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Groke posted:You want deep time, Olaf Stapledon is your man.  hell yeah. Last and First Men Starmaker from the early 20th century so you may find it dated, very influential books though.
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Jul 24, 2019 02:09
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uber_stoat posted:
Oh lord is the Last and First Men dated. It covers the end of human civilization and as you could guess, it's, uh, inaccurate. Also sexist. Thoroughly fascinating as that kind of thing is (thinking of Brian Stableford for trying similar future history stuff) but hoo boy. Still reccing it though because there's nothing else out there like it. Stableford did future history, but he stops. Olaf meanwhile doesn't. And he covers the biggest time scales I've ever seen in any fiction.
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Jul 24, 2019 02:29
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StrixNebulosa posted:Am I remembering right - Glen Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps takes place over large periods of time, right? Someone in this thread described The Dragon Never Sleeps as Cook's attempt to do the entire Dune series in one novel, and that's honestly pretty accurate. His reach exceeded his grasp IMO, and I quite like Glen Cook, but it's interesting.
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Jul 24, 2019 02:45
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Kestral posted:Someone in this thread described The Dragon Never Sleeps as Cook's attempt to do the entire Dune series in one novel, and that's honestly pretty accurate. His reach exceeded his grasp IMO, and I quite like Glen Cook, but it's interesting. It's narratively flawed, has issues with focus, and character motivations can be unclear at best. It's still fantastic. It does have some Dune influence, but it really only spans a decade or so. Reach exceeding grasp ? Oh hell yes, it should probably have been 6-8 novels.
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Jul 24, 2019 03:23
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ianmacdo posted:I read a YA novel that handled that part better. Yes I also had that question earlier in the thread. They couldn't do that because Elmo becomes the villain 
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Jul 24, 2019 04:08
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mewse posted:Yes I also had that question earlier in the thread. They couldn't do that because Elmo becomes the villain He could have fixed it a bit by just having a mention that Elmo tried that but the worlds that got built were super lovely, like endless empty rooms or something like that.
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Jul 24, 2019 04:17
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ianmacdo posted:He could have fixed it a bit by just having a mention that Elmo tried that but the worlds that got built were super lovely, like endless empty rooms or something like that. So much in the virtual afterlife felt inconsistent. The hive is just to add depth to the conflict between Dodge and Elmo? We're just supposed to assume it's icky because Dodge opposes it? It builds once, Dodge vaporizes it, and it rebuilds when Elmo is in power. It just sits there and doesn't do anything. The KEY! It's a piece of data, but it's also a physical object in the virtual world, but Elmo destroys it, but they made a copy, but the copy is a physical object (lollllllllllllllllll)
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Jul 24, 2019 04:34
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uber_stoat posted:
If you are looking for something a little similar I would recommend Mike Resnick's Birthright: The Book of Man. It covers the rise, fall, rise, dominance of mankind over the rest of the galaxy and the book spans millenia in 26 different chapters. Man is the apex predator of the Milky Way and doesn't understand the species around it, so we, of course, conquer them. It's an interesting, quick read and is the same universe that is shared across most of his work that has been previously mentioned, like Santiago and his recent Dirt Dozen-esque trilogy The Fortess of Orion, The Castle of Cassiopea and The Gods of Sagittarius(Co-written by Eric Flint).
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Jul 24, 2019 05:28
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Thanks for all the recommendations! Excited to check them out!
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Jul 24, 2019 05:45
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Groke posted:You want deep time, Olaf Stapledon is your man. i tried reading starmaker once and it was like reading a wikipedia synopsis(so better than most sci fi but still bad)
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Jul 24, 2019 06:40
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:Did anyone else immediately flash to Six-String Samurai, the 1998 movie featuring something eerily similar after reading Ninurta's recommendation of the Vagrant trilogy? The Vagrant may sing, but he is mute otherwise. His eyebrow game with the orphan infant, however, is on point.
