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Kraps posted:How similar is Dodge Tank to Ready Player One? I'm trying to decide between that and The Blade Itself. Wasn't a big fan of RPO. Don't read litRPG.
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Oct 12, 2018 03:31
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I googled dodge tank and it's litrpg, so probably better than ready player one? The Blade Itself is good though. C.M. Kruger posted:Don't read litRPG.
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Oct 12, 2018 03:47
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The Blade Itself is great stuff though it's part of a trilogy.
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Oct 12, 2018 04:01
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If you don't read litrpg, how are you going to keep up with the Caverns and Creatures crew?
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Oct 12, 2018 04:40
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Megazver posted:Finally, give Damon Runyon a try. He was a guy who basically hung out in New York's speakeasies and rubbed elbows with all the types who'd hang out in such places, including being friends with some actual big-time gangsters, and wrote hilarious and, for the most part, oddly uplifting short stories about it. He was huge during his life and not so much these days, but he's amazing and deserves way more spotlight than he currently has. quote:'Why,' she says, 'you are a very unusual chap, indeed, not to know what a love-letter is like. Why,' she says, 'I think I will read you a few of the most wonderful love-letters in this world. It will do no harm,' she says, 'because you do not know the writer, and you must lie there and think of me, not old and ugly, as you see me now, but as young, and maybe a little bit pretty.'
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Oct 12, 2018 08:54
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Looking for some recommendations around space/planet colonisation and the tech that goes with it.. really got into binging interesting sci-fi concepts after reading Proxima by Stephen Baxter. Also watched Interstellar recently and the role Mann (Matt Damon's character) was really interesting. The whole noble sacrifice thing turning around as he didn't want to die was a nice twist. End of the world survival stuff also works. Some bits i've read already along my line of interest: Red Mars trilogy by KSR Seveneves by Neal Stephenson Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky Proxima by Stephen Baxter Poseidon's Children by Alastair Reynolds Other stuff I liked with interesting parts of future tech etc. Commonwealth Saga by Peter F. Hamilton (trains!) Kovacs Trilogy/Black Man/Market Forces by Richard K. Morgan (Stacks, Envoys, Needlecast) Polity series by Neal Asher (Runcible, AI, Prador) Culture by Iain M. Banks (everything) Blindsight by Peter Watts Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruochhio Couple of the 40K novels have some good bits in. Red Rising series by Pierce Brown (little pulpy but great fun) Too Like The Lightning by Ada Palmer Quantum Mythology by Gavin G. Smith On my list already: China Mountain Zhang by McHugh Arkwright by Allen Steel Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts Anything would be much appreciated. Open to TV/Film recs also. Someone mentioned Salvation? Basically an Elon Musk + Seveneves scenario?
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Oct 12, 2018 13:12
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Read Aurora by KSR, if you like Red Mars, for a twist on the colonization theme. Aurora has a couple of very interesting characters that actually develop during the novel. China Mountain Zhang has its moments, glad to see it on your list.
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Oct 12, 2018 13:21
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Arkwright, I thought, was boring as gently caress. But I must admit, I couldn't even last until to the planet colonization bits. Try the Bobiverse books. They're fluff, similar in tone to, say, The Martian, but quite enjoyable.
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Oct 12, 2018 13:28
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You might like the Spin trilogy by Chris Moriarty, starting with Spin State. It's more about the process of colonization that is well underway, and wars between classes of humanity and aligned sentient beings over who gets what in the newly divided pie. Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge; I can't recommend all of Vinge unreservedly but that one was fun. Charles Stross, Accelerando Wil McCarthy's Queendom of Sol starting from The Collapsium Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper, Building Harlequin's Moon I wouldn't normally be a big Niven recommender but I suspect this novel is more of whoever Brenda Cooper is. The various Infinity-named anthologies edited by Jonathan Strahan are about high-concept SF and colonization as well.
