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graventy posted:Uhh.. did this thread decide to dress up as the litRPG/web serials thread for Halloween?
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Oct 30, 2020 21:35
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graventy posted:Uhh.. did this thread decide to dress up as the litRPG/web serials thread for Halloween? No, somebody just saw the word copacetic and had a spasm.
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Oct 30, 2020 21:45
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Kesper North posted:I bet it's easier for the average reader to empathize with the lowly boot. Boot camp sequences are also a easy way to pad out your first book, and often to let the author yell about how basic training/society is TOO SOFT! these days. quantumfoam made me read some of the Sten books by Chris Bunch and Allan Cole and they actually had the audacity to repeat the boot camp sequence after a couple books.
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Oct 30, 2020 22:44
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C.M. Kruger posted:Boot camp sequences are also a easy way to pad out your first book, and often to let the author yell about how basic training/society is TOO SOFT! these days. In theory they are also a natural starting point for a couple of valid reasons (follow someone's military career from the start; introduce the reader to however things work along with the characters). In theory.
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Oct 30, 2020 23:13
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Kesper North posted:
Both of those do have boot camp/lowly soldier doing lowly soldier things sequences, though.
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Oct 30, 2020 23:15
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Light Brigade has the best milsf boot camp segment because it is also every other part of the war, simultaneously.
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Oct 31, 2020 03:16
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Groke posted:Both of those do have boot camp/lowly soldier doing lowly soldier things sequences, though. Most of the ones in the Vorkosigan Saga are people telling stories. Like Miles telling how Ivan's squad got stuck in a swap chasing a sniper (Miles) and had to be pulled out by heavy equipment. Then Ivan finishes the story by telling how Miles was laughing so hard he fell out of a tree and broke his arm. Good diagetic stuff, not YABootcampStory.
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Oct 31, 2020 03:17
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Whoever recommended Orconomics, ty! Actually very solid, and both it and the sequel are free right now if you’ve got kindle unlimited. You definitely need to be up for the satire of fantasy tropes/modern capitalism, but I ended up really enjoying it.
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Oct 31, 2020 06:20
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For everyone who was discussing Will Wight, thank you. I'd never heard of him but I'm really enjoying the Cradle series.
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Oct 31, 2020 15:29
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I finally read Martha Wells Network Effect and overall liked it. Going full novel sized in the murderbot series finally made it apparent how many elements the murderbot series shares with other Martha Wells written stories. Definitely see the murderbot series as a technology Raksura series now, or the Raksura series as a highly condensed 7x speed murderbot fantasy series. More people should read Martha Well's Fall of Ile-Rein series. They bridge the gap between the murderbot & raksura series despite being written 5+ years earlier than both series (the Ile-Rein setting is magika steampunk). Still think of murderbot as gender neutral, and main niggles with Network Effect was how murderbot initially fit so many drones into their EVA suit, and then why murderbot /ART didn't make up a few dozen more drones for murderbot before going down to SpookyAbandonedColonyPlanet. Hell, even one or two of ART's repair drones getting loaned out would have made sense, unless drone creation is LostTech or verboten in the murderbot series for artificial intelligences.
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Oct 31, 2020 16:33
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Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016CQUL4U/
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Oct 31, 2020 16:47
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pradmer posted:Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson - $1.99 Pre-Tolkien fantasy for those curious. A Danish engineer in WW2 finds himself transported back to a Charlemagne era fantasy world with swan maids and dwarfs. Short, but good.
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Oct 31, 2020 18:47
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Ben Nevis posted:Pre-Tolkien fantasy for those curious. A Danish engineer in WW2 finds himself transported back to a Charlemagne era fantasy world with swan maids and dwarfs. Short, but good. This book is the source for a lot of Dungeons & Dragons stuff, including much of the alignment system, regenerating trolls, and how the paladin class works.
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Oct 31, 2020 19:40
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It definitely isn't pre-Tolkien, though.
