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the JJ posted:Glen Cook's Black Company also has a lot of dark humor in a... I don't want to call it grim or anything, but definitely a not happy setting where the characters are trying to get by. At one point the narrator gets caught writing sexy fan-fiction about his boss, who happens to be the Evil Empress sorceress of doom. It's pretty funny. I'd probably rate it as less grimdark than Abercrombie. His Instrumentalities of the Night is also really fun if you're into actual history instead of theme park history. For Cook I'd recommend the Garrett series more. They're noir novels, so they will go dark at times (*cough* Old Tin Sorrows *cough*), but they're generally lighter in tone and more fun than the Black Company stuff. Banks and Adams are both must reads anyway, never mind that they also fit the bill. And Rat Queens. It's gorey but often hilarious.
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# ? Jan 10, 2015 03:17 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 05:00 |
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Witches Abroad is something goddamn special I'm 64% through. I love Nanny Ogg and Greebo "Genua, city of cooks, had found the appetite it deserved." Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 02:02 on Jan 12, 2015 |
# ? Jan 12, 2015 01:59 |
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Hedrigall posted:Witches Abroad is something goddamn special Same except I'm re-reading Maskerade. The Ankh-Morpork Opera House's organ is a Johnson
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# ? Jan 12, 2015 18:22 |
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If you do read Robert Asprin's Myth books make sure you stop reading around the time there was like a 10 year gap between books. And then later he had a Co author or something? Anyway, stop before you get to Little Myth Marker E: never mind the last good one is Sweet Myth-tery of Life. Got them mixed up precision fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Jan 12, 2015 |
# ? Jan 12, 2015 20:53 |
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precision posted:If you do read Robert Asprin's Myth books make sure you stop reading around the time there was like a 10 year gap between books. And then later he had a Co author or something? Anyway, stop before you get to Little Myth Marker There's two listed reasons as to why he stopped writing without a co-author. One is that he was struck by terminal writer's block. The other is that he got into some tax trouble that will lead to him being jumped on if he ever publishes again, so he sold his series and ideas to other writers and makes his bank that way. Basically, though, anything written "with" a co-author is that author's work alone and Asprin's credit is initial creator only. It's a shame, really. He'd just started the Phule's Company series that for my money are better than the Myth Adventures, and the guy he turned it over to (Peter Heck) evidently hadn't read the original books very well. The plots in the co-authored novels are fine, but there's a lot of really jarring changes and the writing gets very generic.
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# ? Jan 13, 2015 14:12 |
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Jedit posted:he sold his series and ideas to other writers and makes his bank that way. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work, but to be clear Asprin died in 2008. A shame as he was, to my understanding, going back to some of his earlier works, such as putting the Bug War back in print etc.
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# ? Jan 13, 2015 19:53 |
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Hedrigall posted:Witches Abroad is something goddamn special
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# ? Jan 13, 2015 21:30 |
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FactsAreUseless posted:The last third is by far the strongest part of the book, so enjoy that. I just finished, and boy did I! Here's the review I just wrote on Goodreads: I posted:I've read 17 of the Discworld books now and this might be the most laugh-out-loud funny of the bunch so far. It was just a non-stop barrage of amazing jokes and references to the world of fiction.
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# ? Jan 13, 2015 23:23 |
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ulmont posted:I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work, but to be clear Asprin died in 2008. A shame as he was, to my understanding, going back to some of his earlier works, such as putting the Bug War back in print etc. poo poo, I didn't know. :/
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 00:33 |
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Jedit posted:It's a shame, really. He'd just started the Phule's Company series that for my money are better than the Myth Adventures, and the guy he turned it over to (Peter Heck) evidently hadn't read the original books very well. The plots in the co-authored novels are fine, but there's a lot of really jarring changes and the writing gets very generic. I definitely remember reading the first Phule's Company book but damned if I can remember anything about it. For another light fantasy romp series, of-course Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Grey Mouser books are fantastic. And While it's not fantasy, if we're recommending light/funny genre books, everyone needs to read the Stainless Steel Rat books.
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 00:36 |
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ulmont posted:I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work, but to be clear Asprin died in 2008. A shame as he was, to my understanding, going back to some of his earlier works, such as putting the Bug War back in print etc.
