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tankfish posted:I was wondering if anyone has any recommendation's on books where the main heroine grows into a evil/iron queen? Probably not what you meant by that, but try this: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3554789
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Dec 1, 2013 01:55
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Does Alastair Reynolds get better at writing after Revelation Space? It was an ok book, but despite having the 3rd edition I was really put off by the typos, bizarre/clumsy turns of phrase, and things like "the creature looked like something out of a book on etymology, with segmented legs..." which should be caught by any editor worth their English BA. It made more sense when I learned it was his first novel. Despite all that if Chasm City is even a small improvement I'd love to read it.
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Dec 1, 2013 03:40
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If you want to read Reynolds you should only do it for his skill with tone and setting (namely, cold vast inhuman cosmos crawling with ancient and vast menaces and baroque unsettling technology) rather than his prose-level construction or his characters, because he's not going to impress you there.
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Dec 1, 2013 04:41
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Jeff Vandermeer rules and the Ambergris books are really good. Shriek and Finch are more traditional novels than the Book of Ambergris, but they are quite good as well. I don't really need to say anything about Felix Gilman. He posts here occasionally and is a lawyer so I was always going to like him. Although I have wondered how his first few books are, before the Half-Made World.
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Dec 1, 2013 06:09
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Mandragora posted:Bas-Lag is probably my favorite fantasy world ever created. Based on your appreciation of that and your other criteria, I would recommend: This is such an awesome list. Thank you! I've read Shriek and the Book of Ambergris by VanderMeer (that's how he capitalizes it) and while I really liked them, they were just a little too...normal compared to Mieville. Like, it was still really weird, but it didn't pull me in as immediately as the Bas Lag stories did.
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Dec 1, 2013 10:42
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fookolt posted:This is such an awesome list. Thank you! I've read Shriek and the Book of Ambergris by VanderMeer (that's how he capitalizes it) and while I really liked them, they were just a little too...normal compared to Mieville. Like, it was still really weird, but it didn't pull me in as immediately as the Bas Lag stories did. You want something weird? Try Liminal States by Zack Parsons, from these very forums. http://www.amazon.com/Liminal-States-Zack-Parsons/dp/B00D9TDQWS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375402024&sr=8-1&keywords=liminal+states The story (mostly) follows two men, exploring their mutual hatred for each other. The story covers well over a century, as the two men are reborn upon death, in a singularly disturbing fashion. The first act is a Western, the second noir, and the third a near-future sci-fi world where much has gone wrong. And boy, does it have weird poo poo. It doesn't start that way, but somewhere around the 20% mark you hit the first batch of weirdness, and it just grows from there. This is a hard book to discuss without spoiling too much, but if you'd like some more detail, just ask.
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Dec 1, 2013 23:12
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specklebang posted:For well constructed worlds, I thought Kameron Hurley's Bel Dame Trilogy did a great job. I felt like I lived there (but was glad I didn't what with males not used for much other than sex). Confirming that the Bel Dame Trilogy kicks rear end and basically made me felt like I lived in that strange, strange world. Hurley also seems to be very show and not tell, which I very much enjoyed considering the tendency for some writers to go and build an entire appendix dedicated to "world building." Which I'm totally fine with, but I feel authors should (as in Hurley's case) make me feel like I really want to get my hands on their personal appendix/world bible and read it after I've read the books, rather than making me constantly using it as a reference to explain whatever totally new country suddenly popped out of nowhere.
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Dec 2, 2013 04:34
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ConfusedUs posted:You want something weird? I remember hearing about this! Definitely adding this to the (very long) list. And well, I don't know if I want really weird. I like Mieville's level of weird because it's just weird enough to be tantalizing but not so weird that I get lost or don't care anymore. I love that Hell has an embassy in New Crobuzon. And there's all this Lovecraftian type stuff swimming/crawling/flying around everywhere.
