Started Niel Gaiman's Ocean at the End of the Lane as light bedtime reading, under the mistaken impression it was more along the Stardust end of the spectrum than the Neverwhere end. Then, as an easily horrified person, compulsively read more than halfway through to get to a stopping point that wouldn't leave me with nightmares. Recommended, but trigger warnings for child abuse.
Fantasy? Anderson, Susannah Clarke, Zelazny, Vance, Lieber, Barker, Bellairs, Burroughs.
SciFi: Herbert, Vance, "Doc" Smith.
I should not have left Zelazny off either list. I loved "Lord of Light", not to speak of the Amber books... science as magic and magic effecting science / natural law.
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Was wicked surprised to run into Arioch in the Corum books!
Which begs the question: Moorcock's Eternal Champion or Balzac's Comedie Humaine?
Hmm. Tough one...
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I finished Neptune's Brood last night. It was one of the more accessible Stross books I've read, despite the heavy dose of economics. (The question of how an economic system works in a slower-than-light interstellar setting is an interesting one. It all ties back to the plot, and underpins pretty-much all elements of the setting.) Recommended, especially for the goblin. You'll like the squid, I think.
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Was wicked surprised to run into Arioch in the Corum books!
Which begs the question: Moorcock's Eternal Champion or Balzac's Comedie Humaine?
Hmm. Tough one...
Arioch, Queen Xiombarg, Theleb K'aarna and Sheonyn the Axe-Maiden are all pretty essential to the plot of the Comedie Humaine, so in this case, you can have your Balzac and eat it too, you lucky thing.
I'm reading Wandor's Voyage. Wandor is going to rescue his woman from the Beast-Wizards of Yand.
Elric vs. Trompe-la-Mort would be a good book.
Finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane—the second half was more fantasy-creepy and less family horror, so it was easier to pick up and put down. Started Samuel Delany's Nova this morning, which so far reminds me of a more 70s/less emo cousin of Emma Bull's Falcon.
Finished The Jennifer Morgue. Fun, but back to nonfiction now.
Started The Queen of the Swords by MM.
The King of the Swords: Like a lot of MM books, it's broken up into three "books." The first two knocked my effin' socks off, yo!!, but the third one left me a little meh, although I think it wasn't any fault of the book so much as a combination of my not being in a terribly good mood when I read it and (totally unfair, I know) the similarity of the Corum vs. Arioch scene to the Gord vs. Tharizdun scene in...well, I forget which one.
I know, I know, donkey in front of the cart, but what I can say, I read Gygax first.
In Britishiznoid Trotskyist news got up to Comrade Ted's withering decimation of Tony Cliff's "state capitalist" bullshiznit/theory.
Down with the SWP (UK)!
Vive le Galt!
Started The Queen of the Swords by MM.
The King of the Swords: Like a lot of MM books, it's broken up into three "books." The first two knocked my effin' socks off, yo!!, but the third one left me a little meh, although I think it wasn't any fault of the book so much as a combination of my not being in a terribly good mood when I read it and (totally unfair, I know) the similarity of the Corum vs. Arioch scene to the Gord vs. Tharizdun scene in...well, I forget which one.
I know, I know, donkey in front of the cart, but what I can say, I read Gygax first.
In Britishiznoid Trotskyist news got up to Comrade Ted's withering decimation of Tony Cliff's "state capitalist" bullshiznit/theory.
Down with the SWP (UK)!
Vive le Galt!
As much as I like Moorcock's books I always find them to be a bit depressing. I assure you EGG read the Corum v. Arioch scene first :) I have the Gord the Rogue books... not the literary high light of my library, but a fun read because of the D&D connection. I liked Gygax's Setni Imhotep books more (tied to his Dangerous Journeys game that some idiot judge killed off). Not a bad game, Dangerous Journeys that is, but a bit complex by the standards of the day. Probably not so much now...
I just finished Edward Lazellari's "Awakenings". Not bad but the next book in the series, "The Lost Prince", will make or break the series for me.
