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The Killing Moon (Dreamblood #1) by NK Jemisin - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005SCS4IK/ The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A Heinlein - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CWGBZ4R/ The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge #1) by Ken Follett - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TO5GXU/ Books 1-3 of Cradle by Will Wight are free Unsouled (#1) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H1CYBS6/ Soulsmith (#2) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M09PWJQ/ Blackflame (#3) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0716GZ8QX/
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Mar 9, 2022 00:32
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Fivemarks posted:I always wanted to write sci-fi, but I got convinced by mutual acquaintances of GB and I that I'm too black, not smart enough, and not 'good' enough to ever be a real writer, especially in Sci-fi. I guess seeing the recent change in things on the sci-fi front has made me feel better about that. After all, if Sanderson can just right four books offhandedly, I can at least write a short story. I want to read your stuff! Everyone has something worth sharing.
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Mar 9, 2022 02:50
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Just finished up Kings of Heaven by Richard Nell which was the last in a 3 part series. I really enjoyed it, and it was one of those series that leaves you feeling depressed and empty afterward. Finished up First Law before that one too, same feeling. Another one I really liked was Licanius Trilogy. Right now I started The Magic of Recluse, partially because it has Graphic Audio versions which I usually really like. While the world and plot seems like it could definitely be interesting and have potential, the writing seems pretty bad. The character has reacted to everything by calling it "boring" more times than I can count. And never with differing descriptions, it's always that exact same word. Boring. Maybe the author is trying to put you in the characters shoes by boring you with the prose? And they just react with a sense annoyed apathy to some very major things that have happened to him so far, and it's honestly off putting. Do these books get better? Now that the character is "out in the world" (purposely being vague so nothing can be considered a spoiler) it does seem to be picking up a little at least, but I'm lukewarm at best about it. Also any suggestions are welcome for good stuff I can listen to. Preferably a series, as I would like to stick around in another world with the same characters for a while so I can be depressed again when I finish up. I generally don't like urban fantasy, and prefer good ole swords/magic/weird poo poo stuff, at least that's what I'm still in the mood for. Already read the obvious stuff like Sanderson/Martin/Abercrombie. Good characters and world building are a plus! If there's any kind of mystery/reveals/plot twists, all the better. e: I've also read, and absolutely loved Robin Hobb. Drunk Driver Dad fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Mar 9, 2022 |
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Mar 9, 2022 03:09
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:Also any suggestions are welcome for good stuff I can listen to. Preferably a series, as I would like to stick around in another world with the same characters for a while so I can be depressed again when I finish up. I generally don't like urban fantasy, and prefer good ole swords/magic/weird poo poo stuff, at least that's what I'm still in the mood for. Already read the obvious stuff like Sanderson/Martin/Abercrombie. Good characters and world building are a plus! If there's any kind of mystery/reveals/plot twists, all the better. Have you read Malazan? I'd say it's a bit weirder than your Martin/Sanderson/Abercrombie stuff, but it's one of those series that if it clicks for you, it'll click hard. Plus there's 10+ books of it, and I think they all have audiobook versions.
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Mar 9, 2022 03:22
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cptn_dr posted:Have you read Malazan? I'd say it's a bit weirder than your Martin/Sanderson/Abercrombie stuff, but it's one of those series that if it clicks for you, it'll click hard. Plus there's 10+ books of it, and I think they all have audiobook versions. I'm aware of it, and it's definitely on my to read list. But I'm not so sure about tackling it in audiobook format where I listen while at work. I tried to read it before, and I had to have that cliff notes equivalent website that someone made for it to even understand what was going on.
