How do!

So we’ve got one for telly, one for movies and one for music. But we don’t seem to have one for books.

And any kind of books. Digital books, paperbacks, hardbacks, science journals, comic books, Manga. Anything where you need to read with your eyes.

At the moment I’m not in a particularly novelly mood, so have been sticking to my 2000AD Ultimate Collection. Currently up to volume 152 out of 180. Which is good going for a part work originally billed as 80 volumes! Most recent volumes were Harlem Heroes (from 2000Ad’s earliest days, predating even Judge Dredd!) and Buttonman, from the early 90’s.

Both were highly enjoyable. And like its Judge Dredd counterpart, there’s only been one or two volumes I’ve just not got on with. So it’s a pretty decent endorsement of 2000AD’s overall quality and variety.

Not sure what’s next up. Halfway through a Ciaphas Cain book, and I know there’s a new one of that coming, and most importantly, a collection of the short stories from the omnibus editions coming. So probably that.

The thread you are looking for was just about mid way down the first page.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/809570.page

 warhead01 wrote:
The thread you are looking for was just about mid way down the first page.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/809570.page

Following your link, I tried to post something, but got a warning about resurrecting a 3+month old post. I guess it's time to restart.

I'm re-reading The Lord of the Rings for the umpteenth time, but this time around, I'm forcing myself to read all the songs and poems.

I’m reading a book on Scottish history and also following up on the rest of the Chris Claremont X-Men run as my son finishes them. Not much time to read these days, so just bits and pieces.


Re: LOTR, my first read through, I complained about to my wife about how all the songs and poems never had the payoff I was expecting (as a modern reader), and really made the book drag. My wife, who loves LOTR and learned elvish and dearvish scripts in high school, said, “You read the poems? Just skip them like I do.”

At the moment I'm following about a dozen or so novels on royal road, most of which are 2 to 3 chapters a week.
Also following a dozen or so web serials as they are translated, mostly chinese in origin, though 1 or 2 korean, the serials though I'm
checking up on every couple weeks so i can have a mini binge of reading.
Outside of that, I'd like to say i was diving into history novels like some of you seem to, but nah, just the random pulp fantasy/sci-fi novel when
the serials are on a lull.

 greenskin lynn wrote:

Outside of that, I'd like to say i was diving into history novels like some of you seem to, but nah, just the random pulp fantasy/sci-fi novel when
the serials are on a lull.

Nothing wrong with that. A podcast that I follow talks about that sort of genre fiction, and there are a whole lot of great authors to discover that way.

 JoshInJapan wrote:

 greenskin lynn wrote:

Outside of that, I'd like to say i was diving into history novels like some of you seem to, but nah, just the random pulp fantasy/sci-fi novel when
the serials are on a lull.

Nothing wrong with that. A podcast that I follow talks about that sort of genre fiction, and there are a whole lot of great authors to discover that way.

That's what i enjoy about royal road and some similar sites, you can catch some really solid authors that are just starting, in addition to getting to read some stuff months before its gets compiled and put on amazon and the like.

I am keeping up with my x men books in the krakoan era.

The really incredible compilation trades have unfortunately ended and now I am playing massive catch up on all the many/various series that make up the "Destiny of X" leading into Sins of Sinister.

 Lance845 wrote:
I am keeping up with my x men books in the krakoan era.

The really incredible compilation trades have unfortunately ended and now I am playing massive catch up on all the many/various series that make up the "Destiny of X" leading into Sins of Sinister.

Please let me know how that goes, if the stories are worth the effort. We got the Powers of X hardcover, but it’s more of a set up to the stuff you’re reading than a complete story.

Still on my Joe Abercrombie re-read. Just wrapping up Best Served Cold, and very much looking forward to the recently-announced movie adaptation...

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
I am keeping up with my x men books in the krakoan era.

The really incredible compilation trades have unfortunately ended and now I am playing massive catch up on all the many/various series that make up the "Destiny of X" leading into Sins of Sinister.

Please let me know how that goes, if the stories are worth the effort. We got the Powers of X hardcover, but it’s more of a set up to the stuff you’re reading than a complete story.

Everything Dawn of X through X of Swords is amazing. There are some less good series in there (one featuring Kwanon (the body Betsy Braddock was inhabiting as Psylock... it's complicated dumb comic stuff) to establish who she really is and her motivations in this new era isn't the best but has good foundational elements for the Hellions series which is just flat out one of the best.

After X of Swords is Reign of X. Which continues to be really great I think the New Mutants is the weaker series here, dealing with the Shadow King influencing a new new generation of mutants who are kind of being mentored by the old New Mutants. This wraps up with a big event called the Hellfire Gala which is awesome and has major shake ups again establish some incredible stuff.

After the Gala, Trails of X is a little more hit or miss but over all still pretty great. This wraps up with Inferno and X Lives/X Deaths of Wolverine. Which bears fruit on the Moira in her No Place stuff established by in House/Powers and moves everything into Destiny of X.


Now here X Men Red and Immortal X men is just flat out fething amazing. Some of the best content in the entire line since house/powers. But we also gets some pay off on a lot of seeds. Sabertooth gets a book which becomes Sabertooth and the Exiles (pay off for his exile into the Pit from back at the beginning), another Hellfire Gala and all kinds of stuff. And all along you start seeing what Sinister has been up to which leads into this Sins of Sinister which is also amazing and starts getting into the Chimeras including the awesome Rasputin IV from House/Powers.

It's been a long road but you get a lot of great stuff out of it. Post Sins of Sinister some of the books coming out include a Apocalypse book which looks great.

I just finished Indecent Exposure by Tom Sharpe. A vicious satire of the South African Police as they existed under Apartheid, the sequel to Riotous Assembly.

It features undercover agents attempting to infiltrate communist saboteurs, exploding ostriches, aversion therapy using electric shocks, and a book fanclub.

 Lance845 wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
I am keeping up with my x men books in the krakoan era.

The really incredible compilation trades have unfortunately ended and now I am playing massive catch up on all the many/various series that make up the "Destiny of X" leading into Sins of Sinister.

Please let me know how that goes, if the stories are worth the effort. We got the Powers of X hardcover, but it’s more of a set up to the stuff you’re reading than a complete story.

Everything Dawn of X through X of Swords is amazing. There are some less good series in there (one featuring Kwanon (the body Betsy Braddock was inhabiting as Psylock... it's complicated dumb comic stuff) to establish who she really is and her motivations in this new era isn't the best but has good foundational elements for the Hellions series which is just flat out one of the best.

After X of Swords is Reign of X. Which continues to be really great I think the New Mutants is the weaker series here, dealing with the Shadow King influencing a new new generation of mutants who are kind of being mentored by the old New Mutants. This wraps up with a big event called the Hellfire Gala which is awesome and has major shake ups again establish some incredible stuff.

After the Gala, Trails of X is a little more hit or miss but over all still pretty great. This wraps up with Inferno and X Lives/X Deaths of Wolverine. Which bears fruit on the Moira in her No Place stuff established by in House/Powers and moves everything into Destiny of X.


Now here X Men Red and Immortal X men is just flat out fething amazing. Some of the best content in the entire line since house/powers. But we also gets some pay off on a lot of seeds. Sabertooth gets a book which becomes Sabertooth and the Exiles (pay off for his exile into the Pit from back at the beginning), another Hellfire Gala and all kinds of stuff. And all along you start seeing what Sinister has been up to which leads into this Sins of Sinister which is also amazing and starts getting into the Chimeras including the awesome Rasputin IV from House/Powers.

