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William Gibson's Desert Island Discs interview is online, and you should be able to listen to it wherever you are. Even if you're not, check out his choice of luxury for a desert island. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00941v7 E: Snype bonus: Here's a funny article about Hugo ceremony disasters: http://www.jophan.org/mimosa/m14/glyer.htm Safety Biscuits fucked around with this message at 12:50 on May 3, 2020 |
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May 3, 2020 12:43
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Safety Biscuits posted:William Gibson's Desert Island Discs interview is online, and you should be able to listen to it wherever you are. Even if you're not, check out his choice of luxury for a desert island. To save people the trouble: he wanted a junkyard.
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May 3, 2020 13:10
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Jedit posted: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? Are you really stupid enough to think he’s not doing it to make money? He’s doing it so people read the first book then buy the rest.
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May 3, 2020 13:56
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pseudanonymous posted:Are you really stupid enough to think he’s not doing it to make money? He’s doing it so people read the first book then buy the rest. That doesn't detract from how nice it is to give away a free book, come on.
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May 3, 2020 13:59
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Did anybody catch the podcast interview between Neil Gaiman and N. K. Jemisin last night? I missed it and now I'm sad. Oh wait here it is. https://youtu.be/bnpLSwqcdW4 Some Pinko Commie fucked around with this message at 14:41 on May 3, 2020 |
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May 3, 2020 14:38
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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? The recipes are probably because we get a lot of our recipes and recipe books from the US; a significant majority of the recipe books on my shelves are US-published and of course they don't bother with unit conversions. This is probably also why ~all of the measuring tools in my kitchen are dual-labeled. No idea what the gently caress is up with your measuring tapes, though, all of mine are in cm...
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May 3, 2020 15:15
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pseudanonymous posted:Are you really stupid enough to think he’s not doing it to make money? He’s doing it so people read the first book then buy the rest. If his books were as bad as you make out there would be no danger of people buying the others. You're having a "nobody is allowed to like this thing I don't like" moment.
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May 3, 2020 15:16
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Finished A Memeory Called Empire. I enjoyed it, overall and is a pretty good first novel. as excellently articulated in the thread, things happen to Mahit and she barely does anything of her own accord except replace the imago machine and confront Ninteen Adaze with the information about the giant alien spaceship. Also the giant alien space ship is the least interesting part of the setting but hopefully she goes somewhere interesting for the sequel. Most importantly her voice was very fresh and I am glad I got to read something by a non straight white male author. Now the question is what next, this thread recommended the Fifth Season so I might order that. Part of me also wants to return after 20 years to Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon.
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May 3, 2020 15:48
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Edit: quote not edit
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May 3, 2020 16:01
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algebra testes posted:
Counterpoint: the setting was standard Foundation/giant bureaucracy with Aztec words. Gods of Jade and Shadow, which is just set in 1920s Mexico, is way more interesting and fresh (and also by a female POC).
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May 3, 2020 16:13
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algebra testes posted:Part of me also wants to return after 20 years to Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon. I was doing some housework and randomly picked up Shadow of a Dark Queen from my bookshelf for the first time in probably ten years just to flip through it. Feist's later stuff suffered bad from diminishing returns (which was already happening in the back half of the serpentwar saga, so I can only imagine his last couple series weren't much better in that regard), and his early stuff is painfully influenced by derivitive tabletop gaming, but credit where it's due: it doesnt take more than a paragraph to get back into his world. His style is impossibly readable. I ended up blasting through SoaDQ in about three days. If you do get back to A Darkness at Sethanon, can you post a trip report? I remember the battle for Armengar being a blast. 
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May 3, 2020 18:30
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He does have a weird, powerfully readable quality. That said, Rise of a Merchant Prince made me never want to read Feist again.
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May 3, 2020 18:56
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Jedit posted:If his books were as bad as you make out there would be no danger of people buying the others. You're having a "nobody is allowed to like this thing I don't like" moment.
