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That's ol' Petey for you.
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Jun 12, 2020 11:08
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Ok some characters do poo poo on him for this stuff not that long after, so I guess it’s not thaaat far gone but still ...
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Jun 12, 2020 11:11
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Evil Fluffy posted:If they like dragons with lots of power, use people like pawns, and have a ton of influence, maybe some Shadowrun novels? e: Oh, wait, that's still the same request, isn't it? Sorry. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 11:14 on Jun 12, 2020 |
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Jun 12, 2020 11:12
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tildes posted:Has anyone read the Great North Road by Peter Hamilton? I am like 2/3 of the way through and the creepy male writer fantasy sex stuff seems to have really ramped up. Forget it, Jake, it's Hamiltown.
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Jun 12, 2020 11:25
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tildes posted:Has anyone read the Great North Road by Peter Hamilton? I am like 2/3 of the way through and the creepy male writer fantasy sex stuff seems to have really ramped up. Every Peter F Hamilton book is like this, some more than others. The SF world is amazing, the ideas are incredible, the adventure/mystery is exciting, there's average middle aged men having sex with hot young women, and the ending is Deus ex machina. I used to love them and reread them once every few years, but I recently got rid of my collection because I was tired of the creepy sex and terrible endings. Great North Road is probably the only one I still have because it's on Kindle instead of paper.
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Jun 12, 2020 11:58
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Hamilton’s been garbage for a long while - Mindstar Rising is so pro-Thatcher I threw the book across the room several times. Kept reading to see if it was a setup or just one characters opinion, but nope. Throw him in the same pit as her.
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Jun 12, 2020 14:33
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^^ also this- it’s so hard to tell what is just supposed to be a character’s opinion which we the reader are supposed to reject, and what he just legitimately believes. Urcher posted:The SF world is amazing, the ideas are incredible, the adventure/mystery is exciting, there's average middle aged men having sex with hot young women, and the ending is Deus ex machina. OK, having now finished Great North Road, this is an incredibly accurate summary. I really wish he would cut the creepy sex stuff, and that the ending lived up to the promise of the first part of the book.
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Jun 12, 2020 14:33
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Similarly, I gave up on the Reality Dysfunction half way through, after posting about the sex stuff ITT. The Commonwealth series wasn't quite as bad IIRC.
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Jun 12, 2020 14:34
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If he has a book with minimal creepy sex stuff I think I’d probably be interested in that?
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Jun 12, 2020 14:38
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Funny to have Peter F. Hamilton come up in the thread again, I'm still trudging through A Naked God which is the third book of the night's dawn trilogy. I'm upset I'm still reading it instead of better books (still haven't cracked open the new murderbot), I'm just forcing myself to finish it out of spite. I don't think I read books out of spite that often. All the creepy white guy sex stuff is true. The book bores me to sleep, often.
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Jun 12, 2020 14:41
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tildes posted:If he has a book with minimal creepy sex stuff I think I’d probably be interested in that? Broken dragon. Which is really good space marine action and insurgent thriller. It is just the ending which is kinda ehhh.
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Jun 12, 2020 14:54
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It's taken me a long time to be willing to give up on a book, but like you said, it stops you from reading the poo poo you actually will enjoy. I'm much happier for it, even if I do occasionally see the half-read book and feel a twinge of unfinished business.
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Jun 12, 2020 14:54
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StrixNebulosa posted:
I really enjoyed Kalpa Imperial, it's a great collection. Also at one point during the final story it made me laugh so hard I started crying, which was not something I had expected going in. edit: I'm going to reread it now, I need that kind of joy in my life again.
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Jun 12, 2020 15:09
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Cardiac posted:Broken dragon. Fallen Dragon. And uh, do you remember how it ends? That book is Hamilton’s creepiest from the standpoint of sex stuff. Spoilers, obviously, but the main character is a chubby virgin teenager at the start, falls in love with a ringer his dad hires to shape him up, breaks up with her when he finds out and joins the private space marines. Decades of real time later he figures out how to travel back in time, and does so to pretend to still be 17 and apologize and win back the girl he fell in love with because he slept with her a few times as a kid.
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Jun 12, 2020 15:10
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anilEhilated posted:I'll throw in The Dragon Griaule again, if only because I've never seen it (or Lucius Shepard in general) discussed here and I think it's a shame. I don't know if I ever responded to this rec so I'll assure you: I own the Dragon Griaule and I need to read it. I don't think it's the kind of thing my brother would want but hell, I'll mention it to him.
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Jun 12, 2020 15:26
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Hamilton should be restricted to writing the fluff for RPGs, under strong editorial control. The Night's Dawn stuff is okay pulpy space adventure, but bolt a good RPG system onto it and you've got a great game setting. Come to think of it, I should pitch a space wargame proposal to my publisher later this year. Combat wasps may be the coolest part of the setting.
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Jun 12, 2020 15:38
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Octavia Butler is going to be published in the Library of America: https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/1678-forthcoming-spring-2021 The article implies it won't be the only one, too.
