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Ornamented Death posted:He helped spearhead a failed campaign to get Theodore Beale/Vox Day a Hugo earlier this year, so you may remember his name from that. Hahahah this is the best news.
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Dec 31, 2014 03:20
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Captain Mog posted:The latter, meanwhile, was like reading the 80s and I'd highly suggest anyone who either remembers that decade or wishes they could remember it to give RPO a try. This is literally the worst dumbest book ever.
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Dec 31, 2014 04:45
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Stuporstar posted:Ha ha, someone should tell this guy what moral panics achieve: 3.5-ish lgbt children spend life tormented by guilt over feeling that their parents loudly condemn and watch people they might identify with openly vilified, potentially struggle with a life of self-loathing and confusion, lmao suck it religionists bring on the moral panix.
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Dec 31, 2014 05:15
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andrew smash posted:3.5-ish lgbt children spend life tormented by guilt over feeling that their parents loudly condemn and watch people they might identify with openly vilified, potentially struggle with a life of self-loathing and confusion, lmao suck it religionists bring on the moral panix. I'm perfectly aware of this, because my last post was biographical, but yeah, thanks for telling me coping with those years of self-loathing and confusion by adopting a snarky exterior when confronted with bigoted assholes who spew hate and call for my destruction totally makes me so lmao edgy and wrong. E. To be fair, you didn't have that context, and I did come across as pretty Dawkins there. Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 06:49 on Dec 31, 2014 |
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Dec 31, 2014 05:50
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On the subject of sci fi and fantasy books (?). I finished up the second Dagger & Coin book which was just as great as the first one. I read Theft of Swords, from the Riyria series next, which was a fun read. The writing itself didn't impress me and I found the world building uninspired but the characters are great and there a tinge of humor throughout. Now I'm reading Sabriel, from the Abhorsen series. I don't typically read these type of books so it's been refreshing and unique. Plus I'm a sucker for necromancy. A young woman raised in the "normal world" travels to the old kingdom to search for her necromancer father while learning and improving her own powers. Also her talking cat is actually a bound, powerful magic creature thousands of years old.
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Dec 31, 2014 06:01
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John C. Wright literally hears voices and decided they were messages from God rather than an indicator he should seek psychiatric help. He bags about this on his blog, that God whispers to him, telling him to do things. The man is legitimately mentally ill, and deserves more pity than scorn. That said, people freaking out a possibly implied bisexual relationship in the end of season 4 but yawning at an explicit fratricidal murder-suicide of the antagonists and attempted suicide of the heroine at the end of season 1 is America's hangups on sex vs ease with violence in a nutshell.
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Dec 31, 2014 06:44
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I really liked Awake in the Night Lands by John C Wright. I also enjoyed The Golden Age, I kind of wish I liked less embarrassing authors.
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Dec 31, 2014 08:08
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Sibling of TB posted:I really liked Awake in the Night Lands by John C Wright. I also enjoyed The Golden Age, I kind of wish I liked less embarrassing authors. I feel your pain. His Count to a Trillion series and City Beyond Time are really good, too. Don't touch Orphans of Chaos.
