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Has Lynch ever talked about that bit? As well as being an especially nasty fridging it's completely unnecessary to the story, as there's ample other deaths that provide the same motivation, and are more successfully emotional. It's a real sour note.
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Oct 11, 2017 22:45
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Gasp! Not... Vulgarity!
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Oct 12, 2017 00:10
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I'd say fantasy + (noir / crime / heist / caper) depending. Overall I think it's one of the better fantasy novels in the past ten years or so, mostly on the strength of its pacing, relatively innovative setting and plotting, and brave narrative choices; the author isn't afraid to burn bridges. The sequels underperform though (partly because the author burned so many bridges in the first novel). And that's why the fourth book is (supposedly) a prequel so he can go back to the good ol' days.
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Oct 12, 2017 02:25
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StrixNebulosa posted:Lemme put it another way: Cherryh writes really good assholes that you can understand. Downbelow Station is the best example of this because you get the POV of one gigantic gaping rear end in a top hat so you really get why he does everything...and you don't get that in Foreigner, but it's still there. Jerks you understand and likely hate, if you're so inclined. I think you've hit on it, actually. In her other books I have some understanding of the antagonists, and that means I have some sympathy for them even as I fantasize about shoving them out the airlock or trading them to the Knnn for thirty tonnes of mixed rocks or something. In Fortress, I don't feel like I can successfully get into any of their heads, so my mental model of them is just "lol I'm going to be a total shitlord and gently caress things up for everyone for no reason duuuurrrrrrrrr".
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Oct 12, 2017 02:38
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smug n stuff posted:Sanderson's Elantris is a Bad Book but the priest character Hrathen allowed him to explore kinda interesting ideas about religion and faith, I thought There's also characters like Szeth (and Dalinar) in Stormlight, Sazed in Mistborn, and Wax in the followup series. Religion and faith will definitely be a thing for Dalinar, as there was no way it couldn't be after how the 2nd book concluded. Hrathen's arc in Elantris is definitely the best though. Elantris is also a fine book, though I read the 20th anniversary edition which has some rewrites/edits IIRC. 
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Oct 12, 2017 03:20
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mllaneza posted:And that's why the fourth book is (supposedly) a prequel so he can go back to the good ol' days. The third book was a prequel.
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Oct 12, 2017 03:20
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Don't think I saw this in the latest pages, but Humble Bundle has a sci fi ebook bundle. Goes up to 8 bucks for about 25 books. I don't read enough sci-fi to give recommendations, but hey, maybe there's a few good titles in there.
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Oct 12, 2017 04:07
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Vacuum Flowers is worth the price of admission alone That cover tho lol
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Oct 12, 2017 04:38
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ElGroucho posted:So, uhh, anybody read any good books lately Just read The Uploaded by Ferret Steinmetz, it had an interesting take on uploading people. Its a YA dystopia where the dead are uploaded to computer, but the interesting part is that they don't bother going to old well of the uploaded people not being "real." The future just sucks because the virtual world is just more fun than the real world. All the uploaded scientists just spend their time making the virtual world better, increasing the fidelity of their senses beyond real life, which requires the people in the real world to keep building more an more computers to keep up with the software upgrades while everything else in the real world gets shittier. Everyone goes along with this because if you rock the boat you don't get uploaded.
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Oct 12, 2017 06:43
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Artelier posted:Don't think I saw this in the latest pages, but Humble Bundle has a sci fi ebook bundle. Goes up to 8 bucks for about 25 books. what an odd qualitative and thematic hodge-podge of things known literary peers octavia butler and william c. dietz
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Oct 12, 2017 06:53
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CaptCommy posted:Edit: I also thing the books are real good if you like the style he writes them in. It's a very mythological/historical style with some big events happening in like two sentences or off screen. But it's a pretty unique thing and I found it a good change of pace from the way most fantasy is written. I dug into it a bit last night and I can totally see what you mean. Ken Liu's background as a translator of Chinese literature really bleeds through into his writing style, and at times it feels like a really good translation of a non-English original text. It's definitely a style I haven't seen done much before and I'm interested to read on.
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Oct 12, 2017 07:30
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ianmacdo posted:Just read The Uploaded by Ferret Steinmetz, it had an interesting take on uploading people. Interesting, it's roko's basilisk except it doesn't need to invoke the nerd eschatology of godlike AI.
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Oct 12, 2017 07:35
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For anyone who really like PKD, The Folio Society has released a volume with Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep and Through a Scanner Darkly.
