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Authors you WON'T be reading or buying anymore

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tphile2

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Mar 23, 2012, 10:17:26 AM3/23/12
to
Since we are on the will buy and read theme, what about the ones you
won't. That you did once but something killed your interest. Which
seems to be happening in the other thread. The question was "buy
anything" but many seem to have a limit.
for me (your mileage may vary)
Piers Anthony, Xanth killed it for me. It turned into a boring
formula gimmick series. I haven't read anything of his in decades.
Shatner. TekWar wasn't that interesting and his taking credit for
ghostwriting lost my respect. and his extreme hamitude has only
gotten worse.
Stephenie Meyer. Never could get thru the first Twilight novel.and I
don't consider her a master of her craft or genre.
Stephen King, Not much of a fan of the horror genre anyway. He
takes ten pages to say what many others could in ten paragraphs. I
find its easier and better to wait for the movie version.
George R R Martin. Enjoyed Wildcards and the early books of Game of
Thrones(which I prefer as a series title over Song of Fire and Ice)
but the last couple was a real struggle and I didn't care for certain
events. I liked the HBO series but found some of the nudity as to
gratuitous. and I question whether it will ever be completed. among
other issues.
David Eddings. blah

raja lakshmi

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Mar 23, 2012, 10:39:20 AM3/23/12
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Why this is marked as abuse? It has been marked as abuse.
Report not abuse

Lawrence Watt-Evans

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Mar 23, 2012, 11:35:45 AM3/23/12
to
On 2012-03-23 10:17:26 -0400, tphile2 said:

> Since we are on the will buy and read theme, what about the ones you
> won't. That you did once but something killed your interest. Which
> seems to be happening in the other thread. The question was "buy
> anything" but many seem to have a limit.
> for me (your mileage may vary)
>
> Shatner. TekWar wasn't that interesting and his taking credit for
> ghostwriting lost my respect. and his extreme hamitude has only
> gotten worse.

He mostly didn't take credit for the ghostwriting, though -- he's been
pretty open about Ron Goulart doing the actual writing. Goulart, for
his part, says that Shatner really did write the outline for the first
novel in the series, he didn't just slap his name on something Goulart
thought up.

As for his hamitude, seems to me it peaked with "Boston Legal" and
"Miss Congeniality" (where the part really called for it), and he's
dialed it back down a bit since.

Which is not to say I have any problem with not reading "his" books; I
don't read them, either.




--
Now available on Amazon or B&N: One-Eyed Jack.
Greg Kraft could see ghosts. That didn't mean he could stop them...

Kurt Busiek

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Mar 23, 2012, 4:41:46 PM3/23/12
to
On 2012-03-23 14:17:26 +0000, tphile2 <tph...@cableone.net> said:

> Since we are on the will buy and read theme, what about the ones you
> won't. That you did once but something killed your interest. Which
> seems to be happening in the other thread. The question was "buy
> anything" but many seem to have a limit.
> for me (your mileage may vary)
> Piers Anthony, Xanth killed it for me. It turned into a boring
> formula gimmick series. I haven't read anything of his in decades.
> Shatner. TekWar wasn't that interesting and his taking credit for
> ghostwriting lost my respect. and his extreme hamitude has only
> gotten worse.
> Stephenie Meyer. Never could get thru the first Twilight novel.and I
> don't consider her a master of her craft or genre.
> Stephen King, Not much of a fan of the horror genre anyway. He
> takes ten pages to say what many others could in ten paragraphs. I
> find its easier and better to wait for the movie version.

I find King's prose such that I'm not eager to rush through the plot.
Saying something in ten pages well is fine with me, even if some other
writer can say it faster.

> George R R Martin. Enjoyed Wildcards and the early books of Game of
> Thrones(which I prefer as a series title over Song of Fire and Ice)
> but the last couple was a real struggle and I didn't care for certain
> events. I liked the HBO series but found some of the nudity as to
> gratuitous. and I question whether it will ever be completed. among
> other issues.
> David Eddings. blah

I used to read Anne McCaffrey regularly, but when DRAGONDRUMS came out,
I couldn't read any more. Menolly getting caught up in the "it's not
rape because they're bonded to the lizards" forced sex trope pissed me
off, and made me notice that strong female characters getting
it's-not-raped tended to leave them subjugated to a man and no longer
the driver of their own destiny.

Couldn't read any more after that.

I stopped _buying_ Robert B. Parker when I realized that I thought the
Spenser series was basically over and had been spinning its wheels for
years, and his plotting a dialogue tics had gotten annoying. Plus, I
was paying twenty bucks or more for books that I read in about an hour
and a half, maybe two hours, and didn't have a desire to reread. But I
was invested in the characters from the old days to the point that I
got them all out of the library, hoping for signs of improvement; after
all, it did'nt take long to read them.

I did find some positive signs in the Jesse Stone series and the
Westerns, mainly because Parker seemed aware that the lead characters
were profoundly fucked up, while Spenser and Susan just congratulated
each other for being like that. But they still didn't make me want to
buy them.

kdb
--
Visit http://www.busiek.com -- for all your Busiek needs!

Suzanne Blom

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Mar 23, 2012, 4:56:05 PM3/23/12
to
On 3/23/2012 9:17 AM, tphile2 wrote:
> Since we are on the will buy and read theme, what about the ones you
> won't. That you did once but something killed your interest. Which
> seems to be happening in the other thread. The question was "buy
> anything" but many seem to have a limit.
> for me (your mileage may vary)

The guy who wrote _Wicked_ (if I can remember it's him.) I don't mind
tragedies, but totally depressing with no hope whatsoever is not my
cup of tea.

David Dyer-Bennet

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Mar 23, 2012, 5:13:29 PM3/23/12
to
Kurt Busiek <ku...@busiek.com> writes:

> On 2012-03-23 14:17:26 +0000, tphile2 <tph...@cableone.net> said:
>
>> Since we are on the will buy and read theme, what about the ones you
>> won't. That you did once but something killed your interest. Which
>> seems to be happening in the other thread. The question was "buy
>> anything" but many seem to have a limit.
>> for me (your mileage may vary)
>> Piers Anthony, Xanth killed it for me. It turned into a boring
>> formula gimmick series. I haven't read anything of his in decades.
>> Shatner. TekWar wasn't that interesting and his taking credit for
>> ghostwriting lost my respect. and his extreme hamitude has only
>> gotten worse.
>> Stephenie Meyer. Never could get thru the first Twilight novel.and I
>> don't consider her a master of her craft or genre.
>> Stephen King, Not much of a fan of the horror genre anyway. He
>> takes ten pages to say what many others could in ten paragraphs. I
>> find its easier and better to wait for the movie version.
>
> I find King's prose such that I'm not eager to rush through the
> plot. Saying something in ten pages well is fine with me, even if some
> other writer can say it faster.

King I've never tried. What people say is so wonderful about him, that
he steeps his characters in pop culture, sounds horrid to me.

>> George R R Martin. Enjoyed Wildcards and the early books of Game of
>> Thrones(which I prefer as a series title over Song of Fire and Ice)
>> but the last couple was a real struggle and I didn't care for certain
>> events. I liked the HBO series but found some of the nudity as to
>> gratuitous. and I question whether it will ever be completed. among
>> other issues.
>> David Eddings. blah
>
> I used to read Anne McCaffrey regularly, but when DRAGONDRUMS came
> out, I couldn't read any more. Menolly getting caught up in the "it's
> not rape because they're bonded to the lizards" forced sex trope
> pissed me off, and made me notice that strong female characters
> getting it's-not-raped tended to leave them subjugated to a man and no
> longer the driver of their own destiny.
>
> Couldn't read any more after that.

I stopped after White Dragon, I think, unless Dragondrums came out
later. I remember liking the Harper Hall trilogy, or maybe it was just
the first two. Haven't looked at them since they were new I don't
think, though.

> I stopped _buying_ Robert B. Parker when I realized that I thought the
> Spenser series was basically over and had been spinning its wheels for
> years, and his plotting a dialogue tics had gotten annoying. Plus, I
> was paying twenty bucks or more for books that I read in about an hour
> and a half, maybe two hours, and didn't have a desire to reread. But I
> was invested in the characters from the old days to the point that I
> got them all out of the library, hoping for signs of improvement;
> after all, it did'nt take long to read them.

Yep, that's about it. There were some very minor better ones later,
maybe, but nowhere near the level of the good early ones.

> I did find some positive signs in the Jesse Stone series and the
> Westerns, mainly because Parker seemed aware that the lead characters
> were profoundly fucked up, while Spenser and Susan just congratulated
> each other for being like that. But they still didn't make me want to
> buy them.

I don't think I've done the westerns, and d0on't remember much of
anything positive about Jesse Stone.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, dd...@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/
Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/
Dragaera: http://dragaera.info

Jacey Bedford

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Mar 23, 2012, 5:19:56 PM3/23/12
to
In message
<2c6e8cb5-3e23-400d...@v22g2000vby.googlegroups.com>,
tphile2 <tph...@cableone.net> writes
>Since we are on the will buy and read theme, what about the ones you
>won't. That you did once but something killed your interest.

Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars sequence. I read books 1- 3 avidly and
then ordered book 4 quite eagerly thinking it was going to be a five
book sequence. I read it, but my reading muscles were starting to tire,
however... Only one more book to go so I ordered book five - expecting
the payoff for sticking with it... Only to discover that It Was Not The
End... and I was going to have to read another one, and then oh-my-god
another two...

And I just ran out of steam.

Book 5 sits on my shelves unread and books 6 and 7 will never darken my
doorstep.

Pity because the first three were great.


And I almost ran out of steam on Rachel Caine's Weather Warden books.
Five would have been plenty. But every volume ended with a cliffhanger.
By the time it got to book 7 I was starting to resent it and I only read
books 8 and 9 because I'd got this far, dammit, and I wasn't going to
chicken out before the end.

It did, however, put me off starting any more series by Rachel Caine. I
really loved the first five or six WW books but after that I felt I was
being led by the nose to the next cliffhanger.

I have bought other trilogies and then not been able to read beyond the
first book, so now I only ever buy one at a time.

Trilogies, quartets and series I've lost steam over include:

Ian Irvine - Well of Echoes
I read and enjoyed Geomancer but somehow didn't pick up the second one
quickly enough and now I can't face going back to them. Not sure why. My
problem, not the books, I suspect.

CJ Cherryh - Foreigner
I loved the first three than got a bit lost when they went into space
and haven't read on from there. I may well go back to them but there are
now so many to catch up with that it would take me months and there are
just so many other books in my Strategic Book Reserve.

Stephen R. Donaldson - Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
I liked the look of these and begged them as a Christmas present. I
didn't get more than 100 pages into the first book. I threw them out.
I've never done that to a book before.

