Sunday Morning Book Thread - 06-05-2022 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (always be cautious about your search results! ht: All Hail Eris). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material, even if it's nothing more than the Voynich Manuscript. As always, pants are required, especially if you are wearing these pants...(for when you need to attend meetings of the Church of the SubGenius.)

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, slice some rashers of bacon, and crack open a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

Buck Throckmorton sent me the following note accompanying this picture:

Hey Perfesser:

Thanks for the great job you do.

I stumbled upon this picture and it brought back memories of my childhood, when my house had a bookshelf full of dozens of books like these. My parents had no use for me ever saying I was bored. If I did, they would point me to that bookshelf. Those childhood books took me on many great adventures, as I got lost between the covers and into the habit of reading.

My most recent book is one that a client of mine said I'd enjoy: On Valor's Side published in the early '60s. It's a marine's account of WWII from his enlistment in the Marines, through boot camp, landing at Guadalcanal, then the four-month battle to hold their beachhead before the Japanese finally surrendered the island. Just finished it this week.

All the best,

Buck

I can totally relate to Buck's childhood bookshelves. Even though my family moved around a lot when I was younger, we always had a house full of books. We took them all over the country and even overseas to Germany.

WRITING TIPS

Last week I brought up how important research is for writing a story, especially if it will be based on historical events or scientific knowledge (or some combination thereof). I asked A.H. Lloyd if he'd be willing to share some of his knowledge on research, since he's been neck deep researching China. He graciously replied in the comments with the following:

Okay, so the first thing is know what you want to write. Ask yourself: "What value am I adding to this topic?"

In the case of Long Live Death, I wanted to write the kind of book I would love to read, but which did not exist. I knew that there was a lot of b.s. about the Spanish Civil War so I could correct that, but mostly I really wanted to know how the war unfolded.

A big factor in this was that I had spent several months reading about the Spanish Civil War while convalescing from an attack of acute myocarditis. So a lot of the research had already been done, and all I had to do was refresh my memory, add some more sources, etc.

I then blocked out the structure of the book, outlining the chapters and topics. After that, it was just a matter of filling in the gaps...

With China, my approach is a little different because this time I dove into Chinese history with the notion that I would probably write a book on it. So my work is a little more organized. I should be farther along than I am, but we've had a lot of family drama, so I don't always get the quiet time I need to write.

As in all books, I have an idea of how long I think it will be to guide me, and I try to set a quota of words per session/week/month. I did really well in April but May has been a disaster. I'm still hoping to finish the draft in June with a July publication target.

One big difference between fiction and non-fiction is the need for an index, and this time I started auto-populating it right from the start. Saves me a lot of effort on the back end. For example, I just introduced Mao Tse-tung, and immediately added him to the indexer thingy. Now all subsequent mentions will be added.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 29, 2022 10:20 AM (llXky)

I love how he pointed out that he sets quotas on how much writing he will do in a given period. Self-discipline seems to be one of the key elements to successfully writing a book. Set a goal and follow through. He's also taking advantage of technology in his writing project by making use of the indexing functions of his word processor. Learning how to use these tools can save a lot of time and effort in the long run!

NOTE: A.H. Lloyd has quite a number of books available, for anyone interested.

(Be honest. This describes you, doesn't it? ht: CN)

BOOKS BY MORONS

Moron author Daniel Humphreys reached out to me a couple of weeks ago about a Kickstarter project he launched on May 31 to help him re-release his Paxton Locke series of books. The original publisher went out of business, so he's looking for alternatives. If you would like to help him out, the Kickstarter project is live until June 30. He's already surpassed his goal, but I'm sure he'd appreciate support from the Moron Horde!

Paxton Locke: Relaunching the acclaimed urban fantasy series

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Sometimes when I read through the comments every week, I can spot a trend among the recommended reading, even though there's usually an excellent mix of authors and stories. Last week, I noticed that several of you recommended stories involving conspiracies or espionage in some way. Here are a few of the recommendations:

I'm continuing to add vacation-books to my Kindle paperwhite. Yesterday I got a deal on Above Suspicion by Scottish author Helen MacIness. Ms. MacInnes's husband was in MI6. She wrote espionage novels beginning in WW2 through the Cold War. I read her books many 29 years ago, looking forward to a re-read.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 29, 2022 09:14 AM (45fpk)

Comment: World War II and the subsequent Cold War are both rich targets for espionage thrillers. MacInnes had a fairly prolific writing career and was quite the trailblazer in her genre. It probably helps when your husband is James Bond. A few of her books were even made into movies. Above Suspicion, for instance, was made into a film in 1943, starring Richard Thorpe, Joan Crawford, and Fred MacMurray.

