Quiet times

[jasmine]

"Chris" <***@thearmoury.net> wrote in message
news:***@posting.google.com...
> "jasmine" <***@sprint.ca> wrote in message
>
> > I disagree. There are some wonderful authors out there who are still
> > producing--for me: AS Byatt, Christopher Brookmyre, Irvine Welsh. I
think it
> > depends if the author (and I'm find this moreso with mysteries than reg.
> > fiction) has fallen into the formulaic method of writing...really sad
when
> > they start doing this.
> >
> > --
> > jasmine
>
> Well, I should also point out that I am extremely picky and unwilling
> stray too far afield when it comes to books... I never said I wasn't
> the problem ;-)

:) I must admit that I've my list of authors to buy in hard back, no matter
what it is. Unfortunately I think all of them put out something between
Sept and December of last year. Ouch. My paperback purchases are pretty
broad, but I've dropped a few from that list.

> I prefer something funny, sci-fi good and or just really engaging.

I'm really not into sf or fantasy. There are some writers I like (Pratchett
and Douglas Adams), but I must admit that I have a hard time getting past
the covers.

When I was working at the horrid place a couple of years ago, I read a lot
of citygirl fic. Seemed to be the tonic I needed at the time...

> When it comes to fiction, I enjoy reading Roger Zelazny, Robert
> Asprin, Douglas Adams, (occasionally) Michael Moorcock, Phillip Dick,
> Laurell K Hamilton (but that is going to change if her next book is
> crap, she has been plummeting downhill for the last few), and the
> Stephen King "Dark Tower" series (a new one finally coming out this
> year).

There are a couple of Zelaznys aren't there? I've been warned about one,
but can't remember which one. Phillip Dick sounds familiar...I want to say
Phillip K. Dick, though...Read a King years ago...couldn't get into it.

> The Harry Potter series is pretty good, but not as good as
> they seem :-/.. I'm pretty sure JK Rowlings sold her soul to the devil
> (other than AOL/TIME WARNER) for them to be as wildly successful as
> they are.

I don't mind them. Unlike so many other authors, she doesn't talk down to
her readers and believes that kids can actually handle bad stuff. REALLY
hate it when people want to inject stories with happy bunnies and vanilla
ice cream because they think that's what readers want. She's gotten kids
off their gameboys and computers and into pages (unfortunately some of these
kids will not read anything else)--and that's good. She also got my mum
reading for pleasure for the first time in over 30 years (found a
mysteriously moving bookmark in my copy of book one several years ago).

Currently have 320 pages to go in the latest instalment.

> My 12 year old boy is reading through my book collection now, his
> reading level is equivelent to a high school graduate (as far as they
> will test in elementary school), though I can't get him to read the
> Amber Series.... apparently he is as picky (read stubborn) as I am.

Don't know the Amber Series.

I remember in primary school, the librarian and my grade five teacher would
bring in books from home for me as most of what was available at school
wasn't challenging enough. The librarian would also call me out of class
whenever she got a new shipment in--I'd be allowed to borrow whatever I
wanted before it got put out into circulation :)

> Fave books: Lord of Light -Roger Zelazny
> Fave Series: Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency -Douglas Adams.

I read a couple of these--will eventually get to the rest.

Currently my favourite series is the Jasper Fforde Thursday Next books.
Incredibly funny--especially if you are well-read.

> It is a shame he died before he could write more.

Yup. Have you read Salmon of Doubt? It's in the mass of tb reads behind my
chair.

> Fave TV series of all time to this date- Tie between The Family Guy
> and Firefly, a pair of Fox murders. I'm just waiting for the Firefly
> Movie at this point :-(

Love Family Guy. Teletoon is running it at 9pm on weeknights :)

Not sure which is my favourite animated series...could be Futurama or Daria.
Mind you, I really like Clone High as well.

In the "killed off too early" category--has to be Sports Night (can't
remember if it lasted more than two seasons). Loved the dialogue and the
pacing of it all.

Couldn't get into Firefly. The entire pretense was something I didn't like.
Too bad because Whedon is quite creative. Heard a rumour that he's trying
to do a Buffy spin-off based on Faith. Not sure if I'll watch--didn't
really like the character. Would much rather see something on Spike or
Willow or even Oz.

> Fave TV series to last 1 season or more- B5

I really, really liked the first few seasons of it (and would madly scour
the listings to find out where it moved to each week), but I lost interest
in the later seasons. I'll probably rent the series when the local guy gets
it.

Don't think I can narrow it down to one...I really like Coupling--hope the
US won't make a dog's breakfast out of it. Smartly written and good acting.
I rented 24 (at the recommendation of my current boss). Wow. Nicely done.
Can't wait for season two to come out on DVD...will proably do a
marathon....

