theBaron
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Mark, have you read Ibrahim's "The Sword and the Scimitar", too? A good history of the topic.
Prost!
Brad
What are the Forum members reading (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Deitz
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Mark, have you read Ibrahim's "The Sword and the Scimitar", too? A good history of the topic.
Prost!
Brad
marco55
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That's next Brad. I'm on Skanderbeg now and only have Dracula left after him. This is a excellent book.
Mark
OzDigger
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John Birmingham is a British born authour that now lives in Brisbane, Queensland. His books cover a variety of topics, including 'He Died with a Filafel in his Hand' that is based on his experiences in various shared accommodations when he was a University Student. Something I can relate to as I lived in over 30 dwellings (mostly shared) during my Banking career. That said, I'm not a big fan of that book or the movie
However I find his Sci Fi books entertaining. 'The Cruel Stars' is the first of a Three part 'Cruel Stars' series, nothing fancy but has some great action combined with (usually) dark humour.
Reviews from Wikipedia:
Kirkus Reviews gave a very positive review for The Cruel Stars and called it "Frenetic action viewed in a black fun-house mirror" for its narrative that "canters along at a good clip, dashing off insane cannibals, exploding warships, detached heads, and cartwheeling body parts, with occasional transfusions of dark comic relief."[SUP][15][/SUP] The reviewer for FanFiAd was "kind of stuck for words at how much I enjoyed this one".[SUP][16][/SUP] The reviwer for Book Page wrote "A good space opera can be many things. It can be funny or deeply philosophical. It can be touching, and it can be gory. John Birmingham’s latest novel, The Cruel Stars, balances all of those things, making readers laugh out loud even as it pulls them through an intergalactic battle for the soul of humanity."[SUP][17][/SUP] The reviewer for At Boundary's Edge compared this work to Tom Clancy's Ryanverse.[SUP][18][/SUP]
A reviewer for Space.com wrote about The Shattered Skies calling the book "military sci-fi at its finest".[SUP][19][/SUP] Writing for FanFiAddict, its reviewer called The Cruel Stars series utterly fantastic and wrote "Birmingham really finds new ways to keep the plot fresh and explore different, strange scenarios despite the crew being on a ship in the void that is space."[SUP][20][/SUP] Another reviewer wrote that the book has "absorbing conflicts with high stakes and believable antagonists, complex characters with rich relationships and effective emotional depth, and Birmingham’s magnificent world building" while avoiding the flaws in the first book of the series.[SUP][21][/SUP]
The Shattered Skies was nominated for a Dragon Award for the 2022 Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel.[SUP][22][/SUP] This is Birmingham's first major literary award nomination.
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theBaron
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Have you ever read David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" stories, Matt? If you like military sci-fi, you might enjoy them. Also, if you haven't read "The Expanse" series of novels, I recommend them, too. They've been made into a TV series, which isn't bad, but the books are much better.
Prost!
Brad
OzDigger
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I haven't read any of Drake's books Brad, I checked my local library and the Hammer Slammer series is no longer available there. I'll see if I can get some of the Expanse books.
Another good mil sci fi author is Tim Pratt, his Axiom series being one of my favs.
I first became interested in Military Sci Fi way back in the early 1970's when I read a book called 'Light a Last Candle' by Vincent King. Not a famous Sci Fi author but I found it easier to 'digest' than more famous books such as 'Stranger in a Strange Land'.
I'm not really into Fantasy Sci Fi apart from 'The Lord of the Rings' that I read back in 1971 during my first year of High School. I really enjoyed the LOTR films, but actually Hate the recent Rings of Power, what a pile of Amazon B.S.
marco55
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theBaron
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Jackson's movies started out promisingly, but quickly went south for me. He changed the stories too much. I saw all three "Lord of the Rings" films, and his first installment of "The Hobbit". That's what killed it for me. I almost walked out, but I thought, "Ten bucks is ten bucks", so I stuck it out. He took an enjoyable little story you can read in a day and turned it into a 7-hour-and-54 minute waste of time. Casting choices were good, and the production values were good, but the changes to the story ruined it for me.
