March's Manic Marauding of Maverick Meanderings

[Overread]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

I would suggest ERB rather than Carter -- despite his faults, Burroughs was a much better writer than Carter (believe it or not!)........

Thanks JD - to be honest both are totally blank slates for me - I've mostly got Burroughs because of all this new film talk - which led me to a site which had mobis of a range of authors along with old cover art. So I kind of just went through a handfull and plucked out interesting looking authors (interesting based on book cover art )

[elvet]

I'm on the second book of the Aeon's Gate trilogy by Sam Sykes. Black Halo is more 'settled' than the first book, which was a flurry of action.

[Hypnos164]

Recently:

Grimspace by Ann Aguirre (not to my taste)
Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik (better than the last one)

Currently:
Flashfire by Richard Stark

[Connavar]

Im reading The Mensch with No Name by Edward M. Erdelac

Hehe what a cool title The Mensch with No Name. The episodes is in this second book is more connected with each other and more about Rider's main storyline. Which is an awesome read. It has been meaty 180+ pages so far. Not fast paced story that has no depth. If all weird westerns was this good, creepy S&S like it would be so nice to read more much more of the genre.

[Overread]

Originally Posted by Hypnos164

Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik (better than the last one)

OMG I forgot that was coming out this month!
Amazons on a 1-3 weeks order (which means import) so I'm kinda going to wait on that and see if it comes out in a similar version in hardback to the rest of the UK series that I have.

Till then to kindle -- and there goes the rest of this months reading plan till this one is finished

[D_Davis]

Originally Posted by Connavar

Im reading The Mensch with No Name by Edward M. Erdelac

Hehe what a cool title The Mensch with No Name. The episodes is in this second book is more connected with each other and more about Rider's main storyline. Which is an awesome read. It has been meaty 180+ pages so far. Not fast paced story that has no depth. If all weird westerns was this good, creepy S&S like it would be so nice to read more much more of the genre.

My favorite of the bunch. So good.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by D_Davis

My favorite of the bunch. So good.

I would say the first book had more cool action oriented stories than this book. It was only first episode The Infernal Napoleon that had as much cool action as the first book.

I didnt mind though that there werent as much vivid action in these episodes this time. It was helluva read reading about the main storyline, about Rider himself. Seeing how desperate, lonely he was. I got to see him as more than a Solomon Kan type Man in Black avenger.

So its my favourite of the two first books atleast because of the last stories was so much about Merkabah Rider Saga. What do you think of Kabeda ? Im glad there is a supporting role,ally for Rider. Having a recurring characters is richer for the reader. Terrible cliffhanger ending though i hated it because i dont have the third book

[Stephen Palmer]

Now reading, Jung Chang Wild Swans

[Connavar]

I started late last night A Princess of Mars.

It got going fast, feels like fun old school adventure that isnt as dated as the first time i tried to read it. First time i read i didnt know ERB, his place as early important author in these genres. I couldnt get past the first chapters in Mars.

Now his writing doesnt feel as dated, it feels like REH adventure but with less poetic pulp style. Weird how i believe JC story and how he traveled to Mars.

No im not reading the big daddy of Sword and Planet genre because of some pretty boy Disney film hero.

[gully_foyle]

Finished The Difference Engine by Gibson and Sterling. A meticulously researched piece, lovingly crafted, and typically (for Gibson) lacking in zing. I tend to get frustrated with books that rely upon a maguffin, it means the motivation of the characters is equally obscured as the device and you end up reading about people running around for no clear purpose. Anyway, am now reading The Integral Trees by Larry Niven, which I found a first edition copy of at the second hand book shop near my new work that I am spending a dangerous amount of time (and money) at.

[Fried Egg]

I've been reading "Metamorphosis and other stories" by Franz Kafka and haven't quite finished the collection but I'm going start reading "Red Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson that has become available at my local library.

[HoopyFrood]

Oh, I love Metamorphosis. I could do with giving it a re-read myself soon.

Spring is in the air, and it's made me pick up The Secret Garden. I'm actually getting it through! A book I might actually finish!

[Extollager]

For those who might be interested, short stories by Evangeline Walton have been published.

http://www.nodensbooks.com/

Walton is another author whom I read back in the Seventies and have hardly looked into since then. I don't know how well I would like her work now. I did start a rereading of The Island of the Mighty not too long ago, but somehow did not stick with it for more than a few pages. She seems to be one of those fantasy authors who was mentioned often circa 1975, but not any more. I imagine that many Chronsfolk have never read her.

The book that has dropped out of discussion most surprisingly might be White's Once and Future King. Nobody ever seems to mention it any more, but back in the early Seventies or so, that was one of the books one almost inevitably turned to when one had read Tolkien, Lewis, and perhaps a few others. Much of White was returned to print: you could go to a mall bookstore in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and find a reprint of a White book about fishing in Ireland or something. I'm not necessarily lamenting this state of affairs; I have kept my copy of TO&FK, but haven't even felt attracted to rereading it for many years. I think if I were to read White's Arthurian books again, this time I would read the versions before he edited them for publication in one volume. The original edition of The Sword in the Stone should be easy to find because it was a tie-in to a Disney cartoon:



The sequels were published as:

The conclusion, The Candle in the Wind, was published for the first time in the single volume version:

[j. d. worthington]

I'll definitely have to look up that Walton later on. Though i had some problems with certain aspects of her retelling of the Mabinogion (then again, I have certain problems with the Mabinogion itself here and there) there were other things about it liked quite a lot. I also enjoyed her novel, Witch House, though I felt the final portion was a bit of a let-down (too explanatory, dissipating the atmosphere).

I do see a one-volume edition of her Mabinogion novels around a fair amount, so she's either currently or print or at least was so quite recently.

White... It has been quite a long time since I read this, and I never owned a copy of the original versions (though I have read them, back in my teens -- and I definitely prefer the originals in many ways). A somewhat neglected writer, at least by most fantasy fans, these days, and undeservedly so, I think.

(Didn't Lin include the sorcerous battle between Merlin and Mim in one of his anthologies? Kingdoms of Sorcery or Realms of Wizardry, if memory serves. That was one of the things which went when he did the revision, if I'm not misremembering....)

[Randy M.]

After reading and enjoying Glen Hirshberg's story collection, American Morons, I finally got to his novel The Snowman's Children. Anyone interested in well-written, well-imagined modern ghost/horror stories should read both. I found them excellent.

Right now, in preparation for diving into (*cough*) Caitlin Kiernan's The Drowning Girl I'm reading her story collection, To Charles Fort, With Love. Kiernan is adept at creating a mood and atmosphere in her work that simultaneously draws the reader in and gives him/her a healthy dose of the creeps; to my mind, she's one of our best fantasy/horror writers.


Randy M.