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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Which have you read? His best work is Sandman, i.e., a ten-volume graphic novel. It really is genuinely amazing but you have to read the whole thing and at $20 per volume that gets expensive. After that the two things of his I like best are Neverwhere and Stardust, one of which was originally a BBC miniseries script and the other a comic book that made more sense as an illustrated novel. Some people really like American Gods but I found it really derivative. I've read his entire bibliography including the Sandman stuff. It could be that I've been spoilt by China Mieville.
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Apr 18, 2014 05:20
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Another direction you could go would be to read some of the stuff like H. Rider Haggard's She or King Solomon's Mines or the other pulp-horror stuff that Goon and Hellboy are drawing on. If you don't mind wading through lots of the mock-high heroic dialog - with it's thee's and the thou's and melodramatic phrasing - that the native and ancient characters speak in She and King Solomon's Mines then Nada The Lily is another Haggard book worth checking out. It’s a fun spear and sorcery story built around the rise and fall of the Zulu leader Shaka. It's unique amongst the "high-adventure in the dark heart of Africa!" tales that Haggard popularized in that narrator and almost all of the characters are natives. There’s also some weird stuff going on with the romantic plot-line which involves an almost interracial and almost incestuous coupling. It’s dated. It’s absolutely a sensationalised and simplified look at culture and the historical events that it’s about. And like a lot of Haggard – or at least the one’s I’ve read, which isn’t a lot, I’ll admit – it can be a bit of a chore between set-pieces. It is however pacier and more action heavy than most of his other stuff - and certainly moreso than She and Solomon - so if your thinking of reading a Haggard this is a good one to go with. High Warlord Zog fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Apr 18, 2014 |
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Apr 18, 2014 06:41
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The Tom Piccirilli Hellboy novel isn't an adaptation, but an original story. I don't think Mignola was involved, but it's really good. You've read the BPRD comics I presume?
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Apr 18, 2014 11:47
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Shameless posted:I'm about halfway through it and you're not wrong. Really enjoying it so far. The narrator has a great voice for the story, it's really quite funny in places. It's the best fantasy book (let alone fantasy debut) that I've read in a while. And good news, apparently he's nearly finished with the sequel and is prepping to send it in for copy editing. Seriously, read Traitor's Blade you English bastards!
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Apr 19, 2014 02:36
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BEST NOVEL (1595 ballots) Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Orbit US / Orbit UK) Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross (Ace / Orbit UK) Parasite by Mira Grant (Orbit US / Orbit UK) Warbound, Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia (Baen Books) The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books) I look at this and know how every one of these novels got on this list.
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Apr 19, 2014 23:05
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Megazver posted:
Money?
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Apr 19, 2014 23:19
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So Vox Day/Theodore Beale got nominated for a Hugo. Twitter about it is blowing up, accusations of having bought the nom somehow? I don't know, but I am looking forward to reaction blogs. Though Charles Stross drunk tweeting/ranting is pretty funny Full nominee list here http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/04/19/the-2014-hugo-nominees/ I'm rooting for Neptune's Brood, genuinely interesting basis for what is the scifi part, scifi economics/banking instead of regular stories set in space instead of Detroit. Also apparently Ayn Rand's Anthem is up for a "retro-Hugo". Bleh. Even setting aside it is Rand, Atlas Shrugged is more scifi with its magic energy machines and gulch cloaking device
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Apr 19, 2014 23:21
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ravenkult posted:Money? Merely okay, but hit several hot fandom trends. Big blogger. Big blogger. Big blogger. Sanderson fans and Jordan fans joined forces, last chance to give WoT an award.
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Apr 19, 2014 23:34
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Megazver posted:Merely okay, but hit several hot fandom trends. Mira Grant is a big blogger? I thought it was more Parasite was a very new, biology focused take on the old saw, like what Blindsight was for first contact. Or am I thinking of a different Parasite?
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Apr 19, 2014 23:39
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Fried Chicken posted:Mira Grant is a big blogger? I thought it was more Parasite was a very new, biology focused take on the old saw, like what Blindsight was for first contact. Or am I thinking of a different Parasite? I dunno. Blogger? Twitterer? Podcaster? Giver-away of puppies at the conventions? I recall her posting got top billing in the whole dumb Jonathan Ross scandal, wherever it was that she made it. I admit, I haven't read Parasite but the other books of hers that I've read didn't exactly scream "good enough to be nominated for Best Novel every single loving year".