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May 3, 2020 19:46
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buffalo all day posted:Counterpoint: the setting was standard Foundation/giant bureaucracy with Aztec words. Gods of Jade and Shadow, which is just set in 1920s Mexico, is way more interesting and fresh (and also by a female POC). i feel like the Aztec thing is heavily overstated just because of the naming system and the obvious bit about blood sacrifice. but the main political scenario that informs everything is directly drawn from her academic background in studying Armenia in the 11th century and its relationship as a technically-independent nation that was still effectively a client state of Byzantium. also the poetry and high court culture that they spend a lot of time on in Memory is pretty much directly lifted from the Byzantine system at that time. it's definitely wrapped in a skin of Aztec stuff but i feel like it's a lot more than that E: also while i was googling what i remembered about this i found Arkady Martine describing it herself: https://www.torforgeblog.com/2018/12/05/six-things-i-borrowed-wholesale-from-history-for-a-memory-called-empire/ posted:Six Things I Borrowed Wholesale From History for A Memory Called Empire eke out fucked around with this message at 20:06 on May 3, 2020 |
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May 3, 2020 20:02
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eke out posted:i feel like the Aztec thing is heavily overstated just because of the naming system and the obvious bit about blood sacrifice. What book are you talking about? It's not clear.
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May 3, 2020 20:04
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StrixNebulosa posted:What book are you talking about? It's not clear. If you click the "buffalo all day posted:" link in the quote, it'll take you to the original post.
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May 3, 2020 20:07
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StrixNebulosa posted:What book are you talking about? It's not clear. i was replying to people discussing memory called empire
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May 3, 2020 20:07
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eke out posted:i was replying to people discussing memory called empire Thanks, wasn't sure if it was Gods of Jade and Shadow or Memory Called Empire. I should probably read both, they both sound cool.
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May 3, 2020 20:08
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StrixNebulosa posted:What book are you talking about? It's not clear. A Memory Called Empire. And honestly I wish she’d just set the book in Byzantium.
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May 3, 2020 20:10
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StrixNebulosa posted:Thanks, wasn't sure if it was Gods of Jade and Shadow or Memory Called Empire. I should probably read both, they both sound cool. yeah! i started Gods of Jade and Shadow but never got into it, i'm going to give it another shot
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May 3, 2020 20:11
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eke out posted:yeah! i started Gods of Jade and Shadow but never got into it, i'm going to give it another shot There’s a side of it that feels like a standard faery story complete with humble scullerymaid meeting a dark, brooding handsome prince but it has a really cool mix of post-revolutionary Mexico mixed with pre-Christian mythology.
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May 3, 2020 20:14
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buffalo all day posted:A Memory Called Empire. It's a little odd to me to take aspects of two very different cultures and then put them together. Thing's dont evolve in a vacumn. If the Mayans had a naming system based on a 260 day cycle there were probably other interrelated elements.
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May 3, 2020 20:51
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eke out posted:i feel like the Aztec thing is heavily overstated just because of the naming system and the obvious bit about blood sacrifice. describing it as fantasy client state Armenia makes me want to go back to this book. E: rip actually investigating my ereader shows that I already finished this and forgot ><
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May 4, 2020 08:09
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pseudanonymous posted:Are you really stupid enough to think he’s not doing it to make money? He’s doing it so people read the first book then buy the rest. What a loving monster
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May 4, 2020 08:19
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I’m subbed to several SF/fantasy magazines but it’s driving me nuts that at least one of these (usually more) turns up in every single issue: - Robots, but they inexplicably have emotions and personalities. And they’re an obvious stand-in for minorities. And everyone is a raging robot racist. - A girl but she’s turning into a monster or a plant or an alien or energy or whatever. It’s an obvious metaphor for puberty. - Same as above, but it’s a grown woman and it’s a metaphor for how, like, women and men can’t truly relate to each other, or a relationship breakdown, something along those lines - Same as above, but it’s (usually) a man and it’s an obvious metaphor for depression - Twist ending: the story took place in a simulation! - Heaven exists but it’s in a machine just like black mirror whoaaah I’m guessing it’s because this is most of what’s being submitted? The editors must be bored out of their skulls
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May 4, 2020 10:01
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It's almost as if writing wasn't just about ideas.
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May 4, 2020 10:37
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Prism Mirror Lens posted:I’m subbed to several SF/fantasy magazines but it’s driving me nuts that at least one of these (usually more) turns up in every single issue: We've read Murderbot, you know.
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May 4, 2020 11:03
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Jedit posted:We've read Murderbot, you know.
