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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 22, 2016 13:40:56 GMT -5
oohhh that sounds very fun... I'll have to hunt for that
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Post by brutalis on Jul 22, 2016 14:06:59 GMT -5
Yes indeed for Yugioh. Have the entire series on DVD and oh how i would have wished for such a cartoon when i was a child. But even happier to enjoy it and it's Egyptian monsters and mythology as an adult. A very great series that respects and utilizes myth and monsters while being creative in its uses. And yes, i also have the manga and truly appreciate the darkness of its initial story-line. As it became popular in anime i can understand why they downplayed that aspect and moved towards the gaming challenges but it would be interesting to have seen it continue with the darker atmosphere and the repercussions of evil.
My enjoyment of mythology isn't limited to Egypt. Growing up since all you could find for the most part was Greek/Roman myths i collected and read whatever i could find on those. Slowly finding some Japanese and Aesir myths to interest my and then turning to Russian and Chinese myths where the stories run the gamut from simple child like innocence or turning to the truly eerie/scary/bloody imagery. Now with E-books i have several downloaded to my Kindle so i may open and read anywhere when i have a few moments to stimulate the old brain cells.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jul 22, 2016 14:24:51 GMT -5
The original seven volumes of the manga are great to the point where I have trouble pin-pointing my favorite. It's very much a timecapsule of youth culture of the late 90's in Japan, there's even a Spawn reference or two Hikaru No Go is another great manga series much in the same vein as the original Yu-Gi-Oh! but chooses to focus on the game of Go (and possibly it's greek counterpart Othello as well as the two share some similarites, but I doubt they're the same)
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 22, 2016 14:45:07 GMT -5
I had no idea Yu-Gi-Oh was actually a good story.. I always dismissed it as a vechile to sell the card game.. interesting.
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Post by Rob Allen on Jul 22, 2016 14:46:44 GMT -5
Hikaru No Go is another great manga series much in the same vein as the original Yu-Gi-Oh! but chooses to focus on the game of Go (and possibly it's greek counterpart Othello as well as the two share some similarites, but I doubt they're the same) Go and Othello are very different games. They both involve black & white disks on a square grid, but the game play is not similar.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jul 22, 2016 14:53:14 GMT -5
I had no idea Yu-Gi-Oh was actually a good story.. I always dismissed it as a vechile to sell the card game.. interesting. It wasn't always that way. How the series worked until Duel Monsters became it's own thing was that it was kind of like an anthology where different types of games were played and loser would be damned for all eternity in an ironic, almost E.C. comics like fashion Duel Monsters was intially just little more than a throw away homage to Magic: The Gathering As a fan of Duel Monsters from 2002 to 2006, it's curious to see the game represented in black and white in it's infancy. I wonder if Kazuki Takahashi had any idea of the figurative and literal "monster" he was creating
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Post by berkley on Jul 23, 2016 0:30:03 GMT -5
OWWW. Now you have made me remember how much my brain hurt the 1st time i read Zelazny's Creatures of Light and Darkness. It literally was the most difficult read i had experienced at the time i began it. i found my rhythm once i was fully into the book and then after a few months i had to read it once more after thinking about it so much. the 2nd read brought a better understanding and more enjoyment. And it was my 1st foray into Egyptian history/mythology 2nd only to growing up with the Universal Mummy movies. A life long love and curiosity for Egypt sprung from there... Creatures of Light and Darkness is my favourite Zelazny book - which is saying something in itself, because I'm a big fan - but I think I'd have to go even further and say it's one of the most important books in my personal reading history, in terms of the immediate and lasting impression it made. A "desert island book" for me, without a doubt. As with you, mythology has been something of an obsession for me from an early age and this is one of the very few "modern" (in the sense of not from antiquity) books that captures something of the power and mystery of the ancient mythologies - all while being one of the more experimental and one might say modernist (as opposed to modern in the sense used above) works in science fiction.