Jacey
--
Jacey Bedford

Kurt Busiek

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Mar 23, 2012, 5:30:51 PM3/23/12
to
On 2012-03-23 21:13:29 +0000, David Dyer-Bennet <dd...@dd-b.net> said:

> Kurt Busiek <ku...@busiek.com> writes:
>
>> On 2012-03-23 14:17:26 +0000, tphile2 <tph...@cableone.net> said:
>>
>>> Stephen King, Not much of a fan of the horror genre anyway. He
>>> takes ten pages to say what many others could in ten paragraphs. I
>>> find its easier and better to wait for the movie version.
>>
>> I find King's prose such that I'm not eager to rush through the
>> plot. Saying something in ten pages well is fine with me, even if some
>> other writer can say it faster.
>
> King I've never tried. What people say is so wonderful about him, that
> he steeps his characters in pop culture, sounds horrid to me.

That's not particularly how I'd describe him, or what I'd say is
wonderful about him. There was a point where his work stood out by
comparison because his characters seemed to exist in a world that had
actual brand names in it, while other writers avoided them, but I think
both his writing and others' changed.

In any case, I'd say he's too good to discard sight unseen, and would
urge you to try something. If you don't like it, at least you'll be
going by your own reaction.

>> I used to read Anne McCaffrey regularly, but when DRAGONDRUMS came
>> out, I couldn't read any more. Menolly getting caught up in the "it's
>> not rape because they're bonded to the lizards" forced sex trope
>> pissed me off, and made me notice that strong female characters
>> getting it's-not-raped tended to leave them subjugated to a man and no
>> longer the driver of their own destiny.
>>
>> Couldn't read any more after that.
>
> I stopped after White Dragon, I think, unless Dragondrums came out
> later.

DRAGONDRUMS was right after THE WHITE DRAGON.

> I remember liking the Harper Hall trilogy, or maybe it was just
> the first two. Haven't looked at them since they were new I don't
> think, though.

I loved the first two, and the third pissed me off to the
above-described point. I still own those two, but have gotten rid of
the others.

>> I stopped _buying_ Robert B. Parker when I realized that I thought the
>> Spenser series was basically over and had been spinning its wheels for
>> years, and his plotting a dialogue tics had gotten annoying. Plus, I
>> was paying twenty bucks or more for books that I read in about an hour
>> and a half, maybe two hours, and didn't have a desire to reread. But I
>> was invested in the characters from the old days to the point that I
>> got them all out of the library, hoping for signs of improvement;
>> after all, it did'nt take long to read them.
>
> Yep, that's about it. There were some very minor better ones later,
> maybe, but nowhere near the level of the good early ones.

I think CATSKILL EAGLE is the end of the series; the point at which
forward motion ends. But when I culled the set, I only saved the books
up through A SAVAGE PLACE, or maybe CEREMONY. Plus HUNDRED-DOLLAR BABY,
which I think is the only latter-period good one.

Kurt Busiek

unread,
Mar 23, 2012, 5:32:48 PM3/23/12
to
On 2012-03-23 21:19:56 +0000, Jacey Bedford <look...@nospam.invalid> said:

> In message
> <2c6e8cb5-3e23-400d...@v22g2000vby.googlegroups.com>,
> tphile2 <tph...@cableone.net> writes
>> Since we are on the will buy and read theme, what about the ones you
>> won't. That you did once but something killed your interest.
>
> Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars sequence. I read books 1- 3 avidly and
> then ordered book 4 quite eagerly thinking it was going to be a five
> book sequence. I read it, but my reading muscles were starting to tire,
> however... Only one more book to go so I ordered book five - expecting
> the payoff for sticking with it... Only to discover that It Was Not The
> End... and I was going to have to read another one, and then oh-my-god
> another two...
>
> And I just ran out of steam.

That happened to me with the ERAGON books. I read the first two, bought
the third because it was a trilogy, right? So let's just finish it off.
Then I heard it wasn't a trilogy, and never read the third one.

Lynn McGuire

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Mar 23, 2012, 5:42:48 PM3/23/12
to
On 3/23/2012 9:17 AM, tphile2 wrote:
Lisanne Norman. _Between_Darkness_and_Light_ (Sholan
Alliance) killed that story line for me.
http://www.amazon.com/Between-Darkness-Light-Sholan-Alliance/dp/0756400155/

Lynn

David Dyer-Bennet

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Mar 23, 2012, 6:03:53 PM3/23/12
to
Kurt Busiek <ku...@busiek.com> writes:

> On 2012-03-23 21:13:29 +0000, David Dyer-Bennet <dd...@dd-b.net> said:
>
>> Kurt Busiek <ku...@busiek.com> writes:
>>
>>> On 2012-03-23 14:17:26 +0000, tphile2 <tph...@cableone.net> said:
>>>
>>>> Stephen King, Not much of a fan of the horror genre anyway. He
>>>> takes ten pages to say what many others could in ten paragraphs. I
>>>> find its easier and better to wait for the movie version.
>>>
>>> I find King's prose such that I'm not eager to rush through the
>>> plot. Saying something in ten pages well is fine with me, even if some
>>> other writer can say it faster.
>>
>> King I've never tried. What people say is so wonderful about him, that
>> he steeps his characters in pop culture, sounds horrid to me.
>
> That's not particularly how I'd describe him, or what I'd say is
> wonderful about him. There was a point where his work stood out by
> comparison because his characters seemed to exist in a world that had
> actual brand names in it, while other writers avoided them, but I
> think both his writing and others' changed.

That's what all the buzz was about, and it put me off.

Well, that and the fact that he basically wrote horror, which I hate.

> In any case, I'd say he's too good to discard sight unseen, and would
> urge you to try something. If you don't like it, at least you'll be
> going by your own reaction.

Still horror, though.

>>> I used to read Anne McCaffrey regularly, but when DRAGONDRUMS came
>>> out, I couldn't read any more. Menolly getting caught up in the "it's
>>> not rape because they're bonded to the lizards" forced sex trope
>>> pissed me off, and made me notice that strong female characters
>>> getting it's-not-raped tended to leave them subjugated to a man and no
>>> longer the driver of their own destiny.
>>>
>>> Couldn't read any more after that.
>>
>> I stopped after White Dragon, I think, unless Dragondrums came out
>> later.
>
> DRAGONDRUMS was right after THE WHITE DRAGON.

So I probably read it and missed that, sigh.

>> I remember liking the Harper Hall trilogy, or maybe it was just
>> the first two. Haven't looked at them since they were new I don't
>> think, though.
>
> I loved the first two, and the third pissed me off to the
> above-described point. I still own those two, but have gotten rid of
> the others.

I'm sure they're around. I've been thinking about reading old McCaffrey
again some day.

>>> I stopped _buying_ Robert B. Parker when I realized that I thought the
>>> Spenser series was basically over and had been spinning its wheels for
>>> years, and his plotting a dialogue tics had gotten annoying. Plus, I
>>> was paying twenty bucks or more for books that I read in about an hour
>>> and a half, maybe two hours, and didn't have a desire to reread. But I
>>> was invested in the characters from the old days to the point that I
>>> got them all out of the library, hoping for signs of improvement;
>>> after all, it did'nt take long to read them.
>>
>> Yep, that's about it. There were some very minor better ones later,
>> maybe, but nowhere near the level of the good early ones.
>
> I think CATSKILL EAGLE is the end of the series; the point at which
> forward motion ends. But when I culled the set, I only saved the books
> up through A SAVAGE PLACE, or maybe CEREMONY. Plus HUNDRED-DOLLAR
> BABY, which I think is the only latter-period good one.

We've certainly still got them all. But then I loaned them to somebody
within the last decade.

Kurt Busiek

unread,
Mar 23, 2012, 6:58:40 PM3/23/12
to
On 2012-03-23 22:03:53 +0000, David Dyer-Bennet <dd...@dd-b.net> said:

> Kurt Busiek <ku...@busiek.com> writes:
>
>> On 2012-03-23 21:13:29 +0000, David Dyer-Bennet <dd...@dd-b.net> said:
>>
>>> King I've never tried. What people say is so wonderful about him, that
>>> he steeps his characters in pop culture, sounds horrid to me.
>>
>> That's not particularly how I'd describe him, or what I'd say is
>> wonderful about him. There was a point where his work stood out by
>> comparison because his characters seemed to exist in a world that had
>> actual brand names in it, while other writers avoided them, but I
>> think both his writing and others' changed.
>
> That's what all the buzz was about, and it put me off.
>
> Well, that and the fact that he basically wrote horror, which I hate.

I wouldn't say all his stuff is horror. It's how he started, but he
became a brand name, and pretty much anything he writes gets thought of
as horror, even if it'd be called fantasy, SF or something else with a
different name on it.

And then there's the stuff that is flat-out not horror, like "Head
Down," his essay about his son Owen's Little League season (one of the
best things he's ever written) or his co-written memoir of the 2004 Red
Sox season.

>> In any case, I'd say he's too good to discard sight unseen, and would
>> urge you to try something. If you don't like it, at least you'll be
>> going by your own reaction.
>
> Still horror, though.

Depends on the book. But I won't push.

>>> I remember liking the Harper Hall trilogy, or maybe it was just
>>> the first two. Haven't looked at them since they were new I don't
>>> think, though.
>>
>> I loved the first two, and the third pissed me off to the
>> above-described point. I still own those two, but have gotten rid of
>> the others.
>
> I'm sure they're around.

I'm sure they are, but I don't want them back and I wouldn't want them
around for my daughters to pick up.

jgharston

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Mar 23, 2012, 7:34:26 PM3/23/12
to
tphile2 wrote:
> Piers Anthony,  Xanth killed it for me.

+1 I find it hard to believe that Macroscope and Xanth were
written by the same person.

JGH

lal_truckee

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Mar 23, 2012, 7:40:28 PM3/23/12
to
On 3/23/12 7:17 AM, tphile2 wrote:
> Piers Anthony

Killed a whole alphabetical section for me.

I almost missed Patricia Anthony due to Piers' lousy lousy books.

Robert Bannister

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Mar 23, 2012, 9:13:59 PM3/23/12
to
On 24/03/12 5:19 AM, Jacey Bedford wrote:
> In message
> <2c6e8cb5-3e23-400d...@v22g2000vby.googlegroups.com>,
> tphile2 <tph...@cableone.net> writes
>> Since we are on the will buy and read theme, what about the ones you
>> won't. That you did once but something killed your interest.
>
> Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars sequence. I read books 1- 3 avidly and
> then ordered book 4 quite eagerly thinking it was going to be a five
> book sequence. I read it, but my reading muscles were starting to tire,
> however... Only one more book to go so I ordered book five - expecting
> the payoff for sticking with it... Only to discover that It Was Not The
> End... and I was going to have to read another one, and then oh-my-god
> another two...

This is what happened with me and Isobelle Carmody and Obernewtyn - I
now have seven books, but I'm not buying any more. It could easily have
ended with Book 4 and certainly should have with Book 5, but then it
drags on and on.


