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What are you reading? — Page 48

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The original Johnston McCulley Zorro stories. I’m on Volume 5 of the bold venture press reprints and need to get the last one volume 6. Absolutely magical and the birth of all superhero storytelling. I never thought these would ever be fully collected like this.

I’m also making my through all the Batman novels and am currently reading Inferno.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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Children of Dune

I remember quite liking this book the first two times I read it, but the latest time it felt rather lacking in plot. Most of the book is mired in a swamp of introspection which often teeters on the edge of full-on Randian rant. I really want to still like this book and it still has its moments, but they’re getting fewer and farther apart as I get older. 7/10.

Jurassic Park

Speaking of rants, I had no idea that Ian Malcolm was the John Galt of this story. This is a rare case of the movie being better than the book. Maybe you could appreciate this book if your interest was computer science in the early nineties or the vagaries of Chaos Theory, but I’m a simple man who wanted a story about dinosaurs but got fifty diagrams of computer menus instead.

I’m just happy that Malcolm died at the end. 6/10.

The Lost World

“Somehow, Malcolm returned.”

The film is trash, so I had high hopes that this was merely a problem of the story being lost on its way to the screen. I still haven’t finished the book, but from what I can tell, the book is trash as well. It’s a different type of trash than the film, but equally worthless. Nobody in either telling has a good reason to be on Dinosaur Island Version 2 and they all deserve to die. I keep reading out of morbid curiosity, hoping that at least the raptors get a good meal. 1/10.

Mistborn

Just finished re-reading the first book. It’s pretty great. An engaging magic system, parts of which remind me of Attack on Titan, and characters that don’t make me want to punch dry-wall (Lost World, I’m looking at you). Overall, it’s a very solid 8/10 up until the last sentence of the epilogue, when that line drops the entire book to a 7/10. I’d recommend striking it from the page with a Sharpie marker, you’ll lose nothing by it.

I would still heartily recommend the three-part series, however.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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NeverarGreat said:

Children of Dune

I remember quite liking this book the first two times I read it, but the latest time it felt rather lacking in plot. Most of the book is mired in a swamp of introspection which often teeters on the edge of full-on Randian rant. I really want to still like this book and it still has its moments, but they’re getting fewer and farther apart as I get older. 7/10.

I barely remember anything of the book. The miniseries is more memorable.

Jurassic Park

Speaking of rants, I had no idea that Ian Malcolm was the John Galt of this story. This is a rare case of the movie being better than the book. Maybe you could appreciate this book if your interest was computer science in the early nineties or the vagaries of Chaos Theory, but I’m a simple man who wanted a story about dinosaurs but got fifty diagrams of computer menus instead.

I’m just happy that Malcolm died at the end. 6/10.

The Lost World

“Somehow, Malcolm returned.”

The film is trash, so I had high hopes that this was merely a problem of the story being lost on its way to the screen. I still haven’t finished the book, but from what I can tell, the book is trash as well. It’s a different type of trash than the film, but equally worthless. Nobody in either telling has a good reason to be on Dinosaur Island Version 2 and they all deserve to die. I keep reading out of morbid curiosity, hoping that at least the raptors get a good meal. 1/10.

I’ve read/tried to read a few Crichton novels, but found none of them satisfying. Rumination on technical trivia may engross some readers, but not me.

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Vorse, Mary Heaton - Sinister Romance

Seven stories from 1906 - 1926 by a prolific writer, though her forays into supernatural were rare.
Few of these are as overt as ghost tales or vampire lore. These are, more often, residual echoes.
In “The Mirror Of Silence,” new owners move into Thorn House. They, and their busy-busy friends are loud, devoid of grace and empathy. After a fashion, the occupants sense, all too palpably, that the house disapproves.
“The Pavilion Of Saint Merci” is another house, more sinister this time out, with a ruinous history.
Moira often lapses into a rapturous spell in “The Other Room,” for she possesses second sight. Such souls can be challenging to live with, let alone love, especially those who would fetter them to the ordinary world.
Sinister Romance is a quiet collection, though melancholy pervades.
Jessica Salmonson provides an excellent introduction, as well as biographical details of Vorse.
I still pick up Ash-Tree books when I can. Volumes by female authors are generally more available and more affordable.
Often that holds true with other presses, as well. I’m unsure why male readers of horror and strange still harbor faint prejudices.

