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ahobday posted:I'm looking for science fiction that has good moment-to-moment space battles. I think Shards of Earth did this very well and you’d enjoy it.
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Mar 8, 2023 20:34
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I liked the space battles in House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds on that front.
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Mar 8, 2023 21:52
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The Solar War, the first book in the Siege of Terra series, has some good spaceship battles. But it’s mostly extremely large scale fleet engagements. But of a wildcard since it’s comics not novels, but the Gundam Thunderbolt series has extremely good space combat in a debris field. Well told detailed combat scenes, they do get a bit flashy when the Gundam shows up but even then the focus is on how terrifying it is to face a machine like that.
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Mar 8, 2023 23:15
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looking for: fantasy/sci fi that is about work/labor/doing a job. i really like tom holt, he has a story ahout a guy becoming a werewolf as he also maintains his job as a lawyer. tom holt also has a story about a person finding a link between our world and a fantasy world, and then uses that for financial profit in this world. an aspect of Adrian Tchaikovskys 'children of time' that i liked was the labor division between spiders, and reading how that evolved with time. something about the monotony/logistics of living in a society but also magic/creature/non humans
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Mar 9, 2023 00:47
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If you like Tom Holt you'll love K J Parker (a lot of his work is focused on professionals being good at their profession)
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Mar 9, 2023 04:53
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Edgar Allan Pwned posted:looking for: gently caress I can't remember which ones but some of Asimov's "robot" stories.
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Mar 9, 2023 12:04
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Anybody have suggestions on poetry books that feel ‘black metal’? I’ve been reading some poetry recently which has been awesome. I’ve been rereading Galway Kinnell’s The Book of Nightmares which shares the vibe I’m looking for.
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Mar 10, 2023 02:15
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Kart Barfunkel posted:Anybody have suggestions on poetry books that feel ‘black metal’? Rimbaud - A Season in Hell
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Mar 10, 2023 03:10
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COPE 27 posted:Rimbaud - A Season in Hell I actually have this book and read it not too long ago. I’ll give it another spin.
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Mar 10, 2023 06:43
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Kart Barfunkel posted:Anybody have suggestions on poetry books that feel ‘black metal’? Gotta be Poe, right?
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Mar 11, 2023 00:50
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I'm back with another request! What's the best book to get if I want to read about elves, specifically the Silmarillion / Lord of the Rings type of elves? I don't strictly want urban fantasy elves with guitars, and I don't want fae - I want high fantasy elves. That said, they can be in space! I've read all of CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series (dark elves in spaaace), and I've enjoyed some of the Drizzt stuff. (His origin trilogy is great) So any elf will do, as long as they're, y'know, fancy and better than us and ethereal and poo poo. Other books in this vein I'm looking at (but haven't read yet): Gav Thorpe's Path of the X (Warhammer 40k Eldar trilogy), that Starcraft Protoss trilogy.
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Mar 14, 2023 02:21
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Kart Barfunkel posted:Anybody have suggestions on poetry books that feel ‘black metal’? Georg Trakl might work, Jut Gyte did an arrangement of one of his poems on the E.P. Helion named for his poem of the same name. Some symbolist stuff might fit. Baudelaire's the flower's of evil. Seconding a Season in Hell.
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Mar 14, 2023 02:41
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StrixNebulosa posted:I'm back with another request! Path of the Eldar would probably be up your alley. Classic haughty better than you elves, they're very boring. But I gotta recommend Path of the Dark Eldar. Also classic haughty, better than you elves, but they're evil backstabbing elves, with different evil subfactions and an evil city full of evil secrets. Even I, a person who typically finds elves very boring, really got into those evil elves and their evil centuries-long schemes.
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Mar 14, 2023 02:53
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StrixNebulosa posted:I'm back with another request! Tad Williams's Dragonbone Chair series might scratch that itch for you.
