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Post by Jeddak on Feb 1, 2018 22:43:44 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! It's been a while, but as I remember, the books (he did 3) were not that close to the tv show. The society of the 'giants' was quite a bit different, more alien, different technology, and the characters were flying around the planet, whereas on the show they couldn't get the ship off the ground. I actually thought Leinster showed more imagination than the show.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 1, 2018 23:37:00 GMT -5
Well, I suppose that makes sense... be more expensive to film if they flew around alot. It was interesting with his thoughts about how the giants should be impossible, but he never got to why they did exist, which would have been nice.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 4, 2018 23:48:25 GMT -5
Doctor Who: Island of Death by Barry Letts I haven't really been able to get into the Doctor since Peter Capaldi signed on, so I thought maybe a couple novels might be in order to get revved up for the new season. Of course, I kinda hate Sarah Jane (she always seemed a bad imitation of Lois Lane to me), and I never liked the concept of the Doctor being so well known in a particular time and plcae, so I'm not sure why I picked this one. It's not bad, but it's very by-the-numbers and typical of the small bits of the 3rd Doctor I've scene. The ending is a bit too convienent for my tastes as well.. suitable for TV, perhaps, but I expect a bit more from a book. Oh, well, maybe the next one will be better
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2018 1:06:21 GMT -5
Just starting to read through Journeys Through Dreamtime, part of the Time Life Myth and Mankind series. I have always been fascinated by Aboriginal Australian myths and folklore, but it is one mythos I am woefully under-informed about and under-read in, so I am reading through this general survey book before finding some more focused or detailed works. The Time Life series has been sitting on my reference shelf for a long time (along with several other similar series on myth, folklore and ancient civilizations that I have picked up over the years) and were among the books on the chopping block in the big purge of stuff Amy and I are doing, but I decided to keep them for now and read through a few of them to see if they are still useful for me to keep on hand long term. -M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 5, 2018 7:21:53 GMT -5
I have a few of those I got WAY long ago... I actually ended up boxing them up when I needed shelf space... I really should take'em out and see if they are worth keeping or not too!
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 9, 2018 10:06:40 GMT -5
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
I've been intending to read this for a while... and the APL finally talked me into it.. book 2 of the series was on a display, and this one just around the corner, so I grabbed it.
I'd watched a couple Episodes of the Expanse on TV, and while it seemed decent, it got me more to want to read the book than continue watching.. it seemed a decent riff on Babylon 5 (no aliens, but a similar political drama). THe book starts out that way, too.. with different parts of the solar system at odds a bit due to different ways of life... the consistent metaphor for our own class struggles exaggerated by distance and even, in the case, a bit of evolution.
Then, about 1/2 way through, the book turns from a mystery in a unique setting to a hard core sci-fi first contact... which was a bit shocking, but worked amazingly well. The 2nd half of the book, where they deal with Eros and the 'protomolcule; felt like an episode of Star Trek:TNG... a weird mix, but it totally worked and told a very clear, cohesive story.
The main characters were great as well.. Jim Holden is one of the coolest guys I've read about... just superhero enough to root for all the time, but realistic enough to not just be a cypher. His 'crew' (seems weird to refer to it that way when there are only 3 of them) were not quite as interesting, but all filled familar sci fi rolls well. Miller was a little too mopey for my tastes, but certainly was a well developed, interesting character that I hope we haven't seen the last of.
I also really felt like the science made sense.. there was really a feeling that living in space was HARD.. and dangerous. Too often sci fi makes light of it, as if clearly, once we're able to get out to Mars, it'll be easy (unless the book is actually about getting there). Here, we're there, and we have been for a while, but it's still hard. Water gets mined from Saturn, and supply disruption causes riots. It all makes alot of sense, and gives the book a feel of realism that is hard to do when you star talking about colonies on asteriods and magic alien viruses.
I will most definitely be getting the next one (hopefully today!)
