Sunday Morning Book Thread - 10-06-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...

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

PIC NOTE

Fans of the Evil Dead franchise of movies might recognize this image. It's a picture of the Necronomicon, a tome of eldritch lore. Sam Raimi took the reference from H.P. Lovecraft's book of the same name. Supposedly written by the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred, it documents the lore of the Great Old Ones: how to communicate with them, how to summon them, and how to protect oneself against them if one is so foolish as to attempt to communicate with or summon one. Alhazred was torn apart in broad daylight by an unseen assailant.

The Necronomicon is also the source of the famous couplet:

That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange eons even death may die

SCHOOLS AREN'T TEACHING KIDS TO READ

The video above is depressing and infuriating at the same time. It should not be possible for children to be taught how NOT to read, but that's where we are today. The reading "strategies" they are taught in school are actively harmful and counterproductive to their learning. It's no wonder that when they graduate, they may not have read a single book from start to finish, as documented in this article from The Atlantic that WeirdDave highlighted on the ONT a couple of nights ago. Ragin Dave, from Liberty's Torch (Moron Author Fran Poretto's site), also had comments about this malfeasance from our schools.

Over the years, I have heard numerous stories about the types of reading students are required to engage in these days. They are being steered towards reading practical, real-world documents. Things like government reports and "news articles." The rationale behind this decision is that they will need that skill for their professional career. As a result, the amount of reading students are asked to do for pleasure dramatically decreases once they start high school. Students who *like* reading will have a hard time enjoying their classes because they will be reading crap they don't care about, thus discouraging them from continuing their reading habit. It's insidious, evil, and is being done on purpose.

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MICHAEL CRICHTON'S WRITING ADVICE

The YouTuber above has several videos discussing writing advice from prominent authors. I like to include these because it gives some insight into a writer's creative process. You'll start to see patterns after a while. Also, you might decide to try one of their suggestions for yourself and see if it works for you if you are an aspiring author. Note that just because one author found a technique that works for him or her, it's not going to apply to everyone, as we are all different. There is no magical formula on how to become a best-selling author and if that is your singular goal, then you are probably doing it wrong.

MORON AUTHOR UPDATE:

Well, as usual, it looks like the Moron Horde stepped up to the plate and delivered for one of our own. I hope the vote total was ludicrously large, like an inner-city Philly precinct during a Presidential election.

Thanks to all the members of the Horde who voted for my story, "The Waystation Incident," at Frontier Tales. You put me over the top and made me the winner of September's contest. My story will be in print - at some point in the future. Now, to create an author's page to sell and promote it. Any published Moron authors have suggestions for a place to establish an internet presence? Thanks again for voting me the winner. I appreciate it.
OrangeEnt.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

A few weeks ago on the book thread, someone mentioned The Schirmer Inheritance by Eric Ambler. This is a fascinating tale of legal research turned into a manhunt, and quite a good read.
George Carey is a young lawyer with a complicated assignment. Amelia Schneider died a very wealthy Pennsylvania woman a while ago, but her only heir appears to be German, and difficult to find. During the Napoleonic wars, her grandfather deserted after a battle, settled down with a local woman, and along the way, changed his name to hide his identity. Amelia's father then emigrated to the US. The hunt for the heir started in the late thirties but the war intervened. Now George must retrace that trail, using clues coded to deceive the Nazis, and hunt for an heir who may not even be alive.
Through many twists and turns, George tries to find the heir or prove he is dead in order to conclude his assignment. This story is full of surprises, and is a good example of how Ambler would craft a tale where an ordinary person must perform in extraordinary circumstances.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 09:15 AM (I1AMe)

Comment: I looked up this book on Amazon and read the author's blurb about Eric Ambler. Apparently he was a bit of a badass as a writer, earning a number of awards, including being made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth. He influenced a number of authors who came after him, such as John le Carre and Robert Ludlum.

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Read Sacred Duty: A Soldier's Tour at Arlington National Cemetery by Senator Tom Cotton. When the kerfuffle about Trump's visit to Arlington was in the news, Cotton did some media interviews. He might have otherwise been willing to talk to the media, but I didn't realize his connection.
The book was worth a read for the history and background. Cotton served in the Old Guard supporting ceremonies and funerals. He wasn't in the smaller group that handles the Tomb of the Unknown. The book tells the history of the Old Guard, the cemetery, the unit's training, mission and activities (including transfer of remains at Andrews), and history of the Tomb of the Unknown.
In literary terms, the book feels a little plastic in places. There are parts that feel like a Lake Wobegon story. Everyone meets high standards and is honored to do their duty to respect those who served and their families. Everything is crucially important and no cost or burden is too small. But it was worth a read to learn a little more history and how the Old Guard works.
Posted by: TRex at September 29, 2024 11:10 AM (IQ6Gq)

Comment: A long time ago, I watched a documentary on television about the soldiers who serve in Arlington Cemetery, with a focus on those who stand over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. My understanding is that it is one of the highest honors among the enlisted ranks. You have to be an exemplary soldier with a flawless record before you can even apply to be among those ranks. The training they undergo is extremely rigorous and demanding, with no room for failure.

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

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WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

Only one book arrived this week, but it should be an interesting one:

The Last Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

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

The Banned and the Banished Book 4 - Wit'ch Gate by James Clemens

This is your standard post-Tolkien fantasy novel for the most part. Dark Lord threatens to take over the world. Chosen One must defeat him. Blah, blah, blah. We all know how this story ends.

However, it is told competently and has some unusual interpretations of the standard fantasy tropes. Lots of arbitrary punctuation, for one. There aren't any elves or dwarves. Instead, they are "el'vin" and "d'warven" characters. El'vin live in sky fortresses and sail around in skyships, being creatures that are connected to elemental air. D'warven are mostly similar to standard dwarves, but they were corrupted and enslaved by the Dark Lord centuries ago. They dug too deep and released ebon'stone into the world, which brought forth the demon...(sound familiar?)

Although the Tolkienien influence is clearly there, you can also see influences from other authors as well. I detect shades of Stephen Donaldson, in how the Land is portrayed as its own entity that must be protected/worshipped. You can also see some elements of George R.R. Martin (a major settlement is called "Winterfell"), as well as Robert Jordan, of course. It's a mish-mash of various authors (even Larry Niven!) but tends to work OK as long as you don't try to dig too deeply into it.

The setting is a Death World of sorts, as virtually every part of the Land is deadly in some way or another for the unwary traveler. Weirdly, I also get a strong World of Warcraft vibe, even though this book came out a few years BEFORE World of Warcraft was released. However, the earlier Warcraft games had enough lore that maybe influenced this series as well.

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eams

Kings of the Wyld tends to show up frequently on BookTubers' lists as one of their favorite books. I don't quite get it. It's a perfectly serviceable grimdark fantasy with comedic elements, but it's not even close to being top-tier when it comes to the quality of writing. It's basically about a group of old adventuring mercenaries who "get the band back together" so they can cross the dangerous Heartwyld, a dark forest chock-full of evil monsters, so that they can rescue the daughter of one of their members. It's OK, but definitely overhyped, in my opinion.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 09-29-2024 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.

Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. Huggy Squirrel has no school shooter friends (nor does he want any!).

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 books

Posted by: rhennigantx at October 06, 2024 08:59 AM (gbOdA)

2 Tolle Lege
Still plugging along slowly on Martin Gilbert's Churchill, a Life
It is very good reading

Posted by: Skip at October 06, 2024 09:00 AM (fwDg9)

3 Thanks again to everyone who voted. Now, just need to find out when the anthology will be available. Back later.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 09:01 AM (0eaVi)

4 Reminds me of when I brought that human skin-bound grimoire to Show and Tell and we got sucked into the Hellmouth!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 09:01 AM (kpS4V)

5 That Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser omnibus I got from the library turned out to be a graphic novel compendium of Leiber's greatest hits, like "Ill Met in Lankhmar" "Bazaar of the Bizarre", and "Lean Times in Lankhmar". The Mike Mignola pencils are terrific; the Howard Chaykins didn't capture the seedy underworld of the city or environs as I imagined them. But all in all a fun time, and made me want to revisit the print versions (still my favorite form).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 09:03 AM (kpS4V)

6 hate it when that happens,

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:04 AM (PXvVL)

7 i thought it was a pan of brownie that were baked too long.

Posted by: Raoul Ortega at October 06, 2024 09:05 AM (gzUTE)

8 Booken morgen horden!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at October 06, 2024 09:05 AM (6U1c2)

9 the Necronomicon seems to have become the Darkhold, in the Marvel Universe, and they seem to have made a hash of it,

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:06 AM (PXvVL)

10 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Prayers continue for those still dealing with the floods.

Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 09:06 AM (yTvNw)

11 Morning, Book Folken!

Eric Ambler,I think, influenced Ian Fleming as well. There are a couple of references in the Bond books to Ambler novels. Bond, I believe, brings an Ambler novel with him onto the Orient Express in From Russia With Love.

Ambler's focus was on the ordinary person drawn into spy intrigue through his job, or no fault of his own. Fleming of course focused on his professional agent, Bond; and Manning Coles did too, with Tommy Hambledon.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 09:08 AM (omVj0)

12 I think agents of shields did it the least worst,

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:08 AM (PXvVL)

13 Fortunately for me, my parents taught me to read long before I was school age.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 06, 2024 09:10 AM (8HMaj)

14 I can't conceive of being taught how *not* to read.

But then, as the saying goes, "Those who can't, teach, and those who can't teach, teach education."

Posted by: Dr. T at October 06, 2024 09:11 AM (lHPJf)

15 as I recall in Mask of Dimitrous, which was loosely based on the famous agent for Vickers, whose name escapes me now,
they had to backdate some parts of his bio,

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:11 AM (PXvVL)

16 As for my readin gthis week, I finished Oscar Wars by Michael Shulman, a look at various Oscar awards through the decades. The latter part of the book, the 2017 era, has anti-Trump stuff in it which I skimmed only. And he does not have much on the 1920s, though he delves into how and why the Academy was created. The best chapter is the one on the 1950 awards when Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve, and Born Yesterday were all in contention, along with their stars (Gloria Swanson, Bette Davis, and Judy Holliday). Fascinating bio material on the actors and directors throughout.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 09:11 AM (omVj0)

17 Good Sunday morning, horde! I have that very version of Grimm's Fairy Tales.

4 Reminds me of when I brought that human skin-bound grimoire to Show and Tell and we got sucked into the Hellmouth!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 09:01 AM (kpS4V)

Eris, you kill me. I'm so glad you hang out here in the book thread!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! Catz for Trump! at October 06, 2024 09:11 AM (OX9vb)

18 Happy book thread!

I am finally reading "Dune."
Also started "Here One Moment" by Liane Moriarty.

Posted by: Lizzy at October 06, 2024 09:12 AM (scDBq)

19 Howdy, Horde.

Reading this week: The Last Dangerous Visions. While it lacks Ellison commentary (save for one story intro), there's some awfully good fiction there. J Michael Straczynski's forewords and afterword give plenty of info on the reasons why the book never happened as planned.

For any sf or Ellison fan, it's well worth a look.

Eric Ambler -- never got into his work, but did read A Coffin for Dimitrios quite a few years back, and that one was pretty good. Ditto the film version (The Mask of Dimitrios).

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024 09:12 AM (q3u5l)

20 Those "Tomb of the Unknown" sentries are so slick, they get their hair cut twice a week....are there any women sentries?...never seen one.

Posted by: BignJames at October 06, 2024 09:13 AM (Yj6Os)

21 It should not be possible for children to be taught how NOT to read, but that's where we are today. The reading "strategies" they are taught in school are actively harmful and counterproductive to their learning.
-

The plan is working. Elon Musk:

https://tinyurl.com/bdz2ffuf

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at October 06, 2024 09:13 AM (xIFh6)

22 Currently I'm on a Gerald Kersh novel from 1957, Fowler's End. A young but very ugly fellow, next door to down and out, becomes the manager of a very seedy and rundown movie/live entertainment theatre, in a very seedy and rundown part of London. Yet -- it's funny. Not laugh out loud to me, not yet, but you see a solid thread of good humor as the narrator tells us about it all.

Next up will be a reread of Robert Ruark's Something of Value, dealing in novel form with the Mau Mau Emergency in Kenya in the early Fifties. Ruark shows the native Kenyan and British East Africa as they really were, not romanticized in the least. I'd better grab a copy of this and his Uhuru before they get disappeared.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 09:15 AM (omVj0)

23 I am finally reading "Dune."
Also started "Here One Moment" by Liane Moriarty.
Posted by: Lizzy at October 06, 2024 09:12 AM (

I read Dune back when the first (Villeneuve) movie came out.

