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In another thread,
I think it would be cooler to publish "The Walrus and the Warwolf" in the Planet Stories line next year.
Which I'm doing.
--Erik
Very, very cool. Here’s hoping that having Cook’s work republished in Planet Stories sparks a revival, increases back sales of his Chronicles of an Age of Darkness and allows him to finish the series!
But I’m curious – why The Walrus and The Warwolf. While it’s probably one of the best in the series (and that might be reason enough) why not start from the beginning? And do you think the story might suffer a little without reading the prior four books? (although having said that, if there’s any series which can safely be read out of order, its this one). Anyway, I guess pirate stories sell at the moment…
So how did Hugh Cook come to be included in Planet Stories?
And a last (only slightly related) question – has anyone ever contemplated turning the world depicted in the Chronicles into a D&D campaign setting?
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They are very difficult to get hold of - I own 9 of the 10 that were written (I'm missing The Wishstone and The Wonderworkers, though Ive read it).
However, apparently Cook originally intended the series to comprise twenty books, but cut it short due to poor sales and no one willing to publish the rest.
Having said that, The Witchlord and the Weaponmaster does seem like something of a wrap of the series (as much as it can be wrapped...).
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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I've read the entire series twice. I love them. When I got the green light to launch Planet Stories, I immediately contacted Hugh and his agent and licensed "The Walrus and the Warwolf" for publication.
I chose this book for three reasons:
1) It is my favorite in the series, an opinion others seem to share.
2) It was never published in its complete form in America, which actually means that it _does_ continue the story for American readers who have read Wizard War, The Questing Hero, The Hero Returns, and The Oracle.
3) The series has an extraordinarily loose temporal continuity. There isn't really a beginning and there isn't really an end. All of the stories weave in between one another. The Walrus and the Warwolf makes as good an introduction to the series as any of the books, and a better introduction than a few of them.
I am very, very excited to be publishing this book. Hugh Cook's fantasy stories deserve a much wider audience, and I am grateful for the opportunity to take a shot at finding it.
--Erik Mona
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I've read the entire series twice. I love them.
Ditto! Although I've probably read most of them at least three times (taking notes the latter times for my never quite eventuating AD&D / Alternity / v3 D&D campaign based on the setting...)
1) It is my favorite in the series, an opinion others seem to share.
I'd find it hard to pick a favourite, but if I had to, this would probably be mine too.
2) It was never published in its complete form in America, which actually means that it _does_ continue the story for American readers who have read Wizard War, The Questing Hero, The Hero Returns, and The Oracle.
Interesting, I didn't know that. And published under different titles to the British / Australian editions as well.
Well I for one think its fantastic that you're doing this story as part of Planet Stories!
And for those who aren't familiar with Cook's work, read this book when Eric and the guys get it done. It's really, really, really good.
I read Wizard War a long time ago, and I really liked it. I could never find book 2 in the series, though. I found book 3, but I didn't get it because I hate to read a series out of order.
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I read Wizard War a long time ago, and I really liked it. I could never find book 2 in the series, though. I found book 3, but I didn't get it because I hate to read a series out of order.
This is one of those rare series where it pretty much completely doesn't matter if you read it out of order ... with a couple of exceptions.
Just out of interest, does anyone know where Hugh Cook lives these days? When he first got published, he lived just outside my hometown of Whangarei, New Zealand. I was at high school and thought it was AWESOME that a noted fantasy writer lived near by. He was in the news for a while back then, but I never did hear where he ended up...
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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The only thing getting in the way of it happening now is the extreme expense of publishing a 600 page book, my utter unwillingness to cut the book into smaller pieces, and my fear of how the book would do if we priced it at something like $18.00, which we'd have to do in order to make any money on it.
