Sunday Morning Book Thread - 08-18-2024 ["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 (you know what you did!). 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...(the zipper sometimes gets stuck in the eighth dimension...)

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

PIC NOTE

This is a slightly different view of my library. I use this picture in my class when I lecture on some of the ways in which images can be edited to ensure that the reader focuses in on the important details.

CENTRAL THEMES - "KNOW THYSELF"

According to Wikipedia (always reliable!), the phrase "Know Thyself" is "a philosophical maxim which was inscribed upon the Temple of Apollo in the ancient Greek precinct of Delphi." It shows up verbatim in numerous media, including the Oracle's kitchen in the movie The Matrix.

Last week I was reading Terry Brooks' A Knight of the Word and I had a sudden epiphany. Every single book of his I have read features this idea as the central theme to the story. The protagonists are invariably plagued with doubts about who they are, where they came from, and what they are meant to do with their lives. Through their adventures and through the relationships they form along the way, they discover--or re-discover in some cases--their real selves. Unlocking this mystery is key to defeating the antagonists in the story.

Brooks has used this trope from his very first stories, The Sword of Shannara and Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold!. In Sword, the titular artifact's power is to reveal the true self of the wielder to himself as well as the foe it strikes. Few people can withstand knowing themselves that intimately, which is why it's such a dangerous power. Shea Ohmsford discovers his past and the truth that he was keeping from himself when he confronts the awesome power of the evil Warlock Lord.

In the sequel to Sword, The Elfstones of Shannara, the young woman Amberle flees the dying Ellcrys, a magic tree that powers a barrier preventing Demons from entering our realm. She's been Chosen by the tree for a very special destiny, but the truth is so awful to her that she cannot abide it. Only when it's made clear at the end of her adventure that she is the last hope of all living creatures does she acknowledge her role in the future of the Four Lands.

Brooks' villains and antagonists are well-aware of the power of self-truth and often go to great lengths to hide the truth from the heroes, or obfuscate it some way. The Shadowen leader Rimmer Dall nearly drives most of the protagonists literally mad with grief by twisting the truth of his nature for his own demented ends. Lies and deception are his tools and weapons (sound familiar?).

In A Knight of the Word, fallen Knight John Ross is easy pickings for a demon who seeks to subvert John to its will. It believes that the Knight would better serve the Void than the Word. John must confront the decisions he's made that led him down a dark path and exorcise his internal demons before he is capable of facing a powerful agent of the Void.

Are there any other authors that include a central theme in all of their works? If so, what is the central theme and how do they work it into their stories?

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(HT: Wingnutt)

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HOW TO CREATE A TERRIFYING PROTAGONIST

I came across this video recently, describing how the movie John Wick sets up the titular protagonist as the "boogeyman" for the bad guys in the movie. It occurred to me that this idea plays itself out in interesting ways in literature as well. To me, the most important characteristic of the terrifying protagonist is that he (it's usually a dude, but not always) has established a reputation which is what terrifies the other characters in the story. The bad guys are afraid of him because he tears through their defenses like tissue paper. Other characters may deal with him warily because they don't want to get on his bad side. He may have friends and associates that he can call upon to aid him, which is part of his established terrifying reputation. Oftentimes, he'll have a reputation for extreme, ruthless violence, leaving a host of dead bodies in his wake as he pursues his goal. John Wick is a perfect example of this type of character, though he's by no means the only one. Remo Williams from The Destroyer novels is another such character, as is Mack Bolan from The Executioner line of books.

However, a capacity for lethal violence is not the only way to create a terrifying protagonist. Terry Pratchett's Discworld series features two very interesting examples: Granny Weatherwax and Sam Vimes.

Esmerelda "Granny" Weatherwax is widely regarded as the most powerful witch in the world. Not because she can cast the most powerful spells--though don't ever underestimate her in that regard. No, it's because she uses what she calls "headology" to get into the minds of her opponents and use their own psychological strengths and weaknesses against them. She has an absolute iron determination and a very strong moral center. She does what is right and necessary, and will gladly accept the consequences of her actions. Both the dwarves and trolls who live in the region of the Ramtop mountains she calls home have nicknames for her. The trolls--large, stony creatures that ignore most physical damage--call her "She Who Must Be Avoided." The dwarves, stubborn miners whose brains are nearly as tough to get through as a troll's hide, call her "Go Around the Other Side of the Mountain." When we first meet her, she has already been established as a fearsome woman against whom few can prevail. Her best friend Nanny Ogg (who is a terrifying protagonist for very different reasons) is one of the few who can convince Granny to change her mind when Granny is dead set on a particular goal. Granny has faced down Death himself (also a terrifying protagonist) when he comes to call.

Sam Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, is a copper to the bone. When we are first introduced to him, he's a drunk, content to crawl into a bottle and ignore the world around him. Over the course of several novels, we see him achieve his maximum potential as he solves increasingly bizarre crimes in the city. Along the way, he sobers up, rebuilds the City Watch into a capable and effective police force, and establishes his reputation as an incorruptible copper. He's made a lot of enemies along the way, to the point where he's faced numerous assassination attempts. He's survived so many of them that the Assassin's Guild will no longer accept contracts for his death because they keep losing members. He's tamped down crime so much in the city that it's *almost* reasonably safe to walk around in the Shades--Ankh-Morpork's most notorious slum--in the daytime. In one novel, he takes a vacation with his wife and leaves the city. Crime rates go *down* while he's on vacation because the criminals know that if they get too rambunctious, then Mr. Vimes will *not* be a happy camper when he comes back and will spread the misery among the criminal class.

Other terrifying protagonists in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series include Captain Carrot Ironfounderson--who can punch out a troll and stop a gang fight by being nice--and the Librarian--a 300-lb orangutan who is quite friendly and pleasant...until you refer to him as a "monkey." Pratchett is quite fond of this type of character. People (or apes) that are nice...until it's time to not be nice.

What are some other examples of "terrifying protagonists?"

BOOKS BY MORONS

Moron Author Daniel Humphreys has a new entry in his Paxton Locke series:

The long-awaited 7th book in my Paxton Locke series, Toil and Trouble, comes out on September 1. I was hoping you could give the horde a head's up when it's convenient for the book thread.
Paxton Locke Book 7 - Toil and Trouble
The plot threads of the last few books come together with a literal bang ... there is discussion of nuking Utah, and hopefully the NSA doesn't put me on a watch list as a result ...
Thanks as always, my friend!
- Dan

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

I don't know if this belongs here or in the Food Thread, but I've been having a great time reading a new cookbook, Tasting History by Max Miller. It's a spinoff from his YouTube channel of the same name.
Miller's an appealing young chap, who has made it clear that he does not own a weedwhacker but isn't a bore about it. Before becoming a YouTube food history guru he was a performer aboard one of the Disney cruise ships, but when cast on the beach during COVID he started making videos. Consequently he has good "stage presence" and delivery, even though the videos are mostly static-camera talking head shots.
What I like about his channel -- and the cookbook, which I have not forgotten about -- is that he actually does the research. Lots of primary sources (though of course he has to rely on translations for a lot of them) and loads of context. I get very annoyed by food-history videos (and a few print articles) which are basically little more than "Ew! I can't believe they ate this!"
The cookbook is well-written, nicely laid out, looks as if it will survive some hard use in the kitchen, and I've tried a few of the recipes and they work quite well.
Posted by: Trimegistus at August 11, 2024 09:15 AM (78a2H)

Comment: One of the interesting thing about the Sunday Morning Book Thread is that it can intersect with any of the other specialty threads here (Gardening, Art, Gun, Food, etc.) because you can find a book on any subject. Cookbooks have come a long ways from just being a collection of recipes. Now they are a feast for the eyes with glorious full-color art depicting the culinary treats. They can also be wickedly funny, with lots of little stories and anecdotes for each recipe (**cough**The Deplorable Gourmet**cough**).

Blood is thicker than water, bacon grease is thicker than blood, blood and bacon grease makes a fantastic energy drink.
EpicMealTime: The Collector's Cookbook, p. 19

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This week I've been reading The Song of Kali, Dan Simmons's debut novel from 1985. It is fascinating and horrifying all at once. I'm not sure yet if there are to be any supernatural elements to it, but it's scary enough. I'll say only this: If you were contemplating a trip to India, read this book first. You will swiftly change your mind. (And this was written forty years ago. I can only imagine that Calcutta, the scene of the novel, has gotten far worse since then.)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 11, 2024 09:30 AM (4COyr)

Comment: India can be a strange place, especially from our Western perspective. It has a long and bloody history, like most ancient civilizations. It's no wonder that it makes a good setting for a horror story. F. Paul Wilson's The Tomb starts out in India and the horror immigrates to the United States...

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I've noticed over the last few years that my attention span for reading seems reduced. Too used to information coming in snippets, brief YT videos and giving in to distractions: breaking news, email coming in, sometimes even TV shows. (That last one is especially embarrassing.) I miss those times when I got lost in a story for hours.
I'm getting out my copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, all thousand-plus pages. It is the translation by Robin Buss. Unabridged and considered the closest to the Dumas original text. No abridged versions and especially no softening by Victorian era translations which are an abomination. It won't be a fast read as I want to savor the writing and story. But I don't want to do it in ten minute segments either. I am seriously looking forward to it. I also want to get lost in the book to the extent I can forget the many film versions of the book I've seen over the years.
A proper translation of a book can make all the difference. When I found the translation of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" published by the Naval Institute press, Jules Verne really came alive for me. The Disney versions suck.
Posted by: JTB at August 11, 2024 10:10 AM (zudum)

Comment: I had a conversation recently with a member of my church who acknowledged that his own attention span has changed in recent years because of his interactions with social media. He agreed that it takes him more time to *focus* when he's reading so that he's not consumed by the constant distractions of social media. And yes, a good translation of a story does make a difference.

Thanks for the book thread, perfessor. I able to participate today because I finished all my pre church chores and no adult study before church. I am reading again after about 20 years Shusako Endo's Silence about persecution of RC's in Japan and priests who try to help the RCs in 17th c.Japan. It was also made into an excellent movie but I couldn't watch the end because it was too intense.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 11, 2024 10:21 AM (4qMZx)

Comment: Since I've joined a church, I am frequently reminded of the dangers that modern day missionaries encounter when they go on mission trips around the world. My pastor's daughter and son-in-law will soon be going on a mission trip to Kenya for an unknown period of time. Sure, they will most likely have great experiences converting Africans to Christianity, but there is also considerable danger, as Kenya is also full of Muslims who don't take kindly to being converted. We've had numerous missionaries who are engaged in spreading the Gospel in Muslim nations visit our church. They are under constant threat.

Weeks ago, I also brought out to reread, The END of America 100 days that shook the world, By J. J. Sefton
Inside the book's jacket, in part: "The Left's 100-year campaign of political and cultural subversion in its quest for absolute power climaxed during a roughly 100-day period from Election Day through early-February of 2021."
I'll continue to recommend this book which I believe has honestly chronicled one of the most important times in our history.
Posted by: L - If they'll do it with you, they'll do it to you, too at August 11, 2024 11:04 AM (NFX2v)

Comment: As the 2024 election season heats up for the fall, I think it's worth remembering all of the shenanigans that went on after the 2020 election, captured in J. J. Sefton's book. No doubt the Dems will try to steal the election using not only their old tricks, but also some new ones...

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

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WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK:

A couple more books arrived in my mailbox this week. One of them I pre-purchased some time ago once one of you Morons alerted me to it. The other fills in a key gap in one series of books.

The Magic Kingdom of Landover Volume 2 - The Tangle Box / Witches' Brew by Terry Brooks -- This fills in books 4 and 5 of the Magic Kingdom of Landover series. I already had books 1-3 and book 6 (A Princess of Landover). It's surprisingly short for an omnibus edition.

Angel of Vengeance by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child -- Agent Pendergast and his ward Constance Greene have traveled to an alternate New York City to confront Enoch Leng. I will probably have to read the two previous books again to get myself up to speed on what is happening here...

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.

Sandman Slim Book 6 - The Getaway God by Richard Kadrey

Sandman Slim (a.k.a. James Stark) is back. Unfortunately, so are the Old Gods. Stark and his friends (and a few enemies) must team up to stop a rampaging horde of Cosmic Horrors from storming through rifts in the fabric of reality and unraveling the universe. Before L.A. drowns from a supernatural flood caused in part by a war in Heaven between an insane fragment of God and angels that seek to escape his divine wrath. They also want to seize Heaven for themselves and let the rest of the cosmos burn.

Forgotten Realms - The Harpers Book 16 - Thornhold by Elaine Cunningham

I find it strange that this book is billed as the exciting conclusion to the series when each book is an independent, stand-alone novel. Yes, there are a few books in the series that are loosely tied to one another, but it's not necessary to read them in any particular order. I also found it interesting that Elaine Cunningham wrote the most books in this series (4 out of 16), so her characters get the most page time overall.

This one features a young woman and a young man who were separated in their youth by tragedy. Their lives take radically different paths and when they finally reunite, one has embraced the path of evil, becoming a disciple of the mad god Cyric while the other has become an agent of good by allying with the meddlesome Harpers. They are both on a quest to recover three powerful artifacts that belong to their family.

Agent Pendergast Book 20 - Bloodless by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

The most recent Agent Pendergast book--Angel of Vengeance--arrived in my mailbox this week, so I wanted to re-read the two books prior to that one because they set up the events that will take place in Angel of Vengeance. A "vampire" is stalking the streets of Savannah, Georgia, draining victims of their blood down to the last drop. Pendergast and his ward Constance Greene, along with Pendergast's FBI partner Coldmoon, are called in to investigate, X-Files style. Complicating the murder case are a documentary film crew trying to create a new series on haunted Savannah for Netflix, as well as a mysterious reclusive hotel owner that has a connection to the D.B. Cooper case from 50 years ago. That may also be relevant to the current mystery.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 08-11-24 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. All you freshman out there have just failed my class...and it hasn't even started yet.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 success

Posted by: Ciampino - No Ispettore, la musica e interessante at August 18, 2024 08:59 AM (qfLjt)

2 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at August 18, 2024 08:59 AM (fwDg9)

3 Still working through "Tall Short Stories." Read one by Alexander Wollcott, a member of the Algonquin Round Table titled, Entrance Fee. Funny ending. Some of Wollcotts work can be found on archive sites. Not sure if this one is, as it's a short story.

Well, back later.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 08:59 AM (0eaVi)

4 Reading as I always have, but nothing new
I really need to pull together a book report on Lenin's biography

Posted by: Skip at August 18, 2024 09:00 AM (fwDg9)

5 Happy Sunday

Posted by: rhennigantx at August 18, 2024 09:01 AM (gbOdA)

6 I really need to pull together a book report on Lenin's biography
Posted by: Skip at August 18, 2024 09:00 AM (fwDg9)
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It's due on Friday at 11:59 p.m., like everything else in my class.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 18, 2024 09:01 AM (BpYfr)

7 Reading as I always have, but nothing new
I really need to pull together a book report on Lenin's biography
Posted by: Skip at August 18, 2024 09:00 AM (fwDg9)
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If you do want to write a lengthy review, I'd be happy to post it here.

