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Stop fighting it Greg
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May 18, 2023 12:27
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he's not dead, The Sourcerer is just miffed because Mr. Egan was supposed to meet for an interview half an hour ago
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May 18, 2023 17:06
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These authors keep defying the thread title, it's quite disrespectful.
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May 18, 2023 17:37
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Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBJCJE/ The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K Dick - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LVR6C8/
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May 18, 2023 22:48
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pradmer posted:Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - $1.99 The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is such a wild book, a very Philip K Dick experience.
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May 18, 2023 22:56
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Chainclaw posted:The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is such a wild book, a very Philip K Dick experience. It's an absolute GOAT title, too
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May 19, 2023 00:14
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Did you get to the part where they find a can of coke yet?
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May 19, 2023 06:35
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I don't have search. Can someone give me a link to the recent chatter in this thread about Blindsight by Peter Watts? I think it was a month or two ago?
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May 19, 2023 07:51
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ccubed posted:I don't have search. Can someone give me a link to the recent chatter in this thread about Blindsight by Peter Watts? I think it was a month or two ago? 690s
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May 19, 2023 08:37
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Let me recommend The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah to everybody. Just an incredible story, well written and a great setting. The authors handles the mysteries and the foreshadowing of these extremely well. The interaction of the 4 travelers is another positive as well, with none of them being able to trust the others. Easily the best fantasy books I've read in a long time. The drawback is that it's only the first book of a trilogy. The second book is apparently scheduled for November 2023. Some other quick reviews of the fantasy books I read this year: - The Black Coast -> cool idea(s), but the execution was a bit too slow for my tastes and the different stories don't interact well. - An Unkindness of Magicians -> a book that I really enjoyed but not sure whether I'll read the sequel. The setting reminded me of Naomi's Novik's scholomance trilogy, but without the quirky protagonist and the romance. - The Curse of Mistwraith -> as I mentioned in the specific thread I liked the first half but hated the last part so much I won't continue this. - Small Miracles -> SPFBO 2023 winner. I loved it as well, despite it being different from what I expected. It's a very whimsical, funny, uplifting story. - Tuyo -> Eh, didn't like it much, too predictable and contrived. - Nettle & Bone -> Great, nice self contained story with a good dog. - Aching God -> Good, I understand why some people rave about this, but not entirely my cup of tea. - The Tombs of Atuan -> It's Ursula Le Guin, of course it's great. An example of a well written fantasy book. - Into The Labyrinth (+ sequels) -> I enjoyed this enough that I read all books in this mage errant series. This is something I'd recommend to people who like stuff like Cradle. - Shadow and Bone -> Eh, didn't like it much. Still ended up reading the second book in the series, but that's about it.
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May 19, 2023 21:26
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Solaris ever explain why the robots were in storage aside from the ones in the docking bay. I assume because of the guests presence, but I must've missed the specifics.
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May 20, 2023 06:02
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fez_machine posted:It's only getting started, Diaspora has a lot of ideas Christ you weren't kidding. That was....something. Honestly the ending was pretty anti-climactic though. Would have preferred something different but overall it was a good read. I haven't read anything that out there in a while so it was refreshing. What other Greg Egan books do y'all recommend?
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May 20, 2023 19:06
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NmareBfly posted:No audio book for ship of fools, darn. Maybe stars are legion? Oh what's this? Ahh, Stars Are Legion   Hurley's stuff is always a)very queer b)very violent
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May 20, 2023 19:33
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D-Pad posted:Christ you weren't kidding. That was....something. Honestly the ending was pretty anti-climactic though. Would have preferred something different but overall it was a good read. I haven't read anything that out there in a while so it was refreshing. What other Greg Egan books do y'all recommend? The Best of Greg Egan is a really good overview of his short works.
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May 20, 2023 21:42
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Quarantine is my favorite of his earlier novels - not so extreme with the physics, but still out-there. I recommend his story collection Axiomatic, as it contains my favorite short of his, “The Safe-Deposit Box.”
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May 21, 2023 02:17
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If I wanted to read the Mabinogion and whatever the definitive collection of Irish mythology is, whose translations into English should I be looking at?
