Wofano Wotanto
Hero
Say what? The series with Jupiter Jones? Does Worthington the chauffer show up with the police in the nick of time or something?
What are you reading in 2024?
Yeah, a specific one of the early ones--maybe even the first. It's more the mechanism by which the evil plot is ... done, that reminds me of it. There's not really that explicit a deus ex machina.Say what? The series with Jupiter Jones? Does Worthington the chauffer show up with the police in the nick of time or something?
Mercurius
Legend
Inspired by Bookpilled on Youtube (great sf reviewer), I'm going for a 100 Book Challenge, mostly drawn from books I already own, and mostly SF, with some fantasy, horror and mimesis thrown in. I don't plan on reading 100 books in 2024 - that is unrealistic - but I am including books I start but don't finish ("DNF") and am keeping track of what I'm reading, and giving them grades. So it is really a challenge to read at least the first chapter of 100 books, and see what sticks.
I started in early February, and so far:
I started in early February, and so far:
- Rocannon's World - Ursula K Le Guin: B. A nice, brisque read, but not one of her best (it was her first).
- The Harvest - Robert Charles Wilson: B+. Good early 90s alien virus/invasion story. Some cool ideas, Wilson is good at characterization; the pay-off wasn't quite as grand as I hoped, but still very good.
- Blind Lake - Robert Charles Wilson: DNF. Read a few chapters but it draw me in as much as The Harvest.
- Norstrilia - Cordwainer Smith: DNF. Great writer, but wasn't feeling it so quit after a couple chapters. Might come back to. Cult classic.
- Black Easter - James Blish: A-. Interesting "demonic invasion" story with lots of great, well-researched magical lore. The end sequence was great; will be reading the sequel.
- Night's Master - Tanith Lee: DNF. Great gothic stylist, but I wasn't quite in the mood for the "dark erotica." Will probably come back to, but I'm more drawn to some of her scifi.
- Downward to the Earth - Robert Silverberg. Just started - like it a lot so far.
Nellisir
Hero
I think Robert Silverberg is often overlooked* nowadays, but he's a master.
*I'm not saying he's no longer in print, or no one has ever heard his name, or that he's wholly forgotten, and most of us have certainly heard of him.
I finally finished "The Novels of Dashiell Hammett" (because Rex Stout ranked him and Josephine Tey very highly).
* The Continental Op in Red Harvest was pretty good - although I never knew if I was supposed to sympathize with the character (or anyone else) or not. The second Continental Op story the Dain Curse was kind of all over the place in a number of ways, but was ok. I can see why people like the character.
* The Maltese Falcon with Sam Spade was very disappointing compared to the movie. There was something like 1/5th - 1/3rd of it in the middle that made me see why someone thought it would make a great movie and why someone would rank Hammett so highly. The rest. Meh.
* As a whole, I think I liked the Glass Key the most out of all of them. I'm still not sure what to make of the main character, but once I made myself get past page three it held my interest. If I had to pick one complaint it might be the last sentence or two being a bit abrupt.
* The start of the Thin Man had me expecting great things... and I still really want to like it. But it drug at points and some of the character interplay lapsed. The big wrap-up being just an explanation felt odd (although I liked the parentheticals being added). I can definitely see why several movies were made with the characters.
All in all, none of them are in obvious danger of jumping onto my Detectives/Mysteries favorites list. Although I think it was enough to make me check out his short stories. I will also have to try some other hard boiled ones like Chandler. Tying back to the first sentence of this post, Tey's The Franchise Affair might head my list, and Ms. Pym Disposes is in the conversation for making it (and I'll probably start a third read through the Wolfe corpus itself sometime soon).
[Edit: Back in the 90s, The Crime Writers' Association has 10-Falcon, 31- Glass Key, 94-Red Harvest and The Mystery Writers Association has 2 -Falcon, 31-Thin Man, 39-Red Harvest, 88-Glass Key in their respective top 100 lists. So checking out at least one of them feels like a thing for fans of the Genre.]
---
Picked up the short story anthology Bonds of Valor (4th in the Valor series) because it has another Black Company short story by Glen Cook. I've read everyting of his (except the one pseudonymous one from 1970 that I can't find) and am a huge fan... but I think his Golden Age was 1991 and before. After that some things start to grate on me in different places with most of the things- in some of the Garrett books and some of the Black Company shorts its the male-female interplay that felt like a change in tone (juvenile? too much?), although nothing as overt as what I understand Lieber's last Mouser and Fafhrd stories were (have not read the last ones). And the Garrett ones at that stage still introduce some great characters and ideas and so I have certainly reread them all.