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Jul 24, 2019 07:01
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ToxicFrog posted:Brunner's The Crucible of Time A great book, highly recommended by me. Also interesting in that it's a book entirely about aliens with no humans mentioned at all. You'd think such books would be more common, but examples are surprisingly rare. (I mean, technically all of The Culture except one short story is entirely about aliens, but the people are very humanoid physiologically. The ones in CoT are definitely aliens.)
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Jul 24, 2019 07:38
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So I finally got around to checking out Cassandra Kresnov, based on recommendations in this thread. I'm now most of the way through the first book. If someone ITT had pitched it as "it's Ghost in the Shell, but in Cherryh's Alliance-Union setting" I would have jumped on this a lot sooner!
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Jul 24, 2019 17:23
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ToxicFrog posted:So I finally got around to checking out Cassandra Kresnov, based on recommendations in this thread. I'm now most of the way through the first book. I really enjoy this series. I've read it three times now. Glad you're enjoying it.
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Jul 24, 2019 21:43
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orange sky posted:Man, the dinner scene in A Civil Campaign has got to be one of the best chapters I've read in years. Hilarious stuff, I laughed so much. That and a couple of chapters of Bridge of Birds still get me even on rereads.
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Jul 24, 2019 22:34
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Ninurta posted:The Vagrant may sing, but he is mute otherwise. His eyebrow game with the orphan infant, however, is on point. Six String Samurai is great and could be greater with a weirder postapocalypse. The Vagrant was enjoyable and the sequels were pretty ok.
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Jul 25, 2019 01:33
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Ben Nerevarine posted:Stephen Baxter's Vacuum Diagrams. It's a collection of short stories that take place in his Xeelee Sequence universe and spans millions of years. If you like the short stories there are a bunch of novels that take place in the same universe. The short stories are definitely better than the novels. Baxter isn't so good at characters or plot.
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Jul 25, 2019 03:59
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Drone Jett posted:That and a couple of chapters of Bridge of Birds still get me even on rereads. When they are thinking they are going to die and how one will be reborn as a tree called “Old Generosity” Kills me every time
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Jul 25, 2019 07:47
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So I got a Murderbot book from the library but it turns out it’s the fourth in the series. Are they all mainly stand alone, or would I be lost if I tried to read it?
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Jul 25, 2019 14:03
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Conrad_Birdie posted:So I got a Murderbot book from the library but it turns out it’s the fourth in the series. Are they all mainly stand alone, or would I be lost if I tried to read it? You should probably read them in order, IMO. thetechnoloser posted:I really enjoy this series. I've read it three times now. Glad you're enjoying it. Yeah, I'm now most of the way through the second book and having an absolute blast. I found some interviews with the author, wondering how intentional the parallels were, and was completely unsurprised to see that (a) he cites Ghost in the Shell, specifically, as the inspiration for Cassandra Kresnov, and (b) he cites Cherryh, in general, as his favourite author. So I'm going with "very intentional". I'm also shipping Cassandra and Vanessa super hard even though I know I'm doomed to disappointment.  E: I'm starting the third book now, and this is the Treaty of Pell all over again, isn't it? With Fifth Fleet as the Mazianni and Third Fleet as Mallory's Norway,, I bet. ToxicFrog fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Jul 25, 2019 |
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Jul 25, 2019 14:22
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Possibly no one gives a poo poo except me, but while doing my personal epub creation project, noticed that M John Harrison's short story Events Witnessed from a City, (MJH's memory-holed since 1986 Viriconium short story) kinda-sorta follows up the events from 'Lord Cromis and the Lamia' (both versions). Set many millennia later, incarnations of the named characters from the Lord Cromis + Lamia story are witnessing the Earth slooooowly resume its rotation after 4 millennia of rotational stasis. Only Dissolution Kahn is the one now trapped in the cycle of Sixth Beast slayer/victim role, Cromis is the one seeing visions of the Sixth Beast, while Rotgob is the actual Sixth Beast and murder-suicides Kahn. Haven't read much new scifi or fantasy lately. Personal goal of reading two new things (books/stories) before re-reading something old2me has been working out good. Currently 1/3 into a super blowjobby hagiography about the 'cult of the dead cow' hacking supergroup along with brief dips into BaPH. Everyone in the 'cult of dead cow' hagiography is being described in glowing terms, all crimes/bad behavior downplayed as being before hacking laws existed/juvenile behavior/never really part of the group/etc.
