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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 12, 2017 12:05:02 GMT -5
Young Frankenstein: The Story of the Making of the Film by Mel Brooks. Fun look at the making of the movie Young Frankenstein. This is more of a coffee table type book rather than an in-depth look at the movie. But it's a lot of fun. And I'd watched the film very recently with my youngest son (first time for him). If you see it at the library and like the film it's a fun quick read.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 14, 2017 10:43:59 GMT -5
The Lost Oasis by Kenneth Robeson (Lester Dent) The seventh super-saga (publication order) is the best since the first. Part of that is that it's a pretty straight forward adventure saga and Dent, while he hits a lot of the tropes that are familiar in the series, doesn't pull out as many that have already become hoary. The villains are right out in the open, no trying to hide who they are. This one does hit us with the damsel in distress falling for Doc, but it's not as bad as it will get in future tomes. A fun romp that takes us to the deserts of Egypt and gives us killer vampire bats and giant carnivorous plants. So that's a good thing.
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Roquefort Raider
CCF Mod Squad
Modus omnibus in rebus
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 14, 2017 12:08:59 GMT -5
The Lost Oasis by Kenneth Robeson (Lester Dent) The seventh super-saga (publication order) is the best since the first. Part of that is that it's a pretty straight forward adventure saga and Dent, while he hits a lot of the tropes that are familiar in the series, doesn't pull out as many that have already become hoary. The villains are right out in the open, no trying to hide who they are. This one does hit us with the damsel in distress falling for Doc, but it's not as bad as it will get in future tomes. A fun romp that takes us to the deserts of Egypt and gives us killer vampire bats and giant carnivorous plants. So that's a good thing. Those Jim Bama covers are truly iconic! Couldn't imagine Doc Savage without them.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 14, 2017 12:19:07 GMT -5
The Lost Oasis by Kenneth Robeson (Lester Dent) The seventh super-saga (publication order) is the best since the first. Part of that is that it's a pretty straight forward adventure saga and Dent, while he hits a lot of the tropes that are familiar in the series, doesn't pull out as many that have already become hoary. The villains are right out in the open, no trying to hide who they are. This one does hit us with the damsel in distress falling for Doc, but it's not as bad as it will get in future tomes. A fun romp that takes us to the deserts of Egypt and gives us killer vampire bats and giant carnivorous plants. So that's a good thing. Those Jim Bama covers are truly iconic! Couldn't imagine Doc Savage without them. Doc was blessed with great covers. The Bama covers were amazing and I do think that they had a lot to do with the series being so popular in the 70s. But the original pulp covers by Walter Baumhofer were nothing to sneeze at.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jun 14, 2017 20:18:45 GMT -5
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 14, 2017 20:35:04 GMT -5
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 14, 2017 20:43:29 GMT -5
Just finished Adam Christopher's Empire State... The word that best sums it up is "disappointing." On the surface, it's supposed to be a pulp mystery/adventure, with superheroes, private eyes, a parallel dimension, airships and robots; but, it's such a muddled, confusing mess, with thinly sketched characters and lots of side switching and so many turns that it gets tied up in knots. There are ideas in there, they just don't get developed well or coherently. I can only imagine what someone like Kim Newman or Chris Robeson could have done with this premise. Do yourself a favor and read this one, instead...
