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03 Nov 99 - 03:37 PM (#131375) Subject: Book Recommendation From: Vixen I've been thinking about the nature of the community we have here, and I think there is a parallel in fiction. Has anyone else read Spider Robinson's "Callahan's CrossTime Saloon" books? If you have, do you see a resemblance between the mudcat and callahan's? If you haven't, see if you can find 'em someplace and see for yourself. Just a stray thought, scampering through. V |
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03 Nov 99 - 05:02 PM (#131408) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Roger in Baltimore Nope, never read 'em, but I did play the computer game. I had a great time. And yes, the saloon was full of characters, just like the Mudcat. Roger in Baltimore |
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03 Nov 99 - 05:05 PM (#131409) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: katlaughing Vixen....are you saying we aren't REAL!!!**BG** just a figment flitting through.......... |
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03 Nov 99 - 05:08 PM (#131410) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: lamarca I have! Yes, Vixen - there's a lot of crossover between members of the SF-Fantasy and Folkie communities, both writers and fans. I read mostly fantasy now, and a lot of my favorite authors use elements out of traditional music and ballads in their novels. There was a thread about this earlier: "Musical" novels. |
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03 Nov 99 - 05:33 PM (#131429) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Jeri Vixen - YES!!! I love those books, and I've mentioned the similarity between Mike Callahan's place and Mudcat at least twice. I'm reading "Trader" by Charles DeLint at present. It's about a luthier who involuntarily swiches bodies with a n'er-do-well. DeLint inteviewed Grit Laskin for the luthier-related stuff. |
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03 Nov 99 - 10:42 PM (#131535) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: JAB Jeri: Is Trader a new DeLint Novel. I thought I had them all, but was some what put off in recent years by DeLint's spiral into darker and darker topics and away from music/fairie. Sounds like Trader is more like his earlier works. Yes / no ? JAB |
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03 Nov 99 - 11:56 PM (#131557) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: lamarca JAB, "Trader" came out in hardcover a couple years ago, I think. It's a little "dark", but very enjoyable, and the characters seem more believable to me than those in Moonheart. I like his books set in the pseudo-Toronto - the people and the gritty urban scene are more my cup of tea. He has a newer one called "Someplace to Be Flying", which involves Coyote, Raven, and other shamanistic characters. |
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04 Nov 99 - 12:41 AM (#131565) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Jack (Who is called Jack) I'm reminded or Clarke's 'Tale's from the White Hart' too. |
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04 Nov 99 - 12:43 AM (#131566) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: katlaughing Mmmmm, hadn't heard about Trader. I love all of the ones he set in Toronto. Thanks for the info, lamarca. Vixen I will have to see if I can find the ones you mentioned. Thanks. kat |
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04 Nov 99 - 08:00 AM (#131618) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Bat Goddess Have devoured any Spider Robinson (and those written with his wife) I've come across (searched for, etcet) since being introduced to the Callahan's stories years ago. (Some were published in the first volume/year of Omni magazine in the late '70s). Have just discovered another series right up there with Spider and Douglas Adams: Robert (I think) Rankin. I just started reading "Raiders of the Lost Car Park" in a Brit edition and desperately need to find if his others are available Stateside. (I see my book buy tomorrow.) Others include "They Came and Ate Us: Armageddon II, the B-Movie", "The Suburban Book of the Dead" and stuff like that. Very witty, very funny. I had to read a whole chapter aloud to my husband last night. (And *that*, Jeri, is why I didn't call you . . .) Linn |
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04 Nov 99 - 09:20 AM (#131649) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: katlaughing You all would probably love Parke Godwin's books, in sequence, Waiting fo the Galatic Bus & The Snake Oil Wars. Brilliantly funny about two brothers from another planet out carousing with their mates, land on an early earth, get drunk and left behind, set themselves up over a little wager: can the primitive life be uplifted or no. Eventually one becomes known as God and the other Satan; both are really cool. These are absolute gems. Am reading the latest in Robert Jordan's Wheel of the Time series right now. Anybody else into them? kat |
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04 Nov 99 - 09:43 AM (#131657) Subject: RE: Charles De Lint From: Bill Cameron Re: Charles De Lint is an accomplished, fairly staunchly trad Celtic musician, since the mid-70's before he became a published writer. He and his charming wife Maryann Harris co-host a long-running pub session in the Market area of Ottawa on Thursday nights--I'm not sure what pub its at now, haven't been to one in awhile. He's been incredibly prolific, so if you think you have all his books, there are about 40 in the last 15 years. This has been accomplished by the simple means of writing five pages a day, five or six days a week. I think his prose could be better, if he slowed down a bit and rewrote more, (and recycled less) but hey, it's his career not mine. By the way, pseudo TORONTO??? Hardly. He is an Ottawan through and through, and many of his books are set either in real Ottawa, or in --what's the name of the city, I forget, but it has a lot more similarity to Ottawa than TO. He also has set a lot of his books in the Lanark County area where I live.--Into the Green etc. Gotta go. Bill |
