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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 6, 2017 12:22:13 GMT -5
I've avoided Son of Tarzan up to now, from a general distaste for "son of" characters, but I think I will give this one a shot after all, one of these days. It's a pretty run of the mill Tarzan novel. For the most part, I've always felt there were diminishing returns on Tarzan after the first couple of books. But it's an enjoyable trifle.
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Post by berkley on Mar 6, 2017 16:51:21 GMT -5
I've avoided Son of Tarzan up to now, from a general distaste for "son of" characters, but I think I will give this one a shot after all, one of these days. It's a pretty run of the mill Tarzan novel. For the most part, I've always felt there were diminishing returns on Tarzan after the first couple of books. But it's an enjoyable trifle. That's been my experience as well, from the 4 or 5 I've read.
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Post by berkley on Mar 7, 2017 0:14:49 GMT -5
Same here. I intend to try some eventually, but haven't even gotten round to reading more of the originals yet, which I want to do first. I did enjoy Philip José Farmer's Doc Caliban pastiches - the ones I've read, that is. A Feast Unknown might not be to the taste of some Doc Savage fans, as Farmer works in some pretty weird sex and violence that is not at all in keeping with the spirit of the original, but the Caliban sequel, The Mad Goblin, is played totally straight. I only wish he'd continued the series. I haven't yet read The Peerless Peer or whatever other Doc Savage tributes he did. Peerless Peer is Sherlock and Tarzan, with a few pulp easter eggs thrown in (Kent Allard and Richard Wentworth). I enjoyed it. Anyone who likes modern pulp should try Black Coat Books' Tales of the Shadowmen anthology series, edited by Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficer. they feature stories with French pulp literary characters Fantomas, Arsene Lupin, Madame Atomos, Dr Omega, the Nyctalope), French silent mystery serials (Judex, Les Vampires and Irma Vep) and characters from other literary sources and media. They are a lot of fun and well done. Kim Newman had two stories about the Angels of Music, Charlie's Angels, where Charlie is the phantom of the Opera, and the Angels are characters from literature. He recently published and expanded novel version, with different teams of angels, in an overarching story. Another favorite within is Xavier Maumejean, who has stories featuring the birth of the Village, from The Prisoner, Hercule Poirot matching wits with Jeeves, Madame Atomos crossing paths with Sumuru, Madam Hydra, and Modesty Blaise; and Count Zaroff in another Most Dangerous Game, that includes Margo Lane. Black Coat also has translations of some of the original stories of the characters, like Dr Omega (a time traveller who is an obvious inspiration for Doctor Who), Doc Ardan (a Doc Savage analogue before Doc existed, though probably not a direct influence). Missed this earlier, but all of that sounds really good. I haven't yet gotten to the French pulp stories but should be coming to them soon. Over the years I've managed to track down a few books featuring some of the characters you list - e.g. Fantomas, Sax Rohmer's Sumuru, Talbot Mundy - but haven't read any of them yet. I ahdn't heard of the Black Coats Books or Xavier Maumejean before, thanks for that info.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 7, 2017 14:37:02 GMT -5
Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett. Pratchett's second to last Discworld novel. This one was a rough go. You can definitely tell that Pratchett was failing due to his battle with Alzheimer's. Particularly sad as the Moist von Lipwig books had been very good to that point. Probably for completeists only.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 7, 2017 16:01:22 GMT -5
I've avoided Son of Tarzan up to now, from a general distaste for "son of" characters, but I think I will give this one a shot after all, one of these days. It's a pretty run of the mill Tarzan novel. For the most part, I've always felt there were diminishing returns on Tarzan after the first couple of books. But it's an enjoyable trifle. Quite true. The batting average was pretty good up until Tarzan and the ant-men, even if lower than for the brilliant first book, but after that we have to slog through a lot of Tarzan and the lost empire for every Tarzan at the Earth's core.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 7, 2017 16:15:48 GMT -5
It's a pretty run of the mill Tarzan novel. For the most part, I've always felt there were diminishing returns on Tarzan after the first couple of books. But it's an enjoyable trifle. Quite true. The batting average was pretty good up until Tarzan and the ant-men, even if lower than for the brilliant first book, but after that we have to slog through a lot of Tarzan and the lost empire for every Tarzan at the Earth's core. I actually like Return of Tarzan just a tad more than Tarzan of the Apes. It feels just a bit sharper, probably due to Burroughs having done more writing by the time he did Return and improving in his craft.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 7, 2017 16:21:22 GMT -5
Quite true. The batting average was pretty good up until Tarzan and the ant-men, even if lower than for the brilliant first book, but after that we have to slog through a lot of Tarzan and the lost empire for every Tarzan at the Earth's core. I actually like Return of Tarzan just a tad more than Tarzan of the Apes. It feels just a bit sharper, probably due to Burroughs having done more writing by the time he did Return and improving in his craft. I like it a lot, and especially the part in Paris. But what are the odds of Tarzan being thrown in the Atlantic within swimming distance of his cabin, and of Jane's ship sinking at exactly the same place? The coincidence bug had already struck!
