| Author |
Message |
|
| Syd |
 Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 8:37 pm |
 |
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
| Warning: this series gets very dark, to the point where you're tempted to root for the aliens. |
_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
| Back to top |
   
|
| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2016 9:50 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
If the humans are led by Trump and Cruz, I'm rooting for the aliens already.
It's been a while since I read some good science fiction--but a few years ago I read "Glasshouse" by Charles Stross, and got hooked on him and his wild Bond-parody Laundry novels. None of those have topped "Glasshouse," though, a standalone novel in which a young (well, regenerated) man on the lam in a future world has to change his identity (drastically) and becomes involved in an experimental society that he soon has to escape as well--all too complicated to describe properly, but I suddenly find myself wanting to read it again. Stross has a wry British sense of humor that affects even the most tense scenes. (It was Paul Krugman who mentioned his books in his blog and piqued my interest.)
Of course my real favorites are murder mysteries and spy stories, and there are too many of those already piled up. And I've just gotten into Jo Nesbo, so if he really hooks me, that's a lot of books to catch up with. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2016 1:40 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
|
I liked the two Nesbo books I read, "The Bat," (a Harry Hole novel) and "The Son," (a standalone). I wouldn't say I was hooked, but they were definitely worth reading. As always, there may be an occasional Norwegian cultural quirk that doesn't quite translate, but that just adds to the fun IMO. Nesbo also provides a much-needed boost to limerick writers seeking to rhyme something with "Lesbo."
Charles Stross obeys my Rule of Charles, which is that all sci-fi writers with Charles as one of their names is worth reading. Charles Sheffield, Robert Charles Wilson (who both Syd and I have praised here, IIRC), and Arthur Charles Clarke. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 6:33 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
|
| Jones Bo |
_________________
Lost in my own private I dunno. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| carrobin |
| Posted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 12:07 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
| I'm still playing with my new iPhone 6 and found that I could load up all my Nook books (more than 200 of them now--I can't resist the $1.99 bargains). Now I've become one of those zombies on the subway who sit and gaze at their phones throughout the ride. I still don't have the time to listen to podcasts and watch most of the videos I run across, but at least I can catch up on some reading. (My favorite Nook book so far is still "The Art of Running in the Rain.") |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| mitty |
| Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 6:07 pm |
|
|
Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 1359
Location: Way Down Yonder.......
|
bartist wrote: I liked the two Nesbo books I read, "The Bat," (a Harry Hole novel) and "The Son," (a standalone). I wouldn't say I was hooked, but they were definitely worth reading. As always, there may be an occasional Norwegian cultural quirk that doesn't quite translate, but that just adds to the fun IMO. Nesbo also provides a much-needed boost to limerick writers seeking to rhyme something with "Lesbo."
Charles Stross obeys my Rule of Charles, which is that all sci-fi writers with Charles as one of their names is worth reading. Charles Sheffield, Robert Charles Wilson (who both Syd and I have praised here, IIRC), and Arthur Charles Clarke.
Bartist, I've enjoyed the Nesbo books I've read......um...The Redbreast, The Snowman (something like that), and The Son. Have you read any Henning Mankell? His Wallander series is great.
carrobin, you don't find the screen too small? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| carrobin |
| Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 11:45 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
Mitty--I thought reading a book on the phone would be difficult, but the type can be enlarged as much as necessary, so the device size is only a problem when the subway ride gets bumpy. (My old iPhone 3 was so undependable that I didn't use it much, but I'm still finding things to do with the 6. It seems pretty awesome to me that one pocket-size accessory can be my phone, camera, music player, book, clock, mailbox, even Internet connection--among other things. Wish I'd had one when I was in college!)
