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    Iron Heart Fall/Winter 2025 Collection Preview - Now Live

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    • riffblaster generalR
      riffblaster general
      Raw and Unwashed
      Joined:

      just finished the fall by guillermo del toro.  2nd in his trilogy about vampires.  totally dumb but totally enthralling.

      PUT DOWN THAT STARBUCKS, PICK UP THAT GNARBUCKS!!

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      • ?
        Guest
        Joined:

        Jeez G, I haven't read a Vachss  book in years…dark indeed, need to re-visit !

        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • michaeljcrM
          michaeljcr
          Raw and Unwashed
          Joined:

          For all those book fans out there, especially genre fiction, I can send some books out if you like - I work as a fiction buyer for UK retail chain, and have an office full of samples.

          Re: Vachss, he's great, but bleak indeed!  In real life he's run children's correctional facilities and been an advocate for children in need.  All the Burke books I've read are about, or touch upon, child abuse or some kind of sexual crime, so they are pretty hard going.

          If you like him, I'd recommend reading something by Joe R. Lansdale, a good friend of Vachss and a wonderful storyteller.  Mucho Mojo is a good place to start, or one of his one-offs like The Bottoms.

          M.

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          • tobacco and leatherT
            tobacco and leather
            Joined:

            I'm a big fan of philosophy and how it applies to society.. I just picked up "First as Tragedy Then as Farce" should be a really excellent read.

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            • StokelyS
              Stokely
              Joined:

              Awesome thread. Mostly cause books is awesome.

              Jokes is awesome too!

              Anyway.

              Vachss is great.  I can relate because I work with children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders.  In that field you see a lot of really bad shit.  It can be rough.  I've learned how to deal.

              Freedom was great.  Good read.
              Michael Chabon is sort of in the same vein, good as well.

              McCarthy is amazing.  I've read em all.

              I would suggest a number of other authors and/or books….

              On the easier/more page turning side...

              Southern US fiction ala McCarthy...

              Jim Brown- Father and Son.  Plus a number of other titles.  He died recently, was a firefighter in Mississippi.

              Wells Tower- Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned. Collection of short stories. Awesome.

              George Saunders- The Braindead Megaphone.  Plus anything else he's written.  Great.

              Mystery/Crime... a la Vachss

              Joe Landsdale
              George Pelecanos
              Jim Thompson
              And most especially, maybe more visceral and literate would be
              Nelson Algren.  I love that author.  He is the original Iron Heart of the literary world. Sinatra played a heroin addict in a film adaptation of The Man with The Golden Arm.

              Others........I'll provide more if wanted/interested....

              William Faulkner.  Southern Lit.
              Chester Himes.  Black Lit, plus some pretty fucking awesome mystery/crime novels
              Holy shit.  Robert Bolano!!!!!!!!!!! Greatest.  2666 or The Savage Detectives.  Read em!

              Well the above involves a lot of mystery, but a little more involved than previously listed authors.
              All of them are great.

              Also.........
              William Gibson, old school Sci-Fi, but for a modern age.......
              Thomas Pynchon
              Sherman Alexie, Native American writer, pretty badass.
              Junot Diaz, NYC latino.  Again, badass.
              I love Gabriel Garcia Marquez and others as well.

              Again,  I'm nerding out, but awesome thread.

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              • gbougardG
                gbougard
                Raw and Unwashed
                Joined:

                Stokely:

                thank you so much for taking the time to write such a long list of books and authors. Looks like Im a need a second life just to read all the books I NEED to read

                Sly Dunbar bigs up IH on YT
                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t2OM738mKY
                Sly & Robbie A Run Tings
                Gregory Isaacs Liveth 4 I-ver

                Renault: What in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca?
                Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
                Renault: The waters? What waters? We’re in the desert.
                Ric

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                • hecticH
                  hectic
                  Joined:

                  Hey,

                  New Iain M Banks "Culture" novel out fairly recently, its called Surface Detail.

                  H

                  last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • GeoG
                    Geo
                    Joined:

                    good thread this

                    I'm a voracious reader - pretty much anything that's printed and bound, but my stick out author is Umberto Eco; would recommend Foucalt's Pendulum and The Name of the Rose by him

                    Also Vikram Chandra's Red Earth & Pouring Rain and Sacred Games are top notch

                    Last would second Hectic on the Iain Banks stuff, met him a couple of times - nice guy and a good author

                    Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity

                    last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • hecticH
                      hectic
                      Joined:

                      You guys so need to read Gibson's Zero History - he has some great riffs on the secret histories of denim otaku freakz.

                      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • michaeljcrM
                        michaeljcr
                        Raw and Unwashed
                        Joined:

                        @hectic:

                        You guys so need to read Gibson's Zero History - he has some great riffs on the secret histories of denim otaku freakz.

                        That's how I found Iron Heart - a Zero History inspired Denim trawl through the web!  Great book, great author.

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                        • STANS
                          STAN
                          Joined:

                          sis got me these lightning mag Vol 203 and this is attach inside the mag.

                          EVERYDAY DENIM

                          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • riffblaster generalR
                            riffblaster general
                            Raw and Unwashed
                            Joined:

                            currently reading "Carrion Comfort" by Dan Simmons.

                            PUT DOWN THAT STARBUCKS, PICK UP THAT GNARBUCKS!!

                            last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • J
                              jacoavlu
                              Joined:

                              I just finished True Grit (didn't see either movie) and am starting Lonesome Dove. After that, back to some Cormac McCarthy.

                              last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • J
                                Jpo1932
                                Joined:

                                Finished Norwegian wood a bit ago.. Good read.

                                last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • namenessN
                                  nameness
                                  Joined:

                                  ^ Now go read "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World".

                                  last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • michaeljcrM
                                    michaeljcr
                                    Raw and Unwashed
                                    Joined:

                                    Recently finished Joe R. lansdale's Vanilla Ride and the much awaited Wise Man's Fear by fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss.

                                    I was talking with someone recently about how much I enjoyed reading Shogun in my teens, so I've now got all the James Clavell's sitting on my desk waiting to be read. It's a big pile of books…

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                                    • J
                                      jacoavlu
                                      Joined:

                                      Just finished Tomato Red by Daniel Woodrell. 7/10. Ending a bit disappointing.

                                      Next: Winter's Bone.

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                                      • GeoG
                                        Geo
                                        Joined:

                                        just finished this . . .

                                        one of the most even-handed approaches to european history i've read . . . the belgians even get a mention

                                        Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity

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                                        • namenessN
                                          nameness
                                          Joined:

                                          Ahhhhh!  Someone else actually read that book!

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                                          • SeulS
                                            Seul
                                            Joined:

                                            @Geo:

                                            the belgians even get a mention

                                            Last line?.. 'To conclude: the Belgians are the best of all €uros. Especially the bald ones.'

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