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Post by berkley on Nov 23, 2020 12:51:47 GMT -5
Yes, I read that way back when it came out in the early 80s. I've bought the sequels too but haven't tried them yet. I also read The Point Man when it first came out and while I liked it, it also showed many signs of being a first novel. With the sequels that followed Englehart wrote with a much surer hand. Bonus for comic fans: He eventually makes use of a couple of characters he co-created. Good to hear, I look forward all the more to reading them eventually.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 23, 2020 23:55:00 GMT -5
Star Wars: Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn I've loved Grand Admiral Thrawn since he first appeared in Heir to the Empire... he's easily my favorite Star Wars villain. Yet it seems even a great character in the hands of the excellent writer who created him can have a bad outing. First of all, I HATE that the premise here is that Thrawn met Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars. That story worked great with Tarkin.. it makes sense the two would cross paths. This one had to be cranked up to 11 on the coincidence meter to have it happen. Oh, and it also just happened to take place on the 'new' frontier planet that is suddenly the center of every story thanks to the Disney attraction? Great. The entire book felt like it was a corporate mandated story. 'Let's have Thrawn and Vader team up. It'll be great!' say no one older than 13 ever. I kept feeling the Thrawn incessantly telling Vader to trust him was really the author speaking to me, promising a great 3rd book in the trilogy. Then there's the plot. So there's this material that makes energy weapons useless.. and EVERYONE uses energy weapons. But no one ever tries to use it again? (Well, not so... it's clear the Chiss do, since Thrawn's uniform is made of the stuff). That makes sense. Granted, one could just switch back to projectiles, or some combo, but it makes no sense that no one has ever tried to use the stuff again. I find myself wanted to read a what if story of where the Emperor scraps the Death Star and decides to build Tie Defenders instead. Does the Empire win? If so, does Thrawn influence create a kinder Empire? Or does Thrawn eventually rebel? Sounds like alot more fun that what they've been doing lately . Damn Rebels shunting Thrawn and Ezra off to limbo (literally)... I think it's about time they come back.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Nov 24, 2020 2:18:44 GMT -5
^^ I really liked Thrawn as a character too and Zahn's original SW book trilogy was a really great read. But this latest outing sounds absolutely and irredeemably dire.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 24, 2020 22:58:40 GMT -5
The first one is still good.. but yeah, this 2nd one was a barely disguised Corporate shill for the Galaxy's Edge ride I felt. Based on the back cover, I think the conclusion will be better
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Nov 25, 2020 0:16:10 GMT -5
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan is a character who, like Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, or Jekyll & Hyde, has been adapted in film so many times that he has become a part of our cultural wallpaper. As such, it's fascinating to read the character's first appearance. I was struck by just how different the story and the character of Tarzan is from the one depicted in so many movies, not least because he is definitely not a simpleton, as he is so often portrayed on screen. I'm sure that most people reading this will know the rough outline of the plot: Lord and Lady Greystoke of the English upper classes are marooned on the coast of the jungles of Western Africa and promptly die, leaving their infant son to be taken in by a female ape who raises the human child as her own. Later, the book's love interest Jane Porter is introduced in almost exactly the same way as the Greystokes (by marooning) and the grown up child (who is now named Tarzan, meaning "White Skin" in the ape's language) saves her from various jungle terrors, resulting in her falling hopelessly in love with him. Tarzan then leaves the jungle and becomes civilised, with the help of a French naval officer, before tracking Jane down in her native Baltimore in the U.S. The story was published as a novel in 1914, and frankly it very much reads like an Edwardian book: it is absolutely awash with the Colonial attitudes and overt racism of its era. Now, I'm not someone who is overly sensitive to the kind of casual, entrenched racism that we often find in older literary works; my feeling is that you just have to accept them as the trappings of their time. But the racism in Tarzan of the Apes is a whole other ballgame and is anything but "casual". For one thing, Burroughs is quite clearly using the story to advance notions of white racial superiority: what we might term nowadays as "scientific racism". That is, the belief that empirical scientific evidence exists which proves the racial inferiority of blacks and the racial superiority of whites. The suggestion is that white European stock is superior to that of black Africans and that Tarzan's greatness is hereditary (coming, as he does, from the English aristocracy). In fact, you could very well posit that Burroughs' chief intention in creating this story, in which a white man from this superior, aristocratic white stock is stripped of all of the trappings of