👿🔱😈.. Ive been trying to finish this book series since the 90s.. My friend read it and said i had to check it out..i thought the cover was cool so i gave it a chance.. I was thinking it would be a medeival story about a torturer.. Nope..a future world with make believe Concepts and words that the reader is supposed to understand what the author is saying and trying to convey... the author wants you to piece together his Little Riddles so you can figure out what the book is about and whats going on.. sadly this is a lot of the older Science Fiction and Fantasy Books that I've read from the past especially the 60s and 70s books.. 2 overly abstract in complicated for the reader... the author assumes that the reader will know what they are thinking or the author is being a dick and just making it hard for the reader to understand.. I wouldn't recommend it as a good read you'll probably end up like I did the same to yourself what the f is this about and what's going on

Attempted the audiobook dozens of times on KZfaq. There’s something bout falling asleep to first person narratives that I really struggle with altho every other aspect of the novel is right up my alley. The opening description of the necropolis n its tombs n mausoleum are really great. I just struggle with first person story telling when I’m tryin to fall asleep Think I’m gonna try it one more time tonight n then I think il try n get a paperback n read it myself.

Sounds like they were riffing on Kirk's trial in Undiscovered Country. I always loved that film because it illuminates the line between ignorant prejudice and hatred born from personal trauma. And even though some fans didn't like that, I appreciate that nuance especially considering Kirk's outright prejudice against Klingons in TOS.

Shadow of the Torturer is _supposed_ to be thoroughly disorienting on its own. You really have to read all the books to becoming truly oriented, and even then, it's not all immediately apparent. This series is DEEP. Book of the New Sun is a truly great work that requires study to fully ingest and appreciate. Those mysteries for which you desire resolution? They only multiply. It's only after it's all done and you have time to think about it, and maybe read what others have said about it, that answers start to emerge. For instance, the building that the Torturer's Guild occupies (the Matachin Tower)...did you know that it's a defunct space ship? The clues are all these, but the book never _tells_ you that, because Severian doesn't know that. And no, it doesn't eventually become a plot point. It's just a thing that's there, a clue to the hidden layers of the series and the world it creates. Wolfe invents new words in these books which are constructed from the roots of much older words, and this itself mirrors the world he has created, while at the same time disconnecting the reader from their familiar reality. I agree with your friends who consider this to be their favorite work of all time (including the entire cycle). It's one of those things that grows within you through contemplation.

I knew what this book was, immediately, from the title of this video.

Excellent video. Please keep going. It is worth it. TBOTNS I first read when released when in my teens. Blew me away. And when you re read it... WOW ! It is one of my favorite ever book series. I keenly await your review of Claw. :)

The whole series is great, read it when it first came out...

Thank you for saying Sadako's name correctly. I've watched other reviewers, and they pronounced her name like Sue-dah-ko, even after watching the Japanese version where the pronunciation can be heard.

By sheer chance, I just found it on ebay for 3 dollars.

Also, Daniel’s channel is wonderful. I watch for his Lafferty content and then some. I am enjoying your channel as well and look forward to exploring your videos on non-Lafferty topics as well. Thanks for your videos.

Love this channel

I just listened to the audiobook, but I think I’ll need a second read just as you suggested… if I can get my hands on a copy

I really enjoyed this one as well. It's almost a cozy horror, if that's a thing. 😅

That intro absolutely cracked me up. Best laugh I've had in a while, so thanks for that! Yes, Terry Gilliam is one of my all-time favorite directors (along with Guillermo del Toro, Panos Cosmatos and a few others), and my favorite of his films is the Dreamers Trilogy, in which he tackles three different dreamers at a different stage of their life--the child in 'Time Bandits', the middle-aged man in 'Brazil', and the old man in 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'. The latter also can be seen as restarting the cycle but with a girl this time, as Sarah Polley's character accompanies the Baron and learns to become a dreamer. But getting back to the cursed doll trope, I don't know how much you're interested in music with speculative themes, but I'll tell you the absolutely scariest song I've ever heard is about a cursed doll, "Christine" by the band Tarnation. There's actually quite a lot of music that deals with speculative themes--horror, of course, but also science fiction. I've found hundreds of them, including a few albums' worth of songs about Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' universe alone. The list is longer than you think, ha ha ha ha! Longer than you think! (That's a little Stephen King joke. I'm sure you'll get the reference.😉) Anyway, enjoy your vacation!

I think the reason Dr Haber can see the changes after the second dream is that George had a dream that changed Dr Haber. But then I also think George didn't die, but passed out and undid the nuclear war.

Academia + Entertainment = Acatainment There was also a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode that involved a doll. Don't remember if it was cursed or if the person was just insane. Then you reminded me why I picked up that Orbit 5 paperback, lol.

