Who are you envious of?

[ChloeTzang]

Georgette Heyer, not for her weak plots or small stock of characters, but for her impeccable period

A Conan Doyle for his stories not about Sherlock Holmes - the Professor Challenger stories, The White Company

For weird fantasy - H Rider Haggard

John Buchanr

Ohhh I love Georgette Heyer. And I have Sir Nigel and The White Company. Love historical novels. Louis L'amour and The Walking Drum. And has anyone else read Anthony Adverse. And Rosemary Sutcliffe and "Sword at Sunset". The best book about Arthur ever. Wallace Breem and Eagle in the Snow.

And John Buchan. The language is a bit dated now but I liked Greenmantle. And what about Kipling. Kim is so good.

And Saki. I love Saki.

Has anyone read anything by Eileen Chang. I'm reading Love in a Fallen City right now and she captures life in pre-WW2 Shanghai and Hong Kong so evocatively.

 

[NicoleZ]

Has anyone read Philip Roth as well as Ayn Rand and enjoyed both for their sharp wit? Another one to admire is historian Paul Johnson who ignores what people would like to think history was and ruthlessly exposes the incompetents. I wonder if he too is a relative of JBJ?

 

[legerdemer]

....And what about Kipling. Kim is so good.

...

If you enjoyed Kim, you should look for the book by Peter Hopkirk, Quest for Kim. Hopkirk earlier wrote a book called The Great Game, which I liked in its own right, about the history of the British and Russian competition for the Indian subcontinent and regions much in the news today. Later, he wrote Quest for Kim to try to uncover who Kipling was actually writing about - the book turns out to be, perhaps not surprisingly, a roman à clef. You would probably enjoy it a lot. The Great Game is terrific, but longer and more serious.

 

[ChloeTzang]

If you enjoyed Kim, you should look for the book by Peter Hopkirk, Quest for Kim. Hopkirk earlier wrote a book called The Great Game, which I liked in its own right, about the history of the British and Russian competition for the Indian subcontinent and regions much in the news today. Later, he wrote Quest for Kim to try to uncover who Kipling was actually writing about - the book turns out to be, perhaps not surprisingly, a roman à clef. You would probably enjoy it a lot. The Great Game is terrific, but longer and more serious.

I'm going book shopping. Thx

 

[ChloeTzang]

Has anyone read Philip Roth as well as Ayn Rand and enjoyed both for their sharp wit? Another one to admire is historian Paul Johnson who ignores what people would like to think history was and ruthlessly exposes the incompetents. I wonder if he too is a relative of JBJ?

My SO has Johnson's The Birth of the Modern World. I've tried to read it......and failed miserably. I did better on Paul Preston and the Spanish Civil War.

I did read Ernst Junger and Storm of Steel. Just sent shivers down my spine and then set me off on a WW1 reading frenzy. I have to say, Biggles was far easier on my intellect and imagination. (Limited as the one is and vivid as the other.....)

 

[NicoleZ]

I agree that Paul Johnson is very demanding as he takes it for granted that you as a reader are already familiar with all those things he only mentions in passing or hint at. Just place a book on Advanced Mathematics in front of me and I'll match you for blank looks and feeling very much aware of my limitations.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Another author I love (that a lot of people might hate) is Agatha Christie. Maybe some of her characters are very 1940s UK (or whatsit) but I love that era anyway. Their emotions are still relatable. And the way she commits the crime is usually simple- a poisoning of this, editing a letter here.. the way the murderer killed in Lord Edgeware Dies is fantastic.

I've tried reading Agatha Christie but just couldn't get into the books. I'm giving P G Wodehouse a try at the moment. And I picked up a book from the used book store by some British WW2 General (Wavell?) called "Other Men's Flowers." Its a book of poems that he memorized during WW2. Quite the collection and very readable. Bought it for my SO who reads anything vaguely military but then started on it myself.

I always have this huge pile of books on my side of the bed that I'm reading.....

 

[Wifetheif]

Without a doubt, Walter B. Gibson who wrote two "Shadow" novels a month for more than a decade. He wrote six months ahead and typed so hard and so long that he ended up with blisters on every finger. Once the swelling went down, he plunged right back into writing. He was also the ghost writer for Houdini and Blackstone and was an accomplished magician in his own right. He was listed in "Writer's Digest" for a long time as the most prolific author ever.The thing is the hundreds of Shadow novels he wrote were only the tip of the iceberg! He did novels, comic strips, nonfiction, magic guides, and TONS of news stories. The Shadow is also, arguably, the forerunner of EVERY superhero. Margo Lane was the Shadow's companion before Clark Kent ever set eyes on Lois Lane and the early "Batman" comic books utilized plots lifted directly from "Shadow" novels.

Gibson could have sued Bill Kane into oblivion but he viewed Batman as a tribute and homage to the Shadow. He actually penned a few early Batman comic books. That sure a heck would not happen today!

