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I just read The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson. It's a finalist of SPFBO. It's really good and I'm really dissapointed in myself. The book contains a lot of mysterys and even more things that simply don't make sense. Before the end I'd have given it a 7/10 because I thought there were too many plotlines and too many plotholes. Then the book turns it around and resolves everything and I realized I'm an idiot for not being able to see the solution beforehand. There are enough clues that somebody else might find it too predictable, but it did catch me unaware (some elements I had correct but not the whole picture).
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Dec 6, 2020 11:27
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John Lee posted:From the excerpts I have seen, it IS a quite good translation. Only reason I haven't taken the plunge is I'm irrationally annoyed by the reviews and press copy being like "This is a feminist version of Beowulf, and unlike other translations doesn't leave out that masculinity of the era was about exerting your will and maybe killing stuff, and maybe Grendel's mom was totally justified in being pissed that some guy killed her child?" I've read the whole thing (I haven't read other versions of Beowulf yet admittedly, but I'm pretty familiar with the overall story beats) and I was keeping an eye out for indications of it being "more femininist." I honestly couldn't tell you what makes it that different than most other translations probably are in that regard. Maybe there are subtleties of word/interpretation choice that flew over my head because I don't know old English and I'm not intimately familiar with the older translations, but regardless, nothing really stuck out to me as someone approaching it like "I want to finally read Beowulf and this version looks fun at least."
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Dec 6, 2020 13:45
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branedotorg posted:I don't remember if you use a Kindle but some of the mercenary books are on the us Amazon Kindle site Huh. I got a Sony ereader (long defunct, uses epub) about six years ago and basically just use it to borrow ebooks. I had this idea that if something doesn't exist on Overdrive it hasn't been licensed as an ebook at all - not that the libraries I'm registered to neccesarily have it, but you can always ask them to buy it, but if it doesn't pop up as a purchase option when you do I just assumed whatever publishing house has the rights to it hasn't bothered to put out an ebook at all. For example, Overdrive has a two-book "Paladin" series by Rosenberg available. But I guess they're just putting it out in whatever the Amazon format is, this whole time?
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Dec 6, 2020 13:47
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Whoever mentioned or recommended Nophek Gloss - thanks! Feels like Quarter Share with a more radical multiverse full of xenomorphs so far, although all are human in character so far. Scratching an itch for me!
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Dec 6, 2020 14:47
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C.M. Kruger posted:The whole thing about Diane Duane having a impersonator is wild and there's a little more information on her website, at one point both the FBI and USAF counter-intelligence got involved because the person had apparently tried to pose as a officer. 1989 SFL also got around to discussing Diane Duane's Star Trek Vulcan books and they sound extremely fan-servicey, especially that multi-talented immortal crystalline spider thing... no longer wondering why Star Trek fans hated McIntyre's Star Trek books that rejected Trek fan-service in favor of direct feedback from Roddenberry/other ST producers/TOS actors. e: Also realizing that I need to go back and add another 5+ things to my 1989 off-site blog readthrough posts. The hundreds of David Eddings posts that I entirely skipped over, everyone being happy when Jerry Pournelle is NOT at conventions, expanding on the mono-molecule thing, expanding on the really amazing vampire & werewolf lore question teasers/answer countermeasures, 1989 technology limits, etc. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Dec 6, 2020 |
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Dec 6, 2020 17:28
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quantumfoam posted:everyone being happy when Jerry Pournelle is NOT at conventions, Was it his politics, or personal behavior?
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Dec 6, 2020 19:13
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I can't believe I forgot to mention the Dark Haired Girl appearance(reappearance?) in SFL 1989 at all in my 1989 SFL Archives recaps. Yammered about it so much in Discord and email I just forgot to note it on the SFL Archives readthrough blog. One of Philip K Dick's Dark Haired Girls appeared (or reappeared if it was the same person from SFL Archives 1982) to give anecdotes of what it was like living near PKD/interacting with PKD during the time in his life that PKD reworked into his novel A Scanner Darkly. It was fascinating and amazing when the DHG related PKD's plan to confuse/gently caress the narcs that were constantly monitoring him.
