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Author: Bob Byrne

Bob’s Books – Shelfie #6: (Cook, LeGuin, Gygax, Hardy, Hendee, Flint, Smith, McKillip)

Bob’s Books – Shelfie #6: (Cook, LeGuin, Gygax, Hardy, Hendee, Flint, Smith, McKillip)

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It’s installment number six in Bob’s Books’ Shelfie series. Combining a couple fantasy shelfies from my Reddit series, and I kick it off with the terrific GLEN COOK.

When I see a fantasy shelfie here in this bookshelf subreddit, there always seems to be the same few authors popping up – Martin, Sanderson, and Rowling. I’m a little surprised I haven’t seen much Tolkien beyond The Hobbit and the Trilogy – not many Silmarillions appear. I’ve got a SERIOUS Tolkien shelfie coming.

When there’s something a little darker, it’s usually Joe Abercrombie, or Stephen Erikson’s Malazan series. The latter is fantastic, and the books that co-creator Ian Esslemont has added, are pretty good too.

I don’t think I’ve seen any Glen Cook yet.

I’ve not read his Dread Empire series, which seems to be rather heavy. And I’ve read a little of his science fiction, though not much.

He has written a couple of other fantasy series’ I haven’t checked out. But Cook has written two SUPERB series’ that I put up with any modern fantasy in the past several decades. Including the ‘big-name’ stuff that gets most of the attention.

His Chronicles of the Black Company tracks a mercenary company across a deep fantasy world. Abercrombie, Lawrence, and the other leading dark fantasy writers are following in Glen Cook’s footsteps (and of course, Michael Moorcock’s).

It’s a tremendous series that I hear is popular with current and former members of the military, for its depiction of the military lifestyle.

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What I’m Watching: April 2023

What I’m Watching: April 2023

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I haven’t done a What I’m Watching this year, so here’s a new installment.

DANGER! THERE BE SPOILERS

I’m talking about shows I’ve watched. I won’t give away anything huge, but in the context of the discussion, there will probably be spoilers. You have been warned.

STAR TREK PICARD: SEASON THREE

Prior to Strange New Worlds and the terrific job that Anson Mount continues doing as Captain Pike, ST: The Next Generation, was my favorite Trek series.

I wrote about ST: Picard a couple times here at Black Gate. I struggled through the plodding season one. With John de Lancie (Q) in the picture, season two was much better – excluding Picard’s child-hood angst.

Season three brought a wrap-up to TNG. More Picard-centric emotional angst slowed things down, but it was tremendous closure for TNG. Just about any face you wanted to see popped up.. It was wonderful to see Trekkers from the past (and not just TNG). And on the new side of things, Todd Stashwick as Captain Liam Shaw is in my Top Five for all time Trek-verse characters. He was terrific.

Phasers on Stun – I cannot believe I watched this entire season without realizing that Jack Crusher was the same actor who played James Kent in Downton Abbey. Completely didn’t register until I looked him up for this essay. Man, did I miss that one!

Quite simply, season three of Picard was fantastic, and the series finale was outstanding. They closed out the franchise in wonderful fashion. There was also a Marvel-esque credits scene which certainly could be the basis for a spin-off show.

Nothing has been announced in any fashion for one, but it would be nice.

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Bob’s Books – Shelfie #5: (REH, Moorcock, Kurtz)

Bob’s Books – Shelfie #5: (REH, Moorcock, Kurtz)

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It’s installment number five in Bob’s Shelfie series. This time, I’ll do a shelfie for my favorite fantasy author (Tolkien is second) – Robert E. Howard.

He is of course best known for his Conan the Cimmerian (the movies made it ‘the Barbarian’). They are terrific sword and sorcery stories. If you only know the movies, you should read some of the stories.

On the bottom left are the Del Rey volumes, covering most of his writing. Howard struggled to make a living as a pulpster in Cross Plains, TX, during the Depression. He wrote fantasy, weird menace, westerns, boxing,spicy, horror, historical – the guy was an extremely talented writer. And those Del Reys are superb collections – with some great intros from very knowledgeable folks.

