Books

[Yaddo 42]

I think I've flipped through that book at the store, BoyScoutKevin. I was mostly looking for people like Lord Dunsany and Clark Ashton Smith.

Any reference to or excerpts from Melmoth the Wander or The Wandering Jew, both from the 1800s?

[RCMerchant]

I just purchased 5 books on Ebay....
the MANSON FILE by Nickolas Shreck(the nut who made the film CHARLES MANSON SUPERSTAR)
3 paperback books by Charles Fort-LO!,the Book of the DAMNED,and another one who's title ecscapes me at this moment...
the FANTASTIC FOUR RETURN-a paperback with reprints of some very early FF stories,drawn by the too cool Jack(King)Kirby!
Can't wait for them to get here!

[Zapranoth]

Did you  know that there are DVD-ROMs out there with  all issues from #1 through the year 2004?

http://talesofwonder.com/product-exec/product_id/40748/category_id/34/sc/1,21,34

There's an x-men one I'm fiending for, and will need to save up my pennies.   =)

[clockworkcanary]

I recently finished Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica - not bad but not great either - pretty good if you're into Antarctica like I am.

I'm also rereading Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.  Still love books 1, 2, 3, and especially 4, but currently rereading Memnoc the Devil and I have to admit, I hate it this time around.  The last time I read it was when it first came out and for some reason, I loved it at the time, but now I realize it's crap.  It's basically the turning point for Lestat - going from cool as hell to some inverted personality and eventually becomes some holy roller.

[Menard]

Most of my reading as of late has been either in photography or reference books; not to mention referencing resources online.

I have two biographies of Edwin Land that I need to read. He was the inventor of the Polaroid camera and polarizers, among 500 other patented inventions. I am wanting to write an article on his life which is why I am reading these books; not to mention that I am a fan of his work.

I have not really sat down in a while and just enjoyed a book. I like the writings of Andrew Weil and have been wanting to read The Marriage of the Sun and Moon; now I don't know where the dang book is.

I've had a copy for years of William Braden's The Private Sea and have yet to read it. I'll make a point to put that on the reading list.

Yeah, there's a combination; psychedelics and Polaroid.

[BoyScoutKevin]

I think I've flipped through that book at the store, BoyScoutKevin. I was mostly looking for people like Lord Dunsany and Clark Ashton Smith.

Any reference to or excerpts from Melmoth the Wander or The Wandering Jew, both from the 1800s?

No. A wide selection of authors are included, but I did notice that not everybody or everything is included. Besides the two you mentioned, I noticed that American author Washington Irving is not included. Still, the book is an interesting read, if only for some of its more obscure inclusions.

[fortunato]

Regarding the Tales Before Tolkien book, I own it too, but I was somewhat displeased that Robert Howard and Fritz Lieber weren't included as well. It just goes to show that the Fantasy genre isn't even properly understood by the people who edit these kinds of collections.
I did like the collection of Lovecraft's Favorite Horror stories, collected by the same editor. Since Lovecraft actually had lists of his favorite stories, it's kind of impossible to screw up such a collection.

[Yaddo 42]

Maybe it was a rights or clearances issue. Whoever published the book might not have been able to afford to pay to carry stories by those authors. Both, especially Howard, are fairly popular in the genre even now, with new editions, collections, spinoffs, and even continuations and pastiches by other authors.

Wonder how many of the people in the book are still in print much less how many of their works are still under copyright.

[BeyondTheGrave]

I just begin reading "The Day The Country Died: History of Anarcho Punk 1980-1984" by Ian Glasper.

[Yaddo 42]

I'm reading Barry Miles' biography of Frank Zappa, from the library. So fresh details on facts of Zappa's life, but it repeats in the writing quite often and after reading two other books on Zappa, including his own, I think I've hit the wall on facts of his life. This one does confirm some things about Zappa that I suspected and what kind of led to the end of that phase of being a huge fan.

