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Khizan posted:Modesitt has this weird thing going where I'm pretty sure that I'd willingly read a 500+ page book about some dude doing nothing but making barrels or or chairs or horseshoes, but I'd be completely unable to tell you why I bothered to do it at the end of it. This is literally me and his last 14 books in the Recluce series. 
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Mar 23, 2015 06:23
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Arcsquad12 posted:Anyone here a fan of David Eddings? I'm a fairly big fan but my buddy actually took the time to make a replica of bhelliom, so he's way more of an Eddings nerd than me. I think he's got a video on youtube about it.
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Mar 23, 2015 06:52
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Drifter posted:I read and enjoy the gently caress out of a lot of books where the main criticism seems to be 'this book didn't exposit the gently caress out of itself for me right at the beginning' and many times I can't help but think "well, gently caress you reader, why don't you learn how to read better?" It is an entirely appropriate sentiment. People like that are either colossal RPG nerds that needs to know everything before or have no loving patience.
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Mar 23, 2015 08:46
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Going back to Eddings is painful for me now but I'm definitely grateful to him (and his wife, I guess) for getting me into the genre when I was 12.
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Mar 23, 2015 08:47
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FastestGunAlive posted:Looking for some dystopian and/or post/apocalypse scifi. Been on a bit of a movie kick of that lately- from the Purge to the Running Man to Escape from New York, Equilibrium, so I'm looking for something more on the action side of the house. Recently read through the Darwin Elevator series, which is basically a summer popcorn flick in book form. Would like to avoid the weirdo, mary sue prepper, anti-government what-if fantasy wanking that I imagine makes up most this genre. The current humble book bundle is post-apocalypse themed: https://www.humblebundle.com/books
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Mar 23, 2015 08:54
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Khizan posted:Modesitt has this weird thing going where I'm pretty sure that I'd willingly read a 500+ page book about some dude doing nothing but making barrels or or chairs or horseshoes, but I'd be completely unable to tell you why I bothered to do it at the end of it. I'm not sure why I love it but man I love his books. Though I've never read anything outside of his Recluse series.
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Mar 23, 2015 10:52
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SmokinDan posted:Going back to Eddings is painful for me now but I'm definitely grateful to him (and his wife, I guess) for getting me into the genre when I was 12. I can only really read his Belgariad novels anymore. I do enjoy his writing and his sense of humor, but I felt like everything after that run was just a retread of old ground. Except for Guardians of the West. That book was loving hilarious when it was covering Garion's country management skills.
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Mar 23, 2015 13:52
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Cardiac posted:So I just finished City of Stairs, based on the glowing recommendations in this thread. I actually stopped reading like 60-70% through because it wasn't doing anything for me. I had no interest in the protagonist and the world building felt too satisfied with itself for my taste.
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Mar 23, 2015 14:20
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Just want to recommend two books I recently finished. I mentioned it earlier, but Wolf in White Van, while neither sci-fi nor fantasy strictly, would probably appeal to most of you. It's short (200s pages ish) and awesome writing. Generally it's about A guy who experienced physical trauma as a teenager and now runs a play by mail rpg game company. What really got my attention was the back blurbs, written by neat weirdos like John Hodgman, Joseph Fink, and Austin Grossman. The other was the inspiration for the hilarious show "Man Seeking Woman" and it's short stories about love, but really weird funny ones It's called The Last Girlfriend on Earth
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Mar 23, 2015 16:45
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Nevvy Z posted:What really got my attention was the back blurbs, written by neat weirdos like John Hodgman, Joseph Fink, and Austin Grossman. I'm actually very put off if I read back blurbs by authors. The quality of a book is such a crapshoot if I go by that. Unless they specifically say the book cured their significant other or child of cancer, they're either just being nice to the person or their publisher has forced them. If I see a blurb written by Neil Gaiman I especially go out of my way to not read the book (I spend more time checking out other reviews and skimming through it myself).
