Sham bam bamina! posted:

Having looked it up, I have to say that it looks much less entertaining than Uno. It's basically a solitaire game; It's only "multiplayer" in that the players are racing to meet the win condition first.

Tim Burns Effect posted:

joss whedon should be locked in guantanamo for influencing an entire generation to write like this

Hammer Bro. posted:

Ehh? I think the audiobook version I listened to may've cut out at the 2/3 mark. Or maybe the actual ending was very abrupt. I was not motivated enough to look into it.

There were some pleasant Britishisms but the world didn't feel particularly built and the characters were okay but not compelling.

TheGreatEvilKing posted:

Someone besides me read the priory of the orange tree.

Pacho posted:

Is it decent or just to throw it to the bonfire? Since only mediocre to bad fantasy books seem to be translated to spanish my chances of reading it are inversely proportional to its quality. I think WMF got a same-day release in spanish, just life Fire&Blood

branedotorg posted:

Patrick rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)
Shelves: books-i-would-blurb
I liked this anthology enough to actually write an introduction for it. Needless to say, that rarely happens.

I was going to drop a review here, then I realized that would be kinda silly, when the introduction I wrote says everything I want to say, much more clearly and cleanly than any quick review I could bang out.

So here it is...

* * *

This is a good anthology. Can we start there? Let's start there.

That's really the most important thing you can get out of this introduction. tl;dr - This is a good anthology full of stories that are worth your time and money.

If you want, you can hop directly into reading it. Go on. I won't be offended.

For the rest of you, let me be completely honest and say that when I sat down to read this anthology, I was really nervous.

I really admired Veronica and Tom for putting this anthology together. It's not just a cool idea, it's a vital thing. Anthologies that focus on new writers are really important.

Everyone knows it's hard for new writers to get noticed. Anthologies like this help new authors get their foot in the door, so to speak.

I know this for a fact, because an anthology like this helped get me my start as a writer. When I was published in Writers of the Future back in 2002, it opened up doors for me.

So I admired the hell out of Tom and Veronica for giving new-writers a chance to get a leg up. But at the same time, I when I heard Sword and Laser was putting out an anthology, I was worried for them. What's more, I was worried about the anthology itself.

Why? Because I've read submissions for writing contests. I've read stories at writer's workshops. I've taught writing classes. I've read submissions for a few anthologies myself.

In short, I know how many really awful stories are out there.

That sounds harsh. But it's the simple truth. Bad stories outnumber good ones about 50 to 1. And good stories outnumber great ones about 10 to 1. That's the harsh mathmatics of the situation.

I know this better than anyone. Not just because I've read slush. But because I've *written* awful stories. More awful stories than good ones. Many more.

And because I've acted as editor-in-chief before, if only in a small way, I know that sometimes, after reading 40 bad stories, you throw up your hands and just say, "Fine. gently caress! We need to put *something* in this anthology. That story about the mutant in the woods is good enough."

But who wants to read a story that's just "good enough? Not me. I want stories that are great. I want cleverness. I want wit and language and magic. I want to be surprised. I want to be dazzled.

I want brilliant stories. And I'm guessing you do too.

I was not expecting to get that here. But I did. Some of these stories show brilliance. And not just flashes of brilliance, either. Not just a thin gilding of brilliance over the surface of a clunky tin meh. I'm talking about solid brilliance.

Simply said, I was impressed and pleasantly surprised.

Now am I saying that you'll love every story in here? No. That's a ridiculous expectation. Because everyone enjoys different flavors of story.

And honestly, that's one of the strengths of this anthology. There's enough variety here that no matter what you enjoy, you're probably going to find something to your taste.

Okay. That's enough from me. I'm just the opening band. Quit reading my ramble and check out the real stories.

Nerdburger_Jansen posted:

quote:

And because I've acted as editor-in-chief before, if only in a small way, I know that sometimes, after reading 40 bad stories, you throw up your hands and just say, "Fine. gently caress! We need to put *something* in this anthology. That story about the mutant in the woods is good enough."

Pacho posted:

Liveship Traders Trilogy and The Left Hand of Darkness. Liveship Traders Trilogy also doubles up as "ASoIaF with an ending"

BananaNutkins posted:

Someone he felt obligated to or was trying to cozy up to wanted him to review it,

Sham bam bamina! posted:

A translation has apparently been set for release, but it isn't out yet.

TheGreatEvilKing posted:

I wrote a bonfire post. I think it's interesting and worth discussing at least.

Sham bam bamina! posted:

It's the introduction to the actual book. He was literally paid to write it.

Come And See posted:

He said Rothfuss was great to work with and that he was a really busy guy and that obviously this was a major passion project for him since this his time was so precious.

Come And See posted:

The artist for that Rick & Morty comic was at a local con. I asked him what it He said Rothfuss was great to work with and that he was a really busy guy and that obviously this was a major passion project for him since this his time was so precious.

Come And See posted:

ElGroucho posted:

I read that whole thing and still don't know what adventure zone is. Is it like a Chucky Cheese?

Come And See posted:

Come And See posted:

HIJK posted:

this is not a well written introduction. its weirdly self congratulatory on Rothfuss for listening to the McElroys and he doesn’t actually get to explaining what the Adventure Zone is, who worked on it, why it is a good purchase and what makes it a fun product until the final two paragraphs. excuse me but shouldn’t an introduction be talking about what makes that book and its authors & artists special? it definitely shouldn’t have like five paragraphs where the intro writer talks about what a cool guy he is for doing something daring like...listening to podcasts.

pseudanonymous posted:

It's kind of Trumpesque. Trump is basically famous for talking about how rich and famous Trump is. Rothfuss seems to have gotten onto the same grift train somehow.

nankeen posted:

gently caress i hated him when i was 16 though lmao

"oh, you're so young to be writing a fantasy novel - like that little boy in america!"
"i am nothing like that little boy in america my fantasy novel is literature"

the old ceremony posted:

all through high school i was working on a hundred thousand word pastoral travelling scene that i called a novel, all the adults in my life encouraged me because they were all certain i'd be published on the basis of my age alone and at least make a few novelty bucks out of it, and i hated christopher paolini with fierce, theatrical violence. i loathed that man. sometimes i would open my copy of eragon, which was given to me by my sweetest cousin who later committed suicide so i simultaneously despised the book and was driven to hold onto it like a talisman, and stare at paolini's author portrait in silent hatred. of course i never got published and now i'm almost thirty and my youthful promise has gurgled down the twin infested drains of university education and the global financial crisis. i am haunted by paolini. the toilet paper comes away from my rear end with his face smeared onto it like a jesus toast. i see him in the rainless clouds. when i catch the bus to my welfare appointments, where a tired-looking woman tries to convince me to get a certificate in aged care and spend the rest of my life scrubbing the elderly, the bus driver with his competitive hourly rate and his union membership and his loving long-service leave is christopher paolini. the welfare lady is paolini. the elderly are paolini. i look at myself in the mirror and all i see is the teenage paolini, proudly smirking. worst of all i think eragon survives as something like a perfect cultural object, a fantasy novel that was written by an actual adolescent rather than the psychosexually adolescent adults that populate the genre and this thread

ElGroucho posted:

I read that whole thing and still don't know what adventure zone is. Is it like a Chucky Cheese?