DOOOOOOOOOM!

Amorph · Post by **Amorph** » Mon Sep 03, 2001 2:20 am

Well, whoever "one of Alisin's worst enemies" is, they can sure make a grand entrance.BTW, the "cult of Rikk" is hilarious. <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif">

FrustratedPilot · Post by **FrustratedPilot** » Mon Sep 03, 2001 2:24 am

Well, now that the 23-sider is history, the whackos need a new paradigm.Still, confusing Rikk with Bilbo Baggins isn't healthy.

Blondlot · Post by **Blondlot** » Mon Sep 03, 2001 7:19 am

But understandable. The weight of bearing his burden is wearing him thin.And he's also a halfling. Ex animo,
m.d----
Brakk: "What's heaven like, Mr. Tinkles?"Mr. Tinkles: "It's full of loose women and hot dance clubs and Latin music!"Zorak: "Wow."Mr. Tinkles: "But you're not invited! You're going to Hell!"Zorak: "Really?"Mr. Tinkles: "You can't seriously be suprised."Zorak: "Well... no."-The Brakk Show

FrustratedPilot · Post by **FrustratedPilot** » Mon Sep 03, 2001 7:42 am

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Blondlot:
But understandable. The weight of bearing his burden is wearing him thin.And he's also a halfling.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I think you're confusing your halflings. Bilbo became narcoleptic. Frodo was worn thin.FP (one of whose favorite characters in American-made cartoons is Eowyn from Rankin-Bass' Return of the King)

Blondlot · Post by **Blondlot** » Mon Sep 03, 2001 7:54 am

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by FrustratedPilot:
 I think you're confusing your halflings. Bilbo became narcoleptic. Frodo was worn thin.FP (one of whose favorite characters in American-made cartoons is Eowyn from Rankin-Bass' Return of the King)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Nononono. Near the beginning of LOTR, when speaking to Gandalf, Bilbo said that he felt worn thin. Ex animo,
m.d

Skyrider · Post by **Skyrider** » Mon Sep 03, 2001 8:06 am

Darn it are you guys going to make me read the series again just to find out?I have enough of a back log as it is.
<IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif">------------------
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Eyeless Blond · Post by **Eyeless Blond** » Mon Sep 03, 2001 8:58 am

That reminds me, I'm looking for some good sci-fi/fantasy books for my little brother, who's just entering eigth grade. He likes Harry Potter and all of the Ender series.I'm also looking for some good books for me, as well. <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif"> Who wrote The Wizard's First Rule?

Bevan · Post by **Bevan** » Mon Sep 03, 2001 9:18 am

Susan Cooper's the Dark is Rising series is brilliant. You might want to skip the first one though. Over Sea and Under Stone lacks the mystical elements of the later ones, and is more a group of jolly English children having fun on their holidays in a jolly mystery. *Shudder*The Snow Spider series is very good as well, and the Neverending Story is a classic for children's fantasy.Last Unicorn is one of the greatest works of fantasy, and is an all-readers thing as well.His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman is another great children's series, but its take on religion would not appeal to a lot of people (God is a villain in it).

Blondlot · Post by **Blondlot** » Tue Sep 04, 2001 12:25 am

Time to try my hand at Nodrogizing! I think that Tim is going to be Gollum in Horde of the Things. Let's hope he doesn't go flying into any cracks of doom (insert dirty joke here). I know it isn't wild theorizing per se, but still... Watch Adult Swim on Cartoon Network, if you can. It is very good.

Atlas · Post by **Atlas** » Tue Sep 04, 2001 12:27 am

Wizard's First Rule is by Terry Goodkind. I should get around to reading it and its successors at some time.

Roscoe · Post by **Roscoe** » Tue Sep 04, 2001 4:38 am

Foundation by Asimov
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
anything, really, by Ray Bradbury
2001 by Arthur C. Clarke
2010 by Arthur C. Clarke
Dune by Frank Herbert
anything, really, by H. P. Lovecraft
the Time series, by Madeliene L'Engle (Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Turning Planet, Many Waters) as well as the O'Keefe Family series and the romance novels, which are all maddeningly interwined to the point where trying to figure them out drives you COMPLETELY INSANE!
*ahem*
I'd also recommend Poe, Greek mythology, Frankenstein, 1984, Brave New World, and suchlike, but that should be good to get ya started.