The book is on the internal schedule and I hope to put it out next year. But it's going to be expensive and we will probably take a bath on it. :(
now you're not going to like this!...sorry but i think if you're going to do a thing you should do it right...how anyone could possibly think this stuff has any relevance whatsoever to Planet Stories is just beyond me...what's next 'thomas covenant'?...julian may?...jack chalker?...come on,you're just all over the place with this series...i thought it was supposed to be about bringing back the classics of the pulp era etc. and focussed on planetary adventure etc...there are literally hundreds of GREAT books/authors you could do without resorting to hack stuff from the 80's...(yes i know you all think this guy is a good writer etc. but so what,so are thousands of others,but these ten/twenty volume series' just seem to me to be written by some computer program or something,a bit like the gamer stuff)...even moorcock is pushing it but at least you picked his martian adventure ones which do fit nicely...if it's about marketing or something,well whatever but including stuff like this just lowers the tone of the whole thing for me...like why have a series if you have to compromise it's integrity like this...hugh cook,gary gygax,piers anthony and moore/brackett/howard/kuttner etc are just NOT in the same league i'm afraid(and i'm not talking about their writing ABILITY,just what they write)...i look forward to the screams of derision and disagreement
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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I'm more sympathetic to your argument than you may think. The Gygax books we signed to attract our gaming audience to the line, as well as to honor Gary's role in leading many of us to appreciate the great classics of science fiction and fantasy that underlie the D&D game. Death in Delhi is the last of these, and I do not anticipate adding more Gygax stories to the line.
The Hugh Cook book is a genuine overlooked classic in my view, and while it may seem like it, the goal of Planet Stories is _NOT_ exclusively to reprint pulp material. The "mission statement" of the line mentions this, even if my own editorial tastes keep pushing things toward the pulp era. "The Walrus and the Warwolf" was never published in America (nor were the following six books in the series, for that matter), and is considered the best of the series by most fans. We have no intention of adding any of the other nine books to the line at present.
Piers Anthony is an experiment to see what happens if we publish a book by an author more than .005% of the book-buying public has ever heard of.
That said, there is more Kuttner, Moore, Brackett, Kline, Wellman, Merritt, etc. coming down the road, and I daresay the line will focus more on this type of material in the future than it has even in the past.
Unless the Piers Anthony books sell tens of thousands of copies, in which case we will be going ALL XANTH, ALL THE TIME.
I'm more sympathetic to your argument than you may think. The Gygax books we signed to attract our gaming audience to the line, as well as to honor Gary's role in leading many of us to appreciate the great classics of science fiction and fantasy that underlie the D&D game. Death in Delhi is the last of these, and I do not anticipate adding more Gygax stories to the line.
The Hugh Cook book is a genuine overlooked classic in my view, and while it may seem like it, the goal of Planet Stories is _NOT_ exclusively to reprint pulp material. The "mission statement" of the line mentions this, even if my own editorial tastes keep pushing things toward the pulp era. "The Walrus and the Warwolf" was never published in America (nor were the following six books in the series, for that matter), and is considered the best of the series by most fans. We have no intention of adding any of the other nine books to the line at present.
Piers Anthony is an experiment to see what happens if we publish a book by an author more than .005% of the book-buying public has ever heard of.
That said, there is more Kuttner, Moore, Brackett, Kline, Wellman, Merritt, etc. coming down the road, and I daresay the line will focus more on this type of material in the future than it has even in the past.
Unless the Piers Anthony books sell tens of thousands of copies, in which case we will be going ALL XANTH, ALL THE TIME.
hey that was quick!...yes i know your heart's in the right place man!...and ok it does mention that in the 'mission statement'...point taken too about the .005%!!!...i also realise that the stuff people read when they were young is like 'the classics' to them...i've only got one xanth book,'crewell lye' or something?...one of the lamest things ever!...see if you can find 'lords of atlantis' by wallace west(if you don't have it,an airmont paperback from 63)...YOU will like it!
