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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 21, 2018 12:31:18 GMT -5
The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown by Paul Malmont In some ways this is a little bit of a hard book for me to review. Some time in 2007 or 2008 I came up with the idea for a novel based at the Philadelphia Naval Yard with Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Sprague de Camp as the main characters and with the Philadelphia Experiment and Nikola Tesla at the center of the plot. I still have my notes on it, but I never got around to writing it. But Paul Malmont did in his sequel to The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril. Of course he added in L. Ron Hubbard and small appearances by Lester Dent and Walter Gibson. And it's probably better than what I had in mind. I liked the book...though definitely not as much as Chinatown. And I think that's for a few reasons. One is that Chinatown was very successful at conveying a "pulp" feel. While SF was still pulp during the war, John W. Campbell (who gets a small part in the book) had managed to start what we now call the Golden Age of Science Fiction and the feel was very much not the same as the "superhero" pulps that were the focus of Chinatown. This book just never quite felt like the Golden Age of SF. The other problem is that Malmont has definite ticks. In Chinatown, he kept talking about Heinlein and Hubbard being so much younger than Dent even though there was only three years difference in age between Dent and Heinlein and Heinlein had been a Naval officer. Here it was possibly more egregious. I was okay with Asimov being written about as younger, because he was still a college student before he went to work at the Naval Yard. But referring to Sprague de Camp as "The Kid" was ridiculous. He was four years older and infinitely more cosmopolitan than Hubbard. It's a tick that really started to bug me. And while I understand where Malmont was going bringing in Gertie Asimov and Leslyn Heinlein to the story, they just were never nearly as interesting as Norma Dent was in Chinatown. The resolution of the plot didn't quite work for me. It wasn't quite pulp...though it was a bit...but it sure wasn't SF. All this would seem to indicate that I didn't really care for the book. And I did. It's still a fun read. And a lot of it worked well. It just wasn't nearly as good as Chinatown and it just didn't hit the buttons that I wanted it to hit.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 26, 2018 0:38:31 GMT -5
Mrs. Murphy's Underpants by Fredric Brown. The Seventh and final Ed and Am Hunter novel was a late-comer, coming four years after the penultimate novel and 12 years after it had appeared that Brown had left the series behind. I'll say right off the bat that the title is a dog. It actually does play in to the novel (not in that way) but it's still not a good title. The book, however, is much better than I'd expected. The last two novels in the series are generally regarded as, at best, lesser works. But I found this one far more enjoyable than I was expecting. Am has been hired by Vince Dolan to tail his wife. Almost simultaneously Mike Dolan, his young son, embroils Ed in the family by trying to steal his gun, ostensibly to protect his father from people plotting to kill him. Of course there's a not-as-young daughter for whom Ed falls (as Ed is want to do). And the solution, while not completely surprising is satisfying. I think one of the things that Brown always does in these books is to show that the life of a private detective isn't non-stop action. There is a lot of boredom and a lot of bills to pay without a lot of income. Not the highlight of the series. But far better than I expected. Well worth a read and a decent wrap-up for the uncle and nephew sleuths.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2018 1:51:18 GMT -5
currently reading the first volume of the Flashing Swords anthology edited by Lin Carter (with a Frazetta cover) I've read the first two stories in the collection-the Sadness of the Executioner, a Fafhrd & Gray Mouser tale by Fritz Leiber, and Morreion, a tale of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance, both original to this volume (possibly reprinted elsewhere later, not sure). Both were a lot of fun, but the Lankhmar tale was not a standout. Morreion however was vintage Vance. I still have Poul Anderson's The Merman's Children, and a tale of Amalric the Mangod by Lin Carter to go in this volume. -M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 26, 2018 10:45:29 GMT -5
currently reading the first volume of the Flashing Swords anthology edited by Lin Carter (with a Frazetta cover) Those books were huge in my junior high and high school. Haven't looked at them in eons.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2018 11:14:27 GMT -5
