Sunday Morning Book Thread - 11-26-2023 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(HT: Carlos)

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. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, fix yourself a plate of leftover turkey and pie, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

Today's pic is from Carlos, who sent a couple of photos of his home library in his new-last home in southwest Idaho. He had them built by a local craftsman to display his collection of signed first/first editions of his favorite authors. He's already run out of room and is starting to overflow to the bedrooms. I know the feeling.

FIX-UPS

Before we wind up today, this may make a good topic for a future Book Thread. I just learned the term for a novel where the text consists of several previously published short stories, pressed into a novel with bridging material and, if need be, editing to remove inconsistencies. It's called, get this, a "fix-up"! Nearly all the great SF people did that in the 1950s, Asimov with Foundation and I, Robot, Poul Anderson with Operation Chaos, Blish with Earthman, Come Home, etc. Other genres too.

So: What "fix-ups" have you read, which do you think worked and which didn't?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 12, 2023 11:49 AM (omVj0)

Wolfus Aurelius asks an interesting question...and introduces a new term. I suspect that the "fix-up" form of storytelling works better for some genres rather than others. I'm struggling to imagine how the form would work for the mystery or romance genres, though it's long been a staple of science fiction. Clifford D. Simak's City is a classic example. It consists of eight stories, each of which tells the tale of humanity's evolution over time. The bridging material is that these are stories shared by evolved dogs when they are around the campfire. Dogs are humanity's successor species.

Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is another famous "fix-up" that shares the story of how humanity colonized Mars, eventually becoming the Martians they supplanted. Both City and The Martian Chronicles are exceptional examples of short stories, and are also very haunting in their own way, both pointing towards a post-human future. We will be come a mere footnote in galactic history.

Finally, Michael Moorcocks' Elric series is an interesting example. The first six "novels" are really just a collection of short adventures of Elric of Melniboné, though there is a loose chronology to the stories. They get weirder and weirder as the series goes on, as Elric begins to exert his influence as an incarnation of the Eternal Champion. It mostly works as a series, but it ends on a very depressing note.

What are some other examples of "fix-ups" from other genres?

BOOKS BY MORONETTES

We have a couple of books written by Moronettes for you today:

Hi Perfessor Squirrel! I'm a longtime lurker (since 2008! so many moronic years!) and have had one book featured in the Sunday Book Thread before, way back in probably 2014. But my latest book--#11--just came out this week and I feel SO proud of it. It is the current #1 new release in Love & Romance and Marriage & Long Term Relationships on Amazon.

It is a book for women about how to become more feminine, in concrete, practical, and actionable ways. This is the link to it: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN3TXZ35

This is an absolutely critical book for all of humanity, in my opinion. Weak men create masculinized women, and masculinized women create weak men who don't want to be men. Men who don't want to be men don't show up and don't fight for their families. Women actually stepping into their femininity is the only way we are going to inspire the men around us to step it up and save America.

Women cannot lead the charge to save the nation. It has to be men. The only way enough men will step up to save civilization, in my opinion, is if we have a huge wave of women returning to their femininity.

This book is 430 pages long, because it includes a TON of information about all sorts of things related to the topic. It has many chapters on saving marriages and healing relationships with family members and ourselves. But of particular moron interest, I feature:

• women police officers failing at their jobs, using one particular example I originally found on AoSHQ
• a discussion of hypergamy inspired by a link from an ONT I read way back in 2013 (!)
• the upcoming population collapse since modern women are not replacing themselves
• a discussion of patriarchy and matriarchy that drove one of my liberal friends to tears and then changed her mind about "the patriarchy"
• and more!

So I pretty much think all the moronettes would love it and also many morons would probably love to get it for their wives. It is appropriate for both married and single women and refers specifically to sex in maybe a handful of sentences, so I think it would also be appropriate for older teens.

Women want to be more feminine. I spent 10 years of my life studying the topic and this is the book I wish I had had right from the start.

Thanks for considering this book as part of the Sunday Book Thread! I hope your day is amazing!

allie duzett

Celia Hayes (Sgt. Mom) also has a new book out on December 1! (Kindle version appears to be available now!)

This is the link for the Kindle version, which goes live 1 December. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNN2RHR7?ref_=pe_93986420_775043100

The age suitability is kind of confusing on Amazon - but it's basically of interest to a mature audience. There is no sexual content - it's just that what is dealt with won't be of much interest to teens, unless they are passionately interested in the doings of women during the American Civil War.

There wasn't much of an outlet for an ordinary American woman with ambitions in the 184os; marriage and family was as good as it got back then, for most women...But Minnie Vining wasn't an ordinary woman. A spinster in her forties, of a respected old Boston family, possessing an independent income and an education worthy of any man among her peers. Minnie took up a noble cause--campaigning for the abolition of slavery. The matter of slavery roiled political and social life in the United States for more than thirty years, splitting apart families, friends, comrades...and eventually the nation. And when the war began in earnest, Minnie followed her heart and her calling--as a nurse, tending to sick and wounded soldiers--but at what personal cost?

BASED BOOK SALE CONTINUES!

