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Hughlander posted:Kindle does free books all the time. I think the terms though are basically that Amazon will sell the books at least at the cheapest price they are available online. So any book they have on their site for free will be free on Amazon as well. That is great news. The Baen Free Library is the quickest way I know to hook people on my favorite series.
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Jun 10, 2013 22:14
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Steakandchips posted:Iain Banks just passed away. Well, poo poo. He was the best. His writing always seemed alive to me, if that makes sense. Maybe this finally motivates me to read Against a Dark Background, a book I always wanted to read but somehow never got to.
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Jun 10, 2013 23:34
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I just actually reread a sci-fi book, which I almost never do -- GRAND CENTRAL ARENA, by Ryk Spoor. Reread because the author has started posting snippets and deleted scenes from the sequel (which is coming out, at least as an e-ARC, in a bit over a month), and I wanted a refresher, but also because it was such a fun world. This is one of those books I've liked more the further away from it I get. It's pulpy, but there's actually not that much *good* pulp like it out there. There was a pretty solid post about it way earlier in this thread -- http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3149277&pagenumber=12&perpage=40#post381443745 -- and I read the book for the first time because of Spoor's "Big Idea" post at Whatever: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/06/03/the-big-idea-ryk-e-spoor/ It's hard to quantify what makes me enjoy this more than most space opera pulp--except, I suppose, that it's all three of 1) as grand in scale as any space opera I've read, 2) yet still focused on individual actors who are allowed to--made to--matter, and 3) optimistic. I highly suggest checking it out, and giving it a shot if the summary appeals.
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Jun 17, 2013 22:38
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onefish posted:I just actually reread a sci-fi book, which I almost never do -- GRAND CENTRAL ARENA, by Ryk Spoor. Reread because the author has started posting snippets and deleted scenes from the sequel (which is coming out, at least as an e-ARC, in a bit over a month), and I wanted a refresher, but also because it was such a fun world. This is one of those books I've liked more the further away from it I get. It's pulpy, but there's actually not that much *good* pulp like it out there. Oh sweet, you just reminded me that there's more of his books conveniently available on the Kindle now and I still haven't read the sequels to Boundary. Spoor was also always one of the highest-quality posters on rec.arts.sf.written back in the day and I was and remain very happy to see him getting published.
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Jun 19, 2013 13:03
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Been reading the Skylark series by 'Doc' Smith. Guess I know now where Norman Spinrad got much of his material from for The Iron Dream. 
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Jun 23, 2013 16:23
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Darth Walrus posted:Been reading the Skylark series by 'Doc' Smith. Guess I know now where Norman Spinrad got much of his material from for The Iron Dream. Between that and Lensmen, yeah.
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Jun 24, 2013 02:50
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Darth Walrus posted:Been reading the Skylark series by 'Doc' Smith. Guess I know now where Norman Spinrad got much of his material from for The Iron Dream. "Great Space!" ejaculated Kinnision as the mighty Star Annihilator bore down on his fleet, filling the space before them with a ravening torrent of unthinkably potent rays! Then from behind the nearby star came Kinnison's secret weapon; AN ATOMIC MEGA PLANET GUN THAT WAS AN ACTUAL GUN MADE OUT OF PLANETS
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Jun 24, 2013 13:02
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sebmojo posted:"Great Space!" ejaculated Kinnision as the mighty Star Annihilator bore down on his fleet, filling the space before them with a ravening torrent of unthinkably potent rays! Then from behind the nearby star came Kinnison's secret weapon; AN ATOMIC MEGA PLANET GUN THAT WAS AN ACTUAL GUN MADE OUT OF PLANETS I was kind of thinking more about how the heroes buddy up with murderous eugenicists (seriously, the Kondalians created their utopian, enlightened society by killing anyone who was mentally or physically deficient, which gets nothing more than a "huh, that's weird, but if it works for you, go for it" from the Skylark crew) and happily condone or participate in genocide on a regular basis.
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Jun 24, 2013 13:09
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edit: wrong thread
angel opportunity fucked around with this message at 13:28 on Jun 24, 2013 |
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Jun 24, 2013 13:23
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I've been trying to find these books in eBook for 2 years now, anyone come across a source?
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Jun 24, 2013 13:36
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About 65% of the way through the Void trilogy by Hamilton. I like it, but hoo-wee it took about a 3rd of the book to get off the ground. I loved the Commonwealth saga. After that, I'll be picking up Abaddon's Gate to wrap up the Leviathan trilogy by James SA Corey. Looking forward to that one.
