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Just be aware that the second book is very different (and divisive). The series really comes into its style from the third on.
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Sep 13, 2015 16:58
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Looking forward to hearing other goons opinion of cinder spires soon
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Sep 13, 2015 22:39
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Finally got around to listening to the 11/22/63 audiobook while waiting for something else that looks interesting to come out and holy poo poo. The narrator for it does an amazing job (currently 22 hours into the 30 hour book).
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Sep 15, 2015 12:24
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Jim Butcher's dog Frost, pictured in his goofiest picture with the sword, died today. He tweeted about it. I'm sure he was a good boy.
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Sep 15, 2015 16:18
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ZorajitZorajit posted:Jim Butcher's dog Frost, pictured in his goofiest picture with the sword, died today. He tweeted about it. I'm sure he was a good boy. Aw man, that's sad. 
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Sep 15, 2015 16:23
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Must have seen Barf's guest appearance in the Cinder Spires cosplay.
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Sep 15, 2015 17:16
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ZorajitZorajit posted:Jim Butcher's dog Frost, pictured in his goofiest picture with the sword, died today. He tweeted about it. I'm sure he was a good boy. =(
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Sep 15, 2015 17:28
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ZorajitZorajit posted:Jim Butcher's dog Frost, pictured in his goofiest picture with the sword, died today. He tweeted about it. I'm sure he was a good boy. Frost was also the inspiration for the wolf-people ambassador in Alera that O can't remember the name of.
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Sep 15, 2015 17:31
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Varg
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Sep 15, 2015 17:45
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How the hell do people read the short stories that weren't in Side Jobs? Is there another collection coming out soon or do people actually find every single small collection of various authors individually? I don't really have an interest in the other stories in any of those other anthologies.
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Sep 15, 2015 18:06
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Skyl3lazer posted:How the hell do people read the short stories that weren't in Side Jobs? Is there another collection coming out soon or do people actually find every single small collection of various authors individually? I don't really have an interest in the other stories in any of those other anthologies. Go to a Barnes and Noble and read Butcher's contribution in the store. Or wait for the next collection, which will probably happen in a year or two.
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Sep 15, 2015 18:14
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They're generally in anthologies yeah. Libraries or reading it in a book store are your best bet for reading them without spending money.
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Sep 15, 2015 18:15
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The three Bigfoot stories are bundled at least, they're even on Audible: http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Working-for-Bigfoot-Audiobook/B0128B9MHK
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Sep 15, 2015 18:48
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I finished The Atrocity Archive on the train on the way into work this morning. While it was slow to start, it was a lot of fun in the end and I really enjoyed reading it. There seemed to be a bit of a jump ahead between the first a second stories in the book; do time skips happen often in the series going forward? Now, I understand the next one (The Jennifer Morgue) is divisive at best. Is it possible for me to ask why it's not so well-liked without giving any of the plot away? (Also, I've got these books in the mass market paperback editions. Can I check how long it usually takes before new books come out in this format? Year or two?)
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Sep 16, 2015 09:47
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Stross started the series as spoofing the writing styles of various others. AA is Deighton - and Jennifer Morgue is Ian Fleming. There's a big change of pace and the plot doesn't touch on the same serious notes as the first one. I suppose it's a James Bond thing; he's just working with really shallow material and a lot of people don't seem to like it. I still think it's a good book for what it is, with a lot of interesting ideas.
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Sep 16, 2015 11:48
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Oh, I see. Well, I like the James Bond novels, so I guess I shouldn't mind?
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Sep 16, 2015 12:10
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anilEhilated posted:Stross started the series as spoofing the writing styles of various others. AA is Deighton - and Jennifer Morgue is Ian Fleming. There's a big change of pace and the plot doesn't touch on the same serious notes as the first one. I suppose it's a James Bond thing; he's just working with really shallow material and a lot of people don't seem to like it. Wow, I'm now moving AA to the top of my queue so I can get to the second one faster. This is great news!