--
Robert Bannister

Will in New Haven

unread,
Mar 23, 2012, 10:20:01 PM3/23/12
to
On Mar 23, 5:58 pm, Kurt Busiek <k...@busiek.com> wrote:
> On 2012-03-23 22:03:53 +0000, David Dyer-Bennet <d...@dd-b.net> said:
>
>
>
> > Kurt Busiek <k...@busiek.com> writes:
>
> >> On 2012-03-23 21:13:29 +0000, David Dyer-Bennet <d...@dd-b.net> said:
>
> >>> King I've never tried.  What people say is so wonderful about him, that
> >>> he steeps his characters in pop culture, sounds horrid to me.
>
> >> That's not particularly how I'd describe him, or what I'd say is
> >> wonderful about him. There was a point where his work stood out by
> >> comparison because his characters seemed to exist in a world that had
> >> actual brand names in it, while other writers avoided them, but I
> >> think both his writing and others' changed.
>
> > That's what all the buzz was about, and it put me off.
>
> > Well, that and the fact that he basically wrote horror, which I hate.
>
> I wouldn't say all his stuff is horror. It's how he started, but he
> became a brand name, and pretty much anything he writes gets thought of
> as horror, even if it'd be called fantasy, SF or something else with a
> different name on it.

He wrote at least one good fantasy with no horror tropes that I can
remember. The title was something like EYE of the Dragon.

>
> And then there's the stuff that is flat-out not horror, like "Head
> Down," his essay about his son Owen's Little League season (one of the
> best things he's ever written) or his co-written memoir of the 2004 Red
> Sox season.

You think the 2004 AL season WASN'T horror?

--
Will in New Haven
"Have faith in the Yankees, my son, and remember the great DiMaggio."
Hemingway THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA


>
> >> In any case, I'd say he's too good to discard sight unseen, and would
> >> urge you to try something. If you don't like it, at least you'll be
> >> going by your own reaction.
>
> > Still horror, though.
>
> Depends on the book. But I won't push.
>
> >>> I remember liking the Harper Hall trilogy, or maybe it was just
> >>> the first two.  Haven't looked at them since they were new I don't
> >>> think, though.
>
> >> I loved the first two, and the third pissed me off to the
> >> above-described point. I still own those two, but have gotten rid of
> >> the others.
>
> > I'm sure they're around.
>
> I'm sure they are, but I don't want them back and I wouldn't want them
> around for my daughters to pick up.
>
> kdb
> --
> Visithttp://www.busiek.com-- for all your Busiek needs!

slakmagik

unread,
Mar 24, 2012, 12:49:32 AM3/24/12
to
On 2012-03-23 Fri 10:17:26, tphile2 wrote:
> Since we are on the will buy and read theme, what about the ones you
> won't. That you did once but something killed your interest. Which
> seems to be happening in the other thread. The question was "buy
> anything" but many seem to have a limit.
> for me (your mileage may vary)
> Piers Anthony, Xanth killed it for me. It turned into a boring
> formula gimmick series. I haven't read anything of his in decades.
> Shatner. TekWar wasn't that interesting and his taking credit for
> ghostwriting lost my respect. and his extreme hamitude has only
> gotten worse.

I don't know that it's any one thing but I've read a number of Anthony,
Foster, and Zahn (who are somehow linked a bit in my mind) long ago and
then ended up with none remaining on my shelves. I've recently recovered
a handful of Zahn for some reason but probably won't be getting much
else.

For older writers, this kind of touches on the "other kind" of "buy
anything" thread. Norman Spinrad writes stuff that would usually make me
want to punch the author and does it such that I often love it. But
after a brilliant run from practically the beginning, he had a string of
books he wrote in the mid-late 80s/early 90s that didn't work for me,
including one I really hated, and seemed to move in a more mainstream
direction late in that period, as well. I did buy _Greenhouse Summer_
(new, over a decade ago, and which I'll read Any Day Now) because it
seemed like genuine SF and got more buzz than I can remember him getting
for awhile but, generally, he's a "favorite author" I don't buy anything
from anymore.

Le Guin's catalog, other than a few stories, ceased to be interesting to
me at _Orsinian Tales_ and all the weird little things she did after
that and the _Always Coming Home_ junk. I know she's still a Big Deal
and people love her, though. (I have read _The Compass Rose_ which still
has some excellent stuff in it but wasn't consistent. And I did try
_Four Ways to Forgiveness_ and, while it wasn't bad, it didn't seem
utterly classically essential to me or anything.)

Clarke lost me around _Songs from Something_ (which was okay, I guess)
and _2061_ (a severe, pointless blow to the rep of the earlier two
(though some would argue the second was to the first)) and the Rama
sequels. But to anyone who gave up immediately after _Rama_ (_Imperial
Earth_ was inexplicably meh) I'd really recommend _The Fountains of
Paradise_.

Heinlein loses me in the vicinity of _SIASL_, with a long-standing
exception for _The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress_ (which I *have* to re-read
to make sure it actually deserves the exception - but I remember it as
deserving it).

Tiptree went from brilliant darkness (so to speak) to something just
really plain unpleasant shortly before she killed herself (surprise) so
_The Starry Rift_ and _Brightness Falls from Air_ didn't survive a
re-reading and I've never gotten anything else after _Out of the
Everywhere_.

Of course, all three of them are dead, so may not be on topic. But I
mean I won't be buying any more stuff by them after the period indicated
(though I've already read all but one (two, if posthumous) Heinlein
books and that was practically all the Tiptree, too).

Pat Cadigan lost me when she started doing almost exclusively outdated
VR stuff, bad media ties, and moved to England. (Not that there's
anything wrong with the last, but it seemed to mark an era.) I did read
a story I liked by her recently, though, so there may yet be hope.

I only buy Union/Alliance stuff from Cherryh now and even that may be in
danger. Dozens of Foreigner books (and her having so many books in
general) have kind of turned me off/worn me out. But I still love most
of the first 30 or 40 or so. :)

Gibson apparently lost me in the second trilogy which I have yet to
finish but may someday.

Then there are people like Anderson, Bear, Pohl, and Silverberg who
largely lost me at a fairly specific point but that I can't say I ever
followed or backtracked through very religiously in the first place, at
least not from their whole careers. (And I've been tempted to get _Hull
Zero Three_ and _Roma Eterna_.)

I can't think of any really "now" current/new authors that fit - I
either immediately dislike them or I still like them so far or their
careers more or less imploded without my having any say about it. And
there's really no author I'd absolutely rule out - who knows what
fantastically interesting thing someone may yet produce? - but these are
some of the people who have a lot of inertia to overcome.

Kurt Busiek

unread,
Mar 24, 2012, 1:42:11 AM3/24/12
to
On 2012-03-24 02:20:01 +0000, Will in New Haven
<bill....@taylorandfrancis.com> said:

> On Mar 23, 5:58 pm, Kurt Busiek <k...@busiek.com> wrote:
>> And then there's the stuff that is flat-out not horror, like "Head
>> Down," his essay about his son Owen's Little League season (one of the
>> best things he's ever written) or his co-written memoir of the 2004 Red
>> Sox season.
>
> You think the 2004 AL season WASN'T horror?

Not with that ending.

kdb
--
Visit http://www.busiek.com -- for all your Busiek needs!

JRStern

unread,
Mar 24, 2012, 1:53:51 AM3/24/12
to
On Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:17:26 -0700 (PDT), tphile2
<tph...@cableone.net> wrote:

>Since we are on the will buy and read theme, what about the ones you
>won't. That you did once but something killed your interest. Which
>seems to be happening in the other thread. The question was "buy
>anything" but many seem to have a limit.
>for me (your mileage may vary)

>Piers Anthony, Xanth killed it for me. It turned into a boring
>formula gimmick series. I haven't read anything of his in decades.

Yep.

>Shatner. TekWar wasn't that interesting and his taking credit for
>ghostwriting lost my respect. and his extreme hamitude has only
>gotten worse.

Never read anything with his name on it.

>Stephen King, Not much of a fan of the horror genre anyway. He
>takes ten pages to say what many others could in ten paragraphs. I
>find its easier and better to wait for the movie version.

Some of his ancient, early stories were cute, but by the time he
started publishing entire novels, he lost me.

--

Stephen Donaldson

I dragged through that Illearth stuff looking for a point, and never
found one, so foget him.


Anne McCaffrey

One dragonflight was enough for me, as it turned out.


Frank Herbert

Four Dune books were enough for me, as it turned out.


Fred Saberhagen

Again, excellent, fantastic author - who wore out his franchise in his
later years. I did pick up his very last book and dragged through it,
but the magic was long gone - so to speak.


Glen Cook

Like his early stuff, but don't believe I've picked up and finished
anything of his written in the last 20 years.

--

All of these were excellent, top, favorite authors once upon a time
and it sort of hurts to leave books by them unread, but so it is.

J.


Ken from Chicago

unread,
Mar 24, 2012, 8:03:13 AM3/24/12
to
Stephen Baxter--His Manifold trilogy started with such hope in Reid
Malenfant's opening inspirational speech about space exploration and finally
managing to launch into space only to devolve into an increasingly
depressing storyline--which proceeds to get worse with each book in the
trilogy (unlike the novel he had about a colony ship that breaks down until
warring disparate cultures but has kinda hopeful but clearly unexpected
ending).

Never again.

-- Ken from Chicago

Howard Brazee

unread,
Mar 24, 2012, 10:05:48 AM3/24/12
to
On Fri, 23 Mar 2012 22:53:51 -0700, JRStern <JRS...@foobar.invalid>
wrote:

>Frank Herbert
>
>Four Dune books were enough for me, as it turned out.

More than enough Dune for me - but Herbert wrote other stuff that I
like very much.

--
"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found,
than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace
to the legislature, and not to the executive department."

- James Madison

James Nicoll

unread,
Mar 24, 2012, 10:42:37 AM3/24/12
to
In article <jkjjor$kf3$1...@speranza.aioe.org>,
slakmagik <j...@hostname.invalid> wrote:
>
>Then there are people like Anderson, Bear, Pohl, and Silverberg who
>largely lost me at a fairly specific point

Which were? Hmmm, let me guess:

Anderson: something post-KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS

Bear: DARWIN'S RADIO

Pohl: O PIONEER

Silverberg: LORD VALENTINE'S CASTLE


--
http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll
http://www.cafepress.com/jdnicoll (For all your "The problem with
defending the English language [...]" T-shirt, cup and tote-bag needs)

Jaimie Vandenbergh

unread,
Mar 24, 2012, 11:46:49 AM3/24/12
to
The Manifold books wiped me out too - I stopped reading a little into
the second book. I was rather a fan of his earlier stuff, so I'll be
trying his collaboration with Pratchett later this year. A surprising
pairing.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"I'll never forget my first wife - drove me to drink. I'm
eternally grateful." - W. C. Fields

Carl Dershem

unread,
Mar 24, 2012, 12:54:09 PM3/24/12
to
Suzanne Blom <bo...@sueblom.net> typed in news:jkio12$uil$1@dont-
email.me:
I agree, but for a different reason.

