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It's people with a birthmark/whatever the hell it was shaped like a six-spoked ship's wheel on the back of their heads, isn't it? Or have I inadvertently switched realities again? Berenspoon Bears, right? I never forget things; it's reality that's wrong. 
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May 24, 2021 13:36
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:Chasm City was really good cyberpunk noir, the main line three novels ranged from OK to very bad (the third one). Nothing was published after the final novel of the trilogy, at least nothing worth a mention. Of course, the shorts are his best work, I agree with you. Nah don't re-read House of Suns if you really enjoyed it. It doesn't hold up on re-reads that well, though you might enjoy reading the short story Reynolds expanded out into House of Suns though. The same main two characters occur in it, only it's more of a murder mystery set at a Gentian Line reunion vs epic galactic space travel story. 1996 conventions continued to happen and be discussed in the SFL Archives 1996. Nothing as try-hard like MOC 10a though, mostly adorable stuff like trying out the first commercially available digital cameras (with .5 or 1 MP resolution) and being amazed at being able to see what you shot instantly (and burning through batteries since early digital cameras were intensely energy hungry) or smuggling in a computer and a Laser Printer to create alternate non-official convention newsletters that gave the unsanitized truth + gossip. That skeevy 1996 MOC 10A convention got brought up again when ROC 1996 happened. The person (Roland Castle) who ran the MOC conventions attended ROC 1996 to throw multiple attention-gathering hissy fits in between promising intense sexual assault on haters. Plus while looking up MOC and trying to figure out what all the fuss in it was about, fancyclopedia informed me that one of the DragonCon founders is a literal convicted sex offender. https://fancyclopedia.org/Ed_Kramer Then further dives into fancyclopedia showed lots of extreme WTF behavior by SFF fandom from the very beginning of SFF fandom. Forrest Ackerman running under multiple fandom identities to hide all the sexual harassment he was doing. The lady (Morojo) who kicked off Cosplay as a thing and another early female SFF fan called Tigrina being intensely harassed/stalked. Isaac Asimov's & Harlan Ellison's & Jerry Pournelle's terrible behavior at SFF conventions getting free "do-not-mention" passes makes more sense in context now. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 14:03 on May 24, 2021 |
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May 24, 2021 13:59
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quantumfoam posted:Plus while looking up MOC and trying to figure out what all the fuss in it was about, fancyclopedia informed me that one of the DragonCon founders is a literal convicted sex offender. https://fancyclopedia.org/Ed_Kramer Yeah I was wondering about that after the previous post, but it looks like accusations didn't start being public until a few years after his mention.
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May 24, 2021 14:17
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General Battuta posted:Redemption Ark is one of his best books, also the title is a pun so obvious and terrible I didn't spot it for like ten years. no
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May 24, 2021 14:18
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90s Cringe Rock posted:oh my god I don't know whether I'm delighted or upset.
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May 24, 2021 16:04
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90s Cringe Rock posted:oh my god hahahahaha
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May 24, 2021 16:27
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General Battuta posted:Redemption Ark is one of his best books, also the title is a pun so obvious and terrible I didn't spot it for like ten years. Oh poo poo! Looking at the publication date, guess I'm 19 years.
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May 24, 2021 16:49
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Deptfordx posted:Oh poo poo! jesus christ it took me way too long even after GB mentioned it was a pun
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May 24, 2021 16:55
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Small Gods (Discworld #13) by Terry Pratchett - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QTEA3I/ Dragonfly Falling (Shadows of the Apt #2) by Adrian Tchaikovsky - $0.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003GK223Y/ Ashes of the Sun (Burningblade and Silvereye #1) by Django Wexler - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZZ25BCX/
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May 24, 2021 17:35
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Gats Akimbo posted:It's people with a birthmark/whatever the hell it was shaped like a six-spoked ship's wheel on the back of their heads, isn't it? Or have I inadvertently switched realities again? Berenspoon Bears, right? I dont remember that, but I wasn't that engaged with Terminal World and might have missed it. Reynolds is fond of that sort of thing though - in one of his short stories, he has a civilization who's symbol is a tiger fighting over the resources of a system with another group who uses the symbol of a scallop shell. The implication is that they derived from ExxonMobile and Shell.
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May 24, 2021 17:47
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Finally finished the new season of Love, Death, and Robots and I gotta say, it's fairly decent. No standout episodes, but I did enjoy pretty much all of them except the drowned giant one. That one just seemed kinda pointless.
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May 24, 2021 20:29
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pradmer posted:Ashes of the Sun (Burningblade and Silvereye #1) by Django Wexler - $1.99 Anybody have any opinions on this one? I feel like I've had Wexler recommended to me a bunch of times, but I don't remember which books or why.