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Mar 23, 2015 17:04
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Drifter posted:I'm actually very put off if I read back blurbs by authors. The quality of a book is such a crapshoot if I go by that. Unless they specifically say the book cured their significant other or child of cancer, they're either just being nice to the person or their publisher has forced them. I don't follow. Authors really won't blurb unless they like a book! Their publisher often can't coerce them because the book they're blurbing is from a different publisher, and just as often they don't know the author they're blurbing at all. Sure, some blurbs are pro forma, but as far as I can tell most of them are genuine. If they don't like a book they can just say 'sorry, I'm busy!' There is one line of connection to be suspicious of, I guess - whoever's sending the book out for blurbs probably has connections to the people receiving it. But I don't understand your mistrust!
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Mar 23, 2015 17:36
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I just thought it was a neat array of people. The author is a singer/songwriter/lyricist so I dunno what the connection might be.
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Mar 23, 2015 17:47
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General Battuta posted:I don't follow. Authors really won't blurb unless they like a book! This is absolutely true. Authors get a LOT of ARCs, so much so that they literally cannot read most of them and still hope to have time to do their own writing. If you see a blurb by another author, you can be 99.9% sure they honestly liked that book. The disconnect a lot of people seem to have is that just because you like what a given author writes, you won't necessarily enjoy the same books as them.
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Mar 23, 2015 17:51
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Drifter posted:I'm actually very put off if I read back blurbs by authors. The quality of a book is such a crapshoot if I go by that. Unless they specifically say the book cured their significant other or child of cancer, they're either just being nice to the person or their publisher has forced them. I kind of have your experience with blurbs but I think there's two factors to consider here: - Gaiman might be the top example of a genre or style that you don't like unless it's specifically written by Gaiman - While you might love Gaiman's work, you may not share his taste in literature at all. And this is why I use this thread and goodreads to decide what to read instead! I mean blurbs are like covers, they're there just to get you interested in the book when it's in the bookshop. If you have a big name like Gaiman in there, it - I suspect - helps out an unknown writer immensely. And good for them!
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Mar 23, 2015 17:51
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I trust you all more than blurbs. You're blurbs+.
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Mar 23, 2015 18:21
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Nevvy Z posted:I mentioned it earlier, but Wolf in White Van, while neither sci-fi nor fantasy strictly, would probably appeal to most of you. It's short (200s pages ish) and awesome writing. Generally it's about A guy who experienced physical trauma as a teenager and now runs a play by mail rpg game company. What really got my attention was the back blurbs, written by neat weirdos like John Hodgman, Joseph Fink, and Austin Grossman. WiWV is a good book and people should read it, but I don't think it's even peripherally within this thread's remit. Might be more at home in the Lit-rah-chooor thread.
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Mar 23, 2015 18:23
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I guess an interesting addendum to this discussion is that (I'm told) blurbs don't really do anything unless they're from a major public figure.
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Mar 23, 2015 18:28
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General Battuta posted:I guess an interesting addendum to this discussion is that (I'm told) blurbs don't really do anything unless they're from a major public figure. Q score. I've seen blurbs that reference basic amazon reviews.
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Mar 23, 2015 19:21
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What is an ARC? Advance Review Copy?
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Mar 23, 2015 19:25
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Arcsquad12 posted:What is an ARC? Advance Review Copy? yeah. Sometimes it's not completely edited or will still have changes made before actual publication. It's usually a mostly done version of the book.
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Mar 23, 2015 19:31
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Arcsquad12 posted:Anyone here a fan of David Eddings? He was my entry into reading fantasy in the early 90s, I think they are a great starter especially for teenagers (as I was).
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Mar 24, 2015 19:52
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Khizan posted:Modesitt has this weird thing going where I'm pretty sure that I'd willingly read a 500+ page book about some dude doing nothing but making barrels or or chairs or horseshoes, but I'd be completely unable to tell you why I bothered to do it at the end of it.
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Mar 26, 2015 00:02
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Burned through Three-Body Problem in an evening, really good. Read All You Need is Kill earlier in the year and found it enjoyable as well. I wonder how much other non western sci fi fantasy is out there that I'm missing.
