Arsenic Lupin posted:

People genuinely do not understand how technically complex farce is.

GhastlyBizness posted:

I only read Lyonesse but Jack Vance seemed implacably hostile to his characters in that. Extremely fun and arch writing style, good story in itself, but felt like there was a gleefully nasty streak running through it.

Arsenic Lupin posted:

I have been binge reading Pratchett. He is immensely comforting because he believes in decency, he knows there's not enough of it, but he demands more. Auden's self-chosen epitaph was "he had a lovers' quarrel with the world" and that is absolutely Pratchett. Neil Gaiman said Pratchett was the angriest man he knew, and I believe it. The theme of his books is 'do better, dammit.'

For me, that's the deepness of Pratchett. He is hilarious. He also knows that it is a constant battle to be decent in a world that is not, and he praises the people who take up that battle. See Granny Weatherwax on treating people as things.

RDM posted:

Page 100: I have been betrayed in a shocking twist by my closest confidant, Treason McLiar.

Page 150: I have been betrayed in a shocking twist by my closest confidant, Backstab Hardchest.

Page 200: I have been betrayed in a shocking twist by my closest confidant, Quisling vanDerTheif.

theysayheygreg posted:

Yep, a melodramatic guilty pleasure is exactly how I'd describe them. They're a fun romp in a neat if a little over the top setting. Pierce Brown is still a very young author all things considered, and I think the first trilogy definitely reads like an author in their twenties writing it. There's so many twists, double crosses, and reverse double crosses (triple crosses?) some of which strain fourth wall considerably, but if you can turn your brain down and go "hell yeah IRON RAIN and THE SICKLE!!!" they're a good time.

edit:

Isolationist posted:

That narrator absolutely makes that series, he chews scenery left right and center - I listened through to... Book four or five years ago and can STILL hear "PAX AU TELEMANUS".

Arsenic Lupin posted:

People genuinely do not understand how technically complex farce is.

Arsenic Lupin posted:

People genuinely do not understand how technically complex farce is.

Blamestorm posted:

I’m a bit sceptical of the cozy fantasy/sci fi label, the two common examples of which that get cited are the Becky Chambers books and the Goblin Emperor, probably because I don’t think either are that good. (Obvious caveats, like what you like, personal opinion only etc)

When I try and understand what people are getting at in terms of wanting comfortable, reassuring books that know they will enjoy, I absolutely get that and have fifty gazillion on my shelves that work for me that way (as others have said, it’s a bit up to the reader) - for me it’s PG Wodehouse, Rex Stout, and similar authors who play with language and humour. In sci-fi/fantasy, it’s Terry Pratchett, Roger Zelazny, Douglas Adams…especially a book like Night in the Lonesome October is a perfect example for me. They are relaxing and entertaining, well written and thoughtful (mostly).

I guess I am a bit suspicious that what people really mean when they talk about these more specific subgenre cozy fantasy is stuff without real tension or conflict - not just a tone or vibe, but actually very little plot. I haven’t read any of the LitRPG stuff but I am guessing this is similar. My MAIN beef is I wonder if whatever people want out of these books, they may not get it out of say PG Wodehouse or Terry Pratchett but just haven’t either been exposed to it or it’s just too alien to them in terms of their existing reading experience (eg they want to stick with genre). Because I feel like these other books are kind of empty calories, they just keep going without much happening or much artistic merit. (For Wodehouse it’s his skill with language and humour)

The closest example to my own weak spot here is LE Modesitt who I think can write some good stuff but also hundreds of repetitive pages in between it on every mornings breakfast, commute, and fantasy forex movements in the newspaper. Cozy isn’t the term for his books but I feel like there is something similar going on in terms of pages of detail without purpose, characterisation or momentum.

Essentially though whenever I hear a book described as cozy fantasy my initial sceptical reaction is it’s a bad book probably with nothing to say, no interesting characters and no plot, because all of those things require some kind of conflict in a narrative setting and conflict is the heart of a good story.

Milkfred E. Moore posted:

The first chapter of Red Rising is like: I am the grittiest toughest miner known to man -- a helldiver. I use my helldrill to hellmine Helium-3 as I sip from my drinktube. My frysuit is ironically named because it keeps me from frying. I spit into my helmet that stinks like piss. Here on Mars, the planet that is red, girls get married off at fourteen. Life's just that tough on the red planet but my uncle is weak and my father is dead -- everyone is weak, my hands are worn and my expression grim and the caverns of Mars smell like death. The society killed my wife on our wedding day. I am fourteen years old.

Stuporstar posted:

It’s not actually a sub-genre like cozy mystery is, it’s just a vibe.

fez_machine posted:

The Moon Moth is one of the best Science Fiction stories ever and it's just a guy getting clowned on for not understanding a culture.