--
jasmine

"Being 'normal' would be worse than death for me, because I have always
considered
normal to be a term so boring it would be like death." Scott Starson

www.beguiling.org

[Chris]

"jasmine" <***@sprint.ca> wrote in message
> I'm really not into sf or fantasy. There are some writers I like (Pratchett
> and Douglas Adams), but I must admit that I have a hard time getting past
> the covers.

> There are a couple of Zelaznys aren't there? I've been warned about one,
> but can't remember which one.

There can be only one!! ;-) Roger Zelazny was one of the greatest
writers of all time. Lord of Light is a great book, pick it up in
paperback... cheaply so nothing lost if you don't like it :-)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380014033/qid=1056432744/sr=8-5/ref=sr_8_5/002-0439225-6069605?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I could be had for as little as $2.00 (USD) used, or $6.99 used.

I looked it up on amazon.ca... but it was "out of stock" there.

This is a site with his bibliography.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Roger_Zelazny.htm

He was very prolific. While there were many books that (to me) didn't
hit the "Zelazny" mark, I never read one of his books and
said..."Geeze that was CRAP!", I don't think I can say that about any
other writer.

Forever After was a project he put together where he wrote the basic
story, and then other authors (David Drake, Robert Asprin, Jane
Linksold and Michael Stackpole) wrote the meat of the story. It was a
great read! You get 5 distinctive styles that mesh together to tell
the story of an "anti-quest". "What happens after 'Happily Ever
After'" is the tag line in this book.

> Phillip Dick sounds familiar...I want to say
> Phillip K. Dick, though...Read a King years ago...couldn't get into it.

Yes, his most famous work was made into "BladeRunner", a mediocre
movie based on a GREAT book. "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"
There was a whole side of that book that was just stripped from the
movie. It was a fundamental part of the psyche's involved in the
story line... very disappointing.

> I don't mind them. Unlike so many other authors, she doesn't talk down to
> her readers and believes that kids can actually handle bad stuff. REALLY
> hate it when people want to inject stories with happy bunnies and vanilla
> ice cream because they think that's what readers want. She's gotten kids
> off their gameboys and computers and into pages (unfortunately some of these
> kids will not read anything else)--and that's good. She also got my mum
> reading for pleasure for the first time in over 30 years (found a
> mysteriously moving bookmark in my copy of book one several years ago).
>
> Currently have 320 pages to go in the latest instalment.

I bought it... will read it when I finish my current book... one that
is most certainly crap.. but I knew that going into it :-) Laurell K
Hamilton's "Nightseer", her first published work... it is a
fantasy/D&D type novel... so far it's pretty "eh", it can go into full
blown crap or climb into mediocrity at this point :-)

> Don't know the Amber Series.

It is very 70's in style it is written. Everybody smokes... it will
probably get my child taken away from me if he actually read the books
:-)

> I remember in primary school, the librarian and my grade five teacher would
> bring in books from home for me as most of what was available at school
> wasn't challenging enough. The librarian would also call me out of class
> whenever she got a new shipment in--I'd be allowed to borrow whatever I
> wanted before it got put out into circulation :)

They don't make 'em like that anymore... my kid gets b's and c's
(bored.. very bored) and after years of trying to get him tested, they
are just now moving him to their "Gifted and Talented" program. I
have to go over his homework with a fine toothed comb. He gets so
bored with stuff that he just does it... mind you he won't always stop
to read the directions, but his work is always accurate, though
sometimes not what the assignment calls for :-) I keep pointing out
to him that if he insists on being lazy, he should be lazy the "right
way". Do it right the first time so you do not have to redo it 3
times after that... :::banging my head on the desk just thinking about
it:::

> Currently my favourite series is the Jasper Fforde Thursday Next books.
> Incredibly funny--especially if you are well-read.

I'll have to look into these.

> Yup. Have you read Salmon of Doubt? It's in the mass of tb reads behind my
> chair.

Not as yet... I would like to get that and Starship Titanic.

> Love Family Guy. Teletoon is running it at 9pm on weeknights :)

I have all of the episodes on VCD, even the dreaded and banned "Wish
upon a Weinstein" episode. I'm convinced that it was banned for the
bastardization of Disney's "Wish upon a star", more than any
"offensive" stereotyping. It really wasn't offensive at all...

> In the "killed off too early" category--has to be Sports Night (can't
> remember if it lasted more than two seasons). Loved the dialogue and the
> pacing of it all.

Never got into it.

> Couldn't get into Firefly. The entire pretense was something I didn't like.
> Too bad because Whedon is quite creative. Heard a rumour that he's trying
> to do a Buffy spin-off based on Faith. Not sure if I'll watch--didn't
> really like the character. Would much rather see something on Spike or
> Willow or even Oz.