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May 21, 2023 02:55
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Kestral posted:If I wanted to read the Mabinogion and whatever the definitive collection of Irish mythology is, whose translations into English should I be looking at? Lady Gregory's Complete Irish Mythology, the one with the introduction by W.B. Yeats. A quick google tells me that it's quite expensive for no good reason though so you might want to get the volumes separately, as it's a compilation of her two books "Gods and Fighting Men" and "Cuchulain of Muirthemne." https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/index.htm is also a good place to start looking. I'm not sure which translation of the Mabinogion is best. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 05:22 on May 21, 2023 |
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May 21, 2023 05:20
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Kestral posted:If I wanted to read the Mabinogion and whatever the definitive collection of Irish mythology is, whose translations into English should I be looking at? Back when I was studying Medieval Welsh for electives in grad school (I needed fun classes), I used the Penguin Classic as both my crib and for reading the rest of the texts that we weren't covering in the classes. Granted, this was decades ago and I haven't kept up, so I can't say whether better is on the market these days, but IIRC our prof recommended that edition.
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May 21, 2023 07:04
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Kestral posted:If I wanted to read the Mabinogion and whatever the definitive collection of Irish mythology is, whose translations into English should I be looking at? Lady Gregory’s collection is effectively the definitive collection of Irish mythology and is freely available online through the likes of Gutenberg. The recent print editions by New Island are very nice but as HA said, not cheap depending on where you’re getting them. That said, she was writing at a particular time and in a particular context so while these are the versions of the story most 20th c. discussion of the myths refers to, they’re a bit sanitised. No discussion of Cu Chulain literally squeezing the poo poo out of a guy in a bear hug (though this guy recovered and was one of the very few to face him and live) or of how one of the notable attributes of the Dagda, the chief god, being his short tunic and huge hairy rear end. Moreover her style is… it’s weird. It’s extremely flowery Victorian, which can come off as attractively stiff and arch sometimes in a Jack Vance way, but also trying for a certain kind of Irish voice. Sometimes that works, sometimes it strays into an elaborate stage Irishness. She was (upper class Protestant ascendency) Irish herself but it came from trying to write in the voice of the pure noble-hearted romantic rural Gael, or whatever. The kind of approach Synge and O’Brien parodied later. The best approach would be to try out one of the free online versions and see if her style works for you. Otherwise, you might find Over Nine Waves better, by Marie Heaney, wife of Seamus and a notable editor in her own right. It was consciously trying to be an update to Gregory as a ‘go to’ collection and it’s a lot more readable imo, if a bit stripped down.
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May 21, 2023 09:14
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I agree with Lady Gregory and the Penguin Classics version of the Mabinogion. Evangeline Walton's adaptations of the four main books of the Mabinogion (Prince of Annwn, The Children of Llyr, The Song of Rhiannon, The Island of the Mighty) are excellent and worth seeking out, but they're novelizations, not direct translations.
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May 21, 2023 15:32
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Penguin Classics in general are really solid. If I'm ever reading something that wasn't originally written in English, I'll see if I can get a Penguin Classics first.
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May 21, 2023 15:43
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Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004M8SR2O/ Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MZV3TMJ/
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May 21, 2023 17:28
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D-Pad posted:Christ you weren't kidding. That was....something. Honestly the ending was pretty anti-climactic though. Would have preferred something different but overall it was a good read. I haven't read anything that out there in a while so it was refreshing. What other Greg Egan books do y'all recommend? Permutation City, and Distress
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May 21, 2023 17:36
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Penguin Classics Mabinogion it is! Checked out the Lady Gregory version on Gutenberg and the style works great for me: Gods and Fighting Men posted:It was in a mist the Tuatha de Danaan, the people of the gods of Dana, or as some called them, the Men of Dea, came through the air and the high air to Ireland. Hell yeah. I'm a Silmarillion / Lord of Light guy, give me all of this. That said, re: what GhastlyBizness said about sanitization -- GhastlyBizness posted:That said, she was writing at a particular time and in a particular context so while these are the versions of the story most 20th c. discussion of the myths refers to, they’re a bit sanitised. No discussion of Cu Chulain literally squeezing the poo poo out of a guy in a bear hug (though this guy recovered and was one of the very few to face him and live) or of how one of the notable attributes of the Dagda, the chief god, being his short tunic and huge hairy rear end. Are there go-to texts for getting the least-sanitized versions possible? I dearly love the parts of mythology and folklore that are just bizarre to modern sensibilities, and part of my interest in Irish mythology in particular is that from what little I know of it, it seems chock-full of that stuff! I'd love to get as much of the Old Weirdness as possible. Does Over Nine Waves fit with that, or should I be looking elsewhere?
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May 21, 2023 21:03
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Julian May's exiles series is basically "what if Celtic mythology but psychic space elves' and it's utterly bonkers and a lot of fun. The many colored land is the first one if you want to look it up.
