Browsed by
Author: Bob Byrne

A Holmes Christmas Carol

A Holmes Christmas Carol

Comments 1 comment

Just about everyone is familiar with A Christmas Carol. The first short movie was made in 1901, based on a play adapted from Charles Dickens’ novel. And there were new adaptations this year. THAT is enduring.

I’ve seen different word counts, but Dickens’ work is about 29,000 words long. That’s a very short novel. But, as with any adaptation, some things are left out.

I took Dickens’ original novel – not one of the movie versions – and rewrote it as a Sherlock Holmes tale. I include some text from Dickens, and some stuff I’m not familiar with from just watching the movies.

I have about a half-dozen published Holmes short stories, and I think that I voice Watson, and emulate Doyle, fairly well. Well enough to give my stuff a try, I feel. And in this one, I feel like I presented some depth to Holmes, but I also remained faithful to Doyle’s actual character.

So, give it a read.

I

It is with a certain sense of misgiving that I relate the following tale, which took place during the Christmas season in 1902. I had moved out of our Baker Street lodgings earlier that year, having married only a few months before. I had rooms in Queen Anne Street and was quite busy with my flourishing medical practice. A newly married man, I once again found myself as head of a household, with all of the duties thereof. I saw Holmes infrequently, but had found the time to stop by the day before Christmas. Knowing he would have no plans of any kind, I extended to him an invitation to join my wife and I for Christmas day.

…

Read More Read More

Ten Things I Think I Think: December 2024

Ten Things I Think I Think: December 2024

Comments 4 comments

Time for a Ten Things I Think I Think as we close in on Christmas. Those two things are unrelated, though…

So, I think that:

1) The Two Towers is Still My All Time Favorite Fantasy Movie

As you’ll be reading, I’m in a Lord of the Rings deep dive. I re-watched the trilogy (Extended Edition, of course) for the first time in quite a few years. I grew up with fantasy movies like Krull, Sword and the Sorcerer, Sheena, and the Beastmaster. Don’t even get me started on Ator!!!! Some were better than others. I liked Clash of the Titans, but Dragonslayer didn’t really do much for me. I have a friend who sees it the opposite. Ah-nuld’s two Conan films moved the bar on popularity and look for big screen fantasy.

But Peter Jackson did for fantasy what Star Wars did for sci-fi. Critics of the movies can move along. I have a serious Tolkien shelf, and I love what he created with Middle Earth. But I will take watching the movies over reading the trilogy, any day (and that’s from someone who is reading a 800 page book of nothing but LotR annotations right now). The pace alone is a significant improvement.

Anyways – that second film, with Helm’s Deep, and the other action scenes, is simply spellbinding. Seeing a Nazgul flying onscreen always takes my breath away. I like the first and third films, but this second one remains the best fantasy movie I have ever seen.

…

Read More Read More

Two New Black Company Novels (Lies Weeping, and They Cry) on the Way!

Two New Black Company Novels (Lies Weeping, and They Cry) on the Way!

Comments 6 comments

Back in April, as part of an exclusive Q&A with sword and sorcery legend Glen Cook, Black Gate revealed that the author had already completed the next three novels in his seminal The Black Company series. He was working on a fourth, all part of an arc titled A Pitiless Rain – or, The Orphan’s Tale.

For several years now I have been working on A Pitiless Rain – or, The Orphan’s Tale. It’s a family Saga thing mainly revolving around the next generation kids from Glittering Stone, especially Soldiers Live. I have completed the first three volumes: Lies Weeping, They Cry, & Summer Grass. (I am) Halfway through Darkness Knows.

Tor has announced that Lies Weeping is finally coming. No release date yet, though Barnes and Noble is taking pre-orders, with a listed date of November 4, 2025. There is some info on the story (it’s like a cover spoiler – skip if you aren’t current on The Company):

The Black Company has retreated across the plain of glittering stone, toward a shadow gate that would let them trade the dangers of the plain for the questionable safety of the Company’s one-time haven on Hsien, a region in the world known as the Land of Unknown Shadows.

In Hsien, the company returns to their former base, An Abode of Ravens, where the Lady ages backwards in a return to force, shaking off the thrall, one breath at a time. Meanwhile, Croaker, ascended to godlike status as the Steadfast Guardian, has been left behind in the Nameless Fortress.

In their adopted father’s stead, Arkana and Shukrat have taken up the role of annalist for the Black Company. At first, life in Hsien appears quiet, even boring, but it is quickly apparent that strange goings on are more than what they seem, and it’s up to them to discover the truth hidden in the shadows of this strange land.

Glen also told me in an email today, that book two, They Cry, will be out in February of 2026!

No release date for book three, and he is still working on book four.

It’s a new era for The Black Company, and a joyful Christmas season for its fans!
…

Read More Read More

Gary Gygax’ 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery (Steps 11 to 17)

Gary Gygax’ 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery (Steps 11 to 17)

Comments 3 comments

So, if you are reading this post right now (and you’d have to be, to see these words), this is Part Two of a look at Gary Gygax’ 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery. It would make sense to go read Part One, before reading this. Like, a LOT of sense. But if you’re here and you’re determined to plow ahead, below is the first part of the intro to last week’s post, so you understand the deal. Then you can move right on to Step Six.