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Apr 19, 2014 23:51
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Only one I finished reading was Warbound, but at least it was a pretty decent book. If it wins I'll be just as happy as I am now with it. If it loses, I will care just as much as I do now about it. To be honest though, I don't really follow em, just generally feel good for the people that got nominated I guess. edited to make me sound less hipsterish Stupid_Sexy_Flander fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Apr 20, 2014 |
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Apr 20, 2014 00:15
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"The Butcher of Khardov", a miniature-game based novella got seriously nominated? Is it actually good or just got trolled in by people?
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Apr 20, 2014 00:38
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adhuin posted:"The Butcher of Khardov", a miniature-game based novella got seriously nominated? They actually have okay writers doing their fiction, like Warhammer and the reviews on Amazon seem good. Maybe it's good?
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Apr 20, 2014 01:41
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Only one I finished reading was Warbound, but at least it was a pretty decent book. If it wins I'll be just as happy as I am now with it. If it loses, I will care just as much as I do now about it.
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Apr 20, 2014 01:59
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Yea, the MHI series is basically gun porn with some weird monster poo poo thrown in. The Grimnoir Chronicles is more of a alternate universe depression era x-men more than anything else. There's a bit of gun porn in there, but it's because John Browning is a character and he builds guns (he's some kinda technomutant whatchacallit). It's sort of... it's damned hard to describe. WW1/WW2 meets xmen meets depression era US with some McCarthyism thrown in around the corners. I dug it, and it was interesting enough to keep me reading 3 books worth.
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Apr 20, 2014 02:12
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The Hugo voter base is small enough that they can be strongly influenced by organized campaigns to push a particular slate of books and authors. It's pretty easy to see that effect this year! Reminder that Vox Day - nominated for an award, thanks to a vote drive organized by Larry Correia - said all the following about NK Jemisin's call for increased tolerance in science fiction and fantasy (Jemisin is a black woman): quote:Jemisin's disregard for the truth is no different than the average Chicago gangbanger's disregard for the traditional Western code of civilized conduct. She could, if she wished, claim that privileged white males are responsible for the decline of Detroit, for the declining sales of science fiction, even for the economic and cultural decline of the United States, but that would not make it true. It would not even make it credible. Anyone who is paying sufficient attention will understand who is genuinely responsible for these problems. So I'm torn on whether it's worth ignoring the Hugos. On the one hand, it's clearly bullshit that this guy could make it onto the ballot. On the other hand, ignoring the Hugos makes it easier for people like him to get onto the ballot. I think the awards are a battleground worth fighting for.
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Apr 20, 2014 02:36
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Only one I finished reading was Warbound, but at least it was a pretty decent book. If it wins I'll be just as happy as I am now with it. If it loses, I will care just as much as I do now about it. Correia is one of "those loving dudes": http://monsterhunternation.com/2014/03/24/tax-day-customer-service/ http://monsterhunternation.com/2011/04/15/happy-tax-day/
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Apr 20, 2014 03:17
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The only really good thing I can say about him is that he really doesn't poo poo up his books with politics. Even in the MHI books, secret government agencies are evil and it's not because of republic/democrat, it's because they are evil. I don't care about an author's politics as long as they leave that poo poo out of the story I'm reading. The only exceptions are when they are completely bigoted asshats, like Card.
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Apr 20, 2014 03:44
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:The only exceptions are when they are completely bigoted asshats, like Card. I'd argue that anyone that organizes a vote drive for Vox Day falls squarely into that category.
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Apr 20, 2014 04:17
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Ornamented Death posted:I'd argue that anyone that organizes a vote drive for Vox Day falls squarely into that category. Seriously. He can't pretend he doesn't know what Vox Day stands for given quotes like the above.
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Apr 20, 2014 04:48
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It's also worth noting that VD campaigned for president of SFWA on the promise that he would expel all women from the organization (and he got 10% of the vote).Fried Chicken posted:So Vox Day/Theodore Beale got nominated for a Hugo. Twitter about it is blowing up, accusations of having bought the nom somehow? Voting membership for the Hugo costs $40. He is said to have purchased several people memberships who agreed to vote for him.
