^^^ What is my kind?

Lol. If I had a penny for everytime I am asked that question after allusion by me.

Truthfully, you're in a class of your own as you're the only person who repeatedly makes me laugh and I take very seriously at the same time. But more generally, your kind comprises people who reason and do not go ballistic when they're disagreed with. I could go on but I don't know how big a head you already have. I'd hate for me to be the reason it haemorrhages

^^ Ol'boy, I ought not have asked that question. Chei, see level!

Thanks for the kind words but I doubt I'm all that - I have made so many mistakes that I now know thats the definition of man - a mistaken animal who rarely knows what he's about. Sadly, most think they have it down pat. Me, I know better and so wryly smile when I see the Voltrons' who know it all.

Thanks again, friend. This boy's head went to like 25kg but is now receding to normalcy.

See? You've made me laugh again. I've made a ton of mistakes too. I'd like to think, like you, I'm better for it. The kind words cost me nothing, lol. I'm glad you're glad.

@ MyJoe

Wow, you are full of surprises! This was very well written, with a lot of sensitivity and your usual class . I enjoyed the whole story, but I was definitely blown over by the closing sentence:

"Ingrid’s tearful pleas found not a single pair of heedful ears in that medieval crowd. A roadside vulcaniser volunteered a tyre, a danfo bus driver offered some petrol, an idle smoker proffered a match, and an eager passer-by struck it."

I guess reading books by folks like Dostovesky & co. do a lot to colour one's prose. Maybe I'll try them sometime !!

LOL
I just got a foot taller! Thanks for your kinds words. 

[size=5pt]I have problems with the word "class", but because it's you, I won't whine loudly.[/size]

nuclearboy:

Could you be so kind as to find a copy of "The Everlasting" and send to me (nlbomb@gmail.com)? And if you could get "The Fountainhead" or any of the writings of Ayn Rand,  . Greeks and Trojans?

I just saw this a few mins ago and have told someone to send the Ayn Rands. If it's pdf, it's fine. If it's in zip, please use winzip or 7zip to open them. You can download 7zip free at CNET. It'll' take only a few minutes. Author of Everlasting?

Myne White:

You should read Under the Dome, Kings latest book. It is better than The Stand

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is the greatest fantasy novel of all time. It will likely never be beaten. It has a science fiction counterpart in Dune by Frank Herbert. Nothing King has written has a prayer of approaching either of these books in quality except The Stand. It's not his most 'interesting' work; that would be The Dark Tower series. But it is by far his best. The Stand is the only book he's written to make it to the 100 greatest novels of all time lists. I can't imagine him beating it. That would be quite a feat. It's like saying Tokien's just written something that beat Lord of the Rings. I'm not really a diehard King fan. But I'm intrigued. I'll take a look at Under the Dome one of these days and see if he's really done it.

Mad_Max:

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is the greatest fantasy novel of all time. It will likely never be beaten. It has a science fiction counterpart in Dune by Frank Herbert.

^^Just a question: What do you think of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series?

Fantastic, especially the early books. Good like Pullman's His Dark Materials series, but with more complicated underpinings. I hope you're not, however, suggesting they come close to LOTR. They do not. Tolkien invented and laid the foundation of the unique formula later writers copied; creating worlds and races from scratch, with its own langauge and culture and religions and philosophies and economy. Later fantasy writers studied and used that, from Herbert to Pullman to Jordan. Jordan borrows a little from Hindu mythology and religious philosophy for the grounding of the series. But no one matches Tolkien. He was a poet and a visionary, and that book is the synthesis of both qualities. The LOTR movies were spellbinding. The book is even better.

Not suggesting that WoT is at par with LOTR. Just wanted to know your opinion of the books. I liked Pullman's Dark Materials especially how he combines string theory, quantum physics and his unique interpretation of dark matter.

I inferred the comparison from the quote you pulled. What do you know? Another SF freaky freak. Have you read Frank Herbert's 'Dune'?

Winner, the Hugo Award
Winner, the Nebula Award
Winner, 1975 Locus Poll for All Time Best Novel
Winner, 1987 Locus Poll for All Time Best SF Novel
Winner, 1998 Locus Poll for All Time Best SF Novel before 1990

I was rolling my eyes at all the hype, and then I read it. It's really good. I don't know if any of the Dark Tower books won awards, but books 2 and 4 are certainly deserving of nominations at least.

^^I have read Frank Herbert's Dune. In four words: A tour de force. It is the best selling science fiction novel of all time.

I didn't know that. I just got the following titles, if there's any you've been looking for:

The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov
2001: A Space Odyssey- Arthur C Calrke
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress- Robert Heinlein
The Dispossed- Ursula K LeGuin
Ringworld - Larry Niven
Gateway- Frederick Pohl
Titan- John Varley
Atonement-Ian McEwan
Sandkings- Neil Gaiman
Speaker for the Dead- Orson Scott Card
The Horse Whisperer - Nicholas Evans
The French Lieutenant's Woman - John Fowles
Lord of the Flies-William Golding
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy- John Le Carré
The Ninja-Eric van Lustbader
One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy
The Satanic Verses- Salman Rushdie
The Color Purple- Alice Walker
The Golden Keel- Desmond Bagley
Humboldt's Gift- Saul Bellow

Take care.

General consensus. . .a good, good story. BTW, U've not changed the temple thingy .

Mad_Max:

I didn't know that. I just got the following titles, if there's any you've been looking for:
One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy

Thanks. Can I get the two above [deleted]? I think I have the others in my digital library. Do you have the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams? Who's your favorite science fiction writer?

