Comic Book Plus Forum
All And Everything => Watcha ... ? => Topic started by: josemas on September 09, 2010, 12:38:13 PM
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Well I've got a pretty good idea of the the various comics being read and the shows and movies being watched by some of you guys here on the message board but am also curious if anybody has been reading some interesting books.
I'll start this off with my summer reading and a few brief comments on each.
American Rebel: the Life of Clint Eastwood by Marc Eliot-The first Hollywood bio of Eliot's that I read (on Cary Grant) I found a bit too much on the gossipy side but he has gotten better and this was a decent look at one of Hollywood's current living legends.
How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove-my brother, knowing of my fondness for history and biography, recommended I try something from the "alternative history" genre. This one was a quite enjoyable one where the south won the civil war and what the country could have like by the 1880s if that were the case.
Closed Circle by Robert Goddard-Like all of Goddard's books that I have read this one was an intricately plotted mystery with richly delineated characters.
The Lessons of History by Will & Ariel Durant-an expanded edition of their earlier work.
It's Superman by Tom DeHaven-Interesting take on the Superman legend. Set in the 1930s as Clark Kent comes to terms with his powers and what to do with them. Left open for sequels.
Ariel by Lawrence Block-Most of Block's books that I have read have been of the mystery/crime genre. This one is more of a character study.
Death Du Jour by Kathy Reichs-I watch the Bones TV series so I thought I'd give a try to one of the novels on which the series is based. Well it was okay but the TV character has little in common with that on which she is based other than name and occupation.
Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" by David Bianculli-I really liked this show when I was a kid. Now I finally got the lowdown on why it was taken off the air.
Hollywood Buzz by Margit Liesche-mystery novel with a WWII/Hollywood background.
A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring 20s- by Roger Kahn-The title makes the subject clear. I found his research on Hollywood and the movies a bit sloppy when he got to that area of Dempsey's life but given that Kahn is a sports reporter I suspect he did better with the main aspect of the book.
Columbine by Dave Cullen-a decade after the infamous school shooting reporter Cullen clears up many of the myths, half-truths and out right lies that sprang up in the days and weeks following the tragedy and provides a clear picture of what happened before, during and after the incident.
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan-the title is a bit of an exaggeration. It should be subtitled Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved the Forestry Department. Still its a very good, well researched read.
The Turnaround by George Pelecanos-a racial incident decades ago and its aftermath on the various youths involved as they enter middle age.
Turning Angels by Greg Iles-Another good mystery from Iles involving murder, a sex scandal and drugs in a small Southern town.
The Enemy by Lee Child-Jack Reacher is the protagonist in all of Child's books that I have read. This one looks at his past when he was still an army M. P. trying to solve some murders during the time of the fall of communism around 1990.
Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong by Mark Cotta Vaz-Cooper certainly did live a rich, exciting life. A wartime flier, he was twice shot down and taken prisoner-first fighting for the Allies in WWI and later fighting with the Poles against the Russians in the aftermath of the Russian revolution. Later still he became both an important Hollywood producer and an early leader in the aviation industry.
Confessions, Romances, Secrets, and Temptations: Archer St. John and the St. John Romance Comics by John Benson-Benson's companion volume to his earlier collection of St. John romance stories. Leaves me wanting to read more such writing on the company's output. At least here at GAC I'll get a chance to read and look over many of the comics St. John published.
To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic chase to Justice in the Old West by Mark Lee Garner-Well researched and entertaining read on the just what the title sez.
U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton-the latest Kinsey Milhone novel finds the P.I. solving a decades old kidnapping case while finding out more about her own past.
So any of the rest of you read something worth recommending (or worth telling us to avoid)?
Joe M
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I spend more time reading comics and things online than books anymore. Still trying to catch up on Alter Ego magazine. Last book I read was Otis Edelbert Kline's Planet of Peril John Carter imatation
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I read a ton of Burroughs' (and a few of Kline's) books back in 1960s and 70s but only a few since then.
Alter Ego is one of my favorite magazines but I'm always backed up on it. Currently working my way through the multi-issue George Kashdan interview. Just picked up the newest issue cover featuring The Mighty Crusaders which has a Mel Lazarus interview in it that I'm looking forward to getting into.
Joe M
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Read in the last couple of months:
Stories by Neil Gaiman {+}
Night Soldiers {+} & The Foreign Correspondent {+} by Alan Furst
Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain [ ]
Paradise Screwed by Carl Hiaasen [ ]
Star Island by same {+}
The Thieves of Manhattan by Adam Langer [ ]
Instructions by Neil Gaiman/Charles Vess {+}
The Parisians by Graham Robb {+}
Murphy's Law [ ] & Tell Me, Pretty Maiden [-] by Rhys Bowen
Beat the Reaper [-] by Josh Bazell
The Windup Girl {+} By Paolo Bacigalupi
Wishful Drinking [ ] by Carrie Fisher
The Help {+} by Kathryn Stockett
Art & Max [ ] by David Wiesner
in the middle of:
The Terror [ ] by Dan Simmons (a HARD book to finish - been on my nightstand for nearly a year...)
The Girl who married a Lion [ ] by Alexander McCall Smith
In the To Be Read stack:
Zero History by William Gibson (he's giving a reading tomorrow at a local book store)
The Spies of Warsaw & The Polish Officer & The Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst
Three Stations by Martin Cruz Smith
The Whisperers by John Connolly
Fever Dream by Preston & Child
Regarding How Few Remain, Jose,
I recommend the extended series that Turtledove wrote following this book. There must be six or seven books that continue the alternate time line through the Second World War. They are worth the effort.
I'm anxiously awaiting Michael Connoly's new book. I also like almost anything by Ian Rankin (I didn't like his latest, Doors Open and couldn't get past the first few chapters), Steig Larsson, Robert Crais, and Christopher Moore (Lamb is a particular favorite).
Favorite book of the last 25 years:
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
and I also highly recommend his "Baroque Cycle" trilogy and his Snow Crash (any book with a lead character who is a half-Japanese futuristic pizza delivery guy for the Mafia named Hiro Protagonist just HAS to be great!)
Good stuff and, no, I don't own a television... Why do you ask?
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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Thanks for the list of titles and authors, Jim.
While I've read some of the authors you mentioned (Gaiman, Hiaasen, Simmons, Smith, Michael Connelly, Larsson, Crais, and Moore) you've definitely given me a good number of new names to check out. Thanks!
Well I do have a TV (as you may have guessed by my postings on the "Watcha Watchin'" thread) but try to balance my passion for movies and shows with that of my love for books.
I try to keep them balanced but occasionally things tip one way or the other.
About a decade ago I was watching about 500 feature films a year (and I don't know how many misc. shorts and shows) and my book reading was suffering as a result. At some point I realized this so I backed off on the number of flicks being watched to where I'm down to less than a third that number and the number of books being read has gone back up.
I'm currently reading George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier and I see over in my "to be read" stack books by John Sandford and Boris Akunin plus a big bio on Huey Long and volume 5 of Dumas Malone's mega bio series on Thomas Jefferson.
Best, Joe
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Good stuff and, no, I don't own a television... Why do you ask?
Peace, Jim (|:{>
You know Jim, when I was down at your house I didn't even think about not seeing a TV, we were talking so much about books, both comics and the literary books.
Geo
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I am a firm believer in Groucho Marx's maxim. He said that he found TV to be very educational. Whenever someone turned one on, he went into anothre room and read a book. Sound advice, IMHO.
Jose, I want to read the Smothers Brothers book and I have just barely enough interest in Eastwood to tackle the book on him. So thanks for those suggestions, too.
Peace, JIm (|:{>
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Does anyone use a Kindle and have a review of it from a practical "maybe I'd use it" point of view, and not from some book-fetishist perspective ("I need to smell my books, feel the pulpy goodness, the texture of the glue binding" etc.)?
I don't really travel much, but I don't have infinite shelf space and don't really like to get rid of my books - kind of a problem in the making, hence thinking about a Kindle.
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I have no experience with Kindles, Roy, sorry.
Other recent (last six months) recommendations {+}:
The Best Defense by Kate Wilhelm (actually all of her Barbara Holloway books)
The Redeemer and Nemesis by Jo Nesbo (and his first, The Red Breast, too. - Nesbo is another Scandinavian crime writer whose translator is pretty decent. He's not as good as Larsson, but up there.)
Shinju by Laura Joh Rowland - a Japanese detective Samurai at the time of the Shogun.
Finity's End by C.J. Cherryh - finishes the series begun with Down Below Station and Cyteen.
Drawing Down the Moon - art book on Charles Vess
Paris Underground - traces the signage and maps of the Paris Metro from 1900 to now.
And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer (part six of three of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy)
I have also enjoyed all of the Laurie King Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes books - although it appears she's becoming one of those writers who is shunning any editing of her books as the last two should have been ONE.
Sunnyside by Glen David Gold - if you have any interest in Charlie Chaplin I recommend this and The Unknown Chaplin DVD.
The Little Book by Selden Edwards - great time-travel/paradox story that inhabits 1897 Vienna.
The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova - a novel told primarily in journals and letters that works pretty well and revolves around the modern day art scene and the time of the Impressionists. Lots of real people interacting with fictional characters back in the 1880s.
Black Hills by Dan Simmons - the title is both the main character's name and his heritage. He's the barely teen-aged "brave" who counted coup on George Custer just as he was killed at Little Big Horn. Then things get weird.
The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick - for the most comprehensive look that Custer's life and last stand and heritage.
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt - a British bohemian family, their extended family and friends (often the same people) and the nature of children's stories. From Victorian age to just past the end of WW1.
The Unincorporated Man by Dan & Eytan Kollin - man from the past awakes in the futures and owns himself. Social calamity and chaos ensues. I wish this wasn't the first of a series and it is a great concept but I fear it will drag on past the basic idea.
Also a big fan of Elizabeth Moon, Orson Scott Card and Charles de Lindt.
Stuff you might like that I finished [ ]:
Finch by Jeff Vandermeer (same venue as his Cities of Saints and Madmen, which I couldn't finish)
Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon - interesting and complex, but ultimately barely satisfying for me.
Freedom & Necessity by Steven Brust & Emma Bull - one of the modern genre of "told in correspondence and journals" which often stretches credulity of the reader.
The Paris Vendetta - fun, and has a lot of Parisian color, but ultimately pushes a little too hard to pull the plot together.
Stuff I couldn't finish [-]:
Firewall by Andy McNabb
The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan
Bombay Ice by Leslie Forbes
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I have some friends who are big ORson Scott Card fans. They gave me a book to read but I could not get into it. He did not make me care about his characters and if I can not care about the characters then I can not care about the book.
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I have some friends who are big ORson Scott Card fans. They gave me a book to read but I could not get into it. He did not make me care about his characters and if I can not care about the characters then I can not care about the book.
I could pursue this with you, narf, if you knew the name of the book. Read Ender's Game and then get back to me.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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I will see the guy who loaned it to me tomorrow. I will ask him which book it was. He has suggested other books of Card's but it is hard to pick up an author after they turned me off. I was a Grisham fan until STREET LAWYER when I felt like I read it all before. I was a Koontz fan until STRANGERS which took way too long developing the characters and had very little story. I have not read any of theirs since. Since you are another to sing Card's praises I may have to give ENDER's a try.
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I was at my LCS today. Got my several Green Hornets and Phantoms as well as Widow Warriors and Doctor Solar. The only one I have read so far has been Solar. Story is OK but has not got me exited. Art was not so hot. I will review the others after reading. I did see that there is an Ender's Game comic series. Looks like a couple one shots and a mini. Given the recent book recommendation, I was wondering if anyone has a perspective on the comics?
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Well Jim you certainly came back with another good list of suggestions which gives me even more new ideas for future reads.
I got over to the library this past Saturday and picked up Dan Simmons' Black Hills, Glen Davis Gold's Sunnyside and one of Alan Furst's books. I also put in reserves on Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game (I read his Lost Boys last year and your recommendation comes most welcome as I was recently considering which one to try next).
I have seen Kevin Brownlow's The Unknown Chaplin (two or three times), as well as most of Brownlow's other film documentaries. All worth watching.
Regarding the Smother Brothers book. You may also want to watch the documentary Smothered:The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. I watched it after reading the book and found it added to the experience.
While I don't have a favorite book of the last decade or so to recommend I do have one that I recommend everyone stay away from.
Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews I can't believe that anyone found this good enough to recommend to me. I found it clumsily written and distasteful. You don't even get the satisfaction of seeing the antagonist get her comeuppance in the end after struggling through the whole mess. I guess they expected you to come back for the sequel. Not bloody likely in my case!
Well anyway here's my list of books read earlier this year, prior to summer, with some brief comments.
Voodoo River by Robert Crais-Always a pleasure to visit Elvis Cole's world.
The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education by Craig M. Mullaney-Best parts are the author's retelling of his training period.
Blacklight Blue by Peter May-May was recommended to me by a friend who knows I like mystery/crime novels. This one was good enough that I'll be trying out a second.
Tears in the Darkness by Michael Norman & Elizabeth M. Norman-Well written look at the infamous Batann death march, the events preceding it and those that came after. BTW, did you know that the Smothers brothers father survived the death march (but not the war)?
Economic Facts and Falacies by Thomas Sowell-Easily accessible for the layman but I'm sure there would be other economists who would disagree with his conclusions.
Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers-I've been having a fun time working my way through Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey novels.
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet: Horror Stories by Richard Matheson-An enjoyable revisiting of Matheson's work.
Seal Warrior:Death In the Dark: Vietnam 1968-1972 by Thomas H. Keith & J. Terry Riebling-This book is very good when the author tells of his little part of the war and not so good when he tries to grasp the bigger picture.
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories by Mark Twain-Since this is the centennial year of Clemen's death I thought I'd reread some of his works.
The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11 by John Farmer-Very detailed look at the events of that day.
Relentless by Dean Koontz-Koontz is a mixed bag for me. Some of his books I have really enjoyed but others less so. This one was over the top but did keep my interest.
Shadow Kingdoms: The Weird Work of Robert E. Howard Volume One-First Howard book I've read in over twenty (maybe thirty) years. A mixed bag.
The Man Called Cash: The Life, Love, and Faith of an American Legend by Steve Turner-Well balanced look at the man in black-Johnny Cash.
Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker-excellent little western from noted mystery writer Parker. Was also made into a very faithfully adapted film.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming-Cold war flashback time with James Bond. Kinda' fun. Got me interested enough to try some of the Bond short stories soon after.
Starship Troopers Robert A. Heinlein-I've been reading a Heinlein here and there the last two-three years. This was one I had never read. I didn't get into this one to the degree that others I know seemed to. Different from the movie.
Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr by Nancy Isenberg-Quite likely the best researched look at this early American leader. It certainly leaves you with a much better view of the man than he's given as a peripheral character in many other biographies and histories about the period.
Edge of Evil by J. A. Jance-Jance has several series. This is the first in the Ali Reynolds books. I didn't find it quite as good as her others series featuring either Joanna Brady or J.P. Beaumont.
Not Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout-Like Sayers' Peter Wimsey novels I've also been working my way through Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books. I found this collection of two novellas more interesting for its WWII backdrop than the actual stories themselves. Maybe Stout was too busy with his wartime duties to put a full effort into them.
Somebody Owes Me Money by Donald Westlake-One of Westlake's comic Dortmunder novels. I'm more into his hard-boiled books (written as Richard Stark) but these do make fun light reading too.
The Canal Builders: Making America's Empire at the Panama Canal by Julie Greene-Rather than a book on how the canal was built this is an interesting, detailed look at the type of people who built the canal from those at the top down to the lowliest laborers.
City of Fire by Robert Ellis- My first Ellis novel. Some interesting characters and atmosphere. I'll try another.
The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War by Fred Anderson-Makes the argument that the events of this earlier war paved the way for the American Revolution.
For Your Eyes Only by Ian Fleming-The first of two James Bond short story collections I read earlier this year (and the better of the two).
Burn Marks by Sara Paretsky-I find that Paretsky's books about Chicago Private Eye V.I. Warshawski are always worth a read.
High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly by Donald Spoto-Good bio on the actress/princess that discredits many of the more salacious stories of earlier bios.
Eye of the Beholder by David Ellis-Fairly suspenseful, if a bit overly complicated and long. Could have used some editing.
Jefferson and His Time Volume IV: Jefferson the President: First Term 1801-1805 by Dumas Malone-This massive six volume bio series on the revolutionary war era hero will probably be the definitive work on the man although some parts (such as his look at the Sally Hemmings controversy) have since been questioned.
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde-All of Fforde's books that i have read are highly recommended. Both his Thursday Next and his Jack Spratt series are wonderfully unique mysteries.
Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King-collection by the modern horror king. Some pretty good ones among the mix.
Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party by Max Blumenthal-Examination of the American 2008 election.
Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh-I've really enjoyed this series from Wambaugh (this is the third). An eclectic mix of characters.
Octopussy by Ian Fleming-The second of the James Bond short story collections I read. Expanded from the original edition.
The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles-Excellent bio on the man who was one of the first of the "robber barons". Worked his way up from next to nothing to be the richest man in America in the 19th century.
Bright Futures by Stuart M. Kaminsky- I've been a fan of Kaminsky's various mystery series for three decades now. While some are better than others I've never regretted reading one.
The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties by Jonathan Leaf-The title pretty much sez it all.
A Red Death by Walter Mosley- One of Mosley's earliest novels. Not quite up to Devil in a Blue Dress but still pretty good.
Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie-Fine collection of Poirot short mysteries.
And Four to Go-Rex Stout Decent collection of four Nero Wolfe novelettes that have the common theme of being set around a holiday.
Able One by Ben Bova All my previous Ben Bova reads have been in the science fiction genre. This one is a pretty well done thriller instead (albeit one with a lot of cutting edge technology).
Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott-I found this a tough slog to get through. Took me over a year reading bits on and off. Never really got into it.
Bonnie and Clyde: The Lives Behind the Legend by Paul Schneider-Very well researched bio on the infamous outlaw pair. Follows their descent into a life of crime and their increasing desperate life as they manage to stay one step ahead until the bloody end.
America, 1908 by Jim Rasenberger-Interesting look at some important events of that year.
The Golden Age of DC Comics-365 DAYS by Les Daniels, Chip Kidd & Geoff Spear-Short pieces written around selected illos taken from Golden Age DC Comics eventually paint a fairly decent look at a number of the comics, characters and creators of the period.
Road to Purgatory by Max Allan Collins I like Collins' hard boiled novels especially the Nathan Heller series. This one fits in that mold and is a sequel to his earlier Road to Perdition.
A Few Quick Ones by P. G. Wodehouse-I've been a fan of Wodehouse's comic stories since high school. I don't think the man could write a bad book. This is a a little short story collection.
Why Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne-Well argued.
Mr. Majestyk by Elmore Leonard-For me Leonard is all about the characters. Always some good dialogue too. Plots often take second place. Still I always come back for more.
Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain by Charles R. Cross-I couldn't ID a Kurt Cobain song for the life of me but I so enjoyed this author's earlier bio on Jimi Hendrix that I gave this one a shot. It's a well done look at a talented but sad life.
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories by Mark Twain-My second Clemens book this year. I haven't decided which one to read next.
The State of Jones by Sally Jenkins & John Stauffer-The county of Jones, Mississippi and it's attempt to secede from the Confederacy during the American Civil War is examined. An interesting little piece of American history that I had never heard about.
A Whisper to the Living by Stuart M. Kaminsky-See above comments on Kaminsky.
Best
Joe
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If you like Civil War historical fiction my wife finished the first Volume of Al Lacy's Civil war battles series and rushed me to order the remaining three. She devours those things. She has almost all the books on the 54th and Robert Guold Shaw, and I had to pay a good bit to get LAY THIS LAUREL as it carried a high price used everywhere.
I would not consider 356 much of a read just pictures. I got a copy on ebay for a buck plus shipping.
You must be a Bond fan ;) I can read the book then watch the movie but once I have watched a movie I just can not bring myself to read the book, even though I know it is better. The only exception has been THE FIRM which I have read several times.
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Thanks for the recommendations, Jose,
I will take the list with me to Know Knew Books this afternoon as I try to dig up the two William Gibson books I seem to have somehow missed. I just finished Zero History and, as always, was stunned and delighted with his writing. The rich obscurity to it that draws one in and makes one work for an ultimate satisfaction. Never a "quick read."
Agree 100% with Crais and Elvis and, of course, Joe Pike.
Karen has every book and story Stout ever wrote and every couple of years she revisits them all in the order written. The last time I read them (all, again) was about five years ago, just after I retired from BPIB. What struck me most forcibly was the timelessness of them. Fer-de-Lance, the first Nero Wolfe novel was written in 1934 and just about the only thing that placed it outside of modern times was the running board on a car in one scene. Amazing. All recommended highly. My favorite: The Doorbell Rang.
She also has a complete P.G. Wodehouse (not an easy task). whom I've NEVER been able to endure (apparently I was born without a Plum gene), and Dorothy Sayers, who I can and do enjoy. The same with her sets of Chandler and Hammett, to which I have full and joyous access. She also has a set of Agatha Christie, whom I can take or leave.
Some Dean Koonz work for me. Recently tried him again with Your Heart Belongs to Me and Breathless. Former was adequate, latter was a bit better. My favorite of his remains The Watchers - about the dogs...
Walter Mosely - up and down, but a decent read, I agree.
Fleming - tres dated, IMHO. I occasionally re-read one just to remind myself of who I was. They are nothing like the films. The first two movies, Dr. No and From Russia With Love are the best adaptations still.
And I mis-spoke regarding C.J. Cherryh: the new book I read was Regenesis, though I also read the other three named.
Haven't tried May that I can recall, yet the name is familiar. No impression.
J.J. Vance - read a couple of the J.P. Beaumont and, I think, one of the Joanna Brady books. Okay, but the writing style is fairly pedestrian, I thought.
One of the modern "greats" that also escapes me is China Mi
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If you like Civil War historical fiction my wife finished the first Volume of Al Lacy's Civil war battles series and rushed me to order the remaining three. She devours those things. She has almost all the books on the 54th and Robert Guold Shaw, and I had to pay a good bit to get LAY THIS LAUREL as it carried a high price used everywhere.
I would not consider 356 much of a read just pictures. I got a copy on ebay for a buck plus shipping.
You must be a Bond fan ;) I can read the book then watch the movie but once I have watched a movie I just can not bring myself to read the book, even though I know it is better. The only exception has been THE FIRM which I have read several times.
I wouldn't say I'm a big Civil War fiction fan. I've read a couple of Bernard Cornwell's books and most of Owen Parry's books (which are basically mystery novels with the Civil War as background) but not much else.
I loved Bond and Man From Uncle and all that spy stuff as a kid but had not read any Bond books for many years until last year when I started re-sampling them.
Only the earlier Bond films are close adaptations of the books. By the 1970s the only thing the books had in common with the movies was the title. You could safely read many of the Bond books after seeing the movie on which it is "based" and find no overlap in story.
Best
Joe
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Jim,
Thanks again for yet even more suggestions of good reading material.
Re: Stout. I only started reading through his books a few years ago and like you have been struck by the timelessness in general found in them. That recent one I read with the WWII background (Archie in uniform and all) was a real exception to the rule. The Doorbell Rang was one of the very first ones I read, btw, and remains a favorite.
Best
Joe
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Let's go old school. Have any of you read the Hornblower series? I learned more history from reading Hornblower than I ever did in school. How about the pulps? I have read many of the Conan, Doc Savage and Avenger books and few Shadow and Spider. Best taken as occasional light reads not reading too many of the same character at one time. Allen E. Nourse remains one of my favorite SciFi writers. Raiders From the Rings and Star Surgeon are a couple my favorites of his. The first several Dragonriders of Pern books sucked me in to their world completely but eventually I lost interest. I still think the first several are great. Jim have you read THE BAD PLACE by Koontz? That was my favorite of his. It was actually his first book but was thought too bizarre to print until after he made a name for himself.
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Years and years and years ago I read the Hornblowers, Narf.
I know because my older (18 months) brother has repeatedly told me that I did, but I don't recall them. I was probably sub-teens when I read them. Same with Conan. My local bookmobile in PIttsburgh had the Gnome Press reprints in the mid-50s and I was graduating from ERB and Heinlien to more "sophisticated" stuff.
Like you, I thought the early Pern novels were great, but once the "mystery" was unveiled, they lost me, too. The first four (with Whelan dust-jackets) are the ones to get. No, I haven't read Koontz's The Bad Place, but will keep a look out for it.
I tried to find Dangerously Funny at three local independent book stores, Jose, and all three told me that they could order it for me. I'll wait until I get back from Paris. I did pick up several new items that I"ll list. Your Hate Mail Will be Graded by John Scalzi, whom I recommded last time. It's posts from his blog, Whatever and I'm half-way through and enjoying it muchly. YMMV, especially if you're sensitive to certain topics.
The Unincorporated War, the sequel to The Unincorporated Man, is out.
A slew of William Gibson books for the plane and Paris evenings:
Virtual Light
Pattern Recognition
Spook Country
Count Zero
(I'm surprised that I've missed so many. You turn your back for a few years and wham!)
Somebody at Kepler's recommended The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross. The hero is named Bob Howard, which intrigued me
Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart.
John Fleskes came over and dropped off his latest publication, The Legend of Steel Bashaw by Petar Meseldzija, which I've also started. He borrowed my runs of My Greatest Adventures and Mystery in Space to read while I'm in Paris. He'll have fun. Me, too, I hope.
Keep reading.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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I passed my copy of Bad Place on to a guidance counselor Koontz fan over ten years ago and have not seen a copy since. It is one of the few books that I would like to read again. Just checked and Amazon has hardback for a penny with $3.99 shipping so I may order one. My wife just got her Al Lacy book today that was ordered off Amazon only two days standard shipping.
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The Blue Haired Bombshell by John Zakour
This book is a good reason to get down on your hands and knees at your local bookstores' sci-fi section (as the author's last name usually puts his books on the last shelf very bottom.) It is set a few hundred years into the future. A very slapstick, satirical future. And follows the fifth published adventure of Zachery Nixon Johnson, the Earth's last P.I. This time, Johnson, and his usual sidekick the holographic HARV along with a few new friends and whole lot of new enemies go to the Moon for a Lunar battle royale.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone that appreciates a satirical take on sci-fi and detective conventions. The humor is very physical and picturing the events in my mind always gets me weird looks in the workplace breakroom where I do a lot of my reading as I never can keep from laughing out loud.
The first book of this series is called The Plutonium Blonde. All feature retro-looking cover art complete with printed on smudge marks and scuffs, giving it the "old style" face it pays humorous homage to.
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Well lets see, I'll start with Andy McDermott's latest "The Sacred Vault", but if you want to read this before Mar. 2011 here you'll have to order it from England like I did in July. Good read by the way, I've read all of the series so far and wasn't disappointed so far except for the potty mouth Ms. Wilde which has been toned down with this book, (I don't care to much for a well educated person sounding like longshoreman all the time, just doesn't make a very believable character holding the position she has, as head of a archeology division of the United Nation).
Then I read "The Atlantis Code" by Charles Brokaw, a Da Vinci Code look-a-like, but was not a bad read, (I've never read or saw the Da Vinci Code book or movie, so maybe that's a good thing). It was a fast, exciting mover with a strong woman character which/who was believable.
Last one I just finished was "The Shimmer" by David Morrell, an interesting tale about a policeman who's wife takes off and stops in a small southern Texas town on the way to her mother's without telling him what's going on and then there's those mysterious lights too along with a government coverup that started from/in WWII.
I'm reading right now "The Hidden Oasis" by Paul Sussman, I've just started it, so I can't give a short synoptic of the book yet, but I read all his books and have enjoyed them all, if you like archaeology along with a murder mystery this book will hold your interest.
Read on...
Geo
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Let's go old school. Have any of you read the Hornblower series? I learned more history from reading Hornblower than I ever did in school. How about the pulps? I have read many of the Conan, Doc Savage and Avenger books and few Shadow and Spider. Best taken as occasional light reads not reading too many of the same character at one time. Allen E. Nourse remains one of my favorite SciFi writers. Raiders From the Rings and Star Surgeon are a couple my favorites of his. The first several Dragonriders of Pern books sucked me in to their world completely but eventually I lost interest. I still think the first several are great.
I never read any of Forester's Hornblower novels but have read some of Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey books, which are of a similar nature.
I first got into pulps one summer back in the mid 60s when we were vacationing back on my grandparent's farm in Pennsylvania. I found an old copy of Tarzan of the Apes up in the attic and I read it and was hooked. As soon as we returned home I was checking out and reading every Edgar Rice Burroughs book (and those of a similar vein-Kline, Carter) that I could find at the public library. It wasn't long afterward that someone gave me one of the Doc Savage paperbacks that were then reprinting the old pulps. This lead to reading the other pulp hero pulp characters that were being reprinted in the 1960s and 70s. Somewhere around this period I also discovered Conan and Robert E. Howard and then other Weird Tales authors like H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. I read lots of these in the 60s and 70s
I discovered Heinlein via a copy of Have Spacesuit Will Travel that was in the school library when I was about 10 years old. I actually got to meet Heinlein about a decade later at a Phoenix SciFi/Star Trek/Comics convention which was a thrill.
I got into fantasy novels via Tolkein (The Hobbit was an assigned book by one of my teachers at school) in the early 1970s. I especially remember reading a bunch of Thomas Burnett Swann's novels during that decade.
Dashiell Hammett was the first of the Black Mask/hard boiled school of mystery writers I read (mid 1970s) and that was because I first saw John Huston's terrific film adaptation of The Maltese Falcon (quite possibly the most faithful film adaptation of a book ever made) and it made me want to check out the author. That eventually lead to Raymond Chandler and then to James M. Cain and various other authors such as Ross MacDonald, Mickey Spillane, John D. MacDonald, etc...
Best
Joe
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Many similarities to my early reading Joe. I too got into Swan about that time. Loved his easy but interesting reading. Books that can just be enjoyed are often under rated. I have not read any David Morrell in awhile Geo but devoured them at one time with Brotherhood and Fraternity and League of Night and Fog. Who was his re-accuring character and which books was he in?
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Well lets see, I'll start with Andy McDermott's latest "The Sacred Vault", but if you want to read this before Mar. 2011 here you'll have to order it from England like I did in July. Good read by the way, I've read all of the series so far and wasn't disappointed so far except for the potty mouth Ms. Wilde which has been toned down with this book, (I don't care to much for a well educated person sounding like longshoreman all the time, just doesn't make a very believable character holding the position she has, as head of a archeology division of the United Nation).
Then I read "The Atlantis Code" by Charles Brokaw, a Da Vinci Code look-a-like, but was not a bad read, (I've never read or saw the Da Vinci Code book or movie, so maybe that's a good thing). It was a fast, exciting mover with a strong woman character which/who was believable.
Last one I just finished was "The Shimmer" by David Morrell, an interesting tale about a policeman who's wife takes off and stops in a small southern Texas town on the way to her mother's without telling him what's going on and then there's those mysterious lights too along with a government coverup that started from/in WWII.
I'm reading right now "The Hidden Oasis" by Paul Sussman, I've just started it, so I can't give a short synoptic of the book yet, but I read all his books and have enjoyed them all, if you like archaeology along with a murder mystery this book will hold your interest.
Read on...
Geo
I liked The Da Vinci Code, Geo,
I liken it to a combination pulp story/movie serial that was a silly roller coaster ride. I think way too many people take it way too seriously, but diss the hype and just read it. I think it's kind of fun in a serial sort of way.
Just finished "Your Email Will be Graded" by John Scalzi. First half was better than the second, but I did learn what's supposed to "happen" in (scary music...) 2012, the Mayan calendar reaches the end of its thirteenth baktun and resets to 00.00.00.00.00 - basically their new millennium. Nothing at all to do with Western prophecies or apocalyptic times. They did have a great calendar though, accurate to one day in 4000 years - whereas we, of course, have to add a day nearly every four years.
Scalzi turns out to be an interesting man. Check out his blog, the Whatever, at whatever.scalzi.com to read his stuff for free.
Plugging away at William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. What an entrancing way with words and descriptions! He's making me want to go back and re-read Neuromancer and his other earlier stuff. That's a good thing - having a bunch of books that you want to read AGAIN.
Haven't read any Sussman, Geo, but the premise/genre sounds interesting. I'll keep him in mind. My list keeps on growing. Again, that's a good thing.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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The first book of this series is called The Plutonium Blonde. All feature retro-looking cover art complete with printed on smudge marks and scuffs, giving it the "old style" face it pays humorous homage to.
It's on my list, Charlie. Thanks.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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I first got into pulps one summer back in the mid 60s when we were vacationing back on my grandparent's farm in Pennsylvania. I found an old copy of Tarzan of the Apes up in the attic and I read it and was hooked. As soon as we returned home I was checking out and reading every Edgar Rice Burroughs book (and those of a similar vein-Kline, Carter) that I could find at the public library. It wasn't long afterward that someone gave me one of the Doc Savage paperbacks that were then reprinting the old pulps. This lead to reading the other pulp hero pulp characters that were being reprinted in the 1960s and 70s. Somewhere around this period I also discovered Conan and Robert E. Howard and then other Weird Tales authors like H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. I read lots of these in the 60s and 70s
I devoured ERB early on (age 9 or 10) as fast as my older brother got them out of the library. Then Heinlein and then Howard. This was in the mid-Fifties. By the time I was 13, I was on to Asimov and Farmer and Ellison, etc. The Doc Savage/Lovecraft/Hobbit bug never bit me. I've tried all of them and couldn't finish any. It's just the way I'm drawn, I suppose.
I discovered Heinlein via a copy of Have Spacesuit Will Travel that was in the school library when I was about 10 years old. I actually got to meet Heinlein about a decade later at a Phoenix SciFi/Star Trek/Comics convention which was a thrill.
I got into fantasy novels via Tolkein (The Hobbit was an assigned book by one of my teachers at school) in the early 1970s. I especially remember reading a bunch of Thomas Burnett Swann's novels during that decade.
Like you, Jose, I enjoyed the 1960s and the rash of reprints suddenly available in pb. Swann, Carter, "Doc" Smith, etc. Tried them all, but didn't inhale, if you know what I mean? Revisited Howard at that time and was royally pissed at Carter and DeCamp for their temerity in "improving" the canon. NEVER cared for their stuff. It simply wasn't Conan.
Dashiell Hammett was the first of the Black Mask/hard boiled school of mystery writers I read (mid 1970s) and that was because I first saw John Huston's terrific film adaptation of The Maltese Falcon (quite possibly the most faithful film adaptation of a book ever made) and it made me want to check out the author. That eventually lead to Raymond Chandler and then to James M. Cain and various other authors such as Ross MacDonald, Mickey Spillane, John D. MacDonald, etc...
Best
Joe
My first brush with mysteries was Charteris' The Saint - an early guilty pleasure I assume since I can't re-read them. Probably a result of my brother's influence.
I'm not so certain that I'll give "The Maltese Falcon" such high grades for filmic faithfulness, but it WAS/IS a great film. It, too, led me to the mystery/pulp genres - although I have to admit that Karen was my guide here. She "discovered" them first. The others you mention I've sampled but am left unsatisfied. There is something "old fashioned" about their approach that guys like Crais and Connolly overcome. I prefer, I suppose, more "meat" on my hero's ID. And the ease and flow of a more modern writing style. MacDonald and McDonald and Spillane never seemed to grab me. Perhaps I should revisit them.
All for now. Got to get back to packing and proof-reading.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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By the second Skylark I totally disliked them. It was too much like much of modern anime/manga. Things can happen just because the author wants them to happen without rhyme, reason or logic. Smith's last series was the first I read and really liked the Family D'Alembert series. More down to earth and good fun read. Lead me to try Skylark much to my regret.
While others S&S characters may have been poor Conan imitations, I really liked Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Once again fun reads. I like an occasional heavy read but life is heavy enough that I prefer relaxing reads most of the time.
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By the second Skylark I totally disliked them. It was too much like much of modern anime/manga. Things can happen just because the author wants them to happen without rhyme, reason or logic. Smith's last series was the first I read and really liked the Family D'Alembert series. More down to earth and good fun read. Lead me to try Skylark much to my regret.
While others S&S characters may have been poor Conan imitations, I really liked Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Once again fun reads. I like an occasional heavy read but life is heavy enough that I prefer relaxing reads most of the time.
I'm not advocating for anything heavy, Narf,
I with you all the way on that. And on the Skylark material - stuff that appealed to the 10 year old me but, when revisited as an adult, gave me an identical reaction. On the other hand, the F&GM Leiber stuff never grabbed me. I kept comparing it to REH and it kept coming off second best. Since I was RE-reading the Conan and viewing from post-puberty, I was getting the full impact of the work for the first time. Leiber didn't have a prayer.
Looking at my reading list should show you that deep is not my favorite adjective for my books. However, I LOVE a well-written yarn that I have to focus on to appreciate. All too often I find myself speed-reading (if ONLY I could really DO that!) through the text to get the gist and move on. Gibson actually rewards my effort enough to make slowing down worthwhile.
At some point I graduated from content to content plus style. Leslie Charteris has reasonably decent content and a non-intrusive, fairly mediocre style. I can't dwell on his words because they seldom surprise me in any fashion other than plot - and even those "surprises" are fairly minimal. For a while I was into guys like Mitchner and Eric Von Lustbader with their deep, historic and meaningful prose, but eventually realized that it WAS too heavy for me. There were (and art) better and more enjoyable uses of my time.
Entertainment first and foremost in a book, please. Probably why I shy away from most films. They aren't rewarding enough, generally. When I was younger, this was not so, but with age comes irascibility and impatience. With age came the sudden knowledge that I didn't HAVE to finish every book or movie I started. Very enabling.
Keep it light, keep it entertaining, but, also, keep it well-written and somewhat of an intellectual challenge. Mental stimulation keeps the brain agile, they say.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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I guess the titles of some of your book list sounded heavier than they are Jim. And I have come to some of the same conclusions. I have an easier time not finishing a movie thanks to DVR which many refer to as TIVO on their systems. I have been getting better about not finishing a book although I have to tell myself it is OK to stop even if I have gone past the first chapter. You may want to give F&GH another try in your later years and take them on their own merits not comparing to Conan. They have a charm and humor that would never have fit in Conan. If nothing else read the Sword of Sorcery comics. Less time invested and still a fun read. That is where I discovered the pair in the first place. When those comics came out I loved Conan but actually enjoyed the Kull comic even more. Dagar has some interesting reading and I appreciate Santos art now more than I did originally.
I have several OE Klien books and love the covers. I read one and will probably not read anymore. If I want ERB I will read the real thing. I will hold onto the books for the covers.
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By the way Jim I finally got my copy of Al Williamson Archives Vol. 1. I was very impressed by the quality (stitched binding) and the paper stock used along with the art that was selected for this volume. It really showed the genius he had on the craft he worked in. Well worth the cost of the book even at list price, which I didn't pay by the way.
Can't wait for the next volume to come out.
Geo
PS: Jim I'm officially retired now, it seems busier now then when I was working, strange too not having to get up at a certain time.
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Al Williamson was awesome. When I see some of his work I think of Frazetta. Truly one of the greatest
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I did try Leiber again, later, narf,
with the same results. I find Leiber a tough read as he always seems to be imitating himself - if that makes any sense? I even felt a little iffy about Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road" which was a pastiche primarily of F&GM. Not my favorite Chabon.
His latest, just out in paperback, is "Manhood for Amateurs" which I found excellent.
I have a WALL full of books with great covers. Just ask Geo. If I could push past the WALL of toys that my nephews have embedded into that side of the attic, I'd take a picture and post it. Imagine the "wall of comics" as a "wall of paperbacks" and you'll have a good idea. The Klein books of the '60s and '70s did have some great covers, didn't they?
One reason you think of Frazetta when you see some Williamson is that you're most likely seeing some Frazetta, too. They did a lot of work together, especially in the 1950-1955 era. After that, they went their separate ways, Al to Atlas and Frank to L'il Abner - what a tragic waste that was...
Congratulations to you, Geo, on your retirement. Do you, like me, find it difficult to imagine where you ever found the TIME to have a job? I'm continually amazed that for 30 years I carved 9-10 hours out of every single day and devoted them to earning a living. Weird. Welcome to the leisure crowd.
It's sad that Al never got to see the first volume of the Flesk Archive series. He did see the proofs and was proud of them. Or at least happy. John does wonderful books at very reasonable prices. I'm always impressed by his efforts.
And I KNOW this is pissing into the wind, but did you ever consider that paying full price TO THE PUBLISHER might make that next volume in the series more possible and likely to happen that much sooner? If you like something, vote with your pocketbook. Amazon doesn't PUBLISH books and I'm surprised that more publishers don't react more negatively to seeing their product being sold there at prices that undercut their own sales possibilities. How could I, for example, sell enough copies of my Kinstler book at $39.95 when Amazon was selling it for $24.85 or some such? Sure convinced me not to sell to them or to any distributor again.
I got out of the book-selling business for the same reason. If everyone has to compete on price alone, I might as well have been selling widgets instead of books that I loved. "Productizing" everything is repulsive in that it transforms things we love and cherish into "merchandise" that can, should and will be trivialized by the lowest price: buy this book on Amazon for 1
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I'm currently half-way through 'The Lurking Fear & other stories', which is a pb anthology of H.P. Lovecraft stories. Who also happens to be my favorite writer since age 8. I collect Lovecraft, Burroughs, and Howard novels, grew up on these and still concider them superior to the modern stuff I've read. Yesterday I recieved 'Pan Book of Horror #6' from ebay, so that will probably be my next book to read.
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I buy comics at my LCS for the pocketbook vote. I could download bootleg scans of the books but how can the creators and publishers publish if no one pays? I also use my LCS, even though I could get steeper discounts online, because I want them supported. I do have a big problem with Diamond often ignoring some of my order because I am the only one locally who gets them. There is a second Civil War graphic novel and I have not yet got the first. I want the books and am willing to pay for them but Diamond won't ship them. PS238 is another comic I want to buy paper copies from my LCS but may have to go to LoneStar.
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Good on ya, narf!
My insurance company keeps trying to get me to go mail order on my medications, but my local pharmacy (which we've been patronizing for 35 years) is simply too much a part of my life. Money isn't everything.
I echo your dislike of Diamond. Talk about a "money is the ONLY thing" attitude... Like the big bully on the block, IMHO.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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Watcha Readin'?
This post! Hah! Sorry, it's early guys.
Seriously, just finished Mars by Ben Bova. Not too bad. I usually don't read novels. I prefer books on astronomy, archaeology, history, etc.
Speaking of money isn't everything, John, I patronize my local car mechanic for the same reason. We've been going to him since we moved up here 10 years ago. He charges a little more than others (not TOO much, I'm not Rockelfeller!) but he's always been fair and reasonable. I remember one time when my radiator sprung a leak. I told him I needed my car to get to work but couldn't pay him for a couple of days. He said "No problem. I'll get you fixed so you can get to work. I'll take care of you." And he always has!
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And I KNOW this is pissing into the wind, but did you ever consider that paying full price TO THE PUBLISHER might make that next volume in the series more possible and likely to happen that much sooner? If you like something, vote with your pocketbook. Amazon doesn't PUBLISH books and I'm surprised that more publishers don't react more negatively to seeing their product being sold there at prices that undercut their own sales possibilities. How could I, for example, sell enough copies of my Kinstler book at $39.95 when Amazon was selling it for $24.85 or some such? Sure convinced me not to sell to them or to any distributor again.
I got out of the book-selling business for the same reason. If everyone has to compete on price alone, I might as well have been selling widgets instead of books that I loved. "Productizing" everything is repulsive in that it transforms things we love and cherish into "merchandise" that can, should and will be trivialized by the lowest price: buy this book on Amazon for 1
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I often wonder the same thing about Amazon, etc. There is a listed retail price but what is a reasonable price to pay.
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I use my local library for most detective fiction I want to read and it's easy to order titles not on our local shelves. I buy new S.F from a pal who has a bookshop in Edinburgh and who specialises in imported S.F and Fantasy (I also order a few comics and collections from him).
I think I've mentioned this previously but it bears repeating. The Inspector Montalbano books by Andrea Camilleri (excellent translations by Stephen Sartarelli) are very good. Set in Sicily, it sometimes seems like an alien world and society. I'm up to date with all the English language releases but while on holiday in Italy a few months ago, I bought La Caccia al Tesoro and had a go at reading it. But it's not even in Italian, it's in Sicilian. And I was really struggling and had to give up less than half way and then I was only getting an idea of what was going on.
Although I recently read the latest Bryant and May mystery by Christopher Fowler, I have gone back to the first story - Full Dark House - and I'd forgotten how good, well written, amusing and strange it is.
Who mentioned F & GM? I read them when a lot younger and thoroughly enoyed them (and the comics). Should I go back and try them again? Do I really have the time?
Can't make up my mind about the Amazon v. local bookshop question. Only having used Amazon for old films and t.v. shows I can't find easily elsewhere (and even then I tend to use play.com) I'm not sure if they are damaging or widening access. Not sure why publishers can't sell at a discount except that the book trade seems to be in trouble here and less cash going in wont help.
If anyone's interested, I'm writing this while listening to the last 1 day international cricket match between India and England. Series balanced at 2 wins each and this is the decider. Despite all the potential scandals etc in recent weeks, this is still an exciting final game of the season. Available on BBC radio, if you can get it.
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I just got Blake Bells new book FIRE & WATER: BILL EVERETT, THE SUB-MARINER, AND THE BIRTH OF MARVEL COMICS from Fantagraphics. I have only looked through it, not read any yet, but it is now tops on my reading list. You have to see the original art repro of Black Widow from Amazing Adventures 5 page 9. Bill's inks on Colon's pencils. Looks like Bill had some fun knowing the coloring would hide the embellishments. Original art sometimes make me wish US comics had not gone so heavily into color. BTW the book looks great. Last comic related book I read Tony I's 1000 Must Read Comics which was a great fun read. For anyone who picked up the Crumb Genesis you might want to try the Wolverton Bible.
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Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett. The second of the Captain Vimes books based on Discworld. I'm loving it ( a re-read)
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Just got Jim Amash's book on Carmine Infantino. Now I have two new books with no time to read them
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Finished the following books this past month.
The King of Torts-John Grisham-It's been several years since I last read a Grisham novel (I did read a non-fiction of his more recently that was pretty interesting) and found this one (where tort lawyers get their comeuppance) only so-so.
The Road to Wigan Pier-George Orwell- Besides Animal Farm and 1984 Orwell wrote a few other books including this non-fiction look at mining communities in Northern England during the Great Depression. Best parts are his vivid descriptions of the people and their working and living conditions.
Eyes of Prey-John Sandford-It's been a while since I last read one of Sandford's "Prey" books This one, which is a variation on Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, was a good one.
The Turkish Gambit-Boris Akunin-While not quite up to the level of some of Akunin's earlier mystery novels I've read (all featuring the 19th century Russian Erast Fandorin) this one still had some good bits.
Black Hills-Dan Simmons-A JVJ recommendation. Simmons' once again mixes real people and historical events with his own brand of weirdness (and Simmons does weirdness well!). Along with the weirdness you'll learn a lot about the building of both Mt. Rushmore and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Dark Voyage-Alan Furst-Jim also recommended Mr. Furst to me (although I don't believe he mentioned this specific book-it just happened to be the first I snagged off the shelf at the library). I gotta admit I had a hard time getting jazzed up about this story of espionage and smuggling during the early part of WWII but that may have been due more to my sour mood the week I read it (bad week at work!). I'll give Furst another chance in a couple of months.
Best
Joe
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Does this include Graphic Novels? Because I just read Batman/Superman: Supergirl. Got inspired after watching the animated movie adaptation Apocalypse.
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I guess graphic novels would go in the swag section as that is where we have been posting our comic reading.
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I am reading Batman: Inferno by Alex Irvine. Surprise! It's not a graphic novel. A regular 339 page novel. And ... it's good! ;)
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I just read the first story in THE PHANTOM GENERATIONS SPECIAL. Been my favorite Phantom story so far.
Phantom Generations from Moonstone is a different kind of comic. One page prose the other a picture with each issue covering that number Phantom. Since The Phantom has gone to Dynamite, Moonstone released Generations Special with 3 full stories from Phantom 14-16. Phantom 14 was a great story. Since I am more concerned with story than art Generations has been a favorite of mine. Being a Phantom fan helps too :P The art looks like it was done with colored pencils but does look really good. I am going bike riding so I will finish the other stories later.
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I'm someone who likes to bounce around between different things. Since I get so much fiction with comics, I tend to go more with non-fiction (except for the first book on my list). Some of the non-comic books I'm reading off and on right now are:
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Does anyone use a Kindle and have a review of it from a practical "maybe I'd use it" point of view, and not from some book-fetishist perspective ("I need to smell my books, feel the pulpy goodness, the texture of the glue binding" etc.)?
VERY good question. In a nutshell, based on the latest model:
- Contrast is good if you are reading in reasonably bright light, but still isn't nearly as good as paper - so when the light gets dim you'll have a problem. An LED reading light is a reasonable cure. Get a good one that doesn't have any hotspots or rings , just a nice even light. Unlike a PDA the Kindle screen is gets readable as the ambient light level increases.
- I found the page size was ok for light reading (I enjoyed reading a copy of EE Doc Smith's "Spacehounds of the IPC" downloaded off Guttenberg) but far too small for reading serious books. I realized that as ideas get bigger you need to see more of the page to take them in effectively. (You tend to realize something you misunderstood and scan back at key points, for example.) Reading Bart Ehrman's "Jesus Interrupted" (recommended - terrific book on how Jesus's ideas where modified, hugely, to produce early Christianity) would have been torture on the Kindle.
- Reading most PDFs is a pain because the reader can't reflow them to suit the small screen size. I've been told that if you mail a PDF to your Kindle account for conversion this will get taken care of to some extent.
- The interface is pretty nice; using a Kindle is easy
Given these limitations and the price of and (to me) poor choice in Kindle books, I sent mine back. But I could easily see someone with different priorities going the other way.
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I'm someone who likes to bounce around between different things. Since I get so much fiction with comics, I tend to go more with non-fiction (except for the first book on my list).
I like to bounce around between non-fiction and fiction too. Biographies and history are my favorites in non fiction. My fiction leans more toward the mystery/crime/thriller genres but I throw in the occasional sci-fi, fantasy, classic, western and what not too.
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I have some friends who are big ORson Scott Card fans. They gave me a book to read but I could not get into it. He did not make me care about his characters and if I can not care about the characters then I can not care about the book.
I could pursue this with you, narf, if you knew the name of the book. Read Ender's Game and then get back to me.
I was assuming from the description that the book WAS Enders Game... The only good Card I've read was a very early novel - "Wyrms"?
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The Cardinal's Blades by Pierre Pevel. A sort of slightly alternative reality historical adventure set in France at thetime of Cardinal Richelieu. There are also dragons.
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Beneath the Dark Ice by Greig Beck. An Australian writer, this is his first book out. A thriller that take the reader from the surface of cold wind blown Antarctica to a deadly world far below the ice and rock.
Geo
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Soul Music by Terry Pratchett
This is another Discworld novel with the main characters being Death, his grandaughter Susan, and a musician that literally has music for a soul.
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Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card-A really good read! Very imaginative. I believe Jim recommended this one to me (only my second Card book) and I send him my thanks. I'll certainly be looking for the sequel mentioned on the back of the copy I read.
Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert by Bill Schelly- I've known Bill from his writing in Alter Ego magazine and from his participation on one of my film comedy forums (Bill's also written a bio on silent film comedian Harry Langdon) so was not surprised to find this a very serviceable bio on one of the top comic book artists of all time (all though I did catch a few minor errors regarding information on the early years of the Kubert School).
Sunnyside by David Glen Gold- I think this is another one that Jim recommended to me. I really wanted to like the book. It does have a number of wonderfully written vignettes and the early Hollywood setting is certainly of interest to me but of the three main narratives running throughout the book I only found two of them engaging and whenever the author moved to third my interest slowed considerably. I also found somewhat off-putting the way that Gold uses a number of real individuals (Charlie Chaplin, Lee Duncan, etc...) as main characters but then takes various liberties with the known facts (either from ignorance or for some artistic choice that usually eluded me) to the point where the book, at times, almost seemed like an alternative history novel to me.
Spook Country by William Gibson-Mr. Gibson was another author recommended to me by JVJ and I did like this book a good deal. It was really hard for me to second guess and it kept my interest right up to the end. Good job!
American Lightning by Howard Blum-Imagine America hit by a number of terrorist bombings that seem to culminate in the bombing and destruction of the Los Angeles Times building. Then in the days after, as they are still pulling bodies from the rubble, the bombings start anew! The manhunt to catch the terrorists escalates before more damage is done or lives are lost! Sounds like the plot of some modern thriller novel doesn't it? It does but the interesting thing is that it really happened-a hundred years ago! Blum weaves an exciting narrative of those events that came to involve one of the county's best known lawyers, a famous pioneering film director and the man called America's Sherlock Holmes!
The Woods by Harlan Coben- I can't remember who recommended Coben to me but this particular mystery thriller was well done! I'll be looking for more from this author.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann-I believe that I already briefly described this book in a previous post so I won't say much more about it except that I read the majority of it some time ago and then misplaced it and only recently found and finished it. Now if I could only find that punk rock oral history that I started a decade or so ago!
Best
Joe
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The Merchants War by Charles Strauss (Book Four of the Merchant Princes)
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Like many others I got into more serious reading with ERB's Tarzan then on to John Carter Of Mars, Conan and tons of science fiction from too many authors to name. Then some in most every other genre. More recently the computer has devoured most of my free time to read.
I am currently reading "Zombie Butts From Uranus" to a twelve year old boy with a broken arm. Now this is not my cup of tea; and I would never think to read this type of 'aimed at juvenile reader' type of book for myself. But if you can look past the repetitive 'butt' humor, its actually surprisingly well written. Before that I read him "Tarzan and the Castaways". Quite a difference in literary style.
Which sort of brings me full circle.
I
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Manhunt: the Twelve Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson Well researched and grippingly written account of the events immediately leading up to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and of the hunt for his killer John Wilkes Booth and Booth's increasingly frantic attempts to avoid capture. Recommended.
The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women by James Ellroy James Ellroy is best known for his crime fiction-in particular the L.A. quartet-The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A Confidential and White Jazz. I'm a big fan of these books. He has also written several non-fiction books where he has touched on parts of his early life such as the unsolved murder of his mother when he was a child and his life of petty crime when he was a young man. This is more along those lines. I would recommend this primarily to fans of the author.
Flashman on the March by George MacDonald Fraser It was with a good deal of sadness that I finished reading this book as it is apparently the last Flashman novel written by Fraser before he passed away a couple of years ago. Still I'm thankful for the dozen that he did write over the years. For those unfamiliar with the series Flashman is quite a character (nothing short of cad) who manages to get caught up in many of the famous military and political incidents of the 19th century (including the Charge of the Light Brigade and Custer's Last Stand!) and always comes up smelling of roses! The books are meticulously researched as to historical accuracy (always read the footnotes at the end of each novel) and delightfully written! While this final entry may not be up to some of his earlier entries such as Flashman, Flash for Freedom, Flashman at the Charge, and Flashman and the Redskins its still head and shoulders above many other new books coming out.
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson Larsson's worthy followup to his excellent first novel The Girl with the Dragon tattoo with its very unlikely heroine Lisbeth Salander returning. Since this one ends on a bit of a cliffhanger I'm going to have to pickup the third in the series real soon!
Huey Long by T. Harry Williams Wow! The political climate in the Southern United States has really changed since Huey Long's days as a powerhouse in politics. This is not a new book-it was published a bit over 40 years ago-but it still remains probably the definitive look at this controversial figure thanks to the fact that author Williams' was able to interview so many people who knew and worked with Long when he was alive.
Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile Some of you may have seen the popular motion picture starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. Well it's based on this book which goes into a whole lot more detail on how Wilson and co. pulled off what they did!
Best
Joe
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Yesterday, I received the Christmas goodie from ADCCC, which this year is a Desperate Dan collection from the early 50's. About 20, 1 page strips by the quite wonderful Dudley D. Watkins. :-
http://www.thatsbraw.co.uk/Biog/DDW-Page.htm
I also recently ordered a variety of newspaper strips from them and have been wallowing in the delights of Jane strips (literally) from the Daily Mirror, very early Buck Ryan strips by Jack Monk from the same newspaper and Jet Ace Logan comics from the Sun comic(1950's)
Some of you seem to be Terry Pratchet fans and I wondered if you had tried the Robert Rankin books. Especially the East of Ealing trilogy. Very English, very weird and funny. The trilogy is up to 6parts now, I think but it's the originals you want - East of Ealing; The Brentford Triangle; the Antipope (I might have got those in the wrong order)
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Just finished the last of "The Hand" stories from the Shadow pulp, thus completing all five fingers (which I read in succession)... now I'm starting on the nonfictional "McMafia" by Misha Glenny which I picked up in a bargain bin last week. I was wanting to read this for some time, great deal btw (hardcover w/dust jacket for $5 USD).
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My own writings, over and over again. I'm writing and proofing the next issue of ImageS (#12 for anyone that's counting), to the sad detriment of my leisure reading. I still get some pages in of The Gods Are Thirsty by Tanith Lee, an historical fiction of the French Revolution. It's really captivating me (in ways that my own prose certainly is NOT) and helping me understand the sequence of events and the personalities that were involved.