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Sep 16, 2015 15:04
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Wheat Loaf posted:I finished The Atrocity Archive on the train on the way into work this morning. While it was slow to start, it was a lot of fun in the end and I really enjoyed reading it. There seemed to be a bit of a jump ahead between the first a second stories in the book; do time skips happen often in the series going forward? It's just genuinely poorly written. It isn't that it goes for James Bond things but that it does so in a very shallow and uninteresting way. It has one big creative idea but it doesn't support that idea properly and a lot of the book is tedious instead of exciting. There's a clever subversion that is part of the plot but that alone isn't enough to carry the book. The major new character introduced in the book is pretty goddamn dull. It does represent a major status quo change for Mo which carries on for the rest of the series to date but that's about it. The big problem is that you can see what he's trying to do but he doesn't pull it off. I can't discuss it without spoiling the book but I think it's genuinely poorly done while being a cool idea, and I certainly don't think he properly mimics the Fleming novels. I strongly disagree that people dislike it because it is James Bondish. I dislike it because it had a dull plot, mostly uninteresting characters, some extremely poor dialogue even by the series standard, and it really seems built on "this fun twist will carry it." And it is a fun twist, just the execution is lacking. ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Sep 16, 2015 |
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Sep 16, 2015 15:08
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ImpAtom posted:I strongly disagree that people dislike it because it is James Bondish. I dislike it because it had a dull plot, mostly uninteresting characters, some extremely poor dialogue even by the series standard, and it really seems built on "this fun twist will carry it." And it is a fun twist, just the execution is lacking. It's James Bondish, but it's a Pierce Brosnan James Bond. It works as badly in the book as it does in the movies; in a series re-read I skip this one.
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Sep 16, 2015 18:16
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Admittedly, those may all be valid complaints: I never read a James Bond book in my life so really can't tell. Yes, the writing is worse than AA, but I still maintain it's an enjoyable book.
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Sep 16, 2015 18:54
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I've never read a James Bond book in my life either, but I've watched a lot of the movies. My problem is that Jennifer Morgue gives me "Die Another Day" vibes instead of, say, Casino Royale or Skyfall or From Russia With Love.
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Sep 16, 2015 20:30
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anilEhilated posted:Admittedly, those may all be valid complaints: I never read a James Bond book in my life so really can't tell. Yes, the writing is worse than AA, but I still maintain it's an enjoyable book. I've read a few of them and they were all a hell of a lot more boring than any of the movies were. Ian Fleming loved to talk about showering with hot water to clean up and then rinsing under cold water for a while so as not to start sweating immediately after getting out of the shower, and drinking coffee while watching the sunrise and eating a continental breakfast and daydreaming about the mission or woman or whatever.
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Sep 16, 2015 20:38
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As to my other questions (which were sort of overshadowed by my question about the book itself) - a) when can I expect the most recent book to come out in mass market paperback; and b) do the books have time skips between them?
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Sep 16, 2015 20:54
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I like The Jennifer Morgue, but there's the question of is it mediocre because Bob has to follow a path based on mediocre Bond and deliberately written that way, or is it genuinely just a bland book irrelevant of Bob having to act out the Bond scenario? Given the history of Stross' work, I'd say it's the former, but that doesn't excuse the book feeling a bit of a chore to push through. You can't write to a deliberate mediocre level and then expect the book to be a smash hit. It's not bad, it's just not inspired. Thankfully, The Fuller Memorandum fires on almost all cylinders. I'm just now starting Apocalypse Codex.
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Sep 16, 2015 20:57
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Wheat Loaf posted:As to my other questions (which were sort of overshadowed by my question about the book itself) - a) when can I expect the most recent book to come out in mass market paperback; and b) do the books have time skips between them? I have no idea whatsoever, I haven't bought a physical book since I got my first Kindle.
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Sep 16, 2015 21:23
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Not at all - I ask because I'm an OCD  who once sold a fancy hardcover and bought a cheap paperback replacement so all the spines would line up on my bookshelf. 
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Sep 16, 2015 21:26
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I once threw three carloads of old paperbacks into a recycling dumpster because I was fed up with having to store physical books and reselling/donating them is a pain in the rear end that ends up getting you pennies on the dollar at the most. I think we are on different ends of that spectrum.
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Sep 16, 2015 22:04
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Clearly. I like having the physical thing. It's not just books, honestly - I like having CDs which I can put into iTunes better than just having the mp3s. 
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Sep 16, 2015 23:29
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Wheat Loaf posted:As to my other questions (which were sort of overshadowed by my question about the book itself) - a) when can I expect the most recent book to come out in mass market paperback; and b) do the books have time skips between them? Paperback releases generally lag a year behind hardcover releases. Generally, yes, there's a bit of a time skip, but it if I recall correctly it tends to be a matter of weeks or a few months, not an entire year or more. And don't sweat wanting a physical book: until you sink to this level of anal-retentiveness, you probably don't have a problem.