It's been a long road but you get a lot of great stuff out of it. Post Sins of Sinister some of the books coming out include an Apocalypse book which looks great.

Awesome. Hellions and Sins of Sinister especially sound appealing. But these are not available as trades? Are they all online in the Marvel subscription service?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Lance845 wrote:
I am keeping up with my x men books in the krakoan era.

The really incredible compilation trades have unfortunately ended and now I am playing massive catch up on all the many/various series that make up the "Destiny of X" leading into Sins of Sinister.

Please let me know how that goes, if the stories are worth the effort. We got the Powers of X hardcover, but it’s more of a set up to the stuff you’re reading than a complete story.

Everything Dawn of X through X of Swords is amazing. There are some less good series in there (one featuring Kwanon (the body Betsy Braddock was inhabiting as Psylock... it's complicated dumb comic stuff) to establish who she really is and her motivations in this new era isn't the best but has good foundational elements for the Hellions series which is just flat out one of the best.

After X of Swords is Reign of X. Which continues to be really great I think the New Mutants is the weaker series here, dealing with the Shadow King influencing a new new generation of mutants who are kind of being mentored by the old New Mutants. This wraps up with a big event called the Hellfire Gala which is awesome and has major shake ups again establish some incredible stuff.

After the Gala, Trails of X is a little more hit or miss but over all still pretty great. This wraps up with Inferno and X Lives/X Deaths of Wolverine. Which bears fruit on the Moira in her No Place stuff established by in House/Powers and moves everything into Destiny of X.


Now here X Men Red and Immortal X men is just flat out fething amazing. Some of the best content in the entire line since house/powers. But we also gets some pay off on a lot of seeds. Sabertooth gets a book which becomes Sabertooth and the Exiles (pay off for his exile into the Pit from back at the beginning), another Hellfire Gala and all kinds of stuff. And all along you start seeing what Sinister has been up to which leads into this Sins of Sinister which is also amazing and starts getting into the Chimeras including the awesome Rasputin IV from House/Powers.

It's been a long road but you get a lot of great stuff out of it. Post Sins of Sinister some of the books coming out include an Apocalypse book which looks great.

Awesome. Hellions and Sins of Sinister especially sound appealing. But these are not available as trades? Are they all online in the Marvel subscription service?

Both. Available online but I would use Wikipedia to find the correct reading order for the various series.

If you wanted to get trades, Dawn of X, Reign of X, and Trials of X are collected together as kind of anthology trades that release in more or less correct reading order for all the various series including one offs (like a Giant Sized) or limited/mini series spliced in with the ongoings. So if you wanted to buy physical trades I would hit Ebay or some such and look for Dawn of X vol 1 etc etc...

After Trials you need to switch to trades of individual series because the anthology format got discontinued (to my massive disappointment).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_of_X
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_X <= This includes Trials.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destiny_of_X

The comics currently being released are the aftermath of Sins of Sinister and is called Fall of X. There are some series called "Before the Fall" (still under the Fall of X Banner) and we are being told the next Hellfire Gala is going to trigger some major changes that put the mutants back on the backfoot a bit, though nobody is fully sure what that means. It seems like at the very least the Krakoan gate system is going to be taken out so the mutants will end up scattered a bit.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I’m reading a book on Scottish history

Got any recommendations? Currently reading In Search of the Dark Ages to fill in my English gap between the end of the Romans and 1066. At some point I'd like to crack Scottish history too.

Just for general interest, I’d recommend anything on Neolithic Orkney.

Went there a couple of years ago and it blew my tiny tartan mind.

Given how relatively recently Orkney became part of of Scotland, it would depend how the next man defines Scottish History of course.

Thank you, Lance845. I’ll start reading up on the order and organizing a list of trades to get for my son.

 Henry wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I’m reading a book on Scottish history

Got any recommendations? Currently reading In Search of the Dark Ages to fill in my English gap between the end of the Romans and 1066. At some point I'd like to crack Scottish history too.

Not really. I got a basic introductory history book that doesn’t even cover my clan’s basic history as a gift, so that’s what I’m reading. Once I have the basics, I’ll get one of the more reputable books about my clan…then probably just a bunch of the Osprey books with the pretty pictures.

I’m not sure where to start either for a more in-depth history of Scotland. I’ll welcome suggestions.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Just for general interest, I’d recommend anything on Neolithic Orkney.

Went there a couple of years ago and it blew my tiny tartan mind.

Given how relatively recently Orkney became part of of Scotland, it would depend how the next man defines Scottish History of course.

Neolithic Orkney [or Scotland] would really do it for me. Did you see any interesting titles when you visited?

Currently rereading Ian M Banks' Excession. One of my favourites.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Thank you, Lance845. I’ll start reading up on the order and organizing a list of trades to get for my son.

 Henry wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I’m reading a book on Scottish history

Got any recommendations? Currently reading In Search of the Dark Ages to fill in my English gap between the end of the Romans and 1066. At some point I'd like to crack Scottish history too.

Not really. I got a basic introductory history book that doesn’t even cover my clan’s basic history as a gift, so that’s what I’m reading. Once I have the basics, I’ll get one of the more reputable books about my clan…then probably just a bunch of the Osprey books with the pretty pictures.

I’m not sure where to start either for a more in-depth history of Scotland. I’ll welcome suggestions.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Just for general interest, I’d recommend anything on Neolithic Orkney.

Went there a couple of years ago and it blew my tiny tartan mind.

Given how relatively recently Orkney became part of of Scotland, it would depend how the next man defines Scottish History of course.

Neolithic Orkney [or Scotland] would really do it for me. Did you see any interesting titles when you visited?

I did indeed!

Ring of Brodgar, Skara Brae, pretty much all of it. Including an ongoing excavation of a recent discovery, Ness of Brodgar

https://www.orkney.com/things/history/listing/ness-of-brodgar

It’s a tricky place to get to, and not cheap as a result, but if you can go? GO!

Mad Doc, I’ve been doing a bit of looking for a book on Neolithic Orkney, and while I’m finding some promising leads, I thought you would enjoy this pitch for the first book on Skara Brae Amazon wanted me to see:

Reveals the striking similarities between Skara Brae and the traditions of pre-dynastic ancient Egypt as preserved by the Dogon people of Mali

• Explains how megalithic stone sites near Skara Brae conform to Dogon cosmology

• Examines the similarities between Skara Brae and Gobekli Tepe and how Skara Brae may have been a secondary center of learning for the ancient world

A few things;

Atomic Habits by James Clear as my 'improve yourself' book.

Sons and Lovers by Lawrence as my DEAR time book when the students are reading at school.

Ulysses by Joyce (10 pages between other books)

The America Trilogy by John Dos Passos for my American Literature A-level teaching.

And waiting on the End and the Death pt2.

Plus a couple of other books that are lying around the bed.

10 pages is about as far as I made it into Ulysses, too.

I recently reread A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four (I also skimmed the other two Sherlock Holmes novellas). I find them very interesting and recommend them to everyone if only for the historical aspect. A great element of reading older literature is that it makes historical references (Mormon exodus to Utah, Indian Rebellion of 1857, Pinkerton Agency, in the case of the Holmes novels) that you might not otherwise come across. Sadly, I think I've lost my copy of The Three Musketeers which by itself is an excellent novel, but is further elevated by piquing my interest in the era.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
10 pages is about as far as I made it into Ulysses, too.

I'm about 100 pages in, but 10 pages goes a long way...

