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algebra testes posted:Gosh I remember the end of the Waste Land being so good.
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Oct 12, 2020 13:41
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Milkfred E. Moore posted:I've been reading a lot of bad books lately. Thread, recommend me your best or favorites in SF/F. I'm not going to list what I like because I wouldn't mind going outside my comfort zone or usual suggestions. Engine Summer (John Crowley) The Rediscovery of Man (Cordwainer Smith) Light (M John Harrison) Mythago Wood & Lavondyss (Robert Holdstock) The Dervish House (Ian McDonald) Stations of the Tide (Michael Swanwick) Gnomon (Nick Harkaway) Llamadeus fucked around with this message at 14:29 on Oct 12, 2020 |
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Oct 12, 2020 14:25
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Llamadeus posted:Might as well throw in an assortment of stuff I like: Stealing this list for myself, it might be time to revisit and read Gnomon and finish it this time.
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Oct 12, 2020 14:37
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other posters posted:Aurora (Kim Stanley Robinson) Seconding these and adding: The Scar (China Mieville) Little, Big (John Crowley) The Traitor Baru Cormorant (some goon) Luna: New Moon (Ian McDonald) Gideon the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir) Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro) The City & The City (China Mieville) Among Others (Jo Walton) Declare (Tim Powers) The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Becky Chambers) The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula LeGuin) China Mountain Zhang (Maureen McHugh)
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Oct 12, 2020 14:52
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anilEhilated posted:It really takes a nose dive with book 4 and on. I remember liking Wizard and Glass better than The Waste Lands. But it's been seventeen+ years and I never read any of those books more than once. I do remember thinking the riddle off with the mad train was the absolute dumbest poo poo imaginable and hating every living second of it. Probably my only clear memory of the series after the Drawing of the Three, actually. Llamadeus posted:Mythago Wood & Lavondyss (Robert Holdstock) Heck 
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Oct 12, 2020 16:06
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Ya know, this goes in here too. Cross-posted from the kickstarter thread in games: https://twitter.com/playthroughline/status/1315586578677366784
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Oct 12, 2020 16:23
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StrixNebulosa posted:Ya know, this goes in here too. Cross-posted from the kickstarter thread in games: I like this in concept but unless this is really really really fleshed out I will be disappointed as I can't mindlessly see how geckos/platypus/emus are doing in 2049 or whatever.
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Oct 12, 2020 16:26
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A thousand words for stranger, by czerneda Dawn, by octavia butler The lady astronauts series by kowal Murderbot (various) by Martha wells
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Oct 12, 2020 17:31
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Milkfred E. Moore posted:I've been reading a lot of bad books lately. Thread, recommend me your best or favorites in SF/F. I'm not going to list what I like because I wouldn't mind going outside my comfort zone or usual suggestions. Isle of the Dead by Roger Zelazny Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norell by Susannah Clarke Harm's Way by Colin Greenland (Greenland is Clarke's life partner) Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees (out of copyright so free read!) The Murderbot series by Martha Wells -- non-cis android with social anxiety protagonist Stardust by Neil Gaiman (edition illustrated by Charles Vess only) The Misenchanted Sword by Lawrence Watt-Evans (favorite "this book is better than it should be" book); Ithanalin's Restoration by the same author (slice of life in fantasy setting book) Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart LeGuin's Earthsea books Almost anything by Lord Dunsany but start here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/dun/swld/swld09.htm also if you really want to stretch yourself outside the SF&F comfort zone, check out our Book of the Month threads -- there's a list in each thread of prior books we've done and it's basically a curated list of good poo poo. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Oct 12, 2020 |
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Oct 12, 2020 17:44
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Milkfred E. Moore posted:I've been reading a lot of bad books lately. Thread, recommend me your best or favorites in SF/F. I'm not going to list what I like because I wouldn't mind going outside my comfort zone or usual suggestions. Going to give you a broad spectrum of recommendations. So terrible they need to be experienced at least once by anyone who calls themselves a SF&F fan(some of these loop around into being so bad they are good territory) === Cities in Flight/James Blish Kampus/James E Gunn Agent of Chaos/Norman Spinrad A Case of Conscience/James Blish Space Relations/Donald Barr Inherit the Stars/James P Hogan The Weapon Shops of Isher/AE Van Vogt Oddball === Bill the Galactic Hero 2: Planet of Robot Slaves/Harry Harrison Destination: Universe!/AE Van Vogt Strata/Terry Pratchett The Technicolor Time Machine/Harry Harrison Monday Begins on Saturday/Strugatski Brothers Cyberiad/Stanislaw Lem Pliocene Exile series/Julian May Cosmic Computer/H Beam Piper When Harlie was One/David Gerrold To Die in Italbar/Roger Zelazny Machine in Shaft Ten and other stories/M John Harrison Eye/Frank Herbert The Futurological Congress/Stanislaw Lem The Tourist/Claire Noto -read the screenplay, not the fan-written novelization of the screenplay Socialist scifi === The Star Fraction/Ken MacLeod Mercenary/Mack Reynolds The Committed Men/M John Harrison "Modern" fantasy & scifi === The Darkling Sea/James Cambias City of Bones/Martha Wells Toast and other stories/Charles Stross -this short story collection was released for free by Stross around 2010-ish. True Names/Vernor Vinge The Wizard Hunters/Martha Wells Fiasco/Stanislaw Lem Peace War & Marooned in Realtime/Vernor Vinge non-fiction === Netizens -reading this may lead you down the same path of 1980s -1990s pop-culture exploration that I am on Prisoners Lovers Spies: The story of invisible ink/Kristie Macrakis Let it Shine: the 6000 year story of solar energy/John Perlin e: can't believe I forgot Julian May's Pliocene Exile series and the technicolor time machine. adding both these to my list quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Oct 12, 2020 |
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Oct 12, 2020 18:34
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Kings of the Wyld (The Band #1) by Nicholas Eames - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KT7YTXW/ Cold Iron (Masters & Mages #1) by Miles Cameron - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079L5669Y/ Three Twilight Reign books by Tom Lloyd - $1.99 each The Grave Thief (#3) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H6STY9W/ The Ragged Man (#4) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GVFY2I4/ The Dust Watchman (#5) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GU3AOBQ/ Anyone ever read these? These got on one of my lists but I have no idea how. Any good?
