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I already asked this in the recommendation station, but could someone point me at books similar to Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and More? I blazed through it today and was disappointed to hear he hasn't published more collections.
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Feb 2, 2014 01:24
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Nemesis Of Moles posted:I already asked this in the recommendation station, but could someone point me at books similar to Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and More? I blazed through it today and was disappointed to hear he hasn't published more collections. Well there's The Lifecycle of Software Objects.
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Feb 2, 2014 01:33
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Nemesis Of Moles posted:I already asked this in the recommendation station, but could someone point me at books similar to Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and More? I blazed through it today and was disappointed to hear he hasn't published more collections. Just check Wikipedia to see what he wrote since 2002. I'm pretty sure it's all available online, somewhere.
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Feb 2, 2014 01:49
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Xik posted:I haven't read Ivory, but I like Mike Resnick from reading his Starship series. It looks like it's settings is future Africa though instead of uh, space, so that pretty much squashes any interest I had. Future Africa is what the guy's famous for, so... Well, that and his role in the SFWA hubub last year. Not malicious sexism, I don't think, but some pretty nasty sexism.
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Feb 2, 2014 03:09
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neongrey posted:Future Africa is what the guy's famous for, so... Yeah, I know that's one of his major themes, but it's not one I'm personally interested in. neongrey posted:Well, that and his role in the SFWA hubub last year. Not malicious sexism, I don't think, but some pretty nasty sexism. I'm afraid to look this up because if I find out he is a sexist prick I'm afraid I won't be able to enjoy his books.
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Feb 2, 2014 03:27
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Xik posted:I'm afraid to look this up because if I find out he is a sexist prick I'm afraid I won't be able to enjoy his books. I looked it up so you don't have to, and basically he and another guy wrote a couple of pieces about female editors and writers they'd worked with; specifically, about how attractive they were and how some of them were knockouts and looked great in bathing suits. And then a bunch of readers said yo what's this got to do with writing this is awful and offensive. And then Resnick and the other guy were all like DON'T CENSOR ME!
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Feb 2, 2014 03:40
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Yeah, not malicious, but very very tiresome. A 'for gently caress's sake, grandpa' moment.
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Feb 2, 2014 04:28
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Can you guys recommend any books that feature wilderness survival? Think Jack London. I've read Hatchet, the aforementioned Jack London and a book called Into the Forest, which was bad.
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Feb 2, 2014 21:13
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I'm sad  The sequel to one of my most favouritest recent fantasy novels is terrible. Miles Cameron has really dropped the ball with The Fell Sword - anachronistic dialogue, too many unclear POV's and a confusing writing style littered with a lot of archaic words results in a very confusing read. Book really needs an appendix of characters/glossary of terms.
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Feb 3, 2014 00:03
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ravenkult posted:Can you guys recommend any books that feature wilderness survival? Think Jack London. This is not exactly what you ask for, but Verne's Mysterious Island is pretty much Minecraft: The Book. The Russian translation that I've read is awesome. I hear Verne isn't as respected among anglophone readers as he should be because of lovely abridged translations, but apparently there are some recent translations that are faithful to the source material so if you're interested, look for those. There are also lists like this but I've read none of these books.
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Feb 3, 2014 00:21
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Megazver posted:This is not exactly what you ask for, but Verne's Mysterious Island is pretty much Minecraft: The Book. The Russian translation that I've read is awesome. I hear Verne isn't as respected among anglophone readers as he should be because of lovely abridged translations, but apparently there are some recent translations that are faithful to the source material so if you're interested, look for those. Thanks for the list. I've read Vernes too now that I think about it.
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Feb 3, 2014 00:26
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WastedJoker posted:I'm sad Didn't it turn out that was the pen name of some historical writer, or historical fiction writer? I think he wrote the Tyrant series.
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Feb 3, 2014 00:32
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Megazver posted:This is not exactly what you ask for, but Verne's Mysterious Island is pretty much Minecraft: The Book. The Russian translation that I've read is awesome. I hear Verne isn't as respected among anglophone readers as he should be because of lovely abridged translations, but apparently there are some recent translations that are faithful to the source material so if you're interested, look for those. 
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Feb 3, 2014 00:35
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Forgall posted:That dynamite recipe is wrong! On purpose.  Don't be dissin' my man Jules. I will cut you, bitch.
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Feb 3, 2014 00:36
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ravenkult posted:Can you guys recommend any books that feature wilderness survival? Think Jack London. I just started reading Kim Stanley Robinson's Shaman and it seems like a major focus of it will be surviving off the land in prehistoric times.
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Feb 3, 2014 01:54
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Didn't it turn out that was the pen name of some historical writer, or historical fiction writer? No idea. I'm tempted to put together my own glossary/appendix of characters and link it to the goodreads page for the book.
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Feb 3, 2014 01:59
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ravenkult posted:Can you guys recommend any books that feature wilderness survival? Think Jack London. My Side of the Mountain was a young adult book, but I remember it as enjoyable
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Feb 3, 2014 03:02
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Fried Chicken posted:My Side of the Mountain was a young adult book, but I remember it as enjoyable I'll second that rec. When I re-read it as an adult, I liked it just as well as I had when I was a kid.