now you're not going to like this!...sorry but i think if you're going to do a thing you should do it right...how anyone could possibly think this stuff has any relevance whatsoever to Planet Stories is just beyond me...what's next 'thomas covenant'?...julian may?...jack chalker?...come on,you're just all over the place with this series...i thought it was supposed to be about bringing back the classics of the pulp era etc. and focussed on planetary adventure etc...there are literally hundreds of GREAT books/authors you could do without resorting to hack stuff from the 80's...(yes i know you all think this guy is a good writer etc. but so what,so are thousands of others,but these ten/twenty volume series' just seem to me to be written by some computer program or something,a bit like the gamer stuff)...even moorcock is pushing it but at least you picked his martian adventure ones which do fit nicely...if it's about marketing or something,well whatever but including stuff like this just lowers the tone of the whole thing for me...like why have a series if you have to compromise it's integrity like this...hugh cook,gary gygax,piers anthony and moore/brackett/howard/kuttner etc are just NOT in the same league i'm afraid(and i'm not talking about their writing ABILITY,just what they write)...i look forward to the screams of derision and disagreement
I've never read anything by Hugh Cook as far as I remember, anyway, so no idea what those are about or if they are any good. However, Donaldson, no, you are right, that would be just wrong. Julian May? Maybe, but probably too long and a little philosophical. Chalker? The Well World stuff would certainly fit as a modern planetary romance - although Baen has that already. Anthony has the Incarnations of Immortality, the Kirlian books, Space Tyrants etc. that aren't the cheesy kids books.
Like some others though, Gygax helped led me to Leiber and Howard, etc. So honoring him I have no problem with, especially if these sell and get a few more people from the game fan area to buy some of the others. If it was every second book that was more of a game fan deal, I might not subscribe, but still get some of the others.
Weren't you the one championing Silverheart of game-tie-in origin? ;-)
now you're not going to like this!...sorry but i think if you're going to do a thing you should do it right...how anyone could possibly think this stuff has any relevance whatsoever to Planet Stories is just beyond me...what's next 'thomas covenant'?...julian may?...jack chalker?...come on,you're just all over the place with this series...i thought it was supposed to be about bringing back the classics of the pulp era etc. and focussed on planetary adventure etc...there are literally hundreds of GREAT books/authors you could do without resorting to hack stuff from the 80's...(yes i know you all think this guy is a good writer etc. but so what,so are thousands of others,but these ten/twenty volume series' just seem to me to be written by some computer program or something,a bit like the gamer stuff)...even moorcock is pushing it but at least you picked his martian adventure ones which do fit nicely...if it's about marketing or something,well whatever but including stuff like this just lowers the tone of the whole thing for me...like why have a series if you have to compromise it's integrity like this...hugh cook,gary gygax,piers anthony and moore/brackett/howard/kuttner etc are just NOT in the same league i'm afraid(and i'm not talking about their writing ABILITY,just what they write)...i look forward to the screams of derision and disagreementI've never read anything by Hugh Cook as far as I remember, anyway, so no idea what those are about or if they are any good. However, Donaldson, no, you are right, that would be just wrong. Julian May? Maybe, but probably too long and a little philosophical. Chalker? The Well World stuff would certainly fit as a modern planetary romance - although Baen has that already. Anthony has the Incarnations of Immortality, the Kirlian books, Space Tyrants etc. that aren't the cheesy kids books.
Like some others though, Gygax helped led me to Leiber and Howard, etc. So honoring him I have no problem with, especially if these sell and get...
yeah i take your point about gygax leading you to leiber,howard etc...well i WAS championing 'silverheart' but not for planet stories...i didn't know that it had anything to do with any game or whatever...i loved 'the well world' stuff too but not for this series...i have to say though it was one of the first things i read that felt like it was written by some robot or computer or something...to me most sci-fi/fantasy written since the late 70's has been like this...(with two exceptions - vance and moorcock)...a bit hard to explain but there's not a lot of soul in it or something...it seems to me to be about being clever...or in the case of fantasy just corny girly dragon stories or equally lame barbarian stuff like wagner(or even lamer quest-epics like julian may,david eddings etc)...like this stuff is not horribly bad or anything,it's just ordinary!...(wagner IS horribly bad)
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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hey that was quick!...yes i know your heart's in the right place man!...and ok it does mention that in the 'mission statement'...point taken too about the .005%!!!...i also realise that the stuff people read when they were young is like 'the classics' to them...i've only got one xanth book,'crewell lye' or something?...one of the lamest things ever!...see if you can find 'lords of atlantis' by wallace west(if you don't have it,an airmont paperback from 63)...YOU will like it!
