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Post by brutalis on Sept 26, 2017 10:00:40 GMT -5
The Faith Hunter series is Fantasy so romance is NOT the focus of the series. Just part of the natural way of life. She plays a bit with it to enhance the story or character interactions but never dwells too deeply on it or goes into heavy sexual details like some of the supernatural romance series do. Vampires have their own erotic emphasis and she uses that quite well in context of the stories she writes.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 26, 2017 10:37:26 GMT -5
Tomorrow is Another Day by Stuart Kaminsky. Someone is killing extras who appeared in Gone With The Wind and Clark Gable (not an extra) seems to be a further target. It's up to Hollywood's favorite P.I. Toby Peters to figure it all out and stop the murders...again. A good entry in the series.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 26, 2017 20:53:36 GMT -5
I liked Simon Green for Urban Fantasy as well.. there was another series too.. Mike Carey, I think, that was quite good.
Today's book: [Call of Duty] Manticore Ascendant, book 1 David Weber, Timothy Zahn
I really loved the first, oh, 6 or 7 Honor Harrington books. It was like a great Naval novel, but in space, with some great characters. As many epic series do, it got too big for it's own good, and too focused on side plots, until the main character was barely able to be found in the last book or two I read.
This is a prequel series, but a distant prequel... like The Scott Bakula Star Trek series. It shows us the beginnings of the Manticore Star Empire, and the Royal Manitoran Navy... which is really to be disbanded by politicians.
As with the Honor Harrington books, the ship stuff is great, and the political stuff is slow and predictable... luckily the book is pretty short on politics. It could definitely be a 4 or even a 5 star book if the main character wasn't so darn unlikeable. I appreciate the attempt at having an annoying, rule following, snitchy main character, but there's a reason such characters are usually not the main focus of a book.
One thing that did annoy me, (and this has nothing to do with the story) is that it's been long enough since I read the main books that I felt like there were a few shout outs that I missed, but nothing that effected the story... they did do a good job making it pretty accessible to someone new to the Honorverse.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2017 22:13:49 GMT -5
I liked Simon Green for Urban Fantasy as well.. there was another series too.. Mike Carey, I think, that was quite good. I find Simon Green to be a little too self-indulgent for my tastes, and prone to the let's do the weird and shocking for the sake of weird and shocking even if it doesn't fit the story or move it forward. I tried both his Nightside series and The Secret History series (where every book's title is a play on a James Bond book e.g. Daemons are Forever) and dropped both a couple volumes in because of the overweening self-indulgence in it. I actually like his traditional fantasy (such as the Hawk and Fisher stuff) better. Still others might enjoy it far more than me, and that's cool. Mike Carey did the Felix Castor series which is basically a riff on Hellblazer and reads a lot like his run on Hellblazer. I have all 5 of them I believe but have only read the first 3. I liked them well enough but I put the series down to read something else and never went back. The Devil You Know is the first, and for me was the best of the three I read. He did do a somewhat interesting urban fantasy original comic series for Marvel called Spellbinders with art by Mark Perkins (who spelled Steve Epting from time to tome on Brubaker's Cap run). It's a 6 issue mini form 2005 and can usually be found as dollar bin fare. He did another urban fantasy comic early in his career called Inferno (from the mid 90s published by Caliber with art by Michael Gaydos pre-Alias) that my local library had a trade of randomly that was a decent read. And of course his Lucifer run for Vertigo is essentially urban fantasy as well (as is Sandman it progenitor). -M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 26, 2017 22:39:02 GMT -5
I liked Simon Green for Urban Fantasy as well.. there was another series too.. Mike Carey, I think, that was quite good. I find Simon Green to be a little too self-indulgent for my tastes, and prone to the let's do the weird and shocking for the sake of weird and shocking even if it doesn't fit the story or move it forward. I tried both his Nightside series and The Secret History series (where every book's title is a play on a James Bond book e.g. Daemons are Forever) and dropped both a couple volumes in because of the overweening self-indulgence in it. I actually like his traditional fantasy (such as the Hawk and Fisher stuff) better. Still others might enjoy it far more than me, and that's cool. Mike Carey did the Felix Castor series which is basically a riff on Hellblazer and reads a lot like his run on Hellblazer. I have all 5 of them I believe but have only read the first 3. I liked them well enough but I put the series down to read something else and never went back. The Devil You Know is the first, and for me was the best of the three I read. He did do a somewhat interesting urban fantasy original comic series for Marvel called Spellbinders with art by Mark Perkins (who spelled Steve Epting from time to tome on Brubaker's Cap run). It's a 6 issue mini form 2005 and can usually be found as dollar bin fare. He did another urban fantasy comic early in his career called Inferno (from the mid 90s published by Caliber with art by Michael Gaydos pre-Alias) that my local library had a trade of randomly that was a decent read. And of course his Lucifer run for Vertigo is essentially urban fantasy as well (as is Sandman it progenitor). -M Lucifer was brilliant. Which is saying a lot because it had enormous shoes to fill in Sandman. I also liked The Unwritten early on, but it seemed to start going in circles about half-way through and I never finished it. I have the Felix Castor books on my enormous list of books to read. I may get to them some day. But on the other hand I could live to be 1000 and never finish all the books on my list.