This book atm. I have long standing interest on shikoku henro(and walked part of it in 2017-2019) so been reading a ton but mostly it's been from viewpoint of individuals who have walked once or twice(much like i did though these ones generally did all at once or at least completed. I'm still about 600-700km short). This one goes more toward the people for whose life is all about that for various reasons.

Been a while since got new book on subject. Got tired of searching for new books as oniy ones i found were guides but this is fairly new release.

I'm currently reading through the 4th volume of Otherside Picnic.

There are also several monthly manga and comics I keep up with.

MarkNorfolk wrote:
Currently rereading Ian M Banks' Excession. One of my favourites.

That is probably my favourite Banks book also. Peak culture awesomeness, and the Affront are hugely entertaining.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Mad Doc, I’ve been doing a bit of looking for a book on Neolithic Orkney, and while I’m finding some promising leads, I thought you would enjoy this pitch for the first book on Skara Brae Amazon wanted me to see:

Reveals the striking similarities between Skara Brae and the traditions of pre-dynastic ancient Egypt as preserved by the Dogon people of Mali

• Explains how megalithic stone sites near Skara Brae conform to Dogon cosmology

• Examines the similarities between Skara Brae and Gobekli Tepe and how Skara Brae may have been a secondary center of learning for the ancient world

Somehow missed this!

If memory serves, the main accepted theory is whomever built Skara Brae originated in Portugal, and the monolith building worked its way back, North to South.

I’m really not knowledgeable enough to challenge even the drafters of theories though!

Faith And Vengeance Audio Collection: https://www.audible.com/pd/Faith-and-Vengeance-Audiobook/B09MDJXN3L

started on the Transcendent Green book series while i had some downtime and the internet was uncooperative
Litrpg with a less doom and gloom then normal system apocalypse event
Fun read, and unlike most in the genre, its set in Scotland with a lot of gaelic thrown in, compared to the usual fare
that tend to be either set in generally rural america

I've just started re-reading Patrick O' Brien's Aubrey and Maturin series for something like the 7th time. Unquestionably one of the best historical book series ever written.

Finished with LOTR a week ago. To follow up something that heavy, I'm re-reading Leo Frankowski's Cross-Time Engineer series. Fun light reading.

Just finishing up a book called The Etruscans by Michael Grant that was updated in 1997. Some ideas:

1. There is no grand unifying "history" of the Etruscans because they were a bunch of individual city-states that were never unified.

2. They were not from the Near East like Herodotus claims. They did not speak Indo-European, but that was common for folks west of the Tiber.

3. They were influenced a lot by Phoenician and Ionian culture, and rejected Athenian Humanism in their art.

4. The Greeks were Frenemies long before the Romans were on the scene.

5. Most of the Etruscan city-states had economies based on metal mining and metal working.

6. We have very limited writing from the Etruscans, and almost all details about them come from their enemies or archeology.

7. Ancient peoples were also interested in ancient history and antiquarianism. There was a trend where ancient Historians would create mythical origins or people, cities, and places based on words that sounded the same from other places.

In some cases, this was just for fun, but their may have been political motivations as well. To claim an ancient "ownership" or association to a place for trading rights, legal bias, or justification for attacking. Therefore, you really can't believe the origin stories that ancient writers put on paper.

8. Ertruria is only the size of West Virginia. I.e. it was not very big, but even a 10 mile separation in the ancient world led to colossal changes in culture, race, and language. I often forget how much geography plays a part in ancient history.

Anyway, I imagine much of this stuff still holds true in 2023. However, they are finding new Etruscan stuff all the time. Sadly, I was pretty excited to get such a recent book at my local library! They are trying to step up their game!

What language family did the Etruscans speak? And how early is their civilization attested? Have they been there since the Neolithic?


Anyway, my son is still reading comic books. I’m taking a break. I’m reading a book on the history of the Chumash broken up with old pulp adventure stories like Solomon Kane, due to inspiration from the new Shadows of Brimstone kickstarter.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
What language family did the Etruscans speak? And how early is their civilization attested? Have they been there since the Neolithic?

It's a pre-indo European language that was similar to a language spoken in the Alpine region. It was eventually subsumed by Latin and used the Greek written language as a basis. Livy states that it was still spoken in 30 BC but seems to have completely gone a barely a hundred years later. We don't really know much about it although there were a few similar documents in multiple languages like the rosetta stone. We know a few hundred words but not a lot. They were an iron age culture of city states.

Of note, they were not the only non-Indo-European language in the area. They make passing reference to the Ligurians also having a non-Indo-European language. However, there is no real link between Etruscan an other Non-indo-European languages such as Basque.

The implication is that there were villages in the area as early as the 11th Century BC and that mining the area provided Copper, tin, and other materials for a very successful Copper and then Bronze Age community. The implication is that their culture grew up where it was, due to the influence of various Med traders that came looking for their metals and set-up marketplaces along the coast. Phoenician and Ionian Greeks played a big role in their cultural development, at least artistically.

Almost everything we know is from archeology, and the idea of an "Etruscan" culture is a bit of a misnomer. Each city-state was unique but shared some language, racial, and religious practices; but they did not think of themselves as Etruscan the way the Greeks and Romans often treat them in their writings. They were Tarquinni, Vei, Voliscanni, etc.

I've been making my way through the original run of Robert E Howard's Conan. I'm doing it in release order too so bouncing around between King Conan and young naive Conan. The central theme so far is Conan hates wizards and if he was a D&D character he'd be neutral evil with the amount of awful gak he's done lol. Also being written in the 30s it gets pretty racist at times but hey, it is a product of the time so I take it for what it is.

 Easy E wrote:
Of note, they were not the only non-Indo-European language in the area. They make passing reference to the Ligurians also having a non-Indo-European language. However, there is no real link between Etruscan an other Non-indo-European languages such as Basque.

The implication is that there were villages in the area as early as the 11th Century BC and that mining the area provided Copper, tin, and other materials for a very successful Copper and then Bronze Age community. The implication is that their culture grew up where it was, due to the influence of various Med traders that came looking for their metals and set-up marketplaces along the coast. Phoenician and Ionian Greeks played a big role in their cultural development, at least artistically.

Almost everything we know is from archeology, and the idea of an "Etruscan" culture is a bit of a misnomer. Each city-state was unique but shared some language, racial, and religious practices; but they did not think of themselves as Etruscan the way the Greeks and Romans often treat them in their writings. They were Tarquinni, Vei, Voliscanni, etc.

So more like “Western” culture? We have a lot of links and similarities, but nobody is going to claim British, German and Americans are the same.

Another month, another 2000AD Ultimate Collection delivery.

This time is the Slaine finale, with Black Siddha, and a Dredd tale where he faces off against the Four Horsemen of the Apocaylpse.

Slaine - Dragontamer left me a bit cold if I’m honest. The plot feels repeated from older volumes, and the ending is just unsatisfactory. Where Slaine loses but actually wins apparently. Almost feels like it somehow missed an issue.

Black Siddha is bit more interesting. Young Indian man finds he’s the reincarnation of the titular Black Siddha, and has some Karmic balancing to do. Specifically pick up the mantle and only use his powers for good.

As someone only passingly familiar with Hinduism, it’s fun to see it being presented in this way. And it’s always a treat to read some 2000AD I’ve not previously been aware of.

The Dredd one I’ll get on to later.

 Olthannon wrote:
It's a pre-indo European language that was similar to a language spoken in the Alpine region. It was eventually subsumed by Latin and used the Greek written language as a basis. Livy states that it was still spoken in 30 BC but seems to have completely gone a barely a hundred years later. We don't really know much about it although there were a few similar documents in multiple languages like the rosetta stone. We know a few hundred words but not a lot. They were an iron age culture of city states.