Which reminds me, this morning there was a segment on "CBS Sunday Morning" about the dangers of taking selfies. People are dying to get a great shot. More women take selfies than men do, but far more men kill themselves in the process. Be careful out there. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 12:57 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
My latest Nook ebook is "The Bread We Eat in Dreams," by Catherynne M. Valente, which consists of short stories and poems. The first story, "The Consultant," is so striking that I immediately read it again. The next story, "White Lines on a Green Field," is good, but the third story, which has the title of the book, is a knockout. Sample:
"The demon arrived before the town. She fell out of a red oak in the primeval forest that would eventually turn into Schism Street and Memorial Square, belly-first into a white howl of snow and frozen sea-spray. She was naked, her body branded with four-spoked seals, wheels of banishment, and the seven psalms of hell. Her hair had burnt off and she had no fingernails or toenails. The hair grew back--black, naturally--and the 16th century offered a range of options for completely covering female skin from chin to heel, black-burnt with the diamond trident-brand of Amdusias or not."
So far, I can't stop gulping down one story after another. They're like a wild combo of Neil Gaiman and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and fairy tales and forbidden volumes in a dark secret room. Gotta read some more. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 2:23 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
|
I've heard good things about her, will give the dream bread a chew. Does no one spell Catherine normally these days? Used to be K or C was all you had to ask when hearing the name. (I'm faux-complaining...)
I like the "forbidden volumes" quality...makes me think of Borges. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| mitty |
| Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 1:21 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 1359
Location: Way Down Yonder.......
|
The last of Justin Cronin's "vampire trilogy" came out earlier this week. The City of Mirrors. It's been so long since I read the first two, The Passage and The Twelve, I've had to go back and reread them....lol I'm about a third of the way through the first one, and enjoying it as much as I did the first time. 
It's sooooo much more than a vampire story. More a treatise on War, God, Hubris and Loyalty.
I also just finished City by Clifford D. Simak, a real classic! |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2016 9:56 am |
|
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
|
I just started reading some short stories by Rabindranath Tagore.
He was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. But primarily I'm reading him because a number of his writings became the source material for films. Satyajit Ray's 1964 Charulata being perhaps the best known.
Not having time or patience to watch films lately, I've been going through some Twilight Zone episodes. And I thought they should put out a collection of short stories upon which Twilight Zone episodes were based. Rights shouldn't be hard since the stories are over 50 years old, and many episodes were written by Serling, Charles Beaumont or Richard Matheson. I'd enjoy reading the original stories that well-known TZ episodes were based on. Frequently elements had to be changed when adapted to a teleplay in order to make things more visual. Seems like it'd be good fun to me, and I could see it being fairly popular.
Carobin, I think you should get right on this. |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2016 10:05 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
| It's a good idea, Gromit, but I work on magazines these days--and I've never had any pull with publishers, being a mere editorial slogger. (Not that I don't enjoy it.) |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2016 11:14 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
|
| Grom, I recall owning a paperback (back when I had a library of 1200 volumes) that was precisely what you describe, a collection of TZ adapted stories. Don't have it, but will try to remember more and see if it's in print or available. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2016 11:28 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
|
I was wondering if they ever issued such a thing. It's never terribly easy to sell short stories in book form, but the Twilight Zone tie-in and the resulting familiarity could/should make such an anthology saleable.
Maybe could be done as some sort of tie-in with a TV channel syndicating TZ from start to finish. |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2016 11:56 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
mitty wrote: The last of Justin Cronin's "vampire trilogy" came out earlier this week. The City of Mirrors. It's been so long since I read the first two, The Passage and The Twelve, I've had to go back and reread them....lol I'm about a third of the way through the first one, and enjoying it as much as I did the first time.
It's sooooo much more than a vampire story. More a treatise on War, God, Hubris and Loyalty.
I also just finished City by Clifford D. Simak, a real classic!
It was a long time ago that I read the Lestat novels, and then proofreading lousy paperback paranormal thriller-romances for Ballantine put me off the genre. (They even had a Valkyrie in some of them.) Maybe I should check those out--except that there are so many books, so little time... |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
