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.

2000AD time again!

First up, Armoured Gideon. One of the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic’s weirder strips, and a character I’m only aware of from a much modern repurposing.

I started reading the Merkabah Rider short stories. They’re about what I’d expect of an urban fantasy western about a Kabbalahist. However, I’ve been spending less and less time reading it to make more time for…


Art Deco LA Landmarks and Deco New York. We recent went on an architectural tour of downtown LA, and I fell in love with the turn-of-the-century through WW2 buildings, especially the Art Deco, Victorian, Beaux-Arts and Gothic Revival designs. Made me want to bust out the Dropzone Commander buildings and add some little gargoyles, chevrons and gingerbread.

Shogun. I am at chapter 20 now. After watching new tv show and rewatching the old one I wanted to know all the differences between them and the original source so the book had to be next.

Marc Aurels Meditations.

I’ve read the newest Ciaphas Cain book and the first Cain omnibus. All great stuff. Then I read the novel about navigators, Rites of Passage, and also quite enjoyed that. So, now I’m starting the third Vaults of Terra book hoping for a continued winning streak.


Also, planning for family vacations, we’ve been reading books about local myths and legends of California, Nevada and Alaska. There’s a lot of hairy bipeds out there, apparently.

Oh, I also finished Lost San Francisco, about the architectural marvels lost to fire, earthquake and time, and I’ve been consuming a book on the Victorian houses of San Francisco. There’s so much eye candy I have to spread it out a few pages at a time.

In the last year I've read all of the Lost Fleet series (Lost Fleet, Beyond the Frontier and Outlands) by Jack Campbell.

Hands down some of the best sci-fi I've read but also extremely well done military fiction.

The characters and the story are great.

I've heard of that one and heard some goo things. I want to read it one day.

Actually just dug out and read my (very) old teenage diaries. Ouch they were awful and if I could go back in time and meet my teenage self I'd give him a slap!
Apart from that I'm re-reading my David Gemmell collection. Much better reading.

Found some older production copies of the full clone commandos book series the ones that don't say legends on the covers, really love the first one and excited to read the rest of them

Reading Morningstar for Red Rising. Got to bit where Darrow sells out half the Solar System into slavery and hands over the Rims Sons of Ares operatives after having told them all to rise up in the first place. Then has a big speech about “breaking the chains”.

I love how people think this is morally grey and not just writing the character as an evil cretin. The Reds would just put him against a wall and shoot him. It’s a completely stupid thing to do, aside from it being evil. There’s just no consideration for the consequences of doing this stuff and the characters seem to have no morals at all. Like these are the actions of a villain and they’re being mischaracterised by author to shield his protagonist.

I mean I am all for getting more of Mortarions backstory but….

Not reading but listening to the Eisenhorn trilogy for the hundredth time. I just love it more and more each time. The weakest of the trilogy in my opinion would be Xenos. It's great, I love it, but it's more of a simple adventure/investigation story and lacks the character development of Malleus and Hereticus. Malleus is my favourite, but not by a long shot. The scene where Eisenhorn bares witness to the atrocity of Thracian Primaris is so well written I feel I'm there with him. That scene alone is worth the price of admission.

Thinking of listening to the Ravenor trilogy next, maybe?

I'm reading through Cradle because it's all the rage in a few spaces I write/read in.

They told me the first three books were a bit just okay, to which I disagree. Book 1 is fine if a bit dull. Book 2 is horribly dull. Book 3 is okay and seems like it's where the main plot of the whole series really just kicks into gear.

Guess I'll try book 4 next which is where everyone says it does pick up. I'll find out.

One of my hobbies is to collect old, community or locally made cookbooks. The spiral bound church ones, that sort of thing. I found an interesting book of recipes for tofu, made in the 70's, with some nice charcoal illustrations. Fun to read and the recipes are decent too.

About two thirds through Iron Gold in the Red Rising. I really think I am done with Darrow. I do not see how he comes back from this and I think the writer really misunderstands the distinction between morally gray and being scum.

There’s this major event that’s happened between books 3 and 4 called the Sack of Luna which is alluded to through the book but we haven’t quite got Darrows take or relevant context. But we just had a chat with Apollonius where we get Darrow actually give his opinion on this. Which is basically nobody was punished as we would lose Sephi and the Obsidians.

Right:

1) That confirms he’s a coward without any morals. Daenerys cut the hands off every thief when she took Mereen. Killing the Obsodians at that point is a far lesser crimes than the Obsidians massacring innocent civilians. Like it’s a massive event and it’s so unspeakable that it would demand being addressed.

2) I don’t like the author repeatedly ignores clashes like this where the Reds should come to blows with the other parts of the Rising. If the Obsidians kill millions of innocent Reds, then they would pressure Darrow to punish the Obsidians and should not be okay with him pardoning them. It not remotely believable that they would shrug at this and none of this is a secret. It’s at the point where Red and Obsidian units in the military should be attacking eachother.

3) Darrow claims he did this to stop people like Eo being killed. This is him will very deliberately and consciously ignoring that. It utterly destroys the characters integrity and I think he’s a wretch. If he does not see the problem of having millions of Eos be killed by Obsidians then either he’s an idiot or he’s a cretin.

4) All the Golds have to do is tell their slaves that the Obsidians massacred millions of Reds and they suddenly become benevolent protectors. It massively undermines the Rising and is dangerous propaganda to gift your enemy.

Like it came across as if the author wanted to do a “wars hell” and “revolutions are compromised” without considering the implications of what he was actually writing. Like it’s at the point where whenever Darrow tries to wax lyrical about doing the right thing I roll my eyes. Oh I have to knock out these prison guards rather than kill them; look at me being conscientious. Really?

Finished latest Death Korps of Krieg novel Siege of Vraks. Not bad not great. Still Dead Man Walking is IMO their best one.

Just finished the 4th Josh Reynolds detective novel set in Legend of the Five Rings - A most enjoyable character based novel which explores the world but avoids the obvious Clan stereotypes quite often

I just finished the book Eruption, by James Patterson and, you won't believe this, Michael Crichton. Yes, that Michael Crichton, who wrote Jurassic Park and died 15 or so years ago. The book was based mainly on his notes that he had made for the story, which mainly involves a large volcanic eruption on the big island of Hawaii. James Patterson worked with Crichton's widow as far as getting the story made and everything. It's a good read too, easily worthy of Crichton's legacy.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I just finished the book Eruption, by James Patterson and, you won't believe this, Michael Crichton. Yes, that Michael Crichton, who wrote Jurassic Park and died 15 or so years ago. The book was based mainly on his notes that he had made for the story, which mainly involves a large volcanic eruption on the big island of Hawaii. James Patterson worked with Crichton's widow as far as getting the story made and everything. It's a good read too, easily worthy of Crichton's legacy.

That’s awesome. I’ll have to check that out.

I bought the Ahriman Omnibus. 4 novels and a few short stories. I definitely read the first novel, but had no clue it ran more than 2 novels, with a 5th on the way according to a recent WHC article which gave me the impetus to get back into the series.

Been working through the Imperial Guard novels series from Black Library to mop up the books I missed and reread some of the ones I have.

Mixed bunch so far. Might give an overall tier list once I've got through them all. It's turning into a bit of a slog though, bogged down in Desert Raiders currently.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Just finished the 4th Josh Reynolds detective novel set in Legend of the Five Rings - A most enjoyable character based novel which explores the world but avoids the obvious Clan stereotypes quite often

4th? I thought that there were just 2 so far. I need to get other 2 as soon as possible.

 Shadow Walker wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
Just finished the 4th Josh Reynolds detective novel set in Legend of the Five Rings - A most enjoyable character based novel which explores the world but avoids the obvious Clan stereotypes quite often

4th? I thought that there were just 2 so far. I need to get other 2 as soon as possible.

5th one coming out soon

https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/A-Bitter-Taste/Josh-Reynolds/Legend-of-the-Five-Rings/9781839083013

Just started re reading Gaunt's Ghosts series. I know Abnett isn't for everyone but I'm really enjoying them.

