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Post by Prince Hal on Jul 16, 2018 17:38:53 GMT -5
There's also a Flask, so you can spike that caramel cappuccino soy latte you waited 45 minutes for. Was there a Flask in Galactica? My Nerd Fu has failed me!!! There once was a Lorne Greene. That's all I know about BG. I'm more of a fan of Moby-Dick. The novel, not the illness, mon ami.
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Post by berkley on Jul 18, 2018 22:06:07 GMT -5
Just finished a book I imagine many here have already read: Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. It's been described as an anti-western, but I think it reinforces much of the mythology of the American West as much as it subverts it. Be that as it may, anyone interested in the genre will certainly want to read it because it's interesting as a variation on many of the themes associated with it (violence, the western frontier, Europeans vs Indians, etc). But I think lots of other readers will find it worth reading for other reasons - the language McCarthy uses is unusual, for example, reaching for a kind of poetic eloquence at times (reviewers often described it as "Miltonic").
I wouldn't say it's a complete success: the main problem for me is that found it a bit one-note - which would be fine in a shorter book, but it's hard to sustain that tone over 350 pages. It's extremely violent, BTW - and apparently all based on actual memoirs and historical events in the 1840s around the Mexico-US border.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 19, 2018 5:07:29 GMT -5
Read Blood Meridian about 10 years ago; yes, it's a rather brutal book but definitely worth reading. Personally, I wouldn't say it reinforces the mythology of the American West, but the writing style certainly gives the story a sort of mythical, at times almost dreamy (or perhaps, better stated, nightmarish) feel.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 19, 2018 21:59:31 GMT -5
Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers by Joe R. Lansdale. I'm a huge fan of Lansdale's writing. And he writes a LOT. But for me, probably 90% of his output is gold. Of the rest, a good 90% is silver. So it's rare that Lansdale does something that I don't love. I didn't love this prequel to Bubba Ho-Tep. Which isn't to say that I didn't like it. Because it was okay. But I didn't love it. I'm not entirely sure why. The premise is great. Elvis leads a team that fights monsters and cosmic horrors. And in this one is a doozy...a Lovecraftian horror that is destroying people and will destroy the Earth given the chance. But for some reason it just didn't quite work for me. I can't exactly say why. But it shouldn't have taken as long as it did to read that short a work. None of the characters really jumped out at me. The plot was only so-so. The ending which allowed for Elvis to be surprised by the monsters in Bubba Ho-Tep didn't set my world on fire. Probably worthwhile for a Lansdale completest. But not highly recommended.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 19, 2018 22:05:03 GMT -5
Asimov's Mirage by Mark Tiedemann
I vaguely remember the 'Robot City' books, so I though I'd give this one a shot... sadly, the best part is the back cover.
While Tiedemann does, in fact, appear to explore the 3 laws... it's really mostly just pretend science babble... Bogard, the bodyguard robot, has a way to 'forget' if he does something contrary to the 3 laws instead of shutting down... that's not really an analysis as much as an excuse to ignore them.
It doesn't come out as bad as that sounds, but it's not great, either. The 'mystery' doesn't actually have a resolution, instead we're give a group of suspects that kinda sorta are responsible, but it's never exactly clear who they are.
Then there's Bogard, the robot of the story, who is kinda fun, but is so much more advanced than any other Asimov-ian robot ever that every other scene he's in made me check to see if I was reading the right book. The human characters were all pretty dull and there was really no exploring of the hinted at interpersonal relationships.
All that would have been fine if it was a good story, but instead we just got a grocery list of suspects, each of which visited in turn, and either crossed off or added to 'the list'. There were twists, but they were so sudden and unexpected they felt forced and annoying instead of surprising. While I have a vague desire to see what the point was, no way I'm slogging through two more of these to find out.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 23, 2018 8:22:50 GMT -5
The Black Hand by Will Thomas
This was definitely the best of the series so far... Thomas was able to keep all the things that are great about the series, and cut back on the things that are not so great.
In keeping with the theme of exploring different sections of the city (and different ethnic groups), this time we go to the docks, as our heroes attempt to fend off a mafia invasion. Thomas does a better job describing the Italian and Sicilian culture without bordering on racism here (as he did when exploring the Chinese in The Limehouse Text).
The story itself is the most engaging.. a good mystery with a good twist and interesting historical bits (tossing in using Bertillion and mentioning fingerprints were both really neat!). We also get some excellent back story additions to Barker, without revealing everything and removing his air of mystery.
