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Victorkm posted:Oooo, is it the other character that was created only to die in this novel? If it's Fortunato, yes. I read the new Wild Cards novel. I was for the most part very disappointed by it; it's one of the weakest in the series, and after the recent high point of Fort Freak it was an even bigger letdown.
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Jan 24, 2015 18:11
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Victorkm posted:Oooo, is it the other character that was created only to die in this novel? Yep! And according to the forewords, they got some letters from people who were genuinely upset about this one. Jedit posted:I read the new Wild Cards novel. I was for the most part very disappointed by it; it's one of the weakest in the series, and after the recent high point of Fort Freak it was an even bigger letdown. That's too bad. Is that the one with the online sample chapter about the snakeman being seduced by the Russian lady to do arena fights? That boded pretty ill.
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Jan 25, 2015 03:21
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Thinky Whale posted:That's too bad. Is that the one with the online sample chapter about the snakeman being seduced by the Russian lady to do arena fights? That boded pretty ill. It is, yes, and it did.
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Jan 25, 2015 10:03
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 FORTUNATO quote:The worst of it, Fortunato thought, was having to listen to the goddamned politicians. Fortunato's hanging out listening to Hartmann talk about cooperation and togetherness and stuff, but paying more attention to how quote:Tachyon, the bastard, was already gone, cozied up to a gorgeous black woman with plaited hair. Some other aces are there. The Turtle is floating around in his shell, and Kid Dinosaur is hanging out with his dad. It's kind of neat that Fortunato finds him by doing some psychic stuff that gives him a faint image through his eyes, so he can figure it out from the angle of his viewpoint. We get a bit more about how politicians suck, then a refresher on the Kid's power. quote:Fortunato saw the Wild Card as a kind of Aladdin's lamp of the unconscious. “He saw lots of things as metaphors that didn't really make sense.” This is just to reiterate that the kid's power comes from him being lucky enough that the virus latched onto his love of dinosaurs and gave him a transforming power instead of permanently turning him into an inside-out ichthyosaur, and that he still abides by conservation of mass, so he can only be little adorable tiny ones. Still a pretty good deal, all around. Fortunato goes over to say hey, and the kid's arm falls off. quote:”Hey, kid!” Arnie turned to look at him. Like that. quote:It flopped like the muscles had grown their own brain, and then it was sailing through the air and bouncing across the pavement. The chronology here is a little odd. The arm was already stated to have come off, and "flop" makes me think of something falling down, so I was picturing it laying on the ground for a second before springing jauntily into the air. quote:Fortunato and the kid both stood there for an instant, not comprehending. And then blood began to fountain out of the ragged flap of flesh and the air smelled like a butcher shop. The kid starts transforming on instinct. Fortunato slows time, and it works for everybody around them, but not the kid. quote:The Astronomer, Fortunato thought. Shielding the kid from the power that could save him. The Astronomer appears. quote:And then there was a little man, maybe a couple of inches over five feet tall, standing next to the kid's distorted corpse. He had an ankle-length black robe that was soaked and spattered with blood. His head was too big for his body and he wore thick glasses. He has some kind of forcefield that keeps Fortunato from getting close. Fortunato demands to know why the kid had to die. The Astronomer's given reason is to prove that he's “not loving around anymore.” quote:”You're all going to die. Between now and four A.M. Be sure and set your watches.” … And that's the end of Kid Dinosaur. I'm curious how everybody else reacted to this scene. I remember when I read it the first time it didn't have much impact for me, but for once I can't really blame the writing. (Though I could pick at how the Astronomer's usual dialogue style makes him sound like a 14-year-old on Xbox Live, and at how Fortunato goes straight from horror at child murder to questioning the Astronomer's scheduling.) Somebody just falling apart out of nowhere is as creepy an image as you could ask for and it's a perfectly valid decision for a way to do it, but I found it gave it a kind of distance. I was thinking less “Oh my god, kid getting killed!” and more “Wait, what's happening?” You get the effect first. The cause only shows up later, and seems to have just done some vague psychic stuff rather than anything hands-on, so for me the shock was blunted by confusion. But I can't say there's anything actually wrong with the approach, and I definitely can't say the set-up was tossed off or thoughtless. Which brings us to the first installment of our probably one-part series:  THINKY WHALE GIVES WILD CARDS SOME CREDIT Give them this: they put some real thought into this setup. Like we were talking about before, in a forward somewhere they mention that the Kid and the Howler were both made specifically to be killed off. Nobody cared much about ol' Plinthneck, but they got some upset letters about Kid Dinosaur. The more I think about it, the more surprised I am that, out of the pair of redshirts, the child character is the one they took the time to give some dimension. The easier and lazier thing to do is give the adult some backstory to make him sympathetic, and just coast on the cheap pathos of the kid being a kid. But they actually took the time to give Kid Dinosaur some personality. Not a massively deep or nuanced personality, but personality. They also did the work to make him a part of the background of the world. He fills a niche of local color and an example of how the virus can latch onto what's in people's heads, so he never stuck out as a feature with no purpose but to be killed off. I wasn't invested enough to be upset by his death, but I definitely didn't see it coming. So there's a question for you guys who've read this before: How did you react to Kid Dinosaur's death scene? NEXT TIME: Spector's inexplicable run-in with skateboard karate punks.
