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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 9, 2019 14:53:37 GMT -5
I've just read my first Doc Savage novel - He Could Stop the World by Kenneth Robeson. I thought it was an enjoyable read. Action and suspense and basically comic book type science. Pretty cool, though. Also, this book was written in 1937, and Doc Savage has a "Fortress of Solitude" in the Arctic Circle! This is well before Superman's. I wonder if they got the idea from the Doc Savage novels. Yes. Superman’s Fortress is clearly cribbed from Doc’s. Kenneth Robeson is a house name that was put on all the Doc Savage novels. All but 20 of them were written by Lester Dent.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 9, 2019 21:32:14 GMT -5
Adventure by the Citizens of Antiford
I grabbed this off the shelf at library at random.. it was in the 'new books' section, and I hadn't read any steampunk for a while.
After a bit of research, it turns out a book that was put together from a group that runs an annual steampunk convention and created their own little universe... the book is a kickstarter of their best work.
For non-professionals, it's decent.. it certainly provides the 'adventure' in the title. There's an archeological dig, a train heist, crazy cultists, a kidnapping with air battle, all kinda of stuff.
The main problem was the characters were, for the most part, extremely unlikeable. In three of the six stories, they were out and out villains...two of the other three they were simply bland and unremarkable. I did really like Sarah (the kidnapping victim), and the bounty hunting group that save her are fun, but alot of the rest were pretty blah.
Then there's the setting.. one gets the feeling that THEY know all about the world, but there was precious little detail about it in the stories.. yes, they were using the same fictional map with the same pretend races, but there was almost no overlap. It seemed like in a couple cases they almost did some fun world building, but not quite. There is a vast plethora of stuff on the conventions web site, so perhaps if one is familiar it makes more sense.
Overall, I love that a bunch of people that hang out at a con can put out a book, so huge props for that, and that it someone wandered into my library is very cool. One bit of advice to them if there is ever a volume 2... don't talk about how great you did editing for grammar in the preface when you have a good dozen typos/grammar error in you story!
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 10, 2019 21:00:49 GMT -5
All Systems Red by Martha Wells This jumped out at me at the library (yay for the library getting new sci fi!) and I remembered Slam reviewing is positively... the man has good taste . I love it when one reads a book, and your expectations are disappointed in a way that makes you go 'I never thought of that before!' There are lots of books out there about robots coming into their own, many that wish to be human, that allow writers to explore the human condition. Some do it very well, some do it less well. Here, we have a robot that becomes self aware (or, as we later learn, more self aware than usual),and all it wants to do it have people leave it alone so it can watch TV in it's down time. It was just so different. The story was fantastically paced, with a solid plot and good action, and some small bits of world building that seem like they could lead to something special. Even the ending surprised me, which doesn't happen too often these days.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 13, 2019 17:09:14 GMT -5
Head On John Scalzi
As is generally the case with Scalzi, this is a enjoyable page turning novel that give you alot to think about. Alot of those thoughts are a bit on the negative side, though.
Clearly, the author is enamored of the idea of immortal humans in gladiator combat... he wrote about it in the Dispatcher as well. I don't think it makes sense that this sport (Hilketa) would actually even be allowed in the world he's created, though, never mind super popular. You take a protected, disabled minority, and have them fight each other for the amusement of the majority? Really?
The story itself almost feels like it was ripped out of a 30s noir novel, just updated for high tech.. you could set it in 30s New York and swap in Boxing as the sport and it would work just fine. That's not great, as it seems like we should be past that for out major sports.
Never mind that I don't think a brand new sport could catch on and become major in the time frame listed... not with the salaries mentioned.
Agent Vann is really the main character in this one, and she's one bad MF'er... like the super-est super cop ever. It's kinda fun to witness, if a bit ridiculous.. Chris is reduced to the sidekick that gets beat on alot. Of course, there's ALOT of deaths, so maybe she's not so good after all.
I really did enjoy reading the book... I think I just thought about it too much. If you just read it and take it for face value, it's great.
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Post by berkley on Aug 13, 2019 17:22:08 GMT -5
I picked this up at my lcs last week after having pre-orderd it... and dove into it this weekend. I really enjoyed Roy Thomas's introduction and Mike Allred's afterword essays, the contents highlight the span of Marvel's color Conan comics from CTB #1 through all the 3 issue minis they released at the end of their initial time with Conan. Sometimes they show published art, sometimes the original art pages, and sometimes rejected covers, etc. a good span of artists, each with a little comment/recollection or insight about the piece. It was a good (albeit quick) read, with a nice sleection of art. If you are a fan of Conan art, it's a good pick up, if not, well you wouldn;t get it anyways. I would have liked to see some of the stuff from SSOC or Savage Tales, and it was a bit pricey at msrp, but a solid book for what it is. -M
I might be interested in this, depending on the quality and quantity of the previously unseen material.