My email is in my nic...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 18, 2024 09:02 AM (BpYfr)

8 Good morning morons, and thanks perfesser. Your kittehs look annoyed.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 18, 2024 09:03 AM (JvZF+)

9 Compressor, Professor?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 18, 2024 09:04 AM (AK7iC)

10 Happy Pants Day!!!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at August 18, 2024 09:04 AM (Ydd86)

11 Aw, look at the kitties.

Posted by: Dr. T at August 18, 2024 09:05 AM (lHPJf)

12 Compressor, Professor?
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 18, 2024 09:04 AM (AK7iC)
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did you see today's entry for pants?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 18, 2024 09:05 AM (BpYfr)

13 I came across this video recently, describing how the movie John Wick sets up the titular protagonist as the "boogeyman" for the bad guys in the movie. It occurred to me that this idea plays itself out in interesting ways in literature as well. To me, the most important characteristic of the terrifying protagonist is that he (it's usually a dude, but not always) has established a reputation which is what terrifies the other characters in the story. The bad guys are afraid of him because he tears through their defenses like tissue paper. Other characters may deal with him warily because they don't want to get on his bad side. He may have friends and associates that he can call upon to aid him, which is part of his established terrifying reputation. Oftentimes, he'll have a reputation for extreme, ruthless violence, leaving a host of dead bodies in his wake as he pursues his goal.

I thought we weren't supposed to talk politics in this thread, and here you are bringing up Hillary Clinton.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 18, 2024 09:06 AM (xCA6C)

14 My favorite Dan Simmons books are Ilium/Olympos.

Posted by: 13times at August 18, 2024 09:07 AM (Y/Z+w)

15 Good Sunday morning, horde!

Those pants are fine. I would wear them to a barbecue at the bouncy castle.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at August 18, 2024 09:07 AM (OX9vb)

16 I really need to pull together a book report on Lenin's biography
Posted by: Skip at August 18, 2024 09:00 AM (fwDg9)
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Which book?

I'm [still] reading "The Life of Lenin."

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 18, 2024 09:07 AM (AK7iC)

17 Nice library guardians. Do they ever grab the spotlight during Zoom meetings?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 09:08 AM (kpS4V)

18 Morning, book folken!

Currently perusing The Great Battles of Antiquity by Gabriel and Boose. It covers the period from the battle of Megiddo, the Greeks at Marathon and others, Chinese battles, Alexander the Great, Hannibal and Caesar, and dwn through Hastings and the siege of Constantinople. (Yes, "antiquity" is supposed to end somewhere about the birth of Christ or maybe Constantine's reign, and these later ones extend up to 1453, but that's okay.) Fascinating stuff.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:08 AM (omVj0)

19 "Shadow Warrior: The CIA Hero of a Hundred Unknown Battles" wraps up with the inauguration of George H.W. Bush, but first Felix Rodriguez has to deal with the Iran-Contra hearings, which cost him his anonymity and taught him about slanted news coverage. He challenges reports of the time about his role in the Nicaraguan Contra supply operation, in which he got involved.while he was in El Salvador as a volunteer assisting that government's fight against Communist guerillas. Boy, does he hate Communists!

(continued)

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 18, 2024 09:08 AM (p/isN)

20 Imagine waking up amnesiac in a hospital, and then slowly realizing that you are not human, and that Earth is really just a shadow world. I recently re-read a book I first encountered in my youth, Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny. This is the introductory book in the Amber series.

The story cleverly moves from what seems to be a first person mystery tale into a science fiction fantasy. Zelazny uses a plot device more recently deployed in the Harry Potter series, where the protagonist doesn't know the powers he possesses, nor his history, so the reader learns alongside him. As the story unfolds, Corwin discovers that he is a prince of the real world of Amber, marooned on the shadow world of Earth for hundreds of years. During his time on Earth, Corwin has honed his fighting skills and he has also developed some human traits like empathy. This may be one of the earliest sci-fi fantasy books to explore parallel worlds. There are five books in the original series, but each can stand alone as a story. This is another work that should be considered a classic of its genre.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at August 18, 2024 09:08 AM (WNpoG)

21 Nice library guardians. Do they ever grab the spotlight during Zoom meetings?
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 09:08 AM (kpS4V)
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That's usually the job of my black cat Penny.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 18, 2024 09:09 AM (BpYfr)

22 (continued from 29)

In his view, Oliver North was a well-meaning naif who got hornswoggled by Richard Secord, whom Rodriguez charges was a profiteer who was in it only for the money.

He also clashed with a senior official for the Iran-Contra committee, John Kerry's aide Jack Blum -- where have we heard that name recently?

I feel sorry for Rodriguez. He gave so many years to the fight against Communists in Central and South America, and look at the place now. About his only lasting success is that he's still around (he's 83) while Castro is in the ground.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 18, 2024 09:09 AM (p/isN)

23 did you see today's entry for pants?
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 18, 2024 09:05 AM (BpYfr)
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https://youtu.be/wypWaIq39r0

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 18, 2024 09:10 AM (AK7iC)

24 >>>Since I've joined a church, I am frequently reminded of the dangers that modern day missionaries encounter when they go on mission trips around the world.

My home church is closely connected with some missionaries to Haiti, and they've had a very rough time of it recently. Some friends of theirs (also missionaries) were murdered earlier this year, and of course there's the constant theft, primitive living conditions, etc.

I fear I don't have that much fortitude.

Posted by: Dr. T at August 18, 2024 09:10 AM (lHPJf)

25 Before I chanced across the Great Battles, I had started one of Ross MacDonald's early Lew Archer stories from 1951, The Way Some People Die. I've never been a great RM fan, but this one has more of the 1930s-1940s Chandler flavor to it.

Also I have an Eric Ambler spy thriller from the '50s, The Schirmer Inheritance, and a John D. MacDonald that I think I've read, The Empty Trap. The latter three are due next Saturday, so I'll have to renew them.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:12 AM (omVj0)

26 I also have the attention span problem

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at August 18, 2024 09:12 AM (Ydd86)

27 Got a new catalog from Inner Traditions, my favorite purveyors of New Age blather/alt history/pseudoscience, and my wondering eyes immediately alit on "Dark Fleet: The Secret Nazi Space Program and the Battle for the Solar System" by Len Kasten. Oh joy, our library system has this book!

Nazis on the Moon is bad enough, but now Elon has to flush them out of Mars and beyond?!

We've got a lot of work to do, Space Force!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 09:12 AM (kpS4V)

28 Imagine waking up amnesiac in a hospital, and then slowly realizing that you are not human, and that Earth is really just a shadow world. I recently re-read a book I first encountered in my youth, Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny. This is the introductory book in the Amber series.

The story cleverly moves from what seems to be a first person mystery tale into a science fiction fantasy. Zelazny uses a plot device more recently deployed in the Harry Potter series, where the protagonist doesn't know the powers he possesses, nor his history, so the reader learns alongside him. As the story unfolds, Corwin discovers that he is a prince of the real world of Amber, marooned on the shadow world of Earth for hundreds of years. . . .
Posted by: Thomas Paine at August 18, 2024

***
I know I read that one in the '80s, but didn't appreciate it. I'll have to try it again.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:13 AM (omVj0)

29 Those pants make her look like she has a butt crack in the front.

Posted by: Florida Peasant at August 18, 2024 09:13 AM (Lo97M)

30 Dimitri Volkogonov is the biographer, he also has a few other historical books on Bolsheviks.

Posted by: Skip at August 18, 2024 09:13 AM (fwDg9)

31 Terrifying protagonist? John Gaunt from the 1980s comics series Grimjack. Sword and sorcery in an absolute pit of a city that sits at the nexus of all dimensions. Gaunt is a gun and sword for hire. His survival and high body count give him a reputation that "keeps the fleas off," as he puts it.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 18, 2024 09:15 AM (p/isN)

32 >>>I'll say only this: If you were contemplating a trip to India, read this book first. You will swiftly change your mind.

I was not. I don't know enough about India to do it justice, but I have always thought it a vaguely frightening place. Maybe it's because of Buddhism. I had to actually learn the basics of it for a World Civ course I taught last year, and that is, in all honesty, an inhuman religion.

Posted by: Dr. T at August 18, 2024 09:15 AM (lHPJf)

33 I know I read that one in the '80s, but didn't appreciate it. I'll have to try it again.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:13 AM (omVj0)
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It took me a couple of tries to get through it all. However, once I did, I was glad. I enjoyed the journey.

I know a lot of people think the second half of the series with Merlin, son of Corwin, is the weaker of the two, but I actually enjoyed it more.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 18, 2024 09:16 AM (BpYfr)

34 Secord clines shackley they had all worked with edwin wilson who had been tasked by the last figure

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 09:16 AM (PXvVL)

35 I'm not sure I've ever tried for a terrifying *protagonist.* Antagonists, yes, as a hero is only as strong as what or who he's pitted against. In one fantasy novel I follow a retired drill sergeant from an army modeled on that of the Roman Republic, as he grimly hunts the murderer of his family -- a rogue centaur. My sergeant is gruff, single-minded, and tough -- and he *just keeps coming* and will not stop, as the villain finds to his horror.

Dunno if he's potentially terrifying, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:17 AM (omVj0)

36 OK, Koontz fans, I read my first Dean Koontz selection this week: Watchers. What a great book! Genetic researchers created an extraordinarily smart dog. He escaped from the lab, and changed the life of the man who found him, and some other characters as well. The man also changed the life of the dog. Alas, a terrible monster also escaped the lab.

Throughout the story, the dog is hunted by the monster and the NSA. Oh, and there's a bonus assassin, who also wants the dog. And there's a wee bit of romance.

It's a fine story. Picked up Odd Thomas for my next read.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at August 18, 2024 09:17 AM (OX9vb)

37 Not that much reading this week. Picking away at "The Best of Larry Niven" and trying to get into "Lonely Werewolf Girl" by Martin Millar.

I do think short story collections are a great way to refocus when one is going through a period of !squirrel¡ brain.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 09:18 AM (kpS4V)

38 To aid qaddafi for reasons unclearly the first three were part of a company called eatsco

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 09:18 AM (PXvVL)

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

Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 09:19 AM (zudum)

40 Currently reading Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister by Jung Chang. Jung dispels the mythical aura surrounding Sun Yat-sen and lays bare his selfish, perfidious behavior.

Posted by: 13times at August 18, 2024 09:19 AM (Y/Z+w)

41 Sal, if you're here, thanks for recommending My Name Is Asher Lev a couple weeks ago.

I had seen the title here and there ever since it was published, but never read it until now. Thought it was a wonderful portrayal of a young artist, and am halfway through the sequel The Gift of Asher Lev, which is also compelling. They were both available in my state's online library. They have opened up a lot of spiritual pondering for me!

Posted by: skywch at August 18, 2024 09:20 AM (uqhmb)

42 I read an old thriller by daniel easterman who tried to make sense of the crisis that were halpening in the late 70s and 80s the protagonist terry randall is a cia official with a tragic backstory who has a marlow type journey into a collapsing iran and then finds his way to canada?

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 09:21 AM (PXvVL)

43 OK, Koontz fans, I read my first Dean Koontz selection this week: Watchers. What a great book! Genetic researchers created an extraordinarily smart dog. He escaped from the lab, and changed the life of the man who found him, and some other characters as well. The man also changed the life of the dog. Alas, a terrible monster also escaped the lab.

Throughout the story, the dog is hunted by the monster and the NSA. Oh, and there's a bonus assassin, who also wants the dog. And there's a wee bit of romance.

It's a fine story. Picked up Odd Thomas for my next read.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at August 18, 2024 09:17 AM (OX9vb)
---
*sigh* off to Amazon...

Reading The Taking by Koontz now. Will have more to say about it next week.

Horrifying tale of alien invasion...truly creepy stuff.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 18, 2024 09:21 AM (BpYfr)

44 Revisited a Philip K. Dick novel that I hadn't read since high school (Dr Bloodmoney) and his short story "Second Variety." And now am in the middle of Simenon's The Venice Train.

My reading plans are so organized...

Re: Zelazny. Read somewhere recently (in the notes to one of the collected stories volumes?) that he hadn't submitted "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" for some time because his version of Mars in the story was impossible given what we were learning about the planet. But (IIRC) "Rose" was actually his first story.

If only all our first stories could be 1/100 as good...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 09:23 AM (q3u5l)

45 Finished Team Yankee by Harold Croyle. It is the good guys win WWIII fantasy. But it captures armored combat at the company level.

The Soviet Red Army does not come off too well, which is what we are seeing 40 years later, in Ukraine. Not having a solid NCO component is a fatal flaw.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 18, 2024 09:23 AM (u82oZ)

46 Peterson has several talks on how the Good Guy must take on the persona or action of a Bad Guy to achieve his mission.

Baggins is mild mannered but becomes a thief to make his journey.
Potter is a mild mannered boy that MUST break to rules to save his people.
Jesus goes after the moneychangers to root out the evil in the Temple.

Posted by: rhennigantx at August 18, 2024 09:24 AM (gbOdA)

47 @34 --

Oh, yes. Rodriguez had considered Thomas Clines a friend intil he learned of Clines' involvement with Wilson. That ended the friendship.

Rodriguez writes that he tried to warn North, who wouldn't listen.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 18, 2024 09:24 AM (p/isN)

48 (From a webtoon I'm reading, so this has been translated from Korean):

Morbidius, plague archdemon: "My bad reputation enhances my magic. What does your bad reputation do?"

Posted by: pookysgirl hopes to have a good one at August 18, 2024 09:24 AM (dtlDP)

49 >> OK, Koontz fans, I read my first Dean Koontz selection this week: Watchers.

Ah, I just picked that one up at the used bookstore for free! So glad to hear it's good.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 18, 2024 09:24 AM (Pijte)

50 I made little progress in Tim Coogan's "The Troubles." My only complaint thus far is it has long chapters, and I'm very biased in favor of short chapters. I'm reading it on Kindle, and when I look down at the bottom of the screen and it says "437 years to finish this chapter" I tend to despair. Also, it means I have to stop in the middle of a chapter, which drives me nuts. As to the substance of the book, I'm in the postwar (WW2) phase where he's explaining how gerrymandering and voting rules have left the Protestant minority firmly in charge of Northern Ireland.

Posted by: PabloD at August 18, 2024 09:24 AM (HSwo3)

51 Just Some Guy, I haven't dipped into the Beaumont or Kersh books yet. Want to start on them on a rainy day, I guess. Thanks again.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:25 AM (omVj0)

52 Just finished “A Higher Call” by Adam Makos. It’s about aB17 that was shot up over Germany and how it was escorted by a German fighter pilot through German anti-aircraft fields as it limped back to England. Unknown to the B17 crew was the fact that the German pilot was one of their aces who could have finished them off at any time. The story is very well written as I finished it in two sittings. Spoiler alert: It became very dusty in my den as I got to the end of the book. I highly recommend it.

Posted by: RetSgtRN at August 18, 2024 09:25 AM (eTkTC)

53 "This is a slightly different view of my library. I use this picture in my class when I lecture on some of the ways in which images can be edited to ensure that the reader focuses in on the important details."

************

The cat was working on the computer working on a novel theory that would unify quantum mechanics with general relativity but "Professor" Squirrel had to edit this picture so as to not alert (alarm?) the world about the analytic ability of house cats.

Posted by: Sasquatch, the Original Trans-Wookie at August 18, 2024 09:26 AM (rihlv)

54 If you were contemplating a trip to India, read this book first. You will swiftly change your mind. (And this was written forty years ago. I can only imagine that Calcutta, the scene of the novel, has gotten far worse since then.)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

In one of my previous world travelling jobs, we referred to the region as "the Indian diet", as one would lose about 3-4 pounds per week. And that is just the mealtime challenges.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at August 18, 2024 09:26 AM (0F1va)

55 I don't know why one would think Calcutta would be worse now than in the 1980s. Back then India was still mired in Marxist post-colonial kleptocracy, but now things really seem to be moving ahead. (You can tell because the media really seem to have a hate on for Modi. He must be doing something right.)

