Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

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…