I usually lean towards waiting for the cheaper, paperback version to some out, but you never know for sure if they're going to do a paperback. Might have to splurge on the hardcover before it goes out of print altogether.
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Post by berkley on Aug 13, 2019 22:39:38 GMT -5
I might be interested in this, depending on the quality and quantity of the previously unseen material. I usually lean towards waiting for the cheaper, paperback version to some out, but you never know for sure if they're going to do a paperback. Might have to splurge on the hardcover before it goes out of print altogether.
There's not really a lot of previously unseen material. One or two rejected covers, that's about it. I'd say maybe a quarter to a third of the art samples are shot from the original art, the rest are either published panels, pages or covers. -M OK, thanks, that probably is enough to decide me against getting it .
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 15, 2019 11:16:35 GMT -5
Hell Hath No Fury (aka The Hot Spot) by Charles Williams. Charles Williams was one of the very best of the Gold Medal paperback writers of the 50s and 60s. That he is largely forgotten now is one of many injustices in the genre, particularly since he was one of the progenitors of the "swamp noir" sub-genres. This is probably his best known stand-alone (though Hill Girl could give it a run for its money and Dead Calm is equally, if not better known). That's likely because of the 1990 neo-noir film. This is a classic paperback original. By all rights this should probably be spoken about in the same breath as Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside of Me. This has the classic literary noir tropes. The Everyman. The Femme Fatale. The bad judgment. The poor sap pays in the end. But Williams throws in some curves. There's a sweet girl that would set Everyman right but that way is blocked. It's the Everyman who gets himself into hot water...the Femme Fatale just exacerbates it. As usual, Williams does an amazing job with the setting of the book. While not technically swamp noir this one is again set in the South, in east Texas and the heat and oppressive humidity play a part. Williams makes small-town southern life an integral factor in the book and that just adds to the story. Highest recommendation. If you are a fan of literary noir you owe it to yourself to find this one.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 15, 2019 12:34:17 GMT -5
Catch Me if You Can by Frank Abagnale and Stan ReddingI remember watching the film of this around the time it came out and I know that I listened to this on audio-book at some point. I was looking for something light to read and this seemed like it would fit the bill. And as light entertainment it was just fine. As a historical document...not so much. I'm given to doing a fair bit of extraneous research when I read purported non-fiction. That's particularly true when it's a memoir. So what do we have here? A fun breezy politically incorrect (it was a different time folks) read that should be taken with a very large grain of salt. First this should probably be credited to Stan Redding with input by Frank Abagnale. As various journalists dug into this story Abagnale ultimately admitted that he only met with Redding a few times and that Redding was much more interested in a fun compelling story than the actual story. So what do we actually know. Well Abagnale was pretty clearly one of the better paper-hangers of his time. He probably did pose as a pilot...at least a few times. The rest of his alleged impersonations...maybe not. He almost certainly didn't escape from FBI custody through an airplane lavatory (everything indicates it was physically impossible). So what we really have it a book that is the functional equivalent of an "inspired by true events" film. There is truth here...but it's been stretched and augmented in order to have a good story. And it's a fun story. Just don't necessarily believe everything you read.
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Post by berkley on Aug 15, 2019 14:40:09 GMT -5
Hell Hath No Fury (aka The Hot Spot) by Charles Williams. Charles Williams was one of the very best of the Gold Medal paperback writers of the 50s and 60s. That he is largely forgotten now is one of many injustices in the genre, particularly since he was one of the progenitors of the "swamp noir" sub-genres. This is probably his best known stand-alone (though Hill Girl could give it a run for its money and Dead Calm is equally, if not better known). That's likely because of the 1990 neo-noir film. This is a classic paperback original. By all rights this should probably be spoken about in the same breath as Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside of Me. This has the classic literary noir tropes. The Everyman. The Femme Fatale. The bad judgment. The poor sap pays in the end. But Williams throws in some curves. There's a sweet girl that would set Everyman right but that way is blocked. It's the Everyman who gets himself into hot water...the Femme Fatale just exacerbates it. As usual, Williams does an amazing job with the setting of the book. While not technically swamp noir this one is again set in the South, in east Texas and the heat and oppressive humidity play a part. Williams makes small-town southern life an integral factor in the book and that just adds to the story. Highest recommendation. If you are a fan of literary noir you owe it to yourself to find this one.
