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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 13, 2020 10:23:07 GMT -5
Just finished Joyland by Stephen King form the Hard Case Crime imprint I've not read a lot of King (the first Dark Tower, a handful of short stories and now this), but I find him to usually be a quick read when I do, and this was mostly no exception. It dragged a bit at first, but really went by quick once things got going. I am not quite sure how I feel about the book yet though, and I am not sure it really fits as a Hard Case crime book-it's features a crime/mystery (among other things), but it's not really about crime or a crime novel; it has a supernatural element, but it's not about horror or a horror book either. It mostly feels like a coming of age story that happens to feature a crime and some supernatural elements. If I had to liken it to something else King did that I am familiar with, it reminds me of Stand By Me in its tone and feel-another coming of age story that features other elements. Here though, the main character, Devin Jones, is college aged and its not the traditional coming of age tale, but more about the transition form adolescent to adult where the real world finally intrudes on the idyllic young adult worldview, where one encounters the first real setbacks of one's life and has to endure them and discover who you really are. It just really feels it's about Devin's journey and everything else-the crime, the supernatural and the carny milieu are all secondary to that. It wasn't bad, just not what I was expecting form a Hard Case Crime novel, so it left me feeling a little unsatisfied, but I think it comes down to unmet expectations rather than any lack of quality in the story. Taking it for what it was, I'd still give it 4 out of 5 stars, but as a Hard Case Crime novel, I'd rate it slightly lower. -M I'm not a big Stephen King fan because I'm not that big on horror. But I appreciate that he wrote a couple books for a new publisher as I'm sure they sold quite well. I liked this one pretty well though it's not very "noir."
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 13, 2020 22:33:32 GMT -5
Perry Rhodan #5: The Vega Sector After 4 books (8 novellas worth) of set up, we get a 3 year time skip that finally see some actual space opera action... After spending 3 years building up his base on Earth and Venus, and starting the Earth's space fleet (2 fighters so far)... the Third Power detects a fleet of ships invading the nearby Vega system. Turns out they are the Topides.. Lizard like aliens that, while not as bad as the Mind Snatchers, are ruthless invaders that could easily overrun Earth.. if they jumped to the correct system. Perry and co, get embroiled in the war, and end up with some fantastic opportunities in the bargain. There's some real dramatic tension for some of this one.. but only briefly. Things get pretty easy pretty quickly, even though all hope for a small moment seemed lost. After a great set up that went on too long and started to repeat itself, it's great to get back to new ideas and situation. There was quite a bit of time in the first book with techno-babble to try to explain the pretend science which I could have done without, but overall my favorite since the first.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 14, 2020 12:41:50 GMT -5
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick It's been at least 35 years since I last read The Man in the High Castle. This is one of the seminal works of Alt-History. Certainly not the first but one of the most important. And it's important to remember that because of its vintage the conceit of Axis wins WWII had not been beaten to death when the book was published. Alternate history is a weird beast, usually lumped in with science fiction though there's frequently little or no science involved. Dick actually has a short discussion of the point in the novel in a conversation between Childan and Paul Kasoura one of a few points where the book is self-aware. The point of divergence is the assassination attempt on President-elect Franklin Roosevelt in Feb. 1933, that resulted in the death of Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. In this reality Roosevelt was killed and as a result the allies lost World War II and the U.S. was occupied by the Axis with the Japanese occupying the west coast, The Germans creating two client states, one consisting of (essentially) the Union States and one consisting of (essentially) the Confederate States, with a weak buffer state of the plains and mountain states between. The book follows divergent plotlines, loosely tied together by interaction or relationship of the characters. What ties it together is an alternative history book within this alternative history book. "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy" by Hawthorne Abendson is a best-selling alternate history novel that shows Roosevelt surviving and the Allies winning the war which is banned in German controlled parts of the globe. To Dick's credit, this is not our world, but an entirely different reality. And it's in this, and in Tagomi's slip into what appears to be our reality, that we get to the overarching theme of all of Dick's work, the nature of and fragility of reality. This is a good book. And it's an important book, both because of it's place in the alt-history pantheon and as Dick's most commercially successful (during his lifetime) work. But it wasn't entirely satisfying to me. I'm not the kind of reader who has to like the characters. But there were precious few here that were really even note-worthy. Tagomi is certainly the most sympathetic character and is the most reasonable reader surrogate. But he's still largely a cipher. Yes we see change in Childan. And, to an extent in Tagomi. But overall the characters are tertiary to the setting and to the ideas and in this respect this is very old-school SF. Overall it's a happy re-read. It's not one of my favorite books. Not even one of my favorite books by Dick. But it's worth the time and it's definitely a classic that deserves a read.