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Feb 27, 2015 14:23
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It was a long time ago that I read it but my recollection is that I thought his death was a dream/hallucination of some sort at the beginning and by the time I realized it wasn't it was kind of too late to have any sort of emotional reaction to it being real.
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Feb 28, 2015 02:55
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Thinky Whale posted:So there's a question for you guys who've read this before: How did you react to Kid Dinosaur's death scene? I was annoyed, more than anything. I'd really wanted to see what the writers did with the character as he grew up.
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Feb 28, 2015 09:56
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Spek posted:It was a long time ago that I read it but my recollection is that I thought his death was a dream/hallucination of some sort at the beginning and by the time I realized it wasn't it was kind of too late to have any sort of emotional reaction to it being real. I felt some of that, too. There's nothing strictly wrong with it being surreal and out of nowhere, but it makes it reasonable to figure it's a fake out. Jedit posted:I was annoyed, more than anything. I'd really wanted to see what the writers did with the character as he grew up. Dang, I didn't even think of that. It would have been interesting to see somebody grow up as a well-known ace in the public eye.
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Mar 1, 2015 11:29
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Thinky Whale posted:Dang, I didn't even think of that. It would have been interesting to see somebody grow up as a well-known ace in the public eye. Well, we did get it later with John Fortune, but Fortune was in the public eye anyway because he had celebrity ace parents.
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Mar 1, 2015 11:44
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 SPECTOR Getting drunk still works for Spector, so that's what he's sitting in a dank bar and doing. quote:The Astronomer was off his back, so he could lie low here, get drunk, and watch the game when it came on. That would just about fill the time until he had to go to the Haiphong Lilly. He's open about just killing time until the next part of the plot kicks in. quote:The bartender drew a beer and set it down on the scratched, pitted wood. Someone had carved “Joyce + whoever I say” into the surface. Spector's bad case of being technically dead is flaring up again, and he considers self-medicating once the job is over by murdering some tourists, as you do. quote:As usual, the pain was chewing him up inside. Maybe, if everything went well tonight, he'd cap off the evening by killing some tourists. He'd never go to jail for it. That was the beauty of his power. The cops had hauled him in once, but the case had been thrown out in the preliminary hearing. There was never any physical evidence to prove he'd killed his victims. That makes sense, since the courts don't know how to handle a dirty look as a murder weapon, but it also underlines something that hamstrings Specter as a character: it means his actions don't have any consequences. He's also nihilistic, and not after any particular goals. He's not really trying to escape anything, either, besides a vague notion that he'd rather not die. There's nothing he's working for, and also nothing he's working against. He doesn't have a carrot or a stick, so his narrative wanders off and grazes a lot. There's an old writing rule that goes Kurt Vonnegut posted:Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. Spector doesn't. At first he had getting the Astronomer to erase the memory of his death as a motivation, but now the only thing he's really trying to do is keep the Astronomer from killing him, and he only seems to care about that when it occurs to him. He's doing the mafia hit for money, though there's not really much money can do for him. Sure, he has a thing where he gets off on murdering women, but in Wild Cards terms that's about as character-defining and unique as driving a station wagon. If that resulted in having a good guy after him and trying to track him down, it could be interesting, but again, it never really has consequences. He's the character equivalent of that guy in the group who always says “I'm fine with whatever” when you ask everybody where they want to go eat. So anyway, he's in a bar. The TV is, as the city mandates, tuned to the Plot Important News Network. quote:”Yet another story in what is already the most violent Wild Card Day in ten years. Apparently, a psychopathic ace killer is roaming the streets.” They talk about the death of Kid Dinosaur and the Howler, and also mention quote:”This morning in Jokertown a man fitting the suspect's description assaulted what we hope was only his first such victim, twisting his head completely around. Luckily, Fortunato intervened and healed the victim with his ace powers.” I like that because it's a good way of demostrating how in a world with superpowers it's easy to leap to an incorrect conclusion, and because the one time you hear of Fortunato doing something helpful it's wrong. The news also mentions the mob guy getting killed in an auto accident, while leaving out the hundreds of dead birds and squirrels, which you'd think would merit a mention. Spector is about to pay and leave when whatever this is happens. quote:He pulled out his wallet and motioned to the bartender, but the man was looking at the door. Spector turned. There were three punks standing just inside the doorway. They all had black hair cut like Moe of the Three Stooges. The words BEDTIME Boys were emblazoned in red on the backs on their leather jackets.  “Hey, guys looking for the dumbest gang name? You can stop now.”quote:Each carried a fiberglass skateboard. The leader, who was a head shorter than the other two, wore mirrored sunglasses. I kind of like the notion that Spector's power is beatable only by two things: top-tier demigod psychic power suites, and dubious fashion decisions. I wonder if he could kill somebody in Transitions lenses. quote:”Nice of you to get that out for us,” said one of the stooges, eyeing Spector's wallet. “Hand it over.” Say one thing for the bad haircut karate gang kid, seeing somebody give his friend a heart attack by staring contest doesn't break his stride much. quote:Romeo looked at Billy's body, then at Spector. Mistake. Five seconds later he was dead on the floor. The bullets go all over and the kid's sunglasses got knocked off, so Spector goes over, says “Good-bye,” and eyemurders him. quote:The bartender was looking at him, afraid but annoyed. Nobody was talking. They all seem to pretty much agree, as nobody's that put out by the attempted skateboard karate robbery turned triple homicide. These things happen. quote:”Hey, tough guy. Throw us back our cue ball.” A short, well-built man in a white tank top pointed at Spector's feet. He picked up the ball and tossed it back. “Nice shot.” The bartender coughed. This is where you'd expect a scene break. There isn't one. Spector shrugs and heads back to the plot. He calls Danny Mao and tries to talk to the Boston accent boss guy, but Danny doesn't want to tell him his number, so he claims he has the notebooks everybody is chasing. quote:”Call 555-4301. It's his private line. You'd better not be jerking us around...” drat it, Spector, serial murder and weird sexual aggression are one thing, but when you hang up the phone you say goodbye!  He calls the number, and it turns out the big dude in charge is Latham, the lawyer guy. Spctor asks if he wants to call the job off because the Butcher is dead, Latham says nah, the Gambiones are weak now so you might as well go to the Chinese place for the dinner and kill off a whole bunch. Latham asks who Spector got his number from. quote:”Smooth punk named Mao.” Spector hoped they gave the kid bamboo shoots under the fingernails. You are a terrible co-worker, Spector. quote:”I see. Thank you, Mr. Spector. We'll be in touch. Good hunting.” The skateboard gang is never mentioned again. NEXT TIME: Lizardman licks Wraith's boobs.
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Jun 1, 2015 08:11
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You're back!  Seeing a fresh post here is always a treat, even if the actual content being shared is kind of... uh.
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Jun 1, 2015 22:21
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Yep! I'm still around, just really slow and lazy about working on this. I'm definitely going to do this whole book; it just might take a while. I'm glad you're still around reading!
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Jun 1, 2015 23:03
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Hey, Spector wanted a beer in this section at least! Also to not be robbed by the bedtime boys, I guess? I love how the whole bar is so nonchalant about the three punks dying but I guess random violence from ridiculously named gangs trained in skateboard kung fu is part and parcel of the Wild Cards universe. I'm glad to see another post though, I've hit a lull in my reading and I'm strangely tempted to go through some of the Wild Cards books again.
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Jun 1, 2015 23:23
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Spector turns into a good character in book 6 when someone actually does something with him beyond "kills people".
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Jun 2, 2015 10:55
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Tagichatn posted:Hey, Spector wanted a beer in this section at least! Also to not be robbed by the bedtime boys, I guess? I love how the whole bar is so nonchalant about the three punks dying but I guess random violence from ridiculously named gangs trained in skateboard kung fu is part and parcel of the Wild Cards universe. I guess when Wild Cards says it's a rough bar they mean it. It makes me kind of wish that this was intentionally a comic book world where there's tons of petty criminals around for Spider-man to have somebody to beat up, but he never actually does his job so they just proliferate in the ecosystem. Jedit posted:Spector turns into a good character in book 6 when someone actually does something with him beyond "kills people". Is that when he sort of gets a friend? That was kind of interesting since, like you say, it was one of the rare times when he had an interaction with somebody that didn't end in murdering them. It was almost some growth.
