|
Solitair posted:For some reason I thought "The Little Sisters of Eluria" was kind of lacking when I read it a few years ago. Looking at it now, no, it's not great, but if you can't get enough of that world...
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2017 02:32
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 20, 2024 07:56 |
|
|
BravestOfTheLamps posted:Back in the 17th century in this alternate timeline There is no genre more tragic than alternate history. It has such potential, but it's such a corpus of garbage (mostly right-wing, libertarian, and racist; sometimes just ahistorical nonsense that undermines its own premise) that something being advertised as alternate history is enough to make me not bother. I mean we're talking about a not-poo poo:poo poo ratio somewhere around that of furry fiction.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2017 02:44
|
|
|
VideoTapir posted:There is no genre more tragic than alternate history. It has such potential, but it's such a corpus of garbage (mostly right-wing, libertarian, and racist; sometimes just ahistorical nonsense that undermines its own premise) that something being advertised as alternate history is enough to make me not bother. I mean we're talking about a not-poo poo:poo poo ratio somewhere around that of furry fiction. I once read an alternate history anthology, and the only story I remember with clarity was a "what if China colonized America before Europe" deal. Their new nation was called the United Sandalwood Autocracies.
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2017 03:57
|
|
|
Oh yeah, there's this: http://www.bigheadpress.com/tpbtgn?page=1
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2017 05:44
|
|
|
VideoTapir posted:There is no genre more tragic than alternate history. It has such potential, but it's such a corpus of garbage (mostly right-wing, libertarian, and racist; sometimes just ahistorical nonsense that undermines its own premise) that something being advertised as alternate history is enough to make me not bother. I mean we're talking about a not-poo poo:poo poo ratio somewhere around that of furry fiction. Also a magnet for 'steampunk'
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2017 05:58
|
|
|
I found a lil book about vaporwave called "Babbling Corpse: Vaporwave & The Commodification of Ghosts", super interesting read if you've ever battled with a feeling of discontented nostalgia all your life. Or just like vapor.
|
|
|
#
?
Mar 31, 2017 16:05
|
|
|
Just finished Affinity Konar's Mischling, which was essentially the book I've been trying to write for years - a magical realist (in prose style, at least) novel about a pair of twins in Josef Mengele's medical experiment "zoo". A great read and wonderfully written, even with a rather distracting deus ex machina at the end. I either picked the best or worst time to read a Holocaust novel, though...
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2017 06:14
|
|
|
George Orwell's 1984. Never had it assigned in school when I was younger. I liked the story and love his writing style.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2017 04:03
|
|
|
Just finished reading Julius Evola's Against The Modern World and it's giving me chills with respect to today's political climate.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2017 04:24
|
|
|
Rolo posted:George Orwell's 1984. Never had it assigned in school when I was younger. I liked the story and love his writing style. What is your interpretation of the story's meaning? What had you heard about it before you read it? Given that you were never officially indoctrinated into it, this could be interesting.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2017 19:15
|
|
|
VideoTapir posted:What is your interpretation of the story's meaning? What had you heard about it before you read it? I'd love to talk about it, try-hard post incoming when I get home tonight.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2017 19:37
|
|
|
Ok, so while I didn't have any former education on the book, I did know going in that, based on Animal Farm, this would probably be political commentary on capitalism, totalitarianism, or something like that. That's about it. I'm also not going to put spoiler tags on a book written over 50 years ago that I just so happen not to read until recently, so be warned. Considering my country's current political/media status: They had these vast human servers in the ministry of truth, able to efficiently take in and process data through the lower party workers while filtering out the junk. That coupled with televisions capable of output and input through a network meant that these people had essentially created a rudimentary (highly limited) version of the internet. The more advanced these social technologies became, the more useless facts became. The book exaggerated this, of course, but it still made me think about how gullible people still are in our age of extremely accessible information. I want to go back and tell Orwell that "alternative facts" would be a thing in 2017 and see his reaction. My personal interpretation of the book was easy to decide until part three, and I still haven't nailed it down. Up until that point It was basically "question the status quo, step outside of your mental comfort zone and try to see the world as it really is so you can change it for the better." I loved his exaggerated totalitarian world. it gave the reader something extreme to see as a problem and to compare to modern life. The parts about the class-system, the need for war and the assault on education were pretty relatable. Then I got to the last third and my thinking changed more from "be more rebellious of unfair government" to "the world just really sucks and if it wants you to go away, it will make it happen without making you the smallest stain in a history book you won't write. Enjoy the little things you have and don't try to clog the meat grinder with your hand." The protagonist's spectacular defeat at the end really drove this part home for me. I mean, gently caress, that last chapter. Poor Winston, I thought they were just gonna shoot him or something easy. Edit: the more I think of it, there's a bright side to be found about personal mental freedom. "Freedom is the freedom to say that two and two make four, if that is granted, all else follows." This isn't just about telling the truth to me, but more so about being able to believe it. It tells me that there will never be total control over you if your mind is still your own, while simultaneously showing how horrifying it would be to have it taken away. Side note: He wrote O'Brien so well. He was the best antagonist and personification of the party. A big, strong, well spoken man who has absolute power over a hopeless Winston. I noted a lot of things he said towards the end, but the line "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever" hit so hard, and I'm so glad that line never got spoiled for me before reading it in the proper context. I kept re-reading their dialogue at the end. Liked the book. It was upsetting, but I guess that's the point. Rolo fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Apr 3, 2017 |
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2017 17:11
|
|
|
george saunders' lincoln in the bardo. a very quick read and super enjoyable
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2017 18:28
|
|
|
Just finished Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I'd never seen the movie and had limited knowledge on Thompson going in, although I knew the book was wild and drug fueled. Reading some reviews now that I've read the book I'm seeing a lot of people talk about how funny it was, and I didn't get that at all. It was absurd, and (compellingly) insane, but I wasn't really laughing very often other than a few points where the insanity of the moment had really gotten me or a handful of lines. If I would have expected it to be funny going in I would've been disappointed, but it just read to me as an absurd drug binge adventure through Las Vegas and for that I really liked it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2017 06:18
|
|
|
chernobyl kinsman posted:george saunders' lincoln in the bardo. a very quick read and super enjoyable Just finished CivilwarLand in Bad Decline recently by him too, fantastic read. Is all his stuff good?