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Post by Rob Allen on Apr 14, 2020 13:16:00 GMT -5
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick Never noticed the character's name before - "Abendson". The first thing it brings to mind is a word I haven't heard since my IBM mainframe days - "abend". That meant "abnormal end of job", and it meant that your program broke and didn't run all the way. I wonder if Dick had that in mind when he named the character.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 14, 2020 14:51:24 GMT -5
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick Never noticed the character's name before - "Abendson". The first thing it brings to mind is a word I haven't heard since my IBM mainframe days - "abend". That meant "abnormal end of job", and it meant that your program broke and didn't run all the way. I wonder if Dick had that in mind when he named the character. Possibly, but ' abend' is also the German word for evening. Dick sometimes gave various characters meaningful surnames in German (e.g. Dr. Bloodmoney is named after one of its main characters, scientist Bruno Bluthgeld; or in Deus Irae, a scientist responsible for turning the planet into a post-apocalyptic wasteland is named Lufteufel, which can be translated as 'air devil).
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,627
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Post by Confessor on Apr 14, 2020 21:17:37 GMT -5
I love the pulpy covers of those Hard Case Crime books that some of you guys post in this thread. They do a great job of selling the book and would definitely shout "buy me!" to me, if I saw them in a bookstore.
You know, I never agreed with the old adage that you should never judge a book by its cover. I think you absolutely should judge a book based on its cover. It's what the cover art is for! Cover artists or designers are paid precisely because of their ability to give potential readers an idea of what the book's about and convince them to buy it.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 15, 2020 4:05:36 GMT -5
I love the pulpy covers of those Hard Case Crime books that some of you guys post in this thread. They do a great job of selling the book and would definitely shout "buy me!" to me, if I saw them in a bookstore. (...) The covers on Hard Case Crime books are indeed a big selling point for me. I absolutely adore the design to make them look like the trashy/racy paperbacks of the '60s and '70s, like these beauties from Collins' Quarry series:
Also cool is that, as in the case of the cover to 'The Last Quarry' above, they're often done by Robert McGinnis, who's been painting covers for those trashy/racy paperbacks since the late 1950s (the guy's in his nineties now and is apparently still active).
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 15, 2020 21:46:54 GMT -5
I love the pulpy covers of those Hard Case Crime books that some of you guys post in this thread. They do a great job of selling the book and would definitely shout "buy me!" to me, if I saw them in a bookstore. You know, I never agreed with the old adage that you should never judge a book by its cover. I think you absolutely should judge a book based on its cover. It's what the cover art is for! Cover artists or designers are paid precisely because of their ability to give potential readers an idea of what the book's about and convince them to buy it. That's SO true. I had that conversation with my wife the other day. It's a good saying in that you shouldn't necessarily judge other PEOPLE by appearance, but books, definitely! Even if the cover isn't indicative of the story, it's what the publisher thinks readers of it's book want to see, and thus give some insight as to the focus of that story. Perry Rhodan #6: Secret of the Time Vault This book marks a big change in the series from a publishing standpoint... just one chapter of the story is included (instead of 2, as the previous 5).. we have a new trade dress with the sub-heading 'Peacelord of the Universe', and new 'supplemental material'. The extras definitely feel like filler.. there's a bit of an editorial about the series, and article about early 'scientifilms' (thank goodness we don't still try to say that!), and a comic book style letter column. There's also a few illustrations and even a character guide. If the illustrations were as good as the covers, maybe it'd be worth it. As is, it feels like an excuse to only put one story per book. Even with the filler, it's a pretty thin tome, clocking in at 126 pages. 'Mortimer' Weisinger got a mention for coining the term 'scientifilms'... he mentioned his editing of Superman as an afterthought (or perhaps with irony, it was hard to tell). The story is a direct continuation of the previous one, where Reg Bell uses the X-Men to mess with the lizard people and send them running with minimal conflict. They then convince the Thort (who turns out to be not as grateful as one would think) to open a secret vault in the basement of his palace that contains the secret of constructing teleporters. There are also some hints that the secret of eternal life that the Arkonides where looking for are in Vega somewhere, so that likely will be happening soon (I can't imagine the pace of the series continuing for too much longer as it is without addressing Perry and Reg getting too old). Also of note, I actually had to add this edition of the book to good reads.. it had only the one with the white trade dress the other 5 shared, and a different cover. (the white-bordered one has a Gray Morrow cover which is good, but if it's depicting the scene I think it is, is a bit weird). I'm assuming the one I have was the 1st edition, since the white bordered one has a higher cover price.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 18, 2020 10:51:17 GMT -5
Animal Farm by George Orwell
This had been lying around the house... my 15 year old is reading it for school, and my wife read it because no library right now!), I couldn't very well have such a classic go unread!
