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Missed the humble martha wells bundle 
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Jun 20, 2019 04:19
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https://twitter.com/wotwritersroom/status/1141390183641866245?s=21 Let us pray.
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Jun 20, 2019 05:08
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One business trip camped out in a hotel I watched Hostiles, Gone Girl, and Doom, all of which feature Rosamund Pike having very bad days.
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Jun 20, 2019 05:16
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I'm reading A People's Future of the United States, and while the first story hooked me right in, but all the other stories so far have just left me very confused (except for one, the second story I think, which made me go 'that's never gonna happen' before thinking 'wait, gently caress, what if that does happen' and staring at the ceiling for a good 20 minutes).
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Jun 20, 2019 06:31
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stratofarius posted:I'm reading A People's Future of the United States, and while the first story hooked me right in, but all the other stories so far have just left me very confused (except for one, the second story I think, which made me go 'that's never gonna happen' before thinking 'wait, gently caress, what if that does happen' and staring at the ceiling for a good 20 minutes). edit: oh, what I actually came in to post is that it's disappointing that Liu Cixin is like, a Chinese chud, but I could kind of guess that from the way the characters were presented in Three-Body Problem and the sequels, but it's still kinda sad
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Jun 20, 2019 12:44
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DACK FAYDEN posted:edit: oh, what I actually came in to post is that it's disappointing that Liu Cixin is like, a Chinese chud, but I could kind of guess that from the way the characters were presented in Three-Body Problem and the sequels, but it's still kinda sad He would of been suppressed if he wasn't that way, not having movies getting made of his stuff.
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Jun 20, 2019 15:09
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Finished Michael Shea's The A'rak. It was pretty good, not as far out and hallucinatory as some of the earlier Nifft stories, more cosmic body horror sword n sorcery with an emphasis on the horror. Very fun with a great villainous giant alien spider. Switching between two narrators throughout was a good choice and allowed for some nice variation in how the story was told, and Shea poking fun at Nifft through the eyes of his other characters is always great. A distinct lack of Barnar Hammer-Hand though. Supposedly there may be one more unpublished Nifft novel Shea left after his untimely death. True? I can't find anything about it anywhere beyond a comment in a Facebook group to that effect.
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Jun 20, 2019 16:17
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Honestly, it's hard enough to get your hands on the published Nifft so I wouldn't be surprised.
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Jun 20, 2019 18:43
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DACK FAYDEN posted:Honestly, I liked about half of the twenty-five, and I can't tell if that's me being a cishetwhiteguy or if at least five of the others really were interchangeable dystopian slurry with no special hooks. That seems to be the path it's going for me. Honestly I did find myself kinda re-evaluating what I think is a 'possible' dystopia or not (check your privilege yada yada) but most of the stories take way too long to reveal what's their hook, their special sauce, and I just find myself getting super bored.
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Jun 20, 2019 20:02
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anilEhilated posted:Honestly, it's hard enough to get your hands on the published Nifft so I wouldn't be surprised. True story. I actually (like an hour ago) just bought a second copy of The Incompleat Nifft to give to a friend, and A Quest for Simbilis for myself. They had the og Nifft the Lean and The Mines of Behemoth printings too. Like $5 each. Chamblin's Book Mine in Jacksonville, FL y'all. It's a treasurehouse of old SFF paperbacks, including lots of out of print and hard to find stuff.
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Jun 20, 2019 21:22
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I just finished the murderbot diaries and I found them really enjoyable. I also read (most of) the Culture series and I found them to be similar in that they're well written, quick reads and good crunchy entertainment. In general I enjoy sci-fi as a genre, but I find the writing to be a bit of a slog at times. What are some other sci-fi books I might enjoy?
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Jun 20, 2019 22:50
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I'm gonna wildly recommend The Quantum Thief.
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Jun 21, 2019 00:17
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Nevvy Z posted:I'm gonna wildly recommend The Quantum Thief. I think the Quantum thief is really good, but I'm not sure it's right up the alley of the Culture novels. The Quantum Thief has a lot of neologism and unexplained backstory. But it is really good.
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Jun 21, 2019 00:48
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pseudanonymous posted:I think the Quantum thief is really good, but I'm not sure it's right up the alley of the Culture novels. The Quantum Thief has a lot of neologism and unexplained backstory. But it is really good. Yeah, The Quantum Thief does no hand-holding whatsoever and you have to just go with it and figure stuff out from context. This is one of the things I like about it.