If you're going to write in someone else's world, respect it. If
you're going to do a complete reversal of the mores and ideals and
realities of a piece, call it something else.

But taking Baum and saying "What is firmly established BY THE
CREATOR OF THE WORLD BEING WRITTEN is wrong" is BS. Anyone who
would do that ain't getting my money.

cd

Suzanne Blom

unread,
Mar 24, 2012, 5:32:17 PM3/24/12
to
On 3/23/2012 5:03 PM, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> Kurt Busiek<ku...@busiek.com> writes:
>
>> On 2012-03-23 21:13:29 +0000, David Dyer-Bennet<dd...@dd-b.net> said:
>>
>>> King I've never tried. What people say is so wonderful about him, that
>>> he steeps his characters in pop culture, sounds horrid to me.
>>
>> That's not particularly how I'd describe him, or what I'd say is
>> wonderful about him. There was a point where his work stood out by
>> comparison because his characters seemed to exist in a world that had
>> actual brand names in it, while other writers avoided them, but I
>> think both his writing and others' changed.
>
> That's what all the buzz was about, and it put me off.
>
> Well, that and the fact that he basically wrote horror, which I hate.
>
>> In any case, I'd say he's too good to discard sight unseen, and would
>> urge you to try something. If you don't like it, at least you'll be
>> going by your own reaction.
>
> Still horror, though.
>
_The Eyes of the Dragon_ is a YA fantasy and is not horror. It's
pretty good as well. I'd argue that some of the others are not horror,
either, but, with that book, it's definitely true.

Robert Bannister

unread,
Mar 24, 2012, 6:53:53 PM3/24/12
to
I have to be honest: I loved Xanth for the first four or five books. By
the time it got over twenty, I'd had enough. There are a number of
Anthony books that were really good and which I have reread like
"Incarnations of Immortality", although that palled towards the end - I
only really liked the first few books. I also like "Bio of a Space
Tyrant" and "The Apprentice Adept".


--
Robert Bannister

Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)

unread,
Mar 24, 2012, 7:48:42 PM3/24/12
to
On 3/24/12 6:53 PM, Robert Bannister wrote:
> On 24/03/12 7:34 AM, jgharston wrote:
>> tphile2 wrote:
>>> Piers Anthony, Xanth killed it for me.
>>
>> +1 I find it hard to believe that Macroscope and Xanth were
>> written by the same person.
>
> I have to be honest: I loved Xanth for the first four or five books. By
> the time it got over twenty, I'd had enough.
>

For me, the Anthony Rule has been that any Anthony series (at least
through the ones I'd tried) had stuff worth reading in the first N
books, where N ranged from 1 to 3.


--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Website: http://www.grandcentralarena.com Blog:
http://seawasp.livejournal.com

Ken from Chicago

unread,
Mar 25, 2012, 12:49:55 AM3/25/12
to
"Howard Brazee" <how...@brazee.net> wrote in message
news:l4lrm7dtb23qb4ahp...@4ax.com...
Ha! I survived the ENTIRE Dune hexology--and didn't even get a lousy
t-shirt.

-- Ken from Chicago

Gene Wirchenko

unread,
Mar 25, 2012, 1:38:35 AM3/25/12
to
On Fri, 23 Mar 2012 22:53:51 -0700, JRStern <JRS...@foobar.invalid>
wrote:

[snip]

>Fred Saberhagen
>
>Again, excellent, fantastic author - who wore out his franchise in his
>later years. I did pick up his very last book and dragged through it,
>but the magic was long gone - so to speak.

I love his Dracula books.

>Glen Cook
>
>Like his early stuff, but don't believe I've picked up and finished
>anything of his written in the last 20 years.

I enjoyed books of his, but I have not read anything of his in
quite a while. I have not seen it.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Bill Snyder

unread,
Mar 25, 2012, 10:32:33 AM3/25/12
to
"My parents went to ARRAKIS, and all I got was this lousy
stillsuit."

--
Bill Snyder [This space unintentionally left blank]

Ken from Chicago

unread,
Mar 25, 2012, 3:11:11 PM3/25/12
to


"Bill Snyder" <bsn...@airmail.net> wrote in message
news:1saum7pkdcilnqvl4...@4ax.com...
Excuse me, grandpa, we call it 'Rakis' now.

-- Ken from Chicago

Juho Julkunen

unread,
Mar 25, 2012, 4:59:58 PM3/25/12
to
In article <1saum7pkdcilnqvl4...@4ax.com>,
bsn...@airmail.net says...
Ungrateful whelp. Everybody knows Fremen make the best stillsuits.

--
Juho Julkunen

Bill Snyder

unread,
Mar 25, 2012, 6:12:34 PM3/25/12
to
Wow, really? I'd always thought the suits were constructed from
some kind of high-tech fiber.

Juho Julkunen

unread,
Mar 25, 2012, 7:01:26 PM3/25/12
to
In article <k06vm7dekbrofm6lf...@4ax.com>,
bsn...@airmail.net says...
What is the most absorbent material known to man?

--
Juho Julkunen

Nix

unread,
Mar 25, 2012, 7:51:51 PM3/25/12
to
On 25 Mar 2012, Bill Snyder verbalised:

> On Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:59:58 +0300, Juho Julkunen
> <giao...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>In article <1saum7pkdcilnqvl4...@4ax.com>,
>>bsn...@airmail.net says...
>>> "My parents went to ARRAKIS, and all I got was this lousy
>>> stillsuit."
>>
>>Ungrateful whelp. Everybody knows Fremen make the best stillsuits.
>
> Wow, really? I'd always thought the suits were constructed from
> some kind of high-tech fiber.

Yeah, but the Fremen weren't that low-tech, particularly not when it
came to anything at all to do with conserving water. (Remember the
frictionless surfaces they used on water-handling equipment, for
instance.)

What they were was not low-tech so much as environmentally constrained.

--
NULL && (void)

Robert Bannister

unread,
Mar 25, 2012, 8:12:56 PM3/25/12
to
On 25/03/12 7:48 AM, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) wrote:
> On 3/24/12 6:53 PM, Robert Bannister wrote:
>> On 24/03/12 7:34 AM, jgharston wrote:
>>> tphile2 wrote:
>>>> Piers Anthony, Xanth killed it for me.
>>>
>>> +1 I find it hard to believe that Macroscope and Xanth were
>>> written by the same person.
>>
>> I have to be honest: I loved Xanth for the first four or five books. By
>> the time it got over twenty, I'd had enough.
>>
>
> For me, the Anthony Rule has been that any Anthony series (at least
> through the ones I'd tried) had stuff worth reading in the first N
> books, where N ranged from 1 to 3.
>
>

Unfortunately, that seems to apply to a great number of authors. I
wonder whether this could become known as "Ryk's Constant".

--
Robert Bannister

Sjouke Burry

unread,
Mar 25, 2012, 9:31:25 PM3/25/12
to
Juho Julkunen <giao...@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:MPG.29d9d0409...@news.kolumbus.fi:
A tax collector.

Gene Wirchenko

unread,
Mar 26, 2012, 1:29:25 AM3/26/12
to
On Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:12:56 +0800, Robert Bannister
<rob...@bigpond.com> wrote:

[snip]

>Unfortunately, that seems to apply to a great number of authors. I
>wonder whether this could become known as "Ryk's Constant".

Constants are supposed to be, you know, constant.

"Ryk's Range"?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Jaimie Vandenbergh

unread,
Mar 26, 2012, 4:18:16 AM3/26/12
to
On Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:12:56 +0800, Robert Bannister
<rob...@bigpond.com> wrote:

If it's going to get codified I'd suggest Wasp modifies it as "N
ranged from from 0 to 3". Pornucopia, anyone?

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"Dawn is a beautiful way to end an evening. It's a lousy way
to start a day." - Dominic Flandry

Robert Carnegie

unread,
Mar 26, 2012, 7:47:07 AM3/26/12
to
Hmm. Try this: Let S(0) be acceptable sales for
a novel. If sales S(1) of a particular novel
sufficiently exceed S(0), sequels will be
written until S(Ns) falls below S(0). At this
point, the probability that someone who enjoyed
the first novel is turned off now, is
(S(1)-S(0))/S(1).

The theorem is that if (Ni) > 3 then the first
novel has by now been turned into a movie,
and /either/ the fourth novel /or/ the movie,
or, conceivably, both, will suck.

There must be a way to perform a similar calculation
for the _Stargate_ movie and various TV shows,
which gets close to _Star Trek_, and to
Carnegie's Corollary: "What sucks worst of all
is the series reboot."

Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)

unread,
Mar 26, 2012, 8:08:04 AM3/26/12
to
On 3/26/12 4:18 AM, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
> On Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:12:56 +0800, Robert Bannister
> <rob...@bigpond.com> wrote:
>
>> On 25/03/12 7:48 AM, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) wrote:
>>> On 3/24/12 6:53 PM, Robert Bannister wrote:
>>>> On 24/03/12 7:34 AM, jgharston wrote:
>>>>> tphile2 wrote:
>>>>>> Piers Anthony, Xanth killed it for me.
>>>>>
>>>>> +1 I find it hard to believe that Macroscope and Xanth were
>>>>> written by the same person.
>>>>
>>>> I have to be honest: I loved Xanth for the first four or five books. By
>>>> the time it got over twenty, I'd had enough.
>>>>
>>>
>>> For me, the Anthony Rule has been that any Anthony series (at least
>>> through the ones I'd tried) had stuff worth reading in the first N
>>> books, where N ranged from 1 to 3.
>>>
>>
>> Unfortunately, that seems to apply to a great number of authors. I
>> wonder whether this could become known as "Ryk's Constant".
>
> If it's going to get codified I'd suggest Wasp modifies it as "N
> ranged from from 0 to 3". Pornucopia, anyone?

Was "Pornucopia" part of a *series*? The rule applies to series, not
standalones. Anthony's standalones range from damn good (Macroscope)
to... well, I haven't dropped that low, I don't think.

Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)

unread,
Mar 26, 2012, 8:09:14 AM3/26/12
to
On 3/26/12 7:47 AM, Robert Carnegie wrote:

> There must be a way to perform a similar calculation
> for the _Stargate_ movie and various TV shows,
> which gets close to _Star Trek_, and to
> Carnegie's Corollary: "What sucks worst of all
> is the series reboot."

Except that Star Trek disproves the rule, as the reboot was totally
awesome and better than any prior Trek movie except Wrath of Khan.

Jaimie Vandenbergh

unread,
Mar 26, 2012, 8:42:13 AM3/26/12
to
You would if you had read Pornucopia Book Two, _The Magic Fart_.

Thankfully I only know that from Anthony's bibliography wikipedia page
though. I skimmed Pornucopia in a bookshop with boggled disbelief.

I really liked his earlier stuff - particularly from the 70s, but
pretty much everything up until _Bearing an Hourglass_ (1984) was
readable. He jumped the shark big time with the "Bio of a Space
Tyrant" series and that made me look back at some of the earlier books
rather askance...

