DACK FAYDEN posted:My condolences about... what was it called, Reign of Fire? I literally just read some goons complaining about that movie not committing to the "dragons fighting armies" concept in another thread like last week.  The worst part of Reign of Fire is that the marketing made it seem like there would be armies of dragons fighting Apache helicopters over London, but nothing like that is in the movie. I think they even made a trailer showing a dogfight between a dragon and an F16, but I can't find that any more. SimonChris fucked around with this message at 08:32 on Jul 26, 2021 |
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Jul 26, 2021 08:25
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pseudorandom name posted:But what if the dragons were F-14s? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnVCGLh8ZW4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A-KbFXa4aI (This was JSDF recruiting propaganda.)
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Jul 26, 2021 08:43
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Beefeater1980 posted:I remember when I was reading the Polity books, which are enjoyable, “oh, so this is the right wing version of the Culture” Neal Asher is what happens if you ask Peter F Hamilton to write a Culture novel.
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Jul 26, 2021 08:53
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HopperUK posted:I'll try to remember to look for it! I got hold of a copy of the book a year or two ago and had to put it aside because it really stank of cigarette smoke. Been long enough that might have eased off. For the benefit of UKians with a nostalgia fetish: a charity are selling three copies of this on Amazon.
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Jul 26, 2021 09:17
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After years of not being able to get past the first chapter of the Anethem novel, it randomly popped up on my Audible feed last week and I just finished it up. Totally engrossing once I finally understood the basics of the setting. It's got me all fired up to download more Neal Stephenson audiobooks, because I generally really like his stuff, but holy poo poo can those books be tough to get into. The audio format also makes it way easier to keep tracking the narrative through multi-page segues into philosophy and quantum mechanics.
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Jul 26, 2021 19:00
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pseudorandom name posted:I think the dragons just didn't match any profile the missile guidance software recognized and they were forced to manually aim the missiles, which is problematic when the enemy has mind-destroying stealth glamours. From memory the Fighter just uses it's gun, because as well as the software problem, they're vulnerable to being spoofed by the magic of the rider.
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Jul 26, 2021 20:43
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pseudorandom name posted:But what if the dragons were F-14s? Oh, you mean Mike Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter? That's an odd little book.
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Jul 26, 2021 21:39
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Marshal Radisic posted:Oh, you mean Mike Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter? That's an odd little book. And it’s two sequels.
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Jul 26, 2021 21:48
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:Yeah, I guess you’re right on track here. Also, the libertarian opinion leaders, extremely rich tycoons, want to introduce UBI and kill off all other social programs simultaneously. Ah, that was the bit I was missing.
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Jul 26, 2021 21:48
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StrixNebulosa posted:The single coolest thing that came out of Bakker's stuff is the concept that - it's been years since I read this theory, pardon errors - is that the elder god or "outside force" that destroyed an army was like, helicopters with missiles. Of course, that's not what Bakker ultimately did with that because he's a hack, but I ADORE the idea of a low-tech setting going "wow this must be strange magic" and no it's just modern military tech. There's a bit in Robert Westall's timeshift YA novel The Wind Eye where a horrified Dark Ages random in a boat is confronted with a GIANT! MONSTER! DRAGONFLY! (aka a coastal rescue helicopter). He liked that kind of stuff: Devil on the Road is a bloke on a motorcycle called back to the past by a witch.
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Jul 26, 2021 22:04
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Authority (Southern Reach #2) by Jeff VanderMeer - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GET18P2/ The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan - $4.99 each The Eye of the World (#1) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002U3CCYM/ The Great Hunt (#2) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002VBV1R2/ The Dragon Reborn (#3) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0030AF5DO/ The Shadow Rising (#4) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00329UWL8/ The Fires of Heaven (#5) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037V18D2/ Against a Dark Background by Iain M Banks - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002CT0TXK/ Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0141ZP41Y/ Wings of Wrath (Magister #2) by CS Friedman - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036Q4M6S/
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Jul 26, 2021 22:24
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HopperUK posted:I'm still mad that Ian Malcolm dies in the Jurassic Park book and then Michael Crichton just ignored that when he wrote the sequel. I think the movie had come out and Malcolm's popularity made him change his mind. What a hack. If this is actually the reasoning behind it then lol, because when I re-read Jurassic Park past my teenage years I couldn't believe what a tedious windbag author surrogate Malcolm is.
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Jul 27, 2021 00:46
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SimonChris posted:
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Jul 27, 2021 01:08
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jng2058 posted:Really? Which one? And how? Brandon Sanderson posted:
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Jul 27, 2021 01:18
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Yknow I read that book but I can’t remember that scene at all. That’s why I stopped reading Sanderson, everything about his books leaks out of my head a few days after I read them and since they’re 1000 pages long I can never catch up.
