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Grimson posted:I dunno, apparently no one had ever mentioned or brought it up before when I asked him on Twitter. I'm sure there are lots of obvious things no one has bothered to ask him about before, though.
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Aug 28, 2017 12:37
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I spent the weekend reading the Isaac Asimov edited Hugo short-stories & novellas collections Volumes 1, 2 & 3. Most of the stories in the collections were good, other stories were bad or insane gibberish, and a certain few authors I completely skipped reading. Volume 1 Poul Anderson's 1961 Hugo winner "The Longest Voyage" didn't click for me because a)wooden ship sailing b)crafty british empire traders out-think natives c)wise old sea captain d)but on an alien planet combined bore the hell out of me. Volume 2 Jack Vance's stories were extremely readable, had previously read the Larry Niven & Harlan Ellison winning stories, and skipped Anne McCaffrey's 1968 Weyr Search(because I hate the Pern series), and found both Samuel Delany's 1970 & Philip Jose Farmer's 1968 stories to be unreadable gibberish garbage. and skipped them after 2 pages. Volume 3 Like before, I had already read the Niven & Ellison winning stories, Fritz Leiber's winning stories were good, Poul Anderson's 1973 winner was a scifi retelling of the Orpheus myth, Jame's Tiptree Jr's 1974 winner was basically a love story mixed with Instagram product whoring 2045, and I refused to read George RR Martin's 1975 winner.
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Aug 28, 2017 15:27
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:
phillip palmer (otherwise not particularly notable) has toyed around with this a bit
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Aug 28, 2017 15:53
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I'm craving some Dick but I've already read all the hits (except VALIS) and 3 of his short story collections. Any recommendations?
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Aug 28, 2017 16:15
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Ugly In The Morning posted:I heard something about the writing for The Monster Baru Cormarant being finished, and I know Seth Dickinson posts here, so I was wondering if there's any hard info on when it'll be out? One of my non-goon friends really wants to know, she loving loved it. Oh huh, just googled and it's actually titled The Monster Baru Cormorant. For some reason I thought that might be some sort of thread / series joke. Mr Battuta is my favorite (known, wouldn't be entirely surprised if the lady who wrote Too Like The Lightning is on here  ) goon author. 
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Aug 28, 2017 16:18
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I adamantly believe she's way too cool to be a goon.
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Aug 28, 2017 16:21
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Koburn posted:I'm craving some Dick but I've already read all the hits (except VALIS) and 3 of his short story collections. Any recommendations? Have you read The Man Who Japed? It's less famous but an entertaining look at the influence of TV and the hypocrisy of moral messaging.
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Aug 28, 2017 16:40
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I'm still reading and loving Ninefox Gambit, Baru book 1 arrives in the mail today, I went to a used bookstore while on my roadtrip and came back with Jane Fancher's Groundties, Tales of Neveron by Delany, Star Web by Joan Cox, and other cool books... And just because you guys can't resist I also went and dug out The Stars My Destination out of my uncle's books, so I am DEFINITELY drowning in good books.  (And I started reading Mort as my second Discworld book proper, as Equal Rites looks too silly for my tastes at the mo)
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Aug 28, 2017 16:43
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Koburn posted:I'm craving some Dick but I've already read all the hits (except VALIS) and 3 of his short story collections. Any recommendations? The question is: How insane or depressing do you prefer your Dick stories? Russian classic lit captures the depressing & trapped Dick feel quite well. Read the Dick collection that deep dives into Dick's Gnostic visions. Or maybe read some extemely dated and awkward discordian fiction by robert a wilson & robert shea.
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Aug 28, 2017 16:44
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Koburn posted:I'm craving some Dick but I've already read all the hits (except VALIS) and 3 of his short story collections. Any recommendations? The solution to your problem is in your question.
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Aug 28, 2017 17:38
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I just read The Drowned World by J G Ballard and ugh, I've totally lost my tolerance for naive racism. The whole second half of the book, with the evil abino and his pack of black savages, it was like Joseph Conrad without the humanity. Reading poo poo like that now, I'm just like... can we not?
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Aug 28, 2017 18:03
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Yeah, VALIS is good and extremely Dick-y.
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Aug 28, 2017 18:05
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Number Ten Cocks posted:I'm sure there are lots of obvious things no one has bothered to ask him about before, though. He seemed excited, so maybe more of you should ask new authors semi-obvious things on twitter.
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Aug 28, 2017 18:29
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Grimson posted:He seemed excited, so maybe more of you should ask new authors semi-obvious things on twitter. I felt a warm glow the first time someone asked me online whether I knew I was an irredeemable rear end in a top hat, checks out.
