The All-New Singing and Dancing October Reading Thread!

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Currently reading:

  • She by H. Rider Haggard (good so far)
  • The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 16th edition, edited by Windling & Datlow (one hit and one miss so far)
Just finished:

  • Shadow's Gate by Kate Elliot (middling depends a lot on how the final volume goes)
  • The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (good but liked the 1953 George Pal movie better)
 
Finished the last Verne for the moment Les Tribulations d'un chinois en Chine - is very similar to the other books, a lot of nice descriptions and pretty thin story to give those descriptions. Oh well, the age shows.
Started at some point Gary Gibson Angel Stations - this will probably be the next book finished. So far it's been a lot of bits and pieces about the world and different characters in it, but no coherent story - hopefully this will improve.
 
Hi, AE35Unit. Fred Chappell is a living writer who was Poet Laureate of North Carolina at one point. The novel Dagon, which he wrote in 1968, contains Lovecraftian elements, although Dagon for once is not a Lovecraftian creation but a Semitic god, mentioned in the Bible and interpreted by some as a fishlike figure. Lovecraft, who apparently had an aversion to fish naturally seized on this connotation. It's a very good novel, but don't expect a straightforward Lovecraft pastiche.
 
th_CaptainCut-Throat.jpg About two thirds of the way through. Stunning! Historical adventure/mystery buffs must be very happy people with this kind of fuel to light their fire.
 
And as it has at last arrived to my grubby little fingers, I break the habit of the last few years of choosing my books at random from my to-read pile and go straight into The Gathering Storm by Jordan and Sanderson
 
knivesout said:
Hi, AE35Unit. Fred Chappell is a living writer who was Poet Laureate of North Carolina at one point. The novel Dagon, which he wrote in 1968, contains Lovecraftian elements, although Dagon for once is not a Lovecraftian creation but a Semitic god, mentioned in the Bible and interpreted by some as a fishlike figure. Lovecraft, who apparently had an aversion to fish naturally seized on this connotation. It's a very good novel, but don't expect a straightforward Lovecraft pastiche.
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A very good summation, that. Chappell is one of the (relatively) few writers to use Lovecraftian motifs and themes with originality and style, and his other forays into this realm are also well worth seeking out. Even when he's not at his best here, they are intriguing and fascinating....

Oh, and on the subject of Dagon, Larry... it was the temple of Dagon that Samson was supposed to have toppled....

And, speaking of Lovecraftian writers worth looking into -- along with the Poe I'm reading another of Wilum H. Pugmire's collections, Dreams of Lovecraftian Horror. Pugmire is an odd one, in that his work (at least what I have read so far) seldom qualifies as stories, with some rare exceptions; being more in the nature of vignettes or prose-poems; mood pieces with an almost-developed storyline. They do often show the influence of Lovecraft, but he develops such things very much in his own way; he's no slavish imitator, but rather someone who is deeply appreciative (to the point of idolatry) yet who doesn't hold back from taking a different approach, even when utilizing some of Lovecraft's own characters. His work is quite dream-like in its effect; he frequently doesn't bother about inconsistencies or "normal" logic, nor do his climaxes necessarily follow the accepted norms of modern storytelling; but at its best his work makes me think of a dark, nightmarish form of what Maupassant often did in his shorter tales. He isn't for everyone, but I'd say he's a unique voice well worth hearing. My suggestion, however (given the above) would be to try a sampling of several of his shorter pieces, as some may not make much of an impression; but cumulatively one begins to find he casts a very strange and unsettling but quite wonderful spell....
 
Well I was reading Glory Road by Heinlein, until The Gathering Storm showed up in the mailbox. The last scene in the prologue made me like the this installment in the series already.
 
Finished "The Long Way Home" by Poul Anderson and have started "The Well of the Unicorn" by Fletcher Pratt.
 
Fried Egg said:
Finished "The Long Way Home" by Poul Anderson and have started "The Well of the Unicorn" by Fletcher Pratt.
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I really look forward to hearing your thoughts on that one... though I will warn you that it is quite an unusual performance....
 
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