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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 8, 2019 8:31:26 GMT -5
The Other Side of the Moon edited by August Derleth As is often the case with these small short story collections, the alleged theme has little to do with the contents... they claim 'near and far future stories', but nearly all of them are in contemporary (written post WWII, but before 1950). My favorite was 'the Devil of East Lupton' by Murray Leinster, in which a hobo finds a crash landed alien ship in the woods to unintentionally hilarious consequences.. this one would make a great Twilight Zone episode. Several of them involved aliens crash landing but the others weren't particularly remarkable. The most thought provoking one was 'Memorial' by Theodore Sturgeon, where a scientist attempts to prevent nuclear holocaust by example... a bit predictable, but still a good one. Nothing that screams must read though.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 10, 2019 20:59:58 GMT -5
Star Wars: Resistance Reborn Rebecca Roanhorse
I'm always interested in books like this... leading up to, or filling in the events that a movie has to gloss over.
This one had a tall order.. the Resistance was pretty much destroyed in 'The Last Jedi', yet 'Rise of Skywalker' promises a giant space battle... where do the ships come from?
The book begins to answer that, but falls far short of it's goal.... I guess we're going to have a 'gathering of heroes' montage at the beginning of the movie.
While it was fun to see characters from various media come together... We see the Wexleys, where were pretty much the only good thing about the Aftermath Trilogy... Poe Dameron's Black Squadron from his comic, and Inferno Squad from Battlefront, even references to Claudia Gray's books. Sadly, there was very little plot, mostly just people visiting and recruiting... and what action there was seemed more James Bond than Star Wars, and had to make use of alot of coincidences to get the heroes away.
I was really hoping for a call out to Ezra Bridger or Sabine Wren, but no such luck. Overall, a fun book if you're into the new continuity, but skippable otherwise.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 12, 2019 22:51:52 GMT -5
Lady Killer Ed McBain
In McBain's introduction, he says he wrote this one in 9 days, talking about how he was trying to hurry up and get it done so he could get to the beach. You can definitely tell.
While it's still an excellent mystery (even if it does hinge on McBain's favorite device.. word play), it's alot more straight forward than the others... no 'B' or 'C' plots here... just one mystery that the crew at the 87th have 12 hours to solve.
It feels like McBain has come to terms with Cotton.. he's now firmly established as Carella's understudy, and the 'action man'... sorta the Riker to Carella's Picard. It works. I'm looking forward to the scene where Cotton the ladies man meets Teddy Carella.
8 books in, it does get a little annoying when McBain repeats some of his stock jokes (like Meyer Meyer's name), but every book is someone's first, so that's just something one has to live with.
Extra points for the shout out to Richard Matheson, too.. that's the way to describe a hot day!
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 13, 2019 16:02:04 GMT -5
True Crime by Max Allan CollinsNate Heller is back in the second book of his series and the second in what is called the Frank Nitti trilogy. And Nitti does play a part, but it's not so significant that I'd name the three books after him. Following Heller's recent girlfriend heading off to Hollywood he finds himself being consoled in the arms of burlesque dancer Sally Rand. He also finds himself in the middle of the hunt for "Public Enemy #1" John Dillinger. And, of course, he's there when Dillinger is fingered by The Lady in Red and is shot down by...well maybe the FBI and maybe the East Chicago police...or maybe not at all. Much like the first book this one is broken into two parts. The first deals with Dillinger and the second finds Heller trying to get an Indiana farmgirl back home who has thrown in as a moll with the Barker Gang. Heller, with the help of Nitti, goes undercover in the gang which brings him into contact with Fred and Doc Barker, Alvin (Creepy) Karpis, Charley (Pretty Boy) Floyd and Ma Barker. Of course the first and the second part of the book tie in to each other and saying too much would be detrimental to the plot. Along the way Heller runs in to Melvin Purvis, Samuel Cowley, J. Edgar Hoover and Barney Ross is back as Heller's friend and landlord. Collins does a good job of weaving Heller into historical events. And as with the Cermak assassination he uses conspiracy theories to tell some compelling alt-history. These are fun books and it's a benefit to have your phone or tablet handy to look up a number of obscure and not-so-obscure historical figures.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 15, 2019 6:33:27 GMT -5
And speaking of Max Allan Collins... Killing Quarry (2019) The latest installment in Collins' chronicles of a former contract hitman who made a career change and started hunting other hitmen, and the people who hire them. This one is set in the 1980s, in 1986 or 1987 (since he started writing Quarry stories again in the early '00s, after a long hiatus, Collins has jumped around chronologically). The twist is that after setting off to track down a hitman, Quarry realizes that the guy has been commissioned to take out - Quarry himself. In the process of extricating himself from that situation, he reconnects with a character last seen in the third Quarry novel, Quarry's Deal (originally published in 1976 under the title The Dealer), who decides to help him out. As they set about figuring out who commissioned the hit on Quarry, they get involved in an even bigger deadly conspiracy... I really enjoy the Quarry novels; it's to his credit that Collins can make a pretty stone-cold killer a sympathetic character. Despite the subject matter, all of the books are light, enjoyable diversions, and Killing Quarry is no different - you get what you expect, and then kind of want more. Don't know when he'll produce another Quarry book, but now I'm thinking of moving on to his Nolan novels, since Hard Case is going to start reissuing them soon.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 17, 2019 18:15:11 GMT -5
