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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 5, 2019 11:59:31 GMT -5
Alien Planet Fletcher Pratt I found this book to be an interesting mix of eras... in many ways it resembles the 'travelogue' style that Burroughs uses, with the author claiming to have 'found' the manuscript of the adventure, yet there's alot of elements of the later sci fi of the 50s and 60s. The plot is pretty basic, and alien crash lands, and the two men that discover him decide to help him get home. One ends up going home with him to give us a glimpse of his planet. There's a fair amount at the attempt of scientific explanations of how a star ship might work, but many things that would be essential and obvious to today's readers are ignored... food, water, gravity, the effects on the body of not moving for like 3 years, to name a few of the most blatant. I'm not sure if the author intended the alien civilization to be a utopia or a warning.. it's basically socialist, with a rigid caste structure and overtones of government mind control. Not my idea of a great place, but the cover calls it Utopia. Of course, this was printed not only 30 years after appearing in the magazines, but after the author's death, so that doesn't mean much. The main downside of the book was it seriously peters out at the end, as if the author was bored with it. With the excuse that 'the manuscript got more messy'.. the last couple chapters skip around alot and the ending is both vague and disappointing. Worth reading if you're a old time sci-fi fan though as an interesting transition between the turn of the century writers and the 60s. I haven't read this in at least 25 years so any memories of it are more like "feelings." Keep in mind that while it was nominally written in 1962 it was a reworking of a novella that Pratt co-wrote in 1937. So while it was probably pretty progressive for 1937 SF it was dated by 1962. Pratt never felt particularly comfortable in SF or fantasy. His interests really seemed to be in history, particularly military history. He developed rules for naval war-gaming that was apparently his true passion. I think because of this his best SF/fantasy work was done with L. Sprague de Camp.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 6, 2019 20:38:25 GMT -5
Yeah, I was reading about that... I'm intrigued at the thought of official war gaming used by actual generals... I didn't know that was a real thing. I definitely noticed the copyright was 1932... I assumed it was a serial (it seemed to together to be short stories link in retrospect).
Had another road trip to the in-laws, so another Mystery-on-the-kindle:
The Mugger Ed McBain
In this 2nd book, Steve Carella is off on his honeymoon, so patrolman Bert Kling takes center stage, as two different mysteries.. a serial mugger and the murder of a 17 year old girl are both plaguing the 87th. Kling is, well, alot like Steve Carella (perhaps a bit younger), so the fact that it was a different character didn't mean much.
The main plot was a good mystery (though, according to the author in the forward, a recycled one from an earlier book), but the sub-plots were weird. There was a running gag about a guy stealing cats that REALLY fell flat to me (maybe it had to be the 50s to appreciate it), and there was some real blatant sexist stuff while fits the time, is a bit jarring. Haviland is also a bit much... his idea of being a detective seems to be to grab a suspect and pummel him until he either confesses or is unconscious.
For all that, though, the writing is still excellent.. much like the first book (and, perhaps, the whole series), it screams to be made into a TV show... the descriptions of the city and just regular life happening are great.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2019 1:53:21 GMT -5
Just finished The Dark World by Henry Kuttner, which falls somewhere between planetary romance and sword and sorcery. I am familiar with Kuttner through some of his shorter works and through his collaborations with his wife C.L.Moore, but I hadn't tackled any of his solo novels before, and I'll be honest, I picked this one up because of the Gray Morrow cover art, but plucked this one off the to read pile because I wanted a palette cleanser after reading a ton of pulp crime, pulp heroes and pulp westerns lately, so pulp fantasy it was. It's pretty standard planetary romance in appearance, earth man transported to another world where he discovers he has unearthly abilities, but with a twist upon which the whole novel hinges on. Kuttner's writing is crisp and engaging, an entertaining read, but for me doesn't rise above most of the standard tropes of the genre here, even with the somewhat unique twist that drives the plot. Still worth checking out if you are a fan of the genre or of that pulp era of fantasy. -M
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2019 19:51:54 GMT -5
For all that, though, the writing is still excellent.. much like the first book (and, perhaps, the whole series), it screams to be made into a TV show... the descriptions of the city and just regular life happening are great. There was a TV series in 1961 that ran 30 episodes. Several books have been adapted into films including an Akira Kurosawa one. The ones I remember are from the 1990s when NBC made 3 Made-for-TV films that could have served as pilots for a new series, but one assumes they didn't have the ratings. Watching those TV movies is what actually made me seek out the books. It's been one of my huge reading goals to get through all 55 books and I ended up taking a few years off, but am at #16, so only 40 or so more to go.
