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Post by wildfire2099 on May 26, 2015 18:24:00 GMT -5
After the Rainby John Bowen c. 1958 The cover, sadly, has nothing to do with the story, since it's set in England. Too Bad. Basically, it's a 'what if the Flood happened today' (well, a couple years in the future of 1958). It starts out pedestrian enough, though it's clear there's no science to be found at all... the book implies it rained for about 2 years straight. First we see what's going on in London, then the main character eventually ends up on a raft with his new girlfriend and 6 others, and hilarity ensues... sort of. I THINK it's meant to be parody, but of what I'm not sure. There's really not much of a theme, other than perhaps the people getting more and more divorced from their old reality. Eventually, there's an unexpected showdown among the characters, they find land, and we get no hint of what happens next. It's a bit amusing when the leader on the raft decides he's a god, then he isn't, and the women swoon for him, but otherwise, it's pretty blech.
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 28, 2015 10:08:33 GMT -5
Attack from Atlantis by Lester Del Rey c.1953 My copy is the 1969 paperback version Plot: 17 year old Don Miller has been helping his uncle with a new Atomic Sub that can go lower in the sea than any before, and the military is interested. They come in and take over, but, luckily for Don, the guy taking his place is sympathetic, so he 'gets sick' and forces Don to take his place. After an encounter with an amorous whale, the crew gets captured by Atlanteans, who are apparently Cro-Magnon men that stumbled upon a way to generate amazing force fields and live on the ocean floor in a bubble city. The crystals they use to power said force fields, however, are scarce, and they're running out. Their technology, while advanced in some ways, was mostly 'trial and error' engineering rather than research and theory, so they had no replacement. Don, of course, being a smart red-blooded American lad of the 50s, figures it out right away, and convinces the Atlanteans to go to the surface and get help, while sharing their force fields to prevent nuclear holocaust. The end! Analysis: Modern 'Young Adult' writers sure could take some lessons from Lester Del Rey! This is almost the perfect YA novel (not sure if that was the intent).. the only thing that's missing is a bit of romance (women are nearly complete absent). it's a fun, fast moving story, with a couple twists( like Don's Dog being worshipped as a god, and an old salt named Muggins living with the Atlanteans), and a happy ending. Don is a complete Marty Stu character, and that's just fine, he's supposed to be. Del Rey has some points to make, from the down side of isolationism to the value of theoretical science vs. engineering, and makes them well without bludgeoning you with them. I think it's meant to be timeless (the Russians are mentioned by name) but it's still a bit dated.. one of the crew is referred to as 'the Negro', and there's a two page 'please don't investigate me McCarthy' explanation on how the Atlanteans aren't actually a socialist society, even if they kinda are. Those just add to the charm, though... definitely a great read!
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Post by gothos on May 28, 2015 15:13:44 GMT -5
Anyone here a Tanith Lee fan? I've enjoyed many of her books, particularly the "Flat Earth" series and the Birthgrave trilogy, and was moved to post about her since I just heard of her passing four days ago (she was 67 and had suffered from breast cancer).
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 28, 2015 18:00:09 GMT -5
That's sad... I definitely think I read some epic fantasy of hers, but I don't recall what.. not either of the ones you mentioned.
67 is too young to die these days, IMO.
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Post by berkley on May 28, 2015 20:49:40 GMT -5
Tanith Lee is a writer I've always meant to read some time but never seemed to get around to. Sorry to hear of her passing. It doesn't seem right that someone with her track record should have trouble getting anything published in recent years, but apparently it was so. I have copies of the Birthgrave series on my shelf and look forward to reading them one of these days.
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Post by Nowhere Man on May 29, 2015 2:34:29 GMT -5
I'm in dire need of a reading boost. I'm currently reading a book of short-stories by Robert E. Howard titled "Sword Woman and other Historical Adventures." I'm averaging about a short-story a week, which is only about 30 pages or so. I want to read at least that much a DAY. Maybe this is just unrealistic given that I'm dividing my leisure time between Netflix, games, comics, etc.? I go through periods of "reader's block." Sometimes it's prose. Currently it's comics. Though I'm not reading as much prose as usual either. I am spending a ton of time on Europa Universalis 4...which is weird, because I've only ever liked like maybe 5 computer/video games in my life. There's no one answer. Sometimes something new and exciting will cause the breakthrough. The Martian did that for me recently. Sometimes it's revisiting something you love. Fahrenheit 451 will almost always do it. Sometimes you just have to ride the wave. Yeah, I'm about to get as strict and as regimented with my reading as I am with my exercising and eating. There's really no reason that I can't read at least one comic a day plus 30 pages in a book.