Cheers - Jaimie
--
Tomorrow (noun) - A mystical land where 99of all human productivity,
motivation and achievement is stored.
-- http://thedoghousediaries.com/3474

Mark Zenier

unread,
Mar 25, 2012, 1:38:45 PM3/25/12
to
In article <jklmgr$3ed$1...@dont-email.me>,
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>On 3/24/12 6:53 PM, Robert Bannister wrote:
>> On 24/03/12 7:34 AM, jgharston wrote:
>>> tphile2 wrote:
>>>> Piers Anthony, Xanth killed it for me.
>>>
>>> +1 I find it hard to believe that Macroscope and Xanth were
>>> written by the same person.
>>
>> I have to be honest: I loved Xanth for the first four or five books. By
>> the time it got over twenty, I'd had enough.
>>
>
> For me, the Anthony Rule has been that any Anthony series (at least
>through the ones I'd tried) had stuff worth reading in the first N
>books, where N ranged from 1 to 3.

The same rule applies to Jack Chalker, with N set at 1/2.

Mark Zenier mze...@eskimo.com
Googleproofaddress(account:mzenier provider:eskimo domain:com)

Juho Julkunen

unread,
Mar 26, 2012, 4:37:47 PM3/26/12
to
In article <jkpm9b$7nm$3...@dont-email.me>, sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com
says...
>
> On 3/26/12 7:47 AM, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>
> > There must be a way to perform a similar calculation
> > for the _Stargate_ movie and various TV shows,
> > which gets close to _Star Trek_, and to
> > Carnegie's Corollary: "What sucks worst of all
> > is the series reboot."
>
> Except that Star Trek disproves the rule, as the reboot was totally
> awesome and better than any prior Trek movie except Wrath of Khan.

It's a good thing I wasn't drinking anything when I read this.

--
Juho Julkunen

Brian M. Scott

unread,
Mar 26, 2012, 11:33:38 PM3/26/12
to
On Sun, 25 Mar 2012 06:53:53 +0800, Robert Bannister
<rob...@bigpond.com> wrote in
<news:9t71k5...@mid.individual.net> in
rec.arts.sf.written:

[...]

> I also like "Bio of a Space Tyrant" [...]

Good grief. I didn't think that *anyone* besides Anthony
himself liked that thing.

Brian

David Mitchell

unread,
Mar 27, 2012, 1:14:51 AM3/27/12
to
On 26/03/12 12:47, Robert Carnegie wrote:

> There must be a way to perform a similar calculation
> for the _Stargate_ movie and various TV shows,
> which gets close to _Star Trek_, and to
> Carnegie's Corollary: "What sucks worst of all
> is the series reboot."

Would you consider the reboot of BSG to suck?
I understand that many thought it superior to the original.
(I confess, I became too bored to care about half-way through season
three. But I thought it started well).

--
David Mitchell
No, not that one.

David Johnston

unread,
Mar 27, 2012, 1:44:07 AM3/27/12
to
Honestly I find the reboots of Stargate, Buffy and Battlestar Galactica
to be improvements. The Star Trek reboot...ehn. It has shed some awful
TNG era baggage so that's to the good. And the special effects are
obviously better than TOS. So, I'm not happy about making an infant the
Captain of the Enterprise...he'll get older soon enough.

Ted Nolan <tednolan>

unread,
Mar 27, 2012, 2:52:34 AM3/27/12
to
In article <XOydnSGkhb5W0ezS...@brightview.co.uk>,
Agreed, *very well*. Unfortunately I coudln't get past the Dylan
episode where they broke all the rules that had been established
as to who could be a Cylon. That combined with a long break immediately
after led me to drop.

But better than the original? Oh my yes.

--
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

David Goldfarb

unread,
Mar 27, 2012, 4:32:35 AM3/27/12
to
In article <9td6dh...@mid.individual.net>,
Ted Nolan <tednolan> <tednolan> wrote:
>In article <XOydnSGkhb5W0ezS...@brightview.co.uk>,
>David Mitchell <david.robo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>Would you consider the reboot of BSG to suck?
>>I understand that many thought it superior to the original.
>>(I confess, I became too bored to care about half-way through season
>>three. But I thought it started well).
>>
>
>Agreed, *very well*. Unfortunately I coudln't get past the Dylan
>episode where they broke all the rules that had been established
>as to who could be a Cylon. That combined with a long break immediately
>after led me to drop.

Certainly the new series was better than the original, but then that's
setting the bar rather low. Frankly, I think that David Mitchell chose
the correct stopping point.

--
David Goldfarb |"Everyone generalizes from insufficient data.
goldf...@gmail.com | I know I do."
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu | -- Steven Brust

Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)

unread,
Mar 27, 2012, 9:53:01 AM3/27/12
to
On 3/27/12 1:14 AM, David Mitchell wrote:
> On 26/03/12 12:47, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>
>> There must be a way to perform a similar calculation
>> for the _Stargate_ movie and various TV shows,
>> which gets close to _Star Trek_, and to
>> Carnegie's Corollary: "What sucks worst of all
>> is the series reboot."
>
> Would you consider the reboot of BSG to suck?

From what I could tell it was a great show that I simply couldn't watch
because there was just enough of the original BSG in there to keep
reminding me of what it WASN'T.

Shame about the ending of the reboot, though, which may well push it
straight into "suck".

David Dyer-Bennet

unread,
Mar 27, 2012, 9:59:41 AM3/27/12
to
I found it interesting, and actually read all of it (something I hadn't
done with any other of his series for...a long time).
--
David Dyer-Bennet, dd...@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/
Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/
Dragaera: http://dragaera.info

Joy Beeson

unread,
Mar 27, 2012, 12:30:25 PM3/27/12
to
On Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:44:07 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
wrote:

> Honestly I find the reboots of Stargate, Buffy and Battlestar Galactica
> to be improvements.

There is no way that a reboot of Battlestar Galactica could fail to be
an improvement, or at least just as good.

I watched, but several times each episode, I apologized to Star Trek
for all the complaints I'd made about it.

I've never seen any episode of the reboot.


--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net



Lawrence Watt-Evans

unread,
Mar 27, 2012, 12:47:41 PM3/27/12
to
On 2012-03-27 12:30:25 -0400, Joy Beeson said:

> On Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:44:07 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Honestly I find the reboots of Stargate, Buffy and Battlestar Galactica
>> to be improvements.
>
> There is no way that a reboot of Battlestar Galactica could fail to be
> an improvement, or at least just as good.

Ah. You never saw "Galactica 1980," then, which demonstrated that it
could, indeed, be much worse. There's a reason it never needed to
change the date to 1981.

> I watched, but several times each episode, I apologized to Star Trek
> for all the complaints I'd made about it.
>
> I've never seen any episode of the reboot.

The reboot started out vastly superior to the original, and of a
quality that compared to "1980" as Everest compares to a grain of fine
sand, but alas, it was unable to maintain that. The decline started in
the first season, and got gradually steeper. I stopped watching half a
season from the end, and regret not stopping somewhere around the New
Caprica sequence.

When the new series was about survivors trying to cope with the
destruction of their entire civilization, it was good stuff. When it
got to stupid guessing games about who the five Cylons were and what
they wanted, it was not.



--
Now available on Amazon or B&N: One-Eyed Jack.
Greg Kraft could see ghosts. That didn't mean he could stop them...

Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)

unread,
Mar 27, 2012, 1:11:06 PM3/27/12
to
On 3/27/12 12:47 PM, Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote:
> On 2012-03-27 12:30:25 -0400, Joy Beeson said:
>
>> On Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:44:07 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Honestly I find the reboots of Stargate, Buffy and Battlestar Galactica
>>> to be improvements.
>>
>> There is no way that a reboot of Battlestar Galactica could fail to be
>> an improvement, or at least just as good.
>
> Ah. You never saw "Galactica 1980," then, which demonstrated that it
> could, indeed, be much worse. There's a reason it never needed to change
> the date to 1981.
>

Damn you, I'd managed to forget about that... thing.

>> I watched, but several times each episode, I apologized to Star Trek
>> for all the complaints I'd made about it.
>>
>> I've never seen any episode of the reboot.
>
> The reboot started out vastly superior to the original,

As a show, undoubtedly. It was not, however, what I would've wanted for
a reboot of Battlestar Galactica.

erilar

unread,
Mar 27, 2012, 3:12:39 PM3/27/12
to
In article <XOydnSGkhb5W0ezS...@brightview.co.uk>,
David Mitchell <david.robo...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Would you consider the reboot of BSG to suck?

For me, yes.

> I understand that many thought it superior to the original.
> (I confess, I became too bored to care about half-way through season
> three. But I thought it started well).

I watched the original when it was originally broadcast. My expectations
for sf TV were a lot lower back then, as I presume is the case for most
old enough to have watched it back then. Production values were
certainly better in BSG2, but the characters and writing never pulled me
in at all; I liked some of the minor characters and actively disliked
the leads, even in the first year. I found it took a great leap
downward even from that level with the beginning of the second season,
at which point I gave up on it.

--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist


erilar

unread,
Mar 27, 2012, 3:14:56 PM3/27/12
to
In article <1mkib46zhlwle.3...@40tude.net>,
I seem to recall mildly enjoying the beginning of it.

--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist


Robert Bannister

unread,
Mar 27, 2012, 8:20:33 PM3/27/12
to
I thought it was very funny. Perhaps others take it seriously.

--
Robert Bannister

David Goldfarb

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 4:27:31 AM3/28/12
to
In article <jksqvd$mis$1...@dont-email.me>,
Lawrence Watt-Evans <l...@sff.net> wrote:
>The reboot started out vastly superior to the original, and of a
>quality that compared to "1980" as Everest compares to a grain of fine
>sand, but alas, it was unable to maintain that. The decline started in
>the first season, and got gradually steeper. I stopped watching half a
>season from the end, and regret not stopping somewhere around the New
>Caprica sequence.

What I'd recommend at this point would be to watch up through the escape
from New Caprica, and then go to fanfiction.net and read "Going Native",
a novel-length conclusion to the series in which Galactica's fleet
arrives in Federation territory and makes contact with the NCC-1701-D.

Yeah, that's pretty inane...but it's better than what we got.

<http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3396972/1/Going_Native> for anyone who's
curious.

>When the new series was about survivors trying to cope with the
>destruction of their entire civilization, it was good stuff. When it
>got to stupid guessing games about who the five Cylons were and what
>they wanted, it was not.

And then there was the really egregious *deus ex machina*, the one
that made it clear that despite a good deal of repetition of "...and
they have a plan" there in fact was no plan and never had been.

--
David Goldfarb | "All love is unrequited."
goldf...@gmail.com |
gold...@ocf.berkeley.edu | -- Babylon 5, "Rising Star"

Michael Stemper

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 8:16:13 AM3/28/12
to
I never really looked at it that way. I do recall that, in _Refugee_, the
narrator talks about how disgusted they were when they realized that the
toilets on their ship fed the recyclers. So they disconnected them. A
page or so later, he was complaining about:
1. How they didn't have any water to drink.
2. Shit was piling up everywhere.