 Mr Morden wrote:

 Shadow Walker wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
Just finished the 4th Josh Reynolds detective novel set in Legend of the Five Rings - A most enjoyable character based novel which explores the world but avoids the obvious Clan stereotypes quite often

4th? I thought that there were just 2 so far. I need to get other 2 as soon as possible.

5th one coming out soon

https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/A-Bitter-Taste/Josh-Reynolds/Legend-of-the-Five-Rings/9781839083013

Wow, such a backlog I have! Now imagine George R. R. Martin writing so fast.

The AoS book section of Black Library is still slow due to losing Josh! He's a writing machine and seemed to really like working in that setting and writing stuff that wasn't just "ties into latest release of whatever major thing is new hotness"

 Overread wrote:
The AoS book section of Black Library is still slow due to losing Josh! He's a writing machine and seemed to really like working in that setting and writing stuff that wasn't just "ties into latest release of whatever major thing is new hotness"

Whole BL is poorer because of him leaving it. His Fabius novels were one of the best 40k ones.

So I am reading Iron Gold and I really do not understand the authors characterisation of Mustang

In book 2 there’s a very significant scene between her and Darrow where she’s very clear that she will not stand for the massacres and atrocities being committed. Okay, that shows Mustang is a principled character who will object to if Darrow or anyone else does bad things.Thats neat, sets up clear red lines and is creating narrative tension if Darrow does something evil. He might end up losing Mustang as an ally and so him doing bad things would compromise the Rising.

We then see Mustang go along with a number of events that are pretty much genocidal in character and described as such by the characters. These include, the massacre of civilians at Phobos, letting the Obsidian execute prisoners of war for no reason and the sack of Luna in which millions of the people they’re trying to free from slavery are killed. This is explained by Darrow as driven by pragmatism and an end justifies the means. They can’t punish the Obsodians because they are apparently indispensable. Now, Darrow also nukes Gannymeade killing (a suspiciously low number) of innocent Red civilians. But that is an exception because that seems to be a secret unlike all of the others where Mustang was present and would be aware of. Mustang just shrugs for all this stuff and doesn’t oppose him at all. The only time she has opposed Darrow so far was when he tried to escape arrest for something far more trivial and less serious about lying to the senate.

This is terrible characterisation. It amounts to wasting time establishing a characters motivation and building drama just to ignore that. I could say the same of Sevro who has a whole section of Morningstar dedicated to opposing the Rising hanging their own Golds which just gets completely ignored as Sephi and the Obsodians continue to commit horrific war crimes and massacre millions of Reds.

But what’s worse is that in Iron Gold we then have a scene with Lyria where suddenly Mustang is depicted as the principled character who opposes Lyria being tortured and says she wants to follow the law. Again, if the character has offscreen become pragmatic and approves of pretty much everything Darrow does then why is she suddenly have scruples about hurting a POV character? If the character thinks that then why would she have demanded the two Obsidian clans and Sephi be punished for massacring millions of civilians?

Like on the Sack of Luna. They would have to cut the Obsidians out if they did that. The Reds should not be okay with Sephi and the Obsidians. Like they should want them dead at that point and they should massively pressure Darrow to take action or find somebody who would. Like it isn’t pragmatic or morally grey. At that point they’re being attached and would demand vengence.

It’s really discredited the character and comes across as the author knowing this would just inconvenience his narrative if there was a conflict over this between Mustang and Darrow. Hence why there’s suddenly a break over a much more trivial issue of him killing an Obsidian who is with Rising oddly enough.

Far too many on the go...

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.
Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster.
Calculus Made Easy by Thompson & Gardener.
Thrawn by Timothy Zahn.
Fly Fishing by J.R Hartley.

 Shadow Walker wrote:

 Overread wrote:
The AoS book section of Black Library is still slow due to losing Josh! He's a writing machine and seemed to really like working in that setting and writing stuff that wasn't just "ties into latest release of whatever major thing is new hotness"

Whole BL is poorer because of him leaving it. His Fabius novels were one of the best 40k ones.

Agreed - he is a great world builder / character writer

Getting that same vibe as when Eric Nylund was booted from writing Halo books in favor of Karen 'Army Chad Fetishist' Traviss.

 LordofHats wrote:
Getting that same vibe as when Eric Nylund was booted from writing Halo books in favor of Karen 'Army Chad Fetishist' Traviss.

Oof, yeah. Noticed that one. Although it slotted in nicely with the Bungie -> Microsoft change in the main games, so the whole setting started going down the pan.

Got to the end of Iron Gold.

Very good read if very annoying that my first impression that Darrow is some Paul Atreides type is very much playing out. He’s a very bad man in this. I don’t think I was meant to enjoy his tears at the end quite as much as the author wanted. I think he wants Darrow as the morally grey figure with some room for redemption. I want to see him dead. It says a lot that it gets you to the point of making Lysander a palatable poison.

Having Ephraim and Lyria in the book was great. I really loved those two. They say the quiet part out loud and I really appreciated that we got them instead of sycophants or immoral arseholes. I want to like Sevro, Mustang and Victra but the author is determined to make that impossible. Like, it shocked me that Holidays response to “you guys have killed millions of children” is “Ephraim, what happened to you? How did you get so cynical.” Like that’s a serious accusation you aren’t replying to and you aren’t providing much actual pushback.

I do think the author is often ignoring the consequences and logical end points of the characters actions and attitudes. These are clearly highly militaristic, Stalinist and authoritarian characters that have no morality or principles whatsoever. It really doesn’t make sense that they wouldn’t just have a military dictatorship and be enslaving the Reds to work in armaments factories and have full purges of their political opponents. There’s a bit of a disconnect in that the pendulum swings between them being idealistic like not torturing Lyria and having no qualms about nuking ten million civilians (mostly Red so lots of little Eos BTW) because there might be a war. This comes across as the author having what he thinks are his own red lines that he thinks would render the protagonists entirely unsympathetic and outright evil even when that’s the logical direction they would go. Even small things like leaving it ambivalent whether Sevro killed an unarmed Pink who tried to stop him murdering the Ash Lord. Like he slaps her but we’re told in Ephrams chapters Pinks can die even to a Grey punching them never mind a Gold in full armour. You can very much hear the author going “well that is cruel, but maybe don’t him actually murder an unarmed Pink on the page.”. That sort of thing is quite recurring.

Reading the Malazan series again. It's pretty flawed, but I also feel like generally sticks the landing on a style of epic high fantasy that is rarely attempted.

I think my biggest issues with it is how bleak and cynical the world is. It's really relentlessly nasty and horrible. I prefer some hope and beauty in my fantasy nowadays, Tolkien style.

I think the bleak tone would be okay if most books didn't also have a comic relief character or sequence that I can just tell Erikson is so pleased with, that really clashes with the rest of the tone violently. Kruppe in book one or the intergalactic mages guild in book two.

He also needs an editor imo. The books are incredibly long and often at least one plotline is pointless, like the Kalam plot in book two.

But overall the scope and imagination at work saves it and he manages to hold my interest just to see how he'll pull off his next high fantasy twist.

See I rather like having some plotlines that are just fleshing out a character. I feel like they help make a character more real and the world itself more realistic. I think sometimes we get so fixated on everything having to serve and drive the main plot that it can make many fantasy worlds and stories feel very hollow when you pause and step back ;or when the author tries to do a sequel and suddenly has to flesh out parts of the world that weren't mentioned at all in the first story, but were in the same area or region and such. So it can feel like the story is just pulling convenient bits out to make the main plot work. I'd actually hold up a few of the newer starwars films as great examples of this kind of storytelling where everything conveniently happens to let the plot happen.


So yeah I enjoy trips into side quests within a story. Fleshing out characters, bits of the lore and setting. Sometimes all they do is help reinforce how skilled a character is when they later have to do something for the core narrative and its much easier to accept because you've already seen them doing that outside of the main plot.