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Oct 12, 2018 13:31
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Adjacent to your request, but worth looking at: 40k In Gehenna by CJ Cherryh, a multi-generational book about a colony gone wrong, as they stop getting supplies very quickly and it turns into survival on a harsh world, then adaptation. The colonists at the end of the book are nothing like the original settlers and it's very very cool. Serpent's Blood by Brian Stableford, a colony gets founded on a planet where rot will eventually take everything, including stone. The original settlers tinker with their genes so they'll survive - they regrow teeth on a regular basis, for example - and human civilization gets set up. The book starts centuries later when things have regressed to a more fantasy-esque setting, and it's a weird combination of sci-fi adventure novel and fantasy, as our hero gets thrown into jail, escapes jail, gets drafted into an adventure to the "Navel of the World", and winds up in some really, really alien territory with the native aliens that are kind of like ant/beetle hybrids but weirder. The original settlers are talked about in mythical terms, and there's a lot of neat details in the world-building, and I'd say it's pretty neat. I'm reading book 2 of the trilogy now, and I'm curious as to where it goes.
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Oct 12, 2018 13:36
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ed balls balls man posted:Looking for some recommendations around space/planet colonisation and the tech that goes with it.. really got into binging interesting sci-fi concepts after reading Proxima by Stephen Baxter. Also watched Interstellar recently and the role Mann (Matt Damon's character) was really interesting. The whole noble sacrifice thing turning around as he didn't want to die was a nice twist. End of the world survival stuff also works. You will love Alastair Reynolds Pushing Ice for certain. Way older but definitely in that genre is James Blish's Seedling Stars short story collection. In it, mankind is gene-edited to live and flourish in almost any environment with a atmosphere.
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Oct 12, 2018 14:41
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Read Aurora.
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Oct 12, 2018 16:07
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:Read Aurora by KSR, if you like Red Mars, for a twist on the colonization theme. Aurora has a couple of very interesting characters that actually develop during the novel. Added to the list! With China Mountain Zhang, the blurb sounded great. Megazver posted:Arkwright, I thought, was boring as gently caress. But I must admit, I couldn't even last until to the planet colonization bits. Arkwright was next on my list! Shame, If I can't get into a book by the first 10% I tend to just put it down, so this might be one of those. occamsnailfile posted:Charles Stross, Accelerando Accelerando is now on my list, can't believe I didn't notice it earlier considering I love the Laundry Files and i've read Neptune's Brood/Saturn's Children. Building Harlequin's Moon was a book I always used to see wandering around Borders (back when we had those in the UK) and seeing the cover after googling it brought me right back! Not available on Kindle but sounds like it might be worth an order from bookdepository. StrixNebulosa posted:40k In Gehenna by CJ Cherryh, a multi-generational book about a colony gone wrong, as they stop getting supplies very quickly and it turns into survival on a harsh world, then adaptation. The colonists at the end of the book are nothing like the original settlers and it's very very cool. Sounds awesome, thanks man. NoNostalgia4Grover posted:You will love Alastair Reynolds Pushing Ice for certain. Added, still have Revenger on my Kindle to read after I picked it up in the last sale. General Battuta posted:Read Aurora. Good luck with Monster. Hoping we get the full title and not the amended title in the UK, and the cover is awesome. Preorder for hardcover is in on Amazon! When's the feature length Naval Cephalopod Command novel coming?
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Oct 12, 2018 16:48
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Finally got around to reading an old flip style E.C. Tubb ACE paperback. By flipstyle paperback, I mean that literally. EC Tubb's short stories had bite and didn't suck despite being published in 1972 while the 1972 Dumarest Saga story in the flip style paperback was pure serialized action adventure of a dude trying to get back to his mythical home planet + everything that was possible or highly implausible cockblocking his path back to 46th century Earth. Next up on my reading list is a compilation of Murray Leinster stories I have also been avoiding, after that Quakeland. Sadly Quakeland isn't about the Quake 1/Quake 2 multiplayer community but is about the various tectonic plate fault lines around the continental US and the various bad poo poo that might occur.
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Oct 14, 2018 03:47
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What are some books that combine Scifi and Fantasy?