Though you really should go back and read Part One and Part Two.

My Dungeons and Dragons roots don’t go back to the very beginning, but I didn’t miss it by much. I remember going to our Friendly Local Gaming Store with my buddy. He would buy a shiny TSR module and I would get a cool Judges Guild supplement.

And I remember how D&D was the center of the RPG world in those pre-PC/video game playing days. And Gary Gygax was IT. It all centered around him. So, I read with interest a book that he put out in 1987, less than twelve months after he had severed all ties with TSR.

Role Playing Mastery is his very serious look at RPGing. He included the 17 steps he identified to becoming a Role Playing Master.

…

Read More Read More

Gary Gygax’s 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery (Steps 6 to 10)

Gary Gygax’s 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery (Steps 6 to 10)

Comments 8 comments

So, if you are reading this post right now (and you’d have to be, to see these words), this is Part Two of a look at Gary Gygax’ 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery. It would make sense to go read Part One, before reading this. Like, a LOT of sense. But if you’re here and you’re determined to plow ahead, below is the first part of the intro to last week’s post, so you understand the deal. Then you can move right on to Step Six.

Though you really should go back and read Part One afterwards. There’s more to come next week.

My Dungeons and Dragon s roots don’t go back to the very beginning, but I didn’t miss it by much. I remember going to our Friendly Local Gaming Store with my buddy. He would buy a shiny TSR module and I would get a cool Judges Guild supplement.

And I remember how D&D was the center of the RPG world in those pre-PC/video game playing days. And Gary Gygax was IT. It all centered around him. So, I read with interest a book that he put out in 1987, less than twelve months after he had severed all ties with TSR.

Role Playing Mastery is his very serious look at RPGing. He included the 17 steps he identified to becoming a Role Playing Master.

If you’re reading this post, you probably know that Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson co-created Dungeons and Dragons circa 1973-1974. Unfortunately, it was not a long-lasting partnership and lawsuits would ensue. While both were instrumental in creating D&D, it is Gygax who is remembered as the Father of Role Playing.

…

Read More Read More

Gary Gygax’s 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery (Steps 1 to 5)

Gary Gygax’s 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery (Steps 1 to 5)

Comments 4 comments
Role Playing Mastery by Gary Gygax (Perigee Trade, August 3, 1987)

My Dungeons and Dragons roots don’t go back to the very beginning, but I didn’t miss it by much. I remember going to our Friendly Local Gaming Store with my buddy. He would buy a shiny TSR module and I would get a cool Judges Guild supplement.

And I remember how D&D was the center of the RPG world in those pre-PC/video game playing days. And Gary Gygax was IT. It all centered around him. So, I read with interest a book that he put out in 1987, less than twelve months after he had severed all ties with TSR.

Role Playing Mastery is his very serious look at RPGing. He included the 17 steps he identified to becoming a Role Playing Master.

If you’re reading this post, you probably know that Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson co-created Dungeons and Dragons circa 1973-1974. Unfortunately, it was not a long-lasting partnership and lawsuits would ensue. While both were instrumental in creating D&D, it is Gygax who is remembered as the Father of Role Playing.

In 1987, Gary Gygax put out a book entitled Role-Playing Mastery, which gave guidelines on how to excel as a player in role-playing games. At that time, there were essentially two versions of Dungeons and Dragons. The Original, or ‘Basic’ game, had evolved under Tom Moldvay’s rules development.

…

Read More Read More

What I’ve Been Listening To: November 2024

What I’ve Been Listening To: November 2024

Comments 2 comments

So, I did not update you last month, on what I’ve been listening to most recently. Let me tell you, the FLOOD of emails and comments, wanting to know what’s been running through my Audible, was deafening. Wait. No. I mean, deathly silent.

MISTLETOE MURDERS 3

I like Hallmark Christmas movies. They’re all similar, but they’re enjoyable. My ex-wife and I even got our son to kind of enjoy them. He would laugh at the tropes when they occurred, like the snowball fight, the misunderstanding, the plot twist at 90 minutes EVERY time.

Sometimes I watch the Hallmark Mystery movies, and the general ones. Mistletoe Murders is an Audible Original series, included with my membership level. On its third season. This radio show about a gift shop owner is like a Hallmark Mystery Christmas series. But with more emphasis on the mystery side, than the ‘sappy/silly’ Christmas side. She has a past that makes her far more than just a store owner.

Seasons have varied in number of episodes and length, running about an hour and-a-half first time out, and between four and four and-half-hours in the next two seasons.

If you like Hallmark Mysteries (which I wrote about here long ago), this wont’ do much for you. If you do like them, then this is pure bonus for your Hallmark-loving heart.

