Fictionados

Blog in use once again HMTP to be revised soon

2011-09-19T10:43:00.004-06:00

This is to announce that the readers of this blog can expect to see more frequent postings in the future. I have been neglecting this forum for quite some time. I read some of the old postings had realize the value of keeping some kind of record of opinion here.

Current status. We are out of synch. R.M. is doing some exploratory reading. He is tackling Gene Wolfe's ENDANGERED SPECIES. Next he will be reading Gene Wolfe's PIRATE FREEDOM. I read this independently and think it is worthy of the attention on the full membership of the Fictionados. Lastly he will be reading John Calvin Batchelor's THE PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF ANTARCTICA, one of the few unread survivors of the Great Purge.

I am trying to complete 1948, by Benny Morris. After that I will be moving on to Gene Wolfe's HOME FIRES, a book that R.M. read accidentally when he was supposed to be reading something else.

The HMTP is, of course, now out of synch. The reading now being done will necessitate a revision of the list. It will be updated soon after we decide what is to be the new priority. The update will reflect the status of the reading list after we have resynched.

D.E.

Word Counts GALILEO WAS WRONG Tops New List

2010-05-01T16:13:00.003-06:00

Update 05/01/10

Since we are currently reading a very weighty tome, I decided it was time to calculate just how long this book, THE GLORY AND THE DREAM, really is. I will also calculate some other books for comparison. The Method: [Number of Pages] x [Lines per page] x [Words per line] = Total words. The number of pages does not include the index, but does include all appendixes. Words per page are calculated by (1) Counting the number of lines per page. (2) Finding the average number of words per line by counting at least 100 words and dividing that number by the number of lines containing those 100+ words. (3) The calculated number should be considered a maximum (+ zero, - 5%). It does not try to account for illustrations, chapter breaks. I do try to choose a representative page when I count the 100 words. For example, Gene Wolfe utilizes a lot of dialog in his fiction. And since many of the conversations contain short sentences I try to include them in the count so as not to overestimate too greatly. This also means, that for books containing a lot of prose, like a Manchester or Churchill, I will look for a page that is typical for that type of work. The results indicate that not only is THE GLORY AND THE DREAM the longest (mundane) book we have read, it is the longest book we currently plan to read. Note that the King James Bible is the longest book I have ever read. An interesting thought is that we will be reading a THE GLORY AND THE DREAM in 3-5 months. Could we read the Bible that quickly?

Sungenis GALILEO WAS WRONG 905818 words
Kings James Bible - 788280 words. See King James Bible Statistics.
Manchester - Glory and the Dream - 1302 pages / 744449 words
Tolkein - Lord of the Rings - 1191 / 652965
Calvin - Institutes - 1521 / 648084
Wolfe - Book of the Long Sun - 1450 / 581318
Rothbard - Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought - 1039 / 523656
Wolfe - Book of the New Sun - 950 / 503737
Churchill - Memoirs of the Second World War - 1016 / 489021
Rothbard - Man Economy and State - 1369 / 479150
Shirrer - Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - 1147 / 461719
Durant - Reformation - 940 / 451826
Manchester - Last Lion - 883 / 436005
Manchester - Arms of Krupp - 833 / 427606
von Mises - Human Action - 881 / 419355
Brown - In the Beginning - 432 / 404509
Tooze - Wages of Destruction - 676 / 268912
Black - IBM and the Holocaust - 454 / 198700
Wolfe - An Evil Guest - 301 / 127444

Is there a one million word book out there? We should read it.

Update 04/24/09 I did a little research. Apparantly there is a 17 million word novel listed on Wikipedia. Many of these books listed are series. I have only included books that I consider to be one book or novel, even though some are spread over more than one volume; such a LOTR and TBNS.

Here is one man's list of some very long books. The quest is on for the mangest tome on the planet.

HMTP Synchronicity

2010-05-01T16:00:00.002-06:00

I haven't posted anything in a good long while, but now its time to get back on the horse. I have been doing a lot of exploratory reading lately. I do this often and sometimes the books find their way into the HMTP; but only after months of delay. I have been reading a book on GEOCENTRISM, and while it may sound like a waste of time, it has proved to be anything but. Books like this make it difficult to avoid becoming conspiratorial, when it comes to anything scientific or even religious.

So the HMTP has changed again. This time, though, more than one cause produced the effect. For one, we are faced with acquisition problems. Money is tight these days and the books we need are expensive, or scarce, so availability is a problem. The PPLD does not have the Geocentrism book and the Austrian Economics book had to be obtained through interlibrary loan. So, for two of the books we want to read, we only had one copy of each. Second, I read one of the books already and Rick finished the other. This makes for a disjointed discussion. We prefer to be reading the same book at the same time. Third, the Geocentrism book was so eye opening that Rick wants to read it immediately.

These different issues affected the HMTP so badly that there is simply no way for us to be reading the same books at the same time for the next several months. We, therefore, had to resort to creating two temporary reading lists, posted at the bottom of the HMTP page, to focus our efforts so that by early next year we will be back in sync.

So the HMTP list that you see isn’t much more than a general guideline for the actual reading that will be going on with members of the group. It will, however, allow any hangers on to keep up with our progress.

1302 Page Milestone THE GLORY AND THE DREAM

2009-08-21T20:27:00.003-06:00

Rick and I have both finished reading THE GLORY AND THE DREAM (TGATD) by William Manchester, his one thousand three hundred and two page opus on twentieth century American History. I am such a fan of Manchester that it required constant vigilance not to be seduced by his liberal slant. He can make the most egregious liberal policies seem beneficent. Having recently made the move to Austrian Economics, and not really understanding it at anything above the fundamental level, reading a Statist History was an exercise in caution. TGATD came out before the books that would cement his reputation for all time, namely THE LAST LION. I think that his political views became less overtly progressively later. In this book he wears his heart on his sleeve. For example, his brief portrait of Douglas MacArthur differs from his later extensive treatment in AMERICAN CAESAR. He went in to the MacArthur project as a hostile biographer but wrote a very sympathetic book. I would like to think that he came closer to reason later in life when he sets his gaze on the world forces that threaten America. Looking inward reveals too many warts and forces the writer to advance his agenda. I prefer to read Manchester when he is unequivocally on our side; when America is fighting for survival. Due to its brevity it lacks the depth of character that I have come to love in his biographies. Even at 750,000 words TGATD must be read as a mere glimpse of American life, and that with a pronounced liberal slant. But it filled in many gaps in my knowledge and for that I appreciate it.Nevertheless, Manchester's prose soars in many places.

Summer Doldrums

2009-06-30T09:18:00.003-06:00

The beautiful Summer weather has kept me from making any updates. This, and he continuing reading of THE GLORY AND THE DREAM, now in hiatus in between months three and four of the Pay Paul system, make for a slow news cycle. We will be discussing Morgan's MARKET FORCES at the next meeting on July 25th.

THE STEEL REMAINS by Richard K. Morgan review

2009-04-28T11:23:00.005-06:00

This Richard K. Morgan book is the opening volley of a trilogy. In it we are introduced to Ringil the Eskiath warrior; with some unseemly personal habits. But boy can he swing a sword. Ravensfriend, Ringil's sword, is of fine Kiriath steel, of which there are scant remains. He is the hero of Gallows Gap and the much vaunted blade slinger of his village. He is sent away on a mission by his mother, to rescue his cousin. This novel is the recounting of his mishaps along the way. The novel also tracks two other characters: Egar the Dragonbane, is one of Ringil's former comrades in arms and a leader of his clan. He has made one too many enemies, his brothers, and finds it best to leave when magical forces rescue him, by killing his brothers. The third member of Ringil's troika is Archeth, a female Kiriath half-breed. All are united in the end for a fending off of the dreaded Dwenda, a humanoid alien race of dimension jumping, half-crazed, would-be world conquerors.

This book is best during the action sequences, of which there are many. Morgan's forte is in recounting the violent exploits of his more misogynous characters such as Ringil, and Takeshi Kovacs. I found some of the early sequences so unfamiliar that I could not easily track the story. And it took me about half of the book to latch onto the plot. But once it got going it was quite good. It is difficult to judge this novel since it is clearly just the introduction to a broader story. My opinion of it will either be elevated by the sequels or lowered by them. I could recommend it to you if you like Sword-and-Sorcery books like Conan. But if you are looking for Tolkien, beware. This book is rated NC-17. So, as it stands after reading only the first, THE STEEL REMAINS gets an OPTCS rating of 65567.

Word Counts

2009-04-22T15:42:00.005-06:00

Since we are currently reading a very weighty tome, I decided it was time to calculate just how long this book, THE GLORY AND THE DREAM, really is. I will also calculate some other books for comparison.

The Method:
[Number of Pages] x [Lines per page] x [Words per line] = Total words.

The number of pages does not include the index, but does include all appendixes.
Words per page are calculated by
(1) Counting the number of lines per page.
(2) Finding the average number of words per line by counting at least 100 words and dividing that number by the number of lines containing those 100+ words.
(3) The calculated number should be considered a maximum (+ zero, - 5%). It does not try to account for illustrations, chapter breaks. I do try to choose a representative page when I count the 100 words. For example, Gene Wolfe utilizes a lot of dialog in his fiction. And since many of the conversations contain short sentences I try to include them in the count so as not to overestimate too greatly. This also means, that for books containing a lot of prose, like a Manchester or Churchill, I will look for a page that is typical for that type of work.

The results indicate that not only is THE GLORY AND THE DREAM the longest (mundane) book we have read, it is the longest book we currently plan to read. Note that the King James Bible is the longest book I have ever read. An interesting thought is that we will be reading a THE GLORY AND THE DREAM in 3-5 months. Could we read the Bible that quickly?

Kings James Bible - 788280 words. See King James Bible Statistics.

Manchester - Glory and the Dream - 1302 pages / 744449 words

Tolkein - Lord of the Rings - 1191 / 652965

Calvin - Institutes - 1521 / 648084

Wolfe - Book of the Long Sun - 1450 / 581318

Rothbard - Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought - 1039 / 523656

Wolfe - Book of the New Sun - 950 / 503737

Churchill - Memoirs of the Second World War - 1016 / 489021

Rothbard - Man Economy and State - 1369 / 479150

Shirrer - Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - 1147 / 461719

Durant - Reformation - 940 / 451826

Manchester - Last Lion - 883 / 436005

Manchester - Arms of Krupp - 833 / 427606

von Mises - Human Action - 881 / 419355

Brown - In the Beginning - 432 / 404509

Tooze - Wages of Destruction - 676 / 268912

Black - IBM and the Holocaust - 454 / 198700

Wolfe - An Evil Guest - 301 / 127444

Is there a one million word book out there? We should read it.

