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http://www.tor.com/blogs/2015/04/cover-reveal-all-the-birds-charlie-jane-anders Well I'm officially excited for this. It sound a bit Magicians-y and drat I've been pining for a book like The Magicians ever since Lev Grossman finished that trilogy. And if that weren't enough, here's what freaking Michael Chabon said about it: Michael Chabon posted:“In All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders darts and soars, with dazzling aplomb, among the hypotheticals of science fiction, the counterfactuals of fantasy, and the bittersweet mundanities of contemporary American life, throwing lightning bolts of literary style that shimmer with enchantment or electrons. She tackles profound, complicated questions, vast and insignificant as the fate of the planet, tiny and crucial as the vagaries of friendship, rocketing the reader through a pocket-sized epic of identity whose sharply-drawn protagonists come to feel like the reader’s best friends. Wow. edit: vvv Also wow! vvv
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Apr 21, 2015 14:03
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KJ Parker is Tom Holt. Kinda bummed Parker didn't turn out to be a woman - there aren't enough badass female fantasy writers out there.
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Apr 21, 2015 14:04
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Popular Human posted:KJ Parker is Tom Holt. Kinda bummed Parker didn't turn out to be a woman - there aren't enough badass female fantasy writers out there. Hah, this is pretty great in light of that.
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Apr 21, 2015 14:23
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I had suspected KJ was a guy ever since reading Academic Exercises and Colours in the Steel, but that is hysterical.
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Apr 21, 2015 15:12
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Hedrigall posted:http://www.tor.com/blogs/2015/04/cover-reveal-all-the-birds-charlie-jane-anders Huh...that DOES sound really interesting. Definitely getting a Magicians vibe from the description.
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Apr 21, 2015 15:27
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"I chose 'Parker' because it's a pen name."
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Apr 21, 2015 15:40
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I don't venture much into this subforum, though I've been storming through classic sci-fi and fantasy for the last few years. Le Guin is my favorite author and I really need to go through the (now archived) thread referenced in the OP. Anyway, I came to ask about a particular book, an oddity I came across and bought on a pure whim: Milorad Pavic's Dictionary of the Khazars. I think it's technically more or less fantasy though honestly, after reading several reviews and descriptions, I can't tell what genre it is (if any) or whether I'll love it or hate it. It appears to have been a big inspiration for House of Leaves in its nonlinear format and overall strangeness. Anybody else familiar with this (or any of Pavic's other works)? It's due to show up at my doorstep today or tomorrow, I'm really just not sure what to expect.
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Apr 21, 2015 15:45
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Jedit posted:Arthur C Clarke invented the geostationary communication satellite. Greg Egan invented something for it to orbit. 
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Apr 21, 2015 15:51
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Popular Human posted:KJ Parker is Tom Holt. Kinda bummed Parker didn't turn out to be a woman - there aren't enough badass female fantasy writers out there. Yeah, it's, you know, just a tiny bit of bummer that the simplest answer was the right one (and count me in the camp that also thought KJP might be a woman and was psyched about that), and the mystery of the pseudonym was kind of fun, but I suppose not having to be so dang careful and cagey all the time will be beneficial for "Parker" overall in the long run. Anyone actually gotten to start reading The Two of Swords yet? I haven't, but I'm excited! edit: Also, I don't listen to podcasts much, so I hope someone will post highlights of the Holt/KJP interview(s) somewhere at some point. (It still feels weird to just say "Holt.") onefish fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Apr 21, 2015 |
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Apr 21, 2015 16:15
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CornHolio posted:I don't venture much into this subforum, though I've been storming through classic sci-fi and fantasy for the last few years. Le Guin is my favorite author and I really need to go through the (now archived) thread referenced in the OP. I have a copy. It's quite an interesting read, although yes, it's not typical fantasy. I think Borges or Calvino would be a closer comparison than House of Leaves. There's no need to try to read it linearly -- it's just as good if you thumb from entry to entry as your interest takes you. It's divided into three sections, Christian, Jewish, and Islamic, and many of the same entries are repeated in different sections but with different spins on the subject. (and no, I've never been able to compare the "male" and "female" editions to see what the big difference is. I suspect it may just be a gimmick to sell twice as many books...)
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Apr 21, 2015 16:21
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I haven't seen Ian Tregillis' Milkweed trilogy mentioned yet as a response to the "more like Declare or A Colder War" questions. It's an alt history where Nazis and Allies mess with the kind of ancient, evil powers that they really shouldn't. Very bleak etc. Bitter Seeds is the first book.
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Apr 21, 2015 16:47
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Are you seriously telling me KJ Parker wrote this? Because that is utterly amazing.
