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Echo Cian posted:I read the first book and had no interest in continuing the series for the same reasons you're worried about. I was subsequently confused when no one else seemed to note it as a problem when everyone complains about Dresden Files for the same thing. I mean, she's a bit creepy, but the scenario isn't. 
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May 29, 2017 06:39
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Strategic Tea posted:You can definitely tell the author is super into actual medieval history. The world actually feels alive with universities and intelligence corps and doctors - rather than kings and castles and taverns. Also in the very historic way that nothing is ever over, even at the end of the books. What are some other good proper medieval-style fantasy books? Most everything is obviously Tolkien inspired but I'd like to read more stuff that's actual proper Middle Ages feudalism in a fantasy world with magic and monsters. I went on a nostalgia trip down Dave Morris' blog recently, he wrote the Bloodsword gamebooks/Dragon Warriors RPG which share a universe, and he writes a bunch of interesting stuff about drawing on Celtic folklore and creating a fantasy world in which the fantasy is actually fantastic and the warriors are actually bonded to a lord, etc. But I want to read an actual novel with that sort of thing (apart from Game of Thrones).
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May 29, 2017 07:03
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The Traitor Son series by Miles Cameron is pretty good for that kind of stuff. The author is a hardcore HEMA dude so he knows his Medieval battle gear. My biggest problems with it are POV and scope bloat and that a few characters could use a little more love, but they're pretty solid.
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May 29, 2017 07:36
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Le Morte D'Arthur, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
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May 29, 2017 08:07
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Read David Gemmell.
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May 29, 2017 10:13
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:
Lol don't be silly, the latest Harmony Black only came out last month. The new Faust is NEXT MONTH, and it's the next Harmony Black that releases in October.
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May 29, 2017 13:06
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Robot Wendigo posted:Oh, thank the No God. I was cringing every time a character mentioned a new place. Thanks, Strom. Now get your arse to the Bakker thread and give us your wild speculation so I can live vicariously through your experiences.
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May 29, 2017 13:24
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Collateral posted:Read David Gemmell. Quoting for truth. Start with Legend, the best one he wrote. If that doesn't grab you, then you can stop there.
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May 29, 2017 13:47
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I just re-read Legend a few months back to see how it holds up, and while it has a few clunky parts, it's still a lot of fun.
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May 29, 2017 14:32
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freebooter posted:What are some other good proper medieval-style fantasy books? Most everything is obviously Tolkien inspired but I'd like to read more stuff that's actual proper Middle Ages feudalism in a fantasy world with magic and monsters. I went on a nostalgia trip down Dave Morris' blog recently, he wrote the Bloodsword gamebooks/Dragon Warriors RPG which share a universe, and he writes a bunch of interesting stuff about drawing on Celtic folklore and creating a fantasy world in which the fantasy is actually fantastic and the warriors are actually bonded to a lord, etc. But I want to read an actual novel with that sort of thing (apart from Game of Thrones). Hild meets your criteria though the supernatural elements are very muted. But it is most definitely proper Middle Ages feudalism.
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May 29, 2017 21:30
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Someone in here recommended Correia's Monster Hunter International when it was two bucks or somesuch, saying that his politics didn't wreck it. They did. Holy christ this book is hilariously terribly, from the manly man talking about finding a room full of people, "with the biggest numbers being Caucasian, but also some Hispanics, Asians, Blacks, and a couple of people like me of indeterminite race," (white guy desperately tries to write a non-white protagonist, fucks it up so badly) some exceptionally lovely tropes like a sexy monster-lady who talks like a Guns'n'Ammo editorial about her 45 what-the-gently caress-ever and just ugh. And I'm only 10% into the thing, says the Kindle. Also, I thought based on what I'd head about Larry Correia that he'd be an older guy. He's apparently only like 37? EDIT: I might have gotten this thread mixed up with the cosmic horror/regular horror thread for the source of the recommendation. FURTHER EDIT: Apparently it was free. I'm glad I spent zero money. a foolish pianist fucked around with this message at 22:51 on May 29, 2017 |
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May 29, 2017 22:19
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I'm pretty sure I gave it a review that went something like "Could be a decent B-movie of a book if he could stop jerking off over Guns'n'Ammo while muttering about liberal pansies'.
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May 29, 2017 23:09
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Collateral posted:Read David Gemmell.
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May 29, 2017 23:12
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StrixNebulosa posted:Just started Rivers of London and I have to say: the first few pages have been quite witty, but I flinched when I saw the first person pov and adult male protagonist. Please, please tell me that this won't become Dresden Files levels of sexism again? There's a little of that but the author actually writes a mixed-race protagonist well which is a rare bird, also he gets all the details right which makes it feel more realistic -- the ghost in the first book is speaking in authentic period slang for the time and part of London and social class the ghost comes from, for example.
