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Damo posted:Sorry to shift from literary Sci-Fi like Gene Wolfe talk to about as bread and butter stuff as you can get, but I'm finally gonna get around to reading the Asimov Robot novels (I've read all his Robot short stories, just not the novels). Personally I would read all of them and frankly don't get the 'post 1960' qualifier as I haven't read much by Asimov that I don't like. Could you expand on why you don't think you would like his later stuff?
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Apr 23, 2014 02:00
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Hedrigall posted:Has anyone posted the blurb for Echopraxia by Peter Watts (sequel to Blindsight) yet? It sounds insanely awesome  even with regurgitated vampires!
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Apr 23, 2014 02:45
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Definitely sounds like it'll be more interesting if there's normal humans coexisting along with the vampires and an opportunity to learn about different aliens. Consciousness being completely untenable seemed too... simple I guess?
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Apr 23, 2014 02:48
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Hedrigall posted:Has anyone posted the blurb for Echopraxia by Peter Watts (sequel to Blindsight) yet? It sounds insanely awesome: It is a "sidequel". This is happening while Theseus is in transit
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Apr 23, 2014 04:13
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Damo posted:Just wondering if I should read the first two and skip Robots of Dawn. If you like the first two, read the third, is my advice.
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Apr 23, 2014 04:17
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Damo posted:Sorry to shift from literary Sci-Fi like Gene Wolfe talk to about as bread and butter stuff as you can get, but I'm finally gonna get around to reading the Asimov Robot novels (I've read all his Robot short stories, just not the novels). You can if you want to but its not a bad read at all. I would totally say read it.
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Apr 23, 2014 04:20
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Fried Chicken posted:It is a "sidequel". This is happening while Theseus is in transit So do we have confirmation that the alien entities are related to Big Ben and not a different intelligence altogether?
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Apr 23, 2014 18:07
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mdemone posted:So do we have confirmation that the alien entities are related to Big Ben and not a different intelligence altogether? There's no reason they'd have to have anything to do with Big Ben.
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Apr 24, 2014 02:31
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Blindsight implies a pretty competitive ecosystem out there in the dark. I wouldn't be hugely surprised to find out that Rorschach and some other visitors were squabbling for the same niche. Rorschach itself certainly felt quite weaponized; maybe it was getting ready to make a play against somebody else.
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Apr 24, 2014 05:35
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This upcoming anthology is packed with a lot of my favorite authors, and (by nature) it'll be a killer reference for those 'but who should I read!' discussions:quote:“Girl Hours” by Sofia Samatar I think Sriduangkaew is going to take Best New Author this year.
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Apr 24, 2014 07:13
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General Battuta posted:This upcoming anthology is packed with a lot of my favorite authors, and (by nature) it'll be a killer reference for those 'but who should I read!' discussions: After the pretty drat good anthology Aliens: Recent Encounters also edited by MacFarlane, I'll probably be getting this one too! (I have a review of said anthology on my blog)
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Apr 24, 2014 08:31
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General Battuta posted:This upcoming anthology is packed with a lot of my favorite authors, and (by nature) it'll be a killer reference for those 'but who should I read!' discussions: Natalia Theodoridou is a friend of mine, she's wicked good.
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Apr 24, 2014 08:35
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I try to read everything that has a new Kress story in it. I don't like her novels, but I find her shorts to be nearly perfect.
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Apr 24, 2014 17:02
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Hey y'all, a thought just struck me about Petter Watt's Blindsight, which I read like two years ago: that alien ship was basically a giant, floating crown of thorns, wasn't it?
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Apr 25, 2014 00:27
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General Battuta posted:Blindsight implies a pretty competitive ecosystem out there in the dark. I wouldn't be hugely surprised to find out that Rorschach and some other visitors were squabbling for the same niche. Rorschach itself certainly felt quite weaponized; maybe it was getting ready to make a play against somebody else. Oooo I like that much better 
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Apr 25, 2014 01:21
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Beyond sane knolls posted:Hey y'all, a thought just struck me about Petter Watt's Blindsight, which I read like two years ago: that alien ship was basically a giant, floating crown of thorns, wasn't it? Even the book itself agrees with you!  quote:Imagine a crown of thorns, twisted, dark and unreflective, grown too thickly ...