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Dec 2, 2013 11:16
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fookolt posted:And well, I don't know if I want really weird. I like Mieville's level of weird because it's just weird enough to be tantalizing but not so weird that I get lost or don't care anymore. I love that Hell has an embassy in New Crobuzon. And there's all this Lovecraftian type stuff swimming/crawling/flying around everywhere. If you squint just right and have the terrible knowledge that comes from being an incorrigible nerd, you can see that a fair amount of the creepy crawlies probably came out of a D&D Monster Manual at some point. But yeah.
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Dec 2, 2013 12:29
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fookolt posted:I remember hearing about this! Definitely adding this to the (very long) list. Liminal States isn't any weirder than New Crobuzon at the end.
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Dec 2, 2013 14:34
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Good to know!Groke posted:If you squint just right and have the terrible knowledge that comes from being an incorrigible nerd, you can see that a fair amount of the creepy crawlies probably came out of a D&D Monster Manual at some point. But yeah. Ignorance is bliss then *pushes a Real Nerd into a locker*.
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Dec 2, 2013 18:07
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I think in those particular books the reason Zelazny was writing that stuff in was as a deliberate parallel to greco-roman mythology. Between this, Lord of Light, and Donnerjack Zelazny sure loved writing about gods. Not that I mind, his poo poo was awesome. Donnerjack also used the same split father/son story theme. fookolt posted:And well, I don't know if I want really weird. I like Mieville's level of weird because it's just weird enough to be tantalizing but not so weird that I get lost or don't care anymore. I love that Hell has an embassy in New Crobuzon. And there's all this Lovecraftian type stuff swimming/crawling/flying around everywhere. I like that it fits together just well enough that I don't need an explanation for WHY anything is, I just buy it all. I feel like some sci-fi fantasy worlds work a little too hard at justifying there own premise.
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Dec 2, 2013 18:18
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Yeah, that's definitely a big part of the appeal for me as well.
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Dec 2, 2013 19:02
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Anyone read Jon Sprunk's Shadow Saga books? I made it through book 1 despite the completely contradictory main character and near Rothfuss levels of "romance" between the male and female protagnist, but I've got a soft heart for any sort of legitimate assassin type character in the hopes someone may write one as well as Brust. However book 2 is killing me, the main character goes even more brain dead, including forgetting some of the major revelations of his past he learns at the end of book 1, and I can only assume the author realized how ridiculous the romance was and is trying to right the ship but in even more ridiculous fashion. Is it worth finishing, or do I just chalk it up as a lost cause now?
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Dec 2, 2013 19:59
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There's a bunch of Octavia Butler on sale today on amazon, wheres a good place to start with her work?
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Dec 2, 2013 20:09
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The Supreme Court posted:Who are authors particularly skilled at weaving well-realised worlds behind a book's plot? It seems there's some authors who've created full worlds that are so magnificent it's hard not to find an interesting story in them (e.g. heist novel, noir-detective), rather than the common fantasy tale of conquering an empire/ saving the world by coming-of-age. I've recently been enjoying the books by Alan Campbell. He has two series, Deepgate Codex and Gravedigger Chronicles (2 books sofar). He writes some weird mix of steampunk with a lot of magic and powerful characters good and evil. Imaginative worlds dealing with good and evil. Not as good as Mieville (what is really?), but a similar new weird setting and relatively fast-paced, although weaker on character. The setting for both series is evil gods fight evil gods, and humanity is caught in between.
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Dec 2, 2013 21:02
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nessin posted:Anyone read Jon Sprunk's Shadow Saga books? I made it through book 1 despite the completely contradictory main character and near Rothfuss levels of "romance" between the male and female protagnist, but I've got a soft heart for any sort of legitimate assassin type character in the hopes someone may write one as well as Brust. However book 2 is killing me, the main character goes even more brain dead, including forgetting some of the major revelations of his past he learns at the end of book 1, and I can only assume the author realized how ridiculous the romance was and is trying to right the ship but in even more ridiculous fashion. Is it worth finishing, or do I just chalk it up as a lost cause now? Dunno. I dropped them at book 1, roughly when the love interest got raped.