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Post by berkley on Oct 7, 2019 20:29:41 GMT -5
Love the cover on Kuttner's Dark World. I've been looking forward to reading it as I like what I've read of Kuttner and the sort of fantasy sub-genre he's writing in here. I believe a few later writers have cited it as an influence - Zelazny and Moorcock, perhaps? Don't feel like looking it up right now and only glanced at mrp's review because I want to go in with a fresh attitude whenever I do get around to it.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 10, 2019 10:22:06 GMT -5
The Serpent of Venice by Christopher MoorePocket, Drool and Jeff are back, but this time instead of being in Lear's England they've traveled to a Venice populated by Othello, Iago, Shylock and (oddly) Montressor and a certain cask of amontillado. Pocket has been sent to Venice by Cordelia as an envoy to speak out against a possible Crusade. Unfortunately Pocket is not a great diplomat and Iago and Antonio are bound and determined to have a Crusade as an opportunity for both military adventure and profit. This leads to murder most foul, revenge, chicanery, and a ghost (there's always a bloody ghost). Moore's second venture into Shakespearean territory isn't as successful as Fool, but I consider Fool to be one of his absolute best books. Not that this one isn't enjoyable, because it is it's simply mid-level Moore. There's maybe a few too many other stories stuck in (though casting Pocket as Fortunato was a bit brilliant). I understand the pun involved in the title but it ultimately felt shoehorned in to the story. And ultimately maybe Pocket and gang were better left without a sequel. Fool worked great as a one-off. Not that I didn't enjoy this book. Overall I did. But it took a bit of shine off the apple. Still...it makes me wonder if Moore will eventually get Puck-ish with Pocket.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 13, 2019 23:36:32 GMT -5
Wool by Hugh Howey
I'm really torn about how to rate this book... the 1st short story about Holston is easily a 5 star novella... it has all the things I love about 60s sci fi, but in a modern version. There's enough mystery to make you think, but enough world to make sense.
The more the author explained things, the less I liked it. Where there was thought provoking mystery, there because obvious fact, or sometimes plot-driven convenience... neither is ever good.
The middle books are, not bad exactly, but not all that logical either. Things go from a bit squirrelly to catastrophic in the blink of an eye without explanation.. and there are a few bits that just make NO SENSE AT ALL. Like the gun manufacture, or the radio thing... no one ever thought to play with a radio before??
The end did redeem it some, even if there continued to be alot of things that made no sense, I did enjoy the read and would probably check out any further adventures/stories.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 16, 2019 16:20:08 GMT -5
Torn and Frayed by David CranmerDavid Cranmer, who as Edward Grainger created Cash Laramie (Jack Laramie's uncle) takes his turn at the Drifter Detective. This time around Jack is not sleuthing but has signed on as a handyman/helper to an older farmer. That doesn't stop the trouble from heading Jack's way as the farmer's past and that of his daughter and his late wife catch up with everyone involved. This is just as messy as the other novelettes in the series and if there is a main strength to these yarns it is that, like real life, not everything gets set right in the end. Well worth the short time commitment in this penultimate story about the Drifter Detective.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 16, 2019 16:44:57 GMT -5
The MLJ Companion: The Complete History of the Archie Super-Heroes by Rik Offenberger, et. al. I'll admit that I've had very limited exposure to the MLJ heroes. I wasn't alive for their Golden Age runs or their Silver Age revivals. Unlike their DC, Marvel, Quality and Fawcett counter-parts there really weren't any reprints out there for me to read. My sole exposure was a single digest that had a few reprints along with some Archie as superhero (Capt. Purehear, etc.). I didn't buy any of the short-lived Rich Buckler lead revival of the early 80s at least in part because I don't think I ever saw them. Though upon further review I want those Toth/Wildey Black Hood books. I did read most of DC's Impact line, partly because I was buying a ton of comics at the time and partly because they were kind of fun. But mostly the MLJ/Archie heroes have always been a blank slate. So why read a book about them? Well because I'm always interested in comics history and Twomorrows has built up a lot of good-will with a lot of good books. And I'm always happy to see if I can find some new books to read down the line (The Fox by TOTH!! for Pete's Sake). And the Twomorrows gang didn't let me down. This was overall a very interesting and informative look at a comics group that I knew peripherally but was largely a blank spot for me. I feel I have a better handle on the history of these characters and to a lesser extent MLJ and Archie as publishers. If I had any complaints it would probably be that I'd like more information on the woefully short-lived Gray Morrow led Red Circle books (there was some but I want more) and, frankly, I have very little interest in the various aborted 21st Century re-boots of the characters. A well recommended book for anyone interested in a corner of comics history that we tend to ignore.
