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May 21, 2021 15:08
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SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:Didn't know that port of shadows was a thing tbh. Port of Shadows is NOT a thing.  Ignore it.And funny, I liked Sleepy's annals a lot, but I think the series peak is She is the Darkness. Especially for the cover, 
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May 22, 2021 00:21
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Tars Tarkas posted:Not feeling The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet yet but going to push through to 100 pages before I give up on it as it should be exactly the kind of thing I love and most of my problems are just minor quibbles. Hope I'm not just being too picky now because usually I'm too forgiving and I like that better as I get to read more fun trash It never ready grabbed me either, and I’m not sure why. Like you said, just a dozen little quibbles I had with it all added up to it being a pretty unsatisfying book. Murderbot fuckin rules though.
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May 22, 2021 00:55
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Deptfordx posted:Young me really liked SLIDERS and the description of the plot of DOORWAYS on wikipedia sounds awful. Agreed, Sliders rocked. Also, quote:n DOORWAYS, the heroes were being pursued by a bad guy from This suggests he didn't really bother to look at Sliders much because the hook is that they're trying to get home to their original world. I'm pretty sure it said that in a voiceover at the start of every episode!
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May 22, 2021 01:41
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I am reading the middlegame by Seanan McGuire, and I am liking it so far. I guess she has like 4 series that she manages to put out a book a year for each? How are they in comparison to this one?
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May 22, 2021 01:56
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freebooter posted:This suggests he didn't really bother to look at Sliders much because the hook is that they're trying to get home to their original world. I'm pretty sure it said that in a voiceover at the start of every episode! Which really should have been apparent given that it was also the hook for Quantum Leap!
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May 22, 2021 02:38
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Nobody said no, so here's a bunch of 1996 SFL Archives posts about Magnum Opus Con 10A. Like I described it earlier, Magnum Opus Con appears to have been a once every 2-4 months subscription rave slash adults only entertainment expo thinly disguised as a SFF convention. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Feb 1996 18:21:15 -0500 From: politico@wil.net Reply-to: sf-lovers-misc@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Politico's Review of Magnum Opus Con 10A Hello out there in convention land, In the quest to line up dealers and promote my convention, I attended MOC-10A, held at the Adams Mark, in Charlotte, NC. I also came at the invitation of Roland Castle, MOC's owner operator and subject of some very spirited debate on this part of the 'net for quite some time. Roland has been a great help to me getting my dealer database built and insight on convention ops and so on. The convention itself was very nice, quite friendly and inviting. The dealer's room had a great selection. Gunnar Hansen was a neat guy. Attendence looked to be around 400-450, not including dealers, guests, and con staff, which was not bad, considering it was snowing on Friday afternoon. I had only planned to stay the day to get info to dealers and hand out flyers, but within a few hours, I had met some really cool folks, a great lady who gave me crash space with her friends for the weekend, and I felt almost as free as I did in the Hellfire Club in NYC, but that's another story. MOC is not a con for the kiddies, it is for adult fans who want to cut loose and be what they want to be in their wet dreams and fantasies. The staff was friendly and completely unobtrusive, but reacted very quickly to trouble spots. There is but one person to answer to at MOC, and that is Roland. It's his castle, if you will, and all he asks is that you respect the other guests and not break the law. If you have a problem, you go to Roland. This kind of personal touch is not the stuff of larger types of special events, but it does go along way to providing a sense of security and relaxation while attending his convention. I ended up participating in several functions, namely the Mr. Macho contest (I came in second!!!), the slave auction, hanging from the suspension cage at the Jim Jones play party Sat. night, the Scavenger Hunt (which my team won!), and general becoming the stuff of legend for a first time MOCer. While at the con, I