Poldarn posted:

A buddy of mine lent me some of his Wodehouseses as character prep for a tabletop RPG we were running. I called 'em "low stakes shenanigans". Very fun and readable.

pradmer posted:

Elysium Fire (Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies #2) by Alistair Reynolds - $2.99
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073P43TMS/

I looked into the amazon affiliate program and I'm pretty sure posting links on somethingawful isn't going to cut it. They say I need to provide original content on a publicly accessible website that I own or a social media page.

Arsenic Lupin posted:

Precisely this.



Re Raymond Chandler, one of his famous statements about noir was: "Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. "

quote:

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

quote:

There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.

RDM posted:

MarksMan posted:

Does anyone have any recommendations for books with great audiobook narration? I'm almost done with my current book (2nd book of the "Red Rising" series) and considering starting a different book or series. The only way I have time to consume any books is through audiobooks nowadays and I've realized that terrible narration can make an otherwise great story seem like a chore.

MarksMan posted:

Does anyone have any recommendations for books with great audiobook narration? I'm almost done with my current book (2nd book of the "Red Rising" series) and considering starting a different book or series. The only way I have time to consume any books is through audiobooks nowadays and I've realized that terrible narration can make an otherwise great story seem like a chore.

Arsenic Lupin posted:

A stupid grudge I have held for literal decades:

I noped out of Thomas Covenant at the rape for obvious reasons (it was a rape). I remain maddened that "white gold" is treated as a rare thing. It's a loving alloy. Can you mine gold? Congratulations. You can now make white gold.

MarksMan posted:

Does anyone have any recommendations for books with great audiobook narration? I'm almost done with my current book (2nd book of the "Red Rising" series) and considering starting a different book or series. The only way I have time to consume any books is through audiobooks nowadays and I've realized that terrible narration can make an otherwise great story seem like a chore.

Arsenic Lupin posted:

A stupid grudge I have held for literal decades:

I noped out of Thomas Covenant at the rape for obvious reasons (it was a rape). I remain maddened that "white gold" is treated as a rare thing. It's a loving alloy. Can you mine gold? Congratulations. You can now make white gold.

Cugel the Clever posted:

I've loved a lot of Reynolds' works, but was really put off by his Revenger series' drastically lower quality... Anyone have thoughts on how this and Machine Vendetta hold up?

Arsenic Lupin posted:

A stupid grudge I have held for literal decades:

I noped out of Thomas Covenant at the rape for obvious reasons (it was a rape). I remain maddened that "white gold" is treated as a rare thing. It's a loving alloy. Can you mine gold? Congratulations. You can now make white gold.

ToxicFrog posted:

I bailed at the same place and for the same reason, so I have no idea what the in-universe explanation is, but my assumption has always been that "white gold" in that universe is some sort of magical bullshit, and they use some other term for the non-magical alloy.

MarksMan posted:

Does anyone have any recommendations for books with great audiobook narration? I'm almost done with my current book (2nd book of the "Red Rising" series) and considering starting a different book or series. The only way I have time to consume any books is through audiobooks nowadays and I've realized that terrible narration can make an otherwise great story seem like a chore.

Arsenic Lupin posted:

A stupid grudge I have held for literal decades:

I noped out of Thomas Covenant at the rape for obvious reasons (it was a rape). I remain maddened that "white gold" is treated as a rare thing. It's a loving alloy. Can you mine gold? Congratulations. You can now make white gold.

Phobeste posted:

I accidentally ended up with these books called the "exordium" series which was definitely not due to loving up searching for exordia but it turns out they're pretty good, especially if you like stuff like overwrought political descriptions and weird space rituals. The Phoenix In Flight is the first one. They are for some reason incredibly hard to search for. Like em a lot

Deptfordx posted:

I really liked all the parts of the Thomas Covenant books, except Thomas Covenant.

Lord Mhoram was great, the siege of Revelstone is by far my favourite part of the trilogies. With the possible exception of 'Nom'.

Kalman posted:

It’s really unfortunate that Donaldson seems to be incapable of writing without a rape or a lot of rape, thanks Gap Cycle being involved because he’s actually a decent writer outside of that.

mllaneza posted:

The Gap Cycle is five volumes of content warnings, but if you can get past that, and I'm not saying you necessarily should, they're really goddamn good.
[…]
e. I'm gonna see the Dril quote in a reply, I just know it.

ulmont posted:

You do not, under any circumstances, gotta hand it to Donaldson and I noped out of Thomas Covenant in like 1992.

HopperUK posted:

I also bailed at that point but was already annoyed by the way he talked about leprosy as if it were the 1400s.