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

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I may have to check that out too. I'm not reading a ton of SF/F these days. And the details surrounding the loss of the Fitzgerald have always been near and dear. Thanks!

John U. Bacon is a plagiarist. It’s one of those situations where I can’t help taking a moral stand, as in, never, never, never.

Just to be clear: I have a long list of plagiarists whose books I’d never, ever read and they include such luminaries as Doris Kearns Goodwin and Stephen Ambrose.

[John F]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm in a bit of a choosing funk right now. Someone suggest something for me, please. Preferably not part of a series and preferably available as an audiobook. Other than that, the sky's the limit.

How about The Good Lord Bird by James McBride. I really enjoyed it, but that may be because I watched the TV series first.

[bizzybody]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I love WWII fiction, I'll be checking these out.

How about alternate history? Most WW2 fiction also tends to fall into that too.

There's The Seventh Carrier series by Peter Albano

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...eventh-carrier

The Yonaga, a Japanese aircraft carrier built on the converted 4th ship of the Yamato Class battleships (IRL there were only 3, Yamato and Musashi completed as battleships, the third was completed as the carrier Shinano), got stuck behind a glacier in her secret Alaskan port for 42 years. Finally breaking out in 1983, her crew is determined to carry out their orders - attack Pearl Harbor.

I've not read the other 10 books in the series. I read the first book years ago and it turned out to be pretty good, despite the premise of a huge ship somehow being hidden in Alaska for 42 years - getting missed by aircraft doing weather observations, searching for sites for oil drilling and mining, hunters, Inuit tribes, then by the late 70's missed by weather and mapping satellites.

The book was in part inspired by the Japanese WW2 holdouts who surrendered at different times between December 1st, 1945 and December 18th, 1974. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_holdout

The last two confirmed holdouts had joined the Malayan Communist Party (along with some other men) after the war ended in 1945, only quitting in 1989 and returned to Japan in 1990.

It's highly unlikely there were any more after that as they would be getting up there in years, surviving in wild and harsh conditions if they didn't mix in with others like the ones who joined the Malayan or Chinese Communist parties.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by issybird

John U. Bacon is a plagiarist. It’s one of those situations where I can’t help taking a moral stand, as in, never, never, never.

Can you give any more info so that I can make my own informed decision? It's just that a "John U. Bacon plagiarism" Google search returns nothing.

EDIT: Is it the title? Did he not get permission from Gordon Lightfoot's estate to use "The Gales of November" ?

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Can you give any more info so that I can make my own informed decision? It's just that a "John U. Bacon plagiarism" Google search returns nothing.

EDIT: Is it the title? Did he not get permission from Gordon Lightfoot's estate to use "The Gales of November" ?

FWIW, I try not to disagree with issybird about such things, but in this case, I think I must. I found the extensive acknowledgements section that included a wealth of primary sources compelling, and do not believe this is a work of plagiarism. Specifically, from that section wrt to the Gordon Lightfoot song and lyrics:

As Bruce Lynn* himself said at the podium on the forty-eighth anniversary of the sinking, “Were it not for the song, we probably wouldn’t be here.” The talented painter Mary Steele Gair connected me to the Gordon Lightfoot band, which resulted in many interviews with bassist Rick Haynes and drummer Barry Keane, who spelled out how “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” became an unexpected hit. My conversations with Elliot Lurie, songwriter and singer of “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl),” let me in on the creation of the Great Lakes sailors’ unofficial anthem. Michelle Ritter of Alfred Music helped me secure the rights to both for this book.

(Emphasis Mine)
*Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum Director

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Can you give any more info so that I can make my own informed decision? It's just that a "John U. Bacon plagiarism" Google search returns nothing.

EDIT: Is it the title? Did he not get permission from Gordon Lightfoot's estate to use "The Gales of November" ?

To be clear and it’s why I mentioned Ambrose and Kearns Goodwin, as far as I’m concerned, an author never transcends the taint of plagiarism. I’m not saying Bacon plagiarized in this book; however, he copiously plagiarized an earlier book about the explosion in Halifax during the Great War. To the extent of copying huge swaths of text from his major source with only minor changes in word choice and order.


Read about it here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=305617

I admit it’s something of a moral thingy for me.

ETA: You can jump to this post for an example:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...0&postcount=73

[DiapDealer]

Thanks! I'm not sure why I assumed the taint of plagiarism originated with this work. I'll take it all under advisement. I may look into the Michael Schumacher and Frederick Stonehouse works on the same subject before I make a decision on reading anything on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Fbone

The Man Who Saw Seconds by Alexander Boldizar. Action packed but ignore the social commentary. Locus award winner.

This got off to a great start, but then wandered a lot through the middle. Just too much exposition about the reasoning behind decisions being made, and the ramifications of those decisions. If you really need to explain the three-dimensional fictional chess being played (and you didn't need to for my sake, that's for sure) in such detail, then it sort of defeats the purpose. I wasn't crazy about the wrap-up either. Too much heavy-handed (not to mention last-minute and brusque) stubbing-out of hooks for future sequels.

Not a bad book overall. Just not one that wowed me.

[bcholfin]

I'm rereading Little, Big, by John Crowley, because I have the Incunabula anniversary edition and Crowley died a week or so ago.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

This got off to a great start, but then wandered a lot though the middle. Just too much exposition about the reasoning behind decisions being made, and the ramifications of those decisions. If you really need to explain the three-dimensional fictional chess being played (and you didn't need to for my sake, that's for sure) in such detail, then it sort of defeats the purpose. I wasn't crazy about the wrap-up either. Too much heavy-handed (not to mention last-minute and brusque) stubbing-out of hooks for future sequels.

Not a bad book overall. Just not one that wowed me.

Yeah, I thought the excess explanation may be off-putting. I skipped some of it.

Since the book is satirical, the commentary is probably to help explain the character's extreme actions. Not all people get it. We have the struggling, law-abiding family man battling an overly aggressive all-powerful nanny state willing to bomb Brooklyn and Canada. The anarchist lawyer is a bonus.

I suppose this book got me thinking on how far I would go to protect my family, myself and humanity.

[bizzybody]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Yeah, I thought the excess explanation may be off-putting. I skipped some of it.

Since the book is satirical, the commentary is probably to help explain the character's extreme actions. Not all people get it. We have the struggling, law-abiding family man battling an overly aggressive all-powerful nanny state willing to bomb Brooklyn and Canada. The anarchist lawyer is a bonus.

I suppose this book got me thinking on how far I would go to protect my family, myself and humanity.

Bomb Canada? (It's not a real country, anyway!) That song, performed by Robin Williams, was great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXeWT8CQ6uc

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by issybird

John U. Bacon is a plagiarist. It’s one of those situations where I can’t help taking a moral stand, as in, never, never, never.

Just to be clear: I have a long list of plagiarists whose books I’d never, ever read and they include such luminaries as Doris Kearns Goodwin and Stephen Ambrose.

I love a good academic grudge list. I've added these to my list.