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Re: Two Book Recommendations

Newsgroups rec.arts.sf.written
From djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt)
Subject Re: Two Book Recommendations
Message-ID <ntBzA0.1I8p@kithrup.com> (permalink)
Date 2015-08-19 13:10 +0000
References <1sn5pe732ddib.wf2hwr4m6ji2.dlg@40tude.net>
Organization Kithrup Enterprises, Ld.

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In article <1sn5pe732ddib.wf2hwr4m6ji2.dlg@40tude.net>,
Brian M. Scott <b.scott@csuohio.edu> wrote:
>A little while back Graydon Saunders dropped in and
>mentioned a couple of books that he’s self-published.  I’ve
>now read them, and I can wholeheartedly recommend them.

Seconded.  Graydon dropped in because he asked me, in email,
whether rasf-w was still alive, and I said, More or less.
This was after I'd read his books (having found them mentioned on
Patricia Wrede's blog).

I sit in awe of Graydon's ability to do things with words.

>For starters, they’re probably like nothing else that
>you’ve ever read.  In the author’s words, the first of
>these tales of the Commonweal is
>
.....

>Graydon’s voice is unique in my experience, and it requires
>the reader to pay attention, but the payoff is more than
>worth it.  However, I must note that if you don’t like
>being dropped into the deep end of the pool to figure
>things out as you go along, you should probably give these
>books a wide berth.

Except if you can get past page two or three, you're hooked.  Or
at least I was.
>
>The setting is very, very, very far in the future ...

Actually, not.  A different world entirely, not future Earth at
all.  I asked him about this, and if it's a different world why
does it use the French Revolutionary calendar?  And he said, To
clue the reader that the society depicted did undergo a profound
revolution a few centuries before.

>....Graydon has clearly put a
>lot of thought into the consequences of the long-ago
>development that he postulates, and the resulting world
>makes increasingly good sense the more we (slowly) learn
>about it and its past.
>
>The first book is the story of a military expedition by the
>minimal forces not already engaged in dealing with an
>existential threat to the Commonweal.  If you can’t abide
>military fantasy, it’s not for you, but there’s a lot more
>to it than that: it’s also an introduction to the world of
>the Commonweal and to some of its inhabitants.
>
>The second book takes place shortly after the end of the
>first and features (among others) some of the same
>characters.  It’s not a true sequel, and one could read and
>enjoy it without having read the first, but I don’t
>recommend this: having read the first really does add to
>one’s enjoyment of the second and probably also makes the
>second a bit easier to follow.

The second book does share a few characters with the first.  I
got two pages into it and observed a character I'd seen before,
not named by name but described by chosen appearance, and I said,
"Oh, that's [Name,] good; everything's going to be all right."
This took Graydon back a bit.
>
>The second is a very different kind of story from the
>first, being the story of an experiment in training a group
>of sorcerers come so late to their power that they would
>almost certainly not survive the traditional training
>methods.  In the process we get to see a remarkable amount
>of well thought out magical engineering.  And this book,
>unlike the first, is laugh-aloud funny in spots.

The first is a battle story, set out in gory detail.  The second
is, almost, a school story, in which the students are taught what
amounts to Zen physics.

>The characters in both are fully developed, and many of
>them are very easy to like – even the ones who ought to
>scare the pants off any reasonable person.

Like [Name] mentioned above.
>
>For information on how to obtain these books see Graydon’s
>blog post at
>
><http://dubiousprospects.blogspot.ca/2015/05/committing-book-again.html>.

I wrote a review of the second book and posted it here, a while
back.  I compared his prose to the artwork of the Book of Kells.
Gosh he's good.

He's now doing the final tidying-up on a third, hoping to publish
next spring.  Several more are in the works.

/gleefully rubs hands together

-- 
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the gmail edress.
Kithrup's all spammy and hotmail's been hacked.