I also enjoy that if I think the characters are interesting or well written, unfortunately many of Erikson's characters fall fairly flat for me, especially the Bridgeburners. He can do good ones, but sometimes they are just flat.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Just finished the 4th Josh Reynolds detective novel set in Legend of the Five Rings - A most enjoyable character based novel which explores the world but avoids the obvious Clan stereotypes quite often

I did not know these existed, and now must find them!

I couldn’t make it even a third of the way through Malazan book 2. The characters were boring and the plot tedious. I also had a bad taste in my mouth from the ending of book 1, the obvious writer’s-RPG-character insert in book 1, the bloat in book 1, and the many scenes of two unidentified characters obliquely discussing something unrevealed to the reader (as I’m guessing an attempt to build mystery?) in book 1.


What I’m saying is Malazan book 1 was a garbage fire to my sensibilities, and book 2 (or as much as I read of it) doubled down.

Also, didn’t book 1 have some guy turn into a living puppet and then do nothing with him? Why waste a Chucky?

I will agree that Malazan book 1 hits you right out of the gate with in-world concepts and by the end you can be a bit confused. It's honestly a book I found more enjoyable on a second read because I had the foreknowledge of the function of elements of the world that made it a lot easier to focus on the story.

The 2nd book can be a bit of a hit because its a whole new cast for the opening part until some characters from the 1st catch up.

The twig character does some stuff, but also lays the groundwork for that kind of magic being a thing which reappears later in big parts in the story (eg in Memories of Ice which is a freaking awesome book after books 1 and 2 built up too it).

I've tried to get into Malazan twice, the first time about 10 years ago and the last time fairly recently. I honestly think Gardens of the Moon is one of the worst books I've ever read. I can't fathom how anyone can read that novel and be like "oh yes, 9 more please!" I really wanted to like it too, as it's one of the most well loved fantasy series ever, but oh boy... Erikson couldn't give me a single character to get invested in throughout that whole book.

I'm currently reading Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb and I'm loving it so far.

Assassin's Apprentice is freaking awesome!

Just be sure once you finish that trilogy to go read the Liveship Traders BEFORE you read the next Fitz and Fool based trilogy. Liveships is a different style (multicharacter) and different region but it fleshes out a huge world chunk that becomes very important in the following fitz and fool series.

Robin Hobb is fantastic, and criminally under rated. The Farseer trilogy, the Liveship trilogy and the Golden Fool trilogy make a nine book run that is incredible from start to finish and has a really satisfying ending.

She wrote more books in the series after this, but I never read them because I was so happy with the trilogy of trilogies.

The final trilogy ends it beautifully. I really, really enjoyed it and the tonal shifts from series to series as the character grew and aged. It's really excellent.

I fondly recall getting and reading at least two of the books basically in a day and not stopping. She's indeed a very overlooked author by many, despite getting rave reviews whenever her work turns up.

“The End of Everything: How Wars Descend Into Annhilation” by Victor Davis Hanson

Basic premise: Take seriously when an enemy nation says its going to destroy you. Thebes, Carthage, Constantinople, Tenochtitlan, serve as examples.

-Never knew that Alexander pretty much wiped out Thebes after they rebelled following his rumored death in the north. Dude sent a message to all of the Greek City-states to not rebel before he took his fathers warmachine across the known world.

-Never knew Carthage more or less slept-walked right into their extinction. They had no clue how hated/feared they were by most Romans of all stations. The “anti-war” faction in Rome was interesting as well, seeing in Carthage an opponent that should be kept alive to constantly test Rome, lest it fall into lackadaisical decline. The brutality was pretty intense as well.

Currently starting the Constantinople chapter, which I am dreading. The slow decline of the Byzantines tugs at my hesrtstrings more than most historical collapses, and I’m not sure why.

It's often missed that while Rome lionized Hannibal as a great enemy they managed to defeat despite stiff odds, Hannibal and his entire family were controversial in Carthage. their political enemies shifted toward blaming the Barca's for the entire war and argued that Rome never would have fought if their family had instigated the conflict.

Dog sitting, and he’s all hot and sleepy caught up on some reading, specifically Scarlett Traces Vol 2 from the 2000ad Ultimate Collection.

A spinoff from War of the Worlds, exploring what happened to all that naughty tech left in the hands of the British Empire during its zenith.

Vol 2 is up to the 60’s and it pretty damned cool. Nice resolution which I shan’t spoil, and plenty of room for further tales in the same setting.

Catcha' in the rye

 Overread wrote:
Assassin's Apprentice is freaking awesome!

Just be sure once you finish that trilogy to go read the Liveship Traders BEFORE you read the next Fitz and Fool based trilogy. Liveships is a different style (multicharacter) and different region but it fleshes out a huge world chunk that becomes very important in the following fitz and fool series.

I'm going to dissent here. I didn't like the Farseer trilogy at all. Maybe I just have a hard time identifying with idiots as the main character. I liked the worldbuilding, but the characters - Fitz in particular - just seem to constantly be actively trying to suffer more. Except when they're just being completely passive playthings to whomever is currently exploiting them.

At least the characters in the Malazan series act mostly rationally. Well, except for the mad ones.

Currently on the pretty heavy, but surprisingly accessible, Origin of Species. I'm aware current evolutionary theory has moved forward quite a bit from the basics laid out here, but few books have had remotely as much impact as this one. It's worth a read because of that fact alone.

Bran Dawri wrote:

 Overread wrote:
Assassin's Apprentice is freaking awesome!

Just be sure once you finish that trilogy to go read the Liveship Traders BEFORE you read the next Fitz and Fool based trilogy. Liveships is a different style (multicharacter) and different region but it fleshes out a huge world chunk that becomes very important in the following fitz and fool series.

I'm going to dissent here. I didn't like the Farseer trilogy at all. Maybe I just have a hard time identifying with idiots as the main character. I liked the worldbuilding, but the characters - Fitz in particular - just seem to constantly be actively trying to suffer more. Except when they're just being completely passive playthings to whomever is currently exploiting them.

At least the characters in the Malazan series act mostly rationally. Well, except for the mad ones.

Currently on the pretty heavy, but surprisingly accessible, Origin of Species. I'm aware current evolutionary theory has moved forward quite a bit from the basics laid out here, but few books have had remotely as much impact as this one. It's worth a read because of that fact alone.

But wanting to scream at Fitz for making the wrong choice is half the fun!

Honestly I think it works in the books with him because they follow his character and let you look behind the thoughts of his actions. You can see the mistakes he makes, but you also see how he works out the logic behind those choices. You can see the flaws in his thinking here and there, but you can also see how its his personality, his experiences and who he is that leads him to make certain wrong or less than ideal choices. In many ways this makes him a very realistic character who has flaws, problems, issues and more. Because we ALL make really dumb, really stupid mistakes.

I dunno. I do enjoy books with flawed characters, but Fitz's reasonings often just seemed more like ridiculously far-fetched rationalizations by the author to justify heaping more misery and on the character than someone's actual thoughts.

As much as I dislike for example Martin's penchant for killing off protagonists, he doesn't generally torture them more than the plot requires.

Are you saying Hobb likes to pile misery onto her characters? I ask because I have one of her books and was planning to read it someday, but I hate, hate, hate gratuitous misery. It seems like too many autbors confuse misery for drama or intrigue or character growth.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Are you saying Hobb likes to pile misery onto her characters? I ask because I have one of her books and was planning to read it someday, but I hate, hate, hate gratuitous misery. It seems like too many autbors confuse misery for drama or intrigue or character growth.

It's less that she makes the situation miserable; more that Fitz is an expert at having two choices and picking the one that results in more difficulties for him (note I say difficulties not necessarily misery). Plus many times the choices are partly the result of social constructs in the society he lives in (or his impression of them). Also I should note he's not an idiot; childish through his younger years for sure and apt to make mistakes, but he's not an idiot in the sense of just being dumb.

