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If you head to Bloomsbury there's a second hand bookshop called Skoob which is fun to scour for obscure stuff.
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# ? Oct 19, 2022 11:19 |
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# ? Jun 4, 2024 06:18 |
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You can't fool me. I may not remember the name but I remember this game. Bloomsbury station is closed and all passengers have to loop through Heathrow or pay seven tokens.
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# ? Oct 19, 2022 14:33 |
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withak posted:Apparently [The Spare Man] is a takeoff of The Thin Man. ulmont posted:The description reads to me more like Nick and Nora. I would like to update to note that: 1) The Thin Man is Nick and Nora and 2) I had confused it with The Third Man. My bad; carry on.
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# ? Oct 19, 2022 17:03 |
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Harold Fjord posted:You can't fool me. I may not remember the name but I remember this game.
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# ? Oct 19, 2022 17:24 |
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Yahtzee!
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# ? Oct 19, 2022 17:28 |
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Finished reading The Spare Man. It was decent, I enjoyed it a bit less than Kowal's previous works. Some of the early dialog felt stronger than the later parts and many of the characters felt a bit thin to me. We know their name and gender, but not a lot of what motivates them. I think it suffered from placing a whodunit in a "cameras are everywhere" future. At times it was hard for me to suspend disbelief that someone didn't see what was happening. Ending spoilers: I got really tired of the security chief and how incompetent he was. The constant fights with the lawyer were also tiring, she could apparently win all the battles, but it never seemed to matter much in changing what was going to happen. It was funny to see how the murderer reacted to the dog be relevant. As someone who is allergic to dogs, they acted just like I would have.
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# ? Oct 19, 2022 20:05 |
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I'm about 75 pages from finishing 'Cibola Burn' (4th Expanse book)...and I'm ripping through these pretty quickly. Anyone have other recs for sci-fi book series? I've had the 'Old Man's War' series by John Scalzi on my list for sometime, so I might read that next. I also remember enjoying the first few 'Frontlines' books by Marco Kloos seven or eight years ago. Turns out that there are eight of those now. So I'll probably read those as well.
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# ? Oct 19, 2022 21:54 |
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RestingB1tchFace posted:I'm about 75 pages from finishing 'Cibola Burn' (4th Expanse book)...and I'm ripping through these pretty quickly. Anyone have other recs for sci-fi book series? I've had the 'Old Man's War' series by John Scalzi on my list for sometime, so I might read that next. I also remember enjoying the first few 'Frontlines' books by Marco Kloos seven or eight years ago. Turns out that there are eight of those now. So I'll probably read those as well. Poor Man's War To honor you call us The dragon never sleeps Darkwar A memory called empire Ancillary justice Revenger Expendable A fire upon the deep The Pandora sequence The forever war
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# ? Oct 19, 2022 22:22 |
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RDM posted:Are you looking for space scifi? The quality of the following varies from excellent to scenery-chewing schlock. (Some are series and some are one-off) Space sci-fi is definitely some of my favorite to read. But sci-fi/fantasy is great as well. 'Hyperion' is my favorite novel....for example. And yes....I enjoyed the rest of the the Cantos fully realizing that none of it measured up to the original. Thanks for the list. Plenty to dig through there.
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# ? Oct 19, 2022 22:34 |
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RestingB1tchFace posted:Space sci-fi is definitely some of my favorite to read. But sci-fi/fantasy is great as well. 'Hyperion' is my favorite novel....for example. And yes....I enjoyed the rest of the the Cantos fully realizing that none of it measured up to the original. Read Ninefox Gambit imo, it's really good and has that Hyperion feeling of "sci-fi that's so loose it shades into fantasy".
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# ? Oct 20, 2022 01:18 |
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RDM posted:To honor you call us Just as a heads-up, this author was a covid denier, and the series will never be finished because he died of covid. If that influences your buying/reading decisions any.
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# ? Oct 20, 2022 05:05 |
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Finally getting into Gideon 9 and it’s a lot of fun but man sometimes the choices here just baffling. “Harrow’s glare wasn’t quite withering, but it certainly pulled the moisture from everything it landed on.” Is this a joke? One of those hidden memes?? Or did she seriously write “her gaze wasn’t withering it simply withered?”
