|
General Battuta posted:Hello thread. My first book in four years is out today. It is called EXORDIA. Know it goes without saying but the cover for this book is absolutely gorgeous.
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 11:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 6, 2024 07:48 |
|
|
I find it ironic that we're discussing The House of Open Wounds while I'm reading Exordia. So much of the text of Exordia can be described as naked. Emotional responses, characters describing themselves, oh so often completely naked. Many more passages can be described as raw. Raw emotion. Literal raw wounds, emotional or physical. Or metaphysical, the realties of our universe, in Exordia (oh please, oh please, oh please let it just be in the book) at least, are laid bare and exposed. And then there's the textual open wounds like "Some find their parents. Some don't" This post can be ignored, I just needed a loving minute, okay? I think the last book that had lines like that, that hit me like a full stop, leaving me metaphorically stalking around it like a live bomb, was Doris Lessing's Shikasta books.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 11:44
|
|
|
mllaneza posted:It's in the acknowledgement page at the end of HoOW. There was a convention panel on magical healing in fantasy literature that he credits as inspiring what led to HoOW. I should have mentioned that, it provides a lot of support for my thesis that HoOW was the intended result of the writing exercise that produced both CoLC and HoOW. I bow to your superior knowledge
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 12:11
|
|
|
Also reading through Exordia. I wonder what Ssrin thinks of The National's 2013 album, "Trouble Will Find Me", seeing as she's listening to them early on in the story.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 12:24
|
|
|
mllaneza posted:metaphorically stalking around it like a live bomb This is an incredibly good way to describe a certain emotional response I sometimes have to pieces of fiction and I am going to use it, thank you
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 14:43
|
|
|
Take the plunge! Okay! posted:I wish I lived in a world where three stars meant I really liked this, it’s very good and five stars was reserved for, IDK, Ulysses. However, this is the hell world so I slapped a five star review on Amazon to support our goon friend. Hopefully it processes soon enough and lures more people into buying Exordia. Which my phone absolutely wants to correct into Expedia, what the hell. Anyway, I am looking forward to actually enjoying the book as of tonight. Busy day ahead first. Anyone else sick of this scale of 5 stars meaning I liked the thing and every other rating meaning I hated it? I mean, some of my favorite books are three or four stars, I would never rate them five stars… I generally rate on the following scale: 5 stars- this book is beautiful and I will read it again and again as a source of comfort, inspiration, and joy in the years to come. My friends need to accept the reality that I will not shut up about it anytime soon. 4 stars - dang good book, got a lot out of it, will re-read at some point, and will recommend to friends. 3 stars - don't regret reading it but probably won't come back to it. If it's part of a series, it might be the end of the series for me. 2 stars - reading this book was not a good use of my time, but I can imagine someone else liking it. 1 star - reading this book was not nearly the mistake the writing it was. Everyone in the author's life who encouraged them to write a book is now my enemy.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 15:49
|
|
|
FPyat posted:I've barely read any urban fantasy, but The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell is doing a fantastic job of extending mundane chapters to the point that you almost forget there's anything supernatural in the book, and then abruptly shifting into frightening intrusions of the weird. One of my favorite Mitchells. Strongly recommend you follow it up with Slade House, btw.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 15:54
|
|
|
The last time I gave a serious thought to how to sort the books in my reading log, I wound up with a 5 tier system despite aiming for something, anything, else. Reread - So good I'll read it again and buy a copy for my shelf with my favorite cover. Recommend - If a friend of mine was looking for a specific book, and this one fit, I'd recommend it to them, or give it as a gift. Unremarkable - ... yet, I'm going to remark anyways. Disparage - I feel compelled to argue against it's worth. Trash - I would or have literally thrown the book into the trash. (literally trashed book count: 5)
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 15:59
|
|
|
Take the plunge! Okay! posted:I wish I lived in a world where three stars meant I really liked this, it’s very good and five stars was reserved for, IDK, Ulysses. However, this is the hell world so I slapped a five star review on Amazon to support our goon friend. Hopefully it processes soon enough and lures more people into buying Exordia. Which my phone absolutely wants to correct into Expedia, what the hell. Anyway, I am looking forward to actually enjoying the book as of tonight. Busy day ahead first. Anyone else sick of this scale of 5 stars meaning I liked the thing and every other rating meaning I hated it? I mean, some of my favorite books are three or four stars, I would never rate them five stars… This is how I rate things in my own private corner of Goodreads. I blame eBay for star inflation
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 16:27
|
|
|
I think I wanna read the Expanse series after watching the tv show a couple of times. Do I just start with Leviathan Wakes? I see there are some short stories that are set before that book. I really enjoyed the tv series and I’m mostly interested in all the weird space alien stuff I’ve read various spoilers and vague hints about. And I wanna know how the series ends.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 17:11
|
|
|
Boris Galerkin posted:I think I wanna read the Expanse series after watching the tv show a couple of times. Do I just start with Leviathan Wakes? I see there are some short stories that are set before that book. For someone new to the universe I'd say start with Leviathan Wakes, but since you've watched the show I suppose you could mix it up if you really wanted? I'd still say keeping it more to publication order is better, but I don't think it'll ruin anything if you don't, since you already have context.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 17:26
|
|
|
Publication order is never wrong!
