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Post by berkley on Apr 22, 2017 1:53:08 GMT -5
I think I've read The Monster Men an the Eternal Savage but couldn't tell you anything about either of them, not even how I felt about them at the time, so apparently they didn't make much of an impression.
The Land that Time Forgot, on the other hand, was one of my very favourites, even though I was put off by the anti-German stuff even as a kid - not because of anything about Germany in particular, I would have been just as put off by the targeting of any other specific group of people, at least when it was that blatant. But still, the whole trilogy is one of the very best things ERB ever did, in my eyes.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 23, 2017 23:19:08 GMT -5
Richard Stark The Seventh
I had a real hard time getting this one from the library (I guess too generic of a title), so I finally just bought it.
This one is a little different from the other Parker books... it doesn't focus on the heist (which is a piece of cake), but rather the aftermath, where everything goes 'sour' (lots of 'sweet' and 'sour' references) Much like the other books, we get to know the players just enough to have some feeling about them before they step off the stage.. those the absence of some of the recurring characters was felt (by me, at least). The title and ending were both very clever, I thought, in keeping with the fact that it's the 7th book. I would have liked to hear a bit more about how Parker's 'off duty' life fell apart (something that happened at the end of the last book and got only a passing mention), but maybe next time.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 24, 2017 10:22:27 GMT -5
Richard Stark The Seventh I had a real hard time getting this one from the library (I guess too generic of a title), so I finally just bought it. This one is a little different from the other Parker books... it doesn't focus on the heist (which is a piece of cake), but rather the aftermath, where everything goes 'sour' (lots of 'sweet' and 'sour' references) Much like the other books, we get to know the players just enough to have some feeling about them before they step off the stage.. those the absence of some of the recurring characters was felt (by me, at least). The title and ending were both very clever, I thought, in keeping with the fact that it's the 7th book. I would have liked to hear a bit more about how Parker's 'off duty' life fell apart (something that happened at the end of the last book and got only a passing mention), but maybe next time. I remember liking that one. I honestly couldn't come up with the plot until I'd read a synopsis. But it was kind of cool to see more of the aftermath than the heist itself.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 24, 2017 10:33:36 GMT -5
Thuglit 11 ed. by Todd Robinson The usual collection of neo-noir short stories. No real standouts in this one. But no duds either (though there seldom are). I'm sad that Robinson had to pull the plug on Thuglit, because it really was a quality e-zine.
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Post by Calamas on Apr 24, 2017 13:21:22 GMT -5
Richard Stark The Seventh I had a real hard time getting this one from the library (I guess too generic of a title), so I finally just bought it. This one is a little different from the other Parker books... it doesn't focus on the heist (which is a piece of cake), but rather the aftermath, where everything goes 'sour' (lots of 'sweet' and 'sour' references) Much like the other books, we get to know the players just enough to have some feeling about them before they step off the stage.. those the absence of some of the recurring characters was felt (by me, at least). The title and ending were both very clever, I thought, in keeping with the fact that it's the 7th book. I would have liked to hear a bit more about how Parker's 'off duty' life fell apart (something that happened at the end of the last book and got only a passing mention), but maybe next time. I remember liking that one. I honestly couldn't come up with the plot until I'd read a synopsis. But it was kind of cool to see more of the aftermath than the heist itself. Agreed. Don't remember the story; only the ending.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 24, 2017 20:12:50 GMT -5
Richard Stark The Seventh I had a real hard time getting this one from the library (I guess too generic of a title), so I finally just bought it. This one is a little different from the other Parker books... it doesn't focus on the heist (which is a piece of cake), but rather the aftermath, where everything goes 'sour' (lots of 'sweet' and 'sour' references) Much like the other books, we get to know the players just enough to have some feeling about them before they step off the stage.. those the absence of some of the recurring characters was felt (by me, at least). The title and ending were both very clever, I thought, in keeping with the fact that it's the 7th book. I would have liked to hear a bit more about how Parker's 'off duty' life fell apart (something that happened at the end of the last book and got only a passing mention), but maybe next time. I remember liking that one. I honestly couldn't come up with the plot until I'd read a synopsis. But it was kind of cool to see more of the aftermath than the heist itself. Yeah, it was... I liked how he got totally flummoxed by an 'amateur' too (really just a jealous boyfriend). I should definitely get some more Thug Lit's at some point.. the one I read was really good.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 24, 2017 21:29:51 GMT -5
I remember liking that one. I honestly couldn't come up with the plot until I'd read a synopsis. But it was kind of cool to see more of the aftermath than the heist itself. Yeah, it was... I liked how he got totally flummoxed by an 'amateur' too (really just a jealous boyfriend). I should definitely get some more Thug Lit's at some point.. the one I read was really good. If you don't mind e-books I think $1.99 apiece is a great value. I actually read them free as a part of my Amazon Prime. Every one I've read...and at this point it's probably close to half have been at least very good.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 25, 2017 18:29:01 GMT -5
They're free with Prime? I do usually mind e-books. but free is a good price
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 25, 2017 18:32:56 GMT -5
They're free with Prime? I do usually mind e-books. but free is a good price Prime includes on free book to read a month. The Thuglit's are included in that.