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Jun 12, 2020 16:21
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Velius posted:Fallen Dragon. And uh, do you remember how it ends? That book is Hamilton’s creepiest from the standpoint of sex stuff. Spoilers, obviously, but the main character is a chubby virgin teenager at the start, falls in love with a ringer his dad hires to shape him up, breaks up with her when he finds out and joins the private space marines. Decades of real time later he figures out how to travel back in time, and does so to pretend to still be 17 and apologize and win back the girl he fell in love with because he slept with her a few times as a kid. Which is pretty much why I said the ending is kinda ehhh. Also says a lot about Hamilton’s work when this is one of his less bad in this regard.
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Jun 12, 2020 20:37
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I’m blocked for being a Bernie Bro and a Russian Bot, so why is everyone talking about Chonk Wendigo?
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Jun 12, 2020 20:53
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Nobody is? The past couple pages have been about Peter Hamilton.
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Jun 12, 2020 20:55
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I suspect navyjack meant on Twitter. Wander over to the general discussion thread to find out. Or don't, its kind of a shitshow.
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Jun 12, 2020 20:57
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navyjack posted:I’m blocked for being a Bernie Bro and a Russian Bot, so why is everyone talking about Chonk Wendigo? Wendig attracted an army of right-wing haters because he's an SJW who RUINED STAR WARS FOREVER; he also pissed off a lot of Bernie bros who hated his shilling (and cringy mommy fixation) for Warren. A lot of people hate him regardless of politics because he's cringy in general. Then he openly criticized the Internet Archive's unlimited lending program, which has now been shut down. He had nothing to do with the lawsuit and no power to affect it in any way, but he's responsible for it and must die. Long story short: imagine an army of anime avatars who believe they have a god-given right to never pay for books, already hate Wendig, and are immune to the most basic forms of logic. They want a pound of flesh for IA shutting down and it's going to be his because they say so.
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Jun 12, 2020 21:08
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Care to explain? I'm avoiding twitter for now due to it giving me too much stress.
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Jun 12, 2020 21:11
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StonecutterJoe posted:Wendig attracted an army of right-wing haters because he's an SJW who RUINED STAR WARS FOREVER; he also pissed off a lot of Bernie bros who hated his shilling (and cringy mommy fixation) for Warren. A lot of people hate him regardless of politics because he's cringy in general. Then he openly criticized the Internet Archive's unlimited lending program, which has now been shut down. He had nothing to do with the lawsuit and no power to affect it in any way, but he's responsible for it and must die. Oh. It’s about the IA thing, that makes sense. Thanks for the rundown.
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Jun 12, 2020 21:15
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Dhalgren by Samuel R Delany - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HE2JK7G/ The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002UM5BUU/ Same world as Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E6HYNGE/
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Jun 12, 2020 22:13
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mewse posted:Funny to have Peter F. Hamilton come up in the thread again, I'm still trudging through A Naked God which is the third book of the night's dawn trilogy. let us know what you think of the ending. 
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Jun 12, 2020 22:27
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I have a Dune question. I'm about 1/3 into the first book. So the plot as I understand it, Leto was in charge of his home planet and fiefdom, and the emperor commanded him to go take over Arrakis and its vital and lucrative spice. The Harkonnens were in charge for a long time and were pissed about being pushed out and falling out of favor, so they schemed a coup/assassination. OK, yes. But apparently the emperor himself is in on the plot because of ... reasons? He could have left the Harkonnens in place the whole time but wanted this rigmarole for some reason. So what I'm asking is: do I pretty much have it right up to this point, and I should keep going? Or have I misunderstood something about the politics up to this point that I should have straightened out before I continue? Thanks!
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Jun 13, 2020 00:49
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Huxley posted:I have a Dune question. I'm about 1/3 into the first book. Pretty much. Shaddam IV fears Duke Leto's popularity in the Landsraad and is helping the Harkonnens so he can eliminate a potential rival. The Harkonnens and Atreides have had a blood feud going back for generations, so any chance the Harkonnens have to take out the Atreides they're going to go for. The Atreides aren't completely unaware of the dangers involved, but control of Arakkis is so valuable that they're willing to take the gamble regardless.
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Jun 13, 2020 01:02
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the emperor is wary of Leto because he's a popular leader, beloved by the Landsraad, who could in time conceivably put together a coalition of Houses strong enough to pose a threat to his rule. so Leto has to be bumped off before it comes to that. also, House Atreides troops are nearly on the level of the Sardaukar. "The Padishah Emperor turned against House Atreides because the Duke's Warmasters Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho had trained a fighting force -- a small fighting force -- to within a hair as good as the Sardaukar. Some of them were even better. And the Duke was in a position to enlarge his force, to make it every bit as strong as the Emperor's."
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Jun 13, 2020 01:04
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Great, thanks. I'm really enjoying it so far, but felt like something was going over my head.