But I'm biased. I'm a Tolkien fan from way back, too. My 6th grade homeroom teacher read (read!) us "The Hobbit" in installments each day before lunch, and then she started "The Fellowship of the Ring". I was hooked. Through Tolkien, I learned about studying languages, and eventually that influenced my major in college. So the movies are almost an insult. Jackson should have stuck with producing high-quality injection-molded kits of Great War airplanes in 1/32 scale.
Prost!
Brad
OzDigger
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I agree Brad, and I was initially very disappointed with the many changes that Jackson made for his LOTR films for Political Correctness etc. Some ommissions were perhaps understandable such as Tom Bombadil, however I still resent several important changes such as the ommisssion of Glorfindel who was a key character and on a similar power level to Gandalf the White being reincarnated earlier in the time line.
And of course the Hobbit films introduced even more changes, some of them outlandish such as the giant worms seemingly straight from Dune.
I guess I have got used to the changes over time mainly due to the fact that the LOTR and Hobbit films were at least Entertaining and 'mostly' followed Tolkiens stories and of course Peter Jackson was passionate about making the films. The same cannot be said for the Power of the Rings, I can see no passion, just an adoption of the franchise to make money without providing Any Entertainment while promoting over the top Wokeness.
theBaron
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I also got a different perspective from a former co-worker who is a fan of fantasy adventure movies, but doesn't read a lot. So all he knows is the movies. Seen from that perspective, I can understand why the movies and the next generation of streaming content sold and sell so well. I had to make a similar change in perspective regarding "The Patriot". When I first saw it, I judged it as if it were a documentary, or a historical drama, aspiring to accuracy. And I hated it. Then I happened to watch "Northwest Passage" again, and I realized that it was pure entertainment. And I made the same leap for "The Patriot". Inaccurate? Yes. A good adventure set against a historical background? Yes, too. I still won't watch any of the LOTR franchise, but I understand if other people enjoy it. I'll stick with reading the books.
In fact, it's about time to re-read "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" again...
Prost!
Brad
OzDigger
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I actually prefer to watch a movie than read a book. However I read The Lord of the Rings every year, usually during Winter, if you can call it 'Winter' here on the Sunshine Coast, in the Sunshine State (Queensland).
As for The Patriot, I did enjoy the movie, no doubt assisted by the fact I know very little about that era, same with the Braveheart movie. However I can appreciate that a lot of forum members may not agree with me, I recall 'Rob' wasn't a fan of either.
I've even enjoyed all the Harry Potter movies, yet never interested in even looking at the books.
Combat
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"American Midnight" by Adam Hochschild:
From legendary historian Adam Hochschild, a "masterly" (New York Times) reassessment of the overlooked but startlingly resonant period between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when the foundations of American democracy were threatened by war, pandemic, and violence fueled by battles over race, immigration, and the rights of labor.
The nation was on the brink. Mobs burned Black churches to the ground. Courts threw thousands of people into prison for opinions they voiced—in one notable case, only in private. Self-appointed vigilantes executed tens of thousands of citizens’ arrests. Some seventy-five newspapers and magazines were banned from the mail and forced to close. When the government stepped in, it was often to fan the flames.
This was America during and after the Great War: a brief but appalling era blighted by lynchings, censorship, and the sadistic, sometimes fatal abuse of conscientious objectors in military prisons—a time whose toxic currents of racism, nativism, red-baiting, and contempt for the rule of law then flowed directly through the intervening decades to poison our own. It was a tumultuous period defined by a diverse and colorful cast of characters, some of whom fueled the injustice while others fought against it: from the sphinxlike Woodrow Wilson, to the fiery antiwar advocates Kate Richards O’Hare and Emma Goldman, to labor champion Eugene Debs, to a little-known but ambitious bureaucrat named J. Edgar Hoover, and to an outspoken leftwing agitator—who was in fact Hoover’s star undercover agent. It is a time that we have mostly forgotten about, until now.
In American Midnight, award-winning historian Adam Hochschild brings alive the horrifying yet inspiring four years following the U.S. entry into the First World War, spotlighting forgotten repression while celebrating an unforgettable set of Americans who strove to fix their fractured country—and showing how their struggles still guide us today.
From legendary historian Adam Hochschild, a "masterly" (New York Times) reassessment of the overlooked but startlingly resonant period between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when the foundations of American democracy were threatened by war, pandemic, and violence fueled by battles over race, immigration, and the rights of labor.
