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Darth Walrus posted:You read Legends and Lattes? That should scratch a little bit of your itch. Unfortunately, I've also read that one. Appreciate the rec though. Dawgstar posted:What's the power level progression like? Much more respectable than in most UF. Fred get power bumps occasionally but he fundamentally abhors violence and enjoys spreadsheets. The drama is never "can Fred beat this guy (with his vampire fists)?". Instead it's "can Fred beat this guy with Friendship, or maybe accounting?" torgeaux posted:I bounced hard off the initial incident in book one. Does it get better? The whole "secret group but I'll reveal them immediately" thing was so bad. I mean Fred just falling face first into some new secret society bullshit is like 75% of the stories.
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May 22, 2023 23:58
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tokenbrownguy posted:Much more respectable than in most UF. Fred get power bumps occasionally but he fundamentally abhors violence and enjoys spreadsheets. The drama is never "can Fred beat this guy (with his vampire fists)?". Instead it's "can Fred beat this guy with Friendship, or maybe accounting?" I'm a fan of how flabbergasted everyone is when they find out that "yes Fred does just want to make sure you are paying *exactly* what you are supposed to pay, and not a cent more, and actually you've been paying like three times more than you need to be paying, and if you change these few things you'd be paying even less".
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May 23, 2023 01:22
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immoral_ posted:I'm a fan of how flabbergasted everyone is when they find out that "yes Fred does just want to make sure you are paying *exactly* what you are supposed to pay, and not a cent more, and actually you've been paying like three times more than you need to be paying, and if you change these few things you'd be paying even less". Fred wants to do a good job at his job of being an accountant and otherwise would prefer to be left to live and enjoy his unlife in peace. Unfortunately Fred lives in an urban fantasy world filled with ruthless, manipulative assholes. Because Fred is nota ruthless manipulative rear end in a top hat encounters with other beings often redound to his favor. He's not personally powerful, but he's been slowly gaining friendships and alliances with a lot of extremely powerful/influential beings. On other UF fronts, I finally read Jim Butcher's The Law. The editing was a lot better than in the previous two books (especially 16). Maybe because the story was shorter or maybe he has an actual editor now. Presumably we'll find out for sure when The Olympian Affair drops in November. I kind of liked the story some. It was interesting that Butcher put Dresden in a situation where he couldn't/wouldn't blast/shoot/punch his way out of it. Dresden continues to at least mildly improve in terms of objectifying women. Dresden's client is a private tutor who was a former sex worker and he writes her as a person of courage, compassion and dignity so that was nice.
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Jun 4, 2023 18:24
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Everyone posted:
Somehow I'd missed that this came out. And yeah, it seemed . . . fine. Which for Dresden is an improvement. Doesn't solve the "newer authors are doing this better now" issue but I've certainly read worse.
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Jun 5, 2023 02:05
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Somehow I'd missed that this came out. And yeah, it seemed . . . fine. Which for Dresden is an improvement. Doesn't solve the "newer authors are doing this better now" issue but I've certainly read worse. The overall story was, like you said "fine." The main thing that annoyed me was the bit toward the end with the meeting. Tripp's problem aside from his odious personality was that he owed a poo poo-ton of money to the St. Louis mob. Said mob will kill his rear end if they aren't repaid. Tripp is "one of Marcone's" and under his protection. Why not just have Dresden and Marcone agree that Marcone will negotiate more favorable repayment terms with the St. Louis mob if Tripp drops the suit? Dresden actually offers something like this to Tripp earlier in the book, but Tripp doesn't believe in magic and so blows him off. I don't know the actual ending felt like everybody involved just picked up idiot balls.
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Jun 5, 2023 04:36
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Everyone posted:
That's fair, especially for Dresden himself. Overall I liked the story though, primarily because he'd clearly talked to an actual lawyer at some point while writing it, and more importantly because Tripp was a fairly realistic portrayal of a criminal for a change. No super gentleman just an extraordinarily stupid arrogant rear end in a top hat, too dumb to take yes for an answer.
