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What a romp! I am speaking of the book Detective Strongoak and the Case of the Dead Elf by Terry Newman.
Sometimes I just need a book like this that tickles my funny bone after reading so many serious books. It is not a fluff book, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ironic thoughts of the main character Detective Nicely Strongoak.
Pgs. 11, 12
At the tail end of a hot day the lobby was a cool drink of water. A large ceiling fan irritated little piles of dust with each slow pass, but they lacked the energy to commit and settled happily after every sweep… Although the place had obviously seen better days, it had escaped the rampant modernization that had ravaged higher-level inns more effectively than the goblin hordes had ever managed.
Pg. 19
…either way, I didn’t hear the swish of the mace until the briefest of moments before it took me with it into the dark that has no name. It’s like the dark that has got a name, but it was rotten to its parents and they disowned it completely which has made it a whole lot meaner.
Pgs. 52, 53
I followed the elf’s directions and he navigated us by a torturous route to the Fifth Level. Truetouch certainly knew his way around the Citadel: around every corner is a new way of endangering your health…
He beckoned, but I paused before following.
“Is there a problem, Master Strongoak?”
“No, I always follow strange elves into places unknown where their disaffected brethren might be waiting to welcome me with a stout staff made from the wood they value so much.”
Truetouch seemed genuinely surprised by the comment. I know elves are supposed to have difficulty lying, but that is another part of their self-promotion I have trouble believing.
Pg. 84
Just because us dwarfs have lived for so many years in the farthest north, where the temperatures would make even the most hardy elf run for the shelter of a warm cave, it does not mean we have turned our backs on the sun. We are workers of light; we frame it with rock in the windows of our summer halls, we work it in our lanterns, bending it with prisms, and we release it from the deep hearts of gems.
Pg. 113
The house wasn’t a castle, because castles usually have fewer towers and a lot less battlements. Castles only have to keep out the ravening hordes. Hardwood House was designed to keep out busybodies and members of the newsgathering professions. It looked as cozy as chain mail underwear…
Pg. 147
“Can’t you read?”
“Sure,” I replied. “Five different languages in four different scripts.”
“Well.” He pointed to a badly penned sign on the servery top. “As this don’t seem to be one of them, this here sign says, “No Gnomes”, that’s G-N-O-M-E-S.”
“And I am a dwarf, D-W-A-R-F, and this is an axe, do I need to spell it out any clearer? I watched the little gears turn over in his brain box.
Pg. 245
There is an argument in some quarters about who first invented the lock-dwarfs, elves, goblins or men-or whether, perhaps, it was invented independently more than once. Dwarfs don’t get involved in this debate because they are convinced of their primacy. We’re also slightly ashamed to admit that we invented the lock before we managed fire or the wheel, just in case it reinforces unwelcome stereotypes.
Pg. 282
Elves, hey, sometimes you just wanted to explain the modern world to them in very simple one-syllable words while dangling the whole lot over molten lava.
Of course there is more to the story that certainly fits our own modern problems, but I really enjoyed taking the lesson. I laughed a lot, though there were serious things going on.
If you have an e-book, the story can be purchased, but it is harder to get a regular book.
I managed to get one through the used books that was new and one for my oldest son, too.
I would like to mention, too, The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra. While this fiction story has a lot of pain in it, there is also a lot of irony and offbeat humor.
pgs. 91, 92
Over the following weeks, I designed a brochure. The central question was how to trick tourists into coming to Grozny voluntarily. For inspiration, I studied pamphlets from the tourist bureaus of other urban hellscapes: Baghdad, Pyongyang, Houston…
Thrilled by my discoveries, I tucked a notebook into my shirt pocket and raced into the street. Upon seeing the empty space where an apartment block once stood, I wrote wide and unobstructed skies! I watched jubilantly as a pack of feral dogs chased a man, and wrote unexpected encounters with natural wildlife!
The city bazaar hummed with the sales of looted industrial equipment, humanitarian aid rations, and munitions suited for every occasion: unparalleled shopping opportunities at the Grozny bazaar! Even before I reached the first checkpoint, I had scribbled first-rate security!
The copy wrote itself; the real challenge was finding images that substantiated it.
Some reviews:
www.huffingtonpost.com/...
www.nytimes.com/...
Do you have a favorite story that is funny or ironic or do you have one with more than one genre mixed together that you enjoyed?
Diaries of the Week:
Write On! The next million words.
By SensibleShoes
www.dailykos.com/...
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1Woman3GreatRivers Project
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Readers and Book Lovers Announcement
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For our morning readers!
What are you reading? May 25, 2016
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Readers & Book Lovers Series
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Note: About the poll. I know many of you have had spring for months, but it just arrived here in the Thumb of Michigan. It brings with it T-storms and tornadoes and suddenly a week of high temps...mid eighties. If I am not here due to storms, please chat with each other as you do so well.