Hi everyone - new member Jonathan

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Hi everyone - new member Jonathan

Postby jonathan » Fri Oct 26, 2007 9:39 am

Hi all

Great to see this website & hear the views of like minded WS fans. I am 34 & live in Nottingham. I started reading Birds Of Prey in about 1999 & at the time didn't know much about WS. I must admit I couldn't have chosen a better book to get started on, & although I took a few chapters to get into the book, once the action started (and dare I say it, the naughtier scenes), I was hooked until the end, and left numb by the experience I had. I've read loads of good books before, but none had such a powerful hook on me, that left me wanting to read more. I then read Monsoon, and couldn't believe this story was even better! Monsoon is definitely my favourite (at the moment!). It has everything. Also read Blue Horizon & When The Lion Feeds. Strange order I know, but I didn't know much about the order the Courtney's should be read in back then. At least I got the Birds of Prey to Blue Horizon series in the right order. Haven't read any other Courtney novels & no Ballyntine yet, but plan to with renewed optimism & will read in chronological order (after following debates on this site). Read & loved The Seventh Scroll a few years ago, and have had River God & Warlock, plus a few standalone novels in my cupboard, but never got round to reading. WHAT!! I hear you cry. Never read River God!! I must admit again, I didn't really know about the Egyptian series. I read Seventh Scroll on it's own, & am currently reading Warlock. About three quarters through Warlock, and loving it, and it is through reading this & looking on internet that I found WS's official site & the link to this site. I now wish I had read River God first, as it is 1st in series & has such good reviews, but I will finish Warlock now. My next plan is, read all the Egyptian novels in order, from River God to The Quest, then all Courtney novels, then all Ballyntine & standalone novels. Might take quite awhile & hopefully WS may have done a new book by then - I'm hoping the next one will be continuation from Blue Horizon. Will keep you all posted in future. Although I love films, there is nothing to compare with using your own imagination to create the storyline, and the time spent in reading these epics gives such a big reward at the end, that no film could ever create. I secretly hope that my favourites such as Monsoon & Birds of Prey are never filmed, as no film of 2 or 3 hours could ever recreate the detail of these epics. I do find it amazing, that when I am reading about Hal, Nefer, Taita or whoever, that although I have a general picture of them, I can never quite pin a specific face on them. It's difficult to explain - does anyone else feel the same? I am also amazed when I lool at a book from the outside with all its pages and words, how something so mundane can come alive when you dig into it. Anyway, enough philosophy! A big thank you for all the hard work from those of you who founded this site. You have helped me understand what order to read the books, and it is interesting to hear other peoples views on the same things I have read. WS's site is also a good site, especially his personal biography, list of books published & suggested reading order, and family trees (although these do not appear to reflect the very latest books). Happy reading to you all.

Regards Jonathan
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Re: Hi everyone - new member Jonathan

Postby Matbow » Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:32 am

Hiya Jonathan,

I can't see anything wrong with the order you've started reading the Courtney's - it's the way I'd recommend, although if you've read the Chronology Thread you're sure to know that some people don't agree :D Your Egyptian order on the other hand is kinda backwards, but that's they great thing about Wilbur books - they can be enjoyed in whatever order you pick them up in.

You're in for a massive treat with some of the later Courtneys, I'm looking forward to hearing your views.
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Re: Hi everyone - new member Jonathan

Postby jonathan » Sat Oct 27, 2007 6:34 am

Thanks for the welcome Matbow
Will keep everyone posted. Looking forward to later Courtney's now, but as I said earlier, River God has to be my next priority as such excellent reviews.

Happy reading to all
Regards
Jonathan
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Re: Hi everyone - new member Jonathan

Postby Nefer » Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:52 pm

I fully support your decision Jonathan :mrgreen:

And welcome here, looking forward to reading your thoughts on RG.
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Re: Hi everyone - new member Jonathan

Postby Ramon » Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:19 am

Welcome Jonathan.

I am also reading Warlock, well at least I've read one page. I ended The Seventh Scroll yesterday night, and had to read one page of the next one before I allowed myself to shut the lights.

I have read all the Courtneys and all the Ballantynes, and I'm now halfway through the Egyptian series. And I must say that I envy you. You have a lot of great books yet to read. Especially the Ballantyne´s I would like to read again.
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Re: Hi everyone - new member Jonathan

Postby jonathan » Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:54 am

Hi Nefer
Thanks for the welcome, will definitely keep you all posted on River God progress.
Regards
Jonathan
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Re: Hi everyone - new member Jonathan

Postby jonathan » Mon Oct 29, 2007 8:05 am

Hi Ramon
Thanks for the welcome. You're in for a treat with Warlock. This is such an easy book to get into, and despite only having on average half an hour to an hour available to read each day, it hasn't taken me long to get near the end. As I said in my intro, I read Seventh Scroll about 4 years ago, and can only remember a faint plotline, then I picked up Warlock, but have still to read River God!. Gonna do the Eqyptian series in correct order next, then start back on Courtney's / Ballantynes. I think I read somewhere on here that it doesn't matter if I read Triumph Of The Sun before the Ballantynes, as I was going to read all Courtney's in chronological order (inc Triumph) then the Ballantynes. The only thing I was not sure of, was should I have read the Ballantynes BEFORE Triumph, as apparantly the Courtneys & Ballantynes meet in Triumph. Therefore should I read all Courtneys EXCLUDING Triumph, then all Ballantynes, and then Triumph last? Sorry to be so confusing, but a bit confused myself.

Cheers
Jonathan
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Re: Hi everyone - new member Jonathan

Postby Ramon » Mon Oct 29, 2007 8:57 am

Regarding The Triumph you can read that before the rest of the Ballantyne's. In fact you can read that before the rest of the Courtney's, because it has very little to do with the rest of the Courtney's. Without spoiling anything I can say that it only mentions a "known" Courney in one sentence.

My bet is that The Triumph was written as a stand-alone, but when it was published, Mr Smith or his publishers, came up with the super idea to rename one character to Courtney and another one to Ballantyne. This just to make the book even more wanted by his old fans.

I felt a little cheated when I read the Triumph, since it said with large letters "The Courtney's and the Ballantyne's meet". I would have liked at least one of the characters to have been included in one of the other books. Maybe in the future such a book will appear. Who knows.

I have done a family tree of the Ballantyne's (can be found in the Ballantyne forum), and there was no possibility to include any character from the Triumph.
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Re: Hi everyone - new member Jonathan

Postby jonathan » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:58 am

Thanks very much Ramon, you've answered my questions. Will check out your Ballantyne family tree.

Regards
Jonathan
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