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Ornamented Death posted:I must have missed the memo stating I can only be interested in one series of books at a time. I'm going to be in so much trouble when they find out how many series I follow. I don't know how obsessive I am, but I'll probably pick it up once it's released. I'm glad it's coming out, but I'll admit that I'm much more interested in False Value coming out Feb 25.
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Jan 21, 2020 06:17
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That new Faust story was real good. His writing seems to get better with every book.
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Jan 21, 2020 07:07
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Ornamented Death posted:I must have missed the memo stating I can only be interested in one series of books at a time. I'm going to be in so much trouble when they find out how many series I follow. Doesn't matter how many different things you're interested in, 6 years or more between the next section of the story is going to kill interest for any non-obsessive person.
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Jan 21, 2020 12:38
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Doesn't matter how many different things you're interested in, 6 years or more between the next section of the story is going to kill interest for any non-obsessive person. I don't think you get how sci-fi/fantasy fans work. This book is going to sell extremely well, and I wouldn't be surprised if it has the highest first week sales of the entire series.
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Jan 21, 2020 15:24
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I don't know. I like Butcher's writing style, and I'm interested in seeing what happens next, but... I've done like two or three re-reads of the series between Skin Game and Peace Talks. And for all the stuff I like, there's also a fair amount of problematic stuff that... were I to hear Peace Talks had more of that? I might just take the cliff notes version of what happens and not read it or buy it. I went through a similar thing with Thrones. I was hooked when I read it at first, barreled through it, but when I stopped and thought about the more problematic parts of the series I got pretty uncomfortable with reading it again. And now, I don't really care about the next Thrones book, and I'm going to actively avoid it. There are better fantasy authors that are less problematic. I don't think that Jim's a bad guy but every time he does some cringey stuff it makes me really uncomfortable and he keeps doing it / not learning, which is evident in Skin Games and his new series. Someone steps on your toes often enough and it spoils the dance. Someone I know is working on an urban fantasy-ish novel, and I recommended to her both Alex Verus and Rivers, which she thought were interesting ( though Alex wasn't without its own problems ). I hesitated before recommending her Dresden, and ultimately decided against, not even with a caveat. I knew that her life experiences would make even the better parts of the books unenjoyable for her. Uncomfortable- and reflecting on that really soured my view of the series in hindsight.  Skin Game super sucked for female representation and the roles women played in the story.
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Jan 21, 2020 17:02
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If Peace Talks is a flop and the financial distress leads to another divorce I sure hope Jim gets to keep the house.
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Jan 21, 2020 18:23
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Ornamented Death posted:I don't think you get how sci-fi/fantasy fans work. This book is going to sell extremely well, and I wouldn't be surprised if it has the highest first week sales of the entire series. You willing to toxx over it? Drone Jett posted:If Peace Talks is a flop and the financial distress leads to another divorce I sure hope Jim gets to keep the house. I hope whoever was dumb enough to marry him gets the house as the consolation prize.
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Jan 21, 2020 19:46
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biracial bear for uncut posted:You willing to toxx over it? Are you? Kind of a moot point though as neither of us have access to Bookscan. Unrelated: Dead Lies Dreaming, the next Laundry book, is due out in October. Ornamented Death fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Jan 21, 2020 |
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Jan 21, 2020 20:14
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Here's a flashback interview from Dragoncon articles of the ancient past circa 2010:quote:Interviewer: You seem to average about two novels per year. How much of that time do you spend actually writing as opposed to planning and outlining? Ornamented Death posted:Are you? I'd honestly be willing to Toxx that the current release date gets pushed back yet again rather than some bullshit goalpost moving bet over what qualifies as "sell extremely well". No matter what, though, the sales are going to be much lower whenever it eventually releases than it would have been if it had been released when the original date was announced waaaaaaaay back in 2015.
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Jan 21, 2020 20:42
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biracial bear for uncut posted:I'd honestly be willing to Toxx that the current release date gets pushed back yet again rather than some bullshit goalpost moving bet over what qualifies as "sell extremely well". I'll take you up on this toxx: if the book comes out on July 14, 2020, you pay the $10 tax. If it gets delayed, I'll pay. I'll propose the same deal RE: Jim missing an officially-announced release date for Peace Talks. Provide evidence that there was an OFFICIAL release date that was subsequently pushed back, I'll take the ban. Fail to do so, you take it. And to make it interesting, if either of us loses both, they eat a perma. Deal?
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Jan 21, 2020 20:52
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Ornamented Death posted:I'll take you up on this toxx: if the book comes out on July 14, 2020, you pay the $10 tax. If it gets delayed, I'll pay. What counts as official? Because there have been multiple posts over the years on various sites about the release date every year since 2015 (but the nature of those sites mean those articles are gone, especially since they turned out to be wrong for various reasons, mostly because they'd just change the supposed release date on the article to whatever the latest release date was supposed to be and re-publish that article). Anybody know how to backtrack release dates on Amazon listings?
