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Jack2142 posted:People seem to really dislike it, but Consider Phlebas is probably my second favorite Culture Novel after Use of Weapons. "Total losses: 856.4 billion (+/- .4%)" It's the most depressing ending by far.
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Nov 16, 2017 18:16
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I think cannibal island is kind of important to the book if only to stop Bora from being a total hypocrite. If we're going to take him seriously when he complains about the Culture removing all challenge and suffering from life, we need to see him experience the barbarism that ~noble non post scarcity savages~ actually live under. :smugmind:
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Nov 17, 2017 10:06
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I finished Consider Phlebas earlier this week and wasn't expecting... that
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Nov 17, 2017 10:24
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Finished The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell last night after picking it up on a recommendation a page or 2 back. A pretty great book overall. It was a refreshing change of pace from the usual sci fi I read since the science kind of took a back seat and it was a lot more character focused. I'd definitely recommend it for someone looking for a good first contact book. How's the sequel hold up compared to it?
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Nov 19, 2017 19:17
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Hey, it's the last 24 hours for the 2017 Book Barn Secret Santa! Come and take a look if you're at all interested and email me if you want to sign up. If you want to join in but are busy today, drop me an email and I'll let you sneak in in the next couple of days.
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Nov 20, 2017 05:33
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occamsnailfile posted:the bleak weirdness of the whole endeavor Know your audience when you make recommendations. I have a friend who's big into melancholy and writes tragedy. I told him to start with Consider Phlebas and Look to Windward. No trip report yet. LtW has that scene of walking through a snowed-in city right up front and oh god that's starkly beautiful. One of the best scene painters in a genre where they thrive. One odd thing about Banks, he can go a whole novel without describing a single meal. I mention this because I read a lot of Brust, who talks a lot about food.
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Nov 20, 2017 05:40
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I decided to reread The Quantum Thief over the holiday, and man, I'd forgotten how downright unpleasant Mieli is.
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Nov 24, 2017 14:57
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andrew smash posted:I decided to reread The Quantum Thief over the holiday, and man, I'd forgotten how downright unpleasant Mieli is. Don't worry, we still have a sympathetic female protagonist in Josephine Pellegrini. 
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Nov 26, 2017 04:09
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mieli's motivation is dumb, she has no reason to be so loving unpleasant to jean, she's just there as a vehicle for action scenes.
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Nov 26, 2017 05:07
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Neurosis posted:mieli's motivation is dumb, she has no reason to be so loving unpleasant to jean, she's just there as a vehicle for action scenes. I mean, she actually definitely does, but that starts getting into questions about her overall agency in light of the overall trilogy. which frankly apply to everyone major except the Founders and maybe Jean and are interesting questions and also raise further metatextual questions about whether this was really a good position to put the non-Josephine lady protagonist in
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Nov 26, 2017 06:57
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So after realising that Amazon doesn't have 'The Book of Taltos', my Vlad Taltos escapades are on standby. I did finally get around to reading 'Ender's Game' after it being sat in my kindle for ages. Happy with it so downloaded 'Speaker of the Dead'. Should last me until the next Expanse novel is out..
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Nov 26, 2017 09:52
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Read "The Mote In God's Eye" by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle. Craving more critically acclaimed sci-fi masterpieces now
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Nov 26, 2017 10:15
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After all the talk of the Hyperion Cantos quite a while ago in the thread, I decided to give it a reread since it's one of those sci-fi series that I go back to every couple of years. Say what you want about Dan Simmons and his kooky political ideas, but the man sure can write a good story. All the characters in Hyperion are pretty good and memorable and I like all of their stories for what they are, but the sheer bleakness and depression of Saul and The Consul's stories make them great stories. With just a little exposition, both of them could make great stand-alone short stories.
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Nov 27, 2017 02:48
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I just finished my big Taltos reread. Orca and Hawk definite favourites, Vallista definitely a big bucket of Gothic crazy. I appreciate the chapter names, too, although I only got perhaps half of them. After that I read some fairly disappointing short stories (Evil is a Matter of Perspective) and now I'm getting back into Octavia Butler with Fledgeling. Emnity posted:So after realising that Amazon doesn't have 'The Book of Taltos', my Vlad Taltos escapades are on standby. Really? It seems to for me. Region fuckery? If you go to the publisher and click "buy" it'll open up a list of sellers.
