George MacDonald Fraser

Book of the Week: Flashman and the Mountain of Light.

Honestly, if you haven’t read the entire Flashman series already by George MacDonald Fraser you should start, and then get to Flashman and the Mountain of Light in your own sweet time. The Flashman novels are marvelous, and will also at the same time teach you a remarkable amount about 19th century Anglo-American history. They’re also guilty pleasures, largely because Sir Harry Flashman is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. Well, for you. He personally felt no guilt at all. But he was probably annoyed after this particular adventure…

And so, adieu to A Mountain Walked. Continue reading Book of the Week: Flashman and the Mountain of Light.

Book of the Week: “The Complete McAuslan.”

I am always finding books that I cannot believe that I have not yet recommended for Book of the Week yet… which is good, right? Means that I’m not about to run out yet. Well, this week’s is The Complete McAuslan, by George MacDonald Fraser. It’s the full collection of Fraser’s short stories – very lightly fictionalized – about a certain British junior officer’s time in service just after World War II: an officer who is not named McAuslan. No, Private McAuslan is his nemesis, or albatross, or curse, or… just read the stories, all right? You’ll howl with laughter, hopefully. Fair warning, though: the most absurd stuff? Probably all happened. That’s how these things go. Continue reading Book of the Week: “The Complete McAuslan.”

Ooh. Pretty new site, with pretty, old ships.

It’s called Age of Sail, and it looks like a historical blog discussing precisely that.

I came into Age of Sail fiction from the science fiction end of it, actually: reading S.M. Stirling and David Weber got me reading Patrick O’Brian and C.S Forester (I’m currently halfway through A&E’s Horatio Hornblower series, and enjoying it muchly). And then, of course, there’s George MacDonald Fraser’s The Pyrates, which is required reading for anybody who loves old Hollywood swashbucklers (and who doesn’t). So I guess I’m explaining why this is going on the blogroll…

Moe Lane

PS: OK, one last one: Naomi Novik. For all your “Napoleonic warfare novels with dragons added; only, and this is really important to note, adding the dragons doesn’t make the whole thing suck horribly, or indeed at all” needs.

Looking for something to read? (SM Stirling)

(Today’s writer: S.M. Stirling)

A lot of people love to hate this particular author – and, given his remarkable lack of suffer-fools-gladly, even by the standards of a genre where it’s practically a prerequisite for writing in it, it’s not entirely surprising – but it still remains true that Stirling’s a crackerjack writer. For this one, I’m just going to toss out a few authors & topics: if you’re already interested in any of them, check out the book associated with it.

That should get you started: fair warning; all of those are alternate history. I’m fond of the genre, you understand.