Myth-Told Tales

Product Description

Juvenile Delinquency

Customer Reviews:

Forget these new Myth books.......2007-05-17

These new Myth books are pure garbage. Readers are better off reading the original series and completly disregard these co-authored pap.

Something's mything.......2007-04-11

Asprin, now with a co-author, presents a set of short stories set in the world of "Another Fine Myth." Skeeve, the central character of the early books in this series, is absent from all but a few of these shorts. Instead most of the stories are told first-person by one of the other characters, including Ahhz the Pervect (that's -ect, not -ert) and even Gleep. The stories are all amusing, and I found Nye's collaboration with Asprin to be quite seamless.

The freshness seems to be off the almost-30-year-old series, though. The stories are all amusing enough individually, but something seemed missing as I read them. I finally realized that the authors had gone just a little too far into their made-up world, and assumed that the reader was just as familiar with the settings and characters as they are. In order to get the humor fully, the reader needs to remember a lot that was laid out in previous volumes, particulary the development of the characters. As a result, it's not particularly friendly to the first-time reader or to the reader, like me, who last read one of these books at least a decade ago.

I recommend this to any fan who wants to return to Klah and all the other dimensions of this magical world. Readers unfamiliar with the series should begin at the beginning, though.

//wiredweird

New format.......2007-04-10

With this induction into the Myth series, the author/s have changed into a short story compilation rather than a long story. There's really not much difference between the short story format and the longer single story format style of book except the short stories are "the-quick-story-to-solve-the-mystery" rather than the longer "could-have-been-30-pages-but-here's-some-fluff-filler-material-that-really-has-no-importance-or-bearing-on-the-actual-story". Asprin started doing this in the later Myth books and it was discouraging to read them for that reason. However, being a fairly loyal reader, I still read them. I missed getting the "Class Dis-mythed" book but this one is definitely better than the two-books-ago one I read. While I am a fan of the series, maybe I'm just getting too old for them to fully enjoy them. As short stories, certainly worth checking out for stories from different characters. As always, the stories are told from first person. Here's the rundown:
1. Bunny has to enter a beauty contest and needs Skeeve's help.
2. Massha and General Badaxe wedding with trouble amiss.
3. Side adventure starring Pookie and Spyder.
4. Chumley, Tananda, and Guido must stop some racketeering at the Bazaar of Deva.
5. Aahz, Nunzio, and Gleep have to help out a princess-fox hunt.
6. Gleep's first person story of ongoing robberies at the King-Mart.
7. Aahz & Skeeve are whisked to Dreamland.
8. Tananda is actually on an assassination contract.
9. And Skeeve considers coming out of retirement when his unicorn Buttercup gets depressed. (pretty blatant political commentary here)

Overall, enjoyable but forced. Again, maybe I'm just getting too old to fully enjoy them anymore. Worth reading for the loyal fan and if you prefer short stories. These were all more direct and to the point mysteries ranging from 15-30 pages a chapter.

Wait! .......2006-07-03

I haven't gotten this book yet! I have Myth Alliances --

Back to the Drawing Board.......2005-03-10

The first four books contained a solid, workable formula. Two characters we genuinely cared about. I miss them, and I want more of them. Everyone I've ever talked to about the MYTH books feels the same. Secondary characters like Guido, Nunzio and Spyder, while they get a lot of play these days, just aren't grabbing us the way Aahz and Skeeve used to. They're one trick ponies, and the trick's been drilled to death, whereas I don't think the possibilities of the original characters have begun to exhaust themselves yet.

There's still potential here, but I can't help wishing a really decent editor would analyze this and come to the same conclusions the fans have.

Average customer rating:

First gangster novel ever - a classic
classic gangster novel
Penzler Been Very, Very Good To Rico
Great from start to finish!
working your way to the top of the mob.

Little Caesar
W. R. Burnett
Manufacturer: Otto Penzler
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Similar Items:

The Postman Always Rings Twice

ASIN: B000023VWP

Book Description

1929. The world's first gangster novel. Little Caesar follows the rise and fall of Rico in the crime world as he flees to Chicago and ultimately to his violent end. The book begins: Sam Vettori sat staring down into Halsted Street. He was a big man, fat as a hog, with a dark oily complexion, kinky black hair and a fat aquiline face. In repose he had an air of lethargic good-nature, due entirely to his bulk; for in reality he was sullen, bad-tempered and cunning. From time to time he dragged out a huge gold watch and looked at it with raised eyebrows and pursed lips.