I own two copies of "Lords of Atlantis," but I confess I have not yet read it. It's in perhaps the third quarter of my to-read pile. That means it'll probably take a year or two before I get to it. But I will get to it!
It's interesting how you slag on Wagner. Other posters seem to absolutely love him.
I must say I think Karl Edward Wagner and Charles Saunders are the most frequently requested authors whenever I raise the question of what we should be printing.
On the other hand, people who don't like Wagner's writing tend to have very strong opinions, too. Nobody is in the middle when it comes to this guy, which I find fascinating.
I am just starting to get into his stuff, and I'm hoping to get a much stronger sense of the author in the next few months.
hey that was quick!...yes i know your heart's in the right place man!...and ok it does mention that in the 'mission statement'...point taken too about the .005%!!!...i also realise that the stuff people read when they were young is like 'the classics' to them...i've only got one xanth book,'crewell lye' or something?...one of the lamest things ever!...see if you can find 'lords of atlantis' by wallace west(if you don't have it,an airmont paperback from 63)...YOU will like it!I own two copies of "Lords of Atlantis," but I confess I have not yet read it. It's in perhaps the third quarter of my to-read pile. That means it'll probably take a year or two before I get to it. But I will get to it!
It's interesting how you slag on Wagner. Other posters seem to absolutely love him.
I must say I think Karl Edward Wagner and Charles Saunders are the most frequently requested authors whenever I raise the question of what we should be printing.
On the other hand, people who don't like Wagner's writing tend to have very strong opinions, too. Nobody is in the middle when it comes to this guy, which I find fascinating.
I am just starting to get into his stuff, and I'm hoping to get a much stronger sense of the author in the next few months.
yes it is interesting about the divided opinions on wagner...i've noticed the same thing...i s'pose in a way it's good that people feel strongly about it or whatever...i also noticed he's going to be doing/has done an intro for you guys so i better shut up about him!...he's ok!!!...hi karl...now,seeing as i've built up 'lords of atlantis' like that you'll probably be totally disappointed when you get around to it!...that happens to me a bit...but hey,it WAS a beauty,and the '63 edition has one of the coolest covers ever!...i've seen his name on quite a few old PS/Thrilling etc. covers,so there's probably a fair bit of wallace west out there somewhere...i've not seen any other paperbacks of his i don't think(not since i discovered him anyway)...is that charles saunders,author of 'imaro'?...that was pretty cool
Now John Jakes Brak is a cheesy lame barbarian. Kane? No. Also a sorcerer-warrior, too, for some variety.
Charles R. Saunders actually has a short Dossouye excerpt at his myspace page Dossouye Excerpt
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Hey, Tyson, I have only read one Brak story (though I recently bought most of the novels), and I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting something of clearly inferior construction, but in fact I found the story among the best in the anthology in which I read it ("The Mighty Swordsmen," ed. L. Sprague de Camp).
I wonder if that was an anomaly.
Also, I wonder if I am a pushover, as I also found Gardner F. Fox's "Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman" better than I expected it to be.
Hey, Tyson, I have only read one Brak story (though I recently bought most of the novels), and I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting something of clearly inferior construction, but in fact I found the story among the best in the anthology in which I read it ("The Mighty Swordsmen," ed. L. Sprague de Camp).
I wonder if that was an anomaly.
Also, I wonder if I am a pushover, as I also found Gardner F. Fox's "Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman" better than I expected it to be.
The couple of Kothars I have read are passable.