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Dec 2, 2013 21:05
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:I vaguely remember a book called something like Ironhand's Daughter by David Gemmell where she grew up to be an rear end kicking lady or queen or something. The author then died.
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Dec 2, 2013 23:41
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coyo7e posted:I believe that it was one book of Gemmell's newest Trilogy. Nope. Gemmell's last trilogy was the Troy books. The book Flander is thinking of was Ironhand's Daughter, but that was written years before Gemmell died and it wasn't a trilogy. The titular character in the Hawk Queen books also does not turn evil, although like most Gemmell characters who aren't Druss she does do some bad things. There is a queen who turns evil in the Skilgannon the Damned books, but she's not the main character.
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Dec 3, 2013 00:15
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nessin posted:Anyone read Jon Sprunk's Shadow Saga books? I made it through book 1 despite the completely contradictory main character and near Rothfuss levels of "romance" between the male and female protagnist, but I've got a soft heart for any sort of legitimate assassin type character in the hopes someone may write one as well as Brust. However book 2 is killing me, the main character goes even more brain dead, including forgetting some of the major revelations of his past he learns at the end of book 1, and I can only assume the author realized how ridiculous the romance was and is trying to right the ship but in even more ridiculous fashion. Is it worth finishing, or do I just chalk it up as a lost cause now? Eh, they weren't great but they weren't horrible. If you are already through most of book 2, just finish the series out. There's only one book left.
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Dec 3, 2013 00:46
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Cardiac posted:I've recently been enjoying the books by Alan Campbell. Read the Deepgate Codex, and can't really recommend them. There's some very cool imagery, sure, but it's horribly strung together with a messy, nonsensical, and tediously grimdark plot. Dude needs to learn to write a story, not a concept showcase.
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Dec 3, 2013 00:54
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bigmcgaffney posted:There's a bunch of Octavia Butler on sale today on amazon, wheres a good place to start with her work? With those prices, I just grabbed them all. Four book series for Edit: links for the kindle-books Lilith's brood Patternist Issaries fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Dec 3, 2013 |
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Dec 3, 2013 01:04
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jammu posted:With those prices, I just grabbed them all. Four book series for 4$ and another three book series for 4$. (for kindle) Thanks for mentioning this, you got me to look them up and I'm going to grab a few as well. Xenogenesis trilogy for $4, Patternist series for $2.51! Though they're each only ~750 pages, so the price isn't really much better than the other Amazon books on sale.
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Dec 3, 2013 01:46
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I've mentioned Barbara Hambly before. I've said if you actually like stories about vampires and don't care for the accompanying porn in most recent vampire stories, her James Asher series is worth checking out. It's almost steampunk as it take place in Edwardian England, and the vampires are actually creepy, not thinly disguised romance heroes. So today on the Kindle Daily Deal, I noticed the second book in the series was on sale (US Amazon daily deals), and when I investigated further, I discovered the first book was also on sale. Here's the Kindle links Those Who Hunt the Night for 1.99 Traveling With the Dead for 1.99 and Blood Maidens is available for 3.999 Magistrates from Hell is still full price. Something that made me even happier is that some of her other out-of-print books are also on sale: The Sun Wolf and Starhawk Series: The Ladies of Mandrigyn, The Witches of Wenshar, and The Dark Hand of Magic for $3.99 The Darwath Series: The Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air, and The Armies of Daylight for 3.99 They also have a great price on the Windrose Chronicles The Silent Tower for 1.99 The Silicon Mage for 1.99 Dog Wizard for 1.99 I highly recommend Barbara Hambly, she does meticulous research so even her fantasy novels have the sort of detail that make them really come to life, and at those prices, you can't go wrong. Edit: Those are just the plain Amazon links for convenience, not kickback links. Zola fucked around with this message at 03:31 on Dec 3, 2013 |
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Dec 3, 2013 02:16
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Mandragora posted:* Barry Hughart: The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox doesn't really create a fantasy world so much as write a love letter to Chinese and pre-Chinese mythology and drop you smack dab in the middle of it. And then asks you to tag along with a geriatric, drunken, lecherous Sherlock Holmes analogue as he solves mysteries that seem benign on the surface but then lead through the heavens, hells and every spirit realm in between. Completely faithful and respectful to that mythology, too, although written with razor-edged humor. If you haven't read this yet, you're doing yourself a great disservice by not immediately picking up a copy. It easily belongs on top 10 lists for mystery and fantasy. Hughart quitting writing was a huge literary tragedy.
