|
Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 8, 2018 3:27:54 GMT -5
Yes, he wrote two more SF novels: Ballroom of the Skies (first pub. in 1952) and then The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything (1962) which was more humorous - haven't read either of those, but probably will at some point just because I rather liked this one (which I checked out of the library). I think MacDonald also once edited an anthology of SF short stories, although he didn't contribute any himself. The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything, by the way, was adapted into a made-for-TV movie starring Robert Hays (yep, the Airplane guy) and Pam Dawber. It was aired in 1980 or so, I remember watching part of it but don't recall much of the story, except that it involved a watch that could somehow pause the flow of time or something like that.
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 12, 2018 21:10:06 GMT -5
Dead Lions by Mick Herron
There are lots of spy books out there that take left over Communists and have them be the bad guy... after all, what better setting for a spy novel than the cold war.
This one was a pretty unique take on that trope, though, and I was genuinely surprised at the ending and the characters motivation in the end, which is really cool.
While it was a bit disappointing that the focus was definitely off River Cartwright this book, the other 'Slow Horses' were interesting in their own right, so he wasn't missed too much.
The real strength of the book, though, is in the realism. There's no James Bond here... these are people that do their best, but screw up sometimes.... and not in the usual heroic way. The mistakes are due to a clever plot, or drugs, or a woman/man.. they just try their best and sometimes don't quite make it.
Which makes it all the sweeter when they do. (even if it's not really a total success)
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 13, 2018 12:44:18 GMT -5
A Fatal Glass of Beer by Stuart Kaminsky Toby is back, as he and Gunther join W.C. Fields on a cross-country car trip as someone is stealing money that Fields had stashed in banks across the country. Another fun little romp. And we see some movement in Toby's relationship with his brother Phil...and he gets his own office, much to the dismay of Sheldon Minck.
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Apr 20, 2018 9:09:40 GMT -5
Finished up Fred Anderson's The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War. It hits the high notes of the Seven Year's War and how it changed the early American Colonies during the conflict between France and England for power in Europe and here. It was the start of undermining the Indian nations capabilities to determine their own lives and destinies and was the beginnings of setting up the seeds of the American Revolution.
The book is more a "companion" to the PBS documentary series so it doesn't go into any real battle detail and instead covers the basics as an overview in understanding more of the history at this time. Made for interesting reading and is easy to read without overloading with facts. A very good primer to start one off into further historical reading of the early America/British struggles.
|
|
|
Post by Prince Hal on Apr 20, 2018 12:53:06 GMT -5
Finished up Fred Anderson's The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War. It hits the high notes of the Seven Year's War and how it changed the early American Colonies during the conflict between France and England for power in Europe and here. It was the start of undermining the Indian nations capabilities to determine their own lives and destinies and was the beginnings of setting up the seeds of the American Revolution. The book is more a "companion" to the PBS documentary series so it doesn't go into any real battle detail and instead covers the basics as an overview in understanding more of the history at this time. Made for interesting reading and is easy to read without overloading with facts. A very good primer to start one off into further historical reading of the early America/British struggles. If this book whet your appetite, brutalis, and you are interested about reading about the French and Indian War from the ground up, so to speak, try these books about Robert Rogers and his Rangers: White Devil by Stephen Brumwell, and War on the Run by John F. Ross. Fascinating and enjoyable reading. If you're pressed for time, try an issue of Star-Spangled Comics, featuring Tomahawk...