Time for some medieval history I think. I've had "Daily Life in Medieval Times" (by Geis and Geis combining 3 older works) laying around. It's a classic and I haven't read the component books in years. I think I'll read it in parallel with Expeditious Retreat Press "A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe". It should be interesting. A lot of the economics in my game are based on the old Chivalry and Sorcery FRPG and the ERP book...
*edit* Oh, and thank the odd gods of the galaxy for summer. Time to read, work on my game, play a game... certainly one of the good parts about teaching. The down side being not getting paid during the summer...
As much as I like Moorcock's books I always find them to be a bit depressing.
I've only read a small sliver of his works, but, yeah, they either end with the deaths of everybody the protagonist holds dear or the destruction of the universe or both.
At least the Corum books get that out of the way in the first couple of chapters, although I'm sure there will be plenty more opportunities to kill off Corum's new friends.
I've only read a small sliver of his works, but, yeah, they either end with the deaths of everybody the protagonist holds dear or the destruction of the universe or both.
That's pretty much how the Eternal Champion's life goes. All Moorcock's heroes / anti-heroes are incarnations of the Eternal Champion. some know it, some don't and some find out.
At least the Corum books get that out of the way in the first couple of chapters, although I'm sure there will be plenty more opportunities to kill off Corum's new friends.
There are 2 Corum trilogies and I don't want to spoil either for you. Michael Moorcock has a pretty good website / community if you like his stuff btw:
http://www.multiverse.org/
Yeah, I've been on there before, but not in a long time. Thank you.
Mostly when I'm reading and I run into something that sounds familiar, I pop over to wikipedia and trace the characters through the different series.
Anyone ever see the film of The Final Programme?
"Epic Pooh" and The War Hound and the World's Pain killed any interest I might have had in Moorcock.
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Well, I already linked "Epic Pooh" upthread somewheres, but how about his essay bashing Heinlein and Asimov?
BTW, Comrade, the first serialized novel of the first Corum trilogy (the one with Arioch at the end) is The Knight of the Swords.
The King of the Swords is the last one (after Queen of the Swords) and features Mabelrode the Faceless -- and if the resolution of that one doesn't make you laugh out loud, there's no hope for humanity.
Had an afternoon-quickie: Sourcery by Terry Pratchett - better than I remembered.
BTW, Comrade, the first serialized novel of the first Corum trilogy (the one with Arioch at the end) is The Knight of the Swords.
You know, as I was typing that I thought it was weird that Corum would defeat The Knight of the Swords in The King of the Swords so I doublechecked my copy.
Apparently, Berkley Books screwed up the cover.
The text does have them listed in the correct order, though.
Apparently, BB could've used a Stuffy Grammarian on the payroll...
Oh. Well. Carry on, then.
P.S. I have to agree with Mike on some things: Farnham's Freehold SUCKED! Doorway into Summer was creepy as hell
No, I'm glad that was clarified. It was bugging me a little bit.
I haven't read enough Heinlein to have an opinion. Moorcock's judgments on other SFF writers has always struck me as a little, well, Stalinist (bad politics = bad writer) which is kind of funny seeing as he's such an anarchist.
As for Doorway and creepiness: sounds like Poe.
In his defense, Heinlein wrote some really good stuff, but unfortunately I notice a trend that the first half of each novel is excellent, and then he starts moralizing and the whole thing turns into a poopshake. This is a recurrent problem throughtout Puppet Masters, Tunnel to the Stars, Glory Road, Job: A Comedy of Justice and most of the other ones I can remember.
On the flip side, Moorcock was great in the '70s when he was writing all that cosmically fresh anarcho-fantasy psychadelic nihilism stuff, but some of his later efforts have just struck me as pale imitations of himself. Most of the Von Beck stuff, and all of the Elric stuff past the original series, would fall into this category for me. Then again, I haven't read anything new from him in like 20 years; maybe he's had a resurgence or something.