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Post by Duragizer on Oct 17, 2019 18:00:28 GMT -5
The Living Gita: The Complete Bhagavad Gita (Sri Swami Satchidananda) I've been interested in learning more about Hinduism, so I checked this out from the library. Some of Satchidananda's analyses strike me as iffy, but overall, I found it an enlightening read. I definitely want to check out some other translations/commentaries to get a broader understanding of the text. 7/10
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,533
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Post by Confessor on Oct 21, 2019 12:31:37 GMT -5
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. I bought this book back when I was on a bit of a classic sci-fi kick earlier this year, but it got pushed aside by other reading matter until this week. I'm guessing that a lot of people who come to The War of the Worlds for the first time in the modern era are probably already familiar with the basic story from the various adaptations of it. Certainly, that was the case for me, with the old 1950's movie and the late '70s prog rock album, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, being my go-to versions. Originally published in 1897, Wells' account of the Martian invasion and their assault on London and the English Home Counties reads a lot like other 'turn of the twentieth century' literature that I've read. Specifically, its prose style reminded me somewhat of H. P. Lovecraft, and Wells certainly shares Lovecraft's tendency to descend into the verbose at times. The story is written in a rather matter-of-fact way, as a journalistic report by a scientist living in Woking, Surrey. I must say that, for me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of this book is that it's set semi-locally (I live a 50 minute drive from Horsell Common in Woking, where the first Martian cylinder fell). It was great to read about towns and locations I know getting a pasting from the Martians! The underlying theme of the book is undoubtedly Imperialism. Let's not forget that, at the time it was written, the British Empire had conquered and colonised large parts of the globe and had become the largest Empire the world had ever seen. The literary "trick" here is that Wells strives to make the contemporary, late-19th Century British reader ponder an invasion of their own home by a ruthless and destructive technologically advanced race. As such, Wells conjures a creeping sense that maybe society – specifically late-19th Century British society – somehow deserves this invasion. As if he feels that we've been subjugating other people for so long that it's about time that the shoe was on the other foot. Unfortunately, I found the narrative to be a little disjointed at times. For example, we have a two or three chapter-long digression, in which the narrator forgets his own story in order to tell us about what was happening to his brother on the other side of London. This detour certainly harms the flow of the story, but at least it culminates in an exciting battle between the Martian Tripods and the Royal Navy's ironclads, which was a highlight of the book for me. The War of the Worlds is very much of its time, with plenty of good old fashioned sexism and misogyny on display, but in that respect it's not so different from many other fiction books of the period. Ultimately, I think that, just as with the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle or H.P. Lovecraft, the modern reader has to accept that these books are of their time and, to a modern reader, the prose can feel archaic and a bit of a slog to get through at times. Overall though, I enjoyed the book. There are some gripping sequences involving Tripods destroying towns and cities, the breakdown of late Victorian society, and the classic, suspense-filled encounter between the narrator and a Martian in a ruined house, which I believe has been retained in pretty much every adaptation of the book. It held my interest throughout, was exciting enough to keep me turning the pages, and isn't overly long (only 184 pages in the mid-70s Pan paperback I own). I won't spoil the ending – although I'm sure everyone reading this knows how the war ends – but I was surprised that, after the climax of the story, Wells gives us an unexpected reunion and clichéd happy ending, which is more satisfying than you might expect.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 21, 2019 13:06:30 GMT -5
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. I bought this book back when I was on a bit of a classic sci-fi kick earlier this year, but it got pushed aside by other reading matter until this week. I'm guessing that a lot of people who come to The War of the Worlds for the first time in the modern era are probably already familiar with the basic story from the various adaptations of it. Certainly, that was the case for me, with the old 1950's movie and the late '70s prog rock album, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, being my go-to versions. Originally published in 1897, Wells' account of the Martian invasion and their assault on London and the English Home Counties reads a lot like other 'turn of the twentieth century' literature that I've read. Specifically, its prose style reminded me somewhat of H. P. Lovecraft, and Wells certainly shares Lovecraft's tendency to descend into the verbose at times. The story is written in a rather matter-of-fact way, as a journalistic report by a scientist living in Woking, Surrey. I must say that, for me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of this book is that it's set semi-locally (I live a 50 minute drive from Horsell Common in Woking, where the first Martian cylinder fell). It was great to read about towns and locations I know getting a pasting from the Martians! The underlying theme of the book is undoubtedly Imperialism. Let's not forget that, at the time it was written, the British Empire had conquered and colonised large parts of the globe and had become the largest Empire the world had ever seen. The literary "trick" here is that Wells strives to make the contemporary, late-19th Century British reader ponder an invasion of their own home by a ruthless and destructive technologically advanced race. As such, Wells conjures a creeping sense that maybe society – specifically late-19th Century British society – somehow deserves this invasion. As if he feels that we've been subjugating other people for so long that it's about time that the shoe was on the other foot. Unfortunately, I found the narrative to be a little disjointed at times. For example, we have a two or three chapter-long digression, in which