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Post by Otto Harkaman on Dec 7, 2020 16:31:01 GMT -6
I stopped on the "Black Prince", wanted to stay with the battles of Crecy and Poitiers so started reading Donald Featherstone's "The Bowmen of England: The Story of the English Longbow"and I have become totally enchanted with Chinese Cinema from watching the Pluto TV Flicks of Fury channel, started looking for books on the Wuxia tradition Chinese Martial Arts Cinema: The Wuxia Tradition (Traditions in World Cinema)
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Post by doublejig2 on Dec 8, 2020 15:47:22 GMT -6
Making my way through Prydain, I just finished Lloyd Alexander's The Black Cauldron (book 2) and The Castle of LLyr (book 3).
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2020 9:46:33 GMT -6
Just started The Book of Jhereg by Steven Brust, centred around a witchcraft-using assassin/gangster. Written in the first-person like a hard-boiled crime thriller, it's had me scribbling down ideas for scenarios.
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Post by stevemitchell on Dec 11, 2020 14:42:26 GMT -6
The White Hands by Mark Samuels. A slender but potent collection of supernatural stories, by an author who reminds me at times of both Ramsey Campbell and Thomas Ligotti, without actually being “imitative” of either.
Into the Slave Nebula by John Brunner (originally published as Slavers of Space). From back in the days when John Brunner and Robert Silverberg were competing to have the most novels published in the Ace SF line. Despite being “written to order,” many of the Brunner titles were pretty entertaining—this one, though, not so much.
Boundaries by T. M. Wright. Wright (mostly) wrote paperback original horror novels during the 1980s and 1990s. He never received the recognition that King or Straub or Koontz did, but his stories were always interesting, with some genuinely creepy touches. The “boundaries” here are, of course, the boundaries between life and death, and they are far less rigid than the characters might prefer. . . .
Deathbringer by Bryan Smith. The Grim Reaper (or somebody a lot like him) has come to a small town to unleash a zombie apocalypse as a warm-up for a battle with God. The usual fast-paced and lurid horror story from Mr. Smith.
The Thing on the Doorstep by H. P. Lovecraft. The third in the Penguin collection of Lovecraft stories. I would recommend the Penguin set as the best of the various Lovecraft volumes available, both for the restored texts and for the perceptive introductions and the extensive annotations by S. T. Joshi.
A Mountain Walked: Great Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, edited by S. T. Joshi. Balanced about evenly between reprints and new stories. A big and enjoyable collection of Mythos fiction.
Chronicles of Golden Friars by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. This collects three short novels by Le Fanu, all set in or near his fictional town of Golden Friars in northern England: “A Strange Adventure in the Life of Miss Laura Mildmay” (a mystery), “The Haunted Baronet (supernatural), and “Bird of Passage” (a romance).
In Lovecraft’s Shadow by August Derleth. This volume collects all of the Cthulhu Mythos fiction written by August Derleth, with the exception of the supposed “posthumous collaborations” with H. P. Lovecraft, which are available separately in The Watchers Out of Time.
Claimed by Francis Stevens. A short novel about the struggle for possession of an Atlantean artifact.
Depraved III by Bryan Smith. A bloody adventure set in a secret women’s prison at the North Pole, run by Fourth Reich Nazi types. Mr. Smith’s novels have never been noted for their decorum or good taste, but here he really pushes the envelope.
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Post by doublejig2 on Dec 15, 2020 9:56:35 GMT -6
Just finished Taran Wanderer (book 4) and The High King (book 5) of Prydain. Thumbs up!
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Dec 16, 2020 8:28:08 GMT -6
Harold Lamb's "Genghis Khan" and George McDonald's "Flashman and the Dragon"
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2020 7:06:12 GMT -6
Finished the five-novel hardcover Jules Verne collection I ordered from Amazon. For some reason, when I started "Around the World in Eighty Days" I assumed it'd be my least favorite, as it was the least fantastical of the five novels, but it ended up being my favorite with a wonderful ending.