Joe - Greatly enjoyed Dangerously Funny. Thanks for the recommendation. It actually encouraged me to get Karen to order the E DVD releases of The Best of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour - 3rd Season and actually WATCH them all. That's a major concession for me. As it was, I came away unsatisfied. I think it was a mistake to edit the shows. They need to be seen whole to really appreciate them. I saw many of them when they came out and even if they weren't 100% successful 100% of the time, the excerpted format didn't work for me.
The biggest problem I have is the "to be read" PILE of reading material that has accumulated while I work on the magazine and never-ending task of sorting through my parents' estate. My older brother is the executor and I think he's both overworked and both grateful for the help and somehow certain that it means that he's not doing enough fast enough. You can't win...
For the digitally prejudiced, I recommend Lane Smith's It's a Book. You can read it five minutes and remember it for a long time.
Off of the stack and read since last time:
The Spies of Warsaw & The Polish Officer & The Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst - all very enjoyable WWII stories that take place on the peripheral of the battles and behind the scenes. Furst is excellent at recreating that era and those clandestine characters, who end up being rather normal people thrust into abnormal situations.
Three Stations by Martin Cruz Smith - If you like his Arkady Renko character, Russian police detective featured in Gorky Park (for the video-literate amongst you), then this continues his saga. It helps to have read several of the earlier books in the series as his status and personality are severely formed by the earlier events in his "life".
The Whisperers by John Connolly - good "supernatural" mystery with more focus on the latter than the former. Kept me entertained and guessing.
The Road Home by Rose Tremain - an Eastern European man leaves his mother and his daughter to find work and money in England of today. The life of an itinerant immigrant in London - language, customs, and prejudice up against a strong will and determination. Good story.
The Four-Color Four Color Index (volumes 1-5) and The Giant Dell Giant Index (and Follow Up) by Alan Hutchinson and Gary Brown. Learning about and sharing my little knowledge of Dell artists. This massive project attempts to list every issue and give any known credits. Whew!
Modern Masters Volume Eleven: Charles Vess by Christopher Irving and Eric Nolen-Weathington. Needs no comment from me.
Others on the list calling to me:
Fever Dream by Preston & Child (still haven't gotten there)
Blood Hunt by Ian Rankin - another non-series book. We'll see.
Eva Moves the Furniture - from the
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Some list Jim. The Gods Must be Thirsty sounds like something I would like as I enjoy historical fiction that gives you insight into the thinking of the people. After having watched I Claudius I really liked reading this book. I tried wading through Claudius the God but it just did not catch me. I recommend the Eagle and the Raven set from the English perspective during the reign of Claudius in Rome. The Alan Furst books also sound good as I enjoy David Morrell.
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Jim-Glad you liked the Smothers Brothers book. Regarding the DVD collections being edited-while I haven't seen them I suspect they're having the same problem that has plagued releases of most other comedy/variety shows-clearing the music rights on the guest performers. Apparently this has lead to big increases in the expense of putting out collections of such shows causing some planned collections to be canceled and others to be edited.
I haven't read a Martin Cruz Smith book in years. I think the last one I read was only so-so and I just never got back to him. Maybe time to give him another chance.
I read the Spiderwick Chronicles series that Tony DiTerlizzi co-wrote a couple of years back. An enjoyable series for younger readers. Is this new book of his more along those lines?
I read Crichton's Eaters of the Dead decades ago. IIRC, it's his variation of the Beowulf story. I know I also read Congo but can remember nothing about it.
I also love those book sales and used book stores. We have a small store at my library where they sell off both library discards and donated books. I've picked up many books there including numerous graphic novels and strip collection-quite a few in the $1-3.00 range. Best recent buy there was 20 of those Archie Double Digests for 10 cents apiece!
Best
Joe
Thanks for the heads up on those Dell Indexes. Sounds like great reference material!
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Some list Jim. The Gods Must be Thirsty sounds like something I would like as I enjoy historical fiction that gives you insight into the thinking of the people. After having watched I Claudius I really liked reading this book. I tried wading through Claudius the God but it just did not catch me. I recommend the Eagle and the Raven set from the English perspective during the reign of Claudius in Rome. The Alan Furst books also sound good as I enjoy David Morrell.
Narf-I remember seeing the 13 episode I Claudius back in 1977 when it first ran on Masterpiece Theatre. I was so impressed that I soon after read Robert Graves' two Claudius books (as well as several of his other books) and that lead to reading numerous non fiction books on Roman history and even some of the original Roman historians such as Suetonius and Tacitus.
I also felt that Claudius the God wasn't up to I, Claudius. You may have noticed that the majority of the TV adaptation was based on the first book and they only used the best parts of the second book for the final episodes.
Best
Joe
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Joe you should read the take from the other side THE EAGLE AND THE RAVEN by Pauline Gedge.
Spanning three generations, this historical novel tells the tale of Boudicca, the most famous warrior of ancient Britain, and Caradoc, the son of a Celtic king, who sets out to unite the people of the Raven and lead them against Rome. Caradoc's objective is not easily accomplished as the Roman army advances into Britain, raping Celtic women and burning villages to the ground. His efforts are also met with fierce opposition from Aricia, the vain queen of a northern tribe who swears allegiance to the Romans after Caradoc slights her, and from Gladys, Caradoc
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Read The Eagle and The Raven many moons ago, narf. No recollection of it. Still have the book filed in my Leo and Diane Dillon dust jacket section. I notice that I have Gedge's Child of the Morning and The Twelfth Transforming, her novels of ancient Egypt shelved beside Eagle - also with Dillon covers. I think I read those as well.
I, too, saw I Claudius back in the '70s and also got the books and read them. Again, too many paragraphs under the bridge to reconstruct my thoughts. Sorry.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
printing and proofing, printing and proofing....
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Joe you should read the take from the other side THE EAGLE AND THE RAVEN by Pauline Gedge.
Spanning three generations, this historical novel tells the tale of Boudicca, the most famous warrior of ancient Britain, and Caradoc, the son of a Celtic king, who sets out to unite the people of the Raven and lead them against Rome. Caradoc's objective is not easily accomplished as the Roman army advances into Britain, raping Celtic women and burning villages to the ground. His efforts are also met with fierce opposition from Aricia, the vain queen of a northern tribe who swears allegiance to the Romans after Caradoc slights her, and from Gladys, Caradoc
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I never read I, Claudius just watched PBS. I have never been able to read a book after watching the movie. I can read the book first then watch the movie. Like most, I would find the book better but just can not read one after a movie. I like historical fiction that is heavy on facts and gives me a good take on the perspective and feel of the individuals. I love analyzing my own thinking and the thinking of others. I like to know the why of why people do things.
I really hope to be able to teach a couple years in Europe after I retire in the US. I want to live among the people more so than just visit tourist traps.
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Went to the used book store today got some more Civil War historical fiction for my wife. Picked up
The Gods Are Thirsty by Tanith Lee for me and my wife might read it after me. Thanks for the recommendation Jim
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Went to the used book store today got some more Civil War historical fiction for my wife. Picked up
The Gods Are Thirsty by Tanith Lee for me and my wife might read it after me. Thanks for the recommendation Jim
You're welcome, Joe,
I just hope you like it and please remember (recommendation-wise and review/spoiler-wise) that I'm STILL in the middle of it. I am SO worn out at the end of the day I haven't been able to "hit the books" like I used to.
Just finished the LAST page of ImageS #12 and have printed out a proof of all but the last two pages. Things progress. Now I need a new ISSN and some color corrections and, and, and...
and on top of EVERYTHING else, ONE of Karen's 13 year old twin nephews is spending the next two weeks with us as a "trial separation" from his brother. Hmmm.
I quit for today! Time to READ.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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Despite the usual hectic Holiday season I did manage to get a few books read.
I am the New Black by Tracy Morgan with Anthony Bozza A slim somewhat enlightening moderately entertaining memoir from the SNL/30 Rock comedian.
Resolution by Robert B. Parker I really liked Parker's early mysteries but after a while they became real hit and miss and I found myself reading him less and less then this past year someone suggested I should try his recent westerns and I picked up Appaloosa and I found it to be a nice lean, mean return to form. This followup is nearly as good. Maybe he just needed a change of pace to recharge his batteries. Unfortunately he passed away before he got too far into this genre (IIRC he only finished one more western before his death).
A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity by Bill O'Reilly Bill O'Reilly is not someone I think I would like to meet or whom I particularly care to watch on TV but I do invariably find something to enjoy in his books. Maybe its our shared background in parochial education.
Under the Dome by Stephen King I've enjoyed King's books since the 70s but sometimes I really feel he needs an editor. This book (which is a sort of long Outer Limits meets the Lord of the Flies sci fi tome) is a prime example. There are just too many scenes that seem like the "deleted scenes" on some DVDs. Scenes that were deleted for good reason. Usually because they slowed the flow without adding substantially to the story.
The Weird World of Eerie Publications by Mike Howlett Mike Howlett gets so jazzed up in writing about his fondness for these sleazy Myron Fass horror publications that you can't help but get carried along with it to a degree even if you never cared much for them when they were being published. He's also done a yeoman's work tracking down the original story sources for the many, many pre-code horror sources that Fass and co. ripped off when they were seeking story sources. Highly recommended!
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Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith Jim's earlier mentioning of Smith had me going back to revisit the author. This one (the first in the Arkady Renko series) was almost as much of a cold war flashback as the Ian Fleming Bond novels I was reading earlier in the year so I checked out the original publication date which turned out to be 1981 (although it was obviously written before the 1980 Soviet action into Afghanistan) which interestingly enough was the same year that Stuart Kaminsky premiered his long running and somewhat similar Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov series. Anyway it was a good read and I'm up for another go round with Arkady!
JEFFERSON AND HIS TIME Volume V: JEFFERSON THE PRESIDENT: SECOND TERM 1805-1809 by Dumas Malone I've been reading this massive Pulitzer prize winning, six volume series off and on for about a year and a half now (which is considerably less than the three and a half plus decades it took Malone to write it) and expect to have it done a little later this year. I'm looking forward to the final volume where Jefferson and Adams, as old men, mend their hostlities toward each other and rebuild their friendship of younger days.
Best
Joe
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Weird World of Eerie is on my want list
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Hey, Joe,
Glad you liked Gorky Park. I just read the latest in the Arkady series, and, unlike King, "Three Stations" is tautly edited. Not my favorite of the series, but still a good read. (I haven't picked up a Stephen King book since I read his unexpurgated version of "The Stand.")
There are some other authors who seem to have forsworn editors, much to their detriment, I believe. High on the list is Tad Williams. I really like his stories, but they are SO overly descriptive and complex that his recent Shadowmarch trilogy turned into four books with the final volume the thickest of the batch. Sigh... And I'm enabling him by buying them.
Neal Stephenson's last book was SO overwritten that I have given up on him. I'll think two or three times before checking out whatever he does next. And I think his "Cryptonomicon" is probably the best book of the '90s. How the mighty have fallen...
I, too, gave up on Parker years ago. Never have been a fan of westerns, so I'm unlikely to revisit his new milieu.
I've got the Myron Fass Eerie book coming from Bud Plant. He was supposed to drop it by today, but a late start (he lives about 275 miles away) and a scheduling conflict mean that I'll see him on Thursday instead.
Recently read Bill Bryson's "At Home" and loved it! Subtitled "a short history of private life," in it he wanders through his 19th century English house and muses historically on what he finds. A fascinating way to learn about things we take for granted daily.
Finished "The Gods are Thirsty" which, though fictionalized history, gave me a much better understanding of the French Revolution and its primary proponents. I developed a new respect for Tanith Lee from this book. Surprise!
Haven't quite managed to get to the end of "Count Giger's Blues", Michael Bishop's "take on the modern myth of the superhero" (the blurb which inspired me to take a chance on it). His writing may have improved since this was written (mid-'90s if I remember right), but I'm unlikely to chance another and probably won't finish this.
Have you seen the new book on Harvey Dunn by Walt Reed? A student of Howard Pyle and a major influence, as a teacher, on the illustration art of the 1940s and 1950s, this had over 300 illustrations in color. Gorgeous and Reed's commentary is primarily on the art, after a brief but interesting bio of the artist. Published by my friend John Fleskes of Flesk Publications, it is a marvelous addition to the lexicon of art history books.
Am halfway through "Of Comics and Men" - an unexpected gift from Blastaar - which is proving to be a heavy read. Translated from the French, it's "A Cultural History of American Comic Books" and is a ponderous as its title. But it IS interesting and surprisingly (so far) free from errors. I can't tell you how many books on comics I've begun only to discard them (sometimes quite violently) due to the gross negligence of the authors.
And, for anyone who cares, The Vadeboncoeur Collection of ImageS #12 is out. See "Product Overview" at jvjpubs.com.
Happy New Year everyone and keep reading.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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I could not make it far in God's Must be Thirsty. I like historical fiction but I have to care about the characters.
It seemed to concentrate on the one character and too poetic to suck me in. Does it do better on more characterization later? Between GCD, GAC and various diggings for Roy most of my reading is online and the few comics I get and Alter Ego. A novel has to get me fairly early for me to invest my time in it, I have regretted the time it took to finish books before. My wife is the novel reader. BTW Jim in talking about artists that I like, I wonder if you have seen Jeff Austin's inks. I think you would be pleased with much of the art in Femforce because of his inks. Even editor and inker Mark Heike calls him one of the all time greatest inkers.
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Hey, Joe,
Glad you liked Gorky Park. I just read the latest in the Arkady series, and, unlike King, "Three Stations" is tautly edited. Not my favorite of the series, but still a good read. (I haven't picked up a Stephen King book since I read his unexpurgated version of "The Stand.")
There are some other authors who seem to have forsworn editors, much to their detriment, I believe. High on the list is Tad Williams. I really like his stories, but they are SO overly descriptive and complex that his recent Shadowmarch trilogy turned into four books with the final volume the thickest of the batch. Sigh... And I'm enabling him by buying them.
Neal Stephenson's last book was SO overwritten that I have given up on him. I'll think two or three times before checking out whatever he does next. And I think his "Cryptonomicon" is probably the best book of the '90s. How the mighty have fallen...
Ah heck! Here I am half way through Cryptonomicon (and loving it) and you give me this bit of bad news.
Have you seen the new book on Harvey Dunn by Walt Reed? A student of Howard Pyle and a major influence, as a teacher, on the illustration art of the 1940s and 1950s, this had over 300 illustrations in color. Gorgeous and Reed's commentary is primarily on the art, after a brief but interesting bio of the artist. Published by my friend John Fleskes of Flesk Publications, it is a marvelous addition to the lexicon of art history books.
Thanks for the heads up on the Dunn book. I got very much into the whole Brandywine school of art when I was at the Kubert School. I managed to make a couple of pilgrimages to the Brandywine River Museum at Chadds Ford and one trip to the Delaware Art Museum during those years so that I could view some of the originals by Pyle, Wyeth, Schoonover, Dunn, etc...
Best
Joe
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Although I've been in a financial emergency for the last 3 years at least ("dead broke" they call it), since getting my new job (relatively speaking, gonna be 2 years in another 2 months!), I've been patting myself on the back by doing "one small mail order" each month, with a $25 limit. Alternating between music and comics so far.
This past month: ESSENTIAL DAREDEVIL Vol.2 & 3, about 90% of which is by Gene Colan. Incredibly, most of these I have never read before! I have the odd issue here and there, like the Beetle 2-parter, the one with the space aliens, and the entire Jester storyline. But other than that, it's all new for me.
It kinda reminds me of the feeling I got when I re-read Gene's run of CAPTAIN AMERICA. That is, the writing isn't too hot, but with art like this, you don't really care that much! Surprisingly, Gene is one of the few pencillers whose work was NOT murdered by inker John Tartaglione (Werner Roth was another). I'm looking forward to Vol.3, as I have almost nothing in there before this.
Since I got these thru Amazon Marketplace stores ("CHEAP!"), I figure it's like I got this huge stack of Gene Colan comics for about 50 cents apiece!! What a deal.
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I have probably read almost every superhero comic of the SA. So I envy you the experience of reading something for the first time. I think Gene C's work would look better in black and white than color. It always looked kinda "smeared" to me. Without the color it would probably look cleaner. One of my all time favorite books of the time was DD 18. I do not know why the Gladiator impressed me such much at the time but I found him one of the more frightening villains.
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I spent almost a month upgrading the DAREDEVIL section at the SA Marvel site, and after going over so many different versions of the same covers (I was adding the first foreign reprints to the site, from several different countries), I figured, this would be a good time to get those books!
http://www.samcci.nostromo.no/
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The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson This picks up right where Larsson's previous book (The Girl Who Played With Fire) left off- with his unlikely heroine Lisbeth Salander fighting for her life due to a bullet in her brain and with forces she hasn't even thought of yet marshaling to silence her ! A nice wrap up to a terrific trilogy.
The Imperial Cruise:A Secret History of Empire and War by James Bradley While writing his previous WWII histories (Flags of Our Fathers, Flyboys) Bradley became interested in the roots of the Pacific conflict of that war. His research took him back to a naval mission that President Theodore Roosevelt sent out back in 1905 and an examination of the Aryan mindset that was a common belief of many Americans and Europeans in the 19th century. While I knew much (but certainly not all) of what Bradley presents here I really appreciated the way he tied it all together in an eye-opening way.
The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly Another fine effort by Connelly has his hero detective Harry Bosch facing a civil trial for shooting a man who was belived to have been a serial killer. However even as the trial commences evidence surfaces that Harry might have been wrong and that the killer may still be active.
Free Fall by Robert Crais One thing I love about Crais' writing is the self effacing humor he puts into the first person narrative of his PI Elvis Cole. In this volume Cole and his partner Joe Pike investigate a LA cop who may or may not be involved in something shady. All this taking place in the aftermath of the LA riots of the 1990s.
I'll Mature When I'm Dead by Dave Barry I used to love reading Barry's humor columns in Comic Relief magazine, in the newspaper or in various collections so I was understandably bummed out when he stopped writing them several years ago so this volume of (almost all) newly written columns was a welcome find. A nice read to start the new year off with.
Chill of Night by John Lutz The "Justice" killer is after jurors who let off defendants who most thought were obviously guilty. The race is on to stop him even as his body count continues to grow. Lutz writes pretty solid crime novels and this one is generally on the mark. I would say with just a smidge of editing (one subplot is not needed at all and adds little to the narrative) it would be quite good.
Best
Joe
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I Claudius is one of those books that's been sitting on my shelf for a few years. I certainly plan to read it, but I just haven't picked it up yet.
I am currently reading Clive Barker's Mr. B. Gone, the tale of a demon trapped in a book... you know the very book you're reading! Actually, it is pretty fun. The book talks to you, threatens you, wonders what its voice sounds like in your head.
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Sounds neat. Have you ever read Screwtape Letters. Written as a demon trying to corrupt a new Christian. Even if you are not religious it makes an interesting read.
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Sounds neat. Have you ever read Screwtape Letters. Written as a demon trying to corrupt a new Christian. Even if you are not religious it makes an interesting read.
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis is a good read. Lewis wrote quite extensively about Christianity and religion and also included a good deal of Christian imagery in his fiction books (such as the Chronicles of Narnia series).
There's a neat audio version available of The Screwtape Letters that is narrated by John Cleese (of Monty Python fame) that I would recommend as he brings a nice interpretation to the book.
Best
Joe
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Just got "Selected Tales of Grim and Grue from the Horror Pulps" from the library and reading through the first selection "The Arms of the Flame Goddess" now.
Wish I had time to finally read "Dune Messiah" as the original is one of my favorite books, read it through several times. I'll have more time in the summer though so should probably hold off till then.
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Loved Dune when I read it several decades back. Did get through the first two sequels (Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, IIRC) but found them a good deal less satisfying and never progressed on to any of Herbert's further sequels let alone the numerous followups that Herbert's son & co. have produced.
Best
Joe
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Well, Joe,
You still have the rest of Cryptonomicon to read AND the three books in the Baroque Cycle, so I envy you those first exposures.
Your experiences with Dune and sons mirrors my own. I've never gone back to reread the first few either. I guess subconsciously I'm leaving well enough alone.
There weren't a lot of really nice people in the French Revolution, narf. They were chopping heads right and left. Don't know what you might have been expecting from Lee in that book, but for me it was worth the effort. I learned a lot and felt like it was worth the effort.
I'm currently in the middle of multiple computer problems (dead backup archive disk, replacing the hard drive on my laptop, some video/sound screwup on my main desktop, AND an access problem with the new network backup archive drive), so my reading has been sporadic. I did manage to get through the new Robert Crais book, "The Sentry", in one day (as I waited for Windows 7 to install and update and etc.) and am half-way through Chernow's "Washington: A Life" which I'm fascinated by. He was REALLY different than what I expected. Apparently his letters are being "mined" and made available to scholars. This is a really good way to learn REAL history. Chernow's a good writer, too.
Another recent read is "What the Dog Saw" - a collection of The New Yorker essays of Malcolm Gladwell. Never thought I would be reading New Yorker pieces, but must admit that they were exceedingly interesting, well-written and informative. Recommended.
I still have tons in my to be read stack. Picked up Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" sequel, "The Lost Symbol" at Costco for $6 and read the first chapter. Some other time, when I'm in a better mood I guess...
Think I'll be picking up a few dozen or so paperbacks to take to Paris. Books are very expensive there and I don't to TV or movies, so I go through a LOT of them every trip. I'll check out some of you recommendations when things calm down on the computer fronts.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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I spend so much time reading that I do no have time to read :-\ I am involved in so much online. Then there are those pesky floaters in the eye. I wish they would come up with something to get rid of them.
Jim I was not expecting nice people just better developed. I do not mind a "bad" character if well written. As far as learning sometimes a list of facts beats narrative. Narrative takes more words so they have to capture me. I got more, more quickly from wikipedia than her book. It is all a matter of taste so recommendations are worth a shot.
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Just got "Star Trek: The Complete Comic Book Collection" ( http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Complete-Comic-Collection/dp/B001B5KYR2 ) Over 500 classic, and not so classic, Trek comics for peanuts. As a lifelong Trekkie I gotta say what a value! But I wish there was an e-reader that would let me read them more conveniently i. e. split up the pages (the scans have them two at a time) so I can read one fullscreen and scroll down without awkwardly having to move up and sideways, breaking the flow of the story. Anyone know of a comic reader that can get those kinds of settings for a .pdf file?
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There are a few pdf-jpg converters out there. I think they may not work on those commercial pdfs but not sure
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There are a few pdf-jpg converters out there. I think they may not work on those commercial pdfs but not sure
Hm, I think converting them all to jpg would be a little extreme. I just need something to cut the pages in half and let me scroll down them basically. I saw one program that did it but twas expensive.
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Just got "Star Trek: The Complete Comic Book Collection" ( http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Complete-Comic-Collection/dp/B001B5KYR2 ) Over 500 classic, and not so classic, Trek comics for peanuts. As a lifelong Trekkie I gotta say what a value! But I wish there was an e-reader that would let me read them more conveniently i. e. split up the pages (the scans have them two at a time) so I can read one fullscreen and scroll down without awkwardly having to move up and sideways, breaking the flow of the story. Anyone know of a comic reader that can get those kinds of settings for a .pdf file?
WOW!!! :o :o :o I remember getting the Gold Key issues electronically back when WOWIO was offering them. This is a gem!
B.
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Just getting into "Hell On Friday: The Johnny Saxon Trilogy" by William Bogart... so far, so good. :)
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The comics (questionable in quality as many of them may be) have really reminded me of my love of Trek. So I finally ordered the first books in the "New Frontier" series, which I've been meaning to check out for a long time. Anyone here read'em?
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My wife has discovered Tamara Alexander. She can not put her books down. We went out for a ride and to eat and she could not wait to get home to get back to her book. This is the second one of her books my wife got and zooms through them. They are historical romances if any of your wives might be interested.
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My wife has discovered Tamara Alexander. She can not put her books down. We went out for a ride and to eat and she could not wait to get home to get back to her book. This is the second one of her books my wife got and zooms through them. They are historical romances if any of your wives might be interested.
My wife reads as much (and probably more than) me. She's not much into Romance novels, per se, but I have noticed that some of her vampire novels and historical novels (she favors Elizabethan and Medieval) have strong romantic elements.
Best
Joe
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The Tamera Alexander books are shortly post Civil War. My wife is a Civil War buff especially the 54th.
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Here's what I finished up this past month.
Crytonomicon by Neal Stephenson- Jim's already told you what an excellent book this is so I won't say much, other than I found it to be the best book to find humor among the insanity of war since Joseph Heller's Catch 22.
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde Fforde has an incredible imagination. His previous novels have been mystery-fantasies. This one (supposedly the first of a trilogy) is more Sci-Fi, set in a future in which colors are used to create a caste system.
Taking the Fifth by J. A. Jance Jance isn't the best of writers but I do find I like her characters and that has kept me coming back to her every so often.
Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore Well I learned a lot about the early life of the infamous dictator of the Soviet Union. Up til now I never knew he had been a publisher, editor, writer, poet, decent singer, bank robber and a seminarian studying for the religious life in the years before the Revolution brought him to power.
Memory by Donald Westlake This manuscript (apparently written back in the early-mid 1960s) was found among Westlake's papers after his death a couple of years ago. Different from both his hard boiled and his comic crime novels this one concerns a man who suffers a head injury and then finds himself having to live and move on in life with only a short term memory intact-a prospect both depressing and frightening.
New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer and When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden by Bill Maher A friend of mine pointed me toward Maher, who I must confess I've never read or watched before. Both of these were brief little tomes. The former is full of very short little pieces, some not much more than one-liners, with a good deal of humor thrown in. The later has more depth to it, along with the humor.
The Spies of Warsaw-Alan Furst I found this book of Furst's to be much more to my taste than the first one I read. Excellent period atmosphere (pre WWII Europe) and some interesting characters.
Yellow Dirt-Judy Pastenak During WWII the Navajo nation was urged to mine the uranium on their land to help the country (think Manhatten project) in the fight against tyranny. Similar patriotic urgings continued during the Cold War years of the 1950s. The Navajos were proud to help. Unfortunately they weren't expecting the side effects to their health. A story with plenty of government incompetence and indifference, corporate cover-ups and greed, too few heroes and way too many victims.
The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie After recently watching the Poirot film Death on the Nile I was in the mood to read a Poirot novel. I'd already read this one a few years back but it is a good one so I was glad to revisit it.
When First We Deceive by Charles Wilson I can't remember who recommended Wilson to me. He seems to have only written only about 10-12 novels over about a decade and then vanished off the scene about ten years ago. This is one of his earlier novels. Well plotted with some interesting twists and turns.
Give Me Back My Legions by Harry Turtledove I actually went to the library looking to see if they had a copy of Pauline Gedge's novel of the Roman Empire The Eagle and the Raven but when I couldn't find it I ran across this novel based on a famous battle between the Romans and the Germans that took place about 2000 years ago. A batlle who's outcome would have long standing consequences for the future of the Roman Empire. Turtledove shows he can write straight historical novels as well as his alternate history books.
Best
Joe
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Josemas, you amaze me. How do you fit all that in? Maybe I'm a slow reader but even at that.........
Anyway, I'm currently thoroughly enjoying the 2nd. Rumpole of the Bailey collection by John Mortimer. These are lovely, funny, wonderfully written little tales of a barrister in the criminal courts. The late Alan Coren described Rumpole as, "The best mock-heroic fatty since Falstaff" It was also a popular t.v.show years ago. This interspersed with the Jet Scott newspaper strip collection by Jerry Robinson and a pile of old British comics I bought at the Glagow comic mart last Saturday.
My wife seems to live on historical romances, spy thrillers and the likes of David Baldacci. She can't stand the vampire/monster stuff.
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Paw,
I always have a pile of books that I am working my way through (as well as piles of comics, trades and collections). I always read myself to sleep usually starting with some comics, trades or collections and then moving onto some novel, bio or whatever. Often fall asleep while reading.
Also like to read while soaking in a hot tub. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in a book that the water turns cold and I look like a prune by the time I get out.
And then there's my bathroom reading while sitting on the ..uh.. throne. I can get wrapped up in a book here too, much to the consternation of the Lil' Missus. I can't tell you how many times I've heard from her one of the following:
1- "Hey, that's not a library in there y' know?!?"
2- "Hey, other people need to use the facilities too, y' know?!?"
3- "Hey, did you die in there?!?"
Best
Joe
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("lso like to read while soaking in a hot tub. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in a book that the water turns cold and I look like a prune by the time I get out.
And then there's my bathroom reading while sitting on the ..uh.. throne. I can get wrapped up in a book here too, much to the consternation of the Lil' Missus. I can't tell you how many times I've heard from her one of the following:
1- "Hey, that's not a library in there y' know?!?"
2- "Hey, other people need to use the facilities too, y' know?!?"
3- "Hey, did you die in there?!?")" - Josemas
Are you sure you're not me? If you imagine the above with a Scottish accent, it'll sound just like Linda going on at me. People will start to notice that you and I are never in the same room at the same time.
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Your secret is out. Which one of you is Bruce Wayne and which is Batman?
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Your secret is out. Which one of you is Bruce Wayne and which is Batman?
Depends on which one of us has most recently been to the Bat-room!
I got a million of 'em.
Joe
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;D
I started a novel. I have not gotten around to many of them lately. It is The Secret Galactics by AE van Vogt.
I have not gotten far but it has started out good. Always important to catch my attention early. It is about the desireabilty of earth women to alien men.
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I read and enjoyed a number of Van Vogt's books in my late teens/early twenties but have not revisited him in years. Maybe time to check him out again.
Best
Joe
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"Depends on which one of us has most recently been to the Bat-room!" - josemas Ba-Boom!!!!
You should be on the stage - sweeping it.
I cave(d) in with laughter.
You're Robin' me of breath.
What a Joker.
Sorry, I'm being a bit (two) faced about this.
No, I really am sorry, these are awful.
My favourite Van Vogt book was The Weapon Shops of Isher but it's been along time since I read it. That was in an American paperback, I think, and the cover was brilliant. You've put me in the notion to find and read it again.
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I read and enjoyed a number of Van Vogt's books in my late teens/early twenties but have not revisited him in years. Maybe time to check him out again.
Best
Joe
I read Slan for the first time last year. Pretty good stuff, I think it probably had a larger influence on the X-Men than anyone at Marvel would be willing to admit.
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Because I'm loaded with the cold and can't stop coughing, I'm taking the easy way out and re-reading stuff I enjoy. Currently re-savouring "Chindi" by Jack McDevitt. All 6 of his Hutch stories are well done and he gets over that feeling of an empty universe. I really feel I'm out there experiencing the vastness and barrenness of space.
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Anybody know what happened to my avatar? Poof, it's been disappeared.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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Happened to me once before and I am not sure why. Check the site where you originally had it uploaded.
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In my most recent Newsweek Susan Cheever has a page on how some authors who's writing she once enjoyed later went stale on her.
She mentions specific authors as David Baldacci, Janet Evanovich, Alan Furst and Stephanie Meyer as being examples of this for her. She also sites where Michael Connelly was able to avoid this by coming up with two or three different series to write and that has seemed to keep his writing fresh.
Jim and I have mentioned some authors who have gone stale on us after promising starts. Jim mentioned Robert B. Parker as one (although I found that his switch over to also writing westerns a couple years before his death seemed to reinvigorate his work-ala Cheever's Connelly example) and I mentioned at some point previously how Frank Herbert's Dune series grew increasingly less satisfying to read for me.
Anybody else have some examples of authors who were once great reads for you but later seemed to lose it?
Best
Joe
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True Grit by Charles Portis I had to go back and reread this after watching the Coen Bros. right smart theatrical remake and boy am I glad I did! I had forgotten just what a corkin' good read it is. Even if you're not a fan of Westerns I think you'd like this book.
To America: Personel Reflections of an Historian by Stephen Ambrose Ambrose was a favorite historian of mine and this was his final book. In it he reflects on his life as an historian and on a number of the subjects that he has written books on (Lewis and Clark, Richard Nixon, Crazy Horse, George Armstrong Custer, etc...) and a few he has never written much on. I'll miss his work but am glad that I still have a number of his earlier works that I have yet to read.
Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers A Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane mystery. Harriet takes center stage in this Wimsey novel as Lord Peter is pretty much off stage for the first half of the book and only joins her in the second half to help solve a series of vandalisms and attacks taking place at Harriet's Alma Mater- Shrewsbury College. In addition to trying to solve the mystery, Sayers has Harriet spending a good deal of her time also trying to sort out her feelings about Peter (who had cleared her of a murder charge in a previous novel).
James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights by Richard Labunski The title sez it all. Well researched and presented.
Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith This is the second of Smith's novels about Arkady Renko. It's set some years after the events in Gorky Park and Arkady is no longer an Inspector or a member of the Communist Party and is now working a lowly job on the Soviet factory ship. When a fellow crew member's body comes up in a fishing net Arkady, because of bis background, is called on to do a quick simple investigation of her death. Of course the investigation turns out to be anything but quick and simple.
The Big Bang by Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins When Mickey Spillane passed away a few years ago he left behind several unfinished manuscripts and a request that his friend and fellow mystery writer, Collins, take a crack at finishing them and getting them published. This one, the second Collins has finished, was obviously written in the 1960s due to its numerous topical references from that era (Casey Stengel, the Vietnam War, L.S.D. trips, etc...). Collins deftly mimics Spillane's style with all its violence and verve. Nothing great but if you like Spillane you likely won't be disappointed.
Best
Joe
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Teen Titans #93
They are going up against a demon that is powerful enough to send Superboy reeling through a half-dozen concrete walls.
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Jefferson and His Time Vol VI: The Sage of Monticello by Dumas Malone Malone wraps up his epic length bio of Jefferson (written over four decades) with this volume. I think in this volume you get your best glimpse at the real Jefferson as he steps away from public life. While more has come to light on Jefferson in the nearly three decades since Malone finished his work on the man these volumes still stand as the best bio on him. If they have any fault I think it's that Malone usually tends to give Jefferson the benefit of the doubt in controversial matters (which some of the aforementioned materials that have come to light have shown wasn't always warranted).
Paul Newman: A Life by Shawn Levy As a kid in the 1960s I didn't much care for Paul Newman. His movies were too "adult' for me. By the time I got into my teens though I had begun to appreciate him more. In the years since I've seen a fair number of his films but had never read much about the man until I picked up this bio. Levy does a pretty good job of tracking his life. All of his films (and much of his stage and television work) are gone over to one degree or another as well as his side careers in race cars and food manufacturing (both of which he was quite successful in). I hadn't realized what a philanthropist he was (he gave away hundreds of millions to charities) or that he was a functional alcoholic for much of his life (often drinking as much as a case of beer per day). Newman was a very private man so Levy wasn't able to crack all that made the man tick but he does give us a good look at various aspects of his life.
Now I'm hepped to start checking out some of those DVDs of Newman's films at the library and start watching him again.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three by John Godey (Martin Freedgood) I first read this back in the 1970s when I was in high school and when I ran across it again at the public library I decided to give it another read. While some of the material is definitely rooted in the early 1970's period in which it was written it still holds up well as a suspense novel. Adapted as a film three times since it was published.
Best
Joe
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Terror Keep by Edgar Wallace. This is a J.G. Reeder, detective to the Public Prosecutors office, story and it's great. I've managed to find a few J.G.Reeder short story volumes as well. Good stuff.
Also, I bought the newspaper strip version of Terror Keep recently from ADCCC, in England and this was drawn by Jack Monk who, not long after, started the long running Buck Ryan strip. ADCCC have now found another 2 early Buck Ryan strips to add to what's already available. Sometimes it just keeps getting better.
And to illustrate, p.1 from an ADCCC Buck Ryan reprint A4 size. They have permission to reprint small numbers of newspaper strips for club members:-
(http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae289/masquerouge/BR001019.jpg)
and a page from Super Detective Library #174 - Buck Ryan in Island of Refuge, 1960. This is a pocket (digest) size 64 pager. A reprint of a newspaper strip resized at times and cut up to fit. All by Jack Monk. Might not appeal to any of you out there but I'm a big fan:-
(http://i980.photobucket.com/albums/ae289/masquerouge/BR002020.jpg)
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1776 by David McCullough McCullough's followup to his Pulitzer Prize winning John Adams biography is this look at George Washington as he leads his rag tag army against the much more efficient British army, from 1775, when he takes command of the Continental army, until early 1777, when he manages to win a few victories that give new vigor to the American Revolution. Very lively history.
Killing Castro by Lawrence Block One of Block's earliest novels is now back in print- a half century half it's initial publication. A very quick read about five disparate Americans who are recruited to assassinate Fidel Castro. Mixes pretty well researched historical background information about Castro with scenes of sex and violence. I believe that Block originally published this under a pseudonym for one of those sweat book publishing firms that were around in those days. Now-a-days the risque stuff and violence in it seems pretty mainstream.
Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary Well researched and very readable. The first two/thirds of the book is pretty much an account of Islam's rise (and occasional fall) where it had little contact with the western world. The final third covers the last five hundred years as the Islamic world became more and more embroiled with the west and a world very different from their own. Recommended.
Best
Joe
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Paw you should know by now this stuff is of interest to this group.
Killing Castro and Destiny seem like interesting reads. I am always interested in the other point of view whether I agree with it or not.
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Great stuff, indeed, Paw. Also, a good point by Narf about other points of view. Cheers, Bowers
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Just to bring the tone back down, I've nearly finished "The Owl meets the Devil" by Bryan Rodney. This is one of a short series of books with The Owl as main hero/protagnist, from 1950's. A British, good guy safecracker with an owl mask who rights wrongs and gives the proceeds of his robberies to charity. The usual Scotland Yard detective type (a la Saint) on his trail. I have a notion to read more of this entertaining, low brow stuff and the next will be a Silk story - and, yes, you've guessed it, this is a masked character, acting for good, outside the law. A few years ago I read " The Crimson Clown" and "Thunderbolt" stories by Johnston McCulley and I'm putting them back on the reading pile. This has also put me in the notion for Bulldog Drummond (by Sapper) and for those who don't know, "The Black Gang" features a group of hooded, robed, masked crimefighters, led by Drummond. Fast, exciting writing, if you can get around the extremely non-pc stuff that was prevalent at the time.
I understand narfstar's comment and I also try to see the other person's point of view but it becomes more difficult as I get older. Listening to the litany of disaster, war, murders and the dire state of our economy every morning on Radio Scotland, really puts a strain on my ability to accept those other lifestyles and views. That's why a heavy dose of action packed pulp fiction is one of the great antidotes.
We've got elections for the Scottish Parliament next week and it's going to be very interesting to see how the SNP (they're the nationalists, going for independence) do, as it looks as if they might just get a majority. Interested to follow it?
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Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard Leonard often writes about criminals and this book is no exception. I always find it kinda fascinating that he can make me take an interest in the sort of people who I would normally never associate with in real life.
The Long-Legged Fly by James Sallis Read a piece on Sallis in our local paper a while back (he lives here in the Phoenix area) and have been meaning to read one of his novels ever since. This is the first in his Lew Griffin series. I'm not sure what to make of it. Lew's, more or less, a black PI working out of New Orleans in this short book that mostly centers around several "missing person" cases he looks into over the decades (from the 1960s to the 1990s). It's just that loose theme that sorta ties it all together as follow Lew and his relationships with various people throughout this period. Just interesting enough to make me want to check out another.
Hollywood Hills by Joseph Wambaugh Wambaugh's fourth book in his Hollywood Station series is another winner. Wambaugh's contacts with the LA Police Dpt keep supplying him with enough interesting true-to-life incidents (from incredibly sad to absolutely hilarious) which he peppers throughout these novels, that they always have an authentic feel to them.
Best
Joe
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1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance by Gavin Menzies I had been wanting to read this book by Menzies (as well as his previous book 1421 -about a round the world voyage by the Chinese supposedly made that year) for a while now. Both were bestsellers and apparently addressed an aspect of history that I hadn't heard much about.
Well as I was reading it I began to realize that Menzies seemed to be making a lot of jumps to conclusions based on small amounts of evidence which bothered me some. So upon finishing it I did a bit of online research- checking out what the historians were saying about his theories and also found and watched a 2 part documentary on DVD (1421: The Year China Discovered America?) that looked at and examined the thesis of his earlier book as well.
It turns out that most historians were very critical of his research and methods and gave a lot of examples regarding aspects where he had shortcomings.
My feelings after digesting it all was that it was certain that the Chinese had sailed up and down the east coast of Africa establishing contacts with Muslims and other indigenous people there. It also seemed quite probable that they had sailed up the east coast of Asia and over and down parts of the west coast of the Americas but there wasn't nearly enough evidence (at least at this time) to support Menzies' theories that they sailed all around the world and thoroughly mapped it.
The evidence of their fleet sailing to Italy and igniting the Renaissance seemed scanty too although I think it very likely that books like the Nong Shu (1313) from China quite likely made their way to Italy either via trading with the Muslim world or in some other method as the contents of Chinese books like this seems to have exploded on the scene in Italy in such as short period in the 15th century that it seems too big a coincidence that so much of the same material in books like the Nong Shu could have been invented separately, similarly and so quickly elsewhere.
If nothing else Menzies has prodded more people into looking into inspirations beyond the usual Greco-Roman influences that have usually been sited as the inspiration for the Renaissance.
Speaker For the Dead by Orson Scott Card Card's sequel to Ender's Game is every bit as good as EG and maybe better!
I was listening to an audio interview with Card after reading the book and he mentions that he conceived of this sequel first and had actually started EG as sort of a short prequel to SFtD and it grew into a book that overshadowed SFtD with its popularity. Card considers SFtD the better of the two although admits that he still very much likes EG.
Best
Joe
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1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance by Gavin Menzies I had been wanting to read this book by Menzies (as well as his previous book 1421 -about a round the world voyage by the Chinese supposedly made that year) for a while now. Both were bestsellers and apparently addressed an aspect of history that I hadn't heard much about.
Well as I was reading it I began to realize that Menzies seemed to be making a lot of jumps to conclusions based on small amounts of evidence which bothered me some. So upon finishing it I did a bit of online research- checking out what the historians were saying about his theories and also found and watched a 2 part documentary on DVD (1421: The Year China Discovered America?) that looked at and examined the thesis of his earlier book as well.
It turns out that most historians were very critical of his research and methods and gave a lot of examples regarding aspects where he had shortcomings.
My feelings after digesting it all was that it was certain that the Chinese had sailed up and down the east coast of Africa establishing contacts with Muslims and other indigenous people there. It also seemed quite probable that they had sailed up the east coast of Asia and over and down parts of the west coast of the Americas but there wasn't nearly enough evidence (at least at this time) to support Menzies' theories that they sailed all around the world and thoroughly mapped it.
1421 is among a list of books that I am looking to getting around to reading. Another alternative history book that I've been meaning to get my hands on is Scott F. Wolter's the Hooked X. That one deals with the possible origins of the Kensington Runestone and a possible Templar connection, not only to the origin of the Runestone, but also a Templar connection to Christopher Columbus too. There was a fascinating documentary made around the ideas presented in Wolter's book called the Holy Grail in America, it airs fairly regularly on the History Channel.
Plus, the book that I am currently reading has a slight connection to the Hooked X, it is called the Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar: Solving the Oak Island Mystery by Steven Sora. Interesting read...
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The Cold War: A New History by John Lewis Gaddis New, relatively concise (hey its a big subject!) look back at the Cold War era with historian Gaddis doing a nice job of putting everything in perspective using all the info that has come to light since then.
Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie Well Henry's enthusiasm for the film adaptation of this Christie novel sent me to the library looking for a DVD of that. They didn't have it. :( Rats!!! So I settled for the book and am glad I did as it was a reliably fine Poirot mystery.
The Pyramid and Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries by Henning Mankell I mentioned to someone that I had liked Swedish author Steig Larsson's mysteries and they recommended I try some of Mankell's (another Swedish writer) police procedurals featuring his character Inspector Kurt Wallander. This was not Mankell's earliest Wallander book but it turned out to be a good one to start with as this collection of shorter works features Wallander in events that all precede his adventures in Mankell's other (all full length) novels of the Inspector. Looking forward to sampling those.
Best
Joe
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Night Watch by Terry Pratchett, for the second time, 'cos it's excellent and funny.
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I've been reading Pyramid by Tom Martin. I waiting till it came out in paper back, took awhile too since it was originally released in 2007. And yes it's the UK version and not available yet in the US. It's an interesting read, plays on lots of myths, but not the best writing I'm sorry to say. I'm spoiled by reading books by UK writer Andy McDermott. Hard to match up. But I still like to try new authors.
Geo
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I am currently reading Star Trek: A Time to Harvest.
Yeah, nothing too heavy for me this month. lol
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I have been working outside. I have been too tired physically to do anything mentally. I have been looking forward to reading this months Samson but I am afraid I will fall asleep while reading it.
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Me.too, Narf. I've been outside staining our deck. I have been working my way through a copy of "The Hellfire Files of Jules De Grandin" by Seabury Quinn. Quinn was an interesting writer, being a mortician before he began writing pulps. Dr. De Grandin is sort of a supernatural Hercule Poirot and the stories are usually quite good. Cheers, Bowers
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Currently reading The Pharos Objective by David Sakmyster. This is his first book about locating the remains of the seventh Wonder of the Ancient World, the Pharos Lighthouse and is in pocketbook form. It's been a really great read so far. So check it out for yourself at your local book store or check out a review on it what others have to say about it.
Geo
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The Pharos Objective- sounds like one right up my alley. I'll look for it the next time I'm at the library.
Seabury Quinn- have read scattered Quinn stories over the years. Seems like there is always at least one of his stories in every Weird Tales collection.
Star Trek books- read a good number of these back in the 1970s and 80s but lost interest over the years as the variety of authors made for an uneven quality of reading.
Stuff read the last week or two-
Our Patchwork Nation by Dante Chinni & James Gimpel The authors go beyond the simple Red State/Blue State approach that the mainstream media so often uses to categorize America by breaking things down further into twelve general types of groups and examines then their various differences and similarities. The main text is easy enough to follow and interesting reading (although the appendix is a bit drier and convoluted).
Seven Events That Made America America by Larry Schweikart While I certainly didn't agree with all of his allusions and conclusions Schweikart does have some well thought out pieces scattered around in the book. His connection of the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision and the 1857 recession is one I had never heard before quite plausible upon consideration. I also enjoyed his contrasting take on rock and roll which is quite different from that of his fellow conservative author, Jonathan Leaf (The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties).
The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy I'm a big fan of Ellroy's L.A. quartet (The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential & White Jazz) but have had a hard time getting into his followup Underworld USA trilogy (American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand, & Blood's a Rover).
The staccato style of prose that he used so effectively in selected areas of his earlier novels is here used so relentlessly that it became tiresome to the point where I was only able to read this book in brief snatches. I'm told that the final book of the trilogy is an improvement and I'll probably give it a chance later this year.
Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard I've only been reading Goddard's books for two or three years but have been consistently impressed with with every one that I have read. All have been top notch mysteries often covering events taking place over decades and with layer upon layer of intrigue awaiting to be uncovered.
Best
Joe
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Killing Floor- by Lee Child This was Child's first novel. All feature his protagonist Jack Reacher. I'm actually glad that I didn't read this one initially as the later books I sampled prior to this are all better. This one is by no means bad but it does have some big plot loopholes that detract from it. His later works that I have read have much tighter plotting.
Thank You, Jeeves- by P. G. Wodehouse Continuing my mini-theme of first novels. Here's Wodehouse's first Bertie and Jeeves novel- although far from Wodehouse's first novel and also hardly the first appearance of B & J (as they had already appeared in a number of short stories). Always look forward to my occasional Wodehouse book for a lift as they are all funny.
Fool- by Christopher Moore I first learned of Moore two or three years ago when I heard him being interviewed on the radio. This was the book that he was primarily referring to during that interview and when I next went to the library I looked for it but found that all copies had been checked out (apparently I was not the only one that had heard that interview!) and ended up checking out Moore's Lamb instead. Well Lamb was great but I'm glad I finally got around to reading Fool which is very funny and very bawdy take on King Lear. Good reading.
Best
Joe
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Quick update after a long absence from this thread:
Right now I'm in the midst of
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. I read his "Washington A Life" and enjoyed the hell out of it. Also in the middle of
The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly, whom I usually always enjoy. So far this is no exception.
Recently read (and some recommended):
1. Genius Isolated - The Life and Art of Alex Toth. While I have a few historical bones to pick with it, and am disappointed with some of the reproductive choices, it is still enlightening. Since I own most of the comics, I wasn't buying if for the stories.
2. Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi. Great. It's H. Beam Piper's story arc with better science and more realistic people. After I read it I went back to Piper's original, which I had always rememberEd fondly, and was sorely disappointed. Scalzi isn't doing a gimmick here, he's doing some good writing.
still recommend his Old Man's War, Ghost Battalion, Electric Sheep, etc.
3. 61 Hours and Worth Dying For - both by Lee Child and both formulaic and ultimately unsatisfying. I think I've read my last Reacher book.
4. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough. First half is insightful and thought-provoking. Second half is great historical writing though it lacks the connections and force of the first half. It's amazing what our country got from France DESPITE its topsy-turvy and radically polarized forms of governments and revolutions - and how they painfully moved between such forms. Yet so much continuity underlay the chaos. Art and science persisted in spite of it all and Americans were there to assimilate them. Really good book.
5. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. Spooky/romantic/weird follow-up novel by the author of "The Time-Traveler's Wife." Karen and I both thought it a strange but enchanting and well-written book.
6. Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson. After I commented on Bryson's "At Home" a friend sent me this one and, while enjoyable, it never captured me the way "At Home" did. I also read "I'm A Stranger Here Myself", and "Neither Here Nor There." Fun at the time, but pretty soon forgotten.
7. Outliers, The Tipping Point, Blink and What The Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. When I find someone I like, I plow through their work. All of these are perceptive and eye-opening and, most importantly, offer explanations and some solutions for social problems of our day. Worth a read, IMHO.
8. Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout - My brother gave me MP3 files of the complete canon of Wolfe stories just before we left for Paris and I've listened to them all. I find the experience of audio books to be less than satisfying as I am not so much a participant as a "casual observer". I find it harder to get at the meat of the story, yet there is an appealing ease of assimilation that is seductive. I've not pursued other audio books and probably won't, but I'm glad I had the chance to revisit with Archie, Nero, Sol, etc.
9. Gideon's Sword by Preston and Child - couldn't finish it. Fairly pedestrian writing and a pretty unbelievable character.
10. The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston - a true crime thriller of an uncaught serial killer in Italy.
11. The Leopard by Jo Nesb
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I'm almost through with Eurostorm by Payne Harrison. I've enjoyed every book he has written. This is his latest and it was a long time coming. A techno thriller by the way.
It's worth a look for a good read, you shouldn't be disappointed with it if you get it.
Geo
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The movie Time Traveler's Wife didn't grab me so I probably would not like the book.
Audio books are best in the car while driving. I like listening to a book that leaves me wondering what comes next as it helps keep me alert and awake while driving. I passed an audio book on to someone else that I wish I could remember the writer. It was about a smart ass detective that I really enjoyed and would like to read or listen to other adventures of his. I made the trip for PA to TN driving alone thanks to that story. I listened to Dracula the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker while riding bicycle. "In this sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula, his great-grandnephew offers one of the rowdiest revisionist treatments of the most influential vampire novel ever written." It had some interesting aspects and made the bike ride better but I do not think it would have kept my attention reading it.
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The movie Time Traveler's Wife didn't grab me so I probably would not like the book.
HUH!?
That makes ZERO sense to me, narf. You're saying that because some idiot's idea of what the unwashed masses MIGHT be able to comprehend of a complicated time-travel story didn't appeal to you that the real book wouldn't? I think you know that the movies of a lot of good books are totally crap. They say don't judge a book by its cover. PLEASE don't ever judge a book by its MOVIE.
You might NOT like The Time Traveler's Wife as a book - and that's okay - but it deserves a fair hearing, not a pre-judgement based on a film.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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You would probably be very right Jim. But I learned a long time ago that once I have seen a movie I can not force myself to read the book. The other way around has always found me liking the book better. I think it has to do with effort. I know it is a quirk of mine, that I should be able to overcome, but have not in the past. If I have seen the movie I just can not make the effort to read the book, because reading does take effort (especially as the floaters increase in the old eyes.) Now that I have a tablet and a smart phone, reading on them is easier on the eyes for me than paper. I recently read an Ayn Rand story, but my prose reading is usually fluff as reality is stressful enough. I am currently reading a Doc Savage novel. I have not read one in awhile and still have several unread. I also have so many unread books and comics that it makes it unlikely that I would attempt a book after seeing a movie. Since I have so much to choose from I would choose a book that I had not seen the movie. I also do not like how most time travel is handled in books or movies. Poul Anderson did it best.
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3. 61 Hours and Worth Dying For - both by Lee Child and both formulaic and ultimately unsatisfying. I think I've read my last Reacher book.
These are much more recent Reacher novels than any that I have gotten to so far. I wonder if he's burning out on the character and its showing in his current writing? I remember reading something online last year that suggested that Child (real name Jim Grant, btw) was toying with the idea of killing off Reacher.
4. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough. First half is insightful and thought-provoking. Second half is great historical writing though it lacks the connections and force of the first half. It's amazing what our country got from France DESPITE its topsy-turvy and radically polarized forms of governments and revolutions - and how they painfully moved between such forms. Yet so much continuity underlay the chaos. Art and science persisted in spite of it all and Americans were there to assimilate them. Really good book.
This one's high on my list of books to check out at the library. Currently there's a bit of a waiting list though.
7. Outliers, The Tipping Point, Blink and What The Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. When I find someone I like, I plow through their work. All of these are perceptive and eye-opening and, most importantly, offer explanations and some solutions for social problems of our day. Worth a read, IMHO.
I usually don't read more than a couple books by any single author in the course of a year and rarely more than 3 or 4 by any author in that length of time. I like to mix it up more. Bouncing around from author to author.
8. Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout - My brother gave me MP3 files of the complete canon of Wolfe stories just before we left for Paris and I've listened to them all. I find the experience of audio books to be less than satisfying as I am not so much a participant as a "casual observer". I find it harder to get at the meat of the story, yet there is an appealing ease of assimilation that is seductive. I've not pursued other audio books and probably won't, but I'm glad I had the chance to revisit with Archie, Nero, Sol, etc.
For me audiobooks are okay when driving or doing some menial work. I especially find that listening to a book (OTR will do also) will keep me awake on long drives where favorite music selections can get me nodding off. I do not like to listen to books when sitting in bed or when I do most of my other usual regular reading.
Well Jim once again you've given me a few new names to add to my list of "authors to check out" list. Thanks much amigo.
Best
Joe
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Of course, narf,
it's your life and your time and you should allocate that time as you see fit. Your choices. I'm sorry your life is so stressful. I've always felt that stress is the major component of aging and many diseases, so I hope you can find some way to relieve it.
I don't understand many of your quirks and choices, but certainly hope that they are easing some of that stress. Things like video games and action movies are simply too dynamic for me to handle. I find myself wired, like having ten cups of coffee, after one. I came to the conclusion that they, and TV, are better ignored than experienced - FOR ME. I have enough trouble sleeping at night, with sleep apnea and frequent insomnia, to add jittery stress on top of them. My life is as LEAST-stressful as I can make it - certainly not UN-stressful, but I'm continually seeking ways to lower it. Hope you can find some, too.
Joe, the "killing off Reacher" idea probably stems from the end of "61 Hours" wherein he's blown up in a fiery jet-fuel explosion, only to return far from the site of the explosion and "recovering" in the next novel. No real explanation for the super-human escape from the previous climax, just more of the same: Reacher comes to town, Reacher meets a woman abused, Woman makes them pay. Enough is enough for me. I enjoyed the earlier books, but at some point it gets to be too much and too predictable. Plus I think the writing has deteriorated, IMHO.
See, since I don't buy comics I can afford to buy books. There you go. That's why I didn't have to wait for "The Greater Journey". As I was telling narf, stress is a killer, and WAITING, now there's a stress-producer for you. Instant Gratification, that's the 21st century way!
<quote>
I usually don't read more than a couple books by any single author in the course of a year and rarely more than 3 or 4 by any author in that length of time. I like to mix it up more. Bouncing around from author to author.</quote>
With Gladwell I was hooked pretty early on. He's done some amazing digging into various kinds of research (scientific research) and thought about the results very hard. Not that everything he proposes and suggests is practical or even likely to produce the results he hopes for, but there are lessons therein for us to learn and exercise in our daily lives. I was fascinated and wanted to "hear" more of his thinking - hence the headfirst dive into his work.
For instance (and this should interest you, too, narf, as a teacher): "they" did a research project that involved taking video clips of teachers in the classroom. Just the teacher, no students and nothing telling in the backgrounds. The audio was turned off and the clip was five (5) seconds long. Students in other schools in other states were asked to view these five-second clips of 20 different teachers and evaluate the teaching skills of the person in the clip. The weird and unbelievable results is that these evaluations were almost identical with the evaluations given by the real students of those teachers after a semester of classroom experience. They did the study again and again, cutting the length of the silent video down to one or two seconds and STILL there was a significant concurrence in the evaluations. Whoever it was that said first impressions matter apparently wasn't kidding. Just as it is equally apparent that we all make snap judgements about people whether we know it or not.