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Aguirre, Forrest - The Varvaros Ascensions

“… we build cities with stories and with people’s interpretations of such stories.”

A chances mention of a masters thesis, arcane or deranged, arouses curiosity then obsession.
The bookshop that proves to be a gateway, followed by a descent into the chaos of knowledge.
The soon-to-be grad student sees his future in sight, his professional landscape mapped out. Until the aforementioned descent which ignites a flame that purifies as it annihilates.
This book would make an ideal, if heady, introduction to the Romanian publisher of commonplace upheaval.
Mr. Aguirre shows an efficient yet unerring word sense, his descriptions evocative, often multi faceted.
Time and again, even with mundane activities, a single sentence can dance with observations:
“… I headed up a narrow stairway to an over-rated, underlit café that served overpriced sandwiches made by under-paid students …”
The second half of the book delves into what can only be called dark science, of which I shall say no more.

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BTW I’d like to ask, are the Dune books (sequels and prequel series) written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson worth reading?

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1984 (George Orwell)

I’t’s abhorrent; it’s amazing. I’m glad I read it; I’m glad I’ll never have to read it again.

★★★★★★★★★☆

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DuracellEnergizer said:

I’t’s abhorrent; it’s amazing. I’m glad I read it; I’m glad I’ll never have to read it again.

Lol.

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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The George Lucas interviews. It is a compilation of various interviews given to the press and magazines through the years.

I’ve read the ones on THX and Graffiti so far. Its interesting. His contempt for the Hollywood system and grudge for the edits made to his first two films is kind of hilarious. Especially the bit about art being pretentious and BS, and how he is more like a watchmaker.

How he admits to not being a good writer and that his strength was as an editor. And how he relied on his friends on the script, and how he threw out the first 3 drafts of Star Wars. That he considered the lead for Star Wars to be a girl before he cast Mark Hamill to play Luke.

Not like the 1990s and after how he had the whole thing as one big script and it was always the story of Darth Vader.

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Crouch, Blake - A Little Orange Book Of Obsessions

A “little book” containing two stories and one novella.
“Summer Frost” introduces Max, short for Maxine, fleeing after a grisly murder. Perhaps.
Max is a NPC, an abbreviated backstory in a video game.
Except Max has a glitch and behaves outside her programming.
“Well, now that’s interesting,” thinks Riley, one of the developers, who clearly has never watched films such as Colossus: The Forbin Project, Ex Machina, or more appropriately, 2013’s Her.
Seeing potential, and potential profits, developer and corporation allot Max more CPU, mountains of memory, and feed gigantic amounts of data.
While the pace hurtles, you do have an idea where it is heading.
The final tale, “Shining Rock,” is a memorable lament of loss, dread and stalking.
Roger and Sue, a long married couple, hike deep into the Smokey Mountains.
One evening, without even a rustle, the stranger arrives into their campsite.
He is friendly, jovial, but so too is grinning Mick Taylor, scourge of the Australian Outback.
Mr. Crouch here is masterful, constantly shifting tone and focus.
What follows is an infernal corkscrew, fiendishly manipulating reader assumptions and sympathies.

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Eye in the Sky (Philip K. Dick)

A very good novel, verging on great — then came the final two chapters. 😠

In a lot of ways — and here be some spoilers — Eye in the Sky’s reminiscent of the Star Trek episode “Spectre of the Gun”. It’s bizarre, bewildering, beguiling … benumbing. The stakes are too low. If death in dreams don’t translate to death in reality, why should I feel invested?

