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nessin posted:Discworld question. I've only read the Rincewind and Death books and I decided to finally read more of the series so I picked up the Night Watch series. Liked the first book but really was kind of meh on the second, and I think a large part of that was I don't like Carrot (just too much of a normal book hero for Discworld) and he definitely took over as the main character in the second book. The third book looks like that continues and I'm wondering how true that is? Not sure I want to continue on in that case. Yeah, Feet of Clay pretty much explores everything Pratchett wanted to do with Carrot and even during that book Vimes becomes the focus of the Watch series again.
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Sep 6, 2020 19:30
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Black Griffon posted:One of the best books ever written, which I will continue to point out. Very yes. Fuckin brilliant story, butchered by several attempts at movie adaptations.
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Sep 6, 2020 19:51
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Carrot stays a major character but he gets a bit more meta in the later books. Vimes starts being the protagonist again along about Jingo or Fifth Elephant. Men at Arms is Carrot's book for a reason. Feet of Clay returns to an even split between him and Vimes, then after that Carrot becomes one of the side characters.
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Sep 6, 2020 20:03
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Black Griffon posted:One of the best books ever written, which I will continue to point out. Dunno anything about the other two. All 3 are quite good. The Forever War is easily the best military science fiction novel I've read, and one of my favorite books in general. It's basically space opera Vietnam, written by a Vietnam War veteran. There is plenty of power armor, but no glory. There is also a healthy dose of time dilation and future shock. I recently read and quite liked The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. Harry August lives his life, dies, and gets to do the whole thing over again in a sort of lifelong Groundhog's Day. On top of that he has perfect recall. His first few lives are a total shitshow as he tries to make sense of what is happening. Most of his lives are shitshows, actually. What good is knowing who will win every horse race for the next 60 years when you're a dirt poor 4 year old in the 1920s? Let on that you know too much about the future, and you could wind up in a madhouse, or much, much worse.
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Sep 6, 2020 21:08
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The Forever War was pretty good, but just do yourself a favor and pretend the sequels don't exist. I wasn't a fan of how it ended, but since I liked a solid 85-90% of the book, I'm ok with that.
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Sep 6, 2020 23:24
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Picked up Forever War, gonna ignore the sequels.
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Sep 6, 2020 23:36
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So I was stumped at how I was gonna read something good at work today since I only have an MP3 player that takes txt files. I asked General Battuta if he could help with txt files of his books (I own them on kindle, or well, my PC), but he wasn't able... But then I remembered I had a Kindle Fire someone gave me. So I dug it out, got it charged and had a fantastic time at work with The Traitor Baru. It's such a great book, it's a shame I only got in about thirty pages (busy work day). So thanks again, General!
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Sep 6, 2020 23:54
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No. No more dancing! posted:I recently read and quite liked The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. Harry August lives his life, dies, and gets to do the whole thing over again in a sort of lifelong Groundhog's Day. On top of that he has perfect recall. His first few lives are a total shitshow as he tries to make sense of what is happening. Most of his lives are shitshows, actually. What good is knowing who will win every horse race for the next 60 years when you're a dirt poor 4 year old in the 1920s? Let on that you know too much about the future, and you could wind up in a madhouse, or much, much worse. Yeah this book is a great fun sort-of time travel story, definitely worth three bucks.
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Sep 7, 2020 00:22
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:The Forever War was pretty good, but just do yourself a favor and pretend the sequels don't exist. Oh thanks for this, I forgot to include that disclaimer. The Forever War is great, the sequels were written over 20 years later, and are not.
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Sep 7, 2020 00:52
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Alright, I'm back again, and hopefully this time I can avoid confusion over what sort of stuff I'm looking for! I'm looking for more space opera this time around (loved mass effect), but also, again, looking for queer lit, namely wlw stuff. So in other words, lesbian space opera. Recs appreciated! iospace fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Sep 7, 2020 |
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Sep 7, 2020 01:46
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Kchama posted:So I was stumped at how I was gonna read something good at work today since I only have an MP3 player that takes txt files. I asked General Battuta if he could help with txt files of his books (I own them on kindle, or well, my PC), but he wasn't able... You've already found a better solution, but for future reference, Calibre will convert other ebook formats to plaintext. The formatting is likely to get kind of mangled, though.
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Sep 7, 2020 01:54
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iospace posted:Alright, I'm back again, and hopefully this time I can avoid confusion over what sort of stuff I'm looking for! Unconquerable Sun isn't exactly centered on queer relationships, but there's definitely some wlw throughout and a lot of the main characters are queer. It's billed as gender-bent Alexander the Great in space and is very good imo. On that note, what should I read next from Kate Elliot after Unconquerable Sun? It looks like a lot of her trilogies are all kind of similarly reviewed, and it's kinda hard to figure out which to follow up with. Which ones have y'all liked?
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Sep 7, 2020 02:21
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RIP ZEEZ
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foutre posted:Unconquerable Sun isn't exactly centered on queer relationships, but there's definitely some wlw throughout and a lot of the main characters are queer. It's billed as gender-bent Alexander the Great in space and is very good imo. Sold!