The only series she's done with misery is her Soldier's Son series, which is fully its own thing.

Reading through Red Rising: Dark Age.

I am a little confused. Darrow has spent the last four books being an unrepentant war criminal killing millions of innocent civilians (his own BTW). But suddenly on Mercury he becomes concerned about the civilians in a city being drowned and Orion trying to use the Storm Gods to kill everyone on Mercury. I am not sure if this is inconsistency or if the author really believes Darrows actions to this point weren’t crossing a threshold. From my view he crossed this red line a long time ago and his attitude towards civilians and collateral damage has been very clear cut. The End justifies the Means and morals only get in the way of beating the Society. If killing 10 million people didn’t bother him then why does 1 billion bother him? If seeing burnt by nukes doesn’t bother him then why does a flood bother him? Like, genuinely, even the notion of this character considering the practicalities of evacuating the flooded city (before deciding no) is out of character.

I am a little disappointed the author has decided to continue to make the Society the main antagonist. This essentially derails any nuance from the story as theyre too cartoonishly evil. Which essentially justifies almost every action taken. Darrow refusing the consider surrendering on Mercury or them prosecuting a self destructive war for example. It also rules out more interesting stuff like the Solar Republic splitting between moderates and radicals or different groups breaking off entirely on nationalist lines. For example Harmony’s Red Hand really feels like a non entity in the story.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Are you saying Hobb likes to pile misery onto her characters? I ask because I have one of her books and was planning to read it someday, but I hate, hate, hate gratuitous misery. It seems like too many autbors confuse misery for drama or intrigue or character growth.

That is the way it came across to me. YMMV, it's a matter of taste. But it does seen like the main character, when given a choice always makes the worst possible. Or he's just a passive plaything of whoever's exploiting him now.

Finished The End of Everything. Sad, but insightful read about civilizations thinking “We’re strong enough” “The oldways are the best ways” “Help is on the way” “The surrounding communities that we ruled over/preyed on don’t hate us enough to team up with the enemy” “It’s never happened before, so it can’t happen to us” right to the bitter genocidal end.

Man, did the Aztec’s thoroughly blow it. I think the conquest of the Aztec Empire has to put Hernan Cortes in the top 20 greatest strategic minds in history. Granted the Aztec way of war wasn’t conducive to fighting well equipped, seasoned Spanish professional soldiers, but they had ample time to adapt and just swamp the Spanish. What they chose to do even to the moments of the final battles borders on the delusional.

Spartan Leonidas and his allies are famous for fighting a defensive battle against vastly superior foes, but Cortes went on the offensive with around a thousand of his troops and a decent amount of regional allies after suffering a big loss and triumphed over an enemy that at times outnumbered 10 to 1. Pretty exciting stuff to visualize, though its sad for the innocent elements of Aztec citizenry who were born in the worst era for an Aztec.

Now I’m thoroughly engrossed in finding more books about Conquistadors.

 nels1031 wrote:
Finished The End of Everything. Sad, but insightful read about civilizations thinking “We’re strong enough” “The oldways are the best ways” “Help is on the way” “The surrounding communities that we ruled over/preyed on don’t hate us enough to team up with the enemy” “It’s never happened before, so it can’t happen to us” right to the bitter genocidal end.

Man, did the Aztec’s thoroughly blow it. I think the conquest of the Aztec Empire has to put Hernan Cortes in the top 20 greatest strategic minds in history. Granted the Aztec way of war wasn’t conducive to fighting well equipped, seasoned Spanish professional soldiers, but they had ample time to adapt and just swamp the Spanish. What they chose to do even to the moments of the final battles borders on the delusional.

Spartan Leonidas and his allies are famous for fighting a defensive battle against vastly superior foes, but Cortes went on the offensive with around a thousand of his troops and a decent amount of regional allies after suffering a big loss and triumphed over an enemy that at times outnumbered 10 to 1. Pretty exciting stuff to visualize, though its sad for the innocent elements of Aztec citizenry who were born in the worst era for an Aztec.

Now I’m thoroughly engrossed in finding more books about Conquistadors.

Conquistador by Bud Levy and The Broken Spears by Miguel Leon-Portilla.

You can also, if you want, just get the memoirs Bernal Diaz, an account of the conquest of New Spain by someone who was actually there (though written later in life, when he'd become bitter about how the conquest played out for him, particularly in the sense that he took shots at Cortez when it suited him).

As a great audio product; there's a fantastic Great Courses lecture from Edwin Barnhart (a Mayanist) that covers the history of Mesoamerica from its earliest origins through to the Caste Wars in the 18th anc 19th centuries. Much of the content is about the Classic Maya, but this series has the benefit of being produced in the 2010s, making it relatively recent as far as Great Courses go and Barnhart was on top of some important discoveries at the time he was recording (importantly the discovery of Maya Glyphs at San Bartollo that massively predate others we've found and rewrite the timeline for the development of Maya writing).

Currently i am reading: "Blackrock, eine heimliche Weltmacht" from Heike Buchter. Going into well, Blackrock.

revolting stuff really solely focused on their economic dealings. Though granted you need to be able to speak german.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Are you saying Hobb likes to pile misery onto her characters? I ask because I have one of her books and was planning to read it someday, but I hate, hate, hate gratuitous misery. It seems like too many autbors confuse misery for drama or intrigue or character growth.

I am also not a fan and I would say the misery is my least favourite aspect at points in the book. However I would say that Fitz has real character growth and so do all the characters in Liveship Traders. Sometimes that 'growth' is in a dark direction but I think it is all well done.

But it's a pretty common criticism of the series, even from fans. I obviously still love the books because the other aspects more than make up for the miserable sections.

The Silence

A paperback, plot-boiler end-of-world horror

The most interesting part was that the main character was deaf. Perfectly serviceable little read. Nothing life-changing.

Notably, the first work of fiction I have finished in probably a half-decade. Travel lets one finish things like this! Normally, I had been reading too much non-fiction for projects and work.

Edit: It looks like this book also has a movie?
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7315484/

 Da Boss wrote:
I also enjoy that if I think the characters are interesting or well written, unfortunately many of Erikson's characters fall fairly flat for me, especially the Bridgeburners. He can do good ones, but sometimes they are just flat.

I really liked alot of the world building and ideas but yeah I found the Bridgeburners pretty unlikeable and skimmed them a bit.

Working my way through the Jack Ryan novels (by Tom Clancy) again... and lamenting how terrible most of the movie adaptations were.

Although to be fair, Clancy's books get quite long and intricate, and really cannot be adapted well into movie format. Maybe a TV series, generally not good movies. (Hunt For Red October being a bit of an exception, and even that got rather severely trimmed back.)

To be fair you can say that of a lot of books. Most novels don't fit into a 1.5-2.5 time slot. Doing so often requires cutting, changing and shifting huge chunks around and that's before you add focus groups; theory; product placement; marketing; restrictive superstars; executives and a bunch of other elements that often twist an already adapted script into a monster.

I'd argue that the Jack Ryan film adaptations had more hits than misses?

Hunt for Red October is an amazing film, and I also love Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.

The Sum of All Fears and Shadow Recruit failed to live up to the standards of the prior films.

 Overread wrote:
To be fair you can say that of a lot of books. Most novels don't fit into a 1.5-2.5 time slot. Doing so often requires cutting, changing and shifting huge chunks around and that's before you add focus groups; theory; product placement; marketing; restrictive superstars; executives and a bunch of other elements that often twist an already adapted script into a monster.

There are very, very few films I think are on par with the book for this very reason. Some are still good movies though, even if not as good.

There are also a lot of adaptations that are better than the books they are based on, either because they cut out the filler (Godfather) or keep what works and change what doesn’t (Die Hard, The Princess Bride). Unfortunately, in the age of the internet, adaptations have felt the need to be more “book accurate”, which usually means they lack the creative freedom to cut or change the elements that don’t work.

