SF & F Mega-thread: I had to google 'spock pirate depilatory'

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > SF & F Mega-thread: I had to google 'spock pirate depilatory'

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zerofiend: Dec 23, 2006

Ceebees posted:

I didn't like RA, and frankly it put me off reading anything longer than a short story from QNTM ever again. If you were hooked by the 'space magic' lead, too bad, it's a tiny fraction of the book. It spends the entire front half being very obscure and disjointed on purpose, and what tries to tie it together is a series of deus ex machina.
When it started to explain itself, at each twist i was just waiting for one of these 'geniuses' to do something dumb, or forget how magic works all of a sudden, to allow the clowning to continue. The ending, in particular, left an unpleasantly Yudkowski-ish aftertaste on my palate. Did you think i was putting together all the parts for a happy ending, which the genius main character would figure out at the last minute? No! gently caress you! Strong AI are too smart and will just wreck whatever you do! Serve the Machine, or scavenge for what scraps it ignores.

I get that it was trying to make some points about grief and obsession and AI, uploading, reality, and all that transhumanism 101 crap, but the way it went at it felt very internet rationalist to me, and uuuugh.

I liked Ra quite a bit, Antimemetics is certainly a better work but Ra was cool.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 14:52

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# ? Jun 4, 2024 14:44

Harold Fjord: Jan 3, 2004

Qntms Ra was ok by me, goon reviews here are accurate. Ed was quite mediocre. Very much reminds me of Big U in satiric tone and first novel feel. It's s about supergenius protag doing scifi.

Fine Structure is eminently forgettable and a bit like Ra with lots of fractal dimensionality nonsense.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 15:07

Jedit: Dec 10, 2011; Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

StrixNebulosa posted:

Going to ignore the rest of my post, huh?

Have some really opinions: Charlaine Harris writes urban fantasy (and YA mysteries, it looks like! I'll have to check them out!), not paranormal romance. PNR as a genre differs from urban fantasy by focusing more on romance - and yes, sex, you're more likely to get sex in a PNR - and by having a couple get together by the end of the book. UF is more broad, and while it may have romance, those tend to be stretched out over multiple books and plot remains The focus. Kate Daniels is a great example of UF here - there's a romance with a were-lion but it takes multiple books for them to do more than flirt.

Twilight, meanwhile, is YA so it has different priorities entirely. There is a romance, there is a plot focus, but it hews closer to YA trends. I personally hate its guts but it did get more people writing vampire fiction so I'll give it that. And only that.

Getting people writing bad vampire fiction is not helpful. I used to ask in jest what series could be so popular that its lovely fanfic could get a movie deal and yet I still hadn't heard of it. Then 50 Shades came along and it stopped being funny.

I wasn't ignoring the rest of your previous post. I just didn't have anything to say about it. I picked up my posting habits in the days of Usenet, where you were expected to crop anything you weren't responding to and not post only to agree.

I also appreciate you making the distinction between Urban Fantasy and PR. I'm not sure precisely where the line is drawn, but I do think that the Southern Vampire Mysteries hew a little closer to the latter. They're not as bad as some for the lead character getting around - a friend described Anita Blake to me as reading like "the author ordered the Kama Sutra from Amazon and they sent the D&D Monster Manual by mistake" - but they are heavier on the action than something like Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate. I suspect there may be a sliding scale as with regular romance novels, where you can tell how quickly they're going to get to the action by how many buttons are fastened on the man's shirt on the cover. Buttoned to the neck? "Reader, I married him. THE END" Shirt completely off? Her knickers will be joining it by page 60. And how far you go or stop on that scale is purely personal taste.

BTW, thanks people for the Cherryh recommends. I went back and grabbed Morgaine, Finity's End, Rimrunners and a copy of Downbelow Station that had been dug out of the boxes since I was last there. After I finish the Rampart Trilogy and Between Two Fires (birthday present) I'm set for a while on reading matter.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 15:17

90s Cringe Rock: Nov 29, 2006

I enjoyed Ra more than Fine Structure, both quite cool, but didn't feel like buying either in print. Some of his short stories, though, hope he does a proper collection one day.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 15:48

Danhenge: Dec 16, 2005

Tezer posted:

Why are you getting in a fight over a post that you admit was purposefully posted in the wrong thread.

Please go talk about this somewhere else, christ.

