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Having only read Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber and A Night in the Lonesome October, I'd say they are about equal in quality (very good). Yes, he is clearly rear end-pulling in Amber but that isn't necessarily a bad way to write a book. Apparently one of his other books he literally threw all the chapters on the floor to decide what order they would appear?
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May 26, 2022 07:47
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General Battuta posted:gently caress
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May 26, 2022 08:10
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Nigmaetcetera posted:I wish somebody had told me how bad The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is before I started reading it. So Kvothe is tall, handsome, super intelligent, super capable, and worst of all he has a beautiful head of hair, unlike me. Oh, and he’s not even 30 and is a successful business owner. What made the author think we wouldn’t immediately hate this guy? I want to read a fantasy novel where the protagonist is a homeless, middle-aged, drunken wastrel who somehow manages to save the day through luck, pluck, public intoxication, and violence. What you want is The Blacktongue Thief. Its like if someone took some of the good ideas Rothfuss had but actually used them in interesting ways and with a compelling protagonist.
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May 26, 2022 14:35
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Yeah Buehlmann is probably my favorite new fantasy author in the past few years. Apparently he had a prior career as an insult comic of some kind at Ren faires.
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May 26, 2022 14:59
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Read Black tongue thief and it was pretty cool.
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May 26, 2022 15:34
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Ccs posted:What you want is The Blacktongue Thief. Its like if someone took some of the good ideas Rothfuss had but actually used them in interesting ways and with a compelling protagonist. Quillifer by Walter John Williams is also Kvothe 2.0. Blacktongue Thief is really good.
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May 26, 2022 15:59
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The horror thread is (rightfully) constantly going gaga over Between Two Fires, Buehlmann rules. I'm reading Blindsight for the second time, excited to actually understand what's going on this time. But it made me curious, are there other future sci-fi books that have vampires in them that aren't from some 20-book romance series?
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May 26, 2022 16:44
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Sailor Viy posted:Having only read Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber and A Night in the Lonesome October, I'd say they are about equal in quality (very good). Yes, he is clearly rear end-pulling in Amber but that isn't necessarily a bad way to write a book. Apparently one of his other books he literally threw all the chapters on the floor to decide what order they would appear? Sounds like 'Roadmarks', read it when I was 10-11 and it was my first exposure to the idea of a non-linear narrative
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May 26, 2022 16:46
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zoux posted:The horror thread is (rightfully) constantly going gaga over Between Two Fires, Buehlmann rules. E.E. Knight's Vampire Earth series and C.S. Friedman's Coldfire trilogy, though the latter is set on a colonized world and feels more like a fantasy series.
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May 26, 2022 17:05
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zoux posted:The horror thread is (rightfully) constantly going gaga over Between Two Fires, Buehlmann rules. Imagine you are a Scrambler
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May 26, 2022 17:28
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bagrada posted:E.E. Knight's Vampire Earth series and C.S. Friedman's Coldfire trilogy, though the latter is set on a colonized world and feels more like a fantasy series. Also Friedman's The Madness Season, which is straight up SF with a vampire protag.
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May 26, 2022 17:39
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The Madness Season, also by C.S. Friedman is a straight-up vampire in space novel. Though I can’t really remember the fact that the guy was a vampire coming into play a lot. Read it a long time ago. Edit: Dammit
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May 26, 2022 17:43
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Now the second question: are these books good or ridiculous
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May 26, 2022 17:54
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zoux posted:The horror thread is (rightfully) constantly going gaga over Between Two Fires, Buehlmann rules. The Space Vampires by Colin Wilson and the associated cinematic Tour de Force, Lifeforce. Adaptation by The Great Late Dan O'Bannon
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May 26, 2022 18:04
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zoux posted:Now the second question: are these books good or ridiculous I can only speak to the Coldfire books, which are not at all the same flavor of "vampires in space" as Blindsight. They're pretty good, if a bit slow at times. There's some really interesting ideas in them, and I'd call them something closer to Castlevania: Former Space Colony Edition than true sci-fi. If you're willing to put up with some pacing issues for a weird gothic sci-fi/fantasy blend, there's very little else out there like them.
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May 26, 2022 18:05
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Friedman's books are really good and she comes up a lot in recs. I read 4 or 5 of the vampire earth back in the early 00s and don't remember much, looks like he wrote 11 total before moving on to books about dragons. The series was about animal themed military units (books titled Way of the Wolf, Choice of the Cat, etc) battling against alien vampires that conquered the solar system, and their human quislings. My memory is terrible and I had the time to read way too many books of all sorts back then but best I recall I'd say they were like decent video game adaptions just without the video game. Someone else asked about them in this thread years back and no one else chimed in that I saw.