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Jul 27, 2021 01:25
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Lol, a noble warrior named Kaladin. How'd you come up with that name, wow!
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Jul 27, 2021 01:31
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I remember the Reign of Fire video game being a shockingly fun rental.
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Jul 27, 2021 02:11
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why is it such a Generic Fantasy Novel cliche for the protagonist to have a name beginning with K?
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Jul 27, 2021 03:11
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Horizon Burning posted:why is it such a Generic Fantasy Novel cliche for the protagonist to have a name beginning with K? Also, their names always state exactly who they are or what they do: Kvothe (Quothe, because he's a pretentiousness character telling a story), Kylar (this one was like Kaladin/Paladin except it was Kylar/Killer). I'm sure there are hundreds more.
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Jul 27, 2021 03:50
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In the wake of my masterstroke, I sat in my office marvelling at my plans to crush the rebellion when there was a knock at my door. Suspecting it was my faithful account Muire Lo, I opened my mouth so he might leave me to my machinations when the door crashed from its hinges and in strode the Duchess Vultjag--yet she wore a jaunty hat set upon her head at an angle that was a rakish as her broken nose! As I reached for my duelling sabre, she said "Baru Fisher? Please, the closest you get to fishing is being the bait on Farrier's hook!" Aghast and spluttering at the indignity, I recited the Hierarchic Qualm and focused on the incrastic precepts of hygiene and order, trusting my mind and wits above all else, but I could feel her piercing eyes upon me and she leapt upon my desk and proclaimed, "Besides, the only thing he's been nailing is an Oriati, and I don't mean no horseshoes!" And as I collapsed upon the floor, my desk toppled and plans torn asunder, the pages of my palimpsest falling about me like the feathers of a thousand birds, I was like "Kuye lam."
Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Jul 27, 2021 |
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Jul 27, 2021 03:53
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Drakyn posted:Any chance you could elaborate on this if you feel like it (no obligation)? I only read the first one, and that was a million years ago, but I'm curious for more details. sorry about leaving you hanging for so very very long because it took a while for me to figure out how to articulate this in my head. But basically the way I see it is that Acts of Caine as a series is about coming to a place of pure and wholesome love after a lifetime where being a man and doing the masculine and engaging in the bad cultural aspects of masculinity and the places that takes you and all of that has completely destroyed his life. However, because of this, and because I think it's clearly the author's exploration of this personally as well, it's got to indulge in basically every lovely bit of it along the way; it's a necessary part of the ultimate healing process. The absolute end of the series is warm and affirming and beautiful, but most of the series is indulging in that masculine total destruction. As a person who has had to explictly ask themself why they are not a (trans) man, this is an incredibly powerful read for me. The specific thoughts I have re mentioning toxic masculinity are in a lot of ways inspired from having once scrolled through the goodreads reviews page for Heroes Die and seeing the word 'testosterone' more times than I ever have in my fuckin life (and again, like, transmasculine here!!) and just draging that thread out from there. Unrelatedly Blade of Tyshalle is some really interesting disability ownvoices (before ownvoices was known as a concept) just because Stover specifically had similar injuries as to Caine and had to himself relearn his own body. neongrey fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Jul 27, 2021 |
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Jul 27, 2021 04:00
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Edit - I missed the page before this, the General B ultimate hustler stuff was absolutely inspired.
Silly Newbie fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Jul 27, 2021 |
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Jul 27, 2021 05:47
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jng2058 posted:Honestly, I'd compare a dragon more to an A-10. Big and lumbering in the air, but devastating to targets on the ground. neongrey posted:sorry about leaving you hanging for so very very long because it took a while for me to figure out how to articulate this in my head.
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Jul 27, 2021 14:08
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Milkfred E. Moore posted:In the wake of my masterstroke, I sat in my office marvelling at my plans to crush the rebellion when there was a knock at my door. Suspecting it was my faithful account Muire Lo, I opened my mouth so he might leave me to my machinations when the door crashed from its hinges and in strode the Duchess Vultjag--yet she wore a jaunty hat set upon her head at an angle that was a rakish as her broken nose! As I reached for my duelling sabre, she said "Baru Fisher? Please, the closest you get to fishing is being the bait on Farrier's hook!" Aghast and spluttering at the indignity, I recited the Hierarchic Qualm and focused on the incrastic precepts of hygiene and order, trusting my mind and wits above all else, but I could feel her piercing eyes upon me and she leapt upon my desk and proclaimed, "Besides, the only thing he's been nailing is an Oriati, and I don't mean no horseshoes!" And as I collapsed upon the floor, my desk toppled and plans torn asunder, the pages of my palimpsest falling about me like the feathers of a thousand birds, I was like "Kuye lam." Maybe I’m just very dumb, but I don’t get this at all.