I guess that could be viewed as an amusing passage. Was there more?
Maybe I shouldn't have sold mine.

--
Michael F. Stemper
#include <Standard_Disclaimer>
If it's "tourist season", where do I get my license?

Lawrence Watt-Evans

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 12:20:16 PM3/28/12
to
On 2012-03-28 04:27:31 -0400, David Goldfarb said:

> In article <jksqvd$mis$1...@dont-email.me>,
> Lawrence Watt-Evans <l...@sff.net> wrote:
>> The reboot started out vastly superior to the original, and of a
>> quality that compared to "1980" as Everest compares to a grain of fine
>> sand, but alas, it was unable to maintain that. The decline started in
>> the first season, and got gradually steeper. I stopped watching half a
>> season from the end, and regret not stopping somewhere around the New
>> Caprica sequence.
>
> What I'd recommend at this point would be to watch up through the escape
> from New Caprica, and then go to fanfiction.net and read "Going Native",
> a novel-length conclusion to the series in which Galactica's fleet
> arrives in Federation territory and makes contact with the NCC-1701-D.
>
> Yeah, that's pretty inane...but it's better than what we got.

I think I'd just stop with the escape from New Caprica.

> And then there was the really egregious *deus ex machina*, the one
> that made it clear that despite a good deal of repetition of "...and
> they have a plan" there in fact was no plan and never had been.

Yeah. I wanted to know what "the plan" was, and "nonexistent" was a
very bad answer.

David Johnston

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 12:38:41 PM3/28/12
to
Yes, I had an idea for what "the plan" was. The Cylons intended to
replace humanity as God's first born by hybridizing with humanity and
not allowing any pure-blooded humans to reproduce with anyone except
Cylons. But then it was like they just all forgot what they were doing.

Ted Nolan <tednolan>

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 12:38:56 PM3/28/12
to
In article <jkvdo0$gih$1...@dont-email.me>,
Lawrence Watt-Evans <l...@sff.net> wrote:
>On 2012-03-28 04:27:31 -0400, David Goldfarb said:
>
>> In article <jksqvd$mis$1...@dont-email.me>,
>> Lawrence Watt-Evans <l...@sff.net> wrote:
>>> The reboot started out vastly superior to the original, and of a
>>> quality that compared to "1980" as Everest compares to a grain of fine
>>> sand, but alas, it was unable to maintain that. The decline started in
>>> the first season, and got gradually steeper. I stopped watching half a
>>> season from the end, and regret not stopping somewhere around the New
>>> Caprica sequence.
>>
>> What I'd recommend at this point would be to watch up through the escape
>> from New Caprica, and then go to fanfiction.net and read "Going Native",
>> a novel-length conclusion to the series in which Galactica's fleet
>> arrives in Federation territory and makes contact with the NCC-1701-D.
>>
>> Yeah, that's pretty inane...but it's better than what we got.
>
>I think I'd just stop with the escape from New Caprica.
>
>> And then there was the really egregious *deus ex machina*, the one
>> that made it clear that despite a good deal of repetition of "...and
>> they have a plan" there in fact was no plan and never had been.
>
>Yeah. I wanted to know what "the plan" was, and "nonexistent" was a
>very bad answer.
>

Well, I didn't stay for the end (which I haven't completely had spoiled,
but have heard enough to know I wouldn't like it), but as I mentioned,
when you have spent two years setting up how the *first* Human/Cylon
child is unique, and how the bio-Cylons don't go back to the first
Cylon war, you've explicitly eliminated











SPOIILER
















Tyrol and Tigh.

So naturally they were Cylons.

Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 12:42:16 PM3/28/12
to
On 3/28/12 4:27 AM, David Goldfarb wrote:
> In article<jksqvd$mis$1...@dont-email.me>,
> Lawrence Watt-Evans<l...@sff.net> wrote:
>> The reboot started out vastly superior to the original, and of a
>> quality that compared to "1980" as Everest compares to a grain of fine
>> sand, but alas, it was unable to maintain that. The decline started in
>> the first season, and got gradually steeper. I stopped watching half a
>> season from the end, and regret not stopping somewhere around the New
>> Caprica sequence.
>
> What I'd recommend at this point would be to watch up through the escape
> from New Caprica, and then go to fanfiction.net and read "Going Native",
> a novel-length conclusion to the series in which Galactica's fleet
> arrives in Federation territory and makes contact with the NCC-1701-D.
>
> Yeah, that's pretty inane...but it's better than what we got.

Heh. I wrote that back in 1980. Well, just the NCC-1701, but same basic
idea.

Though my preference was something more along the lines of what David
Weber did in Mutineer's Moon/Armageddon Inheritance -- have the
Galactica arrive at modern-day Earth and help us bootstrap up for a
SERIOUS throwdown with the Cylons (who are not human-built robots gone
bad, but robotic servants of an alien empire, thanks VERY much)

Howard Brazee

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 1:34:47 PM3/28/12
to
On Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:38:41 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
wrote:

>Yes, I had an idea for what "the plan" was. The Cylons intended to
>replace humanity as God's first born by hybridizing with humanity and
>not allowing any pure-blooded humans to reproduce with anyone except
>Cylons. But then it was like they just all forgot what they were doing.

The "forgetting" seems to happen often in fiction - more commonly with
sequels. Some stories start off with some people from our Earth
being put in a fantasy or SF setting - but by the second book, that is
forgotten.

There's a newspaper comic that changed its name, and traded away its
eponymous "robotman" when the author realized that the original
premise had died.

--
"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found,
than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace
to the legislature, and not to the executive department."

- James Madison

Ted Nolan <tednolan>

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 2:33:53 PM3/28/12
to
In article <noi6n79qj76nvlouk...@4ax.com>,
Howard Brazee <how...@brazee.net> wrote:
>On Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:38:41 -0600, David Johnston <Da...@block.net>
>wrote:
>
>>Yes, I had an idea for what "the plan" was. The Cylons intended to
>>replace humanity as God's first born by hybridizing with humanity and
>>not allowing any pure-blooded humans to reproduce with anyone except
>>Cylons. But then it was like they just all forgot what they were doing.
>
>The "forgetting" seems to happen often in fiction - more commonly with
>sequels. Some stories start off with some people from our Earth
>being put in a fantasy or SF setting - but by the second book, that is
>forgotten.
>
>There's a newspaper comic that changed its name, and traded away its
>eponymous "robotman" when the author realized that the original
>premise had died.
>

Well, that's pretty common in comic strips. Castor Oyl was the original
hero (more or less) of the "Thimble Theater" comic strip which became
"Popeye". Fritzi Ritz was the original heroine of "Nancy". Barney Google
was the original hero of the strip that now ususally drops his name
entirely and focuses on Snuffy Smif. Big Chief Wahoo became Steve Roper &
Mike Nomad..

Joseph Nebus

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 4:54:52 PM3/28/12
to
In <noi6n79qj76nvlouk...@4ax.com> Howard Brazee <how...@brazee.net> writes:

>There's a newspaper comic that changed its name, and traded away its
>eponymous "robotman" when the author realized that the original
>premise had died.

It's more complex than that, to be fair. Jim Meddick, cartoonist
in question, did shift the _Robotman_ strip from its original premise
(wacky family with Robotman) to a modification (weird guy/maybe-alien
with Robotman), but then chose consicously to drop Robotman from the
strip because it seemed to him to be holding the strip back. Newspaper
editors, he claimed at least, figured a strip called Robotman was for
the kiddies, when what he was writing was certainly not. (The character
*was* created to be a licensed merchandise property, and the comic strip
commissioned as something to market the property, but the property never
produced much of note besides the comic strip.)

After *that*, Robotman was dropped from the strip and Monty
(the weird guy) made the lead and the strip's name, although Meddick
has since brought back a Robotman-esque character, along with a
stranded time-traveller and a modest cast of other characters, including
one (Moondog) that I think is in danger of taking over the strip and
justifying a new-title again.

It's probably also worth mentioning, so much as any of this can
be, that Meddick likes playing games with the expectation of continuity,
and has retconned backstory repeatedly as he gets a fresh idea (though
it has mostly settled down). I believe he used to be a physics major,
like Bill Amend (_FoxTrot_) and the guy who draws _The Piranha Club_,
which surely means something.

--
http://nebusresearch.wordpress.com/ Joseph Nebus
Current Entry: I Know The Square Root Of Five, Too http://wp.me/p1RYhY-8Y
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brian M. Scott

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 7:12:52 PM3/28/12
to
On Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:20:33 +0800, Robert Bannister
<rob...@bigpond.com> wrote in
<news:9tf3qi...@mid.individual.net> in
rec.arts.sf.written:

> On 28/03/12 3:14 AM, erilar wrote:

>> In article<1mkib46zhlwle.3...@40tude.net>,
>> "Brian M. Scott"<b.s...@csuohio.edu> wrote:

>>> On Sun, 25 Mar 2012 06:53:53 +0800, Robert Bannister
>>> <rob...@bigpond.com> wrote in
>>> <news:9t71k5...@mid.individual.net> in
>>> rec.arts.sf.written:

>>> [...]

>>>> I also like "Bio of a Space Tyrant" [...]

>>> Good grief. I didn't think that *anyone* besides Anthony
>>> himself liked that thing.

>> I seem to recall mildly enjoying the beginning of it.

> I thought it was very funny. Perhaps others take it seriously.

My understanding, possibly mistaken, is that Anthony took it
very seriously.

Brian

Jaimie Vandenbergh

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 7:24:16 PM3/28/12
to
On Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:12:52 -0400, "Brian M. Scott"
<b.s...@csuohio.edu> wrote:

>On Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:20:33 +0800, Robert Bannister
><rob...@bigpond.com> wrote in
><news:9tf3qi...@mid.individual.net> in
>rec.arts.sf.written:
>
>> On 28/03/12 3:14 AM, erilar wrote:
>
>>> In article<1mkib46zhlwle.3...@40tude.net>,
>>> "Brian M. Scott"<b.s...@csuohio.edu> wrote:
>
>>>> On Sun, 25 Mar 2012 06:53:53 +0800, Robert Bannister
>>>> <rob...@bigpond.com> wrote in
>>>> <news:9t71k5...@mid.individual.net> in
>>>> rec.arts.sf.written:
>
>>>> [...]
>
>>>>> I also like "Bio of a Space Tyrant" [...]
>
>>>> Good grief. I didn't think that *anyone* besides Anthony
>>>> himself liked that thing.
>
>>> I seem to recall mildly enjoying the beginning of it.
>
>> I thought it was very funny. Perhaps others take it seriously.
>
>My understanding, possibly mistaken, is that Anthony took it
>very seriously.

He certainly said as much in the Author's Word sections.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
207 BC: Chrysippus, Greek stoic philosopher, is believed to have died of
laughter after watching his drunken donkey attempt to eat figs.

