At 1211 this afternoon I finished my initial read of David Gemmell's The King Beyond the Gate. As with book one I was not overly thrilled with it. And like book one its final pages partly redeem it for me. I debate continuing on with book three, Quest for Lost Heroes.
Friday evening addendum:
I've not read far in Quest..., but thus far it's made a appreciably better early impression than did either of its two predecessors.
Full Version: What are you reading?
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At 2102 yesterday evening I finished my initial read of David Gemmell's Quest for Lost Heroes. I feel it a marked improvement over its two predecessors though not on par with the author's later Troy series. Quest is also the last book of its series I own. Had I stopped reading at the end of book two I'd have abandoned the series with no regrets. Book three alters that stance somewhat. I now have a mild desire to continue on. Whether or not I do so remains to be seen.
I have been reading Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games books. I finished the first, and am half-way through the second. They are good. I go right through them, always wanting more. The movies were very faithful to the novels, with only some minor changes that are clearly made for the film format (trimming things down to be more concise and save running time, etc...).
As always, there is more background to things in the novels, such as the nature of Avox's, where the Peacekeepers come from, etc... Plus a few more characters and scenes. The Capitol comes across as much more vile and perverse in the novels as well. For example, at the end of the first film the remaining tributes are driven to the cornucopia by mutant hounds. In the novel those mutations were created from the other dead tributes, and each possessed their traits, such as their original eyes, hair color, etc... So Katniss could tell who they had been in life. That was extra creepy. My guess is that they either could not make it look good for the movie, or didn't have the money to make them all unique like that.
As always, there is more background to things in the novels, such as the nature of Avox's, where the Peacekeepers come from, etc... Plus a few more characters and scenes. The Capitol comes across as much more vile and perverse in the novels as well. For example, at the end of the first film the remaining tributes are driven to the cornucopia by mutant hounds. In the novel those mutations were created from the other dead tributes, and each possessed their traits, such as their original eyes, hair color, etc... So Katniss could tell who they had been in life. That was extra creepy. My guess is that they either could not make it look good for the movie, or didn't have the money to make them all unique like that.
I have always wondered what those 'Hunger games' books are like. Trouble is I know nothing about it, books, movies, plot line, nothing. I do remember friends being so into it a half dozen years ago. I might have to check.
Currently I am reading 'Dogs of War' by Frederick Forsyth. The only trouble is I am also reading a 1339 page book on Jack the Ripper, so things are going quite slowly...
Currently I am reading 'Dogs of War' by Frederick Forsyth. The only trouble is I am also reading a 1339 page book on Jack the Ripper, so things are going quite slowly...
I also found them quite compelling. Mrs. Treydog gave me a hard time about "burning through" the books- and then she started reading them and also found them hard to put down.
I am currently nearing the end of the last (so far) DC Smith book, "A Private Investigation".
I am currently nearing the end of the last (so far) DC Smith book, "A Private Investigation".
After having read pretty consistently since the beginning of the year I've done little reading to speak of since finishing the last of three recently purchased David Gemmell fantasy novels at the very beginning of Nov. Not for lack of trying. I originally attempted a newly acquired scholarly work, but found I couldn't focus enough to grasp it. I then began a re-read of David Eddings' Belgarath the Sorcerer. I consider it mediocre Eddings, enjoyable enough but no page turner. Made it to about page 200 then lost interest. I'm now tackling a book owned for decades but never read, a study of Gawain's place in the Arthurian mythos, his downfall from Arthur's premiere knight to a more or less second-tier player in later epics, and how and why this came to be. Haven't gotten very far past the introduction.
It doesn't help that I've become very involved in the game Kingdom Come Deliverance, which is eating into some of the time I might otherwise have spent reading.
It doesn't help that I've become very involved in the game Kingdom Come Deliverance, which is eating into some of the time I might otherwise have spent reading.
I finished the Hunger Games books. They were good. I recommend them to anyone who likes sci fi. I think I preferred the movies. Maybe because I saw them before reading the books. But I think it is just that they are tighter and more focused than the books. Though the novels do fill in more background, so they are definitely worth the read if you are a fan of the movies. For example, I never really understood where all the Peacekeeper troops came from in the movies. But the books explained it.
After that I moved on to Red Wolf, one Liza Marklund's Annika Bengtzon series. This is one where I saw the movie first too, from the 6 part Annika Bengtzon films starring Malin Crepin. It was decent. But I don't much like Marklund's writing style. It can be confusing at times, forcing me to go back and re-read things several times in places to understand what it is going on.
Today I started Dreadnought, by April Daniels. It is the first book in her Nemesis series. I am really loving it. It is a wonderful coming of age story of a transgirl who inherits the mantle of a fallen superhero. I really liked her depiction of the main character. It is nice to see a writer who is willing to acknowledge that gay and/or trans people exist. I also liked how she describes how the protagonist uses her powers. It is sort of a window into a higher dimension, like she is glimpsing the clockwork behind the universe.
After that I moved on to Red Wolf, one Liza Marklund's Annika Bengtzon series. This is one where I saw the movie first too, from the 6 part Annika Bengtzon films starring Malin Crepin. It was decent. But I don't much like Marklund's writing style. It can be confusing at times, forcing me to go back and re-read things several times in places to understand what it is going on.
Today I started Dreadnought, by April Daniels. It is the first book in her Nemesis series. I am really loving it. It is a wonderful coming of age story of a transgirl who inherits the mantle of a fallen superhero. I really liked her depiction of the main character. It is nice to see a writer who is willing to acknowledge that gay and/or trans people exist. I also liked how she describes how the protagonist uses her powers. It is sort of a window into a higher dimension, like she is glimpsing the clockwork behind the universe.
I finished Dreadnought, and the sequel Sovereign. Both were really good. Outstanding characterization all around, especially with the protagonist. She is a very well-rounded character, with plenty of issues that stem from being a transgendered person in our world. It keeps her down to earth, in spite of being someone who deserves the name of Dreadnought.
I really liked the world-building here. The author gives a reason for why people have powers. Not just the regular mutant-style powers, but magic, and hypertech as well. That reason is an asteroid-like object called Nemesis that rolls through the solar system every 3,000 years, made up of exotic matter. It randomly turns people into supers, just by existing. It figures highly in both books.
The hypertech is something I really liked. It is something that cannot be replicated with normal technology. In fact, it often completely flies in the face of the laws of physics. Basically people have a power to make gadgets, and it is really that power that makes them work. Because of that the world is not flooded with super-tech gadgets. It is only something that their creators and a few others that they give their stuff to can use.
I really liked the world-building here. The author gives a reason for why people have powers. Not just the regular mutant-style powers, but magic, and hypertech as well. That reason is an asteroid-like object called Nemesis that rolls through the solar system every 3,000 years, made up of exotic matter. It randomly turns people into supers, just by existing. It figures highly in both books.
The hypertech is something I really liked. It is something that cannot be replicated with normal technology. In fact, it often completely flies in the face of the laws of physics. Basically people have a power to make gadgets, and it is really that power that makes them work. Because of that the world is not flooded with super-tech gadgets. It is only something that their creators and a few others that they give their stuff to can use.
I finished The Great Gatsby today. I was not that impressed. Fitzgerald's writing style is very colorful and descriptive. But sometimes overpoweringly so, as several times I had to go back and re-read passages because his sentences run so long on poetry that I forget what the subject was. Still, he has a sense of sarcasm that I truly relate to. Most of the story seems to be simply a satire the shallowness, self-absorption, and moral and material corruption of the upper classes in the 1920s.
Unfortunately this seems to take the place of a plot for most of the story. It does not really seem to get going until about 80% of the way in. Granted, by that time characters and events that seemed random now fall into place. Then we can see that this is a story of a man - Gatsby - living in the past. He is trying to regain that glorious moment when he was happy. But that of course is doomed to failure. Ultimately it is a rather depressing tale that seems full of sound and fury, but signifies nothing.
Unfortunately this seems to take the place of a plot for most of the story. It does not really seem to get going until about 80% of the way in. Granted, by that time characters and events that seemed random now fall into place. Then we can see that this is a story of a man - Gatsby - living in the past. He is trying to regain that glorious moment when he was happy. But that of course is doomed to failure. Ultimately it is a rather depressing tale that seems full of sound and fury, but signifies nothing.
