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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2016 23:12:07 GMT -5
I finished the first and (so far), only Ms. Tree novel. I liked it a lot. Even though it takes some of its plot from the early issues of the Ms. Tree comics, it stood on it's own well and I liked seeing that storyline expanded upon. I hope Collins gets a chance to return to the character with another novel.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 6, 2016 23:53:57 GMT -5
I love me some Hard Case Crime.
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Post by brutalis on Aug 9, 2016 9:19:35 GMT -5
i have searched and wanted that Ms. Tree novel but cannot find it anywhere for a reasonable price. Max Allan Collin's mystery and detective novels are all great reads and i grab them up used whenever i can find them.
This weekend i finished book 1 of the adventures of the U.S.S. Merrimack crew in The Myriad by R. M. Meluch. Written in 2005 it is the 1st in a series of now 6 novels. Science Fiction in the grand old Heinlen style. The United States is a major power now in space and another major power is formed around ancient Roman customs. So the USA and Rome are the 2 big boys in space and earth in a war against each other. In space there is an insectoid swarm called the HIVE a communal presence traveling the galaxies in its insatiable hunger devouring everything in it's path. The Roman's lost a ship against the HIVE and the US learned from their mistake and have sent the Merrimack to hunt and destroy the insects. There is a cold war sense throughout the book as the Roman empire has sent one of their computer and genetically enhanced warriors who can plug into anything electronically and analyze data and make computations and assessments blazingly fast to assist the US in the hunt. They find a world hidden and untouched by the hive that utilize a worm hole to travel around which is actually a conduit to earth in the far past. The book bounces back and forth between the US vs Roman politics, the fight against the HIVE and the 1st contact with the Myrridians and the resulting discovery of the wormhole and what to do or how to use it. Concept: Do you go back to kill Hitler and change everything from there on? Do they go back and destroy the Hive before they become such a massive force of destruction? Eventually the Merrimack Commander decides to destroy the wormhole but before he can do that some Myrridians go through and there are changes where people who died earlier in the book are alive and the Roman officer on board is gone and now a Commander of his own star cruiser. It has some core thoughts to make you contemplate the greater things of life in the universe while never stopping the adventure, war and characterizations. A wild start to a series that looks to provide even more promising concepts in the rest of the series. i have books 2 and 3 and 4 to read and will get books 5 and 6 when i get a chance. Recommended fun read!
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 9, 2016 12:14:35 GMT -5
i have searched and wanted that Ms. Tree novel but cannot find it anywhere for a reasonable price. Max Allan Collin's mystery and detective novels are all great reads and i grab them up used whenever i can find them. Are you not in the U.S.? It's readily available on Amazon and there are used copies (though with shipping they aren't much less than the new price). I totally understand not wanting to pay full retail though...I'm pretty cheap.
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Post by brutalis on Aug 9, 2016 13:45:42 GMT -5
Yes i am in the US and Amazon is my last option for book buying options. Deadly Beloved was printed in 2011 and Amazon only lists it as used starting at $27.31. A bit much for what is basically a $4 paperback. It is outrageous these days how much they are charging for paperback books. i truly loathe the trend now of paperback books having their size changed to a longer length and shorter width and meaning the page counts go up so they can charge more for the book. And the other trend of taking lesser selling authors or "niche" authors (especially in mysteries and historical) and making the books in a larger format and font meaning the book is slimmer and charging more for the book. I know change is one of the inevitable's in life, but the paperback format was devised to be a cheap seller to the masses for a reason.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 9, 2016 13:51:00 GMT -5
There are a few copies up on Ebay; prices range from $4 to $14.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 9, 2016 14:16:42 GMT -5
Yes i am in the US and Amazon is my last option for book buying options. Deadly Beloved was printed in 2011 and Amazon only lists it as used starting at $27.31. A bit much for what is basically a $4 paperback. It is outrageous these days how much they are charging for paperback books. i truly loathe the trend now of paperback books having their size changed to a longer length and shorter width and meaning the page counts go up so they can charge more for the book. And the other trend of taking lesser selling authors or "niche" authors (especially in mysteries and historical) and making the books in a larger format and font meaning the book is slimmer and charging more for the book. I know change is one of the inevitable's in life, but the paperback format was devised to be a cheap seller to the masses for a reason. www.amazon.com/Deadly-Beloved-Hard-Crime-Novels/dp/0857683225/ref=tmm_mmp_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1470770112&sr=1-2$6.99 for a new paperback. $1.92 used.