Update 04/24/09
I did a little research. Apparantly there is a 17 million word novel listed on Wikipedia.
Many of these books listed are series. I have only included books that I consider to be one book or novel, even though some are spread over more than one volume; such a LOTR and TBNS.

Here is one man's list of some very long books. The quest is on for the mangest tome on the planet.

Austrian Curricula Approved

2009-04-22T09:24:00.002-06:00

We have officially altered the HMTP to include several Austrian Economics books.

Austrian School of Economics Alters the HMTP

2009-03-31T16:36:00.003-06:00

The Central Planning Committee has recently discovered Austrian Economics. We feel we need to play catch-up. As a result, the HMTP has been modified to include the Austrian Economics texts that we deem to bee most educational. I have posted the proposed additions as revision 8.8, but since this is a radical change, I have retained the post of revision 8.7 in case we decide we are not yet ready for such an aggressive program.

HMTP Updates & DEATHCLOCK

2009-03-24T10:07:00.006-06:00

The HMTP has suffered a few afterchocks from the emergency caused by news of a local visit by author Thomas Woods. (1) As a result, the book MELTDOWN has been inserted right in the middle of THE GLORY AND THE DREAM Pay Paul schedule. (2) The two volume Murray N. Rothbard set on economics has also been added. It, too, will be read on a three-way-split Pay Paul schedule. Maybe we should call it a Pay Ron Paul system; since Ron Paul is of the Austrian school. (3) Lastly, since it took us longer to get through HERE I STAND and IN THE BEGINNING than anticipated, I have corrected the month-book alignment to make us match the current reality.

The HMTP now extends out to November 2017; still years away from the Deathclock limit. Speaking of which: there is another site whereby you can include 22 risk factors into your life expectancy date. I haven't done the math yet but it might be enlightening. Here is a diffenent take on death prediction that you may find amusing.

Murray N. Rothbard AUSTRIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT

2009-03-24T09:33:00.004-06:00

Next to be added to the HMTP will be Murray N. Rothbard's two volume magum opus ECONOMIC THOUGHT BEFORE ADAM SMITH and CLASSICAL ECONOMICS. These represent his AUSTRIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT. The two volumes total 1084 pages.

They are now available free online, from the Ludwig von Mises Institute, in PDF form. This online version may prove a useful search tool, but I plan to read them in print form. The printed word causes me less eye strain, and I prefer the heft of a good book to a TFT screen any day. This is, however, a low cost option.

The hardback edition is only $47. And the leather edition is only $110.

The Ludwig von Mises Institute publishes many books on the subject of Free Market Economics. Look at their Ten Must Haves.

MELTDOWN by Thomas Woods

2009-03-17T07:23:00.006-06:00

STOP THE PRESSES

We had already agreed to read MELTDOWN by Thomas Woods as a primer to the Austrian School of economics but had not settled on a date. Recent information has come to light that places the reading of this book into a high priority:

Author Thomas Woods is coming to town in early April.

This new development necessitates that we try to read the book before going to see him in person. This may be a seismic disturbance for the HMTP but I think the situation demands that we do this.

Update [03/17/09 9:05 am]:
Thomas Woods, of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, will be in Colorado Springs April 4th, at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort as part of a seminar titled, "The Great Depression: What We Can Learn From It Today;" sponsored by the Limited Government Forum of Colorado Springs. This event costs $75. I had been told that a lunch with Thomas Woods would be held on April 3rd, and that it was free, but my source may have had the wrong date. Stay tuned.

Click this link if you want to know more About Thomas Woods. He has a favorable view of the Roman Catholic influence on the free market.

Film at eleven.

Blade Runner x 5

2009-02-18T15:50:00.002-07:00

Keith and I took the opportunity of my infirmity and his unemployment to spend an entire day watching the special Blu-Ray edition of BLADE RUNNER. The set consists of five (5) versions of the film. After viewing all versions (those with short attention spans don't try this at home) we were able to discern several minor differences. I won't list them here, but suffice to say, the differences were enough for us to form opinions about the versions. Keith preferred the last FINAL CUT version, mainly because it corrected all the continuity problems. I prefered the INTERNATIONAL VERSION because it retained the nostalgic Deckard voice-over and kept the Shining ending, and because it looked the best on 1080p. I still think Deckard is a Replicant.

100 Best Lists

2009-02-18T15:38:00.004-07:00

We are currently reading Walt Brown"s IN THE BEGINNING. In his end notes, he cites several books that may be of interest. One in particular, Thomas S. Kuhn's THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS, looks intriguing. Dr. Brown mentioned that Kuhn's book was listed in two lists of "The 100 Best Nonfiction Books." These lists may be good sources to mine for books that need to be on the HMTP. The Modern Library has one such list. The National Review has another.

Buffet My Body

2009-01-05T13:52:00.004-07:00

In February we will enter our seventeenth year as an active reading group. And, while the number seventeen holds no special significance for us, we feel the need to commemorate the occasion. Serendipitously, it has become known to us that a certain local eatery, Country Buffet, will allow patrons to pay for Breakfast, and stay for Lunch and Dinner. This sounds like a challenge worthy of the Fictionados. So, sometime in the year 2009, we plan to convene at Country Buffet at 8: 00 AM, and adjourn at 8:00 PM, eating three meals and holding a marathon discussion session. Other activities will be needed, of course: I have in mind showing a movie on a laptop, playing a few games, getting up and walking around once every hour or so, etc. I am not sure just how discrete we will need to be with the staff, but I am sure we can pull it off. This will be the one event you dare not miss. Maybe there will even be a T-shirt. The more I think about this, the more I like it. Start training now.

1 Cor 9:27 Amplified Bible
But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].

HMTP Unchanged

2009-01-05T13:40:00.002-07:00

Since we have taken delivery of Walt Brown's 8th edition of IN THE BEGINNING there is no need to implement the suggested changes to the HMTP. So, for the near future, we will follow it as it stands. Note that GOSSAMER ODYSSEY now occupies the, formerly reserved, slot on August 2009. Should the new Morgan book be delayed we will need a quick replacement, but reading THE GLORY AND THE DREAM, under the Pay Paul system, needs to commence as planned.

JUGGLER OF WORLDS by Niven and Lerner

2009-01-05T13:22:00.003-07:00

I have completed JUGGLER OF WORLDS. by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner. I can only recommend this to Known Space fans. It is more enjoyable than FLEET OF WORLDS, because of the strong connection to Known Space characters and situations. The high point of this book is the new character Sigmund Ausfaller, an ARM agent, and a true paranoid. His paranoia fuels his deductive reasoning powers. If RINGWORLD can be said to be driven by The Luck of Teela Brown, then JUGGLER OF WORLDS is driven by The Paranoia of Sigmund Ausfaller. In all, JUGGLER provides much to satisfy the fan: We get to meet Carlos Wu, and see Beowulf Shaeffer in some of his fabled adventures, including the race to the galactic core explosion. Nessus again figures prominently in the story. We see Puppeteers in all their manipulating expertise, and even see them beat at their own game by Ausfaller. But ultimately, the book succumbs to the fate of all prequels: it must tread lightly lest it exceed the parameters of the sequels. I expected this going in and so was not let down when it happened. JUGGLER did provide me with a fond recollection of the other Known Space books, and that was all I was looking for. If that is what you expect, then you may enjoy this book also.

THE WAGES OF DESTRUCTION by Adam Tooze

2008-12-29T13:44:00.002-07:00

Here is a book that appears to be right up our alley. I picked up a copy at a used bookstore this weekend. Check out the reviews. We have always been interested in finding the reasons behind the Nazi phenomenon. This book gives the economic motivations for WWII. And by all accounts, it is well written.

GAEA Series at Audible.com

2008-12-10T13:29:00.003-07:00

GAEA has been wired for sound. Yes that means that TITAN, WIZARD and DEMON are now audio books. Also making the transition to audio are THE OPHIUCHI HOTLINE, THE PERSISTENCE OF VISION and PRESS ENTER.

Some of Robert Sawyer's books can be found there as well. Sawyer's FLASHFORWARD has been optioned for an ABC series pilot. Stay tuned...

Some other authors of note that have audio books from the same site:
Philip K. Dick and Larry Niven.

All these are at Audible.com. It looks to be an iTunes clone MP3 download subscription site. I haven't tried it yet, but now that Varley is available, I may have to.

AN EVIL GUEST, Magic Right Before Your Very Eyes

2008-12-01T15:34:00.006-07:00

We met to discuss Gene Wolfe's AN EVIL GUEST. Both Rick and I loved this book in the same way. I will make an analogy to try to convey the feeling I got while reading AEG. In the world of stage magic there are the illusionists like David Copperfield and Harry Blackstone. These guys saw women in half, and make elephants disappear. Then there are the street magicians like Chris Angel and David Blane who, on TV, seem to do the impossible. But in both these cases the effects are often so large and incomprehensible that the fan can't even begin to speculate how the trick was done, and we chalk it up to a mere gimmick. Finally, in this analogy, there are the close-up magicians, who do no more than guess your card or make a lit cigarette appear from their mouth. They do simple things, but they do them right before your eyes. The best of them, like Teller, do not even make sharp distracting gestures to befuddle their audience. This is Gene Wolfe in AEG. He tells a simple story, populates it with real people, and, right before your very eyes, makes it fascinating. No tricks, no smoke, no mirrors. He even deliberately tosses away some cool SF gadgets that would be the main attraction in some Hard Science Fiction Sense-of-Wonder novels, but here they are plainly window dressing. Wolfe's skill is doing the impossibly difficult task of holding my interest without any flash. Clearly he has superior insights on how to string words together that make me feel like english is a second language. And most maddening of all? You can read the words over again and still can't see how its done. Magic.

FROM COLONY TO SUPERPOWER by George C. Herring

2008-12-01T15:07:00.003-07:00

Rick is recommending a history book for the HMTP: FROM COLONY TO SUPERPOWER: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776, by George C. Herring. This is a 1000 page tome that appears to fit in with our other studies. I am especially thinking that it may help us understand why the U. S. became so influential; something I have been pondering ever since reading GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL. The reviews on Amazon are mixed, but there is enough there to let me know that even those who fault it for historical accuracy in a few places, compliment it for prose style. The fluidity of prose has become increasingly more important to me now that I have been spoiled by William Manchester.

