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flosofl posted:Again, been a while, but aren't Druss stories usually told from the POV of his companions or enemies. To me, he's the archetype of the indomitable spirit. Druss stories are less about Druss overcoming adversity, and more about the impact his indomitable courage, integrity, and loyalty have on the people and places around him. Remember, he was in his teens when he took an oath (given somewhat sarcastically to him by a man more or less trying to discourage him from being a hero) to: Except he didn't. In Legend it's openly acknowledged that Druss lies like a bastard. He even lies about his own legend being a lie - when he's asked in Legend if the story about him slaying a werebeast is true he replies "No, I just killed a lot of men in a lot of battles", but the later books show that not only was that story true he also did a heap of heroic deeds off the battlefield. The Iron Code was a later addition and not a consistent one.
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Sep 7, 2015 13:03
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I just got an email that my copy of The Traitor Baru Cormorant by some guy I've never heard of has been shipped! 
Sulphagnist fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Sep 7, 2015 |
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Sep 7, 2015 16:02
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E: ^^ Feel free to leave a bad review in the thread.Darth Walrus posted:Sorry for continuing this derail, but I find chatting about the cultural/historical context of literature interesting and this is a fairly important and widespread misconception. No this is the best derail about authors we've ever had here. Sorry if that sounds sarcastic but it's great to actually read interesting posts about authors with shitheaded opinions rather than just "lol this neckbeard" or whatever. Anyway, while the 20s-30s were the high water mark for eugenics and "scientific" racism, I think Lovecraft and Howard's deals were generally more personal than that. Lovecraft had serious mental issues all his life and basically pitiable. Howard was (also very troubled) rural Texan who barely left his home town, comparing him to the Harlem Renaissance or even the Futurians is, for want of a better word, unfair. ~ I don't read enough short sf, what are the best online magazines?
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Sep 7, 2015 16:55
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House Louse posted:I don't read enough short sf, what are the best online magazines? Clarkesworld and Tor.com win the most awards. The other ones I keep track of are Lightspeed, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Strange Horizons, Apex, and Shimmer. Antti posted:I just got an email that my copy of The Traitor Baru Cormorant by some guy I've never heard of has been shipped! I hope you like it! They even did a Fantasy Map, and I'm really proud of it — it's got the usual lines of mountains and weird fantasy names, but on top of that Baru's sketched her own notes about who's going to starve, who might rebel, which names she thinks are dumb, and what she doesn't understand. You can check it out with the Look Inside button above the cover image. General Battuta fucked around with this message at 18:03 on Sep 7, 2015 |
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Sep 7, 2015 17:12
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FastestGunAlive posted:
Read Benjamin Percy's The Dead Lands, it's awesome and got everything you're looking for in spades. While people are talking about Gemmel, has anyone read the fantasy book his wife had published this year?
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Sep 7, 2015 19:40
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savinhill posted:Read Benjamin Percy's The Dead Lands, it's awesome and got everything you're looking for in spades. I wasn't even aware she did anything other than polish Troy: Fall of Kings after her husband died. It looks like it has middling to fair reviews, but I wonder how many of them went in expecting a David Gemmel-esque book? I'll probably put this on my Will Read Eventually list.
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Sep 7, 2015 20:01
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savinhill posted:Read Benjamin Percy's The Dead Lands, it's awesome and got everything you're looking for in spades. Do you mean The City? Yes, i read it. It was OK and definitely in the later style of her husband - I suspect she had been doing some polish for years - but lacked the muscular script.
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Sep 8, 2015 00:14
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Antti posted:I just got an email that my copy of The Traitor Baru Cormorant by some guy I've never heard of has been shipped! I put it on my wish list to grab the kindle version Then Amazon started recommending books that self identify as sad puppies and talk about john scalzi being an evil sjw So basically Amazon made me not want to buy the book even if it's a good goon written book
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Sep 8, 2015 02:20
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I saw a bunch of those titles on the Amazon top list or whatever. Similar names and no cover art. I clicked on one and per the reviews I think it was satire but I have no idea what's going on with them. And thank you all for the recommendations earlier. Added most of them to my list
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Sep 8, 2015 02:25
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EVGA Longoria posted:I put it on my wish list to grab the kindle version Jesus  I have nothing to do with any of that, I don't know why Amazon would connect them. I'm sorry!