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Dec 3, 2013 03:09
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Neurosis posted:Jeff Vandermeer rules and the Ambergris books are really good. Shriek and Finch are more traditional novels than the Book of Ambergris, but they are quite good as well. I don't really need to say anything about Felix Gilman. He posts here occasionally and is a lawyer so I was always going to like him. Although I have wondered how his first few books are, before the Half-Made World. I started the sample for Thunderer but it wasn't as well-written as The Half-Made World or RoRC and didn't really grab me.
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Dec 3, 2013 05:00
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Darth Walrus posted:Read the Deepgate Codex, and can't really recommend them. There's some very cool imagery, sure, but it's horribly strung together with a messy, nonsensical, and tediously grimdark plot. Dude needs to learn to write a story, not a concept showcase. Yeah, he's big on the imagery, not so much on the plot. Second series is also suffering from the same flaws. Good parth is that the story is fast-paced so it never really becomes a tedious read. In some ways it is like reading WH40k bolter porn.
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Dec 3, 2013 13:45
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Cardiac posted:Yeah, he's big on the imagery, not so much on the plot. Even Black Library fiction tends to have a more coherent story with more satisfying character arcs, though - those books favour very simple plots, not nonexistent ones. The Codex is just an anarchic mess, and the ending exceeds even Dan Abnett's worst. Darth Walrus fucked around with this message at 13:51 on Dec 3, 2013 |
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Dec 3, 2013 13:49
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I'm looking for some gothic influenced sci fi - as in, inspired by traditional gothic lit and ideas rather than a pulpy space-gothic aesthetic. Philip K Dick is something that comes to mind, but googling just gives me loads of nu-Frankenstein (which makes sense, being both gothic and proto sci fi) and random space vampire poo poo.
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Dec 4, 2013 03:36
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field balm posted:I'm looking for some gothic influenced sci fi - as in, inspired by traditional gothic lit and ideas rather than a pulpy space-gothic aesthetic. Philip K Dick is something that comes to mind, but googling just gives me loads of nu-Frankenstein (which makes sense, being both gothic and proto sci fi) and random space vampire poo poo. Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds might be what you're looking for.
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Dec 4, 2013 04:26
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Yeah, the Deepgate Codex is a total mess, but at least for the first book it's not fully the bad kind of mess. The rest of the series, not so much.
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Dec 4, 2013 04:30
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fritz posted:Yeah, the Deepgate Codex is a total mess, but at least for the first book it's not fully the bad kind of mess. The rest of the series, not so much. First book I remember as rather nice fantasy novel, starting with a murder mystery. Iron Angel was not as good, but still had some interesting parts, including the guy pulling a Ship of the Damned. Somewhere here when Hell started to appear it felt like I was reading Spawn again. God of Clocks was just bad. The start of Sea of Ghosts was good and the book was OK until the latter parts, where it all became weird. And Art of Hunting, which I finished yesterday, has the same faults. Both series start out with a small cast of characters and the beginnings of the story lines are actually quite good. His main problem is that he throws in more and more stuff instead of trying to work with what he has introduced. There is nothing wrong with his imagination, only how it is implemented.