I did the Nero Wolfe audios on the airplane and while doing mindless cleanup at my parent's house and packing and website chores here at home. When I tried to listen to the Dal Bonner stories, I discovered that I COMPLETELY tuned out after a few minutes. I had ZERO connection with the narrator and was unable to "hear" the story - just so many words... More telling on me than on the audio book, I'm certain. While I can see the appeal of an audio book while driving, I hardly drive at all. Leaves me pretty much out of the audio book market, I suppose.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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"For instance (and this should interest you, too, narf, as a teacher): "they" did a research project that involved taking video clips of teachers in the classroom."
Yes very interesting Jim. I will try to remember and apply this at the start of next school year.
Every year I win several students over by proving to them that they can learn. The better start the less effort to win them over. What is sad are the number of student that I actually get to learn who soon abandoned the effort because they do not want to put in the effort. I have to take some satisfaction in those who take their successes and continue with them.
Forcing students to learn who do not want to learn is very stressful. This year was especially stressful as we teachers were screwed over on the state then local level. We have the decked stacked against us by having to attempt teaching students who have never learned the prerequisite skills. Then we are held accountable because they can not do geometry, etc when they have never learned basic math or pre-algebra. Only government can be as incompetent as they are.
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I read Doc Savage: Fortress of Solitude on my phone today. I was able to read the whole thing much faster than the paper novel which I have here beside me. I think the font size and not having to scan across the page to read is easier on the eyes. I will probably get some more books to read on my phone. I think Doc Savage covers are more interesting than the stories. I have enjoyed some of them but after so many....well. Every few years they make for some easy light reading.
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Joe, the "killing off Reacher" idea probably stems from the end of "61 Hours" wherein he's blown up in a fiery jet-fuel explosion, only to return far from the site of the explosion and "recovering" in the next novel. No real explanation for the super-human escape from the previous climax, just more of the same: Reacher comes to town, Reacher meets a woman abused, Woman makes them pay. Enough is enough for me. I enjoyed the earlier books, but at some point it gets to be too much and too predictable. Plus I think the writing has deteriorated, IMHO.
Ah ha! That "killing off" explanation makes sense. Well I still have several more books to read before getting to this "decline" period.
See, since I don't buy comics I can afford to buy books. There you go. That's why I didn't have to wait for "The Greater Journey". As I was telling narf, stress is a killer, and WAITING, now there's a stress-producer for you. Instant Gratification, that's the 21st century way!
I'm a pretty patient guy so "waiting" isn't a real stress factor for me. There's always tons of other good books at the library to read.
With Gladwell I was hooked pretty early on. He's done some amazing digging into various kinds of research (scientific research) and thought about the results very hard. Not that everything he proposes and suggests is practical or even likely to produce the results he hopes for, but there are lessons therein for us to learn and exercise in our daily lives. I was fascinated and wanted to "hear" more of his thinking - hence the headfirst dive into his work.
I already checked and my library has some of Gladwell's books on the shelf. I'll probably snag one on my next trip to the library and toss it into the "to be read" pile.
I did the Nero Wolfe audios on the airplane and while doing mindless cleanup at my parent's house and packing and website chores here at home. When I tried to listen to the Dal Bonner stories, I discovered that I COMPLETELY tuned out after a few minutes. I had ZERO connection with the narrator and was unable to "hear" the story - just so many words... More telling on me than on the audio book, I'm certain. While I can see the appeal of an audio book while driving, I hardly drive at all. Leaves me pretty much out of the audio book market, I suppose.
I've also run across some audio books where a poor choice of narrators made the listening experience "less than desirable."
Never tried listening to one while traveling by air but then I hate flying and haven't been on an airplane in over a decade.
Best
Joe
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Things like video games and action movies are simply too dynamic for me to handle. I find myself wired, like having ten cups of coffee, after one. I came to the conclusion that they, and TV, are better ignored than experienced - FOR ME. I have enough trouble sleeping at night, with sleep apnea and frequent insomnia, to add jittery stress on top of them. My life is as LEAST-stressful as I can make it - certainly not UN-stressful, but I'm continually seeking ways to lower it. Hope you can find some, too.
I really don't do video games so can't comment on them but action movies and television shows don't stress me at all. They're just fiction. I can take or leave them.
Sometimes politicians or radio/television talk show hosts/commentators can stress me some so I do limit my watching/listening in these areas
Best
Joe
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Forcing students to learn who do not want to learn is very stressful. This year was especially stressful as we teachers were screwed over on the state then local level. We have the decked stacked against us by having to attempt teaching students who have never learned the prerequisite skills. Then we are held accountable because they can not do geometry, etc when they have never learned basic math or pre-algebra. Only government can be as incompetent as they are.
This sort of thing never happened in the parochial grade schools I attended in the 1960s. A number of kids I knew were "flunked/held back/failed" and made to repeat years- especially in the lower grades. Also an occasional kid was moved ahead to the next grade but that was a lot less common.
I've noticed this tendency in public schools to keep pushing students on to the next grade even when they are not ready for it since the 1970s and it only seems to have gotten worse over the years. I didn't think it was good idea then I still think it's a bad idea.
I have noticed recently where some states have gone to a testing system where kids won't be able to advance a grade unless they pass a certain standard test. Teachers won't be able to just push them along to be someone else's problem. Maybe that will help this unfortunate trend.
Best
Joe
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I've noticed this tendency in public schools to keep pushing students on to the next grade even when they are not ready for it since the 1970s and it only seems to have gotten worse over the years. I didn't think it was good idea then I still think it's a bad idea.
I have noticed recently where some states have gone to a testing system where kids won't be able to advance a grade unless they pass a certain standard test. Teachers won't be able to just push them along to be someone else's problem. Maybe that will help this unfortunate trend. Best Joe
Catch 22 has schools receiving tremendous pressure to graduate ALL students "on time." The horrible No Child Left Behind Act forced schools to do so or suffer the consequences. One of the biggest problems in school now is making kids hate learning by testing them to death. If schools would simply go to a MASTERY of the 3 Rs in elementary school before going to middle school most of the other problems could be worked out.
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I really don't do video games so can't comment on them but action movies and television shows don't stress me at all. They're just fiction. I can take or leave them.
Sometimes politicians or radio/television talk show hosts/commentators can stress me some so I do limit my watching/listening in these areas
Best
Joe
Actually, Joe, I don't believe I've ever played a video game for more than a few seconds and don't know why I included the category here. I'm doubtful that action movies have no effect on you. Even if the story line isn't compelling, emotionally, the flickering images/fast cuts/action scenes can do some things to your brain of which you may not be conscious. There may be a subconscious stress happening. Or not. You may be able to dismiss the impact of it all. I know I sure can't and studies have been done that indicate kids who watch TV right before bedtime are adversely influenced by what they see with regards to getting to sleep.
I agree with you wholeheartedly about talk show content. One reason (out of many) why I don't have a TV, nor do I listen to radio talk shows (except Car Talk, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and Says You). And I think all politicians are no better than they have to be. An "honest politician" is an oxymoron, IMHO.
My local book store has a 20% off sale this month and I did the "rounds" today. I think I added a FOOT to my stack of reading material. Sigh... If I could ONLY get my web site done I could relax into a bunch of books. Back to work. (I just finished Dorothy Lathrop - about halfway from Edwin Austin Abbey to N.C. Wyeth).
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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I hated school. I loved to learn... but too many of the teachers were TYRANTS, and too many of the students were BRAIN-DEAD BULLIES who would hassle you endlessly FOR BEING SMART.
And then of course you had something like, in high school English class, whenever we'd "read". Each student in turn would read part of something. Some were so slow, so unable to read even the most basic... and so every time it would be my turn, the teacher would let me read a full page or two, because otherwise, we'd NEVER get done.
Of course, my biggest problem was my father, who spent the first 30 straight years of my life doing everything he could to DESTROY any hope of my ever developing self-confidence. If not for that, it might have been a lot easier to STAND UP for myself against the A**H***s of the world... INCLUDING some of those teachers, and supervisors at work.
I almost never read novels anymore, but the other year, I did read a DOC SAVAGE... oddly enough, in the ORIGINAL PRINTING. Had to be very careful, the pages were so old and delicate, I kept worrying the magazine might disintegrate if I wasn't careful.
I've only got one of those, bought it at a convention cheap, mostly as a novelty, just to actually have an genuine DOC SAVAGE pulp magazine.
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I'm in the middle of, "A Murder is Announced" (Agatha Christie) and it's great. This is all thanks to some of you who were talking about her a while ago. Thanks. As to what's been talked about just above here, I can empathise with a lot of it and it's given me food for thought. It's quite awful what some parents can do to a a child's self confidence.
I don't play v. games. Never have. And we've stopped watching the late news and politics talk shows because they get us wound up and the news is just so depressing. T.V. for us is for entertainment and diversion with the occasional interesting docu. thrown in and even then we don't watch a lot.
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I don't have any Doc pulps but I do have 2 Shadow pulps and found them interesting reading.
I am reading The Girl in the Golden Atom by Ray Cummings free at Gutenberg.org
I do not know the full situation but I will say the most tyrant teachers come from having to put up with trying to control those brain dead bullies. Wishful wold be to handle each student individually but reality the whole class suffers.
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I don't have any Doc pulps but I do have 2 Shadow pulps and found them interesting reading.
I am reading The Girl in the Golden Atom by Ray Cummings free at Gutenberg.org
I do not happen to have any of the original Doc Savage pulps, but I do have a large stash of old pulps, and the Shadow is among them.
When my mother-in-law died, we were cleaning out the house, and we came across a ton of these old pulps. My sister-in-law's husband tried to throw them out, but I managed to grab them. All kinds of mags too, westerns, detective stories, and old copies of Argosy with original Tarzan serials.
My mother-in-law was obsessed with antiques, books, and collectibles. She never threw anything out and trust me, this is a very small house.
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I do have one smallish box of pulps. Most are ones with J. Allen St. John illustrations that I picked up cheap a quarter century or so ago. There are a few hero pulps in the bunch though. One of The Avenger, two or three Shadows (but from the period when it was digest sized) and one Doc Savage pulp. The cover of the Doc Savage pulp is very garish- with Doc penned up against the wall in the process of being machine gunned! Bullet holes and blood! In the story, IIRC, he was wearing a bullet proof vest so the bloody holes depicted on the cover were a bit of "poetic license" on the part of the artist.
Best
Joe
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Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood-by Peter Biskind While the title of this book is a bit of an exaggeration it's still a fine read for anyone interested in Hollywood history. Biskind does a very good job sorting through the often conflicting "facts" to relate his story of many of the directors and producers who gained fame between 1966-1982 including Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty, George Lucas, Peter Bogdodavich, Roman Polanski, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, the unjustly forgotten Hal Ashby and others. If the book has any major faults it would be its slights against the previous generations of filmmakers still active at this period in time and these Biskind mostly does by sins of omission.
The Secret Holocaust Diaries - by Nanna Bannister (with Denise George & Carolyn Tomlin) While there has been a great effort made to get many of the Jewish Holocaust survivors to record their stories this book is different because the woman telling her story was a Russian prisoner and not a Jew. She was the only member of her family to survive the Stalin purges of the 1930s and the German Nazi atrocities of the 1940s. I actually recommend the audio book version of this one as it also includes interviews with Nanna Bannister's husband and son as well as a recording she made in the 1990s where she speaks of her experiences (she died several years before the book was published). She has a truly unusual accent which can be explained by the fact that she had learned four languages as a child and seven by early adulthood making for a very unique Euro-American South accent.
True Evil- by Greg Iles True evil in this case is a lawyer (big surprise) and a doctor with the ethics "of a Mengele" in this solid thriller from Iles. A few of the characters from another novel of his I've read pop up in small supporting roles.
Best
Joe
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Well, my summer reading list is pretty full now... I just picked up two hefty tomes... The Rembrandt Book by Gary Schwartz and Frank Zӧllner's mammoth Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Paintings and Drawings.
With these additions, and my decision to finally work my way through my copy of Oxford's Shakespeare (The Complete Works, compact edition)... which has been sitting on my shelf for years with only occasional use... I don't think I'll have time for much else.
Except perhaps the occasional Shadow pulp. :)
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Night Soldiers- by Alan Furst Young Bulgarian trains as Soviet operative in 1930s Russia, spends time in the Spanish Civil War, falls out of favor with Stalin regime, goes on the run in Europe, gets got up in politics and espionage in France, is sent to prison, WWII breaks out, is released from prison, fights with underground, barely survives the war. As with previous Furst novels there is excellent atmosphere here and you really feel the protagonist's war weariness at the novel's end.
The Most Dangerous Man in America- by John K. Wilson Liberal author takes his shots at conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Not likely to change anybody's mind on either side of this spectrum.
Promise Me- by Harlan Coben A teenage girl goes missing. No one is sure if she ran away or something else happened. Then another girl from the same school goes missing and former basketball star/celebrity agent (and occasional amateur P.I.) Myron Bolitar finds out that he was the last one to see her before she vanished. Lots of twists and turns in this one and there is some of that Elvis Cole/Joe Pike vibe between Bolitar and his buddy Win Lockwood.
Best
Joe
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Call your LCS and be sure that they gets the order in for Femforce 157 featuring N.E.D.O.R. Agents by Will Meugnot. A must have for anyone on these boards. Those reading this with your own websites please put the news out. Must be done soon so Diamond sales can get recorded.
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Sunset Express by Robert Crais Elvis Cole gets hired by an O. J. Simpson type of super-lawyer squad defending a big name client accused of murdering his wife. All is not as it first seems. Another winner from Crais.
The Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman Hillerman's final novel before his death. I've really enjoyed these mysteries featuring his Navajo policemen Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee both for their insite into the navajo culture and because they are fine reads.
Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris Top-notch bio of Theodore Roosevelt's final decade completes Pulitzer prize winner Morris' trilogy on Teddy. One of several books on Roosevelt I hope to get read over the next year or two (including Morris' two earlier volumes which perversely I'm tackling in reverse order). Recommended!
Best
Joe
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I got some Kurt Venegut short stories from gutenberg.org
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The Jungle by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul, nuff said.
Geo
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The Awakening by Kate Chopin I can't remember why I acquired this book but it went into my "to be read" pile somehow. Someone must have recommended it as it's not normally something I would have just picked up to read. It's a rather moving story of a woman coming to terms with her romantic feelings about a man other than her own husband. It was written in the late 19th century by a woman from the American south but if I didn't know that I would never have guessed because it seems not at all Victorian in style and comes across, more in tone and content, like a book written a few decades later.
Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn This book (along with Paul Schneider's Bonnie and Clyde: The Lives Behind the Legend-which I read a year or so ago) was released back in 2009 on the 75th anniversary of the death of this famous outlaw couple. Both books do a fine job of getting beyond the legends and romance that has grown over the decades about the infamous lovers. Schneider's book was perhaps better in depicting the increasing desperation of the duo as they moved ever closer to their ultimate, inevitable demise. Guinn's book, on the other hand, does a better job of painting the period of Depression era America and explaining how this pair of relatively mediocre robbers was able to elude the law for so long---They were better armed (thanks to numerous raids on National Guard armories) and had better vehicles (usually stolen Ford V-8s-which Clyde did have a somewhat reckless skill in driving) than the poorly armed, poorly trained, poorly equipped, and poorly paid small town law officers that they generally ran up against.
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell Jim recommended this one and I found it very interesting. Among other things you'll learn why fiascoes such as "New Coke" occurred and why law enforcement officers have sometimes made terrible (and even fatal) mistakes. I'll definitely be checking out more of Gladwell's writings.
Best
Joe
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The Last Coyote-by Michael Connelly Detective Harry Bosch, on administrative leave for assaulting a superior office, decides to tackle a special cold case-the murder of a woman, who was an occasional prostitute, when he was a child--his own mother! Shades of James Ellroy!!
Telegraph Days- by Larry McMurtry For my money McMurtry is the best author of westerns currently writing. While not every one is a great as his classic, award winning, Lonesome Dove they are all entertaining with an authenticity for the period that always come through.
A Special Mission: Hitler's Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius XII- by Dan Kurzman The first of two books I'm reading on the subject of Pius XII and the role he played during WWII. Views on the subject are often diametrically opposed to each other. This one tries to take a pretty balanced look at the picture.
Best
Joe
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Rumpole and the Reign of Terror- by John Mortimer It's been quite a while since I last read a Rumpole book so I was looking forward to this one and I wasn't disappointed. Rumpole finds himself trying to defend a man accused of terrorism but about whom the government won't tell him what the specific charges are. If that's not enough he also finds he's lost his steady clients (and income from) the "terrible" Timson clan because they're offended that he's defending a "terrorist" and meanwhile "She who must be obeyed" has started writing her memoirs! Oh the horror!!!
Her Fearful Symmetry- by Audrey Niffenegger This was a pretty good book with some likable characters, interesting paranormal situations and a narrative that keeps you hooked-- until the last part where, for me, it all slipped a bit.
Brimstone- by Robert B. Parker The third of Parker's Cole and Hitch westerns is as good as the previous two and has an ending that kind of finds them going full circle from the first volume which I found appropriate since I thought this was Parker's last novel featuring the duo but have since learned that he finished another one before he died which has been posthumously published recently. Well that's just one more to look forward to.
Best
Joe
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It's been primarily a lot of non-fiction so far this summer, Joe,
Finished:
1493 by Charles Mann. Wonderful sequel to his 1491. How the events of 1492 reshaped (and continue to reshape) our world.
Hamilton by Ron Chernow - I really enjoyed his Washington and I liked this even more. Gave me a depth of understanding of just how fragile our style of government really was/is. Like his previous book, it's a long read. Best taken in small chunks.
A Widow's Story by Joyce Carol Oates. My sister's husband died suddenly last year at age 59. This has helped me understand her behavior a bit. Like the aforementioned Hamilton, best taken in small doses - Oates it a powerful writer and her anguish sweeps off the pages.
"There are Things I Want You to Know About Stieg Larsson and Me" by Eva Gabrielsson. Not very well-written, but I keep hearing rumors about this and that with regard to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and sequels, so it was worth the read. If you don't care about The Millennium Trilogy, you can easily pass. Lots about the author, Larsson and Swedish society.
A Cartoonist's Life: Charles Addams by Linda H. Davis. I may have already mentioned this, but I found it curiously unsatisfying. It was filled with great details and lots of stuff about him I didn't know, but there seems to have been a challenging aspect to his personality that should have been explained or at least given more speculation.
(Far more fun was the Complete Playboy Gahan Wilson with its articles and interview and a surprising amount of Wilson's writings: short stories, primarily. Three volumes and a laugh a minute.)
Service Included by Phoebe Damrosch - you have to be interested in Michelin-rated restaurants, which I am. I enjoyed the heck out of it, though it's really pretty light fare.
The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card - I liked it, but it seemed hastily finished. I kept looking at how many pages were left and how much needed to be wrapped up and was CERTAIN that it was going to turn out to be the first in a (dreaded) SERIES. Not so, but it could have benefited from a bit more effort at the end.
Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex - I think that the older AF grows, the less interesting are his adventures. My final encounter, I think.
Reiterating recommendations for: The Greater Journey by David McCullough (I have his 1776 on my stack to be read), and the various Malcolm Gladwell books: Outliers, The Tipping Point, Blink and What The Dog Saw.
As for the ending of Her Fearful Symmetry - I believe that it's a congenital problem with "supernatural" stories. Once you get to the part where it needs to be EXPLAINED, it all falls down. As long as it's a "mystery", we buy it. When it becomes a "reality", we lose interest.
In process (aka: now reading)
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, who writes non-fiction in a fiction-like style. Like his The Devil in the White City, this is based on journals and newspaper reports and diaries of the participants. They being, this time, the American Ambassador to Germany in 1933/34 and his family. Chilling, so far, as our State Department seems to have been populated with "old boys" who were only interested in getting Germany to pay its WW1 debts, not what Hitler was doing.
Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bagigalupi (author of The Windup Girl). Collection of short stories which, so far, are compelling and intriguing, but the form is not his forte. So far (about four stories into it), I'm feeling like the melieus are fascinating, but the actual content of the story is unsatisfying.
Paris From the Ground Up by James H.S. McGregor - just what it says, a history of Paris from the pre-Roman days.
I'll be doing a lot of reading while in Paris. I always do. So it behooves me to pile up a slew of paperbacks to cart along. I'll keep you posted.
Love Hillerman and Connelly. I eventually gave up on Parker, though. Haven't read anything new by him in a dozen years. Used to POUNCE on the new releases.
Keep reading and keep sharing.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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Jim,
Thanks as always for the list of new reads-always something among them to pique my interest.
I read Mann's 1491 a year or so back. Very informative. Didn't know that he had a sequel out. I'll definitely keep my eye open for that one.
Have been considering checking out Chernow's book on Washington for a while now. Since you give it a thumbs up I'll put it on the short list.
The Greater Journey continues to have a backlog of holds on it at the library but I plan on getting McCullough's book on Teddy Roosevelt-Mornings on Horseback soon so that should keep me satisfied for a bit.
I know the library has Gladwell's Outliers and What the Dog Saw as I saw them on the shelf when I picked up Blink so one or the other of those is in the foreseeable future.
Read Larson's Thunderstruck a while back and have been planning to tackle his The Devil in a White City which if I'm not mistaken is about the famous serial killer H.H. Holmes (also the subject of a recent graphic novel by Rick Geary that I read). I haven't heard about In the Garden of Beasts. It must be a new one.
Know what you mean about Parker. His Spenser novels became very hit and miss for me at some point. Seemed like with too many of them he was just cranking them out to fulfill a contract with little enthusiasm for actually writing them. With the Cole and Hitch westerns though he seemed rejuvenated and they are all quick enjoyable reads with a nice authentic feel for the period.
Best
Joe
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Anyone read any fan fiction? Feedbooks.com has digital downloads of public domain and for pay. They also have fan fiction which I think DC approves of. I just read Weird Western 21 with "Brothers In Arms" featuring the Scalphunter character. The story was OK but I did not like the magic element in it. I may try some more stores. They have lots of Jonah Hex some Nighthawk, Bat Lash, Windrunner and more Scalphunter.
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I just read a short story by Joshua Hale Fialkov called "Belly Button Reset." OUTSTANDING!
Super fast paced with lots of unique ideas. Being A.D.D. I often get bored with books quickly. If the characterization does not catch me I soon give up. If I become engaged with the characters I can keep reading and enjoying. Belly Button Reset is the way a book should be if it is not mainly character. So many cool ideas packed in so few pages. Absolutely one of the best stories that I have read. And it was a free download from feedbooks.com You can't get much better than being a great read and free.
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Hitler's Pope- by John Cromwell My second book dealing with Pope Pius XII. This one goes into a lot more detail on the life of Pius XII than Dan Kurzman's book (read a few weeks back) did although to be fair Kurzman's book was primarily detailing Hitler's plot to kidnap the Pope (which is gone over in this book but not in nearly as much detail).
Anyway after reading both books my impression of Pius XII is that he more of a politician than a saint-not surprising since he was the Cardinal Secretary of State for years before becoming Pope.
While the title "Hitler's Pope" is certainly an exaggeration (I guess author's and publisher's need such flashy titles to sell books though) the way I see it it's pretty clear that his acquiescence, appeasement, accommodation and inaction in the face of the fascist leaders during the 1930s and 40s all leave him with a less than sterling reputation although it must be noted that he was hardly the only politician to have acted in such a way during these years. However since he was also a man of God he should probably be held to a higher standard and to me he seems hardly deserving of the sainthood that some would like to grant him.
While there seem to have been a number of reasons why he acted the way he did the over-riding reason seems to have been that he had a bigger fear of the communists than he did of the fascists although in the end they both were pretty much equally as malevolent in their acts of evil perpetrated upon the masses.
Salt River- by James Sallis My second foray into reading Sallis found a book as thin as the first (these seem more like novellas) but with a bit more plot (the previous had almost none) as a southern deputy sheriff investigates some crimes and connects the dots. Heavy on character and dialog and in that respect it reminds me of Elmore Leonard's writing- which is not necessarily a bad thing.
The Wheel of Darkness- by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child I ran into an old friend whom I hadn't seen in a long time at the library recently. We gave each other updates on what's been happening with our lives and then exchanged lists of authors we'd been reading. Well we had quite a few in common (Christopher Moore, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Robert Crais, John Mortimer, Jasper Fforde, Lawrence Block, etc...) but were also able to give each other some tips on authors that we each hadn't yet sampled.
This writing team is one of his recommendations. He described them as a crazy adventure-thriller writing duo who seemed to alternate chapters and delight in getting their protagonists in some wild situation at the end of each chapter leaving it up to the other author to work it out how to get them out of it.
Well he wasn't far off the mark. I found the book to be a very pulpish sort of story with a somewhat larger than life hero, some Eastern mysticism, some really wild action and a situation that could leave thousands (or more) dead. Not far off from what you'd read in a Doc Savage or Spider pulp novel. Fun but don't take it too seriously.
Best
Joe
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Speaking of pulps I am reading a classic, Tarzan of the Apes. Our second grade teacher used to read it to us. Loved it them and am enjoying it very much now. I do not know that I ever actually read the first adventure myself.
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Speaking of pulps I am reading a classic, Tarzan of the Apes. Our second grade teacher used to read it to us. Loved it them and am enjoying it very much now. I do not know that I ever actually read the first adventure myself.
Tarzan of the Apes was the first Edgar Rice Burroughs book that I ever read. Found it in the attic of my grandparent's Pennsylvania farmhouse while visiting there one Summer. I believe that I was nine years old at the time. I was immediately taken with the character (and also surprised how different he was from the movie versions which I had already seen). Soon after tracked down a copy of The Return of Tarzan and then found that the library had many of Burroughs' books on their shelves which I began to work my way through over the next several years.
I reread Burroughs' A Princess of Mars two or three years back and it was still pretty fun but when I tried to sample some of his lesser works a year or so back (The Cave Man, The Cave Girl, The Eternal Savage) I found them not nearly so enjoyable.
Best
Joe
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My favorites are his Pellucidar series. I am facinated by the concept that without a reference time becomes so relative.
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The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - let's see: first book in a fantasy trilogy, 700 pages, orphaned hero, coming of age saga, academy of magic, brilliant young sorcerer, ancient evil, words of power, etc., etc., etc. Just how many times must we deal with these?
Well, at least this once more. Add a brilliant young writer and a magic way with words and you'll have a HINT of the power of "The Name of the Wind". Great story, great structure, great writing. Best book I've read this year.
YMMV, but I doubt it.
(|:{>
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Finished "Boneshaker" by Cherie Priest. Cyberpunk set in mid-19th Century Seattle. Underwhelming. Cyberpunk needs a better descriptive capacity than Priest brings to this story. You "kinda/sorta" get the picture, but it's vague and unfinished. The story's premise is also UN-compelling. Skip it, unless you're totally hooked on steam-powered dirigibles and huge boring engines...
Also finished Joe Simon's "My Life in Comics" which I found maddeningly vague when it comes to sequencing his life and with dates. It also has a rather mean-spirited tone to many of the anecdotes he relates. When you read about some of the people he knew, it seems that some minor incident or slightly demeaning personality trait is related almost as a non-sequitur. They don't lead to anything that reinforces the narrative. Puzzling.
Packed up "Paris From the Ground Up" to finish there. Why not? Also packed the second in the Patrick Rothfuss series. I'm looking forward to starting it there.
Am just starting "The Well-Favored Man" by Elizabeth Willey - first in another fantasy trilogy. The 2nd and 3rd books have been on my shelves for 10-15 years for their Charles Vess dustjackets. This dj is by Wayne D. Barlowe, whose work I don't collect, but when I saw it at a used book store sale, I figured what the hey? It'll give me incentive to read two books I already own. I'll keep you posted.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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A Diet of Treacle- by Lawrence Block Another one of Block's late 1950s paperback originals is now back in print. Young hipsters living on the edge in NYC. Things go from "Cool Daddio" to "What a Drag" to "Total Bummer" by novels end. A quick easy read.
Alger Hiss and the Battle for History- by Susan Jacoby Interesting look at the famous Hiss case and how it has been looked at and used by various political groups on the left and right over the decades to further their own causes.
Dark Light- by Randy Wayne White White was another author recently recommended to me. In this one he's definitely mining John D. MacDonald territory- specifically the Travis McGee series- with his protagonist Doc Ford, living on a boat off the Florida coast, getting involved in a search for a shipwreck containing Nazi artifacts, a mysterious woman and a murderous sociopath. Not bad. I'll check out a few more.
Best
Joe
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Icon of Evil: Hitler's Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam- by David G. Dalin and John F. Rothmann This book on Haj Amin al-Husseini (who was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem for a number of years in the 20th century) paints a pretty negative view of the man. While it seems pretty clear that he did have have an influence on some of the more radical elements of militant Islam there are parts of the book that seem to give a little too much credence to rumors and unsubstantiated stories, thus undercutting the authors' credibility at times.
This Time Together:Laughter and Reflection- by Carol Burnett The second memoir from the comedienne mostly covers incidents from her show business years (her earlier memoir primarily covered the period of her early family life). Some stories her are revealing, some touching but the vast majority, as may be expected, are just plain funny!
Shadow Woman- by Thomas Perry Perry was another author recently recommended to me. He specializes in suspense novels. While most of his books seem to be stand alone novels he does have one continuing character that he has written about-Jane Whitefield-who specializes in making people in trouble disappear. In this one the person in trouble is a casino employee who has learned things that have made his bosses (who just happen to be mob connected) nervous about allowing him to continue breathing. It could have used a little editing but is entertaining enough that I'll sample more of his work.
Best
Joe
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Atomic Lobster- by Tim Dorsey Very funny. I was laughing all through this book. I don't know who recommended the author to me but thanks! The "hero" of the novel is a certified psycho who's sidekick is a stoner. Apparently he's the "hero" of all Dorsey's novels. I'll definitely be checking out more of them.
Blood's a Rover- by James Ellroy Ellroy, the "demon dog of American crime fiction", gets back on track, with this concluding novel in his Underworld U.S.A. trilogy, after slipping a bit with the middle novel (The Cold Six Thousand). While the trilogy is not, IMHO, up to the standards of his earlier L.A. Quartet it's still worth a read.
Money For Nothing- by Donald Westlake Most of Westlake's books in his later years were either his humorous Dortmunder crime/capers or his (writing as Richard Stark) hard-boiled novels featuring the criminal Parker. This was one of his last non-series novels. Guy gets a check for a thousand bucks in the mail. He can't find out who sent it so deposits it- and it clears. The checks keep coming-every month- for years. Then he gets a call. He's been "activated". Apparently he was recruited as a spy and never knew it! Now there's no backing out- at least not if he wants to go on living. Quick, occasionally funny, sometimes suspenseful- an easy read.
Best
Joe
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think I'll give Dorsey a try
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The Spider and His Hobo Army- by Grant Stockbridge Well I was feeling like a hero pulp and since I had quite a few unread Spider reprints laying around I grabbed this one at random. Good choice! You begin the book feeling like you've been dropped onto a runaway roller coaster and for the next five chapters you're just hanging for dear life as there is absolutely no letup!!! The only reason you get to catch your breath in chapter six is because Dick Wentworth (The Spider) was knocked unconscious at the end of chapter five and so we get some actual story background and exposition-the Spider is fighting some Nazi like group intent on killing the president and taking over the country- in other words- business as usual for the Spider!
Outliers: The Story of Success- by Malcolm Gladwell My second Gladwell book was even better than the first one I read (Blink). Gladwell shows how such things as when you were born and where you grew up can have enormous influence on whether you will be successful later on in life. I really recommend that anyone involved in education read this one but it's a good read for anyone.
Everett Raymond Kinstler: The Artist's Journey Through Popular Culture: 1942-1962- by Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. and Everett Raymond Kinstler JVJ and ERK give us just enough info in this book's text to provide background and put into context the real meat of the book- ERK's beautiful artwork! Luckily for us he saved many of his original comic book, pulp, magazine and book illustrations and they are given better reproduction here than they ever got in the first place. Nice job gentlemen!!
Best
Joe
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A Dirty Job- by Christopher Moore Moore has turned out another comic gem with this story about beta-male and second-hand store owner Charlie Asher who is recruited as a "death merchant" (a job that has some similarities to the Dead Like Me television show's "reapers"). Check it out!
The Messiah of Morris Avenue- by Tony Hendra A friend gave me this to read a while back and I finally got around to it. The only thing I know about the author is that he was a writer/editor for the National Lampoon back in the early 1970s. It's the story of the Messiah returning in a near-future 21st century and being met with a lot of skepticism and hostility by many members of the press, the public and the religious community. Deja vu. I found it interesting but flawed. His highly satirized view of the American government seemed heavy-handed when compared to his much more serious treatment of the Messiah and his message (which I found to be some of the better written parts of the book).
Washington: A Life- by Ron Chernow Taking advantage of recent scholarship on the period and the subject, Chernow has turned out what is probably the best single volume bio of George Washington in the last few decades. Recommended.
Best
Joe
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Backflash- by Richard Stark Richard Stark is one of the pseudonyms that Donald Westlake used during his long career. It's mostly linked with a series of hard-boiled novels featuring the criminal Parker and his associates. Westlake turned out twenty of these as paperback originals between 1962-1974. They were pretty popular with several of them being adapted into movies (the most famous probably being Point Blank [1967] with Lee Marvin) and then stopped. The books went out of print but the buzz about them built and they eventually came back into print. I read my way through the original twenty in back in the 1990s and early 2000s. Eventually in the later 1990s Westlake revived the Stark name and started writing about Parker again. He must have been writing them for several years before I realized he had resumed doing so and I have been slowly working my way through the newer novels the last few years.
They're all good, fast moving reads. This one has Parker and co. planning the heist of a riverboat casino but they don't realize that other parties have plans to heist the heisters!
Bangkok Haunts- by John Burdett Another new author recently recommended to me. The hero of the novel is the half-caste, Buddhist detective of the Royal Thai Police- Sonchai Jitpleecheep. Things are done differently in Thailand as Sonchai also works part-time in his mom's bar and brothel and his superior at work seems more interested in how much dirt Sonchai can dig up on officials for blackmail purposes or how fast Sonchai can get help him get his new porn film biz off the ground than having Sonchai investigate murders and such. Then there's all the Oriental mysticism that plays an important part in just about everything that goes on. Joe Friday and Dragnet this ain't!!! Still a very interesting look at a very different society using the detective/mystery genre. I'm game for more.
Myths and Mysteries in Archeology- by Prof. Susan A. Johnston Johnston debunks such things as ancient astronauts, the story of Atlantis, psychic archeologists and such, examines how archeology is used in relation to research in the history of religion (Stonehenge, Biblical related archeology, etc..) and covers such real historical mysteries as King Arthur and early migrations into the Americas. All done in a very readable manner.
Best
Joe
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The talk of pulps put me in the mood for some fast reads and I found a reprint of the first Black Bat story. Went like the clappers. Also, I've been reading some old ('50's) Sexton Blake mysteries.
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Slan- by A. E. Van Vogt I decided to reread Van Vogt's Slan (last read about three decades ago) because I had learned that Kevin Anderson (who wrote the lengthy Saga of the Seven Suns series which I enjoyed a couple years back) had finished a Slan sequel that Van Vogt had left unfinished upon his death which I thought I'd give a read. Then I realized that I couldn't remember a single thing about Van Vogt's original novel. As I reread the book it was all new again to me as almost nothing came back to me from the initial read.
Slan are basically mutants and the book is the story of mutants against humans and against other mutants. The same sort of elements in this book became the main fodder for Stan Lee and his successors when translated to the superhero genre via the X-Men comic book a couple of decades after Slan was first published in the pulps.
Lost in a Good Book- by Jasper Fforde Fforde has an incredible imagination! This is the second of his Thursday Next novels. These, along with his Jack Spratt/Nursery Crimes Division novels, are set in a universe quite different from ours. Thursday is a literary detective, England is a Republic (George Formby was her first president), the Crimean War is still being fought, Russia is still ruled by Czars. time travel is possible, fairy tale creatures exist, and on and on. This one ends with some things hanging so I expect I'll be tackling it's follow up fairly soon. Recommended.
Red Wind and Trouble is My Business- by Raymond Chandler Continuing my pulp reading with a couple of novelettes from one of the Black Mask boys. I tend to enjoy Chandler's shorter works more as they contain all of his wonderful descriptive power and atmosphere but the plotting doesn't usually get as convoluted as his novel-length works.
Best
Joe
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After reading the first two Tarzan novels I think that I will quit while I am ahead. The major reliance on coincidence in Return caused me to check some reviews. It seems that coincidence is heavily relied upon often. I started to read the third book and realized that I would probably stop enjoying them as much. So I will stop with fond memories. Now I have to decide what to read next with so many good recommendations.
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The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian- by Robert E. Howard I first encountered Conan (and Robert E. Howard) via issue #1 of Marvel's Conan the Barbarian comics book in 1970. This soon lead me to the Conan Lancer paperbacks then in print. They had some great covers by Frazetta (whom I was already quite familiar with because of his wonderful covers on the Ace ERB reprints that I had been reading for a while). Those books weren't pure Howard though as other authors (mostly L. Sprague Decamp and Lin Carter) had added to, rearranged the order of, altered, and completed unfinished REH manuscripts. These new collections go back to the original Howard stories arranged in order of publication (rather than in the timeline that DeCamp came up with) and dump all the later pastiches by the other authors.
I found the early Conan stories (The Tower of the Elephant, The Frost Giant's Daughter) among the best in this first collection then Howard hits a period where they are all pretty much following a similar (and somewhat monotonous) pattern where Conan hooks up with a scantily clad princess/slave girl/woman in distress and fights a tyrant and/or evil sorcerer with some monstrous ape-like creature or giant serpent usually thrown in for good measure. According to the book's intro these stories were written during the depths of the Great Depression when Howard was desperate for money and he purposely made them very commercial (and less personal) so that a sale would almost assuredly be made quickly.
I expect to revisit more of these "purer" Howard Conan collections next year and it will be interesting to see if he gets back to the "better stuff" in his way of writing.
The Devil in the White City- by Erik Larson Larson interweaves two intriguing stories taking place in Chicago during the late 1800s. The planning, building and running of the World's Fair (aka the Columbian Exposition) and of the fiend who took advantage of the great number of people the fair brought to the city by preying upon them--the notorious serial killer Dr. H. H. Holmes (aka Herman Mudget).
I've read of Mudget (most recently in Rick Geary's graphic novel about him) before but it is Larson's running of the two parallel stories that is the strong point in this telling.
Bye, Bye Baby- by Max Allan Collins Another of Max Allan Collin's Nate Heller novels. Heller is a P. I. who somehow manages to become involved with many famous real life characters over the years. This one finds him working for Marilyn Monroe in the final months of her life and then trying to uncover the truth about her mysterious death. Not up to the best in this series (Stolen Away, True Crime) but still a pretty good read.
Best
Joe
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Thanks to Roy's Conan comics I got the Lancer Conans from the Warren ads. They were unable to to supply one of the issues which I paid for. They offered anything as replacement. I got the life size Vamirella poster. My mom eventually threw it away. Worth a couple hundred bucks.
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Back in 1972, narf,
I visited Warren Publishing in New York along with Bud Plant, John Barrett, Dick Swan and a bunch of other San Jose comic fans. I remember I won a coin toss with Dick Swan and became the proud owner of a DOUBLE-Vampirella poster. They were printed TWO-UP (about 3' x 6') and then trimmed apart - did you know that? I still have it! Probably not very many of THOSE around.
And I remember buying the Lancer Conan paperbacks off the racks at Kepler's Bookstore in Los Altos. I still have them and Kepler's is still around. In fact, I went there today and bought some books.
Life remains interesting.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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And I remember buying the Lancer Conan paperbacks off the racks at Kepler's Bookstore in Los Altos. I still have them and Kepler's is still around. In fact, I went there today and bought some books.
Life remains interesting.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
I bought most of my Lancer Conan novels at a long gone B Daltons bookstore.
I sometimes bought paperbacks just because they had a neat cover by Frazetta or Jones or Krenkel or Bama, etc..
I had copies of some of George MacDonald's Fraser's Flashman novels (picked up solely for their Frazetta covers) for several years without reading them until Tom Yeates said I really should give them a read. I did and I'm very glad Tom suggested that I actually read them. Delightful funny, ribald, swashbuckling tales that were also meticulously researched for historical details. I read them all after that as they came out up until Fraser's death (even if they didn't have Frazetta covers)!
Best
Joe
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I was lucky, Joe,
Kepler's (back then, but sadly not now) had a policy of putting that week's arrivals face out on the shelves, turning all previous books spine out. So if one walked into the story the day they got the new shipment, as I did, one could walk up and down the aisles and see what was new. Because of this practice, I ended up finding dozens of Jeff Jones and Frank Frazetta covers on books other than the science fiction titles.
You can see some of Jones' covers on my Jones bio:http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/jonesjf.htm (http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/jonesjf.htm)
I would have missed almost all of these if I had restricted myself to the science fiction section. Ah, the memories...
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Warren covers were my first intro to Frazetta. Then the Lancer paperbacks. My brother and I both bought some Frazetta Warren cover T shirts. Wish I still had them. I am always amazed at how much certain comic book related instances stick with me to this day. I remember a book store in Blairsville, PA where I discovered Frazetta Tarzan and other Burroughs. I never cared for Jones and considered his work imitation Frazetta. I know it has its own qualities but they did not appeal to me. I still have the Lancer Conans and many of the Burroughs books.
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Warren covers were my first intro to Frazetta. Then the Lancer paperbacks. My brother and I both bought some Frazetta Warren cover T shirts. Wish I still had them. I am always amazed at how much certain comic book related instances stick with me to this day. I remember a book store in Blairsville, PA where I discovered Frazetta Tarzan and other Burroughs. I never cared for Jones and considered his work imitation Frazetta. I know it has its own qualities but they did not appeal to me. I still have the Lancer Conans and many of the Burroughs books.
Someday, narf, you're going to have to admit that you were wrong about Jones.
'World renowned illustration artist Frank Frazetta called Jones "the greatest living painter".'
If Frazetta himself didn't consider Jones to be an imitator, you might consider going along with the master... One is allowed to change a first impression if time proves it otherwise.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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Jones could draw pretty good too. ;)
It just so happens that I was recently (re-)reading "Angel of Doom" in Creepy #16 (the one with that wonderful Frazetta jungle girl cover)... marvelous stuff. Too bad he came up at the tail end of Goodwin's time there.
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You can see some of Jones' covers on my Jones bio:http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/jonesjf.htm (http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/jonesjf.htm)
I would have missed almost all of these if I had restricted myself to the science fiction section. Ah, the memories...
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Thanks for putting this online.
I remember most of this artwork, the Nick carter cover especially, and the Lady of Bankok though I didn't have that book.
I guess all of these other than a few stories in magazines were destroyed when almost all my books were scattered by a windstorm that destroyed my storage buildings and part of my roof.
Actually the first thing I did when I began to surf the net was to look up artwork and cover galleries. Just seeing the artwork again brings back memories of the books and the old news stands that disappeared nearly forty years ago.
Almost forgot.
I'm re reading Ben Bova's "Mars". Just started.
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You can see some of Jones' covers on my Jones bio:http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/jonesjf.htm (http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/jonesjf.htm)
I would have missed almost all of these if I had restricted myself to the science fiction section. Ah, the memories...
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Cool JIm!
Thanks for putting these paperback covers up.
Most of them I had never seen before. I didn't start picking up the paperbacks for their covers until the early 1970s when I got into my teens. I did find the occasional goodie from the 1960s in used book stores but I'm sure there were many more I missed (especially as I rarely checked out genres like romance).
BTW, regarding your comment on the site about the small book stores/monolithic book chains: The little stores that have survived out here seem to be doing better these days as many of the big chains out here such as Bookstar, Barnes and Noble. etc... have closed many of their shops because of the heavy competition they have increasingly faced from online sellers. The remaining lil' guys have ended up benefiting by picking up the customers that lost their big chain stores.
Best
Joe
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Well since taste is subjective there is no accounting for it. I looked again at your Jones page and I just don't get him. I also don't like later Toth and I don't like the master Van Gogh.
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Well since taste is subjective there is no accounting for it. I looked again at your Jones page and I just don't get him. I also don't like later Toth and I don't like the master Van Gogh.
Absolutely, narf,
I'm not saying you have to like him, I'm just saying that, given Frazetta's appraisal of Jones, it's not fair to call him "imitation Frazetta." That's not so much taste as a poor and inappropriate comparison.
ps. I don't have any understanding or appreciation for most of Van Goth and the other modern artists, either.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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I'd just like to mention that if anyone here has a Van Gogh they don't appreciate, please send it to me so that I may. :)
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It really irks me just how many of his works I passed up when they were going for peanuts... ???
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I know now that Jones was not derivative Frazetta. I guess I should have clarified that was my first impression. I had seen some beautiful Frazetta work and along came a Jones. To my mind, at the time, this was a company hiring someone to try to imitate Frazetta. I know now that it is not so. I would say that Frazetta's popularity probably got Jones more work on Fantasy covers. I like Jone's work it just does not grab as anything very special.
I would also say that I probably would have like it more had I not seen Frazetta first.
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Djibouti- by Elmore Leonard Most of the action in this recent novel of Elmore Leonard's takes place in or off the coast of the small African nation of Djibouti (pronounced Juh-booty) hence the title of the book. Elmore populates the tale with his usual assortment of interesting characters including a winning documentary film maker, her septuagenarian African-American assistant, assorted rogues, pirates, terrorists and a billionaire and his (wanna be) wife. All come together for a good read.
In the Best Families- by Rex Stout The book cover says that this is the 17th Nero Wolfe book. It's also the third in which Wolfe is pitted against his arch-nemeses Arnold Zeck and things come to a head in it! Originally published in 1950 the story only has one element I noticed that dates it to the time period. It's repeated mentions of the then new phenomena of television and the effect it was having on people.
47- by Walter Mosley Mosley again takes an interesting break from his usual mystery novels that feature the likes of Easy Rawlins, Socrates Fortlow and Fearless Jones. 47 starts off as a story of a young slave and his life on an Alabama plantation in the 1830s (47 is his slave name/number) and then veers off into sci-fi territory. It seems aimed at a younger audience (teens) and leaves itself wide open for sequels.
Best
Joe (who likes Frazetta, Jones, Toth, and Van Gogh but who still doesn't "get" Jackson Pollack (and probably never will either)
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Pollack was a marketing miracle. The pretentious self deception of the elite art world gave him a reputation. It is all about reputation not talent.
They have done tests with the work of kids and "artists" and the elitists often pick the work of the kids when they do not know which is which. The same has been done with "fine" wines. The wild and weird hippy generation produced some garbage that was called art.
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If you step back a bit, you'll find the history of art can always be viewed as a succession of elitist pretense of one form or another.
For instance, the impressionist movement was partly a creative revolt against the rigid esthetic elitism (based on realism) of the fine art (French) academies of the day (1800s)... a revolt which eventually won the day and led to the multitude of accepted modes of artistic expression we have today. Unfortunately, the realism of the old academies (a mode of expression in and of itself) fell out of favor as the social elite embraced these new modes over the old. I find it interesting that we might be coming full circle now, with a renewal of interest in the old esthetics.
As an artist, it should be a wonderful time because of all the acceptable modes of expression one has at one's disposal... in the end, (IMO) it's always about the artist and how he/she wants to express themselves... regardless of what any "elite" would prefer.
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Fair enough, narf. I'm certain that you're correct in saying that he was initially hired because he could paint in the "Frazetta manner", but that was a very fleeting instant in his career. It was a bad start, I agree. I understand more clearly your feelings. Don't agree with them, but I understand them.
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Plugged - Eoin Colfer (Best-Selling author of Artemis Fowl, this is supposedly his venture into the realm of Carl Hiaasen. Not a very good first step.)
Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson (a life from birth to death, but with an ominicent voice that knew and saw more than the narrator. An odd and disconcerting approach. Okay, but not that good)
Galileo's Dream - Kim Stanley Robinson (Fascinating book and subject and realization. Future scientists trying to manipulate Galileo's interactions/reactions with the Church.)
The Discovery of France - Graham Robb (An acquired taste is needed. I've got it, as I'm fascinated by the factors that resulted in modern France. I learned a lot. This is the book that led to his amazing tour de force, The Parisians.)
The Hare with Amber Eyes - Edmund DuWaal (Highly recommended. DuWaal's family history as reconstructed around a collection of Japanese netsuke.)
Ivory and Horn - Charles de Lint (Short stories. Not usually my favorite story form, but I enjoyed this a lot. Of course, I like de Lint's work. Urban Fantasy)
Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon (From the Spanish. A mystery novel about books. How could I not like it? Well, I did. In fact I loved it. Well-written and suspenseful tale about someone trying to eradicate ALL the works of an author by burning them.)
Power & Myth - Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers (Good, but I think it works better as video. This transcription may contain the unedited interviews, but much relies on expressions and tone of voice to carry the full impact.)
Headhunters - Joe Nesbo (without the slash through last "o". Okay. Suspense/Mystery novel about a guy who goes from being a headhunter for a hiring agency to suddenly sparring with a highly trained killer-executive out to kill him. Highly implausible, but an okay read.)
Thunderstruck - Erik Larson (The true story of murderer tied in with the historical development of Marconi's wireless. Told in parallel. Good read.) Also finished his In The Garden of Beasts which I also enjoyed.
The Wise Man's Fears - Patrick Rothfuss (Sequel to The Name of the Wind. Excellent.)
REAMDE - Neal Stephenson (1000+ pages. You gotta like how he writes to tackle this. I was VERY leery after his previous, Anathem, but this is his redemption. Fantastic. Read it TWICE and enjoyed it even more the second time.)
Also reread - The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
Tried some audio Agatha Christie that I found for pennies in Paris: One Two Buckle My Shoe and Murder in the Mews. Christie simply doesn't hold up after all these years. At least not with these Hercule Poirot tales.
The Complaints and The Impossible Dead - Ian Rankin (His new series is promising. So far so good. Fox has many of the personality traits of Rebus, but is sufficiently unique to maybe carry a series. Rankin needs to bring the focus back to The Complaints and not let Fox just intrude, Rebus-like, into the nearest murder case.)
The Fifth Witness and The Drop - Michael Connelly (If you like police mysteries, Connelly can do no wrong in my estimation. I eagerly devour his new offerings.)
Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson (Stunning and hard to swallow at the same time. He comes off as an asshole in his relationships, yet everyone respected him and many loved him. You're left to make up your own mind - which is a powerful accomplishment for a biographer. Recommended.)
The Keeper of Lost Causes - Jussi Adler-Olsen (supposed to be Denmark's answer to Stieg Larsson, but I was under-impressed. I figured out the mystery the minute the clue was dropped and didn't appreciate the abrupt manner in which the detective suddenly (almost) figured it out. Too sloppy.)
I Still Dream of You - Fanny Flagg (light, silly, easy read, but not memorable. Flagg is also an acquired taste and I'm not sure that I've got it.)
probably a couple I missed, but this pretty much catches me up to the present. Currently, I'm reading Cleopatra.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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Jim have you ever read any of Robert B. Parker's Spencer novels? Pretty easy reads. Don't hold up in all areas but nice light stuff.
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Jim have you ever read any of Robert B. Parker's Spencer novels? Pretty easy reads. Don't hold up in all areas but nice light stuff.
I read probably the first seven or eight, narf, and I remember liking them a lot, but then the series really went south on us and we just gave up on it. I know that it's continued over the years, but never stuck a toe back into those waters. Sounds like what I remember they became - pretty light. Do you remember the TV series way back when?
We've been much happier with the Elvis Cole novels of Robert Crais. If you haven't tried them, they come highly recommended.
And both Michael Connelly series - Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer) remain solid reads, especially now that he's conjoined the two.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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Jim,
Once again you've given me a few more new authors (new to me anyway) to look for at the library.
I've got In the Garden of Beasts (I read Thunderstruck awhile back) and the two Rothfuss books on my coming up list (in other words the library has them but I need to work through the pile I already have first).
Just finished rewatching the Campbell/Moyers Power of Myth series on DVD last month. Good stuff but I doubt I'd want to read a transcription.
The Isaacson Steve Jobs book has tons of reserves on it at the library so I will either check out one of the other books on him or wait some time.
The Stephenson book also has a few people waiting on it but I expect it should be available in the first part of next year so should snag it then.
Best
Joe
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Jim have you ever read any of Robert B. Parker's Spencer novels? Pretty easy reads. Don't hold up in all areas but nice light stuff.
I read probably the first seven or eight, narf, and I remember liking them a lot, but then the series really went south on us and we just gave up on it. I know that it's continued over the years, but never stuck a toe back into those waters. Sounds like what I remember they became - pretty light. Do you remember the TV series way back when?
We've been much happier with the Elvis Cole novels of Robert Crais. If you haven't tried them, they come highly recommended.
And both Michael Connelly series - Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer) remain solid reads, especially now that he's conjoined the two.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
I see that Parker's death hasn't stopped his characters books from coming out as apparently the estate has other authors continuing both the Spenser and Jesse Stone series.
For my money Parker's best work in his later years was his Cole & Hitch westerns.
I second Jim's recommendation of both Crais and Connelly, Narf. Consistently good reads! In fact I'm about due for another from both!
Best
Joe
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The Spenser books I have listened to (two of them) as audiobooks. My sister was a big fan of Spenser for Hire. Robert Urich was married to the beautiful Heather Menzies from the Logan's Run TV series. My wife and I recently watched and enjoyed the Lincloln Lawyer movie. I will read the second book after I finish C. S. Lewis scifi trilogy which I started today. Has anyone read it?
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I will read the second book after I finish C. S. Lewis scifi trilogy which I started today. Has anyone read it?
Narf, I assume that you are referring to Out of the Silent Planet, Perlandra and That Hideous Strength. I read the first about two years ago and the second early last year. Found the first fairly interesting but the second something of a letdown. I guess my disappointment with the second is why I still haven't got around to the third. Maybe early next year. I found them leaning a bit more toward the fantastic side of sci-fi with Lewis throwing in some of his religious and mythical allusions.
Best
Joe
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Thanks for the input Joe. I am enjoying the first one so far. The trilogy was listed in the top 100 scifi so I thought I would give them a try.
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I just want to add my endorsement of Robert Crais and I particularly like Joe Pike. Who would you want at your back? Pike or Reacher.
I enjoyed the first Martin Beck book, The Laughing Policeman, by Slowall and Wahloo. These first appeared in the '60's and are now reprinted. Interesting look at Stockholm, it's underworld and police force. Bleak in places. Once again, please have a go at the Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri. Absolutely excellent and they've adapted some of them for t.v. There is a new Bryant and May book by Christopher Fowler due soon. Can't wait. Quirky, funny strange mysteries investigated by the Peculiar Crimes Unit.
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Joe Pike, ANY DAY, Paw.
I find all of the Scandinavian thrillers to be pretty bleak. Maybe it has something to do with the long winter nights...
I've read most of the Peculiar Crimes Unit books, but simply can't seem to embrace them. Karen gobbles them up (which is why I read them - they're laying around the house). "The Laughing Policeman" sounds familiar - perhaps I've read it a long time ago. No recollection of it, though.
I started The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis, but find myself putting it down and returning to Cleopatra. Time will tell.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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I will read the second book after I finish C. S. Lewis scifi trilogy which I started today. Has anyone read it?
Narf, I assume that you are referring to Out of the Silent Planet, Perlandra and That Hideous Strength. I read the first about two years ago and the second early last year. Found the first fairly interesting but the second something of a letdown. I guess my disappointment with the second is why I still haven't got around to the third. Maybe early next year. I found them leaning a bit more toward the fantastic side of sci-fi with Lewis throwing in some of his religious and mythical allusions.
Best
Joe
Gentlemen, these three books are among my favorite reads of ALL TIME. For me, each was more fantastic than the last. Lewis does throw in some religious metaphors (nothing that gets in the way of the story), but the subtext for me was a highly interesting study of the nature of evil. Great stuff.
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"Joe Pike, ANY DAY, Paw" JVJ.
Ah well now, I get quite involved in these adventures and I do wonder. Neither of them are exactly subtle but - no, I can't figure it out. I'm gibbering. Happy with either.
The Laughing policeman is one of the few Scandinavian policiers I've enjoyed and, you're correct, most of the series are too bleak and a bit depressing. A friend enjoys both the original Wallender t.v. series and the newer British version but I can't take either for long.
Linda doesn't enjoy Bryant and May and can't understand my fixation with them but I adore the stories and, as with Montalbano, I've read some more than once.
I'm about to start My Friend Mr. Campion and Other Stories, by Margery Allingham and looking forward to it.
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I'm gibbering, too, Paw. Pay no attention.
Was The Laughing Policeman made into a TV/BBC series a couple of decades ago? I have a vague memory of some series with a man who's face was wrapped in bandages and something about policemen. Getting old and gibbering (again).
If I haven't mentioned her recently, I highly recommend the novels of Minette Walters. Thrillers, perhaps a little bleak, but extremely well-written and potent. Start with "The Ice House" and then decide whether to go on.
I neglected to mention it in my last summation, but add "V is for Vengeance" on to my 'read' stack. Anybody else here read it? If so, what did you think of this one (#22 in the series).
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JVJ, while I don't remember this show, it must be the one you mentioned. Took me a while to track it down but it is the same storyline as the book of the same name. Well done us!
http://www.thetvlounge.co.uk/sweeney/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5826
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I must have the name wrong, paw.
The show I remember was more in the 80s, was a BBC production and very psychological and hard to follow. I'll ask Karen (my external memory) and see if she remembers what it was called.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
Thanks for trying.