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Sep 8, 2015 02:29
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General Battuta posted:Jesus Yeah I'm actually gonna buy the book cause it seems good and cool and stuff Just letting you know it shows up connected. And it's probably because your name is linked to destiny and sad puppies are almost universally gamers gate people who love core games and poo poo
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Sep 8, 2015 02:51
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How is a book not available in Australia in 2015?
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Sep 8, 2015 02:52
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If it makes you feel any better, I pre-ordered the Kindle version just now and my 'Also Recommended' list is City of Blades, Archivist Wasp, Ancillary Mercy, and a lot of stuff by KJ Parker.
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Sep 8, 2015 02:55
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General Battuta posted:Jesus Because a fair amount of people that buy sci-fi and fantasy are buying those things to support whichever "side" they happen to be on, and Amazon's recommendation algorithms are notoriously terrible.
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Sep 8, 2015 03:06
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Amazon's book recommendations are utterly, irreparably broken for me. It'll never stop showing garbage self-published mil-scifi novels no matter how many times I go through the lists and say I'm not interested in them. And when it's not doing that it's telling me to check out "New Releases" that are just books up for pre-order that aren't coming out for a year 
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Sep 8, 2015 03:56
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Mine are completely hosed because I buy stuff I want in physical format and pick up the occasional ebook when they're free or really cheap, but my wife uses my account to buy all of her ebooks, which tend to be YA stuff or things like Outlander. It makes for a really schizophrenic recommendation list. What I find to be a little better is to just search for a book I like and see what gets recommended on its product page.
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Sep 8, 2015 03:58
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Ornamented Death posted:Mine are completely hosed because I buy stuff I want in physical format and pick up the occasional ebook when they're free or really cheap, but my wife uses my account to buy all of her ebooks, which tend to be YA stuff or things like Outlander. It makes for a really schizophrenic recommendation list. Yes, this. Not only was I fighting a losing battle against self-puclished books rising to the top, my fiancé uses my account (for the Kindle Unlimited) and now my recommendation have not only the afore mentioned self-published science fiction & fantasy, but also lovely romance novels peppered with the occasional weird self published erotica (she *claims* she finds them "funny".. whatever, dear). At this point I think King Canute had better odds with the tide than I do ever fixing my Amazon book recommendations. That's why I rely on you all to save me. I'm doomed, aren't I? 
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Sep 8, 2015 04:20
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thehomemaster posted:How is a book not available in Australia in 2015? They don't want the crims to steal it, natch
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Sep 8, 2015 04:21
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thehomemaster posted:How is a book not available in Australia in 2015? It's about abuse of immigrants? /zing
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Sep 8, 2015 04:30
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flosofl posted:Yes, this. Not only was I fighting a losing battle against self-puclished books rising to the top, my fiancé uses my account (for the Kindle Unlimited) and now my recommendation have not only the afore mentioned self-published science fiction & fantasy, but also lovely romance novels peppered with the occasional weird self published erotica (she *claims* she finds them "funny".. whatever, dear). At this point I think King Canute had better odds with the tide than I do ever fixing my Amazon book recommendations. That's why I rely on you all to save me. I'd just turn off your browsing history. That's what I ended up doing after I got tired of every loving amazon link somebody sends me getting added into my browsing history unless I went and cleaned it up.
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Sep 8, 2015 04:59
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EVGA Longoria posted:I put it on my wish list to grab the kindle version Was it recommending John Scalzi Is Not A Very Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular: How SJWs Always Lie About Our Comparative Popularity Levels? Because you should buy the audiobook version, it is read by John Scalzi. Or just listen to it for free.