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Apr 25, 2014 01:32
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General Battuta posted:Even the book itself agrees with you! Oh gently caress me. And coincidentally, I posted without even reading this page, so I had no idea the book was being discussed a few posts above me, and now I look like I total weirdo for writing out "Peter Watts' Blindsight". I'll be going now... Carly Gay Dead Son fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Apr 25, 2014 |
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Apr 25, 2014 01:52
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No don't go, I didn't mean to make fun of you 
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Apr 25, 2014 02:02
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GENDERWEIRD GREEDO posted:Definitely sounds like it'll be more interesting if there's normal humans coexisting along with the vampires and an opportunity to learn about different aliens. Consciousness being completely untenable seemed too... simple I guess? It's way weirder than that. There is some kind of religious order near the sun and Watts has found some kind of justifiable conception of God (he's definitely an atheist). Watts is the kind of guy who churns through science news compulsively, and this is a rewrite (he spent years writing the original, submitted to his publisher; said publisher vanished off the face of the Earth and he took the opportunity to improve things). I would be extremely surprised if he rehashes the same ideas. Vampires are obviously going to be a big part of it, but parts he has released suggest there is much more than that.
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Apr 25, 2014 14:18
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Beyond sane knolls posted:Oh gently caress me. No, any disciple of the squidnapper is welcome here, and the more evangelical the better. Watts owns and more people need to read his books.
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Apr 25, 2014 14:36
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He's also a pretty charismatic speaker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP636p5mWwc Some of the science he presents in this stuff is iffy (not that bad, he does have academic training) and he repeats himself a bit, but overall he is clearly just so in love with cool ideas it's really fun to listen to.
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Apr 25, 2014 14:49
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Neurosis posted:It's way weirder than that. There is some kind of religious order near the sun and Watts has found some kind of justifiable conception of God (he's definitely an atheist). Watts is the kind of guy who churns through science news compulsively, and this is a rewrite (he spent years writing the original, submitted to his publisher; said publisher vanished off the face of the Earth and he took the opportunity to improve things). I would be extremely surprised if he rehashes the same ideas. Vampires are obviously going to be a big part of it, but parts he has released suggest there is much more than that. That's good. The vampires, while not uninteresting, aren't nearly the best part of Blindsight.
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Apr 25, 2014 17:09
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I just had a thought about the ending of Blindsight: Siri doesn't say that conscious thought was being eliminated on Earth, only that the radio broadcasts he intercepted made it seem that way. Initiating radio silence (except for essential and heavily audited transmissions) would be a good first step toward survival, given that the Rorschach aliens considered our endless chatter to be an information attack.
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Apr 25, 2014 18:59
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Not a bad idea, but how do you account for the spike in vampire hunting traffic and the distress calls sent by refugee ships breaking radio silence as they're discovered and come under attack?
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Apr 25, 2014 20:55
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General Battuta posted:Not a bad idea, but how do you account for the spike in vampire hunting traffic and the distress calls sent by refugee ships breaking radio silence as they're discovered and come under attack? I always found it very odd that vampires had their own language. They are modified humans, enhanced with a very old package of genes. That weren't pulled from the past with time travel. They should have no distinct culture or language anything. To the extent there ever was a vampire culture and language it died out 10,000 years ago with them. They would be using the mainline culture stuff, at most you would get something akin to gay subculture where they are an offshoot of the main rather than an assimilated distinct group (and even that is iffy given how we are told vampires get along as well as any group of serial killers do - it rapidly descends into violence).
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Apr 25, 2014 21:30
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Fried Chicken posted:I always found it very odd that vampires had their own language. They are modified humans, enhanced with a very old package of genes. That weren't pulled from the past with time travel. They should have no distinct culture or language anything. To the extent there ever was a vampire culture and language it died out 10,000 years ago with them. They would be using the mainline culture stuff, at most you would get something akin to gay subculture where they are an offshoot of the main rather than an assimilated distinct group (and even that is iffy given how we are told vampires get along as well as any group of serial killers do - it rapidly descends into violence). I thought Vampires spoke in some African language, like a Bantu dialect or something, because it resembled their original mode of communication closer than anything else currently spoken.
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Apr 25, 2014 21:41
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General Battuta posted:Not a bad idea, but how do you account for the spike in vampire hunting traffic and the distress calls sent by refugee ships breaking radio silence as they're discovered and come under attack? On rereading the ending again for the first time in a couple of years, I guess it doesn't fit all that well, but to beanplate it a little further the authorities in the book - human, vampire and AI - weren't exactly cuddly to begin with, and I can't imagine that transitioning to a total war footing against the entire universe would be a peaceful, democratic process with lollipops and continued human rights for everyone.
