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anilEhilated posted:While this is probably the worst reason possible, is there any chance it could turn out... alright? Dushku doesn't have the clout to say "this is bad, fix it or else" that, say, Jolie would have. So the outlook is grim.
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Apr 25, 2017 14:29
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Groke posted:As I understand it, a certain author's problem is not so much not writing, but more endlessly rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. Granted, this also results in a dearth of actually finished manuscripts, but the process is different. Oh jeez, we're going to get some sort of 'GRRM's Book of Lost Tales' after he croaks. Except instead of chill old gnomes telling stories it'll be weird gnome incest and murder.
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Apr 25, 2017 15:04
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Autonomous Monster posted:
wat? I can't tell if I should be excited or not? I am going to go with tenatively interested much like the new Blade Runner movie. Although I am curious on the new book that is also apparently coming out? Not too many authors walk away from a series for a decade or more and write another book. Jack2142 fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Apr 25, 2017 |
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Apr 25, 2017 18:24
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Jack2142 posted:wat? It makes me think of that alternate reality Jumper book that Gould wrote as a tie-in to the movie so that they could ditch the Islamic terrorism angle.
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Apr 25, 2017 19:00
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Number Ten Cocks posted:It makes me think of that alternate reality Jumper book that Gould wrote as a tie-in to the movie so that they could ditch the Islamic terrorism angle. He actually wrote a real sequel to jumper recently too.
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Apr 25, 2017 19:17
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Groke posted:As I understand it, a certain author's problem is not so much not writing, but more endlessly rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. 
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Apr 25, 2017 20:07
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 That reminds me, I need to reread Traitor when I finish my Craft Cycle reread. The two actually feel somewhat similar. Maybe it's that they're both in large part about administration. 
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Apr 25, 2017 20:30
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I have a vague memory of trying to read the first Wheel of Time book when I was a kid, thinking something like “drat, nothing interesting has happened for the first hundred pages or so,” and giving up.
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Apr 25, 2017 20:46
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ianmacdo posted:He actually wrote a real sequel to jumper recently too. There's several. Reflex is ok, but terrible bad guys. Impulse is mediocre, his take on an angsty teenage girl. Then Exo is real dumb, the teenage girl who speaks technobabble in completely unbelievable ways.
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Apr 25, 2017 21:13
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Some fifteen hundred posts or so ago I asked if the Malazan series would get any better after book three or so and man am I glad I stuck with it. I remember some goon saying it was a grim series but I think it went way past that in like book six and straight into misery.  and it's a testament to the authors skill that I could not put the books down despite all the increasingly horrifying things happening to everybody.Edit: although I noticed a couple of plotlines not really ending, like Karsa Orlongs whole thing. Biplane fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Apr 26, 2017 |
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Apr 26, 2017 05:48
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Groke posted:As I understand it, a certain author's problem is not so much not writing, but more endlessly rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. Granted, this also results in a dearth of actually finished manuscripts, but the process is different. Oh, you sweet summer child. Groke posted:(Which is an amusing parallel with another author of an earlier generation but with the same middle initials, because that other author was in his time the High King of endless rewrites, to the point where careers were subsequently made from his desk drawers full of leftover drafts and revisions.) I think I have read like 3 different versions of Beren and Luthien as well as the Turion saga, so that doesn't surprise me.
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Apr 26, 2017 06:45
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Biplane posted:Some fifteen hundred posts or so ago I asked if the Malazan series would get any better after book three or so and man am I glad I stuck with it. I remember some goon saying it was a grim series but I think it went way past that in like book six and straight into misery. ...How did you not find the Chain of Dogs miserable, or the literal buildings full of corpses miserable? Oh god what kind of bullet did I miss by not finishing book 3?
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Apr 26, 2017 10:04
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StrixNebulosa posted:...How did you not find the Chain of Dogs miserable, or the literal buildings full of corpses miserable? You didn't finish book 3, Memories of Ice? 
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Apr 26, 2017 10:52
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Cardiac posted:You didn't finish book 3, Memories of Ice? It's long, miserable, and for every interesting thing in the book, they introduce three more things that are aimed at making you sad. 
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Apr 26, 2017 11:32
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StrixNebulosa posted:...How did you not find the Chain of Dogs miserable, or the literal buildings full of corpses miserable? The Chain of Dogs was horrific and also fantastic and its by far the best sequence in the series in my opinion, but the rest is also good and cool, although harrowing and relentlessly bleak.