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Mar 27, 2015 01:36
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Crashbee posted:The current humble book bundle is post-apocalypse themed: https://www.humblebundle.com/books Thanks for this. Never done humble bundle before but I'll check this out. Interested in opinions on any gems or avoids in this.
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Mar 27, 2015 05:25
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Khizan posted:Modesitt has this weird thing going where I'm pretty sure that I'd willingly read a 500+ page book about some dude doing nothing but making barrels or or chairs or horseshoes, but I'd be completely unable to tell you why I bothered to do it at the end of it. I'm with you on these. The Imager books are really enjoyable too. The first 3 are kinda reclusey but the next 4 are really rather epic and seem to matter much more to the history of the world.
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Mar 27, 2015 14:19
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RndmCnflct posted:Burned through Three-Body Problem in an evening, really good. Since this seems to be the current hotness in this thread, probably worth mentioning it's going for a measly £1.79 on amazon.co.uk at the moment.
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Mar 27, 2015 14:41
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Junkenstein posted:Since this seems to be the current hotness in this thread, probably worth mentioning it's going for a measly £1.79 on amazon.co.uk at the moment.
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Mar 27, 2015 15:32
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Luckily, I live in the UK. Hopefully it makes the BOTM for April.
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Mar 27, 2015 15:45
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DACK FAYDEN posted:Do they still get mad if you lie about your region to buy things? Because they won't let me purchase it. I'm not sure how it works with books to be honest. I have no trouble buying game keys from amazon.com from the UK with a credit card and a random US hotel as my billing address. It might be different if you're using what you're buying on an amazon provided service though.
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Mar 27, 2015 16:09
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DACK FAYDEN posted:Do they still get mad if you lie about your region to buy things? Because they won't let me purchase it. It's the same price (in $) on Amazon US
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Mar 27, 2015 16:18
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DACK FAYDEN posted:Do they still get mad if you lie about your region to buy things? Because they won't let me purchase it. Change the address in your kindle settings to 10 Downing Street long enough to buy and download, then change it back.
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Mar 27, 2015 16:19
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The address-changy thing isn't working for me, I am less smart than a Kindle. I'll just recall it from the library and wait two weeks. Relatedly, the library has a 1987 translation of Solaris. Is that a decent rendition?
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Mar 27, 2015 18:58
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RndmCnflct posted:Burned through Three-Body Problem in an evening, really good. Read All You Need is Kill earlier in the year and found it enjoyable as well. I wonder how much other non western sci fi fantasy is out there that I'm missing. You might be interested in the Apex fantasy and sci-fi short-story collections then, they're pretty good and focus exclusively on non-Western authors. http://www.amazon.com/The-Apex-Book-World-SF-ebook/dp/B002YQ2X2G/ref=pd_cp_kstore_1
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Mar 27, 2015 19:21
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less laughter posted:It's the same price (in $) on Amazon US I see $12.99  For Kindle edition, anyway (do people still buy physical books???). Link?
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Mar 27, 2015 20:01
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I started reading Low Town by Daniel Polansky today and, man, it's really good so far. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9755449-low-town?from_search=true It's been out a few years already, don't know how it escaped my attention all that time, this is the low-magic, dark type fantasy I like the best.
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Mar 28, 2015 05:50
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Are there any decent fantasy or sci fi books about castaways and such? Dudes abandoned on desert islands/planets and stuff like that.
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Mar 28, 2015 21:20
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The Martian is the most obvious recent example. Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island is the classic. You're probably aware of both of these.
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Mar 28, 2015 21:26
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Megazver posted:The Martian is the most obvious recent example. Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island is the classic. You're probably aware of both of these. Aye, read those.
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Mar 28, 2015 21:30
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ravenkult posted:Are there any decent fantasy or sci fi books about castaways and such? Dudes abandoned on desert islands/planets and stuff like that. Clark Ashton Smith 's Marooned in Andromeda
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Mar 28, 2015 21:30
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Anyone read anything by Mindee Arnett? I saw a couple of her books at the local bookstore and wondering if they're worth the read.
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Mar 29, 2015 00:07
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