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My main problem with Kate Daniels is that I don't think there's enough world building going on to sell what she's describing. I just kept picturing it as mostly normal modern day, even though I knew otherwise. Still... it was interesting. I liked a lot of the ideas and things going on there, even if it was a little rough. I would describe it as a saner, better, more enjoyable Anita Blake. Then again, I'll read a book that's straight up Paranormal Romance if the plot, setting, and characters are good. Good UF books are kind of thin on the ground once you go through the usual suspects.
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Aug 15, 2017 03:19
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ConfusedUs posted:There's a lot of overlap between "urban fantasy" and "superheroes." There are a lot of superhero books that would be right up this thread's alley. First two installments of Steelheart were really good. The last one was garbage and IMO a very disappointing end to the series.
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Aug 15, 2017 05:01
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Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil To Produce ‘The Secret World’ TV Series Based On Video Game
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Aug 15, 2017 09:41
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ConfusedUs posted:There's a lot of overlap between "urban fantasy" and "superheroes." There are a lot of superhero books that would be right up this thread's alley. In the same vein I'm enjoying the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia - it's pretty much "What if X-Men was set in the early 1930s and their mutations were magic?". There's some alternate history that flows from the fact that people started getting powers in the mid-19th century but also some nods to and parallels with historical events. I had guessed all the twists of the first book by the halfway point but that didn't particularly detract from my enjoyment of the rest; I've just started the second book.
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Aug 15, 2017 09:48
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cell posted:In the same vein I'm enjoying the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia - it's pretty much "What if X-Men was set in the early 1930s and their mutations were magic?". There's some alternate history that flows from the fact that people started getting powers in the mid-19th century but also some nods to and parallels with historical events. I had guessed all the twists of the first book by the halfway point but that didn't particularly detract from my enjoyment of the rest; I've just started the second book. Does Correia do much whinging about liberals in it? I've had Monster Hunter International on my shelf waiting to be read for about a year at this point but I'm not sure if I want to go for it or not; is it going to be Larry Correia having a moan about liberals or is it just B-movie trash in prose form? I'm up for the latter but the former is tedious. There's a new book out called At the Table of Wolves which looks like it might be fun and has a similar premise; I believe I've mentioned it in the thread before. The Amazon description begins "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy meets X-Men in a classic British espionage story. A young woman must go undercover and use her superpowers to discover a secret Nazi plot and stop an invasion of England." I'm not familiar with the author (Kay Kenyon), though.
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Aug 15, 2017 10:39
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Megazver posted:Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil To Produce ‘The Secret World’ TV Series Based On Video Game Count me interested. I hope they have Kirstin Geary in the show.
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Aug 15, 2017 12:00
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Exmond posted:Count me interested. I hope they have Kirstin Geary in the show. Fun Fact: a Secret World show without Kirstin Geary would be woefully inadequate. Let's hope they keep those metrics moving in the right direction.
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Aug 15, 2017 12:09
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Wheat Loaf posted:Does Correia do much whinging about liberals in it? I've had Monster Hunter International on my shelf waiting to be read for about a year at this point but I'm not sure if I want to go for it or not; is it going to be Larry Correia having a moan about liberals or is it just B-movie trash in prose form? I'm up for the latter but the former is tedious. There's some light era-appropriate Commie-bashing but at least in the first book there's not really anything that jumped out at me as being particularly anti-liberal. I would say it definitely leans towards B-movie trash.
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Aug 15, 2017 13:18
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Thanks, that one was getting interesting reviews but they seemed to be more about the idea of the book than the book itself. You mean Worm? Yeah, I couldn't get into that and didn't understand the hype. "Bullied girl gets superpowers" isn't a good enough hook and I saw no reason to power through the bullshit until it "got interesting".
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Aug 15, 2017 14:05
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Megazver posted:Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil To Produce ‘The Secret World’ TV Series Based On Video Game I really hope this show doesn't end up like the game. Really neat premise, undelivered promises, and not enough gas in the tank to keep long term engagement going. I'm just bitter because I bought a lifetime sub at launch (I *really* wanted this game to be good)
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Aug 15, 2017 17:07
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biracial bear for uncut posted:You mean Worm? Yeah, I couldn't get into that and didn't understand the hype. "Bullied girl gets superpowers" isn't a good enough hook and I saw no reason to power through the bullshit until it "got interesting". But that's the flimsiest description of what Worm is, though. "Bullied girl gets superpowers" is the summary of the first chapter. What's unique and interesting about the series, to me, is that she does the typical oppressed teenager thing where she gets powers and then wants to be a hero, and turns it around when she quickly realizes two big things: 1, that the big heroes in the city are no less likely to be assholes than anyone else, and 2, she can more easily accomplish the good she sets out to do by becoming a villain. It's a rare look into the concept that no one thinks that they're a bad person and that team affiliation doesn't matter as much as what you choose to do with your abilities. The protagonist also has bug-control powers, which is not something I've seen taken seriously for a protagonist before.
