BotM Poll: March 2021

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1.Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson	6	19.35%
2. Wired Love Ella Thayer	8	25.81%
3. The Expert Sword-Man's Companion by Donald McBane	5	16.13%
4. Carrier Wave by Robert Brockway	12	38.71%
Total:	21 votes

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Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

Vote early, vote often.
You can vote for more than one book. So vote for as many books as you'd like to read.

1.Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

quote:

Treasure Island (originally The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys)[1] is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "buccaneers and buried gold." Its influence is enormous on popular perceptions of pirates, including such elements as treasure maps marked with an "X", schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen bearing parrots on their shoulders.[2]

As one of the most frequently dramatised of all novels, Treasure Island was originally considered a coming-of-age story and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action. It was originally serialised in the children's magazine Young Folks from 1881 through 1882 under the title Treasure Island or the mutiny of the Hispaniola, credited to the pseudonym "Captain George North".
. . .

An old sailor named Billy Bones comes to lodge in the rural Admiral Benbow Inn on the Bristol Channel, in England. He tells the innkeeper's son, Jim Hawkins, to keep a lookout for "a one-legged seafaring man". A former shipmate, Black Dog, confronts Bones and engages in a violent fight with him. After Black Dog is run off, a blind beggar named Pew visits to give Bones "the black spot" as a summons to share a map leading to buried treasure. Shortly thereafter, Bones suffers a stroke and dies. Pew and his accomplices attack the inn, but Jim and his mother save themselves while taking some money and a mysterious packet from Bones's sea chest. Pew is then trampled to death by excise officers. Inside the packet, Jim and his mother find a map of an island on which the infamous pirate Captain Flint hid his treasure. Jim shows the map to the local physician Dr. Livesey and the squire John Trelawney, and they decide to make an expedition to the island, with Jim serving as a cabin boy.

2. Wired Love Ella Thayer

Epicurius posted:

Recommending "Wired Love: A Romance of Dots and Dashes" by Ella Cheever Thayer. It's a romance novel from the 19th century about a telegraph operator who falls in love with another telegraph operator.

It's not the type of book that usually gets read here, but I'm recommending it anyway, if for no other reason than because it's very much a 19th century version of the "love on the internet " story, and it deals with stuff like the question of whether an electronic relationship is the same as an in person one, catfishing, and a whole lot of other stuff that seems remarkably current.

3. The Expert Sword-Man's Companion by Donald McBane

quote:

Colonel Donald McBane (1664 - April 12, 1732) was a noted Scottish swordsman, career soldier, and fencing master, who is widely regarded as one of the most prolific duelists of all time. He was born in the Highland town of Inverness during the late seventeenth century. In 1687 McBane ran away from home, enlisting in the British army under the Duke of Marlborough. As a career soldier, he served throughout much of Europe, fighting in The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), and taking part in fifteen skirmishes and sixteen battles, including Blenheim (1704) and Malplaquet (1709).[1]

McBane also worked as a fencing master, and claimed to have participated in nearly one hundred duels. He fought as a gladiator at the Bear Gardens in Hockley-in-the-Hole and Marybone Fields, London, where he reportedly fought thirty-seven prizes. Among his opponents were some of the most celebrated swordsmen and fencing masters of the century, such as James Miller, Timothy Buck, and James Figg.[2]

McBane is best known for his book, The Expert Sword-Man's Companion (1728).[3] The book includes McBane's memoirs as well as his extensive treatise on the art of fencing, and is a major source for the study of Scottish swordsmanship. McBane's life and writings are featured in a number of classic works on fencing, including Egerton Castle's Schools and Masters of Fence (1892)[4] and Captain Alfred Hutton's The Sword and the Centuries (1901).

quote:

Historian and swordsman Jared Kirby, with assistance from HEMA expert Ben Miller recently produced a heavily annotated edition. Miller observes:

�His life reads like a strange drunken dream � a whirlwind of blood, wine, warfare and women � at turns � intense, shocking, horrifying, humorous, and never for a minute boring.�

4. Carrier Wave by Robert Brockway

Harold Fjord posted:

Based on some goon recommending it for BotM I started Carrier Wave.

It's absolutely awesome and everyone should read it. But I feel like it should have a content warning for violence. Nothing sexual yet. I know we are quite used to violence in all our media, and a little surprised to find myself posting this, but this is one of the most brutal books I've ever read. (I haven't read the red wolf or whatever everyone talks about) I'm sure you'll all be fine.

Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:

Anyway, I forgot where I was going with this so just order Carrier Wave by Robert Brockway cause he's awesome and got hosed when he got fired from cracked.

# ? Feb 26, 2021 09:12

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# ? May 5, 2024 07:42

Idaholy Roller: May 19, 2009

Put me down for a vote for Carrier Wave please and thank you.

# ? Feb 26, 2021 09:58

Harold Fjord: Jan 3, 2004

I'd like to add additional votes for treasure Island and wired love.

# ? Feb 26, 2021 15:48

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

Harold Fjord posted:

I'd like to add additional votes for treasure Island and wired love.

you can just . .. click them ! Click the buttons!

# ? Feb 26, 2021 16:13

Bluehay: Aug 3, 2008

Wired Love sounds really interesting, I love the idea of an old(er) school take on contemporary views of dating & relationships. It's like historical fiction in reverse!

# ? Feb 26, 2021 16:15

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Carrier Wave real good

# ? Feb 26, 2021 16:52

Take the plunge! Okay!: Feb 24, 2007

And it�s $7.49 on Kindle rn, I�m getting it

# ? Feb 26, 2021 16:55

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Since the description from Hieronymous didn't go too much into detail about Carrier Wave, I would give some insight

Carrier Wave is a sort of Lovecraftian/cosmic horror inspired chronicle of a post-apocalypse created by an errant radio signal. Less a single story than a collection of recurring characters and events told as individual narratives. The constant jump in protagonists and events give it a unique way of constant feeling fresh, as it approaches the event differently depending on who is narrating it. Sometimes mystery, sometimes comedy, sometimes near Splatterpunk levels of horror. It manages to keep all of these balls in the air.

Evokes some of the best of writers like King without necessarily any of the eye-rolling King is known for.

# ? Feb 26, 2021 17:29

Mokelumne Trekka: Nov 22, 2015; Soon.

You mightn�t happen to have a piece of cheese about you, now?

# ? Feb 26, 2021 19:13

Glimpse: Jun 5, 2011

I kind of want to read them all, but voting for all 4 would be kind of pointless so I narrowed it to 2.

# ? Feb 28, 2021 00:46

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

It'll be Carrier Wave. I'll get a thread up tonight.

# ? Mar 1, 2021 13:39

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# ? May 5, 2024 07:42

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

https://twitter.com/alloy_dr/status/1366723717502533634?s=20

# ? Mar 2, 2021 13:26

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > BotM Poll: March 2021