Just a few weeks ago, the first season of a streaming series started on Hallmark+. I don’t have that channel, so I haven’t seen it. But I think it’s cool they took the audio series and put it on screen. I hope to catch it soon.

…

Read More Read More

What I’ve Been Reading: November, 2024

What I’ve Been Reading: November, 2024

Comments 6 comments

So, I managed to actually read a few books since September’s What I’ve Been Reading. That was while listening, yet again, to Tony Hillerman’s fantastic Navajo Tribal Police series. I never tire of those. And I’m now listening to The Caine Mutiny – great novel, movie, and even play. Gotta do a major piece on that some day.

I tried to listen to my current Malazan Book of the Fallen, but it’s 44 hours long! I simply couldn’t make myself tune in on something that long. I may try again, or just read it (I’d read all the prior books).

PORT OF SHADOWS – Glen Cook

I’m a huge Glen Cook fan. Hopefully you saw my Q&A with him earlier this year. While it was focused on his fantastic Garrett, PI, series, I did work in a little The Black Company. Last year, I listened to the entire series; except for Port of Shadows. I had bought the hardback when it came out in 2018, but had not read it yet. I wanted to read it, rather than listen.

Ala Raymond Chandler, this was created out of three short stories, published in 2010, 2011, and 2014. It takes place between the first two in the series: The Black Company, and Shadows Linger. There are two stories going on set in different times, and I didn’t see the link-up until about two-thirds of the way through the book. You’ll probably get it a lot sooner.

It was good to read about this incarnation of the Company, and I enjoyed it. Recommended for Black Company Fans. If you’re new to the series, I would definitely start with the first volume, and you could read this second.

If you read my Q&A (you DID, right???), you know that the next three volumes are completed, with a fourth in progress. Still hoping they get published soon.

…

Read More Read More

A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Bob’s Books – Shelfie #11 (Dashiell Hammett)

A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Bob’s Books – Shelfie #11 (Dashiell Hammett)

Comments 0 Comment

It’s a new shelfie and we’re up to number eleven. And this one is my Dashiell Hammett collection. His face is the first one on my Hardboiled Mt. Rushmore. So, he’s got a solid shelf in my Hardboiled collection.

William T. Nolan’s bio on the far left has some good info, but he’s a bit of a hack. He doesn’t miss an opportunity to run down Carroll John Daly to make Hammett look better. It’s juvenile, and Hammett doesn’t need the help. Reminds me of L. Sprague deCamp putting down Robert E. Howard to elevate his own Conan stuff.

Diane Johnson’s’ biography was written with Lillian Hellman’s permission (Hammett’s long-time mistress/girlfriend controlled his Estate). It’s pretty clear Hellman had approval authority, and it’s not the most objective book.

Richard Layman may be THE authority on Hammett, and his book Discovering The Maltese Falcon and Sam Spade is a mish-mash of stuff related to Hammett and that book. Fun read for fans of The Black Bird.

I’m a big Continental Op fan, and Otto Penzler’s Big Book series has all the stories, plus some very good essays for each of the editors Hammett wrote them for. These are the original Black Mask versions. It includes the two serialized novels, and is a good book for Op fans.

My favorite PI book, and my favorite PI novel: The Maltese Falcon. This version has some cool black and white photos related to the novel. I wrote an essay on the book and the three movie versions that is pretty good.

…

Read More Read More

What I’ve Been Watching: November 2024

What I’ve Been Watching: November 2024

Comments 2 comments

Wow. It’s been a year since I did a What I’ve Been Watching. I did do those two Ten Things I Think I Think, covering Marvel movies, but that’s it. So, let’s talk about a few things I liked.

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

Our own Goth Chick has talked about this show a couple times – including here.

This is a vampire show, running on FX. Based on a previous movie (which had a different cast). Its about a group of four vampires who live in NYC. They originally came to the New World to take over, but got sidetracked over the years. This show is both wrong, and hilariously funny. Season six is currently running, and will bring the episode total up to sixty-one.

Nandor the Destroyer is in charge, and he’s more the classic Transylvanian-style vampire. I LOVE Matt Berry in The IT Crowd (he reunites with Richard Ayoade in voicing Krapoplois), Year of the Rabbit, and Toast of London. He’s probably my favorite British actor. He makes me laugh as Laszlo. Nadja is his fellow-vampire girlfriend and equal to the two men. They all ‘look like’ vampires. Colin Robinson is an energy vampire – he feeds on negative energy and exhaustion, not blood. It’s a fantastic bit, as we’ve all unknowingly worked with energy vampires in the past. Nandor also has a nerdy little vampire-wannabe apprentice, Guillermo

They’re likable vampires, though they certainly have no compunction in killing humans. There are laughs every episode, and the dynamics of the household shift. Guillermo’s longing to be a vampire is amusing and a little sad. And it owned me when Nandor, trying to explain the origin of the Universe, had a drawing of three elephants standing on the back of a great turtle. If you don’t get that reference, we can still be friends, but you REALLY need to read some Terry Pratchett!

…

Read More Read More