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The Great Persuader by David Lavender
This book made my head spin with a mountain of information that I couldn't quite parse. This is the story of Colis B. Huntington, one of the big four San Francisco Railroad Barons. It's an in depth look at his rise from shovel salesman to railroad magnate.
There is a lot of technical information in the book about how the railroads were financed that I didn't quite get. There were bonds and stocks and land swaps and it came fast and furious. I'm still not sure exactly how it was done. I think if I read the book again I would get a better understanding of the financing but that won't happen. It also didn't help there were a bunch of competing railroad lines with similar names that were all kind of jockeying for the same areas so that confused me
Another big confusion is Colis Huntington is not responsible for the Huntington Museum in Southern Cal. That was built by Henry Huntington, Colis's nephew.
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Billy Summers by Stephen King
Mr. King takes a break from the horror genre to write a straight thriller. Billy Summers is a Marine sniper who becomes a for hire sniper after he leaves the military. But he only kills bad guys. And this last job will get him out of the business for good. Or not. Of course while waiting for the last victim to show, Billy starts writing his life story. He has time to kill while undercover as a writer so he might as well write.
There is nothing more that Mr. King writes about than writers. There is also a lot of talk about books and other authors. `
I think Mr. King is a very good writer. He just doesn't tell very good stories. This book goes on forever as one more addendum after another is added on after the final kill. It becomes tedious.
Two funny things about the book. Bill Summers goes into Colorado at one point to hide out. And his cabin overlooks the site of the former Overlook Hotel. There is even a painting in the cabin of the topiary animals. That appear to be coming closer.
And the book thanks Myke Cole for proofreading the novel and giving some technical help.
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11-29-2021, 09:33 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-29-2021, 10:48 AM by Greg.)
Zero Day by C. Robert Cargill
The end of the world starts on the day the sentient robots decide to inaugurate their new robot only town. A group of non-robots decides that is bad thing and do something about it. The war starts their. Pounce is a robot care giver in the shape of a tiger. Ezra is in Pounce's care. Ezra and Pounce spend the day fighting their way out of the city. The book takes place in about 48 hours.
I almost gave up on the book. It seemed like a story I'd read before and it owed a lot to Asimov and the three laws of robotics. But the pace picked up when the bad thing happens. It then became a very quick and enjoyable read.
Cargyle was good friends with Harlan Ellison and the book is dedicated to him.
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A Murder of Mages by Marshall Ryan Maresca
It's a police procedural! It's a fantasy town! It's magicians! It all seems like a retread.
Satrine Rainey is desperate for a job and tricks her way to becoming part of the constabulary. Her partner is the odd ball on the force nicknamed Jinx. Her nickname is tricky. Someone in town is killing magic users in the city. It's up to Tricky and Jinx to find out who before a war breaks out between the magic clans in the city. It's good deep world building. But I wasn't very involved in the story. Naturally, I'm currently reading the second book in the series. (It's a nice break from reading about the genocide of Native Americans in 1850s California)
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An Import of Intrigue by Marshall Ryan Maresca
Another serviceable installment in the series. The mystery at the heart of the book isn't very good but the world building and characterizations are. Lots of distinct voices and cultures. Sartine continues to get better at her job and more of her backstory is given. Minox continues to deal with the fact that he is an untrained magician and the magic is taking him over.
There is a murder in the migrant quarter which could cause the whole quarter to explode. There are basically five different nationalities involved and anyone one of them could be the murderer. Plus, Sartine spots an old enemy in one of the quarters.
Lots of riots and fighting. No sword fights.
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An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe by Benjamin Madley
Benjamin Madley presents the case that what happened to the California Indians between 1846 and 1873 conforms to the UN definition of what constitutes a genocide. Madley starts by exploring the UN definition and then spends 350 pages showing how the war against the Native Americans in California was genocide. It was page after page after page of bloody incidents big and small from Yreka to the Mojave desert. If there was a massacre in the state whether by local Vigilantes or by the US Army, Madley covered it. I don't think he missed any.
Again, shame on me for not having a better understanding of California history. I came to this topic because one of the massacres resulted in the discovery by the white man of Yosemite Valley. The whole book was a pretty tough read. First, the book made me sleepy. It was so dense with information that my eyes shut in self defense. It was also tough because of the sheer brutality of the events. The Indians stole some cattle because they were starving. The Californians would retaliate by wiping out the Indians village. Newspaper called for the extermination of all the Indians because that was just the thing to do. Men were paid to do it. Vigilantes made more money hunting and killing Indians than they did work in the mines so guess which job they took?
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(12-09-2021, 11:13 AM)Greg Wrote: Newspaper called for the extermination of all the Indians because that was just the thing to do. Men were paid to do it. Vigilantes made more money hunting and killing Indians than they did work in the mines so guess which job they took?
Sounds similar to the American war on wolves (which, interestingly, the native americans often identify with: http://indians.org/articles/a-pack-of-wolves.html)
There there was this Junipero guy...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/s...california
--tg
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Since my father revered Junipero Serro, I don't get into that debate. But I'm aware of it.
