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quantumfoam posted:
Which was the point. Mind you, a lot of people also had to have it pointed out to them that "Corum Jhaelen Irsei" is an anagram of "Jeremiah Cornelius".
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Sep 29, 2020 10:52
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Ninurta posted:So, someone who has been laid off due to Covid19 and isn't able to spend money on books is funny to you? quote:They even had the gall to charge $16.99 plus tax for this paperback, and I would've considered writing a strongly worded letter to manager if not for the fact I got it from the library for free. How hard do you have to be laid off to not be able to afford $free?
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Sep 29, 2020 11:34
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I mean, if you really want to bitch about the book price/length ratio, Piranesi is right loving there. Good book, though.
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Sep 29, 2020 11:48
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90s Cringe Rock posted:except good Michael Coney's The Celestial Steam Locomotive? (Regrettably, said vehicle is actually a minor part of the book.)
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Sep 29, 2020 13:30
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Ninurta posted:So, someone who has been laid off due to Covid19 and isn't able to spend money on books is funny to you? Come to think of it, if someone wants to put together a separate thread on free book resources right now, that'd be great. Most libraries have ebook lending programs but I'm not sure which are easiest to use / have largest libraries. There's gutenberg of course, manybooks.net, what else is out there for people?
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Sep 29, 2020 14:22
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Come to think of it, if someone wants to put together a separate thread on free book resources right now, that'd be great. A friend recently sent me a link to this website -- Standard Ebooks -- whose missions appears to be taking public domain books and turning them into nice looking ebooks, cleaned up and better formatting than what one generally finds on Gutenberg. I can't vouch for all of it, but there's a decent amount of stuff there, and the Dunsany and Hodgson books they have all look great: https://standardebooks.org/
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Sep 29, 2020 14:52
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Would recommend Archive dot org's massive library of borrowable books, only caveat is that the borrow time on 97% of them got drastically cut to 1 hr. This is my new favorite thing: <from SFL Archives Vol 12a> ------------------------------ Date: 23 Dec 86 14:41:08 GMT From: utcsri!tom@rutgers.rutgers.edu (Tom Nadas) Subject: Re: Card - Spinrad's Comments As an active member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, I confirm the story that Norman Spinrad has indeed withdrawn all his future works from contention for SFWA's Nebula awards, citing as the reason the failure of his latest book to be nominated. The withdrawal was made via a full-page ad he took out in the SFWA BULLETIN. Cheers, Robert J. Sawyer "Uphill Climb," AMAZING STORIES Magazine, March, 1987. c/o Tom Nadas UUCP: {decvax,linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,allegra,utzoo}!utcsri!tom CSNET: tom@toronto ----------------------------- This is why Norman Spinrad will always top Harlan Ellison for me. Ellison loved to complain and sue but always went(returned to Hollywood) for the $$$, whereas Spinrad was willing to torpedo his career, repeatedly, at a moments notice on the most inane things.
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Sep 29, 2020 15:01
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McCoy Pauley posted:A friend recently sent me a link to this website -- Standard Ebooks -- whose missions appears to be taking public domain books and turning them into nice looking ebooks, cleaned up and better formatting than what one generally finds on Gutenberg. I can't vouch for all of it, but there's a decent amount of stuff there, and the Dunsany and Hodgson books they have all look great:  Oh wow that might be the format in which I next read Dracula, I love seeing these old stories cleaned up!
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Sep 29, 2020 15:01
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Cardiac posted:Disappointed idealist you mean. For a more recent example of a Swedish genre writer, I recommend Karin Tidbeck, who wrote "Amatka", a surreal dystopian novel in a world where language changes reality, and a collection of short stories which was praised by Ursula Le Guin. She also wrote an interactive fiction game set in the Mage: The Ascension universe, which is currently available for iOS and Android. Sadly , the PC version was bundled with a Vampire companion game, which turned out to be written by a sex pest, so both games were removed from Steam.
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Sep 29, 2020 15:31
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quantumfoam posted:Would recommend Archive dot org's massive library of borrowable books, only caveat is that the borrow time on 97% of them got drastically cut to 1 hr. I assume the book in question is Child of Fortune, which to me is far from Spinrad's best.
