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packetmantis posted:The discussions of lesbians and people named Macleod reminded me of something. I'm a lesbian, and when I was a confused babby it was really hard to find any lesbian stories at all, much less ones that weren't clearly written with one hand. I picked up some anthology that I don't remember and in it was Breathmoss by Ian Macleod - the setting grabbed me instantly, a group of all-women scientists that live on a high mountain and have symbiotic moss that grows in their lungs to help them breathe the thin atmosphere. After a while of establishing the setting and some meaningless flings, the main character descends from the mountain (I don't remember why) and coughs out the moss onto a rock, then instantly falls in love with the first man she's ever seen. The rest of the story is about how beautiful and perfect her life is now that she's doing what she's supposed to be doing, and the guy is so much more kind and attentive than anyone on the mountain but he's also so Manly and Strong, and the last scene is her passing the moss rock and seeing that it's thriving, just capping off the whole poo poo sundae with a neat little whipped cream squirt of bigoted imagery. I remember that story, and we have vastly different memories of it. The main character of Breathmoss is the 7(?)-ish yr old daughter of a group of 3 women scientists studying something on the high mountain of a colony world and they come down off the high mountain on page 2 or page 3 to live and work in the main colony location because their scientific contract investigating that high mountain was up. The colony is 99.99999% women, and the first man she meets is a 8 yr old boy working for his father on a fishing boat(no instant love happens). The boys dad is the Manly and Strong and super-attentive guy you loathed, who tries romancing one of the main characters moms I think. Main character grows up, goes off-planet, comes back on vacation a decade later, and has a meaningless fling with the grown-up boy before heading back to the spaceport.
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Apr 12, 2021 07:57
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quantumfoam posted:The colony is 99.99999% women, Is there a reason given for this? It sounds like hell. In the same way that 99% men would be a nightmare that would end in a bloodbath, or an orgy or both (that's men for you.)
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Apr 12, 2021 08:21
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It's been a long time since I read it, but I didn't rememember all of that other stuff. Maybe I stopped midway or there was an expanded version or something.
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Apr 12, 2021 09:15
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Collateral posted:Is there a reason given for this? It sounds like hell. In the same way that 99% men would be a nightmare that would end in a bloodbath, or an orgy or both (that's men for you.) You're going to enjoy Y: The Last Man.
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Apr 12, 2021 09:59
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It was...not good.
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Apr 12, 2021 10:22
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I was kinda irritated at The Luminous Dead for the romance subplot. Just seemed sort of shoehorned in. Maybe I'm just not a romantic dude? Other than that, pretty good book about losing your goddamn mind in an alien cave. The cover art is still the best thing about it though. 5 star cover art, 3 star story.
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Apr 12, 2021 13:37
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:I was kinda irritated at The Luminous Dead for the romance subplot. Just seemed sort of shoehorned in. Maybe I'm just not a romantic dude? I liked how it dovetailed with going insane in a cave - in that kind of desperate, broken situation humans will look for help anywhere, and make an emotional connection even when they shouldn't. And then the author gently hugs you and tells you that this time it's not part of the horror and I loved that hope in the broken, crazy situation.
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Apr 12, 2021 13:57
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Just want to say a couple of names here that I've had bouncing around my head this afternoon. Nothing interesting, I guess. Haru Cormorant. Barrowhark Nonagesimus.
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Apr 12, 2021 16:02
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Send away for Barrowhark Nonagesimus' 10 part series on how you too can make money from bones and bone related products from the comfort of your own home.
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Apr 12, 2021 16:09
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Boody posted:Anyone own any Folio Society books? Folio is great. For something similar check out Suntup Press. They make amazingly gorgeous books at three levels: - Artist Edition: This tier is similar to Folio's usual releases. Limited to 1000 copies and signed by the artists. They run $100-$150 typically and are very high quality, nicer than the Folio's I've had even. The artwork is usually good and they typically include supplemental material like essays regarding the work or articles about it from when it released. - Numbered Edition: These are limited to 350 copies and are much nicer, often letterpressed printing instead of offset and higher quality materials. Usually signed by the Author (but not always) and the artists. They run $350-$600 (Blood Meridian was just $950 but it is ridiculously beautiful and high quality) - Lettered Edition: Limited to 26 copies. Incredible quality and quite beautiful. This press's popularity is skyrocketing. Not all of their releases are sci fi/fantasy but they have some good ones. Here are pics of the artist editions I have:            Some other scifi/fantasy releases: A Scanner Darkly: https://suntup.press/a-scanner-darkly Neuromancer (check out the circuit board cover on the lettered!): https://suntup.press/neuromancer 1984: https://suntup.press/1984 And it isn't sci-fi but their recent Blood Meridian release is just ridiculously beautiful to me:    If anybody is interested in the best way to obtain Suntup books both on release and on the secondary market let me know.