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Jun 5, 2023 05:16
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:That's fair, especially for Dresden himself. Overall I liked the story though, primarily because he'd clearly talked to an actual lawyer at some point while writing it, and more importantly because Tripp was a fairly realistic portrayal of a criminal for a change. No super gentleman just an extraordinarily stupid arrogant rear end in a top hat, too dumb to take yes for an answer. Tripp's characterization was good. I like that you can see why Marcone keeps him on and is willing to protect him from Dresden. That bit of "If you're gonna beat my rear end, then get on with it and beat my rear end, but I'm still not changing my mind about the lawsuit." He's a stubborn rear end in a top hat but there's a kind of bravery to it. I can kind of get where Tripp was coming from. Underneath his misogyny, the suit was his only hope to pay off the St. Louis mob and avoid them killing him. It's a false hope, but no one credible to him offered anything else. That's why I felt like Marcone, especially, got the idiot ball. The agreement for a "fair play" lawsuit is stupid because even if Tripp wins, there is no money at the end of this. Even if a judge awards Tripp $1 million from the school or whatever, the tutoring business doesn't have it and can't get it. The sane move is: Tripp's lawyer brings in a forensic accountant to go over the school's books to prove there's no money there. Marcone then buys Tripp's marker from the St. Louis mob so they don't kill Tripp and start a gang war. Additional idiot ball to Dresden for not intervening to save Tripp at the end because even if he despises Tripp, letting the St. Louis mob take him will require Marcone to retaliate and now there's a mob war where innocent people will likely die.
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Jun 5, 2023 06:37
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Everyone posted:Tripp's characterization was good. I like that you can see why Marcone keeps him on and is willing to protect him from Dresden. That bit of "If you're gonna beat my rear end, then get on with it and beat my rear end, but I'm still not changing my mind about the lawsuit." He's a stubborn rear end in a top hat but there's a kind of bravery to it. Story actually calls it out when Dresden interviews Tripp's cell mate and asks if Marcone would object to St Louis killing Tripp - "Always more pimps, boss. Mr. Marcone likes discretion. Long as St. Louis did it discreet, he wouldn't care. Just business." Marcone obviously wasn't FOND of Tripp, he just supported the guy because it's what was expected in return for what loyalty Tripp offered. If Tripp got himself in lethal trouble (by working with competitors, to boot), that's pretty much his problem unless the St Louis guys were so sloppy it became effectively a public challenge of Marcone's authority, and a bunch of guys quietly hustling him into a car to mysteriously vanish is certainly not a public challenge. Besides, he'd proved to be major headache enough for Marcone by that point. MadDogMike fucked around with this message at 08:05 on Jun 7, 2023 |
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Jun 7, 2023 08:01
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MadDogMike posted:Story actually calls it out when Dresden interviews Tripp's cell mate and asks if Marcone would object to St Louis killing Tripp - "Always more pimps, boss. Mr. Marcone likes discretion. Long as St. Louis did it discreet, he wouldn't care. Just business." Marcone obviously wasn't FOND of Tripp, he just supported the guy because it's what was expected in return for what loyalty Tripp offered. If Tripp got himself in lethal trouble (by working with competitors, to boot), that's pretty much his problem unless the St Louis guys were so sloppy it became effectively a public challenge of Marcone's authority, and a bunch of guys quietly hustling him into a car to mysteriously vanish is certainly not a public challenge. Besides, he'd proved to be major headache enough for Marcone by that point. Ah, okay, that's fair enough. I guess I just missed/forgot about that part.
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Jun 7, 2023 11:14
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I just finished up the Alex Verus series after two weeks of speed reading. What a fun ride. I really wish we could have seen more Chance magic though. After that encounter with Chalice where she has Alex randomly draw out the street address he was looking for, it sounded like had a lot of fun potential. Looks like the author has an entirely new series coming out in a few months.
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Jun 25, 2023 06:04
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Hughmoris posted:I just finished up the Alex Verus series after two weeks of speed reading. What a fun ride. I really hope it goes bad for him!
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Jul 1, 2023 09:25
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Uh, any particular reason for that?
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Jul 3, 2023 02:18
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Congrats to CaptainCrunch for All In being published. I just ordered the paperback.
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Jul 4, 2023 20:17
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Everyone posted:Congrats to CaptainCrunch for All In being published. I just ordered the paperback. Wait... we have a published Goon author lurking about?
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Jul 4, 2023 20:30
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Hughmoris posted:Wait... we have a published Goon author lurking about? Well, published as of literally today. Also self-pubbed, so perhaps it doesn't count for everyone's sensibilities. But, if you like vampires, shapeshifters, and Las Vegas, then the link Everyone posted might entertain you.
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Jul 4, 2023 20:39
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CaptainCrunch posted:Well, published as of literally today. Also self-pubbed, so perhaps it doesn't count for everyone's sensibilities. That's awesome, congratulations! *A clueless question: what's the process that goes into choosing the cover art, or having it commissioned?
