Like Candy-Coated Crack

[ladysprite]

Aaah, THIS is what I read for.

That moment in the book when you watch the character that you kind of love to hate utterly screw up and stick his foot in it, except he doesn't know it because he doesn't know everything you-the-reader know, and you're half-cringing as you read, torn between stopping and clutching your hair and shouting 'NO YOU FOOL IT'S A TRAP' and wanting to keep on going, devouring words at a breakneck pace to watch the resulting debacle, while a tiny part of you just wants to close your eyes and stop, so it doesn't happen....

And then the bubblegum hits the fan, and it's all BAM and POW and OOH and you're cheering out loud for the good guys and laughing in delight at the tricks and turns, until your coworkers poke their heads in and wonder what the heck is going on....

Until it's over, and you fall back out and wonder where the last half hour went, and feel vaguely embarrased at having acted like such a goober, and mope for a few minutes at the fact that it's done and you'll never read it for the first time again....

Comments

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

Which book?

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Um... I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but it's the newest Wild Cards novel.

I got hooked on the damn things back in high school, and while the series eventually turned cruddy, they rebooted it a couple of years ago after letting it lie fallow for most of a decade and it's back to being awesome again.

We'll see how long that lasts, but in the meantime I'm enjoying my drama-laden sociopolitical superhero stories....

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

We all read cake from time to time, and we enjoy it.

[tpau]

oh they rebooted? really? huh. i remember that it got horrid right around when one of hte main guys was impregnated by his grandson... ugh.

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Yeah, by that time everything had gone to hell and back. They kept going for a few books after that, but they were just... bad, from all I've been told, and gave up around '95.

There were a couple of ebooks after that, but nothing that took off. And then they picked up again in 2008 - not a total reboot, more like just a fresh start with new characters, picking up at a new point in history. And they're pretty darn good. The first one is 'Inside Straight' - I took it out of the library; otherwise I'd loan it to you....

[tpau]

so all the stupid jumper stuff from last series still happened we jsut sort of are parallell to it?

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Not parallel; just... time has passed. That was over 20 years ago. The jumpers are no longer an issue.

[tpau]

oh good. hm. will need to pick it up then

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

In the past 7-8 months, I've started re-reading all of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books. There was a time when I felt a bit of scorn that they were some kind of childish "everything turns out well in the end" Utopian garbage. Then I matured a bit and realized, you know what? It must be awfully nice to imagine a happy world and get paid to write "everything (mostly) comes out okay in the end, even if Brave Sacrifices must be made" books about it. And what the hell is wrong with imagining a happier, better world?

So, you have no reason to be embarrassed about it with me.

[jducoeur]

Hmm -- I may have to check this out. I fell off the original series somewhere around Book 5 (thus neatly missing the suckage that I heard about from many people), but I always liked the series' style. If they've got their vim back, it might be worth putting into my Audible queue as a nice change of pace...

[jacketeer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, which book!!

[gyzki.livejournal.com]

Of if it's not a book, whose LJ?

[aries-walker.livejournal.com]

"When the bubblegum hits the fan" is the most adorable thing I've ever heard you say, and that's saying something.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

It also brings back one of my favorite quotes. "I'm here to kick ass and chew gum, and I'm all out of ass!"