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Apr 25, 2014 21:48
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Fried Chicken posted:I always found it very odd that vampires had their own language. They are modified humans, enhanced with a very old package of genes. That weren't pulled from the past with time travel. They should have no distinct culture or language anything. To the extent there ever was a vampire culture and language it died out 10,000 years ago with them. They would be using the mainline culture stuff, at most you would get something akin to gay subculture where they are an offshoot of the main rather than an assimilated distinct group (and even that is iffy given how we are told vampires get along as well as any group of serial killers do - it rapidly descends into violence). If I were waving sci-fi hands about it, I'd suggest that their vampire clickiness allows them to move more information faster. It is a pretty standard sci-fi trope. 'battle languages' and codes and so on. Any ghettoized group is going to generate their own slang and it will evolve into a language, both to enforce group membership, and also to gently caress with the five-oh. Yiddish being the most notable example, but African American Vernacular English is the same idea. Internet shorthands being another example. LOL, GMTA, OMFG, etc.
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Apr 25, 2014 21:55
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Beyond sane knolls posted:I thought Vampires spoke in some African language, like a Bantu dialect or something, because it resembled their original mode of communication closer than anything else currently spoken. In his end notes he says that is what he wanted to evoke, but it isn't in the novel itself, and how would anyone in the novel know what an un-recorded 10000 year dead language sounded like? Slo-Tek posted:If I were waving sci-fi hands about it, I'd suggest that their vampire clickiness allows them to move more information faster. It is a pretty standard sci-fi trope. 'battle languages' and codes and so on. quote:Any ghettoized group is going to generate their own slang and it will evolve into a language, both to enforce group membership, and also to gently caress with the five-oh. Yiddish being the most notable example, but African American Vernacular English is the same idea. Internet shorthands being another example. LOL, GMTA, OMFG, etc. Like the best I can think of is a take on your "gently caress with the 5-O" version. Mandibular structure is slightly different according to the end notes, so maybe they find it easier to make the clicks the way some people find it easier to crack their knuckles. In both cases it takes off as occupation actions (stuff you do as idiosyncratic embodied cognition while your focus is elsewhere) and then they realized it really hosed with the baselines and do it to bug them (again like cracking your knuckles)
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Apr 25, 2014 22:07
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Fried Chicken posted:In his end notes he says that is what he wanted to evoke, but it isn't in the novel itself, and how would anyone in the novel know what an un-recorded 10000 year dead language sounded like? Well if it's not in the novel then I'm probably wrong, but what I meant to imply was vampires speaking in a currently-living African language, or something based off of one, not a dead one. Bantu is like one of the oldest language groups on Earth, and currently uses some of the first sounds humans made to communicate. It would make sense for vampires to adopt one of them as their own, seeing as they're relatively untouched by the thousands of years of human bullshit, if that makes sense.
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Apr 26, 2014 01:42
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Beyond sane knolls posted:Well if it's not in the novel then I'm probably wrong, but what I meant to imply was vampires speaking in a currently-living African language, or something based off of one, not a dead one. Bantu is like one of the oldest language groups on Earth, and currently uses some of the first sounds humans made to communicate. It would make sense for vampires to adopt one of them as their own, seeing as they're relatively untouched by the thousands of years of human bullshit, if that makes sense.
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Apr 26, 2014 09:51
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Cardiovorax posted:It doesn't, really. It'd be an affectation. Humans today are basically indistinguishable from humans ten thousand years ago, biologically speaking. There's no biological reason why they should find it easier to speak one language above any other, especially a particular one that's not even the oldest language we have records of. I took their use of a click language to be a way to keep most people from knowing what they are talking about without that being suspicious, with the "it's closest to what our progenitors spoke" being a convenient cover.
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Apr 26, 2014 16:58
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Cardiovorax posted:It doesn't, really. It'd be an affectation. Humans today are basically indistinguishable from humans ten thousand years ago, biologically speaking. There's no biological reason why they should find it easier to speak one language above any other, especially a particular one that's not even the oldest language we have records of.
