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Post by GRWelsh on Sept 22, 2016 11:10:25 GMT -5
I finished FINDERS KEEPERS this week and I enjoyed it and I'd recommend it. It is more in the crime/gumshoe genre than SK's standard horror. When I'm finished with Salvatore's ARCHMAGE (I'm about a quarter in) I think I'll start in on SONG OF KALI. The first day of Autumn always turns my thoughts to horror.
Other horror novel suggestions for the future: THE RITUAL by Adam Nevill and THE TROOP by Nick Cutter.
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Post by grodog on Sept 26, 2016 23:35:58 GMT -5
If you're looking for a good vampire murder-mystery, read _The Golden_ by Lucius Shepard.
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Post by GRWelsh on Sept 27, 2016 9:39:17 GMT -5
I'll put THE GOLDEN on my reading list. I've always wanted to read more Lucius Shepard. I remember him from his short stories in IASFM and other magazines back in the 80's... like "A Traveler's Tale" and "Fire Zone Emerald" back when he was considered a rising star in SF. I was sorry to hear of his passing a couple of years ago.
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Post by grodog on Sept 27, 2016 22:35:51 GMT -5
Me too: I'd only heard of his death earlier this year, in fact (he died in 2014)
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Post by GRWelsh on Oct 14, 2016 9:50:16 GMT -5
We still have time to do another horror-themed book in October. Any other suggestions? I bought THE GOLDEN by Lucius Shepard, on Allan's recommendation, and I'm planning on starting that.
In the graphic novel/comic book department, I've been reading Alan Moore's PROVIDENCE. I like it, but it's almost like I appreciate the Moore's scholarship and the artist's attention to detail more than the story itself.
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Post by geneweigel on Oct 14, 2016 10:49:17 GMT -5
I'm always giving Alan Moore a chance and he seems to have issues with too many things. Last thing that I read was something laying around someone's house and it seemed to be a sequel to EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN called BLACK DOSSIER. I think I've pinned down his thing. He likes to babble over other people's material. Take for instance, in BLACK DOSSIER he goes out of his way to make James Bond look like someone who doesn't like women and wants to hurt them.
Although that wasn't the worst part. Some of his stuff is just so politically correct its offensive. He has what looks like a giant negro raggedy ann doll as the captain of a flying boat.
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Post by GRWelsh on Oct 14, 2016 11:35:00 GMT -5
I know what you're saying, and I don't always agree with Alan Moore's artistic choices or 'tastes.' But he does challenge one to think differently, and to see things from a different angle. A true artist challenges you and makes you uncomfortable... sometimes it leads to epiphanies, but sometimes it just makes you uncomfortable.
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Post by GRWelsh on Oct 14, 2016 11:52:16 GMT -5
I'm always giving Alan Moore a chance and he seems to have issues with too many things. Last thing that I read was something laying around someone's house and it seemed to be a sequel to EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN called BLACK DOSSIER. I think I've pinned down his thing. He likes to babble over other people's material. Yes, the reason we got the original WATCHMEN characters is because DC wouldn't let Moore psychologically screw up existing characters.* I also think a lot of the diviseness about Alan Moore is his willingness to 'go there' with sex and especially sexual horror. A lot of readers who are fine with violent horror in their fiction think sexual horror is going too far, is in 'poor taste,' is an indicator the author is disturbed, etc. But with Moore, there is that added element of screwing with characters in the public domain, as well, for a kind of extra shock value, that a lot of people don't appreciate. *[Which is ironic, because that is what comics have become all about... ]
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Post by geneweigel on Oct 14, 2016 12:09:18 GMT -5
I think its that its some Brit trend thing that he hides behind because so many others sound of the same voice.
I didn't watch that PREACHER show but somebody made me read the first 10 issues the year it came out (1995) and I could have sworn it was Alan Moore. (GARTH ENNIS)
I used to be a DOOM PATROL mega-fan so when they were in NEW TEEN TITANS it was awesome. I had the DC miniature collection of DOOM PATROL stories because they were all before my time but I was buying the short lived 70's PATROL in SHOWCASE. So when they rebooted DOOM PATROL in the 80's and they revisited the exact same material from the classic DOOM PATROLs (1963-1973) but didn't ignore the later Showcase: DOOM PATROLs(1977). It was kind of mediocre but readable but then this British guy takes over in the late 80's and its like DAWN OF THE ALAN MOORES except everytime its artistic look sort of had a charm it just got unacceptably distorted. I recall someone that I knew, who sort of read comics, going through my new stack and pulling that out as the least mediocre looking thing in the pile and reading DOOM PATROL with a look of absolute disgust. I swore this guy was Alan Moore in disguise. (GRANT MORRISON)
I think the POV of this type is like a meaner ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975) where this trend is sourced from.