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Aug 15, 2017 18:36
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Wheat Loaf posted:Does Correia do much whinging about liberals in it? I've had Monster Hunter International on my shelf waiting to be read for about a year at this point but I'm not sure if I want to go for it or not; is it going to be Larry Correia having a moan about liberals or is it just B-movie trash in prose form? I'm up for the latter but the former is tedious. Correia's stuff is like B-movie trash incarnate with what I find to be great written action scenes. The first MHI book has a good bit of that moaning about liberals but it can be sorta excused through it being a story told though the biased eyes of it's protagonist. This through the eyes of the biased protagonist is even present in book 1 with the main clearly liberal rival character that Owen hates. Owen generally hates him for the traits he also has himself and kind of comes off like a huge hypocrite, not only to the reader but it even gets pointed out. Even then while doing a reread of the series on audible it was noticeable that between the 1st and the 2nd book it kinda felt like Correia realized he straw-manned the non-hunter/non-right wing guys too hard and so then for book two it basically showed you that they had very good reasons for what they were doing. Just uhhh avoid the John Ringo written side story ones. They arn't as good and the liberal moaning has been dialed up to 11, also John Ringo. That being said if you are trying to avoid it but still want to poke your head into his stuff Son of the Black Sword has no liberal moaning at all that I can remember and Grimnoir is very mild. ShinsoBEAM! fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Aug 15, 2017 |
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Aug 15, 2017 20:04
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Proteus Jones posted:I really hope this show doesn't end up like the game. Really neat premise, undelivered promises, and not enough gas in the tank to keep long term engagement going. The writing and the world building is so cool and weird though, even if the rest of the game is bleh.
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Aug 15, 2017 20:45
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biracial bear for uncut posted:You mean Worm? Yeah, I couldn't get into that and didn't understand the hype. "Bullied girl gets superpowers" isn't a good enough hook and I saw no reason to power through the bullshit until it "got interesting". Actually I meant the other one, sorry, Strange Practice. NPR did a whole segment about it, there was an article on Tor.com etc., but they were all "how crazy! It's fantasy elements in the modern world! With a female protagonist!", mainstream-audience coverage, with no depth.
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Aug 15, 2017 20:52
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Paternus was a SFPBO finalist and it's 0.99 on Amazon right now.
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Aug 15, 2017 22:05
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ShinsoBEAM! posted:That being said if you are trying to avoid it but still want to poke your head into his stuff Son of the Black Sword has no liberal moaning at all that I can remember and Grimnoir is very mild. It doesn't upset me or anything but I know that Correia is one of the Sad Puppies guys and there's nothing that makes a story grind to an eye-rolling halt like the author deciding he or she needs to get a little sermon in.
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Aug 15, 2017 23:18
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Wheat Loaf posted:It doesn't upset me or anything but I know that Correia is one of the Sad Puppies guys and there's nothing that makes a story grind to an eye-rolling halt like the author deciding he or she needs to get a little sermon in. Kind of like Butcher's LEMME TELL YOU ABOUT GAY PEOPLE spiel?
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Aug 16, 2017 01:45
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Exmond posted:Kind of like Butcher's LEMME TELL YOU ABOUT GAY PEOPLE spiel? NO ITS COOL THEYRE COOL IM TOTALLY COOL WITH THE HOMOSEXUALS
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Aug 16, 2017 01:48
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Wheat Loaf posted:It doesn't upset me or anything but I know that Correia is one of the Sad Puppies guys and there's nothing that makes a story grind to an eye-rolling halt like the author deciding he or she needs to get a little sermon in. Correia isn't just a Sad Puppy, he's the progenitor of that whole mess. He got upset that his mediocre book didn't win a Hugo and, instead of accepting his book wasn't good enough, concluded the system was rigged and started the Sad Puppies, which later gave birth to the Rabid Puppies.
