|
Humbug Scoolbus posted:If you want really old school, H. Rider Haggard, Talbot Mundy, and Sax Rohmer were the Clancy's and Bond's of their day. At that rate you can hardly fail to mentin the Baroness Orczy and Anthony Hope. The Scarlet Pimpernel & Prisoner of Zenda are two must reads for any teenage boy/airplane fiction aficionado. They’re both short quick reads but kick more rear end per page than any ten Dan Brown-likes I’ve ever read. Payndz posted:Ha, holy poo poo! I had no idea what you were talking about until I Googled 'Richard Castle', and now I have to see this show. You really do; it's profoundly good fun.
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2010 20:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 03:40 |
|
|
Raskolnikov2089 posted:I re-read Invasion every year.  There... there is another.  Every summer. Preferably at the beach.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2010 21:33
|
|
|
King Plum the Nth posted:At that rate you can hardly fail to mentin the Baroness Orczy and Anthony Hope. The Scarlet Pimpernel & Prisoner of Zenda are two must reads for any teenage boy/airplane fiction aficionado. They’re both short quick reads but kick more rear end per page than any ten Dan Brown-likes I’ve ever read. There are too many great unsung pulp writers to choose from...that is why I must read them ALLLLLLLLL!!!! Did I say that out loud?
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2010 22:14
|
|
flamingmuse posted:The first author is Barry Sadler. He is most famous for his Casca series about the guy that stabbed Jesus on the Cross and was forced to live forever and fight in war after war. Hah, I checked one of these out from my local library when I was 11 or so, and I was hooked. I think it was #8. It was awesome. However, when I tried to get the rest through interlibrary loan, they were unavailable. 
|
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2010 19:50
|
|
|
Raskolnikov2089 posted:Eric L. Harry - Yes I can point out some unbelievable aspects, but damned if his books aren't entertaining as hell. I re-read Invasion every year. My copy of Invasion is terribly proofread. Ranks change all over the place, and some things just seem out of order. I have to admit the last Green Beret alive being told that he's basically a rounding error was extremely badass.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2010 21:02
|
|
|
Paragon8 posted:My copy of Invasion is terribly proofread. Ranks change all over the place, and some things just seem out of order. The number of troops being landed don't add up either, but damned if it's not entertaining reading.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2010 04:36
|
|
|
Well, blimey: my third novel (The Secret Of Excalibur) went straight into the NYT bestsellers list from its first week on sale. So if any fellow goons helped out by buying it, thanks! (Incidentally, the second, fifth and sixth novels have SA shout-outs in them.)
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2010 10:51
|
|
|
I just skimmed the thread, but I haven't seen any mention of John Sandford, Jonathon Kellerman, James Patterson, Steve Martini or Patricia Cornwell. All of them have written numerous books that you can just sit down and read without any real thought or effort.
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2010 12:55
|
|
|
Incidentally, the author in the thread title has just announced that his first book in seven years will be published in December. It's a Jack Ryan/John Clark story about the War on Terror, it's called Dead Or Alive, and based on Clancy's last few books I fully expect a twelve-chapter rant about healthcare, comparisons of Arab testicles to raisins, and a climactic battle in which the evil terrorist army is obliterated in half a paragraph.
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2010 13:55
|
|
|
Payndz posted:Incidentally, the author in the thread title has just announced that his first book in seven years will be published in December. It's a Jack Ryan/John Clark story about the War on Terror, it's called Dead Or Alive, and based on Clancy's last few books I fully expect a twelve-chapter rant about healthcare, comparisons of Arab testicles to raisins, and a climactic battle in which the evil terrorist army is obliterated in half a paragraph. According to Wikipedia, this is a Jack Ryan Jr. book. Won't be buying.
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2010 14:00
|
|
kalleth posted:According to Wikipedia, this is a Jack Ryan Jr. book. Won't be buying. What if it has Ding Chavez-Clark Jr?
|
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2010 20:50
|
|
|
Payndz posted:Incidentally, the author in the thread title has just announced that his first book in seven years will be published in December. It's a Jack Ryan/John Clark story about the War on Terror, it's called Dead Or Alive, and based on Clancy's last few books I fully expect a twelve-chapter rant about healthcare, comparisons of Arab testicles to raisins, and a climactic battle in which the evil terrorist army is obliterated in half a paragraph. I bet this last election broke his brain enough that we either get some creepy alternate reality McCain/Palin presidency or a Glenn Beckesque caricature of Obama. I fully expect this one to be even worse than Teeth of the Tiger.
