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folk just listin books now
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Sep 2, 2019 16:25
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Bridge of Birds, and Murderbot
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Sep 2, 2019 16:30
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90s Cringe Rock posted:Bridge of Birds, and Murderbot I would've bought Murderbot yesterday but it's still 9$+ goddamned dollars for 150 pages and Tor? gently caress you. Sell novellas properly. (note: I don't do ebooks, I have been looking at used copies, etc etc)
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Sep 2, 2019 16:31
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There will be a novel one day, and an omnibus, although I wouldn't put it past the publisher to insist on two two-novella volumes. Worth the wait.
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Sep 2, 2019 16:32
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The Cry Pilot of Lot 49
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Sep 2, 2019 16:42
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Kestral posted:I've been tearing through Kameron Hurley's Light Brigade and enjoying it a great deal - how does the rest of her work stack up? Hurley in general is very good imho. I did bounce off of God's War (the first Bel Dame novel) pretty hard - found it too dark, couldn't stand the protagonist. I don't think this means it was bad though, it just had a somewhat unique goal which it pursued successfully. All of her work is dark, but Bel Dame is the most upfront about it, the most confrontational in its use of body and psychological horror tropes. Reading posts Hurley wrote from around the time God's War was published, I gathered that her thesis at the time was, more or less, that the male gaze still predominated in genre literature even with the increased diversity of creators and narratives over the previous decade or so. A lot more books about female characters, PoC characters or queer characters, but most of em still calibrated to be paleteable to predominantly straight white cismale audiences. The implication being that there were still types of role that people weren't comfortable filling with female or queer characters because this would be threatening in some way, one of these roles being the brutal antihero. (When I say antihero, I don't mean someone like Han Solo, who imo is just a byronic hero. I mean someone who is flat out a bad person, like Conan or the guy from Yojimbo) One way we could think of this is that these characters carry a sort of burden of sympathy - they are expected to be likable to a broad audience, whereas someone like Conan or Achilles or whoever need not be likable so long as they are interesting. Now, it certainly wasn't Hurley's only motivation for writing the series or her only conceit in crafting it, but it seems like a big impetus for the Bel Dame books was to refute this by writing something with a queer female protagonist who will manipulate, lie, steal and murder with, if not no compunction, then at least very little compunction. Why was I uncomfortable reading about Nyx, yet remain comfortable reading about someone like Baru, who has done worse* things? I'm not sure, but making people think about that is probably one of the reasons Hurley wrote those books the way she did. *or at least equally bad things, on a larger scale. PupsOfWar fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Sep 2, 2019 |
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Sep 2, 2019 17:04
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StrixNebulosa posted:Tell me about Cry Pilot there's a bit of generic guy who has a dark secret joins the military and attends bootcamp with the smart one, the hot one, the weird one and the rich one. there's some post environmental apocalypse mixed with big things attacking ala neon genesis. there's some psd relating to the secret past. I liked it but i'm sure i'll forgotten it all by the time the sequel comes out.
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Sep 3, 2019 02:10
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branedotorg posted:there's a bit of generic guy who has a dark secret joins the military and attends bootcamp with the smart one, the hot one, the weird one and the rich one. Mmm, sounds good but not urgent to pick up, okay. I really like this trend of old-school mecha anime finding its way into american sci-fi.
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Sep 3, 2019 02:28
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BananaNutkins posted:Self plugging a story that's out today at Flash Fiction Online. It's my first pro sale since The Third Martian Dick Temple. From last page, but this owned. Thanks for linking it.
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Sep 3, 2019 03:09
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To everyone saying they liked my story, thanks so much! I've been following this thread for almost a decade, and knowing I did something you folk like is even better than getting paid for it.
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Sep 3, 2019 04:52
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BananaNutkins posted:Self plugging a story that's out today at Flash Fiction Online. It's my first pro sale since The Third Martian Dick Temple. Excellent. Keep em coming.
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Sep 3, 2019 12:10
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DACK FAYDEN posted:I don't often reread but I felt like picking up A Fire Upon the Deep again and man, it's exactly as good as I remembered. That's one of the scifi classics that never clicked with me. I like some of the ideas and the galaxy Usenet is awesome but I hate the Tines and couldn't care less about the plot. I've never brought myself to read A Deepness in the Sky, despite no Tines...it's been on my shelf for years. Maybe one day. I do think Vinge is a pretty good writer which is why I haven't gotten rid of it.
