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Cool E: Oh FFS. So this isn't completely contentless, I just finished The Owl Service by Alan Garner. I enjoyed it a lot, and I think if I'd read it as a child it would have scared the poo poo out of me forever. I think it aged very well for something almost 60 years old, too. cptn_dr fucked around with this message at 23:30 on Mar 2, 2022 |
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Mar 2, 2022 23:26
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DurianGray posted:I also haven't read Goblin Emperor, but between some of what you all have been saying and the details/critique in this Blood Knife article/review (it definitely contains spoilers), I'm not sure that I'd enjoy it for personal politics reasons (I am admittedly pretty far left, so the things pointed out in the Blood Knife article would probably stick in my craw, especially already being aware of them going in). goblin emperor has a happy ending for the main character the emperor, so there is definitely a limit to how revolutionary it can get. the linked review goes off the handle a little, but yeah the book is basically "i don't care about politics" centrist
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Mar 2, 2022 23:26
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The Dragon's Path (The Dagger and the Coin #1) by Daniel Abraham - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047Y16LC/
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Mar 2, 2022 23:53
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DurianGray posted:I also haven't read Goblin Emperor, but between some of what you all have been saying and the details/critique in this Blood Knife article/review (it definitely contains spoilers), I'm not sure that I'd enjoy it for personal politics reasons (I am admittedly pretty far left, so the things pointed out in the Blood Knife article would probably stick in my craw, especially already being aware of them going in). I'm not sure I really buy the argument laid out here entirely. Most of the negative observations of the left-anarchist types in this book are entirely in-character for the characters that are observing them. Maya is kind of a comfortable centrist, but I think the politics of the book itself are arguably more ambiguous.
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Mar 2, 2022 23:58
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cptn_dr posted:Cool That's the one based on the story of Llew Llaw Gyffes, right? Yeah, that's an interesting story for modern writers to tackle because the original is so nakedly misogynistic in its treatment of Arianrhod, Goewin, and Blodeuwedd. I also liked Evangeline Walton's interpretation in The Island of the Mighty.
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Mar 3, 2022 00:46
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Danhenge posted:I'm not sure I really buy the argument laid out here entirely. Most of the negative observations of the left-anarchist types in this book are entirely in-character for the characters that are observing them. Maya is kind of a comfortable centrist, but I think the politics of the book itself are arguably more ambiguous. Yeah, the politics of TGE are hardly perfect, but it is uh, quite critical of the structure of the Empire, and quite clear about how that structure leads to harm being done even if the people in charge are super nice folks. Which is a whole lot smarter of a take than, "Maia should have dissolved the empire."
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Mar 3, 2022 01:50
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Patrick Spens posted:Yeah, the politics of TGE are hardly perfect, but it is uh, quite critical of the structure of the Empire, and quite clear about how that structure leads to harm being done even if the people in charge are super nice folks. Which is a whole lot smarter of a take than, "Maia should have dissolved the empire." Ah, that's good to hear that there's a bit more nuance to it. It's been interesting to hear other takes of the book in the past few pages. I've been reading a lot more the past few years than I have in a long time, and while I've read a lot of good stuff, I've come across enough books with, I guess a sort of baked-in political naivety/disinterest to them that it started to really irk me the more I'd run into it. So I might just be hypersensitive to that kind of thing now that I'm trying to be a little picker about my reading. Speaking of which, that question earlier about reading a lot and trying to remember it all: Starting around January 2020 through now, I've apparently read almost 200 books. Before that, I was reading maybe 2-3 books a year at most. I had a mental switch flip right before the pandemic started when I realized I wanted to read books again like I used to, and then that quickly turned into a coping mechanism, but now it's just a regular (healthy?) habit. I use a combination of Goodreads/Storygraph (really just Storygraph right now) and a small paper journal (the Apica CD-10 in A6 size) to track what I've read. I mostly use Storygraph for a running list of books I already own or have pre-ordered (I mostly read e-books, and it's a lot easier to navigate Storygraph than my Kindle library), and for stats on what I read and when. But the notebook is where I'll actually write down details (publication year, page count, genre, that sort of thing) and then thoughts, usually only once I've finished a book. Each book just gets one page, so it's brief, but it's usually enough to jumpstart my memory when I'm fuzzy on what a book was about, or at least my impression of it. Doing the Booklord Challenge here last year was especially helpful in getting me to remember things just by doing a short synopsis of each book I read for a given month. (I'll go ahead and cross-promote here that there's still plenty of time to join this year's if anyone wants to!) I'm still trying to figure out a good system for short story anthologies though, since I'll usually forget all but a few individual stories unless it was an especially solid collection. Maybe I need to just buck up and start using a larger notebook.
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Mar 3, 2022 04:58
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To be clear, the politics of the book are more liberal than they are radical. But as someone who has read the book, the review comes across more like someone shouting "where the gently caress is my fantasy polemic!?" than as a reasoned critique of what's present.