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Post by Calamas on Jul 24, 2016 15:47:17 GMT -5
RECENTLY FINISHED: Hap and Leonard by Joe R. LansdaleThank you. Even if I hadn’t enjoyed the series of the same name that ran on the Sundance Channel recently, I’d be grateful for its existence because it is almost certainly the reason this book came to be. Is somebody going to reprint an entire run of books to tie into a six-week series? Probably not. But it is feasible to collect the odd and ends created over the years, the short stories and novellas. I’m particularly happy because the two novellas, Hyenas and Dead Aim, are considered #’s nine and ten in the progression and were hard to find at a reasonable price. So, thank you. You get five shorts in this collection too. One is co-written with Andrew Vachss, an interesting piece called “Veil’s Visit,” and the only story here I had read before. It contains the serious matters that are hallmarks of Vachss but retain the humor characteristic of the series. There is also a brilliant entry called “The Boy Who Became Invisible.” It’s only about five pages but it will stay with you. The lightest story is called “Death by Chili,” a promotional piece written for the fourth book, Bad Chili. The rest of the package is uniformly very good. But more importantly, my Hap and Leonard collection is now complete. Well, for the moment anyway. Joe Lansdale is still out there, still creating work. But only a complete idiot would complain about that. Snagged this when it came out, too. I was fortunate enough, though, to have bought Hyenas, autographed & everything, at publication. Didn't know about Dead Aim till too long after it showed up. That Hyenas package sounds like a great deal. Both novellas came out before I learned to trust the internet with financial transactions, which is why I was shut out of such things for a long time. It should never happen again--I hope.
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Post by Calamas on Jul 24, 2016 15:50:23 GMT -5
I really need to look up that Hap and Leonard show... I'm sure it doesn't do justice to the books, but I'd love to see their world on screen. Actually, could we get a crossover with Raylan Givens? That would be EPIC. Devil Red by Joe Lansdale Generally, series like this don't totally NEED to be read in order... sure, relationships develop, and the character grow and change, but you're not generally lost, it's more like 'OH, they got married' or 'oh, a promotion', or , 'oh yeah, that didn't happen yet.' In this case, I really felt a little lost having not read the previous couple books (I grabbed this one because it was on the shelf at the library and sounded fun)... so it definitely wasn't a good plot wise as most of Lansdale's books are. The character moments with Hap and Leonard, though, were amazing, and more than made up for it...definitely 5 stars if the ending was so easy to see coming (or perhaps even just if I had read the previous book or two. Apparently you weren’t alone. Leading up to the Hap and Leonard series, the Sundance Channel did poll asking which book was your favorite. Devil Red finished last with 2%. As to clearing up any confusion, all you really need is the preceding book, Vanilla Ride. They were written consecutively after an eight year gap.
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Post by Calamas on Jul 24, 2016 15:53:09 GMT -5
Woman in the Dark by Dashiell Hammett
This particular work seems to defy classification as it is often listed among Dashiell Hammett’s novels. Originally published in three parts in Liberty magazine in 1933, in my copy (Vintage Crime, 1989) and presumably in the Hardcover that preceded it, the publishers did everything possible to create a more substantial-looking book. There are generous bottom and right-side margins and the title of each of the three parts has its own title page, and matching blank page. Add an introduction by Robert B. Parker--with its own title and blank page too--and you get a story that concludes on page 78. It ain’t a novel.
Personal classification is also an issue. I can’t group it with lesser works like The Dain Curse or The Glass Key. Neither is it a masterpiece like The Maltese Falcon. Nor does it contain the layers of The Thin Man. Red Harvest comes closest with its one man (for the most part) and his attempt to bring down a corrupt town.
But the male protagonist here is not an investigator. Brazil (no first name mentioned) is an ex-can, and his trouble with the power structure is forced upon him when he comes to the defense of the Luise Fisher, for whom the book is titled. They end up on the run; Brazil from the law, Luise from a man who thinks he owns her. But there’s a reason I say “male protagonist.” About half way through the book, when Brazil is rendered ineffective, Luise becomes the story’s lead. New to this country by a couple of weeks, at first she is confused and helpless. Once confrontations move into arenas through which she knows how to navigate, however, Luise stands tall. In a stark world where bad guys are good, good guys are bad, and the rich and powerful blatantly use and abuse the system, she strides toward reuniting with Brazil in such a way that they are both free from pursuit.
If the ending comes off as a tad convenient by today’s standards, remember that it conforms to the storytelling norms of the day. Besides, it’s Hammett. Even his lesser work is interesting. And Woman in the Dark is far from the worst of it.