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Sep 7, 2020 02:29
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iospace posted:Alright, I'm back again, and hopefully this time I can avoid confusion over what sort of stuff I'm looking for! Gideon the Ninth is weird, queer, space necromancer, murder mystery, haunted mansion wlw stuff.
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Sep 7, 2020 02:48
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Black Griffon posted:Gideon the Ninth is weird, queer, space necromancer, murder mystery, haunted mansion wlw stuff. and, in terms of other big books from the last year or two, Memory Called Empire this thread came up when i was searching and includes basically all the examples i can think of https://twitter.com/Idzie/status/1150455326921109510
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Sep 7, 2020 02:59
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ToxicFrog posted:You've already found a better solution, but for future reference, Calibre will convert other ebook formats to plaintext. The formatting is likely to get kind of mangled, though. No kidding? That's actually fantastic to know. Thanks!
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Sep 7, 2020 05:04
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:The Forever War was pretty good, but just do yourself a favor and pretend the sequels don't exist. I didn't mind forever peace, the second one. The third one though, stay clear
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Sep 7, 2020 06:08
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eke out posted:and, in terms of other big books from the last year or two, Memory Called Empire I will point out that Light Brigade is very very good but is also very very violent. It's not what I would recommend to anyone with any kind of post traumatic stress.
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Sep 7, 2020 06:14
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I finished "The Tyrant Baru Cormorant: Tau Ownage Factory" in two days and really liked it a lot, worth buying even with my country's ruinous exchange rate. I loved that the permanent storm is going to be explored next, what a neat idea. Now Baru has a Dutch East India Company analog under her control, the sky is the limit for the brutality of possible consequences for everybody. I suggest everyone who is curious about the stakes for the fourth book to read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Nations_Fail. Also, I appreciate the endword, General and hope the books get the attention they clearly deserve.
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Sep 7, 2020 13:29
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branedotorg posted:I didn't mind forever peace, the second one. Forever Peace is unrelated to The Forever War (and in examination Peace is basically a rehash of War with a Dan Brown thriller b-plot). Forever Free is the sequel to The Forever War. darnon fucked around with this message at 14:11 on Sep 7, 2020 |
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Sep 7, 2020 14:07
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Grimwall posted:I finished "The Tyrant Baru Cormorant: Tau Ownage Factory" in two days and really liked it a lot, worth buying even with my country's ruinous exchange rate. I'm reading the first one of these now - The Traitor Baru Cormorant - because of all the recommendations I've seen. Avoiding spoilers for the rest of the trilogy has been tough since it seems like I'm the last goon on the forums to pick it up. But I'm enjoying it.
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Sep 7, 2020 14:30
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Lemniscate Blue posted:Avoiding spoilers for the rest of the trilogy has been tough since it seems like I'm the last goon on the forums to pick it up. I started reading the first one last night too. Also very much spoiler free so far, and at about 100 pages in, really enjoying it.
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Sep 7, 2020 18:19
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Foundryside (Founders #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077RG422Z/ American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008AS84PM/ Raising Steam (Discworld #40) by Terry Pratchett https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FIN0TGY/ Lord Foul's Bane (Thomas Covenant #1) by Stephen R Donaldson - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007WKEM9Q/
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Sep 7, 2020 19:29
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iospace posted:Alright, I'm back again, and hopefully this time I can avoid confusion over what sort of stuff I'm looking for! Seconding the Memory Called Empire recommendation- it’s just such a good book.
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Sep 7, 2020 19:55
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pradmer posted:Foundryside (Founders #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett - $2.99
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Sep 7, 2020 20:00
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Lemniscate Blue posted:I'm reading the first one of these now - The Traitor Baru Cormorant - because of all the recommendations I've seen. Avoiding spoilers for the rest of the trilogy has been tough since it seems like I'm the last goon on the forums to pick it up. But I'm enjoying it. This may in some ways be the best time to start the series. You'll be able to go all the way through to the third book, which ends at a very satisfying stopping point. anilEhilated posted:How does this compare to his other stuff? Loved Divine Cities, was kinda meh on The Company Man - thought that was a decent novella buried under a landslide of description. I liked it a bit less than Divine Cities, but still liked it a lot. I think the second Foundryside book is less good, but the first one is quite good and is basically standalone.
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Sep 7, 2020 20:12
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Lemniscate Blue posted:I'm reading the first one of these now - The Traitor Baru Cormorant - because of all the recommendations I've seen. Avoiding spoilers for the rest of the trilogy has been tough since it seems like I'm the last goon on the forums to pick it up. But I'm enjoying it. I just started too! Wanting to save it as something to read at work is the worst idea for me so I might just end up finishing it today on my off-day.
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Sep 7, 2020 21:10
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anilEhilated posted:How does this compare to his other stuff? Loved Divine Cities, was kinda meh on The Company Man - thought that was a decent novella buried under a landslide of description. I read it his The Company Man a bit ago. It’s got some really weird editing mistakes that, given it’s a mystery, really took me off track. Like in the course of one page a character jumps from first person to second to and back a couple times. It ended up being of no consequence at all, and it seems like the sort of thing even a cursory read through would find. Hopefully Foundryside is better edited, the story was actually fine.
