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branedotorg posted:Reading Richard Swan's justice of kings, based of an algorithmic recommendation - he's written some space opera stuff I'd never heard of and this is his debut fantasy novel. Quoting myself to say this one's something I really enjoyed. I'll be hanging out for a sequel, although the focus towards the end grows to be imperial politics and sometimes expanding the focus of series loses the charms of a character driven world.
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May 27, 2022 05:20
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Everyone posted:Serial Rapist Lad? I don't think I really want this knowledge in my brain, but I'll ask anyway. Spoilers for book 2 of The Engineer, in case anyone cares. In book 2 he recruits a sidekick/lab assistant/useful minion, a poor exile who has conveniently invented gunpowder (why is it always gunpowder?). The reason he's a poor exile is that he's a serial rapist, and while his rich, well-connected family had no qualms about covering up the rapes, when he escalated to rape-murder they decided he was either too expensive or too embarassing and kicked him out. It is either implied or outright stated that he continues raping while working for Ziani, and Ziani definitely knows and doesn't give a poo poo, probably because he's planning to kill everyone involved in book 3 anyways.
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May 27, 2022 13:55
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ToxicFrog posted:Spoilers for book 2 of The Engineer, in case anyone cares. Because you need it to discover leadership, explosives and metallurgy
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May 27, 2022 14:10
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ToxicFrog posted:Spoilers for book 2 of The Engineer, in case anyone cares. Um. Okay. Wow. I think I'll just go ahead and scratch this Parker person off of any potential "to read" lists right now. Take the plunge! Okay! posted:Because you need it to discover leadership, explosives and metallurgy But not rape, apparently. Is rape necessary to discovering gunpowder for some reason?
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May 27, 2022 14:40
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Still on my space vampires bullshit - I have an image in my head of a vampire on a desiccated and infernal earth, the last living thing on the planet, as the sun expands towards engulfing it some billions of years hence. But I can't remember if it's a mental image I got from a book, or if I saw it in movie or show or comic book. Or even if I made it up, does that sound familiar to anyone?
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May 27, 2022 16:17
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Everyone posted:Um. Okay. Wow. I think I'll just go ahead and scratch this Parker person off of any potential "to read" lists right now. i don't know what kind of story you think we were talking about but it's not this. the engineer just sucks in the same way most stories do where the bad guys are basically the ultimate evil of the setting, because if you want your protagonist to now somehow be worse, they need to become cartoonishly evil. which is how he comes off, pretty much.
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May 27, 2022 16:54
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zoux posted:Still on my space vampires bullshit - I have an image in my head of a vampire on a desiccated and infernal earth, the last living thing on the planet, as the sun expands towards engulfing it some billions of years hence. But I can't remember if it's a mental image I got from a book, or if I saw it in movie or show or comic book. Or even if I made it up, does that sound familiar to anyone? Have you read Echopraxia?
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May 27, 2022 20:00
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So the latest Reynolds was a Big Dumb Object story mixed with a protagonist with amnesia. Nice buildup and very focused story. Pretty much Reynolds at his forte.
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May 27, 2022 20:20
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genericnick posted:Have you read Echopraxia? Yes, but I don't remember much. I'm probably gonna read it again after I finish blindsight. I dunno if it's like this for you guys, but I don't feel like I really wholly grasp any given sci fi/fantasy novel until a second read, because on the first read I'm spending the first 100 pages trying to figure out what the gently caress is going on, what the rules of the world are, what the neologisms mean. But on the second read, where I know that stuff, I get so much more out of it. Like you read Blindsight and he's referring to scramblers, Big Ben and vampires in the first sentence. zoux fucked around with this message at 21:04 on May 27, 2022 |
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May 27, 2022 21:01
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The Wee Free Men (Discworld #30) by Terry Pratchett - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000R33QWY/ The Pariah (Covenant of Steel #1) by Anthony Ryan - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PV49R1G/ Five Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K Le Guin - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073NNZWX7/ Babel-17 by Samuel R Delany - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HE2JK4Y/
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May 27, 2022 21:13
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zoux posted:Yes, but I don't remember much. I'm probably gonna read it again after I finish blindsight. It's not quite the mental image you had in mind, but it one of the later chapters had a similar vibe? Otherwise can't think of anything.