EDIT: wait, you are the mod of E/N? Go put your 'Harmless fictional incest thread' there.

Shall we discuss instead the beautiful prose of Piers Anthony, a true Fantasy author??

# ? Jul 8, 2022 15:49

Stuporstar: May 5, 2008; Where do fists come from?

StrixNebulosa posted:

PPS Also fwiw pnr has been on the decline in the last decade. Not as much new stuff out there, and Harlequin ended the Nocturne line. Which makes me sad, but romance genre booms come and go.

I�ve been noticing and increase in science fiction romance instead, and I�m not even sure if the genre has its own name yet, and don�t know anyone who�s read any, which sucks because I�m down for recs if there�s a thread for that poo poo

# ? Jul 8, 2022 15:52

mllaneza: Apr 28, 2007; Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1993-1952

Stuporstar posted:

I�ve been noticing and increase in science fiction romance instead, and I�m not even sure if the genre has its own name yet, and don�t know anyone who�s read any, which sucks because I�m down for recs if there�s a thread for that poo poo

And Lois McMaster Bujold has been right there for more than 30 years.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 16:05

fritz: Jul 26, 2003

General Battuta posted:

�I want to kill fourteen people� - fantasy of the deranged, no careers available, even the army won�t take you

�I want to have sex with fourteen werewolves� - you can get paid to do this, possible lucrative onlyfans income, self actualizing, good conversation starter

"I want to say fourteen words" - lots of room for you in this genre.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 16:11

fritz: Jul 26, 2003

fritz posted:

"I want to say fourteen words" - lots of room for you in this genre.

"I want to lift fourteen tons" - a good start kid but there's two more.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 16:12

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Stuporstar posted:

I�ve been noticing and increase in science fiction romance instead, and I�m not even sure if the genre has its own name yet, and don�t know anyone who�s read any, which sucks because I�m down for recs if there�s a thread for that poo poo

Ann Aguirre comes to mind, though I haven't read any of hers yet. Actually here's a few more I haven't read yet (I prefer pnr to sci-fi romance): Jessie Mihalik, Linnea Sinclair, Rachel Caine, SL Viehl, Sara Creasy.

And if you REALLY want the indulgent horny trash, Ruby Dixon has like 20 of these:

quote:

You'd think being abducted by aliens would be the worst thing that could happen to me. And you'd be wrong. Because now, the aliens are having ship trouble, and they've left their cargo of human women - including me - on an ice planet.

And the only native inhabitant I've met? He's big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me...

Jedit posted:

Getting people writing bad vampire fiction is not helpful. I used to ask in jest what series could be so popular that its lovely fanfic could get a movie deal and yet I still hadn't heard of it. Then 50 Shades came along and it stopped being funny.

I wasn't ignoring the rest of your previous post. I just didn't have anything to say about it. I picked up my posting habits in the days of Usenet, where you were expected to crop anything you weren't responding to and not post only to agree.

I also appreciate you making the distinction between Urban Fantasy and PR. I'm not sure precisely where the line is drawn, but I do think that the Southern Vampire Mysteries hew a little closer to the latter. They're not as bad as some for the lead character getting around - a friend described Anita Blake to me as reading like "the author ordered the Kama Sutra from Amazon and they sent the D&D Monster Manual by mistake" - but they are heavier on the action than something like Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate. I suspect there may be a sliding scale as with regular romance novels, where you can tell how quickly they're going to get to the action by how many buttons are fastened on the man's shirt on the cover. Buttoned to the neck? "Reader, I married him. THE END" Shirt completely off? Her knickers will be joining it by page 60. And how far you go or stop on that scale is purely personal taste.

BTW, thanks people for the Cherryh recommends. I went back and grabbed Morgaine, Finity's End, Rimrunners and a copy of Downbelow Station that had been dug out of the boxes since I was last there. After I finish the Rampart Trilogy and Between Two Fires (birthday present) I'm set for a while on reading matter.