currently reading the first volume of the Flashing Swords anthology edited by Lin Carter (with a Frazetta cover) Those books were huge in my junior high and high school. Haven't looked at them in eons. I read the historical S&S collections Carter edited (Kingdoms of Sorcery & Realms of Wizardry) in high school but never got the Flashing Swords books. I picked these up when I was picking up any and all Frazetta covers I could find, but never got around to reading them, though I have read stuff by all the included authors. I am trying to make a point to read through stuff that has been sitting on my shelves forever this year, particularly anthologies, so grabbed this one. -M
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Post by berkley on Jan 26, 2018 13:02:11 GMT -5
I've been picking up second hand copies of a lot of these old fantasy and SF collections too over the last few years - and, like mrp, sometimes enticed by a cover I couldn't resist. It'll be a while yet before I start reading them though. I have only one or two of the Lin Carter anthologies, also a few of Andrew Offutt's Swords Against Darkness, and some of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress, among others.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2018 15:49:29 GMT -5
I've been picking up second hand copies of a lot of these old fantasy and SF collections too over the last few years - and, like mrp, sometimes enticed by a cover I couldn't resist. It'll be a while yet before I start reading them though. I have only one or two of the Lin Carter anthologies, also a few of Andrew Offutt's Swords Against Darkness, and some of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress, among others. I have quite a few Swords Against Darkness volumes too, and my wife has most (maybe all I haven't looked in a while) of the Sword and Sorceress volumes. -M
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Post by Rob Allen on Jan 26, 2018 16:16:49 GMT -5
currently reading the first volume of the Flashing Swords anthology edited by Lin Carter (with a Frazetta cover) Those books were huge in my junior high and high school. Haven't looked at them in eons. I would have loved to have anybody in my JHS/HS years who was also into these books. I had friends who read comics and science fiction, but I was the only fantasy fan I knew.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 26, 2018 17:19:51 GMT -5
Those books were huge in my junior high and high school. Haven't looked at them in eons. I would have loved to have anybody in my JHS/HS years who was also into these books. I had friends who read comics and science fiction, but I was the only fantasy fan I knew. Was pretty much the opposite for me. But I think I'm a decent bit younger than you. It seemed like almost everyone read fantasy. Burroughs, Howard, Moorcock, Tolkien, the Thomas Covenant novels and the Shannara books were really big. Tons of people playing D&D. By contrast there were maybe a half dozen of us who read comics and not very many who read SF.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2018 0:19:48 GMT -5
I would have loved to have anybody in my JHS/HS years who was also into these books. I had friends who read comics and science fiction, but I was the only fantasy fan I knew. Was pretty much the opposite for me. But I think I'm a decent bit younger than you. It seemed like almost everyone read fantasy. Burroughs, Howard, Moorcock, Tolkien, the Thomas Covenant novels and the Shannara books were really big. Tons of people playing D&D. By contrast there were maybe a half dozen of us who read comics and not very many who read SF. Yeah I was the only real comic guy in my circle of high school associates, though a couple read X-Men (and one the Star Wars comics) and nothing else, but we all played D&D, read fantasy, and watched sci-fi movies. A few were hardcore sci-fi readers too, and a few were Trekkies, but I was the only one who was big into comics. -M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 27, 2018 11:14:29 GMT -5
Wow, you guys are lucky.. I had a couple friends in HS that were Trekkers (we actually had a good hald the school saluting each other with the Mirror Universe federation salute for a day or two until the school got nervous and stopped it), but no one that was into fantasy or D&D.. my first real role playing was Gamma World and the White Wolf stuff in college.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 30, 2018 9:50:12 GMT -5
Surrender, New York by Caleb Carr
I am a big fan of the Alienist, and also enjoyed Carr's attempt at Holmes, so when this book popped up on a library display I quickly scooped it up. Its vaguely a follow up to the Alienist, in that it's a modern story where the main character, Dr. Trajan Jones, is a big fan of Dr. Kreitzler (from the Alienist). Carr uses the story to talk about several issues he's clearly passionate about.. including the use of forensics and it's confirmation bias, the issue of 'throwaway' children (kids abandoned by their parents, and animal treatment.