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May 28, 2022 10:45
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Spime Wrangler posted:I have a personal theory that Rothfuss hasn't finished his series because he's grown as a person and can't bring himself to execute his original vision anymore, and yet his rabid fans demand nothing less. He hasn't grown. It is extremely obvious if you read anything he says these days.
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May 28, 2022 17:10
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Kchama posted:He hasn't grown. It is extremely obvious if you read anything he says these days. I haven't read a word he's written or said since Wise Man's Fear Thank you for reporting back from the front lines, gonna go update that wing of my mind palace.
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May 28, 2022 17:22
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Spime Wrangler posted:I haven't read a word he's written or said since Wise Man's Fear Yeah I sorta figured you haven't. I never actually liked the books but I was curious if he was going to go somewhere with the books a decade ago.
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May 28, 2022 17:32
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Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UG61LNS/ Anathem by Neal Stephenson - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015DPXKI/ The Adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Volume Two: Swords Against Wizardry, The Swords of Lankhmar, and Swords and Ice Magic by Fritz Leiber - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L8WP9LR/ Hard Luck Hank: Screw the Galaxy (#1) by Steven Campbell - Free https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FZ4OPI4/
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May 28, 2022 18:30
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pradmer posted:
Hard Luck Hank books are pretty trashy but also super weird They're... usually vaguely noir-ish books about this guy who lives on a space station. Kind of goon-y, in the Mafia way and not the dead gay internet forum way. He's a big, muscley guy who works as an enforcer... but he's also immortal. Doesn't age much, heals up when shot in the face, etc. ...So a lot of the books take place decades or centuries apart from one another, just glimpses into the life of this exceptionally long-lived Muscle Guy.
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May 28, 2022 18:40
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Wasn't the author of those a goon? I'm sure I remember that.
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May 28, 2022 18:56
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This is also deal of the day https://www.amazon.com/Book-Isle-Complete-Nancy-Springer-ebook/dp/B07CMKZPS9 Has anyone read these? Any good? The only Nancy Springer I’ve read is https://www.amazon.com/Metal-Angel-Nancy-Springer/dp/0451453301 because I stumbled on it in my friend’s used bookstore and I was like, “Is this gay?” (Yes, it is, or rather bi) And it turned out to be more full of intentional rather than unintentional humor. Like the Interview with a Vampire movie came out just before this book, so Nancy musta dusted off a draft of this she daren’t show anyone before and said, “Hold my beer” It is both the worst and best book I’ve ever read. I wish I’d known it existed back in the 90s when I was in my late teens eating up Anne Rice poo poo. This book is like a sendup of that and both stupider and better Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 20:51 on May 28, 2022 |
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May 28, 2022 20:48
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John Lee posted:Hard Luck Hank books are pretty trashy but also super weird they're certainly unique. i like the book where the civilization from the first couple has collapsed and his imperfect healing has made him pretty immobile so he's the big boss who also rolls around town in his flatbed convoy like it's a mobility scooter
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May 28, 2022 21:36
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Spime Wrangler posted:I have a personal theory that Rothfuss hasn't finished his series because he's grown as a person and can't bring himself to execute his original vision anymore, and yet his rabid fans demand nothing less. It’s my understanding that he says he hasn’t finished the series so far due to mental health issues. I guess writing about a super-sexy super-genius easily overcoming every problem he runs into is very taxing on ones’ emotional well-being. Edit: I hope he doesn’t read this and put me in my place for being flippant about mental health stuff Nigmaetcetera fucked around with this message at 21:52 on May 28, 2022 |
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May 28, 2022 21:48
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HopperUK posted:Wasn't the author of those a goon? I'm sure I remember that. Yeah it's mentioned in the self-publishing thread but I don't remember who the author was
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May 28, 2022 23:13
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HopperUK posted:Wasn't the author of those a goon? I'm sure I remember that. Yes, the author made a pretty detailed post about how he hit #1 in a lot of categories on Amazon. Amazon categories are a mystery to me. Like, you don't actually get to choose where the stories end up. You choose a list of key words and three categories, I believe, but a lot of the sales ranking categories just seem random. I hit #28 last week in "YA Short Reads" for Assault On Ball's Deep, a category it definitely does not belong in.
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May 28, 2022 23:16
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pradmer posted:
Probably my favorite Stephenson book. A really great true spec-fic ride.