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Apr 21, 2015 18:00
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ravenkult posted:Is there anything out there remotely like the Fallout and Wasteland games? I keep a list of nuclear apocalypse literature in my professional life  I can't vouch for the quality of all of them, but I enjoyed Warday, Alas Babylon, and of course A Canticle for Leibowitz. I'll have to add you guys' suggestions to the list. I have:quote:Warday by Whitley Strieber; James W. Kunetka
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Apr 21, 2015 18:31
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Popular Human posted:KJ Parker is Tom Holt. Kinda bummed Parker didn't turn out to be a woman - there aren't enough badass female fantasy writers out there. Well then, I guess that makes Tom Holt one versatile as hell writer.
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Apr 21, 2015 20:30
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I also enjoyed the Wastelands anthology edited by John Joseph Adams. It's old and new stories, most of them are post-nuclear.
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Apr 22, 2015 01:06
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Rabbit Hill posted:I keep a list of nuclear apocalypse literature in my professional life I wouldn't really count Arc Light as nuclear apocalypse. Nuclear, certainly, but it isn't really apocalyptic. poo poo is hosed, but the nations of the world survive in a recognizable fashion and large parts of the world seem mostly untouched. At least before the conventional war starts.
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Apr 22, 2015 08:22
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Groke posted:Well then, I guess that makes Tom Holt one versatile as hell writer. It beats being known as the knock-off Terry Pratchett. I guess with Pratchett's death, he felt that it was a good enough time to come out of his shadow.
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Apr 22, 2015 11:52
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Rabbit Hill posted:I keep a list of nuclear apocalypse literature in my professional life Ah! The Road by Cormac McCArthy. All this KJParker chat had me interested, any suggestions for a nice first novel to get lost in?
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Apr 22, 2015 11:56
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Grimwall posted:All this KJParker chat had me interested, any suggestions for a nice first novel to get lost in? The Folding Knife is pretty sweet, and standalone. (Most of his books seem to be set in the same world, mind you, but spread out in geography and history. Like, one book will be set in not-late-republican-Rome, then another book will have a reference to the same city as an important faraway place and suggest that the stuff that happened in the previous book is centuries-old history. Or something.) Groke fucked around with this message at 12:32 on Apr 22, 2015 |
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Apr 22, 2015 12:27
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Hedrigall posted:After this there'll be no more secrets left in SF/F, apart from exactly how fat Greg Egan is. Did anyone ever figure out what the deal was with John Twelve Hawks? Other than being a huge weirdo that is.
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Apr 22, 2015 15:16
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Rabbit Hill posted:I keep a list of nuclear apocalypse literature in my professional life I would add these two to the list. Wool - Hugh Howey Xenogenesis Trilogy by Octavia Butler
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Apr 22, 2015 15:57
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Groke posted:Well then, I guess that makes Tom Holt one versatile as hell writer. Under his real name Tom Holt has written the same book 15 or 20 times and they've all been poo poo since the third or so, so this is about the most surprising thing I can think of.
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Apr 22, 2015 18:48
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I really like Peter Watts. I read Blindsight and Echopraxia, I just blew through the first Rifters book and I'm moving onto the second. Any other authors I should look at?
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Apr 22, 2015 19:28
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Have you tried Alastair Reynolds? Not quite as atmospheric or scary (although it has his moments) but he does the same awe-inspiring mysterious space really well.
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Apr 22, 2015 19:41
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Groke posted:The Folding Knife is pretty sweet, and standalone. The Folding Knife was the first one I read, and I loved it. The Company is also awesome, and would also work. Now two and a half "episodes" into the Two of Swords, and digging it. But can't actually tell if it takes place in that same world. (edit: okay, went to a Reddit thread, it definitely does.) Does anyone have a list of which books and stories take place in that world, or want to take a stab at compiling one? I know we've got The Folding Knife, The Company, The Hammer, Sharps, Purple & Black, Blue & Gold. Wiki says the Engineer trilogy was also in this world -- I got bored with that one, and didn't finish book one. And I know a bunch of the stories are, but I don't remember which off the top of my head. It's tough to really know, because so much of the fiction has a similar "feel," but there's so little anchoring in time and place from one book to the next (though there's plenty within each book). So I'm actually not sure why I *care*, but somehow I want to know. Great clomping foot of nerdism and all that. onefish fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Apr 22, 2015 |
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Apr 22, 2015 19:46
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I'm pretty sure all of the short stories from Academic Exercises are in the same world, though a lot of the details across stories are, almost certainly on purpose, not consistent.