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Dec 4, 2013 12:38
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field balm posted:I'm looking for some gothic influenced sci fi - as in, inspired by traditional gothic lit and ideas rather than a pulpy space-gothic aesthetic. Philip K Dick is something that comes to mind, but googling just gives me loads of nu-Frankenstein (which makes sense, being both gothic and proto sci fi) and random space vampire poo poo. How precise do you want to be? Because a lot of sf is gothic-inspired, and I can't see a distinction that includes Dick without vast swathes of other sf. The sf encyclopaedia entry is very broad. I you want to be really specific, though, there's a Brian Aldiss novel called Frankenstein Unbound, a sequel I think, and Michael Bishop's Brittle Innings has the Monster as a character.
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Dec 4, 2013 22:44
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Jedit posted:Nope. Gemmell's last trilogy was the Troy books. The book Flander is thinking of was Ironhand's Daughter, but that was written years before Gemmell died and it wasn't a trilogy. The titular character in the Hawk Queen books also does not turn evil, although like most Gemmell characters who aren't Druss she does do some bad things. Been a while since I read Ironhand's Daughter though. The scene with the iron hand in the pool stuck with me for some reason. Eschatos posted:If you haven't read this yet, you're doing yourself a great disservice by not immediately picking up a copy. It easily belongs on top 10 lists for mystery and fantasy. Hughart quitting writing was a huge literary tragedy. 
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Dec 4, 2013 23:27
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I recently read Engraved on the Eye by Saladin Ahmed. I really liked some of the stories taking place in a sorta Middle Eastern fantasy universe. I feel like the majority of fantasy books, while they are all in their own worlds, tend to have the same basic world as their foundation. Sorta European, mountains, things like that. The idea of people hanging out in the desert and fighting ghouls all Arabian Nightsy was really cool, something different. I know there was just discussion last page about awesome worlds, so I'm guessing there's quite a bit of overlap. Anyway, I was wondering if there were any recommendations for books with other non-traditional worlds.
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Dec 5, 2013 00:50
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cryptoclastic posted:I recently read Engraved on the Eye by Saladin Ahmed. I really liked some of the stories taking place in a sorta Middle Eastern fantasy universe. I feel like the majority of fantasy books, while they are all in their own worlds, tend to have the same basic world as their foundation. Sorta European, mountains, things like that. The idea of people hanging out in the desert and fighting ghouls all Arabian Nightsy was really cool, something different. I know there was just discussion last page about awesome worlds, so I'm guessing there's quite a bit of overlap. Anyway, I was wondering if there were any recommendations for books with other non-traditional worlds. The Emperor's Knife, The Orphan's Tales, The Shadowed Sun books, just off the tippy top of my head. All of those books are quite excellent, with NK Jemisin's Shadowed SUn books (two of them) being probably the closest to what you seem to be looking for. It's an incredibly well-realized ancient-egypt analogue. The author is really well educated and it shows in the detail and sophistication of her world building. The Orphan's Tales are often discussed here, that book has enough worlds for everyone. Play fucked around with this message at 08:42 on Dec 5, 2013 |
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Dec 5, 2013 08:35
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cryptoclastic posted:I recently read Engraved on the Eye by Saladin Ahmed. I really liked some of the stories taking place in a sorta Middle Eastern fantasy universe. I feel like the majority of fantasy books, while they are all in their own worlds, tend to have the same basic world as their foundation. Sorta European, mountains, things like that. The idea of people hanging out in the desert and fighting ghouls all Arabian Nightsy was really cool, something different. I know there was just discussion last page about awesome worlds, so I'm guessing there's quite a bit of overlap. Anyway, I was wondering if there were any recommendations for books with other non-traditional worlds. Why is it free on Amazon?
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Dec 5, 2013 18:27
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Koryk posted:Why is it free on Amazon? Guess I just "bought" it then!
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Dec 5, 2013 18:29
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systran posted:Guess I just "bought" it then! Yeah, me too. Are they doing a season sale or something?
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Dec 5, 2013 18:29
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Koryk posted:Yeah, me too. Are they doing a season sale or something? Its 120 pages of short stories. This is a popular way to introduce a "universe" to readers in hopes of them buying the full books. For ME flavor, I again suggest Kameron Hurley's novels and short stories, some of which are free.
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Dec 5, 2013 20:44
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