Just got the following from the library: Saints Astray by Jacqueline Carey, I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and want to be your Class President by Josh Lieb, UnLundun by China Mieville, and Monsters by Kelly Link.
And that's probably the order I'll read them. :-p
One of my characters is a rather worldly scholar-type and would have received a full classical education. I read the Symposium and am working my way through The Republic so I can drop comments and allusions in character.
That's normal... I'm not the only one who does that sort of thing, right?
You are not alone. I have recently been beset with competing Trolling Philosophers. Must read more existentialism.
Trying hard to work my way through The Furies of Calderon but not finding it very compelling. Does it get better?Did you end up finishing the series? I agree that the first two books were a bit slow (though still infinitely better than WoT...) but I found that things picked up after the ** spoiler omitted ** Overall I found it to be quite readable.
Never did go back :) I'm now reading The Unincorporated Man which is a good deal of fun.
Assuming I read it at about the pace I read Greenwood, which is of similar length, that should be in about four or five days. But my reading time can be irregular. So sure thing, one of us remembers. :)Cool man, we should chat about it when you are done.Downloaded the sample chapter and read it last night. Liked it. Bought the ePub less than a minute ago.Yeah, I’ll drop a recommendation for Death’s Heretic, I can’t really get into why I like it in detail without ruining the story but I will say it is fun, you might like it.
What next? Damned if I know. Maybe some Pathfinder Tales since I've yet to touch one. Death's Heretic and Nightglass both sound interesting.
Finished. Unsure what's next.
Belgariad finished, reading Sapphire Rose.
Finished. Unsure what's next.Assuming I read it at about the pace I read Greenwood, which is of similar length, that should be in about four or five days. But my reading time can be irregular. So sure thing, one of us remembers. :)Cool man, we should chat about it when you are done.Downloaded the sample chapter and read it last night. Liked it. Bought the ePub less than a minute ago.Yeah, I’ll drop a recommendation for Death’s Heretic, I can’t really get into why I like it in detail without ruining the story but I will say it is fun, you might like it.
What next? Damned if I know. Maybe some Pathfinder Tales since I've yet to touch one. Death's Heretic and Nightglass both sound interesting.
Cool man, sending you a PM soon.
I recently finished reading Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. Good times!
Now I am interested in seeing if I can get my hands on the RPG system.
Just finished the books leading up to cold days of the dresden files and the short story compilation (I believe 13 books), The Difference Engine, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and I'm currently reading Johannes Cabal, Necromancer.
Yeah... that's just since April... And that's more actual books that I've read in two years (outside of RPG rulebooks).
Just finished the books leading up to cold days of the dresden files and the short story compilation (I believe 13 books), The Difference Engine, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and I'm currently reading Johannes Cabal, Necromancer.
Intrigued by the title, I read the free sample and promptly secured a copy on my tablet. So far I'm deeply amused.
Just finished Saints Astray by Jacqueline Carey. It was really good, with very strong characterization, but the plot was a little low-stakes. It was mostly just a love story between Loup and Pilar, with some brief action sequences and political intrigue thrown in so they had something to do.
I just started I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and want to be your Class President by Josh Lieb. It's supposedly written by a 10 year old, and it seems like it was written by a 10 year old. And not in a good way. Primarily the format, with big wide lines of empty space between each paragraph, a giant font, and really annoying footnotes that are supposed to be funny, like the ones in I AM AMERICA, AND SO CAN YOU!, but aren't.
I'll probably muddle through it, if only to see if the 10-year old narrator is delusional or not.
The Exorcist, 40th anniversary edition.
I'm rereading Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany. My head hurts.
The Illustrated Man. I've been catching up on my Ray Bradbury lately... it seemed appropriate.
Just finished Saints Astray by Jacqueline Carey. It was really good, with very strong characterization, but the plot was a little low-stakes. It was mostly just a love story between Loup and Pilar, with some brief action sequences and political intrigue thrown in so they had something to do.
I just started I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and want to be your Class President by Josh Lieb. It's supposedly written by a 10 year old, and it seems like it was written by a 10 year old. And not in a good way. Primarily the format, with big wide lines of empty space between each paragraph, a giant font, and really annoying footnotes that are supposed to be funny, like the ones in I AM AMERICA, AND SO CAN YOU!, but aren't.
I'll probably muddle through it, if only to see if the 10-year old narrator is delusional or not.
Anyone who's not Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams should think very hard about whether those 'funny' footnotes are really needed, in my experience.
I've been mostly reading communist propaganda from the eighties, but I finally got shiznit back on track.