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Apr 22, 2015 21:23
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Elderbean posted:I really like Peter Watts. I read Blindsight and Echopraxia, I just blew through the first Rifters book and I'm moving onto the second. Any other authors I should look at? I don't know of anyone quite like him honestly. R Scott Bakker did some similar neurological stuff in Neuropath, Alistair Reynolds had some similar space horror bits in Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days and his Revelation Space series, and Richad Morgan gets some of the general tone and feel, particularly in Black Man/Th1rte3n, and of course John Brunner's The Sheep Look Up has the same background of ecological collapse, but none mix them right the same way as Watts. He basically takes a haunted house story frame and packs it full with crunchy ideas and then sets a bunch of mentally traumatized characters loose in it to play out reactions to those ideas, and I don't know of anyone else who does that mix or does it as well as he does. I would recommend picking up Crysis: Legion though. Yes, video game book, yes he is on a railroaded plot, yes he is greatly constrained compared to his own stand alones. It is still really great. If you liked the parts in Blindsight where he ruminated on aliens, invasion, and neurology and the human condition he mixes that with Sterling Archer-style bravado and obscure references
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Apr 23, 2015 01:40
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Jedit posted:Under his real name Tom Holt has written the same book 15 or 20 times and they've all been poo poo since the third or so, so this is about the most surprising thing I can think of. Yeah, I've never been a big fan of Holt's fantasy stuff. Olympiad was good, though. Disclaimer: I don't think I've read Olympiad since I was 15.
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Apr 23, 2015 11:03
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Finally I'm done with the Agent Cormac books. Anyone who likes space opera must read those. The wordlbuilding, the action and the awe are very well done. Big thinking, explosions and ugly space monsters are all over the place. The books are fast paced, and the corpses pile up since the fist page of the book. A blast. And it is sometimes hilarious like when an armored "kinght" riding something akin to a domesticated cockroach charges with a spear against an acid spitting armored monstrosity... and wins!. What is not so good is the character development. I didn't actually care for any of them (the only excepcions being Arach and Mr. Crane). And the bad guys are definitely cartoonish (perhaps, again, excepting the worst of them who is revealed after the end of the last book. I'm going to begin to read the rest of the Polity books, trying to keep the in-universe chronology. So it is Prador Moon now. E: Stupid mistake which reversed what I was trying to say Amberskin fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Apr 23, 2015 |
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Apr 23, 2015 12:51
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Yeah, they're good. I thought the characters by the time of the Spatterjay books had improved a little. They're still not Asher's strength but they're not as offensively bland as, say, Cormac himself was (or how I remember finding him; it's been a while). Villains remain a little cartoonish. That cartoonishness works with Prador, though...
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Apr 23, 2015 12:55
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Audible keeps recommending Asher's audiobooks since I've gotten William Gibson and Hannu Rajaniemi books recently. Does that make sense and would you recommend it based on those 2 authors?
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Apr 23, 2015 15:36
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:Audible keeps recommending Asher's audiobooks since I've gotten William Gibson and Hannu Rajaniemi books recently. Does that make sense and would you recommend it based on those 2 authors? Audible's recommendation system needs many works done to it. It recommends stuff for me that I am quite consistently disinterested in.
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Apr 23, 2015 16:18
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Off of those two authors, i would absolutely not. I realize my antipathy for Asher's books is in the minority, but... well, Jean and every one of Gibson's twitchy quasi-legal entities all have, you know, nuance, detail, depth. In contrast, the opening of Gridlinked is Cormac being told that his wikipedia implant is turning him into an emotionless robot, and frankly, i didn't notice the difference.
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Apr 23, 2015 16:58
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I think Audible is only judging this based on "these books are all science fiction so if you like one you'll like them all." Within the genre there's a whooole lot of space between Gibson, Rajamäki and Asher. Asher is basically popcorn compared to them.
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Apr 23, 2015 17:01
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I just finished Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It got a bit weird towards the end, but otherwise it was pretty drat good. Is his other stuff as good as this series? If so, any recommendations? Or maybe some other authors have done something similar that I might enjoy? I also recently read Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay, which I also enjoyed a lot. Basically have the same questions here, can someone recommend something similar?
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Apr 24, 2015 08:11
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If you liked GGk's Tigrana I can't imagine you not liking his A Song For Arbornne.
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Apr 24, 2015 08:25
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Sjonkel posted:I just finished Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It got a bit weird towards the end, but otherwise it was pretty drat good. Is his other stuff as good as this series? If so, any recommendations? Or maybe some other authors have done something similar that I might enjoy? I also assume that means you have not read the two Endymion books. Do not read them.
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Apr 24, 2015 09:33
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Drood and The Terror are for the most part good but they are really, really bloated. I felt like both of them had an absolutely riveting book in there at about 60% the size of what we got. They're still decent reads, though, and even not all of the bloat is bad (reading about what a degenerate Wilkie Collins was made me chuckle).
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Apr 24, 2015 10:47
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anilEhilated posted:Simmons is weird, his writing is all over the place with both genres and quality. His quality must be all over the place if people are recommending any of his books. I tried reading one once and the only saving grace was that it wasn't Anne Rice.
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Apr 24, 2015 11:12
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Sjonkel posted:I just finished Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It got a bit weird towards the end, but otherwise it was pretty drat good. Is his other stuff as good as this series? If so, any recommendations? Or maybe some other authors have done something similar that I might enjoy? Under Heaven and The Lions of Al-Rassan are also good Kay books (River of Stars is a step down), and I hear good things about the Sarantine duology. Tigana is the best work of his I've read, though.
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Apr 24, 2015 11:56
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