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 18, 2024 09:26 AM (78a2H)

56 Clines was shackleys deputy in laos and jmwave secord was chief of thai operations essentially hes the real version of mitchell ryans version in lethal weapon

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 09:28 AM (PXvVL)

57 You're welcome, Wolfus.

As to not getting to them right away -- I've got books on hand that I bought a decade ago that I haven't dipped into yet. Learned long ago scrounging the paperback racks and working in the bookstore that you gotta buy 'em when you see 'em because if you don't they go out of print and then you go crazy hunting them down later.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 09:29 AM (q3u5l)

58 Wilson was by the way the real inspiration for raymond reddington

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 09:30 AM (PXvVL)

59 2nd recommendation on Higher Call

Posted by: Skip at August 18, 2024 09:30 AM (fwDg9)

60 @50 ..been into Irish history as well. Recently finished David McCullagh's "De Valera: Rise". Volume 2, "Rule" is next. Never really knew the ins and outs of "Free State" vs "Republic" before. Dev doesn't always come off well, not at all, and I fear for a description of his performance during "The Emergency". But it's fascinating stuff.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at August 18, 2024 09:31 AM (pXeye)

61 Our modern society encourages and rewards ADHD, especially when it comes to reading. My dad has never been diagnosed but has passed it on to two of his four kids (and seven of his twelve biological grandchildren). Currently he's consumed by Facebook reels/short videos/whatever they're called, which drives my mom nuts when she's trying to talk to him.

Posted by: pookysgirl's struggles to focus pale in comparison at August 18, 2024 09:32 AM (dtlDP)

62 @57 --

I raise you two decades.

I've had "Shadow Warrior" on my shelves so long I don't remember when I got it.

Hell, I have comics that I bought used and still haven't read. Always "someday."

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 18, 2024 09:33 AM (p/isN)

63 You know who's a terrifying protagonist? Dorothy, in the Oz books. In the novel she doesn't kill the Wicked Witch by accident, she just gets so pissed off that she dumps a bucket of water over the evil witch who's keeping her prisoner, and is very pleased to discover it melts her. In later novels she defies a head-collecting princess, overthrows the Nome King at least twice, and saves Oz from certain doom three or four times.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 18, 2024 09:33 AM (78a2H)

64 Since the good Perfessor mentioned Terry Brooks and the Shannara books, it's worth pointing out the Humble Bundle website is offering a sale on a whole slew of Shannara e-books.

Posted by: Castle Guy at August 18, 2024 09:34 AM (Lhaco)

65
Reading The Taking by Koontz now. Will have more to say about it next week.

Horrifying tale of alien invasion...truly creepy stuff.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 18, 2024 09:21 AM (BpYfr)

I'm working through the Jane Hawk series, and it's tough. He wrote them in 2017, and they seem prescient. Dash my lace wigs, Odd Thomas (heck, the entire OT series) is one of my favorite books. Worth the horror of subsequent books to make it to the end!

And if OrangeEnt is around, y'all encourage him to self publish. He has written some mighty fine reads!!!

Posted by: Moki at August 18, 2024 09:34 AM (wLjpr)

66 As far as writing goes: Nothing new, but OrangeEnt found a contest for stories from a magazine called Letter Review. I have a horrible feeling that it's gonna be *literary* and woke-infested stuff that they want. But the top four prizes share in $1000, and it's free to submit one story, so why not try?

I'm sending them one I wrote a few years ago that, according a member of my former writing group, qualifies as "magical realism," and that's next door to literary, I guess, or maybe even shares a condo with it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:34 AM (omVj0)

67 And if OrangeEnt is around, y'all encourage him to self publish. He has written some mighty fine reads!!!
Posted by: Moki at August 18, 2024

***
True!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:36 AM (omVj0)

68 10 Happy Pants Day!!!
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at August 18, 2024 09:04 AM (Ydd86)
----

I'm flying a pair of trousers outside at half mast in protest of the harsh fascist Pants Rule on the Book Thread.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 09:36 AM (kpS4V)

69 You know who's a terrifying protagonist? Dorothy, in the Oz books.

Posted by: Trimegistus

I think it is the shoes.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at August 18, 2024 09:36 AM (8iSC2)

70 I'm working through the Jane Hawk series, and it's tough.

--

Moki, I think I only read 2 in that series before quitting it. Too dark for me.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at August 18, 2024 09:36 AM (Ydd86)

71 Dorothy is a keen strategist in maguire wicked

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 09:37 AM (PXvVL)

72 "...terrifying protagonist is that he (it's usually a dude, but not always) has established a reputation..."

I immediately thought of Snake Plisken. And more obscurely, Ian Cormac of Neal Asher's novels.

Posted by: Candidus at August 18, 2024 09:37 AM (CPUp5)

73 Weak Geek at 62--

My hat's off to you. Don't know that I've had anything on my shelves quite that long without at least skimming through parts of it. (I'd check, but that might be too depressing...)

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 09:37 AM (q3u5l)

74 In wicked the witch is misunderstood

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 09:37 AM (PXvVL)

75 I'm flying a pair of trousers outside at half mast in protest of the harsh fascist Pants Rule on the Book Thread.
Posted by: All Hail Eris

I am secretly not wearing pants at all right now

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at August 18, 2024 09:37 AM (Ydd86)

76 Big thumbs up for the Jane Hawk series, which is more SF political thriller rather than Koonz's usual paranormal stuff -- and yes, prescient and plausible, hence scarier.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 09:39 AM (kpS4V)

77 36>>>OK, Koontz fans, I read my first Dean Koontz selection this week: Watchers. What a great book!

Dash, yes! Still my favorite Koontz story, heart pounding frightening, anger inducing then actually made me cry. Ha, I tear up now thinking of it.

The first Odd is the best.

Posted by: Pony Tail at August 18, 2024 09:40 AM (HcbZb)

78 I'm hoping Jodhpurs count as real pants.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at August 18, 2024 09:40 AM (4lapV)

79 Snake inspired armitage in necromancer

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 09:40 AM (PXvVL)

80 I'm about halfway through "The Algebraist" by Iain M. Banks. I am a huge fan of his Culture series but here he builds a world without the machine minds. He's setting things up for what looks like a massive confrontation with an all too human monster.

Not sure if I would recommend it yet but so far it's been good but a tad slow but that is part of Bank's style. I can smell some serious stuff up ahead.

Posted by: pawn at August 18, 2024 09:40 AM (QB+5g)

81 I was not. I don't know enough about India to do it justice, but I have always thought it a vaguely frightening place. Maybe it's because of Buddhism. I had to actually learn the basics of it for a World Civ course I taught last year, and that is, in all honesty, an inhuman religion.
Posted by: Dr. T at August 18, 2024 09:15 AM (lHPJf)

Wait till you find out about the Hinduism.*

*That may be what you meant instead of Buddhism. Or not.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 18, 2024 09:41 AM (eDfFs)

82 This week I read a graphic novel: "Ghost of the Badlands" written by Razorfist (the YouTuber) and illustrated by George Alexopoulos. It's essentially The Shadow (the old pulp character) in the old west, with heavy (heeeeeeeeavy) Christian overtones.

Our main character is a bandit who survives when the rest of his posse is massacred. He was spared because....Well, he doesn't have a heart of gold, but he does have a little bit of a conscious. So, the Ghost recruits him, and sends him to infiltrate another evil gang, to help facilitate their downfall.

Its not clear why the Ghost needed our main character's help, as he is willing and able to gun down plenty of baddies on his own....But its a fun story. I recommend it.

It's funny, I've read two sperate 'old-west vengeful gun-men from God' comics in recent years, (the other being "Wraith of God) and both books have been amongst my favorites. There's just something about that genre...

Posted by: Castle Guy at August 18, 2024 09:41 AM (Lhaco)

83 When Donald Hamilton's publisher (or agent, I forget) said that the lead character in his novel "Death of a Citizen" would make a great series lead if he killed off the wife, Hamilton dug out one of his shelved stories and retooled it so his lead was no longer caught up in events but was now instead a man on a mission. The result was "The Wrecking Crew," and Matt Helm was off and running.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 18, 2024 09:41 AM (p/isN)

84 Revisited a Philip K. Dick novel that…

I keep finding PKD books I didn’t know existed (it’s almost like being in a PKD book…). I read Time Out of Joint a few weeks ago, one of his earlier reality-is-a-put-on books. As an earlier one it is relatively straightforward.

When I first started reading PKD twenty nine years ago I would never have guessed this is the science fiction author most predictive of the future. Not just that everything in the media is a put-on but also that it’s so poorly done!

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at August 18, 2024 09:42 AM (EXyHK)

85 Currently reading Room 39, a history of [Royal Navy] Naval Intelligence in WWII. By Donald McLachlan, this shows how the war at sea in the Atlantic and Mediterranean was fought from sound intelligence. This chronicles a war winning organization that made an immense difference.

Highlights how information gathered is graded, evaluated, and disseminated to the operating forces. Highly recommended, to show how an Intel organization should be run.

James Bond note: Ian Fleming was the Personal Assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence. He had a key role in getting all the oars of power to row at the same beat of the drum.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 18, 2024 09:42 AM (u82oZ)

86 I had Zora Neale Hurston's book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, on my shelf since around 1983. Carried from home to home, and finally picked it up and read it a couple of years ago.

Very good, and not a bit like what I expected. Not that I know what I expected.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at August 18, 2024 09:42 AM (OX9vb)

87 I have a screenplay and a novel that have both taken off like a Boeing Starliner, but not being one to give up I'm taking a shot at turning the material into a graphic novel. I am ridiculously impressed with the image generation AIs for everything but groups of people. Ask for five people, specifying what they look like and are doing, and invariably get back an image with six or more people.

Posted by: Candidus at August 18, 2024 09:43 AM (CPUp5)

88 This week I've been re-reading an anthology from 2002, McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, edited by Michael Chabon. Essentially Chabon got bored reading the same short story every week in The New Yorker so he challenged a bunch of his pals to write fun adventure stories. The results were mixed. Elmore Leonard, Michael Moorcock, Michael Crichton, and Chabon himself all come through very well. But Dave Eggers writes a New Yorker short story set on top of a mountain instead of a Manhattan condo, and Karen Joy Fowler does the same at an archaeological dig in Egypt.

Looking back after 20 years, most of the stories have held up pretty well. I didn't notice any jarring Bush-era political sniping, which in retrospect is kind of surprising.

Chabon failed to single-handedly change the course of American fiction, but you have to give him credit for trying.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 18, 2024 09:43 AM (78a2H)

89 Sexy teenybopper recruits halfwit, coward, and heartless to kill well known magical sisters.

Posted by: rhennigantx at August 18, 2024 09:43 AM (gbOdA)

90 Yay book thread! I took most of Thursday off to attend Mass and afterwards spotted an estate sale, which I naturally had to check out.

I picked up some very cheap books in fine condition and I'm digging deep in James H. Hallas' Saipan: The Battle That Doomed Japan in WW II.

So far, I'm very much enjoying it. It's a recent book, and quite good. It provides a deep level of detail and is peppered with anecdotes reminiscent of a Cornelius Ryan book. Hallas didn't do all the interviews, of course, but he's pulled them from tons of sources and brought them together, which I very much appreciate.

My only quibble with the book (so far) is the writing style. Hallas tries to build some dramatic tension and so uses bits of foreshadowing that I don't think work. And yes, I'm biased here. My first draft of Long Live Death did that and after I while I came to hate it. I did a search for all instances of the word "would" and deleted them. Consider:

"This decision would be put to the test two days later."

"This decision *WAS* put to the test to two days later. Much more direct, easier to read, but it does lower the word count. (con't)

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 09:44 AM (llXky)

91 True!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:36 AM (omVj0)

You, too, are quite the writer. There is some serious talent amongst the Horde!

Posted by: Moki at August 18, 2024 09:45 AM (wLjpr)

92 {{{vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion }}}

That is very sexy.
Uh, please put down those throwing knives.
Just an observation, nothing more.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 18, 2024 09:46 AM (u82oZ)

93 Also this week, I made the final push and finished reading "The Pheonix Omnibus." It's a collection of early X-Men comics, specifically the issues that comprise the Pheonix Saga and the Dark Pheonix Saga. Basically, the two stories that turned the X-Men into one of the powerhouses of the 80s.

Now, the proper way to read the stories would have been to collect the whole series, and read all the comics before and between the sagas, for context, but.....I've found 70s superhero comics to be very hit or miss. Also, that would mean buying 2 full-priced omnibuses, while this was just a single omnibus that I managed to snag at less than half of cover price. Sometimes, budgetary concerns win out...

Posted by: Castle Guy at August 18, 2024 09:47 AM (Lhaco)

94 Pooky is done reading "Chronicles of Narnia" to Lil Pooky. We tried a chapter of "The Hobbit," but my copy has terribly small font and Tolkien sometimes made up words on the spot. At Pookette's suggestion, we took up the Harry Potter series. Rowling makes up words too, but they're magical terms that are fun to pronounce and are explained in the books. I think Pooky's favorite character to voice for those is Hagrid.

We're... we're raising a Brit Lit major, aren't we?

Posted by: pookysgirl, English (Writing) major at August 18, 2024 09:47 AM (dtlDP)

95 The last comic I bought was during the Sniffle Scare. Somewhere I read about a comic, The Maze Agency, and a particular issue, No. 9, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Ellery Queen. (This was in 1989.) I had to have it. It actually features Ellery, the later Ellery who acts more like a human being rather than a bookish calculating machine. Written in part by Mike Barr, it's called "The English Channeler Mystery." It's a good puzzle, handsomely illustrated, and is faithful to the original works. (He smokes a pipe, for example.)

As a bonus, it contains a final scene that works on its own -- but long-time EQ fans will recognize with a little thrill exactly what Barr is referencing from the EQ series.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:48 AM (omVj0)

96 Snake inspired armitage in necromancer
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 09:40 AM (PXvVL)

One thing that really stuck with me from that character is that after the higher-ups sacrificed all that patriotic young flesh, and Corto vowed vengeance, it was his testimony saved the scumbags and created Armitage.

Because that's the world we live currently in.

Posted by: Candidus at August 18, 2024 09:48 AM (CPUp5)

97 Read "Default" by Gregory Makoff this week. The non-fiction book is about the sovereign debt default saga for Argentina that stretched from 2001 to 2016. As with any event, the headlines don't tell the whole story, so learning about a lot more of the specifics was interesting.

Sovereign defaults are unique because there is no bankruptcy court. Lending to emerging market or developing countries historically involved other countries, organizations like the IMF and World Bank and commerical banks. After a series of big defaults in the 1970s and early 1980s, commerical banks largely pulled back. Emerging market bonds started as a way to repackage bad bank loans and get them off of bank balance sheets. That change had lots of implications and the Argentina saga played that out.

Sovereign defaults aren't going away and they have many political, social, and geopolitical cross-currents. The Catholic Church 2025 Jubilee plans to feature debt forgiveness, so we'll likely hear more chatter from those who want to reduce or cancel debt loads for Emerging/developing market countries.

Posted by: TRex at August 18, 2024 09:50 AM (IQ6Gq)

98 (con't) another problem with using extensive first-person observations is that they can confuse the narrative and also bog it down in a way that becomes misleading.