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Post by brutalis on Apr 26, 2017 13:51:41 GMT -5
Finished up over the weekend: R. M. Meluch's 6th book in the Merrimack series; The Twice and Future Caesar. This one reads fast and quick letting characterization fall to the side for the most part with the writer presuming you have read the other 5 books in the series. The action is extreme and furious but the story is what makes your head spin. After the 1st book Meluch did a time jump/change totally rewriting the history of the series and with this one commits another time jump "restoring" things back to the end of the original novel.
Exploring the ideas of time and knowing the past doesn't always mean you can change the past to suit your own needs. Time being flexible and what you "know" not necessarily being the truth of the past. What you see can be only that which you wish to perceive as the universe will always throw a monkey wrench your way changing the outcomes yet again. The past traveled to ends up being an alternate universe matching closely but not exactly and there in becomes the complexity.
It is an interesting story and gives you pause to consider and contemplate what we know versus what we don't and how any choice, no matter how insignificant or small can lead to delivering larger changes to our present or future circumstances. This book does what good science fiction should in delivering a fun and intriguing story while making you think deeply. It may be the finale of the series or just a new beginning depending upon what the writer and book company chooses.
Spent Monday home ill with the flu and chose to lay in bed sleeping and reading while recovering. Read Larry Correia's Monster Hunter: Nemesis which uncovers the back history of Agent Franks the Monster Control Bureau's number one government agent and destroyer of monsters. Throughout the series of novels it is hinted that Franks is actually the Frankenstein Monster, but it turns out he is actually the basis of Mary Shelley's story.
Franks is in fact a fallen angel from Lucifer's attempts to conquer heaven and Franks took possession of a scientists experiments in trying to create life from death. Turns out it isn't possible but the body he which he created combined with an elixir of life provides the perfect form for angels and devils to inhabit. The government has the idea they can create more like Franks and a high ranking official seeking power does the stupidity move of thinking he can control the new bodies created. He doesn't know that they are not just mindlessly trained super bodies to do his bidding but hell's angels using the bodies to come to this reality. Franks is framed and the government thinks he has gone insane so Franks goes rogue and with the aide of his Monster Hunter friends battles to stop Kurst (Cursed, get it?) from Hell before more of the fallen can come to his aide.
Correia excels with insane fights and action moving the story smoothly and quickly and it is a fine novel in this continued world of monsters being real and living among us. Gotta love the gangsta gnomes and Franks is as always the baddest of the bad and good; scaring even the most evil of monsters and most choose (except for the really dumb) to avoid or just run away from him. Great fun!