★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

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Schow, David - Eye

Caustic assortment of venomous bonbons from the reliably ill-tempered Schow.
Ethan pores through a box of memories in “Unhasped.” Memories of ex-girlfriends. Good – bad, here and in the hereafter.
“Quebradora” will be familiar territory for fans of Schow’s later novel, Gun Work (2011). An inside look at the secretive world of lucha libre.
Paul wakes in the middle of the night, and listens to his wife, examines his wife. It doesn’t sound like her, smell like her, look like her. “Entr’acte” reminds readers, no matter how much we know someone, we really don’t know much about them.
“Calendar Girl” is a dark love paeon to anyone whose youthful “admiration” for a particular pinup endured well into adulthood. Be it Marilyn, Bettie, Anna Nicole, Donna Michelle …
The collection also provides an afterword. Insights, story roots, obstacles, details that may offer aspiring writers sympathetic encouragement. Especially since Comp 101 and those pricey boot camps make the path from keyboard to Stephen King fame sound oh so easy,

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Wandrei, Donald - Colossus

“… The average air temperature was rising.
Smog and pollution had created a thermal blanket around the globe. As the climate warmed, the forest line retreated farther and farther northwards throughout Canada and Siberia, where new brushlands developed, then forests, and birds and animals never before observed in those regions. The icecap of Greenland shrank more every year. Entire ledges and shelves broke off the crumbling fringes of the Antarctic.
Perceptibly and inexorably, the ocean level rose, initially by mere fractions of an inch, but eventually by inches per year. And the pace of this ecological disaster became accelerated by several related events …”

from “Requiem For Mankind” © 1971

A hefty collection of over twenty stories from the visionary Wandrei.
Most are 1930’s science fiction, pulp style, emphasizing pseudo science, where an enthusiastic Dr. Hans Zarkov would feel at home.
A few stories are overweighted with gobbledygook and techno-babble. Descriptions of lab equipment, voltages, metallurgy, stretched hypotheses regarding unexpected results.
Better stories, such as “A Race Through Time” and “Farewell To Earth” deal with time on an epic scale. Wandrei works in blocks of 100,000 years or more.
Two of this best known works, “Colossus” and “Colossus Eternal,” embrace epochs of time and distance. Masters here are towering beings, the Titans, who have the ability to foresee the future – for good, for ill.
“The Blinding Shadows,” “Life Current,” and “Earth Minus” are cautionary tales. Miscalculations that lead to cataclysm.
These are not Tom Swift yarns, crafted to stimulate and thrill young boys. There is a dark streak in Wandrei, perhaps caused by the Depression, the approach of World War II, or the filthy aftermath.

Colossus remains Fedogan & Bremer’s flagship title, and they have done Wandrei proud.
There are illustrations. Richard Tierney provides an excellent introduction, sketching Wandrei’s life, elaborating on the stories, with observations of the publishing business.
The back of the book contains photos, a glimpse of the author’s young days and his later years.
Worth a place in your shelves if you have a fondness for pulp, or if you are curious about what the future used to be.

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Phillips, Thomas - And The Darkness Back Again

