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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 8, 2021 9:28:44 GMT -5
I'm reading the either Doc Savage novel in the series, The Land of Terror. In all of the previous issue, it's stated that Doc avoids killing. He and his aides use mercy bullets, etc. However, in this book, they state early on that many evil men who have opposed Doc Savage have died, or words to that effect. Sure enough, in the opening scene, Doc does kill five bad guys. This is a pretty shocking departure from the previous Doc Savage books. I don't know if the mood of the public demanding this, or what the story is. I know some of these novels were written by somebody else, but as far as I know, this one was written by the same guy who wrote the first seven, Lester Dent. It's almost like picking up a Batman or Superman comic and having them killing guys left and right. The edition that I read when I was a wee lad. I remember loving this one. And what a weird price...
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 9, 2021 18:40:41 GMT -5
Just completed my first book in a long while (have a bit of a problem where I read a book, get bored with it, and start another one) Michael Moorcock's Elric Of Melbonie' as part of Elric Saga 1 What's so good about it is that it could have very well have been written today and it would still be considered "of the times". I've read that Elric is considered to be an anti-hero, but I've never really come to such a conclusion. He's not really evil or good, to paraphrase the book, he is simply Elric Also, a good chunk of the story reminded me a lot of the main plotline to Moorcock's other series, Jerry Cornelius in The Final Programme where he also has to rescue his beloved from a crazed relative. But considering that a lot of Moorcock's works are linked in some way, it wouldn't be terribly surprising
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 10, 2021 8:48:18 GMT -5
I have the very copy of the Elric saga... from the Sci Fi book club IIRC! Neat! Steps to the Sky by Lester del Rey Apparently, the person who sold a this recent couple books at got at an Annies a couple months back was a fan of these 'how we get to space' books written in the 50s... despite the cover, this is another of them. It's definitely the best of the time I've read... the main character, of course, is a too-smart and too-perfect teenager that everyone loves, but he actually makes mistakes, which is refereshing. As is typical of these stories, they go through all the potential problems the author sees, including surviving accidents, communist spies, and the like, but also adds a unique element. Del Rey talks about a world wanting the hope of a new dawning of science, instead of the cold war wrangling that was going on at the time... and that the station (as this is a 'we need a station in high orbit to get into space scenario, rather than one that hand waves some sort of atomic power).. we need more of that now for sure. While anyone with a brain can predict the exact plot and even most of the details, del Rey's writing is spot on as always... he really doesn't get enough credit in the history of sci fi, IMO. The book is both entertaining and realistic, without being as preachy as Clarke can be.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 13, 2021 10:21:03 GMT -5
Little Girl Lost by Richard Aleas
Oh boy.. that cover!?! The artist clearly went to the Rob Liefield school of body proportion. And, big surprise, the action is center on a strip club. While I have overall enjoyed most of the books under the Hard Case Crime banner, can they move away a bit from strip clubs?
On the plus side, while the murder centers on strips clubs, it's not nearly as gratutitous as in the last couple of these, and this actually turns out to be just a good neo-noir novel. The main character is an actual PI (not just a random guy that pretends to be one).. I think that helps alot. We do get the 'brilliant amateur' thing going in his acquired love interest/side kick, but it feels better than some.