THe one thing I didn't get though.. why 'The Expanse'? Perhaps it'll become clear later. I get calling the space virus a leviathan, but also a bit weird no one in the book ever uses that term.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2018 11:27:31 GMT -5
I,ve really enjoyed the Expanse tv series and I tried the book before I saw the show (based on Warren Ellis talking it up in his newsletter) but I was distracted at the time and couldn't get into the prose style in the prologue, and never got past it (which is why I checked out the show to see if the story was something I wanted to come back to at a later date). I do want to come back to these at some point, but I have so much on my plate right now it's not a priority, but I will keep watching the show.
-M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 9, 2018 18:56:45 GMT -5
I,ve really enjoyed the Expanse tv series and I tried the book before I saw the show (based on Warren Ellis talking it up in his newsletter) but I was distracted at the time and couldn't get into the prose style in the prologue, and never got past it (which is why I checked out the show to see if the story was something I wanted to come back to at a later date). I do want to come back to these at some point, but I have so much on my plate right now it's not a priority, but I will keep watching the show. -M I watched a few eps of the show when it first came out, but I found it a bit confusing... I have an easier time following multiple threads and characters like that in prose. Now that I've read it, I think I'll enjoy it more.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2018 10:54:08 GMT -5
I really enjoyed the first book and have read the in between novellas. I’m hoping to get back to the series this year, but so far my prose reading has been slow going in 2018.
I love the TV series. It’s unbelievable that it’s a SyFy series. The second season finally just hit Amazon Prime and I know my lady and I will be binging it soon.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 10, 2018 10:59:16 GMT -5
I really enjoyed the first book and have read the in between novellas. I’m hoping to get back to the series this year, but so far my prose reading has been slow going in 2018. I love the TV series. It’s unbelievable that it’s a SyFy series. The second season finally just hit Amazon Prime and I know my lady and I will be binging it soon.I s I saw those exist on good reads... Kindle only, I'm guessing? I might have ot go ahead and suffer through that, that sound really interesting!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2018 11:13:26 GMT -5
I really enjoyed the first book and have read the in between novellas. I’m hoping to get back to the series this year, but so far my prose reading has been slow going in 2018. I love the TV series. It’s unbelievable that it’s a SyFy series. The second season finally just hit Amazon Prime and I know my lady and I will be binging it soon.I s I saw those exist on good reads... Kindle only, I'm guessing? I might have ot go ahead and suffer through that, that sound really interesting! That’s how I read them so far. I don’t know if they are waiting for the series to finish and then put out a hardcover collecting all the short fiction from the series.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 10, 2018 17:28:55 GMT -5
Yeah, probably so.. that is often what they do.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 13, 2018 12:23:29 GMT -5
High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic by Glenn Frankel Frankel takes a look at the Hollywood Blacklist through the lens of High Noon and particularly screenwriter Carl Foreman. High Noon was pretty obviously a parable about the blacklist. Certainly Foreman wrote it as such (prior to being blacklisted himself). Certainly other forces shaped it; director Fred Zinneman, producer Stanley Kramer (though he largely abandoned the production until post-production), editor Elmo Williams and, of course, Gary Cooper. But Foreman wrote the screenplay and worked with Zinneman to shape the film the latter as he was being hauled in front of the HUAC and used an interesting limited Fifth Amendment that allowed him to avoid prison (unlike the Hollywood Ten) and landed him on the blacklist. The book is relatively even-handed. Frankel does a good job of giving everyone involved in the production of High Noon their due, not an easy task, given the disputes that arose over the years over who did what. Foreman is presented with warts, particularly his treatment of his family after his blacklisting and his move to England to try to keep working. Stanley Kramer certainly comes across in a less than positive light for his treatment of Foreman in particular and his acquiescence to the dictates of HUAC and the Hollywood studio heads. Cooper certainly comes across as sympathetic and probably one of the few conservatives in Hollywood who retained a conscience. It's probably outside the scope of this work to try to rehabilitate any HUAC members...and they almost certainly don't deserve it. John Wayne certainly comes across as an unrepentant asshole. This isn't meant to be a comprehensive look at the Red-Scare or even the Hollywood blacklist. What it is, is a look at one corner of a nasty point in American history...one that seems likely to be making a comeback. And it's a look at a classic film that served to shine a mirror on how incredibly cowardly the Land of the Brave so frequently is. A good book, well worth a read.