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Apr 20, 2014 04:49
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So seeing all that SFWA nonsense over the past year or so, I just gotta ask: Are there any notable authors in that organization? What determines notable is hard to nail down but I guess I mean like, more than just having a dedicated fan following online. I've looked in the past but couldn't find any.
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Apr 20, 2014 05:07
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Srice posted:So seeing all that SFWA nonsense over the past year or so, I just gotta ask: Are there any notable authors in that organization? George R. R. Martin and Timothy Zahn don't count? There's tons of notable authors in the SFWA. Hell, George R. R. Martin used to be the vice president.
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Apr 20, 2014 05:10
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GENDERWEIRD GREEDO posted:George R. R. Martin and Timothy Zahn don't count? There's tons of notable authors in the SFWA. Hell, George R. R. Martin used to be the vice president. Ah, didn't even realize GRRM was in it. In my defense as of the last time I looked at their site it was a pain to actually find that info outside of a huge general list.
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Apr 20, 2014 05:13
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Been more or less afk for a while and I've just updated the OP; let me know if I missed anything.Srice posted:So seeing all that SFWA nonsense over the past year or so, I just gotta ask: Are there any notable authors in that organization? No, there are no notable authors in the main American sf/f professional organisation, certainly not any who can be found by googling "SFWA members". anathenema posted:Voting membership for the Hugo costs $40. He is said to have purchased several people memberships who agreed to vote for him. Hahahahaha well at least someone's making money from writing.
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Apr 20, 2014 06:14
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Fried Chicken posted:Also apparently Ayn Rand's Anthem is up for a "retro-Hugo". Bleh. Even setting aside it is Rand, Atlas Shrugged is more scifi with its magic energy machines and gulch cloaking device Atlas Shrugged is unmitigated poo poo though. Anthem, if still pretty crappy, is short and fairly inoffensive. It also, if read as a sequel to Atlas, makes that book the slightest teensiest bit better which is, I think, an achievement worth recognizing. Anthem tell us that the civilization that emerges from Galt's Apocalypse isn't the Objectivist utopia that Shrugged seems to imply; instead, it's a dystopian hell from Rand's worst nightmares. Galt and those like him are soon wiped out by the surviving "looters" and those who have become disenfranchised with their philosophy, who quite rightly blame them for engineering their current misery. The civilization that the heroes of Atlas Shrugged end up creating is the antithesis of everything they believe in. Basically, someone needs to write the bridging story between the two books. It'll be Bioshock meets Mad Max.
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Apr 20, 2014 06:15
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General Battuta posted:The Hugo voter base is small enough that they can be strongly influenced by organized campaigns to push a particular slate of books and authors. It's pretty easy to see that effect this year!
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Apr 20, 2014 09:29
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Vox Day being the rallying point for the SFWA reactionaries is serendipitous in a way, since it means we can be happily free of ambiguity about how utterly poo poo they are. Most people are wise enough to choose symbols that are photogenic or at least able to sound reasonable. The SFWA rebels have chosen an open white supremacist. The social justice warriors have taken over our organisation, let's push Theodore 'half-savage' Beale as a counterattack! That'll show them how dumb they are!
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Apr 20, 2014 11:11
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I kinda wanna know what that story Vox got nominated for is like. I mean, guy's a literal fascist - I'm kind of imagining an unironic Iron Dream or something similarly, transcendently awful.
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Apr 20, 2014 11:54
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Cardiovorax posted:Jesus. If you can still tolerate anything by that guy after reading this, you need a punching in the face. He stops like this short of outright calling He actually doesn't stop short! "Vox Day posted:Further evidence in support of my time-to-civilization hypothesis. At this point, the debate competitions may as well bring in gorillas from the zoo and distribute the "debate" awards on the basis of which primate was able to throw the most fecal matter. That "alternative-style" of debate is no less dialectically legitimate than hip-hop, spoken-word poetry, and appeals to “nigga authenticity”. Piell fucked around with this message at 12:35 on Apr 20, 2014 |
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Apr 20, 2014 12:31
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Fried Chicken posted:Mira Grant is a big blogger? I thought it was more Parasite was a very new, biology focused take on the old saw, like what Blindsight was for first contact. Or am I thinking of a different Parasite? Her previous series started well with Feed but went downhill. I found Parasite to be a mess, the last third in particular was all over the place and just bland. You see the shocking plot twist coming for about half the book and yet it's still presented as a huge deal. Her rants and attempts to get out the pitchfork and torches brigade over Jonathan Ross's announcement as the Hugos MC was pretty shoddy as well, especially as her argument was that she, as a noted filker, would be a better choice. But yes she's heavily active on twitter, blogging sites etc. Megazver posted:Merely okay, but hit several hot fandom trends. That's a pretty good summary of the short list.
