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Gibson's the Peripheral was ok, not great. The most interesting thing in it aka the quantum black box connecting the redneck present + a possible future timeline got overwhelmed by the redneck doomsday prepping/incorporation for me. And the increasingly obvious plot-armor for the redneck characters made it impossible to take any looming crisis in the book seriously. Gibson's Nueromancer on the other hand was great to amazing. Nueromancer was literally the gateway to "modern science fiction" in the same way that Tolkien's LotR was the gateway to "modern" fantasy fiction in the late 60's/70's. Count Zero was a good sequel, but Gibson's Bridge + Blue Ant series suffered from diminishing returns with each new book.
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Dec 22, 2018 00:55
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freebooter posted:"Peaked" is a bit of a backhanded compliment; his other stuff is still great, it's just that Neuromancer is, like, in the top 100 flat-out best novels of the 20th century, in any genre. Dude anticipated and/or created the zeitgeist like a motherfucker with that novel, in a way that very few authors ever get within spitting distance of doing.
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Dec 22, 2018 01:06
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Groke posted:Dude anticipated and/or created the zeitgeist like a motherfucker with that novel, in a way that very few authors ever get within spitting distance of doing. He's still doing it. His later work is really worth reading, in the Blue Ant books he didn't even have to write science fiction any more because everything he predicted came true. freebooter posted:"Peaked" is a bit of a backhanded compliment; his other stuff is still great, it's just that Neuromancer is, like, in the top 100 flat-out best novels of the 20th century, in any genre. It hasn't been the 20th century for almost 20 years, though, and he's still been writing.
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Dec 22, 2018 01:09
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Ninefox Gambit is 99˘ for the Kindle version.
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Dec 22, 2018 04:52
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gibson and KSR are in my opinion the best living english language SF authors. RIP, Iain Banks.
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Dec 22, 2018 05:01
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Yeah that's why he gets the B+ -- relatively innovative concept, decent character writing, nothing in it objectively horrible (no egregious ripoffs or racist caricatures etc). The main character meets up with a local noble's son and they get ambushed, conked on the head and left for dead three times in succession. It's not played for laughs or even remarked on. Then, the main char and his companion run into some horribly stereotypical gypsies, which the main char names Romani, just to be clear that there's no "it's not earth so i'm not being racist" angle. His companion instantly falls in lust with the caravan girl and also this girl in his dreams (???) later that evening. The book narrates him mentally restraining himself from getting all creepy-handsy about it, but it's so hard because he's never been in love before. Bhodi fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Dec 22, 2018 |
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Dec 22, 2018 05:03
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andrew smash posted:gibson and KSR are in my opinion the best living english language SF authors. RIP, Iain Banks. KSR is too often just really super boring.
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Dec 22, 2018 05:15
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Bhodi posted:Yeah so uh I grabbed wizard in mind as an experiment to see if the series is worth a read and the main char and his companion run into horribly stereotypical gypsies, which the main char names Romani, so there's no "it's not earth so i'm not being racist" angle, and then his companion instantly falls in lust with not one but TWO goonily described women almost simultaneously while the book narrates him mentally restraining himself from getting all creepy-handsy about it, and it's so hard because he's never been in love before. After knowing one for all of a few minutes. Okaybe I don't reread them
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Dec 22, 2018 05:26
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Okaybe I don't reread them This one's best left to nostalgia.
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Dec 22, 2018 05:37
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I've been re-reading Lem's FIASCO and just got to the part where Lem recaps one of his darker Cyberiad universe stories, the fungi one. Still think a modern author would have split up FIASCO into multiple books, like Quinta could have been two books with the 1st Quinta book climaxing at the implosion of the Quintan homeworld's moon, and perhaps two other books covering the buildout of the Eurydice mission(this is where authors could indulge most of their futuristic politicking fantasies + awkward sex scenes)/the earlier hijinks on Titan/launching of Eurydice mission/the HADES black hole fuckery. Bhodi posted:I edited for clarity and to add the sketch comedy bit of them getting brained and waking up in a ditch three times in a row. Yeah, if you're not feeling the 1st Stasheff Wizard book drop it asap. It was a product of it's time (the 70's i think), and like most fantasy series, the first book is usually the roughest one. Example: Butcher and his first Dresden files book versus Dresden files book 4.
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Dec 22, 2018 14:49
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Hi thread! I just started watching Travelers and I really enjoy it! It had me thinking about Fringe, which I also liked quite a lot, and I think it's the presence of (not too convoluted) time/dimension jumping that's really cool. I feel the same way about GURPS Infinite Worlds, for instance. Can someone recommend some sci-fi that I might like? Tias fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Dec 22, 2018 |
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Dec 22, 2018 22:38
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General Battuta posted:It hasn't been the 20th century for almost 20 years, though, and he's still been writing. You know what I mean though. "Nothing you've written since Neuromancer has been anywhere near as good" sounds like an insult but when that's the book in question it isn't really.