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Oct 14, 2018 04:53
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Kraps posted:What are some books that combine Scifi and Fantasy? Can you explain what you mean? Do you mean wizards on spaceships? Or fantasy elements with “real world” explanations (the classic example being Pern). Or something like The Golden Compass that has “magic” but is situated within our universe? Or just stuff that’s far future post apocalypse, like I dunno Planet of the Apes or something.
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Oct 14, 2018 04:58
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gently caress it I’ll just say Ninefox Gambit.
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Oct 14, 2018 05:00
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Lord of Light
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Oct 14, 2018 05:29
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incredible flesh posted:wtf i've never heard of this guy and he's great. What, is it no longer mandatory for all high school theater departments in the country to do Guys and Dolls every other year?
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Oct 14, 2018 07:21
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Selachian posted:What, is it no longer mandatory for all high school theater departments in the country to do Guys and Dolls every other year?
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Oct 14, 2018 07:43
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uberkeyzer posted:Can you explain what you mean? Do you mean wizards on spaceships? Or fantasy elements with “real world” explanations (the classic example being Pern). Or something like The Golden Compass that has “magic” but is situated within our universe? Or just stuff that’s far future post apocalypse, like I dunno Planet of the Apes or something. Sorry, the wizards on spaceships type.
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Oct 14, 2018 07:54
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Kraps posted:Sorry, the wizards on spaceships type. Starship Mage series by Glenn Steward. Red Son Rising by Pierce Brown (not exactly magic, but high tech and medieval feudalism mixed Dune by Frank Herbert
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Oct 14, 2018 09:12
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On book 3 of the Vorkosigan saga and all the stuff with Miles rings me as very Baudolino-like, but without the subtle self-awareness. Stuff seems just lined up for him to have a crazy adventure, it's the biggest complaint I have so far. Really like the prose though, can't put it down.
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Oct 14, 2018 12:44
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Kraps posted:Sorry, the wizards on spaceships type. Would 'Five-Twelfths of Heaven' (Melissa Scott) count? I think Glen Cook's 'Darkwar' books get into space by the end. Also sort of "The Madness Season" (C.S.Friedman).
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Oct 14, 2018 14:49
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StrixNebulosa posted:Adjacent to your request, but worth looking at:  
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Oct 14, 2018 15:08
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fritz posted:Would 'Five-Twelfths of Heaven' (Melissa Scott) count? I think Glen Cook's 'Darkwar' books get into space by the end. Also sort of "The Madness Season" (C.S.Friedman). Darkwar is a real weird thing. But eventually there is indeed magic and space travel! Also Cook was way ahead of the furry wave because the characters are all anthromorphic dog people.
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Oct 14, 2018 16:22
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Alaan posted:Also Cook was way ahead of the furry wave because the characters are all anthromorphic dog people. 'Albedo' preceded the first 'Darkwar' book by a couple years, so consider this: what if he wasn't.
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Oct 14, 2018 16:36
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Not for a couple pages but someone mentioned they found the Altered Carbon setting interesting. There is an RPG called Eclipse Phase that has quite a few sourcebooks detailing a setting that takes a lot of inspiration from the Kovac's books. Not so much a story, but they are pretty neat.
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Oct 14, 2018 17:05
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Kraps posted:Sorry, the wizards on spaceships type. I just put down a big ship at the end of the universe that was recommended here a bit ago because i didn't like it, but its wizards in space
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Oct 14, 2018 17:46
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Kraps posted:What are some books that combine Scifi and Fantasy? Neal Stephenson wrote some books that combine SciFi and Fantasy, so does Charles Stross. Christopher Stasheff made that combination his primary genre as a fantasy-scifi writer. Hit your local library system and check out all three authors before buying any of their books. Stross is good but usually incorporates his fetishes into his work, while Stasheff is lighter toned/more of a 1980s "good will eventually triumph" style author. Neal Stephenson...well I'd rank Neal Stephenson at the same tier as @duneauthor AKA avoid at all costs.
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Oct 15, 2018 00:32
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Kraps posted:Sorry, the wizards on spaceships type. A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe is literally wizards on spaceships. And in racecars.
