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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 18, 2021 19:18:59 GMT -5
Crackdown
by Bernard Cromwell
This has been sitting in my to read pile for quite a while from a long ago library book sale, and I decided after a bit of reader's block and getting stuck for a bit, I'd give it a shot since it had no expectations.
This is alot different than Cromwell's historical fiction, but it still shows that he's a skilled writer. About 1/2 way through the book I was howling to myself about plot holes, and the ending filled them in nicely... some of the bits were not a surprise, but one was, and it made alot of difference.
It's nice to have a book that has a solid ending, rather than the usual deal with modern writers where they build great characters, a nice world, or both, but can't 'stick' the ending.
This isn't going to be anyone's favorite (it's far too preachy for that, though I suspect that was the point of it's existing), but it's a solid thriller by an excellent writer.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 19, 2021 9:58:13 GMT -5
 Bank Shot by Donald WestlakeDortmunder is grinding out a marginal living working the encyclopedia scam when Andy Kelp shows up with a caper. Dortmunder is rightfully suspicious, but gets sucked in to the plan anyway. And it's a doozie. They're going to steal a bank. Not rob a bank. Anyone can do that. But only Dortmunder could actually pull off stealing the entire bank. And, of course, that infamous Dortmunder luck has to show up. The second Dortmunder novel by Westlake is pretty much as fun as the first. The heist itself is both simpler and more complicated as he must figure out how to steal the entire temporary location of a small local bank. Kelp and Murch are back, along with Kelp's nephew, a former FBI agent, and Herman X, a black power advocate and safe-cracker. The new additions are okay, Herman being the far more interesting. Oh...and Murch's Mom is along for the ride as well. Westlake hits a lot of fun buttons with this one. It's nice to see Dortmunder complaining in 1972 how hard it is to find jobs where there is a lot of cash available as payroll jobs have almost disappeared since everything is done by check. Just wait another forty years, John. And I loved the shout-outs to the Continental Op and to Parker. Here's hoping that Westlake can maintain the fun. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 23, 2021 9:00:01 GMT -5
Yay! After a hiatus caused by the covid pandemic, our local annual Rotary Club book sale is back!
For less than ten bucks, I landed the following yesterday:
Slaughterhouse 5, by Kurt Vonnegut. A classic I still hadn't read.
Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder, a book I thought I had inherited from my mom but couldn't find anymore.
Praise of Folly, by Erasmus, another classic I've yet to read.
La fée Carabine, by Daniel Pennac, a writer whose wit and joyful outlook on life always make me smile (or laugh out loud).
Les Arches de Noé, by Peter Randa, a very pulpish SF novel with no delusion of grandeur whatsoever; still, Randa knew how to write a naive and fast-paced story! I loved his work as a teenager.
Grid, by Philip Kerr. Not part of Kerr's Berlin Noir series; from the book's back cover, it seems closer to a Michael Crichton novel. We'll see, but I usually love Kerr's work.
Le Spirit, by Will Eisner; I think this was the first French book translating a few of the Spirit's adventures (although a few Spirit stories had also seen print in Tintin in the '70s.) The choice of stories is interesting: they're all about femmes fatales like Sand Saref, Plaster of Paris, Flaxen Weaver, Wild Rice and so on.
I saw no book published by Marabout with a Henri Lievens cover this time around. I guess that after 50 years, those paperbacks are either already part of someone's collection, or have been destroyed.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 24, 2021 21:03:12 GMT -5
Always great to go to library book sales! This one was from my last book sale haul, in fact:
Space Dreadnaughts
by David Drake
Some really good stuff here, and some really boring ones. I was pleasantly surprised that despire it being a collection from 1990, the stories are all from the 50s (except's Drake's, which isn't very good anyway) The humor ones definitely were the highlight... 'Allamagoosa' had me laughing out loud (I'll have to look up Eric Frank Russell, he's not an author I know, and CM Kornbluth is always great.
Not surprising, I liked Asimov and Clarke quite a bit... 'C-Chute' is really great... not the best plot ever (a pretty basic one, in fact) but great commentary on how people react in war time... very thought provoking. 'Superiority' by Clarke was a nice cautionary tale that rings true both for the time it was written, and still today.
