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Cythereal posted:He tends to get weird, and one of the novels I loved most as a kid was Anvil of Stars. That book is seriously messed up and bleak as hell. As long as it's interesting weird and not Orson Scott Card the homophobe or Tom Clancy the conservative jerk, then phew. I loved Heads and I'm reading Queen of Angels now.
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Jan 4, 2019 20:15
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Cythereal posted:
Same when all I read in middle and high school was VC Andrews and Stephen King
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Jan 4, 2019 20:55
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One of my favorite authors as a teenager was (and still is) Robert Heinlein, so, uh. Yeah. Cythereal posted:I'm surprised I wasn't damaged worse, honestly.
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Jan 4, 2019 21:06
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AnonymousNarcotics posted:Same when all I read in middle and high school was VC Andrews and Stephen King I read a lot of Stephen King as a kid and snapped up a lot of his earlier works like Cujo, Firestarter, and Salem’s Lot. I tried to read Gerald’s Game when it first came out and my teenage brain got bored within the first two paragraphs. I think I picked up video games not too long after that.
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Jan 4, 2019 21:23
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StrixNebulosa posted:As long as it's interesting weird and not Orson Scott Card the homophobe or Tom Clancy the conservative jerk, then phew. I loved Heads and I'm reading Queen of Angels now. The premise of Anvil of Stars is that a group of ten year old kids who survived Earth's destruction are given a ship armed to wipe out interstellar civilizations and are sent on a mission of genocide by a race careful to hide everything about them from the humans for fear that humanity would destroy them, and the crew grow up incredibly mentally and emotionally dysfunctional and stunted even as they arrive at their target. The cutesy names the crew have for everything just make it worse. It wasn't until years after I first read the book that I realized the protagonist was schizophrenic and offloaded all the emotions he couldn't deal with onto his 'friend' who had never actually existed.
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Jan 4, 2019 21:49
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Cythereal posted:The premise of Anvil of Stars is that a group of ten year old kids who survived Earth's destruction are given a ship armed to wipe out interstellar civilizations and are sent on a mission of genocide by a race careful to hide everything about them from the humans for fear that humanity would destroy them, and the crew grow up incredibly mentally and emotionally dysfunctional and stunted even as they arrive at their target. That sounds intense and interesting, I'll pick it up! Reminds me of Peter Watts' Starfish - a corporation sends broken people to the bottom of the sea and it's relentlessly depressing yet interesting.
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Jan 4, 2019 21:54
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StrixNebulosa posted:That sounds intense and interesting, I'll pick it up! Reminds me of Peter Watts' Starfish - a corporation sends broken people to the bottom of the sea and it's relentlessly depressing yet interesting. It's also a sequel, but you don't need to read The Forge of God first. They're nothing alike tonally - Forge is about the alien attack on Earth, and the attack is completely unstoppable. There's nothing we can do, so it's time to take one last look around our planet that's given us so much and appreciate everything good within it. The world's coming to an end, so have a hell of a good party - you won't have another one.
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Jan 4, 2019 21:56
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I always loved mythological creatures when I was a kid. Show me a book with a dragon or a unicorn or a minotaur on the cover? Sold. I never knew anyone who played D&D, but would religiously check out the Monster Manuals (yes, my library had all the 80's hardcover handbooks, even that edition of Deities and Demigods that got pulled for having Lovecraft and Elric stuff in it) just to read "facts" about weird rear end critters. So naturally, I read everything Anne McCaffrey ever put out at the time. I still re-read them from time to time for nostalgia's sake, but now I'll re-read Dragonflight and think "holy hell, as a kid I totally missed the part where everyone's loving because the dragons are in heat." That and Lessa always being described as small and childlike in stature, and big ol' F'lar "shaking" her whenever she gets upset. Brrr. I was a big Piers Anthony Xanth fan, too, until I got a little more aware in high school and realized "uhhh, this is kinda creepy. And getting boring. And the constant puns are lame." Then several years later I picked up an anthology on a whim when I was shelf-reading at the library job, thinking "oh, maybe his old short stories are different, I'll peruse this on my lunch break." I read the one about a (totally self-insert) guy who fell in love with a fairy, who manages to take his massive cock inside her despite the fact that she's only six inches tall, and I swore him off for good. As long as we're in a Book Barn derail: what's some good fantasy out there, with lots of mythological creatures to scratch that itch of mine?
