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Asin: B00006K6HL
Subjects:  1. Music    2. Entertainment   

Reviews (3)

Great Essays for all
What I especially appreciate about this work is that anyone can read the essays and enjoy them, even if they have never picked up a fly rod in their life, although fly-fishermen will laugh harder at the humor.

Each essay adds a piece of the puzzle to the secrecy of the life of a fly-fisherman.This art/science/sport is shrouded in mystery and lore.It is rare that a Master will let you into his world so intimately.All of Gierach's books seem to have that 'eastern' feel to them, as if they could have been written by Lao Tzu. The Essay "Zen and the Art of Nymph-Fishing" almost brought tears to my eyes.It is a classic work.

The most cherished aspect of this book (and almost everything written by Gierach) is that it exposes fly fishing for what it is.It is not just a sport.It is not just 'fishing'.Fly Fishing is a metaphor for life.Non-fly fishers will probably not understand this.Fly Fishing is the western man's tai chi.I believe that if everyone could fly fish, life in our country would be a whole lot less stressful and happier. Of course, I hope everyone doesn't fly fish.That would screw it up for the rest of us.Gierach captures the essence of life as a fly fisherman.The solitude.The peace.The at-oneness with nature.The appreciation of one of God's coolest creations (i.e. fish).And if fly fishing is a metaphor for life, then fly tying is a metaphor for art.Gierach paints fly tying as a cross between meditation and painting.

I recommend this book to anyone who fly fishes, and anyone who knows anyone who fly fishes, or even anyone who is interested in fly fishing in general, but doesn't think they ever will.

Zen and the art of Trout Fishing
John's travels and travails with A.K. Best and a world class Trout addiction are literate, light and great fun to read when you can't be fishing yourself

Reviews (2)

Dr. Cook, first man to the North Pole
Excellent book and excellent adventure book.I especially enjoyed the updates provided in the book which is a reprint by the Cook Society.I am only vaguely aware of the controversy because of a friend who is invloved in high arctic camping.No matter what, Dr. Cook and his Inuit friends are cut of exceptional cloth to have endured so much, almost casually.However, I will say that Dr. Cook appears to be a more pleasant person than Admiral Peary.

I believe he made it !
Although the Cook/Peary North Pole controversy still rages after over 90 years, I believe that this republication of Frederick A. Cook's My Attainment of the Pole should help immeasurably in eliminating all doubt about Cook's accomplishment.

The book not only is a faithful, easy-to-read republication of Cook's 1911 opus, it contains up-to-date data from well-established polar explorers and historians that validate Cook's original observations.It also confronts the Peary arguments (and what appear to be "dirty tricks") head-on, and emergesw victorious.

Reviews (3)

Introducing Dr. Gideon Fell
Although he is little known today, in the 1930s John Dickson Carr was consider the greatest of mystery writers, and he counted both Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers among his many fans.Although Carr published a few earlier novels, in 1933 he struck gold with HAG'S NOOK, in which he introduced Dr. Gideon Fell--a character who would rival both Hercule Poroit and Lord Peter Wimsey in popularity for more than a decade.

Like many Carr novels, HAG'S NOOK is tinged with elements of the supernatural.The novel presents us with the Starberth family, whose family fortune was built several centuries earlier on ownership of a English prison--a prison so brutally managed that the family is said to be cursed.And inheritance of the fortune is dependent upon a strange requirement: on the night of his twenty-fifth birthday, the heir must spend a full hour alone in the office of the now abandoned prison, which is widely rumored to be haunted by the ghosts of the many who died there.The prospect daunts Martin Starberth, the current heir--and his anxiety fuels the anxiety of his sister Dorothy, the young American visitor Tad Rampole, and Rampole's host Dr. Gideon Fell.And indeed, they have good reason to be anxious, for the hour's vigil brings unexpected death.

In reading HAG'S NOOK, I understand why Carr is considerably less well known today than many of his contemporaries.The plot is pure slight-of-hand, a variation on the "locked room" mystery that attracted so many writers in the 1920s and 1930s.It reads as "tricksy" in an old-fashioned sort of way, and I found myself unable to work up much enthusiasm for it.On the other hand, Carr proves himself an extremely atmospheric writer, able to capture both setting and character in remarkably graceful prose, and he leaves you feeling that if indeed such an unlikely series of events could really happen... they would happen precisely like this.

I would not really recommend HAG'S NOOK to readers who are only casually interested in the mystery genre, for they are likely to be more than a little dissatisfied.But if you enjoy tracing the roots of the modern mystery, reading Carr is a must--and I give HAG'S NOOK four stars on style alone.

--GFT (Amazon.com Reviewer)--

A creepy detective classic
One of John Dickson Carr's best books, this novel introduces Chestertonian detective Dr Gideon Fell.Although it does not have an "impossible crime", like many of his other titles, this is more than made up forby the magnificently cold and creepy atmosphere, the loving description ofrural England and the shock revelation of the murderer's identity.Anyonewho loves either mystery novels, or ghost stories, or both, should enjoythis one.

Reviews (10)

Too much pig farming.
This book has too much about motorcycles and pig farming in it.The horses are sway backed and are not at all like Kentucky horses.The messages contain bad values and the story doesn't make sense.The writing is not just "plain jane" but positively ill written.Read the "Cat in the Hat" instead.

We Didn't Like It
My children and I didn't like the book.It was too long and too silly.They like books about horses and dinosaurs, but they didn't find this one interesting enough to finish.

