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Vampires aren't a federally protected employment discrimination class so its perfectly acceptable whenever you want to fire them.. full of bullets
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 19:01 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 16:14 |
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Orthodox Rabbit posted:can vampires eat regular food Have you ever seen a vampire poop? I know I haven't.
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 19:12 |
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Orthodox Rabbit posted:can vampires eat regular food I want to say that this series had the vampire protagonist eating regular food that'd been doused in blood: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G78Z75Q?ref=series_rw_dp_labf
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 19:12 |
quote:The cargo bay was much cooler. The steel of the floor was cold under my face. I lay there for a minute, panting, as the feeling painfully returned to my arm and leg. I could not understand what had just happened. Earl Harbinger had just given up his life for mine. I was sure that Darné was tearing him to pieces as we sat here uselessly. I gradually pulled myself to a sitting position, my back resting against a sheet-metal shipping container, my stomach clenched in agony, and my knee twinged as I moved it. Sam hands Pitt a scavenged FAMAS from one of the French hunters as they climb up the tower. Pitt and Sam talk about how Grant left Pitt to die; Sam is a bit understanding, but still finds it cowardly. He just warns Pitt not to kill him because they're shorthanded enough as it is. The mood on the deck is a bit more somber around Boone's team, where Roberts' body is covered with a sheet. Lee is lying on some blankets with his shirt off and bandages encircling his chest. Julie runs up and awkwardly grabs his armor instead of hugging him. quote:"I'm sorry we couldn't come back for you. There were more of them in the corridor waiting for us. We got jumped. I'm sorry. How did you make it?" She looked really happy to see me. The feeling was mutual. Oh hey, no fanfare. Harbinger is alive and well. There's certainly nothing unusual or inhuman about that. Pitt overhears a familiar voice, and turns to find Grant near the railing. Grant is about to have a really bad time. quote:"Hey, Grant," I said cooly as I approached him. Don't worry folks, he hit the flotation device on Grant's armor so he just pops back to the surface after a few seconds. The other hunters run over, and they don't look happy. Boone orders a rope thrown to him, not to save him from drowning but because all the wight meat in the sea has probably riled up the sharks. quote:The sun was setting over the bow of the Antoine-Henri. The fourteen surviving members of the MHI teams were gathered on the deck in a rough semicircle, illuminated in our ragged exhaustion by the fading golden rays. Grant Jefferson had been safely retrieved from the water and was standing as far away from me as was possible, with a giant, white cotton swab shoved into each nostril. Harbinger had not been happy, and had promised to talk to both of us later. I was not looking forward to that, and I just hoped that it did not end up with me being terminated.
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 20:38 |
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Mel Mudkiper posted:That's literally what I said in A. Yeah. I just said it in an easier to read format.
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 20:42 |
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My hot take on the vampires immediately being evil thing is that Darne is as much under the will of ol Machado as his wights were under his. But what do I know, I'm a Monster-American myself, so of course I'll try to rationalize their actions.
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 20:51 |
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Something I don't understand about Pitt's grenade gambit: don't smoke grenades look totally different from fragmentation grenades? Given that vampires apparently retain their knowledge, how did Darne not spot this immediately?
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 20:59 |
PittTheElder posted:Something I don't understand about Pitt's grenade gambit: don't smoke grenades look totally different from fragmentation grenades? Given that vampires apparently retain their knowledge, how did Darne not spot this immediately? Also despite being turned by the most powerful vampire of all and even being able to feel Julie's pulse from afar, he couldn't pull a lie detector test on Pitt? Is he that good of a liar that he doesn't even get nervous doing it? If so, is that Larry dissing on accountants?
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 21:04 |
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chitoryu12 posted:Also despite being turned by the most powerful vampire of all and even being able to feel Julie's pulse from afar, he couldn't pull a lie detector test on Pitt? Is he that good of a liar that he doesn't even get nervous doing it? If so, is that Larry dissing on accountants? I'm pretty sure Pitt was in an extremely nervous and agitated state the entire time so his heart rate would be sky high anyways. Plus there is a reason why lie detector tests normally test you for baseline first before asking actual questions.
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 21:06 |
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PittTheElder posted:Something I don't understand about Pitt's grenade gambit: don't smoke grenades look totally different from fragmentation grenades? Given that vampires apparently retain their knowledge, how did Darne not spot this immediately? US grenades are, M18 smoke is a big cylinder while the m67 frag is a ball. I have no idea if the Monster Hunter universe has special garlic filled smoke grenades or silver wire frags though, so no telling.