At 0441 this morning, 22 Dec 2018, I concluded my fifth read of David Eddings' Belgarath the Sorcerer. I've always considered it mediocre Eddings. This reading did not alter that opinion. But I knew that would be the case going in so am not disheartened. It is what it is. I will NOT continue on with Polgara the Sorceress. With that installment I feel Eddings milked the franchise more than it can bear. Not sure what I'll tackle next. Slow as I am, Belgarath is apt to be my final completed novel/book of 2018 no matter what I pick or how quickly I pick it.
After a few false starts I settled on Angus Wells' Wrath of Ashar, book one of his The Kingdoms series. I've owned it a good many years but never read it beyond an aborted attempt early on. It's not a page turner for me but I've made past the halfway point. I'll likely finish it, but doubt I'll seek out the rest of the series.
At 2315 yesterday evening, 15 Jan 2019, I finished my initial read of Angus Well's Wrath of Ashar. Found it okay but nothing special. Liked it just enough that if I owned further series' volumes I might continue on, though without much enthusiasm. I don't own them, and don't enjoy Wrath enough to seek them out.
No idea what I'll tackle next.
No idea what I'll tackle next.
For now I've settled on reading Jack Whyte's The Lance Thrower, part of his Camulod Chronicles series. As a piece of literature it's a breath of fresh air, better in my estimation than the last some books I've read. The series is Whyte's telling of the Authurian legend in a plausibly historic setting. It begins several generations before Arthur in the twilight days of Rome's occupation of Britain. Lance Thrower is a late entry, post Arthur.
I initially began reading it yesterday evening thinking it was the series volume I abandoned partway through years ago and never returned to. Then this morning I noticed a completion date of 11 Dec 2005 inside the cover. Discovering this, I thought to begin the series at book one. But no...I've not idea where the rest of Camulod is stored. Buried at the bottom of one of my book storage boxes I'm sure. If I don't get too far tonight I might take another stab at finding them tomorrow morning when the light indoors is better.
I initially began reading it yesterday evening thinking it was the series volume I abandoned partway through years ago and never returned to. Then this morning I noticed a completion date of 11 Dec 2005 inside the cover. Discovering this, I thought to begin the series at book one. But no...I've not idea where the rest of Camulod is stored. Buried at the bottom of one of my book storage boxes I'm sure. If I don't get too far tonight I might take another stab at finding them tomorrow morning when the light indoors is better.
Almost forgot to mention that I indeed located earlier volumes of Camulod Chronicles and am now on page 240 of book one, Skystone.
At 1448 yesterday afternoon I completed my third read of Jack Whyte's The Skystone, book one of his Camulod series. I'm now some pages into book two, The Singing Sword. The series is a telling of the Arthurian saga placed in a plausible historic setting. Book one begins several generations price to Arthur, in a still solidly Roman controlled Britain. Cracks in the Empire are beginning to show, but as yet almost no one notices them, or takes them seriously if they do. The book's main characters are among those few, and implement plans to survive and thrive once the inevitable, as they see it, occurs. Book two begins with Britain still in Roman hands, though deterioration has begun in earnest. The books are well written. I like them quite a lot. They are my go-to fiction for Arthur in a historic setting.
At 1456 this evening, at the very end of supper, I finished my third read of Jack Whyte's The Singing Sword, book two of his Camulod Chronicles, a retelling of Arthur in a plausibly historical setting. These first two books take place in Romanized Britain, though at book two's end the excrement is about to hit the fan in earnest. As was its predecessor, book two is well written and entertaining. In some sense each volume from here on out will become harder to read, as no matter how the tale is spun, it never ends well for the good guys.
Be that as it may, I will begin book three, The Eagles' Brood, by day's end.
Be that as it may, I will begin book three, The Eagles' Brood, by day's end.
At 0014 this morning I finished my third read of Jack Whyte's Eagles' Brood, book three of his Camulod series. As suspected, I found it tough going at times, not due to any deficiency, but because unpleasant things occur at varied intervals throughout. I'm pausing the main tale long enough to read Uther, which parallels events in Brood, but Whyte chooses to classify as a stand-alone novel.
I have been reading a lot of comics lately. I started with the Birds of Prey. I really loved the early series from 2000 - 2006 or so. It was Black Canary, Huntress, and Oracle/Babs. I really shone because of the complex relationships between the three. I especially liked the friendship between Canary and Babs. They had some real chemistry together.
As it went on and they started adding more people I felt it lost that specialness. When it got to the New 52 era it really threw me for a loop. The stories felt disjointed, the stuff they were doing with Canary had me scratching my head, and that great friendship wasn't there. The Rebirth era thankfully rekindled all that. That was really good.
I also read the Raven mini-serieses. The one from 2008 did not do much for me, in writing or artwork. The 2017 one was better. I really liked her raven feather helmet in that one. 2018's Daughter of Darkness was excellent! Good story, good characterizations, and her best outfit yet. I really like Raven. She is my favorite character from the Teen Titans tv show (the animated one from 2005). Even though she is not as awesome in the comics as she in the show, her personality and character really shine for me, in their darkly goth way. Raven and Barbara Gordon are definitely two of my favorite comic book characters (Babs is definitely #1).
Today I read a little indie series called Sword Daughter. It is about a girl and her viking father, and their quest for revenge against the 40 Swords, and Death Cult who slaughtered their entire village in Iceland. It was nicely done, though the way it goes back and forth through time got confusing at times. It finishes pretty open-ended, so there is room for more.
As it went on and they started adding more people I felt it lost that specialness. When it got to the New 52 era it really threw me for a loop. The stories felt disjointed, the stuff they were doing with Canary had me scratching my head, and that great friendship wasn't there. The Rebirth era thankfully rekindled all that. That was really good.
I also read the Raven mini-serieses. The one from 2008 did not do much for me, in writing or artwork. The 2017 one was better. I really liked her raven feather helmet in that one. 2018's Daughter of Darkness was excellent! Good story, good characterizations, and her best outfit yet. I really like Raven. She is my favorite character from the Teen Titans tv show (the animated one from 2005). Even though she is not as awesome in the comics as she in the show, her personality and character really shine for me, in their darkly goth way. Raven and Barbara Gordon are definitely two of my favorite comic book characters (Babs is definitely #1).
Today I read a little indie series called Sword Daughter. It is about a girl and her viking father, and their quest for revenge against the 40 Swords, and Death Cult who slaughtered their entire village in Iceland. It was nicely done, though the way it goes back and forth through time got confusing at times. It finishes pretty open-ended, so there is room for more.
At 0227 this morning, during a near sleepless night, I finished Jack Whyte's Uther, part of his Camulod Chronicles. Took a lot longer than anticipated. Not because I didn't enjoy the book. I like it very much. Thing is, I started reading it about the time I began devoting almost all my time to Transport Fever, leaving little time to read. As for Uther, it covers the same period as its immediate predecessor, which centers on Meryln. The series is an easy recommendation for those interested in a take on Arthur placed in a historically proper setting. (At the very end of these two books we finally get our first fleeting glimpse of the future King.)
I'm now a few pages into the next book, The Saxon Shore.
I'm now a few pages into the next book, The Saxon Shore.
At 2150 yesterday evening, 2 Apr 2019. I finished my third read of Jack Whyte's The Saxon Shore, part of his Camulod Chronicles. Another fine series entry.
I'm now reading its followup, The Fort at River's Bend.
I'm now reading its followup, The Fort at River's Bend.
I have just finished 'The Lion's Game' by Nelson Demille. It was a good adventure-terrorist yarn but the book ran at 627 pages on my e-reader, and that is just plain ridiculous, when all the antagonist did was run around America and cap 5-6 people in the head. I could have told that story in less than 250 pages. Other than that it was a good read.
Sub Rosa-
I have just started Polaris Rising. It is a fun science fiction space romp with a strong female lead and is really good so far. Sounds like your kind of book!
Sub Rosa-
I have just started Polaris Rising. It is a fun science fiction space romp with a strong female lead and is really good so far. Sounds like your kind of book!
At 1359 by the bedroom clock this afternoon, 8 April 2019. I finished my second read of Jack Whyte's The Fort at River's Bend, book five of his Camulod Chronicles. (Or book four if you read Uther as a supplement rather than placing it between The Eagles' Brood and The Saxon Shore, as I do.) Fort occurs during Arthur's boyhood, ending as he is about to enter manhood.
I'll likely begin the next series entry, The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis, during supper.
I'll likely begin the next series entry, The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis, during supper.
At 1842 this evening, lying abed, i finished my second read of Jack Whyte's The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis. This volume remains focused on Merylin and his friends/companions (and enemies) until almost the very end, where we witness the emergence of Arthur as a young man, newly come into his power. The book surprised me in that rereading it triggered very few remembrances of its first read, almost all those few occurring well beyond the halfway point.