I should be reading this soon, since I've sampling a few of the hard-boiled writers or books I missed when I was younger, and I'm just getting into the early 50s now.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 15, 2019 21:30:10 GMT -5
That is an amazing cover! Sounds like one to look out for!
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 16, 2019 0:12:20 GMT -5
The Green Brain by Frank Herbert
Very interesting concept, but a bit too little exploration of it. Sure, today we know how fragile ecosystems are, but in 1966? I'm not up on my ecological history, but I'm thinking it might have been at least an unproven concept.
There are definitely issues with the story.. the characters are all just really stereotypes, but that really needs to be something one expects to find in 60s sci-fi. And to be fair, there are plenty of bad tropes and stereotypes in today's fiction too and those will likely seem just as weird and out of place as these due in 50 years.
To really enjoy the book, you have to be ok with mutated hive-mind insects being the heroes...happily, I figured that out early on, so I was able to enjoy the bit of wisdom Herbert adds in here ... the discussion of slavery at the end was pretty neat, as was 'Brain's' gradual development.
Sadly, there's not much of an end (as if the story had meant to have a sequel), but one a few points off for that here, since that's really not the point.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Aug 19, 2019 12:33:48 GMT -5
SevenJohn D. MacDonald, 1971 This is a collection of short stories, three of them first published here (and those are in fact the stories I considered the best). Although MacDonald is best known for his McGee novels, and generally for writing suspense/thrillers, and then for his SF stories to a lesser extent, none of these stories are really 'genre' fiction in my opinion (one of them, "The Annex" was also included in a collection of his science fiction stories, which puzzles me, because you really have to squint to consider it that - it's closer to a horror story if anything). These stories are just really well-done human dramas, all of them focusing on some aspect of interpersonal, usually intimate relationships between men and women.
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Post by Prince Hal on Aug 19, 2019 13:00:32 GMT -5
Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of SpaceflightJonathan Fetter-Vorm Wonderful "graphic novel" that shows that from the days of early man we have always been bound for -- and by-- the moon. (Fair warning: I have vivid memories of the night of July 20, 1969 and have a deep feeling for the beauty and audacity of the space program that goes beyond sentimental attachment.) Fetter-Vorm alternates between chapters on the actual preparation and flight of Apollo 11 chapters devoted to our long fascination with the moon. His style reminds me of the Caniff/ Toth/ Cooke school. Seems simple at first, but it's actually nuanced and detailed. The chapters set in the LEM and command module are full of close-up, cramped panels, perfect to convey the tiny size of those vehicles. The chapters detailing the history of our scientific quest to go to the moon are in black and white and look like almost woodcuts. Beautiful at times, especially the early maps and imaginings of the moon. Fetter-Vorm is particularly good at distilling and explaining the science involved in the stories of Kepler, Galileo, Brahe, Teller and Von Braun, both verbally and pictorially. He accomplishes quite a bit in 250 pages or so, and though there’s obviously material he’s left out, he adds material the layman wouldn’t have known. He whets your appetite to find out more about the folks who were not necessarily the tip of the spear (or the rocket). He documents the facts and lets us draw the obvious conclusions, particularly when it comes to the Realpolitik that led to Von Braun’s “transformation” from SS officer developing V-2 rockets by the thousands to the visionary behind our space program. Much of that transformation courtesy US propaganda campaigns. Unlike some reviewers, I didn’t find that Fetter-Vorm was "soft-pedaling” Von Braun’s past so much as letting us see the truth and then leaving us to deal with it. The same is true of his treatment of the accomplishments of Margaret Hamilton, whose brilliance as a software engineer was a major factor in the success of the Apollo 11 mission, but in many ensuing NASA projects. Naturally, she faced constant second-guessing and side-eyes. Meanwhile, “Happy to have you, Werner!”) The irony and second thoughts are left to us to supply. This is a warts-and-all approach, not hagiography, but Fetter-Vorm never lets it become a polemic. I liked this one so much, I’m ordering one and have requested his two other books, ( Trinity, about the development of the A-bomb, and Battle Lines, a history of the Civil War) from the library. All three are in children’s collections, btw! Not that they shouldn’t be read by kids, but just another indication that people still see books with pictures as meant for kids.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Aug 20, 2019 7:58:34 GMT -5
That Moonbound graphic novel looks good, Hal. Though it was before my time, I'm a massive fan of the Apollo space program (and the Mercury and Gemini ones too, of course). I'm also interested in the American Civil War volume by the same author. That might make some good holiday reading while I'm in the southern states.
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Post by berkley on Aug 20, 2019 11:02:29 GMT -5
I've been wondering lately what might be some good books on the Apollo program and came across this list of suggestions this morning: Five Books
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