TSF Book Club

NTA

Alternative sniper view:
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/american-sniper-garrett-reppenhagen-speaks-out-about-the-moral-cost-he-suffered-at-war/story-fnk853hr-1227206691479'>http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/american-sniper-garrett-reppenhagen-speaks-out-about-the-moral-cost-he-suffered-at-war/story-fnk853hr-1227206691479</a>
 
Selected bits:
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote"> American sniper Garrett Reppenhagen speaks out about the â€œmoral costâ€ he suffered at war
 
...
 
Garrett Reppenhagen says the box office chronicle of the life of â€˜Americaâ€™s deadliest sniperâ€™ unfairly paints Iraqis as â€œsavagesâ€. He said he wasnâ€™t surprised when he read that one hot-blooded American tweeted â€œI want to go kill some f***ing ragheadsâ€ after watching the movie.
 
...
 
â€œAs a sniper I was not usually the victim of a traumatic event, but the perpetrator of violence and death,â€ he said.
 
â€œMy actions in combat would have been more acceptable to me if I could cloak myself in the belief that the whole mission was for a greater good. Instead, I watched as the purpose of the mission slowly unravelled.â€
 
He said a number of soldiers in his unit held similarly misguided notions of a â€œnoble causeâ€ while fighting in Iraq but that changed when he realised Iraq was not hiding weapons of mass destruction.
...
â€œThey were a friendly culture who believed in hospitality, and were sometimes positive to a fault,â€ he said.
 
â€œThe people are proud of their history, education system and national identity. I have listened to children share old-soul wisdom, and I have watched adults laugh and play with the naivetÃ© of schoolboys. I met some incredible Iraqis during and after my deployment, and it is
shameful to know that the movie has furthered ignorance that might put them in danger.â€
 
Speaking out against Americaâ€™s â€œWar on Terrorâ€ is nothing new for Reppenhagen, who addressed a Congressional briefing in 2006.
...
 
</blockquote>
 
 
Wonder how many people are lining up to call him "a goddamn pussy!" while masturbating into a picture of a bald eagle.

jegga

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="470394" data-time="1422946066">
<div>
Alternative sniper view:
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/american-sniper-garrett-reppenhagen-speaks-out-about-the-moral-cost-he-suffered-at-war/story-fnk853hr-1227206691479'>http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/american-sniper-garrett-reppenhagen-speaks-out-about-the-moral-cost-he-suffered-at-war/story-fnk853hr-1227206691479</a>
 
Selected bits:
 
 
 
 
Wonder how many people are lining up to call him "a goddamn pussy!" while masturbating into a picture of a bald eagle.
</div>
</blockquote>
 
 
Thats quite a revolting but vivid picture you paint there. Its nice that he got to know some of the locals and they earned his respect , did the article also give his opinions on suicide bombings, honour killings, beheading people on camera etc etc? 
 
Getting back to the " I cant wait till this part of the world is irrelevant" meme , I saw this today.Words fail me <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-preacher-who-raped-and-tortured-his-five-yearold-daughter-to-death-is-released-after-paying-blood-money-8480440.html'>http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-preacher-who-raped-and-tortured-his-five-yearold-daughter-to-death-is-released-after-paying-blood-money-8480440.html</a>

gollum

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jegga" data-cid="470401" data-time="1422949423">
<div>
Thats quite a revolting but vivid picture you paint there. Its nice that he got to know some of the locals and they earned his respect , did the article also give his opinions on suicide bombings, honour killings, beheading people on camera etc etc? 
</div>
</blockquote>
 
The irony being the only place to see this used to be Saudi Arabia, top ally during the war. Now you can see it in the liberated Iraq. YAY!
 
While you can see a good honour killing in England. Or, especially, in Turkey, the other top ally.

jegga

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="gollum" data-cid="470409" data-time="1422956064">
<div>
The irony being the only place to see this used to be Saudi Arabia, top ally during the war. Now you can see it in the liberated Iraq. YAY!
 