I'm now some pages into the series' penultimate entry, The Lance Thrower.
I'm now some pages into the series' penultimate entry, The Lance Thrower.
I have still been reading comics. I started The Unstoppable Wasp last week. The main character of Nadia is delightful. But the early issues felt rather juvenile and bland. Though I do like the science they weave into them all. Toward the end of the first volume Janet Van Dyne appears, and things dramatically improve. They become a lot more mature.
The second volume that I am currently reading has been simply outstanding. They just tackled the issue of bipolar disorder in Nadia. It floored me how well it was done. Not just the symptoms she was displaying, but the way that the writer kept it all grounded in Nadia's humanity. We never forget that she is the hero, even when she is suffering from a mental illness that is usually only ascribed to villains. It was fantastically well done.
The second volume that I am currently reading has been simply outstanding. They just tackled the issue of bipolar disorder in Nadia. It floored me how well it was done. Not just the symptoms she was displaying, but the way that the writer kept it all grounded in Nadia's humanity. We never forget that she is the hero, even when she is suffering from a mental illness that is usually only ascribed to villains. It was fantastically well done.
At 1340 this afternoon, Easter Sunday 21 Apr 2019, I concluded my second read of Jack Whyte's The Lance Thrower, penultimate book in his Camulod Chronicles. I recalled even less of this book than its immediate predecessor. In fact the only things I remembered about it were the gist of the Prologue and an extremely vague idea of what occurred during its last several pages.
I'm now a short way into the concluding book, The Eagle. This will be its first read, though I may or may not have aborted an earlier attempted read. (I do not chronicle aborted reading attempts.)
I'm now a short way into the concluding book, The Eagle. This will be its first read, though I may or may not have aborted an earlier attempted read. (I do not chronicle aborted reading attempts.)
I am half way through World War Cthulhu. As the title suggests, it is an anthology of Mythos tales that all take place during wars.
The first story was the weakest so far. With the Earth being ravaged by aliens, and the survivors deciding to call up/release Cthulhu to save them from the aliens. Obviously that is not going to end well.
The other stories were stronger. They take place all through time. There is a neat one set during the American Revolution with the Turtle, a British frigate, and Dagon on the Connecticut coast. Another one set during the Revolution is a pretty standard ghost story about a privateer who was the only one to return from a raid upon a Deep One enclave. Except instead of ghosts, there are Deep Ones.
There are a couple set in Vietnam. In one a Montagnard village is wiped out by NVA. The surviving 'Yards decided to get revenge by calling up the Dark God that lived beneath their village. It then proceeded to do what Mythos creatures do best... The nearby Green Beret firebase was shaped in an Elder Sign (deliberately, as the c.o. was in the know about the Mythos), and was able to hold it off, for a while...
One is set in Africa, where a warlord bought some mythos beings from terrorists to use on his own people. It turned out to be Dark Young of Sub Niggurath. The protagonists are a couple of commandos sent to stop him.
One seems to be a sequel to Lovecraft's The Temple, about the crewmen of the vessel sank by the U-boat in Lovecraft's tale.
A couple are set in the Trojan War. The one I just finished has the Trojans as being Deep One hybrids who worship the Great Old Ones. King Priam was known as the Tamer of Shoggoths. Paris was whisked away from his losing battle with Menelaus by Shub-Niggurath. At the end the Greeks do not leave a Trojan Horse on the beach, but a Trojan Shoggoth. I really liked how the female characters drove that one, by manipulating events from behind the scenes.
One of them starts out with "Broadsword calling Danny Boy, come in please, over.", which immediately gave me an Aleistar Maclean fangirl squee. (for those who don't recognize it, the line is from Where Eagles Dare). That story was very loose retelling of Where Eagles Dare, except with Mi-Go.
So far the best is one set in the Cold War, about a Man In Black. Except in this case the MiB aren't allied with aliens, but instead with Mythos beings. The protagonist's partner is one of the worm-beings from Lovecraft's story The Festival. It draws heavily from The Mound, with the story taking place in K'n-yan. Or what is left of it. It seems the Russians sent a team in to cause some trouble, and they loosed the Formless Spawn of Tsathaguoaa from N'kai. There are a ton of references to other Lovecraft stories, and it is a good spy yarn in its own right.
So far so good. Some really good Cthulhu stories here, with a fun slant on history.
The first story was the weakest so far. With the Earth being ravaged by aliens, and the survivors deciding to call up/release Cthulhu to save them from the aliens. Obviously that is not going to end well.
The other stories were stronger. They take place all through time. There is a neat one set during the American Revolution with the Turtle, a British frigate, and Dagon on the Connecticut coast. Another one set during the Revolution is a pretty standard ghost story about a privateer who was the only one to return from a raid upon a Deep One enclave. Except instead of ghosts, there are Deep Ones.
There are a couple set in Vietnam. In one a Montagnard village is wiped out by NVA. The surviving 'Yards decided to get revenge by calling up the Dark God that lived beneath their village. It then proceeded to do what Mythos creatures do best... The nearby Green Beret firebase was shaped in an Elder Sign (deliberately, as the c.o. was in the know about the Mythos), and was able to hold it off, for a while...
One is set in Africa, where a warlord bought some mythos beings from terrorists to use on his own people. It turned out to be Dark Young of Sub Niggurath. The protagonists are a couple of commandos sent to stop him.
One seems to be a sequel to Lovecraft's The Temple, about the crewmen of the vessel sank by the U-boat in Lovecraft's tale.
A couple are set in the Trojan War. The one I just finished has the Trojans as being Deep One hybrids who worship the Great Old Ones. King Priam was known as the Tamer of Shoggoths. Paris was whisked away from his losing battle with Menelaus by Shub-Niggurath. At the end the Greeks do not leave a Trojan Horse on the beach, but a Trojan Shoggoth. I really liked how the female characters drove that one, by manipulating events from behind the scenes.
One of them starts out with "Broadsword calling Danny Boy, come in please, over.", which immediately gave me an Aleistar Maclean fangirl squee. (for those who don't recognize it, the line is from Where Eagles Dare). That story was very loose retelling of Where Eagles Dare, except with Mi-Go.
So far the best is one set in the Cold War, about a Man In Black. Except in this case the MiB aren't allied with aliens, but instead with Mythos beings. The protagonist's partner is one of the worm-beings from Lovecraft's story The Festival. It draws heavily from The Mound, with the story taking place in K'n-yan. Or what is left of it. It seems the Russians sent a team in to cause some trouble, and they loosed the Formless Spawn of Tsathaguoaa from N'kai. There are a ton of references to other Lovecraft stories, and it is a good spy yarn in its own right.
So far so good. Some really good Cthulhu stories here, with a fun slant on history.
At 0446, 28 Apr 2019, I concluded my initial read of Jack Whyte's The Eagle, final book in his Camulod Chronicles series. Going in, my mind told me I had long ago made an aborted reading attempt. If so, this reading triggered absolutely no remembrances of it. Nada. Zilch. Be that as it may, the book is as enjoyable as its predecessors. I recommend Camulod Chronicles to anyone seeking a well written, interesting take on the Arthurian mythos placed in a plausible historic setting.
I finished the above while my back still bothered me greatly. It hurt too much to allow me to drop to the floor and rummage through my fantasy library storage books. My search was thus limited to those few books housed within my bed headboard and a few other reachable locations. Ultimately, with much hesitation, I settled on Dennis L. McKiernan's Dragon Doom. In my estimation, McKiernan is nowhere near the writer Whyte is. That said, I recall thinking more highly of Dragon Doom than other McKiernan novels read in the past. I liked it well enough to read twice, first during Sep 1990, again during Sep 1995. This third reading is a bit of a struggle. The book has its moments, but too often doesn't hold my interest strongly enough to keep concentration from wandering. I'm now at page 337 (of 451, discounting appendixes) and hope to plow through to completion.
I finished the above while my back still bothered me greatly. It hurt too much to allow me to drop to the floor and rummage through my fantasy library storage books. My search was thus limited to those few books housed within my bed headboard and a few other reachable locations. Ultimately, with much hesitation, I settled on Dennis L. McKiernan's Dragon Doom. In my estimation, McKiernan is nowhere near the writer Whyte is. That said, I recall thinking more highly of Dragon Doom than other McKiernan novels read in the past. I liked it well enough to read twice, first during Sep 1990, again during Sep 1995. This third reading is a bit of a struggle. The book has its moments, but too often doesn't hold my interest strongly enough to keep concentration from wandering. I'm now at page 337 (of 451, discounting appendixes) and hope to plow through to completion.