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Aug 28, 2017 19:14
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:Or maybe read some extemely dated and awkward discordian fiction by robert a wilson & robert shea. This assessment is 100% correct but I maintain that everyone should read Illuminatus!, it remains wildly entertaining if nothing else
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Aug 28, 2017 19:19
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Illuminatus trilogy is entertaining, especially the appendix'es in the collected edition. The follow-up sequels & prequels by Robert A Wilson are skippable. Even the real world stuff involving discordian co-creator Kerry Thornley is bizzare as hell.
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Aug 29, 2017 03:23
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So I started reading The Colour of Magic the other day after I gave up on Ready Player One as being a poorly written piece of author wish-fulfillment trash and... I'm genuinely absolutely baffled why I haven't read any Terry Pratchett to date. Especially because when I was in my early teens I absolutely inhaled the Robert Asprin Myth books, even after they got objectively very bad. It seems like the Myth books were trying very hard to capture a similar feeling to Pratchett, but the latter had a better handle on storytelling. Also for whoever was asking for cozy sci-fi/fantasy earlier, man, The Colour of Magic totally makes me feel like I'm 10 again, discovering really fun and fascinating fantasy for the first time.
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Aug 29, 2017 05:24
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Oh god yes. I've read a couple of early Robert Asprin and they were pretty poor. The thing about Pratchett is that The Colour of Magic, good as it is, is nowhere near his best. Most people think he didn't really hit his stride until Mort, and although there are a few low points, he has so many high ones as well.
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Aug 29, 2017 05:42
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Terry Pratchett's style changes a fair bit as well, though. Earlier ones were more fun and silly, and I probably slightly prefer them.
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Aug 29, 2017 07:36
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The first two Discworld books were straight up parodies of the sword & sorcery genre, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories in particular. The Discworld series changed from a funny loose fantasy stories series to stories about Guards, Death, Witches, Wizards, and the rebirth of Anhk-Morpork civil institutions around the time
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Aug 29, 2017 15:45
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And Pern. In a giant upside-down mountain.
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Aug 29, 2017 16:04
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Hobnob posted:Oh god yes. I've read a couple of early Robert Asprin and they were pretty poor. The thing about Pratchett is that The Colour of Magic, good as it is, is nowhere near his best. Most people think he didn't really hit his stride until Mort, and although there are a few low points, he has so many high ones as well. I'd argue that Guards, Guards is where it really comes together.
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Aug 29, 2017 16:10
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I'd argue that Guards, Guards is where it really comes together. I hesitate to ask this given that I've seen it cause surprisingly heated arguments in real life, but is there a "best" reading order for Discworld books? I've heard so many opinions and been sent so many charts that I'm inclined to just say gently caress it and read them in publication order.
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Aug 29, 2017 16:40
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Just read them. Try to read earlier ones first, in general, but don't worry too much.
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Aug 29, 2017 16:45
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90s Cringe Rock posted:And Pern. In a giant upside-down mountain. It is a measure of Discworld that replying to this with "as opposed to the tiny, right side up mountains" is not sarcastic.
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Aug 29, 2017 16:47
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MockingQuantum posted:I hesitate to ask this given that I've seen it cause surprisingly heated arguments in real life, but is there a "best" reading order for Discworld books? I've heard so many opinions and been sent so many charts that I'm inclined to just say gently caress it and read them in publication order. The best chart https://www.scribd.com/document/278398369/Discworld-ReadingGuide-Infographic
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Aug 29, 2017 16:47
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Just read Mort or Guards Guards. I just started reading Discworld very recently and finished both of those lines in a week or two
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Aug 29, 2017 16:51
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MockingQuantum posted:I hesitate to ask this given that I've seen it cause surprisingly heated arguments in real life, but is there a "best" reading order for Discworld books? I've heard so many opinions and been sent so many charts that I'm inclined to just say gently caress it and read them in publication order. Many people will tell you different things. The correct answer is to start with Guards, Guards to see if you like it, then read the first few Guards-series books so you can get a sense for the universe and setting, and then read the rest in whatever order you find them for sale at your local used bookstore. Wyrd Sisters is an acceptable substitute for Guards, Guards! if you're into witchery.
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Aug 29, 2017 16:52
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ShinsoBEAM! posted:The best chart https://www.scribd.com/document/278398369/Discworld-ReadingGuide-Infographic See it's charts like this that make people like myself and my friends not want to read Discworld at all, as someone who hasn't read any of the books before this makes it look like some kind of complex series, but from what everybody is saying, it's not that deeply interwoven and doesn't really matter much. It took a friend just handing me a copy of The Colour of Magic and telling me to start there before I actually considered reading any Pratchett because to date I'd just had people sending me instruction manuals on how to read them. Hieronymous Alloy posted:Many people will tell you different things. Yeah I'm just gonna read whichever ones I come across, but Guards, Guards comes up often enough when talking to people about Discworld that it seems sensible to seek that one out. The friend who lent me The Colour of Magic has all of them, I believe, so maybe I'll bug him for that one next.
