Sunday Morning Book Thread - 12-01-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(HT: California Girl NOT CaliGirl)

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 (extra guffaws not included). 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...(a Thanksgiving feast on the go!)

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

As I mentioned last week, I am very grateful to all of your support for my meager contributions to AoSHQ. I believe I'm merely the curator of this space while y'all are the CREATORS of the Sunday Morning Book Thread with your own comments and contributions. As a matter of fact, nearly all of the content this week is from YOU...Thank you!

P.S. Thanks to TRex for a great Hobby Thread yesterday!

PIC NOTE

This picture was sent to me by "California Girl" who should NOT be confused with CaliGirl. Both are 'Ettes from California, I take it, though apparently different nics. "California Girl" is a lurker who rarely comments. This is a repeat, I think, from a bookstore in Portugal, but it fits the theme of today's Sunday Morning Book Thread where most of the content is supplied by YOU, the 'rons and 'ettes that keep this place interesting.

WRITING HACK FOR A FIRST DRAFT

OrangeEnt sent me a link to the video above. In case you don't want to watch the video, here's the main point: writers can often "speed up" writing a first draft by inserting markers for thoughts and ideas so the can easily come back to them later when they have figured out exactly what they want to write. He calls this the "TK Method" because a common trick is to insert "TK" in your manuscript at those points you need to revisit later. For instance, if you don't quite know the name of a villain's henchman, you can insert "VillainHenchmanTK" into your manuscript. When you have thought up a good name for him, a simple find-and-replace will help you fix that minor issue. Similarly, if you know that a particular moment needs to be included in a scene, but you don't quite know the details of how it will play out yet, you can use "TK" along with a short descriptor, such as "Chap2ClimaxTK". Again, you just need to do a quick find "TK" option in your writing software to find all of the TK spots. Why "TK?" Well, it's a letter combination that doesn't occur in too many English words. You can use whatever letter combination you like, as long as it's unique enough to be identifiable in your manuscript.

One downside I can see is that you would need to do a thorough search of "TK" before you submit a manuscript for publication, or your editor may come back asking for missing details.

I don't write manuscripts, but I often put placeholders in my work-related writing and then send it out to my team for assistance with filling in those key details (e.g., a date for an event or a link to a website).

Any Moron Authors want to chime in on tips and tricks that help with writing their first drafts?

2024 BLACK FRIDAY/CYBER MONDAY BASED BOOK SALE

Hans G. Schantz is back with another Based Book Sale event:

The 2024 Black Friday/Cyber Monday Based Book Sale is live with over two hundred based books including 75 new to the sale all for free or $0.99:

https://basedbooksale.substack.com/p/2024-black-fridaycyber-monday-based

And there are an additional couple hundred books in the Everyday Based Book Sale

https://basedbooksale.substack.com/p/the-everyday-099-or-free-based-book

Cheers!

BOOKS BY MORONS

James Y. Bartlett, author of the Swamp Yankee Mysteries, which take place in a fictional town in the fictional state of Rhode Island, has started a new series. This one features Johann Sebastian Bach as the protagonist/sleuth.

I've reimagined him as a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Keith Richards, and given him a posse: Bach's historical cousin Elias Bach (whom he hired for a few years as personal secretary and tutor for his children) fills the Dr. Watson role; and Anna Magdalena Bach, his second wife, brings the feminine perspective to these 18th century adventures.

The first book in the series, The Organ Job, now on sale, finds Bach and crew in the Hessian city of Kassel to inspect the new pipe organ at the Martinskirche. But they learn that the church organist's eldest daughter, married to the Lutheran pastor of the church, died suddenly in a midnight fall down the stairs of the rectory. And Pastor Mundt has now let it be known he wants to marry the organist's younger daughter-—someone Elias has become sweet on. So the investigation begins and meanwhile Bach learns that an old aristocratic enemy of his is staying with the Prince of Hesse, and plans a musical revenge like only Bach can!

Yes, the heads of Bach scholars will explode, (just wait til you see what Bach does to get ready to compose his music!) but these contrapuntal mysteries will entertain music and mystery lovers alike.

Book Two, The Coffee Garden, is scheduled for release next month!

Thanks,

James Y. Bartlett

Amazon Link: The Organ Job

FREE BOOK BY 'ETTE

Moronette Author Diana Pool is offering FREE copies of her book with the stated goal of increasing market penetration, which will hopefully lead to more sales.

I have a book available on-line with print copies and electronic copies that may be purchased. I have had some encouraging sales to date. While I would like to recover costs associated with the book production (graphics for the cover, costs for formatting to get the document through the Draft2digital platform, and purchasing some books to give away; but never the hours of my life put into the project associated with writing, editing x97, and other stuff) it is obvious that I need market penetration to enable me to become a recluse on a large but haunted mansion in a windswept, godforsaken corner of the planet. To address this issue I am offering my book - Selinon, by Diana Pool at no charge until the end of December. If more than 3 people download the book, I may extend this option until the next double blood ghost moon appears in the night sky. Is there a way to make the book thread readers aware of this one neat and free trick to lose weight, make yourself infinitely appealing to your secret crushes as well as wolverines, and be placed on the FBI watch list at absolutely no cost?

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Earlier this week I finished Agatha Christie's Murder in Retrospect, aka Five Little Pigs. A Poirot story, it features solid plotting and surprises, good analysis by Hercule, and much better characterization of the people involved than I expected. I'm beginning to think that Christie deserves the reputation she has as a mystery writer, and that she deserves better regarding her portraits of people.