While the twist was very easily predictable, and thus a bit head scratching that the characters didn't think of it, it still builds a nice world and has some good characters.. expecially for a first novel. I'd definitely read another book by this author (though I'm more interesting in further adventures of Susan than the main character.. we'll see which way the author goes.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 13, 2021 10:32:08 GMT -5
Little Girl Lost by Richard Aleas Oh boy.. that cover!?! The artist clearly went to the Rob Liefield school of body proportion. And, big surprise, the action is center on a strip club. While I have overall enjoyed most of the books under the Hard Case Crime banner, can they move away a bit from strip clubs? On the plus side, while the murder centers on strips clubs, it's not nearly as gratutitous as in the last couple of these, and this actually turns out to be just a good neo-noir novel. The main character is an actual PI (not just a random guy that pretends to be one).. I think that helps alot. We do get the 'brilliant amateur' thing going in his acquired love interest/side kick, but it feels better than some. While the twist was very easily predictable, and thus a bit head scratching that the characters didn't think of it, it still builds a nice world and has some good characters.. expecially for a first novel. I'd definitely read another book by this author (though I'm more interesting in further adventures of Susan than the main character.. we'll see which way the author goes. Aleas is a pen-name for Charles Ardai who was the founder and editor of Hard Case Crime. That cover is by Robert McGinnis. Liefield could only wish to have the kind of talent and success that McGinnis has had. Dude illustrated over 1,200 book covers and over 40 movie posters including the posters for "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Barbarella." He was also a very successful magazine illustrator doing work for Time, The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal and Good Housekeeping among many others. He is, quite simply, a living legend.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 13, 2021 11:06:49 GMT -5
Little Girl Lost by Richard Aleas Oh boy.. that cover!?! The artist clearly went to the Rob Liefield school of body proportion. And, big surprise, the action is center on a strip club. While I have overall enjoyed most of the books under the Hard Case Crime banner, can they move away a bit from strip clubs? On the plus side, while the murder centers on strips clubs, it's not nearly as gratutitous as in the last couple of these, and this actually turns out to be just a good neo-noir novel. The main character is an actual PI (not just a random guy that pretends to be one).. I think that helps alot. We do get the 'brilliant amateur' thing going in his acquired love interest/side kick, but it feels better than some. While the twist was very easily predictable, and thus a bit head scratching that the characters didn't think of it, it still builds a nice world and has some good characters.. expecially for a first novel. I'd definitely read another book by this author (though I'm more interesting in further adventures of Susan than the main character.. we'll see which way the author goes. Aleas is a pen-name for Charles Ardai who was the founder and editor of Hard Case Crime. That cover is by Robert McGinnis. Liefield could only wish to have the kind of talent and success that McGinnis has had. Dude illustrated over 1,200 book covers and over 40 movie posters including the posters for "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Barbarella." He was also a very successful magazine illustrator doing work for Time, The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal and Good Housekeeping among many others. He is, quite simply, a living legend. I'm a big fan of the Hard Case imprint, but I haven't read that particular book, so I had to go look it up to make sure - yeah, it's McGinnis. Maybe it can't be placed in the upper echelons of his best covers (of which there are literally hundreds), but it's still a solid work. Comparing him in any way to Liefeld is just, well, laughable. If nothing else, Liefeld in his wildest dreams could never draw a foot like that...
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 13, 2021 11:27:06 GMT -5
Aleas is a pen-name for Charles Ardai who was the founder and editor of Hard Case Crime. That cover is by Robert McGinnis. Liefield could only wish to have the kind of talent and success that McGinnis has had. Dude illustrated over 1,200 book covers and over 40 movie posters including the posters for "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Barbarella." He was also a very successful magazine illustrator doing work for Time, The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal and Good Housekeeping among many others. He is, quite simply, a living legend. I'm a big fan of the Hard Case imprint, but I haven't read that particular book, so I had to go look it up to make sure - yeah, it's McGinnis. Maybe it can't be placed in the upper echelons of his best covers (of which there are literally hundreds), but it's still a solid work. Comparing him in any way to Liefeld is just, well, laughable. If nothing else, Liefeld in his wildest dreams could never draw a foot like that... It's not his strongest work by any means. But he was also 78 years old and already a member of the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame when he painted it. His work is stylized and absolutely reflects the aesthetic of the 50s and 60s when he was at his peak as an illustrator.
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Post by MDG on Apr 13, 2021 11:37:22 GMT -5
I'm a big fan of the Hard Case imprint, but I haven't read that particular book, so I had to go look it up to make sure - yeah, it's McGinnis. Maybe it can't be placed in the upper echelons of his best covers (of which there are literally hundreds), but it's still a solid work. Comparing him in any way to Liefeld is just, well, laughable. If nothing else, Liefeld in his wildest dreams could never draw a foot like that... It's not his strongest work by any means. But he was also 78 years old and already a member of the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame when he painted it. His work is stylized and absolutely reflects the aesthetic of the 50s and 60s when he was at his peak as an illustrator. I love McGinniss's paperback covers--even though some of the Hard Case books aren't among his best, They're still gorgeous (with some admittedly wonky anatomy).
I don't think these are among his best, but he also did these two:
On another note, has anyone read any of the Honey West novels? I downloaded the first vand got about halfway through, but it didn;t really engage me. Do they get better? Any standouts?
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 13, 2021 12:07:03 GMT -5
I love McGinniss's paperback covers--even though some of the Hard Case books aren't among his best, They're still gorgeous (with some admittedly wonky anatomy).