Overall, the first 1/2 of the book (the shorter stories) are excellent, the 3 longer ones at the end are very skippable.
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Post by berkley on Oct 24, 2021 22:48:03 GMT -5
Yay! After a hiatus caused by the covid pandemic, our local annual Rotary Club book sale is back! For less than ten bucks, I landed the following yesterday: Slaughterhouse 5, by Kurt Vonnegut. A classic I still hadn't read. Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder, a book I thought I had inherited from my mom but couldn't find anymore. Praise of Folly, by Erasmus, another classic I've yet to read. La fée Carabine, by Daniel Pennac, a writer whose wit and joyful outlook on life always make me smile (or laugh out loud). Les Arches de Noé, by Peter Randa, a very pulpish SF novel with no delusion of grandeur whatsoever; still, Randa knew how to write a naive and fast-paced story! I loved his work as a teenager. Grid, by Philip Kerr. Not part of Kerr's Berlin Noir series; from the book's back cover, it seems closer to a Michael Crichton novel. We'll see, but I usually love Kerr's work. Le Spirit, by Will Eisner; I think this was the first French book translating a few of the Spirit's adventures (although a few Spirit stories had also seen print in Tintin in the '70s.) The choice of stories is interesting: they're all about femmes fatales like Sand Saref, Plaster of Paris, Flaxen Weaver, Wild Rice and so on. I saw no book published by Marabout with a Henri Lievens cover this time around. I guess that after 50 years, those paperbacks are either already part of someone's collection, or have been destroyed.
The only one of those I've read is Slaughterhouse 5, and it was so long ago that I don't recall much except that I liked it, as I did all the Vonneguts I read back in the 70s. Have you ever read Cat's Cradle? That's my favourite, as it is I believe for many other Vonnegut readers.
Definitely want to read Erasmus. I have Pennac's Au Bonheur des Ogres on my "to-read" list, can't remember what made it catch my eye now, though. And I see I have Peter Randa's name as well, but no specific titles under it, so I must have heard about him somewhere without settling on any particular books - I just put "romans policiers, science-fiction, etc". Any recommendations?
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 25, 2021 11:29:56 GMT -5
 You Must Have a Death Wish by Matt PhillipsThis is a short neo-noir by Matt Phillips who I know from his short work in the likes of "Shotgun Honey" and "Out of the Gutter." Moonie Sykes is a small-time drug-dealer and gun seller until he's hired by Gato, an ex-gang-banger turned "businessman" to kill a business associate. Moonie is anything but a professional hitman and Gato doesn't really trust him to do the job and therein lies the conflict of the story. Overall the story is fine and the characters, particularly Moonie and Gato, are just stupid enough that you can buy that they would act in...well...really stupid ways. The biggest problem I had is that there are at least two scenes in the book that seem to come out of nowhere and simply don't work at all. Sure it's just the two, but they completely threw me out of the story wondering what the hell the author was trying to say by them. Still it's a decent, if unspectacular, work and it's worth the small time investment. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2021 11:34:50 GMT -5
Cop Hater by Ed McBain (87th Precinct 31) So dipped my toe in the 87th Precinct pool. I have picked up a bunch of the McBain novels recently, but still had not gotten a copy of the first book. I don't mind skipping around a series of mostly standalone books, but I do prefer starting the process with the first book to get in on the ground floor, so I picked up a copy of the first book at my local library and gave it a read. It was a quick enjoyable read. I liked it enough to read some more, but I don't know if I would stay with the series long time unless the cast gets fleshed out a little more, but we'll see. -M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 25, 2021 17:51:46 GMT -5
Cop Hater by Ed McBain (87th Precinct 31)So dipped my toe in the 87th Precinct pool. I have picked up a bunch of the McBain novels recently, but still had not gotten a copy of the first book. I don't mind skipping around a series of mostly standalone books, but I do prefer starting the process with the first book to get in on the ground floor, so I picked up a copy of the first book at my local library and gave it a read. It was a quick enjoyable read. I liked it enough to read some more, but I don't know if I would stay with the series long time unless the cast gets fleshed out a little more, but we'll see. -M The cast getting fleshed out is a very slow process... the books are all short and plot driven... it does definitely happen over time though. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 27, 2021 11:49:21 GMT -5