In either case, neither one holds a candle to Dashiell Hammett, except in terms of sheer volume.
Moorcock's an opinionated writer. And many writers do tend to put political statements in their writing so his commentary isn't that far off. And quite frankly, I'd go with his assessement on Heinlein. And that opinion didn't just come from watching Starship Troopers either. I've always felt that Heinlein tended towards Garry Stu characters myself.
It's not his assessment of their politics that I take issue with, it's his equation of crappy politics with crappy writing.
But, of course, tastes vary, and I'm an unreconstructed Trot with a taste for Tolkien.
And I remember really liking Stranger in a Strange Land when I was 14 or so.
(Dash Hammett was a Stalinist stooge!! (Sorry, Limey)--even if his refusal to name names was admirable and he wrote good books.)
I just started Wicked Bronze Ambition by Glen Cook, the latest in the Garrett, P. I. series of novels.
Dash Hammett was a Stalinist stooge!! (Sorry, Limey)--even if his refusal to name names was admirable and he wrote good books.
Also changed the entire Mystery genre. As the only actual private detective I can think of to write detective fiction, he brought an undeniable verisimilitude to the stories, and also moved detectives in fiction out of their armchairs and into the streets and alleyways. Everyone since owes him for that. (The next big shift will be moving them back off the streets and into cyberspace, which Stieg Larssen seemed like he was going to do, and then didn't, and then died.)
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Yeah, Dash was the shiznit. Couldn't help calling him on his Stalinist politics after calling Moorcock a Stalinist for calling people on their politics, though.
Reading for fun a well-written mystery set in Nairobi called Hour of the Red God. For MFAs in Poetry & Translation reading (sort of simultaneously) Robert Creeley, Louise Glueck, Carl Phillips, Brian Henry, Friebert and Young, and some essays by Levertov.
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Dash Hammett was a Stalinist stooge!! (Sorry, Limey)--even if his refusal to name names was admirable and he wrote good books.Also changed the entire Mystery genre. As the only actual private detective I can think of to write detective fiction, he brought an undeniable verisimilitude to the stories, and also moved detectives in fiction out of their armchairs and into the streets and alleyways. Everyone since owes him for that. (The next big shift will be moving them back off the streets and into cyberspace, which Stieg Larssen seemed like he was going to do, and then didn't, and then died.)
He was in the Pinkertons, wasn't he? And of course, by 'stooge', DA means 'stalwart, disciplined man of action' as opposed to WRECKER AND SPY!!!!
Slightly surprised by the Moorcock essay, not so much the content as the fact that it was originally published in one of Stuart Christie's publications, even though I knew he was anarchistically inclined...
This week's Boring News: Finished off 'Darkwalkers of Moonshae' recently; next up is 'Star Barbarians' by Dave Van Arnem and a biography of Napoleon, if I can find one in the library
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Yeah, he quit Pinkertons and became a Communist when they told him his job was to be a scab.
Re: Two sides of Pinkerton's, I got a big kick out of reading Arthur Conan Doyle's The Valley of Fear and then immediately turning around and watching The Molly Maguires, and followed it up with a couple episodes of Lie to Me that took place in mines. Less than a year later, I now live a few miles from where the Molly Maguire story was set.
EDIT: I also wanted to read Follett's Place Called Freedom and Fall of Giants to continue the whole mining thing, but never got around to it.
I just started Wicked Bronze Ambition by Glen Cook, the latest in the Garrett, P. I. series of novels.
It's good, but I had the ending pegged about half way in. No spoilers :)
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Yeah, he quit Pinkertons and became a Communist when they told him his job was to be a scab.
Yes, that was my understanding. I think something similar happened to Jack London(?), except earlier, and he never made it to the CP, only the racist wing of the Socialist Party.
Also, fun fact: did you know that Pinkerton got his start as Lincoln's bodyguard? I assume it was before the establishment of the Secret Service.
EDIT: Woah! Another fun fact: Before emigrating to the US, Pinkerton was active in the Chartists!
