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Prolonged Priapism posted:
Joanna Russ
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Aug 9, 2015 11:36
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Mieville is '"literary"'. KSR is a great writer. EDIT: Added extra quotation marks for emphasis.
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Aug 9, 2015 11:51
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Dyscrasia posted:Seveneves got really infodumpy toward the end. One of those that would be much better minus 200 pages. Otherwise it was decent. The premise of the last section was interesting enough so I'm just not sure why he didn't decide to do it as a sequel instead of a rushed novella tacked onto the end of a very different book.
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Aug 9, 2015 11:52
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The Strugatsky Brothers wrote Roadside Picnic
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Aug 9, 2015 11:54
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Okay, finished the first six parts of KJ Parker's "Two of swords" serial. Very Parkerish and, IMO, interesting. As far as the timeline goes, it's after Savages (one of the characters in the prologue mentions that he fought in the army of one of the characters from Savages) and that's all I know. I think these last few solo novels (The Folding Knife, The Hammer, Sharps, Savages - except The Company) are the best stuff he's written. Probably because I've developed a taste for a proper ending in a book, instead of a "To be continued".
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Aug 9, 2015 12:45
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LemonyTang posted:I just finished Ancillary Justice , the first of Anne Leckie's debut trilogy and it owned. I have not actually read that much so I figured the Hugo Award winner would be a safe place to start and it was. The world is super immersive and she does a great job of conveying the emotions of the protagonist. The only complaint I have is the repeated "ugh but I have so many options and they all lead to unknown/doom" summaries that seemed to crop up every other chapter towards the end of the book once it all kicked off. However the idea of the ancillaries/ships was lots of fun to read about and I'm psyched to read book two when it arrives. Then you'll be happy to hear that Ancillary Sword came out last October and the final book is slated for this October.
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Aug 9, 2015 15:56
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flosofl posted:So, does anyone remember the Julian May book series of the Pliocene Saga and the related Milieu Trilogy? They turned up in my Amazon recommendations, and I'm looking to get them again. I remember loving them when I was in HS (and far less critical of what I read) when they were first put out in paperback by Del-Ray and had amazing Michael Whelan cover art. I'll write up on whether they stood the test of time and my fully developed cynicism if anyone's interested. Yep! I still have those, along with the "prequel" books.
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Aug 9, 2015 19:35
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A Steampunk Gent posted:Hello thread, has anyone read Robin Hobb's new Fitz book? As someone who think she's been off form since she finished the Tawny Man trilogy, would this change my mind? It would. Just binged Fool's Quest in a day. It's an book with a lot of payoff. I do agree with you, she did fall off her game with the non-Fitz books. Couldn't read anything after Tawny Man, but I think this trilogy will be very good indeed.
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Aug 10, 2015 01:24
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Just picked up A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge and I'm really digging it so far. The idea of a galaxy spanning internet becoming sentient and god-like is just great. Only worry with these types of books that throw so many great concepts in, is it worth reading to the end? I was lucky to have been warned off of Endymion after devouring Hyperion 
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Aug 10, 2015 03:16
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Famethrowa posted:Just picked up A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge and I'm really digging it so far. The idea of a galaxy spanning internet becoming sentient and god-like is just great. Yep, it's good all the way through! A Deepness in the Sky is equally good
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Aug 10, 2015 03:22
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angel opportunity posted:Yep, it's good all the way through! A Deepness in the Sky is equally good I loved the first two. Haven't bothered with the third since I heard it was so so.
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Aug 10, 2015 04:02
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The third is clearly a setup for a final novel. Unfortunately it ditches most of the cool technology poo poo Vinge is great at for more Tines shenanigans. I don't hate the Tines or anything but the rat puppies are just nowhere near as cool as malevolent broken AIs.
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Aug 10, 2015 04:46
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Famethrowa posted:Just picked up A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge and I'm really digging it so far. The idea of a galaxy spanning internet becoming sentient and god-like is just great. I just finished A Fire Upon the Deep two days ago, and I read A Deepness in the Sky just before that. They're both good, but I don't think either of them stands out among Hugo winners. I didn't care for Vinge's execution of the Usenet-style galactic communications network, but I really liked the Skroderiders. I don't know how far in you are, but if you're enjoying the story, and you've gotten at least as far as the first planetfall, you'll probably enjoy it all the way through. There's definitely no reason to quit halfway through or anything, assuming you're asking about this book, and not the entire Zones of Thought series. I think the ending is a little weak, but it's not horrible.