The Roman emperor Claudius was reputed to have made a dictionary of Etruscan, now sadly lost.

We probably have only 1 percent or less of what was written down in the time of Augustus.

I'm now on volume 2 of Max Saunders' mammoth biography of Ford Madox Ford. An obscure topic to be sure, but he was once a well-known author and man of letters. His Parade's End series was made into an HBO miniseries not long ago and The Good Soldier is still in print.

Devoured the Dredd volume.

This was an odd experience for me, as it covered a time when I was subscribed to 2000AD. And yet, collected volumes are my preferred medium.

Pretty interesting read, but may work best with a solid working knowledge of all that came before.

And…..that’s it for another 4ish weeks.

Next two volumes are Zenith Vol 2, which I look forward to, and one which may be a mixed bag, featuring as it does two tales I know nowt about (13 and Carver Hale) but also includes some Future Shocks.

For those not familiar with Future Shocks? They’re arguably Just Filler. Super short 3 or 4 page tales slotted into a prog when needs require. But…..they’re also very much 2000ad’s ace in the hole.

See….Future Shocks are pretty much anything goes. And can include unsolicited offerings the editor felt might work. It’s when The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic is at its highest potential.

We the Thrill Seeker never really know what we’re in for…and that makes the Good Thrills all the better! Scrotnig!

Started a book by Stephen L. Harris called (imaginatively enough) Harlem's Hellfighters: The African American 369th Infantry in World War I.

Early going but it has been a bit of a slog with a lot of names and inside-baseball New York state and city politics of the time.

Downloaded the audiobook version of Empires of the Steppes: A History of the Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilization last night.

Heard about it in Dan Carlin's latest podcast where he interviewed the author. Pretty wild read. These step cultures always intrigued me and this book get pretty in depth with some of the cultures.

 nels1031 wrote:
Downloaded the audiobook version of Empires of the Steppes: A History of the Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilization last night.

Heard about it in Dan Carlin's latest podcast where he interviewed the author. Pretty wild read. These step cultures always intrigued me and this book get pretty in depth with some of the cultures.

How far back does it go? I started (and then misplaced) The Horse, The Wheel and Language, about the PIE roots of language and culture, and would love a book that went more into the other steppe civilizations or just added more.

I recently finished Into the Drowning Deep, recommended to me after finishing The Zombie Autopsies. Both were quick, pulpy reads.

Humble are doing a bundle for the Malazan series of books https://www.humblebundle.com/books/steven-eriksons-malazan-book-fallen-tor-publishing-group-books


Which has got me reading Deadhouse Gates again in my quest to finally read all the way through the series once more. Awesome super high fantasy!

 Overread wrote:
Humble are doing a bundle for the Malazan series of books https://www.humblebundle.com/books/steven-eriksons-malazan-book-fallen-tor-publishing-group-books


Which has got me reading Deadhouse Gates again in my quest to finally read all the way through the series once more. Awesome super high fantasy!

I so badly wanted to love this series based on the glowing recommendations it always gets from fellow fantasy readers, but after reading Gardens of the Moon twice (once a good fifteen years ago, and again last year) I just can't. Gardens is such a terrible book it makes me wonder how it was turned into a series. Like, who read that and decided they want more? I've read it twice and I still couldn't tell you what it was about.

Different strokes and all that I guess. Stormlight Archives is way more my kinda fantasy. I guess the world would be a pretty boring place if we all liked the same things.

I've gone ahead and started the Temeraire Series by Novak, starting with His Majesty's Dragon.

I never thought you could get as much mileage bout of 'posh British man gets a dragon and learns to loosen up' as these books get. Props to the author for managing to capture an air of Napleonic style, and era appropriate attitudes on social issues without being apolgetic or judgemental. Really lends to the atmosphere.

A good friend of mine died last week. In remembrance, I'm rereading his favorite fantasy series, Glen Cook's Black Company.

Also finished Vainglorious, the latest Ciaphas Cain book.

Yes. It’s another winner from Sandy Mitchell. Whilst firmly tongue in cheek, the Cain series never really crosses the line into outright farce. And I really like getting something of an honest narrator in the form of our titular hero. If he was terrified, he freely admits so. And whilst he puts his survival and decisions down to cowardice and self interest, he does judge himself too harshly.

After all, bravery isn’t feeling no fear. It feeling fear, or being outright terrified, and still taking action,

Overall, the books are standalone, but do form an ongoing narrative, like Discworld. So if you’re tempted to give it a spin, pretty much any story will get you going. You don’t have to start at the beginning.

 LordofHats wrote:
I've gone ahead and started the Temeraire Series by Novak, starting with His Majesty's Dragon.

I never thought you could get as much mileage bout of 'posh British man gets a dragon and learns to loosen up' as these books get. Props to the author for managing to capture an air of Napleonic style, and era appropriate attitudes on social issues without being apolgetic or judgemental. Really lends to the atmosphere.

Fun fact - the author also wrote the story for the expansion to Neverwinter Nights - I believe the 2nd expansion.


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 creeping-deth87 wrote:

 Overread wrote:
Humble are doing a bundle for the Malazan series of books https://www.humblebundle.com/books/steven-eriksons-malazan-book-fallen-tor-publishing-group-books


Which has got me reading Deadhouse Gates again in my quest to finally read all the way through the series once more. Awesome super high fantasy!

I so badly wanted to love this series based on the glowing recommendations it always gets from fellow fantasy readers, but after reading Gardens of the Moon twice (once a good fifteen years ago, and again last year) I just can't. Gardens is such a terrible book it makes me wonder how it was turned into a series. Like, who read that and decided they want more? I've read it twice and I still couldn't tell you what it was about.

Different strokes and all that I guess. Stormlight Archives is way more my kinda fantasy. I guess the world would be a pretty boring place if we all liked the same things.

I do agree that Gardens of the Moon works better after a second read because of how many new concepts it throws at you; however 15 years is likely long enough that you've forgotten everything you learned from the first reading.
As a series it can also throw you because book 2 shunts you to a whole different continent and a new slew of characters with only a few from the first book.

It's a challenging series, but there's so many interconnected parts and the story ramps up. Plus once you grasp how the world works and warrens and such a lot of the story gets easier to follow.

Just finished Dune finally. Not sure if I'll go for Messiah yet but the first one was still good after the opening.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 nels1031 wrote:
Downloaded the audiobook version of Empires of the Steppes: A History of the Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilization last night.

Heard about it in Dan Carlin's latest podcast where he interviewed the author. Pretty wild read. These step cultures always intrigued me and this book get pretty in depth with some of the cultures.

How far back does it go? I started (and then misplaced) The Horse, The Wheel and Language, about the PIE roots of language and culture, and would love a book that went more into the other steppe civilizations or just added more.

I had just dipped into it, but after the foreword about Atilla the Hun and co., it switches to the genetic makeup of the mummies found in the Tarim Basin (Northwestern China) dating around 3000 years old. Given the title of the chapter(The Peopling of the Steppes, or something to that effect), I assume its going to start with how they got there.

According to the foreword, the premise of the book starts with those mummies and ends with Tamerlane who was the last of the steppe conquerors and how technology wiped out the millennia(s) of military advantages that the steppe people had over their "civilized" counterparts. Author mentions that his book is a study of 45 centuries of lore and history.

Crispy78 wrote:
Still on my Joe Abercrombie re-read. Just wrapping up Best Served Cold, and very much looking forward to the recently-announced movie adaptation...

Going slow at the moment as I seem to be just so damn tired in the evenings these days. Don't seem to make it through more than a couple of pages before I'm off to sleep.