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Zim can't possibly fill every crack... or can he??
Zim's creme smells a little funky (like cloves mashed with leftover moose parts) but it works like a charm. Zim's creme penetrates your crack and leaves it moist all day. I can't say that the creme completely cured any of my cracks but about 24 hours later when I needed more creme, Zim was able to supply it. If Zim can try to smell a little better next time, his creme would get 5 stars.

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Reviews (4)

No Lovecraft Pastiche Here, Only Originality and Brilliance!
I've been reading Mythos and Lovecraftian pastiche since the late 70s.I've read it in book collections, magazines and fanzines.I've read it on the net and people have sent me their personal works through snail- and e-mail.After two and a half decades of reading this material my conclusion is that most of it really is drek. When I was a kid and saw a movie that I really liked, I would go home and try to recapture those memories by drawing what I had seen in the theater. Those drawings were crude and poorly thought out, with the attempt being to just catch those visceral moments of inspiring imagery.It got my jollies going but it didn't for anyone looking at the "artwork".That is what most Lovecraft pastiche is; a quick regurgitation of what a reader liked about his writings in the first place, but without a clear and thought out structure to their imitations. Just monster names and adjectives.

This is not what Sargent does, not in the slightest.He has taken the form known as "Mythos Fiction" and turned it on its ear.There is no multi-page spewage to name terrible tomes in a crazed professor's library or recitations of the long list of Great Old Ones which will likely show up at the end of the tale.There are no final tableaus that read "My God! I can hear it clawing at the window! It's going to....." .

But what there is in Sargent's writing which makes it so fascinating and satisfying to read is that he takes a seed of Lovecraftiana and grows his own tale out of it.He does not luridly imitate or ape Lovecraft (except in moments of satire) in any way, but instead uses a Lovecraftian idea or subject as the premise of a story and then playfully builds something completely new and different out of it.

There are several forms his Lovecraft inspired writings take and each are on display in THE TAINT OF LOVECRAFT.What we have in front of us with this book is horror/science fiction ("The Love of Their Craft"), satire ("The Insider"), dark humor ("An End to Worry", "Double Screecher"), we have fiction based off of clever, original and untraditional analysis ("Black Brat of Dunwitch") and even some true horror ("Live Bait") which has the best horrorific and twist-ending that I have personally read in 25 years of Mythos reading. I'd dare say it has a better twist ending than anything the 'Old Gent' ever came up with himself.We also find a thoroughly and thoughtfully researched historic novella, "Nyarlatophis: A Fable of Ancient Egypt" which takes place within Sargent's true playground of knowledge; archeology, especially within Egypt and the reign of Ahkenaten in the 18th Dynasty.

Sargent does not write in order to just hear the same old Mythos names called out again and again, he writes to further a body of work based on knowledge, research, wit, humor and a passion to write the best and most entertaining story possible.Why do I know this to be so? Because I've read this book and it is not written by a lazy fan who wants to relive a simple Lovecraftian thrill!You'll understand this too when you read it and you'll be glad you did.

I've also read his first collection ANCIENT EXHUMATIONS which includes more of Sargent's clever wit, dark humor and intelligent writing. So if you like TAINT you will want to look up ANCIENT EXHUMATIONS +2, which is a reprint with some new art and two of Sargent's latest stories (one based in the world of Clark Ashton Smith ("The Black Massif") and a chilling non-Mythos tale ("Famine Wood").

PS., As an adult I no longer draw pictures based off of movies I have seen, but I will do illustrations based off of literature that truly inspires me.That means that within the world of Lovecraftian fiction I do not illustrate very much, but I will gladly illustrate for Stanley Sargent because his writing is truly worth the time and effort. I am proud to decorate his tales with my art. -D.A.R.

Author's Comments
Experts from "Cemetery Dance" magazine's review (Issue 45, 2003, pg. 108, authored by Garrett Peck):

"Stanley C. Saregent is the most intelligent of the current crop of Mythos-inspired authors, as admirably demonstrated in his first collection, ANCIENT EXHUMATIONS.This second collection of Lovecraftian works is likely his last, however, as Richard A. Lupoff informs us in his introduction.... Having studied Lovecraft's fiction in great depth, Sargent has found clues toward deeper meanings and hidden agendas that have inspired his fresh takes on some of Lovecraft's best-known work. ... 'Live Bait' revisits 'The Shadow over Innsmouth,' pulling a stunning reversal.... Three short-shorts ... are hysterically funny takes on the sometimes overly serious Mythos. ... The centerpiece is the astounding novella "Nyarlatophis, A Fable of Ancient Egypt," the author's longest piece to date.... Sargent has the uncanny ability to make a world lost in antiquity come vividly to life on the page. ... Readers of this book who haven't read Sargent's previous collection will certainly clamor to. ..."
* * *

The story "The Black Brat of Dunwich" won the Origins award for Best Short Story of the Year in 1999 and received an honorable mention from Ellen Datlow in THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR.S.T. Joshi praised the story as a "clever deconstruction" of the original Lovecraftian tale in "Weird Tales" magazine, and Thomas Ligotti has also praised the tale (in a private communication to the author).Lovecraft scholar Ken Faig has also praised THE TAINT OF LOVECRAFT highly in print, and the late Hugh B. Cave praised the book highly as well.

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Isbn: 0441574734
Sales Rank: 695485
Subjects:  1. Fantasy - General    2. Fiction - Fantasy    3. Science Fiction   

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