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Apr 26, 2017 11:53
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Biplane posted:The Chain of Dogs was horrific and also fantastic and its by far the best sequence in the series in my opinion, but the rest is also good and cool, although harrowing and relentlessly bleak. Fair enough! ...I liked the first book best out of the set as it wasn't relentlessly horrible. I was hoping the rest of the series would be more in that line, and nope. It's bleak, sad, bleak, or horrific. At some point the stars will realign so I'll be in the mood where I can handle that, but not today!
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Apr 26, 2017 12:04
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StrixNebulosa posted:Fair enough! You know, it is always interesting with other perspectives, such as yours in this case. One the main things I have always enjoyed with Erikson is his ability mix comedy with tragedy. Even in the horrible Chain of Dogs there are a lot of humorous moments.
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Apr 26, 2017 13:09
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I just finished the Craft cycle. it's weird. Where are all the communists?
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Apr 26, 2017 14:30
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Nevvy Z posted:I just finished the Craft cycle. it's weird. Where are all the communists? There'd have to be a way to compel rather than trade their soulstuff. Or monopolize and control the source of starlight through revolution.
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Apr 26, 2017 14:49
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As I read it, there were communists, but they lost the God Wars. Part of the issue is that the magic system is somewhat inherently Randian, for lack of a better term -- driven by powerful skilled individuals rather than collective action. The books clearly don't present that as a good thibg, of course. See the exploitative methods of Denovo. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Apr 26, 2017 |
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Apr 26, 2017 15:51
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I haven't read the last two books, but in Two Serpents Rising the craftsmen vs the gods was p. much laissez-faire vs statism.
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Apr 26, 2017 15:59
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:As I read it, there were communists, but they lost the God Wars. I dunno, you could view Kos and his city as a kind of spiritual Communism with Kos as the head of the Party.
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Apr 26, 2017 16:52
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Captain Monkey posted:I dunno, you could view Kos and his city as a kind of spiritual Communism with Kos as the head of the Party. People can leave, have access to craft if they want, and aren't compelled to give Kos soulstuff though. They pay for church provided utilities, but it's not really different than Red King Consolidated selling water. Hell, the plots of two books revolve around Kos' full integration into the craft system.
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Apr 26, 2017 17:07
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Cardiac posted:Oh, you sweet summer child. Haha, no. I have been following a certain series some time before it gained notoriety, randomly picking up the first book in a bookstore and remembering that a certain author was known for writing some pretty kickass short stories (oh, the irony). This was either shortly before or shortly after book #2 was published, because I remember I didn't have to wait long for that, but did have to wait for book #3. Or what we thought of as "waiting" back in those more innocent times. Been right about twenty years now...
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Apr 26, 2017 17:49
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Number Ten Cocks posted:People can leave, have access to craft if they want, and aren't compelled to give Kos soulstuff though. They pay for church provided utilities, but it's not really different than Red King Consolidated selling water. Hell, the plots of two books revolve around Kos' full integration into the craft system. Ah, it's been a while, I thought everyone in the city was sort of a latent Kos believer, which accounted for his massive bank of soulstuff. I just misremembered!
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Apr 26, 2017 19:06
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Captain Monkey posted:Ah, it's been a while, I thought everyone in the city was sort of a latent Kos believer, which accounted for his massive bank of soulstuff. I just misremembered! I think it's pretty common, but it seems like you have to affirmatively transfer significant quantities by going to services.
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Apr 26, 2017 19:52
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Captain Monkey posted:I dunno, you could view Kos and his city as a kind of spiritual Communism with Kos as the head of the Party. I was thinking more of the prior human sacrifice system in Dresediel Lex. Needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one! (Vulcans are communists right?)
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Apr 26, 2017 20:06
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I'm so glad this thread sold me on the Craft Sequence a whole ago. I'm on the fourth book now and they're a blast which is not something I thought I'd say about magical economics and property disputes If you haven't read it yet: lawyer necromancers.
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Apr 26, 2017 21:12
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I've devoured Greg Egan and Peter Watts' entire catalogs and am still thirsty for more mindbending sci-fi, anyone got any recs? I also loved The Quantum Thief trilogy and the Takeshi Kovachs books.