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 22:34 |
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HE concussion grenades are usually cyclical shaped.
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 22:41 |
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Samizdata posted:Yeah. I just said it in an easier to read format. Ah, so you were making a narrative post then
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 23:26 |
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chitoryu12 posted:Is he that good of a liar that he doesn't even get nervous doing it? To be fair, lie detectors are based on bunk science and don't really do better than chance in practice. You can't really use any sort of vital sign measurement for lie detection because there's so much noise. "People get subconsciously nervous when they lie and it comes out in heart rate/blood pressure/sweat/whatever" is one of those things that sounds good but doesn't actually seem to be true when tested. Even police operators admit that they use them more as just another intimidation tactic in interviews to pressure people because they just aren't reliable. That's why they're inadmissible as evidence, for example; the results are meaningless and have been proven to be meaningless. Of course, it's probably more likely that the author just didn't think of that.
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# ? Apr 12, 2018 23:57 |
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PittTheElder posted:Something I don't understand about Pitt's grenade gambit: don't smoke grenades look totally different from fragmentation grenades? Given that vampires apparently retain their knowledge, how did Darne not spot this immediately? Funny how when it's a civilian firearm we get a load of unnecessary details but when it's military equipment like grenades it's just 'a grenade'.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 00:45 |
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The biggest problem with the book is definitely the main character, who is a complete rear end in a top hat. Not just the constantly hitting on a woman who is definitely not reciprocating but his know it all attitude to everything.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 00:55 |
muscles like this! posted:The biggest problem with the book is definitely the main character, who is a complete rear end in a top hat. Not just the constantly hitting on a woman who is definitely not reciprocating but his know it all attitude to everything. And the "hitting on a woman who's not reciprocating" actually gets worse from here. Like we're not even at the depths of Pitt's most pathetic pleading.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 01:12 |
muscles like this! posted:The biggest problem with the book is definitely the main character, who is a complete rear end in a top hat. Not just the constantly hitting on a woman who is definitely not reciprocating but his know it all attitude to everything.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 01:33 |
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I wonder where it's coming from, I don't remember campy monster movies having a lot of girlfriend stealing NTR bullshit.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 03:47 |
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Ah, so you were making a narrative post then Let's kill this before it grows up, okay?
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 04:21 |
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Zereth posted:AND he knows full well is already in a relationship, at that. Two things that would make him an rear end in a top hat, and he's managing to hit them both at the exact same time. Doesn't matter since the boyfriend is a pussy coward bitch, right?
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 04:21 |
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Re: the smoke grenade- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh677-ClXCY It can be done to have a smoke look like a baseball grenade. But why would MHI do that? And if the smoke was a white phosphor grenade, which is standard, how did that not set of the fumes or whatever everyone was paranoid about.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 04:32 |
Samizdata posted:Doesn't matter since the boyfriend is a pussy coward bitch, right?
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 05:11 |
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I bet either Grant gets turned into a vampire, so both he and Lord Machado are on the same side against our hero, or he dies an cowards death despite Pitts attempts to save him.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 05:28 |
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Zereth posted:My money's on Grant either dying a cowardly death, or redeeming himself from his earlier cowardice locking Pitt in with the wights/vampire by dying heroically, leaving Julie unattached. JUST MAKING CHILI posted:I bet either Grant gets turned into a vampire, so both he and Lord Machado are on the same side against our hero, or he dies an cowards death despite Pitts attempts to save him. I read these quite a while ago, and I just don't remember.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 07:56 |
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Zereth posted:My money's on Grant either dying a cowardly death, or redeeming himself from his earlier cowardice locking Pitt in with the wights/vampire by dying heroically, leaving Julie unattached. My guess is that Grant does the single worst thing imaginable. The one thing so heinous that it will put him forever beyond hope of redemption and make Julie immediately write him off entirely with no regrets. That's right. I think Grant is going to go work for the government.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 09:31 |
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Monocled Falcon posted:I wonder where it's coming from, I don't remember campy monster movies having a lot of girlfriend stealing NTR bullshit. Considering Pitt is a Mary Sue self-insert, I'm wondering if Julie is based on an irl woman...