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Mar 3, 2022 05:22
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There's a lot of people out there who were expecting swords and sorcery and not a 17th century court drama that happens to be in a fantasy setting
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Mar 3, 2022 08:52
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DurianGray posted:I also haven't read Goblin Emperor, but between some of what you all have been saying and the details/critique in this Blood Knife article/review (it definitely contains spoilers), I'm not sure that I'd enjoy it for personal politics reasons (I am admittedly pretty far left, so the things pointed out in the Blood Knife article would probably stick in my craw, especially already being aware of them going in). I want to know where all the constitutional monarchies are in fiction.
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Mar 3, 2022 09:17
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Does the Goblin rule the Empire, or the Emperor the Goblins?
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Mar 3, 2022 09:55
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goblins rule
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Mar 3, 2022 10:31
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cptn_dr posted:Cool Garner is a titan, you wouldn't have half the YA novels of today without him. He's still around and still writing, too.
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Mar 3, 2022 10:34
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General Battuta posted:Does the Goblin rule the Empire, or the Emperor the Goblins? the goblin which appears to be a racial slur for black elf rules the empire of the white elves op
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Mar 3, 2022 13:27
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Larry Parrish posted:I still haven't read baru cormorant and probably never will
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Mar 3, 2022 13:36
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maybe he should have more alts baru cormorant
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Mar 3, 2022 13:43
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the few bits of his writing for it that I've read is the closest anything has come to making me buy destiny it didn't succeed, because the game is destiny, but it did make me check for deals a few times
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Mar 3, 2022 13:44
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buffalo all day posted:ive heard the author of baru is a member of a forum full of notorious chuds and trolls 4chan?
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Mar 3, 2022 16:04
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Danhenge posted:To be clear, the politics of the book are more liberal than they are radical. But as someone who has read the book, the review comes across more like someone shouting "where the gently caress is my fantasy polemic!?" than as a reasoned critique of what's present. the goblin baru cormorant
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Mar 3, 2022 16:28
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Danhenge posted:To be clear, the politics of the book are more liberal than they are radical. But as someone who has read the book, the review comes across more like someone shouting "where the gently caress is my fantasy polemic!?" than as a reasoned critique of what's present. When Goblin Emperor came out in 2014 it was peak Game of Thrones where a lot of Serious Fantasy was about assholes being lovely to each other, or at least a lot of betrayals. When we hit the Becky Chambers era it was a relief to get something that wasn't unrelentingly grim. Now the zeitgeist has turned again and people are writing sneering medium posts about Hopepunk and how it reflects a myopic shitlib sense of how meaningful political change just requires being very nice. Or at least if you're going to write up a fantasy empire you should ask yourself if thoughtless imperialism is necessary. Things change. Next it'll be a wholesale embrace of doorstopper novels containing enough paper to provide useful light and heat.
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Mar 3, 2022 18:44
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Copernic posted:
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Mar 3, 2022 18:49
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90s Cringe Rock posted:IIRC in the uk you pay vat on firewood, but not books. as a dedicated prepper and serious survivalist of course i'm donating to the sanderson kickstarter.
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Mar 3, 2022 18:57
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currently doing the format conversion to pirate a print on demand copy of the wandering inn
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Mar 3, 2022 19:01
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90s Cringe Rock posted:currently doing the format conversion to pirate a print on demand copy of the wandering inn Please! Isn’t the paper shortage bad enough!!!!!
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Mar 3, 2022 19:08
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Armauk posted:4chan? worse,. if you can believe it
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Mar 3, 2022 19:26
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General Battuta posted:But it's definitely frustrating to see the rich get richer while you write checks to pay off your back rent and struggle to get the special 'poor people health insurance' forms (available only by email, which sends you a phone number to call) to do your taxes. All while every other YouTube video is an ad for a gigantically successful video game with your writing parked right in the title. I am 100% professionally jealous of Sanderson getting paid for his good work. I wish I could get paid for my good work. a lesson i've learned from a man named Son Goku is that there's always another mountain to climb. i bet Sanderson has a copy of the Federal Register nailed to the wall right above his writing battlestation.
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Mar 3, 2022 19:29
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i've been popping back on destiny to play through each new expansion but i think that's going to stop here. that really loving sucks
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Mar 3, 2022 19:35
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Beefeater1980 posted:I want to know where all the constitutional monarchies are in fiction. David Weber writes a lot of them.
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Mar 3, 2022 19:49
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I'm not going to lie. There is something powerfully comforting about reading a monarchy or similar "one strong leader on top" where things get done and it's presented as a good thing. Like - I know it's a lie. I know it's not good or stable (succession is a jerk), but it's such a nice fantasy. I get the same vibe from watching West Wing where wow, everyone in charge is educated and knows what they're doing. I'd like to live in those worlds, instead of this one.
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Mar 3, 2022 19:52
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idk about "hopepunk" or w/e but I could use some more chill and humanistic books ala Becky Chambers I've recently read: everything Chambers The Goblin Emperor / Speaker Legends & Lattes a lot of Elizabeth Bear Anything else along those lines to recommend?