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Dec 6, 2020 19:53
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The Book of Koli (Rampart #1) by MR Carey - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W54MPDZ/ The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0180SQC32/
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Dec 6, 2020 19:57
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pradmer posted:The Book of Koli (Rampart #1) by MR Carey - $2.99
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Dec 6, 2020 19:58
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I just finished the third Baru Cormorant book after seeing the first on on some random "good queer fantasy books list." Holy poo poo these books are so good. It's so nice to read books that actually are trying to make a complex and interesting statement on the nature of empire and repression. I've already bought one copy to try to cajole some friends into reading them. I'll probably pick up another. More people need to read these.
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Dec 6, 2020 20:03
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anilEhilated posted:This sounds awfully generic - is it any good? Yes. I mean it is post apocalyptic but I enjoyed it.
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Dec 6, 2020 20:22
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Walh Hara posted:I just read The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson. It's a finalist of SPFBO. Wow this isn't how you're supposed to read books! You were supposed to drop it halfway through and leave a scathing review about how Lost taught you that nothing ever gets a satisfying resolution. List a bunch of plot holes and maybe put in some gifs too.
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Dec 6, 2020 22:46
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Even better, compare it to Prometheus!
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Dec 6, 2020 22:46
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quantumfoam posted:If people in this thread enjoyed John Brunner's STAND ON ZANZIBAR, the 1989 SFL people think you might want to check out John Dos Passos very ancient 1930's trilogy "USA". Just popping in to note that yes, the "U.S.A." trilogy is excellent. (I was led to it by, of all people, Piers Anthony, who has an aside about how great "U.S.A." is in his bizarre "Tarot" series. Don't let that scare you off, though!)
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Dec 7, 2020 00:57
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Okay maybe I've read too many KJ Parker books in a row, I just got to the point in The Company where they load the trebuchets and had to stop.
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Dec 7, 2020 01:27
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quantumfoam posted:1989 SFL also got around to discussing Diane Duane's Star Trek Vulcan books and they sound extremely fan-servicey, especially that multi-talented immortal crystalline spider thing... no longer wondering why Star Trek fans hated McIntyre's Star Trek books that rejected Trek fan-service in favor of direct feedback from Roddenberry/other ST producers/TOS actors. The Rihannsu stuff exploded the Romulans in popularity, there is a whole section of Trek books that is just Romulan story after Romulan story, made since they'd do a Vulcan version (there was also a Klingon version that got jettisoned after TNG but some of it pops up in Discovery iirc) There were too many Romulan stories imho, but TOS only has a few bad guys to pick from. I liked Vonda McIntyre's expanded movie novels as I love when novels add tons of extra stuff, why not fill pages/take advantage of the medium? I think I read her non-movie Trek novel when I was a kid but don't remember it at all, haven't read her newer stuff. The novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is "written" by Gene Roddenberry, and is gross horny as hell. Written in quotes due to debate on how much he wrote, either he only wrote the horny parts or the ghost writer knew exactly how horny he was
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Dec 7, 2020 02:15
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If I say a book reminds me of Lost, that's a compliment. I loved Lost.
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Dec 7, 2020 04:09
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Mall Santa Metis posted:If I say a book reminds me of Lost, that's a compliment. I loved Lost. I rewatched it in lockdown and I still think it's great. Yeah it depends way too much on its characters being unfathomably incurious, and in spite of some excellent stuff like Locke no longer being Locke it takes a steep dive in quality in seasons 5 and 6, but it was still a great, fun, adventure mystery show.
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Dec 7, 2020 08:07
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General Battuta posted:Even better, compare it to Prometheus! That sounds decidedly specific.