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Aug 10, 2015 08:49
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Centripetal Horse posted:I just finished A Fire Upon the Deep two days ago, and I read A Deepness in the Sky just before that. They're both good, but I don't think either of them stands out among Hugo winners. I didn't care for Vinge's execution of the Usenet-style galactic communications network, but I really liked the Skroderiders. I don't know how far in you are, but if you're enjoying the story, and you've gotten at least as far as the first planetfall, you'll probably enjoy it all the way through. The Usenet thing really dates it but something about a sort of space SomethingAwful being the basis of civilization really got me  .I'm just starting to really meet the wolf things, whose whole concept is pretty neat. I'll definitely finish it. I've just been burned too often by disappointing endings 
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Aug 10, 2015 09:34
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Famethrowa posted:I've just been burned too often by disappointing endings the journey, not the destination...blah blah blah
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Aug 10, 2015 17:17
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Famethrowa posted:I've just been burned too often by disappointing endings No spoilers, I've always thought Vernor Vinge wrote some of the best endings: just the right amount of closure, wrap up, villain getting comeuppance and sequel plot threads unresolved. ...well, except for "Children of the Sky". That book was rubbish.
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Aug 10, 2015 17:24
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Jedit posted:I am probably the only person here who owns a copy of Stars. This will hopefully change shortly. I'm the second with a physical copy. Not sure where I got it but I can confirm there's some really good short story material in there. Also thanks for this thread for the recommendation of Aurora. I bought it on a whim for my birthday and I haven't regretted paying for the hardback copy. I might have to explore the Mars series now; I think I tried them back as a pre-teen and I found them too dry to keep my interest.
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Aug 10, 2015 17:41
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I'll go out on a limb and say that i thought deepness was a better book, I really like the ideas behind a fire upon the deep but i didn't like the tines segments all that much. The spider aliens were more interesting.
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Aug 10, 2015 17:41
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Deepness was my favourite too. They're both great but I think Deepness is one of the best SF books I've ever read, along with Hyperion. The 30 page flashback Pham has is in itself an epic space opera. And it's surrounded by a fantastic first contact story.
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Aug 10, 2015 22:39
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Why a monolitic thread about SciFi and Fantasy? Why you've done this to me?  I mean seriously, this is really really bad.
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Aug 11, 2015 01:01
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Checking in with the Hugo news: http://carriecuinn.com/2015/08/10/a-statement-about-lou-antonelli-lakeside-circus-harassment-and-safety/
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Aug 11, 2015 01:16
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Snuffman posted:No spoilers, I've always thought Vernor Vinge wrote some of the best endings: just the right amount of closure, wrap up, villain getting comeuppance and sequel plot threads unresolved. This makes me very sad. Admittedly, the way Fire is setup makes a sequel to Deepness impossible, or at least hard to justify, but Vinge is so good that the mediocrity of Children is just depressing. He writes one every five years or so, so a stinker makes the wait pretty long.
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Aug 11, 2015 01:25
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fritz posted:Checking in with the Hugo news: http://carriecuinn.com/2015/08/10/a-statement-about-lou-antonelli-lakeside-circus-harassment-and-safety/ Do you ever stumble into an online argument halfway in and try to figure out what positions are actually being taken, but the argument has already progressed to the point where both sides are just taking semantic potshots and complaining about complaints made regarding previous complaints? I'm getting that feeling right now.