I thought it was the greatest series ever!! I bought all aired
episodes on VCD, I am waiting for the DVD to come out with the 3
episodes that were never aired. It made me so furious when fox did
it's slash and burn technique on it... I SWEAR I WILL NEVER EVER WATCH
A NEW FOX SHOW AGAIN!!! They did the whole showing the episodes out of
order (The Pilot was the last episode shown)... the scavenger hunt
(started once at 11:46pm PST after the World Series) and to top it all
off, they never even advertised the show once it was put on the air!

They are making it into a movie.. I can't wait!! Western set in space
with Joss Whedon accepting the inevitability that the Chinese have
taken over the universe... everybody in that show is "Culturally"
chinese. They all swear in chinese... it is really funny!

> > Fave TV series to last 1 season or more- B5
>
> I really, really liked the first few seasons of it (and would madly scour
> the listings to find out where it moved to each week), but I lost interest
> in the later seasons. I'll probably rent the series when the local guy gets
> it.

I'll admit it started heading south in the final season... but all in
all I thought it was great... I'm surprised my wife hasn't bought the
whole collection on DVD yet... :::knock on wood:::, the dear is always
trying to "save" us money by buying stuff...

> Don't think I can narrow it down to one...I really like Coupling--hope the
> US won't make a dog's breakfast out of it. Smartly written and good acting.
> I rented 24 (at the recommendation of my current boss). Wow. Nicely done.
> Can't wait for season two to come out on DVD...will proably do a
> marathon....

Never heard of Coupling, 24 was great... but tiring... I mean it was
complete ficton... the one episode where he was driving from Santa
Clarita through the valley... and it was only part of ONE episode...
any time day or night you'd be on the freeway for hours :-) I also
had to start taking dramamine, was getting car sick from all the
twists and turns in the plot... But yes, very well acted.

Chris
Chino,CA

[Chris]

"jasmine" <***@sprint.ca> wrote in message

> I thought the movie was okay at best. A friend (possibly someone I was
> dating at the time) really wanted to see the director's cut so I saw it
> again. I think I fell asleep.

Yes, it was difficult... "mediocre" is me being diplomatic :-) The
book is excellent!

> Their rules are slightly different: if your establishment
> is considered to be a pub, you can allow smoking, but children aren't
> allowed to come in. Smoking parents raised quite the fuss when they
> realised they couldn't bring their kids in...

I would like it if it were like that... or that the business owner
was allowed to decide... but here in the PRC (Peoples Rebublic of
California) the state has decided what appropriate business practices
are... the state that is running headlong into bankruptcy trying to be
as much like Canada as possible (no offense :-) I keep saying that
Canada is just a short flight or long drive away... go north young
Lib, go north :-)

> Anyway, after I left and graduated from uni, the provincial government
> decided that destreaming was the way to go. Their idea was that each class
> should have a mix of abilities, so the slow learners could see what they
> could achieve (dunno what the bright kids were supposed to get out of it).
> It really left the smart kids (and their parents) upset that all the focus
> was on the slower kids while the brighter kids weren't being challenged. My
> grade school was destreamed and I remember being really frustrated that the
> teachers had to teach to the lowest common denominator. I don't think it's
> quite like that anymore, but unfortunately, the current regime has put a
> disappropriate amount of focus on maths and sciences and not enough on
> language, history, and the arts.

They go through phases like that here in the PRC. The big problem
here is that there are MANY kids that only speak spanish. While
sitting through my sons 6th grade promotion ceremony I had to listen
to half the ceremony being given in spanish. It makes me furious,
when my family came to this country nobody spoke to them in Italian,
except other Italians in the neighborhood. They were expected to
learn english and "melt" into the "Great Melting Pot", now it's all
about keeping your culture, and "its ok if you don't learn to speak
English, we'll cater to you". The "Great Melting Pot" has become the
"great filing cabinet". Mind you, diversity is fine... but having
dozens of languages catered to is costly and dividing....

> What's VCD?

Video Compact Disc

> Can't remember if we got the Wish upon a Weinstein ep. We got the shelved
> Buffy (the one that was to air shortly after Columbine), so I assume that we
> got this one.

I don't know.. Canada is big on the "Can't be offensive" thing aren't
they?? I'm surprised they allowed the Family Guy up there at all :-)

> > I thought it was the greatest series ever!! I bought all aired
> > episodes on VCD, I am waiting for the DVD to come out with the 3
> > episodes that were never aired. It made me so furious when fox did
> > it's slash and burn technique on it... I SWEAR I WILL NEVER EVER WATCH
> > A NEW FOX SHOW AGAIN!!! They did the whole showing the episodes out of
> > order (The Pilot was the last episode shown)... the scavenger hunt
> > (started once at 11:46pm PST after the World Series) and to top it all
> > off, they never even advertised the show once it was put on the air!
>
> Wow. You really liked that show.
>
> Sports games are another prickly bush for me. I don't watch sports (apart
> from curling, bits of the World Cup--yes, I also watched the last bits of
> the Olympic hockey gold games this last time), so it really bothers me when
> something like football runs so long that it knocks the rest of the lineup
> out of whack (if the clock says there are five minutes left to the game, why
> on earth does it take 20-30 minutes to play?).

