I asked this question a few months ago and figure I’d ask every few months because it was great to see the large response and it was nice to get book recommendations to add to my ever expanding pile to read. The book I most recently finished was The Cat Who Walked Through Walls by Heinlein and I’m currently reading The Strong Shall Live which is a series of short stories by Louis L’Amour. I have found a ton of his books at yard sales and they are usually sold for a quarter or 50 cents a piece so I have quite a few and this is the first one I’m reading. Also found the book Lonesome Dove along with L’Amour’s stuff. Anyway, what are yall reading?

A buddy of mine sent me an article from a shill media site because he knew I’d roll my eyes and it was the usual tripe attacking fans and praised the last Jedi for “showing” that it’s ok to make bold decisions that fans don’t realize they need. Of course it mentioned that “fanboys were mad because they wanted a heroic Luke”. Of the many reasons I despise that movie, one is definitely this notion that subversion of expectations is brilliant writing.

What’s wrong with wanting to see a hero of a movie be heroic? I hope Rian Johnson never gets a hold of Superman. To be fair TFA should’ve had an opening scene with Luke training new Jedi. Had Rey been one of his students she would’ve been received much better. Plus you could’ve had more Jedi characters to build future stories and could’ve had Luke’s Jedi Academy at Disney world as an attraction.

Anyway, sorry about that rant. I just find that “subversion” as annoying as the Stranger Thigs season 3 where they set up that guy and the girl at the ice cream shop to be a couple (original plan) only to make her gay. Media shills actually called that a bold move. About as bold as race/gender swaps. A show that is an homage to the 80s thought that was a good idea

I've mentioned before that I have a rule of thumb when watching or reading anything to not watch anything made after 2014 without a trusted recommendation. I'm wondering if anyone has a similar kind of cutoff when reading about history? If so what is yours?

With the whole diversity obsession in entertainment it has thoroughly ruined period pieces and what is even more annoying is that the media shills will find some historian to claim that Victorian England was always very racially diverse, Vikings were multicultural, or we get the moronic stuff like League of Their Own/that GREASE prequel with lgbt stuff all over along with interracial relationships.

Funny thing is that I've never heard the argument about Victorian England or the Vikings until these shows started pushing this nonsense. It's as if they have some quack historian on retainer or they say something like "well the British Empire included parts of Africa so it makes sense for them to be in a show about upper crust Brits in the 1800s".

I had to stop reading modern science magazines a while back because I foolishly thought they surely wouldn't go along with the nonsense about transgenderism. I also looked up some information on the African slave trade and the essay grudgingly admitted that slavery existed in Africa but not as bad as American slavery. In America you had slaves that were treated very poorly and very well so I would assume that would be true across the world when slavery was commonplace.

So, sorry for the essay, but any rule of thumb y'all could recommend?

I watched Sound of Freedom and it was a good movie, but everytime I watch or read something about human trafficking/modern slavery it really angers me because I think of all the kids that could have been saved if the mainstream media shined the light on that topic instead of glorifying lgbt causes, made up racial grievances, or feminist cyrbabies to name a few. When it comes to open borders I do feel there is an agenda to flood western countries with the third world or replace the dominant population (whether it is the WEF, Bildebergs, CFR, Club of Rome, etc.) but I do think another aspect of it is human trafficking because they use kids and pretend to be their parents which was why they had that separation done that the media went crazy about (kids in cages). Add in all those conspiracy theories regarding elites and pedophilia and there is quite a bit of smoke.

As for the modern day slavery thing, I remember I asked a guy who was lecturing me about American slavery why he doesn't focus his energy on donating or volunteering for organizations that help victims of human trafficking/modern day slavery. He told me I was deflecting and didn't want to acknowledge America's past. I just shook my head and walked away.

I know I ask for a lot of recommendations and I apologize for that but this community has given me a massive list of books/manga/anime to check out and I’ll probably be going through it all til I die.