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 14, 2018 11:30:24 GMT -5
Slam_Bradley , I read High Noon a few months ago and also enjoyed it. I had the same reaction to Kramer as you. Also found out about a few others on both sides of that fight whose involvement I hadn't known about. Lloyd Bridges and Sterling Hayden, for example. I had known about Anne Revere, but grew to admire her even more. (And the movie, too.) The mini-biography of Gary Cooper that winds through the book was also interesting. I'd recommend two other similar books to you and everyone else: Five Came Back, by Mark Harris, about the wartime service of Frank Capra, John Huston, William Wyler, George Stevens, and John Ford, their achievements, and the toll it took on each of them. Like Frankel's High Noon, it shows the human side of each of these artists. I have to say that it's almost refreshing, in an odd way, to see that even these kinds of geniuses can be shaken to the core by what they saw and experienced. (Also was a series last year on Netflix. Maybe it's still on.) I liked this so much more than Harris's highly touted Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, which focused on five films made in 1967 ( The Graduate; Doctor Doolittle; Bonnie and Clyde; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; In the Heat of the Night). Struck me as more gossipy than insightful, and to be honest, most of what Harris was saying I'd read before. The other, also by Frankel, is The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend. Also informative, detailed and enjoyable reading. Delves into the history of the period of the film, including the saga of Quanah and Cynthia Parker, as well as the making of the film. Well done.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 14, 2018 11:45:56 GMT -5
Slam_Bradley , I read High Noon a few months ago and also enjoyed it. I had the same reaction to Kramer as you. Also found out about a few others on both sides of that fight whose involvement I hadn't known about. Lloyd Bridges and Sterling Hayden, for example. I had known about Anne Revere, but grew to admire her even more. (And the movie, too.) The mini-biography of Gary Cooper that winds through the book was also interesting. I'd recommend two other similar books to you and everyone else: Five Came Back, by Mark Harris, about the wartime service of Frank Capra, John Huston, William Wyler, George Stevens, and John Ford, their achievements, and the toll it took on each of them. Like Frankel's High Noon, it shows the human side of each of these artists. I have to say that it's almost refreshing, in an odd way, to see that even these kinds of geniuses can be shaken to the core by what they saw and experienced. (Also was a series last year on Netflix. Maybe it's still on.) I liked this so much more than Harris's highly touted Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, which focused on five films made in 1967 ( The Graduate; Doctor Doolittle; Bonnie and Clyde; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; In the Heat of the Night). Struck me as more gossipy than insightful, and to be honest, most of what Harris was saying I'd read before. The other, also by Frankel, is The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend. Also informative, detailed and enjoyable reading. Delves into the history of the period of the film, including the saga of Quanah and Cynthia Parker, as well as the making of the film. Well done. Cool. I want to read Frankel's book on The Searchers (one of my top five favorite movies). Just have to find the time. If you're interested in a very good biography of Quanah Parker I highly recommend Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches by S. C. Gwynne. Just an utterly compelling book that will keep you up nights reading. Sterling Hayden was a very complex and interesting fellow. He ended up utterly despising himself for naming names to HUAC. His autobiography Wanderer (up to 1963) is a great read (in fact I'm probably due for a re-read). Guy lead a very interesting life, being an OSS agent during World War II and essentially kidnapping his children and heading on a personal schooner to the South Seas as his marriage was breaking up. He also got a song written about him by the always fabulous Tom Russell.
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