The Reading Corner.

[Buster's Uncle]

Chicks in Chainmail, edited by Esther Friesner.

All the stories are humorous.  I don't know why I didn't expect that, given the title.  A good read.

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Starting The Serpent Mage by Greg Bear tonight.  I've been wanting to read the sequel to The Infinity Concerto for five months, so looking forward to this...

[Buster's Uncle]

Starting The Serpent Mage by Greg Bear tonight.  I've been wanting to read the sequel to The Infinity Concerto for five months, so looking forward to this...

Considering that I took two months apiece to get through the last two books, which were okay, and that I've already burned all the way through this one in two nights, I invite you to deduce for yourself whether I recommend it...

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The Magic Goes Away by Larry Niven.  I'm going to try to pace myself a little better on this one.

[Buster's Uncle]

I did, but it turns out that it's really a novella - slightly under 200 hundred pages, and as the cover proclaims "Massively illustrated".  That means over a third of the pages are line drawings - some of which are cool Frazetta-esque stuff.  Recommended if you like Niven, which I do.

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Science and Sorcery compiled by Garret Ford.  An anthology of golden age stuff.  I had a wretched and stressful morning, am out of science articles to post, cooked ribs for lunch, and I'm getting the itis - I think I'll go read on this now, until I fall asleep for a nap...

[Geo]

Going to start on "A hymn before battle" by John Ringo - the same writer of its sequel, "Gustfront".
Some comments marked the first novel better then "Gustfront".

[Buster's Uncle]

Science and Sorcery compiled by Garret Ford.  An anthology of golden age stuff.

To give an idea of the quality, there was a Ray Bradberry Mars story in there not good enough to have made The Martian Chronicles.  Lots of mediocre stories -not terrible, but not good- read if a free copy falls into your hands and you're out of good stuff to read.

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The Draco Tavern by Larry Niven.

[Rusty Edge]

I always enjoy Niven's  Warlock stories.
In one sense they are magical fantasies.
In another they are formula science fiction, you start with a single technological premise, and contemplate the implications. In this case, "What if magic were like energy, and it could be used up?"

[Buster's Uncle]

Yeah; exactly.

[Rusty Edge]

I just finished a short memoir- "How I shot down 62 Planes " by Ernst Udet

This is probably the fourth such story I've read about World War I aviators. It was probably the only glorious part of that great meat grinder.

Airplanes were still what we'd consider experimental and subject to failure, even without pushing the performance limits or being hit with shrapnel and machine-gun fire. So were the instruments.

I think the average life expectancy of an allied fighter pilot was 3 weeks. They were dead before they finished their on the job training. Reading this German account, apparently they had more flight time before being sent to the front ( at least until the end of the war).  A lot of it was about living long enough to become a good pilot. After that, it had a lot to do with nerves, according to Ricthoffen, and Udet agreed.

I don't disagree. I read an account by an "average" pilot who shot down a couple of planes before he was shot down and captured.

I read about Billy Bishop, who was in the same league as Ricthoffen in numbers of kills. Bishop spent his first year on the front  as the rear gunner in a two-seater, so he got his experience that way. Then, as a pilot he excelled. He spent a lot of time flying solo missions. According to him, it was mostly about being a great shot, and being confident.

Not unlike the Red Baron. According to Udet, the Baron ate, slept, flew, and did little else. The baron expected his flying circus to shoot for the fuel tanks. Setting a plane on fire usually destroyed it, the pilot, and damaged the enemy's morale as well.

The guy I respect the most is Rickenbacher. Not because he was the greatest ace or even the greatest American ace ( he credited others with those honors).  He seemed to grasp the idea that he survived his own mistakes by luck. He was determined to learn from those mistakes. He was also determined to learn from everybody else. He knew the value of his own growing knowledge and worked to spread it to others. He wasn't out for glory, he was out to train squadrons and leaders and help win a war. While others were out dueling, he was drilling and briefing his pilots. When he flew he was often  shadowing rookie patrols to ensure that they returned safely.
 
( edited for clarity )

[Valka]

Science and Sorcery compiled by Garret Ford.  An anthology of golden age stuff.

To give an idea of the quality, there was a Ray Bradberry Mars story in there not good enough to have made The Martian Chronicles.  Lots of mediocre stories -not terrible, but not good- read if a free copy falls into your hands and you're out of good stuff to read.

Sadly, a lot of Bradbury's stuff would have to be read as a fairy tale or fantasy, rather than science fiction these days. They're really dated. About the only one of the Martian Chronicles stories that is still scientifically relevant is "There Will Come Soft Rains" - that one scared me when I first read it in Grade 7, and I still find it disturbing now.

I saw the miniseries on TV and it was a treat, seeing Roddy McDowell playing a missionary sent to convert the Martians to Christianity.

[Geo]

Reading The Lady Hecate, a BSG fanfic.

[Buster's Uncle]

I saw the miniseries on TV and it was a treat, seeing Roddy McDowell playing a missionary sent to convert the Martians to Christianity.

The miniseries was pretty good, IIRC.

[gwillybj]

Not that I'm likely to read them cover-to-cover, but yesterday at the local library's book sale I bought a 1901 German Bible (for my step-daughter who is learning German) and a 1943 edition of Westcott & Hort's New Testament in Koine Greek (for my studies). Those, along with a copy of Tom Clancy's Armored Cav to read cover-to-cover.
Any collectors out there who like (and maybe) read their old books?

[Valka]

Any collectors out there who like (and maybe) read their old books?

The oldest book I own is a turn-of-the-last-century (1800s to 1900s) prayer book that my great-grandfather gave my great-grandmother. I don't know how old it was when he gave it to her.

I haven't read it because I don't read Swedish very well.

[Buster's Uncle]

The Draco Tavern by Larry Niven.

If you like Niven, you should like this.

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When The Gods Returned by Charles Beamer.  Everything after the first chapter has sucked, so far.

[Buster's Uncle]

When The Gods Returned by Charles Beamer.  Everything after the first chapter has sucked, so far.

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Cities in Space edited by Jerry Pournelle with John F. Carr.