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Bilirubin posted:New Saunder's alt just dropped We are all Graydon.
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Jun 14, 2023 09:54
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Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (Siege #1) by KJ Parker - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078W5M7DB/ I Sing the Body Electric: And Other Stories by Ray Bradbury - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CKOQCAQ/ Did Ray Bradbury have good short story chops? I only know it's a cool title.
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Jun 14, 2023 22:34
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I'm not familiar with this particular collection but Bradbury definitely had the chops.
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Jun 14, 2023 23:47
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pradmer posted:Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (Siege #1) by KJ Parker - $2.99 I think so! His "The Illustrated Man" collection has been a favorite of mine (maybe partly for nostalgia reasons), but I definitely need to re-read it since it's been a while. I do still have pretty vivid impressions of a handful of the stories from it stuck in my head, like The Veldt and The Fire Balloons.
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Jun 14, 2023 23:51
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pradmer posted:I Sing the Body Electric: And Other Stories by Ray Bradbury - $1.99 I looked up this collection on wikipedia and I'm sold on at least one of the stories Tomorrow's Child posted:Peter and Polly are excited about the birth of their first child, but the doctor has unfortunate news. Because of a series of malfunctions in the new birthing machines, their newborn child has been born into another dimension. While ultimately healthy, the baby's appearance is that of a small blue pyramid with tentacle-like appendages.
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Jun 14, 2023 23:52
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pradmer posted:Did Ray Bradbury have good short story chops? I only know it's a cool title. Bradbury was arguably at his best in short fiction, and that’s saying something. His short stories are killer, go feast upon them!
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Jun 14, 2023 23:59
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Bradbury is so good that I thought you were pulling our collective leg. I guess I’m old and out of touch. There’s a massive Michael Moorcock reference/homage in Jedi Survivor that is almost plagiarism and I can’t believe most younger sci-fi and fantasy fans don’t immediately recognize it.
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Jun 15, 2023 00:05
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*Gets to chapter 2 of Acts of Caine* Oh I see it has a double meaning
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Jun 15, 2023 00:07
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Crashbee posted:I looked up this collection on wikipedia and I'm sold on at least one of the stories I remember that one!!!!
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Jun 15, 2023 00:16
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pradmer posted:Did Ray Bradbury have good short story chops? I only know it's a cool title. About 15 years ago there were two collections of Bradbury short fiction, each with 100 pieces. They still hadn't run out of good stuff.
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Jun 15, 2023 00:36
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navyjack posted:I remember that one!!!! That's one of the earliest stories I even remember reading.
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Jun 15, 2023 00:38
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Marsupial Ape posted:Bradbury is so good that I thought you were pulling our collective leg. What's that?
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Jun 15, 2023 00:42
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Bradbury has a warmth and fundamental affection for people even in his darkest writing. Like LeGuin or Pratchett or even Dickens. Not saying anything about them as people. Just that their work makes you feel a bit less poo poo when you read it.
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Jun 15, 2023 00:53
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sebmojo posted:What's that? Spoiler tagged for those who haven’t played. Tanelorn Pretty one the nose, to be honest.
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Jun 15, 2023 00:53
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Marsupial Ape posted:Bradbury is so good that I thought you were pulling our collective leg. By the time I got into sci the old guard of Asimov, Clarke, Bradbury, etc. was mostly past. I haven't really gone back and examined their work beyond the most famous ones. But I'll look out for more Bradbury in the future!
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Jun 15, 2023 04:25
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pradmer posted:Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (Siege #1) by KJ Parker - $2.99 I dunno, 386 pages seems a bit short for full novel price.
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Jun 15, 2023 04:29
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Ninurta posted:I dunno, 386 pages seems a bit short for full novel price. lol, amazing callback 
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Jun 15, 2023 04:56
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pradmer posted:By the time I got into sci the old guard of Asimov, Clarke, Bradbury, etc. was mostly past. I haven't really gone back and examined their work beyond the most famous ones. But I'll look out for more Bradbury in the future! No worries. I’m just lamenting my own accelerating mortality.
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Jun 15, 2023 05:42
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MockingQuantum posted:lol, amazing callback I'm missing the joke, but Parker is a great writer, one of my contemporary faves, and 16 Ways was a fun read for me as an ex-Classicist.
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Jun 15, 2023 05:59
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Admiralty Flag posted:I'm missing the joke, but Parker is a great writer, one of my contemporary faves, and 16 Ways was a fun read for me as an ex-Classicist. IIRC during a previous time 16 Ways went on sale there was some amusing miscommunication in the thread about whether it was a good deal because the regular price was a lot to pay for a "400 page novella", which was the thread title for a while... In short, I think you had to be there for the joke to make any sense at all, and Ninurta's a good sport who got me to laugh irl at the callback.
