Action/Adventure Aficionados discussion

I've picked up Storm Front and I'm going to move into the cue. (Finished and )

I'm deep into Point Of Impact by Stephen Hunter. This is the first of the Bob Lee Swagger novels and also the basis of the movie "Shooter" staring Mark Wahlberg. It's proving to be a great read so far, especially to people who like firearms and realistic sniper action.

Finished Stormfront, now moving into by John Sandford. Stormfront was a good read. I enjoyed it and will get into more of them. (I hear there are lots of them.)

I liked Shooter a lot, so I will probably read Point of Impact when I get the chance.

I'm part way through Black Light and had to lay it aside to finish library reads...

is going up on my TBR too.

right now i'm reading The Book of Lost Things by john connolly, who usually writes thrillers. i suppose you would call this a fantasy or even a meta-fantasy.

i did just buy a genuine Action/Adventure book recently: Ghost by john ringo. it looks like the worst kind of reactionary, liberal-baiting, misogynistic, macho adventure novel possible... i'm really looking forward to it! i'm sure it will be pretty fun in its own, possibly awful, way. sometimes its nice to turn the brain off and just read some caveman type material.

It is reactionary, misogynistic and just plain awful in some ways and I enjoyed the whole series. Guilty pleasure maybe?

I'm listening to The Cry of the Icemark, which is military fantasy for a younger audience. There was a very well-written battle scene that had me riveted. I like the way the author has taken the Norse cultures and the Romans cultures and created his own peoples based on those and pitted them against each other, throwing some legendary creatures and magic into the mix. I picked it up on impulse at the library, and it's definitely rewarding the impulse.

I can't wait to read your review of Ghost, Mark.

That reminds me. One of my non-fiction, free books is about Norse Battle Tactics (Kindle). It's actually a good reference because it walks through a lot of what we know about the Norse Culture and mythology as a means of setting the stage to explain this or that tactic.

Okay, I used to have a lot of spare time. Call it my "Warhammer" phase.

I just finished Dresden #1 and Rough Country (Flowers #4) Now I'm reading Fifty One: Provenance.

I downloaded that, but haven't read it yet. I am slow to read non-fiction. Although I have zero personal military inclinations, I find reading about military situations interesting. I'm not big on the Civil War though, for some reason.

I think what reminded me of that was your mention of "Norse Cultures" and "Roman Cultures" connected with mention of a "battle scene."

I can get into Civil war stuff, but I prefer Revolutionary War stuff. The stuff I find the most fun is Hanibal Vs. The Romans, Spartucas, and Alexander the Great, those guys, even Atilla the Hun.

Did I mention I have a History Channel addiction too?

Nope, but I have one too. I prefer reading/watching programs about ancient warfare subjects, medieval, and WWII.

Hugh (A.K.A. Hermit the Curmudgeon) wrote: "Now I'm reading Fifty One: Provenance. "

Just finished that this morning. Interesting premise, interesting characters, lots of action and will be in reading the next one he comes out with.

However, I did have some of the same issues with both Fifty-one and with Ghost. While I am not particularly a prude, there are ways to write rather explicit sex scenes that are graphic but interesting and ways to write the same thing that is graphic and 'off-putting'. Ghost tends to be graphic and aberrant ... Fifty-One is graphic and gross.

I've re-read some of the Ghost series, but skip the sex scenes now and I can definitely see myself doing the same with Fifty-One.

WWI, WWII, anything can get my attention and hold it. One of the best serial documentaries (series?) I came across was on The Learning chanel (TLC)Called Rising storm or something like that and was about Ghengis Kahn the rise of the Mongols and ran all the way through the demise of Kubli Kahn (Ghengus's grandson).

That had me captivated for hours (since they ran abotu 2-3 of them back to back eacy weekend).

Really cool stuff.

I've watched a couple of programs on Ghenghis Khan and the Mongols. Very interesting, as you say.

Thanks for the warning about the graphic sex scenes, Hugh and Sharon. I like romance and I don't mind a bit of steam, but I really don't like sex scenes that are excessive and raunchy.

I've done 'graphic' in Auel's "Clan of the Cave Bear' series and in J. D. Robb's "In Death" series. It gets to be a bit much in both but the authors do manage graphic without what I call the 'ick' factor.

Ghost and Fifty-One both definitely have the 'ick' factor. Once I know it's there, I can skip over that, though quite honestly, I'd really prefer it toned down.

Now I'm curious about the ick factor. I know what I consider icky. I wonder if we are the same.

I'm not sure ... will be interesting to compare notes. I also find the 'ick' factor in the some of the vampire books. Can't remember the author's name right off the top of my head, but it was one of the first series to come out with one of the rather graphic vampire scenarios. First two weren't too bad but they just kept getting bloodier and more graphic and quit.