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JVJ, while I don't remember this show, it must be the one you mentioned. Took me a while to track it down but it is the same storyline as the book of the same name. Well done us!
http://www.thetvlounge.co.uk/sweeney/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5826
Just to show you how terrible is my memory, paw,
What I was trying to recall was "The Singing Detective" from 1986. It was a British (min)series, so you must remember it. Bhob Stewart says:
Reworking material from his first novel, "Hide and Seek" (1973), and folding this into a prismatic blend of autobiographical details, popular music and 1940s film noir, Dennis Potter delivered a drama now regarded as a 20th-century masterwork. Detective novelist Philip Marlow (Michael Gambon) suffers from the crippling disease of psoriatic arthropathy. Confined to a hospital bed, Marlow mentally rewrites his early Chandleresque thriller, "The Singing Detective," with himself in the title role, drifting into a surreal 1945 fantasy of spies and criminals, along with vivid memories of a childhood in the Forest of Dean. As past events and 1940s songs surface in his subconscious, Marlow's voyage of self-discovery provides a key to conquering his illness, while his noir-styled hallucinations evoke the Philip Marlowe of Chandler's "Murder, My Sweet" (1944)... Written by Bhob Stewart <bhob2@aol.com>
Sorry for the confusion.
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Just to show you how terrible is my memory, paw,
What I was trying to recall was "The Singing Detective" from 1986. It was a British (min)series, so you must remember it.
\
The Singing Detective was one of the best shows to run on television in the 1980s. Brilliant stuff! It's out of DVD now and I'd love to have a rewatch. There was also an American remake a few years ago which I have not seen (but can't imagine it being anywhere near as good as the original).
The writer of the mini-series, Dennis Potter, also wrote Pennies From Heaven which was another brilliant late 1970s mini-series (it also had a so-so American theatrical movie remake).
Best
Joe
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I'm gibbering, too, Paw. Pay no attention.
Was The Laughing Policeman made into a TV/BBC series a couple of decades ago? I have a vague memory of some series with a man who's face was wrapped in bandages and something about policemen. Getting old and gibbering (again).
If I haven't mentioned her recently, I highly recommend the novels of Minette Walters. Thrillers, perhaps a little bleak, but extremely well-written and potent. Start with "The Ice House" and then decide whether to go on.
I neglected to mention it in my last summation, but add "V is for Vengeance" on to my 'read' stack. Anybody else here read it? If so, what did you think of this one (#22 in the series).
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The Laughing Policeman was an early-mid 1970s crime thriller movie with Walter Matthau and Bruce Dern which I remember as being pretty good. It was based on a book by a couple of Swedish authors, whose names escape me. IIRC it was part of series featuring the same characters although I only ever saw (and read) The Laughing Policeman which I had as a movie tie-in paperback.
Is V is for Vengeance the title of the new Sue Grafton book? I've read all of her books and know that the last one was a "U" book so know that "V" is due.
I'm not familiar with Minette Walters but will check to see if the library has copies of her books.
Best
Joe
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Mornings on Horseback- by David McCullough While waiting for the holds on McCullough's new book about Americans in Paris to drop down I sampled this older book of his. It's is a look at the formative years of Teddy Roosevelt (as well as a good look at his siblings and parents). Eminently readable (as are all of McCullough's books).
1493: Uncovering The New World Columbus Created- by Charles C. Mann Excellent follow-up to his 1491 (about the America's before Columbus) Mann expands his scope showing how Columbus' discovery of the Americas initiated a globalization that was totally unexpected in so many ways and which is still going on. Highly recommended!
Sexton Blake and then Time-Killer- by Gwyn Evans Paw's mentioning of Sexton Blake a few weeks back sent me looking for works of his at the library. Well guess what?!? As popular as he was in Britain he never made much of an impression here in America so they had zip!
Fortunately I found this Sexton Blake site-
http://www.sextonblake.co.uk/airwaves.html
- which had an audio book of this 1924 Blake story so I gave it a listen. Quality is a little iffy but it's listenable. Despite what it says about this being an old radio show at the site they're wrong- it's actually an "audiobooks for free" recording that was done within the last decade.
Anyway this audiobook was a bit of a hoot (and not just from the British reader's attempts at an American accent) but at how busy Blake is in the little tome where he solves the mystery of a phantom hound, a stolen microbe, a missing M. P. and also takes on the Mafia! Pretty busy guy! Oh, by the way, like a certain better known private detective, he also lives on Baker Street!
If you want to see just how popular Sexton Blake was check out these sites for a list of his stories.
http://www.sextonblake.co.uk/blakebibliography.html
http://www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes/blake.html
You could literally spend your whole life reading nothing but Sexton Blake. I'm hard-pressed to think of an American character (maybe Nick Carter?) who has had so many stories written about him.
And finally here's a favorite author of Jim's (Patrick Rothfuss) going on a bit about Blake at his blog-
http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2010/04/the-adventures-of-sexton-blake/
Best
Joe
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Is V is for Vengeance the title of the new Sue Grafton book? I've read all of her books and know that the last one was a "U" book so know that "V" is due.
I'm not familiar with Minette Walters but will check to see if the library has copies of her books.
Best
Joe
Yes, it's the Sue Grafton book. I read it and then gave it to Karen to read. A third of the way through, she asked "Do YOU know who wrote the Sue Grafton book?" Neither of us believe that Ms. Grafton soloed on this one. The writing style is more complex in the composition and in the execution. It's one of her better books in many years, but it ain't her alone.
In many ways, a series like this is similar to a long, thick book: she's getting close to the end (ONLY four books to go) and she really needs to wrap up an awful lot of subplots, emotional entanglements, and family issues for Kinsey. A 26 issue series demands a BIG payoff. At least, IMHO, she's bringing in some hired guns to make sure that the stage gets through and that she delivers the goods. Time (5 years) will tell. The first book was published in 1982. so she's been averaging about one book every 16 months. We keep buying them...
Finished The Boy in the Suitcase - okay thriller, filled with improbable characters only adequately realized. Making the characters with mental problems seem to act irrationally without making them act improbably is a real challenge. These two Danish ladies who wrote this, IMHO, didn't do it. Okay read, but nothing special.
Cleopatra is proving mixed as well. I'm learning a lot of Roman/Egyptian history of the last 50 years before Christ. There isn't a great amount of unbiased written record about her. Most of it comes from Roman historians who tend to paint her as a scheming seductress who destroyed two of their greatest leaders. This fleshes her our as a person and as a ruler, but the writing remains dry and somehow unengaging. Maybe the last part of the book will have a bit more energy.
Have a great stack to read and I bought Karen a Nook, so there'll be those to read as well. I'm set for the holidays. Maybe I'll get a Sexton Blake for the nook - if she'll let me borrow it now and then. And I really should put Minette Walters on my re-read list. I have fond recollections.
Peace, Jim (|:{>
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I got bored with SILENT PLANET while they were on the ship. Too much detail about too little. It got got good again but I do find that Lewis gives more details about surroundings than I am interested in so I read over it. I am also enjoying Brass Verdict the second Lincoln Lawyer book. Two different books depending on what I am reading on. Silent Planet on my phone and Verdict on my laptop. We are leaving for a week on the beach. Not to swim but just to chill with the sound of the ocean. I hope to get a lot of reading done. We have at least one night planned to see skating and we may go to another show but not ordering in advance. I like that you do not even have to use will call anymore we just printed the skating tickets.
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I got to the library yesterday and picked up Crais' Lullaby Town (already started it), Connelly's The Poet , Walter's The Ice House, The Laughing Policeman (still can't remember the author's names) and an Ellis Peters Cadfael mystery (the title escapes me at the moment) and added them to the "to be read" stack. They have copies of V is for Vengeance but there are over two hundred holds on it so it will some time before I get my hands on that one.
Best
Joe
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I have not read any of the other Grafton books so would not attempt to get into such a long story.
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I have not read any of the other Grafton books so would not attempt to get into such a long story.
They're all individual mysteries Narf. A is for Alibi, B is for Burglar, etc... The main character is PI Kinsey Milhone. There are a number of other recurring characters and some underlying subplots going on and while the books work best if read in order each is a story onto itself.
One interesting thing about them is that while the series started in 1982 when the first one was published the events in the series have only taken the storyline into the later 1980s thus far.
Best
Joe
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I read a lot of the Kinsey Milhone stories but ended up overdosing - too many, too quickly. Perhaps time to dive back in. They were very entertaining.
Another Sexton Blake story here:-
http://www.friardale.co.uk/Union%20Jack/Union%20Jack.htm
Scroll down to "Nelson Lee in Union Jack" It's a team up.
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Yeah, paw,
she's best taken in yearly doses. I can't imagine rereading her all at once, thou I did do that with Rex Stout the year I retired. I re-read him, Hillerman, Dunning and Chandler in one massive mental "divorce" from responsibility.
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My dad was a great Nero Wolfe fan and introduced me to the stories. I devoured them but haven't gone back for a re-read. Perhaps it's about time. I also read all the Warshawski stories right up to the film, which wasn't very good and I stopped there. I'm currently reading, "Dashing Through the Snow" by Mary Higgins/Carol Higgins Clark, 'cos I fancied a Christmas cosy.
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For Christmas I got the complete collection of the Game of Thrones series, all in hard back.
Just started the first book. Even after having seen the mini series based on the first book, reading is still quite enjoyable.
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Getting kinda' behind in my gabbing about my reading so I'll start trying to catch up here.
Lullaby Town- by Robert Crais Elvis Cole and Joe Pike take on an egotistic Hollywood director as a client and end up fighting the mob. Good stuff.
The Great Stagnation- by Tyler Cowen Small book (Booklet?) which I picked up at the library. The subtitle of it is "How America Ate All the Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better". Whether you agree with his hypothesis or not I give him credit for not coming at this from a partisan stance as he takes both the right and left wingers to the woodshed for various types of behavior.
St Peter's Fair- by Ellis Peters I think I read my first Cadfael mystery about the time the author passed away. There's about twenty of them and I've been reading one or two a year since then. Still got a few to go. Always a pleasure to read. This one takes place during the Civil War in England in the twelfth century and that plays a crucial factor in this tome's murders.
Best
Joe
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The Poisoner's Handbook- by Deborah Blum Interesting and entertaining examination of the major advances that occurred in forensic medicine in NYC from the 1910s to the 1930s. Poisonings gets the biggest coverage in the book due to several famous cases and the huge jump in alcoholic poisonings during the prohibition era.
The First Paul- by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan Very interesting look at the early Christian church leader by two noted Biblical scholars sheds new light on some of his writings. I was quite impressed with their knowledge of the Roman era that Paul's epistles were written in and how this must be taken into account when reading the epistles. Also their going back to the original Greek (in which they written) gives a more proper interpretation of various passages that have not always been taken in the way the author's feel they were actually written.
The Laughing Policeman- by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo I finally got straight the name of the husband and wife team that wrote this book which I gave a reread over the holidays. I understand that they wrote ten novels in the series before Wahloo's death in 1975 and apparently they've been reissued here in the States so I'll be checking more of them out. From what I read about the writers on the web these crime procedurals influenced a good many writers who followed them including Henning Mankell, Ian Rankin, Jo Nesbo and Steig Larsson.
Best
Joe
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I'm almost ashamed to say what I'm reading, compared to all the nice sounding, educational stuff I'm seeing that others are reading. I'm just getting back into reading again, why I'm back here starting with just simple Archie Digest comics I found at a grocery store. It's definitely a very relaxing thing to get back into, even if it's not exactly deep material. :P
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Oh I read plenty of comics too. I just gab about those over in the "Whatcha' Readin'" column under "Comic Talk". This column leans more toward regular books.
Best
Joe
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Bossy Pants- by Tina Fey Amusing memoir from the SNL/30 Rock comedienne. Easy, fun read.
Shock Value- by Jason Zinoman This can be taken as a companion book to Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls book which I read a few months ago as it covers roughly the same period of film history - the later 1960s up til the early 1980s. While Biskind's book examined the more mainstream cinema (and its producers/directors/writers) Zinoman zeros in on the horror genre and examines the changes that occurred within the genre and how it became more mainstream. Concentrates mainly on John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Dan O'Bannon and Brian DePalma (although other are also covered in lesser detail). Some good insights in the book.
Dark Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft- by H. P. Lovecraft It's been just about four decades since I first started reading Lovecraft. I think it was in 1970 that I first became aware of his name mainly via a Roy Thomas adaptation of one of his stories in one of Marvel's mystery/horror titles. Roy followed with more in 1971. I had also started reading Robert E. Howard in 1971- and reading about him. Mentions of REH's work in Weird Tales usually mentioned some of that mags other prominent authors and Lovecraft's was always at the forefront. Finally at the end of 1971 the television series Night Gallery ran adaptations of two Lovecraft stories (Pickman's Model and Cool Air) on two consecutive weeks in December. I was finally intrigued enough to pick up one of the paperback reprints of HPL's work then available. More soon followed. After that initial rush I've only read the occasional odd short story until picking up this collection (which I've been reading one or two selections from between my other books for the last few months) at the library. I do recommend it as a good introduction to the man who, arguably, had the greatest influence on horror writing in the twentieth century.
Best
Joe
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Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter- by Seth Grahame-Smith Well done look at an often overlooked part of the Great Emancipator's life.
Slan Hunter- by A. E. Van Vogt & Kevin Anderson Van Vogt started this sequel to his hugely popular Slan late in his life but was never able to finish it due to the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Now Kevin Anderson has done an admirable job of finishing up the work. Picking up right where the first novel left off the larger group of Slan's (mutants) gain the upper-hand over humans and the remaining Slans. At least for the time being! Left open for a further sequel.
Best
Joe
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What can I say, I've just been a sucker for these humongous Taschen art books lately. First it was that da Vinci tome, and now I'm working my way through Michelangelo: Life and Work by Z
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Terry O'Neill's new comics catalog... Yum :o
I already did James Payette's new one last week. Watch for some new additions to the JVJ list.
(|:{>
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Terry O'Neill's new comics catalog... Yum :o
I already did James Payette's new one last week. Watch for some new additions to the JVJ list.
(|:{>
I saw that too Jim, good hunting.
Geo
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Jack Magic: The Life and Art of Jack Kirby Volume One- by Greg Theakston This first volume of Greg's two volume look at "King Kirby" (as Stan lee often billed him in 1960s Marvel comics) follows Jack's ups and down from childhood through the launch of The Fantastic Four in the early 1960s.
Greg has a very unorthodox way of writing- bouncing back and forth from standard bio to personal memoir to stream of conscious exposition to interview format. This has thrown a number of people that I have seen comment or review the book but since I have been reading Greg's articles and intros for years I'm pretty used to it and just accept it as his "style" of writing.
Others have also moaned over the occasional typos and such and the lack of proofreading. Well I can tell you that this book did have proofreaders and although they did miss a few things here and there the book has less than usual from one of Greg's self-published efforts.
That said the book could have used an editor other than Greg. Someone to get him to tighten up things here and there and eliminate some duplication in the text.
Also it would have been better if Greg had let some knowledgeable fans read it to catch areas where his writings kind of bungle up sequence of events.
A perfect example of this would be on pages 112-113 where Greg talks about events in 1956 when Kirby took over the Atlas Yellow Claw book from artist Joe Maneely. Greg says it was because Maneely had recently been killed in a train accident. Actually Maneely wasn't killed in that accident until two years later in 1958 (after the Atlas Implosion).
Occasional goofs like this aside I did enjoy this volume and even though I had already read many of the incidents related in it via Greg's previous writings about Kirby and such I still found enough new material to keep me interested.
The book is profusely illustrated btw.
Best
Joe
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Lost in Shangri-La- by Mitchell Zuckoff How's this sound for the plot of an adventure movie? In the final months of WWII a plane carrying two dozen servicemen and Wacs crashes in a nearly inaccessible valley in New Guinea. Two of the men and one beautiful Wac survive, injured but alive- for the moment anyway. The trouble is that the valley is nearly inaccessible by land, gangrene is developing in their wounds and the only native inhabitants of the valley are known cannibals! Time to parachute the crack commando squad in and hope they can save the day! And for comedy relief we'll send in a drunken reporter to chronicle the whole shee-bang! Like I said it sounds like a Hollywood movie. The crazy thing is it really happened!!!
Deadly Beloved- by Max Allan Collins I used to enjoy Max Collins hard boiled detective comic series Ms. Tree which was ably illustrated by Terry Beatty (in a very appropriate Johnny Craig-esque style). While there hasn't been a Ms. Tree comic in a while Collins has brought her back in this prose novel (which I believe is her first). I was looking forward to it but came away disappointed. The whole story seems very under-developed and reads like it was phoned in. The least of Collins' works that I have read (and I've read quite a few of 'em).
Full Dark, No Stars- by Stephen King A collection of four novels/novelettes by King. Over the years of reading King I've found that I've come to find his shorter works often more satisfying as King tends to keep things tighter in them and they don't seem as bloated as some of his novels do.
Best
Joe
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Blake Bell's first volume Amazing Mysteries is now out and looks great.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_14/182-1921114-8861434?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=amazing+mysteries+bill+everett+archives&sprefix=Amazing+myster%2Cstripbooks%2C250
Most/all the work is available here but most here like to hold the book in their hands when they can. Boy what a savings at Amazon!
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Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World- by Liaquat Ahamed Covers the events from WWI into the Great Depression of the 1930s by concentrating primarily on the actions of the men who ran the central banks of Great Britain, France, Germany and America. Shows how their actions helped bring about the depression and help pave the way for WWII. Ahamed has been a professional investment manager for over a quarter of a century so he knows his stuff and he manages to wrote about it in such a way that even an economic ignoramus such as myself can pretty well follow the storyline.
The Dark Tunnel- by Ross MacDonald MacDonald's very first book written during WWII concerns itself with murder and espionage. Some of the attitudes toward minorities date the book more than it's period setting. Not bad but I think I'll concentrate more on revisiting Lew Archer in the future.
The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America- by David Hadju Covers the events leading up to the purge of the comic book industry in the 1950s. I found this to be pretty well researched even if I didn't always agree with his allusions and conclusions. The list of people forced out of the industry at the end of the book also seems overblown. Still I'd give it a recommendation overall.
Best
Joe
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I've just started a "new" John Rawlings story by Deryn Lake. These are Georgian murder mysteries featuring Jon Rawlings, an apothecary, who works occasionally for John Fielding, magistrate. Full of period detail and set in the early days of the Bow St. Runners, the adventures are good fun. This one is entitled Death in Hellfire and, needlesss to say, is an investigation into the Hellfire Club.
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I am re-reading an old favorite. Some of the first sci-fi novels that I read were by Allen E. Nourse. I read all of his books that I could get my hands on. I find myself enjoying Star Surgeon again after probably 40 years. His books were to be found in middle school libraries. Which means that they lack sex and vulgarity. Which means that they rely on good characterization and story. Star Surgeon is one that is public domain and freely available on the internet. Many of his short stories are also PD. It looks to me that SS is the only novel of Nourse's that is PD. I highly recommend almost any of his books and some of my favorites RAIDERS FROM THE RINGS, Trouble on Titan, and ROCKET TO LIMBO. There are a few of his novels that I have not yet read. I need to search the local used book store and try to find them.
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Nourse, like Robert E. Heinlein, wrote both juvenile and adult sci-fi. I remember reading some of his juveniles about the same time as I was reading my first Heinleins back in grade school.
I haven't seen one of his books in years. I imagine that he has passed away by now.
I'll have to see if the library has any of his books on their shelves.
Will also check to see if they have any books by Deryn Lake since Paw gives him some good words here.
Best
Joe
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Star Surgeon appears to be the only free novel but many of his short stories are available PD. I have a paperback of Mercy Men. One of Nourse's books that I have never read that I want to start soon.
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I checked our local library and Star Surgeon is the only Nourse book I could find that is currently available (perhaps because it is PD more publishers are reprinting it) so I will give it a read.
They also have a number of Deryn Lake's books at the library. I was wondering if Paw mike have any particular titles to recommend?
Best
Joe
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Oh dear, difficult. I always worry that my taste wont suit others. However, start with the earliest you can find as there is a progression through Rawling's life. Here's the author's site:-
http://derynlake.com/mysteries.php
I've been reading these over a number of years but I seem to recall particularly enjoying Death on Romney Marsh and Death at the Devil's Tavern. The first story is Death in the Dark Walk. I like historical murder mysteries and can also suggest the Inspector Colbeck stories and the Christopher Redmayne enquiries by Edward Marston. Website here:-
http://www.edwardmarston.com/
I've enjoyed all the Colbecks and The Frost Fair story with Redmayne was very entertaining.
Thinking on what you're talking about above, it brought home to me how little S.F. I read nowadays and this is a genre I couldn't get enough of years ago. I can't seem to find many ideas and plots which appeal in modern offerings. I enjoy space adventure e.g. The Lost fleet; early Honor Harrington; empty space as in Mc Devitt's, Engines of God and subsequent Hutch stories. Sort of given up looking.
Amending this to add, try, A Metropolitan Murder by Lee Jackson. A good mystery and a bit eccentric.
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Thanks Paw. The earliest Deryn Lake book my library seems to carry is Death at the Beggar's Opera (the second in the series) so I'll put in a reserve for that. They also have the Lee Jackson book you mention as well as several by Edward Marston so I'll be able to check things out there too.
Best
Joe
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My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business- by Dick Van Dyke Enjoyable little memoir from the actor/comedian.
What the Dog Saw: and Other Adventures- by Malcolm Gladwell A collection of short pieces whose common link is that the author continues to give us alternate ways of viewing things.
The Name of the Wind: King Killer Chronicle Book 1- by Patrick Rothfuss Jim was right about this author. It's a big ol' book but it's so engagingly written that I fairly flew through it. Looking forward to more from this author.
Best
Joe
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Currently midway through, Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith. My wife suggested I might enjoy it and she was right. Amusing and well written. (Nothing to do with No.1 Ladies Detective Agency)
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I just finished two Alan Nourse short stories "Circus" and "Coffin Cure" very much like some good Twilight Zone episode. I look forward to reading some more. Star Surgeon is the only PD novel but lots of his short stories are PD. Since I have learned to prefer digital I was disappointed not to find more of Nourse's books available in digital.
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Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend- by Susan Orlean For those who have never heard of him, Rin Tin Tin (Rinty to his friends) was originally one of the biggest movie stars of the 1920s. He was also a dog-specifically a German Sheppard. He was so popular and his film's made so much money that they took the poverty row studio (Warner Bros) that produced his films to the point where they were able to buy out other studios, afford to make blockbusters with big stars and directors and invest in something called Vitaphone which brought sound to movies and changed them forever.
A few years after the coming of sound Rin Tin Tin passed away at the age of thirteen. Other dogs, some his actual descendents and others just using his name continued in movies (and later television) for years afterwards.
Orlean's book isn't always right on the money when it comes to Hollywood history (there are a few groaners in fact) but she does get right the part about the relationship between people and dogs and how Rinty changed a lot of that!
Dying To Tell- by Robert Goddard Another fine book from Goddard which like the others I have read digs into decades of mystery with twists and turns all along the way.
The Poet- by Michael Connelly This is the one Connelly book which I had been wanting to read for quite some time as it was referenced in some of his later books which I had already read. Every time I went to the library though it was always checked out. Well I finally got it and it was worth the wait. This one features reporter Jack McEvoy as he works with the F. B. I. to track down a serial cop killer.
Steve McQueen- by Marc Eliot Eliot keeps getting a little better with each bio of his that I read. In this one he looks at the "King of Cool" who comes across as a a lot more insecure and unfocussed than cool. Eliot makes some interesting comparisons between McQueen and Clint Eastwood (the subject of his previous biography) as the two men were the same age, came to Hollywood at roughly the same time and got their starts in TV westerns but who took very different tacks with their careers.
The Ice House- by Minette Walters I believe it was Jim who recommended this one and it is a good mystery with a lot of good (if dysfunctional) character work in it. Look forward to checking out more of her books.
Best
Joe
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I have not seen the early Rinty movies but loved the TV show as a kid. Then my son and I were big fans of the 80's tv series
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The Complaints- by Ian Rankin I had several people recommend Rankin to me before I got around to checking one of his books out. Good police procedural set in Scotland. This is the first in his Inspector Malcolm Fox series. I understand he also has a number of earlier volumes featuring an Inspector Rebus which I also plan on sampling before long.
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention- by Manning Marable Excellent bio. Will probably be the definitive book on the man unless there are great revelations in the government files that have not yet been made public.
So Long as You Both Shall Live- by Ed McBain McBain's 87th Precinct series is one of best known and longest running police procedural series. I've read and enjoyed a number of them over the years. This one isn't quite up to his better efforts though. Seems rather rushed and uninspired. Likes he's just going through the paces getting it written.
Best
Joe
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Joe, Rankin made his name with the Rebus books and it has been made into a t.v. series with, first of all, John Hannah starring, then Ken Stott, who is superb in the role.
I've just finished the latest Bryant and May story by Christopher Fowler. This one titled, "In Memory of Blood" Perhaps an acquired taste (Linda just doesn't get it) but they are quite superb, Thrilling, sad, thoughtful, very eccentric.
Next, I'm about 1/3rd. into," Kris Longknife, Daring" by Mike Shepherd. Space opera, not that well written and loaded with some silly government/family background but quite exciting in the space scenes. Especially as he seems to be introducing a major alien enemy in this one.
I used to enjoy the Honor Harrington stories until the "cod" politics and duff family stuff became too much. But, if you enjoy sailing ship adventures, the space tactics and, especially, the occasional stern chase, are pretty enthralling. This sort of space opera is just another version of old gung ho sailing ship adventures - for foreign parts read new solar systems.
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Joe, Rankin made his name with the Rebus books and it has been made into a t.v. series with, first of all, John Hannah starring, then Ken Stott, who is superb in the role.
Paw, I've found the Rebus episodes available online for watching but was wondering if these are adaptations of the books and if so would you recommend reading the books first?
Curious
Joe
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Admission time - while the books are seriously well written, they are a bit too serious and dark at times for me. Same with the t.v. series. John Hannah, while a very good actor, was a bit miscast in this as he looks almost too young and not world weary enough. Ken Stott, however, is neither of those and is also a fine actor. Try a book first, earliest possible. The t.v. series gives glimpses of parts of Edinburgh not usually seen in the travel books. Same as the Taggart t.v. series, where the dark side of the city is shown at times. Although many would say that Glasgow is dark and edgy most of the time.
Don't think I've been much help but I hope you enjoy them.
By the way, Ian Rankin is a comics fan and has turned up at various marts up here. He's a really nice bloke.
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Thanks for the insights Paw. I'll try one of the Rebus books before too long. The TV shows can wait a bit as I still have plenty of Doc Martin episodes to get through for now anyway.
Best
Joe
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Star Surgeon- by Alan E. Nourse One of Nourse's juveniles holds up well. Its storyline of tolerance for those of a different species parallels the civil rights movement then going on in the United States when it was originally published.
The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery- by Eric Foner Nicely told and very well researched examination of Lincoln's constantly evolving views on the "peculiar institution".
Windy City Blues- by Sara Paretsky Generally enjoyable collection of short stories featuring Paretsky's tough Chicago private eye V. I. Warshawski.
Best
Joe
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I've read Star Surgeon several times always enjoyable. I just started the Hunger Games
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I've read Star Surgeon several times always enjoyable. I just started the Hunger Games
With all the recent hullabaloo about The Hunger Games(because of the movie being released) the Lil Missus was telling me something about the book series it is based on and it piqued my interest.
I thought I'd check it out at the library but apparently so did a lot of other people as I soon found out that there is a huge number of holds on the title so it'll be awhile before I get to it.
Best
Joe
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$19 bucks for all three digital at Amazon
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To be honest Narf, with the exception of art books, comic collections and the like I buy almost no books these days. I don't mind waiting a bit to get them at the library. Plenty of other stuff to read for now.
Usually if something is hot at the library I find if I give it six or eight months the interest has lagged and then I can get it without much of a wait.
Best
Joe
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Same with me. I don't buy many books and will put in a request at the library, if what I want isn't on the shelf.
Currently, I'm just reaching the denouement of The Dark Vally by Valerio Varesi, an Italian story, well translated into English, featuring Commissario Soneri. The author is a journalist at the newspaper, La Repubblica. There is currently a t.v. series featuring Soneri, which, hopefully, will appear soon on British t.v. Needless to say, this is the 2nd. story, so I'll have to request the first one. As usual, I've got things backwards.
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The Snowman- by Jo Nesb
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I wish I could read like I did when I had young eyes. Reading on my phone has made things easier though
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I'm rapidly approaching the end of the most recent Lost Fleet book. This is the new one where "Black Jack" Geary has to take the fleet back out into alien space. Real aliens now not just the Syndics. Pretty exciting in places and lots of intrigue. A friend gave me the most recent Mark L van Name book, Children No More. S.F. again, despite what I said somewhere on here about not reading much S.F. it's simply that recently some folk have mentioned titles I might like. I've enjoyed the previous 3 in the series so that's next up.
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The Adventures of Johnny Vermillion- by Loren D. Estleman Estleman is an author I've been reading every now and then since I picked up his two Sherlock Holmes books (Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula; or, The Adventures of the Sanguinary Count and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes) back in the 1970s. He writes interesting mysteries (best known for his Amos Walker novels), historical novels and westerns. This one is a western. Not a conventional western though as it concerns a traveling theater troupe who also happen to be bank robbers. They get away with it for quite awhile until both the Pinkertons and a real outlaw gang get on their trail. A good deal of humor is in the mix.
The Garner Files: A Memoir- by James Garner and Jon Winokur While reading this I couldn't help comparing Garner's career with those of Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood (both of whom I've read bios on over the past year or so). All three men were close to the same age, served time in the military (although only Garner fought in combat), drifted into acting after being in the service, played bit parts in films while mostly doing television work, then all three found stardom in western series and then movies and eventually formed their own production companies.
A Metropolitan Murder- by Lee Jackson This one's a pretty interesting Victorian era murder mystery that Paw recommended. Does a very good job of recreating a feel of 1850s London. I gather that this is the first book of his featuring Inspector Decimus Webb. At this time it appears to be the only one of Jackson's books that my library carries. Hopefully they'll get in more.
Best
Joe
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Live and Let Die- by Ian Fleming Time for another cold war flashback. IIRC, this is the second Bond novel which means it was probably written in the mid 1950s and its "less than enlightened" view of African-Americans really shows. Definitely some un-PC moments in this one. I was caught by surprise by the brutality visited on Bond's CIA buddy Felix Leiter. Possibly I never read this one in my younger days or somehow had just forgotten the incident over the years.
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can make a Big Difference- by Malcolm Gladwell. Another enlightening book by Gladwell that shows us different ways of looking at things. I believe I'm currently through the Gladwell canon as it now stands. All good reads. Thanks for recommending them Jim.
Secrets Behind the Comics- by Stan Lee My first rereading of this in over thirty years. Lee does a good job of explaining to the layman in general how comics were produced in the post WWII period. I do remember noting during my first read that he could have used a few more specifics (such as the size of the original art) and it would have been nice if he had also discussed the coloring process and a bit about the printing process and its limitations and such.
On this reread the one thing that jumped out at me was his retelling of Captain America's creation which contains no mention at all of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon and is all about Martin Goodman. A disappointing rewrite of history by Stan on those few pages. Despite that flaw overall the book is a could document of the period and a fun read for comic historians.
Best
Joe
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It is believed by many that Stan wrote very little of what he is credited with in THE MARVEL AGE. The MARVEL STYLE was actually the artist doing most of the work including the majority of the writing. The big differences in stories and styles and quality of writing tend to verify this. Not wanting to argue it because from my understanding it is producing big arguments elsewhere on Masterworks.
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Yeah I've seen the whole "what did Stan actually write" argument get real ugly real quick on some of the boards.
Doc V, whom I consider to one of the top Timely-Atlas-Marvel scholars, recently chimed in on this regarding Lee and Kirby and his feeling was that Stan should be credited with approximately 30% of the writing in that particular teaming.
Best
Joe
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Re. more info on how comics are made:-
I don't know if you're aware that A.D. says, and told me years ago, that when he started drawing comics pages he pencilled them same size as he thought they would appear and it was a bit of a revelation when he learned that he should draw on layout boards and it would be resized pre-publication.
I haven't read Secrets Behind the Comics but our library has the Joe Simon book (I forget the title) so I should borrow that.
I've just finished, "Tiger Standish Steps On It" by Gerald Horner (Horner for excitement", as it states on the cover) a sort of sub Bulldog Drummond. Almost impossible to list all the traps the bad guys set for him.
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I had a quick look thru' the topic, but couldn't tell - who is "A.D."?
Re. more info on how comics are made:-
I don't know if you're aware that A.D. says, and told me years ago, that when he started drawing comics pages he pencilled them same size as he thought they would appear and it was a bit of a revelation when he learned that he should draw on layout boards and it would be resized pre-publication.
I haven't read Secrets Behind the Comics but our library has the Joe Simon book (I forget the title) so I should borrow that.
I've just finished, "Tiger Standish Steps On It" by Gerald Horner (Horner for excitement", as it states on the cover) a sort of sub Bulldog Drummond. Almost impossible to list all the traps the bad guys set for him.
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Yes, sorry about that but as I started to write his name, I thought, Should I be embarrassing someone whose work I've always enjoyed? I shouldn't perhaps have made the post. So, suffice it to say, there is at least one very popular, currently working, British artist who started out not knowing how comics were produced but quickly, as he is so talented, got it right.
Now I'm embarrassed!
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OK. Well, there's no shame in not magically knowing how comics are made, there wouldn't' have been any way for him to know.
Yes, sorry about that but as I started to write his name, I thought, Should I be embarrassing someone whose work I've always enjoyed? I shouldn't perhaps have made the post. So, suffice it to say, there is at least one very popular, currently working, British artist who started out not knowing how comics were produced but quickly, as he is so talented, got it right.
Now I'm embarrassed!
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If A.D. is who I think it is... he turned out just fine as an artist and has nothing to be embarrassed about!
:)
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That's the sort of mistake that many young artists would make so Alan Davis certainly has nothing to be ashamed of.
Best
Joe
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The Great War: American Front- by Harry Turtledove I've been meaning to get started on Turtledove's follow up series to his alternate history novel How Few Remain (which covered a period in America in the 1880s after the South had won the American Civil War). This jumps ahead to WWI and has the Union and the Confederacy on opposite sides again with plenty of fighting taking place in North America from Canada in the north on down to the Mexican border area. Looking forward to the continuation in the next volume.
Jack Magic: The Life and Art of Jack Kirby Volume Two- by Greg Theakston Greg winds up his look at Kirby in this second volume which becomes more and more a personal memoir as he gets into it. Covers the period from the early 1960s through Kirby's death in the 1990s. Contains both some touching and some odd remembrances.
Curtains For Three- by Rex Stout A fine collection of three Nero Wolfe novellas. Seems to date to the early 1950s based on the few topical references dropped in the narratives.
Best
Joe
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I just dug out a book I received for Christmas some time ago. The Book is titled "Sea of Glory".
Its a non fiction historical account of an ambitious ocean spanning expedition of discovery undertaken by six vessels of the U S Navy in 1838 through 1842.
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I have not been able to force myself to read pure non-fiction except about comics. When it comes to history I love learning through historical fiction. I loved the Hornblower series and learned a lot
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Sea of Glory sounds right up my alley. I'll have to see if my local library has it.
Some recent reads-
The Steve Jobs Way: Leadership for a New Generation- by Jay Elliott Thought I'd check this out while waiting for the Walter Isaacson bio on Jobs to become available (still a number of holds on it at the library). Elliott was a former V.P with Apple who was hired by and worked with Jobs for a number of years. He offers some interesting insights into how and why Jobs operated the way he did during those years.
Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America- by Walter R. Borneman Polk is a president who doesn't get written about much so I was pleasantly surprised to find this bio on him at the library. He's somewhat controversial because of the war with Mexico that took place during his one term as president. Borneman wisely stays away from modern takes on that aspect of his presidency although he does tackle how he was both criticized and praised at the time for it.
Darwin's Radio- by Greg Bear I've only read a couple of Bear's books so far but both were interesting cutting edge sci-fi novels. This one concerns mankind taking the next step in evolution.
Best
Joe
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Star Island by Carl Hiaasen. Great read. Funny, entertaining and satirical as usual.
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Red Square- by Martin Cruz Smith It's the early 1990s and the Soviet Union is crumbling. Arkady Renko has been called back to Moscow and been reinstated as an Inspector. He soon learns though that the more things change the more they remain the same.
Theodore Rex- by Edmund Morris The middle volume of Morris' trilogy on the life of Theodore Roosevelt does an admirable job of covering his years as president from its highs (brokering a peace between Russia and Japan) and its lows (his handling of the Brownsville Affair).
The Railway Detective- by Edward Marston Delightful Victorian era detective novel. I look forward to reading more of the adventures of Inspector Colbeck. Thanks for the recommendation on this one, Paw.
Best
Joe
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Darwin's Radio was very satisfying. Sequel Darwin's Children likewise
-D
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I'll check my local library to see if they carry have that sequel.
Thanks
Joe
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Well even with the new job keeping me busy this past month or so I'm still doing plenty of reading but much of it has been of the technical manual variety ("The proper calibration of flame ionization units") and I haven't had as much time for leisure reading.
Here's a few I squeezed in-
Indigo Slam- by Robert Crais Another winner featuring Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.
Darkly Dreaming Dexter- by Jeffrey Lindsay The book that the Showtime TV series Dexter is based on. Much of the first season of the show is based on this novel. Followed by several sequels.
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris- by David McCullough Looks at various Americans who, during roughly 1825-1900, lived and studied in Paris. Much of the advancements in such fields as medicine and art that they picked up in France they then brought back to America which helped their young growing country.
Best
Joe
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Just started with The Deep Zone by James M. Tabor. A thriller/action/conspiracy type story about a mysterious epidemic that starts killing American soldiers in Afghanistan and then goes with a microbiology team searching for a cure in the deepest/biggest cave in the world in Mexico. Also has a traitor high in the Washington's ranks along with a assassin on the search team so it has pretty much it all.
This is the first book I've read by this author, so far so good.
Geo
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Sounds pretty good Geo. I have not read any novels since the Hunger Games trilogy. I have read a lot of variety of comics from Comixology. Darn first issue free has got me to buy several. When it comes to prose I realized that I have read several short stories here and there. Lots of free stuff on the web. I can not get my wife to give digital books a real chance. I have been having a hard time keeping her in books since she retired. No waiting to ship digital and they don't take up so much space. But if she really loves a book/author she keeps them. If she just likes it she will trade it in. Since she wants to keep them she won't use the library.
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Kiss Her Goodbye- by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins. Collins does another seamless wrap up to one of Spillane's unfinished Mike Hammer novels.
You Could Call It Murder- by Lawrence Block Another of Block's early books brought back into print. Nice pulpy flavor.
The Sea of Glory- by Nathaniel Philbrick Interesting and well researched account of a 19th century American voyage of discovery that has been virtually forgotten today.
Best
Joe
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I was looking through a long ignored book case a couple of days ago, and found a book I'd read more than thirty years ago.
The title is simply "Titan", by John Varley.
Rather than being about the Saturnian moon Titan its about a vast artificial structure found orbiting Saturn in an odd eliptical orbit suggesting its from beyond our solar system.
The hardback copy I have has some startlingly fine illustrations, and the creature designs are very well thought out.
They could easily make a blockbuster movie based on this novel. Theres plenty of material there for a high quality miniseries for that matter.
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Geo. The Deep Zone sounds like my sort of thing.
Captain, I love stories of strange, enigmatic deep space objects.
I've been reading the 44, Scotland Street novels by Alexander McCall Smith. Stared with The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, then, The Importance of Being 7. Next up will be Bertie Sings the Blues. Smith is a highly entertaining writer and his use of language is excellent. Funny, odd little stories and Bertie is the hero for millions of us. Linda has been raving about them.
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Vintage Mystery & Detective Stories, edited by David Stuart Davies.
A collection of mystery and detective short stories that are mostly pre-1920s. A rather mixed bag of some classics and not-so-classic stories, including some well-known and not-so-well-known authors. The editor also sneaked in a few of his own stories, modern stories of his own detective, but set in the Victorian Age.
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San Angelo Showdown by William W. Johnstone
I read a lot of westerns, but I seem to like the Johnstone ones the most. No offense intended to Grey or L'Amour...
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Non-fiction for me, comics are enough out-there stuff as it is. I just got two books from the library here,one is more recent than the other; SWEETNESS: THE ENIGMATIC LIFE OF WALTER PAYTON, and SCHULZ AND PEANUTS: A BIOGRAPHY. The Payton book is 430 pages, and the Schulz book is 566 pages, that's just shy of 1,000 pages. THAT oughtta take a while!
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Of course reading and page count are relative to the time period published. Pick up a paperback from the '70s and the print per page will be much more than a current book. More pages means selling for more money for less actual product. I don't blame the publishers if the people are fooled or if they know exactly what they are getting.
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- All the more reason I'm glad libraries are free!
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I look for the physical Library building to become a thing of the past. As we paper readers age out the digital generation will have no need. There is enough to read on Gutenberg.org alone to keep anyone busy till they die.
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I'm kinda new to pulp reading, and I just started the first Toka novel..King of the Dinosaurs....from Fantastic Adventures 1945.
Kind of a Ka-Zar-Turok thing. Savage man in a prehistoric world.
It's kinda klunky prose with the savages speaking almost in jive, so not sure how long I'll stick with it.
In addition to reading GA comics on my iPad, I tend to cycle through texts of Doc Savage, Tarzan, The Shadow and the Spider pulps. Generally in publication order. The Spider is my favorite.
And, as in the case of the Toka pulp, I'll often locate a pulp scan with an interesting-looking story and put it on my iPad.
Kurt Hathaway
khathawayart@gmail.com
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Well moondood can you tell if the Dell Toka comic was based on the pulp? What issues of Fantastic Adv carried the Toka feature?
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Funny you ask, Narf.
I didn't read much Dell-Gold Key growing up...I was mostly a DC-Marvel guy, but thanks to efforts like those on this site, I'm exposed to all sorts of neat books.
I've recently read the first 4 issues of the Toka comic and I'd have to say the pulps don't seem to be related in any way. 2 characters in the pulp tales are Toka and Rok...I wondered if someone later combined those names to come up with Turok later. It's possible that the comic series appropriated the name from the pulps, though.
The pulp Toka seems to be a caveman living in prehistoric times...like Tor, I guess. The comics Toka is Incan, and though he's 400 years old, he lives in modern times--at least 1960's modern times. Both "jungle" features, to be sure, but different.
I read a few old Turok comics, too--and enjoy those.
Tarzan is my all-time favorite character, so I'm exploring various other characters of the same type. Still gotta read me some Otis Adelbert Kline one'a these days.
The 3 pulp Tokas are:
Fantastic_Adventures_v07-04 Oct 1945____Toka 01__.cbz
Fantastic_Adventures_v08-01 Feb 1946___Toka 02__.cbz
Fantastic_Adventures_v09-08 Dec 1947__Toka 03__.cbz
The Toka author "Pelkie" is actually the FA editor Ray Palmer [yes, the Silver-Age Atom character was named after him]. I guess he thought it in bad taste to use his real name?
Looking forward to reading the Jongor novels, too.
Kurt Hathaway
khathawayart@gmail.com
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I read one Klein with Planet of Peril a John Carter rip-off. If it gives you a clue, it will probably be the last Klein that I read. Love the covers though
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I hope that narfstatr is WRONG about libraries becoming a thing of the past. It seems like damn near everybody who has a computer seems to think that everybody else does. Computers cost MONEY. Libraries DO NOT. I just basically got shamed out of doing a blog I was writing because I was reviewing comics blogs that ran non-public domain stories and I tried to help other less wealthy (and let's face it, comics are WAY too expensive nowadays) readers save some money, but no, if DC and Marvel and Disney can't suck EVERY LAST DIME out of their fans, EVEN FOR OLD STUFF THAT THEY'VE ALREADY MADE MILLIONS OFF OF, then you CAN'T be allowed into their fan club - and why would anybody WANT to be a fan of such CORPORATE VAMPIRES? No, narf - I HOPE YOU ARE DEAD WRONG!
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With the cost of any number of devices becoming available for less than $50, I think it is inevitable, like it or not. I would like to see libraries evolve into virtual learning centers. Schools system everywhere are offering alternatives to classroom instruction. While this is a great fit for some students it is not for all. I think libraries can be co-opted to work along side these endeavors.
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I hope that narfstatr is WRONG about libraries becoming a thing of the past. It seems like damn near everybody who has a computer seems to think that everybody else does. Computers cost MONEY. Libraries DO NOT.
Well, not to be too nitpicky, libraries DO cost money--it's just that their money usually comes from taxes and bond issues instead of from fees. Even publicly-funded organizations need to provide some measure of value to the community. My local library offers audio cd's and dvd's for rental, and has some computers available for use and internet access, as well as books, and a rather slim, but rotating selection of comic collections and graphic novels.
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I started Ludwig von Mises' Human Action a long time ago, but never finished it. I've decided to go back and finish it. It's a bit heavy in the reading department, but Mises covers just about everything you could possibly want to know about economics and then some. Well-worth the effort.
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Good discussion about libraries. Folk outside the UK might not realise it but, with all the cutbacks and austerity here, some councils, mostly in England, are closing libraries and there are lots of campaigns against the cuts. Fortunately, in Scotland we have a devolved government and they have managed to avoid the worst depredations of the Tory-Lib. coalition in Westminster. Our local library is a relatively new building and, although having had to trim its opening hours, seems to be thriving. We have a computer suite, good lending department, children's activities, talks by well-known authors, dvd's, cd's, a reading group, computer games to borrow and/or play in the building, a big tv. showing BBC news channel, local and national newspapers and mags. and a good selection of GN's and tpb's. We use it regularly and membership, which is free, is going up. It was run by Falkirk Council but is now run by Falkirk Community Trust who administer all the libraries in the district as well as sports grounds and the Hippodrome Cinema. Long may it last. Fingers crossed.
http://www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org/venues/
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That's great, paw, LONG LIVE LIBRARIES!
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Absolute Monarchs by John Julius Norwich A history of the Papacy- the good, the bad and the ugly. Always interesting reading.
The Ancient Alien Question by Philip Coppens Explores the question of extraterrestrial visitation of Earth over the years. The author keeps a pretty balanced perspective looking over the evidence and the various theories.
V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton Grafton turns out one of the better Kinsey Milhone volumes in recent years.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Okay teen reading. I'd read another but am not rushing out to grab the next one just yet.
Best
Joe
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With the cost of any number of devices becoming available for less than $50, I think it is inevitable, like it or not. I would like to see libraries evolve into virtual learning centers. Schools system everywhere are offering alternatives to classroom instruction. While this is a great fit for some students it is not for all. I think libraries can be co-opted to work along side these endeavors.
If by less than $50, you mean something like a Kindle, keep in mind that you still have to PAY for books that you read there. For FREE reads (like THIS wonderful site), you still need a (more expensive) regular computer. But I suppose in time they'll be affordable for all, too, and you will be proven right. Too bad, though. I'll miss the librarians I've developed friendships with.
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Our local library system currently has downloads of e-books, audiobooks, music, and video available for free. It seems to be a growing part of their services.
Best
Joe
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I had to put that Toka pulp novel down about 4 chapters in...the characters are prehistoric, but speak in jive--when they started to play baseball, I knew it wasn't the ERB-esque material I thought it was. Switched to a short Pulp novel "Mystery of the Lost Race"--a WW2 tale about space-shifting Mongolians published in a 1942 Fantastic Adventures. Lots better and a fun, pulpy read. Not sure what's next, but I've formatted a few pulp novel scans for my ipad, so I'll just check the roster and pick something.
Kurt Hathaway
khathawayart@gmail.com
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I am on the second book of the Homelander series by noted author Andrew Klavan. It was recommended for those who liked The Hunger Games. It is good but the pace is much slower than hunger games and the book is too much first person perspective from the main character. I am enjoying it but I can see where the youth audience would like it more. I also think that I have the "main" mystery solved. If I do, then I am proud of myself, but somewhat disappointed in book for not fooling me. If you like a light action read then I would say give the series a try at $10 kindle price. If you require more from your reading then you may wish something more intense.
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My latest book and I can't recommend it highly enough, was, Bryant & May and The Invisible Code, by Christopher Fowler. This is the 10th. in the series and when I was at Wee John's today he showed me an ad in the back of those PS Publishing reprint books (the ACG, Harvey and other horror titles reprints) for a comic book adaptation of Bryant & May:-
http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/blog/2012/09/24/why-you-cant-find-the-bryant-may-graphic-novel-yet/
And coming up soon will be the latest English translation of a Montalbano story by Andrea Camilleri. As soon as it arrives at my local library, that is. These are so good and beautifully translated. Hope you've all been watching the tv show, at least. Info here:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g81rs
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Just received via Amazon Tales of the Shadowmen Vol # 1 (very cheaply). Starting to read tonight. Anyone else read any of this stuff?
RB
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I did not know anything about it but it looks pretty good. While looking I saw Crossovers which looks pretty cool
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I've backed up my reading to start now with Myths for the Modern Age: Philip Jose Farmer's *Wold Newton Universe* Edited by Win Scott Eckertt the precursor to Crossover's I & II and is more of a guide and "fills in the blanks" kind of thing so far. it's 392 pages and I am only a 3rd through it. more later.
RB
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Masks # 2. Miss Fury and the Green Lama! with the Black Terror waiting in the wings! Hmmmm. Any general thoughts about mixing super-heroes with the pulp types?
RB
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I was suprised and disappointed to see Black Terror is to be in the next issue. The Green Lama is bad enough because I do not think his powers fit in with the other pulp characters. He is a pulp character however and the Black Terror is not.
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I would prefer they stick to pulp heroes. I applaud the effort to introduce younger readers to some of the pulp greats. Hopefully they won't try to introduce too many characters and, thereby, do justice to none of them. Cheers, Bowers
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Well we are stuck with Miss Fury (even if she was a newspaper strip first) but the Black Terror is an insult as far as I am concerned. Why not the Domino Lady (Other than the fact that she is currently running over @ Moonstone Comics)? If you wanted super powers why not Doc Savage? O wait! He too is at Moonstone along with the Avenger and another Spider plus a handful of other pulp adventurers and such. I hope the case of Characters are set now with these additions. And I await the arrival of the new Zorro and the newly created Black Bat (even if the origin is wrong!) in action as themselves and not their civilian identities. Lets hope they've closed the door and won't add anyone else. Just my thoughts.
Hay! Would not a Dynamite and Moonstone crossover be fun?
RB @ Work
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I'll have to check these out.
Hey Richard, I hope you scan your Super Mystery 3 (Canadian) comic some day for sharing! Looks cool!
-YOc
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Sorry Yoc. The cover was from one of the Canadian yahoo groups I belong to. It was sent to me to Identify the cover hero. Thats all.
RB
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The President and the Assassin- by Scott Miller This kind of reminded me of some of Erik Larson's historical books with several smaller stories weaving their way in and out to tell the big story which in this case is about America at the dawn of the 20th century and the events leading up to the assassination of President McKinley.
The Night Spider- by John Lutz Good thriller in which the hunt for a serial killer takes some unexpected turns. I'd rate it a bit higher but Lutz depends a little too much on coincidence to tie things together.
Tombstone Courage- by J. A. Vance I prefer Vance's books about Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady over her books about J. P. Beaumont (who always seems like a harry Bosch light to me). She gets the feel of rural Arizona down pretty well.
Best
Joe
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I finally finished the Homelanders "quadrilogy." I am a sporadic reader and someone one who will read several comics in between as well as start another book that is handy before finishing one book. I would recommend the Homelanders as a good light read. It has a lot of action and several "how is he gonna get out of this" type of scenes. I tend to enjoy light reads in my old age. I have to have my mind in gear to teach so I like to let it relax.
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Finally finished Myths for a Modern Age and Chronologies Vol # 1. Myths is an overview of sorts for Chronologies Vol's # 1 & 2 and helps explains the "holes" in both books and the need for both books. Chronologies Book 1 takes you from the beginning of time all the way up to 1939 and chronologically puts in order all the appearances of all the characters from all media's and all the crossovers and tries to explain (as best they can) the discrepancies that pop up (Myths is there for those they cannot or had not explained yet). Tales of the Shadowmen series also fills in these holes with stories that address these discrepancies or the appearances of them anyways. Best that I can do to describe these books. Now it
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I'm working on 'Area 51 Nightstakers' by Bob Mayer. I've read lots of the other books he has written, so I knew what I was getting into with it. Military action with a sci-fi theme/favor.
Soft back book by the way.
Geo
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I'm reading a story where the Shadow meets Frankenstein in the short story book Tales of the Shadowmen Vol # 1. A good read. Well written and more in the spirit of what the Shadow represents. JMT.
RB @ Work
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Los Bros Lofficier did 2 books, Shadowmen 1 & 2, tracing the histories of Euro pulp characters, so these new Shadowmen tomes are, presumably, new fiction based on that research. Sounds good to me.
I've just started Huntingtower by John Buchan, which I downloaded from Project Gutenberg. I read a few John Buchan books at school but not this one. I remember The 39 Steps; Greenmantle; The Power House as being really exciting and I now fancy reading them again - on my new tablet, of course.
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Yes and this is Tales Of the Shadowmen Vol # 1 of 9 volumes. I am almost done with vol # 1.
RB @ work.
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The female Phantom started January 11th. Have I already missed it :o
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Not only do I seem to have missed the start but I haven't even heard of it. More info. PLEASE. :o
Meant to add that I'm halfway through the first story in The Lost Stars series by Jack Campbell, the writer who brought you Black Jack Geary and The Lost Fleet series. This new one is good military s.f. entertainment and we met a couple of the characters in one of the Black Jack books.
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I always have a lot of different things on the go and as a consequence I often don't finish any of the books that I pick up. But I've just started to read MAN OF TWO WORLDS by Julius Schwartz and it's a very easy read. If I didn't have other demands on my time, I'd probably be finished it by now because it's a real page turner.
For many many years now, I've wanted to read MAN OF TWO WORLDS. Somehow I missed it when it first came out and when I tried to find a copy, none of the stores in my area had it. I tried to get it on amazon.ca, but it was out of print--they had it from other sellers, but those always had it for an inflated price. I kept it on my wishlist until finally there was a seller last month that had it for a reasonable price and I ordered it.
I used to read a lot of science fiction when I was a growing boy and now Schwartz has got me thinking back to all those authors I loved. It would be interesting to read the sci fi fanzine that Schwartz and Weisinger published together when they were teenagers (what inspired Jerry Siegel to do the same thing). I wonder if any copies of that exist.
Also, Schwartz has got me wanting to look at some of the pulp magazines he sold stories to, when he was a literary agent. Looking at the pulps section on CB+ none of the titles Julie mentions are there. I wonder if any of them are in the public domain. Some magazines did go out of business, but a few still exist under different titles now.
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As of late I've been reading a Kindle version of "Moon Wreck" by Raymond L. Weil. If you like science fiction you most likely will like this series. He is to write a paperback version to be release in a couple of months I believe, a full story version.
Geo
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Geo, I like the sound of Moon Wreck especially as I've been having difficulty finding S.F. that I really fancy. There seems to be a dearth of the "cosmic wonder" style nowadays. I read all the Hutch books by Jack McDevitt (I loved that "empty universe" idea) and some of his stand-alones and I've just finished Jack Campbell's Lost Stars first part and the 2nd part of The Lost Fleet, Beyond the Frontier series. Both were good, exciting, military S.F. reads.
I also found some early Clifford Simak stories on Project Gutenberg, which was good as I used to be a big Simak fan.
Thanks for the tip.
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Gutenburg has one of my favorites by Alen E. Nourse STAR SURGEON.
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Just started re reading "the wailing Asteroid" by Murray Leinster.
Been around 50 years since I first read it. Lost my copy long ago but found a download of it online.
Found a poor quality download of the British film "the Terrornauts" based on the novel. That spurred my search for the novel online.
Great cover art.
http://manybooks.net/titles/leinstermother05wailingasteroid.html
Enjoy. 8)
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Thanks for the link, Captain.
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I should've mentioned that after my previous post about MAN OF TWO WORLDS, the book took a terrible turn for me. After the first third of the book--which is all about Schwartz's early life in science fiction--I was thinking this book would be one of my all time favourite reads. But as soon as he gets into his life in comics, the book just loses any kind of flow and natural organization. Plus he leaves out a lot.
He even leaves out his friend Mort Weisinger. Weisinger figured so prominently in Schwartz's life (in the first third of the book), but Schwartz omits just how Weisinger ended up at DC. A crucial part of the story since Weisinger got Alfred Bester into comics and Bester got Schwartz into comics. So how did Mort get into comics--I dunno.
Schwartz is full of little interesting anecdotes--some of which I've read before, others I never knew--but he goes back and forth through time so much that if I didn't have a thorough knowledge of comics history, I would not know when different events were happening. The book is incredibly disjointed, after the first third that holds together so nicely.
One thing we miss is much insight into Schwartz's personal life after he starts at DC. On top of that he never gives much insight into the editing craft either. We just have to trust that he's some kind of editing savant who seemingly never had a life outside the office and all these great comics just happened by magic.