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Mar 14, 2023 04:42
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I'll always endorse Tad Williams You could check out The Goblin Emperor. A half goblin half elf thrust into court drama. I'd suggest reading the first chapter excerpt on Amazon as some people find the dialogue irritating
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Mar 14, 2023 05:03
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Has anybody read Heat 2? Would you recommend it? Seems like the coolest book ever to be caught reading.
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Mar 14, 2023 10:48
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Kart Barfunkel posted:Has anybody read Heat 2? Would you recommend it? Seems like the coolest book ever to be caught reading. I have not personally, but enough people I trust say it’s a great follow up to the movie and it’s solidly written.
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Mar 14, 2023 12:19
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Hi there thread. I'm basically looking for more sci fi in the same vein as Anne Leckie or Becky Chambers. I love the Wayfarer series, the Imperial Radch trilogy, and I'm currently re-reading Provenance for I think the third time. Basically, I'd love to read more of the same, only Leckie has apparently switched from sci fi to fantasy and Chambers isn't writing more Wayfarer. I think what I like most about those books is their convincing, matter-of-fact depictions of entirely made-up cultures, particularly because they're incidental to the main thrust of the books. They're also not depressing dystopias, or at least the elements of the books that do feature dystopias have the heroes defeating or escaping them. I guess, at a stretch, similar works I like might be Iain Banks? If you take out the torture porn he felt compelled to shove into all his books, and the tiresome "male protagonist gets the girl" that kept happening?
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Mar 21, 2023 13:00
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The closest thing I'm aware of to Becky Chamber's "cozy" sf is the Ethshar books, but those are 1) fantasy 2) written in the 80's and 90's so have aged poorly in a few places and aren't quite as cozy for all readers as more modern stuff might be.
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Mar 21, 2023 14:34
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While we're on SciFi, what's the next thing to read after absolutely loving the Forever Wars trilogy, thoroughly enjoying Steakley's Armor, and repeatedly trying to read Heinlein and not digging it at all? I tried reading Niven's ringworld, which seems to be the logical answer to this question, and bounced pretty hard off of it because of the male fantasy fulfillment self-insert main character and what I felt was childish alien races.
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Mar 21, 2023 14:49
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stealie72 posted:While we're on SciFi, what's the next thing to read after absolutely loving the Forever Wars trilogy, thoroughly enjoying Steakley's Armor, and repeatedly trying to read Heinlein and not digging it at all? Scalzi's Old Man's War series is your next stopping point. First book is very good then they taper off; stop reading when you lose interest they don't get better, though some of Scalzi's other stuff is also quite good. Heinlein is highly variable because he was kinda insane. Was the specific Heinlein you read Starship Troopers or something else?
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Mar 21, 2023 15:07
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Scalzi's Old Man's War series is your next stopping point. First book is very good then they taper off; stop reading when you lose interest they don't get better, though some of Scalzi's other stuff is also quite good. As for Heinlein, I've tried starship troopers and finished it out of little more than obligation, then Stranger in a Strange land, which I just found dense, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which I didn't get too far into because I kept hearing a unreleased Rush B-side from their hardcore Randian period playing in my head and it was distracting. I've also read a couple of the Riverworld series and enjoyed them well enough, but didn't love them.
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Mar 21, 2023 15:31
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stealie72 posted:Oh crap, should have mentioned that I read and really enjoyed several of the Old Man's War books and tapered off exactly as predicted. Any other Scalzi in particular stand out? Have you tried Dick?
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Mar 21, 2023 16:31
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Gripweed posted:Have you tried Dick? Haven't, really. What's a good start? Does Blade Runner make Electric Sheep a good entry point?
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Mar 21, 2023 17:16
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stealie72 posted:[insert some joke or another here] I have not read Electric Sheep so I can't speak to that, but in general you can't really go wrong with the hits. Scanner Darkly and Man in the High Castle are both classics for a reason. So I assume you'd be safe with Electric Sheep. Since you are coming at it from a more standard sci-fi angle, maybe some of his less weird books like We can Build You or The Zap Gun might be a better entry point. I personally loving love The Zap Gun, I think it's a seriously underrated book. It's hard to go wrong with Dick. The only thing I'd actually warn you off starting with is the Valis Trilogy. hold off on those until you've gotten a few other Dicks under your belt.