At 2223 yesterday evening, 03 May 2019, I finished my third read of Dennis McKiernan's Dragon Doom. As mentioned above, it's not a novel I think highly of. In its favor, I find its concluding chapters more enjoyable that much of what leads to them.
Finishing it as late in the day as I did, I've not yet given serious thought to what I'll read next.
Finishing it as late in the day as I did, I've not yet given serious thought to what I'll read next.
I finished World War Cthulhu. There were a few meh stories, but by and large they were good ones. My favorite in the second half of the anthology was Cold War, Yellow Fever. It was set during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which it turns out was just a coverup for a Mythos event. A Cuban counter-revolutionary had somehow gotten ahold of numerous copies of The King In Yellow, and smuggled them, and himself, into a Cuban city. Soon after everyone in the city was dead. Worse, the city, and everything in it, started turning yellow. Things went downhill from there.
Today I started Dracula. The original by Bram Stoker. Though when it comes to novels, I guess you don't have to specify. I have not read it in decades. So it feels really fresh again.
This time I had Google open the entire time, and used it to look things up. That helped immensely. I found Borgo Pass (it is really Tihuța Pass in the Bargau Mountains, in the north of Transylvania, near the Czech border). Google Earth was awesome when it came to Whitby in England, where the Demeter makes landfall. The harbor piers, the ruined abbey, the church with its big graveyard, the Crescent hotel where Lucy and Mina are staying, are all there, just like Stoker describes them.
I got the free version of the ebook from Project Gutenberg. But now I am tempted to maybe buy an annotated version.
Today I started Dracula. The original by Bram Stoker. Though when it comes to novels, I guess you don't have to specify. I have not read it in decades. So it feels really fresh again.
This time I had Google open the entire time, and used it to look things up. That helped immensely. I found Borgo Pass (it is really Tihuța Pass in the Bargau Mountains, in the north of Transylvania, near the Czech border). Google Earth was awesome when it came to Whitby in England, where the Demeter makes landfall. The harbor piers, the ruined abbey, the church with its big graveyard, the Crescent hotel where Lucy and Mina are staying, are all there, just like Stoker describes them.
I got the free version of the ebook from Project Gutenberg. But now I am tempted to maybe buy an annotated version.
QUOTE(SubRosa @ May 8 2019, 05:49 PM) 
I finished World War Cthulhu. There were a few meh stories, but by and large they were good ones. My favorite in the second half of the anthology was Cold War, Yellow Fever. It was set during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which it turns out was just a coverup for a Mythos event. A Cuban counter-revolutionary had somehow gotten ahold of numerous copies of The King In Yellow, and smuggled them, and himself, into a Cuban city. Soon after everyone in the city was dead. Worse, the city, and everything in it, started turning yellow. Things went downhill from there.
Today I started Dracula. The original by Bram Stoker. Though when it comes to novels, I guess you don't have to specify. I have not read it in decades. So it feels really fresh again.
This time I had Google open the entire time, and used it to look things up. That helped immensely. I found Borgo Pass (it is really Tihuța Pass in the Bargau Mountains, in the north of Transylvania, near the Czech border). Google Earth was awesome when it came to Whitby in England, where the Demeter makes landfall. The harbor piers, the ruined abbey, the church with its big graveyard, the Crescent hotel where Lucy and Mina are staying, are all there, just like Stoker describes them.
I got the free version of the ebook from Project Gutenberg. But now I am tempted to maybe buy an annotated version.
Khajiit really likes Dracula by Bram Stoker!
At 1332 this afternoon, 9 May 2019, I completed my second read of Robin McKinley's The Outlaws of Sherwood, a take on the Robin Hood mythos. As with the last some books I've re-read, I had next to no recollection of its prior read(s). In my defense, not that its needed, in this case my first read took place during 1989, a whole thirty years ago. As to the book itself, I find it an enjoyable read but not outstanding.
I find it odd that the book is designated 'fantasy' on the spine. It contains no fantastical elements whatsoever. If anything, it can be loosely classified as 'historic fiction.'
Truth to tell, I confused it with the other Robin Hood novels in my library, a two book set by Parke Godwin, consisting of Sherwood and Robin and the King, also classified as 'fantasy' on the spine. I might or might not take those up next.
An aside. I recently read that Guy Gavriel Kay has a novel set for release very soon, maybe later this month? Don't know how this caught me unawares. Kay has for years been my hands-down favorite active writer of Fantasy. Almost the only writer I'm all but guaranteed to buy in hardback rather than wait for more affordable paperback editions. (Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire would make my hardback short-list too, but I've given up hope of seeing further releases in that series.)
I find it odd that the book is designated 'fantasy' on the spine. It contains no fantastical elements whatsoever. If anything, it can be loosely classified as 'historic fiction.'
Truth to tell, I confused it with the other Robin Hood novels in my library, a two book set by Parke Godwin, consisting of Sherwood and Robin and the King, also classified as 'fantasy' on the spine. I might or might not take those up next.
An aside. I recently read that Guy Gavriel Kay has a novel set for release very soon, maybe later this month? Don't know how this caught me unawares. Kay has for years been my hands-down favorite active writer of Fantasy. Almost the only writer I'm all but guaranteed to buy in hardback rather than wait for more affordable paperback editions. (Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire would make my hardback short-list too, but I've given up hope of seeing further releases in that series.)
I finished reading Dracula. It was good, though exasperating at times. Stoker seems loath to write one page, where twenty would suffice. At times I was wondering if he was being paid by the word. Seriously, about a hundred pages could have been cut out without losing any of the plot. The characters are often ridiculously sappy, holding hands and pledging their love of one another. Did people really act like that in 1897? I don't know, but it seems really silly now. As does Van Helsing describing Dracula has having a child-brain.
But in spite of all that it is a solid story. It has most, if not all, of what would become the standard vampire story beats. Stoker did not invent vampires, but he certainly invented the vampire story. While his Dracula has some serious superpowers, including ones we don't even think about today like being able to make himself so small (two dimensional perhaps?) that he could squeeze through a door and its frame. But it also put out some of the more interesting weaknesses, such as only being able to change shape at certain times of day, and being trapped in whatever form he currently had until the next time came.
Here too, Dracula can walk in daylight, though his powers were weakened. It was interesting to see this so long ago.
I was also struck at how close to the novel the 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula was. The whole romance part between Dracula and Mina was all new for the movie (and something I could have done without). But the rest is very much a faithful adaptation. I don't think any other adaptations have been as similar to the book. The 1932 movie certainly was not (though it is still my favorite Dracula film. Lugosi just rocks it!).
I was also struck by the feminism in the novel. The New Woman is often mentioned by Mina in the early part of the story. Then it is her who actually brings everything together (albeit with her secretarial skill) to explain everything that has been happening to everyone. Until then the other characters only had their own little piece of the story, but did not see the entire thing. She is what presses the Scooby Gang into finally taking the initiative against Dracula, where before they were merely reacting to him. Of course the first thing they decide upon is to cut her out of everything!
That of course does not last. Dracula preying upon her forces her back into the story. But unlike the damsels in distress in the Dracula films, the original Mina is still a thinker, a planner. She remains the grand strategist for the Scooby Gang.
But in spite of all that it is a solid story. It has most, if not all, of what would become the standard vampire story beats. Stoker did not invent vampires, but he certainly invented the vampire story. While his Dracula has some serious superpowers, including ones we don't even think about today like being able to make himself so small (two dimensional perhaps?) that he could squeeze through a door and its frame. But it also put out some of the more interesting weaknesses, such as only being able to change shape at certain times of day, and being trapped in whatever form he currently had until the next time came.
Here too, Dracula can walk in daylight, though his powers were weakened. It was interesting to see this so long ago.
I was also struck at how close to the novel the 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula was. The whole romance part between Dracula and Mina was all new for the movie (and something I could have done without). But the rest is very much a faithful adaptation. I don't think any other adaptations have been as similar to the book. The 1932 movie certainly was not (though it is still my favorite Dracula film. Lugosi just rocks it!).
I was also struck by the feminism in the novel. The New Woman is often mentioned by Mina in the early part of the story. Then it is her who actually brings everything together (albeit with her secretarial skill) to explain everything that has been happening to everyone. Until then the other characters only had their own little piece of the story, but did not see the entire thing. She is what presses the Scooby Gang into finally taking the initiative against Dracula, where before they were merely reacting to him. Of course the first thing they decide upon is to cut her out of everything!
