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pkd's women are usually poorly written but not terrible, but then he wrote 'the transmigration of timothy archer' and the protagonist of that was really good I think. it's been a while since i read it though.
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Jan 5, 2014 00:24
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i feel a fair amount of bad female character-ness is not out-and-out vindictive on the part of the author it's just that they don't get that women are also hu-man
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Jan 5, 2014 00:25
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Pick posted:i feel a fair amount of bad female character-ness is not out-and-out vindictive on the part of the author it's just that they don't get that women are also hu-man But they all have all these boobs and butts and weird hormone thingies! Clearly another species.
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Jan 5, 2014 00:31
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Pick have you ever read any of the Culture novels? I'm curious as to what you think of Banks' female characters. On the one hand they tend to each have their own personality and are often main characters to the plot, on the other they also almost always tend to be ultra-smart, sex-positive superwomen even by Culture standards. It's a weird case beyond Whedon where I'm not sure if the positive portrayals are a good thing or a bad thing.
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Jan 5, 2014 00:32
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vaguely posted:saying that 99% of [genre] is terrible isn't that controversial; 99% of absolutely everything is terrible Actually yes, I think this more accurate. Enfys fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Apr 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 00:36
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Enfys posted:I'm certainly not wanting to say that these are the best genres or the only genres or whatever - it's the incredibly extreme hyperbole of 'these things are 99% without any merit and all terrible people' that is pretty ridiculous. A lot of the ones that become popular and mainstream have some awful aspects, but that's because what is popular and mainstream has some awful aspects, and those same criticisms apply to ANY fiction. For real just read my last post ffs mind the walrus posted:To be totally and 100% fair "genre fiction" is often also used as a pejorative and idiots conflate the genre trappings with the capacity for literary merit, forgetting at the very least Sturgeon's Law and at most that content and form are two different things. Yeah, but that wasn't my intention and I wish people would give others the benefit of the doubt.
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Jan 5, 2014 00:38
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Michelle West does a good job in my opinion and I thought all of the characters were generally interesting. The Hunters Oath and The Hunters Death were her first books in the world she created and she followed it up with The Sun Sword series. The last book sort of rushes to finish up the stories though and feels like she was being pressured by the publishers to finish. One main storyline just sort of ends abruptly and the focus shifts to a big final battle of sorts to resolve one of the other overarching storylines. Edit: I guess she's actually Michele Segara and published in the 90s under a westernized name. Captain Candiru fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 00:40
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Wildlife Analysis posted:Yeah, but that wasn't my intention and I wish people would give others the benefit of the doubt. It's cool with me. As a former GENRE FICTION FAN DEFENDER it's hard not to kneejerk.
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Jan 5, 2014 00:44
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Enfys posted:If you would like some examples of specifically women authors: Connie Willis, Nnedi Okorafor (who I recommend especially because I know people have asked in the past about wanting to read more black lady authors), Lauren Beukes, Justina Robson (Silver Screen made a few waves recently), Nancy Kress and Lois McMaster Bujold. I'm probably forgetting a couple. Willis, Bujold, Kress, and Robson are sci-fi authors and I was explicitly talking about fantasy, since I think there's more good sci-fi than fantasy, and well predating these folks (Alice Sheldon etc, or gently caress Canvendish's Blazing World which is argued to perhaps be the first sci-fi novel). I haven't read anything by Okorafor or Beukes. Furthermore, what I've been complaining about in regards to fantasy is pretty specific to things that think they're set in the past but really aren't, and use this status as an excuse. Most sci-fi is not applicable there. Pick fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 00:55
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mind the walrus posted:It's cool with me. As a former GENRE FICTION FAN DEFENDER it's hard not to kneejerk. Yeah, it just kind of bemuses me when I've read the Wheel of Time series and all manner of fantasy/sci-fi schlock and enjoyed it.
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Jan 5, 2014 00:59
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i read wheel of time and i even enjoyed and honestly think parts of it were good but i would NEVER suggest another human being read it thatd be mean
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Jan 5, 2014 01:00
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I've been recommended Wheel of Time a bunch but every time I read a synopsis my eyes just glaze over and I'm all "uggggggggggggggggggggg" I've got a much higher tolerance to sci-fi bullshit because at least when the authors go on stupid tangents from their wooden and unrealistic characters it's usually on some grognard poo poo the author autistically loves and I can pretend to have learned something from the experience.
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Jan 5, 2014 01:10
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Pick posted:Lay some examples on us then, other than Prachett, Mieville, or Abercrombie. uuuuuuhhhhhhhhh le guin muuuuuuuuuuuch??????????????
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Jan 5, 2014 01:16
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boom boom boom posted:uuuuuuhhhhhhhhh le guin muuuuuuuuuuuch?????????????? earthsea sux
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Jan 5, 2014 01:17
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Pick posted:earthsea sux try some of her normal adult stuff, not just the young adult
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Jan 5, 2014 01:19
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football owns alex smith wooooo
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Jan 5, 2014 01:20
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I just read The Night Land and the first half was absolutely fabulous and then the second half was horrible boring misogynist garbage If you ever read it stop exactly halfway through
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Jan 5, 2014 01:28
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http://msagarawest.wordpress.com/bibliography/the-sun-sword/ Eees good.
