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ShutteredIn posted:The Collapsing Empire would never ever make it out of a slush pile, it’s bonkers that Scalzi got that crazy deal. I've had no interest in reading anything Scalzi since he finished the Old Man's War series, but he seems to still be selling well. That contract could well be worth it for Tor.
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Apr 20, 2020 05:02
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StrixNebulosa posted:Why can't we call out assholes? I don't want nazis in this cool thread. Me neither. But calling out assholes online isn't the same as IRL. Posting about bad posters doesn't stop them posting; it just turns the thread away from its purpose. Reporting terrible posts lets mods probate or ban the person who posted them, which does keep them out of the thread. I don't see reports, so please PM or email me as well if something's really urgent. Also, quoting someone's racist post means everyone has to see it again; please think before you do that. (Edit: the logic behind this is the same reason "ironic" racism is bannable; why you're seeing the racism crap doesn't matter. You can link to that stuff if necessary. Also, Drone Jett's post history is a big yikes from me and I'm talking to the mod about it.) - quantumfoam posted:That is where the Isaac Asimov 2.0 comparison comes into play for me. Asimov's hardly the only sf dinosaur to win awards he didn't deserve... Anyone who hasn't read Jo Walton's old Tor.com posts about the Hugos is missing out: https://www.tor.com/features/series/revisiting-the-hugos/ I'm the Book Barn IK. Feel free to PM me or email bookbarnsecretsanta@gmail.com if I can help you with anything. Safety Biscuits fucked around with this message at 05:58 on Apr 20, 2020 |
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Apr 20, 2020 05:09
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ShutteredIn posted:The Collapsing Empire would never ever make it out of a slush pile, it’s bonkers that Scalzi got that crazy deal. I’m 100% certain my second book would never have sold as a stand-alone on its own merits, but the great thing about having been published once is you’re (sort of) your own marketing. People will buy Scalzi 11 on the strength of Scalzi 1 and that means it’s financially worth it for a publisher to pursue even middling sequels to successful books. When this stops happening, though, your career kind of ends.
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Apr 20, 2020 05:22
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StrixNebulosa posted:Why can't we call out assholes? I don't want nazis in this cool thread. Because it inevitably starts derails and then nobody is talking about books anymore. Please keep discussions focused on books, not posters. If a post is a problem, hit the report button or pm or email a mod. Edit: thanks Safety Biscuits for handling Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 06:22 on Apr 20, 2020 |
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Apr 20, 2020 06:20
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General Battuta posted:I’m 100% certain my second book would never have sold as a stand-alone on its own merits, but the great thing about having been published once is you’re (sort of) your own marketing. People will buy Scalzi 11 on the strength of Scalzi 1 and that means it’s financially worth it for a publisher to pursue even middling sequels to successful books. I see what you mean, but I'm enjoying it a lot more than the first one so far. On a serious note: If anyone sees Drone Jett posting, let me know so I can probate him again. Thanks. Safety Biscuits fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Apr 20, 2020 |
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Apr 20, 2020 06:23
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Thank Christ I'm not the only person here who hated The Collapsing Empire. There are novels that only got nominated because of the Sad Puppies that wasted my time less than that book.
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Apr 20, 2020 06:35
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Safety Biscuits posted:Asimov's hardly the only sf dinosaur to win awards he didn't deserve... Anyone who hasn't read Jo Walton's old Tor.com posts about the Hugos is missing out: https://www.tor.com/features/series/revisiting-the-hugos/ Yeah. Asimov was the easiest go-to example for me because Scalzi is alot like Isaac Asimov, with the same mercenary writing outlook. Scalzi's The Collapsing Empire was extremely terrible, and everything I mentioned earlier about why I am wary/weary about John Scalzi post 2014 applies to it. Scalzi's mil-scifi Old Man series suffered a meteoric drop in quality after/during the second book, but Scalzi kept churning out sequels as long as they sold. In Asimov's case it was the Robot series and Foundation series which Asimov inevitably merged into one to maximize productivity/sales. Asimov was drat near inescapable during the back half of his writing career, appearing everywhere while churning out reams and reams of words on virtually every subject matter. Asimov on Shakespeare, Asimov on cooking, Asimov on rocketry, Asimov on mystery stories, Asimov on cowboy films(probably not but go with the analogy), Asimov on physics, Asimov on math, Asimov on romance, Asimov on puzzles, Asimov on languages, etc....ironically Chemistry, the hard science field where Asimov was legitimately qualified to speak about/earned his doctorate was the only subject Asimov never seemed to bloviate about.