Commercials, commercials, commercials....

> > 24 was great... but tiring... I mean it was
> > complete ficton... the one episode where he was driving from Santa
> > Clarita through the valley... and it was only part of ONE episode...
> > any time day or night you'd be on the freeway for hours :-) I also
> > had to start taking dramamine, was getting car sick from all the
> > twists and turns in the plot... But yes, very well acted.
>
> Did you watch it as it was aired or watch a bunch of episodes on DVD? I
> don't think I could watch it as aired...too frustrating.

As it aired. If I had it on DVD I'd end up fast forwarding some of it
:-) And yes it was frustrating.

Chris

[jasmine]

"Chris" <***@thearmoury.net> wrote in message
news:***@posting.google.com...
> "jasmine" <***@sprint.ca> wrote in message

> > Their rules are slightly different: if your establishment
> > is considered to be a pub, you can allow smoking, but children aren't
> > allowed to come in. Smoking parents raised quite the fuss when they
> > realised they couldn't bring their kids in...
>
> I would like it if it were like that... or that the business owner
> was allowed to decide...

But business owners don't necessarily make decisions based on general
well-being (except their own). As a non-smoker I really like the fact that
I can go to *any* restaurant or pub here in the region and not have to
endure second-hand smoke.

> but here in the PRC (Peoples Rebublic of
> California) the state has decided what appropriate business practices
> are... the state that is running headlong into bankruptcy trying to be
> as much like Canada as possible (no offense :-)

You really don't want to go there :)

> They go through phases like that here in the PRC. The big problem
> here is that there are MANY kids that only speak spanish. While
> sitting through my sons 6th grade promotion ceremony I had to listen
> to half the ceremony being given in spanish. It makes me furious,
> when my family came to this country nobody spoke to them in Italian,
> except other Italians in the neighborhood. They were expected to
> learn english and "melt" into the "Great Melting Pot", now it's all
> about keeping your culture, and "its ok if you don't learn to speak
> English, we'll cater to you". The "Great Melting Pot" has become the
> "great filing cabinet". Mind you, diversity is fine... but having
> dozens of languages catered to is costly and dividing....

Ummm...correct me if I'm wrong, but the US doesn't have an official
language. (US) English is used by default, not by legislative passing ...

I come from the great tossed salad north of the 49th parallel where we learn
two languages plus heritage language (if applicable)...I see nothing wrong
with keeping one's culture..diversity is a good thing. It's come along a
great deal from when I was little. When I went to nursery school I didn't
speak any English and the teachers told my parents (both fluent English
speakers) that they weren't allowed to speak the mothertongue at home. My
parents got frightened and only began talking in English to me at home. As
a result I've lost my mother tongue (I can understand it, but can't speak
it). That would not happen today. ESL is taught in schools and the
multicultural centre and various conversation clubs are all over town
helping immigrants with their language skills and customs, while instilling
that history and culture are important.

Never understood the allure of the homogenius society. It's so....boring.

> > What's VCD?
>
> Video Compact Disc
>
> > Can't remember if we got the Wish upon a Weinstein ep. We got the
shelved
> > Buffy (the one that was to air shortly after Columbine), so I assume
that we
> > got this one.
>
> I don't know.. Canada is big on the "Can't be offensive" thing aren't
> they?? I'm surprised they allowed the Family Guy up there at all :-)

Wouldn't be surprised if the writers were Canadian--I hear Hollyweird has a
high number of us :)

> > Sports games are another prickly bush for me. I don't watch sports
(apart
> > from curling, bits of the World Cup--yes, I also watched the last bits
of
> > the Olympic hockey gold games this last time), so it really bothers me
when
> > something like football runs so long that it knocks the rest of the
lineup
> > out of whack (if the clock says there are five minutes left to the game,
why
> > on earth does it take 20-30 minutes to play?).
>
> Commercials, commercials, commercials....

I've decided that when I'm queen of the world certain realities will come
into existence, including sports games having a set duration and only a
player's or official's death would be able to temporarily suspend play.
--
jasmine

"Being 'normal' would be worse than death for me, because I have always
considered
normal to be a term so boring it would be like death." Scott Starson

www.beguiling.org

[Chris]

"jasmine" <***@sprint.ca> wrote in message
>
> But business owners don't necessarily make decisions based on general
> well-being (except their own). As a non-smoker I really like the fact that
> I can go to *any* restaurant or pub here in the region and not have to
> endure second-hand smoke.

