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Rommel1896 posted:I see that the Patternist Series by Butler is on sale today. I don't really know anything about the series, but I tend to prefer hard-ish SF like the Revelation Space by Reynolds or Fiasco by Lem. Could someone give me a quick non-spoilery rundown on the Patternist books? Don't know whether to buy them or not. The Patternist books are sci-fantasy with ancient telepathic vampires and an alien disease that turns people into werewolf-like things. The chronological order is not the same order they were written in, and it shows. Patternmaster was Butler’s first published novel, which is not very good (by her own later standards). Wild Seed is the best book in the series. I’m inclined to recommend that one as a standalone. Mind of my Mind is ok. Clay’s Ark was... uh... she was trying to humanize the “werewolves” she created in Patternmaster, but as an alien virus that makes people need to rape to infect others and uh............................  The whole series may be the most hosed up poo poo she ever wrote (that’s including Bloodchild). I’m not a fan of it at all, even though I love pretty much everything else by Butler. Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Feb 15, 2021 |
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Feb 15, 2021 21:10
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StrixNebulosa posted:These have been on my to-read for the longest time, I should finally read them! I always say this when the Light Brigade comes up: it is a fantastic book but it is horrifically violent and graphic. If you have any triggers related to that kind of thing, be aware. I know it was a tough read for me personally because of that stuff but it was, again, fantastic.
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Feb 15, 2021 21:23
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Riot Carol Danvers posted:I always say this when the Light Brigade comes up: it is a fantastic book but it is horrifically violent and graphic. If you have any triggers related to that kind of thing, be aware. I know it was a tough read for me personally because of that stuff but it was, again, fantastic. I've read two of Hurley's Nyx books - someday I'll get to the third. She, uh, knows how to write turbo-hosed up things. Thank you for the warning, especially if anyone else in here is thinking of reading it.
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Feb 15, 2021 21:26
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StrixNebulosa posted:Found a review on goodreads and It's pretty interesting, really. The setting is basically your horrible D&D hellworld where recorded history is many thousands of years of magical apocalypses, undead hordes, demon invasions, necromancer lords, just one horror after another. Until someone a while back managed to establish a more or less democratic state where the collective will of the people becomes an actual power capable of holding the horrors at arm's length.
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Feb 15, 2021 21:34
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Groke posted:It's pretty interesting, really. The setting is basically your horrible D&D hellworld where recorded history is many thousands of years of magical apocalypses, undead hordes, demon invasions, necromancer lords, just one horror after another. Until someone a while back managed to establish a more or less democratic state where the collective will of the people becomes an actual power capable of holding the horrors at arm's length. The other nice thing is that the author will happily answer questions on his google group, so long as it's not a major spoiler plot point in a future book: https://groups.google.com/g/the-commonweal So he's chatted about the social structures of the various ilks of human beings, talked a little more about how magic works in the world, etc.
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Feb 15, 2021 21:53
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fritz posted:It's fantasy not sci-fi but Graydon Saunders' The March North and 1.5 of the sequels are solidly military and absolutely not right wing. What the heck is it with books I want to read suddenly not on Amazon? I can't find it anywhere on the store.
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Feb 15, 2021 22:01
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Ccs posted:What the heck is it with books I want to read suddenly not on Amazon? I can't find it anywhere on the store. I was just looking too, and they're available via google play and some other services: http://dubiousprospects.blogspot.com/2018/09/where-to-get-my-books.html Edit: I have no idea whether these books will be DRM free or in the right format to read on a kindle, which sucks. I'd like to read the book, but I hate loving around with a big chain of format converters. a foolish pianist fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Feb 15, 2021 |
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Feb 15, 2021 22:11
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a foolish pianist posted:I was just looking too, and they're available via google play and some other services: As I understand it, google play and/or rakuten kobo offer DRM free ebooks And you want calibre for converting any ebooks into kindle things, it's simplified the process and is how I read all my ebooks now!
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Feb 15, 2021 22:16
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The Kingshold series is pretty solid and mostly on unlimited. It’s a main book > short stories > main book > short stories > ... series, where the short story collections advance the plot a bit and explore the world but aren’t required reading. The basic conceit at the start is that it’s a kingdom which is just trying out democracy for the first time. It’s worth at least trying the first one out imo.
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Feb 15, 2021 23:37
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a foolish pianist posted:I was just looking too, and they're available via google play and some other services: The books are DRM free if downloaded from google and they are simple to convert to Calibre and are easily readable on Kindle (I have done this)
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Feb 16, 2021 00:34
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StrixNebulosa posted:Found a review on goodreads and Just as a head's up, I quite like The March North but it's sequels go in a veeeeery different direction.