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Aug 11, 2015 04:42
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andrew smash posted:I'll go out on a limb and say that i thought deepness was a better book, I really like the ideas behind a fire upon the deep but i didn't like the tines segments all that much. The spider aliens were more interesting. I think both alien races are interesting, but I prefer the multiplicity of alien cultures in A Fire Upon the Deep. Although most of the races weren't gone into very deeply in A Fire Upon the Deep, it made the environment in that book seem richer. I'm not sure I could pick a favorite between the Tines and the Spiders, but with a gun to my head, I might say "spiders" because I liked Sherkaner and Hrunkner. I think Vinge does a better job of shifting between viewpoints in A Fire Upon the Deep. I really didn't like the jumping back and forth between the humans and the spiders in A Deepness in the Sky. I found it annoying and distracting. There were several times I didn't even want to keep reading because I felt he had cut from one story to the other at a bad time, mainly when he would shift just as I was becoming invested in the current storyline. I didn't get that feeling from A Fire Upon the Deep.
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Aug 11, 2015 04:43
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DolphinCop posted:Do you ever stumble into an online argument halfway in and try to figure out what positions are actually being taken, but the argument has already progressed to the point where both sides are just taking semantic potshots and complaining about complaints made regarding previous complaints? I'm getting that feeling right now. I've no idea who the people involved in that argument actually are, but the guy did his best effort to try and get a guy arrested short of SWATing him to prevent him from speaking at a con, because of some stupid disagreement, flat out admitted it on a podcast, and then played the victim and riled up harassment and threats against someone who called him out on it. That seems less of a semantic potshot and more completely unacceptable harassment. Wolpertinger fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Aug 11, 2015 |
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Aug 11, 2015 06:49
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Man... Django Wexler's Shadow Campaigns is great. I've been listening to "Revolutions" podcast lately and it's gotten me into a real French Revolution mood. French Revolution with demons and stuff is awesome. I've ploughed about a third into Price of Valor and it's only gotten better with every book. I kind of wish Janus was a POV character as the POV characters are probably the weakest part of the books. I can see why he isn't though. It's kinda funny how obvious of a stand-in he is to Napoleon: A lower noble beloved by his subordinates. Originating from a faraway province with a distinct, ugly sounding, accent. Interested and an expert in artillery. Called by his first name. I wonder what figure from the revolution this guy represents!
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Aug 11, 2015 08:48
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Janus wouldn't really work as a POV character because the entire thing about his plotting and strategies is that nobody else knows what he's up to, what his goals are, or how trustworthy he actually is. Putting the reader inside his head would change that all up. Sure, the other characters still wouldn't know, but I think that getting to look behind the curtain would make things worse.
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Aug 11, 2015 10:37
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It would be like making Sherlock Holmes a viewpoint character, I feel. He's too wierd to be a relateable character and his role in the story is somewhat of a deus ex machina. That and keeping his vaguely hinted at deeper motivations secret.
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Aug 11, 2015 10:54
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Wolpertinger posted:I've no idea who the people involved in that argument actually are, but the guy did his best effort to try and get a guy arrested short of SWATing him to prevent him from speaking at a con, because of some stupid disagreement, flat out admitted it on a podcast, and then played the victim and riled up harassment and threats against someone who called him out on it. That seems less of a semantic potshot and more completely unacceptable harassment. Antonelli is pretty much a POS but on File 770's roundup there's a post from him basically claiming he's just a tone deaf idiot and an actual apology. On the one hand, he seems to have kind of a history of that sort of behavior--on the other he seems to be trying to make good this time. Not sure about the believability of his excuses though, there's no way you could possibly post something like that and not expect the target to receive a torrent of abuse. Also, among other recommendations to the business meeting this year, the committee set up last year to investigate adding a YA Hugo has recommended doing that. It would contrast to the Andre Norton Award in that ANA is given by the SFWA like the Nebulas, and a YA Hugo would be nominated and voted in the normal (whatever normal shall become) way. Given the immense surge of YA SF/Fantasy, it seems like a fair addition though I don't know how much the award would mean to the YA community which is somewhat separate from the Hugo areas of genre. I suppose it might be an olive branch to get the two talking more. occamsnailfile fucked around with this message at 13:47 on Aug 11, 2015 |
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Aug 11, 2015 13:32
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Fart of Presto posted:Last year I bought the first book in the Diving series, Diving into the Wreck by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, after reading an interesting review, probably on io9 or SF Signal, but never got around to reading it yet.
