Coffee

[Pulsegleaner]

it started out good, but i don't like the last book much in comparison to the first ones. i haven't re-read them in quite some time but i still have them here in my OSC collection (i don't have all the Ender related spin-off books as while i have read them they're not nearly as good as the others).

there are other series that went off the rails for me in that i really liked how they started and then the author just went into places i don't care too much to read about. Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule series started out interesting but then it went too far in what i consider blood and S&M type stuff and i don't get into that at all. ick. sad to me when that happens.

I think Gordon R. Dickson's Dragon Knight series went off the rails as well. It was pretty good up until the last book, but "The Dragon and the Maid of Kent" made the mistake of trying to tie the Medieval world the story happens in (which, however much is resembles it, is NOT our world) with historical figures from our own history.

Yeah, the last book is sort of rushed. Having the city already almost completely built by the end, when they didn't even pick the spot until pretty close to the end, seems a little unrealistic.

 

[flowerbug]

I think Gordon R. Dickson's Dragon Knight series went off the rails as well. It was pretty good up until the last book, but "The Dragon and the Maid of Kent" made the mistake of trying to tie the Medieval world the story happens in (which, however much is resembles it, is NOT our world) with historical figures from our own history.

i did like his final encyclopedia series. and his dorsai books were interesting back then. i've not re-read those and perhaps i should. have to check my lists and see if i have them all here or should request them through the library...

Yeah, the last book is sort of rushed. Having the city already almost completely built by the end, when they didn't even pick the spot until pretty close to the end, seems a little unrealistic.

among other problems i had by then it just seemed to go off.

his book _Songmaster_ is one of my all time favorite books though (not that i think it perfect by far but i re-read that one once in a while) so i always count that in his favor no matter what else he writes (or farms out to others).

 

[Pulsegleaner]

i did like his final encyclopedia series. and his dorsai books were interesting back then. i've not re-read those and perhaps i should. have to check my lists and see if i have them all here or should request them through the library...

While you are at it, look for the two Diblia books, Spatial Delivery and Spacepaw. The Diblians are really funny with this "always follow the letter of the law, but twist the spirit to the breaking point." I used to have both books (in fact I had two copies of Spacepaw, since my first copy was the one where the cover designer goofed and though Diblians looked like gorillas, not bears.) There's a short story called "The Law Twister Shorty" as well, but I forgot where you can find that.

Never read any of the Dorsai stuff (though my old radio show collection had the adaptation of "Lulungameena".

Come to think of it, I haven't seen anything from Alan Dean Foster recently either. I just checked, and he is still very much alive. But it's been AGES since there was a new Pip and Flinx novel, or indeed anything in his universe.

Tom Holt (sort like a light version of Terry Pratchett) hasn't done anything new since 2019.

Robert Aspirin is dead, and no one has taken up the M.Y.T.H. Inc. series.


Actually, Terry Pratchett's daughter said she was willing to keep Discworld going, and then never made good. And, per Pterry's wishes, all of his hard drives with unfinished story pieces were crushed, so no one can use those as jumping off places either (not that this is such a bad thing, Eoin Colfer's attempt to end the Hitchhiker's series was a disaster. He wasn't DNA. NO ONE ELSE could be DNA.)

 

[baymule]

Coffee is about gone. Still dark outside. I got hog panels yesterday so think I’ll start setting up my sheep working equipment. Since the run will go across the place where the round bale is set, I’ll have to make that removable. Yeah, it will be a temporary rigged up sort of thing with my usual hay string extravaganza. But I haven’t had it set up in way too long. Poor Lucy’s hooves are so long, I should be ashamed, but I not. I moved twice and had knee replacement surgery, but they never missed a meal, they have had shelter, not great, but shelter, so now I play catch up. Sunny day today and I’m gonna be out in it.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

Had ginger Chai this morning and it was great. Needed that little caffeine since I had to go to the hospital regarding my daughter's bill. Insurance pays them but they won't update the account before sending me a new bill with "final notice" on it. Have spend so many hours and spoke to so many people without a clear answer. Since September this has been an issue! It's going to the business director now. I need answers!
Vent over.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

I was planning on having tea this morning but since I fell asleep in the recliner waiting for the water to heat coffee sounds like a better idea. I had eggs and provolone and mushrooms for breakfast. Normally I add spinach but I couldn’t find any this morning. Now I need to get up and actually fix some coffee and start on the cake I need to bake.

 

[ducks4you]

@Pulsegleaner , eldest DD and you could talk all day. She is a Big Pratchett fan.
Coffee with yogurt and some of the leftover vanilla cookies. Not very healthy, but, ok.

 

[flowerbug]

Guy G. Kay is still writing interesting books but imagine this as an early job description:

"When Christopher Tolkien needed an assistant to edit his father J. R. R. Tolkien's unpublished work, he chose Kay, then a student of philosophy at the University of Manitoba, because of a family connection. Kay moved to Oxford in 1974 to assist Christopher in editing The Silmarillion.[4]"

 

[Pulsegleaner]

@Pulsegleaner , eldest DD and you could talk all day. She is a Big Pratchett fan.
Coffee with yogure and some of the leftover vanilla cookies. Not very healthy, but, ok.

Like I said, introduce her to Tom Holt. He isn't QUITE as good as Pratchett, but, since I assume now she has read everything in the canon, and it looks like there won't be any more, it can at least work as Methadone to her addiction.
Other choices in humor fantasy are Robert Asprin's MYTH series and several ones by Craig Shaw Gardener (the Ebenezum Trilogy, the sequel Wuntvor trilogy, The Arabian Knights Trilogy and the Cineverse cycle (which is either three or four books, can't remember which. but considering the final title is Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies, you have some idea of the tone.)

I have been TOLD that Stanislaw Lem is funny, but I have never found it so (maybe it's funnier in the original Russian. Fables for Robots is pretty good, though.)

 

[digitS']

Good Morning.

This morning, steel cut oatmeal with butter, honey and milk. These sweet but somewhat bland naval oranges that are available now. DW was willing to eat the Mandarins earlier this week. Sometimes, she is not although she is very much an orange person. Where are the Valencia, they should be showing up about now, right? Almost applesauce season.

The oatmeal isn't my preference but I'm trying to get ahead of DW on it. She will cook such a large pot of old fashioned oatmeal that I feel compelled to eat it at least for two (maybe 3!) mornings.