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Just re-read Elric of Melnibone, which, many many lifetimes later, makes me think of Ned Stark, someone who really should have known better, but kept making bone-headedly idealistic choices, in a world that punished him repeatedly for them, because the world works the way it works, not ever the way you *want* it to work.
Big trees are hated by the wind, Elric (or Ned, whoever) and if they don't bend, they get broken.
Still, awesome to see, as in Empire of the East or Three Hearts & Three Lions, various inspirations for classic D&D so openly. It's like nostalgia in reverse, or something...
Just finished The Darwin Elevator by Hough.
About to start FreedomTM by Daniel Suarez.
First post on the forums!
Just finished re-reading the Hobbit.
Probably going to start on either re-reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone or start the Dresden Files. My husband has been nagging me to read Dresden since we met.
First post and it's in the best thread on the boards?
You exhibit discerning taste, Trinitybat. Welcome!
Just re-read Elric of Melnibone, which, many many lifetimes later, makes me think of Ned Stark, someone who really should have known better, but kept making bone-headedly idealistic choices, in a world that punished him repeatedly for them, because the world works the way it works, not ever the way you *want* it to work.
Big trees are hated by the wind, Elric (or Ned, whoever) and if they don't bend, they get broken.
Still, awesome to see, as in Empire of the East or Three Hearts & Three Lions, various inspirations for classic D&D so openly. It's like nostalgia in reverse, or something...
People say Moorcock's got some stinkers, but I don't believe it. Of course, that's probably because I've only read an infinitesimally small fraction of his work. I do have a bunch of his that I haven't read, though. I'm perversely motivated to ask which ones people don't like and check them out.
Oh, duh, wait a minute. O Kirth Gersen, whose every dislike I adore, which Moorcock books did you think were blah?
Thank you for the recommendations!
I, alas, don't think I read a sf/f novel between the ages of 16 and 28 (I had other interests at the time--Vive le Galt!) and have been desperately trying to make up for lost time ever since. I don't think I'll ever catch up with you or Kirth or Dicey or Set. (Or Limey or SmiloDan or....) :(
I've read the first five Elrics, the first four Hawkmoons and the first four Corums, a bunch of essays and that's about it. I do love him dearly, though.
Books I've picked up by him that I haven't read and might be potential stinkers: Gloriana, The Silver Warriors, Elric at the End of Time, The Elric Saga, Parts III and IV, The Cornelius Chronicles, Vol. III, Behold the Man, Count Brass and The Champions of Garathorm.
Come to think of it, I believe Kirth Gersen once told me to stay away from the latter two.
[Bumps them up the list]
Yeah, I heard that one was different. What aboout you? What books are you currently reading? The third Thomas Covenant series done yet?
Also, do you know about Total Con? IIRC, you are a fellow New Englander. I private messaged Dicey, but he never got back to me. Or maybe I forgot to send it...
[bubble bubble bubble]
Elric at the End of Time is decent; the Jerry Cornelius books are ace, if a bit odd. Tiny bit William Burroughs, tiny bit JG Ballard - weird early to mid '70s avant-garde sci-fi. I started reading one the Colonel Pyat books (of which Byzantium Endures is one, I think) and gave up, probably because I was expecting something pulpier.
Presently two-timing Rafael Sabatini's The Sea Hawk (huzzah!) and Lord Macaulay's Essays, which I've just started. May turn out to be very dull indeed, in which case I'll skip to the part where he gets his teeth into the Popes, read that, then scrap the rest.
Al Franken's The Truth: With Jokes
What can I say I love a good book about the inept stupidity of the Republican party, Bush Jr. and how it's going to take 20 years or more to fix all the damage he did...but at least told in a way that makes me laugh and not want to shove Sean Hannity's head up Bill O'Reilly's a....*ahem* well...anyway good book.
Oh, duh, wait a minute. O Kirth Gersen, whose every dislike I adore, which Moorcock books did you think were blah?
Seriously, some of his early efforts, like the Michael Kane series, are total dogs. Also, I didn't particularly care for some of the later Elric sequels like Dreamthief's Daughter and Skraeling Tree, because the whole Elric thing had been totally played out by then -- I mean, after he meets the dancers at the End of Time and gets his own 3rd party prequel comic books, what more is left to be done with the character? Let him die already!
