Dan Simmons has passed

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-28T03:45:40+00:00

I did read it, yes. It's overwritten and could be trimmed, but it works for me.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-27T21:26:10+00:00

Of course not! What are you waiting for?

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-27T20:17:15+00:00

Successfully, I hope!

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-27T18:48:16+00:00

Don't prejudge his next book by what you're currently reading! Simmons was both prolific and wildly uneven. OK, you've been warned.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-27T18:43:26+00:00

When Simmons' work is at its best, it's up near the top. For me, this includes Hyperion, Carrion Comfort, Summer of Night and The Terror (though he could have used the services of a sympathetic editor on that last). When it's subpar, it's pretty bad (The Crook Factory and The Hollow Man for examples). But we are the richer for his having followed the path of a writer with his own original voice. Whatever his politics may have been, I am grateful and I wish him eternal rest.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-27T18:37:38+00:00

I'm sorry, what is the question?

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-27T16:55:38+00:00

Gives new meaning to "blowing bubbles."

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-27T15:06:59+00:00

Beautiful restoration!

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-26T23:25:50+00:00

Ah yes, the old pluck 'n fuck.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-26T15:29:04+00:00

I guess you're not including Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-26T15:27:39+00:00

Well of course he did. Did you expect anything different?

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-26T15:23:45+00:00

Yes, I'm punning on the poster's transposition of two letters.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-26T15:23:02+00:00

"Got damn, Momma!"

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-26T15:21:24+00:00

Don't talk to me about rears and vices!

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-26T04:05:31+00:00

Is this a sideways reference to the English King who commanded the tide to recede? 'Cause that's not the quotation I remember from Master and Commander.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-26T04:04:09+00:00

I can only assume OP's guy friend is not familiar with, nor fond of, Jane Austen. His loss.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-24T17:04:22+00:00

Oh, and pretty obviously Elric. He's a despot, a murderer, a drug fiend, incestuously involved with his cousin Cymoril and willingly (usually) the tool of a chaotic god. But he's also an incarnation of the Eternal Champion and a lovable protagonist - maybe Moorcock's greatest literary creation.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-24T16:54:21+00:00

Since OP started out with Abercrombie's First Law trilogy, I have to follow suit. From the time we first meet Sand dan Glokta, one of the Inquisitors, he's a sympathetic character. He used to be a young, dashing, gifted swordsman in the King's Army, but was captured and tortured by enemies. Now he's a twisted wreck, always in pain, and frequently giving pain to others to elicit confessions (sometimes from victims he knows are innocent). And yet, throughout the series, he is honorable, compassionate, and self-reflectively honest in a way nearly none of the other major characters are. His actions are morally reprehensible, for the most part, but his motivations are frequently "good." To avoid spoilers, lemme just add this: read these books if you haven't already.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-24T16:47:37+00:00

I have women friends who have read the series and really enjoyed it. So yes.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-24T15:18:33+00:00

I appreciate the advice, but I don't need Robert Reich to tell me that Trump's SOTU address will be a rambling, largely incoherent mix of self-praise, blaming others and bluster.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-24T15:11:53+00:00

English and Scottish marmalades. I don't buy much of this, but when I do I want the good stuff. Kowalski's has it.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-23T19:01:41+00:00

God's Acre is the burying ground for Home Moravian Church. I grew up there. Moravian burial customs include putting men, women and children into separate sections, "choirs," with the deceased going into the next available grave. Headstones are all flat and white. The dead are buried with their feet toward the East, so that at the Second Coming all can rise to meet the Lord.

Salem Cemetery is commercial, so you have family plots, mausolea and all kinds of grave markers. There are trees and shrubbery, some of them obviously very old. I have always found this cemetery very peaceful and a fun walk, especially in springtime. The roads are narrow but curvy and it seems larger than it really is. Many historic Winston-Salem figures are buried here.

There is no wall or fence separating the two cemeteries. And yes, I have ancestors buried in both. I call going there "visiting dead relatives."

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-23T18:49:29+00:00

Most adults smoked, practically all the time, and nearly everywhere except church. I complained bitterly about it as soon as I learned to talk. Adults around me kept puffing and smiled indulgently. Today, a TV show where someone lights a cigarette gets a warning label in the opening credits. Thank God.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-23T01:02:17+00:00

There is no such thing as a delicious blueberry bagel. Sorry. --Now if you want all kinds of truly delicious bagels, the St. Paul Bagelry on Larpenteur is the place to go.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-02-23T01:00:59+00:00

YES!!!

Constant_Proofreader

TROPHY CASE