So, just read the current newsletter and discovered Mr. Wilson's fascination with The Byrds. I also grew up in the era so I hopped over to Amazon to buy the book and then looked at the pic in the newsletter. Mr. Wilson - yours has a slipcase or tray case! I bet it's signed too! Where do I get one?

[h=1]I was late in the game when it came to his books, but what I've read I've really enjoyed.


Award-winning author Jack Vance dies at 96[/h]by Associated Press
Tags: In Memoriam, Jack Vance

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Jack Vance, an award-winning mystery, fantasy, and science fiction author who wrote more than 60 books, has died. He was 96.
Vance died Sunday evening at his home in Oakland, his son John Vance II told the Associated Press.
Jack Vance, whose legal name was John Holbrook, published most of his work as Jack Vance, but he also wrote 11 mysteries as John Holbrook Vance and three as Ellery Queen, as well as books under the pen names of Alan Wade, Peter Held, John van See and Jay Kavanse, according to the Jack Vance website, which is maintained by family and friends.
“This is a complex guy, and (there’s) an awful lot to say about him,” John Vance told the AP.

GET EW ON YOUR TABLET: Subscribe today and get instant access! In 2009, a profile in the New York Times Magazine described Vance as “one of American literature’s most distinctive and undervalued voices,” according to the website.
Vance collected a number of awards over the years, including Hugo Awards for The Dragon Masters in 1963, The Last Castle in 1967, and for his memoir This is Me, Jack Vance! in 2010.
“Author, friend, father and grandfather, there will never be another like Jack Vance,” his son said.
Born in San Francisco, Vance graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1942. He worked for a while as an electrician in the naval shipyards at Pearl Harbor, leaving about a month before the Japanese attack there, according to the website.
Described as a “blue-collar guy” by his son, Vance worked over the years as a seaman, a surveyor, and carpenter. His first book was published in 1945, but Vance did not establish himself as a writer until the 1970s.
Although legally blind since the 1980s, Vance continued to write with the aid of software, including his most recent novel, Lurulu, his son said. Vance had said Lurulu would be his final book, but he completed his memoir, which was published in July 2009.
In his later years, Vance suffered from poor kidney health and diabetes, which he which he maintained by diet control, his son said.

A great audio adaptation of my story "Slasher" - listen free on Fringe Radio. Scroll down to the "Grist Mill" tab and click.

So I started watching this series the other night for the first time. I've never read the books. So far I've only watched the first two episodes but I am thoroughly impressed. I'm a sucker for fantasy/medival stories so I'm really enjoying this one so far. I was turned off by the [spoiler] incest scene [/spoiler] but I had to remind myself that behavior like that was fairly common (according to history) during those times.

After watching the first three episodes of Vikings and then watching this, I can say that I will not be returning to Vikings until I'm done with Game of Thrones (if at all). Game of Thrones is far superior IMAO.

I'm anime'd in "Hellsing" 09 - at 9:45 they describe THE KEEP and seconds later they start doing terrible things to "Paul Wilson." (At least that's what the character's called in the English dub. Don't know about the original Japanese script.)

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/upco..._week.html

Yes there is already another thread called Dark city...but that ones for general info and marketing purposes. It's time for a new thread to discuss the book.

First off let me say, Well Done, Sir. Well Done. Jack is back and it's the Jack I got hooked on. Dark City delivered. It works as a stand alone book, even though other events are mentioned, or of course as a part of the bigger storyline. In other words- Wheels within Wheels. This was a complete wheel that works on it's own but has parts of others in it. And it has the same thing a classic noir film has.... symmetry :whistle:

Great cultural references. I almost thought I had a "nit" with the phrase "going commando" because I thought it was from the late 90's that it hit pop culture vernacular. Friends or Seinfeld ..but I looked up the origin and found it was used before I thought. Also Pam Anderson. It would've been before Baywatch & Home Improvement so for a character to reference her could be an anachronism...but she had been in Playboy at that time and it's not hard to believe Cristin would read Playboy or even subscribe to the Playboy channel so the reference while possibly improbable is ok.

It's hard to believe the 90's are a period piece already. The normal pratfalls of such are to mock the times or focus too much on specific events from that era. With Dark City it's handled easily with Jack's love of movies and what's playing at the movie theatres. I read the part about Jack wanting to see The Doors with Cristin only hours after being notified by a friend of mine who knew Ray Manzarek of Ray's passing. And I actually felt sorry for Jack when he went to see Nothing But Trouble...ouch. Aside from a few of these references and not everybody having a mobile phone it doesn't become in your face 1991.

It's also great to see Vinnie Doughnuts becoming his own person. While it's great to see Jack back to his planning and avenging self I really like the flushing out of the "secondary" characters and want to read more on them now. Vinnie, The M...Brothers, Julio and now Dale!

So I'll finish up by saying Thank You again to FPW. It'll be a long year for me til the next installment.

Jeff

Well, I've been avoiding this forum like the plague for fear of inadvertent spoilers until I finished all the RJ & Adversary Cycle books I started back in January. Now that I've finished, I've got to say...I'm really happy I took the time to read it all.

That was probably one of the most engrossing series of novels I've read in quite a while, and Nightworld was an excellent payoff.

The only thing I wonder about--what did the novels look like (particularly Nightworld) before the revisions? I had the luck of being able to read through from start to finish with all updated/revised novels, but part of me wonders if I missed out by not having read the books in their original form.

Anyway, just wanted to send my compliments to FPW--that was an amazing ride.

I am curious how many reader's understood the reference to "Memison's - Famous for Fish Dinners" ?
It is a reference to an obscure novel by an an obscure British writer, E. R. Eddison. Eddison is probably best known for a less obscure novel, "The Worm Ouroboros". It was a cult favorite in the late 1960's. Eddison's second novel, "Mistress of Mistresses" is very difficult to comprehend. His final novel - incomplete at the time of his death, "A Fish Dinner in Memison" was competely incomprehensible to me. A few pages into the text it shifts into Greek - with no translation provided. (I guess you are supposed to have a "classical" education and know Greek...)

Second - Back in the early 1980's I met two building hackers. It was under the dome at the top of the Chrysler Building. The Hackers were two older ladies who had the hobby of visiting the non-public areas on the top of NYC buildings. They told me how to "hack" the Woolworth building. ( I did later that day!)

Florida Writer (Bob)

Wasn't there supposed to be a couple more of these comics?