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Two Book Recommendations "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-08-19 00:48 -0400
  Re: Two Book Recommendations wdstarr@panix.com (William December Starr) - 2015-08-19 03:45 -0400
    Re: Two Book Recommendations djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-08-19 13:12 +0000
    Re: Two Book Recommendations graydonish@gmail.com - 2015-08-19 07:23 -0700
      Re: Two Book Recommendations "Michael R N Dolbear" <me@privacy.net> - 2015-08-19 16:40 +0100
      Re: Two Book Recommendations djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-08-19 15:51 +0000
      Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2015-08-20 10:42 +0800
  Re: Two Book Recommendations djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-08-19 13:10 +0000
    Re: Two Book Recommendations "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-08-19 12:25 -0400
      Re: Two Book Recommendations djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-08-19 16:59 +0000
  Re: Two Book Recommendations David DeLaney <daviddelaney@earthlink.net> - 2015-08-19 11:47 -0500
    Re: Two Book Recommendations djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-08-19 17:01 +0000
    Re: Two Book Recommendations Lynn McGuire <lmc@winsim.com> - 2015-08-19 14:01 -0500
      Re: Two Book Recommendations djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-08-19 20:08 +0000
      Re: Two Book Recommendations Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2015-08-19 13:23 -0700
  Re: Two Book Recommendations Magewolf <Magewolf@nc.rr.com> - 2015-08-21 10:36 -0400
    Re: Two Book Recommendations djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-08-21 14:57 +0000
    Re: Two Book Recommendations "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-08-21 14:27 -0400
      Re: Two Book Recommendations djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-08-21 20:01 +0000
    Re: Two Book Recommendations David DeLaney <daviddelaney@earthlink.net> - 2015-08-21 15:20 -0500
      Re: Two Book Recommendations goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) - 2015-08-22 07:17 +0000
      Re: Two Book Recommendations Magewolf <Magewolf@nc.rr.com> - 2015-08-22 15:50 -0400
        Re: Two Book Recommendations djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-08-22 21:10 +0000
          Re: Two Book Recommendations Magewolf <Magewolf@nc.rr.com> - 2015-08-22 19:23 -0400
            Re: Two Book Recommendations djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-08-23 00:46 +0000
              Re: Two Book Recommendations Magewolf <Magewolf@nc.rr.com> - 2015-08-23 10:41 -0400
            Re: Two Book Recommendations wollman@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) - 2015-08-24 02:01 +0000
              Re: Two Book Recommendations djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2015-08-24 02:18 +0000
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Cryptoengineer <treifamily@gmail.com> - 2015-08-23 22:24 -0500
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Cryptoengineer <treifamily@gmail.com> - 2015-08-23 22:26 -0500
                Re: Two Book Recommendations wollman@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) - 2015-08-24 17:23 +0000
                Re: Two Book Recommendations David DeLaney <daviddelaney@earthlink.net> - 2015-08-24 19:01 -0500
              Re: Two Book Recommendations William Vetter <mdhangton@gmail.com> - 2015-08-24 12:11 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations David DeLaney <daviddelaney@earthlink.net> - 2015-08-24 18:55 -0500
                Re: Two Book Recommendations William Vetter <mdhangton@gmail.com> - 2015-08-24 20:18 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations wollman@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) - 2015-08-25 01:49 +0000
                Re: Two Book Recommendations William Vetter <mdhangton@gmail.com> - 2015-08-24 22:29 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Cryptoengineer <treifamily@gmail.com> - 2015-08-24 19:55 -0500
              Re: Two Book Recommendations Steve Coltrin <spcoltri@omcl.org> - 2015-08-24 18:00 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations wdstarr@panix.com (William December Starr) - 2015-10-20 08:36 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations petertrei@gmail.com - 2015-10-20 06:20 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) - 2015-10-20 13:46 +0000
                Re: Two Book Recommendations petertrei@gmail.com - 2015-10-20 07:33 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-20 09:58 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Lawrence Watt-Evans <lwe@sff.net> - 2015-10-20 14:02 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-20 11:34 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2015-10-21 03:34 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "Raymond Daley" <raymond.daley@ntlworld.com> - 2015-10-21 11:45 +0100
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2015-10-21 18:19 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Lawrence Watt-Evans <lwe@sff.net> - 2015-10-22 00:07 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-10-21 22:41 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations lal_truckee <lal_truckee@yahoo.com> - 2015-10-22 07:08 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2015-10-22 18:27 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations wdstarr@panix.com (William December Starr) - 2015-10-23 08:16 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-23 08:24 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations petertrei@gmail.com - 2015-10-23 08:36 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-10-23 14:50 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Lawrence Watt-Evans <lwe@sff.net> - 2015-10-23 17:18 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations lal_truckee <lal_truckee@yahoo.com> - 2015-10-26 16:26 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2015-10-22 16:24 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-10-22 19:46 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2015-10-23 09:30 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> - 2015-10-22 22:14 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2015-10-23 09:31 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Moriarty <blues95@ivillage.com> - 2015-10-23 15:24 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2015-10-23 16:03 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Moriarty <blues95@ivillage.com> - 2015-10-23 16:36 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2015-10-23 19:38 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-23 22:46 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2015-10-24 03:42 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "John F. Eldredge" <john@jfeldredge.com> - 2015-10-24 16:27 +0000
