May's Manic Mining of Marvelous and Melodious Manuscripts

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

The Kate Wilhelm book is really good, and has a sense of place that is very rare in the genre. She isn't a one-book wonder either - the other novel by her I've read, Juniper Time, is just as good. I also have an omnibus of her crime novels, as yet unread.

The most recent books I finished were:

Autumn In The Abyss by John Claude Smith, a collection of horror fiction. With just 5 stories, it felt a bit short to me, but 3 of the stories struck me as very good indeed. The title tale is a claustrophobic, dizzying ride in which a shut-in researched obsesses over the fate of a mysterious underground poet, Jack Kerouac makes a creepy walk-in appearance and William Burroughs' idea of the word as virus is made real in a very effective way. Broken Teacup draws on the world of extreme music and snuff film to tell a story that's almost too raw to bear at times, but the thoughtful ethical engagement ensures this is far from an exploitative story. Becoming Human is the other highlight, an unsettling tale of human degradation and non-human redemption - I won't say any more! A good collection for the horror fan who is not too squeamish, but expects more than just a few gory thrills.

I've been reading a few books about or related to the Whitechapel killings lately, including Iain Sinclair's brilliant, weird novel 'White Chappell, Scarlett Tracings', but the best non fictional treatment I've read was 'The Complete History of Jack The Ripper' by Philip Sugden. It's written very well, bringing the seamy East End of Victorian London to vivid life and meticulously marshalling the best evidence available. Sugden doesn't have a favoured suspect, although he does raise some interesting possibilities, and none of the far-fetched celebrity suspects that have made such a splash in the past (and are, to be fair, wonderful material for fictional treatments like Sinclair's and Alan Moore's From Hell). I'll probably tackle Peter Ackroyd's 'London: A Biography' and Jeff VanderMeer's 'Annihilation' next.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Starting The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel (1940) by Don Marquis. This collection of satiric poems, supposedly typed by the cockroach Archy, often about the cat Mehitabel, often seem quite modern, despite the fact that the earliest goes all the way back to 1916.

Excerpt from what the ants are saying:

america was once a paradise
of timberland and stream
but it is dying because of the greed
and money lust of a thousand little kings
who slashed the timber all to hell
and would not be controlled
and changed the climate
and stole the rainfall from posterity

 

[vanye]

Dustbowl?

 

[Randy M.]

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Flynn's first novel, and a deftly handled crime thriller concerning the death of two children. The narrator is a reporter sent back to her home town to cover the deaths. She's also a cutter, which Flynn uses expertly as an entry into her psychology and the dysfunction of her family. I think readers experienced in reading thrillers will see the ending coming, but I don't think that lessens its power because it stems from character.


Randy M.

 

[Kylara]

Well, I have been rather silly and jumped in the deep end with course books: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the original (not too tricky), the Faerie Queen, and then Pnin by Nabokov. All 3 pages of each book I have started are going well and I hope to have them finished soon...well Pnin at least!

 

[hitmouse]

Starting The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel (1940) by Don Marquis. This collection of satiric poems, supposedly typed by the cockroach Archy, often about the cat Mehitabel, often seem quite modern, despite the fact that the earliest goes all the way back to 1916.

Excerpt from what the ants are saying:

america was once a paradise
of timberland and stream
but it is dying because of the greed
and money lust of a thousand little kings
who slashed the timber all to hell
and would not be controlled
and changed the climate
and stole the rainfall from posterity

This is a brilliant book and an old favourite. Being a cockroach, Archie cannot do capitals on the typewriter.

 

[Vince W]

Just about finished with If Only They Could Talk and will dive into It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot. I picked up the lot on my kindle so I'll be going through them in no time. I'd forgotten how absolutely brilliant these books were.

 

[dask]

Finished Jack London's powerful and unrelenting THE SEA-WOLF, now it's time to take another break from this omnibus mind-numbing savagery and catch my breath with:



Only a few pages into the Burroughs and already it looks very promising. Can't wait to get back to it.

 

[The Bluestocking]

Just about finished with If Only They Could Talk and will dive into It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot. I picked up the lot on my kindle so I'll be going through them in no time. I'd forgotten how absolutely brilliant these books were.

They are ABSOLUTELY brilliant! They are some of the very few books that actually make me laugh until my stomach hurts! I love the story of how he courted his wife, handled a mini daschund who intimidated even the beefiest of men, and the dog who kept farting.

 

[Kylara]

Now I want to go dig out my Herriot books and re-read them (again!)

 

[TheShadowsandSilence]

Currently reading:

Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson
A History of Britain (Vol. 2) - Simon Schama

 

[Grunkins]

After starting Conquerer's Pride by Timothy Zahn, and giving up on it after 130 pages (because I wasn't having fun and life's too short!), I went back and read another of CJ Cherryh's Compact Space books, The Kif Strike Back. Very happy to say this was the best Chanur book yet. This series keeps getting better and better. The politics in this one are complex and precarious (even more so than in previous books in the series). The characters keep getting deeper. The jaunty, swashbuckling feel is increased. The bad guys got deeper, richer, and nastier. Pretty much all the stakes are raised. Excellent series. Cherryh is firmly in my pantheon of top writers.

