Reading anything?

[InformationGeek]

The first book of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. 

What a concidence!  I'm reading that too... in comic book form.   

Just got through it.  Man, I could not keep focused while reading it.  It just didn't engage in the storyline or characters at all.  That sucks because I was hoping to really enjoy it.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es.

Weis and Hickman's "The Secret of the Dragon."

The second in that series. As in the first they keep up the trend of creating "villains" that are "better" than some of the "heroes." But even the "worst" of the "heroes" and "villains" gets a moment when you can feel some sympathy for them.

And again they continue with their being more than two sides in the story. If done right, as here, that adds complexity to the story, for yesterday's enemy can become today's ally, and today's ally can become tomorrow's enemy.

The story should wrap up in the third and last volume, which I have yet to see.

Also Clive Cussler's "The Wrecker."

The second one in that series, and why sophomore efforts are normally regarded as being weaker than the freshman effort.

More villains and heroes this time, but that only diffuses the conflict between the main hero and the main villain. Though, some of the villains are complex enough, that one can actually have some sympathy for them.


Both books feature a climatic chase between the hero and the villain. But the chase in the first book is more exciting.

Unlike the first book, where you know the villain from the get go, this time the villain is introduced more slowly. An introduction which I don't think works that well. But, there is a second secret villain, who is also introduced slowly, and I think that introduction works better.

I do cred both the hero and author with, even at the end, seeking justice instead of revenge, when the hero can quite justifiablely seek revenge.

There is a third in the series after this one, in which the hero goes after international villains instead of the previous national villains, as several international spy rings seek the plans for a super secret American submarine. The third I have yet to read.

Next time:  Warcraft" and "Starcraft" in graphic format.

[Criswell]

Trying to re-get into the Star Wars expanded universe by re-reading Heir to the Empire.

[The Burgomaster]

Also re-reading through this for the 3rd or 4th time:

I have read this and THE PSYCHOTRONIC ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM over and over again.  I look up movies in them just about every day.  In fact, I read my original copy of THE PSYCHOTRONIC ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FILM so may times, the spine split in half and I had to buy a new copy. 

[The Burgomaster]

This, among other things:

[AndyC]

Finished Hangman, which I'd have to say is Michael Slade's weakest book. Good, very readable, some interesting facts mixed with the fiction and one twist I didn't see coming, but his other books are much better in terms of creepiness, surprises and overall weirdness. Probably didn't help that I already knew the book's biggest shock, which is referenced in the later books I'd read previously.

Once again reading bits and pieces while looking for another book that really appeals to me. More Lovecraft, and the first couple of chapters of Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Peggy Orenstein's analysis of the "girly-girl culture" that has exploded in recent years, and the effect it's having on children. Interesting, but not quite what I'm looking for right now.

[lester1/2jr]

Kirkpatrick Sale "Rebels Against The Future: The Luddites And Their War On The Industrial Revolution: Lessons For The Computer Age"

[Psycho Circus]

[Newt]

Weirdness  continues...picked up a copy of Nietzsche yesterday at the bookstore. 

Finished the Slade: found I had predicted the outcome at about half way through.  Too much familiarity perhaps. 

Went to my favourite 'antiquarian' book shop in Toronto yesterday: confined myself to purchasing three books, all on fairly technical aspects of horseback riding and training.  Two of them are by famous "ODGs" - Old Dead Guys - written before I was born, and I am having SO much fun reading them.  They support my own observations for the most part and (by current standards) are delightfully outspoken doing it! 

[AndyC]

Finished the Slade: found I had predicted the outcome at about half way through.  Too much familiarity perhaps. 

Both Bed of Nails and Hangman seem to be weaker books in the series (although I think Bed of Nails was better than Hangman), and both seem to be between really awesome books. Hangman sits between Burnt Bones and Death's Door, two really disturbing and interesting Mephisto stories. Bed of Nails falls between Death's Door and Swastika, the book that hooked me on the series. There just seems to be a little stretch in there where Slade knocks it out of the park in one book, follows it with something that's just OK, then puts out another great book, and another weaker book. It stands out for me because the first seven books, up to Burnt Bones, are consistently great. I think it might be mostly due to changes in the writing team over the years, and perhaps also the growing cast of characters, with all their increasing backstory and assorted baggage. I thought they were starting to weigh the books down after a while, and it seems Slade might have thought the same, since the latest, Red Snow, killed off so many characters in what seemed to me like he was culling the herd.

I'm very eager to see the next Slade book, just to see how everything shakes out in the aftermath of that, and what he does with the story now that the cast is whittled back down to DeClercq, Chandler and some of the more distinctive and functional supporting characters.

[Cthulhu]

I just finished Elric of Melniboné.

[wickednick]

The first book of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. 

The first three are awesome books after that they just kinda drop off. I haven't even finished the last book because it was just kinda boring.

[wickednick]

Just finished A Game of Thrones, that was such a good book! Now i've got to catch up on some philosophy. I got a book about cynic philosophers and Plato's The Republic.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es!

"Warcraft," or I should say graphic novels based on the video game. "Legends" are the short stories, that come four to the volume, but there are some longer stories, such as "Death Knight," "Shaman," "Shadow Knight," and "The Sunwell Trilogy," some of which I have read, and some of which I have not read, that cover two or more volumes.

The good is that many of the stories are by authors that I have read and enjoyed before, such as Richard A. Knaak and Christie Golden..

The bad is like in most graphic novels, the fight scenes are needlessly confusing, so you cannot tell what is going on. And as in some graphic novels, the characters are poorly defined, both in the drawings and the writings, so it is hard to tell one character, from the other. And for the first time, some of the captions for the stories are basically unreadable.

The interesting is that for some reason minotaurs are now called taurens, and zombies are called the undead. And such fantasy villains as goblins, ogres, and orcs can now be the heroes in some stories.

And I am also reading "Starcraft," or stories based upon the video game, which is the science fiction counterpart of "Warcraft."

"Frontline" is the series of short stories, and there is at least one longer story called "The Ghost Academy."

"The Ghost Academy" has a good concept, ten academy students, who have some extrasensory powers, including the power to become invisible, but it is poorly executed in both the drawings and the writing, so it is sometimes hard to tell one student from the other students.

The good is that many of the stories are written by David Gerrold and Keith R. A. DeCandido, or authors who I have enjoyed reading before.

The bad is much the same faults as that can be found in the "Warcraft" graphic novels. Still whatever the faults, I found the stories to be better than the graphic novels based on "Halo" or Orson Scott Card's "Ender."

The interesting. In worlds where everyone seems to have become heterosexual, there are seemingly two bisexual characters in one of the stories. One male and one female.

Next time: Douglas Ward's "Berlitz's Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships."

[AndyC]

Reading a little Edgar Allan Poe, while I decide on a novel to read. Just read The Cask of Amontillado for the umpteenth time. It's been a favourite since I first read it in Grade 10 English.