My mistake, I was expecting a continuation of Phillips’ previous, and superb, In This Glass House.
This, however, is a collection of unsettled stories, and witnessing.
“Everything Was Explicable” chronicles a day in the perfect life, the perfect marriage, until an abrupt disappearance causes one partner to confront their self, and their shortcomings.
A home-schooled adolescent begins his first forays into manhood. His father, a religious fundamentalist, keeps the boy on a tight leash. The youth is drawn to two females: a fetching librarian, and an absent mother. “Into Her Darkness I Go” uses journal entries to show the learning of forbidden knowledge.
“God In An Alcove” reflects the full day onboard. Not sailing, not adrift, anchored. Stream of consciousness prevails. Stray thoughts, flash of memory, casual decisions, into the night. Nightfall, oh the night, what the darkness brings.
Phillips often writes in fragmentary sentences. So much so, I wondered at times how firm his grasp on syntax was. (Don’t get me going about his almost complete lack of dialogue.) The fragments often underscore the deconstructed lives, the string of insignificant moments, and ego inflated ruminations.
“Firehouse” offers another smug, self satisfied couple, who congratulate their good fortune, their innate cleverness. Making the most of a cramped, yet coveted living space. An oasis in a neighborhood surrounded by dark.
Several stories dance around the confines of religious dogma. Perhaps the author uses these to resolve internal conflicts. Those readers who wrestle creed with liberty may identify. I read unmoved.
“Individual Thought Patterns” is a nasty creeper. Just when I thought Phillips had tucked in one or two exercises, this poisonous pill was forced into me.
With “She” I must confess I deliberately misinterpreted the flow. Once Annie (she) opens her new vinyl album, “Alive,” I envisioned the glam group fronted by Gene and Paul. As Annie lulls to the hypnotic words, I speculated a hybrid between “Angie Baby” and BÖC’s “Unknown Tongue.” I lost the plot and scampered into my own music world, which I am certain was not the author’s intent.

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Just finished rereading Dune. About to start Master and Apprentice (Qui-Gon and Obi Wan pre-Phantom Menace). After that I’m trying to decide I want to read the other Dune books (never read past the first one) or start the Expanse books (Leviathan Wakes). Any recommendations?

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Crompton, Richmal - Mist And Other Ghost Stories

Traditional supernatural tales written in the 1920’s, though most seem to harken back to the Edwardian era. Crompton has a deft, unfussy style and the pages seem to breeze by.,
“The Bronze Statuette” beguiles young Marian, gentry of no accomplishments, with a predictable, if dull, future. Yet the statue, a pagan relic, casts a spell on her. Of all the stories, this is the most Machenish in tone, although the next story, “Strange,” also recalls an earlier, forbidden world.
“Marlowes” is the name of a house, not the splendid manor, but a small home ideally suited to two pensioners. The house, like other old dwellings, has a personality, and can be unwelcoming if it chooses to reject the occupants.
“The Haunting Of Greenways” catches the cuckoo, the insecure soul, never settled unless they are the select. You know the sort. If they cannot possess, cannot be loved, then no one else shall.
The title selection, “Mist,” finds a weary hiker, lost on the moor as the mist rises, thickens. Though he obtains refuge, it is bleak and suffocating. The story is not original, though it is well written and memorable.
Richard Dalby provides a succinct overview of Crompton’s life, as well as comments about her ghost stories.
Mist was a book I read about in a Halloween horrors article. For whatever reason, Mist excited casual readers more than the other recommended titles (from quality presses such as Swan River, Tartarus, Egaeus, Zagava, Centipede). It took me over a year to track down a copy.

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Black Fire (James Kidman)

I borrowed a copy of this novel from my local library in 2008. It read it and absolutely loved it, so much so I immediately wanted to own a copy. It took me 'til 2017 to purchase one, and finally a month ago to take it off the shelf and begin the re-read.

I considered Black Fire a masterpiece in my twenties. Now that I’m older and wiser(?), I see the flaws. The protagonist, while sympathetic, lacks personality; the dialogue skews toward cliched/banal, especially the exchanges between the protagonist and his girlfriend; the plot twist at the end isn’t exactly unpredictable. Those are the cons, but there are certainly pros. Black Fire is rich with imagery, atmosphere, and emotion; as a “right-brained” individual, I find these qualities compensate for the novel’s shortcomings.

★★★★★★★★☆☆

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Just finished reading the first Dune book. Awesome read.

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On a Sea of Glass: The Life & Loss of The RMS Titanic

It’s a good read, if a bit dry at times.

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The extended Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker novelizations. Lord of the Rings. A princess of Mars, the gods of mars and a warlord of mars. i’m also reading the entire Venus and Pellucidar series.