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 9, 2017 9:19:59 GMT -5
Quest of Three Worlds Cordwainer Smith I've liked Cordwainer Smith's stuff in the past, but this was definitely not one of his better works. A mash up of a few short stories, they feature Casher O'Neill, the son of a tyrant on a quest to free his people. The first story is exactly that, Casher goes to a rich planet to get support, and comes out with a girl he can't marry and a giant gem to make a laser with. Then it gets weird, and he meets a turtle girl that's the re-incarnation of a character that seems to be meant to be Space Joan of Arc, and gets all kinda of weird powers. He goes home and uses them to alter the body chemistry of the dictator and saves the day... but that's only 2/3 of the book. They last 1/3 is a weird vision quest, where he and his new wife find a planet of chicken people and send explorers to conquer them... so yeah, pretty weird at the end. There are some fun bit of his 'Instrumentality of Man' universe in there, especially the parts about how religion in general and Christianity in particular are treated, but otherwise it's a little too out there.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 9, 2017 11:09:36 GMT -5
Quest of Three Worlds Cordwainer Smith I've liked Cordwainer Smith's stuff in the past, but this was definitely not one of his better works. A mash up of a few short stories, they feature Casher O'Neill, the son of a tyrant on a quest to free his people. The first story is exactly that, Casher goes to a rich planet to get support, and comes out with a girl he can't marry and a giant gem to make a laser with. Then it gets weird, and he meets a turtle girl that's the re-incarnation of a character that seems to be meant to be Space Joan of Arc, and gets all kinda of weird powers. He goes home and uses them to alter the body chemistry of the dictator and saves the day... but that's only 2/3 of the book. They last 1/3 is a weird vision quest, where he and his new wife find a planet of chicken people and send explorers to conquer them... so yeah, pretty weird at the end. There are some fun bit of his 'Instrumentality of Man' universe in there, especially the parts about how religion in general and Christianity in particular are treated, but otherwise it's a little too out there. Space Joan of Arc, would be D'Joan, from the story "The Dead Lady of Clown Town." Her martyrdom had a profound effect on both humankind and the Underpeople, including a Lady of the Instrumentality. Ultimately it leads to the events in "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" and Norstrilia.
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Post by brutalis on Mar 9, 2017 11:20:58 GMT -5
Finished up Tuesday night the 1st book of a fantasy trilogy by Paul S. Kemp.The Hammer and the Blade is about a pair of adventurous rogue tomb raiders (Egil the hammer carrying ex-barbarian priest and his partner Nix the thief/with a smattering of magical education) looking to settle down and after having purchased a tavern they are dragged into another adventure.