For example, the recollections of the veterans who survived the first wave is mostly of carnage and chaos, and just about every Marine recollects that the amtracs on each side of them were blown up. The reader is left with the impression that casualties must have been more than 60 percent.

But as Hallas notes, actual losses were far less. This is the problem when one tries to rely on memories that are decades old and scarred by horrific scenes of chaos. It has been widely noted that Allied troops in Europe considered just about every tank they encountered a Tiger, Panther or King Tiger. One of my friends read a memoir where impossible concentrations of Tiger tanks were described as attacking US troops.

I don't fault Hallas for including the accounts, but I would have been more selective. To his credit, he is doing the "narrator voice" part. Still early in the book, so plenty of time for it to suck, but enjoying it so far.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 09:50 AM (llXky)

99 >>> 84 When I first started reading PKD twenty nine years ago I would never have guessed this is the science fiction author most predictive of the future.

>> "Walz has close connections to a Twin Cities-based organization that houses an alleged secret CCP police station—one of seven secret CCP police stations in the U.S."

Similar to Andys controlling a police station in PKD's Electric Sheep.

Posted by: 13times at August 18, 2024 09:50 AM (Y/Z+w)

100 By the way, what does it say about me that my bedtime books tend to such grisly fare? My wife regards my reading choices as abhorrent and can't figure out how I can enthusiastically read this stuff.

And yet, since I could read, I was fascinated by war. Must be a guy thing.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 09:51 AM (llXky)

101 "Perfessor" Squirrel

Thank you for another in a series of great Book threads.

I notice that your pimp hat is not visible in a picture you share with your students. Wise move.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 18, 2024 09:51 AM (u82oZ)

102 Also this week, I made the final push and finished reading "The Pheonix Omnibus." It's a collection of early X-Men comics, specifically the issues that comprise the Pheonix Saga and the Dark Pheonix Saga. Basically, the two stories that turned the X-Men into one of the powerhouses of the 80s. . . .

Posted by: Castle Guy at August 18, 2024

***
I have that one too. A friend of mine then, a long-time X-Men fan, urged me to try that series when they were new. I'd been off comics for decades at that point. I was pleased to see that the dialog rang true, there was real humor and adventure (and not always a clear-cut happy ending), and you didn't have these comically obvious speeches that the DC writers often gave to Superman and Jimmy Olsen in the Silver Age comics. And there was solid characterization as well.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:51 AM (omVj0)

103 Consider:

"This decision would be put to the test two days later."

"This decision *WAS* put to the test to two days later. Much more direct, easier to read, but it does lower the word count.

I've noticed that sort of thing but it hadn't occurred to me that it was intentional to build drama. I just wrote it off as "writing style." But now that you point it out, it's obvious and will now go from "writing style" to "annoying writing style."

Posted by: Oddbob at August 18, 2024 09:52 AM (/y8xj)

104 Currently reading "The Soft Weapon", which Niven retooled into the Star Trek:TAS episode "The Slaver Weapon"..

Our human protagonist is being forcibly mind-read by a catlike Kzinti telepath, so he imagines himself crunching on a raw carrot to give kitty the willies.

"Telepath sagged against a wall, utterly spent. He could still taste yellow root munched between flat-topped teeth."

The horror!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 09:52 AM (kpS4V)

105 As I mentioned last week, I've started reading The Count of Monte Cristo. To say it is wonderful is an understatement. Dumas has the ability to bring the reader into the story with a lot of detail but doesn't let the pace slow down. (Interesting conflict.) That level of detail of people, geography, and society makes the reader part of the story. It is very effective. Like grace notes, Dumas, as narrator, includes some humorous observations about characters and situations. It's almost like sharing understated snide gossip with friends. I dimly recall some similar moments in the Musketeer books which I read back in junior high.

I read the book for at least a couple of hours and enjoy not allowing distractions while dealing with a thousand-plus page book. I read slower these days compared to my school days when I first read LOTR umpty-ump years ago. That's because I
tend to analyze why the writing is so effective, or isn't, but that's
in the background and doesn't intrude on my appreciation.

Everyone knows the basic story and some of the movies are visually interesting. But they are not anywhere near the quality of the book.

Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 09:53 AM (zudum)

106 @95 --

I bought the Maze Agency series until I got bored, but I sent them to a new home decades ago.

So now if I want to know what you mean, I'll have to search for that issue. Drat.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 18, 2024 09:53 AM (p/isN)

107 Wait till you find out about the Hinduism.*

*That may be what you meant instead of Buddhism. Or not.
Posted by: naturalfake at August 18, 2024 09:41 AM (eDfFs)

Hinduism is also creepy, of course, but that's largely par for the course where paganism is concerned. From what I can make of Buddhism, though, it leads ultimately to the void; to emptiness. Personally, I find that more terrifying.

Posted by: Dr. T at August 18, 2024 09:53 AM (lHPJf)

108 (Yes, "antiquity" is supposed to end somewhere about the birth of Christ or maybe Constantine's reign, and these later ones extend up to 1453, but that's okay.) Fascinating stuff.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:08 AM (omVj0)

See "The War That Ended the Ancient World," by Professor Garrett Ryan.

https://tinyurl.com/2s36h667

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 09:53 AM (0eaVi)

109 (continued from 93, a review of the contents of the X-Men's "Pheonix Omnibus")

While the stories of this omnibus are pretty famous (the movies have tried, and failed, to adapt them twice) the comics themselves are very much of-their-time. Stories start out by the writer throwing random bad-guys at the heroes, and then forcing the good guys to react. And the pacing/stakes tend to go from 0 to 100 in a couple pages. Once the stories get going, they can be really good (the team infiltrating the Hellfire Club HQ is probably the highpoint) but they all start off pretty rough for the modern reader.

An example of the book being of-its-time, at one point Nightcrawler is rescued from a fight by Leprechauns. Does the author explain why there are Leprechauns around? Well, the team was in Ireland, is any further explanation really needed? Is Nightcrawler surprised by finding Leprechauns? No more surprised than when bad guys ambushed him the previous issue. Does he ever mention this incident again? ("Say, Sean, did you know your family castle is infested with magical little people?") Nope! Because that's just how superheroes rolled in the late 70's...

Posted by: Castle Guy at August 18, 2024 09:55 AM (Lhaco)

110 Currently reading "The Soft Weapon", which Niven retooled into the Star Trek:TAS episode "The Slaver Weapon"..

Our human protagonist is being forcibly mind-read by a catlike Kzinti telepath, so he imagines himself crunching on a raw carrot to give kitty the willies.

"Telepath sagged against a wall, utterly spent. He could still taste yellow root munched between flat-topped teeth."

The horror!
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024

***
Niven did a fine job adapting that story into the episode script, didn't he? He has Telepath whine in dialog about the yellow root. It's one of the three episodes I recommend to people who've never seen the animated series -- second only to D.C. Fontana's evocative "Yesteryear."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:56 AM (omVj0)

111 "There is some serious talent amongst the Horde!"

Posted by: Moki at August 18, 2024 09:45 AM (wLjpr)

I can do a few yoyo tricks...that count?

Posted by: BignJames at August 18, 2024 09:56 AM (AwYPR)

112 Like grace notes, Dumas, as narrator, includes some humorous observations about characters and situations. It's almost like sharing understated snide gossip with friends. I dimly recall some similar moments in the Musketeer books which I read back in junior high.

Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 09:53 AM (zudum)
---
When I re-read the Man in the Iron Mask, there was a passage where Dumas described a castle as looking like something out of the writings of Ann Radcliffe, which would have been pretty damn funny to his readers.

Jane Austen also did a riff on Radcliffe's work in Northanger Abbey.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 09:57 AM (llXky)

113 How was it simon kinberg screwed up the darknphoenix saga twice

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 09:57 AM (PXvVL)

114 Consider:

"This decision would be put to the test two days later."

When I read that, I hear it in my head with the voice of a History Channel narrator. Which, again now that you've called attention to it, should be the tipoff.

Posted by: Oddbob at August 18, 2024 09:57 AM (/y8xj)

115 Neither Hinduism nor Buddhism seek to rule.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 18, 2024 09:57 AM (JvZF+)

116 By the way, what does it say about me that my bedtime books tend to such grisly fare? My wife regards my reading choices as abhorrent and can't figure out how I can enthusiastically read this stuff.

And yet, since I could read, I was fascinated by war. Must be a guy thing.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 09:51 AM (llXky)

Possibly. Pooky often has YT horror going in the background (his attention span is not what it used to be, but that's probably due to the brain damage). His stated reason is that it helps him control his PTSD nightmares. There are far too many variables for me to conclusively agree that it helps.

Posted by: pookysgirl would chart these things but it would take up too much time at August 18, 2024 09:58 AM (dtlDP)

117 Oh, Perfessor, did that guy ever contact you? I sent him a link to join ALH, but he hasn't responded.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 09:58 AM (0eaVi)

118 Everyone knows the basic story and some of the movies are visually interesting. But they are not anywhere near the quality of the book.
Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 09:53 AM (zudum)

I read Count of Monte Cristo in high school and loved it; it's been one of my favorite works of classic literature ever since. The overarching story is great, but I think it's also the imagery, even in the smaller plot threads, that makes it so captivating.

Posted by: Dr. T at August 18, 2024 09:58 AM (lHPJf)

119 I bought the Maze Agency series until I got bored, but I sent them to a new home decades ago.

So now if I want to know what you mean, I'll have to search for that issue. Drat.
Posted by: Weak Geek at August 18, 2024

***
I found that issue on eBay in late '20 or early '21.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:59 AM (omVj0)

120 ...I had a sudden epiphany...

********

Aren't they all?

Posted by: Muldoon at August 18, 2024 09:59 AM (991eG)

121 Oh, Perfessor, did that guy ever contact you? I sent him a link to join ALH, but he hasn't responded.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 09:58 AM (0eaVi)
---
Nope. Not yet.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 18, 2024 09:59 AM (BpYfr)

122 Still on "Like Wolves on the Fold", and i will be for a while, as it is fabulously detailed. I like it when an author takes his time. Of course, its moron-recommended, which is how i found out about it.

Thanks Squirrel! Hi and happy reading, all you literate maroons.

Posted by: goatexchange at August 18, 2024 10:01 AM (gqVQ0)

123 Keying off thr movie thread aliens would have been much more terrifying if scott had skipped the engineers and gone to the alien home world where the facehuggers would be at the bottom of the food chain on a planet of sulfure and methane seas

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 10:01 AM (PXvVL)

124 @104 --

In Aaron Williams' Nodwick comics series (D&D parody), he has a scene in which the evil tyrant is going to open the thoughts of the captured cleric Piffany.

*puppies rolling in the sun, bunnies hopping in green grass*

He open the door and tells her to get out.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 18, 2024 10:02 AM (p/isN)

125 I use this picture in my class when I lecture on some of the ways in which images can be edited to ensure that the reader focuses in on the important details.

The important detail in that picture is the warm kitty.

Posted by: Emmie at August 18, 2024 10:03 AM (Sf2cq)

126 Sovereign defaults aren't going away and they have many political, social, and geopolitical cross-currents. The Catholic Church 2025 Jubilee plans to feature debt forgiveness, so we'll likely hear more chatter from those who want to reduce or cancel debt loads for Emerging/developing market countries.
Posted by: TRex at August 18, 2024 09:50 AM (IQ6Gq)
---
Sovereign defaults have a long and ignoble history. Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers is chock full of it. One of my old wargame designs included a mechanism for monarchs to "overspend" their resources and risk financial collapse.

The Jubliee thing goes back to the Old Testament and the command that during a Jubilee year (every seventh year) debts would be forgiven. The Book of Jubilees was very popular with the Essenes in part because they saw that Second Temple Judaism wasn't follow it.

IIRC, the years of the Babylonian Captivity corresponded to all the skipped Jubilee years.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:03 AM (llXky)

127 The important detail in that picture is the warm kitty.
Posted by: Emmie at August 18, 2024 10:03 AM (Sf2cq)
-----
That's exactly what I focus on in the subsequent pictures I show in class!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 18, 2024 10:05 AM (BpYfr)

128 Currently reading "The Soft Weapon", which Niven retooled into the Star Trek:TAS episode "The Slaver Weapon".. .

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024

***
I chanced across Niven's early story "At the Core" when I was in high school, and it blew me away. I was not familiar with SF then except for some light reading and what I'd seen on TV. After "AtC" I said, "Why can't there be more SF stories like that one?" The irony is that he was publishing more of the Known Space stories in magazines right then. If I'd only known!

There's a narrative flavor of Rex Stout's Archie Goodwin in that one, and in the Beowulf Shaeffer stories in general. When I happened to meet LN at a con in 1985, I asked if he'd ever been a Stout fan, and he confirmed it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 10:05 AM (omVj0)

129 I am going to a used book store today with the kidlette. So I put some pants* on and am here to get thoughts!

*pj pants

Posted by: Piper at August 18, 2024 10:05 AM (pZEOD)

130 Pooky often has YT horror going in the background ...His stated reason is that it helps him control his PTSD nightmares.
Posted by: pookysgirl would chart these things but it would take up too much time at August 18, 2024 09:58 AM (dtlDP)

Mr D likes to sleep with noise, and could easily sleep with John Wick on a constant loop (thank God for the guest bedroom). He claims similar--that it actually helps with nightmares.

It would give me nightmares, if I could fall asleep at all.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at August 18, 2024 10:05 AM (OX9vb)

131 Terrifying Protagonists? The Shadow! (which ties into the Ghost in the Badlands comic I mentioned upstream) All the bad guys are very concerned about him, and his signature move is to laugh menacingly....

The interesting thing about The Shadow is that he is often an off-screen protagonist. Most screentime is taken up by agents doing his bidding, or by following non-aligned who are pursuing the same bad guys that he is...

Posted by: Castle Guy at August 18, 2024 10:06 AM (Lhaco)

132 In recent memory argentina was one of the last i forget did greece default around 2011

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 10:06 AM (PXvVL)

133 And if OrangeEnt is around, y'all encourage him to self publish. He has written some mighty fine reads!!!
Posted by: Moki at August 18, 2024 09:34 AM (wLjpr)

Garsh (blushes)

If you're still on, post something on ALH today, I have something I want you to see. Don't want it bandied about to protect someone.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 10:07 AM (0eaVi)

134 That's exactly what I focus on in the subsequent pictures I show in class!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 18, 2024 10:05 AM (BpYfr)

Of course. That kitty is the teacher's pet.

Posted by: Emmie at August 18, 2024 10:07 AM (Sf2cq)

135 Nazis on the Moon is bad enough, but now Elon has to flush them out of Mars and beyond?!
We've got a lot of work to do, Space Force!
Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 09:12 AM (kpS4V)

If this is what you like, you may want to read Fortress by David Drake: Tom Kelly is a cashiered NSA agent in a world where John Connally was assassinated in Dealy Plaza Dallas, and JFK both started construction of a nuke launching space station during his second term. Kelly was brought back because of an dead alien discovered in Turkey with a murdered Kurd who Kelly had worked with during the US war in Lebanon. While in Turkey he tangles with ex-pat Germans called The Order who have murky goals and unexpected technology, and a belly dancer named Giselle who carries a P-38

Posted by: Kindltot at August 18, 2024 10:07 AM (D7oie)

136 NaCly Dog: Room 39 sounds interesting; I may need to grab a copy. I have a board game called "Atlantic Chase" about the early years of the war in the North Atlantic. The game mechanism has a lot of uncertainty built in; you often don't know exactly where your own ships are until events reveal their position. I played it a bit then put it away to deal with other stuff; one of these years I'll dig it out again.