Kip Williams

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 7:44:19 PM3/28/12
to
Howard Brazee wrote:
> There's a newspaper comic that changed its name, and traded away its
> eponymous "robotman" when the author realized that the original
> premise had died.

The cartoonist seems to have had that imposed on him by the syndicate.
He's been putting a robot in center stage quite a bit lately — same one,
or a new fella?


Kip W
rasfw

Robert Bannister

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 8:11:07 PM3/28/12
to
Since the vast majority of his prolific (and perhaps unnecessary) work
is humorous or at least meant to be, I find that hard to believe. He
does seem to be over interested in bodily functions, but apart from
that, I used to find most of his stuff hilarious when I was younger.


--
Robert Bannister

Brian M. Scott

unread,
Mar 28, 2012, 8:32:09 PM3/28/12
to
On Thu, 29 Mar 2012 08:11:07 +0800, Robert Bannister
<rob...@bigpond.com> wrote in
<news:9thnku...@mid.individual.net> in
rec.arts.sf.written:

> On 29/03/12 7:12 AM, Brian M. Scott wrote:

>> On Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:20:33 +0800, Robert Bannister
>> <rob...@bigpond.com> wrote in
>> <news:9tf3qi...@mid.individual.net> in
>> rec.arts.sf.written:

>>> On 28/03/12 3:14 AM, erilar wrote:

>>>> In article<1mkib46zhlwle.3...@40tude.net>,
>>>> "Brian M. Scott"<b.s...@csuohio.edu> wrote:

>>>>> On Sun, 25 Mar 2012 06:53:53 +0800, Robert Bannister
>>>>> <rob...@bigpond.com> wrote in
>>>>> <news:9t71k5...@mid.individual.net> in
>>>>> rec.arts.sf.written:

>>>>> [...]

>>>>>> I also like "Bio of a Space Tyrant" [...]

>>>>> Good grief. I didn't think that *anyone* besides Anthony
>>>>> himself liked that thing.

>>>> I seem to recall mildly enjoying the beginning of it.

>>> I thought it was very funny. Perhaps others take it seriously.

>> My understanding, possibly mistaken, is that Anthony took it
>> very seriously.

> Since the vast majority of his prolific (and perhaps
> unnecessary) work is humorous or at least meant to be,

That's true only because he stopped doing anything but
Xanth. Before that the overwhelming majority of his work
was most definitely *not* humorous. (_Prostho Plus_ was a
rare exception.)

> I find that hard to believe. He does seem to be over
> interested in bodily functions, but apart from that, I
> used to find most of his stuff hilarious when I was
> younger.

_Chthon_? _Macroscope_? _Hasan_? _Steppe_? The Battle
Circle trilogy, beginning with _Sos the Rope_? The trilogy
that begins with _Omnivore_? The Cluster novels?
Incarnations of Immortality? The Apprentice Adept novels?

Brian

William December Starr

unread,
Mar 29, 2012, 6:33:11 AM3/29/12
to
In article <jkuved$nlf$4...@dont-email.me>,
mste...@walkabout.empros.com (Michael Stemper) said:

[ re "Bio of a Space Tyrant" ]

> Robert Bannister <rob...@bigpond.com> writes:
>> erilar wrote:
>>>
>>> I seem to recall mildly enjoying the beginning of it.
>>
>>I thought it was very funny. Perhaps others take it seriously.
>
> I never really looked at it that way. I do recall that, in _Refugee_, the
> narrator talks about how disgusted they were when they realized that the
> toilets on their ship fed the recyclers. So they disconnected them. A
> page or so later, he was complaining about:
> 1. How they didn't have any water to drink.
> 2. Shit was piling up everywhere.
>
> I guess that could be viewed as an amusing passage.

No. No it couldn't.

-- wds

Robert Bannister

unread,
Mar 29, 2012, 8:25:25 PM3/29/12
to
You've been looking at the forgotten corners of my bookshelf - I haven't
read most of those in ages and I've never read Chthon or Steppe. Can't
remember much about Sos the Rope et alia but I thought that had funny
bits in it; Incarnations definitely did, and I can't see how one could
take any of the books in it to be serious, but I did give up some time
after Green Mother. I'll have to have another look at Macroscope - I
don't remember that one as funny. I remember liking the Cluster and
Adept series, but don't remember much else about them - straight
adventure, I think, but they were relatively early books.


--
Robert Bannister

none Chuk Goodin

unread,
Apr 4, 2012, 12:41:43 PM4/4/12
to
In article <jklmgr$3ed$1...@dont-email.me>,
Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) <sea...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
>>>> Piers Anthony, Xanth killed it for me.
>>>
>>> +1 I find it hard to believe that Macroscope and Xanth were
>>> written by the same person.
>>
>> I have to be honest: I loved Xanth for the first four or five books. By
>> the time it got over twenty, I'd had enough.
>>
>
> For me, the Anthony Rule has been that any Anthony series (at least
>through the ones I'd tried) had stuff worth reading in the first N
>books, where N ranged from 1 to 3.

I went as far as 5 books in Xanth (I read several more but only liked
the first 5) and 4 in Incarnations of Immortality. I think I liked most
of the Phaze/Proton books, too. Other than that, good rule.

--
--
chuk

Ted Nolan <tednolan>

unread,
Apr 4, 2012, 12:48:28 PM4/4/12
to
In article <bR_er.49360$M%7.4...@newsfe10.iad>,
I think the Phaze/Proton books are my favorites of his.

I never really cared for all the books people cite as "Anthony before
he got bad". None of _Macroscope_, _Sos The Rope_, _Omnivore_ etc
did anything for me.

Richard R. Hershberger

unread,
Apr 4, 2012, 1:00:28 PM4/4/12
to
On Mar 26, 8:09 am, "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"
<seaw...@sgeinc.invalid.com> wrote:
> On 3/26/12 7:47 AM, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>
> > There must be a way to perform a similar calculation
> > for the _Stargate_ movie and various TV shows,
> > which gets close to _Star Trek_, and to
> > Carnegie's Corollary: "What sucks worst of all
> > is the series reboot."
>
>         Except that Star Trek disproves the rule, as the reboot was totally
> awesome and better than any prior Trek movie except Wrath of Khan.

On the other hand, there is the Enterprise series, which was also a
reboot, and sucked.

Nix

unread,
Apr 4, 2012, 2:43:30 PM4/4/12
to
On 4 Apr 2012, Ted Nolan told this:
> _Sos The Rope_

My only exposure to this book has been
<http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2009/09/sos-the-rope/>, but try as I might
I cannot see any way to parse that title. Is this a man called 'Sos' who
has a profession known as a 'rope'? Is it about a rope with a name, like
weapons are sometimes named? Is it about an emergency in which a rope
has to be used (probably not, given the capitalization)...

Was he trying to annoy people into buying the book? 'cos annoyance over
not being able to parse the title, and the sheer horror of the cover,
are the only reasons I might buy it. (I've tried Anthony before and have
been thoroughly unimpressed.)

--
NULL && (void)

David Dyer-Bennet

unread,
Apr 4, 2012, 3:09:32 PM4/4/12
to
Nix <nix-ra...@esperi.org.uk> writes:

> On 4 Apr 2012, Ted Nolan told this:
>> _Sos The Rope_
>
> My only exposure to this book has been
> <http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2009/09/sos-the-rope/>, but try as I might
> I cannot see any way to parse that title. Is this a man called 'Sos' who
> has a profession known as a 'rope'? Is it about a rope with a name, like
> weapons are sometimes named? Is it about an emergency in which a rope
> has to be used (probably not, given the capitalization)...

Notice the titles of the rest of the series. I recall _Neq the Sword_,
for example.

It's the "Battle Circle" series. Each person is identified by the
weapon they compete in. There are characters named Sos and Neq.

> Was he trying to annoy people into buying the book? 'cos annoyance over
> not being able to parse the title, and the sheer horror of the cover,
> are the only reasons I might buy it. (I've tried Anthony before and have
> been thoroughly unimpressed.)

First time I've seen anybody react so weirdly to the title.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, dd...@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/
Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/
Dragaera: http://dragaera.info

David Johnston

unread,
Apr 4, 2012, 4:32:14 PM4/4/12
to
No, that's some other rule about prequels sucking. Enterprise wasn't a
reboot, because it had all new characters.

David Dyer-Bennet

unread,
Apr 4, 2012, 5:49:39 PM4/4/12
to
David Dyer-Bennet <dd...@dd-b.net> writes:

> Nix <nix-ra...@esperi.org.uk> writes:
>
>> On 4 Apr 2012, Ted Nolan told this:
>>> _Sos The Rope_
>>
>> My only exposure to this book has been
>> <http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2009/09/sos-the-rope/>, but try as I might
>> I cannot see any way to parse that title. Is this a man called 'Sos' who
>> has a profession known as a 'rope'? Is it about a rope with a name, like
>> weapons are sometimes named? Is it about an emergency in which a rope
>> has to be used (probably not, given the capitalization)...
>
> Notice the titles of the rest of the series. I recall _Neq the Sword_,
> for example.
>
> It's the "Battle Circle" series. Each person is identified by the
> weapon they compete in. There are characters named Sos and Neq.

Hmmm; maybe Neq the Stick and Var the Sword. They say memory is the
first thing to go, but I don't remember what the second is.

Nix

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Apr 4, 2012, 5:53:55 PM4/4/12
to
On 4 Apr 2012, David Dyer-Bennet said:

> Nix <nix-ra...@esperi.org.uk> writes:
>
>> On 4 Apr 2012, Ted Nolan told this:
>> I cannot see any way to parse that title. Is this a man called 'Sos' who
>> has a profession known as a 'rope'? Is it about a rope with a name, like
>> weapons are sometimes named? Is it about an emergency in which a rope
>> has to be used (probably not, given the capitalization)...
>
> Notice the titles of the rest of the series. I recall _Neq the Sword_,
> for example.

I didn't even know it was part of a series!

> It's the "Battle Circle" series. Each person is identified by the
> weapon they compete in. There are characters named Sos and Neq.

One-syllable names being a thing about that universe, I presume.

(So you get called 'the rope' if you *use* a rope? Um. OK.)

>> Was he trying to annoy people into buying the book? 'cos annoyance over
>> not being able to parse the title, and the sheer horror of the cover,
>> are the only reasons I might buy it. (I've tried Anthony before and have
>> been thoroughly unimpressed.)
>
> First time I've seen anybody react so weirdly to the title.

