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Jedit posted:Only a Goon would need to reach the next paragraph before realising that the people who weigh 550lbs aren't human. Or they could be humans living on a world that was particularly high gravity
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Apr 30, 2020 18:01
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Ash: A Secret History is $3.99 on Kindle. A truly exceptional tale, worth powering through the CW material. After finishing it I spent the next month or so with a mild sense of dislocation from not being in the storyspace any more. https://www.amazon.com/Ash-Secret-History-Mary-Gentle-ebook/dp/B00GU2R3AC/ Content Warning: Sexual violence and other traumas.
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Apr 30, 2020 19:10
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mllaneza posted:Ash: A Secret History is $3.99 on Kindle. A truly exceptional tale, worth powering through the CW material. After finishing it I spent the next month or so with a mild sense of dislocation from not being in the storyspace any more. Seconding this, it's an extremely long book but it owns. Despite the content warnings (and boy howdy are there warnings) it's not focused on being grimdark all the time. The beginning where she's growing up in the merc camp is really rough and it gets better quickly.
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Apr 30, 2020 19:17
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TheAardvark posted:What kind of adult that can read sci-fi written in English wouldn't know that 550lbs is a lot? I could accept a kid or translation though. As already pointed out, someone not from the United States of lovely Units?
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Apr 30, 2020 22:29
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DigitalRaven posted:As already pointed out, someone not from the United States of lovely Units? I just don't think the kind of person who would read an American English hard sci-fi novel has any crossover with "person who has no concept of what a pound or mile is". Having a lot of trouble imagining an American Sci-Fi reader being unaware that say, 200 kilograms, is an insane amount for a person to weigh. But maybe the U.S. just does better at educating us on other countries' measurement systems. Edit: Back to thread content, I started The Reality Dysfunction recently and if I miss a day of reading this book I can't remember who or what anyone is. Might give up on it. AARD VARKMAN fucked around with this message at 23:39 on Apr 30, 2020 |
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Apr 30, 2020 22:43
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Here's a link to the story in question so everyone can read it & figure out how truly bizzaro the planet Mission of Gravity takes place on. https://archive.org/details/galaxy_novel_number_33_mission_of_gravity/mode/2up
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Apr 30, 2020 23:26
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I've been reading American fiction my whole life and wouldn't have a clue how much a pound weighs except that I know it's less than a kilo. Why would I?
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May 1, 2020 00:41
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Science Fiction Fantasy Megathread 3: 1 kg = 2.2 lb = .157 stone Also have been working through the foundry side sequel and at the 1/4 mark it seems promising? Not having the experience of learning the world for the first time makes it a bit less exciting, but it’s also nice to be able to just start with that knowledge assumed right away. E: didn’t think this would be changed, but I love it tildes fucked around with this message at 06:05 on May 1, 2020 |
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May 1, 2020 00:47
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tildes posted:the foundry side sequel i didn't know this was out, thanks!
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May 1, 2020 00:54
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Got through a book order in a pretty short time, being homebound because of corona and recently unemployed shows. I found Yoon Ha Lee's Ninefox Gambit's setting really cool and enjoyed it a ton. Definitely picking up the next two books. Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire was suprisingly cozy and enjoyable, even though I did feel that not really much was happening overall. Big things going on in the background hopefully get expanded on in the next book, which I guess is due 2021. Kameron Hurley's Light Brigade felt formulaic as far as the dystopic setting and the grunt experience went, but then it just picked up a shitton of pace. Really liked how it went, felt it was better that A Memory Called Empire as far as recent prize nominees go. I was not entirely happy with the ending, but honestly at this point reading a story contained in a single book is a blessing in itself. Hopefully I can pick up Gideon the Ninth in the next order, EU side of the pond the print was not out for some reason at least on the bookseller I was looking at. While waiting for that I guess I'll continue with the translation of Robin Hobb's Tawny Man, I enjoyed Fool's Errand quite a bit after having read the original trilogy like twenty years ago the last time.
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May 1, 2020 01:36
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TheAardvark posted:But maybe the U.S. just does better at educating us on other countries' measurement systems.  
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May 1, 2020 05:29
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Canada needs to be green there too. There’s a reason I can do metric/imperial conversions in my head and it’s because of so many different loving recipes where no standards exist. And also why the gently caress do I have measuring tapes with only inches on them? Where the gently caress did these even come from?