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Jul 25, 2019 20:05
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How many of them are nazis these days?
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Jul 25, 2019 21:01
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90s Cringe Rock posted:How many of them are nazis these days? Looked way ahead in cult/dead/cow book and mother-of-satan..was this entire book ultimately about hyping up the secret background and leet skills of the 2020 US Presidential Election candidate who failed to defeat Ted "Negative Charisma" Cruz in a US Senate election, Robert "Beto" O'Rourke? Thinking back to the blowjobby hagiography writing I've been wading through: Yes. Yes.Yes. Damnit, YES. Previously thought book was a "publish this under your own name or we kill your career forever" puff-piece scenario.....which is 80% likely too.
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Jul 25, 2019 23:56
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90s Cringe Rock posted:How many of them are nazis these days? IIRC infamously abrasive Linus Torvalds got a bunch of people angry last year after introducing a new Code of Conduct for Linux developers and apologizing for previous "heated programmer moments", so I suspect the answer is probably "yes." C.M. Kruger fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Jul 26, 2019 |
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Jul 26, 2019 01:06
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Torvalds has thinner skin than D. Trump while also being the most powerful person ever in Linux, which makes for fantastic drama bombs going off every 4 or so months. Most of the people in that cult/dead/cow book were the founding members of techbro culture in all it's entitlement-ness, others in that group went into US Govt service to gently caress over others/protect their own asses, with maybe one or two people dropping off the grid after realizing what terrible-terrible people they had been involved with.
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Jul 26, 2019 02:38
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https://twitter.com/slyris/status/1154877620909043713 The Seer, an absolutely fantastic fantasy novel I gushed about recently, is getting a sequel. But not through Baen, because Baen sucks. Instead: Patreon. Pay 3$ a month for chapters until it's all out and then she'll figure out what to do next.
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Jul 26, 2019 23:21
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So finished some thread recommendations. Declare by Tim Powers was great and a better version of Stross. How is his other work? Kaleidoscope country by Barnes, which could have been a good story if not for all the unnecessary rape.
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Jul 27, 2019 06:09
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Cardiac posted:Declare by Tim Powers was great and a better version of Stross. How is his other work? Varies from OK to great. For me his best works are Last Call, On Stranger Tides and The Anubis Gates, though I've heard other opinions. His worse I would say is The Stress of Her Regard which I found over-long and somewhat boring in spots. Note that almost all of his stories are standalone, though he did a weird thing where he took two apparently unrelated books (Last Call and Expiration Date) and wrote a single sequel to both of them (Earthquake Weather). I don't know if it was some kind of writing exercise but the result was odd and a bit too strange to be successful.
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Jul 27, 2019 06:37
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Hobnob posted:Varies from OK to great. For me his best works are Last Call, On Stranger Tides and The Anubis Gates, though I've heard other opinions. His worse I would say is The Stress of Her Regard which I found over-long and somewhat boring in spots. Thanks. For me stand alone is a plus in this era of serialisation.
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Jul 27, 2019 06:58
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Tim Powers has a story formula that he follows for every-one of his stories that I've encountered. DECLARE was the first Tim Powers book I read (and I enjoyed it), then I read Stranger Tides, Anubis Gates, Last Call, and Three Days to Never, and the exact plot beats I am about to describe happened over and over and over and over again. Spoilering the Tim Powers story formula because once you notice it, it just might ruin Tim Powers + his writing for you (it did for me). Formula is: Select a random time frame with a historical famous person. + Selected famous historical person will ALWAYS have a secret supernatural/occult background. + Main character is ALWAYS tied to that secret supernatural/occult background. + Romantic relationship ALWAYS develops between main character and the one female character that sticks around for more than 15 pages.