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May 26, 2022 18:05
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there's a David Weber story where aliens invade earth and own everyone but then themselves start getting owned by mysterious unspecified things wot go bump in the night and then it turns out it was dracula there's a David Weber novel where aliens invade earth and own everyone but then themselves start getting owned by mysterious unspecified things wot go bump in the night and then it turns out it was dracula you've now read everything worth reading in both, twice i assume there is or will be a sequel when the alien spaceship arrives back at their homeworld with dracula and it sucks or will suck and not in a lol way
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May 26, 2022 18:24
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it's meant to be a surprising twist
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May 26, 2022 18:25
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If it's Dracula, it sucks even if it doesn't suck.
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May 26, 2022 18:28
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90s Cringe Rock posted:i assume there is or will be a sequel when the alien spaceship arrives back at their homeworld with dracula and it sucks or will suck and not in a lol way
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May 26, 2022 18:33
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If Dracula is only affected by Earth's sun, than alien daylight is fine but he could be in trouble at night depending on if the sun is one of the stars in the sky. Better check you are in the right hemisphere, Dracula! Dracula is public domain so there is no reason why he can't just keep showing up in everything
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May 26, 2022 18:40
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newts posted:The Madness Season, also by C.S. Friedman is a straight-up vampire in space novel. Though I can’t really remember the fact that the guy was a vampire coming into play a lot. Read it a long time ago. It's...pretty central. Madness Season is one of my long-term faves I think. Some interesting ideas about non-human sentients and moves towards horror at the end.
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May 26, 2022 18:41
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Danhenge posted:It's...pretty central. Madness Season is one of my long-term faves I think. Some interesting ideas about non-human sentients and moves towards horror at the end. I mean, yeah, but the other central character who (spoilered just to be safe) is a shapeshifting alien felt like the more interesting and compelling character. That’s what I actually remembered from it, rather than the main vampire guy.
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May 26, 2022 18:45
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Tars Tarkas posted:Dracula is public domain so there is no reason why he can't just keep showing up in everything I'm hoping the same thing happens with Popeye in a few years. In SF/F, specifically
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May 26, 2022 18:48
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he's tough to the finish cause he eats his space-spinach
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May 26, 2022 18:51
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Anyone read both Between Two Fires and The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart? How do they compare?
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May 26, 2022 19:11
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FPyat posted:Anyone read both Between Two Fires and The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart? How do they compare? I read these back to back, with Between Two Fires first. I think BTF is a tough act to follow, it was the better story with better actual development as the fallen knight looks for redemption, whereas the Brothers Grossbart were just awful throughout with no redeeming qualities. The last section of the Brother Grossbart dragged for me, and I was glad when it ended. I could have kept reading BTF for hundreds of more pages.
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May 26, 2022 19:31
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neongrey posted:he's tough to the finish cause he eats his space-spinach He's Popeye the Spacer-Man!
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May 26, 2022 19:48
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zoux posted:The horror thread is (rightfully) constantly going gaga over Between Two Fires, Buehlmann rules. Yes but in a way so dumb it's both a spoiler and a joke recommendation Out of the Dark by David Weber
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May 26, 2022 20:57
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branedotorg posted:I did finish it but didn't particularly like it, outside the Cthulhu mythos, something I'm surprised hasn't been in fantasy more often. Pretty much the same. It was...okay (at least the rapes weren't "up-close" and graphic). I think the parts I liked most where the ones with the cheerfully self-serving, truthful propagandist. That said, underage sex is still underage sex even when it's lesbian sex. Everyone fucked around with this message at 21:04 on May 26, 2022 |
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May 26, 2022 21:02
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I just finished KJ Parker’s Devices and Desires and while it was interesting from a setting standpoint I found it very hard to enjoy, and despite picking up the sequels when they were on sale a few days ago, I don’t think I’ll be continuing. There’s a certain amount of suspension of disbelief I’m willing to give to a story based on its internal logic, which I found was far exceeded by where this one went - the Engineer isn’t just unsurpassed in his knowledge of machines and their workings, he also can completely understand every person he ever meets to a level far greater than their own friends and lovers. So he can make months or years long plots, relying on the actions of various nations and leaders and can completely predict even events like an encounter with an animal on a hunt. His only weakness as described is that he writes bad love poetry, apparently, which is strange for someone who so completely understands everything about human emotion. And don’t get me started on the  , of which perhaps three exist in the book, solely to be manipulated by the protagonist, with probably thirty lines of dialog total. They’re objects to be fought over and never interacted with in any meaningful way, and who have no agency whatsoever. I’m not sure if I’ve ever read a book that so blatantly failed the Bechdel test that wasn’t written in 1920s. There aren’t even any conversations between women at all, because they don’t exist outside of the men’s world. What a strange and disappointing book, I quite liked Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City.