read up on the whole MOC vs. DragonCon thing, as Roland published his opinions and stated the fact of what was going on in the last issue of Fandom, as well as copies of email from people who worked to trash his con for one reason or another. I spent a good deal of time with Roland and got to know him fairly well. He is irascible, a bit gruff, brutally honest in his opinions, and generally very Italian in his demeanor. However, he never raised his voice to me or to anyone that we were around, carried himself with respect and civility, and worked hard to make sure everyone had a good time. If more high minded fans don't want to be around fans who like to party, try to get laid (the number of bi's and gay's openly embracing and having as much fun was nicely surprising), dance their rear end off to cool music, not be bothered by basement case fanboys drooling all over them because they are the only attractive woman there, get as close to naked as the law will allow (I went down to a T-bar in the Mr. Macho contest and had the crowd howling), they really ought not go to MOC. Yes, there were some educational program tracks, as every con should have a little clean spot for the hell of it, but MOC really is a place for wilder side of fandom. I will not at this time go into any speculation about DragonCon or Ed Kramer, as I have not been to DragonCon nor have I met Ed Kramer. I will say, however, if it stands true that the effort to trash Roland and his event behind his back is indeed openly encouraged by either Ed Kramer or anyone associated with his event, I will never attend DragonCon, but I will make that evaluation in my own time and through my own research. If Mr. Kramer would like to offer me the same chance to get his side of the story and the same chance to evaluate his convention that Roland has, I will gladly give him the fair consideration that I have given to Mr. Castle. In summary, I had an absolutely decadent time at MOC, and look forward to being able to attend MOC 11 in June. MOC is not a convention for the whole family. It's like spending a weekend a sci-fi con that Howard Stern would put together. It's wild, more than a little sexist (there were a lot more MALE bimbos than female there, including me!), and generally a drunken romp after 6pm. I got laid, got to throw knives, strip in front of 400 people, dance my rear end off, hang from chains and be beaten by latex clad mistresses, promote my convention, line up dealers, get Roland's side of this whole pissy little flame war, and did all of this SOBER!!! Roland may not be the most logical businessman in the world, but what he does comes from the heart and he keeps his promises. Only one guest did not show up for MOC-10 and Roland has survived a very seemingly concentrated effort to smear him, because he dares to let geeks be geeks. MOC-10A was for the fans that gave their support to Roland over the years and helped him weather this past year of baggage. By the time of MOC-11, he will have run THREE conventions in 11 months, so I don't think can reasonably question his tenacity and heart for fandom. I met a lot new people at MOC and look forward to seeing them at either my con, StellarCon 20, or MOC-11. I plan to attend both MOC-11 and DragonCon this summer if my resources allow, to judge both events in their prime. Of course, this is all just my opinion, I could be wrong. Ta ta. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 22:06:04 GMT From: tnelson@conc.tdsnet.com (Huny) Reply-to: sf-lovers-misc@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: Politico's Review of Magnum Opus Con 10A I was there too Pol and had the best time! What a con! I flirted my heart out and had a weekend long blast. Roland does an excellent job and I always make a point to tell him so at the end of MOC. He has always been high profile in his availablity to fandom and is constantly urging us to offer suggestions to help him give US what we want. I love Roland for his efforts... I'm just sorry I didn't get a chance to flash him before I left! hahaha see ya at MOC! ------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Feb 1996 07:19:46 GMT From: LadcoDWB@ix.netcom.com (John P. Miller) Reply-to: sf-lovers-misc@Rutgers.Edu Subject: MOC-10 A -- A Retrospective Well, I'm just now getting back to being human after MOC-10A, so here's my review: Arrived Thursday afternoon: Nothing much going on. The hotel screwed up our reservations, but quickly and efficiently fixed the problem. That was when we realized we were staying in Rooms 664, 666, and 668. That's right, LADCO was in "THE ROOM OF THE BEAST!" This boded well for the days to follow. Casino night was canceled due to conflict with N.C. laws. Bummer. Also, Rocky Horror didn't go off as planned. As I expected, Thursday was more a day to chill and get acclimated to the hotel and staff. Checked out the dealers' room - - small but good variety and GREAT art work! FRIDAY: Now things started to roll. 