My question is if anyone has any recommendations on sci-fi that is Mars related. I’ve always had a fascination with Mars and enjoy stories whether it is from the golden era or more modern. I have some books called Red/Green/Blue Mars that I haven’t read and I really want to get Jack Kirby’s The Face on Mars.
I have the Martian Chronicles but haven’t read it yet. One great Bradbury story is Mars is Heaven if you haven’t read it check it out.

Anyway, any recommendations would be appreciated

If yall aren’t aware there was a recent interview Chuck Dixon did where they were talking about comics and the guy mentioned pandering to a female audience has been one of the things that have ruined comics. Third wave feminism to be exact. Dixon talked about his girls used to read comics like Archie, Little Lulu, romance comics, etc. He then mentioned that his sisters read Green Lantern because they thought Hal Jordan was cute (I can’t judge because I had every cd and now every album of Fiona Apple downloaded because I thought she was beautiful).

Some people took that to mean “see girls read comics” when he was essentially saying that if you make comics that cater to what girls/women like you can sell to them. Manga has proved this along with countless YA novels. For whatever reason Superhero comics and Sci-Fi don’t appeal to women in large numbers but that doesn’t seem to stop the IPs from sunken costs.

As I was playing modded Skyrim the other day I was remembering how at one time I thought how epic it would be if it was made into a movie. Definitely not not anymore. If made today, how do you think they would butcher it? Obviously the main character would be female and the Dunmer in Windhelm would be the focus of the story.

I still think it would be cool if a great fantasy author wrote a 12 book series about the history of Tamriel or a series on the adventures of past Dragonborns or Morrowind. So many possibilities

Hope everyone has a great day and for my fellow Christians let’s take some time to think about the gift that is our savior Jesus Christ. For those who aren’t Christians have a great day because I know a good chunk of yall still celebrate. Gonna be a pretty lazy day for me and will probably either play modded Skyrim or read some sci-fi and old silver surfer comics I picked up

Merry Christmas

So I had to reorganize my massive “books I have to read” mountain and I was going over all the Star Trek books I’ve accumulated (Enterprise era and prior) at yard sales, half price books, and small conventions. What would be considered the “Heir to the Empire” of the Star Trek EU? I have the Titan book and the one Shatner helped write that brings back Kirk along with many others.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated

I saw a recent poll done by the usual suspects showing that like 48% of the ticket buyers for comic cons are women and of course the article said that women have every right to nerd out without being bullied. I long ago stopped believing women were getting bullied in nerd spaces or at least the actual bullying is few and far between if that, but these polls are tiresome and they just make me wonder if the people conducting them have ever been to a convention. You still have guys at the booths buying stuff you expect guys to by. Like the small ones I work (selling comic books and vintage toys) as expected, the overwhelming majority of people who buy comic books are guys.

This is like the poll showing that women make up half of comic book fans when they asked if they were interested in comics. During the height of the MCU I saw plenty of people say they were interested in comics but never bought any because most normies like the idea of comic books, star wars, etc. but don't actually do a deeper dive.

Of course we all know the "50% of gamers are women" stat that is constantly thrown around despite the fact when you break it down it makes perfect sense because it shows what games women play versus what games men play.

If only these hobbies could've remained niche, or anyone who does adapt a book series has to face a panel of nerds. I'd love to interrogate the moronic showrunner of Wheel of Time.

It will never cease to amaze me how these companies see a hobby where men are 90% of the audience but apparently you can't make any decisions based on that data, but let one woman buy call of duty and you have to make sure the whole gaming industry caters to her. Shouldn't these massive waves of female fans be self evident? I mean the Marvels should've been just as popular as Barbie with women.... just saying.

Also, it really is a shame that LEGO didn't have the guts to stand by THEIR OWN STUDY!!!

What is your favorite type of sci-fi? For me since Ive always been interested in life in the universe/space exploration, anything regarding that. I love golden age sci-fi and reading what they thought we would do in space back in the 40s and 50s

I’m still very much a normie with 40k but I want to get into the lore before the show comes out. Unfortunately it’s not like LOTR, Wheel of Time, Ice and Fire, etc where I can buy a series of books and start on book one. I’ll see what books are a good starting point and I’m sure there are some YouTubers that can give lore insight that I can listen to on my walks. I have like 40 books to read in my immediate stack so I’ll hold off on any of the books until I can knock those out.