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Jun 24, 2013 18:28
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I recently finished Abaddon's Gate and I felt pretty disappointed with it overall. I actually pre-ordered it last year after finishing the first two books, which I enjoyed a lot. Everything was telegraphed so hard I kept expecting a knock on my door followed by a jolly tune. I think that combined with the general static setting to just make the book feel really slow. Not to mention that the only character development that really occurs is for Clarissa who was plucked out of thin air to have someone new with a motivation to be involved with any of this. Somehow, Julie Mao managed to have more depth while rotting in a bathtub. The second slow zone speed limit hitting was a cool surprise, however, and gave them a chance to dig into some "pulpy science" with fun results. I felt like the first two first books were a lot more interesting in that regard and had me exploring those sci-fi ideas of how life would adapt to new space environments and systems of living. I have a hard time believing that this is the end note of the trilogy when nothing happened to all of the characters I invested two books into  Either way, all three are worth a read and together a genuinely fun series you shouldn't skip. Some reviews mention that they explore sci-fi concepts without a bunch of overwhelming, poorly written fake technology buzzwords and that might be my favorite thing about it. Nothing feels pretentious. edit: vv Well, that definitely explains the who feel of the third book. Incredulous Dylan fucked around with this message at 20:08 on Jun 24, 2013 |
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Jun 24, 2013 19:00
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Bruiser posted:About 65% of the way through the Void trilogy by Hamilton. I like it, but hoo-wee it took about a 3rd of the book to get off the ground. I loved the Commonwealth saga. It doesn't wrap up the trilogy (the trilogy has been contractually extended to six books) and it's bad.
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Jun 24, 2013 19:18
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General Battuta posted:It doesn't wrap up the trilogy (the trilogy has been contractually extended to six books) and it's bad. *sigh* Goddamnit.
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Jun 24, 2013 19:44
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anyone read The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell?
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Jun 25, 2013 10:03
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Darth Walrus posted:I was kind of thinking more about how the heroes buddy up with murderous eugenicists (seriously, the Kondalians created their utopian, enlightened society by killing anyone who was mentally or physically deficient, which gets nothing more than a "huh, that's weird, but if it works for you, go for it" from the Skylark crew) and happily condone or participate in genocide on a regular basis. Ah. I've not actually read Skylark, but Smith's Lensman series is basically iteration after iteration of what I posted. Gloriously deranged.
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Jun 25, 2013 12:56
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Rocksicles posted:anyone read The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell? Repetitive as hell and with the usual space opera tropes regarding the comparative competence of the military versus civilians, particularly politicians. Past that its decent popcorn.
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Jun 25, 2013 14:28
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Rocksicles posted:anyone read The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell? Also the romance is terrible, and even more repetitive. They were pretty fun for a while though.
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Jun 25, 2013 21:57
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Rocksicles posted:anyone read The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell? I have in hopes of seeing the protagonist messing up or turning into a dick. If anything, I just want him to change in a very drastic way.
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Jun 25, 2013 23:03
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Rocksicles posted:anyone read The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell? It's entertaining, but the most goddamn repetitive series I have ever read. e: I see we are also being repetitive in our analysis of this series 
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Jun 25, 2013 23:15
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The books are dumb as hell but I still spend a few nights a year reading the newest one for its 100 pages of actual content.
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Jun 26, 2013 03:32
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Yeah, say what you will about Lost Fleet he does eventually move the story along and when the plot does advance, cool and interesting stuff happens.
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Jun 26, 2013 23:36
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Astroman posted:Yeah, say what you will about Lost Fleet he does eventually move the story along and when the plot does advance, cool and interesting stuff happens. His best books are still Beyond the Frontier, I think. I just wanted to read it because it was essentially "The Lost Fleet, but with aliens" and after a weak start in the first book Campbell just piled on the surprises. Especially the third book is great, and I won't spoil it here. I only say one thing: Haunted warship. That is all. Edit: Having read both The Lost Fleet and all three Beyond the Frontier books, I'll have to say Campbell is actually better at dealing with aliens and "the unknown" as with military science fiction. It would be interesting to read books from him were the focus lies on space exploration and weird aliens, instead of on space battle after space battle. It would also be a good excuse for more poo poo like those stealth marine missions, those were a nice contrast to the rather samey "normal" battles between space ships. Now I have to mention something annoying about his books, too: Campbell seems to forget his null-fields constantly. What is it that makes him use the most interesting weapon the least? I think there were exactly two points in the entire Beyond the Frontier series were the readers are at least reminded of their existence. Sometimes I honestly feared that he had forgotten his ships were supposed to have this weapons. Libluini fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Jun 27, 2013 |
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Jun 27, 2013 17:28
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Libluini posted:His best books are still Beyond the Frontier, I think. I prefer The Lost Stars (Tarnished Knight and the forthcoming Perilous Shield) myself, but that's just because it's not Black Jack anymore (so a bit less repetitive).