The nation was on the brink. Mobs burned Black churches to the ground. Courts threw thousands of people into prison for opinions they voiced—in one notable case, only in private. Self-appointed vigilantes executed tens of thousands of citizens’ arrests. Some seventy-five newspapers and magazines were banned from the mail and forced to close. When the government stepped in, it was often to fan the flames.
This was America during and after the Great War: a brief but appalling era blighted by lynchings, censorship, and the sadistic, sometimes fatal abuse of conscientious objectors in military prisons—a time whose toxic currents of racism, nativism, red-baiting, and contempt for the rule of law then flowed directly through the intervening decades to poison our own. It was a tumultuous period defined by a diverse and colorful cast of characters, some of whom fueled the injustice while others fought against it: from the sphinxlike Woodrow Wilson, to the fiery antiwar advocates Kate Richards O’Hare and Emma Goldman, to labor champion Eugene Debs, to a little-known but ambitious bureaucrat named J. Edgar Hoover, and to an outspoken leftwing agitator—who was in fact Hoover’s star undercover agent. It is a time that we have mostly forgotten about, until now.
In American Midnight, award-winning historian Adam Hochschild brings alive the horrifying yet inspiring four years following the U.S. entry into the First World War, spotlighting forgotten repression while celebrating an unforgettable set of Americans who strove to fix their fractured country—and showing how their struggles still guide us today.
Grey Heron
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Alistair MacLean's "Breakheart Pass."
paxtoysoldier
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Thanks for relating that story to us.
Good for your teacher!
Just starting to read the Trilogy again starting a few days from now. I will luxuriate in the ambiance, plot & prose so it may take a while to finish this time.
Keep on reading, Brad! I'm with you (at a slower pace:rolleyes2
Best Wishes
Paddy
OzDigger
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The Shattered Skies, the Second book in the Cruel Stars Trilogy, released this year.
The following review explains the books better than me:
John Birmingham is one of my favorite authors in the Science Fiction genre. Indeed, several of my first academic papers were on the subject of his "Axis of Time" trilogy. It is, then, no surprise that I jumped at the chance to peruse a copy of "The Shattered Skies," volume II in another trilogy quite different from the "Axis of Time." In "Shattered Skies" he takes up the tale he began with "The Cruel Stars." Birmingham has a unique facility for using his mastery of his genre to explore complex ethical and moral issues embedded in our history and culture without being at all heavy handed about it. Indeed, he is nothing if not thoroughly and consistently entertaining. It
often seems as though he sets out to disrupt our complacency by forcing us to confront inherent biases and contradictions in our thinking. In this series of books, a great war is being waged between two alignments of forces, neither of which is perfect, but both of which are based on our shared human heritage. He is interested in exploring here the conflict between a technologically advanced capitalist society resting on a feudal bedrock of extremely exploitative "Great Houses" (think "Game of Thrones). This group enslave their populations using the contradictions in capitalism and the inherent consequences of grotesque disparities in income. Leaders and the economically privileged can live essentially as long as they like using their technology and relying on sentient AI's at the highest levels to manage their armed forces and hold their people down. On the other hand is a group often referred to by the group I just mentioned as the Space Nazis; these are a less technologically advanced (slightly) group who restrict human ability to manipulate themselves genetically and restrict their use of computers to a very subordinate role. In their messianic zeal to "liberate" those who live under the "Great Houses," and, ironically to "free" them from the technology which they believe has corrupted them, they have adapted a far more authoritarian model for their society with obvious similarities to National Socialist Germany. As is characteristic of Birmingham's work, neither side is without serious flaws. This technique serves to defuse the reader's ingrained tendency to take sides, thereby forcing him or her to draw uncomfortable conclusions which belie any innate tendency to simplify things in favor of one side or the other.