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Jan 21, 2020 21:21
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biracial bear for uncut posted:What counts as official? Because there have been multiple posts over the years on various sites about the release date every year since 2015 (but the nature of those sites mean those articles are gone, especially since they turned out to be wrong for various reasons, mostly because they'd just change the supposed release date on the article to whatever the latest release date was supposed to be and re-publish that article). A publisher press release or from Butcher's own web page would be official. Amazon famously puts up bullshit release dates all the time that they made up in an attempt to book preorders before the book is certain to exist. There have been half a dozen related blog posts over the years and zero official release dates for GRRM's Winds of Winter, for example.
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Jan 21, 2020 21:26
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I mean an announcement by either Jim or Penguin saying "Peace Talks will be released on March 1, 2015." Reddit posts and Amazon's made up release dates won't cut it. You've stated the release date has been missed, show me proof of that.
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Jan 21, 2020 21:27
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Drone Jett posted:If Peace Talks is a flop and the financial distress leads to another divorce I sure hope Jim gets to keep the house. The pre-order on a book that doesn't come out for almost half a year is already an amazon best seller, so... doubt it.
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Jan 21, 2020 22:03
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Regarding me earlier note about Dead Lies Dreaming, the blurb for the kindle edition notes it's the first in a new series. Edit: Just checked Charlie's blog and it is, in fact, the first book of a new trilogy set in the Laundry universe. Ornamented Death fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Jan 21, 2020 |
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Jan 21, 2020 22:06
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Please do not perma yourself over this dead het book series.
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Jan 21, 2020 22:30
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Up Circle posted:Please do not perma yourself over this dead het book series. I'm not, I have zero interest in the series any more (& the announcement for the current release date was made back in December, which is pretty damning for how long it took anybody here to post about it). I'd rather hear more about better stories by other authors to read that are actually still ongoing rather than being necromantically raised for an easy paycheck.
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Jan 22, 2020 00:04
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Edit: Not worth it. Here's the link to Charles Stross talking about the new Laundry book/series. Charles Stross posted:"Dead Lies Dreaming" was never meant to exist. I was blowing off steam and doing therapy-writing for stress relief while dealing with unpleasant real-life stuff. But it does exist (and worse, so does the first half of the second book in the trilogy), and it's coming out on October 27th, from Orbit in the UK and Tor.com in the USA. They're calling it book 10 in the Laundry Files. Reader, "Dead Lies Dreaming" is not book 10 in the Laundry Files. The real book 10 hasn't been written yet (it's on my to-do list for 2020 or 2021: if I stick to current plans, it'll be the story of Mike Armstrong, the Senior Auditor). Ornamented Death fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Jan 22, 2020 |
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Jan 22, 2020 00:10
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Started Long Way Down today. It's like someone riffled the pages of Dresden and Sandman Slim together, in a good way.
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Jan 22, 2020 03:13
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Ornamented Death posted:I mean an announcement by either Jim or Penguin saying "Peace Talks will be released on March 1, 2015." Reddit posts and Amazon's made up release dates won't cut it. You've stated the release date has been missed, show me proof of that. I remember guesses at the date but nothing official. I don't think any publisher is ever going to announce a release date for an unfinished work. Everyone fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Jan 22, 2020 |
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Jan 22, 2020 04:02
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Old Kentucky Shark posted:The pre-order on a book that doesn't come out for almost half a year is already an amazon best seller, so... doubt it. I have nothing else to add to this but it looks like its only a #1 Amazon best seller in the specific subcategory of Vampire Mysteries. (its only 72 in the larger mystery category and does not make the list for all Books or Mystery and Suspense) Amazon has a financial incentive to mark as many books as possible as a "Best Seller". Hub Cat fucked around with this message at 05:20 on Jan 22, 2020 |
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Jan 22, 2020 05:15
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Hub Cat posted:I have nothing else to add to this but it looks like its only a #1 Amazon best seller in the specific subcategory of Vampire Mysteries. (its only 72 in the larger mystery category and does not make the list for all Books or Mystery and Suspense) Amazon has a financial incentive to mark as many books as possible as a "Best Seller". "Best Seller" on Amazon means nothing when they have "Best Seller" results for literally anything you run a search for. So searching "Peace Talks" in books may get you Jim Butcher's "Peace Talks" labelled as the best seller for that specific search in the same way that searching for "USB Mouse" might get you a random Logitech mouse as the best seller for that kind of mouse.
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Jan 22, 2020 16:17
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Up Circle posted:Please do not perma yourself over this dead het book series. Don't worry, I will not enforce a perma toxx bet. Normal toxes at least generate revenue but I'm not going to request a perma without a real reason.