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Aug 16, 2017 02:33
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Exmond posted:Kind of like Butcher's LEMME TELL YOU ABOUT GAY PEOPLE spiel? Infinitely worse. Also, MOnster Hunters has a team of badass mercenaries whose special forces badge is BunBun from Sluggy Freelance. It is literally the worst thing I've ever read. Grimnoir is pretty decent, and the audio books have excellent narration by Bronson "Cousin Balki" pnocht of all people.
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Aug 16, 2017 10:51
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Ornamented Death posted:Correia isn't just a Sad Puppy, he's the progenitor of that whole mess. He got upset that his mediocre book didn't win a Hugo and, instead of accepting his book wasn't good enough, concluded the system was rigged and started the Sad Puppies, which later gave birth to the Rabid Puppies. Keep in mind that the whole sad puppies thing is the reason Jim butcher didn't get a Hugo. I don't know much about it bu No award got elected instead of him because sad puppies mentioned Jim butcher. In short the Hugos are a dumb popularity contest.
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Aug 16, 2017 13:17
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Exmond posted:Keep in mind that the whole sad puppies thing is the reason Jim butcher didn't get a Hugo. I don't know much about it bu No award got elected instead of him because sad puppies mentioned Jim butcher. Horseshit. Skin Game lost the Hugo because it wasn't as good as the other books on the list, and the only reason it was on the Puppy slates in the first place is they were trying to make the Hugos a straight-up popularity contest because Butcher is a popular author.
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Aug 16, 2017 13:51
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Exmond posted:Keep in mind that the whole sad puppies thing is the reason Jim butcher didn't get a Hugo. I don't know much about it bu No award got elected instead of him because sad puppies mentioned Jim butcher. Lemniscate Blue posted:Horseshit. Skin Game lost the Hugo because it wasn't as good as the other books on the list, and the only reason it was on the Puppy slates in the first place is they were trying to make the Hugos a straight-up popularity contest because Butcher is a popular author. Yeah Skin Game had no business on the ballot in the first place and was only there because of the Sad Puppies. There are one or two earlier Dresden books that I could see making it to the ballot, but, frankly, Jim hasn't written anything good enough to warrant winning the Hugo itself.
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Aug 16, 2017 14:25
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Which was the Sad/Rabid Puppy who threw a massive fit over two girls holding hands on a children's cartoon? (i.e. The last episode of Korra.)
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Aug 16, 2017 14:52
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Ornamented Death posted:Correia isn't just a Sad Puppy, he's the progenitor of that whole mess. He got upset that his mediocre book didn't win a Hugo and, instead of accepting his book wasn't good enough, concluded the system was rigged and started the Sad Puppies, which later gave birth to the Rabid Puppies. Nahh, he wasn't mad he didn't win an award. He was mad that someone told him that because he didn't win an award he was poo poo. So he claimed that awards were just big popularity contests and mobilized his audience. BTW he also wrote Grimnoir because someone told him he wasn't a real fantasy author and snubbed him hard at a fantasy world building panel. ShinsoBEAM! fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Aug 16, 2017 |
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Aug 16, 2017 15:00
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Wheat Loaf posted:Which was the Sad/Rabid Puppy who threw a massive fit over two girls holding hands on a children's cartoon? (i.e. The last episode of Korra.) John C. Wright
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Aug 16, 2017 15:24
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Wheat Loaf posted:Which was the Sad/Rabid Puppy who threw a massive fit over two girls holding hands on a children's cartoon? (i.e. The last episode of Korra.) John C Wright posted:Dear Mr DiMartino and Mr Konietzko, On Pratchett, euthanasia Wright posted:It is not the author who appalled me, it was the audience, including myself. Christ, what an rear end in a top hat.
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Aug 16, 2017 16:10
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Ornamented Death posted:Yeah Skin Game had no business on the ballot in the first place and was only there because of the Sad Puppies. There are one or two earlier Dresden books that I could see making it to the ballot, but, frankly, Jim hasn't written anything good enough to warrant winning the Hugo itself. Thankfully the Hugo's are fan based so i can say Jim deserved the Hugo nomination.
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Aug 16, 2017 16:14
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Exmond posted:Thankfully the Hugo's are fan based so i can say Jim deserved the Hugo nomination. Considering he placed below No Award, most fans (eligible to vote in the Hugos) did not agree with you.
