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Post by Gary Layng on Apr 16, 2019 6:44:01 GMT -5
Spoiler warning.
In all of Wes' work, we all probably have our individual favourite scenes. What are yours?
Mine comes in Busted Axle Road, in Chapter 40. You can just feel a father's pride as Mike looks at his daughter:
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Post by Boyd Percy on Apr 16, 2019 22:29:32 GMT -5
That's a good choice. Would you say that Busted Axle Road is your favorite of Wes' books?
There are so many good choices that it would be almost impossible for me to choose one as a favorite book or scene.
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Post by Leo Kerr on Apr 21, 2019 20:43:21 GMT -5
Some time ago, I used to say that in general, I liked the Bradford Exiles series best, and Blue Beauty of those. But more recently, I find myself more enamored of the Rev. Nanci series..
It's also odd how one remembers stray bits of scenes here and there. Like the breakfast table (I think?) in Alaska with Tiffany, Josh, Sue (B.?), and whats-his-name talking about endorsements.
Oddly, I do remember quite clearly the first Wes Boyd book I read — The Girl in the Mirror.
But while I'd hate to have to finger a book or scene, I do like to point out that reading Wes's books have changed my life. I used to fly cross-country for work-related trade shows. Driving is much nicer than the airport experience, and one sees that there's a lot more to the country than the edges, and that "fly over country" has quite a lot in it. That, and more-or-less courtesy of Hat Trick, I've gone to a number of ren-faires in the last few years. (Unfortunately, the Maryland faire is now too big to be really enjoyable. If you're looking for a good "starter" faire, try the Bristol faire in SE Wisconsin in July.)
Leo
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Post by John Robert Mead on Apr 26, 2019 6:34:33 GMT -5
I can't really say I've a favorite scene, quite a few come to mind when I attempt to narrow them down. It really depends upon what type of story I'm interested in currently, which scene(s) will top the list.
That said, I do remember the first Wes Boyd novel I finished; <em>The Next Generation</em>. I did try at least one prior to that, I can't at this time remember which, but lost interest part way through. That was many years ago now. The first email I sent him was in June of 2014, with the first book purchases being in November of that year; since then I've purchased all of them.
The first novel of his that I recommended to anyone was <em>The Girl in the Mirror</em>; I enjoy transformation/gender bender fiction, so frequent Big Closet Top Shelf (while primarily TG-focused, it has a fair number of non-TG magical/pseudo-science transformation stories), and mentioned it there one time, at which point I discovered that many of them had already been aware of it due to the number of responses seconding the recommendation and also saying his other work was well worth reading even though not TG-focused.
I did make it to the a Ren Faire once, back ~1990 while I worked at The Chicago Public Library; this year is the 31st annual Bristol Ren Faire, so that may have been it. I'm much more familiar with The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), a kinda/sorta/maybe historical recreation organization founded in 1966 which is still going strong, with branches scattered around NA, Europe, Aus/NZ, and Japan. The iffiness is due to a lack of focus in regard to time period or culture, in that anything pre-1600 is fair game, so folks interested in the Anglo-Saxon/Norse cultures interact with those interested in the Italian Renaissance at the same events, which kills any historical accuracy as a whole while not invalidating individual research and recreation efforts. I've friends who were involved with the Markland Medieval Military Militia (MMMM), which is much more focused in regard to time & culture (Viking era on the whole, is my understanding) and very active on the East Coast (very active in the Maryland region, in fact). All of these groups have a fair amount of crossover with Science Fiction Fandom.
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Post by K Pelle on Apr 29, 2019 0:25:44 GMT -5
Well so far I like most of Wes's tales, but my favourite series would be The "Bullring" series and my favourite scene would be the marriage on the track.
I'll be honest I'm just not into the 'heavily religious' tales, but that's my personal opinion. As far as I'm concerned many of the world's religions are at odds with one another and I'd rather not be involved with the problems that keep cropping up, so I try to step away from arguing over that sort of thing. My beliefs are my business and I consider that Wes's beliefs were his, just because we didn't agree doesn't mean that I consider him to a less enjoyable author or a less likeable person. In other words, to each his own!
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Post by Not Wes on May 2, 2019 14:24:20 GMT -5
I'm sort of with Boyd Percy on this, that there are too many wonderful scenes in Wes's books to have just one favorite. I started editing for Wes over 10 years ago now, and the first full book of his I worked on was "Facing the Storm," which back then had the working title of "Spearfish Lake Connection." The title was a last-minute change by Wes. Anyway, a couple scenes stick in my mind from that book. One was when Candice Archer goes back to her hometown for a visit and is talking to the Griswolds (you met 'em in Rocinante) and learns how big of an operation their dairy farm had become. "Thirty-six hundred cows!" she exclaims. Another later in that same book is when the underdog seven-member girls' basketball team, headed by the new coach Brandy (Evachevski) Wine, wins their first game on basically a successful last-second Hail Mary toss of the ball at the hoop by the smallest member of the team.
