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Djeser posted:My personal favorite vaguely ancient Egypt-related fantasy novel is Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates, which is about a time-travel tourist trip to 1800's London that goes wrong and then they're fighting evil sorcerer clowns who have to wear stilts because sorcery is moon magic so touching the earth hurts them. Eventually there's a big showdown in Egypt with the head sorcerer guy, who has to live in a giant sphere so he doesn't go flying off into space, because he's so moon-aligned that he's gravitationally bound to the Moon but not to Earth. It was a hellova romp, but I was a bit disappointed that the one ancient Egyptian curse he wrote out was mostly bullshit, cause it used just enough real ancient Egyptian words for me to pay attention, which made me try to translate it only to discover half the words were total nonsense and the few real words were barely used correctly But then I’m a big ‘ol nerd
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Jun 26, 2023 01:22
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Last Call (about poker) and Declare (about cold-war espionage) are excellent too.
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Jun 26, 2023 01:37
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The Lone Badger posted:Last Call (about poker) and Declare (about cold-war espionage) are excellent too. As long as we're naming them, I also enjoyed The Stress of Her Regard, about vampire muses vs Byron, Keats, and Percy Shelley, and Three Days to Never which is just weird as hell.
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Jun 26, 2023 01:56
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IShallRiseAgain posted:The best example is Rama II basically going, "Oh all those space colonies mentioned in the first book? They are no longer a thing and everybody just decided to move back to Earth." It couldn't be more blatant that the co-author needed the crutch of relying on the stereotypes of different nations and couldn't be bothered to adjust his writing to the setting. God, the Rama sequels were such complete trash. I'm struggling to think of another series which such a hard and fatal drop in quality after the first one. Maybe Jaws?
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Jun 26, 2023 02:41
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Was Jaws even any good in the first place? I thought it was on the usual list of dumb and bad books that got turned into great movies.
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Jun 26, 2023 02:42
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Byzantine posted:God, the Rama sequels were such complete trash. I'm struggling to think of another series which such a hard and fatal drop in quality after the first one. Maybe Jaws? Gentry Lee is a hack, and is one of those sf/f authors who is probably one of the most note-perfect examples of the sort of thing people complain about when they complain about sex in genre fiction. I'm pretty sure Clarke didn't contribute a drat thing to the sequels except his name on the cover. Captain Hygiene posted:Was Jaws even any good in the first place? I thought it was on the usual list of dumb and bad books that got turned into great movies. Good lord, no. Among other things there is a terminally long and boring subplot featuring Hooper having an affair with Brody's wife and Brody trying to figure out how much he resents him for it.
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Jun 26, 2023 03:41
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One time I picked up a book at Goodwill based on the title alone (Bigfoot and the Librarian). It was a romance where a librarian moves to a mysterious small town and it turns out that Bigfoot lives there. And the reason that nobody ever catches Bigfoot is that he is a ....were-Bigfoot? Shapeshifter? Not sure of the terminology.regarding shifting, the author posted:When the hair started to grow, it tickled. Then, for a few seconds, it actually hurt. His legs grew longer, and that hurt a little, too. He was accustomed to the pain, and did not mind it. When his penis drew entirely into his body it didn’t hurt, but the sensation was odd, like no other he had ever experienced I think about that specific scene a lot, for some reason. wheatpuppy has a new favorite as of 07:12 on Jun 26, 2023 |
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Jun 26, 2023 04:17
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Lemniscate Blue posted:Good lord, no. Among other things there is a terminally long and boring subplot featuring Hooper having an affair with Brody's wife and Brody trying to figure out how much he resents him for it. Also Ellen Brody tells Hooper about a fantasy she has of a Black handyman raping her. And the reason the mayor wants to keep the beach open is he's in deep with the mob and at one point some mobsters kill Brody's cat.
