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Post by ginxy on Jan 19, 2007 18:41:45 GMT -5
Hey Ginx, you ever see the animated movie Wizards? You'd love it, it's full on Magic vs Science and it's just brilliant. www.imdb.com/title/tt0076929/Only 7 days till Timothy Zahn's new Star Wars book Alligence. It takes place between eps 4 & 5 and apparently deals with Mara Jade serving the Emperor. Can't wait. Thanks for the link - I'll check it out. And I'll be picking up the new Star Wars book too. And I agree that Fate's Hand is a good read. - And yeah - MaWa - I get what you're saying and agree that magic does seem to be added at times when something can't be explained or it drifts outside of the world of science. A bit underused for other purposes.
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Post by Aedh on Jan 19, 2007 20:25:05 GMT -5
*to assembled group of homespun-clad Irish before him ... patiently:* Now, class ... *gestures to slate board, on which certain words and pictures are chalked up* ...repeat after me ... *slowly* 'Treacherous ... back-stabbing ... bastards ...'
A man raises a hand. Wot ... all of 'em ye say ... as a nation?
*explain to him* Yes ... they just up and killed their anointed King ... for no other reason than they just felt like it. Sure, the usurper's son was a soldier ... but HE didn't last long ... Now, repeat ... 'We will fight them ... forever ...'
The same man says: I knowed a man 'oo went te Bristol oncet ... 'e ses dey war'n't so bad ...
*Look over at man clad in cowl. with pectoral ornament* Well, I'll tell you how things are going over there now ... father, listen ... I tell you ... within fifty years ... I see this going on ...*whispers in the cowled man's ear ...*
*the cowled man blenches ... fingers pectoral symbol ... mutters:* Blasphemy! It's ... it's inconceivable ... monstrous!!
*Nod knowingly as whisper runs around the company ... a beautiful colleen leaps up, shaking out her fiery red hair, and rips open her bodice, blazing:* NEVER! Never shall these ... devils devour our fair Erin! We shall fight them ... FIGHT to the last drop of our blood, for our holy island ... ARE YOU WITH ME?!!
*A shout goes up ... weapons shaken ... the cowled man bestows a blessing*
*sit self back ... well-satisfied that ONE corner of the world, at least, will not easily submit to Lancastrian hegemony*
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Post by Aedh on Jan 20, 2007 10:52:10 GMT -5
*raises face from the cleavage of said beautiful colleen ... sixth sense twitching ... mutters* Lollardy ... the Craft ... regicide ... poison ... they're very demons!
*The colleen pulls head back down:* Never mind me love ... we'll get us a tribe o' stout fighters 'oo'll give those divils a taste o' their own medicine ...
*grin* Aye, Rosaleen grach mo croidhe ... that we will!
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Post by Witcher Wolf on Jan 20, 2007 12:08:22 GMT -5
I'm not sure if I have ever mentioned it in this thread but thinking of witches and the supernatural, a cross into fantasy...a certain book comes to mind: The Weirdstone of Brasingamen
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Post by Witcher Wolf on Jan 20, 2007 17:00:45 GMT -5
Yep. I've been there are well, I love how it's tied into Arthurian myth and other elements. One of my old school teachers was actually from Alderly Egde, she questioned me about the book when I turned in some homework based on it once.
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Post by Aedh on Jan 20, 2007 17:02:33 GMT -5
One "supernatural" fantasy I never tire of talking up is "Bridge of Birds" by Barry Hughart. It's written after the model of classical Chinese detective stories--yes something else they invented centuries before the West "discovered" it--which are part mystery, part fantasy, and often part supernatural thriller. (And FUNNY in places as well!!) An enchanting story ... ranking I would say in the very highest tier of fantasy writing. He wrote a sequel years later, whose title I don't recall and which I thought was not quite up to the original--but still rating a solid six stars out of possible five.