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Jun 3, 2015 14:06
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I had forgotten this thread was a thing. Now I have to go look up this Typhoid Croyd stuff because I only read the first few books and his stories were the best parts, but the writing seemed to imply that since he hibernated longer and longer each time he went to sleep, eventually he would be sleeping for decades at a time and/or just not waking up
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Jun 4, 2015 22:23
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WarLocke posted:I had forgotten this thread was a thing. Now I have to go look up this Typhoid Croyd stuff because I only read the first few books and his stories were the best parts, but the writing seemed to imply that since he hibernated longer and longer each time he went to sleep, eventually he would be sleeping for decades at a time and/or just not waking up Nah, Croyd's hibernation is more or less random, and by the later books it's pretty obvious that he may be effectively immortal, as long as he doesn't get killed outright before he can go to sleep. I think the defining arc of Croyd stories is that he lives in terror of falling asleep, because he's worried he might draw a Black Queen during his transformation. As a result he has no consideration at all for how many drugs he has to do to stay awake, how crazy they make him, or how bad his temper gets right at the end of his cycle. He even has mostly-functional relationships later on where people just understand he might disappear for a couple weeks and come back in another body. Cassius Belli fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Jun 4, 2015 |
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Jun 4, 2015 22:58
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Yond Cassius posted:Nah, Croyd's hibernation is more or less random, and by the later books it's pretty obvious that he may be effectively immortal, as long as he doesn't get killed outright before he can go to sleep. I think the defining arc of Croyd stories is that he lives in terror of falling asleep, because he's worried he might draw a Black Queen during his transformation. As a result he has no consideration at all for how many drugs he has to do to stay awake, how crazy they make him, or how bad his temper gets right at the end of his cycle. He even has mostly-functional relationships later on where people just understand he might disappear for a couple weeks and come back in another body. I don't see the sense in spoilering it because it goes back to the first book. Croyd is frightened of sleeping not just because he might draw a Black Queen, but because he might also wake up with a normal sleep cycle and in a joker body. His hibernations sometimes seem to vary in length with the writer, but I'm pretty sure they actually change based on how many drugs he takes. They started out a few weeks long, became as long as six months after he got heavily into speed, but on a couple of occasions he's voluntarily slept before becoming Crankenstein's Monster and the duration has shortened again. The duration can also be shortened by post-hypnotic suggestion - that's canon from Zelazny
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Jun 5, 2015 00:50
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WRAITH Jennifer is scantily clad and shoeless out in front of the wax museum. She tries to figure out what to do for a couple seconds and is promptly kidnapped. A couple dudes grab her by the arms and take her to a park, where there's three other dudes, including Lizard Dude. He demands the booksssss, she says she doesn't have them and won't say where they are because that's a one way trip down Outlived Your Usefulness Lane. Lizard Dude takes it pretty well. quote:The reptilian joker grinned, dripping saliva from the overlong incisors that hung down from his upper jaw. He leaned forward and his tongue flickered caressingly over Jennifer's face. She flinched backward at the warm, wet touch of it. The joker stooped and his tongue slipped down the column of her throat, between her breasts, then up again and down her bare arms. It rasped sensuously on her forearm and Jennifer shivered, half in fear, half in delight. The man gripping her right arm held it stiffly at the wrist, and the joker licked her palm before she could close it into a fist. The tongue lingered on her hand, then the joker straightened himself and pulled his tongue back into his mouth. There is actually a reason for this! quote:”We don't need you anyway,” he hissed. “You tasssste of the alien, Tachyon.” His eyes narrowed. “Why did you give him the book?” It turns out he can pick up the scent of Tachyon's clothes on her from when she was putting the books into his figure for safekeeping. You'd think he'd also taste some wax, but hey, there's only so much you can ask of a mutant lizard tongue's detective skills. The more we see of Lizardguy's condition, the more it kind of owns. He's tough, he has big teeth, he has that poison bite we saw in the last book, and he can CSI-lick people. The only drawbacks