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Post by berkley on Jan 27, 2024 2:40:56 GMT -5
The Secret Lee Child I haven't visited with Jack Reacher since he became a big TV star, so I was excited to read this when it turned up for Christmas (thanks, Mom). I was very curious as to how his leave no trail philsophy of life would hold up to our internet cookies and phone tracked society. I didn't get to find that out, since instead this is I guess a period piece now (set in 1992), seemingly pretty early in the series when he's still an MP. It starts with a pretty easy, mundane case that felt like a short story intertwined with beginning of the main story, which Reacher gets pulled in on. Who the ultimate bad guy was became clear pretty early on, but the story was good anyway. The main point was definitely that women were criminally underestimated... I'd like to think that wasn't still the case in 1992, but as I wasn't out in the world yet I guess I can't really say. I definitely need to watch the show one of these days. I haven't read any of them yet myself or seen the show but two friends of mine, one of whom had already read several of the books before any adaptations came out, rate the tv version very highly. So now I'm debating whether I should just go ahead and watch the tv series or read one or two of the books first. My personal bias usually leans towards whatever was the original medium and I had always meant to try one of the books ever since I first heard about them back in the late 1990s or early 2000s so I'll probably stick to that plan and put off watching the show for now.
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Jan 30, 2024 16:56:09 GMT -5
Finished a reread of The Klarkashton Cycle an anthology of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith that are part of or adjacent to the Cthulhu Mythos.  This was published by Chaosium, the publishers of the Call of Cthulhu ttrpg. What is unique about this collection is that it includes mostly CAS' 1st drafts of stories drawn form his papers, not always the versions revised to meet the notes of the editors of Weird Tales, Strange Tales, or other pulps. This is not always to the readers' benefit in terms of reading experience, but is an interesting artifact of the creative process. However, there are times where the original has whole sections that make the story work better but were deemed superfluous or cut for space considerations by the editors, so seeing the original in those is to the benefit of the reading experience. I've previously read the published versions of many, but not all of the included stories (and the final story was an unpublished fragment by CAS), so it was interesting to see where they matched up and where the diverged. The first time I read this volume, I hadn't read the published versions of many of these, as this was the first collection of CAS stuff I was ever able to get my hands on. CAS stuff was always a white whale for me after discovering him through the Castle Amber adventure for D&D and in Appendix N, but finding collections of his work in the 80s and most of the 90s was virtually impossible unless you got really lucky in a used book store as most were out of print and the libraries were I lived did not have any. I found random stories by him in other anthologies so had sampled some, but never much. In the very late 90s, I came across a website that had many of CAS stories on it, and I printed hardcopies of a handful of them, but the website got pulled down soon after I found it because it had not licensed the stories and they were not yet in the public domain (though I think the website owner thought they were). Weirdly, I still have those print outs nearly 25 years later. When Chaosium started printing Cthulhu fiction, and I started attending gaming conventions in the early 2000s, I was able to get a couple of collections (this one and one called the Tsathoggua Cycle which has several CAS stories but also some tales about the frog demon by other writers), and came across one or two in used bookstores over the years. The advent of ebooks and the fact that hoopla has some collections of his tales available enabled me to read the published versions of many of his stories, but I was curious to return to this one after having done so for comparison. Overall I think CAS benefitted from the editorial influence when decisions were made based on what the story needed, and suffered from it when decisions were made for what the layout of the issue it was appearing in needed. -M |
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Post by berkley on Jan 30, 2024 19:03:15 GMT -5
Finished a reread of The Klarkashton Cycle an anthology of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith that are part of or adjacent to the Cthulhu Mythos. This was published by Chaosium, the publishers of the Call of Cthulhu ttrpg. What is unique about this collection is that it includes mostly CAS' 1st drafts of stories drawn form his papers, not always the versions revised to meet the notes of the editors of Weird Tales, Strange Tales, or other pulps. This is not always to the readers' benefit in terms of reading experience, but is an interesting artifact of the creative process. However, there are times where the original has whole sections that make the story work better but were deemed superfluous or cut for space considerations by the editors, so seeing the original in those is to the benefit of the reading experience. I've previously read the published versions of many, but not all of the included stories (and the final story was an unpublished fragment by CAS), so it was interesting to see where they matched up and where the diverged. The first time I read this volume, I hadn't read the published versions of many of these, as this was the first collection of CAS stuff I was ever able