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David Zindell's Neverness, A Requiem for Homo Sapiens and all things Science Fiction and Fantasy
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 Post subject: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Wed Sep 17, 2003 6:59 am 
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Lady Scryer
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Location: Michigan, USA
Nevada Barr is one of my favorite mystery writers. Her books center around a park ranger who is assigned to a variety of national parks in the United States, from wilderness areas like Isle Royale, to huge cities like the Statue of Liberty in New York, to historical sites like Mesa Verde to oceanfront places like the Dry Totugas. She also gets put on special assignments sometimes like fighting wild fires in California or rescuing hurt cave explorers in Carlsbad Caverns. But somehow crime always seems to crop up wherever she goes...

The titles in the series include:
Track of the Cat
A Superior Death
Ill Wind
Firestorm
Endangered Species
Blind Descent
Liberty Falling
Deep South
Blood Lure
Hunting Season
Flashback


Blind Descent, set in Carlsbad Caverns during a rescue attempt, Firestorm, set in a forest in flames in California, and Liberty Falling, dealing with terrorists in New York are all very particularly enjoyable. Unfortunately, though, I don't know if I can ever read Liberty Falling again, after what happened on Sept. 11...I read it shortly before the terrorist attack that left so many people dead... Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Thu Sep 18, 2003 5:00 am 
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Lady Scryer
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Location: Michigan, USA
Another of my favorite mystery novelists is Tony Hillerman. Most of his books are set in the Four Corners ( the area where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico all meet) on the various Native American reservations of that area -- and two members of the Navaho Nation police force -- Joe Leaphoen, a very logical and methiodical man, and the younger and more idealistic Jim Chee, who wishes to be a shaman of his people...
some of the books include:
Hunting Badger
The First Eagle
The Wailing Wind
The Fallen Man
Sacred Clowns
Coyote Waits
Talking God
A Thief of Time
Skinwalkers
The Ghostway
The Dark Wind
Listening Woman
Dance Hall of the Dead
The Blessing Way

a book centered around New Mexico politics is called The Fly on the Wall, he has a very interesting book set in southeast Asia called Finding Moon, and his wonderful children's book, based on Native American legends is called The Boy Who Made Dragonfly

Of his mysteries, my favorites are probably A Thief of Time set in archaeolical digs and Dance Hall of the Dead set on both the Navajo and Zuni reservations.

He has also written some nonfiction books, most of them about New Mexico. Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 1:11 am 
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I'm a fan of the hard-boiled/noir type crime fiction - Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, &c. I think I've read Chandler's entire oeuvre, but my favorite crime writers are definitely James Ellroy and James M. Cain.

I just started reading Hammett's The Dain Curse. Pretty good, so far. <i>Edited by: AlphSeeker at: 11/17/03 6:06 am
</i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 3:28 am 
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Dan Simmons, better known as a science fiction writer, has a very hardboiled detective series...you might want to check his stuff out someday... ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell

******************************************************

Perhaps I'll come for you myself some night. You ought to see me...my fur is white now, pale as snow,but the stature, the majesty, the power, those have not left me...We are the direwolves, the nightmares who haunt your racial memories, the dark shapes circling endlessly beyond the light of your fires.~George R.R. Martin<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Sat Nov 22, 2003 5:14 pm 
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Yeah, I almost grabbed Simmon's crime novel when I saw it at a grocery store last summer, but I wasn't sure if it was the same guy. Don't know why I doubted it, he's written in almost every other genre (already read all the Hyperion/Endymion books and Summer of Night, plus some short works). <i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 11:41 pm 
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Wow, I just finished reading the peculiarly titled Zebra-Striped Hearse(1962) by Ross Macdonald, and it was excellent!