THE FAILURE FACTORY, August 2009?

2008-11-14T07:13:00.004-07:00

We have a slot to fill in August 2009. The color scheme on the HMTP indicates that this slot should be filled with a non-fiction book. I have begun to seek possible candidates; the first one is below:

The Failure Factory: How Unelected Bureaucrats, Liberal Democrats, and Big Government Republicans Are Undermining America's Security and Leading Us to War, by Bill Gertz.

The title says it all. I think it would fit in nicely with the Conspiracy Theory track we began with THE CREATURE FROM JECKYL ISLAND and GUNS GERMS AND STEEL. It may provide important insight on how the world works. We already know where it is headed. This may help us understand how it may get there.

HMTP Updates & Corrections

2008-11-13T15:50:00.003-07:00

As promised, changes have been made to the HMTP:

1) August 2009 has been resored to the calender. No title has been slotted for this date.
2) HERE I STAND has been moved to Dec '08 and IN THE BEGINNING has been bumped to Jan '09.
3) The page counts for THE NEW ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES have been corrected to more closely balance the number of pages to read per month.
4) The RANKED LIST page has been updated to include AN EVIL GUEST.

IN THE BEGINNING Delayed

2008-11-13T07:01:00.002-07:00

CBD has notified me that the release date of IN THE BEGINNING by Walt Brown has been postponed, and that the book is now on back order. CBD now expects the book on 12/19/08.

Walt Brown's site still sates that they expect it to be released by late November. I do not think that this late November date accounts for the newly announced delay. November was the original expected date of release.

This will affect the HMTP. The discussion date for IN THE BEGINNING was scheduled for December 2008. In the short term, I propose that we drop HERE I STAND into the December slot and bump IN TH EBEGINNING out to January. We will then make a decision as to how far to postpone IN THE BEGINNING at the next meeting when more information may be available.

A Bird In Hand...
It seems that our desire to read the hottest releases is causing havock with our schedule. We had to delay AN EVIL GUEST DUE due to late delivery and had to adjust the tricky Pay Paul scheme for THE GLORY AND THE DREAM once already. In the future we may need to wait until we have the books in hand before we commit them to the HMTP schedule; or, at least, schedule new releases a few months after their expected dates.

AN EVIL GUEST by Gene Wolfe

2008-11-12T15:29:00.002-07:00

Once again I can say that I have read every Gene Wolfe novel. AN EVIL GUEST is written in the same silky prose that elevated PIRATE FREEDOM to such heights. I would place this among Wolfe's finest books. And by that I mean PEACE and THERE ARE DOORS. For me, Gene Wolfe is a different writer for each of his novels. For this one, he is a screenwriter for a 1940's light comedy. The dialog is witty and the characters engaging. As I was reading, I got to the point where I didn't care what happened next because I was enjoying the moment so much. I tried not to finish GUEST too fast, only reading one chapter a day, but then one day I read fifty pages, and today seventy. The book has one major fault: it is far too short. How I would love to still be reading it; to look forward to another chapter of Wolfe's prose streaming directly into my brain like a Tasp. But now, for lack of self-control, I have no more new Wolfe to read. But what fun it was while it lasted. I hesitate to recommend this book too highly, fearing that you will go out and read this book before you have waded through hundreds of other enjoyable books. This book will spoil your reading enjoyment of these other books, for it is so fine that you can never forget the feeling you had when you were reading it, and the lesser books will be diminished in your eyes. So, I recommend that you do not read this book. Go. Live your life, read other books, enjoy them. For me reading can now only be an exercise in futility, seeking to match the experience had while reading AN EVIL GUEST. For you it is not too late.

HERE I STAND by Roland H. Bainton

2008-11-10T13:21:00.003-07:00

I have finished HERE I STAND by Roland H. Bainton. Despite the fact that I had been anticipating reading more about Martin Luther, this book was very difficult for me. I never felt that I was in-sync with the author. It reads like it is a translation from the German; maybe it is. Every page seemed to take a real effort to complete; because of that, I did not enjoy this book. I learned far more about Luther, and think that I got a better feel for what he must have been like as a man, from Will Durant's THE REFORMATION. Bainton's book reads less like biography and more like history. I sensed a real detachment from the subject. Is there a better-written biography of Martin Luther that we might read?

Oct 2008 Action Items

2008-10-27T13:00:00.004-06:00

The last meeting produced a few action items:

1) Change the page counts for reading THE NEW ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES. The fist month has only 384 pages while month six has over 600 pages.

2) Add a FREE SPACE to August 2009 on the HMTP. To be reserved new discoveries.

THE GREAT ARC by John Keay

2008-10-27T12:51:00.003-06:00

We met last Saturday to discuss THE GREAT ARC. This is a fine book. It elevates what could have been a dull subject, the geographic survey of the Indian subcontinent, to a facinating look at the obsession of the men leading the project. The survey took fifty years and the lives of hundreds of men in malaria-infested jungles. But when it was done India became the most precisely charted region on the planet and we knew for certain that the highest mountain was Everest (pronounced EVE-rest). Recommended.

Deep Space Rumble IRONMAN

2008-09-23T11:47:00.004-06:00

The director missed a stellar opportunity at the end of this movie: During the closing scene press-conference, the Robert Downey Jr. character, Tony Stark, is asked a question whether he is the Ironman. He has been advised to deny the fact but he answers, "The truth is...I am Ironman," roll credits. What was missing (in the lacuna) was the Black Sabbath four beat kick drum intro to the song Ironman and a little Ozzy reverb on the words, "I am Ironman." It would have been perfect. Otherwise, this was an over-the-top, boy-wonder-genius comic book movie. I think the CGI special effects in this, and other recent Hollywood offerings, are too pervasive. I much prefer photo-real effects to the current tendency toward video-game-like rapid-fire effects. None the less, it is far better than the laughably pretentious Transformers.

Todd Mclaren reads OPENING ATLANTIS

2008-09-23T11:07:00.003-06:00

I, just today, finished listening to Harry Turtledove's OPENING ATLANTIS. I sought it out solely because Todd Mclaren is the narrator. As far as Turtledove books go this is the weakest I have experienced. But it is redeemed by the dulcet tones of Todd Mclaren. Again, Mclaren delivers a one-man-show that is a pleasure to listen to. My only regret is that the text did not provide enough foreign accents to showcase Mclaren's talent. I really like his portrayal of British Aristocrats, Frenchmen and Runaway Slaves. His characterization of these is spot on. Recommended for the narration, not the story.

Wolfe's AN EVIL GUEST Delivered

2008-09-23T11:05:00.001-06:00

Copies of Gene Wolfe's AN EVIL GUEST have arrived. If you ordered a copy, I have it ready for pick up.

New Sun Artwork - Terminus Est

2008-09-17T15:35:00.002-06:00

I stumbled across an artist's website (Abalkin) that contains some images from Gene Wolfe's THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN. The rendidtion of TERMINUS EST is well done. Also, look for the Land-Sat style aerial-view maps; very nice. (Click on the header)

DEFENDER OF THE REALM Rumors

2008-09-15T15:41:00.000-06:00

I came across a little tidbit concerning the last volume of William Manchester's THE LAST LION: DEFENDER OF THE REALM. You may read it on the Churchill Society of North Carolina web-site. Paul Reid is compiling the Manchester notes and completing the work. Bottom line: It is due to be published in 2008 0r early 2009.

HMTP Update Comments

2008-09-11T14:55:00.000-06:00

As I was thinking about changing the HMTP again, as posted below, I noticed that we are one month ahead of the schedule. And knowing that we cannot move the release date of THE STEEL REMAINS we have the opportunity to add yet another book before the start of THE GLORY AND THE DREAM. This is a fine chance to read the new 8th edition of Walt Brown's IN THE BEGINNING.

Morgan Books Pre-Ordered HTMP Affected

2008-09-09T15:25:00.003-06:00

I placed pre-orders (for all members that expressed interest) of Richard Morgan's THE STEEL REMAINS. It is due to be released on January 20, 2009. This late January release date may pose a problem with our planned February discussion date. Anticipating this situation, I propose that we change the discussion date for Roland H. Bainton's Martin Luther biography HERE I STAND from January 2010, to January, 2009. This will then allow us to preserve the planned "Pay Paul" three-month staggered reading plan for Manchester's THE GLORY AND THE DREAM, while also allowing us to dive into THE STEEL REMAINS as soon as it arrives.

HMTP Synchronization Problem

2008-08-30T08:23:00.003-06:00

Wolfe's AN EVIL GUEST is not due to be released until September 22nd. This presents a good problem. Our meeting will be on the 20th and we are supposed to begin reading GUEST immediately afterward. Somehow we have managed to gain time on the schedule, and are now about a month ahead! This never happens. We also have another consideration: Morgan's THE STEEL REMAINS will not be released until January. Since this release date is out of our control, this prevents us from simply shifting the HMTP downward. Also, the Morgan book is part of a carefully planned PAY PAUL scheme designed to buy precious time needed to read an unusually weighty tome. So, to preserve the PAY PAUL scheme, we need to keep THE GLORY AND THE DREAM sequence intact. I propose that we pull down a book, or books, scheduled later than THE GLORY AND THE DREAM to compensate for the current synchronization problem. We also have the option of adding a completely new book to the list to fill the open space.

John Keay THE GREAT ARC

2008-08-27T13:09:00.004-06:00

I did a little advance reading since I am still waiting for the Wolfe book to arrive. I finished John Keay's THE GREAT ARC, The Dramatic Tale of How India Was Mapped and Everest Named. This is a short (172 pages) book but fascinating, hearkening back to the days of the still expanding British empire. To India Englishmen would go to make their reputation. Some like Langton and Everest found their life's work. Keay tells of the incredible dangers, mostly from malaria, that these intrepid surveyors encountered and had to overcome to complete the task. The Great Trigonometrical Survey took the best years of Langton and Everest and the lives on hundreds of others, but in the end the India sub-continent was charted; ready for the machinations of bureaucracy the British Empire would soon subject it to. A fine read.

Roll Off IRON MAN

2008-08-25T08:25:00.009-06:00

Films that have extra scenes after the credits have finished rolling. I call this feature a ROLL OFF. Wikipedia calls these "Post-credit scenes," or "Stingers" or "Tags." There is a sire devoted to these called MovieStinger.com.

