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genericnick posted:Could swear I've read them many years ago. Do they have swarms of terraform bugs? Fortress in the Eye of Time does not have swarms of terraform bugs, to my knowledge.
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 19:31 |
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# ? Jun 13, 2024 04:22 |
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I want to read more cherryh but I want them as audiobooks and my library only has like one of her books as an audiobook on overdrive. maybe I need to subscribe to audible again.
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 19:32 |
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Doktor Avalanche posted:there can also be a fake one invented by a german antisemitic christofascist lunatic and spread by the predictably complicit western media apparatus, conveniently resurrected in the last few weeks to counteract the public relations nightmare of the global hegemon's main ride-or-die partner being accused of genocide in international court gently caress off with the genocide denial thanks I can't even tell what this one is supposed to be.
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 19:59 |
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Strategic Tea posted:gently caress off with the genocide denial thanks
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 20:00 |
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Don't actually disagree on Zenz, but this is probably not the thread to have this argument.StrixNebulosa posted:Fortress in the Eye of Time does not have swarms of terraform bugs, to my knowledge. Ah, misquoted. I meant Hammerfall .
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 20:10 |
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Arsenic Lupin posted:A distinction without a difference. If you aren't into convention fandom, paying $45 for a convention you have no intention of attending is wasted money. Unless you want to have a Hugo vote. Which is probably worth $45 bucks considering you also get at least some of the nominees in digital format. Like, it's just a fact that a lot of people who never attended the cons bought membership so they could vote back during the sad puppies bullshit a decade ago.
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 20:17 |
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Doktor Avalanche posted:there can also be a fake one invented by a german antisemitic christofascist lunatic and spread by the predictably complicit western media apparatus, conveniently resurrected in the last few weeks to counteract the public relations nightmare of the global hegemon's main ride-or-die partner being accused of genocide in international court (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST) (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 20:26 |
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genericnick posted:Don't actually disagree on Zenz, but this is probably not the thread to have this argument. Well, I haven't read Hammerfall yet and now I really want to, because I LOVE bugs in sci-fi/fantasy.
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 20:26 |
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Strategic Tea posted:gently caress off with the genocide denial thanks i'm sorry you got bamboozled by the state department, do better (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 20:49 |
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Please gently caress off back to cspam with this poo poo.
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 20:52 |
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habeasdorkus posted:Please gently caress off back to cspam with this poo poo. no problem, as long as you gently caress off back to d&d/gbs with your poo poo (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 21:05 |
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I read Hammerfall when it came out but have no memory of it; a quick glance at the Wikipedia page makes it look like Cherryh was trying to sell out by doing her own spin on Dune. Which, okay, sounds pretty great and possibly worth revisiting. But until then I'm giving SF's most prestigious award--not the Hugo, Nebula, or Clarke, but the Greatest Terraform Bug Fiction award--to Kameron Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrapha trilogy (starting with God's War).
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 21:12 |
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Doktor Avalanche posted:there can also be a fake one invented by a german antisemitic christofascist lunatic and spread by the predictably complicit western media apparatus, conveniently resurrected in the last few weeks to counteract the public relations nightmare of the global hegemon's main ride-or-die partner being accused of genocide in international court I am with ya but maybe not the best thread to litigate this lol Reading a Jack Vance novel, yet another one-off in a seemingly endless list. The Blue World. It's great, classic Vance. He writes cranky old man characters very well. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 21:20 |
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Figured I'd post this here in case anyone is interested. Over the summer there was an online Solarpunk conference, and the proceedings of it were just published in an online open-access journal form. Beyond the general solarpunk topic that's probably of interest to people here, I also have a paper in it about reading Foundation (primarily the original trilogy) through a solarpunk lens. https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:62961/
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 21:42 |
Strategic Tea posted:gently caress off with the genocide denial thanks Same. Regardless, it has no place in TBB
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 21:51 |
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Lex Talionis posted:I read Hammerfall when it came out but have no memory of it; a quick glance at the Wikipedia page makes it look like Cherryh was trying to sell out by doing her own spin on Dune. Which, okay, sounds pretty great and possibly worth revisiting. But until then I'm giving SF's most prestigious award--not the Hugo, Nebula, or Clarke, but the Greatest Terraform Bug Fiction award--to Kameron Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrapha trilogy (starting with God's War). Cherryh's had her works compared to Dune before, that doesn't mean she's copying it or selling out.
