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MikeJF posted:And so as not to build expectations, be aware that Inversions isn't usually published with 'A Culture Novel' on the front for a reason. It's not a Culture novel. But sometimes it does have that written there. Because. Inversions is a Culture novel in my eyes. You definitely should read a couple of the others before it though.
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# ? May 26, 2017 03:06 |
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# ? May 2, 2024 23:09 |
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Inversions is a Culture book that kinda-sorta tries to pretend it isn't for a while but it's obvious by the end. There's an old fan theory that Excession / Inversions / Look to Windward form a sort of trilogy that presents the Culture as seen, respectively, from Above, Below, and Head-On.
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# ? May 26, 2017 03:15 |
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Powaqoatse posted:Just read them in publication order Also, Inversions is totally a Culture novel.
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# ? May 26, 2017 03:42 |
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If a a book has Knife-Missiles in it, it's a Culture book. The Bridge is a Culture book.
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# ? May 26, 2017 03:45 |
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I couldn't track down a copy of Look To Windward until after I'd read the rest of the series, but it ended up being a perfect coda to what is probably my favorite science fiction series of all time.
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# ? May 26, 2017 03:47 |
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Look to windward seriously comes together in practically the last pages to dawn on you as an extremely poignant exploration of a fundamental human issue. The right to die on your own terms and with dignity. I hadn't even thought much on the topic and when I hit the end I suddenly realized I had feelings about it.
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# ? May 26, 2017 03:56 |
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Quilan breaks my loving heart. Poor dude.
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# ? May 26, 2017 04:23 |
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MikeJF posted:And so as not to build expectations, be aware that Inversions isn't usually published with 'A Culture Novel' on the front for a reason. It's not a Culture novel. But sometimes it does have that written there. Because. The Bridge has a reference to a knife missile if I recall correctly. And a Lazy Gun from AaDB is mentioned in some definitely Culture novel.
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# ? May 26, 2017 04:36 |
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Yes inversions is clearly a culture novel. Spoilsports.
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# ? May 26, 2017 05:34 |
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Ugly In The Morning posted:So, I started Use of Weapons and Player of Games 4 years ago, bounced off them a bit, and then moved. No advice for what to read next, but please don't ruin your experience by binge-reading everything over a couple of weeks, there won't be any more new books coming out for you to look forward to
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# ? May 26, 2017 10:57 |
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Entropic posted:If a a book has Knife-Missiles in it, it's a Culture book. The Bridge is a Culture book. By this metric, Guardians of the Galaxy would qualify.
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# ? May 26, 2017 16:21 |
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Lack of Gravitas posted:No advice for what to read next, but please don't ruin your experience by binge-reading everything over a couple of weeks, there won't be any more new books coming out for you to look forward to It's the slow season at work (EMT in a college town, and all the dumbass kids are gone) so I've been powering through them at work. I usually read one in a 24 hour shift. At this rate, I'll be out of Banks in a month. There are worse things than having an author associated in my brain with that awesome summer where I got paid to read all his books while I sat in the sun, though.
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# ? May 26, 2017 16:30 |
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Lemniscate Blue posted:By this metric, Guardians of the Galaxy would qualify. That's controlled by whistling though, not an AI.
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# ? May 26, 2017 18:59 |
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It's totally a knife missile. It's just stolen and salvaged from the Culture and they don't have an AI to work it, so they have to use a lovely off-market neural interface fin.
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# ? May 26, 2017 19:15 |
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It's actually a fully functional if slightly eccentric knife-missile having a grand old time after talking some gruff pirate guy into whistling its theme song whenever it does something badass.
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# ? May 27, 2017 14:36 |
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MikeJF posted:Also be aware that Banks eventually wrote an epilogue to Against a Dark Background and posted it online. can someone link me that? it seems to have dropped off the main place it was being hosted.
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# ? May 27, 2017 23:30 |
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Kesper North posted:It's totally a knife missile. It's just stolen and salvaged from the Culture and they don't have an AI to work it, so they have to use a lovely off-market neural interface fin. It's not a knife missile, it's a whiphound from The Prefect
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# ? May 27, 2017 23:37 |
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I've known plenty of knife missiles in my time, and you, Av, are no knife missile.
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# ? May 28, 2017 00:12 |
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# ? May 2, 2024 23:09 |
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sebmojo posted:can someone link me that? it seems to have dropped off the main place it was being hosted. The internet archive has it: https://web.archive.org/web/20160305011808/http://culturelist.org/cdr/article.cfm?id=142
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# ? May 28, 2017 01:20 |