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coolusername posted:Finished the latest Murderbot novella. It was fun, but it really did feel a little too short? Like it's the first quarter of an actual novel versus a self-contained and satisfying novella. So I do feel it's a bit excessive to bring them out for $10 a pop when it's less a set of novellas and more paying by chapter. There seem to be a glut of novella series recently. Some feel more like complete stories in their own right (Binti is closer to this) and others like just pieces of a novel (Brothers Ruin by Newman). I'm fine with the previous, but not so much the latter. And the Library keeps my pocketbook healthy in the meantime.
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May 8, 2018 20:51
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Some of the things we call "novellas" now would just about have been a full book back in the middle of the 20th century--I mean you look at some old paperbacks, they top out at two hundred pages. The logistics of publishing meant that the price/printing/profit sweet spot became a bit higher over time and so books got fatter and were priced higher to match--and now with ebooks where the pagecount doesn't matter quite in the same way, we're back to more "short novels." I'm okay with that except that I tend to agree that full novel price for a novella is a bit high most of the time. Except for Martha Wells, she's been a favorite of mine for a long time so I guess I'm part of the problem.
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May 8, 2018 21:11
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MockingQuantum posted:I'm really excited to read this but I can in no way justify :tenbux: for it, especially because what you're saying here seems to be the consensus. A good friend of mine said he felt a bit like he was being conned into paying $40 over time for a novel-length ebook. Especially since the first one dropped down to $4 not that long after release. This is my problem with the series, too. I don't mind paying full price for an ebook novel, but this really feels like she chopped a novel into several pieces and then sold each of them for full novel price and I'm not okay with that.
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May 9, 2018 05:16
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Let me tell you about this amazing thing called a “library”...
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May 9, 2018 07:35
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Khizan posted:This is my problem with the series, too. I don't mind paying full price for an ebook novel, but this really feels like she chopped a novel into several pieces and then sold each of them for full novel price and I'm not okay with that. Sadly this is about how much a normal length book would cost in order for writers to actually make anything remotely resembling a decent wage.
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May 9, 2018 08:26
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C.M. Kruger posted:Get the Powder Mage books from the library if you want to read them. thousand names is ok, i finished it and enjoyed the sequels but they are better than the powder mage series i reckon. guns of the dawn is a standalone and i really liked it. it's a jane austin/bronte sisters style story where the middle daughter of an impoverished house is sent to war.
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May 9, 2018 14:13
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Khizan posted:This is my problem with the series, too. I don't mind paying full price for an ebook novel, but this really feels like she chopped a novel into several pieces and then sold each of them for full novel price and I'm not okay with that. Then don't buy it and/or wait for the price drop? Plus she's not the one that sets the price. Tor is.
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May 9, 2018 14:22
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branedotorg posted:thousand names is ok, i finished it and enjoyed the sequels but they are better than the powder mage series i reckon. I liked Powder Mage better and it aged well in my mind since then. I remember enjoying Thousand Names and the sequels at the time but the good moments havn't stuck with me and the god awful relationship drama did.
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May 9, 2018 18:59
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ShinsoBEAM! posted:I liked Powder Mage better and it aged well in my mind since then. I remember enjoying Thousand Names and the sequels at the time but the good moments havn't stuck with me and the god awful relationship drama did.
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May 9, 2018 19:06
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anilEhilated posted:Yeah, that's the main problem with the series; the Napoleonic campaign stuff is fun and interesting but God does it focus on horribly written romance way too much. can only agree.
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May 10, 2018 01:04
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New Humble Bundle, SUPER NEBULA AUTHOR SHOWCASE 2018 PRESENTED BY SFWA. I'm a little annoyed because most of the things I recognize as worth getting, I already got myself.