P.S. You might not fully enjoy Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card without the background of Ender's Game.. I have the four books in the Ender's Saga series if you want them: Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind.

I'm almost sure those books have been sent by now.
I have the Card books. Thank you. I've read but don't own Jordan's Wheel of Time series though. Do you have them?

I'm not sure a favourite SF author is possible. I just have favourite books. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey is near the top. Clark not only showed the imagination of a god; in some places, he wrote like one. It's amazing to think he wrote this before men had actually left the planet; before Armstrong and space shuttles and space probes and the Voyagers. Everything in the book came from his mind. It's a gigantic achievement. I was intrigued when HAL the robotic contraption was driven to neurosis by guilt, the overlap between his compulsion to obey orders at all costs and the necessity of keeping a secret. His makers had created a human being. When he begged for his life, terrified of oblivion, I was moved to tears. But it was Bowman's journey, and its resolution, that made my jaw drop. An astonishingly beautiful book. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is really good too. Only an English guy could have written that. Which are your favourite books and authors?

Your post is missing, aletheia.

^^Don't know what's going on. Have posted thrice now and all have disappeared. But they are visible through my profile so. . .

@Mad_Max.
I 'd be grateful to have:

The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov
Lord of the Flies-William Golding
The Ninja-Eric van Lustbader
One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Satanic Verses- Salman Rushdie

Thanks. editors008@gmail.com

Mad_Max:

Your post is missing, aletheia.

^^Don't know what happened there! Got the books. Thanks. Below is the gist of the missing post

I have all the books of the WoT series in .lit format. Presently reading Knife of Dreams; and eagerly awaiting the next installment Towers of Midnight due in November. I could send them to you if you like.

Can't say I have a particularly favorite SF author but there are authors whose writing I enjoy: e.g Clifford D. Simak. His All the Traps of Earth was the first SF work I ever read. Bought it as a trade paperback at the airport lounge in Lagos on my way back to school when I was about 10 yrs. Been an avid reader of SF since then. Others are: Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Aldiss, Bradbury, Poul Anderson. Clarke was somewhat of a genius: he predicted the use of geostationary satellites decades before they were even thought possible.
I would have to say one of my all-time favorite works would be Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Douglas Adams crafted a unique blend of deep philosophical questions with satirical humor. Another would be Poul Anderson's Corridors of Time. I also especially like Richard Matheson's I'am Legend (though I intensely disliked the film which didn't do justice to the book).

My absolute pleasure MyJoe. I've told Sabrina to see to it. If there are other titles or authors please let me know. I do have a great many nonfiction as well. The books will be in zip folders, most likely. Will that be all right? You probably already have a zip file opener but if you don't, you can download 7Zip free from the CNET website, or any good software site. It's just to open the files, nothing more. If you don't like your books in plain text, or if the text is squished together, please open the folder with MS Word and convert to PDF.

Aletheia, I've never read Matheson. A Hitchhiker's Guide is the funniest SF book ever. So English, so likeable, and yet not sparing in wit, imagination or intelligence. The first book is the best. The quality declines after that. And oh yes, Clarke is a genius. Lit is Microsoft Reader. I don't use it. If you come across the books in any other format, then please send them. He dided before completing the series.

New titles added today. Hope there's stuff you both haven't read:

Fear of Flying- Erica Jong
Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
The Devil's Alternative- Frederick Forsyth
Love in the Time of Cholera- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Chronicles of Narnia, Books 1-7- C.S Lewis
2010 Odyssey Two- Arthur C. Clarke -
2061 Odyssey Three "
3001 The Final Odyssey "
Rendezvous with Rama "
The Fountains of Paradise "
The Nine Billion Names of God "
Rosemary's Baby- Ira Levin
The Bourne Identity-Robert Ludlum
The Silence of the Lambs-Thomas Harris
Cruel and Unusual- Patricia Cornwell
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep- Philip K. Dick
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said-Philip K. Dick
Fight Club-Palahniuk, Chuck
Neverwhere- Neil Gaiman
The Executioner's Song- Norman Mailer
The Golden Notebook- Doris Lessing
Brokeback Mountain- Proulx, Annie -
The Complete Works-Lovecraft, H.P
L.A. Confidential- James Elroy
The Remains of the Day-Ishiguro, Kazuo
Children of Men- PD James
As I Lay Dying- William Faulkner
The Time Traveler's Wife-Audrey Niffenegger
Catch-22- Joseph Heller
On the Road- Jack Kerouac

@Mad_Max:

Thanks, mummy

And MyJoe reminded me of Lustbader - do you have anything by him? Miko, Ninja, whatever?

@Mad_Max:
You could always convert the .lit files to another format suitable for your ebook reader using Calibre (it's free). How do I send you Richard Matheson's book (it's PDF)? Have you perchance read: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

It's really the Wheel of Time series I'd appreciate. I have far too many books, non fiction especially, I haven't gotten around to reading. Please email it to the addy you have. She'll know what to do. Thank you. I've The Master and Margarita. I haven't come across any other book by the man. Maybe he wrote just that one. It's outstanding. I always enjoy an excellent anything featuring the devil.

^^Done. A bit large at 13Mb, but I've emailed the link that you can use to download them from Google Docs.

Thank you!

Many thanks for the others. The Zip folders are fine. One got squished but its apparently from the source file.

I'd appreciate:

Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
Love in the Time of Cholera- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
2010 Odyssey Two- Arthur C. Clarke -
2061 Odyssey Three      "
3001 The Final Odyssey   "
Catch-22- Joseph Heller


Thanks.

Still reading.