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Yeah it's hard for me to decide whether I liked Authority or Annihilation better. Authority did that frustrating thing of having some very obvious plot points dangled in front of the main character and the main character just not responding to them. I find it really frustrating when books have characters trying to solve a mystery but they're just completely incurious about some very obviously weird and suspicious poo poo because it furthers the plot.
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May 20, 2024 07:57
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pseudorandom name posted:How'd you both feel about House of Leaves? I've not read it I'm afraid. I have read The Athenean Murders which is another book-within-a-book thing, and I enjoyed that - no problem as such with the meta-story thing, really just the way it's delivered. Equally something with a lot of footnotes or other extraneous whatever isn't necessarily awful, just so long as it's going somewhere. For example; there's a bit a in Spear where the main characters are near some boats. The boats have been mentioned, but that's just background. Then, in one sentence, the authors states that one of the characters ends up next to the Jorro. That's it, no more context than that. So obviously we're supposed to infer that that Jorro is one of the boats that's been mentioned in passing before, but with the name, that jolts me out of the flow of the story wondering if I should know what the Jorro is already and whether that's important for some reason. Which of course it isn't, and it's just for flavour, but that's really failed to do anything for me because of how oddly and unnecessarily it was inserted. So... I guess that's clever environmental story-telling, world building, relying on the reader being a bit clever and paying attention and all that. But really it just annoyed me because I lost my train of reading. And that happened a lot in this book because they present a lot of the lore via excerpts and interruptions and side comments that felt like it bogged things down just a bit too much. Maybe if they had been footnotes (they couldn't be really, but work with me) then it would have make for a smoother read. I sort of feel like I'm trying to explain that I'm too dumb to properly appreciate this book? But much like some overly pretentious art, I think this just went that little bit too far for me.
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May 20, 2024 10:18
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theblackw0lf posted:Found out that Neil Blomkamp was supposed to direct a film version of The Gone World but it fell through and now I’m sad. Every time I read that book I think how great a film it could be.
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May 20, 2024 13:49
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Major Ryan posted:I sort of feel like I'm trying to explain that I'm too dumb to properly appreciate this book? But much like some overly pretentious art, I think this just went that little bit too far for me. This is a great way to put it. I feel a little too dumb for the book, it was trying a bit too hard to be difficult to read to show off how clever the author was rather than in service to the story as in house of leaves. It's cool if other people are less dumb than me, great even, but it also took me out of the book several times. It's a progrock style of book and the weird time changes in mediocre progrock are as jarring as the weird transitions in the story.
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May 20, 2024 14:50
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Enjoyed Christopher Buehlman's The Blacktongue Thief quite a bit, how is his other stuff? Between Two Fires especially sounded interesting based on the concept and I recall it having been mentioned in the thread in the past.
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May 20, 2024 16:19
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I haven't read it my self but Between Two Fires is definitely a thread favorite in here
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May 20, 2024 16:23
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Between two fires is highly well regarded in the horror thread, with the caveat that there's nothing else quite like it, so post reading tends to result in being bummed that there's nothing out there that can fill that void.
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May 20, 2024 16:32
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Ravus Ursus posted:Between two fires is highly well regarded in the horror thread, with the caveat that there's nothing else quite like it, so post reading tends to result in being bummed that there's nothing out there that can fill that void. You could always drop some bad acid and watch _The Name of the Rose_ Wouldn't be as good tho Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 16:45 on May 20, 2024 |
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May 20, 2024 16:39
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pseudorandom name posted:How'd you both feel about House of Leaves? Hah, I loved it when I read it, wow, 15 years ago? I love stories presented like puzzle boxes and I seek out more experimental stuff. I've been meaning to re-read it, though since it's been so long. e: actually while I'm thinking about I'll also put a plug in for a really old book I love and never see anyone mention (and need to re-read) that also uses footnotes and meta-narrative in a way a little like House of Leaves and it's a fantasy novel so it fits the thread. It's from 1736 so you can find a digital copy for free! The Adventures of Eovaai, Princess of Ijaveo by Eliza Haywood. It definitely has some casual Orientalism in it (there's an evil vizier as a main villain for example) but if you're into weird structure conceits at all, the nested narrative footnotes in such an old book are a real treat. DurianGray fucked around with this message at 17:25 on May 20, 2024 |
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May 20, 2024 17:17
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Between Two Fires loving rules. I'll also strongly recommend his book The Lesser Dead.
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May 20, 2024 17:21
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DurianGray posted:
Thse kinds of posts are why I read this place thanks!
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May 20, 2024 18:17
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Lunsku posted:Enjoyed Christopher Buehlman's The Blacktongue Thief quite a bit, how is his other stuff? Between Two Fires especially sounded interesting based on the concept and I recall it having been mentioned in the thread in the past. Between Two Fires is not only the best thing he’s written, it’s very likely to be the best thing he’ll ever write. It’s a masterpiece.
