|
Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J568M42/ Actually volume 12? I have no idea how it pieces together.
|
#
?
Feb 16, 2022 23:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 20, 2024 12:33 |
|
|
pradmer posted:Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman - $3.99 That's the first volume of the series. It seems like Amazon is listing the original editions first and then the 30th anniversary editions next, but if one wanted to start reading Sandman, that would be the place to start.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 00:16
|
|
|
McCoy Pauley posted:That's the first volume of the series. It seems like Amazon is listing the original editions first and then the 30th anniversary editions next, but if one wanted to start reading Sandman, that would be the place to start. Though when I was a kid and getting graphic novels from the library, I started with The Kindly Ones and it still managed to captivate me.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 00:24
|
|
|
Heads up that the Tor.com ebook of the month is a 3-book bundle of CL Polk's Witchmark (Kingston Cycle #1), Tesh's Silver in the Wood (Greenhollow #1) and Wells' All Systems Red (Murderbot #1). Free to download until Feb 19. I have not read any of these so I'm really looking forward to it, especially Murderbot. I've been working my way through KJ Parker's Two of Swords and I kind of want a break between volume 2 and 3.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 03:03
|
|
|
Murderbot is probably one of my favorite series right now, and I really really loved Silver in the Wood. It's a pretty quick read, lots of fun British mythology stuff. Plus, gay. The sequel, Drowned Country, came out semi-recently and is really enjoyable, too. I started Witchmark but couldn't get into it. I've read Polk's The Midnight Bargain and it didn't really click with me, either, but I couldn't say why. Not to put anyone off reading them, because I think they ARE well-written books and I know Polk has been recommended in the thread. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for them at the time.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 07:40
|
|
|
Anyone here read Too Like the Lightning and the rest of that series in audiobook format? I get the impression these might not be well-suited to that format, but I'd like to be wrong!
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 08:11
|
|
|
The new best of collection from Tor is outstanding. The first piece was ok, but after that I just kept finding stories and worlds that I'm still thinking about - that I'd love to see whole novels set in and would snap up in an instant. I can't recommend it enough. The inventiveness on display is breathtaking.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 11:02
|
|
|
Another Dirty Dish posted:Currently reading How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu. It’s set in the near future, where everything sucks in a similar way to the present: there’s a pandemic, due to a mysterious virus found in the melting Siberian permafrost. It seems to mutate organs in unpredictable ways, and primarily infects children and advanced elderly, though there’s heavy foreshadowing for it mutating into something that can infect adults. It’s a great book to read if you want to ruin your whole day: chapter 2 features an underemployed comedian who ends up working as a Mickey Mouse analogue at a euthanasia park for children, complete with a 2000 foot murdercoaster; a few chapters later we get a lab pig that became sentient and learned to talk, and it’s about to learn that it was raised to grow organs for harvesting, and that the mutation in its brain is going to kill it eventually. There’s even a funeral industry cryptocoin: “For only one thousand bereavement crypto-tokens, you can scatter your loved one’s ashes on a one-hour cruise around SanFancisco Bay.” Well that sounds like a hoot & a holler  I'm kind of reminded of my recent read of 84K, a (so-far fictional) pre-apocalyptic / post-Brexit Conservative's wet dream of Britain in the near future, where if you're not rich you are hosed, and the titular figure is how much of a fine you need to pay for killing one of the cattle-class plebs that make up 99% of the country. It's grim reading, and the stream-of-consciousness writing style might not be for everyone, but it was worth the effort as far as I'm concerned. https://www.amazon.co.uk/84K-eerily-plausible-dystopian-masterpiece-ebook/dp/B076PBVSWV/
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 14:38
|
|
|
ClydeFrog posted:The new best of collection from Tor is outstanding. The first piece was ok, but after that I just kept finding stories and worlds that I'm still thinking about - that I'd love to see whole novels set in and would snap up in an instant. Can I have the exact title?
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 15:21
|
|
|
FPyat posted:Can I have the exact title? NoneMoreNegative posted:the new TOR 'Best of' anthology is now up as a free legit download
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 16:07
|
|
|
big dyke energy posted:Murderbot is probably one of my favorite series right now, I did not know this was a series so thanks!
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 19:36
|
|
|
Kestral posted:Anyone here read Too Like the Lightning and the rest of that series in audiobook format? I get the impression these might not be well-suited to that format, but I'd like to be wrong!