Starting Alan Dean Foster's "Splinter of the Mind's Eye", though sadly as it's a recent purchase the author won't be paid (Google the ongoing controversy if you're interested.)
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Post by rsdean on Dec 24, 2020 10:28:07 GMT -6
I was thinking about Phileas Fogg just the other day; that’d be a good reread and I have a copy on my shelf.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2020 9:03:48 GMT -6
Besides finishing Splinter of the Mind's Eye, I've re-read the graphic novel Kingdom Come while waiting for my next new hardcover (Edith Hamilton's Mythology) to arrive in my mailbox today or tomorrow. Mythology will be the beginning of my 2021 reading project " Getting started with the Greeks." Based on this flowchart I found online. Kingdom Come was as beautiful and evocative as I remember. Great artwork and great story. Examines the state of being a superhero in a world of ordinary people. Of the consequences of your actions when you can easily crush society under your heels, and the difficult choices one has to make. Great use of the aesthetics and lore of the DC Universe. I'd love to see this filmed well. Perhaps DC's animation department should handle it. I enjoy their adaptations more than the live action ones.
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Post by stevemitchell on Dec 28, 2020 12:20:45 GMT -6
The golden armor that Wonder Woman wears in Kingdom Come makes an appearance in the new Wonder Woman 1984 movie.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2021 18:58:23 GMT -6
Finished Edith Hamilton's Mythology. Found it overall to be more to my liking than Bulfinch's Mythology , being more thorough and better organized with the Greek and Latin myths and not shying away from the sexy elements like Bulfinch did with his Victorian sensibilities. I did miss the Arthurian and Carolinigian myths from Bulfinch's version, though, but I own those in other forms so it's no big deal.
I'm about halfway through Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry. This is a re-read. I enjoyed this story in multiple formats back in the nineties during the multimedia project. It holds up well for EU material from this time period.
When I finish that, I'm gonna re-read Animal Farm since I got ahold of a new copy, and after that back to Appendix N with A. Merrit's "The Moon Pool".
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Post by Vile Traveller on Jan 13, 2021 2:00:36 GMT -6
I am reading Ian Fleming's 007 novels, many of them for the first time. It would be cool if someone rebooted the film franchise, sticking to the books (down to setting them in the original timeline). Mid-Century Modern is in vogue these days, so it could work very well indeed.
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Post by tkdco2 on Jan 13, 2021 15:54:24 GMT -6
I got a few books on worldbuilding for Christmas. A couple of them were written by Jared Blando. He has a lot of good ideas on mapmaking. I haven't tried his method yet, but I will be doing that in the near future. The other is by Mark A. Nelson. He is an illustrator, so he approaches worldbuilding from that point of view. It's more about drawing characters and terrain. I'm not much of an artist, but this book is great for ideas and improving my technique.
I also got a hardbound copy of The Silmarillion. The book has illustrations at the beginning of every chapter. Considering how the Silmarillion is one of my all-time favorite books, and my first copy has become fragile with age and overuse, this new copy is a godsend.
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Post by doublejig2 on Jan 13, 2021 23:04:29 GMT -6
Back to basics experiment. Reading the following: Outlaw of Gor, John Norman, Blue Adept, Piers Anthony, Jack of Shadows, Roger Zelazny, Knight of Swords, Michael Moorcock, Thieves World 2 Uneasy Alliances, ed. Robert Asprin & Lynn Abbey, Witch World, Andre Norton.
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Post by rsdean on Jan 14, 2021 5:41:47 GMT -6
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terje
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Post by terje on Jan 16, 2021 11:36:37 GMT -6
Recently finished the Cronenberg-inspired anthology The New Flesh, currently reading a weird fiction collection called Nox Pareidolia.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2021 19:11:26 GMT -6
Finished Shadows of the Empire last night. It gave me a strong wash of nostalgia just like the other books I read lately. I'm trying to recapture the childlike enthusiasm I had for literature and D&D as a kid, especially since I'm about to referee and play in some games this year for the first time in a year and a half.