Hyenas by Joe R. Lansdale. Hap and Leonard are back in a novella (novelette if it were SF) length tale. It opens with Leonard opening up a can of whoop-ass on three guys at a bar, though they started it so he avoids trouble with the law. That leads to the duo trying to get a young man from getting more deeply involved with a dangerous gang of bank robbers. Hap and Leonard aren't the best planners in the world and we end up with Bret in danger. The problem is, that even by Hap and Leonard's standards the plan, such as it is, is pretty dumb. And thus the results are predictable. This is a pretty weak story for the duo. They're overall in character, but they just seem a bit dull. This was originally a standalone hardcover chapbook by Subterranean Press and had another short story which reveals itself to be tied to the boys at the very end. I absolutely understand why Lansdale put out those expensive books. They allow him to work in lengths and genres that aren't really commercially attractive otherwise. But if I read this one in that format I'd have been a bit peeved. As it is I read this and the short story in a collection of Hap & Leonard's short works. In that way it worked a lot better.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,545
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Post by Confessor on Dec 19, 2019 1:45:58 GMT -5
I thought I'd post this here instead of in the Meanwhile thread, but I'm just wondering if anyone here has ever read any Dennis Wheatley and is he any good as a writer?
I've been reading and watching a lot about Aleister Crowley recently, and that's sort of led me to reading about Dennis Wheatley's Satanic horror writing. I'm thinking of picking up a copy of his classic The Devil Rides Out and a collection of odds and sods short stories titled Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts. However, I've seen some differing reviews of his writing style, with some calling him a literary master of the macabre and others branding his books as almost unreadable tripe. Anyone got any opinions on the subject?
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Post by berkley on Dec 19, 2019 7:08:15 GMT -5
Short answer: YES! I have opinions!
I'm a big fan of Dennis Wheatley from having read him in my teenage years in the 70s. He was very much a writer of popular fiction, so you shouldn't expect, you know, James Joyce or or someting. Also he was extremely prolific, so there are some ups and downs.
Haven't read Gunmen, Gallants, and Ghosts but I remember being very thrilled by The Devil Rides Out and even more so by its sort-of sequel To the Devil a Daughter.
The supernatural stuff that I've read of his is some of the best: all very much in the popular-fiction vein of its day but what makes it stand out is that I think he really believed in magic, black magic, and feared it. I've read a biography of Crowley but still recall Wheatley's fictional treatment in a short story I forget the title of as the one that made the biggest impression on me.
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Post by berkley on Dec 19, 2019 14:09:06 GMT -5
The Black Magician is the name of that Wheatley story I was trying to think of. I read it in an old Peter Haining anthology called The Satanists.
Wheatley had lots of good stuff: his WWII spy series with lead character Gregory Sallust was another favourite of mine.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 20, 2019 22:05:31 GMT -5
From a Certain Point of View 40 stories from 40 years of Star Wars
As with most Anthologies, this one had some stories that worked, and some that didn't.
I was a bit surprised that every story actually takes place during A New Hope, but it led to an interesting mental version of the movie.
Some of the stories view events from the 'bit players', such as R5-D4, the Stormtrooper that actually stuns Leia, a random Jawa, etc. The ones that were less serious were more effective than the more weighty ones, which added far too much depth to some things... not every Stormtrooper has a heart of gold, and R5-D4 definitely is an unlikely hero of the Rebellion. My favorite of these was the one featuring a data clerk on the Death Star, who helped a friend fill out a mountain of paper work (including for. CAT. ch. 22.. awesome shout out). to help cover the fact that he let an escape pod land so he wouldn't have to fill out the report for shooting it.
Funnily enough, the other report-like stories were also great.. one with a Tatooine Stormtrooper that has kinda had it with the Trooper life, and one form Admiral Motti, calling out Vader to the powers that be for bullying him about his 'religion'
The story of the Mos Eisley Bartender was another great one of this type.
The others show us what some of the main characters are doing when they aren't the focus... there's a story about what Lando is doing when the Death Star goes up, and one where Ghost-Obi-Wan tells Yoda Luke is coming.
Perhaps the most disappointing of the collection is from Paul Dini (who I usually love).. his very brief Boba Fett story makes him seem like a member of the cast of the Sopranos.
