial” rotating novel development tool.

Make the latter in brass with some sort of pneumatic control and you could call it steampunk novel writing.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at July 14, 2024 12:13 PM (EXyHK)

373 1 The Hans Christian Andersen collection was surprisingly brutal to read. This guy had no problem just straight up killing protagonists for no good reason. Like, just to be an asshole. He couldn't tell a story about someone overcoming adversity and finding happiness in a life that maybe wasn't the life they expected. No, the person sits down outside in the middle of a damn blizzard to contemplate his sorrows and freezes to death. That makes a much better story as far as this fucker is concerned.

I now officially hate Hans Christian Andersen.
Posted by: Mrs. Peel at July 14, 2024 09:19 AM (Y+AMd)

Danes. We can be a melancholic bunch.

Posted by: LASue at July 14, 2024 12:18 PM (llS7k)

374 For anyone still reading this, I loved the video up top about making medieval books. I learned a great deal. If I ever get teleported back to the middle ages, that's not a bad way to make a living.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 14, 2024 12:20 PM (xCA6C)

375 Would like to put out a recommendation for a "Christian Sci-Fi" novel, yes it really does exist. "Missionary to Mars", was a really good and emotionally engaging work. Believe our not, I think your find it entriguing.

Posted by: Jamie Walker at July 14, 2024 12:50 PM (/t1JJ)

376 "I knew Frederic Brown only from two of my favorite books, The Mind Thing, which is science fiction with a stunner of a premise, and Night of the Jabberwock, which weaves Lewis Carroll quotes through a book that takes place on one drunken night full of adventures. Now I know he wrote some great mysteries, too."

"Posted by: Splunge at July 14, 2024 10:43 AM (hmKaK)"

Splunge: That's a nice description of the Ed & Am Hunter series-"The Fabulous Clipjoint" is, by far, the best-written of the series, I agree that the rest are enjoyable because of the characters. About 20 years ago Stewart Masters reprinted the first 4 books in a collection, "Hunter and Hunted, the Ed and Am Hunter Novels," with a promise, never fulfilled, to publish a second vol with the last 3.

More recently, Haffner Press has listed a 2 vol set of the Ed & Am novels on its to-be-published list, but it's been there for a few years and is still not out. You can find the books here and there used, IIRC, "Mrs. Murphy's Underpants" is the hardest to find.

Haffner also has a planned book series of all of Brown's non-novel crime fiction-4 vols proposed, with the first two published.

cont below

Posted by: Pope John 20th at July 14, 2024 12:56 PM (cYrkj)

377 Fredric Brown cont...

As you probably know, Brown's claim to fame as an SF author was writing short, sometimes very short, stories-"Arena" for example. His short pulp mysteries are also short and mostly well-written, so the Haffner reprint series of Brown's pulp mystery shorts may interest you. Haffner also has bunches of other mystery and SF reprints listed as forthcoming, but I've not noticed any published recently-I hope they are still in business.

Brown also wrote about a dozen or so mystery-type novels in addition to the Ed & Am's. Most were interesting, which some oddballs in the bunch-several murder mysteries told by the murderer. Several of his other mystery novels were made into films. Both "The Screaming Mimi" and "Knock Three, One, Two" have film versions that can be found with some looking. Also, several of his mystery shorts were filmed as episodes of TV anthology series such as Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock and the like.

cont below...

Posted by: Pope John 20th at July 14, 2024 01:11 PM (cYrkj)

378 Frederic Brown cont...

Also, back in the 1990s Dennis McMillian Publications in Florida published a 12 vol or so sort-of themed series of Brown's mysteries, including some with fantasy elements-"Pardon My Ghoulish Laughter" was one of those. The McMillian series was pre-internet book searches and the like, so I only found about 6 or 8 of them in my local bookstore when they were first published, and now I think they go for serious coin in the used book market. Still, they might be worth a search-albeit they should all eventually be included in the Haffner complete stories collection if it's ever completed.

Brown's mystery novels in original publication were mostly book club or other cheap hardbacks or PBs and so the used prices are mostly not too bad. Or you could wait for the Haffner series to conclude-BTW, I don't know if Haffner intends to reprint all of Brown's mystery novels. I think it's likely at some point, but it might be a long wait.

cont below...

Posted by: Pope John 20th at July 14, 2024 01:23 PM (cYrkj)

379 Fredric Brown cont...

So, lots and lots of Brown mysteries available with a bit of searching. Also, perhaps I should mention that most of his mysteries-novels and stories-don't have the light tone of the Ed and Am books (Haffner has teased an Ed & Am story to be included in its 2 vol. repub), so if that is your main interest you might try a few of the others first before investing too heavily in buying his mysteries.

Brown's pulp mystery stories were mostly 30s and 40s, while his mystery novels were 50s and 60s. At least some of the McMillan books acknowledge copyright by Brown's wife while the Haffners show copyright in his estate. The pulps weren't always diligent about preserving copyrights, but Brown appears to have exerted or retained some rights in his works, so it might be awhile before they hit public domain.

Anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy Fred Brown's mysteries, & if you have any questions I generally read the Sunday Book thread here and would be happy to provide any info I can...

Posted by: Pope John 20th at July 14, 2024 01:35 PM (cYrkj)

380 Point 5 is better said as “no work of art is ever finished, only abandoned.”

Posted by: Anonymous at July 14, 2024 03:17 PM (8sMut)

381 361 What has struck me as an aside. Fashion.

When did the style start about 10 years ago maybe? Everybody wears suits that are tailored too tight. Coupled with the dorky "smart" glasses, everybody looks tailor-made ready for a swirly, ready for a wedgie, stuffed in the locker, you name it. This is purposeful as well, if you think about it.
Posted by: Common Tater at July 14, 2024 12:00 PM (yoSgP)

It’s amazing that suits are a thing at all.

I live in an informal society, which is forced to be that way due to the oppressive summer weather. But now it is WAY too informal. Why does EVERYBODY wear pajamas freaking everywhere? I don’t want a society where we are all dressed to the nines, all the time, but not should we go out looking like slobs either.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at July 14, 2024 03:21 PM (8sMut)

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