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 21:52 |
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Someone in this thread recommended the raven tower by Ann Leckie and that’s was very good, so thank you mistery goon. Some of the prose reminds me of Leguin. Does anyone have some recommendations for books with big ideas sci fi?in the vein of Stapleton mixed with Ken Liu? (If there is such a thing?)
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 21:52 |
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Antifa Poltergeist posted:Someone in this thread recommended the raven tower by Ann Leckie and that’s was very good, so thank you mistery goon. Doris Lessing's Shikasta!
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 22:03 |
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Antifa Poltergeist posted:Someone in this thread recommended the raven tower by Ann Leckie and that’s was very good, so thank you mistery goon. If you haven’t read the raven tower universe short stories also linked itt I liked those a lot as well (ty again to the linker). This isn’t just those but I think they’re in this list if hard to find in thread: https://www.freesfonline.net/authors/Ann_Leckie.html
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 22:15 |
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StrixNebulosa posted:Doris Lessing's Shikasta! Yeah, that's an absolutely fantastic set of novels. The basic premise of them is that we're an offshoot of some great galactic civilization made up of happy, healthy people who live in a star spanning society that works. We got cut off by a hostile power and so we ended up this screwed up mess of people trying to express our better natures despite being mired in dysfunction. Our galactic cousins can send observers but can't help however much they want to. It's a really deep and insightful survey of the human condition and the flaws that drag us down and the ideals that make us keep getting back up and trying to be better. I should reread those. Lessing won a Nobel for literature for a lot of reasons, but these books are five major ones. So are The Cleft, Mara and Dann (CW for expressing an older British woman's views on homosexuality), and The Memoirs of a Survivor.
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 22:40 |
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mllaneza posted:Yeah, that's an absolutely fantastic set of novels. The basic premise of them is that we're an offshoot of some great galactic civilization made up of happy, healthy people who live in a star spanning society that works. We got cut off by a hostile power and so we ended up this screwed up mess of people trying to express our better natures despite being mired in dysfunction. Our galactic cousins can send observers but can't help however much they want to. It's a really deep and insightful survey of the human condition and the flaws that drag us down and the ideals that make us keep getting back up and trying to be better. I’m still mad the ebooks aren’t available in Canada. Like at all.
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 23:24 |
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Stuporstar posted:I’m still mad the ebooks aren’t available in Canada. Like at all. I'm only seeing the first of five, so don't feel too put out.
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# ? Jan 21, 2024 23:33 |
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Antifa Poltergeist posted:Does anyone have some recommendations for books with big ideas sci fi?in the vein of Stapleton mixed with Ken Liu? (If there is such a thing?) The Star Diaries by Stanislaw Lem has a number of great long Stapledonian stories.
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 00:50 |
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Antifa Poltergeist posted:Someone in this thread recommended the raven tower by Ann Leckie and that’s was very good, so thank you mistery goon. The quality of writing varies but Stephen Baxter's Xeelee sequence Robert Reed's Great Ship stories are cool as well
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 01:11 |
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fez_machine posted:The quality of writing varies but Stephen Baxter's Xeelee sequence Great recommendation - Baxter has degrees in engineering and math, and as a huge fan of his I can honestly say I don't think he bothered learning to write characters until he started writing with Terry Pratchett (ironically one of Baxter's book series I don't enjoy). Big ideas and cardboard cut-out characters in odd situations was his forte right from his first novel, Raft.
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 01:24 |
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Antifa Poltergeist posted:Someone in this thread recommended the raven tower by Ann Leckie and that’s was very good, so thank you mistery goon. For big ideas sci fi (though not necessarily with strong characters) the Gregs are usually good bets - Bear, Benford, and Egan.