Posted by: PabloD at August 18, 2024 10:07 AM (HSwo3)

137 The important detail in that picture is the warm kitty.
Posted by: Emmie at August 18, 2024 10:03 AM

2 warm kitties! I love the little grey face popping up out of the basket.

Posted by: Piper at August 18, 2024 10:07 AM (pZEOD)

138 Been reading a fair bit of Sarah J Maas lately. Her Court of Thorns and Roses series (her second) was recommended to me by the late Kate Winslet's Boobs a few years ago, possibly due to something he read on the Book Thread. I'm into what was her first series, Throne of Glass, right now. Both series deal with either knowing oneself or at least accepting oneself and the duties/obligations that loom in the past and future. They're both billed as YA, I suspect because the protagonists are 20ish yo women. If I'm being completely honest, some of the "know thyself" flavor may also contribute to the YA label, as self discovery can be a young person's focus.

The young woman angles could be irritating to some, though I enjoy Maas's storytelling enough to overlook the points where that pops up in a annoying ways. Although the protagonists are or become quite powerful, Maas makes the cardinal sin of having them need to learn and accept help from male characters which tickles my anti-woke fancy.

Anyway, probably not series with mass appeal to the horde, but some of the fantasy loving 'ettes may like them. YMMV

Posted by: She Hobbit at August 18, 2024 10:08 AM (ftFVW)

139 Neither Hinduism nor Buddhism seek to rule.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 18, 2024 09:57 AM (JvZF+)
---
Isn't Tibet a Buddhist monarchy?

Buddhism made some big GAINZZ in China after the collapse of the Han, and it was kind of a problem because if you're a Confucian who sees honoring ancestors and maintaining cosmic order as super-important, a religion about annihilating the self (and therefore parent-child relationships) is absolutely terrifying.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:09 AM (llXky)

140 If you're still on, post something on ALH today, I have something I want you to see. Don't want it bandied about to protect someone.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 10:07 AM (0eaVi)

Off to church, I'll check in with you this afternoon

Posted by: Moki at August 18, 2024 10:10 AM (wLjpr)

141 I've just begun to read Armageddon by Leon Uris. It's far to early for an opinion.

Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at August 18, 2024 10:12 AM (FfSAJ)

142 In recent memory argentina was one of the last i forget did greece default around 2011
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 10:06 AM (PXvVL)
---
Greece was not permitted to default. The EU put them into receivership.

That's the problem with having your economy locked into a foreign-controlled currency - there's no way to get out. Normally one can default (or threaten it, to scare creditors into making a deal) or one can debase the currency, to make the debt easier to pay off.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:12 AM (llXky)

143 I think I posted this last week, but I'm old, so I get to repeat myself. Since my 2 girl's were tiny, we have taken monster car trips to the wilds of US and Canadia. Fair Lady Robin started, and continues the sweet tradition of reading books aloud to me and the girls. We're traveling solo together now, which has expanded our selection pool. We're (she's) currently reading "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson. If you're at all interested in diving, WWII, U-boats or crazy unsolved ->solved mysteries, you'll love this. In 1992, 2 deep wreck divers found a U-boat off of NJ and nobody, Axis or Allied knew the sub was there. (If you ever wondered, or knew what the bends is, there is a terrifying account of how devastating shooting to the top is.) The book reads like an old New Yorker mag piece, w/incredibly well told back stories of all the principals. It's a perfect summer book, IMO.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at August 18, 2024 10:13 AM (lPeS+)

144 As far as writing goes: Nothing new, but OrangeEnt found a contest for stories from a magazine called Letter Review. I have a horrible feeling that it's gonna be *literary* and woke-infested stuff that they want. But the top four prizes share in $1000, and it's free to submit one story, so why not try?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:34 AM (omVj0)

Yes. I posted the info on A Literary Horde, our writer's group. But, I did a little checking on the judges of the contest, and they are pink, trending toward red, so be warned if you're interested in submitting.

https://letterreview.submittable.com/submit

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 10:13 AM (0eaVi)

145 36 OK, Koontz fans, I read my first Dean Koontz selection this week: Watchers. What a great book! Genetic researchers created an extraordinarily smart dog. He escaped from the lab, and changed the life of the man who found him, and some other characters as well. The man also changed the life of the dog. Alas, a terrible monster also escaped the lab.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at August 18, 2024 09:17 AM (OX9vb)

That sounds like a modern-day sci-fi successor to the Jim Kjelgaard boy-and-his-dog books I've been sporadically reading. Might have to keep my eye out for that one.

Posted by: Castle Guy at August 18, 2024 10:13 AM (Lhaco)

146 A friend recommended "Metro 2033", a sci-fi trilogy. Book 1 is on its way to me now. Any Cliff Notes reviews?

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at August 18, 2024 10:15 AM (lPeS+)

147 Thanks for including my comment about "Silence", Perfesser. It is a very powerful book but not light reading.

I have not read, "A Knight of the Word" but it sounds like quite a good book. I will recommend it to a friend of mine who is a an academic librarian.so he has dealt with and deals with a lot of words and has questions about things that book would seem to address. I would probably enjoy that book too, although I don't have all of those sorts of questions.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2024 10:16 AM (PUq61)

148 currently reading "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson. If you're at all interested in diving, WWII, U-boats or crazy unsolved ->solved mysteries, you'll love this. In 1992, 2 deep wreck divers found a U-boat off of NJ and nobody, Axis or Allied knew the sub was there. (If you ever wondered, or knew what the bends is, there is a terrifying account of how devastating shooting to the top is.) The book reads like an old New Yorker mag piece, w/incredibly well told back stories of all the principals. It's a perfect summer book, IMO.
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin

I second this. It is a combination of mystery story about a wreck and an object lesson on planning your dives.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at August 18, 2024 10:16 AM (T70K3)

149 "We're traveling solo together"

I see....

Posted by: BignJames at August 18, 2024 10:16 AM (AwYPR)

150 Actually, David Drake's character, Tom Kelly IS the terrifying protagonist in Fortress and Sky Ripper, in that even though his opponents don't know him from Adam, the people who are bringing him in to solve their problems (WTH a space alien? And WTH the leading Soviet particle beam researcher wants to defect in Algeria?)
are terrified of him because of what he had done before, the last time he got screwed over working for them.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 18, 2024 10:19 AM (D7oie)

151 Thanks for the recommendation, Kindltot. My library system has it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 10:19 AM (kpS4V)

152 149 "We're traveling solo together"

I see....
Posted by: BignJames at August

This is known as a “Piperism” and means sans kids.

Happy to help.

Posted by: Piper at August 18, 2024 10:20 AM (pZEOD)

153 Not sure if I would recommend it yet but so far it's been good but a tad slow but that is part of Bank's style. I can smell some serious stuff up ahead.
Posted by: pawn at August 18, 2024 09:40 AM (QB+5g)

Use of Weapons was brutal.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 18, 2024 10:21 AM (D7oie)

154 It's far too early for an opinion.
----

New here?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 10:21 AM (kpS4V)

155 Yes. I posted the info on A Literary Horde, our writer's group. But, I did a little checking on the judges of the contest, and they are pink, trending toward red, so be warned if you're interested in submitting.

https://letterreview.submittable.com/submit
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024

***
Right, OE, I saw that. But as I say, it's free to submit; and they might like my story. Stranger things have happened.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 10:22 AM (omVj0)

156 Hmm, the Book Thread is rolling fast today!

Did a lot of reading this weeks, as I picked up a stack of books at a sale, then had a shipment from Edward Hamilton (a great bargain book resource, BTW).

The White House Plumbers by Egil Krogh. Thumbs down. Tells you nothing you don't already know and is basically a book-long beg for forgiveness. Watergate was a Deep State op, I am convinced.

The Time Traveler's Guide to Regency England - Excellent book. The Dead Shall Rise - about the Leo Frank case. A revisionist bio of Warren Harding. A Gutenberg bio. A history of printing. A book about the (obscure) murder of Jane Clouson (Victorian case).

So I have a lot to keep me occupied.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at August 18, 2024 10:22 AM (Q0kLU)

157 I have a screenplay and a novel that have both taken off like a Boeing Starliner, but not being one to give up I'm taking a shot at turning the material into a graphic novel. I am ridiculously impressed with the image generation AIs for everything but groups of people. Ask for five people, specifying what they look like and are doing, and invariably get back an image with six or more people.
Posted by: Candidus at August 18, 2024 09:43 AM (CPUp5)

Ha! I wouldn't trust AI to create a graphic novel. I went to the site Anna Puma uses to try creating book covers. One description I put in was for "two saddletramps looking at bodies of aliens." I got a scene with a tall, skinny alien looking at a naked brunette wearing cowboy boots....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 10:23 AM (0eaVi)

158 75 ... "I am secretly not wearing pants at all right now"

I hope my gym shorts qualify. Wouldn't want the wrath of Perfessor to visit me.

Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 10:24 AM (zudum)

159 95 The last comic I bought was during the Sniffle Scare. Somewhere I read about a comic, The Maze Agency, and a particular issue, No. 9, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Ellery Queen. (This was in 1989.) I had to have it. It actually features Ellery, the later Ellery who acts more like a human being rather than a bookish calculating machine. Written in part by Mike Barr, it's called "The English Channeler Mystery." It's a good puzzle, handsomely illustrated, and is faithful to the original works. (He smokes a pipe, for example.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 09:48 AM (omVj0)

Last time you mentioned that comic, I spent a little time looking it up, and it turns out to have been drawn by Adam Hughes, who would end up becoming quite the famous artist. (At least in comic circles) It's a pity I never found a collected edition of the book.

Posted by: Castle Guy at August 18, 2024 10:26 AM (Lhaco)

160 Thinking of rereading "Double Solitaire" by Melinda Snodgrass. It is a novel set in George RR Martin's 'Wild Card' series. It has seeped into headspace again.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 18, 2024 10:26 AM (2zMSF)

161 Orange ent
Tall short stories. Couldn't find with quick Amazon search. Could you give a little more info, maybe editor and publisher
Thanks

Posted by: From about That Time at August 18, 2024 10:26 AM (4780s)

162 146 A friend recommended "Metro 2033", a sci-fi trilogy. Book 1 is on its way to me now. Any Cliff Notes reviews?
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at August 18, 2024 10:15 AM (lPeS+)

The premise is interesting, but I think the author couldn't decide if he was writing straight-up dystopian sci-fi or supernatural horror.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at August 18, 2024 10:27 AM (PiwSw)

163
I wouldn't trust AI to create a graphic novel. I went to the site Anna Puma uses to try creating book covers. One description I put in was for "two saddletramps looking at bodies of aliens." I got a scene with a tall, skinny alien looking at a naked brunette wearing cowboy boots....
Posted by: OrangeEnt

It sounds like it perfectly captured a sci fi cover from the late sixties

Posted by: Thomas Paine at August 18, 2024 10:27 AM (/nz/4)

164 Ha! I wouldn't trust AI to create a graphic novel. I went to the site Anna Puma uses to try creating book covers. One description I put in was for "two saddletramps looking at bodies of aliens." I got a scene with a tall, skinny alien looking at a naked brunette wearing cowboy boots....
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024

***
AI seems to be like a situation where the art director asks the artist for something specific -- but he doesn't speak very good English, and so he gives you what he *thinks* you asked for.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 10:27 AM (omVj0)

165 KUSC classical station is playing "Sunrise Mass" by Ola Gjeilo. Lovely.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 10:27 AM (kpS4V)

166 Oh pants day reminds me-
If the Horde had a calendar, what would the days of the week be?

Sunday - Pants Day
Monday - Fresh Hell Day?
Tuesday - ?
Wednesday - Hump Day
Thursday - ?
Friday - Occasional Gainzz Day
Saturday - Coffee Day

Also what would be the months?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at August 18, 2024 10:28 AM (Ydd86)

167 Orange ent, nevermind, found on thriftbooks, I think.

Posted by: From about That Time at August 18, 2024 10:28 AM (4780s)

168 As I was drifting off to sleep early this week I had a reverie about a book about the rebirth of Logres/Arthur as Britain is on the cusp of death.
Someone has probably already done it.
Other than C.S.Lewis.

Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at August 18, 2024 10:29 AM (FfSAJ)

169 I'm thinking Tuesday would have to be something like Hell-Warmed-Over or Leftover Hell Day.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 10:29 AM (q3u5l)

170 Thanks for including my comment about "Silence", Perfesser. It is a very powerful book but not light reading.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2024 10:16 AM (PUq61)
---
I read a review of the film noting that its fatal flaw is the false choice placed before the clergy: deny Christ or your congregation will be killed. This thinking simply did not exist at the time and it's theological nonsense.

Catholics accept death as inevitable, so living a few years longer only to suffer damnation is a terrible deal.

I don't know if the book has that in it, but the film apparently does, which is why I'm uninterested in seeing it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:30 AM (llXky)

171 AI seems to be like a situation where the art director asks the artist for something specific -- but he doesn't speak very good English, and so he gives you what he *thinks* you asked for.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

Have you seen Stonehenge? The tryptichs are twenty feet tall!

Posted by: Thomas Paine at August 18, 2024 10:30 AM (/nz/4)

172 File this under attempted guilty pleasure. I've lately been obsessed with the video game Avatar: The Frontiers of Pandora.* So when I saw a book series based upon a character from the game, I bought the first Avatar: The Frontiers of Pandora -- So'lek's Journey. Turns out it is not a real book but instead is a graphic novel,** well, more of a graphic short story really, a very short story. I read it in just a few minutes and, of course, there is very little plot. At least the price was less than $2.

* One of the things I love about the game, in addition to great graphics and sound, is the structure. You are a Na'vi kidnapped by the RDA at a tender age knowing nothing about your own. When you escape, you the player and you the character learn Na'vi culture together.

** The way Kindle presents graphic novels on a color tablet is truly great.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, I've Been Through the Desert On a Horse With No Shame at August 18, 2024 10:31 AM (L/fGl)

173 And I wouldn't even try for the months. But I am reminded of Ambrose Bierce's definition of November in The Devil's Dictionary -- if memory serves, he defined it as "The eleventh twelfth of a disappointment."

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 10:31 AM (q3u5l)

174 "We're traveling solo together"

I see....
Posted by: BignJames at August 18, 2024 10:16 AM (AwYPR)
---
When I drink alone, I prefer to be by myself.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:32 AM (llXky)

175 Eris, I was familiar with Ola Gjeilo, but not this piece. Sublime. Thank you!!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at August 18, 2024 10:32 AM (PiwSw)

176 I got a scene with a tall, skinny alien looking at a naked brunette wearing cowboy boots....
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 10:23 AM (0eaVi)

LOL, that's an entertaining fail.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at August 18, 2024 10:32 AM (OX9vb)

177 I'm thinking Tuesday would have to be something like Hell-Warmed-Over or Leftover Hell Day.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 10:29 AM (q3u5l)

It's "tummy rub Tuesday"...ask nurse.

Posted by: BignJames at August 18, 2024 10:32 AM (AwYPR)

178 Orange Ent

Look at the LoRas and such. Good ones will lock things down to almost a consistent look. But still a gamble. Parans seem to raise the order of precedence for a sentence.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 18, 2024 10:33 AM (2zMSF)

179 One description I put in was for "two saddletramps looking at bodies of aliens." I got a scene with a tall, skinny alien looking at a naked brunette wearing cowboy boots....