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Sep 3, 2019 15:44
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I liked them both, but couldn't bring myself to finish the third book, which has all the tines that weren't in Deepness.
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Sep 3, 2019 15:59
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I felt the same way about the tines/plot of the first one. Vastly preferred A Deepness in the Sky. Could be worth checking out for you.
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Sep 3, 2019 17:07
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A Deepness in the Sky is as good as Tineworld 2: Medieval Puppy Boogaloo is bad
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Sep 3, 2019 17:13
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Clark Nova posted:A Deepness in the Sky is as good as Tineworld 2: Medieval Puppy Boogaloo is bad Vinge was a professor and Deepness’ main plot foil (the focused) was just an analogy to grad students and other academics/university staff. Good read but realizing that makes reading about that faction rather amusing.
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Sep 3, 2019 17:18
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90s Cringe Rock posted:I liked them both, but couldn't bring myself to finish the third book, which has all the tines that weren't in Deepness. I finished it but might not have if I didn't expect another book. Here we are a decade or so later with no hint of such a thing happening, despite Children of the Sky mostly setting up a finale...
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Sep 4, 2019 08:43
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90s Cringe Rock posted:I liked them both, but couldn't bring myself to finish the third book, which has all the tines that weren't in Deepness. Neurosis posted:I finished it but might not have if I didn't expect another book. Here we are a decade or so later with no hint of such a thing happening, despite Children of the Sky mostly setting up a finale... Vinge's short story "The Blabber" was the real final story in the tines timeline, at least for me. Tines won the decades delayed Blight invasion, tines expanded into space, then tines got their asses kicked hard, the end.
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Sep 4, 2019 13:15
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lot more anti-spacedog bias itt than id have expected
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Sep 4, 2019 18:24
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The Flenser’s like “they’re good dogs Brant...but they could be better”
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Sep 4, 2019 19:06
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Vinge was writing about one novel per five years, but it’s been 8 since Children. I’m curious if he’s retired or decided against continuing that story.
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Sep 4, 2019 19:56
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child me says thanks for teaching me the word "flense" Vernor!
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Sep 4, 2019 20:02
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Just finished Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison after seeing it discussed in This is How You Lose the Time War. It's a non-LOTR inspired fantasy; it was published before the Hobbit by a couple years. Mitchison was a friend of Tolkien's though, and actually a proofreader for LOTR. So you can see sort of two radically different fantasy journeys coming from the same time and place. Halla is a princess with an evil stepmother, as a result she's raised by bears and dragons before finding her own way in the world. The bork sort of travels from the fairy tale into the real world that sees the waning of old gods and the rise of Christianity and Islam. It's short, <150 pages, but a pretty good read! I'll probably be checking out some other books by her, if anyone has any recommendations.
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Sep 4, 2019 21:05
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General Battuta posted:The Flenser’s like “they’re good dogs Brant...but they could be better” Tyrathect is a FANTASTIC character.
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Sep 4, 2019 21:41
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Velius posted:Vinge was writing about one novel per five years, but it’s been 8 since Children. I’m curious if he’s retired or decided against continuing that story. I saw him at Boskone a few years ago and he didn't look super great. He's 74, so health might be an issue  e: jesus christ, my dad is 71 and futureshocked to hell and gone, barely able to cope emotionally with this strange world of cardboard guitars and computer samples, let alone a world where recorded history began with the UNIX Epoch. puts some peoples' unwillingness to cope with change into perspective. just a bit. Kesper North fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Sep 4, 2019 |
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Sep 4, 2019 22:03
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:Vinge's short story "The Blabber" was the real final story in the tines timeline, at least for me.
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Sep 5, 2019 02:08
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I guess if you wanted a new Heinlein novel, your prayers have been answered. 
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Sep 5, 2019 15:25
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XBenedict posted:I guess if you wanted a new Heinlein novel, your prayers have been answered. why is that a kickstarter just publish it
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Sep 5, 2019 15:32
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XBenedict posted:I guess if you wanted a new Heinlein novel, your prayers have been answered. hell no Heinlein is for me the author I read in my younger days and when returning to years later found it to be absolute garbage I will concede that his juveniles are fun - "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" is great. But trying to reread Stranger in a Strange Land and the Lazarus Long books as an adult was horrifying. how much incest and self-inserts does this one have? donate to our kickstarter to find out!