With the show coming I’m wondering if the usual suspects have tried to latch onto the IP or have the fans gate kept it pretty well?

Is the half life reality like limbo before reincarnation? The ending is very PKD because it seems like you can never know the true nature of reality. Kind of like Man in the High Castle

I finished Vision of the Annointed by Thomas Sowell last month, and the book (written in 95) was his takedown of academic elites on many topics. One area he discussed was sex ed and questioned the obsession with discussing sex with children as young as kindergarten or discussing homosexuality with kids. Most of my life I’ve lived in Oklahoma or Texas in pretty red/Christian areas so my sex ed in 5th grade was slightly more than “boys have a penis and girls have a vagina”. I didn’t realize the heavy push for that was going on in the 90s but I guess in more left wing areas it was, plus he has been in academic circles for decades so o guess he has seen a lot of wild theories pushed.

One of my favorite lines from the book is “there is plenty of talk about the haves and have nots, but very little discussion about the doers and do nots”

Recently got some John Ringo books at a yard sale and was wanting some ideas for other Military Sci Fi book series.

There was a guy who has run a comic book store in Massachusetts for 30 years and he ripped into the industry and complained about how dc and marvel comics weren’t selling and said to quit it with the self inserts. Of course the marvel and dc writers attacked him and the lady that bullied Dan Didio into hiring more women at dc attacked him and EVS responded and said feminists have ruined comics and the good female writers are good because they understand that comic books are a male audience

I know I need to play Fallout and my high school aged cousin keeps telling me to play New Vegas. I’ve also heard that the controls are similar to Skyrim so that is good. Apparently the main character is female. I guess in the game you create your own character like Skyrim. There was a time when a female lead wouldn’t have made me bat an eye but in the time we live now it’s a potential red flag. Also I heard the showrunner says he isn’t following the lore in the game or something. I would imagine more guys play Fallout,but that’s the same with Halo. I used to want an Elder Scrolls/Skyrim movie but now I hope they stay far away

It said everyone you would expect. That conservatives are “melting down” or the “you can accept a time traveling time lord but not a black Isaac newton”, and of course the “they are the real snowflakes”.

They act like this is happening in a vacuum and can’t possibly accept that people will be annoyed after the 10000 race/gender swap. It really makes me sad that Bridgerton was such a hit. I know they defend it by saying it’s fantasy or alternate reality but the original books aren’t like that and they clearly did it for agenda.

Anyway I hope people know where to find actual books on the history of Europe or actual good documentaries. I really wish someone would take the ancient alien theory and make a sci-fi where aliens alter the dna of humans in deep Africa but all the Africans are white. Then i can say “you can believe aliens altering dna…..”

The other day I was watching Bowelstrek going over a shill media article attacking fans who didn't like the Dr. Who episode. The thing that really annoyed me was that the writer of the article actually said it was important for the show to represent trans/non-binary people because they never get to "see themselves" represented. Is this person insane? I thought the constant LGB pushing the last two decades was getting annoying but now we have to celebrate delusional people and the over-representation is beyond off the charts. I guess the writer of the article must live in a very left wing bubble.

I will never understand how if I were to tell someone that I'm a time traveler from 1000 years in the future I'll be sent to a mental hospital but seeing a penis between my legs and insisting I am a woman is something that will get me fawning adulation.

Just a fun question since we are in December and Christmas is my favorite time of year. Here are mine:

Listen to the Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole Christmas albums

Watch A Christmas Carol (prefer the 30s version but will watch any version that’s respectful to the source material, so definitely not that garbage FX version)

Watch the Twilight Zone episode Night of the Meek (80s version remade this and it’s good too but I prefer the original)

I used to watch Hallmark during this time of year to support it due to the attacks it would get but now I support Great American Family since they said they want to appeal to a traditional audience.

