[Potential Spoilers]

The first compendium idea is one that I think I overheard being discussed at one of the G.U.'s

I can't remember exactly who asked it, maybe Marc, or Dave, or Lisa, or Susan, or Tony (one of the original core group), but I'm pretty sure one of them asked Paul if the Japanese Secret Society (with all of the self-maimed self-mutilated monks) in Black Wind was in any way connected to The Otherness, in that through the excision of different limbs etc., the monks were, in essence, physically making themselves look like the evil monsters contained in the otherness realm(s). I can't remember Paul's exact reply to this query/comment, but I think it was something positive.

The second point is more of a fanboy connection...

...In that it was a supposition of mine that if Black Wind is in the same reality as the Adversary Cycle, then the Japanese Katanas (swords) (which one character inherits from his Senseii), which seem to carry a racial memory in their make-up, might possibly have been forged using a small piece of Glaecken's original sword? Food for thought.

And on a final note, my recently rewritten and expanded short story "The Night Jaunt of F.P. Willenby" is now available for reading at http://www.astoundingtales.com

Please note that it is my homage to both H.P. Lovecraft and F. Paul Wilson.

Mike

***SPOILER ALERT***

**** GATEWAYS SPOILER ALERT****

*** SPOILER ALERT FOR GATEWAYS****






I just finished GATEWAYS for the first time. I loved it! I finished it and yelled "Thank you, Paul" out loud! FPW, did you hear it? Did you feel a psychic nudge around 9:00 PM on Sunday, Dec. 5?

I'm loving the incorporation of the chew wasps, a very NIGHTWORLD phenomenon, into the RJ novels. Makes me wonder if NIGHTWORLD will undergo any revisions to add references to RJ's adventures that hadn't existed, at least on the printed page, when NIGHTWORLD was first published.

Quote:My mistake, Kenji, I meant to say that I bought the movie, on DVD. I think I'm gonna watch it tonight, after I finish "Alien" for the millionth time. (Everyone in "Alien" looks so YOUNG! It was made 25 years ago!!)

Very coincidental. I watched it just last night on Bravo.

I'm hoping to check it out and went into this thread looking for feedback. From the trailers, I expected something that was going to jumble up themes with action, but from the reviews it's not going to do that, so I'll gosee.

flyboy707 Wrote:For those of us who flew them, I found them a NIGHTMARE. Serious controllability issues (which resulted in an additional huge amount of money being spent to make them stable) Constant engine flame-outs (or complete destruction of the engine that caused many losses of aircraft), avionics failures, defensive packages that were easily defeated, constant problems with the swept-wing (mechanically and the computer control), etc etc. NONE of these issues were because of the USAF maintenenace guys (very dedicated people, who were stuck working on something that was plagued with designed problems).

Up until just a few years ago, my basic Palm Pilot had more computing power than the entire package on-board one these monstrosities! An avionics and computer upgrade made them better, but I was already flying KC-135R refuelers by then. Baxx, could probably give you a better insight to the maintenance nightmare, but out of the 7 we had for our squadron, usually only 2 were flyable at any given time.

A HUGE waste of tax payer's money for a plane that the USAF ABSOLUTELY DID NOT WANT OR NEED. Politics...the senator that finally pushed them down our throats happened to be from the home-state that the initial B-1A and B-1B models were built.

I remember reading, many a long year ago, that the swing-wings on the F-111's just =did not work=. One wag commented that the only good thing about the F-111's was that the damnfool Russians went and copied it! Here's how piss-poor the design was: an aircraft designed as a fighter wound up as a strategic nuclear bomber... :eek: Thank God an admiral (forget his last name, his first name was Tom) went before Congress and testified, "Senator, there isn't enough thrust in Christendom to get that thing off a flight deck."

Maggers Wrote:I never miss a Preston/Childs book. They are uniformly great and my favorite was "Thunderhead," which does not seem to be anyone else's favorite. I haven't read "Brimstone" yet. But they are all entertaining yarns, and I think you'd like them a lot, Stacy.

Looks like I'm gonna have to check that message board, too, but I bet it's not as much fun as this one!

Are those books series books? Do I need to be aware of order, or can I just start reading? I'm excited to try a new author! It's always fun to find new good books.

Biggles Wrote:Don't authors (or their publishers) take steps to avoid stealing book titles?

First off, you can't copyright a title.

Second, the swipe is usually inadvertent.

I plead guilty with Nightworld -- I'd forgotten that years earlier Robert Bloch had written a novel called Night World.

BTW, Cussler's Black Wind has a completely different plot.

maxplay Wrote:.. They all seem to follow the same plot formula, but I'll probably finish them anyway (I'm kind of anal that way).

Yup, that's exactly what I do. I start them and then I finish them just because I feel I need to, without particularly loving the experience. And yes, the plots of his stuff are all very similar.

The SOB has gone too far this time.:mad:

Has anyone seen this movie?

I saw this movie in thearer, and this evening I saw it on DVD. This is wonderful and touching movie. Directed and written by Sofia Coppola. Performed by Bill Burray and Scarlett Johansson. And most important factor is location.


Yes, Tokyo. Location is a lot of crowded cities in Tokyo. Shibuya, Akihabara, Shinjuku, Odaiba......I know those cities, of course. But from a foreigner's point of view, it look like different cities. That's awesome and amazing.

Bill Murray as Bob Harris. Bob Harris is movie star, and he visit to Tokyo for take a TV-CM. But he is mid-life crisis, and his actor life is crisis too. Scarlett Johansson as Cherlotte. Cherlotte is photographer's wife. She visit to Tokyo with husband, but she is always alone in hotel's room. When Bob met Cherlotte.......do you know what happen?

No CG, no big star, no hard action. But I like this movie. It make me comfortable and agreeable. That reason is very simple. There is only man and woman's ties.

Next is my favorite scene.

Premium Fantasy woman: Mr. Kazu sent me, premium fantasy. My stockings. Rip them.

[sounds like "lip them"]

Premium Fantasy woman: Rip my stockings. Yes, please, rip them.

Bob: What?

Premium Fantasy woman: Rip them. HEY! Rip my stocking!

Bob: Hey? Lip them? Lip them? What?

[rolling around on the floor, waving her legs in the air]

Premium Fantasy woman: Oh Mr. Harris! Don't touch me! Mr. Bob Harris! Just rip my stocking!

Hehehe.....you understood what is funny? :p

Anyway, I recommend this movie for all people.