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 20:15
|
|
|
goodness posted:I did not know this was a series so thanks! IIRC it's up to five novellas, one novel and two short stories, with the first four novellas forming a complete story arc.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 20:28
|
|
|
big dyke energy posted:I started Witchmark but couldn't get into it. I've read Polk's The Midnight Bargain and it didn't really click with me, either, but I couldn't say why. Not to put anyone off reading them, because I think they ARE well-written books and I know Polk has been recommended in the thread. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for them at the time. Midnight Bargain was "ehhh" for me and I think it's because it's a standalone and hews closely to a typical regency romance and I'm just not really a romance reader. Polk set up an interesting premise for the world which I think could have been explored more in-depth and to be honest, I thought Ysbeta more interesting than Beatrice. That's all personal preference though and it was a fine book. The way the epilogue wrapped things up felt a bit sudden for me, because I felt like the gap between the end of the story and the epilogue is where all the stuff that was interesting for me would have happened! If Polk ever does a sequel from a Ysbeta POV that covers that time gap, I would be all over it.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 22:59
|
|
|
The good troll detective/Mantle/Key series by Ramy Vance and Michael Anderle is pretty good. Neat take on urban fantasy. Only thing I was left wondering was if Anderle is an AI, or licenses his name, it something cause goddamn the dude is involved with a LOT of books. Maybe a collective writing group?
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 23:03
|
|
|
NoneMoreNegative posted:Well that sounds like a hoot & a holler https://www.amazon.com/84K-Claire-N...ps%2C311&sr=8-2
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 23:19
|
|
|
Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:The good troll detective/Mantle/Key series by Ramy Vance and Michael Anderle is pretty good. Neat take on urban fantasy. He does a lot with structured plot organization so I would not be surprised if he gives the coauthors beat by beat plots based on his formulas and then they turn that into books so he keeps showing up in top ranks and can better sell his writing courses It is sounds like an updated version of the Moorcock/Lester Dent guides linked earlier (which are good reads and I've had both in open tabs in my browser the past two years) but I've not looked into it to see what his particular strategy is
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 23:37
|
|
|
Use of Weapons (Culture #3) by Iain M Banks - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015DWLTE/
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2022 23:43
|
|
|
I was thinkin' 'bout Southern Reach during my commute today after finishing the series a couple days ago and I was wondering if anyone could tell me if I'm off base with some of my conclusions here and if I've missed anything important (I know there's no way of actually getting an answer yet): The most common conclusion people on the internet seem to have about Area X is that it's part of a terraforming program. That doesn't sit well with me - I don't think it's impossible, it just doesn't seem like the likely explanation. Things we know: 1. The catalyst for the creation of Area X involved the presence of a machine/organism designed to kick off whatever the process is 2. The civilization that created this machine/organism no longer exists after going through some kind of cosmic cataclysm (this is knowledge imparted by Area X, not speculation) 3. The process in Area X has been/is being executed on other planets (as explained in the comments on the Biologist swimming in deeper oceans and existing in more places than just the Area X accessible on Earth) 4. Area X itself is no longer on Earth, as is made clear multiple times with the references to time dilation and an altered night sky Based on these things, I think we can say that the process behind Area X is NOT meant to terraform anything. If the aliens used it to create new homes for themselves then they wouldn't have been wiped out so easily by something as mundane as a comet (unless they just didn't get the chance to see the project through). Also, what would be the point of designing it such that Area X didn't involve changing something in place but instead transporting it somewhere else entirely? Furthermore, nothing *actually* seems to be changing at a practical level, despite being manipulated, assimilated, and simulated. I think the process of Area X is meant to PRESERVE ecologies, not DESTROY (terraform) them. It's mentioned repeatedly throughout the books that the animals in Area X are totally happy and normal. The characters repeatedly remark on how peaceful and pure the landscape is. Although the contents of Area X are being manipulated at some fundamental level, they still appear and act as expected until the intelligence behind Area X decides otherwise. The only things that truly go wonky are human artifacts and humans themselves. Humanity's callousness toward and lack of stewardship over the environment are, also, recurring themes. I'm psyched that VanderMeer is writing another entry. I love these books and I'm probably going to read them all over again before starting the next one.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 00:04
|
|
|
Tiny Timbs posted:I was thinkin' 'bout Southern Reach during my commute today after finishing the series a couple days ago and I was wondering if anyone could tell me if I'm off base with some of my conclusions here and if I've missed anything important (I know there's no way of actually getting an answer yet): Maybe this is a baby brained basic answer but I took away that the motives and intentions of the entity were really beyound human comprehension. There's enough allusions to the physical reality the characters percieve being some kind of front (the cellphone that is not a cellphone, the sky shifting and reforming inside Area X) that I don't think it could be called preservation, it seemed to me more like some kind of invasive force reshaping the ... spacetime ... underlying reality(?) of Earth to conditions more suited to its existence but it doesn't give you enough pieces of the puzzle to form a complete picture by design. Plus there's desciptions of bits we don't see, like the creatures coming out of the sea and attacking the lighthouse that I don't think Area X takes much better care of its non-human fauna either
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 00:17
|
|
|
i feel like this gets into some fundamental questions the book poses -- area x integrates and replicates things in and around it, which might look like preservation from some angles but it's also literally their total destruction and transformation into seemingly-identical copies with different fundamental properties. is ghost bird the same person as the biologist? all we have is the very imperfect explanation we get in the books, a tiny fragment of something we can't comprehend, made by a culture we can't comprehend, doing things we can't really comprehend, in a context that is probably profoundly different in real metaphysical/spacetimey ways than the one it was created to work in. any meaning that anyone can find in that has to be personal because there is no objective truth to be had eke out fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Feb 18, 2022 |
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 00:28
|
|
|
Oh for sure, there's a lot we truly can't know given what we have but there's conclusions supported by what we do know and conclusions that aren't. I think the books give you enough to come up with some reasonable theories, and if it truly felt like a case of "we just can't know nothing about no thing and anything is possible, maaaaaan" I definitely would've stopped reading after the first one. It's still an intelligent machine designed by mortal beings acting on the world in physical ways, being manipulated by humans, and manipulating them and attempting to communicate with them in turn.