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Apr 20, 2018 13:34:54 GMT -5
Finished up Fred Anderson's The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War. It hits the high notes of the Seven Year's War and how it changed the early American Colonies during the conflict between France and England for power in Europe and here. It was the start of undermining the Indian nations capabilities to determine their own lives and destinies and was the beginnings of setting up the seeds of the American Revolution. The book is more a "companion" to the PBS documentary series so it doesn't go into any real battle detail and instead covers the basics as an overview in understanding more of the history at this time. Made for interesting reading and is easy to read without overloading with facts. A very good primer to start one off into further historical reading of the early America/British struggles. If this book whet your appetite, brutalis, and you are interested about reading about the French and Indian War from the ground up, so to speak, try these books about Robert Rogers and his Rangers: White Devil by Stephen Brumwell, and War on the Run by John F. Ross. Fascinating and enjoyable reading. Thankee kindly for your suggestions Sir Hal of Princes! Looked them up on Amazon and Good Reads for reviews and look might interesting. Will add them to my shopping list for after the Memorial Day Phoenix Comic Fest convention. I have already ordered 2 used from Amazon to read further upon. Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766 also by Fred Anderson and The French and Indian War-Deciding the Fate of America by Walter Borneman.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 20, 2018 13:38:45 GMT -5
Finished up Fred Anderson's The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War. It hits the high notes of the Seven Year's War and how it changed the early American Colonies during the conflict between France and England for power in Europe and here. It was the start of undermining the Indian nations capabilities to determine their own lives and destinies and was the beginnings of setting up the seeds of the American Revolution. The book is more a "companion" to the PBS documentary series so it doesn't go into any real battle detail and instead covers the basics as an overview in understanding more of the history at this time. Made for interesting reading and is easy to read without overloading with facts. A very good primer to start one off into further historical reading of the early America/British struggles. If this book whet your appetite, brutalis, and you are interested about reading about the French and Indian War from the ground up, so to speak, try these books about Robert Rogers and his Rangers: White Devil by Stephen Brumwell, and War on the Run by John F. Ross. Fascinating and enjoyable reading. If you're pressed for time, try an issue of Star-Spangled Comics, featuring Tomahawk... On the other hand, Tim Truman did a couple of graphic novels that may be of interest. " Wilderness: The Simon Girty Story" and " Tecumseh" are set in the Old Northwest around the time of the American Revolution. I think both are out of print but they're well worth the effort to track down.
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Apr 23, 2018 8:28:57 GMT -5
Between Thursday and Sunday I consumed 2 more Bernard Cornwell Richard Sharpe books. Numbers 3 and 4 in the series: Sharpe's Fortress and Sharpe's Trafalgar.
Fortress is the finale of the initial trilogy of Sharpe in his battles in India. He is part of the crew that must lay siege at Gawilghur, a seemingly impenetrable fortress. Filled with constant action and mostly accurate history with Ensign Sharpe inserted into the story. Pure fun and light reading that entertains and teaches at the same time. So much better than high school history classes were.
Trafalgar places Sharpe as a tag along on his journey home to England from India where he meets Lord Horatio Nelson at sea and participates in the Trafalgar sea battle. A true soldier no matter where he ends up good ol' Sharpie of course has yet another lady friend and joins the fray in helping to save the day for the ship and his mates.
More Sharpe as summer rolls along. I am trying to limit myself to 2 Sharpe's adventures a month so as not to blow through them so quickly and savor the series. This is one of those series where you are dropped in and enjoy them so much that it becomes quite easy to devour the whole dang series like a starving man at a buffet.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 24, 2018 16:17:05 GMT -5
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero. At its base this is the Scooby-Doo Gang meets Cthulhu. The Blyton Summer Detective Club's last case ended with the "monster" in prison. But the kids never returned to Blyton and their lives haven't ever been the same. Now they're returning to find out what it was about that case that has tainted their lives. Things are gonna get spooky...and this time the monsters aren't guys in rubber masks. This was just a terribly fun read. There are a lot of easter eggs if you grew up watching Scooby and the gang...or if you grew up reading Lovecraft and Howard and the gang. It absolutely trades on nostalgia (though not to the extent of say, Ready Player One). But overall it's smart and funny and it keeps things moving. Recommended to those who spent Saturday mornings with Scooby and then later spent nights with a lamp on reading of dire eldritch beings.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 24, 2018 16:37:40 GMT -5
Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires by Selwyn Raab I read this over about seven months, mostly while waiting for clients at jail or between Court hearings. Sometimes that can effect how I view a book. In this case I don't think it did. There was about 1/3 of the book I wanted to read here. That was the birth and early days of La Cosa Nostra. I recognize that Raab was covering everything and so he wasn't going to stop at the Apalachin Meeting or Valachi. The problem was that 2/3 of the book was devoted to the last 15 or so years of what Raab was covering and the earlier history, in my opinion, got short shrift. It was a good read overall. But at times it felt like Italian alphabet soup. And I just think that maybe it was too much to try to shove into one book.