Customer Reviews:

First gangster novel ever - a classic.......2003-09-11

Imagine yourself being flown back in time to the late 1930's and dropped of into a dark and lonely alley on the north side of Chicago, commonly known as Little Italy. This area, ruled by the mob, forms the setting for Little Caesar, world's first gangster novel.

Sam Vettori is one of the toughest gang-bosses of Little Italy, but his days are counted. A new ambitious predator is on the verge of throwing Sam from his throne. Cesare Bandello, commonly known a 'Rico', is that guy. On more than one area has Rico proven to be Sam's superior, but on pulling the strings Sam stays the expert. That's why both decide to co-operate. But when a robbery turns bad -a captain of the police gets killed- everyone starts fending for themselves.

Little Caesar is simply a masterpiece. Not only because it is the first of its kind and it gave birth to a whole range of gangster fiction, but also because the peculiar way it is composed. Although it is written in an almost objective and factual style -almost like in a newspaper-, it still succeeds in getting the reader emotionally involved into the action. The action itself, of which there is plenty, is being reported in a very compact narrative, which gives the story a fast and suspenseful pace.

One warning though: the book contains quite some thirties-slang, which might disturb the inexperienced reader. Do you know what happens if someone turns yellow, for example?

classic gangster novel.......2003-01-30

This novel is a masterpiece of spare prose, vividly telling the story of the rise and fall of a 1920s gangster in 1/2 to 1/3 the number of pages that a present-day writer would take. The novel is fast-paced and expertly evokes the era, though readers unfamiliar with the times might have a little trouble with some of the slang expressions. Like his The Asphalt Jungle, this became the template for numerous subsequent imitations, including the films The Long Good Friday and Scarface.

Penzler Been Very, Very Good To Rico.......2002-07-12

Written in a straightforward and almost colorless style, this book reads a bit like a docudrama, or even a long film treatment, so it's not surprising to learn that the author went on to a very successful career as a screenwriter. Author Burnett gives us an entertaining peek at a presumably typical rise-and-fall in the Chicago underworld of the early twentieth century, long before this type of material was well-mined by others. As usual, we are indebted to Otto Penzler for a beautiful edition; the jacket art is a deco masterpiece.

Great from start to finish!.......1999-10-01

Wow...I give this book 5 STARS. One of the best gang books ever, This is about 5 guys that their lives have change from friends to stab in the back.

working your way to the top of the mob........1999-04-20

Little Caesar is a great example of what it takes to survive in the world of organised crime, and shows whsat goes on in the minds of criminals like me. 4 stars cause of the cliff-hanger ending,but still a must read.

Public Enemies, Public Heroes: Screening the Gangster from Little Caesar to Touch of Evil

Average customer rating:

Absolutely essential reading for film scholars
Why do we like gangster films?

Public Enemies, Public Heroes: Screening the Gangster from Little Caesar to Touch of Evil
Jonathan Munby
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Guides & Reviews | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0226550338

Book Description

In this study of Hollywood gangster films, Jonathan Munby examines their controversial content and how it was subjected to continual moral and political censure.

Beginning in the early 1930s, these films told compelling stories about ethnic urban lower-class desires to "make it" in an America dominated by Anglo-Saxon Protestant ideals and devastated by the Great Depression. By the late 1940s, however, their focus shifted to the problems of a culture maladjusting to a new peacetime sociopolitical order governed by corporate capitalism. The gangster no longer challenged the establishment; the issue was not "making it," but simply "making do."

Combining film analysis with archival material from the Production Code Administration (Hollywood's self-censoring authority), Munby shows how the industry circumvented censure, and how its altered gangsters (influenced by European filmmakers) fueled the infamous inquisitions of Hollywood in the postwar '40s and '50s by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Ultimately, this provocative study suggests that we rethink our ideas about crime and violence in depictions of Americans fighting against the status quo.

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely essential reading for film scholars.......2006-01-13

Munby's book examines the gangster film in relation to industrial and cultural history and particularly the forces of censorship or moralism in Hollywood. This brilliant book tackles difficult questions of cultural analysis and film history and is eloquent to boot. Stellar reading, really inspiring for film--especially gangster genre--scholars.

Why do we like gangster films?.......2000-05-10

This is a very exciting book about why many people find gangster films appealing and why at the same time lots of institutions of authority have found them to be threatening, right from the very beginning. For example, it provides a detailed background of the gangster film's origins in the early '30s, exploring matters such as the motivations for Prohibition, anti-immigration movements, and what was taken to be "proper" American speech, in order to provide a sense of the feelings of resentment these films tapped into and why their early viewers were so excited by them.