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2010 21:14
|
|
|
IRQ posted:I bet this last election broke his brain enough that we either get some creepy alternate reality McCain/Palin presidency or a Glenn Beckesque caricature of Obama. After flipping through The Bear and the Dragon at my local Half-Price Books, I'd say it's a guarantee.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2010 02:55
|
|
|
Just read through a book I found at Tesco this afternoon in one sitting - it's a perfect candidate for this thread! Quantum by Tom Grace True airport fiction melded with quantum physics. Me being me, i jumped in in the middle of a series (the first one i -think- is Spyder) - and i'll be picking up the other 3 books of the series ASAP! (Also, there were three of Andy McDermotts books on the shelves in Tesco - 2 for £7, you'll be happy to know  )Edit: I only just realised as i was going to bed how ridiculous this sounds. Quantum Physics airport fiction. Read it. kalleth fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Apr 9, 2010 |
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2010 03:04
|
|
|
IRQ posted:I bet this last election broke his brain enough that we either get some creepy alternate reality McCain/Palin presidency or a Glenn Beckesque caricature of Obama. Edit, from the NYT blog" quote:Super groups: They worked for Blind Faith, the Avengers, Them Crooked Vultures and the 1992 men’s United States Olympic basketball team, so why not Tom Clancy? On Wednesday, Penguin Group said it would publish a new thriller by Mr. Clancy that would bring together many of his best-known characters from his last-quarter century of literary output. The new novel, called “Dead Or Alive” and written with his frequent collaborator Grant Blackwood, will feature the characters Jack Ryan, the C.I.A. analyst-turned-American president; his son and fellow analyst, Jack Ryan Jr.; the C.I.A. operative John Clark; his apprentice, Ding Chavez; and the agency executive Mary Pat Foley. In a statement, Penguin said the novel will pit them against “The Emir, a sadistic killer who has masterminded the most vicious terrorist attacks on the West” and who “has eluded capture by the world’s armed forces and law enforcement agencies.” “Dead Or Alive” will be released by the G. P. Putnam’s Sons imprint of Penguin on Dec. 7. flamingmuse fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Apr 9, 2010 |
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2010 04:51
|
|
|
Ahahaha, so it's actually more of a "TOM CLANCY's Ryanverse: Dead or Alive with Grant Blackwood" than a book written by Tom Clancy.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2010 13:18
|
|
|
Phil Moscowitz posted:Ahahaha, so it's actually more of a "TOM CLANCY's Ryanverse: Dead or Alive with Grant Blackwood" than a book written by Tom Clancy. I dont understand why they don't just put GRANT BLACKWOOD on the cover instead of TOM CLANCY, when tis clear that TOM CLANCY didnt put his pen anywhere near that drat book. Oh wait, i do. $.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2010 13:36
|
|
|
kalleth posted:I dont understand why they don't just put GRANT BLACKWOOD on the cover instead of TOM CLANCY, when tis clear that TOM CLANCY didnt put his pen anywhere near that drat book. It's kind of like Alistair MacLean. Which is interesting, because he hasn't been mentioned yet and was really the predecessor of all these "Men's Fiction" thriller-writers like Clancy and Cussler. He wrote, for instance, The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, Ice Station Zebra, etc., along with a lot of others. (Incidently, some of these are well worth seeking out if you've never read them, particularly his earlier books. His first is HMS Ulysses, a fictionalised version of his real experiences on a light cruiser doing escort duty during WWII.) Anyway, after he died, he still had some book treatments lying around and (as is common now even before a popular author's death) the publishers churned them out as "Alastair MacLean's XXXX". Who did they get to do this? Someone called Alastair MacNeill, apparently chosen not because of any writing talent but because his name looked like Alastair MacLean.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2010 16:48
|
|
|
kalleth posted:I dont understand why they don't just put GRANT BLACKWOOD on the cover instead of TOM CLANCY, when tis clear that TOM CLANCY didnt put his pen anywhere near that drat book. The Op-Center books are awesome about this, they don't even list the actual author on the cover.  (written by Jeff Rovin)
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2010 18:24
|
|
|
Phil Moscowitz posted:The Op-Center books are awesome about this, they don't even list the actual author on the cover. I have Jeff Rovin's book Fatalis (The book they based the SyFy movie Sabretooth on). It's not too bad for the "Ancient Carnivore Defrosted in Modern California" genre...