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Apr 12, 2021 17:33
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Just as a heads up, you are not going to get numbered, lettered, or Roman numeral editions of Suntup books at issue price.
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Apr 12, 2021 17:37
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some rich people buy yachts, others buy expensive condos. me, if i was rich i'd get me a 4000 dollar copy of blood meridian. not even lying.
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Apr 12, 2021 17:40
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Ornamented Death posted:Just as a heads up, you are not going to get numbered, lettered, or Roman numeral editions of Suntup books at issue price. Not unless you win the rights lottery, or otherwise buy rights along with a past title. There are a couple of numbered editions selling at issue price or even below that aren't popular titles (The Auctioneer, Wolfen, some other stinkers), but yeah for the most part if you are buying secondary market you are going to pay a lot more, they are in high demand.
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Apr 12, 2021 17:41
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I read Blood Meridian and I thought it was amazing but I don't think I got it. I felt the whole time like there were a million cultural references I was missing. I should give it another spin sometime.
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Apr 12, 2021 17:47
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D-Pad posted:Not unless you win the rights lottery, or otherwise buy rights along with a past title. There are a couple of numbered editions selling at issue price or even below that aren't popular title (The Auctioneer, Wolfen, some other stinkers), but yeah for the most part if you are buying secondary market you are going to pay a lot more, they are in high demand. The lede is buried a bit here. There are typically something like half a dozen or so unclaimed numbered copies available for a lottery, and hundreds of entries. It's not really a viable way to get on the train. You can buy rights to future books, but it adds at least a thousand dollars to the price of an already expensive book. To be clear, this is a substantial amount of money you're paying to another customer just so you can buy expensive books in the future. I have a number of issues with Suntup, but I won't deny they make gorgeous books.
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Apr 12, 2021 17:59
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Ornamented Death posted:The lede is buried a bit here. There are typically something like half a dozen or so unclaimed numbered copies available for a lottery, and hundreds of entries. It's not really a viable way to get on the train. Artist Editions are the sweet spot, no lottery and much better price. If you like Folio's you'll like Artist Editions from Suntup, which was the point of my post. I also do not like their rights system though. The way Subterranean Press does it, where rights are only for a series, makes sense. If I spend $500 on the first book in a series it makes sense to give me the assurance that I have the right to buy all subsequent copies to complete the set. Suntup doing one set of rights for every book they produce, regardless if they are related, sucks. It's a great system for them, it essentially guarantees every book they put out will sell out regardless. Rights have gone up a ton since Blood Meridian was announced.
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Apr 12, 2021 18:06
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D-Pad posted:I also do not like their rights system though. The way Subterranean Press does it, where rights are only for a series, makes sense. If I spend $500 on the first book in a series it makes sense to give me the assurance that I have the right to buy all subsequent copies to complete the set. This is how nearly every small press does it. Some, including SubPress, extend it to authors in general, which I'm also fine with; I was able to match my number for Tamsyn Muir's novella to my GtN number, for example. gently caress Paul's abusive bullshit, though.
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Apr 12, 2021 18:12
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Ornamented Death posted:gently caress Paul's abusive bullshit, though. What did he do? Genuinely curious.
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Apr 12, 2021 18:14
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D-Pad posted:What did he do? Genuinely curious. I REALLY hate how he deals with rights and, combined with his accelerated release schedule, find it abusive to his most loyal customers. I thought it as kind of funny when a bunch of horror and sci-fi nerds had to buy a copy of The Bridges of Madison County, but when he published a short story and charged $350 for it? And you had to buy it to "stay on the train?" That's insane. Of course if you say this to the die hard fans, they tend to flip out on you and argue it's perfectly normal. It's Stockholm syndrome as far as I'm concerned. Edit: He's also charging four thousand dollars for a book by a living writer and IT WON'T BE SIGNED! Ornamented Death fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Apr 12, 2021 |
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Apr 12, 2021 18:26
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:I was kinda irritated at The Luminous Dead for the romance subplot. Just seemed sort of shoehorned in. Maybe I'm just not a romantic dude? Would you feel this way if it was a heterosexual romance?