The Zahn is only the first part in a three book series. And while it is a fairly entertaining read, it's nothing really memorable - nowhere near as good as the Chanur saga. In your place, I'd continue with Cherryh.

I should have taken your advice.

 

[vanye]

Ah, but what's advice compared to personal experience! And (at least to my mind), the Chanur saga is some of the best science fiction ever written, so predicting that Zahn wouldn't hit the same sweet spot was a no-brainer.

I just finished David Drake's Sea Without A Shore, his latest installment in the RCN series. While I wouldn't ever call it character-driven, Drake certainly has started to put some flesh on the characters. And if there is less action, it's still enough for a good read. So I'll be waiting for the next book in the series to read.

 

[Extollager]

Now I want to go dig out my Herriot books and re-read them (again!)

If you can get hold of it, take a look, I suggest, at my friend Mitzi Brunsdale's book on Herriot (published by Twayne, 1997). Among other notable elements in the book, Brunsdale revealed Herriot's contraction of brucellosis; I think was was her "scoop." Brunsdale was unusually well qualified to write with sympathy for Herriot's (James Alfred Wight's) work because, though a distinguished scholar who has written books on Orwell, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Sigrid Undset, etc., she is also a farmer's wife and has sown award-winning Labrador retrievers.

http://www.amazon.com/Mitzi-Brunsdale/e/B001JSCH9E/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

 

[Bick]

Currently reading Manifold: Time by Stephen Baxter. Wow, big ideas and thought-provoking. I've not had my mind so jostled by SF in some time. This reminds me what I like best about the genre. Space Opera is all very entertaining and I'm a sucker for it, but this is real brain candy. Must. Read. More. Baxter.

 

[Grunkins]

Currently reading Manifold: Time by Stephen Baxter. Wow, big ideas and thought-provoking. I've not had my mind so jostled by SF in some time. This reminds me what I like best about the genre. Space Opera is all very entertaining and I'm a sucker for it, but this is real brain candy. Must. Read. More. Baxter.

I haven't read any of the Manifold books yet. Interested to hear your thoughts when it's done. I've read a few of the Xeelee Sequence books, and they are all rich in Big Ideas. Also his book Evolution was pretty exciting mentally. Stayed with me a long time afterward.

 

[Bick]

I haven't read any of the Manifold books yet. Interested to hear your thoughts when it's done.

I'm only about a quarter of the way through, but Big Ideas are very much in evidence. I'm enjoying it so far. I'm sure there's a chron who's a big fan of the Manifold series but I don't recall who.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I started Peter Ackroyd's London: A Biography, and it is very, very good but I got sidetracked into re-reading his novel, The House Of Doctor Dee.

I am also reading Under The Skin by Michael Faber, the novel which the new science fiction movie starring Scarlett Johansson was adapted from.

 

[ratsy]

Still reading Royal Assassin by Hobb. I must say I have a snicker every time Ratsy is in a scene. I'm about 420 pages in and am actually looking forward to finishing this one and moving on to the 3rd book.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Late Great Creature by Brock Brower (1971)

Let me quote the brief article about this book that appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in their column "Curiosities," where they discuss old, unusual, and/or forgotten books.

First published in 1971, Brock Brower's The Late Great Creature is a darkly funny, frequently brilliant novel about the interrelated roles of movies and horror in modern American life. The book takes the form of a fictional biography of aging actor Simon Moro, a larger-than-life figure who evokes both Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney, but remains, in the end, a wholly original creation. Born in 1900 (the true child of a macabre century), Moro made his reputation playing a Lorre-like pedophile in a mythical Fritz Lang film entitled Zeppelin. A gallery of B-movie monsters—among them Ghoulgantua, Gila Man, and the Moth—followed, each representing an inspired performance in a less-than-inspired film.

Brower's novel focuses on Simon's last appearance in a low-rent production of The Raven. The story emerges from a variety of perspectives that describe Moro's long, colorful career, his bizarre behavior during—and after—the making of the film, and the bloody event that disrupts the film's premiere in a sleazy Manhattan theater. The result is a satiric, horrifying account of one man's plan to deliver a final, unforgettable shock to an increasingly shockproof world.

The Late Great Creature is a virtuoso portrait of a unique performer whose life and art are inextricably connected. Simon Moro—who never really existed, but should have—is one of the great comic/horrific figures of modern fiction, a man who prefers "the appalling to the appealing," and whose career stands as a testament to the subversive power of horror.

As you can see, this novel is right up my alley. It appears to be a roman a clef to some degree. The author wrote an article about the filming of Roger Corman's The Raven for some magazine or other. (I found it on-line somewhere but can't seem to find it now.) The director seems to be Cormanesque, the leading lady is named Hazel (like Hazel Court), and one character seems to be based to some extent on Vincent Price (although he is portrayed in a way very much unlike the real Price, if that makes any sense.) The author changes things enough to make it more than a fictionalization of real events. Simon Moro is physically nothing like Peter Lorre, and the novel is careful to state that he never appeared in a movie with Boris Karloff.