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cptn_dr posted:(Full disclosure I'm doing publicity for this book on a volunteer basis - I'm not getting paid, I just like it a lot and I'm not as shy as the author) Also the author is a goon. I beta read this and it’s loving cool
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Nov 8, 2019 23:03
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Also I should say at the time I was reading it, it was like one edit away from final, but even then I thought it compared well to anything currently published by Tor
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Nov 8, 2019 23:35
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sebmojo posted:God emperor is bonkers and great, the following two have vagina witches from beyond the edge of space so I cannot being myself to hate them  though I haven’t read any but the first since I was 15
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Nov 10, 2019 22:18
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Ben Nevis posted:Anyone read Witchmark? I just finished last night and am a little conflicted. I have, and I’m looking forward to the sequel even though the first did have a few first novel problems. Disclosure: I know the author Curious, what are you conflicted about? Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Nov 23, 2019 |
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Nov 23, 2019 01:49
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Ben Nevis posted:Should have guessed you'd have. You’re not wrong on that first point, and I bet she’d agree because there was a similar issue in one of her next books (standalone fantasy romance called The Midnight Bargain that just got picked up) that had a similar issue of consent, where the protagonist is under the influence of magic/drugs to get over their repression, and she saw herself doing it again and went “shiiiiit” and cut that whole bit out. As for the witch/class thing, it’s been a while since I read it, but I assumed anyone practicing magic outside the system was illegal (therefore a witch) regardless of class, and he crossed that line when he ran off so he didn’t have to be an enslaved second. It’s mostly a class thing because the lower classes have no option to practice magic legally. I only read tiny bits of the sequel to Witchmark, but it seemed to focus more on the other characters, so I’m betting they’ll be more fleshed out.
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Nov 23, 2019 03:19
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quantumfoam posted:I fully expect it to take place entirely inside a warehouse, a tea warehouse to be more specific, and be about how the Presger/Radch differences in weight measurements are about to kick off a war over tea trade imbalances. I would actually read an sff book all about the tea trade, no lie Or a straight up historical for that matter
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Dec 5, 2019 04:30
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Ben Nevis posted:A couple years back I read For All the Tea in China by Sarah Rose, it's a pop history of Britain's efforts to learn to how process tea and smuggle tea plants out of China that could grow in British territories in India. It has some issues, but is pretty interesting nonetheless. That book looks like exactly my cuppa, thanks! Edit: yesss, the ebook is free at my library right now Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Dec 5, 2019 |
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Dec 5, 2019 20:31
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branedotorg posted:Marketing guff. This https://www.amazon.com/Son-Trickster-trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B01FPGTRXE/ goes down as the worst back copy I’ve ever read for a good book. I read it so close to Trail of Lightning I can’t help compare the two, and personally liked this one more, even though it’s less fantastic fantasy. Its pitch-black humor and slice-of-lovely-reserve-life spoke to me. And, oh hey, the Kindle version is on sale. The description for book two does a much better job of conveying the tone of the series (a bit spoilery) https://www.amazon.com/Trickster-Drift-trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B07B75LFTX/ I can’t wait for book three.
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Dec 24, 2019 23:45
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biracial bear for uncut posted:I'm surprised at how much I enjoy scifi books about interpersonal drama and basic coming of age in crazy settings. You'd think apocalyptic conflict was necessary, but it really isn't. You have no idea how reassuring it is to hear people say this. I wish there was more scifi like Becky Chambers’
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Feb 3, 2020 04:27
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General Battuta posted:Past tense is deeper but slower, it gives you more room to wander into recollection and association. I wish more books played with this for effect, with carefully considered switching of tenses, but most writing advice I’ve seen tells people, “Stick to one, dammit.” Probably because tense switching is usually accidental, not considered.
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Apr 2, 2020 21:21
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sebmojo posted:my current endlessly incomplete novel has three viewpoints and one of them is present because the character is an idiot who can't think about the future I think Marlon James did the same thing in A Brief History of Seven Killings, and it was cool
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Apr 2, 2020 22:01
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Punkin Spunkin posted:Yeah i might just start Broken Earth (and some octavia butler) myself since what ive seen about it from yall and my own research makes it seem really really interesting and then see if my girlfriend's taken in by the Inheritance trilogy. City of Brass is an Arabian Knights style high fantasy that’s primarily political intrigue, featuring an Egyptian woman who learns she’s half djinn and can do magic. Unfortunately the third book in the trilogy is not out until June 30. I’ve been waiting so long
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Apr 3, 2020 18:27
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Snakedance by Vonda McIntyre is an interesting far-future post apocalyptic novel that fits those criteria. I read it after Ursula K. LeGuin singled it out for praise.