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Sep 7, 2020 21:17
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iospace posted:Alright, I'm back again, and hopefully this time I can avoid confusion over what sort of stuff I'm looking for!
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Sep 7, 2020 21:39
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Empress of Forever was okay but I felt like it overstayed its welcome.
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Sep 7, 2020 22:12
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The Hark! A Vagrant comic 'Oooh, Mister Darcy' comic but it's about Tain Hu.
Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Sep 8, 2020 |
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Sep 8, 2020 03:52
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Another "lesbians in space" entry: Sisters of the Vast Black. Mostly about an order of Catholic nuns in a living starship, and dealing with guilt over past crimes; but the B plot is a romance between two women.
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Sep 8, 2020 05:12
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iospace posted:Alright, I'm back again, and hopefully this time I can avoid confusion over what sort of stuff I'm looking for! I wouldn't call it space opera but Tillie Walden's graphic novel On A Sunbeam is certainly science fiction in space - every character in this universe is apparently female (which raises the question of how one character can be NB but whatever) and hence all the romantic relationships are too, the key one being between two girls at Space Boarding School. And it's still free online: https://www.onasunbeam.com/ It was one of those things I rather admired and would recommend to people who might like it, despite it being 100% not my cup of tea.
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Sep 8, 2020 05:45
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SFL Archives Vol 11 readthrough update 01 (reposted from the off-site blog that is now up and fully functional) Current status: 10% completion, 21 bookmarks on SFL Archives Volume 11 readthrough 8 items of interest. https://nothing2seeherepleasedisperse.blogspot.com/2020/09/sfl-archives-vol-11-readthrough-update.html quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 08:46 on Oct 1, 2020 |
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Sep 8, 2020 06:51
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quantumfoam, have you posted a link to your blog? I'd like to follow it.quantumfoam posted:-Sexual slant chat lead to SFLers commenting on Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books, with how most of the dragon-riders seem to be forced into being bisexual by mental-links with their dragons. Lots and lots of Pern chat, with "impress" being mentioned a whole lot. Having never read any of the Pern books, guessing "impress" is a Pern universe stand-in word for non-consent. Good news, it just means the dragon imprinting on the human when it hatches.
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Sep 8, 2020 07:20
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quantumfoam posted:-Sexual slant chat lead to SFLers commenting on Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books, with how most of the dragon-riders seem to be forced into being bisexual by mental-links with their dragons. Lots and lots of Pern chat, with "impress" being mentioned a whole lot. Having never read any of the Pern books, guessing "impress" is a Pern universe stand-in word for non-consent. No, it's a real word meaning non-consent. The root is the Latin for "leaving a mark upon".
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Sep 8, 2020 08:25
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Re: marking books Scarlett letter style, it’s nice that at least in this thread we’re at the point where having queer characters is something people flag in books, but because people want to read books with them in it.
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Sep 8, 2020 08:28
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quantumfoam posted:
There's also tons of pre-disaster memos from the engineering and science staff that warn of the danger posed by the current weather conditions (the O-ring failure was caused by low ambient temperature followed by rapid heating, and would have been avoided with warmer launch weather) and advise the launch be scrubbed to avoid potentially fatal accidents.
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Sep 8, 2020 10:23
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So I got into fantasy with Wheel of Time/Sanderson stuff. I've been going through Audible stuff lately to see if there is anything else I'd like. I was very wrong, there is so much rape. Also I have quickly learned that anything with "angels/demons/assassins/knights" in the description is sign of pure garbage. Audible plus has been handy to try stuff out at least so I haven't really wasted any money just my precious time.
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Sep 8, 2020 11:05
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Safety Biscuits posted:quantumfoam, have you posted a link to your blog? I'd like to follow it. Sure. [REDACTED] There is definitely spelling errors, missed person of interest highlights, and formatting problems scattered across the posts there, let me know what needs to be corrected and expanded upon.and I will try to do so. Gnoman posted:There's also tons of pre-disaster memos from the engineering and science staff that warn of the danger posed by the current weather conditions (the O-ring failure was caused by low ambient temperature followed by rapid heating, and would have been avoided with warmer launch weather) and advise the launch be scrubbed to avoid potentially fatal accidents. Yup. This gets covered in that Diane Vaughan book I always recommend people read. It manages to hit a sweet spot that earlier/later books about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster miss by being too close to the event happening/too far away from the event happening. By the time Vaughan's book, Challenger Launch Decision came out in 1996, more people were willing to be interviewed and put on record and share evidence versus the books released within 8 months -1 yr after the Challenger disaster. Anything newer than Diane Vaughan book about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster run into the issues of key people involved in the decisions of 1986 dying, retiring, shredding "un-needed after 20+ yrs records",and very faded personal memories, etc. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Aug 29, 2021 |
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Sep 8, 2020 11:11
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