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Apr 20, 2014 12:40
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Speaking of Butcher of Khardov: http://www.donotlink.com/framed?26209 http://www.donotlink.com/framed?26210
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Apr 20, 2014 13:08
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Piell posted:He actually doesn't stop short!
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Apr 20, 2014 15:14
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PST posted:...as a noted filker...
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Apr 20, 2014 16:10
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Piell posted:He actually doesn't stop short! I woke up and read this post and now I'm starting my day angry. Like holy poo poo that is bad. So why haven't the Hugos drifted away into irrelevance yet? I get the feeling the Hugos can probably be divided into a pre-social media era, which may have good recommendations and things to watch for, and post-social media era, which is complete poo poo since it's apparently far easier to manipulate popular voting. And rally racists, apparently.
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Apr 20, 2014 16:25
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GrandpaPants posted:I woke up and read this post and now I'm starting my day angry. Like holy poo poo that is bad. Somehow, I suspect that it's more the case that the pre-social-media era had the same amount of horrible poo poo (or more), but it's harder to dig up. Just look at how much of the recent terribleness has been focused around the SFWA old guard getting pissed that those drat gays, brown people, and women are coming in and playing with their toys.
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Apr 20, 2014 16:52
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In defence of the SFF community, the bigots are acting out so much because they're losing badly. They have failed to take or maintain control of the SFWA or its organs, and their managing to get Vox Day nominated to one of the minor Hugo categories is eclipsed by the continued dominance of progressive writers and writing in the awards as a whole themselves. The Hugos have (big) problems but I wouldn't say an excess of racist organising is one of them. edit: Cardiovorax posted:Hahaha, wow. That's amazing. In barely two full paragraphs he calls black people monkeys, equates gay marriage with marrying an animal, insinuates that interracial marriages are pretty much exactly the same thing and complains about hip hop. That's like a hat trick of bigotry. Small wonder the scifi fandom is considered a bad joke when it supports people like that. As an example, Beale was actually ejected from the SFWA in the fallout from that screed. The continuing low-level drama from that is probably behind this attempt to game him a Hugo.
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Apr 20, 2014 17:07
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Darth Walrus posted:Somehow, I suspect that it's more the case that the pre-social-media era had the same amount of horrible poo poo (or more), but it's harder to dig up. Just look at how much of the recent terribleness has been focused around the SFWA old guard getting pissed that those drat gays, brown people, and women are coming in and playing with their toys.
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Apr 20, 2014 17:09
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Cardiovorax posted:Hahaha, wow. That's amazing. In barely two full paragraphs he calls black people monkeys, equates gay marriage with marrying an animal, insinuates that interracial marriages are pretty much exactly the same thing and complains about hip hop. That's like a hat trick of bigotry. Small wonder the scifi fandom is considered a bad joke when it supports people like that. The scifi fandom also fights people like that. Don't give them too much power. Beale was ejected from SFWA for his bigoted views. GrandpaPants posted:I woke up and read this post and now I'm starting my day angry. Like holy poo poo that is bad. Again, the Hugos are not entirely, or even mostly, a cesspit of paleolithic prejudice. They're a battleground. When you imply that the Hugos used to be better you're overlooking the fact that SF/F fandom was always full of awful people. What's happening now is that they're being called out and driven onto the defense. Throwing up our hands and saying that the Hugos are irrelevant now is the wrong response. There's a lot of amazing work on the ballot this year.
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Apr 20, 2014 17:28
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General Battuta posted:The scifi fandom also fights people like that. Don't give them too much power. Beale was ejected from SFWA for his bigoted views.
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Apr 20, 2014 17:35
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