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Mar 3, 2022 20:08
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I've been reading the third Bone Ships book and I really want to finish it and find out what happens, but I'm a third of the way through the book and I can't get through a page or two without my attention drifting off. The book is much more of a slog than the first two, though I felt like they both had stretches that were longer than they need to be. Barker just has a tendency to overwrite relatively unimportant scenes and rehash characterization more than would ever be necessary. And dear lord the copyediting is dire. The book has lots of typos, misused homophones, and I think even some misplaced character names. It's never enough to really gently caress anything up, but those combined with people talking in dumb dialects is making it very hard for me to get through. I can't remember the last time I dropped a series on the last book but this might be one that I just won't get through.
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Mar 3, 2022 20:14
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StrixNebulosa posted:I'm not going to lie. There is something powerfully comforting about reading a monarchy or similar "one strong leader on top" where things get done and it's presented as a good thing. Like - I know it's a lie. I know it's not good or stable (succession is a jerk), but it's such a nice fantasy. I get the same vibe from watching West Wing where wow, everyone in charge is educated and knows what they're doing. I'd like to live in those worlds, instead of this one. You aren't allowed to like that sort of thing anymore. 
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Mar 3, 2022 20:21
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tokenbrownguy posted:idk about "hopepunk" or w/e but I could use some more chill and humanistic books ala Becky Chambers A Woman of the Iron People is good chill anthropological sci-fi
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Mar 3, 2022 20:31
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tokenbrownguy posted:idk about "hopepunk" or w/e but I could use some more chill and humanistic books ala Becky Chambers Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell might be up your alley. Space Opera that's actually just a gay romance in space trappings. Probably my favorite book of last year May not qualify as completely chill because of a depiction of abuse? Definitely humanistic though.
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Mar 3, 2022 20:38
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tokenbrownguy posted:Legends & Lattes StrixNebulosa posted:I'm not going to lie. There is something powerfully comforting about reading a monarchy or similar "one strong leader on top" where things get done and it's presented as a good thing. Like - I know it's a lie. I know it's not good or stable (succession is a jerk), but it's such a nice fantasy. I get the same vibe from watching West Wing where wow, everyone in charge is educated and knows what they're doing. I'd like to live in those worlds, instead of this one. Yeah, I understand the idea and allure (and thus why is it so common in scifi/fantasy due to nerd power fantasies) but in reality is has just done immeasurable harm to the planet and will continue to do so. Heinlein loved it so much he used it all the time, even claiming fear of political assassination would keep the rulers in line. Then he filled his fiction with immortal ubermensch self-inserts for whom being killed would just be a slight annoyance before they go on a trip to bang another relative. The best explanation I've seen is the Big Daddy/Mommy thing is how a toddler reacts, Mommy and Daddy are good, thus anyone who disagrees is just wrong and bad. It doesn't matter why. When you get older, you realize that Mom and Dad are human beings with real flaws and probably deserve help/criticism/therapy/whatever. Problem is that too many people are stuck in toddler mode, and the entire system (politics, capitalism, religion, dictatorships, etc) is built up to encourage it. It's just too hard to have good fun when the ghouls keep ruining it. Please note I am not trying to accuse you of toddler thinking at all and understand you are just being honest, I rewrote this like five times to try not to be insulting but may have still failed
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Mar 3, 2022 20:49
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Tars Tarkas posted:Like everyone I ordered that based on the cover alone (and the cheap price), the author wrote this big breakdown of self-publishing based on his experience which was interesting for a behind the scenes thing - https://medium.com/@travisbaldree/self-published-book-launch-a-z-39ec6f9257e1 No, I absolutely get it. As I keep saying, it's okay to like problematic things as long as you know how and why they're problematic and don't perpetuate those things in the real world.
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Mar 3, 2022 21:14
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tokenbrownguy posted:idk about "hopepunk" or w/e but I could use some more chill and humanistic books ala Becky Chambers healer's road, the earthcent series by e. m. foner
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Mar 3, 2022 21:20
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Just a heads up to let you know The Broken Room by Peter clines slaps. Started it last night, finished it today. Lil weird in parts but overall a great book. You don't need to have read any of his other works. This book is self-contained, and just has a few minor cameos for things that you might recognize from other books. Stupid_Sexy_Flander fucked around with this message at 23:00 on Mar 3, 2022 |
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Mar 3, 2022 21:28
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tokenbrownguy posted:idk about "hopepunk" or w/e but I could use some more chill and humanistic books ala Becky Chambers I think it's been a while since it last came up by maybe the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire? The books are varying levels of interconnected, but they mostly center around a boarding school for kids who were sucked into various portal dimensions and then got sent back to the 'real' world (some by choice, many not, and most want to go back to their portal worlds). They get a little dark sometimes, but I think there's a sort of Chambers-esque humanism underlying them that keeps them mostly optimistic, or at 'worst,' bittersweet (they're also all very quick novellas for what that's worth).
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Mar 3, 2022 21:36
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Tars Tarkas posted:Like everyone I ordered that based on the cover alone (and the cheap price), the author wrote this big breakdown of self-publishing based on his experience which was interesting for a behind the scenes thing - https://medium.com/@travisbaldree/self-published-book-launch-a-z-39ec6f9257e1 Dude’s also a game developer, I wish I had professional level talent in that many different areas.
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Mar 3, 2022 22:01
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