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Fellwenner posted:His publisher dropped the series due to sales, not him. This happened and he self-published the prequel novel which really helps explain a whooooooole lot. But he's also written about how he doesn't want to self-publish more Twenty Palaces novels; he wants to gain a larger audience to appreciate his work before he starts writing and publishing it again. I have a recurring day dream where my wife and I win the $400m Powerball lotto and I use some of the annual interest to somehow convince him to let me be his patron so he can just write the drat books already. <  >
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Nov 8, 2013 04:29
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pseudonordic posted:This happened and he self-published the prequel novel which really helps explain a whooooooole lot. But he's also written about how he doesn't want to self-publish more Twenty Palaces novels; he wants to gain a larger audience to appreciate his work before he starts writing and publishing it again. Yeah, and I don't doubt Twenty Palaces will come back at some point. He's aware of what he did wrong and he's a good enough writer that'll things will turn around.
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Nov 8, 2013 05:43
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Cytokinesis posted:Worm. It's amazing, longer than most series, and completely free. It'll probably also be finished by the time you reach the end. I can't recommend this serial highly enough. It's one of the most gripping things I've read from any author, in any genre, in the last few years.
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Nov 8, 2013 06:23
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Ika posted:I finished those a while ago, and enjoyed them. Now I need something new (and have read rook / rivers of London / london falling as well). Sandman Slim 
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Nov 8, 2013 06:42
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Worm looks really interesting, but I'm not interested in it until he brings out an e-book, sadly. I get most of my reading done between classes, and I'm not unpacking my laptop every time I want to read. Also, Sandman Slim is ridiculously stupidly gloriously over the top in a way that's really more fun than it should be.
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Nov 8, 2013 06:43
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I just finished The Night Watch on the recommendation of this thread and I can't recommend it enough. Started The Rook right after and so far it's really interesting.
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Nov 8, 2013 07:03
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mrking posted:I just finished The Night Watch on the recommendation of this thread and I can't recommend it enough. Started The Rook right after and so far it's really interesting. The Rook is really good. Sandman Slim is good but in totally different ways.
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Nov 8, 2013 07:49
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In the middle of Changes...those fuckers crushed the Blue Beetle. 
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Nov 8, 2013 08:01
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That reminds me, what're the odds that (Cold Days) the Frankenhearse returns?
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Nov 8, 2013 08:14
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Also have been keeping up with Worm for the last few months, thanks for the recommendations though! Will start on Laundry Files I think, but I've been starving for books lately so I'll probably read that and Felix Castor before the next Dresden book comes out. Oh also in case anyone was wondering both The Rook and the Rivers of London series are fantastic. I started Rivers on Monday and finished it today.
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Nov 8, 2013 09:16
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Khizan posted:You'd be a Warden in the LA area shortly after the events of Changes. With Ramirez on the injured list and out of play, you've got to hold the line against the Fomor, enforce the Laws of Magic, deal with the Fae Courts, and handle all the other various Wardenly tasks in your area. That would probably work pretty well. I'm not seeing it as Mass Effect or some turn-based thing though. More like Saints Row 4 with dialogue trees. Hell, SR4 you're already pretty much playing a wizard, throwing poo poo around, shooting fireballs, etc. Just remove the flying completely and tone down the AoEs and telekinesis until you get near the end. e: SR4 engine probably wouldn't work, actually. You'd need to add the ability to blow through walls and burn buildings down.
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Nov 9, 2013 00:04
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Forget Bioware, take that LA idea and build if off of VtM: Bloodlines.
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Nov 9, 2013 00:21
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Fellwenner posted:His publisher dropped the series due to sales, not him. Sure, but he was the one who decided he wont be writing them any more and trying to sell them through another publisher or by himself. I know this sounds reasonable when I'm writing this, but when he made the announcement he was really douchy about it, like he didn't give two shits about the creative side of writing, and only cared about making loads of money.
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Nov 9, 2013 07:14
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Mr.48 posted:Sure, but he was the one who decided he wont be writing them any more and trying to sell them through another publisher or by himself. I know this sounds reasonable when I'm writing this, but when he made the announcement he was really douchy about it, like he didn't give two shits about the creative side of writing, and only cared about making loads of money. Nobody makes loads of money writing unless they hit the loving powerball jackpot, and a great many people are very bad at PR.