Am tackling:
Conan the Buccaneer still, which kicks ass!
The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton. I likes me some Wharton. Upper-class decadent twits, sure, but they've got spunk.
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama. Vive le Galt!! Actually, this book is explicitly and consciously anti-Marxist, and, I get the feeling, not too down with the Republic of Virtue, either. Which is too bad, because that's my faves part. But, he is right: all this Marxian influence on FR historiography means that I'm a little sketchy on the particulars of what happens after Louis gets caught doing a runner. In fact, I don't think I know anything about the Girondins in power. This one goes up to the fall of Robespierre and, so far, reactionary stooge of the plutocracy that he is, Schama can write like the dickens.
Just finished the books leading up to cold days of the dresden files and the short story compilation (I believe 13 books), The Difference Engine, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and I'm currently reading Johannes Cabal, Necromancer.Intrigued by the title, I read the free sample and promptly secured a copy on my tablet. So far I'm deeply amused.
So, it's Johannes Cabal you're reading? It's horribly funny. And it reads so fast it's making my head spin (think the Exorcist without the pea soup).
i just finished gary gygax's gord the rogue series and loved it.
now it's time for some non-fiction.
The Book of the Sword, by Richard Cohen - seriously, seriously recommended, especially if you fence, as I do (badly). I'd say it's a good port of call for anyone wanting to develop a swashbuckler/duelist character, too...
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So, it's Johannes Cabal you're reading? It's horribly funny. And it reads so fast it's making my head spin (think the Exorcist without the pea soup).Just finished the books leading up to cold days of the dresden files and the short story compilation (I believe 13 books), The Difference Engine, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and I'm currently reading Johannes Cabal, Necromancer.Intrigued by the title, I read the free sample and promptly secured a copy on my tablet. So far I'm deeply amused.
Yeah. He had me at "Where is your dreadful rod?"
The Book of the Sword, by Richard Cohen - seriously, seriously recommended, especially if you fence, as I do (badly). I'd say it's a good port of call for anyone wanting to develop a swashbuckler/duelist character, too...
I own a copy of, and have read, Burton's The Book of the Sword, but that's not the same thing.
Cohen's books seems to be titled By the Sword.
The Book of the Sword, by Richard Cohen - seriously, seriously recommended, especially if you fence, as I do (badly). I'd say it's a good port of call for anyone wanting to develop a swashbuckler/duelist character, too...
I fenced in college, lo many eons ago. It was the only sport that I ever excelled in, much less had any proficiency in at all. There are times I miss it so bad it hurts to think about it.
Yeah. He had me at "Where is your dreadful rod?"
That entire scene just set the right tone for the book. I'm somewhere near page 200 right now (reader's charging) and it gets less madcap and more serious, but I'm still enjoying it immensely.
House of Leaves was incredible. Deliberately labyrinthine and downright weird at times, but incredible. The author manages to tie together so many different stories and themes into one coherent narrative... I hate to pull out the same adjective again but it was incredible.
Even the introduction was great.
I loved it. I regularly mine it for campaign ideas, and read the whole thing about once every six months.
A week of mini-nightmares regarding any dark spots in my house is worth it.
** spoiler omitted **
Started the latest reread on my holiday off. Sore back kept me from getting further than the introduction of Holloway, since I couldn't find a comfortable position to read in. Bluh.
The Book of the Sword, by Richard Cohen - seriously, seriously recommended, especially if you fence, as I do (badly). I'd say it's a good port of call for anyone wanting to develop a swashbuckler/duelist character, too...I own a copy of, and have read, Burton's The Book of the Sword, but that's not the same thing.
Cohen's books seems to be titled By the Sword.
You're right - it was only about two feet away from me when I wrote that, too, so I could have looked at the bloody cover. Ahem.
The Burton book's an odd one, though - the only other thing I've read by him is his translation of the Perfumed Garden, which is another matter entirely....
finally finished gary gygax's gord the rogue and thoroughly enjoyed it. also read monte cook's the glass prison and found it to be a better-than-average d&d novel.
Yeah, I've got to get around to reading the last three Gord the Rogue books.
In the meantime, I finished The Glimpses of the Moon which I thought was really quite good until the ending which was, well, formulaic. Not The Age of Innocence, I tell you, but pretty enjoyable.
I just finished A Cruel Wind: A Chronicle Of The Dread Empire by Glen Cook and am now working on One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde. You have to love fictional stories about characters in fictional stories.