Ah okay. And yeah, I'm not going to moosh together UF/PNR - they are different, they have different objectives. One more interesting highlight: romance as a genre promises a HEA - happily ever after. It's required by the big romance guilds and stuff, and one of my favorite things about the genre, even if I think some HEAs are bullshit. No other genre promises that outside of murder mysteries (which promise that you'll know whodunnit/whydunnit by the end, usually) and it calls me like catnip. (Similar to vampires- seeing how people do weird stuff with them, even for horny reasons, fascinates me. Anita Blake's vampires pingpong between horrifying concepts (a vampire neanderthal!) and sex (instead of blood feed on sex or you will die) and that entire series is so fuckin' weird I cannot recommend it. For an actual genuine rec, read Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality by Paul Barber for all the juicy vampire lore you never knew you wanted.)

Genuinely as I've been reading for escapist reasons recently (USpol) it's been vital to sit down with something that won't leave me angry or dissatisfied, and sci-fi/fantasy, as fascinating and wondrous as the genre is, does like to kill characters at times. Diane Duane can't write a novel without doing it, for example.

Cherryh is outstanding and I'm happy you're reading her! She's also a perfect example of an author I couldn't take right now because her protagonists are often stressed, tired, and in pain. Which is to say she's brilliant at describing discomfort as well as weird aliens.

To the rest of the thread: I know THE feelgood fantasy is Bridge of Birds. I'll get to it, I promise.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 16:13

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Ooooh I'm still mad at Diane Duane writing some baller Star Trek fanfiction (that was so fanfic they made it noncanon as her version of Romulans angered the higherups) while also killing off main characters in heroic sacrifices in EVERY NOVEL. I'd get attached and BAM dead, nevermind if she's writing star trek or cat wizards fighting dinosaurs or anything!

# ? Jul 8, 2022 16:16

day-gas: Dec 16, 2020

Jumping in on the Ra reviews, I'd say it's absolutely worth reading but with the caveat that you should understand it is several stories mushed together that weren't meant to be originally. I think qntm is a very gifted writer who probably should have made Ra a collection of two or three stories instead of trying to bind them into a cohesive whole, because the binding does not hold.

As he says on his website, "Ra is adapted from work I churned out during my 30 First Drafts project in November 2010." Unfortunately by the end you can really tell. But! The ideas in it are very cool.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 16:17

silvergoose: Mar 18, 2006; IT IS SAID THE TEARS OF THE BWEENIX CAN HEAL ALL WOUNDS

StrixNebulosa posted:

Ooooh I'm still mad at Diane Duane writing some baller Star Trek fanfiction (that was so fanfic they made it noncanon as her version of Romulans angered the higherups) while also killing off main characters in heroic sacrifices in EVERY NOVEL. I'd get attached and BAM dead, nevermind if she's writing star trek or cat wizards fighting dinosaurs or anything!

Yeah...her cat wizard books are really, really fun though.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 16:36

General Battuta: Feb 7, 2011; This is how you communicate with a fellow intelligence: you hurt it, you keep on hurting it, until you can distinguish the posts from the screams.

fritz posted:

"I want to say fourteen words" - lots of room for you in this genre.

At first this was funny but then it suddenly wasn�t! :godwin:

I hope you don�t mean it like that�

# ? Jul 8, 2022 16:37

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

General Battuta posted:

At first this was funny but then it suddenly wasn�t! I hope you don�t mean it like that�

I would read 14 werewolves vs 14 nazis done in the style of Wolfenstein

# ? Jul 8, 2022 16:42

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

StrixNebulosa posted:

I would read 14 werewolves vs 14 nazis done in the style of Wolfenstein

They made that movie already I think?

Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 01:30 on Jul 9, 2022

# ? Jul 8, 2022 16:46

team overhead smash: Sep 2, 2006; Team-Forest-Tree-Dog:
Smashing your way into our hearts one skylight at a time

Locklands the third and presumably final book in what I presume is the trilogy of Foundryaide books is out.

Haven�t quite finished but fairly disappointed. There�s a time skip of several years from the previous book, the world�s gone to poo poo and although there�s some stuff that should strike chord with me like the empathy communist nation that�s set-up, in fact it lost me while it sought to reestablish the new status quo for the world and never really engaged me enough to get me back. A trilogy that has gone downhill somewhat with each book rather than his previous Cities books which I thought were consistently good.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 16:58

Tezer: Jul 9, 2001

team overhead smash posted:

Locklands the third and presumably final book in what I presume is the trilogy of Foundryaide books is out.

Thanks for the heads up, wasn't on my radar.

My standard for 'last book in a trilogy' is pretty low. I mean, at least they finished it I guess...