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Dec 22, 2018 23:01
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i won't dispute that neuromancer is certainly his most stylish book but in terms of the actual craft of his writing he is worlds better now
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Dec 22, 2018 23:07
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Yeah I don’t think Neuro is in every respect his best book. I think about the Blue Ant trilogy a lot more.
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Dec 23, 2018 01:48
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Tias posted:Hi thread! I just started watching Travelers and I really enjoy it! It had me thinking about Fringe, which I also liked quite a lot, and I think it's the presence of (not too convoluted) time/dimension jumping that's really cool. I feel the same way about GURPS Infinite Worlds, for instance. The Gone World? The tone is much more Hannibal than Fringe, but the time travel in it has a really interesting mechanic. It's centered around a kidnapping investigation in the late 90's, and it turns out the main suspect is involved in a secret navy spaceflight / time travel program. The protagonist is an NCIS agent who among other things travels to possible futures and back to investigate cases -- jumping +10 years and reading a cold file for clues is a pretty effective way to hone in on a killer. There are plenty of complications, of course. Be warned, features a lot of gruesome imagery and some real Lovecraftian poo poo (as in cosmic horror, not racism.)
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Dec 23, 2018 04:35
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Tias posted:Hi thread! I just started watching Travelers and I really enjoy it! It had me thinking about Fringe, which I also liked quite a lot, and I think it's the presence of (not too convoluted) time/dimension jumping that's really cool. I feel the same way about GURPS Infinite Worlds, for instance. If you want your mind blown with that kind of thing, LeGuin's Lathe of Heaven might do ya. Might be heavier than what you're looking for though.
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Dec 23, 2018 04:50
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I think about Pattern Recognition pretty often. The various themes of the book come together even though the plot threads don't. Almost every other book that does that fails to find gestalt.
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Dec 23, 2018 05:01
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General Battuta posted:He's still doing it. His later work is really worth reading, in the Blue Ant books he didn't even have to write science fiction any more because everything he predicted came true. I think Gibson and Stross have both talked about this problem with near-future SF, it's getting harder and harder to write because the tech cycle is shorter than the write/publish cycle.
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Dec 23, 2018 05:03
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General Battuta posted:Yeah I don’t think Neuro is in every respect his best book. I think about the Blue Ant trilogy a lot more. thinkin' bout thos gussets
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Dec 23, 2018 05:19
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andrew smash posted:i won't dispute that neuromancer is certainly his most stylish book but in terms of the actual craft of his writing he is worlds better now Interesting! I'd sort of assumed my opinion was the majority one. I liked The Peripheral a lot but thought it had a very deus ex machina resolution and a saccharine ending to rival that of the Deathly Hallows. I can't say I've noticed any particular change in his (very good) prose style across his career.
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Dec 23, 2018 10:16
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NmareBfly posted:The Gone World? The tone is much more Hannibal than Fringe, but the time travel in it has a really interesting mechanic. Hieronymous Alloy posted:If you want your mind blown with that kind of thing, LeGuin's Lathe of Heaven might do ya. Might be heavier than what you're looking for though. I absolutely adore both heavy and cosmic horror. Thanks!
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Dec 23, 2018 11:57
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Tias posted:Hi thread! I just started watching Travelers and I really enjoy it! It had me thinking about Fringe, which I also liked quite a lot, and I think it's the presence of (not too convoluted) time/dimension jumping that's really cool. I feel the same way about GURPS Infinite Worlds, for instance. john barnes' kaleidoscope century? its part of a greater story that skips between ya, adventure and grim sci fi. heads up though, this one is really nasty in parts.
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Dec 23, 2018 12:02
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I'm the nastiest person alive, your threats mean nothing! A real man shan't back down from this challenge, though he may come back later and  Thanks again!
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Dec 23, 2018 12:09
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I finally started The Goblin Emperor. In one way it almost feels like nothing much has happened, but I haven't gotten bored at any point so I guess I don't mind.
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Dec 23, 2018 13:48
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Groke posted:Dude anticipated and/or created the zeitgeist like a motherfucker with that novel, in a way that very few authors ever get within spitting distance of doing. Get some H.G. Wells down you. Not his best known works; stuff like The War in the Air, A Story of the Days to Come and The Land Ironclads.
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Dec 23, 2018 14:03
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Chairchucker posted:I finally started The Goblin Emperor. In one way it almost feels like nothing much has happened, but I haven't gotten bored at any point so I guess I don't mind. That book was like a warm blanket.