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Apr 26, 2014 20:47
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I just finished The Revolutions and really enjoyed it. I don't think it was as good as The Half-Made World or The Rise of Ransom City, but those are two of my favorite novels so saying that isn't a criticism at all. After reading three books by Felix Gilman I think it's clear that his biggest strength is his ability to take a ridiculous concept and handle it so well that you can't believe you thought it was ridiculous in the first place; I had held off on reading The Half-Made World for a long time because sentient guns vs. sentient trains sounded really stupid, and once I finished I couldn't believe I hadn't read it earlier. I really liked the magic in this novel, particularly because even though it's used to fight no one's throwing around fireballs and lightning. There's one really memorable scene about half-way through the book where one of the protagonist's allies, an old witch named Mrs. Archer, goes to war with Lord Podmore, antagonist and newspaper baron, in the middle of the Savoy dining room. But instead of magic missiles, Podmore causes some of the diners to start making fun of Mrs. Archer for her ragged appearance, while Archer causes a mass outbreak of glossolalia, and so on. I also started reading Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem. It's a very solid, if very weird, detective story set in Oakland where it's seemingly illegal to ask questions unless you're a licensed Inquisitor, and scientists have developed a way to "evolve" animals so that they're almost human. The Main character is Conrad Metcalf, a private inquisitor who's hired to clear the name of the main suspect in the murder of his previous client, a wealthy doctor who had hired Metcalf to tail his wife to see if she was cheating on him. If you're into sci-fi detective novels I highly recommend it.
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Apr 26, 2014 22:08
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regularizer posted:I just finished The Revolutions and really enjoyed it. I don't think it was as good as The Half-Made World or The Rise of Ransom City, but those are two of my favorite novels so saying that isn't a criticism at all. After reading three books by Felix Gilman I think it's clear that his biggest strength is his ability to take a ridiculous concept and handle it so well that you can't believe you thought it was ridiculous in the first place; I had held off on reading The Half-Made World for a long time because sentient guns vs. sentient trains sounded really stupid, and once I finished I couldn't believe I hadn't read it earlier. I really liked the magic in this novel, particularly because even though it's used to fight no one's throwing around fireballs and lightning. There's one really memorable scene about half-way through the book where one of the protagonist's allies, an old witch named Mrs. Archer, goes to war with Lord Podmore, antagonist and newspaper baron, in the middle of the Savoy dining room. But instead of magic missiles, Podmore causes some of the diners to start making fun of Mrs. Archer for her ragged appearance, while Archer causes a mass outbreak of glossolalia, and so on. I forgot about The Revolutions; thanks for reminding me! I also initially thought the whole sentient guns vs trains thing was dumb as hell but I absolutely loved Half Made World. Are there any other weird fiction books that sort of face off chaotic evil against orderly evil like that (if that description makes any sense)? It brings back good memories of Perdido Street Station 
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Apr 27, 2014 01:54
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I wasn't too sure whether to ask for recommendations in here, or in the big rec' thread, but I wanted to ask specifically about the fantasy genre. I've recently finished ASOIAF (bandwagooooon!) and basically given up on LOTR. (I'm not even past Tom Bombadil yet.  )To help out, I should say that I enjoy the characters and the political side of ASOIAF and the medieval setting. I guess I just really like swords and armour. I used to like JRPGs a lot, but never really dungeons and dragons. That weird generic fantasy - where it's really clichéd and has dragons and dwarves (the kind that aren't like Tyrion Lannister) has never done it for me. I don't so much enjoy the supernatural fantasy aspect to either ASOIAF or LOTR. That's not me being one of those death-of-imagination people who thinks everything has to be super realistic and not at all fantastical - my issue is more with the complete lack of rules. I don't understand the internal logic any magic in those worlds. And that makes it less a story that can have tension and sympathy and more a story where any random crap can happen sometimes, because the author said so. The other thing that irks me in what little fantasy I have read - is excessive worldbuilding. LOTR hits you with a constant stream of references to people, places and things that might as well be randomly mashed letters for how little they mean to me. (This XKCD graph has a pretty perfect example of what I mean: https://xkcd.com/483/) I want a story and characters to hook me and draw me in, not just a bunch of gobbledegook and fictional history. I think a good plot shows you the world and makes you want to learn more, like how I want to know what's up with Skagos in ASOIAF. But had I been told about it at the start, before I had a handle on the geography of Westeros, I wouldn't have given a drat. GRRM's writing can also be a little heavy on the history sometimes, but it's not too hard to get past and it's nice that it's there for the die-hards and for re-reads. But the focus of that series is still on the actions of its characters and that's the part I like about it. Anyway, I basically wanted to consult the goon hivemind on the following popular recommendations (I know a bunch of these have megathreads, but I wanted a general opinion on them from fans and non-fans alike): Malazan Book of the Fallen series (seems super popular but also guilty of a lot of stuff I hate) The Name of the Wind - Kingkiller Chronicles The Wheel of Time (do even the fans actually still like this series? I've heard a lot of mixed things) Mistborn (I hear there's a good sense of logic to the magic in this series, which appeals to me) The Lies of Locke Lamora The Black Company series - I hear is really good for military/war realism and realistic soldiers in a fantasy setting - and that sounds right up my alley. But jesus that's a lot of books and there's a lot of talk of "prophecy" and other things that put me off. Additionally: I've ordered a copy of The Gunslinger (Dark Tower series) purely because the opening line is awesome. And I have an interest in Discworld, but I couldn't get into, nor through The Colour of Magic when I tried as a teenager. I hear the books concerning the city watch might be a better start, and that Sam Vaimes is a really good character. Should I start with Guards! Guards!? And based on my absurd criteria, does anyone have any other recommendations? Also: are there any high quality fantasy books that aren't a million words long and part of a fifty book series?
