The Deathworlders

So I found The Deathworlders by Hambone HFY (aka Phillip R. Jackson) online, but I can't remember where.  It may have been Geeks Are Sexy, but I can't find it in my history.  It may be that my history doesn't go back far enough.

I just want to put that out there at the beginning; this is a commitment to read at approximately 8,400 pages.  This book took me four months to read, and according to my Kindle approximately 280 hours total reading time.

I would not trade any of that time for something else.  This book was a ride from the start.

There are 97 parts to this saga which would be equivalent in length to novellas.  Sometimes.  Some are longer than others, but very few are the epic size of a Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson.

At the end, looking back at the characters who have been lost, and those that have changed and grown over the course of the book makes you realize the completeness of this writing.  And I just want to read more by him. As he says in the end, The Deathworlders could benefit from professional editing; however, that is only for clean-up and maybe pacing.

What makes the book even more fun, is that it doesn't pretend to exist in a world without present and past pop culture.  There is probably as much reference to things as can be done without taking over other author's materials.  And yet the parts that are mesh perfectly.

I want this to be published.  I want each race to be drawn by Wayne Douglas Barlowe.  I want movies either live action or animated.

One last thing, I want to add.  There is a character who leads the special operations crew in their workouts. I have taken to imagining him with me when I'm working out or riding my bike.  If I feel like I'm lagging or don't want to do another set, I just think, "Would Adam let me stop here?  Or would he make me do more?"

Quotes - Part Eighteen

 

221.                   If you and a same sex friend are eating out, and request just one check, and the waitress sets it down in front you, she decided you’re the top.

--Roweland Fox

222.                   He had this van that was painted all around, you know, with large Feynman diagrams. And you know, most people would look at those diagrams, of course, and they would look like some squiggly lines and they would mean nothing. But every so often, obviously, someone would see them and say, “Why do you have Feynman diagrams on your van?” And he would say, “Because I’m Richard Feynman.”

--Edward Fredkin, physicist

223.                   What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.

--Sigmund Freud

224.                   If you are physically bullied, the best thing to say is, “No, no no, don’t do that, you’ll give me an erection.”

--Stephen Fry

225.                   This is the point. One technology doesn’t replace another, it complements. Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.

--Stephen Fry

226.                   I’d have her attack you with the ferocity of a maenad in AA.

–K. Fuhr, “Friendly Hostility”

227.                   The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

--Mahatma Gandhi

228.                   I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.

--Galileo Galilei

229.                   The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.

--Galileo Galilei

230.               To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of use always give the devil his due.

--Hob in Sandman #22 by Neil Gaiman

231.               Woman on the train just clutches her Whole Foods baguette so tightly when I sat down next to her you’d think I was Jean Valjean.

--Taylor Garron

232.               640K ought to be enough for anybody.

--Bill Gates, 1981

233.               Notice they are not called “God-worshiping people”, they are called “God-fearing people”. So why are churches called “houses of worship” and not “houses of fear”?

--David Gerrold

234.               The Roman Empire died from an overdose of taxes, lawyers, and Christians. But we’re much too smart to make that mistake again.

--David Gerrold

235.               Yes, Mother Nature is a bitch. But she’s not your bitch.

--David Gerrold

236.               I’ve always felt that you shouldn’t criticize a man though, until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. That way when you do criticize him, you’re a mile away. And you’ve got his shoes.

--David Gerrold

237.               You have the right to free speech. You do not have the right to an audience.

--David Gerrold

238.               The only winner of the War of 1812 was Tchaikovsky.

--David Gerrold

239.               A gentleman is one who doesn’t require a lady to prove that she is.

--David Gerrold

240.               I’m from a little place called England… We used to run the world before you.

--Ricky Gervais

241.               The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.

--William Gibson

242.               The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.

--John Gilmore

243.               If it weren’t for electricity we’d all be watching television by candlelight.

--George Gobel

244.               I don’t care how holy somebody claims to be. If a person tells you it’s My will that they kill someone, they’re wrong. Got it? I don’t care what religion you are, or who you think your enemy is, here it is one more time: No killing, in My name or anyone else’s, ever again.

--God, The Onion

245.               Godwin’s First Law: As a discussion on the Internet grow longer, the likelihood of a person/s being compared to Hitler or another Nazi, increases.

--Mike Godwin

246.               Godwin’s Second Law: Drawing Bayesian inferences after extensive sampling, I’ve determined that it is 99-percent certain that anyone who uses “woke” as a pejorative will turn out to be a fuckhead.  Please don’t blame me for pointing this out – it’s just science.

–Mike Godwin

247.               Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them, they translate it into their own language, and forthwith it means something entirely different.

--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

248.               If you ever see me getting beaten by the police, put down the video camera and come help me.

--Bobcat Goldthwait

249.                   Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer.

--Bruce Graham

250                   It would be very discouraging if somewhere down the line you could ask a computer if the Riemann hypothesis is correct, and it said, “Yes, it is true, but you won’t be able to understand the proof.”

--Ronald Graham

Quotes - Part Seventeen

 

211.                   After things have gone from bad to worse, the cycle will repeat itself.

--Farnsdick’s Corollary to Murphy’s Seventh Law

212.                   A myth is a religion in which no one any longer believes

--James Feibleman

213.                   With every passing hour our solar system comes forty‑three thousand miles closer to globular cluster M13 in the constellation Hercules, and still there are some misfits who continue to insist that there is no such thing as progress.