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Jun 27, 2013 17:53
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ulmont posted:I prefer The Lost Stars (Tarnished Knight and the forthcoming Perilous Shield) myself, but that's just because it's not Black Jack anymore (so a bit less repetitive). How is The Lost Stars? I read The Lost Fleet last year, but the premise of TLS sounds pretty good - as long as it's world building, syndicate economy, etc. and isn't battle after battle. e: Asking because the wikipedia paragraph on it is horseshit. Iseeyouseemeseeyou fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Jun 27, 2013 |
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Jun 27, 2013 22:39
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Iseeyouseemeseeyou posted:How is The Lost Stars? I read The Lost Fleet last year, but the premise of TLS sounds pretty good - as long as it's world building, syndicate economy, etc. and isn't battle after battle. Pretty much the same as the others, except with different characters. You don't really find out anything about the Syndics that you haven't already been told before.
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Jun 27, 2013 23:54
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Flatscan posted:Pretty much the same as the others, except with different characters. You don't really find out anything about the Syndics that you haven't already been told before. Different characters are worth a lot to me at this point, though, as is no longer really dealing with massive potentially galaxy-wrecking aliens in favor of just picking up the pieces of a broken empire.
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Jun 28, 2013 02:06
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I actually liked The Lost Fleet series pretty ok, mostly for the space battles I think. I also liked the whole 'wow the future future is poo poo' thing Geary was dealing with. I've not gotten around to reading more than one of the books after the Syndic war ends. Another series I really plowed through with enjoyment was Drake's RCN series. I enjoyed his take on spaceships and FTL and how dangerous it is for the crews, and liked most of the characters. Basically I enjoy series with interesting space battles and like-able crews, although I have some trouble suspending my disbelief once ships and technology becomes too amazing. I enjoy Culture books entirely on the strength of the writing, the generally extremely high tech levels would have turned me off if Banks hadn't been so good at his job. I've also read Weber's series. Any other recommendations? Light-ish on politics, likeable cast, space battles?
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Jul 7, 2013 22:52
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How do you feel about Louis McMaster Bujold? The early Vorkosigan books (Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game) fit your request pretty well, and all of them have a likeable cast.
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Jul 7, 2013 23:34
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Psykmoe posted:I actually liked The Lost Fleet series pretty ok, mostly for the space battles I think. I also liked the whole 'wow the future future is poo poo' thing Geary was dealing with. Peter Hamilton sounds like your kinda thing.
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Jul 8, 2013 00:09
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Just chiming in that the Vorkosigan books are great.
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Jul 8, 2013 12:26
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The Vorkosigan books may be fantastic fun, but they're kind of light on the space battles. Political intrigue is more their thing.
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Jul 8, 2013 13:03
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The earlier ones (internal chronology), when he's a space pirate, have a fair bit.
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Jul 8, 2013 13:42
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The only thing I don't like about the RCN novels is how they find evidence of ancient aliens in every single book. I get it already, alright! The rest is good.
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Jul 8, 2013 16:47
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Psykmoe posted:Basically I enjoy series with interesting space battles and like-able crews, although I have some trouble suspending my disbelief once ships and technology becomes too amazing. I enjoy Culture books entirely on the strength of the writing, the generally extremely high tech levels would have turned me off if Banks hadn't been so good at his job. I've also read Weber's series. His later books go in the direction you described with over-the-top technology, but I really enjoyed the level of technology Hamilton put into the Commonwealth series. The entire world is based on 2 key technological concepts: 1) FTL travel via wormholes. 2) Being able to 'back up' someone's brain, and then 'restore' it onto a clone-grown body. I think the most enjoyable part for me was his diverse cast of characters and settings, and exploring how the technology affected their lives. For example, there were practically 0 spaceships at the beginning of the series (since wormholes were all on planets), so interstellar travel is all on trains + wormholes. It made it feel approachable and familiar. Also, the 'rejuvenation' of a brain backup+restore is really interesting. The super-rich go on life threatening vacations with high fatality rates (because who cares about dying?) while the poor toil for 40-50 years just to be able to afford a rejuvenation (only to repeat the whole process). Prison is almost pointless, so people are punished by having their body killed and their brain locked up in a data center somewhere for 50-100-500 years. They've effectively cured death. Anyway, I geeked out pretty hardcore over his tech and universe, which is why I recommend it so much. 
syphon fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Jul 9, 2013 |
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Jul 9, 2013 00:02
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syphon posted:Someone else recommended Peter Hamilton's Commonwealth series, and I have to +1 that (even though I think it's a little politics-heavy). I don't think his books talk nearly enough about the problem of having people accept or ignore the fact that they're still dead if they die.