That is frickin' hilarious. You could almost make a game out of that. "This is what I asked for; guess what I got" and vice versa. I'd bet that real humans aren't nearly as "imaginative" as the AI. Muldoon excepted of course.

Posted by: Oddbob at August 18, 2024 10:33 AM (/y8xj)

180 Mr D likes to sleep with noise, and could easily sleep with John Wick on a constant loop (thank God for the guest bedroom). He claims similar--that it actually helps with nightmares.

It would give me nightmares, if I could fall asleep at all.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at August 18, 2024 10:05 AM (OX9vb)

Pooky also has a noise app that lets him combine ambient sounds. Currently he uses a train going over tracks and what sounds like a fan or an A/C unit. The train tracks are on a loop, but not too steady, which helps with the audio hallucinations.

Posted by: pookysgirl would chart these things but it would take up too much time at August 18, 2024 10:33 AM (dtlDP)

181 Eris, I was familiar with Ola Gjeilo, but not this piece. Sublime. Thank you!!
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at August 18, 2024 10:32 AM (PiwSw)
---
I've had the homemade Gjeillo and the cups you buy at the store, but never Ola Gjeillo. Is that with Spanish fruit in it?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:34 AM (llXky)

182 Stendahl's The Red and the Black has been occupying space on a TBR shelf for over 20 years,so I thought "let me deal with this at least."
Well, it's not a Scarlet Pimpernel or a Tale of Two Cities. Nothing much has happened except for leisurely character studies. A 30-something noblewoman, kind of simple-minded, ridiculously emotional. She embarks on a love-affair with the 19 year old tutor to her young children. Said tutor is from the peasant class, but he has memorized the New Testament in Latin. The husband, touchy as to his honor and public perception, hired the tutor because he believes it makes him looks good.
No action, but lots and lots of scene chewing. The over-the-top hysteria when the adulterous couple believe they are about to be exposed is amusing. I am about 150 pages in and not sure how much more of this I can take.
Not my thing.

Posted by: sinmi at August 18, 2024 10:36 AM (potuI)

183 I've had the homemade Gjeillo and the cups you buy at the store, but never Ola Gjeillo. Is that with Spanish fruit in it?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

Do they make Gjello pudding cups?

Posted by: Thomas Paine at August 18, 2024 10:37 AM (/nz/4)

184 138 Been reading a fair bit of Sarah J Maas lately. Her Court of Thorns and Roses series (her second) was recommended to me by the late Kate Winslet's Boobs a few years ago, possibly due to something he read on the Book Thread. I'm into what was her first series, Throne of Glass, right now. Both series deal with either knowing oneself or at least accepting oneself and the duties/obligations that loom in the past and future. They're both billed as YA, I suspect because the protagonists are 20ish yo women. If I'm being completely honest, some of the "know thyself" flavor may also contribute to the YA label, as self discovery can be a young person's focus.

....

Anyway, probably not series with mass appeal to the horde, but some of the fantasy loving 'ettes may like them. YMMV
Posted by: She Hobbit at August 18, 2024 10:08 AM (ftFVW)

I've heard of the book, but every time I hear it referenced it's dismissed as Romantisy Trash. (aka, a trashy romance novel with a fantasy veneer) But maybe that just shows what circles I run in. The book must have some innate appeal, to have gotten popular to begin with...

Posted by: Castle Guy at August 18, 2024 10:37 AM (Lhaco)

185 TRex, the Argentine Sovereign default is what dogged Kristina Kirchner and the Peronists, and got the AR navy cadet training ship seized in a foreign port for non payment of bills. Kristina K also had to park her Presidential jet in Morocco to go to the G7 that year so it wouldn't get seized as well. It was a very unusual development, normally the IMF and such don't start seizing things like that, though landing an army with gunboats is a traditional way of collecting on sovereign debt.

there was a lot of press in Argentina at the time about the "vulture" foreign lenders who were circling the economy. It really put a stick in the spokes for the Peronists too.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 18, 2024 10:37 AM (D7oie)

186 As far as my own book is concerned, writing goes slowly. I've sketched out the next chapter, but have not yet started to write. I've decided to finish the first draft and then type it up, otherwise I will never get it done.

I just don't seem to have the enthusiasm for this book as I di for my others. I don't know if it's that I'm losing interest in silents (I don't think so), my usual depression simply hobbling me or a more extensive unhappiness. The book feels like a chore because I promised a third and not because I want to share a story.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at August 18, 2024 10:38 AM (Q0kLU)

187 Good morning Hordemates.

Just finished Red Hammer 1994 by Robert Radcliffe. A very plausible scenario of how governments could stumble into a global nuclear exchange. Well written and researched.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 18, 2024 10:40 AM (W/lyH)

188 I've also begun to listen to Lilith by George McDonald (could be Macdonald). Many years ago the book started me back to Christ.
Macdonald was very influential for both Lewis and Tolkien.

Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at August 18, 2024 10:40 AM (FfSAJ)

189 Zappa Month!

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 18, 2024 10:40 AM (JvZF+)

190 We're traveling solo together"

*********

When we are at our remote cabin we remind ourselves that:

"Solitude is best when shared with someone!"

Posted by: Muldoon at August 18, 2024 10:40 AM (991eG)

191 I've heard of the book, but every time I hear it referenced it's dismissed as Romantisy Trash. (aka, a trashy romance novel with a fantasy veneer) But maybe that just shows what circles I run in. The book must have some innate appeal, to have gotten popular to begin with...
Posted by: Castle Guy at August 18, 2024 10:37 AM (Lhaco)
---
My wife loves them, and considers them well written. She has a weakness for romancy stuff like Twilight, but YMMV.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:40 AM (llXky)

192 Neither Hinduism nor Buddhism seek to rule.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 18, 2024 09:57 AM (JvZF+)

Would you consider both of them to imply "you should know your place and accept it without complaint?" Seems pretty good thing for those on top to help them stay on top.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 10:41 AM (0eaVi)

193 When I first started reading PKD twenty nine years ago I would never have guessed this is the science fiction author most predictive of the future.

-
The Britain Formerly Known As Great seems all in on future crime prevention.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, I've Been Through the Desert On a Horse With No Shame at August 18, 2024 10:41 AM (L/fGl)

194 Good morning all. Haven't read your comments yet but wanted to get this written first.
I read Butcher and Blackbird by Brynn Weaver this week. I believe she has created a new genre Horror Romance. This book is about how two good serial killers meet while chasing a bad serial killer and decide they are meant for each other as no one else on the planet could ever understand them. I agree. Morons should definitely skip this book. I, on the other hand, will probably read book 2.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 18, 2024 10:41 AM (t/2Uw)

195 Good morning Perfessor, Horde. Any recommendations for an excellent translation of The Iliad and The Odyssey? It's time for a reread.

Posted by: callsign claymore at August 18, 2024 10:42 AM (FgBel)

196 Aren't they all?
Posted by: Muldoon at August 18, 2024 09:59 AM (991eG)

January 6th is right there on the calendar . . .

Posted by: Kindltot at August 18, 2024 10:42 AM (D7oie)

197 Alexis Gilliland, Revolution in Rosinante (with S). Pretty decent story of an asteroid colony left adrift after Earth's politics fail.
Getting my head around the station architecture is a problem. The cover art is VITAL- the place is a cylindrical bulb inside a lampshade. I am unsure that this design will be stable.
Also some strange use of terms like "purlin".
It was Gilliland's first novel and feels like a collection of short stories stitched together, each segment handling how they solve crises like, er, labor unions. Gilliland won a number of "best New author" awards, pretty good at the age of 50 he was. (Fred Pohl got his Hugo for Gateway at the same age.)
Gilliland is still alive if you can believe that. He didn't write much more besides the two sequels.

Posted by: Boulder Terlit Hobo, not dead at August 18, 2024 10:43 AM (WfWKK)

198 I am a huge Malcolm Guite fan. He has a YT channel but is actually an Anglican priest, poet, musician, doctor of letters and more. His ability to find inspiration in poetry and literature is wonderful. And his ability to express those insights is better still. I consider him to be the closest to CS Lewis for our generation. (He is also an avid pipe smoker which endears him to me even more. It's worth your time to look up his YT videos.

I am well on my way to collecting everything he has published: poetry, daily observations, literary analysis. His longer poetry is often in ballad form, like Chesterton's 'Ballad of the White Horse', and is totally compelling. After finishing Count of Monte Cristo, I will be taking up Guite's "Mariner" about the importance of Rime of the Ancient Mariner to Coleridge himself, to 200 years of readers, and to our current culture. It is biography, literary analysis, theology, cultural trends, and simple appreciation of the poem and importance of poetry and imagination as a way of understanding.

Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 10:44 AM (zudum)

199 Sinmi, that's been on my shelf, unread, for decades! I got it at a used bookstore that had tonnes of Penguin paperbacks cheap. I strongarmed a bunch of Penguins into my cart on the theory "better to have and not need -- yet".

One day I'll read it, I'm sure.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 10:44 AM (kpS4V)

200 there was a lot of press in Argentina at the time about the "vulture" foreign lenders who were circling the economy. It really put a stick in the spokes for the Peronists too.
Posted by: Kindltot at August 18, 2024 10:37 AM (D7oie)
---
In the age of democracy, it's hard to justify such seizures because "the people" may not have had any say in how the funds were expended, yet are treated as fully culpable.

My thought is that the various international lending organizations accomplish nothing other than provide jobs for otherwise unemployable bureaucrats. Defaults traditionally resulted in a loss of access to credit, and nations adjusted to that.

Now there's this weird need to keep all the plates spinning because everyone is leveraged up to their eyeballs.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:44 AM (llXky)

201 Nope. Not yet.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 18, 2024 09:59 AM (BpYfr)

Sad. Just trying to get us to flog his books, I guess. Wouldn't be surprised if his publishing company is a vanity press, then. Or, a hybrid.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 10:45 AM (0eaVi)

202 Read what you enjoy, and damn the purse-mouthed puritans.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 10:46 AM (kpS4V)

203 I've heard of the book, but every time I hear it referenced it's dismissed as Romantisy Trash. (aka, a trashy romance novel with a fantasy veneer) But maybe that just shows what circles I run in. The book must have some innate appeal, to have gotten popular to begin with...
Posted by: Castle Guy at August 18, 2024 10:37 AM (Lhaco)
---
My wife loves them, and considers them well written. She has a weakness for romancy stuff like Twilight, but YMMV.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

There is definitely trashy romance in Thorns and Roses with what I still think is good fantasy storytelling. There is some relationship stuff mixed in Throne of Glass (I'm on book 4 now), but I'd say it's a level similar to what shows up in Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Actually, I got to the end of the first Throne of Glass book and asked, "Hey, where was the sex?" But I'm a deviant, so...

Posted by: She Hobbit at August 18, 2024 10:46 AM (ftFVW)

204 195 Good morning Perfessor, Horde. Any recommendations for an excellent translation of The Iliad and The Odyssey? It's time for a reread.
Posted by: callsign claymore at August 18, 2024 10:42 AM (FgBel)

The Illiad: Richard Lattimore
The Odyssey: Lattimore or Robert Fitzgerald

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at August 18, 2024 10:46 AM (PiwSw)

205 Good morning Perfessor, Horde. Any recommendations for an excellent translation of The Iliad and The Odyssey? It's time for a reread.
Posted by: callsign claymore at August 18, 2024 10:42 AM (FgBel)
---
Robert Fagles' Illiad is quite good.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:46 AM (llXky)

206 Fenelon, if you're still around, I just wanted to thank you for the recommendation (I'm pretty sure it was you!) of David Pawson's Unlocking the Bible. I've read bits and pieces of the Bible over the years, but truth be told, was always intimidated by the whole thing from start to finish. Not to mention how confused I always got. I'm just finishing up Pawson's first section on Genesis. It will take me a looong time to get through it, because I'm reading it in tandem with the Bible itself. But thank you for the recommendation. It's surely going to be beneficial to someone like me!

Posted by: Lady in Black at August 18, 2024 10:47 AM (mupln)

207 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:30 AM (llXky

Shusako Endo was a Catholic,
As you probably know The Japanese Catholics
are very faithful for the most part but dying agonizingly for the faith must not be easy for lots of people . It is the European clergy who tend to -or do -waffle.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2024 10:48 AM (d5TUv)

208 All I know about Stendhal is that the book The Charterhouse of Parma is mentioned or displayed in a Man From U.N.C.L.E. episode, and the title The Red and the Black. That cleans me all up with M'sieu Stendhal.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 10:48 AM (omVj0)

209 Morons should definitely skip this book. I, on the other hand, will probably read book 2.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice)

I had the sadz after finishing 2 knowing that I'd have to wait for 3.

Posted by: She Hobbit at August 18, 2024 10:48 AM (ftFVW)

210 In wicked the witch is misunderstood
Posted by: Miguel cervantes

I see that there is a movie version of the musical Wicked in which Oz's Wicked Witch of the West is the protagonist.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, I've Been Through the Desert On a Horse With No Shame at August 18, 2024 10:50 AM (L/fGl)

211 "I don't know if the book has that in it, but the film apparently does, which is why I'm uninterested in seeing it.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:30 AM (llXky)"

I think that it is a fairly accurate account of what happened. Those Jesuits weren't quite up to the task.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 18, 2024 10:50 AM (JVCkA)

212 I also read Double Deuce another Spenser novel by Robert B Parker. Quick read. Hawk is hired to rid a housing project of a gang after a 14 yr old girl is shot in a drive by while holding her infant daughter. He asks Spenser for his help even though hired is a euphemism as no money is involved, just a plea from the poor occupants. Parker paints a truthful picture that would never be allowed today. Don't know how he gets the black perspective so well, but it feels real.
This one is pretty much Hawk and Spenser doing what each does best.
I liked this one a lot.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 18, 2024 10:50 AM (t/2Uw)

213 I see that there is a movie version of the musical Wicked in which Oz's Wicked Witch of the West is the protagonist.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, I've Been Through the Desert On a Horse With No Shame at August 18, 2024

***
I'm just a soul whose intentions are good --
Oh, Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 10:51 AM (omVj0)

214 In wicked the witch is misunderstood

Posted by: Miguel cervantes

DEI witch.

Posted by: BignJames at August 18, 2024 10:51 AM (AwYPR)

215 Yes and it looks pretty tedious

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 10:52 AM (PXvVL)

216 It's a gray, slimy day here at Stately Poppins Manor. It's the kind of day where I would drink myself into a coma unless I had something to occupy my mind.

Perhaps cueing up some jazz on Sirius and going for a long, aimless drive will help.

Hope you all have a lovely day. Will see you Tuesday.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at August 18, 2024 10:52 AM (Q0kLU)

217 Philip K. Dick's stuff was all over the racks when I was in high school -- lots of Ace Doubles, with Martian Time Slip coming from Ballantine instead in a much better-looking package. At the time I was much more heavily into Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, and Bradbury and quite a bit of Dick just went right by me. The first story by him I read was "Second Variety."

He wrote a number of mainstream literary novels that didn't sell, and which were finally published posthumously. If they'd sold, we might never have had the sf work.