There are definitely good film adaptations, not going to say otherwise. I really like the Lord of the Rings movies, for example, although they are sadly cheapened a bit by the dreadful Hobbit trilogy. LotR definitely made changes from the source material, but generally in a very respectful and sensible way.

I've cooled on those as I've aged. Obviously they're about as good as you are gonna get, amazing they were made at all, but I can't get over how they treated many characters, fundamentally changing them to be worse people to bring in to my mind pointless drama and tension. Biggest crimes are the treatment of Frodo (and that is a huge issue), Theoden, Faramir and Denethor.

It's hard for me to watch some of the mistakes they've made. FOTR broadly holds up, but Two Towers and ROTK have some awful character choices.

For me the only missing part I feel strongly about is the lack of the Scouring of the Shire. I felt like it was an important step in both bringing home the danger of the world to the Hobbits. A thing that makes them feel a real part of the world and setting and not just a fairy tail land where all was good and most troubles were trivial in the grand scheme of things.

It's also a time that we really get to see Merry and Pippin as powerful warriors, but also see that Hobbits themselves, even without going on a grand quest, are not simple people with no backbone or fight in them.




Also on a personal level I've come to appreciate more and more the "small" stories. Whilst I'm a huge fan of grand narratives I feel that in modern times we've become fixated on them (esp in film) so having this massive film; this huge world ending quest to destroy a Ring and defeat a Dark lord - all ends not with the shattering of the ring and the falling of darkness; but with the defeat of who (by that point) is basically a thug leading a band of thugs. For some it might be anti-climatic, for me it just kind of makes the world feel alive when even a minor threat is still a threat.

I can forgive cutting, even important stuff like the Scouring of the Shire. They have to make cuts. It's deliberate choices to change things to make characters less intelligent or brave or noble, often to introduce false and petty contrived tension, that sticks in my throat. Frodo not resisting the Witch King. Sending Sam away. Aragorn beheading an emissary under a flag of parley. Denethor behaving like a madman rather than a great man under incredible strain. Pointless conflict between Theoden and Gandalf and Theoden and Aragorn.

Faramir arguably gets done dirtiest of all but it is the changes to Frodo that bother me the most.

I personally also hated the changes to Treebeard and the Ents. In the book, they wanted to do something about Saruman's destruction of their forest, but they just weren't entirely sure what they should do. In the movie, they seemed like they were totally aloof about it until Merry and Pippin show Treebeard the destroyed part of the forest, and then suddenly they all decided to go attack Isengard.

And don't get me started about how they butchered most of The Hobbit, turning an entertaining story into a cheap cash grab.

It always struck me as weird that the movie made it out like the shepards of the forest like... Just never strolled anywhere near Saruman's house.

And just never noticed he was all over their property...

Like the rampaging treepeople scene was pretty great. Like just really good.

But that they didn't notice was super weird as a change, especially since it didn't change the plot much but did make Treebeard and his bros look stupid.

With the ents, I thought they were going for the angle that the timespan of trees and ents is so great that they struggle to focus on something as short as a few months. I might be reading too much into it though.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I personally also hated the changes to Treebeard and the Ents. In the book, they wanted to do something about Saruman's destruction of their forest, but they just weren't entirely sure what they should do. In the movie, they seemed like they were totally aloof about it until Merry and Pippin show Treebeard the destroyed part of the forest, and then suddenly they all decided to go attack Isengard.

And don't get me started about how they butchered most of The Hobbit, turning an entertaining story into a cheap cash grab.

The Hobbit felt a LOT like they didn't really know what they were doing with it. They changed a LOT of things and bits like putting an elf and dwarf romance into it felt very much like they were reaching into the Hollywood book of "how to make a film" rather than how to actually adapt the story. It's strange because the Hobbit should actually fit into 3 films way easier than Lord of the rings ever did because it is a much smaller adventure.

They also had the problem of the Hobbit being a more whimsical book aimed at children but trying to tie it in places tonally to the LOTR movies and at other times veering into slapstick.

Just a real mess, I was of the opinion that the fan edits salvaged it but watching one recently I could not make it all the way through.

It's a bit more whimiscal than dark, but the film leaned WAY more into the childish.

Other things like the very cheap go-pro in-barrel scene just further made me think they didn't know what they were doing but some suit said "I want it because it will be like a ride at one of our theme parks" bits or something. It's one of the worst bits I think because that sudden go-pro moment breaks the immersion.

The Hobbit is a mess for multiple reasons, but I think most of them can be laid at the feet of Warner Bros being a terrible company making terrible decisions. Even at the most basic level, the Hobbit was rushed with CGI used to paper the cracks- the LotR had years of prep, the Hobbit effectively had months.

Lindsay Ellis has a great Youtube series on the disaster of the Hobbit films, if you have time.

It also falls into some of the same scriptwriting traps of false tension and contrived conflict thar plague the LOTR movies, so while I am happy to blame WB especially for wasting Del Toro's time, I think some of the problems still lie with the script.

Don’t forget, wanting two films to be stretched to three. I mean, that was just never gonna work.

Finally? It starred James Nesbit, who I cannot stand.

I have just started L5R novel Three Oaths by Josh Reynolds.

I managed to get to the library and picked up two works of Historical fiction to read, almost at random. Lo and behold, they are both adaptions of Xenophon's March of the 10,000; or Anabasis. I have probably read that about a dozen times.

I finished the first, called oddly enough The Falcon of Sparta? Written by someone names Conn Iggulden. Not sure why that title? It does a good job setting up the situation and let's you get inside Cyrus' head. After Cunaxa it becomes less compelling, almost like an after thought.

This reminded me a lot of reading the Mil-SCifi/Mil-Fiction in the writing style. If that is your thing, you mat get something from it. I happen to have a a soft-spot for the original, so this interpretation left me a bit cold.

Finished Red Rising: Dark Age

I like how the author was willing to have Darrow lose and lose badly in what was a clear cut fight as opposed to him being backstabbed. The story really desperately needed that to happen. Genuinely think all those Free Legion scum deserved to die and Darrow has nobody but himself to blame for getting those murderers killed. I hope he dies a horrible death because it’s really all he deserves right now. Most repulsive character I’ve ever read. Which maybe isn’t the authors intent but there you go. Hopefully Darrow gets hanged and nobody pulls his feet. It’s really off putting how he’s framed as a hero throughout the story.

It was nice to see some of the characters evil, I am just doing what’s necessary, actions result in them being utterly ruined. Although, I don’t think any of the characters particularly learnt their lesson. At first I thought Darrow was taking this to heart with “maybe this is the sort of compromise that poisoned our Republic”. But sure enough like clockwork by end of book he’s back to being an amoral arsehole who believes in nothing and thinks he should have killed all those Prisoners of War. Even though…the Rising never take Prisoners which really confused me no end but there you go. So I am still leaning towards the Rising becoming a Stalinist Dictatorship or some weird Dune Messiah nonsense.

I didn’t like how the author wrote the Vox and Red Hand out of the story. Even the Ascomani plot line is all just various fronts for the multiple Society factions. I think this all just makes things very easy for Darrow and takes the story down a less interesting road. For example there Halicarnassus the Orange on Mercury who is, I am not exaggerating, the first character who’s actually seriously criticised Darrow on this story. But the threat of the Society is used to airbrush over these differences in a way that felt profoundly unearned on Darrows part. Just a bout of self pity.

Was very good finally getting Mustang story. Although, I did kind of get annoyed how her and Victra really became the focal points of a lot of the anti Republic and anti Gold stuff. When it’s entirely Darrows fault and he’s conveniently kept away from people like Lyria or Ephraim (RIP). Was good seeing Victra take out the trash with the Red Hand, unlike Darrow who is too busy getting his men massacred and clearly doesn’t think dealing with the Red Hand was a priority. Solidarity I guess.