However, there is no Brak in the Mighty Swordsmen, so that probably is an anomaly, or you are confusing either the book or story with something else.
hey that was quick!...yes i know your heart's in the right place man!...and ok it does mention that in the 'mission statement'...point taken too about the .005%!!!...i also realise that the stuff people read when they were young is like 'the classics' to them...i've only got one xanth book,'crewell lye' or something?...one of the lamest things ever!...see if you can find 'lords of atlantis' by wallace west(if you don't have it,an airmont paperback from 63)...YOU will like it!I own two copies of "Lords of Atlantis," but I confess I have not yet read it. It's in perhaps the third quarter of my to-read pile. That means it'll probably take a year or two before I get to it. But I will get to it!
It's interesting how you slag on Wagner. Other posters seem to absolutely love him.
I must say I think Karl Edward Wagner and Charles Saunders are the most frequently requested authors whenever I raise the question of what we should be printing.
On the other hand, people who don't like Wagner's writing tend to have very strong opinions, too. Nobody is in the middle when it comes to this guy, which I find fascinating.
I am just starting to get into his stuff, and I'm hoping to get a much stronger sense of the author in the next few months.
the opening paragraph of 'lords of atlantis'...Teraf,Prince of Hellas,pressed his straight nose against a promenade deck porthole of the Poseidon as the liner drifted earthward at the end of her record-breaking run from Mars.Within half an hour the Poseidon would be docked at Atlan,but she was still so high that the capital of colonial Atlantis looked like a white button on the green silk of the Mediterranean valley...
So what are this multiple-W books about, anyway?
So what are this multiple-W books about, anyway?
do you mean wallace west?
So what are this multiple-W books about, anyway?do you mean wallace west?
No, the wizard, witch, walrus, warrior, wombat guy.
You can tell me about The Flash, too, if you like. :)
By the way, Wowio has Lords of Atlantis, amazingly enough :-
By the way, Wowio has Lords of Atlantis, amazingly enough :-
now that is amazing...i'll leave it to others to fill you in on the wombat guy
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Hey, Tyson, I have only read one Brak story (though I recently bought most of the novels), and I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting something of clearly inferior construction, but in fact I found the story among the best in the anthology in which I read it ("The Mighty Swordsmen," ed. L. Sprague de Camp).
I wonder if that was an anomaly.
Also, I wonder if I am a pushover, as I also found Gardner F. Fox's "Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman" better than I expected it to be.
The couple of Kothars I have read are passable.
However, there is no Brak in the Mighty Swordsmen, so that probably is an anomaly, or you are confusing either the book or story with something else.
I was, of course, speaking of The Fantastic Swordsmen, and the Brak story in question is "The Girl in the Gem."
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Here's the Wikipedia page for Hugh's 10-part Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series.
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It's interesting how you slag on Wagner.
It's ok to slag on David Eddings though, isn't it? Can you suspend your posting policies just for discussions that involve him and his 'work'?
[Edit]I don't think that Karl Edward Wagner is lame.
I've never really looked at your Planet Stories line before. Hey! You've republished Almuric! I used to run a campaign based on that back in the late seventies. I'm going to have to get that.
Sam
I was, of course, speaking of The Fantastic Swordsmen, and the Brak story in question is "The Girl in the Gem."
Ah, that one. Yeah, in that anthology it probably is in the top few, with the Moorcock and Kuttner the class of that book.
Here's the Wikipedia page for Hugh's 10-part Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series.
Ok, well that sounds offbeat enough to be interesting, certainly.
Here's the Wikipedia page for Hugh's 10-part Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series.
That's quite an impressive list of 'gritty' elements (from the section "The Books")! I find it amusing that evolution is included, right between slavery and patricide...
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edit: Just in case it changes, here is the list as I saw it:
"At different times, the novels portray or allude to murder, bestiality, female genital cutting, cannibalism, racism, sexism, speciesism, abortion, masturbation, mutation, incest, inbreeding, constipation, assassination, gambling, drunkenness, brawling, diarrhoea, capitalism, leprosy, castration, slavery, evolution, patricide, regicide, venereal disease, forgery, treason, dwarf tossing, torture, orgies, incontinence, suicide, disembowelment, capital and corporal punishment, drug use, religious fraud, bribery, blackmail, animal cruelty, disfigurement, infanticide, the caste system, democratic revolutionary movements, rape, theft, genocide, transvestitism, premature ejaculation, prostitution, piracy, and polygamy."