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The Nameless Ones by John Connolly
Book 20 of the Charlie Parker series! To be fair, Parker only appears in one chapter of the book. This book focuses on hitmen Louis and Angel who have to go Europe to avenge the death of their Dutch facilitator De Jaager. He's been killed by some Serbians and he must be avenged. As usual, there is a supernatural accent to the story but it's pretty much hitmen hunting bad guys. But is enjoyable. Not a lot of twists. But a lot of backstory on the conflicts in the former Yugoslav Republic.
The story has been going on so long at this point, I'm not sure what the main thrust of the series is anymore. Plus, the last two books have been outside the main storyline so the knowledge is even farther away. But the characterizations and action are good. And like clockwork or Seanan Maguire, the Charlie Parker books come out every June.
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I'm just going to leave this here for now because it comes from the book I'm currently reading called Savage Dreams by Rebecca Solnit.
"To know a place, like a friend or lover, is for it to become familiar; to know it better is for it to become strange again. Not novel in the easy way of the new, but strange in a deep , disturbing way that does not dissipate, an unsettling revelation of what should have always been known, a revelation that implicates its belated discoverers."
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(12-16-2021, 11:21 AM)Greg Wrote: "To know a place, like a friend or lover, is for it to become familiar; to know it better is for it to become strange again. Not novel in the easy way of the new, but strange in a deep , disturbing way that does not dissipate, an unsettling revelation of what should have always been known, a revelation that implicates its belated discoverers."
I feel that way about Santa Cruz sometimes...there has always been a dark underbelly there, but when it's your 'hood, you tune it out for sanity's sake.
--tg
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Savage Dreams: A Journey into the Hidden Wars of the American West by Rebecca Solnit
Rebecca Solnit is an activist and author and this book chronicles, kind of, her participation in the Nuclear Test protests at Nellis Air Force Base in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The book was published in 1994 so a few things have changed since then. But Solnit also goes into the history of the atomic bomb and the effects that all that testing has done on the environment and the people living around the base. It's not pretty. Solnit couples those stories with the discovery of Yosemite. If Nellis is Armageddon, then Yosemite is Eden. And both have repercussions for the indigenous people who live in both places. It is a fascinating and eye opening look at both places. It filled in more of my gaps of Yosemite History with an emphasis on the Native American Culture.
The title is kind of play on words as the final chapter deals with James Savage who led the Mariposa Battalion into Yosemite in search of Chief Tenaya and the Awhaneechees. Solnit fills out Savages backstory nicely. Solnit also visited Savage's memorial at Hensley Lake, which I have done as well. She also stopped at the Raymond General Store and Bar. She recounts her sojourn in the book.
And again, the book was disturbing, giving me a new way to look at places I thought I knew. Hence the quote above.
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The Associates: Four Capitalists who created California by Richard Rayner
Another look at Colis Huntington and his three partners and how they built the Central Pacific and Souther Pacific Railroad. This book was a less in depth look at the rise of Huntington, Crocker, Hopkins and Stanford. It made the picture of how they made their money at the expense of the American people much clearer. The focus of the book is Colis Huntington since he was the major force of the Central Pacific, but I did learn a little bit more about the other partners.
I think someone needs to tell the story more fully about the shoot-out at Mussel Slough near Hanford, CA. Basically, the railroad came in to evict farmers who didn't want to the pay the railroad for the land they were on which belonged to the railroad. A gunfight occurred, biggest gunfight at the time, bigger than the O-K Corral.
No swords fights. Lots of talk about stock issues and land swaps.
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Fuzz: When Nature breaks the Law by Mary Roach
I've been reading this book off and on for about a month. If you ever want to know what humans do about invasive species this is the book for you. It's a globe spanning investigation about how animals are eradicated. Whether it's Macaques in India, rats in grain silos in Colorado or Stouts in New Zealand, this book has a chapter on what's being done on them and the people in charge of the programs. Ms. Roach has a fanciful way of writing which is very appealing but she does like her footnotes.
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River of Shadows: Eadward Muybridge and the technological Wild West by Rebecca Solnit
Ending the year with a bit more of Rebecca Solnit. This book departs from her usual reporter in the midst of things for a more third person examination of the life of Eadward Muybridge. Muybridge rose to prominence as one of the early photographers of Yosemite. But he achieved even more fame by doing motion studies of horses for Leland Stanford down at his ranch in Palo Alto. Stanford wanted to show that his horse, Occident, had all four feet off the ground during the trot. Muybridge came up with the system to do this at a time when the chemicals for the photographs had to be mixed on the spot and coated on the glass plates. Muybridge's studies could be said to be the foundation of Motion Pictures and Solnit, along with many others, makes a strong case for it.
Solnit, as usual, ties Muybridge's work to the world around it. She discusses Stanford and the railroads. Muybridge spent time photographing the Modoc Wars so Solnit brings up the Native Americans fights. There is so much to her novels. Too much. At some points, I could wish for a simple narrative. But I learn a lot by reading her.
No sword fights (Although Muybridge did do Motion Studies of Fencers) but there is a murder.
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