Still on Joe Abercrombie, just finished Red Country and on to A Little Hatred.

Currently on holiday in Sardinia and reading book 8 of 20 of O'Brien's Aubrey and Maturin series. Having re-read this so many times it's always a pleasure to become completely and comfortably engrossed.

Months ago, I bought a book called Diary of a Publican authored by Kieran Lyons. I found it recently when “Spring Cleaning”, (at the ass end of summer, as is tradition in my household) didn’t remember why I bought it at first, as its not a subject matter that usually appeals to me for reading. A quick and enjoyable 30 pages in (of 200+ pages) and constantly asking myself where I got this from, I remembered.

It was authored by Dakka’s own PaddyMick!

Pretty neat insights into pub culture and a fun read. Support a fellow dakkanaught and buy it, you goons!

My reading ADD has fully exploded.

I read some Stephen King books alongside my son, getting him interested in reading something more advanced than Goosebumps and X-Men. (He’s reading the short stories from Nightmares and Dreamscapes.) The novella collection Full Dark, No Stars seems like a return to form, something he might have written before 1999. The collection Just After Sunset is about the same quality as Everything’s Eventual, but with one standout story I’ll add to my list of the greats: “N.”.

Then Wargames Atlantic posted some Trojans/Myceneans, so I got out my Osprey books on Bronze Age Greeks and Agean Warriors.


Then Kings of War released a video about the Sea Peoples, so I got out The Middle Sea for a little while.

Now I’m back to Stephen King, cherry-picking stories from Skeleton Crew and Night Shift.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
My reading ADD has fully exploded.

I read some Stephen King books alongside my son, getting him interested in reading something more advanced than Goosebumps and X-Men. (He’s reading the short stories from Nightmares and Dreamscapes.) The novella collection Full Dark, No Stars seems like a return to form, something he might have written before 1999. The collection Just After Sunset is about the same quality as Everything’s Eventual, but with one standout story I’ll add to my list of the greats: “N.”.

Then Wargames Atlantic posted some Trojans/Myceneans, so I got out my Osprey books on Bronze Age Greeks and Agean Warriors.


Then Kings of War released a video about the Sea Peoples, so I got out The Middle Sea for a little while.

Now I’m back to Stephen King, cherry-picking stories from Skeleton Crew and Night Shift.

I haven't read any Stephen King in years. Does he still hold up? I may have to add something to the queue.

Over the last two weeks, I re-read Jason Pargin's Zooey Ashe books (Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits and Zoey Punches the Future in the Dxxk) in anticipation of the third in the series' imminent release. Currently, I'm rereading Altered Carbon.

I think he still holds up. Full Dark, No Stars doesn’t have much of the supernatural element compared to earlier works, but it has the same compelling storytelling as his pre-1999 work, as I remember it. Revisiting the short stories I’ve read before, I think they mostly hold up. Some of the ones I didn’t care much for as a kid are more impactful as an adult. A few of the stories are a little cheesier in terms of prose than I had remembered, but not necessarily in a bad way.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I think he still holds up. Full Dark, No Stars doesn’t have much of the supernatural element compared to earlier works, but it has the same compelling storytelling as his pre-1999 work, as I remember it. Revisiting the short stories I’ve read before, I think they mostly hold up. Some of the ones I didn’t care much for as a kid are more impactful as an adult. A few of the stories are a little cheesier in terms of prose than I had remembered, but not necessarily in a bad way.

Thanks, I'll give it a look.

I've been struggling to make myself read at the moment, so have been rereading some old favourites from Terry Pratchett to keep me reading. Currently on Going Postal, enjoying it just as much as the first time I read it.

Saw mention of this book about one of my favorite films on CBS Saturday Morning. Will definitely have to pick it up when I get a chance:

Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!

Surely You Can’t Be Serious is the first-ever oral history of the making of Airplane! by the creators, and of the beginnings of the ZAZ trio (Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker) – charting the rise of their comedy troupe Kentucky Fried Theater in Madison, Wisconsin all the way to premiere night. The directors explain what drew them to filmmaking and in particular, comedy. With anecdotes, behind the scenes trivia, and never-before-revealed factoids – these titans of comedy filmmaking unpack everything from how they persuaded Peter Graves to be in the movie after he thought the script was a piece of garbage, how Lorna Patterson auditioned for the stewardess role in the back seat of Jerry’s Volvo, and how Leslie Nielsen’s pranks got the entire crew into trouble, to who really wrote the jive talk. The book also features testimonials and personal anecdotes from well-known faces in the film, television, and comedy sphere – proving how influential Airplane! has been from day one.

I'll have to check that out.

That’s a must-buy.

Nice! Might pick that up myself, as it’s one of my favourite comedy movies. The sort of thing you catch a new joke every time you watch it.

But, it’s that time of the month again! My 2000AD Ultimate Collection has two new issues added. This month?

Damnation Station

Sci-Fi war story. It’s pretty cool. Variety of artists, and so interpretations, but it works for me. Plot is mankind is indebted to an older species, and pay our “rent” for living in their Galaxy is to fight wars against extra-galactic invaders.

There are some very interesting concepts at play, and of course eventually mankind comes out on top, with that older species and the thing the extra-galactic invaders were fleeing wiped out in a mutual annihilation.

Atavar

A Dan Abnett and Richard Epson effort.

This was a harder sell for me from the outset. And that’s because I find Abnett’s 2000AD efforts either hit or miss. And for my money, Richard Epson’s art is too tidy for 2000AD.

But this, like Kingdom was a Hit.

Alien species clone a human, in an effort to stop the Uos, a machine race created by man, which wiped out man, and has since annihilated all life from a spiral of the Galaxy.

This is big concept stuff, and I really enjoyed it.

Sadly no doubt Feral and Foe, an ongoing series sort-of spoofing AD&D, is bound to be part of this series. I came into that part way through a run, which admittedly is never a good introduction. But I found it smart-arsed, rather than clever. The artwork just too clean and uninteresting for a fantasy series.

But that’s a worry for a future month. In around four weeks, the next two issues will land. And that’s Harlem Heroes Vol 2 and….a mystery, as it’s not been announced on Hachette’s website.

Still reading Stephen King. Just finished Cujo, which I considered a mid-tier classic King novel until the ending kicked it way up in my estimation. It’s one of his more effective endings.

Starting his book 11/22/whatever, hoping the JFK plot is more of a red herring than the main focus.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Still reading Stephen King. Just finished Cujo, which I considered a mid-tier classic King novel until the ending kicked it way up in my estimation. It’s one of his more effective endings.

Starting his book 11/22/whatever, hoping the JFK plot is more of a red herring than the main focus.

11/22/63, in reference to the date JFK was assassinated.

Yeah. I understand it’s about someone obsessed with saving JfK messing with time and facing some kind of repercussions. I’m just hoping the focus in on that, not the JFK assassination in itself.

Currently reading Push the Zone by David the Good and slowly working on Green Wizardry by John Michael Greer.

I consider these to be continuing education for my homesteading. I want to grow coffee trees and more that we don't currently grow. So I hope to pick up a few tips and tricks from Pushing the Zone.

Green Wizardry is loosely about "Appropriate Tech" which was thing in the 70's. again looking for things I can apply to our homesteading.

The Loom of Time: Between Empire and Anarchy, from the Mediterranean to China by Robert D Kaplan.

