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Post by berkley on Feb 16, 2021 12:55:09 GMT -5
Picking out my favorite is difficult, but I am surprised there has not yet been a single vote for Nero Wolfe (and by extension, Archie Goodwin). The pair are some of the most well-characterized long-form serial characters in literature. It is hard not to love Genevieve Dieudonne, I admit.
Not familar with Dieudonné but I agree about Goodwin and Wolfe. Great series, and two of the best recurring characters in genre fiction - as PG Wodehouse and Ian Fleming agreed!
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 16, 2021 13:01:37 GMT -5
I'm a big fan of the Flashman novels. Read the entire series over a period of a few years. I did find that my interest in the books was directly related to how little I knew about the particular incident that Flashy was involved in. His time in America was by far my least favorites because I knew the history. But Flashy himself is a great character. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 16, 2021 13:06:00 GMT -5
In purely literary form, there is Commander Sam Vimes, head of the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork, in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. An old copper from the streets who rises to great authority and responsibility, due to a persistent nature and a burning desire to bring justice along with law and order. Vimes steps all over the toes of the elite to get to the truth and forces change by exposing the corrupt to the world. He knows all of the tricks, fights dirty, yet cares more for the poorest citizen than anyone in power. I love Sam Vimes and, overall, I think that the Watch novels are the best of the Discworld's various series'. I'm also very fond of Granny Weatherwax and Tiffany Aching grew on me, which was surprising because I was very tentative about reading the YA books. If Sir Terry had to pass early, the ending of The Shepherd's Crown was perfection (even recognizing that Pratchett was very ill when he wrote the last few novels). |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 16, 2021 16:17:38 GMT -5
In purely literary form, there is Commander Sam Vimes, head of the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork, in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. An old copper from the streets who rises to great authority and responsibility, due to a persistent nature and a burning desire to bring justice along with law and order. Vimes steps all over the toes of the elite to get to the truth and forces change by exposing the corrupt to the world. He knows all of the tricks, fights dirty, yet cares more for the poorest citizen than anyone in power. I love Sam Vimes and, overall, I think that the Watch novels are the best of the Discworld's various series'. I'm also very fond of Granny Weatherwax and Tiffany Aching grew on me, which was surprising because I was very tentative about reading the YA books. If Sir Terry had to pass early, the ending of The Shepherd's Crown was perfection (even recognizing that Pratchett was very ill when he wrote the last few novels). Agree wholeheartedly. The Tiffany Aching ones grabbed me from the start; I liked the underlying message of taking responsibility for yourself and your part of the world, which is especially significant for a YA audience. Every time someone asked me for something like Harry Potter I immediately pointed them to Wee Free Men. Boys enjoyed the Nac Mac Feegle and girls immediately responded to Tiffany. Boys came to respect her as she conquers the barriers in her way. Pratchett's material is so wondrously filled with subtle philosophy that it creeps in and grows as you read, until the profound theme is revealed to you. He doesn't hit you over the head with things and he never shoves his beliefs down your throat, but lays them out in metaphor and lets you draw your conclusions. I just finished rereading the Witches books and Granny is always a favorite, though Nanny Ogg is a character I would love to see down well on screen. City Watch was being adapted into a tv series; but, it seems like it has been forever; and, from what I saw, no Sam Vimes. Not even sure if Nobby was going to be there, though he was in Hogfather (didn't think they really captured him). I always thought Tony Robinson would be a good Nobby, after playing Baldrick, in the Blackadder series. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 16, 2021 16:40:49 GMT -5
I love Sam Vimes and, overall, I think that the Watch novels are the best of the Discworld's various series'. I'm also very fond of Granny Weatherwax and Tiffany Aching grew on me, which was surprising because I was very tentative about reading the YA books. If Sir Terry had to pass early, the ending of The Shepherd's Crown was perfection (even recognizing that Pratchett was very ill when he wrote the last few novels). Agree wholeheartedly. The Tiffany Aching ones grabbed me from the start; I liked the underlying message of taking responsibility for yourself and your part of the world, which is especially significant for a YA audience. Every time someone asked me for something like Harry Potter I immediately pointed them to Wee Free Men. Boys enjoyed the Nac Mac Feegle and girls immediately responded to Tiffany. Boys came to respect her as she conquers the barriers in her way. Pratchett's material is so wondrously filled with subtle philosophy that it creeps in and grows as you read, until the profound theme is revealed to you. He doesn't hit you over the head with things and he never shoves his beliefs down your throat, but lays them out in metaphor and lets you draw your conclusions. I just finished rereading the Witches books and Granny is always a favorite, though Nanny Ogg is a character I would love to see down well on screen. City Watch was being adapted into a tv series; but, it seems like it has been forever; and, from what I saw, no Sam Vimes. Not even sure if Nobby was going to be there, though he was in Hogfather (didn't think they really captured him). I always thought Tony Robinson would be a good Nobby, after playing Baldrick, in the Blackadder series. I was very leery of the Tiffany books because I just don't read YA books. I didn't read what would now be classed YA books when I was a kid. But Pratchett earned every benefit of doubt. And they are simply wonderfully done. Incredibly rich characters with a strong story to tell. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 16, 2021 20:47:56 GMT -5