And there's the place in "Hat Trick," when Dayna Berkshire starts busking the shopping mall crowd with her guitar and then comes home and counts the money people have thrown in her guitar case as she played, and she says to herself, "This sure beats the hell out of working for a living!"
Or there's the spot in "Superheroine" where Sally Parker says, "Okay, start interviewing." Oops, that book's not posted yet, so I can't say more and give that one away.
Anyway, there are lots of others that I like in many different books, obviously a few of them yet to come.
That doesn't mean other readers don't have an absolutely favorite scene of their own. Or two or three? Feel free to share some of them here.
Not Wes
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Post by Leo Kerr on May 5, 2019 21:08:29 GMT -5
I suppose there are also.. impressionable scenes.. I remember the first time reading through Bird Watcher Hill Fire the scene involving the storm; the command truck being struck by lightning. I kept looking up; it was so like some of the super-fast moving storms we get in the summers...
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Post by Norm on May 6, 2019 21:41:29 GMT -5
The opening scene of Magic Carpet, Jennlyn ringing the doorbell at the Mustang Ranch. Not only a powerful piece of writing, but also the Genesis of many tales to come. BTW, Jennlyn is by far my favourite character, closely followed by Nanci
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Post by Carl on May 7, 2019 17:24:48 GMT -5
Might be the moment in Blue Beauty where Trey shows up in Florida and realizes that he had met Myleigh before, in passing, several years before, at Buddha's. Blue Beauty is my favorite book (as much as it can be said that I have a favorite)
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Post by John Robert Mead on May 12, 2019 15:41:39 GMT -5
I did say previously that my favorite scene depends upon what I'm currently reading.
That said, Carl's post reminded me of one that we only observe obliquely; Trey's arrival at Myleigh's bearing Blue Beauty after she's given up all hope. We don't actually see it happen. We hear about it immediately, upon her calling Randy to let him know. We find out more after Trey wakes up; there's a powerful scene in it's own right. All the stuff he went through, his reasoning behind his actions, his constant "Naw, don't need to check that, so many people would have had to have f'd up royally for that to occur... maybe I better check anyway..." leading him to eventual success...
That whole sequence centered upon his arriving with The Grail... culminating in his gently rejecting the proffered reward and thus proving beyond all question that he is a True and Gentle Knight, far more worthy of that title and renown than many who sat with Arthur at the Round Table. It's a Quest narrative.
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Post by Andrew on May 14, 2019 5:14:29 GMT -5
(snip) I do remember the first Wes Boyd novel I finished; The Next Generation. I did try at least one prior to that, I can't at this time remember which, but lost interest part way through. (snip) Pretty much the same with me, I saw TNG on storiesonline.net (it has since been removed from there) and that got me started. It took me a couple of tries to get through Snowplow Extra, and that was the book that Wes tried to interest publishing houses in many years ago.
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Post by Bonno Bloksma on May 16, 2019 14:56:14 GMT -5
As some allready mentioned, it depends partialy upon what one has read recently. For me a few books ago that was Andromeda chained. The scene that I keep remembering is when Brenda and Carole are on the beach making the most outragous exuses why they are wearing handcufs.
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Post by John Robert Mead on May 20, 2019 9:23:52 GMT -5
Pretty much the same with me, I saw TNG on storiesonline.net (it has since been removed from there) and that got me started. It took me a couple of tries to get through Snowplow Extra, and that was the book that Wes tried to interest publishing houses in many years ago. Snowplow Extra is tough going. Took me a couple of tries. That said, it's since become one of my favorite novels, but I really have to be in the mood to read it. I actually stumbled across Wes from a different source than SOL, I just don't remember how now (possibly via Fel's site, as his forum has several threads dealing with "Links to Good Reading"), but I had the site bookmarked way before I actually completed anything he wrote; there was a period when I was actively looking for online fiction and bookmarking any site I came across that wasn't completely beyond the pale. Somewhat like what I'm currently doing with Light Novel and Manga fan translation sites.
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Post by howard on May 22, 2019 4:12:17 GMT -5
Wow. I don't think I could even pick a favorite *book*, let alone a favorite scene. And as somebody said, would probably depend on my mood at the time. There are a couple of books that I've never managed to like despite several open-minded attempts, and I see I'm not alone - Snowplough Extra and Birdwatcher Hill Fire (just too much detail, I think) - and maybe 1 or 2 more that I'm slightly iffy about, but in general Wes' books are magnificent. And I certainly don't remember any more how I found SLT but it was pretty early on, during one of the first 2-3 books to be published. -- howard
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Post by Not Wes Either on May 24, 2019 10:47:33 GMT -5
I'm surprised that readers found Snowplough Extra heavy going.It was the first of Wes's books that I read and it impressed me so much that I have been reading them ever since. It's impossible to pick a favourite but Girl in the Mirror tackled a difficult subject and was written with a lot of sensitivity. It showed a side of Wes that was not apparent in many of his other works.
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