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Jun 13, 2020 01:20
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Cardiac posted:Broken dragon. The ending is that the main character, a middle aged man, goes back in time to assume the body and life of his teenage self and gets together with his teenage girlfriend without telling her that he is now a middle aged man in a young body. The creepy sex isn't detailed, but the conclusion encourages the reader to consider the creepy sex that is likely to be happening in the immediate aftermath.
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Jun 13, 2020 01:21
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jng2058 posted:Pretty much. Shaddam IV fears Duke Leto's popularity in the Landsraad and is helping the Harkonnens so he can eliminate a potential rival. The Harkonnens and Atreides have had a blood feud going back for generations, so any chance the Harkonnens have to take out the Atreides they're going to go for. The Atreides aren't completely unaware of the dangers involved, but control of Arakkis is so valuable that they're willing to take the gamble regardless. On top of which, Leto aspires to the Imperial throne himself, which is why he never married Jessica - he was hoping to take advantage of an advantageous marriage. But Shaddam can't act directly against him, because Leto wasn't doing anything strictly treasonous.
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Jun 13, 2020 14:21
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Huxley posted:I have a Dune question. I'm about 1/3 into the first book. "Plans within plans within plans" scheming is a big thing in the Frank Herbert written Dune stories. Especially in the Dune book you're reading right now, Dune 1965, where I think every major named character name-drops "plans within plans with plans" scheming. This gets better/worse in the Frank Herbert written Dune sequels, every faction will have multi-layered plans that get slowly revealed over the story. So: Yes, go on, you appear to be on the right track. Can't say how the Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson Dune stories go re: "Plans within plans within plans" scheming. I have vague memories of everything in them being hastily rebadged Star Wars Expanded Universe content and unsubtle to the point where Hanna-Barbara cartoons like Scooby Doo Mysteries and nursery rhymes felt like Thomas Pynchon in comparison..but that's just my opinion.
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Jun 13, 2020 15:00
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The near-past KJA-affected Dune books were pretty basic, mostly straight expansion of the stated backstory from the first book. The distant-past ones were a deeply cynical take on the Dune universe, which is honestly a bit impressive. Neither was in any way well-written, although I did kind of like the twist that the "cowardice" that sparked the Harkonnen-Atredes vendetta was Ancestor Harkonnen objecting to Ancestor Atredes's plan to glass any planet with the robo-enemy on it without trying to rescue the human slaves first.
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Jun 13, 2020 15:32
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uber_stoat posted:let us know what you think of the ending. I finished it finally. Spoilering discussion of the ending of The Reality Dysfunction It's literally deus ex machina, which I expected. It was nice to have him finally wrap up all the plot lines though. My biggest complaint is I feel like this possession thing should have been solved in the first book. It's a magic problem with a magic bullet solution and he stretched it into a drat trilogy with plot lines like Al Capone coming back to life, or Sexy Marie Skibbow trying to take control of a space station or Sexy Marie Skibbow's dad going insane, none of which I gave a poo poo about. I think I kept reading because there was no resolution at the end of the first book, but I didn't expect them to be so drat long. I spent 2 months reading these books and now I'm four books behind on my yearly reading challenge, THANK YOU PETER F HAMILTON
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Jun 13, 2020 16:35
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mewse posted:I finished it finally. Spoilering discussion of the ending of The Reality Dysfunction It was kind of impressive to me that it was a literal god-machine floating in space.
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Jun 13, 2020 18:33
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Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D9WRHNH YA
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Jun 13, 2020 19:51
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pradmer posted:Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee - $1.99 That's a terrific book. Some people may have skipped it because it was a YA title, or because it's about a young Kitsune woman who gets herself into, and out of a lot of trouble, and winds up solving a bigger problem along the way. Like she ends up impersonating a junior officer on a warship for stretch. There's some cool stuff with spaceship tech, good character scenes as she tries to fit in as a junior officer, the slowly unraveling mystery, and the fear of discovery. It's really only YA because it's about a young person still growing into themselves. This is a solid novel with a lot of cool stuff in it, and I can't wait for the sequel.
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Jun 14, 2020 06:27
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Urcher posted:The ending is that the main character, a middle aged man, goes back in time to assume the body and life of his teenage self and gets together with his teenage girlfriend without telling her that he is now a middle aged man in a young body. The creepy sex isn’t detailed, but the conclusion encourages the reader to consider the creepy sex that is likely to be happening in the immediate aftermath. gently caress, I read that rec and went “yeah! I remember that one! really solid action scenes, cool worldbuilding, I liked the whole occupation setup” and I guess my brain had completely lanced out any memory of the ending. Yeah, Fallen Dragon doesn’t Hamilton quite as bad until it Hamiltons very hard at the end.
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Jun 14, 2020 13:01
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I haven't read his larest series but his absolute rock bottom sex weird was mr bovey, though there are so many, I dread to think how he will explain them to his children when they are old enough to read his books. He toned it down towards the end of his commonwealth saga. I hope he stopped writing with one hand after that.
Collateral fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Jun 14, 2020 |
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Jun 14, 2020 23:03
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