I still have this issue with the characters attitude towards Darrow committing mass murder like with the Storm Gods. Which BTW, I do not believe the character from Golden Son to Iron Gold would have disagreed with Orion; he absolutely would have killed everybody on Mercury as he did at Gannymeade. He’s repeatedly and proudly told us he does not give a dam. But it’s the fact that so many of the other characters either aren’t bothered by it or keep leaping to defend the indefensible instead of discussing why he shouldn’t be put against a wall and shot. Too often it falls back on him basically being the Lisan Al Ghaib and people being blinded by how amazing he is at killing. Especially Mustang who very clearly told him in book 2 she was not okay with the atrocities and genocide. So unless that red line is just way higher for the author I am just not buying many of these interactions. There’s some weird moral framing going on. Darrows genuinely a horrible monster throughout the story. Lysanders way off the mark thinking he was ever a good man. Eo clearly died because of men like Darrow.

Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by GRRM

Needed some more Game of Thrones goodness after House of the Dragon season 2 ended. Pretty good stuff, and downright wholesome in places, which is pretty surprising given the author and the world this collection is set in. Much more ground level than GoT and HotD.

Its also getting an HBO series set for release in 2025.

Seems my beloved 2000AD Ultimate Collection is now extended to 400 issues.

So as well as buying a house in the next year or so? I’ll be needing new book cases. Or, given house purchase will be my forever home, find a local carpenter to fit proper custom shelves and have myself a library for a spare room.

 nels1031 wrote:
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by GRRM

Needed some more Game of Thrones goodness after House of the Dragon season 2 ended. Pretty good stuff, and downright wholesome in places, which is pretty surprising given the author and the world this collection is set in. Much more ground level than GoT and HotD.

Its also getting an HBO series set for release in 2025.

I liked it too and now cannot wait for its series. Recommended read for fans of GoT and/or
knights/medieval stories.

Reading Stephen King’s short story collection the Bazaar of Bad Dreams. So far it feels like vintage King, in a good way.

 nels1031 wrote:
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by GRRM

Needed some more Game of Thrones goodness after House of the Dragon season 2 ended. Pretty good stuff, and downright wholesome in places, which is pretty surprising given the author and the world this collection is set in. Much more ground level than GoT and HotD.

Its also getting an HBO series set for release in 2025.

Have you read Fire and Blood - its alot better than the last 2 Song of Ice and fire novels which were awful


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Shadow Walker wrote:
I have just started L5R novel Three Oaths by Josh Reynolds.

I have really enjoyed the series =

Platons state.

Re-reading The Dervish House by Ian McDonald. Cracking near-future sci-fi set in Istanbul, which follows multiple plot lines following a terrorist bombing during a heatwave. I would say the story is almost an irrelevance, it's worth reading purely for the awesome world-building. Future (OK, not very future now - the book was written back in 2010 and is set in 2027) Istanbul comes alive on the page, and feels like an incredibly dynamic exciting place to be.

Working my way through the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Almost done (about 4/5th through) with the lest book and just ordered the next set.

 Nevelon wrote:
Working my way through the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Almost done (about 4/5th through) with the lest book and just ordered the next set.

Fun read. The sequels are decent, too.

Currently reading On the Origin of Species. Not exactly current, but it's one of the most important books of the last couple of centuries at least. Absolutely in awe of its clarity and the humility Darwin displayed as well.

The Discovery Of Witches

By Matthew Hopkins.

Long since entered Public Domain, this is a free read. And should you assault your common sense so? You’ll find that interwebulae woo pedlars and hate preachers come from a long, long line of really obvious liars, who’ll use argue one thing to justify themself in one story, before argue the exact, mutually exclusive, opposite, to justify themself in the next.

It’s a frankly challenging read when you know that mental case sent an awful lot of people to their death on basically no evidence or rational argument.

Just finished Earthrise. A nice little scifi book by Arthur C Clarke.

still on platons state.

Issues 181 and 182 of the 2000ad Ultimate collection. Thistlebone (creepy Folk Horror tale) and The Out (really solid sci-fi, about a human reporter on the furthest region of space.

With just 9 months to run, I’m very much in the home stretch of this collection.

And so far, there’s been maybe three volumes (Tyranny Rex, two of Dan Dare) I’ve just not been able to get on with. Which is pretty good going!

Salem’s Lot

Another day’s monotony’s gotten me to the point I’m like a snail, I’ve got to read a good plot, or end up in jail or shot. Enjoyment’s my only melonfarming option, boredom’s not. (Somerset) Maugham, I love you but I’ve got to go—October cannot go on without Salem’s Lot. So here I go. Peepers fail me not! This may be the spookiest opportunity I got.
I better lose myself in the manuscript the minute I flip it (open). I better never put it down. I got one shot, will not miss out on Barlow. October only comes once in a year’s time, yo.



Had to be done.

After watching some YouTube videos about it, I begun reading Jurassic Park: The Lost World. I would've started reading Jurassic Park but I couldn't find my copy. I haven't read any Michael Crichton novel since high school where I read the Jurassic Park books, Sphere, Timeline, and the one about nanobots that can replicate humans, can't remember its name.

In all honesty, I don't remember Michael Crichton's prose being so...simplistic, to be diplomatic. But it works and I'm quite enjoying it so far.

 Adrassil wrote:
After watching some YouTube videos about it, I begun reading Jurassic Park: The Lost World. I would've started reading Jurassic Park but I couldn't find my copy. I haven't read any Michael Crichton novel since high school where I read the Jurassic Park books, Sphere, Timeline, and the one about nanobots that can replicate humans, can't remember its name.

In all honesty, I don't remember Michael Crichton's prose being so...simplistic, to be diplomatic. But it works and I'm quite enjoying it so far.

The last one is Prey. I read these books in middle/high school as well. Crichton is what sent me on my sf path, more so even than Dune. He's got a few others that I didn't care for much... Congo, Rising Sun. I would recommend The Andromeda Strain, though I'm not sure how well it's aged.

Congo was actually really good. Much better than the movie. But yes, Crichton was one of my mainstream starting sci-fi writers.

Congo is a great movie because it has Bruce Campbell on screen.

The real gem in Congo is Tim Curry as Herkermer Homolka, formerly of Romania.

I've been reading a bunch of old sci-fi stuff, including several of Fred Saberhagen's Berserker stories. Years ago, on my dad's recommendation, I read Saberhagen's Books of Swords, and they are some of the best sci-fi/fantasy I've ever read. If you get a chance to read anything by Fred Saberhagen, I highly recommend it.

Warptide wrote:

 Adrassil wrote:
After watching some YouTube videos about it, I begun reading Jurassic Park: The Lost World. I would've started reading Jurassic Park but I couldn't find my copy. I haven't read any Michael Crichton novel since high school where I read the Jurassic Park books, Sphere, Timeline, and the one about nanobots that can replicate humans, can't remember its name.

In all honesty, I don't remember Michael Crichton's prose being so...simplistic, to be diplomatic. But it works and I'm quite enjoying it so far.

The last one is Prey. I read these books in middle/high school as well. Crichton is what sent me on my sf path, more so even than Dune. He's got a few others that I didn't care for much... Congo, Rising Sun. I would recommend The Andromeda Strain, though I'm not sure how well it's aged.

That's right! Prey! Thanks for the reminder. Prey actually scared me more than any of his other novels, just the idea alone. The ending was also intense. Also, I always remember that Jurassic Park: The Lost World was the first and only novel that has actually managed to give me a fright, which is pretty crazy now I think about it, lol.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I've been reading a bunch of old sci-fi stuff, including several of Fred Saberhagen's Berserker stories. Years ago, on my dad's recommendation, I read Saberhagen's Books of Swords, and they are some of the best sci-fi/fantasy I've ever read. If you get a chance to read anything by Fred Saberhagen, I highly recommend it.

Not sure if I ever got around to the berserker series. It seems like I would have, just no memory of them.

It will second the recommendation for the Books of Swords. Still have those on the shelf, good reads.