 

[ChloeTzang]

Without a doubt, Walter B. Gibson who wrote two "Shadow" novels a month for more than a decade. He wrote six months ahead and typed so hard and so long that he ended up with blisters on every finger. Once the swelling went down, he plunged right back into writing. He was also the ghost writer for Houdini and Blackstone and was an accomplished magician in his own right. He was listed in "Writer's Digest" for a long time as the most prolific author ever.The thing is the hundreds of Shadow novels he wrote were only the tip of the iceberg! He did novels, comic strips, nonfiction, magic guides, and TONS of news stories. The Shadow is also, arguably, the forerunner of EVERY superhero. Margo Lane was the Shadow's companion before Clark Kent ever set eyes on Lois Lane and the early "Batman" comic books utilized plots lifted directly from "Shadow" novels.

Gibson could have sued Bill Kane into oblivion but he viewed Batman as a tribute and homage to the Shadow. He actually penned a few early Batman comic books. That sure a heck would not happen today!

When was that? I'm going to go look and see if I can find any. Was that the old pre-WW2 pulp fiction days? About the only writers I know from then are SF like Robert E Howard and EE Smith.

 

[Wifetheif]

When was that? I'm going to go look and see if I can find any. Was that the old pre-WW2 pulp fiction days? About the only writers I know from then are SF like Robert E Howard and EE Smith.

Gibson's heyday was the 1930's to 40's. Many of the Shadow novels have been reprinted but the ones from the middle of the run are the best. I'm a big fan of the pulp writers of the depression. Lester Dent created "Doc Savage" Robert E Howard created "Conan" Dashiell Hammet created the "Continental Op" Cornell Woolrich writing what became "Rear Window" and a host of guys that nobody reads today. So much of the fiction and fantasy we read today is still colored by the prose these men beat out of their Remingtons seventy years ago. Imagine turning out a novel EVERY two weeks and have it read by millions of people over and over again. NOBODY today does what those guys did for decades. Not even Stephen King is that prolific. The comic superheroes we have today are ALL based on pulp antecedents. Every detective show owes its existence to Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe. Every legal show owes its existence to Stanley Erle Gardner's Perry Mason. Every doctor show owes its origins to Dr Kildare created by Max Brand who churned our MILLIONS of words EVERY year! Edgar Rice Burroughs gave us Tarzan and alien world adventures. Doc Smith gave us the space opera. The literary world we live in today, EVERY bit of it was birthed in the depression of the 1930's Absolutely NOTHING new has arrived in the meantime.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Gibson's heyday was the 1930's to 40's. Many of the Shadow novels have been reprinted but the ones from the middle of the run are the best. I'm a big fan of the pulp writers of the depression. Lester Dent created "Doc Savage" Robert E Howard created "Conan" Dashiell Hammet created the "Continental Op" Cornell Woolrich writing what became "Rear Window" and a host of guys that nobody reads today. So much of the fiction and fantasy we read today is still colored by the prose these men beat out of their Remingtons seventy years ago. Imagine turning out a novel EVERY two weeks and have it read by millions of people over and over again. NOBODY today does what those guys did for decades. Not even Stephen King is that prolific. The comic superheroes we have today are ALL based on pulp antecedents. Every detective show owes its existence to Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe. Every legal show owes its existence to Stanley Erle Gardner's Perry Mason. Every doctor show owes its origins to Dr Kildare created by Max Brand who churned our MILLIONS of words EVERY year! Edgar Rice Burroughs gave us Tarzan and alien world adventures. Doc Smith gave us the space opera. The literary world we live in today, EVERY bit of it was birthed in the depression of the 1930's Absolutely NOTHING new has arrived in the meantime.

Thankyou - now that just goes to show, there's always something to learn. I had no idea and now I have some reading. Dived in and read up on The Shadow last night. That guy was so prolific - now THAT is writing. I knew some of those old pulp writers were prolific but really, the only ones I'd heard of were the SF writers - I love those old pulp SF magazines - I have a pile I picked up in a used book store - going to have to go back and dust them off and read thru them now. I'll have to dive into Doc Savage too - somewhere I have a "bio" of him by Phillip Jose Farmer, As for Doc Smith, I think some of the early Star Wars visuals (Darth Vader) were based of of a Japanese anime movie based on his Lensman books, I saw the Japanese movie once (old boyfriend was an SF nut and was into these obscure things.....I blame him for my SF addiction....he got me hooked back at High School)

 

[EmpressJosephine]

I'm envious of one of these women...

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/93/73/c8/9373c8715354c99c77ecf7367a6a0690.jpg

 

[AwkwardMD]

For what it's worth, my story Terrible Company has had favorable comparisons to Pratchett in the comments section.

Personally, I was trying to emulate Dan Harmon, but I'll take it.