Beleg Cúthalion on 20/6/2014 at 06:18

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Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error (I read the German version where the title is: "Montaillou. A village before the inquisitor". The French original just has "Montaillou, village occitan")

It's an analysis of very thorough inquisition protocols written in the early 14th century about the inhabitants of the south-eastern French village Montaillou, in which Catharism was still widespread. You get an astounding insight into daily life like family relationships, work routines, sexual and (im)moral practise, life of apparently freedom-loving shepherds etc. etc. Basically the only cliché about the rough and dark middle ages that is missing is the brutal and merciless inquisition (only a small number of questioned Catharists got sentenced to death or jail). But after all, they wrote the records.* If someone is into this kind of microhistory or historical anthropology of the medieval era, I can highly recommend this book which almost reads like a novel. Plus, it'd make a good basis for a TV show à la GoT, just without the constantly dying main characters...and less swords, of course. I can't help the thought of using this material for a Thief FM with Hammerites and Pagans....

*Still, when browsing Wikipedia, I found an article by the foremost German left-wing sort-of-intellectual magazine, Der Spiegel, (mis)using the results to exactly reproduce the clichéd image of said inquisition. I don't know what I expected...

Beleg Cúthalion on 23/6/2014 at 08:07

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They have actually quite pragmatic justifications for allowing extramarital intercourse like e.g. prostitution, morganatic marriage, everything that isn't incest and everything where people have still fun. There is one certain Pierre Clerque, a priest who was a Catharist and later handed everyone over to the inquisition. He banged almost a dozen women, including two pairs of sisters. He used his power and influence for that, too, and the others finally managed to press charges against him. Apparently real love and fun was considered something outside marriage, a motive that also the troubadours employed.

Yakoob on 31/12/2014 at 22:56

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I finished Homonculus by Baylock. While I did enjoy the first half, I soon realized I could not keep track of all numerous name-dropped characters, or which of the 7+ main good guys was doing what and where at what times. And, frankly, I kinda felt it didn't really matter in the end. "Oh someone got beaten... oh another generic fight... oh hey there's a box, now it's not, now it is again." Though I did really like William Pule and his descriptions; I felt he was the most well-written and defined character in the book.

I have now read all 3 of the "fathers" of Steampunk (Jetter's Infernal Devices and Power's Gates of Anubis) which kinda led me to think... I don't think I like steampunk as much as I thought I did. I find it alluring in movies or game (like Arcanum), I liked other steampunkish books (like Leviathan and Boneshaker), I like the gadgetry, I like old-english/victorian style (including Dorian Gray and Interview with Vampire which kinda felt like it in places). But the 3 fathers of steampunk just put me off. I think part of it is that they all felt like over-indulgent mysteries, trying to cram in too many shady characters and conspiracies and evil plots. And some motifs were downright ridiculous and farfetched, like the space ship in Homonculus or the fish-people in Infernal Device. I felt the books would've actually been better without them.

So I just started Moorcock's Steel Tsar and, despite the (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2010579.The_Steel_Tsar) utterly ridiculous cover, it's actually pretty interesting so far describing the Japanese/Singapore war and the protagonist's airship getting slowly wrecked.

PigLick on 1/1/2015 at 12:20

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Hey koobz, if you liked that, you should try some P.J Farmer books such as the Riverworld series, I think you might enjoy them.

As to what I am reading atm, my eldest daughter snagged me the final book I was missing in the "Chronicles of an Age of Darkness" otherwise called the "W and the W" books. So now I have all 10 of the series yay!
Seriously this is my favorite fantasy/scifi series of all time, just looking at the titles and book covers make you think its some cheesy 80's pulp fantasy, but its probably the most complex and deep, also funny and mind boggling pieces of speculative fiction ever written. All out of print now though, so second hand copies is it.

PigLick on 1/1/2015 at 15:43

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SMACK SMACK
that is the sound of me smacking you cos you didnt read enough

VIDEO GAMES ISNT ENOUGH OF A DIET TO COMPLETE YOUR CULTURAL DEGREE GODAMMIT