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Apr 12, 2021 18:33
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packetmantis posted:Would you feel this way if it was a heterosexual romance? lol I actually would have been mad if it were a straight romance instead of a queer one, gently caress. gently caress I hate realizing I have biases like that.
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Apr 12, 2021 18:43
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I don't think it's particularly biased to be tired of straight poo poo dominating everything all the time, really.
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Apr 12, 2021 18:44
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Ornamented Death posted:I REALLY hate how he deals with rights and, combined with his accelerated release schedule, find it abusive to his most loyal customers. I thought it as kind of funny when a bunch of horror and sci-fi nerds had to buy a copy of The Bridges of Madison County, but when he published a short story and charged $350 for it? And you had to buy it to "stay on the train?" That's insane. I agree with all that. This quarter is starting two books a month. He might push things to the breaking point. I gotta say though, the lettered BM is beautiful, and CM is weird and rarely signs things these days so I can't lay that at Paul's feet.
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Apr 12, 2021 18:48
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packetmantis posted:I don't think it's particularly biased to be tired of straight poo poo dominating everything all the time, really. Well, no, and please don't take this the wrong way. I'm the kind of feminist who wants equality, for lack of a better way to put it - if a woman wants to be in the kitchen or on a naval ship I want her to have the same opportunities a dude would get, and same for all genders. And when it comes to writing I want to be able to approach romance as a character thing, and the ability to walk into, say, a book store and pick up a sci-fi/fantasy novel and get all kinds of diversity as well as straight romance in my books. But - and oh I didn't think about this in my original post. The dynamic in Luminous Dead is hosed UP in a great, delicious way....and because it's not a straight romance it doesn't have the connotations of "a man has power over a woman" or to a lesser degree "woman has power over a man" that would have led it to be really, really skeevy in ways I don't know if I could have handled. The romance in Luminous Dead is fascinating because of the power imbalance and how that contributes to the atmosphere of the cave, and the powerlessness they all have - but the book pulls through with determination and being honest and actually forging an emotional connection that isn't stockholm's. Man. Sorry, I have a weird brain where I think of things as I write them out and then it's all "oh how did I not see this"
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Apr 12, 2021 18:53
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packetmantis posted:Would you feel this way if it was a heterosexual romance? Yup. If Gyre was a dude and Em was a girl, or reversed, it still was weird to me to go from "This crazy bitch had gotten 35 people killed for her weirdo obsession! I need to get evidence to put her away forever!" to "She is my soulmate and I cannot live without her". regardless of what genitals they had. It was like some creepy form of stockholm syndrome. Just my opinion though. If you dug the book, awesome. I just think it would have been better without that in there. As it is, it's a terrific book about losing your mind in solitude.
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Apr 12, 2021 18:54
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I thought for a long time that I disliked romance sub/plots in general, but after finally finding more queer romance plots, it turns out I just don't tend to like the straight ones. That said, still not quite sure how I feel about the one in Luminous Dead (honestly, most of the very very end felt a little cheesy, the romance included) but I really enjoyed the hell out of the other 90%. Actually, I would love to check out more spooky cave or cave adjacent stories (sci fi, fantasy, horror, whatever) if anyone has recommendations.
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Apr 12, 2021 18:57
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:regardless of what genitals they had. Ah okay so that's how you're approaching this. Never mind then.
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Apr 12, 2021 18:59
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Weirdly enough, considering how loving creepy a cave can be, there aren't that many books about em. Jeff Long had 2 (think it was Deep and Deeper?) but for the most part, the only time I've seen caves roll up in a book it's just as a bit of a setting for a scene and not the setting for the whole book.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:00
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Yup. If Gyre was a dude and Em was a girl, or reversed, it still was weird to me to go from "This crazy bitch had gotten 35 people killed for her weirdo obsession! I need to get evidence to put her away forever!" to "She is my soulmate and I cannot live without her". regardless of what genitals they had. Um. Why are you bringing up genitals when we're talking about gender?
