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04 Sep 2012 12:07 #133764 by the_jake_1973
I have just started Fangland. It is too early to tell if it will be a decent vamp novel, but the writing style is decent enough.

I would recommend the following: The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart and The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot: His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred.

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04 Sep 2012 14:07 - 04 Sep 2012 14:13 #133767 by Dogmatix
Just finished reading the 3 existing books in Pournelle's Janissaries series. It's kind of a pain in the ass that he's not finished book 4 yet. The series desperately needs to be tied up and he's been working on the last book for 14 friggin' years. This, however, is altogether one of the *best* series I've read in a long time. I'd forgotten how good Pournelle could be (though the best part of the series was in collaboration with Roland Green). It's a series that follows a mercenary squad that was plucked off a hill in some 80s Cold War brushwar and dropped into human-populated, bronze age tech "plantation" planet to organize society in time to grow some sort of drug-like plant for the alien "overseers." It's a great run through a guy trying to basically create the Renaissance on a planet in time to meet drug production quotas. It's far better than I make it sound but it's sitting on the edge of a cliff waiting for book fucking 4 to get itself finished....

I've read a lot of military SF (3 cheeers to Baen for their inexpensive ebooks) of late and, while I'm tired of arch-conservative [or Ron-Paul-on-crack vision of libertarianism] politics, I've hit on some really good reads.

Funny thing is, you can almost tell when a lot of authors with a visible political bent came to Baen books. If Jim Baen was still alive and running the show, the politics in the book are somewhere around "Reagan Democrat [who wouldn't un-fund gov't's hand in the hard sciences"; if Toni W. was running the show when the author cropped up, it's "Ron Paul meets Attila the Hun while fucking Ayn Rand." In the latter case, first you get a long discourse on either hard libertarianism or a half-assed version of objectivism [like they read the Cliff Notes version of Atlas Shrugged] followed by loooooong and detailed bits of sex as written by people who watch too much pornography and appear to have had too little *actual* sex. It's kind of like they're going out of their way to write books that GIs will pass around the OP with the "good parts" underlined. Lots of novels that should have been short stories or novellas at best....

The other books I've read of late have been Mark Van Name's "Jon & Lobo" series. They're pretty good if a bit ham-fisted on the characterization side. I keep hoping Van Name will learn a little more finesse from one of the Baen authors like Drake, Weber, or Eric Flint but the books are worth reading and, after 5 of the bloody things, he's finally started filling in the back story on both main characters and plugging some obvious plot holes...
Last edit: 04 Sep 2012 14:13 by Dogmatix.

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05 Sep 2012 04:12 - 05 Sep 2012 04:13 #133812 by engineer Al

Dogmatix wrote: Just finished reading the 3 existing books in Pournelle's Janissaries series.


I've had Pournelle on my "someday" list for years because I loved the stuff he did with Larry Niven. Is this the place to start?

Also, I'm in the middle of I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Holy crap is it good. Matheson, by the way wrote some of the best episodes of The Twighlight Zone, including "Nightmare at 20,000 feet" and "Little Girl Lost".
Last edit: 05 Sep 2012 04:13 by engineer Al.

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05 Sep 2012 05:21 - 05 Sep 2012 05:29 #133813 by Dogmatix

engineer Al wrote:

Dogmatix wrote: Just finished reading the 3 existing books in Pournelle's Janissaries series.


I've had Pournelle on my "someday" list for years because I loved the stuff he did with Larry Niven. Is this the place to start?


Yea, I think so. Like you, I loved the Niven stuff, but Pournelle can be *wildly* inconsistent. Worse, a lot of his hack books (like the late 60s "Paul Crane, freelance cold warrior" pulp novels, Red Dragon and Red Heroin) are getting re-published under is own name now, muddying the waters even further with some real dreck. That said, I think the Janissaries books are quite good--the first book sets the stage really well and the 2 co-authored volumes that follow really suck you right in to giving a shit about the world. They're well worth it in my opinion. (Check your PMs, BTW)