I found it a pretty easy read; some of the in-store mythology was a little confusing, but everything else was straightforward enough.

Posted by: Dr. T at October 06, 2024 09:16 AM (lHPJf)

24 Reminds me of when I brought that human skin-bound grimoire to Show and Tell and we got sucked into the Hellmouth!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 09:01 AM (kpS4V)

Heh. I bet everyone remembers that day.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at October 06, 2024 09:16 AM (g8Ew8)

25 Books I read in the last week? The continuing saga of Lord Kalvan of otherwhen.

The Siege of Tarr Hostigos
The Fireseed Wars
Gunpowder God
and finally,
Down Styphon.

John F Carr continued the saga and did a ver excellent job doing it. I think H Beam Piper would be proud of him. I would rate the books 5 starts out of 5.

I still have "The Hos Bletha Affair" to read. Kinda out of order with the other books but it takes place at the same time as Down Styphon.

If you are a fan of Piper I would say these books are a must read.

Posted by: I'll choose a new nick later-Certified Dangerous Radical at October 06, 2024 09:18 AM (89Sog)

26 They are being steered towards reading practical, real-world documents. Things like government reports and "news articles." The rationale behind this decision is that they will need that skill for their professional career.

I don't think the stated rationale is the real one. Literacy is being purposely destroyed because it aids independent thinking. Reliance on government reports and news is fostered because they want people to consume regime propaganda. A population of functional illiterates is easier to control. State-run schools reflect the state, which is quasi-authoritarian at this point.

Posted by: Why yes, I am this paranoid at October 06, 2024 09:18 AM (WxgaY)

27 I'm winding up my Wind in the Willows tale "Toad Triumphant", which is a charming paean to friendships and the small pleasures of a quiet life -- even the manic Toad is moved to provide a stable home for a young French frog (!) who is a tad spoiled and rambunctious -- he reminds Toad of himself.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 09:19 AM (kpS4V)

28 Not sure how (too many rabbit holes to keep track of) but I came across a kids' book I never heard of. "A Natural History of Fairies" by Emily Hawkins and illustrated by Jessica Roux. Talk about a pleasant surprise. The idea is a journal by a woman in the 1920s and 30s who discovers that fairies are real and travels the globe to find out everything about them. Part of the fun is it takes the form of a real natural history with a straight face dealing with various locations and how that effected the development of the fairies in that region. It even goes into how the bones are similar to birds which allows fairies to fly. It's clever and even gives information about different parts of the world. The illustrations are enjoyable, especially the flora and fauna of each area. And the book is beautifully made: a deep green hardcover with gold filigree, well bound and using good weight paper. I think of this as heirloom quality.

Toddlers would probably enjoy the illustrations even though too young to get the 'story'. Slightly older kids, especially little girls, would like the whole book. I'll be checking into other books by the same author and artist.

Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 09:20 AM (yTvNw)

29 I don't think the stated rationale is the real one. Literacy is being purposely destroyed because it aids independent thinking. Reliance on government reports and news is fostered because they want people to consume regime propaganda. A population of functional illiterates is easier to control. State-run schools reflect the state, which is quasi-authoritarian at this point.
Posted by: Why yes, I am this paranoid at October 06, 2024 09:18 AM (WxgaY)

Yup. It's the whole program in a nutshell.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at October 06, 2024 09:20 AM (g8Ew8)

30 Reminds me of when I brought that human skin-bound grimoire to Show and Tell and we got sucked into the Hellmouth!
Posted by: All Hail Eris

They ruin everything. The revised edition is bound in faux leather.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 06, 2024 09:21 AM (8HMaj)

31 Fleming was a "poor relation" of the Fleming's Bank family, which, in the generation before his birth, maintained its own network of private confidential agents to look into the details behind investment opportunities. I toy with the idea of young Ian hearing tales of the great operatives, so to speak, at his grandfather's knee.

The Navassa Affair, a guano-mining slavery scandal, bears striking resemblance to the opening story of Doctor No. Navassa is an easy day's sail from Goldeneye.

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at October 06, 2024 09:23 AM (zdLoL)

32 A Naugahyde grimoire sends you to Satan's wood-paneled den. At least there's a minibar and pool table.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 09:24 AM (kpS4V)

33 Well I 'sold' some free copies of 'Just Put Chuck Vindaloo' after the Perfesser's post last week, so I have to assume it was from the SMBT horde. Thanks very much of you did pick it up, and happy to take any notes you might have.

Posted by: Candidus at October 06, 2024 09:25 AM (pdo1l)

34 Maybe there's a minibar and pool table, but I'd be kinda worried about what the demons are about to do with the pool cues.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024 09:26 AM (q3u5l)

35 Stepping way, way back to take the most Olympian view possible here.

Humans evolved to learn things from other people telling us. Lectures, demonstrations, explanations. Full-sensory -- sometimes including a clout on the back of the head if you weren't paying attention.

Writing is a specific and, let's be honest, _highly_ artificial way of "storing" speech. Just as musical notation "stores" music.

So we shouldn't be surprised that people are drawn to ways of storing and replaying information which more closely mimic what we evolved to do in the pre-literacy era. Film and TV took over storytelling in the 20th century, so it's not really surprising that YouTube is taking over teaching in the 21st.

I'm not saying it's a good thing that people aren't reading . . . but it may be inevitable.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 06, 2024 09:26 AM (78a2H)

36 leyden played by peter lorre, isn't exactly an every man, but as a travel writer, he is way out of his depth, dealing with some of the figures, like those played by sydney greenstreet, who is unreliable narrator

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:26 AM (PXvVL)

37 Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at October 06, 2024 09:13 AM (xIFh6)

Elon never ceases to amaze

Posted by: kallisto at October 06, 2024 09:27 AM (kHyhZ)

38 A Naugahyde grimoire sends you to Satan's wood-paneled den. At least there's a minibar and pool table.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 09:24 AM (kpS4V)

Hmmm. My high school yearbooks were bound in naugahyde. That explains a lot.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at October 06, 2024 09:27 AM (g8Ew8)

39 I read Imminent: Inside The Pentagon's Hunt For UFO's by Luis Elizondo. When I was in high school in the early 60's, I read everything I could find about Project Blue Book, the Air Force's study (cover-up?) of UFO's. They have since been renamed UAP's (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena), and the subject is still fascinating to me. Elizondo first gives a history of UAP encounters from around the world. He joins the current DOD program studying UAP's has access to current encounters. He came to the conclusion that the phenomena were alien and that they might pose a threat to our military pilots. He spent years trying to get this information to the Secy. of Defense and full disclosure to the American people, but bureaucratic in-fighting kept him from doing so. He resigned in disgust and hosted a TV show to bring this information public. He was successful in getting the UAP Disclosure Act signed into law. An interesting book.

Posted by: Zoltan at October 06, 2024 09:28 AM (uYywX)

40 wait how do you mine guano which comes from bats right,

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:29 AM (PXvVL)

41 Fleming was a "poor relation" of the Fleming's Bank family, which, in the generation before his birth, maintained its own network of private confidential agents to look into the details behind investment opportunities. I toy with the idea of young Ian hearing tales of the great operatives, so to speak, at his grandfather's knee.

The Navassa Affair, a guano-mining slavery scandal, bears striking resemblance to the opening story of Doctor No. Navassa is an easy day's sail from Goldeneye.
Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at October 06, 2024

***
Probably Fleming did hear of such things. And then there was real-life super-agent Sidney Reilly. Wiki says, "The world press made Reilly into a household name within five years of his execution by Soviet agents in 1925, lauding him as a peerless spy and recounting his many espionage adventures." Fleming would have been a young man at that time.

When someone taxed Fleming with the comment that Bond's adventures were too outlandish, or that Bond was too hard to believe in, Fleming said, "Come now; he's no Sidney Reilly."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 09:29 AM (omVj0)

42 I read mostly AoS and similar news and commentary websites this past week, leavened with Retief short stories by Keith Laumer. I didnt realize that he started those so soon after he left the Foreign Service, but the copyright dates indicate that.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 06, 2024 09:30 AM (p/isN)

43 On a small river bank in South Africa in January 1879, a group of British army engineers were building a bridge, unaware that part of Lord Chelmsford's expeditionary force had been slaughtered almost to a man by a Zulu force of thousands not far away. 150 men at Rorke's drift would soon be facing 4000 of these warriors with a similar aim in mind. This is the story of that encounter told by Lt Col Mike Snook in Like Wolves on the Fold.

It was to be a lopsided battle, like the Alamo, but with a very different outcome. From early afternoon, through the night, and into the next morning, wave after wave of Zulus attacked the compound that the engineers defended, yet after all the fighting ended, the British held the redoubt. Eleven Victoria crosses were awarded for this battle, the most from one engagement in history. The defenses, and how the perimeter was compressed but maintained were brilliantly executed.

Snook is a career soldier and military adviser besides being a historian, so he brings a wealth of insight into this amazing battle, one which raised British morale considerably, so soon after a humiliating defeat.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 06, 2024 09:30 AM (8HMaj)

44 wait how do you mine guano which comes from bats right,
Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024

***
I think the word is also applied to birds' poop. I'd guess once guano dries and hardens, it takes some labor to harvest it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 09:31 AM (omVj0)

45
A Naugahyde grimoire sends you to Satan's wood-paneled den. At least there's a minibar and pool table.
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Ah, yes. We published those.

Remember this book of Satan?

https://youtu.be/x0B_I2qj5Ik?si=KRLxUYgde0OMYlA8&t=30

Posted by: Time-Life at October 06, 2024 09:31 AM (aBbkg)

46 I asked my grandson, a senior in high school, what he's reading for school this year. They all seemed like good choices, but the one that surprised me the most was one of the older sci fi books that some of youse guys talk about.

Do I remember right now which one? I do not, but I was pleased, all the same. This is a big city school.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! Catz for Trump! at October 06, 2024 09:32 AM (OX9vb)

47 tthe fact we don't know what these UAPs are, is scarier than what we have ruled out,

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:32 AM (PXvVL)

48 20 Those "Tomb of the Unknown" sentries are so slick, they get their hair cut twice a week....are there any women sentries?...never seen one.
Posted by: BignJames at October 06, 2024 09:13 AM (Yj6Os)

I think you have to be a certain height in order to be a sentry - between 5'11" and 6'1". The same for the Marine Corps Drill team.

Posted by: Moki at October 06, 2024 09:33 AM (wLjpr)

49 wait how do you mine guano which comes from bats right,
Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:29 AM (PXvVL)

Yes. And in the caves where they've lived for a couple of hundreds of years, there's huge deposits of guano.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at October 06, 2024 09:33 AM (g8Ew8)

50 One of the many, many benefits of the book thread is learning about more books related to ones I already love. In this case, someone mentioned "The Willows in Winter" by William Horwood. It's a sequel, or at least a continuation, of the "Wind in the Willows" story. I was skeptical about such a thing but the reviews were all positive so I ordered a copy. (The damn local library didn't have it, of course.)

This book is a delight. Horwood truly captures the feel of the original. If I didn't know better I would think Kenneth Grahame had written it. I went back to WITW to compare the styles and Horwood nails it. And even better, the illustrator, Patrick Benson, draws in a similar way to the original Ernest Shepard illustrations. What a nice benefit. Glad I got a hardcover version.

There are a few others by this team in the series and I plan to get all of them eventually. Thanks to whoever mentioned this.

Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 09:34 AM (yTvNw)

51 oh reilly, the real man of mystery, agent for blohm and voss against zaharoff's vickers, cornered the supply of foodstuffs when his warnings to the Russian General Staff about the impending Japanese incursion,

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:36 AM (PXvVL)

52 Nonsensical Claptrap - a limerick

That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange eons even death may die

What a load of pompous tripe!
But I've been trying not to snipe
So I'm not going to say "F**k THAT guy!

Posted by: muldoon at October 06, 2024 09:36 AM (uCfKO)

53 We had the Time-Life old west series! Dig that hand-tooled pleather cover!

Heck, we had most of the Time-Life series(es). They were good stuff.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 09:36 AM (kpS4V)

54 of course the conceit of Bond, is everyone knows who he is, and yet they all deal with him,

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:37 AM (PXvVL)

55 JTB, glad you love it as much as I do!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 09:37 AM (kpS4V)

56 28 ; JTB, I vaguely recall reading an old account of "fairy furor" that may have derived from this book. "Photographs" of some girls with fairies (that looked strikingly like paper dolls) flittering in the forest sent folks into the woods to have their own fairy encounter.

It seems like an amusing hoax that at least got people outdoors!!!