Sharon wrote: "Hugh (A.K.A. Hermit the Curmudgeon) wrote: "Now I'm reading Fifty One: Provenance. "

Just finished that this morning. Interesting premise, interesting characters, lots of action and will be in rea..."

I haven't finished, Fifty One yet, but I'd agree that there might have been another way to express some of the sexual content. To me that should have been more about the romance (sexually charged of course) but some of the details might have better been mentioned in a labreport on Amy's desk or something.

It kind of had a "Barbarella" feel to it for a few chapters, with better special effects... well mostly.

I'd say those scenes in question disappinted me because the rest of the writing is actualy very good, readable, smooth, and not many (if any) editing issues which is rare for an Indie book. I don't/didn't mind the "open-minded" relationship side of things it was the level of detail was ...gross, and I'm surely okay with graphic sex...um... right, too late to go back and restate that isn't it?... anyway... where was I..

Oh, yea, I understand the thinking behind it A need to show that something more is going on, and what the agent of change is/how it was introduced to the system, I would have liked the details in a side note on a lab report or something, not so much ..."in your face" ... if you'll pardon the expression.

Hugh (A.K.A. Hermit the Curmudgeon) wrote: "I would have liked the details in a side note on a lab report or something, not so much ..."in your face" ... if you'll pardon the expression. "

Ah, yes ... very well put! (Glad I didn't have a mouthful of coffee as I read that!)

I have a 6 and a 4 year old. I'm developing my "word choice" for "double meaning" skills.

The 'sample' option on the Kindle books is really helpful and if writers really focus on hooking the reader into the book quickly, I can see it working very well.

However ... the opposite is true as well. Just finished the 'sample' of "Hunter ... After the Fall" and by the third page I was muttering.

Setting is western Wyoming, an area I'm very familiar with. Author is describing an eastern forest, not the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming where this supposedly takes place.

The book may turn out to be readable for someone who doesn't recognize the mistakes ... for me, like fingernails on a blackboard!

Sample is a good option, Sharon. You can also down load the first chapter of any book free (which may be what your talking about).

I also like selecting books to display "from Low to High" which puts the free ones on top of the list. Then select "4 Stars and up" which of course gives me for star and up reviewed books that are free on top. It works on any genre or subgenre on the kindle book list.

Right now I'm in the middle of The Exploits of Brigadier Gerardby Arthur Conan Doylewhich had got to be one of the earlier "Action Novels" of it's day. Brigadier Gerard is a fun character and once you notice the tongue in cheek stuff, which is very subtle (almost too subtle) it's laughable in places.

Gerard is a swash buckling guy with some swagger, a lot of luck and the rank of colonel in Nepoleon's Army. He loves women, beer and liqour and most of all, his regiment! (I wonder about his priorities sometimes.) Fun book so far.

Thanks for the 4 Stars tip ... I'd gotten to the Low to High, hadn't picked up on the additional 4 Star thing.

I've actually found a couple of pretty good 'save the planet' military sci-fi books that are holding my interest with the samples. A bit on the Fifty One side without (thankfully) so much of the 'ick' factor.

I really like the Coyoteseries by Allen Steelefor some good hard sci-fi adventure.

and you'll also want to take a good look at how many reviews are involved with the 4 and up. I like to get close to a hundred at least. If there are only 4 reviews, that means his mother, sisters and father rated the book 5.0.

Not that I haven't taken a chance on them before.

I've got the Coyote series on my list, thought it sounded interesting. Hadn't thought about the number of reviews before either, interesting.

I wish I could screen by number of reviews, but that might be too many buttons.

I listened to Coyote on audio book. The Narrator's changed with each character (the series is actually a collecton of short stories that Allen smoothed out (expertly) to be one novel, with different parts told by different people. I listened to the whole series, save two, which I have on kindle waiting a gap. A good read.

Hugh (A.K.A. Hermit the Curmudgeon) wrote: "I wish I could screen by number of reviews, but that might be too many buttons. "

Even as a humble wannabe writer I agree with Hugh about trying 'Sample Chapters' first. I try to support other Indies but have had some bad experiences. On Amazon you get the first 10% of the book which gives you a really good feel for the general quality, the writing style and (sometimes important) the length of the book (2 page sample = 20 page book (or, so called book!))...

Reviews are really random though. I work on the principal that I want mine to be genuine (unlike some - and again Hugh is right in that regard). If people read my book then that's great and if they feel motivated to write something (good or bad) then that's also great but... most times people just don't post at all. Plus, on Amazon, the UK and US comments are different (they're not shared between .co.uk and .com) so my book (after six months of stumbling around at the bottom ends of the Amazon Thriller top 100's) has only 3 US ratings and 5 UK ratings... so about 14 years until I get to a hundred (I might have finished the next one by then!!) LOL :)

Hello, I just woke up from a dead faint at my keyboard, somebody actually agreed with me? Twice... it's quite a shock!