-Silmarilion (tolkien)
-Beyond good and evil (nietsche)
-Unpublished pages of the secret teachings of all ages (manly hall)
-The inivisible rainbow (firstenberg)

Going back and forth between these, but I have too much to do to stick to it, usually end up reading 2-3 pages and then forget about it again for a week.

I put Jurassic Park: The Lost World aside as I ordered a new copy of Jurassic Park which arrived a couple of days ago. So started to read that. I'd say the prose is, ironically, much better than JP: TLW. Just got up to the part introducing Alan Grant and I skipped the sentences describing him as it'll allow me to imagine him looking like Sam Neill, lol. Will also read his dialog in a NZ accent as Sam Neill can't keep up an American accent to save his life, lol.

I never got around to reading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, but I recently picked up a boxed set of the books. The only problem now is that my work schedule is not conducive to reading time. It's next up in the queue, though...

 Just Tony wrote:
I never got around to reading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, but I recently picked up a boxed set of the books. The only problem now is that my work schedule is not conducive to reading time. It's next up in the queue, though...

I’ve read the first one. Not a fan. Tried the second one a couple times, just can’t get into it. Have the 3rd, never made it that far.

I know Asimov is one of the greats of sci-fi, but I’ve never been a fan,

I always found him to be better at short stories. His original three Foundation books are more like a sequence of novellas rather than full novels, which is likely why I remember them fondly while I feel the rest of his Foundation novels and later Robot novels blow.


Speaking of authors whose short stories are their best work, I finished Salem’s Lot and I’m going back to some of King’s short stories for a while.

 Nevelon wrote:

 Just Tony wrote:
I never got around to reading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, but I recently picked up a boxed set of the books. The only problem now is that my work schedule is not conducive to reading time. It's next up in the queue, though...

I’ve read the first one. Not a fan. Tried the second one a couple times, just can’t get into it. Have the 3rd, never made it that far.

I know Asimov is one of the greats of sci-fi, but I’ve never been a fan,

I've sifted through his robot short stories, and read the "Caves of Steel" trilogy, for a lack of a better term, and I'm a fan. I just wasn't motivated to chase down these books until it accidentally happened. I also have Nemesis sitting around that I never finished.

I'm reading up on post-Nemesis Star Trek novels from around 2005 onwards. Read USS Titan Taking Wing, then Death in Winter and now Articles of the federation. They all tie together loosely, they're of varying quality, but they're all better than the writing in "Picard"...

I'm currently half-way through my annual re-read of A Night in the Lonesome October, by Roger Zelazny.

Sgt. Cortez wrote:
I'm reading up on post-Nemesis Star Trek novels from around 2005 onwards. Read USS Titan Taking Wing, then Death in Winter and now Articles of the federation. They all tie together loosely, they're of varying quality, but they're all better than the writing in "Picard"...

I loved that whole “post-Nemesis relaunch” period. There were bad books, sure, but the tone of the setting and the connection to the optimistic Starfleet of the TNG era made even the bad books enjoyable to read. And the good ones were brilliant.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I always found him to be better at short stories. His original three Foundation books are more like a sequence of novellas rather than full novels, which is likely why I remember them fondly while I feel the rest of his Foundation novels and later Robot novels blow.

Same goes for Heinlein.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

Sgt. Cortez wrote:
I'm reading up on post-Nemesis Star Trek novels from around 2005 onwards. Read USS Titan Taking Wing, then Death in Winter and now Articles of the federation. They all tie together loosely, they're of varying quality, but they're all better than the writing in "Picard"...

I loved that whole “post-Nemesis relaunch” period. There were bad books, sure, but the tone of the setting and the connection to the optimistic Starfleet of the TNG era made even the bad books enjoyable to read. And the good ones were brilliant.

Can you recommend some? So far I'm focussing on the arc about Romulus, not sure I'm interested in the following Borg incursion. After articles of the federation I think I'm continuing with Titan 2 because Donatra is there, then maybe the Destiny books.
Articles of the Federation on the one hand is interesting because of its setting, we never saw much of the federation president. On the other hand it's pretty uninspired, oh so it's US-president IN SPACE, I'd like my Trek to show me more utopia and interesting societies.

I don’t remember the second Titan book well, but I enjoyed the series a lot, especially Orion’s Hounds, Synthesis, and Sight Unseen.

For Romulan stuff, they are involved in the Typhon Pact books, especially Rough Beasts of Empire, although that one starts out a bit slow. It also follows A Singular Destiny, the sequel to Articles of the Federation that handles the aftermath of the Destiny series and its Borg incursion. The Typhon Pact books show us a lot about the other Trek baddies, such as the Breen and Tzenkethi. I found Gorn book weak, though.

The Cold Equations series are loosely connected stories, but generally good. I think the first one brings back Data and does a really excellent job justifying his return.

If you like to see a lot of continuity woven together into a single story, Watching the Clock uses the Department of Temporal Investigations to connect together all the time travel shenanigans from the TNG era along with the Temporal Cold War from Enterprise into one grand story. The Buried Age is about a pre-Enterprise-D Picard weaving together all of the deep history nuggets and weird lore outliers when he discovers a billion year old being alive in a stasis field.


The different series share a lot of continuity for events such as the Typhon Pact or the Fall or Section 31, but near the end they started producing more stand alone stories if that’s what you are looking for.


Someone made a huge reading order flow chart that illustrates all the connection.

Reading the final Shardlake novel, Tombland, by CJ Sansom. Very talented author and historical researcher, great stories and the history feels very authentic. I'm really sad that he passed away recently and there won't be any more.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:



Someone made a huge reading order flow chart that illustrates all the connection.

Oh my... I've been searching for something like this, big thank you!

 Nevelon wrote:

 Just Tony wrote:
I never got around to reading the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, but I recently picked up a boxed set of the books. The only problem now is that my work schedule is not conducive to reading time. It's next up in the queue, though...

I’ve read the first one. Not a fan. Tried the second one a couple times, just can’t get into it. Have the 3rd, never made it that far.

I know Asimov is one of the greats of sci-fi, but I’ve never been a fan,

I also read the first one a little while ago. It was very disappointing. I think it just hasn't aged well. Would definitely have recommended reading the first one to see how you like it before buying a whole box set.

Currently on “Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires”

Always been interested in the beginnings of organized crime in America. Instead of rewatching Boardwalk Empire, I’ve decided to go the more historic/factual route.

Sgt. Cortez wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:



Someone made a huge reading order flow chart that illustrates all the connection.

Oh my... I've been searching for something like this, big thank you!

I think my brain just broke after trying to read that on my mobile.

But when you are done reading those, read the Coda trilogy. It's the end of the Pocket Books Star Trek 'Verse.

I would have preferred no ending to that continuity over the ending Coda gave us.

I read a book called Carthage: A History at my local college library.

Should I be concerned that most of the "academic" ancient history books I can find at my local libraries are from 1973 through 1985 or so? I have a feeling that all these resources on Ancient History are themselves rather ancient now.

Are there really no newer books on Ancient History topics? I know there are, but my local libraries are not getting them!

 Easy E wrote:
I read a book called Carthage: A History at my local college library.

Should I be concerned that most of the "academic" ancient history books I can find at my local libraries are from 1973 through 1985 or so? I have a feeling that all these resources on Ancient History are themselves rather ancient now.

Are there really no newer books on Ancient History topics? I know there are, but my local libraries are not getting them!

New books are expensive, probably not a lot of incentive to buy them if the older ones are not checked out often. Plus if you miss the limited print runs they become really expensive secondhand

Also I suspect proportionally less books get written in the internet age.

One of my friends heard me lamenting the cost if big stompy mechs in 40k, and bought me a copy of BattleTech: BattleMech Manual (which is apparently a version if the game that is solely 'Mechs only.


I'm sure I won't have any trouble reading this Rulebook, the Age of Darkness 2nd Edition Rulebook, and 40k 10th Edition Rulebook, and Zone Mortalis and what did I just download? The new Kill Team.... I think...

I'll be fine... won't I?

 Haighus wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
I read a book called Carthage: A History at my local college library.