IRON MAN
After the credits Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury of Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D.) appears to announce to Ironman that there is a group of super-heroes fighting evil, called the Avenger Initiave, which he can now join.

A L I E N S
Sound of a facehugger scratching accross the floor of Ripley's escape shuttle.

BLADE TRINITY
Blade racing away in his black charger and a final credit: "Word."

PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN
The monkey steals a coin from the chest and becomes a skeleton in the moonlight, proving the curse is still in effect.

PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN 2
The monkey.

PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN 3
This has a great Roll-off of Elizabeth and her almost ten year-old son waiting for Will Turner to sail back into their lives after his stint as captain of the Flying Dutchman. They wait for the green flash of sunset to confirm his return from the dead. Pan to Elizabeth as green lights up her face, and her smile.

CONSTANTINE
Constantine at the grave of his sidekick, Chas. As he deposits his cigarette lighter on the tombstone, Chas resurrects as an angel, leaving John determined to make the cut this time around.

STEALTH
Pan down to the smouldering remains of Eddie to see the his eye light up.

Varley on Audio

2008-08-25T08:14:00.001-06:00

Varley's site announce that several of his books; TITAN, WAZARD, DEMON, OPHIUCHI HOTLINE; are being recorded as audio-books.

Anne Holmberg

2008-08-25T07:40:00.002-06:00

Writing that last review reminded me that the Fictionados were once honored to have a real writer amongst us. Anne Holmberg once participated in the group during the late 1990's. She is a published author of many Romance novels. She publishes under the pen name Anne Avery. I haven't heard from her for years. The last I heard she was moving to Hawaii for a hardship tour of duty. I always regret that we never read any of her Futuristics when she was part of our group. It was an opportunity lost. I always thought she was mining us for the mainstream-SF-reader's viewpoint to broaden her audience. Sadly, our tastes then were too narrow to even forray into the romance side of SF.

Anne, I pray you are doing well.

Larry Niven & Brenda Cooper BUILDING HARLEQUIN'S MOON

2008-08-25T07:20:00.003-06:00

After reading Varley's ROLLING THUNDER I was supposed to read Wolfe's AN EVIL GUEST but it has not yet arrived. I thought I would try the new Niven which has been sitting around for a while. The premise of world-building and the planned direction of an entire society toward the single end of manufacturing fuel for their grounded starship sounded like a great idea. I could not get past page 30. The stilted prose and wooden characters of the first section prevented me from continuing with the story. I know that Niven can do culture upheaval because his A GIFT FROM EARTH is solid. File this with Niven's only other bomb, SATURN'S RACE. This book doesn't even have the pull of a Harlequin romance for me. Unreadable. OPTCS 11111

Varley ROLLING THUNDER

2008-08-19T15:41:00.004-06:00

I just finished reading ROLLING THUNDER by John Varley. Film at eleven.

08/25/08 Update:
This, the third installment of the series that began with RED THUNDER, is a continuation of the ODTAA method of plot construction that also drove book two, BLUE THUNDER. Not my cup of tea. I very much liked RED THUNDER, and you can read my glowing review if you drill down into this blog (or at Amazon.com), but I found that BLUE and ROLLING left me wanting the great characters of RED. Sadly the protagonist Manny, of RED, is pretty much out of the picture and we have to make do with his kids and grand-children in the later books. The books are still very readable as Varley maintains his knack for smooth flow and logical sentance construction. It seems to me that Varley has latched onto this "Mantle of Heinlein" thing in a big way and, subsequently, abandoned the "Varleyesque" components of his 8-WORLDS and GAEA stories. His latest efforts demonstrate a fixation upon the teenage fantasy of the Heinlein juveniles that never captured my imagination even when I was a teenager. I know from reading MAMMOTH that the Varley of old still lives on, and that he is fully capable of writing the type of SF that put him at the top of the field. I think he has grown tired of SF and wants to break-out into something else. Read his blog and you will find scarce SF on his personal reading list. Maybe next year when W is out of office he will spend a little less effort trying to make a political difference and be able to focus on writing that great-American SF novel again. Whatever he comes out with I'll read eagerly because few writers have the potential to thrill like Varley. ROLLING THUNDER however is little more than a page-turner.

ROLLING THUNDER OPTCS 55447

Sept. 20th Meeting Announced

2008-08-11T15:51:00.002-06:00

We have tentatively planned the next meeting to be held on Spetember 20th. To be discussed will be Russ Humphery's STARLIGHT AND TIME and John Varley's ROLLING THUNDER.

HMTP Changes Implemented

2008-08-11T15:40:00.003-06:00

I have just updated the HMTP with the revisions discussed in the August 9th meeting. There are several major changes:

1) All Tim Powers books are now on the list.
2) All Gene Wolfe novels are now on the list.
3) Sherlock Holmes now starts on March 2010 (at the expense of Samual Delaney's DHALGREN which was moved to July 2015).
4) Thomas P.M. Barnett's THE PENTAGON'S NEW MAP has been added.
5) Micheal Behe's THE EDGE OF EVOLUTION has been added on June of 2009.
6) Walt Brown's 8th edition of a IN THE BEGINNING was inserted on October 2009.
7) The HMTP now extends out to May 2117.

August 9th Meeting Results

2008-08-11T08:26:00.003-06:00

The August 9th meeting was productive. Below is a summary of the decisions:

Agenda:
1) Tim Powers' DECLARE
[This is a great book showcasing Powers' knack for making the mundane seem creepy and the metaphysical regimented.]

2) Russell Humphreys STARLIGHT AND TIME
[We're glad someone out there has the brains to conceive of such a cosmology that both, fits with the Bible, and does not contradict the present understanding of the laws of physics. Bravo Humphreys!]

3) Is Powers an "important" author? If so, what next?
[Powers has demonstrated himself to be an important writer. Therefore, we shall be reading a lot more of his stuff starting with THREE DAYS TO NEVER then ON STRANGER TIDES.]

4) Preview of the Varley vs. Wolfe head-to-head contest.
[With the Varley book in hand this kicks off soon. Varley's last installment of the RED THUNDER series, RED LIGHTNING, was a bit of a let-down. I thought it was too juvenile. Maybe that was the intent, but it did not live up to the first installment. Wolfe's AN EVIL GUEST looks to be a return to the "difficult" Wolfe of old. I am anticipating it to be superb.]

5) Report-out on Wolfe's latest novels PIRATE FREEDOM and SOLDIER OF SIDON.
[Wolfe's PIRATE FREEDOM is tp be paired with Powers' ON STRANGER TIDES. This will be a matter-antimatter pairing of two seemingly similar pirate adventures.]

6) Should we try to read all of Wolfe's novels? We are already trying to read all of his story collections. The list of Wolfe novels not read by the group: PIRATE FREEDOM, OPERATION ARES, THE DEVIL IN A FOREST, CASTLEVIEW, FREE LIVE FREE, PANDORA BY HOLLY HOLANDER. Three others, SOLDIER OF THE MIST, SOLDIER OF ARETE and SOLDIER OF SIDON are already on the list.
[Yes we should try to read all of Wolfe's novels. This will be necessary for bragging rights in the nursing home. Besides, Wolfe is an important author.]

7) Walt Brown's 8th edition. (see above post)
[This needs to be read because Brown has a slant on things that no one else is writing about. And since he has come out with a major revision, he must have something new to say. But Behe's THE EDGE OF EVOLUTION will be read first since it has critical information useful to anyone engaged in the creation-evolution debate.]

8) Is it time for Sherlock?
[Not yet, but it may creep down the HMTP anyway just to give a sense of inevitability. The Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett video portrayals of the great Holmes will soon be available to the group on DVD for those seeking a total-immersion Sherlock experience.]

9) There is a dearth of non-fiction books at the top of the HMTP. Thoughts, concerns?
[No worries mate. These books will naturally make their way onto the list as our interest piques. And we are very interested.]

10) Richard K. Morgan's THE STEEL REMAINS is out in the UK. (see above post)
[Since the HMTP is so densly packed in the next few months we could not get to this book immediately anyway. We will wait for the US edition in January. Plus, its cheaper. Bonus!]

The HMTP will be updated soon to reflect these decisions.

Book 'em Danno. Murder one..

Todd Mclaren reads THE IMMORTALISTS

2008-08-08T09:19:00.003-06:00

As stated earlier, I intend to seek out the work of Todd Mclaren. His work performing ALTERED CARBON and BROKEN ANGELS was so stellar, I want to discover if Mclaren can elevate other books as he did those favorites of mine by Richard K. Morgan. The book THE IMMORTALISTS by David M. Friedman is a dual biography of Dr. Alexis Carrel and Charles Lindberg and is indeed made interesting by Mclaren's reading. As with the fiction books Mclaren again employs character accents for every quote. Each person gets his own voice. I cannot emphasize too strongly how much this enhances the listening experience.

This book is a revelation of a side of Charles Lindberg, of which I had no idea. Far more than the adventurer of his historical persona, Lindberg was a scientist studying the external animation of internal organs and political activist that was once enamoured with Nazi Germany, thinking it the salvation of Western Civilization. He later fought against the Third Reich, and came to see the West as the bane of human survival. He, too, came to have an understanding of mortality as superior to immortality. Nobel prize-winning, Dr. Alexis Carrel is included in the story because of his fundamental influence upon Lindberg, but the book primarilly concerns Lindberg.

I can recommend this book for its wide-ranging depiction of the famous Charles Lindberg and for Todd Mclaren's excellent reading.

The New Annotated DRACULA

2008-08-08T09:06:00.003-06:00

The editor of the New Annoteted Sherlock Holmes, Leslie S. Klinger, has done the same for Bram Stoker's DRACULA. It is due out in October 2008 for $26.37. I have two previous annotated versions of DRACULA and look forward to this edition. Each version puts a different slant on the material. I have come to admire the novel as a classic. In previous posts I have extolled the virtues of the audio-books version.

Richard Morgan THE STEEL REMAINS

2008-08-06T08:15:00.003-06:00

STOP THE PRESSES

Richard (K.) Morgan's latest novel THE STEEL REMAINS has just been released in the UK, by Golancz. It will not be released until January 20, 2009 here in the US. Decision time. Do we read it soonest?
Factors:
1) The Golancz edition will be the true first edition and as such more collectable. We did not opt for the true first edition of THE BLACK MAN (THIRTEEN).
2) Shipping from the UK will be $20 for two copies. The total, again for two copies, will be $57.99.
3) Shipping from Amazon (US) would be free. The total for two copies here will be $34.32, a savings of $23.67 or 40%.