That of course does not last. Dracula preying upon her forces her back into the story. But unlike the damsels in distress in the Dracula films, the original Mina is still a thinker, a planner. She remains the grand strategist for the Scooby Gang.
QUOTE(SubRosa @ May 14 2019, 02:47 PM)
I finished reading Dracula. It was good, though exasperating at times. Stoker seems loath to write one page, where twenty would suffice. At times I was wondering if he was being paid by the word. Seriously, about a hundred pages could have been cut out without losing any of the plot. The characters are often ridiculously sappy, holding hands and pledging their love of one another. Did people really act like that in 1897? I don't know, but it seems really silly now. As does Van Helsing describing Dracula has having a child-brain.
But in spite of all that it is a solid story. It has most, if not all, of what would become the standard vampire story beats. Stoker did not invent vampires, but he certainly invented the vampire story. While his Dracula has some serious superpowers, including ones we don't even think about today like being able to make himself so small (two dimensional perhaps?) that he could squeeze through a door and its frame. But it also put out some of the more interesting weaknesses, such as only being able to change shape at certain times of day, and being trapped in whatever form he currently had until the next time came.
Here too, Dracula can walk in daylight, though his powers were weakened. It was interesting to see this so long ago.
I was also struck at how close to the novel the 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula was. The whole romance part between Dracula and Mina was all new for the movie (and something I could have done without). But the rest is very much a faithful adaptation. I don't think any other adaptations have been as similar to the book. The 1932 movie certainly was not (though it is still my favorite Dracula film. Lugosi just rocks it!).
Interesting you mention movie(s) vs book. I just recent watched a YouTube video on that very thing. The original Nosferatu didn't do well, but then you wouldn't expect it too, what with its creators hoping to slip it under the radar of the Stoker estate. Not that it worked, they being sued, losing, and ordered to destroy every copy of the film. (Thankfully some escaped.)
QUOTE(Decrepit @ May 14 2019, 04:16 PM)
QUOTE(SubRosa @ May 14 2019, 02:47 PM)
I finished reading Dracula. It was good, though exasperating at times. Stoker seems loath to write one page, where twenty would suffice. At times I was wondering if he was being paid by the word. Seriously, about a hundred pages could have been cut out without losing any of the plot. The characters are often ridiculously sappy, holding hands and pledging their love of one another. Did people really act like that in 1897? I don't know, but it seems really silly now. As does Van Helsing describing Dracula has having a child-brain.
But in spite of all that it is a solid story. It has most, if not all, of what would become the standard vampire story beats. Stoker did not invent vampires, but he certainly invented the vampire story. While his Dracula has some serious superpowers, including ones we don't even think about today like being able to make himself so small (two dimensional perhaps?) that he could squeeze through a door and its frame. But it also put out some of the more interesting weaknesses, such as only being able to change shape at certain times of day, and being trapped in whatever form he currently had until the next time came.
Here too, Dracula can walk in daylight, though his powers were weakened. It was interesting to see this so long ago.
I was also struck at how close to the novel the 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula was. The whole romance part between Dracula and Mina was all new for the movie (and something I could have done without). But the rest is very much a faithful adaptation. I don't think any other adaptations have been as similar to the book. The 1932 movie certainly was not (though it is still my favorite Dracula film. Lugosi just rocks it!).
Interesting you mention movie(s) vs book. I just recent watched a YouTube video on that very thing. The original Nosferatu didn't do well, but then you wouldn't expect it too, what with its creators hoping to slip it under the radar of the Stoker estate. Not that it worked, they being sued, losing, and ordered to destroy every copy of the film. (Thankfully some escaped.)
Reading the novel got me in the mood for movies. So last week I watched the Lugosi movie and the 1992 one. I have the 1979 one with Frank Langella, but I think I might be finally Dracula'd out by now. Though I do plan to read Carmilla in the near future. I have had the book for a while now (it's another open source one, since it is so old).
Speaking of which, won't the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings be public domain soon? The copyrights must be expiring soon.
Hmm, I just looked it up, and varies by country:
Europe: 2043 (Life + 70)
Canada: 2023 (Life + 50) (congratz Canada!)
U.S: 2043 or 2050
Another interesting thing is that in the novel Dracula buys Carfax. It is only in the Lugosi movie that it becomes Carfax Abbey.
Something else that strikes me is that it is almost science fiction. Stoker is keen to include all what was then cutting edge science and engineering. Mina uses a typewriter, and even thinks of it as easier to use than writing with a pen. Dr. Seward records his journal on a dictaphone. Quincy provides them all with Winchester repeating rifles. Later they take trains to catch Dracula, and a steam-powered boat.
In contrast Dracula has dominion over the winds and storms. He can command the baser animals: rats, bats, wolves. He can turn into mist. He is almost an elemental force of nature or a supernatural force of nature and superstition. While the Scooby Gang typify the forces of science and modernity. In that sense, the novel is a clash of the old world vs. the new.
Has anyone here read The Vampire Chronicles Books by Anne Rice?
QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ May 14 2019, 05:48 PM)
Has anyone here read The Vampire Chronicles Books by Anne Rice?
I read Interview With A Vampire back in the 90s. That is it.
QUOTE(Decrepit @ May 14 2019, 04:16 PM)
Interesting you mention movie(s) vs book. I just recent watched a YouTube video on that very thing. The original Nosferatu didn't do well, but then you wouldn't expect it too, what with its creators hoping to slip it under the radar of the Stoker estate. Not that it worked, they being sued, losing, and ordered to destroy every copy of the film. (Thankfully some escaped.)
I finally got the time to watch that vid. It was well done. I was surprised at the '77 BBC version being so faithful. I have never even heard of that version of the film. I will have to look for it.
QUOTE(SubRosa @ May 14 2019, 04:59 PM)
QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ May 14 2019, 05:48 PM)
Has anyone here read The Vampire Chronicles Books by Anne Rice?
I read Interview With A Vampire back in the 90s. That is it.
Was it good? Would you recommend it?
QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ May 14 2019, 07:38 PM)
QUOTE(SubRosa @ May 14 2019, 04:59 PM)
QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ May 14 2019, 05:48 PM)
Has anyone here read The Vampire Chronicles Books by Anne Rice?
I read Interview With A Vampire back in the 90s. That is it.
Was it good? Would you recommend it?
To be honest, that was so long ago, I don't know. I do not remember it much. Except it was one of the first novels/series to change vampires from being purely monsters (like Dracula originally was), and treat them in a more nuanced fashion. Which is to say, as protagonists. Of course that brought us what is now the oh so overcommon and overused tortured soul vampire. But back then it was a new trope, so not so tired and annoying.
Since you are a fan of Vampire: The Masquerade, I do recommend reading the Anne Rice novels. V:tM borrows from Anne Rice's general portrayal of vampires and overall mood. The creator of V:tM says he did not read any of Rice's novels until late in the game's development. But he does admit that they probably influenced all the vampire movies that in turn influenced him. The game takes Rice's stuff further, in that it presents an entire vampire society with varying clans, customs, and laws. While Rice's novels were about individuals, not clans and so forth. But both are more about narrative and characterization over monster slaying.
I believe they start with Interview With A Vampire, then Vampire Lestat, I forget what comes next in the series.
QUOTE(SubRosa @ May 14 2019, 07:15 PM)
QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ May 14 2019, 07:38 PM)
QUOTE(SubRosa @ May 14 2019, 04:59 PM)
QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ May 14 2019, 05:48 PM)
Has anyone here read The Vampire Chronicles Books by Anne Rice?
I read Interview With A Vampire back in the 90s. That is it.
Was it good? Would you recommend it?
To be honest, that was so long ago, I don't know. I do not remember it much. Except it was one of the first novels/series to change vampires from being purely monsters (like Dracula originally was), and treat them in a more nuanced fashion. Which is to say, as protagonists. Of course that brought us what is now the oh so overcommon and overused tortured soul vampire. But back then it was a new trope, so not so tired and annoying.
Since you are a fan of Vampire: The Masquerade, I do recommend reading the Anne Rice novels. V:tM borrows from Anne Rice's general portrayal of vampires and overall mood. The creator of V:tM says he did not ready any of Rice's novels until late in the game's development. But he does admit that they probably influenced all the vampire movies that in turn influenced him. The game takes Rice's stuff further, in that it presents an entire vampire society with varying clans, customs, and laws. While Rice's novels were about individuals, not clans and so forth. But both are more about narrative and characterization over monster slaying.