11am - Girls of MOC autograph session. Here was my chance to meet the models in the Unforgettable Images magazine. GOD I can't wait for issue #3! Hung out with friends until later that afternoon. The Home Slave Shopping Network had to be canceled since there were mundanes in the hotel and it would be broadcast on convention TV. Bought a picture of Hope at the ROC of AGEs table. In order to sell her pics, she said if we sold all her pics for the day, she'd remove her top. We did. She did. Saw God. 5pm - Knife throwing. If you ever wanted to flame Roland, DON'T DO IT HERE! 7pm - MOC Marriages. Found a babe. Got married. Didn't get her name. Oh, well. That's how it goes. 8pm - PMS Contest. drat, Catwoman! Get over yourself! Any person who doesn't look where they're about to stick their bare rear end deserves to get it dunked! You know men go to the bathroom drunk and in the dark, too. [g] 9pm - Bimbomania! - Not a wild as the promotion had me expecting. That probably had something to do with the cops in the room for security. Still, the judges did seem to have fun! 12pm - Dance 'til dawn. Awesome time and great music. I also wandered around to various room parties until about 5:30 am. The only problem was one party wasn't on a party floor and got shut down, but Roland got them some room in the Convention Center and they moved the party down to the first floor. Way to go OFMIC! SATURDAY Everything up to this point has been prep for Saturday. Early afternoon- bought a picture package with Hope and Gunnar Hansen. Same as yesterday, only today two babe would take off their tops and as a bonus, Gunnar would keep his on! We did. They did. He didn't. Saw God twice. drat, how did that girl get those tits under that T-Shirt? Had yearbook photo taken for purposes as yet unknown. Can't wait to see what the yearbook's gunnar look like. Slave Auction - Great opportunity to purchase a slave for 3 hours. Even Gunnar Hansen auctioned himself off. His skill? "Good with power tools!" Several babes and studs were auctioned off with the proceeds going to the Party Smaller Memorial Scholarship Fund. After getting in costume, me and my partner in the costume contest, Brian Jones, headed down to the ballroom. Our costumes were of Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi. It wasn't until we got to the ballroom that we found out that the band came on stage to all their gigs to "The Imperial March." This definitely boded well. When the band cranked it up, the crowd frenzied as Vader took the center of the dance floor. After all was said and done, second place went to two of my friends, Pat and Sheryl-Lynn for their awesome Babylon 5 uniforms. The MooseCon got first prize for their Moose thing (still not sure what it was) and Best of Show went to: D A R T H V A D E R & O B I - W A N K E N O B I ! ! ! ! Yee-ha!!! Dancing into the night, with Vader jumping on stage to sing Kiss' "God of Darkness" with the band. From the Masque, we headed for the room parties. The two best parties were Jonestown III (room 1666) and CyberGoth (room 1766). I'd been to both Jonestown's before at MOC's 8 and 9, and III was just as great; however, the nod has to go to CyberGoth for the awesome party. They were also the only room party to have food as well as booze - a necessary consideration for olympic drinking. Hope was there. She stripped. I saw God. She was posing for polaroids. I got one. I saw God. All this continued on until about 5 am. Bouncing from room party to room party until you couldn't remember where you were. Woke up Sunday morning with an incredible sense of satisfaction. Let's see did I miss anything... Oh, yes: Starting Fluid was a big success. One of the other room parties was peddling some poo poo they called "Mech Fluid" that had dubious ingredients. Since we started the tradition and this wasn't our mix, we had to set things straight. MECH Fluid is a sham! LADCO - Inventors of BattleMech Starting Fluid, as brought to you at MOC 7, 8, 9, 10, AND 10-A. Accept no Substitutes. Further info and samples were available in "THE ROOM OF THE BEAST". If they couldn't figure out that meant Room 666, we didn't care to hear from them. What else, oh yes...Pat won first prize in the wet boxer competition! Yea Pat! Well, that's about it. For every MOC since 6 we've noticed a phrase or saying that keeps getting repeated throughout the weekend that tends to sum up the week end's experience. I close with the listing of the catch phrases to date: MOC 6: "A-weem-a-way. It's a MOC thing, you wouldn't understand." MOC 7: "It's a buying frenzy!" MOC 8: "Cthulhu *hic*!" MOC 9: "Look at me! Don't look at me!... Look at me, dammit!!" MOC 10: "Na Naw, don't go there." MOC 10A: "Hope schwings eternal!" Next on the convention list is ROC of AGEs in May. I'm looking forward to seeing Hope and all my friends from MOC. Don't miss the Shadow Players sword fighting show!! After that - Here comes MOC 11! See you this summer, Roland!!! John P. Miller LadcoDWB@ix.netcom.