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coyo7e posted:Yeah that is literally the "Han shot first" gun. [Nerd mode]nope, that was a blastech dl-44. Or a modified WW2 German Mauser for non-geeks. [/Nerd mode]
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Nov 4, 2014 10:21
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| # ? May 14, 2024 21:05 |
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WW1 Mauser  It's been around since 1896 and had been used in pretty much every world war (big and little) at that point. Even Churchill carried one when he was getting his smite on in ww1. Fun fact - That's a tank scope on the side on Han's gun, and you won't be able to see poo poo with it if you use the correct make/model. It's literally there to look pretty. (I will own one eventually, and dammit I will blast the poo poo out of things like paper targets and bounty hunters and evil people in plastic armor, oh yes....)
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Nov 4, 2014 13:55
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The newest Generation V book, Tainted Blood, was published today. Urban fantasy, vampire MC, surprisingly good.
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Nov 4, 2014 19:55
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Does the pace of the Mars trilogy pick up as things go on? I'm 150 pages into the first book and the descriptions of the Martian landscape are so... loving... Boring... I know things do happen, but if events are interspersed with chapters as interminable and boring as this it's not really worth the effort.
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Nov 4, 2014 21:49
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I'd say just drop it. It gets more into the society and politics later on but the pace doesn't change all that much. E.g. most of the first third of Green Mars is just John Boone doing a grand retour of the planet.
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Nov 4, 2014 21:59
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Neurosis posted:Does the pace of the Mars trilogy pick up as things go on? I'm 150 pages into the first book and the descriptions of the Martian landscape are so... loving... Boring... I know things do happen, but if events are interspersed with chapters as interminable and boring as this it's not really worth the effort. That's kinda the way KSR writes so if you're not enjoying it now then you won't later on.
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Nov 4, 2014 22:09
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That makes me glad I stopped reading it. I, too, started the first book, but was quickly bored out of my mind and moved on.
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Nov 4, 2014 22:40
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Ah, drat. It's a pity, I like the setup for the conflict... Corporations and nation states divvying up a new planet with the conflicts that entails, a nascent colony, interpersonal conflicts in the seed colonist group, arrogant physical scientists thinking now's the time to put their pet political theories into practice... But, drat, the pacing and obsession with landscape reminds me of reading The Lord of the Rings, in the worst way possible.
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Nov 4, 2014 22:46
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Neurosis posted:Ah, drat. It's a pity, I like the setup for the conflict... Corporations and nation states divvying up a new planet with the conflicts that entails, a nascent colony, interpersonal conflicts in the seed colonist group, arrogant physical scientists thinking now's the time to put their pet political theories into practice... But, drat, the pacing and obsession with landscape reminds me of reading The Lord of the Rings, in the worst way possible. There are some big Fireworks, I'm not sure in which book, and a global conflict that includes massive genocide. But the pace is really dull. I left it at the THIRD book, and haven't tried to restart and finish it yet.
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Nov 4, 2014 22:49
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I've just finished Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. It was ok, but I don't really see what all the fuss was about. The main character still thinking in her language while speaking another, and so mixing up pronouns, was pretty cute. I'll probably read the sequel, after I finally get through The Lies of Locke Lamora .
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Nov 4, 2014 23:00
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Dzhay posted:I've just finished Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. It was ok, but I don't really see what all the fuss was about. The main character still thinking in her language while speaking another, and so mixing up pronouns, was pretty cute. I'll probably read the sequel, after I finally get through The Lies of Locke Lamora . I liked the sequel (Ancillary Sword) much better. Justice was world-build, world-build, hahahah pronouns... Sword is paced much better, has a little bit more limited scope- just felt more focused and better honed to me.
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Nov 4, 2014 23:04
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thetechnoloser posted:I liked the sequel (Ancillary Sword) much better. Justice was world-build, world-build, hahahah pronouns... Sword is paced much better, has a little bit more limited scope- just felt more focused and better honed to me. Glad to hear she's improving her craft, it still wasn't bad for a first novel. I just didn't think it deserved a Hugo.
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Nov 4, 2014 23:29
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Kesper North posted:Glad to hear she's improving her craft, it still wasn't bad for a first novel. I just didn't think it deserved a Hugo. It was some middle of the road science fiction, which is fine I guess. Maybe it was actually fairly good and I don't read enough bad sci-fi? Perhaps I should try those things with army men on the front that seem so popular.
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Nov 4, 2014 23:34
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My God, I cannot even comprehend finding the Mars trilogy boring. You people are missing out.
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Nov 5, 2014 01:47
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Pokeylope posted:I found a copy of Steven Erikson's newest book 'Willful Child' that made it's way onto shelves early. It starts as a straight up satire of classic Trek and blossoms into something more than that. The pace is blistering and the setting is wonderfully absurd. If you're at all into Star Trek or Futurama, or you're just in the mood for a light-hearted space romp, I couldn't recommend it enough. I picked this up based on this recommendation, and while I'm only a couple of chapters in, I'm finding that the main character's lines are best read in the voice of Zapp Brannigan. That said I'm not sure I'll be able to stand reading a novel-length Zapp Brannigan sketch, but I'm holding out hope for the "something more".