This sense of how gangster films have continually spoken for those otherwise ignored marks one of the book's most important themes. It also helps to provide an explanation of how the gangster film changed over the decades in response to attacks, both direct and indirect. The book describes and explains the gangster film's continual battles with various censors, within and without Hollywood, to show how these films continually evolved in ways that enabled them to cater again and again to those who would dissent with an oppressive status quo. Of especial interest is the chapter on German _film noir_ directors, which provides a very plausible account of why much _noir_ should be subsumed under the gangster genre. Dealing with the same issues of subversiveness and critical perspectives of existing power structures, much standard _film noir_ is more a continuation of the gangster film tradition than a break with it. Lots of other critics have noted this connection between these two types of films, but few have argued for it as forcefully, as clearly, or in as much detail as Munby. A tantalizing epilogue links these films to gangsta movies of the 1990s, a connection that one hopes will be worked out in more detail in the future.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about _Public Enemies, Public Heroes_, however, is that it explains how the violence and crime of gangster films appeals to us in ways that largely avoid the jargon-heavy vocabulary of much film studies scholarship today. The style, while dense, is not overlayed with extensive theoretical termimology. One can tell that Munby has reflected deeply on these matters and how to explain them to an audience that isn't necessarily a part of current theoretical discussions of film.

Book Description

In this fascinating biography, Alan L. Gansberg reveals the man behind the public face, his many memorable roles among more than 100 films, and his struggle to find steady work in Hollywood again.

Customer Reviews:

Fine Biography.......2005-04-12

Edward G. Robinson seemed tough, but he had a sensitive side too that was most obviously expressed in his love of modern art; his collection of Renoirs alone was for many years the most impressive West of the Mississippi. He was said to have bought a masterpuece every time he made another film for Warner Brothers, to reward himself with some beauty for dipping himself in dreck. And yet Robinson's films still startle with their magnificent energy and passion. They too are works of art every bit as much as his Soutines and his Picassos.

He was not a ladies man in the traditional sense of the term, but as Gansberg's fine biography shows, he was interested in all forms of beauty. And part of the reason he could so well play obsessed characters (such as his films with Joan Bennett in the noir cycle) is that he too was prone to obsession.

The blacklist (or more strictly speaking, the graylist) affected his career badly. For some time offers of employment dried up, even though he was never a Communist or anywhere near it. The mere idea is laughable. Cecil B. De Mille of all people, the director and producer often thought of as a rightwing nut case, was the one who gave Robinson a solid job playing in his own remake of the TEN COMMANDMENTS. No other mogul in Hollywood would have had the balls to cast Robinson so promimently, not at that time when men walked scared of HUAC and its minions. It took a compassionate conservative to restore Robinson to the high echelon of film stardom to which he rightfully belonged.

Robinson's own book, ALL MY YESTERDAYS, was famous for revealing so little about its subject. Author Gansburg gets right down to ground zero with Robinson's psyche, exploring his ups as well as his well chronicled downs. I wish I had been a fly on the wall when Gansburg interviewed some of his many Among his many films, TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN, THE VIOLENT MEN, SCARLET STREET, SOYLENT GREEN and NIGHTMARE have all undergone recent critical revision, while DOUBLE INDEMNITY < KEY LARGO, and THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW remain American masterpieces of the highest order.