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Dec 23, 2018 14:23
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I think Gibson and Stross have both talked about this problem with near-future SF, it's getting harder and harder to write because the tech cycle is shorter than the write/publish cycle. Stross talks about it in one of his short stories compilation and specifies that things that are likely on a 5-10 year old span makes your sci-fi seem old. Then again Star Trek and Star Wars survives as sci-fi due to being in space while ignoring that computers/AI are going to be the likely combatants instead of humans. For me at least, the main thing about Gibson and neuromancer was how he made the classic sci-fi hero feel primitive. This have then later been expanded upon by Banks. Also, Gibson makes one classic near future prediction failure in the beginning of Neuromancer when Case tries to sell a 8 Mb memory. If I would summarize sci-fi, it is basically only stuff within computer science that is quite unpredictable. Space is predictable for now and biotech is not even close to being something being solved and having the same form of exponential change.
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Dec 23, 2018 16:09
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Tias posted:I'm the nastiest person alive, your threats mean nothing! A real man shan't back down from this challenge, though he may come back later and They loving warned you. Kaleidoscope Century is a extremely hosed up book , literally and figuratively. There is 3 or 4 sequels which cover the aftermath of what went down globally/interstellarily in Kaleidoscope Century....thankfully without the main character of KC though.
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Dec 23, 2018 16:21
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Chairchucker posted:I finally started The Goblin Emperor. In one way it almost feels like nothing much has happened, but I haven't gotten bored at any point so I guess I don't mind. I honestly can't tell you at all what happened in the book other than that it was warm and nice. It really is like a warm blanket on a cold day.
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Dec 23, 2018 17:59
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For me it was more of a wet blanket.not inuendo
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Dec 24, 2018 00:51
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General Battuta posted:Yeah I don’t think Neuro is in every respect his best book. I think about the Blue Ant trilogy a lot more. Pattern Recognition is one of the few books I re-read on a regular basis. I just love that goddamn book.
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Dec 24, 2018 01:26
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Robot Wendigo posted:Pattern Recognition is one of the few books I re-read on a regular basis. I just love that goddamn book. “Waking to an inner flash of metallic migraine light, as if reflected off wings of receding dream.”
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Dec 24, 2018 01:38
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Telsa Cola posted:I honestly can't tell you at all what happened in the book other than that it was warm and nice. I've been meaning to read that for ages, but this is the same kind of thing people said about Long Way To A Small Angry Planet which I ended up despising. On the other hand I really enjoyed her short story White Charles (http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/monette_09_09/) and have also had her collected bunch of those themed stories on my TBR list for ages.
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Dec 24, 2018 09:38
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Ooh, shiny new thread title!
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Dec 24, 2018 10:24
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Hey, speaking of Martha Wells I just got an surprise. I was reading The Gods of HP Lovecraft anthology, and low and behold there’s a Martha Wells short. It takes place in Ile Rien and involves a trio of Private Investigative Agents trying to figure out why a baron’s personality has radically changed. It was short, but pretty good. I’d love for her to do more (but not at the expense of more Murderbot)
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Dec 24, 2018 11:58
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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. I'm not sure if anyone answered this seriously since I am behind on this thread about 800 posts, but Dodge Tank is a pretty awful read IMO. It has a neat payoff at the end but its not worth reading the droll grind leading up to it. The sequels Shard Warrior and Shard Wraith I actually really enjoyed in comparison. All 3 are pretty juvenile but his writing improves in the sequels and they aren't boring. If I were going to recommend a LitRPG, my favorite series to date is Dominion of Blades which is sort of a comedy horror theme, and it's sequel Hobgoblin Riot which expands the point of view to the other main characters from the first book and has some neat payoffs and reveals. I also just finished one called World Tree Online by EA Hooper(not the other series called the same thing) about a game with time compression where the AI in charge starts a 30 minute update to increase the time compression ratio that locks players out of logging out for a subjective duration of 360 years. The villain of the book is the last in game moderator left after every other Moderator loses their powers by trying to send a report to the AI. He's a pretty good villain, one of the best I've encountered in LitRPG thus far.
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Dec 24, 2018 15:00
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Really cool that you posted from 20 pages behind to blather about that stupid rear end garbage
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Dec 24, 2018 16:11
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Hey, any warning of LitRPG is appreciated. One needs to know what to stay away from.
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Dec 24, 2018 17:04
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In the intervening 20 pages we decided no one wanted to hear about unreadable WoW fanfic. So thanks but get the gently caress out.
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Dec 24, 2018 17:06
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Please continue to post about litrpg you have read, in this thread. Also other bad things. We all need to be kept up to date on the hottest sf genre since epic fantasy trilogies were invented. Edit: do not post about ready player one though, even making fun of it is dull now.
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