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04 Nov 99 - 09:49 AM (#131659) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: catspaw49 Ise dun a lot uv reedin on them fantasy kinda books but I caint rightly sayz az how I rememberz much of the like yalls tockin bout. Them fantsy books I done red got lotsa stories bout folks bein tied up and whuptup on an the like but I doan seez az how they got much ta do withen the folks here at Mudcat sep fer mebbee that gargoyle feller. But Ile be alookin for em senz yuh sed they were so gud an all. Much obliged fer the idees and ifn yall wanna be reedin some uv theesens whut I got, yur welcome to em senz Catspaw sez he doan wantem heer at his place. CLETUS |
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04 Nov 99 - 10:07 AM (#131669) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: GutBucketeer I have maybe 10 Delint books, mostly paperback. I need to check his published list, but I will take back my claim to even come close to having 40 (all) of his books. I do have all that I have come across in my hauntings of used book stores. JAB |
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04 Nov 99 - 10:11 AM (#131672) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Davey I discovered De Lint through a friend who has attended jam sessions with the author at SciFi conventions. He loaned me Little Country because it had a musical theme running through it. Since then I've read Trader (fascinating, particularly since I know Grit Laskin and have one of his guitars), and would also recommend Somewhere To Be Flying. Moonheart and it's sequel, which I havent't started reading yet, are much more into the fantasy realm. De Lint haws also written a number of fiddle tunes. |
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04 Nov 99 - 10:38 AM (#131689) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Jeri JAB, I have the paperback of Trader. It says: Copyright: 1997 First edition: Ferbruary 1997 First mass market edition: February 1988 (This is not a typo on my part, it's either their typo, time travel, (I wonder if those 1988 books say "copyright: 1997) or something else. The book seems kind of dark so far. Bill, the name of the town is Newford. De Lint published some of his tunes in the back of one of his books - Little Country, I think. Cletus, you probably wouldn't like the Callahan's books. There are an awful lot of stinko puns in them that you wouldn't get. On the other hand, there's a talking dog, so Cleigh might get a kick out of them, since it proves he's not the only intelligent native-to-earth quadruped around
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04 Nov 99 - 11:00 AM (#131698) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: MMario Of course Cleigh isn't the only intelligent native-to-earth quadruped. Don't forget Mr. Ed, Lassie, and Benjie. |
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04 Nov 99 - 11:17 AM (#131704) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Vixen For those who are interested, here's another attempt at a blue clicky to a Spider Robinson fan page. I went looking this morning when I saw the response here. V |
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04 Nov 99 - 11:31 AM (#131711) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: lamarca Bill, apologies for my Toronto gaff - as an ignorant Statesider, I'm only familiar with a few of Canada's big cities. I've been to Toronto, but never to Ottawa, so I don't recognize the local landmarks that Newford is parallelling. My only gripe with De Lint's books is his sort of "in-group" references to real folk music groups. While I get the references myself, it can leave members of his audience not familiar with the music scene out in the cold. I react that way to any author who uses tie-ins to "popular" culture as a short-cut to descriptive writing to set a scene. I really like the Newford books, though! Another book I enjoyed a lot was Peter Beagle's "Folk of the Air", for its descriptions of early lute music, as well as its mixing of fantasy and Berkeley. I guess I enjoy fantasy novels that take a modern, everyday setting and show magical happenings that are an undercurrent to the "Real" world... |
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04 Nov 99 - 01:19 PM (#131737) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: katlaughing Elizabeth Scarborough is great for that, lamarca. Bill, I really loved Into the Green. |
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04 Nov 99 - 01:39 PM (#131741) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Micca Bat Godess, the Robert Rankin books start with the Brentford Trilogy starting with The Antipope, The Brentford Triangle and East of Ealing. His description of the life and clientele of local pubs is excellent and the darts match involving demons is brilliant, If you have difficulty getting copies send us Londoners a message and we can work something out. |
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04 Nov 99 - 02:15 PM (#131760) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: katlaughing For anyone who is interested, www.bibliofind.com has several copies of books by Robinson and Rankin, including some of the ones mentioned in this thread. |
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04 Nov 99 - 10:19 PM (#131976) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: TheMuse Vixen - Thanks for the link to Spider Robinson! There was a chapter from his "Callahan's Legacy" there and it was an excellent read. |
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04 Nov 99 - 11:30 PM (#131997) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: thosp hmmmmmmm --- kat are you intimating that we are REAL ? |
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05 Nov 99 - 12:38 AM (#132011) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: katlaughing LOL!! |
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05 Nov 99 - 04:45 AM (#132044) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Liz the Squeak And I thought De Lint was what you found in de belly button..... Ah shame on me, me a librarian, although not orang utan shaped.... well, maybe a little.. Are there any Pratchett readers out there, there are one or two that read like one of these listings, and there are a couple that were written just so he could use one single, excrutiating pun, as in - are you sure you aren't elvish? (Soul Music). The latest, the Fifth Elephant is published today in UK.... must go to the shops now, bye!! LTS |