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Jul 9, 2013 02:29
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Fallom posted:I don't think his books talk nearly enough about the problem of having people accept or ignore the fact that they're still dead if they die. Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh I can never resist engaging with this stupid, endless discussion: the whole 'uploading/teleportation is death, He's Only A Copy' myth is a product of a fundamental misunderstanding of consciousness and the materialism of the mind. I'm always relieved when authors don't waste time on that hoary old chestnut. There are interesting philosophical quandaries to be found in any situation that involves forking, but 'the real me still dies' isn't one of them. 'A me still dies' is, though! General Battuta fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Jul 9, 2013 |
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Jul 9, 2013 02:40
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General Battuta posted:Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh I can never resist engaging with this stupid, endless discussion: the whole 'uploading/teleportation is death, He's Only A Copy' myth is a product of a fundamental misunderstanding of consciousness and the materialism of the mind. No way, dude. These people are storing copies of themselves made months ago. You ain't gonna handwave that away by claiming it's a fundamental misunderstanding of how consciousness works, and regardless of that there's still the issue of having people accept it. Like, I have trouble believing that some rich dude is ok with parachuting into a volcano because "It's ok, I have a backup I made 2 years ago stored 80 light years away". Tiny Timbs fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Jul 9, 2013 |
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Jul 9, 2013 02:42
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Fallom posted:No way, dude. These people are storing copies of themselves made months ago. You ain't gonna handwave that away by claiming it's a fundamental misunderstanding of how consciousness works, and regardless of that there's still the issue of having people accept it. It depends on exactly what objection you're making here. Let's say you (we'll call this You Prime) go in for a brain scan on Monday, establishing a fork - Meat You and Scan You. On Tuesday, Meat You is hit by a car and killed instantly. If your argument is that Meat You is dead, you're right. If your argument is that You Prime has died, you're right. If your argument is that You Prime is no longer alive, you're wrong. The only real criteria for 'me-ness' is causal connectivity of the mindstate. In this scenario, causal connectivity between Meat You and Scan You is broken at the instant of the scan, and if either of them dies, there's no salvation. But both Meat You and Scan You are valid descendants of You Prime, possessing all necessary and sufficient credentials to claim to be 'the real you'. So the important clarification to make, I guess, and what I should've opened with rather than that bit of polemic, is this - brain uploading like that in the Commonwealth series allows continued life, but does not prevent death. The real you has died, but the real you will also live on; the two are no longer mutually exclusive. Fallom posted:Like, I have trouble believing that some rich dude is ok with parachuting into a volcano because "It's ok, I have a backup I made 2 years ago stored 80 light years away". This is a beautiful example. Rich Dude At Volcano would be an idiot to jump - he'll die. Rich You 2 Years Ago doesn't care what that fork does; he's still alive in the other fork (he probably does care, actually, since he's also going to die, but at least he has the comfort of knowing he'll live, too.) Rich Dude In Backup doesn't care; as far as he's concerned, the causally disconnected moron leaping into a volcano is another person. What Rich Dude At Volcano should do is have a backup operating in real time. This is causally indistinguishable from his brain being removed from the volcano and saved. e: I guess the simplest way to put this is that mind uploading/backup forks you into two new, causally disconnected yous, for whom death is still a real and terrifying concern. It is a very parochial form of immortality, one that offers assurance only to the self who predates the fork. General Battuta fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Jul 9, 2013 |
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Jul 9, 2013 02:50
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General Battuta posted:So the important clarification to make, I guess, and what I should've opened with rather than that bit of polemic, is this - brain uploading like that in the Commonwealth series allows continued life, but does not prevent death. The real you has died, but the real you will also live on; the two are no longer mutually exclusive. If it resembles a belief like "If I die, then my descendents will carry on my legacy" (but much stronger) then I'm cool with that.
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Jul 9, 2013 02:54
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