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# ? Oct 20, 2022 13:02 |
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it was more like one of those packets you get which say not to eat then
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# ? Oct 20, 2022 13:25 |
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Ceebees posted:Just as a heads-up, this author was a covid denier, and the series will never be finished because he died of covid. If that influences your buying/reading decisions any. Now that's science fiction baby
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# ? Oct 20, 2022 13:42 |
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General Battuta posted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jne9t8sHpUc
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# ? Oct 20, 2022 14:57 |
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Ceebees posted:Just as a heads-up, this author was a covid denier, and the series will never be finished because he died of covid. If that influences your buying/reading decisions any. to the ventilator you call us
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# ? Oct 20, 2022 16:00 |
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Clark Nova posted:to the ventilator you call us
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# ? Oct 20, 2022 17:15 |
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Red Rising (#1) by Pierce Brown - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CVS2J80/
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# ? Oct 20, 2022 23:00 |
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Ceebees posted:Just as a heads-up, this author was a covid denier, and the series will never be finished because he died of covid. If that influences your buying/reading decisions any. tbh I thought Honsinger was *a bit* better than most kindle-based MilSF authors, but it was a little weird that the backstory of his world included an alien bioweapon that killed all of Earth's women Reminded me unpleasantly of that Ringo series where an alien bio-weapon devastates every demographic on Earth except for white blondes
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# ? Oct 20, 2022 23:06 |
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PupsOfWar posted:tbh I thought Honsinger was *a bit* better than most kindle-based MilSF authors, but it was a little weird that the backstory of his world included an alien bioweapon that killed all of Earth's women I almost don't want to ask (or know) but how did Honsigner explain the continuation of humanity as a species? Gay marriage with pregnancies?(kinda rooting for this one) Artificial wombs with a view? Humans can spawn like ameobas now through sheer macho-honor stubbornness?
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# ? Oct 20, 2022 23:12 |
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Everyone posted:I almost don't want to ask (or know) but how did Honsigner explain the continuation of humanity as a species? Gay marriage with pregnancies?(kinda rooting for this one) Artificial wombs with a view? Humans can spawn like ameobas now through sheer macho-honor stubbornness? a small number of ladies survived via drastic quarantine measures, happenstance, or being offworld obviously it would have been more interesting if he'd committed to showing a monosex society, but it was primarily: - an excuse to not have any significant female characters - source of main character angst (the hero's mom and like eight sisters died) - justification for having child soldiers to compensate for manpower shortage (which he seemingly wanted to do as an homage to 1700s-1800s naval warfare where you'd just have tweens roaming around warships) edit: I don't think he addressed how this interacted with intersex or trans persons PupsOfWar fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Oct 20, 2022 |
# ? Oct 20, 2022 23:23 |
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PupsOfWar posted:tbh I thought Honsinger was *a bit* better than most kindle-based MilSF authors, but it was a little weird that the backstory of his world included an alien bioweapon that killed all of Earth's women PupsOfWar posted:
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# ? Oct 20, 2022 23:46 |
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General Battuta posted:Now that's science fiction baby The Vaccinator Baru Cormorant
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# ? Oct 21, 2022 04:46 |
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Bear Sleuth posted:Finally getting into Gideon 9 and it’s a lot of fun but man sometimes the choices here just baffling. “Harrow’s glare wasn’t quite withering, but it certainly pulled the moisture from everything it landed on.” Is this a joke? One of those hidden memes?? Or did she seriously write “her gaze wasn’t withering it simply withered?” I don't remember that, just sounds like a slightly overblown figure of speech The only thing that annoyed me about Gideons writing was her using "wouldn't do x if you paid her" twice in a row
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# ? Oct 21, 2022 07:54 |
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The Adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Volume One: Swords and Deviltry, Swords Against Death, and Swords in the Mist by Fritz Leiber - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0741VJC4D/
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# ? Oct 21, 2022 22:49 |
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pradmer posted:The Adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Volume One: Swords and Deviltry, Swords Against Death, and Swords in the Mist by Fritz Leiber - $3.99 This is absolutely foundational stuff, basically one should not feel qualified to have an opinion on fantasy in general or sword & sorcery in particular without having read some of Leiber's stories.
