Books

[Gorth]

There are 2 different weapons, Bolt Pistol and Bolter (Rifle version). And besides, All Space Marine (Loyalist or Traitor doesn't matter) are sub par. You want good WH40k? You read Caiphas Cain!

3 actually. Pistol, Bolter and Heavy Bolter (minigun version).

Also, no wonder Dan Abnett books are good, he is one of the founding fathers.

The storm bolter feels offended by being left out

[Oner]

There are 2 different weapons, Bolt Pistol and Bolter (Rifle version). And besides, All Space Marine (Loyalist or Traitor doesn't matter) are sub par. You want good WH40k? You read Caiphas Cain!

3 actually. Pistol, Bolter and Heavy Bolter (minigun version).

Also, no wonder Dan Abnett books are good, he is one of the founding fathers.

The storm bolter feels offended by being left out

Mea maxima culpa.

Also, marines use different(=bigger) bolters than "regular" (SoB, IG officers, Inquisitors) infantry.

And then there are the different "patterns".

Edited February 4, 2010 by Oner

[Calax]

Thing is I don't exactly see a hulking space marine zipping around with a standard bolter pistol, they use the average bolter (as in the AR verison).

 

FYI Sandy Mitchell=Commissar Cain's author.

[Oner]

Thing is I don't exactly see a hulking space marine zipping around with a standard bolter pistol, they use the average bolter (as in the AR verison).

But they do. Melee fighters often use bolt pistols in one hand, then there's Cypher, etc.

[Walsingham]

I wouldn't call Abnett a founding father as much as I like him. But then I've been reading White Dwarf since issue 68. When they still had other games in it.

[Oner]

Founding father may have been strong, true, but he did write a lot of core 40k books.

[Walsingham]

he is awesome. It's like the 40k universe is actually real when he writes about it. Little details just tumble out, from snacks to popular songs.

 

Personally I'm hoping for a 40k religion like scientology, but with boltguns and ten times awesome. Something to push religious fervour to reach the stars so we can punch aliens in the knackers.

[Raithe]

They recently republished E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series again... and I saw a critic reviewing it and slamming it for all the "cliches" and "unrealistic" edges to his sci-fi.

 

I so wanted to face-palm. A literary critic who didn't pick up that Smith created them back in the day when they were original.. and they've been copied so many times since he wrote them. Yeesh.

[Calax]

They recently republished E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series again... and I saw a critic reviewing it and slamming it for all the "cliches" and "unrealistic" edges to his sci-fi.

 

I so wanted to face-palm. A literary critic who didn't pick up that Smith created them back in the day when they were original.. and they've been copied so many times since he wrote them. Yeesh.

It's the sienfeld isn't funny effect.

[Walsingham]

They recently republished E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series again... and I saw a critic reviewing it and slamming it for all the "cliches" and "unrealistic" edges to his sci-fi.

 

I so wanted to face-palm. A literary critic who didn't pick up that Smith created them back in the day when they were original.. and they've been copied so many times since he wrote them. Yeesh.

 

I actually read one of those. They are truly awesomely bad.

 

I loved the bit where they get taken into a huge death star thing and this evil genius greets them from his invisible throne and the hero demands to know who he is. the villain glints a fingernail or two, cackles and says in a snide tone something like "I am the alpha and omega of your downfall. I am the controller of this fleet and destroyer of stars. (etc)" Then, and I remember this clearly he says "You may call me... Roger"

 

[cronicler]

Come on Walsh, the books were written in 1930 to 1940, the guy is among the people who created the sci-fi cliches we see today.

And they are not that bad when you think that it was an age where the romance was still alive (instead of it's plastic surgery creation shadow we see today) and heroic quests and face offs were the cool and people were able to hope without effort.

[Raithe]

I remember reading something about Robert Heinlein having been a good friend of Smiths. He was being interviewed and someone brought up Smiths constant use of these "unrealistic" characters for heros. Heinlein turned round and did a "Have you met Smith? He's tall, good looking, square-jawed, highly athletic, incredibly intelligent, extremely gallant.. and he's married to a red-head who's just as remarkably beautiful, intelligent and spirited to match him. He takes his inspiration from real life."

 

Heh, not only did Smith create half the tropes that get used in modern sci-fi... The US Navy in the 40's based the CIC design used in their ships around the ideas Smith had written for displaying and controlling starship fleets in space...

[cronicler]

Reminds me of Travis S. Taylor. The guy is a martial artist and a shooter on top of the list in there. His books are in the category of average - above average in quality but immensly enjoyable for nerds

 

Hate those kind of people that have more than 1 qualification. (Beautiful and Intelligient, Educated and Not Socially inept and similar or better (worse?) combinations )

[Walsingham]

Come on Walsh, the books were written in 1930 to 1940, the guy is among the people who created the sci-fi cliches we see today.

And they are not that bad when you think that it was an age where the romance was still alive (instead of it's plastic surgery creation shadow we see today) and heroic quests and face offs were the cool and people were able to hope without effort.

 

I approve of your generosity, but can't agree. We're talking a fellah who was writing after the terrestrial adventure stories of the Boys Own era, and long after whatsisname who wrote about time machines and Martian invaders. The concepts can be naive, but the writing is just awful, and there's NO excuse for being semi-literate.

[Raithe]

I approve of your generosity, but can't agree. We're talking a fellah who was writing after the terrestrial adventure stories of the Boys Own era, and long after whatsisname who wrote about time machines and Martian invaders. The concepts can be naive, but the writing is just awful, and there's NO excuse for being semi-literate.