--Ransom K. Ferm

214.                   I have a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain

--Pierre de Fermat

215.                   Never replicate a successful experiment.

--Fett’s Law

216.                   Daimler-Chrysler will market a giant SUV called Unimog in the United States. The Unimog is over nine feet high and twenty feet long. The $84,000 truck will most likely be bought by fire departments, construction companies, and men with very tiny penises.

--Tina Fey

217.                   Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and furthermore always carry a small snake.

--W.C. Fields

218.                   If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.

--Finagle’s First Law

219.                   One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that, lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs.

--Robert Firth

220.               Anything dropped in the bathroom falls in the toilet.

--Flucard’s Corollary

Quotes - Part Sixteen

 I couldn't tell you how I found Everything^2.  I think it came across them in a list of quotes.  There's quite a bit there.

191.                   To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children… to leave the world a better place… to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

192.                   You enter into a certain amount of madness when you marry a person with pets.

--Nora Ephron

193.                   The situation is not weirder than you imagine, it is weirder than you can imagine.

--Lewis Carroll Epstein, Relativity Visualized

194.                   Relationships are hard. It’s like a full‑time job, and we should treat it like one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you two weeks’ notice. There should be severance pay, and before they leave you, they should have to find you a temp.

--Bob Ettinger

195.                   Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish

--Euripides

196.                   The other line moves faster.

--Ettore’s Observation

197.                   Do Not Look Into Laser With Remaining Good Eye

--Everything²

198.                   Don’t try this at home. Don’t try this on the bus. Do not try this on a train or in the rain. Do not try this anywhere. Never do this. Don’t be stupid.

--Everything²

199.                   Gyaargh! The rumours of the Daystar are true!

--Everything²

200.               “Oh bother,” said the Borg. “We’ve assimilated Pooh.”

--Everything²

201.               No, Mr. Dye, I expect you to bond!

--Everything²

202.               There’s a distortion in space-time. Jump into it?

--Everything²

203.               This may not be a hushy-shushy library, but bringing in the ska band is a bit much.

--Everything²

204.               Traditionally, Scottish food is based on dares.

--Everything²

205.               Zen pancakes! Get them while they’re not!

--Everything²

206.               Life can be grim when you pass 80, especially if there’s a police car behind you.

--Sam Ewing

207.               She lusted after lovers with genitals as large as donkey’s and emissions like those of a horse.

--Ezekiel 23:20

208.               These days, being paranoid just means you’re paying attention.

--Fate #19

209.               Star Wars III: So long and thanks for all the Sith

--Fark

210.               Don’t worry about temptation – as you grow older, it starts avoiding you.

--Farmer’s Almanac

Quotes - Part Fifteen

 

171.                   This is the AK-47 assault rifle, the preferred weapon of your enemy, and it makes a distinct sound when fired at you, so remember it.

--Gunnery Sergeant Hightower (Clint Eastwood), Heartbreak Ridge

172.                   When you are not fed love on a silver spoon, you learn to lick is off knives.

--Lauren Eden

173.                   Every time I drink milk, I remember my roommate who used to put powdered milk in his milk so he could drink “more milk per milk”.

--Avery Edison

174.                   I’m desperately trying to figure out why kamikaze pilots wore helmets.

--Dave Edison

175.                   The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.

--Ehrlich

176.                   May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places you must walk.

--Egyptian blessing

177.                   Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

--Albert Einstein

178.                   As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

--Albert Einstein

179.                   Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18.

--Albert Einstein

180.               Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

--Albert Einstein

181.               I want to know God’s thoughts; the rest are details.

--Albert Einstein

182.               If my theory of relativity is proven correct, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.

--Albert Einstein

183.               Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.

--Albert Einstein

184.               Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

--Albert Einstein

185.               The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

--Albert Einstein

186.               Things should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.

--Albert Einstein

187.               You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.

--Albert Einstein

188.               We live on a blue planet that circles around a ball of fire next to a moon that moves the sea, and you don’t believe in miracles?  There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle.

--Albert Einstein

189.               When I was a boy growing up in Kansas, a friend of mine and I went fishing and as we sat there in the warmth of a summer afternoon we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him I wanted to be a real major league baseball player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner. My friend said that he’d like to be president of the United States. Neither of us got our wish.

--President Dwight D. Eisenhower

180.               There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

--Marc Elias

Quotes - Part Fourteen

So one of things that I'm learning as I post these are whose quotes I'm keeping.  Some of the quotes I had were relatively old, and knowing who some of these people have become over time, it's kind of obvious in retrospect.

161.                   In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it’s the exact opposite.

--Paul Dirac

162.                   It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.

--Walt Disney

163.                   If you can’t take the heat, don’t set yourself on fire.

--Doghouse Diaries

164.                   Think not of the books you’ve bought as a “to be read” pile.  Instead, think of your bookcase as a wine cellar.  You collect books to be read at the right tie, the right place, and the right mood.

--Luc van Donkersgoed

165.                   Karaoke bars combine two of the nation’s greatest evils: people who shouldn’t drink with people who shouldn’t sing.

--Tom Dreesen

166.                   So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.

--Peter Drucker

167.                   Opportunity always knocks at the least opportune moment.

--Ducharme’s Precept

168.                   Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.

--Will Durant (1885 - 1981)

169.                   Every now and then it’s nice to pick your head up from you book, reacquaint yourself with the world around you, take a hard pass, and immediately go right back to reading.

--Jonathon Edward Durham

170.               I recommend no fewer than four copies of any beloved book.  A paperback for traveling and lending to friends, an eBook for reading with greasy snack fingers, an audio book so you know how the characters’ names are pronounced, and a pristine hardcover to be buried with you like a pharaoh.

--Jonathon Edward Durham