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Post by berkley on Jul 24, 2016 18:43:51 GMT -5
Woman in the Dark by Dashiell HammettThis particular work seems to defy classification as it is often listed among Dashiell Hammett’s novels. Originally published in three parts in Liberty magazine in 1933, in my copy (Vintage Crime, 1989) and presumably in the Hardcover that preceded it, the publishers did everything possible to create a more substantial-looking book. There are generous bottom and right-side margins and the title of each of the three parts has its own title page, and matching blank page. Add an introduction by Robert B. Parker--with its own title and blank page too--and you get a story that concludes on page 78. It ain’t a novel. Person classification is also an issue. I can’t group it with lesser works like The Dain Curse or The Glass Key. Neither is it a masterpiece like The Maltese Falcon. Nor does it contain the layers of The Thin Man. Red Harvest comes closest with its one man (for the most part) and his attempt to bring down a corrupt town. But the male protagonist here is not an investigator. Brazil (no first name mentioned) is an ex-can, and his trouble with the power structure is forced upon him when he comes to the defense of the Luise Fisher, for whom the book is titled. They end up on the run; Brazil from the law, Luise from a man who thinks he owns her. But there’s a reason I say “male protagonist.” About half way through the book, when Brazil is rendered ineffective, Luise becomes the story’s lead. New to this country by a couple of weeks, at first she is confused and helpless. Once confrontations move into arenas through which she knows how to navigate, however, Luise stands tall. In a stark world where bad guys are good, good guys are bad, and the rich and powerful blatantly use and abuse the system, she strides toward reuniting with Brazil in such a way that they are both free from pursuit. If the ending comes off as a tad convenient by today’s standards, remember that it conforms to the storytelling norms of the day. Besides, it’s Hammett. Even his lesser work is interesting. And Woman in the Dark is far from the worst of it. I'd agree that The Dain Curse is a lesser work but I always thought The Glass Key was considered by most Hammett readers to be up there with his best.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 24, 2016 20:49:03 GMT -5
Woman in the Dark by Dashiell HammettThis particular work seems to defy classification as it is often listed among Dashiell Hammett’s novels. Originally published in three parts in Liberty magazine in 1933, in my copy (Vintage Crime, 1989) and presumably in the Hardcover that preceded it, the publishers did everything possible to create a more substantial-looking book. There are generous bottom and right-side margins and the title of each of the three parts has its own title page, and matching blank page. Add an introduction by Robert B. Parker--with its own title and blank page too--and you get a story that concludes on page 78. It ain’t a novel. Person classification is also an issue. I can’t group it with lesser works like The Dain Curse or The Glass Key. Neither is it a masterpiece like The Maltese Falcon. Nor does it contain the layers of The Thin Man. Red Harvest comes closest with its one man (for the most part) and his attempt to bring down a corrupt town. But the male protagonist here is not an investigator. Brazil (no first name mentioned) is an ex-can, and his trouble with the power structure is forced upon him when he comes to the defense of the Luise Fisher, for whom the book is titled. They end up on the run; Brazil from the law, Luise from a man who thinks he owns her. But there’s a reason I say “male protagonist.” About half way through the book, when Brazil is rendered ineffective, Luise becomes the story’s lead. New to this country by a couple of weeks, at first she is confused and helpless. Once confrontations move into arenas through which she knows how to navigate, however, Luise stands tall. In a stark world where bad guys are good, good guys are bad, and the rich and powerful blatantly use and abuse the system, she strides toward reuniting with Brazil in such a way that they are both free from pursuit. If the ending comes off as a tad convenient by today’s standards, remember that it conforms to the storytelling norms of the day. Besides, it’s Hammett. Even his lesser work is interesting. And Woman in the Dark is far from the worst of it. I'd agree that The Dain Curse is a lesser work but I always thought The Glass Key was considered by most Hammett readers to be up there with his best. It was definitely Hammett's favorite of his work. And in retrospect, most critics put it as his other major work along with The Maltese Falcon. Its influence is actually pretty darn huge. Much as Sam Spade defined the hard-boiled detective and led to Philip Marlowe and Lew Archer, Ned Beaumont and The Glass Key, set the stage for the type of literary noir that has a morally ambiguous protagonist who isn't really in control of events. The Glass Key clearly sets the stage for James M. Cain, Jim Thompson and the "Gold Medal" noir writers.