While you can see a good honour killing in England. Or, especially, in Turkey, the other top ally.
</div>
</blockquote>
 
i thought it honour killings were also in Pakistan and Afghanistan too? I think it was in Iraq before the yanks got there, I was reading a book a while back about the early days of the invasion and despite what they had been told a bunch of british soldiers leered at a teenage girl and the next day her father killed her.
 
Btw, who was the narrator on the girl with all the gifts audio book? I can see it being turned into a film, a bleak and depressing film like The Road.

NTA

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jegga" data-cid="470401" data-time="1422949423">
<div>
Thats quite a revolting but vivid picture you paint there. Its nice that he got to know some of the locals and they earned his respect , did the article also give his opinions on suicide bombings, honour killings, beheading people on camera etc etc? 
 
Getting back to the " I cant wait till this part of the world is irrelevant" meme , I saw this today.Words fail me <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-preacher-who-raped-and-tortured-his-five-yearold-daughter-to-death-is-released-after-paying-blood-money-8480440.html'>http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-preacher-who-raped-and-tortured-his-five-yearold-daughter-to-death-is-released-after-paying-blood-money-8480440.html</a>
</div>
</blockquote>
 
That is awful. From the very start where a father questions the virginity of his 5yo girl, that is just fucking terrible. Its a great argument against religion in general, but shows how fucked the Saudis are. 
 
No idea what the other guy's stance on insurgent behaviour were - he was more concerned with distinguishing the enemy from the innocents in terms of their humanity I suppose.

gollum

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jegga" data-cid="470424" data-time="1422986771">
<div>
i thought it honour killings were also in Pakistan and Afghanistan too? I think it was in Iraq before the yanks got there, I was reading a book a while back about the early days of the invasion and despite what they had been told a bunch of british soldiers leered at a teenage girl and the next day her father killed her.
 
Btw, who was the narrator on the girl with all the gifts audio book? I can see it being turned into a film, a bleak and depressing film like The Road.
</div>
</blockquote>
 
Flinty Williams (yes... thats a real name), usually when I hear a good narrator I look to see what else they've done as the narrator is often the key bit, alas Flinty has done Winnie The Pooh - The house at pooh corner & Winnie the Pooh- Piglet meets a heffalump. And if I'm going to read those I might as well just start on Harry Potter.
 
Yep, honor killings everywhere there are people living in the stone age, its incredibly common in India too where folks hook up across castes.

taniwharugby

I'm currently reading I Am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes (better known for writing the screen play for a couple of Mad Max films, Dead Calm, From Hell plus others) and I gotta say I am enjoying it. 
 
Plot isnt really a new one (terrorists, murder, secret agents etc) but it seems to flow really well at a good pace.

NTA

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="gollum" data-cid="470517" data-time="1423041963">
<div>
Flinty Williams (yes... thats a real name), usually when I hear a good narrator I look to see what else they've done as the narrator is often the key bit, alas Flinty has done Winnie The Pooh - The house at pooh corner & Winnie the Pooh- Piglet meets a heffalump. And if I'm going to read those I might as well just start on Harry Potter.
</div>
</blockquote>
 
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/fHAgmS9.jpg?1?8308" alt="fHAgmS9.jpg?1?8308">

taniwharugby

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="470651" data-time="1423189263">
<div>
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/fHAgmS9.jpg?1?8308" alt="fHAgmS9.jpg?1?8308">
</div>
</blockquote>
 
shoulda said 'You know what the fuck I mean you little fluffybunny!' said Pooh.

JC

Possibly the wrong thread but I thought I'd share this article about the impact of social justice warriors on the SF Hugo awards.
 
I loved this "Peak absurdity was achieved in 2014 when Jonathan Ross was forced to cancel his appearance at the Hugo Awards after the SJWs of SFF whipped themselves into a panic-fuelled rage over fears that Ross might â€“ might! â€“ make a fat joke."
 