If you guys don't recall, the mid-nineties were a sort of high point for the Star Wars EU. There was a huge renaissance of interest in the original trilogy with multiple VHS releases of the original movies (pre special edition. I'm happy to say I own at least two unaltered copies of each movie) and there were tons of interesting comics, books, toys and other media coming out. The toy section at the local Wal-Mart back then had an entire aisle just for Star Wars toys, and I had most of them!
So, when the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project hit, I lapped up as much of that as I possibly could. I listened to the soundtrack, played the n64 video game, borrowed the novel from the library and read it through, etc. So, I knew this story already, but similar to re-reading the Thrawn books in 2020, I got more out of it as an adult than I did as a tween over 20 years ago. I'm glad I went down that road again. It really fills in the time period between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi well. This is the plucky pre-Prequels, pre-Disney Star Wars I loved as a kid. (I've come to appreciate the former as George's vision and as for the latter, as Thumper said, if you don't have nothin' nice to say, don't say nothin' at all!)
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Jan 24, 2021 12:14:35 GMT -6
Reading this book about Ian Fleming, might finally read some of his Bond stories Ian Fleming's War: The Inspiration for 007 by Mark Simmons
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Post by tkdco2 on Jan 24, 2021 14:47:44 GMT -6
There is a 1990 movie about Ian Fleming's exploits. Fleming is played by Jason Connery. Not sure how accurate the movie was, but it was entertaining.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2021 5:51:52 GMT -6
Reading Light of the Jedi right now. About five chapters in. I'm growing my Star Wars and Appendix N collections alongside my Greek Studies this year. This particular entry is part of the High Republic timeline, so it's in the Canon continuity and not Legends. It's the first Canon book I own. It's actually pretty good so far. It's a story that gives Jedi a chance to be Jedi, and it takes place a long time before even the prequels so it's not tied to any characters we know from the films. So far the new characters are distinctive and have clearly defined goals, and the writing is fine. Hope the rest of it holds up. If I like it I'll get book 2 in the series.
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Post by geoffrey on Jan 30, 2021 10:47:13 GMT -6
I recently re-read for the umpteenth time the original five Elric stories: "The Dreaming City" (first published in Science Fantasy #47, June 1961) "While the Gods Laugh" (first published in Science Fantasy #49, October 1961) "The Stealer of Souls" (first published in Science Fantasy #51, February 1962) "Kings in Darkness" (first published in Science Fantasy #54, August 1962) "The Flame Bringers" [later retitled "The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams"] (first published in Science Fantasy #55, October 1962) They are fantastic.
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Post by tombowings on Jan 30, 2021 13:59:16 GMT -6
Besides finishing Splinter of the Mind's Eye, I've re-read the graphic novel Kingdom Come while waiting for my next new hardcover (Edith Hamilton's Mythology) to arrive in my mailbox today or tomorrow. Mythology will be the beginning of my 2021 reading project " Getting started with the Greeks." Based on this flowchart I found online. Kingdom Come was as beautiful and evocative as I remember. Great artwork and great story. Examines the state of being a superhero in a world of ordinary people. Of the consequences of your actions when you can easily crush society under your heels, and the difficult choices one has to make. Great use of the aesthetics and lore of the DC Universe. I'd love to see this filmed well. Perhaps DC's animation department should handle it. I enjoy their adaptations more than the live action ones. I read most of those Greek mythology books during university. I highly recommend the translations of Sophocles depicted in the flowchart. Paul Roche does a unimaginably good job. In particular, the poetry and meter of Agamemnon is exquisite.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2021 14:05:23 GMT -6
Besides finishing Splinter of the Mind's Eye, I've re-read the graphic novel Kingdom Come while waiting for my next new hardcover (Edith Hamilton's Mythology) to arrive in my mailbox today or tomorrow. Mythology will be the beginning of my 2021 reading project " Getting started with the Greeks." Based on this flowchart I found online. Kingdom Come was as beautiful and evocative as I remember. Great artwork and great story. Examines the state of being a superhero in a world of ordinary people. Of the consequences of your actions when you can easily crush society under your heels, and the difficult choices one has to make. Great use of the aesthetics and lore of the DC Universe. I'd love to see this filmed well. Perhaps DC's animation department should handle it. I enjoy their adaptations more than the live action ones. I read most of those Greek mythology books during university. I highly recommend the translations of Sophocles depicted in the flowchart. Paul Roche does a unimaginably good job. In particular, the poetry and meter of Agamemnon is exquisite. I'm definitely reading it sometime this year, Tom. I'm currently doing a rotation between Appendix N, Star Wars and this flowchart. The Iliad translation is next on my list when I finish this Star Wars novel.