I believe they start with Interview With A Vampire, then Vampire Lestat, I forget what comes next in the series.
Hmmm, I may pick it up at some point. I liked the movie
At 1700 this afternoon I finished my fourth read of Guy Gavriel Kay's A Song for Arbonne. As stated any number of times, Kay is hands-down my favorite active fantasy author. In this case I fell under Kay's spell almost immediately and remained spellbound throughout. Good as it is, my first recommendation for those wanting to sample Kay at his best remains the two book Sarantine Mosaic, consisting of Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors.
Finishing it today is perfect timing, as during today's errand run I swung by Barnes and Noble and bought Kay's newly released A Brightness Long Ago. I'll begin reading it by day's end.
Finishing it today is perfect timing, as during today's errand run I swung by Barnes and Noble and bought Kay's newly released A Brightness Long Ago. I'll begin reading it by day's end.
At 2144, not long before falling asleep, 2 Jun 2019, I finished Guy Gavriel Kay's newly released A Brightness Long Ago. It's very much in the Kay mold...primarily focusing on various characters and their interactions with one another. In this case those characters are placed in a fictional equivalent to early-Renaissance Italy. We glimpse their lives beginning several years prior to a monumental real-life occurrence (mirrored in Kay's world) and witness their immediate reactions to said occurrence. We are also given insights about some of those characters lives before and/or afterward. Kay is a master at this sort of thing.
There is no overarching unifying "quest" these people are directly involved in. They simply go about living their lives, occasionally dying their deaths. This worried me at first, but I quickly came to appreciate what Kay does here, and ending up liking this book quite a lot. I prefer it to its immediate predecessor, Children of Earth and Sky, which I find less inspired than Kay at his best.
That said, I don't see this as an ideal introduction to Kay. My prime recommendation for that remains the two-volume Sarantine Mosaic, consisting of Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors. Having recently re-read A Song for Arbonne I can safely list it as a solid alternative.
(I could type more about Brightness, but don't want to spoil things for those thinking to acquire it.)
A problem with Kay is that he's is such a darn good writer it can be hard to find a solid non-Kay followup. Such is the case with the book I began upon finishing Brightness. Its opening sentence simply didn't work for me. I quickly edited it in my mind then moved to sentence two, which also didn't work as written. So it went for the first half of page one, at which point I fell asleep. (Yes, it's ME saying this. The fellow who can't post a simple three-word message without at least six errors.)
To the plus, once enough time has passed to allow Kay's magic to fade I'll likely find the "new" read quite acceptable.
There is no overarching unifying "quest" these people are directly involved in. They simply go about living their lives, occasionally dying their deaths. This worried me at first, but I quickly came to appreciate what Kay does here, and ending up liking this book quite a lot. I prefer it to its immediate predecessor, Children of Earth and Sky, which I find less inspired than Kay at his best.
That said, I don't see this as an ideal introduction to Kay. My prime recommendation for that remains the two-volume Sarantine Mosaic, consisting of Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors. Having recently re-read A Song for Arbonne I can safely list it as a solid alternative.
(I could type more about Brightness, but don't want to spoil things for those thinking to acquire it.)
A problem with Kay is that he's is such a darn good writer it can be hard to find a solid non-Kay followup. Such is the case with the book I began upon finishing Brightness. Its opening sentence simply didn't work for me. I quickly edited it in my mind then moved to sentence two, which also didn't work as written. So it went for the first half of page one, at which point I fell asleep. (Yes, it's ME saying this. The fellow who can't post a simple three-word message without at least six errors.)
To the plus, once enough time has passed to allow Kay's magic to fade I'll likely find the "new" read quite acceptable.
I read a bunch of Robert E Howard's horror stories lately. A lot of people probably do not realize it, but he was not only a contemporary of HP Lovecraft, but a regular pen-pal of his and member of Lovecraft's 'inner circle' of friends. So besides Conan, and Westerns, he also wrote some Mythos stories. He is even the one who gave the Mythos the book Nameless Cults (Unaussprechlichen Kulten).
He wrote some fun Mythos stories. Unlike Lovecraft's, his protagonists didn't faint when they saw the saw the monster. They pulled out their swords or .45's and blew it away! Seriously though, his stories are a nice breath of fresh air from Lovecraft's academic types.
I was prompted by the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast - or HP Podcraft. They went through Lovecraft's stories years ago, and instead have forged on to cover Weird Tales of all authors, with the only caveat being that they (usually) only cover people who are dead, and thusly those whose works are public domain. That way we can read them freely and go along with the show. They covered a couple of packs of Robert E Howard stories which got my barbaric blood boiling with pantherish grace. They called the Howard month 'Thewly' (That looks weird in print, it is Thew + July, so it is pronunced Thew-lie).
Anyway, In spite of the title, Pigeons from Hell was a really good haunted house tale. Wolfshead and In the Forest of Vilifere were fun, if nothing great. So long as you can look past the racism (which is sadly all too common with authors of that era, but Howard's was not slap you in the face blatant at least. Rather it was just matter of fact for the time the story is set. Pigeons From Hell even subverts it, with his strong portrayal of a black woman).
The Black Stone was a fun mythos tale, very much in Lovecraft's vein. He introduces Nameless Cults here, and goes into a lot of details about how it was written. Then the protagonist witnesses an ancient rite, and Howard does not pull any punches. It is a truly visceral horror. The Horror From the Mound was kind of meh. Thing On the Roof, wasn't anything special either. The best parts are of the book Nameless Cults.
The Fire Of Asshurbanipal was a rollicking adventure yarn with a horrific mythos monster tossed in for good measure. A fun read. The People of the Dark was a cool surprise Conan story, where the protagonist has a past life experience where he was Conan, with an interesting frame narrative in the present that links back to the Conan story in the past. Children of the Night was so similar that it was a pale reflection, and suffered from the lack of a cool character like Conan. Finally Worms of the Earth is a fun Bran Mak Morn story, where Bran (basically the Pictish version of Conan), uses Mythos creatures to overthrow a Roman outpost.
A lot of Howard is just eye-rolling. I mean, it is clearly a ton of adolescent wish-fulfillment. But with the right mind-set it is fun. His characters are men of action, who don't sit around dawdling. They get in there and do stuff. His writing style is the same. He doesn't waste time. Instead he moves the story along with vigor. You never get bored waiting for something to happen. I do enjoy reading his work. It's too bad he ended his life so young. He would have been great writing comic books. Come to think of it, Conan is one of the more prolific comic book characters around.
I think you can find all these on Project Gutenberg, as they are public domain.
He wrote some fun Mythos stories. Unlike Lovecraft's, his protagonists didn't faint when they saw the saw the monster. They pulled out their swords or .45's and blew it away!
Seriously though, his stories are a nice breath of fresh air from Lovecraft's academic types. I was prompted by the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast - or HP Podcraft. They went through Lovecraft's stories years ago, and instead have forged on to cover Weird Tales of all authors, with the only caveat being that they (usually) only cover people who are dead, and thusly those whose works are public domain. That way we can read them freely and go along with the show. They covered a couple of packs of Robert E Howard stories which got my barbaric blood boiling with pantherish grace. They called the Howard month 'Thewly' (That looks weird in print, it is Thew + July, so it is pronunced Thew-lie).
Anyway, In spite of the title, Pigeons from Hell was a really good haunted house tale. Wolfshead and In the Forest of Vilifere were fun, if nothing great. So long as you can look past the racism (which is sadly all too common with authors of that era, but Howard's was not slap you in the face blatant at least. Rather it was just matter of fact for the time the story is set. Pigeons From Hell even subverts it, with his strong portrayal of a black woman).
The Black Stone was a fun mythos tale, very much in Lovecraft's vein. He introduces Nameless Cults here, and goes into a lot of details about how it was written. Then the protagonist witnesses an ancient rite, and Howard does not pull any punches. It is a truly visceral horror. The Horror From the Mound was kind of meh. Thing On the Roof, wasn't anything special either. The best parts are of the book Nameless Cults.
The Fire Of Asshurbanipal was a rollicking adventure yarn with a horrific mythos monster tossed in for good measure. A fun read. The People of the Dark was a cool surprise Conan story, where the protagonist has a past life experience where he was Conan, with an interesting frame narrative in the present that links back to the Conan story in the past. Children of the Night was so similar that it was a pale reflection, and suffered from the lack of a cool character like Conan. Finally Worms of the Earth is a fun Bran Mak Morn story, where Bran (basically the Pictish version of Conan), uses Mythos creatures to overthrow a Roman outpost.