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Feb 1996 22:20:30 GMT From: achbar@vnet.net (James Morrow) Reply-to: sf-lovers-misc@Rutgers.Edu Subject: MOC it is so unique I didn't see God in silicon Breast implants like our dear friend John P. Miller. I did see two lovely ladies.. Hopefully, I will see them again. MOC 11 is shaping up to be a Good Con. hell, I don't know who will be there. It hardly matters at this point. I will be there and so will my friends. MOC is a free form sort of Con anyway. You make up your own fun as you go. There were interesting Panels at MOC 10-A. I participated in several as a member of the audience. I asked questions and enjoyed myself. The Parties and the Friends is what has made that con in my view. I hope it stays that way. Hopefully, MOC appreciation Cons will continue here in Charlotte NC. I think it was a Great idea and hopefully Roland Castle will return to the "Queen City" ( Named after Queen Charlotte of England). I hope he didn't loose his shirt. There are times when I think that man runs his Con like the captain of a Party Yacht. He cleans the barnacles off while the rest of us Party. He charges just enough to keep her at Sea. Hell maybe I am right, maybe I am wrong. I had a Great time. That's my bottom Line. James Morrow ------------------------------ Date: 23 Feb 1996 02:39:03 GMT From: aiken@unity.ncsu.edu (Wayne Aiken) Reply-to: sf-lovers-misc@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Re: MOC 10A, My Review and Opinions >I got to the Con early Thursday. I expected a Huge Crowd of People and >did not want to miss anything. I was disappointed at First. Thursday was >pretty slow. The huge Crowd I had hope to see was not there. I spent >time meeting old friends and meeting new ones until the Dealer's Room >opened. EXTREMELY slow... This leads into my first set of comments about this MOC: PRO: The computer gaming area was one of the best I've seen yet, and I spent a lot of time there. Stations set up for multi-user Heretic, Doom, Wing Commander IV, plus a 2-player VR Hexen and a 2-player full-cockpit Descent. CON: No videos!!!! Some sort of video room, with cult/action movies, anime, etc. is a GREAT way to kill time, see something you've never seen before, etc.. Every other convention I've ever been to besides MOC has had at least 1 video room running continuously. It's a very nice con "fixture" that I've never seen at MOC. Plus, where was the Rocky Horror? It was scheduled on both Friday and Saturday nights in the Carolina AB rooms; but every time I looked, it was completely empty. >Friday was spent catching up with my old friends and again, making new >ones. MOC is a unique kind of CON. It is pretty much a free Form kind of >Con. Roland Take No offense. If you walk away from a MOC and not have >fun...then it is your own damned fault. The schedule had little to offer. >You had to make your own fun up as you went. The MOC crowd is pretty >intelligent, so that was easy for most people. I can understand few guests with a con this small. But, for the most part, there were TONs of meeting rooms with absolutely nothing in them, or nothing going on. There were little flurries of activity, then deadness. I thought the PMS Battle and the Bimbo Contest was a lot of fun. The live band didn't seem to draw a lot of attention, though. >The Parties were Fun. I am in The Rogue Society and we had a Great time >with our Party and everybody else's. I was security for our Con. Out of >the 400 or so people who atended this Con, ONE rear end in a top hat gave us a hard >time. He was taken Care of and the we went on with Life. They should have used the meeting rooms for the parties. In fact, on Friday night I was at the Dead Pirate/Wet T-shirt party on the 16th floor, when the hotel security made them close the door (party floor suddenly becoming a non-party floor due to mundanes). I suggested that we move the whole thing down to one of the rooms, and they did. TONS of more space over that cramped little room made this a big hit. Then, as if that weren't enough, the Bendovaho Tribe came in and started handing out their brew. For a good while there, that MOC "magic" was in full swing. Other good parties: The M00se Illuminati had a nice little room set up with tons of sushi, chili, and MOOSE PISS! great drink. The Jonestown After Dark III party was fun, as usual. Nothing new this year, they had the same Grape Flavoraid and cyanide drinks, plus The Machine was in full operation. I had a pocketfull of glow-sticks that made a nice effect. This lasted until around 5am. The Cybergoths on the 17th Floor, which I think is the Rogues, had one helluva party. Nice decorations, with chill-out rooms on the side, a DJ, some hellacious bare skin, munchies, and more. After the Jonestown party folded, the Moose people moved their stuff to the Cybergoths. >Will MOC 11-A come back to Charlotte NC? I hope so. The Hotel Staff >Loved us. I hope Roland remembers