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Jun 26, 2023 16:54
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Byzantine posted:God, the Rama sequels were such complete trash. Lemniscate Blue posted:Gentry Lee is a hack, and is one of those sf/f authors who is probably one of the most note-perfect examples of the sort of thing people complain about when they complain about sex in genre fiction. I'm pretty sure Clarke didn't contribute a drat thing to the sequels except his name on the cover. liiiiiiterally so bad they made me start this thread
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Jun 26, 2023 19:07
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Rockman Reserve posted:liiiiiiterally so bad they made me start this thread Oh hey, look at that.
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Jun 26, 2023 19:53
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I went back to read the OP, and laughed when I saw The Dark Half was the other thing it called out. I have a huge soft spot for Stephen King, enough to cover a lot of his issues as a writer, but god that book sucks. I reread it recently for the first time in ages, and it felt like I was reading a completely different book than the one I had vague memories of. I was just rolling my eyes the entire time at how stupid and obvious it felt until I gave up, it feels very much like a book the folks who made Garth Merenghi's DARKPLACE had in mind when they made that show.
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Jun 26, 2023 23:01
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Captain Hygiene posted:I went back to read the OP, and laughed when I saw The Dark Half was the other thing it called out. I have a huge soft spot for Stephen King, enough to cover a lot of his issues as a writer, but god that book sucks. I reread it recently for the first time in ages, and it felt like I was reading a completely different book than the one I had vague memories of. I was just rolling my eyes the entire time at how stupid and obvious it felt until I gave up, it feels very much like a book the folks who made Garth Merenghi's DARKPLACE had in mind when they made that show. If you read Marenghi's recent book it gets an even more explicit callout there with the Dark Fractions!
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Jun 26, 2023 23:07
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Runcible Cat posted:If you read Marenghi's recent book it gets an even more explicit callout there with the Dark Fractions! Thanks for the reminder!  I kept forgetting to check that out, and I had audio credits that needed using. Already laughing at the author intro.
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Jun 26, 2023 23:23
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Captain Hygiene posted:Thanks for the reminder! I got the ebook and would love to know how the audiobook handles the “cut” sections
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Jun 26, 2023 23:45
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I read Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides shortly before reading Michael Crichton's Pirate Latitudes, which is similarly a quasi-historical pirate book, but is so much worse by almost every metric. It was a manuscript found on his computer after his death and man, it was not worth publishing. In Pirate Latitudes, there's one chapter from the point of view of a young teenage prostitute going "he he he I love having sex with old men because they give me money >:)". By contrast, even though On Stranger Tides has a weird pervert mind controlling the love interest to keep her imperiled, she's an adult and the climax of the book is her consenting to marriage. (Also, Assassin's Creed IV: The Pirate One is so clearly based off of On Stranger Tides that the plot of the game actually makes more sense if you know the plot of the book. They removed the love interest that's in the book, and tried to stuff in a bunch of assassin poo poo in its place. They filed enough of the numbers off that it's Guybrush Threepwood territory, but the writing team was definitely working with something in mind.)
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Jun 27, 2023 02:54
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Djeser posted:I read Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides shortly before reading Michael Crichton's Pirate Latitudes, which is similarly a quasi-historical pirate book, but is so much worse by almost every metric. It was a manuscript found on his computer after his death and man, it was not worth publishing. In Pirate Latitudes, there's one chapter from the point of view of a young teenage prostitute going "he he he I love having sex with old men because they give me money > I know this is the bad book thread, but The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is a really good historical fantasy pirate novel in the vein of Sinbad stories. A lot like Stranger Tides, but I ended up enjoying it a lot more for its Arabic middle-aged sick-of-poo poo lady pirate protagonist
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Jun 27, 2023 03:58
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Stuporstar posted:I know this is the bad book thread, but The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is a really good historical fantasy pirate novel in the vein of Sinbad stories. A lot like Stranger Tides, but I ended up enjoying it a lot more for its Arabic middle-aged sick-of-poo poo lady pirate protagonist I decided to grab this with my other audio credit and give it a chance. I haven't listened to much yet, but I thought it was funny given recent thread chat that it opens with "see the included pdf for a map and glossary" 
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Jun 29, 2023 02:59
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Jaws II is a pretty good novel, better than Benchley's original and way better than the film. It's based off an earlier script draft as is often the case with film novelizations and there's a lot of mafia stuff and Amity being a corrupt little shithole.