And the book is riddled with glaring mistakes--suggesting that it was never given much of a good copy edit or proofread. And not much of a substantive edit, either. What this book about a great editor sorely needed was a great editor. Which is really sad for me, because I can see the diamond in the rough that this book could have been. If this book had been published by a minor house, the lack of editorial oversight would be understandable--but this was published by HarperCollins, a leader in the publishing field (or has Rupert Murdoch left HarperCollins a shadow of its former self).
One parenthetical passage in the book's epilogue by the co-author, Brian M. Thomson, really had me scratching my head. Listing some of those who have passed away since the writing of the book began, he adds
"(not to mention the credited creators of Batman himself, Bob Kane and Joe Orlando)."
I just can't figure that one out, because it can't be a typo. The only credited creator of Batman was Bob Kane. We know that Bill Finger co-created Batman (but was never credited for it), but we also know (as covered in a charming anecdote in the body of the book) that Bill Finger died many years before this, so Thomson couldn't have meant Finger. Orlando only had a fleeting involvement with Batman years and years after the character was created and he was never anywhere near the DC offices when Batman was created. So I'm at a loss to figure out what Thomson meant to say in that comment--and because it comes so close to the end of the book, its ghost haunts me still.
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http://bancadosgibisbrazucas.blogspot.com/
nice place to pick up some brazilian comics. Nice read if you can read portugese.
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http://www.altuspress.com/
A nice place to visit.
RB
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Read the Captain Midnight Special from Moonstone. Story was not much to write home about but the story was "readable" to service the cast of characters, which included Airboy and the Valkyre, Captain Midnight and two of his helpers, and two "Retro" ccharacters Commander X and his super submarine and Britannia whose Trident has many magical powers.
My only complaint is mixing retro characters with actual golden age characters but I suppose that is the norm these days. Still not a bad read.
RB @ work
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I picked that up Wednesday but have not read it yet. I am sooooooo far behind in my reading.
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I'm so behind in gabbing about my book reading. I'll try to catch up a little here.
Red Mars- Kim Stanley Robinson The first in Robinson's award winning mars trilogy concerns the colonization of Mars. Looking forward to reading the next one.
Inside Scientology- Janet Reitman Reitman's history of L Ron Hubbard's church is not very complimentary.
11/22/63- Stephen King Story of man who goes back in time to try to stop the assassination of JFK. He learns it's not as easy as he hoped it would be.
Spandau Phoenix- Greg Iles Early Iles' spy/adventure follows WWII mysteries into present day. Not bad but I prefer his more recent thrillers.
L. A. Requiem- Robert Crais We learn a lot more about Joe Pike's background as he and his partner, Elvis Cole, try to track down the killer of Cole's former girlfriend. Good stuff.
Trunk Music- Michael Connelly Another fine Harry Bosch mystery has Bosch returning from a leave of absence and working a case that has him involved with (and often butting heads with) the mob, Internal Affairs, the Organized Crime Unit and others.
Coward's Kiss- Lawrence Block Another early pulpish Block book back in print. Quick, fun read.
Moonraker- Ian Fleming Early Bond book is one of his lesser works, IMHO, and has little in common with it's later film adaptation (which is one of my least favorite Bond films).
Fire and Rain- David Browne This book is subtitled "The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970". It tells the story of those various musicians in context with what was also going on in 1970. Interesting, enjoyable read.
Best
Joe
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In the middle of, Blood on the Line by Edward Marston. The most recent Inspector Colbeck mystery. These are set in the early days of the railway in Britain. Before that, I thoroughly enjoyed some military S.F. with Centre of Gravity by Ian Douglas.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/ian-douglas/center-of-gravity.htm
Sneaking in some French BD, I just finished the first vol. of FOG. Read the first few pages here:-
http://bdcomics.izneo.com/fog-tumulus-tome-1-A7152
OOps, spelled Centre the proper way - should of course read for you N.Americans, CENTER. How strange.
I hope the rest of you are being as entertained as me with THE SIXTH GUN. I'm charging through vol.4 and it's good gruesome stuff.
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These days I'm housebound with a painful case of gouty arthritis. Desperate for distraction, I picked up my copy of ANNE FRANK by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon. I bought this in a children's bookstore a few months ago, as I was looking for books to use in the volunteer reading program I do at a local elementary school. This book is too far advanced for the kids I'm reading with now--but it would probably be suitable for kids 12 and older. I can only read small parts of it at a time, because it's very sad and depressing, but nevertheless profound and moving.
I read Jacobson and Colon's 9/11 REPORT a few years back. I thought that was one of the greatest comic books I've seen in recent years and I was impressed by how well they use the medium. It's kind of astounding that these are the same guys who created so many Harvey comics that gave me hours of fun when I was a little guy. It puts the lie to this idea that there's a best before date on creativity, although I doubt that Jacobson or Colon could have found any work at DC or Marvel.
These two books that they have done illustrate perfectly my own feeling about how comics can work. And that runs counter to the whole modern sensibilty. Most modern comic book creators and readers seem to think comics should be like movie storyboards and they reference Will Eisner's theory about comics as sequential art. Pictures have to tell the whole story and words are looked on as unwelcome guests in a panel. But for me comics are more like writing with pictures.
Jacobson and Colon use whatever works best to get the narrative across. So they use lots of text captions with illustrated panels, diagrams, charts, maps, speech balloons, and even thought balloons (gasp)! Instead of twisting themselves into pretzel shapes to try and follow the sequential art dictum--where everything has to be told through a sequence of pictures--they see their primary mission as effective communication. A picture may tell a thousand words, but sometimes a thousand words is much better at communicating complex ideas than one wordless picture.
The old folks still have something to teach our younger generation.
[Note: Looking on the internet, I see that Jacobson and Colon did another book like these two--that one is called CHE--I'll have to look for it.]
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Well I've got a pretty good idea of the the various comics being read and the shows and movies being watched by some of you guys here on the message board but am also curious if anybody has been reading some interesting books.
I'll start this off with my summer reading and a few brief comments on each.
American Rebel: the Life of Clint Eastwood by Marc Eliot-The first Hollywood bio of Eliot's that I read (on Cary Grant) I found a bit too much on the gossipy side but he has gotten better and this was a decent look at one of Hollywood's current living legends.
How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove-my brother, knowing of my fondness for history and biography, recommended I try something from the "alternative history" genre. This one was a quite enjoyable one where the south won the civil war and what the country could have like by the 1880s if that were the case.
Closed Circle by Robert Goddard-Like all of Goddard's books that I have read this one was an intricately plotted mystery with richly delineated characters.
The Lessons of History by Will & Ariel Durant-an expanded edition of their earlier work.
It's Superman by Tom DeHaven-Interesting take on the Superman legend. Set in the 1930s as Clark Kent comes to terms with his powers and what to do with them. Left open for sequels.
Ariel by Lawrence Block-Most of Block's books that I have read have been of the mystery/crime genre. This one is more of a character study.
Death Du Jour by Kathy Reichs-I watch the Bones TV series so I thought I'd give a try to one of the novels on which the series is based. Well it was okay but the TV character has little in common with that on which she is based other than name and occupation.
Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" by David Bianculli-I really liked this show when I was a kid. Now I finally got the lowdown on why it was taken off the air.
Hollywood Buzz by Margit Liesche-mystery novel with a WWII/Hollywood background.
A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring 20s- by Roger Kahn-The title makes the subject clear. I found his research on Hollywood and the movies a bit sloppy when he got to that area of Dempsey's life but given that Kahn is a sports reporter I suspect he did better with the main aspect of the book.
Columbine by Dave Cullen-a decade after the infamous school shooting reporter Cullen clears up many of the myths, half-truths and out right lies that sprang up in the days and weeks following the tragedy and provides a clear picture of what happened before, during and after the incident.
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan-the title is a bit of an exaggeration. It should be subtitled Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved the Forestry Department. Still its a very good, well researched read.
The Turnaround by George Pelecanos-a racial incident decades ago and its aftermath on the various youths involved as they enter middle age.
Turning Angels by Greg Iles-Another good mystery from Iles involving murder, a sex scandal and drugs in a small Southern town.
The Enemy by Lee Child-Jack Reacher is the protagonist in all of Child's books that I have read. This one looks at his past when he was still an army M. P. trying to solve some murders during the time of the fall of communism around 1990.
Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong by Mark Cotta Vaz-Cooper certainly did live a rich, exciting life. A wartime flier, he was twice shot down and taken prisoner-first fighting for the Allies in WWI and later fighting with the Poles against the Russians in the aftermath of the Russian revolution. Later still he became both an important Hollywood producer and an early leader in the aviation industry.
Confessions, Romances, Secrets, and Temptations: Archer St. John and the St. John Romance Comics by John Benson-Benson's companion volume to his earlier collection of St. John romance stories. Leaves me wanting to read more such writing on the company's output. At least here at GAC I'll get a chance to read and look over many of the comics St. John published.
To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic chase to Justice in the Old West by Mark Lee Garner-Well researched and entertaining read on the just what the title sez.
U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton-the latest Kinsey Milhone novel finds the P.I. solving a decades old kidnapping case while finding out more about her own past.
So any of the rest of you read something worth recommending (or worth telling us to avoid)?
Joe M
Got to love Eastwood,Might have to give it a try. I've been Listening to his son, Kyle Eastwood very good jazz...
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Eastwood is great. I have slowly been reading a Bio of Stonewall Jackson in pieces every once in awhile. I am also reading IF WE SURVIVE by Andrew Klavan the writer of the Clint Eastwood movie True Crime. It is an all ages reader that has been a very exciting book.
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Just throwing this out. My latest read is Extinction Machine, a Joe Ledger Novel by Jonathan Maberry who also was the author for Patient Zero which you may have heard/read about. Peace on...enjoy.
Geo
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Just finished part 3 of Thelost Fleet: Beyond theFrontier, by Jack Campbell. Good s.f. series featuring Black Jack Geary.
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Redshirts by John Scalzi is a hugo nominee that I read. It's a hoot and a holler.
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Raylan by Elmore Leonard With the success of the Justified on television Leonard revisits his character. It will be interesting to see if he turns it into a series- something he has stayed away from up until now.
Lando by Louis Lamour I prefer Lamour's earlier works as they tend to have a bit more grit to them. This one (part of the Sackett series) is from about midway in his career.
Murder by the Book by Rex Stout Nero Wolfe. Nuff Said!
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis Decided to revisit the book after watching the movie a while back.
The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard After Raylan I was still in the mood for some more Leonard so picked this one up. It's a collection of short stories that contains the classic "3:10 to Yuma" among others.
Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First Imperial Adventure by Julia Flynn Siler The title pretty much tells you what this is about. Don't know if this is the best book on the subject as it is really the first I have read but I did learn things from it.
Best
Joe
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Redshirts by John Scalzi is a hugo nominee that I read. It's a hoot and a holler.
Sounds like a good read.
The Redshirts always reminded me of Sinbad's crewmen, always wandering off and getting eaten or crushed by a giant of some sort.
In a Startrek Voyager episode they had several really classic red shirt style deaths, they didn't wear the red tunic then but these were redshirts just the same.
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Andrew Klavan wrote True Crime and Don't Say A Word that were made into movies. He also writes young adult books. I happen to like many young adult books. They often contain very good stories without the bad language and sex. Klavan wrote a 4 book series that has been collected in one volume called HOMELANDERS. It is pretty good but his other book IF WE SURVIVE is great. One of my favorites. I just finished a young adult fiction scifi book Torn By: Margaret Peterson Haddix in the Missing Series. I am a little/a lot weird. This is the last book in a time traveling series. I figured I could pick up the needed details from the earlier books in the last one, and I was right. Pretty good series. Yes I know I could have enjoyed the first offering but I am cheap and I have more than enough to read already. I must admit that I tend to enjoy light reading but I am also reading (every once in awhile on my phone) a biography of Stonewall Jackson written shortly after the Civil War. That makes it better and most likely more accurate.
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On a P.G. Whodehouse binge. I wonder if we have any of work of his or any of his contemporaries' among our british story papers! Hmmm, I know he wrote some school stories, but those tended to be novel length. I also found some old British books like those at a a used bookstore in print, which is always nice because I get to see the illustrations! I would love some recommendations along the lines of our story papers and boys mags if you have any.
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That gets me thinking about all the Dickens my teachers made me read WITHOUT the illustrations. Cheapskates!
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Re. Boys' mags, you could try Boys' Magazine, with Falcon Swift, detective short stories. Here's one as an example:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=30344
Despite being a Nelson Lee fan, I would place The Magnet and Bunter even over the great detective. Many of the Christmas stories are great reading, but very English. And English public school at that. try this and the preceding issue:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=34945
Scoops is just amazing:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=2460
The Thriller for fast British crime pulp:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=740
And Union Jack for the best British detective:- Some lovely covers.
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=732
Much, much more and I'm sure others will suggest further excellent reads.
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Thanks paw, I'll look into those. So far The only thing I have read myself in that department is the hotspur. I would also like to ask you guys about captain Billy's whiz bang. I have tried to read one issue, but I am stumped by all the editorial essays. Are they supposed to be funny? There are a awful lot of them and I guess I just don't know much about the politics of the time. The only reason I read them at all is because I heard abou it in the music man.
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Picked up a used copy of "Howard Pyle: American Master Rediscovered" about a month ago... it's a pretty decent retrospective on the artist's life, work and artistic legacy, complied for a recent exhibition at the Delaware Art Museum.
I'm about half-way through it and I must admit, I'm surprised at how aesthetically similar his work is to some of the more impressive illustrators of the last century. Looking at some of these paintings, I can't help but think of some of Frazetta's Warren and paperback cover work with it's loose brush work, or (even more surprising) the moody atmospheric stylings of Jeff Jones. Then there are some examples of Pyle's pen and ink work which bring to mind some of Barry Windsor-Smith's better work.
An American master rediscovered?... Perhaps. ;) :)
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I should (preemptively) add that I DO NOT mean to imply by my last post that I feel the lesser for some of the works of Frazetta, JJ, or BWS after seeing some of Pyle's. Their creativity is genuinely their own imo, I'm just commenting on similarities of technique.
For instance, imo there's also a bit of a stylistic spark from N.C. Wyeth in some of Frazetta's work as well... probably even more so then that of Pyle (and interestingly, Wyeth was an actual student of Pyle's)... but that doesn't diminish Frazetta's own style or expressive talent (at least not for me anyway).
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I am reading about Hugo Pratt. Interesting artist and all around talented guy.
Richard
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Love Hugo Pratt. His Corto Maltese is great.
Regarding Pyle and Wyeth I would recommend checking out the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and The Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, Delaware. These museums have numerous originals of both artists and other artists of the Brandywine School (Frank Schoonover, Harvey Dunn, etc...). I made trips to both museums during my Kubert School days and count myself lucky for being able to do so and see so many of these wonderful works by such great illustrators.
Best
Joe
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On a P.G. Whodehouse binge. I wonder if we have any of work of his or any of his contemporaries' among our british story papers! Hmmm, I know he wrote some school stories, but those tended to be novel length. I also found some old British books like those at a a used bookstore in print, which is always nice because I get to see the illustrations! I would love some recommendations along the lines of our story papers and boys mags if you have any.
Try Raffles: the Amateur Cracksman
http://manybooks.net/titles/hornungeetext96amatc10.html
Not illustrated but a good read.
E W Hornung was Author Conan Doyle's brother in law and wrote the Raffles stories as a sort of anti-Holmes character, a gentleman crook rather than a gentleman detective.
Another of the series with some illustrations.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33173/33173-h/33173-h.htm
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Just started reading SWIPE the first in a trilogy. Set in a not too distant, after another war between the states, (given current red vs blue states seems somewhat prophetic) with the use of a MARK and the rise of one world government. About a hundred pages in and pretty hooked it has me interested.
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Re. Pratt and Corto Maltese, I've been a huge fan since I bought my first Corto vol. in Paris umpteen years ago. I think I posted a couple of pages on CB+ as examples of simply stunning, silent, action. Can't remember where. I'm sure you are all aware of this, so, for anyone who isn't, Pratt also was co-responsible for the Masked Mystery Man, Asso di Picche - Ace of Spades -
http://www.archivespratt.net/assodipicche.htm
and much later created L'Ombra - The Shadow (no relation), a most entertaining MMM comic.
http://www.archivespratt.net/l%27ombre.htm
I'm currently reading a French Maigret, Le Pendu de St. Pholien, an early Maigret mystery.
And re. Wodehouse, I'm half way through the full cast audio play of Uncle Fred in the Springtime.
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Thanks cap. Sorry I haven't been on for awhile, but I'm back.
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Paw, have you read the Avon paperback adaptations of the phantom? The cover art is worth the price of admission alone, but the books are actually readable and nothing like the Flash Gordon ones. I'm not sure if there is a ghost writer and was wondering if you knew, being a scholar in these matters.
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Found my old hard back copy of "Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C Clarke.
Great hard sci fi, wish some one would film it.
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I can't imagine anybody filming the moon bike thing for a modern audience. The chimps would be a big selling point though.
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I have or have had all the Avon Phantoms. They are really good. Covers are nice but I think the GK comic book covers are even better. Have you read the Whitman SON OF THE PHANTOM? It is one of my favorites giving some good history.
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I can't imagine anybody filming the moon bike thing for a modern audience. The chimps would be a big selling point though.
Apparently there's been a decades long effort to put "Rendezvous with Rama" on the big screen. Actor Morgan freeman has been trying to get the film made for many years. No explanations as to why it hasn't progressed.
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Baby, Would I Lie?- Donald Westlake Murder and scandal in Branson, Missouri. Oh, my! Westlake manages to shoehorn in a good bit of humor along the way.
Harbor Nocturne- Joseph Wambaugh The latest Hollywood Station police procedural by Wambaugh. These have sort of taken the place of the 87th Precinct novels by the late Ed McBain in that genre.
The Party is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted- Mike Lofgren The book's subtitle sez it all. I couldn't find much to argue with in this book by the former, long-time Capitol Hill staffer (he was a Republican analyst on House and Senate budget committees for 28 years).
A Short History of Myth- Karen Armstrong A good, quick look at the growth of religion and myth over the course of human history.
Hell Above Earth- Stephen Frater Werner Goering was a top-notch U.S. pilot during WWII. He was also believed to be the nephew of the head of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Goering. Thus, unknown to him, his copilot had standing orders to kill him if it ever looked like his plane might be going down and he could be taken by the Germans. Tense, riveting true-war stuff.
The Great War: Walk in Hell- Harry Turtledove The next in Turtledove's alternate history series where the Confederacy won the American Civil War. Good stuff.
Best
Joe
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I read RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA when it first came out--when I was a teen--but I never thought that it could be filmed. I guess now, with CGI, it's possible--but it still seems too big for the screen.
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"Paw, have you read the Avon paperback adaptations of the phantom? The cover art is worth the price of admission alone, but the books are actually readable and nothing like the Flash Gordon ones. I'm not sure if there is a ghost writer and was wondering if you knew, being a scholar in these matters."RickDeckard525
Sorry to be so long replying - been obsessed chasing down links to obscure Spanish comics.
As for Avon paperbacks, I'm ashamed to say that I don't have any of them, and I haven't read them either. I asked my pal, Russell, about the writers but, for once, he came up blank. So your flattery was misplaced. Still, nice to be so considered, and I'd love to have them in the collection. Wasn't there a/some Mandrake stories as well?
What I did find recently was a link to some of The Avengers paperbacks and I'm currently working my way through them (The real Avengers, not the Marvel ones, of course)
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I read RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA when it first came out--when I was a teen--but I never thought that it could be filmed. I guess now, with CGI, it's possible--but it still seems too big for the screen.
Imagine in Imax 3D.
In San Francisco there's a very small experimental 3D movie house that's been there for many many years.
An inventor built the place to showcase his secret method.
I have no idea how the process does what it does but after a few minutes of watching a film there its as if you are transported inside the movie. Its like you are sitting at the same table as the characters.
I think the inventor made only one film, a short historical drama.
I suspect the effect only works on a small scale.
If they could get the same effect in a full size theatre people would go as wild over Rama as they did over 2001 a space odessy.
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Mandrake and Flash Gordon were both novelized. I've never read any of the Mandrake ones and the Gordon ones are almost unreadable. I still love the Gordon covers though and if I come across one of them for less than five bucks I'll probably buy it and try to read it. I have never seen any Mandrake books for sale, though and they could be great for all I know.
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I'm exploring some Van Vogt right now. The golden age masters are mostly forgotten in my sf circles, but I'm sure you guys are more familiar with his work. The polar opposite of the other huge success of his time
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Speaking of A. Merrit I just picked up a vintage 35 cent Avon paperback of The Metal Monster for only 60 cents. Just got back from the used book store McCays in Chattanooga also Daw SF The Survivors by Marion Zimmer Bradley for 75 cents cover by Enrich, S.T.A.R. Flight by EC Tubb a 50 cent Paperback Library book for 75 cents and Goddess of Ganymed a 50 center for 75 cents with a JEFF JONES cover. Since I primarily read digital now I will probably never read them. But they are some great classic scifi that just having is worth the price.
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I have seen multiple avon covers for that one (very, very popular book) and would be curious to know which
one you found.
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I have seen a copy of daughter of Fu Manchu laying around a used bookstore for a buck and I am pretty sure it is not in any immediate danger of being taken, but I am curious if it is a good place to start. I haven't read any of the others, but I assume they are all pretty similar and I don't need to worry about continuity. I don't like to buy books when I haven't read all the ones I just bought and that is a bad habit for a collector! Looking for some encouragement to go buy it! And maybe some of the old copies of Galaxy I have nightmares about other people buying!
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Actually, the style Rohmer uses in his Fu Manchu books changes with the era. The first one is pretty Victorian, but by the last one, in the Fifties, he's got the contemporary thriller style down.
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Too late it is gone. I got a few shadow and doc savage paperbacks I hadn't seen before. Trek novels too. Ooh and a Norman spindrad I haven't seen before. Now I am in a fu Manchu mood, though. If I was gonna buy one on amazon which one would you recommend?
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Found a copy of Anne Rice's "Blood and Gold" I received as a Christmas gift many years ago and mislaid before reading it.
Now I can hardly put it down. Great imagery in these books.
I like the way each vampire tells his personal account which makes him look like the good guy and every other vampire look like a self serving liar.
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There's an awful lot of free Sax Rohmer titles free on the net, both in pdf and ebook format. Not only Fu Manchu, but much of his Egyptian work as well. I enjoy both, but prefer his Egyptian stuff. Just finished "Quest of the Sacred Slipper" 1913 and "Green Eyes of Bast"1920, both detective tales taking place in England, but with Eastern connections. See Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive to begin. Cheers, Bowers
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Turkish Comics....well maybe not much reading as much as looking..... then click on albums......enjoy!
https://www.facebook.com/mustafa.a.gurler/media_set?et=a.10151019017364074.449149.724789073&type=3
Richard
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Captain Future!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Just starting this
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14833/14833-h/14833-h.htm
The Gurenburg E Book of Varney the Vampire , the 1847 compilation of the Varney penny dreadful stories.
From the first chapter I can see this would look great on film. Long story though, more suited to an HBO or Showtime series.
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Who names a vampire Varney?
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Who names a vampire Varney?
An author who's girl friend was stolen away by a rich classmate named Lord Varney?
Certainly no worse than "Yorga".
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The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin The second Malcolm Fox novel has Fox investigating a case involving another police detective. I've heard that Fox and inspector Rebus both appear in Rankin's next book.
Death Warmed Over by Kevin J. Anderson Anderson takes a break from writing such large epics as the Saga of the Seven Suns to pen this story about a zombie P. I. Much is played for laughs. I understand he has sequels already out.
God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World by Cullen Murphy The most interesting aspect of this book shows how the growth of the Inquisition over the centuries influenced the development of governmental bureaucracies and aspects of thinking in society.
Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage by Jeffrey Frank Interesting examination of Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon and how their relationship developed and changed over the years.
You Know Me Al by Ring Lardner It's been almost a 100 years since Lardner wrote this humorous classic about baseball and since I hadn't read any Lardner in ages I decided to give it a reread.
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly Mickey Haller returns to practicing law in his second starring novel and finds himself involved in a "crime of the century", defending a famous movie producer accused of murder. Two of Connelly's other characters, detective Harry Bosch and reporter Jack McEvoy have supporting roles in the book.
Target Lancer by Max Allan Collins P. I. Nate Heller gets involved in the events leading up to the assassination of JFK. Not up to the standards of the best Heller novels but still worth a quick read.
Best
Joe
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Mix of light and pretty heavy reading. Some interesting stuff. I need to read more.
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Some Spinrad and lots of space opera: Captain Future, A. Bertram Chandler, Family D'alembert (The first book is a Doc Smith fix-up and the rest are by Stephen Goldin, even though they say Smith's name all big and his all tiny) and E.C. Tubb's Dumarest of terra
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I loved the Family D'alembert series. I bought each as they came out. They caused me to pick up the Skylark series which I hated by the end of the second issue. He would just add whatever he wanted to the story going beyond reasonable. I had the Lensman series also but since I disliked Skylark I got rid of all of them. Family D'alembert was so not like Skylark. It was much more down to Earth and sensible. I love how Poul Anderson handles time travel. I hate time travel where the past can be changed. If the past can be changed then nothing that happens really matters. Anderson does time travel while maintaining the continuity.
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D'alembert is different because Stephen Goldin wrote most of them. Lensman is a little different than Skylark, but Smith is a bit of a mad scientist. Anderson is the king of continuity. Whether he is writing in his own worlds or for others. I don't know if you have read his Conan stuff or his Theives World, but they are worth tracking down, even if just to marvel at his virtuosity. I'm assuming from your post that you haven't read his fantasy, so I strongly recommend it. Captain Future, if you don't know, was written by LSH's inventor
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I have read a Captain Future many many years ago and liked it but do not remember much. I have not read Thieves World but probably would enjoy it. I have so much available to read and spend so much time on the computer I do not actually get many books read :( With so much to read I seldom read anything more than once or watch movies more than once. I have read the Tripods series several times, especially The White Mountains which is the first book and for several years the only one I knew of before discovering the rest. I used to read it over summer break every year. It was made into a really good British series that ran out of money before adapting the last book. I do not know why it has never been made into a new movie or series. It has been made into graphic novels.
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Theives world was a shared world fantasy novel series, role-playing game, and board game. I don't know if you are into that kind of stuff. I mostly just mentioned it because it is a good example of Anderson sharing a continuity with other writers. I haven't ever seen any tripods graphic novels, but I just looked on wikipedia and there was an american serial adaptation In Boy's Life, and an english one in BBC's boy's magazine. I haven't read the tripod books, but I have read some John Christopher in magazines. My kindle is broken, but if I ever see any of those in the wild I'll be sure to check them out.
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ProfH is collection Boy's Life series and putting the on his site. Maybe he could do Tripods next. I wish BBC America would run the series again. I believe it came on after Doctor Who in the 80's. It was great. I do wish they had finished it.
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Branch Rickey by Jimmy Breslin Bio, written in Breslin's unique style, on the Baseball executive who helped break the color barrier by hiring Jackie Robinson to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
A Drop of the Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block PI Matthew Scudder has left his hard drinking behind, is on the wagon and attending AA. In this story he spends as much time battling his own inner demons as he does solving the murder mystery he becomes involved in. Even after 50 years Block is still turning out good ones.
Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore Moore brings his usual humor to what I understand is the first of a trilogy featuring a newly turned vampire and her boyfriend. Looking forward to the next one.
Seduction of the Innocent by Max Allan Collins Set in the mid 1950s with it's background in comic books, Fans of comic history will enjoy this murder mystery featuring PI Jack Starr and a number of characters obviously modeled on real-life individuals in the comic book industry.
What Kinda' Cactus Izzat? by Reg Manning I grew up with Reg Manning. He had been an artist for The Arizona Republic for decades before I was born even winning a Pulitzer Prize for his editorial cartoons somewhere along the way. I remember us kids thought he had become on the old fashioned side and was definitely out of touch with the way young people felt about things by the end of the 1960s. Still he remained active doing work for the newspaper into the 1980s. Besides his work for the newspaper he d
wrote and illustrated several books related to the Southwest United States. They tended to have a lot of humor in them. They were quite popular. I ran across this copy at a used book shop recently (set me back a $1.00) and saw that it had remained in print from 1941 through this printing in 1973 (it's 24th). It probably went through a few more before Reg passed away in the mid 1980s too. It's a fun light read and the cartooning is Reg from his prime.
Scottsdale by Joan Fudala I recently discovered Arcadia Publishing which specializes in books catering to regional history. All books are 128 pages and are profusely illustrated. Our library has a ton (150+) of their volumes related to Arizona. I expect to work my way through them in the months ahead. Scottsdale is a city just to the east of Phoenix and like many of the towns in the area sprang up in the years and decades after the American Civil War. It is generally thought of as one of the more affluent communities in the valley these days.
Best
Joe
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Apart from Crime Does Not Pay, for the reading group, I am thoroughly enjoying "Forever Rumpole" a compilation of the best Rumpole stories by John Mortimer. The previous book I read was Peril on the Royal Train by Edward Marston. This is the latest in the Railway Detective series and an entertaining read.
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Don't know if I've mentioned this story before, but I'd like for you all to read this very strange short shory by Jack London and tell me what you think of it.
"The Red One" 1918
http://www.jacklondons.net/writings/RedOne/redone.html
Excellent Jack London site BTW.
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Nice. I just found an issue of fantastic mysteries with The Star Rover in it. Very scarce on illustrations though--about four and 150 pages. I don't know if any of you have read that one, but I can tell you it is very weird. It is about this prisoner who achieves nirvana or something when he is in solitary. It's pretty much just a way to make a novel out of a bunch of unused stories. It's free on project Gutenburg.
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Alright I admit that I made that last post before reading it, but I have now and I am glad I did. I can gladly say it was much better than the star rover and I don't think I have read it before. I also must admit that I was sort of expecting a superbaby to jump out of the space-thing. I don't think I can hold out much longer not reading any DC books--sorry guys. Great website!
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Currently close to the end of Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers by Alexander McCall Smith, the latest 44 Scotland St. novel. Bertie is a great wee guy and has become quite the hero to many. The book is funny, sage, beautifully written and points are made.
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Found a site with some of the Professor Jameson series.
Was a good read.
I'd read one or two many years ago.
The Prof when old and near death becomes obessed with preserving his body for the ages.
He builds a spaceship solely to house his corpse, with instructions for launching it into a obit many thousands of miles from earth.
Millions of years later after all trace of mankind has vanished and earth is a dead world space farers find his corpse and transplant his reanimated brain into a robot body.
The aliens are also cyborgs, their race giving up reproduction for individual immortality.
He considers suicide but accepts his fate and joins them in exploring the universe.
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Wow! I had not thought of the Professor Jameson series in years! No, make that decades. I thought they were very cool when I read them as a kid. I remember the paperbacks I read had covers by Gray Morrow. Probably my first exposure to the artist.
Best
Joe
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Heres a link to the early version of the story.
http://thenostalgialeague.com/olmag/jones-the-jameson-satellite.html
Great art work.
Its in public domain but apparently the rest of the series is still under copyright.
Heres another story you might like.
"the Last American'' by John Ames Mitchell.
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=7485
I had a reprint of this many many years ago with the original illustrations which were awesome.
There was a site with this story with illustrations intact years ago but I can't find it now.
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Thanks for the links Cap. Looking at the Gray Morrow cover there brought back more memories. I guess I was nine or ten years old when I was reading these back in the 60s.
Best
Joe
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Two Americans: Truman, Eisenhower, and a Dangerous World by William Lee Miller Compares and contrasts the lives of these two men who both ultimately became presidents. Both come off about equally well in the final analysis despite Truman's very low ratings when he left office and Eisenhower's very high ratings.
Goodyear by Denise E. Bates and Sally Kiko Goodyear is a community to the west of Phoenix that played an important part in the early farming community out here as well as in training pilots during WWII.
Flip: The Inside Story of TV's First Black Superstar by Kevin Cook. Decent bio of the comedian who was hugely popular when I was young. Nowadays I bet most people under 35 wouldn't even know who he was if you asked them. Fame can be fleeting.
Early Phoenix by Kathleen Garcia Covers the history of my "home town" up til the 1920s. Lots of pictures of long gone buildings.
Best
Joe
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These days I'm juggling a lot of different reading--including A STUDY IN SCARLET and a large book of stories by Stefan Zweig (I was turned on to Zweig by a movie review of THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL--I don't know if I'll see the movie, but I'm grateful to it for bringing Zweig to my attention).
On the internet, on Project Gutenberg, I'm reading an English translation of DIE BIENE MAJA UND IHRES ABENTEUER (THE ADVENTURES OF MAYA THE BEE) by Waldemar Bonsels. I'd never heard of Maya the Bee until last week.
Some might know her from her animated series. This was an anime produced in Japan in the '70s. It was dubbed into several languages and broadcast around the world. North American kids would have seen it in the early '80s, I think. The cartoon had a theme song that became very popular in its German form as sung by Karel Gott. It's that theme song that brought Die Biene Maja to my attention.
The original story isn't that long and I'll probably finish it soon. But it's not your typical children's story. Written in 1912, the story does anthropomorphize the insect world in some respects, but in other respects it is gives a realistic depiction of the natural world. I suspect that there's a political message behind the short novel, but I'll give that more thought after I've finished it.
In 1924, Wolfram Jungans created a live action feature based on the book--filming the natural world of bees and other insects. I've watched a bit of it, but I'll view the whole thing after I've read the story. You can find it on youtube.
The much more anthropomorphized cartoon version of Maya got her own German comic book, DIE BIENE MAJA, starting in 1976 and published for fifteen years by Bastel Verlag.
There was lots of other merchandise spun off from Maya the Bee, including a number of video games. Last year a new CGI cartoon series was broadcast in Germany--and a 3D movie is supposed to come out this year.
In 1963, Croatian composer Bruno Bjelinski wrote an opera. A revival was staged last summer in Villach, Austria, for the Karnten Sommer Musik Fest, featuring children as the bees.
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In 1924, Wolfram Jungans created a live action feature based on the book--filming the natural world of bees and other insects. I've watched a bit of it, but I'll view the whole thing after I've read the story. You can find it on youtube.
Interesting live action spider film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUI2irVtKxQ
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My reads of late since I've been confined to limited computer use and no physical activities to speak of I decided to revisit dead comic book series from the 1980's by independent publishers. First up was....
Silverwolf Comics books.... and there were a bunch. Grips, Edge, The Eradicators, Stech, just to name a few. All written by one person Kris Silver. This gave the book a cohesive if narrow minded direction and tone, which ultimately limited the whole line, not to mention stretched the writer and his resources to the point of bankrupting the whole enterprise. Some of the books had promise and some were terrible and others just run of the mill. But the end came and stories stopped midway through and without and ending. But all was not lost. Silver would re-emerge later with Greater Mercury Comics reviving and creating more characters (and most were quite derivative) to populate his universe. But again, being the only writer wityh so many titles going on proved to be the undoing once again. The only good thing was that some of the previous story lines ended up be tidied up. Others, not so much. Art wise, some really good to great artist got their start there. Tim Vigil, Ron Lim, and others. The pay (if any) was terrible but it was a chance to get published and get their art out there. Vigil would go on to do the notorious Faust series and related spin-off's, Lim had his own success story Rob Liefield...well you all know where he ended up. Kris Silver swears he will be back one day. Who knows. He had some good characters and a few interesting ideas. Too bad, another dead universe.
Next..... The Survivors and the Spectrum Universe.
RB over and out!
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Richard, you really are digging deep. I was a Grips fan and still have the original issues. Well, 1, 2, 3 and a gold compilation of the set so I could have #4. But I got rid of most of the other Silver Wolf and G.M. titles. There was a Nightmaster title by Vigil, I think and seem to recall rather enjoying it. In fact, I fancy having a look for it as I'm sure I kept a couple of issues. G.M. versions of Grips were reasonably well done by other artists, I seem to remember and I bought them for a while. Problem was, I was buying many of the other titles and some of them were terrible.
At the time some of it was almost worth the effort but if I hadn't been involved in a comic shop, I would probably never have found them. When Faust appeared, #1 seemed to get through customs but later on - trouble. Despite that, some copies always turned up and they sold like hotcakes.
Now I remember, Vigil did a couple? of issues of The Badger for First. A good day for me, being a Badger fan.
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You guys were reading some of the same stuff I was in the 80's. I agree with the comments on Silver's books. I also read Survivors and remember enjoying it at the time.
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Well I only scratched the surface of both of Kris's lines. I have all but 3 of the Silverwolf books and all but 4 of the Greater Mercury books. I could probably go more in depth into them all, but I'm not sure that you all want a long discussion of all those books.
Just got through reading the Epsilion Wave 8 issue series by Independent/Elite Comics, next I'm starting Seadragon then onto Twighlight Avenger and Darkwolf. I've already finished the Spectrum Line and the Survivors series.....more on that later....nite all....
RB
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Twilight Avenger was really good and I still have the comics. Right alongside them are the 1st. 4 issues of Vital Man (Budgie Press), another obscure goodie.
Makes me wonder if a section for discussion of old, small press heroes and comics, could be fun. There were lot more than the ones mentioned. But I get the feeling Richard will get to them soon enough.
I also found my copy of Skull Slayer. So thanks to Richard for getting me off my bum and searching out these comics.
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I am making headway getting my comics organized. In the process I come across all those books like Seadragon and Twilight Avenger. I have not seen my Silverwolf/Greater Mercury comics yet but they will show up and bring a smile. I also have boxes with paperbacks among them. I have so much I have never read and yet I run into so much I want to re-read. All-Star Squadron would be great to re-read but there are so many. I have all the Phantom and Flash Gordon paperbacks that I really enjoyed. Never enough time.
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Yesterday, among some other purchases, I bought a small book with the unpretentious title, LITTLE BOOK OF SUPER HEROES. Its smallness is one of the things that recommended it to me--since I can carry it around without a lot of bother, when I'm off doing other things.
I cannot bring myself to scribble in any of my books. I used to have to do this with texts in university, but since then it really bothers me if I annotate my books--or someone else does it to a book I have lent them.
With this book, I wish I didn't have that phobia--because it would be good to note every passage that gives me pause. Just a few pages into it, i found myself questioning a lot.
My apologies to Gent and Heatley (the authors) if you're on this board. It's not just this book--it's evey book about comics. When I was younger, i enjoyed reading these kind of books because I didn't know much. But now that I know something, I have problems with all the assumptions that pass as fact in all of the books about comics.
A lot of these books repeat the same lines. It would be refreshing if someone came at comics from a totally new perspective.
At the same time, I enjoy quarreling in my mind with these books. That's now the fun for me in reading these texts--or I wouldn't bother with them. I still get a lot out of reading books about comics--just a different sort of thing from what I used to get out of such books.
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So not much to recommend it jimmm. Anyone remember Gen13. Well they had a paperback novel that I found a couple of weeks ago and read a couple days ago. It was a pretty good read.
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Mesa- by Lisa A. Anderson, Alice C. Jung, Jared A. Smith and Thomas H. Wilson Mesa is a city to the east of Phoenix that the LDS church played an important part in founding back in the later 19th century. Today it is one of the biggest cities in the state.
Demolition Angel- by Robert Crais The first Crais' novel I've read that didn't feature either Elvis Cole or Joe Pike. Still pretty darn good.
The Wise Man's Fear: Kingkiller Chronicles Day Two- by Patrick Rothfuss This guy writes so well that it is a real pleasure to read his books.
Old Tucson Studios- by Paul J. Lawton A history of the film studio down near Tucson where many western movies and television shows have been filmed over the years.
Lifestyle Illustrations of the 60s- edited by Rian Hughes I wish there was a bit more text about the artists and magazines they worked for but there sure are some great examples of the sort of illustrations that were prominent in women's magazines of that decade.
Best
Joe
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The Last Dragonslayer- by Jasper Fforde Fforde seems to be going for a younger audience with this book. Still has much of his trademark humor. I've heard that it is the first of a trilogy.
Joyland- by Stephen King Basically this is a good coming of age story but because it's a King book there is mystery thrown in as well as a bit of spookiness.
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much- by Allison Hoover Bartlett Interesting look at a man obsessed with books and the lengths he goes to in order to possess them.
Tempe- by Shirley R. Blanton Tempe s just to the east of southeast Phoenix and is the home of Arizona State University.
The Good Nurse: The True Story of Medicine, Madness and Murder- by Charles Graeber The media dubbed Charles Cullen the "Angel of Death" when he was caught just over a decade ago. he is suspected of killing around 400 people while working as a nurse in various medical facilities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania over the course of 16 years. As bad as he was I found it just as frightening the way one medical institution after another seemed more interested in covering their asses than in properly investigating him thus enabling him to keep moving on to claim more victims.
Best
Joe
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I just finished Blood Ransom by Lisa Harris. Excellent book lots of adventure in Africa. Lisa actually is/was a missionary in Africa and the authenticity comes through. I purchased the next book in the series and look forward to it. My wife is going to read Blood Ransom now.
I am catching up on some of my past Comixology digital purchased. I just read a very good graphic novel EONS.
I have a new favorite series. I got all five issues and look forward to the sixth of OUR SUPER MOM. If you like Love and Capes then you will love Our Super Mom. It is great.
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I've been reading Dune by Frank Herbert, Clash of Kings by GRRM, and Blessed by Cynthia Leticia Smith. The last one is because I'm pretty much into teen vampire fiction. (http://www.ranker.com/list/books-like-twilight/kate-kavanagh)
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Oh No!. teen vampire fiction.? Not my cup of tea. But then, I don't enjoy vampire stuff of most sorts. Apart from Godzilla, Gamera and certain other large monstery things, I'm not into monsters like zombies, mummies, werewolves. The one exception is the Archie Afterlife series from Archie comics, which is really well done, with excellent art by Francisco Francavilla.
I read Dune yonks ago and it was a great read.
Currently enjoying some Agatha Christie on my new Nook.
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The Graves are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People- by John Kelly The potato blight of the 1840s and its effect on Europe and especially Ireland is detailed here. Well researched.
Early Universal City- by Robert S. Birchard A look at the first couple of decades of the film studio with emphasis on the silent era. Lots of rare photos.
Whar Doesn't Kill Her by Max Allan Collins Collins ventures into the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo territory with this one. I guess sales will determine if he does any followups.
American Uprising: The Untold Story of America's Largest Slave Revolt by Daniel Rasmusson Story of an early 18th century slave revolt in the New Orleans area and how its aftermath helped shape America's history.
Best
Joe
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My latest read was City of Heroes 1st edition by blue King studio's. I found this 12 issue series much more satisfying than the later 2nd series.
Richard
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I just bought the first issue of Sherwood Texas at a local signing by the author. It is a re imagining of Robin Hood and pretty cool. Worth giving a try.
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Very interested in Steampunk these days, reading Gail Carriger and watching adaptations of the Discworld novels and thinking I should start reading those. Also reading Sherlock Holmes. Doing some great reading on this sight of the old Victorian Era fiction, if anyone has recommendations.
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Just finished the Land that Time Forgot from the Amazing Magazine serialization today. Hadn't read this in years. Burroughs is silly but fun.
Also reading a 4 book bundle "Magnificent Devices" from Amazon. It attempts to be steampunk, but I have a hard time seeing anything as steampunk without the visuals of animation or graphic novel.
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I see your point. Incidentally, they just put Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow on Netflix, and I saw it long ago, but had no idea what Steampunk was. I think I will watch it this weekend. It is always cited as an example of the genre.
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"Sky Captain" isn't steampunk. I'm surprised that people have called it that. Steampunk deals with Victorian-era pseudoscience. "Sky Captain" concerns 1930s pseudoscience. Maybe you'd call ti "Streamlinepunk." When I first saw it, the movie reminded me of (ahem) "Crash Ryan." The visual design and effects were excellent. Much of it still holds up today. Unfortunately the story just wasn't there. The lead characters desperately needed fleshing out.
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I remember many years ago when BRAZIL came out (1985) and wondering what this whole style thing was about. It really ate at me as I saw BRAZIL more than once. On the one hand it was futuristic and on the other hand retro. I noticed this same sort of thing in other movies like the first two Burton Batman movies.
I'd heard the word steampunk bandied about but never gave it much thought. Eventually I got a general definition of the term and it sort of describes BRAZIL and other movies, but according to the strict definition of steampunk it really doesn't.
This mix of retro science fiction plus real science plus period elements seems like something more than what the inadequate definition of steampunk captures. But like a lot of terms, in the absence of a better one, steampunk seems to be used when we can't find another.
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The bookstore actually called and has my Color of Magic novel in. I am interested to read this. I guess this is the first of the Discworld novels, and as you say, I think they are calling it Steampunk for want of a better term. Nonetheless, whatever these Terry Pratchett novels are, I really enjoyed the movie adaptation of his 'Going Postal' novel. I figured if I liked the first book, that should keep me occupied for a while reading all of them.
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Heres a story collection that might fit in the Steampunk category.
"The Adventures of Rollo Aubrey, Earl of Redgrave, and his bride, Lilla Zaidie"
Stories published between 1901 and 1910
http://www.munseys.com/book/26250/Adventures_of_Rollo_Aubrey,_Earl_of_Redgrave,_and_his_bride,_Lilla_Zaidie,_The
More books by the same author
https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/g/griffith/george/
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A few recent reads-
The Last Battle by Stephen Harding I couldn't help thinking how this account of a battle during the waning hours of WWII would make a great movie while I was reading it. Several American soldiers, with an audacious leader, ally themselves with a group of surrendered German soldiers to protect a bunch of squabbling French VIPs held in an Austrian castle against a fanatical band of SS troops who don't won't the VIPs to survive the war. Sounds like a war novel but it really happened.
Johnny Carson by Henry Bushkin Bushkin was Carson's lawyer and friend from 1970-1989 and he provides a balanced, insightful look at the "King of Late Night", as he knew him, during those years.
Buckeye by Verlyne Meck Buckeye is a community to the west of Phoenix. Like most of the communities established here in the valley during the second half of the 19th century it grew along the farms that sprang up by the extensions of the canals that were dug out in those years. One of the original owners of that first canal system out that way was from Ohio, which is known as the Buckeye state, and she named the canal after her state. The town that grew around it later adopted the name of the canal. It was still a small town when I was a kid but has grown enormously over the last couple of decades although not as explosively since the Great Recession took its toll on building out here.
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly Another well done crime novel from Connelly this one featuring reporter Jack McEvoy who is facing a "career change" as his newspaper downsizes during the digital age. While dealing with this and working one last story he stumbles upon what appears to be a serial killer's work but unknowingly tips off the killer who is soon stalking Jack as well.
Best
Joe
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As I've been on holiday, I was able to read a few books. An Agatha Christie short, Three Blind Mice. Very good and interesting as we saw the play, The Mousetrap, (which is an adaptation) in London last week. It's only been running for 62 years, but I am usually at the coo's tail.
Also, The Water Room, which is the 2nd. in the Bryant and May series from Christopher Fowler. Can't recommend it highly enough. Odd stories with 2 strangely eccentric, excellent characters.
The new "Hutch" story, Starhawk, by Jack McDevitt. Actually, it's her "origin" tale, going back to when she qualifies as an interstellar pilot. A great way to feed readers' addiction for these "empty universe" stories, just when we all thought the run was finished.
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I subscribed to the Edgarriceburroughs.com site. Lots of nice stuff but some good people
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Manga rears it's head again because I'm enjoying another 2 series. Pluto, based on the Astro Boy classic, by Urasawa Tezuka is unputdownable, beautifully done and touching at times. The other title is Black Lagoon by Rei Hiroe. If you like your comics with hails of bullets and breathtaking action, this is for you. It is flagged as "Mature" for language, violence and adult themes and, unusually for me, it's great fun.
A friend loaned me a copy of the current Jack Reacher book by Lee Child and while I enjoyed it - well paced excitement and action describes it well - I'm not sure if Child can do much more with the character and without spoiling the plot resolution, I was pretty sure earlyish what was going on.
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Paw,
Since you liked Pluto you might want to also check out 20th Century Boys by Urasawa. It runs 22 volumes and is followed by a two volume sequel- 21st Century Boys. His Monster mystery story (18 volumes) is also worth a read. I read Pluto a couple of years back and agree with your assessment.
I'm still working my way through FullMetal Alchemist which you recommended a while back. Good stuff.
I'll have to check into Black Lagoon now.
Best
Joe
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Joe,
We have a branch of Anime Republic in Edinburgh and that's where I've been picking up tips about books to try. I looked at 20th Century Boys (or was it 21st. Century. I forget - my memory's like a seive these days)
and fancied it but the were out of #1 so I'll wait till that comes back in. Thanks for the suggestions.
At last Saturday's Edinburgh comic mart, I picked up #1 of the Hermes Press Phantom by Peter David and Sal Velluto and very nice it is too, but I couldn't possibly spoil the last page for those of you who don't already know.
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I pick up the vast majority of my manga to read at our local library. If they are missing a volume or two I put in an order through inter-library loan. Sometimes takes a while to get through a longer series but eventually I get there. I usually bounce around between series anyway so always have plenty to read.
Beat
Joe
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Currently re-enjoying Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L Sayers. But also pondering which Christmas issues of Magnet and Nelson Lee to read, although I can't wait to start minotaur's recent upload of the Christmas Union Jack with Sexton Blake.
Bought #1 of Hellsing on Saturday and it was fun enough to keep going with the series.
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I read King: The Phantom. Newest version of the classic character. I liked it. Hope it stays good.
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Just finished old university chum Keith C. Blackmore's indie zombie novel, Mountain Man:
http://tinyurl.com/jwgvs7h
fun read.
There's a free prequel short story available as well:
http://tinyurl.com/ku2r4w3
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I've also read some of the new King/Dynamites. I agree with Narf, The Phantom was good. I also liked the Jungle Jim issue, although it bears no resemblance whatsoever to the original character. The Flash Gordon wasn't much to my liking, but maybe it'll get better. Still waiting for Mandrake and Prince Valiant. How they're going to work Val into this story arc is beyond me. Cheers, Bowers
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I read about the Dynamite Phantom and the storyline that Lothar was "new"Phantom. If that is so, I'm not going near it with a bargepole. Nothing against Lothar. He's been part of my comics life, but as Mandrake's partner, as such, what is he doing as The Phantom? And before anyone suggests it, I'm not really sure I want to know. I will stick with the Hermes Press version.
What I have been reading recently are some manga titles, in particular, Monster, and I finished vol. 1 last night and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Also, Ghost in the Shell the stand alone books.
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Lothar is an interim like the girl Phantom was. He is looking for the next Phantom.
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Paw,
Actually it is an interesting concept. The Last Phantom (remember that terrible mini?) dies @ the end of Kings Watch and Lothar takes it upon himself to find the son/daughter of the Last Phantom. Meanwhile he swears that the people that the Last Phantom protected will not go unprotected while he searches for the next real Phantom. Lothar only knows the last name of Walker but no idea where that person is at. That is issue one. Hope that helps.
Richard
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VAMPIRA: Dark Goddess of Horror Great history of the first and probably the most influential t.v. horror host. The author goes into some detail about the culture that made it all possible..and especially L.A. culture at the time. I've always dug the t.v. horror hosts, right up to Elvira, in fact my name for this board comes from Morgus the Magnificent, who ran the movies in The Big Easy. Now don't confuse Vampira with Elvira. Vampira made PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE with Ed Wood and died just a few years ago. Lots of cool photos.
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Well, I finally had to sample "Afterlife With Archie". Very surprisingly I kind of liked it. A nice touch of Lovecraft in the later issues. This was a very bold move by the publishers- hope it pays off for them. Cheers, Bowers
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I just read the first three issues of this digital series on Comixology. I am very impressed and hooked. I really hope they finish the series because I want to see what happens. Good sci-fi
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The phrase I've heard and sometimes use is "retro-future". (Or something liek that.)
Meanwhile, I was reading recently that Vampira was initially involved in the creation of Elvira, but the producers cut her out at the last minute. I think she sued them over it.
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Yeah, they refer to that in the book...Peterson and the ELVIRA camp did NOT want the case to go to court. They saw themselves as having more in common with Vampira then they had in contention. Both were midwestern girls who had support of members of the gay community and loved animals. Peterson, in fact, was able to show that she wanted to look more like Sharon Tate in THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS, but that the idea was turned down, and was able to document the input of one of her friends in the making of the Elvira character. I think one of the more memorable lines was; 'If Bela Lugosi wears a cape to be a vampire, does that mean no one else can???"
It also did NOT help Vampira's case that she gleefully (and more then once) detailed how she drew from Charles Addams, fetish magazines, and TERRY AND THE PIRATES for HER look. You can stiil see her doing it in the DVD inteview she did just before she died...
Meanwhile, what do you do if you write comic books and Dr Fred and the comics code bans you? Write science fiction novels, of course. So Harry Harrison went from being a comic book writer to doing THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT series. Reading all three of the original novels.
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Finished off Wood's "Cannon" after many months of picking it up, reading a few pages, and then setting it aside. A truly sad, depressing end to one of my favorite comic book artists of all time. :(
I spent most of the time trying to guess which artist was helping him out with the penciling and inking. There's even one or two pages where I think Romita Sr. might have helped. Weird.
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Man, do I know what you mean...I had a shot years ago to buy the whole thing at a really HUGE price, and was pretty excited. A friend lent me his copy to read, to find out if I liked it first before sinking in the money...I'm glad I did...it was not the kind of collection you would read for pleasure, or maybe even more then once. So very sad. I kept thinking back to that comment he made about how at the end he wished he had lost his hands rather then go through what he had...I wished he could have gotten help. Retired happy. But none of it was to be...
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To be honest, I don't know what was more disturbing... the work itself... or the letter Wood wrote to some publisher named Koch (which was reprinted with the collection).
As far as being a "last work" goes, I suppose this, the first few issues of Witzend, his "Misfits" and his early "Sally Forth" stuff is better considered as that then what came later, in his darkest days... that stuff IS truly horrible and should respectfully be forgotten in my opinion.
Wood's end is one reason why I like the idea of there being a Hero's Initiative organization nowadays.
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I'm re-reading "the Chinatown Death Cloud Peril" by Paul Malmont.
This is a really cool book for anyone interested in the old pulps. The main characters are the pulp fiction authors including the authors of the Shadow and Doc Savage and much of the story is told from the perspective of a very young Ron L Hubbard as the pulp fiction writers find themselves drawn into a deadly mystery beginning with the untimely death and even more untimely resurrection of H P Lovecraft.
There's a lot of interesting history of publishers of the pulps as well as the writers and cover artists.
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I've seen the Thin Man movies several times but I'd never read Dashiell Hammett's original novel. So I did. I enjoyed it immensely. The first film is pretty faithful to the book. However I was struck by a couple of differences between the book and the movie versions of Nick Charles.
While Nick and Nora do their sleuthing among the idle rich, as in the movies, Nick himself is a retired man of the blue-collar streets. In fact, he talks with exactly the tired, impatient cadence of Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon. The book came out years before Bogart hit it big (1933), but it's Bogey who speaks the dialogue. Nick describes how he left California and the detective game behind once he married into Nora's money. Obviously his detective days were spent in the tough underworld of Sam Spade, and he's happy to be shut of it. But he isn't as comfortable in the upper class world as William Powell's Nick is.
Nora is much closer to Myrna Loy than Nick is to William Powell. She seems a little ditzy, but it's an act. Nora is impulsive, nosy, and strong-willed and she's able to talk Nick into doing things he'd rather not. At the same time she's devoted to him. In a couple of scenes she nearly turns into a mother figure.
These are the scenes which make it clear that Nick is a hard-core alcoholic. Nick wakes with a hangover, perks up with a drink, drinks through the day and goes to bed with a nightcap. He's more interested in wheedling Nora into fixing him a cocktail than he is in describing the results of his investigation. It's not bleak, dark alcoholism; but neither is it the jokey, sparkling alcoholism of the films.
In fact the novel has very little of the movies' lighthearted Nick-and-Nora repartee. There are moments of wit and a number of good lines, but the story is played pretty straight. Hammett derives most of his fun from the odd characters, both upper- and lower-caste, who provide clues and act as suspects.
The mystery is good. I don't think I'd have figured it out, but of course having seen the movie I already knew the ending. The pacing is fast and the dialogue is good. The novel is well worth reading if you haven't.
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I had my second cataract surgery and couldn't read for a week. I turned to my old friend, the Librivox collection. Librivox.org is a library of public domain audiobooks recorded by volunteers. Its hundreds of titles range from classics to cyclopedias, from s-f pulps to 18th-century romances. The readings vary in quality, but most are quite listenable (though it is very strange to hear a Tom Corbett book dramatized by an all-English cast).
Since all Librivox books are solidly in the public domain, 99% of them are very old. Few were published after 1920. That means many novels are overwritten and tedious. It was a rare treat to discover the 1905 novel A Yellow Journalist by Miriam Michelson. It's the first-person story of an ambitious woman who works her way up from cub reporter to city editor at a sensationalist San Francisco newspaper. The book is written in a fast-moving, breezy style that seems much more modern than other novels of the period.
Michelson was herself a reporter, and her descriptions of behind-the-scene newspapering have an authentic ring. We watch spunky Rhoda Massey snoop, bluff, cajole, and fib her way to the Big Scoop. It's reminiscent of The Front Page without that play's cynicism. Which doesn't mean Rhoda is altogether ethical. Rhoda's personality is refreshingly three-dimensional. Her impulse to get an exclusive at any cost frequently bumps into her conscience and she doesn't always make the noblest choice.