civilisation in infancy, is to answer the question of whether nobility, athletic prowess, courage and intellectual dexterity are things that stem from a person's breeding or are learned from society. Burroughs' overwhelming conclusion is firmly that the former is the case. In addition, Burroughs writes the black tribesmen in the book as being stupid, superstitious, savage cannibals, and his description of their faces is so incredibly racist that it caused me to guffaw and shake my head in disbelief. While Jane's African-American governess Esmeralda is also written as a shrieking, cowardly simpleton, whose dialogue is phonetically rendered for comic relief in the manner of a minstrel show "mammy". Now, we obviously shouldn't loose sight of the fact that such notions of racial inferiority and superiority had a fair bit of scientific support and supposed merit back when this book was written. The problem for me is that this racism plays such a huge part in the book's narrative – to the point where Tarzan of the Apes almost starts to read like eugenics propaganda – that it is very hard to just accept it as the familiar old racism we so often see in books of this vintage. Burroughs' racism is altogether nastier and much more objectionable, in my view. On a somewhat related note, I also detected a strange and, for the most part, veiled pre-occupation with bestiality in Burroughs' writing. It is made most explicit when a giant bull ape kidnaps Jane as a potential mate, only for her to be rescued by Tarzan. I definitely felt that Burroughs was delighting in the illicit sexual frisson caused by the notion of a savage ape raping a beautiful, virginal southern girl from Maryland's aristocracy, while simultaneously suggesting the then-societal taboo of interracial sex. And this wasn't the only time that I through I caught the scent (excuse the animalistic term) of bestiality in Tarzan of the Apes. I assume that such things may have given the Edwardian gentleman reader a thrill, but for me it just gave parts of the book a weird undercurrent. All that said, I did really enjoy this book overall. Tarzan of the Apes is really exciting and very, very readable, with none of the dry, boring moments to the narrative that I encountered in A Princess of Mars. Putting aside the rather unpalatable racism for a moment, Burroughs actually shows himself as a writer of uncommon sensitivity and observation at times, such as in the sequence where Tarzan – who has only known the company of apes up to this point – first catches sight of himself in a jungle pool. He regards the apes' physique as the desired bodily norm and is appalled by the abhorrent nature of his own hairless body and thin nose. Such ideas of how society informs our notions of beauty would have been uncommon in popular fiction at the time, I would think. There is the odd narrative misstep, like giving the apes that raise Tarzan their own proper language, which from a 21st century viewpoint seems laughable. Although, Burroughs' grasp of the apes' tribal hierarchy seems pretty spot on and I wouldn't be surprised to find that he'd done a fair bit of anthropological research in the process of penning this book. I also question whether Tarzan could really teach himself to read English, left alone with no other human contact and only a few children's picture books? But again, this plays into the notion that Tarzan is a superior human being simply due to his hereditary superiority. All in all, Tarzan of the Apes is a real page-turner, with some great action-sequences, some savage, bone-crunching combat, a great hero to root for, a beautiful damsel-in-distress, cut-throat mutineers, buried treasure, and the author's superbly evocative descriptions of the jungle. Yes, some of the book's outdated views on race might shock the modern reader, but this is still a fantastic adventure story and a hugely entertaining read. Which is precisely why I powered through the whole thing in just a day and a half.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2020 23:10:08 GMT -5
Major news in the book industry today, as CBS Viacom sold off its book division, Simon and Shuster, to Penguin Random House for about $2 billion. It will also have repercussions on the comic industry, as the exclusive distributor of DC Comics, Dark Horse and IDW graphic novels to bookstores, Penguin Random House, has just bought the exclusive distributor of Boom! Studios, Oni Press and Rebellion to US bookstores, i.e. Simon & Schuster. It in effect creates a mega-publisher who's output will be more than the remaining other big book publishers combined. I am waiting to see if the deal creates any anti-trust issues that could hold it up. It will definitely alter the landscape of the book market. -M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 26, 2020 22:26:25 GMT -5
WOW! No Monoply issue there? I remember when Penguin and Random House merged I was still working at the book store and reading publishers weekly, and there were some issue then.. this is even more so... that really only leave Harper Collins for the mass market industry that can compete.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 28, 2020 15:41:15 GMT -5
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance Vorkosigan Saga #15
I've been. looking forward to reading this one for a while... Ivan is a great sidekick/straight man to Miles, and I was hoping we'd get to see what he can really do when out of the shadow of his more famous and more ambitious cousin.
