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  • The Storm, David Drake

    From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 16 13:25:17 2024
    The Storm, David Drake

    Monday, 12 August 2024

    I returned _The Storm_ to the library Saturday. A lot of the time
    that I spent reading _The Storm_ was time I should have been doing
    something else, so I left _The Serpent_ in my pannier until just now.

    I didn't see anything resembling a storm in the book. I hope that
    someone more familiar with the matter of Britain can enlighten me.

    The cover of _The Serpent_ says "Fight to Reclaim Civilization in a
    Far Future of Wonder and War", and the other references to The Time of
    Heros series are similar, but it's not *our* far future -- the
    Ancients of this world are more like Norton's Forerunners, and the
    magic has at least as much Merlin as Clarke in it.

    There was no war in _The Storm_ -- thanks to Pal.

    Pal's very good cook is named Fritz. The other names in the book are
    made up to suit the culture, but "Fritz" is more here than Here. I
    wonder whether it's a deliberate homage to Rex Stout.

    ----------

    Finally time to read Usenet.

    I've got to the place in _The Serpent_ where Pal finds an artifact
    with a serpent engraved on it. I'm a little dubious about his method
    of acquiring the artifact, but he did pay for the mummy before
    noticing the fists.

    --
    Joy Beeson
    joy beeson at centurylink dot net
    http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Joy Beeson@21:1/5 to All on Thu Aug 29 20:56:03 2024
    Tuesday, 20 August 2024

    I finished _The Serpent_ today, when I should have been preparing
    supper.

    The artifact with the serpent on it turned out to have nothing to do
    with serpents, and I didn't see any anywhere else.

    And it had very little to do with the plot, though it *was* very
    valuable.

    For that matter, there was no overall plot, just a bunch of
    interlocking incidents. Which miraculously end with Pal still alive.

    It's a pity that there will be no more incidents.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Robert Woodward@21:1/5 to Lynn McGuire on Thu Aug 29 21:53:06 2024
    In article <varf6u$biqu$1@dont-email.me>,
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 8/29/2024 7:56 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:


    Tuesday, 20 August 2024

    I finished _The Serpent_ today, when I should have been preparing
    supper.

    The artifact with the serpent on it turned out to have nothing to do
    with serpents, and I didn't see any anywhere else.

    And it had very little to do with the plot, though it *was* very
    valuable.

    For that matter, there was no overall plot, just a bunch of
    interlocking incidents. Which miraculously end with Pal still alive.

    It's a pity that there will be no more incidents.

    Was this David Drake's last book ? If so, then he was probably in the
    grasp of his disease while writing it.


    Yes, it was. BTW, it was significantly shorter than the two earlier
    titles in that series.

    --
    "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
    Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. —-----------------------------------------------------
    Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to robertaw@drizzle.com on Fri Aug 30 09:11:21 2024
    On Thu, 29 Aug 2024 21:53:06 -0700, Robert Woodward
    <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:

    In article <varf6u$biqu$1@dont-email.me>,
    Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 8/29/2024 7:56 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:


    Tuesday, 20 August 2024

    I finished _The Serpent_ today, when I should have been preparing
    supper.

    The artifact with the serpent on it turned out to have nothing to do
    with serpents, and I didn't see any anywhere else.

    And it had very little to do with the plot, though it *was* very
    valuable.

    For that matter, there was no overall plot, just a bunch of
    interlocking incidents. Which miraculously end with Pal still alive.

    It's a pity that there will be no more incidents.

    Was this David Drake's last book ? If so, then he was probably in the
    grasp of his disease while writing it.


    Yes, it was. BTW, it was significantly shorter than the two earlier
    titles in that series.

    Fleming, IIRC, wrote /The Man With The Golden Gun/ under similar
    circumstances. And it is shorter that the novels preceding it.

    But not shorter than his first four or so. This suggests the
    possibility that he wrote all his novels that length, and the longer
    ones were lengthened by adding the adjectives. Which didn't hurt them
    at all, IMHO.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)