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Oct 31, 2020 20:25
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Kestral posted:Light Brigade has the best milsf boot camp segment because it is also every other part of the war, simultaneously. It also distinguishes itself by having a female lead.
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Oct 31, 2020 20:34
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anilEhilated posted:It definitely isn't pre-Tolkien, though. The original 1953 novella on which the 1961 novel is based is just barely pre-The Fellowship of the Ring (1954).
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Nov 1, 2020 01:21
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Happy Halloween everybody rewatch event horizon
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Nov 1, 2020 02:07
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Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers #3) by Becky Chambers - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072BFJCB9/ Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by KJ Parker - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078W5M7DB/ Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DN8BQMD/ Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003GK21XK/ The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller #1) by Patrick Rothfuss - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0010SKUYM/ The Color of Magic (Discworld #1) by Terry Pratchett - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W9399S/
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Nov 1, 2020 19:49
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graventy posted:Uhh.. did this thread decide to dress up as the litRPG/web serials thread for Halloween? No, it was more shining their flashlight under their chin and spooking each other out with stories about what happens when you type "anime" five times into the Amazon search box.
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Nov 1, 2020 20:26
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lol if you get your litrpg from high-quality sources like amazon
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Nov 1, 2020 20:52
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So I read al the Song of Ice and Fire novels back in 2014. I enjoyed it well enough, glad I always steered clear of the TV show. Anyway, then I read Brandon Sanderson's stuff since he was the other guy who got talked about a lot on a forum i frequented. Individually these were all pretty big books and they were part of a series so quite a time investment for me. But I still reread all the present Stormlight Archive in preparation for the next book I would say I enjoy TSA more than ASOIAF but even if I didn't, the motivation of seeing where the series will go got me to do it again. It was a joke in 2014 about Martin dying before ASOIAF would be finished. It's not so funny any more in 2020. I don't think I could ever bring myself to reread the books given the fact there may very well be no ending or satisfying resolution to any of it. I'm not the most avid fiction book reader, though. Any of you had to deal with this? The crushing reality of "there will be no ending"? Does that put a damper on things for you?
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Nov 2, 2020 02:13
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We know what the ending is, the TV show did a bad version of it.
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Nov 2, 2020 02:18
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Yeah, the ending of the show is basically what Martin gave to the showrunners from his notes, though Martin doesn't seem to be tempted to make a rush job of it, so maybe his rendition will be good. If the fear is that Martin will keel over, though, there are still options; Sanderson famously finished The Wheel of Time after Robert Jordan passed away, and did a decent enough job of it. Martin or whoever manages his estate may not want that, but it's an option. I guess my advice would be to read more fiction. Find other authors you like who have a better writing pace, and are more transparent with their progress. Or pick up a different series that's finished, like the aforementioned Wheel of Time. There's nothing wrong with getting invested in and excited for a particular series or book, but these days, if dates slip or plans fall through, I just shrug because there's plenty more to read.
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Nov 2, 2020 02:29
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JagerNinja posted:If the fear is that Martin will keel over, though, there are still options; Sanderson famously finished The Wheel of Time after Robert Jordan passed away, and did a decent enough job of it. Well, that's one take.
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Nov 2, 2020 02:34
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pseudanonymous posted:Well, that's one take.
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Nov 2, 2020 02:57
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Sanderson is absolutely not the guy to finish Song of Fire and Ice and to his credit he's been public about that.
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Nov 2, 2020 02:57
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Patrick Spens posted:Sanderson is absolutely not the guy to finish Song of Fire and Ice and to his credit he's been public about that. Winds of Winter except no one cusses and all sex happens offscreen
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Nov 2, 2020 03:16
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Patrick Spens posted:Sanderson is absolutely not the guy to finish Song of Fire and Ice and to his credit he's been public about that. I didn't say that I think Sanderson should finish Song of Ice and Fire, just that Sanderson finished that other fantasy epic and so someone else could finish Song of Ice and Fire in that fashion. I agree that Sanderson is not the right man to finish that series.