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May 1, 2020 05:36
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Stuporstar posted:Canada needs to be green there too. There’s a reason I can do metric/imperial conversions in my head and it’s because of so many different loving recipes where no standards exist. And also why the gently caress do I have measuring tapes with only inches on them? Where the gently caress did these even come from? One should say that the US scientific field is pretty much in the metric system based on the scientific journals I read. I have so far not seen a non metric unit that corresponds to a Ångström. Which makes sci-fi using non metric units kinda hilarious, but I guess there is a reason why NASA crashed a probe into Mars. Basically the only reasons that US keep to their system is institutional inertia, economic power and
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May 1, 2020 05:55
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I found this thread a few days ago and have been working through it, some great recommendations in here that I've put on my list. I've been reading some classics recently and I'm currently struggling through The Moon is a Cruel Mistress. I find the slightly messed up grammer exhausting. I didn't have this problem with Stand on Zanzibar or Clockwork Orange, but I think they were substituting words rather than changing structure. Is there any thing spectacular about this book that is worth continuing or is it just "innovative for the time" classic SF?
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May 1, 2020 09:14
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It's probably the only Heinlein worth reading but if you're not enjoying it, you won't miss any earth-shattering revelations.
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May 1, 2020 09:51
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I enjoyed the moon is a hard mistress, but it's because I still laugh at the libertarian court chapter whenever it pops into my mind. I've been re reading armour by John steakley and it really scratches a pulp hitch,i like imagining the story is about doom guy adventures.
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May 1, 2020 10:20
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Lol that reminds me, I've had a hankering to re-read Stranger in a Strange Land. I know it's problematic as hell but for some reason I find it to be a comfort read.
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May 1, 2020 12:32
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I remember enjoying some of Heinlein's juveniles when I was a teenager - Between Planets was a picaresque favourite - but his adult novels were like listening to a boring old fart with weird sexual perversions waffle on about his lovely politics.
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May 1, 2020 12:50
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anyone got a book about early human interstellar flight, preferably after humans discover their first planet ( I’ll take aliens too if I must).
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May 1, 2020 13:42
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Thanks all, I won't feel so bad about letting it go then.
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May 1, 2020 13:45
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I’ve never understood caring about the politics of a book so long as it’s a rollicking read. I loved that Bain series about the maple syrup addicted aliens despite the author being a bloodthirsty jingo.
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May 1, 2020 14:00
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PawParole posted:I’ve never understood caring about the politics of a book so long as it’s a rollicking read. I loved that Bain series about the maple syrup addicted aliens despite the author being a bloodthirsty jingo. Because the constant overt insertion of the politics gets exhausting. I started reading Monster Hunters, Inc. a few years ago, and the constant libertarian/republican talking points the characters spouted at every opportunity was incredibly tedious. It also seems like right-wing authors are worse about this (unless you count startrek-type post-scarcity utopias as innately left or somesuch, but even then, captain kirk isn't taking five minute of every episode to expound on the virtues of economic redistribution). a foolish pianist fucked around with this message at 14:09 on May 1, 2020 |
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May 1, 2020 14:07
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PawParole posted:anyone got a book about early human interstellar flight, preferably after humans discover their first planet ( I’ll take aliens too if I must). Allen Steele Coyote series
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May 1, 2020 14:38
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branedotorg posted:Allen Steele Coyote series see that’s actually a book whose politics bothers me. I hate the weird tangent at the end about the space transhuman feminist matriarch who tries to enslave the planet coyote, and gets compared to the ultra-right-wingnuts. I liked the whole sailing arc though. He should just chop off the end and let it be used for firewood as long as it isn’t Ayn Rand or Victoria, I don’t care.
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May 1, 2020 15:28
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Just finished Becky Chambers's To Be Taught, If Fortunate and that was a fun ride. A++ would read again.
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May 1, 2020 19:06
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Quick update: y'all did it, The Dawnhounds is going to WorldCon http://www.sffanz.org.nz/sjv/sjvFinalists-2020.html you're all amazing, thank you so much
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May 1, 2020 23:26
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^^^ Congrats! The Monster Baru Cormorant (Masquerade #2) by Seth Dickinson - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078X294FQ/ Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky - $0.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P75S1H2/ Novella by the Children of Time guy. The Magicians by Lev Grossman - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002AU7MJU Swords and Deviltry (Fafhrd and Gray Mouser #1) by Fritz Leiber - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J90EZIA Edit: One extra. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZP64F28 pradmer fucked around with this message at 05:23 on May 2, 2020 |
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May 2, 2020 00:04
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PawParole posted:I’ve never understood caring about the politics of a book so long as it’s a rollicking read. With Heinlein at least, it's the second part of that sentence that's the problem. Which is interesting, because his juveniles show that was he was clearly capable of it, but simply chose to be self-indulgently tedious in his later works. The only other comparison I can think of is Tolkien, comparing The Hobbit to LOTR.