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2017 08:25
|
|
|
Fork of Unknown Origins posted:Just finished Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I'd never seen the movie and had limited knowledge on Thompson going in, although I knew the book was wild and drug fueled. It's not an overt comedy like Confederacy of Dunces, but there's some dark humor throughout. You can't see the humor in a less-than-savory character hallucinating a room full of fancy patrons of a nice hotel (that he isn't paying for) as blood soaked lizards? The intention isn't to make you bust a gut, but it's certainly humorous. You really shouldn't see the world through Gonzo's eyes and or relate to the events through him. He's your tour guide, and should be considered as the lunatic he is. Sandwolf posted:Just finished CivilwarLand in Bad Decline recently by him too, fantastic read. Is all his stuff good? Yes. He's pretty much the high standard comparison for American short stories along with Carver and O'Connor.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2017 15:55
|
|
|
Franchescanado posted:It's not an overt comedy like Confederacy of Dunces, but there's some dark humor throughout. You can't see the humor in a less-than-savory character hallucinating a room full of fancy patrons of a nice hotel (that he isn't paying for) as blood soaked lizards? The intention isn't to make you bust a gut, but it's certainly humorous. You really shouldn't see the world through Gonzo's eyes and or relate to the events through him. He's your tour guide, and should be considered as the lunatic he is. Oh yeah I see the absurd, dark humor and appreciate it, I guess I just wouldn't call that "funny." I think I took from the book what you're saying. My comment wasn't a criticism of the book, more of the reviews I read afterward which I think could give someone a very inaccurate view of what they're walking in to.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2017 23:19
|
|
|
Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman This is kind of a good example for why I don't read many short stories. I enjoyed the longer ones in the book where he had time to flesh out plot and characters. However, most of them were shorter and felt like he was in a "I just got a creative idea. I need to write something about it" mode.
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2017 03:06
|
|
|
The Grey posted:Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman that is a problem because neil gaiman has never had a creative idea in his life
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2017 06:53
|
|
|
try to read good short stories instead, like Borges, for example
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2017 10:46
|
|
|
The Grey posted:Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman I agree -- I feel like Gaiman throws ideas onto paper to get them out and doesn't care if it's fleshed-out enough or not, and as a result I'm not a huge fan of his short stories. John Connolly, on the other hand, achieves the sense of a fully completed plot no matter how few pages he uses. That's not to say that he won't leave you with a dangling hook, but you still get the sense that there's a whole story there instead of the half-baked fragments that Gaiman gets published.