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 17:29
|
|
|
Boris Galerkin posted:I think I wanna read the Expanse series after watching the tv show a couple of times. Do I just start with Leviathan Wakes? I see there are some short stories that are set before that book. Yeah start with Leviathan Wakes. There'd be some whiplash as the TV show did a great job of distilling the earlier novels and getting rid of some garbage, giving some characters like Drummer a bigger part in the show than the character had in the books but then that kinda reversed itself and I think Drummer got a larger part in the later novels just because she was so great on the show. I don't know how well it would work but I think it's possible you could start the later novels where the show ends but the novels continue and be just fine to see how the story ends. It's incredibly disappointing billionaire fan Jeff Bezos didnt get the story finished on TV but, you know, they had to spend hundreds of millions on some lord of the rings appendices. A billionaire couldve done some good, but there are no good billionaires, so...
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 17:35
|
|
|
Provenance by Ann Leckie - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XW6YTKV/ New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KT7YTO6/ The Simulacra by Philip K Dick - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LVQZKW/
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 17:49
|
|
|
Exordia: I’m at the point where Erik is pursuing Clayton into Blackbird, “headfirst into a cavern with walls of math,” and I can’t believe I’m not even two-thirds of the way through this book  This would be the climax in any other novel, but there’s more than 200 pages left! It is absolutely wild how much happens in Exordia, especially considering how much it has to explain. I love this drat thing.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 19:28
|
|
|
Put myself on the waitlist for Leviathan Wakes at the public library. Thanks.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 20:17
|
|
|
PlushCow posted:Yeah start with Leviathan Wakes. Lol my understanding of Amazon Prime Originals is that the primary purpose was to gain Bezos access to A-list Hollywood parties so he could meet women. Re the Expanse, yeah probably worth finishing the books just for closure. It definitely comes to a conclusive end, although it felt kinda phoned in to me.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 20:38
|
|
|
I'm about two thirds of the way through Exordia: got chills when I recalled the first chapter when Ssrin explains the seven great passions and mentions, almost offhandedly, that each passion is a relationship between souls. Souls are the letters that make these words.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 20:40
|
|
|
Exordia is just so formally satisfying. I was thrilled when the kaleidoscope of perspectives all clicked into place and it became clear exactly what was going on: Eight perspectives, all coming together to coherently illustrate a fractally beautiful whole? Oh! Exordia is shaped like a khai! Ambush-predator-rear end novel.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 20:51
|
|
|
Battuta, I am appreciating the amount of research you did to get all the details right in Exordia. But, in Chaya 1:7, there is the term "post- transcription DNA modification", which should be "post-transcriptional RNA modification". Usually we'd just say "post-transcriptional modification", but it's fine to add the RNA to make it sound more technical/familiar to a lay audience. But post-transcriptional means RNA. (Also the term is usually rendered as "post-transcriptional modification", not "post-transcription modification".) Admittedly I'm probably representing the less than 0.0001% of your readership who would notice this, but just saying. (OK I'm also in the middle of editing together a high-profile manuscript from the work of about eight different grad students/post-docs, so I'm kinda in pedant mode about technical terminology right now.) I did chuckle at the hate for R a few chapters before that, though.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 21:00
|
|
|
Lead out in cuffs posted:eight different grad students/post-docs It had to be eight, didn't it?
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 21:22
|
|
You reading Exordia:Lead out in cuffs posted:Battuta, I am appreciating the amount of research you did to get all the details right in Exordia. Me reading Exordia: haha, I like when the evil snake man says mean things to people
|
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 22:22
|
|
|
I'm at 48% and I just realized that Earth doesn't save galaxy because we invented the trolly problem. We save galaxy because we invented the action movie. It just remained to be seen how deliberately Our Heroes use narrative convention against Iruvage, and if anyone quotes Pratchett at him before finishing him off.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 22:31
|
|
|
Could the Exordia spoilers maybe go in another thread? I keep almost reading them by accident.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 22:46
|
|
|
"The General Battuta thread: We get to name the next Baru book!"