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Oct 12, 2017 11:56
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General Battuta posted:the short story where Dan Simmons meets his future self traveling back in time to warn how the ground zero mosque will usher in global sharia Authors including themselves in books will forever be the worst thing.
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Oct 12, 2017 13:23
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Lolandrew smash posted:Interesting, it's roko's basilisk except it doesn't need to invoke the nerd eschatology of godlike AI. But you do need an idiot plot. Re Ken Liu's style, I looked at the book and was turned off by the flat and boring style. I get it's imitating Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but it didn't work. Disappointing after his stories.
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Oct 12, 2017 14:27
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Artelier posted:Don't think I saw this in the latest pages, but Humble Bundle has a sci fi ebook bundle. Goes up to 8 bucks for about 25 books. Shockwave Rider is a book I heard of many years ago after a computer game was named after it for no particular reason other than the programmer liked the sound of it. Anyone know if it's actually worth reading?
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Oct 12, 2017 14:43
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Jedit posted:Shockwave Rider is a book I heard of many years ago after a computer game was named after it for no particular reason other than the programmer liked the sound of it. Anyone know if it's actually worth reading? Classic 70s cyberpunk, I think Brunner's work holds up fairly well but you might disagree.
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Oct 12, 2017 14:46
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Rough Lobster posted:Authors including themselves in books will forever be the worst thing. Worked for Vonnegut
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Oct 12, 2017 15:10
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Worked for Vonnegut And Ringo.
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Oct 12, 2017 16:25
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Jedit posted:Shockwave Rider is a book I heard of many years ago after a computer game was named after it for no particular reason other than the programmer liked the sound of it. Anyone know if it's actually worth reading? It's a pretty alright novel. Some of the specifics of the technological elements are obviously very dated, but the general sorts of questions he's asking about government secrecy and the influence of pretty close analogue to the internet on society are still pretty relevant.
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Oct 12, 2017 22:37
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Drone posted:I dug into it a bit last night and I can totally see what you mean. Ken Liu's background as a translator of Chinese literature really bleeds through into his writing style, and at times it feels like a really good translation of a non-English original text. It's definitely a style I haven't seen done much before and I'm interested to read on. Probably because the book is a beat-for-beat retelling of the founding of the Han Dynasty. I found this to be weirdly uncommented on. Every single major plot point and most of the main characters are 100% the start of the Han Dynasty, plus a light glaze of fantasy elements. Liu Bang is Kuni Garu and Xiang Yu is Mata Zyndu. I'm not even talking about the broad structure of the novel, I mean really specific stuff like the Feast at Hong Gate get worked in as literally a way as possible. Isn't that kind of weird? If a book drew so precisely from some sort of well known western historical drama I'm not sure what people would say.
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Oct 12, 2017 23:17
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Copernic posted:Probably because the book is a beat-for-beat retelling of the founding of the Han Dynasty. I found this to be weirdly uncommented on. I think a lot of sf readers think history only goes as far east as Troy. Copernic posted:If a book drew so precisely from some sort of well known western historical drama I'm not sure what people would say. Harry Turtledove's early career was basically this.
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Oct 12, 2017 23:36
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GGK's entire career is this
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Oct 13, 2017 01:51
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my bony fealty posted:Vacuum Flowers is worth the price of admission alone I agree, this one is better 
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Oct 13, 2017 02:00
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shrike82 posted:GGK's entire career is this ASOIF leans pretty heavy on the War of the Roses at least initially, Honor Harrington obfuscates with its chatter about individual missiles but uses a lot of Nelson's career (and Robe S. Pierre of course) but we don't call them poo poo because they draw on historical events Basically people are willing to consume dramatizations of historical events already, I guess I don't care much if they dress them up in different clothes so long as it's a fun ride.
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Oct 13, 2017 02:37
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skasion posted:I read Mythago Wood. Holy poo poo, what a disappointment. There's an absolutely brilliant weird fiction novel trapped inside it, trying to get out. Lavondyss goes some way toward being that weird fiction novel. Maybe not brilliant, but satisfyingly weird and alien in ways that Mythago Wood doesn't even try to be. Not coincidentally, the eternally blue-balled Huxley men do not feature in Lavondyss. The protagonist is Harry Keeton's kid sister, in third-person POV. You get a lot more folklore and myth. You also get some outright body horror. I read Lavondyss before any of the other Mythago books, and all the others were disappointments to me after that. If I'd read Mythago Wood first I don't think I'd have bothered with the rest.
