What are you reading?

[Gentlegamer]

Just finished The Complete Chronicles of Conan, all the original REH stories in published order as well as the unpublished complete and draft manuscripts. It made me realize how much of "Conan" that inspired D&D actually came from pastiche Conan

[Terrex]

But as much as I love old Spider-Man and Marvel, Fletcher Hanks is still the best/worst comic book writer/artist/creator of all time.

Cool. I wasn't familiar with Fletcher Hanks, but I've been checking some of his work and characters out. I think I see his influence on your strip.

[Steve]

But as much as I love old Spider-Man and Marvel, Fletcher Hanks is still the best/worst comic book writer/artist/creator of all time.

Cool. I wasn't familiar with Fletcher Hanks, but I've been checking some of his work and characters out. I think I see his influence on your strip.

I am heavily inspired by Fletcher Hanks, and I took it for granted he was a major influence on my current comic style. But then a funny thing happened, I looked at an old comic strip I did a few years before discovering Fletcher Hanks, and I was surprised that I hadn't really changed much (at some point I'll get around to putting the old strip back up and you can see what I mean). But yeah, I aspire to one day be as good/bad a comic artist as ol' Fletch.

[benjoshua]

I loved some of those Kipling books. The Man Who Would Be King was my favorite. The movie version was excellent as well.

I read Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling and found it a quick read. Like Kim, the characters speak use vocabulary and pronunciations sometimes quite different from standard English which adds authenticity to the tale, but also makes it difficult to understand sometimes. Both Captains Courageous and Kim are about boys growing up. Kim is about a poor boy with a rich mind and Captains Courageous is about rich boy with a poor mind/attitude but learns to appreciate hardship. Both learn what becoming a man is all about. I didn't find it that compelling a read.

[benjoshua]

When I was younger, I was better at buying books than reading them. I was cleaning out a closet and found a lot of old sci-fi fantasy books, and here's some of what I found:
The Queen of Air and Darkness by Poul Anderson
War of the Wing-Men by Poul Anderson
Fire Time by Poul Anderson
Land of Unreason by de Camp and Pratt
The Wanderer's Necklace by H. Rider Haggard

Most of these received mixed reviews on Amazon. I was curious if anyone else read these and whether they're worth pursuing. I'll definitely be reading The Queen of Air and Darkness as it was a winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novelette (1971), Hugo Award for Best Novella (1972), and Locus Poll Award, Best Short Fiction (1972).

I probably won't be reading War of the Wing-Men as it is the first book in the Polesotechnic League Series(listed below), and I don't have the other books:
War of the Wing-Men
Trader to the Stars
The Trouble Twisters
Satan's World
The Earth Book of Stormgate
Mirkheim
The People of the Wind

[TerribleSorcery]

I will go out on a limb and guess the H. Rider Haggard is going to be great. King Solomon's Mines and She were tremendous reads when I was a lad!

[Welleran]

I will go out on a limb and guess the H. Rider Haggard is going to be great. King Solomon's Mines and She were tremendous reads when I was a lad!

I'll second that! I read Wanderer's Necklace many years ago so my memory is fuzzy, but I seem to recall that I liked it.

[benjoshua]

I will go out on a limb and guess the H. Rider Haggard is going to be great. King Solomon's Mines and She were tremendous reads when I was a lad!

I read King Solomon's Mines last March and She last April, and, as you said, both were tremendous. Thank you for your recommendation. I will add this book to my "to read" pile.

[T. Foster]

Land of Unreason is thoroughly mediocre. Not terrible, but if you've already read The Incomplete Enchanter you're not missing anything here, and if you haven't that's a better one to read.

I read War of the Wing-Men under the title "The Man Who Counts" as part of the Earth Book of Stormgate collection. I remember enjoying it more than most of the other stories in that collection. In general, though, I'd say Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry stories are better than his Nicolas Van Rijn ones.

[benjoshua]

Land of Unreason is thoroughly mediocre. Not terrible, but if you've already read The Incomplete Enchanter you're not missing anything here, and if you haven't that's a better one to read.

I read War of the Wing-Men under the title "The Man Who Counts" as part of the Earth Book of Stormgate collection. I remember enjoying it more than most of the other stories in that collection. In general, though, I'd say Poul Anderson's Dominic Flanders stories are better than his Nicolas Van Rijn ones.

Thanks for the heads up. I think I'll pass on both these books.

[benjoshua]

I read the book, Two Years Before The Mast, by Richard Dana which was first published in 1841. First off, the title is misleading. A more accurate title might be, Sailing to California and Processing Hides for Two Years. It reads much like a diary of his adventures and work. It's strangely fascinating, reading about sailing hardships and early American life in California. The work was hard and dangerous, but the author highlights unexpected beauty, friendships, and observations. His book is credited with enticing many Americans to move to California as well as improving sailing regulations to make it safer and saner for sailors. Truly a classic!

[benjoshua]

Being the Christmas season, I read a Charles Dickens book, Great Expectations. Of course, it's a classic, and I am discovering more and more that most of these classics are worthwhile. The author portrays a young man with ambitions and runs into others with agendas, some helpful, some not. There are some great twists in the tale. The author does a great job describing the emotions and reactions of the protagonist through all the drama. The most fascinating aspect of the novel was his love interest, a stunningly beautiful young lady named Estella. He is love-sick. She tells him that she doesn't love him and to stay away. He discovers, like many young men, that his mind and his heart divide him. A great book indeed!

[Melan]

I am reading the English version of The Count of Monte Cristo, which I requested and got for Christmas. Even on a third read, this book is pretty much impossible to put down before midnight, and not easy after midnight. It is meandering, sentimental and overwrought, but it is also sweeping, supremely satisfying, and it layers on the tension thick like few books do.

[grodog]

I'm currently reading:
- _The Elusive Shift_ by Jon Peterson
- _A Season for Slaughter_ by David Gerrold (the last of the published Chtorr novels)

I was given the 2nd and 3rd volumes of The Annotated Sandman for Christmas, so I'll likely start digging into those in earnest in the spring.

I read the book, Two Years Before The Mast, by Richard Dana which was first published in 1841. First off, the title is misleading. A more accurate title might be, Sailing to California and Processing Hides for Two Years. It reads much like a diary of his adventures and work. It's strangely fascinating, reading about sailing hardships and early American life in California. The work was hard and dangerous, but the author highlights unexpected beauty, friendships, and observations. His book is credited with enticing many Americans to move to California as well as improving sailing regulations to make it safer and saner for sailors. Truly a classic!

Dana's 2YBtM was a big influence on Melville's writings---Moby-Dick as well as his earlier seafaring titles Typee and Omoo (which are what made him famous as an author during his lifetime---to his contemporaries, it was all downhill after Omoo, alas....).

I am reading the English version of The Count of Monte Cristo, which I requested and got for Christmas. Even on a third read, this book is pretty much impossible to put down before midnight, and not easy after midnight. It is meandering, sentimental and overwrought, but it is also sweeping, supremely satisfying, and it layers on the tension thick like few books do.

I've been thinking about re-reading this---I've not done so since I was a child, and I really enjoyed Dumas' Three Musketeers books (which I've not read the last ones in the series of yet, either).

Allan.

[TRP]

Still slogging through The Better Angels of Our Nature, Pinker, and barely scratched into Time of Contempt, Sapkowski. The reason for the later is more a time issue than lack of interest.

Coming up, I'm looking forward to
Creatures of LIght and Darkness, Zelazny
A Deepness in the Sky, Vinge