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Apr 4, 2020 17:53
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^Canticle is pretty free from cringey poo poo, yeahLoucks posted:Thanks for the recommendation. I’m not seeing that title. Do you mean “Dreamsnake?” gently caress. Yes. I need to not post before the caffeine kicks in in the morning  Snakedance is the title of a really bad old Dr. Who episode Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Apr 4, 2020 |
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Apr 4, 2020 18:25
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Canada needs to be green there too. There’s a reason I can do metric/imperial conversions in my head and it’s because of so many different loving recipes where no standards exist. And also why the gently caress do I have measuring tapes with only inches on them? Where the gently caress did these even come from?
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May 1, 2020 05:36
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Srice posted:Having read it for the first time last year I think the part of it that stuck out the most to me in that specific regard was a throwaway line out of nowhere about how the white minority in South Africa is being persecuted. I tried to reread it a couple years ago, but couldn’t make it past the line coming out of one of his female mouthpieces, “I now understand if a woman gets raped, she was probably asking for it.” Nope, I‘m done with it forever
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May 2, 2020 16:14
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StrixNebulosa posted:... I would love to see a genderfluid person explore their gender identity over time to the point where they're comfortable claiming another pronoun. I don't think I've ever seen that in sci-fi/fantasy fiction. I’m working on a scifi series that does exactly that
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May 12, 2020 15:39
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Mr. Nemo posted:Stranger in a stranger land. So apparently there are two vesions, one shorter one that may have been due to censorship. But Heinlein called it better. The long version published after his death was said to be the best one by his agent, who obviously wanted people to buy it again. The stuff that was cut was the stuff that should’ve been cut, basically more of Heinlein’s creepy old man paternalistic sex poo poo. And hopefully it also cut the line where “if a woman gets raped she’s basically asking for it” gets put in the mouth of one of his female characters. It’s basically the handbook on what went wrong with the hippie’s free love movement. And by handbook I mean literally, a bunch of hippies read that poo poo and went, “I grok that, maaan. All women should stop being prudes put out for me.” If this makes you want to skip the book altogether, all you’re missing out on is gawking at a mildly historical trash fire. Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Aug 31, 2020 |
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Aug 31, 2020 16:22
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MockingQuantum posted:Anybody read City of Brass? I'm about halfway through and can't decide if I want to keep going, I'm curious what others thought of it (and Kingdom of Copper). I like the setting and flavor of the book a lot, it's refreshing to see standard fantasy fare done in a setting based in Middle Eastern mythology/folklore/beliefs as an alternative to generic European fantasy. Setting aside, though, the book does feel like standard fantasy fare, and I'm not sure whether or not it will do anything particularly unique or interesting with the story that's being told. I don't hate it by any means, it's just a little bland and sort of proceeding in predictable ways so far. Keep going. It gets more political and the romance is just set up for brutally twisting the knife in the guts of all parties involved. I’m still on hold at the library for Empire of Gold so I have no idea how it will all play out, but Kingdom of Copper was one hell of a ride and I’m looking forward to whatever comes next.
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Sep 29, 2020 18:24
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Cavelcade posted:Hi thread, I'm looking for some fantasy or Sci fi by a female author for a book club that wouldn't normally read that. I've read The Left Hand of Darkness recently and was thinking of suggesting the Dispossessed, but Kindred by Octavia Butler also looks good. Like PeterWeller, I’d recommend Parable of the Sower over Kindred as a better entry book for Octavia Butler. For one, Parable is extremely precient and topical right now, and also Kindred is so brutal most people who start with that end up not wanting to read anymore Octavia Butler because the first time was too painful, which is a crying shame. Seconding the Lathe of Heaven recommend as well Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Oct 6, 2020 |
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Oct 6, 2020 20:28
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fritz posted:There's a whole lot of nonsense there, but the Jane Yolen books are good (and if you view it as paying $15 just for the trilogy it's still saving $6 vs amazon) It’s too bad you can’t use those pay sliders to pay Jane Yolen $X and Piers Anthony $0.
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Nov 5, 2020 02:34
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 I am so glad I stopped reading Pern books after being forced to read Dragonsong in elementary school and bouncing hard off the second one.
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Nov 29, 2020 01:25
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macabresca posted:I'm looking for some sci-fi about non-binary identities, for example agender alien species or how future technology can change our perception of gender binarity. So not just stories that feature nb characters but the ones that explore the subject in more detail. Something like The Left Hand of Darkness. Do you have some recommendations? Dammit I’m still writing my bloody series and haven’t edited one to completion (I keep getting distracted by poo poo like de-gendered ancient Egyptian-based conlangs, there is no hope for me)  Serious answer: John Varley was probably the New Wave author who explored that and other post-human ideas the most, particularly in his short stories.
