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Maraudar
Stablehand

Date Joined Jun 2006
Total Posts : 14

Posted 6/20/2006 7:12 PM (GMT -4)

Revisiting the master at the moment in the Silmilarion, hopefully I spelled that right. Also reading The Disciples of Cthulhu, and Conagher by Louis L'Mour.

Maraudar

Gabe Dybing
Neophyte

Date Joined May 2006
Total Posts : 147

Posted 6/21/2006 11:46 AM (GMT -4)

Yes, it always is a pleasure to revisit the Great One.

Which author do you think I'm referring to?

The bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

http://www.sfreader.com/authors/GabeDybing/

http://gabedybing.blogspot.com/

Maraudar
Stablehand

Date Joined Jun 2006
Total Posts : 14

Posted 6/21/2006 1:26 PM (GMT -4)

Welllll now if I was forced to answer it would have to be Lamour.. Greatest western writer ever. Oh yeah wrong forum...

All hail mighty Cthulhu

.. A true Great One.

Maraudar

erazmus
Master

Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4496

Posted 6/21/2006 2:18 PM (GMT -4)

I'd have definatly thought Louis L'Amour. One of the great ones, finest in his field. Wrote a lot of good adventure stories that weren't westerns as well.
Mike

Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
www.baen.com
"Two Ravens" in Amazing Journeys Magazine #9 Sept. 05
"An Incident at Black Tongue Tavern" in _Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy_ from Fantasist Enterprises

Gabe Dybing
Neophyte

Date Joined May 2006
Total Posts : 147

Posted 6/21/2006 2:41 PM (GMT -4)

OK fine. They're all great (keep trying to get into L'Amour, however). But I meant Tolkien, the Mighty One (my reverence does kind of seem Lovecraftian, though, doesn't it).

The bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

http://www.sfreader.com/authors/GabeDybing/

http://gabedybing.blogspot.com/

Maraudar
Stablehand

Date Joined Jun 2006
Total Posts : 14

Posted 6/21/2006 3:39 PM (GMT -4)

I finished the first part of the Silmilarion last night and was again touched by how bitter and sad tale it truly is. The deaths and betrayels of the Noldor against others and even themsleves. How Thingol is slain by the dwarves and they themselves are slaughtered. Gonodlins fall, Turin's fate... I sympathize with Feanor's last two sons Maedrohs and Maglor. Sick to death of everything that has happened but caught up in their oath to recover the gems. They hate themselves at the end there and thier fates are another bitter aspect of the story.

Erazmus you are so right about LaMour's other writings. Who can forget such characters like Ponga Jim Mayo and Turk Madden. Can you imagine if he ever sat down to write a horror tale though and what it would have been like. Aside from a few supernatural mentions in books like the Californios and The Lonsome Gods he stayed away from the overt supernatural. Haunted Mesa was great.

Cthulhu is Cthulhu all hail the mighty one!!!! :)

Maraudar

von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)

Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2984

Posted 6/21/2006 7:56 PM (GMT -4)

I'm awestruck. A forum all about the two authors I grew up on: Tolkien and L'Amour. Never read all of JRRT's work but I've read just about everything Louie put out. Oh, those were the days . . .

"You will obey the rules, won't you?" [Marius] asked suddenly.

"Of course!" Again [Lestat] shrugged. "What are they, by the way? I've forgotten."

- Anne Rice in The Queen of the Damned

erazmus
Master

Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4496

Posted 6/22/2006 12:56 PM (GMT -4)

I wish Louis had written a bit more in the "Weird" catagory, he was so good at it when he tried! The Californios was my favorite of his for many years.
Professor T, on the other hand, is a frustrating guy to read, past the hobbit and LotR. He was a real hobbist with no intention of writing to a finished product with most of his stuff. I liked his shorts as printed in the old 'Tolkien Reader', but his unfinished stuff is a crying shame! 'The cats of queen Bruthieriel (sp)' had such potential, such near Lovecraftian overtones, I weep every time I think of how that would have played, had the professor been motivated to write it for publication.
Mike

Maraudar
Stablehand

Date Joined Jun 2006
Total Posts : 14

Posted 6/22/2006 1:24 PM (GMT -4)

I had the honor of meeting Louis along with several hundred people :) one day at a book signing in San Francisco while he was still alive. It was for his book Last of The Breed. He was gracious and smiled the whole time he was siging copies and didnt hesitate to stand for a photo with the fans during all this. Erazmus I have to agree the Californios were great. Especially what happened to the Kingpin there at the end.