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Come to think of it, I believe Kirth Gersen once told me to stay away from the latter two. [Bumps them up the list]
Just for that, a totally off-topic tribute to Cricket on a totally unrelated thread.
Just finished Game of Thrones.
Waiting to be given the rest of the series...
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Waiting to be given the rest of the series...
Given that the series will almost certainly leave off in the middle of things (GRRM, at his current rate, would need to become a lich to finish the series), your initial investment is unlikely to be repaid.
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Waiting to be given the rest of the series...Given that the series will almost certainly leave off in the middle of things (GRRM, at his current rate, would need to become a lich to finish the series), your initial investment is unlikely to be repaid.
My investment consists of receiving a Christmas gift. With the rate of my current consumption of novels being almost eliminated due to instead reading toddler books, I'm not in a hurry. I'd have to become a lich just to read all the things I want to, anyway.
(Or get that 3.5 spell Scholar's Touch as an at-will spell-like ability. Man, I want that.)| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Seriously, some of his early efforts, like the Michael Kane series, are total dogs.
I enjoyed those, but then again, I enjoy most Barsoom-a-likes, Gor books excepted. Odd, as a combination of cheesy porn and equally cheesy sword-and-planet ought to be a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Still, nice to know that the line can be drawn somewhere.
I'll have to think about Total Con. I have a limited tolerance for Con gaming, preferring longer campaigns with more select players to the usual short, combat driven grabbag you get at Cons.
I hear that. But I've got two words for you. Or, rather, one word and two letters:
There seems to be a regular crew of competing DMs and I've played under two of them and both were awesome. One, whom I haven't played under, came dressed as a ninja with barbed wire wrapped around his limbs and, instead of giving a short speech about why he was the best DM evah, rapped freestyle about why he was the best DM evah! Plus, Rone Barton and Louis Agresta put on a great show.
Be there or be square!
Also, checking my private message outbox, I think I didn't send Dicey a message. Hey, Dicey! You wanna go to Total Con?
Come to think of it, I believe Kirth Gersen once told me to stay away from the latter two. [Bumps them up the list]Just for that, a totally off-topic tribute to Cricket on a totally unrelated thread.
It's too bad Sister Margartroid disappeared. I was going to try to seduce her character. I've never done it with a lizardman before!
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I've never done it with a lizardman before!
Careful his sharp scales don't sever the offending appendage.
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Finished Goliath. Man that was a fun series. Totally wholesale stole the Darwinist fabricants for the Gnomes in my setting, with their naturemagitech theme already in place it was a natural fit.
Back to Discworld. Finishing up the Watch series with the two I didn't have in paperback, Feet of Clay and The Fifth Elephant (so yeah, way out of order), then moving on to start on the Death books.
I've never done it with a lizardman before!Careful his sharp scales don't sever the offending appendage.
As a gentlegoblin, my appendages never offend.
Finished Goliath. Man that was a fun series.
Hear, hear!
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For anyone interested, the publisher of the 2014 Campbellian Anthology with fiction from 111 different authors eligible for this year's "John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer" has offered the whole thing free with no DRM. It's only available for a limited time, so grab the ePub or Mobi file right now.
The Legacy of Gird omnibus by Elizabeth Moon.
Then I'll probably move onto
For anyone interested, the publisher of the 2014 Campbellian Anthology with fiction from 111 different authors eligible for this year's "John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer" has offered the whole thing free with no DRM. It's only available for a limited time, so grab the ePub or Mobi file right now.
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I just finished Francis Stevens' Citadel of Fear. It was very 1918 H.P. Lovecraft-inspiring pulpy/racist (or is that synonymous?) entertainment. Features: vile monstrous creatures beyond mortal comprehension, evil idols, and women in nightgowns fainting hither and yon.
Now I am pondering reading
a) non-fiction from the Jenga pile of books on my nightstand,
b) more Francis Stevens books I have in my library account queue, or
c) Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern, which is a YA novel that features teen D&D players. I have mixed feelings about this last choice as pink-cover YA isn't my usual fare but I also want to know what non-gamers/avid teen readers might be thinking if this book is their only exposure to the hobby.
Got home from concluding a campaign on Friday and thought I'd decompress with Blackout, book three of the Newsflash trilogy. And then read half of it in a sitting. Totally recommend that series, esp. for anyone who enjoyed World War Z (the book).
As bonus fun, it was partly set in Seattle! Yay local color!