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May 24, 2021 20:36
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pradmer posted:Small Gods (Discworld #13) by Terry Pratchett - $1.99
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May 24, 2021 20:45
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I've read a lot of books this past year, several of them SciFi and Fantasy, but I am kind of out of knowing what to read next and would like recommendations. To help, here is some of what I have recently read below and liked in the past. I am well aware not all of these would be considered good books but I read them anyway. Most recently finished and enjoyed: The 8 books of The Expanse NK Jemisin's The Broken Earth Trilogy The Vampire the Masquerade Clan series from the 1990s (all 13 of them) The Vampire the Masquerade Dark Ages Clan Series from the early 2000s (all 13 of them) The Blood Bowl Omnibus & Death on the Pitch books Several Necromunda novels Also of note, I have tried over the past year to get into Discworld and just can't do it. I've read the first 4 books and just don't feel a real need to go any further. In the past I have really enjoyed Ian M. Banks Culture series, which I have read all of, and have read several sci-fi classics like Dune, and classic fantasy like Conan and This Dying Earth and a little newer stuff like The Song of Ice and Fire. It's been years since I've read most of these though. The other series probably worth mentioning that I have read and enjoyed is the Dresden Files. I read lots of bad D&D themed fiction in my teenage years but haven't read too much of it recently.
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May 24, 2021 21:02
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I'm going to suggest to Gideon the 9th because you seem to like vampires so you'll probably like space necromancers. If you're looking for a longer series you might enjoy I'd suggest trying some Charles Stross. His laundry files are fairly consistently entertaining. Other random favorites that seem worth mentioning off the top of my head: Yoon Ha Lee's Hexarchate trilogy , The Traitor Baru Cormorant, The Quantum Thief. Harold Fjord fucked around with this message at 21:10 on May 24, 2021 |
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May 24, 2021 21:06
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nesbit37 posted:I've read a lot of books this past year, several of them SciFi and Fantasy, but I am kind of out of knowing what to read next and would like recommendations. To help, here is some of what I have recently read below and liked in the past. I am well aware not all of these would be considered good books but I read them anyway. Consider C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy (starts with Black Sun Rising) and Barb & JC Hendee's Noble Dead/Dhampir books. The first is really good dark fantasy with a touch of horror and sci fi, and the second is vampires + fantasy and was one of my family's next steps after reading too many bad D&D novels. A half-vampire cons peasants by pretending to be a vampire hunter with the help of her elf assassin buddy and their magic fae dog. It's been a long time since I've read them but I've always meant to come back and finish the sequels. Craig Schaefer's books are pretty good, Daniel Faust and/or Harmony Black series. I'm currently listening to the audiobook of Max Gladstone's Empress of Forever which is giving me Farscape fish out of water in a mad and hostile sci fi setting vibes. You mentioned Blood Bowl and Necromunda so I'd be remiss not to mention Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn books, and Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lords trilogy.
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May 24, 2021 21:47
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I'm just going to throw some weirder poo poo/one offs at you since I imagine all the usual big recs will get covered The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart - medieval lowlife scoundrel fantasy. Kinda nasty Lies of Locke Lamora - fun theft/heist kind of fantasy Ship of Fools - a bit weirder/darker sort of space sci-fi one off
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May 24, 2021 21:49
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Aardvark! posted:I'm just going to throw some weirder poo poo/one offs at you since I imagine all the usual big recs will get covered this is a rough one, trigger warning utterly brutal violence.
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May 24, 2021 21:50
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The Terminal World thing isn't really a "twist." It doesn't have any bearing on the story, it's just a fun little thing if you can pick up the hints, since it's never explicitly stated.
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May 24, 2021 21:51
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100 fathoms below is a vampire submarine book. The author is Nicholas Kaufman. I haven't read it yet, but I bought it solely on the idea of vampires on a sub. Can't really beat that for an elevator pitch.
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May 24, 2021 21:57
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uber_stoat posted:this is a rough one, trigger warning utterly brutal violence. Tru. I saw Blood Bowl and figured the op was probably fine with ultraviolence
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May 24, 2021 22:09
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uber_stoat posted:this is a rough one, trigger warning utterly brutal violence.
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May 24, 2021 22:17
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Yeah I bought Grossbart but wasn't able to get past the first few chapters. It's not badly written, I thought i knew what I was getting into, but it was too much for me.