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2010 20:04
|
|
|
flamingmuse posted:This is the only thread in the world where I'll defend a Tom Clancy book. Teeth of the Tiger had a bad rear end premise: a completely off the map privately funded anti-terrorist organization actually killing terrorists. While Jr. is not his dad, there were some great things in there including a stack of blank Presidential pardons already signed. The stuff around the edges got silly, but the terrorist networks working with drug dealers and the actual team was pretty cool. Even giving a pass to the *Character* Jr. thing, which on its own is pretty unforgivable and even more creatively bankrupt than airport fiction usually is, Teeth of the Tiger was awful awful AMERICA, gently caress YEAH! wankery. Rainbow Six was also pretty stupid in this regard as the villains turn out about halfway through to be cartoonish Scooby Doo style villains hellbent on killing everyone on the planet to live in an environmentalist utopia, but it was at least entertaining warporn during the hostage situations. Basically Clancy ran out of good directions to go in the Ryanverse after his main character became president.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2010 20:25
|
|
|
Hobnob posted:It's kind of like Alistair MacLean. Which is interesting, because he hasn't been mentioned yet and was really the predecessor of all these "Men's Fiction" thriller-writers like Clancy and Cussler. He wrote, for instance, The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, Ice Station Zebra, etc., along with a lot of others. (Incidently, some of these are well worth seeking out if you've never read them, particularly his earlier books. His first is HMS Ulysses, a fictionalised version of his real experiences on a light cruiser doing escort duty during WWII.) "HMS Ulysses" is probably my favourite McLean book. I think I shed a tear by the end of that book, so tragic If you like that sort of thing you'll probably love "The Eagle Has Landed" by Jack Higgins, about a group of German paratroopers who make their way into the UK during WWII in an attempt to assassinate Churchill. Supposedly it's kinda-50% based on real events, it has also been made into a film starring Michael Caine.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2010 23:01
|
|
|
Humbug Scoolbus posted:I have Jeff Rovin's book Fatalis (The book they based the SyFy movie Sabretooth on). It's not too bad for the "Ancient Carnivore Defrosted in Modern California" genre... Not that I've read Fatalis, but I feel like the concept of an ancient carnivore rampaging through the US to be completely ridiculous. I mean, one out of every two people has a house full of rifles. Does California have CCW permits?
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2010 02:02
|
|
|
I liked Tom Clancy right up till Debt of Honor - though preceded almost immediately by the excellent The Sum of All Fears, Debt of Honor is where he jumped the shark for me, really. Though it had some cool poo poo with the F-22s and directed-light weapon, Debt of Honor was a horrible mix of America-hoorah and Orientalism that I just couldn't take seriously; and then it was followed by Executive Orders, where every male character starts talking in the same voice. Executive Orders is the start of the Clancy locker-room dialogue drinking game - do a shot any time a character says "you can hang a big roger on that". 
