Desdichado
Hero
What, nobody's started this yet? I'll have a go.
First off, I've got Colliding Galaxies by Barry Parker. It's a bit old (first published 1990) but as far as I know, the science is still mostly accurate. It's written almost too layman at times; it almost comes across as one of the more advanced books I'd find in the kid's astronomy section of my library rather than the adult section. Then again, I've been an astronomy nut for years and years, so maybe I'm somewhere between layman and semi-expert in my expectations of astronomy prose...
I also ditched my Steve Perry (not of Journey) Aliens and Aliens vs. Predator books as horribly odious. Rather, I dug through an old box in my basement and rediscovered my 1922 printing of Rafael Sabatini's Scaramouche and started rereading that. I really like that book. Now, I know Alexandre Dumas is often regarded as the King of Swashbuckling authors, and I can't argue that he doesn't deserve it, but dang, Rafael Sabatini has got to be the Archduke at least. Scaramouche takes place in France in the late 1700s and features a lot of revolutionary politics in the background. However, it is very background in a lot of ways, although it does set up some truly remarkable stuff; when the Third Estate of the Assembly (equivalent to the House of Commons in British Parliament) is formed, the scions of the First Estate (the House of Lords -- the second estate, the clergy, has no specific seats in the Assembly) turn to spadassassins, expert swordsmen who position themselves to end up in duels with their bourgeouis political rivals. The whole set-up of the Third Estate approaching a somewhat apolitical fencing master, who accepts based on his driving need for vengence, to be a "ringer" in this particular game sets up some of the best dialogue and action sequences ever put to a swashbuckling novel. There are parts of this book that I literally can't read sitting down; I have to get up and pace back and forth because I'm so excited. Other times, my wife asks me what the heck is going on because I'm reading with this silly grin on my face.
There was a movie that was very loosely based on the book with Stewart Granger, which redeems itself somewhat from monkeying with the brilliant plot by featuring what is supposedly the longest and certainly one of the most intricate classical fencing scenes ever put to film.
Some other Sabatini books have had better treatment by Hollywood; Captain Blood with Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone and Olivia de Haviland is still the mother of all pirate movies, and it follows the novel fairly closely (I'll be reading that one next) about the British doctor unjustly taken to Port Royale as a slave after aiding wounded revolutionaries. After escaping during a pirate attack, he and his croneys swim out to the pirate's ship and capture it, and then operate as "patriotic" pirates, who are only pirates because they have to be, not becausetheyaretruly... [head between legs... breathe... breathe...hyperventilating into paper bag...]
Uh, sorry there. Got a little excited. I do love my swashbuckling, I do. And as far as I'm concerned Rafael Sabatini does it as good as anyone I've seen. I actually prefer him slightly to Dumas.
Anyway, after I finish that, I'll be reading R.L. Stephenson's The Black Arrow. Oddly enough, I don't have any fantasy on my current schedule at all right now. I'll have to find a good one for October. Maybe a good spooky one.
EDIT: D'oh!
It's a 1923 printing, not a 1922 printing! I was getting this mixed up with my copy of Captain Blood. As I said later, though, it's the fourteenth printing in less than two years; the first printing was 1921. Must have been a darn popular book in its day.
First off, I've got Colliding Galaxies by Barry Parker. It's a bit old (first published 1990) but as far as I know, the science is still mostly accurate. It's written almost too layman at times; it almost comes across as one of the more advanced books I'd find in the kid's astronomy section of my library rather than the adult section. Then again, I've been an astronomy nut for years and years, so maybe I'm somewhere between layman and semi-expert in my expectations of astronomy prose...
I also ditched my Steve Perry (not of Journey) Aliens and Aliens vs. Predator books as horribly odious. Rather, I dug through an old box in my basement and rediscovered my 1922 printing of Rafael Sabatini's Scaramouche and started rereading that. I really like that book. Now, I know Alexandre Dumas is often regarded as the King of Swashbuckling authors, and I can't argue that he doesn't deserve it, but dang, Rafael Sabatini has got to be the Archduke at least. Scaramouche takes place in France in the late 1700s and features a lot of revolutionary politics in the background. However, it is very background in a lot of ways, although it does set up some truly remarkable stuff; when the Third Estate of the Assembly (equivalent to the House of Commons in British Parliament) is formed, the scions of the First Estate (the House of Lords -- the second estate, the clergy, has no specific seats in the Assembly) turn to spadassassins, expert swordsmen who position themselves to end up in duels with their bourgeouis political rivals. The whole set-up of the Third Estate approaching a somewhat apolitical fencing master, who accepts based on his driving need for vengence, to be a "ringer" in this particular game sets up some of the best dialogue and action sequences ever put to a swashbuckling novel. There are parts of this book that I literally can't read sitting down; I have to get up and pace back and forth because I'm so excited. Other times, my wife asks me what the heck is going on because I'm reading with this silly grin on my face.
There was a movie that was very loosely based on the book with Stewart Granger, which redeems itself somewhat from monkeying with the brilliant plot by featuring what is supposedly the longest and certainly one of the most intricate classical fencing scenes ever put to film.
Some other Sabatini books have had better treatment by Hollywood; Captain Blood with Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone and Olivia de Haviland is still the mother of all pirate movies, and it follows the novel fairly closely (I'll be reading that one next) about the British doctor unjustly taken to Port Royale as a slave after aiding wounded revolutionaries. After escaping during a pirate attack, he and his croneys swim out to the pirate's ship and capture it, and then operate as "patriotic" pirates, who are only pirates because they have to be, not becausetheyaretruly... [head between legs... breathe... breathe...hyperventilating into paper bag...]
Uh, sorry there. Got a little excited. I do love my swashbuckling, I do. And as far as I'm concerned Rafael Sabatini does it as good as anyone I've seen. I actually prefer him slightly to Dumas.
Anyway, after I finish that, I'll be reading R.L. Stephenson's The Black Arrow. Oddly enough, I don't have any fantasy on my current schedule at all right now. I'll have to find a good one for October. Maybe a good spooky one.
EDIT: D'oh!
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. Although it's only two years after the first printing; it must have been quite popular as a new novel.