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Jun 29, 2023 05:08
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Captain Hygiene posted:I decided to grab this with my other audio credit and give it a chance. I haven't listened to much yet, but I thought it was funny given recent thread chat that it opens with "see the included pdf for a map and glossary" A map and glossary that aren’t even needed when it’s set in the Gulf of Aden and the terms are all Arabic—it’s easy enough to look that stuff up online. I appreciate stuff like that being there for whoever wants it thoughI used so much Egyptian Arabic in the novel I recently finished writing, I tried putting a glossary in the back and it swelled up to ridiculous proportions. I’m debating just scrapping the glossary after reading (the English translation of) Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, which was packed with Hindi and Hindi cultural references with no gloss, no footnotes, only inline translations for the lines of poetry people quoted. The rest—just look it up if you need to
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Jun 29, 2023 15:23
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The Lone Badger posted:Last Call (about poker) and Declare (about cold-war espionage) are excellent too. I loved Declare.
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Jun 29, 2023 17:53
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Groovelord Neato posted:And the reason the mayor wants to keep the beach open is he's in deep with the mob THIS, I feel, should have been kept for the film, because as is, it makes it look like the Mayor is just an absolute idiot who refuses to close the beaches even when a kid dies. Yes yes, politicians, but it can be difficult to apply RL stupidity to fiction without breaking the narrative.
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Jul 3, 2023 08:40
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Strategic Tea posted:It's the crest for one of the necromancer houses from Gideon the Ninth - here! https://www.muddycolors.com/2020/07/the-skulls-of-gideon-the-ninth/ The sequels make it pretty clear that all the meme references are not actually out of place because the God-Emperor and his OG cronies are literally a bunch of lovely chronically online millenials or Gen-Zers
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Jul 3, 2023 09:52
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Cornwind Evil posted:THIS, I feel, should have been kept for the film, because as is, it makes it look like the Mayor is just an absolute idiot who refuses to close the beaches even when a kid dies. Now I'm picturing a plot where the mobsters are the ones who go after the shark.
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Jul 3, 2023 10:37
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Ghost Leviathan posted:Way too many authors are just like that setting stories in unfamiliar locales, they go by stereotypes because that's pretty much all they have to go on. Some years ago I read this big SF/technothriller book by a German author (The Swarm by Frank Schätzing) and while the book as a whole was not terrible, the author chose to set some key scenes exactly where I grew up in rural/coastal Norway. And... let's say... I am pretty sure the author had some friends who'd been on holiday there and shown him some pictures (it's a popular holiday destination for Germans, especially if they like fishing) . Because he did a pretty good job describing the physical geography of the place, at least, I will give him that.
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Jul 3, 2023 12:14
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Nitpicking Kindle Unlimited books is probably unsporting, butquote:His expensive suit had been tailored well, probably by the best. It fit like a glove. 
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Jul 3, 2023 14:08
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Ghost Leviathan posted:Now I'm picturing a plot where the mobsters are the ones who go after the shark. "Lookit this mook! Biff! Right in the kisser!" "Tony you can't just punch a shark, ya gotta give it the 'poon!" "I ain't got a harpoon, boss, I got these haymakers!" "And I ain't talkin' harpoons ya numbnuts, I'm talkin' shark poon! Lady sharks, a dame! See what I'm gettin at?" "Saaaay, that's smooth, boss!" "Gotta be smoother than the shark, Nonna always said!"
