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BlackHattingMachine posted:Can anyone comment on the Corporation Wars trilogy by Ken MacLeod? Specifically if it manages to avoid strong libertarian vibes, life is too short to read Ayn Rand knock-offs. I read these! They were okay, a solid 3/5 with a better premise than execution. My reviews are: Corp Wars 1 Corp Wars 2 Corp Wars 3 I didn't think they were libertarian at all, he's intensely socialist(?). I'm not used to such heavy political flavoring in my novels, so I could be missing things, idk.
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Jan 26, 2021 00:50
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Brian McLellan has put up a free powder mage novella for his birthday, available here: https://www.brianmcclellan.com/ebook-store/ghosts It's free until tomorrow, you have to enter an email+shipping address to "checkout" the free purchase
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Jan 26, 2021 00:58
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MacLeod is, as far as I know, still a Trotskyite. Getting further away from Ayn Rand might be possible but might also not.
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Jan 26, 2021 01:02
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Thanks all, I should have looked at his wiki or something. Just saw the trilogy on sale for cheap and one of the reviews mentioned libertarian nonsense. Looks like it was just an idiot.
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Jan 26, 2021 01:13
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BlackHattingMachine posted:Can anyone comment on the Corporation Wars trilogy by Ken MacLeod? Specifically if it manages to avoid strong libertarian vibes, life is too short to read Ayn Rand knock-offs. I thought they were fun. It's probably the most libertarian of his books insofar as no one actually sings any Trotskyite revolutionary workers' songs in this one.
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Jan 26, 2021 06:19
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BlackHattingMachine posted:Can anyone comment on the Corporation Wars trilogy by Ken MacLeod? Specifically if it manages to avoid strong libertarian vibes, life is too short to read Ayn Rand knock-offs. Incredibly boring, which is impressive considering how much robot fighting happens.
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Jan 26, 2021 07:27
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Woke up this morning with the dad joke from the end of Harrow the Ninth ringing in my head.
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Jan 26, 2021 09:50
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Just finished Fonda Lee's Jade City and not really sure of my reaction. As an Asian, I appreciated the authenticity of the world building and it's nice to see that kind of representation done well beyond what most generic Asian inspired fantasy nations are like. Solidly executed first novel, though I don't know that I'd rate it in that top 10/100 list that came out last year. I don't immediately feel the need to grab the already published sequel in the way that I did after finishing the first Baru. I kind of hate the fact that I felt more of a need to binge Lightbringer even though Brent Weeks is terrible. And then I resent the fact that I don't love Jade City because I feel like I should. It's just okay?
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Jan 26, 2021 14:36
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If you want more Asian themed fantasy there's Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee. It is set in a fantasy version of Korea that has been conquered by fantasy Japan. The main character is a young non-binary artist who gets dragged into the war effort because the not-Japanese use magical paint to control their robots.
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Jan 26, 2021 14:56
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muscles like this! posted:If you want more Asian themed fantasy there's Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee. It is set in a fantasy version of Korea that has been conquered by fantasy Japan. The main character is a young non-binary artist who gets dragged into the war effort because the not-Japanese use magical paint to control their robots. I'm still early in The Sword of Kaigen but it's asian-inspired fantasy and is the top rated book ever in the SPFBO. The author is also asian though not japanese I believe. I still find it a bit distracting how many honorifics and random japanese words are included in the text, since in the japanese media I consume that stuff is always localized (People don't refer to each other as "aniki" when "brother" will do, yet Sword of Kaigen decides not to translate things like that.)
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Jan 26, 2021 15:17
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I've had almost the opposite experience with some books where I've been distracted by honorifics that were translated. Specifically, I got thrown off by the use of Big'sis and Lil'sis in Aliette de Bodard's stuff at first (she writes a lot of Viet-inspired sci fi and fantasy). Especially since there are a lot of romances between women using the Aunt and -sis honorifics with each other, I had to keep reminding myself that they're not actually related. But I just wasn't very used to seeing those particular honorifics at first, and I've gotten used to it now. However, I know she's had to make twitter posts before explaining the honorifics and having to reassure people that she's not writing incest. Seems like it might just be one of those things where neither solution (translating or not) is going to be ideal.
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Jan 26, 2021 15:58
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DurianGray posted:I've had almost the opposite experience with some books where I've been distracted by honorifics that were translated. Specifically, I got thrown off by the use of Big'sis and Lil'sis in Aliette de Bodard's stuff at first (she writes a lot of Viet-inspired sci fi and fantasy). Especially since there are a lot of romances between women using the Aunt and -sis honorifics with each other, I had to keep reminding myself that they're not actually related. But I just wasn't very used to seeing those particular honorifics at first, and I've gotten used to it now. Yeah, I can understand the case not for translating, especially in a text medium where keeping the honorifics and other words adds a bit of the flavor of the culture to the language, whereas if one is translating an anime or drama the visuals are already conveying that it's a different culture. With japanese at least though I associate not translating a lot of words with stubborn fan translators who didn't think there was any english word that could convey the meaning of words like "nakama" when there are. 