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Sep 29, 2020 15:55
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The idea of a writer violently and repeatedly sabotaging their own career is entertaining me so much right now
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Sep 29, 2020 17:54
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anilEhilated posted:I mean, if you really want to bitch about the book price/length ratio, Piranesi is right loving there. Yeah, I read that yesterday. Just the perfect length to dip into its weird ideas and leave you intrigued without over-explaining anything and ruining it.
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Sep 29, 2020 17:58
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Anybody read City of Brass? I'm about halfway through and can't decide if I want to keep going, I'm curious what others thought of it (and Kingdom of Copper). I like the setting and flavor of the book a lot, it's refreshing to see standard fantasy fare done in a setting based in Middle Eastern mythology/folklore/beliefs as an alternative to generic European fantasy. Setting aside, though, the book does feel like standard fantasy fare, and I'm not sure whether or not it will do anything particularly unique or interesting with the story that's being told. I don't hate it by any means, it's just a little bland and sort of proceeding in predictable ways so far. Also it feels like the book is kind of adding a romance subplot into the middle of everything, and it feels pretty forced. It's not something that would disqualify a book for me or anything, but it's still kind of a disappointment that the main character can't just be the driving force of the narrative without also being in love with somebody.
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Sep 29, 2020 18:02
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mewse posted:The idea of a writer violently and repeatedly sabotaging their own career is entertaining me so much right now I'm in this post and I don't like it
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Sep 29, 2020 18:19
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MockingQuantum posted:Anybody read City of Brass? I'm about halfway through and can't decide if I want to keep going, I'm curious what others thought of it (and Kingdom of Copper). I like the setting and flavor of the book a lot, it's refreshing to see standard fantasy fare done in a setting based in Middle Eastern mythology/folklore/beliefs as an alternative to generic European fantasy. Setting aside, though, the book does feel like standard fantasy fare, and I'm not sure whether or not it will do anything particularly unique or interesting with the story that's being told. I don't hate it by any means, it's just a little bland and sort of proceeding in predictable ways so far. Keep going. It gets more political and the romance is just set up for brutally twisting the knife in the guts of all parties involved. I’m still on hold at the library for Empire of Gold so I have no idea how it will all play out, but Kingdom of Copper was one hell of a ride and I’m looking forward to whatever comes next.
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Sep 29, 2020 18:24
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General Battuta posted:I'm in this post and I don't like it Lol sorry buddy, I'm reading Baru 3 right now and enjoying it, any harm to your psyche through my posting is non-intentional
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Sep 29, 2020 18:26
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SimonChris posted:For a more recent example of a Swedish genre writer, I recommend Karin Tidbeck, who wrote "Amatka", a surreal dystopian novel in a world where language changes reality, and a collection of short stories which was praised by Ursula Le Guin. Last year I have been reading some Swedish horror stories in the same style as Let the right one in, which are loosely based on the Kult RPG franchise. Dunno if translations are available and like the latest Jemisin, you have to live there to fully appreciate them. The Svavelvinter trilogy was also nice and quite abstract in a Moorcock fashion. Mostly nostalgia due the fact that it started as a D&D campaign 30 years ago and was novelised 5 years ago. With D&D I mean the Swedish variant that was produced by Target Games and has little to do with Gygax. Target Games also produced Kult and their computer division later became Paradox when Target Games went bust. Interestingly, Target Games are responsible for introducing sci-fi/fantasy to a Swedish audience on a broad basis, where early Pratchett, Conan and other similar books were among the ones sold.
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Sep 29, 2020 18:38
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Stuporstar posted:Keep going. It gets more political and the romance is just set up for brutally twisting the knife in the guts of all parties involved. Fair enough, I'm pretty sure we have fairly similar tastes in the genre, so I'll keep on trucking!