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Jan 4, 2019 22:51
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JacquelineDempsey posted:As long as we're in a Book Barn derail: what's some good fantasy out there, with lots of mythological creatures to scratch that itch of mine? Tamora Pierce writes solid YA and her Immortals series has LOTS of mythological critters. In the Night Garden by Catherynne M Valente is a really cool series of nested short stories, really well done. To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts is more fantasy kidnapping mystery -> intense horseback chase sequence, but boy is it exciting and there are some important encounters with mythological critters. Banner of Souls by Liz Williams features a really baroque far-future where Mars believes it colonized Earth and so on - there are kappa and far stranger things and I love it.
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Jan 4, 2019 23:00
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Is saying Discworld too obvious?
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Jan 4, 2019 23:25
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JacquelineDempsey posted:thinking "oh, maybe his old short stories are different, I'll peruse this on my lunch break." I read the one about a (totally self-insert) guy who fell in love with a fairy, who manages to take his massive cock inside her despite the fact that she's only six inches tall, and I swore him off for good. Oh god, that story.  That story was just hilarious to me when I was 13. I think that collection also had a dentist abducted by aliens who was working on some whale-sized creature whose cavities were large enough to climb inside.If anybody's interested in trying to give Piers Anthony a shot after this exchange (doubtful), try Macroscope. It's one of his first books, from the era when he was a well-regarded young novelist (it was nominated for a Hugo!), not just "that guy who writes Xanth." It's not like it doesn't have weird hosed-up sex stuff, but that it also has a ton of other stuff going on. Also, the protagonists steal Neptune. Mythological creatures, though? Uh. Hm. I've been on way more of a scifi kick lately, other than rereading Discworld. I wouldn't otherwise mention it (if I weren't struggling to think of something), but have you ever tried The Wheel of Time series? It's not to everyone's tastes, and I could imagine a number of reasons why someone would dislike it, but I happen to enjoy it. If it's to your taste, then you're in luck, because there's just so much of it. So it might be worth a trial, just for that.
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Jan 4, 2019 23:47
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AnonymousNarcotics posted:Is saying Discworld too obvious? Nah, not for me anyways. I was always turned off by that series simply because one of my co-workers at the library, who I butted heads with all the time, just wouldn't shut up about it. I was a dumbass and deliberately refused to read it, just to spite her. (We're actually cool FB friends, now that we don't work together.) But Ive seen a lot of savvy goons saying how awesome it is, so I'll give it a look-see. What book should I start with? Thanks to Strix and Vavrek (love your Pilot av, speaking of things worth revisiting --- I'm home sick with a sinus infection that just won't quit, and some Farscape would do me good) for the other recommendations!
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Jan 5, 2019 00:23
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JacquelineDempsey posted:Nah, not for me anyways. I was always turned off by that series simply because one of my co-workers at the library, who I butted heads with all the time, just wouldn't shut up about it. I was a dumbass and deliberately refused to read it, just to spite her. (We're actually cool FB friends, now that we don't work together.) But Ive seen a lot of savvy goons saying how awesome it is, so I'll give it a look-see. What book should I start with? Guards, Guards is the best place to start imho. I've tried things earlier in the series multiple times and bounced off, but GG is really good!
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Jan 5, 2019 00:25
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I liked the City Watch series the best. Start with Guards! Guards!
