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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Sloth i first read them a s precocious 12 year old, having grown up around boats and with parents who loved period dramas it never felt that alien, even though I'm sure i didn't understand a good deal of it. i knew what a spanker or a jibboom or a stay was but a royal or stuns'l or topgallant, where the orlop was what a xebec was were all a mystery but as many of you will know - it doesn't matter! they're just brilliant books that will pull you in and immerse you so fully that eventually you might suddenly realise why a reach might heel you too far and your stuns'l will be wet or that why you need a drogue anchor on a lee shore or why a heavy carronade broadside is dangerous in close combat but useless in a long stern chase.
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Sep 3, 2023 23:08
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I enjoyed in book 13 or so when POB did the thing where maturin confidently describes something about sailing and I finally knew enough to laugh before he put in a line about the lieutenants sharing uncomfortable glances or something
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Sep 3, 2023 23:12
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BadOptics posted:I would have never thought to be interested in reading fiction based on early 19th century sailing, but here I am ordering Master and Commander based off the thread's recommendations. I *did* love the movie, so pretty excited about going through all the novels. This may also get me to finish Hydrogen Sonata in a decent amount of time so I can get to M&C.... It's far inferior to A/M, but David Drake wrote a 13 book A/M in space series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCN_Series if you're feeling like more of the same tone after you finish
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Sep 3, 2023 23:24
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You fools I'm already coming up with religious and political disputes that will lead to the first airlock ejection of space Prague, or Sprague.
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Sep 4, 2023 00:04
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Benagain posted:You fools I'm already coming up with religious and political disputes that will lead to the first airlock ejection of space Prague, or Sprague. My friend William van de Camp from Space Prague made an obviously horrible theological point, and we all knew it and he knew it too, but no matter how many easy outs we tried to give him he just wouldn’t back down. We were all like “Take the L, Sprague de Camp”
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Sep 4, 2023 00:11
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Now there's a writer who doesn't see much discussion. I don't think his fiction was very good, but he was one hell of a debunker.
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Sep 4, 2023 01:32
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My son had a problem in middle school: each week he was supposed to write down words in his reading that he didn't understand, then write out the definition. He had, and has, a vocabulary that would choke a goat. Patrick O'Brian got him through: orlop decks and cataplasms and shrouds to the rescue! His teacher complained that he wasn't doing the assignment right. My son pointed out that those were genuinely the only words he'd found that he didn't understand.
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Sep 4, 2023 01:46
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Arsenic Lupin posted:My son had a problem in middle school: each week he was supposed to write down words in his reading that he didn't understand, then write out the definition. He had, and has, a vocabulary that would choke a goat. Patrick O'Brian got him through: orlop decks and cataplasms and shrouds to the rescue! His teacher complained that he wasn't doing the assignment right. My son pointed out that those were genuinely the only words he'd found that he didn't understand. That teacher is bad at encouraging kids!!! wtf!!! I remember trying to read some of the Dunnett books and being excited I knew the word oriflamme already......because of Orcish Oriflamme, 3R enchantment your attacking creatures get +1/+0 ...actually it might have been in these books instead, given ships sailing with flags...
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Sep 4, 2023 04:32
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silvergoose posted:That teacher is bad at encouraging kids!!! wtf!!! Lol any of the rare times I encounter the word oriflamme, I think of exactly the same thing.
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Sep 4, 2023 04:45
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Zorak of Michigan posted:Be sure not to read Bio of a Space Tyrant first, or you'll be ruined for solar system allegories. Or better yet, don't read that at all. It's the first series I noped out of for skeevy sex stuff.
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Sep 4, 2023 05:43
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I finished The Archive Undying and it was... Fine. I wanted to like it a lot more than I did, but I really think it was let down by its editor. It felt a lot like reading a fanfic of an anime I haven't seen. I really loved all the glimpses at the world and gonzo tech strangeness going on, but there was too much going on (and simultaneously sort of not enough) to let the strengths of it shine. It reminded of the first edition of The Dawnhounds — it's clear that there's a really good book in there somewhere, it just needed someone else to guide it out. I'll read any sequel though, without hesitation.
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Sep 4, 2023 05:48
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mllaneza posted:Or better yet, don't read that at all. It's the first series I noped out of for skeevy sex stuff. This is definitely good advice.
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Sep 4, 2023 05:58
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Ask me about the Chaucer paper I wrote explaining tournament rules in The Knight's Tale based on my knowledge of D&D weapons . Got a good grade, too. Tl; dr the weapons rules in the tournament forbade weapons that were strong against chain mail, iirc.
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Sep 4, 2023 06:13
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mllaneza posted:Or better yet, don't read that at all. It's the first series I noped out of for skeevy sex stuff. Skeevy is an understatement. Bio needs multiple content warnings.
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Sep 4, 2023 12:03
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Jedit posted:Skeevy is an understatement. Bio needs multiple content warnings. It's got a great big one ("Piers Anthony") right on every cover.