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May 2, 2020 00:22
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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:Quick update: y'all did it, The Dawnhounds is going to WorldCon Congrats! I read it a few weeks ago and really enjoyed and can't wait for a sequel.
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May 2, 2020 01:17
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freebooter posted:Which is interesting, because his juveniles show that was he was clearly capable of it, but simply chose to be self-indulgently tedious in his later works. The only other comparison I can think of is Tolkien, comparing The Hobbit to LOTR. I think somewhere in the 4 year gap between Moon is a Harsh Mistress and I Will Fear No Evil switched from telling stories to talking about ideas. He was well free of any editorial constraint, had a lot to say, and used his novels to ruminate out loud. That's why his last few novels were so wordy, rambling, and ultimately philosophical discourses rather than novels with strong themes. His last book, To Sail Beyond The Sunset, is significantly tighter than his last six novels. I think he knew To Sail was going to be his last word, and focused on saying what he wanted to say, clearly and (relatively) concisely. If you really want to see him at his best, pick up The Green Hills of Earth or another anthology. He wrote some great novels, but he was a great short story writer.
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May 2, 2020 01:41
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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:Quick update: y'all did it, The Dawnhounds is going to WorldCon Good, now write more of that stuff, it was fun.
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May 2, 2020 14:09
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mdemone posted:Lol that reminds me, I've had a hankering to re-read Stranger in a Strange Land. I know it's problematic as hell but for some reason I find it to be a comfort read. Having read it for the first time last year I think the part of it that stuck out the most to me in that specific regard was a throwaway line out of nowhere about how the white minority in South Africa is being persecuted.
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May 2, 2020 15:15
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Srice posted:Having read it for the first time last year I think the part of it that stuck out the most to me in that specific regard was a throwaway line out of nowhere about how the white minority in South Africa is being persecuted. I tried to reread it a couple years ago, but couldn’t make it past the line coming out of one of his female mouthpieces, “I now understand if a woman gets raped, she was probably asking for it.” Nope, I‘m done with it forever
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May 2, 2020 16:14
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PeterWeller posted:As others have said, the Big Ant trilogy (Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, Zero History) is your best choice because it's stylistically the most similar to The Peripheral and Agency (especially Agency, which was going to be a return to the contemporary dystopia of Big Ant before getting subsumed into the Stubs). Thank you for the insight! Started Pattern Recognition and loving it already.
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May 2, 2020 17:29
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All Systems Red (Murderbot #1) by Martha Wells - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MYZ8X5C/ In case you missed the giveaway. The Once and Future King by TH White - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AEDDSQG/ The Last Policeman Trilogy by Ben H Winters - $1.99/$2.99/$2.99 The Last Policeman - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0076Q1GW2/ Countdown City - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B6OV90E/ World of Trouble - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HXYHVNU/ Detective still trying to solve crimes while a meteor impact with earth is imminent. I thought it was great but pretty depressing. Harmony Black series books 1-4 by Craig Schaefer - $0.99 each Harmony Black - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZX99WCA/ Red Knight Falling - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017RBIZJ2/ Glass Predator - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZ2HO4W/ Cold Spectrum - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XRP6ZL6/
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May 2, 2020 18:00
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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:Quick update: y'all did it, The Dawnhounds is going to WorldCon Congratulations, it deserved it, and good luck at WorldCon! Heinlein: His storytelling and writing style aged super-badly. Imagine the alternate world where Heinlein never got kicked out/medical-separated from the US Navy.....heavily suspect HeinleinDianetics would happen in that alternate world.
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May 2, 2020 18:36
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https://twitter.com/BrandSanderson/status/1256606686971785217
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May 2, 2020 21:49
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So now they’re only asking like 10$ more than it’s worth. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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May 3, 2020 06:01
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Welp, finished up Ghost Money by Stephen Blackmoore and goddamn. If you are a fan of the series, it's definitely worth the read.
Stupid_Sexy_Flander fucked around with this message at 17:51 on May 3, 2020 |
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May 3, 2020 08:54
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pseudanonymous posted:So now they’re only asking like 10$ more than it’s worth. I get you don't like Sanderson's writing, but he volunteered to give his book away and Tor aren't even replacing their regular Book Club drop with it. Was there any particular need to be a prick about this?
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May 3, 2020 09:17
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