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Jan 5, 2014 01:40
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David Weber writes some decently enjoyable fantasy and sci fi, it gets a little right wingy sometimes but it's mild enough to roll your eyes at and move past. Decent portrayal of ladies from what I remember, though he does tend to default to 'is a horrible rapey misogynistic rapist" when he wants you to hate someone. (e: I mean its like, oh this already defined bad dude also did that? Just like the last five bad dudes? Okay....) I have never read anything by Bujold that wasn't at the very least p darn good. Zeth fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 01:58
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who else read the his dark materials trilogy as a kid and thought it was super amazing and then reread it as an adult and went "mehhhh"
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Jan 5, 2014 01:59
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Portals posted:who else read the his dark materials trilogy as a kid and thought it was super amazing and then reread it as an adult and went "mehhhh" not me on either count
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Jan 5, 2014 02:04
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Portals posted:who else read the his dark materials trilogy as a kid and thought it was super amazing and then reread it as an adult and went "mehhhh" I lost the Opinions on Marion Zimmer Bradley? I read all of her books one deployment, but haven't read any since. Being alone with 300 other people that you don't like and no internet that much makes the escapism of any book seem more awesome. poopkitty fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 02:05
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I really liked The Mists of Avalon, but hated the other book I read by her, whose name escapes me. I have a fairly low tolerance to New Age-y stuff, though. It's not fantasy, but read The Crimson Petal and the White, it's so good
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Jan 5, 2014 02:09
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Crow Jane posted:It's not fantasy, but read The Crimson Petal and the White, it's so good This, it's a long book but it's really really good. Also I recently read Beloved for the first time and holy poo poo 
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Jan 5, 2014 02:14
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HopperUK posted:This, it's a long book but it's really really good. Also I recently read Beloved for the first time and holy poo poo It sounds all "Insanity of Mary Girard" if that were more than a One-Act play. I shall look into it. But Beloved, not so much. Unless it somehow got better. I'm reading "Under The Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader" right now. I'm kind of fascinated by NK.
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Jan 5, 2014 02:21
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poopkitty posted:It sounds all "Insanity of Mary Girard" if that were more than a One-Act play. I shall look into it. But Beloved, not so much. Unless it somehow got better. I'm reading "Under The Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader" right now. I'm kind of fascinated by NK. Nothing to Envy is pretty good too, though apparently you and I are book opposites so maybe not 
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Jan 5, 2014 02:22
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The Crimson Petal and the White deals with some really grim, incredibly well-researched subject matter, and somehow manages to be hilarious while doing so. I think it helps if you've read a lot of Gothic literature and/or Dickens, but it's a peach of a book in it's own right as well.
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Jan 5, 2014 02:31
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HopperUK posted:Nothing to Envy is pretty good too, though apparently you and I are book opposites so maybe not I read that Monday. (And she references Fatherly Leader in it, hence.) We are not opposites. More recs, plz!
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Jan 5, 2014 02:34
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Portals posted:who else read the his dark materials trilogy as a kid and thought it was super amazing and then reread it as an adult and went "mehhhh" Well, I haven't reread it as an adult, but I'm guessing it would be disappointing now. But then I remember seeing the movie and wondering how anyone could make a giant polar bear battle that boring. Enfys fucked around with this message at 00:08 on Apr 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 02:40
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poopkitty posted:I read that Monday. (And she references Fatherly Leader in it, hence.) We are not opposites. More recs, plz! It's not about NK but rather China, but 'Wild Swans' by Jung Chang is really excellent. It's the story of her grandmother, who was concubine to a warlord as a young woman, her mother, who worked for Mao for a time, and herself.
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Jan 5, 2014 02:41
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HopperUK posted:It's not about NK but rather China, but 'Wild Swans' by Jung Chang is really excellent. It's the story of her grandmother, who was concubine to a warlord as a young woman, her mother, who worked for Mao for a time, and herself. Sounds good. I watched Every Seventh Person (documentary) last night, about Chinese farmers. Good stuff.
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Jan 5, 2014 02:51
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I work with some people who grew up during the Great Leap Forward and it is really interesting to hear them tell stories of having to relocate to farms in the middle of nowhere. One of them is sick of eggs now because they had to raise chickens and he would eat sneak and eat the eggs too much.
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Jan 5, 2014 03:00
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My friend got me Doomsday Book for Christmas but I haven't gotten to read it yet. Any good?
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Jan 5, 2014 04:16
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Fruity Gordo posted:if some idiot ripped my clothes i would loving shank them Did you name her after http://youtu.be/r0c55lXRAeg ? (Yes I skipped like 300 posts I'll get to y'all in a bit)
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Jan 5, 2014 04:17
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goode spidere
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Portals posted:who else read the his dark materials trilogy as a kid and thought it was super amazing and then reread it as an adult and went "mehhhh" i really liked the first one and the subtle knife, but i read half of amber spyglass and got confused and annoyed because it was about some random lady and dust and i was like "what is this" and gave up partway in. i haven't tried again as an adult though so i don't know if i'd like it any better or end up even less impressed.
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Jan 5, 2014 04:18
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genre fantasy is ok if it manages rise above its bad baseline or walliows in what it does well and ignores entirely what it does not
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Jan 5, 2014 04:31
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skeletons are the new man
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Jan 5, 2014 04:32
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LA times reporting on breaking important news: dogs align themselves with the magnetic field to poo http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-dogs-poop-compass-magnetic-field-earth-20140103,0,6764603.story#axzz2pUZ4TYUV
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Jan 5, 2014 04:44
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That is some hard hitting journalism right there. Wow.
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Jan 5, 2014 05:27
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GrrrlSweatshirt posted:My friend got me Doomsday Book for Christmas but I haven't gotten to read it yet. Any good?
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Jan 5, 2014 05:56
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i like nice words