this town and will see the potential >that it has to offer in The future. Not a bad location at all. Lots of decent food outlets in the area too. Which leads to another suggestion for cons: do some advance scouting of the grocery/pharmacy/food/liquor stores in the area. A neat little map could save some out-of-towner a lot of time scouting around for supplies. No serious grips, had a lot of fun. slack@ncsu.edu ------------------------------ Date: 14 Mar 1996 10:02:14 GMT From: michael weaver <mweaver@atl.mindspring.com> Reply-to: sf-lovers-misc@Rutgers.Edu Subject: Banned from Moc for Life My name is Michael Weaver I am an artist, I have worked for (among others ) Wizards of the Coast, TSR, FASA, Ral Partha, Chaosium. I am frequently a guest at various Science Fiction conventions (I have attended over 40 by my last estimate). I wish to relate my experiences with Roland and the Moc convention. I attended Moc for many years, both as a representative (and art director ) for Ral Partha and a freelance illustrator. To put things in perspective, I had attending Moc for 4 years. Every year I barely broke even in the art show (most other conventions, I was making a fairly tidy profit). As Ral Partha's art director, I repeatedly brought the company down to Moc, ( Partha barely broke even there also) and sponsored a large number of events, often at my own personal expense. Some years ago, Roland decided to cancel the art show. Well, I need not tell you that the art show is the main reason for me to got to Moc. At the time I lived in Athens (same city as Roland ) and decided to go over to his shop and tell him in person that I regretted that I could not make it to Moc. I gave him my explanation in a very apologetic manner and told him that my decision was a purely financial one. I was still a student at the time, and I really could not afford to go to a convention if there was no art show. Roland EXPLODED. He told me that not only could I not go to Moc that year, but that I was BANNED from Moc forever, and that were I to show up, that he would have me removed by the police. Further more, I was no longer allowed into his store and that the same police removal awaited me there. I was, to say the least, speechless. All my past participation meant nothing to Roland. Simply by choosing to not personally attend one year, I went from loyal regular supporting guest to just another someone who wants to f-ck Roland over, in Roland's eyes. ------------------------------ quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 02:50 on May 22, 2021 |
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May 22, 2021 02:43
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tima posted:I am reading the middlegame by Seanan McGuire, and I am liking it so far. I guess she has like 4 series that she manages to put out a book a year for each? Middlegame is by far the best thing she's done. That sentence is still stuck in my head and I'm looking forward to the sequel. I ultimately didn't like the Newsflesh trilogy because it grossly overestimates the influence a blogger could have on the world to a ridiculous degree. I've enjoyed the Wayward Children series, but at this point it kind of feels like she has a dartboard labeled with different flavors of queerness and a dartboard labeled with different flavors of portal fantasy and this time our protagonist is *dart thrown* intersexed and they will visit *dart thrown* the horse dimension.
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May 22, 2021 03:11
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Jesus Kentucky Fried Christ what a bunch of tryhard dorks.
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May 22, 2021 03:16
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pseudorandom name posted:I've enjoyed the Wayward Children series, but at this point it kind of feels like she has a dartboard labeled with different flavors of queerness and a dartboard labeled with different flavors of portal fantasy and this time our protagonist is *dart thrown* intersexed and they will visit *dart thrown* the horse dimension. Yeah, of her work, I've only read Wayward Children so far. I enjoy it. It's got a very fairytale feel, but still mature enough to be enjoyable (it's fairytales in a very 'talking about how hard it is to grow up/be a person in a way that kids will understand, but doesn't talk down to them' way). There's sort of a main storyline that goes through books 1, 2, 3, and 5 and I think that's the stronger stuff. Books 4 and 6 (and, from the sound of it, maybe the upcoming book 7?) don't have much to do with the main storyline and are more like spinoffs that you could skip if you wanted to (4 is a super prequel about a character with a small role in book 1 -- 6 is entirely unrelated and yes, about a Horse Girl in the Horse Dimension who happens to be intersex). But they're all novellas, so even if you don't like one, it's not like you've wasted a lot of time.