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May 29, 2017 23:19
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I haven't read Dresden Files but [/i]Rivers of London[/i] was a little bit male gaze-y but never hit levels where I just wanted to put the book down or began to view the protagonist with contempt. He also isn't a big ole smuggo which is another point in his favor.
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May 29, 2017 23:22
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Yeah, becoming less goony is also a nontrivial part of that character's arc. It's not too bad, really, I guess. Also, new Faust next month? Jeeeeeeezus, Schaefer!
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May 29, 2017 23:54
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GreyjoyBastard posted:I mean, she's a bit creepy, but the scenario isn't. As creepy as you would expect a demon to be. Not as creepy as you would expect an author writing a sexy demon to be.
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May 30, 2017 00:23
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a foolish pianist posted:They did. Holy christ this book is hilariously terribly, from the manly man talking about finding a room full of people, "with the biggest numbers being Caucasian, but also some Hispanics, Asians, Blacks, and a couple of people like me of indeterminite race," (white guy desperately tries to write a non-white protagonist, fucks it up so badly) some exceptionally lovely tropes like a sexy monster-lady who talks like a Guns'n'Ammo editorial about her 45 what-the-gently caress-ever and just ugh. And I'm only 10% into the thing, says the Kindle. Best thing about Monster Hunter is the strong, rugged, independent conservative heroes who hate the libby lib government -- while their entire monster-hunting operation, and their salaries, are paid for by the government. And not only the characters but Correia himself seem blissfully unaware of the mental disconnect.
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May 30, 2017 01:05
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Sounds like repairman jack. Rugged libertarian hero who is completely off the grid; not even a ssn or bank account. Decided to become, essentially, a gun for hire as a teen after he secretly killed the punks that were ruining his neighbor's yard. I wouldn't have minded all that rubbish but the plot itself was utterly dull and the monster he was hunting was not interesting. I didn't finish the first book.
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May 30, 2017 02:47
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Echo Cian posted:As creepy as you would expect a demon to be. Exactly, Caitlyn is intensely horrible and disquieting in her own way.
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May 30, 2017 03:05
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GreyjoyBastard posted:Exactly, Caitlyn is intensely horrible and disquieting in her own way. I think one of Caitlyn's quintessential moments was in Castle Doctrine, comforting the human wife of the cambion Ecko killed. When she's very nicely, very calmly assuring the woman that she's still part of hell's family, and the prince will be taking care of her now, and here's some money for a hotel room. Hell prevails. Now you say it, too. Okay, you can go now. She's the incredibly polite, professional, and occasionally sexy face of a fascist regime that's dead-set on conquering hell and earth, in either order. And she's utterly confident that you should want to join up, because her court is the best possible hope for the future of humanity and demonkind. She's the best deal you're going to get in this life or any other. And given how horrible the setting is in general, with god missing and/or dead and no hope to speak of, she's not necessarily wrong. StonecutterJoe fucked around with this message at 03:39 on May 30, 2017 |
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May 30, 2017 03:35
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StonecutterJoe posted:Best thing about Monster Hunter is the strong, rugged, independent conservative heroes who hate the libby lib government -- while their entire monster-hunting operation, and their salaries, are paid for by the government. And not only the characters but Correia himself seem blissfully unaware of the mental disconnect. The sort of meta best part is that his Sad Puppies bullshit claimed to be against fiction with a political message, when his books are stuffed with moronic right wing screeds every other page.
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May 30, 2017 14:17
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Going through I, Robot, I am fascinated by its Speculative Dissonance (is there a term for this?). Its jarring to see predictions about the future that are very accurate along with predictions of the future that are fundamentally based in the prejudices and assumptions of the time. For all the accurate predictions of the future of automated labor, there are strange things like 50's era gender roles staying the same in the future, labor unions remaining strong in the face of robotic labor, the complete absence of the internet. It feels, for all its imagination, very much like a product of its era for all the revolutions it failed to predict, rather than the ones that it did.
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May 30, 2017 14:24
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Its jarring to see predictions about the future that are very accurate along with predictions of the future that are fundamentally based in the prejudices and assumptions of the time. This happens with all of Asimov's stuff and most older (1970s and earlier) science fiction generally. It happens with newer stuff as well (remember Neuromancer's currency is nuyen) but it's not always as obvious yet.
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May 30, 2017 14:40
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Speaking of hender roles, I read an old Edmond Hamilton story from the 1920s: It's at least a couple hundred thousand years in the future, humanity inhabits the whole solar system and is part of a greater galactic society and contributes warships toward mutual defense. There's a major crisis involving an incursion by sun-stealing extragalactic tentacle monsters and a human ship has to deal with it. One of the crewmembers is a woman, and she is portrayed in every way equally tough and competent as the men, and just as effective at fighting alien tentacle monsters; I don't think her appearance is even described nor is her hender remarked upon beyond the use of pronouns; it was all progressive as gently caress especially for a story from the 19 goddamn 20s... until the denoument, when the crisis is averted and the surviving heroes go for some R&R, and she heads straight to a beauty salon as is ever the unchanging way of her sex. I died laughing and am now posting from the afterlife.