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 10:22 |
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Choco1980 posted:Considering Pitt is a Mary Sue self-insert, I'm wondering if Julie is based on an irl woman... The only thing that would be better is if it WAS and when the woman irl finally had enough of Larry and told him to gently caress off, he turns Julie into an evil vampire who Pitt then takes pleasure in killing.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 12:35 |
I've read ahead enough that I can say that more than one person is right about what happens to Grant. I'm just not going to say which ones.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 13:40 |
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JUST MAKING CHILI posted:I bet either Grant gets turned into a vampire Khizan posted:I think Grant is going to go work for the government. What's the difference!!!!!!!! hyuck hyuck hyuck
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 13:48 |
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I am not sure why any of you are shocked by the protagonists lack of respect for female agency in his romantic desires. Its wholly consistent with the explicit moral ethos of the text. The entire novel is a glorification of power as the ultimate moral authority. When we are first introduced to the main character, he is explicitly described as a failure. He is belittled, disgruntled, and living a life devoid of both glory and significance. Even in exploring his personal history we discover his only moments of achievement and self-actualization are earned through the application of violence. He pays for college as a pit fighter. He briefly earns his fathers love as a child as a marksman. The primary act that begins the protagonists journey to self-actualization is the use of deadly force. His life is wholly bettered by the fact he was finally given an opportunity to cause violence without concern for the victim. By this, he is elevated to a new station in life which offers him both greater wealth and greater respect. The message here is simple, the application of strength by the strong is good, the repression of that strength is not. Is this not the whole ethos of MHI itself? We are given no explicit reason to believe monsters are universally deserving of death other than the fact that MHI declares it to be so. We are given no clear understanding of the agency or experience of the vampires, or werewolves, etc. We are merely told that the thing they are is a thing which must be destroyed. And the right to destroy them is contained entirely in the potential to destroy. MHI has the moral authority to take life solely from the fact that it has the power to do so. We are given no clear moral reasoning as readers to believe that there is anything ethical in what MHI does. Instead, we are told to view them as a moral force because they are strong and because the application of that strength is amusing to us. Which leads to female agency. If the protagonist experiences self-actualization through the use of inherent strength, and this usage of strength is seen as "good" by the novel itself, why should we be surprised that he might seek to force the strength of his will against the will of another? He has earned everything by force, why should sexual gratification be any different? If the protagonist is able to bend a weaker will to act in a way that is gratifying to him, the novel clearly tells us he has the moral right to do so. It doesn't matter if she is interested in him if the protagonist can apply the force of his will to make her change. It doesn't matter if she already has a partner, because if the partner is lesser in strength than the challenger, the partner is suggested to be undeserving of satisfaction. In a world in which having the power to take something is the only justification needed to take it, what should it matter to the protagonist if his romantic desire is unwilling. He could forcefully rape her in the next chapter and the novel would celebrate it as the rightful order of a moral universe.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 13:55 |
quote:Harbinger summoned me to the cargo bay. There were only a handful of us left on the freighter. The Hind had taken the most injured of the Hunters, and the Brilliant Mistake had been signaled to return to pick up a few more men and our gear. Surprisingly, the little boat's crew had stayed nearby to help us. Harbinger gave them an extra $20,000 for their trouble and the admonition to never talk about this unless they wanted the government to pay them a very unpleasant visit. He must have been feeling generous due to the big haul. The Director also gave them business cards, along with instructions to contact us if they ever heard of any more monster problems. Since we could not advertise, much of our business came in the form of referrals. Representatives of the French shipping corporation were already en route to retrieve their valuable cargo. The remainder of our fee was to be wired to us upon receipt. The Hind was to return for its last pickup shortly. The rest of the gang is more and more willing to accept the existence of Master vampires, especially after encountering so many wights under Darné's control. Darné was as strong as a century-old vampire despite being apparently freshly turned, and the rest of the sailors were equally too powerful. quote:"He was a good guy when he was human," Sam said. "Losing him is a drat shame." If you want to picture Sam as Yosemite Sam after this point, go right ahead. As Pitt looks through the coffins, he notices that a corner of the container has had all the paint dissolved away and is coated with some kind of ichor. Sam takes them around to another container and shows them that it's been torn open from the inside, apparently by something really mad and really strong that wanted out. Pitt suggests it may be those winged creatures from his dream, and Harbinger asks him to explain the whole story. quote:"So that's why you brought me down here. I thought you were going to yell at me for beating up Grant," I replied cheerfully. Julie folded her arms and glared. Pitt tells them everything starting from seeing Byreika in the hospital. He skips over seeing him while drowning, as he's still not sure whether or not that was a hallucination. They theorize over what he could be, and Harbinger suggests that he might be a ghost that latched onto Pitt while he was dead on the operating table and has