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05 Nov 99 - 07:48 AM (#132091) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Bat Goddess Thanks, Micca. I'll check out some other resources and then get back to you. I really do need to acquire everything Rankin has written -- and I've not quite finished "Raiders of the Lost Car Park" yet. BTW, the typographer made a typo: that was supposed to read "book guy" not book buy. Anywho, I talked to my book guy yesterday Rankin wasn't in Books in Print, so I may be needing your assistance. Bat Goddess |
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05 Nov 99 - 08:47 AM (#132106) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Rosebrook A resource that may be helpful for people who enjoy series and want to read them in their proper order is 'What's Next': http://www.kentlibrary.lib.mi.us/whats_next.htm You can search for series by author, book title or series title, and it will show the series in order. It's case sensitive, and not totally complete, but it has been a neat web site for my use. Rose |
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06 Nov 99 - 08:10 AM (#132537) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Micca I have also found this place very helpful since it is searchable http://www.powells.com/ I'm not up to blue clicky things yet, but they found a book my wife had been searching for(for 10 years) and got it to me in time for her birthday, from West Coast USA to London the postage was 5 times the cost of the book but worth it. |
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06 Nov 99 - 07:36 PM (#132717) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: wildlone LTS, Terry Pratchett is one of my favorite authors I saw his latest one in the shop today but I cannot afford it until I get back to work. Mind the L space and the .303 bookworms. Born to Rune.wl. A great thread thanks Vixen for starting it I will have to find De Lints books.wl. |
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06 Nov 99 - 07:41 PM (#132718) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: katlaughing Bat Goddess: as I said in an earlier posting, there are several Rankins available at bibliofind.com/ Have fun! kat |
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06 Nov 99 - 08:10 PM (#132732) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: McGrath of Harlow Sorrty. I said I was having trouble with that blue clicky thing. That was the biggest blue clicky thing I've done so far. And it's not even come out blue on my browser. But it works anyway. |
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07 Nov 99 - 01:59 AM (#132780) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Helen Liz t.s. Pratchett is one of my favourite authors. Everything that everyone has been talking about on this thread and more. I'll reiterate from the Marion Zimmer Bradley thread, too. I have enjoyed every book of hers that I have read, and that is lots, although not all. Helen P.S. the only thing I miss about not being a librarian any more is that I don't get to buy (and read) lots of really good books for the library. Spending public money for the edification of the public, etc etc |
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07 Nov 99 - 04:11 AM (#132789) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Penny S. I'm just reading "The Science of Discworld" Stibbons creates "Roundworld"! The fifth elephant will have to wait until Christmas - it's on my list already. I have to admit to going off Rankin, after being much amused. Things may have changed - if so, please let me know. I noticed that a: there were no women to identify with. Those there resembled British seaside postcard cut-outs. b: the streets were empty. Brentford is a very busy area. There were only people there when they had been taken over. Brentford is also very multi-racial. I wonder about Hebden Bridge (Last of the Summer Wine) sometimes, but in a small semi-rural community it is more possible to work with a limited focus. Having noticed these things, I started asking the questions one should not ask when reading, and my belief got unsuspended. Pratchett does show a wide variety of people (peoples!), and can write convincing women central characters with brains as well as other appurtenances. So does Zelazny. I had a similar failure of belief with Stephen Lawhead when a character wandered through an Oxford with empty streets. |
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07 Nov 99 - 04:58 AM (#132793) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Micca Penny, yes I agree the earlier Rankins were more rounded the Antipope is one of the best combinations of horror and humour IMHO.An I agree too and empty Brentford? you must be joking!!! or Oxford for that matter. small correction,I think you'll find that "Last of the Summer Wine" is Holmfirth and some filming in nearby Marsden, where my wife lived for a time ( just near Auntie Wainwrights shop) and neither place seemed particulary "Multi-ethnic" on my visits Mind you it may be I just didn't notice.But Sid's cafe is real and you can have tea there.the interior is not quite the same but fun. |
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07 Nov 99 - 06:54 AM (#132800) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Penny S. Thanks for the correction - as I posted I thought there might be something wrong, but I'm still suffering from a three hour return drive on Friday night with a lot of walking between the two journeys. I wouldn't expect them to have done a Notting Hill on Holmfirth. "Last of the Summer Wine" started off with cartoon women, but they've rounded with time. What about Tom Holt - I liked the early ones "Expecting Someone Taller" for example? And the more recent historical comedies. Both he and Rankin have a nice touch with titles. Penny |
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07 Nov 99 - 07:42 AM (#132808) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Micca Penny, do you know if thats the same Tom Holt who added 2 almost seamlessly to the "Mapp and Lucia" series? |
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07 Nov 99 - 08:28 AM (#132814) Subject: RE: BS: Book Recommendation From: Penny S. No, I didn't, but I do now, as they are in the blurb at the front of "The Walled Garden". When my parents lived near Rye, there was an episode with seating at the local church which could have come straight from one of those books. Penny |