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Post by brutalis on Aug 9, 2016 14:52:46 GMT -5
Thanks for the link Slam! For whatever reason all i could ever pull up was the used version/cost i quoted earlier.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 9, 2016 14:53:36 GMT -5
Thanks for the link Slam! For whatever reason all i could ever pull up was the used version/cost i quoted earlier. No problems. I buy a TON of stuff from Amazon. My Amazon-fu is pretty strong.
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Post by brutalis on Aug 9, 2016 14:58:24 GMT -5
Thanks for the link Slam! For whatever reason all i could ever pull up was the used version/cost i quoted earlier. No problems. I buy a TON of stuff from Amazon. My Amazon-fu is pretty strong. Maybe you should see a doctor about that fu before it spreads? Usually my Amazon-fu is fairly strong as well searching out goodies. I shall say it is my fault for not preparing the proper sacrifices to the GODS of computer links and order my soul away to Amazon as i normally do.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2016 13:46:28 GMT -5
Warlords of Gaikon by Jeffrey Lord (Richard Blade #18) The Blade books were sf/sword and sorcery, mostly. I remember seeing the early ones (the first 8 were published by Macfadden) and being interested, but I held off because of the covers. Lots of nudity. Like so But then Pinnacle (publishers of the Executioner and Destroyer) took over, and the covers toned down a bit. I tried a couple, but wasn't impressed. Still, hope kept springing, and I bought most of them. Those books are long gone, but when I found Warlords on line, nostalgia and curiosity ganged up on me, and I read it. What the hell, how bad could it be? I should have known better. First off, this ain't sword and sorcery. The only fantastic element is the machine that sends Richard Blade, British secret agent and manly man, to other dimensions. Once he arrives, naked of course, in Gaikon, it's pure historical fiction. Gaikon is feudal Japan, complete with warlords, samurai and ronin, tho the names are changed. The plot is pure formula; Blade meets some samurai, impresses them and joins the service of their lord, there's a plot against his new lord, and Blade gets revenge. Blah. There are fight scenes, which are okay. There are a lot of sex scenes; Blade has sex with 4 women over the course of the book, but there's no emotional connection at all. One's a casual pick-up in London, one's a servant sent to him for the night. One is a fellow warrior, and he respects her and mourns her death as a fallen comrade, not a lover. There's one plot point, a large diamond that could help fund his government project if Blade can take it back to Earth with him. But we don't find out if he did or not; the author (Roland Green, it turns out) must've reach his desired page count, cause the diamond is just forgotten. Blade himself has no personality. He loves adventure and sex, is strong and brave, impresses everyone he meets, yadda yadda. Bottom line - this is strictly pulp aimed at adolescent males. I should have picked up one of those early volumes, porn cover and all. I probably would've enjoyed this kind of thing more, back then. (Of course, now I want to check out one of the first 8 books, written by Manning Lee Stokes. Maybe they were better? Hope springs some more, eh?)