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Nov 9, 2013 07:22
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VanSandman posted:Nobody makes loads of money writing unless they hit the loving powerball jackpot, and a great many people are very bad at PR. You should explain that to Harry Connolly who seems obsessed with being the next King/Rowling.
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Nov 9, 2013 07:32
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Mr.48 posted:You should explain that to Harry Connolly who seems obsessed with being the next King/Rowling. Some people are also crazy, I guess.
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Nov 9, 2013 07:34
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The blog post in question. I don't think he comes off as a douche. I think he comes off as someone that is looking at writing as a career and his first venture did not work out very well and is being realistic about the situation. Lots of writers have abandoned series that weren't doing well commercially and moved on to something else. He also wrote it as that particular dream was crashing and burning so it is a bit pessimistic, but what do you expect? That said, the comments from that one are now gone so maybe he was being a dick in those.
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Nov 9, 2013 08:42
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Ornamented Death posted:The blog post in question. I commented once when they were still up, he wasn't being dickish at all that I could see.
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Nov 9, 2013 09:45
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So I'm reading Changes, and when (spoiled as a courtesy to Lyer) the Grey Council shows up at Chichen Itza, someone uses fuego as a fire spell. Any thoughts on who?
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Nov 10, 2013 04:56
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BrooklynBruiser posted:So I'm reading Changes, and when (spoiled as a courtesy to Lyer) the Grey Council shows up at Chichen Itza, someone uses fuego as a fire spell. Any thoughts on who? It's not a fire spell. It's a Spanish order to open fire.
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Nov 10, 2013 05:33
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Mr.48 posted:like he didn't give two shits about the creative side of writing, and only cared about making loads of money. I don't think it's so much that as he wasn't making enough money as it was that he wasn't making any money at all off Twenty Palaces. The third book sold <100 copies or something similarly ridiculous.
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Nov 10, 2013 08:12
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I still maintain that the Twenty Palaces prequel should have been the first book in the series. Child of Fire (the actual first book) has this awful conceit where Ray (the first-person protagonist) knows more than the reader and refuses to share. Signs and portents abound! I'm okay with some unreliable narrator shenanigans, but there has to be something to sell it. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. Ray is pragmatic to a fault. He's a jerk, who is working for a total dick, and his boss is a member of a mysterious society full of people with PhD's in douchebaggery. The only people worse than the protagonists are the bad guys. The one-two punch of unlikable protagonist plus poorly-handled mystery was almost too much for me to bear. I almost put the book aside more than once, but came back because people in here said it gets better. I bet most don't stick it out. It did. The second book is better than the first, and the third better than the second. The prequel is really good, and it explains everything that's missing from the first half of the first book. The backstory makes the Society's harsh ways more understandable. Ray's relationship with his boss, which is adversarial at best, is also fleshed out enough to be believable. The winks and nods towards the underlying system of magic explain the mystery that Ray couldn't--or wouldn't--explain to the reader. And so on... The four Twenty Palaces novels are good reads, some of the best in the genre, but only if you read the prequel first. The first book is hard to like without the knowledge the prequel imparts.
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Nov 10, 2013 08:31
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Tunicate posted:It's not a fire spell. It's a Spanish order to open fire. Yep. "Fuego" is literally just the Spanish word for fire. It wasn't a Gray Council member casting a fire spell, it was the Red Court mercenaries getting the order to open fire. Right after Harry hears somebody yell it is when the mercs open fire on him and Eb.
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Nov 10, 2013 08:34
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Khizan posted:Yep. "Fuego" is literally just the Spanish word for fire. It wasn't a Gray Council member casting a fire spell, it was the Red Court mercenaries getting the order to open fire. Right after Harry hears somebody yell it is when the mercs open fire on him and Eb. And Harry was pissed that they used his word.
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Nov 10, 2013 08:35
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wallaka posted:And Harry was pissed that they used his word. They should at least have used a rocket launcher with the command. There just wasn't enough boom.
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Nov 10, 2013 11:51
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Tunicate posted:It's not a fire spell. It's a Spanish order to open fire. Khizan posted:Yep. "Fuego" is literally just the Spanish word for fire. It wasn't a Gray Council member casting a fire spell, it was the Red Court mercenaries getting the order to open fire. Right after Harry hears somebody yell it is when the mercs open fire on him and Eb.  Don't mind me. I'm gonna go turn my brain back on so I actually think about things.