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Jan 26, 2021 16:12
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Oh yeah I'd say there's a big difference between something that can be really culture/context specific like honorifics and just... general vocabulary. I've been a weeb since I was a kid so I've seen both ends of the over-localized/4kids-style approach and the pretentious fan-dub approach where you get the "*keikaku means plan" issues (and that screencap still makes me smile). And text is definitely different for sure - like Bodard writes in English so it's 100% her choice to use Big'sis and Younger Aunt as honorifics, not a translator making the decision. And then what a translator decides to do is a whole other thing, and I can't imagine how hard making some of those calls must be, especially for the things that don't translate 1:1 between languages.
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Jan 26, 2021 16:35
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Leng posted:Just finished Fonda Lee's Jade City and not really sure of my reaction. I'm halfway in the sequel and I'm considering to drop it. It's certainly not bad and I enjoyed the first book, but it didn't grab me either. I think my main problem is that there are no mysteries you have to solve. Questions like 'why did person x do y' are answered one page after they're asked. There's no speculation with clues and partial information. Things just happen and it's explained why they happen.
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Jan 26, 2021 16:47
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tokenbrownguy posted:Incredibly boring, which is impressive considering how much robot fighting happens. It’s pretty amazing; I apparently bought the first two books of the Corporation Wars, and I vaguely remember reading the first one, but the last one I never bought at all so it must not have impressed me.
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Jan 26, 2021 18:34
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https://twitter.com/BasiliskBooks/status/1354154821587185664 https://twitter.com/BasiliskBooks/status/1354155856007467015 https://twitter.com/BasiliskBooks/status/1354155857521631232 jesus!
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Jan 26, 2021 21:04
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Looks as if Jon del Arroz is the head rear end in a top hat in question.
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Jan 26, 2021 21:16
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StrixNebulosa posted:jesus! I know right? People still use reddit.
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Jan 26, 2021 21:22
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Why are they attacking him? I don't go on r/fantasy much but it's always seemed like a pretty well moderated place. It's only once you venture into the smaller reddits for specific IP that the crazies start coming out.
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Jan 26, 2021 21:30
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Ccs posted:Why are they attacking him? I don't go on r/fantasy much but it's always seemed like a pretty well moderated place. It's only once you venture into the smaller reddits for specific IP that the crazies start coming out. If we're talking about del Arroz, then he's attacking Weimer because Weimer once tweeted that he preferred steampunk written by women:  from https://www.jimchines.com/2018/01/jon-del-arroz/
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Jan 26, 2021 22:00
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“With Worldcon’s statements about ‘intent’ to violate their rules, and failure to specify rules, this is a clear targeting over my politics because I’m a vocal Christian and Hispanic Trump supporter.” I was gonna read it all but eh.
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Jan 26, 2021 22:08
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Walh Hara posted:I'm halfway in the sequel and I'm considering to drop it. It's certainly not bad and I enjoyed the first book, but it didn't grab me either. Yeah, I dropped off on the second book about halfway through in the end :/
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Jan 26, 2021 22:13
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tildes posted:Yeah, I dropped off on the second book about halfway through in the end :/ I made it through the whole thing and didn't hate it, but it was definitely a lot flabbier than the first one.
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Jan 26, 2021 22:15
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90s Cringe Rock posted:“With Worldcon’s statements about ‘intent’ to violate their rules, and failure to specify rules, this is a clear targeting over my politics because I’m a vocal Christian and Hispanic Trump supporter.” If I remember correctly, Del Arroz was blackballed from Worldcon because he announced he was going to wear a body camera and try to get into as many private parties/events as he could in hopes of catching prominent SFers saying or doing inappropriate things.
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Jan 26, 2021 23:33
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The author's not particularly well known, but I figured I'd post the links because I remember enjoying the books well enough and they're currently free on Kobo. Note that it's got fanfic origins (albeit with the serial numbers filed off more thoroughly than usual, and there is considerably more original worldbuilding in the second book) and if you know the original property (Dishonored) you might figure out the backstory of certain characters pretty quickly. This might understandably put you off, but again, it's free  H.L. Moore, Death's Embrace series https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/heart-of-dust https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/soul-of-ash
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Jan 27, 2021 00:04
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Selachian posted:If I remember correctly, Del Arroz was blackballed from Worldcon because he announced he was going to wear a body camera and try to get into as many private parties/events as he could in hopes of catching prominent SFers saying or doing inappropriate things. I checked out his twitter and it's chud all the way down - comicsgate, qanon, complaining about twitter purges, youtube rants, complaining about censorship, those dastardly SJWs always after him In YA news, the wife of the male astronaut from the diaper astronaut event is a YA paranormal romance writer and publishing editor who apparently was posting bad stuff on Parler/Gab and just got fired from the editing job
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Jan 27, 2021 00:21
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Leng posted:Just finished Fonda Lee's Jade City and not really sure of my reaction. I'm like 40% of the way through and it's kind of losing my attention because I feel like the tension has been high for a while without anything really happening so I'm just waiting for the house of cards to tumble.