to get my hands on. CAS stuff was always a white whale for me after discovering him through the Castle Amber adventure for D&D and in Appendix N, but finding collections of his work in the 80s and most of the 90s was virtually impossible unless you got really lucky in a used book store as most were out of print and the libraries were I lived did not have any. I found random stories by him in other anthologies so had sampled some, but never much. In the very late 90s, I came across a website that had many of CAS stories on it, and I printed hardcopies of a handful of them, but the website got pulled down soon after I found it because it had not licensed the stories and they were not yet in the public domain (though I think the website owner thought they were). Weirdly, I still have those print outs nearly 25 years later. When Chaosium started printing Cthulhu fiction, and I started attending gaming conventions in the early 2000s, I was able to get a couple of collections (this one and one called the Tsathoggua Cycle which has several CAS stories but also some tales about the frog demon by other writers), and came across one or two in used bookstores over the years. The advent of ebooks and the fact that hoopla has some collections of his tales available enabled me to read the published versions of many of his stories, but I was curious to return to this one after having done so for comparison. Overall I think CAS benefitted from the editorial influence when decisions were made based on what the story needed, and suffered from it when decisions were made for what the layout of the issue it was appearing in needed. -M
I have most of the Sphere [edit:] Panther paperbacks from the '70s but I love the idea of reading the original versions of these stories before the editorial cuts or changes were made. Have they done the same thing with the rest of CAS's work?
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Jan 30, 2024 20:10:40 GMT -5
Finished a reread of The Klarkashton Cycle an anthology of short stories by Clark Ashton Smith that are part of or adjacent to the Cthulhu Mythos. This was published by Chaosium, the publishers of the Call of Cthulhu ttrpg. What is unique about this collection is that it includes mostly CAS' 1st drafts of stories drawn form his papers, not always the versions revised to meet the notes of the editors of Weird Tales, Strange Tales, or other pulps. This is not always to the readers' benefit in terms of reading experience, but is an interesting artifact of the creative process. However, there are times where the original has whole sections that make the story work better but were deemed superfluous or cut for space considerations by the editors, so seeing the original in those is to the benefit of the reading experience. I've previously read the published versions of many, but not all of the included stories (and the final story was an unpublished fragment by CAS), so it was interesting to see where they matched up and where the diverged. The first time I read this volume, I hadn't read the published versions of many of these, as this was the first collection of CAS stuff I was ever able to get my hands on. CAS stuff was always a white whale for me after discovering him through the Castle Amber adventure for D&D and in Appendix N, but finding collections of his work in the 80s and most of the 90s was virtually impossible unless you got really lucky in a used book store as most were out of print and the libraries were I lived did not have any. I found random stories by him in other anthologies so had sampled some, but never much. In the very late 90s, I came across a website that had many of CAS stories on it, and I printed hardcopies of a handful of them, but the website got pulled down soon after I found it because it had not licensed the stories and they were not yet in the public domain (though I think the website owner thought they were). Weirdly, I still have those print outs nearly 25 years later. When Chaosium started printing Cthulhu fiction, and I started attending gaming conventions in the early 2000s, I was able to get a couple of collections (this one and one called the Tsathoggua Cycle which has several CAS stories but also some tales about the frog demon by other writers), and came across one or two in used bookstores over the years. The advent of ebooks and the fact that hoopla has some collections of his tales available enabled me to read the published versions of many of his stories, but I was curious to return to this one after having done so for comparison. Overall I think CAS benefitted from the editorial influence when decisions were made based on what the story needed, and suffered from it when decisions were made for what the layout of the issue it was appearing in needed. -M I have most of the Sphere paperbacks from the '70s but I love the idea of reading the original versions of these stories before the editorial cuts or changes were made. Have they done the same thing with the rest of CAS's work?
I'm not sure if the other CAS volumes from Chaosium do the same thing or not. The notes at the back of this volume talk about the various iterations that the stories have appeared in (similar in nature to the notes in the Del Rey Howard editions) and sometimes but not always note where earlier versions have seen print. I only have the 2 Chaosium editions (this and the Tsothoggua book I mentioned) but I know there are at least 45 others, but have no idea if they collect the published editions or earlier drafts. -M |
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Post by berkley on Jan 30, 2024 21:10:47 GMT -5
I have most of the Sphere paperbacks from the '70s but I love the idea of reading the original versions of these stories before the editorial cuts or changes were made. Have they done the same thing with the rest of CAS's work?