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Oct 15, 2018 02:47
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Jack Vance's Rhialto the Marvelous has godlike rear end in a top hat wizards flying through interstellar space in their opulant pleasure palaces, if that's your thing read it even if that isn't your thing
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Oct 15, 2018 03:43
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Anathem is the only Neal Stephenson book I can think of that has fantasy elements, and even then its more about probability and alternate realities. It's a great book.
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Oct 15, 2018 04:18
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BananaNutkins posted:Anathem is the only Neal Stephenson book I can think of that has fantasy elements, and even then its more about probability and alternate realities. It's a great book. Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., and probably the Mongoliad. (And various business surrounding Enoch Root and alchemical gold in Cryptnomicon/Baroque Cycle)
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Oct 15, 2018 07:15
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Thranguy posted:Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., and probably the Mongoliad. (And various business surrounding Enoch Root and alchemical gold in Cryptnomicon/Baroque Cycle) What the hell is Enoch Root's deal, anyway.
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Oct 15, 2018 14:43
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Just saw there's a new Halloween story bundle. Anyone familiar with any of them?
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Oct 15, 2018 14:57
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I'm halfway through the first book in Peter F. Hamilton's new "Salvation Sequence" series, and it's pretty enjoyable so far. I'm getting a lot of Hyperion vibes. It's the story of 5 people on an adventure, interspliced with long stories they tell about their interlocked histories, in a world littered with teleporters.
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Oct 15, 2018 15:26
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:Stross is good but usually incorporates his fetishes into his work Uh. Does he? There's Saturn's Children I guess, but other than that I can't think of anything too bad. And given what happens in the Laundry series, if that's his fetishes I have concerns. Also, I'm not sure I'd consider any of his books 'fantasy' in any normal sense. I mean, the Merchant Princes series has mediaeval-style people in it but no dragons or whatever. (Laundry series is Cthulhu meets Le Carre, sort of, ish; Merchant Princes is dimension hopping and political intrigue. I like them both, personally)
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Oct 15, 2018 16:17
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Loutre posted:I'm halfway through the first book in Peter F. Hamilton's new "Salvation Sequence" series, and it's pretty enjoyable so far. Yeah, I liked that one. Now for the long wait until the next.
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Oct 15, 2018 17:37
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feedmegin posted:Uh. Does he? There's Saturn's Children I guess, but other than that I can't think of anything too bad. And given what happens in the Laundry series, if that's his fetishes I have concerns. Stross's fetishes are most obvious in his standalone scifi books, Accelandro + Glasshouse. Stross's Merchant Princesses follows the scifi/fantasy mash-up established by Roger Zelazny's Changling/Madwand books, magic + science intertwined with dimension travelling. Zelazny's version focused on a direct Zelazny analogue main character being awesome, while all the weird interesting poo poo happened with the villain of the story. Zelazny Changling/Madwand recap follows: Two dimensions with Earths were interconnected via gateways or something, one dimension's Earth was magic based, while the other dimension's Earth was science earth technology based. A wizard from the Magic Earth dimension re-enacted the changling baby swap folk-tale, only the wizard went cross-dimensional for the swap. The science dimension infant got left with backwoods villagers on the magic dimension Earth while the magic dimension infant got left with educated intelligent middle class parents in the science dimension Earth. Also, I finished the Murray Leinster collection I mentioned before. It was really good, and managed to be both full of interesting ideas + entertaining. Leinster's stories mostly avoided being stock pulp scifi, and anytime pulp scifi happened for more than 3 paragraphs Leinster changed things around whenever his stories got too stock scifi pulp-ish. The best Leinster story to a modern audience would probably be "A Logic Named Joe". Copyrighted @1946, it was essentially the story of what happened when the Google search server for the Internet uplink to a city were mis-configured and everyone suddenly had No Filters Un-logged Full access to the Internet with NSA-style deep access to pharmaceutical/government/heavy industry/aerospace databases, only everything happened using 1946 terms+ phrases. Loose women, noisy neighbors, kids looking up the precursors to the Anarchist's Cookbook, dudes looking to end their marriages by any means necessary, bank robberies, etc. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Oct 15, 2018 |
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Oct 15, 2018 17:56
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