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Aug 29, 2017 17:03
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MockingQuantum posted:good choices Read Guards Guards, I finished it last week and it's a really good read. I'm another newbie to the series and while Color of Magic wasn't for me, Guards Guards absolutely was. I'm trying Mort next, but I'm not sure if it's as compelling yet.
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Aug 29, 2017 17:08
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MockingQuantum posted:See it's charts like this that make people like myself and my friends not want to read Discworld at all, as someone who hasn't read any of the books before this makes it look like some kind of complex series, but from what everybody is saying, it's not that deeply interwoven and doesn't really matter much. It took a friend just handing me a copy of The Colour of Magic and telling me to start there before I actually considered reading any Pratchett because to date I'd just had people sending me instruction manuals on how to read them. Yeah there are like five to ten arguable starting places, but GG is the best overall compromise between accessibility, polish, and starting "at the beginning." The important thing to remember is that Discworld is a setting not a series; there are like five or six different "series" occurring within the setting, and they all bounce and ping off of each other from book to book, but you can read each series independently. Like, I like books set in regency-era England, and there may be some overlap between "wooden ships and iron men" naval fiction and Jane Austen style romance, I don't need to read Austen first to enjoy Patrick O'Brian or vice-versa.
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Aug 29, 2017 17:24
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MockingQuantum posted:See it's charts like this that make people like myself and my friends not want to read Discworld at all, as someone who hasn't read any of the books before this makes it look like some kind of complex series, but from what everybody is saying, it's not that deeply interwoven and doesn't really matter much. It took a friend just handing me a copy of The Colour of Magic and telling me to start there before I actually considered reading any Pratchett because to date I'd just had people sending me instruction manuals on how to read them. Yeah, the charts intimidating and I'd probably never have read Pratchett if I saw it first either. It doesn't much make a difference. I read them all out of order, and while Vimes might jump around in rank and there's a slight chance of missing a reference if you read a late guards book before an early one, ultimately, it doesn't make much difference. And it makes even less difference if you read a late witch novel before an early guards novel. Ultimately all that does is link them by topic and time. Pick a color and follow it clockwise if you want to read all of one set in sequence. BTW the best subjects are Small Gods (standalone), City Watch, Death, Industrial Age, Witches, then Wizards at the bottom.
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Aug 29, 2017 17:28
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:The first two Discworld books were straight up parodies of the sword & sorcery genre, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories in particular. Fahrd and The Gray Mouser were pretty much parodies by themselves. They should also be counted as one of the classics must read books. As for Pratchett, gently caress reading lists. There is no right way of reading Pratchett and one should just read them all, since they are all great. Simple as that.
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Aug 29, 2017 17:33
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It's really easy to forget that Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser predate Tolkien by a decade; the first stories written contemporaneously with Robert E. Howard and Lovecraft, they just weren't published till much later.
Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Aug 29, 2017 |
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Aug 29, 2017 17:39
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I read Color of Magic not too long ago after bouncing off it previously. It wasn't bad, but I've also read Guards! Guards! and Reaper Man and they were definitely better. I mean Pratchett has never wowed me like he does so many others, but he very much evolved his style over time, and reading the books out of order doesn't affect much. With Color at least I got a lot of the references and I can see how it might have been pretty hilarious to someone who grew up on those things specifically, and taking the disc aspect of the world as literally as he did helped elevate even that early attempt. Also I once tried to buy Equal Rites and every single copy in the store was missing pages 30-50 or something like that. Quality control man.
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Aug 29, 2017 17:54
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While you can jump around, I'd recommend reading a few of the City Watch books before Night Watch. That book is so much better for having some context and understanding of the characters involved.
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Aug 29, 2017 19:31
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My unpopular opinion: I kind of like the raw, adolescent cynicism of Color of Magic and Light Fantastic. Some of the later books get preachy and sentimental.
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Aug 29, 2017 19:42
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I'm locked out of Baru 2 til my editor finishes his pass so I started Baru 3  Anybody here read The Orphan Master's Son? North Korea is so weird that it's practically science fictional.
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Aug 29, 2017 19:43
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General Battuta posted:I'm locked out of Baru 2 til my editor finishes his pass so I started Baru 3
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Aug 29, 2017 20:33
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Cardiac posted:Fahrd and The Gray Mouser were pretty much parodies by themselves.
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Aug 29, 2017 20:42
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