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Jan 23, 2020 01:47
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Faust handled the succubus thing way better than I've seen any other series do it. The series as a whole had a lot of moments where I kept preparing myself for impact, but it handled those elements....about as well as you can? Also his adoptive parents kind of own.
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Jan 25, 2020 14:26
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NerdyMcNerdNerd posted:Faust handled the succubus thing way better than I've seen any other series do it. The series as a whole had a lot of moments where I kept preparing myself for impact, but it handled those elements....about as well as you can? Yeah, frankly I was braced for the terrible when the story said there was a succubus, but it didn't go the way I feared.
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Jan 25, 2020 15:22
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Isn't she not actually a succubus, and more of a demon enforcer that was under a geas to act like that when she was captured? Felix Castor was the one with a succubus.
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Jan 25, 2020 17:10
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Isn't she not actually a succubus, and more of a demon enforcer that was under a geas to act like that when she was captured? No, she is a succubus, but not "just" a succubus. She is an enforcer, but has all the stuff that goes with a succubus, too. Just finished reading it.
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Jan 25, 2020 17:57
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Isn't she not actually a succubus, and more of a demon enforcer that was under a geas to act like that when she was captured? Nah, Caitlin is a succubus, just a violent one. e;f,b.
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Jan 25, 2020 18:05
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Just finished Dante Valentine 2 and holy moly, that book decided to take its horrific concepts and run hard with them. The author took her heroine, examined her, and then took a hammer to everything she loves and cares about. Then invoked ptsd, trauma, childhood abuse, and explored how even decades later it still hurts. It was so drat good, but I spent a lot of the time staring at the wall, shook by the parallels with my own ptsd. Thank god my own trauma can't manifest as a murderous spiritual thing that I have to kill with an enchanted katana.
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Jan 25, 2020 18:13
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Isn't she not actually a succubus, and more of a demon enforcer that was under a geas to act like that when she was captured? I don't know much about Faust except that it's part of some multi-series of book series, but the Felix Castor books handled Juliet really well, much better than Butcher tends to handle Lara. Castor is legitimately scared of Juliet for very good reason.
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Jan 25, 2020 18:52
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Everyone posted:I don't know much about Faust except that it's part of some multi-series of book series, but the Felix Castor books handled Juliet really well, much better than Butcher tends to handle Lara. Castor is legitimately scared of Juliet for very good reason. Well, to be fair, Ajulutsikael was also more than "just" a succubus, but it was her primary type of attack (weaken an enemy with a charm effect, then really gently caress them up with brutal violence). Other than when Caitlin was bound by contract, I don't know she ever actually did the succubus thing in the course of any other Faust novels.
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Jan 26, 2020 03:20
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The Faust books pulled back fast on that. I don't think the word "succubus" has even appeared in the last four books, and there was what felt like a meta reference to that in the most recent one (Caitlin mentions being born to the choir of lust, then says something like "but that's a card I rarely need to play these days") It's mostly relevant to her history; IIRC it was mentioned early on that most succubi/incubi are bimbos/himbos, and Caitlin and Prince Sitri are abnormal exceptions to the rule, which is probably part of why he made her his enforcer (beyond her insane work ethic). And Caitlin was the demonic equivalent of trailer trash in terms of her family's social standing, so that pissed everybody off. And speaking of the most recent one, holy poo poo, that ending. Also the Faust/Melanie relationship is a lot of fun, and I'd be up for a whole novel set in the world of Danielle Faust, Coke-Addict Magic Detective
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Jan 26, 2020 04:17
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"the famous staking of Marilyn Monroe by the Secret Service in the oval office as she was trying to turn Kennedy" The vampire lore in Jane Yellowrock is wild
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Jan 27, 2020 02:58
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I described what I'm reading to a friend who doesn't read and it was fun to boil 'em down to the basic plots! Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow: in a dark and spooky LA, Jill Kismet is a demon hunter who works in conjunction with the cops. And something just tore up five of them in the dead of night. Dun dun dunnn! Lunatic Cafe by LKH: Anita, our resident monster hunter, is looking for missing werecritters, trying to solve a murder case caused by a werecritter, and dealing with her lying scum of a boyfriend.