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Apr 27, 2017 05:26
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Loving Life Partner posted:I've devoured Greg Egan and Peter Watts' entire catalogs and am still thirsty for more mindbending sci-fi, anyone got any recs? Reynolds
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Apr 27, 2017 05:55
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Loving Life Partner posted:I've devoured Greg Egan and Peter Watts' entire catalogs and am still thirsty for more mindbending sci-fi, anyone got any recs?
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Apr 27, 2017 08:15
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Loving Life Partner posted:I've devoured Greg Egan and Peter Watts' entire catalogs and am still thirsty for more mindbending sci-fi, anyone got any recs? CJ Cherryh
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Apr 27, 2017 08:52
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The Rook 2: Stiletto and The Grace of Kings are 99p on Amazon UK. Been meaning to try both, but the general feeling towards Grace. Of Kings seems to be negative around here?
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Apr 27, 2017 09:24
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Kindle Daily Deal US has a pretty decent sale of different SF&F books today. Gardens of the Moon: Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson Company Town by Madeline Ashby Blindsight (Firefall) by Peter Watts Spin by Robert Charles Wilson Among Others (Hugo Award Winner - Best Novel) by Jo Walton Dark Run (Keiko Book 1) by Mike Brooks Hominids: Volume One of The Neanderthal Parallax by Robert J. Sawyer A Daughter of No Nation by A. M. Dellamonica Willful Child by Steven Erikson Speak to the Devil (The Brothers Magnus) by Dave Duncan Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson and Tor.com published an article yesterday, named All of Your Favorite SFF TV and Movie Adaptations in the Works, with both rumours, in the works and about to be released lists of all kinds of SF&F adaptions. Fun stuff, even if most of them are just announced options.
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Apr 27, 2017 19:27
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Fart of Presto posted:Blindsight (Firefall) by Peter Watts These two are easily worth the $3 each. Personally no idea about the rest.
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Apr 27, 2017 19:55
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If anyone's looking for some new steampunk, Senlin Ascends is a quiet gem. Especially for a $3 self-published first novel. I sample these kinds of books compulsively and they're usually crap, but it's absolutely worth it for the rare one like this.quote:While honeymooning in the Tower of Babel, Thomas Senlin loses his wife, Marya. My only quibble is that the main character spends much of the first book being completely loving useless, which annoys me despite it being part and parcel of his arc. coffeetable fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Apr 27, 2017 |
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Apr 27, 2017 20:29
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Nevvy Z posted:These two are easily worth the $3 each. Personally no idea about the rest. Spin is pretty good. So is Julian Comstock. I liked the previous book by A. M. Dellamonica so I'll try this new one. It's a bit derivative of Stross' Merchant Princes series though. I've never read any Steve Erikson though I've heard mention of the Malazan stuff before. Is it any good?
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Apr 27, 2017 20:39
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Junkenstein posted:The Rook 2: Stiletto and The Grace of Kings are 99p on Amazon UK. Been meaning to try both, but the general feeling towards Grace. Of Kings seems to be negative around here? I must have missed the talk about it. Totally worth the price imo.
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Apr 27, 2017 20:51
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I think Malazan is the best epic fantasy series out there, but it's a big commitment and the first book (Gardens of the Moon) is a bit rough compared to the later books. In my opinion there's nothing else like Malazan both in scope and in sheer fantasy, it's worth sticking through the fairly confusing first book. It's also, in my opinion, as good as or better than ASOIAF for rereads, each book is full of interesting side details that can be missed the first time around. As a note it took me two false starts on Gardens before it really clicked about halfway through and I powered through the rest of the series. I'm definitely glad I committed to it. Willful Child is very different and more of a comedy sci-fi parody, of Star Trek in particular. I'm not a huge Star Trek fan but I still enjoyed the story.
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Apr 27, 2017 20:52
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The Ninth Layer posted:I think Malazan is the best epic fantasy series out there, but it's a big commitment and the first book (Gardens of the Moon) is a bit rough compared to the later books. In my opinion there's nothing else like Malazan both in scope and in sheer fantasy, it's worth sticking through the fairly confusing first book. It's also, in my opinion, as good as or better than ASOIAF for rereads, each book is full of interesting side details that can be missed the first time around. Easier solution: Start with Deadhouse Gates, the number 2 in the series. If one doesn't like that one , one might as well skip the rest.
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Apr 27, 2017 20:56
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