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

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

To close the month, I finished Into the Wild. It took me a while to get into it, but I quite enjoyed it by the end, although I found some parts surprisingly brutal given the target audience. It will fill the Character with a Tail Bingo slot.

Gary wrote: "I also finished reading Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. The novel is the second book in the Mars trilogy, and it won the Hugo award in 1994."

I usually like KSR as an author, but I struggled to get into his Mars trilogy. I finished it, but it was an effort.

Three columns completed - B, I & O (but no rows yet) and I have selections for most of the remaining 7 slots.

I have started reading Into the Wild, the first book in the extensive children's series. There are echoes of Watership Down, although the violence is less traumatic, as would be expected for a series aimed at 8-12 year old readers - although we sold lots of copies of books in the series to older readers.

I have finished The Galaxy Primes. This was one of the last novels that Doc Smith wrote before his death and it shows that he was still capable of telling a good story, although he was moving towards libertarianism in his latter years. There were certainly echoes of the Lensman series in this novel, and there were also passages that read just like Heinlein of the 60s. Interestingly, Heinlein acknowledged that Doc Smith was one of the authors that influenced him the most.

It will fill the Telepathy slot in my Bingo.

I have finished the B column

Andrea wrote: "Ah here we go - A Wizard's Henchman by Matthew Hughes

You don't have to buy the book though, it was available through an online SF/F magazine....umm...Clarkesworld or Lightspeed, not sure which..."

Sounds like you're talking about the same story, as Robin mentioned that the author is Matthew Hughes. I guess it's in a variety of different magazines, which isn't really surprising.

I have read Restless. This is a short story (about 20 pages) which is the prequel to the Aurora Rising trilogy and is probably better read after the trilogy as it does little other than introduce a few characters - none of whom mean anything to me at this stage. It does, however, fill the Prequel slot for Bingo.

I have started reading The Galaxy Primes

I have finished Dead and Breakfast. It's fun, as cozy mysteries usually are, but not exceptional. It fills the Station or Inn slot in my Bingo.

Robin wrote: "Hi Tony, did the Arabian Nights that you have preserve the story within a story thing? Scheherazade is obviously telling the story but then you get someone within her story telling a story and the ..."

Yes, it maintained that format, at least to some extent.

I have finished The Arabian Nights. It is a nice selection of tales but, at 200 pages, it is far from a complete collection. The artwork is lovely. This book fills the Fairy Tales slot in my Bingo.

I am about a third of the way through Dead and Breakfast.

I have finished the I column in my Bingo card. 10 books remain to finish the card.

Jay wrote: "Hi from Manila! Currently reading John Gwynne 's The Shadow of the Gods and Junji Ito's Deserter"

Hi Jay,

I expect the weather in Manila is more pleasant than the weather in Sydney 😃

I'm in the same boat - I didn't pay enough attention to Bingo books early in the year and now, with just under 4 months to go, I still have 11 slots to fill - some of which I still haven't chosen books for.

Kivrin wrote: "I was considering reading some version of The Arabian Nights. I just finished a book about Richard Burton (the explorer not the actor), and he apparently wrote a highly controversial translation of..."

The Burton translation is the only currently available English translation of the "full tales". Published in 1885, it is 10 volumes, with a further 7 supplemental volumes published between 1886 and 1888.

The Burton Club rereleased all 17 volumes with slight changes (both from the original and from each other between editions) in the early part of the 20th Century.

Both series are available as free downloads from Project Gutenberg.

I have started The Arabian Nights. Like most editions of this book, it doesn't have all the tales, just a selection. It is beautifully illustrated and does includes classics such as Sinbad, Ali Baba, and Aladdin. It will fill either the Fairy Tales or pre-20th century slot in my Bingo.

I finished Time Burrito. A slow start, but ok in the end. Amusing, but not really funny. It does fill the time travel slot in my Bingo.

Welcome to September. I have started Time Burrito

To finish August, I have finished Miles Morales: Spider-Man. It's a well-written story with a strong message, and Jason Reynolds is clearly a talented author. What it's not, however, is a superhero story.

I finished Cobalt Blue. It was a quick, fun superhero story - darker than an MCU story, but not as dark as The Boys. It fills the published in 2022 slot in my Bingo.

Staying on the superhero track, I have started Miles Morales: Spider-Man, which will fill the YA slot in my Bingo.