Quite enjoyable light story with fairly strong characterization and fast moving action. Nothing too heavy and plays with the ideas of fantasy and sorcery as if in a buddy/team movie. Good banter between the 2 main stars Egil and Nix (actually feels like they know each other well and been together many years) which helps the story be both interesting and humorous. Worth a reading. Have the 2nd book A Discourse in Steel to read and the 3rd book just came out in hardback 1/24/17 so will have to wait a bit until it appears in paperback.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2017 12:09:22 GMT -5
Finished up Tuesday night the 1st book of a fantasy trilogy by Paul S. Kemp.The Hammer and the Blade is about a pair of adventurous rogue tomb raiders (Egil the hammer carrying ex-barbarian priest and his partner Nix the thief/with a smattering of magical education) looking to settle down and after having purchased a tavern they are dragged into another adventure. Quite enjoyable light story with fairly strong characterization and fast moving action. Nothing too heavy and plays with the ideas of fantasy and sorcery as if in a buddy/team movie. Good banter between the 2 main stars Egil and Nix (actually feels like they know each other well and been together many years) which helps the story be both interesting and humorous. Worth a reading. Have the 2nd book A Discourse in Steel to read and the 3rd book just came out in hardback 1/24/17 so will have to wait a bit until it appears in paperback. I've really enjoyed Kemp's writing on some of his D&D and Star Wars work. I may just have to add this to my never-ending-growing to read pile.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 9, 2017 13:28:48 GMT -5
Thuglit 9 ed. Todd Robinson It's a neo-noir/crime e-zine. So you know what you're getting. But I think this may be the strongest installment I've read. Not a bad story in the lot...in fact, not even a weak story in the lot. Very sad that Robinson hit the point of diminishing returns with Thuglit, because it was uniformly a strong read.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 9, 2017 19:08:42 GMT -5
Quest of Three Worlds Cordwainer Smith I've liked Cordwainer Smith's stuff in the past, but this was definitely not one of his better works. A mash up of a few short stories, they feature Casher O'Neill, the son of a tyrant on a quest to free his people. The first story is exactly that, Casher goes to a rich planet to get support, and comes out with a girl he can't marry and a giant gem to make a laser with. Then it gets weird, and he meets a turtle girl that's the re-incarnation of a character that seems to be meant to be Space Joan of Arc, and gets all kinda of weird powers. He goes home and uses them to alter the body chemistry of the dictator and saves the day... but that's only 2/3 of the book. They last 1/3 is a weird vision quest, where he and his new wife find a planet of chicken people and send explorers to conquer them... so yeah, pretty weird at the end. There are some fun bit of his 'Instrumentality of Man' universe in there, especially the parts about how religion in general and Christianity in particular are treated, but otherwise it's a little too out there. Space Joan of Arc, would be D'Joan, from the story "The Dead Lady of Clown Town." Her martyrdom had a profound effect on both humankind and the Underpeople, including a Lady of the Instrumentality. Ultimately it leads to the events in "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" and Norstrilia. I've definitely read the Ballad of Lost C'Mell... but I didn't make the connection (it was a while back). I think reading a bunch of his stuff at once would probably be better than the occassional bits... I get a sense that there's certainly overreaching themes.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 9, 2017 20:52:48 GMT -5
Space Joan of Arc, would be D'Joan, from the story "The Dead Lady of Clown Town." Her martyrdom had a profound effect on both humankind and the Underpeople, including a Lady of the Instrumentality. Ultimately it leads to the events in "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" and Norstrilia. I've definitely read the Ballad of Lost C'Mell... but I didn't make the connection (it was a while back). I think reading a bunch of his stuff at once would probably be better than the occassional bits... I get a sense that there's certainly overreaching themes. There is. But it was all published in bits. If you can find it, the NESFA published a book called The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith. It's pretty much everything except Norstrilia. At 671 pages of short fiction, I probably wouldn't recommend reading it all at once. But over a period of time it's a great read.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 9, 2017 21:48:21 GMT -5
I've definitely read the Ballad of Lost C'Mell... but I didn't make the connection (it was a while back). I think reading a bunch of his stuff at once would probably be better than the occassional bits... I get a sense that there's certainly overreaching themes. There is. But it was all published in bits. If you can find it, the NESFA published a book called The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith. It's pretty much everything except Norstrilia. At 671 pages of short fiction, I probably wouldn't recommend reading it all at once. But over a period of time it's a great read. I've read some of Cordwainer Smith's short fiction in best-of-year anthologies. Two other stories that were highly praised of his are Scanners Live In Vain and Game Of Rat And Dragon
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