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Nov 27, 2017 03:18
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ToxicFrog posted:I just finished my big Taltos reread. Orca and Hawk definite favourites, Vallista definitely a big bucket of Gothic crazy. I appreciate the chapter names, too, although I only got perhaps half of them. These are the ones I've gotten/guessed. code:EDIT: Updated my list with suggestions from the thread, credit given in parens. Khizan fucked around with this message at 05:32 on Nov 27, 2017 |
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Nov 27, 2017 03:35
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The Miseries of Odolpho is likely The Mysteries of Udolpho, and the River at Housetown is maybe the House at Riverton?
cptn_dr fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Nov 27, 2017 |
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Nov 27, 2017 03:43
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A Short Fatal Hate Chase is A Long Fatal Love Chase (Louisa Alcott).
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Nov 27, 2017 03:53
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On the Night of the Seventh Moon Dion (artist) - The Wanderer (song)? (The lyrics work, but a song would break the pattern) Syzygy Stardust fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Nov 27, 2017 |
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Nov 27, 2017 04:35
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Ah ha. Ha ha ha. I finished Ninefox Gambit at last and went straight from that freakin' ending into even worse brutality in the Traitor Baru Cormorant. Weirdly enough the Baru horrors are scarier than the Ninefox ones because despite the fantasy trappings they're ripped straight from reality. Thanks for being awful, Europe! To think I was reading Ninefox to take a break from how miserable Jane Fancher's stuff has been - I want to get back to her dramas now, they're grueling to read thanks to how sleep-deprived her characters are, but there's no cultural genocide or warcrimes. "I read books for fun!", I say...
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Nov 27, 2017 04:38
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StrixNebulosa posted:Ah ha. Ha ha ha. I finished Ninefox Gambit at last and went straight from that freakin' ending into even worse brutality in the Traitor Baru Cormorant. 
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Nov 27, 2017 05:30
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Syzygy Stardust posted:On the Night of the Seventh Moon Nightgown of the Sullen Moon, surely. Which was a book title first, looks like.
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Nov 27, 2017 06:02
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ToxicFrog posted:I just finished my big Taltos reread. Orca and Hawk definite favourites, Vallista definitely a big bucket of Gothic crazy. I appreciate the chapter names, too, although I only got perhaps half of them. Must be region fuckery. Thanks for the links, I will see what I can find!
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Nov 27, 2017 06:56
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USMC_Karl posted:After all the talk of the Hyperion Cantos quite a while ago in the thread, I decided to give it a reread since it's one of those sci-fi series that I go back to every couple of years. Say what you want about Dan Simmons and his kooky political ideas, but the man sure can write a good story. All the characters in Hyperion are pretty good and memorable and I like all of their stories for what they are, but the sheer bleakness and depression of Saul and The Consul's stories make them great stories. With just a little exposition, both of them could make great stand-alone short stories. The consul's story was a standalone short and was the first thing written in the hyperion universe I think. It used to be my favorite part of the book but as of my most recent reread I think Saul's is the best. Probably because my son was born between readings.
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Nov 27, 2017 08:19
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andrew smash posted:The consul's story was a standalone short and was the first thing written in the hyperion universe I think. It used to be my favorite part of the book but as of my most recent reread I think Saul's is the best. Probably because my son was born between readings. That's a cool thing to know, and totally makes sense. Each of the stories reads kind of like a standalone that Simmons did and then tried to string together with a story. I'm not saying the main plot of Hyperion/Fall is bad, just that, at least for Hyperion, the characters' backgrounds are where its at. When I was younger I liked the Consul's story, thought Hoyt's story was ok, Kassad had a cool story just picturing everything, Lamia's story was bad-rear end with the whole entering-the-Shrike-temple scene, Silenius was a funny, profanity filled rant of a grumpy old man, and Saul's was a sad story. Now, I think Saul's is the best, Hoyt's is depressing, Kassad's is a little ho-hum, Lamia's is also a little ho-hum, Silenius is still a fun grumpy old man, and the Consul's is still great. No kid for me, though, just think my perspective has changed enough to where future guns aren't quite enough to make a good story. *edit* I'm a little worried about going into Endymion, because I remember absolutely loving Raul's whole huck-finn-esque story and really liking De Soya as a character. Maybe my feelings have changed? USMC_Karl fucked around with this message at 08:37 on Nov 27, 2017 |
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Nov 27, 2017 08:33
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Khizan posted:These are the ones I've gotten/guessed.
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Nov 27, 2017 10:39
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Odd that people are more able to talk about the chapter titles than the prose.
