Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Tom,

Have you looked at these?

http://www.amazon.com/500-Kingdoms/lm/R3H5D8U5LQHSRF

I've read the first one and it was pretty good. Although, nothing as dark as the above sounds. Lackey is a Fantasy writer.

BOb

Fractured fairy tales are my life and the Mercedes Lacky ones you mention are fun.The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly is dark and good. I also reccomend The Witch's Boy by Michael Gruber.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

As of late, I've become a sucker for revamped fairy tales.

An excellent graphic novel series that blends fairy tales with noir tropes is Frank Cammuso's Max Hamm, Fairy Tale Detective series. The author has a nifty website up with bonus art, including the original 6-page story which preceded the series, which you can read for free.

You might also want to look up P. Craig Russell's excellent The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde GN series and perhaps his Opera tales, if you haven't already, as well as Bryan Talbot's Alice in Sunderland which is a marvelous biographical deconstruction of Lewis Carroll's life, with many visual homages to other comic book art (there's an excellent après Tintin splash page that is worth the price of admission).

As for me, I finished Christopher Stasheff's The Warlock in Spite of Himself, which aside from the eye-rolling mild misogyny of that sort of patronizing old-school Boy's Own Adventure on Faux-Medieval Colony World style was a mildly fun read.

Then for a minor change of pace, moved on from pseudo-historical recreationist sf/fantasy to mytho-historical extrapolationist magical realism with Jo Graham's Black Ships, which was shortlisted for a Locus Best First Novel Award, which I have to say it definitely qualifies for.

The back blurb compares it to Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, but really, the MZB book that it brought to mind was The Firebrand: her retelling of the Trojan War from the POV of the doomed prophetess Kassandra*.

Black Ships is vaguely similar in having as its viewpoint character an oracle who serves as the Pythia, but this is more of an after-story, as in the aftermath of Troy, she accompanies the refugees on their way to try and find a new homeland.

Certain changes are made to the classical myth (which I'm not going to spoiler for you since the author uses the mythical "alternative" names {i.e. Alexandros for Paris} for people and places in order not to give away the story too quickly to people who aren't already very familiar with it).

Graham gives her reasons for that in the afterword, where she points out certain historical discrepancies in the myths that she decided to compensate for, by shifting those events to a time and place where they'd have been more "plausible" and make sense in the context of real history.

This book came with excellent extras: not only the author's historical notes and recommended sources, but also a glossary of people and terms, a bonus interview with the author in which she describes the inspiration for this book and her writing choices, and also a reading group guide. I must say that Orbit has done a very nice job.

Highly recommended if you like imaginative retellings of Greco-Roman myths which are reasonably historically-grounded in what little is known about the actual Bronze Age, especially books that come with substantive related extras.

I really liked this one and I'll be adding Graham to my list of authors to automatically check out at the library and buy her e-books if the story is good and the prices are right and there's a good Kobo coupon available.

* Fun fact: The Firebrand was the very first MZB book I ever read, which I sought specifically because it dealt with ancient proto-Greece/Rome†, and only read Mists and Darkover much, much later, which I gather is not the usual way for people to encounter her works, as most readers seem to have started with those first.

† A favourite time/place for which I can thank Asterix and Obelix for introducing me to.

[richvalle]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

† A favourite time/place for which I can thank Asterix and Obelix for introducing me to.

Hey, Asterix and Obelix! I lived in Belgium for a while when I was in High School and a teacher gave me one of the books as a birthday present. I've sense collected many of them and I still break them out from time to time to re-read them. Love those books though the binding seems to fail quickly on them.

rv

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Tom,

Have you looked at these?

http://www.amazon.com/500-Kingdoms/lm/R3H5D8U5LQHSRF

I've read the first one and it was pretty good. Although, nothing as dark as the above sounds. Lackey is a Fantasy writer.

BOb

Thanks, BOb. I just downloaded a sample of The Fairy Godmother (Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Book 1).

Yes, Return to Wonderland is very dark. Definitely not for kids.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

Fractured fairy tales are my life and the Mercedes Lacky ones you mention are fun.The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly is dark and good. I also reccomend The Witch's Boy by Michael Gruber.

Thanks for those recommendations, also. I downloaded a sample of The Book of Lost Things, but The Witch's Boy doesn't appear to be available as an ebook.

[bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

As of late, I've become a sucker for revamped fairy tales.

If you're into revamped fairy tales, you've GOT to read Gregory Maguire's books - Wicked, Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men (all from the Wizard of Oz), Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.