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Dec 31, 2014 08:17
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johnsonrod posted:This last year was quite the mix for me in terms of reading and enjoying sci fi. It started out great and then I hit a slump in the summer and just could not find anything I liked. After a couple month break from sci I just recently read and enjoyed Raft by Stephen Baxter. My only real complaint was that I felt it was too short. Some parts of the story felt rushed but overall for his first novel I was very impressed. I'm about a quarter way into Timelike Infinity and have a feeling I'm going to really enjoy the whole Xeelee sequence series. What are other people's thoughts on it? What I've read has been pretty good, maybe not the hardest of sci-fi, but still good. My favorite book so far in the Xeelee sequence is Vacuum Diagrams as it's a collection of short stories that follow humanity from the very beginning of space travel (with the discovery of a wormhole/timehole) to the heat death of the universe. It has a lot of cool ideas and strikes a good balance between "everything goes great for humanity" and "Hello, I'm Peter Watts and DOOM DOOM DOOM JUST END YOUR LIFE NOW". I'm planning to read some of his more "focused" novels that have been sitting on my bookshelf after knocking out some more of the Expanse series and the first Jhereg book. BadOptics fucked around with this message at 11:35 on Dec 31, 2014 |
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Dec 31, 2014 11:30
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Nevvy Z posted:This is literally the worst dumbest book ever. Anyone who says Ready Player One is a terrible book should be required to sign the post with their name and year of birth. Then if it's after 1978 we know why. RPO is a book about how the richest man in the world loved something and wanted everyone else to love it too. "Something" happened to be the 1980s, but it could have been anything. If it had been anime, for instance, half the people hating that book would instead be masturbating screaming Ernest Cline's name while I wouldn't touch it with a twenty foot pole. OK, that's mildly hyperbolic - it might only have been a ten foot pole - but hopefully you get the point. Like all love letters it's going to divide people based on how they feel about the subject, and there is no sense banging the drum over and over.
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Dec 31, 2014 11:55
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Copernic posted:John C. Wright wrote an entire trilogy to indulge his underage schoolgirl spanking fetish. So you're saying I need to read the Chaos trilogy after all? How is it other than the spanking thing?
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Dec 31, 2014 12:19
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Jedit posted:Anyone who says Ready Player One is a terrible book should be required to sign the post with their name and year of birth. Then if it's after 1978 we know why. No I like most of the things he referenced. Its just a poorly written heap of references. The love letter is a good analogy. It's the love letter the most stereotypical awkward fedora clad highschooler writes to his crush who he has never actually spoken to. It even has the people just pretending to love her but never truly understanding her. Also I just finished Name and oh god Kvothe is a Nice Guy.
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Dec 31, 2014 15:00
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If anyone remembers Child of Fire, the first third of the author's kickstarted epic fantasy arrived last month and it's rather good. Next two novels are out in January and February. It also seems to be selling decently too, which is nice.
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Dec 31, 2014 15:06
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Jedit posted:Anyone who says Ready Player One is a terrible book should be required to sign the post with their name and year of birth. Then if it's after 1978 we know why. So you only like it because you were born before 1979, a sterling defence of the book.
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Dec 31, 2014 16:09
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House Louse posted:So you only like it because you were born before 1979, a sterling defence of the book. Look, I was shocked to hear it too but I've been crunching the numbers all morning and the math checks out. I was born in exactly 1979 and I thought it was garbage to the point that I gave up and deleted it off my kindle about 30% of the way in. The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves something something something.
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Dec 31, 2014 16:22
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Jedit posted:Anyone who says Ready Player One is a terrible book should be required to sign the post with their name and year of birth. Then if it's after 1978 we know why. Every time I see this book described I think "I'm not going to read this thing", and I remember every year of the 1980s.
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Dec 31, 2014 16:25
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Does anybody in this thread have any recommendations for any contemporary authors that write the sort of Sword and Sorcery done by Fritz Leiber or Karl Edward Wagner?
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Dec 31, 2014 16:25
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Borneo Jimmy posted:Does anybody in this thread have any recommendations for any contemporary authors that write the sort of Sword and Sorcery done by Fritz Leiber or Karl Edward Wagner? The most similar current author I can think of is James Enge. I discovered him through one of his short stories that was in the Swords and Dark Magic anthology, which was dedicated to featuring stories in the style you're looking for. Definitely recommend Enge, you should check out that anthology too. edit: also, another one I just thought of is Tim Lebbon's Dusk and Dawn. They reminded me of that style and he also had a story from the same setting in that Swords & Dark Magic anthology if you'd wanna check out his writing beforehand. savinhill fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Dec 31, 2014 |
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Dec 31, 2014 16:54
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Borneo Jimmy posted:Does anybody in this thread have any recommendations for any contemporary authors that write the sort of Sword and Sorcery done by Fritz Leiber or Karl Edward Wagner? (E: Oops, you said contemporary... still, these are all good books:) Hugh Cook! Probably start with either book 1 or 4 (because it's in print). Clark Ashton Smith and Jack Vance and C. L. Moore and Robert E. Howard (mind the racism) and 60s Moorcock and the first Viriconium book and maybe The Worm Ouroboros, tons of good poo poo. Search sword & sorcery on the SF Encyclopaedia. Bizob posted:Look, I was shocked to hear it too but I've been crunching the numbers all morning and the math checks out. I was born in exactly 1979 and I thought it was garbage to the point that I gave up and deleted it off my kindle about 30% of the way in. The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves something something something. Your father compounded with your mother under the dragon's tail; and your nativity was under Ursa major; so that it follows, you thought Ready Player One was garbage. I'm the Book Barn IK. Feel free to PM me or email bookbarnsecretsanta@gmail.com if I can help you with anything.