|
|
|
Post by Prince Hal on Apr 24, 2018 17:02:29 GMT -5
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero. At its base this is the Scooby-Doo Gang meets Cthulhu. The Blyton Summer Detective Club's last case ended with the "monster" in prison. But the kids never returned to Blyton and their lives haven't ever been the same. Now they're returning to find out what it was about that case that has tainted their lives. Things are gonna get spooky...and this time the monsters aren't guys in rubber masks. This was just a terribly fun read. There are a lot of easter eggs if you grew up watching Scooby and the gang...or if you grew up reading Lovecraft and Howard and the gang. It absolutely trades on nostalgia (though not to the extent of say, Ready Player One). But overall it's smart and funny and it keeps things moving. Recommended to those who spent Saturday mornings with Scooby and then later spent nights with a lamp on reading of dire eldritch beings. So this came before "Stranger Things"?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2018 17:33:57 GMT -5
I am in the midst of reading The Dark Net by Benjamin Percy... Percy writes Green Arrow and Teen Titans for DC currently, and I have liked his Arrow stuff. He talked a bit about this book on the DC panel at C2E2 that I watched, and I was intrigued enough to get it from my local library. here's the blurb... it starts quickly and kicks into high gear within a chapter, and so far it's been a fun ride. -M
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 24, 2018 19:20:18 GMT -5
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero. At its base this is the Scooby-Doo Gang meets Cthulhu. The Blyton Summer Detective Club's last case ended with the "monster" in prison. But the kids never returned to Blyton and their lives haven't ever been the same. Now they're returning to find out what it was about that case that has tainted their lives. Things are gonna get spooky...and this time the monsters aren't guys in rubber masks. This was just a terribly fun read. There are a lot of easter eggs if you grew up watching Scooby and the gang...or if you grew up reading Lovecraft and Howard and the gang. It absolutely trades on nostalgia (though not to the extent of say, Ready Player One). But overall it's smart and funny and it keeps things moving. Recommended to those who spent Saturday mornings with Scooby and then later spent nights with a lamp on reading of dire eldritch beings. So this came before "Stranger Things"? No. It was published about a year after the first season of Stranger Things debuted. I guess you can kind of see a similarity though it didn’t actually strike me in reading the book. The Stranger Things kids are still kids. The Meddling Kids are mid-20s and the vibe is different. There’s no super-kid to help them fight the eldritch horrors. Stranger Things is Freaks and Geeks with monsters. Meddling Kids is Scooby Doo but the monsters are real.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2018 19:29:25 GMT -5
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero. At its base this is the Scooby-Doo Gang meets Cthulhu. The Blyton Summer Detective Club's last case ended with the "monster" in prison. But the kids never returned to Blyton and their lives haven't ever been the same. Now they're returning to find out what it was about that case that has tainted their lives. Things are gonna get spooky...and this time the monsters aren't guys in rubber masks. This was just a terribly fun read. There are a lot of easter eggs if you grew up watching Scooby and the gang...or if you grew up reading Lovecraft and Howard and the gang. It absolutely trades on nostalgia (though not to the extent of say, Ready Player One). But overall it's smart and funny and it keeps things moving. Recommended to those who spent Saturday mornings with Scooby and then later spent nights with a lamp on reading of dire eldritch beings. Our library has this, so I put in a request for it. -M
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 24, 2018 19:35:45 GMT -5
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero. At its base this is the Scooby-Doo Gang meets Cthulhu. The Blyton Summer Detective Club's last case ended with the "monster" in prison. But the kids never returned to Blyton and their lives haven't ever been the same. Now they're returning to find out what it was about that case that has tainted their lives. Things are gonna get spooky...and this time the monsters aren't guys in rubber masks. This was just a terribly fun read. There are a lot of easter eggs if you grew up watching Scooby and the gang...or if you grew up reading Lovecraft and Howard and the gang. It absolutely trades on nostalgia (though not to the extent of say, Ready Player One). But overall it's smart and funny and it keeps things moving. Recommended to those who spent Saturday mornings with Scooby and then later spent nights with a lamp on reading of dire eldritch beings. Our library has this, so I put in a request for it. -M If you don’t like it I’ll refund your money.
|
|