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 14, 2017 20:45:20 GMT -5
It was the covers that first got me interested. I was mesmerized by the first one, but never had money when I saw it and never saw it when I had money. The middle one is clearly not Bama's work, but a giant dinosaur? I was there. I was also 13. There used to be a used bookstore in the town across the river where both my parents worked called The Paperback Bookworm. The type that dealt exclusively in used paperbacks...trade in for credit to take off your purchase and then ten cents a book. As I've said both my parents were huge readers so I went there pretty frequently. This would have been in the late 70s and into the early 80s and they always had a ton of Doc Savage books, along with a ton of SF paperbacks mostly 60s and early 70s vintage. I never did the trade-in thing. I paid my money (half of cover price, I think) and I still have most of the books I bought back then. I have probably better than half of the Bantam Doc Savages purchased from there. My great regret is that I wasn't into old mysteries and literary noir back then. I have no doubt I could have found a treasure trove of Fawcett Gold Medal paperbacks. The Land of Terror cover, btw, is by Fred Rosa, who only did a handful. Bama's were by far the best, though I really liked Fred Pfeiffer's as well
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Post by Prince Hal on Jun 14, 2017 20:54:26 GMT -5
Slam_Bradley, I used to see these at the discount department stores like Newberry's and Great Eastern (might have been regional stores), and they never seemed to have more than a couple of titles at a time, and they'd change frequently. I didn't stay with the series for too long, partly because I couldn't find enough of them.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 14, 2017 21:12:19 GMT -5
Just finished Adam Christopher's Empire State... The word that best sums it up is "disappointing." On the surface, it's supposed to be a pulp mystery/adventure, with superheroes, private eyes, a parallel dimension, airships and robots; but, it's such a muddled, confusing mess, with thinly sketched characters and lots of side switching and so many turns that it gets tied up in knots. There are ideas in there, they just don't get developed well or coherently. I can only imagine what someone like Kim Newman or Chris Robeson could have done with this premise. Do yourself a favor and read this one, instead... That's disappointing, but not super surprising.. the robot one barely held together, and it was a pretty simple premise.
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Post by Jesse on Jun 16, 2017 9:47:40 GMT -5
I'm about 50 pages away from finishing Moby Dick and the damn white whale still hasn't shown up yet.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jun 16, 2017 11:05:24 GMT -5
I'm about 50 pages away from finishing Moby Dick and the damn white whale still hasn't shown up yet. He's always been there...and always will be.
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Post by Jesse on Jun 16, 2017 15:13:45 GMT -5
Picked up the fifth Jack Reacher novel today Echo Burning by Lee Child however I'm not sure when I'll be able to start it. I've already read (and for the most part enjoyed) the first four Jack Reacher books; Running Blind, Tripwire, Die Trying and Killing Floor. They are fast paced, action thrillers that I feel fans of classic action movies might enjoy.
I've got quite a few other books in my "To Read" pile already. I've started Noble House Volume 1 by James Clavell after really enjoying his previous book Shōgun.
I've also started Kim by Rudyard Kipling which appears in a two volume collection of his short stories and poems.
Recently reread the first book in the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov and I'm half way through the second book Foundation and Empire. Just getting to the second part of the novel that introduces The Mule.
I've also got copies of The Clan of the Cave Bear and The Plains of Passage by Jean M. Auel but not the two books that occur between them in the Earth's Children series. I'm wondering if anyone has read this series and what their thoughts are.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 20, 2017 20:05:59 GMT -5
Wow, that's alot of classics!
MY wife is a huge fan of the Earth's Children series (well, those 1st four books, anyway).. we named our 2nd daughter after the main character. It was really for me though, I little light on history and heavy on relationships for me.
LOVE Foundation.. great stuff.
I've read a few Jack Reacher books (don't recall which) and enjoyed them, but not something I feel the need to either search out or read in order.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 22, 2017 14:09:03 GMT -5
Dragon and Thief Timothy Zahn (2004)
I had no idea Timothy Zahn had ever written anything young adult, and fantasy, too? I was thrilled when I noticed!
As it turns out, it's not fantasy, but space opera, but it's still quite a good one. Jack Morgan was raised by his crooked Uncle, who was a safe cracker and thief, but who died and left Jack a legacy of being framed for a crime he didn't commit. Trying to go straight, Jack and the AI of his Uncle that runs his small freighter stumble upon a fire fight... it turns out the K'da, a symbionic race of dragons, are trying to feel from evil bad guys trying to destroy their civilation and, of course, can bond with humans... so what you get is a 14 year old with most of the skills of James Bond that has a full body Dragon tattoo that comes to life and kicks butt.
The plot follows Jack trying to figure out how to get free of being framed up by a megacorp, and ends up getting mixed up in a plot by one of the board members.. there's also a link to Draycos (the K'da) and probably will all connect together soon. My one complaint is that it's a little light for a novel.. I suspect if it wasn't meant to be young adult the whole series could be one good, thick paperback, instead of 6 large print slim hard covers.
This resembles 60s YA sci fi much more the the current, with a clear wish fufillment main character (who wouldn't want a pet dragon that is physically bonded to them?) with a strong moral lesson... I definitely like the old ways better!
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