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Dec 31, 2014 17:00
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Anime owns, and Anime Player One would be really bad.
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Dec 31, 2014 17:20
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Megazver posted:So you're saying I need to read the Chaos trilogy after all? I thought it was pretty good!
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Dec 31, 2014 17:25
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Peel posted:Anime owns, and Anime Player One would be really bad. It already exists, it's called Sword Art Online, and yes, it is bad.
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Dec 31, 2014 17:25
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I'm reeeeal close to the end of Last Argument of Kings (First Law trilogy) - in the aftermath section - and goddamn, Bayaz is a pretty great character. I mean, immensely dislikeable, but downright fascinating. Weird how regardless of all the characters and battles and self-reflection, the whole series' main arc comes down to "wizards play the game of thrones by proxy". Also that this book is probably the only fantasy novel where someone calls a wizard a "magical arsehole" (and deservedly so). That sort of thing would have massively improved Lord of the Rings. Oh and I can't believe no POV characters died in the big battle. Although things aren't looking good for West right now.  EDIT: additional shoutout to you three back in April for a solid recommendation. John Charity Spring posted:I'm also going to toss out a recommendation for Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy, which absolutely fits your criteria of not having lots of extraneous characters and being a good story. It does have some supernatural stuff in it (and it's not really subject to rules) but it's not a dominant element, I wouldn't say. Fried Chicken posted:You should really read the First Law series by Joe Abercrombie. It is really really really good. You can see where he draws upon Lord of the Rings from, but he takes those bits and makes them way better Phoon posted:Your immediate list should have First Law on it for sure. Maybe even before Lies. VagueRant fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Dec 31, 2014 |
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Dec 31, 2014 22:26
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I'm generally not that sold on fantasy but the First Law trilogy is where it's at. Any story that makes me go  at the end deserves all due respect.
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Dec 31, 2014 23:06
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VagueRant posted:I'm reeeeal close to the end of Last Argument of Kings (First Law trilogy) - in the aftermath section - and goddamn, Bayaz is a pretty great character. I mean, immensely dislikeable, but downright fascinating. If you want a real treat, once you have finished the series go back and reread Bayaz's introduction and focus in the descriptions and word choice. A lot of people don't catch what is happening in that scene or don't make the connection with what is later revealed, and when its pointed out go and keep in mind, that was his first book.Joey Abs is really drat good at his job.
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Jan 1, 2015 07:46
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There's a lot of stuff I want to re-look at after the reveals. I don't know if this is what you're referencing (I'm sure there's more to it) but I saw someone else, either on SA or in some internet comments, that when you meet Bayaz, he is mistaken for a butcher, and by the end of the series you realise that's exactly what he is.
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Jan 1, 2015 08:36
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savinhill posted:I'm reading The Girl With All The Gifts by MR Carey and I'm about halfway through, it's really good. It would have to have the worst second half followed by the most unclimactic ending for me not to recommend it. It's a zombie apocalypse type setting, but it's done in an original, unique way, with a lot of focus on the characters, their interactions, and evoking those feels. I liked that book but thought it was kind of weird that the author obfuscated his name like that. "MR Carey" is British author Mike Carey.
