Roger Zelazny discussion

I put up our first Group Read poll a few minutes ago & sent a broadcast to everyone. I forgot to mention that it will expire next Wednesday, 19Aug09. That gives everyone a week to vote & then some time to get the book we choose.

I was wondering... on the list of books that people can vote for, you had "Nine Princes in Amber" on there. Would this be a book that you could read without reading the others right after? The only reason I am asking is because Dan mentioned that it was more of a mystery novel that set up the next four books.

I read Nine Princes four years before reading any of the others. The plot thickens with each passing book but the ending of Nine Princes is fairly satisfying on its own, IIRC.

I've gone through the group bookshelf & tried to arrange things there. Please browse through it &, if you see I goofed, fix it or let me know so I can. Add any books you'd like too.

I've posted 2 books as "Currently Reading"; Nine Princes in Amber, our Sep09 read, & Threshold 1 The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, the book I'm currently reading of his. Feel free to mark your own selection of his work as 'currently reading'.

I think we'll leave all books marked 'To-Read' on the group shelf until the group has actually read them, though. It will help us figure out what to read next.

You're doing a good job, Jim. I knew there was a reason I made you Keeper of the Pattern.

Thanks, Dan. It's amazing how long all this takes. I think myself into corners, too. Very odd.

Keep up the good work Jim. Its amazing how much you have done. It looks much bigger,more alive than a new group.

Thank you!

It's now November & time for our new group reads to begin. I've changed the front page to reflect this & posted new topics for the books.

In the Amber series read, it's time for Sign of the Unicorn, the third book in the series & the Corwin Cycle. There are a 'no spoiler' & spoiler topics.
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...


For the stand alone read, we're reading Changeling. I created 'no spoiler' & spoiler topics for it.
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Since many of us have already read it or have Wizard World, which contains both Changeling & the sequel, Madwand, I've created 'no spoiler' & spoiler topics for it, as well.
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

I'd hate to see the conversation get cramped.

I meant to post something yesterday, but with coming back to work from the holiday weekend, my mind kind of got blown. Anyway, it's time to wind up Changeling & Sign of the Unicorn, our November reads & start in on Jack of Shadows & The Hand of Oberon, the 4th in the Amber series.

I can't believe I forgot to announce this here, but one of our long time members, Jackie, died back in Jan2017 rather suddenly. She was only in her early 50s, I think. The love of her life, Anthony, had died a year or two before & she never got over it.

I never met her personally, but we met here on GR & shared several groups & many conversations. We talked on the phone several times & were friends on FB. We swapped quite a few books, too. Media mail between our houses (hers in Lake George, NY & mine in Kentucky) was incredibly fast. Sometimes my boxes of books included a bag of fur from her Malamute. I spun up quite a bit of yarn from that dog. Most of it was 3 ply, perfect for the hat, scarves, & hoodie-scarf I knitted & crocheted out of it. Amazingly soft & super warm.

I miss her.
:(

Wow, that's terrible. She was a nice lady with good book smarts. Thanks for letting us know, Jim..:(

I didn't know that. she was one of my first friends on Goodreads. I'm a bit shocked by the news.

Web friendships are rather odd. I mentioned that something should be announced via her GR account, like changing the profile, to her sister, but her son, Eric, was taking care of things. I think he was a little overwhelmed. I found out through a mutual friend who lived near her in another group.

I'm taking it as a lesson in what else needs to be managed when I die. I have a will & all the other legal documents, but in the computer age, there is a lot of other stuff to take care of. Online accounts come to mind immediately, but generally only for removing credit card info or closing them. Accessing those can be an issue, though.

The use of a password manager helps with accessing & listing all accounts. I have a couple of my kids set up to gain emergency access to mine with a short waiting period. I guess I should make notes on where CC info is & which accounts need what sort of attention, though. There are a lot of them & most don't need anything done, but a few are pretty important.

Very true! I am way behind on preparing that stuff.

It's not exactly the highlight of my day to think about it, either. My father & in-laws did absolutely nothing, so I've lived that nightmare. Don't want to pass it along.

You may notice a change in my profile shortly. I've become an author, at least in name. I've been working on Inkle looms for a few years & took some advice from Eric Sloane. I wanted to learn a subject, so I wrote a book about it. They're fascinating both in their workings & how little anyone seems to have written about their construction & design. After bungling the first loom I built for my daughter, I started researching them more & found no decent documentation, so I wrote my own.

This whole self-publishing thing is confusing, so I did a couple of test projects: oven tool & carpenter bee traps. I'd written a lesson plan for the first some years ago for my daughter when she was student teaching & happened to be making the latter, so they were good, short test cases.

Anyway, I put them online & they showed up here on GR within minutes of appearing on Amazon. Right now they're attributed to a ghost with the same name as me, but that should be taken care of shortly. Unfortunately, it means I'll have to become an author here. I don't really see the writer of some hobby plans as being in the same group as Roger Zelazny, but there you have it.

Congratulations Jim! I'm not much of a woodworker but that oven tool looks like it might make a good project to do with my son.

Thanks, Reg. I made them with my kids & they enjoyed it. Erin made them with a couple of her high school classes, too.

Jim wrote: "You may notice a change in my profile shortly. I've become an author, at least in name. I've been working on Inkle looms for a few years & took some advice from Eric Sloane. I wante..."

Inkle Looms eh? Another historical re-enactor perhaps?

I'm not into historical re-enactment, but my daughter & her husband are through the

There is a new batch of online pharmacy spammers joining Goodreads. I've found them here & deleted them which will also block them from rejoining the group. Most of the profiles listed "Canadian trusted online pharmacy' as their website, have just a few books read, & the currently reading book is often pharmacy related. I did this quickly & don't think I deleted anyone but them. If you think I did, please PM me & let me know.