"This was a man.".......2004-10-06

This book, except for the Epilogue, was written in 1983, ten years after Edward G. Robinson's death. The author, Alan Gansberg, therefore had the opportunity to interview a number of key friends and relatives to gain insight into the man, and we are richer for it. Emanuel Goldenberg, aka Edward G. Robinson, was defined by his strong Jewish upbringing and the words of his father, who taught his children to improve themselves and to "Always live beyond your means. It will make you work harder." Robinson took both pieces of advice to heart. He was a life-long learner, a tremendous workhorse, and made the best of every talent he had. In his early efforts to get into acting, he sold himself with the line that he was "not good on face value, but good on stage value." And he delivered, got noticed, and found himself, in 1915, in the play "Under Fire," a war melodrama where Robinson played three different parts. The play opened first in Boston, and Robinson received a glowing review in the "Boston Globe." Shortly thereafter, the play went to New York, and Robinson again got good notices in "Vanity Fair" and "The Theatre Magazine." This was the turning point for Robinson. At 22, he dropped out of CCNY, bought a new wardrobe, and turned his full attention to his new career. And this book takes you through every aspect of that brilliant career, including the awful times of the early 1950s, where Robinson was forced to appear (twice) before HUAC to clear his name against anonymous charges that he was a communist sympathizer and even a Russian spy. Heading up the right wing and enforcing graylisting and blacklisting was the head of the Screen Actors Guild at that time, none other than Ronald Reagan, who knew which way the wind was blowing and made certain his career was never in danger. This book puts Reagan in a bad light as a manipulative, self-serving, self-righteous fellow with little compassion. The consequences of Reagan's indifference to the suffering of his fellow actors are apparent in Robinson's and others' suffering, including that of John Garfield. Robinson, like millions of others, was nothing more than an FDR liberal all his life, and wasn't shy about it. For this he was punished, and, in the Epilogue, Gansberg draws parallels to today's repressive national climate.
I have always enjoyed Edward G. Robinson and am grateful to Turner Classic Movies for broadcasting Robinson movies from his Warner Brother years. Robert Osborne, the host of TCM, mentioned this book at the recent screening of "Larceny, Inc.," a 1942 "flop" that actually is pretty entertaining today, if a bit tiresome.
The book has an excellent Appendix listing all the stage, screen, television, and radio appearances of Robinson. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to read about the life and times of a great actor and a warm, engaged person. Robinson's biggest fault, which he himself admitted, was that he wasn't a great fathter to his troubled son, Manny. That comes across in the book too. "This was a man" is a line from the Antony soliloquy in "Julius Caesar," which Robinson used in his first audition, in 1912, for the Sargent School, later the Academy of Dramatic Arts. The soliloquy describes Robinson himself.

American Gangster Cinema: From 'Little Caesar' to 'Pulp Fiction'

Average customer rating:

American Gangster Cinema: From 'Little Caesar' to 'Pulp Fiction'
Fran Mason
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Arts & Photography | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Entertainment | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0333684664

Book Description

Much analysis of gangster movies has been based upon a study of the gangster as a malign figuration of the American Dream, originally set in the era of the Depression. This text extends previous analysis of the genre by examining the evolution of gangster movies from the 1930s to the contemporary period and by placing them in the context of cultural and cinematic issues such as masculinity, consumerism, and technology. With a close examination of many films from Scarface an Public Enemy to Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, this book provides a fascinating insight into a topical and popular subject.

Gangsters : From Little Caesar to the Godfather

Average customer rating:

Gangsters : From Little Caesar to the Godfather

Manufacturer: Pyramid
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000DEMPDS

Average customer rating:

Gangsters From Little Caesar To The Godfather
John Gabree
Manufacturer: Pyramid Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HB9JMW

Gangsters from Little Caesar to the Godfather (Pyramid illustrated history of the movies)

Average customer rating:

Gangsters from Little Caesar to the Godfather (Pyramid illustrated history of the movies)
John Gabree
Manufacturer: Pyramid
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006CFVJM

Average customer rating:

Julius Caesar (Little Classic Series)
William Shakespeare
Manufacturer: A Flanagan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VOCMEM

Julius Caesar (Ten Cent Pocket Series (Little Blue Books), 249)

Average customer rating:

Julius Caesar (Ten Cent Pocket Series (Little Blue Books), 249)

Manufacturer: Haldeman-Julius
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Product Description

The Little Blue Books were published in Girard, Kansas by E. Haldeman-Julius between 1919 and 1951. The books covered a wide variety of topics, from Shakespeare and the ancient Greek plays, to essays on socialism and sex education, biographies, philosophy, humor, cooking and much more, making up a "University in Print". He was the first to publish works by Margaret Sanger and Will Durant. The books sold for five to ten cents at various times, making literature available to many who could not otherwise buy books. After the publisher's death in 1951, the books continued to be sold from the Girard Printing Plant until it was destroyed by an arson fire in 1978.

Book Description

A turn-of-the-century classic.

Farm Blacksmithing: Practical Hints for Handy-Men

Average customer rating:

Not much to this

Farm Blacksmithing: Practical Hints for Handy-Men
J. M. Drew
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Metal Work | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1585740977

Book Description

Time-honored instruction on all the essential skills of farm blacksmithing.

