Nick LeBlanc > Recent Status Updates

I had no idea how much JK Rowling tonally cribbed from this, it's honesty shocking.

Book 4 was bad too, and annoying. Seems we’re sliding into a wet fart of an ending. Maybe it’s genetic. Also, my theory about a fix-up novel was almost certainly correct. I would wager on it.

First book was pretty good, sets an interesting plot in motion, solid character development. Second book goes on far too long but edited down it would have been a fun pulp novel. Third book was kind of bad, I couldn’t wait for it to be over. It’s kind of a pity because the plot is cool but generally the dialogue is extremely fucking bad and corny. Though sunken cost fallacy has me seeing this one through.

So far, this book is feeling like a stitch-up novel. A big, unwieldy doorstop of a stitch-up.

The limited first person POV results in a lot more telling than showing which can be a bit annoying to get through sometimes. BUT, the world building and the structure of the narrative are exceedingly well done.

This type of fantasy works best when you have long uninterrupted stretches in which you can dive into a book and read. Unfortunately, I have not been granted this luxury recently, though I am still working my way through the book--slower than I'd like.

Book 2 is BAD. Like, makes me want to throw the paperback in the trash type bad.

Just finished Chapters 41-50. This section has taught me that this ten chapter chunk approach was the wrong way to do this. 354 fucking pages for 10 chapters and some of the worst writing and most nothing plotting yet. I look forward to writing my reflection on this section and taking a large steaming dump on it. Do you believe that happy crappy?

Posting schedule for my marathon of The Stand is a little behind my progress, but the next section goes live on 10/1. Check it out here: https://open.substack.com/pub/nickdle...

The next part of my read-along series just dropped: https://nickdleblanc.substack.com/p/a...

Parts two and three in this ongoing series will be coming out in the next week: https://nickdleblanc.substack.com/p/a...

My impression of the first ten chapters available to read here: https://nickdleblanc.substack.com/p/a...

Finished first ten chapters. Going to post first impressions on my substack in a couple of days!

Updated ranking:
Herbert
Lumley
Kneale
Cave
Budrys
Morrell
Davidson
Vance
Chetwynd-Hanes

Halfway through the stories--eight down (including preface), eight to go--but a third of the way through the book. Ranked so far by author:

Herbert
Lumley
Kneale
Cave
Morrell
Davidson
Vance

Mostly done with this one, been taking a break for a while to get some space and re-engage. The last essay was starting to feel a little samey to me.

Just finished Technomythology. Was my least favorite of LD’s work in the pamphlet version. Still remains so here. While there are some great analogies made and some interesting points drawn from the work of others, I am generally not interested in the grander question as to whether or not this is a “simulation.” I could go on about why, but I’ll spare you the diatribe.

Time & Timelessness is a fantastic essay, extremely well-written and thought provoking. It takes some big brained concepts and breaks them down into digestible bits in an interesting and deceptively complex way. I do wish that the concept of light was addressed a bit though, I always find discussions of time tend to ignore that factor--for some reason.

Ive been looking forward to this book. I read most of the original essays that this is based on/expanded from. I just completed the first section on Pluto. Deutsch has a cool focus and is a very clear writer. FFO: Jung, Campbell, getting high and wondering what the fuck is really up.

I’m most interested in Crumb the man and his contradictions rather than his place in the grander history of comix. So when the bio leans into that, I’m happy. The other stuff is mostly skimmable for me.

i do wish Malcolm would shut up though

had a bit of a stall out on this one when some ghostwriting assignments kicked up. But, its still engaging, still stupid, still a little too concerned with its pretense to scientific suspension of disbelief

I have a memory of taking this book out from my elementary school library and taking it home and hating it. Never revisited it since. Now that I have dived back in, I am realizing I may have read a junior novelization of the film or something when I was younger because I don't remember the book being like this at all. So far, it's fine. The science is ludicrous and so is the plot but it clips and has killer dinos.

259-262 are reprinted as well.

I found a misprint in here, strips 247-250 are reprinted twice. Then, the comic jumps to strip 259, Val in media res with Vikings. I assume it's a misprint and non-intentional.

Part 2 had even more action. Plus a Viking raid on Camelot. Not really sure if this is fantasy or swords/sorcery or what the difference really is. I just like the fact that it's a short book. More short and standalone books in this genre please!

Just finished Part 1. This is pretty great so far!

Lots of talk of eye stalks.

This is not well written. The present tense prose is a real faceplant on what is otherwise a very brutal and entertaining story. Pretty gnarly for being as old as it is.