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Jul 4, 2023 20:42
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Hughmoris posted:That's awesome, congratulations! The first step is to look at the other books in your genre. See what sort of tropes and styles are common to the most popular titles. With that in mind, you track down a designer/illustrator who works in that style. Fiverr is a morass of low effort providers with a few gems, Reedsy has a decent marketplace and there are a bunch of folks with their own independent websites. Once you fine one, you give them a laundry list of info about the book. Character profiles, plot synopsis, locations, key props, that sort of thing. While fantasy and sci-fi books often still get illustrated covers, most everything else gets stock photos with differing levels of manipulation/combining to create a cover image. The designer will use the info you provided to generate a few rough drafts, you pick one, and they refine from there. Fellow goon author Leng posted about Damonza.com a while back and I gave them a go. They did a decent job with mine. However the owner has decided he's going All In on generative AI going forward, so I might be jumping ship for a different designer.
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Jul 4, 2023 20:53
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Hughmoris posted:Wait... we have a published Goon author lurking about? We actually have a few, though not necessarily in Urban Fantasy. Leng gave us Petition General Battuta has given us the excellent Baru Cormorant series.
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Jul 4, 2023 21:05
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Mine is an urban fantasy, but it is also very, very gay (less necromancy, more gay sex). And was actually free on Amazon until today.
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Jul 4, 2023 23:11
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Mine isn’t published yet but I have high hopes
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Jul 4, 2023 23:39
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I've had Beau Cormorant in my kindle ready to be read for a while now, I don't think I realized it was goon authored.
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Jul 4, 2023 23:50
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CaptainCrunch posted:The first step is to look at the other books in your genre. See what sort of tropes and styles are common to the most popular titles. Thanks for the insight!
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Jul 5, 2023 00:19
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Hughmoris posted:Wait... we have a published Goon author lurking about? Everyone posted:We actually have a few, though not necessarily in Urban Fantasy. Most of us hang out in the main SFF thread. In addition to the others already mentioned: SurreptitiousMuffin wrote The Dawnhounds, which got a rave review from Tamsyn Muir and sequel is coming next year (I think it qualifies as epic urban fantasy?): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1982187050 This is an amazing short story that defies classification. Hyperactive posted:I should probably mention my day job is writing Atomic Robo, a sci-fi adventure comic that is one of the longest running creator owned series in print (but also the whole thing is free online) and it's been critically acclaimed the whole time. TLDR my new book is a fairly safe bet. I beta read this! Not YA and no romance, just a good old fashion wizard adventure. Classic wizard adventure fantasy. FightingMongoose posted:Time for some shameless self-promotion, my urban fantasy Unit 13: Only Ghouls and Horses is on KU. newts posted:Mine is an urban fantasy, but it is also very, very gay (less necromancy, more gay sex). And was actually free on Amazon until today. newts is also in my writing group and has two other books out: newts posted:My urban fantasy adjacent (maybe urban science fantasy?) The Night City https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KP5NVZ1 And another from my writing group, if you like space opera: Dream Weaver posted:I released my ebook on Kindle Unlimited this week, my writing group said you guys might enjoy this one: And the latest debut, on Royal Road: Milkfred E. Moore posted:In Sekhmet's Shadow. SimonChris posted:https://amazingstories.com/2023/06/every-quiver-of-each-of-them-by-simon-christiansen-free-story/ SimonChris posted:
That's everybody I know of, I think. (Apologies if I forgot anyone! There are others that I know of but who haven't posted links to their works under their SA account.) M_Gargantua posted:I've had Beau Cormorant in my kindle ready to be read for a while now, I don't think I realized it was goon authored. Leng posted:I have now finished a reread of Baru 2 and I want to say two things: Leng fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Jul 6, 2023 |
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Jul 5, 2023 10:52
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Andy McDermott used to post back in the day, but I dunno if he is still active on the forums. And there were a lot of writer goons in the self-published erotica threads.
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Jul 5, 2023 11:05
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wheatpuppy posted:Andy McDermott used to post back in the day, but I dunno if he is still active on the forums. And there were a lot of writer goons in the self-published erotica threads. This early in the morning I read that as Andie MacDowell and was really confused for a moment.
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Jul 5, 2023 13:21
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Can't fault them. A life of peddling poor-quality erotica does occasionally yield upholstery money.
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Jul 5, 2023 15:22
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Leng that's a really good post, wonder if we could get goonbooks into the op of some stickied thread for easy edit/linking
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Jul 5, 2023 15:39
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I finished up The Laundry Files book 5. The first 4 books were mostly enjoyable, but book 5 feels like a jumping the shark moment. Idk if I want to continue reading the series.
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Jul 5, 2023 16:47
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silvergoose posted:Leng that's a really good post, wonder if we could get goonbooks into the op of some stickied thread for easy edit/linking Strong agree.
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Jul 5, 2023 17:29
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Mr Hootington posted:I finished up The Laundry Files book 5. The first 4 books were mostly enjoyable, but book 5 feels like a jumping the shark moment. Idk if I want to continue reading the series. Well if you didn't like 5, pretty sure you're not going to like book 6. Probably a good time to tap out.