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Post by Gothicgds on Jan 20, 2007 20:54:50 GMT -5
[Daft lass Gothic....din't yer know tha' was ma Lanky clone in't cement theer? T' real Mira's in't pub down neer Wigan Pier laffin 'er ass off at you Yorkie ponces!!! ;D ] [/i][/quote] Typical Lancastrian, sending someone else to do her fighting for her. You won't catch any York sending another into a his/her own fight! Feh. C'mon, boys, we're wasting our time with this lot of lily-livered Lancasters. Let's see if the Scots are up for a proper fight... Clones and drugged ale indeed...
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Post by Gothicgds on Jan 20, 2007 21:32:44 GMT -5
Now then...how DOES one get transport back to Sussex from this god-forsaken spot at such short notice? As a Southern convert I've had just about as much of this so-called Northern hospitality as I can stand! *walks down to road and sticks thumb out in the hope that somebody comes along eventually...preferably on a Honda Goldwing with a spare set of leathers* ;D] *snickers as some of the denizens of York offer impractical but amusing answers to Mira's question, complete with hand gestures* Hmm... Should I mention the vast numbers of brigands haunting the southbound roads? Hmm... Nah. ...Meanwhile, I'm reading The Battle of Bosworth by Michael Bennett. UNO's library has a section on the York kings that I could cheerfully get lost in!
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Post by Witcher Wolf on Jan 21, 2007 7:05:04 GMT -5
*narrows his eyes*
I shall resist getting involved V^^^V
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Post by Witcher Wolf on Jan 21, 2007 7:07:43 GMT -5
One "supernatural" fantasy I never tire of talking up is "Bridge of Birds" by Barry Hughart. It's written after the model of classical Chinese detective stories--yes something else they invented centuries before the West "discovered" it--which are part mystery, part fantasy, and often part supernatural thriller. (And FUNNY in places as well!!) An enchanting story ... ranking I would say in the very highest tier of fantasy writing. He wrote a sequel years later, whose title I don't recall and which I thought was not quite up to the original--but still rating a solid six stars out of possible five. Oooh now I happen to like those kinds of stories a lot myself. I'm a sucker for things of this nature, Cadfael being similar but obviously a monk and a pretty clever fellow, also much later than the original Chinese pattern for such tales. I will have to see if I can track down that book, cheers Aedh.
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Post by ginxy on Jan 21, 2007 14:54:46 GMT -5
Has anyone read any of the books by Diana Wynne Jones? I picked up Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Sky this weekend. The anime movies were based off of the books - they should be a good read. After I finish Full Moon Rising While I was in the bookstore I also came across a Zombie Survival Guide - how to defend yourself against zombies lol.....
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Post by ginxy on Jan 21, 2007 15:11:10 GMT -5
Nope...can't say I have....love the idea of a zombie survival book though! Hehe! Maybe GF could use that in the 'Army' thread! LOL - ^ I bet GF could use it - it even had diagrams and checklists etc - kinda reminded me of the Batman handbook or the worst case scenario book series. I've never read the book Contact before - I've seen the movie - it was decent. The scariest alien book I've read was called Communion. For whatever reason the way the described the little grey aliens just made me scared. But I did read it when I was a lot younger so that could be it too. The little aliens were described as smelling of cheese. I love cheese but not little cheese aliens
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Post by Witcher Wolf on Jan 21, 2007 18:41:59 GMT -5
Oooh now I happen to like those kinds of stories a lot myself. I'm a sucker for things of this nature, Cadfael being similar but obviously a monk and a pretty clever fellow, also much later than the original Chinese pattern for such tales. I will have to see if I can track down that book, cheers Aedh. Ah...Cadfael....great stories! And of course, Umberto Eco's "The Name of The Rose" also springs to mind. Ooh yes, The Name of the Rose, very good The movie wasn't too bad.
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Post by Aedh on Jan 22, 2007 16:20:11 GMT -5
Picked up "The Gameplayers of Zan" in a bookshop this morning, so I'm ready to start on that series that Mirabilis likes ... currently embarked on reading a rarity, an 1855 edition of Sozomen's "Chronicle." The translation is poor, but it's such a rarity that I'll put up with it despite all. (Sozomen has been much out of favour these last two centuries.)
