Tony’s Comments (group member since Dec 19, 2018)

Tony’s comments from the Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

After finishing Strange Detective Mysteries, which was fun, but had some flaws in both the writing and art. I have started another graphic novel - Sherlock Holmes: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes.

Welcome to spooky month.

I have been reading Strange Detective Mysteries. It's 1902 and someone has gathered HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry Houdini, Bat Masterson, and Nicola Tesla together to attempt to solve the murder of Edgar Allen Poe. What starts as an interesting historical crime graphic novel, quickly develops beyond that with the introduction of androids and time travellers.

I have started reading, or rather, rereading - although it has been a long time - Trouble With Lichen.

I have finally finished The Moonstone, which I thoroughly enjoyed despite it taking a ridiculously long time to read - mainly because of work pressures.

Robin wrote: " I have to say, I like that😁 It has been a while since someone made me stop and look words up.😊 I mean, you can infer the meaning from context, so you don't have to but I want to.😊"

Donaldson regularly did that in the Thomas Covenant series. There were times it was so common in that series that it seemed somewhat pretentious, at least to me.

And, of course, the 40K universe has the Imperium which worships the eternal God-Emperor.

It's not mysticism the way that Dune is, but Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy does feature the dead returning, although a scientific explanation is provided.

The excellent Canticle for Leibowitz is post-apocalyptic with a heavy dose of mysticism. Both Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series and Jack Vance's Dying Earth series fit into that genre - it was a lot more common in the 60s and 70s to write books in the science fantasy genre.

Andrea wrote: "So I started in on the Hellblazer, Vol. 1: Original Sins series with John Constantine. These are....different...not sure I have words to describe them."

The DC occult series from the early 90s - primarily Hellblazer and Swamp Thing - were certainly different, and trippy is often not a bad description. They did have some really good writing at times, and the success of those led to Sandman.

September is 2 days in, so it's probably time to start this thread.

I'm about halfway through The Moonstone and enjoying it, although the pace is quite slow. I'm also reading a couple of graphic novels, but work isn't allowing much time to do anything at the moment.

Andrea wrote: "Scott Lynch isn't going to finish his Locke Lamora series? Or its just taking a long long time like A Song of Ice and Fire? One thing to take long time, another to be 95% sure it will never be written."

My money would be on Martin never releasing Winds of Winter. Since the show wrapped up the storyline - as flawed as it was - he seems to have lost interest and now seems to be focussed on the history of the Targaryens - although he's really slow at writing them also.

NekroRider wrote: "TThat's interesting, but also quite sad! They are definitely thriving here in Toronto, Canada and I would say Ontario in general."

I think the problem here - Australia in general, but Sydney in particular - is that rents are insanely expensive, and bookstores - second-hand or new - don't have a lot of profit margin. It also doesn't help that our tax laws are pretty broken for corporate taxes. In the early 2000s (about 2007-2009) I was managing a gaming store called the Tin Soldier. We had to move because the building we were in was being renovated. I looked around for other venues and found an excellent area close to one of the major rail stations in the city, and I knew that the place had been vacant for at least 5 years at that point. But the rent they wanted was 2 1/2 times what we were currently paying, and they weren't interested in bargaining - the tax laws meant they could make more money having it empty and as a deduction than having a tenant at a reduced rent. Eventually, it remained empty for another 4 years but eventually they got a medical centre in there. The owner of the gaming store decided it was all too hard and went back to being an accountant and the store closed.

I have finished Savage Sword of Conan Volume 17. The Savage Sword of Conan series did tell some excellent Conan stories, and the black-and-white artwork works well for Conan.

I'm about a third of the way through The Moonstone. It's a slow pace, but well-written.

I went through a period of reading everything I could find that Barbara Hambly wrote. I didn't think the sequels were too bad, but certainly not as good as the original. I'm pretty sure I still have my Hambly books in my bookshelves.

Second-hand bookstores are a dying business these days, at least in Australia - as are general bookstores. There used to half-a-dozen or a dozen just in the CBD of Sydney, but I can't think of any that are left now. Some stores have a second-hand section, but bookshops just for second-hand are only in the suburbs now, and there's not many of them left either.

NekroRider wrote: "I then skipped off for another quick Conan read with The Tower of the Elephant (Conan, #3) by Robert E. Howard. Jewel heisty young Conan in that one, lots of fun!"

I've also been reading some Conan - only one story to go in Savage Sword of Conan Volume 17, which is the Dark Horse Comics reprint compilations of the magazine published by Marvel in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. This volume has been a bit more hit and miss than usual.

Andrea wrote: "I have a bunch of the Garrett PI books but haven't gotten around to reading them yet, good to hear they are pretty good. Although those I think qualify as Urban Fantasy"

I would classify them as fantasy more than urban fantasy. For me, urban fantasy is set in our world, but with elves, vampires, werewolves etc. The Garrett PI books are set in a city, but it's a fantasy city.

Glen Cook (known for The Black Company trilogy) has written a series of novels about a detective in a fantasy world - the first is Sweet Silver Blues. There are 14 in the series. I've read half-a-dozen and enjoyed them.

Peony wrote: "It’s good so far, but I dislike reading about rape, slavery, prostitution, and sex slavery in fantasy, and I really dislike reading about it normalized. I really wasn’t mentally prepared. A charact..."

You may never come across them - although book 38 in the series was published last year - but if you do, avoid the Gor series by John Norman. I haven't read one for 45 years, I guess, but back then (when there was only about 10) they were heavy on sexism, misogyny, and fairly graphic sexual violence. And apart from all that, they weren't well written - probably about the level of Fifty Shades of Grey.

Michelle wrote: "Alex wrote: "Was reading the Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. Loved it a second time, now I'm reading the Count of Monte Cristo for a second time."

I loved The Count of Monte Cristo!"

I loved The Three Musketeers, but I have never been able to get past halfway in The Count of Monte Cristo.

I'm about a third of the way through Europa Universalis IV: What If? The Anthology of Alternate History. It's ... interesting ... as a collection of alternate history short stories. In most alt histories, the diverging point is made clear very early on - the South won the Civil War, or Germany won WWII, that sort of thing. And some of these stories have been the same - George Washington is killed during the American Revolution, or Napoleon is killed in the Battle of Arcole in 1796. But some of them are where an obscure German prince is killed in the Thirty Years War. It requires a greater knowledge of history than I have to pick up on some of the differences, although each story has a What Really Happened bit at the end, so that helps.

In any event, I'm going to put it aside for a while. I'm going overseas later this year, and won't be taking any physical books with me, so I will concentrate on reading some dead tree books for a while. I'm currently tossing up between The Chinese Parrot, the second Charlie Chan detective novel, The Moonstone often considered the godfather of the modern detective novel - along with Sherlock Holmes - and Marsbound / Starbound / Earthbound, the trilogy by Joe Haldeman.