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Apr 20, 2020 07:33
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Free Tor ebook is ‘all 4 Murderbots’ to celebrate 5 coming out.
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Apr 20, 2020 14:06
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Looks like Tor is giving away the chronically overpriced Murderbot books this week. Day by day, and I have books 1 and 2 already, so I’ll need to remember to check Wednesday and Thursday. https://ebookclub.tor.com/?utm_sour...b328eeee5c3f2c6
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Apr 20, 2020 14:07
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Dammit. After caving and buying the overpriced but good Murderbot novellas, Tor are handing them out free. https://ebookclub.tor.com/ Edit: Guessing we all just got the same email
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Apr 20, 2020 14:08
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I have a bad case of completionism when it comes to books, and I just finished the latest Scalzi. Let this be a warning to all; don't loving do it. The writing is so goddamn uneven, there are fun characters like Kiva Lagos, and really badly written cartoon villains, and everybody quips a mile a minute, even when not remotely appropriate. And the ending is just...No.
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Apr 20, 2020 14:09
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For anyone who was waiting for the murderbot books to get discount, they are free for a bit. https://ebookclub.tor.com/?utm_sour...7a514afd9c4c9d8
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Apr 20, 2020 14:11
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Willeh posted:I have a bad case of completionism when it comes to books, and I just finished the latest Scalzi. Let this be a warning to all; don't loving do it. thanks! first was ok if a little pedestrian, the second was a slog to care enough to finish for me. the trend continues
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Apr 20, 2020 14:20
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What's with Tor's stubborn refusal to just have Muderbot at sensible novella prices? Oh well, will happily take the three I have't got for no pounds.
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Apr 20, 2020 15:15
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tima posted:For anyone who was waiting for the murderbot books to get discount, they are free for a bit.
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Apr 20, 2020 15:48
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quantumfoam posted:As the thread OP, can I request that we keep this thread focused on escapist scifi and fantasy story discussion and not about the horrendous poo poo going down everywhere in IRL? This is exactly why I thought the lockdown would be a great time to finally crack open The Monster Baru Cormorant Boy is my face red!
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Apr 20, 2020 16:05
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anilEhilated posted:Only for US and Canada, though. Though thinking about it that's basically just equivalent to pirating the books 
Llamadeus fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Apr 20, 2020 |
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Apr 20, 2020 16:10
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Everyone in this thread is visiting my house in canada virtually so it's totally legal to say they're downloading from canada
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Apr 20, 2020 16:16
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Junkenstein posted:What's with Tor's stubborn refusal to just have Muderbot at sensible novella prices? They're giving away one Murderbot book a day until Thursday. Today is All Systems Red so you'll have to remember to keep coming back for the other three.
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Apr 20, 2020 16:17
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Safety Biscuits posted:Asimov's hardly the only sf dinosaur to win awards he didn't deserve... Speaking of dinosaurs, here's something to discuss. Who is the oldest currently active sf writer? I'm referring to their careers, not the number of candles on their cake. Michael Moorcock was first published in the late 50s, but doesn't seem to have published anything since 2015. Samuel R. Delany's first novel was in 1960, and he published a novella in 2018, which seems like it counts, and Larry Niven (first published in 1964) has, according to Wikipedia, a co-authorship credit on a book this year, but you don't know how much he wrote... Can you think of anyone else from the 60s who's still active?
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Apr 20, 2020 16:24
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Safety Biscuits posted:Can you think of anyone else from the 60s who's still active? Piers Anthony
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Apr 20, 2020 16:28
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I would have said Robert Silverberg, but it looks like he finally retired a few years ago.
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Apr 20, 2020 16:39
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According to Wikipedia GRRM sold his first story in 1970. Some may dispute his current classification as "active" though.
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Apr 20, 2020 16:51
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David Gerrold, if you count his Star Trek screenwriting work as the start date of career
Thranguy fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Apr 20, 2020 |
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Apr 20, 2020 16:52
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M. John Harrison has a novel coming out this year, and his earliest short stories date from the 60s. Though even the ones that were later collected are kind of hard to find now.