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Sep 17, 2015 01:56
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It's old news to most of us here, I'm sure, but man was it jarring to not get Marsters for the audio of Ghost Story. I've been listening to the series for a month and a half, and when I first heard Glover, I thought my CD player was on the fritz! Especially after the masterful work Marsters had provided in Changes it was especially distressing to get someone else. I've got it sorted now, with the new Marsters release safely downloaded, so all is well. Anyone know what Marsters ended up doing instead of Ghost Story the first time?
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Sep 17, 2015 06:46
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jng2058 posted:Anyone know what Marsters ended up doing instead of Ghost Story the first time? I believe at the time it was only reported that was not able to do it due to "personal reasons". I don't believe we ever learned what those were.
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Sep 17, 2015 07:13
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The way people talk about Marsters in this thread I sometimes I think that I'm the last person left who actually reads these books, as opposed to listening to them.
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Sep 17, 2015 07:21
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Ornamented Death posted:Generally, yes, there's a bit of a time skip, but it if I recall correctly it tends to be a matter of weeks or a few months, not an entire year or more. Right. It's just that in AA, Bob mentions off-hand that he's 26, then within the first 20 pages or so of JM, he's said he's 28, so I assumed there would be gaps between them like that. quote:And don't sweat wanting a physical book: until you sink to this level of anal-retentiveness, you probably don't have a problem. Well, it's got nothing on this guy and his seemingly complete collection of Star Wars books (which appears to have multiple copies of nearly every book in every format it was released in).
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Sep 17, 2015 08:36
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Man, so I just finished Annihilation Score, and I think this was the first Laundry Files book where the ending just left me cold. I pretty much saw the hook for the next book coming a mile off, and while the plot was good, I just didn't like Mo nearly as much as I did Bob. I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy the book, just... not as much. Hopefully Nightmare Stacks will be better.
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Sep 17, 2015 08:50
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Khizan posted:The way people talk about Marsters in this thread I sometimes I think that I'm the last person left who actually reads these books, as opposed to listening to them. Nah, I'm a reader too. Mostly because until recently, audiobooks were just waaaaay too expensive. With poo poo like audible and my local library service finally getting a decent audio collection, I may do a listen-through just for fun though. Wheat Loaf posted:Well, it's got nothing on this guy and his seemingly complete collection of Star Wars books (which appears to have multiple copies of nearly every book in every format it was released in). Remind me to post some pics of my Star Wars library sometime...I only have multiples of 2 or 3 books (getting signed copies after having already owned the book beforehand), but I do have every single novel, a good collection of young adult stuff, almost every comic, and a whole shelf of reference stuff.
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Sep 17, 2015 12:14
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Khizan posted:The way people talk about Marsters in this thread I sometimes I think that I'm the last person left who actually reads these books, as opposed to listening to them. I read them originally. Reread in many cases. Then all this talk of Marsters in the thread had me give it a whirl, and I was hooked.
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Sep 17, 2015 13:31
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Khizan posted:The way people talk about Marsters in this thread I sometimes I think that I'm the last person left who actually reads these books, as opposed to listening to them. I think a lot of people have long commutes and listen in the car. I like them for "rereads" as the voice acting sometimes gives a little different a take from what I imagined the first time around and it's a lot easier to do something else at the same time.
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Sep 17, 2015 21:49
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Khizan posted:The way people talk about Marsters in this thread I sometimes I think that I'm the last person left who actually reads these books, as opposed to listening to them. It's really the best way to consume the content. Not only is Marsters an excellent narrator, but the pulpy overwrought narrative suits the olde tyme radio drama format quite well.
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Sep 17, 2015 23:49
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Anyone else here checked out Craig Schaefer's Daniel Faust series? I burned through the five out, at the moment, and thought they were all really good. The first serial arc dragged a bit by the third book but the fourth and fifth changed settings for a bit and were a lot better for it.
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Sep 18, 2015 02:52
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SmokinDan posted:Anyone else here checked out Craig Schaefer's Daniel Faust series? I burned through the five out, at the moment, and thought they were all really good. The first serial arc dragged a bit by the third book but the fourth and fifth changed settings for a bit and were a lot better for it. Yeah, I love that series; the new arc that he's started in book four and five seems really interesting, and on top of it, Schaefer himself is a really nice dude a few times I've chatted with him on Twitter. He's also doing a side series based on the Faust character Harmony Black (supernatural FBI agent, essentially) that'll exist in the same universe that'll be coming out in.. January, I think? Early next year, anyways.
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Sep 18, 2015 03:11
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