the narrator forgets his own story in order to tell us about what was happening to his brother on the other side of London. This detour certainly harms the flow of the story, but at least it culminates in an exciting battle between the Martian Tripods and the Royal Navy's ironclads, which was a highlight of the book for me. The War of the Worlds is very much of its time, with plenty of good old fashioned sexism and misogyny on display, but in that respect it's not so different from many other fiction books of the period. Ultimately, I think that, just as with the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle or H.P. Lovecraft, the modern reader has to accept that these books are of their time and, to a modern reader, the prose can feel archaic and a bit of a slog to get through at times. Overall though, I enjoyed the book. There are some gripping sequences involving Tripods destroying towns and cities, the breakdown of late Victorian society, and the classic, suspense-filled encounter between the narrator and a Martian in a ruined house, which I believe has been retained in pretty much every adaptation of the book. It held my interest throughout, was exciting enough to keep me turning the pages, and isn't overly long (only 184 pages in the mid-70s Pan paperback I own). I won't spoil the ending – although I'm sure everyone reading this knows how the war ends – but I was surprised that, after the climax of the story, Wells gives us an unexpected reunion and clichéd happy ending, which is more satisfying than you might expect. It's been eons since I've read WotW. Obviously it is a huge influence within SF and popular culture in general. That said I really have problems with Wells' writing style. So while I recognize his importance I generally don't like reading his work preferring adaptations. It's not solely the time period because there are other writers from that era (give or take 20 years) that I enjoy. Wells just isn't one of them.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,533
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Post by Confessor on Oct 22, 2019 3:19:47 GMT -5
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. I bought this book back when I was on a bit of a classic sci-fi kick earlier this year, but it got pushed aside by other reading matter until this week. I'm guessing that a lot of people who come to The War of the Worlds for the first time in the modern era are probably already familiar with the basic story from the various adaptations of it. Certainly, that was the case for me, with the old 1950's movie and the late '70s prog rock album, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, being my go-to versions. Originally published in 1897, Wells' account of the Martian invasion and their assault on London and the English Home Counties reads a lot like other 'turn of the twentieth century' literature that I've read. Specifically, its prose style reminded me somewhat of H. P. Lovecraft, and Wells certainly shares Lovecraft's tendency to descend into the verbose at times. The story is written in a rather matter-of-fact way, as a journalistic report by a scientist living in Woking, Surrey. I must say that, for me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of this book is that it's set semi-locally (I live a 50 minute drive from Horsell Common in Woking, where the first Martian cylinder fell). It was great to read about towns and locations I know getting a pasting from the Martians! The underlying theme of the book is undoubtedly Imperialism. Let's not forget that, at the time it was written, the British Empire had conquered and colonised large parts of the globe and had become the largest Empire the world had ever seen. The literary "trick" here is that Wells strives to make the contemporary, late-19th Century British reader ponder an invasion of their own home by a ruthless and destructive technologically advanced race. As such, Wells conjures a creeping sense that maybe society – specifically late-19th Century British society – somehow deserves this invasion. As if he feels that we've been subjugating other people for so long that it's about time that the shoe was on the other foot. Unfortunately, I found the narrative to be a little disjointed at times. For example, we have a two or three chapter-long digression, in which the narrator forgets his own story in order to tell us about what was happening to his brother on the other side of London. This detour certainly harms the flow of the story, but at least it culminates in an exciting battle between the Martian Tripods and the Royal Navy's ironclads, which was a highlight of the book for me. The War of the Worlds is very much of its time, with plenty of good old fashioned sexism and misogyny on display, but in that respect it's not so different from many other fiction books of the period. Ultimately, I think that, just as with the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle or H.P. Lovecraft, the modern reader has to accept that these books are of their time and, to a modern reader, the prose can feel archaic and a bit of a slog to get through at times. Overall though, I enjoyed the book. There are some gripping sequences involving Tripods destroying towns and cities, the breakdown of late Victorian society, and the classic, suspense-filled encounter between the narrator and a Martian in a ruined house, which I believe has been retained in pretty much every adaptation of the book. It held my interest throughout, was exciting enough to keep me turning the pages, and isn't overly long (only 184 pages in the mid-70s Pan paperback I own). I won't spoil the ending – although I'm sure everyone reading this knows how the war ends – but I was surprised that, after the climax of the story, Wells gives us an unexpected reunion and clichéd happy ending, which is more satisfying than you might expect. It's been eons since I've read WotW. Obviously it is a huge influence within SF and popular culture in general. That said I really have problems with Wells' writing style. So while I recognize his importance I generally don't like reading his work preferring adaptations. It's not solely the time period because there are other writers from that era (give or take 20 years) that I enjoy. Wells just isn't one of them. I get what you're saying because I did find portions of the book a little tough going, but, as I say, for me I think that is due to its slightly archaic, late-19th Century prose style. For the most part though, I thought that Wells' writing was pretty readable. Certainly more readable than, say, H.P. Lovecraft on a bad day (and I say that as a big Lovecraft fan). I guess your mileage varies.
