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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 7:53:23 GMT -6
T. S. Elliot--a great poet if you want to revel in abject futility and the utter meaninglessness of it all. Otherwise, maybe not so great. I thought his putting a section of Notes at the end of "The Waste Land," apparently for the prospective dummies in his readership who otherwise wouldn't understand all his clever allusions, was amazing arrogant. Yeah, I kind of share that general impression: I like to read writers from the expressionist and the existentialist movements, because I like their kind of precise language. (Especially in Spanish, there is quite some difference between modern continental writers, then and now.) - But it's more often than not that, if you look at the people behind the work, that you find yourself with extremely petty, narcissistic people that seem to be spending most of their time celebrating their egos. Elliot seems especially complicated, in that regard. Like, he wrote one of my all-time favorite poems, "Lines for an Old Man". (Here: samueltaylorcoleridge.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/lines-for-an-old-man-by-t-s-eliot/)Which is cool as long as you don't take into account that he really seems to be talking about himself, here. -_- Outside of that, I'm indeed rereading Elliot's collected works, these days, as per this collection, and desperately trying to finish Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio", which is probably one of the best, yet most insufferable books I've ever come across. After that, I guess I'll target the newest Tad Williams; his Osten Ard novels were something I tremendously enjoyed as a kid. Now I hope that the sequels, if nothing else, is not terrible. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 14:41:51 GMT -6
Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds. I love his books, but somehow I have had a hard time getting going on this series.
Twilight of the Bombs by Richard Rhodes
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Post by tkdco2 on Feb 21, 2017 0:19:33 GMT -6
I've moved on from Maigret to Van Veeteren with Hakon Nesser's Hour of the Wolf.
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terje
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Blasphemous accelerator
Posts: 206
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Post by terje on Feb 21, 2017 6:28:44 GMT -6
I've just begun with The Secret of Ventriloquism by Joe Padgett and Beyond the Seven Labyrinths by Don Webb. Both are collections of weird short stories, the first specimen is bleak and absurd horror in the vein of Tomas Ligotti, the second tending more towards the bizarre and surreal.
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Post by stevemitchell on Mar 5, 2017 22:21:27 GMT -6
A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, 1930-1932, edited by St. Joshi, David E. Schultz, and Rusty Burke. Most collections of Lovecraft’s letters just include HPL’s side of things. Here we have the letters from both men—although I wish they had spent a little more time discussing their writing lives and theories and a little less time ranting about how all the immigrants were bringing down “traditional” (i.e., white, Anglo-Saxon) America.
Over on the Dry Side by Louis L’Amour. Gunslingers and mountain men contend for a treasure rumored to be hidden in the mountains of southwestern Colorado.
Revolutionaries of the Soul by Gary Lachman. Essays on a number of mystics and occultists, including Madame Blavatsky, Emanuel Swedenborg, Carl Jung, and the Beast himself, Aleister Crowley.
The Lovecraft Code by Peter Lavenda. Lavenda has written several rather interesting books on occult and conspiratorial topics. He is also the leading suspect as the man behind the “Simon” pseudonym for the Simon Necronomicon. Here he writes a Da Vinci Code-style thriller, with the premise that H. P. Lovecraft’s famous tale “The Call of Cthulhu” is fact, not fiction. Nicely done, though it sure takes his hero a long time to figure out that Cthulhu is real (the rest of us knew that long ago!).
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes by Vincent Starrett. An affectionate tribute to the world’s greatest detective. One of the classics of Sherlockian studies.
The Golden Age of Weird Fiction Megapack, Vol. 3 by Emil Petaja. Petaja is probably best remembered today as the author of several SF novels in the 1960s and 70s incorporating elements of Finnish myth and legend. But he was also a long-time contributor to the old pulp magazines, and this set includes several of his stories from the 1940s, mostly from Weird Tales. For the Kindle.
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Post by scalydemon on Mar 14, 2017 9:56:38 GMT -6
Currently reading Planet of the Apes: Tales from the Forbidden Zone.