I sing on the choir at my church and a week from Sunday we are doing are Christmas program which is followed by a chili cook-off being the good Texans that we are.

Finally, since the winter weather in North Texas is bi-polar with constant shifts between cold and warm weather, if it’s a warm Christmas my family will cook out and smoke some brisket or something

What about y’all?

On Black Friday, I took my nieces and nephew to my local comic book store to get some Christmas shopping out of the way. I just go straight to the back issue section now. My nieces and nephew got manga and tabletop games. I can remember years back when pretty much all that was sold was comic books, and the new issues took up a lot of space because people were buying them/had subscriptions. Now the new issue section is tiny and most comics that are sold there are from the back issue section (to the point that sometimes they have to put a time limit on that section due to the demand). The increase in women coming to the store happened when they started selling manga which was a wise choice.

I guess every time I go now, it just irritates me because I think of how the comic book industry has been decimated due to rabid feminists, obsession with DEI, and totally ignoring who actually buys comics. I guess you could add that they could've capitalized on the success of the MCU. After the Marvels bombed Forbes had an article taking issue with someone who said it was for teen girls and not comic book fans and they said something like "as if those two groups aren't the same".

Imagine if someone had told the execs that women don't buy this product in large numbers so exclusively catering to this audience is a losing proposition. I also remember an interview with Kathleen Kennedy saying she gets a lot of calls from male directors wanting to work with Star Wars but few women. A good interviewer would've told her "who do you think is mostly interested in Star Wars".

Finally, one of the most annoying things in "nerdy hobbies" is a feminist saying she never felt welcomed in a comic book store, or in a video game store. I don't know how many times my friends and I would roll out the red carpet when a girl came into the comic book store or how awesome I thought it was as a teen when I met a girl who was into games.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. On the bright side, I got some back issue comics and my niece got me a manga for an early Christmas gift. Alice in Borderland.

Happy Thanksgiving!! Hope y’all have a great day and forgot about the crazy world for a while and indulge in some good food. I’ll be playing some modded Skyrim, Starfield, and watching the Dallas Cowboys my favorite team. Along with reading of course.

Have a great day!!

Has anyone seen that Chris Gore tweet where he re-tweeted an article from Variety about how The Marvels bombed and he simply said something like "the decision to the turn Star Wars and Marvel into girl brands will prove to be one of the most costly mistakes in entertainment history"

The vitriol in the responses was ridiculous. You can't even explain to these people how idiotic it is to force women into a hobby that tends to appeal to males. This why you gatekeep anyone who says "as a ........ I never saw myself". I remember watching an interview where this lady was saying how she didn't see many girls in the comic book store and I was screaming at the screen that there is nothing sinister because women just don't buy them at the same levels.

Anyway, it is just sad to see some normies will just clap like seals at whatever is offered.

One my cousins used to always give me the usual lines regarding the infestation of entertainment like "it's always been political/woke", "you are uncomfortable with female leads", "you are just mad because white males aren't in everything" along with all the other stuff everyone on here has heard.

The other day he called me after trying to watch the Obi Wan show on Disney plus and apologized to me because he said he couldn't unsee or unhear everything I had been saying. His preteen kids got bored with the show after one episode and he tried to keep watching but he said that it was blatantly obvious there was an agenda and that maybe I wasn't crazy when I said there was an obsession with diversity and less white representation.

I had already cancelled my disney plus when Obi Wan premiered but when someone told me that it was basically a Leia and Reva show I wasn't surprised. I remember hearing that it was originally supposed to be a show focusing on Obi Wan and Luke but the female showrunner said she wanted to include Leia (showing how clueless she was about the lore). It really made me sad to see so called star wars fans defending it by saying "well, it never said Leia had never met Obi Wan or him and Vader hadn't fought multiple times".

There is an EU book called Kenobi that is good. It is Obi Wan watching over Luke from a distance and getting reluctantly sucked into a skirmish between the Tusken Raiders and the local farmers. At least that author understood the lore he had to work with. Honestly Obi Wan could've been a massive hit.