I'm not sure if the other CAS volumes from Chaosium do the same thing or not. The notes at the back of this volume talk about the various iterations that the stories have appeared in (similar in nature to the notes in the Del Rey Howard editions) and sometimes but not always note where earlier versions have seen print. I only have the 2 Chaosium editions (this and the Tsothoggua book I mentioned) but I know there are at least 45 others, but have no idea if they collect the published editions or earlier drafts. -M
I'll probably read Zothique soon, since that's the one listed in the Cawthorn/Moorcock 100 Best Fantasy Books that I'll be using to help narrow down what would otherwise be an impossibly long list of 20th century Fantasy.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 30, 2024 23:27:21 GMT -5
Blind Goddess [/b}
by James Benn
Just when I thought I might be tired of this series... I was wrong. Benn changes style here... this feels more like an Agatha Christie mystery than anything, with a focus on the local cops and a couple interlocking mysteries in a small British town.
That doesn't meant there is no historical content though, because there certainly is, though all of it is pretty sad. We get more on the fictional characters attempts to convince the real life British leaders to believe the Holocaust is happening.. which in retrospect is pretty horrifying.
The true focus is that of African Americans during the war, and while of course Billy has a friend that he grew up with (which definitely happens more often than it should.. it's a big war) but 'Tree' Jackson is a fantastic character so I forgive him.
It's can be hard to read about how horrible some humans can be to others, but I'm sure the real life situations are even worse. I just wish more people would realize it.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2024 22:13:13 GMT -5
 Really good private eye novel. Elvis Cole himself is a little too much of a nonstop wiseass, but the story was incredibly engaging, and I honestly had no idea which way it was going right up until the end. I really wish I'd started reading these years ago. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 4, 2024 22:28:38 GMT -5
Prentice Alvin
Orson Scott Card
Even though alot of the bits of the story I remember from when I read this book a long time ago happened in this book.. it felt like it was a whole lot of set up... more 'the end of the beginning' than any sort of end point.
Card certainly does have a knack for memorable characters, and that is on full display in this book... even the minor ones feel like people you know and could be living down the street... it's a very engaging book.
That said, the overreaching plot feels very far away, and any bits of alternation history that were woven into the first two books (though not really with a whole lot of purpose it seemed) were absent. Several years pass during the book, but no mention of any political developments, or what the Native Americans that crossed the 'Mizzipy' were up to in all that time.
Instead, we get a look at slavery in Alvin's world... and it's pretty similar to ours. The slaves seem to have their own knacks, but otherwise there isn't much said here that is done better elsewhere on that score.
I vaguely recall being annoyed at the 2nd set of three books, so I'm not sure I'll re-read those, but I leaning towards at last the 1st one since I don't recall what annoyed me.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 5, 2024 13:31:22 GMT -5
 Kept Women Can't Quit by A.A. Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner)
I wonder if this, the 20th entry (the 21st written) in the Cool and Lam series is where it begins the descent in to mediocrity. I read the series somewhat out of order because most of the books are long out of print. So I read those I could track down...and then having managed to find the rest I've been reading those that I'd missed. This was a super weak entry and I see that I didn't like the next two books all that well when I read them...way back in 2012. But the previous four or five books were super strong, with entry #16, You Can Die Laughing, being possibly the best book in the series. I fear we are on the decline. I wouldn't say that this book is actively bad...it just isn't special in any way. The plot is Byzantine even by the standards of the series. Sgt. Frank Sellers, whose bacon Donald Lam has saved multiple times, is just being a complete and unrepentant tool the entire book. It just never comes together and feels right. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 6, 2024 17:28:45 GMT -5
 The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs
This was another one of those books that felt like it was more of a myth than a reality back in the days when we were all trying to scrounge up any ERB book from the odd used bookstore that we had access to. Not like the utterly impossible books (The Girl From Farris'), but the ones that you knew were out there somewhere...just not where you could get them. Of course age, disposable income, and the internet make these sort of things a lot easier. This is ostensibly the third Mucker book...but in reality it isn't. The protagonist, Bridge, was a secondary character in The Return of the Mucker, but the connection is incredibly tenuous. This is one of Burroughs' bare handful of contemporary novels and the only one that I'm aware of, that flirts with the mystery genre. For all that, it's full of the kind of coincidences that make Burroughs both a joy and a frustration to read. It also has all the class consciousness that permeates Burroughs' work (except The Mucker) and I mean that in the most pejorative sense of the word permeate. This is by no means Burroughs' worst book...not even close. But it's mostly just competent. It certainly wasn't worth the forty year wait to see what was beyond that Frazetta cover. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 6, 2024 21:51:03 GMT -5