The worst 'complete trilogy' I can think of is Pullman's Dark Materials. Reading that third book was a complete waste of time.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 17:07

fritz: Jul 26, 2003

General Battuta posted:

At first this was funny but then it suddenly wasn�t! I hope you don�t mean it like that�

That was an empirical 'lots of room' not a normative one. I mean, Tom Kratman's still putting out books.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 17:14

Everyone: Sep 6, 2019; by sebmojo

Jedit posted:

I think I'm going to mock you for wanting to read it.

Mock.

Mock mock mock.

Mock mock.

Mock.

Because dear god, "paranormal romance" is a genre that would raise no complaints if it showed up at a book burning. It's all terrible and it's incredibly likely to turn into a candid display of the author's personal fetishes.

So what? If an author gets off on jaguars or vampires or whatever, so what? And if other people get enjoyment from reading about it, again, so what? There's nothing wrong with it and you're kind of coming off as a judgemental rear end in a top hat for kink-shaming and calling for book-burning. In a Book Bran thread. I got turned off of Laurell K. Hamilton's stuff because of her harem stuff, but I'm fine that her work still exists and that other people are into it. Just because something isn't your cup of tea does not make it wrong or evil.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 17:19

Jedit: Dec 10, 2011; Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

General Battuta posted:

At first this was funny but then it suddenly wasn’t! I hope you don’t mean it like that…

The post itself is 14 words long. :hmmm:

# ? Jul 8, 2022 17:26

Tars Tarkas: Apr 13, 2003; Rock the Mok

A nasty woman, I think you should try is, Jess.

Stuporstar posted:

I�ve been noticing and increase in science fiction romance instead, and I�m not even sure if the genre has its own name yet, and don�t know anyone who�s read any, which sucks because I�m down for recs if there�s a thread for that poo poo

A lot of scifi romance series seem to be takes on planetary romance/avatar with the women dating whatever alien dudes live on the planet they end up on (big blue guys, not-cavemen, not-werewolves, probably more I've missed) which is interesting but I bet most scifi fans ignore this trend due to attitudes displayed higher in this thread. It's not my cup of tea but it doesn't really bother me besides laughing at how quickly it has taken over some of the Amazon charts. I've also seen romance series based on The Wizard of Oz, which would be basically fantasy romance with the same setup and I'd argue closely related (though it only had 4 volumes instead a bajillion like all the scifi ones)

# ? Jul 8, 2022 17:49

Fighting Trousers: May 17, 2011; Does this excite you, girl?

Tezer posted:

The worst 'complete trilogy' I can think of is Pullman's Dark Materials. Reading that third book was a complete waste of time.

Oh I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks that.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 18:11

BlankSystemDaemon: Mar 13, 2009

Jedit posted:

Because dear god, "paranormal romance" is a genre that would raise no complaints if it showed up at a book burning. It's all terrible and it's incredibly likely to turn into a candid display of the author's personal fetishes.

I honestly couldn't care less about the author getting to publicize their personal fetishes, it's no worse than a lot of other stuff already on the internet.

What's bad about paranormal romance in almost any form, but especially under the umbrella of ABO, is that it's completely and utterly naked classism; you have the rulers who're naturally good at ruling and everyone is either a sycophant or a serf.

I can't stand it, and refuse to touch anything that has the slightest hint of it.

# ? Jul 8, 2022 18:12

Opopanax: Aug 8, 2007; I HEX YE!!!

StrixNebulosa posted:

I would read 14 werewolves vs 14 nazis done in the style of Wolfenstein

Creepshow Season 1 Episode 2

# ? Jul 8, 2022 18:24

General Battuta: Feb 7, 2011; This is how you communicate with a fellow intelligence: you hurt it, you keep on hurting it, until you can distinguish the posts from the screams.

Jedit posted:

The post itself is 14 words long. :hmmm:

gently caress

e: wait no it's not

General Battuta fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Jul 8, 2022

# ? Jul 8, 2022 20:10

habeasdorkus: Nov 3, 2013; Royalty is a continuous shitposting motion.