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Sep 29, 2020 18:45
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Cross-posting this review here and in the 40k thread because it's a 40k book so good that I want folks to read it even if they don't care about the setting. It's also really good at explaining things without being overbearing so it's fantastic as an intro, too! Brotherhood of the Snake by Dan Abnett. How often do I get to call a book perfect? This is a Warhammer 40k novel so excellent that I will be recommending it to people who have no interest in the setting - it stands alone as a chronicle of an order of supernatural warrior-knights who defend their stars fiercely from all kinds of alien threats. The book is organized into a series of short stories that build up into a novella that caps off an intense finale, full of action and character development and incredible world-building. They enter around Priad, one warrior-knight who goes from a new soldier to a squad leader, and how he handles the threats internal and external - and oh, but the theme of brotherhood is intense here. This book also highlights one of my favorite things about the setting: despite the high-tech nature of it, with starships and space marines and all that entails, it's very low-tech. Worlds may be connected but isolated. For example, one world when it falls under a threat it doesn't recognize, does something it hasn't done in so long it's become myth: it uses a ritual to summon help, and when the space marines arrive, they barely recognize them as anything but gods. In another story a squad of space marines is sent to witness a coronation on one planet, and it's thrown into stark relief how alien they are from regular people - the people they're sworn to protect. Then, ah, the characters! Priad the humble, Petrok the brilliant librarian, and others. The author has a way of making the space marines different without making them flamboyant - they're all cut from the same mold of ultra-violent, ultra-dedicated knights who would die before breaking an oath - but they have their own lives. Not to mention how the space marines' organization itself is fleshed out - they come from a water world that hosts giant sea serpents that they hunt, and that colors their legends and rituals. They bring flasks of salt water everywhere to consecrate the planets they fight on. All of this works with taut prose that makes the action sing and the character work speak. And it has one of my favorite non-comedic depictions of orks. If you like military sci-fi, or hell, sci-fi at all, please read this book. You don't need to know anything about 40k to enjoy it and it's just - it's fun, it has pathos, it's satisfying. Highly recommended, and one of the best from the Black Library.
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Sep 29, 2020 18:49
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I would really like to volunteer for Standard Books but their process basically requires you to run Linux.
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Sep 29, 2020 18:59
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Rand Brittain posted:I would really like to volunteer for Standard Books but their process basically requires you to run Linux. windows subsystem for linux is relatively painless to get up and running, but yeah, their guide pretty clearly presumes you have unix command line experience
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Sep 29, 2020 19:09
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Currently reading Baru 3, right after 2, right after 1.The series has certainly not been what I expected after 1. Baru 1 was like a Littlefinger POV game of thrones novel, the others...aren't that. But still good! I'm at 80% of Tyrant and realized that the masquerade's philosophy is based on lamarckian though, and Baru has spent nearly 2 books traveling on a boat and staring at birds. Her great move shouldn't be the trade route, she should correlate her thoughts and write On the origin of species. To be honest I expected book 2 to settle the Oriati question, certainly not cancer orcas, and book 3 to deal with some kind of threat from the east. I know that it doesn't make sense for both the fall of Falcrest and some new enemy to appear in Baru's lifetime, but what Svir told was intriguing enough. Things I dont like so far: Tain Shir, she seems a bit cliché? How did she survive the poisoned darts? (and oh hell, Ormsment is still out there, is she gonna show up in the finale?). Yawa's POV chapters. I do like her character, but they just made the book drag a bit more. Baru's father being alive, I grand that it makes sense for a 3d chess player like Farrier, but it seemed a bit comic booky.
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Sep 29, 2020 19:12
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I’m imagining someone mournfully erasing “novelist” from their profile after they look at their average page count
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Sep 29, 2020 19:18
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I sort of want someone with SFWA access to repost that Nomrad Spinrad full-page ad here. It has be "· A Matter of Literary Principle & Personal Pique · Norman Spinrad · ms", inside SFWA Bulletin # 91 And the current bullshit in SFL Vol 12a about godel numbers used to dial Larry Niven matter transporter disks spread across the galaxy and rotational spin adjustments needed has me thinking of the Stargate 1994 movie. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Sep 29, 2020 |
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Sep 29, 2020 20:06
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quantumfoam posted:-It is pointed out that one of the main characters in Michael Moorcock's ETERNAL CHAMPION mythos is directly pulled/stolen/borrowed from a series of children's books written by E. Nesbit around 1900-ish.
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Sep 29, 2020 20:58
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DACK FAYDEN posted:That's a name I haven't thought of in at least a decade, I loved those books when I was young. Strongly recommend as small child/YA lit. At firs glance I interpreted this as a recommendation to give small children Michael Moorcock books. Someone do this and perform a longitudinal study of the effects. For science.