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Feb 16, 2021 00:52
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Patrick Spens posted:Just as a head's up, I quite like The March North but it's sequels go in a veeeeery different direction. the series is, broadly, about figuring out how to make a fledgling uhhh anarcho-syndicalist? libertarian communist? radically egalitarian society work (by using magic) sometimes that involves self-defense but more often it involves figuring out how to make your canal system for transporting goods between different collectives more efficient basically the books own and are truly unlike anything else i've ever read, a massive labor of love that the author never intends to profit from and that's full of truly strange things edit: and it's unclear if an editor ever touches them eke out fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Feb 16, 2021 |
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Feb 16, 2021 01:19
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Patrick Spens posted:Just as a head's up, I quite like The March North but it's sequels go in a veeeeery different direction. Yeah - I still like the sequels, but they’re very different (and tbh could use a lot of editing.)
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Feb 16, 2021 01:22
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StrixNebulosa posted:As I understand it, google play and/or rakuten kobo offer DRM free ebooks It's worth noting that it depends on the publisher or author; they sell a mix of DRM-free and ADEPT DRM ebooks. It'll say on the individual ebook page whether it has DRM.
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Feb 16, 2021 01:36
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I am shocked, shocked to find that Baen’s forum is basically a Parlr lifeboat.quote:For example, a user named Turk joined on January 11, 2021, writing “I heard about this site on a few other forums. Conservative but not rabidly or idiotically.”
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Feb 16, 2021 01:44
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Danhenge posted:The books are DRM free if downloaded from google and they are simple to convert to Calibre and are easily readable on Kindle (I have done this) I have also done this.
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Feb 16, 2021 01:51
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I'm catching up on a couple pages back but I finished A Memory Called Empire from a suggestion in this thread and I enjoyed it a lot. I guess it did drag at the beginning but it pays off. Some of it stretched belief - what nation would send an ambassador with no support staff? But the conflicts and plot were very good
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Feb 16, 2021 08:25
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mewse posted:I'm catching up on a couple pages back but I finished A Memory Called Empire from a suggestion in this thread and I enjoyed it a lot. There's a lot to like, what with the poetry and the sad kissing and the deliciously gruesome death of the emperor but I think my favorite part was when she got Yskandr back in her head, because his voice is just so much fun. Next book soon! I'm excited! Has anyone read Piranesi? I shotgunned it in one sitting and I was riding high, feeling like "drat this might be an all-timer" and then the cop showed up and the real world intruded in a boring way >:| and now I think it's merely good. I've been alternately slogging through and enjoying The Shadow of the Wind in the meantime. The way Zafón writes about Barcelona makes my soul straight up eject from my body with joy but the way he writes about women (or, specifically the way the narrator thinks about women) simply makes me wish to perish.
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Feb 16, 2021 08:36
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Danhenge posted:The other nice thing is that the author will happily answer questions on his google group, so long as it's not a major spoiler plot point in a future book: https://groups.google.com/g/the-commonweal I knew him of old, on Usenet. E: and what I meant to say is that he was a good dude and a high-quality poster, but wrote in a fashion that often required some unpacking to understand. So that's still the case. Groke fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Feb 16, 2021 |
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Feb 16, 2021 09:17
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The March North is Good and the sequels are different but still good. I like the wizards, and the weeds.
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Feb 16, 2021 09:48
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tiniestacorn posted:Has anyone read Piranesi? I shotgunned it in one sitting and I was riding high, feeling like "drat this might be an all-timer" and then the cop showed up and the real world intruded in a boring way >:| and now I think it's merely good. I really enjoyed it I guess despite that part of the story (and a lot of other folks in this thread have liked it if you dive back a few months or so to around when it came out) but I can see how that plot development would change your feelings about it. My favorite parts were definitely the first half or so where it's just lush descriptions of the House with the small hints at the mystery. I actually got my mom a copy for Christmas after I read it (she really loved Johnathan Strange & Mr Norell too) and after she got a few pages in she asked me "so this is a lot of descriptions of statues and hallways - is this the whole book?" and I kinda wished it was.
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Feb 16, 2021 13:49
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mewse posted:I'm catching up on a couple pages back but I finished A Memory Called Empire from a suggestion in this thread and I enjoyed it a lot. I guess it did drag at the beginning but it pays off. I am now about 150 pages in and it's picked up quite a bit so I've preordered the second one. As someone who is terrible at remembering names, all the empire people having the naming convention of [Number + Object] is really difficult. If Ten Pearl goes off and does something else for 20 pages, there is no way I am going to remember who the hell that is 
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Feb 16, 2021 15:15
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tiniestacorn posted:Has anyone read Piranesi? I shotgunned it in one sitting and I was riding high, feeling like "drat this might be an all-timer" and then the cop showed up and the real world intruded in a boring way >:| and now I think it's merely good. I did, and adored it. Back during a previous Piranesi discussion, another goon recommended the audiobook which is narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor. That was a pro recommendation, his voice really goes well with the story and he does a great job.
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Feb 16, 2021 15:19
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Yeah Piranesi was really good. Strange and Norrell's best parts were also during the build up, while the truth was still unknown to most of the characters. But since that's such a long book, the climax is only a tiny blip in a sea of mysteries and atmosphere. Piranesi sheds its mysteries a lot faster.