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/02/05/the-hugo-wars-how-sci-fis-most-prestigious-awards-became-a-political-battleground/'>http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/02/05/the-hugo-wars-how-sci-fis-most-prestigious-awards-became-a-political-battleground/</a>

Crucial

Reading the latest in the Logan MacRae series from Stuart McBride. Really good (as have been all of his books), and finding a plot moving 'Laz' out of Aberdeen into a new environment but then still having Steel and the other regulars come back in is an excellent way to freshen things up.
How no one has turned these books into a TV series I don't know.

booboo

My favourite author meets his best character. 
RIP Sir Terry <a class="bbc_url" href="http://m.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11416539">http://m.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11416539</a> <blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
Author Terry Pratchett has died at the age of 66 after a battle with Alzheimer's. 
The bestselling and much-loved author writer died at home on Thursday, surrounded by his family and with his cat sleeping on his bed, according to a statement which is published in full below. 
Pratchett's Facebook page was updated to say: "It is with immeasurable sadness that we announce that author Sir Terry Pratchett has died. 
"The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds. Rest in peace Sir Terry Pratchett." 
The Discworld writer's death was announced on his Twitter profile. 
He publicly suffered with posterior cortical atrophy, a variation of Alzheimer's, which he was diagnosed with in 2007. 
Pratchett wrote over 70 books, including 40 as part of the fantasy Discworld series, and sold over 85 million copies in his lifetime. 
As soon as news broke of his death broke on Thursday afternoon, his website crashed under the weight of fans wanting to remember the writer. 
He is survived by his wife Lyn and their daughter Rhianna, who retweeted the messages posted on Pratchett's Twitter feed. 
A JustGiving page has been set up in his name, which aims to raise money for the Research Institute for the Care of Older People. 
Pratchett was also an outspoken supporter of assisted dying. "Rather than let Alzheimer's take me, I would take it," he said in 2010. "I would live my life as ever to the full and die, before the disease mounted its last attack, in my own home, in a chair on the lawn, with a brandy in my hand to wash down whatever modern version of the 'Brompton cocktail' some helpful medic could supply. 
"And with Thomas Tallis on my iPod, I would shake hands with Death." 
Last summer, Pratchett was forced to cancel an appearance at The International Discworld Convention, as his Alzheimer's - which he called "the embuggerance" - was "catching up" with him. 
Pratchett was knighted in 2010, when he decided to forge his own sword out of meteorite. 
A full statement reads as follows: 
It is with immeasurable sadness that we announce that author Sir Terry Pratchett has died at the age of 66. 
Larry Finlay, MD at Transworld Publishers: "I was deeply saddened to learn that Sir Terry Pratchett has died. The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds. 
In over 70 books, Terry enriched the planet like few before him. As all who read him know, Discworld was his vehicle to satirize this world: he did so brilliantly, with great skill, enormous humour and constant invention. 
Terry faced his Alzheimer's disease (an 'embuggerance', as he called it) publicly and bravely. Over the last few years, it was his writing that sustained him. His legacy will endure for decades to come. 
My sympathies go out to Terry's wife Lyn, their daughter Rhianna, to his close friend Rob Wilkins, and to all closest to him." 
Terry passed away in his home, with his cat sleeping on his bed surrounded by his family on 12th March 2015. Diagnosed with PCA [posterior cortical atrophy] in 2007, he battled the progressive disease with his trademark determination and creativity, and continued to write. He completed his last book, a new Discworld novel, in the summer of 2014, before succumbing to the final stages of the disease. 
We ask that the family are left undisturbed at this distressing time.</blockquote>
 
Sonewhere a man with a silly hat is wandering off with a 9 foot skeleton with a scythe wearing a black robe riding a white horse named b inky with a little skeletal rat wearing the same robe sitting on its back too.