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Sep 29, 2020 21:26
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Mr. Nemo posted:Things I dont like so far: Tain Shir, she seems a bit cliché? [...] Baru's father being alive, I grand that it makes sense for a 3d chess player like Farrier, but it seemed a bit comic booky. Tain Shir is cool. My read on her is that she's trying to teach Baru that same thing Tau-indi is, that other people exist in the world, but from a completely different framework. I think Baru needed both educations to eventually internalize that lesson. I'm okay with her being mysteriously, uh, hardy. What sat weird with me was the overlap of Tain Shir and Ormsment. They're both out for Baru's blood, they're both chasing her across the sea... I realize Ormsment's situation is necessary for Aminata's development (plus: boat stuff cool), but I found her a lot less compelling than Tain Shir, so I wasn't especially jazzed whenever her turn came up on the POV dance card. On the Baru's dad thing, I read that as reader bait destined to receive a hook. We're told he's alive, but we never see him, it's just hearsay. Then Baru tells her parents it's true, he's alive, and her frenemy Tain Shir is going to rescue him. Everyone is stoked by this development, and no one questions it. It's so not the way things usually shake out in this universe that I don't trust it at all.
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Sep 29, 2020 21:30
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Honestly, it's probably time for E. Nesbit to make a big revival. I feel like she speaks the 2020 zeitgeist.
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Sep 29, 2020 22:36
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quantumfoam posted:-It is pointed out that one of the main characters in Michael Moorcock's ETERNAL CHAMPION mythos is directly pulled/stolen/borrowed from a series of children's books written by E. Nesbit around 1900-ish. I mean, the name is stolen/borrowed (Oswald Bastable) but I don't really see how you could say the character is stolen. Oswald is a child/teenager in Nesbit's stories and although he would be quite likely to end up as a British Army officer in India, there's no real link to the character in Warlord of the Air other than the name. Also the Nesbit stories with Oswald - The Story of the Treasure Seekers and forward - are some of the few that don't have any fantasy elements, unlike most of her other output (The Enchanted Castle, The Phoenix and the Carpet, etc.)
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Sep 29, 2020 22:59
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Revenger by Alistair Reynolds - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXW2IUQ/ Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CDDAETS/ An Affinity for Steel: Aeons Gate Omnibus by Sam Sykes - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018GWS4VU/ The Mortal Tally (Bring Down Heaven #2) by Sam Sykes - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P74VH2E/ God's Last Breath (Bring Down Heaven #3) by Sam Sykes - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KT7YTS2 I liked Seven Blades in Black just fine. Are these Sam Sykes books as good?
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Sep 29, 2020 23:02
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No idea, but Sam Sykes is kind of a turd, he got called out on Twitter for being a real creep to women at conventions. He copped to it being true and apologized, swore to do better, that whole song and dance. But it's worth taking into account, I feel.
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Sep 29, 2020 23:05
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MockingQuantum posted:No idea, but Sam Sykes is kind of a turd, he got called out on Twitter for being a real creep to women at conventions. He copped to it being true and apologized, swore to do better, that whole song and dance. But it's worth taking into account, I feel. Seven Blades is a completely generic and forgettable fantasy novel. If I remember right the first chapter is a 'so you're wondering how I got into this mess' flashback setup and the second chapter is a bar fight. Must be nice to have Diana Gabaldon as your Mom.
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Sep 30, 2020 00:10
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<reposted from off-site SFL Archives readthrough blog> SFL Archives Vol 11 readthrough update 10 87% completion, 170 bookmarks 24 items of interest <reposted from off-site SFL Archives readthrough blog> Believe it or not, only one more summary update is left for SFL Archives Vol 11. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Aug 29, 2021 |
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Sep 30, 2020 02:42
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I've read that werewolf loving theory before re:amber, it has some support Thing with Amber is zelazny wrote it all on the fly so it doesn't fit well
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Sep 30, 2020 02:58
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Done with the Baru trilogy. Amazing work. Im glad i did them one after the other, otherwise I would've probably forgotten stuff. The ending to Tyrant was so nice after everything that happened! Surprise birthday party! And a cool sequel hook. Just what the hell is going on there? Non rethoric question: what DID Baru realize about Stargazer? Rethoric questions: Will Ormsment come back for her revenge on Baru 4? Is Renascent an AI from an ancient civilization? Will Baru write on the origin of species and overthrow hesychast? Will a mathematical proof drive the Metademe mad? In the acknowledgments it's said that online praise doesn't go unnoticed so congratulations General, you've created something incredible. The world and its characters are simply captivating. All the thought that must've gone into economics, biology, ship building, etc. really pays off on the text. Eagerly awaiting B4ru
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Sep 30, 2020 04:06
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quantumfoam posted:-Roger Zelazny Amber series discussion kicks off hard. Readers new to the Amber series have questions regarding BLOOD OF AMBER, long-time Amber series fans respond. Everyone wants to know why Dara needed to walk the Pattern if a Chaos equivalent existed, what's up with Luke, etc. One very special SFLer has a unique take of "Dworkin f**ked the Unicorn, the Unicorn is secretly Oberon's mother and this is why the Unicorn keeps popping up to fix the Amber Royal families many many f**k-ups". I'm pretty sure that theory is canon in the stories, at least insofar as some of the Amberites believe it to be true.