Posted by: Moki at October 06, 2024 09:39 AM (wLjpr)

57 wait how do you mine guano which comes from bats right,
Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024

***
I think the word is also applied to birds' poop. I'd guess once guano dries and hardens, it takes some labor to harvest it.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere
===

Birdshit Island -- Nauru

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at October 06, 2024 09:39 AM (/lPRQ)

58 I asked my grandson, a senior in high school, what he's reading for school this year. They all seemed like good choices, but the one that surprised me the most was one of the older sci fi books that some of youse guys talk about.

Do I remember right now which one? I do not, but I was pleased, all the same. This is a big city school.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! Catz for Trump! at October 06, 2024

***
Good to hear! I'll hazard a guess that it's The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin. As Larry Niven said, "It's a good novel by their standards [meaning literary types] as well as our own [meaning true SF fans]."

It *is* good, featuring a race of humans on the planet Winter who *naturally* change sex when they go into "kemmer," meaning estrus. We get inserts from their oral tradition and written literature showing how this bedrock fact has influenced their culture. The sidebars are short but effective; and there is a strong adventure component in the novel as well.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 09:40 AM (omVj0)

59 I think you have to be a certain height in order to be a sentry - between 5'11" and 6'1". The same for the Marine Corps Drill team.

Posted by: Moki at October 06, 2024 09:33 AM (wLjpr)

That's height-ist.

Posted by: BignJames at October 06, 2024 09:40 AM (Yj6Os)

60 I think guano is mined from caves where the bats congregate. It's a big industry for some island in the Pacific whose name escapes me.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 09:40 AM (kpS4V)

61 JTB, I vaguely recall reading an old account of "fairy furor" that may have derived from this book. "Photographs" of some girls with fairies (that looked strikingly like paper dolls) flittering in the forest sent folks into the woods to have their own fairy encounter.

It seems like an amusing hoax that at least got people outdoors!!!
Posted by: Moki at October 06, 2024

***
Wasn't there also a flap about this kind of thing in the time of Conan Doyle, leading him to believe in spiritualism?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 09:41 AM (omVj0)

62 That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange eons even death may die

Seriously. Can anyone translate that into plain English for me?

Posted by: muldoon at October 06, 2024 09:41 AM (uCfKO)

63 of course the conceit of Bond, is everyone knows who he is, and yet they all deal with him,
Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:37 AM (PXvVL)

When one sits down and thinks about it, seems like all the villains knew who Bond was. He's wasn't much of a "secret agent".

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at October 06, 2024 09:42 AM (g8Ew8)

64 I've slowly been reading through some horror short story collections written by foreigners published by Valancourt. So far, I've read The Black Maybe by Attila Veres, Swedish Cults by Anders Fager, and The Secret Life of Insects by Bernardo Esquinca. Some good stuff in these if you like weird/Lovecraftian fiction.

Posted by: taking a break from serious stuff at October 06, 2024 09:42 AM (WxgaY)

65 Finally finished Alan Moorehead's "The Desert War." Very interesting nearly as-it-happened history of the war in North Africa.

Now about 2/3 of the way through "Torchship", another book thread recommendation. A bit different than what I was expecting (at least so far - I gather it's a trilogy, at least), but very good.

You people are hell on shrinking my TBR pile.

Posted by: Disillusionist at October 06, 2024 09:43 AM (HWSAa)

66 20 Those "Tomb of the Unknown" sentries are so slick, they get their hair cut twice a week....are there any women sentries?...never seen one.

Posted by: BignJames at October 06, 2024 09:13 AM
***
Yes there are. Not many, but something like 7 to date.

Posted by: TRex at October 06, 2024 09:43 AM (IQ6Gq)

67 Weak Geek

This week I reread my favorite Retief short story by Keith Laumer, Diplomat-at-Arms.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 06, 2024 09:43 AM (u82oZ)

68 Where are my manners? Good morning horde. Thanks Perfessor!

Posted by: TRex at October 06, 2024 09:44 AM (IQ6Gq)

69 of course the conceit of Bond, is everyone knows who he is, and yet they all deal with him,
Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024

***
In the films, yes. In the novels they don't seem to, at least not during the best of the bunch, the first six. Bond often adopts cover identities (though not disguises) and usually represents himself as an agent of "Universal Export," the Secret Service's own cover.

Later, naturally, Blofeld knows him by name, and UE's cover is blown and they adopt a new cover.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 09:44 AM (omVj0)

70 Based on another mention on the thread, I got a copy of "84 Charing Cross Road" by Helene Hanff. (The local library had a copy, for once, but there was a waiting list for it.) What a charming, pleasant read. Hanff, in a small book, spans several decades of dealing with a book seller in London. She lives in NYC. Although the people never meet in person, they develop relationships that go far beyond acquiring books and the reader gets caught up in their lives revealed in their letters. It's the kind of book that when you finish, you go 'my, that was nice.' Hanff was mostly wrote for TV and stage. I should see if she did other books.

Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 09:45 AM (yTvNw)

71 I've slowly been reading through some horror short story collections written by foreigners published by Valancourt. So far, I've read The Black Maybe by Attila Veres, Swedish Cults by Anders Fager, and The Secret Life of Insects by Bernardo Esquinca. Some good stuff in these if you like weird/Lovecraftian fiction.

Posted by: taking a break from serious stuff at October 06, 2024 09:42 AM (WxgaY)

sooo many possibilities.

Posted by: BignJames at October 06, 2024 09:45 AM (Yj6Os)

72 Zoltan - This last week was looking up videos on my old base RAF Bentwaters and then of course the most famous UFO incident I missed by a month at the Rendelsham Forrest.

Posted by: Skip at October 06, 2024 09:45 AM (fwDg9)

73 Missus Muldoon and I had dinner with friends the other night. The husband is a recently retired accountant and announced he planned to spend his time now writing his first book. I asked what it was going to be about and he said "God".

I thought that seemed ambitious for a first book, but am interested to see what he produces.

Posted by: muldoon at October 06, 2024 09:46 AM (uCfKO)

74 On the subject of unreliable narrators, last week someone mentioned enjoying those type of stories. I recommend An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears. It is a medieval murder tale told by four separate narrators, one of whom is insane and the others are trying to clear themselves, so the reader has to piece together the truth by comparing the versions. It is a clever book that I reviewed here a while back.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 06, 2024 09:46 AM (8HMaj)

75 When one sits down and thinks about it, seems like all the villains knew who Bond was. He's wasn't much of a "secret agent".
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at October 06, 2024

***
They don't know him by name. They suspect that some enemy agent is after them, and they learn somehow it's a British agent -- and he's the only Englishman around. Drax knows who he is, since M detailed Bond to keep an eye out for sabotage on Drax's "Moonraker" rocket. And SMERSH knows him, of course. But the American gangsters in Diamonds Are Forever only realize later that this Limey inserted into their smuggling pipeline is real trouble.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 09:48 AM (omVj0)

76 I bought a Kobo e-reader because there is no more room on my shelves, boxes of books are used as insulation on an outside wall, and I hate Amazon.

It is quite limited in book selection. Yes, I can check out books from the library, but that selection is massively skewed to woke cat stories with little non-fiction.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 06, 2024 09:49 AM (u82oZ)

77 Note also that Bond _isn't_ a spy. He's a _counterspy_. In most of Fleming's stories he's acting as an investigator/hit man, not gathering secret information. So keeping his identity secret isn't actually all that important.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 06, 2024 09:50 AM (78a2H)

78 Wasn't there also a flap about this kind of thing in the time of Conan Doyle, leading him to believe in spiritualism?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 09:41 AM (omVj0)

I think so. It's been so many years since I read that blurb/story/article, that I don't remember particulars, but I recall there was some surge of spiritualism during that period that had nothing to do with God Almighty.

Posted by: Moki at October 06, 2024 09:50 AM (wLjpr)

79 It seems like an amusing hoax that at least got people outdoors!!!
Posted by: Moki at October 06, 2024

***
Wasn't there also a flap about this kind of thing in the time of Conan Doyle, leading him to believe in spiritualism?

I think he already believed in spiritism but he publicly promoted that book as proof of the spirit world. I don't know if he publicly recanted after the author revealed the hoax.

Posted by: Oddbob at October 06, 2024 09:50 AM (/y8xj)

80 @67 --

I thought "Diplomat at Arms" is a collection of shorts.

I came across Retief way back in college. The residence hall library had a copy of "Retief at Large." I was hooked with the first story, "Cultural Exchange," and I laughed out loud while reading "The Brass God." Laumer could build worlds.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 06, 2024 09:51 AM (p/isN)

81 Yes and Drax as a former SS deep cover operative, certainly knows who Bond is,

Le Chiffre, Dr No, Drax, the Soviet officer in Russia, name escapes me,

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:52 AM (PXvVL)

82 And along with TRex, good morning all and thanks Perfesser. This is a wonderful Book Thread!!

Off to church, so y'all have a blessed day of reading!!

Posted by: Moki at October 06, 2024 09:52 AM (wLjpr)

83 Yes, I can check out books from the library, but that selection is massively skewed to woke cat stories with little non-fiction.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 06, 2024

***
Or woke murder "mysteries," all set in small towns with women narrators who have some kind of business there, who live with at least one cat (which appears on the cover), and featuring the kind of mystery that anybody who's watched a few episodes of Perry Mason can figure out. If the towns were eccentric and the people and dialog actually funny, I wouldn't mind the limp mystery component; but they're all very flat and written to a formula.

You want charm with solid mystery? Two words: Josephine Tey.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 09:53 AM (omVj0)

84 speaking of spiritualism, david liss who has written about financial scandals, like the South Sea bubbles, had a recent one where he seems to have gone deep into the witchcraft meme, seems to be a believer,

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 09:54 AM (PXvVL)

85 The incident is mentioned in the book Houdini: America's First Superhero (title from memory, may not be exact) which I recommend.

Posted by: Oddbob at October 06, 2024 09:54 AM (/y8xj)

86 The incident y'all are thinking of is the "Cottingley Fairies." Two little girls took photos of themselves with fairies, and to just about any eye the fairies are obviously paper cutouts. But Doyle wanted to believe, so he did.

It's interesting to compare/contrast Doyle with Houdini. Both of them _did_ want to believe, but Houdini had _far_ too much personal experience in the world of carnies and con men to be taken in by a line of patter and some phosphorescent paint. He advocated rigorous testing and was merciless on fraudulent mediums . . . but I think he was always hoping to find one who was real.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 06, 2024 09:54 AM (78a2H)

87 There is no magical formula on how to become a best-selling author

Actually, Perfessor, there is a magic formula. It's called, be famous before you write something. According to the Big Five, that is.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 09:55 AM (0eaVi)

88 Good to hear! I'll hazard a guess that it's The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 09:40 AM (omVj0)

No...I web searched a list of great sci fi books and found it. Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." Is that a good one?

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! Catz for Trump! at October 06, 2024 09:55 AM (OX9vb)

89 55 ... "glad you love it as much as I do!"

Hi AHE,

Couldn't recall who suggested The willows in Winter but THANK YOU. The one problem was I was so enamored with the illustrations I had to struggle to stay wit the writing. Will definitely check out his other Willows related books. Probably the Dincton Wood series as well.

Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 09:55 AM (yTvNw)

90 @77 --

I will maintain until my dying day that there is a differene between a spy and a secret agent. "Spy," however, fits into more headlines.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 06, 2024 09:55 AM (p/isN)

91 I'll make it quick, because I'm busy reading. Last Chanukah, I got Miss V a collection of beautifully illustrated Charles Santore children's classics. She's finally old enough to appreciate them, and is especially loving the Alice in Wonderland book. I'm slowly reading it to her, a few pages a day, while she gawks at the drawings.

She wakes me up in the morning with the book - "daddy, daddy, daddy, Alice! Read the book!!!" Adorable.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at October 06, 2024 09:56 AM (awTae)

92 re #56 and 61, the thing with the pictures of fairies was, IIRC, in the 1920s. A couple of young girls claimed that they had met fairies and they had pictures to prove it. The pictures looked to skeptics like pictures of the girls holding papers cut out from illustrations of fairy tales but many people believed their story. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle bought the story hook, line and sinker. He had been a believer in and advocate for Spiritualism for a couple of decades at that point. He even wrote a Professor Challenger novel "In the Land of Mist" that was essentially pro-Spiritualist propaganda.

I have always found it very strange that the man who created Sherlock Holmes, an archetype of the Man of Reason, was himself seduced by the irrational and transparent hoaxes.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at October 06, 2024 09:58 AM (aYnHS)

93 To my shame, I didn't get much reading done this past week. Too much time playing a bigass computer game.

In an interesting counterpoint to my own argument about abstraction vs. immediacy above, I spent something like 30 hours looking at a map and numbers.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 06, 2024 09:58 AM (78a2H)

94 I web searched a list of great sci fi books and found it. Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." Is that a good one?

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs!