He was an extremely prolific letter writer, and I’ve got several books of his –mostly with fellow Weird Tales contributor, HP Lovecraft.

I never got into graphic novels, but I really like the Marvel Omnibus’ of the color comic that started in the seventies. The three mini-memoirs from Roy Thomas, covering the first hundred-ish issues, are fantastic and great buys.

Up top are various pastiches by other authors. I used to have all the Tors, but don’t any more. Many are pretty poor. For me, L. Sprague de Camp did pretty well (though he was an ass toward REH) and John Maddox Roberts was the best of the Tors, along with Chris Hocking’s lone book (he wrote a second, which has had a long, torturous path to still not being out there – but is due out soon). I like Robert Jordan’s six books, though they all kind of feel the same by the end.

And those two plaques are awards I’ve received from the Robert E. Howard Foundation for my work in the REH world.

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Conan has Come Hither: The Book is in Print! (May 1)

Conan has Come Hither: The Book is in Print! (May 1)

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It’s here! You probably know that back in 2019, many of the leading Robert E. Howard experts and fans contributed to a terrific series here at Black Gate on REH’s Conan stories. Prior to that, Black Gate’s own Howard Andrew Jones, along with Bill Ward, had over on his own blog, done a deep dive into each story as well.

Jason Waltz and his Rogue Blades Foundation combined those two series’ and added much more content. Now, Hither Came Conan is a print book that is THE definitive guide to REH’s sword-swinging Cimmerian (Hollywood added ‘the Barbarian’ tag – that’s not REH).

Howard wrote 20 Conan short stories, and one novel. Plus, there’s one unfinished tale (“Wolves Beyond the Border”). Each of the twenty-two stories has an essay from the Black Gate series, as well as Howard and Bill’s blog entry. Plus, there are thirteen new essays related to various stories. Finally there, are eleven additional essays not tied to a specific story.

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Bob’s Books – Shelfie #4: Shared Universes – Thieves World, and Heroes in Hell

Bob’s Books – Shelfie #4: Shared Universes – Thieves World, and Heroes in Hell

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I’ve done three shelfies posts. If you missed those (shame on you!), I’ve been posting shelfies, with comments on some of the books, over in a bookshelf subreddit. With over 2,000 physical books, I’ve got a lot of shelves.

And to me, if you’re talking about a shared universe, you gotta start out with Thieves World. I own a (non-RPG/comics) almost complete library; including one few folks know about, let alone have.

THIEVES WORLD

The first Thieves World book came out in 1979, and I have a first edition Ace paperback. I started reading the series almost from the start, and re-read that first book as recently as 2020. It’s probably in my Top Five Fantasy series’.

Thieves World was a shared universe, where multiple authors wrote short stories around the Empire outpost, armpit town of Sanctuary. Writers could use others’ characters in their own stories, and the authors came and went in the series, but their creations were fair game for anyone.

Many of the biggest names in fantasy joined in, and there were also spin-off novels. There were twelve collections, from 1979 – 1989 in the original series. I’ve got all of them on that bottom shelf. I really liked the art-style on the first six books. A friend of mine has at least two of the original paintings by Walter Valez – I suspect more than just those two, which I got to stand right in front of. LOVE them!

Tempus, Hanse Shadowspawn (my favorite rogue in all of fantasy), Molin Torcholder, Jubal, Crit, Niko – SOOO many cool characters. It got a major shake-up later, when a sea-faring race arrived (foreshadowing of the Seanchan?), but it still works. I think that the current crop of Dark Fantasy writers were influenced by Thieves World, which was well before of them.

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Senator, You’re No Jack Kennedy. Continautors – Yes or No?

Senator, You’re No Jack Kennedy. Continautors – Yes or No?

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Official continuators of a literary series can engender mixed emotions. Some folks are happy to see more stories of a character they like – even if the creator has died. Others feel that only the original author should write that character and they should lie in the grave together.