are looking crocodilian and sounding like everything he says should be shouted while shaking a fist at G.I. Joe, and neither of those seem to have held him back much. He's making his way in an endotherm's world and he's doing all right. Good on you, Lizardguy. Jennifer realizes she needs a good lie, then subsequently realizes she can't think of one and goes “uh” until the tree they're by does her the significant favor of exploding. The guys holding her get thrown around and she joins Spector's vendetta against groins today by kneeing one. She breaks free and makes a run for it. There's a guy across the street wearing a hood. Jennifer notes that he is “rather nicely built” and is holding a complicated bow and another apparently explosive arrow. The narrative wisely does not linger on whether that could be a thing*, and moves on to the bad guys catching sight of him. quote:The reptiloid seemed to recognize him. He hissed hatefully as the man brought his bow to bear, but a bus going down the street suddenly blocked his aim. Even the buses like Lizardguy! All the bad guys run off, and Jennifer runs into the park, musing over whether this is the Bow and Arrow Vigilante from the papers or if “masked archery weirdo” is a wider niche than you'd think. quote:And she realized something else as she cut through a copse of trees, wincing as she stepped on a sharp stone. She's still sexily barefoot, which is a great way to get sexy hookworm. quote:She had seen him before. Even though he now wore a hood, she recognized him by his clothes and by his build as the man who had accosted her in the bleachers of Ebbets Field. It's just an armed guy in a gimp mask. It's probably fine. NEXT TIME: Bagabond visits Rosemary's office and flirts with the secretary. Edit: Whoops, forgot an important note: *I got curious and googled around a bit to see if explosive arrows in fact exist. I found a lot about Path of Exile and something amazing. Thinky Whale fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Jul 19, 2015 |
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Jun 18, 2015 10:31
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I just binged through your posts; thank you for writing these. I was aware of the vague gist of Wild Cards (giant GRRM credit on the cover despite his relative lack of contributions and series feeling like a caricature of his writing etc.) and that they were apparently crazy in the way only obscure scifi books can be, but I assumed it was a "...and the later books got really weird!" thing. Not necrophilia necromancy in the first book. The whole Geisha speech that's in one of the very first chapters could have only existed in the Eighties. I really like your style of writing, with the deliberation on how you felt about each part and why. A lot of criticism and analysis seems really reluctant to admit any sort of emotional response, as if something will say "U MAD" and invalidate the whole thing. And you really hit the nail on the head for some points, like that part where you talked about "safe" cynicism and why it's so grating. mycot fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Jul 21, 2015 |
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Jul 21, 2015 23:33
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Thanks! I try not to go too far to the other side and do too much "arr grar book bad." They're bad in such a weirdly fascinating way that's like a hyperfocusing of a lot of the major pitfalls that happen when SF gets hyperbolic and lazy. One theory I have is maybe it comes from a lack of oversight: it seems like the kind of thing that happens when people are throwing in every idea they have and there's nobody up top willing to say, "No, we're not doing that."
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Jul 22, 2015 11:06
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Thinky Whale posted:Thanks! I try not to go too far to the other side and do too much "arr grar book bad." They're bad in such a weirdly fascinating way that's like a hyperfocusing of a lot of the major pitfalls that happen when SF gets hyperbolic and lazy. One theory I have is maybe it comes from a lack of oversight: it seems like the kind of thing that happens when people are throwing in every idea they have and there's nobody up top willing to say, "No, we're not doing that." It wouldn't be a stretch to suggest that Martin was editing for plot consistency rather than content. It's the nature of writers collaboratives, I suppose - you don't want to tell anyone else how they should be doing it. This goes double for the group in the recent novels, many of whom are Martins protégés.
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Jul 22, 2015 11:34
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Yeah, and it probably contributes that a lot of them are friends, too. Nobody wants to tell their buddy that their character is a bad idea. I get the feeling that this is more a fun project they all do on the side rather than something anybody took very seriously. Which is fine, except that when there's a problem there's nobody to put the brakes on, so it snowballs.