I can't really read through a Neal Gaiman comic without falling asleep but I dod believe he is one of these copycats as well.
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Post by maximus on Oct 23, 2016 15:50:29 GMT -5
I've enjoyed the Saxon Stories by Bernard Cromwell. The Last Kingdom series on BBC is based off of this series. The next book is scheduled to be released in October.
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Post by Scott on Oct 25, 2016 16:19:35 GMT -5
How about something sci-fi? Any suggestions?
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Post by GRWelsh on Oct 25, 2016 20:21:01 GMT -5
This may be way too old and 'archaeological' for everyone's tastes, but I was going to suggest an Edgar Rice Burroughs book... either one of the Mars books or a Pellucidar book. The reason is because I have been thinking lately on how much influence the Burroughs books, especially the Mars series, had on science fiction, fantasy, comics, serials, movies, etc. It really cannot be overstated. This series had this huge gravitational pull throughout the early and mid-20th century and even beyond... imitators, homages, inspired by, whatever you want to call it, it was huge. Just look at how much EGG loved the series, and even included it in original D&D! So in a way, it has a lot of the spirit of D&D. Or I should say, D&D was trying to capture some of that spirit.
I recently re-acquired some comic books I had when I was a kid. One of them was about the Justice League of America teaming up with Adam Strange. Who was Adam Strange? He was the creation of famous editor Julius Schwarz, and basically a knock off of heroes like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. And if you go further back, you find out Flash Gordon was created in response to Buck Rogers... and also Flash Gordon was created by the artist who was supposed to draw a John Carter of Mars comic strip, before that deal fell through. People couldn't seem to resist creating these 'brave spacemen' characters, where a displaced earthman does all of these amazing things on another world and/or time. Robert E. Howard wrote ALMURIC. Gardner Fox wrote the Llarn series. Jack Vance wrote the Planet of Adventure series. And so on and so on.
Even Superman might have been influenced by John Carter... man goes to another planet where he is much stronger than everyone else and becomes a world-famous hero. Sounds familiar. Certainly not a mere imitation, but I think the influence is obvious.
I think Alan Moore said the likes of Tom Swift and the Mars series were the worst thing that ever happened to science fiction, because they turned serious speculative fiction into mere boys' adventure playing "Cowboys and Indians" in space. But I always thought that was too harsh, because there is no reason you can't interact with all manner of concepts and have fun while doing so.
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Post by Scott on Oct 25, 2016 20:47:02 GMT -5
Similar to Star Wars, I consider it more fantasy than sci-fi, but I wouldn't mind re-reading the Mars series, and I haven't read any of the Pellucider books.
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Post by Scott on Oct 25, 2016 22:43:02 GMT -5
At the Earth's Core sounds good to me.
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Post by Scott on Oct 30, 2016 12:16:54 GMT -5
Can I get an amen, a nay, another suggestion?
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Post by geneweigel on Oct 30, 2016 13:11:55 GMT -5
I've read it twice but I haven't read the later ones in the series. SO I guess I could reread then proceed from there to do the rest.
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Post by GRWelsh on Oct 30, 2016 14:42:31 GMT -5
Great! Let's do AT THE EARTH'S CORE! There is a free Kindle version on Amazon BTW.
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Post by GRWelsh on Nov 30, 2016 11:03:14 GMT -5
Are we doing a book for December? I've been on a Lovecraft kick again, lately, and old stuff in general. But I wouldn't mind a change of pace with something newer in science fiction or some other genre. How about some military sf like A HYMN BEFORE BATTLE by John Ringo? Another one I've always wanted to read is THE FOREVER WAR by Joe Haldeman. And maybe something by Greg Bear like THE FORGE OF GOD. Or, I'd even be up for something brand new by an unknown author, just for variety.
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Post by Scott on Nov 30, 2016 23:05:11 GMT -5
Yeah, I'd like to keep this going. I've been thinking some Appendix N books would be nice. It's been a long time since I've read Lovecraft. The Forever War was recommended to me recently. That might be a good choice?
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Post by GRWelsh on Dec 1, 2016 9:14:34 GMT -5
Since you mention Appendix N, HIERO'S JOURNEY by Sterling Lanier is still in my "to read" stack. I'll always reread anything by Lovecraft, and I recently bought THE NEW ANNOTATED LOVECRAFT by Leslie Klinger, which is like a brick of sanity-shattering Lovecrafty goodness. We could do "At the Mountains of Madness." Another suggestion is THE NARRATIVE OF ARTHUR GORDON PYM OF NANTUCKET by Edgar Allen Poe. The military sf angle is something I always come back to because I liked STARSHIP TROOPERS -- both the Heinlein story and the Avalon Hill game -- from an early age. And StarCraft is my most-played video game. That's why I brought up THE FOREVER WAR. ARMOR by John Steakley is another one I've always meant to read.
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