Speaking of which, I will give a shout-out to Foucault's Pendulum, which is one hell of a fun ride. Eco is the anti-Dan Brown, knowing all sorts of oddball stuff in lots of languages. The plot is basically a bunch of bored book editors come up with the most over-the-top conspiracy they can think of, and naturally people start to believe its true.

Quite amusing as well.

There are very few books that stick with you to the extent that you quote from it. This is one of them. Eco's got so many great turns of phrase. One of my favorites is a discussion about people. There are four kinds of people: cretins, fools, morons and lunatics.

Cretins are stone stupid, try to eat and ice cream cone and plant it on their forehead. They don't write books, so no one cares about them.

Fools seem very intelligent, but they always talk "outside the glass." They're trying to talk about what's *in* the glass, but never make it. They walk up to you and ask how your wife is doing after you divorce. Fools are in great demand as diplomats and politicians.

Morons use logic to solve everything, mindlessly following it wherever it goes. I am a human. Martin Luther King Jr. is a human. Therefore, I am Martin Luther King Jr. Stuff like that. Sometimes they get things right, but it's hard to tell.

Lunatics are exactly like morons in every respect, except that sooner or later, they will always bring up the Knights Templar.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 29, 2022 09:46 AM (llXky)

Comment: The premise of Foucault's Pendulum is that a group of editors create a conspiracy theory about the Knights Templar and other occult groups. To them, it's just a joke. Unfortunately, they apparently stumble onto a real conspiracy that is not happy with their meddling. Strikes too close to home. So when you are writing about conspiracy theories, you just never know who might be out there reading!

Oh- forgot one other book I am currently reading (well, listening to):

Raven Rock: The story of the US Government's secret plan to save itself while the rest of us die.

Pretty fascinating so far. The effort for "Continuity of Government" is exactly what the title says: a core group of people live. The unwashed masses become soylent green.

Posted by: Secret Squirrel, author of the military SCI FI series Outward Frontier on AMAZON at May 29, 2022 10:22 AM (cFx0q)

Comment: The blurb for this book mentions numerous secret bunkers set up around D.C. High-level politicians are supposed to be evacuated to them in the event of an emergency. I can't help but wonder if they are set up like the Vaults in the Fallout franchise. Maybe each one is also a secret experiment on humans (paid for by Fauci's NIH, of course).

In addition to the conspiracy-themed recommendations above, FenelonSpoke posted the following plea for assistance:

My son will be starting college full time in the Fall, God willing. He only took a few classes at a time at the community college. Any recommendations for a non woke "How to be a organized successful college student"? There seems to be a lot of stuff out there. I just don't know what's good and I think-as many young people do- he has some ADD and needs to be more organized.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at May 29, 2022 09:56 AM (l7p9i)

Comment: I taught a class in Fall 2021 and one of the first things I gave my students (college freshmen) was a short pamphlet that I had laying around. I scanned it into PDF so that I could deliver it to them through our learning management system. Anyway, it's an excellent short guide that is very useful for both high school and college students. I'm posting it here for your convenience:

How to Get Good Grades in College by Linda O'Brien. Enjoy!

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (191 Moron-recommended books so far!)

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

• The Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton -- Book 2 of The Void Trilogy. Splits itself between a medieval society powered by psychics and an ultra-tech civilization on the verge of transitioning to nonphysical form. Still follows the plot of Star Trek V to some extent.

That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding my Sunday Morning Book Thread. This is a very special place. You are very special people (in all the best ways!). The kindness, generosity, and wisdom of the Moron Horde knows no bounds. Let's keep reading!

If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or writing projects that you'd like to see on the Sunday Morning Book Thread, you can send them to perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com. Your feedback is always appreciated! You can also take a virtual tour of OUR library at libib.com/u/perfessorsquirrel. Since I added sections for AoSHQ, I now consider it OUR library, rather than my own personal fiefdom...

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