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2016 16:22:20 GMT -5
No problems. I buy a TON of stuff from Amazon. My Amazon-fu is pretty strong. Maybe you should see a doctor about that fu before it spreads? Usually my Amazon-fu is fairly strong as well searching out goodies. I shall say it is my fault for not preparing the proper sacrifices to the GODS of computer links and order my soul away to Amazon as i normally do. With Amazon, of course, one must make sure that one isn't looking at an unusually rare &/or highly (over)priced version of a book, record, CD, etc. when perfectly cheap alternatives are to be found. My Amazon-fu is quite potent as well. Over the last couple of weeks I've received 3 or 4 books, 2 DVDs & probably at least 20 CDs from Marketplace sellers on the cheap.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2016 19:51:03 GMT -5
Sword of the Gael by Andrew J. Offutt A nice palate cleanser, after that Blade. Inspired by the REH thread, I dug out my Offutt novels featuring Howard's Cormac mac Art, the Gaelic exile who joined Norse raiders. This book takes Cormac back home, to face those responsible for his exile. There's not a lot of sorcery going on, which is fine with me; not a big fan of Tolkeinesque high fantasy. The plot's straightforward, there are a couple of convenient coincidences, and there are a few action scenes that feel like so much padding. But Cormac and the other main characters have some character to them, the action scenes are fun, and the writing is much livelier than Blade. Offutt makes an effort to evoke the Irish lilt in dialogue and description; you get the sense that he enjoyed writing the book. Which, oddly enough, leads to a book that's an enjoyable read. Funny how that works out.
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Post by berkley on Aug 16, 2016 3:00:24 GMT -5
Warlords of Gaikon by Jeffrey Lord (Richard Blade #18) The Blade books were sf/sword and sorcery, mostly. I remember seeing the early ones (the first 8 were published by Macfadden) and being interested, but I held off because of the covers. Lots of nudity. Like so But then Pinnacle (publishers of the Executioner and Destroyer) took over, and the covers toned down a bit. I tried a couple, but wasn't impressed. Still, hope kept springing, and I bought most of them. Those books are long gone, but when I found Warlords on line, nostalgia and curiosity ganged up on me, and I read it. What the hell, how bad could it be? I should have known better. First off, this ain't sword and sorcery. The only fantastic element is the machine that sends Richard Blade, British secret agent and manly man, to other dimensions. Once he arrives, naked of course, in Gaikon, it's pure historical fiction. Gaikon is feudal Japan, complete with warlords, samurai and ronin, tho the names are changed. The plot is pure formula; Blade meets some samurai, impresses them and joins the service of their lord, there's a plot against his new lord, and Blade gets revenge. Blah. There are fight scenes, which are okay. There are a lot of sex scenes; Blade has sex with 4 women over the course of the book, but there's no emotional connection at all. One's a casual pick-up in London, one's a servant sent to him for the night. One is a fellow warrior, and he respects her and mourns her death as a fallen comrade, not a lover. There's one plot point, a large diamond that could help fund his government project if Blade can take it back to Earth with him. But we don't find out if he did or not; the author (Roland Green, it turns out) must've reach his desired page count, cause the diamond is just forgotten. Blade himself has no personality. He loves adventure and sex, is strong and brave, impresses everyone he meets, yadda yadda. Bottom line - this is strictly pulp aimed at adolescent males. I should have picked up one of those early volumes, porn cover and all. I probably would've enjoyed this kind of thing more, back then. (Of course, now I want to check out one of the first 8 books, written by Manning Lee Stokes. Maybe they were better? Hope springs some more, eh?) The Blade books are a great disappointment, because I still think it's a great premise: UK intelligence sends agent to various "dimensions", etc - could have been a combination of Ian Fleming and ERB. But from the single one I read in my early 20s I have to agree, not much happening there.
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Post by berkley on Aug 16, 2016 3:27:27 GMT -5
I just finished Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely, first time re-reading it for many years. Until this the only Marlowe books I re-read recently (as in less than 10 years ago) were The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye, the first and last, you might say. I have been reading Chandler's short stories the last year or so, which makes for some confusion because he re-cycled scenes and characters from some of those stories in FML.
Dashiell Hammett is rightly acknowledged as the father of the hard-boiled genre, but I think there's no question that Chandler added something of his own to it very soon afterwards - without looking up the dates I'd say less than ten years - something that has now become intrinsic to the genre. What exactly that something is I find hard to describe, perhaps because it's really more than just one thing.
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