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Aug 16, 2017 16:32
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Remember there is a difference between Hugo-nominated ("At least one paid WorldCon member thought this was good enough to consider") and Hugo finalist, ie on the ballot ("this was in the top "Hugo-nominated" is an extremely low bar to clear. Lemniscate Blue fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Aug 16, 2017 |
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Aug 16, 2017 17:56
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Ornamented Death posted:Yeah Skin Game had no business on the ballot in the first place and was only there because of the Sad Puppies. There are one or two earlier Dresden books that I could see making it to the ballot, but, frankly, Jim hasn't written anything good enough to warrant winning the Hugo itself. Yeah. I'd say Changes or Dead Beat could have had a rightful place on the ballot. Skin Game wasn't bad but wasn't one of the really good ones.
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Aug 16, 2017 18:25
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Exmond posted:Thankfully the Hugo's are fan based so i can say Jim deserved the Hugo nomination. Sure, there were a lot of worse things nominated. And worse things won over the decades. But still, as much as i like the Dresden Files, and it's influence to mainstream a genre I like a lot, I would have a hard time to call it price worthy still.
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Aug 16, 2017 18:28
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Decius posted:Sure, there were a lot of worse things nominated. And worse things won over the decades. But still, as much as i like the Dresden Files, and it's influence to mainstream a genre I like a lot, I would have a hard time to call it price worthy still. Oh, but it's popular, so obviously it must be better than all that ~*literary*~ SFF that keeps beating pulp airport fiction for awards. Therefore, we have to rig the Hugos to prove that they're rigged. Or something like that, the justifications for Puppy nonsense seemed to change radically every week or so.
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Aug 16, 2017 18:41
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Lemniscate Blue posted:Remember there is a difference between Hugo-nominated ("At least one paid WorldCon member thought this was good enough to consider") and Hugo finalist, ie on the ballot ("this was in the top Butcher was on the ballot so theres that at least. I just hope people who voted against butcher wasn't because of the sad puppies debacle.. And as Ive said before the whole response to sad puppies and etc made me loose a lot of faith and respect for the hugos
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Aug 16, 2017 18:42
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Exmond posted:Butcher was on the ballot so theres that at least. Butcher was only on the ballot because the Puppies slated him attempting to capitalize on his popularity to attract votes to their slated nominees. The response to the attempt to game the Hugos was understandable and even precedented - the Church of Scientology tried twice in the 80s to game the award for L. Ron Hubbard, with pretty much the same results. The Puppies threw a tanty and tried to turn the Hugos into some kind of kulturkampf battleground, and the WorldCon membership roundly told them to gently caress off. Were some people jerks about it? Yes, but it's a little hard for me to get annoyed given what they were responding to.
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Aug 16, 2017 19:39
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The only thing I need to know about the Hugos is that Chuck Tingle was robbed (in the butt)
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Aug 16, 2017 19:41
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:The only thing I need to know about the Hugos is that Chuck Tingle was robbed (in the butt) By his own butt.
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Aug 16, 2017 19:42
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Lemniscate Blue posted:Oh, but it's popular, so obviously it must be better than all that ~*literary*~ SFF that keeps beating pulp airport fiction for awards. Therefore, we have to rig the Hugos to prove that they're rigged. The whole "populist vs literary" angle was stupid because they proceeded to nominate the abovementioned John C. Wright, who I've not read myself but from samples seems to have literary pretensions at least. He's hardly Larry Correia's "I blew up the monsters then I kissed the hot girl and it was loving awesome" stuff.
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Aug 16, 2017 19:44
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The Hugo awards do seem to attract really lovely people for some reason. https://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/03/01/when-jonathan-ross-was-presenting-the-hugo-awards-until-he-wasnt/
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Aug 16, 2017 19:48
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Wheat Loaf posted:The whole "populist vs literary" angle was stupid because they proceeded to nominate the abovementioned John C. Wright, who I've not read myself but from samples seems to have literary pretensions at least. He's hardly Larry Correia's "I blew up the monsters then I kissed the hot girl and it was loving awesome" stuff. And on the flip side, John Scalzi has won a Best Novel Hugo and he writes sci-fi pulp, basically. In fact if the Puppies were actually being honest, Scalzi should be their loving patron saint because a) he writes the kind of stories they claim they want to read, b) he's very successful with a huge readership, and c) he's won actual, legitimate awards. But of course Scalzi has the wrong politics so he is their antichrist, and the irony of this is completely lost on them.
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Aug 16, 2017 19:54
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