Should I be concerned that most of the "academic" ancient history books I can find at my local libraries are from 1973 through 1985 or so? I have a feeling that all these resources on Ancient History are themselves rather ancient now.

Are there really no newer books on Ancient History topics? I know there are, but my local libraries are not getting them!

New books are expensive, probably not a lot of incentive to buy them if the older ones are not checked out often. Plus if you miss the limited print runs they become really expensive secondhand

Also I suspect proportionally less books get written in the internet age.

To add to this, big boy scholarly histories tend to not move nearly as fast as little boy popular histories.

To this day, McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom and Foner's Reconstruction remain the go to texts on 'big history' for the Civil War and Reconstruction. Both books were written in the 80s. Both books remain the most complete works from a history on either era and no one is really chomping at replacing them since it's not clear how or why you would for now. Rather, newer books and research are narrower books and more focused on specific topics.

On top of that, for some topics... I mean what do you do? All sources for Carthage are at this point well known and well worn. There's nothing new to publish in history. Further research will hinge more on archeology. Archeology is harder still. Archeologists tend to talk through journals as its rare for any of them to do so much work that they're write a whole book about it. The field can move so fast in some areas any book would be obsolete between starting it and publication!

It's not weird that the only books you can find on some topics are from the 70s and 80s. That was the last big surge in many fields where post-modernism and the New Left movement saw a revisionist wave and then a counter rerevisionist wave in many areas of history and when historians last did a big wave of massive incorporation of archeological data into their own materials.

History in some of these areas has slowed down since, and as previously mentioned, the work is mostly being done by archeologists but archeologists don't write books like historians do.

There's also knowing the books exist in the first place. Academia, whilst being more open than it ever has been in the past; is also somewhat a closed world of its own. A good number of books are well known to the experts, but a general librarian or person on the street won't have any idea of them at all.

Even those of the amateur persuasion can sometimes be totally clueless about the texts if they've not been through formal education and kept up with a few of the key reference/source/publishers.


Honestly I lament the fact that a lot of key text books and such are often super high priced items that just price out many people who are not super keen and dedicated (and have the resources to keep buying)

You're not kidding about archeologists not writing like historians. One of the absolute best books about the history of Judaism is the driest affairs I've ever slogged through.

Yonatan Adler's The Origins of Judaism: A Historical and Archeological Reappraisal would be at the top of my recommendation list, if he had written the book with someone with a little bit of flair.

 Overread wrote:
There's also knowing the books exist in the first place. Academia, whilst being more open than it ever has been in the past; is also somewhat a closed world of its own. A good number of books are well known to the experts, but a general librarian or person on the street won't have any idea of them at all.

Even the experts might not be aware of any. I don't know of any books on my current field, and any that do exist are probably well out of date. Everything is from published articles rather than books. I am working in a niche area but that also means the pace of change is comparatively slow.

True and the opposite can also be a problem - from fields where its so small the pace is slow and individual contributions might be so quiet as to not get noticed; through to fields where they are alive with so much change that actually keeping up is a challenge as there's a vast sea of information being added too all the time.

There is no Antimemetics Division


There is no Antimemetics Division is an SCP tie-in novel (although one review says they removed all references to the SCP Foundation in the kindle version), a nonlinear narrative constructed from vignettes and time-hopping fragments. If you enjoy the SCP stories or cosmic horror, this is a great read. It has just the right mix of creepy, weird and a little bit silly that all the best SCPs have.

Currently re-reading in anticipation of the newest and craziest book in the series set to come out next week;

DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL

I know it sounds dumb as hell. But it's pure genius fun. It's free on Amazon Kindle or whatever so I heartily recommend giving the first book a go. You're welcome.

Right now? Great Darkness Saga, Valedor. I finished the entire Jack Kirby run of New Gods this week.

Yes, including The Hunger Dogs.

I'm slowly getting through Jurassic Park and really enjoying it. What a great premise, what a good book. Even with the egregious exposition. It's no wonder it's such an enduring story in western culture.

Speaking of enduring masterpieces of western literature that will uplift the human spirit and inspire future generations to never ever play Eldar or Thousand Sons, I am reading the culmination of the epic Dawn of War trilogy Dawn of War: Tempest by the master storyteller, C.S. Goto.

What a wonderful journey these books have been. I'm sure everyone who has picked up these darlings of prose, will agree with me.

Yep. The best of the best. I can't imagine a better book or a more worthwhile purchase. This might be the greatest thing I've ever had my hands on from Black Library.

It's just too good to put down.

Strontium Dog, the Starlord Years

A pretty special treat from the 2000ad Ultimate Collection, as I’ve now had the privilege of reading the original Stront stories, as published in its short lived sister volume, Starlord.

And it’s pretty solid. Still some way to go before it became a stone cold classic (such as when it delved into the nitty gritty of Stront’s world).

Always a treat to see the earliest strips of a beloved character.

 Hulksmash wrote:
Currently re-reading in anticipation of the newest and craziest book in the series set to come out next week;

DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL

I know it sounds dumb as hell. But it's pure genius fun. It's free on Amazon Kindle or whatever so I heartily recommend giving the first book a go. You're welcome.

DCC is pure fun, and one of the rare cases where, IMO, the audiobook is better than the printed version. Totally worth checking out.

grahamdbailey wrote:

 Hulksmash wrote:
Currently re-reading in anticipation of the newest and craziest book in the series set to come out next week;

DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL

I know it sounds dumb as hell. But it's pure genius fun. It's free on Amazon Kindle or whatever so I heartily recommend giving the first book a go. You're welcome.

DCC is pure fun, and one of the rare cases where, IMO, the audiobook is better than the printed version. Totally worth checking out.

In full agreement with this. Was turned onto DCC by friends a couple weeks ago and am eagerly awaiting the new book about to release. It is a very interesting blend of genres that has surprisingly more depth than one might expect as it progresses.

 ikeulhu wrote:

grahamdbailey wrote:

 Hulksmash wrote:
Currently re-reading in anticipation of the newest and craziest book in the series set to come out next week;

DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL

I know it sounds dumb as hell. But it's pure genius fun. It's free on Amazon Kindle or whatever so I heartily recommend giving the first book a go. You're welcome.

DCC is pure fun, and one of the rare cases where, IMO, the audiobook is better than the printed version. Totally worth checking out.

In full agreement with this. Was turned onto DCC by friends a couple weeks ago and am eagerly awaiting the new book about to release. It is a very interesting blend of genres that has surprisingly more depth than one might expect as it progresses.

Yes!!! I have all the audio books. Or should I say Audio PRODUCTIONS. They aren't one person reading the books trying to do different voices. It's excellent.

And yes, it's surprisingly deep as it progresses. The next one is gonna be a banger! Monday can't come soon enough!

 Hulksmash wrote:

Yes!!! I have all the audio books. Or should I say Audio PRODUCTIONS. They aren't one person reading the books trying to do different voices. It's excellent.

And yes, it's surprisingly deep as it progresses. The next one is gonna be a banger! Monday can't come soon enough!

I tend to avoid audio books since I am the type that finds themselves getting distracted away too easily when it's not visual, but even I am considering giving the audio versions of DCC a try because I can very much see how that could really add a lot if done well (and from what I hear they do indeed do the series justice with the audio)!

I'm the same way. I very much have squirrel issues even when I'm driving when it comes to attention but I can lock in on these pretty darn well. And it really does just add a lot to it. I find myself reading in the studio voices when I'm reading instead of listening (I'm doing a reread right now and kindle and audible sink up so when I go from car to house it stays in the same spot).

the book I've been reading most recently is "Castles of Steel"

WW1 history of the sea war in the North Sea between the UK and the Germans.

I'm not sure if Winston churchill kicked the author's cat, but so far, the guy really REALLY paints Churchill in poor light (I mean, there is some reason for it, but my point is, the author seems to be going out of his way to accentuate the badness).

Even with that said, it's been a good read so far.