And yes, now and then it seems like he was looking into what the future would turn out to be and taking notes.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 10:52 AM (q3u5l)

218 Shusako Endo was a Catholic,
As you probably know The Japanese Catholics
are very faithful for the most part but dying agonizingly for the faith must not be easy for lots of people . It is the European clergy who tend to -or do -waffle.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2024 10:48 AM (d5TUv)
---
The point is that in that period, no one would think of saying "Renounce your faith or I'll kill your congregation" because people simply didn't think that way. Modern people think of death as the worst thing ever, and also have this weird notion that the victim being held hostage bears responsibility for the killer's actions. That's morally absurd.

If you tell me as a layman to renounce my faith or you'll kill my family, YOU are the one doing the killing, and you will likely do it no matter what I do, so there's no point in damning myself in the process.

That's the objection. The Diocletian persecutions were somewhat successful because the demands were so small. "Here, spill this wine, burn this powder, and you're good. That's all you have to do. You don't even have to think it does anything, just go through the motions or we'll torture you to death."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:53 AM (llXky)

219 This one is pretty much Hawk and Spenser doing what each does best.
I liked this one a lot.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 18, 2024

***
That was after Parker had abandoned the true "mystery" format of his first two Spenser books, and sent him and Hawk into knights-errant territory.

We are overdue for a biography of Parker, and an analysis of Parker's work. (Not Freudian, I mean, but an analysis of how and why each book works or doesn't.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 10:54 AM (omVj0)

220 Neither Hinduism nor Buddhism seek to rule.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 18, 2024 09:57 AM (JvZF+)

Eh, tell that to the Myanmar Buddhists, and-

the Hindu Fundamentalists in India.

People is people.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 18, 2024 10:55 AM (eDfFs)

221 Greetings!
I am trying to get thru an audio book, I like the author, I like the subject, I like the narrator.
What I don't like is the book has non stop background music. I heard it on the sample but I thought it would end after 20 seconds or so.
Really distracting...

Posted by: gourmand du jour at August 18, 2024 10:55 AM (MeG8a)

222 I see that there is a movie version of the musical Wicked in which Oz's Wicked Witch of the West is the protagonist.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, I've Been Through the Desert On a Horse With No Shame at August 18, 2024

***
I'm just a soul whose intentions are good --
Oh, Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

Now, where did I leave my flying monkeys?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, I've Been Through the Desert On a Horse With No Shame at August 18, 2024 10:57 AM (L/fGl)

223 (con't) That's were we get the Donatists, because some held firm, paid the price and the ones who wavered were ultimately forgiven. The ones who held firm, resented the ones who threw the incense and this grew into a larger discussion of personal holiness and purity being required for valid sacraments.

Japanese Catholicism is quite interesting. From a spiritual perspective, Hiroshima takes a hit and the church remains standing, none of the clergy killed, none die of radiation sickness but Nagasaki's cathedral gets a direct hit.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 10:58 AM (llXky)

224 Right, OE, I saw that. But as I say, it's free to submit; and they might like my story. Stranger things have happened.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 10:22 AM (omVj0)

Yep. No reason not to submit if anyone thinks it fits their request. Just be prepared.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 10:58 AM (0eaVi)

225 Non-stop background music in an audiobook? Good grief.

Maybe the producers didn't trust the text or the reader to hold the mood? And here I thought laugh tracks were just for sitcoms.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 11:00 AM (q3u5l)

226 I see that there is a movie version of the musical Wicked in which Oz's Wicked Witch of the West is the protagonist.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, I've Been Through the Desert On a Horse With No Shame at August 18, 2024 10:50 AM (L/fGl)
---
Part of the re-paganization of society. Infanticide is reproductive freedom and killing the old, weak and depressed is compassionate.

See also "Hazbin Hotel" where the devil is just a free spirit oppressed by those mean angels and a bullying God.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 11:00 AM (llXky)

227 I dunno Wolfus. Spenser's detective acumen plays a key role in the way the story turns out. This book is only 200 pages long but he gets a lot done character building. I do find the dog annoying though.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 18, 2024 11:02 AM (t/2Uw)

228 That seems agonizing

The supernatural series seems to indulge in such relativizing

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 11:02 AM (PXvVL)

229 195 ... "Any recommendations for an excellent translation of The Iliad and The Odyssey? It's time for a reread."

I have translations by Pope, Fitzgerald, and Fagles. All have their good points, especially Fitzgerald and Fagles. I also have the recent versions by Peter Green but haven't read those yet. The Green translations do get excellent reviews. If your library has various translations, it might be worth trying them to see if one appeals more than the others.

Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 11:02 AM (zudum)

230 Wolfus,

I'd pay to read that Parker bio with such an analysis. That guy was so good at what he did that even when you had a pretty fair idea of what was coming you were having so much fun with it that you didn't mind at all that you'd been down this street before.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 11:04 AM (q3u5l)

231 The supernatural series seems to indulge in such relativizing
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 11:02 AM (PXvVL)
---
They had a series plot arc. They finished it. The show kept going. Even the cast knew they were running on fumes, but the money kept flowing so...

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 11:04 AM (llXky)

232 Yes thats probably it

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at August 18, 2024 11:06 AM (PXvVL)

233 One detail from Saipan I find interesting. Gun youtubers regularly cast shade at the Browning Automatic Rifle and I see all manner of criticism of it in books as well.

But the GIs carrying them thought they were pretty useful, and I've already come across many accounts where the "BAR gunner" solves a situation. Maybe the Marines had a keener appreciation of its capabilities?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 11:06 AM (llXky)

234 "The show kept going. Even the cast knew they were running on fumes, but the money kept flowing so..."

Was it David Janssen who once said that being in a successful long-running series was like dancing with an 800-pound gorilla? You stop when the gorilla wants to stop, not when you want to stop.

Some book series too, I imagine...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 11:08 AM (q3u5l)

235 Orange ent
Tall short stories. Couldn't find with quick Amazon search. Could you give a little more info, maybe editor and publisher
Thanks
Posted by: From about That Time at August 18, 2024 10:26 AM (4780s)

Sure! Found it in Utah in a thrift shop for $1.

Tall Short Stories is a collection of... short stories, written in the "Tall Tales" genre. It was edited by a Eric Duthie. It came out in '59 as an Ace paperback. It's on Internet Archive.

Looks like Duthie was a prolific middle grade author. Goodreads has some of his books. I'll send more info to Perf so he can post about it for a later BT.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 11:08 AM (0eaVi)

236 She Hobbit, I do have Leather and Lark on reserve. When I first set out to read B&B, there was only one copy available. Now all of a sudden there are loads of people trying to get a copy and the library has purchased more. Brynn must be doing something right. I have to say I did find the book to be unique.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 18, 2024 11:09 AM (t/2Uw)

237 I see that there is a movie version of the musical Wicked in which Oz's Wicked Witch of the West is the protagonist.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, I've Been Through the Desert On a Horse With No Shame at August 18, 2024 10:50 AM (L/fGl)

I read the plot online cuz I was curious how that would work.

It's a truly stupid plot. Full of "and...and...and then this happened!" quality writing. It has only the slimmest attachment to the original "WoO".

More drama for the the retarded.

I assume the play's strength are a bunch of "I gotta be me" and "poor little me" feminist style self-affirmation numbers.

Womenfolk seem to be suckers for that stuff. Hollywood thinks so too. The split "Wicked" into two movies.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 18, 2024 11:10 AM (eDfFs)

238 I have begun reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. It's a quasi-supernatural story about the power of books with a secret book society library and a mysterious character trying to burn books. So far, so good although I'm leary that the commie rat bastards may turn out to be the good guys. It is set in Barcelona shortly after the Spanish Civil War as our 10 year old protagonist comes of age.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, I've Been Through the Desert On a Horse With No Shame at August 18, 2024 11:12 AM (L/fGl)

239 *Eh, tell that to the Myanmar Buddhists*

It'll always be Burma to me...

Posted by: J. Peterman at August 18, 2024 11:13 AM (dg+HA)

240 The book feels like a chore because I promised a third and not because I want to share a story.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression)

Just IMO but I would probably be less disappointed by not getting a third book than by getting one that you didn't want to write. I'd say set it aside and find something else to work on. The Muse will come back if and when she wants to.

Posted by: Oddbob at August 18, 2024 11:16 AM (/y8xj)

241 Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 11:02 AM (zudum)

The Lattimore translation of The Iliad and The Odyssey is also superb, although I think Fagles is the best.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 18, 2024 11:17 AM (d9fT1)

242 I got a scene with a tall, skinny alien looking at a naked brunette wearing cowboy boots....
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 10:23 AM (0eaVi)

LOL, that's an entertaining fail.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at August 18, 2024 10:32 AM (OX9vb)

The second one was even worse!!

I changed the prompt to "two saddle tramps looking at a pile of dead alien bodies," and got a scene of a nude human in cowboy boots face down on the ground while a completely nude male top/female bottom trannie and f top/m bottom trannie wearing cowboy boots were staring at the body as a Cthulhu character was standing behind them....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 11:17 AM (0eaVi)

243 It's a truly stupid plot. Full of "and...and...and then this happened!" quality writing.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 18, 2024 11:10 AM (eDfFs)

Sounds like the justification for shaking Manhattans!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 18, 2024 11:18 AM (d9fT1)

244 Just IMO but I would probably be less disappointed by not getting a third book than by getting one that you didn't want to write. I'd say set it aside and find something else to work on. The Muse will come back if and when she wants to.
Posted by: Oddbob at August 18, 2024 11:16 AM (/y8xj)
---
Agreed. No one wants to read a forced book that merely checks a box. They want a book equal or better two the ones that preceded it. That may not happen, but that's okay. Better to have people long for what might have been than recoil from what they got.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 11:19 AM (llXky)

245 I dunno Wolfus. Spenser's detective acumen plays a key role in the way the story turns out. This book is only 200 pages long but he gets a lot done character building. I do find the dog annoying though.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 18, 2024

***
Pearl the dog? Not being a dog person, I'm not totally on board with per presence either, but it's kind of a neat twist on the private-eye genre. Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade were never shown having a dog.

Spenser's detective skills and experience are always important in the stories, but what I meant was that Parker's first two in the series mounted more of an overall mystery -- the second, God Save the Child, especially. The emphasis in later books is more about how Spenser goes about solving a set of problems. Not sure if I'm making the distinction I'm trying to make, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 11:20 AM (omVj0)

246 Look at the LoRas and such. Good ones will lock things down to almost a consistent look. But still a gamble. Parans seem to raise the order of precedence for a sentence.
Posted by: Anna Puma at August 18, 2024 10:33 AM (2zMSF)

Thanks. I'll have to find someway to figure it out. It apparently doesn't understand how to do western themed stuff. I asked for a rear view of a cowboy watching a hanging and it gave me a cowboy facing away, and nothing else.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 11:20 AM (0eaVi)

247 I changed the prompt to "two saddle tramps looking at a pile of dead alien bodies," and got a scene of a nude human in cowboy boots face down on the ground while a completely nude male top/female bottom trannie and f top/m bottom trannie wearing cowboy boots were staring at the body as a Cthulhu character was standing behind them....
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 11:17 AM (0eaVi)

Sounds like AI has a very limited definition of what the word 'tramp' implies....

Posted by: Castle Guy at August 18, 2024 11:21 AM (Lhaco)

248 Herman Wouk's "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance". The Midway chapter was memorable.

Posted by: mrp at August 18, 2024 11:21 AM (rj6Yv)

249 Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk
I'm a woman's woman, no time to talk
The music loud and the women warm
I've been kicked around since I was born
Well, now it's alright, that's okay
And you may look the other way
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man

https://is.gd/8WB2Rg

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, I've Been Through the Desert On a Horse With No Shame at August 18, 2024 11:22 AM (L/fGl)

250 I assume the play's strength are a bunch of "I gotta be me" and "poor little me" feminist style self-affirmation numbers.

Womenfolk seem to be suckers for that stuff. Hollywood thinks so too. The split "Wicked" into two movies.
Posted by: naturalfake at August 18, 2024 11:10 AM (eDfFs)
---
The Broadway production succeeded because it had catchy tunes and a first-rate cast that played up the irony and Cool Kidz references. There was also a lot of Mean Girl High School humor, veiled jabs at Harry Potter, etc.

But the core message was that women can do whatever they want and anyone telling them "no" are wrong, but they will rewrite history to make the devil a villain when hes really the hero.

Lots of that going on these days.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 11:23 AM (llXky)

251 Was it David Janssen who once said that being in a successful long-running series was like dancing with an 800-pound gorilla? You stop when the gorilla wants to stop, not when you want to stop.

Some book series too, I imagine...
Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024

***
Late in their careers, Manfred Lee, half of the Ellery Queen team, suffered a writer's block -- possibly because they had been writing EQ for thirty years at the time. And he had always had visions of himself writing higher literature. Fred Dannay was the puzzle creator, but Lee had been the better wordsmith, so they were stuck. They hired ghostwriters to do several in the Ellery series between 1962 and (I think) '67 -- among others, Ted Sturgeon and Avram Davidson, both better known as SF writers. They did a creditable job. When Dannay and Lee got back together again, the later EQs were almost as odd and stylized as the ghost volumes. It was as if they had to keep on dancing with the guy (Ellery) who'd brung 'em.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 11:27 AM (omVj0)

252
Reading Connie Mack: The Turbulent and Triumphant Years by Norman Macht. This volume (of three) covers 1915, when Mack dispersed his great 1910-1914 Philadelphia A's dynasty, to 1931 and their last World Series appearance.

The years were certainly barren at first. The A's finished in last place from 1915 to 1921. The .235 winning percentage in 1916 is the worst in the modern era. World War I didn't help either.

Realizing his old method of trying out masses of prospects trying to find a jewel would no longer do, Mack began purchasing the best minor leaguers available, like Simmons, Cochrane, Foxx and Grove. By 1925 they were back in the hunt. In 1929, they won the pennant over the mighty Yankees and repeated the feat in 1930 and 1931.

Not well written, but all the same a fascinating study of a great manager and owner in a turbulent time for major-league baseball.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 18, 2024 11:27 AM (1Nxff)

253 Wolfus, maybe that's why I like the later books better. Remember my complaints about spending
Age after page describing streets in Boston, or cooking dinner, or his relationship issues which had nothing to do with the story.
I like that these stories are about human drama, not just who dunnit. The crime gets solved in a more interesting way. He has created characters with Spenser and Hawk that live and breathe. That is the genius.
Does that make sense?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 18, 2024 11:29 AM (t/2Uw)

254 241 ... "The Lattimore translation of The Iliad and The Odyssey is also superb, although I think Fagles is the best."

Hi CBD,
Thanks for the reminder. Forgot about the Lattimore translations, which I have. Don't remember them well enough to compare. I believe his Iliad had a lot of supplementary info.

Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 11:29 AM (zudum)

255 MPPPP, if you're bored or finding the current project a chore, shift gears. Perhaps take a minor but compelling character in your Theda Bara tales and write an adventure/mystery for him or her. You can have him mention Theda and your male lead in passing, and give us a new perspective on them. That way you can still use the background you've developed -- but give us a whole new voice, and have fun doing it!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 11:31 AM (omVj0)

256 According to his isfdb.org listing, Jack Vance did a couple of the ghostwritten Ellery Queens as well. Dannay and Lee knew how to pick their ghostwriters.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 11:31 AM (q3u5l)

257 Not well written, but all the same a fascinating study of a great manager and owner in a turbulent time for major-league baseball.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 18, 2024 11:27 AM (1Nxff)
---
I've got a couple of books about sports (mostly college football) and they're a necessary corrective to the idea that today's athletics are somehow uniquely corrupt and that great-grandpa wasn't paying players under the table, leveraging everything they could to get wins, etc.