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Nov 27, 2017 10:44
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BravestOfTheLamps posted:Odd that people are more able to talk about the chapter titles than the prose. Odd that you are unable to keep yourself from condescending to people playing what is basically a crossword.
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Nov 27, 2017 11:14
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Ban Simmons discussion from this web site
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Nov 27, 2017 11:29
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Apparently David Gemmell has a new book out. It's one of those "Wife found in his papers" things, but damned if I'm not kinda happy about it. It's not his usual stuff though. This is apparently a mystery about some reporter who's stuck doing lovely stories while there's some serial rapist/killer on the loose and then bad things happen to make the reporter be involved. Called Rhyming Rings. https://www.gollancz.co.uk/2016/10/gollancz-acquire-a-brand-new-never-before-seen-novel-from-the-late-great-david-gemmell/
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Nov 27, 2017 11:34
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So I finished reading The Delirium Brief and I have a question or two: When exactly did The Mandate become the avatar of the Black Pharaoh? He sure hell wasn't a sigma 6 entity when he walked into the superhero agency or when he tried to tap the chief whip. Did Iris summon him when she met him at the Tower? If so why did she not do it sooner on someone else, like say Howard when she had him tied up. Is the Black Pharaoh the thing from beyond the gate that The Sleeper is From what the SA was saying, are we supposed to assume O'Brien has the powers of her violin, in the same way Bob is Teapot?
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Nov 27, 2017 11:42
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Collateral posted:So I finished reading The Delirium Brief and I have a question or two: When exactly did The Mandate become the avatar of the Black Pharaoh? He sure hell wasn't a sigma 6 entity when he walked into the superhero agency or when he tried to tap the chief whip. Did Iris summon him when she met him at the Tower? If so why did she not do it sooner on someone else, like say Howard when she had him tied up. Are these all like made up terms/names from a parody of a sci fi or whatever
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Nov 27, 2017 11:43
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The Consensus fought with the Proxy of the Viscount. Ares explained this in the Cathedral.
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Nov 27, 2017 11:46
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Khizan posted:These are the ones I've gotten/guessed. Gonna guess "Still Waters Run Deep" and "This Rough Magic"
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Nov 27, 2017 12:38
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Collateral posted:So I finished reading The Delirium Brief and I have a question or two: When exactly did The Mandate become the avatar of the Black Pharaoh? He sure hell wasn't a sigma 6 entity when he walked into the superhero agency or when he tried to tap the chief whip. Did Iris summon him when she met him at the Tower? If so why did she not do it sooner on someone else, like say Howard when she had him tied up. I think that the Mandate was The Black Pharaoh's avatar for as long as we've seen him but it's taken time for his power to build to this level, just as Bob-as-Teapot was weaker at first and is growing into the ruler of the Eater of Souls. Interesting idea about Mo but I think the real answer is that The Black Pharaoh protected her. I'm not sure which is scarier mind, having a piece of The King In Yellow hiding in you or having the eye of The Mandate.
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Nov 27, 2017 14:43
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Black pharaoh is my nom de porn.
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Nov 27, 2017 15:53
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Khizan posted:These are the ones I've gotten/guessed. "This Smooth Magic" is probably This Rough Magic. "Waters Below the Ground" might be Still Waters Run Deep but might also be Rivers Underground.
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Nov 27, 2017 16:33
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A human heart posted:Are these all like made up terms/names from a parody of a sci fi or whatever No, but without a lot of context it's gonna look that way. Some are codenames of classified occult spy agency programs and the individuals associated with them. Some are superhero/villain brand identities. And some are references to Cthulhu Mythos entities that exist in-universe. Oh, and at least one of them is an actual real-life British historical landmark.
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Nov 27, 2017 18:22
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Kesper North posted:No, but without a lot of context it's gonna look that way. Some are codenames of classified occult spy agency programs and the individuals associated with them. Some are superhero/villain brand identities. And some are references to Cthulhu Mythos entities that exist in-universe. Oh, and at least one of them is an actual real-life British historical landmark. Chief Whip is a position in British political parties. 
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Nov 27, 2017 18:40
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pseudorandom name posted:Chief Whip is a position in British political parties. annd they also have a Chief Nae Nae
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Nov 27, 2017 18:43
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Sigma is the standard deviation, six sigma is six standard deviations outside the mean (which is also known as the average).  In this case, its above the mean because nobody cares about entities with extraordinarily below average magical power.
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Nov 27, 2017 19:04
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