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Dec 15, 2020 00:52
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^^Thanks!branedotorg posted:Ophiuchi Hotline is pretty good for this but I'd avoid the gaea trilogy personally. Yeah, some forewarning about the centaur sex chart in Titan etc. might be in order. Pretty much every sff author, especially from back then, has written some questionable poo poo. I think I give Varley a pass because even when he gets onto his, “Post-human sex is gonna be freaky wild, it’ll be great!” thing, he somehow manages to do it in non-creepy ways, unlike pretty much every other sff author. branedotorg posted:Maybe Octavia butler too The Xenogenesis trilogy is one of my all time favorites. And yeah, the third sex of the Oankali and how they choose their gender at puberty kinda fits the request
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Dec 15, 2020 17:48
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freebooter posted:The centaur sex is weird obviously, but it was the fact the Gaea trilogy was so loving boring that was unforgivable for me. I would say it's weird but on the other hand I liked Steel Beach, found The Golden Globe to be one of the best and most engaging scifi novels I ever read, then found Irontown Blues to be really disappointing and boring. And I'm pretty sure those are widely held views. So, hey, every author contains multitudes! Yeah, I generally prefer early Varley to late Varley, and his short stories to his novels. I haven’t read Irontown Blues, and haven’t yet read the sequels to Titan. I haven’t yet read Golden Globe either. Steel Beach was great though
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Dec 17, 2020 23:00
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freebooter posted:If you liked Steel Beach you will really like Golden Globe. It's the same fascinating universe, but with a tighter plot (an actor/conman trying to make his way from Pluto to Luna for a production of King Lear while being pursued by an unkillable mafia hitman) and one of the most charismatic, likeable first-person POV protagonists I've read in sci-fi. Picaresque first-person protagonists are my favorite kind. Sold It’s funny, I didn’t even realise they were part of a series because Varely seems to have a shared world for all his stories, and I found all my Varley’s in used bookstore or my dad’s sff collection Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Dec 18, 2020 |
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Dec 18, 2020 04:16
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An excellent anthology of short ff stories by black writers is also on sale right now. I read it years ago and the whole thing is top quality: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Matter-Century-Speculative-Diaspora-ebook/dp/B00MTXJAF2/
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Jan 3, 2021 22:10
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coathat posted:A little help please. There’s an earlier one called Islamicates by the same editor that was available for free on their website for a while, but I can’t where I downloaded it from a few years ago. It’s just as good
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Jan 9, 2021 02:51
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Sibling of TB posted:I almost bought earthseed because "hey a full series!" but "A multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winner’s powerful saga of survival and destiny in a near-future dystopian America." and I'm not sure if I want to read dystopian future America right now. It is really really good. But book two is an undending stream of gut punches so maybe wait to read it until you have a good cushion of non-depressing reads to sandwich them in Actually book one isn’t as brutal as book two and pretty hopeful. Also it’s fairly standalone. Book two though, phew! Maybe just read the first one unless you want to see Trump’s America predicted yet even worse.
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Jan 14, 2021 02:03
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pradmer posted:The Burning God (Poppy War #3) by RF Kuang - $3.99 The Burning God massively pissed me off as the ending to an +1500 page trilogy because it was despressing grimdark poo poo, but if you’ve read the others and are prepared for depressing grimdark poo poo, go for it I’ve only read The Lady Astronaut and I’m still on the fence about getting the rest so I’m reading them from the library instead. Again, probably only worth it if you’re completing the series Ken Liu’s short fiction is always great. I bought that one sight unseen I’ve only read The Doors of January by Alix E Harrow and it was really good, but I haven’t read this one. I know at least one person who absolutely loved it, but I’m thinking of waiting for the library for this one myself Not sure at all about Empress of Salt and Fortune, when it’s described as a “gut punch,” after getting burned (it’s about fire magic lol) reading the Poppy War
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Jan 18, 2021 01:26
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buffalo all day posted:Had no idea the third poppy war book was out but the second one was so relentlessly miserable I have no desire to re-engage. This is wise Third one is even worse Edit: I probably should have known better tbh. I mean, I expected after the end of book one with the rape of Nanking and magical Hiroshima to go uphill not downhill? Silly me to imagine three books of non-stop war might lead to something worth it! Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Jan 18, 2021 |
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Jan 18, 2021 03:55
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mllaneza posted:The Relentless Moon is the best of the series so far. If you've only read the first book, the second escalates beautifully and does so much more cool space stuff. Then the third comes along, changes POV characters, and gets really intense. It gets better as it goes along, so if you liked the first book, the second and third should really work for you. Thanks! I’ll get to read them both in less than a month according to my hold list. Now I’m even more looking forward to it
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Jan 18, 2021 16:48
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Ben Nevis posted:Read this in November, and liked it. It's short. An old woman tells of her time as a serving girl to the titular empress. It's a series of stories from her life, with interludes hinting to the historian recording it that more was going on. Primarily, it's about a backwoods princess trying to seize some agency in a very unfriendly kingdom. Also women's stories and relationships. It's good. There are some emotional moments, sure, at least one depressing bit, but it's not grimdark. I'd say it's very well told story, and I'm looking forward to reading whatever Vo write next. That sounds way more interesting than the way it was pitched. Guess I’ll put that on my hold list too. Thanks!