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Jun 21, 2019 03:49
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Nevvy Z posted:I'm gonna wildly recommend The Quantum Thief. Quantum Thief was disappointing for me, but that was partly from Rajaniemi front-loading neologisms to make the book science-fiction-ey, and mostly because I absolutely hated the 2nd main character in it. Not the mystery lady agent character, the idiot introduced investigating a crime in a chocolate factory. About 1/3 through a re-read of Philip K Dick's Valis. Realizing that I wasted my time reading the Exgenesis of Philip K Dick, because Exgenesis was pretty much 'pointing to PKD's private letters, pointing to matching thing in PKD's Valis Trilogy'. Boris Johnson as the 90% likely next Prime Minister of the UK seems to be rightly freaking Charles Stross out. Meanwhile I couldn't give a poo poo whatever Ken MacLeod is thinking/doing about Brexit + Boris Johnson PM-hood. loving MacLeod had a chance to vote Yes for Scottish Independence in 2014, and escape the entire looming Brexit situation but he chickened the hell out and voted a cowards No.
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Jun 21, 2019 04:08
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navyjack posted:Yeah, The Quantum Thief does no hand-holding whatsoever and you have to just go with it and figure stuff out from context. This is one of the things I like about it. The Quantum Thief have a similar issue as Mievilles books in that it tries to be smarter than it needs too. A lot of fancy words and interesting setting doesn’t make up for having unremarkable protagonists and a needlessly convoluted storyline. Worth reading though.
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Jun 21, 2019 07:01
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Dante posted:I just finished the murderbot diaries and I found them really enjoyable. I also read (most of) the Culture series and I found them to be similar in that they're well written, quick reads and good crunchy entertainment. In general I enjoy sci-fi as a genre, but I find the writing to be a bit of a slog at times. What are some other sci-fi books I might enjoy? You could try - Yoon Ha Lee's Machinaries of Empire series - House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds (be warned that it's the best novel by Reynolds so far, by far) - Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep and then A Deepness in the Sky - Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series - Scott Westerfeld's The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds (a duology) - I won't die on the hill of "well written", but in terms of quick reads and crunchy entertainment, James SA Corey's The Expanse series (now a very good TV show as well!)
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Jun 21, 2019 07:46
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Dante posted:I just finished the murderbot diaries and I found them really enjoyable. I also read (most of) the Culture series and I found them to be similar in that they're well written, quick reads and good crunchy entertainment. In general I enjoy sci-fi as a genre, but I find the writing to be a bit of a slog at times. What are some other sci-fi books I might enjoy? Ghostwritten/Cloud Atlas/The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
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Jun 21, 2019 09:56
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High Warlord Zog posted:Ghostwritten/Cloud Atlas/The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell mitchell, tiptree/sheldon and webb are all fine writers, but ill admit i am curious about how you picked those stories specifically (none of em in the same genre) for someone whose only parameters were that they enjoyed space operas by iain m banks and martha wells we get a lot of these sorta vague "I liked X, what do I read next?" recc requests here, its always interesting to see peoples thought process in responding to them
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Jun 21, 2019 10:22
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Sulphagnist posted:You could try I'd second Leckie's Imperial Radch series and add Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire, but I'd also say that while I really liked the Machineries of Empire series, Lee's writing is pretty damned baroque, and if one of your common problems with sci-fi is that aspect of it then you might not be a fan. Also The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds are super underrated. Gotta dig my copy out, actually.
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Jun 21, 2019 11:08
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That's a lot of fancy pants   space opera being suggested. I guess I'd just go off the Murderbot suggestion instead and recommend some more... lighter reads. Try: Scalzi's Old Man's War series We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis Tailor The Martian by Andy Weir Demon Princes by Jack Vance The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem Tuf Voyaging by GRRM
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Jun 21, 2019 11:27
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Dante posted:I just finished the murderbot diaries and I found them really enjoyable. I also read (most of) the Culture series and I found them to be similar in that they're well written, quick reads and good crunchy entertainment. In general I enjoy sci-fi as a genre, but I find the writing to be a bit of a slog at times. What are some other sci-fi books I might enjoy? The closest things I'm aware of in *tone* to Murderbot are the Long Way to a Small Angry Planet books and Lawrence Watt-Evan's fantasy Ethshar series (starting with Misenchanted Sword)
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Jun 21, 2019 12:55
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It's really too bad there's no way to keep track of recommendations or something. I mean someone could do it in the OP but that's a lot of work. It's also too bad there's nothing like Pandora for books. Goodreads is okay but it'd be cool if you could say I like female protagonist + space opera + religion and see what shows up.
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Jun 21, 2019 13:00
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:The closest things I'm aware of in *tone* to Murderbot are the Long Way to a Small Angry Planet books and Lawrence Watt-Evan's fantasy Ethshar series (starting with Misenchanted Sword)
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Jun 21, 2019 13:26
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DACK FAYDEN posted:There are sequels? Someone here pointed me to Misenchanted Sword and I enjoyed it, just a nice little romp. Good to know! Same world, rare cameos by previous characters, not sequels.
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Jun 21, 2019 13:32
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pseudanonymous posted:It's really too bad there's no way to keep track of recommendations or something. I mean someone could do it in the OP but that's a lot of work. There's two problems on top of the amount of work. One is deciding what counts as a recommendation - is listing every time a book is recommended worthwhile? The second is that nobody seems to read the op. Also, read James Tiptree Jr.
