Okay, you've convinced me

[neadods]

Wow, it's really very convincing (and a little scary) when everyone says the same thing in the comments.

MS Access it is for Shore Leave (note to self: get an old copy of Access.) And going back to the other moment of comment congruence, yes, I got on Netflix. Knowing me, the price of the service will be offset by the savings in not making a whole bunch of DVD impulse buys. (Looks ruefully at several still-wrapped items on movie shelf.)

The other decision is personal, although "I am unanimous in this" as Mrs. Slocum always put it. Sorry, suricattus, I'm bagging on the Dresden Files. There's nothing wrong with the books; they're a decent mystery, good characterization, and build to really exciting action chapters. But I find them too angsty without enough leavening humor. I could handle the darkness of Buffy, Angel, and Tanya Huff books because it was so liberally dosed with wry silliness. Furthermore, the characters saw themselves as inherently decent people. On the other hand, while Harry Dresden occasionally cracks a joke, he is All About the Angst and the Suffering and the People Scream When They See My Soul and the Woe is Me. I'm not surprised that the reviewers compare Jim Butcher to Laurell Hamilton.

Fortunately, Harry Dresden is not making any of the mistakes that so turned me off regarding Anita Blake. He's not dealing with exponentially bigger and badder nasties every single book, he's not making holier-than-thou mental speeches about every critter he meets, he's not gaining powers like the GM's girlfriend in a monty haul dungeon, he's not got a reputation that makes every baddie wet him/her/itself when he gets mentioned, and he's not screwing the entire rest of the cast. (Honestly, I will not bat an eyelash if some Anita book starts with "Cthulu showed up at my doorstep but I blasted him back into his alternate universe between orgasms as every leader of every were-group lined up to go down on me. I've done some terrible things in my life, but I just won't do tentacles.")

The Dresden Files are good books, but they're not to my taste. So I'm going to find them a good home with someone who does like their universes darker than I do - the big choice now is ebay, private sale mentioned here/on some elists, or package as gift? Two have been read only once, one has been flipped through, two more are unread, and three are signed (not signed to anyone, just signed by the author). So I don't think they really come under the usual heading of "used books."

Current book: The Ghost & Mrs McClure by Alice Kimberly. He's a hardboiled private dick who's been a ghost for 55 years. She's a mystery bookshop owner with a prediliction for cozies. Together, they fight crime!

Current mood: About to freeze to death if they don't turn off the air conditioner vent that's right above me!

Comments

[lagilman]

No need to apologize -- the Dresden books are distinctly on the morbid side, yeah. Personally I prefer Harry to Anita for the reasons you mentioned, plus the fact that he can still find humor at his own expense. Anita always seemed to me to be a singularly humor-impaired character.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

he can still find humor at his own expense ... Anita always seemed to me to be a singularly humor-impaired character

In the first few Anita books, she was grim, but just when I was thinking "this is too dark" she'd make some quip that kept me going. And I will give LH this, she made me care about what happened to characters I didn't like in a world I didn't enjoy visiting. That's a hell of a feat. But there was some glimmer of humor there, which was unfortunately the first of her attractive features to go. (I find it very interesting that the last friend who told me how much she liked the Anita books had come in long after the series turned to soft porn and hadn't read the original mysteries. Whole different mindset and expectations.)

Harry has a sense of humor, although it seems almost imposed on him; Bob and his libidinous fixations, Took and the pizza, Chauncy the demon with his Giles-like accent and glasses. The few jokes Harry makes are always fairly grim, told in grim surroundings. But at least he remains a realistic human with realistic problems/enemies.

I know at least two people who like paranormal mysteries and like grim better than I do; the books will end up in a good home.

[beledibabe.livejournal.com]

Hey, hon, I'll buy them from you. Lemme know how much, and we can make the exchange at Malice. Sound okay?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'll buy them from you.

Music to my ears! I paid $34.98 (6.99 x 5 = full list price) for the set which is still mostly in brand new condition, but I'll knock a couple bucks off for the smudge I made on a page in Book 2...

I'll call tonight, I wanna talk about Malice anyway.

[beledibabe.livejournal.com]

Sounds good. Just let me know the final total.

And I won't be home tonight or tomorrow, but will Thursday. We're leaving Friday and will be back Sunday. Or, if you have some free time during the day, you can call me then.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Willing to do a nice, round $33? That's for two read-once books, one thumbed book and two unreads; aside from the smudge, there's little evidence that any book has been handled. #s 1, 3, & 5 are signed by author.