That is the base story for the movie Blade Runner. The book is far superior to the movie.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 06, 2024 09:58 AM (8HMaj)

95 Actually, Perfessor, there is a magic formula. It's called, be famous before you write something. According to the Big Five, that is.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 09:55 AM (0eaVi)
---
Money laundering doesn't count.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 06, 2024 09:59 AM (BpYfr)

96 62 ... "That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange eons even death may die

Seriously. Can anyone translate that into plain English for me?"

Hi Muldoon,

It probably comes down to "Just cause you can't see me doesn't mean I'm dead. And I ain't going away." (Followed by sound effect of echoing evil laughter.)

Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 09:59 AM (yTvNw)

97 We had the Time-Life old west series! Dig that hand-tooled pleather cover!

Heck, we had most of the Time-Life series(es). They were good stuff.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 09:36 AM (kpS4V)

I finally found "The Whalers" from the Time-Life collection "The Seafarers".

Great stuff. And as almost always, T-L stuff is a good diving board to pursue topics that interest you.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 06, 2024 09:59 AM (eDfFs)

98 Valancourt has done some NICE horror anthologies and foreign horror. They've also reprinted a bunch of Gerald Kersh, Charles Beaumont, and others. Some time this fall they're doing a couple by Robert Bloch -- his early collection The Opener of the Way, and his novel The Night of the Ripper (yes, about guess who). Valancourt's web site is one I check every few days for announcements; it's a terrific house.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024 09:59 AM (q3u5l)

99 I have downloaded over 100 books from Project Gutenberg. I refuse to pay the high prices of books offered because of the Biden economy and being married. These are all older books with the most recent from the early 1960s due to lack of copyright renewal.

There was a Keith Laumer novel in there, A Trace of Memory. Interesting but not great.
And that is the theme. The best stories from the 1950s on are still covered by copyrights.

I did read entertaining James H. Schmitz short stories, and there was an interesting novel, A Tale of Two Clocks featuring an appealing female space opera heroine, Trigger Argee.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 06, 2024 10:00 AM (u82oZ)

100 Good morning!

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

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 06, 2024 10:00 AM (u82oZ)

101 Posted by: JTB

*********

Heh. Thanks!

😐

Posted by: muldoon at October 06, 2024 10:00 AM (uCfKO)

102 Y's Dice @91, that is wonderful about Miss V and the book!

Posted by: skywch at October 06, 2024 10:00 AM (uqhmb)

103 Wait, I may be getting my Houdini books confused. It might have been in Final Seance which was OK but not quite what I was hoping when I picked it up.

Posted by: Oddbob at October 06, 2024 10:01 AM (/y8xj)

104 Doyle's son Kingsley died during WWI. It appears that turned Doyle's mild curiosity and interest in Spiritualism into a near-obsession.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 06, 2024 10:02 AM (78a2H)

105 It is quite limited in book selection. Yes, I can check out books from the library, but that selection is massively skewed to woke cat stories with little non-fiction.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 06, 2024 09:49 AM (u82oZ)

I use both Libby and Hoopla. Libby has a bigger selection, but Hoopla surprises me sometimes with selections I can't get on Libby.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! Catz for Trump! at October 06, 2024 10:02 AM (OX9vb)

106 No...I web searched a list of great sci fi books and found it. Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." Is that a good one?

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! Catz for Trump! at October 06, 2024

***
I don't know, as I've never read it. It's supposed to be the basis for Blade Runner the film, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 10:04 AM (omVj0)

107 That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange eons even death may die

Seriously. Can anyone translate that into plain English for me?
Posted by: muldoon at October 06, 2024 09:41 AM (uCfKO)

Sure.

There are beings which may never die
Instead they lie down, stare at the sky
Then Death bored of the wait
Expires with them still on his plate
The beings awake to have coffee and pie.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 06, 2024 10:05 AM (eDfFs)

108 On the Kobo, read Thomas More's Utopia. I long ago turned in my book from college.

I was struck how the description of social organization in 1500 England, France and the Benelux countries resembles today.

This socio-political satire by Thomas More is spot on with today's mechanisms of decay in society.

It is sad to think we have made so little progress in 608 years. I blame our ur-DNA.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 06, 2024 10:05 AM (u82oZ)

109 61 ... "Wasn't there also a flap about this kind of thing in the time of Conan Doyle, leading him to believe in spiritualism?"

Yeah. There were several photos circa 1917 which 'showed' fairies. Taken by two sisters. The photos caught Doyle's attention and he even wrote a small book, "The Coming of the Fairies", about them.

Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 10:07 AM (yTvNw)

110 Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." Is that a good one?

This statement applies to most fiction but in spades to PKD:

"It's the kind of thing you'll like if you like that kind of thing."

Posted by: Oddbob at October 06, 2024 10:07 AM (/y8xj)

111 Teaching kids to read is really quite simple. (Barring specific issues like dyslexia to which I am sympathetic because my dad, one of my sisters, and one of her sons have varying degrees of affliction.) So many teachers make it out like it's hard and parents shouldn't try. What's hard for them is dealing with 20 kids progressing at 20 different paces. Teaching your own child to read is not difficult and not expensive. I think I spent 40 bucks getting a good phonics primer (Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading) and a set of BOB books. Then we were off to the races.

Posted by: She Hobbit at October 06, 2024 10:08 AM (ftFVW)

112 Regarding Time-Life Books --

Does anybody else here remember the TV ad in the 1980s for the set "The '60s"? It consisted of photos of different people "then" followed by video clips of them "now," with them in their 40s. One guy "then" had mushroom hair; in the "now" he was bald as an egg.

I want to watch it again, but YT doesn't seem to have it.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 06, 2024 10:09 AM (p/isN)

113 Stopped in yesterday at The Book Guy in Joplin MO, and he was wearing a t-shirt with the cover for the Signet paperback of Do Androids Dream etc.

If I'd had half a functioning brain yesterday, I'd maybe have had sense enough to ask him where he got it. Next time...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024 10:09 AM (q3u5l)

114 Note also that Bond _isn't_ a spy. He's a _counterspy_. In most of Fleming's stories he's acting as an investigator/hit man, not gathering secret information. So keeping his identity secret isn't actually all that important.
Posted by: Trimegistus at October 06, 2024

***
True. M sends Bond to take *action* against Britain's enemies, not merely to discover info about them and transmit it back. He investigates -- we see that in the novel of Live and Let Die, and hints of it in the film of Doctor No -- and discovers what the ungodly are really up to, but then his job is to disrupt or destroy them.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 10:09 AM (omVj0)

115 more like regression

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 10:10 AM (PXvVL)

116
No...I web searched a list of great sci fi books and found it. Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." Is that a good one?

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! Catz for Trump! at October 06, 2024 09:55 AM (OX9vb)

It's good but if you want to see what PKD was all about...

His best IMHO is "UBIK". Though he has lots of good one.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 06, 2024 10:10 AM (eDfFs)

117 No. 6, guano is mined in Chile and Peru, on the desert shores and islets there. The seabirds nest and perch and poop on the rocks there, and because there is a lot of sealife and almost never any rain, it has built up huge deposits. They were mined for the nitrates that were used for fertilizer and for explosives, and were a principal source for them until the Haber-Bosch process for fixing atmospheric Nitrogen was introduced.
It is a nasty, dry, unpleasant job, often using contract labor that has often been difficult to tell from slavery or peonage. It is like quarrying or strip mining, but for nasty ammoniacal bird poop in the dryest places in the world.
There were naval battles between the Brits and the Germans in WWI over access to the guano and the war of the Pacific between Chile, Peru and Bolivia was in part over access to the mines.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 06, 2024 10:11 AM (D7oie)

118 @113 --

The Book Guy is a great shop. I cleaned him out of a slew of "Man From U.N.C.L.E" novels a few years ago.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 06, 2024 10:12 AM (p/isN)

119 Toddlers would probably enjoy the illustrations even though too young to get the 'story'. Slightly older kids, especially little girls, would like the whole book. I'll be checking into other books by the same author and artist.
Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 09:20 AM (yTvNw)

I'm of two minds about books like this. Sure, they're probably aimed at kids just for fun, but it seems it could also be a channel to re-introduce paganism. In the ancient world, fairies and such were feared, not thought of as cute little things making flowers. They had power and people didn't want to offend them, hence sacred groves and the like. I'm not sure they're really safe to read. The world seems to be re-paganizing already, we don't need to involve our children in it.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 10:13 AM (0eaVi)

120 Teaching your own child to read is not difficult and not expensive. I think I spent 40 bucks getting a good phonics primer (Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading) and a set of BOB books. Then we were off to the races.
Posted by: She Hobbit at October 06, 2024

***
As the recipient of such effective teaching, I can attest to that. My mother taught me to read before I ever set foot in school. She told me: "We started with simple books and comics. I read the 'hard' words, and you read the 'easy' ones. Eventually you could read the hard ones too."

She taught me to sound things out instead of trying to decipher the whole word in a flash, as they expected us to do in first grade. I use that to this day when I hit an unfamiliar English word, or one in a foreign language like German.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 10:13 AM (omVj0)

121 My brain project recently has been to better understand how AI works and how people might use AI. Yes, there are countless public policy and societal implications of AI, but I'm trying to get a better handle on the foundations to better understand how it works and the opportunities and limitations.

Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick provides AI background and foundation then dives into the ways that humans can effectively work together with AI. That's the key - learning to effectively use AI means thinking about how to work together with it. It isn't a search engine - if you know how to use it, AI can be much more like a virtual assistant.

The book goes through a number of use cases and associated limitations and implications, but one illustrative use case is a tutor. AI can adapt to each person's pace and understanding, and continually adjust. AI can create tailored dialogue and adjust through responsive Q&A, like a personal tutor.

The next question is whether students should use an AI tutor at home to learn the material and use classroom time to develop, discuss and apply. This flips the current model of classroom lecture and homework to further develop the concepts.

Posted by: TRex at October 06, 2024 10:13 AM (IQ6Gq)

122 The Book Guy is a great shop. I cleaned him out of a slew of "Man From U.N.C.L.E" novels a few years ago.
Posted by: Weak Geek at October 06, 2024

***
How many of the 23 do you have?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 10:14 AM (omVj0)

123 There were naval battles between the Brits and the Germans in WWI over access to the guano and the war of the Pacific between Chile, Peru and Bolivia was in part over access to the mines.
Posted by: Kindltot at October 06, 2024 10:11 AM (D7oie)
---
They never seem to mention the battles for bird poop in most history books...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 06, 2024 10:14 AM (BpYfr)

124 Good morning Horde and thanks Perfessor. Kitchen cleaned up from breakfast. Scampywife full on hollering and woohooing the Vikings game

Posted by: scampydog at October 06, 2024 10:14 AM (41CYW)

125 "We were fighting for king, country, and freedom. Oh, and also for bat crap."

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 06, 2024 10:15 AM (8HMaj)

126 One more note on "The Cottingley Fairies" (thanks Trimegistus @86): Conan Doyle wrote a book promoting them. It was titled "The Coming of the Fairies" (a title that in our dirty minded age would lead to some lewd interpretations).

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at October 06, 2024 10:15 AM (aYnHS)

127 Well I 'sold' some free copies of 'Just Put Chuck Vindaloo' after the Perfesser's post last week, so I have to assume it was from the SMBT horde. Thanks very much of you did pick it up, and happy to take any notes you might have.
Posted by: Candidus at October 06, 2024 09:25 AM (pdo1l)

Good news. Gotta start somewhere.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 10:15 AM (0eaVi)

128
"Give me Bird Crap or Give me Death!"

Posted by: Patrick Henry's First Declaration of Principle Just Didn't Catch On at All at October 06, 2024 10:17 AM (eDfFs)

129 I did read entertaining James H. Schmitz short stories, and there was an interesting novel, A Tale of Two Clocks featuring an appealing female space opera heroine, Trigger Argee.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 06, 2024

***
Schmitz was one of John Campbell's stable of SF writers in the Astounding days. His novelette (later a novel) Witches of Karres was considered a big fave, enough to pop up in one of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame collections. (I've read it, but don't recall much about it. The "witchcraft," I think, was psi powers, telekinesis and so forth, which Campbell loved for his writers to explore -- not Satanism.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 10:18 AM (omVj0)

130 @122 --

All of those by David McDaniel plus a few others. Maybe a dozen?

I know I had the first eight -- most of them yet to be read -- but I disposed of the second one, "The Doomsday Affair," last year when I decided I never would read it again. Even I have limited shelf space.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 06, 2024 10:20 AM (p/isN)

131 The mention of Houdini reminded me of a book that has him as a contemporary of one of the characters,

"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon.

It is a extremely entertaining read.

Two kids team up to find their fortune in the early days of classic comic books.