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May 10, 2018 02:36
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There's a lot of good stuff in there, or so I feel--I already had the Earthseed from Butler and the Ellison but James Morrow is alright, Silverburg is a guy I prefer to get in bundles or from the library. Jane Yolen and Nalo Hopkinson are both ace and I've wanted to read The Mount but not enough to do anything significant about it. Delaney, LeGuin and Russ are all classic authors. And then there's loving Chthon. This seems like the second or third time I've seen Piers Anthony in a bundle, the old pervy coot must be getting broke or something. occamsnailfile fucked around with this message at 02:57 on May 10, 2018 |
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May 10, 2018 02:53
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Finished reading the 8th annual Year's Best Science Fiction (1990) edited by Gardner Dozois. John Kessel's Invaders story peaked 3 pages in, however it was an amazing peak. quote:"Cocaine," the alien said. "We need cocaine." The Dafydd ab Hugh, Terry Bisson, Ted Chiang, Alexander Jablokov, Nancy Kress, Connie Willis, Pat Murphy, Lucius Shepard/Robert Frazier stories were all good. Joe Haldeman's story depends on how much you give a crap about Ernest Hemingway/the Hemingway mythos, and Michael Moorcocks The Cairine Purse had 25 pages of pure filler upfront before the actual story started...given that the Cairine Purse was a 54 page story, that really grated on my nerves. Neutral on the two Greg Egan stories in the collection, cups of cherry jello on moving sidewalks were more dynamic than the passive voice narration in both stories.
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May 10, 2018 06:06
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occamsnailfile posted:There's a lot of good stuff in there, or so I feel--I already had the Earthseed from Butler and the Ellison but James Morrow is alright, Silverburg is a guy I prefer to get in bundles or from the library. Jane Yolen and Nalo Hopkinson are both ace and I've wanted to read The Mount but not enough to do anything significant about it. Delaney, LeGuin and Russ are all classic authors. I'm just wondering why Being There is in a SF bundle.
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May 10, 2018 15:35
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darthbob88 posted:New Humble Bundle, SUPER NEBULA AUTHOR SHOWCASE 2018 PRESENTED BY SFWA. I'm a little annoyed because most of the things I recognize as worth getting, I already got myself. Damnit, like eight of them are geolocked in Oz and some of those looked interesting.
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May 10, 2018 17:52
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Selachian posted:I'm just wondering why Being There is in a SF bundle. It predicted Trump and Twitter.
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May 11, 2018 21:01
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PlushCow posted:That novel Children of Time is back on an ebook sale at Amazon for $0.99, https://www.amazon.com/Children-Time-Winner-Arthur-Clarke-ebook/dp/B00SN93AHU Is that the spider planet that pacifies the human survivors book? If so I loved that up until the end, it felt like such a disappointing ending. Edit: Oh yeah, and thread question. Are there any book series that give the Star Wars feel beyond Star of the Guardians and the Deathstalker series? Which yes, I realize are drat near carbon copies but it just works for me and I've got the craving again while not wanting to re-read one of those series. nessin fucked around with this message at 04:27 on May 12, 2018 |
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May 12, 2018 04:24
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nessin posted:
The Expanse series maybe? They're a bit more realistic than Star Wars/Guardians, but still a lot of fun. Or you could go really old school with the Lensmen books.
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May 12, 2018 14:19
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nessin posted:Is that the spider planet that pacifies the human survivors book? If so I loved that up until the end, it felt like such a disappointing ending. I always give the same recommendation when someone asks for that Star Wars hit. It’s Iain M. Banks’ The Algebraist. There’s a a mustache twirling villain, an Empire-like entity, rebels, the works. Even a chase through the wreck of a huge interstellar ship. You can see Banks playing with SW tropes, but he also mashes in all sorts of other influences, from Dune to British lads’ pulp fiction from the 1920s. It’s not a series, but the book is huge and the plot is complex.