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# ? Oct 21, 2022 23:05 |
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Groke posted:This is absolutely foundational stuff, basically one should not feel qualified to have an opinion on fantasy in general or sword & sorcery in particular without having read some of Leiber's stories. While I don't share my esteemed colleague's opinion w/r/t one's qualifications on having opinions on things, I do share his enthusiasm for this particular series.
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# ? Oct 22, 2022 00:05 |
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swords in the mist is a great isekai
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# ? Oct 22, 2022 03:42 |
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Poldarn posted:While I don't share my esteemed colleague's opinion w/r/t one's qualifications on having opinions on things, I do share his enthusiasm for this particular series. idk about qualified opinions but it's definitely worth reading just to have a better foundational understanding of the genre, though it's also pretty entertaining, too. I'd put it up there with Jack Vance's Dying Earth stuff, Bradbury's Mars stuff, Robert E. Howard etc.
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# ? Oct 22, 2022 06:40 |
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pradmer posted:The Adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Volume One: Swords and Deviltry, Swords Against Death, and Swords in the Mist by Fritz Leiber - $3.99 These are really drat good stories. They don't make em like they used to. Had read some of these long ago and am rereading them now. I'm also a big fan of Dying Earth and would recommend these books as well if you enjoy Vance stuff.
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# ? Oct 22, 2022 18:57 |
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It's so weird that the Boston Science Museum is such a prominent location in Accelerando. It was my #1 place to beg my mom to go to growing up. (I don't think I ever saw the Constitution.)
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# ? Oct 24, 2022 02:03 |
FPyat posted:It's so weird that the Boston Science Museum is such a prominent location in Accelerando. It was my #1 place to beg my mom to go to growing up. (I don't think I ever saw the Constitution.) Got married there, boston science museum owns.
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# ? Oct 24, 2022 02:17 |
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I think that one has the Unholy Chalice AND the Snow Women. For real, don't sleep on it. Fritz Leiber does more with a short story than modern writers do with doorstoppers. Some of the shorts are your standard Conan slays monkeys and dark wizards tales, but others, like the ones I mentioned, are foundational to the genre. I doubt a book like the Blacktongue Thief or The Lies of Locke Lamora or would exist without them.
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# ? Oct 24, 2022 04:26 |
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This might be a stretch, but someone here wrote me his alternate timeline where the USSR advanced in the space race by (iirc) mastering mining and industry in orbit. Anyone remember who it was or how it played out?
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# ? Oct 24, 2022 10:49 |
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Tias posted:This might be a stretch, but someone here wrote me his alternate timeline where the USSR advanced in the space race by (iirc) mastering mining and industry in orbit. Isn't that an Aurora let's play?
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# ? Oct 24, 2022 11:54 |
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E: No, turns out it was Nebukanezzar:quote:Timeline:
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# ? Oct 24, 2022 12:13 |
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That sounds dreadful.
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# ? Oct 24, 2022 12:34 |
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Any decent cyberpunk books come out in the last 5 years? Not like the game, but the genre.
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# ? Oct 24, 2022 15:43 |
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Ghetto SuperCzar posted:Any decent cyberpunk books come out in the last 5 years? Not like the game, but the genre. Void Star by Zachary Mason just makes it under the wire as a 2017 release. I thought it was pretty much the best William Gibson book I've read that was not written by Gibson, which I mean as the highest compliment.
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# ? Oct 24, 2022 16:51 |
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# ? Jun 4, 2024 06:18 |
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Ghetto SuperCzar posted:Any decent cyberpunk books come out in the last 5 years? Not like the game, but the genre. Chen Qiufan's Waste Tide is a good one. Gibson's The Peripheral is just over 5 years old, and it's excellent. Its follow up , Agency, falls into your range, but it's not as good.
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# ? Oct 24, 2022 17:24 |