The Incandescent is really good.

That's the new Emily Tesh, yes? I really liked her last book I read, although I cannot remember the name of it. The one that won the Hugo.

In other news, we read The Scarlet Pimpernel for book club (I listened to one of the multiple Librivox recordings), and I can just tell my sister will have loathed it. It's very overwritten, melodramatic, and tropey. Kinda dumb but also I think the source of a lot of tropes in modern genre fiction.

I am inspired to dig a little bit into the history of spy fiction because I wonder how this fits in...

I've never read the book, but I remember liking the movie adaptation with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour.

I remember liking the movie adaptation with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour.

I bet it cut out the worst of the anti-semitism, and the repetition. I don't think I ever saw it, maybe I'll see if it's on Youtube.

I remember liking the movie adaptation with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour.

That really was delightful.

My father, in particular, had a thing about that and even quoted from it for years. He used to be fun--kind of annoying fun, but as that guy goes farther and farther away, I'm more inclined to count it. Especially as it makes for a shorter line between him and me, right?

I have heard of a recent retelling called Scarlet that sounded interesting. I forget what its deal is, but I got a sample to remind me to look into it. All I know about the original is that little rhyme (and I know it from the movie which I otherwise do not remember) ending in ”damned elusive Pimpernel”. Always like to see the flowers.

Yes, I think The Incandescent is the latest Tesh. Some Desperate Glory was the Hugo winner, I haven’t read that one yet.

Some Desperate Glory starts kind of predictable, and then goes off in some really interesting directions. I ended up liking it a lot.

So, I'm sure this is old news to anyone who cares about this sort of thing, but I just found out that Dick Francis's son Felix is writing "Dick Francis novels" and has been for some time. Anyone have an opinion on those? I have been vaguely feeling whatever Dick Francis I missed (which could be a lot as I only ever read what I came across in used book stores) and now I'm wondering if I should explore these as well, or only after I am "caught up", or maybe don't bother.

For context, if you need it, I am entirely against the new Poirot novels without bothering to read any of them, just the concept seems very wrong to me. I have read a couple of post-M C Beaton Hamish Macbeth books, which I hated. I read all of the Jill Paton Walsh Wimsey books (because, I am sorry to say, I really like the covers and that is one adage I just cannot seem to follow) and I do not approve of many of her choices. I don't even want to talk about Brian Herbert. But I think Christopher Tolkien has been doing the lord's work.

I feel the same way about the guy who writes new Nero Wolfe stories. They're fine? But the heart isn't there.

There are some pretty good Nero Wolfe pastiches/homages I have come across, although I am not super familiar with the originals. I don't know why whoever makes these decisions thinks continuations are necessary.