I strongly suspect someone clipped that from Hugh's own description on his website.
I think that was in the Wikipedia you linked to, who of course may have quoted him. Pity there's no elf lopping to go with the dwarf tossing.
I strongly suspect someone clipped that from Hugh's own description on his website.
I've never read any of these books, but I think I am going to enjoy Hugh Cook quite a lot then! Or else, at the very least, it sounds like he'd be a lot of fun to play mad-libs with :)
Here's the Wikipedia page for Hugh's 10-part Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series.
That's quite an impressive list of 'gritty' elements (from the section "The Books")! I find it amusing that evolution is included, right between slavery and patricide...
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edit: Just in case it changes, here is the list as I saw it:
"At different times, the novels portray or allude to murder, bestiality, female genital cutting, cannibalism, racism, sexism, speciesism, abortion, masturbation, mutation, incest, inbreeding, constipation, assassination, gambling, drunkenness, brawling, diarrhoea, capitalism, leprosy, castration, slavery, evolution, patricide, regicide, venereal disease, forgery, treason, dwarf tossing, torture, orgies, incontinence, suicide, disembowelment, capital and corporal punishment, drug use, religious fraud, bribery, blackmail, animal cruelty, disfigurement, infanticide, the caste system, democratic revolutionary movements, rape, theft, genocide, transvestitism, premature ejaculation, prostitution, piracy, and polygamy."
This makes my case perfectly!...if the author himself is just taking the piss out of the whole 'fantasy' genre,how can anyone be expected to take this crap seriously?...this is what happened to 'fantasy' in the 80's and now it's considered the norm...pathetic,nerdy humour just doesn't go well with it!...it never has and never will...with a couple of exceptions(Moorcock and Vance)i can't think of ANYONE who is actually funny in the whole of sci-fi or fantasy...i've read a lot of unfunny,too clever for it's own good,nerdy crap starting with all the stuff from Unknown(Kuttner at his worst,De Camp,Leiber,Frederic Brown etc.)...it's just corny...and as for all this modern stuff,if this is what more sophisticated writing is about,then bring back the unsophisticated!
This makes my case perfectly!...if the author himself is just taking the piss out of the whole 'fantasy' genre,how can anyone be expected to take this crap seriously?...this is what happened to 'fantasy' in the 80's and now it's considered the norm...pathetic,nerdy humour just doesn't go well with it!...it never has and never will...with a couple of exceptions(Moorcock and Vance)i can't think of ANYONE who is actually funny in the whole of sci-fi or fantasy...i've read a lot of unfunny,too clever for it's own good,nerdy crap starting with all the stuff from Unknown(Kuttner at his worst,De Camp,Leiber,Frederic Brown etc.)...it's just corny...and as for all this modern stuff,if this is what more sophisticated writing is about,then bring back the unsophisticated!
You sure you hadn't been on the xmas booze when writing this? :) You haven't looked very hard, or read enough then, given you have missed Terry Pratchett, for one. :) That is pretty bloody hard to do.
Martin Scott's Thraxas is not that hard to find, either, and is nothing like contemporary satire of which you speak - and also won a World Fantasy Award.
You might even have heard of The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy. Or Red Dwarf. Or the Stainless Steel Rat. Or Hal Spacejock, even.
Have you ever read any of Hugh Cook's books, Johnny?
I've tried to (back in the 80's)...never finished one...i was really basing my outburst on the above quote which i thought was Hugh Cook's own description but it's from Wikipedia i see now...sorry...i stick by it though anyway!