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May 12, 2018 20:48
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nessin posted:Is that the spider planet that pacifies the human survivors book? If so I loved that up until the end, it felt like such a disappointing ending. Read the MAGEWORLD series by Debra Doyle & James D. MacDonald. It so very non-licensed Star Wars Expanded universe fiction that I really don't know how Debra Doyle & James MacDonald weren't sued out of existence by Lucasfilm for writing them. The series follows a female lead character, who is the daughter of the notHan Solo & notLeia Organa, fighting the notSith forces who have reinvaded the galaxy after getting their asses kicked 30 years ago. Here is the google books teaser description for The Price of the Stars: Book One of Mageworlds quote:Freebooter at heart, spacer by trade, Beka Rosselin-Metadi doesn't want to hear about her father whose rugged generalship held back the Mageworlds--or her highborn mother whose leadership has held the galaxy together ever since. Beka pilots spacecraft--as far from her famous family as possible, thanks very much. Then Beka's mother is assassinated on the Senate floor, and her father offers her Warhammer , prize ship from his own freebooting youth--if she'll use it to deliver the assassins to him " off the books. " Looking for assassins has a tendency to make assassins look for you. In short order Beka's arranged her own very public death and adopted a new identity; now all she has to do is leave a trail of kidnappings and corpses across five star systems, and blow the roof off the strongest private fortress in the Galaxy. If her own family can just get off her case long enough...! Jaina Solo Fel = Beka Rosselin-Metadi Jacen Solo = Owen Rosselin-Metadi Anakin Solo = Ari Rosselin-Metadi Jedi = Adepts Sith = Mages Lightsabers = Staffs the Millenium Falcon = the WarHammer
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May 12, 2018 23:42
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nessin posted:Oh yeah, and thread question. Are there any book series that give the Star Wars feel beyond Star of the Guardians and the Deathstalker series? Which yes, I realize are drat near carbon copies but it just works for me and I've got the craving again while not wanting to re-read one of those series. In addition to what's already been recommended, you could read Timothy Zahn's actual star wars books, especially the Thrawn trilogy.
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May 13, 2018 04:29
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Finished reading the 1997 Year's Best Science Fiction collection (15th edition) on friday. Stephen Baxter, Bill Johnson, James Patrick Kelly, and Sean Williams/Simon Brown had interesting stories. Gregory Benford/Elizabeth Malarte had the most realistic near future 1st Mars exploration story, with private corporations + 24/7 social media presences actually funding the expedition(ala Elon Musk's mars dream). Peter F Hamilton's story continued the saga of the notHan Solo + his Lady MacBeth spaceship from Hamilton's Reality Disfunction series. Robert Reed liked his story story in this collection so much, he expanded it into a book and a few sequels. The main character in the short story + books is never-wrong, and the universe bends itself around to prove her right in the books, so I'd just stick with the short story version. Greg Egan had 2 stories in the collection, and the jello on a moving sidewalk/escalator comparison still applies to the main characters. Egan is on my avoid author list from now on. Have the 18th(about 1/2 way through), 20th, and 29th Years Best Science Fiction collections left to read, along with 5 other hefty sci-fi & fantasy collections. Androids Humanoids and Other SciFi Monsters + the Wesleyan Scifi Anthology look the most interesting.
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May 13, 2018 14:14
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Is that guardians series the one by weiss and hickman? Where the darth vader character end the series as a monk farmer?
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May 13, 2018 18:17
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Finished Asher’s latest The Soldier and if you have read him, you know what you get. Nothing amazing about the story, but like always a fast paced action story. One of the more noteworthy things was that the closest to a baseline human POV in the story was a Hooper. The rest were aliens, haimans, Ai and cyborgs.
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May 14, 2018 07:06
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Collateral posted:Is that guardians series the one by weiss and hickman? Where the darth vader character end the series as a monk farmer? Yes.
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May 14, 2018 10:06
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Collateral posted:Is that guardians series the one by weiss and hickman? Where the darth vader character end the series as a monk farmer? OK, now I’m intrigued. What are the appropriate soil conditions for monks? Do you need to keep Benedictines and Cistercians in separate fields?
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May 14, 2018 11:14
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Darth Walrus posted:OK, now I’m intrigued. What are the appropriate soil conditions for monks? Do you need to keep Benedictines and Cistercians in separate fields? Don’t grow Jesuits, they will just take over the garden.
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May 14, 2018 11:57
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Cardiac posted:Don’t grow Jesuits, they will just take over the garden. And they’ll attract big birds
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May 14, 2018 14:37
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I'm reading Raymond E. Feist's Magician right now. I was surprised at how solid the prose was, and the world and characters have more detail than anticipated. Very vanilla Tolkin-esque setting, though, and a typical coming of age/hero's journey style plot. Any fans of the series? Does it ever get more adult? Also, I realized about 1/3rd of the way through that Betrayal at Krondor, the ancient pc game, was in the same universe. Loved that game back in the day.