StrixNebulosa posted:

I would read 14 werewolves vs 14 nazis done in the style of Wolfenstein

Wait, this is 14 words long. :psyduck:

# ? Jul 9, 2022 02:52

ToxicFrog: Apr 26, 2008

Tars Tarkas posted:

A lot of scifi romance series seem to be takes on planetary romance/avatar with the women dating whatever alien dudes live on the planet they end up on (big blue guys, not-cavemen, not-werewolves, probably more I've missed) which is interesting but I bet most scifi fans ignore this trend due to attitudes displayed higher in this thread.

I've read a few books like that (Jaran and Shards of Honour come to mind) and bounce off them pretty consistently, but it's not because I'm averse to SF romance in general so much as that if I'm reading it I don't want the SF aspects to just amount to a thinly veiled excuse to spend most of the book trudging through a forest populated by totally-not-werewolves or whatever.

I know I've read SFR that isn't in that vein but I'm having enough trouble coming up with titles that clearly none of it left much of an impression on me...there's Fortune's Pawn (a let-down after her excellent Eli Monpress series), the Ardulum trilogy...Carriger's The Fifth Gender...oh! The Silence Leah trilogy I loved to bits and is probably due for a reread once I'm done rereading The Black Company, given how long it took me to bring it to mind, but it's also only debatably SFR as opposed to straightforward SF with a romance subplot. And none of them really sang to me in the warm and fuzzy way that, say, The Tales of Inthya did. I need more space lesbians.

StrixNebulosa posted:

Ooooh I'm still mad at Diane Duane writing some baller Star Trek fanfiction (that was so fanfic they made it noncanon as her version of Romulans angered the higherups) while also killing off main characters in heroic sacrifices in EVERY NOVEL. I'd get attached and BAM dead, nevermind if she's writing star trek or cat wizards fighting dinosaurs or anything!

At least in the first cat wizards book Saash earns the Tenth Life and becomes an avatar of the Powers rather than just dying but of course that means that Duane had to find someone else to kill off as well! gently caress!

It's one of those authorial tics you can't unsee once you're aware of it, like how Cherryh ends most of her books with a bus ride to a gunfight, but unlike the gunbus it leaves you dreading the discover of who's going to die.

# ? Jul 9, 2022 03:24

Happiness Commando: Feb 1, 2002; $$ joy at gunpoint $$

Harold Fjord posted:

Fine Structure is eminently forgettable and a bit like Ra with lots of fractal dimensionality nonsense.

I liked Fine Structure a lot, even though at parts it was clearly not a polished well edited work. Guess I'll read Ra next.

# ? Jul 9, 2022 03:44

ulmont: Sep 15, 2010; IF I EVER MISS VOTING IN AN ELECTION (EVEN AMERICAN IDOL) ,OR HAVE UNPAID PARKING TICKETS, PLEASE TAKE AWAY MY FRANCHISE

Leng posted:

Rahelu, the main POV character, is 17 and just graduated from magic school. She needs to survive a gruelling interview process in order to get a job...so it's basically Shark Tank meets The Apprentice, fantasy edition.
�
https://amazon.com/dp/B0B2SGJG8H

Now that I finished this, let me come back to say that I enjoyed this book and look forward to the sequel. My main criticism is that the sequences of �oh, woe is me, I am poor and the prejudiced upper classes hate me for no good reason, I and my family will totally be screwed unless my one in a million chance comes through�� bored me, mostly because I knew that chance or something close would come through.

# ? Jul 9, 2022 03:48

a friendly penguin: Feb 1, 2007; trolling for fish

I just finished She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan and while it's engrossing and fascinating, it's 97% historical fiction and 3% mentions of ghosts and a physical manifestation of heaven's mandate. I'm mystified sometimes how the publishing industry and book stores classify these things. Because this is considered fantasy but Susanna Clarke is shelved in fiction. Both historical fiction with elements of magic. And there's way more magic in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It's possible that it has more to do with the structure in this case, with SWBtS following a predictable three act structure with easily mapped points along the hero's journey. But I feel as if this book may be missing a good chunk of audience who avoid genre, thinking it's not for them.

I would easily recommend this to readers of the genre as well as people who enjoy historical fiction and military fiction. Three Kingdoms era seems to be pretty big right now in the popular mind, and this fits right in.

# ? Jul 9, 2022 12:29

Everyone: Sep 6, 2019; by sebmojo

Leng posted:

Hey thread, I published a new adult fantasy novel that's set in a world where everyone is born with the magical ability to manipulate emotions.

