Reading anything?

[Leah]

Batman: Hush Vol. 1 and 2 (again)
X/1999 Prelude

[InformationGeek]

Batman: Hush Vol. 1 and 2 (again)
X/1999 Prelude

Hey!  I have all of those, but I haven't gotten around to reading them.  How are they?

Anyways, I'm reading Bamboo Blade, Eyeshield 21, School Rumble, and Case Closed. 

I just finished Sand Land, which was interestingly enough done by the same author as Dragon Ball.  I'm not a fan of Dragon Ball, but I caught the book since it was only one volume and I could buy it for 50 cents.

[Newt]

Just started 'Reborn' by F. Paul Wilson - the sequel to 'The Keep'.  It does not have to be too too good: I need a change of pace from the biographies I just finished.   

AndyC: I will be looking for 'Evil Eye' and 'Primal Scream' - thanks!

[AndyC]

Just started 'Reborn' by F. Paul Wilson - the sequel to 'The Keep'.  It does not have to be too too good: I need a change of pace from the biographies I just finished.   

AndyC: I will be looking for 'Evil Eye' and 'Primal Scream' - thanks!

Cool. Have you read any of the other Slade novels?

[Newt]

Cool. Have you read any of the other Slade novels?

Oh yes: I got hooked instantly when I received a copy of 'Swastika' for Christmas a few years back.  Since then I have read 'Headhunter', 'Cutthroat', 'Ripper' and 'Burnt Bones'.   I am glad to have your assessment of the ones you have read.

[Leah]

Batman: Hush Vol. 1 and 2 (again)
X/1999 Prelude

Hey!  I have all of those, but I haven't gotten around to reading them.  How are they?

Anyways, I'm reading Bamboo Blade, Eyeshield 21, School Rumble, and Case Closed. 

I just finished Sand Land, which was interestingly enough done by the same author as Dragon Ball.  I'm not a fan of Dragon Ball, but I caught the book since it was only one volume and I could buy it for 50 cents.

Hush is AWESOME! I'm still trying to cope with the fact that i need to read from right to left.

[AndyC]

Cool. Have you read any of the other Slade novels?

Oh yes: I got hooked instantly when I received a copy of 'Swastika' for Christmas a few years back.  Since then I have read 'Headhunter', 'Cutthroat', 'Ripper' and 'Burnt Bones'.   I am glad to have your assessment of the ones you have read.

Swastika was the first one I read as well. The cover caught my attention, and the synopsis on the back was enough to make me buy it. Loved the book. Headhunter was amazing, and I'm glad to be starting the follow-up, since Sgt. Spann has been in the background of a few books. Ripper was fun. Cutthroat was so dark and disturbing, but hard to put down. I notice you haven't read Ghoul. If you liked Cutthroat, that one almost matches it for dark and disturbing, and introduces Zinc Chandler as the main hero. It's one I think Circus would enjoy, with much of it set in England (in the 80s) and a plot that involves H.P. Lovecraft and heavy metal.

Burnt Bones was great, especially with some of my own family history in it. You'll be pleased to know that Mephisto is back in two more books, one of them being Death's Door, which is a pretty entertaining book from the first page on. Swastika, Burnt Bones and Death's Door were the ones I read out of order before deciding to start the series from the beginning. I also couldn't resist reading Kamikaze, and will probably give in and read Red Snow out of order as well.

It's good to know somebody else on the board is a Slade fan.

[JaseSF]

The Asteroid of Gold by Clifford D. Sidmak (Wonder Stories November 1932). A pair of prospecting brothers having just struck a rich vein of gold on a distant asteroid find their good luck suddenly changed very much for the ill when a notorious space pirate sets his sights upon their hard-earned findings.

This story is very much in the vein of two-fisted pulp action heroics as our leads, two strong-willed space miners, fight back as best they can against a powerful and prosperous nefarious space pirate determined not only to rob them of their gold but to also break them of their very wills. It makes for fun and enjoyable reading experience but is definitely more in the realm of action Sci-Fi than hard Sci-Fi. The fight and attack scenes are described in all their harsh brutality in this story of a battle of wills.