The Seattle branch of the CDC wasn't technically in Seattle at all; it was across the lake, in Redmond. The facility was located on part of what used to be the main Microsoft campus, before the Rising demonstrated every possible flaw in their architecture.
Soooo... apparently the place where I transfer buses every morning fares not so well. Less yay. But I'm sure down in the uncanny valley we'll be fine, right?
Right?!
Fine? Depends on your definition of fine, Judy. =)
Taking forever with The Shining a) because I'm having trouble keeping Jack and Shelly and Scatman out of my head; and b) because I think I'm too snobby to enjoy Stephen King.
Normally, I think I'd chuck it, my player lent it and Doctor Sleep to me and I feel obligated to finish them.
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Months ago, I complained in this thread that I was getting tired of the "Wooster and Jeeves" stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Doodlebug Anklebiter and Kirth Gersen convinced me that reading too many of them at once wasn't the way to go, so I put the series down, thinking that I would never feel any desire to return to it.
I was wrong. There's something decidedly appealing about the world of Wooster. I polished off "The Inimitable Jeeves" and "Carry on, Jeeves", and now I'm most of the way through "Very Good, Jeeves". They've given me a few good chuckles, although the pearl story still stands head and shoulders above the rest for its sheer hilarity.
(You know, "Very Good, Jeeves" begins with the butler showing surprising violence. He takes on a raging swan by throwing it into a bush, sneaks behind a man and strikes him on the head with a golf club, and deliberately smashes Wooster's favorite expensive vase beyond repair. I only mention this aspect because Matthew Morris' recent post just reminded me of it.)
'Biter, I am reading Doctor Sleep. It is worth the trip through The Shining.
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Got 'The Casebook of Carnacki the Ghost Finder' by William Hope Hodgeson out of the library, seeing as: A, it had a pretty cool title, B, I liked 'The House on the Borderlands' and C, Carnacki has an electric pentacle. That should be the name of a doom metal band; it isn't, but it is the name of a doom metal label, which is close enough. Very gripping - can get a bit formulaic, but 'The Whistling Room' gets five stars, no question.
I also wondered whether or not Olympia Press had a website. They do. You can download Ulysses from them for free, but most of their catalogue is, um, different. Very different. No vampires or dinosaurs, but a 'Not Safe For Anywhere' label might be necessary were I to link to it. So, to maintain your maidenly purity, I won't.
[Scurries off to Olympia Press]
But before I go, speaking of valets and such, I spoke with my mother who cheated and went back and re-watched the last Downton Abbey episode on the internet and paused when Lady Edith was reading that letter that the camera panned over too quick for the viewer to read.
Finally, REDRUM!! (Thanks for the encouragement, GoatToucher--best name evah!--I shall press on!)
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For Comrade Longears and all other members of the Brotherhood of Inebriated Perverts:
Maybe old news in Ol' Blighty, but another salacious Britishiznoid Trot sex split.
Behind a paywall, alas, but SFW. Alas.
Since I mentioned them, I pulled out Diane Duane's Door into Fire, Door into Shadow, and Door into Sunset, again Tuesday (it's been a few years); been busy reading. Finished off Fire and half-way through Shadow.
After Diane Duane, I'll probably switch to Tanith Lee (The Castle of Dark and possibly some of Tales from the Flat Earth). After that, I'll read something a bit more "modern" in Michael Scott Rohan (Chase the Morning, The Gates of Noon, and Cloud Castles).
Diane Duane's Fire, Shadow, and Sunset: Done.
Tanith Lee's Castle of Dark, Night's Master, Death's Master, and Delusion's Master: Done. I'd forgotten a bit just how flawed pretty much all of the characters in Tales from the Flat Earth are; I think Mirrash is probably the most admirable of the bunch.
Michael Scott Rohan's Morning, Noon, and Castles: Done.
Started re-reading Sherri Tepper's True Game trilogy of trilogies: Mavin's trilogy (The Song of Mavin Manyshaped, The Flight of Mavin Manyshaped, The Search of Mavin Manyshaped), Peter's trilogy (King's Blood Four, Necromancer Nine, Wizard's Eleven), and Jinian's trilogy (Jinian Footseer, Dervish Daughter, Jinian Star-eye).
Re-reading Andrew Vachss' Blue Belle. Don't let the title fool you; this guy's stuff makes most "hard-boiled" fiction seem like runny omelets.