HMTP in Technicolor

2008-08-05T14:29:00.004-06:00

I have begun to use color in the HMTP to designate different categories of books. At a glance, it is now immediately apparant what type of book you are looking at. This should help in planning future additions to the curricula. Note the old convention that the titles of fiction books are in COLOR and the non-fiction books are in BLACK. I have begun to deviate from this convention in some cases where the background color does not provide enough contrast with black to read easily. In general, if a book title does not have a background color the old convention will be vaild.

Walt Brown IN THE BEGINNING 8th Ed.

2008-07-28T14:45:00.010-06:00

Having just attended the three day "The Beginning and End of the Universe" conference here in town I am keen to read some more creation books. Fortuitously the very next book on the HMTP is Russ Humphrey's STARLIGHT AND TIME.

On a related note, Keith informs me that Walt Brown is coming out with a new revision of his creation compendium IN THE BEGINNING. The old 7th edition was 328 pages long. The new 8th edition now runs to 456 pages; 39% longer! This looks to me to be a revision worth reading. I plan to do so on my own. The group should consider doing the same. It is due to be released in August, 2008, and will sell for $29.95 on Amazon. Walt Brown's own site does not yet list the 8th edition for sale.

08/05/08 Update:
1) The CBD (ChristianBook.com) site shows that the 8th edition will be released on 10/22/08. Their price is $24.99.
2) Strangely, Amazon has changed their site to read that, instead of being "to-be-released," this book is "out of print."
3) Walt Brown's own site still does not offer the 8th edition for sale.

08/06/08 Update:
1) I received a reply from Walt Brown's CSC web-site:
Thanks for your email. We expect the 8th edition will be here in
October or November. I suggest you check our web site,
www.creationscience.com in October to see if you can order the book then. The 8th edition will have 120 more pages of material than is in
the 7th edition. It will retail for $29.95; shipping and handling will
be $5.00.

Fictionados Meeting Agenda for August 9th, 2008

2008-07-24T15:19:00.010-06:00

The next meeting will be held on August 9th at 5:00 pm Mountain Standard Time. Location to be distributed on a need to know basis, and on a more secure channel.

Agenda:
1) Tim Powers' DECLARE
2) Russell Humphreys STARLIGHT AND TIME
3) Is Powers an "important" author? If so, what next?
4) Preview of the Varley vs. Wolfe head-to-head contest.
5) Report-out on Wolfe's latest novels PIRATE FREEDOM and SOLDIER OF SIDON.
6) Should we try to read all of Wolfe's novels? We are already trying to read all of his story collections. The list of Wolfe novels not read by the group: PIRATE FREEDOM, OPERATION ARES, THE DEVIL IN A FOREST, CASTLEVIEW, FREE LIVE FREE, PANDORA BY HOLLY HOLANDER. Three others, SOLDIER OF THE MIST, SOLDIER OF ARETE and SOLDIER OF SIDON are already on the list.
7) Walt Brown's 8th edition. (see above post)
8) Is it time for Sherlock?
9) There is a dearth of non-fiction books at the top of the HMTP. Thoughts, concerns?
10) Richard K. Morgan's THE STEEL REMAINS is out in the UK. (see above post)

Be there, Aloha.

Gene Wolfe SOLDIER OF SIDON

2008-07-24T13:43:00.003-06:00

I have just finished Gene Wolfe's SOLDIER OF SIDON and can now rightly claim to have read all of his published novels. (His next one is due to be released in October). This "Latro" novel, like his recent PIRATE FREEDOM, is simply yet elegantly, told. The memory-lapse condition of the first-person narrator Latro, allows the reader to know more than the protagonist; a neat trick. Latro moves through a world where the ancient gods are real. He has been touched by one such god so that he does not remember as normal men do. Despite this considerable handicap Latro's upright character makes him many friends and even finds him a woman that loves him. I greatly enjoyed this novel. Every sentence streams off the page easily. The clarity of Wolfe's prose is a delight.

OPTCS 76678.

Tim Powers DECLARE

2008-07-15T09:35:00.002-06:00

I read through Tim Power's Kim Philby spy novel a second time. His ability to construct a very complicated, but entirely consistent, and bizarre story is vastly entertaining. This is a fine novel and is as much a love story as it is spy story and even more a supernatural mystery with its own unique rules. I have now read four of Powers' novels and all have been an experience I greatly enjoyed. This may qualify him as an important author, and will therefore require that we read more of his stuff. The novels I have read: THE ANUBIS GATES, LAST CALL, ON STRANGER TIDES and DECLARE.

OPTCS 99989

PAY PAUL Reading System

2008-06-03T14:34:00.005-06:00

After some consideration I have decided to rename the former "Floating Holiday" reading system to the "Pay Paul" system. The essential feature of this system is that it borrows time from adjacent months to accomodate the heavy time requirements needed when reading weighty tomes. The months being borrowed from will be light reading months. This built-in buffer will help avoid unplanned schedule slippage. The name comes from the old saw, "Borrow from Peter to pay Paul." This system can be seen in use on the HMTP for the books THE GLORY AND THE DREAM and THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH.

Gene Wolfe AN EVIL GUEST

2008-06-03T14:21:00.005-06:00

The forthcoming Gene Wolfe book AN EVIL GUEST has been added to the HMTP for October 2008. It is due to be released in October. I have also chosen to highlight the Gene Wolfe titles on the list to bring attention to our quest to read all of his published books. He has several short story collections that we have neglected but which, Lord willing, we will complete in due time.

To date I have read all but one Wolfe novel. I plan to remedy this lapse before October by completing SOLDIER OF SIDON. The Fictionados will be reading the entire Soldier Sequence at the end of 2010.

Schedule Change 05/24/08

2008-05-06T12:06:00.000-06:00

Due to a scheduling conflict the next meeting will be on May 24th. We will be discussing RINGWORLD and should be well into THE EUDAEMONIC PIE.

The HMTP has undergone a major revision. Note that two long books have been rescheduled unilizing the Floating Holoday method. Also note that I have moved down Wolfe"S SOLDIER sequence by five years. I felt that it was important to read them sooner since Wolfe has put out another installment recently, after a long hiatus.

Wolfe SOLDIER OF SIDON

2008-05-06T06:53:00.002-06:00

I learned from the Fly-cover of PIRATE that Wolfe has written "over two dozen novels." I count twenty-five. I have read all but one, SOLDIER OF SIDON, the third Latro novel. Now I must decide if I should re-read the other two SOLDIER books first (ideal) or read it soon to complete my Wolfe list (worthy goal). The Latro books are not scheduled on the HMTP until 2015. That decides it. I think I will be reading SIDON before Wolfe's new novel comes out in September. That way I will not fall too far behind.

Reading Systems

2008-05-05T11:23:00.002-06:00

The last post caused me to remember a musing I had about the different reading methods employed by various members: 1) Read exactly the minimum page-per-day count and finish on the last day. 2) Read more than the minimum. Finish two weeks early and squeeze in another book with the extra time. 3) Don't read anything until the last day and spend all Saturday reading so the book will be fresh on your mind. 4) Never start the book and try turn the discussion to something else. 5) Wait until after the meeting to determine from the discussion whether the book is worth your time. 6) Start the book early but also start reading four other books and get so side-tracked that you never finish the book for the club.

Floating Holiday Reading system

2008-05-05T11:04:00.003-06:00

Members note: The HMTP will be revised after the meeting this week. We will be adding the sequel to THE EUDAMONIC PIE titled THE PREDICTORS. Also Manchester's THE GLORY AND THE DREAM will find a place. This, and another weighty tome, Shirrer's THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH, will require some creative project management skills to avoid schedule slippage. We have learned that the 800+ page books present schedule problems that are not seen in the shorter books. Rick's 'system' claims to be a strict minimum page-per-day method, but in reality relies on weekends to catch up. And with the long books there just aren't enough weekends to ever recover the lost time. The new method will break the book into at least two months, with a short book inserted in the middle as a buffer. The long book can then borrow some weekends from the shorter one as a Floating Holiday.

This concept needs a better name. Ideas:
Pay Paul (Borrow from Peter to Pay Paul)
Skip Read

Wolfe PIRATE FREEDOM

2008-05-05T10:29:00.003-06:00

Gene Wolfe PIRATE FREEDOM. I just read this short novel and enjoyed it completely. Wolfe has the ability to seem like a different writer for each book. For this first person story, he comes off as a priest giving his fantastic confession knowing that the reader will never believe it. It is a tale of fancifull time-travel where a young novitiate is transported back to the days of Wooden Ships and Iron Men. Chris reluctantly becomes a pirate, falls in love, and has more excitement that Walter Mitty ever hoped for. This book is a kinder-gentler-Wolfe that readers of the '*Sun' books will not recognize. This book reads lightning fast. You will not stop to ponder how or why Chris is dropped into another world, for you will be having so much fun just following the story. This novel can be placed next to one of Wolfe's other light fantasies: PANDORA. Recommended. OPTCS 88698

Niven RINGWORLD

2008-04-22T13:25:00.002-06:00

RINGWORLD by Larry Niven. I count four readings of this classic. The sense-of-wonder may have dimmed a little with each pass but the sense-of-awe at Niven's creation is still as actinic as it was on the first pass. The venue of the Ringworld is the most jaw-dropping and daydream-inspiring place in all of science fiction. I am glad there are three more novels in the Ringworld sequence. Now that I have been back, I want to revisit the great arc. Niven has great characters and a firm grasp of plot, but his forte is letting his readers into his Playground of the Mind. Send your mind out to recess. Play in the Ringworld for a bit.

NOT BY CHANCE by Lee Spetner

2008-04-07T14:41:00.003-06:00

I read NOT BY CHANCE by Dr. Lee Spetner. He ably demonstrates the impossibility of neo-Darwinian evolution producing macro-evolutionary changes in organisms. While I learned a lot from this book, I think there are more important books out there that cover this same material.

Recommended.