Tiny Timbs fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Feb 18, 2022 |
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 00:34
|
|
|
Tiny Timbs posted:Oh for sure, there's a lot we truly can't know given what we have but there's conclusions supported by what we do know and conclusions that aren't. I think the books give you enough to come up with some reasonable theories, and if it truly felt like a case of "we just can't know nothing about no thing and anything is possible, maaaaaan" I definitely would've stopped reading after the first one. It's still an intelligent machine designed by mortal beings acting on the world in physical ways, being manipulated by humans, and manipulating them and attempting to communicate with them in turn. i don't think you're off base to speculate, just that the third book is heavily about coming to terms with not being able to know any of these things i do wonder if there being a new book means our world still exists outside of Area X. i recall vandermeer saying he wanted to talk more about the background of the weird occultist society searching the North Florida coast from Acceptance, but not sure whether that's what he settled on or what eke out fucked around with this message at 00:41 on Feb 18, 2022 |
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 00:37
|
|
|
eke out posted:i don't think you're off base to speculate, just that the third book is heavily about coming to terms with not being able to know any of these things I think it'd make me happy if he explored that. There's kind of a gap in the story where it's mentioned that strange things had been happening on the Forgotten Coast long before the Area X stuff kicked off, and the S&SB had to have been going off of something when they dug the fragment out of the lens. I also assumed the "unknown woman" that showed up near the end was Jackie Severance but maybe I was wrong to think that.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 00:47
|
|
|
Doctor Faustine posted:I just read The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling and really loved it. I’d like to read more SF in this vein but I don’t know where to look—I’ve read fewer than 10 SF books in my entire life. What I liked about The Luminous Dead was that there was no military conflict or strong emphasis on space travel or robots, which seem to be SF mainstays but I don’t really care for them. I liked that all the technology was pretty grounded and easy to imagine how and why it would be developed. I also loved the horror elements and character-driven story. I read this based on your post and enjoyed it for similar reasons. Although, I was bummed that the love story was real, I thought it was another symptom of her psychosis. Also, no one is going to call those things tunnelers, they are definitely going to call them worms.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 00:55
|
|
|
I love the idea of Area X as a conservation measure.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 01:58
|
|
|
(Southern Reach discussion) I took the ending to be one along the lines of what No Dignity posted above. There was so much emphasis on tide pools and like, that pond the biologist observed when she was a child, that I sort of expanded the idea to the Earth itself. Tide pools form when an external and uncontrollable force acts on a small section of ocean, so maybe Area X washed up against this alien environment? Would it make the sea star in the tide pool feel better knowing what mechanisms landed it there? Seeking knowledge and answers for things is fine pursuit, but not if you're doing it as a way to avoid confronting the bigger, harder things that have no set answer -- like the biologist was doing, like the Southern Reach was trying. Because of how I interpreted it, I think it's fine if not everything has one set answer to be teased out. Area X to me is metaphorically the loss of a loved one, it's climate change, it's a massive pandemic, it's a natural disaster, it's any big or small life-altering change that takes out pieces of you and reforms you into something different. Not something bad, just different.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 02:13
|
|
|
in my opinion area x/the thing in the lighthouse lens is homesick for a place that no longer exists and is doing an imperfect job of recreating it. it's just a scared, lonely orphan
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 03:17
|
|
|
Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Only thing I was left wondering was if Anderle is an AI, or licenses his name, it something cause goddamn the dude is involved with a LOT of books. Maybe a collective writing group? Tars Tarkas posted:He does a lot with structured plot organization so I would not be surprised if he gives the coauthors beat by beat plots based on his formulas and then they turn that into books so he keeps showing up in top ranks and can better sell his writing courses Basically, he is more into the business side of things than the writing side of the things. He finds authors that he trusts to write stories in his universe, splits royalties with them and focuses on growing the publishing imprint he's started (https://lmbpn.com/). There was a huge controversy back in 2018 regarding the Nebula Award: http://corabuhlert.com/2019/05/24/some-reactions-to-the-2018-nebula-award-winners-and-a-postmortem-on-the-20booksto50k-issue/ I have never read any of his books (the ones he personally contributed prose to) so I have no idea how good he is as a writer, other than he was good enough at writing to market to make a full time living off his books in a stupidly short timeframe. His self-publishing business advice, though, is great. Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:The good troll detective/Mantle/Key series by Ramy Vance and Michael Anderle is pretty good. Neat take on urban fantasy.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 07:01