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Post by berkley on May 29, 2015 16:26:23 GMT -5
I go through periods of "reader's block." Sometimes it's prose. Currently it's comics. Though I'm not reading as much prose as usual either. I am spending a ton of time on Europa Universalis 4...which is weird, because I've only ever liked like maybe 5 computer/video games in my life. There's no one answer. Sometimes something new and exciting will cause the breakthrough. The Martian did that for me recently. Sometimes it's revisiting something you love. Fahrenheit 451 will almost always do it. Sometimes you just have to ride the wave. Yeah, I'm about to get as strict and as regimented with my reading as I am with my exercising and eating. There's really no reason that I can't read at least one comic a day plus 30 pages in a book. I think it does take something like that to get in a groove sometimes. Invent a little reading project for yourself - e.g. some writer or genre or era you've always meant to explore but have never gotten round to and set some concrete goals. Actually I find it's a good idea to have a few different sub-projects, so you can still pick and choose according to your mood. For example, I try to make a point of reading at least one contemporary book a month, since that's something I tend to ignore too much - having chosen to interpret "contemporary" as loosely as possible: anything from the 60s onwards, since I was born in 1961.
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Post by Rob Allen on Jun 2, 2015 15:56:24 GMT -5
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 4, 2015 21:11:37 GMT -5
The Duplicated Man by James Blish and Robert Lowndes c. 1953 LOVE this cover! This book is... challenging. The basic premise.. Earth Vs. it's outerspace colony (Venus, in this case), is a common one, but this one was much more political. We're not told why, just that Venus has a screen to keep out atomics, and uses conventional missile to constantly bombard Earth. Both governments are shown as mildly hated and corrupt, and have undergrounds that are similar.. on Earth, they want peace.. on Venus conquest. The main action takes place when a minor official in the Earth underground (who happens to look just like a Venusian leader), is duplicated... the plan is to have them sow chaos on Venus. The duplicates are generated by another person, though, so they aren't clones, but rather the personifcation of what the other person sees the original as. If that makes you think 'why don't the find a bunch of little kids and dress someone up like Superman and MAKE Supermen', I thought the same... but it actually makes sense in the end. While the plot was convoluted, choppy, and hard to follow, the ending was pretty awesome. This is definitely the sort of book that screams for a discussion, as all good old school sci-fi should... so if anyone's read it and wants to talk political theory, fire it up
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Post by berkley on Jun 4, 2015 23:35:50 GMT -5
After the Rainby John Bowen c. 1958 The cover, sadly, has nothing to do with the story, since it's set in England. Too Bad. Basically, it's a 'what if the Flood happened today' (well, a couple years in the future of 1958). It starts out pedestrian enough, though it's clear there's no science to be found at all... the book implies it rained for about 2 years straight. First we see what's going on in London, then the main character eventually ends up on a raft with his new girlfriend and 6 others, and hilarity ensues... sort of. I THINK it's meant to be parody, but of what I'm not sure. There's really not much of a theme, other than perhaps the people getting more and more divorced from their old reality. Eventually, there's an unexpected showdown among the characters, they find land, and we get no hint of what happens next. It's a bit amusing when the leader on the raft decides he's a god, then he isn't, and the women swoon for him, but otherwise, it's pretty blech. Intriguing to see this cover painting of a post-apocalyptic, half-buried Statue of Liberty ten years before Planet of the Apes, which is where, until now, I had always assumed it originated. Does this mean there were other, similar images even earlier, I wonder?
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 5, 2015 8:39:15 GMT -5
I was doing a search to check when the book was actually printed.. I was thinking that perhaps the one I have was maybe printed in the 60s, and I found this, from a 1964 magazine: Funnily enough, later printings of the book (have a much more surreal cover, and no Statue.. like this one:
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 7, 2015 20:21:51 GMT -5
Sherlock Holmes on the Western Front by Val Andrews c. 1999
I grabbed this from the local 'need a book, take a book' shelf at the train station, which I had seeded with some stuff a couple weeks ago. Apparently, Mr. Andrews wrote quite a pile of Holmes Pastiches.