THE EDGE OF EVOLUTION by Micheal Behe

2008-04-07T14:35:00.005-06:00

While I am at it I may as well record that I have recently read THE EDGE OF EVOLUTION by Michael Behe. This is Behe's follow-up book to the instrumental DARWIN'S BLACK BOX. In this new book Behe demonstrates, chiefly from studying Malaria, how far we can expect evolution to operate. The many thousands of generations of Malaria witnessed over the course of human history is proof that darwinian evolution is incapable of producing large changes. For example, Malaria has not been able to overcome the Sickle-Cell variant in humans, nor has it been able to adapt itself to cold climates.

He gives the example of the bacterial flagellum to demonstrate an organic system that is clearly beyond the edge of evolution. Go to the Protonic Nanomachine Project site for more information.

Very well written, replete with lucid examples. Highly recommended.

THE ELECT AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION by Charles Cooper

2008-04-07T14:22:00.003-06:00

I have completed THE ELECT AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION by Charles Cooper. This is a book of theology defending the Pre-Wrath Rapture view. In it he puts forth two ideas that merit further study:

(1) Jerusalem is the Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18.

(2) The conventional wisdom on the ancient Babylonian calendar is wrong; it incorporates kings of Chaldea and Babylon that reigned concurrently. The Bible correctly lists all the kings that should be included in the chronology. Using the Biblical list of Babylonian kings allows us to: (a) determine the start of Daniel's 70 weeks with the decree of Cyrus as the Biblical text naturally states; (b) include the crucifixion in the 69th week while the clock is still ticking. (c) date all prophecies not from some arbitrarily conceived modern calendar projected into the ancient past, but from the Biblical account commencing with the date of creation.

Facinating book. I will be re-reading it soon to glean more out of it.

THE YELLOW JERSEY by Ralph Hurne

2008-04-07T14:14:00.004-06:00

Today I finished reading THE YELLOW JERSEY by Ralph Hurne. It had crossed my path long ago, and I had wanted to read it because I am fond of The Tour de France. It is also billed as, "The greatest cycling novel ever written." As a cycling story it ends with a rousing sequence of events on the Tour. But as a novel, I found it to be preoccupied with one man's love life, or rather, his inability to find love despite rolling in the hay with hundereds of "birds." I am a little worse for wear after completing this book. I do not recommend it. OPTCS 45334

AMERICAN CAESAR by William Manchester

2008-03-20T12:00:00.002-06:00

I just turned the last page of William Manchester's AMERICAN CAESAR. It was quite moving to learn that Douglas MacArthur died on my seventh birthday. Manchester may be the best ever writer of non-fiction. He is the one writer that I take very few notes when reading. If I tried to document everything of interest I would be copying the entire book. This is another book that must be on the essential reading list.

Todd McLaren

2008-02-22T10:26:00.003-07:00

After having now listened to the first two Richard K. Morgan novels ALTERED CARBON, and BROKEN ANGELS on Tantor Audiobooks twice through, I have come to the realization that these are the best narrated books I have ever encountered. The narrator of both of these is Todd McLaren and he is fantastic. Every character he portrays is awarded a discinct voice and personality. McLaren goes far beyond good diction; so far so that the term "narration" falls short when describing his work on these two books. I would have to label McLaren's audio books as one-man-show dramatic performances. I intend to seek-out other books he has done regardless of the author.

Churchill T-shirt DEFENDER OF THE REALM

2008-01-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

Now you can wear a Winston Churchill T-shirt with the title of the forthcoming, posthumously published, final volume of William Manchester's biography. Click on the above link to see it.

YES to Resolution 653 T-Shirt now available

2008-01-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

I have just designed a T-shirt based on the one worn by Richard K. Morgan's character Kristin Orgega in the his novel ALTERED CARBON. The description of this T-shirt can be found at the opening of chapter 28:

"Ortega was standing in the doorway wearing a NO TO RESOLUTION 653 T-shirt on which the NO had been stylistically daubed out with a red cross and overwritten with a definitive YES in the same color."

If you visit the site using the title-link above you can determine how well I interpreted the text. Wearing this shirt will mystify those who haven't read ALTERED CARBON and is sure to elicit a grin from Richard K. Morgan's fans.

There are some other Richard K. Morgan T-shirts available: Kristin Ortega's other shirt "You have the right to remain silent, why don't you try it for a while." If you brouse through the many shirts on the S(t)igma Style site you will recognize several other Richard K. Morgan-inspired slogans, many are Quellist sayings.

RATE review.

2007-12-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

Today I finished reading RADIOISOTOPES AND THE AGE OF THE EARTH, Volume 2. Ed. by Larry Vardiman (et.al.). It was one of the most difficult books I have ever read, but not because I wasn't enjoying it. The subject matter was largely new to me and I had to really think to follow the arguments. The process of scientific experimentation is shown in all its mind-numbing detail. There are pages of descriptive material chronicling precisely how each mineral sample was collected, prepared and measured. This is more detail that I am accustomed to wade through, and I have a high tolerance for tedious tasks. The end result of all this data was important: Clear evidence for (1) large amounts of nuclear decay in the geologic record (daughter products, Polonium radio halos, fission tracks) and (2) evidences for accelerated decay (rapid Helium diffusion rates through Zircon, Isochron discordance, Carbon-14 even in diamonds). But the most impressive feature of this book was the reverence for the Biblical text. The researchers recognized the clear meaning of the creation account in Genesis and allowed that to determine the bounds of the time limit on the age of the earth to a mere 6000 to 10000 years. The RATE project has dropped the gauntlet on the view of Uniformitarianism that so dominates evolutionary thought. The RATE team has presented their case for a recent creation using reason and logic to interpret the facts. Critics will now have to rethink their old-earth arguments in light of this new data that is a serious blow to their concept of Deep Time. This book is a necessary read for anyone who considers himself a serious student of God's marvelous creation. It will help you understand a little more about the process God employed and therefore may provide you a little more understanding of the mind of God by studying His creation.

Christ Clone Trilogy Review

2007-12-13T04:39:00.001-07:00

I found a decent review of James BeauSeigneur's "The Christ Clone Trilogy." (Click on the link above). We will be discussing it in March of 2008. I am listening to the third volume now on audio cassette. I plan to post my own review later.

Babylon Potential seen in Abu Dhabi

2007-11-29T00:11:00.000-07:00

For those of you trying to keep up with Bible prophecy, I have a little item that might be significant: Babylon is mentioned as the financial center of the world in the book of Revelation, yet today that seems a very distant possibility. But look at the transformation that has taken place in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in just the past five years.

Richard K. Morgan News

2007-11-09T03:06:00.000-07:00

I learned from Morgan's site that THIRTEEN will have at least two sequels. Also he has a book to be released in August 2008 called THE STEEL REMAINS. The working title was LAND FIT FOR HEROES.

Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles

2007-11-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

Stop the presses.
FOX will air a new Sci-Fi series in January 2007 called Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. It follows the story of Sarah and John Conner between T2 and T3. It will air on monday nights along with 24. Of course, the ongoing writer's strike may put a damper on all the fun.

HMTP Update

2007-11-06T13:18:00.000-07:00

The HMTP and RANKED LIST have been updated on the Fictionados site. We have decided to read both RATE books back-to-back. I have also tried to distribute some of the future listings. It looks like we will need to find some more non-fiction to balance the list, so start looking.

T-shirt Methos Death on a Horse

2007-11-04T20:55:00.000-07:00

Here are my first attmpts to make T-shirts using on line software. If this works look for many book-related styles in the near future.

make custom gifts at Zazzle

Deep Space Rumble HIGHLANDER THE SOURCE

2007-10-20T05:51:00.000-06:00

Review of the movie HIGHLANDER: THE SOURCE. (2007)

As is frequently the case, the movie is not as strong as the TV series it was based on. The Highlander TV series is one of my favorites, and as such, I have a lot of time invested in watching and following the characters. A season of television shows provides the viewer with over twenty hours of story, and this series ran for six seasons; so Highlander fans can be said to be very familiar with the characters and the rules of the fantasy universe their characters live in, having invested over one hundred hours watching the show. The two hour movie format puts very different constraints on story telling than does a continuing episodic television series, and because of that often leaves the fans feeling cheated. It happened with Star Trek, with Mission Impossible. The curious difference is that Highlander started out as a decent motion picture and transitioned to a superior television series. It was not so successful making the jump back to the big screen. And the reason is not because the crew making the movies had changed; they were the same people that made the series. I speculate that the cause has more to do with the pressure to make a knock-your-socks-off blockbuster are just too great for any creative team to surmount.

Now on to HIGHLANDER: THE SOURCE. This movie had been released months age in Russia and many fans have expressed their disappointment on this Russian version. The studio has claimed that this Russian version was not the final cut and that the fans should reserve judgment until it was released in the USA. I watched a recording a friend of mine made from the SciFi Channel with my expectations lowered. I was sometimes entertained by the film, although the criticisms were largely borne out. I tried very hard to like it, but the only good thing I can say is that it allowed me to see some of my favorite characters from the series in a new adventure. The movie has little to commend itself on its own merits. Only derogatory things come to mind when describing this movie. The opening sequences, which set up the story, are shot so dark that it is difficult to see anything. Only the dialog lets you know that things are happening. There are two gratuitous vehicle explosions; one is a BMW product placement SUV that explodes from a burning log falling on it. Duncan MacLeod seems to be in another funk from losing his latest woman, a victim of his idealized notion of love. He is not the strong victor he needs to be this late in the game. Duncan and Methos have had yet another, undepicted, falling out. I miss the old camaraderie they used to have. To pit them at odds with each other was a big mistake. I had envisioned them side-by-side at the end of time. In this film they are mere shadows of their former selves.

The TV series had several elements that defined it and kept me watching. The contrasts with the movie are striking.

(1) The TV series featured the immortals as people affected by their past, and demonstrated these past influences by showing us flashbacks of the characters in pivotal moments in their earlier lives.
The movie THE SOURCE does not have such flashbacks; other than some back story for the new character The Guardian, for whom we have no invested emotions.

(2) The TV series always provided worthy opponents for the featured characters.
THE SOURCE movie character The Guardian is whimsical in comparison, and seems to be a misguided attempt at comic relief in an otherwise brooding story. The big problem for the movie is that The Guardian is also supposed to be the chief antagonist, and having him prance and caper about like a court jester detracts from his ability to seem menacing.

(3) The TV series showcased the sword-fighting ability of Adrian Paul, whose grace and style with a katana was the highlight of the show for many viewers. Like the aria of an opera, Paul's swordfight was the climax of the performance. Adrian Paul is so good with a sword that on the show he frequently made even inexperienced co-actors look like sword fighting experts.
The movie has Adrian fighting only with long knives, in a rapid arm-waving manner that is foreign to his forte with the katana. And the final fight scene is depicted in a staccato visual style that obliterates all the fluid motions of the fighters.