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May 24, 2021 22:22
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Aardvark! posted:Tru. I saw Blood Bowl and figured the op was probably fine with ultraviolence DACK FAYDEN posted:second, it is a book about two absolutely horrible human beings and the things they do (but it is a good book) oh yeah, i liked it and want to check out the author's other stuff but man it goes some places.
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May 24, 2021 22:22
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uber_stoat posted:oh yeah, i liked it and want to check out the author's other stuff but man it goes some places. His The Enterprise of Death (about a depressed ex-slave alcoholic necromancer and her exceptionally pissed-off dead ex-girlfriend (also a necromancer)) is amazingly good.
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May 24, 2021 22:32
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Thanks for the suggestions so far!uber_stoat posted:this is a rough one, trigger warning utterly brutal violence. Thanks for the warning. I am ok with brutal violence, or at least giving it a go. Will have to see how it comes out exactly. The stuff in the Bloodbowl books is violent but its really pretty cartoony.
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May 24, 2021 23:39
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Did you read the VTM Gehenna novel along with the clan novels? I just read it for the first time and it was surprisingly decent.
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May 24, 2021 23:42
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eke out posted:jesus christ it took me way too long even after GB mentioned it was a pun what's the pun? ESL here and usually I suss out wordplay but this one is a headscratcher. I'm sure it'll be obvious in hindsight.
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May 24, 2021 23:42
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Story arc.
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May 24, 2021 23:46
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Doctor Jeep posted:what's the pun? ESL here and usually I suss out wordplay but this one is a headscratcher. I'm sure it'll be obvious in hindsight. Change the K to a C
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May 25, 2021 00:00
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Doctor Jeep posted:what's the pun? ESL here and usually I suss out wordplay but this one is a headscratcher. I'm sure it'll be obvious in hindsight. the Titular Redemption Ark can be said to be the Nostalgia For Infinity, a ship which gets used to establish a colony of humans that might hopefully escape the bad poo poo coming down the pipe. in literature a redemption arc is when a character tries to put right things they have made wrong in the past, the arc of the journey they go through while they do it. which is referring to Clevain i guess?
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May 25, 2021 00:00
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Gats Akimbo posted:His The Enterprise of Death (about a depressed ex-slave alcoholic necromancer and her exceptionally pissed-off dead ex-girlfriend (also a necromancer)) is amazingly good. Thanks for this. I started Brothers but fell off it, drat lack of attention span. But this sounds right up my aesthetic alley.
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May 25, 2021 00:13
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BurningBeard posted:Thanks for this. I started Brothers but fell off it, drat lack of attention span. But this sounds right up my aesthetic alley. checking just now and it's 1.99 on the USA kindle store for anyone interested.
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May 25, 2021 00:17
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cptn_dr posted:Did you read the VTM Gehenna novel along with the clan novels? I just read it for the first time and it was surprisingly decent. No I didn't read that one. I did read the Victorian age novels though and they were middling at best.
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May 25, 2021 01:08
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DACK FAYDEN posted:On the incredibly tiny offchance anyone in this thread hasn't already read this, it's one of the best Discworld books and entirely standalone It's actually possible that this is the best book that someone reading this thread hasn't read yet. So get on it.
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May 25, 2021 02:05
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The Blacktongue Thief should be either out now or only a few hours away, depending on timezones, and I really recommend it. It reminds me almost of The Book of the New Sun, if it was written by someone who reads a lot of horror and plays a lot of RPGs rather than by a Catholic logophile. (By which I mean the prose is very good, the setting is weird and the protagonist is a bit of a bastard. It probably won't reward rereading quite as much) cptn_dr fucked around with this message at 07:08 on May 25, 2021 |
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May 25, 2021 07:03
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cptn_dr posted:The Blacktongue Thief reminds me almost of The Book of the New Sun, if it was written by someone who reads a lot of horror and plays a lot of RPGs rather than by a Catholic logophile. see now you've anti-sold me on it
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May 25, 2021 07:55
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Yeah, I was worried that saying RPG might do that. Err, is it possible to say RPG (positive) rather than RPG (grognard)? It's very good, I swear. cptn_dr fucked around with this message at 08:29 on May 25, 2021 |
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May 25, 2021 08:25
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Someone with strong collaborative storytelling experience.
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May 25, 2021 08:44
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Has anyone read The Golden Age by John C. Wright, The Last Legends of Earth by A.A. Attanasio, or the Neverness books by David Zindell? All have lots of enthusiastic and negative reviews, which makes it really uncertain whether I should give them a chance. People throw out Gene Wolfe comparisons a lot, which could either be a good or a bad thing.
FPyat fucked around with this message at 09:50 on May 25, 2021 |
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May 25, 2021 09:17
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