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Jul 3, 2023 15:14
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Brawnfire posted:"Lookit this mook! Biff! Right in the kisser!" So would say that this shark is gonna end up... sleeping with the fishes? 
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Jul 3, 2023 16:09
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Asterite34 posted:So would say that this shark is gonna end up... sleeping with the fishes? But Paulie, sharks don't sleep.
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Jul 3, 2023 16:53
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He's gonna be sleepin with both eyes closed tonight!!!
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Jul 3, 2023 16:55
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Come to think of it that's basically a Yakuza plot. poo poo, Kiryu has canonically fought sharks.
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Jul 4, 2023 02:12
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Here's a classic from my collection I was reminded of while dusting my shelves today. I couldn't find the scene that involves edible panties while flipping through it to take a picture. Please excuse my terrible bony fingers.      (edit: added timg) Hellequin has a new favorite as of 23:10 on Jul 4, 2023 |
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Jul 4, 2023 19:51
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Stuporstar posted:The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi Just to re-follow-up, I finished this and liked it a lot, I would also recommend it. The main downside is that it's the first in a trilogy, but only came out this year so who knows when more will be published. Apparently it ties into the world of an existing trilogy by the same author (City of Brass and its sequels), so I guess I'll have to check those out next time I'm looking for a new book. Anyway, that's enough good books, back to Vampire Jesus and co.
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Jul 4, 2023 22:34
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Groke posted:The sequels make it pretty clear that all the meme references are not actually out of place because the God-Emperor and his OG cronies are literally a bunch of lovely chronically online millenials or Gen-Zers Like this one? “If I fought the Resurrection Beast I’d leave my Houses to die,” he said. “If I fought the Heralds, I might well go mad, which would be the same thing. So I’m shut in here—walled in, really—to prevent the Nine Houses becoming none House, with left grief.”
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Jul 5, 2023 00:24
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Oh poo poo, LaB! I thought you had left the forums! Nice to see you again!Captain Hygiene posted:Was Jaws even any good in the first place? I thought it was on the usual list of dumb and bad books that got turned into great movies. For another example of a book that was made into a WAY better movie, L.A. Confidential. The book was more reminiscent of American Psycho than anything by Dashiell Hammett.
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Jul 5, 2023 09:43
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Apropos of nothing, but Hammett was always better than Chandler.
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Jul 5, 2023 11:12
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Inspector Gesicht posted:Apropos of nothing, but Hammett was always better than Chandler. Hard disagree but I think they're doing different things anyway.
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Jul 5, 2023 11:15
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thepopmonster posted:Like this one? For example, yes. There's a Homestar Runner reference at one point. And so on.
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Jul 5, 2023 12:19
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This isn't anything new, but it popped up in my feed and made me laugh all over again: Great Moments in Historical Novel Research, when an author did some googling for dye ingredients and somehow wound up putting recipes from a Zelda game into their book   Makes me wonder what other dumb/blatant research fuckups have made their way to publication by other authors. Captain Hygiene has a new favorite as of 04:04 on Jul 6, 2023 |
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Jul 6, 2023 03:29
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Captain Hygiene posted:This isn't anything new, but it popped up in my feed and made me laugh all over again: Great Moments in Historical Novel Research, when an author did some googling for dye ingredients and somehow wound up putting recipes from a Zelda game into their book There was that one woman who wrote a book about (iirc) homosexuality being punishable by death in England. Only to find out, in a live interview after publication, that she had completely misunderstood the legal terminology she was quoting.
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Jul 6, 2023 03:47
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wheatpuppy posted:There was that one woman who wrote a book about (iirc) homosexuality being punishable by death in England. Only to find out, in a live interview after publication, that she had completely misunderstood the legal terminology she was quoting. Oh yeah, I remember that one too. There was some wording that was confusing if you accepted it at a cursory level without any further research, but I forget the exact details and my searches are way too vague to find that case.
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Jul 6, 2023 04:14
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