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May 29, 2022 01:13
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Nigmaetcetera posted:It’s my understanding that he says he hasn’t finished the series so far due to mental health issues. I guess writing about a super-sexy super-genius easily overcoming every problem he runs into is very taxing on ones’ emotional well-being. This is pretty lovely. I don't even like the guy's work, but "crippled into immobility by anxiety" is extremely real, and it doesn't care who you are or how good (or bad) your work is. Dude has a rabid fanbase that has been waiting years and years for what they expect will be another book they like as much as the previous ones, of course there's going to be pressure. Unrelated: Ash - A Secret History is very, very impressive so far. I didn't realize it had a metanarrative going on, or that it would be as interesting as it is. If this keeps up, it may end up as my book of the year.
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May 29, 2022 02:18
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MartingaleJack posted:Amazon categories are a mystery to me. Like, you don't actually get to choose where the stories end up. You choose a list of key words and three categories, I believe, but a lot of the sales ranking categories just seem random. Congrats on the sales and page reads but you can most definitely pick most of your categories, it's just hidden. The categories you pick on book set up are BISAC categories, not Amazon store categories. I will PM you. To contribute, I think the next read I'm gonna start is The Priory of the Orange Tree. Looking forward to it!
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May 29, 2022 04:41
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Kestral posted:This is pretty lovely. I don't even like the guy's work, but "crippled into immobility by anxiety" is extremely real, and it doesn't care who you are or how good (or bad) your work is. Dude has a rabid fanbase that has been waiting years and years for what they expect will be another book they like as much as the previous ones, of course there's going to be pressure. I don't think he's actually blamed it on any sort of mental health thing. Every time he's done an update it's been "Well, I've been doing this 'Insert thing that I hope makes me famous here', and also if you donate hundreds of thousands of dollars that I am legally allowed to skim off the top of, then I'll write a chapter (but I actually won't, so I can promise this again in a few months when I need money)." Nigmaetcetera posted:It’s my understanding that he says he hasn’t finished the series so far due to mental health issues. I guess writing about a super-sexy super-genius easily overcoming every problem he runs into is very taxing on ones’ emotional well-being. Your understanding is wrong and also hosed up, dude. The real answer is he's just too busy rolling in money from his charity and then also making bad decisions with that money. He lied about having the book completed 15 years ago, which has always been the source of his issues with fans.
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May 29, 2022 04:59
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Cardiac posted:So the latest Reynolds was a Big Dumb Object story mixed with a protagonist with amnesia. Nice buildup and very focused story. Pretty much Reynolds at his forte. He also released a new collection of short stories last year called Belladonna Nights which, frustratingly, doesn't appear to have been published in Australia and getting even a used a copy shipped from the US will cost me $70. Does anyone know if ebooks will be DRM region protected if I just change my Kobo settings to the US store? I only ever use my ereader for e-library books so have no clue how the international aspect plays out.
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May 29, 2022 05:01
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I finished the new Quillifer book and it continues to be pretty good. Wonder if we'll get another. It's at a pretty good place to stop, but you know. Everyone always wants the story to keep going.
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May 29, 2022 05:06
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Larry Parrish posted:i don't know what kind of story you think we were talking about but it's not this. the engineer just sucks in the same way most stories do where the bad guys are basically the ultimate evil of the setting, because if you want your protagonist to now somehow be worse, they need to become cartoonishly evil. which is how he comes off, pretty much. Okay, I can get that. I didn't know what kind of story was being told. I was just stumbling over "Serial Rapist Lad" and going "What the loving gently caress?!"
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May 29, 2022 05:49
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he basically reverses it in 16 ways where the protagonists' civilization is full of some of the worst scumbags in the universe so they come off as being better even when they are underhanded scheming plotters.
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May 29, 2022 08:32
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Kchama posted:I don't think he's actually blamed it on any sort of mental health thing. Every time he's done an update it's been "Well, I've been doing this 'Insert thing that I hope makes me famous here', and also if you donate hundreds of thousands of dollars that I am legally allowed to skim off the top of, then I'll write a chapter (but I actually won't, so I can promise this again in a few months when I need money)." He has in fact said he's held back by mental health problems, according to Wikipedia. (The citation links to a bunch of youtube interviews that I can't be bothered watching, but I'll assume it's accurate.) IMO there are a lot worse things to do with your life than fundraising for charity, even if you do skim off the top, and most of the ire directed towards Rothfuss is plain old fandom entitlement more than a reaction to any specific thing he did wrong.
