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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 25, 2018 21:55:28 GMT -5
Vanishing Point Patricia Wentworth
I grabbed this based on some stuff that was popping up on my feed.. not a bad book as rural British stories go, but not much of a mystery. The bad guy was clear from the start, and the main character barely made an appearance.
It felt more like a romance, and while it was a pretty well done one, that's not really my genre. The writer did a great job of capturing a small town in the British countryside... I might give another one a try to see if they are more detective-y.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2018 21:58:25 GMT -5
Finished Spill the Jackpot by Erle Stanley Gardner. This one was pretty good too.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 28, 2018 2:46:23 GMT -5
Since Bearded Batman brought up the Quarry books, I should mention that I very recently read Quarry's Climax, the most recent novel in the series (if you don't count the recently concluded Hard Case comic mini). This one, like the two that precede it (Quarry's Choice and Quarry in the Black) and the recent comic series, is set roughly the early/mid '70s, at the time before Quarry struck out on his own, i.e., he was still working for the Broker. The latter sends him down to Memphis to protect the publisher of a trashy porn magazine (that's gotten nationally popular because it also contains a lot of controversial political and social satire), and to try to figure who put a hit on him. This pretty much follows the formula of every Quarry novel, i.e., they're whodunits, where the 'done' means contracting a killing rather than the actual killing itself (usually Quarry does the latter). This one doesn't disappoint, it's a good read. However, if Collins writes any more Quarry novels, I'm hoping he goes back to the post-Broker period, which is when all my favorite stories are set. I kind of wish he would set one in the period between the end of Quarry's Vote and Last Quarry, i.e., the 1990s basically.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 28, 2018 11:24:00 GMT -5
Carnosaur Weekend by Garnett Elliott. A collection of three short stories by Elliott who works in almost every pulp genre. The first two deal with Continuity, a group which polices timelines as represented by nephew and uncle team Kyler Knightly and Damon Cole. There's nothing terribly original in the concept, Poul Anderson was doing something similar in his Time Patrol series 30+ years ago, but it's a fun concept. The first story was good. A rogue company has set up a resort in the dinosaur age and our agents have to deal with it. It's nothing special, but a fun short story. The second story sees the agents going into the future to obtain necessary minerals and things go awry. A decent story but not as fun. The third story seems to be an unrelated SF story about the dangers of planetfall. It had a bit of an EC Weird Science feel to it. Overall it was an okay read, especially considering the limited time commitment. Unfortunately none of the stories were completely successful though none of them were bad in any way. Marginally recommended as it's not much of a commitment.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 28, 2018 21:05:52 GMT -5
5 Unearthly Visions Edited by Groff Conklin This was an excellent collection of 5 50s stories edited in the 60s.. with a bit of insight from the editor about whether or not they are still 'possible' in the context of when it was published. While the Simak story was disappointing, overall a good collection well worth having. 'Legwork' by Eric Frank Russell - fun tale of an alien thief come to Earth that can shapechange, and how old fashioned hard work can beat high tech. 'Conditionally Human' by Walter M. Miller - Best of the bunch, a world were population is limited, and genetically engineered animals that are almost human are used to replace them. The main character is in charge of monitoring those animals, and has to make a hard decision when some get smarter than they are supposed to be. 'Stamped Caution' by Raymond Z. Gallun - An extremely unique first contact that could only be written in the naivety of the 50s, when everyone thought the goverment was just trying to be helpful. It doesn't really stand any sort of realism consideration, but the concept is pretty interesting. 'Dio' by Damon Knight - a look at a world where mortal engineers are constantly remaking the world for immortals that are bored, and how they interact. Almost deep, but not quite. 'Shadow World' by Clifford Simak - Probably the least interesting Simak I've read (he's usually so good), another first contact type with a twist at the end that is kinda meh.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 29, 2018 15:30:40 GMT -5
Silver Ridersby Greg Hatcher Yep, that's a novel by a (now not very active) CCF member; it's a weird western set in eastern Oregon. Greg based the characters on some people he knows, and a few real-life situations actually inspired some of the main plot points. However, that doesn't mean this is an opaque work - quite the opposite. I mention it because it really gives the story some added depth. Seriously, man, everyone here should read this book.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 29, 2018 16:52:24 GMT -5
Silver Ridersby Greg Hatcher Yep, that's a novel by a (now not very active) CCF member; it's a weird western set in eastern Oregon. Greg based the characters on some people he knows, and a few real-life situations actually inspired some of the main plot points. However, that doesn't mean this is an opaque work - quite the opposite. I mention it because it really gives the story some added depth. Seriously, man, everyone here should read this book. That’s just great! I remember reading some of Greg’s fiction back in the day, and it was very good! So glad he kept at it.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 2, 2018 2:26:26 GMT -5
Just finished this the other day: Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, Vol. 11It's got four new Holmes stories, but the reason I'm highlighting this one - at the risk of sounding like a broken record - is because one of them is by Greg Hatcher. And everyone here should really read it, because it's basically Holmes taking on the Riddler. It's awesome! I actually first read the story well over a year ago, because I was one of the beta readers for it, but it only (finally) got published a few weeks ago. It was nice to re-read it, though, because I had forgotten some of the details. If the price tag is too hefty, or you're not the biggest Holmes fan, a very reasonably priced PDF version can be purchased at the publisher's (Airship 27) site. Well worth it if you just want to read that one story. (By the way, Greg has contributed stories to three of the other Holmes volumes, 6, 7 and 10, and a number of stories in some of the various pulp hero titles Airship publishes, like the Green Ghost, Black Bat, Domino Lday and Moon Man. The latter was also just released about 2 weeks ago. And, of course, there's his novel, which I mentioned above...)