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Jan 28, 2020 17:54
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Cast in Wisdom - by Michelle Sagara If you're following the series already, the next book is out. If you're not following the series, it starts here: Cast in Shadow The Blurb - Seven years ago Kaylin fled the crime-riddled streets of Nightshade, knowing that something was after her. Children were being murdered—and all had the same odd markings that mysteriously appeared on her own skin.… Since then, she's learned to read, she's learned to fight and she's become one of the vaunted Hawks who patrol and police the City of Elantra. Alongside the winged Aerians and the immortal Barrani, she's made a place for herself, far from the mean streets of her birth. But children are once again dying, and a dark and familiar pattern is emerging... /EndBlurb I've mentioned these books in the thread before, but they are somewhere on the police procedural meets fantasy city side of UF or UF-adjacent. There's a number of them and they are loosely arced together by following the same MC. Quality varies from a solid 4 to occasional 5, and reader taste will influence which books you like best because they move around the city focusing on different things that might go wrong in the day to day investigations of a fantasy beat-cop/detective. I prefer the West books (by the same author under her maiden name Michelle West) about the empire of Essaylien, but the Cast books are much more approachable. If you want to go look at Epic Fantasy though, look no further than The Hidden City
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Jan 28, 2020 20:32
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I'm kinda torn about those. I've read the first two books and while I appreciate the fantasy police setting and the fact the protagonist is actually kind of likeable while being a Chose One With Mysterious Powers (mostly on account of her general incompetence), they are really hurt by the fact the key to the mystery - the whodunit, if you will - is always some kind of completely out of the left field poorly explained magical bullshit introduced at the last minute. Call me old-fashioned, but I think crime stories need a motive that a reader can understand (i.e. a human motivation); magical crime does not work very well. Maybe it gets better as the series goes on, but I'm not too hopeful after book 2 basically doubled down on it.
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Jan 29, 2020 18:01
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If it helps, think of them less as mysteries and more as magical adventures. Kaylin versus whatever magical bullshit is causing problems today. Alternatively, think of them as Agatha Christie style mysteries. 99% of those end in some insane twist that makes sense but is also complete bullshit.
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Jan 29, 2020 18:11
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anilEhilated posted:I'm kinda torn about those. I've read the first two books and while I appreciate the fantasy police setting and the fact the protagonist is actually kind of likeable while being a Chose One With Mysterious Powers (mostly on account of her general incompetence), they are really hurt by the fact the key to the mystery - the whodunit, if you will - is always some kind of completely out of the left field poorly explained magical bullshit introduced at the last minute. My favorite magical crime story is When The Seagulls Cry, because the entire point is that the WhyDunnit is the actually the most important part, so conveying the motive is a huge part of the story. StrixNebulosa posted:If it helps, think of them less as mysteries and more as magical adventures. Kaylin versus whatever magical bullshit is causing problems today. It's also inspired by And Then There Were None, except the reveal makes perfect sense once you understand the motive and avoids being complete bullshit.
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Jan 29, 2020 19:27
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StrixNebulosa posted:If it helps, think of them less as mysteries and more as magical adventures. Kaylin versus whatever magical bullshit is causing problems today. I'm getting into mysteries, and I've read a few in the past couple weeks. I started with a string of Poirot shorts on that I had an audiobook of and I had the damnedest time telling if I was just being real bad at seeing foreshadowing or if the books were being really coy about things so this makes me feel better. One thing I like about Butcher's writing is that he can be subtle about mysteries, but he's also good about sewing in enough that you can work out what's going on or feel like 'Ah! of course!' when it happens, whereas with Poirot I'm just enjoying him being fussy and incredibly French. And now I'm imagining something like Alex Verus or Dresden with Poirot instead and I would like to read that book.
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Jan 29, 2020 20:11
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I love mysteries, and if you want mysteries where you can untangle it as the detective does, the Ellery Queens are good for this. You can try with Agatha Christie, but she's the queen of insane twists. This actually ties into the Anita Blake I just finished, Lunatic Cafe - so far this series has not been amazing at mysteries. Anita sucks at looking for clues, the bad guys usually reveal themselves by trying to kill or kidnap her, and in Lunatic Cafe LKH got fancy by providing a red herring of a villain that still put the two best cop characters in the hospital so they couldn't be around for the final confrontation. Spoilers for Lunatic Cafe: The wereswan being the main villain made sense but him randomly having evil cops and werewolf hunters in his employ so we could get another finale where Anita is mostly helpless and has to pull something out of her butt to win her way free was... well, it felt a bit contrived. I'd be more annoyed if I didn't enjoy the horror of being in a cage with a werewolf about to go cannibal on you. My other problem with the book was Richard, mr. 'i am the cutest werewolf teacher ever'. He lies to Anita, lies to her some more, is very controlling and rear end in a top hat-y in his behavior, looks hurt whenever she calls his bullshit, and while I love Anita's character development as she wrestles with the whole "but he's a monster" thing, I wish she were doing it with any other monster. Jean-Claude at least owns his rear end in a top hat behavior whereas Richard tries to puppydog eye it away and Anita! You deserve better than him! Finally, this is neither a positive or negative: this is the first book where Anita's personal life became a major part of the plot, with relationship drama taking up a lot of space. 1-3 were mostly straight horror-noir UFs, but this blended in more interpersonal stuff. I liked aspects of it (the Richard vs Jean-Claude thing in her apartment was a great sequence) but I dislike Richard so... Onwards to Bloody Bones!
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Jan 29, 2020 21:10
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