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Post by Calamas on Jul 25, 2016 16:48:45 GMT -5
Sorry. Your quote got lost as I tried to use up less space. berkley said: I'd agree that The Dain Curse is a lesser work but I always thought The Glass Key was considered by most Hammett readers to be up there with his best. I'd agree that The Dain Curse is a lesser work but I always thought The Glass Key was considered by most Hammett readers to be up there with his best. It was definitely Hammett's favorite of his work. And in retrospect, most critics put it as his other major work along with The Maltese Falcon. Its influence is actually pretty darn huge. Much as Sam Spade defined the hard-boiled detective and led to Philip Marlowe and Lew Archer, Ned Beaumont and The Glass Key, set the stage for the type of literary noir that has a morally ambiguous protagonist who isn't really in control of events. The Glass Key clearly sets the stage for James M. Cain, Jim Thompson and the "Gold Medal" noir writers. Reactions like these force me to have to think. I’m prepared for comments on the book I reviewed. Of course I am; I just read it. But lines I gave no real consideration, put there only to give context to the point I really wanted make? So, why do I deem The Dain Curse and The Glass Key lesser works? Upon reflection it comes down to this: I don’t remember them. Hardly fair as a debate point, I know. And I’ll concede that memory lapses have become more common as the years have added up. But I remember entire stretches of Red Harvest and The Thin Man. (I have to discount The Maltese Falcon from this argument because it is the single book I’ve reread the most.) However, one of the advantages to aging is that you come to realize that often there is no point in being stubborn. If that many people feel otherwise about The Glass Key, it is worth looking into. When I’ll get around to rereading it, that’s another matter. It joins a fairly long list of titles.
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Post by berkley on Jul 26, 2016 21:04:19 GMT -5
Sorry. Your quote got lost as I tried to use up less space. berkley said: I'd agree that The Dain Curse is a lesser work but I always thought The Glass Key was considered by most Hammett readers to be up there with his best. It was definitely Hammett's favorite of his work. And in retrospect, most critics put it as his other major work along with The Maltese Falcon. Its influence is actually pretty darn huge. Much as Sam Spade defined the hard-boiled detective and led to Philip Marlowe and Lew Archer, Ned Beaumont and The Glass Key, set the stage for the type of literary noir that has a morally ambiguous protagonist who isn't really in control of events. The Glass Key clearly sets the stage for James M. Cain, Jim Thompson and the "Gold Medal" noir writers. Reactions like these force me to have to think. I’m prepared for comments on the book I reviewed. Of course I am; I just read it. But lines I gave no real consideration, put there only to give context to the point I really wanted make? So, why do I deem The Dain Curse and The Glass Key lesser works? Upon reflection it comes down to this: I don’t remember them. Hardly fair as a debate point, I know. And I’ll concede that memory lapses have become more common as the years have added up. But I remember entire stretches of Red Harvest and The Thin Man. (I have to discount The Maltese Falcon from this argument because it is the single book I’ve reread the most.) However, one of the advantages to aging is that you come to realize that often there is no point in being stubborn. If that many people feel otherwise about The Glass Key, it is worth looking into. When I’ll get around to rereading it, that’s another matter. It joins a fairly long list of titles. If it's any further incentive, I think that The Glass Key is a book that might be more interesting to an older than to a younger reader. I agree about re-reading a book after many years. I've done that with a few things recently and in almost every case rereading after 25 or 30 or 30+ years even something I thought I remembered fairly well turned out to be almost like reading an entirely new book.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jul 27, 2016 21:10:21 GMT -5
You guys just cut it out.. I have enough old sci-fi to read without trying to read old noir too By Schism Rent Asunder David Weber Book 2 of the Safehold 'Saga' I guess you'd call it, was a lot less a 'tech building' story and much more a political novel. There was a bit of action, and a bit of tech stuff, but by and large, it focused on the political impacts of what happened in Book 1, and the events in this one that grew out of them. While most of it was predictable, and some of it down right fairy tale-y, it works pretty well in context.. I still am thinking of it as a 'Guns of the South' type alternate history, something like 'What if Henry VIII had a son and better weapons than the pope?' They disposed nicely of the tension of having 'Merlin' be a secret, which tied back to the original alien story rather nicely. Now they just have to get rid of the literal sword of Damocles the bad guys have, and I'll be happy . I feared that having each book essentially be a year was going to be too decompressed to be enjoyable, but so far that's not the case, though I have to say, I do wonder what's going to happen to fill another 6 books, I'm defintely in for the next one at least.
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