September 2018: Reading Thread

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hitmouse said:
Uncharacteristic for Vance in the lack of humour. There is I think an interesting comparison with Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy, which has a very similar plot but quite different execution. I think the Vance is better.
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Now that you mention it I don't remember any humour in Emphyrio, and when I think about it there is usually some humour somewhere in the books I've read, even if subtle/ironic.
I did enjoy the book though, even if I think he could have extended it by 30-40 pages to work the ending out more thoroughly. I don't think it was serialised before publication in book form, so there was no reason to keep it to a size that would fit serialisation. However, I suspect 1969 was just before the days of big advances: this might explain the relatively sudden ending.
I have yet to read much of Heinlein, so will bear Citizen in mind.
 
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Hugh said:
I did enjoy the book though, even if I think he could have extended it by 30-40 pages to work the ending out more thoroughly. I don't think it was serialised before publication in book form...
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Emphyrio was serialized -- I have the August 1969 issue of Fantastic, with the second of the two parts. (I got hold this issue for the sake of an essay on "Tolkien and Temperaments.")

1537544024319.png
 
The Surgeon’s Mate by Patrick O’Brian - another typically consistent offering in the Maturin, Aubrey series. A little more here.
Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement - an very good piece of very early hard science fiction, despite some major plot holes. More here.
The Mask of Ra by Paul Doherty - a good solid whodunit set in ancient Egypt. More here.

Indulge me a little here whilst I relate a little background to the last one. My mother, born in 1930, has always been fascinated with ancient Egypt and in 2001, when she was just into her seventies, I took her on an Egyptian holiday; cruise down the Nile with professional Egyptologist giving lectures, a week in the Winter Palace, the works. It was a dream for her, something she had never been able to afford, and not only was it fascinating for me as well but I also got enormous vicarious pleasure from her enjoyment. Anyway my mum has also always read science fiction (though now reads more fantasy) but generally we don't like quite the same style of SF, but she also loves historical fiction and this was a successful recommendation from her giving me my first, initially doubtful, foray into ancient Egyptian fiction. So thanks Mum! :D
 
Extollager said:
Emphyrio was serialized -- I have the August 1969 issue of Fantastic, with the second of the two parts. (I got hold this issue for the sake of an essay on "Tolkien and Temperaments.")

View attachment 47067
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Ah! How wonderful! I stand corrected! I think this explains the relatively sudden ending.
 
dask said:
Great cover, sense of wonder inducing lineup. Which one of these all stars wrote the essay?
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None of 'em. "Tolkien and Temperaments" is by Bill Meyers, reprinted from a fanzine, and introduced by editor Ted White.
 
Hugh said:
Now that you mention it I don't remember any humour in Emphyrio, and when I think about it there is usually some humour somewhere in the books I've read, even if subtle/ironic.
I did enjoy the book though, even if I think he could have extended it by 30-40 pages to work the ending out more thoroughly. I don't think it was serialised before publication in book form, so there was no reason to keep it to a size that would fit serialisation. However, I suspect 1969 was just before the days of big advances: this might explain the relatively sudden ending.
I have yet to read much of Heinlein, so will bear Citizen in mind.
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you haven't read much of Heinlein? WHY? the guy pratically invented syfy lolo and don't talk to me of asimov
 
tobl said:
horror? really? what, the news are not enough?
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You have to escape the news somehow.

I'm currently reading Final Girls by Riley Sager. Quite good mystery/homage to slasher films.



Randy M.
 
Randy M. said:
That could be fascinating. I'll be interested in hearing what you think.

Randy M.
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I am about halfway through. So far it's a pretty straightforward autobiography, from infancy, through early radio, record, and TV successes, and mostly dealing with his work in advertising. (The same pattern keeps happening. Client has a product with a problem, Freberg comes up with an advertising campaign which makes fun of the problem, even though everybody in the advertising business tells him it won't work, the client does it anyway, sales go way up.)
 
One of the great satirists of modern times.

Here's some basic information:

Stan Freberg - Wikipedia

Maybe most of his brilliant work is too old for most people nowadays.

The puppet show, supposedly for kids, but which adults (including Albert Einstein) loved, Time for Beany.

The many hit comedy records: John and Marsha (all the dialogue consists of those two names said in different ways), St. George and the Dragonet (obviously a spoof of Dragnet), Wun'erful, Wun'erful! (a devastating parody of Lawrence Welk), and many more.

Tons of hilarious radio and television commercials.

Here's one of his most famous, award-winning commercials:



Here's an animated version of his record "Banana Boat (Day-O)":

 
tobl said:
you haven't read much of Heinlein? WHY? the guy pratically invented syfy lolo and don't talk to me of asimov
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Is there a Heinlein you’d particularly recommend?

I only returned to reading SFF seriously a few years ago and began by reading a number of pre-1975 anthologies (ended up reading around 140), mainly best-of-year, to get a sense of who I actually wanted to spend time reading. These included just thirteen Heinlein short stories though I also read “Grumbles from the Grave”. In my previous reading phase in the 60s/early 70s I did enjoy “Stranger in a Strange Land”, and “Glory Road” but found “I Will Fear No Evil” extremely tedious. I probably read several of his early works but don’t remember them.
 
Hugh said:
Is there a Heinlein you’d particularly recommend?

I only returned to reading SFF seriously a few years ago and began by reading a number of pre-1975 anthologies (ended up reading around 140) to get a sense of who I actually wanted to spend time reading. These included just thirteen Heinlein short stories though I also read “Grumbles from the Grave”. In my previous reading phase in the 60s/early 70s I did enjoy “Stranger in a Strange Land”, and “Glory Road” but found “I Will Fear No Evil” extremely tedious. I probably read several of his early works but don’t remember them.
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that depends on your personal taste:
is two best works for me are stranger in a strange land and starship troopers.
then there are a lot of books like citizen of the galaxy or double star that are quite fun.
there are also several books in the lazarus long section with some of the same characters in most of them.personally i think that long is heinlein lolo there are also the juveniles adventures like have spacesuit will travel.
here: Robert Heinlein
there are sites on the net discussing the order of the series and which books are part of. have fun
 
tobl said:
that depends on your personal taste:
is two best works for me are stranger in a strange land and starship troopers.
then there are a lot of books like citizen of the galaxy or double star that are quite fun.
there are also several books in the lazarus long section with some of the same characters in most of them.personally i think that long is heinlein lolo there are also the juveniles adventures like have spacesuit will travel.
here: Robert Heinlein
there are sites on the net discussing the order of the series and which books are part of. have fun
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Many thanks.
 
My favorite is "Have Spacesuit Will Travel."
 
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