|
Abercrombie definitely takes a lot of inspiration (whether atmospheric or otherwise) from popular media - a good example of this was the entire table covered in wild-west-related films, novels, games, and history books that he amassed when he started to work on Red Country. I'd be surprised if Aeon Flux was something he was aware of at all, though.
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2013 15:01
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2024 20:18 |
|
|
The Gunslinger posted:I don't really get that at all from his stuff beyond the obvious satire and social commentary. The POV swap thing has been used before and it's also pretty possible that Joe had an idea for himself instead of watching an obscure movie. I don't really care either way, even if Joe rips off every idea he's ever had I think he does pretty well with the execution. Yeah, it's not as if something's been done once it may never be used again.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2013 15:22
|
|
|
Rurik posted:Yeah, it's not as if something's been done once it may never be used again. That's the Third Law.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2013 21:50
|
|
|
Also when you said Aeon Flux I thought Joe had gone into XBMC skinning. I kid, I kid! 
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2013 22:35
|
|
|
02-6611-0142-1 posted:Ugh, it's not anime.
Above Our Own fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Jan 17, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2013 23:06
|
|
|
All that stuff is there for parody's sake. It's a series of absurd shorts with no continuity where the main character dies in every episode from how inept she is. Here's another one: http://vimeo.com/49513519 Also I'm sorry for the derail, I won't follow it any further.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2013 23:35
|
|
|
02-6611-0142-1 posted:All that stuff is there for parody's sake. It's a series of absurd shorts with no continuity where the main character dies in every episode from how inept she is. Here's another one: http://vimeo.com/49513519 What the gently caress did I just watch?
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2013 03:30
|
|
Top Class
|
Mr Pepper posted:What the gently caress did I just watch?
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2013 05:56
|
|
|
I highly doubt that he picked it off some obscure anime/whatever. It's not like everything else in his books is 100% original. I highly doubt that Aeon Flux was the first thing to have that idea either.
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2013 18:30
|
|
|
The two segments are undoubtedly similar but they have a very different tone. The Aeon Flux short plays around with the Individual Hero vs the Anonymous Horde archetype. It's entertaining because it toys with our expectations by switching the hero frequently, but I don't read much more into it. Abercrombie's sequence approaches the pattern from the opposite angle. He focuses on humanizing the collective by picking random faces in the crowd and giving them names, beliefs, hopes, dreams; identities. He also highlights the luck and chance inherent in warfare and the sobering implication is that the human identity, a lifetime of memories and hopes and plans, can be snuffed out by something as trivial as an arrowhead fired into a mass of people.
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2013 20:57
|
|
|
Maybe I'm misremembering, but I thought Abercrombie said he was a fan of Aeon Flux in his blog or one of those reddit things.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2013 06:46
|
|
|
Just finished The First Law trilogy. Very entertaining. I was kinda lukewarm about The Blade Itself, but the story really picked up some momentum in Before They Are Hanged and kept the pace up nicely in Last Argument of Kings. I think I finished the first book in about a month, the second one in a week and the third one in just a few days, which for me is lightning speed. The only thing that really bugged me was that it quite quickly became apparent that Abercrombie really, really likes the word "frown".
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2013 16:46
|
|
|
I'm pretty sure shrugs still beat out frowns as Joe's favorite emote.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2013 18:21
|
|
|
Wangsbig posted:I'm pretty sure shrugs still beat out frowns as Joe's favorite emote. Or clicks.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2013 19:01
|
|
|
"Uh."
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2013 21:14
|
|
|
Wangsbig posted:I'm pretty sure shrugs still beat out frowns as Joe's favorite emote. Or gawps.
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2013 21:52
|
|
|
Sour spit.
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2013 02:16
|
|
|
Never mind. Grand Prize Winner fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Jan 22, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2013 05:41
|
|
|
I don't know what Aeon Flux is besides the really bad Charlize Theron movie but I looked it up on Wiki and well uhquote:Graphic violence and sexuality, including fetishism and domination, are frequently depicted in Æon Flux. In the featurette Investigation: The History of Æon Flux (included on the 2005 DVD release), Peter Chung says the visual style was also influenced by the animated series Rugrats; Chung had worked on Rugrats prior to Æon Flux and had been extremely frustrated by the limitations of the characters. So if I'm reading this right, he was 'frustrated' that the Rugrats characters (toddlers) wouldn't let him explore S&M? That's, well, sort of weird.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2013 22:44
|
|
|
Brandon Sanderson just posted on Facebook that he will be in a short story collection along with another short from Ambercrombie set in the time around Red Country This is a link to GRRMs blog where he announces it. I guess he's editing this one? It has some Wild Cards stuff in it, but I'll buy in for the other authors. Edit: More details directly from Abercrombie Joe Abercrombie posted:My story is some 8,000 words, an adjunct to Red Country featuring an episode from Shy South’s abortive career as the outlaw Smoke. LASER BEAM DREAM fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Jan 24, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2013 23:28
|
|
|
If you guys haven't, you should really, really listen to the audiobook for the First Law trilogy. Steven Pacey is an amazing reader, and the different voices he can do. Man. Yeah. They make everything better.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2013 04:26
|
|
|
nutranurse posted:If you guys haven't, you should really, really listen to the audiobook for the First Law trilogy. Steven Pacey is an amazing reader, and the different voices he can do. Man. Yeah. They make everything better. I have to say the same. The whole series wouldn't be the same without Pacey.Shame American readers don't Best Served Cold and The Heroes done by him. Page is a good reader and I can't imagine anyone else doing Locke Lamora, but Pacey is better suited for Abercrombie's style.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2013 04:45
|
|
|
Also, apparently Joe's doing another trilogy in the First Law universe if that blog post can be believed! Sorry if this has been posted already.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2013 04:53
|
|
|
loving sweet. Man, I hope Bayaz will finally get what's coming to him. Though knowing these books he will probably end up winning.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2013 13:32