(4) The TV series had a sort of simple formula: a) The rules of the game were inviolate; some heads were going to roll. b) Duncan MacLeod always tried to make things right; even when it was inconvenient and risked his own head. c) Methos was a bad guy gone good. d) We all make mistakes, and Duncan learns from his; and we get to see his past lessons in flashbacks. e) The forces of the universe are not capricious, but with a purpose are moving things to and end, and that end will be good. f) "There can be only one, let it be Duncan MacLeod" meant that Duncan would always rise to the occasion and not slip into being an irrelevant non-combatant.

(5) The TV series is fondly memorable.
The movie THE SOURCE is uncomfortably insignificant.

The movie THE SOURCE seems to have lost its way. The back story of the importance of The Source is incomprehensible. The fate of the world seems to hang on the back of an insane malevolent Guardian defending a sand trap lit by cosmic rays from the center of the galaxy. Then when Duncan refuses to take his head, supposedly the object of the quest, nothing catastrophic happens. It is like the whole premise for the movie has been invalidated within the confines of the movie itself.
The previous four movies did sort of put this latest, and presumedly last, Highlander installment in a bind. Highlander 2 made it look like the immortals are extraterrestrials; so they felt justified in incorporating planetary alignment into the story. Highlander 3 forced a post-apocalyptic setting on the sequels. But even with those constraints this latest did not have to break new ground and go even farther over the top than the others. The creators certainly knew that this was their last-hurrah. It would have been better to go out strong, ignore the failed movie predecessors, and return to the formula that made the TV series great. Instead they have left us with a parting shot of Highlander in disarray. Well at least we still have the TV series to remind us how good Highlander can be.
This was planned as the first installment on a new trilogy. If the next two are produced perhaps they will elevate THE SOURCE from its current state of confusion. We can only hope. There can be only one. Let it be Duncan MacLeod!

TH1RTE3N by Richard K. Morgan

2007-10-13T02:36:00.001-06:00

Just reached the end of THIRTEEN by Richard K. Morgan. OPTCS: 08009. Strong characters frame this novel. Set in the same universe as the Kovacs books, but after MARKET FORCES, this is a much more conventional story: Genetic variant Carl Marsalis is the perennial outsider putting his life on the line for hire. But deep down he just wants to belong. When he meets Sevgi Ertekin he begins to fit in. The saga of Carl's bonding with Sevgi takes place over the course of a month during a manhunt for another genetically enhanced person. The solution to the mystery reveals a tangled web that comes upon the reader unexpectedly. There are many precursors to the Kovacs stories in this novel, and sometimes feels like a variation on the same theme; rugged highly trained assassin puts his skills to use in unexpected ways, and learns a few things about humanity and about himself. Another winner from Morgan.

Battlestar Galactica 1.0

2007-09-23T05:12:00.001-06:00

DEEP SPACE RUMBLE. The new Battlestar Galactica 1.0 is fantastic. I finished watching the first season. This is not a remake, it is a complete rebuild. I can think of no series that has better written stories. They have made the Cylons look like humans, and this alone adds a dynamic that elevates this series into the realm of great story telling. Complicate this with the tension between the civilian and military leaders of a civilization on the brink of extinction from a superior foe and you have movie magic. I recommed this highly. It is as good as Firefly or Star Trek The Next Generation. Watch it.

THE GOLDEN GLOBE

2007-09-23T03:15:00.001-06:00

I have just finished reading THE GOLDEN GLOBE by John Varley. This novel marks his first extensive use of flashbacks as a narrative device. Varley breaks the reader into the concept slowly, and handles the technique so deftly that there is never any confusion as to which parts are past, and which are present. It is interesting to realize that your mind places the story in chronological order regardless of the order in which the story segments were presented. Varley uses this to force the reader's mind to frequently revise the memory of the story as older pieces fall into place. This is a great book and deserves its place in my top ten. Varley is one of my favorites. Because of his proven ability to entertain and amaze, I automatically buy and read anything with his name on it. This novel is the second installment of his "Metal Trilogy;" The first was STEEL BEACH. The rumored third is reportedly to be titled IRONTOWN BLUES.

THE NEW TIME TRAVELERS by David Toomey

2007-09-01T04:09:00.001-06:00

I finished reading THE NEW TIME TRAVELERS by David Toomey. Although published in 2007, the physics of time-travel has not advanced much beyond that of Nahin's book TIME MACHINES. I found Toomey's book to be clearly written, and a good refresher on the subject. He delves into all the pertinent issues including "free-will," "causality violation," "paradoxes," and "quantum weirdness." Research into time-travel seems to be at a standstill pending a working theory of "quantum gravity." The book is an overview of the history of the concept of time-travel in the realm of theoretical physics. It is the most up to date work that I know of, and important for that reason.

Guten Morgan: Richard K. Morgan AUDIO

2007-08-25T06:12:00.000-06:00

I have now acquired the three Kovacs novels on audio CD. Rick and I are going to listen to them on the commute. I am toying with the idea of listening to each of them twice. I recall thinking, after reading each of these books, that I should turn right around and re-read them immediately. I didn't do that with any of them in print form, but now I may just give it a go on audio.

The first one ALTERED CARBON is narrated by Todd McLaren. He has just the right amount of sarcasm in his voice to pull off Kovacs. His inflection of female voices is also superb, never becoming comical, as some other male narrators are prone. I am five discs into this one, and it is great. I find myself laughing out loud in the car on nearly every scene. Morgan is a marvel.

"Guten Morgan" should be the official greeting of all Richerd K. Morgan fans, regardless the time of day.

CREATIVE DESTRUCTION

2007-08-25T06:02:00.000-06:00

I finished CREATIVE DESTRUCTION by Edward M. Lerner. I particualrly enjoyed the story "The Day of the RFids." Nice pun in the title, and a plausible extrapolation of the current RF-ID technology. Big Brother even in your socks.

The title story, "Creative Destruction," is also quite good. It is another take of the problems caused by an infucion of alien technology carried by radio beams. Think Ophuichi Hotline. I read this book to see if Niven had paired up with a writer of just someone to carry the water for him. Lerner is a writer that knows the basics of telling a story. And he manages to insert some cool science into it. The forthcoming book FLEET OF WORLDS promises to be a fine one.

THE PREDICTORS & FROM LANCE TO LANDIS

2007-08-24T05:09:00.001-06:00

I finished reading THE PREDICTORS by Thomas A. Bass. I also finished FROM LANCE TO LANDIS by David Walsh.

THE PREDICTORS is a natural sequel to THE EUDAEMONIC PIE and follows the exploits of the Chaos Cabal in their forray into the realm of high finance. If you wish to find out how ephemeral the world's money market is, then this is the place. Thomas A, Bass paces this account to read like a novel. A worthwhile read but tackle THE EUDAEMONIC PIE first. It is magic.

FROM LANCE TO LANDIS convinced me that the sport of professional cycling has been usurped by the dopers. It is impossible to compete at the top level without chemical enhancement. Insightful, if a little terse.

PROPHECY'S ARCHETECTURE by Cameron Fultz

2007-08-10T05:58:00.000-06:00

I finished reading PROPHECY'S ARCHETECTURE by Cameron Fultz. This is a
how-to book on eschatology. The method he outlines is similar to the
one that led me to reject pretribulationism. He takes the most clear
prophecy passages and simply observe how they align themselves to form a
chronology of events. The book never admits to espousing a Pre-Wrath
system, but that is the end result. I recommend it because it allows
scripture to shape the reader's eschatology rather than the reader trying to
shape scripture to fit an existing eschatology. Good for anyone holding
to the literal hermeneutic.

FOOTSTEPS OF THE MESSIAH

2007-08-03T02:14:00.001-06:00

I finished reading Arnold G. Fructenbaum's THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE MESSIAH. As with ISRAELOLOGY Fructenbaum here writes with a clearly understandable style. His theme in this book is to outline the sequence of end-time events using Revelation as the guide. Of particular interest to me were (1) His concept of Imminence, not from the Ascension, but from A.D. 70. He realizes that several prophecies had to be fulfilled, namely Jesus' prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem. (2) The idea that the 7 churches of Rev. 2-3 parallel the 7 periods of church history. The last one, Laodicea, not commencing until 1900. Both of these point out inconsistencies with Pre-tribulational thought. A.G.F. is prone to making bold statements of opinion presented as fact. The ungarded reader will be easily led by such a presentation. In spite of this it is recommended.

(Deus Vult)

CREATIVE DESTRUCTION by Edward M. Lerner

2007-07-08T01:10:00.000-06:00

I was wondering what the co-author (Edward M. Lerner) of Larry Niven's Ringworld prequel (FLEET OF WORLDS), had written. Turns out that he has several SF pieces to his name and one might be worth looking into: his short-story compilation CREATIVE DESTRUCTION. The theme of the stories seems to be the effects of disruptive technology on human society. For those of you not paying attention, the foremost purveyors of this theme are John Varley and Richard K. Morgan, and Larry Niven himself is no slouch in this arena. All this bodes well for the forthcoming FLEET OF WORLDS and may mean that CREATIVE DESTRUCTION is a gem waiting to be discovered.

The tag that grabbed me in the editorial review on Amazon was, "The internet. That was nothing."

Buy from Wildside Press.

Read a review at "Fast Forward."

Edward M. Lerner home page.

I also learned that there will be a sequel called JUGGLER OF WORLDS where we will are promised to learn about the Outsiders.

Ringworld PREQUEL

2007-06-30T05:40:00.000-06:00

Larry Niven, in collaboraiton with Edward M. Lerner, has a novel forthcoming that is set in the Known Space series and give an account of the events leading up to the discovery of the supernova at the galaxy's core. Looks like a great way to kick off the re-reading of the Ringworld sequence. It is called FLEET OF WORLDS. And, in bizarre note of synchronicity, the protagonist's last name is Kovacs.

I finished reading THOUSANDS...

2007-06-27T23:56:00.001-06:00

I finished reading THOUSANDS... NOT BILLIONS, by Don DeYoung.

(Deus Vult)

THOUSANDS: NOT BILLIONS by Donald DeYoung

2007-06-24T04:56:00.000-06:00

I am reading this Young-Earth Creation book.