This video made me chuckle several times, starting with the doll scare.😂 Thanks for another shout out! I agree 100% about these platforms occupying a space between academia and entertainment. And part two of my response video is exactly about this emerging discussion about Lafferty in that space! It's getting spooky how much we're anticipating each other at this point haha! (Oh and Lafferty has a little doll horror subplot in his incredible and incredibly weird s.f. story 'Thieving Bear Planet' - unsurprisingly introduced by Jeff VanerMeer in the Best Of Lafferty volume.)

Drippy intro

Though not a cursed doll story, but speaking to the object haunting the person's life. How about the old story of 'The Monkey's Paw'...I think there is a version of the story in the old 'Tales from the Crypt' movie...I also recall the old cursed doll story from Alfred Hitchcock show "You're not very nice", "I don't think I like you"! Coincidentally, I just stumbled upon the movie PIN about an anatomy doll...

Holy sh.. that jump scare got me ...

Yeah, agreed. Bradbury tweaked the heck out the simplest of ideas. His stories relied mostly on style, but what style he had. Some of my best memories of speculative fiction came from this guy.

Bradbury simply has to be read.

I really enjoyed this story as well. Too bad the Bradbury Theater version seems weak. I'll still check it out though.

I just started discovering Zelazny and I read "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" a few days ago. It's so wonderfully dense and rich and complicated. There are elements of it that felt "of their time" in a bad way to me, like a white male power fantasy... but, like you said, unreliable narrator! When Gallinger suddenly reveals that he's also a judo and jiu-jitsu expert and knocks out the huge guy trying to keep him from entering the temple, I rolled my eyes. But, knowing what we now know, he might have faked being knocked out. What I really love is the irony. Gallinger rebelled against his missionary father, who was the whole reason he was the way he was. He spent his life learning about other religions instead of preaching Christianity.. but look what he ends up doing! I'm also intrigued by the wonderful Hannes Bok illustration. Unlike some illustrators, Bok read every story he illustrated multiple times. Everything he did was on purpose. So why'd he paint a white rose instead of red? It must mean something...

Michael Abels' score for this series is serviceable. Nicest thing I can say about an otherwise torturous piece of "entertainment." Dime novels have more believable characterization. Recipe books have clearer plotlines. The Tooth Fairy's lore is more internally consistent. A warehouse full of cheese graters features fewer holes. All of that on top of a budget equal to more than a dozen Godzilla Minus One's with nothing to show for it, DeviantArt shipping fan fic levels of writing, horrendous fight choreography, bland cinematography, performances that make high school plays seem trained. It isn't art. It isn't entertainment. It is a hollow pretense for its showrunner to pretend she has something to put over the franchise's creator by stamping her name on story elements within this universe that happened first chronologically in her show. It is beyond pathetic. It is not Star Wars. Period. Oh. And campfires. In spaaaaaaaaaace. Because reasons. This show is unmitigated tripe and will have all the timelessness of a Stage IV cancer diagnosis. The OT and EU are canon and more than good enough.

I like to look at Kafka via a literal interpretation and a metaphorical one (Metamorphosis as "gregor is actually a giant cockroach" and "gregor's dead" making it a story about grief, for an example). Seeing what is presented literally, The Castle could be a burocratical hell where nobody actually knows what is happening, cause and effect work in reverse, everyone can only see what has happened, and define a cause for it through their biases, preconceptions and life experiences. While at the start of the book K seems to be more questioning and defying of such way of thinking, by the end he felt much more comfortable with their reversed way of thinking, so I feel that, if the book was complete, it'd walk towards him fitting in even further, until he was eventually accepted into the village. I'm also of the idea that Klamm isn't even real, just an imaginary figure the villagers and castle people worship, and they believe must be out there, otherwise how would the system be running? But at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if Klamm was real and just wants things to be simple and for K to do his job, as he finds it necessary. Would be a slightly comedical ending to this purgatory, but not fitting for Kafka, so this is probably my bad writing speaking. However, in the same vein as there is worship for Klamm, Frieda is also very worshiped, so I felt the direction it could take was of the parallel between how K is a firm believer in Frieda's holiness, but disrespectful of Klamm's. Pepi to Frieda, K to Klamm, perhaps they were indeed more alike than it seemed. Thinking of it as a metaphor, I feel mostly that it speaks of people waiting for rapture to come. They're all confident that they're right, they're the victims, but someone up there may one day come and save them from the hell that is their life. I don't see it necessarily as religious in nature, but even without a clear faith in God, sometimes we are expecting things to get better, that something will happen, someone with more power will change the status quo, perhaps one could even argue it is about politics, even. Out of all unfinished books I read, I think this is the one I'd wish for its completed edition to exist, if I got a genie in a bottle. (or I could be smart and wish for all incomplete books to have been completed instead and make it better for everyone) I just finished reading it and had to find someone talking about it to hear some differing opinions, sort my own, and write some about it, because it really was interesting to me. Some of the thoughts and realizations I had here were thanks to your commentary, so thank you for the video.