Should have read the H L Mencken bio I got instead.

Did finally read the Lewis Grizzard bio by his friends I mentioned a while back. Glad they didn't gloss over his faults (mostly), since the timeline of his health problems and personal issues kind of clicks with my getting tired of his writing. He did get bitter as his health and lifestyle caught up to him.

Probably fiction or a stright history next, depends on what I dig out of the stacks.

[dean]

I just borrowed from a friend: Aliens The Novelisation.  This friend has not only a whole lot of books, but somewhere in that massive pile, he has a copy of Mad Max and Mad Max 2 the novels.  One day I'll find them...

[Jim H]

I just read Malamud's Fixer.  He won the Pulitzer for it.  It was quite good, though I found the hallucinatory stuff towards the end didn't really add much.  The whole God and main character bit is probably just something I don't really "get" personally though.

Before that, I finally got around to finishing the Dragon Delasangre.  Which is alright.  Essentially an Anne Rice-like take on dragons.  I like the style of writing better than Rice's, but the storyline and characters aren't as good.  Especially the main character, though he is a bit better by the end.

Before that, I read the Dragon Avenger and Dragon Champion.  Yeah, I'm on a bit of a dragon kicker.  If any of you guys can let me know of more books with dragon (or other fantasy creature) protagonists, I'd love you for it (and preferably not the numerous young adult series, most of which I've read at some point or another anyways). 

Dragon Champion and Dragon Avenger were both quite entertaining.  I like getting a different perspective than is usual in books.  Dragon Champion, in particular, delivers this.  Auron is a sneaky bastard who eats people (he does mellow a bit with age though, the book covering his first 60 years).  Good stuff.

Fantastic covers too.  I'm looking forward to the 3rd and 4th books in the series.

[Zapranoth]

Before that, I read the Dragon Avenger and Dragon Champion.  Yeah, I'm on a bit of a dragon kicker.  If any of you guys can let me know of more books with dragon (or other fantasy creature) protagonists, I'd love you for it (and preferably not the numerous young adult series, most of which I've read at some point or another anyways). 

Dragon Champion and Dragon Avenger were both quite entertaining.  I like getting a different perspective than is usual in books.  Dragon Champion, in particular, delivers this.  Auron is a sneaky bastard who eats people (he does mellow a bit with age though, the book covering his first 60 years).  Good stuff.

Fantastic covers too.  I'm looking forward to the 3rd and 4th books in the series.

You might try Diane Duane's books _Door Into Fire_  and _Door Into Shadow_.  The second one is quite dragon-heavy, and entertaining.  I don't think she ever wrote more after those two books, but I had wished she had.

[Jim H]

Before that, I read the Dragon Avenger and Dragon Champion.  Yeah, I'm on a bit of a dragon kicker.  If any of you guys can let me know of more books with dragon (or other fantasy creature) protagonists, I'd love you for it (and preferably not the numerous young adult series, most of which I've read at some point or another anyways). 

Dragon Champion and Dragon Avenger were both quite entertaining.  I like getting a different perspective than is usual in books.  Dragon Champion, in particular, delivers this.  Auron is a sneaky bastard who eats people (he does mellow a bit with age though, the book covering his first 60 years).  Good stuff.

Fantastic covers too.  I'm looking forward to the 3rd and 4th books in the series.

You might try Diane Duane's books _Door Into Fire_  and _Door Into Shadow_.  The second one is quite dragon-heavy, and entertaining.  I don't think she ever wrote more after those two books, but I had wished she had.

Just a heads up, I found out apparently the third book, Door into Sunset did come out.  A 4th one may or may not be, titled Door into Starlight.  If I see the series, I'll check it out.  Thanks for the suggestion!

[Zapranoth]

Aha, you are right, _Door Into Sunset_ is out, years ago... but Twilight isn't out yet.

Heh.  Ordering on Amazon now...

When you read them, PM me if you remember to, and let me know what you thought.