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 23:01
|
|
|
mystes posted:Could the Exordia spoilers maybe go in another thread? I keep almost reading them by accident. I read (and was amazed by) the book and I don’t think there are any spoilers in this thread. But in general spoiler tags are always a great idea anyway. Also holy poo poo on the 8 viewpoint characters.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2024 23:15
|
|
|
silvergoose posted:"The General Battuta thread: We get to name the next Baru book!" I support the starting of, and will post in, this thread
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2024 00:11
|
|
|
I'm going to publish a book called Exodia
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2024 00:30
|
|
|
In five parts
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2024 00:37
|
|
|
The general General Battuta thread
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2024 00:40
|
|
|
There's already an Exordium series in 5 volumes. Actually, I'll put that up as SF with high/big concepts. Far future, very high tech, an interstellar society cut off from Earth and living in exile. Very interesting society, split between orbital habitats and planets with marked differences in culture. The tactical use of FTL travel is a plot point and makes for some of the most interesting space battles you'll ever see. I've reread the series several times. https://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Flight-Exordium-Book-ebook/dp/B0051J66J4/
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2024 00:43
|
|
|
Thanks for the fractal eyes and noses nightmares General.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2024 07:55
|
|
|
Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1) by Ann Leckie - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BAXFDLM/ Jade City (Green Bone Saga #1) by Fonda Lee - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XRCBRX8/ Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by RF Kuang - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MD95S5V/ Leviathan Wakes (Expanse #1) by James SA Corey - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047Y171G/ Nettle & Bone by T Kingfisher - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QGL9BZD/ Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016CQUL4U/ Steelheart (Reckoners #1) by Brandon Sanderson - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ARHAAZ6/
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2024 17:17
|
|
|
Hi thread, I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for books similar to Void Star by Zachary Mason? I'm not sure how to describe it. Mystery with very abstract ais and memory theft? Rotating POV with wannabe samurai and weird tech ghost? I also have a little request / suggestion. Can author names also be mentioned in addition to titles? I'm reading from page 700 and onwards to find recs, and it's a little tricky to figure out who wrote what. Thank you if you do. I'm still getting familiar with this threads shorthand and personal familiarity with literature haha :p Oh also I was unimpressed with Martha Well's Witch King. The chapters about the past seemed really redundant, especially near the end when it felt dragged out. I kinda wish the flashbacks were varied memories of the titular witch king's relationship with who betrayed humor even his past in general. As a character I just didnt care about him. Ooh ih wow he's THE Demon shellacking guy omg?!? Well why not show that? I think the most was a brief quip about 'oh I'm not a demon. I'm The Demon'. And that ending was.... hm. Flimsy. Yours truly, Grayson Saunders. ps thank you pradmer for the sale links. My wallet hates you but my brain loves you.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2024 20:40
|
|
|
value-brand cereal posted:Hi thread, I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for books similar to Void Star by Zachary Mason? I'm not sure how to describe it. Mystery with very abstract ais and memory theft? Rotating POV with wannabe samurai and weird tech ghost? Try The Quantum Thief? All about memory theft and weird AIs. So far Foreigner seems to be “in the land of tops a bottom is polite” in a good way
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2024 21:53
|
|
|
pradmer posted:Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by RF Kuang - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MD95S5V/ The Hugo Awards have disqualified this post from Post of the Year voting.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2024 22:47
|
|
|
For books like Void Star, I'm thinking SpIn State by Chris Moriarty, which has UN Operative Catherine Li investigating a fatal accident on the Dickensian industrial planet of Compton's World, the only source of the quantum entanglement crystals needed by FTL. Except that Li is literally losing her mind, including a life full of awful secrets, because FTL degrades human memory and she doesn't trust her UN employers' digital backups. Reynold's Chasm City also has a protagonist with amnesia recovering their memories while searching for revenge and getting drawn up in webs of intrigue. All three books have a very similar vibe of cyberpunk noir unfolding of secrets. And in Exordium posting, I'm about 20% in and I haven't been this terrified since I took waaaaay to many hits off a weed vape while reading The Making of the Atomic Bomb. How is the start of this book as intense as the end of Traitor? That shouldn't be narratively possible.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2024 23:27
|
|
|
I have to finish The Last of the Wine before I start Exordia. Extremely excited for this hallucination.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2024 00:09
|
|
|
Finished Exordia. Good prose, very interesting concepts, great characterization (love the aliens, very delightful) but I'm not a huge fan of military fiction and sometimes the dialogue feels a bit like the characters are reading off a script they wrote and memorized before speaking. This book has also solidified my belief that math is for real-life warlocks and Thulsa Dooms
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2024 00:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 6, 2024 07:48 |
|
|
I think it’s hilarious that Battuta shouted out Eon in the afterword, when the comparison I was thinking was Forge of God. (Also some shades of Vita Nostra.) So yeah, finished Exordia. It was excellent, albeit sometimes difficult - not in a hard to read/Gene Wolfe way, more in an anger at the world/Last Exit sort of way. I don’t know that it’s one I’d want to go back and reread any time soon, but definitely glad I read it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2024 01:16
|
|