Tolkein can be frustrating to read I agree. I love the Hobbit and the LotR books and his short tales are always amusing to read and enjoy. You can almost feel in his unfinished tales though the new horizons opening up. He could create stories so easily it seemed but when he didnt finish them you were left shouting NO!! Finish it, I need to know! At least I was.

Maraudar

von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)

Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2984

Posted 6/22/2006 2:01 PM (GMT -4)

Maraudar said...
I had the honor of meeting Louis along with several hundred people :) one day at a book signing in San Francisco while he was still alive.

Erazmus might have gotten his wish granted otherwise!

What are people supposed to read, if not fantasy?

- David Olson

erazmus
Master

Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4496

Posted 6/22/2006 2:30 PM (GMT -4)

I met Louis when I was very small, my Grandpa went to a signing and took me along. I didn't appreciate it at the time. And why not get a book signed after he was dead. The guy was so prolific, his last "new" book came out +years_ after he'd past on. I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd promoted it anyway.
His famous stunt of setting up in the median at Hollywood and Vine with a type writer on his knees, writing good copy while the traffic went by, always inspired me to think of him as a fellow who was not shy at promoting himself.
Mike

VeeJay
Neophyte

Date Joined Jun 2006
Total Posts : 86

Posted 6/23/2006 12:10 AM (GMT -4)

You know how there's the old idea of classic, 'pulpy' space opera set as basically westerns in space? Well, howsabout a L'amour set on a space station? Doable? Haha....

Jeff Stehman
Sage

Date Joined Mar 2005
Total Posts : 1224

Posted 6/23/2006 2:46 AM (GMT -4)

I've never read L'amour westerns. How far off is Outland?

--Jeff Stehman

erazmus
Master

Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4496

Posted 6/23/2006 3:32 AM (GMT -4)

I can't recall outland, but its said L'Amour only really had one plot. Its not true, he used three or four but he did have a Favorite. I would advise you read one or two of his books, they're short and widely available-- the good will usually has a few for less than fifty cents. Then compare.
Mike

Jeff Stehman
Sage

Date Joined Mar 2005
Total Posts : 1224

Posted 6/23/2006 12:10 PM (GMT -4)

I have one of the shelf waiting to be read, but it's Last of the Breed. (It gets good reviews in primitive-skills circles.)

I've watched The Shadow Riders. Does that count?

--Jeff Stehman

von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)

Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2984

Posted 6/23/2006 12:24 PM (GMT -4)

For some reason the L'Amour movies are only okay to bad - even with Tom and Sam acting they are Grade B. The Sackett Family series was awesome to me as a kid - I still live by that family loyalty code

But I think you should definitely read some of his short story collections, like Hills of Homicide, Night Over the Solomons, and West From Singapore. Not Westerns (and he does have Western short story collections, too), but great tales.

What are people supposed to read, if not fantasy?

- David Olson

von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)

Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2984

Posted 6/23/2006 12:29 PM (GMT -4)

Oh, and Jeff, if you're near Milwaukee, I've got all those if you'd like to borrow them.

What are people supposed to read, if not fantasy?

- David Olson

Jeff Stehman
Sage

Date Joined Mar 2005
Total Posts : 1224

Posted 6/23/2006 1:03 PM (GMT -4)

I'm a Minnesotan. We're not allowed to cross the Wisconsin state line.

--Jeff Stehman

von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)

Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2984

Posted 6/23/2006 5:33 PM (GMT -4)

Jeff Stehman said...
I'm a Minnesotan. We're not allowed to cross the Wisconsin state line.

It's for the better that you don't - I can't be found loaning things to a person in purple!

What are people supposed to read, if not fantasy?

- David Olson

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