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Jan 5, 2019 00:26
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AnonymousNarcotics posted:I liked the City Watch series the best. Start with Guards! Guards! Vimes is my spirit animal
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Jan 5, 2019 00:37
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A few more books for the rec pile: I asked the r/fantasy discord about this because I love their recs, and: Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng: "Catherine Helstone's brother, Laon, has disappeared in Arcadia, legendary land of the magical fae. Desperate for news of him, she makes the perilous journey, but once there, she finds herself alone and isolated in the sinister house of Gethsemane. At last there comes news: her beloved brother is riding to be reunited with her soon - but the Queen of the Fae and her insane court are hard on his heels." Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A McKillip: "Sybel, with her wizard blood, grows up on a mountain with a magical bestiary for companionship: the dragon Gyld, the boar Cyrin, the Black Swan, the Cat Moriah, Gules Lyon, and Ter, the falcon. Each is a creature out of myth, held at Sybel’s stone home by the power of her father’s will—and then by Sybel’s. When her father dies, young Sybel remains alone, reading books, sending her mind out in search of one more beast: the great white bird, the Liralen, which remains elusive." A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan: "All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world's preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day." I haven't read any of these, but they're definitely on the to-read list. e: And "Raksura by Martha Wells is about weird harpy/dragon like people. Not exactly mythological so much as fantastical." - I've read this one! Book one is the Cloud Roads and it's pleasantly fun stuff about a shapeshifter named Moon who discovers he's got far more of an extended family than he thought. StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Jan 5, 2019 |
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Jan 5, 2019 00:48
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JacquelineDempsey posted:Nah, not for me anyways. I was always turned off by that series simply because one of my co-workers at the library, who I butted heads with all the time, just wouldn't shut up about it. I was a dumbass and deliberately refused to read it, just to spite her. (We're actually cool FB friends, now that we don't work together.) But Ive seen a lot of savvy goons saying how awesome it is, so I'll give it a look-see. What book should I start with? There's a myriad of answers to what disc world book to start with. The common answers are either guards, guards, or to go with publication order, in which case you'd do the color of magic I don't read very much or visit the library anymore, somehow my adhd got worse as I got older and now I can't really enjoy reading books, but when I was in middle school and high school I was constantly going through the school library's stock of fiction, and I always appreciated how nice and helpful the librarians were. This thread is cool and good and makes me want to try picking up a book again from my public library
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Jan 5, 2019 22:42
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Vavrek posted:Oh god, that story. he did a whole set of stories about "Dr Dillingham, Space Dentist", and they're collected in "Prostho Plus" (which I recall as being not terrible).
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Jan 5, 2019 23:19
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It's not necessary to read the discworld books in publication order, although certain story arcs do need to be in order; but, there are some characters that show up in many stories and if you go in order, they do have character arcs. Death most notably (he appears in every book) but also characters like the Patrician, the librarian, various of the witches, vimes, etc. have cameos in other stories. I think Color of Magic is good enough to capture interest but Pratchett's writing ability improves over time so many of his later books are superior. I would also draw attention to his YA discworld books, the Tiffany Aching ones, as a great place to start, especially for young teens. It's not chock full of fantasy creatures, but CJ Cherryh has a fantasy(ish) two book series with intelligent, psychic, carnivorous horses called the Finnisterre universe: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finisterre_universe And she also has a bunch of fantasies exploring modified Celtic and Russian mythological settings; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ealdwood_Stories and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Russian_Stories_(C._J._Cherryh) respectively.
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Jan 5, 2019 23:27
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ninjewtsu posted:
My work is done here  Seriously, thanks! Libraries are cool and good and not stuffy places where old bespectacled ladies with their hairs in severe buns shush you all the time, and I wish more people knew that. The closest branch in the minor city I currently live in is small, but has an absolutely MASSIVE graphic novel section with couches, you can just come on in, grab something, chill out and escape from the world for a bit. It's also allowed me to ditch cable and Netflix, because the dvd selection is pretty baller. All this for free! Please be kind to the media, though; I was lucky enough to have a $2000 professional disc buffing machine at my former library because we had mad money coming in at the time, but most libraries probably can't afford that. Fun fact: if you can't find the case right away and must leave that disc on your coffee table until you find it, put it playing side down. Seems counterintuitive, right? Except discs have way more plastic coating layers over the play side than the label side, and you can't buff the label side. A scuff on the play side can get worked on; a scratch that goes through the label silkscreen probably means that disc is right hosed. (And be extra gentle with any BBC audiobooks, those things are made out of Saran Wrap and labeled with dry-erase markers, I swear.) Oh, and if you or your kid gets fingerprints or pb&j all over a disc, always wipe gently from the center outward, not in a circular pattern. Radial scuffs might result in a hiccup; the ones from janky car players driven over potholes that leave those big circular scuffs, I'd just shake my head and put them in the "withdrawal" stack. Radial scuffs: fixable. Circular scuffs: gently caress that. Sigh. I'm getting nostalgic and miss being the queen of a/v repair nerds. Shows, doesn't it?
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Jan 5, 2019 23:33
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Leperflesh posted:It's not necessary to read the discworld books in publication order, although certain story arcs do need to be in order; but, there are some characters that show up in many stories and if you go in order, they do have character arcs. Death most notably (he appears in every book) but also characters like the Patrician, the librarian, various of the witches, vimes, etc. have cameos in other stories. Ha, I have The Dreaming Tree next to me right now, straight from my local public library.
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Jan 5, 2019 23:41
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Leperflesh posted:Death most notably (he appears in every book) Not quite true actually...