EDIT 2: Woah, woah! And his Illinois cabin served as a stop on the Underground Railroad?!? History is so weird.
EDIT 3: Huh, so I guess the agency didn't get involved in strike-breaking until after he died. Didn't know that.
He was in the Pinkertons, wasn't he? And of course, by 'stooge', DA means 'stalwart, disciplined man of action' as opposed to WRECKER AND SPY!!!!
You forgot "Fifth Columnist," stooge.
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Also, I keep having visions of a giant Arioch destroying the Madben parasites infesting his body, so I take back the "last third was meh!" I think I was just in a bad mood. Also, I keep picturing Arioch as looking like Citizen R.'s avatar, so that probably wasn't helping.
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Also, fun fact: did you know that Pinkerton got his start as Lincoln's bodyguard? I assume it was before the establishment of the Secret Service.
Pinkerton established his first agency out of Chicago in 1849 and the famous one in 1850. He was involved in Union intelligence operations for while, where his men were sometimes more trouble than they were worth. The techniques that work really well for spying on private individuals and working small-scale security don't necessarily translate to military intelligence.
More reliable Civil War intelligence tended to come from the cavalry, who did it for a living, and locals who lived near the fighting and would slip out at night or at some convenient moment to visit the opposing army a few miles down the road. I recall one woman in Virginia who did quite a bit of work smuggling documents under her dress.
So far as his politics go, with the notable exception of the Irish quite a lot of European immigrants had pretty solid anti-slavery credentials. They came to America despite slavery and to some degree saw themselves as part of the 19th Century American Dream: go west and settle a small farm on land we stole from the Indians or, at the very least, use the spots they opened up in the cities as stepladders to success when the native-borns went west.
This is relevant to recent reading, so forgive me in the certain event that I digress. :)
That would mean owners selling slaves further south in advance of freedom dates, crashing slave prices. Big planters had far more cash tied up in slaves than land and as a single asset, the nation's four million slaves were worth more than all its farms, manufacturing, railroads, and non-human livestock put together. The only thing that could beat it was all the land in America put together. Many of them were in hock up to the gills from a combination of mismanagement and typical farmer debt problems (Boom times, buy more land on credit. Bad harvest? Find out you don't own that land anymore...and some other stuff you used to own.) so a price crash could be brutal. Plus they thought that they could barely hold on in the black belts as it was. Throw in a few more hundred thousand black people and they feared a race war they would surely lose.
Except, you know, that it was always someone else that needed to forgo that extra slave or two and if the price got too high (it did) and stayed there (it was looking that way) then the poor Southern dirt farmers might realize they were not, in fact, temporarily embarrassed millionaires and start acting accordingly. Lots of dangerous tradeoffs playing that game, even before you factored in the chance that someone would go and shoot you dead (often a political rival, the number of major figures as late as the 1850s who engaged in duelling...) or tar and feather you. In the right community, you might get off easy if you had a bunch of third degree burns. Some places would as soon lynch a white abolitionist as whip a disobedient slave.
The Irish, just a little unfairly, get a bit of a bad rap on this from the Draft Riots. Well yeah, there is that but immigrants in the big cities all had similar economic worries about the arrival of black people to compete with. The Irish just happened to be in the most prosouthern city north of Maryland. The Republicans did a lot to alienate them on the grounds of Catholicism, so they were natural Democrats on top of that. (Lots of anti-Catholic bigotry running along with the temperance movement that was pretty deep in with the GOP way back.) And they lived in the town full of bankers that held huge piles of Southern debt which had slaves as collateral and large interests in the ships that carried Southern cotton to Europe. Rich folk don't riot; they have people for that. Probably any big immigrant group in NYC at the time would have done similar. The Irish just happened to be the guys on scene.
There was probably a little bit of carryover from the Mexican War too. Americans were eager to recruit newly arrived Irishmen into the army to go steal Mexico since, well, who cared if they died by the thousands? When their military service did not make them suddenly equals, at least a few have to have wised up and realized they were just the cannon fodder of the moment. Then here comes this new war with no obvious upshot for them and a new band of recruiters.