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Post by rsdean on Jan 31, 2021 10:22:02 GMT -6
Finished the five-novel hardcover Jules Verne collection I ordered from Amazon. For some reason, when I started "Around the World in Eighty Days" ... I did reread this last week. I’ve decided to follow up with a dash of Wells, so I’m reading The Time Machine today.
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Post by tdenmark on Feb 1, 2021 13:44:11 GMT -6
I am really getting into Leigh Brackett. I'm through "The best of"
She's fantastic, I really wish I'd discovered her in my teens when I was devouring every fantasy/sci-fi book I could find. I mean just read this line:
"While Stark was still off balance, Malthor sprang. They grappled. The knife blade glittered redly, a hungry tongue eager to taste Stark's life." (-from Enchantress of Venus)
That's as good a line as anything Robert Howard or ERB ever wrote. And this book is just chock full of great ideas.
The more I read her work the more I'm convinced that everything good in Empire Strikes Back was from her draft of the original script. I wish that script would get released from the LucasFilm vault.
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Post by tdenmark on Feb 1, 2021 14:20:36 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2021 12:07:39 GMT -6
I am really getting into Leigh Brackett. I'm through "The best of" She's fantastic, I really wish I'd discovered her in my teens when I was devouring every fantasy/sci-fi book I could find. I mean just read this line: "While Stark was still off balance, Malthor sprang. They grappled. The knife blade glittered redly, a hungry tongue eager to taste Stark's life." (-from Enchantress of Venus) That's as good a line as anything Robert Howard or ERB ever wrote. And this book is just chock full of great ideas. The more I read her work the more I'm convinced that everything good in Empire Strikes Back was from her draft of the original script. I wish that script would get released from the LucasFilm vault. I enjoyed the hell out of what Brackett stories I've read so far, all of them Stark stories. She really holds her own against the "big four" of Appendix N.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2021 6:31:00 GMT -6
Currently reading through my 30th Anniversary Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game books. I'll run a game or two of this, one of these days. Such a tight, fun little system with such a pure and unadulterated message of what Star Wars is. I love how strict these rules are. You play as a member of the Rebellion, period. You can't turn to the Dark Side or the GM takes your sheet and you begin again. Period. Almost makes me wish D&D were that strict. I've been involved in too many D&D games that devolved into an evil fustercluck with in-fighting. The romantic idea that "you can try anything you want in a roleplaying game" is one of the concept's greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses, it seems. Sometimes, boundaries and limitations make something small seem much bigger and greater than what it is. That framework works well for this game and this genre.
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Post by geoffrey on Feb 11, 2021 10:25:00 GMT -6
My favorite pre-Christian Greek text that I have ever read is Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey: www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Homer/dp/0393356256/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=odyssey+emily+wilson&qid=1613060193&s=books&sr=1-1I read it out loud to my then 15-year-old daughter, and we both loved it. She says that it is her favorite classic. I found the translation very attractive. Wilson translates Homer line-by-line, and she does it in iambic pentameter (that is, the poetic meter of the English language in general). Her translation reads and flows naturally. Many of Homer's translators attempt to replicate the Greek's dactylic hexameter in English, but (to my ear) it never seems to sound right. Each line goes on for a bit too long. Emily Wilson is now engaged in her translation of The Iliad. May the Muses lend her their song!
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Post by tombowings on Feb 11, 2021 12:57:05 GMT -6
I'll have to check that one out.
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