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Jan 1, 2015 14:01
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Probably branding, really, or a wish to separate works. See Iain Banks and Iain M. Banks.
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Jan 1, 2015 14:04
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Or there's another published Mike/Michael Carey. Although I associate that name style with female authors, since female SF authors - especially in the past - resorted to it because their gender would impact sales negatively.
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Jan 1, 2015 14:29
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Antti posted:Or there's another published Mike/Michael Carey. Yeah, same here. I even thought it was a female author until I looked online to read about em. Also, this discussion reminds me I read a good book by VK Scwab this year called Vicious(I think) edit: It was actually Vicious by V. E. Schwab. It's about two genius scientist/students who are researching & experimenting with near-death experiences that cause their sufferers to develop superpowers, as well as various degrees and forms of insanity. savinhill fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Jan 2, 2015 |
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Jan 1, 2015 19:59
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VagueRant posted:There's a lot of stuff I want to re-look at after the reveals. That's exactly it
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Jan 1, 2015 23:13
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So I got American Gods and one other Gaiman book for Christmas and I'm having mixed feelings about American gods so far. I'm about 2/3 of the way through Wednesday has just been invited to parlez with the other side and Shadow is about to have dinner with the
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Jan 2, 2015 05:05
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Kalenn Istarion posted:So I got American Gods and one other Gaiman book for Christmas and I'm having mixed feelings about American gods so far. I'm about 2/3 of the way through Wednesday has just been invited to parlez with the other side and Shadow is about to have dinner with the I can't speak for his other books, but my reaction to AG was "meh" for basically the exact same reasons you listed. And while it does pick up a bit at the end I found the whole conclusion of the story really underwhelming. Cpt. Mahatma Gandhi fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Jan 2, 2015 |
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Jan 2, 2015 16:08
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A lot of people don't like American Gods, myself included -- I think it's on the low end of Gaiman's quality curve. I think Gaiman's best works, by far, are 1) the Sandman series, 2) Stardust, and 3) Neverwhere, in approximately that order. The Graveyard Book isn't bad but it's very much a YA thing.
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Jan 2, 2015 16:51
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Stardust I really liked the movie, how similar to it is the book?
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Jan 2, 2015 16:55
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Chairchucker posted:I really liked the movie, how similar to it is the book? Surprisingly close, considering Hollywood. Main differences are in the ending; the novel is a little more bittersweet and significantly less hollywoodized. Captain Shakespeare is a much smaller character in the novel, and a number of the novel's side characters are cut in the film. If you get Stardust be sure to get the version illustrated by Charles Vess. It's far, far superior; they only published the un-illustrated version because lots of people who read fantasy novels don't want to read "comic books."
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Jan 2, 2015 17:01
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The way I saw it (unusually for me, I read the book after the movie) it was kind of... well, fairy tales are often cyclical in feel, and it felt like an older, grimmer version of the same story, set in the same world. There's a lot more room in the book to explore the worldbuilding and the world, and it all happens on a much less compressed timescale. Some of the characters are very, very different, and some of the motivations are different, but essentially they're both excellent stories, just not QUITE the same one.
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Jan 2, 2015 17:06
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Aaaaaand now I own it on Kindle.
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Jan 2, 2015 17:11
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:A lot of people don't like American Gods, myself included -- I think it's on the low end of Gaiman's quality curve. I think Gaiman's best works, by far, are 1) the Sandman series, 2) Stardust, and 3) Neverwhere, in approximately that order. The Graveyard Book isn't bad but it's very much a YA thing. You forgot Good Omens.
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Jan 2, 2015 20:06
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:A lot of people don't like American Gods, myself included -- I think it's on the low end of Gaiman's quality curve. I think Gaiman's best works, by far, are 1) the Sandman series, 2) Stardust, and 3) Neverwhere, in approximately that order. The Graveyard Book isn't bad but it's very much a YA thing. I think Neverwhere is the other one I got so maybe I'll like it better. Hmm
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Jan 2, 2015 23:42
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