Knights & Knaves Alehouse

TRP wrote:Re-read Asimov's The End of Eternity, and it's still entertaining and interesting. With just a tad updating, it'd make for a decent movie, and the annoying guy from Big Bang Theory would be a good fit for the main character. I know, I know. Almost everyone on that show is annoying, but I mean the one that's intentionally annoying. Sheldon, I think is his character name.

End of Eternity is one of my favorite Asimov novels. He isn't well known for it, but it's probably the best written and realistic stories of time travel. I inherited my grandad's rather large collection of Asimov books, and while I've read all of them more than once and added every book I can find to the collection, I swear there is always at least one more novel or short story out there.

What you said about Big Bang theory is sacrilegious to his work though.

This summer I'm rereading through all of Robert E. Howard's work, reading all the Savage Sword of Conan comics, and I'm almost done reading the current Dark Horse series. It's partly for pleasure, and partly for work on a Conan OD&D alternate system I'm doing.

I've been creating a journal of Conan's adventures, writing down the things he encounters. With the stories that have been in the news about the Pliocene period and homo bones that were found in that French cave, I'm beginning to wonder if maybe different races of man really did coexist or live in conflict in our distant past.

Tonight I'll be reading that which is OT.

Callahan's Lady by Spider Robinson

Since finishing the fifth book of A Song of Ice and Fire, I have been catching up on Knights of the Dinner Table, issues #187-203. I still enjoy the comic, but it is definitely much less focused on being a joke about AD&D and has become more of a soap opera focused on Hack Master. Reading the articles was really a chore, I found, partly because they were so focused on HM and partly because they were just boring. I definitely miss the days of a "Gamer's Rant on Movies", but I am conflicted as to whether to stop collecting the comics or not. It would certainly be more economical to buy the trade paperbacks, even more so in electronic format only.

Also reading the Second Book of Lankhamar:



and volume 13 of Savage Sword of Conan:

Lin Carter's Jandar of Callisto series

Just finished John McPhee's Basin and Range. McPhee can really write about any subject at all and I am always blown away. (This one is mostly about geology)

Dumarest Saga #11: Zenya.

Ragnorakk wrote:Just finished John McPhee's Basin and Range. McPhee can really write about any subject at all and I am always blown away. (This one is mostly about geology)

I've read his Annals of the Former World books, and they're all quite good!

While out in CA this week, I picked up a new hard SF book by a new author---_The Martian_ by Andy Weir (the local bookstore out here had signed copies)---as well as _House of Leaves_ and _The Walestone Letters_ by Mark Danielewski (which were recently recommended to me).

in the Black Hours by David Cook

Another Harry Hole mystery, The Bat, which is not - as you might have expected - gay porn. The main character's name is pronounced "hoo-leh" (he's Norwegian) and is sort of a running joke through the series. Fun, pulpy hard-boiled-cops-chasing-murderers genre stuff. Not as grim and dour as Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallender series.

Just finished The Dune Encyclopedia and now starting JOB: A Comedy of Justice by Heinlein.

I read the Silmarillion fairly constantly. I read it every January between semesters in grad school. Now it is just a kind of constant habit. When I reach the end, I just start back up again. Like reading the Bible (which, by the way, is some good inspiration too. I've really been enjoying Joshua and 1&2 Samuel: constant battle, intrigue, and interactions with clerics and prophets!).

I am trying to get through Jack Vance's Dying earth and a big compilation of Conan stories I downloaded for my Kindle. I like them. I feel like I am in a dungeon crawl. The moral ambiguity just turns me off sometimes. That is just me, it is no judgment on the texts themselves, which I value. It is a subjective thing.

Ever considered picking up The History of Middle-earth series? That level of familiarity with The Silmarillion should make HoMe a breeze, and ultimately you’re in for a much richer experience.

Falconer, good suggestion. And I was wondering what to ask for for my birthday. Thanks