I'll call Thursday so we have plenty of time to generally chat. Want to discuss possible carpooling to Malice and/or time(s) to meet, exchange hostages, eat, etc.

[maryannegruen.livejournal.com]

A lot of early Anita Blake readers seem to be unhappy with the present incarnation. I haven't read the early books, but I glanced at Cerulean Sins and it didn't do anything for me. There seems to be this cliche going around about the hero/heroine who is absolutely irresistible to everyone at all times. The Charlaine Harris heroine sounds like she may be heading the same way, given time.

I think it's partially an offshoot of writing in first person or deep third with limited point of view. Everything has to happen to the main character all of the time. So to keep new romance in the story, they sleep with everything that moves (love the part about the tentacles), and you start rehashing things, or making changes that don't make sense out of desperation to have mountains of things happen to the lead. After a while it sound like the Perils of Pauline and everything gets muddy (Hmm. Mud wrestling with tentacles). There's a lot of formula following too.

I've got to look up the Ghost and Mrs. McClure. That sounds like a good one.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

A lot of early Anita Blake readers seem to be unhappy with the present incarnation.

That's because the first books were paranormal mysteries, emphasis on mystery, starring a heroine who had to stretch her abilities to the limit just to survive. I gave up at book #7, but as far as I can tell, the books are now about the sexcapades of an all-powerful goddess.

(Book #7 was itself an object lesson in how a fantastic editor can spin authorial straw into gold. It was apparently the first book without her original editor, and it was full to the brim with typos, illogical actions, rough characterization, and a thousand other flaws. I was particularly annoyed about the typos; it's as if the publisher said "They'll pay for any crap with her name on it, I won't bother polishing." And the publisher was right!)

Everything has to happen to the main character all of the time.

But it doesn't always have to be a quantum leap upwards in villain every time. The cops on Law and Order don't bust a guy with a knife one week, a guy with a gun the next week, a guy with a bomb the week after that, and a guy with a nuclear weapon during sweeps. There's always another guy with a knife or gun who's serious trouble. That threat is never done and over with. As there are other first-person mysteries where the narrator isn't losing track of their own limitations, I don't blame the first-person narration so much as I lay the blame at the notion that every book Anita has become so much more powerful that she must face something bigger and better every time.

Harry Dresden, from what I read, faced different challenges but they weren't on a steady incline upwards. Book #1, evil wizard. Book #2, assorted werewolves (fascinating work with the werewolves, there, I'll give Jim Butcher that!) Book #3, ghosts and vampires. Different baddies, different skill sets, but never a hint of "well, I faced down the wizard in the first book, so of course I'll be able to conquer all wizards from now on." Furthermore, he has a fluctuating set of allies; sometimes people like him and will help him, sometimes they'll tear him down - occasionally flipping back and forth in the same novel. He's certainly not collecting alpha statuses like green stamps.

(Hmm. Mud wrestling with tentacles).

Hee! On a similar note, did you know there's a book called "Cthulu and the Coeds or Kids and Squids"? One of the short stories is by Esther Friesner, who wrote "Love's Eldrich Ichor."

I've got to look up the Ghost and Mrs. McClure. That sounds like a good one.

I'm about halfway through and I'm utterly charmed. It's frivolous, definately, but a little chocolate for the brain is never a bad thing. Unless it collapses in the last few chapters, I'll be looking for the sequel come December.

It is odd, though, in that this is the first "modern" mystery series I've ever read. I read historical mysteries, or paranormal mysteries, which aren't the here and now, or I read series that were started many years ago and now have a certain quaint patina of age to them as technology marches on. It's rather disconcerting to be reading a cozy mystery that talks about the Internet, CSI episodes, ebay, and the Drudge Report.

[maryannegruen.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on the building up of disasters to the point of silliness. But I know a lot of writers think that's what they're supposed to do.

Interestingly...though I have that opinion, I realized during this discussion that it looks like I'm doing escalating bad guys from The House of Red to Full Circle and beyond. It's not intentional. It just seems to be happening. If you're going the long haul, it really doesn't make sense. Cos at some point you can't go any farther.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

it looks like I'm doing escalating bad guys from The House of Red to Full Circle and beyond

I dunno, you're dealing with a powerful magic user making a comeback. That was an established theme in the original; you're doing a twist without doing a knockoff.