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May 21, 2023 21:39
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GhastlyBizness posted:Lady Gregory’s collection is effectively the definitive collection of Irish mythology and is freely available online through the likes of Gutenberg. The recent print editions by New Island are very nice but as HA said, not cheap depending on where you’re getting them. Sounds like I need a copy of Over Nine Waves. I'm a big fan of Evangeline Walton's re-imagining also.
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May 21, 2023 21:40
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sebmojo posted:Julian May's exiles series is basically "what if Celtic mythology but psychic space elves' and it's utterly bonkers and a lot of fun. The many colored land is the first one if you want to look it up. (it's actually pretty good but I bought it mostly ironically expecting to hate it) (also that was a drat strong year, the slate was that, Downbelow Station (won), Claw of the Conciliator, Project Pope (which is funny if not actively great), and some book I've never heard of called Little, Big) mdemone posted:Permutation City, and Distress
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May 21, 2023 21:43
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DACK FAYDEN posted:…and some book I've never heard of called Little, Big Wow, this gave me flashbacks just seeing the title! I’ve read this but only have vague memories of a magical realism type book.
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May 21, 2023 21:51
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Yeah that whole series is an extremely good time albeit with a number of uh problematic elements to 2023 eyes
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May 21, 2023 21:53
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newts posted:Wow, this gave me flashbacks just seeing the title! I’ve read this but only have vague memories of a magical realism type book. It’s about faeries in the classic sense and is incredibly well written. LeGuin tier prose.
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May 21, 2023 22:06
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Kestral posted:Are there go-to texts for getting the least-sanitized versions possible? I dearly love the parts of mythology and folklore that are just bizarre to modern sensibilities, and part of my interest in Irish mythology in particular is that from what little I know of it, it seems chock-full of that stuff! I'd love to get as much of the Old Weirdness as possible. Does Over Nine Waves fit with that, or should I be looking elsewhere? Eh, kind of? It doesn’t completely gloss over it but it’s sort of matter of fact. Completely get what you mean about that weirdness though. You might like ‘Ireland’s Immortals’, it’s more of a study of the history of how Irish mythology has been thought of and interpreted over the centuries, and touches on the weirdness. You might also like Ciaran Carson’s penguin classics translation of the Táin, keeps in all the black humour and ultraviolence. Also there’s a bit where the footnotes discuss the homoerotic qualities of the relationship between friends/bedmates/deadly rivals Cu Chulainn and Ferdia. Cu Chulainn’s famous spear is the Gae Bolg and the translator muses on how, in the context, perhaps it could be considered more of a “Gay Bulge”, if u will
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May 21, 2023 23:02
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Finished up Drew Hayes posthumous education, the latest book in the Fred series. Had no idea it had even come out. Good read though. Read like a whole book instead of the multiple short story feel some of his books have.
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May 22, 2023 00:08
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DACK FAYDEN posted:Little, Big Little, Big owns John Crowley is a very good writer
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May 22, 2023 02:05
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GhastlyBizness posted:Eh, kind of? It doesn’t completely gloss over it but it’s sort of matter of fact. Completely get what you mean about that weirdness though. You might like ‘Ireland’s Immortals’, it’s more of a study of the history of how Irish mythology has been thought of and interpreted over the centuries, and touches on the weirdness. I'm sold on both of these, but since I especially love access to translator notes and also black humor, ultraviolence, and gay bulges, I'm extra-sold on Carson's version. Thanks!
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May 22, 2023 03:17
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Kestral posted:Penguin Classics Mabinogion it is! If you don't mind graphic novels and you don't mind playing fast and loose with the material, check out Slaine by Pat Mills. It's original stories set against the backdrop of both Irish and Welsh mythology, which it quotes frequently. There's nothing quite as weird as the harper who called his instrument to him in battle and it slew seven men as it came (and he thought it not too many), but it's really good stuff.
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May 22, 2023 10:40
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fez_machine posted:Little, Big owns The name rang a bell so I looked him up and he wrote Engine Summer! I loving loved Engine Summer.
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May 22, 2023 11:11
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HopperUK posted:The name rang a bell so I looked him up and he wrote Engine Summer! I loving loved Engine Summer. I can put in a good word for his Aegypt books (The Solitudes, Love & Sleep, Daemonomania, Endless Things) as well.
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May 22, 2023 12:17
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well I accidentally found myself a bunch of recommendations with that post then 
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May 22, 2023 12:24
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At this point nobody probably cares anymore but Patrick Rothfuss has a new book coming out. No, of course it’s not the Kingkiller Chronicles sequel but yet another side character spinoff.
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May 22, 2023 15:29
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Started Eon by Greg Bear for the first time and the Naderite reveal was *chef's kiss* Got a big chuckle out of me.
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May 22, 2023 15:42
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