I wasn't as impressed by his more modern novel, The Last Queen of Heaven, but his fairy tale retellings are all great reads.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

An excellent graphic novel series that blends fairy tales with noir tropes is Frank Cammuso's Max Hamm, Fairy Tale Detective series. The author has a nifty website up with bonus art, including the original 6-page story which preceded the series, which you can read for free.

You might also want to look up P. Craig Russell's excellent The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde GN series and perhaps his Opera tales, if you haven't already, as well as Bryan Talbot's Alice in Sunderland which is a marvelous biographical deconstruction of Lewis Carroll's life, with many visual homages to other comic book art (there's an excellent après Tintin splash page that is worth the price of admission).

As for me, I finished Christopher Stasheff's The Warlock in Spite of Himself, which aside from the eye-rolling mild misogyny of that sort of patronizing old-school Boy's Own Adventure on Faux-Medieval Colony World style was a mildly fun read.

Then for a minor change of pace, moved on from pseudo-historical recreationist sf/fantasy to mytho-historical extrapolationist magical realism with Jo Graham's Black Ships, which was shortlisted for a Locus Best First Novel Award, which I have to say it definitely qualifies for.

The back blurb compares it to Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, but really, the MZB book that it brought to mind was The Firebrand: her retelling of the Trojan War from the POV of the doomed prophetess Kassandra*.

Black Ships is vaguely similar in having as its viewpoint character an oracle who serves as the Pythia, but this is more of an after-story, as in the aftermath of Troy, she accompanies the refugees on their way to try and find a new homeland.

Certain changes are made to the classical myth (which I'm not going to spoiler for you since the author uses the mythical "alternative" names {i.e. Alexandros for Paris} for people and places in order not to give away the story too quickly to people who aren't already very familiar with it).

Graham gives her reasons for that in the afterword, where she points out certain historical discrepancies in the myths that she decided to compensate for, by shifting those events to a time and place where they'd have been more "plausible" and make sense in the context of real history.

This book came with excellent extras: not only the author's historical notes and recommended sources, but also a glossary of people and terms, a bonus interview with the author in which she describes the inspiration for this book and her writing choices, and also a reading group guide. I must say that Orbit has done a very nice job.

Highly recommended if you like imaginative retellings of Greco-Roman myths which are reasonably historically-grounded in what little is known about the actual Bronze Age, especially books that come with substantive related extras.

I really liked this one and I'll be adding Graham to my list of authors to automatically check out at the library and buy her e-books if the story is good and the prices are right and there's a good Kobo coupon available.

* Fun fact: The Firebrand was the very first MZB book I ever read, which I sought specifically because it dealt with ancient proto-Greece/Rome†, and only read Mists and Darkover much, much later, which I gather is not the usual way for people to encounter her works, as most readers seem to have started with those first.

† A favourite time/place for which I can thank Asterix and Obelix for introducing me to.

The Frank Cammuso website is very well done. You've given me a lot of things to consider. Thanks.

[BearMountainBooks]

Revamped fairy tales: Jim C. Hines has a princess series (grown ones that kick butt.) I didn't care much for the series; his goblin stuff was much more my thing, BUT if you like retold fairy tales it might be worth a look. I confess that I don't like retold fairy tales and that was a large part of my problem with the Princess series. The writing and storytelling is solid and fun/funny.

[G_Pari]

Currently reading "Icons of American Popular Culture" - From P.T. Barnum to Jennifer Lopez.

Accounts of political debates, economic developments, and military conflicts are all staples of our history, but there is much more to the American story. This appealing book fills in another dimension by tracing the evolution of American popular culture over the past two centuries.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Thanks, BOb. I just downloaded a sample of The Fairy Godmother (Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Book 1).

Another rather good take on a fairy tale is Orson Scott Card's Enchantment.

[Crusader]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Another rather good take on a fairy tale is Orson Scott Card's Enchantment.

Enchantment?... Enchantment!!!

(Sorry, Dragon Age reference just had to do it!)

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The Complete Hammer's Slammers, Vol. 3 by David Drake

Two novels I've already read, and a new short story. Very Mil. Only a little SF. Still very good.

Next: A Mighty Fortress by David Weber

This has only just become available in the UK in ebook format. I have the previous three books in the series from before geographic restrictions became too restrictive, so it's nice to finally get this one.

The quality of the UK Kindle version leaves a little to be desired in terms of the graphics - the cover image has been clumsily done and has a white band of a couple of pixels at the bottom that shouldn't be there. The images inside are of low resolution and quality, not even making use of the full 63K any mobipocket image can have, let alone being sized for the Kindle screen and using the full 127K.