For other of Pournelle's non-Niven series, the Falkenberg's Legion books with S.M. Sterling seem to be shaping up to be pretty good, even though they're right on the edge of being overly infused with both Pournelle's politics and an overall "SM Sterling-ness" in places. SMS is clearly a man who has serious penis issues of some sort [perhaps just a profound over-fondness for his own]. When a low-key co-author restrains his boundless dick-waggling [like David Drake does in the Raj Whitehal books--another entertaining series], he can collaborate to produce pretty solid military/interesting political sci-fi. When left to his own devices, he'll find some way to shoehorn in a detailed lesbian 3-some into any plot [cf. the Drakon series]. And I really do fucking *hate* Pournelle's politics (though, unlike a lot of younger Baen authors, it's not juvenile--just way to the right of me); but, like so many apocalypse and zombie novels, right-wing politics usually make for decent "guys with guns" reading. Falkenberg's Legion isn't as heavy-handed as some of his other stuff, but it's WAY more Ayn Rand-y with Guns than the Janissaries books.

Also, speaking of Baen ebooks, I buy their monthly "webscription" bundles a *lot*. Every time I buy one, I'm given 1 "gift webscription" that I can send to anyone so they can get a bundle of their choice free (perhaps only for new customers though). The "webscriptions" are a monthly bundle for around $20 that usually include 1 or 2 brand new titles, 1 or 2 recently published titles, and usually a couple of "deep catalog" reprints. (Only place you can get Baen's ebooks is direct from Baen's website and they seem to be slowly acquiring a lot of back-catalog stuff from the 60s, 70s, and 80s from Ace, Del Rey, and other imprints. This is, however, how they keep the prices WAY under the "collusion pricing" other publishers have forced on Amazon, B&N, etc.)

Anyway, anyone who wants one of these freebie coupons in the future should PM me a working email address with "Baen ebooks" in the subject. Whenever I get a new "gift", I'll just work my way down the list.
Last edit: 05 Sep 2012 05:29 by Dogmatix.

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05 Sep 2012 18:13 #133843 by Dair
I am almost through listening to Iam McEwans Saturday. I've have thoroughly enjoyed this book and the reader (don't know who right now) is fantastic. I know others have discussed this before, but what a difference that makes.

I am also about 1/2 way through Deer Hunting with Jesus. An interesting take on why liberals in the US are losing the common man's vote. Decent ideas, but something about it just isn't grabbing me.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Mr. White

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12 Sep 2012 19:43 - 12 Sep 2012 19:45 #134223 by dragonstout
Comics:

I finished the second hardcover omnibus-style book of B.P.R.D: Plague of Frogs. Don't get what so many people adore about it, it leaves me very "meh", outside of the REALLY nice Guy Davis art.

However, I'm posting because I'm in the middle of THE POOR BASTARD, by Joe Matt, and it's AMAZING! I'd read the pre-comic-book, weekly-strip collection PEEPSHOW before, and wasn't that impressed, so despite being a HUGE fan of Chester Brown and reading and enjoying most of what Seth does (they're mentioned because each of them tend to use the other two as characters in their comics, as they're close friends), I'd never given his comic series a shot. It also sometimes gets a bad rap as being the epitome of the navel-gazing autobio comic with nothing more to say about the world. I picked up the three hardcover collections for really cheap when Drawn & Quarterly was having a sale.

But HOLY SHIT is it entertaining! Laughing out loud through the whole book (well, I've only read 2/3 so far)! I think no one else takes the "I am a complete asshole immolating my life partly through these comics" nearly as far, and these comics take it way beyond anything from the previous strips I'd read, in which he just confessed some embarrassing shit but was still primarily likeable. No attempts at proving that he's sensitive, just a completely irredeemable character destroying his life and friendships. Criminally underrated, one of the best autobio comics even in this "genre" with a LOT of good competition (mayyyyybe doesn't crack top 5, but definitely top 10).

It is definitely the most ENJOYABLE and funny autobio comic. Tons of quotable lines. Pick up THE POOR BASTARD and watch the train wreck. Haven't enjoyed a comic this much since NEW CHARACTER PARADE and PRISON PIT, reminds me why I read comics in the first place.
Last edit: 12 Sep 2012 19:45 by dragonstout.

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12 Sep 2012 20:06 #134224 by Dair
Good recommendation dragonstout. I love/hate Joe Matt. It has been a long time since I have ready The Poor Bastard and I might have to throw it on the pile for re-reading.

I am halfway through Flex Mentallo. I am digging it, although I think this one will definitely require a second reading in short order to really enjoy. I'm also about half way through All-Star Superman.