It's funny how the story seems almost contemporary--then you realize the cabs are horse-drawn and electricity is still competing with gaslight. Michelson addresses some of the problems of the day like corrupt trusts and workplace sexism. She doesn't preach, though. Rhoda simply charges forward and shows 'em a thing or two. Miriam Michelson obviously loved San Francisco. She writes several evocative descriptions of The City. It's sad to think that a couple of years later her City was wiped out by the big earthquake.
This is a popular novel and it isn't perfect. All the seemingly unrelated characters and incidents turn out to be interconnected, which is dramatically satisfying but not very believable. Rhoda's romance with a rival columnist reads like an afterthought. I guess back then you needed a romance to sell copies. But even in romance Rhoda remains Rhoda. She loves reporting as much as (more than, really) she loves Ted and basically dumps him when things start popping. By the time Ted reappears for the closing clinch, Rhoda has wrapped everything up all by herself.
I recommend A Yellow Journalist for a fun change of pace. It's read by Lee Ann Howlett and can be found here:
https://librivox.org/a-yellow-journalist-by-miriam-michelson/
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sounds cool
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I've been re-reading some of my favorite comics from 20 years ago-- Steve Rude, Scott McCloud, currently Mike Allred. Every so often, somebody mentions "Lee & Kirby", and I usually tense up. But I have to realize... back then (the 90s), I didn't know the full truth, either. It was a long, slow time coming.
I don't know if anybody here's familiar with Mike Allred's work. It looks a lot like "Kirby & STONE". The thing is, what really sets his work apart, to a large degree, is the writing. The stuff he crams into his stories, the way they're structured, the dialogue... all of it, I think, could be described as "UNIQUE".
I have not read ONE single word criticising his dialogue. NOT ONE.
Believe me... it's STRANGER than Kirby's.
Which got me once again PISSED OFF thinking about all the brainwashed, BRAIN-DEAD "MMMS" types who continue to INSIST that "Kirby couldn't write", or "Kirby couldn't write dialogue", or "Kirby's dialogue was TERRIBLE!!!!"
Even people who F***ING ought to know better, like Steve Thompson (I kicked him off my FB list because he and one of his pals KEPT bad-mouthing Kirby's dialogue on his page, then INSISTED "this isn't the place to argue that" when I offered an opposing opinion).
This morning I ran across a mention of Erik Larsen on one of the letters pages of "THE ATOMICS". Oh geez. Like I need that.
I still remember when Larsen ATTACKED me on Christmas morning. CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!! I haven't seen him since. I wonder why that is? No I don't.
"BLOCK".
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Books read this past month-
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo- by Amy Schumer I must confess that the only thing I knew Schumer from was her film Trainwreck and just picked up this book on a whim at the local library. It's made me curious enough to check out more of her work.
MacArthur's War- by Bevin ALexander Gives the basics on MacArthur running afoul of President Truman during the Korean war.
Mexicana: Vintage Mexican Graphics- edited by Jim Heimann Picture book features an interesting assortment of artistic images of popular culture (almost all seem to be from the twentieth century prior to 1960) from advertisements for various products, travel brochures, movie promotions, bull fights and more.
Elvis in Hollywood- by Steve Pond Mostly a picture book on Elvis's first film.
End of Watch- by Stephen King The conclusion of the Bill Hodges trilogy. While the first one (the best of the three, IMHO) was pretty much a straight thriller, King has moved to more familiar territory with this one which features elements of telekinesis and mind control.
Happy Birthday to You!- by Dr. Seuss I started working my way through Seuss's books last year in a, more or less, chronological order. This one I found rather disappointing but then it did come on the tails of two of his most popular books (The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat) so it had a hard act to follow
Chasing Darkness- Robert Crais Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. Good stuff.
Pop Twenty Vol 1- Edited by Bob Birchard An assortment of pieces on film, television and music of the 20th century. Mostly concentrates on the pre 1970 years. Kept my interest.
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It was a rare treat to discover the 1905 novel A Yellow Journalist by Miriam Michelson. It's the first-person story of an ambitious woman who works her way up from cub reporter to city editor at a sensationalist San Francisco newspaper. The book is written in a fast-moving, breezy style that seems much more modern than other novels of the period.
Michelson was herself a reporter, and her descriptions of behind-the-scene newspapering have an authentic ring. We watch spunky Rhoda Massey snoop, bluff, cajole, and fib her way to the Big Scoop. It's reminiscent of The Front Page without that play's cynicism. Which doesn't mean Rhoda is altogether ethical. Rhoda's personality is refreshingly three-dimensional. Her impulse to get an exclusive at any cost frequently bumps into her conscience and she doesn't always make the noblest choice.
When you wrote of this it sparked the memory of a book I was given for Christmas years ago but set aside and forgot. I was lucky to find it very quickly the first place I looked.
The title is "I Cover the Waterfront" by Max Miller. First published in 1932 its tells of Miller's first six years as a reporter of the goings on in the notorious San Diego waterfront district of his day.
My sister who was a crime reporter for a major newspaper for many years gave me this book.
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Had a very long weekend so I've been catching up on my Brit comics. A good friend found me another picture library comic, and I enjoyed it so much I had to read several issues I had downloaded but not yet read. Time well spent. Cheers, Bowers
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I finished Chuck Dixon's second Hard Times book and immediately bought the third. I don't like time travel where the past/present/future can be changed. He does in a reasonable way. I have started Chris Nigro's Dargolla
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Just about halfway through "Weird Shadows over Innsmouth", a collection of H P Lovecraft inspired stories. The first story is a fragmentary rough first draft of Shadows over Innsmouth written by H P himself.
Stories so far are great. Extremely spooky to downright disturbing. I don't doubt less jaded readers would lose a lot of sleep after reading some of these.
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This past week, I read Golden Age Greats #2 (an all-Phantom Lady issue), a bit of Essential Tomb of Dracula #3 , El Mesias, Une s
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Just finished Walter Mosley's 'Rose Gold'. Mosley never disappoints.
Slowly working through Robin Lane Fox's biography of Alexander the Great. About the forth bio of Alexander the Macedonian I have read. Never get tired of it.
John Burdett's Bangkok Haunts the third Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep Book. Noir with a definite Asian Flavor.
Hank Wangford's Los(t) Cowboys - awesome book about the Spanish roots of the American (North and South) Cowboy tradition. A road trip from Buenos Aires to San Antonio. The book also introduced me to the epic poem about the Gaucho, Martin Fierro by Jose Hernandez.
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A Panini Doctor Who GN which collects 6th Doctor stories from Doctor Who Magazine. This one is vol. 2 and has some excellent b&w art by John Ridgeway. I'm about half way through and it's all good stuff.
Also, Vanished Railways of West Lothian, a big hardback about railway history of places I used to live and places close to me nowadays. Passenger, freight (goods), mineral lines and tramways and how they developed because of the coal, minerals and shale oil all over this part of Scotland. Packed with photos and maps courtesy of National Library of Scotland. I bought this in the bookshop at the nearby Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway, a preserved line running steam trains and heritage diesels.
http://www.bkrailway.co.uk/
In between, I'm dipping in and out of the Rebellion collection of The Leopard from Lime Street. Just a smidgin of Messrs. Lee and Ditko in the origin. The strip originally appeared in buster, a weekly kids comic and Billy (The Leopard) is 13. Well told and drawn and, more importantly, good fun.
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https://www.amazon.com/Alabaster-Kid-Slipknot-David-Noe/dp/1945667435/ I have not started the Slipknot side and am only part way through Alabaster Kid but it has been really good.
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Batman '66 meets Wonder Woman '77, the collection. Really good fun. Disengage brain, sit back and enjoy.
Wonder Woman meets The Bionic Woman. the collection. Chalk and cheese compared to the Bats book. Crude art makes the whole thing frustrating and hard to enjoy. This should have been just right nostalgically and superherowise. What a disappointment.
Scarlet Traces Vol. 2 (Edginton and D'Israeli) Excellent and a great follow on from vol. 1.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Shivers right at the start when a spaceship crash lands on Earth and 2 figures wearing very familiar spacesuits with the names Caroon and Greene on the back crawl from the ship. Quatermass rules!
As I'm currently struggling with the most colossal cold, all I can do apart from cough, splutter and feel like crap is read. I'm just getting into A Very English Scandal by John Preston, which is a well researched account of the Jeremy Thorpe affair from the '60's/70's (Thorpe was a Liberal politician and became leader of the Liberal party in Westminster) This is a Wiki page:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Thorpe
Digitally, I have a pile of Rip Kirby stories to re-read and I keep dipping into them.
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Found a book i got after christmas and set aside then forgot about till now.
Its "Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible, A Marvelous Memoir" by Stan Lee , Peter David and Colleen Doran.
A sort of biography of Stan Lee and history of his contribution to comics. All illustrated in color in the form of a graphic novel.
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Just finished "The City of Endless Night" A Pendergast novel by Preston and Child.
Not bad, but more pacing more suited to a ninety minute 1970's TV crime drama than as a novel.
It strongly reminds me of the 60's (?) short story "Head Hunters of New York".
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I read the Peter David Book, not in detail, skimmed it. looked for certain elements. Looked entertaining. No question, Marvel wouldn't be where it is today if it weren't for Stan Lee.
Today I finished Mark Evanier's 'Kirby - King of Comics' It tells a somewhat different story.
One thing I was happy about with the last Avengers movie, if you scan the credits, Both Lee and Kirby are credited, Don Heck and Steve Englehart get a credit for Mantis and Starlin gets a credit for Thanos. I Won't spoil Evanier's book for those who have yet to read it, but it turns out that the title 'King of Comics' came with some serious irony. Also, when I got to the last photo in the book, I couldn't believe what I was looking at. Tears came to my eyes.
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Just finished the first book in the Scandrake series, Dissolution, by C.J. Sansom. Set at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, Scandrake, a hunchback, is one of Thomas Cromwell's Commissioners and is sent of to the south coast to investigate a murder in the local monastery. I think the author has done his research well and some of the descriptions of monastic life and the treatment of young initiates and servants makes for unpleasant reading. A good story, well told, and I'll be off down the library to see if they have more of the series.
https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/c-j-sansom/dissolution/9781447285830
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Just finished "Hammett Unwritten".
Its a story based on the idea that the "Maltese Falcon" was based on an actual supernatural art object. Dashell Hammett had kept it as a keepsake of the case he's based his novel on. The various characters of the book and film he based on real crooks involved in that long ago crime.
He gives the bird away and finds he has lost the ability to write. He then spends decades trying to find out if the bird is real and to find it again.
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I read far too much but a couple of choices to bring to your attention.
'Helsinki Blood' by James Thompson. Police Noir by an american writer from the south but set in Finland, where he lives. Not the first in the series, and I'm going to go back to read those. I described this to a bookseller friend of mine in this way. 'If you think of Rebus and Bosch books as a cold beer, this is like having a few shots of whisky.'
I am also looking at Europe Comics material and am currently reading Mika
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Hammett Unwritten sounds great - thanks for pointing me in the direction of that. I'm currently reading Mick Herron's Slough House series - strongly recommended.
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American Comic Book Chronicles: 1940-44 by the fine folks at TwoMorrows. Seems like I've been waiting on this volume in particular for a couple of years now (the kind of in-depth documentation found in volumes covering the later decades just doesn't seem possible with respect to the 1940s -- too much has been lost to time). Even so, this is the most complete and accurate information on these years that you're likely to find anywhere from a single source. The series is still lacking a volume covering 1945-49, and ones covering the 1930s and the 1990s, but it's shaping up to be the most comprehensive retrospective of American comic publications in existence -- not surprisingly, since it's from TwoMorrows.
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Been looking up classics on this free site
https://www.fadedpage.com/
Just finished a Robert E Howard pirate yarn I'd never heard of till now, "Black Vulmea's Vengence".
https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20170656
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Thank you for this link. Since I read your post I downloaded and had a quick look at one of EE Doc Smith's "Lensman' books. This is a Canadian site. Are the PD rules different in Canada? I wouldn't have thought some of these authors are PD?
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I ordered a copy of
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Interesting - I checked out some random samples of his work on Google Images and was very impressed.
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Canada still adheres to the Berne Convention - which is Life+50years (or 75 years from creation - so definitely anything up to 1944)
As Doc Smith died in 1965, he is out of copyright in Canada.
FYI - In China, the rule is Life+50 or 50 years from creation (ie 1969)
There are other countries where it still remains Life+50, eg Cuba, Egypt, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan - and others less noted for comic book media
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Thanks misappear, I'll go and find the Ogden Whitney stories.
As for reading, it's been cheap and cheerful British crime fiction set in Victorian times or between the wars. Also, a French GN series based on books by Roger Frison-Roche. These were loaned to me by a member of our French group. There are 3 books in the set. Here's some info. on the first:-
http://www.planetebd.com/bd/artege-editions/premier-de-cordee/-/27814.html
It was also a film:-
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0193431/
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Paw [and others) ,
Faded Page is worth checking out for its Mystery and Detective titles.
Here for instance is a collection of Herman Cyril McNeile, MC (Sapper).
https://www.fadedpage.com/sc/sapper.php
including 3 Bulldog Drummond books.
There are also Zane Grey, Dorothy Sayers, Neville Shute and E. Phillips Oppenheim. There are Raymond Chandler, Dashielle Hammett and a large collection of Edgar Wallace
https://www.fadedpage.com/csearch.php?author=Wallace,%20(Richard%20Horatio)%20Edgar
Oh, and before I forget,
from Benson, Mildred A. Wirt (pseudonym: Keene, Carolyn)and Adams, Harriet Stratemeyer, an early Nancy Drew mystery.
https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20191065
Actually, just looking again, Mildred Benson was a pseudonym used by at least 3 people. Early Franchising?
and I haven't really started to look yet.
So thanks again, Captain Audio. Great Find.
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Got four books at Christmas and have been going back and forth between them --
Match Game 101 I'm a huge game show fan and was really looking forward to this book. However I'm about a third of the way through it and I've noticed that, while informative, it's a little amateurish in text and preparation.
Aaaaalllviiinnn!: The Story of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., Liberty Records, Format Films and The Alvin Show Mark Arnold is one of my favorite writers. The text is well written and well researched. I just wish the photos, storyboards and reproductions of scripts and letters had been larger
The Overstreet Price Guide to Batman I really expected more from a book that carried Robert Overstreet's name. The book is VERY incomplete and is not laid out in a usable or readable form
The Education Of A Country Hick: How A Kid From Rural Paris, Tennessee Built A Life In Las Vegas, Nevada A Kindle only book that flows well. It's a biography of an unknown man with an unusual layout. Instead of starting with "I was born" and going from there the author devotes chapters to items that's important to him and then gets into his autobiographical information. A unique and highly readable book.
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Been reading "Boarding Party" by James Leasor.
Its a fact based story based on the taking of a German cargo ship interned in the Portugese port of Goa that the Germans had been using as a radio station tipping off U-boats to the departure of allied shipping from ports in India.
The protagonists are the "Calcutta Light Horse" a traditional paramilitary volunteer organization of retired officers and civilians , mainly a drinking club that held regular horse races. All up for a bit of adventure though when called on.
There's a lot of historical information on Indian resistance to British rule, young Indian acting as spies for the Germans and groups of Indian troops taken prisoner of war in North Africa defecting to the Germans. There were Indian mutineers who joined the Japanese as well to fight the British. Things were far from cut and dried in those days.
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Amazon tells me that Boarding Party was filmed as The Sea Wolves with Gregory Peck, Roger Moore and Patrick MacNee.
I'm currently reading the two Michael Pearce series - the Mamur Zapt and Dead Man - and would strongly recommend both - great fun. As is anything by Marie Phillips - especially the gut-wrenchingly funny 'Oh I Do Like to Be'
For another bellyache of laughs, try the Lynne Truss Constable Twitten series
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"Amazon tells me that Boarding Party was filmed as The Sea Wolves with Gregory Peck, Roger Moore and Patrick MacNee."
I have Sea Wolves on disc. I'm waiting till I finish the book before watching the film.
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Seawolves,which I have see several times on TV, starred Gregory Peck, Roger Moore,David Niven, Trevor Howard, and Patrick MacNee, all of whom were well past their prime at the time. It was, however, directed by the ever reliable Andrew V. McLaglen so its not a bad film at all. Screenplay by Reginald Rose.
There were a few movies at that time featuring team-ups of aging action heroes. Most notably the 'Wild Geese' films of which there were 3 and they got worse from #1 to #3.
Rose wrote the screenplay for the first two.
The first of these, also Directed by McLagen,starred Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris, Hardy Kruger, Stewart Granger, Frank Finlay, Barry Foster and Ronald Fraser. It's bearable, but the age of these guys in these films was hard to disguise.
A 'making of' doco of WILD GEESE exists.
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Lock-down is winding down in the state [NSW] where I live, which means my local libraries, one of which stocks Comic material, are again open for business.
As of yesterday I have [to read]
Graphic Novels :-
Grass Kings [Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkins]
Pirate Queen - the legend of Grace OMalley by Tony Lee and Sam Hart
Station 16 [European] by Hermann and YVES H.
and DC's Watchman Companion
Happy days are here again!
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Grumpy old man diatribe. Feel free to ignore.
I have tuned out contemporary comics for years. With each passing year the gulf between what they offered and what appealed to me widened. I'm certain I've missed a lot of good stuff. I browsed an online collection of non-superhero, non-Big Two graphic novels and was astonished by how many there were. Half of them I knew I'd never care for: dystopian post-apocalyptic violence in various guises and flavors. Among the other half I didn't have a clue which were worthwhile. Overwhelmed, I turned off my computer and retreated into my copy of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
CB+ members have been discussing The Green Hornet recently. I'd heard that Dynamite was producing revivals of GA characters, including the GH. "All right," says I, "I'll look at a random issue of Dynamite's The Green Hornet."
{Long sigh}
The Green Hornet is recognizable in the featured story. Just recognizable. The artwork is an unappealing cross between manga and Batman Animated. A doodly minimalist style that is probably stylish but to me looks sloppy. The story!!--opens with a flashback of two kids in Viet Nam, no explanation whatever, jumps forward 10 years to the Hornet and Kato surveying a secret base somewhere, no explanation, a woman attacks them and engages in a long kung-fu bout with Kato, ending with the woman bashing open the trunk of the Hornet's car, which turns out to contain a trussed-up costumed villain type with a skull for a head, no explanation. TO BE CONTINUED!! Did you notice I didn't mention The Green Hornet in all this? That's because when the woman attacks, GH falls off a cliff and lies at the bottom leaking stream-of-consciousness captions until he's found by super-suited gunmen and escorted to the base. What a mess!
The backup story advertises itself with a giant title, "A backup story only The Green Hornet would dare! An epilogue? An imaginary story? A glimpse into an alternate future?" It apparently takes place 40 years after the preceding tale. A wizened man who proves to be Britt Reid is dying in a hospital bed, tended by his tearful ex-wife (who I guess is Miss Case from the radio show). Suddenly a patent Marvel-style Giant Otherworldly Being appears and wrecks a bunch of stuff. It looks like he intends to kill Reid, but no! The Hornet had saved the Being's life once (no explanation) and G.O.B. wants to return the favor. Cutaway to a graveyard where G.O.B. raises Kato from the grave, reanimates him, and installs him in a patent Marvel-style bioniccyberneticmechaironmanblablabla supersuit so he has super powers and will live forever. For the big finish, The Green Hornet enters in a similar get-up, a grin on his grotesque machine face and lightning dancing from his fists. The story ends with screaming titles: "Did this story happen?! Will it ever? Will it never? Only time will tell..."
The artwork on this story was the polar opposite of that in the first. It's printed from uninked pencils. It looks like they were originally intended to be inked, though. The drawing is technically good but reeks of the Image-derived excesses of the 1990s: chaotic layouts, panel after panel of grimacing, suffering characters, lots of effects lines and pointy feet. And off-kilter perspective in the only panel where the artist attempts to
apply it.
The entire book reminds me of the flood of semi-pro, semi-fan comics that gushed forth several decades ago. Written as if everyone picking up the book knew all the backstory by an author with an elaborate, grandiose story arc the mere synopsis of which would fill a hundred typed pages. A plot that advances so slowly that reading one issue is like watching ten seconds of Citizen Kane and trying to figure out what the movie's about. And those damned first-person stream-of-consciousness captions. Haven't they gone out of style yet?
I don't plan to read another issue. Heck, I'd probably need to read a dozen more to make sense of the storyline. I find it hard to believe that any reader who hadn't followed the title from the beginning would be interested enough by the elliptical story to bother following the book. I dunno. Let's just say I wasn't impressed.
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Note the modification at the bottom of this post.
Crash, whatever it was you read, it wasn't Green Hornet 2020 # 1 . If the book you read was what you said it was, then I would agree wholeheartedly with your analysis.
Green Hornet 2020 by Dynamite, is Written by Scott Lobdell. Art by Anthony Marques. Marquess style and Lobdell's story is in the vein of Darwyn Cooks' 'New Frontier' It is set in the 50's and has a semi-cartoonish style ala Darwyn Cook. Story starts with a flash forward, with Brett Reid and Kato protecting a baby from the US Army. Brett Reid is depicted accurately and Kato is more of a partner than a servant. Has great dialogue too. Kato's role is the most changed element in the narrative. He is now an inventive vehicle engineer as well as a Martial Arts expert. And yes, there is an Alien at the end of the story, because the narrative is set around 1950's goings on at Area 51.
I really enjoyed it.
https://www.cbr.com/green-hornet-dynamite-new-series/
Spoiler ahead
Dialogue from Issue two - Brett and Kato:-
'How do you propose we get down there? With no stairwell?'
'Faith in a greater power?'
'God?'
'Not that great. I meant your favorite employee.'
'Fine, but if I die, consider yourself fired!'
'Using that same rationale, I see a Raise in my future!'
Modification to post:- I just read issue 3 which is the one you read. Without context. I get your point.
Which is a classic example as to why each episode of a continued story needs a lead-in to explain the context.
A bit of a sqib of an issue. Looks like the backstory was something of a fill-in. It is delineated as 'An imaginary story?' and at the end, 'Did this story happen> Will it ever?' Definitely an aberration tho. lets hope that's the last we see of it. Ever.
I will reserve judgment on the book till I've read a few more.
Also note this:-
Universal announces The Green Hornet and Kato movie
https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2020/04/universal-announces-the-green-hornet-and-kato-movie/
Universal would like to have their own fictional character movie universe to compete with Sony and Disney.
Their first idea was to use their 1930's Monster francises but they blew it big time with the Mummy.
https://www.comicsbeat.com/review-dark-universe-is-dead-on-arrival-with-the-mummy/
Looks like they are trying again with this one, It probably won't please long-term fans of Green Hornet and look for it to include cameos from other properties Dynamite currently does comics of. Shadow or Doc Savage anyone? The Black Bat? Miss Fury? Who knows?
Probably all straight to video with the current mass closing of movie theatres.
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I haven't read any of this series and probably wont. At $3.99 for 20 pages - correct me if I'm wrong - and reading Crash's review, reinforces my belief that, for the most part, Dynamite is a bit of a rip off. On some titles, the art is very poor, and the colouring tries to cover it up. As a highly respected seriously popular mainstream comic artist told me years ago, Colouring can cover up a multitude of sins.
I had a look at the link Panther posted and the cover - very nice, indeed - of GH jumping from the window, reminded me a lot of an Eisner Spirit panel. Dynamite try to suck you in with the covers and once inside, the disappointment can be big, imo.
I recently read a Star Trek tpb with art by Rachel Stott. Now there's someone trying to get on in the field and doing a decent job of it. Some of her Doctor Who stories are quite well done.
Perhaps we should be following the likes of Rachel and avoiding some of the nonsense that is Dynamite.
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I bought the Dell "Mapback" PB, Death Draws the Line by Jack Iams (1948), because it was about murder in the newspaper strip world. I always meant to get around to reading it. I've been meaning to get around to reading it for thirty years. I finally took it in the tub with me yesterday.
(https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1335910369l/13630325.jpg)
Zeke Brock is the writer/artist of a wildly successful daily strip, Little Polly Pitcher, an obvious takeoff on Little Orphan Annie. The strip has made Brock rich and famous while filling the coffers of the wildly dysfunctional Whitcomb family, which owns the syndicate. Brock has been drinking himself to death for years, leaving most of the work to his young assistant Mary Bradley. One night Zack apparently finally succeeds in drinking himself to death. Our hero, syndicate editor Mark Wallis, and Mary are caught between the law and the Whitcombs when the cartoonist's death proves to be murder.
An author's note on the flyleaf thanks Roy Crane and Ward Greene, editor of King Features Syndicate, for "technical assistance." This sounded exciting, and I looked forward to snippets of local color about the glory days of newspaper comics, but I was disappointed. We learn almost nothing about the comics business. It's nevertheless an entertaining whodunnit.
Death Draws the Line operates at the level of a decent 40s B-movie mystery. The Whitcomb clan, at the center of the turmoil, is a familiar bunch: dominating old matriarch, two dissolute sons, a nymphomaniac daughter, a bull-like chauffeur, an enigmatic family doctor, and enough closeted skeletons to fill a churchyard. Well, maybe in a B-movie the daughter wouldn't be a nymphomaniac. Anyway, sordid secrets are revealed, a will is contested, two weeks of originals mysteriously vanish, and everyone gathers in the drawing room at the end for the surprise reveal. In a novel twist, the missing originals holding the mystery's key are printed for the reader to see as our hero displays them to the family (see below).
(https://blog.fantagraphics.com/images/flog/67/ddtl3.jpg)
Nothing remarkable, just a pleasant time-passer. Too bad there wasn't more comic-strip ambience. In 1948 the Golden Age of newspaper strips was winding down, but it was still possible for a successful cartoonist to buy mansions, breed horses, and hire assistants to do the hard work. We hear a bit about deadlines and the production process, but except for the gimmick of the missing dailies the story could just as easily have taken place in any big-money business. When the hero and Brock's assistant must produce some strips on their own, we finally get a glimpse of the real stuff--and Jack Iams gets it wrong. The strips are drawn on "cardboard" rather than Bristol board, and the artist inks the dailies before they're lettered rather than after.
Iams may have slacked off on those technical details, but he certainly didn't shortchange the city of New York. The book's most remarkable passages are loving word pictures of misty dawns, rainy neon-touched boulevards, the parks, the districts, the neighborhoods. It's quite a performance. Iams obviously was crazy about NYC.
Iams was a journalist, novelist, and TV critic. Here's a bio from a paperback cover site. It's largely a rewrite of Iams' AP obituary:
Jack Iams was a pseudonym for Samuel Harvey Iams Jr. an American crime writer who before striking out under that pen name was a reporter for The London Daily Mail. He then wrote for other newspapers
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I love the title, 'Death draws the line.'!
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Just started re reading the Silmarillion.
Ordered a used copy and was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually in new condition. Probably pulled from a book store shelf as shop worn, though little if any wear is present.
I also ordered a new four volume set of the Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy.
I have a theory I'd like to confirm. Though Tolkien had said his works were unrelated to his wartime experiences its pretty obvious that they were heavily influenced by the events of WW1, both his personal hardships and historic battles.
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Though Tolkien had said his works were unrelated to his wartime experiences its pretty obvious that they were heavily influenced by the events of WW1, both his personal hardships and historic battles
Did he really say that? I have seen analysis of his work which makes it clear that WW1 had a huge influence on Tolkien's Mythos.
https://screenrant.com/lord-rings-tolkien-middle-earth-influence/
Scroll down this page to 'World War I In The Lord Of The Rings'
it's no coincidence that The Lord of the Rings centers around a "war to end all wars." However, the influence of Tolkien's time in the trenches runs far deeper than the basic premise. The author's grandson, Simon Tolkien (via BBC), notes several connections between the real-life horrors of the Great War and the struggle of elves and men against a great, unseen evil.
Then there is this.
How J.R.R. Tolkien
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Though Tolkien had said his works were unrelated to his wartime experiences its pretty obvious that they were heavily influenced by the events of WW1, both his personal hardships and historic battles
Did he really say that? I have seen analysis of his work which makes it clear that WW1 had a huge influence on Tolkien's Mythos.
https://screenrant.com/lord-rings-tolkien-middle-earth-influence/
Scroll down this page to 'World War I In The Lord Of The Rings'
it's no coincidence that The Lord of the Rings centers around a "war to end all wars." However, the influence of Tolkien's time in the trenches runs far deeper than the basic premise. The author's grandson, Simon Tolkien (via BBC), notes several connections between the real-life horrors of the Great War and the struggle of elves and men against a great, unseen evil.
Then there is this.
How J.R.R. Tolkien
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Just finished my over Christmas reading. As usual, I had picked a couple of Christmas themed things. First was a Bunter tale from Magnet about the mystery at Maulever Towers and Bunter's outrageous efforts to "stick" there for the holiday. Great stuff and lots of chuckles.
The other book was a Holmes tale by James Lovegrove, The Christmas Demon. Not quite up the standard of Conan Doyle, but enjoyable all the same.
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My Christmas reading has included Rebellion's The Return of Sexton Blake and the John Steel Files - both strongly recommend. There are hints in the Steel production that it might be the first of a series of reprints of the Bond/Blake style character. I certainly hope so.
I haven't read any Bunter yet although I usually try to at Xmas - perhaps I'll launch into one today.
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"Sex In The Comics"
https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Sex-Comics-Maurice-Horn-Chelsea-House/20639266834/bd (https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Sex-Comics-Maurice-Horn-Chelsea-House/20639266834/bd)
by Maurice Horn, Chelsea House Publishers, 1985.
A very interesting book on two very interesting subjects 8). The book contains a wealth of information and is richly illustrated. I can recommend the book to anyone interested in one of the two topics. ;)
Since the book is from 1985, it of course only contains comics informations up to that point in time. Personally, that's enough for me, because I hardly care interested in newer comics.
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I always find myself reading off-the-wall stuff. This time it's CLARA VAUGHAN by Richard Doddridge Blackmore. Today Blackmore is remembered, if at all, for Lorna Doone, which you'll find condensed in the Thriller Picture Library. Clara Vaughan, from 1864, was his first novel. To my surprise it kept me interested all the way to the end.
I say "to my surprise" because the book is a laundry list of things I hate in a novel: (1) It is a classic three-volume novel, running well over a thousand pages; (2) It contains a huge section in which the novel screeches to a halt while one of the characters engages in a 200-page recounting of his own separate adventures; (3) It is obsessed with shady relatives, questionable ancestry and "proper" inheritance; (4) Many characters speak in elaborately spelt-out accents; and (5) It contains swarthy, hot-blooded Corsicans. Now that I reread that description it sounds like an issue of Thriller Picture Library crossed with an issue of Schoolgirls' Picture Library. Maybe that's why I stuck around for the end. Anyway, the story recounts the adventures of Clara, who at age ten saw her father murdered by a mysterious someone. She grows up obsessed with finding his killer. Her prime suspect is a wayward uncle. Over the course of the novel she experiences rags and riches, an impossible romance, hairbreadth escapes, clashes with inscrutable enemies, and the love of a good dog. All very mid-19th-century, yet very involving.
As a storyteller Blackmore deserves applause for one thing. Right about the time the murderer's identity becomes clear to the reader, Clara figures it out too, and her quest switches from identifying the killer to proving her suspicions and bringing the bounder to justice. If you've ever read 19th-century novels you'll appreciate how refreshing this was. Oddly, to me the most memorable aspect of the novel wasn't the story but the author's descriptions of northern England. Much of the novel is set in Devonshire. Blackmore paints the landscape, the weather, and the people in such loving detail that you can feel the breeze and see the sun shining through the trees. The only down side is his insistence on reproducing phonetically long speeches in the local dialect. It may honor its subjects but it's damned near impossible to read.
The more I think of it the more I believe this enormous novel would have condensed nicely into a great Thriller Picture Library.
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As long as I'm at it, here's another off-the-wall novel: The Bellamy Trial (1927) by Frances Noyes Hart. It's been suggested that this is the first "courtroom procedural" novel (my term) of the sort that Erle Stanley Gardner made famous. I wouldn't be surprised to find that ESG had this book in mind when he was developing Perry Mason.
The novel follows an eight-day murder trial. A society woman has been killed. Her husband and another woman are accused of the crime. Each day of the trial is treated in a separate chapter consisting mostly of the arguments presented by the prosecuting and defense attorneys. The trial is big news so the courtroom is packed with curious citizens and drama-hungry reporters. Among them are a female reporter on her first murder case and a male reporter who has seen plenty of them. Their brief conversations provide us with background about the trial participants so we better understand the context.
With its long stretches of back-and-forth dialogue the book reads like a Perry Mason TV show. In fact, although neither attorney is particularly sympathetic, I still heard the voices of Raymond Burr and William Talman in many of the exchanges. At one point an attorney even labels his opponent's argument "incompetent, immaterial, and irrelevant"! The author plays fair with the reader, laying out the clues clearly and distributing the red herrings with care. While the trial doesn't end with a dramatic witness-stand admission of guilt, its conclusion is satisfying and matches the facts.
All in all this was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. The author felt the need to develop an irrelevant (and immaterial and incompetent?) romance between the reporters but it's kept on the sidelines and doesn't hamper enjoyment of the story. If you like Perry Mason-style mysteries you might enjoy this book as I did.
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Sounds good - I'll read it.
Out of copyright worldwide and available for free here:
https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20120315
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Sounds winner.
Available here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41020
I'm a fan of Victorian literature - Wilkie Collins is a particular favourite, so I'll give Clara a go. I'm not sure about the sun shining through the trees in Devon. I lived there for many years - I don't recall the rain stopped once.
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It's been a long time since I read Vittorio Giardino's graphic novels about Max Fridman. I liked them immensely, both for art and story. Lately I ran across Vacances Fatales (Fatal Vacations), a short story collection published in the early 1990s. The book apparently appeared first in Italy, but I read the French version from Casterman. It's a set of six stories set in various vacation spots, each featuring complicated personal intrigues and mysteries with an ironical conclusion. Each tale is prefaced by Giardino's description about how the story idea came to him.
I love Giardino's art. One can see a variety of influences from ligne claire and Giraud to Tardi and Pratt. He imitates none of them; Giardino is a fully-realized artist with a gift for believable characters and evocative backgrounds. There's something to savor in every panel.
The first four stories didn't do much for me. They're beautifully drawn, of course, and readable, but they're somewhat shallow tales of sexual intrigue among the beautiful people and the ironic endings are too pat. That all changes for the last two stories. These are mysteries, longer and deeper than the previous anecdotes.
In the first, "La Decouverte de Paris" ("The Discovery of Paris"), a painter approaching middle age revisits his old stomping ground and renews old acquaintances only to be dragged into an illegal plot to sell a priceless Giorgione painting believed to have been lost during the War. it's a very satisfying story with a great ending.
The last story, "La Troisieme Verite" ("The Third Truth") is equally engrossing. The widow of a man who translates the books of a successful novelist believes her husband's accidental death was murder. She enlists the aid of her husband's lawyer--who is also her lover--to dig up the truth. This was Giardino's first time working with a "scenarist." From his description the two worked closely together and had a great time. The result is a nicely crafted tale of shifting loyalties and sudden violence.
Definitely recommended.
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Lately, courtesy of my local libraries, I have been reading some of the works of Johnny D Boggs. Boggs is a writer of Westerns which are 'Faction', fictional accounts of factual history. I love readable books about the American West. He is a relatively new writer, his first Spur award, for a short story, was in 2002.
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/johnny-d-boggs/
But, boy, can he write!
I've read, 'The Kansas City Cowboys' (about a baseball team' and 'Hard Way out of Hell - the confessions of Cole Younger' - (About the James Gang if you didn't know the connection) and am currently at the end of "Ghost Legion'
If you think the USA is a politically confusing and volatile place today, read this about the Battle of Kings Mountain in the 1780s and you will come to the conclusion that in some ways nothing has changed.
In this tale set during the War for Independence, two intriguing stories emerge. One is of a black freedman, Stuart Brodie. On his return from the war, he finds his brother lynched and his tavern in the backcountry of South Carolina burnt to the ground. Knowing that the guilty party was allied with the Colonial Patriots, he joins the British Army to exact his revenge. The other story is of an abused wife, Marty, who is raped by her husband and his friend and left to recover alone. While dressed in men's clothing she is mistaken for a man and promptly uses this to her advantage to join the Colonial forces.
Recommended.
While writing this, I was thinking that his books would make great movies and wondered if he had already achieved that.
IMDB credits Johnny D Boggs as the writer for the semi- documentary series, Gunfighters.
https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2617818393?ref_=nm_rvd_vi_1
Looks Good!
Cheers!
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Continuing along my French shelf I finally got around to reading Marcel Labrume by Attilio Micheluzzi (1980). I've read a fair amount of Micheluzzi. The guy pumped out a lot of material, writing and drawing adventure stories grounded in historical events in exotic locales. He especially liked the 1930s, when the world was sliding inexorably toward World War II.
Marcel Labrume is a sort of Bogart character living somewhere in what today is Syria. In 1940 Syria and much of the surrounding territory, then called the Levant, was administered by the French. France was run by the Vichy government, collaborators with Hitler's Germany. German influence was building in the Levant, leading to complicated behind-the-scenes clashes between Germans, Vichy supporters, and supporters of exiled General Charles DeGaulle--not to mention all the various ethnic and religious groups we hear about today, Alaouites, Maronites, Druse, Zionists, none of whom were happy with European occupation of their land.
Into this mess flies Labrume's onetime lover, rich Hollywood aviatrix Carole Gibson, on a secret mission to transport a Jewish activist safely to a friendly country so he can reveal unpleasant truths about Nazi atrocities. Labrume is dragged into this mess, pushing back against Gestapo officer Steiner and an array of characters both savory and un. Of course he must also deal with his soured relationship with Carole.
I admire Micheluzzi's work, but not with the same enthusiasm I have for Vittorio Giardino. There's a certain clinical quality to his stories. They're interesting, well-researched and well-plotted, but I always get the feeling that we're seeing the story held at arm's length. We're never quite close enough to the characters to get to know them. Micheluzzi's storytelling style is mostly to blame for this. While most of the action is shown by art and dialogue, there are a fair number of narrative captions (fortunately not overly many and not overly long). The captions are Labrume's inner monologues. They drift in time from past to present and even into the future. Labrume doesn't just explain the action, he speculates about what characters are thinking and chides himself for his shortcomings. It's as if Lebrume is watching himself in a movie and talking to the screen. "Ah, Labrume, you were such a fool." "So it would be easy, eh? But you didn't know about..." and that sort of thing. Micheluzzi has used this gimmick in many stories. At least it's not as bad here as in Rosso Stenton, in which an unidentified narrator speaks directly to the hero--and the hero replies!
Micheluzzi's artwork is amazing. He usually works in black-and-white, and his use of dramatic shadows and abstract textures is unlike anyone else's. Some of his compositions--a worm's eye view of a chain link fence, a backlit semi-silhouette of Labrume crouching in a doorway--are magnificent in their mixing of the real and the abstract. His use of cast shadows is equally bold. Sometimes, as in nightclub scenes, the background is dominated by a completely abstract pattern that somehow fits the scene perfectly.
The downside is that Micheluzzi sometimes gets too clever and the resulting image is impossible to figure out. He likes elliptical storytelling and often suggests something rather than showing it. Unfortunately this can land him in trouble. In comparing the original Italian and the translated French versions of the story I found that new dialogue had been written to clarify one perplexing, and very important, scene. A final complaint is that while his supporting characters represent a wide variety of interesting types, sometimes it's hard to tell the bad guys apart.
I understand there was a sequel, which I haven't seen. I'd give this book a qualified "recommended." You may have to reread a couple of scenes to get what's going on.
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Finished the Silmarillion and the Hobbit. Started the Fellowship of the Ring and am as far in as the encounter at Weather Top and Frodo's wound. The broken tip of the Morgul blade reminds me of a shrapnel wound.
Continuing along my French shelf I finally got around to reading Marcel Labrume by Attilio Micheluzzi (1980). I've read a fair amount of Micheluzzi. The guy pumped out a lot of material, writing and drawing adventure stories grounded in historical events in exotic locales. He especially liked the 1930s, when the world was sliding inexorably toward World War II.
Has he written anything on the "Gran Chaco War"?
I've only run across a few articles on weaponry of the time which mention this war as a prelude to the carnage of WW2.
I once read a early Superman story in which Clark Kent, before appearing as Superman, had served in combat in a war similar to this. When he realized he himself was invulnerable to gunfire he decided he must never take a human life in battle no matter how noble the cause and never use deadly force against criminals.
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Captain A, have you ever read Philip Wylie's Gladiator, a book that had a strong influence on Superman? The short form is that Hugo Danner was raised by a scientist father to have superhuman abilities. He spends the book trying to use his powers for good and failing. When Danner enlists to fight in WWI he goes berserk during a particulary awful battle and winds up tearing hundreds of enemy soldiers to bits. That sort of puts him off the idea of being a super soldier.
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Captain A, have you ever read Philip Wylie's Gladiator, a book that had a strong influence on Superman?
Never heard of it but will certainly look it up.
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Thanks for the heads-up over these - Vittorio Giardino looks pretty much my cup of tea - Sam Pezzo and Max Fridman look like the kind of characters I will enjoy.
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Currently Reading,
?Buck Peters, Ranchman. A Hopalong Cassidy Novel?
Clarence E. Mulford 1912.
Thanks to my local library.
From the Dust Jacket, ?Bill ?Hopalong? Cassidy, [is] an illiterate, tobacco-chewing, hard drinking, able-swearing son of the Old West.?
If you are only familiar with Hopalong from the films, Mulford?s novels will come as a revelation.
This one, in fact, doesn't star Hopalong, but his friends Tex and Buck.
He loved word-games and language. And he depicts Cowboys as a group of uneducated but intelligent men who speak their own language and revel in it. If you understand, you are identified as someone to take seriously, if you don?t you are instantly identified as an outsider. In places I am reminded of James Joyce.
Extract: -
?Tex? arrives at the Ranch of the title, to work with his friend Buck.
At the beginning, he is talking to his Horse.
He is met by ?Dirty? who introduces him to the Ranch Hands.
[ ?Ha! By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way bums!? He had turned to cross the Jill and saw Pop Snow basking in the failing sunlight. ??Why-Not? ? well, Why not? I will!??
?Come a long way stranger?? Asked Dirty, his gaze wandering over the tell-tale mud. He had come the wrong way for profit, but Dirty always asked, on Principle: he hated to get out of practice.
Tex swung his right leg over the Pony?s neck and sat sideways, looking indolently at the pickled specimen who sat insolently regarding him.
?Plucked from a branch of the Mussel Shell,? murmured Tex, ?When time was young?; and them drawled, ?Tolerable, tolerable, been a-comin? thirty year, Just about.?
Dirty looked at him with frank disgust, spat carefully, and turning on his seat no more than was absolutely necessary, stuck his head in at the open door and yelled, ?Hey Boys! Come on out and meet Mr Comin? Thirty. Comin? is bashful ?bout drinkin with strangers, so get acquaint.? ]
If, like me you are a lover of language, you will love Mulford. 8)
Cheers!
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Find of the week.
Newsagents [Paper Shops] in OZ often get sent things they don't order and sometimes there are only a few copies so only a few shops get certain items. We get a certain amount of British mags and books which are produced originally for the English market.
Wandered into one shop - in another town and found, 'THE DALEKS - The ultimate collectors' edition of the classic 1960s strip.'
These were originally published in TV CENTURY 21, which was a mag dedicated to strips about Gerry Anderson's properties. Complicated story as to why they ran a Dalek strip, but they could only do it if they made no mention at all of Dr Who.
Gerry Anderson, ' I suppose the thing that attracted me to the Daleks was jealousy. I was making films with puppets. If we wanted to make a Robot it was very, very difficult - if not impossible - to make a convincing Robot with a puppet. The puppets couldn't walk anyway, how on earth could we get them to walk like a robot? Then along came the Daleks. the Daleks were totally superior.'
Terry Nation did some of the scripts. Richard Jennings, Eric Eden and Ron Turner did the art.
Published by Panini Magazines and BBC. Beautifully restored. The problem tho, is that there is no clear numerical list to work out which artist did which strips. Ron Turner's work is to the end of the run but the other two were no slouches.
Some of you in the UK will have this or know of it.
And I'm sure there are scans of this material in existence. But if you like gorgeous art, this is worthwhile.
I will take my time reading this, I find the UK one page weekly format slows my reading down.
The stories don't flow like a US style comic.
Cheers!
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I loved the Daleks.
As children, we used to walk up and down the playground with our arms stretched out rigid in front of us yelling, "Ex-ter-mi-nate Ex-ter-mi-NATE" It was strangely satisfying.
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I loved the Daleks.
As children, we used to walk up and down the playground with our arms stretched out rigid in front of us yelling, "Ex-ter-mi-nate Ex-ter-mi-NATE" It was strangely satisfying.
If I ran a large business all the security guards would have to wear cyberman armor. All the robotic mail delivery would be Daleks.
If fired one of the Daleks would go to your desk and shrilly proclaim "you are TER-MI-NATED".
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Courtesy of my local library, I am knee deep in 'The Lost and the Dammed' by Olivier Norkek. I am partial to Noir and Noirish fiction. This is a French police procedural that has been very expertly translated. His first book available in English, but he has released 6 in France.
Norkek is an ex-polce officer and it shows. He was also one of the creators of the French TV series, SPIRAL which comes highly recommended, although I have not got around to watching it. I'll have to rectify that.
Olivier Norek
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/n/olivier-norek/
2015 Drama Series Winner, Engrenages (Spiral)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcTvqSUyles&list=PLNUmV8Vc0hEHW903BQe0mG1NzmcUpUEfj&index=5
Cheers!
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I was very lucky, because I got the first volume "They Drew as They Pleased" (Hidden Art of Disney's Golden Age - The 1930s) used, but in very good condition for only 20 Euro. I hope, that at some point I can get the other five books in this series at such a low price too. :)
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Continuing along my French shelf I finally got around to reading Marcel Labrume by Attilio Micheluzzi (1980). I've read a fair amount of Micheluzzi. The guy pumped out a lot of material, writing and drawing adventure stories grounded in historical events in exotic locales. He especially liked the 1930s, when the world was sliding inexorably toward World War II.
Marcel Labrume is a sort of Bogart character living somewhere in what today is Syria. In 1940 Syria and much of the surrounding territory, then called the Levant, was administered by the French. France was run by the Vichy government, collaborators with Hitler's Germany. German influence was building in the Levant, leading to complicated behind-the-scenes clashes between Germans, Vichy supporters, and supporters of exiled General Charles DeGaulle--not to mention all the various ethnic and religious groups we hear about today, Alaouites, Maronites, Druse, Zionists, none of whom were happy with European occupation of their land.
Into this mess flies Labrume's onetime lover, rich Hollywood aviatrix Carole Gibson, on a secret mission to transport a Jewish activist safely to a friendly country so he can reveal unpleasant truths about Nazi atrocities. Labrume is dragged into this mess, pushing back against Gestapo officer Steiner and an array of characters both savory and un. Of course he must also deal with his soured relationship with Carole.
I admire Micheluzzi's work, but not with the same enthusiasm I have for Vittorio Giardino. There's a certain clinical quality to his stories. They're interesting, well-researched and well-plotted, but I always get the feeling that we're seeing the story held at arm's length. We're never quite close enough to the characters to get to know them. Micheluzzi's storytelling style is mostly to blame for this. While most of the action is shown by art and dialogue, there are a fair number of narrative captions (fortunately not overly many and not overly long). The captions are Labrume's inner monologues. They drift in time from past to present and even into the future. Labrume doesn't just explain the action, he speculates about what characters are thinking and chides himself for his shortcomings. It's as if Lebrume is watching himself in a movie and talking to the screen. "Ah, Labrume, you were such a fool." "So it would be easy, eh? But you didn't know about..." and that sort of thing. Micheluzzi has used this gimmick in many stories. At least it's not as bad here as in Rosso Stenton, in which an unidentified narrator speaks directly to the hero--and the hero replies!
Micheluzzi's artwork is amazing. He usually works in black-and-white, and his use of dramatic shadows and abstract textures is unlike anyone else's. Some of his compositions--a worm's eye view of a chain link fence, a backlit semi-silhouette of Labrume crouching in a doorway--are magnificent in their mixing of the real and the abstract. His use of cast shadows is equally bold. Sometimes, as in nightclub scenes, the background is dominated by a completely abstract pattern that somehow fits the scene perfectly.
The downside is that Micheluzzi sometimes gets too clever and the resulting image is impossible to figure out. He likes elliptical storytelling and often suggests something rather than showing it. Unfortunately this can land him in trouble. In comparing the original Italian and the translated French versions of the story I found that new dialogue had been written to clarify one perplexing, and very important, scene. A final complaint is that while his supporting characters represent a wide variety of interesting types, sometimes it's hard to tell the bad guys apart.
I understand there was a sequel, which I haven't seen. I'd give this book a qualified "recommended." You may have to reread a couple of scenes to get what's going on.
Sounds like it has a lot in common with "Casablanca". And being that half my family was murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau, and I grew just after WWII, up till age 17 with Holocaust survivors living in my house, I am very interested in this book.
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I was very lucky, because I got the first volume "They Drew as They Pleased" (Hidden Art of Disney's Golden Age - The 1930s) used, but in very good condition for only 20 Euro. I hope, that at some point I can get the other five books in this series at such a low price too. :)
WOW!!! Lucky you!!! I wish you luck getting the whole series at affordable prices. It is a wonderful resource and beautiful art to view over and over.
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Robb, your wishes have already helped! I just discovered the second volume "They Drew as They Pleased Vol. 2 - The Hidden Art of Disney's Musical Years (The 1940s - Part One)" at a Dutch dealer for 20 Euro! Today is a good day! ;D
The many pictures and the amount of information really make these books a treasure trove for everyone. :)
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Robb, your wishes have already helped! I just discovered the second volume "They Drew as They Pleased Vol. 2 - The Hidden Art of Disney's Musical Years (The 1940s - Part One)" at a Dutch dealer for 20 Euro! Today is a good day! ;D
The many pictures and the amount of information really make these books a treasure trove for everyone. :)
Gefeliciteerd! As we say, in Zuid Holland!
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Gefeliciteerd! As we say, in Zuid Holland!
Dank mien internatschonale Frueend ! :)
( As we say in Northern Germany :D , in our Low German Language, which I don't speak well, but can understand well. )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_German (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_German)
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Paw wrote, [In watcha watchin'?]
I'm reading a lot of old British golden age crime.
Love to know what authors you are reading.
I've been educating myself via the Canadian site,
https://www.fadedpage.com/
To name a few - recommended.
Frank Kane - US pulp
Earl Stanley Gardner - various short stories.
Dornford Yates - UK - the Chandros stories - sort of UK Pulp - whom I love.
Bedford Jones, Henry - Adventure
Elizabeth Daly
E Phillips Oppenheim
Grant Allen
Paul Iselin Wellman
And they are just the ones who are lesser known.
Quite a lot of better known authors on there as well.
Cheers!
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As there's been a lot to do writing articles and sampling life now we're under fewer restrictions in Scotland, I missed your reply Panther. Re GA British crime, there is a series out now ftom The British Library and somd of the books are excellent. Lots of locked room, impossible crines sort of thing. Many very well written and some have highly entertaining character descriptions. My wife and I have enjoyed stories by George Bellairs, John Bude, Freeman Wills Crofts, E. E. Lora. All with introductions by Martin Edwards.
But I just finished something completely different. The Left Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix. Set in a version of London and England in the '80's, it's a real page turner. Unusual for me to read fantasy but thus one, urban fantasy I think it's described as, was rather good.
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I have mentioned Clarence E Mulford before in this thread. Went to talk to my local librarian to congratulate her on her impending retirement. While I was there she had a donation of books to deal with. This happens often and since many of them can't be processed into the Library catalogue they are given away. So I came away with some 1930's Westerns.
One of which was a Hopalong Cassidy book, 'Hopalong Cassidy and the Eagles Brood' [1931]
Mulford's Cassidy bears no resemblance at all to the TV and Movie character.
What makes this book interesting is the plot.
Here tis.
Cassidy and 6 of his acquaintances - all mature Cowboys and gunmen - have previously arranged to meet socially.
While they are together they hear of a gang who has perpetrated an atrocity against a woman and decide to do something about it.
So the 7 of them, 'The Eagles Brood' journey to this obscure town and gradually clean up the town and get rid of the outlaws.
Sound Familiar?
Kurosawa's movie 'Seven Samurai' was the inspiration for '"The Magnificent Seven'.
Whether either Director was familiar with this story I don't know. The plot of 'The Eagles Brood' does not parallel the plot of those two but there are a lot of similarities.
Would make a great film on its own.
Subsequent to the above, it seems that the book was filmed. Well, sort of.
The Eagles Brood - 1935.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDtkwRkrTOQ
The original book could have been filmed by Leone
This could be a Disney film - and 50's Disney at that.
There is no mention of 7 anything in this film. So the only reason for the title of the film would be to tie it to the book.
Some elements of the plot are the same, and the names of some of the characters, but we have a quite different story. I'm thinking the reasons for the changes were - 1/ to make the film 'family friendly' and 2/ The Hays code.
http://www.american-historama.org/1929-1945-depression-ww2-era/hays-code.htm
However, to my surprise, in this early film, Boyd plays a somewhat tougher character than I remember from the 50's TV show.
Cheers!
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I haven't read any of the novels but the Picture Library adaptations here at CB+ are pretty good and are indeed nothing like the Boyd TV Cassidy. My introduction to the "real" Cassidy was when I visited the Brandywine Museum a couple of decades ago. On display was a 1905 Hopalong Cassidy illustration by Frank Schoonover showing a well-worn old guy in a battered hat holding a rifle. It's a beautiful painting.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Hopalong-Takes-Command.jpg)
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MOBY DICK by Will Eisner
I was reminded not long ago that Eisner had a long-standing interest in adapting "the classics". This 1998 book was nicely done. I was telling my home care client about this, and showed him a couple pages. I said, his linework is a bit rough, but VERY expressive, and, the coloring goes right along with it. He replied, "You're right, that's GORGEOUS!" It'd been sitting aorund in a box for more than 2 decades, and this morning I finally read the whole thing in one sitting while he was in for an EKG.
(https://biblioklept.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/moby_dick_cv_300.jpg)
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Michael Hill's new book is NOT speculative.
https://fourcolorapocalypse.wordpress.com/2021/04/28/michael-hills-according-to-jack-kirby-cutting-through-the-fog-of-lies-with-a-scalpel/?fbclid=IwAR2gmSkJCt-zPfJ_17PDJVXpw4Qq4H9PlZTEKK3gRsG35zQlTGWN-h1PuCE
(https://fourcolorapocalypse.wordpress.com/2021/04/28/michael-hills-according-to-jack-kirby-cutting-through-the-fog-of-lies-with-a-scalpel/?fbclid=IwAR2gmSkJCt-zPfJ_17PDJVXpw4Qq4H9PlZTEKK3gRsG35zQlTGWN-h1PuCE)
(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/237362285_10158119145141720_6403637658626732394_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=qnhH-RvOSFkAX-HZ3d1&tn=mAazLm-7kcBIOepM&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.xx&oh=d90a08526e11233bd6b64d39cf1807dc&oe=61590BB2)
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Thank you Prof!
'The proof of the pudding is in the eating.'
The clearest evidence is the unassailable fact that without Kirby and Ditko, Lee proved incapable of creating anything notable and long-lasting on his own. And he tried. Boy, how he tried.
Exhibit A.
He was given the privilege of creating his own versions of all the major DC characters on his own. None of his characters were memorable.
Around the same time Dan Jurgens [a severely underestimated creator] created his own version, 'the Tangent Universe' . These versions are far superior and have been reused since.
Oh, Stan has created other characters, had properties turned into TV shows, tried to set up his own company. All his efforts have always fizzled.
Ditko went on to re-imagine Blue Beetle, and Captain Atom, create the Question and for DC, The Creeper, Hawk and the Dove, Shade the Changing man and one or two other.s
Kirby? Some would say he saved the best till last with the Forth World for DC, then Kamandi, Demon, Witchboy and OMAC. DC is still dining out on those concepts today.
Interestingly, Much of Kirby's output for DC is based on concepts and ideas he already had, which is evident if you, dear reader, search out 'Harvey's Alarming Tales' here on CB+. After Lee took control of the Silver Surfer, entirely of Kirby's sole creation, it was always noticeable that, tho he went on to create nearly another 50 copies of the FF, Kirby never created another major character for Marvel.
And I haven't even started on Kirby's post DC output, For Marvel alone, Machine Man and Devil Dinosaur. No, not too memorable, but both have been incorporated into Marvel mythology many times since.
Stan's biggest problem was his colossal ego.
He lauds himself for creating the Silver age by creating the Fantastic Four and gives himself all the credit.
In that narrative, he glosses over his earlier failure in his first attempt to revive Captain America.
Oh, Stan had talent, he was a good salesman, knew what he had in Kirby and Ditko and milked them for all they were worth, understood that he needed older teenagers and University students for an Audience and wrote the Marvel books with a light touch.
Exhibit B
But is there any character in the Marvel lexicon that is entirely Stan's? I think there is one. Back int the 50's Stan tried out a character he called 'the Witness' who was an observer of what other people did. Even had his own book for an issue or two. Sound familiar? I believe this character morphed into the Watcher. And what does this character do? Watches what others do. So it's fitting and ironic
that the last movie cameo Stan did, for 'Guardians of the Galaxy' was with the Watcher.