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Post by Aedh on Jan 24, 2007 11:11:12 GMT -5
Picked up "The Gameplayers of Zan" in a bookshop this morning, so I'm ready to start on that series that Mirabilis likes... Enjoy! I know you will! I am enjoying it ... good concepts and good, even memorable characters; a whiff--but no more--of pontification about the state of the (real) world; the author handles his bureaucracy and government portraits with a master's touch. It got off to a slow and wordy start, however ... if I'd been this author's editor at DAW, I would have handed the manuscript back with instructions to keep everything as is, but prune away a minimum of 15% of the length. Rating: (provisional, since I've not finished it yet) 3.5 stars. Now ... it's off to test-ride a motorcycle or two!
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Post by Libby on Jan 24, 2007 12:33:35 GMT -5
...but it's always good to have a few books lined up...there's nothing I detest more than having nothing decent to read! How very true...but as I'm summoning up the enthusiasm to pack for our holiday in Feb, the only books I seem to be accumulating for the long sunny days on the beach....courtesy of my BA Cabin Crew friend and neighbour who 'acquires' them from the 1st class passengers...seem to be ones with bright gold letters on the front. MInd you, the beach bar opens VERY early so after a few vodkas and tonic I won't care!!!
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Post by Libby on Jan 24, 2007 13:08:20 GMT -5
LOL .....*shudders at the thought of Jilly Cooper or Barbara Taylor-Bradford type pulp "novels"....or worse still...Geoffrey Archer*....aaargghhhh.....pass the bucket!!!! [You know we really need a puking emoticon on this site...like the one on MSN that always makes me laugh! ;D]Eeeeeek! I just checked the bag she gave me....and there it was, lurking nastily at the bottom of the pile....Jeffrey Archer! . Have a sneaky suspicion he probably gave it to her!!
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Post by Aedh on Jan 24, 2007 17:33:14 GMT -5
Eeeeeek! I just checked the bag she gave me....and there it was, lurking nastily at the bottom of the pile....Jeffrey Archer! . Have a sneaky suspicion he probably gave it to her!! *door bursts open ... Sweepers boil in ... sound of motorcycle roaring up and skidding to a halt ... a big black-clad figure enters* Step away from the book, ma'am ... *draws Berettas as specially-suited commando team carefully encases the Jeffrey Archer in protective foam ... then pick it up with tongs, deposit in in special container, and load it into truck, which speeds away, klaxon blaring ... straight to the furnaces.* *The big man looks around* Hmmmm .... what else ... Patricia Cornwell ... Thomas Harris ... Laurell K. Hamilton ... Dan Brown ... Helen Fielding ... John Grisham ... Stephen King ... Laura Esquivel ... Maeve Binchy ... well ... alright. This batch passes ... I guess. But be careful, ma'am ... *exits with swish of coattails*
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Post by Witcher Wolf on Jan 24, 2007 18:48:57 GMT -5
LOL .....*shudders at the thought of Jilly Cooper or Barbara Taylor-Bradford type pulp "novels"....or worse still...Geoffrey Archer*....aaargghhhh.....pass the bucket!!!! [You know we really need a puking emoticon on this site...like the one on MSN that always makes me laugh! ;D]Eeeeeek! I just checked the bag she gave me....and there it was, lurking nastily at the bottom of the pile....Jeffrey Archer! . Have a sneaky suspicion he probably gave it to her!! Heh, re: puking emoticon! Jeffery Archer is definitely a cause for vomitation.
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Post by Aedh on Jan 24, 2007 21:48:59 GMT -5
Sorry ... did I say Maeve Binchy? ... I meant Rosamunde Pilcher ... *stuffs Maeve Binchy book in the "Destruction" receptacle ... leaves again*
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Post by Libby on Jan 25, 2007 12:28:44 GMT -5
*The big man looks around* Hmmmm .... what else ... Patricia Cornwell ... Thomas Harris ... Laurell K. Hamilton ... Dan Brown ... Helen Fielding ... John Grisham ... Stephen King ... Laura Esquivel ... Maeve Binchy ... well ... alright. This batch passes ... I guess. But be careful, ma'am ... *exits with swish of coattails* *chuckles* I will admit to lots of Patricia Cornwell, rather too many Stephen Kings, multiple Kathy Reichs, Tess Gerritsens and PJTracys and the odd Linda Fairstein and a few Mr and Mrs Kellermans. Dan Brown's on the 'to be burned' pile...well maybe 'Angels and Demons' can stay and I'm getting fed-up of Patterson's Alex Cross now. Maeve Binchy? Sugar coated Irish nonsense...wouldn't give 'em shelf room. Do I get a reprieve from the furnace and just have to bring some Barbara Taylor-Bradford and Jackie Collins to chuck in?
