March's Marvellous Missals, Mammoth Manuals and Miniscule Monographs

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thesoothsayer said:
... The supporting characters in Children of God were probably less likeable and much less developed than those in Sparrow, but I liked the book because it gives a, sort of, positive closure to Sandoz's story, and I could understand and empathise with all 3 races. No one is inherently evil there; they all had their reasons for doing what they did.
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Ah that makes some sense, thanks for the info - I may add that back onto the "to get" list - although I'd probably have to re-read The Sparrow first.

In other news I finished the short story collection Blood Bank by Tanya Huff

A nice collection of short additions to the tales of Vicki Nelson (6 stories) and Henry Fitzroy (3 stories).

Don't read this before the main sequence of books - most of the events take place between books 4 and 5 or after book 5.

The re-telling of "A Christmas Carol" is the only less than excellent item in the collection - lacking enough framing story to look like anything more than a gimmick.

The last 100 pages or so are given over to blog entries about Tanya's experience of writing an episode for the TV show based on the books and the complete shooting script of that episode. This provides some interesting insights but feels a lot like material primarily aimed at “padding” the page count.

Next up: The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson for the Chrons reading group over on Goodreads.
 
knivesout said:
A lot of SF short story anthologies from the 60s and 70s seem to be rather coy about that fact, for some reason...
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I really don't understand why? I thought people would actually be inclined to read short stories?

I'm onto the 5th story in the book and there's been no SF yet! Ahh well, it's definitely very good to see a different side to Ed Cooper.
 
I'll stand with Connavar on Postman. It's well-written and well-paced. A lean. tight book with finely crafted layers. A short, sharp slap of a book. You might cut yourself on the edges. I've read it several times over the years and the appeal has not faded.
 
Finished Liz Williams The Demon and The City - a bit dissapointed with the ending, initial buildup was pretty good, but when the actual problem solving and explaining started it wasn't on the same level. Have to think whether I'd be interested in the next volumes of this serie.
Now Moorcock Behold the Man - already feeling, that this would be better if I knew more about bible.
 
Simon R Green Damned if You Do in the Nightside

Solaris two for one release, combining Hell to Pay, and The Unnatural Enquirer.

Good fun stuff. I like Simon Green but for some reason missed the Nightside series coming out. Only noticed the series last Autumn and glad to find so many! He has lots of good ideas, especially rich in the colourful characters - but doesn't labour them.

Also like his throwaway jokes like the Sisterhood, who are nuns with steel toecaps and a nasty attitude.
"They gathered together and glared at me as I passed. I smiled politely, and one of them made the sign of the cross. Another made the sign of the seriously pissed off, then they all left."
 
One thing I never got about The Big Sleep, I was lead to believe that it was witty but I didn't think so. Great story but I was mislead.
 
Finished Shaman's Crossing and I'm about half way through Forest Mage by Robin Hobb. So far the story isn't on par with The Farseer, Liveships, or Tawny Man trilogies. It's not bad, my main complaint is it's just very slow, and focusing so much on one character makes the scope of the story rather small.
 
thatollie said:
One thing I never got about The Big Sleep, I was lead to believe that it was witty but I didn't think so. Great story but I was mislead.
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Well...to be sure Chandler's stories are grim and the resolutions more than a little bleak, but I think there's often a great deal of mordant wit in the dialogue or in Marlowe's first person narration. It isn't a comedy novel, if that was what you were made to expect, but a certain dark humour is certainly an important part of Chandler's appeal.
 
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If you want witty read Red Harvest by Hammett. Its bleaker,realer than Chandler or any other PI detective story but Hammett writing,prose,dialouge made me chuckle at the right times.

There was only one line by Marlowe in The Big Sleep that was witty to me.
 
knivesout said:
Well I won't get into a Hammett vs. Chandler debate. To be sure, Red Harvest is undeniably a 20th-century classic.
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I got no interest that debate either its a proven fact Hammett was more realistic with The OP stories because of his real backround,using his real cases. Some reviews even diss Hammett because he was too real,down to earth not enough crazy plot twist,action.

I just thought Hammett was surprisingly witty,every OP story have read have some great lines,humour. For a guy that is known for a bleak world view.

I was reading Nightmare Town collection introduction last night, did you know the coruppt town in Red Harvest was based on a town called Butte where he was as Pinkerton OP,was offered alot of money to kill a source.

No wonder he had a bleak world,all of his crime stories about coruppt people,towns.
 
Finished re-reading To Live Forever by Jack Vance. I liked it a great deal - I may not place it in the very first tier of Vance's work, but it is certainly quite high in the ranking.
 
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