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 2, 2018 23:03:03 GMT -5
I'm not usually one for PDFs, but those sure are tempting.. nice find!
Slow Horses by Mick Herron
The blurb of this one really grabbed me when I saw it on the shelf at the library... a halfway house for failed spies? Awesome. I was picturing a long term redemption story, with cool spy action... that's really not at all what you get, but it's actually even more interesting.
Sure Slough House (get it?), is were spies from MI-5 go when they're messed up, and the Service wants to force them into quitting/retiring but giving them mindless drudgery. But most of it's inhabitants seem to actually BE screwups.. even the main character, who is supposed to have been sorta framed for his screw up, is no James Bond. Instead, what we get is some really interesting characters, and a plot that's far more political intrigue (well, interoffice I guess) than thriller.
In fact, the terrorist act in the book is resolved in a way that borders on parody, which fits in perfectly with the rest of the story. It was really unique I thought to have the 'heroes' of the book be medicore(bordering on incompetent) at their job. Hopefully, they'll get better, or at least the plot won't get resolved in such a..well, random way next time. It was fun here, but it would get old if it keeps happening.
I'm not sure if the series can go places enough to last for the 7 books it now contains and still be good, but I'll definitely be getting the next one at least.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2018 21:02:25 GMT -5
Quarry’s Deal. I thought I’d read this one before but it turns out I had not. The best one so far.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 6, 2018 0:27:11 GMT -5
Sorcerer's World by Damien Broderick c. 1970 This is the first of many books written by Broderick.. and one wonders why anyone gave him another chance. The cover and beginning implies an adventure book along the lines of an ERB book, but it turns out the main character (a faux Mongol that disappoints his father by wishing to not kill) ends up in the far future trying to help a trio of highly advanced beings restart the sun. He does this by wondering around their world with no memory to prepare him for adventure. He makes some friends, meets a girl, and is deemed ready to be sent back to his time, which is apparently messing up the process for starting the sun. The end. If there's another book that concludes the 2nd half of the suggested plot, it's not clear which it is. There is an 'expanded edition' of the story, but frankly it's just not interesting enough to pursue. The writing attempts to mimic the great epic writers, but kinda fails. It was kinda interesting that the main bad guy used alot of illusion and mental tricks instead of hordes of minions, and the far future guys were kinda cool, but that was barely enough to get me to finish the book.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2018 0:33:46 GMT -5
I've been reading (and rereading parts) of Eisner/Miller the last couple of days. I am about a quarter of the way through, but I keep going back and rereading chapters or bits here and there just to savor it and let it absorb into my brain. It's a fascinating conversation between two masters who approach the medium in vastly different ways, but both have done standout work. -M
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2018 2:39:35 GMT -5
I've been reading (and rereading parts) of Eisner/Miller the last couple of days. I am about a quarter of the way through, but I keep going back and rereading chapters or bits here and there just to savor it and let it absorb into my brain. It's a fascinating conversation between two masters who approach the medium in vastly different ways, but both have done standout work. -M I'm thinking of getting a copy of this book soon ... through my LCS.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 7, 2018 17:21:42 GMT -5
Wine of the Dreamersby John D. MacDonald An intriguing SF novel from the guy who brought us all those Travis McGee novels. It was first published back in 1951, and I have to say, it mostly holds up pretty well. MacDonald really threw out some intriguing ideas here. Definitely worth reading if you're a fan of MacDonald's writing, or a fan of older SF.
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Post by berkley on Apr 7, 2018 23:04:30 GMT -5
Wine of the Dreamersby John D. MacDonald An intriguing SF novel from the guy who brought us all those Travis McGee novels. It was first published back in 1951, and I have to say, it mostly holds up pretty well. MacDonald really threw out some intriguing ideas here. Definitely worth reading if you're a fan of MacDonald's writing, or a fan of older SF. I've read all the McGee books so I've always wondered about this science fiction novel of MacDonald's. Glad to hear it's worth reading. I think MacDonald wrote a few other SF things as well - I believe I've seen his name in at least one SF short story anthology, forget the title now. Not sure if there were any more SF novels.
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