At 72, this might be the last book by the author who I’ve been reading since about 1999, when I bought one of his novels en route to my first Army assignments and was instantly a fan. Part history, part travel, part geo-politics, his novels have always been insightful reads. His “claim to fame” was when then-President Bill Clinton was seen with a copy of Balkan Ghosts during the 1990’s wars in the Balkans and some say had a heavy impact on his policy decisions during those various upheavals.

The title refers to The Odyssey, wherein Penelope would tell her suitors that once she was done weaving her loom, she would declare Odysseus dead and remarry. At night, she would undo whatever progress she made on the weaving and start afresh, thereby holding off her suitors in the hopes that Odysseus would return.

Currently on the section regarding Turkiye and the author goes into detail about his decades long travels there and how the country has changed, poor to wealthy, secular to islamist, for better or worse.

Its a pretty sobering read, but thats the state of the world I guess. Its not really doom and gloom, its just somewhat sad that so much opportunity has been wasted in great places.

2000AD time!

Harlem Heroes Vol 2

Classic early 2000AD. Hyper violent sport? Check. Kind of ties into Dreddiverse? Check. Unusually diverse cast for a British comic of its era? Check.

Absolute mayhem that caused the clutching of pearls in its day? Oh yes!

Lovely stuff.

Counterfeit Girl

Well now. This is much more modern 2000AD, and an excellent example of its modern fare. The art is gloriously bonkers, but the plot is genuinely thought provoking as it deals with identities, and a world where it’s possible to add bits and bobs to a personality on demand.

Also contains a number of the writer’s other strips, which range from the madly brilliant (Illuminati types, but convinced of deeper meaning in Carry On films) to the really quite sobering “what is to be human” of Tribal Memories.

Two cracking volumes.

I finished 11/22/63 a few days ago, and I consider it one of King’s better novels. It’s not really horror, though. The book is more of a mix of thriller, love story, and supernatural adventure that provides a whole emotional rollercoaster. There’s a lot for JFK enthusiasts, but fortunately that’s far from the only thing going on in the book.

Started reading Four Past Midnight for some smaller stories before I move on to anything else. I’m also re-reading the Dropfleet books for their fluff because my gamer ADD says “spaceships now”.

Inspired

This is a book about the Bible. It is written by a former Evangelical who is now a Progressive Protestant. The audience of this book, is really Evangelicals to help them think about the Bible in a different way. It breaks the book down into the various types of stories and adds context, historical details, theological insights from other faiths, etc.

There is a surprising amount of discussion on the Old Testament, with 2/3rds on that and only 1/3 on the NT. I am not an Evangelical, but it seemed liked this focus on OT is part of their "culture" for lack of a better word. That was a bit of a surprise. I was expecting more emphasis on Christ. He was 1 chapter out of 6, with Paul getting just as much book time.

Anyway, most of the historical context, cultural context, and talking points the book brought up were not new to me. My history with the Bible was not Evangelical and "Divinely Inspired" so my take away was more.... "Yes, and?" However, as a glimpse into a culture of Evangelicals it was much more interesting even if that was not the thrust of the book at all.

That doesn't entirely surprise me. The NT was... officialized... early on, with a lot of extraneous material purged, and the surviving stuff turned into doctrine (or biblical canon, if you prefer (and yes, for passers-by, that is actually a historical term, it isn't a modernism). Adding 'historical context' raises theological questions.

The Old Testament has a lot more room (and versions) and isn't technically doctrine to most Protestant sects. Its safe to explore without raising theological issues or hackles.

A lot of the things a Progressive Protestant might find themselves disagreeing with other Protestants on is also stuff that'll generally come from the OT. Not all of it, but there's a reason fire and brimstone Preacher's love Revelations and the Old Testament so much.

It's a bit easier to reconcile the Gospels and many of the letters of the New Testament with a progressive social outlook. If their goal is to advocate for a more progressive approach to the Bible, it make sens they'd spend a lot more time discussing the Old Testament.

I just finished reading the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. It was incredibly good but he definitely dragged it out over four books. Kinda diluted what made the first book special. I give it my Dune recommendation. Definitely check out the first book, and only proceed if you're really into the universe. The Poet's Tale is an absolute delight.

Right now I'm reading the Bloody Crown of Conaan. It's a compilation of three of the longer Conaan stories. I really enjoyed about half of the shorter Conan stories. So far I am not into this second anthology but I'll reserve judgement until the end.

Had some light reading over the weekend into last night and finished "The End and the Death Volume 2" by Dan Abnett.

I liked it, though felt it could've been more concise. A few pretty neat twists (one big one in particular) throughout.

Not entirely a spoiler but :



Though I've enjoyed this series through the years, as I was reading this book I felt weirdly elated that its going to end. Like when a decent movie drags on and you keep checking your watch.

With that said, I wouldn't say no to a "Scouring" limited series.

The Hyperion series starts strong, but the new so weak by the last few pages of Fall of Hyperion. I tried the Endymion duology, and also his Ilium/Olympus Duology, and I can only conclude Dan Simmons crawls further up his own backside the deeper he gets into a second book.

And after Royal Mail returned the initial dispatch, I’ve now received one of my two 2000ad Ultimate Collection volumes. Because Hachette screwed up the replacement in turn and only sent one of two expected volumes.

But…what a volume!

Scarlett Traces

Ian Edginton and D’israeli’s speculative fiction sequel to War of the Worlds.

Turns out this had quite a turbulent gestation, going from publisher to published just in time for that publisher to fold. And it eventually landed in the hallowed halls of The Mighty Tharg.

Concept is pretty straight forward. War of the Worlds happens as per the book. But….all that snacky alien tech. Just sort of….left kicking around. And in the hands of the British Empire. What happens next!

Particularly interesting stories, as it happens. The first of two volumes in the collection, we deal with various time periods which in their way take account of Actual History, such as the decline of Empire once other countries get their own hands on Martian or Martian Derived Tech.

This is well worth reading, and if you’re in the UK you can get it in hardback from Hachette Partworks for an entirely reasonable £10.99.

The missing volume though is Proteus Vex. A much more modern 2000ad adventure. And one which I’ve never been entirely sold on, having come in at a random point in its publication history, and halfway through a story at that.

I will of course give that an honest shot when it arrives, but I can’t entirely remove my current bias.

Just finishing off the Millenium trilogy - Girl With The Dragon Tattoo etc. Very readable, although generally with quite a basic, no-frills style of writing - which I guess may well have come from the translation rather than the original author. Definitely live up to the hype, real shame the chap died after writing the first 3 books.

Just finished Vaults of Terra Series, before that was reading End and the Death Part 2.

About halfway through The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland.

It came up in a list of novels when I googled "Best horror novels of 2023". Not a "make you afraid of the dark" type of horror novel, or anything that's really disturbing,but so far (about halfway into it) its pretty interesting and its a take on vampires that I haven't personally read before.

A mostly solitary vampire grapples with the realities of living forever in a world where everything dies. Her thirst also appears to be getting worse, which may be bad news for the pre-school kids that she teaches, while something more ancient and primal seems to be stalking her (the titular God of Endings, given the name Czernobog). At this point in the novel, I'm not sure if the "god" is even real and not part of the madness associated with outliving everything you ever loved. I opted for the audio book while I paint/game/do chores and the narrator is great.

After wrapping up Stormlight Archives last year, I decided to dive head first into the Cosmere and picked up the first Mistborn trilogy. I'm on book 2 so far and loving it. Brandon Sanderson just hits all the right notes for me.

So my copy of Proteus Vex arrived.

Got to admit, whilst not a 2000ad Classic? It reads much better a single volume.

Halfway through Forges of Mars trilogy, not too bad but it's not to the standard of not being able to put it down. Hopefully it'll pick up a bit more.

