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Cicero posted:I know the Kindle Unlimited licensing is strict, but is even the regular Kindle store ebook licensing that bad? You may have noticed that Saunders is a bit...idiosyncratic. Graydon Saunders blog posted:Update 2019-01-29: Amazon changed their agreement with Draft2Digital to require a whole lot of information transfer to Amazon. I have removed The Human Dress from sale at Amazon.
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Mar 16, 2022 19:36
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big dyke energy posted:I actually just finished that! I really enjoyed pretty much everything that had to do with the natives and exploring their planets and culture. The human politics were extremely tedious but I think that was kind of the joke. I read some reviews complaining about the human politics but the draw is the alien stuff and even why it was recommended in this thread so I picked it up to go in my ever-growing to-read pile
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Mar 16, 2022 19:40
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ulmont posted:Saunders objects to the Amazon licensing so this will never happen. i already buy more books than i read so this is not really a bad thing to me
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Mar 16, 2022 21:25
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The Heroes (First Law) by Joe Abercrombie - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00480O978/ Matter (Culture #7) by Iain M Banks - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VMHI98/ The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08191MPPS/ The Once and Future King by TH White - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AEDDSQG/ The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DCGJ6XQ/
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Mar 16, 2022 22:36
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I have fond memories of The Once and Future King, but as a heads up it's got some racial slurs in it.
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Mar 16, 2022 22:44
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So I wound up finishing the first Recluce book since I didn't have a lot left and yeah, it was pretty meh. There wasn't much plot for real, and the world wasn't all that interesting nor were the characters or even the prose. I started the first Sun Sword book at work, and I didn't have time to get far in. But I'm feeling wary because I no poo poo sit through about 20 minutes of the narrator listing off a giant list of names, most of them sounding all alike which concerns me this is going to be an impossible story to follow on audiobook. I did get a short ways into the actual story, and the prose seemed easy enough to understand at least. Is the character glossary at the beginning just for nerd reasons, or am I going to have a really hard time following this book? Which in case I need a backup I might could use some more recommendations for a good fantasy series. Either a good plot, characters, world building, as long as something about it is good. I've already read and liked all the well known stuff. Abercrombie, Sanderson, Martin, Wheel of Time, Licanius Trilogy, John Gwynne, the Osten Ard books, all good stuff. In fact I prefer books with multiple POV characters, that little glossary thing at the front of Sun Sword just seemed a little intimidating. Drunk Driver Dad fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Mar 16, 2022 |
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Mar 16, 2022 23:13
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pradmer posted:The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson - $2.99 This was pretty dark (which may be an understatement, I read it months ago) but a good mystery in a multi-verse setting.
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Mar 16, 2022 23:43
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Pervis posted:This was pretty dark (which may be an understatement, I read it months ago) but a good mystery in a multi-verse setting. I think I posted something about it when I read it. It was good!! Its dark in a the future will be grim sort of way but it left me in a positive headspace and it was nicely written
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Mar 17, 2022 01:03
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:So I wound up finishing the first Recluce book since I didn't have a lot left and yeah, it was pretty meh. There wasn't much plot for real, and the world wasn't all that interesting nor were the characters or even the prose. The best part is that now you've read 90% of each other L.E. Modesitt Jr. Recluce novel, plus 70% of each non-Recluce L.E. Modesitt Jr. fantasy novel, plus 50% of his science fiction.