Overall, not as creative and interesting as I hoped, but definitely enough good stuff to make it worth the time and help get me in a Star Wars mood for the new movie.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 21, 2019 16:11:12 GMT -5
Sinbad: The New Voyages, v6There's two stories in this volume, a novella by Nancy Hansen and a short story by Greg Hatcher (a lapsed fellow CCF member) - that being the main reason I picked this one up. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, these are new, 'untold tales' of Sinbad that take their cue from the popular movies of the '60s and '70s and also give Sinbad a regular supporting cast, including a crusty first mate, and several 'global' crew members, like a giant Norwegian, a Gaulish archer and a samurai woman from Japan. Hansen's novella is solid. The story is that Sinbad and his crew use some kind of new, possibly magical, navigational device that leads them to a vast, semi-frozen land full of weird creatures like hairy elephants, tigers with dagger-like fangs and strange primitive people who hunt them (yep, it's a time travel story). Hatcher's story, like pretty much everything else he writes, is entertaining as hell and would make a great movie: it's got dragons, an obsidian tower rising from the sea and dragons - and it's a bit of prequel to his novel, Silver Riders, which I mentioned earlier in this same thread, in the sense that the same dark force is a key plot-point.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2019 22:50:36 GMT -5
I know Slam_Bradley is a big fan of Joe Lansdale's stuff, and a few others have expressed interest, so I thought I would share this site: A Reader's Guide to Joe Lansdale which I stumbled upon earlier today for those who might be interested in exploring his works. -M
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2019 23:09:38 GMT -5
I am only a third of the way through this right now (I am basically reading one essay a day from it)-Last Night A Super-Hero Saved My Life edited by Liesa Mignoga it's a collection of essays from creative folk about how their favorite super-hero impacted their life. There's a wide range of writers contributing (over 20 essays overall) including the following (the super-hero they chose in parenthesis) Austin Grossman (Batman) Delilah S. Dawson (Hulk) Anthony Breznican (Iron Man) Christopher Golden (Marvel heroes) Jamie Ford (Daredevil and Elektra) Karina Cooper (Gambit & Rogue) Scott Westerfield (Spider-Man) Brad Meltzer (New Teen Titans/Judas Contract) Joe R. Lansdale (Batman) Carrie Vaughn (Wonder Woman) Brendan Deneen (Grendel) Neil Gaiman (Batman) Leigh Bardugo (Wonder Woman) Ron Currie Jr. (Wolverine) Jodi Picoult (Wonder Woman) Kevin Seccia (Thor) Martin Kihn (Underdog) Jim DiBartolo (Superman) Charles Yu (The In-Betweener) Alethea Kontis (The Next Men) Jenn Reese (Nightcrawler) Liesa Mignogna (Batman) the book itself is divided into thematic sections... Superheroes and Being Human Superheroes and Love Superheroes and Writing Superheroes and Gender Superheroes and Childhood Superheroes and Trauma Some of the essays so far are humorous, some heartbreaking, but all of them so far have hit home in some way with my experiences with the four color heroes who have been omnipresent in my life. I am going to slowly read and savor the remaining essays, but I wanted to give this book a shout out here for others who might be interested in exploring some of these. -M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 23, 2019 0:23:15 GMT -5
I know Slam_Bradley is a big fan of Joe Lansdale's stuff, and a few others have expressed interest, so I thought I would share this site: A Reader's Guide to Joe Lansdale which I stumbled upon earlier today for those who might be interested in exploring his works. -M Appreciate that. Lansdale posted it on Facebook earlier today and I saw it there.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 24, 2019 0:32:18 GMT -5
Trail of Lightning Rebecca Roanhorse
I'm not quite sure what I thought of this book... I'm happy it was for book club.. .I suspect the discussion will help me figure it out.
On the one hand, it's a near future dystopia that doesn't involve zombies, which makes me happy. The traumatic event is called 'The Big Water'.. it's not spelled out, but it's some extreme version of the climate change disaster some predict... it seems a massive flood, perhaps coupled with 'the big one'. Sadly, other than Dinetah (the 'home base of the story), there's very little indication of what's going on in the rest of the world... they mention the US is gone, and there's a mormon state (why does every writer decide they'll be a Mormon state? Every... single... one), but nothing else.
What we do know is that gods and magic are back in the world (perhaps the author liked the later Terry Brooks series more than I did)... but we only get a bit of the mythology of the Dinetah(Navajo).
I would have liked alot more on that, and a lot less of the main character whining about how emotionally broken she is. Maybe it's because I'm a happy, well adjusted person, but I can't stand that sort of main character. They make me want to slap them in the back of the head and scream 'GET OVER IT'. I understand from my personal point of view as a happy, well adjusted person, this may be a bit mean, and unsympathetic, but I can't help it.
Ultimately, the lack of characters to cheer for is what made me give it a lowish rating. Kai is too perfect, Maggie too broken, and the others are just not developed or 'on screen' enough.
Also, the semi-cliff hanger ending definitely takes off half a star... writing a series does not mean you can write one novel and split it into 3 parts. While the teaser for the 2nd book sort of serves as an epilogue.. there should have just been an actual epilogue instead.
Venting aside, the series has some potential if the author can either focus more on the world she's created, or make the characters a bit more interesting... the book definitely is a page turner with a solid, comfortable style.
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