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May 22, 2021 04:41
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mllaneza posted:Port of Shadows is NOT a thing. 
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May 22, 2021 04:45
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Lemniscate Blue posted:Jesus Kentucky Fried Christ what a bunch of tryhard dorks. It read like a montage of every terrible nerd film from the eighties. Fascinating, yet completely awful.
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May 22, 2021 08:46
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tima posted:I am reading the middlegame by Seanan McGuire, and I am liking it so far. I guess she has like 4 series that she manages to put out a book a year for each? So, she has three long-running series: - October Daye. These are probably the most "mainstream urban fantasy" of her works (and also her longest-running; the first book was her first published novel), featuring a private investigator in a world recognizeably like our own except for the carefully hidden supernatural elements. She's also half-fae and that side of the family comes with a triple helping of bullshit so a lot of the books involve her getting dragged into the morass of fae politics rather than just trying to find missing people or whatnot. - InCryptid. These are a bit less serious (IIRC she started writing these as a way to unwind between Toby Daye books); they're about a family of cryptid researchers/conservationists who split off, a few generations back, from a fanatical religious order of monster hunters (that still holds a grudge). Usually you get 2-3 books in a row focusing on one member of the family and making up a complete story arc, then it'll switch to a different one. - Wayward Children. Already mentioned. I haven't read these yet, but friends of mine who have are generally positive; I know one how hated Every Heart A Doorway but went back a year later and re-read it and enjoyed it a lot on second read. She's also written a lot of one-offs and standalone duologies/trilogies, both as herself and as Mira Grant; Middlegame you've already read, but off the top of my head (and I know I'm forgetting some) there's also: - Newsflesh, a political thriller about bloggers in post-zombie america - Parasitology, a periapocalyptic trilogy about everyone's bioengineered medical symbiotes malfunctioning - Indexing, about a government agency tasked with preventing fairy tales from manifesting and taking over people's lives, staffed by fairy tale survivors - Ghost Roads, about a hitchhiking ghost and her vendetta against the immortal street racer who killed her (technically same setting as InCryptid, but they stand separately) - The Drowning Deep, about marine biologists getting eaten by mermaids - Velveteen, about teenage superheroes She's also written an absolute shitload of short stories, most of them in the Toby Daye or InCryptid settings but also quite a lot of standalone stuff. Some of it's available on her website and a lot more on her patreon. Of these, Newsflesh was the firstą thing of hers I read, and I enjoyed it; Parasitology I liked conceptually but found the protagonist frustrating, and I didn't like Drowning Deep at all. InCryptid and Toby Daye are probably my favourite˛ works of hers. Ghost Roads is ok, although I liked the first book a lot more than the second and haven't read the third yet -- it just came out earlier this year. Velveteen I don't remember much about. And Indexing it's impossible for me to be objective about because "the men in black vs. uncontrolled fairy tale excursions" is a concept that's laser-targeted at me. ą Ok, the first first thing was her short story in The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination, which I initially thought was Shaenon Garrity trying something new under a not that subtle pen name. It turns out she cites Garrity as a major influence on her work. ˛ Middlegame is probably her strongest single work but it doesn't vibe with me as powerfully pseudorandom name posted:Middlegame is by far the best thing she's done. That sentence is still stuck in my head and I'm looking forward to the sequel. TBH that didn't damage my suspension of disbelief any more than the zombies, the instant blood tests, the clones, or the concept that livestreaming a US politician admitting to their crimes would have any sort of consequences for them Like if you've accepted the basic premise of the setting, "roving gangs of independent bloggers are now the zenith of trusted journalism and have significant impact on the national discourse" is a relatively small additional thing to ingest
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May 22, 2021 13:00
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Anybody heard anything about what's going on with Blackgate.com I got a "This looks dodgy" warning on my pc when I tried to look at it the other day, and now the servers not responding. Can't find any news and their Twitter hasn't updated since March.