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Mar 9, 2022 03:26
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:Right now I started The Magic of Recluse, partially because it has Graphic Audio versions which I usually really like. While the world and plot seems like it could definitely be interesting and have potential, the writing seems pretty bad. The character has reacted to everything by calling it "boring" more times than I can count. And never with differing descriptions, it's always that exact same word. Boring. Maybe the author is trying to put you in the characters shoes by boring you with the prose? And they just react with a sense annoyed apathy to some very major things that have happened to him so far, and it's honestly off putting. Do these books get better? Now that the character is "out in the world" (purposely being vague so nothing can be considered a spoiler) it does seem to be picking up a little at least, but I'm lukewarm at best about it. That's Modesitt's style in general. He has certain ticks in his prose that I really hate (like how every character uses the same turns of phrase...just count up how many times people use "most": "he was most unpleasant"; "you are most welcome"; "it is most unusual", etc etc etc). FYI the Recluce series is one of those series where publication order =/= chronological order and the different books jump to different parts of the timeline. I really liked that aspect of it, because legendary figures in books set later in the chronologically have their own books where they are the POV character. Three of the books in particular are set in the same period but have POVs on opposite sides of the conflict and I thought that was done rather well. Also if you don't like this book, don't force yourself to pick up the next Recluce. I stopped reading somewhere around book 16, because even though every book has different characters and different events, they all have a very similar formulaic feel to them. It's a critique that Modesitt is aware of...but does not agree with. Here's a spoilerific blog post he made 10 years ago about it: https://www.lemodesittjr.com/2011/10/04/the-same-book-and-lots-of-spoilers/ A better Modesitt rec would be the Spellsong Cycle, which is 5 books long and is kind of really a trilogy with a sequel duology stapled to it. It first came out back in 1997 and is technically an isekai/portal fantasy  but I really enjoyed it as a musician. All of the same prose issues are still there, particularly bad in the dialogue exchanges between the main POV character in the 4th and 5th book and her love interest, but it didn't have the same repetitive feel as Recluce.Drunk Driver Dad posted:Also any suggestions are welcome for good stuff I can listen to. Preferably a series, as I would like to stick around in another world with the same characters for a while so I can be depressed again when I finish up. I generally don't like urban fantasy, and prefer good ole swords/magic/weird poo poo stuff, at least that's what I'm still in the mood for. Already read the obvious stuff like Sanderson/Martin/Abercrombie. Good characters and world building are a plus! If there's any kind of mystery/reveals/plot twists, all the better. I always liked Jennifer Roberson's Tiger & Del / Sword Dancer series. There are 6 books of good old sword and sorcery adventures. Fake edit: wait what, there was a 7th book? AND there's a new book coming out this year?! That's going on my TBR list.
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Mar 9, 2022 03:44
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Leng posted:That's Modesitt's style in general. He has certain ticks in his prose that I really hate (like how every character uses the same turns of phrase...just count up how many times people use "most": "he was most unpleasant"; "you are most welcome"; "it is most unusual", etc etc etc). The only Modesitt book I ever read all the way through was Archform: Beauty. I remember liking it quite a lot. I'm not sure why I never sought out more of his stuff. Possibly the sheer amount of the Recluse stuff gave me pause or something.
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Mar 9, 2022 05:12
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Leng posted:That's Modesitt's style in general. He has certain ticks in his prose that I really hate (like how every character uses the same turns of phrase...just count up how many times people use "most": "he was most unpleasant"; "you are most welcome"; "it is most unusual", etc etc etc). Are you me? Lol. I love Modesitt Recluse but you are right they are super formulaic. His more recent ones are a lot better in that he's exploring the greyness of his magic system. Also thank you for reminding me about the Tiger and Del series. Loved reading those back in high school. Should pick them up to see how they aged.
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Mar 9, 2022 05:52
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SFWA's Nebula shortlists are out. Novel: The Unbroken, C.L. Clark (Orbit US; Orbit UK) A Master of Djinn, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom; Orbit UK) Machinehood, S.B. Divya (Saga) A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK) Plague Birds, Jason Sanford (Apex) Novella: A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom) Fireheart Tiger, Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom) And What Can We Offer You Tonight, Premee Mohamed (Neon Hemlock) Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters, Aimee Ogden (Tordotcom) Flowers for the Sea, Zin E. Rocklyn (Tordotcom) The Necessity of Stars, E. Catherine Tobler (Neon Hemlock) “The Giants of the Violet Sea”, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 9-10/21) (Martha Wells declined novella nomination for Fugitive Telemetry) The rest here: https://locusmag.com/2022/03/2021-nebula-awards-ballot/
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Mar 9, 2022 06:07
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Life kinda sucks right now so I'm rereading the Constance Verity series since the last book came out today. Space team reread after that.
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Mar 9, 2022 06:23
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The Cradle kickstarter is now at 350k and the #3 fiction kickstarter of all time; the drop from #2 to #3 is really huge, as #2 is like 6.8 million (top two spots are both Sanderson). Cradle is popular for a self-pub, but still, I could see this success inspiring a lot more kickstarters from all kinds of authors if it can get that much money (it's only been a day and change so it'll probably hit at least half a mil).
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Mar 9, 2022 07:01
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okay i know we all rag on each other for being graydon saunders, but seriously
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Mar 9, 2022 08:35
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Horizon Burning posted:okay i know we all rag on each other for being graydon saunders, but seriously ... he is?
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Mar 9, 2022 11:36
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Can't be, he's on kindle.
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Mar 9, 2022 11:43
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Graydon Saunders Kickstarter is too long for a username 
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Mar 9, 2022 13:20
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Graydon "Based" Saunders
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Mar 9, 2022 14:01
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There’s a nursing home around here called Saunders Guest Home or something like that and whenever I see the name I think of this thread Read The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi. It’s set in a post-climate crisis American south, where drought, fires, and hurricanes have reduced whole states to lawless dark zones, and private militias are used to enforce water rights and secure state borders. Plot aside, it’s basically an R-rated 80s action movie - it’s rare to go more than a few chapters without a stack of bodies piling up, everybody’s double-crossing everyone else, there’s an elusive MacGuffin (senior water rights from an old treaty, which could make you a zillionaire if you can find someone to buy them off you), someone gets their hand eaten by a hyena, etc. Hopefully this gets turned into a blockbuster or Netflix series at some point.