Posted by: pawn at October 06, 2024 10:20 AM (QB+5g)

132 I always fancied Tommy Hambledon over James Bond. Bond went through a scenario like a dose of salts, where Hambledon fumbled around, tore his hair out, drank coffee, made exasperated observations, sent back breezy telegrams and only sometimes had to stab someone with a knitting needle and dispose of the body by burning down a mansion.

To be fair, I liked the Continental Op as well, for the same reason.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 06, 2024 10:21 AM (D7oie)

133 Zipped through 'A Betrayal in Blood' from Mark Latham, via a recommendation from this here thread. Thank you, Horde! Now I have to read a whole bunch more NEW Sherlock case files...

Began 'With Santa Anna in Texas' by Jose Enrique de la Pena, which is a sort of "What I did in the Texas War" memoir. It was not at all favorable to Santa Anna, and much of it was destroyed through suppression, and de la Pena died in prison for having the temerity to write something critical about the Dictator. I will follow with 'Sea of Mud' a recent work which details the previously unknown ordeal of the Mexican Army after the Battle of San Jacinto. The Army outnumbered the Texians by a few thousand, and they wanted to attack, but arguments among the remaining officers, and the route they took through boggy river bottoms doomed any thoughts of battle, losing their cannon and wagons in the mud of the Texas Springtime.

Cheers!

Posted by: Brewingfrog at October 06, 2024 10:22 AM (NJL5X)

134 I think that was one of the plot points in Conrad's Nostromo if memory serves,

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 10:22 AM (PXvVL)

135 @131 --

Comics fans were all over that book when it came out.

I have yet to read it. Someday ...

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 06, 2024 10:23 AM (p/isN)

136 re: Ambler's "ordinary person must perform in extraordinary circumstances". Helen MacInnes did much the same, though IIRC w/women protagonists.

I recently read MacGregor's Final Battle, which was a different take on a man w/a terminal illness making a cross-country trip to visit his cousin in Alaska. With the complication that said illness caused episodes of unconciousness. Recommended.

Posted by: yara at October 06, 2024 10:24 AM (s8LAW)

137 119 ... "I'm of two minds about books like this. Sure, they're probably aimed at kids just for fun, but it seems it could also be a channel to re-introduce paganism."

I don't think that applies in this case. The fairies aren't portrayed as special or magical, just a part of the natural world. They are hard to spot only because they are small and their appearance matches their environment.

Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 10:25 AM (yTvNw)

138 Do I remember right now which one? I do not, but I was pleased, all the same. This is a big city school.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs!

That could be anything from Orwell to Bradbury to Heinlein.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 06, 2024 10:25 AM (IG4Id)

139 Disillusionist

Alan Moorehead's The Desert War is a mashup of the three books he wrote on the campaign in North Africa, Mediterranean Front,
A Year of Battle, The End in Africa. The 11th Hussars start and end the story. He was a top notch newspaper correspondent.

His later writings are smooth, easy to read, with telling details that bring history to life.

For example, in Eclipse, his history of WWII from 1943-1945, he has Montgomery tell men of the 234 Brigade from Malta that they will follow him everywhere. There are groans from the ranks, expecting more combat. Montgomery says, "Ah, but you don't know where I am going. I am going on leave."
For the record, that brigade was not allowed on leave, and was thrown into the Italian Campaign.
This is from memory, as I reads it after a pompous speech from a flag officer.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 06, 2024 10:27 AM (u82oZ)

140 I thought that seemed ambitious for a first book

All that lime-rickin', and a master of understatement as well.

Houdini (Erik Weisz!) made quite a name for himself as an exposer of spiritualist frauds. Early in the game, he and Conan Doyle may have co-operated in some of these, but then C-D was drawn more into the mythos. Houdini's pledge to reach back from the great beyond was an attempt to debunk the (great deal of) BS going around in the 20's, but you see how that turned out.

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at October 06, 2024 10:27 AM (zdLoL)

141 Does anybody else here remember the TV ad in the 1980s for the set "The '60s"?
Posted by: Weak Geek

"Hey, man, do you remember '60's rock?"

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 06, 2024 10:28 AM (IG4Id)

142 I visited San Jacinto a couple of weeks ago while in the area on business. There is some interesting history still untold. The Mexicans considered the treaty Santa Anna signed was invalid since it was signed under duress, and fighting continued until Texas became a state and the war with Mexico settled matters.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 06, 2024 10:29 AM (8HMaj)

143 Bat guano is the highest nitrogen organic fertilizer you can get. Great stuff for growing gardens in the PNW.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at October 06, 2024 10:30 AM (gfViB)

144 I can dimly recall the TV ads for that '60s set. Dimly. Images from Woodstock well represented if memory serves, and it made me glad that I wasn't within many miles of the place.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024 10:30 AM (q3u5l)

145 With almost two and a half decades of homeschooling under my belt, the achievement of which I am most proud is that I taught all my children to read. Phonics for the win, baby!

Posted by: bluebell at October 06, 2024 10:31 AM (bS+DD)

146 Recently I bought a collection of old pulp stories by C.L. Moore called '"Jirel of Joiry." I've read the first two stories in the collection, and I think I hate it. Not enough to rage-quit the book (though I have paused my reading for a bit) but I expect that I'll be reading the rest of the book adversarially, ready to identify and document everything about it that I don't like...

(Described in another post)

Posted by: Castle Guy at October 06, 2024 10:31 AM (Lhaco)

147 That is the base story for the movie Blade Runner. The book is far superior to the movie.
Posted by: Thomas Paine

Do you wear crocs for fun or pleasure?

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 06, 2024 10:31 AM (IG4Id)

148 Money laundering doesn't count.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 06, 2024 09:59 AM (BpYfr)

I'd apply that to politicians for sure, but movie or tv stars get bestsellers because of who they are, not necessarily because their work is good.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 10:31 AM (0eaVi)

149 Dash, the only way to figure out if you like PK Dick is to read him. There were other authors writing at the same time that I liked better, like Christopher Anvil, Murray Yaco, Murray Leinster, and Randall Garrett.
PK Dick did write well, but his world view I found hard to deal with, it was very negative and obsessed with hidden knowledge and false fronts. IIRC correctly he was bipolar and edged into psychosis, while self medicating.

However, the problem with school assignments is they grade on actually reading the assigned books, not books you like better. I know because I tried . . .

Posted by: Kindltot at October 06, 2024 10:32 AM (D7oie)

150 Got the nearly 11 yo littlest hobbit started on the Monster Hunter series recently. Was trying to recall if there was anything *very* objectionable in the first book. Violence and gore are not problems since we watch a lot of sci-fi and horror in this hobbit hole. Language is probably not a problem either since his mother has a bit of a mouth on her. I'm thinking we're good.

Posted by: She Hobbit at October 06, 2024 10:32 AM (ftFVW)

151 Have a great week in books and life, everyone.

I now have more books on the TBR pile.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 06, 2024 10:32 AM (u82oZ)

152
What are YOU reading this fine morning?

_________

Read?

(as dictated to my buxom, callipygic personal assistant with the English accent)

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at October 06, 2024 10:33 AM (BkEzK)

153 who is unreliable narrator

-
Hitchcock created a sensation in his 1950 film Stage Fright. It is an innocent accused film in which a flashback shows how he came to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. SPOILER ALERT. It is then revealed that he wasn't all that innocent and the flashback lied! Having characters lie seems OK but a lying flashback is a step too far!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at October 06, 2024 10:33 AM (L/fGl)

154 Compared to how and what I was taught back in ancient times, today's normal educational practices would be considered child abuse. And should be. I don't even want to consider what kind of upheaval would have to happen to change back to methods that work.

Think I'll go reread Kipling's "Gods of the Copybook Headings".

Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 10:33 AM (yTvNw)

155 I don't know, as I've never read it. It's supposed to be the basis for Blade Runner the film, though.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 10:04 AM (omVj0)

(blink... blink)

Wait, there's a classic sf you've not read??? Are you sure this is Wolfus?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 10:34 AM (0eaVi)

156 which ridley scott made into a futuristic noir because androids was unfilmable,

Posted by: no 6 at October 06, 2024 10:34 AM (PXvVL)

157 (why I don't like Jirel of Joiry)
The story starts with some medeval warlord capturing a castle. The last champion of the castle's defenders is dragged before the conqueror, the champion's helmet is removed and it turns out that (gasp) it's a girl! Yeah, that trope overplayed nowadays, but I'm sure it was fresh back in the 30's. the conqueror gives Jirel a mocking kiss and then throws her in the dungeon. She escapes and vows vengeance. But instead of just trying to stab him, she sneaks down a secret passage to the netherworld (apparently her castle has one of those) and makes a pact with the dark powers to send the conqueror's soul to hell. Now, I'm willing to believe that the conqueror is bad, and deserves to be punished, but Moore never established that he was THIS bad. As a matter of fact, in every other story I've read, the character who consorts with supernatural evil to enact petty vengeance is considered the villain!

(The comment box keeps cutting me off, so we'll continue one more time)

Posted by: Castle Guy at October 06, 2024 10:35 AM (Lhaco)

158 She wakes me up in the morning with the book - "daddy, daddy, daddy, Alice! Read the book!!!" Adorable.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at October 06, 2024 09:56 AM (awTae)
---------

This does my heart good. One of the greatest gifts you can give a child is reading to them. And it's wonderful for the parent too.

Posted by: bluebell at October 06, 2024 10:36 AM (bS+DD)

159 "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon.
Posted by: pawn at October 06, 2024 10:20 AM (QB+5g)

I started typing that in the search field on amazon. It was the first suggestion, but the second one was "the amazing adventures of an amish stripper."

This amish romance trend is out of control.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! Catz for Trump! at October 06, 2024 10:36 AM (OX9vb)

160 Kindltot is right about the bat crap, not something you'll see in print every day. The terrible bitter joke is how the great powers insisted on the polite fiction that it was all for "fertilizer," a pretense that has survived the changes in chemical processes. It was all about the artillery.

But, at the birth of 'modern chemistry,' the stuff really was a revolution, and it's hard to overstate its impact. Just as you'd suppose, there's a book about it, Gregory Cushman's Guano and the Opening of the Pacific World: A Global Ecological History.

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at October 06, 2024 10:38 AM (zdLoL)

161 145 ... "With almost two and a half decades of homeschooling under my belt, the achievement of which I am most proud is that I taught all my children to read. Phonics for the win, baby!"

bluebell,
Having met your kids I can say you did a wonderful job. I would love to see home schooling scuttle the abusive and damaging public education system.

Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 10:38 AM (yTvNw)

162 Never got around to the Jirel of Joiry stories by Moore because they didn't sound like my cup of tea, but there's a terrific volume from Centipede Press (which was a Science Fiction Book Club selection, so it's a lot easier to find than some of their others) called Two-Handed Engine; this one's a collection of stories by Moore and her husband Henry Kuttner -- excellent stuff and worth it just for the story "Vintage Season."

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024 10:38 AM (q3u5l)

163 re James H. Schmitz, I agree that "The Witches of Karres" is very good. Another novel of his that I would recommend is "The Demon Breed". The story involves an alien race that attacked the human worlds of the Hub a few centuries before. They were decisively defeated. To explain their defeat they developed a theory about a secret race of super humans who actually control humanity. Now they are back; infiltrating a human settled water world. They have been told that the heroine is one of these super humans. She is actually an ordinary young woman (no psionic powers or the like) but tough and smart who uses her knowledge of the local marine environment to defeat them.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at October 06, 2024 10:38 AM (aYnHS)

164 Despite several reading delays, I finally finished -

"This Perfect Day" by Ira Levin.

Very good dystopian novel. He does some interesting things that would make it maybe hard to film.

1) The Dystopian Life is a pretty good safety life. You can understand why it appeals to so many and why they would never choose to leave it. Not that they're given the choice.

2) The elimination of all morality and the establishment of a "wellness" regime. If you're not "well", why then you're lovingly brought to a clinic for more drugs.

3) This is perfect Communism more or less, but yet it presents a very clear understanding or what those at the top get out of it all. Which is not what Our Betters want to advertise nor their Hollywood Lapdogs.

4) The story takes place over a number of years, decades really and while that's not a problem in reading, the presentation of that doesn't always work in movies.

Any way, a very good read by a very good writer. Check it out.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 06, 2024 10:40 AM (eDfFs)

165 (last post on Jirel of Joiry)
To further character-assassinate the main character, the moment after Jirel sends the conqueror's soul to hell she realizes that she kind of loved him. She wasn't obsessing over his kiss because he was evil, but because he was just a charming scoundrel, and she just didn't know how to deal with her feelings for him. But, instead of insulting him and letting their bickering slowly turn to romance, she jumped straight to consorting with dark powers and short-circuiting the potential romance.