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Nov 5, 2014 02:54
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Eh, it's not as Zappish as Rothfuss can be. But yea, it does take a bit to get through.
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Nov 5, 2014 03:31
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thehomemaster posted:My God, I cannot even comprehend finding the Mars trilogy boring. You people are missing out. Seriously, what must it be like going through life with such flawed taste?
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Nov 5, 2014 04:14
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Eh, it's not as Zappish as Rothfuss can be. I'm now a third of the way through, and it's started being pretty hilarious. It's like Futurama decided Star Trek was boring in bed and decided to have a threesome with the Culture.
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Nov 5, 2014 05:04
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Neurosis posted:Ah, drat. It's a pity, I like the setup for the conflict... Corporations and nation states divvying up a new planet with the conflicts that entails, a nascent colony, interpersonal conflicts in the seed colonist group, arrogant physical scientists thinking now's the time to put their pet political theories into practice... But, drat, the pacing and obsession with landscape reminds me of reading The Lord of the Rings, in the worst way possible. It's ok, just watch Total Recall and call it good. "GET YOUR rear end TO MARS!" 
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Nov 5, 2014 05:34
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thehomemaster posted:My God, I cannot even comprehend finding the Mars trilogy boring. You people are missing out. Yeah, but he asked if he should keep going, and if he's getting bored 150 pages in of Red, he should bail out.
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Nov 5, 2014 07:03
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Kesper North posted:I'm now a third of the way through, and it's started being pretty hilarious. It's like Futurama decided Star Trek was boring in bed and decided to have a threesome with the Culture. There's some stuff in there that I'm pretty sure is a direct nod to the culture, but it's hard to say. Banks is a huge part of my overall sci-fi exposure, so it could be more broad than I imagine. Glad to hear you're liking it though.
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Nov 5, 2014 07:43
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withak posted:Seriously, what must it be like going through life with such flawed taste? Sorry I can't appreciate the deep genius of 50 pages of discussing driving over a red desert where nothing loving happens. Although this does leave me with no near-future sci-fi currently on my to read list, unfortunately.
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Nov 5, 2014 09:29
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Antti posted:Yeah, but he asked if he should keep going, and if he's getting bored 150 pages in of Red, he should bail out. That's a damned shame. Mars itself is a character in the books, and the landscape scenes are its characterization. I loved it, but then again, the mountaineering sequences in the trilogy (and the book of short stories) are some of my favorite bits. If you need near-future SF, try some Alan Steele. Coyote is an amazing tribute to American storytelling all the way back to Mark Twain; and his early novels about smoking pot in space are good stuff.
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Nov 5, 2014 11:06
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I bounced off the Mars trilogy on the first attempt, but managed to get really into it for the second. I think that was because I was initially confused as to whether it was a novel about colonisation or a murder mystery, and the early info dumps were a bit denser than I'd expected. The second attempt came after I'd read a bunch of Guy Gavriel Kay (Tigana, Lions of Al'Rassan, All Under Heaven) and one of Kim Stanley Robinson's other books (Years of Rice and Salt) which probably helped. One of the things I liked most about it was that there weren't really any 'bad' characters - selfish ones, ones driven by money or influence, yes. Outright evil? No. The closest you get is multinational corporations being portrayed as self-destructively greedy nigh-automatons (with the Scientist Caste needing to step up and take populist control being a core theme). Much like the better half of GGK's works, KSR manages to make every character competent and complex, yet at the same time is critical of them from other character's points of view (with more success and gusto than GGK). This is especially true with the early Frank, John and Maya dynamic. Several times in the series it blew my mind exactly how much research Kim Stanley Robinson must have had to do for the series. Even if it's not all 100% accurate or in-depth, getting a basic understanding of geography (... areophany? the Ares-derivative words took me way too long to figure out), geology, hydrology, chemistry, construction methodologies and applying it to an entire other planet with known features is amazing. Yes, there's a lot of simplification and hand-waving, especially with regards to orders of magnitude, but without that it'd be impossible to explore the concepts to books manage to. The third book overstayed its welcome a little, and the ending was... appropriate, but overall it was a very good read with some educational value. I'd say that if you don’t like it now, you should try it again in a couple of years time to see if your tastes have changed.
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Nov 5, 2014 13:37
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The Martian was pretty good, and it's near future scifi. Dunno if you have read it yet or not. Andy weir? I think is the author.
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Nov 5, 2014 17:30
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Has Confessions of a D-List Supervillain been mentioned or read by anyone else already here? Its one of the few books I've read lately that I just couldn't put down. If you're looking for some light action/comedy by way of plucky anti hero/villain getting his poo poo together and kicking some rear end this'll be right up your alley. Best read while you have some of Biz Markie's finest looping in the back round. At least for the 1st chapter or 2.