|
|
|
DarkCrawler posted:loving sweet. I wonder if we'll finally get a Gurkhish(?) perspective in these. It is still the big mystery land, we don't hear a lot about them other than through rumor/Bayaz/Ishri. Sounds like it's going to be a long time so I'm ready to be patient, but I'm excited for him to continue the "meta-conflict" in full force that he's been dancing around for awhile.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2013 23:26
|
|
|
The first one isn't going to come out until 2015 is it 
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2013 11:31
|
|
|
Has anyone found some plot summaries anywhere, especially for The Heroes? I've just started Red Country but it's been so long since The Heroes that I can't remember who half the factions are or what they're doing.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2013 01:33
|
|
|
Evfedu posted:The first one isn't going to come out until 2015 is it Hey, this is Joe Abercrombie we're talking about--he's been pretty good on getting books out in a timely fashion. (Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say he's not GRRM)
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2013 06:42
|
|
|
nutranurse posted:(Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say he's not GRRM) This would make a great thread title. nutranurse posted:If you guys haven't, you should really, really listen to the audiobook for the First Law trilogy. Steven Pacey is an amazing reader, and the different voices he can do. Man. Yeah. They make everything better. I got interested about this and noted that Audible has some weird system for getting this audio book for 7.49 USD. Does anyone of you know if it's worth it? Apparently you have to pay a monthly fee of 7.49 for first three months and 14.95 after that. That gives you a free audiobook each month plus a 30% discount on all other titles. The system is kind of complex, so what do you guys think about it? It also says you can cancel your membership at any time and keep all purchased titles, but I know that Netflix advertised here in Finland that you can cancel anytime and our newspapers wrote how even if you cancel after the free trial month you'll still have to pay for 11 months that follow. So being able to cancel is one thing and when the cancellation actually takes effect is another. I've never purchased an audiobook before and Joe's books would be pretty good in that form I think, so I'm interested.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2013 09:41
|
|
|
Lemon Curdistan posted:Has anyone found some plot summaries anywhere, especially for The Heroes? I've just started Red Country but it's been so long since The Heroes that I can't remember who half the factions are or what they're doing. I tried having a look but couldn't find any decent ones. Other people seem to have the same problem. I don't think The Heroes is that essential for following Red Country, though. Rurik posted:It also says you can cancel your membership at any time and keep all purchased titles, but I know that Netflix advertised here in Finland that you can cancel anytime and our newspapers wrote how even if you cancel after the free trial month you'll still have to pay for 11 months that follow. So being able to cancel is one thing and when the cancellation actually takes effect is another. Off topic, but I'm pretty sure you're thinking of HBO Nordic. Netflix charges you by the month, but HBO is a one-year deal, although they extended the trial opportunity by another month due to technical difficulties.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2013 10:09
|
|
|
Fire Safety Doug posted:I tried having a look but couldn't find any decent ones. Other people seem to have the same problem. I don't think The Heroes is that essential for following Red Country, though. Yeah, I had a Google and couldn't find any which is why I wanted to ask here. The Heroes might not be required reading, but the problem is mostly that I can't remember who the Rebels are or what they're rebelling against, what happened to Sand dan Glokta or whether anything interesting is happening with the Union's leadership since the end of the First Law trilogy, all of which does actually help with understanding what the hell is going on in Red Country.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2013 10:29
|
|
|
Lemon Curdistan posted:Yeah, I had a Google and couldn't find any which is why I wanted to ask here. The Heroes doesn't actually talk about the rebels, who as I understand it are Stariklanders resisting Union rule. Dunno if there was a short story or something detailing the rebel thing but I was as confused as you at the beginning. Glokta became (with Bayaz's help) a very powerful man at the end of the trilogy, and he is the one giving orders to Pike and the rest of the Union men in Red Country. They want to annex the frontier beyond Starikland under the Union and root out the rebels in the process. Here's a world map I found that might help make sense of it: http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs40/f/2009/035/4/0/Map_First_Law_v2_by_Scubamarco.jpg
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2013 11:01
|
|
|
Okay, so what do I pick up while I'm waiting for the next ones?
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2013 01:06
|
|
|
I never realized reading the books that the Union was on an island until I saw the maps. I thought the Old Empire was an island and the other nations were all one big landmass.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2013 02:13
|
|
|
It was most clear in the trilogy, where they were clearly spread too thin. They were an island nation that also had little bits of colonial territory on both the landmasses to the north and south. Defending both Angland and Dagoska was probably impossible.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2013 02:18
|
|
|
Jeffrey posted:It was most clear in the trilogy, where they were clearly spread too thin. They were an island nation that also had little bits of colonial territory on both the landmasses to the north and south. Defending both Angland and Dagoska was probably impossible. Large bits in case of Angland and Starikland.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2013 16:37
|
|
|
I'm reading The Heroes right now and I am wondering if Shivers will become a POV character in this book any? Or is only seen through the eyes of others?
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2013 13:08
|
|
|
His Divine Shadow posted:I'm reading The Heroes right now and I am wondering if Shivers will become a POV character in this book any? Or is only seen through the eyes of others? Can't remember for sure but I think his view would be kind of lopsided anyway.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2013 13:12
|
|
|
His Divine Shadow posted:I'm reading The Heroes right now and I am wondering if Shivers will become a POV character in this book any? Or is only seen through the eyes of others? Only through others, he's a POV character in Best Served Cold though.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2013 15:54
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 25, 2024 20:18 |
|
|
The Gunslinger posted:Only through others, he's a POV character in Best Served Cold though. Yeah I've finished that one beforehand. I would like to see where Shivers go from there on.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2013 16:20
|
|