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Mar 17, 2022 01:40
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SEX HAVER 40000 posted:on the subject of colonization times fiction, the word for world is forest by le guin is that from the perspective of the colonized people
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Mar 17, 2022 01:47
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Several sci-fi/fantasy authors (including NK Jemisin, Martha Wells, SA Chakraborty, and more) are calling for a boycott of Worldcon 2023, to be held in Chengdu, China. https://twitter.com/sarahmughal769/status/1504181989645111296 https://twitter.com/nkjemisin/status/1504275938057625606
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Mar 17, 2022 03:14
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Thats optimistic to think that covid will be over by 2023 and China wont be requiring a 2-3 week quarantine for anyone entering the country, making any sort of international event infeasible. anyway I finished The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. Pretty good! Maybe it could have explored even more weird time stuff, the ending felt a bit rushed and the antagonist never fully developed. It reminded me a lot of the relationship between Ziani and Duredja in KJ Parkers Engineer trilogy but that had better build up and their relationship was only a smaller part of an even bigger plot. Maybe I was expecting something even bigger out of this premise. In the end even though Harry has to go through a ton of suffering to get the chance to sabotage Vincents machine, it feels almost too easy how he does it. A way of drawing out the tension so were not sure if its going to fail until it does would have made it a lot more satisfying, which is what Parker does. Its a difficult needle to thread. Anyway Id recommend this book. I might read The Light Brigade next for more weirdness. Ccs fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Mar 17, 2022 |
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Mar 17, 2022 04:29
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Tars Tarkas posted:I read some reviews complaining about the human politics but the draw is the alien stuff and even why it was recommended in this thread so I picked it up to go in my ever-growing to-read pile I think it's definitely worth a read, the politics stuff doesn't ruin it or anything. I was actually surprised to see the book was published in 1991, the politics parts feel very modern, not 30 years old. My only real complaint about the book would be I really just wanted to see more of the alien stuff. I could have read another few hundred pages of traveling around and meeting different people and etc.
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Mar 17, 2022 07:02
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Reading the dread empire for some reason I'd never grabbed it.
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Mar 17, 2022 07:19
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buffalo all day posted:I think I posted something about it when I read it. It was good!! Its dark in a the future will be grim sort of way but it left me in a positive headspace and it was nicely written I really enjoyed it! I liked how the multi-verse was used as a way to explore the rippling effects trauma can have on someone's own life and the people they know, as well as the possibility and capacity for change and growth. I should re-read it, it really stuck with me.
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Mar 17, 2022 10:50
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Ccs posted:Thats optimistic to think that covid will be over by 2023 and China wont be requiring a 2-3 week quarantine for anyone entering the country, making any sort of international event infeasible.
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Mar 17, 2022 12:11
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branedotorg posted:Reading the dread empire for some reason I'd never grabbed it. Which Dread Empire? There's quite a few.
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Mar 17, 2022 12:41
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Ccs posted:Thats optimistic to think that covid will be over by 2023 and China wont be requiring a 2-3 week quarantine for anyone entering the country, making any sort of international event infeasible. The commentary I've seen around the traps is that even if COVID didn't exist, even if the Uighur genocide didn't exist, attempting to host a sci-fi con in mainland China - with all the free expression of ideas that entails, with all subsequent quotidian issues that follow re: insurance, duty of care etc - is a terrible idea.
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Mar 17, 2022 13:37
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Shady behinds the scenes poo poo has happened at Worldcons since 1939/year 0, and having Worldcon 2023 happen in China is tripling down on all the factors that make Worldcons skeevy and dangerous. Historically Worldcon's throughout their existence have been full of Hugo Award ballot stuffing hijinks, collusion between publishers, and full of outright sexual predators slash serial sexual harassers such as James R. Frenkel and Forrest J Ackerman wandering around stalking and intimidating and assaulting vulnerable victims (cosplayers especially). Worldcon management committee members and promoters have historically turned blind eyes to that kind of behavior because uh it's been Worldcon management committee members and promoters doing the ballot stuffing and collusion and harassment. Plus bigger name male fantasy/scifi authors operate on their own set of rules at Worldcons (and to be honest, this seems to happen at normal fantasy/scifi conventions too), while toxic elements of fandom run rampant doing their own harassing and stalking versus their enemies. Worldcon management committee members and promoters have historically turned blind eyes to that kind of behavior, and get supermad whenever called out on it.