JC

I don't think I saw a mention in here of "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. It's about a kid called Wade who is born sometime later this century. His life is crappy, and so are most other people's, everything is done virtually, from education to leisure, and like everybody else he immerses himself in a vast game called Oasis.
Long story short the creator of Oasis starts a competition that is so massive even corporations get in on trying to win it. To stand any chance you have to know pretty much everything about 1980s popular culture. For those of us who were around then the premise is a fun one and the detail is a real nerdfest full of blasts from my past. I really recommend it.
 
Anyway the reason I mention it is because I just read today that Spielberg has signed on to direct. So looking forward to this one.

jegga

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="JC" data-cid="483007" data-time="1427873599">
<div>
I don't think I saw a mention in here of "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. It's about a kid called Wade who is born sometime later this century. His life is crappy, and so are most other people's, everything is done virtually, from education to leisure, and like everybody else he immerses himself in a vast game called Oasis.
Long story short the creator of Oasis starts a competition that is so massive even corporations get in on trying to win it. To stand any chance you have to know pretty much everything about 1980s popular culture. For those of us who were around then the premise is a fun one and the detail is a real nerdfest full of blasts from my past. I really recommend it.
 
Anyway the reason I mention it is because I just read today that Spielberg has signed on to direct. So looking forward to this one.
</div>
</blockquote>
 
 
That sounds pretty good , I'll try and get a hold of it.
 
Am reading Given up for dead by Bill Sloan, its the story of Wake Island the first defeat of the Japanese in world war 2 and an Alamo type last stand for the defenders who despite the odds being massively in the japs favour managed to give them a decent hiding in the process. Its a great read, he dismisses a few of the myths the americans used at the time to rally the country but the facts are pretty amazing.

taniwharugby

JUst finished Army of Thieves by Matthew Reilly, even by his standards this had some real unbelievable BS in it, almost like he is looking for the most outrageous and narrowist of escapes ever! Fast paced pop corn stuff...

NTA

Yeah but there is little difference between good crack and bad crack when you're in the middle of it :)

Sneakdefreak

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
 
JUst finished Army of Thieves by Matthew Reilly, even by his standards this had some real unbelievable BS in it, almost like he is looking for the most outrageous and narrowist of escapes ever! Fast paced pop corn stuff....
</blockquote>
 
I'm a slow reader compared to most people but I finished Reilly's The Great Zoo of China within four days. I guess that is a credit to the fact he rushes the story along and drops the whole character development thing. Plus dragons are cool.

red terror

From last year, THE KID: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams, by Ben Bradlee Jr.
 
<img src="https://41.media.tumblr.com/4646da38c3b0fd2942019cd243659276/tumblr_nmh0stL6IQ1rkoi7zo3_1280.jpg" alt="tumblr_nmh0stL6IQ1rkoi7zo3_1280.jpg">
 
Probably the best sports bio I've ever read. Certainly the most meticulously researched.
 
Utterly fascinating for me, I grew up in the summers of the 1970s on the Russell wharf, and had several chance encounters with the larger-than-life legend. At the time, his name meant nothing to me. He was gruff and simply known around the wharf as "the American baseball player," even if he was in his 50s at the time and obviously passed his playing days. Years later I was dismayed to learn he wasn't just any baseball player, but "the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived." I was lucky enough to see him a couple more times at the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown in 1991 & '92, where he was a really big deal in the most exclusive club.
 
The book extensively covers his legacy, as a volatile baseball icon, as a world-class angler, as a war hero (WW2 & Korea fighter pilot) and eventually his morbid "immortality" with his head currently bobbing in a cryonic chamber with body parts of strangers.
 
Most of you, I'm fairly certain, won't read this book, but you should request your library to get in in their stacks.
 
Of particular interest to me were the connections to NZ. There was no mention of his fishing trips to the Bay of Islands where I saw him, but it does discuss some small NZ curiosities.
 
In the early 1960s, just after he'd retired from the game, Williams (a.k.a "Teddy Ballgame," "The Kid," "Teddy Tantrum," "The Splendid Splinter") was hired by Sears department stores to lead a "Ted Williams Sports Advisory Board" that included Edmund Hillary.
 