Agree wholeheartedly. The Tiffany Aching ones grabbed me from the start; I liked the underlying message of taking responsibility for yourself and your part of the world, which is especially significant for a YA audience. Every time someone asked me for something like Harry Potter I immediately pointed them to Wee Free Men. Boys enjoyed the Nac Mac Feegle and girls immediately responded to Tiffany. Boys came to respect her as she conquers the barriers in her way. Pratchett's material is so wondrously filled with subtle philosophy that it creeps in and grows as you read, until the profound theme is revealed to you. He doesn't hit you over the head with things and he never shoves his beliefs down your throat, but lays them out in metaphor and lets you draw your conclusions. I just finished rereading the Witches books and Granny is always a favorite, though Nanny Ogg is a character I would love to see down well on screen. City Watch was being adapted into a tv series; but, it seems like it has been forever; and, from what I saw, no Sam Vimes. Not even sure if Nobby was going to be there, though he was in Hogfather (didn't think they really captured him). I always thought Tony Robinson would be a good Nobby, after playing Baldrick, in the Blackadder series. I was very leery of the Tiffany books because I just don't read YA books. I didn't read what would now be classed YA books when I was a kid. But Pratchett earned every benefit of doubt. And they are simply wonderfully done. Incredibly rich characters with a strong story to tell. His other YA books are also great reads. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is a fun little twist on the Pied Piper of Hamlin story, where a con is perpetrated by sentient mice and a cat, Maurice, along with a human kid. They set up a fake infestation and then the kid and Maurice turn up, with the offer to clear the place with his magic flute and they clean up and move on. They come to find a town where something more sinister is going on. The fun part is Maurice, a sentient cat (who, like the mice, lived and preyed around Unseen University, absorbing large amounts of magic) who understands thatthe mice are also sentient and he finds he is unable to kill them anymore, as he doesn't see them as food. he still bullies and torments; but, there is a point where he gives up one of his 9 lives to save one of the mice, in an act that amazes Death. It also has one of my favorite quotes from Pratchett. Maurice asks Death a question, about whether there is a "cat god" and Death replies that that would be like work, wouldn't it? Maurice understands the answer. That could only come from a cat person, like Pratchett. I also read his younger age bracket Only You Can Save Mankind, the first of a trilogy about a boy, named Johnny. In this one, Johnny plays a video game and gets a message that "We surrender." it turns out, his game affects another dimension and he eventually stops the game to protect the people on the other side. Pratchett wrote it after viewing the news reporting and footage from the first Gulf War, feeling that they were turning death and destruction into a video game presentation, eliminating the human cost. he decided to create a story where video game violence caused real harm to others, to convey the idea that war brings death and destruction and is not a game. It was very good. Honestly, the only real difference between his YA and adult material is the chapter structure used int he YA books, which he avoids in his adult stories. His language isn't particularly different, though he avoids adult allusions and keeps his metaphors a bit simpler. Really, I find little difference between the Tiffany Aching books and the Witches books, especially when tiffany studies with Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax. As it was, we kind of got a test run with the first Granny appearance, in Equal Rites, via Eskarina Smith (who turns up in the last couple of Tiffany books). I also enjoy the Moist Von Lipwig books, though Raising Steam felt like it was unfinished, due to the advanced stage of Pratchett's alzheimer's. It just felt like it would have undergone a bit more polishing, had he been healthier. Still a great book; but, just not at his usual standard, after he finished with the fine tuning. Shepherd's Crown also has a bit of that, though I don't think it is as significant, as it more explores the end of life and a new generation establishing themselves as adults. |
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Post by berkley on Feb 16, 2021 21:27:47 GMT -5
I suppose I would have to include Dracula as one of my favourites. I left him out before because I was thnking it was more the novel than the individual character that I liked, but then I'm always interested whenever a new Dracula movie or adaptation in some other medium comes out or when the character appears in a new story, like the Marvel comics series in the 70s, or the Kim Newman books (which I haven't read yet).