Hans G. Schantz is continuing a book sale for based books:

It's the biggest and most based book sale of all time. Bypass the cultural gatekeeping, support non-woke authors, and get yourself some great books from both established and emerging talent for only $0.99 -- many titles free! Over a hundred authors have banded together to offer nearly 300 books, 75 of which are new to the sale. This is a great opportunity to top off your library. At no more than $0.99 each, it's a low risk way check out the offerings from some new authors and to encourage established and emerging authors to keep writing the kinds of books you'd like to read.

Link: Black Friday/Cyber Monday Based Book Sale

As the Federalist observed earlier this week, "Conservative Guerrilla Marketing Like The 'Big Based Book Sale' Is How We Fight Leftist Gatekeepers."

Castalia House, a Finland-based publisher with a great appreciation for the golden age of science fiction and fantasy literature, has put eight of their titles on sale for $0.99 as well.

Thanks as always for supporting indie and small press authors.

Hans

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

This week I read Dark Aeon: Transhumanism and the War Against Humanity by Joe Allen. Transhumanism is the merger of humankind with the Machine. It is an out growth of the progress towards AGI (Artificial General Intelligence); part of the fast growing religion, Scientism. As expected it's been embraced by the global elites, the World Economic Forum types.

Allen gives a history of the work being done in AI and how AI can be used to enhance humanity; providing, of course, an intelligence greater than all of collective humanity allows humanity to exist. This is a warning of another aspect of what the global elites have in store for the rest of us. Finally, there is a 55-point plan to stay human.

Posted by: Zoltan at November 19, 2023 09:12 AM (7EvEN)

Comment: "Transhumanism" may be one of the more terrifying fads developed by the WEF crowd. It smacks of the same mad genius infecting The Island of Dr. Moreau. How soon until we start splicing animal genes into human genes to make ourselves "better?" There's also a trope called Cybernetics Eat Your Soul, where the more machine you become, the less human you become. Machines do not and cannot think like a human, regardless of what the WEF crowd would have you believe. The people who are in favor of these crazy transhumanism ideas really need to read more science fiction. It never ends well for humanity.

This week I have been reading The Sleeping Sphinx by John Dickson Carr. Carr is famous for his locked room mysteries, and in this case, the locked room has no other doors or any windows, because it is a mausoleum. Donald Holden has returned from the war, where he was reported as dead to further a secret mission. Now, he has returned to life and returned home, to find his love is suspected of insanity and her sister dead. Was it natural causes or murder, and if murder, who did it? Celia Devereux insists her sister was murdered, and everyone else insists she is crazy, and the evidence to determine the truth is inside a sealed mausoleum. Because of the carefully constructed setting, the entire book keeps the reader on edge. Which characters can be trusted to be telling the truth? Are some lying to protect others, or to hide their own secrets? Fortunately, Dr Gideon Fell has arrived to solve the case. This is the seventeenth in the Gideon Fell series of mysteries, and after reading this one, I am ready to find some more stories by this master of mystery.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at November 19, 2023 09:12 AM (baqtI)

Comment: Thomas Paine is determined to get me to read more books (he started me on the Agent Pendergast series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child). "Locked room" mysteries are always fascinating and usually rely on some mundane detail that is easily overlooked in order to solve a seemingly impossible crime.

I finished Lost Kingdom: The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation, by Serhii Plokhy. It's a history of Russia and its eternal quest for an empire.

I have recommended two more of Plokhy's books recently, The Russo-Ukrainian War, and The Gates of Europe, because they provide a strong factual foundation for understanding the current war in Ukraine. While the last two books focus on Ukrainian history and the ongoing conflict, Lost Kingdom emphasizes Russian history, and how Russia has dealt with her neighbors, obviously including Ukraine.

Much of the book is given over to Russia's attempts to colonize and "Russianize" conquered populations in what they call Little Russia (Ukraine) and White Russia (Belarus), by forcing them to use only Russian in the schools, media and government.

One especially interesting tidbit was that Vladimir Lenin favored letting the captive nations go, since he assumed that the future would be decided on a class basis across international borders, rather than nationalism. Stalin didn't like that, then he sort of accepted it, and finally went back to his original view of forcing the nations to become Russian.

Highly recommended.

Posted by: Archimedes at November 19, 2023 09:16 AM (I/Qkd)

Comment: The desire to build empires seems built into the human genome. The idea of democratic republics in their current incarnation is fairly new, even though the basic idea can be tracked back to Ancient Greece. The Russians are just as guilty of colonization and empire building as any civilization in history, yet they are not held to the same standard as the United States by the Leftist crowd.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (1000+ Moron-recommended books!)

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

• Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein -- It was OK. I can see why people like it, but I also see why people don't like it.
• Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor -- Just a weird book about a weird place...
• Riverworld Book 1 - To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer -- Millions of people throughout history wake up next to a mysterious river. Why were they resurrected? Who resurrected them? Join Sir Richard Francis Burton as he attempts to unravel these mysteries.

That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding the 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 discussion topics 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...

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 11-19-23 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

posted by Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

| Access Comments