<img src="https://40.media.tumblr.com/f2fe0bfc32f8c90cca98032d79450a93/tumblr_nmh0stL6IQ1rkoi7zo1_540.jpg" alt="tumblr_nmh0stL6IQ1rkoi7zo1_540.jpg">
 
Williams was invited by the NZ Tourist Dep't. to come to NZ and attempt the "big three" (trout, marlin, stag) and broke a record. His record would in-turn be broken and he returned to NZ several times to (unsuccessfully) try to re-claim the record.
 
<img src="https://40.media.tumblr.com/654b73fac4189b22729393a66a7ec9a8/tumblr_nmh0stL6IQ1rkoi7zo2_1280.jpg" alt="tumblr_nmh0stL6IQ1rkoi7zo2_1280.jpg">
 
No mention if there was any connection between Hillary and the Tourist Board invite.
 
Crazily enough, on his flight returning home to USA from his first NZ trip, he met a fashion model who was doing a photo shoot in Sydney for Vogue. He threw peanuts at her and picked her up without telling her who he was. Their marriage was something of a disaster, but it did produce two children for him, and it's these two kids who took it upon himself to get his head chopped off and dumped into that dark cryonic vault.
 
Once you've read the book, you'll be forgiven for believing Ted's last will & testament is a contrived forgery to get his head into that chamber.
 
Related, ESPN Grantland last month produced a short documentary about William's "after-life" titled <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://grantland.com/features/30-for-30-shorts-an-immortal-man/'>"An Immortal Man"</a> that uses Bradlee's book as their cornerstone.
 
Worth watching if you're interested:
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://grantland.com/features/30-for-30-shorts-an-immortal-man/'>http://grantland.com/features/30-for-30-shorts-an-immortal-man/</a>

NTA

I was browsing through Google Play, looking for free books that might or might not involve tits.
 
Anyway, I found this book (link below - called Titans by Edward W Robertson) and thought a bit of scifi would be a good distraction from the daily grind. I really enjoyed it - like that kind of writing style, and the concept around the main character was quite interesting.
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=OS7EAgAAQBAJ'>https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=OS7EAgAAQBAJ</a>

dogmeat

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
 
Titans
<div>by <a class="" href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4121443.Edward_W_Robertson">Edward W. Robertson</a> (Goodreads Author) </div>
<div>Titans <a class="" title="3.52 of 5 stars">3.52 of 5 stars</a> 3.52 Â· <a class="" href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18520859-titans#">rating details</a> Â· <a class="" href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18520859-titans#other_reviews">540 ratings </a> Â· <a class="" href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18520859-titans#other_reviews">44 reviews </a></div>
<div>Rob Dunbar is the world's best history professor. And with good reason: he's been alive for three thousand years, keeping his existence a secret since before the days of Athens. 
But a stranger named Baxter has a better use for Rob's vast expertise. Baxter's looking to found a mining company in the Asteroid Belt. In exchange for Rob's help, he'll try to unravel the mystery o Rob Dunbar is the world's best history professor. And with good reason: he's been alive for three thousand years, keeping his existence a secret since before the days of Athens. 
But a stranger named Baxter has a better use for Rob's vast expertise. Baxter's looking to found a mining company in the Asteroid Belt. In exchange for Rob's help, he'll try to unravel the mystery of Rob's origin. 
As they're getting their outfit off the ground, they come under covert attack by HemiCo, a powerful Mars-based corporation. And Rob learns Baxter has a secret of his own--he's not human. He's a highly illegal AI. 
Developed by HemiCo in the wilds of Mars, the first AI escaped decades ago. They've been fighting a shadow war against their creators ever since. Dragged to Mars, Rob is thrown into the center of the fight--and becomes the unlikely leader of a revolution that will change the course of human history in the stars.</div>
</blockquote>
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18520859-titans'>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18520859-titans</a>
 
 
For 3 worlders that can't get Google Play yet

The Silver Fern

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