[March] What are you reading?

[Krug]

I've been reading story hours lately. They're cheap, and I don't have to cut the umbilicus connecting me to the computer...

NRG

So which are the best story hours, good doctor?

 

[Turgenev]

This really made me smile as I have most of Piper's science fiction works (Terro Human Future History and Paratime) and am missing only one collection brought out about 15 years ago and his two mystery novels. I re-read them now and again and really enjoy his writing style. No one has come close to duplicating him IMHO.

I'll read anything if it is written by Piper. He is one of my favourite authors of all time (or should that be paratime ), but then you just have to look at my domain name to see that. The thing that I like about Piper's style is that you never know how the stories are going to turn out. You might think a story is going in a certain direction and then he will take it in another direction with you enjoying the ride all the way. I also enjoy his characterization - his people seem real to me and not just some carboard cutout advancing the plot.

The Paratime stories you mention are really the heart of the whole Paratime universe Piper created and can all be found (along with Lord Kalvan) in a book released just 3 years ago called the Complete Paratime. Wonderful edition.

I was lucky. The wife has been a huge Piper fan since she was a teenager and she kept many of the Ace publications that were released in the 60s (everything from the Fuzzy Books to the Paratime stories to Future History). She also got the later Ace books that were released in the 80s (Federation, Paratime, the third Fuzzy book). She's also a biiiig Robert Heinlein fan so I'm now working my way through that collection (when I'm not reading my Doc Savage novels).

A d20 version of Piper's Paratime or Future History series would be pure gold to me - but highly unlikely, I'll just content myself with the occasional mention of his works in Traveller

I've used his Paratime concept in my V&V games - I've went as far as to introduce the Paratime Police (see the character known as the Navigator for more info ). I can also see Piper's influences in Traveller and in ICE's Space Master rpg.

Here is a scan of my well read copy (it was published in 1981) of the Paratime book (the creature is a Venusian nighthound for those who were wondering).

Cheers,
Tim

 

[stevelabny]

i just finished reading the first book of the Icewind Dale Trilogy, and will continue on the the second.
This is actually the first official D&D novel I've ever read.
Wasn't all that impressed. Too many things were convenient, althought I did like how the final battle was set up.
Before that I finished reading the Elenium, wasn't as impressed by that as I was by the Belgariad and Mallorean when I read them many years ago. Of course, I'm not sure how well theyd hold up either.

These are the first books I've read in ages, as I've been more of a comics-fan since I first switched from novels to comics at 14(yes, I evolved backwards) But not being able to buy new comics lately, i've turned to the unread things on my bookshelf.

I also started Cerebus at the beginning. Read the first phone book again. figure I'll be done when the series is.
When I first started readin Cerebus, i read the first 4 or 5 "phone-books" so anything past that will be new to me.

But this is definitely something that everyone should read.

 

[CCamfield]

Re: Re: Re: [March] What are you reading?

Oops. Nope. Got the title wrong. *blush*

Ah, that's okay. I'm a huuuuge Erikson fan myself, although the first book takes a while to get rolling. (I've discussed this with other people who were turned off by the book. I think it starts to heat up a mere halfway through. ) So did you stick with it, or put it aside?

I now have "Traitor's Moon" on request with the library, finished my book on tyrants, and have turned back to a book that's been sitting on my shelf a while, "Violence, Civil Strife, and Revolution in the Classical City" (Andrew Lintott). Revolt, revolution, and tyranny, oh my!

 

[Krug]

Yeap stuck with it but skimmed the rest of it. Some nice ideas and will try to borrow the 2nd book from the library. Hope that's better. At least it was a complete story.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Those Piper books are bugging me, because I *know* I've seen a cache of the originals of those Fuzzy books somewhere. But so help me, I can't recall where...

Currently, I'm reading All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson. Up next, I was thinking of re-reading some Sherlock Holmes. After that... I dunno, anyone got any suggestions for me? I'm mostly into fantasy, but I've read a lot of the series out there, I think (although I haven't read anything by Kay, and several people say he's good). Otherwise, sci-fi and horror.

 

[theT0rmented]

Just finished reading Robert Sawyer's Humans, book 2 of The Neanderthal Parallax. Very good series. Can't wait till September for books 3.

 

[Dr. NRG]

So which are the best story hours, good doctor?

I've read some stuff by Dr. Midnight, and some by Capellan that were both pretty good. I tend to shy away from threads with 15,000 posts, though I've heard some of them are pretty good as well.

Best? I honestly couldn't say. Give me another 20 years to read through them all and I'll get back to you

NRG

 

[Liminal Syzygy]

Trying to complete Gardens of the Moon by Stephen Erikson and not qutie my cup of tea. Some interesting ideas, but the storytelling doesn't grip me.

I thought Gardens of the Moons was only so so myself, but I loved Deadhouse Gates. The first 30-40 pages of Deadhouse Gates are a little bit hard going though as Erikson just throws you into a new situation with new characters with no acclimation.

 

[WayneLigon]

....I also started Cerebus at the beginning. Read the first phone book again. figure I'll be done when the series is.
When I first started readin Cerebus, i read the first 4 or 5 "phone-books" so anything past that will be new to me.

But this is definitely something that everyone should read.

And it'll be over next year, I think. I used to read Cerebus religiously, but lost interest after the Church and State arc (pretty much right after he breaks the Duck Statue). Really, my favorites are probably all in the first phone book. I have the first collections done, which were five or six issues and had some new material in the back. I wonder if those were reprinted in the phone books; specifically the article on how to play Diamondback, and 'What Happened Between Issues X and Y' (Where Cerebus goes to sleep on a park bench and wakes up in Lower Felda (probably remembering that wrong); just before he meets Necros (ha ha ha) The Mad.)