 Behold the Man by Michael MoorcockThis is one of the books that changed how I looked at the world and shaped (for better or worse) who I am. I used to read this about once a year, but it's been some time since I've re-visited it. I still have my original paperback that was purchased at the Bookworm when I was in junior high or (more likely) high school. I'm sure I bought it because it was by Moorcock and Elric was all the rage among my friends at the time. But this...this was leagues beyond Elric. Karl Glogauer is something of a wreck of a man. Yes, he's a business owner (an occult bookstore), but it's more due to an inheritance than anything he did himself. He has a girlfriend who is a harridan. He never managed to finish college to become a psychologist. He did become a devotee of Carl Jung, which is important because one of the themes of the book is that actions create reality. Those actions include Glogauer using a time machine created by a professor in his Jung reading group to travel to Palestine in 28 C.E. And there, well, there Glogauer's actions create reality. There's not a lot more that can be said that isn't just terribly spoilery. Though, to be fair, Moorcock telegraphs where he's going very very early in this short work. But that's not really the point. The point is Moorcock exploring the nature of reality and religion, whether actions create ideas or whether ideas create our actions, predestination, and the nature of myths vs. reality. Fair warning. If you are a Christian this book is absolutely blasphemy. So if you can't deal with that you should avoid it like the plague (though that hoary saying may no longer have any meaning). The book dovetails in an interesting way with Monty Python's "The Life of Brian"...and now I have to really think about that. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Oct 27, 2021 15:47:22 GMT -5
Behold the Man is fantastic. I came to Moorcock's writing later in life and only read this one about 10-12 years ago. I was aware of the basic plot twist going into it, but still found it a very engaging book, precisely due to the exploration of several thought-provoking themes, as you noted. And there were one or two places where I recall guffawing out loud (but then again, I'm a blasphemous person). I need to read it again sometime...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2021 19:32:44 GMT -5
Finished the third book in the Toth trilogy, Genius Animated by Dean Mullany and crew, focusing on Toth's career in animation.  There was much less meat to this one, as the first two volumes covered the events of Toth's life during this period, so the book focused more on the work and the recollections of those who worked with Alex or were influenced by his work from this period. It was also very rt heavy, and since it was mostly model sheets and project presentation art, with a handful of storyboards for some projects mixed in and not pages of comic art, there was much less to read per se but still a lot to take in and absorb. I enjoyed the book thoroughly, as well as the trilogy as a whole. If these weren't so ludicrously priced on the secondary market, I would gladly add them to my library, but alas I will have to get by having read them via ILL. -M |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 29, 2021 20:35:33 GMT -5
Iron Dream
By Norman Spinrad
I read this for the Hugo award book club here... not something I had any idea existed before hand... it's an intriguing premise... a dystopian novel 'written' by an alternate universe Hitler, who, instead of being Hitler, moves to New York after getting disillusioned by the nascent National Socialists and becomes first a sci fi artist, then a writer.
The novel is some good absurdist literature, but WAY too long... the story (which runs 230ish pages) could have been 1/2 that easily and got the point across. It sorta tries to make the Nazis the good guys by setting it in a post atomic world populated by helpless mutants and evil mind controling 'Dominators', which just the 'true men' are the ones saving the world. The imagery is absolutely off the scale.. which first is funny while driving the point home, then just goes on and on and on.
The end is an 'analysis' of the story.. which tells us that in this world, the Nazis never came to power, but instead Communism went unchecked through Europe and Africa, and only The American and Japanese oppose them. It also talks about how Stalin committed the atrocities of the Holocaust.. opening up some really interesting things to think about.
I always say the mark of a good sci fi story is that it makes you think, and this book does that, which is good. I do wonder about the actual authors political leanings... I may have to check that out to give some the book more context. Overall, a strong stomach is definitely required, and I was doing a fair amount of skimming in the 2nd half, but the first bit and the afterward are definitely interesting.