Is Czernobog the bad guy from the Night on Bald Mountain segment of Fantasia?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Is Czernobog the bad guy from the Night on Bald Mountain segment of Fantasia?

It (with various spellings, including an optional starting 't' and interchangeable h's and z', and a's and e's. Sometimes ending in '-borg' rather than '-bog') is a Slavic god/demigod/personification/hero/villain of... 'misfortune' or 'evil' (with the caveat that Christianization added a heavily slant on representation of older deities in the region) that's appeared in a lot of media over the years. Gaiman used Chernobog in American Gods, for example.

But yes. 'Chernabog' is the demon-y fellow in Fantasia.

I’m working my way through the Siege of Terra and I recently finished Fury of Magnus; I really enjoyed the ending, it felt right. Why would Magnus end up as a demon prince, fully on the side of Horus? They answered that question in a very believable way.

It’s that time of the month! It’s 2000ad O’Clock!

This month, I’ve got Survival Geeks and Dan Dare.

Currently reading Survival Geeks. A proper mental pastiche of pop culture references featuring variously willing housemates on a trans dimensional adventure.

I got some stories from this when I was subscribed to the Prog, but missed most of it. And frankly? It’s wonderful stuff.

So wonderful, come payday I’m gonna pick up two further copies as gifts for friends, who I reckon will get a real kick out of its nonsense.

I just finished up a Star Trek The Lost Era novel. It was fun.

I’m also reading a book about the Iran-Iraq war. Less fun.

1493 by Charles C. Mann

I think in a previous thread, someone had mentioned this novel, or its predecessor 1491. This novel deals with the aftermath of the Columbus landing. About 1/4th into it and its pretty riveting to my interests.

For instance : China, a seemingly strong nation introduces American sweet potatoes and maize into their farming culture. That then contributes heavily to the downfall of the Ming dynasty, due to ecological disasters because of their impact to the Chinese ecosystem. American(Spanish colony America) silver also dominated the Chinese economy and its bad when a foreign power controls the flow and supply of your currency. Pretty wild stuff that I never knew about.

Got the entirety of Banks's Culture series for Christmas. Going to be busy for a while...

I'm re-reading the first 5 novels of the Red Rising series as I didn't realize book 6 came out last year. It's really good sci-fi even if the science is pretty handwavium at it's base they don't try to pretend it isn't and it's consistent throughout.

Crispy78 wrote:
Got the entirety of Banks's Culture series for Christmas. Going to be busy for a while...

Let me know what you think! I read Player of Game's a while back and enjoyed it a lot. I'm considering going back and reading this from the start.

I recently finished reading Psycho, by Robert Bloch. If you've seen the Hitchcock movie, then you know what happens, but the book is much nastier, much more sordid than the film. I also read the "authorized sequel," which makes the mistake of trying to make Norman Bates sympathetic.

I’ve been struggling to finish the Stephen King Novella Secret Window Secret Garden for months. During that time I have read three Star Trek novels (from the relaunch era, not the new series crap), some horror shorts stories, a book about weird places to visit in the Mojave desert, and started a book on cryptozoology. And I advanced 3 more pages into Secret Window Secret Garden.


I would just skip to the next novella, but now it’s a matter of pride.

Just finished the Siege of Terra series. Now I'm rereading The Beast Arises series.
Not read that for a while.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I’ve been struggling to finish the Stephen King Novella Secret Window Secret Garden for months. During that time I have read three Star Trek novels (from the relaunch era, not the new series crap), some horror shorts stories, a book about weird places to visit in the Mojave desert, and started a book on cryptozoology. And I advanced 3 more pages into Secret Window Secret Garden.


I would just skip to the next novella, but now it’s a matter of pride.

Stephen King novels are just like that, and they vary wildly from person to person as I'm sure you're well aware. Either you're gripped by them very quickly or they're nigh unreadable. No shame in relegating them to the reject box! I'm sure Mr. King appreciates that you bought it in the first place.

It’s just bizarre to me because the story was written smack dab in the middle of his golden period, where everything he wrote was compulsively readable, even the bad stuff like Tommyknockers. It’s not just a rare miss, but almost feels like it was written by a Seinfeld writer in that the two characters have to be the worst kind of stupid and crazy to keep cross-talking and misunderstanding each other. It feels contrived in a way that none of his other work (at that time) does. Langoliers, the story before hand, has a guy so crazy he tears paper into strips and literally considers the death of civilization someone else’s problem so long as it doesn’t keep him from a business meeting, and he feels way more natural and organic to the story than the two yappers in SWSG. It’s frustrating.

Must’ve been low on the old Bolivian Marching Powder.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Must’ve been low on the old Bolivian Marching Powder.

Ahh, so written around the time he was "directing" Maximum Overdrive then?

On topic, I've been re-reading my way through Conn Igguldon's "Khan" series and am still amazed by how good they are. So good in fact that when, many years ago, Saga introduced the faction as playable I had to go out and get some...still the only issue of Wargames Illustrated I've ever personally bought ).

Do you like White Scars? If Yes... READ THESE BOOKS!!!!

Genesis, Creation and Early Man by Father Seraphim Rose

Beautiful book

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Must’ve been low on the old Bolivian Marching Powder.

He was using that throughout his most productive period. If anything, stepping down his use might have been detrimental.

He’s been pretty open with his writing process. Some stories begin with an idea, some with one scene. I imagine SWSG was an idea story that he never quite got the handle on, or else there’s a great scene I haven’t reached yet and he threw together some lackluster connective tissue.


I don’t know. The man can make a trip to the bathroom compelling and terrifying. Maybe this was just a really off day.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I second the recommendation for Conn Iggleton’s Khan series.

Started the new AoS Callis & Toll novel from David Annandale(strangely not Nick Horth, who got the ball rolling with these characters). First few chapters were from the perspective of Hanniver Toll, doing some detective work while investigating a strange murder. No Callis yet though. Pretty solid opening and I'm excited to dig in some more tonight.

Just finished Knights Of Bretonnia: The Omnibus and Lords of the Lance. I was interested in seeing the old and the new style of Bretonnia storytelling and setting.


A few things stand out, some of which are likely the result of the different time period in which each story is set and some on some shifts of the geographic region.

The tale set in earlier times focuses a lot more on the concept of the Bretonnian's being masters of horse riding and highlights the relationship of rider and mount considerably. Mounts have names, personalities, attitudes and are generally part of the narrative.
This is something you don't really get at all in the original series where until the very last book, the horses are mostly just there. They get mentioned as to how important they are, but they are not characters and their various losses over the series is only lightly remarked upon in general. You don't get the same sense of a strong bond or relationship between rider and mount.


Magics and Grail Knights are in both stories are equally powerful, mystical and rare. I would say more magic and power is on show in the newer Lords of the Lance, where many spells and abilities feel like they are cast at the army level; whilst the original series the magic on show feels much more personal with the swathes of peasants and knights doing battle in a more mundane/regular manner.

Women on the battlefield is far more present in the newer series, where there aren't just maidens but a flight of pegasus knights as well. I think time will tell if this is going to be a thing that is maintained as a new feature of this different age of Bretonnia, or if its more a reflection of the wildness of the region in which the story is set. The region they chose for the story is ideal for having things that are different from normal Bretonnia by its very nature. So this could just be one of those things that would only happen there, but would never happen within the formal core of the faction.


There is a sense that the peasants are a bit less deformed. That things are not quite as grim and dark as they are by the last ages of the older series.