This makes my case perfectly!...if the author himself is just taking the piss out of the whole 'fantasy' genre,how can anyone be expected to take this crap seriously?...this is what happened to 'fantasy' in the 80's and now it's considered the norm...pathetic,nerdy humour just doesn't go well with it!...it never has and never will...with a couple of exceptions(Moorcock and Vance)i can't think of ANYONE who is actually funny in the whole of sci-fi or fantasy...i've read a lot of unfunny,too clever for it's own good,nerdy crap starting with all the stuff from Unknown(Kuttner at his worst,De Camp,Leiber,Frederic Brown etc.)...it's just corny...and as for all this modern stuff,if this is what more sophisticated writing is about,then bring back the unsophisticated!You sure you hadn't been on the xmas booze when writing this? :) You haven't looked very hard, or read enough then, given you have missed Terry Pratchett, for one. :) That is pretty bloody hard to do.
Martin Scott's Thraxas is not that hard to find, either, and is nothing like contemporary satire of which you speak - and also won a World Fantasy Award.
You might even have heard of The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy. Or Red Dwarf. Or the Stainless Steel Rat. Or Hal Spacejock, even.
I knew this would get a response!!...it's hard to shake you lot up these days...OK THEN,FAIR ENOUGH!!...Red Dwarf was funny for the 1st couple of seasons,Hitchhiker's was funny,Futurama was REALLY funny(every one of them is still taking the piss out of the genre though)...hmmm,what else is there?...there was some pretty funny stuff on Enterprise,i'm not a fan of Harry Harrison at all,a good example of unfunny for me,i can't stand Terry Pratchett,unfunny,too clever...is there a Hal,or are you just having a laugh?...obviously there are thousands of modern authors that i've never even heard of,let alone read...the thing is,i just don't want to read it because there are still thousands of cool old stories that i'd rather read...simple as that...i gave up reading new Fantasy and Sci-fi in the early 90's cause i just didn't like any of the new stuff i was reading at all...this was when i went back and discovered Brackett,Moore,Howard,Ashton Smith etc. and i can't go back now!...i'm stuck in a time-warp...i HAVE tried reading a lot of stuff like Terry Pratchett and stuff but i just don't like it...so there
...is there a Hal,or are you just having a laugh?...obviously there are thousands of modern authors that i've never even heard of,let alone read...the thing is,i just don't want to read it because there are still thousands of cool old stories...
Thousands of old stories worth reading? Sure, plenty of new ones, too. Tens of thousands of really bad old stories too, depending on how old you are talking.
Yeah, there is one. Four novels, Australian, have a look. By Simon Haynes, likely to be in your library, even.
You being somewhat humor deficient doesn't mean there isn't anything funny out there (and I was just talking books, not tv like Futurama). :)
Hal Spacejock whole first novel is here
http://www.spacejock.com.au/Hal1Download.html
You can see the first few chapters of Thraxas here :-
http://www.webscription.net/p-415-thraxas.aspx
To see if you like them.
Not sure if corny is a valid criticism given a liking for sword-swinging rescues of space princesses though? :)
...is there a Hal,or are you just having a laugh?...obviously there are thousands of modern authors that i've never even heard of,let alone read...the thing is,i just don't want to read it because there are still thousands of cool old stories...
Thousands of old stories worth reading? Sure, plenty of new ones, too. Tens of thousands of really bad old stories too, depending on how old you are talking.
Yeah, there is one. Four novels, Australian, have a look. By Simon Haynes, likely to be in your library, even.
You being somewhat humor deficient doesn't mean there isn't anything funny out there (and I was just talking books, not tv like Futurama). :)
Hal Spacejock whole first novel is here
http://www.spacejock.com.au/Hal1Download.html
You can see the first few chapters of Thraxas here :-
http://www.webscription.net/p-415-thraxas.aspxTo see if you like them.
Well,humour is in the mind of the beholder...just like taste in books...thanks for the links but i'm just not interested anymore in the new stuff,for the reasons listed above...i've already got enough of the stuff i actually like(Gothic Romance,Planetary Adventure and Weird Tales etc from the 20's,30's)to last me til i'm gone,i don't have time for modern stuff!
Not sure if corny is a valid criticism given a liking for sword-swinging rescues of space princesses though? :)
Touche!