The only down side is that this was the first book in the series that I think would suffer if you hadn't read the others... there's alot of tying things together here that I appreciated, but would be lost upon (or confusing t0) a new reader.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 24, 2018 12:46:38 GMT -5
Mucho Mojo by Joe R. Lansdale. Hap and Leonard are back. And this time they are solving a mystery. Leonard's Uncle Chester has died and left Leonard his home...the home that Leonard used visit as a child every summer...the home that is now next door to a crack house. And unfortunately, while they're fixing the flooring, they find a child's skeleton that is in a trunk with Uncle Chester's name on it. It's up to Leonard and Hap to find out who killed the boy...and whole bunch more...since at-risk black kids disappearing in the black side of town aren't a priority for the police. I read this one when it first came out but I don't think I've read it since. I did, however, watch Season 2 of Hap & Leonard which was based on this book so I had an idea what was going on though there were some significant changes. The book introduces some great supporting characters and fleshes out a bit more about our heroes, particularly Leonard. I've said before that Lansdale is one of my very favorite writers still currently writing. And he's rapidly rising on the all-time list. He simply does everything he sets his hand at very well. And this is no exception. I loved Savage Season and I think this one may even be a bit better. Highly recommended.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 24, 2018 13:38:54 GMT -5
That was my favorite of the Hap and Leonard books I've read... they way they handle the guys at the crack house is just amazing (and spills over into another book or two, if I recall correctly)
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 24, 2018 13:43:16 GMT -5
That was my favorite of the Hap and Leonard books I've read... they way they handle the guys at the crack house is just amazing (and spills over into another book or two, if I recall correctly) Have you watched the series that aired on Sundance? The first two seasons are on Netflix. They definitely change some things from the books (particularly Mucho Mojo) but it's a really good show. And at six episodes per season it's not a time trap.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 24, 2018 13:45:24 GMT -5
Not yet.. It's definitely on the list though! I've actually been going through the Bosch series on Amazon(which, while pretty different from the couple books I've read, is quite good)... Hap and Leonard will probably be next for my mystery fix after I finish that.
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Post by Calamas on Jul 25, 2018 8:33:42 GMT -5
That was my favorite of the Hap and Leonard books I've read... they way they handle the guys at the crack house is just amazing (and spills over into another book or two, if I recall correctly) I'll add my vote. This is also my favorite in the series. I, too, read it when it first came out (in paperback) and reread it before it was adapted as the second season of the series. Still highly recommended.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 25, 2018 23:05:49 GMT -5
Frontiers in Space edited by Everettt F. Bleiler and T.E. Dikty c. 1955 Looking at the roster of authors on this cover, you'd think it was amazing, especially when you examine further and see it's a 'best of' collection from three previous 'best ofs'.. 1951-1953. The stories aren't just short though, most are microscopic... under 10 pages. While there are some fun concepts, like the first contact in 'Star Ducks' or the classic 'Oddy and Id' (Which I've read in more than one other collection), quite a few are standard 50s fare... playing on fears of nuclear war with the Russians, race relations, and gender roles. My favorite is Damon Knight's 'To Serve Man', a great take on a now classic concept. 'The Rats' is a close 2nd, very predictable, but fun none the less. Interestingly, a couple of the stories turn from sci fi to science horror at the end, which was surprising, but made for a couple of the more unique entries. The one I really wish was a novel was 'Ararat', which felt like the middle chapter of a novel I'd like to read. (a bit of research shows the author did in fact write several connected short stories, which is exciting). It's always fun when one of these collections leads one to something new. The actual content, though, is nothing too exciting... while it's rare I think so, this particular collection really felt 'dated'... in the 'seen it done better' way, not the cool retro way.
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Post by Calamas on Jul 26, 2018 7:50:22 GMT -5
Frontiers in Space edited by Everettt F. Bleiler and T.E. Dikty c. 1955 Looking at the roster of authors on this cover, you'd think it was amazing, especially when you examine further and see it's a 'best of' collection from three previous 'best ofs'.. 1951-1953. The stories aren't just short though, most are microscopic... under 10 pages. While there are some fun concepts, like the first contact in 'Star Ducks' or the classic 'Oddy and Id' (Which I've read in more than one other collection), quite a few are standard 50s fare... playing on fears of nuclear war with the Russians, race relations, and gender roles. My favorite is Damon Knight's 'To Serve Man', a great take on a now classic concept. 'The Rats' is a close 2nd, very predictable, but fun none the less. Interestingly, a couple of the stories turn from sci fi to science horror at the end, which was surprising, but made for a couple of the more unique entries. The one I really wish was a novel was 'Ararat', which felt like the middle chapter of a novel I'd like to read. (a bit of research shows the author did in fact write several connected short stories, which is exciting). It's always fun when one of these collections leads one to something new. The actual content, though, is nothing too exciting... while it's rare I think so, this particular collection really felt 'dated'... in the 'seen it done better' way, not the cool retro way. Looking at that cover, I’d forgotten how prominent Anthony Boucher was in the SF field. Today he is mostly remembered because of Bouchercon, the annual mystery convention.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 26, 2018 9:38:27 GMT -5
Looking at that cover, I’d forgotten how prominent Anthony Boucher was in the SF field. Today he is mostly remembered because of Bouchercon, the annual mystery convention. That's similar to the fact that in the 1940s and early 1950s, you were just as likely to see stories by John MacDonald (of Travis McGee fame) in science fiction magazines as you were in mystery and detective magazines.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 26, 2018 11:12:11 GMT -5
The League of Regrettable Superheroes by Jon Morris Fun little book based on a blog this reads a lot like going through a blog post by post. There's certainly nothing terribly insightful here. But that's fine. I largely read this in between Court cases on law & motion days and while waiting for clients at jail visits. For that purpose, the ability to read in tiny parcels it was great. I suppose I could nit-pick...I did see a couple things I didn't think were factually correct (I'm blanking on them now). And I would certainly take umbrage at at least some of the heroes the author finds regrettable (Man-Wolf, Brother Voodoo). But all in all an entertaining trifle.
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