Lone Star Planet by H.Beam Piper

Lone Star Planet by H. Beam Piper

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a quick, fun read. It’s basically a western, a political satire, and sci-fi rolled into one. Being from Texas, I enjoyed the fantasy of Texas being its own sovereign planet, and the characterizations of the prominent figures could have been based on people I know very well. I know some of the intent was probably to poke a little fun at Texans, and our unique sense of justice, but I found myself fascinated with the prospect of some of the more outrageous parodies being implemented. The story has everything you’d pretty much expect; there’s intrigue, villainous rogues, lovable rogues, the Foghorn Leghorn type guy, the timid government officials, courtroom drama, and a gunfight or two. If this were a movie, you’d likely either mock it for its lack of substance, or laud it for its heaping helping of fun!

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Now In CREEP-O-VISION!

For the 3d-glasses impaired.

 

Now In CREEP-O-VISION!, originally uploaded by gentlemanbeggar.

Playing around with a new 3d filter in g’mic. This is me, sitting in a hallway last Spring waiting out a tornado warning while the house was pounded with heavy winds. You’ll need blue/red 3d glasses to fully appreciate this.

Uploaded by gentlemanbeggar on 9 Mar 11, 10.09PM CST.

 

Review: The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

I read the version available on Manybooks.net

Wow. The book is mostly comic relief, and I’d say that surprisingly Mel Brooks probably came closer to capturing Robin Hood than the newer movies have (I haven’t seen Erol Flynn’s Hood yet). The first part of the book is pretty whimsical and quite a bit repetitive, but somewhere around the 60% mark, it turns into a pretty stirring adventure and about 3/4 of the way through, it starts to make a gradual transition to something more mature and gritty. The 3rd act has some pretty tense moments in it, and I found myself genuinely fearing for the safety of some of the beloved characters I had come to know and love.

If you like upbeat, happy endings, I implore you, don’t read the epilogue. At least one villainous character gets his comeuppance in an undignified and much deserved way, but the ending is so terribly sad, and kind of depressing. I kind of knew this going in, but I read it through anyway, for the sake of completion. I wasn’t in any way prepared for the ending of this book. It was far sadder and unexpected than I had anticipated and yet, it felt complete. I’m not sure I would change the ending if I had the opportunity, somehow, it grounds the story in reality. I think it’s that sense of reality and mortality that makes the ending so poignant. It’s like you’ve watched this band of cut-ups, these Merry Men, grow and mature, and like all things in life, the world corrupts this idealism, and the whole thing feels tainted and paradoxically, fulfillingly unsatisfying.

I recommend the book.

If you want it to stick with you, I recommend reading the epilogue.

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