The Island of Unreason by Edmond Hamilton (Wonder Stories May 1933) . In the Earth's not so distant future, a man finds himself sent to an isolated island as punishment for not acting "reasonable". This future Earth is a world that provides for everyone in utmost comfort as long as they act "reasonably" which means they go along with whatever they're instructed by their governing supervisors to do or act upon. If they should defy any of these instructions, they are deemed unreasonable and brought to an island offshore far away from civilization, there left to fend for themselves as punishment. At first our lead is horrified by his plight, thrown out of his comfortable predictable existence into a place where threats loom around every corner and he actually has to fend and think for himself. There he meets a young woman named Lita, who is being pursued by others on the island, and in coming to her aid and her befriending and helping him adjust to his plight, he suddenly finds a purpose....on the island of unreason.

This is a very intriguing little story. In fact, it won the Jules Verne Prize as the best story of the year. It really is quite good and thoughtful. After reading this, it makes one realize that reason (and conformity) alone isn't always enough in this world. Freedom (ironically achieved in this tale after one has been arrested), purpose, individuality, emotions, even  unpredictably seem to truly be things to be valued after all. Definitely one of the best stories (and it's in pretty fine company with "The Coming of The Ice", "The Eternal Man" and "The Voice From the Ether") in this collection (A History of the Science Fiction Magazine 1926-1935 edited by Michael Ashley).

[Joe the Destroyer]

Downloaded and read The Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce on my Kindle.  Good idea for a story.  I think it was adapted into an episode of Masters of Horror with Sean Patrick Flanery.

[joejoeherron]

started reading THE EXECUTIONER #3  Battle Mask again

already read everything in the house this winter

mack bolan is a good way to pass the time

[JaseSF]

I finally finished reading the collection of stories in The History of the Science Fiction Magazine Part 1: 1926-1935 edited by Michael Ashley. The last two stories in it were One Prehistoric Night by Philip Barshofsky (real name M.M. Kaplan) and Davy Jones' Ambassador by Raymond Z. Gallun.

One Prehistoric Night (Wonder Stories November 1934) feels kind of like a EC Comics style Weird Science or Weird Fantasy tale, with a kind of surprise ending or is it? Basically it has an advanced invading Martian colony landing on prehistoric Earth in the Jurassic period. The Earth as described here then is filled with giant, lumbering monsters, themselves locked in a seemingly constant violent, bloody, endless  battle for survival. Can even these advanced aliens stay outside the realm of this constant conflict? It's a fun little story but plays out pretty much the way I expected it would in truth.

Davy Jones' Ambassador (Astounding December 1935) is quite different. It basically focuses on a human who has been captured by bizarre, intelligent undersea creatures, described as a cross by crustacean and shark-like creature with tentacles, who in turn study him while he himself plots and plans for any hope, any potential for his escape and continued survival. It's an interesting read and is definitely rather unique in this anthology as it focuses on a completely different kind of alien than the usual. Where it falters though for me personally is it goes on a bit too long in terms of its MacGyver-isque qualities what with the human constantly improvising out of the scattered elements the undersea intelligent monstrosities provide him with. Still I quite liked it and it deserves recognition as being somewhat unlike any of the stories provided in this anthology. I also quite liked the surprise twist towards the end.

Overall this collection of stories was intriguing to read. There really seemed to be little to no limits in terms of imagination of the era of storytelling involved here . Stories could be told of aliens, monsters, future civilizations quite unlike anything that might well be imagined today. It makes for fun and surprisingly imaginative reading although many of these stories seem more akin to fantasy than out and out science fiction although all have elements true to the science fiction genre as well and most seem still just as plausible now and hold up surprisingly well (particularly The Coming of the Ice and The Eternal Man) as they probably did back when they first appeared, in some cases perhaps even more so strangely enough.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Yes.

Greg Rucka's "Queen & Country."

As of 2007, there were seven books in the series, but, so far, I've only read the 3rd one, "Crystal Ball."

If James Bond and Alex Rider are the schoolboy fantasy version of the British spy business, then this is closer to the real thing.

What makes it odd, if the other two series are written by Englishmen, then this one is written by an American.

And, yes. Greg Rucka also wrote "Whiteout."

If they ever do a film version of his "Queen & Country," I hope they do a better job of adapting it, then they did with "Whiteout."

[Joe the Destroyer]

Finished reading the third Icewind Dale book and started The Cellar by Richard Laymon.  Decent so far, although I could do without the pedophilia.  Also started reading UR by Stephen King on Kindle. 

[JaseSF]

I've begun reading Red Tide by G.M. Ford. It's pretty good so far, easy to read and moves well building up its suspense. I actually found it in a dollar store.

[indianasmith]

I just finished  a biography of Francis Drake, the famous Elizabethan sea dog.