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2010 16:42
|
|
|
aiHD posted:I liked Tom Clancy right up till Debt of Honor I think I hung in there until the not written by him stuff started coming out. I remember liking Without Remorse a lot, and Executive Orders. But that was back when I was young and stupid, I should reread some Clancy to see what I think now.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2010 20:32
|
|
|
LooseChanj posted:I think I hung in there until the not written by him stuff started coming out. I remember liking Without Remorse a lot, and Executive Orders. But that was back when I was young and stupid, I should reread some Clancy to see what I think now. Red Rabbit is a newer one (2005 maybe?) but takes place in the cold war so it doesn't suck like his other new stuff. If you wanted something you hadn't read already.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2010 20:55
|
|
|
I'm wading through the Jack Reacher books and they are pretty awesome.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2010 21:23
|
|
|
Payndz posted:Well, blimey: my third novel (The Secret Of Excalibur) went straight into the NYT bestsellers list from its first week on sale. So if any fellow goons helped out by buying it, thanks! I haven't yet, but I will be, because holy poo poo Hunt For Atlantis was fun. withak posted:I'm wading through the Jack Reacher books and they are pretty awesome. Yeah, the Reacher books, so far, are pretty much the apotheosis of the thriller for me. I'm not that far into the series as a whole and there have been slow points (does Tripwire get any better?), but Die Trying absolutely hooked me.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2010 11:54
|
|
|
LooseChanj posted:I think I hung in there until the not written by him stuff started coming out. I remember liking Without Remorse a lot, and Executive Orders. But that was back when I was young and stupid, I should reread some Clancy to see what I think now. Without Remorse is still an excellent read, mostly because it avoids all his neocon ramblings.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2010 17:01
|
|
|
I'd say Without Remorse and Red Storm Rising are his two best. Funny enough, neither have anything to do with his main universe. Also Debt of Honor completely ripped the "Surprise carrier attack with a carrier that's half fixed" from Red Storm Rising.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2010 21:46
|
|
withak posted:I'm wading through the Jack Reacher books and they are pretty awesome. Chock full of minor factual errors though. His research seems to be limited to "poo poo I heard from a guy in a bar".
|
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2010 23:01
|
|
|
Smiling Jack posted:Chock full of minor factual errors though. His research seems to be limited to "poo poo I heard from a guy in a bar". The error that bothered me was in Die Trying, during the sniping competition. Reacher shows off by putting six bullets in a tree, and the six bullets spell out a head-sized capital B, for Beau Borken. Except that there's no way to arrange six dots into a readable approximation of the letter B, especially not the way it's described. Reacher would have to draw a line that curved in two places, with three bullets.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2010 09:43
|
|
|
What.. You don't think Reacher is MAN ENOUGH to do something like that? 
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2010 12:45
|
|
|
Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:What.. You don't think Reacher is MAN ENOUGH to do something like that? Later in the book, I was half convinced that Child was leading up to a scene where Reacher was going to shoot Garber's bullet out of the air. It didn't come to pass, but... I might have let Reacher get away with that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2010 14:39
|
|
|
A friend introduced me to the Reacher series by saying "Jack Reacher is the man Chuck Norris wishes he could be, when he grows up." That kinda summed up the entirety of the series for me before I even cracked a book.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2010 15:32
|
|
|
Nuclear Tourist posted:The Devil's Alternative I actually did spy that novel in my Dad's bookshelf the other day and immediately thought of this thread. So it's worth reading, you say? Is it more on the realistic side than Clancy and his ilk, for example?
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2010 18:46
|
|
|
Magnificent Quiver posted:Not that I've read Fatalis, but I feel like the concept of an ancient carnivore rampaging through the US to be completely ridiculous. I mean, one out of every two people has a house full of rifles. In theory yes, in practice no. But even in CA it's not too hard to own a rifle or shotgun. Much as I loved World War Z in the airport-fiction genre, the spread of zombies does stretch the disbelief a bit. Each person just has to kill one zombie on average before getting bitten themselves to avoid growth of the zombie population. In a country whose civilian gun market sells well north of 10,000,000 a year that doesn't seem difficult.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2010 22:18
|
|
|
Shadowborn posted:I actually did spy that novel in my Dad's bookshelf the other day and immediately thought of this thread. So it's worth reading, you say? Is it more on the realistic side than Clancy and his ilk, for example? It's been maybe 5 years since I read it so the details are blurry but I'll go out on a slight limb and say yes, in any case I do remember that I really enjoyed it. His novels aren't so much military chest-pounding bravado and techno babble like Clancy is prone to but rather more subtle behind-the-scenes stuff often involving CIA, KGB and MI6. Ask your dad if you can read it!
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2010 22:31
|
|
|
Captain von Trapp posted:In theory yes, in practice no. But even in CA it's not too hard to own a rifle or shotgun. On that note, are there any Red Dawn-style military novels? I feel like Tom Clancy never covered a good American insurgency.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2010 23:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 03:40 |
|
|
Magnificent Quiver posted:On that note, are there any Red Dawn-style military novels? I feel like Tom Clancy never covered a good American insurgency.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2010 00:23
|
|