Finally, I am about six CDs into listening to Stephen King's Duma Key. I haven't read anything newer by him in years (other than the recent Dark Tower story) and I am really enjoying it. It isn't too heavy, and as usually King lays on the details. Brevity is rarely in his arsenal, but I don't mind that one bit. I will probably have to search out some of his other stuff on audiobook.

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12 Sep 2012 20:49 #134225 by Dr. Mabuse
I'd be interested in what you guys think of his last book "Spent" if you get to it. I've been a Matt fan for years even through the patchy "Peepshow" stuff.

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12 Sep 2012 22:45 #134231 by dragonstout

Dr. Mabuse wrote: I'd be interested in what you guys think of his last book "Spent" if you get to it. I've been a Matt fan for years even through the patchy "Peepshow" stuff.


Yeah, I picked up all three of The Poor Bastard, Fair Weather, and Spent in that sale. I was figuring they were so cheap I could read them once and then sell them off, but now I'm definitely keeping at least The Poor Bastard, and am looking forward to the other two. When did the last issue come out? Guy is *fucked up*. I met him at a Con a few years back, when I'd just read his early weekly strips, and that was already a little weird, but now it'd be quite different; I'm very curious to see how much the real personality matches up with the comic personality, at least on a first impression. He lives in LA now, too, so he's not too far away; at the weekly drawing class my dad gives, when my dad revealed a while back that he was getting into Joe Matt's comics one of the people in the class revealed that she dated him! He'd have to be one helluva charmer, or really attract the "want-to-save-him" type, I think, to get girls who've read his comics.

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13 Sep 2012 00:12 #134234 by Dr. Mabuse
He gave a talk about Spent at ComiCon a few years ago which i attended. He's seemed to be pretty much like his books. He talked about the lack of success he had compared to the other members of the Toronto Three (Seth, & Chet Brown). Maybe it was his way to try to score. It was a good talk overall. After, he signed my copy and was a pretty gracious guy by laying down a quick sketch without me asking.

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13 Sep 2012 00:34 #134235 by dragonstout
Yeah, he did a wonderful sketch for me too, despite my not being up-to-date with Joe Matt. His relative "lack of success" is almost certainly due to a lack of COMICS; Seth and Chester Brown have both done a TON of comics covering many topics. Joe Matt's only got four books to his name.

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13 Sep 2012 14:15 #134260 by Dr. Mabuse

dragonstout wrote: ...Seth and Chester Brown have both done a TON of comics covering many topics. Joe Matt's only got four books to his name.


That.

I love is illustration style, I'd love to see him tear it up tackling other stuff. It doesn't seem to interest him though.

Did you read Chester Brown's "Paying for It"? I was totally bummed when he was making the circuit promoting it. It was fascinating and at times really uncomfortable. Great stuff.

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13 Sep 2012 16:46 #134280 by dragonstout

Dr. Mabuse wrote: Did you read Chester Brown's "Paying for It"? I was totally bummed when he was making the circuit promoting it. It was fascinating and at times really uncomfortable. Great stuff.


PAYING FOR IT was interesting, of course just inherently interesting due to the subject matter, and there are some fantastic chapters that really get at thorny topics, but it's by far my least favorite of all the books of his I've read (haven't read ED THE HAPPY CLOWN yet, looking forward to that). I think a big part of it is the art: over the course of his career, at each stage of his career he's stripped down and stripped down and stripped down, and to my tastes this was the point when it went too far. I thought the art and storytelling style in Louis Riel was his most beautiful yet (okay, actually, the art for the new Ed the Happy Clown covers was his best art yet, top 5 all-time covers for ANY comic run), but my favorite books of his are the earlier autobio stuff, especially I NEVER LIKED YOU. Eliminating *facial expressions*, as in Paying For It? Too much! Even in Louis Riel there was some variance in the faces.

It's also frustrating because it seems like it could have been SO much more interesting if his current girlfriend/whatever had allowed him to talk much, much more about their situation and story. It feels like an enormous and hugely important missing piece.

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27 Sep 2012 23:59 #135130 by Mr. White
Reading Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell. Great historical fiction account of the battle and events leading up to it through the eyes of an outlawed English longbowman. Really graphic and profane though. Almost put it down a few times. Rape is something that really gets my blood boiling and there's quite a bit here.

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28 Sep 2012 01:15 #135132 by the_jake_1973
I will have to add that to my collection. He is a terrific writer.

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