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Jul 27, 2021 14:38
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a foolish pianist posted:Maybe I’m just very dumb, but I don’t get this at all. I half get it. It appears to be like what the author of Baru did on the last page but with Baru. Not sure of this scene is from something else with the Baru references mashed in.
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Jul 27, 2021 14:55
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It's a spin on that most famous of post-revolutionary formula-polemics, The Peerless Knave
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Jul 27, 2021 15:09
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I never stated why I felt Beyond the Beyond a 1997 sci-fi parody book heavily inspired the people who wrote & produced Galaxy Quest the 1999 movie. Here's the three most obvious things: -The not-Spock character in Beyond the Beyond is a english dramatic actor typecast into his iconic SFF BtB tv-show role that forces him to wear a mottled purple prosthetic in public appearances. -The true believer fans in Beyond the Beyond crammed actual mobile phone hardware into replicas of BtB tv-show's communicator devices and use them to talk with the Captain of the show at plot critical moments. -The blonde female bridge crew member in Beyond the Beyond tv-show filled the "talks to the ships computer role" role in Galaxy Quest the major difference being the ships computer lives inside her cleavage/is her cleavage in BtB.
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Jul 27, 2021 15:14
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I thought that was botl making GBS threads on that dreadful Bakker character, Kelhus. Thread lore.
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Jul 27, 2021 15:18
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it's a play on old forum meme, the ultimate hustler
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Jul 27, 2021 15:20
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…drat
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Jul 27, 2021 15:52
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HopperUK posted:I agree that it's good to see he was able to grow. I have read some of his stories and he is chokingly racist. It's not the characters, it's clearly the author. Anyone paying attention can tell the difference pretty easily, I think. Robert E. Howard was the same way, though I don't know if he ever matured and realized his mistakes like Lovecraft or if he was still extremely racist (even for his time) when he died.
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Jul 27, 2021 16:50
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Drakyn posted:Isn't that the right-wing one about Superior Japanese Armies And Society Owning loving Idiot Backwards Primitives or am I thinking of something else?. Dunno if I'd consider it right wing, but yea. It's basically JSDF wankery, but the general idea of it is handled fairly well. It's sort of what happens when a fantasy land with elves and magic and dragons and knights decides to pick a fight with a country that has things like guns, missiles, bombs and tanks. poo poo gets hosed up on both sides, and the main character is basically a goon weeb, but it was a decent watch. Only one season that I know of, streaming on Hulu if you are in the US.
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Jul 27, 2021 17:39
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In general GATE's ideology embraces the usual nationalist/jingoist stuff the Japanese right loves, and is pro-colonialist in a way that would make a IJA officer from 1905 (or a Briton from the same time period) nod in approval. The series is basically "Japan does a colonialism and it's totally cool!", and also "They must be Americans because only the United States has Africans in it's special forces"
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Jul 27, 2021 19:27
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https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheSalvationWar There is a popular web serial where the armies of hell invade the earth on Judgment Day and are easily defeated by modern military weapons. Not that I recommend actually reading it, but reading about it is pretty entertaining. SimonChris fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Jul 27, 2021 |
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Jul 27, 2021 19:59
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That's a really funny take I haven't seen before. Just crushing demons and using hell for free thermal.
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Jul 27, 2021 20:18
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Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003RRXXMA/ Blood of Dragons (Rain Wilds Chronicles #4) by Robin Hobb - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0089LOD6Y/ Lilith's Brood: The Complete Xenogenesis Trilogy by Octavia E Butler - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008HALOMI/
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Jul 27, 2021 23:11
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SimonChris posted:https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheSalvationWar For the small intersection of the Venn diagram of people who know who Abaddon is and what a Trophy APS is, this series is catnip
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Jul 27, 2021 23:23
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James Blishs's Day After Judgement has a great sequence where the city of Dis appears in Death Valley post-nuclear-war and Strategic Command tries to send in the troops. It doesn't go great.
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Jul 27, 2021 23:24
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I wish there were more fantasy books that used Christianity as the mythology. I don't even care if they mix it up somewhat, just give me angels vs demons and saints and all that.
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Jul 27, 2021 23:29
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xiw posted:James Blishs's Day After Judgement has a great sequence where the city of Dis appears in Death Valley post-nuclear-war and Strategic Command tries to send in the troops. It doesn't go great. I read a post somewhere which said it was like an SF author had picked up AE Waite's Book of Ceremonial Magic and treated it as a physics textbook full of exciting new equations his characters could use. Having read it in two-novella form, that seems fairly accurate. A fair bit of explanation of the technobabble, only the technobabble is summoning goetic demon x who is a president with fifty thousand demons under their command and will teach you maths. and then an arms dealer decides he just wants worldwide poo poo to get hosed up for kicks and job security Oh and it's got a cool WOPR.
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Jul 27, 2021 23:36
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