 

You might call it sem-literate but that was the style of the 30's and 40's pulp stories. Triplanetary (which is the one with "Roger" in) was originally written for.. Amazing Stories as I seem to recall, it was only later the chapters were collected and done up as a single novel.

You might not like the style yourself, but Smith was a very literate person. And frankly, how can you not love a chapter where he knowingly does the villain monologue intoduction, grand title after grand title, and then looks at the hero and goes with "and you may call me... Roger."

It's done with intent. But it just might not be to your style.

 

To go with the classic quote from a writer of the time :

[Walsingham]

Raithe, you obviously know your Doc Smith. On hearing his defence put so ably by several people, I may have misjudged him, but I believe with fair cause.

[Raithe]

Raithe, you obviously know your Doc Smith. On hearing his defence put so ably by several people, I may have misjudged him, but I believe with fair cause.

 

There's some history there I first encounted Doc Smith when I found an aging boxed set of the Lensman series at an old church jumble sale when i was about 12.

 

To be fair, not a lot of people still enjoy the literary style of the original pulp adventure / space opera stuff. It can be a bit hit or miss. But then I can say how while I can appreciate the technical aspects and history created by Tolkien for LoTR, I found his writing dreadful as a "good" read. Personal styles and flavours for what you like are all point of view. So I can't knock what you enjoy.

 

But to bounce back, Heinlein joked that he half thought Smith was a superhuman in disguise for some of the things he got up to.

 

My original thought was that just Smith's Lensman series inspired so much after the fact is impressive.

George Lucas willingly admits how much of Star Wars and the Jedi were inspired by it.

J. Michael Straczynski got a bunch of the Babylon 5 ideas from it. Vorlons were Arissians, and Eddore were the Shadows...

For comic flavourdom, the Green Lantern Corp was basically The Lensman (and they even came out and used some names from Smiths work for some of the alien Green Lanters...)

There are just so many sci-fi aspects and tropes that came about after, that writers used because Smith created them, that for a guy whose job is a literary critic to have said his writing was cliched without putting it into context was just....

[cronicler]

Similar story for me. (Old books forgotten in a corner, in a bookshop that shouldn't exist as it was somewhere in a out of the way "small" village, out on the road with family to a summer place...) It just took me a wee bit longer to understand that his style wasn't good, being able to understand what was written was a shock enough, let alone liking the sci-fi. (Man, I had a weird education, our teachers in middleschool made us listen to some Metallica songs as they were both intresting (for us), real American and understandable... )

[Meshugger]

Catcher In The Rye is easier to take in, so you may want to start with that.

 

Thanks, i just did that

[Meshugger]

Finished "The Catcher in the Rye" (great book, btw) and started on "Ulysses". Christ, that book is difficult, every sentence seems to have a hidden meaning or symbolism. But it seems to have a certain flow in the writing that i would probably like if i wasn't a literary retard.

 

The thing is, i have to complete it. It is a gift from my dad that happens to be a reprint of only 1000 copies of the Sylvia Beach-version from 1922, made in handmade paper to boot. It looks classy when being on the shelf in my personal library though.

[Musopticon?]

Hay guise, I'm in a British Historical Fiction course right now and am wondering if anyone could lighten my load by lending a hand. The situation is like this; we've talked about Robert Cornwell a couple of times, but there has not been an actual class about the author yet(we've looked into Walter Scott, Jones, Howard, Follet, etc) and I'd like to recitfy the situation by making a brief intro about the author, followed by a class about a short story of my choice. The problem is that I can't come up with a short story by him that I've actually read. I admit to my complete lack of knowledge over the Sharpe series, so I keep hoping someone here at the boards recalls a shorty story by the author, generally in the 30-60 pages range that I could use. Supposedly there's one or two Sharpe ones, but I've only read the Saxon series and Arthur series so far.

 

Help an academian in need!

[Mikhailian]

I haven't read anything in forever.

Just starting the Otherland series (City of Golden Shadow) for the first time.

[Hurlshort]

Hay guise, I'm in a British Historical Fiction course right now and am wondering if anyone could lighten my load by lending a hand. The situation is like this; we've talked about Robert Cornwell a couple of times, but there has not been an actual class about the author yet(we've looked into Walter Scott, Jones, Howard, Follet, etc) and I'd like to recitfy the situation by making a brief intro about the author, followed by a class about a short story of my choice. The problem is that I can't come up with a short story by him that I've actually read. I admit to my complete lack of knowledge over the Sharpe series, so I keep hoping someone here at the boards recalls a shorty story by the author, generally in the 30-60 pages range that I could use. Supposedly there's one or two Sharpe ones, but I've only read the Saxon series and Arthur series so far.

 

Help an academian in need!

 

I've read every Sharpe series book, as well as the Authurian, the Saxons, and the Holy Grail stuff. But I honestly haven't seen any short stories out there by Cornwell. A few of the Sharpe books are short, I think under 200 pages.

 

(Isn't it Bernard Cornwell, not Robert? Might be a regional publishing thing though, maybe he goes by both.)

 

Looks like there are a couple

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sharpes-Christmas-St...e/dp/0972222014

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sharpes-Skirmish-Ric...d_bxgy_b_text_c

 

I haven't read them, so can't verify if they are any good. None of his books are really rubbish, though, so I imagine they are worth a gander.

[Guard Dog]

Now reading Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend by John Hircsh and With Wings Like Eagles: A History of the Battle of Britain by Michael Korda. I'm really enjoying this one. Speaking of which, if anyone has any reccomendations on books about the Battle of Britan or the air war over Europe in WW2 I'd love to hear them.

[Purkake]

I'm just starting A Game of Thrones for like the third time. Maybe I'll finally get into it this time...