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 02:32 |
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Haven't been enjoying the Hogfather too much, but I loved this one conversation between Albert and Death. Horrible formatting and any typoes aside, I hope it's not too long to post or anything, and tell me if it needs a spoiler tag. [Context for anyone who doesn't know - Death and Albert are cavorting about basically being the Discworld equivalent of Santa.] quote:THE BOY WANTS A PAIR OF TROUSERS THAT HE DOESN'T HAVE TO SHARE, A HUGE MEAT PIE, A SUGAR MOUSE, 'A LOT OF TOYS' AND A PUPPY CALLED SCRUFF.
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 02:38 |
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Death as the Hogfather is the best. http://www.imgur.com/a/eQqL1?gallery
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 03:33 |
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Hedrigall posted:Hogfather is the best. yes also that artist's version of Death is just adorable.
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 03:35 |
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I love how he kinda takes it all until he sees the little match-stick girl Then he's just mad, and it's great.
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# ? Jan 14, 2015 04:01 |
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the JJ posted:Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora is a fun Ocean's 13 kind of heist book with some good humor in it, though the third act gets pretty serious. Still, Lynch doesn't use frak or whatever fantasy replacement swears and many of his characters are really foul mouthed, so it's pretty fun. I'm reading an urban fantasy series by a UK author called Ben Aaronovitch just now, the first book of which is called Rivers of London, about a very young policemen who discovers London has a magical division and is taken on as an apprentice wizard. Urban fantasy, but done quite well, and is very much in the style of Pratchett and Douglas Adams. Lots of cheeky pop culture references and interesting takes on the history of London as a melting pot of cultures and how it would affect the magic of the city (the anthropomorphic personification of the River Thames is a particular highlight) The author actually dedicated the fifth in the series to Pratchett, with the rather touching words "To Sir Terry Pratchett, who has stood like a wossname on the rocky shores of our imaginations, the better to guide us safely into harbour"
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# ? Jan 15, 2015 00:30 |
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Irisi posted:The Lies of Locke Lamora is entirely delightful. I like to imagine Locke and Jean would get along terribly well with Moist Von Lipwig, seeing how they are just as magnificent a pair of conmen, shysters and general scallywags as he is. Ben Aaronovitch was a Guest of Honour at the most recent Discworld Convention. I got into his Klatch (despite not having read any of his books); he's a good bloke.
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# ? Jan 15, 2015 01:40 |
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Aaronovitch also is/was a Doctor Who writer of some renown.
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# ? Jan 15, 2015 13:27 |
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DoctorWhat posted:Aaronovitch also is/was a Doctor Who writer of some renown. Didn't know that, thought he was some sort of up-and-coming young writer bloke. I just looked him up and he's about 25 years older than I was expecting. Huh, funny how a writers style and choice of main character gives you a sort of preconcieved notion of how they look and what generation they belong to.
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# ? Jan 15, 2015 15:13 |
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DoctorWhat posted:Aaronovitch also is/was a Doctor Who writer of some renown. Almost all well known british authors have written for doctor who at some point (Neil gaiman, douglas adams, stephen baxter, etc), and it usually makes it easy to figure out which classic doctor who serials or novels will be good. You also often see similarities between their normal books and their doctor who material.
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# ? Jan 15, 2015 16:10 |
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Irisi posted:The Lies of Locke Lamora is entirely delightful. I like to imagine Locke and Jean would get along terribly well with Moist Von Lipwig, seeing how they are just as magnificent a pair of conmen, shysters and general scallywags as he is. Locke Lamora is great. If you like the Rivers of London books, then you might like Paul Cornell's (Another Dr Who writer) London Falling book. It's very similar, if a bit grittier and darker.
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# ? Jan 15, 2015 16:40 |
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Ika posted:Almost all well known british authors have written for doctor who at some point (Neil gaiman, douglas adams, stephen baxter, etc), and it usually makes it easy to figure out which classic doctor who serials or novels will be good. You also often see similarities between their normal books and their doctor who material. Dirk Gently is a recycled Dr Who script, as well.