Jirel tries to undo her actions in the second story of the collection, but doesn't really rescue the conqueror, at best just releasing his soul from torment.

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to more adventures of this 'hero...'

Posted by: Castle Guy at October 06, 2024 10:40 AM (Lhaco)

166 She wakes me up in the morning with the book - "daddy, daddy, daddy, Alice! Read the book!!!" Adorable.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice
---------------
That is fantastic. Thanks for sharing, so dang cute. I miss those day. Enjoy!

Posted by: scampydog at October 06, 2024 10:40 AM (41CYW)

167 I started typing that in the search field on amazon. It was the first suggestion, but the second one was "the amazing adventures of an amish stripper."

This amish romance trend is out of control.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs

That is certainly something unexpected.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at October 06, 2024 10:40 AM (8HMaj)

168 Got the nearly 11 yo littlest hobbit started on the Monster Hunter series recently. Was trying to recall if there was anything *very* objectionable in the first book. Violence and gore are not problems since we watch a lot of sci-fi and horror in this hobbit hole. Language is probably not a problem either since his mother has a bit of a mouth on her. I'm thinking we're good.
Posted by: She Hobbit at October 06, 2024 10:32 AM (ftFVW)

No, very little sex, and the good guys profit and if they are not moral they suffer. Correia is a fantastic writer and apparently a really nice and moral sort of guy, and he is having fun when he writes.
The Hard Magic series is a good one too.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 06, 2024 10:40 AM (D7oie)

169 Aaaahhhh!! TV Tropes!! The black hole on Earth!!

Wave bye-bye to everybody.

Posted by: Weak Geek has a few TT tabs open at October 06, 2024 10:40 AM (p/isN)

170 91 ... "She wakes me up in the morning with the book - "daddy, daddy, daddy, Alice! Read the book!!!" Adorable."

YD,
Thanks for sharing that. Out of curiosity, do you use different voices for the various characters?

Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 10:44 AM (yTvNw)

171 In before the Middle Earth porn.

Dammit!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at October 06, 2024 10:45 AM (E8ytb)

172
Larry Niven wrote for Sid & Marty Krofft's "Land of the Lost."

David Gerrold, too, who also wrote the Tribbles episode of Star Wars.

Posted by: Time-Life at October 06, 2024 10:45 AM (aBbkg)

173
lulz

Posted by: Soothsayer at October 06, 2024 10:45 AM (aBbkg)

174 No, very little sex, and the good guys profit and if they are not moral they suffer. Correia is a fantastic writer and apparently a really nice and moral sort of guy, and he is having fun when he writes.
The Hard Magic series is a good one too.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 06, 2024 10:40 AM (D7oie)
---
The next volume in his Son of the Black Sword series is supposed to be released in a few weeks. It was going to be the *final* volume in the series, but it's been split into two parts, the latter of which will come out next year sometime. *sigh*

[He must be spending too much time reading Tad Williams and now has adopted one of Tad's bad habits.]

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 06, 2024 10:45 AM (BpYfr)

175 (blink... blink)

Wait, there's a classic sf you've not read??? Are you sure this is Wolfus?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024

***
Yeah, well, I have funny gaps in my genre *and literary) reading knowledge, as I do with classic films. My attempts at reading Philip K. Dick, aside from some of his short stories, has not gone well.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 10:47 AM (omVj0)

176 76 I bought a Kobo e-reader because there is no more room on my shelves, boxes of books are used as insulation on an outside wall, and I hate Amazon.

It is quite limited in book selection. Yes, I can check out books from the library, but that selection is massively skewed to woke cat stories with little non-fiction.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 06, 2024 09:49 AM (u82oZ)

Keep an eye on the "Humble Bundle" website, as they periodically have big sales for ebooks. They'll generally skew nerdy or gamer-related, but if that's your thing... I have a lot of Warhammer 40K and Drizzt novels on my e-reader from them.

Posted by: Castle Guy at October 06, 2024 10:48 AM (Lhaco)

177 Blackstone Publishing has reissued all of Ira Levin's novels over the last year or two, and next year they're starting in on the plays with Deathtrap coming in January and another volume containing three plays in February. Gave Deathtrap a re-read last month and it's a lot of fun (with some differences from the movie).

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024 10:49 AM (q3u5l)

178 Trollope's autobiography had some good advice for new writers.

Have a proper office setting you use just for writing. Make writing your job. Don't complain about muses or inspiration or writers block. Clock strikes nine, sit down and start writing. Better to write 1,000 pages and throw out everything but a sentence or two than to write zero sentences.

I think Hemingway said more or less the same thing too.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at October 06, 2024 10:49 AM (DDGz9)

179 Going to finish up my naf 'mystery' book The Lady and the Law and start Frankenstein for the first read. Lots of infamous stuff I haven't read.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 06, 2024 10:51 AM (IG4Id)

180 JTB, I vaguely recall reading an old account of "fairy furor" that may have derived from this book. "Photographs" of some girls with fairies (that looked strikingly like paper dolls) flittering in the forest sent folks into the woods to have their own fairy encounter.

Coming in very late, but -

The Cottingley Fairies is what you're thinking of. Two young English girls who cut pictures out of (I believe) Princess Mary's Fairy Book, used hat pins to hold them up and took pictures of themselves with them.

It was only supposed to be a family joke ("The adults lied to us about Santa Claus, so we lied to them about fairies," of one the girls later admitted), but got out of hand and even swept up Conan Doyle into the hoax (despite creating Holmes, Doyle turned incredibly gullible in the post-war years).

The girls eventually confessed some time in the 1970s, but at least one of them, until her death, insisted that fairies had appeared to them and that at least one of the photos was real.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at October 06, 2024 10:51 AM (Q0kLU)

181 Larry Niven wrote for Sid & Marty Krofft's "Land of the Lost."
Posted by: Time-Life

Those Sleetaks are burned into my brain. Nightmare fuel, as the kids say.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 06, 2024 10:52 AM (IG4Id)

182 I definitely "second" the advice about having a Writing Place -- especially when your kids are younger. When Mommy or Daddy is in the office, they are _working_. (The flip side is that you actually have to _work_ in the office. No playing games -- when they can see you, anyway.)

Personally, I go out of the house, to a cafe or the library. That way, I'm not available to do just one little chore, or answer the phone, or any other useful but distracting domestic task. And being in a semi-public place keeps me honest. See games, above.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 06, 2024 10:53 AM (78a2H)

183 "This Perfect Day" by Ira Levin.

Very good dystopian novel. He does some interesting things that would make it maybe hard to film.

1) The Dystopian Life is a pretty good safety life. You can understand why it appeals to so many and why they would never choose to leave it. Not that they're given the choice.. . .

Any way, a very good read by a very good writer. Check it out.
Posted by: naturalfake at October 06, 2024

***
Like a number of popular writers, Levin flirted with SF. This one and The Boys From Brazil are the two by him I can think of. If either had been *marketed* as SF, they might not have sold as well. I don't think Crichton's Jurassic Park, Terminal Man, or Andromeda Strain were marketed specifically that way either.

Almost anything by Levin is worth reading. Not sure about Sliver, very late in his career. But he was really good.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 10:53 AM (omVj0)

184 The girls eventually confessed some time in the 1970s, but at least one of them, until her death, insisted that fairies had appeared to them and that at least one of the photos was real.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at October 06, 2024 10:51 AM (Q0kLU)

Heh.

Make fake fairies. Start a fad. Real fairy pops up and says "hey i don't look nuttin' like that! Get outta here, youse lousy kids!"

Posted by: Warai-otoko at October 06, 2024 10:54 AM (DDGz9)

185 Fairies sound like the new yorker laborer guy from Futurama in my head. Big deal. Get over it.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at October 06, 2024 10:56 AM (DDGz9)

186 Posted this late night to the ONT.

Opened on the computer yesterday a partial story, some 40,000 words, that I wrote years ago. And I still enjoyed large chunks of it.

Should I take a stab at trying to finish it?

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024 10:58 AM (cBEJ0)

187 Note that one intrepid researcher found the original artwork in a magazine that the girls in Cottingley cut out to create their fairy photos.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 06, 2024 10:58 AM (78a2H)

188 Blackstone Publishing has reissued all of Ira Levin's novels over the last year or two, and next year they're starting in on the plays with Deathtrap coming in January and another volume containing three plays in February. Gave Deathtrap a re-read last month and it's a lot of fun (with some differences from the movie).
Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024

***
Stephen King admired Levin and said something about him being the Swiss watch of thriller writers -- that what Levin did with story and plotting made [King and his fellow writers] look like beginners. He cites Levin's first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, which has its screeching bombshell surprise tucked about halfway into the book instead of at the end. The story does not let up at that point; it builds to one hell of a climax that the movie with Robert Wagner didn't or couldn't afford to show.

The fact that Levin had been a playwright, and a script doctor for other plays, testifies to his skill. A hit non-musical or thriller play has to be solid and tight in its plotting; every scene has to work.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 10:59 AM (omVj0)

189
Should I take a stab at trying to finish it?
Posted by: Anna Puma

Always

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 06, 2024 10:59 AM (IG4Id)

190 Yeah, well, I have funny gaps in my genre *and literary) reading knowledge, as I do with classic films. My attempts at reading Philip K. Dick, aside from some of his short stories, has not gone well.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 10:47 AM (omVj0)

Well, same here. I read about these classic books here, but I'm not interested in reading them. I've read plenty of older stuff, but it's peculiar my reading list. Unfortunately, there's not enough time left to read everything I should have.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:00 AM (0eaVi)

191 Opened on the computer yesterday a partial story, some 40,000 words, that I wrote years ago. And I still enjoyed large chunks of it.

Should I take a stab at trying to finish it?
Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024

***
Why not? You've no doubt learned much about the craft since then, and you'll know what to chop out and what to build upon.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:00 AM (omVj0)

192 Sliver wasn't bad -- infinitely superior to the movie they made from it. Of Levin's novels, I think Son of Rosemary is the one that really gets the bad press because of what at first glance seems like a horrible cheat of an ending. Revisited all his novels over the last several months -- not a dull one in the batch.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024 11:00 AM (q3u5l)

193 Opened on the computer yesterday a partial story, some 40,000 words, that I wrote years ago. And I still enjoyed large chunks of it.

Should I take a stab at trying to finish it?
Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024 10:58 AM (cBEJ0)

Why not? If it looks good and you like it, go ahead. I'll sometimes come across stuff I'd written years ago and marveled at how good it was (IMO, that is). I usually can't graft it into the current project, but I know it's there if I want to develop or plunder it for something else.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at October 06, 2024 11:00 AM (Q0kLU)

194 She wakes me up in the morning with the book - "daddy, daddy, daddy, Alice! Read the book!!!" Adorable.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice
---------------
That is fantastic. Thanks for sharing, so dang cute. I miss those day. Enjoy!

Cherish these days. One day, much sooner than you think, you'll wonder where they went.

Posted by: Oddbob at October 06, 2024 11:01 AM (/y8xj)

195 164 Never got around to the Jirel of Joiry stories by Moore because they didn't sound like my cup of tea, but there's a terrific volume from Centipede Press (which was a Science Fiction Book Club selection, so it's a lot easier to find than some of their others) called Two-Handed Engine; this one's a collection of stories by Moore and her husband Henry Kuttner -- excellent stuff and worth it just for the story "Vintage Season."
Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024 10:38 AM (q3u5l)

I bought a the e-book 'Pulp Fiction Masters' collection from Amazon. The genre is right up my alley, but the main character is (so far) not very likable.

Posted by: Castle Guy at October 06, 2024 11:01 AM (Lhaco)

196 Note that one intrepid researcher found the original artwork in a magazine that the girls in Cottingley cut out to create their fairy photos.
Posted by: Trimegistus

So they were global warming fairies?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at October 06, 2024 11:02 AM (L/fGl)

197 Should I take a stab at trying to finish it?
Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024 10:58 AM (cBEJ0)

Well, yeah.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:03 AM (0eaVi)

198 Larry Niven wrote for Sid & Marty Krofft's "Land of the Lost."
Posted by: Time-Life

Those Sleetaks are burned into my brain. Nightmare fuel, as the kids say.
Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 06, 2024

***
Great whacking hunks of Niven's work would make fine movies or TV miniseries -- as long as they can keep the woke out, and don't try to extend a four-part story into an entire season or three. Which probably is about as likely as finding a pacifist Kzin. But Ringworld and multiple stories in the Neutron Star collection would make terrific films.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:03 AM (omVj0)

199 Michael Chabon is great. One of the few modern writers I read. Kavalier and Clay is excellent as is The Yiddish Policemen's Union. He also wrote a fantasy novel for older kids called Summerland that I recall my youngest liking.

