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Post by badwolf on Mar 5, 2015 10:00:46 GMT -5
The Vampires of Finistere is particularly nice. Sometimes I find a really nice cover like this can really elevate the story for me. Have to look around for these.
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Post by badwolf on Mar 5, 2015 10:09:15 GMT -5
Just ordered a copy of : Sounds like fun!
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Post by gothos on Mar 6, 2015 17:56:05 GMT -5
Just ordered a copy of : Sounds like fun! FWIW this is my favorite of the psuedonymous Saxon works. At least the author did a little occult research to back up his wild pulp-fantasies.
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Post by badwolf on Mar 6, 2015 17:59:53 GMT -5
Good to know!
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 6, 2015 19:38:01 GMT -5
Spring is coming, minor league camps are open and to get in the mood I read Game Of My Life New York Yankees by Dave Buscema (2013)20 players have been interviewed during the last 15 years by Mr Buscema, each one picking the one game they will never forget. Each chapter provides Dave's recounting of that player's career and what lead up to that particular game. Then the player gets to tell it in his own words. Dave would then come back to fill in any other details as well as the aftermath. Starting as far back as Yogi Berra, Tommy Hendrich, Don Larsen and Phil Rizutto. On to the 60s with Bobby Richardson and Mel Stottlemeyer. The 70s got Reggie Jackson,Ron Guidrey and Lou Pinella. The 80s showcase Don Mattingly and Dave Righetti. And the 90s have Jim Abbott, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, David Cone, David Welles, Paul O'Neill and Mo Rivera. It all wraps up with CC Sabathia. Some choices are no-brainers like perfect games thrown or 3 homers in a World Series game. And some might surprise you such as Stottlemeyer choosing a regular season game in 1971 against Cy Young awaed winner Vida Blue because his sons thought he'd have no chance to win it. A fine baseball book to help shake off the winter doldrums.
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Post by Rob Allen on Mar 6, 2015 21:48:17 GMT -5
Is Dave Buscema related to John & Sal?
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 6, 2015 21:49:21 GMT -5
I'm not much of a Yankees fan (Being in Boston), but that does sound pretty cool... I like your thinking. For me, I bought some baseball cards...can't wait for them to arrive... it's like that'll start spring up!
After a couple clunkers, I decided to shift gears....
Crossing Places by Emily Griffiths
Ruth Galloway is a middle-aged archeology professor who lives with her cats near the site of her most famous discovery, and she gets sucked into a missing persons/murder case that ends up involving most of the people involved in her dig of 10 years ago.
The book started out REALLY slowly... I almost gave up on it... I'm not sure if it's because it's the first book of a planned series (which would be quite a conceit by the writer), or if they all take so long to set up, but it did pick up about half way through to become a real page-turner.
The focus on Ruth's personal life got trying after a while... it constantly harped on that she's overweight and alone, even though she's not really actually described that way, and if fact hooks up with the police detective and is fawned over by her ex-boyfriend. There was a fair emphasis on who is sleeping with who as well, which got trying, but at least all that was 'off camera' The mystery part felt a little predictable, but the precise resolution was both a shock and very interesting.
My favorite character was definitely DCI Nelson, the police investigator, he's got all the qualities one wants in a British police show lead... while the series is billed as 'the Ruth Galloway Mysteries', he was far more likeable.
Overall, a decent quick read. I'll probably check out the 2nd one, in for nothing else but to see if they continue to try to contrive archeology-related crimes (this one worked, but how many can their possibly be), or they'll rope Ruth into the police some other way.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 7, 2015 18:00:54 GMT -5
Robert Silverberg-The Collected Stories Volume 2:To The Dark Star (1962-1969)
Robert Silverberg is one of the official Grandmasters of SF. Subterranean Press a few years back had begun collecting all his short fiction into chronological collections which now number 9 volumes. Bob writes an introductory essay to each volume as well as an intro for each story explaining his career and the inspiration for his works. And believe me, his life and output are very interesting indeed. I've read a few of his novels and short stories previously and was always quite pleased. Now I'm ready to dive into the pool and after partaking of this tomb, I'm ready for another lap. Unfortunately the 1st volume seems to be out-of-print but volume 3 and onwards are available at my library
Silverberg began his career in the mid-50s when SF was booming and many magazines needed material albeit the pay was approximately a penny a word. Silverberg knew the market demands and was able to bang out work like a speed demon. He admits his early work was workmanlike, hacked out as fast as possible to earn a living. Sometimes you saw flashes of inspiration but most of it was very routine.
Then around 1957-58 the newsstand magazine market collapsed and scores of publications went belly-up. Partly attributed to the collapse of a major magazine distributor that affected comic books as well and partly due to the rise of TV and paperback books, many magazines folded and the survivors had plenty of back stock. Silverberg was forced out of the field for 4 years and devoted his time to porn, men's sweaty adventure magazines and non-fiction historical writing.
He kept in touch with certain authors and editors and in 1962 Frederick Pohl, now editor for Galaxy magazine, offered Silverberg an unusual contract. He told Bob he would buy any story he wrote because he knew if Bob tried hard enough, the quality would be high. If Bob delivered an unsatisfactory story, Pohl would Buy it but never purchase anything from Bob again. So Silverberg was back in the SF game but now taking his time and making sure each story was worthy for public consumption.