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Apr 20, 2020 17:01
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Might be Vernor Vinge. Published his first story in 1966.
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Apr 20, 2020 17:35
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Dean Koontz is up there as well.
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Apr 20, 2020 18:02
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Norman Spinrad is pretty OG. Short story in Analog last year, as far as I can see from database started in 1963.
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Apr 20, 2020 18:06
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murderbot murderbot murderbot murderbot
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Apr 20, 2020 19:02
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Safety Biscuits posted:Speaking of dinosaurs, here's something to discuss. Who is the oldest currently active sf writer? I'm referring to their careers, not the number of candles on their cake. Michael Moorcock was first published in the late 50s, but doesn't seem to have published anything since 2015. Samuel R. Delany's first novel was in 1960, and he published a novella in 2018, which seems like it counts, and Larry Niven (first published in 1964) has, according to Wikipedia, a co-authorship credit on a book this year, but you don't know how much he wrote... James E Gunn. He's old as hell, was active in the 1960's, outlived all his contemporary writing peers and most of the next two generations of scifi writers that came after him, and.....JEG's last published story came out in 2017, finishing off a not-terrible/not-coauthored scifi trilogy JEG started in 2013. Most of JEG's stories have aged pretty well except for KAMPUS. KAMPUS not being a ebook is a travesty, but a understandable travesty. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2144066.Kampus
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Apr 20, 2020 19:12
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Might be Vernor Vinge. Published his first story in 1966. Vinge hasn’t published anything since Children of the Sky though, going on ten years now. 
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Apr 20, 2020 19:43
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There is a background novella for the Lock-in series that may or may not make the books more interesting in context called "Unlocked" for $4.00 on Kindle if anybody is super bored and liked the concept of the world more than the characters in those books.
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Apr 20, 2020 19:45
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I just checked out an ARC for an upcoming Tor debut called THE BLACKTONGUE THIEF. It wasn't really my speed, but if you like Abercrombie-style low fantasy with a bit more fun and a lot less bleak it might be your thing! No idea if it's going to get a big PR push but it's from the same editor who acquired THE BAND by Nicholas Eames, which I think did pretty well for Orbit.
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Apr 20, 2020 21:33
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Velius posted:Vinge hasn’t published anything since Children of the Sky though, going on ten years now. Oh no, hope he's ok I've always kinda admired how he got huge really late in his overall career
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Apr 20, 2020 21:43
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Gene Wolfe was first published in 1965 and has a novel coming out in June He's dead but still technically active
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Apr 20, 2020 23:20
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Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003H4I4JU/
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Apr 21, 2020 00:08
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my bony fealty posted:Gene Wolfe was first published in 1965 and has a novel coming out in June
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Apr 21, 2020 00:36
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Safety Biscuits posted:Speaking of dinosaurs, here's something to discuss. Who is the oldest currently active sf writer? I'm referring to their careers, not the number of candles on their cake. Michael Moorcock was first published in the late 50s, but doesn't seem to have published anything since 2015. Samuel R. Delany's first novel was in 1960, and he published a novella in 2018, which seems like it counts, and Larry Niven (first published in 1964) has, according to Wikipedia, a co-authorship credit on a book this year, but you don't know how much he wrote... Ben Bova has been active since 1959. E: Christopher Priest is still working as well.
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Apr 21, 2020 00:36
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Margaret Atwood ? B. 1939.
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Apr 21, 2020 01:01
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Some really good replies here, guys, good work. I didn't realise there were still so many writers from the 60s about. I admit I thought I'd won with Delany, but while this was a good try:quantumfoam posted:James E Gunn. - published 1949-2017, which is about the third longest career I can think of, after Jack Williamson and Fred Pohl - and this came very close: Lunsku posted:Norman Spinrad is pretty OG. Short story in Analog last year, as far as I can see from database started in 1963. the winner's got to be: Jedit posted:Ben Bova has been active since 1959. Yes, Gunn was published earlier, but Bova's had a more recent publication (a novel in 2019), so I'm awarding him the arbitrary wreath for now. Congrats Jedit.
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Apr 21, 2020 05:13
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