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Sep 30, 2020 05:01
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Lemniscate Blue posted:I'm pretty sure that theory is canon in the stories, at least insofar as some of the Amberites believe it to be true. Yeah, it's canon. There's a bit where Dworkin, believing he's speaking to Oberon, mentions "your mother the unicorn."
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Sep 30, 2020 05:27
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I've read that werewolf loving theory before re:amber, it has some support Lemniscate Blue posted:I'm pretty sure that theory is canon in the stories, at least insofar as some of the Amberites believe it to be true. https://youtu.be/RvPRrIOa8Nw Word search "Unicorn" in SFL Vol 11 or just read this cherry-picked SF-LOVERS post whose double quote reply made me & a bunch of other SFLer's go "uhhh what?" ------------------------------ Date: 28 Sep 86 16:45:12 GMT From: sphinx.UChicago!benn@caip.rutgers.edu (Thomas Cox) Subject: My Mother the Unicorn [Amber spoilers] and A. Lincoln iverson@cory.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Tim Iverson): >ronc@fai.UUCP (Ronald O. Christian): >>Thirdly, there seems to be some kind of tie between Oberon and >>the Unicorn. Anyone want to speculate? Beastiality? > > Dworkin told Corwin (Dworkin thought that Corwin was Oberon) in >THE HAND OF OBERON that the Unicorn was his mother. Dworkin is, of >course, insane. Not neccessarily. For example: 1. Oberon could have shape-shifted into something vaguely horse-like in order to impregnate the Unicorn with Oberon. 2. Dworkin is speaking metaphorically [a lousy way out but possible]. 3. We don't know enough about the Unicorn to answer this or any question about her. 4. A better answer exists which I will not post. Rather, through subtle shiftings of Shadow via the Pattern and the Logrus, I will ensure that someone else on the Net will post that answer. >>One of the things I like most about Zelazny's writing is that he >>doesn't explain anything, he just tells the story and leaves it to >>you to figure out what's going on. This makes the story move >>right along and makes the reader pay attention. I rapidly tire[] >>of having the plot spoon-fed to me. This is one of Zelazny's strong suits. Although there are many readers who prefer a little more verbosity, I prefer the Zelazny [or the Hemingwayesque, which is too long a word] terseness. This is for stylistic reasons. On occasion I have read stories in which literally nothing was superfluous to the plot. Anything mentioned -- someone's hobby, someone else's habits -- would eventually come to bear directly on the story line. Such stories are difficult to write, and more difficult to write well [that is, without sacrificing character development to naked plot]. I think of these stories as being structured almost like diamond: atoms linked with each other in a dense and precise series of linkages without gap or flaw, making an unbreakable whole. Find some time a copy of Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address." Look at his use of the word 'dedicate.' He manages, through very tight structuring and reference, to build a remarkably clear and coherent paragraph without loose ends. Lincoln may have been a good President, but more importantly he was a hell of a writer. Thomas Cox ...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!benn ------------------------------
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Sep 30, 2020 05:47
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Man, I think I'm due to sit down and give Amber another reread. It was the first fantasy series I ever read and used to talk about them all the time with my Mom, who introduced them to me. It's why Zelazny is such an important writer to me and my most prized books are his 6 volume story collection.
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Sep 30, 2020 06:07
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Ninurta posted:So, someone who has been laid off due to Covid19 and isn't able to spend money on books is funny to you? I apologize for being an rear end. I long to think that I am someone who is a visionary, however I end up staring at my rear end more often than not. I came into a discussion, threw out baseless accusations, and ended up being an rear end who didn't obey the basic mod decorum. I'm an rear end in a top hat, and will do my best to do better.
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Sep 30, 2020 10:28
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