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2017 12:03
|
|
|
Slaughterhouse Five. Interesting and easy with some good quotes. I didn't really fall in love with it, though.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2017 03:05
|
|
|
Just finished Xenophon's Anabasis, (started it a little while ago after finishing the Witcher maybe a page or two back, but hit real-life delays so it's taken a while) which I quite enjoyed. I liked how all the Greeks were really democratic and...modern (for lack of better word I guess, in a sense.) however they were always held up by their religious beliefs and superstitious need to sacrifice animals before committing to anything.  Like, there was one chapter where they were in a good position with a whole load of sheep and food, etc. that they obtained via looting/raiding expeditions to the nearby hostile villages, however Xenophon and the other generals just would not move forward with their journey home, until they received a favourable omen. In the end they sacrificed huge amounts of animals each day (in increasing amounts, from memory) to attempt -in vain- to get a good omen, and in the end they ran out of sheep, sacrificed a bunch of their pack animals/beasts of burden, and even then needed to buy some oxen from some random schmo who happened to be travelling along the road nearby, before they got a good omen and were able to head out. (In the process using up a heap of their food. None of this was of course good for the morale of the troops, as a lot were uncertain about the whole affair and others were angry that they didn't just go already)There was also a chapter where the Greeks headed towards a hilly+mountainous area inhabited by aggressive tribals (can't for the life of me remember where it was. Started with a "C" I think; it was not long after the Greeks were betrayed by the Greek general of King Artaxerxes' forces, who promised to lead the Ten Thousand home) and the Cretan archers were shockingly bad when it came to defending against Persian slingers and archers - being outranged by the slingers even! So the Greek generals were like, 'gently caress that, these guys are hopeless!' and quickly cobbled together some slings for a bunch of Rhodians to use - who immediately proved their worth in the subsequent skirmishes. I found this to be quite humorous indeed, as I mentioned it to a friend of mine who always seemed ('seemed' being key here) to love Cretan archers. He wasn't impressed, to say the least! Are there any other books like this? I'm about to read either The Black Company by Glen Cook or The White Company by Sir Arthur Doyle (very original/diverse names, I know), but I'm always looking for more. Major Isoor fucked around with this message at 07:06 on Apr 6, 2017 |
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2017 07:01
|
|
|
Major Isoor posted:Just finished Xenophon's Anabasis, (started it a little while ago after finishing the Witcher maybe a page or two back, but hit real-life delays so it's taken a while) which I quite enjoyed. When I was a kid my brother and I would wait for my parents to fall asleep and then toss a nickel every few minutes, when it came back heads we *knew* we had a better chance and would sneak out to steal candy from the kitchen. Same kind of weird superstitious hang up I guess. I'm glad we didn't live on a farm with livestock who knows how that may have escalated.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2017 07:08
|
|
|
VelociBacon posted:When I was a kid my brother and I would wait for my parents to fall asleep and then toss a nickel every few minutes, when it came back heads we *knew* we had a better chance and would sneak out to steal candy from the kitchen. Same kind of weird superstitious hang up I guess. I'm glad we didn't live on a farm with livestock who knows how that may have escalated. if you didn't sacrifice a sheep to increase the odds of that coin coming up heads, then your childhood superstition did not reach its potential.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2017 17:32
|
|
|
Animal Farm.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2017 19:34
|
|
|
How was it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2017 19:46
|
|
|
Much better as an adult. I hadn't looked at it since I was a kid (reading stuff like Redwall) and didn't really get any of it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2017 19:49
|
|
|
*doing my best a human heart impersonation*: Isn't it crazy how relevant it is to our current political climate?
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2017 19:52
|
|
|
Franchescanado posted:*doing my best a human heart impersonation*: Isn't it crazy how relevant it is to our current political climate? 2/5- Capital letters, not nearly abrasive enough
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2017 22:03
|
|
|
drat, you right. Punctuation as well.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2017 22:09
|
|
|
Franchescanado posted:*doing my best a human heart impersonation*: Isn't it crazy how relevant it is to our current political climate? Feeling a bit upset are we?
|
|
#
?
Apr 7, 2017 05:30
|
|
|
Nah, I just wanted to beat you to the punch. It's your only joke, so I made sure to give you your creds.
|
|
#
?
Apr 7, 2017 15:25
|
|
|
ah poo poo, i'm never going to live down this ownage
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2017 00:47
|
|
|
Been reading a lot of heavier books of late, so decided to pad my book lord total a bit with some straight forward sci fi stories. Reread The Dispossessed for last months thread for the first time in decades, and really enjoyed it--I think I got a lot more out of it this time too. Also just finished Dick's Flow My Tear, the Policeman Said. I think I read this before but so long ago everything other than the overarching story were forgotten. Its a pretty great direct detective-story-meets-mindfuck that Dick dished out, but one element that caught my attention here was a scene in which the main character undergoes a drug induced fugue that left me feeling anxious IRL. He really describes the experience of anxiety and psychological instability perfectly, and effortlessly. Its a center piece of VALIS but here made only a brief, but impactful, appearance. Also for whatever reason I have police states on my mind (  ) so I really appreciated that as well.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2017 04:33
|
|
|
Bilirubin posted:Flow My Tear, the Policeman Said this is such a comically bad title that im continually amazed by the fact that its real
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2017 20:00
|
|
|
Tears, plural, but yeah it's remarkable.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2017 20:38
|
|
|
I generally like Harlan Ellison-esque titles, and I like that one as well.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2017 20:46
|
|
|
Mr. Squishy posted:Tears, plural, but yeah it's remarkable. Yeah I missed the S but it was said, and by a policeman, so
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2017 04:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 20, 2024 07:56 |
|
|
chernobyl kinsman posted:this is such a comically bad title that im continually amazed by the fact that its real It's even more cringeworthy when it's spoken by Jon Lovitz, playing a policeman, in Southland Tales.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2017 19:37
|
|