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Sep 4, 2023 13:19
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All Systems Red (Murderbot #1) by Martha Wells - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MYZ8X5C/ The Blade Itself (First Law #1) by Joe Abercrombie - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TOT9LDK/ Circle of Enemies (Twenty Palaces #3) by Harry Connolly - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004J4WKF6/ Arrival by Ted Chiang - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JEMPGWQ/ The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QPHT8CB/
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Sep 4, 2023 15:32
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If you haven't yet, and if you like personality-centric thrillers, do try All Systems Red ASAP. The most credible first-person robot viewpoint I've ever seen.
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Sep 4, 2023 17:33
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Ask me about the Chaucer paper I wrote explaining tournament rules in The Knight's Tale based on my knowledge of D&D weapons . Got a good grade, too. That makes sense, the banned weapons are arrows, battle-axes, knives, and short swords (the last of which are explicitly described as stabbing weapons). Basically the late medieval equivalent of requiring weapons to be wrapped in pool noodles. Neat!
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Sep 4, 2023 17:45
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Quorum posted:That makes sense, the banned weapons are arrows, battle-axes, knives, and short swords (the last of which are explicitly described as stabbing weapons). Basically the late medieval equivalent of requiring weapons to be wrapped in pool noodles. Neat! Thanks! I actually did do some research after getting the thesis from D&D.
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Sep 4, 2023 17:55
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pradmer posted:
was very confused by this until I realized they renamed the book. 10/10 classic and a must for any thread reader
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Sep 4, 2023 17:55
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Arsenic Lupin posted:If you haven't yet, and if you like personality-centric thrillers, do try All Systems Red ASAP. The most credible first-person robot viewpoint I've ever seen. They are the best depictions of autism in my view. In a good, accessible way.
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Sep 4, 2023 18:07
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torgeaux posted:They are the best depictions of autism in my view. In a good, accessible way. I've heard a lot of people with autism say that. It makes sense, given what I've read about autism, but I wouldn't know.
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Sep 4, 2023 19:08
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buffalo all day posted:was very confused by this until I realized they renamed the book. 10/10 classic and a must for any thread reader  Also includes the story that inspired "Limitless"
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Sep 4, 2023 19:24
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Zorak of Michigan posted:This is definitely good advice. Advice I wish I'd taken. I was trapped in a house for seven months with two roommates and eventually, we all had to read each others' books. One of them was a Piers Anthony fan.
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Sep 4, 2023 20:10
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Madurai posted:Advice I wish I'd taken. I was trapped in a house for seven months with two roommates and eventually, we all had to read each others' books. One of them was a Piers Anthony fan. New two sentence horror just dropped
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Sep 4, 2023 21:52
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Jedit posted:Skeevy is an understatement. Bio needs multiple content warnings. I can excuse a little cannibalism in a lifeboat situation, but yeah, it wasn't just the sex stuff. Which I will repeat, is awful.
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Sep 4, 2023 23:57
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Tee hee Three Men in a Boat.Jerome K Jerome posted:Mrs Hill bequeathed 1 pound annually to be divided at Easter between two boys and two girls who 'have never been undutiful to their parents; who have never been known to swear or to tell untruths, to steal, or to break windows.' Fancy giving up all that for five shillings a year! It is not worth it.
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Sep 5, 2023 00:33
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I still stan Miles Vorkosigan as the best depiction of autism plus adhd
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Sep 5, 2023 00:41
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Plus truly appalling amounts of narcissism. Not just the "okay, let's cover up my mutilating a fellow-soldier" moment, but "My mother may be having sex, I must take my entire family plus my wife who is in the middle of an important professional contract across the galaxy to cockblock!" No, I've never forgiven him for that.
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Sep 5, 2023 00:45
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I reckon that's more the result of Barrayaran aristo patriarchy bs than the auDHD but yes. At least Cordelia didn't let it stop her!
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Sep 5, 2023 07:38
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Kesper North posted:I reckon that's more the result of Barrayaran aristo patriarchy bs than the auDHD but yes. At least Cordelia didn't let it stop her! Cordelia is one of the all-time boss protagonists and there is no, exactly zero, stopping her.
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Sep 5, 2023 07:53
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Infinity Gate (Pandominion #1) by MR Carey - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B38STG6T/
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Sep 5, 2023 15:41
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I have a new story out on Amazon  . Power Armor for Poltergeists! (UK). PM me for a free review copy.
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Sep 5, 2023 20:33
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What are some good books that deal with first alien contact? Especially ones that explore the human response in interesting ways.
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Sep 6, 2023 00:05
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theblackw0lf posted:What are some good books that deal with first alien contact? Especially ones that explore the human response in interesting ways. Children of Time
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Sep 6, 2023 00:17
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Lead out in cuffs posted:Children of Time Technically not aliens!!!!
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Sep 6, 2023 01:01
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Dean Koontz books are insanely readable but not really worth buying so I was pleased to note that most of his stuff is for free on KU, so I can read all that crap at no cost. Well, there was one price, you see I went to his twitter page and https://twitter.com/deankoontz/status/1698762132332888466
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Sep 6, 2023 01:04
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What is that haircut
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Sep 6, 2023 01:08
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wtf that's what he looks like? drat
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Sep 6, 2023 01:09
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What a fantastic hairdo.
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Sep 6, 2023 01:09
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