Yes, but as a consumer you have the right to cast your vote with your
money. As a business owner, if I see that more money can be had by
catering to non-smokers than I will do that... True free market
capitalism will bear out what is right :-) If I decided to have one
restaurant in adjoining buildings with seperate ventilation systems
and facilities, one side for smokers, one side for non smokers (not
the arbitrary smoking sections, but actual seperate buildings) I
cannot do that here. If I want a business that caters specifically to
smokers (a great market of people willing to spend more and more on
their "vice") I cannot do that here. The only businesses allowed to
have smoking are "smoke shops" and that is only if they are in a
seperate building from other businesses.

> > but here in the PRC (Peoples Rebublic of
> > California) the state has decided what appropriate business practices
> > are... the state that is running headlong into bankruptcy trying to be
> > as much like Canada as possible (no offense :-)
>
> You really don't want to go there :)

You are right... I don't, THAT IS MY POINT!!! :-)

> Ummm...correct me if I'm wrong, but the US doesn't have an official
> language. (US) English is used by default, not by legislative passing ...

In a sense, yes. We are big in inclusion here.. but there comes a
breaking point.

> I come from the great tossed salad north of the 49th parallel where we learn
> two languages plus heritage language (if applicable)...I see nothing wrong
> with keeping one's culture..diversity is a good thing. It's come along a
> great deal from when I was little. When I went to nursery school I didn't
> speak any English and the teachers told my parents (both fluent English
> speakers) that they weren't allowed to speak the mothertongue at home. My
> parents got frightened and only began talking in English to me at home. As
> a result I've lost my mother tongue (I can understand it, but can't speak
> it). That would not happen today. ESL is taught in schools and the
> multicultural centre and various conversation clubs are all over town
> helping immigrants with their language skills and customs, while instilling
> that history and culture are important.

I believe fully in allowing one to keep their culture, within the home
and in the community, but when it distracts and interferes with things
as important as education and safety there must be a line drawn.

The primary difference between the U.S. and Canada regarding language
and culture is that Canada was settled by two colonial powers, Britain
and France. With (what are now) two very distinct cultures and two
very distinct languages you have no choice but to cater to both. But
you are limited to two languages, at last count here it was more than
50 that the state caters to in "official" documents and over 200 that
the courts have to provide translaters for.

At one point in America, you spoke english. You came to this country,
you learned english, you maintained your culture and language within
the home and the community, but you spoke english. My Great
Grandfather who came here from Italy through Ellis Island was
extremely proud that he could speak english..as broken as it was.
Hispanics of my fathers generation speak spanish, but they speak
english, are fiercely proud to be American and almost all have served
in the military (volunteer, not draft) and they insist that their kids
speak both languages with an emphasis on english. With hispanics of my
generation it is almost an insult to "have to" speak english. The
magic of "The Great Melting Pot" was melting and congealing... we had
our differences, but we didn't let that get in the way of our unity,
now we don't let our unity get in the way of our differences.

BTW, in my previous rant, I failed to note that a goodly portion of my
son's school is also Asian (specifically Chinese) we did not have
anybody speaking Chinese that day. It gets under my skin is all.

> Never understood the allure of the homogenius society. It's so....boring.

Homogenius, no... but this is the other extreme.

> Wouldn't be surprised if the writers were Canadian--I hear Hollyweird has a
> high number of us :)

Yup, but they are here and not there :-)

> I've decided that when I'm queen of the world certain realities will come
> into existence, including sports games having a set duration and only a
> player's or official's death would be able to temporarily suspend play.

Not to mention edged weapons :-) Hockey is about the only sport I can
tolerate... and only in limited doses.. I'm not a real sports fan.

Chris

[jasmine]

"James Nicoll" <***@panix.com> wrote in message
news:bes7t0$mn6$***@panix3.panix.com...

(main post snipped, leaving .sig)

> --
> Why didn't Charlie's wife just hand him a nickel?


Because she'd rather have him riding the train for eternity than have him at
home.
--
jasmine

"Being 'normal' would be worse than death for me, because I have always
considered
normal to be a term so boring it would be like death." Scott Starson


www.beguiling.org

[James Nicoll]

In article <***@posting.google.com>,
Chris <***@thearmoury.net> wrote:
>
>
>I don't know.. Canada is big on the "Can't be offensive" thing aren't
>they?? I'm surprised they allowed the Family Guy up there at all :-)

There speaks a man who has never seen 'This Hour has 22
Minutes'. I imagine if Marge Delahanty tried her schtick on George
W., she'd go down in a hail of bullets.
--
Why didn't Charlie's wife just hand him a nickel?