A lot of Howard is just eye-rolling. I mean, it is clearly a ton of adolescent wish-fulfillment. But with the right mind-set it is fun. His characters are men of action, who don't sit around dawdling. They get in there and do stuff. His writing style is the same. He doesn't waste time. Instead he moves the story along with vigor. You never get bored waiting for something to happen. I do enjoy reading his work. It's too bad he ended his life so young. He would have been great writing comic books. Come to think of it, Conan is one of the more prolific comic book characters around.
I think you can find all these on Project Gutenberg, as they are public domain.
QUOTE(SubRosa @ Jun 7 2019, 04:43 PM)
I read a bunch of Robert E Howard's horror stories lately. A lot of people probably do not realize it, but he was not only a contemporary of HP Lovecraft, but a regular pen-pal of his and member of Lovecraft's 'inner circle' of friends. So besides Conan, and Westerns, he also wrote some Mythos stories. He is even the one who gave the Mythos the book Nameless Cults (Unaussprechlichen Kulten).
He wrote some fun Mythos stories. Unlike Lovecraft's, his protagonists didn't faint when they saw the saw the monster. They pulled out their swords or .45's and blew it away!
Seriously though, his stories are a nice breath of fresh air from Lovecraft's academic types. I was prompted by the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast - or HP Podcraft. They went through Lovecraft's stories years ago, and instead have forged on to cover Weird Tales of all authors, with the only caveat being that they (usually) only cover people who are dead, and thusly those whose works are public domain. That way we can read them freely and go along with the show. They covered a couple of packs of Robert E Howard stories which got my barbaric blood boiling with pantherish grace. They called the Howard month 'Thewly' (That looks weird in print, it is Thew + July, so it is pronunced Thew-lie).
Anyway, In spite of the title, Pigeons from Helll was a really good haunted house tale. Wolfshead and In the Forest of Vilifere were fun, if nothing great. So long as you can look past the racism (which is sadly all too common with authors of that era, but Howard's was not slap you in the face blatant at least. Rather it was just matter of fact for the time the story is set. Pigeons From Hell even subverts it, with his strong portrayal of a black woman).
The Black Stone was a fun mythos tale, very much in Lovecraft's vein. He introduces Nameless Cults here, and goes into a lot of details about how it was written. Then the protagonist witnesses an ancient rite, and Howard does not pull any punches. It is a truly visceral horror. The Horror From the Mound was kind of meh. Thing On the Roof, wasn't anything special either. The best parts are of the book Nameless Cults.
The Fire Of Asshurbanipal was a rollicking adventure yarn with a horrific mythos monster tossed in for good measure. A fun read. The People of the Dark was a cool surprise Conan story, where the protagonist has a past life experience where he was Conan, with an interesting frame narrative in the present that links back to the Conan story in the past. Children of the Night was so similar that it was a pale reflection, and suffered from the lack of a cool character like Conan. Finally Worms of the Earth is a fun Bran Mak Morn story, where Bran (basically the Pictish version of Conan), uses Mythos creatures to overthrow a Roman outpost.
A lot of Howard is just eye-rolling. I mean, it is clearly a ton of adolescent wish-fulfillment. But with the right mind-set it is fun. His characters are men of action, who don't sit around dawdling. They get in there and do stuff. His writing style is the same. He doesn't waste time. Instead he moves the story along with vigor. You never get bored waiting for something to happen. I do enjoy reading his work. It's too bad he ended his life so young. He would have been great writing comic books. Come to think of it, Conan is one of the more prolific comic book characters around.
I think you can find all these on Project Gutenberg, as they are public domain.
Khajiit has read a lot of the Conan stories. Conan often encounters Eldritch Abominations of one form or another during his adventures. Howard and Lovecraft just kind of go hand in hand, in Khajiit’s opinion.
QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ Jun 7 2019, 06:14 PM)
QUOTE(SubRosa @ Jun 7 2019, 04:43 PM)
I read a bunch of Robert E Howard's horror stories lately. A lot of people probably do not realize it, but he was not only a contemporary of HP Lovecraft, but a regular pen-pal of his and member of Lovecraft's 'inner circle' of friends. So besides Conan, and Westerns, he also wrote some Mythos stories. He is even the one who gave the Mythos the book Nameless Cults (Unaussprechlichen Kulten).
He wrote some fun Mythos stories. Unlike Lovecraft's, his protagonists didn't faint when they saw the saw the monster. They pulled out their swords or .45's and blew it away!
Seriously though, his stories are a nice breath of fresh air from Lovecraft's academic types. I was prompted by the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast - or HP Podcraft. They went through Lovecraft's stories years ago, and instead have forged on to cover Weird Tales of all authors, with the only caveat being that they (usually) only cover people who are dead, and thusly those whose works are public domain. That way we can read them freely and go along with the show. They covered a couple of packs of Robert E Howard stories which got my barbaric blood boiling with pantherish grace. They called the Howard month 'Thewly' (That looks weird in print, it is Thew + July, so it is pronunced Thew-lie).
Anyway, In spite of the title, Pigeons from Helll was a really good haunted house tale. Wolfshead and In the Forest of Vilifere were fun, if nothing great. So long as you can look past the racism (which is sadly all too common with authors of that era, but Howard's was not slap you in the face blatant at least. Rather it was just matter of fact for the time the story is set. Pigeons From Hell even subverts it, with his strong portrayal of a black woman).
The Black Stone was a fun mythos tale, very much in Lovecraft's vein. He introduces Nameless Cults here, and goes into a lot of details about how it was written. Then the protagonist witnesses an ancient rite, and Howard does not pull any punches. It is a truly visceral horror. The Horror From the Mound was kind of meh. Thing On the Roof, wasn't anything special either. The best parts are of the book Nameless Cults.
The Fire Of Asshurbanipal was a rollicking adventure yarn with a horrific mythos monster tossed in for good measure. A fun read. The People of the Dark was a cool surprise Conan story, where the protagonist has a past life experience where he was Conan, with an interesting frame narrative in the present that links back to the Conan story in the past. Children of the Night was so similar that it was a pale reflection, and suffered from the lack of a cool character like Conan. Finally Worms of the Earth is a fun Bran Mak Morn story, where Bran (basically the Pictish version of Conan), uses Mythos creatures to overthrow a Roman outpost.
A lot of Howard is just eye-rolling. I mean, it is clearly a ton of adolescent wish-fulfillment. But with the right mind-set it is fun. His characters are men of action, who don't sit around dawdling. They get in there and do stuff. His writing style is the same. He doesn't waste time. Instead he moves the story along with vigor. You never get bored waiting for something to happen. I do enjoy reading his work. It's too bad he ended his life so young. He would have been great writing comic books. Come to think of it, Conan is one of the more prolific comic book characters around.
I think you can find all these on Project Gutenberg, as they are public domain.
Khajiit has read a lot of the Conan stories. Conan often encounters Eldritch Abominations of one form or another during his adventures. Howard and Lovecraft just kind of go hand in hand, in Khajiit’s opinion.
I just love Howard's habit of comparing characters to animals. Conan always moves with panther-like grace, or leaps like a pouncing tiger. Nomads swoop down like hawks. It is funny counting how many times he does that. Like how often Lovecraft uses the word "certain" (always in a way that is utterly ambiguous and totally uncertain).
But being serious, I think Howard jelled a character's nature by comparing them to one animal or another. This one was like a rat, this was like a wolf, that one like a hawk. I think he built the rest of their personalities around that. Which I honestly think is a good way to go. It gives the characters a solid core of personality and physicality to draw from when portraying them.
I even did some digging, and found pdf versions of the old Ace/Lancer series of Conan books. I used to have them in paperback ages ago, but lost them in one of my moves. I don't think I will read them any time soon. But it is nice to have them back again, in a format I can actually read (my eyes struggle with physical books these days).
A lot of people diss these books, because half of them are stories written by Lin Carter or Sprague DeCamp. But I always liked them as much as the pure Howard stories. Conan is Conan. A lot of people have written him: Karl Edward Wagner, Robert Jordan, etc... His thews are just as mighty under their pens, and he moves with just as much pantherish grace.
At 0307 this morning, 19 Jun 2019. I finished my fourth read of Barbara Hambly's The Time of the Dark, book one of her The Darwath Trilogy. This is, for me, a run-of-the-mill fantasy for and of its time (early 1980s). An OK read, but not something I'd go out of my way to recommend.
I might or might not continue on with book two.
I might or might not continue on with book two.