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Jul 22, 2015 22:55
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 BAGABOND Seriously, visiting Rosemary's office and flirting with the secretary is all she does. She does also fend off a purse-snatcher on the subway by psychically hating at him, so we learn it's possible to use her powers on humans. She just usually doesn't because she's never quite sure whether it'll work. We also learn that Rosemary knows the Mafia guy in the car is dead, but the news was not as good at clickbait in those days so the headline was “Mafia Don Dead in Car Accident” and not “These Hundreds and Hundreds of Dead Squirrels on the Highway With Reaffirm Your Faith in Humanity,” and she doesn't know Bagabond was involved. Suddenly, Bagabond gets a psychic flash from Jack. quote:Bagabond saw the end of her snout, a bright flash of flame; she saw a hand holding a packet of small books wrapped in clear plastic, another hand waving the pistol; another flash-- Then we get a scene break. FORTUNATOquote:She still looked sixteen to Fortunato, though she was obviously old enough to be serving drinks. Fortunato goes and finds Water Lily where she's working as a waitress. Water Lily, as you might remember, is the girl whose main character traits are the power to control water and looking young and innocent enough for everybody else to get real creepy about. She's being annoyed by a tourist who is, of course, fat. quote:”Jane,” Fortunato said quietly. This scene is about a page long, and he still manages to be a patronizing rear end. quote:”I want you to not ask any questions, just come with me, right now. Forget your purse or sweater or whatever.” Instead of telling him to get bent, she sees “the urgency in his eyes” and goes to head off with him. The fat tourist gets in the way. quote:”Hey, what the hell is going on here? You her pimp or something, buddy?” Fortunato never got the chance to react. The girl gave the fat man a look of pure hatred and the light drizzle pattering around him turned into a sudden five-second torrent that soaked him to the skin. Water Lily has an odd thing where her powers are either used to either a) kill a person instantly or b) slightly annoy them.  ROULETTE quote:“Good Lord, and how many times have you been robbed?” she exclaimed The book itself doesn't have headings like I'm doing, and it goes a couple paragraphs without using names, so it takes a minute to figure out who's talking here and who she's talking to- quote:as her eyes roved about the immaculate living room with its plush white carpet, maroon vertical blinds, white baby grand piano, and maroon sectional sofa. Oh. Tachyon. They take a moment to remind us that Roulette has geopolitical opinion through the medium of     quote:“Too many. I do wish you humans would have the sense to legalize narcotics. It would make life so much simpler for so many people.” Tachyon has a copy of All Those Girls in Love With Horses by Robert Vavra. Being an alien is no reason to let your coffee table go un-booked. He offers her a drink, she says no. The murderdate turns awkward. quote:Tension filled the room, forming almost-tangible lines between them. So Roulette paces around and ends up playing the piano. We get a random biographical tidbit that her mother is a music teacher. It turns out Tachyon wrote the music. She says it's pretty. quote:“Thank you, I'm glad my small effort pleased you, but let us play a true master. I so rarely find some I can--” he paused, and shot her a glance alight with mischief. “-jam with.” Don't try to use slang, Space Grandpa. They talk about violins and he breathes on her neck. quote:His lips pressed against the corner of her mouth, drifted down her neck, the breath puffing gently and warmly across her skin. They, indeed, jam. quote:Twenty minutes without word or thought or worry. A perfect moment. When it's over, Tachyon gets all romantic. quote:”Roulette, you make me feel...well, something I haven't felt for many, many years.” Roulette gets all Avenged Sevenfold lyrics. quote:She probed at her soul, and found a bleeding wound. Fear, hate, guilt, regret, hopelessness. The section ends with her saying they should go to bed. Finally. Let's get this bangmurder on the road. NEXT TIME: ”Aaaaaahhh!” said the reptile brain, flooded with welcomed hormones.
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Jul 27, 2015 13:11
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 SEWER JACKRemember how Jack was mostly talking about his commute? quote:It would have been quicker to travel crosstown underground. We're still doing that. quote:Jack had clattered down the steps at the West 4th Street entrance. Yep. quote:One level, two levels, three. So, The Dinosaur Lords came out a bit ago. The one by Victor Milan, Captain Trips' writer. It was surprisingly heavily marketed. Anybody pick it up? quote:He went through an anonymous steel door and entered an eastwest maintenance tunnel. I've heard mixed things. The cover art is inarguably great, though. I'll probably end up reading it sooner or later. quote:In their little cages, the dim safety bulbs shed a brittle yellow glow, casting islands of illumination along the passageway. Instead I read The Girl on the Train, which I mention in the hopes of preventing anyone else from making the same mistake. I never thought I'd find something so excruciatingly tedious that Jack's walk is a relief in comparison. quote:He should have been watching instead of thinking. Oh, a thing's happening. quote:When he swung around a dogleg in the passage and slammed into someone coming the other way at a dead run, he had, at first, only the briefest impression of a dark figure. He glimpsed one huge eye centered in the other's face, a monocle glittering in the dim light-- Who wants to bet that Eye  exists just so they could have a cyclops wear a monocle? Not that I can really fault anybody for that. quote:“Son of a bitch!” said the other person, raising one hand toward Jack. Red flame erupted from the fist, a rolling wave of painful sound crashed against Jack's ears, and he heard something buzz past his head, springing against the concrete wall of the corridor. Cement chips sprayed his face. There was no pain yet. They mean shot at with a gun. This is only clarified because they mention he has a pistol a couple paragraphs later. This is fairly common