[Chris]

My son introduced me to a new writer this past week while we were on
vacation. The author is Eoin Colfer and it is the "Artemis Fowl"
series, really VERY good. I was surprised. It is written for all
ages, but I think it has something for all ages.

In a nutshell it is the story of Artemis Fowl II, a young (12 year old
in the first book) Irish criminal mastermind who is stepping up to run
the family's criminal and legitimate business empire as his father is
missing and presumed killed by Russian Mobsters and his mother has
gone insane with grief over the presumed loss of her husband.
Artemis' protector/bodygaurd/manservant is a Eurasian man named Butler
whose sole purpose in life is to keep Artemis safe from harm, he is
from a family who has always served the Fowl family.

He decides he is going to rebuild the family fortune (now in the tens
of millions instead of the tens of billions) by stealing the secrets
of the Fairy world and kidnapping one to collect fairy gold for
ransom. It leads to great interaction with those of the underworld
including the LEPRecon (Lower Elements Police, Reconnaisance
division)in their battle over this plan.

3 books so far, fun fairy stuff, not freaky or bizarre fairy stuff. I
would highly recommend it!

Chris

[jasmine]

"Chris" <***@thearmoury.net> wrote in message
news:***@posting.google.com...
> My son introduced me to a new writer this past week while we were on
> vacation. The author is Eoin Colfer and it is the "Artemis Fowl"
> series, really VERY good. I was surprised. It is written for all
> ages, but I think it has something for all ages.
>
> In a nutshell it is the story of Artemis Fowl II, a young (12 year old
> in the first book) Irish criminal mastermind who is stepping up to run
> the family's criminal and legitimate business empire as his father is
> missing and presumed killed by Russian Mobsters and his mother has
> gone insane with grief over the presumed loss of her husband.
> Artemis' protector/bodygaurd/manservant is a Eurasian man named Butler
> whose sole purpose in life is to keep Artemis safe from harm, he is
> from a family who has always served the Fowl family.

One of my colleague's sons is into that series now. He's also just gotten
hooked on Garth Nix...


--
jasmine

"Being 'normal' would be worse than death for me, because I have always
considered
normal to be a term so boring it would be like death." Scott Starson


www.beguiling.org

[Diana]

jasmine at ***@sprint.ca wrote on7/31/03 5:37 PM:

>
> "Chris" <***@thearmoury.net> wrote in message
> news:***@posting.google.com...
>> My son introduced me to a new writer this past week while we were on
>> vacation. The author is Eoin Colfer and it is the "Artemis Fowl"
>> series, really VERY good. I was surprised. It is written for all
>> ages, but I think it has something for all ages.
>>
>> In a nutshell it is the story of Artemis Fowl II, a young (12 year old
>> in the first book) Irish criminal mastermind who is stepping up to run
>> the family's criminal and legitimate business empire as his father is
>> missing and presumed killed by Russian Mobsters and his mother has
>> gone insane with grief over the presumed loss of her husband.
>> Artemis' protector/bodygaurd/manservant is a Eurasian man named Butler
>> whose sole purpose in life is to keep Artemis safe from harm, he is
>> from a family who has always served the Fowl family.
>
> One of my colleague's sons is into that series now. He's also just gotten
> hooked on Garth Nix...
>
Pleeease, you gize. Your gonna get me interested in stuff I've managed to
bypass. So many books, so little time! I'm trying to finish the Wheel of
Time series (belatedly) so that I can read the latest Harry Potter, so that
I can read David & Leigh Eddings' "The Elder Gods". And I STILL have my copy
of "War and Peace" on the shelf. (And I've NEVER told anyone that I haven't
gotten to THAT yet!)

--
Diana, falling behinder and behinder...

[Chris]

Diana <***@bellsouth.net.please> wrote in message news:<BB5057F3.EBF5%***@bellsouth.net.please>...


> I can read David & Leigh Eddings' "The Elder Gods".

I started reading David Eddings a few years back and I just lost
interest. It seemed like a whole lot of the same thing over and over
again... It just became TOO MUCH. I hope you like it :-)

It was about that time that I got into the Stephen King "Dark Tower"
series. It is loosely based on "The Songs of Roland" with a western
spin. A courtly society gone awry where "Gunslingers" are the
equivelent of Knights and Lords. Roland (big surprise there) is on a
quest to kill the "Man in Black" and find the "Dark Tower" to right
things again. Really a good book, I normally do not like Stephen
King.

> And I STILL have my copy
> of "War and Peace" on the shelf. (And I've NEVER told anyone that I haven't
> gotten to THAT yet!)