I have just started on Brandon Sanderson's Alloy of Law, the fourth book in the Mistborn series, set 100 years after the trilogy. I'm not finding it as compelling as the original three, but that's probably because I generally dislike westerns. Nevertheless, it's good enough to keep me reading despite my dislike of the genre.
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Lyonesse
Jack Vance
Lyonesse
Jack Vance
I could have sworn Michael Moorcock wrote that trilogy; look, whatever, I'm learning from the school of hard knocks...
Nope, JV
I'm also reading Clark Ashton Smith, Zothique cycle, but I'm not sure if that counts as a book...
A little while ago I finished up The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Kline. Basically an analysis of neoliberal economics from Latin American dictators up through Iraq.
I put off reading this for quite awhile, because I figured from reviews and excerpts that I basically knew and agreed with what she was saying, but she went into more detail and tied things together in ways I wasn't aware of.
Scares the pants off of me, especially in light of calls for more austerity in Europe and here.
Hawt Jewish leftist intellectuals make me...horny.
More Conan porn!
"On the other hand, even Chabela was forced to admit that Queen Nzinga was a magnificent woman. The girl tried to imagine their behavior in bed; but, having been delicately reared, she lacked the worldly knowledge to do so. She could not know that, however the splendid black lioness of Gamburu might queen in it public, Conan was the master of the bedroom.
"This was something new, too, for Queen Nzinga. Her experience, and the whole culture of her kingdom, assumed that woman was man's natural superior. A hundred queens had reigned before her on the Ivory Throne. Each of them had despised and degraded their men, using them as servants and as tools of pleasure and parenthood, and discarding them when they became sickly or tiresome. Such had also been her way.
"Until the giant Cimmerian had come into her life, she had easily dominated all her men. But Conan could not be dominated; his will was harder than iron, and he was even taller and stronger than she. In the clasp of his mighty arms, the black Amazon found pleasures beyond her previous experience. She became insatiable in her hungers."
You show her, Conan!
Finished Johannes Cabal, Necromancer. I really liked it up until Cabal gave way to a bunch of characters who were much less interesting and fun taking up POV chapters. But the epilogue was excellent even if I saw it coming. May read the sequel someday.
Feeling Necromantic, I was reminded of the 2e Complete Book of Necromancers. In a horrible tragedy, my copy has gone missing sometime in the past decade. But ever since I skimmed its recommended reading list I've meant to read some Clark Ashton Smith. I see he's cheap as hell as the nook store...but I don't have any idea where to start. I'm specifically after the stories featuring necromancers.
Any help?
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One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish - Dr. Seuss - to my 11 month old...
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson
Foundation's Edge - Isaac Asimov
Endymion - Dan Simmons
Advanced Race Guide - Paizo
Mastering VMware vSphere 5 - Scott Lowe
I tend to read a lot at once to suit my mood. The downside is that it takes forever to finish anything...
I'm going to assume that isn't Howard.
No, it's from deCamp and Carter, those peddlers of filth.
I can't help, Samnell, but Thoth-Amon showed up in Conan the Buccaneer and he cast some pretty badass spells. Mind control and astral projection and shiznit.
I started to read The Book of Joshua.
I also have to wait for an Amazon order for the next two volumes of Conan, so I'm going to take a run at City of Hawks and maybe find out what this whole Gord/Cat Lord connection is all about.
Just began Un Lun Dun by China Mieville.
House of Bourbon porn!
For some years (it is uncertain exactly how many), sexual relations between Louis and Marie-Antoinette were complicated, if not actually precluded, by the King's phymosis. This is a condition in which the foreskin is deprived of its elasticity, making erections painful. Intercourse, from both the conjugal and dynastic view, was thus perfunctory and unsatisfactory. The Queen was bewildered and unhappy; the King pursued the boar and stag with all the ardor denied to him in bed. Both of the partners seem to have confided to Joseph II when he visited his sister in 1777, since he wrote a characteristically clinical report of the problem back to his brother Leopold.
"[Louis] has strong, well-conditioned erections, introduces the members, stays there without moving for perhaps two minutes and withdraws without ejaculating but still erect and says goodnight; this is incomprehensible because he sometimes has nightly emissions but once in place and going at it, never--he says plainly he does it from a sense of duty."
Brotherly intervention in this delicate affair seems to have produced the minor surgery necessary to correct the abnormality. And in August--two months after Joseph's letter--Marie-Antoinette wrote rapturously to her mother, making it plain that their marriage was now "perfectly consummated."
--Simon Schama, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
It's too bad Marie-Antoinette never ran into Conan...