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Post by berkley on Sept 26, 2017 23:59:18 GMT -5
I find Simon Green to be a little too self-indulgent for my tastes, and prone to the let's do the weird and shocking for the sake of weird and shocking even if it doesn't fit the story or move it forward. I tried both his Nightside series and The Secret History series (where every book's title is a play on a James Bond book e.g. Daemons are Forever) and dropped both a couple volumes in because of the overweening self-indulgence in it. I actually like his traditional fantasy (such as the Hawk and Fisher stuff) better. Still others might enjoy it far more than me, and that's cool. Mike Carey did the Felix Castor series which is basically a riff on Hellblazer and reads a lot like his run on Hellblazer. I have all 5 of them I believe but have only read the first 3. I liked them well enough but I put the series down to read something else and never went back. The Devil You Know is the first, and for me was the best of the three I read. He did do a somewhat interesting urban fantasy original comic series for Marvel called Spellbinders with art by Mark Perkins (who spelled Steve Epting from time to tome on Brubaker's Cap run). It's a 6 issue mini form 2005 and can usually be found as dollar bin fare. He did another urban fantasy comic early in his career called Inferno (from the mid 90s published by Caliber with art by Michael Gaydos pre-Alias) that my local library had a trade of randomly that was a decent read. And of course his Lucifer run for Vertigo is essentially urban fantasy as well (as is Sandman it progenitor). -M Lucifer was brilliant. Which is saying a lot because it had enormous shoes to fill in Sandman. I also liked The Unwritten early on, but it seemed to start going in circles about half-way through and I never finished it. I have the Felix Castor books on my enormous list of books to read. I may get to them some day. But on the other hand I could live to be 1000 and never finish all the books on my list. I'm in exactly the same boat as regards The Unwritten but still intend to finishe it one of these days. Will probably have to start over from the beginning. Thanks for the urban fantasy tips and to mrp and wildfire as well. Thinking about the broader definition of urban fantasy, it occurs to me that I have read something that could be called urban fantasy before the fact (i.e. before the term was coined): Steve Englehart's The Point Man; which reminds me, I want to re-read that so I can go on the the sequel he published a few years ago.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2017 0:23:23 GMT -5
Lucifer was brilliant. Which is saying a lot because it had enormous shoes to fill in Sandman. I also liked The Unwritten early on, but it seemed to start going in circles about half-way through and I never finished it. I have the Felix Castor books on my enormous list of books to read. I may get to them some day. But on the other hand I could live to be 1000 and never finish all the books on my list. I'm in exactly the same boat as regards The Unwritten but still intend to finishe it one of these days. Will probably have to start over from the beginning. Thanks for the urban fantasy tips and to mrp and wildfire as well. Thinking about the broader definition of urban fantasy, it occurs to me that I have read something that could be called urban fantasy before the fact (i.e. before the term was coined): Steve Englehart's The Point Man; which reminds me, I want to re-read that so I can go on the the sequel he published a few years ago. there's actually been a couple of sequels now,almost a full blown series which is called the Max August Magikal Thrillers. The Point Man was the first, and got a revised/expanded edition when the sequels came out I believe. Then there is The Plain Man, the Arena Man, and the Long Man. I have to original paperback version of The Point Man, which I read years ago and one of the sequels I picked up on the cheap but never got to. -M
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2017 0:28:21 GMT -5
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Post by Calamas on Sept 27, 2017 12:12:23 GMT -5
I’ve read all four of the Max August novels but I can’t say how they rank in terms of genre as it’s not what I normally read. The first one I thought was good enough though showed multiple signs of being a first novel. The Long Man, #2, was much more polished, as it should be. 1981 vs. 2010; Englehart was a more experienced writer. It read like an adventure novel in a fantasy setting. The Plain Man was more solidly fantasy and he brought in two comic characters to which he owned the rights: Coyote and Scorpio Rose. The third, The Arena Man, I thought was the weakest of the sequels but still quality work. The three recent books reminded me of his Avengers work. Englehart would cut away from the main story to check in on other characters who are a part of the overall tapestry but are not necessary to the main storyline. My only complaint is that the publisher pulled something of a bait-and-switch. The first two novels were published as paperback originals but the finale was published as a hardback. As a result I bought the first two new and The Arena Man used.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2017 14:29:52 GMT -5