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For Comrade Longears and all other members of the Brotherhood of Inebriated Perverts:
Maybe old news in Ol' Blighty, but another salacious Britishiznoid Trot sex split.
Trotskyite dominatrixes - hours of fun, and also the inspiration for my latest Olympia Press publication, Comrade Mistress! Please see below for a brief excerpt:
Gerry, trembling and pale, strained against his bonds, globules of stinging sweat trickling down his gaunt face. He could hear the click of Commissara's stilettos as she moved closer, closer...
A gloved hand reached out and squeezed him painfully.
"Oh dear. Somebody's prophet's unarmed, isn't he?"
Gerry heard a giggle. There was someone else in the room.
"Of course. The James went out of his P. Cannon long ago!"
Zora! He realised with a horrified thrill who that voice belonged to. Not Zora! Zora, falsely accused of counter-revolutionary semi-bourgeoise obscurantism of for refusing to... Well, the boot was on the other foot now. And such boots...
Commissara's grip tightened then wrenched around as her other hand ripped off the duct tape, releasing his scream. "Well, what have you got to say for yourself, worm?"
"O... On... On the USSR, we reaffirm its character as a degenerated workers’ state; with basic arguments we refute the characterization of “state capitalism” and we refine our programmatic attitude on the question of defense!"
"PABLOITE SCUM!!!" shrieked Zora, kicking out and pinning his tender parts to a table leg with the spiked heel of her thigh boots. She twisted her ankle around, paying no attention at all to his long, wailing cries for mercy, and then the lash came down...
Trotskyite dominatrixes - hours of fun, and also the inspiration for my latest Olympia Press publication, Comrade Mistress! Please see below for a brief excerpt:
** spoiler omitted **
Hee hee!
You know, comrade, I think I might have to make a trip to Darlington one of these days.
Down with the Healyites (except Vanessa Redgrave), Pabloites and Cliffites!
Vive le Galt!
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Tanith Lee's Castle of Dark, Night's Master, Death's Master, and Delusion's Master: Done. I'd forgotten a bit just how flawed pretty much all of the characters in Tales from the Flat Earth are; I think Mirrash is probably the most admirable of the bunch.
There was a sequel to Night's Master, Night's Daughter or Night's Mistress, IIRC. Her writing seems more like a kind of gothic romance poetry, at times, but it was thirty some years ago, and I don't remember it well (other than the bit about the creation of cats, which was amusing).
Tanith Lee's Castle of Dark, Night's Master, Death's Master, and Delusion's Master: Done. I'd forgotten a bit just how flawed pretty much all of the characters in Tales from the Flat Earth are; I think Mirrash is probably the most admirable of the bunch.There was a sequel to Night's Master, Night's Daughter or Night's Mistress, IIRC. Her writing seems more like a kind of gothic romance poetry, at times, but it was thirty some years ago, and I don't remember it well (other than the bit about the creation of cats, which was amusing).
Delirium's Mistress, which was really the sequel to Delusion's Master. The first three books are only thinly linked by the setting and the presence of Azhrarn (other than some throwaway references); Delerium's Mistress is the first with multiple characters re-appearing from an earlier book.
The cat creation myth was pretty good.
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I ended up reading Julie Halpern's Into the Wild Nerd Yonder. It wasn't that good a novel; it had some cute/aww moments and an "after-school special" vibe about personal growth, "being yourself" and "not judging books by their covers." The representation of D&D was not inaccurate, but not really detailed enough to give anything but a hint of what a high school gaming group is like. A lot of the characters' personalities were underdeveloped.
I've decided to read some non-fic for awhile. Geoff Nicholson's "The Lost Art of Walking." And maybe some more Francis Stevens after that.
Just finished FreedomTM by Daniel Suarez. Kind of like Tom Clancy doing cyberpunk, but better, and scarily more realistic.
Just started The Bone House by Stephen Lawhead. Leyline time traveling "archaeology."
I really like Lawhead.
I wish I read more of his stuff.
It has been heavily suggested that I look into Sanderson's The Rithmatist.
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Today (yesterday actually), I read, marks a century of William S. Burroughs.
Happy birthday, Bill!
[Toasts with a shot of mugwump jism]
Had a thought and went searching and, voila!, the internet is the bestest.
A Junky's Christmas: In Claymation
I think I saw this on MTV one yuletide years ago.
Happy birthday, Bill!
Kiddies: Don't be like Bill.