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May 20, 2024 18:23
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pseudorandom name posted:How'd you both feel about House of Leaves? If this is a recommendation for HoL enjoyers to read The Spear Cuts Through Water then I'm moving it up the list
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May 20, 2024 18:29
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I decided I wanted more Dying Earth so I downloaded the Viriconium collection to my kindle last night and I'm already very nearly through The Pastel City I loved Vance's writing, but this is has coincidentally been a perfect palette cleanser in terms of prose. The way Harrison uses repeated text to sink his weird ideas deep into your brain is wonderful and brings to mind poetry or song lyrics. Even background details - like the 'Name Stars', artificial lights in space that spell out the name of a long forgotten empire in a language people can no longer read - feel important and memorable I know M. John Harrison didn't invent the idea of an energy sword, but the fact his "forceblades" predates Star Wars by only a handful of years is funny. Evidently the 70s yearned for knights wielding swords made of energy and hell, I don't blame them
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May 20, 2024 19:08
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WarpDogs posted:I decided I wanted more Dying Earth so I downloaded the Viriconium collection to my kindle last night and I'm already very nearly through The Pastel City If you decide to go right into A Storm of Wings buckle up, it's a lot more dense and less jaunty than The Pastel City. But really good.
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May 20, 2024 19:12
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Lunsku posted:Enjoyed Christopher Buehlman's The Blacktongue Thief quite a bit, how is his other stuff? Between Two Fires especially sounded interesting based on the concept and I recall it having been mentioned in the thread in the past. +1 for Between Two Fires. I went to go look up Blacktongue Thief in Goodreads and it looks like there is a prequel coming out next month - The Daughter's War. "Enter the fray in this luminous new adventure from Christopher Buehlman, set during the war-torn, goblin-infested years just before The Blacktongue Thief ." So sign me the gently caress up for that soon.
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May 20, 2024 19:16
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it's from Galva's pov. "it was like gathering flowers in the fields. it was so beautiful most of my friends and two of my brothers decided to stay."
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May 20, 2024 20:07
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my bony fealty posted:If you decide to go right into A Storm of Wings buckle up, it's a lot more dense and less jaunty than The Pastel City. But really good. I plan to plow ahead. I found the ending of The Pastel City to be superb - it's not often a book ends with the hero fleeing the scene of his horrific victory, mourning the price it cost and terrified of the implications his actions unleashed - and it left me immediately hungry for more of this weird-rear end world of unusual ideas and poor decisions.
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May 20, 2024 22:39
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WarpDogs posted:I plan to plow ahead. I found the ending of The Pastel City to be superb - it's not often a book ends with the hero fleeing the scene of his horrific victory, mourning the price it cost and terrified of the implications his actions unleashed - and it left me immediately hungry for more of this weird-rear end world of unusual ideas and poor decisions.
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May 21, 2024 00:19
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A storm of wings is bonkers
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May 21, 2024 04:27
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A Storm of Wings is a serious step up in terms of writing quality and absolute weirdness, prob my favourite of the Viriconium books. It’s also kind of a direct retread of the 1st book, Evil Dead style, but more extreme and maybe almost parodic. Harrison’s amazing.
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May 21, 2024 06:35
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Picked up Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre, the complete Dying Earth by Jack Vance, Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees, and In the Land of Time by Lord Dunsany. The first chapter of Dreamsnake is pretty great. Chapter two starts off strong by introducing a genderless horseback rider in a loving postapocalyptic polycule.
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May 21, 2024 13:19
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Vonda was way ahead of her time w/r/t gender and sexuality. Or she was of her time but we've forgotten how progressive that time was because old women are rapidly erased from SFF history. Dunno!
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May 21, 2024 15:49
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A Proper Uppercut posted:Between Two Fires loving rules. Yup. I felt those two at least were a good bit stronger than Backtongue Thief. The Necromancer's House didn't leave quite as strong an impression.
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May 21, 2024 18:12
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General Battuta posted:Vonda was way ahead of her time w/r/t gender and sexuality. Or she was of her time but we've forgotten how progressive that time was because old women are rapidly erased from SFF history. Dunno! I've been reading Tanith Lee's flatearth series and that's basically true of her too.
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May 21, 2024 20:47
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There was nothing about The Pastel City that suggested the author was holding back - it was weird and strange and free. But evidently he was holding back a lot because a Storm of Wings explodes out of the gate like a starving lion set loose in a cruise buffet in fact at times it feels like its a "response" to The Pastel City in that it's telling a strikingly similar story but everything is cranked up 1000x. there's a part where one of the more outlandish characters of the previous book - an impish old dwarven scavenger who spends most of his time in isolation - throws up his hands and asks if everyone has gone insane, and I laughed so hard I almost dropped my kindle.