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Oct 12, 2020 19:06
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quantumfoam posted:Going to give you a broad spectrum of recommendations.
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Oct 12, 2020 20:02
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pradmer posted:Three Twilight Reign books by Tom Lloyd - $1.99 each e: Since we seem to be giving general recommendations, I will throw out a couple that haven't been mentioned yet: The Orphan's Tales (1 and 2) by Catherynne Valente - if you aren't opposed to the very concept of fairytales, this is one of the most magical books around. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is short and sweet and anything else would be a spoiler. Declare by Tim Powers - Cold War spy drama with a magical spin. The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe - Identity, colonialism, aliens and mystery. The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy by Avram Davidson - my favorite fantasy that no one has read; a court wizard investigates odd phenomena in a sleepy empire in the Balkans. Moody, almost hypnotic stories. The Dragon Griaule by Lucius Shepard - somewhere in South America sleeps a six-thousand-feet-long dragon, and people from all around its body fall under evil influence. Or do they? anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Oct 12, 2020 |
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Oct 12, 2020 20:19
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:also if you really want to stretch yourself outside the SF&F comfort zone, check out our Book of the Month threads -- there's a list in each thread of prior books we've done and it's basically a curated list of good poo poo. I started ANABASIS because of that thread and it's good. Looking forward to combing through the rest of the BOTM content.
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Oct 12, 2020 20:45
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tiniestacorn posted:I started ANABASIS because of that thread and it's good. You wouldn't expect some dude's war journal from 2400 years ago to be an entertaining read, but there you go. Another favourite from those threads is Blackwater by Michael McDowell. Basically a huuuuuge fuckin' Southern Gothic family saga chronicling the transformation of American society from the 1920s to the (then-present) 1970s/1980s, across several generations of a lumber mill owning family in a small riverside Alabama town. Except that one branch of the family are secretly shapeshifting man-eating river monsters in touch with deeper and darker things. It's really loving good and it's a crying shame the author died so relatively young. (He's otherwise probably best known for writing the screenplay to Beetlejuice).
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Oct 12, 2020 20:54
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I missed a Craig Schaefer sale going on today. The Complete Revanche Saga - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VZRD8D/ Daniel Faust series - $0.99 each The Long Way Down (#1) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JYIUH8O/ The White Gold Score (#1.5) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C86LWS2/ Redemption Song (#2) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KZJC86K/ The Living End (#3) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MUADNMK/ A Plain-Dealing Villain (#4) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S99AFGS/ Sworn to the Night (Wisdom's Grave #1) - $0.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078S7SK9T/
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Oct 12, 2020 21:08
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anilEhilated posted:
I recommended it on this very page!
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Oct 12, 2020 21:53
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buffalo all day posted:I recommended it on this very page!
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Oct 12, 2020 22:07
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90s Cringe Rock posted:wot, no grignr? No idea what that is. I've continued going into the SFL Archives and have found so much now-obscure published fiction and fake-seeming but real tv-series that it's hard to tell what is a joke and what isn't anymore. Far Out Space Nuts the tv-series turned out be real, and now I sort of want to watch SALVAGE 1. The 1970's UFO tv-series turned out be surprisingly good, and managed to be more progressive than Star Trek, Farscape, Stargate SG-1, and Babylon 5, casting-wise until Deep Space 9 came out.
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Oct 12, 2020 22:17
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hmm https://blindsight.space/
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Oct 12, 2020 22:57
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oops wrong thread
got some chores tonight fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Oct 12, 2020 |
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Oct 12, 2020 23:04
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pradmer posted:I missed a Craig Schaefer sale going on today. He's got a new book coming out this week, I believe.