|
|
|
what the hell kind of company name is that
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 07:04
|
|
|
moonmazed posted:what the hell kind of company name is that Not really a company; it's a Facebook group and the name is trademarked (by his publishing imprint LMBPN) and there are branded conferences and everything. It's kind of cultish, but from a business standpoint, the principles are sound. Whether or not you get any books that would be considered good from a literary standpoint is a different story; but certainly there are a lot of authors following these principles that are making a full time income from self-publishing. The theory goes, if you self-publish 20 books that have achieved the minimum viable product threshold of being good enough to convince people to fork out money for them, then you will be able to generate enough income from book sales to make $50,000 USD per year, which is sufficient to live on in lower cost of living areas. If you really want to go down that rabbit hole, here's Michael Anderle giving a keynote on this point from 5 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHgcy3dVZVM&t=3047s Annnnnnyway, back on topic. Janny Wurts has completed the manuscript for Song of the Mysteries which is the 11th and final book in her epic, The Wars of Light and Shadow. https://twitter.com/JannyWurts/status/1488306331631042560 It's been so long between books that I'm fairly sure I need to start a re-read soon. By the time I finish going through the first 10 books, there might be a publication date for the 11th one.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 08:08
|
|
|
what are the best standalone fantasy novels i'll accept stuff that takes place in a world shared by other books but the story is totally standalone, as long as it doesn't require pre-existing worldbuilding and lore
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 17:11
|
|
|
The Raven Tower by Anne Leckie is pretty good.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 17:14
|
|
|
roomtone posted:what are the best standalone fantasy novels The Raven Tower.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 17:15
|
|
|
zerofiend posted:The Raven Tower by Anne Leckie is pretty good.    although I would stretch as far as "excellent"
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 17:15
|
|
|
roomtone posted:what are the best standalone fantasy novels The Shadow of his Wings by Bruce Fergusson. It's acquired four sequels since, but it stands alone.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 17:26
|
|
|
The Lies of Locke Lamora is part of a series but I'd say it's definitely strong enough to stand alone.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 17:32
|
|
|
roomtone posted:what are the best standalone fantasy novels If you accept 'good standalone books that then had sequels written" Bridge of Birds is probably cock of the walk Any of several books by Zelazny (Lord of Light, Lonesome October, Isle of the Dead) Gaiman's _Stardust_ deserves an honorable mention, Gaiman *can be* a great writer when he wants to be and yeah Lies of Locke Lamora for for books written this century really the categories of "best" and "fantasy" are both too broad though, narrow it down to something like "most entertaining historical fantasy" or "best conceived sf/fantasy hybrid" (Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell / Lord of Light, respectively) and I can give better answers Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Feb 18, 2022 |
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 17:38
|
|
|
Susanna Clarke, Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver and Uprooted, Helene Wecker's The Golem and the Jinni (technically series, but first is standalone), Helen Oyeyemi has some wild stuff, Among Others by Jo Walton, On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu, maybe more magical realism. Several others I can think of but they're again more magical realism or considered Middle Grade/children's fiction but I still think they're a good story and it seems much easier for some reason for middle grade authors to do a good standalone fantasy than adult authors . I would think the pressure on both would be just as great to make something into a series rather than rest on just one.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 17:47
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 20, 2024 12:33 |
|
|
roomtone posted:what are the best standalone fantasy novels Little, Big by John Crowley The Buried Giant by Ishiguro The Scar by Mieville Piranesi and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Clarke
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2022 17:48
|
|
