TSF Book Club
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[i]Into the Darklands[b] [/b][/i]Nigel Latta<br />
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I believe he may have made a bit of splash with this book 10 years or so ago in NZ especially. Many of you may have already read it.<br />
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Have seen some of his "Darklands" docos on tele here (Crime & Invetigation network or Discovery or something). Particularly recall one on Mark Lundy.<br />
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Book was quite confronting. Actually finished it in one day as was laid up in bed yesterday (a bit of Delhi belly) and it's been ... errr ... a little damp here in QLD this weekend.<br />
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For those not in the know he's a clinical physoclo.. pscyh ... head shrink who deals with seriously fucked up criminals. Got into trying to rehabilitate sex offenders while a post-grad student and kept at it.<br />
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The book is a bit "me, me, me" and at times his language is a little more "colourful" than absolutely necessary ("look at me ... I can swear!") but fascinating nonetheless. And you detect a serious undercurrent of frustration and exasperation with the system and, I suspect, his career. Mind you years of dealing with sex offenders and murderers as young as 12 would probably wear you down a tad. <br />
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Don't think he really addresses what can actually be done to cut of the cycle of violence but at least he tries and gives some advice as to what you may be able to do to help.<br />
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Would recommend it, but not for the over-sensitive. -
Boo boo, I had a bit of a read of that book and I agree with you when he says stuff like " bullshit, bull fucking shit" , When my mother in law was with the police he spoke at some sort of course and swore all day too and it looked he was trying to say "look I'm as tough as you I can swear", Thats obviously not meant to take away from the job that he does , it just looks a bit contrived .<br />
I can't watch his tv shows though, all that mugging at the camera reminds me of Rhys Darby who is alway near the top of my list of people I'd like to cover in papercuts and squeeze lemon juice into. I probably need a session or two with Mr Latta myself.. -
Currently working my way through my Iain M Banks and Peter Hamilton books. Two of my favourite sci-fi authors - Banks probably in the lead for overall consistency but Hamilton has written some cracking yarns. <br />
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The folks have also sorted out all the books we got from Granddad's (RIP pops) old library. 700+ books of military history and general history... I literally salivate about all that potential reading! Reading them all has been added to my bucket list! -
[quote name='Tim' timestamp='1360792683' post='343896']<br />
I started reading the new Peter F. Hamilton one but ... it sucked. Didn't have the world building he's good at.<br />
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The Great North Road?? I heard it was a bit patchy, people seemed to like some story arcs but others dragged (or sucked!).<br />
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Have you read much from Iain Banks? -
Yeah, the [i]Great North Road[/i]. Not up to his [i]Commonwealth [/i]stuff at all. (Primes were the best villains ever.)<br />
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I started reading the first [i]Culture [/i]book but I really didn't like his writing style and found the plot slow and dull, and the characters uninteresting/unoriginal. Um, so haven't read anymore! Lots of people recommend him to me, but not my cup of tea.<br />
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I suspect that if you like Peter F Hamilton then you might like Vernor Vinge's [i]A Fire Upon the Deep[/i][i]. [/i]Very interesting far-future fictional universe.<br />
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I recently read the two [i]Expanse[/i] books by James S. A. Corey. They're about a solar system spanning future, with man looking at new possibilities for evolution and space-travel. Pretty good - hacky writing and characters, but interesting worlds and page-turning plots. -
Consider Phelbas??<br />
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Try 'Player of Games' or 'Excession' - his style develops a lot from that first book. The others in the loose series are good but I think those two build a better sense of the world he writes in. He'll often have in-jokes from previous works or humour you'd only really appreciate if you knew enough about how things work.<br />
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His culture novels are excellent (imo). He's wittier than Hamilton and easily on par in terms of world/universe building and social commentary. Hamilton has written some amazing-balls stuff though - Fallen Dragon is one of my favs. -
thanks for the suggestions - I'll check them out.
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[quote name='Paekakboyz' timestamp='1360797286' post='343911']<br />
Consider Phelbas??<br />
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[b]Try 'Player of Games' or 'Excession' [/b]- his style develops a lot from that first book. The others in the loose series are good but I think those two build a better sense of the world he writes in. He'll often have in-jokes from previous works or humour you'd only really appreciate if you knew enough about how things work.<br />
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His culture novels are excellent (imo). He's wittier than Hamilton and easily on par in terms of world/universe building and social commentary. Hamilton has written some amazing-balls stuff though - Fallen Dragon is one of my favs.<br />
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Cool, will do! I'm a sucker for immersive, future-world stuff.<br />
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ps. [i]Pandora's Star[/i] could make for an awesome movie. -
If they got the right people it'd be amazing - a lot more scope for this now that cgi is getting so crazy. Good to see we are getting a few more sci-fi movies coming out.