Cheers!
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The Watcher had a cameo in BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES. Right at the end...
;D
(https://www.newsfromme.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/paulfrees07.jpg)
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Since the above post, I was reading through the run of Marvel Superheroes [1990 run] and came across the fact that Steve Ditko had not finished creating characters.
In Issue # 8 we have a character we have never seen before, Squirrel Girl!
And the credits read, Steve Ditko [Plot, pencils script]
Well, they couldn't say, character creation by Steve Ditko, could they? That would open themselves up legally.'
It's a great little story actually, can be read as a bit of a mild ironic look at the nonsense of superheroes.
Neither Ditko or anybody else could have thought at the time that the character would take off and later gain her own book. The character is not my cup of tea, tho.
Cheers!
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This one's for you Prof!
I know this is an odd place for these posts, but they follow on from the post on the Kirby book.
I've always been fascinated by projects that were left uncompleted.
Here are two.
ONE
Back in '67 Marvel created a book called Marvel Superheroes present - which was their version of DC's Showcase. A tryout book for new characters.
Lasted 20 issues and tried out a few characters who went on to greater things.
On the end page of #20 is an ad that reads,
Who is Starhawk?
Blasting his way across two centuries!
In the next issue. It never appeared. There was a character later added to Guardians of the Galaxy called Starhawk. Always a minor character. I doubt that the character which eventuated was anything like the character was originally intended to be.
Just noticed tho, the character drawing there is by Wally Wood! Has taken me decades to realize that.
This would have been just before Wally had had enough of Stan and left Marvel. I suspect that this was Wally's creation. I believe Prof, that you are a bit of a wiz on this period of Marvel. Can you shed any light on this?
TWO
Around the time Jack Kirby created the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four an apparently minor character was introduced. This was Wyatt Wingfoot.
Wyatt was a young Indian of formidable sporting prowess. It was pointed out that his father had also been a legendary sportsman. But from this point on, as I said earlier, Kirby never introduced another major character for Marvel.
I believe that the intention was to revive the Golden Age character the Black Marvel. Black Marvel was an Indian traditional identity which had to be earned by running a gauntlet of many physical sporting feats.
Wyatt, I believe, was intended to be the new Black Marvel. Red Marvel might have been more appropriate.
Comments?
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I've heard of but never seen Squirrel Girl. Sounded like a cute name. Until just now, I had NO IDEA Steve Ditko came up with her.
This just amplifies my feeling about "cultural" stuff affecting people. Back in the early 90s, I did a Steve Ditko tribute, and COULD NOT BELIEVE how easily I just fell into "Ditko mode" when I did the art. Decades later I found out, his family was from Slovakia. SO WAS MY MOTHER's.
In the early 70s, I created a rather goofy super-villain called... "The Flying Squirrel".
Gee, that's 2 "Ditko" connections of sorts. Crazy!
FANTASY MASTERPIECES was an anthology reprinting GOLDEN AGE Marvel stories. #1 was cover dated Feb'66. In between issues #5 & 6, they did MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #1, one-shot reprint with 2 stories from the 40s and 2 from the 60s.
After 11 issues, the name was changed to MARVEL SUPER-HEROES. The reason for this was, Martin Goodman had ordered his editor to create a character named "Captain Marvel", specifically so it could be Trademarked and thus prevent anyone else from doing a magazine with that name (as Myron Fass had done in '66). "Marvel's Spaceborn Hero" (which came from an idea from JACK KIRBY, who, sadly, NEVER got to work on the project) began in MSH #12 and 13. But after only 2 episodes (and right in the middle of a 2-parter-- GRRR), Goodman decided, thanks to his switching distributors, to give CM his own book., So, CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 features the 2nd HALF of a 2-parter (I hate when they do stupid S*** like that), and, the 3rd chapter of what worked out eventually to be an 18-PART origin story.
With CM abruptly yanked out of the mag, they had to fill it with something. Although MSH looks like Marvel's answer to DC's SHOWCASE, in truth, it was closer to the much-later MARVEL FANFARE, as from then on, EVERY new story headlining the book (with Golden Age reprints in the back) was something that had been SHELVED and sitting in inventory for 6 months or more!
#14 -- SPIDER-MAN -- Ross Andru's very 1st Spider-Man story, which he WROTE himself. "Ye Editor" rejected it on the alleged reason that he "didn't like where the story was going"-- a real CON JOB considering HE claimed to have been the writer. Interesting bit: if you look at the art, it's clear Pete is dating MJ. But, if you look at the dialogue, it makes it seem like Pete is dating Gwen, because the book came out 6 months after it was finished, and Peter had switched girls during that time.
#15 -- MEDUSA -- This Archie Goodwin-Gene Colan story, crazy enough, came out the SAME month Medusa guested in an issue of ASM. In both, she wore outfits she never wore before or after. I wondered which took place first, but once I realized what was going on with this "inventory" business, it became clear this one happened before the ASM story. Also, the sub-plot involving the rest of the Frightful Four probably tied in with their continuity in FF better if you went back 6 months before this issue came out. (Just a guess.)
#16 -- THE PHANTOM EAGLE -- a Herb Trimpe solo creation, with Gary Friedrich presumably just doing the dialogue. As far as I know, the character only made 3 appearances ever, and the 3rd time was as a GHOST decades after he'd been killed.
#17 -- THE BLACK KNIGHT -- Roy Thomas & Howard Purcell (with Dan Adkins on inks). Thomas must have really wanted to push the modern-day BK. On the other hand, "ye editor" DID NOT like artists not living near the NYC metropolitan era, which is why Howard Purcell, whose work on NICK FURY I really liked, only did a tiny handful of jobs for Marvel. (This is the only one of these I've never read.)
#18 -- GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY -- Arnold Drake's attempt to do a "Marvel"-style version of DC's LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, with a far-more bleak format. Drake had a major falling-out with the editor, and I bet if I checked he was long gone from Marvel before this saw the light of day. I have a 70s reprint, but about a THIRD of the pages were cut!
#19 -- KAZAR -- the credits list Arnold Drake & Steve Parkohouse, with George Tuska & Sid Greene (could this be Greene's only job for Marvel?). It also says the idea was the editor's. I WONDER. My guess is, it was a ploy for him to get PAID for the "plot", thus SCREWING Arnold out of more of his writer's fee, and since it was published long after he left, Steve Parkhouse got another chunk of the writing fee, for doing the dialogue. The continuity of Ka-Zar's travels from NYC to England and back to Antarctica show this CLEARLY takes place before the Neal Adams 2-parter in X-MEN, though it was published shortly after it. It's annoying when they CLEARLY publish stories out of sequence.
#20 -- DR. DOOM -- It appears Larry Lieber wrote & pencilled this, but Roy Thomas did the dialogue, and Frank Giacoia & Vince Colletta split duties on the inks (Frank was ALWAYS blowing deadlines). This came out about the same tme as the 4-parter in FF that paid tribute to "The Prisoner", but clearly took place months before it.
#21 was announced to feature STARHAWK. This was by DAN ADKINS. However, Martin Goodman DIDN'T like science-fiction (makes you wonder what he thought of CAPTAIN MAR-VELL) and it was shelved. Instead, the book became all modern reprints.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2_21wI1LcDk/Xw5yNy3VK3I/AAAAAAABR9w/4GhHSlxZTiQPrvl-cJsNcOW403qn0wabgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1558/0000000000000000000bg28.jpg)
When Steve Gerber decided to revive the GUARDIANS from obscurity, first in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, then THE DEFENDERS, and then in their own series in MARVEL PRESENTS, he eventually created a brand-new character named "Starhawk", who had no connection whatsoever with the earlier one. Par for the course for Marvel.
Decades later, I still think it was a shame how Gerber got FIRED off the series he helped ressurect. It crashed and burned soon after, then floundered around for many years before Jim Valentino made a real go of it.
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(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J5fC55BkpCs/Xw5yU7wxrfI/AAAAAAABR90/Fwpv-NnYZTUXWa9ODgQEIddf0V3txu96wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1549/s-l1600%2B-%2B2020-07-14T205417.780.jpg)
(https://cafans.b-cdn.net/images/Category_10498/subcat_179908/iEmlLhDk_020117210412lola.jpg)
In a better world, Dan Adkins would have spent more time doing FULL ART and less just inking other people's.
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Prof,
Thanks for this. Answers a few questions for me. Adkins really made the most of his time in Wood's shop, didn't he?
He did a couple of Dr Strange stories not long after Ditko left, but they weren't Adkins at his best.
These pages make it look like the intention was a cross between Flash Gordon and a Superhero.
Cheers!
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Steve Ditko's run was folowed by what essentially became a 22-episode serial, involving several stories, one running into the next, soap-opera style.
The first 6 episodes were by BILL EVERETT.
The next 8 were by MARIE SEVERIN.
The next 8 were by DAN ADKINS.
Of these 3 people, ALL of whom were doing their own writing, only Dan Adkins got CREDITED for the stories. This is because by then "ye editor" had moved on.
The bizarre thing was seeing Dr. Strange, a supernatural character, involved in what was basically a SCIENCE-FICTION story. Near the end, his panels layouts got wild-- no doubt competing with Jim Steranko-- and the line between NICK FURY and DR. STRANGE was beginning to blur, especially in #167 when BOTH characters wound up travelling between dimensions.
When DR. STRANGE was expanded to its own book, Adkins did 2 more episodes. Roy Thomas came on board at that point, and, presumably, wanted to write. He started out with a retold origin (typical for Thomas), which, at the time, was arguably the BEST such retold origin from that period. The 2nd story brought back Doc's very 1st enemy, Nightmare. Both issues are fabulous, and the more annoying aspects of Thomas' writing (both stories AND dialogue) he managed to keep to a minimum.
Adkins did one more issue, where he inked newcomer TOM PALMER. After one issue, Palmer switched to inks, over GENE COLAN. That was the birth of the Colan-Palmer team, one of the best ever seen in the business. It really is a shame that run was cut short. When I re-read it some years ago, I was reminded quite a lot of James Robinson's STARMAN run.
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For some reason I went on a brief Count of Monte Cristo binge. I read the two Gilberton Classics Illustrated versions, one from 1947 and the other from 1956. I also read the 1953 Thriller Comics Library version and the 1990 First Comics adaptation released by Berkeley . It was fascinating to see the different choices made by the writers as they strove to boil a long and complicated book down into comic book dimensions.
Classics Illustrated #3 (1947) is a schematic presentation of the story which covers more ground than the later adaptations because it's longer--62 pages. It qualifies as the most complete version of the story. Unfortunately this feat was accomplished by breaking almost every page into a monotonous 2-panel-by-4-row grid. Even that cramped format might have worked were it not for the artwork, credited by GCD to Ray Ramsey, Allen Simon, and Vivian Lipman. It is, in a word, wretched. It's difficult to tell the characters apart and the layouts are clumsy. The amateurish art makes it even harder to follow an already complex story.
Classics Illustrated #3 (1956) is one of the complete remakes Gilberton did of their earliest CI books. Here the story is cut to 47 pages and the page layout opened up, losing much of the detail in the earlier rendition. The story still makes sense, though as in all the Gilberton remakes the more lurid passages have been softened or eliminated. Lou Cameron's art is quite good. He breathes life into a somewhat pedantic script.
Thriller Comics Library #45 (1953) follows the classic picture library format: 64 black-and-white pages with two, or occasionally three, panels per page. This translates into twenty-some typical 6-panel comic book pages, so you know the story is mightily condensed. It's quite acceptable, though, until the last two pages. Instead of Dantes finding true love with Haydee while Mercedes retires to a convent, Haydee disappears abruptly and Edmond and Mercedes get back together! Not as bad as the early CI book which gave The Hunchback of Notre Dame a happy ending, but still--! The book's saving grace is its artwork. T. Heath Robinson does most of the drawing. For some reason Patrick Nicolle draws the heads. Strange but easy on the eyes. The fine cover is by Septimus Scott and the script is credited to Peter O'Donnell.
Some of you will remember the classic adaptations packaged by First Comics for Berkley. They were printed on good paper in full color, with 45 story pages. They were a mixed bag. Many stories were illustrated by ultra-eccentric artists who were hot at the time, like Kyle Baker and John K Snyder III. Their books offered loads of style but were nearly unreadable. Other titles featured more traditional artists. Their Count of Monte Cristo (1990) is one of the best of the lot. Steven Grant's excellent script does justice to the original plot, but what makes it stand out is its pacing. The story reads like a story rather than a literary adaptation, with a good balance of narration and dialogue. Dan Spiegle's art is superb, with strong characterization and evocative backgrounds. An extra treat is a nice painted cover by Pat Boyette.
Two more renditions of the Count are on CB+ but I didn't include them in my binge. One is Dell Four Color #794. The story of Edmond Dantes' imprisonment and return as the Count more or less follows the original. After that the story becomes an unrelated adventure story with the Count as a swashbuckling hero. It reads like an adaptation of a TV series though there is no mention of such. John Buscema's drawings are exceptional but his layouts are pedestrian and he makes little attempt at drama. The scenes in the Chateau D'If are drawn as if the cells are flooded with light, an impression that is intensified by the colorist's decision to make the stone walls bright yellow and pale orange.
I also didn't dig into the serialized adaptation in Jumbo Comics drawn by Lou Fine. Someday I'll give it a read to see how the Eisner gang handled the story.
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A recent discussion about The Lone Wolf made me want to check out the source material. The original Lone Wolf novel was written by Louis Joseph Vance and was published in 1914. Being public domain it's available all over the place. I read the basic Gutenberg text version.
The hero of the story, Michael Lanyard, is a master jewel thief who lives a life of luxury and high adventure. The novel chronicles his decision to abandon his comfortable, self-satisfied criminal life and go straight. At the same time he must battle an up-and-coming crime cartel which wants either to recruit him or to eliminate him. The story starts slowly, recounting Lanyard's life from childhood to adulthood. This, told in a somewhat old-fashioned style common to novels of the period, led me to think I wouldn't like the book. I'm glad I stuck with it. Once things got going I enjoyed it immensely.
The background in the opening chapters turns out to be essential to understanding Lanyard and his change of heart. He shows more depth than the typical adventure novel hero and we come to know him well. Vance also provides plenty of action, including a long, high-speed car chase and an aerial battle. Vance's action scenes are anything but old-fashioned. They're fast-paced and exciting, like a good 1930s B-movie. Then all of a sudden you're reminded that this is happening in 1914, when cars were spindly, open-air contraptions and airplanes didn't have guns or even fuselages. The aviators fight by hanging on to the struts and firing pistols at each other.
It's a wild ride with many good twists and a satisfying ending. The only sour note is Lanyard's at-first-sight infatuation with the mystery woman who becomes instrumental in his reformation. Lanyard has to fall in love with her, of course, for plot purposes. He would have fallen for her anyway, but given Lanyard's carefully-developed character the romance would have been a gradual process full of starts and stops. It's as if on this one point Louis Vance said, "The heck with this, let's get it over with so we can get on with the action!" The rest of the book is good enough that if you just accept the clunky device you'll enjoy the rest of the trip.
In conclusion I highly recommend The Lone Wolf and I'm off to find the sequel.
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Crash,
I have one of the books, I think a later volume, I read it years ago and I can' t locate it as its lost in my totally disorganized library.
Being public domain it's available all over the place.
Apart from Gutenberg, where else may I find the book?
I visited my favorite secondhand Bookseller days ago, and he had two Mark Brandon P.I. books by Vernon Warren. I'm a sucker for PI books so I bought and read them. The first two in the series. He writes a good hard-boiled Private Eye and actually the mysteries he has to solve are quire good too. What's unusual is the violence. This guy gets angry very fast and does a lot of hitting. Nonetheless, I enjoyed them and if I come across any more will read them too.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/71039-mark-brandon
Louis Joseph Vance wrote quite a number of books, all of which look good, Not all Lone Wolf books, of which there are 8. First four are available in a collection.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/111290.Louis_Joseph_Vance
Happy reading.
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Panther, here's a link to a site with a PDF of The Lone Wolf. It also has links to other Vance novels.
https://freeditorial.com/en/books/the-lone-wolf/related-books
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Crash, thank you!
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The background in the opening chapters turns out to be essential to understanding Lanyard and his change of heart.
It's a wild ride with many good twists and a satisfying ending. The only sour note is Lanyard's at-first-sight infatuation with the mystery woman who becomes instrumental in his reformation.
Okay. It sounds to me like the IDIOTS who the did the Val Kilmer movie "THE SAINT" were looking at the WRONG SOURCE material.
Although I felt that was a good movie, it was most definitely NOT "Simon Templar". The whole concept of that film was totally wrong.
It also annoys me that there were at least 3 different classic characters who had films made where the creators INSISTED on slapping on "origin" stories where there either NEVER HAD BEEN origin stories, or, they totally changed and mutilated already-existing ones. (Conan, The Shadow, The Saint)
Templar was NOT a jewel thief. He was a crusader for justice, who started out with a group of like-minded friends. Simply put, "a modern Robin Hood". In the mid-30s, he started to get involved with con games, always aimed against criminals, as a way of "building his retirement account". But that's not the same thing.
The best "origin" story for Templar would be THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD with Errol Flynn. ;D
I suppose part of the blame can go all the way back to RKO Films. After they did 6 SAINT films, author Leslie Charteris was so disappointed with how they were handling his character, he TOOK BACK the license and signed with a UK studio, who did 2 more. Insanely enough... this is NOT how it's described at Wikipedia, which only strengthens my growing belief that the site is increasingly becoming a haven for MISINFORMATION.
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Having enjoyed Louis Joseph Vance's The Lone Wolf so much I decided to try an earlier novel (1909) by the author, The Bronze Bell. Though it had some strong moments the book left a sour taste in my mouth.
The plot follows author-adventurer David Amber as he is pulled into a convoluted plot which eventually finds him saving The Woman of His Dreams from a bloodthirsty cult determined to stage a Second Mutiny in India and massacre the British. Echoes of Kipling and Mundy abound as Amber stumbles through a crowd of cringing babus, towering Sikhs, menacing Punjabis and, to quote Vance, the "seething scum on a witch's brew of humanity."
There is plenty of action, lots of menace, and a bit too much mysteriousness. Amber spends most of the book blundering blindly about Darkest India trying to win The Woman of His Dreams. The instant romance I criticized in The Lone Wolf is nothing compared to Amber's romantic obsession. The couple meets cute on page six and when she vanishes two chapters later he's prepared to travel halfway around the globe and face almost certain death to find her and lead her to the altar.
The book's big problem is that Amber never has a clue to what is going on. It's a case of mistaken identity that first pulls him into the mess. As mystifying events pile one upon the other, Amber mostly just goes with the flow. One expects the hero of a turn-of-the-century adventure eventually to take command of the situation. Amber never does. The true hero of the book is one Labertouche, an enigmatic British secret agent, a master of disguise who does understand the situation, though he never finds the time to explain it to Amber. Again and again Labertouche invisibly manipulates events to help Amber thwart the evildoers and reclaim TWOHD. It's Labertouche who pulls Amber's bacon from the fire in the action climax. By the final page the reader wonders whether Labertouche could have pulled off the entire job single-handed and saved Amber some anguish.
The Bronze Bell offers much of what I like in an adventure. Vance's description of Amber's midnight exploration of a ruined city is so evocative you almost feel you're there. As in The Lone Wolf the action scenes are vigorous and fast-paced. Some of the set pieces, like the Gateway of Swords and the Bronze Bell itself, wouldn't be out of place in a big-budget 1930s adventure film. In short, I'd have enjoyed the heck out of this book if it weren't for the oppressive racism that drips from every page.
It's the old colonial story, the White Island amidst the seething ocean of swarthy, sweaty sub-humans. I've heard all the arguments about "That's just the way they thought back then, you can't judge them by today's standards." In fact, you can. Racism is racism, and all the heroic white men in this book treat the Indians with such unbridled contempt that you can hardly blame The Brass Bell for wanting to end the "scarlet plague." On top of this is layered Amber's great dilemma--the possibility that The Woman of His Dreams might be--Omigod!--of Mixed Blood. We're to appreciate the depth of Amber's love that he's willing to destroy his life and his social standing by wedding her; and Amber's nobility by his vow never to breathe to a soul the secret of her tainted heritage. This subplot is often lost in the action, but its central importance is stated in the big finish. As Amber and his lady love are racing blindly through a crumbling citadel, pursued by four hundred howling, sword-waving savages, it's Amber's realization that her little "white--all white!--hand" is clutched in his that reinvigorates him.
I used to have greater patience with this sort of nonsense, but that patience has been eroded by daily real-world attempts to revive those attitudes in the name of preserving culture, establishing religion, or making things Great again. Most annoying is that the story would have worked just fine without the mixed-race subplot. The outcome would have been exactly the same if TWOHD has belonged to one of the First Families of Virginia, as Amber himself did. I suppose it was grafted on to add extra titillation.
In sum, some great parts but overall disappointing.
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I've been researching the career of German-Italian comics artist Kurt Caesar. One of the features he worked on was Il Mozzo del Sommergibile (Cabin Boy on a Submarine), published in Topolino in 1941. I have one of the reprint volumes Camillo Conti issued in 1978. It was quite an experience to read a full-throated war comic in which those we Americans saw as The Bad Guys are The Good Guys, and vice versa.
In this weekly color serial an Italian kid somehow winds up aboard an Italian submarine out hunting the evil British (the Americans aren't mentioned, not having yet entered the War). I only have the second of two volumes reprinting the series, so all I know is that Mama and Papa are waiting for him at home while on the sub he has a sort of big-brother figure watching out for him and cheering him on as he learns to work the deck guns. At the series' close the kid returns home a hero, though you wonder why because twice he disobeys orders and is washed overboard, endangering the sub as it searches for him. I guess the fact that he defeats a British saboteur and saves the ship from a submarine net makes up for his foolishness.
The submarine's crew is as bloodthirsty as any GI in a Golden Age war comic, gleefully sending British ships to the bottom "to feed the fishes." However, just like in GA comics, the Italian good guys respect the Laws of War and are noble to a fault while the British bad guys are conniving, back-stabbing scum who kill unarmed prisoners and would rather drown sabotaging the sub than to be taken to a comfortable Italian POW camp. A few times Germans appear, and the Italians help them as "our allies," but the story's about dashing Italians so the Germans are granted little screen time.
I've always been curious about the way writers in other languages portray spoken English. US and GB comics are full of stereotypical accents: "Vot is dot?" "Velly solly," "Mama mia! That's-a some spicy meatball!" I supposed the same thing happened when the tables were reversed, but I have found fewer examples than I expected. In Mozzo our hero is captured by the British. The inglesi speak Italian Tontoese: "You drop gun, go ship." The dialogue of one Englishman who speaks proper Italian is rendered without an accent.
It turns out that Kurt Caesar drew only the first half of Il Mozzo del Sommergibile. Early in this volume he is replaced by Edgardo dell'Acqua, who later found fame with his postwar adventurer Gim Toro. Dell'Acqua's career extended into the mid-1970s, when he worked for Renzo Barbieri's line of erotic pocket libraries. Caesar's art here is nowhere as dramatic or detailed as that in his earlier patriotic potboiler, Romano il Legionario. It's rather routine and isn't helped by the restrictive four-tier-plus-a-header format.
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The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the Val Kilmer movie "The Saint" was actually a loose adaptation of the 1st LONE WOLF novel. There's just no other possibility. Too much in the above description matches plot details in the 1997 movie.
This wouldn't be the first time this kind of thing happened, either.
Remember the 1944 "Captain America" serial? I loved that thing... but it had virtually nothing in common with what Jack Kirby did in the C.A. comics, apart from the style of the fight scenes. Turns out, the studio had a license to do a MR. SCARLET serial, but that character fell out of popularity, and since they also got a license to to Cap, they decided not to let the already-written screenplay go to waste. What I didn't know for years was, at least for a short period, Jack Kirby ALSO worked on the MR. SCARLET series!
And then there's the "infamous" 1933 film, A STUDY IN SCARLET. The studio bought the rights to the name of Doyle's 1st Sherlock Holmes story, but NOT the story... They then told their screenwriter to come up with a "new" story instead. But that's not what he did... instead, he adapted Belgian author Stalislas-Andree Steeman's 1931 novel "Six Hommes Morts" (SIX DEAD MEN)-- apparently, uncredited and UNPAID. Forever, people have been complaining it has "nothing to do" with Doyle's novel, but only one person who contributed to the IMDB's trivia section mentioned the REAL source material.
I tracked down 3 other adaptations (one from England, 2 from France). All were listed at the IMDB, but none of them had any references to the others. Using their system, I contacted the site. they've since added "connections" of the 3 other films to each other... but have oddly NOT updated the info on "A STUDY IN SCARLET". The only reference to Steeman there now, is the one I found in the trivia section, AND, a review I wrote where I spell out exactly what was going on behind-the-scenes.
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Possible Christmas present for some of you (of a certain age).
I always enjoyed the light-hearted TV show, Mr Ed. [The talking horse]
What I did not know was that the show was based on a series of short stories by Walter Rollin Brooks (January 9, 1886 - August 17, 1958). He is an author best know for his children's books about Freddy The Pig. Possibly the world's most famous pig, Freddy is the central character in all the books, where he can seemingly take on any vocation. Brooks also created a set of short stories about a talking horse, which became the basis for the television show Mister Ed.
The Freddy books are still under copyright.
The Mr Ed stories, Published in Liberty Magazine 1939 -1940 apparently, are not - at least in Canada.
There are currently 7 stories available on the fadedpage site.
https://www.fadedpage.com/csearch.php?author=Brooks,%20Walter%20Rollin
These come complete with the covers of the issues of Liberty magazine they were originally published in. And these are worth looking at in themselves.
Cheers!
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Good to see fadedpage has these. I got mine from the now-defunct Yahoo pulp group, including five from Argosy magazine and a paperback with nine stories. I enjoyed Ed's personality in the written stories much more than in the TV series, but I still love them both! Also a MUCH different wife than on TV. In the unaired TV pilot (with a different cast) they retained the name Wilbur Pope, but for some reason changed Pope to Post for the series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkestbRetC8
Cheers, Bowers
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Hi everyone!
I just read some interesting graphic novel you should all enjoy when it is published in English, it's called "La Brigade Chimerique : Ultime Renaissance" (The Chimera Brigade: Ultimate Rebirth).
(https://www.actuabd.com/local/cache-vignettes/L330xH511/arton28965-fa21a.jpg?1642514885)
This is a sequel to the original Chimera Brigade (published by Titan Comics), which was focused on the end of the age of European superhumans at the eve of World War II. The plot is actually thicker than this, as it summons a whole lot of litterary references from early French sci-fi pulps. All characters originated in the early XXth century, along with their actual "biographers". The Nyctalope, Palmyre, the Curies, Felifax, are some of the numerous characters that dwell in this comic. Why did history (European culture) forget them? If you like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, you'll most likely enjoy the Chimera Brigade. It's written by Serge Lehman and Fabrice Colin, and drawn by Gess.
The sequel is set nowadays. When superhuman activity threatens Paris, the government puts Pr Charles "Dex" Desznick, one of the few persons knowing of yesterday's superheroes, in charge of finding the Rigged Man and Felifax. Written by Serge Lehman and drawn by St?phane De Caneva in a style reminiscent of Gess's, Ultimate Rebirth explores what happened to the remaining superheroes after they left, and ultimately their modern legacy. One foot in the past, the other in the future. The plot is consistent and this graphic novel is rich with references and very exciting. One reading is not enough, for sure.
I'm really pleased Black Coat Press publishes most of the original novels while virtually no big publishing company wanted to bring back the XXth Century French "merveilleux scientifique". The times are slowly a-changing for patrimonial sci-fi, luckily, and projects like the Chimera Brigade help put the spotlight on our forgotten pulp litterature.
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Looks like an excellent read, Florian! I'm probably going to have some difficulty trying to find a copy on my side of the pond, but I am looking. Thanks for the info and comments. Cheers, Bowers
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The background in the opening chapters turns out to be essential to understanding Lanyard and his change of heart.
I suppose part of the blame can go all the way back to RKO Films. After they did 6 SAINT films, author Leslie Charteris was so disappointed with how they were handling his character, he TOOK BACK the license and signed with a UK studio, who did 2 more. Insanely enough... this is NOT how it's described at Wikipedia, which only strengthens my growing belief that the site is increasingly becoming a haven for MISINFORMATION.
Whilst I agree with you about the addition of back stories that nobody needs or wants you're wrong on the RKO details. Yes, Leslie did have a disagreement with them (that was settled out of court) but there were nine movies in all, eight of which were produce dby RKO. The last, The Saint's Girl Friday (aka The Saint's Return) was co-produced by James Carreras's Exclsuvie Productions and distributed by RKO in the States.
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Lots of strange and confusing S*** going on back then.
For example, I only recently read there were two completely-different characters called "The Falcon" back then. I believe the 2nd one was from the novel "The Gay Falcon" by Michael Arlen. From what I read, Leslie Charteris sued Arlen for his character plagiarising The Saint, so, apparently, there was only one novel with that character.
But then Leslie Charteris & RKO had a falling out over how RKO was doing THE SAINT movies (the ones with George Sanders-- I've often thought, 2 were great, 2 were average, and 1 gets my vote for the worst SAINT film ever made). Right now I just read that RKO set up a UK branch to somehow take advantage of something that was going on with the British government... and THAT's who made the next 2 SAINT movies, with Hugh Sinclair (1 of which was FANTASTIC, the other one, merely average). So although connected, it WASN'T quite the same people.
But before this, RKO decided to start a FALCON series, with George Sanders & Wendy Barrie, which seems to me their way of thumbing their nose at Leslie Charteris! I read sometime ago he tried suing them over this, but the article that brought this up failed to mention he had already successfully sued Michael Arlen over his one-and-only Gay Falcon novel.
Crazy enough, there was another, separate "Falcon" character, Michael Waring-- created by Drexel Drake (real name Charles H. Huff), who appeared in 3 novels, before the Michael Arlen novel appeared. And this earlier "Falcon" was featured in 3 films starring John Calvert, made after the Tom Conway series ended. Isn't that NUTS??
That explains why the John Calvert films were so utterly different-- they were about an entirely-different character to begin with.
It took me decades to track down THE SAINT's GIRL FRIDAY. The damned thing NEVER turned up on any TV station in my area, and I finally saw it on Youtube. What a terrible disappointment. Louis Hayward seemed to be aging before his time, and the entire film is so dark, downbeat & depressing, it's the furthest thing from a "Saint" story imaginable (except, maybe, for the Val Kilmer film). I finally understood WHY it was like that, when I found out Michael Carrerras was involved. Although not in name, it was, virtually, a HAMMER FILM. Geez. Like, the last people on Earth who should have been doing a "Saint" story.
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Of course there another 2 characters called The Falcon (Not including the Marvel or French heroes)
The criminal turned secret agent turned sf good guy turned masked mystery man, finally turning up in Zenith, featured in Radio Fun and a 3 part BBC adaptation for radio.
http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/f/falcon.htm
And the superhero from Pep Comics.
I've been reading, or re-reading as I bought som tpbs recently, Avengers West Coast and New Titans Judas Contract. The Avengers tpb, Darker Than Scarlet isn't as good as I remember. The story seems confusing and some of the art either isn't very good or doesn't appeal to me. And before you shout, IT'S JOHN BYRNE!!!, it's not all his work. Actually at times I found it hard to figure out what was going on and who was who.
The Titans is better but I had forgotten how Terra acted and how young she was. I wonder if nowadays the way she is portrayed in a comic book might cause considerable worry in certain quarters. Scenes with her and The Terminator look dodgy now. She was 15 after all.
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Of course there another 2 characters called The Falcon (Not including the Marvel or French heroes)
The criminal turned secret agent turned sf good guy turned masked mystery man, finally turning up in Zenith, featured in Radio Fun and a 3 part BBC adaptation for radio.
So the Falcon in Radio Fun did not start out as the character from the radio series? I am veree confused.
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Considering the "Michael Waring" character-- created by Drexel Drake (real name Charles H. Huff), and the "Gaylord Falcon" character-- created by Michael Arlen-- it might be a surprise that Drexel Drake didn't sue Michael Arlen-- instead of Leslie Charteris suing Michael Arlen.
But, given the 2 Falcons characters in the RKO films were SO different, there might not have been a basis for plagiarism between them, whereasm if you look at some of the RKO films with George Sanders (and even his brother Tom Conway playing his brother), some of those seem MORE like "Saint" stories than the RKO SAINT films.
Sanders' "Gaylord Falcon" had an on-again-off-again girlfriend (played by Wendy Barrie), while Patricia Holm ALMOST NEVER turned up in the SAINT films (only once, to my knowledge, and that was a 2nd-rate film). Gay also had a steady butler (though he was played by a diferent actor in each film-- OY!). And, he had a fairly steady comic sidekick, again, played by a smal larmy of actors on a rotating basis (the RKO Templar had several comic sidekicks, but never, that I can recall, the same one more than once).
A recurring comic sidekick in the SAINT books was former NYC criminal henchman "Hoppy Uniatz". I always recall Charteris' description of him. Hoppy wasn't very bright. But ONE thought had managed to work its way into his brain. That being, the Saint WAS smart. Therefore-- if he hitched his wagon to Templar, his future was assured. Templar was, more often than not, amused by Uniatz' presence, behavior, and loyalty. But, he did come in handy, so he didn't mind him sticking around.
To my knowledge, Hoppy only turned up on film ONCE, ever-- in an earlt 1st-season episode of the Roger Moore TV series, played by Percy Herbert... who I thought was just TOTALLY-WRONG for the part.
Then again, the tv series went thru 4 different actors playing Chief Inspector Claude Eustace Teal, and the only one who STUCK-- Ivor Dean-- was my LEAST favorite of them. Oy!
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Patricia Holm ALMOST NEVER turned up in the SAINT films
She doesn't appear in many of the books either. She was a fixture in about the first half dozen or so, and even then mostly off-stage.
A recurring comic sidekick in the SAINT books was former NYC criminal henchman "Hoppy Uniatz".
In the books Hoppy replaced a character name of HORACE - who was quite similar.
Turned up in one movie,
The Saint Meets the Tiger1943
[Memorable quote]
https://www.quotes.net/mquote/1114661
In the earliest books Templar had something of a gang and didn't operate alone.
Re 'The Falcon'. Apart from the Marvel comic character, there is also the Australian comic character, 'Sir Falcon'. To my surprise, we have no examples on-line at CB+
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/sir-falcon/4050-62679/
cheers!
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In the earliest books Templar had something of a gang and didn't operate alone.
Yes. If watching THE SAINT IN NEW YORK is a bit of shock compared to what came later, it was even a bigger shock when I read THE LAST HERO. No quite the earliest book, but the earliest one I could manage to find in the early 80s.
Templar really was a "modern Robin Hood". He came from a wealthy family, had the best education, and surrounded himself with a group of like-minded friends, who made it their goal to go on a crusade against injustice, just like "The Merry Men". And Pat was his Maid Marian.
Apparently his best friend sacrificed his life at the end of that book. It took me some years to track down the sequel, THE AVENGING SAINT. 2 scenes in that that have always stuck in my head. One is where the bad guys are in the next room while he's hiding in the bathroom, writing a message to them on the mirror as he listens to their plans. The other is where he jumps from a small plane onto the roof of a speeding train. When I saw the 1989 film LICENSE TO KILL, I thought the scene where Bond jumps from Pam's plane onto the top of a speeding tanker truck seemed inspired by that scene with Templar.
I also remember the description of the evil scientist, Dr. Rayt Marius, always made me think of Lionel Atwill.
I understand the main villain, who Marius worked for, eventually turned up in a 3rd book, which insanely, I haven't read yet... but THAT book, was turned into one of my favorite films, THE SAINT'S VACATION. I thought Cecil Parker was the best Saint villain ever! He was so cool and sophisticated, he was clearly the model for many Bond villains.
Been too long since I watched those things. I currently set them up as part of a massive 1930s marathon. I have a new (previously-owned) VCR on the way. As soon as it gets here, I can resume my videotape marathon. (There's too much for me to upgrade to DVD all at once! ONE mail-order a week is a reasonable rate.)
Does anyone know any place that buys old VCRs to repair and resell? The alternative is dropping it off at a Best Buy where they take stuff for recycling, but I'd like to think it would actually get reused. (I can't fix it, but the problem is so minor, someone else should be able to. There just aren't any repair shops around here like in the old days.)
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I have to admit that I'm not a fan of many of the film adaptations of The Saint etc. I dislike George Sanders and some of the other actors in them. The first couple of Lone Wolf films I found enjoyable and a couple of the Bulldog Drummond ones. But it's this thing about a gang an/or girlfriends/female partners that I was thinking about. Drummond had a gang and the 2nd book is called The Black Gang - all robes, hoods and anti semitism.
As Panther points out, The Saint had a sort of team around him.
Paul Temple's lady friend, soon wife, Steve plays a big part in the stories and I don't mean getting kidnapped and screaming - she's much better than that.
Norman Conquest, 1066 had a female partner, Joy Everard who aided and abetted him
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From the moment I started reading the Saint books in the early 80s, the only actor I could picture in my head was Louis Hayward. To me, he looked the part, he was written and acted the part. The irony is, they decided to adapt the most violent of the books, at a point where the Production Code forced them to tone things down and even change part of his reason for taking out the gang of crooks. And the film just looks CHEAP. Even so, it's one of my favorites.
(https://i.pinimg.com/236x/82/1b/76/821b7619c70769ac9808c194588e5b8e--louis-hayward-vintage-men.jpg)
George Sanders is a case of an actor who was TOTALLY-miscast in a role-- yet, I rank 2 of his 5 films (IN LONDON, TAKES OVER) among the best-ever. IN LONDON is the only one to show us his house with the secret entrance leading to the garage, it's got the best-ever Teal (Gordon MacLeod) and my favorite Saint girl, Sally Gray. The story it was based on featured Pat, so, really, she should have been playing Pat, and she's the one I picture in my head when I think of the character. TAKES OVER is actually a better variation on "Angels Of Doom" (my favorite novel of all time), HORRIBLY adapted as STRIKES BACK. Yeah, I rank Sanders' 1st as the worst Saint film ever made, his 2nd, as the best one ever made. GO FIGURE! If Hayward had been in it, it would have been PERFECT.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/56/Actor_Gordon_McLeod.jpg)
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f0/ac/08/f0ac0846747adc350c078cfdaeabecaa.jpg)
I just spent more than a half-hour trying to look up an actor whose name I could not for the life of me remember. It was Warren Hymer. He's the guy I could picture as Hoppy Uniatz! I've only seen him in 2 films: THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE (loosely adapted from the only Perry Mason novel I ever read!) and MR. MOTO ON DANGER ISLAND.
(https://deadorkicking.com/wp-content/uploads/featured-img/w/warren-hymer.jpg)
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What's really fun is SON OF MONTE CRISTO (1940). Louis Hayward plays the hero, and George Sanders plays the villain! Perfect casting!!
(https://cdn.superstock.com/4409/Comp/4409-17224431.jpg)
And some time after I saw this, I suddenly realized that Herge based one of his TINTIN villains on Sanders' character in this film! (It's the baddie who was in both KING OTTOKAR'S SCEPTRE and EXPLORERS ON THE MOON.)
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I'm just not convinced about most of the films talked about here, and even if this is "Watcha readin'" Let me say that I would much rather watch the Saint tv series or the Inspector Hornleigh movies or Shskespeare and Hathaway or old Edgar Wallace thrillers. Preferably, overall, The Big Sleep - the Bogart Bacall version and The Blue Dahlia.
Back to reading, not watching perhaps?
Currently another book in the British Library Crime Classics series, Two-Way Murder by E.C.R. Lorac.
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Concerning the Saint and his gang, we shouldn't forget that Simon Templar / The Saint first appeared as a member of a five-man vigilante outfit called The Five Kings. We have a couple of those early stories, which ran in The Thriller. For example:
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=58991
Four of the group, identified by playing cards, were Kings, while the fifth, Simon Templar, was known as both The Joker and The Saint. It was a clumsy arrangement, and Leslie Charteris wisely dumped the Five Kings angle when he converted these stories into books.
On the subject of sidekicks, both I couldn't stand 'Orace and Hoppy Uniatz (which as a boy I thought was pronounced "ooney-ats"). I know that at the time dumb assistants for detectives were almost as rigid a requirement as boy sidekicks for superheroes, but Hoppy just slowed the stories down. Every time he showed up I wished he'd just leave so we could get back to the action. Dumb sidekicks were even more grating in movies when you couldn't skip forward a few pages to avoid them.
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It's been so long since I read them, that I can't recall which story Hoppy turned up in. All I can recall is, he broke into Simon's flat, apparently working for the bad guy, but once he saw who he was robbing, he switched sides.
The next time I saw him was in SAINT AT THE THIEVES' PICNIC, my 2nd-favorite novel. Simon pulls one long, protracted con-game against the baddies in this, for most of it telling about 95% of the truth in order to hide the 5% where he's lying. He gets into their confidence, supposedly to help them pull off a caper (the details of which I can't remember at all), and each time it looks like something bad should happen, his wit and charm pushes him past it.
UNTIL... as happens so often, some really stupid, insignificant thing blows his cover. Which was, someone saw his photo on the cover of a movie magazine. the nerve of a guy who had become so famous and well-known, to try and go undercover and pretend to be somebody else. When he knew the game was up, he just smiled, shrugged, and was like, "OH WELL!" Like, he couldn't believe he made it that far. THEN he had to figure out how to stop the bad guys, despite their now being on to him. It was so much fun!
All I can recall about Hoppy is that his head probably hurt trying to keep up with what his boss was doing. Like Nigel Bruce trying to keep up with Basil Rathbone, only WAY more so.
There are several episodes of McCLOUD with Dennis Weaver as Deputy Marshall Sam McCloud where he finds himself going undercover, and each time, something small and stupid usually blows his cover. So I was used to that sort of thing by the time I read the SAINT books.
In "THE PARK AVENUE RUSTLERS", he goes undercover to get the goods on a massive car-stealing ring, run by Eddie Albert (from GREEN ACRES), whose PSYCHOTIC sidekick was played by Roddy McDowell, who distrusted and hated Sam from the start. Things went almost smoothly, until they were at some big party with a lot of upper-crust people, and out of nowhere, Sam's on-again-off-again reporter girlfriend Chris Caughlin (Diana Muldaur) turned up, saw him, said hello, and mentioned her cousin (the Police Commissioner!!). Next thing, the baddies were in full retreat, and Sam wound up hanging on the bottom of a helicopter as it flew over half of Manhattan.
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McCLOUD with Dennis Weaver
Weaver stays in my mind because of DUEL. Masterpiece. [Richard Matheson(screenplay)]
McCloud for a different reason.
At some point they had a policy of shooting episodes in different countries.
When US TV did that, they had to throw in known local landmarks [for the US Audience - which meant a limited number.] And to hell with the local audience.
I'm not attempting to be insulting here, just explaining network think.
So there had to be a shot of the Harbour Bridge.
So, according to the plot, he's riding across the bridge [on a horse!] to get to the airport in a hurry.
But he was riding north and the Airport is on the south side.
Hey, as long as you get the shot, who cares, right?!
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This sort of thing has happened forever, and not just on international shoots. The Night Stalker was shot in Seattle, which I knew pretty well at the time. The show's geography was completely screwy. Kolchak would be walking down a street, turn a corner, and be miles away in another part of town . As you said, it's about getting the shot, putting in a little local color without sticking too closely to reality. They know the majority of viewers won't know the difference. Personally I'm okay with that.
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I don't know about where the shows were actually filmed, but THE NIGHT STALKER took place in Las Vegas... THE NIGHT STRANGLER took place in Seattle... and most of the episodes of KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER took place in Chicago.
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Loved Kolchak.
Actually, today Good Omens is being filmed in Bo'Ness on the banks of the Forth. A few streets blocked off and they are filming in the library and The Hippodrome, Scotland's oldest purpose built cinema. I think they are also using the station of the preserved steam railway in the town. A couple of friends who live in the town were going to "accidentally" walk down, "just in case" Sheen and Tennent were around. 2 ladies who are big fans.
A couple of weeks ago Batgirl was being filmed in Glasgow and a few streets behind the Tron Theatre had been transformed into Gotham.
So when I see both of them it will look odd as they turn corners and re-appear miles away.
The Avengers filmed in Edinburgh was actually not too bad and seemed quite logical. Scenes were also filmed in the tiny coastal village of St Abbs on the east coast - a place we go to regularly. Lots of good cliff walks and very popular with divers - and despite the CGI, it was great picking out places we recognised as Thor chatted on the cliffs.
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Here is a Spanish Film starring Kenneth More, also, for some odd reason, known as 'Where Time began' Dubbed, but the dubbing is pretty good.
The Fabulous Journey to the Center of the Earth (1977)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNQFX6bXtP8
Look at the credits for this director, [Juan Piqer Simon].
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0685034/?ref_=tt_ov_dr#director
A Spanish Irwin Allen?
Cheers!
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Here is a Spanish Film starring Kenneth More, also, for some odd reason, known as 'Where Time began' Dubbed, but the dubbing is pretty good.
The Fabulous Journey to the Center of the Earth (1977)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNQFX6bXtP8
Look at the credits for this director, [Juan Piqer Simon].
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0685034/?ref_=tt_ov_dr#director
A Spanish Irwin Allen?
Cheers!
I watched that film just recently. Kind of odd a hard to follow at times but entertaining. The time travel element threw the plot askew a bit.
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I first taped WHERE TIME BEGAN off some local station. The picture & sound quality were pretty bad, the film looked cheap, but somehow... it had a certain charm to it, that I liked it. Over the years, I watched it twice more, and liked it MORE each time. Which is usually a good sign.
So a few years back, when I got the idea to do a chronological sci-fi marathon on Fridays, a few films I bought that I never had before (DESTINATION MOON, EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN). And a few I upgraded from terrible self-recorded tapes to DVDs (INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D., THE FABULOUS JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH).
The Kenneth More film on DVD left me STUNNED. Not only was it a crystal-clear picture & sound, in widescreen, it was UNCUT. Turns out several entire early scenes were missing from the US butcher job, at least one scene had been run totally out of sequence, the opening and closing credits & music were totally-different, and there were a couple of scenes where someone in America TAMPERED with the visuals for some idiotic bad effect, so in the uncut Euro print (in English) you could see clearly exactly what was going on.
It IMMEDIATELY became one of my favorite films, and it had already surpassed the James Mason film as my favorite adaptation of the Verne story. (Despite some bizarre changes and new additions, it's WAY closer to what Verne wrote than the Columbia film.)
When I got my hands on the MCI Basil Rathbone SHERLOCK HOLMES box set, I also realized something quite bizarre. 2 different scenes in the 1977 JOURNEY, neither in the book, are identical to scenes in SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON. What am I to make of that, except whoever wrote the Kenneth More film was a Rathbone fan.
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it had already surpassed the James Mason film as my favorite adaptation of the Verne story. (Despite some bizarre changes and new additions, it's WAY closer to what Verne wrote than the Columbia film.)
Agreed. I first knew the story from the classics illustrated version and have seen most film versions, so am quite familiar with the original story.
While I sometimes wonder, why the hell do they keep on making new versions of Verne's 'Mysterious Island?' I never tire of seeing new adaptations of other Verne stories. That said, there are at least 1/2 dozen that have never been filmed or appeared as a comic.
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Heres another Simon Verne adaptation, in a more light hearted vien.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yshqhZ8XqQ
Monster Island is a total fraud. More like a theme park with mechanical dinosars and a fake volcano. The entire adventure, other than the unexpected intrusion of treasure hunters, is a hoax perpetrated by the young hero's wealthy ecentric uncle.
I expect Verne was inspired by several theme parks of the day which featured statues of what people thought dinosaurs would have looked like. I think they even had coaches for visitors built in the shape of dinosaurs.
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I first ran across "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" as an amusement park boat ride in Dorney Park in Allentown, PA. No kidding! Later, I saw the 1967 Filmation cartoon series. The writing & animation were both pretty bad, but something about it continues to grab me. I only wish they'd actually done the beginning and the end of the story. I once fantasized that Filmation could have done a movie spin-off of the series, with the beginning and grand finale the show never did, as a follow-up to their animated FLASH GORDON movie. If they'd done it in the early 80s, Ted Knight (who played Oliver Lindenbrook) was still around.
Around the end of the 60s I finally saw the James Mason-Pat Boone-Thayer David film. Loved it, as weird as it was. Looking back, it's shocking how in typical Hollywood fashion, they changed so much of the story, especially the ending. As with Poe films, many Verne movies add both romance and a villain that's not in the original stories.
And then there's Rick Wakeman's 1974 LP, which actually managed to encapsulate the novel in 45 minutes, maybe only 10 of which is actual narration! I love David Hemming's reading... "DUMB with astonishment and amazement which bordered on stupification... they fled the forest." I know there's apparently been several different English translations of the novel, but I was disappointed that that line was NOT in the book I read.
I have several Verne comics (either the actual books or scans from online) and actually spent a good part of a year posting a whole variety of comics versions of "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea". Another instance where the most famous version (the 1954 Disney film), while a FABULOUS movie, is drastically-different from the book. (Which is not necessarily a bad thing.)
I forget the actual number, but it seems to me Gilberton's "Classic Illustrated" did about 10 Verne novels... but Bruguera's "Joyas Literarias Juveniles" in Spain did 50 Verne novels!! And I haven't even counted all the ones in the Mexican "Novelas Inmortales" and "Joyas De La Literatura" digests. (I've only been buying the Poe comics, but I've been slowly, tediously grabbing cover scans and compiling indexes-- there's like 700 or 900 issues in those series!)
Decades back, I noticed that in most mall book stores, you usually could only find 3 Verne novels-- 4 if you were lucky. But most of his works ARE in print, you just have to get them from online stores these days.
My very 1st exposure to Verne (though I didn't know it) was Disney's "IN SEARCH OF THE CASATAWAYS" (1961), based on "Captain Grant's Children". I saw that again in a theatrical release 20 years later, and the story is so "episodic" in nature, so loosely tied together, I still had trouble remembering how in the hell they got from point A to point B. (Just like the 1979 movie "MOONRAKER".) It's one of those I suspect may have been originally serialized in a magazine or something. Crazy enough, when I got around to reading Verne's "The Mysterious Island" (which has NO MONSTERS in it at all!!!), the main villain from "Captain Grant's Children" turns up halfway in as a castaway on another island.
Verne must have been very dodgy when it came to dates, because it's been noted by some that if you go by the dates mentioned in the books, "20,000 Leagues" and "Mysterious" seem to take place AT THE SAME TIME. Someone in Hollywood must have noticed this, because the 1916 silent film of "20,000 LEAGUES" is presented exactly that way, with 2 parallel plots running the length of the film, finally colliding at the end.
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My Jules Verne blog project starts with an overview...
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2013/08/jules-verne.html
The comics start with "Part 3", the 1954 Dell Comic adaptation of the Disney movie, with art by FRANK THORNE! (My Dell monitor was going bad and dark without my noticing it, so like too many things I posted around that time, the scans look washed out. I haven't had time to go back and fix them all.)
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/01/jules-verne-part-3.html
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I'm not a wide-ranging Verne reader, though I've read a few. I read Verne's 20,000 Leagues some years after seeing the Disney version. I confess it bored the heck out of me...so much of it was endless descriptions of sea life and vegetation the travellers saw. It read like a a textbook. The underlying story was rather weak and was buried by the travelogue.
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I'm not a wide-ranging Verne reader, though I've read a few. I read Verne's 20,000 Leagues some years after seeing the Disney version. I confess it bored the heck out of me...so much of it was endless descriptions of sea life and vegetation the travellers saw. It read like a a textbook. The underlying story was rather weak and was buried by the travelogue.
That strikes me as a pretty accurate description of ALL of Verne's books that I've read.
I would easily compare them to Ian Fleming's novels as well on that score. There's moments where he seems to be doing long dissertations on food, drinks, restaurants, fashion... But I would say his over-wordiness is less over-wordy than Verne, perhaps mainly because of the different era the books were written in.
A confession: at times, I tend to SKIM over the "textbook" sections, to get to "THE STORY".
;D
Let's see... way, way back, I read...
ROBUR THE CONQUEROR
MASTER OF THE WORLD
FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON
THE PURCHASE OF THE NORTH POLE
Then, while in high school, I found a pair of his novels in one hardbound, loaned it out, and read the 2nd book!
AROUND THE MOON
I realized that Herge had basically swiped the structure of Verne's 2 books for his 2-part Tintin story, DESTINATION MOON / EXPLORERS ON THE MOON ...except Herge actually had them land on the Moon, Verne... DIDN'T!!
But what really blew my mind, was that Verne had somehow accurately predicted APOLLO 13 decades before it happened.
:o
MANY years later, while riding the train back and forth to art school, I read 3 more Vernes...
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
In retrospect, I must say I currently prefer the Disney and Harryhausen films to Verne's Captain Nemo novels.
By the way, if you ever get a chance to read the 3 connected "Gun Club" books, the big surprise for me was... THEY'RE FUNNY AS HELL!!! This sets them apart from the other Verne books I've read.
The premise of the 3rd one, THE PURCHASE OF THE NORTH POLE, may be the most absurd. Technically, it's played serious, despite the ridiculous idea they want to pull off... but the book ends on a hilarious surprise, in a similar way to houw JOURNEY does.
From scanning over all those Mexican comics digests, my impression is that nothing fascinated Verne more than travelogues. This is pretty interesting considering, from what I've read, Verne NEVER left France in his entire life! But apparently, he did a ton of research, and was determined to put ALL of it within the confines of his adventure stories.
To get past the "travelogue", you might enjoy some of the comics adaptations I've posted at my blog. I think I have about a DOZEN different versions of "20,000 LEAGUES", and most of them are based on the novel. There were at least 3 based on the Disney movie, but one of those was from overseas, and I've only seen a couple panels from it. Frank Thorne did the Dell Comic movie adaptation, while Jesse Marsh did the newspaper version (which looks much more authentic).
JESSE MARSH:
http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2014/03/jules-verne-part-6.html
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Verne was highly prolific.
Jules Verne bibliography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne_bibliography
Some of those filmed [apart from those mentioned by Prof] are:-
Around the World in Eighty Days
Five Weeks in a Balloon
From the Earth to the Moon
The Mysterious Island
Robur the Conqueror
The Green Ray
Classics illustrated also did,
Off on a Comet
and one listed here as 'the steam house' as
'Tigers and Traitors'
Its always been a mystery to me that when there are titles available like,
A floating city
The Underground City; Or, The Black Indies
(Sometimes Called The Child of the Cavern)
Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon
The Archipelago on Fire [a recent French comic adaption exists]
The Purchase of the North Pole [third and last Baltimore Gun Club novel]
The Carpathian Castle [ may have inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula]
An Antarctic Mystery [Response to Poe's 'Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym']
Propeller Island
Master of the World
Invasion of the Sea
Many are available on Project Gutenberg.
I'm astounded that film companies have not, to my knowledge, filmed any of these.
It goes without saying that Verne's work has been a hugh influence on comic book scenarios.
so much of it was endless descriptions of sea life and vegetation the travellers saw. It read like a a textbook. The underlying story was rather weak and was buried by the travelogue.
But of course, Verne was writing before TV, Radio and before photographs could be published on printed paper. He introduced the world to places, people, concepts and ideas that were brand new and exotic at that time. And we read the whole story, forgetting that Verne published weekly episodes of serials, a different reading experience entirely.
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If this were FB, it would be so easy to post images. Unfortunately, a lot of the covers I have came from Ebay and the like, so it's nearly-impossible for me to post covers of many of these.
TESOROS DE CUENTOS CLASICOS (Editorial Sea / Novaro / Mexico)
#42 (Feb'61) - ROBUR EL CONQUISTADOR
#82 (Jun'64) - EL CORREO DEL ZAR (The Mail Of The Czar)
#83 (Jul'64) - LA VICTORIA DE MIGUEL STROGOFF (The Victory Of Michael Strogoff)
We had a copy of Michael Strogoff around here somewhere for decaces... but the last time I looked, I couldn't find it.
I do have a videotape copy of "SOLDIER AND THE LADY" (1937), which is an adaptation of "Michael Strogoff", though.
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I CLASSICI A FUMETTI (Gino Sansoni Editore / Milano / Italy)
#21 (Jan'70) - DALLA TERRA ALLA LUNA (FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON)
MINIMONDO: I CLASSICI A FUMETTI (AMZ Editrice / Milano / Italy)
#2 (Jul'77) - IL GIRO DEL MONDO IN 80 GIORNI (Around The World In 80 Days)
JOYAS LITERARIAS JUVENILES (Editorial Bruguera / Barcelona, Spain)
#1 (1970) - MIGUEL STROGOFF
#4 (1970) - 20.000 LEGUAS DE VIAJE SUBMARINO
(There's 269 issues in this run, I haven't gotten arond to indexing the rest of it for myself.)