I’ve read all four of the Max August novels but I can’t say how they rank in terms of genre as it’s not what I normally read. The first one I thought was good enough though showed multiple signs of being a first novel. The Long Man, #2, was much more polished, as it should be. 1981 vs. 2010; Englehart was a more experienced writer. It read like an adventure novel in a fantasy setting. The Plain Man was more solidly fantasy and he brought in two comic characters to which he owned the rights: Coyote and Scorpio Rose. The third, The Arena Man, I thought was the weakest of the sequels but still quality work. The three recent books reminded me of his Avengers work. Englehart would cut away from the main story to check in on other characters who are a part of the overall tapestry but are not necessary to the main storyline. My only complaint is that the publisher pulled something of a bait-and-switch. The first two novels were published as paperback originals but the finale was published as a hardback. As a result I bought the first two new and The Arena Man used. Scorpio Rose? I need to track that down then. (that and the Scorpio Rose Warrior Nun Areala x-over mini by Englehart and Ben Dunn that I have kind of put off looking for forever). -M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 27, 2017 22:46:15 GMT -5
Felix Castor was the one I was thinking of... I'm definitely a Mike Carey fan... heck, he even wrote a half-way decent Zombie novel. I agree about Unwritten... it was great at the start, but it went way to meta.
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Post by berkley on Sept 27, 2017 23:53:58 GMT -5
Thanks for the info on Englehart's Max August series. I see on my shelves that I have my old copy of The Point Man and the also the first of the sequels, The Long Man, but not the other two. Will have to hunt them down ASAP.
Glad to hear about the appearance of some of his comics characters: I remember reading a few issues of Coyote back when they came out and enjoying them but for some reason I wasn't able to keep up with the series. Scorpio Rose I haven't read but look forward to getting into, especially now that I know she appears in the August books.
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Post by Calamas on Sept 28, 2017 8:24:27 GMT -5
When reading Scorpio Rose, think Madame Xanadu. Circa 1980 DC had an unused Madame Xanadu story by Englehart from the cancelled Doorway to Nightmare comic, and because 3-issue mini-series were beginning to take off, they commissioned him to produce two more scripts. In a pay dispute Englehart ended up taking back his new scripts and he eventually brought them to Eclipse, where they were suitably altered to avoid legal repercussions. You also might recognize Deadman and The Demon, or reasonable facsimiles thereof.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 1, 2017 21:15:34 GMT -5
The Caves of Night by John Christopher c. 1958 Apparently this slipped into the sci fi pile because the author does write sci fi. This one, however, despite the cover(which is definitely the best part) is not. The 1st half documents the main character, a middle-aged woman named Cynthia, starting an affair with the Austrian Count in the neigborhood while her husband documents some cave paintings. After that, we do get the cave part, in which the main characters get stuck, the red shirts die, and Cynthia gets left with a quite literal choice, where he has to choose whether her husband or her new fling lives or dies as the escape. If one is into 50s romance novels, you could probably do worse, but otherwise I'd give it a pass.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 3, 2017 16:57:42 GMT -5
A Call to Arms by Weber/Zahn/Pope
There is definitely a bit of the mid-series blahs in this book.. it starts off very slowly, but the last third is one of Weber's patented space-naval battles, which is great fun as usual.
Honorverse fans will enjoy the tech differences and the more simplistic capabilities, while at the same time still showing the good guys, the faux-British Manticorans, at their best in the role of resourceful underdog.
As with the first book, the main weakness is the utter unlikability of the main character, and the snoozefest political scenes. Those are made all the worse when Travis (the main character) screws over his friend and one of the only intriguing supporting characters, and it turns out he was utterly unfair to the standard 'spoiled-brat-that-really-is-OK' character that Weber loves.
Overall, a good read for the battle scene, but honestly you could probably skip the 1st half.
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