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May 30, 2017 15:05
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RIP
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May 30, 2017 15:19
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It does make me wonder how much Science Fiction can truly be said to a speculation on the future of human progress as much as it is authors wrestling with the influence the future will have on the current world.
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May 30, 2017 15:31
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Hey all, my girlfriend is trying to create a reading list for the summer that is comprised of good sci-fi and fantasy written by a woman author. Any suggestions would be great. Apologizes if this has been asked a bunch.
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May 30, 2017 16:29
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Telsa Cola posted:Hey all, my girlfriend is trying to create a reading list for the summer that is comprised of good sci-fi and fantasy written by a woman author. Any suggestions would be great. Apologizes if this has been asked a bunch. There's actually like, lots. Or more than a little at least. Has she read much in the genre previously? It's honestly easier to list authors than singular works most of the time. In no particular order: Ursula Le Guin Becky Chambers N K Jemisin Martha Wells Catherynne Valente Anne Leckie Emma Newman Judith Tarr Chris Moriarty Ruthanna Emrys Doris Piserchia Linda Nagata Lois McMaster Bujold CJ Cherryh Usrsula Vernon Seanan McGuire Kate Elliot Nisi Shawl Nalo Hopkinson Octavia Butler That's a small semi-random list; some are recent, some are not. Some of them write fantasy, some SF, some of them write YA in both genres now and again. Does she have any particular preferences about genre works?
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May 30, 2017 16:52
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Margaret Atwood, Connie Willis.
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May 30, 2017 17:00
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They're letting women write SF now? Eh, stick to dudes with nice masculine names like James, that way you'll be safe.
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May 30, 2017 17:05
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Mel Mudkiper posted:It does make me wonder how much Science Fiction can truly be said to a speculation on the future of human progress as much as it is authors wrestling with the influence the future will have on the current world. I would say the latter is true for all sci-fi. In Toasted Stross discussed how fast sci-fi can become outdated and it can happen relatively fast. Any sci-fi that are dependent on certain technologies have this problem, while I would say that sci-fi that treats technology as magic have a longer relevance.
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May 30, 2017 17:10
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Groke posted:They're letting women write SF now? Eh, stick to dudes with nice masculine names like James, that way you'll be safe. That James Tiptree, Jr., fellow is going places.
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May 30, 2017 17:10
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Cardiac posted:I would say the latter is true for all sci-fi. It's just interesting to realize that a genre that attempts to go beyond the limitations of current reality seems to be the one most bound to it.
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May 30, 2017 17:14
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Ornamented Death posted:That James Tiptree, Jr., fellow is going places. By the way, since you are asking for sci-fi recommendations I'm guessing you might not be familiar with the genre, but James Tiptree is a serious recommendation. It's Alice B. Sheldon's pen-name. It's used instead of Alice because she's always felt more comfortable and free under that name than she did writing under her own (For very many reasons). She's a really good and historically important writer so she's very much worth reading. Her short stories are better than her novels imo.
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May 30, 2017 17:16
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Cardiac posted:In Toasted Stross discussed how fast sci-fi can become outdated and it can happen relatively fast. Stross is an exceptionally good example; he had to throw away a couple of manuscripts for the Halting State sequel because people kept actually doing the exotic high-tech crimes he was coming up with. Halting State and Rule 34 are both very good cybercrime novels, if the setting is now, surprise, a little dated.
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May 30, 2017 17:18
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Diana Wynne Jones is both cool and good imo.
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May 30, 2017 17:31
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Leigh Brackett and C.L. Moore if she's adventurous and willing to try older writing (a lot of space opera/planet stories, for instance). It's almost all short stories, so it's quick.
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May 30, 2017 17:35
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Telsa Cola posted:Hey all, my girlfriend is trying to create a reading list for the summer that is comprised of good sci-fi and fantasy written by a woman author. Any suggestions would be great. Apologizes if this has been asked a bunch. Robin Hobb, Jo Walton, Elizabeth Moon. Robin McKinley has a great short YA novel, The Hero and the Crown.
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May 30, 2017 17:36
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JuniperCake posted:By the way, since you are asking for sci-fi recommendations I'm guessing you might not be familiar with the genre, but James Tiptree is a serious recommendation. It's Alice B. Sheldon's pen-name. It's used instead of Alice because she's always felt more comfortable and free under that name than she did writing under her own (For very many reasons). She's a really good and historically important writer so she's very much worth reading. Her short stories are better than her novels imo. The Screwfly Solution is still terrifying.
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May 30, 2017 17:37
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