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May 22, 2021 14:13
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Deptfordx posted:Anybody heard anything about what's going on with Blackgate.com Next time bring an heir of Elendil with you!
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May 22, 2021 15:36
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But the line was broken!
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May 22, 2021 15:40
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Oh hey, four days til Blacktongue Liar and I just found out it was written by Christophe the Insulter. That's pretty neat.
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May 22, 2021 17:48
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The Boy on the Bridge by MR Carey - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LL8BX9Q/
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May 22, 2021 17:51
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I'm reading Two of Swords as my first KJ Parker (I had bought it after a sale linked here, so why not?) Does it ever go back to the same POV characters again?
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May 22, 2021 17:54
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Aardvark! posted:I'm reading Two of Swords as my first KJ Parker (I had bought it after a sale linked here, so why not?) Somewhat, the last book is more focused than the first two that are setting situations and characters up. I struggled with that series and couldn't say whether I overall liked it or not, there were elements that were great and some brilliant writing then others that just dragged on. I wouldn't judge Parker based on these books though, had it been my first series I may not have read any others but I have enjoyed the other books I have read (The Folding Knife, Sharps) a lot more.
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May 22, 2021 17:58
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Aardvark! posted:I'm reading Two of Swords as my first KJ Parker (I had bought it after a sale linked here, so why not?) Telamon becomes the focus as the serial moves on, which is good because she’s probably the best woman Parker has ever written. A lot of the rest are sort of incidental. Reading that series was kind of like reading novels worth of that trick Abercrombie became enamoured with where he switches povs constantly throughout a battle to show how the conflict is affecting everyone and giving a wide swath of takes. The Two of Swords was that but for an entire war instead of one battle. I liked it. The final volume is the strongest.
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May 22, 2021 18:09
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Ccs posted:Telamon becomes the focus as the serial moves on, which is good because she’s probably the best woman Parker has ever written. A lot of the rest are sort of incidental. Reading that series was kind of like reading novels worth of that trick Abercrombie became enamoured with where he switches povs constantly throughout a battle to show how the conflict is affecting everyone and giving a wide swath of takes. The Two of Swords was that but for an entire war instead of one battle. Glad to hear that. I just finished her chapter in the first one and seeing the next was another 100 page long new POV worried me, because she was actually interesting.
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May 22, 2021 18:11
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I was surprised in Swords that the part about high/low ace rules in the east and west weren't somehow foreshadowing something about the Lodge and also that nothing interesting was ever really done with the super smart wife
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May 22, 2021 19:25
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Harold Fjord posted:I was surprised in Swords that the part about high/low ace rules in the east and west weren't somehow foreshadowing something about the Lodge and also that nothing interesting was ever really done with the super smart wife I thought it was implied that the general they all thought was dead really had died and his wife was running the army in his place which was why they were still fighting like he was alive. Maybe I’m misremembering.
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May 22, 2021 19:45
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ToxicFrog posted:
Thanks for the post! I will check out first books in her series and see if any of them vibe with me.
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May 22, 2021 23:31
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tima posted:Thanks for the post! I will check out first books in her series and see if any of them vibe with me. I’ll second the recommendation for Indexing, I liked it a lot and wish there were more stories in the collection. It has a real police procedural feel. Also if you watched the show The Librarians, the fairy tale episode has basically the same premise (and one of the characters is named after McGuire). I will anti-recommend the Parasitology series; the main character is a passive lump, the first book “twist” is literally spelled out in the opening paragraph, and there’s a real bad example of killing bisexual characters ignominiously off-screen which is exactly the kind of representation this author normally advocates against.
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May 23, 2021 00:01
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Fried Sushi posted:some brilliant writing The simple inscription on the base of Saevus’ statue reads: He saw the worth of every man. We shall not look upon his like again.
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May 23, 2021 07:20
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Ccs posted:I thought it was implied that the general they all thought was dead really had died and his wife was running the army in his place which was why they were still fighting like he was alive. Oh she definitely runs the army in his place for a battle. But that was basically all.