I don't know, the title's unparseability just... grated on me :)

--
NULL && (void)

Gary R. Schmidt

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Apr 4, 2012, 8:42:57 PM4/4/12
to
On 5/04/2012 5:09 AM, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> Nix<nix-ra...@esperi.org.uk> writes:
>
>> On 4 Apr 2012, Ted Nolan told this:
>>> _Sos The Rope_
>>
>> My only exposure to this book has been
>> <http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2009/09/sos-the-rope/>, but try as I might
>> I cannot see any way to parse that title. Is this a man called 'Sos' who
>> has a profession known as a 'rope'? Is it about a rope with a name, like
>> weapons are sometimes named? Is it about an emergency in which a rope
>> has to be used (probably not, given the capitalization)...
>
> Notice the titles of the rest of the series. I recall _Neq the Sword_,
> for example.
>
> It's the "Battle Circle" series. Each person is identified by the
> weapon they compete in. There are characters named Sos and Neq.
>
>> Was he trying to annoy people into buying the book? 'cos annoyance over
>> not being able to parse the title, and the sheer horror of the cover,
>> are the only reasons I might buy it. (I've tried Anthony before and have
>> been thoroughly unimpressed.)
>
> First time I've seen anybody react so weirdly to the title.
Wonder how the OP would handle "Chthon", or "Phthor" - just the titles,
let alone what's inside the covers!!

Cheers,
Gary B-)

--
When men talk to their friends, they insult each other.
They don't really mean it.
When women talk to their friends, they compliment each other.
They don't mean it either.

David DeLaney

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Apr 4, 2012, 11:49:06 PM4/4/12
to
Nix <nix-ra...@esperi.org.uk> wrote:
>On 4 Apr 2012, Ted Nolan told this:
>> _Sos The Rope_
>
>My only exposure to this book has been
><http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2009/09/sos-the-rope/>, but try as I might
>I cannot see any way to parse that title. Is this a man called 'Sos' who
>has a profession known as a 'rope'?

Fairly close. The trilogy is called "Battle Circle" and books two and three
are Var the Stick and Neq the Sword.

(And yes, I know that _off the top of my head_, shoot me now.)

Dave
--
\/David DeLaney posting from d...@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

Juho Julkunen

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Apr 5, 2012, 3:10:11 AM4/5/12
to
In article <719fb60a-7097-475b-ba23-
22e847...@k14g2000vbe.googlegroups.com>, rrh...@acme.com says...
"Also sucked".

--
Juho Julkunen

Joy Beeson

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Apr 5, 2012, 3:20:54 AM4/5/12
to
On Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:43:30 +0100, Nix <nix-ra...@esperi.org.uk>
wrote:

> but try as I might
> I cannot see any way to parse that title. Is this a man called 'Sos' who
> has a profession known as a 'rope'?

It's about a man named Sol who bet his name and his right to compete
with all standard weapons on a match that he lost. The winner (Also
named Sol, which started the outrageous bet) graciously gave back two
letters of his name, and later Sos realized that rope wasn't covered
by the terms of the bet, so he took up with the silly competitions
again but for some reason committed a very complicated suicide, which
pleased the secret masters of social stupidity so much that they took
him in as one of them.

I think he brought down the house of cards after that, but I had lost
interest.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net

Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)

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Apr 5, 2012, 8:35:16 AM4/5/12
to
No, that would imply the reboot movie sucked, which is the opposite of
the truth.

Walter Bushell

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Apr 6, 2012, 9:55:40 AM4/6/12
to
In article <9th3sh...@mid.individual.net>,
And what was the original name of the comic strip "Opus". "Bloomsday
County" or something like that. Anyway the penguin took over the
strip, and that one I saw happen.

--
This space unintentionally left blank.

James Nicoll

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Apr 6, 2012, 11:22:20 AM4/6/12
to
In article <proto-108B60....@news.panix.com>,
Yes and no: Opus did become a central figure in Bloom County but the
Opus strip isn't Bloom County, exactly. Bloom Country ran from
1980 to 1989, at which point Breathed shut it down. He then began
a strip called Outland, centered on a minor character introduced
near the end of the run of Bloom County. With time, the more
familiar Bloom County characters were reintroduced, to the point
that Outland basically became a close sequel to Bloom County rather
than spin-off. Outland ran from 1989 until 1995. Outland was
followed by Opus, which featured the penguin and many familiar
faces from Bloom County. Opus ran from 2003 to 2008, at which
point Breathed gave it a happy ending so Opus, at least, could
avoid the endless malaise that no doubt faced America.


--
http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll
http://www.cafepress.com/jdnicoll (For all your "The problem with
defending the English language [...]" T-shirt, cup and tote-bag needs)

slakmagik

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Apr 6, 2012, 2:18:39 PM4/6/12
to
On 2012-04-06 Fri 09:55:40, Walter Bushell wrote:
>
> And what was the original name of the comic strip "Opus". "Bloomsday
> County" or something like that. Anyway the penguin took over the
> strip, and that one I saw happen.
>

Just "Bloom County". I can't remember what the connection was with Milo
but basically the main characters were supposed Milo Bloom and Binkley.
It was one of the top 2-3 cartoons, IMO, but I have little patience for
the follow-ups. Outland and Opus, I think. I wouldn't really call "Bloom
County" the "original name" of "Opus" - I regard them as different
cartoons with a common character, basically - though, to be fair, I
didn't read much of the follow-ups.

(Bill the Kat also got much larger than he should have. Acckkk Phhppllt.
The best characters were the humans, along with Portnoy and the rabbit
whose name I forget and the roaches. I mean, no offense to or dislike
for Opus, but c'mon.)

slakmagik

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Apr 6, 2012, 2:25:31 PM4/6/12
to
On 2012-04-06 Fri 14:18:39, slakmagik wrote:
> the rabbit
> whose name I forget

Hodge-Podge. (Thanks wikipedia.)

jgharston

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Apr 6, 2012, 3:46:45 PM4/6/12
to
Nix wrote:
> My only exposure to this book has been
> <http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2009/09/sos-the-rope/>, but try as I might
> I cannot see any way to parse that title. Is this a man called 'Sos' who
> has a profession known as a 'rope'?

Jones the Steam ?

JGH

Greg Goss

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Apr 6, 2012, 4:35:33 PM4/6/12
to
David Dyer-Bennet <dd...@dd-b.net> wrote:

>First time I've seen anybody react so weirdly to the title.

The title bugged me, too.

The really early books like Omnivore did nothing for me. I liked the
first couple of Incarnations books, but faded before the series ended.
I liked a couple of the Cluster books, especially Kirlian Quest (the
first of the series I read). I liked four or five of the Xanth books.
I came to the Phase/Proton books fairly late, and they broke through
my accumulating distaste for his books.

I feel mildly guilty for not reading the rest of the Incarnations
books.

But I haven't gone back to read anything of his probably since the
eighties. I have better things to reread.
--
I used to own a mind like a steel trap.
Perhaps if I'd specified a brass one, it
wouldn't have rusted like this.

Greg Goss

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Apr 6, 2012, 4:40:18 PM4/6/12
to
jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:

>faces from Bloom County. Opus ran from 2003 to 2008, at which
>point Breathed gave it a happy ending so Opus, at least, could
>avoid the endless malaise that no doubt faced America.

I'd avoid the term "happy ending", and swap in "peaceful ending".

The strip was running with a story line about a bunch of animals stuck
in a pound. Opus gave up his space in the escape to someone he
thought needed it more. Eventually the strip jumped from a storyline
set at the pound to a non-sequitur of Opus going peacefully to sleep.

Think about that story line some more.

Greg Goss

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Apr 6, 2012, 4:42:13 PM4/6/12
to
slakmagik <j...@hostname.invalid> wrote:

>Bill the Kat also got much larger than he should have. Acckkk Phhppllt.


I think that the biggest part of the gag was that a minor character
was treated with such importance.

Wayne Throop

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Apr 6, 2012, 5:10:57 PM4/6/12
to
:: <http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/2009/09/sos-the-rope/>, but try as I
:: might I cannot see any way to parse that title. Is this a man called
:: 'Sos' who has a profession known as a 'rope'?

The other way to parse it is that "sos" is a verb. In fact, that's
what I did before reading the blurb, and it's still an inclination
even now. Insert it as a line in the Beatles tune...

After all, nobody complains when the Gostak Distims the Doshes.
Or not much, anyways.


Sail the ship
Chop the tree
Sos the rope
Look at me

All together now (All together now)
All together now (All together now)
All together now (All together now)
...

Howard Brazee

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Apr 6, 2012, 5:15:43 PM4/6/12
to
On Fri, 6 Apr 2012 18:18:39 +0000 (UTC), slakmagik
<j...@hostname.invalid> wrote:

>(Bill the Kat also got much larger than he should have. Acckkk Phhppllt.

I suspect there are probably people who thought Bill was funny. I
can't say for sure though.

--
"In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found,
than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace
to the legislature, and not to the executive department."

- James Madison

Bill Snyder

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Apr 6, 2012, 5:24:40 PM4/6/12
to
On Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:40:18 -0600, Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org>
wrote:

>jdni...@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
>
>>faces from Bloom County. Opus ran from 2003 to 2008, at which
>>point Breathed gave it a happy ending so Opus, at least, could
>>avoid the endless malaise that no doubt faced America.
>
>I'd avoid the term "happy ending", and swap in "peaceful ending".
>
>The strip was running with a story line about a bunch of animals stuck
>in a pound. Opus gave up his space in the escape to someone he
>thought needed it more. Eventually the strip jumped from a storyline
>set at the pound to a non-sequitur of Opus going peacefully to sleep.
>
>Think about that story line some more.

Think about the possibility that James's remark was not meant to
be taken literally.

--
Bill Snyder [This space unintentionally left blank]

erilar

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Apr 6, 2012, 6:27:16 PM4/6/12
to
In article <9u92cp...@mid.individual.net>,
Greg Goss <go...@gossg.org> wrote:

> David Dyer-Bennet <dd...@dd-b.net> wrote:
>
> >First time I've seen anybody react so weirdly to the title.
>
> The title bugged me, too.
>
> The really early books like Omnivore did nothing for me. I liked the
> first couple of Incarnations books, but faded before the series ended.
> I liked a couple of the Cluster books, especially Kirlian Quest (the
> first of the series I read). I liked four or five of the Xanth books.
> I came to the Phase/Proton books fairly late, and they broke through
> my accumulating distaste for his books.
>
> I feel mildly guilty for not reading the rest of the Incarnations
> books.
>
> But I haven't gone back to read anything of his probably since the
> eighties. I have better things to reread.

I've started several of his series, too. I don't recall giving up on
the Phase books, I read too many of the Xanth books, but I wasn't
paying for them for very long; they turned up at the library and I read
some more and don't recall why. I read the first and maybe the second
Incarnations books. I read Sos the Rope and the others so long ago I
don't remember them. Sometimes I keep reading a series after it
deteriorates because I liked the beginning and keep hoping it will
improve. In Anthony's case that's a vain hope.

--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist


James Nicoll

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Apr 6, 2012, 11:17:54 PM4/6/12
to
In article <9nnun7to462uc0l7e...@4ax.com>,
It was a paraphrase of what I read at the time. Cannot find it but
from wikipedia:

'In early October 2008 the author declared he was terminating the
strip because of his expectation that the United States is going
to face tough times and his desire to depart from his most famous
character "on a lighter note".'

I am quite willing to believe an American author would believe
death better than facing the future, given the fiction I see
from them.
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