It covers radiometric dating at a layman's level. I thought it would be good to have the basic ideas under my belt before we tackle the techinical books later. This is a very fast read.

Thousands not Billions by Donald DeYoung.

The Pentagon's New Map

2007-06-24T04:31:00.000-06:00

Rick has suggested that we read this book:
The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-first Century by Thomas P.M. Barnett.

Click on the title of this post to go to Amazon.com.

So how good is WOKEN FURIES?

2007-06-23T23:59:00.001-06:00

So how good is WOKEN FURIES? I gave it an OPTCS rating of 00000. This is my highest mark. This places in that rarified air dominated by Varley, Niven and Wolfe. I am thinking of placing this one at number ONE with a bullet. There is no other book I would rather re-read. This will knock STEEL BEACH from its pirennial position of supremacy. But maybe it is time to revitalize the top 40. Most of the others have retained their status even through multiple re-reads. Only time will tell if the books of Richard K. Morgan can pass this test. But, for now, his efforts derserve a place in the limelight. It is great to have a new kid on the block.

WOKEN FURIES review

2007-06-23T01:21:00.001-06:00

Ex-Envoy Takeshi Kovacs is damaged goods. He has been since before we first met him, since Innenin. When we catch up with him in WOKEN FURIES he is chasing his demons by killing off any New Revelation priest that had anything to do with the death of Sarah Sachilowska, and he's been at it for two years already. You may remember Sarah from ALTERED CARBON. Well, fate has twisted her in unexpected ways. His vendetta is interrupted by a chance encounter with Sylvie's Silpins. They are a close-knit DeCom team working in the Unsettled zones on New Hok(aido) decommissioning autonomous minimits, the out-of-control machine remnants of a 200 years ago war. Kovacs is in his element with the DeCom crew. He works best when he has someone other than himself to watch out for. Team Player may not be the first thing to cross your mind when the name Takeshi Kovacs comes up, but that is the way he's wired. Exploring the depths of Kovacs' soul is one of the more subtle elements of this book. Later he has to face the possibility that Quell may be alive and well inside one of his friends heads. Wait until you discover how that turns out. It is a wonder to watch the vast complexity of plot and technology build up around you as the novel progresses, and believe me, it gets very complicated; so much so that I anticipative the second pass will be very enlightening. We get to see Kovacs home planet of Harlan's World and get to see Kovacs move in and out of different circles, including the Envoys. His character gains credibility every time he interacts with the powers that be, and there are a lot of power brokers to deal with. This book covers more ground than the other Kovacs novels but also brings the other two into the story so well that it makes them seem like one big story. This elevates the series and makes my opinion of WOKEN FURIES increase all the more. It is that rare book where nothing but superlatives come to mind when discussing it. I cannot recommend this book more highly. If you like to explore the disruptive effects of radical technology on society, and on your own fragile sense of reality, take a gander at Morgan. Thank me later.

Richard K. Morgan WOKEN FURIES

ROLL OFF: Pirates 3

2007-06-07T04:27:00.000-06:00

Films that have extra scenes after the credits have finished rolling. I call this feature a ROLL OFF.

A L I E N S
Sound of a facehugger scratching accross the floor of Ripley's escape shuttle.

BLADE TRINITY
Blade racing away in his black charger and a final credit: "Word."

PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN
The monkey steals a coin from the chest and becomes a skeleton in the moonlight, proving the curse is still in effect.

PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN 2
The monkey.

PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN 3
This has a great Roll-off of Elizabeth and her almost ten year-old son waiting for Will Turner to sail back into their lives after his stint as captain of the Flying Dutchman. They wait for the green flash of sunset to confirm his return from the dead. Pan to Elizabeth as green lights up her face, and her smile.

CONSTANTINE
Constantine at the grave of his sidekick, Chas. As he deposits his cigarette lighter on the tombstone, Chas resurrects as an angel, leaving John determined to make the cut this time around.

STEALTH
Pan down to the smouldering remains of Eddie to see the his eye light up.

ISRAELOLOGY next

2007-06-01T23:24:00.001-06:00

I just finished reading ISRAELOLOGY. I am loaning my copy to Rick. i will be reading Fructembaum's FOOTSTEPS OF THE MESSIAH when the group is reading ISRAELOLOGY.

(Deus Vult)

MEMOIRS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

2007-05-27T01:11:00.001-06:00

I just finished MEMOIRS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. It has earned me a better understanding of the meaning of total war. The allies' war effort was staggering. The shape of the world today is largely forged by the direct aftermath of WWII, and the innocent concessions made to Russia. This is a must read. Its 1016 pages wash over the reader so quickly it made me wonder how I read them so fast. I must attribute it to the fluidity of Churchill's prose.

(Deus Vult)

Churchill T-Shirt Ideas

2007-05-19T02:41:00.000-06:00

The reading of Winston Churchill's MEMOIRS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR is going so well that we have decided to move the discussion from June 16th to June 2nd.

The book is a fascinating glimpse into the lofty realms of one of the leaders of the free world. In it we are given insight into the difficulties of decision making at the highest levels. The grand war strategies that resulted in Allied victory are revealed to us here. I find it interesting that, even after the fact, Churchill still will not let drop the poor decisions of his colleagues, and pulls no punches on his own missteps. In these pages Stalin comes off as a capable but childish demagogue. Roosevelt is portrayed as a visionary president, conceiving the "Lend-Lease" program whereby we would supply Britain with anything we could at no charge. These men demonstrated the proper sense of urgency that was required to defeat Hitler.

I am trying to come up with a good slogan for a Churchill T-shirt. here are some nominees:

Defender of the Realm

Overlord

The First Sea Lord

This was Their Finest Hour

Man of the Century

The Anti-Hitler

Peace through Victory

Some things are worth fighting for

It is better to perish than to live as slaves

We will never, never, never give up

Walking with destiny

Facts are better than dreams

Without victory there is no survival

We shall never surrender

For those of you who are eagerly awaiting William Manchester and Paul Reid's DEFENDER OF THE REALM, here are some links to try. From what I can gather, it is due to be published in late 2007 or early 2008. But publishing delays are not uncommon.

The Churchill Series – May 17, 2007
Churchill Chat
The world is waiting

Creation Science Curriculum

2007-04-29T22:38:00.000-06:00

We attended the local Back to Genesis seminar this weekend. I picked two of the creation science books that were already on the HMTP and the two RATE books that I have been wanting. While we are in the mood for making drastic changes to the reading schedule I feel the urge to put some effort into trying to aggressively schedule these books as part of our ongoing science education curriculum.

STARLIGHT AND TIME, by D. Russel Humphreys.
Subtitled, "Solving the Puzzle of Distant Starlight in a Young Universe." That's enough for me. Humphreys was very interesting at the conference. I just hope the book is not too technical for me to follow.

GENETIC ENTROPY & THE MYSTERY OF THE GENOME, by J.C. Sanford.
This one presents information that the accumulated mutations in our DNA proves that humans could not have been on this planet for millions of years. No species can indefinitely survive a rate of mutation greater than 1 per generation. We are living under a rate at least 100 times that.

RADIOISOTOPES AND THE AGE OF THE EARTH, ed. by Larry Vardiman et.al.
RADIOISOTOPES AND THE AGE OF THE EARTH, Vol 2, ed. by Larry Vardiman et.al.
The RATE books are very technical, and very expensive. But I deem them to be essential reading if we hope to have even the most rudimentary understanding of the conclusions made in them. This in information is the kind we would like to use in conversations with "deep time" people.

There is another, more technical, conference coming to Denver on Saturday, September 15, 2007. Registration required. 800-743-6374. www.icr.org/conference.

There is also supposed to be an conference at the Pikes Peak Center in April, 2008. It would be great to read these books before then. Just a thought.

Wolfe Rehab Program - HMTP Changes

2007-04-26T01:54:00.000-06:00

The HMTP is about to see a major revision. We became aware of a painful omission when a friend of ours, Dave Kaufman, was reading Gene Wolfe's THE BOOK OF THE LONG SUN, and provoked in us an unexpected longing to experience sublime excruciations at the hands of Wolfe, the master torturer. So we decided to weave the NEW SUN, LONG SUN, and SHORT SUN books back into the list. This could not be done, of course, without first reading some other books that have long lain in the backwaters of the HMTP. We are calling this new focus the Wolfe Rehab Program. We have nearly completed our program of comparing John Varley with the best of the rest. Now it will soon be Wolfe's turn. Due to the complexities and unified nature of Wolfe's multi-volume novels, each will be read in consecutive months, rather than being strung out over a period of several years. In preparation we will also be reading two book-length works of literary criticism about the NEW SUN. One is a doctoral dissertation.

Jack Boyd will be pleased to see that we have finally committed to reading RINGWORLD THRONE, and all the related books too. We will also be reading DECLARE, DALGREN, BUG JACK BARRON, and a slew of non-fiction books along the way, including one of my favorites, THE EUDAEMONIC PIE. The Creation Track is now more fully populated and brought in closer. Note too that Richard K. Morgan is fully represented with the inclusion of TH1RTE3N. Another significant change is the scheduling of ISRAELOLOGY, now slated for Sept. - Oct. 2007. The changes were thought out over a period of months, and at the last meeting we reached consensus to put them in place. We think this is a solid reading program.

Remember when viewing the HMTP that it can, and often does, change at the whim of the CCCP. And the further you look into the future, the more unsure things become. As the administrator, and chief perpetrator of these changes, it is an interesting study in decision-making to watch the changes take place.

The current book is MEMOIRS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR by Winston S. Churchill. It is on a 20 page per day pace. Don't let this one slip. It might break your foot. The discussion will be June 16th.

The Wolfe Rehab Program will begin in June of 2009. Make plans accordingly.

The Prestige

2007-04-12T06:39:00.001-06:00

I listened to the novel THE PRESTIGE, by Christopher Priest. While both the book and the movie share the elements of feuding magicians and the technology of Nikola Tesla, they are very different stories. I found myself wondering how the movie managed to improve on the essence of the novel without utilizing the same plot devices as the novel. The movie was, to me, more satisfying. It was more horrific than the novel, and the feud attacks were better staged. It felt like a magic trick, while the book seemed to lose its focus. The book has a very different ending due to the different effects attributed the Tesla machine. The two versions stand as variations on a theme. Both are worth the price of admission. The movie attains greatness. The book, by virtue of its disparity from the film, manages to be surprising and rewarding in its own right.

(Deus Vult)