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 30, 2017 15:00:16 GMT -5
The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett. I'm not entirely sure when I first came across Discworld and Terry Pratchett. I thought it would have been a omnibus edition of The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic from the SFBC. But upon perusing the ISFDB that appears not to be the case. So it was probably when one of the two books came out initially in the SFBC. I do know that I wasn't interested. I'm not sure why. Maybe I just didn't think that fantasy parody sounded like a good idea. It wasn't the humor aspect because I was reading Robert Asprin's Myth books at the time. So I passed on them. Later I kept hearing about Discworld and Pratchett, but I'd moved on to other things. Then I started reading Robert Rankin and Tom Holt. And I kept being told by people whose opinions I valued that Pratchett was a must read. So I started reading them some time in 2009. I have now finished The Shepherd's Crown two days after Pratchett's birthday. So I averaged a Discworld novel about every other month. The Shepherd's Crown is a good way for everything to close. Without getting into spoilers Tiffany takes her place in the world...a world that is clearly changing ahdn has changed an incredible amount from the medieval parody that we saw in The Colour of Magic. I'm going to miss Sam Vimes, Granny Weatherwax, Vetinari, Moist Von Lipwig, Mustrum Ridcully, Rob Anybody and Daft Wullie, and the ever-present hand of Death. Small Gods is one of the best meditations on religion that I've ever read. Adieu to A'Tuin. And thank you to Sir Terry...and to those who got me to read his work.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 1, 2017 10:40:37 GMT -5
The Devil and Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches Maybe it takes a writer like Tosches to deal with a subject like Liston. If ever there were an enigma in the sport of boxing it was Liston. And Tosches is always more of a novelist than a historian. So if you have a fairly blank slate, you need a writer to fill in the holes. We do get what is known about Liston. And then we get the speculation. Tosches is convinced that Liston threw both his fights against Ali. I've always doubted that...but now I'm less sure. And Toshes is pretty sure that Liston O.D.'d rather than was murdered. I'm less convinced by his argument there (though intrigued by the idea that Joe Louis may have had something to do with the OD). This is an interesting and compelling read. It helps that this is Tosches writing, for him, with restraint. That makes it significantly more readable.
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 1, 2017 10:51:37 GMT -5
The Devil and Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches Maybe it takes a writer like Tosches to deal with a subject like Liston. If ever there were an enigma in the sport of boxing it was Liston. And Tosches is always more of a novelist than a historian. So if you have a fairly blank slate, you need a writer to fill in the holes. We do get what is known about Liston. And then we get the speculation. Tosches is convinced that Liston threw both his fights against Ali. I've always doubted that...but now I'm less sure. And Toshes is pretty sure that Liston O.D.'d rather than was murdered. I'm less convinced by his argument there (though intrigued by the idea that Joe Louis may have had something to do with the OD). This is an interesting and compelling read. It helps that this is Tosches writing, for him, with restraint. That makes it significantly more readable. oohhh.. that sounds cool. I just read the Ali Graphic Novel-biography.. I might have to see if the library has this one after my next baseball book
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 1, 2017 12:32:01 GMT -5
If we need an example of a book in which the formula fails, it is The monster men. I just finished it and oh, Gawd, what an awful read. "Tedious" hardly begins to describe it, and a certain last minute revelation kills any interest the story might have had. I'll agree that The Monster Men is pretty bad. But since I'm slowly re-reading my Burroughs (very slowly) I found The Eternal Savage to be the worst of his first 15 novels. The Monster men probably runs it a close second though. I agree. The eternal savage (which I read as "the eternal lover") was essentially garbage, and managed to reach an ending even lousier than the rest of the book. It was a long time ago, but yeah... I hated it more than the monster men.
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 3, 2017 23:02:24 GMT -5
Fourth Galaxy Reader HL Gold This is a nice collection of late 50s short stories. It does have a few famous writers, including Frederick Pohl, JT McIntosh, Fritz Leiber, Avram Davidson and what has to be one of the first things written by Michael Shaara. The title is a little misleading, in that most of the stories are near-future types that take place on Earth.. more like Twilight Zone fodder that anything Galactic. Those there were are the best of the lot... Frederick Pohl's 'the Gentlest Unpeople' about a brutish crook that tries to take advantage of the kindest of Venusians, and 'The Minimum Man' by Robery Sheckley, which shows a very unique take on colonizing a new planet. Shaara's story, very short, was a fun little time machine story. Leiber's, aptly titled, 'What's he doing in There' is a really funny first contact story. Most of the rest are fairly middling fare that just have small bits of weirdness in them, but there was really only 1 real clunker out of the 15 in the collection, which is a pretty good ratio.
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