This one features Mycroft dragging Holmes and Watson out of retirement to foil some British spies during the Great War. The feel of the characters is there, and the sense that Holmes is older, and perhaps a bit out of practice, but still Holmes, works well.
There's quite a few fun moments.. at one point Holmes and Watson pretend to be spies pretending to be Holmes and Watson, and at another Watson opines how the Germans aren't such bad chaps once the War is over.
My main complaint is probably not the writers fault. The story sets up with Holems and Watson having been retired for many years, and not having seen much of each other.. yet there's no reminisincing at all on Watson's part.. which seems entirely out of character. I can imagine that wouldn't really make for a good narrative, though.
Then there's the one nitpick that drove me nuts.... Holmes mentions Irene Adler by name, right in the beginning! Luckily, I got over it and still read the book... I'd definitely read other Holmes adventures by Andrews if I came across them.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 9, 2015 18:16:02 GMT -5
I stopped into Brattle Bookshop in Boston today (had the day off for a field trip for my middle child)... got a couple cool 30s noir paperbacks for $1 each (they'll appear here after not too long) as well as a coverless (sadly) Super Science Stories from July 1945 (also $1).. it has short stories from Damon Knight, Arthur Clarke, and Ray Bradbury, as well as an awesome comic-advertisement for razor blades that is what caught my attention.
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Post by Rob Allen on Jun 9, 2015 18:32:17 GMT -5
My wife found a book the other day that is interesting in a way that was never envisioned when it was published:
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Jun 17, 2015 12:46:55 GMT -5
Justine (The Misfortunes of Virtue) by Marquis de Sade
So does Sade being the basis for the word sadism live up? Well I didn't read it in the late 1700's, but I am sure to some it is still quite offensive. Before the internet and the popularity of slinging the word misogyny, Sade was writing something that probably got the same reaction that Joss Whedon got for his portrayal of Black Widow. The difference is, Sade was writing Justine's story for the purpose of expressing an opinion and/or belief rather than bending to his corporate partners that were writing him a check for his services. I take from it he had something to say about his feelings on what boils down to vice vs virtue more than the hatred of women.
The story follows Justine, who along with her sister Juliette, who are left with nothing earthly at the suicide of their father. From age 12, at the start to age 26, in the end, the story follows Justine, who aims to travel to France after leaving behind a life of sin and debauchery, whom her sister embraced as a harlot to start (as I read it). Justine wanted no part of this kind of life, as she was a virtuous woman of God. In her travels she runs across people, both male and female, who entice her with help, pitying her for her predicament, yet in the end always challenge her vow to virtue by rewarding her if she simply gave into vice. Some were the ultimatum of bow or torture. Some were monetary rewards for doing something that benefited her but conflicted with her virtues.
Many of these would be benefactors would delve into long sermons on the benefits of vice over virtue. A theme which in each instance seemed Sade making sure the reader understood, or trying to persuade the reader, to his beliefs. Sade took the side of nature, and the reliance on God as either a weakness on human part or a ineptitude on God's part for explaining to Justine why her continued allegiance to virtue just ended her up in one calamity after another. Many times her life was threatened, and she was submitted to torture for her virtues. Yet she never faltered. She kept her virtue. (An interesting aside when reading the wikipedia article ... they take it to mean that many of these men enslaved her sexually. Yet, as I read the book, no hint was really given to that. Some of the actual physical torture was described, hence sadism, but if there was anything sexual done to Justine, it seems to be at the reader's consent. In fact, in starting the book, my impression always was, that Justine's virtue was her virginity. And at least in the first part, and upon meeting the first antagonist female in the book, she saves her "virtue" from the drunken robbers that had taken her by pleading to said female antagonist to let her rest the night and she would consent to them in the morning.)
By the books end one can certainly see Sade's point made. BUT ... Justine does eventually encounter her sister Juliette at the end, the sister that when she meets her has unprecedented wealth and comfort due to her lifestyle of sex and debauchery, also has a turn of fate. So what is Sade's point? He seems rampant throughout the story of Justine, but in the end, the twists of fate of both characters seem to suggest that maybe Sade isn't what he has come to be labeled for the past 200 years.
I'd recommend it to anyone willing to read someone else's ethical or moral viewpoint even if it drastically differs with their own. If nothing else but to see if Sade is worthy of the hype society has given him. I know I want to read more of his work now.
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