It’s part of a three book series unfortunately but I will say they are very easy to pick up and read. They remind me in format to the Horatio Hornblower series by C.S. Forester, in that they are very episodic, each chapter almost acting like its own separate short story. What that means is that’s it’s easy to pick up after having not read the series in a long time. In the first volume, there really are only two characters who are recurring. There is a plot but it’s overarching but the active plot is individual to each chapter. Think ‘Kung Fu’ Tv series or Conan the Barbarian by Robert E Howard. I love it and it’s incredibly easy to slowly work my way through, with characters coming and going never to reappear again.
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Thanks, I might track it down.
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What was your opinion of Mote in God’s Eye? That one is near the top of my to-read list.
This arrived via Exalted Funeral. Interested in reading through it today with a cup or two of coffee.
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I just finished what is probably the most original and bizarre book found on the Appendix N - The Shadow People. What a book! A review will be published on ALl Fiction is Fantasy tomorrow.
Yesterday I read through volume 1 of Saga of the Swamp Thing. Such a brilliant comic book. Going to be working my way through the entire series. Moore does an amazing job of turning the Swamp Thing’s origin on its head, and delivering a compassionate examination of a monster in a hostile world.
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Review for The Shadow People
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I have only read one issue of Swamp Thing - #32 “Pog”. Was very impressed with it though and should read more.
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Sorry but what is Appendix N?
A list of books Gary Gygax compiled that were the inspiration for D&D.
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Moore’s run is absolutely transformative.
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I read Highgate Horrors a while back. Thanks for the reminder that I should pick up the next one in the series 
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On New Year’s Day, after visiting family, my wife and I took the train from Chicago back home to Seattle. It was a great experience, and I dove into some audiobooks to pass the time while enjoying the views of the Dakotas and Montana through the window. One of my picks was People of the Black Circle by Robert E. Howard, from the Del Rey collection that was released about 15 years ago. It was one of the few remaining Conan stories I hadn’t read, mainly because I tend to focus on shorter stories when I want my Conan fix. And wow, it’s an incredible tale. The sorcery and magic are truly terrifying in a way that I don’t often experience in fantasy stories or D&D. The violence is vividly described, and the setting is incredibly evocative. I loved it—it might just be my favorite Conan story. I’d rank it alongside Red Nails, The Tower of the Elephant, and Beyond the Black River. I’ve just started Hour of the Dragon because I realized I was missing out on some of Robert E. Howard’s best work by not exploring his longer Conan pieces.
Listening to Robert E. Howard again, I’m really impressed with his writing overall. He has an amazing ability to describe action, far surpassing Lovecraft and most of the early fantasy/horror writers, in my opinion. I highly recommend the Del Rey collection audiobooks—the narrator is excellent. I read somewhere that Howard would speak his prose aloud as he typed it. I find his work lends itself well to experience in audio form.
Since the new year, I’ve also been reading more recent Conan stories on my Kindle, which have been released by Titan as part of their Heroic Legend series. I’ve read Black Starlight and The Halls of Immortal Darkness, both of which are solid pastiche pieces at around 70 pages each. I definitely recommend them.
I’m curious—what are people’s favorite Conan stories, whether by Robert E. Howard or other authors?
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@Dungeondive Question for Daniel. I recently watched a movie called A boy and his dog (1975) and discovered it was based on a book by Harlan Ellison. I wonder if you’ve read or reviewed any of his book? The movie is full of dark humour which inspired Fallout and Mad Max with a pretty gruesome plot, definitly not for everyone. I am wondering if I should go hunt down his books as they are not easily avaliable in the UK.
Edit: After listening to the audio book of A boy and his dog, I’m starting to think maybe the film adaptation is a better version. The original story is probably a bit too dark and post apocalyptic for me without the weird / cult humour of the film. The film definitly shows its age and low budget but the 70s cult movie style helps keep it interesting throughout the watching. While the first person perspective of an amoral protagonist in the short story makes it a lot more difficult to stomach - which is of course the point of the story as a post apocalyptic cautionary tale.
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Seen the movie, never read the book. I’m not the biggest fan of Ellison, even though I like a few of his things. I love “I Have no Mouth, and I Must Scream,” and a few of his other stories I’ve read. For me he’s just really hit or miss, so I don’t seek his stuff out very often. I liked the movie quite a bit, and remember seeing it when it was on HBO when I was younger.
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Just finished I have no mouth & I must scream audiobook and love it, what a classic sweet and short sci fi story. Will probably try the video game too.
Probably will just see if I stumble across his works in the future but agree they are probably not worth hunting down (The “I have no mouth & i must scream” book cover art is amazing though )
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I loved the videogame back when it came out! I had the version that came with the lenticular mousepad. Which is a type of printing to add depth and illusion, and also makes a mousepad useless for actually running a mouse over it. It was still pretty cool though…
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I’ve read Ellison’s collection Strange Wine, plus a few other things, and liked most of it, but I agree he’s “hit or miss” in a peculiar way: to me a lot of his work seems to be tied up with his own time and place, and with the literary-cultural “movement” that he was working to advance (so-called “New Wave Science Fiction”). This also comes through a bit if you read up on his persona. Nowadays there is no shortage of trolls and folks feeding them. But just think about how weird a time it was for Ellison to be trying to work as an author with that kind of swagger – and then think about how weird it is that he succeeded! I don’t always feel like I have the context to appreciate what he’s up to, but I do like to “stretch” from time to time to give it a try.
For my part, I am about to start the Dorsai! series (a.k.a. the Childe Cycle) having never touched any of it.
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Finished Perfume by Patrick Süskind. Enjoyed it quite a bit. Story of a boy/man with a supernatural sense of smell and a deviant modus operandi. Liked the dry, matter-of-fact, almost sardonic narration coupled with the eyebrow raising story arc. Thumbs are up.
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Crimson Fall: The Shore Tower
Sir Duncross, the infamous monster hunter and his humble scribe Father McKellen are hired to kill the fabled monster of Shore Tower Island.
Recently shipped from kickstarter… an enjoyable little dungeon crawl from Derek Laufman.
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