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Jan 27, 2021 00:58
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Ccs posted:Wondering if anyone had any recommendations for good fantasy heist stories. I’ve read Mistborn and Lies of Locke Lamora. I'm partial to Brust's Jhereg series for stuff like this. Sometimes is acquiring an item, sometimes it's an assassination, sometimes it's unraveling a mundane bit of white collar crime, it can get complicated. Athyra is a good, early one that features an elaborate scam involving the properties of powerful magical weapons.
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Jan 27, 2021 01:40
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fritz posted:Looks as if Jon del Arroz is the head rear end in a top hat in question. You could name pretty much anyone in SF but Larry Correia or Vox Day being harassed, and "Jon del Arroz is the head rear end in a top hat in question" would not give me a second of surprise. He's been a relentlessly horrible piece of poo poo for years, desperately chasing that alt-right dollar but as far as I can tell, not getting it, and tripping over his own clown shoes every time he tries to pull a "gotcha" and nail those horrible SJWs.
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Jan 27, 2021 05:06
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StonecutterJoe posted:You could name pretty much anyone in SF but Larry Correia or Vox Day being harassed, and "Jon del Arroz is the head rear end in a top hat in question" would not give me a second of surprise. I volunteered for the Nebulas and was on the social media team and like 50% of our training was "be ready for this idiot to do something"
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Jan 27, 2021 05:27
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mllaneza posted:I'm partial to Brust's Jhereg series for stuff like this. Sometimes is acquiring an item, sometimes it's an assassination, sometimes it's unraveling a mundane bit of white collar crime, it can get complicated. Athyra is a good, early one that features an elaborate scam involving the properties of powerful magical weapons. God, I wish those books weren't broken up into a billion small ones but ALSO some two-or-three-book collections. I've never been to a bookstore that had any appreciable amount of them, always only two or three, consisting one one collection, and then one or two books, with a minimum of one that's also found in the collection. I've enjoyed every one I've read, which is, like, three.
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Jan 27, 2021 05:33
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https://twitter.com/itsneonyang/status/1354577563834867713
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Jan 28, 2021 02:33
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Also this guy has been unbanned, thank goodness: https://twitter.com/jasonsanford/status/1354410404060024832
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Jan 28, 2021 02:36
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I know I just recommended the Tensorate series recently but I definitely recommend picking this up for anyone who is into the whole "silkpunk"/xianxia-esque thing or just wants to read some good queer Southeast-Asian inspired fantasy. (It's even got dinosaurs!)
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Jan 28, 2021 04:35
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An unfortunately paywalled article (easy to get around) about the late Charles Saunders, who created black heroes in pulp jungle novels https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/books/charles-saunders-dead.html
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Jan 28, 2021 09:01
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DurianGray posted:I know I just recommended the Tensorate series recently but I definitely recommend picking this up for anyone who is into the whole "silkpunk"/xianxia-esque thing or just wants to read some good queer Southeast-Asian inspired fantasy. (It's even got dinosaurs!) I actually got the first book when Tor.com was giving it away, not realizing it was part of a series, which left me feeling pretty disappointed by the ending, lol.
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Jan 28, 2021 15:16
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Anyone have the scuttlebutt on what happened with Interzone's publisher?
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Jan 28, 2021 19:36
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The Iron Dragon's Mother (Iron Dragon's Daughter #3) by Michael Swanwick - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GVCYKRF/ Fellside by MR Carey - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013HA6WAG/ Mr Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ZDK0NC/
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Jan 28, 2021 23:38
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Oh man! Bought iron dragons mother just a week ago for full price. Finished it two days ago. I found it interesting that it was like 14 real years between book 1 and 2, and 12 from 2 to 3.