Deathhunter by Ian Watson

I dont think she ran iut of bullets. I think the devil or whatever made it so she couldnt shoot it.

Just finished book 1, time to continue the thread…..

I liked the mystery unfolding but was hoping for more towards the end. The opening and case itself were compelling but they kept putting a hat on a hat. You could tell where it was going to go too. Despite its flaws, it was definitely unique and I hope more experimental stuff gets put out there.

I'd really like to read something from Harrison. Not sure where to start with his novels, i should look through some of my anthologies and look for this story or another short story of his. Great review, I'm intrigued.

Haven’t had time to fully watch the video, but I really loved the film. My girlfriend was disappointed that it wasn’t maybe a bit more complex or narratively tight - but I basically just took it as a really high end episode of The X-Files and had a blast. I think it’s a great film, just not one where you’re supposed to pick apart the plot or anything. Does have great symbolism and meaning behind it though. It explores topics like kids (girls, specifically) growing up in a way that is hard to explain but still evokes something

Haven't read Harrison's short fiction but I've read many of his novels and they have a flavor of A Roadside Picnic or The Southern Reach.

Your channel is awesome man! Loved the review and the movie. Keep it up!

I remember when you first joined the fbi, I think it was your (23 birthday) we laughed, just me, but not she - that line from long legs implied he was living with them for a long time.

I turned off the sound and am letting your video play out so I don't hear spoilers. Goodness, Norman Bates is so iconic I immediately thought that b&w picture of the director looked a serial killer! I have heard good reviews of Blackcoat's Daughter, but I've seen the other two. Gretel and Hansel was ok, but a bit meh for me. (People who think it is FEMINISM GONE MAD are ignorant of the witch=woman medieval theme) Redlettermedia channel recommended Pretty Things. I didn't get it and the end was boring. I kept waiting and waiting for some kind of conclusion until the credits finished. Both films were very atmospheric and slow, leaving a lot of the plot up to the audience to construct. Its curious how many of the director's films seem very focused on a spooky female.

I felt some heavy twin peaks vibes. The silver ball in the doll heads was very similar to the Tulpa and the gold balls. That wood cabin felt like the black lodge. Nick Cage would make a great killer bob.

Greta and Hansel sounds like some woke revisionism.

Loved the Kiernan Shipka scene at the ward! She was in Oz Perkins' film "The Blackcoat's Daughter" and I love when directors use the same actors over time à la David Lynch.

Loved your interpretation ❤❤❤❤

Oh man a book shelf with what looks like a complete set of DAW paperbacks with a pile of ACE doubles on top. Bravo to you my man.

Thought-provoking as usual.

Hello, regarding J.P. Hogan, his fans are out here, were called Hogan-heads. We do meet in a park in Dromahaire Ireland every year on July 12th. You’re on the right path with Inherit the Stars! Great book.

The story sounds a little bit like the anthropologists that studied the Amazon tribes in Yanomamo (bestseller from 1968).

i think you'd love to watch this vid yourself once you finish the series and see how things truly where in retrospect, this is prob of the main reasons its so popular to reread

Dosadi Experiment is one of my fave Sci Fi covers. My Heinlein/Herbert section is sizable. Heinlein is about 80% complete, this video showed me what Herbert I am missing. (Yeah, just bought Eye, and don’t know anything about it either.)

I had no idea that Frank Herbert's imagination extended beyond Dune. My loss, no doubt.

I used to really enjoy James P. Hogan; he's a very thorough writer of "hard" science fiction. "Thrice Upon a Time" is a rigourous look into time travel. "Inherit the Stars" is also quite compelling. I still, occasionally, reading the prologue to "Code of the Lifemaker" which is fun, but that's it.

Stopped the video halfway cause i now want to read this book. But i think the description of that dream machine is similar to a technology depicted in the Swedish scifi movie Aniara. Could be wrong in the end tho, hehe. Now i’ll check out the Hard Boiled video, as I’ve actually read that one.

'Inherit the Stars' cover is one of my favourite artists as well! The Giants trilogy, of which 'Inherit the Stars' is the first, was a fun read back in the day. Want to reread again, over 40 years later. I think he may have added a late novel or two to the series. James P. Hogan had a few controversial stances later in life. Really enjoyed 'The Black Cloud'. Hoyle is a famous astronomer.