He's been at my house, - OH! Didn't mean to give away the ending! SORRY !!!

Have abandoned the Warhammer for a time...I just...Pffffft...I dunno...*Shrugs*...


Anyways, one reason for the change is that I suddenly really fancied reading Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy...And, being the stickler for tradition that I am, I'm starting with the first one - Red Mars...

Apparently, it's currently being developed as a T.V. Event™ by Babylon 5's J. Michael Strazynski...Which is nice... ...

This post has been edited by McBadgere: Feb 18 2015, 02:25 PM

Just finished The Colour of Magic, about to start The Light Fantastic

I'm sure I don't need to tell you who those are written by.

Huh...Coincidentally, (Or not ) am about to finish The Colour of Magic and start The Light Fantastic...

By that man...Y'know...Wossname... ...

That's good readin'. I remember that one holiday we spent in Portugal where I read the first 10 books in a row. Ahhh good times

WIP Terry Prachett.

His books have eluded me so far, but I plan to sit down and start working my way through them. I can't remember the one I did read over twenty (or was it thirty??) years ago, but I barely remember it. The only thing I remember about it is how it made me chuckle so many times, or even LOL.

Currently I'm reading two books: The Golden Bough by James George Frazer on my iPad, and A History of Western Architecture 2nd. ed. by David Watkin (Amazon has the 5th ed) which was given to me by a fellow church member who is a voracious reader. He's at the stage of his life now where he is slimming down his book collection, and he brought a ton of books from 20 and 30 years ago.

Anyone ever check out any Joe Abercrombie? As far as fantasy goes, it's pretty cool. I Got really into it for a while. Read the standalone novels Best Served Cold and The Heroes, then moved on to the trilogy that is actually a prequel to the other two. I dig 'em because they're super gritty and gory, and they've got a small amount of political edge like Song of Ice and Fire, except without the extreme amount of unremarkable yet still somehow important characters whose names you can never remember. There's usually a decent twist, and a lot of insanely anti-climactic resolutions you don't expect, which I like.

Outside of the fantasy realm, I'm working on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It's insanely slow to me, but I still enjoy the philosophical aspect, so I'm pushing through it, just not very quickly. My dad loves it, so I'm finally going to read it.

Yeah, my mother and step-dad used to rave on about Zen and the etc quite a bit too... ...I may have tried it once...Likely around the age of 15...

I had a drink problem by 15...The book didn't take...

...

Anyways...

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett...Kind of a riff on sexism with the whole Wizards and Witches being exclusively male and female (respectively ) in fantasy...So in Equal Rites you get the story of a young girl who gets given the power of Wizards by mistake and the consequences of, as she's growing up...It's so sooooo funny...It's been some great many years since I read this last, it really is so fantastic...Much better than the first two...

I have just started Magician (Raymond E Feist), a book I last read over 20 years ago. I am using an e reader and recently downloaded the whole 29 books in the series and plan to eventually get through the whole lot.

I was surprised to see just how many things Elder Scrolls 'borrowed' from the book.
ie Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Master. And the Dark Brotherhood.

Fantasy is just ideas recycled.

This post has been edited by Winter Wolf: Apr 3 2015, 05:33 AM

Currently reading; Your Writing Coach, 2nd Edition, by Jurgen Wolff.

Got it cheap on Kindle and it seems to be pretty helpful

Reading Becoming Steve Jobs, by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli.

What can I say? *shrugs* I work for his company.

I am reading The Amazons, by Adrienne Mayor. I am only about 60 pages in, but it is excellent so far. It is an examination of both the myth and reality of Amazons - warrior women - in the Ancient World. It ranges from the Greek myths about Amazons, to the reality of Scythian/Sarmatian/Saka/Xiongnu women who lived just as men did - riding, hunting, warring, loving. All proven not just through historical documents, but of course though numerous archeological finds.

IRL these women lived in a kind of egalitarian society which a Greek or Roman man literally could not wrap his minds around. The mere idea of which was and still is of course a threat to their own Patriarchal societies. Hence the reason in the Greek stories, Amazons are always defeated and die in the end.