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May 4, 2020 12:18
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sebmojo posted:What a loving monster There's nothing wrong with that motivation, but the post was arguing he was some kind of altruist for giving something away that he expects to make him money. Also, his post on Reddit or email or whatever about it (Sanderson's) had the same implicit lie: I want to give away Way of Kings so you have something to read because I'm a nice person. False. Like a lot of businesses, he's giving away something for free so you will buy more later. Most anyone who was going to read his trash has already paid for it and read it. He's hoping to rope in people who are unwilling to pay for it but might get into it and buy the rest. Like if he was really an altruist, he'd pay Tor so you could download a good e-book for free.
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May 4, 2020 14:39
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Do you have the same antipathy toward every book giveaway program, or do you think Sanderson is just so uniquely terrible that it's worth multiple posts railing against his temerity to promote his own work?
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May 4, 2020 14:46
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wizzardstaff posted:Do you have the same antipathy toward every book giveaway program, or do you think Sanderson is just so uniquely terrible that it's worth multiple posts railing against his temerity to promote his own work? The latter, big time. I thought the Murderbot giveaway was a wonderful thing.
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May 4, 2020 14:50
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pseudanonymous posted:There's nothing wrong with that motivation, but the post was arguing he was some kind of altruist for giving something away that he expects to make him money. Also, his post on Reddit or email or whatever about it (Sanderson's) had the same implicit lie: I want to give away Way of Kings so you have something to read because I'm a nice person. You know that you don't have to buy more later?  Just because you start a series doesn't mean that you have to finish it. There is literally no way that Sanderson can force you to read the rest of the series. People buying the rest of the series based on a free book have apparently found it enjoyable enough to continue. And btw I bought and read Way of Kings, found it ok but not what I enjoy in terms of fantasy and quit the series at that point. So in this case I would have paid for one less book in my life.
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May 4, 2020 14:50
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the temerity of these so-called authors, giving away books for "Free" when they actually hope you will enjoy them and purchase their other books later
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May 4, 2020 14:53
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pseudanonymous, If you don't like how TOR manages their TOR eBook of the Month Club, then contact TOR about it and stop making GBS threads up this thread with your passive aggressive posting about Sanderson. Given how many free ebook offerings TOR has cycled through the past 30 days, it might be more accurate to rename it the TOR eBook of the
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May 4, 2020 14:53
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I mean, there's a whole Sanderson thread to poo poo in with passive-aggressive posting... Tangentially related: thanks to the giveaway I have finally managed to read Murderbot 3 and 4 and can't wait for the novel provided it will be priced as a novel. Murderbot is an outright adorable protagonist in a genre seriously lacking in those.
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May 4, 2020 14:58
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anilEhilated posted:I mean, there's a whole Sanderson thread to poo poo in with passive-aggressive posting... I preordered it then saw it is about the length of two of the novellas, then canceled because I'm in a state where I want to read really long poo poo. I hope it goes on sale some day.
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May 4, 2020 16:39
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Is there an action-fantasy series that would be great reading for a Dark Souls fan? (and yeah, I'm reading Berserk, so it doesn't count)
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May 4, 2020 16:48
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Schneider Heim posted:Is there an action-fantasy series that would be great reading for a Dark Souls fan? (and yeah, I'm reading Berserk, so it doesn't count) i always thought the gameplay was the appeal of dark souls, what is it that you're looking for in a book?
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May 4, 2020 16:52
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Prism Mirror Lens posted:I’m subbed to several SF/fantasy magazines but it’s driving me nuts that at least one of these (usually more) turns up in every single issue: Which ones do you read? I'm going to subscribe to Interzone now I realise they do ebook subscriptions. You might also find this amusing, it's Strange Horizon's old list of stuff they don't want to see again: http://strangehorizons.com/submit/fiction-submission-guidelines/stories-weve-seen-too-often/
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May 4, 2020 16:52
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Schneider Heim posted:Is there an action-fantasy series that would be great reading for a Dark Souls fan? (and yeah, I'm reading Berserk, so it doesn't count) What elements of the Dark Souls series do you enjoy? Clarifying this will help refine the recommendations you receive. And for pseudanonymous, why do you loathe Sanderson so much? The writing style? The Asimovian output? Sanderson debasing a favorite Intellectual Property? etc?
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May 4, 2020 16:56
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