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Nov 2, 2020 03:19
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JagerNinja posted:I didn't say that I think Sanderson should finish Song of Ice and Fire, just that Sanderson finished that other fantasy epic and so someone else could finish Song of Ice and Fire in that fashion. Definitely should be rothfuss [original joke do not steal]
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Nov 2, 2020 03:22
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awesmoe posted:Definitely should be rothfuss [original joke do not steal] I intentionally didn't mention Rothfuss because if this guy isn't mentally prepared for an author to die with a work unfinished, he's definitely not ready for an author that simply doesn't give a gently caress what his readers think.
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Nov 2, 2020 03:27
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Martin has been very explicit in saying that if he dies before finishing the series, it'll remain unfinished. He's rich enough and has been in show business long enough to know the sorts of lawyers that can make that iron-clad.
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Nov 2, 2020 03:34
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God dammit, Rachel Caine died.
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Nov 2, 2020 04:43
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DACK FAYDEN posted:I haven't heard anyone say Sanderson did any worse than Jordan was doing, is that not the consensus? I gave up around book nine when nothing loving happened. I loving hated how he wrote the last 3 books. There’s a chapter in the last book that 140,000 words. He’s an atrociously bad writer. Also he basically shrugged off all criticism and blamed the dead guy for everything people didn’t like. Jordan was in vietnam. He fought in a real war. He wrote battles like that. Sanderson fought in call of duty 1-3 and he writes battles like they are video games.
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Nov 2, 2020 09:16
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I read the first six books of WOT before giving up from boredom and I remember a lot of good things about them but battle scenes are not one of them.
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Nov 2, 2020 09:20
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Phobeste posted:I read it and was annoyed by the boot camp thing. Then I got the sequel because after the bootcamp stuff it was good and somehow the sequel starts out with another god drat training thing. Why Guess what happens in the third one?
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Nov 2, 2020 11:04
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pseudanonymous posted:I loving hated how he wrote the last 3 books. There’s a chapter in the last book that 140,000 words. And Robert Jordan wrote it.
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Nov 2, 2020 11:30
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Darth Walrus posted:Has anyone ever done a good mecha novel? I know they're a highly visual sci-fi concept, but there must have been enough folks having a crack at the idea for some decent stuff to come out of it. Ironclads adrian tchaikovsky is grunt eye view of a corporatocratic US invasion of northern europe. There are mecha obv. the politics aren't subtle and it's only a novella but I loved it.
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Nov 2, 2020 11:40
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Jedit posted:And Robert Jordan wrote it. No, he wrote the epilogue. That big chapter was Sanderson.
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Nov 2, 2020 12:00
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Good morning, SFF goons! I recently finished writing an adult dark fantasy and I'm on the hunt for people willing to look at the first three chapters, and Hieronymous Alloy gave me the thumbs-up to  in here. I'm happy to provide a link if anyone's interested, and as a show of good faith, you can all feel free to tear apart the pitch: quote:Performing for angry drunks on the variety circuit was never Loren Blackwall’s dream job, but being a professional freak has its benefits. When Loren’s on stage, no one asks to see their ‘true form’; they just clap and cheer as Loren changes shape as easily as normal people change their clothes. They don’t even question the mysterious mold that bubbles out of Loren’s skin. That’s definitely a good thing, since the last people who saw that mold executed Loren’s mother for birthing a monster-child. Also, just to show that I actually do read this thread, I'll chime in on Sanderson-chat to say that I've liked everything of his I've read yet never felt compelled to read a second book in a Sanderson series. With him, it feels like his strength is in the world-building and the characters are along for the ride, so having him finish out someone else's work seems like kind of a waste of his best skills. Having said that, he is by all accounts the nicest man in the business, so I wish him all the best finishing whatever series he likes. Nae fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Nov 2, 2020 |
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Nov 2, 2020 17:27
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just found out that Ready Player Two comes out in 3 weeks I'm amazed I haven't heard a single word about it online, I assumed there was still a huge fanbase for that poo poo.
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Nov 2, 2020 18:05
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