Still, she is a lot kinder to the Greeks than I would normally find myself being. She points out how in their myths they identified Amazons as being Scythian, which was correct. She also illuminates that in the Greek tales, the Amazons - while being the boogeymen of male-dominated society - were always described in glowing terms. They are always noble, heroic, skillful, brave. Everything a male Greek aspired to being. They even always had a heroic death - something that again the Greeks aspired to.

The latter is something that the Greek heroes themselves never were allowed. Instead of going out in a blaze of glory, they usually went out poorly, like Bellerephon, who died a crippled hermit after falling from Pegasus. Or Odysseus, who is killed by his own son with a poison stinger from a ray. Heracles, who dies from putting on a poisoned tunic. And of course Achilles, who was shot in the heel (and thusly in the back), and has gone down in history as being a sterling example of how even the greatest power always has some vulnerability. So compared to the Greek heroes, the Amazons actually come off being treated pretty well, all things considered.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: May 13 2015, 10:11 PM

I just finished Night Chills by Dean Koontz. I bought it when I was 14 and the impact on just how scary it was didn't hit me then.

It's about a scientist who works a lot with subliminal messages and has developed a drug that is able to "prime" people's subconscious to be incredibly vulnerable to mind control. (If it makes a difference, this was written during the 70s). So this person teams up with a very wealthy college associate, who brings in a military general and together they perfect this system that creates essentially mental slaves. Oh, and one is a raging misogynist. I'm sure the blanks can be filled in.

I also found a free book at school called When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago. I don't think I have ever found a book about a Latina, let alone one that was Puerto Rican. I was so hooked. It made me think of what life might have been like for my grandma and her family before they came to the US. It's a trilogy, so I'll be looking into the other two.

This post has been edited by Jacki Dice: May 19 2015, 03:22 PM

I should've responded sooner - I love Joe Abercrombie! I have his First Law trilogy and Best Served Cold. I've started Heroes thanks to your post - I have three other of his books in my queue. He's rough, gritty, and downright earthy - just the way I like my stories.

Currently reading Dmitry Glukhovski's Metro 2034. This is his second book set in a post apocalyptic environment set almost exclusively inside of the Russian metro lines. It's an excellent book, especially if you've played the Metro games.

E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series.

I'm not going to finish it though. That last book is just terrible in my opinion. But I like the series up to that point.

What do you mean by "the series"? He originally wrote four, was prompted by his publisher to extend it with two prequels, and then there was the sequel seventh book that wasn't really part of the series, but another story in the same context.

I've read them all (and the Skylark series, which is also fun). They're all pretty much the same plot, really with some piece of new tech making whatever the hero has obsolete, until he gets hold of it himself. It usually comes from a third party, separate from his original adversary, who he is then able to defeat. The variable bit is whether the new tech is used against him, or for a totally different purpose. There's also usually a not-quite-disastrous first attempt to use the newly acquired technology, from which an important new insight is gained.

The eighth book of the series is Harry Harrison's "Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers" which should be read immediately after finishing Lensman. Sheogorath would approve of cheddite!

This post has been edited by ghastley: May 28 2015, 03:22 PM

I didn't know that, I was just going off what it says on the back of the books.

And it turns out it's the last two that I skip. Once Kinnison's kids come into it the whole thing goes out the window. Seriously, those things aren't even human, it's ridiculous.

Of course, now I've been reminded of Harrison, I may have to read "Bill the Galactic Hero" or "The Stainless Steel Rat" again. I'd read "West of Eden", too, but I've lost that and only have the last two.

Started reading A Brief History of the Vikings, Jonathan Clements yesterday.

Terrible. I actually bailed partway through the second chapter. The first, about the mythology and religion, displayed a colossal lack of research. Between that and his obvious bias, I just couldn't keep reading. It actually read like it was written by someone who doesn't like the vikings, and isn't remotely interested in them.


So I'm reading The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. All this recent talk of The Witcher 3 lately has kicked me out of my sci-fi binge. Mostly.