Nobody will hold that against you :-)

chris

[jasmine]

"Diana" <***@bellsouth.net.please> wrote in message
news:BB5057F3.EBF5%***@bellsouth.net.please...
> Pleeease, you gize. Your gonna get me interested in stuff I've managed to
> bypass. So many books, so little time! I'm trying to finish the Wheel of
> Time series (belatedly) so that I can read the latest Harry Potter, so
that
> I can read David & Leigh Eddings' "The Elder Gods". And I STILL have my
copy
> of "War and Peace" on the shelf. (And I've NEVER told anyone that I
haven't
> gotten to THAT yet!)

I was doing well with my unread pile...got it to the 180 book point...then I
went shopping...back to 200 books behind my chair...sigh.
--
jasmine

"Being 'normal' would be worse than death for me, because I have always
considered
normal to be a term so boring it would be like death." Scott Starson


www.beguiling.org

[James Nicoll]

In article <bgj6qg$pctbe$***@ID-49716.news.uni-berlin.de>,
jasmine <***@sprint.ca> wrote:
>
>"Diana" <***@bellsouth.net.please> wrote in message
>news:BB5057F3.EBF5%***@bellsouth.net.please...
>> Pleeease, you gize. Your gonna get me interested in stuff I've managed to
>> bypass. So many books, so little time! I'm trying to finish the Wheel of
>> Time series (belatedly) so that I can read the latest Harry Potter, so
>that
>> I can read David & Leigh Eddings' "The Elder Gods". And I STILL have my
>copy
>> of "War and Peace" on the shelf. (And I've NEVER told anyone that I
>haven't
>> gotten to THAT yet!)
>
>I was doing well with my unread pile...got it to the 180 book point...then I
>went shopping...back to 200 books behind my chair...sigh.

I'd hate to think how many unread review copies of books
I have.



--
"Sequels never enhance a work. They only serve to trivialize
it."
Frank Herbert

[catfood]

On 18 Jun 2003 10:21:05 -0700, a carbon-based life form using the nom
de plume ***@thearmoury.net (Chris) irrevocably obscured the
issue with the following clarification ... :

>It seems I am continually re-reading old books from my collection.
>All of the great authors are dead or have stopped being great authors
>and moved on to mediocre at best.

Yeah, I feel like that. I read War and Peace, Anna Karinina, Brothers
Karamasov, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Animal Farm in a row ... and
then gave up entirely on novels after reading Salman Rushdie's Booker
prize-winning Midnight's Children. What a total load of bollocks that
one was, it was so bad he put me off reading books and I haven't read
another in over five years. Hehehe Yep, all the good wirters are dead.

catfood

¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤øø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤øø¤º°`°º¤

[James Nicoll]

In article <***@posting.google.com>,
Chris <***@thearmoury.net> wrote:
>Jennifer Peters <***@nospam.erinet.com> wrote in message
>> Everyone is working on their summer reading list.
>>
>> Gemini
>
>It seems I am continually re-reading old books from my collection.
>All of the great authors are dead or have stopped being great authors
>and moved on to mediocre at best.

Over on rec.arts.sf.written, the various processes
that turn once-great authors turning into parodies of themselves
is known as the brain-eater. I don't know what to call it when
someone sneaks in and replaces books and films I remember as
good with dated crap, though.

>I've even exhausted the post-mortem Zelazny collection.

Stuff finished by other people, you mean? It's very hard to
successfully copy another author's feel, I think. I can remember a
lot more catastrophes (_Poodle Springs_ comes to mind) than successes.

If you still have any fondness for Amber, avoid at all costs
the Betancourt series. As I understand it, RZ specified no Amber
sequels so these are prequels of a sort, but prequels that are
vastly inferior to even the least of the RZ 'I wrote this so my kids
can go to university' Amber sequels. One manuscript I read had the
protagonist trying to get out of bed for a third of the book. I
only wish this was hyperbole...

For reasons I do not understand, American authors seem to be
abandoning SF for fantasy (Michael Swanwick, whose work I would
recommend [1] has an essay talking about how the idea of the future
has gone out of style again, which might be part of the problem. I
blame Reagan [2]) so if SF is what tickles your fancy, you might
want to look at the current explosion of Commonwealth SF authors.

[I'd recommend the American Wil McCarthy's material, though.
Also Geoffrey Landis's work, although so far it is one collection and
one nevel]

Not SF but I will recommend it highly anyway: Garth Nix's
recent trilogy consisting of _Sabriel_, Liriel_ and _Abhorsen_.
Competently done young adult fantasy about a magic-rich Old Kingdom
cheek by jowl with a magic-poor, technologically advanced nation not
unlike the UK circa August 1914 (although some the tone is more like
August 1916).

Oddly, the cover artist seems to have read the books.