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Sep 5, 2019 15:47
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:why is that a kickstarter That's how I felt about the Frozen Hell kickstarter too, beyond it being full of KS-bait like collectible prints and poo poo. I gotta love this bit from the Heinlein kickstarter though: quote:Upon it's (sic) release The Number of the Beast perplexed fans and critics alike. Not only is it different from anything Heinlein had ever written before, it is totally unconventional in its structure, presentation and story-telling. Many readers and critics did not consider it a "good" book in the traditional sense. However, it still has nearly a four star rating on Goodreads (with over 11,000 ratings) mmmmm that faint praise tastes so good. edit: seriously how do you even say "nearly a four star rating" about a sci-fi novel from a well-known author and not realize that's really not a great brag? Goodreads ratings practically start at 3 stars, especially for genre novels
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Sep 5, 2019 15:48
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my bony fealty posted:hell no Yeah, paradoxically I think the Heinlein books with real survivability over the long term will be his juveniles like Citizen of the Galaxy. His later stuff is . .. . yeaaah.
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Sep 5, 2019 15:52
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Are any of his non-juveniles still good? I've had The Moon is a Harsh Mistress on my reading list for ages but I've been so leery of him in my adulthood that I've never gotten around to it.
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Sep 5, 2019 15:57
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MockingQuantum posted:Are any of his non-juveniles still good? I've had The Moon is a Harsh Mistress on my reading list for ages but I've been so leery of him in my adulthood that I've never gotten around to it. If you're only going to read one Heinlein that's probably the one to read; it's the balance point between his juvies and his crazy poo poo, so you get a sense of both. Avoid anything he wrote after that unless you're writing a paper on Heinlein. His best overall novel though is probably Citizen of the Galaxy, his last true juvie. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Sep 5, 2019 |
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Sep 5, 2019 16:11
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sometimes when people are telling me a real hard luck story ("i got evicted without cause and am homeless now", "my workplace forces me to work 70 hour weeks via mandatory overtime", etc) i feel i must remind them of the true meaning of suffering "i have read robert anson heinlein's The Number of the Beast" i tell them PupsOfWar fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Sep 5, 2019 |
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Sep 5, 2019 17:04
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PupsOfWar posted:sometimes when people are telling me a real hard luck story ("i got evicted without cause and am homeless now", "my workplace forces me to work 70 hour weeks via mandatory overtime", etc) i feel i must remind them of the true meaning of suffering And their nipples went spung!
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Sep 5, 2019 17:16
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Jedit posted:And their nipples went spung! I had a hardback version as a youth that had those nipples lovingly drawn in as one of the chapter illustrations.
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Sep 5, 2019 18:25
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When I was much younger I had a co-worker whose opinion on books was an influence, and she really loved Heinlein. Boy, did I try. I kinda slogged through Stranger in a Strange Land and took it for granted that I wasn't going to get its message, and that I was bored and repulsed by the author's self-insert because I just didn't get it. Moon/Harsh I overall liked, but the smug insular enclaves that Heinlein likes to draw his characters into was starting to wear. With every good intention I bought Time Enough for Love, but first started reading The Number of the Beast, and I was finally confronted with the fact that I not only was being actively repelled by this man's writing, but that it was straight up Not Very Good At All. I think I lost interest right around Lazurus Long's introduction in Beast, I was just done with the guy. True story: I'm going through dozens and dozens of books I will never read again and packing them into cartons to sell off, and the Heinleins went in just a few days ago. spung!
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Sep 5, 2019 18:31
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You know, I totally did grab a pickup line from Number of the Beast. I can't say it ever worked but it still makes me laugh. Well, I adapted this to a pickup linequote:"Well...he's not a member of the Ku Klux Klan -- " Oh god. It's like repressed memories... quote:Today I was most pleased that Mama had required me to wear a bra for Ben Nevis fucked around with this message at 18:42 on Sep 5, 2019 |
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Sep 5, 2019 18:38
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MockingQuantum posted:edit: seriously how do you even say "nearly a four star rating" about a sci-fi novel from a well-known author and not realize that's really not a great brag? Goodreads ratings practically start at 3 stars, especially for genre novels 
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Sep 5, 2019 20:16
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First three Cradle books are free right now: https://www.amazon.com/Cradle-Foundation-Collected-Book-ebook/dp/B076G8DVN6/
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Sep 5, 2019 20:38
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