I admit it–I don’t read as much as I used to, and when I do read, it’s often not “great literature.” As I chronicled recently, I’m working my way through the old Doc Savage paperbacks from the thirties and forties. I also read a lot of comic books these days.
When I do read a novel, it’s often…not that great. Once upon a time I used to read great works of literature for fun, but that was mostly in late high school and through college. Fantasy and science fiction have always been my literary bread and butter. And I’m also a lifelong fan of…(deep breath)…tie-in fiction. (more…)
—09/26/08
I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out my cousin and good friend Ed’s touching tribute to my recent nuptials. I can’t thank him enough for handling the MC duties for our “love story.”
The so-called Shindig–the East Coast reception for those who couldn’t make the West Coast wedding–went off last weekend without a hitch, since my wife and I had already gotten hitched in early August.
The wedding itself deserves its own post, as does, well, pretty much every non-toy-related thing I’ve been doing since I last posted here regularly, but PGPoA is still taking up most of my blogging time and energy. We’ll see if I can up the post count here in the near future.
Speaking of PGPoA, some of you may recall the craziness that was October ’06 here at BBn. Well, something similar will be happening over on PGPoA next month…
—09/18/08
(What’s this?! A new Biggerboat post? No, your eyes do not deceive you!)
Talk about being late to the party. For the first time, at the hoary old age of 29, I finally read a Doc Savage story.
Doc Savage, along with the Shadow and the Phantom and an assortment of other pulp heroes, are the ancestors (fathers, really) of the modern superhero.? And yet, while many people might recognize the name “Doc Savage,” few people–including, until recently, me–knew anything about the character.
I’d been meaning to track down some Doc Savage novels for a while, but I wasn’t in a hurry. While I’m a fan of pulp literature, I’ve been burned by too many experiences with poor writing.
While H.P. Lovecraft (creator of the Cthulhu Mythos) and Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan the barbarian) were good writers as well as good storytellers, other pulp authors have disappointed me. I was never able to get into Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars series, and I just couldn’t get through Armageddon 2419 A.D., the first Buck Rogers novel.
The problem may be the science fiction setting as much as the writing; all the pseudo-science and antiquated ideas are too much at odds with what we’ve learned about the universe since. It becomes distracting, particularly when a character goes on and on about some scientific concept that’s been completely discredited since. (more…)
—09/16/08