Maccabee · Post by **Maccabee** » Tue Sep 04, 2001 7:16 am

Partial list of stuff:I think Lloyd Alexander's The Prydain Chronicles is a great fantasy starter. I loved it when I was 9 or 10 and it still holds up as light reading now that I'm emotionally 11 or 12.If he likes mystery/adventure type stuff, Asimov's The Caves of Steel and Turtledove's Case of the Toxic Spell Dump are a lot of fun. Be warned: the Turtledove is filled to bursting with puns.L. Sprague de Camp is also a good starter. Lest Darkness Fall is one of the all time classics, even if it is a bit of an A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court rip. [i[]The Dragon Waiting[/i] by John M. Ford was on T's and my sophomore reading lists -- I was already hooked on the genre, but it didn't push me away, and it won a world fantasy award in 1975.Military SF also tends to make a good gateway drug. William Forstchen's The Lost Regiment is pretty straightforward and quite fun, I thought.------------------
Risus est telum ultimum contra tyrranem. Nullus dictator exercitibus allibus ridiculem vulgi longe resistare potest.

Muttley · Post by **Muttley** » Tue Sep 04, 2001 7:17 am

Oooh, a book list. This is where I came in . . .Harry Potter and Ender Wiggin, eh (who would win? NONonono, sorry, got carried away)Bear in mind that I have no real idea what age is represented by "eighth grade", so I may be a bit off...Endorse wholeheartedly and with applause Bevan's recommendation of Susan Cooper; The Dark Is Rising sequence, especially the eponymous second book, which I still read every Christmas. The first and third books seem to be written for a younger audience (Over Sea, Under Stone and Greenwitch).Diana Wynne Jones; the Chrestomanci books (The Lives of Christopher Chant, Charmed Life, Witch Week, The Magicians of Caprona) are close to Harry Potter in some ways; The Dalemark Quartet (Cart and Cwidder, Drowned Ammet, The Spellcoats, The Crown of Dalemark) is great, and The Dark Lord of Derkholm and Year of the Griffin take an interesting sideways look at LARPing <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif"> But really, all her books are good.Heinlein's collections of short stories are pretty good, as are some of his "juveniles". I have a particular affection for Starman Jones.Niven's short stories are very approachable too, although sometimes a little dry. Anne McCaffery's Pern books should work as well. Tolkein, both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, if he hasn't already read them.Oh, and one more I must recommend, as I just discovered yesterday that it has finally been republished (and a copy is on its way to me from the publisher as I type <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif">) The Space Child's Mother Goose by Frederick Winsor. Clever adaptions of "nursery rhymes" to technical and scientific themes (reflecting the state of the art in 1958, when they were written) with a wry humorous twist, with excellent illustrations, they should appeal to a technically-inclined reader who will understand enough of the allusions to get the jokes. An example -Probable-Possible, my black hen,
She lays eggs in the Relative When.
She doesn't lay eggs in the Positive Now
Because she's unable to Postulate How.
(repeated in increasingly abstruse languages throughout the book)Republished by Purple House Press <A HREF="http://www.purplehousepress.com/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.purplehousepress.com/</A>
Amazon couldn't be persuaded to take my order, ao I used ABE books <A HREF="http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookDetails?bi=86261328" TARGET=_blank>http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookDet ... 6261328</A> By the way, I see you've been posting since February, without a welcome. Welcome to the board, Eyeless Blond with the disturbing nickname, I would offer you some poke salad, but apparantly it's made out of turnip leaves so I'm not sure it would be a positive gesture. Make yourself at home. Just don't push that button . . .And welcome to Atlas too; any relation to V1_1 from Keenspot?Regards,
Muttley
BorgDOS 6.0 - FORMAT C: [Y/y]

FrustratedPilot · Post by **FrustratedPilot** » Tue Sep 04, 2001 8:35 am

Not that many people talking about possible "enemies" for Alisin here. The most obvious one is her disease, of course. The next obvious one could be the man she had killed. Bring him back as a zombie? I don't know how much you like the idea...and besides, the clue is the Hotel in Rome.My weird theory, based on the evidence? Jeni McRian. She's tough, she's type-cast, and she's looking for payback. Nuff said.