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Mar 21, 2023 17:34
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Gripweed posted:I have not read Electric Sheep so I can't speak to that, but in general you can't really go wrong with the hits. Scanner Darkly and Man in the High Castle are both classics for a reason. So I assume you'd be safe with Electric Sheep. Since you are coming at it from a more standard sci-fi angle, maybe some of his less weird books like We can Build You or The Zap Gun might be a better entry point. I personally loving love The Zap Gun, I think it's a seriously underrated book. It's hard to go wrong with Dick. I think I have A Scanner Darkly on DVD (from the $1 bin at the pawn shop) and have never watched it, so that's a good excuse to read the book and watch it.
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Mar 21, 2023 17:45
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Hyperlynx posted:Hi there thread. I’d recommend Shards of Earth over anything written by Scalzi, but people do like those books!
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Mar 21, 2023 23:29
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Is there anything to read if I'm feeling nostalgic for The Blues Brothers/Smokey and the Bandit/shows like Magnum PI? Car chases are not necessary.
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Mar 22, 2023 05:47
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FPyat posted:Is there anything to read if I'm feeling nostalgic for The Blues Brothers/Smokey and the Bandit/shows like Magnum PI? Car chases are not necessary. Funny US based crime stuff with non-cop protagonists? Carl Hiaasen. Maybe Elmore Leonard.
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Mar 22, 2023 07:33
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Hiaasen's YA fiction was a constant presence in my childhood so I guess I'll try his adult works.
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Mar 22, 2023 09:34
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FPyat posted:Is there anything to read if I'm feeling nostalgic for The Blues Brothers/Smokey and the Bandit/shows like Magnum PI? Car chases are not necessary. Cadillac Jack by Larry McMurtry. Charles Willeford's Hoke Mosely books. Maybe some Charles Portis, like Norwood or The Dog of the South.
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Mar 22, 2023 13:37
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Franchescanado posted:Cadillac Jack by Larry McMurtry. yaffle posted:Carl Hiaasen.
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Mar 22, 2023 13:51
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yaffle posted:Funny US based crime stuff with non-cop protagonists? Carl Hiaasen. Maybe Elmore Leonard. Donald Westlake, too. Maybe Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr books.
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Mar 22, 2023 18:42
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I liked Kinky Friedman's mystery books when I was a kid. I 100% do not want to check if they hold up
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Mar 23, 2023 03:42
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Selachian posted:Donald Westlake, too. Donald Westlake's the king (although he's funnier when he's meaner writing as Richard Stark and his non-comedy books, The Ax is very funny for example)
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Mar 23, 2023 09:19
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FPyat posted:Is there anything to read if I'm feeling nostalgic for The Blues Brothers/Smokey and the Bandit/shows like Magnum PI? Car chases are not necessary. Oh this is a good question. That seventies vibe? Maybe the early Travis McGee books. Set in Florida
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Mar 23, 2023 17:21
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FPyat posted:Is there anything to read if I'm feeling nostalgic for The Blues Brothers/Smokey and the Bandit/shows like Magnum PI? Car chases are not necessary. Well, 
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Mar 23, 2023 17:31
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Can anyone tell me if Annalee Newitz's The Terraformers gets good? I really liked their Autonomous and Four Lost Cities, but the characters in Terraformers just aren't grabbing me. The characters feel like plastic people with the interesting bits shaved off, but I could stick with it if its just positioning folks to get somewhere good. I'm about 1/3 of the way through now.
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Mar 28, 2023 12:19
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Terra Formars does the same concept better, imo
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Mar 28, 2023 12:27
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Edgar Allan Pwned posted:looking for: Have you tried the Murderbot series by Martha Wells? Lots of doing a job in there (and I enjoy them)
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Mar 30, 2023 06:47
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