Velius fucked around with this message at 21:22 on May 26, 2022 |
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May 26, 2022 21:19
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zoux posted:The horror thread is (rightfully) constantly going gaga over Between Two Fires, Buehlmann rules. The Stainless Steel Leech is a very short story but check it out
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May 26, 2022 21:34
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KleenexCMW posted:I read these back to back, with Between Two Fires first. I think BTF is a tough act to follow, it was the better story with better actual development as the fallen knight looks for redemption, whereas the Brothers Grossbart were just awful throughout with no redeeming qualities. The last section of the Brother Grossbart dragged for me, and I was glad when it ended. I could have kept reading BTF for hundreds of more pages. I read both pretty close to each other (and also read BTF first) and agree that Brothers Grossbart is just.... eh. There were some interesting individual sequences, but all together the whole thing just really dragged and probably should have been 1/3-1/2 shorter. There are a lot of sections of the brothers just debating half-baked theology/philosophy to each other that just went on way too long, and the overall plot just meanders way too much, but not in interesting enough ways. And this is coming from someone who usually enjoys meandering! I ended up skimming a bunch of the middle and end. I also ended up way more invested in the background plot happening with the turnip farmer and he only showed up in, what, 5-6 short chapters maybe?
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May 26, 2022 21:55
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Velius posted:I just finished KJ Parker’s Devices and Desires and while it was interesting from a setting standpoint I found it very hard to enjoy, and despite picking up the sequels when they were on sale a few days ago, I don’t think I’ll be continuing. [...] All of those problems get even worse in the second book, which is also, IIRC, where he teams up with Serial Rapist Lad as his sidekick. I didn't make it to book 3.
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May 26, 2022 22:01
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A Little Hatred (Age of Madness #1) by Joe Abercrombie - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MJ656W9/ Promise of Blood (Powder Mage #1) by Brian McClellan - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0092XHPIG/ The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CKDFE9W/
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May 26, 2022 22:57
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ToxicFrog posted:All of those problems get even worse in the second book, which is also, IIRC, where he teams up with Serial Rapist Lad as his sidekick. Serial Rapist Lad? I don't think I really want this knowledge in my brain, but I'll ask anyway.
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May 26, 2022 23:15
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Velius posted:His only weakness as described is that he writes bad love poetry, apparently, which is strange for someone who so completely understands everything about human emotion. If you don't care about that, well, the purpose of entire goddamn multi-war mass murder plot he engineered and allied with most horrible people possible for was to let him go back to the city that exiled him and the wife he loved... without ever realizing it was his wife (and her lover) who plotted his exile in the first place.
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May 27, 2022 00:42
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anilEhilated posted:This will get undercut a lot at the end when you start getting *his* motivations. Saying more would be a spoiler, though. I don’t feel like your spoiler was at all hidden, it’s more just the absurdity of the idea of a character who (among other things) makes a steel bow from scratch even though he’s never seen or used one, then learns archery, because he knows he will at some point go on a hunt, and on the hunt that he will encounter a boar while alone, and that the encounter will conveniently have a character he will contrive to have save him, by shooting the boar in a rear foot with his new bow and archery skills, thereby having the character who saves him let him into his household, thereby letting him learn vital secrets that will let him undermine the kingdom at a vital time in the future. And he has contrived and done all this two days after he enters the kingdom. The book explicitly has him monologue about how this was actually his plan, and it’s supposed to, I don’t know, make him a badass. I’ve never read that awful Kellhus story where the protagonist is similarly ludicrously precognizant and all knowing, but at least in that book there were in-universe justifications for it (and they were still awful, from what I’ve heard). I’m not sure why I’m harping on this, I think it’s because in principle this sort of competence -porn is fun, particularly when combined with an interesting setting and history, like in 16 Ways, which I was hoping this would be like. Instead it reads like bizarre objectivist fanfic. (Ending spoiler) even if the protagonist is basing all this crap on a false assumption at the start, it’s still a miserable story to read about that is simultaneously utterly and hilariously full of plot holes and contrivances. Velius fucked around with this message at 03:44 on May 27, 2022 |
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May 27, 2022 03:39
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KJ Parker mostly just really wants you to know that all your plans and hopes for the future are worthless even if you’re preternaturally smart and careful because (a) what you thought was true actually wasn’t; or (b) you didn’t take account of the law of unintended consequences. And now your city is burning down and your family and friends want to kill you and possibly everyone is dying of plague and it’s somehow all your fault. Basically the unknown unknowns will always find you and gently caress you up. E: Quillifer also has the absolute best intro to get you invested in the setting before it starts making big changes. Very efficient. Beefeater1980 fucked around with this message at 04:38 on May 27, 2022 |
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May 27, 2022 04:36
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Beefeater1980 posted:KJ Parker mostly just really wants you to know that all your plans and hopes for the future are worthless even if you’re preternaturally smart and careful because (a) what you thought was true actually wasn’t; or (b) you didn’t take account of the law of unintended consequences. It's funny in some ways because Holt is a toffy, pious to a fault man obsessed with ancient Rome, cricket and glories of the Empire. KJ Parker is very much a sort of counterpoint to his public self.
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May 27, 2022 05:17
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