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 02:13 |
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Maybe if you bring up genocide and spectres of state-sponsored oppression and censorship in the context of getting upset at how the votes were counted in a fan-organized convention you shouldn't also be allowed to get upset about people making the thread political. Like, yellow menace fear-mongering is going to provoke a response. You managed to keep a lid on it during the 3BP debate so just keep at it. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 02:28 |
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thotsky posted:Maybe if you bring up genocide and spectres of state-sponsored oppression and censorship in the context of getting upset at how the votes were counted in a fan-organized convention you shouldn't also be allowed to get upset about people making the thread political. Heh…nice thread you got here…would be a shame if anyone pointed out that anti-PRC SF got mysteriously vanished from the Hugos and I had to start posting some of my cspam greatest hits….*tries to crack knuckles and falls out of chair* (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 02:56 |
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thotsky posted:Maybe if you bring up genocide and spectres of state-sponsored oppression and censorship in the context of getting upset at how the votes were counted in a fan-organized convention you shouldn't also be allowed to get upset about people making the thread political. Maybe don’t defend the poster denying that the Uighur genocide is real. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 02:59 |
If everyone wants to continue fighting about this, please take it to CSPAM or D&D
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 03:17 |
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I'm not overly fond of the science fiction that Greg Bear or Benford do and wouldn't call it big ideas. Every book is like one engineering thing and the consequences of the macguffin are never terribly well thought out by the author. Read the Strugatsky brothers stuff instead IMO.
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 04:59 |
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RDM posted:I'm not overly fond of the science fiction that Greg Bear or Benford do and wouldn't call it big ideas. Every book is like one engineering thing and the consequences of the macguffin are never terribly well thought out. Have you read Greg Bear's Queen of Angels?
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 04:59 |
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I just finished The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon. While it did I think suffer from some debut novel hiccups (the pacing/length felt just a little too slow/long. It's definitely meant to be a reflective, internally-character-focused book but it still felt like it could have maybe been 100 or so pages shorter? Nothing really stuck out as too repetitive, maybe more of a "cut some words here, a sentence or two here and there" thing just to trim it down a little) it had a lot of interesting setpieces and ideas happening and I liked the overall writing style. It does have some POV swapping around that's intentionally confusing/obfuscated in places (Harrow the Ninth readers will be somewhat familiar with the general approach) but I thought it worked for the most part, especially since the font usually changed to visually call it out. I'll definitely check out the sequel whenever it happens because I think there's a lot of potential there. I also want to/am afraid to learn more about the company-cats.
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 05:01 |
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StrixNebulosa posted:Have you read Greg Bear's Queen of Angels?
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 05:09 |
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I read Charles stross's latest book it was alright but the end was so sudden.
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 05:29 |
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Another Big Ideas novel I really enjoyed was Pushing Ice by Alistair Reynolds. That's got vast scope in space, time, and structures.
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 06:15 |
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StrixNebulosa posted:Rereading Faded Sun Trilogy right now I love it so much aaaa My love for Cyteen knows no bounds, both for the implications of Azi psychology and for just how pure villainous mastermind Ari the elder was towards the end of her life. It also lives rent free in my head because Cherryh did such a good job writing characters who legitimately feel smarter than the reader while also being deeply flawed and mired in their own subjective takes on morality and even reality. Edit: Also, am obligatory content warning for anyone digging into Cyteen, the main plot orbits around one of the POV characters being deeply traumatized by his 17 year old self being drugged and sexually assaulted by a much older woman in a position of power. Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 06:45 on Jan 22, 2024 |
# ? Jan 22, 2024 06:40 |
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wrong thread
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 06:41 |
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Stairmaster posted:I read Charles stross's latest book it was alright but the end was so sudden. I just abandoned book 6 of the Laundry Files. I got maybe 65% in and couldn’t ignore the “I don’t like this” feeling anymore. Looking at good reads it seems like a contentious one. It’s too bad, I liked the Bob books, but man I did not like this Mo book.
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# ? Jan 22, 2024 06:55 |
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# ? Jun 13, 2024 04:22 |
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anilEhilated posted:Which might be an issue when you decide to do your convention in China, I guess. From talking to friends, it's worse right now. The sole bid for 2027 at the moment is Tel Aviv. Part of the problem is simply that there is no Worldcon board or anything, locations are solely voted on by paying attendees, from a list of bids put out of people who want to run a con under the name. So unless you paid the last con committee, you don't get to give an opinion on the next place. Chengdu was a PR bid, much like the Jeddah bid that was retracted was a PR bid for the House of Saud. Hell, the WSSF is a cheap date in terms of international orgs that can be paid to do events. Edit: I had forgotten this, the Chengdu con committee pretty transparently bought the bid as well. https://mrphilipslibrary.wordpress.com/2024/01/21/hugo-nominating-stats-rascality-and-a-brief-history-of-where-it-all-started/ posted:
Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 10:17 on Jan 22, 2024 |
# ? Jan 22, 2024 07:08 |