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Jun 15, 2023 06:17
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don’t forget, it’s a sumo culture. We pay by the pound, here
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Jun 15, 2023 11:41
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So I’m just getting to the finish of Dune, and I have to say part 3 is landing much different than the first two thirds. I’m not sure if it’s the time jump or the sharp increase in veiled meanings and magical two-year-olds, but I miss the more rigid political intrigue from the beginning. Is Dune Messiah more of what’s in the third section? Should I continue? I’m still enjoying it, just a bit less.
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Jun 15, 2023 11:50
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Marsupial Ape posted:Bradbury is so good that I thought you were pulling our collective leg. I'm unsurprised. In Red Harvest Liam Neeson's "particular set of skills" speech from Taken is stolen by one of the Jedi.
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Jun 15, 2023 13:43
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sephiRoth IRA posted:Is Dune Messiah more of what’s in the third section? Should I continue? I’m still enjoying it, just a bit less. The rule for reading Dune is to just stop at whatever place you are no longer feeling it because at no point does it get better as you go in.
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Jun 15, 2023 14:26
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Imo dune messiah is a must, I know that’s the general rule and I think it applies post messiah but messiah completely reframes the first book in a necessary way
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Jun 15, 2023 14:35
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if you come out of dune with no desire to read more I don't know that messiah helps, fwiw
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Jun 15, 2023 15:01
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neongrey posted:if you come out of dune with no desire to read more I don't know that messiah helps, fwiw Lol, fair. It’s a lot shorter, though! And maybe if your problem with dune is how the plot resolves?
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Jun 15, 2023 15:43
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The Dune series gets progressively more and more itself Stop when you've had enough, it will never turn back into the thing it has unbecome before.
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Jun 15, 2023 15:46
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So that was definitely an ending. I’m a bit WTF as it happened really quick! I’ll probably read Messiah, but maybe not too much after that
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Jun 15, 2023 16:07
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sephiRoth IRA posted:So I’m just getting to the finish of Dune, and I have to say part 3 is landing much different than the first two thirds. I’m not sure if it’s the time jump or the sharp increase in veiled meanings and magical two-year-olds, but I miss the more rigid political intrigue from the beginning. Is Dune Messiah more of what’s in the third section? Should I continue? I’m still enjoying it, just a bit less. it's sort of both, iirc? It's basically the sociopolitical (and religious) fallout of everything that happens in Dune, I'd agree with buffalo all day that it's sort of necessary, it's basically Part 4 of Dune in some ways, and is more directly connected to the first book than basically anything that follows after. I will say though, if you do want to read it, I'd recommend doing it fairly soon after finishing Dune for exactly that reason
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Jun 15, 2023 16:34
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RDM posted:Broken Earth trilogy Went with this, seems interesting so far but also seems LITERARY. I'm currently in the second person perspective. I'm imagining I'm Siri Keeton.
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Jun 15, 2023 18:11
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zoux posted:Went with this, seems interesting so far but also seems LITERARY. I'm currently in the second person perspective. I'm imagining I'm Siri Keeton. I don't think it's really a spoiler but the second person parts, especially in the second and third book (iirc) are explicitly another character that the main character knows doing the talking. If that helps to ground it a bit. e: oops discord spoiler tags don't work here
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Jun 15, 2023 18:33
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There's one Bradbury short story that always sticks out in my mind, probably just because it was so unexpected. An elderly man wakes up one morning with the first boner he's seen in years. He invites over a few of his old exes so they can all marvel at it.
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Jun 15, 2023 18:40
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Love a good 2nd person perspective book. I think Charles Stross had a near-future series written like this.
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Jun 15, 2023 18:40
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Halting state. Never read the sequel. Has stross been up to much besides the laundry books of late? I fell off those at some point. I like Stross but he mostly has good ideas that don't quite pan out or he gets lost in details I don't care about much. For another 2nd person, try Raven Tower.
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Jun 15, 2023 18:58
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You are reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If On A Winter's Night A Traveller... (best 2nd person use ever)
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Jun 15, 2023 19:21
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Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08B7V6CQ8/ Paradise-1 by David Wellington - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8YXY5ZX/ Same author who wrote The Last Astronaut, but I don't believe anyone's posted impressions on it yet.
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Jun 15, 2023 22:33
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pradmer posted:Paradise-1 by David Wellington - $2.99 I know I read The Last Astronaut but I could not tell you a thing about it for the life of me. Not sure if that's a comment on the quality of the book or my memory, though I do remember feeling kind of underwhelmed by the book as a whole.
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Jun 15, 2023 22:37
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pradmer posted:Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro - $1.99 This one is great treatment of AI and class, folks, and an easy read.
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Jun 15, 2023 22:38
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The last astronaut was pretty good but mainly the reason I say that is it had an actual ending. That dude writes like the story climax happens and then the protag just wanders off and then THE END. There was actually a well thought out "oh poo poo that's kinda cool" ending to it. I didn't agree with how the plot was handled but if I'm thinking it's the right book it's a pretty good "visit spaceship and poo poo goes incredibly wrong" kinda book. I started the latest but haven't gotten far into it, but that's not the book's fault, I've just been crazy busy with weird poo poo.
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Jun 16, 2023 00:10
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