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Post by berkley on Oct 29, 2021 23:18:57 GMT -5
Iron Dream By Norman Spinrad I read this for the Hugo award book club here... not something I had any idea existed before hand... it's an intriguing premise... a dystopian novel 'written' by an alternate universe Hitler, who, instead of being Hitler, moves to New York after getting disillusioned by the nascent National Socialists and becomes first a sci fi artist, then a writer. The novel is some good absurdist literature, but WAY too long... the story (which runs 230ish pages) could have been 1/2 that easily and got the point across. It sorta tries to make the Nazis the good guys by setting it in a post atomic world populated by helpless mutants and evil mind controling 'Dominators', which just the 'true men' are the ones saving the world. The imagery is absolutely off the scale.. which first is funny while driving the point home, then just goes on and on and on. The end is an 'analysis' of the story.. which tells us that in this world, the Nazis never came to power, but instead Communism went unchecked through Europe and Africa, and only The American and Japanese oppose them. It also talks about how Stalin committed the atrocities of the Holocaust.. opening up some really interesting things to think about. I always say the mark of a good sci fi story is that it makes you think, and this book does that, which is good. I do wonder about the actual authors political leanings... I may have to check that out to give some the book more context. Overall, a strong stomach is definitely required, and I was doing a fair amount of skimming in the 2nd half, but the first bit and the afterward are definitely interesting. I read the first chapter or so of this book years ago and put it aside to finish later, but still haven't gone back to it after all these years. I had the same feeling you did that the point could have been made just as effectively in a short story or novella. I still plan to read the whole thing one of these days.
However, I don't think there's any question of author Norman Spinrad himself espousing the crazy world-view of the novel: remember, the whole point of the satire is that it purports to be a novel written by Adolf Hitler - and that Hitler's novel turns out to be in many ways not too far off some of the actual power-fantasy, heroic SF-adventures we ourselves have read and enjoyed, or at least some elements thereof - think Heinlein or REH, for example.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 30, 2021 14:50:07 GMT -5
You're right, it's mostly off by it's extreme-ism, and not it's general ideas, but it's SO extreme. I think if you read the first chapter, you could probably read, oh maybe 2 more, then the afterword (which is a 'critics' view of the story) and be all set.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Nov 1, 2021 15:41:04 GMT -5
Mystery Men (& Women), Volume 6 (2020) (featuring stories by Teel James Glenn, Curtis Fernlund, Greg Hatcher and Dale Cozort)  I actually read this a little over a year ago, and, looking over the index on the first page, I was surprised that I didn't post anything about it at the time. Anyway, given that we lost Greg Hatcher last week, I thought I should give one of the books to which he contributed a shout-out. Airship 27's Mystery Men & Women anthology series runs stories with protagonists modeled after the old pulp heroes like the Shadow, the Spider, Domino Lady, etc. The first two stories in this one more or less fit that mold: "The Edge of Time" by Teel James Glenn stars a masked vigilante called the Scythe, who is university professor in real life; "Flight of the Valkyr" by Curtis Fernlund stars a recurring character, Kiri, a sort of female samurai who fights crime and other evils in 1930s New York. The fourth story, Dale Cozort's "Angel or Devil" stars Dr. Vida, a man who has the ability to briefly raise the dead in order to solve the mystery of their murders. It's quite a dark concept, but the author makes it work. By far the best story in this book is Hatcher's wonderful 'Henching it with Dr. Fixit'. It introduces a great character, Ernie Voskovec, a mechanic and tinkerer who, back in the 1950s and 1960s, made all of those gadgets and installations used by over-the-top super-villains (think any of the villains in the 1960s Batman TV show). His ingenuity and reliability earned him the moniker 'Dr. Fixit' by all of his clients. The story is told in the form of a flashback, with an aging Ernie in a retirement home talking to a young reporter who figured out his identity - he recounts a legendary incident involving a big clash between a Superman-type hero and an evil scientist type villain in the 1960s. Everyone who frequents this board and loves superhero comics has to read this. The book is available at Amazon, and can also be directly ordered as a pdf ebook at the publisher's site, the Airship 27 PDF Hangar. At this point, there's also a seventh volume that contains the second Dr. Fixit story.
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