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Oct 13, 2017 04:54
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MeerkatHero posted:Lavondyss goes some way toward being that weird fiction novel. Maybe not brilliant, but satisfyingly weird and alien in ways that Mythago Wood doesn't even try to be. I remember Lavondyss being extremely creepy, in a good way. It's been 15+ years since I read them both, but it was definitely better than the first.
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Oct 13, 2017 06:25
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Copernic posted:If a book drew so precisely from some sort of well known western historical drama I'm not sure what people would say. The Lion King is literally Hamlet, except Simba isn't a depressive guy with suicidal ideation.
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Oct 13, 2017 13:15
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Honor Harrington was the most boring, least interesting character I've ever read. I was waiting for the reveal at the end of the book to be that she was a straight up android.
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Oct 13, 2017 15:39
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Turns out that The Ritual by Adam Nevill got turned into a movie. Looks neat. I haven't read it, but the trailer looked interesting, so I'm gonna add it to the list.
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Oct 13, 2017 15:58
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Turns out that The Ritual by Adam Nevill got turned into a movie. Looks neat. About half the book is pretty good. The back half goes off the rails and drags on too long. It comes up frequently in the horror thread. Honestly I think it might work better as a movie. Nevill does pretty well with atmosphere but I think some of the scares would work better as a visual.
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Oct 13, 2017 16:12
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Drone posted:The Lion King is literally Hamlet, except Simba isn't a depressive guy with suicidal ideation. Not really. It's quite different from Hamlet, and the original legend of Amleth too.
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Oct 13, 2017 16:18
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The songs are much better in The Lion King, for one thing.
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Oct 13, 2017 16:41
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I finished Ann Leckie's new book, Provenance, recently. It's a nice, fun read with some interesting ideas. Definitely lighter than the Ancillary books, but still good. It's set in the same universe as the Ancillary books, but in a human society outside the Radch. It's interesting to get a different perspective on some things in that universe. I also ran across a very strange series that starts with the The Chronicles of Old Guy. It is told from the perspective of a sentient Cybertank, the titular Old Guy, built by humans but long after humans have mysteriously vanished, leaving the cybertanks as the sole remnant of humanity, carrying on art, culture, and philosophy. This is, as should be obvious, a comedy series. It's better than it sounds. The dude who wrote it is an electrical engineer who went on to get a PhD in physiology, specializing in neurobiology, so there's actually a sensible justification given for why cybertanks are the only sentient devices created by the humans, and, more or less, act the way they do. The first one is $0.99 on Kindle and it's worth checking out if you want a very light semi-hard SF comedy read. I haven't started the second yet, but the reviews claim the rest are good as well. Arcsech fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Oct 13, 2017 |
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Oct 13, 2017 19:33
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Technically not a new book, but Gary Burley's extremely gorgeous, fully hand-illustrated edition of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has reached its Kickstarter funding for a limited second run. For disclosure, I've got a couple of the first-run copies (and am probably going to throw in for one of the second-run copies and some artprints), and this book is incredible to actually see. The fact that it's the result of a 27-year passion project by Mr. Burley is very evident. From the time of this posting, you have just under 13 days to snag yourself a paperback or hardcover copy of this edition, which contains more than 500 hand-inked illustrations. You can also get some of these illustrations as artprints as well:            
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Oct 13, 2017 20:48
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Which translation, or is it in French? I need to get a.modern translation that doesn't cut the anti British parts. Also is he doing The Mysterious Island too
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Oct 13, 2017 20:55
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It is the standard 1873 Sampson Low translation. He has spoken of doing a run of the original French though! Not sure what the timetable on that looks like.
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Oct 13, 2017 21:03
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Copernic posted:If a book drew so precisely from some sort of well known western historical drama I'm not sure what people would say. You just described A Game of Thrones. Aside from it using the War of the Roses as it's foundation the Wall is literally Hadrian's Wall and the Red Wedding is based on real events like The Black Dinner.
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Oct 13, 2017 21:10
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So the answer is "they'd love it".
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Oct 13, 2017 21:22
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Alehkhs posted:It is the standard 1873 Sampson Low translation. Ah Mercier translation then. Sadness. Hrm. Still might be worth it. Looks like he's drawn Nemo's ethnicity correctly which is a good sign.
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Oct 13, 2017 21:58
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