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I've also been reading this after it dropped through my letterbox this weekend. I love the big format of the book.

It's broadly enjoyable so far, but the swearing is a negative for me. I'm certainly not offended by any of it, and it seems a bit of a daft critique when it's full of gory mutilation, but it's something that just seems a bit excessive and needless.
Some very impressive violence!

Enjoyable as ever JWare.

I had no idea there was any more Professor Challenger stuff... this definitely needs exploring. Challenger is a dick, but I'm pretty sure his boorishness is presented as such, rather than him being a poorly aged protagonist, so I'll be looking those out I think.

Back in Tarzan-world, I finished Tarzan of the Apes which was pretty awful, and skipped a few books ahead to one with a lurid cover. This is more like it - Tarzan is training a huge lion to be his new best mate until a group of baddies, which includes the sinister Estaban Miranda who is the spitting image of Tarzan himself, knocked him out with some drugged coffee and left him to be captured by some degenerate priests from the lost city of Atlantis. This is all within the first 50 pages as well.

It's extremely pulpy, silly stuff although Burroughs is an appalling snob: Tarzan is a posh lad so is inherently noble and wise as is the evil Russian aristrocrat but everyone else is either a cheerfully subservient African or a greasy criminal cockney. Also Tarzan himself is basically a posh D&D ranger as he lives in a big house with servants and stuff and is very well spoken but also a friend to the animals. An enjoyable read nonetheless.

I've read King Solomon's Mines, but never read She! That feels like an oversight I should correct!

I'm also reminded of The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle, which is terrific and something I should also revisit.

His performance in Strange Days always comes to mind for me. Great actor although by most accounts a bit of a scumbag IRL. A shame all round.

I'd not considered the Kipling connection, that's very likely.

I'm finding Tarzan hard going at the moment due to the prejudices of the time. Tarzan merrily kills off the native Africans left and right and there's some horrible stereotyping going on. It strikes me that Burroughs is writing less about race though and more about class - the artistrocratic characters, of which of course Tarzan is one, are all noble, intelligent and generally great whilst the commoners, be they the native villagers or sailors and servants, are far beneath them. He essentially cherry picks the best parts of the nature vs nurture debate and combines them into his central character.
I'm thinking of skipping far ahead to some of the more ludicrously titled books to see if they're better, because I wanted to read simple books about blokes fighting crocodiles and lost civilizations rather than this.

'derivative and juvenile' I think covers a lot of 40k output. I have masses of these books and they're mainly dreadful. The early stuff is a bit more interesting as the books were a bit less corporate box-ticking exercises and so more exploratory of the universe and concepts, but they're also written for a target audience of teenage boys in the main.

Knowing the rate I go through paperbacks a friend of mine gave me a huge bag of early (late 80s- early 90s) D&D novels and I've found them to be similar - written for kids, so basically crap, as well as shot through with streaks of low level, ingrained misogyny that's sadly so prevalent in works of a certain type that makes them an uncomfortable read at times.

I haven't read any Tad Williams for a long time but I can imagine it's the same issue there. As a fan of pulpy / trashy paperbacks I read a lot of older work that's frequently problematic. Sometimes the problems are baked in but not a key part of the work, so you can enjoy the work whilst acknowledging its of its time (Howard and Lovecraft are the biggest examples of this, Fritz Leiber also springs to mind) and sometimes you can't. I think it's a good thing that if a book makes you uncomfortable you stop reading it. (I also think older, problematic works should be preserved as such and the recent rewriting of Roald Dahl was an awful thing, but that's a different discussion)

I hear you. Thirty years ago I delighted in the Flashman books, but I'm reluctant to return to them now.

This is an interesting topic for discussion. I'm a fan of the Flashman books but it can't be disputed that objevctively they're pretty awful in that sense.
Aside from the first one, which crosses a line for me, I've been able to return to them and enjoy them for what they are, and they really encouraged me to read around historical events I might otherwise have not.
I'm never sure if Fraser is masterfully crafted a horrible character to tell some great stories, or was sort of the literary equivalent of an internet edgelord. I think, for example, his own feelings on race can really be seen through Flashman: I know Fraser served in the army and had a lot of time for India and Indian troops, so they're often portrayed in a positive light although filtered through Flashman's appalling nature: the reader can see Flashman running them down, but knows he is wrong. His views on the Chinese however, and their depiction, is really at odds with that.

Rara talks a huge amount of sense on this thread.

Sounds like you have a lot of pressure right now Tjm. Please keep us updated. We might not be able to help, but we can listen and support.
Same for you Paddy. Very dark times. I'd love to say something more helpful, but it would sound trite. Much love out to you.

Let's have a few Blobs and Uglies thrown in there for good measure.

Welcome Le Fink!, Or bien accueillir M. Fink if we're getting all gallic about it.

You have some great stuff to catch up on with almost everything on that Hachette list being worth a read but Dante has to be the standout amongst some very high quality thrills. Hope you enjoy your time here!

[The Order]

The Order for the first time in this series I find myself a bit lost. It's pulpy fun, but it's not hugely engaging. Tharg comments in the letters page that the current run is finishing this month, so we must have another series of this to come surely?

In the nerve centre of prog 2317 Tharg said: ....and we return to the edge of time for the final arc of Kek-W and John Burn's history-spanning series The Order.

Yes, I remember Tharg saying this, hence my confusion as The Order isn't even close to wrapping up. I thought we might have it in the Prog for an epic lengthy run to close it off.
I'm guessing the final arc isn't the same as the final series and there will be at least one more run to follow.

[Dredd]

Got to echo everyone else in saying that cover is a stunner. A Dry Run reference in the Damage Report makes my day.

The Prog didn't quite enthuse me as much as last week with the middle three stories not quite clicking (or totally missing the mark).

Dredd starts off well (agree with Broodblik that this seems a likely twist). Great to see Manco back in the Prog - his take on MC1 and the judges themselves is a bit more contemporary than I normally like but there's so much energy in it.

The Out was a very enjoyable episode, but also felt somewhat filler-y in that they got off the ship, stood in a queue for something they didn't get to, then got back on the ship. 

Joe Pineapples takes a fun ending last week and immediately makes it not fun. Still not digging this sadly. The time travel element can seriously do one. Looks cool as ever.

The Order for the first time in this series I find myself a bit lost. It's pulpy fun, but it's not hugely engaging. Tharg comments in the letters page that the current run is finishing this month, so we must have another series of this to come surely?

Proteus Vex Run out of good things to say about this. As others say, Vex hasn't even been in it for weeks and it's still going great guns. It feels epic. Love it.

Yayy! Brexit's got done.  Again.  Can't wait for the next time Brexit gets done.

We can all celebrate with a nice turnip. Raw of course, because nobody can afford any gas to cook it.

Welcome to the board dude.
I shall keep an eye on your Kickstarter. Always a pleasure to support small press stuff.

Welcome GizmoDuck! Awesome to hear you're enjoying your Dredd, I hope you enjoy this forum also!