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Nov 10, 2013 13:02
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I finished Changes and already started on the next one.  is all I really have to say about it, good in the same way empire strikes back is good. I do have a question though at some point in Changes Harry manages to get one of his assassins to talk about who's trying to kill him and it turns out it was Susan, but that plot point never went anywhere, what's the deal?
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Nov 11, 2013 01:34
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Lyer posted:I finished Changes and already started on the next one. It wasn't actually Susan, it was one of the assassins dressing up like her.
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Nov 11, 2013 01:37
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More specifically, Harry thinks that it was one of Eebs using her vampire mindfucking powers to make the hitman think Susan hired him.
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Nov 11, 2013 02:09
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404GoonNotFound posted:Forget Bioware, take that LA idea and build if off of VtM: Bloodlines. There are so many modding tools available, and it wouldn't be hard to tweak/skin the powers already in the game. This makes so much sense it's actually surprising nobody's done a Dresden mod yet.
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Nov 11, 2013 15:41
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Tunicate posted:It's not a fire spell. It's a Spanish order to open fire. And it's wrong to, it should be "enfilade" I put it down to Harry taking a few to many blows to the head
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Nov 11, 2013 22:30
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BlueInkAlchemist posted:There are so many modding tools available, and it wouldn't be hard to tweak/skin the powers already in the game. This makes so much sense it's actually surprising nobody's done a Dresden mod yet. Annnndd reinstalled. Fried Chicken posted:And it's wrong to, it should be "enfilade" Or dramatic license.
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Nov 12, 2013 01:22
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Finished Ghost Story, I thought it was a rough read, seeing all of Harry's friends frayed around the edges like that. Although batman molly was pretty cool, I think it would have worked out better if she had a few more badass moments before going totally vigilante. It's just kind of hard to believe she went from inept side kick to asskicking hero. The vignettes at the end were nice though, was good to see some characters that didn't have screen time.  Looking forward to the next one since we get to see Harry have to live with his decision in the previous book.
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Nov 12, 2013 02:04
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Lyer posted:Finished Ghost Story, I thought it was a rough read, seeing all of Harry's friends frayed around the edges like that. Although batman molly was pretty cool, I think it would have worked out better if she had a few more badass moments before going totally vigilante. It's just kind of hard to believe she went from inept side kick to asskicking hero. The vignettes at the end were nice though, was good to see some characters that didn't have screen time. The thing about Molly though, if you have Leanesidhe as your teacher, you become badass pretty fast or you die.
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Nov 12, 2013 05:41
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I finished Proven Guilty last night. Definitely my favorite of the first eight.
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Nov 12, 2013 07:26
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Tornhelm posted:The thing about Molly though, if you have Leanesidhe as your teacher, you become badass pretty fast or you die. Also, having Harry as a teacher meant she was trying to be badass the wrong way. Her role model is a Heavy, but she's very much unsuited to that.
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Nov 12, 2013 07:40
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One thing I always wondered was if Molly would be better off trying to pull off Ramirez's disintegration shield. That or something similar that's not just a brute force "block bullets with her mind" kind of thing. That works great for Harry, but Harry is freakishly strong for a wizard, if somewhat lacking in finesse. Molly is the exact opposite case.
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Nov 12, 2013 07:47
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Probably would be best using something like Elaine's method, which gives her precognition and heightened awareness so she can use her lower strength to make barriers where it counts, rather than Harry-style, giant wall of force. Possibly a veil which doesn't break on shock, , I think a minor personal veil to slightly offset her position might work. From what I can recall, the only others that I've seen using Harry style barriers was...Ebenezar. Most other wizards seem to go with some kind of deflection rather than a hard barrier, presumably because it's strength intensive.
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Nov 12, 2013 08:04
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Khizan posted:One thing I always wondered was if Molly would be better off trying to pull off Ramirez's disintegration shield. That or something similar that's not just a brute force "block bullets with her mind" kind of thing. Butcher has said in interviews that Harry severely underestimates Molly's potential to hold her own in a fight, for basically this reason: he's too brutish and thinks in terms of raw strength.
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Nov 12, 2013 14:38
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veekie posted:From what I can recall, the only others that I've seen using Harry style barriers was...Ebenezar. Most other wizards seem to go with some kind of deflection rather than a hard barrier, presumably because it's strength intensive. Doesn't Ebenezar simply have robes with a higher level of protection spells than Harry's trenchcoat? I remember bullet bouncing off with absolutely no effort on his part.
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Nov 12, 2013 16:00
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