I've picked up Curtain Up, an examination of Christie's work in the theatre, and a couple more of her own works.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at November 24, 2024 09:12 AM (omVj0)

Comment: Agatha Christie is definitely on my bucket list of authors I need to read. I picked up a collection of her Hercule Poirot short stories some time ago at a library book sale, but it's just been sitting on my shelf. However, I am thinking of reading many more short stories as part of my reading goal for 2025, so I shall have to move this book up the list...

Is it possible to hate-read a book? Yes, yes it is. I started to dislike this book within the first five pages, then turned to strong dislike, followed by disgust and then even self-loathing. By the end I kept reading as punishment for buying the damn thing.

So, I just finished up 'the book of elsewhere' by Keanu Reeves and China Mieville. I confess to buying it because I love Keanu, even though I have read Mieville in the past and loathed his work.

I am extremely sorry to say that Keanu did not improve the book. Imagine ChatGPT swallowed the thesaurus and then got the prompt to 'make a hyper-pretentious novel about death and immortality and a tusked pig that will not die, with a wide cast of characters that are pretty indistinguishable, with stream-of-consciousness intellectualoid writing. And make it lame'.

That would have been a step up from this drek. Aaagh.

Posted by: Candidus at November 24, 2024 09:21 AM (zGvse)

Comment: Consider this an ANTI-recommendation. These can often be useful as well, since it's nice to know what books to AVOID at all costs. In fact, I often read 1- and 2-star reviews of books just for that reason as I want to know if there are legitimate gripes against a book that is otherwise highly regarded.

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

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

After reviewing some of OregonMuse's old Book Threads, I thought I'd try something a bit different. Instead of just listing WHAT I'm reading, I'll include commentary as well. Unless otherwise specified, you can interpret this as an implied recommendation, though as always your mileage may vary.

With the exception of the first book below, all of the remaining books were scavenged from the library book sale I went to right before Thanksgiving Week. It's tough trying to plough through my TBR pile sometimes...

The Last King of Osten Ard Book 4 - The Navigator's Children by Tad Williams

I finally finished Tad Williams' most recent epic fantasy series and I suppose it was well worth the wait. He gives his characters a fond farewell at the end of this story, while also leaving open a couple of threads in case he ever wants to revisit the world of Osten Ard in the future. The main climax of the action happens around page 437 of this 700-page book. The remaining 263 pages are simply the characters coming to grips with the aftermath. There is also a "scouring of the Shire" sequence afterwards as Williams resolves one of the remaining plot threads. Overall, it's a good series and well worth reading if you enjoy Tad Williams' style of epic fantasy. (I did like Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn a bit better, though.)

The Select by F. Paul Wilson

This medical thriller is quite interesting from a political standpoint. Published in 1994, Wilson clearly criticizes the state of the medical industry back in those days, but reserves his harshest criticisms for those who favored "Hillarycare," which evolved into "Obamacare" in 2010. He's not a fan of tiered medical care that plays favorites among demographic groups (e.g., race, class, or those that are deemed "useful" to society). There are definitely shades of the WEF hinted at throughout the story, though I don't know if the WEF was even a thing back in 1994. I'm sure the foundations were there, though.

Demon Seed by Dean Koontz

One thing I like about Koontz's novels is that he explores different storytelling techniques. In Demon Seed, he plays around with the idea of an unreliable narrator which just happens to be an artificial intelligence that escaped its confines and now seeks to recreate itself in "human" form (for a loose definition of "human") by implanting its consciousness in a bio-engineered organism. It's also fixated on a woman in whom it believes it has fallen in love. Though it's actually quite psychotic and possessive, much like the man who created it. We can also see some shades of the later Frankenstein series of novels written by Koontz, which have similar themes.

Star Wars - Han Solo at Stars' End by Brian Daley

This is one of the earliest entries in the series of Star Wars tie-in novels that would eventually become known as the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Han Solo is recruited to find an old friend who has gone missing. In the early days, Solo was a mercenary and smuggler and he still has a bit of an edge to him in this story. He's not completely heartless, but he readily admits he prefers to shoot first whenever he can. It's a standard adventure story set in space, hearkening back to the pulp science fiction stories of yesteryear.

Midnight by Dean Koontz

In the small town of Moonlight Cove, California, people are changing. They are being "converted" from Old Human to New Human. Naturally, the story begins when the antagonist's dream for creating his own race of superhumans starts to fall apart. Dean Koontz seems to find transhumanism fascinating because he has written several stories that involve a mad scientist (or mad AI--see Demon Seed above) determined to elevate humanity to its next level of evolution. Often through horrific experimentation with questionable results.

Blasphemy by Douglas Preston

An atom smasher designed to probe the conditions that existed at very beginning of the cosmos, the Large Hadron Collider is the largest, most powerful machine ever built by man in the the real world. In the fictional world of Blasphemy, "Isabella" is an atom smasher nearly twice as powerful as the LHC. It tears a hole in the universe and makes contact with an entity on the other side...It must answer the ultimate question: "What does God need with a starship?"

Odd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz

Odd Thomas and his even odder companion Annamaria find themselves guests at a fancy estate. For what reason, they don't know, other than Annamaria's certainty that she needs to be there and Odd needs to help the spirits that haunt the place.

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Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.

Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. Many Morons and Moronettes contributed, though, for which Huggy Squirrel is eternally grateful.

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