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Jul 27, 2019 07:26
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I'm not sure what's surprising about any of the points you bring up
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Jul 27, 2019 08:01
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General Battuta posted:I’m in final substantive edits on Baru 3, there’s a lot left to do and it’s way too long but I think I’m gonna be happy with it in a way I really wasn’t with the second The Untitled Baru Cormorant. Or as we call it over here, The Untitled.
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Jul 27, 2019 11:06
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Hobnob posted:Varies from OK to great. For me his best works are Last Call, On Stranger Tides and The Anubis Gates, though I've heard other opinions. His worse I would say is The Stress of Her Regard which I found over-long and somewhat boring in spots. The worst is in my opinion a toss-up between Hide Me Among the Graves and Three Days to Never (which he, admittedly, he basically re-wrote into the somewhat better Medusa's Web). anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Jul 27, 2019 |
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Jul 27, 2019 11:55
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I was going over the genre fiction I've read from the past year to make recommendations to a friend, and while I've mentioned it before it's worth a re-mention: Rage of Dragons is really loving good. Far better than the title suggests it is. Self-published, first-time black author, and it's gotten a ridiculous 4.7 on Amazon and 4.4 on Goodreads. It's swords and sorcery in an African culture, and has the protagonist progress through hard work rather than just being Chosen. The other two pleasant surprises this year were The Gone World and the Luminous Dead, which I think means I need more sci-fi horror in my life.
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Jul 27, 2019 12:14
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shrike82 posted:I'm not sure what's surprising about any of the points you bring up Not shocking but did change my initial view of "Tim Powers = interesting + good writer" to "Tim Powers = worst author first impression drop-off since @Duneauthor Man of Two Worlds" by the time I had finished the last Tim Powers book I touched. Unlike my bottom three worst writers of all time (Neal Stephenson, Greg Egan, China Mieville), Tim Powers is able to write a stories with an actual ending(Stephenson) and not come off ultra-smug at how much more intelligent and clever <the author> thinks they are vs the reader(Stephenson/Egan/Mieville). And that means a lot. Most insane or deeply creepy scifi author? That's a different question, and the field of competitors for that question is a
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Jul 27, 2019 13:04
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I'm looking for some reader recommendations of Fantasy series with three or more books. I have already read Wheel of Time, all of David Eddings works, and all of Terry Goodkins works. That should give an idea of my focused reading. I am still going through this thread making some notes. 
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Jul 27, 2019 13:04
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shrike82 posted:I'm not sure what's surprising about any of the points you bring up Well, it is NoNostalgia4Grover, hyperbole is kinda his/her thing. What I liked about Declare was the whole Cold War mentality mixed with the occult and it scratched the same itch as stross, but better. The story is not any more formulaic than any other book, so that isn’t an issue for me. An effective storyline is usually more enjoyable. Also, Bakker probably stole some ideas from Declare.
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Jul 27, 2019 13:26
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Ivoryman posted:I'm looking for some reader recommendations of Fantasy series with three or more books. I have already read Wheel of Time, all of David Eddings works, and all of Terry Goodkins works. That should give an idea of my focused reading. I am still going through this thread making some notes. Janny Wurts' Curse of the Mistwraith and its sequels!
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Jul 27, 2019 13:30
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Ivoryman posted:I'm looking for some reader recommendations of Fantasy series with three or more books. I have already read Wheel of Time, all of David Eddings works, and all of Terry Goodkins works. That should give an idea of my focused reading. I am still going through this thread making some notes. David gemmell would be a nice step from those ones.
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Jul 27, 2019 14:01
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branedotorg posted:David gemmell would be a nice step from those ones. You have to pick your series, though, and ideally the two main ones aren't read in either publication order or continuity order. If you're starting Gemmell, you either do the Rigante or Troy books first or you start with Legend and Wolf in Shadow then ask for advice.
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Jul 27, 2019 14:44
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