I like James Alan Gardner's League of Peoples novels,
the first of which is _Expendible_, whose protagonist is one of
those people who get sent on high-risk missions, an Expendible
Crew Member.

From Canada there is also _Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom_
by Cory Doctorow. It has a setting a little like Poul Anderson's
"The Last of the Deliverers", in which technological progress has
has largely removed productive limits on human wealth (What they
call a post-scarcity economy, which I don't actually believe in but will
accept in much the same way I accept FTL drives even though they
probably cannot exist either). The currency in use is the regard in
which one is held by other people (wuffie, I think, and no I do not
know what wuffie stands for), and the plot is about two ad hoc
groups struggling to control what was once Disneyland.

From the UK, there's Ken MacLeod, with two series so
far (The Fall Revolution Series, that assumes that the criticisms
of modern capitalism by both the libertarians and the communists
are correct [3], with unfortunate short term implications, and the Engines
of Light series, about human/nonhuman diplomatic relations across
a seriously long period of time). There's Charlie Stross, whose
_Singularity Summer_ is due out from Ace this summer (Roughly,
the Russian Fleet 1905 fiasco [4] meets the Edinburough Festival, redone
as post-Singularity SF).

There are those who like Alistair Reynolds (2400s setting,
no FTL, a universe that is at present hostile to intelligent life),
although I am not a raving fan of his. There's also Iain M. Banks,
whose SF is pretty good and Neal Asher's Polity series which is your
basic Summer Action Movie space opera, with lots of explosions in and
the occasional catastrophic misunderstanding of thermodynamics (no worse
than Van Vogt's science, though).

I could go on and on...

James Nicoll

1: with the warning that _The Iron Dragon's Daughter_, an industrial
fantasy, makes Thomas Hardy look like Oliver Hardy.

2: Well, the entire 'life was better in the past' crowd, which has
had its adherents since Plato's time. All I have to say is I remember
what dentistry used to be like in the 1960s.

3: This is more intersting than I make it sound. _The Star Fraction_,
for example, is set in a UK that is divided into a multitude of tiny
communities, as part of a deal the US cut when it invaded the UK during
WWIII in the hopes that if each British special interest group had its
own enclave they would all be more interested in taking pot-shots at
each other than at the US.

4: In which an incompetently led Russian fleet left the Baltic Sea,
made a heroic and difficult voyage from Europe to the Pacific despite
the tiny diplomatic whoops of having fired on UK fishing ships for
reasons I don't recall (They can't have thought they were Japanese)
and the ships not being designed to do what was asked of them, then
having gone through all that were all sent to the bottom of the Pacific
by the Imperial Japanese Navy in roughly the time it took me to type this.

--
Why didn't Charlie's wife just hand him a nickel?

[jasmine]

"James Nicoll" <***@panix.com> wrote in message
news:bes5ap$elg$***@panix3.panix.com...
> In article <***@posting.google.com>,
> Chris <***@thearmoury.net> wrote:
> >Jennifer Peters <***@nospam.erinet.com> wrote in message
> >> Everyone is working on their summer reading list.
> >>
> >> Gemini
> >
> >It seems I am continually re-reading old books from my collection.
> >All of the great authors are dead or have stopped being great authors
> >and moved on to mediocre at best.
>
> Over on rec.arts.sf.written, the various processes
> that turn once-great authors turning into parodies of themselves
> is known as the brain-eater. I don't know what to call it when
> someone sneaks in and replaces books and films I remember as
> good with dated crap, though.

Your evolving taste?
Age?


--
jasmine

"Being 'normal' would be worse than death for me, because I have always
considered
normal to be a term so boring it would be like death." Scott Starson


www.beguiling.org

[James Nicoll]

In article <bf1rpv$a7luj$***@ID-49716.news.uni-berlin.de>,
jasmine <***@sprint.ca> wrote:
>
>"James Nicoll" <***@panix.com> wrote in message
>news:bes5ap$elg$***@panix3.panix.com...
>> In article <***@posting.google.com>,
>> Chris <***@thearmoury.net> wrote:
>> >Jennifer Peters <***@nospam.erinet.com> wrote in message
>> >> Everyone is working on their summer reading list.
>> >>
>> >> Gemini
>> >
>> >It seems I am continually re-reading old books from my collection.
>> >All of the great authors are dead or have stopped being great authors
>> >and moved on to mediocre at best.
>>
>> Over on rec.arts.sf.written, the various processes
>> that turn once-great authors turning into parodies of themselves
>> is known as the brain-eater. I don't know what to call it when
>> someone sneaks in and replaces books and films I remember as
>> good with dated crap, though.
>
>Your evolving taste?
>Age?
>

I think it's the same invisble pixies who cause unemployment
and inflation.