Rahelu, the main POV character, is 17 and just graduated from magic school. She needs to survive a gruelling interview process in order to get a job...so it's basically Shark Tank meets The Apprentice, fantasy edition.

rohan and a friendly penguin were two of my beta readers and I'm reasonably certain that they both enjoyed it. Also, from the KU thread:

On sale until the end of July 14 for $1.99 USD (or approx for non-US folks) and free to read if you have Kindle Unlimited:
https://amazon.com/dp/B0B2SGJG8H

The little bit I've seen of Shark Tank kind of annoyed me and it's also still way too soon for anything that reminds me of Donald Trump, but I might try it in a few months. Still have a massive thread-created backlog to read.

# ? Jul 9, 2022 14:30

big dyke energy: Jul 29, 2006; Football? Yaaaay

StrixNebulosa posted:

Ann Aguirre comes to mind, though I haven't read any of hers yet. Actually here's a few more I haven't read yet (I prefer pnr to sci-fi romance): Jessie Mihalik, Linnea Sinclair, Rachel Caine, SL Viehl, Sara Creasy.

Ann Aquirre is okay, the best parts of her books are definitely the weird alien sex. The rest of the books are generally like, CW-level action and plot. I think if you're in it for the alien sex it's worth a read. Painfully hetero but what can you do?

Gail Carriger's 5th Gender is good as well, but I would have liked more build up to the romance. Again I think Carriger wanted to write weird alien sex and the rest is incidental. I didn't finish it so maybe the plot picks up.

I mean I like weird alien sex, like a lot, I think it's cool and fun, I just want a really juicy plot and I want the romance to make me FEEL things.

I really, really want to read more romance novels set in sci-fi/fantasy settings, or like, novels that happen to have a really strong romantic subplot (and are gay). Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series was really good for this imo, the romance builds up over the first few novels and you can see like, hints towards it but when you realize it's actually happening it's so satisfying. C.M. Waggoner's books, Unnatural Magic and The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry also each have a lovely romantic subplot. The romance in Unnatural Magic is probably one of my favorites ever written, I love it so much.

a friendly penguin posted:

I just finished She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan and while it's engrossing and fascinating, it's 97% historical fiction and 3% mentions of ghosts and a physical manifestation of heaven's mandate. I'm mystified sometimes how the publishing industry and book stores classify these things. Because this is considered fantasy but Susanna Clarke is shelved in fiction. Both historical fiction with elements of magic. And there's way more magic in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It's possible that it has more to do with the structure in this case, with SWBtS following a predictable three act structure with easily mapped points along the hero's journey. But I feel as if this book may be missing a good chunk of audience who avoid genre, thinking it's not for them.

I would easily recommend this to readers of the genre as well as people who enjoy historical fiction and military fiction. Three Kingdoms era seems to be pretty big right now in the popular mind, and this fits right in.

Another candidate for a good fantasy novel with a romantic subplot :v:

The fisting scene was unexpected, but appreciated. I'm very excited to read the eventual sequel to this one, iirc it kind of ends on a cliffhanger? I really need to reread.

# ? Jul 9, 2022 18:03

General Battuta: Feb 7, 2011; This is how you communicate with a fellow intelligence: you hurt it, you keep on hurting it, until you can distinguish the posts from the screams.

The fisting was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

# ? Jul 9, 2022 20:15

Cardiac: Aug 28, 2012

I just got the latest Asher, which is a drop back to what he does best ie horrifying xenos and body morphing. I have not finished it yet, but it is more survival horror than high speed AI combat. Highly enjoyable and high paced storyline as usual.

On a second note, the chance that Asher will go full Simmons is becoming more and more likely (the Owners series is not even close to full Simmons).

# ? Jul 9, 2022 20:42

newts: Oct 10, 2012

Leng posted:

Hey thread, I published a new adult fantasy novel that's set in a world where everyone is born with the magical ability to manipulate emotions.

On sale until the end of July 14 for $1.99 USD (or approx for non-US folks) and free to read if you have Kindle Unlimited:
https://amazon.com/dp/B0B2SGJG8H

I am bumping this up again because Leng worked really hard on this book! I was one of her alpha (?) readers, so I got to see the whole process from start to finish. Please give her book a chance if you have a couple dollars to spare.

# ? Jul 9, 2022 21:09