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Sep 8, 2015 05:25
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flosofl posted:Yes, this. Not only was I fighting a losing battle against self-puclished books rising to the top, my fiancé uses my account (for the Kindle Unlimited) and now my recommendation have not only the afore mentioned self-published science fiction & fantasy, but also lovely romance novels peppered with the occasional weird self published erotica (she *claims* she finds them "funny".. whatever, dear). At this point I think King Canute had better odds with the tide than I do ever fixing my Amazon book recommendations. That's why I rely on you all to save me. Ask your wife if she likes Clara Wintersnow
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Sep 8, 2015 05:36
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Has anyone read the Shadow Campaign books (Thousand Names...etc), and if so, how were they?pseudorandom name posted:Was it recommending John Scalzi Is Not A Very Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular: How SJWs Always Lie About Our Comparative Popularity Levels? Holy poo poo the "customers also bought" section of that page 
Evil Fluffy fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Sep 8, 2015 |
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Sep 8, 2015 08:05
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I read The Thousand Names a few weeks ago and people have been talking about the series as a whole too. I enjoyed the first book a lot, there's a lot of infantry squares and bedouins doing guerrilla raids on horseback and a dash of magic stuff as you get to the latter half of the book. The male POV character is nothing to write home about but the female POV is a good one and there's a Totally Not Napoleon military commander. From what I've read of the rest of the series, knowing the French Revolution well seems to be both a blessing and a curse in that you appreciate the references to it but also can see some things coming and the parallels can get, for want of a better word, Kayesque. (In honour of Guy Gavriel Kay, who lifts historical settings wholesale, but does it really really expertly so you don't mind.)
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Sep 8, 2015 08:19
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I also recently finished the first book and quite enjoyed it. The combat is well written and there are some solid characters. I get that it's supposed to be not France but I got more of a not England vibe from the army. Janus is also different enough from Napoleon to make him more than a complete copy. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
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Sep 8, 2015 12:13
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Yeah I probably oversold the Napoleon angle. Janus is obviously more of a Renaissance Man or a man of letters and not career military like Napoleon. Janus is also a nobleman by birth. In the first book Janus doesn't have an obvious "That guy is a military genius!" moment, his capability is more general than that.
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Sep 8, 2015 13:10
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The second book is way more NotFrance.
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Sep 8, 2015 13:13
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PINING 4 PORKINS posted:Amazon's book recommendations are utterly, irreparably broken for me. It'll never stop showing garbage self-published mil-scifi novels no matter how many times I go through the lists and say I'm not interested in them. It keeps recommending me books that I've already bought from them.
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Sep 8, 2015 13:30
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fritz posted:It keeps recommending me books that I've already bought from them. "You just bought Harry Potter book 5, would you like to buy Harry Potter book 1?" "You just bought "The Great Dune Trilogy" would you like to buy Children of Dune?"
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Sep 8, 2015 13:36
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fritz posted:It keeps recommending me books that I've already bought from them. I get recs for physical copies of books I have bought kindle versions of and vice versa pretty frequently
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Sep 8, 2015 14:32
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Starting a read-through of all of Zelazny's work, as I finally have enough time to read for my own enjoyment again. Debating how to go about it - my original plan was to go chronologically, but after reviewing the wall of stuff he's written, I'm working to pare down the list to something more manageable. I've read most of his stuff, barring some of his Dilvish stuff and a variety of short stories, so I don't think I'm missing too much if I skip some of his pulpier fantasy, but the goal here is to get a complete picture of his writing career. Any under-appreciated gems or particular favorites for folks? I've always enjoyed his interestingly pragmatic approach to writing - you can tell some of his stuff was written to pay the bills (which isn't bad - I enjoyed the humor in Unicorn Variations along with the story of how he wrote it to sell three times) and others were written for his love of experimenting with his writing.
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Sep 8, 2015 15:20
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Hedningen posted:Starting a read-through of all of Zelazny's work, as I finally have enough time to read for my own enjoyment again. Debating how to go about it - my original plan was to go chronologically, but after reviewing the wall of stuff he's written, I'm working to pare down the list to something more manageable. I've read most of his stuff, barring some of his Dilvish stuff and a variety of short stories, so I don't think I'm missing too much if I skip some of his pulpier fantasy, but the goal here is to get a complete picture of his writing career.