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Post by Aedh on Jan 25, 2007 14:45:54 GMT -5
[Only if you chuck Rosamunde bloody Pilcher in as well!! ] Oh now! "September" wasn't that bad!
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Post by Witcher Wolf on Jan 26, 2007 7:27:33 GMT -5
I'm as pleased as punch to say that one of my favourite 'Choose Your Own Adventure' series of books is getting (A) Finished at long last, and (B) a re-write (Director's Cut) as well as brand spanky new art!
Lone Wolf returns in 2007. These books by one of my heroes, Joe Dever, started me off on fantasy gaming along with D&D. So I suppose they're my Tolkien of the fantasy adventure genre. The world of Magnamund always seemed fairly real, there are also no elves, none.
There are the Kai Lords of course, but they rock *grin*
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Post by Aedh on Jan 26, 2007 18:15:42 GMT -5
Well ... have finished Mirabilis' recommendation, "The Gameplayers of Zan," and started on "The Warriors of Dawn." Chronologically the former book precedes the latter, though the latter was first to appear. I decided to start with "Zan;" I'm not sure I'd recommend that course to anyone else; the beginning of "Zan" is completely bewildering without foreknowledge; however, lack of said foreknowledge made the plot (which is rather complex) all the more intriguing. Four stars. I do ... [drum roll] ... recommend both books to the serious reader.
[going back a bit, Senior ... yes, I've read a few Cadfael mysteries; I rather liked them; while they didn't all seem to be equally good, none of them were bad. Competently done, though not earning an outright 'recommend.']
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Post by Witcher Wolf on Jan 28, 2007 6:10:50 GMT -5
I enjoyed the Cadfael books, but then again I did enjoy a lot of varied books when I was younger - including a series of Science Fiction books called: The Last Legionary.
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Post by Aedh on Jan 28, 2007 11:25:26 GMT -5
Last Legionary ... must've been a Brit thing ... that one got by me altogether. That does remind me, however, of the Casca series by Barry Sadler, of which I read a few. I always wondered whether he was the same Barry Sadler of "Ballad Of The Green Berets" fame.
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Post by Witcher Wolf on Jan 28, 2007 18:42:34 GMT -5
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Post by Gothicgds on Feb 2, 2007 1:26:42 GMT -5
UNO's library has a section on the York kings that I could cheerfully get lost in! [Well don't let me stop you dear! ;D ]Ha ha ha. Bite me, dear. Meanwhile I note that the only Lancaster king who merited his own books in that section was Henry "peasant-slaughterer" V... Anyway, I'm so busy with classes lately that I haven't gotten much recreational reading done. I can recommend Berlitz's Essential Italian, tho. ; P
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Post by Aedh on Feb 2, 2007 14:11:37 GMT -5
That figures ... Northerners seem better able to relate to the grim, grey ambience of Libria than you denizens of the lovely English Riviera! ;D ;D ;D
Separate and unrelated ... driving on with "Warriors of Dawn ..." still a good book, and still a recommend, but definitely ODD plot ... whatever Mike Foster studied in college, and those things were evidently many and varied ... literary theory was NOT one of them! Like some of Tanith Lee's works ... I find myself reading on, almost hypnotically, despite parts of me that are screaming out in protest ...
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Post by Aedh on Feb 3, 2007 7:10:56 GMT -5
Hail Cleric Gothic ... well well ... what do you think is up with Mira's red rose avatars lately ... that's like, three now in rapid succession ... Do you suspect she's ... seen the light? *music sting*
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