Posted by: who knew at October 06, 2024 11:04 AM (+ViXu)

200 The girls eventually confessed some time in the 1970s, but at least one of them, until her death, insisted that fairies had appeared to them and that at least one of the photos was real.

Oh, then I was wrong. I thought it had been revealed during ACD's lifetime. Thanks.

Posted by: Oddbob at October 06, 2024 11:04 AM (/y8xj)

201 Pacifist Kzinti?

The telepath from "Slaver Weapon" trying to read Spock's mind seems pretty close.

Now a vegan Kzinti would be very rare.

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024 11:06 AM (cBEJ0)

202 And I've been convinced to add some Ira Levin to my TBR.

Posted by: who knew at October 06, 2024 11:06 AM (+ViXu)

203 If memory serves, King's comments on Levin in Danse Macabre mention that bombshell in A Kiss Before Dying; he notes that if you're one of those people who skip ahead in a book and happen to see that bombshell, it won't make any sense to you unless you've read the book up to that point. And that's true; if you haven't followed the story, and you just flip to that page, you won't recognize that moment as the twist it is. It's every bit the equal of William Goldman bringing the parallel Babe and Scylla threads together in Marathon Man.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024 11:07 AM (q3u5l)

204 Wolfus, remind me what you did about that story accepted for an anthology that never came out. Did you get the rights back? I still have no idea when Frontier Tales will publish my story, they seems to be a couple of years behind on their collections.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:07 AM (0eaVi)

205 Just finished "Toad Triumphant". Utterly charming!

Okay, time to don pants and tackle chores.

Thanks for another great Book Thread, Perfessor!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 11:08 AM (kpS4V)

206 As I recall reading, Moore's Jirel of Joiry stories were groundbreaking in their day -- in a magazine subgenre that almost always insisted on male sword fighters, Jirel was something new. Amazing that she managed to transcend the formula without breaking it.

Kuttner and Moore's "Vintage Season" is an absolute classic, with a brooding, almost Gothic flavor to it. I can imagine a young fan reading it fresh in Unknown Worlds (I think it appeared there), closing the magazine, and saying admiringly, "Damn!"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:08 AM (omVj0)

207 Thanks for the writing encouragement but the problem arises where do I go with this? My characters have been tossed completely into the deepend and each time they think they know what they are doing, they find something else to worry about.

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024 11:08 AM (cBEJ0)

208 Michael Chabon is great.

Posted by: who knew at October 06, 2024 11:04 AM (+ViXu)

He is a fine writer and an execrable human being. He is a pro-palestinian scumbag.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 06, 2024 11:09 AM (d9fT1)

209 I still laugh at the scene in the book where the protagonist imagined eating a carrot to gross out his carnivore telepathic interrogator.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024 11:10 AM (kpS4V)

210 Thanks for the writing encouragement but the problem arises where do I go with this? My characters have been tossed completely into the deepend and each time they think they know what they are doing, they find something else to worry about.
Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024 11:08 AM (cBEJ0)

Edit the work and see what you find works the best, then completely rewrite using the good parts and create a different story. I'm doing that now on a short story I deleted and decided to redo.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:10 AM (0eaVi)

211 My characters have been tossed completely into the deepend and each time they think they know what they are doing, they find something else to worry about.
Posted by: Anna Puma
---------------
Seems a pretty healthy swath of people would find those characters relatable.

Posted by: scampydog at October 06, 2024 11:11 AM (41CYW)

212 Wolfus, remind me what you did about that story accepted for an anthology that never came out. Did you get the rights back? I still have no idea when Frontier Tales will publish my story, they seems to be a couple of years behind on their collections.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024

***
My gosh, that was ten years ago or more! I submitted it to Raconteur for their first "Wyrd West," and it bounced (as did the second!). I turned it into a high fantasy with a girl centaur (no, not woke, lame, or gay) as the lead along with her traveling companion, a human male, but that hasn't found a home either.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:12 AM (omVj0)

213
October isn't October without Vincent Price, yes?

LOL?

Time-Life's "Enchanted World" books. "Superbly written and bound in luxurious fabric."

https://youtu.be/JmgMOXSap50?si=ZwIccegMnNoi3dY6

Posted by: Soothsayer at October 06, 2024 11:13 AM (aBbkg)

214 My gosh, that was ten years ago or more! I submitted it to Raconteur for their first "Wyrd West," and it bounced (as did the second!). I turned it into a high fantasy with a girl centaur (no, not woke, lame, or gay) as the lead along with her traveling companion, a human male, but that hasn't found a home either.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:12 AM (omVj0)

But since Raconteur is still a going concern, do you have the rights back to publish elsewhere, or do they still plan to publish it?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:13 AM (0eaVi)

215 I still laugh at the scene in the book where the protagonist imagined eating a carrot to gross out his carnivore telepathic interrogator.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at October 06, 2024

***
Niven even got it into the dialog in his Animated Trek version: "Chuft-Captain, he [Sulu] is too *alien*! I taste yellow root munched between flat teeth!"

Chuft-Captain: "Be glad if you need not read the *Vulcan's* mind."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:14 AM (omVj0)

216 CharlieBrown'sDildo: I know nothing about Chabon except his books. It's not obvious from them that he would turn out to be a scumbag. And I'm sorry to hear that but it doesn't change my opinion of his books. I guess next time I will have to say Michael Chabon is a great writer.

Posted by: who knew at October 06, 2024 11:15 AM (+ViXu)

217 But since Raconteur is still a going concern, do you have the rights back to publish elsewhere, or do they still plan to publish it?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024

***
Do you mean does Raconteur have any rights to it, or does the original anthology I submitted it to, ca. 2014, still have rights? I wouldn't think Raconteur would. I'll have to look back through my emails to see if I can even find the editor of the anthology.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:16 AM (omVj0)

218 Anyway, time for me to go.

I believe Fortean Times magazine did a deep dive into the Cottingley Fairies story a couple of years ago. You might be able to find it in their online archives.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at October 06, 2024 11:16 AM (Q0kLU)

219 Thanks for the writing encouragement but the problem arises where do I go with this? My characters have been tossed completely into the deepend and each time they think they know what they are doing, they find something else to worry about.
Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024

***
That sounds like a good recipe for a page-turner, Anna. You don't want to make it easy for your characters!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:17 AM (omVj0)

220 If memory serves, King's comments on Levin in Danse Macabre mention that bombshell in A Kiss Before Dying; he notes that if you're one of those people who skip ahead in a book and happen to see that bombshell, it won't make any sense to you unless you've read the book up to that point. And that's true; if you haven't followed the story, and you just flip to that page, you won't recognize that moment as the twist it is. It's every bit the equal of William Goldman bringing the parallel Babe and Scylla threads together in Marathon Man.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024

***
+ 1000

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:18 AM (omVj0)

221 Did I mention I have a character list for this story that totals some 35 names with brief bios right now?

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024 11:19 AM (cBEJ0)

222 Speaking of scumbags . . .

Harris Posts Message of Solidarity to Those Impacted by Devastation….. In Lebanon

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at October 06, 2024 11:20 AM (L/fGl)

223 The telepath from "Slaver Weapon" trying to read Spock's mind seems pretty close.

Now a vegan Kzinti would be very rare.
Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024

***
The Telepaths under the influence of their drug were shivering neurotics, hardly normal by Kzin standards anyway. I think one of the Man-Kzin Wars collections of tales set in the Known Space era with Niven's blessing, features a Telepath as the hero.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:21 AM (omVj0)

224 Perfessor,

Thanks for another fun book thread, even if it wreaks havoc with my book budget.

Gotta run some errands. See folks on later threads.

Posted by: JTB at October 06, 2024 11:21 AM (yTvNw)

225 Did I mention I have a character list for this story that totals some 35 names with brief bios right now?
Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024

***
Then you're talking an epic, if you keep them all. One of the decisions you'll need to make is if you *do* need them all. Or maybe two or three can be telescoped into one?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:22 AM (omVj0)

226 At least those were jack-o-lantern pants, not pumpkin spice pants -- which, I wonder, how would one depict? Eww.

Posted by: mindful webworker - candy cornucopia at October 06, 2024 11:24 AM (JAXcl)

227 Chabon wants to be the Harriet Beecher Stowe of Palestinians and make everyone accept the Islamic beast that has been hacking people to death since 622AD. He only sees the present sense of asymmetrical power and not the result of every other Islamic conquest. Ultimately he's in it for the money, blithely shitting on his fellow Jews.

Posted by: Enough Bull at October 06, 2024 11:25 AM (2NXcZ)

228 Do you mean does Raconteur have any rights to it, or does the original anthology I submitted it to, ca. 2014, still have rights? I wouldn't think Raconteur would. I'll have to look back through my emails to see if I can even find the editor of the anthology.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:16 AM (omVj0)

Yeah, the original who said they'd publish it. Not saying my story is that great to be published elsewhere, but if FT never puts it out, I should be able to shop it. I'm waiting for the editor to let me know when it will come out. Have heard nothing for a few days now.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:26 AM (0eaVi)

229 Damn Jews!

Biden Suggests Netanyahu Is Interfering in Election

Damn Jews, Part Deux. Operation Below the Belt had begun in 2015.

https://is.gd/RDAS2A

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at October 06, 2024 11:26 AM (L/fGl)

230 Some are minor characters; one has already been yanked off the mission and sentenced to Alaska. Two others are probably going to get stomped on hard before they do cause trouble. There are other minor characters that are only needed to set scenes. But still got about 25 that are either on the pointy end or are movers.

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024 11:26 AM (cBEJ0)

231 Yay book thread!

Does anyone watch Bill Whittle's videos? He posted one yesterday (in the "Right Angle" series he does with Steven Green and Scott Ott) on a story Steve had shared on Instapundit about English teachers concluding that the solution to students not having the attention span to read books is to make the assignments shorter. All three of them had really good rants on the subject, and Bill concluded by sharing a video of Ben Crystal reciting the "To be or not to be" soliloquy from Hamlet in Original Pronunciation.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at October 06, 2024 11:26 AM (K+UCM)

232 >>>He is a fine writer and an execrable human being. He is a pro-palestinian scumbag.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 06, 2024 11:09 AM (d9fT1)
*********
Well, you could always buy his books from a used book seller.

Posted by: Rufus T. Firefly at October 06, 2024 11:26 AM (nxnaF)

233 Jtb,
Hanff write several other books. The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street which is a real life account if her post 84 Charing celebrity. Funny tour of England.

Another is about her early work in theater culminating in Oklahoma musical. Still another is a take on 70s New York City travelogue. B&N sold an omnibus of these stories.

Posted by: whig at October 06, 2024 11:27 AM (bt/Nj)

234 It is quite limited in book selection. Yes, I can check out books from the library, but that selection is massively skewed to woke cat stories with little non-fiction.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 06, 2024 09:49 AM (u82oZ)

I had a Sony e-reader that Sony stopped supporting, but I found I could download books from Gutenberg.org. That site offers a selection of formats.
I like Gutenberg since it has most of the old Analog/Astounding short stories, and other stuff like Josephus and personal memoirs which are a favorite of mine

Posted by: Kindltot at October 06, 2024 11:28 AM (D7oie)

235 Speaking of scumbags . . .

Harris Posts Message of Solidarity to Those Impacted by Devastation….. In Lebanon
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at October 06, 2024 11:20 AM (L/fGl)

Not to get all political here, but I keep seeing ads for that harlot lying about Trump's plans, but never see a rebuttal ad. What is the Trump campaign waiting for? There's only a month left.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:28 AM (0eaVi)

236 Did I mention I have a character list for this story that totals some 35 names with brief bios right now?
Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024 11:19 AM (cBEJ0)

Might that be too many characters for a reader to keep track of in one story? Can you make more than one story out of them?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:29 AM (0eaVi)

237 That picture at the top? I see those people everyday. Angry, oppressed, deprived of opportunities. Come on, lady, just smile for a few minutes!

Posted by: Eromero at October 06, 2024 11:29 AM (DXbAa)

238 Anna, you really should return to the story.

I've had one in the works for over a decade, but (insert excuses here). I still like the characters I was developing, and the act of writing the first draft was actually fun. At times it seemed I was reading something that somebody else had written. Maybe it's because it's a character-driven story rather than plot-based. I did write some one-off short stories featuring my characters for a writing class I was taking, and got good feedback from my classmates. but that was a decade ago. Yeesh.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Telling War Stories at October 06, 2024 11:30 AM (Ad8y9)

239 me last week:

"Burma Sahib," a novel by Paul Theroux.

It's based on George Orwell's formative years in Burma as a colonial police administrator. Orwell arrived at age 19 & went home with a medical discharge at age 24. Dengue fever.