Characters eventually enter the public domain. Though exactly when varies in different countries; and it’s not always clear, regardless. But the rights holders (often the family of the author, or their Estate) contract with someone to continue the series. I have read several official continuations (though I still haven’t gotten around to Ben Black’s Philip Marlowe. And as I recall, Poodle Springs didn’t do anything at all for me). I’m gonna talk about a few, with comments on the concept, mixed in.

Tony Hillerman/Anne Hillerman

Anne Hillerman had previously written some non-fiction when she took over her late father’s Navajo Tribal Police series. The ONLY reason she is writing these books is because she owns the rights. Quite simply, her continuation novels are terrible. And are a bastardization of her father’s books. I wish someone could prevent her from any more of them.

Anne completely transformed her father’s series. She was not interested in writing more books in his style. Expanding from ‘Leaphorn and Chee.’ they are now officially ‘Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito Novels.’ She has completely shifted the emphasis to Bernie Manuelito. Chee is an emasculated husband who would be better off completely out of the books. They’re now like Lifetime movies about Bernie and her issues with her mom and sister, and unhappiness with Chee’s attitude at least once a book. It’s exhausting read them.

Louisa Bourbonette is now so annoying, I wish that Leaphorn (who was actually lobotomized by a gunshot wound in the first two books) would dump her.

Stargazer (the sixth book) is the worst continuation novel I’ve ever read. Well, I actually, partly read. The first five books were bad, and that one was so terrible, I abandoned it part-way through.

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5 More Things I Think I Think: March, 2023

5 More Things I Think I Think: March, 2023

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I enjoyed last week’s 10 Things I Think I Think. And it got some comments, which is kinda the goal of blogging. So, following up with 5 More Things I Think I Think.

1) THREE PINES is a Prime Original, based on a books by Canadian author Louise Penny. The series is at 18 novels and still going! Alfred Molina is Inspector Armand Gamache, head of the Quebec Surete homicide department. It’s a French-Canadian murder mystery with a little bit of supernatural. Kinda like a splash of Weird Tales mixed in. The Three Pines area has the crime rate of a rural Agatha Christie village. Here’s the trailer.

Molina’s career has produced over 200 credits spanning thirty-five years. He’s been in a lot of stuff. He’s probably most recently recognizable as Doc Ock in Toby Maguire’s Spider Man movies. He was Hercule Poirot in a 2001 (modern-day) version of Murder on the Orient Express for TV. It’s still poorly considered by Poirot fans. I will add that in 2021, he was Poirot in LA Theater Works’ radio play of The Murder on the Links, and he was very good. I bought it with an Audible credit and listen to it regularly. Recommended.

He is terrific in Three Pines. I think he makes the show. The supporting cast (including Donald Sutherland’s son, Rossif) is solid but the for me, Molina is the centerpiece. He’s very human. I get a strong Maigret vibe, and I would like to see him play Georges Simenon’s French inspector.

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10 Things I Think I Think: March, 2023

10 Things I Think I Think: March, 2023

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1) THE MANDALORIAN remains the best Star Wars property going. My son loves The Bad Batch, and it seems cool. But as I wrote here, the mix of innovation and fidelity; and simply all-around awesomeness, I’ll take this over just about any Star Wars of the past few decades.

I liked Boba Fett – and it didn’t hurt that it was like a subs-series for The Mandalorian. I quit Battlestar Galactica, as it put me to sleep. But I’m a big Katee Sackhoff fan from her work on Longmire. And she is SPECTACULAR as Bo Katan. Absolutely superb. I look forward to this show every week. I think The Mandalorian is outstanding.

2) I did not look forward to ANDOR. Elementary was a police procedural with a Sherlock Holmes overlay. I liked it. Solo was a caper/heist flick (for the first half) with a Star Wars overlay. I liked it. I’m a WW II-resistance movie fan. Andor was a war resistance series, with a Star Wars overlay. And for the most part, it was DULL!