been brought back. quote:"Be sure to ask him that the next time you see him," Milo told me. We cut to the Hind flying back to shore. The pilot is playing songs from bands like Disturbed, Slipknot, Rob Zombie, and even Pitt's brother's band, Cabbage Point Killing Machine. quote:I had never ridden in a helicopter before, and it was kind of exciting, loud and with painful vibrations, but still fun. Almost like a roller coaster ride with the added advantage that it could shear a bolt and kill you in a matter of seconds. Ah, something people on this board will finally agree with! After Julie falls asleep, Harbinger opens his eyes and moves over next to Pitt to talk to him. Because they're in a helicopter without headphones, they need to shout their entire conversation. quote:"I wanted to talk to you about Grant." Pitt tries to ask what Julie thinks about it, but Harbinger reminds him once again that it's none of his business and to shut it. He also gives Pitt some bad news: he's going to have to go back to accounting. quote:"I got a letter yesterday. The IRS is going to audit us. I'm gonna need your help; our books are a mess. Once we handle this little vampire problem, of course." Ah, so he's an rear end in a top hat at heart.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 14:08 |
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quote:"That's just the tip of the iceberg though. OSHA is crawling all over us for—I kid you not—workplace safety violations. As if there is anything safe about what we do at all. The EPA is angry about some of the pollution we have caused by burning certain kinds of monsters. Fish and Wildlife wants to fine us for killing a giant mutant Tennessee River catfish because it was endangered. Sure it had just crawled up on land and eaten some teenagers, but it was still an endangered species. We're in trouble with the BATF for some missing compliance paperwork for the machine guns and explosives—paperwork which they lost. And Immigration is investigating us for employing some illegal aliens." Ah yes, the argument that all regulation is fundamentally shortsighted because those with the moral power to wield force are the only ones who have the authority to decide how that force should best be used. This is exactly what I was referring to as power being the sole ethos of the novel.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 14:15 |
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Yeah, I made it through I think three of these things (because I really wanted to read about the adventures of monster exterminators), before I gave up. There's a real thread of "The violent and strong are the only hope. And that's us. If you're peaceful (i.e. pathetic and weak), I suppose you can hide behind us and not get in our way. But we want money for doing this. We'd probably be doing an even better job if it weren't for all those pesky laws and regulations from those greedy, conniving politicians"
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 14:20 |
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Proteus Jones posted:Yeah, I made it through I think three of these things (because I really wanted to read about the adventures of monster exterminators), before I gave up. Absolutely. The fundamental ideology behind the story is both painfully trite and painfully dangerous because it is wholly built around the refusal to take personal responsibility for one's own failures. Correia is telling you, reader, that you are not weak. You are strong but the REAL weaklings won't allow you to be strong. You are not unsuccessful. The fickle GOVERNMENT is keeping you from being successful. It is a pornographic fantasy for the un-actualized white male that he could be everything he wants to be if only he existed in a moral universe that celebrated his power. Its an ur-text of the alt-right.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 14:26 |
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So this is essentially a Shadowrun story, except private entities are GOOD because of course they'll be GOOD, only the Government and their stupid regulations are bad!
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 15:13 |
I've been skimming this thread until I'm caught up on the book, has anyone taken the position that it's NOT hilariously right-wing propaganda with a side of sex-pestery? Because AFAIK everyone's been clowning on its politics from page one Like, who are you arguing with exactly
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 16:01 |
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Clipperton posted:I've been skimming this thread until I'm caught up on the book, has anyone taken the position that it's NOT hilariously right-wing propaganda with a side of sex-pestery? Because AFAIK everyone's been clowning on its politics from page one The issue is that the politics are taken as an absurd element of a comical book rather than a dangerous attempt to normalize fascism in a treatise on a toxic world view.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 16:08 |
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Mel Mudkiper posted:The issue is that the politics are taken as an absurd element of a comical book rather than a dangerous attempt to normalize fascism in a treatise on a toxic world view.
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 16:25 |
Mel Mudkiper posted:The issue is that the politics are taken as an absurd element of a comical book rather than a dangerous attempt to normalize fascism in a treatise on a toxic world view. The most dangerous man in America. Who can resist the ideas swirling around in his perfectly egg-shaped head? I mean if you want to argue that books with gross politics are inherently toxic and can't be fun (disagree!) or that gun-porn is inherently right-wing (disagree somewhat!) or whatever then go ahead, that would be interesting and imo very relevant to a Correia read-through
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 16:25 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 16:14 |
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Clipperton posted:I mean if you want to argue that books with gross politics are inherently toxic and can't be fun (disagree!) or that gun-porn is inherently right-wing (disagree somewhat!) or whatever then go ahead, that would be interesting and imo very relevant to a Correia read-through Thats what I am doing
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# ? Apr 13, 2018 16:29 |