problem that makes a point about why you can't write genre fiction the same way you would something realistic. If this were a detective novel, you can get poetic and people will still know you mean a gun just because there are no other feasible options. In a sci-fi/fantasy work that includes lots of strange powers and devices, you can't say “a thing in his hand exploded into a buzzing swam” without opening the two equal possibilities that you mean either a grenade or an actual fireball made of bees. Anyway, stress makes Jack turn into an alligator. quote:”What the hell you doin'?” Jack cried. “Aaaaaahhh!” said the reptile brain, flooded with welcomed hormones. Jack felt his body elongate, the vestigial tail extending and swelling, clothing ripping, his snout springing forth before his eyes. The rows of teeth sprang up faster than anything sowed by Cadmus. In that story, the teeth were the seeds. The thing that sprang up was dudes. AlligatorJack is hungry and one-eyed-guy is the nearest thing, so he eats him. Farewell, . He also swallows the plastic bag full of books that Eye was carrying. Hungry alligators can't be choosers. quote:There was no chewing. The food went down his gullet where the powerful enzymes would take care of assuaging his hunger. After this moment of learning about reptile digestive systems, Jack gets the feeling he has things to do. He doesn't bother ungatoring before he tromps off to do them. NEXT TIME: Homicidal psychic schmomicidal schmychic. Hiram has a cocktail party to put on.
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Aug 31, 2015 13:07
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Just marathoned the thread during the last two days and I want to say thank you for doing this. The whole story and setting is oddly intriguing but I don't think I'd be capable of actually reading through the books, so this is the perfect way to experience them for me.
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Sep 4, 2015 14:06
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Thanks for reading! Some people were put on earth to do a public service. Mine is to distill stories about alien viruses that turn people into evil wizards, apparently. I wouldn't recommend reading them even for the WTF factor, though, since the crazy is padded out with a lot of stuff (like Jack looking for his niece and this whole Wraith plot) that's just not very interesting.
Thinky Whale fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Sep 5, 2015 |
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Sep 5, 2015 16:06
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 HIRAM Hiram's looking over his security team for the night. quote:Modular Man was about as unobtrusive as a joker in Idaho.  “Corn's coming in good this season.” “Ayup.” “Ayup.” “Ayup.”They run over the robot's equipment. quote:“The left module fires tear-gas canisters, and the right is loaded with smoke bombs,” Mod Man said. “The smoke will not affect my radar, of course, but will blind any potential adversary. “The tear gas--” “Seriously, this guy is bullshit.”Hiram instructs Modular Man to sit at the bar and be prepared to killbot if and when the occasion arises. He goes and talks to one of his employees about Gills, the fishguy. He's in the hospital and other guys are looking after his shop. Hiram has an interesting point about how a whole lot of the crap that's happened to Gills today happened because Hiram tried to go in and superpower his mob problems away. For a while after getting his powers Hiram went around trying to do the hero thing, but he didn't accomplish much besides looking ridiculous and getting outed by a gossip columnist. Mask or no mask, when your superhero identity is Fatman and your alter ego is “a big fat guy,” sooner or later somebody is going to put two and two together. There's that old superhero thing where the first thing anybody does once they get powers is go out and be a vigilante. I like this aspect of Hiram that tried that and failed, because vigilante'ing just because you can maybe isn't the best idea. Some people are better at brunch. We also get the reason Hiram is fat: quote:His lunch was waiting on his desk: three thick-cut porkchops grilled with onion and basil, a side of pasta salad, steamed broccoli with grated romano cheese, and a piece of the famous Aces High cheesecake. The man knows how to eat. Well, besides from the fact that next to all that is a newspaper with a photo of dead, mutilated Kid Dinosaur. That doesn't seem like the kind of thing they let you put on the front page, really. The phone rings, and it's Jay the private eye. quote:”At the moment I'm at a pay phone outside the Crystal Palace, being eyed by a joker who looks like a cross between a douche bag and a saber-toothed tiger. I think he wants to use the phone, so I'll get right to the point.” I'm going to apply the modern notion of “douchebag” and picture a guy with fangs, a spray tan, and 3 popped collars. Jay says Chrysalis has some info saying that the thugs who busted up Gills' lobsters weren't on their own, they were sub-thug-contractors. She says she has more details, but Jay can't afford them on his own. He suggests bringing her to talk to Hiram in person. quote:”You're bringing her here?” Hiram said. “Jay, she's a joker, not an ace.” Way to be a bigot against semi-invisible people, Hiram. I'm not joking, that's a dick move. quote:“I'm an ace,” Ackroyd reminded him, “and she's my date. Don't worry, I made her promise to cover her tits. A shame, though. They're nice tits, even if they are invisible.” How can you tell if invisible tits are nice? Is this one of those tree falling in the forest things? Also, Jay went to talk to Gills the fishguy fishmonger, but Bludgeon was there, so Jay warped him to jail. That's only going to work until the jail notices there's an extra guy hanging around, so they need somebody to go press charges. Jay asks Hiram to do it. quote:Hiram felt in a terrible bind. “I … Jay, I want to, but I can't possibly leave now.” Hiram churlishly rejects the favor of a chance to not be around Fortunato. He suggests Gills do it himself. quote:”He's terrified, Hiram.” rear end in a top hat we just established that Bludgeon is somebody's subgoon intern. Jay just sighs and goes off to talk Gills into risking his neck and prolonging this subplot. NEXT TIME: Hang gliding...for murder.