(...) Oh, yeah: In fact, I'd count some of them among his better output. (And there's a few really nicely composed examples I came across that are pretty NSFW.)
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Post by berkley on Apr 13, 2021 19:32:16 GMT -5
It's not his strongest work by any means. But he was also 78 years old and already a member of the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame when he painted it. His work is stylized and absolutely reflects the aesthetic of the 50s and 60s when he was at his peak as an illustrator. I love McGinniss's paperback covers--even though some of the Hard Case books aren't among his best, They're still gorgeous (with some admittedly wonky anatomy).
I don't think these are among his best, but he also did these two:
On another note, has anyone read any of the Honey West novels? I downloaded the first vand got about halfway through, but it didn;t really engage me. Do they get better? Any standouts?
No, but I will be doing so very soon: I've been trying a few hard-boiled detective and noir crime books of the 50s off and on the few years and the first Honey West book is coming sometime in the next few months.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 14, 2021 7:33:42 GMT -5
All those ones you guys posts are way better than the cover of the book I read.. .I guess everyone is entitled to a bad day. My wife even commented when the book was sitting on the table 'Why is that woman so tall?'. I was posting on a computer that wouldn't co operate with the image before, but this does not compare at all to the stuff you guys posted: After I posted the review I saw it was a pen name... he has one book he wrote that sounds super fun that I'll probably pick up at some point.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 26, 2021 9:33:59 GMT -5
Haven't posted my last couple...
Parable of the Talents Octavia Butler
I just want to start by saying how amazing fiction is sometimes. This book was written in 1998. In it, a political demogague rallied the Christian right to help 'Make America Great Again'. THe figure in the book is far more religious that a certain former President that used that slogan, but damn, how is that possible? I mean, if I thought he was literate, I'd almost think he stole it.
Anyway, the book. I definitely didn't enjoy this one nearly as much as the first one. It was simply too relentlessly depressing. I understand the points that were being made, but those points were made better in Kindred.. I didn't need them again. The period of time I wanted to read about was briefly covered, but only briefly... I wanted to know how the world got fixed, and how Earthseed (if any) helped. It seems that happened, which is nice, but 'off camera'.
That's the book I wanted to read, not another tale of how horrible people can be to each other. While I fear that could happen, I like to choose to believe it wouldn't ever be that bad. Perhaps I just read too much science fiction.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 26, 2021 9:41:38 GMT -5
Haven't posted my last couple... I'm somewhere in the neighborhood of four books behind. I haven't been able to find the time to write up much of anything.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 26, 2021 10:54:14 GMT -5
Buck Fever by Ben RehderI got this one for free on Kindle some time back and finally got a chance to read it. This is the first mystery about Texas game warden Jack Marlin. This is a mystery in the same what that Columbo was a mystery series. We know the bad guys and most of crime up front and it's a matter of how they'll be brought to justice. This is a "comic" mystery in the style of Hiassen or Tom Dorsey. At this point, Rehder is not in their league but I suppose he might eventually get there. The plot centers around the opening of deer hunting season in Blanco County Texas and drug smuggling. Game Warden Jack Marlin gets caught up in it in the course of his duties. Marlin, as a character, is just a little bit too perfect, but the book is filled with a number of colorful supporting characters, many of whom border on stereotypes. I was largely unbothered by that because, while I don't live in Texas, I know quite a few people who conform to those stereotypes. This was a decent read particularly for a very early work by the author (it appears that it may have been his debut). I'm just not a huge fan of the Columbo style "mystery." And I didn't find any of the main characters terribly interesting. I didn't feel bad about reading it. But I also don't feel compelled to seek out the next book in the series.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 30, 2021 7:54:30 GMT -5
Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson
I feel like I should like this book, but it was just boring. It takes us through human history through the eyes of a few immortals, who are ageless but otherwise mostly normal. Sounds like a great concept, but it just didn't work. It's difficult to tell which character is which (they change their names alot) at the beginning, and honestly there's not alot of character development anyway. It seems more about the progress of society, which is a good topic, but just fell flat.
The historical scenes go out of their way to be generic, so in alot of cases it's difficult to place them (they do give time references at the back, but those would be alot better to have in the chapters). There were definitely a few good moments, but as a novel it doesn't really hold together well
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