The result is a really weird set of characters that are so quirky it's almost a parody.. Dr. Jones himself has a family estate where he works out of a WWI German plane... has a fake leg due to childhood cancer, and a 'pet' cheetah he saved from a previous case against a petting zoo.
His young protege, Lucas, is the very definition of the 'tough-but-smart streetwise kid' that somehow manages to be likeable despite being much more generic than I usually like.the issues Carr wanted to address within the story.
Then there's Dr. Li, Dr. Jones' long time partner whose role seemed to mainly be to play devil's advocate and provide a reason for Dr. Jones to talk about
The story could deifinitely been alot shorter, as there are several points that are simple Carr getting on his soapbox, but while his points were repetitive, it didn't hurt the pace too much.
I found myself really enjoying the story, the setting and the characters.... while I have no idea what rural Upstate New York is actually like, it seemed to fit to me. I'd be more than happy to read another story about these characters.
I find it odd that many other reviewers didn't like the ending, it seemed quite complete to me, not sure what further resolution could have happened. Sure, there are character notes that could be further developed, but that would be suitable if this turns out to be a series more than adding to this already fairly epic tome.
Overall, while I can see alot of issues with the story, I really enjoyed it, and would love another from these characters.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 1, 2018 12:45:34 GMT -5
The Czar of Fear by Kenneth Robeson (Lester Dent). The Ninth super-saga is a little bit of an anomaly for this series. The Doc Savage formula was to have Doc and his crew go to an exotic location and fight evil. While tied to the time period they inhabited they generally didn't delve deeply into what was happening politically or economically at the time. This one, however, breaks the mold a bit. This one finds Doc, who is being framed for a murder, and crew battling The Green Bell in a small coal-mining town in the north-east US. Even more off point than the lack of an exotic locale is that the book actually looks at the then-current economic depression in the US. Unfortunately these changes to formula don't fully make up for the fact that the identity of the antagonist is pretty damn self-evident from the second or third chapter and there is no way it should have taken Doc as long as it did to figure it out. The villain's motivation is also pretty weak. With the advanced tech he had access too and the money he clearly spent on his endeavors he probably could have completed his "plan" without actually breaking the law. So on the one hand it's probably worthwhile as being a bit out of the ordinary. On the other hand it's weaker on plot than the average Doc adventure.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 1, 2018 22:19:45 GMT -5
The Land of the Giants by Murray Leinster I'm not familar with the series at all, but I do like Murray Leinster... one can totally picture the show from the book, which is definitely the purpose of such an adaption. That said, there's not a whole lot to it... it's clearly written specifically for a particular set of special effects. The story is pretty basic and entirely predictible, but I'm sure if you're a fan of the show its great!
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Post by Jeddak on Feb 1, 2018 22:38:20 GMT -5
The Czar of Fear by Kenneth Robeson (Lester Dent). The Ninth super-saga is a little bit of an anomaly for this series. The Doc Savage formula was to have Doc and his crew go to an exotic location and fight evil. While tied to the time period they inhabited they generally didn't delve deeply into what was happening politically or economically at the time. This one, however, breaks the mold a bit. This one finds Doc, who is being framed for a murder, and crew battling The Green Bell in a small coal-mining town in the north-east US. Even more off point than the lack of an exotic locale is that the book actually looks at the then-current economic depression in the US. Unfortunately these changes to formula don't fully make up for the fact that the identity of the antagonist is pretty damn self-evident from the second or third chapter and there is no way it should have taken Doc as long as it did to figure it out. The villain's motivation is also pretty weak. With the advanced tech he had access too and the money he clearly spent on his endeavors he probably could have completed his "plan" without actually breaking the law. So on the one hand it's probably worthwhile as being a bit out of the ordinary. On the other hand it's weaker on plot than the average Doc adventure. Over at Atomic Junk Shop, they recently ran a piece on Doc Savage reflecting the times. They talk about Czar of Fear and a couple of others. It's here
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