Which is not to say that the 19th century Irish were not horrific, disgusting racists. But that hardly made anybody stand out of the crowd. David Wilmot spent a few years as the South's Great Satan, all the while saying the kinds of things about black people that you expect from Calhoun.
...granted with Calhoun the best way to manage expectations is to assume the worst you can think of and then try to imagine some sort of lovecraftian alien geometries of evil on top of it, or as close as you can get without gibbering and crapping yourself, but you get the idea.
Plug for a good book I read a long time ago.
As late as the mid-70s, Bernadette Devlin came to Boston to drum up support for whichever faction of left-wing Irish nationalism she was then a member of, right in the middle of the busing riots. She was greeted by crowds of thousands, and, to her eternal credit, she biznitched them out for being a bunch of racist a~$&#$*s.
Fast forward again to the early 2000s and I was living with a young South Bostonian who was a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. We had a lot of discussions about unions and class and race, and I like to think that I broke him from a pretty entrenched anti-black sentiment.
I know that one time, he came back from work talking about how he and his union brothers had been shooting the shiznit at lunch and the conversation turned to one of those racist "blacks have been free for 150 years and they still are dependent on the gov't" jeremiads. Brother Will went over the relevant history (sharecropping, Jim Crow, segregation, Civil Rights Movement, 70s backlash, etc.) and later reported to me that one of his brothers responded: "Well, either Will's going to be president of the United States someday...or he's got a black girlfriend." Which I thought was amusing...
Unfortunately, enlightened attitudes on race didn't prevent Will, like so many other young South Bostonians, from spiralling out of control on percocet and oc addiction, but, last I heard, he'd cleaned up and was now a steward in the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union.
EDIT: Bernadette Devlin on TV in the '70s
Which isn't quite as cool as the story that was passed to me word-of-mouth, but maybe they're both true.
As far as I know, our good Comrade Goblin is no fonder of Stalin than the rest of us.
Probably less so, actually.
While for most, J.V. is just another in a long line of evil tyrants, for us Wreckers and Spies, he was, in the final analysis, the main reason for:
--The defeat of the Chinese Revolution of 1927 (well, he had a lot of help here)
--The failure of the German proletariat to smash the Nazis
--The strangulation of the Spanish Revolution of 1937
--The physical liquidation of the Old Bolshevik cadres
--The catastrophic loss of Soviet life in World War II
--The stabilization of French and Italian capitalism after the end of said war
--The smashing of the Greek Revolution of 1947
--And, in general, the discrediting of socialism in the eyes of all too many worldwide
Of course, it wasn't all J.V.'s fault. In fact, if the traitorous Social Democrats hadn't murdered Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg in 1918, the international proletarian socialist revolution wouldn't have been left isolated in technologically and culturally backwards Russia, and susceptible to bureaucratism and descent into Stalinist barbarism.
(Sings, a la Doris Day) Oh, the Stalinist Stooge is a-coming over the hiiilll!!
Which is a good trick if you can manage it. Plenty of zinc might help.
Star Barbarians wasn't all I dreamt it might be. Napoleon biography looks much better. Not really motivated to argue with the Goblin, especially after finishing volume 13/13 of You Know Who's collected works a week or so ago. Makes you feel like you've been drinking formaldehyde, or so I should imagine.
After all this Games of Thrones over saturation, I've decided to re-read some Larry R. McMurtry. Not Lonesome Dove and all those mid-life crisis westerns, I'm talking about Moving On, All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers, and Terms of Endearment --all the rest of his early, chick-lit stuff.
Seriously, though, Moving On is a great book, it should be taught in high school.
And see? Only 13 volumes in a Collected Works? Pfft. Trotsky's got 15 volumes just for 1929-40!!!
Also, The Last Picture Show, both book and film, get the Anklebiter thumbs up.