I have plenty of old paperbacks that the best part is the cover art..no shame there  |
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Feb 7, 2024 1:02:44 GMT -5
Latest read, continuing my read through of some of the Moorcock on my shelves, The Weird of the White Wolf featuring Elric.  I liked this one a fair bit more than Sailor on the Seas of Fate (which I did like, I just didn't love it though several have told me that was their favorite Elric book). Lots happen in this one, the destruction of Melnibone, the introduction of Moonglum, Pan Tang, and Yishana, a proclamation that the war between Law and Chaos is coming soon, and much more. This one moved at a much faster clip than the first two Elric books, and kept me going through it and I finished this volume fairly quickly. Might be a bit before I get to the next Moorcock volume as I have some other stuff I want to finish and others I want to get to first, but we'll see. -M |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,207 
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Post by Confessor on Feb 7, 2024 10:29:56 GMT -5
Waiting for the Beatles: An Apple Scruff's Story by Carol Bedford.  A friend picked this up for me a few months back from a charity shop because he thought I might enjoy it. In the late '60s, author Carol Bedford was an "Apple Scruff": one of a dozen or so young women who were fanatically devoted to the Beatles and who would wait around for the band outside Abbey Road recording studio, the Apple offices on Savile Row, and, in the case of Paul McCartney, outside his St. John's Wood home. This loose-knit group would sleep rough or in cheap hostels and wear over-sized pullovers and overcoats to protect them from the London cold, giving them a rather unkempt appearance – hence the band nicknaming them the "Apple Scruffs". The Scruffs were not groupies in the traditional sense: their motives were almost entirely innocent and mainly consisted of simply being supportive and protective of their heroes. Their regular interactions with the Beatles saw them become friendly with the band – especially George Harrison, who penned a song about them on his 1970 album All Things Must Pass. Two of the girls were even invited into Abbey Road studios to sing backing vocals on the Beatles' song "Across the Universe" in 1968. Bedford herself was American and grew up in Dallas, Texas. She became obsessed with the Beatles in 1964 (she even got to see the band play at Dallas Memorial Auditorium in September '64). As such, the early part of this book actually provides a pretty fascinating glimpse into the obsessive and passionate nature of Beatlemania in the U.S. and how it baffled the older generation. Once she relocates to London in pursuit of her idols, she quickly falls in with the other Scruffs. From this point, the book provides a look at the inter-personal relationships within this group of superfans and their interactions with the Fab Four. Bedford also spends a lot of time trying to convince us of how different she and the other Scruffs were when compared to the regular (i.e. inferior) fans of the band – and she does so without any hint of irony or self-awareness. Unfortunately, Bedford isn't a particularly good writer and, worse still, in the years since this book was published several of the other Scruffs have publicly questioned the validity and accuracy of some of her stories. In particular, she claims that Harrison offered her some kind of mistress role behind his wife Patti's back, but she turned him down (a tale that none of the other Scruffs can remember her mentioning at the time – and let's face it, she absolutely would've done!). I don't know, maybe such a claim has a kernel of truth to it, but a lot of this book does sort of read like fan-fiction…or at least a blend of false memory, self-spin, and wishful thinking. So, Waiting for the Beatles is not a particularly well written book or one that is essential to anybody but the nerdiest of Beatles fans (like me!). But it does at least provide a reasonably interesting glimpse into the more extreme fringes of Beatles fandom in the band's own time.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2024 14:22:16 GMT -5
 I'd never heard of James Duff before seeing the new version of Who Dies There? from Cutting Edge Books and that's a shame. Johnny Phelan checks all the traditional private eye boxes and while the story isn't breaking any new hard-boiled ground from that era, this one was really well done and I incredibly happy to have had the opportunity to read it. There is a second novel featuring the character and I will definitely be checking it out. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 7, 2024 14:49:06 GMT -5
I'd never heard of James Duff before seeing the new version of Who Dies There? from Cutting Edge Books and that's a shame. Johnny Phelan checks all the traditional private eye boxes and while the story isn't breaking any new hard-boiled ground from that era, this one was really well done and I incredibly happy to have had the opportunity to read it. There is a second novel featuring the character and I will definitely be checking it out. I've never heard of the author or the P.I. So I tried to do a little Google search and there's almost nothing out there at all about either. Interesting. |
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