Some good short story reading on my kindle/tablet when i get a few spare moments
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Post by stevemitchell on Mar 24, 2017 19:35:37 GMT -6
Letters to F. Lee Baldwin, Duane W. Rimel, and Nils Frome by H. P. Lovecraft. Even more letters from the eldritch sage of Providence, this time to a trio of early SF and fantasy fans in the Pacific Northwest.
The Darlington Substitution by Hugh Ashton. Another previously unknown adventure of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, involving murder and, just possibly, witchcraft in Northumbria.
Alias the Masked Detective by C. K. M. Scanlon. The very first adventure of the Masked Detective, one of several late-arriving pulp heroes from the Thrilling/Standard line who launched circa 1939-1940. A crime reporter by day, a masked avenger by night, he often uses savate to surprise and overcome his foes.
Three Doc Savage novels by Kenneth Robeson. In Death in Silver, Doc battles a threat that seems like it escaped from The Spider novels. Only two of his aides are present, and they get captured early, so there’s a lot of time spent just with Doc. In The Golden Peril, a revolution breaks out in Hidalgo, the source of Doc Savage’s untold wealth, so Doc and the gang head down south to put things right. And in Mad Mesa, Doc does hard time in the big house!
Order of Assassins by Colin Wilson. Wilson looks at the phenomenon of murder, especially serial murder, from a historical and philosophical standpoint.
Three more Doc Savage adventures, all set against a World War II backdrop: The Black, Black Witch; Hell Below; and The Shape of Terror.
The Shadow, the Hawk and the Skull by Maxwell Grant. The Shadow is caught in the crossfire between two rampaging villains
Kingdom of Blue Corpses by Brant House. Featuring pulp hero Secret Agent X in an epic struggle with the master of the blue lightning.
Hex by Kenneth Robeson. Doc Savage battles witchcraft in the Salem area.
Galaxies Like Grains of Sand by Brian Aldiss. Several SF stories linked together by a supposed “Galactic History.”
Dealers in Death by John Grange. The first novel in the “Super” Jim Anthony series. Jim Anthony was a Doc Savage imitator, although interesting in being half-Irish, half-Cherokee.
Existentialism and Human Emotions by Jean-Paul Sartre. Philosophical essays by the Doc Savage of France.
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Post by foxroe on Mar 25, 2017 10:47:21 GMT -6
(Re)reading Le Morte d'Arthur thanks to makofan .  |
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Post by krusader74 on Mar 27, 2017 18:54:59 GMT -6
Comixology.com has D&D Comics from the late 1980s (and newer) on sale for about half off until March 31, 2017. When WotC purchased TSR, the license to publish these comics passed to Kenzer & Co. and some other small publishers. In 2010, IDW began to publish 4E (and now 5E) -related comics. I read Dungeons & Dragons: Frost Giant's Fury #1, the beginning of latest series, which was better than expected.
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Post by tetramorph on Apr 1, 2017 5:53:25 GMT -6
T. S. Elliot--a great poet if you want to revel in abject futility and the utter meaninglessness of it all. Otherwise, maybe not so great. I thought his putting a section of Notes at the end of "The Waste Land," apparently for the prospective dummies in his readership who otherwise wouldn't understand all his clever allusions, was amazing arrogant. Yes, but his Four Quarterts is less nihilistic and more hopeful, even faithful, if I may say. And poets are not generally known for their humility. |
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Post by geoffrey on Apr 1, 2017 8:39:21 GMT -6
I'm re-reading George MacDonald's Phantastes.
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Post by tetramorph on Apr 2, 2017 12:19:27 GMT -6
I was rereading my favorite book from childhood to my own children the other day: Daniel Manus Pinkwater's Lizard Music. Amazing.
It is like surrealist fiction for kids. It is full of all of these references to movies where he slightly alters the title but we all know the movie. I also sights some books. Most are obviously made up. Except one: Mount Analogue: A Tale of Non-Euclidian and Symbolically Authentic Mountaineering Adventures by Rene Daumal. I just thought to myself "I think I am going to google this reference."
Sure enough, it is indeed a real book. I ordered it immediately. I just finished reading it. Wow.
These may not be immediately relevant to D&D. But if you like the Arnesonian, the wonderful, the surreal, the non sequitur, the slightly gonzo, then I urge you to check out both of these books.