Customer Reviews:

Not much to this.......2002-03-20

Not alot of information about how to do anything or how they lived. Lots of better books out there

Farm Motors: Practical Hints for Handy-men

Average customer rating:

Farm Motors: Practical Hints for Handy-men
J. Brownlee Davidson , and Leon Wilson Chase
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Electrical | How-to & Home Improvements | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1585740071

Book Description

A classic book of American mechanical know-how.

Book Description

A Commonsense Guide to Your 401(k) shows you how to measure services and fund performance, assess a comfortable level of personal risk, scrutinize expenses, and make sense of fees and tax consequences. With it you can increase the potential of your 401(k) and achieve the rewarding retirement you've been working for.

Customer Reviews:

Very Powerful Presentation on 401K.......2005-11-10

I have gained much from this small yet fact filled book and feel much more secure about the future.

A concise guide to your 401K.......2004-02-01

This short book covered more than I thought it would, a must read if you are considering a 401k plan or are ready to retire.

Great help with financial planning whether you are 22 or 62.......2002-08-07

Ms. Rowland does a great job answering just about every question imaginable when it comes to dealing with your 401K plan. There is advice for getting started,switching jobs, planning beneficiaries, actually retiring, taking loans out against your 401k...everything. The book is written in a series of 2 page articles she lists as "steps" so if you want to skip around you can. While a little of the material is dated as a result of the recent tax changes, it is mostly in regards to amounts an individual is able to contribute. I felt I was fairly knowledgeable on this topic before I started reading but I found it pretty interesting and worth the time.

excellent book.......2000-06-25

This book is excellent! She explains, in-depth and in easy to understand language, exactly what a 401(k) plan is and how to use it to plan for retirement. Her book clearly explains the role of the 401(k) in retirement.

A must read if you are considering 401(k).......1999-07-11

This is an excellent book about 401(k) plan. I found 99% of my questions answered in that book. The book is well-organized, and the author did a good job in presenting the pros and cons of 401(k)plan. The only thing I recommend to the author is elaborating more about the 401K status for non-residnts, and how can they get their money out of this plan in case they decided to leave the country.

5 Books: 1) You're Fifty--Now What? Investing for the Second Half of Your Life / 2) A Commonsense Guide to Your 401(k) (Bloomberg) / 3) I'm Retiring, Now What?! / 4) Your Top Investing Moves for Retirement / 5) Investing for Retirement (Unboxed Set of Personal Finance Books)

Average customer rating:

5 Books: 1) You're Fifty--Now What? Investing for the Second Half of Your Life / 2) A Commonsense Guide to Your 401(k) (Bloomberg) / 3) I'm Retiring, Now What?! / 4) Your Top Investing Moves for Retirement / 5) Investing for Retirement (Unboxed Set of Personal Finance Books)
Charles Schwab , Mary Rowland , Barbara Wagner , Hope Egan , Deirdre Martin , and Junius Ellis
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WMB2Q2

Product Description

5 Books: 1) You're Fifty--Now What? Investing for the Second Half of Your Life / 2) A Commonsense Guide to Your 401(k) (Bloomberg Personal Bookshelf Hardcover) / 3) I'm Retiring, Now What?! / 4) Your Top Investing Moves for Retirement / 5) Investing for Retirement, (Unboxed Set of Personal Finance Books), in either Hard or Softcover, (See Seller Condition Comments), Shipped in one package to save on shipping costs.

Average customer rating:

A Commonsense Guide to Your 401(K)

Manufacturer: Bloomberg Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Retirement Planning | Aging Parents | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000FT6A0A

Product Description

List Price: $19.95 Presently, over 22 million Americans have 401(k) plans, worth an astounding $750 billion, and listeners lucky enough to participate in the plan owe it to themselves to follow the sound advice in this objective guide to this particular approach to retirement planning. Columnist and author Rowland (The New Commonsense Guide to Mutual Funds, Bloomberg, 1998) outlines how and why 401(k)s have become the most important retirement-planning vehicle for most Americans, and in a professional, prescriptive style, she narrates the steps to follow in using them to prepare retirement goals. Since research reveals that few enrolled in this perk are experts on the way the plan works, Rowland lays out in terms understandable by all how it helps to reduce taxes and how one can monitor hidden expenses, take loans, and make withdrawals. The idea here is to understand how to use 401(k)s to get where you want to be in the future. Highly recommended, along with the print version, for all public libraries.Dale Farris, Groves, TX

Average customer rating:

A Commonsense Guide to Your 401(K)

Manufacturer: Dh Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

General | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Retirement Planning | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1886464871

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books