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Jan 5, 2019 23:55
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most discworld books are fairly short and uncomplicated so you probably won't waste much time figuring out whether you like your chosen reading strategy
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Jan 6, 2019 00:07
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feedmegin posted:Not quite true actually... Oh? Do tell... I've read them all and can't think of an exception, but my memory is poo poo
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Jan 6, 2019 00:13
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oystertoadfish posted:my library had So Much raymond e feist. so much. I honestly thought midkemia was the height of fantasy literature. it left room for improvement later in life Not gonna lie, the first Dragonlance book made 13 year old me cry. That poor senile old dragon  It did...not hold up on re-reading.
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Jan 6, 2019 00:25
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Leperflesh posted:Oh? Do tell... I've read them all and can't think of an exception, but my memory is poo poo Snuff, for one.
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Jan 6, 2019 00:26
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feedmegin posted:Snuff, for one. And, apparently, Wee Free Men, and only those two. I wonder if that was intentional, or if he got edited out of something during draft reworks. 
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Jan 6, 2019 07:46
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A twitter thread for everyone here: https://twitter.com/heyrinehart/status/1081386154048585728?s=21
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Jan 7, 2019 01:34
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In New York or DC where that's barely above poverty level, maybe
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Jan 7, 2019 23:11
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JacquelineDempsey posted:I read the one about a (totally self-insert) guy who fell in love with a fairy, who manages to take his massive cock inside her despite the fact that she's only six inches tall, and I swore him off for good. Maybe he is that small, who knows.
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Jan 7, 2019 23:20
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one of the weirdest self inserts I read was this polish American engineer who goes back in time and, like, teaches medieval Poland how to make machine guns before the Mongols come (also he has sex with lots of teenaged medieval polish girls) a book or two later the poles are in the Amazon looking for rubber and there are sexy Amazons there I can't remember what it was called but it's one of those 'as an engineer I could create a modern military industrial complex in my garage and also I should get to have sex a lot' things
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Jan 8, 2019 19:58
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oystertoadfish posted:one of the weirdest self inserts I read was this polish American engineer who goes back in time and, like, teaches medieval Poland how to make machine guns before the Mongols come (also he has sex with lots of teenaged medieval polish girls) I honestly thought you were talking about Timeline at first.
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Jan 8, 2019 20:05
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Stargard lol get a load of the second book quote:This book details the travails that occur as Conrad attempts to establish the industrial base that he will need for his planned defense of Poland. He also establishes the thirteenth century equivalent to the Playboy Club, builds a new city, gains several new lovers and elevates his status in the ruling hierarchy of the country.[3]
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Jan 8, 2019 23:21
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thanks for finding the name. skimmed the wiki and i love that the author, when informed that an early draft made Conrad seem like a Mary Sue, decided the solution would be to give him exactly two traits the author didn't share; he made Conrad a socialist and a devout Catholic. not devout enough to stop loving ever, apparently but he sure did comprehensively address that criticism!
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Jan 8, 2019 23:39
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oystertoadfish posted:I can't remember what it was called but it's one of those 'as an engineer I could create a modern military industrial complex in my garage and also I should get to have sex a lot' things Discworld is superb so I'll chuck in another recommendation for that and then guide this back toward librarytalk by asking our librarians which patron they misjudged most badly?
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Jan 9, 2019 00:34
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FrangibleCover posted:I would love to read a short story about an engineer going back in time, attempting to create a modern military industrial complex and then failing miserably and getting sabred to death because there's more to technical development than that and the reason everyone rode about on horses back then is not that nobody had thought of tanks. Also he strikes out completely with the local ladies. Despite being a satire of romantic depictions of medieval times, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court hits this note somewhat, with the protagonist failing to make any lasting changes, and everyone he cares about dying of horribly.
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Jan 9, 2019 00:52
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FrangibleCover posted:I would love to read a short story about an engineer going back in time, attempting to create a modern military industrial complex and then failing miserably and getting sabred to death because there's more to technical development than that and the reason everyone rode about on horses back then is not that nobody had thought of tanks. Also he strikes out completely with the local ladies. Poul Anderson's "The Man Who Came Early" is almost exactly what you want.
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Jan 9, 2019 01:29
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P-Mack posted:Poul Anderson's "The Man Who Came Early" is almost exactly what you want. Yeah, actually, I have no idea why I didn't think of this one first.
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Jan 9, 2019 01:58
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This is why they don't let engineers talk to people
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Jan 10, 2019 20:30
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Because they would then be too busy sleeping with every woman lustily throwing themselves at the engineer?
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Jan 11, 2019 17:04
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