Fight on!
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Post by foxroe on Apr 3, 2017 1:36:46 GMT -6
I was rereading my favorite book from childhood to my own children the other day: Daniel Manus Pinkwater's Lizard Music. Amazing. I remember reading that book many, many years ago. While I can't recall specifics, I do recall that I greatly enjoyed it. |
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jeff
Level 4 Theurgist
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Post by jeff on Apr 3, 2017 5:50:30 GMT -6
The End of Eternity - Asimov
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2017 15:00:28 GMT -6
I started with "The Emperor's Blades", this weekend, by Brian Staveley. Solid fantasy by a younger genre writer, so far. Sometimes, a bit simplistic, and sometimes, a bit too "Game of Thrones"-y and formulaic, but always entertaining. - In general, most contemporary fantasy/most post-2010 releases have thoroughly bored me. This one doesn't, and that's a good thing. |
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Post by foxroe on Apr 10, 2017 16:04:41 GMT -6
A..... Very..... Long..... "Ask Chirine"..... Thread.  |
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Post by tkdco2 on Apr 11, 2017 13:02:03 GMT -6
Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon. This was the first Maigret novel.
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Post by foxroe on Apr 11, 2017 18:37:34 GMT -6
A..... Very..... Long..... "Ask Chirine"..... Thread. And thanks to that thread: Murder in the Place of Anubis, by Lynda S. Robinson Triplanetary, by Edward Elmer Smith |
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Post by derv on Apr 12, 2017 20:05:24 GMT -6
On a G.A. Henty kick right now. Easy reads. Good content. First, The Dragon and The Raven, then onto Wulf the Saxon. Maybe St. George for England or At Agincourt next.
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arkansan
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
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Post by arkansan on Apr 14, 2017 19:58:43 GMT -6
Just finished "The Forever War". Right now I'm working on the third "Black Company" book.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2017 2:36:15 GMT -6
I'll be on a four-day drive next week, and so I have decided to go back and listen to Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" series, or rather, to its final book, "To Green Angel Tower", while I'm on the road. I do so in the wake of the arrival of the inevitable sequel "The Witchwood Crown", later this year, to refresh my memory. - My impression is that this series is talked about very little in our corner of the genre scene, though unjustly so: Especially given its age, and the era during which it was written, this is a remarkable addition to the genre cannon. Now, the storyline is very, very contrived, and especially in comparison with modern writers in the hobby, MST often reads a bit like "poor man's Game of Thrones". But even so, it's still pretty entertaining, featuring lovable characters, and presenting an almost quintessential epic. If you haven't read it, please take my warmest recommendations. Afterwards, and that's a much harder read of endurance, I think I'm going to read the series going under the name "The Defenders of Shannara": Seems like Terry Brooks finally got tired of telling the same YA-stories over and over again, and wrote a series of novels where he essentially subverts and undercuts all the tropes he had previously established within his own universe. I've read the first one "The High Druid's Blade", already, and... It's a delight if you are into exercises of deconstruction. Brooks' fantasy is always a bit like a Western movie - but with this series, he seems to finally leave those icky 1940s serial aesthetics behind, and goes all dirty Spaghetti Western. Looking forward to this. |
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Post by stevemitchell on Apr 15, 2017 20:18:39 GMT -6
The Voodoo Master by Maxwell Grant. The first of three battles between The Shadow and Dr. Rodil Mocquino, the evil Voodoo Master.
A Pleasing Terror: The Complete Supernatural Writings by M. R. James. A huge collection of ghost stories and related materials. Includes all of his published stories, along with story fragments, drafts, and essays by James, as well as his juvenile novel The Five Jars. Plus critical essays; all very extensively annotated. A cornerstone for any library of supernatural fiction.
The Fates by Thomas Tessier. An early novel by this underrated horror writer.
Berlin Diary by William L. Shirer. Shirer was a foreign correspondent in Europe from 1934 through 1940, stationed most often in Berlin. His diary from this period recounts the rise of the Nazi menace and the beginning of World War II.
Tarzan of the Apes, The Return of Tarzan, and The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The first three novels in the Tarzan series. Hard to believe that Tarzan (in a literary sense) is now 105 years old!