Bo Lindbergh · Post by **Bo Lindbergh** » Tue Sep 04, 2001 10:59 am

Since this is Rikk's human story, he is obviously Alisin's enemy. <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif">

Ebijin · Post by **Ebijin** » Wed Sep 05, 2001 11:59 am

Kind of as a counterpoint:The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe. Difficult, difficult; on the plus side, it won't make any more sense to a octagenarian than to an eighth grader. Unless the octagenarian is a Classics prof specialising in roman military terms and middle english musical instruments. Still amazingly amazing.The Belgariad, by David Eddings. This series got me started reading. I had the flu, and was terribly bored. Found a battered copy of _Queen's of Sorcery_ in the office and the rest is history. The series holds up pretty well, I think, even if Eddings's later work tends to be variations on a theme.The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis.So You Want To Be A Wizard, by Diane Duane. Kind of breathless and pie eyed, but still a favorite.The Magic Grandfather, by Jay Williams. I think this is the title and author, but I'm not sure. This is one of those books that have achieved a semi-mythical place in my personal canon. It feels real in a way that a lot of this genre doesn't. I remember having dreams for weeks afterwards, because of this book.Dragonsbane, by Barbra Hambly.Oh, hell! There's too much too list. Some of it's good, and some of it's bad, but the best of it kicks you when you're down. It's a terrible drug, and an unholy gift to give to anyone, dreams of blood and salvation, magic and mercury.~f
ego cum Flacce sum.Oh! I almost forgot: Flatland, by E.A. Nesmith. I think. But definitely Flatland. It's about a square living in a two dimensional world. One part social satire, one part drunken mathematics.Or Magic by the Lake?Man, now I want to re-read all these.Ooh! And 'Interstellar Pig'! And... argh!*sounds of a violent scuffle, and frantic library raiding.*[This message has been edited by Ebijin (edited 09-05-2001).]

Schol-R-LEA · Post by **Schol-R-LEA** » Sat Sep 08, 2001 2:18 am

Before I recommend anything, I'd like to say: go slow, and don't push things. If you go all gung ho about a book, he'll be even less likely to read it than if left alone. My own younger brother still gets angry if I mention H2G2, simply because I made such a big deal about it when he was in middle school.The Earthsea trilogy by Le Guin, the Harper Hall trilogy by MacCaffrey and the Redwall books by Jacques are about right for that age, while still being reasonably challenging.If he's reading Card, though, he might find them a little on the young side. Also, Dragonsong and Dragonsinger are more aimed at girls, and some boys might be put off by them before getting to Dragondrums. Tough to say. If you want to interest him in gaming, try the Dragonlance anf Forgotten Realms stories, or maybe the BattleTech novels (you can't go wrong with Big Honkin' Robots and teenage boys). Be careful with anything published by White Wolf or Chaosium, at least at this early stage.Some of the lighter manga may work, like Urusei Yatsura or (ecch) Pokemon, but the cultural differences may get confusing. The Xanth series is popular at that age, IIRC, but be aware that you may end up suffering from terminal punnery as a result.Depending on your opinion of his writing, some of the older Heinlein stuff like Between Planets may be about right, although much of it is badly dated now.If he ever shows any Gothic inclinations, throw Moorcock and/or Lovecraft at him and see how he reacts. What you do from there depends on your opinion of dark clothing, The Cure, and depression poetry.H2G2 is perfect for someone that age. Hehehe, sure it is... I read LU&E around that age, actually, not realizing it was the third part of the series, and got badly warped by it (though in all honestly I was already twisted, having read P.S. Your Cat is Dead two years before). Handle with care.looking ahead a little, Good Omens would probably be a bit much for a kid that age, but after he's read the other stuff he might like it. Same for Contact and The Postman - forget the films, they were completely different from the originals. Other Brin stuff that would be good around, say, 11th grade, would be Startide Rising and Earth. By that time, he'd probably be choosing his own reading interests, anyway.If you want to get back at your parents for something, you could try the Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison. Keep'em on their toes. If you really want to do some damage, inflict Illuminatus! on the poor kid... but no, that would be just cruel. And whatever else, load on the mythology as heavy as you can, not just Greek and Norse but other cultures as well. There's a lot of fascinating stuff in there, and it has that timeless bloodmindedness that children do love so. 
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The greatest strength of The Conspiracy is that it doesn't exist
The greatest weakness of The Conspiracy is that it does.[This message has been edited by Schol-R-LEA (edited 09-08-2001).][This message has been edited by Schol-R-LEA (edited 09-09-2001).]