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Mar 9, 2022 14:56
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Fivemarks posted:I always wanted to write sci-fi, but I got convinced by mutual acquaintances of GB and I that I'm too black, not smart enough, and not 'good' enough to ever be a real writer, especially in Sci-fi. I guess seeing the recent change in things on the sci-fi front has made me feel better about that. After all, if Sanderson can just right four books offhandedly, I can at least write a short story. I don’t want to read your stuff, but I will buy it and place it in my reading queue forever (as I do with 90% of the other fiction I don’t consume).
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Mar 9, 2022 19:56
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OmniBeer posted:This was a few pages back, but my god, thank you for that recommendation. It’s like the good parts of The Wandering Inn but compressed to normal pacing and just stronger writing in general.
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Mar 9, 2022 20:20
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Battle Ground (Dresden Files #17) by Jim Butcher - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0867ZMV2S/
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Mar 9, 2022 23:53
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drat butcher is still just crankin em out huh. i gave up like ten books ago
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Mar 9, 2022 23:59
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I didn't even like the first one so you can imagine how much the imitators annoy me.
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Mar 10, 2022 00:32
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moonmazed posted:drat butcher is still just crankin em out huh. i gave up like ten books ago I don't know that "crakin' 'em out" is the best description. In 2020 he released Peace Talks and Battle Ground - which were basically two books made from splitting one really large book in two. That was after a five year drought due to remodeling-caused divorce or something. When will book 18 come out? gently caress knows but probably not this year. Meanwhile Jonathan Maberry's Kagen the Damned comes out May 10. As a huge fan of his Joe Ledger series, I'm looking to seeing what he'll do in a fantasy novel.
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Mar 10, 2022 02:19
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Wow that Brandon Sanderson kickstarter blew up and now I feel kinda silly cause I went for the $40 tier right when it went up and was crossing my fingers it would reach the goal lol. The series sounds very interesting so I’m happy it’s a success. Edit: it’s up to 26 million now https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dragonsteel/surprise-four-secret-novels-by-brandon-sanderson might be the record for an author on kickstarter I believe
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Mar 10, 2022 02:21
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Orc Priest posted:Wow that Brandon Sanderson kickstarter blew up and now I feel kinda silly cause I went for the $40 tier right when it went up and was crossing my fingers it would reach the goal lol. The series sounds very interesting so I’m happy it’s a success. It's a record, period. Kickstarter has never had a project more funded than that one.
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Mar 10, 2022 03:28
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It’s just under 27m now, and the previous highest is 20.3m. Sanderson is killing it; his previous kickstarter just last year was already extraordinarily successful at like 6.8m, but this is another level. If you look at most funded fiction kickstarters, the top 5 are: https://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/publishing/fiction?sort=most_funded 1. Sanderson’s secret extra books, currently around 27m. 2. Sanderson’s Way of Kings leatherbound edition, 6.8m. 3. Will Wight’s Cradle 1-3 limited editions, currently ~400k. 4. New World Magischola (some kind of Magic Beastiary/LARPing thing?) 300k with with only 567 backers (!) 5. Audiobook for third Little Brother book by Cory Doctorow with 270k. That’s a comically steep drop off from Sanderson to the rest.
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Mar 10, 2022 21:52
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The Darwath Series: The Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air, and The Armies of Daylight by Barbara Hambly - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0090WTL90/
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Mar 10, 2022 23:55
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pradmer posted:The Darwath Series: The Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air, and The Armies of Daylight by Barbara Hambly - $2.99 Jesus-gently caress I remember those. I remember reading those books in high school (and am 53 years old). They kind of rocked, truth be told.
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Mar 11, 2022 00:22
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Cicero posted:That’s a comically steep drop off from Sanderson to the rest. It's very difficult to imagine Brandon Sanderson not following through with something. It's basically just a pre-order that will drum up some extra publicity.
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Mar 11, 2022 00:36
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personally i don't think we should be encouraging sanderson!!!