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Mar 17, 2022 19:35
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Teddybear posted:Several sci-fi/fantasy authors (including NK Jemisin, Martha Wells, SA Chakraborty, and more) are calling for a boycott of Worldcon 2023, to be held in Chengdu, China. At least the Guests of Honor are uncontroversial universally regar-- quote:The 81st Worldcon will be held in Chengdu, China from August 23-29, 2023. The conventions guests of honor will be Sergey Lukianenko, the author of the Night Watch series, Robert Sawyer author of Hominids, and Liu Cixin, the author of The Three-Body Problem. http://file770.com/sergei-lukianenko-defends-russian-policy-towards-ukraine/
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Mar 17, 2022 19:43
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Don't forget Liu Cixin's racism, or his "If you're a chinese- american and not loyal to the PRC you're a race traitor" stance, or his "Of course the Uighurs need to be in Camps, or else they'll stab more people" stance. Or his multiple Heinlein style polemics about how, in the CAMPS, humanity will realize that Democracy is useless and how PRC style governance is the best.
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Mar 17, 2022 20:23
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He's right about all of that (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Mar 17, 2022 22:34
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On the other hand, Chengdu is probably the coolest big city in China.
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Mar 17, 2022 22:50
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Jedit posted:Which Dread Empire? There's quite a few. a shadow of all the night falling by glen cook
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Mar 18, 2022 01:53
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Hope the scifi convention goes forward and one of the big grrm types gets arrested (its content)
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Mar 18, 2022 02:16
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Copernic posted:At least the Guests of Honor are uncontroversial universally regar-- drat it, I really liked the Nightwatch series. Well Vita Nostra is a much better novel anyway.
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Mar 18, 2022 04:16
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Fivemarks posted:Don't forget Liu Cixin's racism, or his "If you're a chinese- american and not loyal to the PRC you're a race traitor" stance, or his "Of course the Uighurs need to be in Camps, or else they'll stab more people" stance. Or his multiple Heinlein style polemics about how, in the CAMPS, humanity will realize that Democracy is useless and how PRC style governance is the best. Don't tell me this. Three Body Problem is so good.
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Mar 18, 2022 04:19
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Larry Parrish posted:He's right about all of that gently caress you, i hope an authoritarian regime takes away your internet connection
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Mar 18, 2022 04:38
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goodness posted:Don't tell me this. Three Body Problem is so good. is it, though?
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Mar 18, 2022 05:18
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calandryll posted:drat it, I really liked the Nightwatch series. Well Vita Nostra is a much better novel anyway. goodness posted:Don't tell me this. Three Body Problem is so good. I really enjoyed J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. And Kevin Spacey as Mel Profitt in Wiseguy. And Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. And after thinking about it, I still do. There are plenty of good people who aren't great (or even good) artists. And there are also great/good artists who aren't good people. You can enjoy those people's art while recognizing that they are lovely, awful people who have lovely, awful opinions. Thomas Edison was apparently a horrible, controlling person, but I still use light bulbs. Like that.
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Mar 18, 2022 05:18
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It's been talked about a lot but ultimately this comes down to each individual and how much knowing about someone's assholery affects you as you read/watch/play. If it's going to bug you as you read, or have you thinking 'ugh there sure aren't a lot of gay people in this book written by a notorious homophobe and now I can't stop thinking about it' then it's legit to just avoid the work. It's legit anyway, of course but like - just telling people to ignore that stuff makes it too simple, I reckon. And then there's the 'everyone sucks equally and you should never try to discriminate because everyone is awful' take.
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Mar 18, 2022 05:31
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HopperUK posted:It's been talked about a lot but ultimately this comes down to each individual and how much knowing about someone's assholery affects you as you read/watch/play. If it's going to bug you as you read, or have you thinking 'ugh there sure aren't a lot of gay people in this book written by a notorious homophobe and now I can't stop thinking about it' then it's legit to just avoid the work. It's legit anyway, of course but like - just telling people to ignore that stuff makes it too simple, I reckon. I think if somebody's awfulness keeps you from enjoying the work, then yeah, don't consume. On the other hand, just because your enjoy somebody's art does not mean you approve of their actions as a person. I remember reading Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. It was pretty good, even though I didn't like it enough to seek out other books in the series. But Orson Scott Card is still a homophobic puddle of infected diarrhea as far as I'm concerned.