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Jun 21, 2019 14:40
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DACK FAYDEN posted:There are sequels? Someone here pointed me to Misenchanted Sword and I enjoyed it, just a nice little romp. Good to know! They aren't direct sequels but set in the same universe in vaguely chronological order. There are a few misfires but most range from decent-to-good. My favorite is probably Ithnalin's Restoration. Very "cosy fantasy". Just people copin' with problems in fantasy world.
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Jun 21, 2019 15:07
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Grimson posted:I'm about 80% of the way through (sorry Kindle haters) and it's very, very good. I was especially pleased that what I had assumed was going to be the final plot twist was just a mid-way change of acts. The Empress of Forever was legitimately great, and I think it alone is basically my shortlist for best SFF novel of 2019.
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Jun 21, 2019 15:18
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High Warlord Zog posted:The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North Piggy backing off of this mention to something not directly related to the requested recommendation, I'm reading The Gameshouse by Claire North and enjoying it. It's a collection of 3 linked novellas (novellae?) centering on the Gameshouse where games are played for big stakes. In the first, a woman tries to maneuver her piece into power in early 17th century Venice. In the 2nd a man has wagered his memories on an ill-advised game of hide and seek in pre-WW2 Thailand. In the third, it looks like we'll find out more about the Gameshouse as a man plays chess with the world as a board.
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Jun 21, 2019 15:27
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Just finished empress of forever, it really sticks the ending. I saw the twist and then I realised there was Lots More book. Very satisfying and really nice to have a competent queer protag.
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Jun 21, 2019 17:34
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The_White_Crane posted:I'd second Leckie's Imperial Radch series and add Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire, but I'd also say that while I really liked the Machineries of Empire series, Lee's writing is pretty damned baroque, and if one of your common problems with sci-fi is that aspect of it then you might not be a fan. That's a fair point on Machinaries, and I never miss on a chance to recommend The Risen Empire in the vain hope that one day Westerfeld will wrote more stories set in that universe.
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Jun 21, 2019 17:45
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Sulphagnist posted:That's a fair point on Machinaries, and I never miss on a chance to recommend The Risen Empire in the vain hope that one day Westerfeld will wrote more stories set in that universe. He won't but he's willing to hand out the planned ending if you talk to him. The Lynx leads a coup on the capital, Rana Carter becomes the new Empress, roughly. I don't remember what happens to the captain and the senator.
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Jun 21, 2019 18:16
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So I'm listening to Peter Clines Dead Moon as an audiobook. I enjoyed the first 2 Threshold books, but it's pretty clear that it's only loosely connected which is fine, but it's super failing to grip me. I'm in about 5 hours of 11. Can anyone comment if it get better as it goes on?
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Jun 21, 2019 18:22
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idk if the prose in Machineries is that dense or unnavigable once you've worked out what the Calendar is i bounced off Ninefox my first time trying to read it, but that was at like 5 a.m. would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who's read more than 1 fantasy series before and is used to parsing neologisms midstream
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Jun 21, 2019 18:41
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Deptfordx posted:So I'm listening to Peter Clines Dead Moon as an audiobook. I enjoyed the first 2 Threshold books, but it's pretty clear that it's only loosely connected which is fine, but it's super failing to grip me. God drat it I hate audiobook only releases. Mostly because I can't stand audiobooks. I got all excited for a second because I really liked 14 and The Fold and keep hoping he'll write more in that universe.
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Jun 21, 2019 18:53
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PupsOfWar posted:idk if the prose in Machineries is that dense or unnavigable once you've worked out what the Calendar is The calendar stuff is basically magic. Once I accepted that the rest was simple. General Battuta posted:He won't but he's willing to hand out the planned ending if you talk to him. The Lynx leads a coup on the capital, Rana Carter becomes the new Empress, roughly. I don't remember what happens to the captain and the senator. Oh, that's something at least. Huh. Thanks.
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Jun 21, 2019 19:04
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Sulphagnist posted:The calendar stuff is basically magic. Once I accepted that the rest was simple. That is actually a good recommendation for both sci-fi and fantasy. Especially for sci-fi, where hard sci-fi is just laughable bad in trying appear as serious science.
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Jun 21, 2019 19:44
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Sulphagnist posted:The calendar stuff is basically magic. Once I accepted that the rest was simple. Mathemagic, to be precise.
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Jun 21, 2019 22:35
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Grimson posted:The Empress of Forever was legitimately great, and I think it alone is basically my shortlist for best SFF novel of 2019. i'm like 20% in and while it's good i'd definitely not describe it that way fingers crossed
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Jun 22, 2019 04:13
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How does Look to Windward compare to the other Culture novels? I think it’s the only one I haven’t read.
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Jun 22, 2019 15:15
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