It got better when Andy Serkis became a major character, but this should have been right up my alley. But it was soooo slow, I watched most episode in two or three sittings. Lots of FB friends lavished ‘FINALLY: Star Wars for grown-ups” praise on it. To me, it was the same tone as The Literature people being snobby about Robert E. Howard and Sherlock Holmes: “Oh, you’re reading THAT ‘stuff?’ Go get some George Bernard Shaw, or Flaubert.” Whatever. I think Andor was pretty boring.

3) LETHAL WEAPON (TV SERIES) replaced the Martin Riggs character after season two. And it was canceled after less than a full season three. Apparently Clayne Crawford and the show/studio people did not get along. Whatever. They both probably had some legitimate beefs. But the way they wrapped up his character’s story line at the very end of his final episode, PISSED ME OFF! I haven’t been this mad at a show since the rape scene in Downtown Abbey. It was totally unnecessary, the way they finished up with the Riggs character. They were jack asses.

I continued on with season three. And the show works okay with Sean William Scott (though it’s not as good). But I’m still mad at what they did with Riggs. I think I’m glad the show died not long after.

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Musings from The Busted Flush: John D. MacDonald at Black Gate (so far…)

Musings from The Busted Flush: John D. MacDonald at Black Gate (so far…)

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I’m going to write a post on G.M. Ford’s Leo Waterman series. Waterman is a Seattle-based PI whose dead father was a Tammany-Hall style politician, and he uses some alcoholic bums as his Baker Street Irregulars. Ford wrote six in the series, took a long break, and returned to Waterman and wrote six more books. As with Robert Goldbsorough’s Nero Wolfe continuation novels, the break damaged the series.

While Goldsborough’s second run is, simply, not good, the second batch of Watermans are still worth reading. But the series took a decidedly darker tone. I’ve read five of the second six, and I haven’t enjoyed them nearly as much. I haven’t been in any rush to close it out.

After finishing book eleven (of twelve) last week, I found out that Ford had passed away in December of 2021. I’d met him once at a Bouchercon, and he was a nice guy; Funny. I’m sorry he’s gone. But that confluence of Ford in my life led me to re-read the first book in the series, Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca? And I liked it as much as I did the first time around. What a terrific book! I moved right on to the next, Cast in Stone.

That novel is an homage to one of his favorite writers, John D. MacDonald. And if you read my stuff here, you know that John MacD is my favorite writer, in any genre. I think he’s one of the finest writers of the 20th Century. Meanwhile, book three is a tribute to Nero Wolfe (which is my all-time favorite PI series. So, that’s up next.

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Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone: I Know That Actor!

Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone: I Know That Actor!

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If you’re a FB friend of mine (and why wouldn’t you be?), you are aware that I like to play ‘I Know that Actor’ there. I even wrote this post about it for Black Gate. It started with my love of Columbo. I would snap a screenshot of a guest star, and talk about that character, and other roles I liked them in.

Other folks would often leave a comment about that actor. I’ve ‘played the game’ with many other shows I watch/re-watch, such as Monk, Psych, White Collar, Burn Notice, The Rookie; lots of shows have familiar faces pop in.

If you know me at all, you know that Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe is my favorite mystery series. And I LOVE A&E’s too-short TV series. Which I wrote about here. That show had a repertory cast. It was a Canadian production, and I often see folks on other shows (especially Murdoch Mysteries, and Hallmark Christmas flicks). So, I often do a variation of the actor game, over on the Wolfe Pack FB page. I gathered up the posts I could reasonably find and made today’s post!

As the pic to the left shows, Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton were the co-stars. I have posted Chaykin in Powers Boothe’s terrific Philip Marlowe series. I think that he’s best-known as the ‘No Southern gentleman’ testimony on instant grits in My Cousin Vinnie.

Hutton most notably (for me) starred in the terrific USA Network show, Leverage. Due to a rape allegation made 25 years after the alleged incident (the complaint was dismissed) he was left out of the reboot, Leverage: Redemption.  Season one of the reboot was good. Season two was a disappointment, as they turned Parker into comic relief. She was as big a doofus as Nigel Bruce’s Dr. Watson. Ruined the reboot for me.

But below are spottings of quite a few other faces from the show.

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