This book contains the stories from the revitalized Silverberg and every one of them is a winner to me. Hawksbill Station, Passengers (Nebula winner), To See The Invisible Man are amongst the 21 tales included here. A great way to get to know Silverberg's shorter works and I'll write up more after concluding volume 3
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Post by berkley on Mar 7, 2015 19:33:54 GMT -5
Robert Silverberg-The Collected Stories Volume 2:To The Dark Star (1962-1969) He kept in touch with certain authors and editors and in 1962 Frederick Pohl, now editor for Galaxy magazine, offered Silverberg an unusual contract. He told Bob he would buy any story he wrote because he knew if Bob tried hard enough, the quality would be high. If Bob delivered an unsatisfactory story, Pohl would Buy it but never purchase anything from Bob again. So Silverberg was back in the SF game but now taking his time and making sure each story was worthy for public consumption.
This book contains the stories from the revitalized Silverberg and every one of them is a winner to me. Hawksbill Station, Passengers (Nebula winner), To See The Invisible Man are amongst the 21 tales included here. A great way to get to know Silverberg's shorter works and I'll write up more after concluding volume 3 Sounds like one should start with this volume, then, and skip volume 1 altogether - is that right?
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 7, 2015 19:46:33 GMT -5
Robert Silverberg-The Collected Stories Volume 2:To The Dark Star (1962-1969) He kept in touch with certain authors and editors and in 1962 Frederick Pohl, now editor for Galaxy magazine, offered Silverberg an unusual contract. He told Bob he would buy any story he wrote because he knew if Bob tried hard enough, the quality would be high. If Bob delivered an unsatisfactory story, Pohl would Buy it but never purchase anything from Bob again. So Silverberg was back in the SF game but now taking his time and making sure each story was worthy for public consumption.
This book contains the stories from the revitalized Silverberg and every one of them is a winner to me. Hawksbill Station, Passengers (Nebula winner), To See The Invisible Man are amongst the 21 tales included here. A great way to get to know Silverberg's shorter works and I'll write up more after concluding volume 3 Sounds like one should start with this volume, then, and skip volume 1 altogether - is that right? If you want to get right to the excellent, then yes. However I have read a few of his early short stories in best of the year collections and those were very good. The balance of them were probably fair but i'm just surmising. Me being such an OCD completist, I would have started with Vol 1 if I could have found it.
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Post by Jesse on Mar 11, 2015 17:48:17 GMT -5
Murder on the Orient Expressby Agatha Christie This is the first Agatha Christie novel I've read and what an incredible 'whodunit' it is. The mystery is interesting, the cast rich with colorful characters and the ending reveal was fantastic and unexpected. I am definitely interested in reading the other adventures of detective Hercule Poirot as well as more of Christie's other work.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2015 20:52:02 GMT -5
Murder on the Orient Expressby Agatha Christie This is the first Agatha Christie novel I've read and what an incredible 'whodunit' it is. The mystery is interesting, the cast rich with colorful characters and the ending reveal was fantastic and unexpected. I am definitely interested in reading the other adventures of detective Hercule Poirot as well as more of Christie's other work. Christie at her best is amazingly good. And a lot of the rest of her stuff is still very readable. If I could selectively wipe part of my memory, I'd love to erase the ending of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd so I could read it, and be surprised by it, again.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 12, 2015 17:02:27 GMT -5
Harpo Speaks by Harpo Marx
Harpo comes across as a very nice guy who led a pretty interesting life. But he just ain't the story-teller that Groucho was. Readable. And some people really seem to love this book. For me it was just okay.
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Post by badwolf on Mar 12, 2015 17:11:26 GMT -5
Murder on the Orient Expressby Agatha Christie This is the first Agatha Christie novel I've read and what an incredible 'whodunit' it is. The mystery is interesting, the cast rich with colorful characters and the ending reveal was fantastic and unexpected. I am definitely interested in reading the other adventures of detective Hercule Poirot as well as more of Christie's other work. Christie at her best is amazingly good. And a lot of the rest of her stuff is still very readable. If I could selectively wipe part of my memory, I'd love to erase the ending of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd so I could read it, and be surprised by it, again. Same here -- that is absolutely the best!
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Post by Rob Allen on Mar 17, 2015 11:36:16 GMT -5
Last night I finished In the Name of God: The True Story of the Fight to Save Children from Faith-Healing Homicide by Cameron Stauth. One reviewer calls it "compulsively readable", and I'd agree, it was a page-turner. It focuses on a series of cases at a church located about a half-hour drive from where I'm sitting right now, that took place within the last decade. I remember some of the news coverage. This book fills in what the news left out. It's powerful, alternately heart-breaking and heart-warming. It has a definite point of view and doesn't try to be balanced about its subject. There are clear badguys - the Christian Science church and smaller faith-healing denominations like the Followers of Christ and the Church of the First Born, and clear goodguys - the "mole" inside the Followers church who helped police and prosecutors, and the people of childrenshealthcare.org/ who have waged a decades-long campaign against religion-based medical neglect. I recommend this book to anyone interested in religion and justice. www.amazon.com/In-Name-God-Children-Faith-Healing/dp/1250005795
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