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Jan 18, 2021 18:00
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Yarrington posted:I didn't realize until now that the third Poppy War was out but yikes the comments in here make me move the second out of the 'to read' pile. I listened to the first one's audiobook and the turn was extremely unpleasant, especially given that after about thirty seconds I realized 'oh this is the rape of Nanking.... oh, she's going to get into ALL the details' so it was just listening to gruesome misery. It started off so delightfully wuxia, and with such a sense of humor, I thought that would carry it through. Unfortunately (for me) I was won enough to trudge through what ended up being a death march. I so wish I’d stopped after book one. Why didn’t I stop after book one? 
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Jan 19, 2021 21:49
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Anyone read Piranesi by Susanna Clarke yet? It popped up available on holds list so I just took it out
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Jan 20, 2021 06:26
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He’ll probably end up just as forgotten as Daniel Keys Moran (I sure as hell didn’t know who this guy was), especially if Rothfuss never finishes his trilogy that went nowhere and was just a bunch of over-indulgent bullshit. Sure it sucks he’s sucking up a ton of undeserved attention when there’s so many better authors. Hopefully he’s among the last relics of the unearned fame of the failing upward mediocre white man
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Jan 31, 2021 20:51
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freebooter posted:Amazon isn't the actual seller, though, right? I mean the seller is still usually what I imagine to be some gigantic book warehouse like Reusabook or Better World Books, but I have occasionally bought from what appears to be just some second hand bookstore that puts its stock on Abebooks. It is all third party sellers, but they take a heavy cut. A friend of mine built up a used bookstore in her basement from her wide connections of mostly nerdy friends and she can’t afford to sell through them
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Feb 10, 2021 02:18
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anilEhilated posted:e: Speaking of authors no one talks about, how about Erin Morgenstern? I just finished The Starless Sea and frankly cannot decide whether it was amazing or an utter waste of a great premise. I stopped reading it halfway through because the protagonist was a nerd stereotype with zero personality (liking Harry Potter is not a personality), the metaphors were blatant and constantly jackhammered onto the page in droning unchanging forms, and the prose and dialogue was annoyingly twee It’s trying so hard to be Borges. Just read Borges. Or Catherynne Valente. Hell Piranesi was similar and a billion times better as well
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Feb 12, 2021 21:41
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Kestral posted:Who are the great prose stylists in genre fiction, in the thread's opinion? It'd be nice to have a list of people to check out whose writing is a cut above. Le Guin is the one that comes immediately to my mind, and Susanna Clarke. Tolkien as well, although I realize that's contentious. Nalo Hopkinson immediately comes to mind. Most of that style is patois, but it sings
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Feb 14, 2021 00:33
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Rommel1896 posted:I see that the Patternist Series by Butler is on sale today. I don't really know anything about the series, but I tend to prefer hard-ish SF like the Revelation Space by Reynolds or Fiasco by Lem. Could someone give me a quick non-spoilery rundown on the Patternist books? Don't know whether to buy them or not. The Patternist books are sci-fantasy with ancient telepathic vampires and an alien disease that turns people into werewolf-like things. The chronological order is not the same order they were written in, and it shows. Patternmaster was Butler’s first published novel, which is not very good (by her own later standards). Wild Seed is the best book in the series. I’m inclined to recommend that one as a standalone. Mind of my Mind is ok. Clay’s Ark was... uh... she was trying to humanize the “werewolves” she created in Patternmaster, but as an alien virus that makes people need to rape to infect others and uh............................  The whole series may be the most hosed up poo poo she ever wrote (that’s including Bloodchild). I’m not a fan of it at all, even though I love pretty much everything else by Butler. Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Feb 15, 2021 |
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Feb 15, 2021 21:10
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