NOW AGE BOOKS (Pendulum Press)
(??) - 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
(Jun'74) - JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
(1974) - THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
NOVELAS INMORTALES (Novedades Editores / Mexico)
#26 (1978) - EL GRAN ESCAPE (The Blockade Runners)
#28 (1978) - LA ESTIRPE DE LOS INCAS (The Street Of The Incas)
#43 (1978) - TRAGICO RESCATE (Tragic Rescue)
#53 (1978) - LA VOLUNTAD DEL MUERTO (The Will Of The Dead)
#82 (1979) - UN SECRETO DEL MAR (A Secret Of The Sea) (The Waif Of The Cynthia)
#187 (Jun 17, 1981) - LA VUELTA AL MUNDO EN 80 DAYS (Around The World In 80 Days)
#267 (Dec 29, 1982) - FAMILIA SIN NOMBRE (Family Without A Name)
#270 (Jan 19, 1983) - LA JANGADA (Eight Hundred Leagues On The Amazon)
(La Jangada - Huit Cents lieues sur l'Amazone)
#304 (1983) - LOS HIJOS DEL CAPITAN GRANT (The Children Of Captain Grant)
#309 (Oct 19, 1983) - LA CAZA DE METEORO (The Meteor House / Off On A Comet)
#313 (Nov 16, 1983) - LA ISLA MISTERIOSA (The Mysterious Island)
#324 (Feb 1, 1984) - DUENO DEL MUNDO (Master Of The World)
#333 (1984) - DE LA TIERRA A LA LUNA (From The Earth To The Moon)
#338 (May 9, 1984) - CLOVIS DARDENTOR
#341 (May 30, 1984) - LA MISION BARSAC (The Barsac Mission)
#350 (Aug 1, 1984) - EL DOCTOR OX. (The Doctor Ox.)
#356 (Sep 12, 1984) - LOS VIAJES DE MARCO POLO (The Travels Of Marco Polo)
#360 (Oct 10, 1984) - CRISTOBAL COLON (Christopher Columbus)
I'm sure there's lots more...
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Sometimes this is the kind of stuff you run into on Ebay. Drives me nuts when someone groups unrelated authors together in one sale... (Now let's see if this link works.)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165319983442?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item267dd6c152:g:lX8AAOSwRD5h~27o&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAAA4IpvLsD7DUdXnNF%2FpK2Gz%2FJ16O6N9F9Z4snror7W6D9pD07YgRJ6EPvsYESCjFvHUOv50qX3tbgz0r9P7aIadfEbRw%2Bhaiqnzvu37t9AWVe5bYkfBy0x4QL%2B1HPugvFN0m2TRDl5gTmHMJfNaGwTUlcJdJIzayuuf4nETMEICOXRoGqE5R6A9TFuZo9vvCpYhDvAVoYNBk6jvKNuAF4i0akpNZw2H3BEEpERHl3%2FEaVZmfQBNZgkv8XfjF8zpFuLl6LWNBdsWN3qbW%2Fcu%2FyBKLEQIs1kVA29wzqCa7AhM3WP%7Ctkp%3ABFBM6LWNt5Fg
I tried 2 different image links, which refused to come up, but the PAGE link does. Oy.
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I'm currently reading Dave Stevens' 'Rocketeer', a complete edition in German, published by Cross Cult.
A wonderful book, a hardcover, with many extras, there is an editorial review of the comic with a detailed history of the character's origins, the whole thing is supplemented by exclusive bonus material and a comprehensive cover gallery. And to top it off, Dave Stevens' brilliant comic has been completely recolored by artist Laura Martin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocketeer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocketeer)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Stevens (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Stevens)
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I found quite a few of the Rocketeer comics online recently. Read through most I could find.
I'm surprised they haven't made more than the one movie. In fact it could stand for a TV series or at least mini-series.
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It seems Rocketeer never really went away. IDW kept him alive for awhile with several limited series. Quality and art ranged from very good to just plain awful! But, any Rocketeer was better than none at all. I just bought two new IDW issues , "Rocketeer, The Great Race", but won't read them until I have the complete series. Cheers, Bowers
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I believe 'Rocketeer the great race' which is currently an on-going series, exists because there is a projected new Rocketeer movie in the pipeline.
THE ROCKETEER Is Returning with a Disney+ Movie
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/rocketeer-returning-disney-movie-223536792.html
Unfortunately, as you can see, its story-line has been changed so it is politically correct, and WOKE friendly as is happening now with everything Disney is doing.
Expect them to begin editing and changing the older cartoons and movies.
I wish I was kidding.
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You're possibly right, Panther. Unfortunately, when studios fiddle with films or series with an established fan base, nothing good comes of it. I realize they are trying to expand the base, but almost always succeed in pissing off the loyal fans and destroy the elements that made the project successful in the first place!
I'm not sure being PC is anything new to Disney. Usually, anything stronger than a PG film was released by Touchstone or another subsidiary studio, thus sparing the Disney "image". And they appear to be in a bit of a row with the state of Florida over this very thing.
Do I mind that the proposed new film will star a Black Rocketeer? Of course not! But I do not want the film to lose the spirit of the original character, just to make it "better".
I'm not so sure that the term "political correctness" needs to always have a negative connotation. I believe in kindness to all, politeness and good manners, and inclusion. If that makes me PC, then I'm guilty as charged. Cheers, Bowers
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I've been a huge Rocketeer fan from the start. Bowers is right about the fluctuations in the quality of the art but the whole Rocketeer idea is a great one. Whether I want to go to a Rocketeer movie is a different matter. Playing down the style of the original comics, and the movie, will put me off.
"I'm not so sure that the term "political correctness" needs to always have a negative connotation. I believe in kindness to all, politeness and good manners, and inclusion. If that makes me PC, then I'm guilty as charged." Bowers.
You've put it so well.
There is something about the rocket pack heroes that I find intriguing. King of The Rocketmen and the 2 follow ups are good viewing and I also enjoy and re-read from time to time, some other rocket pack heroes. Obviously the great Adam Strange - MIS stuff that is; Atome Kid, which we have on site; Rocket Ranger; the Rocketman series from Innovation; Zip Jet; Hero-Man; even Santo used a rocket pack for a short while.
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Do I mind that the proposed new film will star a Black Rocketeer? Of course not!
So long as they also cast only white men in the roles of Marvel's Black Panther and Blade I don't mind.
I'm not so sure that the term "political correctness" needs to always have a negative connotation. I believe in kindness to all, politeness and good manners, and inclusion. If that makes me PC, then I'm guilty as charged. Cheers, Bowers
In today's world PC means cancelling , defaming or even publically physically assaulting anyone who is not in lockstep with certain agendas. Inclusiveness has zero to do with it. To the PC crowd arson and assault are protected free speach.
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Cap, although I may disagree with your definition, I do value your opinion. That's what a forum is- a place to exchange ideas, opinions and information. Cheers, Bowers
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a Black Rocketeer?
There are actually those in Hollywood who over the years have said, "NO ONE KNOWS what these characters look like", when referring to novels where authors spend pages describing exactly what characters look like... or comic-books, where you can SEE what they look like.
Here's how I see it...
Flash Gordon is a blonde
Dale Arden has jet-black hair
Ming The Merciless is BALD
Princess Aura is a BLONDE
(Already, the 1936 film got 2 of these wrong... heh.)
Luke Cage, Hero For Hire looks like a young JIM BROWN. ;D
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The push for race and gender diversity trumps all, even talent.
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In one of my stories some years back, the hero was Polish, the Police Commissioner was black, one of the baddies was Puerto-Rican, and one of the other heroes was British. What the British guy was doing living in Camden, NJ is anyone's guess.
;D
But of course, NONE of these were previously-existing characters who had been absurdly RE-CAST to be drastically-different from who they were originally. I suppose that's the advantage of creating your own characters.
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The Stranger Times, a novel by C.K. McDonnell. Having finished it and laughed out loud a lot, in a cafe, embarrassingy, at one point, I got hold of the follow up, This Charming Man. Halfway through it and it's even funnier. Here's the website:-
https://thestrangertimes.co.uk/the-stranger-times/
https://thestrangertimes.co.uk/news/this-charming-man/
I think the appalling, totally non pc, foul mouthed, clarty editor, Vincent Banecroft is my new hero. Lotsa laffs, great fun, and monsters.
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S.F. Stories by Robert Sheckley. I haven't been so amused, since I read S.F. Stories from Fredric Brown.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sheckley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sheckley)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredric_Brown (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredric_Brown)
The shortest S.F. Story of the World by Fredric Brown (based on a template by Thomas Aldrich):
The last man on earth sat alone in a room. Than there was a knock on the door ...
:o
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I'm currently trying to read 'Doctor Solar' in Dutch. ;D
I found 24 old black and white editions from the netherlands at archive.org. Simply enter Doctor Solar in the search.
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Now I'm reading Rip Kirby. The 'Bocola Verlag' in Germany has published 12 beautiful books so far and I found the first three at a flea market in very good condition, for only € 10 in total, which made my collector's heart laugh. :)
The books are in hardcover landscape format (30.5 x 28.0 cm) and have an average of 150 pages. I don't know, if I'll ever be able to buy the other books, but at least I'll have a lot of enjoyment with the first three books.
https://www.bocola.de/ripkirby.html (https://www.bocola.de/ripkirby.html)
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Good find, good taste!
https://infogalactic.com/info/John_Dixon_(cartoonist)
John Dixon (20 February 1929 - 7 May 2015) was an Australian comic book artist and writer, best known for his comic strip creation, Air Hawk and the Flying Doctors (which ran from 1959 until 1986).
He drew sixteen stories of Agent Corrigan that were published in a Swedish comic book from 1997 to 2003.
ComicKraut, if you e ver find those, let me know.
They probably would have been published as Albums.
cheers!
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Thank you Panther, for your kind words :) . If I ever see John Dixon's 'Agent Corrigan' comics, I'll think of you.
I have a few 'Agent Corrigan' comics, but by Al Williamson and Archie Goodwin.
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Despite Super Detective Library publishing a lot of Raymond Rip Kirby stories I still bought the Spanish landscape hb books. They weren't available in English in the UK. But were in comic shops in Spain. They were excellent books although it took me a while to work my way through a story, my Spanish being not good.
In fact, I noticed many American titles in Spanish that were not available here. Typical.
And I love landscape format ;D
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"landscape"
HORIZONTAL is the ONLY right way to ever reprint newspaper strips! Kitchen Sink Press knew this (so sad they went out of business).
I think of all the newspaper strips collected in "vertical" format books, where the strips are just shrunk so much it's difficult to appreciate the art. At least Titan Books' JAMES BOND 007 collections are just barely big enough to see what you're looking at, but whoever reprinted Romero's AXA series... oy!! A strip (in more ways that one, heh) where the art is by far the best thing going, and it's like you're looking at large postage stamps.
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After ALL these years, I just read a good chunk (they always go on too long) of the Wikipedia page on THE SAINT character. I may use that for reference re-assembling a more complete list of the stories from the books.
What amazes me, is how the page goes on and on and on and on and on... and discusses at one point the 1997 Val Kilmer movie (and various things wrong with it...
...and NEVER mentions how the film is actually based on THE LONE WOLF. I mean, from what I know now-- which I read on THIS message board-- it pretty much HAS to be. it can't be a coincidence.
I hate when Hollywood bastardizes characters and gets the source materials all mixed up.
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The push for race and gender diversity trumps all, even talent.
I was just reading some very long reviews of the new movie THE GREEN KNIGHT.
It seems 2 of the main characters-- including the title character-- the actors playing them are of INDIAN descent. In a movie about British middle ages mythology. WTF???
But this is apparently a relatively-minor problem, compared to how, once again the story SERIOUSLY deviates from the classic story... and on top of that... is told is such a VAGUE fashion, that by film's end, most people have NO IDEA WTF they just watched. One review felt he had to spell out and explain the movie. Who the hell wants a movie like that?
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It seems 2 of the main characters-- including the title character-- the actors playing them are of INDIAN descent. In a movie about British middle ages mythology. WTF???
Making films used to be about making money, in which case the main game was to do a story that didn't offend the proposed audience's worldview, so as to guarantee maximum attendance and maximum dollar.
No longer, now the idea is to impose a worldview on your audience.
Does anybody think there are many people of Indian descent who would give care about a film about the Green Knight.
On a related subject,
I thought the team-up of Betty and Veronica with Red Sonja and Vampirella was a step too far,
but this has just been published.
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer Versus the Vampire Zoo
Thank you and good night!
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Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer Versus the Vampire Zoo
That just sounds like a crazy fun Halloween joke comic. Bet some kids would enjoy it.
Speaking of Indians... I recently got my hands on BEEL SAAL BAAL ("Twenty Years Later" / 1962), a movie made IN INDIA with an all-Indian cast. It's based on Hemendra Kumar Roy's novel "Nishithini Bivishika" (Ghost Horror)... which, in turn, was based on Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles", with all the names changed and the setting moved from the UK to India. It was first filmed as JIGHANSA ("Bloodlust" / 1951), a Bengali film; the remake is a Hindi film. It's actually a romantic comedy MUSICAL horror murder mystery. YES. All of the above. It really cracks me up! The love story (and the music) at times almost makes you forget it's a murder mystery.
Anyway, somehow, this doesn't bother me one bit. I KNOW which story they're doing, but they actually changed so much, it's fun to take note of the similarities AND the differences. At least one reviewer did not realize the "comedy detective" was supposed to be the story's version of WATSON, while the police inspector --who's IN DISGUISE for most of the picture-- is the film's equivalent of HOLMES. Oh-- and THERE'S NO DOG. ;D
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I'm really enjoying the Batgirl Bronze Age Omnibus, that includes the Barbara Gordon Batgirl comics from the Million Dollar debut in 1967 and into the 70s. The first few stories are written by Gardner Fox. My retro happy place :)
https://www.amazon.com/Batgirl-Bronze-Age-Omnibus-Vol/dp/1401276407/
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In this time, I'm re-reading the short stories of a very humorous author: Hector Hugh Munro, known as: Saki, a mischievous and occasionally macabre satirist of the Edwardian high society of England before the First World War.
Highly recommended! :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saki)
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Thank you, ComicKraut for reminding me about SAKI.
I was introduced to him by the Granada TV series of Adaptions back in 1963.
Some kind person has posted some of them here.
Saki -The Improper Stories of H. H. Munro - Granada TV - 1962
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fpeEm2BrSk
There are also several adaptions of Sredni Vashtar,
most of them add unnecessary material to SAKI's story.
Here is audio of SAKI's words. How can you improve on that?
Sredni Vashtar | Saki (H. H. Munro) | A Bitesized Audio Production
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4hcsfJz_Nc
Cheers!
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This is "watcha readin'" mixed with "watcha watchin,'" shaken, not stirred.
The recent discussion of Cornell Woolrich and his complicated life reminded me for some reason of David Goodis. Goodis started being a prolific pulp hack but moved up to writing bleak noir-ish novels. He worked in Hollywood for a while and a couple of his books became notable movies. But his output petered out, he died young, and he was remembered mostly by the French. Of the dozen or so movies adapted from Goodis novels, the majority were produced in France. His best-known movie adaptations are the Bogart-Bacall feature Dark Passage (1947), Jacques Tourneur's Nightfall (1957), and Francois Truffaut's 1960 Shoot the Piano Player.
Years ago, long before the Internet, I was a member of a mystery fan apa (anyone out there remember apas?). I was a fan of the movie Dark Passage and I stumbled across an old paperback edition in a used book store (anyone out there remember used book stores?). Then I watched Shoot the Piano Player, which I also enjoyed. Having seen Goodis' name on both, I dug up all the Goodis books I could find and read them. Then I searched out what scant info was available on Goodis and wrote a retrospective of sorts for the apa. Today I looked up his biographical info on the Web and discovered that I was ignorant of much of Goodis' history. You can read a capsule bio on Wikipedia. Goodis died at 50 in 1967, either after a beating or while shovelling snow. You decide.
Goodis wrote mostly about the lowlife of his hometown, Philadelphia. His novels portrayed a bunch of increasingly pessimistic men, basically decent but doomed by poverty, alcoholism, personal troubles, and/or small-time crime. The early ones, Dark Passage, Of Missing Persons, and Nightfall, weren't too bad. With the passing years Goodis' flaws, especially overuse of coincidence, got worse. Wikipedia implies that he was moderately successful to the end. However his publishing trajectory--hardback, Dell paperback, Gold Medal originals, Lion originals, minor publishers--suggests differently. His last couple of paperbacks were awful. Added to rampant coincidence were a fatalism that bordered on parody and overuse of Goodis' most irritating schtick, having a character (usually drunk) deliver a speech to an inanimate object like a gun or a whiskey bottle. The monologue would explain character motivations and story points with the subtlety of a bullet to the brain. There were a lot of drunks in David Goodis stories. Though Wikipedia doesn't mention it, I've read that Goodis was himself an alcoholic. It's no surprise, considering all the time he spent hanging about Philadelphia's seedy quarters.
All this might sound like I'm telling you to avoid Goodis at any cost. Not really. His first half-dozen or so books are readable. You'll enjoy them depending on your appetite for gloom. But Goodis is the rare author whose movie adaptations are better than the original books. Some scenes that are clunky in print work more smoothly in the films. Maybe it's just because they pass quickly enough that we don't question them until we're out gobbling pizza after the movie.
Dark Passage is a winner. It's remarkably faithful to the book, stylishly directed, and acted by top liners like Bogart, Bacall, and Agnes Moorhead. We can forgive a couple of fortuitous coincidences because everything is done so well. The tacked-on final scene kind of spoils the original ending. Just think of the story concluding with the next-to-last scene.
Shoot the Piano Player, based on Goodis' novel Down There, is also reasonably close to the novel. Charles Aznavour is excellent as Charlie, a former classical music star turned gin-joint pianist. Francois Truffaut directs the whole thing with brio. It's great to look at, moves fast enough to smooth over the coincidences, and is well-acted. The only sour note is when Truffaut inserts a visual joke that has no place in a serious story (a gangster swears by his mother's life and in a quick cut we see her keel over). Trivia: Truffaut lifted one scene, in which Charlie philosophizes with a stranger on the street, from the book version of Nightfall.
Speaking of Nightfall, it's also reasonably close to the original. You have to accept a couple of leaps of logic to get the ball rolling, but after that it's not bad. The production has a low-budget look but not so much that it interferes with our enjoyment, and Tourneur directs well. The film's main drawback is the lead, Aldo Ray. His acting isn't much worse than the average B-lister, but the character he plays is supposed to be an ordinary guy on the run. Pursued by both gangsters and cops, he fears for his life and is almost overwhelmed by circumstances. Aldo Ray looks like a tough guy, moves like a tough guy, and even his voice is a tough-guy voice. Even when the bad guys are about to rub him out you get the feeling he could lick both of them with one hand tied behind his back.
I said I was ignorant when I wrote my retrospective; now I'll prove it. I thought these were the only Goodis adaptations on the screen. Far from it! In 1956 Goodis himself wrote a film adaptation of The Burglar, not one of his best books. The same year there was a Spanish adaptation of Of Missing Persons. In the 70s and 80s there were a half-dozen French adaptations of different novels. I haven't seen a single one. I'm curious enough to seek some of them out but not so eager that I'll throw myself into the job. Someday.
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"Dark Passage" is one of my favorite Bogart films. I agree that the final scene just didn't fit well with the rest of the film. Bogey was Bogey, Bacall was gorgeous, and Agnes Moorhead was superb! Moorhead was such a versatile actress who could play anything! Looked up the credits on IMDB and was surprised to find Vince Edwards (" Ben Casey") in a bit part.
I've only seen clips from "Shoot the Piano Player", some with subtitles, some without, but it looks like a film worth watching. I'm a big Truffaut fan, by the way.
Thanks for the info on Goodis. Do you know if he wrote pulp stories under his own name? I think I might try to look up some of his stuff. Cheers, Bowers
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Thanks for the info on Goodis. Do you know if he wrote pulp stories under his own name?
According to what I've read, Goodis was a speed demon during his pulp days and cranked out countless stories mostly under pseudonyms. He apparently published some under his own name later in his career. I don't know enough about pulps to say where.
Between the last paragraph and this one I learned that there's a website dedicated to him. I haven't read anything yet but it looks very promising. It's called, appropriately enough,
https://davidgoodis.com/
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I've been binge reading online issues of "Six Gun Gorilla" which I was amazed to find is based on a character of a story serialized in the British Wizard magazine in 1939.
The Gorilla in question is a highly intelligent hominid similar to the great Apes in Tarzan novels. His family was wiped out by hunters and he ends up in the old west of the USA where he is taught sign language and how to handle a Colt revolver. His owner is murdered so he goes on a warpath hunting down the culprits.
In the recent illustrated version the guns he uses are custom made scaled up guns for his circus act. I think it would have been more logical and more visually striking if they had used modified Colt Root patent side hammer action revolving rifles or shotguns converted into outsized hand guns. The Root designed revolver is a beauty and was made in several sizes from small pocket pistols to the rifles and shotguns I mentioned. The Rifles were .56 caliber and were used during the US Civil War by sharpshooters and assault troops. The Shotguns were made in 12 gauge and IIRC also in ten gauge.
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Thank you, ComicKraut for reminding me about SAKI.
You're welcome :) and thank you for the YouTube references (Saki -The Improper Stories of H. H. Munro - Granada TV - 1962 and Sredni Vashtar | Saki (H.H. Munro) | A Bitesized Audio Production.)
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Wow!!! Captain. Thanks for mentioning this. There was some conversation on CB+ about SGG a wee while ago. If this character can be resurrected for new stories, there are others from the same period that could do very well also. Not just from the big 5.
We need the return of Night Hawk (actually either the Horler one or the Nelson Lee one)
Certainly, The Iron Man and Flying Justice. How good would that be?
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Here is a more complete list of David Goodis screen adaptations.
David Goodis(1917-1967)
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0328959/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
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I finished my second Cornell Woolrich novel: Deadline at Dawn. I didn't like it as much as I did Phantom Lady but it was still a very entertaining read.
The initial setup was a bit clunky. [No spoilers following.] A lonely man and an lonely woman, each feeling trapped and dehumanized by life in the Big City, meet one night and form a bond. They agree to catch the 6 AM bus leaving town the next morning and escape together to the small town they came from. There's just one problem: the man has stumbled upon a murder, and all the circumstantial evidence points to him as the killer. No one is likely to discover the body until the following morning. When it is discovered, the man is sure to be hunted down and charged with the crime. So they launch a desperate quest to find the real murderer during the remaining hours and still make the 6 o'clock bus. They split up, following separate clue trails.
The book follows the couple hour by hour as they piece together the story of the crime. After the setup is out of the way the book is a great ride, with plenty of Woolrichian blind alleys and sudden turnabouts. As in Phantom Lady, some of the coincidences are a wee bit too convenient, but in the heat of the chase you're willing to buy them. Deadline at Dawn isn't your typical whodunit. Our pair of amateur detectives--and we the reader--don't know any of the people involved in the crime. We understand from the outset that we won't recognize the murderer when he or she is caught. This distances us from the story somewhat because we don't get a chance to guess the killer before the detective does. The excitement comes from the manhunt aspect: our heroes must first find out who they're looking for, then track that person down.
I haven't watched the movie adaptation. I learned from reviews that they changed the leading man into a sailor on 24 hours' leave. The couple must solve the mystery and get him back to his ship before 6 AM so he won't be AWOL. I have no idea what else the movie changed, but this one alteration seems like a good idea. The nagging question in the book is, if they manage to prove the guy's innocence but miss tomorrow's bus doing so, why can't they just take the day after tomorrow's bus? Woolrich deals with this by giving the woman the obsessive notion that this bus is their last chance. If they miss it they'll never have the strength to try again. The city will drag them under and they'll be trapped there forever. This always seemed a bit artificial.
Well worth reading despite these quibbles.
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Looking for 'Deadline at Dawn' and not finding it, I did find this Cornell Woolrich adaptation.
Black Angel (1946) Film Noir with Dan Duryea & Peter Lorre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggzsFgZ2oNM
Enjoy!
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Today has been my first 2023 Bargain Bin Crawl.
Among other things I now have two 1939 ex libris hardback versions of Leslie Charteris Saint books,. The Brighter Buccaneer and She was a lady. I will have read these under whatever name they were later were given, but I can't wait to read them again.
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The other day I picked up a copy of Yellow Cab, a French graphic novel by Christophe Chaboute adapted from a novel by Benoit Cohen. I read the English translation published in 2021 by IDW.
Benoit Cohen is a writer-director who made several shorts, a TV series, and three features, none of which I've heard of. He was successful enough to afford to live in New York and to fall in love with the city. Feeling creatively burnt out he hatched the idea of becoming a New York taxicab driver in hopes of finding material for his next movie. He drove a cab for about a year or so. From this experience came his novel, Yellow Cab. It's described as an "autobiographical novel," which suggests he embellished his real-life experiences with stuff he made up.
The graphic novel held my interest throughout even though hardly anything happens. We follow Cohen through the lengthy, frustrating process of studying to be a cabbie and getting a license. Then we ride along as he does his job. We see a little bit of Cohen's classmates and his fellow cabbies. Once or twice while he's on duty something happens to him. But mostly we see a succession of passengers. Some talk, some don't. A few are difficult, others aren't. Mostly Cohen sits, haggard, in the driver's seat and observes. He makes notes about his fares and mulls over the movie he wants to make. One day he feels he has learned enough. He quits being a cabbie and sits down to write his movie. That's it.
When I've finished a graphic novel I often look up reviews to see what everyone else thinks of it. Reaction to Yellow Cab was more or less evenly split. The detractors criticized it for being plotless and boring. They have a point. If you crave a strong storyline full of incident this is not the book for you. I enjoyed it because I've always wondered about the lives of strangers passing on the street. That's what Yellow Cab does. You read it not for its narrative but for its slice-of-life feel.
I think Chaboute's artwork is superb. His narrative breakdown mirrors the script. Not a lot happens. Whole pages are devoted to wordless cinematic montages of New York life as seen by cabbies. Chaboute draws in stark black and white. His style is representational while his compositions are architectural, almost abstract. He makes extensive use of white space and vignettes. His art reminds me strongly of Attilio Micheluzzi. I'd be surprised if Chaboute wasn't inspired by that Italian master.
One glaring shortcoming is that Benoit is married (or at least living with someone) throughout the story, but his wife plays no part in the story. In fact we only see her as a distant silhouette in a handful of panels. There is no way the grueling life of a taxi driver wouldn't have a major impact on a relationship. In one early scene Cohen muses that if he can't bring in more money his wife Eleonore might have to get a well-paying job to meet the rent. Other than that Eleonore exists only to deliver a few observations in the opening and closing pages.
I enjoyed Yellow Cab despite its flaws. You may, too, if you're in the proper mood. Here's a sample page.
(https://i2.wp.com/www.comicsbeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Yellow-Cab-Page-9-scaled.jpg?resize=696%2C895&ssl=1)
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I have a copy of Yellow Cab. but haven't had a good look at it yet.
This page is not only very good drawing, it is also very expressive of the element of the narrative it is illustrating.
I'm going to enjoy it.
Thanks Crash Ryan!
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I just finished reading a Joe Kubert graphic novel I never knew existed. It bears the somewhat unfortunate title Jew Gangster, and was published by DC in 2005. It tells the story of a boy, the son of poor immigrant parents, growing up in 1920s New York. Though a remarkable project, the book left me with mixed feelings. Please forgive a long read.
Ruby (short for Reuben) Kaplan is a restless adolescent who hates his limited life and fears ending up like his father, slaving ten hours a day in a clothing factory for a pittance while his mother slaves ten hours a day over a stove in a kosher restaurant. Ruby's discontent leads him step by step into a career as a gangster. His rise through the ranks culminates in a showdown with his former mentor, earning him an audience with The Big Guy. It's all very raw, very violent, and very beautifully drawn.
There's no denying Kubert's passion in telling this story. As a narrative it's excellent. Its sense of time and place is strong. Never having lived during the period, I can't attest for how realistic the story is, but I certainly believed it. Kubert keeps the story on a personal level. He avoids cameos by historical figures and tie-ins with famous events. Ruby's inevitable transformation from a mixed up kid to a hardened killer is shown as if we were simply watching a slice of everyday life.
It's this matter-of-fact approach that I found unsatisfying. We don't get a clear picture of what makes Ruby tick. Early on we hear his thoughts. He wants to make money raise his folks from poverty, to "do the right thing." But his new "success" breaks his mother's heart and disgusts his father and he ends up on his own. After this point we never know what Ruby is thinking. We hear him say things and see him do things but we must decide for ourselves why. Is any of Ruby's early desire to do the right thing left in him? We don't know. The ending is just as enigmatic. There's a resolution of sorts, but nothing is resolved.
Possibly this was Kubert's intention. One can't read Jew Gangster without thinking of Will Eisner's stories of Depression-era New York. Though Kubert was ten years Eisner's junior they shared a similar background. A key difference between the men's stories is that most of Eisner's people have a decent streak. Even a gangster will "do the right thing" under the right circumstances. When good people turn bad it's usually because one poor decision, one bad break, knocks them off the track. In contrast Kubert's characters' lives seem predestined. We can't imagine Ruby turning out any other way. His gangster comrades don't have a good streak, but neither do they delight in evil. They just are. Eisner's stories always had plots: a beginning, a middle, and a neat payoff with a touch of emotion. Kubert's story, like Ruby's world, has a narrative without a plot. Life happens as it must; things are the way they are.
This brings up another difference between the two men. Despite its chaos and squalor and inequality Eisner loved New York. His love for the city comes through in even his gloomiest stories. Kubert shows no nostalgia for NYC. Ruby's New York is as emotionally barren as he is.
Whatever misgivings I have about the story do not apply to Kubert's black-and-white art. It's perfect for the story. He draws mostly in outline, with blacks and details when necessary. It's simple in spots but full of movement and atmosphere. For me the only really sour note in both art and story is the final scene with The Big Guy. I won't go into detail so you can decide for yourself, but for me both the character and the scene came out of left field. In sum, though, Jew Gangster is definitely worth a look.
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Interesting post Crash. Food for thought.
What you describe as the narrative, in my interpretation and also given the title of the work, [Jew Gangster] it seems he was asking the question, just how much does the social environment a person is born into, limit a persons options and predetermine the outcome of a person's life?
For me, the definitive Joe Kubert creation was Enemy Ace.[Hans Von Hammer was created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert] OK, Kanigher wrote it, but you can't tell me that Kubert didn't have huge input into the concept. This is probably the only work by Kanigher that I consider substantial.
To me his work was cold, monotonous and predictable. You never were surprised by a Kanigher war comic.
The high points were always the art.
Von Hammer, being a German flyer in WW1 - based on the Red Baron - is an enemy from the point of view of the audience of the comic, but we see the war through his eyes. He is a killer but acts according to his own strong sense of honor. He is also a loner and his own messmates and fellow pilots avoid him.
Like the protagonist of 'Jew Gangster' he doesn't choose the world he is born into and grows up in but he wants to be the best human being he can be in that world.
You have made me wonder, most of the time a comic artist is a talent for hire and draws what the writer gives him. But how much of himself does he put into the story through his visual interpretation?
Digression;- I loved Kubert's art so much that I had a girl friend blow up an enemy Ace panel for a wall painting.
[She also did that with A Kirby spread from Tales of Asgard and a Steranko page from an X-man book.I don't think I ever thanked her properly]
So I was gobsmacked when I recently read an interview with George Evans [ who did work for fiction house's Wings comics and most of the work for EC's Aces High] who knew planes. He said that Kubert got the plane' wrong! I don't think he was referring to the art, but the specific planes used in the stories.
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To my delighted surprise, in the last 3 weeks, I've read 2 SAINT stories by Leslie Charteris. This is the first time I've done this in over 25 years!
The first was "The National Debt", while this weekend I read "The Man Who Could Not Die". These were 2 novellas included in a 1994 edition of ALIAS THE SAINT, and research showed me they had much-earlier been collected in 2 separate books, after having appeared originally in THRILLER magazine.
I'd have to do a lot of work compiling my own list of all the stories, and all the books I already have, to really be sure if I never read these before, or not. The first one seemed unfamiliar, but the 2nd one seemed VAGUELY familiar. It was only when I briefly looked them up online that I realized that both had been adapted for the Roger Moore tv series, with Patrick Allen playing the villain in the 2nd one. (All of those I've seen several times... just, not lately... and, before I watch them again, I intend to do what I'm currently doing with THE AVENGERS-- seriously upgrade the whole series to DVD.)
"The Man Who Could Not Die", even admitted by both Templar AND Teal, was not the Saint's "usual thing", as he had a slowly developed suspicion about the title character, who he'd never met, based purely on instinct. But even I was shocked in the later part of the story when the guy turned out to be COMPLETELY INSANE.
It was funny at the finale when Teal seemed slightly disappointed that Templar had turned down someone's suggestion that he run for public office. ;D Come to think of it, there was an Adam West BATMAN episode that ended that way, too, except in that case, Gordon was relieved that he wouldn't be losing Batman's help.
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I have to admit, what I read on this message board some months ago has really become an obsession with me. That is, the sypnopsis of Louis Joseph Vance's 1914 novel THE LONE WOLF.
Ever since then, I feel like I must be the ONLY person on Earth who's figured out that the 1998 Val Kilmer movie THE SAINT was an uncredited (and unauthorized and UNPAID) adaptation of that novel. I mean, NOBODY else seems the slightest bit aware of it. The other day, I read a review of the '98 film where the person went on and on talking about how little it had to do with Charteris, and how much they "changed"... but never once mentioning what should be OBVIOUS... if only someone were aware of the real source and was looking in that direction.
It's really criminal.
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an uncredited (and unauthorized and UNPAID) adaptation of that novel.
Prof, welcome to Hollywood! Standard practice. Nobody cares either.
Disney, who is one of the worst, is ruthless about protecting its own properties but the empire is built on top of works like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Fantasia, Jules Verne's works, all of which are public domain so they don't have to pay anybody for the rights.
And most TV situation comedies owe something to Shakespeare. and Greek playwrights. Mind you, Shakespeare owes something to them too!
The worst thing about that Saint Movie was that it put paid to Val Kilmer's career. He was capable of great performances but had a reputation as difficult on set, but what actor hasn't bee accused of that. Possibly someone was out to get him, because, good actor or not, he was never the Saint. Just wrong for the part whatever the script.
Also because of that saint movie, it would take a brave producer to try another Saint movie. I also believe that the only way you can dramatize the Saint in 2023 is to do it period, like most Sherlock Holmes adaptations.
Thinking about it, didn't the writers of the Lone Wolf and Falcon films plunder Charteris's Saint work?
cheers!
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I love films or Tv series that have been done as period pieces-- SHERLOCK HOLMES, PHILIP MARLOWE (in the 80s), MISS MARPLE, HERCULE POIROT, ALBERT CAMPION. I wish they'd do that with JAMES BOND and SIMON TEMPLAR.
Someone complained about the film THE SAINT'S VACATION because it made no mention of WW2 or Nazis. In my own review, I said the book was published in 1932. Not every character or story should be "updated" to when the film is made.
As for THE LONE WOLF and THE FALCON... I feel like I'm only recently really learning about these, though I taped most of the movies decades ago.
The Lone Wolf books ran from 1914 to 1934. So most of them pre-dated The Saint! The silents ran from 1917 to... well, I'm not sure. There were films in 1929, 1930 & 1932, but none of them seem to be available at all, and I haven't quite looked in deep enough to see when they switched to sound. I have all the films now from 1935 to 1949, and plan to get the 1955 TV series eventually. Several reviews at the IMDB felt the 1935 film THE LONE WOLF RETURNS with Melvyn Douglas was the BEST one ever made, and I tend to agree. But the first 4 LW films by Columbia feel like 4 different continuities! The Melvyn Douglas film was the 2nd adaptation of the 1923 novel. So far, I've only found 1 of the earlier films available-- in rather rough shape-- the 2nd one, FALSE FACES (1919, based on the 2nd novel from 1918), and it's an EPIC!!! The print I have is in pretty bad shape visually, but, it has a FABULOUS music score. (I'm guessing that, like many silents, there are multiple prints around, each with a different musical score.)
THE FALCON is a really crazy situation.
Charles H. Huff (as "Drexel Drake") wrote 3 novels about "Michael Waring", alias "The Falcon", from 1936-1938.
However, Michael Arlen wrote ONE novel in 1940 about "Gaylord Falcon", alias "The Falcon", an ENTIRELY-different character.
I've read (many years ago) that Leslie Charteris SUED Arlen for plagiarism. Nobody seems to mention this these days. It could explain why there was only ONE "Gaylord Falcon" novel. Without having read any of these, I'd think "Gaylord Falcon" must have been closer to "Simon Templar" than he was to "Michael Waring"-- otherwise, why didn't Huff sue Arlen?
In 1941, Charteris was really FED up with how RKO was mis-using THE SAINT, and from what I read (years back) TOOK BACK the film rights, then signed with another studio in England (which turned out to be the newly-formed RKO British Productions) to do THE SAINT'S VACATION, which is infinitely closer to Charteris' work than anything since THE SAINT IN LONDON (which was the only one of the 6 RKO films made in England).
RKO went looking for a replacement, and decided to adapt Arlen's novel THE GAY FALCON. And then Charteris apparently sued RKO for plagiarism! Different accounts only mention Charteris suing RKO, not suing Arlen. I wonder. is it possible he sued BOTH? Hey, why not?
A question that only crossed my mind this past month... is it possible Arlen was an employee of RKO when he wrote that novel in the first place? ;D
Both THE SAINT'S VACATION and THE GAY FALCON were serious steps up in quality from the previous film, THE SAINT IN PALM SPRINGS, which somehow managed to make George Sanders seem BORING. And that's a real crime!
Sanders himself did get bored, and in his 4th film THE FALCON'S BROTHER, "Gaylord Lawrence" is KILLED OFF, to be replaced by his brother "Tom Lawrence", played by Sanders' real-life brother Tom Conway. I think this may be the only time such a thing ever happened in a Hollywood film series.
Conway did about 10 films (I really need to update my index) before RKO finally stopped.
But then something WEIRD happened.
Another studio did 3 more "Falcon" films featuring the character "Michael Waring". YEAH. That guy. I've seen many reviews complaining or mystified about why they "changed his name". NOBODY seems aware that this was from the start, an entirely-different FALCON, in fact, THE ORIGINAL. And the "Michael Waring" character ALSO appeared in both a RADIO show and TV series, thus making far more appearances than "Gaylord" or "Tom" ever did.
One thing I found amusing (while reading Charteris' books) was how RKO's FALCON films tended to vere more toward comedy, he had a butler and sometimes a steady girlfriend. The character's personality was VERY different from Templar-- he's more down-to-Earth, low-brow, etc... but the format at times seemed closer to Charteris' books than the RKO SAINT films had been. CRAZY.
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I remember hearing at the time that Val Kilmer behaved HORRIBLY while making BATMAN FOREVER, and was fired off the 4th film. He behaved even worse during the making of THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. But he behaved himself all thru the making of THE SAINT.
It's sad. He did a wonderful job, the film is fabulous, and I fell i love with Elisabeth Shue. But IT'S NOT THE SAINT.
It's silly when people spend time making comparisons without even realizing the reason for all the differences is, they're using the WRONG source material.
Had they called the film THE LONE WOLF... I could have a much-greater appreciation for what they did-- taking so many elements from a 1914 novel and updating them to the modern day. (Looking back, I realize they made more references to real-life events in Russia than I ever imagined at the time. The film's villain is effectively a fictional version of Vladimir Putin!)
The whole background of him being an orphan, becoming a professional thief, deciding to reform when he falls in love, and taking down a criminal gang threatening him, that's all from the book. That's "Michael Lanyard"-- even to his name being made up.
"Simon Templar" IS Simon Templar's REAL NAME. He was not an orphan, he clearly came from money, he went to all the best schools, and had a small army of friends and associates. so that Kilmer movie had NOTHING to do with "THE SAINT"-- despite using the name "Simon Templar" and having the cop be named "Teal".
I imagine Vance's work are probably public domain by now. Maybe they were in 1997. But it still seems like somebody should have been sued somewhere. (It's interesting that film was made a few years AFTER Charteris passed away.)
I should use the above as the basis for an IMDB review. :)
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MAD 8)
At the moment I am reading old MAD magazines. These magazines were published in Germany from 1967-1995 in 300 numbers by Bildschriften/Williams Verlag.
The Dino Verlag and the Panini Verlag published a new series "Deutsches MAD" from 1998 to the last regular edition in 2019 (185 editions), before MAD was finally history in Germany.
As before, Dave Berg and of course Don Martin are my favourites. :)
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I think there might be some Dave Berg work somewhere on CB+ - he worked for a few companies during the 50's I believe.
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Oh yes, there seems to be a lot of Dave Berg here at CB+, thanks for the hint, Panther. :)
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I just finished Tumor: A Medical Noir by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Noel Tuazon, published by Oni Press in 2016. I learned about the book from Kevin Burton Smith's "Thrilling Detective" website. Smith frequently reviews graphic stories in addition to his regular diet of noir paperbacks and hardbacks.
Smith quotes from the Booklist review:
"Fialkov's near-perfect noir script, brim-full of violence and pain, is superbly realized by Tuazon's detailed yet sketchy black-and-white drawing, which depicts Frankís seesawing between hard-ass gumshoe and whimpering old man so convincingly it's scary. "
I'm hot and cold about the artwork (more later) but the review is on target about the script. Briefly, it's about an old, gone-to-seed private eye with a messed-up past who discovers that he has a metastasized brain tumor which will soon kill him--at the same time that his past catches up with him. He has a long shot at atoning for his past errors, but with his deteriorating mental condition he has trouble separating past from present and sometimes he's knocked out completely by a seizure. It's an intriguing premise and handled exceptionally well. I've never heard of Joshua Hale Fialkov, but his bio lists a bunch of mainstream comics he's written, none of which I've read. The tale is full of blood, guts, rotten people, and seedy locations, as one would expect in a noir story. Fialkov applies enough original touches that it seldom dips into cliche territory.
I can't decide how I feel about Noel Tuazon's artwork. He's another creator I've never heard of. His art is the exact opposite of what you'd expect from a noir comic. No heavy shadows or dramatic camera work. His drawings are so loose that half the time they look like they're layout sketches, or maybe they were banged out in one afternoon. Yet Tuazon definitely can draw. Despite his looseness he has a strong sense of character and occasionally shows that he's researched his locations. Not everyone needs to be Alex Toth, but I frequently wished the art was a just little tighter so I could see what was going on. The story whipsaws back and forth between present and past, so it's already hard to sort out who's who and where's what.
The story originally appeared in 2009, spread over eight issues of a comic. It must have been hell keeping the complicated story straight when delivered in chapters. I definitely recommend the compilation.
One incidental note. Like pretty much everyone else my language has coarsened over the years. I'm accustomed to profanity in real life and in fiction. That said, in contemporary noir it seems to be a rule that every character speaks in a torrent of cuss words. A friend called it the Tarantino Effect. I grant that fictional tough guys (and women) would be expected to curse a lot. But sometimes in Tumor the FPM (F***s Per Minute) count is so high that the dialogue begins to seem like parody. Just saying.
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Polar research has fascinated me since I was a child and so I now bought: 'Erebus - The story of a Ship', by Michael Palin. (German Edition)
A great book, I really recommend it. :)
Michael Palin was not only a member of Monty Python :o ;D , but also President of the Royal Geographical Society from 2009 to 2012, with which he had previously been associated in various capacities for many years.
INFO
https://www.amazon.de/Erebus-Story-Ship-Michael-Palin/dp/184794812X (https://www.amazon.de/Erebus-Story-Ship-Michael-Palin/dp/184794812X)
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Polar research has fascinated me since I was a child and so I now bought: 'Erebus - The story of a Ship', by Michael Palin. (German Edition)
A great book, I really recommend it. :)
Michael Palin was not only a member of Monty Python :o ;D , but also President of the Royal Geographical Society from 2009 to 2012, with which he had previously been associated in various capacities for many years.
INFO
https://www.amazon.de/Erebus-Story-Ship-Michael-Palin/dp/184794812X (https://www.amazon.de/Erebus-Story-Ship-Michael-Palin/dp/184794812X)
Have you seen Michael Palin's TV series, "From Pole To Pole", it is excellent. He also had another excellent, Geographical Society-funded travellog-style series which covers The World from a different angle. Unfortunately, I can't remember its title.
And covering something completely different, comedy, I loved his tongue-in-cheek comedy series, "Ripping Yarns"
Of course, Monty pythonesque comedy is among my favourite styles.
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When I find a good fiction thriller I can't put it down and have to read it to finish it, so there goes at least most of one whole day or if the book is larger, most of 2 days. [my reading speed would be the lower leverl for speed reading.]
My latest find looks like fiction designed for women by the cover, so I almost didn't pick it up.
But, as is my wont, I read the first paragraph to check it out, and I was hooked.
Here it is.
" To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching on the floor."
Hooked. Line and sinker.
The book was 'Silent in the Grave' by DeAnna Raybourn. The first in a series set in the 1880's featuring the protagonist, Lady Julia Grey and the detective Nicholoas Brisbane.
What we have here is a cross between Downton Abbey, [Julia's disfunctional upperclass english family] and Lorna Doone and the Holmes canon [Brisbane is a cross between Holmes and Heathcliffe]
Deanna Raybourn?
Deanna Raybourn graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio in English and History and an emphasis on Shakespearean Studies. She taught high school English for three years in San Antonio before leaving education to pursue a career as a novelist.
Let me tell you, she can write! The sort of prose you can happily go back to and enjoy more than once.
I did work out who the murderer was, but only after I had read most of the book.
Lady Julia Grey - A series by Deanna Raybourn
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/deanna-raybourn/lady-julia-grey/
Thoroughly recommended. Enjoy!
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Have you seen Michael Palin's TV series, "From Pole To Pole" ...
In fact, I haven't seen those two documentaries yet, thanks Robb for the hint. :)
P.S.
If there really are an infinite number of universes, then there is certainly one in which The Marx Brothers and The Pythons make movies and sketches together. ;D
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I am currently reading a special book about Neil Young, it is a compilation of articles, interviews and reviews from 1967 to 1993 (?) from the music magazine 'Rolling Stone'.
Original title:
Neil Young, the Rolling Stone Files
The Ultimate Compendium of Interviews, Articles, Facts, and Opinions from the Files of Rolling Stone by Hyperion Books 1994.
Fortunately, the book is also available in a German language edition. 8)
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If there really are an infinite number of universes, then there is certainly one in which The Marx Brothers and The Pythons make movies and sketches together. ;D
I once did a comic-book in which The Monkees crossed paths with the cast of F TROOP...
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I think there was definitely music and fun in the story. :D
By the way, I didn't know 'F Troop', it's probably one of the few series that wasn't shown on German TV, although in the 1960s a large number of U.S. Series were shown in Germany.
I was able to get an impression of the series on Youtube.
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F Troop - Fort Lee, Salutes Fort Courage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glDx7Q-6y-c&ab_channel=ClassicBlackandWhite
Anybody who is a Marx Brothers fan should love F Troop.
Was huge in Australia. A short series tho.
I have all of it on DVD.
cheers!
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I have a number of sitcoms on my "wanted" list.
I just ordered THE NEW WKRP IN CINCINNATI, which is only available unofficially. I loved most of that 2-year revival when it was first-run, and it'll be nice to upgrade it from my own self-recorded videotapes.
After that, in order:
F TROOP
GET SMART
THE NANNY
When I did my parody "mashup" GALACTON 2230 (essentially, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA meets STAR TREK) back in 1980-84, one of my favorite parts was when I had THE MONKEES (as Colonial Warriors) cross paths with the cast of F TROOP (as Klingons).
"It's these uniforms we're wearin', Sarge! They stand out like a Telarite at an Andorian Bar Mitzvah!"
;D
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Hitchcock/Truffaut
A 1966 book by François Truffaut about Alfred Hitchcock and his movies, originally released in French as 'Le Cinéma selon Alfred Hitchcock'.
I've heard about this book from time to time over the past few decades and now I have it, in a German edition ;) and I am very happy about it. :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchcock/Truffaut (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchcock/Truffaut)
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A 1966 book by François Truffaut about Alfred Hitchcock and his movies, originally released in French as 'Le Cinéma selon Alfred Hitchcock'.
I read this back in the 70's. In terms of understanding film and story-telling in general, it changed my life.
It is a dialogue between Truffaut and Hitchcock as they discuss all of Hitchcock's films. This should be a 'Bible' for anyone who wants to learn and understand visual story-telling.
You want to write and draw comics - you must read this book!
Good find, Comickraut!
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hitchcocktruffaut [Film Trailer]
Hitchcock / Truffaut. (2015). Subtitulado en español.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxHo9aXh6nk
Get this before YouTube deletes it! Some of the dialogue is in Spanish.
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Good find, Comickraut!
Thank you Panther, I'm also really glad I finally got this book. By the way, I also have the film in my collection, I just haven't seen it yet :-[ :D . . . There's so much to read, see and hear, maybe I should make a list and work through it. ;D
By the way, you can also switch on English subtitles in the YT film, which is certainly very helpful for many whose native language is not English.
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I'm currently reading a Mandrake comic book that I found on archive.org. 8)
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As a big fan of the musical 'Hair', I am very happy about purchasing a "new" book, you can see it in an example photo here:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/WRoAAOSwMiJk31W5/s-l1600.jpg (https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/WRoAAOSwMiJk31W5/s-l1600.jpg)
I have the 6th edition from 1970 and my copy is in almost the same condition as the book in the photo. Considering that it was printed in the USA over 50 years ago and is now finally on my shelf after what must have been a long journey, it is in pretty good condition. I only paid € 4 for my copy in a German antiquarian bookshop!
By the way, many versions of the musical, in different languages too, can be found on archive.org and on YouTube. I personally prefer the Original Broadway Cast and Original London Cast versions. There are also German-language versions, but I don't really like them ???, nor the versions in other languages. I think it's good that 'Hair' was translated into other languages to bring it closer to people, but the English language is the original language from 'Hair' und just perfect for 'Hair', it doesn't get any better than that and you shouldn't change that. :)
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I agree with you, Comickraut, but not just because it was the original language. The subject of "Hair" was a particularly American one, because of the times. It was a quite controversial musical, some regarded it as almost treasonous while many more loved it. There were slang expressions and nuances in the play (and more so in the film) that might not translate properly into another language. Cheers, bowers
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It's true, of course, Bowers, that 'Hair' is primarily a musical with US-American topics, but on the one hand, everything that happened in the USA was important to the world at the time and, on the other hand, 'Hair' also addresses many topics that are universal topics and that touched and moved people, no matter in which country. In my opinion, 'Hair' managed the balancing act between national and general topics, which is certainly one reason for its worldwide success. However, some texts were also adapted to the historical and political conditions of the countries in which 'Hair' was performed in the respective national language.
And of course we can't forget the great music of Gal McDermot and the great singing of the various ensembles, which also reached people who don't understand English.
In an older music guide I read the following: Jerome Ragni and James Rado, the authors, were originally the main actors, but they kept adding spontaneous provocations until they were banned from the house by the producer :D. 'Hair' was initially banned by courts in Boston, Paris, and all of Mexico, for example, and was only allowed to be performed in London and Hamburg when some of the texts were defused.
Beste Grüße, Mike :)
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Good points, Mike! Cheers, bowers
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Faced with a sleepless night as I enjoyed my bout of Covid, I fired up Librivox and browsed for an old novel with a catchy title. I ended up with The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings by L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace. It was published in England in 1899.
The book is a "sensational mystery" adventure along the lines of Edgar Wallace and Sax Rohmer. Set in London in the mid-1890s, it's narrated by one Norman Head. Head tells us he is a wealthy man who was trained in biology and medicine. During his younger years he fell helplessly in love with Katherine, a beautiful and manipulative Italian woman who was also an accomplished scientist. Then he discovered that she was in fact the leader of a ruthless criminal society, The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings. Dazzled by her beauty and intellect he allowed himself to be sucked into her world. He joined the Brotherhood and went along with its work until he was ordered to participate in a "dishonorable and treacherous" crime that was too much for him. He shook himself loose and fled to England. Racked with shame and guilt he used his wealth to set up a private research laboratory. There he has spent a decade doing research for the sheer love of it and hiding from the world. Everything changes when an old friend introduces him to Madame Koluchy.
London society is abuzz over this stunning beauty. Charming, witty, intelligent, medically-trained, she is the hit of the season. Mesmerized by her magnetic personality, half the city's upper crust flocks to her for help, advice, and miracle cures. Head recognizes her at once as Katherine, the criminal mastermind, come to drain the pockets of her besotted admirers. Head vows to devote his life to exposing Madame Koluchy, finding sufficient evidence to bring her to court, and putting her gang out of business. He convinces his friend, lawyer Colin Dufrayer, of Madame's true nature. Over the course of the book the two men struggle together to bring her to justice.
The story of his quest is told in ten two-part chapters. In each chapter Head and Dufrayer face a new crisis engineered by Madame Koluchy. Though their story continues through the book, each crisis is resolved--some in their favor, some in Madame's--and the secondary characters involved never reappear. Research told me that the chapters were originally individual stories in The Strand magazine. Illustrated by Sidney Paget, no less. The stories were even turned into a stage play.
An online review described the book as "pedestrian with flashes of interest." That's a fair assessment. The opening stories hold interest, then fade somewhat, and come roaring back for a slam-bang finish embellished with 19th-century superscience. There's even a Batman-style fiendish death trap. It's worth a read if you like these old-fashioned gaslight adventures.
One peculiarity is that the opening describes the Brotherhood of the Seven Kings as being at least a century old and had "a name hardly whispered without horror and fear in Italy." An early episode suggests the Brotherhood has a long cross-generational history. But this angle is soon dropped and the Brotherhood operates more like a tightly-knit criminal gang than a mini-Mafia. It's made clear that if Madame K were put out of the picture the operation would fall apart. We never learn who the Seven Kings were and why the gang chose that name.
Being in the public domain, The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings is available all over the place. Librivox has a good audiobook, the one I spent seven sleep-free hours listening to. Project Gutenberg has the book in text form, and Wikisource has a good-looking version with the Paget illustrations.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Brotherhood_of_the_Seven_Kings
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At the beginning of the new year I bought books that I didn't have before or only had in abridged form. I love these books and can now finally read them in the unabridged versions.
Mark Twain – Travel Books
- A Tramp Abroad (Europe)
- Stirring times in Austria
- The innocents abroad or The progress of the new Pilgrims
- Follow the Equator. A trip around the world
Fortunately, I already have Mark Twain's other books. :)
In honor of Mark Twain, of course I bought the books in German translations, because as is well known, Mark Twain was a great friend of German writing and language, I remember his famous essay "The Wonderful German Language". ;)
;D
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Excellent reading, comicMike!
Twain went bankrupt from bad investments and so became the world's first professional travel writer.
He had been extremely wealthy so people came to him to invest in their inventions.
He had a choice of two.
One was a new kind of printing press, which was quite complex. Twain had had experience with printing, so he choose to invest all he had in it. It failed and he lost all his money.
The one he didn't invest in?
Fellow called Alexander Grahame Bell and something he called the Telephone!
I've read the collection of his pieces on Australia. And several other works! A very modern writer for his time.
Viel Spaß beim Lesen!!!
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Viel Spaß beim Lesen!!!
Danke schön! :)
I also found a nice 'Tom Sawyer' comic book on CB+
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=16835 (https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=16835)
Whether in the book, film, or comic, 'Injun Joe' is always terrifying. :o
P.S.
Here is the beautiful essay by Mark Twain: The Awful German Language ;D
https://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/twain.german.html (https://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/twain.german.html)
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The Awful German Language
I had to learn it at high School and we had a teacher who was a native Deutsch speaker and who had no idea how to teach it, so the whole class was in rebellion against her.
I daresay that a German speaker could say pretty much about English. Over in the reading group we have been discussing the difficulty of understanding different English dialects, in particular the Scottish 'The Broons' comic strip and the US 'Pogo' strip. I'm fairly cynical about A.I.'s ability to cope with ever evolving languages.
the broons 1- dunbar street
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlKibwGbNyo&ab_channel=TaniaandPaulDonnachie
"Deck Us All With Boston Charlie " - Walt Kelly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL0lPcNwRqQ&ab_channel=ArnieGubins
Oh, Why didn't I post this for Christmas?!
Oh, and;-
I teach English as a second language, and some students think that their language is much more complex than English, so I always wanted to take the class to see a performance of Shakespeare.
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I teach English as a second language, and some students think that their language is much more complex than English, so I always wanted to take the class to see a performance of Shakespeare.
;D
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I'm currently reading my latest purchases:
Two great graphic novels by two outstanding European comic artists:
François Bourgeon
Les Compagnons du crépuscule (The Companions of the Dusk)
1. Le sortilège du bois des brumes (1983)
2. Les yeux d'étain de la ville glauque (1986)
3. Le dernier chant des Malaterre (1990)
Unfortunately, I don't know whether there is an English translation of these books.
Enki Bilal
The Alexander Nikopol Trilogy:
1. La Foire aux immortels (1980, Dargaud; The Carnival of Immortals)
2. La Femme piège (1986, Dargaud; The Woman Trap)
3. Froid Équateur (1992, Les Humanoïdes Associés; Cold Equator)
Publisher Humanoids Publishing
Date 1999 (English edition of the full trilogy)
I bought this comic in the form of six large format hardcover books, used but in very good condition, for a reasonable price. :)
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Francois Bourgeon - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Bourgeon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Bourgeon)
Enki Bilal - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enki_Bilal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enki_Bilal)
The Nikopol Trilogy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nikopol_Trilogy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nikopol_Trilogy)