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Feb 3, 2014 03:08
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ravenkult posted:Can you guys recommend any books that feature wilderness survival? Think Jack London. I would recommend "Where the Red Fern Grows." It's got some wilderness survival stuff, iirc.
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Feb 3, 2014 07:16
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Didn't it turn out that was the pen name of some historical writer, or historical fiction writer? Yes, he's actually Christian Cameron. ravenkult posted:Can you guys recommend any books that feature wilderness survival? Think Jack London. It's not wholly about wilderness survival, but Sten Nadolny's Discovery of Slowness has an impressive account. Non-Fiction: Krakauer's Into the Wild is also very interesting. Although in the sense of "what the gently caress not do do". In a similar vein is Laurence Gonzales' Deep Survival, only with a somewhat more happy ending for some. Decius fucked around with this message at 08:24 on Feb 3, 2014 |
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Feb 3, 2014 08:20
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EdBlackadder posted:Now I've my exam out the way (hopefully for good) I've bit more time to read. I picked up what turns out to be the second Corum anthology Corum: The Prince with the Silver Hand and I am thoroughly enjoying it as I have all of the odds and ends of Moorcock I've read over the years. Yeah, the Corum books rule. Anthologies are good, but then you miss out on the amazingly rad covers. Look at this poo poo:  The Runestaff series is also pretty great, if you haven't checked it out yet.
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Feb 3, 2014 08:22
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I was bored and bought Ready Player One because someone reccomended it, but I am constantly rolling my eyes at the constant references that seem like self fellatio. Does it ever stop? Because I enjoy it otherwise. But if I have to hear about one more thing being compared to a video game i'm going to go nuts.
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Feb 3, 2014 16:39
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Has anyone ever read the Moreau trilogy by S. Andrew Swann? I read a summary on Wikipedia and it seemed pretty interesting, but I can't find any reviews that are Amazon reviews and I don't trust those. Should I bother with the series or just turn the other way ?
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Feb 3, 2014 17:02
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Abu Dave posted:I was bored and bought Ready Player One because someone reccomended it, but I am constantly rolling my eyes at the constant references that seem like self fellatio. Does it ever stop? Because I enjoy it otherwise. But if I have to hear about one more thing being compared to a video game i'm going to go nuts. No. It's really really bad. Just embrace it and imagine it as a lovely awesome retro B-Movie in your head.
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Feb 3, 2014 18:21
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Echo Cian posted:Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard and its sequel made me laugh a lot. Juxtaposes the humor with the serious moments perfectly. That said, it was an enjoyable read, and stands nicely on its own, but definitely didn't inspire me to pick up the next book in the series.
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Feb 3, 2014 18:53
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Abu Dave posted:I was bored and bought Ready Player One because someone reccomended it, but I am constantly rolling my eyes at the constant references that seem like self fellatio. Does it ever stop? Because I enjoy it otherwise. But if I have to hear about one more thing being compared to a video game i'm going to go nuts. I think the references actually increase. There is a super drawn-out and convoluted sub-plot about playing a perfect game of Pac-Man or some poo poo that starts listing off poo poo the author found on Wikipedia about Pac-Man.
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Feb 3, 2014 19:06
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Azathoth posted:After reading the first draft, Jonathan L. Howard's editor should have taken away Howard's thesaurus until such time as he could prove that he could use it responsibly. It had a definite "look at this big word I know!" feel and distracted from the narrative flow when I had to look up what puscillanimous or lugubrious meant to understand what he was trying to describe, and this comes from a guy who loves Gene Wolfe, so I'm not afraid or annoyed by obscure vocabulary, just how it was implemented there. Well, I found it less problematic on the Kindle, as the dictionary is only one click away, but yeah, it was a bit annoying in the otherwise great series. But on the other hand using big words to describe normal stuff fits Johannes Cabal's character, so I found it quite fitting, even with the third person perspective.
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Feb 3, 2014 19:09
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systran posted:I think the references actually increase. There is a super drawn-out and convoluted sub-plot about playing a perfect game of Pac-Man or some poo poo that starts listing off poo poo the author found on Wikipedia about Pac-Man. Will probably stop reading then, I cannot stand that poo poo. It just reads like some fat nerds wank fantasy.
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Feb 3, 2014 19:30
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Azathoth posted:After reading the first draft, Jonathan L. Howard's editor should have taken away Howard's thesaurus until such time as he could prove that he could use it responsibly. It had a definite "look at this big word I know!" feel and distracted from the narrative flow when I had to look up what puscillanimous or lugubrious meant to understand what he was trying to describe, and this comes from a guy who loves Gene Wolfe, so I'm not afraid or annoyed by obscure vocabulary, just how it was implemented there. Yeah, this was about how I felt. The first book was decent read but would have benefited from a better editor. The second and third really, really need that editor. They start having structural problems and the narratives wander all over the place, especially in Detective. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Feb 3, 2014 |
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Feb 3, 2014 19:38
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Cacotopic Stain posted:Has anyone ever read the Moreau trilogy by S. Andrew Swann? I read a summary on Wikipedia and it seemed pretty interesting, but I can't find any reviews that are Amazon reviews and I don't trust those. Should I bother with the series or just turn the other way ? I liked them all. It's pretty insane cyberpunk dystopia noir. The one turnoff is the occasional dip toward furry-land, to be expected in light of the moreau conceit. Present less in books 2 and 3 than 1, from what I remember.