Tibetan Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction by Matthew T. Kapstein. Another good entry in this long-running series from Oxford University Press.
The Desert Demons by Kenneth Robeson. One of the new Doc novels written by Will Murray under the Robeson byline. Doc and the gang encounter a strange new threat out in the movie lots and oilfields of California.
Wings of Gold by Gerald Astor. An account of Navy aviation in WWII, mostly in the form of oral histories.
The Brain Eaters by Gary Brandner. A horror novel from the 80s, about as subtle as its title, but still a fun read.
Life and Death on Mars: The New Mars Synthesis by John Brandenburg. The author makes a case for the existence of life on Mars in the distant past (no more recently than a billion years ago).
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Post by foxroe on Apr 15, 2017 20:52:41 GMT -6
A..... Very..... Long..... "Ask Chirine"..... Thread. And thanks to that thread: Murder in the Place of Anubis, by Lynda S. Robinson Triplanetary, by Edward Elmer Smith Just finished tearing, lancing, beaming, roding, stilletoing, radiating through Triplanetary until the tome was glowing white hot. It was grand. |
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Post by geoffrey on Apr 16, 2017 19:49:20 GMT -6
Having finished George MacDonald's Phantastes, I am now rereading his masterpiece: Lilith.
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Post by tetramorph on Apr 16, 2017 20:02:13 GMT -6
Having finished George MacDonald's Phantastes, I am now rereading his masterpiece: Lilith. I am stuck in Phantastes. Can't figure out how to read it. Also, I seem to remember a place where he says that fairy runs through the land like veins of silver in a mountain. I can't find it and it was so rad. Do you know what I am talking about? |
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Post by cadriel on Apr 17, 2017 8:41:31 GMT -6
I read L. Sprague de Camp's Lest Darkness Fall over the weekend. I'm split on how I feel about it. On the one hand, I think particularly the first half of the book was witty, clever, and engaging, and it appealed to me having studied Byzantine history. On the other hand, the second half feels rushed and poorly executed, particularly an unforgivably sloppy account of the climactic battle. Being an Italian-American I particularly disliked how de Camp tried to make the ineffectual Italo-Gothic kingdom somehow a useful vessel for jump-starting the Renaissance.
It was a fun time-travel adventure book, comparable in some ways to the later and better Harold Shea stories. It just bogged down at the end, and definitely shows that it was a product of its era.
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Post by geoffrey on Apr 17, 2017 19:17:04 GMT -6
Having finished George MacDonald's Phantastes, I am now rereading his masterpiece: Lilith. I am stuck in Phantastes. Can't figure out how to read it. Also, I seem to remember a place where he says that fairy runs through the land like veins of silver in a mountain. I can't find it and it was so rad. Do you know what I am talking about? Here you go, the third paragraph of chapter 13: "As through the hard rock go the branching silver veins; as into the solid land run the creeks and gulfs from the unresting sea; as the lights and influences of the upper worlds sink silently through the earth's atmosphere; so doth Faerie invade the world of men, and sometimes startle the common eye with an association as of cause and effect, when between the two no connecting links can be traced." |
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Post by tetramorph on Apr 17, 2017 20:33:39 GMT -6
geoffrey, wow, thanks man. You are officially my hero now. I've been looking for that for over a year now! And isn't it amazing? I mean, both the thing he wants us to see, itself, and it's presentation? MacDonald was amazing.
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Post by geoffrey on Apr 18, 2017 21:31:01 GMT -6
geoffrey, wow, thanks man. You are officially my hero now. I've been looking for that for over a year now! And isn't it amazing? I mean, both the thing he wants us to see, itself, and it's presentation? MacDonald was amazing. I'm happy to be of service. George MacDonald is indeed amazing. I like what his son, Ronald, wrote in From a Northern Window about Phantastes and Lilith: "two strange sphinxes, with each its constant form, and each with its ever changing beauty of countenance, sphinxes asking questions which none will regret his endeavour to answer." |
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Post by Starbeard on Apr 19, 2017 0:21:24 GMT -6
Nigel Bryant's new translation of The History of William Marshal. It is utterly fun.
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