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Oct 23, 2015 14:40
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Hiram and his weight is a nod to the HG Wells story The Truth About Pyecraft, I think. Like Pyecraft, Hiram is an extremely fat man who probably wants to reduce his bulk. However, by thinking of it as losing weight as we all typically do he ended up with that literal power.
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Oct 23, 2015 15:27
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Thinky Whale posted:How can you tell if invisible tits are nice? Is this one of those tree falling in the forest things? I'm going to guess "by feel."
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Oct 24, 2015 01:38
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ulmont posted:I'm going to guess "by feel." Like bags of sand.
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Oct 24, 2015 01:42
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ulmont posted:I'm going to guess "by feel." When someone who isn't Jay "Wholly Unreconstructed" Ackroyd is describing Chrysalis, they usually say that her flesh looks like flawless glass. Basically she looks like this with a skeleton and vital organs stuck in:  (And not playing golf, of course.)
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Oct 24, 2015 12:16
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Jedit posted:When someone who isn't Jay "Wholly Unreconstructed" Ackroyd is describing Chrysalis, they usually say that her flesh looks like flawless glass. Basically she looks like this with a skeleton and vital organs stuck in: 
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Oct 24, 2015 21:30
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Jedit posted:Hiram and his weight is a nod to the HG Wells story The Truth About Pyecraft, I think. Like Pyecraft, Hiram is an extremely fat man who probably wants to reduce his bulk. However, by thinking of it as losing weight as we all typically do he ended up with that literal power. That's cool, I hadn't heard of that one. The whole story's up online right here, for anybody who wants to check it out. coyo7e posted:Always kinda figured she would be a hotty, Hellraiser-style That's pretty similar to how she's shown on the cover of the fourth book: 
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Oct 25, 2015 00:53
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Thinky Whale posted:That's cool, I hadn't heard of that one. The whole story's up online right here, for anybody who wants to check it out. Yeah. Bolland did a good job, but he didn't quite follow the description and only made her skin transparent. The books are quite clear that her muscles are transparent too. She's almost certainly inspired by the Visible Woman models you used to be able to get: 
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Oct 25, 2015 01:15
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So basically she's a Nehwon ghoul. (Note tastefully drawn see-through boob. Fafhrd had a ghoul girlfriend in the later books and Leiber always made sure to describe her transparent tits.) 
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Oct 25, 2015 03:11
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quote:Ghouls are totally invisible (-4 to hit) in darkness 80% of the time. Nothing like adding one more roll to every combat swing.
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Oct 27, 2015 00:36
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Selachian posted:So basically she's a Nehwon ghoul. (Note tastefully drawn see-through boob. Fafhrd had a ghoul girlfriend in the later books and Leiber always made sure to describe her transparent tits.) 
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Oct 27, 2015 22:14
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Thinky Whale posted:That's cool, I hadn't heard of that one. The whole story's up online right here, for anybody who wants to check it out. Does the artist not know the difference between a Jack and a Joker?
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Oct 28, 2015 13:06
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coyo7e posted:What the gently caress when did that happen? I thought I had pretty much all of the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stuff (in a couple different versions because some stories were hard to find) and I don't recall anything like that Looking it up, Fafhrd's ghoul girlfriend, Kreeshkra, appeared in a couple of the later volumes in the series, The Swords of Lankhmar and Swords and Ice Magic.
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Oct 28, 2015 13:31
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Hmm, I am sure I've got swords of lankhmar around somewhere, but swords and ice magic is coming up a blank. Guess i gotta get back to hunting. 
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Oct 28, 2015 14:40
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