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May 29, 2022 09:48
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There's a pretty big Kvothe thread in this forum don't know if big pat needs to be in here too
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May 29, 2022 12:15
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Sailor Viy posted:He has in fact said he's held back by mental health problems, according to Wikipedia. (The citation links to a bunch of youtube interviews that I can't be bothered watching, but I'll assume it's accurate.) IMO there are a lot worse things to do with your life than fundraising for charity, even if you do skim off the top, and most of the ire directed towards Rothfuss is plain old fandom entitlement more than a reaction to any specific thing he did wrong. Looking at the arrangements of his 'charity' it seems its primary purpose is to funnel money into his business interests and there's a skim off the top which actually goes towards real charities. I couldn't care less about his novels but just looking at his career trajectory at this point he's transparently a grifter
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May 29, 2022 13:33
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freebooter posted:Does anyone know if ebooks will be DRM region protected if I just change my Kobo settings to the US store? I only ever use my ereader for e-library books so have no clue how the international aspect plays out. I have no idea, but it is worth keeping in mind that if you can convince the Kobo website to sell you the books in the first place, you can then download them to your computer, pry the DRM off them with the Calibre deDRM plugins, and sideload them, at which point it doesn't matter what the DRM thinks about your location.
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May 29, 2022 13:58
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No Dignity posted:Looking at the arrangements of his 'charity' it seems its primary purpose is to funnel money into his business interests and there's a skim off the top which actually goes towards real charities. I couldn't care less about his novels but just looking at his career trajectory at this point he's transparently a grifter I googled a little last night and i guess he does actually raise a bunch of money for Heifer international that goes directly to them rather than passing through the charity. The CEO of Heifer has thanked them specifically for their work on more than one occasion.
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May 29, 2022 14:50
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Skyward (#1) by Brandon Sanderson - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BJLB5LY/ The Infernal Battalion (Shadow Campaigns #5) by Django Wexler - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ9QBJ3/
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May 29, 2022 18:04
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branedotorg posted:There's a pretty big Kvothe thread in this forum don't know if big pat needs to be in here too because I'm Graydon Saunders
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May 29, 2022 18:10
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Larry Parrish posted:I finished the new Quillifer book and it continues to be pretty good. Wonder if we'll get another. It's at a pretty good place to stop, but you know. Everyone always wants the story to keep going. I'm enjoying the first Quillifer book. I do feel like it loses quite a lot of steam about the 30% mark when he goes to court. This book is part Name of the Wind, part Curse of Chalion. It does the Kvothe parts better, but the Chalion parts worse. I don't really care about any character other than Quillifer at the 60% mark. There's just no one interesting or driving the plot except Orlanda. It's just Quillifer being awesome and sexy at court. Oh, one thing I actively dislike, and sadly it is Quillifer's only personality quirk--the neologisms he keeps supposedly making up. Part of it is that it's one of those fantasy peeves about the secondary world languages being different than our own, but the other part that annoys me is that the words already exist in our language, so it undercuts Quillifer's cleverness and makes me want to punch his smug face.
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May 29, 2022 22:22
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MartingaleJack posted:I'm enjoying the first Quillifer book. I do feel like it loses quite a lot of steam about the 30% mark when he goes to court. This book is part Name of the Wind, part Curse of Chalion. It does the Kvothe parts better, but the Chalion parts worse. I don't really care about any character other than Quillifer at the 60% mark. There's just no one interesting or driving the plot except Orlanda. It's just Quillifer being awesome and sexy at court. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to think Quillifer is a stupid rear end in a top hat in the first book. Don't worry, the last half is really good, and the second and third book continue from that trend instead of being a bumbling drunk rear end in a top hat who's too clever for his own good.
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May 29, 2022 22:29
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Finished up Portal In The Forest by Matt Dymerski and... It was kinda good? It reads sort of like a scp entry about finding and dealing with an scp. There's quite a few logic leaps that leave you wondering "what the gently caress?", but I have to admit I did enjoy the weird rear end dimensions he thought up for travel. The weirdest moment to me was this guy finding a portal in the woods, and before we learn his bona fides, he just goes "what else could it be but a dimensional portal?" like he's run across these on sale at Kmart before. The main character is never really given a history or explanation of why he thinks like a scp scientist on vacation. He just does. It's a lil jarring. Still it's on KU and it's kinda interesting. Worth a read if you dig alternate dimensional Earth's and how badly they can get hosed up.
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