That rather charming story is widely at odds with the rest of the chapter about "Body Politics". I knew that, you know, people didn't really like Marie-Antoinette but did you know that there was a whole cottage industry of Marie-Antoinette porn circulating with the latest Enlightenment articles and de Sade stories?
She was most often depicted as engaging in adultery with Louis's youngest brother, the Comte d'Artois (or some such shiznit), or engaging in hot Sapphism (apparently known in French at that time as "the German disease") with ladies-in-waiting.
At her trial, she was falsely accused of sexually abusing her children.
Vive le Galt?
That rather charming story is widely at odds with the rest of the chapter about "Body Politics". I knew that, you know, people didn't really like Marie-Antoinette but did you know that there was a whole cottage industry of Marie-Antoinette porn circulating with the latest Enlightenment articles and de Sade stories?
She was most often depicted as engaging in adultery with Louis's youngest brother, the Comte d'Artois (or some such shiznit), or engaging in hot Sapphism (apparently known in French at that time as "the German disease") with ladies-in-waiting.
At her trial, she was falsely accused of sexually abusing her children.
Vive le Galt?
There is a long-standing European tradition of accusing political enemies of showing sexually inappropriate (by contemporary views) behavior since the ancient Rome. When history books mention accusations of any sexual behavior it has to be taken with a certain degree of scepticism. Sexually-related accusations were political tool because they were (and often still are) very hard or impossible to defend against.
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Yes, we have similar traditions.
(Yay Western Civ!!)
Specifically, Hebert accused Marie of a plan by which she and one of her ladies in waiting forced the dauphin (who I think was 18 or so) to sleep between them naked and masturbating in order to sap him of his vitality and essence.
(?!?!?!)
Marie essentially responded "WTF?!?"
I was looking at her portrait, btw. While I certainly wouldn't have kicked Marie out of bed for eating crackers, I'd rather go tete-a-tete with Madame Grande or, since I've always liked hipster chicks, with Vigee-Lebrun herself.
She looks like she could be in an indie rock band. [Heart melts]
Sympathizing with princesses?!? Don Juan de Doodlebug, you are hereby found guilty of petty-bourgeois individualism, polymorphous perversity, and of feeding the proletariat shards of broken glass. To the Fun-Timey Reeducation Through Labor Supercenter with you!
Vive le Galt!!
Oh yeah, I forgot:
Old Testament Musical Interlude
You know, I liked this song better before I realized that after the walls came tumbling down they slaughtered every man, woman and child in Jericho.
Finished Johannes Cabal, Necromancer. I really liked it up until Cabal gave way to a bunch of characters who were much less interesting and fun taking up POV chapters. But the epilogue was excellent even if I saw it coming. May read the sequel someday.
Feeling Necromantic, I was reminded of the 2e Complete Book of Necromancers. In a horrible tragedy, my copy has gone missing sometime in the past decade. But ever since I skimmed its recommended reading list I've meant to read some Clark Ashton Smith. I see he's cheap as hell as the nook store...but I don't have any idea where to start. I'm specifically after the stories featuring necromancers.
Any help?
Can't help you right there and I don’t know if you like the Warhammer world at all but the Time of Legends: Rise of Nagash trilogy has some truly great necromantic action.
It’s about an ancient Egypt themed nation and the sorcerous a@#&$$@ of a priest king that drowns it in Undead legions in a massive war. It also has an amusingly disastrous ending for everyone involved in proper Warhammer style too, I was pleased.
I've either answered my question or hit it with a mallet until it gave up. The nook store has a collection of Clark Ashton Smith's weird tales, titled The Ultimate Weird Tales Collection: Clark Ashton Smith. A hundred thirty-three stories, including probably all the Zothique cycle. (The Black Abbott of Puthuum might be going by Puthuum.) It's a gamble, especially with the thing costing two dollars, but I'll cowboy up and risk it.
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I've either answered my question or hit it with a mallet until it gave up. The nook store has a collection of Clark Ashton Smith's weird tales, titled The Ultimate Weird Tales Collection: Clark Ashton Smith. A hundred thirty-three stories, including probably all the Zothique cycle. (The Black Abbott of Puthuum might be going by Puthuum.) It's a gamble, especially with the thing costing two dollars, but I'll cowboy up and risk it.
Started reading the first Zothique story, at least in publication order. Clearly not much work went into editing the scans, but this was worth fifty cents all on its own:
Those that were fairest, whom the plague and the worm had not raved overmuch, they took for their lemans and made to serve their necrophilic lust.
It's important to have standards in these things.