What are you reading in 2025?

[Mistwell]

I would say pretty much the same order. Three Hearts & Three Lions and Vance are way up there, LotR and Leiber's F & GM stories are right there with them. For Leiber (like I always say with Moorcock) always go with the earliest-published stories first. The Jewels in the Forest (1939) is practically a straight-up OSR D&D adventure in seven pages, for example.

After that maybe Pratt & de Camp's Harold Shea books, with some monsters and situations which clearly influenced AD&D and the Giants series of modules in particular.

For a bonus, I want to link to a short story by another author. While Clark Ashton Smith is NOT in Appendix N, his being left out has been a subject of long debate among old schoolers because there's definitely signs of his influence here and there. His prose style is somewhat similar to Vance, and to Gary when he's in High Gygaxian mode. I think this story is a great intro to his work, and showcases a kind of monster I haven't seen show up elsewhere than in D&D:

The Tale of Satampra Zeiros by Clark Ashton Smith

Ah, perfect, yes. I think I read Leiber and Moorcock in my teens, but its been so long it would be practically new to me now. And I don't think I ever completed a full run of either author, so that's perfect for lining up after Conan. And I know I never read Pratt and de Camp, except that I'm reading some de Camp right now for the first time with Conan. Will check out Clark Ashton Smith too. I know that name though from Cthulhu I believe, along with Lovecraft who both corresponded with Howard.

 

[overgeeked]

Just tore through Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero, from the Creators of Superman. Got it yesterday. Took me 3.5 hours to read. It's a really short book. Quite interesting topic...too bad the book it barely connected to the title.

So the young Jewish guys Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman and sold the rights to DC Comics for $150. DC proceeded to make fat millions off the character and screw Siegel and Shuster out of most, if not all of their royalties. After this debacle Siegel and Shuster also created Funnyman in the dying days of superhero comics. It flopped after 6 issues and, since the copyright wasn't renewed, Funnyman is now in the public domain. I came across the character during a deep dive on public-domain superheroes.

The book is roughly divided into four parts. The first part is an exploration of Jewish humor. The second part is an exploration of the origins of Superman. The third part is a short bio on the trials and tribulations of Siegel and Shuster in their fight against DC Comics. The fourth part is a partial reprint of the public domain comics and a full synopsis of the comic books and comic strips that featured the character.

Note the almost complete lack of the character in the title? I sure did. The book is basically the authors taking long articles they'd already written about Superman, his connection to Jewish history and masculinity, and bios of Siegel and Shuster...then throwing in a few odd sentences here and there connecting the preexisting article to the supposed topic of the book, Funnyman.

The exploration of Jewish humor is the closest connection to Funnyman of the three text parts of the book. Funnyman is effectively a footnote in parts two and three. The summaries in part four are both incomplete and incorrect.

Deeply interesting character and I'd love to read a book on the topic. But I read this instead.

 

[Autumnal]

@overgeeked , fascinating. Brand-new subject for me.

Everyone, awesome D&D discussion. Every influence I thought of got covered.

 

[gban007]

Bit of an update on some books read ?
(Not going well on keeping things updated, my goodreads updates have been poor this year, maybe only 20% of books read).

Finished the Fifth Season, a strong book that has led to me already starting the next one. Quite a bleak world/ cultures, especially for people like the main characters, but a lot of mystery and suspense throughout. Can't say too much for fear of spoilers, but am curious to see a TTRPG coming out for it, not necessarily a world I would have thought that would be good for, but when I think about it it has similar beats to what I understand of Dark Sun.

Before that read Station Eleven, another one I enjoyed that was perhaps somewhat melancholy in nature, though what I didnt like was it being centered around probably the least interesting character in the novel for me.

Thanks to @Autumnal for Forge of God suggestion, was a good end of the world novel, albeit the general reaction by the characters in it was more resigned / accepting than id think it would likely go down, albeit events at the beginning probably helped lead to that. Contrasts to the Three Body Problem series where problem was almost the reverse, people were scared and angry, but as a whole seemed to want go prevent anyone escaping if everyone couldn't escape.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Last night, I finished Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford. A lovely alternate history, similar to The Yiddish Policemen's Union or Lavie Tidhar's Unholy Land, though without the magical realist aspects of the latter. The beginning did strike me as derivative, but the further away from the initial set up Spufford gets, and the more his main character comes into his own, the better the novel is. I particularly enjoyed how Spufford played with doubling -- for a book that takes place in a city, there's a real intimacy to a lot of its scenes, almost as if only two people lived there at any one time.

 

[Autumnal]

LThanks to @Autumnal for Forge of God suggestion, was a good end of the world novel, albeit the general reaction by the characters in it was more resigned / accepting than id think it would likely go down, albeit events at the beginning probably helped lead to that.

You’re very welcome. As for attitudes, it’s possible the rescuers had some effect on calming crowds covertly. The other thing is that as a 1987 novel, it’s pre-social media, and I do think that would matter a lot to the intensity and distribution of destructive reactions, alas. (And I’m not one of those who wants to destroy social media and seed the Internet with cybersalt.)

 

[jian]

Hemlock and Silver by T Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon*) is a lovely fantasy novel with a protagonist who's expert in poisons and a mystery that's a version of the Snow White story (there's a princess called Snow, mirrors, apples, and hearts, but mixed together quite differently). In that sense it's quite different from her previous works based on fairy tales, which are generally recognisable versions of those tales (The Seventh Bride, Bryony and Roses, The Raven and the Reindeer).