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2015-10-24 13:36 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2015-10-24 15:24 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-24 16:21 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations wdstarr@panix.com (William December Starr) - 2015-10-25 17:14 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2015-10-26 10:51 +0800
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-10-26 12:01 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-26 12:05 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-10-26 16:42 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-10-26 19:52 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2015-10-27 10:45 +0800
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-24 10:51 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2015-10-24 20:00 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2015-10-24 23:33 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2015-10-24 23:21 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-10-25 01:07 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations wdstarr@panix.com (William December Starr) - 2015-10-25 17:04 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-24 20:50 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2015-10-24 23:21 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-10-25 14:20 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2015-10-26 10:56 +0800
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-25 21:50 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-10-26 16:28 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-26 14:22 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-10-26 17:32 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations petertrei@gmail.com - 2015-10-26 14:52 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-26 15:09 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Joy Beeson <jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid> - 2015-10-27 18:08 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations petertrei@gmail.com - 2015-10-28 06:19 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-28 06:38 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations petertrei@gmail.com - 2015-10-28 07:11 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) - 2015-10-28 14:59 +0000
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-28 08:17 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Lawrence Watt-Evans <lwe@sff.net> - 2015-10-28 11:47 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations petertrei@gmail.com - 2015-10-28 09:01 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations David Johnston <David@block.net> - 2015-10-28 13:26 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-10-26 18:13 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2015-10-27 10:47 +0800
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2015-10-24 06:03 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations David Johnston <David@block.net> - 2015-10-21 16:50 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) - 2015-10-21 23:11 +0000
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Lawrence Watt-Evans <lwe@sff.net> - 2015-10-21 11:41 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) - 2015-10-21 16:03 +0000
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-21 13:08 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2015-10-20 09:40 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2015-10-21 08:13 +0800
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-10-20 18:21 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "John F. Eldredge" <john@jfeldredge.com> - 2015-10-21 00:43 +0000
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-10-20 18:50 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2015-10-21 10:13 +0800
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "Gary R. Schmidt" <grschmidt@acm.org> - 2015-10-21 12:34 +1100
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2015-10-21 10:15 +0800
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "Gary R. Schmidt" <grschmidt@acm.org> - 2015-10-21 16:35 +1100
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Moriarty <blues95@ivillage.com> - 2015-10-23 15:20 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2015-10-24 08:59 +0800
                Re: Two Book Recommendations wdstarr@panix.com (William December Starr) - 2015-10-23 09:17 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations lal_truckee <lal_truckee@yahoo.com> - 2015-10-20 10:24 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-10-20 18:07 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-10-20 21:20 -0400
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Steve Coltrin <spcoltri@omcl.org> - 2015-10-20 08:02 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie@sometimes.sessile.org> - 2015-10-23 02:32 +0100
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kay Shapero <kay@invalid.net> - 2015-10-20 22:59 -0700
              Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2015-08-25 11:07 +0800
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Cryptoengineer <treifamily@gmail.com> - 2015-08-24 22:40 -0500
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-08-25 08:06 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2015-08-26 11:44 +0800
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-08-26 08:54 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-08-26 09:06 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations petertrei@gmail.com - 2015-08-26 09:24 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2015-08-27 10:25 +0800
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-08-27 04:35 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Steve Coltrin <spcoltri@omcl.org> - 2015-08-24 22:17 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2015-08-25 04:34 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2015-08-25 08:10 -0600
                Re: Two Book Recommendations petertrei@gmail.com - 2015-08-25 07:49 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2015-08-25 06:27 -0700
        Re: Two Book Recommendations Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2015-08-25 12:50 -0700
          Re: Two Book Recommendations David DeLaney <daviddelaney@earthlink.net> - 2015-08-26 01:17 -0500
            Re: Two Book Recommendations goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) - 2015-08-31 07:31 +0000
              Re: Two Book Recommendations William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> - 2015-10-20 11:57 -0700
                Re: Two Book Recommendations "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2015-10-20 15:14 -0400

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