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Always thought that the Peter F Hamilton's first Commonwealth books ([i]Pandora's Star[/i] and [i]Judas Unchained[/i]) would make a great TV series rather than a movie. HBO has shown with [i]Game of Thrones [/i]that it is possible to have a successful fantasy series with a large cast and multiple intertwined narratives. The problem being of course that a series like that would be one hell of a commitment for a TV channel (or Netflix) and Hamilton doesn't have the name recognition or sales numbers to justify the investment. <br />
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I'm currently reading [i]Great North Road [/i]but I've been at it for over a month and while it captures my attention every now and then the characters aren't particularly compelling and their actions often seem to be at odds with their interests and the way the characters have been set up. <br />
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I have enjoyed most of the Iain M Banks Culture books but they can often be quite meandering. [i]Use of Weapons [/i]is a fave and I liked [i]Surface Detail[/i] and [i]Look to Windward[/i]. -
[quote name='NTA' timestamp='1360752473' post='343827']<br />
Started reading Wheel of Time again - kicked off with the prequel book I'd never read before.<br />
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Have to say the constant references to men being wool headed idiots, and women running everything, is starting to wear thin...<br />
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There's a really decent finish to New Spring, but parts of it are quite skimmable... -
[quote name='Donsteppa' timestamp='1360832171' post='344044']<br />
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There's a really decent finish to New Spring, but parts of it are quite skimmable...[/quote]<br />
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Reading them back to back its pretty clear that Jordan must haver been surrounded by some fucking angry women during his life. Some of these cows must have been in a permanent state of PMT.<br /> -
[quote name='NTA' timestamp='1360752473' post='343827']<br />
Started reading Wheel of Time again - kicked off with the prequel book I'd never read before.<br />
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Have to say the constant references to men being wool headed idiots, and women running everything, is starting to wear thin...<br />
[/quote]<br />
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Thankfully Sanderosn spends no time in the 'men are shit, woman are boss' mindset that Jordan seemed to love -
David and Leigh Eddings, you mean. That was fun reading back when I was a teen.<br />
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No man would put up with the shit that Nynaeve tries on. Lan clearly had a death wish - he said he could never give a bride funeral clothes as a wedding dress, but his real motive is just to spare some other poor bloke from ending up with the permanently grumpy bitch. He's a trooper. -
[quote name='NTA' timestamp='1361917793' post='347396']<br />
[b]David and Leigh Eddings, you mean. That was fun reading back when I was a teen[/b].<br />
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No man would put up with the shit that Nynaeve tries on. Lan clearly had a death wish - he said he could never give a bride funeral clothes as a wedding dress, but his real motive is just to spare some other poor bloke from ending up with the permanently grumpy bitch. He's a trooper.<br />
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I read the Belgariad, the Mallorean, The Elenium and the Tamuli last year. Probably for about the 6th time each. I still think they are great. It's not exactly hard going, or particularly deep, but i like his characters, they are generally pretty funny.<br />
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They tend to fall into the trap of annoying as fuck female characters as well. The main ones in each story, Ce'Nedra and Ehlana are fucking annoying, and i kind of wanted them both to die. I bet their husband's did as well.<br />
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This is what comes from working with your wife. -
[quote name='mariner4life' timestamp='1361929592' post='347442']<br />
[b]I read the Belgariad, the Mallorean, The Elenium and the Tamuli last year. Probably for about the 6th time each.[/b] I still think they are great. It's not exactly hard going, or particularly deep, but i like his characters, they are generally pretty funny.<br />
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They tend to fall into the trap of annoying as fuck female characters as well. The main ones in each story, Ce'Nedra and Ehlana are fucking annoying, and i kind of wanted them both to die. I bet their husband's did as well.<br />
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This is what comes from working with your wife.<br />
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Holy shit. I've never want to hear a criticism of Star Trek again. <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/rugby/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' /> -
wanting and getting are two completly different things.