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Dec 7, 2020 09:43
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General Battuta posted:Well go on! Basic idea is a vampire has been un-living amongst people, as they do, then aliens invade&conquer, eventually discover him, and kick him off-planet. jng2058 posted:He wanted to bring those classic stories to an English speaking audience that largely had not, in fact, grown up with them. At no point did he claim that it was anything besides that. Haven't read the Gaiman but just show somebody this instead: https://www.amazon.com/DAulaires-Norse-Myths-Ingri-dAulaire/dp/159017125X
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Dec 7, 2020 14:04
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quantumfoam posted:, SFLer's swearing franchised SF universes like Robot City & Roger Zelazny's "Clypsis" series would still be getting published & discussed 20 years in the future, an. Technically, you just proved them correct! Boy do you have egg in your face now I bet
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Dec 7, 2020 14:37
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Technically, you just proved them correct! Boy do you have egg in your face now I bet 
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Dec 7, 2020 16:01
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General Battuta posted:Wow this isn't how you're supposed to read books! You were supposed to drop it halfway through and leave a scathing review about how Lost taught you that nothing ever gets a satisfying resolution. List a bunch of plot holes and maybe put in some gifs too. Ha ha, it actually did remind me of the first season of Lost in the "I have no idea how this story can make sense" kind of way. I never watched any other Lost season so I didn't want to make the comparison myself. After thinking about it more, although I enjoyed The Lost War, I'm not sure whether I'd read the sequel. Perhaps if the reviews turn out very positive again. That said, I did made me wonder: any other good epic fantasy books that are more about figuring out what happened rather than figuring out what will happen? Preferably not "evil that was defeated 1000 years ago comes back" because that's used too often. City of Stairs somewhat counts, perhaps there are others?
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Dec 7, 2020 17:28
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Walh Hara posted:That said, I did made me wonder: any other good epic fantasy books that are more about figuring out what happened rather than figuring out what will happen? Preferably not "evil that was defeated 1000 years ago comes back" because that's used too often. City of Stairs somewhat counts, perhaps there are others? I think the Broken Earth trilogy (The Fifth Season, etc.) by Jemisin kind of falls under this, at least in the later parts, but it's not part of the plot at the beginning (from what I remember at least - it's been a while since I read them).
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Dec 7, 2020 18:21
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I'd put The Kingkiller Chronicles in that category since you get hints of a big cataclysmic event in everyone's oral histories but they all disagree on what it was. But you asked for good fantasy. (And also not "an ancient evil returns.")
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Dec 7, 2020 18:35
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wizzardstaff posted:I'd put The Kingkiller Chronicles in that category since you get hints of a big cataclysmic event in everyone's oral histories but they all disagree on what it was. But you asked for good fantasy. (And also not "an ancient evil returns.") So like World War Z but instead of zombies, I guess a necromancer who did something?
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Dec 7, 2020 18:57
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The plot of the Black Company series relies heavily on bad poo poo that went down in the past, including literally digging up ancient documents to find out what happened or to dig up a wizard's true name. That poor world's history is just one badass evil sorcerer after another. And then at the end of the series, history-nut Croaker gets the full, inside history from a long-lived witness.
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Dec 7, 2020 19:42
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That thing I mentioned about TOR Books....quote:Also if you are a book collector, the very first edition of Walter Jon Williams ANGEL STATION might be worth something.....TOR Books utterly hosed up the print run for it & did a rare 100% free total recall & replace on it because of non-existent quality control. It's February 1990 and Walter Jon Williams wants everyone to know that TOR Books did the scumbag option of getting people to mutilate the copies of ANGEL STATION they bought, but never actually got around doing the hardcover reprint run, and now it's looking even dumber with TOR dragging their heels on even sending out the errata pages. Rareness/resale price value of a unmutilated first edition of ANGEL STATION looking good for SF Book collectors.
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Dec 7, 2020 20:47
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quantumfoam posted:That thing I mentioned about TOR Books.... My favorite thing like this is that TOR books "accidentally" printed the first printing of Terry Goodkind's Debt of Bones with "copyright (c) 1990 Robert Jordan" on the copyright page. It *had* to have been deliberate. The print run was recalled but you can still find 'em for sale on ebay etc.
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Dec 7, 2020 20:56
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quantumfoam posted:That thing I mentioned about TOR Books.... lol I think I paid 3 bucks for my copy so not sure about that prediction, 1990 folks.
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Dec 7, 2020 22:30
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I'm reading the Dragon Lord by David Drake and to my surprise, this is actually a great historical novel. I've been listening to a podcast about the Fall of Rome and this is a perfect window into that violent period where the mythical King Arthur probably lived, and Drake's taking the King Arthur myth and making it real and fascinating and extremely violent. It's also a swashbuckling sword n' sorcery story because Merlin, but drat if I'm not enjoying it!