The two series are interesting contrasts to each other as both works created at least a decade apart, but also set in very different regions and times within the setting; yet dealing with the same faction and peoples.

The one thing I remember from the original Bretonnia series was how epic the duel between the Grail Knight and the big bad Chaos guy felt. Probably misremembering/embellishing, but it seemed to be an entire chapter dedicated to itself where you could never tell who was going to win, and when the winner was decided, it was so sudden and brutal it was shocking.

Also : we never did get the finale in that series with a novel about how the protagonist became a Grail Knight himself, right? They kind of tacked on a concluding novella to the omnibus, if I remember correctly.

 nels1031 wrote:
The one thing I remember from the original Bretonnia series was how epic the duel between the Grail Knight and the big bad Chaos guy felt. Probably misremembering/embellishing, but it seemed to be an entire chapter dedicated to itself where you could never tell who was going to win, and when the winner was decided, it was so sudden and brutal it was shocking.

Also : we never did get the finale in that series with a novel about how the protagonist became a Grail Knight himself, right? They kind of tacked on a concluding novella to the omnibus, if I remember correctly.

.

Yeah there's basically two solid stories and then the last part becoming a Grail Knight is much much shorter. It's actually really good and you get some of that rider+mount relationship starting to actually appear for the first time. It's also a fantastic display of the Wood Elves and honestly is really more about them than the knight since all the detail focuses on them. Honestly its probably got the most grand end-battle of the series, save that there's no build up toward it in the same way as the others.

It's a good ending, but yes after the much slower and more epic paced books 1 and 2 , it feels very "we need a short story to finish this". Which is a shame as it does rush a few things. We also never get the other ending where they finally face off against the returning Norscans - we get a "two armies meet" part but then it cliff-hanger ends.

I have recently finished three books, all somewhat related.

First, The Exorcist Effect, which I first learned of from the Monster Talk podcast. It's a sort of academic-lite treatise about the circular relationship between horror fiction (primarily film) and lay religious belief in demonic possession and the like, primarily in the US.

After finishing that, I actually read The Exorcist. It was a lot slower than the movie, and a lot of stuff happened offscreen, but it was well-written and quite engaging.

Finally, The Manchurian Candidate. I haven't seen the film, but I feel like I know it pretty well via cultural osmosis. The stuff about the brainwashed assassin was OK in a pulpy sort of way, but the political backdrop struck pretty close to home, given the state of politics in the US these days.

The Wee Free Men.

First in the Tiffany Aching sequence of Discworld novels. Aimed at the YA audience.

Absolutely cracking book. Less comedic in tone than the other Discworld books, with most laughs coming from the Nac Mac Feegle. Also pretty thought provoking, as it delves into all sorts of things I reckon a curious young mind would be fascinated by.

A Hat Full Of Sky

First one read and loaned to a friend, it’s on to the second Tiffany Aching novel.

Terry Pratchett was a phenomenal writer. His characters absolutely live and breathe.

If you’ve not read Discworld, I highly recommend all of it. The first few are fairly straight forward parodies of Fantasy tropes. But oh, once he finds his feet and Discworld starts becoming its own place? They get so, so good.

Haven't read the Tiffany Aching books. Sounds silly, but I quite like that there's still some Pratchett out there I haven't read yet.

I really need to read them at some stage. My Main Discworld reading hit a barrier of just not wanting to read the final final ever book.

That said I console myself with the fact that I'm one of the few who has actually read a couple of his sci-fi short stories and The Dark Side of the Sun book (which many fans haven't even heard of! )

I’ve been reading a lot of short stories lately. Some Poe, some C J Cherryh, and some from The People in the Castle.

Reading ChapterHouse: Dune.
It's been going pretty slow and I've sort of lost track of what's going on...

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
Reading ChapterHouse: Dune.
It's been going pretty slow and I've sort of lost track of what's going on...

I never did finish this book. I think I got about two thirds of the way through and just ran out of steam. There’s an awful lot of opaque Bene Gesserit shenanigans.

 Overread wrote:
I really need to read them at some stage. My Main Discworld reading hit a barrier of just not wanting to read the final final ever book.

That said I console myself with the fact that I'm one of the few who has actually read a couple of his sci-fi short stories and The Dark Side of the Sun book (which many fans haven't even heard of! )

Go careful. My understanding is that the last Tiffany Aching book is more of a final book than Raising Steam was...

I've recently been reading the collection of his early short stories that were discovered and released recently. Not sure I'd recommend them. You can tell it's Pratchett but not quite, hadn't quite found his style at that point.

Pratchett seems to hit his stride once a book is laid out ahead of us. The beginnings can be a bit rough in some books, which may put a lot of people off them, and the short stories often do not get up to speed fast enough. His writing can sometimes benefit from the odd edit when 'meat is on the bones'. Nearly all of his stories are worth trying, though. The last two, of the Discworld and Tiffany Aching books, were hard to finish. I had (nearly) caught up by the time Equal Rights was released, so way back.

I'm half-way through the third in the Bone Ships series by R J Barker. For a small fantasy world, not a huge lot happens for a fair few chapters, but the writing is all there to keep things going.

Did he do the glitch story about the last repairman?

Was that "F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack"?

 Skinnereal wrote:
Was that "F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack"?

Repairman Jack is not actually a repairman. He’s a fixer, a solver of problems. Sort of a one-man A-Team, but with a higher body count. The trouble starts when he is hired to solve a monster problem…

Then I might have to poke into that.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
Reading ChapterHouse: Dune.
It's been going pretty slow and I've sort of lost track of what's going on...

I never did finish this book. I think I got about two thirds of the way through and just ran out of steam. There’s an awful lot of opaque Bene Gesserit shenanigans.

I'm two thirds of the way through the book now and it seems like something is finally about to happen....

Let me know if it does.

I just read Totto-chan The Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, based on a recommendation from a friend who loved it as a young girl.

It's a wonderful little book, autobiographical of the authors' experiences at a little school in Japan during World War 2.

Goes from laugh out loud funny in one chapter to heartbreaking in the next, and it's all a testament to the curiosity, uniqueness and goodness of children that is often lost within the framework of rigid education structures.

Is Chapterhouse: Dune the one with the Bashar Miles Teg? I don't recall, but I liked that guy.

 Easy E wrote:
Is Chapterhouse: Dune the one with the Bashar Miles Teg? I don't recall, but I liked that guy.

I think he’s an old man in Heretics and a young ghola in Chapterhouse, but I may be confusing him with someone else. Was he the super general with the super speed?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
Is Chapterhouse: Dune the one with the Bashar Miles Teg? I don't recall, but I liked that guy.

I think he’s an old man in Heretics and a young ghola in Chapterhouse, but I may be confusing him with someone else. Was he the super general with the super speed?

Yes, yes and also yes.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Let me know if it does.

It didn't...but then 4/5ths of the way through stuff happens. Overall though my least liked Dune book I have read.

That’s what I feared. Thanks.

Is it true the book never tells you who Sid and Marty are or what they are doing?

I'm currently giving three body problem a second read, because I was frankly a bit overwhelmed the first time around, especially in regards to the characters and their interrelations. Loving it still so far, as it seems to have been constructed by a meticulous mind.

I've been reading my self-published book, The Angaran Chronicles: The Underside, on and off and while it's not bad. There are a frig-ton of missing words and, at times, sentences. I'm not terribly happy as I paid an editor a pretty penny to edit it (a very pretty penny as she was American, and that made me pay double in NZ monies). So I don't know If I'll have her edit the 2nd novel if/when I finally get around to writing it. Had some of the worst writer's block I've had in a long time with that book.