And that reminds me of a related question: how many of your favourite chracters have ever appeared together in a mash-up or whatever the expression is? I know Holmes and Dracula have, which is what made me think of it. And Philip José Farmer had the Lord Grandrith/Doc Caliban novels. Plus there's the whole Wold-Newton thing, which I've heard about but haven't really explored.
Ian Fleming liked Rex Stout's Wolfe and Goodwin enough that he proposed a collaboration that would have had Bond and M teaming up with them, but Stout turned it down, I believe because he thought the chemistry between the two sets of characters wouldn't work. Fleming settled for mentioning the series in one of the later Bond novels, forget which one now.
I kind of think Stout was probably right but you never know how it might have turned out - maybe I would have been surprised. Are there any collaborations you would like to see that have never happened? I wouldn't have thought Conan and Elric would necessarily be a workable combination but Roy Thomas and BWS made it into a pretty good comics story that managed to stay true to both characters, which is often the hardest part - it's always tempting to play favourites and have one shine at the expense of the other.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2021 21:54:50 GMT -5
Doc Savage, The Shadow, Tarzan, Conan, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond are all characters that I would count among my favorites.
I would probably also include Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch, Richard Stark's Parker, Robert B. Parker's Spenser Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden and Max Allan Collins's Quarry among my picks.
And of course, there is Luke Skywalker, Captain Kirk and Aragorn.
I don't know if I could limit it down to a single one though.
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Post by MDG on Feb 17, 2021 10:25:03 GMT -5
While I would've said Phillip Marlowe in the past, in terms of re-readability, it's become The Continental Op. That might be helped by the fact that he hasn;t really been portrayed in other media.
Over the past year, I've come to really enjoy Wolfe/Goodwin, but at this point, mainly through the radio shows.
I really enjoy Max Collins' Nolan books. I like his other series, but not necessarily the characters themselves.
And Erle Stanley Gardner's other character, Donald Lam.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 17, 2021 11:08:30 GMT -5
And Erle Stanley Gardner's other character, Donald Lam. The Cool & Lam novels are pure joy. I was never a fan of Perry Mason, but Cool & Lam hit a great balance between hardboiled and humor. |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Feb 17, 2021 12:24:15 GMT -5
While I would've said Phillip Marlowe in the past, in terms of re-readability, it's become The Continental Op. That might be helped by the fact that he hasn;t really been portrayed in other media.
I'm still surprised there's never been a Continental Op comic series.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 17, 2021 13:00:13 GMT -5
While I would've said Phillip Marlowe in the past, in terms of re-readability, it's become The Continental Op. That might be helped by the fact that he hasn;t really been portrayed in other media.
I'm still surprised there's never been a Continental Op comic series.
Pure detective comics have never been a big thing in comic books. At least not that I can remember. And the Op himself is kind of a cypher. Which would have been fine in the early days of comics when plot was king, but would not fly now. |
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Post by berkley on Feb 17, 2021 13:05:12 GMT -5
I haven't seen it but The Dain Curse was made into a tv mini-series with James Coburn - there was a painting of Coburn as the lead character on the cover of the paperback edition I had in the late 70s or early 80s:  Actually, it looks more like a retouched photograph, now that I look at it again. I'll have to track down the tv series and watch it one of these days, now I'm reminded of it. |
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Post by MDG on Feb 17, 2021 21:43:41 GMT -5
I haven't seen it but The Dain Curse was made into a tv mini-series with James Coburn - there was a painting of Coburn as the lead character on the cover of the paperback edition I had in the late 70s or early 80s: Actually, it looks more like a retouched photograph, now that I look at it again. I'll have to track down the tv series and watch it one of these days, now I'm reminded of it. I remember liking this when it first aired, but when I tried to watch it again I the past year or two, it was so different from the book, I didn't stay with it long. It's on YouTube. I may give it another shot. I like Coburn, but he's not the short, overweight Op of the book. |
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Post by berkley on Feb 18, 2021 1:31:08 GMT -5
I haven't seen it but The Dain Curse was made into a tv mini-series with James Coburn - there was a painting of Coburn as the lead character on the cover of the paperback edition I had in the late 70s or early 80s: Actually, it looks more like a retouched photograph, now that I look at it again. I'll have to track down the tv series and watch it one of these days, now I'm reminded of it. I remember liking this when it first aired, but when I tried to watch it again I the past year or two, it was so different from the book, I didn't stay with it long. It's on YouTube. I may give it another shot. I like Coburn, but he's not the short, overweight Op of the book. From memory, the book itself isn't one of Hammet's best. I'd advise anyone looking to try out the Continental Op stories to start elsewhere. |
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