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Feb 16, 2021 15:35
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An update on the Baen situation: http://file770.com/weisskopf-announces-hiatus-for-baens-bar/ quote:Baen Books publisher Toni Weisskopf told participants that the company’s online forum Baen’s Bar will be “taking a break” as of midday February 16. The announcement came in the aftermath of Jason Sanford’s February 15 article “Baen Books Forum Being Used to Advocate for Political Violence”, a public post on Patreon. e: https://twitter.com/jasonsanford/status/1361692536352497664
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Feb 16, 2021 16:09
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Mauser posted:I am now about 150 pages in and it's picked up quite a bit so I've preordered the second one. As someone who is terrible at remembering names, all the empire people having the naming convention of [Number + Object] is really difficult. If Ten Pearl goes off and does something else for 20 pages, there is no way I am going to remember who the hell that is  It got to the point where I was confusing the names of the ambassador's assistant and their friend while they were in the same scene and extended to their pet names for each other
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Feb 16, 2021 16:29
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90s Cringe Rock posted:The March North is Good and the sequels are different but still good. The March north is an ok copy of the black company. The rest is Harry Potteresque and completely boring. Aptly shows what the difference between self published and published is. Also, Saunders must be agoon, why would a self published author keep getting pushed here.
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Feb 16, 2021 16:38
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Cardiac posted:The March north is an ok copy of the black company. The rest is Harry Potteresque and completely boring.
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Feb 16, 2021 16:44
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Cardiac posted:The March north is an ok copy of the black company. The rest is Harry Potteresque and completely boring. Honestly, all it takes is one goon to become a fan of a work for something to be pushed here constantly. Then if a second goon reads it and also loves it, that's two goons in this thread going "READ THIS READ THIS" and that can feel like the entire thread, as it's not a huge thread. Which is to say, good to see a dissenting opinion. I'm still going to try the March North because it sounds like my jam, but now I know that at least one other goon isn't into it.
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Feb 16, 2021 16:51
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I may have been one of the early March North goons so that may be a red flag for anyone who's read my posts.
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Feb 16, 2021 17:00
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Cardiac posted:The March north is an ok copy of the black company. The rest is Harry Potteresque and completely boring. Can you articulate your reasoning for why you think it's "Harry Potteresque"? I can totally see it not being someone's jam but that characterization seems like nonsense.
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Feb 16, 2021 17:51
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Cardiac posted:The March north is an ok copy of the black company. The rest is Harry Potteresque and completely boring. While by and large your comment about self published material is true, it's not always the case. At this point I'd wager the ratio of trash to good is improving pretty steadily towards regular market books. Also just because an author is self published doesn't mean they didn't pay for professional critique, editors, beta readers, etc.
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Feb 16, 2021 18:00
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I've started reading Parable of the Sower (the first Earthseed novel) and for a book written in 1993 but set in the 2020s it is so close to reality that it is kind of depressing. Not that things are like that now but I could definitely see them heading in that direction.
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Feb 16, 2021 18:17
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Danhenge posted:Can you articulate your reasoning for why you think it's "Harry Potteresque"? I can totally see it not being someone's jam but that characterization seems like nonsense. harry potter but everyone is 30 years old and learning to be a civil engineer
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Feb 16, 2021 22:28
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Are there any new, good "adventuring party" style sword and sorcery books? WotC don't publish anything without Drizzt on the cover.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:15
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I feel like I never got a good read on what makes something count as "sword and sorcery" vs other types of fantasy.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:24
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"A plot impelled by hacking, slashing, and fireballing" would probably be a fair summary. Like if Lord of the Rings were about getting some money instead of destroying the Dark Lord, and the characters were cutthroats and working class men-at-arms instead of secret and not-so-secret royalty, and they stopped at a tavern instead of Lothlorien to slake their thirsts. And the prose was in a less elevated register. Then it would probably be sword and sorcery.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:32
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The standard defining examples of sword and sorcery, to me, would be the Conan stories, and also Fafhrd & Grey Mouser. Protagonists are not exactly paragons of virtue, they might occasionally do the right thing but are likely motivated by greed or lust, if they ever save the world (or just a village) it was probably an accident.
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Feb 16, 2021 23:49
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Dragonshirt posted:Are there any new, good "adventuring party" style sword and sorcery books? WotC don't publish anything without Drizzt on the cover. Jim Hines' Jig the Goblin series is the best thing I can think of in the past twenty years or so that reads as directly inspired by D&D adventuring parties. It's more comic fantasy than "sword and sorcery" though (party of adventurers captures hapless goblin; surprise! goblin protagonist!)
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Feb 17, 2021 00:03
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I feel like there's a lot of stories with characters that kind of start that way, but then get dragged into the big world-ending plots somewhere along the series. The main party in Orconomics, for example.
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Feb 17, 2021 00:12
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