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Mar 11, 2022 01:33
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I think I'm definitely going to put Recluse down. I just find it too off putting, plus I don't tend to care much for first person narratives, and prefer a cast of different characters POVs. I saw a few people say Crown of Stars by Kate Elliot is pretty good, can anyone vouch for that? I've got a 10 hour shift tomorrow and would like a decent book to carry me through. I also haven't read Chalion yet, and while Bujold's Vorkosigan saga didn't really capture my attention from a world/story point of view, I remember the writing being pretty good. Not sure what type of story Chalion is going to fall into though. Drunk Driver Dad fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Mar 11, 2022 |
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Mar 11, 2022 01:49
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moonmazed posted:personally i don't think we should be encouraging sanderson!!! But no I think the bigger deal is other authors getting inspired, these are just too big to ignore, too big to not have some significant impact on the broader scene; I’d already bet the Cradle kickstarter was influenced by the Way of Kings kickstarter last September.
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Mar 11, 2022 01:58
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StrixNebulosa posted:https://twitter.com/freezingkiwi/status/1500650830394888193 Thanks for flagging this - grabbed the first one, really enjoyed it, so I grabbed the rest. Police procedural in a fantasy world is extremely my jam.
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Mar 11, 2022 02:31
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:I saw a few people say Crown of Stars by Kate Elliot is pretty good, can anyone vouch for that? I've got a 10 hour shift tomorrow and would like a decent book to carry me through. I've read book 1 and half of book 2 in Crown of Stars and it's very well-written. Lots of good, interesting details and it's a fascinating version of fantasy Europe. That said - - book 1 contains a graphic depiction of an abusive relationship, and while she does eventually escape it, getting there had me sobbing while reading. - things get worse before they get better, in various places. part of why I dropped book 2 was because I realized I wasn't up to the emotional labor of reading it at the time. this was a few years back and I was in the middle of COVID funk, so, y'know. Worth a look but go in prepared! e: Speaking of, have you read anything by Michelle Sagara-West?
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Mar 11, 2022 02:32
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I found Crown of Stars kind of boring, tbh. I didn't think it was bad, but I've never really vibed with Elliot's style.
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Mar 11, 2022 02:40
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Crown of Stars was… okay? After a while I just set the series down and never went back. It felt like there was something good there but it was buried in a lot of boring things.
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Mar 11, 2022 02:43
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StrixNebulosa posted:I've read book 1 and half of book 2 in Crown of Stars and it's very well-written. Lots of good, interesting details and it's a fascinating version of fantasy Europe. Thanks, I think I'll give Crown of Stars a go. I've heard of West, I remember people saying she had like a fantasy Asia series that was pretty good. e: On second thought, I might try The Broken Crown instead by West. Drunk Driver Dad fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Mar 11, 2022 |
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Mar 11, 2022 02:43
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Kalman posted:Crown of Stars was… okay? After a while I just set the series down and never went back. It felt like there was something good there but it was buried in a lot of boring things. Probably not something similar, but you might consider Thomas Harlan's Time of the Sixth Sun series which starts with Wasteland of Flint. Sixth Sun is set in an alternate history future where Japan made early contact with the Azteks and formed an alliance that eventually came to rule the rest of the world and then go out into space. Wasteland of Flint has a unique setting and is also a "WTF is happening here" exploration puzzler more than a space opera, so it was very much my jam.
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Mar 11, 2022 03:10
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:I think I'm definitely going to put Recluse down. I just find it too off putting, plus I don't tend to care much for first person narratives, and prefer a cast of different characters POVs. I liked Curse of Chalion when I read it earlier in the year. A deeply traumatized veteran finds his way back to the royal court where he grew up and becomes a tutor to the teenage princess. There is Something Afoot, foul magic and dark politics. The story itself isn't all grimdark, though a lot of rather dark things happen. The gods appear to be inconveniently real and they're cross about something.
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Mar 11, 2022 03:28
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I read all of Crown of Stars recently. It's a slow burn and never really hits the peaks one hopes it would, but I thought it did a better job than almost any other fantasy at reconstructing an early middle ages mindset about nobility, honor, and religion. A lot of authors (including one with a record setting kickstarter...) handle premodern settings by putting more or less modern people in a place with horses instead of cars and, maybe, make a bit of an effort to give them the manners and ideological nationalism of a Victorian. Crown of Stars reads almost like alternate history because Elliot pays so much attention to how people think in the setting, which has magic and monsters but also an alternate matriarchal Christianity (St Paul was a woman in this timeline and preached a Docetic doctrine). The only other strong example of that I've encountered is Eifelheim by Michael Flynn, about aliens arriving in the 1300s. But if you're one of the vast majority of people who doesn't think what I just wrote sounds interesting and you just want a fun, exciting fantasy novel, I wouldn't recommend it. As a side note, a year ago or so, Kate Elliot published book 1 of a space opera take on a gender-swapped Alexander the Great's childhood and I thought it was great, like someone found an unpublished Peter F Hamilton manuscript and edited out all of the unnecessary and somewhat problematic sex, leaving a cool, widescreen space opera that's long but not doorstoppy. Hope she puts out some sequels soon.
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Mar 11, 2022 03:48
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