I’m surprised that Larry Niven and Steven Barnes’ Dream Park hasn’t made the list yet. It pushes the right buttons: near-future, filk singing, and LARPing as a competitive sport. Good stuff, good stuff. And the sequels don’t suck, either.
And so, adieu to The Deed of Paksenarrion. Continue reading Book of the Week: Dream Park.
…until midnight tonight (I think). I picked it up, and it’s, well, different. It’s good, but it’s different. Short version: moon explodes, slo-mo end of life on Earth, desperate attempt to get viable human breeding population in space, and so forth. Good stuff, with very little ‘get tens of thousands of people up there’ romanticism – but it’s, well, different.
I keep using that word, I know. I’m trying to find a better one, I swear. Anyway, I’ve been reading all day, so there’s that.
The Deed of Paksenarrion is a compliation of a fantasy trilogy by Elizabeth Moon about one Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter. It is probably one of the best High Fantasy series ever written: unlike most other modern works in this genre (some of which are quite good, actually), Ms. Moon takes the tropes of High Fantasy quite seriously, and respects what they do and do not mean. There may be better books that try to imagine what it’s like to be a no-fooling paladin; but I can’t think of one, offhand.
And so, adieu to The Stand.
Masks of Nyarlathotep is one of the classic Call of Cthulhu scenarios, of course. It’s one of the buying for looking-at, rather than buying-for-playing: you know how it is. But it was bought with birthday money, so I don’t have to penny-pinch justify the purchase to myself.
…I wanted to finish that out by typing ‘neener neener:’ only, who am I neenering? Most of the people reading this aren’t really emotionally invested in what I should spend my Amazon birthday money on. Although modest suggestions welcome: I have a decent balance, and I’ve already pre-ordered all the SM Stirlings and Charlie Strosses and Harry Turtledoves that are coming out this year.
An old buddy of mine on Facebook linked to this:
Continue reading Dude makes a stab at reproducing ‘The Epic of Gilgamesh’ in Sumerian.
Although, I have to admit: Stephen King’s The Stand has a lot to answer for. More accurately, the expanded version does. The problem was not so much in the fact that King’s book about medieval Christianity (I’ve seen him cop to that, in those words) set in a post-apocalyptic America was reissued with all the previously-cut bits put back in. It’s that the book sold like even more hotcakes afterward, convincing the world that expanded versions of previous best-sellers were just what American literature needed. Alas, this was not true.
Still, the book itself is fantastic. In both versions. And, I suppose, in both meanings of the word.
And so, adieu to Lords and Ladies.
That special kind of dangerous where you start out at “Why, these used book prices are quite reasonable!” and end up with “Oh my God, I spent HOW MUCH?” The kind of danger that makes me reluctant to put up the link, because some of you might snipe my book choices before cash flow rejuvenates my bank account on Friday. But I’m putting up the link anyway, because I’m not a monster.
Unless you didn’t feel like dropping a bunch of money on out-of-print books that are otherwise going for quite a lot of money. Then maybe I am.
Moe Lane
PS: Nope, no affiliate fees on this one. This is all community service on my part.
…because nothing was added to this parody. This post has always existed in this exact fashion. And it always will.
— V-X (@robertnlee) March 17, 2017
I assume that most of you have read Terry Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies by now, but on the off chance that you haven’t: Terry Pratchett understood folklore. And he knew what lay behind the Victorian flower fairies and Tolkien’s mighty, yet noble Elves. Oh, my, yes, he knew.
So read it, if you haven’t.
And so, adieu to Bugs in the System.
You is a book by Greg Stolze that’s set in the Unknown Armies RPG universe. I got my copy via Kickstarter, but the book itself is now available for sale. I look forward to reading it this afternoon.
Also: as is hopefully obvious, I am an Amazon Associate: clicking that link and then shopping on Amazon gets me referral income at no cost to you, even if you don’t buy the clicked item. So if you’re looking for an easy way to support the site, there you go. And if you don’t want to support the site, well, the sites that you do want to support probably also have referral links, and they probably wouldn’t mind the extra income, either.