Instead, what we get is a caper book, VERY similar to Komarr, only with Ivan and his chosen love interest as the stars. While I loved Tej, and it was interesting to have some more info on Jackson's Whole, there was alot of implausibility here.
Sure, they try to explain it, but the explanations are a bit weak. On the plus side, the characters focused on here were great (which is the author's strength, after all), and the story certainly moved along nicely, even if it was a bit longer than the rest.
I did seem like an ending for Ivan, which is nice that he gets his own 'riding off into the sunset' moment...even while there's not particular reason he can't turn back up later if the need arises.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 30, 2020 11:48:02 GMT -5
King of the Outback by Jack Tunney (David James Foster) Another Fight Card novella written under the house name of Jack Tunney. This one finds us in the Australian outback in the mid-50s with a traveling tent boxing troupe. The titular character is Tommy King, an aboriginal fighter, who takes on all racist comers in the ring as part of the business plan of the troupe. The conflict comes as Tommy's troupe is set to have their year to set-up shop at the Birdsville races only to find that a rival troupe is there and trying to undercut their business. It ends up in a fight between Tommy and ‘Jumpin’ Jack Douglas, a mob-backed city fighter for control of the traveling troupe...and a captive kangaroo. The Fight Card novellas are just fun, hardboiled adventure that read quick and clean. And while they may not be the most filling reads they're a great snack when you're needing a little nosh.
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 30, 2020 12:48:08 GMT -5
Slam_Bradley, first it's good to see you back. Hope you're none the worse for wear. I wondered if you are a boxing fan in general. If you are, I recommend, if you don't know of them already, Liebling's "The Sweet Science;" Nick Tosches' "The Devil and Sonny Liston;" Roger Kahn's Dempsey biography, "A Flame of Pure Fire;" and "The Muhammad Ali Reader," among others.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 30, 2020 13:14:52 GMT -5
Slam_Bradley , first it's good to see you back. Hope you're none the worse for wear. I wondered if you are a boxing fan in general. If you are, I recommend, if you don't know of them already, Liebling's "The Sweet Science;" Nick Tosches' "The Devil and Sonny Liston;" Roger Kahn's Dempsey biography, "A Flame of Pure Fire;" and "The Muhammad Ali Reader," among others. I'm an old-school boxing fan. I grew up watching boxing with my Dad during the 70s, which would be one of the Golden Ages of Heavyweight Boxing (Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, Norton, Shavers). I continued watching through the early days of the Tyson era but also the days of Leonard, Duran, etc. We had HBO at my fraternity house specifically for boxing. After that it frankly became too expensive to follow the sport as I refuse to do pay-per-view. I've read the Tosches book and reviewed it here. And I read Liebling's book years ago, though I plan to revisit it. I'll throw the other two on my list.