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Aug 11, 2015 15:15
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Turtlicious posted:Halfway through the 2nd Book of The Iron Druid Chronicles and I find it charming, and extremely entertaining. Oberon, (the talking Irish Wolfhound,) is increasingly entertaining, and Atticus reads like a roleplayer out of Scion more then anything. Which I find both hilarious and Entertaining.
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Aug 11, 2015 15:17
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boneration posted:Because they're not the best examples of UF and they are really derivative of the Dresden Files. But if you ain't read much UF I can see why you might find them a decent read.  Dresden drives a crummy VW bug" jokes? I only got through the first 4 or 5 novels before I wanted to kill myself.
coyo7e fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Aug 11, 2015 |
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Aug 11, 2015 15:19
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coyo7e posted:On the other hand, every Dresden novel makes a DBZ fight scene look non-formulaic. Is he still making crappy " :hurf: Dresden drives a crummy VW bug" jokes? I only got through the first 4 or 5 novels before I wanted to kill myself. liking Dresden Files is a good indicator of someone who's loving retarded
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Aug 11, 2015 15:21
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coyo7e posted:Jesus, she should have picked a different title, because googling for that title sure doesn't bring up her book anywhere near the top of the results. Gonna take a wild stab in the dark that this may just have been intentional. (E for a link to the poem.) fritz posted:Checking in with the Hugo news: http://carriecuinn.com/2015/08/10/a-statement-about-lou-antonelli-lakeside-circus-harassment-and-safety/ Just wondering what on earth Gerrold actually said in the first place, because I'm sure it wasn;t the only interesting news he's had all year which is he's finally finished that loving book. Safety Biscuits fucked around with this message at 15:39 on Aug 11, 2015 |
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Aug 11, 2015 15:23
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corn in the bible posted:liking Dresden Files is a good indicator of someone who's loving retarded
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Aug 11, 2015 15:29
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House Louse posted:Just wondering what on earth Gerrold actually said in the first place, because I'm sure it wasn;t the only interesting news he's had all year which is he's finally finished that loving book.  I am assuming it'll go downhill from there because Gerrold actually started talking finally (he's the fat old man avatar.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=956&v=k2szrGY-nqE edit: oh god, Gerrold leapt in with this gem, "well there's not much fiction written about places other than North America." coyo7e fucked around with this message at 15:43 on Aug 11, 2015 |
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Aug 11, 2015 15:39
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The Dark Forest (Three Body Problem #2) and Fitz and the Fool #2 both out today. Time to read! 
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Aug 11, 2015 16:56
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Chriswizard posted:It would. Just binged Fool's Quest in a day. It's an book with a lot of payoff. I do agree with you, she did fall off her game with the non-Fitz books. Couldn't read anything after Tawny Man, but I think this trilogy will be very good indeed. I decided to give it a chance and I've not been disappointed either. Fitz is a very bad dad though
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Aug 11, 2015 17:26
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McCoy Pauley posted:So I hesitate to make this judgment at the halfway mark, but so far, Austin Grossman's Crooked -- about Richard Nixon getting involved with various occult conspiracies during this political career -- is reminding me of Tim Powers's Declare. It's not completely blowing me away like Declare does, which is easily among my top 5 books, but Crooked is really great so far, and closer to Declare then I had hoped going into it. Just want to say I picked this up on your description and have been really enjoying it. It's a great portrayal of how Nixon would have acted if he was faced with Sorceror Supreme Ike.
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Aug 11, 2015 17:44
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Kalman posted:Just want to say I picked this up on your description and have been really enjoying it. It's a great portrayal of how Nixon would have acted if he was faced with Sorceror Supreme Ike. Great -- glad you enjoyed it. I just finished Crooked this morning and it remained great through to the end. The comparisons I inevitably drew to Declare did not disappoint. It didn't had quite the same sense of mystery, but Grossman does a good job of doing those things that make Declare so great -- filling in the gaps of history with occult underpinnings and supernatural explanation. So many nice little asides about historical figures and minor events. And like Declare made me want to move on to a biography of Kim Philby, this book makes me want to move on to a biography of Nixon (and also Ike).
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Aug 11, 2015 18:35
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