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anilEhilated posted:Just as long as you're aware that they're closer to Damnation Game than the long-winded pseudomysticbabble he likes so much now. But yeah, they're probably his best work. Is his Arabat series worth reading and does he ever plan on writing stuff again that's not tied into that?
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Apr 10, 2015 19:57
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Clive Barker has a bad habit of writing the first book or two in a series and then getting distracted by something shiny and moving on to something else.
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Apr 10, 2015 22:52
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Has anybody read anything by Paul McAuley? I impulse-bought "Something Coming Through" on amazon a while ago and it's interesting. I'm not very far through it yet but so far I really like what i've seen of his aliens.
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Apr 10, 2015 23:47
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andrew smash posted:Has anybody read anything by Paul McAuley? I impulse-bought "Something Coming Through" on amazon a while ago and it's interesting. I'm not very far through it yet but so far I really like what i've seen of his aliens. I'm not a fan. His prose is as flat as a week-old can of soda and his characters as thin as its aluminum.
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Apr 11, 2015 00:06
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Tired of the drama surrounding the Hugo Awards? Then go vote on the Gemmell awards! These guys make no bones about being an entirely populist award.
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Apr 11, 2015 01:47
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There's also the Locus, which is open to all, though subscriber votes are weighted double. Closes on the 15th.
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Apr 11, 2015 03:28
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The 6 titles for the Clarke awards shortlist are pretty good choices.
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Apr 11, 2015 03:35
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Peel posted:There's also the Locus, which is open to all, though subscriber votes are weighted double. Closes on the 15th. Cool, I did not know about that.
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Apr 11, 2015 03:42
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There's so many awards in SFF. It probably contributes to the Hugos still being the premier award even though people have been rolling their eyes for years, well before the puppies got going properly. If you're gonna promote a different one, which one?
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Apr 11, 2015 03:51
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Peel posted:There's also the Locus, which is open to all, though subscriber votes are weighted double. Closes on the 15th. Oooh that's a big list of books.  I 'm gonna have to check 'em out.
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Apr 11, 2015 04:47
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andrew smash posted:Has anybody read anything by Paul McAuley? I impulse-bought "Something Coming Through" on amazon a while ago and it's interesting. I'm not very far through it yet but so far I really like what i've seen of his aliens. This book had me hooked for the first third or so but it really goes absolutely nowhere. Was a very disappointing plot tacked on to some interesting world building.
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Apr 11, 2015 05:45
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Peel posted:There's so many awards in SFF. We should make our own awards 
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Apr 11, 2015 15:19
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:We should make our own awards Why would anybody show up for an award called the Goonies?
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Apr 11, 2015 15:56
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:We should make our own awards BSS tried it a few years ago.
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Apr 11, 2015 16:22
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That makes me a sad goon because I trust your opinions much more than many critics and reviews.
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Apr 11, 2015 16:42
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NinjaDebugger posted:Why would anybody show up for an award called the Goonies? Hugoons.
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Apr 11, 2015 18:12
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Selachian posted:Hugoons. Golden Manbaby Awards.
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Apr 11, 2015 23:49
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I bought the recent humble bundle with barry hughart and jack vance and read those. Master Li and number ten ox was pretty amazing, jack vance short stories are kinda uneven but the craft is solid. Any of the remaining stuff worth reading?
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Apr 12, 2015 14:56
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The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, Academic Exercises and The Top of the Volcano.
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Apr 12, 2015 15:06
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Megazver posted:The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, Academic Exercises and The Top of the Volcano. Thanks! I forgot to mention that I love Ted Chiang and his short story collection was jawdropping. I hope he writes something in the next decade but I'd be petrified with performance anxiety after such an insane first book.
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Apr 12, 2015 15:24
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Grimwall posted:Thanks! I forgot to mention that I love Ted Chiang and his short story collection was jawdropping. I hope he writes something in the next decade but I'd be petrified with performance anxiety after such an insane first book. I mean, he wrote a bunch of stuff since then. The Alchemist, Exhalation, The Lifecycle of Software Objects, The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling and some story for Jeff VanderMeer's short story collection. These combined are already long enough for another collection.
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Apr 12, 2015 15:53
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Megazver posted:I mean, he wrote a bunch of stuff since then. The Alchemist, Exhalation, The Lifecycle of Software Objects, The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling and some story for Jeff VanderMeer's short story collection. These combined are already long enough for another collection. Oh poo poo
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Apr 12, 2015 15:58
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Grimwall posted:I bought the recent humble bundle with barry hughart and jack vance and read those. Master Li and number ten ox was pretty amazing, jack vance short stories are kinda uneven but the craft is solid.
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Apr 12, 2015 17:47
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Grimwall posted:I bought the recent humble bundle with barry hughart and jack vance and read those. Master Li and number ten ox was pretty amazing, jack vance short stories are kinda uneven but the craft is solid. Really, most of the stuff in that bundle was worth looking at. It's made the current books bundle full of All Kevin J Anderson, All The Time look pretty pallid by comparison.