I can (& have) fixed these problems in my issue, but they shouldn't be there really. At least the text seems to be nicely formatted.

I pre-ordered this one, when it was sdiscounted to £5.59. It's now listed at £5.38. (& the paperback, which was at £5.66 is now showing as £5.03!)

But thanks to Amazon's pre-order price guarantee, I got charged only £4.68. At some point between when I ordered and today, Amazon must have been offering the Kindle version at that price.

[Aladyleyna]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

Do try Collins' Armadale and No Name as well!

Ah, okay, thanks! I'll see if I can find them.

[richvalle]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Two novels I've already read, and a new short story. Very Mil. Only a little SF. Still very good.

Next: A Mighty Fortress by David Weber

This has only just become available in the UK in ebook format. I have the previous three books in the series from before geographic restrictions became too restrictive, so it's nice to finally get this one.

The quality of the UK Kindle version leaves a little to be desired in terms of the graphics - the cover image has been clumsily done and has a white band of a couple of pixels at the bottom that shouldn't be there. The images inside are of low resolution and quality, not even making use of the full 63K any mobipocket image can have, let alone being sized for the Kindle screen and using the full 127K.

I can (& have) fixed these problems in my issue, but they shouldn't be there really. At least the text seems to be nicely formatted.

I pre-ordered this one, when it was sdiscounted to £5.59. It's now listed at £5.38. (& the paperback, which was at £5.66 is now showing as £5.03!)

But thanks to Amazon's pre-order price guarantee, I got charged only £4.68. At some point between when I ordered and today, Amazon must have been offering the Kindle version at that price.

I'm curious in how much you liked it. I like the series but I'm ready for it to end and was hoping it would in this book.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by richvalle

Hey, Asterix and Obelix! […] Love those books though the binding seems to fail quickly on them.

Maybe for your favourites which you consider "keepers" you might want to try the newer Orion hardback reprints which seem pretty sturdy with nice thicker paper quality (at least for the ones that I own)?

Myself, I'd love to get the deluxe collector's editions with bonus features reprints they've been doing, but those cost about 40 euros last I checked, and then there's shipping from France…

Anyway, to continue the vein of Greco-Roman recreation, read Jo Graham's Hand of Isis, a Cleopatra retelling in much the same vein as Black Ships.

This is where the Mists of Avalon comparison really begins to make sense, since like MZB's Avalon series, there's apparently a whole bunch of reincarnation going on, with people being connected by past lives which they don't remember, caught up in grand mythical cycles that replay themselves in slightly altered states with somewhat altered players.

Once again, the POV narrator Charmian is an oracular character, but this time she's untrained and only gets occasional prophetic flashes. Graham uses the harem notion to give Cleopatra two supporting half-sisters who work to protect her throughout her perilous ascension to power.

I rather liked this one, though not quite as much as Black Ships*. It was an interesting take on the Antony/Cleopatra/Caesar story, that was done specifically to be more sympathetic to Cleopatra, as Graham points out in her afterword that most period accounts of whom were written by her enemies.

Mind you, my impression of Cleopatra is indelibly shaped by Asterix and Cleopatra†, which presented her as a fairly competent ruler with "a very bad temper but a very pretty nose" who was more than a match for Caesar, rather than the scheming hanger-on with no impulse control who lucked into hanging on to the Great Man's toga-tails that an unfortunate number of high-profile modern portrayals have painted her as‡.

Highly recommended for people who like new takes on old stories having to do with ancient Greco-Roman culture and giving them a magical realism twist as well as a touch of humanization to grand historical figures. Once again, this comes with excellent extras in the form of author's historical notes and explanations, glossary of terms, bibliography for further reading, author interview and reading group guide.

It's a shame Orbit is an Agency imprint even in Canada, because if these were reasonably priced and couponable, I'd snap them up. As it is, I'll wait and see if they make it one of their Orbital Book Drop special promotions titles and in them meantime support the author by requesting her books at the library.

* Although this one does have the bonus of catering to my view that love triangles where the parties really do care for and respect and desire each other should end resolve themselves as threesomes.

† The bande déssinée, not the live-action version, though I should rewatch the animated adaptation sometime. And you should too, if only for the awesome sequence at the start where they explain how the film would look if they did it in Egyptian hieroglyphic dialogue.

‡ Y HELO THAR, Colleen McCullough. Though maybe she made up for that in Antony and Cleopatra, which I haven't read.