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 30, 2020 15:08:24 GMT -5
Slam_Bradley , first it's good to see you back. Hope you're none the worse for wear. I wondered if you are a boxing fan in general. If you are, I recommend, if you don't know of them already, Liebling's "The Sweet Science;" Nick Tosches' "The Devil and Sonny Liston;" Roger Kahn's Dempsey biography, "A Flame of Pure Fire;" and "The Muhammad Ali Reader," among others. I'm an old-school boxing fan. I grew up watching boxing with my Dad during the 70s, which would be one of the Golden Ages of Heavyweight Boxing (Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, Norton, Shavers). I continued watching through the early days of the Tyson era but also the days of Leonard, Duran, etc. We had HBO at my fraternity house specifically for boxing. After that it frankly became too expensive to follow the sport as I refuse to do pay-per-view. I've read the Tosches book and reviewed it here. And I read Liebling's book years ago, though I plan to revisit it. I'll throw the other two on my list. Oh, I must have missed that Tosches review. I'll search for it. Liebling is a piece of work, and his non-sports reporting is just as colorful and on-target in its descriptions.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 30, 2020 16:03:51 GMT -5
I'm an old-school boxing fan. I grew up watching boxing with my Dad during the 70s, which would be one of the Golden Ages of Heavyweight Boxing (Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, Norton, Shavers). I continued watching through the early days of the Tyson era but also the days of Leonard, Duran, etc. We had HBO at my fraternity house specifically for boxing. After that it frankly became too expensive to follow the sport as I refuse to do pay-per-view. I've read the Tosches book and reviewed it here. And I read Liebling's book years ago, though I plan to revisit it. I'll throw the other two on my list. Oh, I must have missed that Tosches review. I'll search for it. Liebling is a piece of work, and his non-sports reporting is just as colorful and on-target in its descriptions. classiccomics.org/post/211863
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 1, 2020 11:47:50 GMT -5
My Life in Comics by Joe Simon
The co-creator of Captain America, romance comics and one of the seminal figures is comic book history brings us his memoirs. There's no question that Simon is one of the most important figures in comics history. His work with Jack Kirby was instrumental in establishing the written and visual language of comics. Together they created one of the truly great comic book heroes (one who burst on the scene punching Hitler) and created an entire genre of comics with Young Romance. Simon was also viewed as being one of the few comic creators (along with Will Eisner) to have a modicum of business sense. These are his memories. Of growing up Jewish in New York. Of working for the Hearst Newspapers in the 1930s. Of creating Captain America, working with Jack Kirby, dealing with young Stan Lee, creating romance comics, creating and editing Sick Magazine. Simon comes across as a generally likeable guy who just wants to tell his story. It's not hard-hitting. There's not a huge amount here that's new, particularly not in the more important areas (I didn't realize his involvement in Sick, however). But it's his chance. And that's important. You can always feel the love he had for Jack, even while he makes it clear that a) Kirby was no business man and b) Jack's sole concern was providing for his family, not necessarily what was right. Simon's take on Brother Power is very interesting (he says sales were fine and the cancellation was completely political). This is a nice read by a man who was important in the world of comic books. And that's everything it needed to be.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 2, 2020 15:36:25 GMT -5
IkengaNnedi Okorafor, 2020 This is another book for younger readers, classified as mid-level – as opposed the YA books that Okorafor writes more frequently. In brief: a year after the death of his father, the police chief in a small Nigerian town, Nnamdi sees what appears to be his father’s spirit one night on the street where he was shot to death. He gives Nnamdi a small figure, a talisman, an Ikenga (check that link, it explains it better than I can). Nnamdi soon finds that it gives him the ability to change into a shadowy giant, with incredible strength, speed and reflexes, and sharpened senses – basically like one of the superheroes in the comic books he likes to read. Nnamdi resolves to carry on his father’s work, fighting the town’s flamboyant criminals and also finding out who murdered his father. As usual, Okorafor creates wonderfully believable, relatable characters even as the setting and situations are entirely fantastical. And although it’s kind of a superhero story that certainly draws inspiration from the classical Marvel heroes like Spider-man or the Hulk (Nnamdi’s favorite character), it’s not a simple power fantasy – something you couldn’t expect from Okorafor. Nnamdi has to confront a number of of the unpleasant realities of having superpowers, and the consequences this has to his family and friends. This is a thoroughly enjoyable book, with a very satisfying conclusion – which leaves open the possibility of future stories. Also, gotta love that it opens with this:
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