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Various (Editor: Jarvis, Timothy) - Uncertainties Volume 4

A collection that, for me, unfortunately, mirrored its title in that many times I was uncertain if the works included were actually stories.
Some lacked narrative, others had protagonists who were less than bare sketches (yes, short stories have limitations). Most struck me as overly vague. The pile of dust in a dark corner of an empty room of an abandoned house.
My chief gripe is I was rarely engaged. Or am I too bourgeois?
Yes, I realize these were earnestly written, and not simply “attempts” that litter the zines.
Anyway, I stubbornly push onward, my work ethic compelling me to finish, be it a bad meal, bad date, dull movie, or concerts with drunken, inept musicians.
I get to Wilkinson and implore aloud, “Charles, please,” and at that point Uncertainties pivots.
A yarn of pacts, portents and curses.
Another of lost girls (which should strike a chord with Canadian readers, who have seen thousands of young girls disappear).
Another where one’s very breath can mask a hideous evil, restrained except for duress.
This clutch was a mixed bag for me. This time of year, more tricks than treats.

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Russell, R B - Past Lives Of Old Books

Generous collection of essays that spark memory, suggest new authors, recall explorations in dusty shelves.
Straight off, there is a piece on Baron Corvo. More specifically, the groundbreaking biography of Corvo by Symons. This biography has long beckoned to me, although Corvo’s works do not hold the same allure.
Narrow boat enthusiasts will appreciate the essay on Aickman and Rolt. There are documentaries on their efforts to save / restore the English canal system, but Aickman’s efforts are seldom credited.
Sylvia Townsend is referenced in three essays, one for her “Lolly Willowes.” I swiftly ordered a copy of that for my wife (so I could read it, as well).
Russell’s personal recollection and subsequent visits to what traces of Copsford lingered is evocative and blows aside some of the dust.
“Visiting Chydyck” should tempt fans of Machen, Townsend (again), and Powys. Both dwelling and turbulent inhabitants are given brief sketches.
“The Cocteau Twins” had me lift my hands, recalling old debates. The record shop had a small clique of Cocteau Twins fanatics. The largest contingent were Pixies adherents (a group I never understood). Then there was one soul (ahem) who waved the Dead Can Dance banner. Despite arguments about which group was “best”, the ensemble that received the steadiest in-store play, year after year, was This Mortal Coil. Classic 4AD albums evoke a time and place for me. Those under Ivo-Watts have a heady fin de siècle aesthete.
Some of my favorite essays were on book collecting and book dealers, most gone now. The breath of nostalgia hangs over these. A time when odd finds were easier to stumble across, a time of price variances - sometimes in your favor, sometimes not, a time before the Internet made collecting more homogenized. His recollections of bygone book dealers mirrored my own experiences. A few wonderful souls who were passionate about books, offset by dismal sorts who were contemptuous philistines.

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Currently rerading the Lord Of The Rings all in one edition.

I’m just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe.

Star Wars has 3 eras: The eras are 1977-1983(pre Expanded Universe), (1983-2014) expanded universe, or (2014- now) Disney-bought version. Each are valid.

Important voice tool:
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1472151/action/topic#1472151

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Meade, L T - The Sorceress Of The Strand

Wildly popular series that ran installments in the Strand magazine.
Madame Sara, beautician to the rich and titled, also masterminds a murderous criminal ring.
Blackmail, extortion, theft and assassination.
She is on cordial terms with her prime adversaries, Dixon Druce, manager of a detective agency, and police surgeon Eric Vandeleur. Cordial because she is often two steps ahead of them.
Madame Sara was a delicious femme fatale of fin de siècle England. Not only was a foreigner, but she was also an empowered woman in an era terrified of such.
I read about Meade’s villainess last year, and ordered a copy for my wife, knowing I would read it eventually.
The Broadview Press edition, highly recommended, contained academic essays on the New Women phenomena, and numerous engravings from the Strand run.
The Sorceress Of The Strand is also available via WikiSource, as is The Brotherhood Of The Seven Kings (the latter illustrated by Sidney Paget).