I've been reading The Exploits of Brigadier Gerardby Arthur Conan Doyle. It started very subtley, but it's gotten even funnier every story.

Lady D. I might add that if you had a sour taste in your mouth after reading "The Lost World" about Doyle's treatment of women in his stories, you would probably love chapter six (The Sixth Exploit story?) in this one. Maybe there is hope for him?

I'm currently reading Ice Station by Matthew Reilly. This is my first book by this author and the action is non-stop! Great fun!

Hugh, I can't remember if ACD bothered me as far as women in the Lost World. I didn't like some of the
racial attitudes. But thanks for the info.

Janey, I love Ice Station. My first Reilly book and why I'm a huge fan of his!

Found a new author Rick Partlow for sci-fi/ military "space opera" and have read both of the available ebooks, Birthright and Duty, Honor, Planet

Undemanding but entertaining, interesting characters and lots of action, which he writes well.
Pretty much in the Drake, Weber, Stirling mold. Not as polished or as involved/complicated at this point (which in some ways is actually a plus) but I'll definitely be looking for anything else he comes out with.

Janey, I loved Ice station too. I just Read about a week ago and it was pretty awsome too. Not as tight in some ways as Ice Station, but better in others I think.

Fun reads both of them.

Sharon wrote: "Found a new author Rick Partlow for sci-fi/ military "space opera" and have read both of the available ebooks, Birthright and Duty, Honor, Planet

..."

I'm adding those books to my TBR. I also liked

A Galaxy UnknownBy Deprima and Dauntlessby Jack Campbell which I liked a little better than the Janetta Carver books. And the Soap Opryist Space Opera I've red in a while, Quarter Share, which isn't exactly action, but it does qualify as adventure, of a sort. The thing I liked about them is they almost always had a positive healing thing in them. It was all about helping people feel and do better (amont other things). in order or preference I'd go "The Lost Fleet" then "Galaxy Unknown," followed by "The tales of the Solar Clipper."

I wish our local library had all of the Reilly books, unfortunately they just have some and not necessarily in order.

They are fun reads but I don't think they are books that I am going to necessarily find myself re-reading often, so don't really want to buy them for myself ... maybe will have to go with Inter-library loan. I just don't like the unscheduled 40-mile round trip to pick them up at odd times.

I wonder if the libraries will eventually be able to get Inter-library loans in Kindle format? Wouldn't THAT work well for me!

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Hugh, I can't remember if ACD bothered me as far as women in the Lost World. I didn't like some of the
racial attitudes. But thanks for the info.

..."

The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard is surprisingly funny. I wasn't sure in the early chapters but I detected subtle humor and Irony, but by the later chapters it's just openly funny. Gerard is a wonderful character. Not the sharpest pencil in the box, but he does all right.

I'm recommending this to my mother (since it's about the same period she writes in).

There was an NPR article that linked this book up with "steampunk" though I haven't seen the connection yet.

I downloaded off Amazon. Free books are so awesome!

So did I. I am finding it different in style (voice) than "The Lost World." I have to look it up, but I suspect that is because it's older and an earlier work than S Holmes and the Challenger Adventures.

It's very pleasant reading, more like Poe in style stories save, they are humorus in a James Thurber sort of way and not horror stories or mysteries.

I have all these books I've started and am not any closer to finishing! Ahhhhh....

Must finish Goldfinger.

You'll get them done, Alice!

I currently reading Blood Soaked and Contagious it's about a freelance zombie extermintor with a sense of humor. So far really enjoying.

I'm also listening to The Monkey's Raincoat. Not a big fan of the narrator's voice or his style of reading the story. With that said, I'm ejoying Elvis being the center of the story.

Elvis is an interesting person. I'm looking forward to reading The Monkey's Raincoat.

I'm not big on zombies (they freak me out), but Blood Soaked and Contagious sounds interesting.

I know what you're saying, Lady D. It's really not that freaky...it's from Frank's point of view. So far I have cried, laughed out loud and touched by the sentimental momemts. Not what I expected in a zombie book. Haven't been at all disapointed.

I'm actually reading "The LIst of Seven" and, I highly recommend anyone who hasn't read that, but is planning to for the group read, try reading something by Athur Conan Doyle first, maybe a short story, or novella. (not a requirment and stuff.)

I have List of Seven in my bag...after Goldfinger, The Magicians and Cloud Atlas.

The bad thing is that none of them is grabbing my attention. *sigh* I need an awesome read to restore my faith.

I don't know about Awsome, that's kind of a personal thing, but,I really like The list of Seven.

I am looking forward to it. Thanks Hugh.