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Apr 12, 2015 22:17
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So a friend of mine recommended Andromeda Nebula by Soviet author Ivan Yefremov. I'm only a chapter into it so far but it seems very interesting so far but well I'm not far into it I was wondering if anyone else had read it and what they thought?
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Apr 13, 2015 05:50
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It's a standard Soviet sci-fi. All progress, heroics, endless absurd philosophical declamations, not much actual content. It's a good example of that particular bit of literature but I wouldn't exactly call it a good book.
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Apr 13, 2015 06:25
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Does A Mote in God's Eye still hold up pretty well or is it pretty seventies?
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Apr 13, 2015 07:18
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NicelyNice posted:Does A Mote in God's Eye still hold up pretty well or is it pretty seventies? I still regard it as one of my favorites, personally. It's got a few... Niven/Pournelle things that are odd... but by and large it's probably the best thing either of them did.
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Apr 13, 2015 07:22
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I think it's hideously out-dated and painful to read. Compared to The Forever War which was published the same year it's doesn't feel relevant at all. I've never read anything else by the authors, so I can't comment on that. I understand the book is part of one of the author's universes. Maybe if I'd read those I'd have had a higher opinion of it.
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Apr 13, 2015 07:40
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NicelyNice posted:Does A Mote in God's Eye still hold up pretty well or is it pretty seventies? I'm reading it for the first time now, it's not bad. Seems a bit over wordy and it's taken a bit for me to warm up to it, but it's starting to get interesting.
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Apr 13, 2015 11:01
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KomradeX posted:So a friend of mine recommended Andromeda Nebula by Soviet author Ivan Yefremov. I'm only a chapter into it so far but it seems very interesting so far but well I'm not far into it I was wondering if anyone else had read it and what they thought? I have read it. It is weird. The world setup is interesting (the way the different civilization communicate and share information is nice, although in these days it has been used by othera authors), but the development is boring and the story is flat. A lot of political mumble-jumble about how communism solved all the world problems, some really really outdated points of views about ecology and environment issues, a flatly imposible social structure, and the worst of it: the story carries itself for a lot of pages without getting to any kind of climax or resolution. It is like the author got tired of writing and left it in a random point. BTW, the best part is the beginning. But don't get too attached with those characters and their cosmonautical adventures: they have no continuity.
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Apr 13, 2015 11:26
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NicelyNice posted:Does A Mote in God's Eye still hold up pretty well or is it pretty seventies? It's pretty 70s. Or maybe that's just the Niven/Pournelle. But a lot of focus on 2nd wave feminism and birth control, and Malthusian collapse
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Apr 13, 2015 13:18
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Fried Chicken posted:It's pretty 70s. Or maybe that's just the Niven/Pournelle. But a lot of focus on 2nd wave feminism and birth control, and Malthusian collapse All true. But under the N/P baggage there is undeniably a ripping yarn.
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Apr 13, 2015 13:54
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Soviet Canuckistan posted:How are Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker, The Drowned Cities, The Doubt Factory, and The Alchemist? I read The Windup Girl and mostly liked it, but the first three of these seem to be YA, which can mean anything from "trying to not confuse 10-year-olds" to "quality writing minus the grimdark". The Drowned Cities is kind of a sequel to Ship Breaker in that it shares a character and is set after the events of Ship Breaker. Both those books are also set in a world that is similar to but not quite exactly the same as The Windup Girl. If you like his stuff I would recommend his book of short stores "Pump Six" which are mostly, but not all, similarly themed around horrible futures.
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Apr 13, 2015 15:43
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Amberskin posted:
That's actually really terrible to hear since that first chapter really hooked me. Reading it so far, which again I'm only just about up to chapter 3 now, it kind of reminds me of American SciFi of that Era, until an actual black character showed up which I will say a big improvement over some SciFi today, not to invoke the Hugo's and the Puppies  Heavily pro communist message doesn't bother me at all. I just need some time where I can sit and read more than a few dozen pages every few nights
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Apr 13, 2015 20:52
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Guess who John C. Wright is talking about here: Terry Pratchett
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Apr 13, 2015 23:00
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fritz posted:Guess who John C. Wright is talking about here: That one's never not hilarious. Do you have the one where he confesses he struggles with dark, mohammedan desires? I can't find it.
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Apr 13, 2015 23:12
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fritz posted:Guess who John C. Wright is talking about here: Let me guess, the discussion was on assisted suicide?
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Apr 13, 2015 23:24
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I Bought wrights book of essays He dissed Pullman in the intro and I immediately regretted it
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Apr 13, 2015 23:36
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thehomemaster posted:I Bought wrights book of essays Why would anyone do this?
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Apr 13, 2015 23:41
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