As with all of Theroux's books,(Riding the Iron Rooster; Mosquito Coast; Saint Jack), he did a massive amount of research before writing about Orwell. Everything in the novel is 100% consistent with what is known about Orwell's years there. Orwell wrote that his Burma experiences set him on the course he followed for the rest of his life.

I've also been reading a bio of Orwell by John Atkins, because Theroux's novel intrigued me so much.

My conclusions, which are probably a glimpse into the obvious: Orwell was a loner. He was anything but social. I don't think he liked himself. He was born with weak lungs, but he was a chain smoker anyway. Burma's climate probably didn't help. He died of tuberculosis at a very young age. He had only a year or so to enjoy the success of his 2 great novels. He lived in poverty from the time the time he left the Colonial Office until he died. Not starvation poverty, but... poverty. He never had a close friend.

Posted by: mnw at October 06, 2024 11:31 AM (NLIak)

240 Does anyone watch Bill Whittle's videos? He posted one yesterday (in the "Right Angle" series he does with Steven Green and Scott Ott) on a story Steve had shared on Instapundit about English teachers concluding that the solution to students not having the attention span to read books is to make the assignments shorter. All three of them had really good rants on the subject, and Bill concluded by sharing a video of Ben Crystal reciting the "To be or not to be" soliloquy from Hamlet in Original Pronunciation.
Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at October 06, 2024 11:26 AM (K+UCM)

I used to, but he turned NT, so... click.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:31 AM (0eaVi)

241 Some are minor characters; one has already been yanked off the mission and sentenced to Alaska. Two others are probably going to get stomped on hard before they do cause trouble. There are other minor characters that are only needed to set scenes. But still got about 25 that are either on the pointy end or are movers.
Posted by: Anna Puma

I'm of the opinion that first novels should have a sparse cast. Expanding the crew in the successives is ok, and leaves room for spin-offs.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 06, 2024 11:33 AM (IG4Id)

242 me last week:

"Burma Sahib," a novel by Paul Theroux.

Posted by: mnw at October 06, 2024 11:31 AM (NLIak)

Did you see the Burma Sahib sign later in the thread?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:35 AM (0eaVi)

243 If you liked The Schirmer Inheritance by Eric Ambler, you'd probably like any of Helen MacInnes' books.

Posted by: Hank Archer at October 06, 2024 11:35 AM (ibIWX)

244 I would avoid that Wit'ch Gate book simply because of the unnecessary punctuation. That trope is plum wore out.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 06, 2024 11:36 AM (Bhbkm)

245 OrangeEnt

You don't see Trump ads because Harris has out fundraised him about 5-1.

I've noticed Harris ads are ubiquitous on NFL broadcasts. Those are the most expensive ads there are. I've never seen a single Trump ad.

Posted by: mnw at October 06, 2024 11:37 AM (NLIak)

246 I used to, but he turned NT, so... click.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:31 AM (0eaVi)

I wasn't watching him back in '16 and so don't know what he said back then, but he's very pro-Trump now. Check out the livestream he did immediately after J13, for starters--it's on YouTube under the title "Indomitable."

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at October 06, 2024 11:37 AM (K+UCM)

247 Ha! Got a reply today from Frontier Tales. They don't know a publishing date. Must be having problems. So, I'll wait. He said they will be printing it.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:37 AM (0eaVi)

248 You don't see Trump ads because Harris has out fundraised him about 5-1.

I've noticed Harris ads are ubiquitous on NFL broadcasts. Those are the most expensive ads there are. I've never seen a single Trump ad.
Posted by: mnw at October 06, 2024 11:37 AM (NLIak)

A billionaire with no money? I though people were donating? Wasn't there one or two fellow billionaires donating?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:39 AM (0eaVi)

249 Still working on George Weigel's biography of Pope John Paul II "Witness to Hope".

I'm currently reading the chapter "The Ways to Freedom". Weigel covers the immediate reaction of the Soviet Politburo and the Polish CP to the election of "the Polish Pope". He was prioritized as THE greatest threat to Soviet control of Eastern Europe.

In the chapter "How Many Divisions Has the Pope?", Weigel writes of the impact of his first visit to Poland in 1979:

'Seven hours after he had arrived, a crucial truth had been clarified by a million Poles' response to John Paul's evangelism. Poland was not a communist country; Poland was a Catholic nation saddled with a communist state.
Poland's 'second baptism,' which would change the history of the twentieth century, had begun."

Posted by: mrp at October 06, 2024 11:39 AM (rj6Yv)

250 I wasn't watching him back in '16 and so don't know what he said back then, but he's very pro-Trump now. Check out the livestream he did immediately after J13, for starters--it's on YouTube under the title "Indomitable."
Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at October 06, 2024 11:37 AM (K+UCM)

He hasn't appeared on anything i look at. Haven't kept up with him, but i can take a look again.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:39 AM (0eaVi)

251 who knew,

Have you read any of Nick Harkaway's stuff? He's up there on my list of contemporary writes.

Posted by: pawn at October 06, 2024 11:42 AM (QB+5g)

252 242

No, and I went back & looked & STILL couldn't find it. But thanks for pointing it out.

Theroux is in his 80s & still doing significant work, btw.

Posted by: mnw at October 06, 2024 11:42 AM (NLIak)

253 OT: Today seems to be "Charlton Heston Westerns" day on Grit. Will Penny is on now, and they'll have The Mountain Men (1980) on at 7 Central.

WP is one of the most beautifully photographed Westerns ever, and with a good story too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:46 AM (omVj0)

254 TRex, here's a use for AI that I bet you haven't thought of: my 13-year-old granddaughter used it to figure out the kindest way to break up with a boyfriend she had tired of.

Posted by: Wenda at October 06, 2024 11:47 AM (dmRlF)

255 Ach! (Suitable exclamation for German-American Day, nicht wahr?) Time for chores. Thanks, Perfessor and everybody, for a fine Book Thread!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at October 06, 2024 11:47 AM (omVj0)

256 Believe It Or Not!

A funny skit from SNL

https://is.gd/ffHdHm

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at October 06, 2024 11:47 AM (L/fGl)

257 Did I mention I have a character list for this story that totals some 35 names with brief bios right now?
Posted by: Anna Puma at October 06, 2024

sounds like you may have enough there to disentangle the various characters and plot lines, and write a series of interrelated stories around the central theme, with the main characters in one story being peripheral characters in the others.
Then you get the ability to interleave the stories, or put them out as stand alones

Sort of like Hugh Cook writing Ran

Posted by: Kindltot at October 06, 2024 11:47 AM (D7oie)

258 Well, guess I'll finish off the Earl Grey, have some lunch and then do something about the grass, which unfortunately will not get any shorter without my assistance.

Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at October 06, 2024 11:49 AM (q3u5l)

259 Does anyone watch Bill Whittle's videos?

Still waiting (20 years I think) for him to get to the point of his Sheepdog parable.

You'd think a joke so long-running would have a better punchline.

Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at October 06, 2024 11:51 AM (zdLoL)

260 Does anyone watch Bill Whittle's videos?

Still waiting (20 years I think) for him to get to the point of his Sheepdog parable.

You'd think a joke so long-running would have a better punchline.
Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at October 06, 2024 11:51 AM (zdLoL)

Kind of like a Norm Macdonald joke.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Telling War Stories at October 06, 2024 11:52 AM (Ad8y9)

261 No, and I went back & looked & STILL couldn't find it. But thanks for pointing it out.

Theroux is in his 80s & still doing significant work, btw.
Posted by: mnw at October 06, 2024 11:42 AM (NLIak)

I didn't find it either. Was it on last week's BT?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 11:53 AM (0eaVi)

262 I finished The Devil at his Elbow by Valerie Beaurlein about the murders of Alex Murdaugh's son and wife, but which focuses on the powerful and ultra-privileged family Alex came from. For generations, the Murdaughs controlled justice and doled out favors to their friends and those they sought to control in their small South Carolina town. They thought they were beloved, but the town's anger simmered below the surface and it came bubbling up when Alex's youngest son; wild and coddled like the Murdaugh men before him, killed an innocent girl and tried to avoid the consequences. Even those who watched the trial will learn something new. And the author puts together the timeline of events leading to the murders -and demonstrates Alex's motive to kill -more clearly than the prosecutors did.
Definitely recommend.

Posted by: LASue at October 06, 2024 11:54 AM (lCppi)

263 Morning.
I'm late.
Finished Roald Dalh's Going Solo. Now I have to find the prequil, Boy.
Still on my search for the first fighter to get internally wing mounted guns. May have been a Fiat. Funny how many "firsts" are recorded yet that one isn't. First "mile high club members" got that, just not who stuck a gun IN a wing.
Grandkids are loving all the airplane books I have out, which I never realized how many I have.
How are we for time?

Posted by: Reforger at October 06, 2024 11:58 AM (xcIvR)

264 WE HAZ A NOOD

Posted by: Skip at October 06, 2024 12:01 PM (fwDg9)

265 Well, it's the saddest part of Sunday morning again. The end of the Book Thread. Thanks, Perfessor.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 12:02 PM (0eaVi)

266 How are we for time?
Posted by: Reforger at October 06, 2024 11:58 AM (xcIvR)

Missed it by that much!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 06, 2024 12:03 PM (0eaVi)

267 Late to the thread. Recovering from Cal’s loss to Miami. a.m.

But I did do some reading this week: “McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales.” So far tales are more “weird” than “thrilling.”

Posted by: March Hare at October 06, 2024 12:42 PM (jfX+U)

268 >>>Time-Life's "Enchanted World" books. "Superbly written and bound in luxurious fabric."

>My balls are superbly wrinkled and bound in luxurious fabric!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at October 06, 2024 01:01 PM (E8ytb)

269 I've been re-reading P. J. O'Rourke's 1980s books. They have not held up well.

Posted by: butch at October 06, 2024 01:56 PM (vRBTe)

270 "Fans of the Evil Dead franchise of movies might recognize this image."

If you're a fan of the franchise and you don't immediately recognize that book/prop, turn in your fan card.

https://youtu.be/Zj6eotFgnPo?t=69

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at October 06, 2024 02:31 PM (O7YUW)

271 >>> 25 Books I read in the last week? The continuing saga of Lord Kalvan of otherwhen.

The Siege of Tarr Hostigos
The Fireseed Wars
Gunpowder God
and finally,
Down Styphon.

John F Carr continued the saga and did a ver excellent job doing it. I think H Beam Piper would be proud of him. I would rate the books 5 starts out of 5.

I still have "The Hos Bletha Affair" to read. Kinda out of order with the other books but it takes place at the same time as Down Styphon.

If you are a fan of Piper I would say these books are a must read.
Posted by: I'll choose a new nick later-Certified Dangerous Radical at October 06, 2024 09:18 AM (89Sog)

Dropping some very late additions for story-completeness - Great Kings' War, co-written by John F. Carr and Roland Green, picks up the action starting in the winter following the events of Lord Kalvan and precedes all of Carr's solo work by iirc 15 publication years. Kalvan Kingmaker follows GKW in Kalvan-time, and was Carr's first solo effort.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at October 06, 2024 03:07 PM (FnneF)

272 Just finished Cynical Theories by Pluckrose and Lindsey, two of the profs who made up and submitted those fake journal articles.

Great overview of critical theory, postmodernism, and how they are wrecking Westrn society.

Posted by: PJU at October 06, 2024 04:05 PM (RRCAT)

273 {224} The hottest sauce I ever found was 'Dave's Insanity Sauce.'

I'd use it in soup mainly.

Posted by: Stateless at October 06, 2024 05:39 PM (jvJvP)

Yup, I've used Dave's for that too. 2 or 3 drops in with spicy ramen makes it super spicy.

Go to https://scovillescale.org/

Click on "Hot Sauce Scoville Scale" at the top. The original Dave's comes in at about 180,000 units on the Scoville heat scale. Dave's Ultimate Insanity is 250,000. Dave's private special reserve is 500,000.

I've tried 10 drops of the Ultimate Insanity on a cracker. Never. Again. My heart was racing, I was sweating profusely, and I had involuntary hiccups. I was on the pain train for 30 straight minutes, and it wouldn't let me off until it was good and ready. Nothing really helped.

Okay, it was kinda glorious in an endorphine rush sort of way, but when you start pushing into the hundreds of thousands, or millions on the scoville scale, they are food additives only, and really it's just bragging rights.

For a chili contest, a friend used pulled pork, spice, and Dave's Private Reserve for the heat. Won top spot for hottest chili. Awesome stuff.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at October 06, 2024 06:31 PM (O7YUW)

274 Whoops, wrong tab. That was meant for the food thread much later in the day.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at October 06, 2024 06:33 PM (O7YUW)

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