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Mar 18, 2022 06:05
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Fivemarks posted:Don't forget Liu Cixin's racism, or his "If you're a chinese- american and not loyal to the PRC you're a race traitor" stance, or his "Of course the Uighurs need to be in Camps, or else they'll stab more people" stance. Or his multiple Heinlein style polemics about how, in the CAMPS, humanity will realize that Democracy is useless and how PRC style governance is the best. goodness posted:Don't tell me this. Three Body Problem is so good. Eh, the 100 page derail in Three Body Problem to recount Strongest bit in 3BP for me is it's Cultural Revolution opening chapter, which leads to the reveal 200 or so pages later of why one character did what they did which brought about the ending confrontation in 3BP. Nothing in 3BP was able to match that opening chapter for me, and the 3 follow-up novels to the 3BP setting just got dumber and dumber and more contrived in ways that reminded me of James P Hogan's Inherit the Earth/Giant story series. non-related Space opera stuff: The Noon Universe setting holds up pretty good. Lots of exploration of alien planets and alien civilizations of all types and forms. Some of the Noon Universe stories are lightweight like trying to hookup an automated kitchen or people considering career changes after 99+ year voyages, or go really deep into the weirdness of abandoned planets, precursor civilizations that left artifacts everywhere in the galaxy, or play out like reverse scenarios of three musketeers or Predator 2 (the 1990 movie).
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Mar 18, 2022 06:29
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Three Body Problem was great imo and the sequel possibly even better. The third one kind of shat the bed with Liu's whole attitude of "I'm going to write a female protagonist, but also I think women are inherently incapable of making The Hard Decisions, so everything important is going to happen off screen while the protag wanders around aimlessly". It does suck to hear that he has (more) Bad Opinions. quantumfoam posted:Eh, the 100 page derail in Three Body Problem to recount
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Mar 18, 2022 08:07
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The Cultural Revolution flashback was easily the best part of TBP and it turned my opinion of the events around completely
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Mar 18, 2022 08:18
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goodness posted:Don't tell me this. Three Body Problem is so good. Drug Church posted:Architect and mason build a square
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Mar 18, 2022 15:46
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Everyone posted:I really enjoyed J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. And Kevin Spacey as Mel Profitt in Wiseguy. And Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. I don't recall Spacey or Whedon injecting their sexpest behavior into those examples but Harry Potter oozes Rowling's lovely beliefs. This is the series where the 'chosen one' was a mediocre trust fund kid who grew up to become a magic cop and pretty much fought to keep the wizard world status-quo and the writing itself is full of racist, supremacist nonsense.
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Mar 18, 2022 16:06
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Evil Fluffy posted:I don't recall Spacey or Whedon injecting their sexpest behavior into those examples but Harry Potter oozes Rowling's lovely beliefs. This is the series where the 'chosen one' was a mediocre trust fund kid who grew up to become a magic cop and pretty much fought to keep the wizard world status-quo and the writing itself is full of racist, supremacist nonsense. I admit that it's been a while but weren't the racists/supremacists Voldemort's followers who got their asses handed to them?
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Mar 18, 2022 16:10
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Everyone posted:I really enjoyed J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. And Kevin Spacey as Mel Profitt in Wiseguy. And Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
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Mar 18, 2022 16:11
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Evil Fluffy posted:I don't recall Spacey or Whedon injecting their sexpest behavior into those examples but Harry Potter oozes Rowling's lovely beliefs. This is the series where the 'chosen one' was a mediocre trust fund kid who grew up to become a magic cop and pretty much fought to keep the wizard world status-quo and the writing itself is full of racist, supremacist nonsense. Not to get too far off topic, but I strongly believe that nearly everything Whedon has made including a raven-haired action Barbie who is secretly broken and needs rescuing is most definitely him injecting his sexpest behavior (or fantasies, at least) into his work.
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