The following review explains the books better than me:
John Birmingham is one of my favorite authors in the Science Fiction genre. Indeed, several of my first academic papers were on the subject of his "Axis of Time" trilogy. It is, then, no surprise that I jumped at the chance to peruse a copy of "The Shattered Skies," volume II in another trilogy quite different from the "Axis of Time." In "Shattered Skies" he takes up the tale he began with "The Cruel Stars." Birmingham has a unique facility for using his mastery of his genre to explore complex ethical and moral issues embedded in our history and culture without being at all heavy handed about it. Indeed, he is nothing if not thoroughly and consistently entertaining. It
often seems as though he sets out to disrupt our complacency by forcing us to confront inherent biases and contradictions in our thinking. In this series of books, a great war is being waged between two alignments of forces, neither of which is perfect, but both of which are based on our shared human heritage. He is interested in exploring here the conflict between a technologically advanced capitalist society resting on a feudal bedrock of extremely exploitative "Great Houses" (think "Game of Thrones). This group enslave their populations using the contradictions in capitalism and the inherent consequences of grotesque disparities in income. Leaders and the economically privileged can live essentially as long as they like using their technology and relying on sentient AI's at the highest levels to manage their armed forces and hold their people down. On the other hand is a group often referred to by the group I just mentioned as the Space Nazis; these are a less technologically advanced (slightly) group who restrict human ability to manipulate themselves genetically and restrict their use of computers to a very subordinate role. In their messianic zeal to "liberate" those who live under the "Great Houses," and, ironically to "free" them from the technology which they believe has corrupted them, they have adapted a far more authoritarian model for their society with obvious similarities to National Socialist Germany. As is characteristic of Birmingham's work, neither side is without serious flaws. This technique serves to defuse the reader's ingrained tendency to take sides, thereby forcing him or her to draw uncomfortable conclusions which belie any innate tendency to simplify things in favor of one side or the other.
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I recently reread John Masters' books, which got me started down the CBI trail. It finally got cold in Pennsylvania, so I stayed inside and opened up these two last weekend. I hadn't read either for years, but I recommend them, Hopefully you've got them somewhere on your shelves. The description of Orde Wingate's death in Lowell Thomas' book is the most detailed I have read. Impressive descriptions of how hard it was to tow gliders around, too.
bradleyl30
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I recently got into recent naval history. This led to trying some recent naval historical fiction including “Battlecruiser” by Douglas Reeman. It’s about a fictional 3rd ship of the Renown Class.
Going to read a real history of “Warspite” next.
Going to read a real history of “Warspite” next.
Combat
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There is a new biography of J. Edgar Hoover coming out this week: "G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century" by Beverly Gage.
[FONT="]A major new biography of J Edgar Hoover that draws from never-before-seen sources to create a groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today's conservative political landscape.[/FONT][FONT="]
Beverly Gage’s monumental work explores the full sweep of Hoover’s life and career, from his birth in 1895 to a modest Washington civil-service family through his death in 1972. In her nuanced and definitive portrait, Gage shows how Hoover was more than a one-dimensional tyrant and schemer who strong-armed the rest of the country into submission. As FBI director from 1924 through his death in 1972, he was a confidant, counselor, and adversary to eight U.S. presidents, four Republicans and four Democrats. Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson did the most to empower him, yet his closest friend among the eight was fellow anticommunist warrior Richard Nixon. Hoover was not above blackmail and intimidation, but he also embodied conservative values ranging from anticommunism to white supremacy to a crusading and politicized interpretation of Christianity. This garnered him the admiration of millions of Americans. He stayed in office for so long because many people, from the highest reaches of government down to the grassroots, wanted him there and supported what he was doing, thus creating the template that the political right has followed to transform its party.[/FONT]
[FONT="]A major new biography of J Edgar Hoover that draws from never-before-seen sources to create a groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today's conservative political landscape.[/FONT][FONT="]
Beverly Gage’s monumental work explores the full sweep of Hoover’s life and career, from his birth in 1895 to a modest Washington civil-service family through his death in 1972. In her nuanced and definitive portrait, Gage shows how Hoover was more than a one-dimensional tyrant and schemer who strong-armed the rest of the country into submission. As FBI director from 1924 through his death in 1972, he was a confidant, counselor, and adversary to eight U.S. presidents, four Republicans and four Democrats. Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson did the most to empower him, yet his closest friend among the eight was fellow anticommunist warrior Richard Nixon. Hoover was not above blackmail and intimidation, but he also embodied conservative values ranging from anticommunism to white supremacy to a crusading and politicized interpretation of Christianity. This garnered him the admiration of millions of Americans. He stayed in office for so long because many people, from the highest reaches of government down to the grassroots, wanted him there and supported what he was doing, thus creating the template that the political right has followed to transform its party.[/FONT]