* The Continental Op in Red Harvest was pretty good - although I never knew if I was supposed to sympathize with the character (or anyone else) or not. The second Continental Op story the Dain Curse was kind of all over the place in a number of ways, but was ok. I can see why people like the character.
* The Maltese Falcon with Sam Spade was very disappointing compared to the movie. There was something like 1/5th - 1/3rd of it in the middle that made me see why someone thought it would make a great movie and why someone would rank Hammett so highly. The rest. Meh.
* As a whole, I think I liked the Glass Key the most out of all of them. I'm still not sure what to make of the main character, but once I made myself get past page three it held my interest. If I had to pick one complaint it might be the last sentence or two being a bit abrupt.
* The start of the Thin Man had me expecting great things... and I still really want to like it. But it drug at points and some of the character interplay lapsed. The big wrap-up being just an explanation felt odd (although I liked the parentheticals being added). I can definitely see why several movies were made with the characters.
All in all, none of them are in obvious danger of jumping onto my Detectives/Mysteries favorites list. Although I think it was enough to make me check out his short stories. I will also have to try some other hard boiled ones like Chandler. Tying back to the first sentence of this post, Tey's The Franchise Affair might head my list, and Ms. Pym Disposes is in the conversation for making it (and I'll probably start a third read through the Wolfe corpus itself sometime soon).
[Edit: Back in the 90s, The Crime Writers' Association has 10-Falcon, 31- Glass Key, 94-Red Harvest and The Mystery Writers Association has 2 -Falcon, 31-Thin Man, 39-Red Harvest, 88-Glass Key in their respective top 100 lists. So checking out at least one of them feels like a thing for fans of the Genre.]
---
Picked up the short story anthology Bonds of Valor (4th in the Valor series) because it has another Black Company short story by Glen Cook. I've read everyting of his (except the one pseudonymous one from 1970 that I can't find) and am a huge fan... but I think his Golden Age was 1991 and before. After that some things start to grate on me in different places with most of the things- in some of the Garrett books and some of the Black Company shorts its the male-female interplay that felt like a change in tone (juvenile? too much?), although nothing as overt as what I understand Lieber's last Mouser and Fafhrd stories were (have not read the last ones). And the Garrett ones at that stage still introduce some great characters and ideas and so I have certainly reread them all.
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Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Red Harvest feels very modern in how nihilistic it is. The best case scenario is for someone to burn that whole damned town down.
Old Fezziwig
What this book presupposes is -- maybe he didn't?
It's been ages since I read it, but I think ambivalence is the right call. If I remember correctly, my feeling was that I was only to sympathize with the Op to the extent that he was there to do a job and was treated very poorly indeed by the locals.
Mercurius
Legend
Yeah, he's definitely a "grandmaster" and one of the dozen or so most important scifi authors, and arguably the most important "New Wave" writer. Definitely a character. At the least, he's one of the most prolific SF writers, with over 100 novels and collections published, plus tons of short stories, non-fiction works, intros, etc. And a lesser known fact: he's published about 200 erotic novels under a pseudonym.
The decade from 1967 to 76 has been called one of the most creatively fruitful phases of any SF author, with 23 novels and a handful of short story collections, quite a few of the novels being considered classics (e.g. Dying Inside, Downward to Earth, Nightwings, etc). He's better known for his Majipoor books of the 80s and 90s, but it is also implied by some that this was more about him trying to capitalize on "big fat fantasy" trends than as creatively inspired as the 60s-70s phase.
He's still around at 89 years old, but hasn't published a novel in about 20 years (2003).
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
If "Lord Valentine's Castle" was him trying to cash in, may more writers cash in half so productively.
Autumnal
Bruce Baugh, Writer of Fortune
A few scattered thoughts:
For Robert Charles Wilson, try the Spn trilogy, Darwinia, and Burning Paradise. I think his stuff hangs together best in those. (I also love Nysteeium, but it depends on how much you’d like some Gnosticism with your cross time.)
Skip Norstrilia for now. Cordwainer Smith’s short stories - look for Scanners Live In Vain, The Game of Rat and Srsgon, Golden the Ship Was Oh! Oh! Oh!, and like that. The Instrumentality of Man collection is best if you can lay hands on it.
I found the Black Easter sequel disappointing. But some others don’t. Give it a try, for sure.
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