For the last few days I have checking out Escape Artists Podcasts. They are not the typical podcasts of people talking about a given subject. Instead it is a repository of short stories in audiobook fomat. Some are original, some are the works of already published authors. The site is divided by genre, with sections on Sci Fi (Escape Pod), Fantasy (Podcastle), and Horror (PseudoPod).
I have already come across several which I really enjoyed. They also have the full text of each story on the site as well as audio.
The Screwfly Solution is what brought me there. I read it last week because HP Podcraft covered it. I had heard of it before, but never read it. So that was my kick to get me in gear.
I was blown away, in good and bad ways. It is deeply disturbing, because so little of it is fantastic or unusual. It all seemed so ordinary and expected by me, because there is nothing surprising about men raping and murdering women. The story just takes it to eleven, and adds in a twist behind all the violent and horrific behavior. It ends with a really effective italicized final sentence, that twists the knife. It is a great story to read, but it might depress you, or set off triggers you might have.
Another I found on PseudoPod was The Coven Of Dead Girls. It is really short, told from the point of view of a girl murdered by a serial killer. Again, if rape and murder are triggers for you, don't read it. Otherwise it is really chilling.
There was also A Strange Heart Set In Feldspar about a woman who takes her kids to Sweden on vacation, and they go on an excursion in a mine whose owner and operator vanished mysteriously. It starts out seeming like a pretty typical horror story, but takes some interesting turns, and gets into some good characterization. It also has a nice ending.
I Am Fire, I Am Tears was a really fun fantasy story. I really liked it because it turns several tropes on their heads. First it has a dragon kidnapping the Prince and eating him, rather than the Princess. That has to be at least two tropes in one turned upside down. Each time the dragon eats a Prince, she loses some of her monstrousness, and becomes more human. As it turns out, she is actually rescuing the Princess from toxic relationships with abusive men. It was really cool.
Finally on an entirely separate note I read Copping Squid, by Michael Shea. It is one of his Cthulhu Mythos stories, and is related to his story Tsathaggua. Like the other tale, it is about a person who has a brush with the Great Old Ones. One thing I like about Shea's writing is that he does not portray these occurrences in simple scream, run, and faint terms. Rather they are revelations. These people are being shown miracles, and they know it. They transcend their ordinary mortal existences, and touch cosmic greatness. As Patton Oswalt said on HPPodcraft when they were talking about Tsathaggua, it is like crack or heroin. The first hit is wonderful. The true horror does not set in until later, when it is too late to escape destruction.
I have already come across several which I really enjoyed. They also have the full text of each story on the site as well as audio.
The Screwfly Solution is what brought me there. I read it last week because HP Podcraft covered it. I had heard of it before, but never read it. So that was my kick to get me in gear.
I was blown away, in good and bad ways. It is deeply disturbing, because so little of it is fantastic or unusual. It all seemed so ordinary and expected by me, because there is nothing surprising about men raping and murdering women. The story just takes it to eleven, and adds in a twist behind all the violent and horrific behavior. It ends with a really effective italicized final sentence, that twists the knife. It is a great story to read, but it might depress you, or set off triggers you might have.
Another I found on PseudoPod was The Coven Of Dead Girls. It is really short, told from the point of view of a girl murdered by a serial killer. Again, if rape and murder are triggers for you, don't read it. Otherwise it is really chilling.
There was also A Strange Heart Set In Feldspar about a woman who takes her kids to Sweden on vacation, and they go on an excursion in a mine whose owner and operator vanished mysteriously. It starts out seeming like a pretty typical horror story, but takes some interesting turns, and gets into some good characterization. It also has a nice ending.
I Am Fire, I Am Tears was a really fun fantasy story. I really liked it because it turns several tropes on their heads. First it has a dragon kidnapping the Prince and eating him, rather than the Princess. That has to be at least two tropes in one turned upside down. Each time the dragon eats a Prince, she loses some of her monstrousness, and becomes more human. As it turns out, she is actually rescuing the Princess from toxic relationships with abusive men. It was really cool.
Finally on an entirely separate note I read Copping Squid, by Michael Shea. It is one of his Cthulhu Mythos stories, and is related to his story Tsathaggua. Like the other tale, it is about a person who has a brush with the Great Old Ones. One thing I like about Shea's writing is that he does not portray these occurrences in simple scream, run, and faint terms. Rather they are revelations. These people are being shown miracles, and they know it. They transcend their ordinary mortal existences, and touch cosmic greatness. As Patton Oswalt said on HPPodcraft when they were talking about Tsathaggua, it is like crack or heroin. The first hit is wonderful. The true horror does not set in until later, when it is too late to escape destruction.
Khajiit needs to read more 
Too.
Many.
Video.
Games.
Oh well. Maybe Khajiit can get some quality reading done on beach vacation this year.
@Subbie- would you care to make a short list of Cthulhu Mythos stuff that you recommend and post it here? Nothing goes better with beach vacations than reading about humankind’s futile struggle with the Great Old Ones and their abominable kin.
Too.
Many.
Video.
Games.
Oh well. Maybe Khajiit can get some quality reading done on beach vacation this year.
@Subbie- would you care to make a short list of Cthulhu Mythos stuff that you recommend and post it here? Nothing goes better with beach vacations than reading about humankind’s futile struggle with the Great Old Ones and their abominable kin.
QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ Jun 19 2019, 05:39 PM)
Khajiit needs to read more
Too.
Many.
Video.
Games.
Oh well. Maybe Khajiit can get some quality reading done on beach vacation this year.
@Subbie- would you care to make a short list of Cthulhu Mythos stuff that you recommend and post it here? Nothing goes better with beach vacations than reading about humankind’s futile struggle with the Great Old Ones and their abominable kin.
Lovecraft's own writing, or non-Lovecraft stories?
QUOTE(SubRosa @ Jun 19 2019, 05:25 PM)
QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ Jun 19 2019, 05:39 PM)
Khajiit needs to read more
Too.
Many.
Video.
Games.
Oh well. Maybe Khajiit can get some quality reading done on beach vacation this year.
@Subbie- would you care to make a short list of Cthulhu Mythos stuff that you recommend and post it here? Nothing goes better with beach vacations than reading about humankind’s futile struggle with the Great Old Ones and their abominable kin.
Lovecraft's own writing, or non-Lovecraft stories?
Non, Khajiit has plenty of Lovecraft’s work. It would be interesting to see what other writers do with the Mythos.
QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ Jun 19 2019, 08:18 PM)
QUOTE(SubRosa @ Jun 19 2019, 05:25 PM)
QUOTE(TheCheshireKhajiit @ Jun 19 2019, 05:39 PM)
Khajiit needs to read more
Too.
Many.
Video.
Games.
Oh well. Maybe Khajiit can get some quality reading done on beach vacation this year.
@Subbie- would you care to make a short list of Cthulhu Mythos stuff that you recommend and post it here? Nothing goes better with beach vacations than reading about humankind’s futile struggle with the Great Old Ones and their abominable kin.
Lovecraft's own writing, or non-Lovecraft stories?
Non, Khajiit has plenty of Lovecraft’s work. It would be interesting to see what other writers do with the Mythos.
That is what I thought you meant. I made a list:
If you want to look for individual stories, a lot of these are so old they are public domain:
Robert E Howard
The Fire of Asshurbanipal
The Black Stone
Worms of the Earth
The People Of The Dark
The Tower of the Elephant
The Slithering Shadow
Karl Edward Wagner
Sticks
Stephen King
Jeruselam's Lot (not Salem's Lot)
Michael Shea
Tsathaggoua
Copping Squid
Anthology - The Demiurge (I have not read all of it yet, but I am thinking of buying it)
Robert Bloch
Notebook Found In A Deserted House
The Shambler From The Stars (this was sort of a joke, as two of the characters are stand ins for HP Lovecraft. Lovecraft wrote Haunter of the Dark in response)
The Shadow From The Steeple (this is a sequel to HPL's Haunter of the Dark)
Frank Belknap Long
The Hounds Of Tindalos
Clark Ashton Smith
Ubbo-Sathla
The Hunters From Beyond
Algernon Blackwood
The Wendigo
The Willows
If you just want to buy some anthologies, I recommend these:
The Cthulhu Mythos Megapack (the first one) - This was like 99 cents for Amazon Kindle
Tales Of The Cthuhlu Mythos
World War Cthulhu
She Walks In Shadows (this was a nice collection written by female authors, and many took established characters like Asenath Waite and Lavinia Whately and told stories from their point of view, which is a real breath of fresh air).
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