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Jan 28, 2021 23:50
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Got clued into how Vernor Vinge did revisioning and note-taking on his novel A Fire Upon The Deep. Even for the 1990s, Vinge's solution was archaic and weird as hell. You can see the notes for yourself if you track down the Hugo & Nebula (ebook) Anthology 1993. Plus Charles Stross returned and has been reposting issues of the Ansible SF&F UK centric newsletter to the SFL Archives. Ansible 72 had these gems: the bolding is mine. === _Rumblings_ // The Scottish Convention's first progress report was sighted at a fan gathering on 27 June. Many swooned or spoke in tongues. Miraculous cures were rumoured. Pigs flew. // That _Speller/Kincaid Wedding_ (26 June) was a riot of something or other, with standing room only in Folkestone's tiny registry office. Our fashion reporter forgets everything but Paul's puce paisley waistcoat and the bell-bedizened anklets that best woman Moira Shearman was persuaded to remove for the actual ceremony. The bride wore something purple with glittery bits. Others wore clothes. Best man Chris Priest almost made a speech but thought better of it, thus wasting the nanoseconds of research which had supplied him with the Doc Smith marriage line traditionally quoted at all Martin Hoare's weddings: _`Then, as Kinnison kissed his wife, half a million Lensed members were thrust upward in silent salute.'_ The rest is drunken silence. == _SF Encyclopaedia_ Updates. The most mysterious item in the _SFE_ update sheet (see _A71_) came from Harlan ELLISON: `_The Book of Ellison_ (1978) is unauthorized.' Since most of its text is by HE himself, this implies wicked literary piracy on the part of publisher Algol Press -- that is, Andrew Porter of _SF Chronicle_ infamy, who remarks somewhat bitterly that HE never objected when receiving royalties: `If the book was unauthorized, then Ellison's left hand didn't know what his right hand was agreeing to.' // Spies report that the most vituperative comments came from Piers Anthony, that one of the US computer nets rang with cries of rage at the `omission' of Vonda McIntyre (someone misunderstood the alphabetization convention), and that Larry Niven responded to _SFE_ hints about loss of `joy' in his later work by sadly agreeing it was so. // An even newer update sheet is expected soon, as addenda pour in. // The _Nimbus_ CD-ROM edition planned for `late June' seems to have been delayed, but they've sent another jolly sample CD of their wares, 128Mb including all of _Frankenstein_ and _Dracula...._ === _Ten Years Ago._ The _TLS_ discussed Japanese comics' conventional sounds for activities like slurping noodles (_suru-suru_), reddening with embarrassment (_po_), adding cold cream to hot coffee (_suron_) and vanishing into thin air (_fu_). The news that `When a penis suddenly stands erect the accepted sound is _biin_' led to wild surmise about a Japanese origin for the famous sound of Heinlein's nipples, _spung_.... (_Ansible 34_, Jul 83) +++ Proofs of Holy Writ [Fascinating documents float around the world of publishing. Paul Barnett worked on the proofs of the coming _Before the Sun Falls_ by William James, and felt it was so awfully written that it would damage Orbit's reputation if not heavily edited. Orbit decided not to bother: the author is said to be `touchy' about his immortal prose. Here's an excerpt from a very long Barnett letter to the Orbit editor....] For example, we have what I've come to call cliche-rivers. The author doesn't quite know what to do with his characters when they're mouthing dialogue, and has a limited gamut of incidental actions for them to perform. In any twenty-page stretch of the text you're almost certain to encounter not just a few but _all_ of the following at least once, some of them (as asterisked) several times over: *he showed his teeth // *he gave him a hard, flat, cold, level or expressionless stare (about every two pages someone gives someone else a stare of some kind -- I particularly liked the single despairing instance of giving `an oblique stare') // he produced a _[pick from the limited variety above]_ stare // *he looked down his nose // *he wrinkled his nose // *he smiled grimly // he smiled sourly // *he grinned // the corners of his mouth twitched // *he pursed his lips (this one is so frequent it was driving me nuts) // *the head came round // *his head went back // his head came up // his st'lyan screamed // his st'lyan danced (first third of book only) // he sidestepped his st'lyan (latter two-thirds of book only) // he opened his mouth, then closed it again // he clenched his teeth // he seemed/appeared to do something (while in fact doing it -- as in `he appeared to hesitate') // *he made a face // something flashed in his eyes but then was gone // he reined around // his eyes went wide // he nodded (after having spoken an assent) // he shook his head (after having spoken a dissent or negation) // he rolled the cup between the palms of his hands // it was as if a message of some kind passed between them // he stirred the grass with his toe Others are more localized. For example, early on a shipboard Kubulai spits expressively over the side; just a few pages later someone else comes up and, presumably inspired by his lord's example, _also_ spits expressively over the side. This is in the midst of all the other, expressionless spits over the side that are going on, you understand.... _[There is much more. A st'lyan, I gather, is a bit like a h'rse.]_ == Ansible 72 (c) Dave Langford, 1993. Thanks to John Bangsund's Society of Editors Newsletter, Paul Barnett, John Clute, Mark Plummer, Andy Porter, David Pringle, David L.Russell and Our Distributors: Vikki Lee France, Steve Jeffrey, Janice Murray, Charlie `I will make you famous on the Net' Stross, Alan Stewart, Martin Tudor and Bridget Wilkinson. 1/7/93 quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Jan 29, 2021 |
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