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May 23, 2021 07:34
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pradmer posted:The Boy on the Bridge by MR Carey - $2.99 Note that while this is a prequel to The Girl With All The Gifts, it should not be read first. Today I learned that John Steinbeck wrote a werewolf novel in 1930 but his estate refuses to publish it. Fuckers.
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May 23, 2021 09:01
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I started The Ministry for the Future, and was weirded out when I searched the book for 'nuclear' and found that the book basically does not mention nuclear power. Pro or anti, it should at least be discussed, surely?
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May 23, 2021 12:24
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World War Z by Max Brooks - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JMKQX0/ The Dragon Republic (Poppy War #2) by RF Kuang - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CRKXQ1Y/ The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CRKXQ1Y/ The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DDGX4KY/
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May 23, 2021 17:16
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Finished Dead Astronauts and it took a bit of work to get through. I'm happy for them tho or sorry that happened But contacted the artist who did some illustrations for a special edition and I got a print of the guy turning into salamanders coming in the mail
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May 24, 2021 06:00
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Apparently Alastair Reynolds has another Revelation Space book coming out - I thought that series was done and dusted? I read Revelation Space like ten years ago, thought it was fine, didn't read anything else of his for ages, but in the past few years have been on a relative binge of his stuff - House of Suns, Pushing Ice, Terminal World and most of his short stories are great or at least good. I just don't have good memories of Revelation Space and never really intended to finish that series. Should I?
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May 24, 2021 09:33
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I really wish he'd write a sequel to Terminal World, that book was great.
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May 24, 2021 09:35
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packetmantis posted:I really wish he'd write a sequel to Terminal World, that book was great. Huh, I thought I was the only one who liked that book. Even if I spotted the twisty revelation 1.5 AU away.
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May 24, 2021 09:44
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freebooter posted:Apparently Alastair Reynolds has another Revelation Space book coming out - I thought that series was done and dusted? I read Revelation Space like ten years ago, thought it was fine, didn't read anything else of his for ages, but in the past few years have been on a relative binge of his stuff - House of Suns, Pushing Ice, Terminal World and most of his short stories are great or at least good. I just don't have good memories of Revelation Space and never really intended to finish that series. Should I? Chasm City was really good cyberpunk noir, the main line three novels ranged from OK to very bad (the third one). Nothing was published after the final novel of the trilogy, at least nothing worth a mention. Of course, the shorts are his best work, I agree with you. I should probably reread House of Suns to see if it holds up, at the time I thought it was one of the better works dealing with de facto immortality.
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May 24, 2021 10:03
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Groke posted:Huh, I thought I was the only one who liked that book. Was he deliberately using the Valve logo as the secret symbol of the whatsiznames? I couldn't figure that out (but it was hilarious anyway).
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May 24, 2021 10:21
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The Valve logo is just Lambda from the Greek alphabet, the twist in Terminal World is that it's a far-future post-apoc terraformed Mars. Which I only knew because I got spoiled beforehand, and might not have got, but there's definitely enough winking and nudging in there that if I hadn't got it I would've known I was obviously meant to go look it up.
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May 24, 2021 11:59
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freebooter posted:The Valve logo is just Lambda from the Greek alphabet, the twist in Terminal World is that it's a far-future post-apoc terraformed Mars. Which I only knew because I got spoiled beforehand, and might not have got, but there's definitely enough winking and nudging in there that if I hadn't got it I would've known I was obviously meant to go look it up. Good that you clarified it was lambda (the Half -Life logo) because I was getting really confused how you were baking a guy with a pipe valve in his head(the Valve Logo) into a story without it getting suspicious. Was kind of intrigued about it though.
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May 24, 2021 12:20
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| # ? Jun 2, 2024 20:30 |
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freebooter posted:Apparently Alastair Reynolds has another Revelation Space book coming out - I thought that series was done and dusted? I read Revelation Space like ten years ago, thought it was fine, didn't read anything else of his for ages, but in the past few years have been on a relative binge of his stuff - House of Suns, Pushing Ice, Terminal World and most of his short stories are great or at least good. I just don't have good memories of Revelation Space and never really intended to finish that series. Should I? Redemption Ark is one of his best books, also the title is a pun so obvious and terrible I didn't spot it for like ten years.
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May 24, 2021 13:34
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