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Feb 3, 2014 20:05
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Abu Dave posted:Will probably stop reading then, I cannot stand that poo poo. It just reads like some fat nerds wank fantasy. I remember it constantly getting great reviews and reading good things about it all over the internet and then it's just awful bullshit through and through. If you want a weird fun book with old videogame references pick up Lucky Wander Boy. It's not really sci-fi but it's much much better than RP1. And as google just taught me, the authors won awards for his work on Game of Thrones.
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Feb 3, 2014 20:15
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Jesus christ, Ready Player One was solid poo poo all the way through. It has great reviews everywhere by people who apparently think getting gently stroked by an author murmuring "there there, the 80's were cool. you like the 80's. you're still cool" constitutes a good read. The "puzzles" just involve someone going through the motions of whatever 80's cultural touchstone the author thought of while high-fiving their friends and saying how cool it is. There's a point where a puzzle requires the player to act out the entirety of War Games as the main character and he can't stop thinking about what a superior form of entertainment this is. The same thing happens over and over again throughout the book because apparently interactivity is overrated and parroting back trivia is the highest form of intelligent puzzle solving  Also let's not forget the Japanese characters who literally go around going "You have much honor, arigato gozaimasu!" while kowtowing. I will check out Lucky Wander Boy though!
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Feb 3, 2014 20:44
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What's the closest you can get to David Edding's Belgariad without actually being David Eddings? I know it's shallow and about the most generic fantasy you can get, but somehow I feel like I need to read something in that general mindset right now - wholesome, a large cast of characters who like and care each other, nothing really bad happens to anyone on screen and in the end the Bad Guys are defeated and everybody is happy forever. I've been having kind of a bad week, I needs me some brain fluff.
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Feb 3, 2014 20:53
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Cardiovorax posted:What's the closest you can get to David Edding's Belgariad without actually being David Eddings? I know it's shallow and about the most generic fantasy you can get, but somehow I feel like I need to read something in that general mindset right now - wholesome, a large cast of characters who like and care each other, nothing really bad happens to anyone on screen and in the end the Bad Guys are defeated and everybody is happy forever. I've been having kind of a bad week, I needs me some brain fluff. Wheel of Time?
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Feb 3, 2014 21:01
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I don't really want any video game references, I just liked the idea of OASIS because its kinda like the pleasure machine in Do Androids Dream. No idea how RPO won any awards
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Feb 3, 2014 21:16
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Wheel of Time?
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Feb 3, 2014 21:30
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Cardiovorax posted:Something not mind-numbingly awful, I mean. Magic Kingdom For Sale: SOLD by Terry Brooks?
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Feb 3, 2014 21:54
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Cardiovorax posted:What's the closest you can get to David Edding's Belgariad without actually being David Eddings? I know it's shallow and about the most generic fantasy you can get, but somehow I feel like I need to read something in that general mindset right now - wholesome, a large cast of characters who like and care each other, nothing really bad happens to anyone on screen and in the end the Bad Guys are defeated and everybody is happy forever. I've been having kind of a bad week, I needs me some brain fluff. Well, there's the sequel, The Mallorean. There's also the Polgara the Sorceress standalone. The standalone Belgarath the Sorcerer is pretty awesome as well. Both run parallel to both series. There's the Elenium and Tamuli as well. The Misenchated Sword was pretty cool, and it's by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Most of his series is good, only one book kinda went apeshit and only one book really sucked. The first one was pretty good though. Heroics for Beginners was decent, but The Unhandsome Prince and Bad Prince Charlie weren't that great.
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Feb 3, 2014 22:14
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Abu Dave posted:Will probably stop reading then, I cannot stand that poo poo. It just reads like some fat nerds wank fantasy. Don't forget the author-insert has aspergers as well, I rolled my eyes at that. The sad part is that a friend who rarely reads loaned it to me and enjoyed it, so I read it super-fast just so I could talk to him about it and encourage him to read more, otherwise I would've just put it down.
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Feb 3, 2014 22:39
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Cardiovorax posted:What's the closest you can get to David Edding's Belgariad without actually being David Eddings? I know it's shallow and about the most generic fantasy you can get, but somehow I feel like I need to read something in that general mindset right now - wholesome, a large cast of characters who like and care each other, nothing really bad happens to anyone on screen and in the end the Bad Guys are defeated and everybody is happy forever. I've been having kind of a bad week, I needs me some brain fluff. The setting/characters/plot are eerily similar to the Belgariad, but if you enjoyed one, you're sure to like the other.
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Feb 3, 2014 22:47
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