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Jul 5, 2023 18:00
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wheatpuppy posted:Andy McDermott used to post back in the day, but I dunno if he is still active on the forums. And there were a lot of writer goons in the self-published erotica threads. Yup! He posts a lot in Trad Games and wrote a pretty good Basic D&D clone.
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Jul 9, 2023 01:48
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Thanks for recommending the Fred the Vampire books, thread. There was no good option to follow listening to the Lock Tomb books, but these are a nice twist on standard urban fantasy and I dug how it was more a set of linked short stories. Really gave me a monster of the week vibe. Weird thing was, audible had the third book as a graphic audio performance, (which as a Deathlands fan, I loved) but the fourth book is back to standard narration.
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Jul 10, 2023 01:56
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Soonmot posted:Thanks for recommending the Fred the Vampire books, thread. There was no good option to follow listening to the Lock Tomb books, but these are a nice twist on standard urban fantasy and I dug how it was more a set of linked short stories. Really gave me a monster of the week vibe. It looks like they have all of them as Graphic Audio, you just have to choose them specifically. I know Audible can be spotty as to which of them they actually carry.
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Jul 10, 2023 02:53
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Graphic Audios don't work for me, they always have some portions of the audio mixed in a way that just jumbles it up and I have no idea what's going on. Kirby Heyborne is an amazing narrator though.
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Jul 10, 2023 05:12
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Mr Hootington posted:I finished up The Laundry Files book 5. The first 4 books were mostly enjoyable, but book 5 feels like a jumping the shark moment. Idk if I want to continue reading the series. It's a definite tone-shift for the series, and it's where things start to accelerate towards the Big Horrible Thing that's been looming over the series since the first mention of just what the Laundry is guarding against and the oncoming horror of Case Nightmare Green. Book 5 is the first wake-up call that things are really kicking off.. While I personally enjoyed the book and the rest of the series as well, I recognize that it's definitely not for everyone.
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Jul 10, 2023 06:11
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I mean the sad thing in Laundry is that Nightmare Green turned out not to be unknowable cosmic horror dismantling reality, but rather a series of invasions by nerd culture riffs. Here are the elves! Here are the vampires! Here are the superheroes!
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Jul 10, 2023 07:44
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Strategic Tea posted:I mean the sad thing in Laundry is that Nightmare Green turned out not to be unknowable cosmic horror dismantling reality, but rather a series of invasions by nerd culture riffs. I mean, yes. Which is why I absolutely get why a lot of people bounced off after Rhesus Chart. That said, I found the deconstruction of the various entities in question interesting in their own right. That said, it's still early days for Nightmare Green, as Stross has taken pains to point out, and already we have Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep in control of the US and UK respectively. So for all the pop- and nerd-culture riffing, the series has now shifted in focus to riding out Nightmare Green - which is going to get still worse, and apparently wasn't preventable at all - by any means necessary. Which, to my mind, is a bit more interesting than having the series end on 'The Elder Ones rise, everyone dies', though I get why people can wish he'd have stuck to his guns. Still, I understand why people find it underwhelming, and I'm not going to blame anyone for stopping after book five or six.
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Jul 10, 2023 10:48
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TLM3101 posted:I mean, yes. Which is why I absolutely get why a lot of people bounced off after Rhesus Chart. That said, I found the deconstruction of the various entities in question interesting in their own right. That said, it's still early days for Nightmare Green, as Stross has taken pains to point out, and already we have Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep in control of the US and UK respectively. So for all the pop- and nerd-culture riffing, the series has now shifted in focus to riding out Nightmare Green - which is going to get still worse, and apparently wasn't preventable at all - by any means necessary. Which, to my mind, is a bit more interesting than having the series end on 'The Elder Ones rise, everyone dies', though I get why people can wish he'd have stuck to his guns. I don't think it needed to be everyone dies but it could have been more creative. Go Magnus Archives on it
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Jul 10, 2023 14:36
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ImpAtom posted:I don't think it needed to be everyone dies but it could have been more creative. Go Magnus Archives on it I enjoyed them up to The Labryinth Index, but the 'New Managment' trilogy completely failed to grip me. I read the first one and it was alright, but I've had the second one sitting unread on my tablet for months now.
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Jul 10, 2023 17:48
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Even the bad Laundry books have cool moments. I liked the duel between Angleton and the max level vampire. The scene with the Secret Service agent and the gimp suit guys in the Wal Mart in Labyrinth Index was also cool. That was the last one I read. I liked the overall setting progression and changes, rather than kicking the can down the road endlessly like most apocalyptic settings do. I just didn't think the actual novels were that good after Apocalypse Codex.
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Jul 10, 2023 23:02
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