I thought The Galton Case was pretty good, too, but it's considered one of his major works, so I was kind of expecting it. I'd never heard of this one though. Just grabbed a mangled used copy for 25 cents on a whim. A very well spent quarter! ******************

Audentes fortuna iuvat!<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2004 4:12 am 
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John Grisham? Anybody else think he is just a complete bore? I tried to read the one set in Nashville, and made into a movie with Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman. I just thought it was probably the most boring book ever written. The characters were completely unsympathetic and I did not care if they were caught by the Mob or run over by a cross country semi. And the movies made from his movies, usually boring. Pelican Brief, boring and completely implausible. And I like Denzel Washington as an actor. taraswizard
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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2004 5:20 am 
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Yeah, I had the same reaction to the Grisham movies, so I never tried the books. In Pelican Brief, I couldn't figure out why they didn't just try to spill the whole story to a reporter - thered've be no point in killing them, then. ******************

To seek the sacred river Alph, to walk the caves of ice ...<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2004 10:54 pm 
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I have not seen any of the movies based on his books, but have read a couple of the books themselves...I had trouble getting into them...I'm not so much into heavy legal dramas or novels...
Alph, another fantasy/science fiction writer who has written some detective novels is Stephen R. Donaldson. I have not tried reading his detective series, yet...maybe someday... ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2004 4:56 pm 
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Thanks for the tip, Duchess. I believe Harlan Ellison has written some mysteries, too, and I've got a collection of short mysteries by Isaac Asimov called Tales of the Black Widowers, though I haven't read it yet. ******************

To seek the sacred river Alph, to walk the caves of ice ...<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2004 7:18 pm 
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I don't read many but have just finished The Da Vinci Code which is a mindblower. I like some James Patterson and Tony Hillerman. Probably THE coolest Mystery/Crime novels I ever read are the Anasazi Mysteries by William and Katherine Gear (I don't know if this William Gear is the same as the Sci-Fi author, but I suspect he is) The Visitant, The Summoning God and The Bone Walker. These books are so cool because they involve a modern team of archaeologists investigating an over 1000 year old series of crimes at Chaco Canyon at the decline of the Anasazi era...and they travel all around NM which is awesome in itself .

I've bought a couple of Stephen R. Donaldson "Man Who..." books (also known as the Mick Axbrewder mysteries) and I plan on getting around to them. I also love The Toff and The Saint, back in the day...I need to google for The Toff's author... *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 6/21/05 10:04 pm
</i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2004 6:55 pm 
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Oh, man ... I just saw a blurb about The Da Vinci Code. Danlo, can you tell me, does it have anything to do with the thesis of Michael Baegent's non-fiction Holy Blood Holy Grail? (Priori du Sion, southern France, Albagensian heresy, Catholic cover up, blood line of Christ, Mary Magdalene, Merovignian Kings, Da Vinci, Newton, Victor Hugo, the Holy Grail, etc. ...?) ******************

To seek the sacred river Alph, to walk the caves of ice ...<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 5:31 am 
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Read a couple more good Ross Macdonald books: The Drowning Pool and The Blue Hammer. They're not his very best works - Drowning Pool was written just before he really hit his stride, and 'Hammer is set in the 70's (not the coolest decade for detectives) - but good nonetheless. ******************

To seek the sacred river Alph, to walk the caves of ice ...<i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 5:45 pm 
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Alph in regards to all the questions you asked the answer is yes! *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i></i>


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 Post subject: Re: Mystery/Crime Novels
PostPosted: Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:49 pm 
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Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. I went and had a look at some of the discussion about The Da Vinci Code on Amazon.com ... then proceeded to pummel the wall with my forehead! See, I read Holy Blood Holy Grail about eight years ago, and though it is ostensibly a "non-fiction" book, I thought it was one heckuva thriller and contained the greatest conspiracy theory I ever heard.

So, for the past six years or so, I've been slowly accumulating research notes for a screenplay, based on these ideas. Doh! The moral of this story is: if you think you have a good idea, DON'T WAIT! He who hesitates is lost.

I also recently had to draw a line through "werewolves versus vampires" in my big notebook of screenplay ideas, after seeing a trailer for the hit movie Underworld. Grrrr. ******************

To seek the sacred river Alph, to walk the caves of ice ...<i></i>


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