The means change, but the motives are still the same.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 11:31 AM (llXky)

258 Wolfus, maybe that's why I like the later books better. Remember my complaints about spending
Age after page describing streets in Boston, or cooking dinner, or his relationship issues which had nothing to do with the story.
I like that these stories are about human drama, not just who dunnit. The crime gets solved in a more interesting way. He has created characters with Spenser and Hawk that live and breathe. That is the genius.
Does that make sense?
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at August 18, 2024

***
Maybe so. I don't recall slogging through any of Parker's books, and no long Boston travelogues unless Spenser had a real point to make *, but that's me. He turned to writing *crime* stories rather than something closer to the pure mystery, and that worked for him.

*In the second or third novel Spenser drives out of town and describes an ugly stretch of developed highway, not in positive terms, and ends, "Maybe Squanto made a mistake."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 11:34 AM (omVj0)

259 According to his isfdb.org listing, Jack Vance did a couple of the ghostwritten Ellery Queens as well. Dannay and Lee knew how to pick their ghostwriters.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024

***
Did he do one or more of the Ellery stories, or one or more of the paperback mysteries not about Ellery and issued under the Queen name?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 11:35 AM (omVj0)

260 Chesley Bonestell break! Here's Beta Lyrae as seen from an airless planet:

https://tinyurl.com/bdzffkma

It's the system in my current shirt story by Niven, so, book-related.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 11:37 AM (kpS4V)

261 Sort of related to Homer epics. I tend to accumulate multiple translations and versions of classic literature. To my delight, our niece and nephew and their spouses, all about mid-30ish, are interested in such things, including Plato and Aristotle. (Also LOTR book fans.) That's where my extra copies go now.

Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 11:38 AM (zudum)

262 According to his isfdb.org listing, Jack Vance did a couple of the ghostwritten Ellery Queens as well. Dannay and Lee knew how to pick their ghostwriters.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024

***
Did he do one or more of the Ellery stories, or one or more of the paperback mysteries not about Ellery and issued under the Queen name?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024

***
I looked. Those were issued as by "Ellery Queen," but they weren't stories about Ellery and his father. They might have been good mysteries; probably were; but they're not considered part of the Ellery "canon."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 11:39 AM (omVj0)

263 Re unabridged Count of Monte Cristo: which translation? Because that can make all the difference.

Posted by: Wenda at August 18, 2024 11:39 AM (A65Zh)

264 We seem to have suffered some serious attrition among Waugh fans. I recall a time when Waugh made the thread official. The over-under on that was all over the place.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 11:40 AM (llXky)

265 Wolfus,

Vance's isfdb.org list shows The Four Johns, A Room to Die In, and The Madman Theory written by Vance and published under the Queen byline. I don't recall that these were Ellery stories, though.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 11:40 AM (q3u5l)

266 Thank you for the Homer recommendations, folks.

Posted by: callsign claymore at August 18, 2024 11:43 AM (tEXYn)

267 Vance's isfdb.org list shows The Four Johns, A Room to Die In, and The Madman Theory written by Vance and published under the Queen byline. I don't recall that these were Ellery stories, though.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024

***
You're right, though, that Dannay & Lee picked good ghosts. Odd that all three, Sturgeon, Davidson, and Vance, were best known as SF or fantasy authors.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 11:43 AM (omVj0)

268
Re unabridged Count of Monte Cristo: which translation? Because that can make all the difference.
Posted by: Wenda at August 18, 2024 11:39 AM (A65Zh)

___________

I have the Robin Buss translation from Penguin. The only other one is an anonymous translation from 1846.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at August 18, 2024 11:43 AM (1Nxff)

269 I have chores to do before I nap*, but this has been a fascinating Book Thread, as they all are!

***
* Rumor says that was Frost's original line in the poem, until an editor made him change it. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 18, 2024 11:47 AM (omVj0)

270 248 Herman Wouk's "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance". The Midway chapter was memorable.
Posted by: mrp at August 18, 2024 11:21 AM (rj6Yv)

Two excellent books.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 18, 2024 11:50 AM (W/lyH)

271 Wolfus,

Davidson had published short work in Queen's magazine, and I think that was before the ghostwritten Queen novel, so he'd have been a logical choice to approach. Vance had written mysteries, but don't know if they were out there before his work for Queen.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 11:51 AM (q3u5l)

272 Well, it's getting to be that time. Thanks again, Perfesser!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 11:51 AM (llXky)

273 Local town library had a used book sale. I bought the "six volume set" of Churchill's 'History of the Second World War', but the cardboard slip case contains only five paperbacks, and is full, no room for another. Wierd.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 18, 2024 11:51 AM (odUHk)

274 Well, off to annoy the cat and the beyond nifty Mrs Some Guy.

Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at August 18, 2024 11:52 AM (q3u5l)

275 Thanks for the Book Thread, Perfessor!

Late to the party, so I will peruse at my leisure. I finished the Jane Austen book and will submit a report, hopefully next week. I liked it!

Love the image submitted by Wingnutt... apparently I need to consult a psychiatrist... That's what I get for hanging out at a wretched hive of scum and villany!

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at August 18, 2024 11:53 AM (CiNoz)

276 263 ... "Re unabridged Count of Monte Cristo: which translation? Because that can make all the difference."

Wenda,

I'm using the Robin Buss (Penguin Classics) translation of Monte Cristo. It has been excellent so far and gets many good reviews. I have the hardcover edition, the paperback version from the used book store, and splurged on the matching Kindle version. (Yes, I'm obsessive. Why do you ask?)

BTW, the translations by Walter James Miller and Frederick Paul Walter of Jules Verne make all the difference. They are excellent.

Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 11:54 AM (zudum)

277 Time to hit the gym and run errands.

Thanks Perf and Horde!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2024 11:54 AM (kpS4V)

278 Local town library had a used book sale. I bought the "six volume set" of Churchill's 'History of the Second World War', but the cardboard slip case contains only five paperbacks, and is full, no room for another. Wierd.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 18, 2024 11:51 AM (odUHk)
---
An abridgement? Repackaged?

My six-volume set of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire had two volume 5s, no volume 6. By the time I finished volume 5, I was desperate to take a break, so haven't remedied it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 11:54 AM (llXky)

279 Gotta run some errands. Thanks for another great book thread Perfessor.

Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 11:55 AM (zudum)

280 That's what I get for hanging out at a wretched hive of scum and villany!
Posted by: Legally Sufficient at August 18, 2024 11:53 AM (CiNoz)
---
I'll have you know that this is a Smart Military Blog.

(I saw the book first, tbh. Must be getting old.)

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 11:56 AM (llXky)

281 Started listening to The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes this week after finishing Words of Radiance by BrandoSando. It's a fantasy heist novel, a little comedic. 4 chapters in, not sure what I think yet. Audio narrator has a pretty strong accent, so I'm sure I'm not processing it quite at 100%.

Also finished KJ Parker's collection Under My Skin, and started and finished A Morbid Taste for Bones, the 1st book in Ellis Peter's Brother Cadfael mystery series. Short, easy read.l, pretty good. May check out others in the series in between other, longer reads. Think I'm about to start on The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay.

Posted by: tintex at August 18, 2024 11:56 AM (irDig)

282 It's that annoying time of day again, the end of the Book Thread. Thanks, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 18, 2024 11:57 AM (0eaVi)

283 For you fans of The Count of Monte Cristo who are interested, check out The Black Count by Tom Reiss. Dumas' superb tale was inspired by the real life exploits of his extraordinary father, General Alex Dumas.

Posted by: callsign claymore at August 18, 2024 11:58 AM (tEXYn)

284 An abridgement? Repackaged?

My six-volume set of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire had two volume 5s, no volume 6. By the time I finished volume 5, I was desperate to take a break, so haven't remedied it.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 18, 2024 11:54 AM (llXky)

I think the publisher is Penguin? The slip case matches the books. I'm wondering maybe two volumes are bound together. Remember the old Ace Doubles?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 18, 2024 11:59 AM (odUHk)

285 Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing posted:
then had a shipment from Edward Hamilton (a great bargain book resource, BTW). . . . .
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Hamilton is my favorite. Spend an hour "browsing" then find out I'm at a whopping $150. For 25 or 30 books. Checkout and generally about a week later, I hear my mailman grunting and groaning the 30# box up my front stairs.

I THINK I bought a copy of that Krogh book as well. One of my favorite youtubers (America's Untold Stories) is deep diving the Nixon years right now.

Posted by: Ronald Kornblow at August 18, 2024 11:59 AM (pXRYM)

286 Brave Sir Robin, can't recall know, probably a video on UToob, but there was an excellent item on the "Shadow Divers" story - the discovery of a U-boat off the east coast that was not on anyone's list (US or German). As I recall they were eventually able to figure out the ID of the sub, working with a German expert. A truly fascinating real-life mystery-solving saga. With that tragic decompression sickness fatality you mentioned.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 18, 2024 12:02 PM (GcNJ2)

287 ...I had a sudden epiphany...

********

Aren't they all?
Posted by: Muldoon at August 18, 2024 09:59 AM (991eG)
***

*stares out the window*
*thinks deep thoughts*

Yes. I believe they are.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 18, 2024 12:04 PM (W/lyH)

288 Brave Sir Robin, can't recall know, probably a video on UToob, but there was an excellent item on the "Shadow Divers" story - the discovery of a U-boat off the east coast that was not on anyone's list (US or German). As I recall they were eventually able to figure out the ID of the sub, working with a German expert. A truly fascinating real-life mystery-solving saga. With that tragic decompression sickness fatality you mentioned.
Posted by: rhomboid at August 18, 2024 12:02 PM (GcNJ2)

Did they determine the cause of the U-boat being sunk?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 18, 2024 12:06 PM (odUHk)

289 JTB and Hadrian, Robin Buss it is. Amazon has it in stock and it will reach me next Saturday. Thank you.

By the way, are you familiar with the Dorothy Parker verse on father and son Dumas?

As I remember it:

"Although I try and do not cease
at reading Dumas Pere and Fils
I find I cannot make me care
for Dumas Fils and Dumas Pere."

I don't agree! I'm looking forward to Monte Cristo.

Posted by: Wenda at August 18, 2024 12:06 PM (A65Zh)

290 Just starting 2nd of a trilogy by John McManus on the US Army in the Pacific in WWII (Island Infernos). The first, Fire and Fortitude, which ends with the Makin Island operation (not the USMC raid), is quite readable, and I think a pretty good overview of a complicated story.

For lots of reasons even somewhat well-informed fans of the Pacific theater often do not realize the importance/size of Army operations there, vs. the more famous Marine accomplishments. This trilogy should correct such misimpressions.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 18, 2024 12:14 PM (GcNJ2)

291 AOP, I don't recall. "Shadow Divers" or the video I mentioned probably has your answer. Only remember it took some pretty granular detective work with the German expert to fix on the most likely U-boat involved.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 18, 2024 12:17 PM (GcNJ2)

292 Well, couldn't join the book thread until after it was formally over (alas) but I'll add this:

Nice to see two felines in the lead picture, providing cat-gravity, and thus helping to keep things from flying away unexpectedly.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at August 18, 2024 12:19 PM (O7YUW)

293 AOP, I don't recall. "Shadow Divers" or the video I mentioned probably has your answer. Only remember it took some pretty granular detective work with the German expert to fix on the most likely U-boat involved.
Posted by: rhomboid at August 18, 2024 12:17 PM (GcNJ2)

Ah. Thank you. One would think if it had been sunk by U.S. Navy or Coast Guard action, the engagement would have been recorded. Unless maybe it struck a mine?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 18, 2024 12:20 PM (odUHk)

294 Scary protagonists: Jesus Christ. I’m reading the Gospel of Mark. The gospel is simple and we make it complicated because we can’t do what it says completely. I’m also guilty of that. That’s why we need Him.

Posted by: Norrin Radd, sojourner of the spaceways at August 18, 2024 12:25 PM (6fjjH)

295 Posted by: Lady in Black at August 18, 2024 10:47 AM (mupln)

I I'lm glad you found it helpful but it was another person who must have recommended it you. Best wishes with it, LIB, and God bless you!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2024 01:01 PM (unY4r)

296 195 Good morning Perfessor, Horde. Any recommendations for an excellent translation of The Iliad and The Odyssey? It's time for a reread.
Posted by: callsign claymore at August 18, 2024 10:42 AM (FgBel)

So late to the thread, but I love Stephen Mitchell's "The Iliad".
I have Robert Fagles "Odyssey", which I also like very much.

Posted by: sal at August 18, 2024 01:01 PM (0w7qT)

297 Recommendation: "Lawrence and the Arabs", by Robert Graves. The author was a leading poet though best known for his "Claudius" novels and his memoir of World War I entitled "Goodbye To All That", and a friend of Lawrence's when they both were at Oxford after the war. It's a good a portrait of Lawrence as I've seen in print: a man who was far more accomplished, far more thoughtful, and far weirder, than the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" suggests. The men around Lawrence were also far more varied, and interesting, than the movie suggests. The book shows how the Middle East is bound by its culture of honor and tribal loyalty. It also shows how thoroughly the people there were screwed by France and England via the Sykes-Picot agreement. Lawrence's own thoughts on the future of Arabia, and the rise of the Wahhabism, are prescient and well worth pondering. The book, which was published during Lawrence's lifetime, ends with a photo of Lawrence astride a motorcycle - prescient, given how he died. It's a superb book, worth reading by anyone who's interested in the Middle East (which should be everyone, really), and is now available for free from gutenberg.org.

Posted by: Nemo at August 18, 2024 01:08 PM (S6ArX)

298 289 ...Wenda,
I think you will enjoy the Robin Buss version. The translation itself is excellent and it is COMPLETELY unabridged so it includes the somewhat salacious parts that the damn Victorians deemed shocking and the movies ignore. But they are a part of the story.

Posted by: JTB at August 18, 2024 01:13 PM (zudum)

299 @257 --

Mad magazine's 1950s "Mad Look at Gambling" mentioned how colleges make attractive offers that colleges make to top football prospects and then wonder why their guys would stoop to taking bribes.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 18, 2024 02:39 PM (p/isN)

300 Dammit, forgot to edit!

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 18, 2024 02:40 PM (p/isN)

301 Rant/:
Every week I come to this site and hear about interesting books and stories in all genres. Some are classics, some are new.

And then I see on the news or on TV that Disney or some other Hollywood studio is remaking/rebooting a previous movie or making a prequel or a sequel.

Obviously, these maroons don’t read and are missing their chance to introduce something new and exciting to their audiences. And then wonder why their audiences are staying home.

/Rant off

Posted by: March Hare at August 18, 2024 03:29 PM (jfX+U)

302 Hi Perfessor! I'm a moron who comments infrequently and I enjoy your weekly post. You and others might enjoy reading my debut novel, a Mystery-Thriller titled, Float the Boat.

Mini-blurb: When consultant Nick Harmon finds his ex-flame murdered, DC police suspect he's the long-hibernating Surf Club Killer. Nick has his own theory about who killed her, and he pursues it with a vengeance. A riveting whodunit filled with twists and turns and set in 2017, Float the Boat takes the reader on a captivating journey to DC, to a remote Indonesian island, and to the past. Themes of friendship, commitment, and revenge make it a compelling read!

Available on most online platforms (not Google).

Posted by: Yumanbean58 at August 19, 2024 03:11 AM (Rx89X)

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