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Sep 8, 2015 15:22
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General Battuta posted:Clarkesworld and Tor.com win the most awards. Cheers, I don't think I'd even heard of Shimmer before...
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Sep 8, 2015 15:26
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Ani posted:I think Creatures of Light and Darkness is amazing and is my favorite work of his. It's his best work by far. I've got a(n incredibly worn, previously library-owned) first edition, which was the best find at a library sale I've ever managed.
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Sep 8, 2015 15:37
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A favorite of mine is A Night In Lonesome October. Makes me really sad he didn't do that much more of similarly light fiction. My Name Is Legion is more on the pulpy side but one of his better less-known works.
anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Sep 8, 2015 |
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Sep 8, 2015 17:39
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Has anybdoy read Seeds of Erth by Michael Cobley? I'm about half way through, and enjoying it. Thesecond chapter, when it gets into the religion of the little furry dudes on the planet humans have settled and they're talking about how humans don't understand the dreaming or whatever, I was like, Yeah, The Word For World Is Forest was a great book, but I already read it. But then it went in a different direction and it looks like it's gonna join up with the other plotlines somewhere cool. Also, the prologue is shamelessly ripped off from the first episode of Space Battleship Yamato 2199, so that was fun.
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Sep 8, 2015 21:32
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Hedningen posted:Starting a read-through of all of Zelazny's work, as I finally have enough time to read for my own enjoyment again. Debating how to go about it - my original plan was to go chronologically, but after reviewing the wall of stuff he's written, I'm working to pare down the list to something more manageable. I've read most of his stuff, barring some of his Dilvish stuff and a variety of short stories, so I don't think I'm missing too much if I skip some of his pulpier fantasy, but the goal here is to get a complete picture of his writing career. Read his collaborations. The Black Throne, with Fred Saberhagen, Dies Irae, with Philip K. Dick, The Mask of Loki, with Thomas Thurston Thomas, and any of his Millennial Series, with Robert Sheckley. Read the collection The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of his Mouth, or, if you can find them, the 2009 six-volume complete edition of his short stories. If you can't, also track down the collection The Last Defender of Camelot. Some of his short novels that are somewhat harder to find: Bridge of Ashes, The Dream Master, the YA novel A Dark Traveling. The two novels Jane Lindskold finished after Zelazny's death are, in my opinion, fairly weak, but if you want a look at his last works, track down Donnerjack and Lord Demon, along with the adventure game Chronomaster, or, if you don't want to fiddle with DOSBox, the novelization, also written by Lindskold from Zelazny's drafts and notes. This is all assuming you've read through the Amber novels, Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness, This Immortal, Roadmarks, Isle of the Dead, Eye of Cat, A Night In The Lonesome October, and Today We Choose Faces, which seems pretty safe to assume.
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Sep 8, 2015 23:58
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I'm a little further along in Aurora now, 55% or so, and things have taken a turn for the awesome. (spoilers for about 55% through) So all the people on Aurora died, then there was the vote over what to do, then violence broke out, the ship (kinda?) gained sentience and intervened, the revelations about the second starship came out, and now there's more bitter debate under ship's gentle authoritarianism. Ship kinda puts me in mind of a proto-Mind from the Culture, at this point  I love ship, and I'm enjoying this book much more now.
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Sep 9, 2015 00:12
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Effectronica posted:Read his collaborations. The Black Throne, with Fred Saberhagen, Dies Irae, with Philip K. Dick, The Mask of Loki, with Thomas Thurston Thomas, and any of his Millennial Series, with Robert Sheckley. Good to hear. The Saberhagen collaboration is the only one I've yet to find a copy of, so I'll look into getting it. Hell, I've read his thesis, which was probably the worst possible use of thesis databases.
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Sep 9, 2015 00:12
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Hedrigall posted:I'm a little further along in Aurora now, 55% or so, and things have taken a turn for the awesome. Yay!
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Sep 9, 2015 02:45
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