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# ? Jan 15, 2015 17:18 |
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Tunicate posted:Dirk Gently is a recycled Dr Who script, as well. Heck, didn't the third book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series begin as "Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen"? (Which, now that I think about it, I wish were an actual Doctor Who story.) With regard to recommendations chat, I'm going to be the oddball who suggested Red Dwarf novelisations--or at least the first two, written by both Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. I don't know that I can confidently recommend much of the work that came after their split, including the books, but early Red Dwarf on the screen or the page is amazing and hilarious. SatansOnion fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Jan 15, 2015 |
# ? Jan 15, 2015 17:58 |
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^^^^^^ That I did not know. It sort of explains the weirdness in that book. Tunicate posted:Dirk Gently is a recycled Dr Who script, as well. That's what I was getting at, I didn't want to be that explicit. Ika fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Jan 15, 2015 |
# ? Jan 15, 2015 19:30 |
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Makes me wonder where the second Dirk Gently book came from, then, because the resolution to that one made less sense than the time travel plot.
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# ? Jan 15, 2015 23:50 |
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Apparently the Golgafrinchan 'B-Ark' from Restaurant at the End of the Universe was partly a rejected Who pitch too.
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# ? Jan 16, 2015 10:23 |
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I just noticed that the radio adaption of good omens doesn't appear to be region restricted. (At least it works here in Germany)
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# ? Jan 19, 2015 21:30 |
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Ika posted:I just noticed that the radio adaption of good omens doesn't appear to be region restricted. (At least it works here in Germany) BBC Radio programs are never region restricted.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 11:23 |
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Cool, I just assumed the iplayer is always restricted. I've now listened to most of it and enjoyed it. There are a lot of small changes to turn descriptions and random comments into something more natural for radio but it isn't noticeable or a bad thing.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 20:39 |
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I picked up Raising Steam the other day, I haven't read a new Discworld novel since Going Postal, am I going to miss some (major) references?
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 09:49 |
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Kurtofan posted:I picked up Raising Steam the other day, I haven't read a new Discworld novel since Going Postal, am I going to miss some (major) references? Only to Making Money, which is book 2 in the subseries of which you've read book 1 and bought book 3.
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 09:57 |
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Jedit posted:Only to Making Money, which is book 2 in the subseries of which you've read book 1 and bought book 3. Going to fix that then.
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 10:03 |
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Also Snuff, since that book deals with the goblins. It's generally explained in Raising Steam though.
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 11:48 |
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I have to ask: does the Fifth Elephant get better? I really don't care for that Carrot - Angua drama. I guess maybe it's not a question of "better". Funnier? Actually having some stakes?
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# ? Jan 24, 2015 13:21 |
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I'm not particularly hot on the Angua/Carrot/Ankh-Morpork love triangle myself, but Fifth Elephant is still probably one of my favorite Watch novels. I feel like Sybil and Cheery are at their strongest in this book (and I am terribly biased because Cheery Littlebottom is one of my favorites?) and regardless of anything else, keep at it because goddrat that man writes a good climax.
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# ? Jan 24, 2015 15:18 |
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supermikhail posted:I have to ask: does the Fifth Elephant get better? I really don't care for that Carrot - Angua drama. I guess maybe it's not a question of "better". Funnier? Actually having some stakes? That's more like, D-plotish. Plots A-C are all real good.
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# ? Jan 24, 2015 15:46 |
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supermikhail posted:I have to ask: does the Fifth Elephant get better? I really don't care for that Carrot - Angua drama. I guess maybe it's not a question of "better". Funnier? Actually having some stakes? But but Vimes.
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# ? Jan 24, 2015 15:49 |
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Oh, okay, thanks. There's definitely some fun stuff, and even Colon's misadventures have been growing on me, although I had to pause and think about it, and I've placed the blame squarely on Carrot's shoulders, for which I dislike his sections even more. And they kind of drain the fun. So, I'll just skim through them for now, shall I? (It'll be the first with a Pratchett book though, as far as I recall.)
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# ? Jan 24, 2015 16:21 |
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supermikhail posted:Oh, okay, thanks. There's definitely some fun stuff, and even Colon's misadventures have been growing on me, although I had to pause and think about it, and I've placed the blame squarely on Carrot's shoulders, for which I dislike his sections even more. And they kind of drain the fun. So, I'll just skim through them for now, shall I? (It'll be the first with a Pratchett book though, as far as I recall.)
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# ? Jan 24, 2015 16:23 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 05:00 |
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supermikhail posted:and even Colon's misadventures have been growing on me
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# ? Jan 24, 2015 16:46 |