Face the facts. Then act on them. It's the only mantra I know, the only doctrine I have to offer you, and it's harder than you'd think, because I swear humans seem hardwired to do anything but. Face the facts. Don't pray, don't wish, don't buy into centuries-old dogma and dead rhetoric. Don't give in to your conditioning or your visions or your fucked-up sense of...whatever. Face the facts. Then act.
-Quellcrist Falconer, Speech before the assault on Millsport.
(from the book, "Broken Angels" by Richard K. Morgan)
An interesting way of dealing with life. For a sci-fi book, it has alot of philosphical ideas in it from a character you never meet, but is only mentioned in a historical context, and is quoted at the beginning of new chapters.
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Friday, December 03, 2010
Thursday, November 05, 2009
A thoughtful barbarian
While surfing around, I found this passage from one of the best of the Conan stories written by Robert E. Howard.
He shrugged his shoulders. "I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."
Robert E. Howard - Queen of the Black Coast
This is why no fantasy character can compare to Conan.. If some other writer had written this, it would be considered high prose, but since it was only a pulp fiction writer who created bloody characters it was pretty much ignored. Thankfully, R.E. Howard is being rediscovered thanks to the fact that geeks are now ruling the entertainment industry. It is about time! Now get out there and read some Howard!
He shrugged his shoulders. "I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."
Robert E. Howard - Queen of the Black Coast
This is why no fantasy character can compare to Conan.. If some other writer had written this, it would be considered high prose, but since it was only a pulp fiction writer who created bloody characters it was pretty much ignored. Thankfully, R.E. Howard is being rediscovered thanks to the fact that geeks are now ruling the entertainment industry. It is about time! Now get out there and read some Howard!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
I tried, I really tried!!
But I just couldn't do it!
Do what?!
Finish a book! Ack! I have not done that in a LOOOOOONNNG time!
Try as I might, I could not finish the book,"Christ the Lord: Out of Cana" by Anne Rice. This is the second in her new series. Rice, as you know is famed for her Vampire series but recently has turned to her refound faith.
I got the book as a freebie and decided to get the first book before reading this one. Well, the first one was not very good, and very dry to read. I was hoping this would be a better book and unfortunately, it was not. It is not that it is a bad book but it is just plain boring. If she is trying to retell the life of Christ and go into details that are not normally included in the Bible, then she failed. Yeah, she tells stories that come from biblical and unpublished texts on the life of Christ, but I think that having those simply translated would be a better read! I was really having a hard time reading this so I decided to quit. I just could not finish it! I did page ahead and read of Jesus' meeting with the devil in the desert and Rice's writing style that most people are used to came back for that chapter. That was a good chapter. I think that if Rice had attempted to write it in the style she is famed for, it would be a great read, but instead she took the simpler more restrained style and it did not work for me. I was disappointed.
But on a good note, the book I was reading before this one, "The Blade Itself" by Joe Abercrombie, is a rip roaring good yarn that only begins the series and I will definately be buying the sequels. The characters are well developed, the action intense, the plot very sophisticated and writing is fun to read. Best book I have read in a long time. Highly recommended!
Well that is all for now.
Later!
Do what?!
Finish a book! Ack! I have not done that in a LOOOOOONNNG time!
Try as I might, I could not finish the book,"Christ the Lord: Out of Cana" by Anne Rice. This is the second in her new series. Rice, as you know is famed for her Vampire series but recently has turned to her refound faith.
I got the book as a freebie and decided to get the first book before reading this one. Well, the first one was not very good, and very dry to read. I was hoping this would be a better book and unfortunately, it was not. It is not that it is a bad book but it is just plain boring. If she is trying to retell the life of Christ and go into details that are not normally included in the Bible, then she failed. Yeah, she tells stories that come from biblical and unpublished texts on the life of Christ, but I think that having those simply translated would be a better read! I was really having a hard time reading this so I decided to quit. I just could not finish it! I did page ahead and read of Jesus' meeting with the devil in the desert and Rice's writing style that most people are used to came back for that chapter. That was a good chapter. I think that if Rice had attempted to write it in the style she is famed for, it would be a great read, but instead she took the simpler more restrained style and it did not work for me. I was disappointed.
But on a good note, the book I was reading before this one, "The Blade Itself" by Joe Abercrombie, is a rip roaring good yarn that only begins the series and I will definately be buying the sequels. The characters are well developed, the action intense, the plot very sophisticated and writing is fun to read. Best book I have read in a long time. Highly recommended!
Well that is all for now.
Later!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Book recommendations....
I have had the bad luck to have recently read two books that I really really wanted to be good reads, but both were lack luster and somewhat hard to complete. The first is WinterBorn by Brain Ruckley. Set in a somewhat "scottish" winter fantasy setting, the book details the machinations of the "Bloods" (clans) who live in the area and compete for power, land and the such, all the while a sort of elvish type of people are thrown into the mix to add a bit of magic and fantasy to the story. The Kyrinin (elf types) are more akin to Native Americans, but yet are considered non-human. They are the most interesting characters in the book, but only barely so. I really wanted this book to be great, hopeing that just after the next page something really cool was gonna happen, but sad to say, it did not. It is about 630 pages long and believe it or not, I almost put the book down at page 619! There is a sequel, but I don't know if I will be picking it up. The last 10 pages or so did start to come together and started to make sense, but I don't know if it was enough to make me consider getting it when it comes out. One good thing about this book was while looking for reviews about this book, I came across an author who has a book called "First the Blade" and "Before they all hang" which I was able to read the first chapter of. The one chapter of the first book was better than the entirety of "Winterborn" so I will be on the lookout for "First the Blade."
The second book comes from author Anne Rice, of the Vampire books fame. It is "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt." Here I was expected Anne Rice style of writing, but instead I got something much simpler, and sad to say, more bland and boring. I was looking for some insight in the Jesus's younger years, but what I got was alot of talk about walking, sleeping, crying, questions asked and not answered, and who is related to whom. There are some really good spots in the book but each of them sputters out and is continued on with very lack luster story telling. I will be reading the second in this series, only because I recieved it from a giveaway. I hope it is better than the first.
Oh, and I should mention, I also finished "World without End" by Ken Follett, about life in the 14th Century and a continuation of his previous work, "Pillars of the Earth." All I can say about this book, is READ IT!!!! Fantastic read!
Later!
The second book comes from author Anne Rice, of the Vampire books fame. It is "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt." Here I was expected Anne Rice style of writing, but instead I got something much simpler, and sad to say, more bland and boring. I was looking for some insight in the Jesus's younger years, but what I got was alot of talk about walking, sleeping, crying, questions asked and not answered, and who is related to whom. There are some really good spots in the book but each of them sputters out and is continued on with very lack luster story telling. I will be reading the second in this series, only because I recieved it from a giveaway. I hope it is better than the first.
Oh, and I should mention, I also finished "World without End" by Ken Follett, about life in the 14th Century and a continuation of his previous work, "Pillars of the Earth." All I can say about this book, is READ IT!!!! Fantastic read!
Later!
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