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Dec 7, 2020 22:37
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Can anyone recommend any KJ Parker novels that are like the short stories in Academic Exercises related to the Studium? I really liked 16 Ways, which I presume is set in the same world as much of the rest of Parker's fantasy, since Saloninus is mentioned, but I particularly like the short stories in Academic Exercises featuring people from the Studium, which were a little different from 16 Ways. Anything else by him that directly relates to the Studium and its members?
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Dec 7, 2020 22:54
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The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007978PGI/ Jade City (Green Bone Saga #1) by Fonda Lee - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XRCBRX8/ The Inheritance Trilogy (Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Broken Kingdoms, Kingdom of Gods) by NK Jemisin - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JJ86YA4
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Dec 7, 2020 23:55
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DurianGray posted:I think the Broken Earth trilogy (The Fifth Season, etc.) by Jemisin kind of falls under this, at least in the later parts, but it's not part of the plot at the beginning (from what I remember at least - it's been a while since I read them). The first book has some talk about the deadcivs that left stuff around and there's some mystery but like Tonkee is the only character who cares. Then the second and third book actually delve into what happened before since it becomes relevant to Essun's current situation.
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Dec 7, 2020 23:56
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I mentioned Dave Duncan and his A Man of His Word series a few days ago and thought to refresh my memory on these since it's been a long time since I read these as a teenager. I recall finding the worldbuilding interesting but the characterization and plot less so. It had an interesting for the time magic system based around words of power. Knowing one strengthened your greatest natural talent - as a thief, singer, orator, etc. Learning a second made you an adept, talented at everything you tried. A third made you a mage, who could perform magic of all kinds, but only temporarily while you concentrated. And knowing a fourth made you a sorcerer, capable of creating permanent magic. Some words were more powerful than others, and you could share your word with others, but it diluted that word's power, creating a nasty incentive for power hungry psychos to try to trick or force you to share it, increasing your power, then kill you to avoid dilution. Our protagonist knows a word, although he does not at first know that he does, and through a series of adventures learns how this system works, about the public and secret faces of magical regulation (for avoiding magical interference in politics/war - good, for protecting individuals, especially those who know words - not so good), and even the source of the words and what happens if you learn more than four words. Has anyone else read this series?
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Dec 8, 2020 00:17
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McCoy Pauley posted:Can anyone recommend any KJ Parker novels that are like the short stories in Academic Exercises related to the Studium? I really liked 16 Ways, which I presume is set in the same world as much of the rest of Parker's fantasy, since Saloninus is mentioned, but I particularly like the short stories in Academic Exercises featuring people from the Studium, which were a little different from 16 Ways. Anything else by him that directly relates to the Studium and its members? The first two trilogies (Fencer and Scavenger) have supernatural elements in them, but nothing directly linked to Saloninus. After that point there is much less, if any, supernatural in the novels.
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Dec 8, 2020 00:22
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:My favorite thing like this is that TOR books "accidentally" printed the first printing of Terry Goodkind's Debt of Bones with "copyright (c) 1990 Robert Jordan" on the copyright page. It *had* to have been deliberate. The print run was recalled but you can still find 'em for sale on ebay etc. This rules.  It made me go look up my copy that I've been carrying around since high school. Unfortunately it didn't have that copyright, but I did realize that I must have taken it to an event at some point because it has his signature with ENEMIES ARE THE PRI
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Dec 8, 2020 00:24
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Drone Jett posted:I mentioned Dave Duncan and his A Man of His Word series a few days ago and thought to refresh my memory on these since it's been a long time since I read these as a teenager. I recall finding the worldbuilding interesting but the characterization and plot less so.
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Dec 8, 2020 05:08
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Ani posted:I read these as a kid and really liked them. There was a follow-up series too that took place about 15 years after the initial one and wasn't nearly as good. No idea how I would find them now. The original series seems to be available on amazon for kindle.
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Dec 8, 2020 05:11
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Drone Jett posted:I mentioned Dave Duncan and his A Man of His Word series a few days ago and thought to refresh my memory on these since it's been a long time since I read these as a teenager. I recall finding the worldbuilding interesting but the characterization and plot less so. I really like Dave Duncan’s stuff, including this series, but I agree that the sequel series aren’t as good. The Reluctant Swordsman series was pretty cool too (for a fairly early isekai/transmigration fantasy.)
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Dec 8, 2020 06:00
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