*For those who don't know, Ursula Vernon tends to use T Kingfisher as her nom de plume for writing books for grown-ups rather than children such as her Harriet the Hamster Princess books. Both are generally excellent.

I must express clinical concern at the idea that rattlesnake venom could be used to counteract opioid or datura poisoning, however - rattlesnake venom is quite variable and contains a mixture of haemotoxic and neurotoxic compounds which could have a cholinergic effect but probably isn't the most reliable source, at least in our world. Belladonna and atropine might be more sensible.

 

[overgeeked]

More on Funnyman. I tracked down the public-domain comics and read them. All six issues. Can't say I'm impressed. The character is fascinating. Great premise that I'd love to see someone revive, but the actual execution was not great. I think it just cements the idea that Siegel and Shuster were great idea men, but needed some editorial oversight. The big machine of DC Comics and the stable of other writers and artists certainly helped mold Superman into the household name he became.

The Funnyman comics are supposed to be a superhero-comedy. But they were more like hollow gags in comic book form. There were no stories in those six issues longer than 6-8 pages. Several of them were single-page throw away gags. In all six issues there were maybe two moments where Funnyman was in anything approaching even faux danger. In the sense of most serial superhero comics where you know the MC will escape it's just a question of how. In Funnyman, the "danger" isn't given enough time to breathe. It mostly only lasts a panel or two at most. One panel of him getting into a tight spot then the next panel showing him getting out of it due to some amazing new invention that never appeared before nor would appear again.

The rogues gallery consisted of two repeat villains who each showed up 2-3 times. Doc Gimmick who has the worst ideas for gadgets I've ever seen in comics. His "best" was a femme fatale robot with a giant hammer in her back. She'd drop a handkerchief and unsuspecting men would, of course, bend over to pick it up...at which point the hammer would drop, knock them out, and the goons waiting nearby would rob them.

Slippery Slim was a jail breaker. He'd be in jail (without a stated reason why) then break out. At which point Funnyman would leap into action and catch him. Slim was effectively a physical twin of Funnyman, to the point that if Slim put on the Funnyman costume (which consists of clown clothes and a putty nose), those closest to the real Funnyman couldn't tell them apart. This has a lot of potential but was never used except for in one appearance for a few gags.

The character of Funnyman is modeled after Danny Kaye in appearance and style in his secret identity, but as Funnyman he's a good-guy version of Joker...with the endless themed gadgets of Batman. There's been a few characters like that over the years, like Jack-in-the-Box from Astro City. But most of the clown characters are villains. I get the feeling that if there were some editorial oversight and a push to create a solid base for the character and slowly expand on that it would have done better. As it stands, it reads like Siegel and Shuster threw literally everything at the wall and, due to the weight of it all, nothing actually stuck.

In six issues we're introduced to exactly three side characters that make more than one appearance each. I mentioned the rogues gallery above. In those six issues we also get an ever-expanding list of gadgets Funnyman invented, including an “AI” car that listens to verbal commands and has several typical spy-car gadgets, smoke screen, oil slick, etc; a similar almost sentient “AI” moped; water wings, hand buzzer, a raygun that shoots various beams; a Funnymanor with specialty rooms of traps; a smoke bomb hidden in his fake nose in case anyone tries to "unmask" him; on and on and on.

It reads very much like the goal of the comics was not to present an interesting comic superhero, rather just fill pages with themed gags and hope it sold. It kinda makes sense given that in 1948 (when Funnyman was published), superhero comics were in decline. Why Siegel and Shuster tried to do a superhero then is a bit of a mystery. Except the notion that as the inventors of the comic book superhero they thought they could pull it off. Not so much.

A retool and a reboot with a more fleshed out character instead of just endless gags would be really interesting, I think. Love the idea of the character, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Pale Violet Light]

Finished the Fifth Season, a strong book that has led to me already starting the next one. Quite a bleak world/ cultures, especially for people like the main characters, but a lot of mystery and suspense throughout.

I really wanted to like this: the worldbuilding is wonderful and very different from your run-of-the-mill fantasy world. But I found the characters profoundly unlikable and it kept me from really investing. I stalled out early in the second book, which I think was a significant step down from the first - curious to see what you make of it.

 

[gban007]

I really wanted to like this: the worldbuilding is wonderful and very different from your run-of-the-mill fantasy world. But I found the characters profoundly unlikable and it kept me from really investing. I stalled out early in the second book, which I think was a significant step down from the first - curious to see what you make of it.

Just finished second book, and will read third shortly. Yes was a bit of a step down, as didnt have the inter weaving thread showing the world, but still built well on the prior book I thought in showing how a Fifth Season impacts on the world, along with continuing to show both the bleakness of the world and the bleakness of the current society, and how fundamentally broken it all is, but with lingering hope that maybe things can get better.
It answers some of the questions from the first book, and I think shows good signs that the last book should answer most of those remaining.
Yes the characters are unlikeable, but I think it shows well how the society is making most people unlikeable, but compare to say other dark series like Game of Thrones ( though I tapped out of that one before the end of the published books) or Joe Ambercombies books, it didn't feel as gratuitous, and the bad actions more explainable by society so a whole rather than the books happening to be focused on the bad people as such? More like Malazan, which can also be plenty dark, but as go through it better understand why that world and many of its societies are also broken. Plus side is that the Fifth Season books are a quicker read as well.
Overall I found second book more a 4 star to the first books 5 star.