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Post by berkley on Oct 22, 2019 3:34:01 GMT -5
I re-read War of the Worlds just a few months ago along with some other early (1890s) HG Wells works that I'm still in the middle of, so probably my impressions are a bit jumbled, but one general impression is that Wells was writing a lot of this stuff in serialised form for magazines, so that could be one reason for the disjointedness - short deadlines, making things up as you go along, etc. But I think he deserves huge credit for coming with ideas like this in the first place and then implementing them into a fictional form that is still more than readable today.
One thing about WotW and a lot of other early SF is how the heroic protagonist of early-mid 20th century SF is often entirely absent: if it had been written, say, 20 or 30 years later, the soldier with the big plans would have been the central figure and the story would have spun sequels in which his pie-in-the-sky scheme was carried out, if not by himself then by his heroic descendants.
But Wells had other concerns and on this recent re-reading, I think the anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist message, heavy-handed as it might seem to us 21st-century readers, is more important than words can say - hence the importance of representing it in story and imagery. And even beyond that aspect, its calling into question the idea that humanity is the pinnacle of creation, the end to which evolution aspires, is important.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 22, 2019 13:16:26 GMT -5
I haven't read the original WotW yet, (Just the one of those classics illustrated types back in the day) but other Wells I have read I agree with Slam... not my favorite style. Amazing ideas though (especially for the time).. I think today he'd have a co-writer to smooth him out.
Today's Book:
The Pusher Ed McBain (87th Precinct #3)
It's hard to talk about this book without spoilers (and the author agrees... he wrote an afterward instead of a forward)... but I'll give it a shot.
I hadn't intended to read another of these so quickly after the 1st 2, even though I knew it sorta started as a trilogy then expanded to a epic series, just because sometimes the books all start seeming the same.
Then book #4 jumped out at me in the library, and I couldn't very well skip the one in between, that'd be silly, so here I am.
I really enjoy McBain's writing, he shifts from silly to serious really well, it sets a unique tone that works really well. I do probably do without the flowery descriptions that are clearly mean to be distance shots of a TV show, but I get why they are there.
It seems like circumstances (or perhaps editors and fans) aren't going to exactly let the whole precinct be the hero.. I think Steve Carella is our guy, but this book definitely spent alot of time on Lieutentant Byrnes, and some of the other guys in the squad room (Haviland, Meyer, Kling, etc) are now legit characters, so it's at least giving us a good cast.
The story had quite a few coincidences in it.. for a area that supposed to be so big, and as they always mention, where you could always find a bunch of junkies to arrest, the fact that everything was related was a bit too coincidental, but that's to be expected really.
There was a bit too much of the 'procedural' part at times (I didn't need the play-by-play of how they got fingerprints in 1958 or whatever year this was written in), but overall the book has good pacing and give a good story.
Reading it now (60+ years after publication) it's a fantastic snap shot of the late 50s, I think that's my favorite part.. you can't get that much authenticity from a distance. It's funny, the jacket advertises 'Steve Carella goes undercover'.. that consisted of going to the zoo and eating peanuts staking out a drug deal. Sure, he wore a fake mustache the 2nd time, but really, it's calling that undercover a bit grandiose? Not that it effects the story a bit, but it makes me smile.
I'm definitely sold on the series for now.
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