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May 14, 2018 17:32
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Don't know about adult but it stays utterly generic through and through.
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May 14, 2018 17:44
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BananaNutkins posted:I'm reading Raymond E. Feist's Magician right now. I was surprised at how solid the prose was, and the world and characters have more detail than anticipated. Very vanilla Tolkin-esque setting, though
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May 14, 2018 17:53
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That is unfortunate. If the characters stay interesting, I can deal. I read Thomas Covenant just before this, and that world was super generic as well.
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May 14, 2018 17:53
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BananaNutkins posted:I'm reading Raymond E. Feist's Magician right now. I was surprised at how solid the prose was, and the world and characters have more detail than anticipated. Very vanilla Tolkin-esque setting, though, and a typical coming of age/hero's journey style plot. Not sure I'd say it gets more adult, although it does get a bit less generically Tolkien in the second book, when the narration starts spending a lot of time in Kelewan. Of the four books, I think the latter half or so of Master is my favourite. He's written a shitload of other books in that setting, most of which I haven't read, but I would recommend the Daughter of the Empire trilogy (co-written with Janny Wurts). quote:Also, I realized about 1/3rd of the way through that Betrayal at Krondor, the ancient pc game, was in the same universe. Loved that game back in the day. Betrayal at Krondor owns bones. It was written with editorial input by Feist but no actual writing contributions from him, but I think they nailed it.
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May 14, 2018 20:17
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Just finished up Robin Hobb's last Assassin trilogy, kinda lost on where to go next. I go through stages where I read a lot then I won't read a book for 6 months, and I want to take advantage of it while I'm still feeling it. Looking for more epic fantasy kinda stuff. I've done most of the usual suspects as far as I know, just wondering if anyone might have some ideas, maybe some recently released stuff. Last time I asked for a rec for the usual fantasy trope of regular person pulled into big things, The Misenchanted Sword was recommended and that was perfect, even something along those lines would be cool.
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May 14, 2018 23:11
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A Proper Uppercut posted:Last time I asked for a rec for the usual fantasy trope of regular person pulled into big things, The Misenchanted Sword was recommended and that was perfect, even something along those lines would be cool. 
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May 14, 2018 23:19
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A Proper Uppercut posted:Last time I asked for a rec for the usual fantasy trope of regular person pulled into big things, The Misenchanted Sword was recommended and that was perfect, even something along those lines would be cool. Paul Park's A Princess of Roumania series is good.
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May 14, 2018 23:55
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ToxicFrog posted:In addition to what's already been recommended, you could read Timothy Zahn's actual star wars books, especially the Thrawn trilogy. Also read his Blackcollar series because it's about how humanity's only hope against the alien invaders is ninjas. 
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May 15, 2018 00:03
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C.M. Kruger posted:Also read his Blackcollar series because it's about how humanity's only hope against the alien invaders is ninjas. Zahn isn't one of the great authors but he is a consistently fun one. Other Zahn book premises include: - a planet that eats metal and shits nanotubes - first contact with aliens that react to radio the way we react to nerve gas - a solar system that can only be entered by ships piloted by the recently dead - NYC is full of dryads and gargoyles but they're actually alien refugees from Earth's distant past Also The Icarus Hunt which is impossible to describe concisely without spoiling the poo poo out of, and the end is too good to spoil.
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May 15, 2018 00:47
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ToxicFrog posted:Also The Icarus Hunt which is impossible to describe concisely without spoiling the poo poo out of, and the end is too good to spoil. Bhodi fucked around with this message at 01:00 on May 15, 2018 |
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May 15, 2018 00:54
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ToxicFrog posted:In addition to what's already been recommended, you could read Timothy Zahn's actual star wars books, especially the Thrawn trilogy. Every time I see an ad for Solo I get sad because it's not Scoundrels: The Movie
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May 15, 2018 01:30
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