I'm not sure what I find more incredible, that Orwell was able to so well describe the future Red Communism Russia at a time when the Russians were considered the saviors of the world, or that it rings so very true to what's happening with the United States government today.
I remake of that 50s cartoon with a bit of a change to the outfits and it could totally be a parody on the current administration.
I do find it interesting that some of the reviews her consider it a criticism of socialism, when really Orwell was pointing out the contrast to Soviet Communism and actual Socialism, I suspect that would not have pleased him. The success of the various social Democracies in Europe these days, though, are probably exactly what he was hoping for... very interesting indeeed.
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 18, 2020 11:01:58 GMT -5
So true, wildfire2099. While Animal Farm works as a specific allegorical critique of the failure of the Soviet system, what makes it a classic is that it works even more tellingly as a comment on the use and abuse of power under any system of government. Totalitarian autocracies come in many shapes, sizes, and varieties.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 18, 2020 11:46:10 GMT -5
Animal Farm by George Orwell This had been lying around the house... my 15 year old is reading it for school, and my wife read it because no library right now!), I couldn't very well have such a classic go unread! I'm not sure what I find more incredible, that Orwell was able to so well describe the future Red Communism Russia at a time when the Russians were considered the saviors of the world, or that it rings so very true to what's happening with the United States government today. I remake of that 50s cartoon with a bit of a change to the outfits and it could totally be a parody on the current administration. I do find it interesting that some of the reviews her consider it a criticism of socialism, when really Orwell was pointing out the contrast to Soviet Communism and actual Socialism, I suspect that would not have pleased him. The success of the various social Democracies in Europe these days, though, are probably exactly what he was hoping for... very interesting indeeed. Anyone who considers it a critique of Socialism isn't paying any attention because Orwell was a Socialist. He was equally critical of right-wing authoritarianism to the extent of fighting the fascists in Spain.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 18, 2020 13:14:51 GMT -5
I agree...I guess if you had no knowledge of where he was coming from and JUST read the book you might get that, but with any sort of context (I assume even early versions had a preface of some sort) it's clear the point was more how the Communists were abusing the principle, not that the principle was bad.
Goodreads is great, but there is a high percentage of users there that tend to not read things too deeply.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 21, 2020 11:24:30 GMT -5
Neon Mirage by Max Allan CollinsNate Heller is back. And he again finds himself embroiled with The Outfit and, ultimately, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and the building/opening of The Flamingo in Las Vegas. It's 1946 and Heller has been expanding his A-1 Detective agency. The firm is hired as bodyguards for James Ragen, owner of National News Service, which sends sporting results (mostly racing results) from the event to bookies around the country and the Uncle of Heller's girlfriend. The Outfit wants to buy Ragen out and if he won't sell they may force him out. Trans-American Publishing, is a rival service owned by Ben Siegel. And inevitably their paths cross and Heller ends up in Las Vegas training Siegel's security team for The Flamingo. At this point you know what you're going to get with Collins' Heller books. Heller is going to be thrust into history and there's most likely going to be something happening that isn't quite the way history portrays it. The research seems to be solid, the execution is fun and compelling and they're a great easy read.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 21, 2020 11:43:31 GMT -5
(...) the execution is fun and compelling and they're a great easy read. Pretty much how I'd describe, well, everything I've read by Collins.
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Post by brutalis on Apr 21, 2020 13:22:43 GMT -5
At this point you know what you're going to get with Collins' Heller books. Heller is going to be thrust into history and there's most likely going to be something happening that isn't quite the way history portrays it. The research seems to be solid, the execution is fun and compelling and they're a great easy read. Reminds me that I need to start picking up Collins stuff again. I have quite a few of his earlier works I grabbed up used and I really like his Heller and Quarry series. I have several of his historic/disaster books and they were okay, just not as interesting in characterization or depth as i felt they were quick cash makers for the publishers and something which took Collins away from his own personal best. What really sucks is that he has either become a writer people follow and hold onto his books or his books aren't high profile and big sellers since I seldom if ever find his series or any of his books in the used book stores around Phoenix like I used to. Granted there is a lot less stores to choose from and none are mom and pops family run storefronts anymore which might be the problem. Looks like I shall have to begin searching and creating a hunt list of what I need and then start digging for those deep deals via Amazon and online!
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