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Apr 12, 2021 19:02
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I wasn't aware we were talking about gender. I got asked if I would have been ok with a heterosexual romance. I assumed that meant a man/woman relationship of some kind. Regardless of which one was the dude or the gal (hence the genitals remark), to me it still feels weird to whiplash from one set of feelings to another like that.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:09
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:I wasn't aware we were talking about gender. I got asked if I would have been ok with a heterosexual romance. I assumed that meant a man/woman relationship of some kind. Regardless of which one was the dude or the gal (hence the genitals remark), to me it still feels weird to whiplash from one set of feelings to another like that. you're talking your way deeper and deeper in to this hole, i would strongly suggest simply apologizing and admitting having a poor understanding of gender issues
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Apr 12, 2021 19:11
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reading The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley since it came up a couple times and eeeshhh I can't remember being this grossed out by a book before the lady that births and eats her own human headed fish in particular 
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Apr 12, 2021 19:17
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What bothered me about that is where does she get the nutrients to make more fish if all her nutrients come from the fish???
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Apr 12, 2021 19:21
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Finished the Queen of Rhodia by Effie Calvin, third in her light n' fluffy lesbian fantasy romance series and it was fun! Better than the first book, but as it returned to the couple from that first book and examined the fallout from them now having a baby dragon and being married, it wasn't as fun for me? It was good to see a more established couple deal with problems as a team and such but I wanted more of what I got in Order of the Sun, with slowly discovering emotions for each other and traveling and such. Ah well. There were a LOT of dragons in this one so it made up for that, and I loved the - and here's a shocker - it actually got heavy and revealed that Esofi's mother was - and is - abusive towards her and they had to deal with that in a realistic way. Well, as realistic as possible when your abusive mom is a queen and a battle-mage.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:22
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General Battuta posted:What bothered me about that is where does she get the nutrients to make more fish if all her nutrients come from the fish??? I think she was scavenging random edible stuff too? I'm guessing her body produces them no matter what, so she'd have to eat way more scavenge to keep up if she didn't eat the fish. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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Apr 12, 2021 19:25
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Wasn't aware I was in a hole, but I didn't mean any offense to anyone. I got asked a question, I answered it. Not trying to troll the thread or start a derail. My apologies if anyone got upset. Wasn't my intention in the least.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:27
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General Battuta posted:What bothered me about that is where does she get the nutrients to make more fish if all her nutrients come from the fish??? probably from also occasionally eating some of the "recycled" bodies that get dropped down. I dunno, I guess I read the entire book as more of a Cronenberg-y weird sci-fi adaptation of the Odyssey or some other ancient myth, which let me handwave away some of the more nonsensical aspects quickly. It's a gory, disgusting book at times. But I did like it a lot.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:27
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Wasn't aware I was in a hole, but I didn't mean any offense to anyone. I got asked a question, I answered it. Not trying to troll the thread or start a derail. My apologies if anyone got upset. Wasn't my intention in the least. For future reference, gender has nothing to do with genitals and vise-versa. Humans have moved beyond that.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:28
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I just finished reading A Desolation Called Peace, the sequel to A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. It was as good or better than the first book. I really enjoyed Eight Antidote being fleshed out as a character. The portrayal of a rapidly maturing mind being stuck in a pre-pubescent body was very well done. The aliens were very, very well written and captured the bewilderment of a first contact scenario very well. The interpersonal politics are fantastic but I still take issue with the macro politics between Teixcalaan and Lsel Station - in the first book it didn't seem plausible to me that there would be 1 ambassador being supported by a foreign assistant. In the second book it doesn't make sense to me that Teixcalaan tolerates their citizens being barred from visiting the station, especially with a war front adjacent to the station, a real empire would be opening up the station as an important outpost. High amounts of trade are described with the station selling raw materials to the empire - but the empire has no ambassador on the station? There's a ship that gets their permit revoked for allowing Three Seagrass to stow away and visit the station, but the empire has no mechanism to contest that unfair decision? With the amount of trade that's happening? Darj Tarats' motivations are also messy. He wanted Yskander to start a war between the empire and the aliens to take the focus away from annexing the station, and it's accomplished by Mahit, but putting the station between the empire and their enemy just entangles the station further. He wants Mahit to sabotage the empire into an unwinnable war with the cloaking, incomprehensible enemy, but it's unclear how the station benefits from the empire getting a bloody nose. Like the station is profiting from trade with the empire, Tarats represents mining, but he wants the war escalated with the station in the middle? Swarm was an excellent character as well. Really anticipating the third book.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:28
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Hubbardologist posted:probably from also occasionally eating some of the "recycled" bodies that get dropped down. it's pretty fascinating, honestly. she manages to make a human civilization that is more alien than almost any novel I've read about actual aliens. I'm only about 50% in though 
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Apr 12, 2021 19:29
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