Fannish Things

[dolorous_ett]

Just bits and pieces today. All I have time for, I'm afraid.

I have seen Star Trek, and it's great fun. My personal favourite thing of all was that Scotty had got himself exiled for zapping Porthos from Enterprise into the ether - but I loved lots of it, and time never hung heavy for a moment, even when the plot was a bit daft. It doesn't seem terribly ficcable so far, but I'm still musing on it.

I have a new fandom - unfortunately it's so daft and obscure that to name it would effectively give my RL identity away to anyone who's looking, which is not a good idea in an open post, so I'm not going to do it. But you are most welcome to guess what my new daft and obscure fandom is. I'll write a whole fic for anyone who gets it right!

With a surprising ammount of difficulty, I have finally got hold of Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's latest. It's 600 odd pages long, about Thomas Cromwell, and absolutely brilliant. I can't praise it enough without sounding gushing and/or creepy, but it might actually be as good as A Place of Greater Safety. I'm going to have to read it again to make sure. The Amazon reviews of this book are a hoot too - a surprising number are all shocked and upset that they've paid hardback prices for something that is most certainly not another Phillippa Gregory clone. Bless. 

I also have the latest Charles Stross book - number five in the Merchant Princes series. The Amazon package is going to sit, unopened, on my desk till I finish at least some of the HUGE HEAPS OF WORK that are blighting my life. Until then I'm just going to have to imagine what on earth is going to happen next - judging by the cover it contains both knights in armour and mushroom clouds. Which you don't see every day, to be sure.

For those of you who asked for drabbles, I haven't forgotten, I'm just rather snowed under at the moment. Soon!

Comments

[trude.livejournal.com]

With a surprising ammount of difficulty, I have finally got hold of Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's latest. It's 600 odd pages long, about Thomas Cromwell, and absolutely brilliant. I can't praise it enough without sounding gushing and/or creepy, but it might actually be as good as A Place of Greater Safety. I'm going to have to read it again to make sure.

Thank you for reminding me that this book exist and confirming that I have to track it down! (I spent a month soaking in APOGS a couple of years ago.)

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

It's a very good book, though I think APOGS may just have the edge... it's vintage Mantel, anyway - nice to see her back doin what she does well, rather than reminiscing about her childhood, which just wasn't as funny or clever somehow.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Ooh, Thomas Cromwell! I shall need to have a look. Although if you like books about that period that aren't Gregory clones, I must recommend C.J. Sansom. They're technically detective novels, but they've got such wonderful, rich period detail and characterisation. The first novel is Dissolution.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I've read Dissolution and liked it well enough to consider reading the next in the series, though I wasn't positively thrilled by it (I did find it grew on me, though). I understand the next one is better?

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Yes, I had the same reaction, more or less, in that I enjoyed the characters and would be curious to read more -- the second is better, and the third is absolutely thrilling (well, for me, it was, at least, but one of the plot points turns up in my dissertation, so I'm biased...)

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

You're the second person who's said something very similar (not the bit about the dissertation, obviously). On first person's word alone I wasn't up for getting the second volume, but with you backing it as well... it is now on my To Read list. Thank you!

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

Yay Trek! And poor Porthos (times however many generations)! I loved that there was an Orion girl at Starfleet Academy.

I can't guess your new fandom. *hangs head*

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

That is a gorgeous Uhura icon! Did you make it?

You don't need to hang your head over the new fandom - I'm the one who should be embarrassed! It's almost certainly a fandom of one, though, so I'm unlikely to be infecting anyone...

[st-aurafina.livejournal.com]

I didn't make it - it's by ofthedawn_x. But I do love her expression of glee and delight.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to have to look in over there - I'm trying to up my number of female icons, as I am rather lacking in that regard.

A lovely icon indeed - Uhura at her best.

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

please. don't tell me yo ufell for that agonizign pride and prejudice and zombies book. because no. just no.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I'm about a quarter of the way through that very book - how did you know? (but don't worry, I certainly wouldn't become a big fan. I can't believe the one joke is sustainable for a whole book. It's bound to wear thin sometime)

[erised1810.livejournal.com]

i thought as much. it soudned liek bad humorfic to me. liek when someone would mst3k the lord of the rings films. wait...that sounds only half-bad. i'd rather have a monty python liek spoof the way they did withthe beatles or the athur legend.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Fic is what it reminds me of, actually - and there are some neat little touches I'd probably rave about if I'd read the thing on a friend's LJ. But there - each to his or her own - and I'm a sucker for zombies in unlikely places.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

"Wolf Hall" sounds great. I shall have to give it a go. I enjoyed APOGS, but I think I read it at the wrong time - I was very busy, so it went on for weeks and I didn't appreciate it as much as I might.

Ed. THanks for the mention of the reviews. "The final let down is the perspective. Mantel chooses to look at the Tudor world through Thomas Cromwell's eyes. Not the most obvious choice - people like Anne Boleyn or Katherine or Aragon are much more interesting characters, but I suppose Mantel was trying to do something unique." Oh noes!

*is intrigued by the fandom* and you never know, there _might_ be fic out there...

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

"The final let down is the perspective. Mantel chooses to look at the Tudor world through Thomas Cromwell's eyes. Not the most obvious choice - people like Anne Boleyn or Katherine or Aragon are much more interesting characters, but I suppose Mantel was trying to do something unique." Oh noes!

I know. Isn't it precious?

(and to add insult to injury, there won't be a picture of a woman with more frock than head on the cover. What kind of book is this thing, anyway?)

*is intrigued by the fandom* and you never know, there _might_ be fic out there...

A quick Google search hasn't turned up anything, though it's quite possible that I was using the wrong terms. I can think of a couple of possible places that might have something but I don't even know if I have security clearance to access them, or if they exist...