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Oct 12, 2020 23:06
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I'm like 40% through Blindsight and I want to watch this real bad but I will be strong 
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Oct 12, 2020 23:12
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quantumfoam posted:and now I sort of want to watch SALVAGE 1. Think The A-Team with a manned SSTO rocket, basically. Though mostly what they were doing was salvaging space-junk . There was the requisite government man who wanted them shut down, occasional episodes where they'd help rescue astronauts, badies who wanted the rocket as a weapon, and so on. Seven-year-old-me thought it was great, but 7yo me was content with anything with a spaceship of some kind in it.
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Oct 12, 2020 23:23
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Nails the look of Rorschach, but the voiceovers and the rest... eh
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Oct 12, 2020 23:25
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:He's got a new book coming out this week, I believe. Nice -- looks like it's a sequel to Ghosts of Gotham, which was a fun read. I don't know how that guy cranks them out so fast.
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Oct 13, 2020 00:21
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quantumfoam posted:No idea what that is. The Eye of Argon. The main character’s name is Grignr.
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Oct 13, 2020 01:25
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me when they ask me to cover a shift at workquote:Only after you have kissed the fleeting stead of death, wretch!
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Oct 13, 2020 01:33
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quantumfoam posted:No idea what that is. Far Out Space Nuts was probably one of the least weird Sid and Marty Krofft shows, at least compared to stuff like Lidsville or The Lost Saucer (Ruth Buzzi and Jim Nabors in tinfoil robot costumes!) or Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. Anyway, to get in on the recommendation game: Definitely Little, Big. Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker. Philip K. Dick's VALIS. Any book of short stories by Harlan Ellison. Or just grab The Essential Ellison. M. John Harrison's Viriconium. Or Light. Tanith Lee -- Red as Blood, Night's Master, or Cyrion, perhaps. Or The Silver Metal Lover, as recommended a couple days ago. Selachian fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Oct 13, 2020 |
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Oct 13, 2020 02:25
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this is great but some of those voice overs could've used better direction
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Oct 13, 2020 03:33
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Just turn your brain off and enjoy it. 
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Oct 13, 2020 04:57
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Zartosht posted:Just turn your brain off and enjoy it. Yeah I thought it was pretty fun. Scramblers looked great as well as the Rorschach.
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Oct 13, 2020 05:28
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Less Fat Luke posted:Yeah I thought it was pretty fun. Scramblers looked great as well as the Rorschach. I thought the scramblers looked too soft and squiddy, didn't they have polycarbonate exoskeletons? Should have been crunchier. Also think they took the Crown of Thorns simile too literally...Rorschach wasn't actually a toroid, was it? But, well better than anything I've done today, I enjoyed it.
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Oct 13, 2020 06:23
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I finished To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts. The prose is overly florid to the point of being tedious, nothing of consequence happens in the first 40% except a bunch of people jumping to wrong conclusions because they refuse to communicate with each other (which is the most infuriating way to construct your character conflict), then the rest of the book is a prolonged chase scene through Hell's Chasm interspersed with Horse Girl Stuff that got repetitive enough that I ended up skimming most of it. I don't recommend it.
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Oct 13, 2020 07:06
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shelley posted:The Eye of Argon. The main character’s name is Grignr. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZAc0xC9hbw People should watch this video before joining in. The author was so hurt by the constant mockery that he swore never to write again and kept that promise till his death. Publishers printed the story without even attributing him, much less giving him any of the money, and marketed it as "THE WORST STORY EVER WRITTEN!!!". He also never gave any permission to distribute his story for free, so it's pretty blatant piracy to boot.
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Oct 13, 2020 07:20
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Also, it's arguably nowhere near actually being the worst fantasy story. It's short and has a plot that moves at a decent pace, the only really noteworthy thing is the rather heterodox use of vocabulary.
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Oct 13, 2020 07:32
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Groke posted:Also, it's arguably nowhere near actually being the worst fantasy story. It's short and has a plot that moves at a decent pace, the only really noteworthy thing is the rather heterodox use of vocabulary. Yeah, agreed. I have read a number of things more poorly-written than “The Eye of Argon”, sometimes by more experienced writers. For a teenager who was, like, just starting to write fiction, I would say it’s definitely not bad, mostly based on exactly the qualities you mention. Vocabulary can be easily changed. Pacing, and not letting a story be longer than it needs to be, can be hard to master. I won’t claim to have good taste, but I honestly find it charming: it knows the kind of story it wants to be, it does what it needs to, and then it’s done... it’s just acquired the unfortunate baggage of having been deemed The Worst.
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Oct 13, 2020 07:51
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Yeah, people got too hung up on phrases like "lithe opaque nose".
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Oct 13, 2020 09:16
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I like the eye of argon because it has so many phrases that delight me, and also uses the word orbs. Also the bit where a soldier calls grignr a slut and he's hiding a shiv made out of a rat's pelvis in his g-string. There is some level of irony in this appreciation, but not that much.
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Oct 13, 2020 10:20
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Groke posted:Yeah, people got too hung up on phrases like "lithe opaque nose". There used to be readings of The Eye of Argon at SF cons that evolved into contests to see who could read it aloud for the longest time without laughing.
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Oct 13, 2020 11:14
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