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Nov 5, 2014 17:54
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Pokeylope posted:There's some stuff in there that I'm pretty sure is a direct nod to the culture, but it's hard to say. Banks is a huge part of my overall sci-fi exposure, so it could be more broad than I imagine. Glad to hear you're liking it though. Heh, he frequently refers to teleportation as "displacing", which I've never heard anywhere other than in the Culture books. I would say that the Banks influence is strong.
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Nov 5, 2014 18:33
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PC LOAD LETTER posted:Has Confessions of a D-List Supervillain been mentioned or read by anyone else already here? Its one of the few books I've read lately that I just couldn't put down. If you're looking for some light action/comedy by way of plucky anti hero/villain getting his poo poo together and kicking some rear end this'll be right up your alley. Yup! Also, he's got a prequel called Origins of a D List Supervillain out as well. It's pretty good. His Skinwalker series is decent as well, but it's only 2 books 
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Nov 5, 2014 18:35
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Hannu Rajaniemi talks about his current project. The rest of the interview is mostly about Finnish SF/F (and also involves a Finnish fantasy writer I haven't heard of), still pretty interesting:quote:At the moment I am working on a new novel which is a big departure for my previous science fiction novels. I can describe the genre as Ectopunk, ecto as in ectoplasm and punk as in steampunk. It is an alternative history based around the idea that the stranger notions of spiritist and mediums are real and lead to this alternative world view in science so technology develops around that; of course there are also are some quite fundamental social changes. In this book are going to be some elements related to Finland as well. I am having a lot of fun with that. It is very exciting to write something very different from the Quantum Thief novels. Rest here: http://amazingstoriesmag.com/2014/10/finnish-science-fiction-two-perspectives-two-authors/
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Nov 5, 2014 20:17
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Normally I'd be rolling my eyes real hard right now but Hannu bought a lot of good will with TQT series, so I'm pretty excited for more.
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Nov 5, 2014 23:09
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I didn't really get gripped by Rajaniemi's work so far, but BlavatskyPunk sounds funny enough conceptually to be worth a read just on that merit.
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Nov 5, 2014 23:14
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Oh wait, I assume everyone knows how to read Red Mars? Might be part of the problem. You have to skip the first chapter, read to the end of Falling Into History, then go back to the first chapter, then move on to Guns Under the Table (I think that's the order). And yes Mars is the most important character of the book so if you're getting bored I really don't think we would ever get along. All of KSR's characters in this are superb (Maya, Sax and Nadia being my favourites).
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Nov 6, 2014 00:49
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Confessions of a D-List Supervillain is getting recced here? Ferretbrain gave it a pretty devastating review way back when. Long story short, Bernheimer is a horrible nerd and the story is a toxic, poorly-formatted blend of adolescent power fantasies and creepy woman issues.
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Nov 6, 2014 01:22
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I'm down with adolescent power fantasies - they're half of what makes the genre fun to read in the first place. Substantially more than half of the genre probably wouldn't have been written without them. I just wish they didn't come coupled with hosed-up sexual hangups so often. It just can't be that amazingly hard to come up with a good "beat the baddie, look cool doing it" story without descending into "rar, sluts and whores."
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Nov 6, 2014 01:36
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Cardiovorax posted:I'm down with adolescent power fantasies - they're half of what makes the genre fun to read in the first place. Substantially more than half of the genre probably wouldn't have been written without them. I'd prefer they not be adolescent in writing as well as concept, though. And the weird gender issues are much more likely in adolescent works because teenagers are horny as hell and tend to have very strange views about the opposite sex.
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Nov 6, 2014 01:50
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Well, you know, metaphorically adolescent. A mature worldview doesn't really lend itself to the kind of overbearing grandiosity you need for a decent power fantasy. The realism and awareness of your own limitations get in the way.
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Nov 6, 2014 01:53
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Cardiovorax posted:Well, you know, metaphorically adolescent. A mature worldview doesn't really lend itself to the kind of overbearing grandiosity you need for a decent power fantasy. The realism and awareness of your own limitations get in the way. Yeah, the problem is that I was being rather less metaphorical when describing this story. Power fantasies can indeed be fun, even if they do have a nasty habit of feeding into the genre's reputation for delivering fascism with a smile.
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Nov 6, 2014 01:56
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Darth Walrus posted:Yeah, the problem is that I was being rather less metaphorical when describing this story.
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Nov 6, 2014 02:02
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Cardiovorax posted:Well, you know, metaphorically adolescent. A mature worldview doesn't really lend itself to the kind of overbearing grandiosity you need for a decent power fantasy. The realism and awareness of your own limitations get in the way. this is one of the reasons dune messiah gets such poo poo but is (IMO) super important
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Nov 6, 2014 02:14
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Anybody have a link to a good explanation of Echopraxia? I feel like I understood all the concepts and character motivations individually, but I am having trouble figuring out how it all came together at the end.
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Nov 6, 2014 03:20
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