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Apr 27, 2014 12:16
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VagueRant posted:Malazan Book of the Fallen series (seems super popular but also guilty of a lot of stuff I hate) VagueRant posted:The Wheel of Time (do even the fans actually still like this series? I've heard a lot of mixed things) VagueRant posted:Mistborn (I hear there's a good sense of logic to the magic in this series, which appeals to me) VagueRant posted:The Black Company series - I hear is really good for military/war realism and realistic soldiers in a fantasy setting - and that sounds right up my alley. But jesus that's a lot of books and there's a lot of talk of "prophecy" and other things that put me off. VagueRant posted:Additionally: I've ordered a copy of The Gunslinger (Dark Tower series) purely because the opening line is awesome. VagueRant posted:And I have an interest in Discworld, but I couldn't get into, nor through The Colour of Magic when I tried as a teenager. I hear the books concerning the city watch might be a better start, and that Sam Vaimes is a really good character. Should I start with Guards! Guards!?
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Apr 27, 2014 12:33
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VagueRant posted:I wasn't too sure whether to ask for recommendations in here, or in the big rec' thread, but I wanted to ask specifically about the fantasy genre. I've recently finished ASOIAF (bandwagooooon!) and basically given up on LOTR. (I'm not even past Tom Bombadil yet. Honestly I'm not sure any of the books you're listing will be what you're looking for. For example: I'm a fan, but the Wheel of Time has the plot of maybe six really great books, spread out over 12 book's worth of worldbuilding; the Dark Tower series has one immensely good book (the first one) and the rest get progressively worse until it's unreadable. I'd suggest starting out with something smaller and shorter and more focused, maybe The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay (Fantasy Reconquista-Era Spain) or Neil Gaiman's Stardust (modernized Fairy Tale in the style of Lord Dunsany). Also, it both does and doesn't fit your criteria, but everyone loves Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart. If you want stuff that's a little lighter, maybe The Misenchanted Sword by Lawrence Watt-Evans, maybe Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin. For Terry Pratchett I tell everyone to start with Guards, Guards, yeah. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 13:25 on Apr 27, 2014 |
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Apr 27, 2014 13:22
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Man, I really loved Gunslinger, but just didn't want to go any further because I've heard such bad things about the series, accusing it of being utter poo poo to just barely mediocre. Don't really like wasting time on a series, which are time consuming to read, if the payoff isn't looking good and I just might off trudging through just to finish what I started. Did the same with Ender's Game. Too bad Gunslinger ended on such a cliffhanger. At least Ender's Game had a nice, clean break.
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Apr 27, 2014 13:29
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VagueRant posted:Anyway, I basically wanted to consult the goon hivemind on the following popular recommendations (I know a bunch of these have megathreads, but I wanted a general opinion on them from fans and non-fans alike): Based off of what you said, the only series I'd recommend here would be The Lies of Locke Lamora. The first book is fantastic and is a very character-focused heist story that is set in a pretty toned down fantasy world. It is definitely not low fantasy, but there's no dragons or elves running around. Malazan Book of the Fallen, on the other hand, is pretty much comprised of everything you said you dislike. Crazy names tossed around as if you already know them, magic, ancient races, gods, dragons, etc. Personally, it's my favorite fantasy series overall, but I'm a huge sucker for world building. It has its fair share of flaws and I recognize the series isn't for everyone.
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Apr 27, 2014 13:41
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