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May 21, 2024 23:42
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randomly thought about Baen Books for the first time in a long time and did a quick google to see what they've been up to. I didn't even realize Eric Flint died 2 years ago... e: I do think I knew David Drake died PupsOfWar fucked around with this message at 00:47 on May 22, 2024 |
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May 22, 2024 00:43
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Major Ryan posted:I don't think I've seen In Ascension mentioned here any time recently, but I recently read and enjoyed this take on first contact with a very unknowable something. It's a very reflective piece that isn't easy with answers for what's going on, but I thought it did a good job of being a complete story by the end. And it's beautifully written, really one of the most pleasurable things to read I've read in a while. Dredging up an old post, but I've also just finished In Ascension, and I want to second this. Genuinely fantastic novel, mysterious and thoughtful and a real pleasure to read. It's very literary, but not at all in a dense or impenetrable kind of way.
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May 22, 2024 01:38
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So, KJ Parker. I just started on Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead, about 15% in... and this sure is a KJ Parker story. Fun though.
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May 22, 2024 09:45
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I am very impressionable, but I just wrapped up A Storm of Wings and that might be a top 5 book of all time. I have never read anything quite like that before. It was pure and utter madness, but in a way that the author never shied away from. I don't know quite how to frame it, but in other books the unknowable horrors are often described precisely as that, whereas M. John Harrison relishes the opportunity to describe each mote of insanity in exacting detail. By the end you even start to make sense of it Though of course if you then try to explain it - "see, these space-faring insects have somewhat accidentally invaded and colonized post-post-post-post apocalypse Earth. their existence is so utterly alien to our own that reality itself is collapsing and mutating as it attempts to reconcile the differences. this has far-reaching consequences as the earth itself transforms, humans become like insects, insects become like humans, and the already half-mad resurrected population of a previous era are driven permanently into a temporal reverie. ah, but first we have to talk about the burping and farting ghost of an astronaut" - then you're the one that sounds bonkers. the next time someone asks for a book that's akin to Dark Souls - or, better yet, Bloodborne - I will be tripping over myself to recommend A Storm of Wings. 5/5, perfection, I will now ready everything M. John Harrison has ever written
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May 23, 2024 01:06
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WarpDogs posted:I am very impressionable, but I just wrapped up A Storm of Wings and that might be a top 5 book of all time. I have never read anything quite like that before. read Light it's amazing Gene Wolfe is the only author author I've read who scratches the same itch as Harrison. He's very very different but they both delight me in a particular way no one else can. Maybe John Crowley but he's a lot more earnest.
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May 23, 2024 01:24
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I’ve been meaning to read Light but somehow kept deciding not to get it, despite loving Viriconium Should do that as soon as I finish up The Black Company E: are the follow up books to Light good? Levitate fucked around with this message at 04:28 on May 23, 2024 |
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May 23, 2024 04:26
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This might be kind of a weird question, but does anybody have any youtube channel recs for people who talk about sci fi stuff and are, like, actually worth watching/listening to? I follow a couple of book youtubers that I like but their focus leans a lot more towards general fiction (thriller, romance, genre agnostic stories, etc) and while they do sometimes hit fantasy (usually urban) sci fi is basically nonexistent besides occasionally going 'and then i learned X book used to be reylo fic' 
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May 23, 2024 05:18
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The eleventh and final book in The Wars of Light and Shadow saga by Janny Wurts is out today! We have a thread too: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4030263 Mix. posted:This might be kind of a weird question, but does anybody have any youtube channel recs for people who talk about sci fi stuff and are, like, actually worth watching/listening to? Unresolved Textual Tension and A Critical Dragon.
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May 23, 2024 06:18
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Groke posted:So, KJ Parker. I just started on Saevus Corax Deals with the Dead, about 15% in... and this sure is a KJ Parker story. Fun though. This is a really solid trilogy. Saevus has a real arc through three books and each book is different. Have fun!
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May 23, 2024 06:41
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Levitate posted:I’ve been meaning to read Light but somehow kept deciding not to get it, despite loving Viriconium Nova Swing is like a weird noir version of Roadside Picnic. It’s good but a bit like the shift between the various Viriconium books, a real vibe shift compared to the first work in the sequence, one which privileges a strange atmosphere over direct continuity in plot or character. Always feels like there’s something confusing and murky going on that’s just out of reach of the characters’ awareness. Haven’t read the third book though.
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May 23, 2024 07:11
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WarpDogs posted:or, better yet, Bloodborne - I will be tripping over myself to recommend A Storm of Wings. I've never TBRd a book so quickly
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May 23, 2024 13:40
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Leng posted:The eleventh and final book in The Wars of Light and Shadow saga by Janny Wurts is out today! ahhhh she did it! god I need to really get back to Light and Shadow. I'll go update the OP of that thread
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May 23, 2024 16:00
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Mix. posted:This might be kind of a weird question, but does anybody have any youtube channel recs for people who talk about sci fi stuff and are, like, actually worth watching/listening to? I follow a couple of book youtubers that I like but their focus leans a lot more towards general fiction (thriller, romance, genre agnostic stories, etc) and while they do sometimes hit fantasy (usually urban) sci fi is basically nonexistent besides occasionally going 'and then i learned X book used to be reylo fic' Bookpilled comes highly recommended by the SF-Ultra podcast https://www.youtube.com/@Bookpilled
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May 23, 2024 16:27
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Matt from bookpilled is really good. I also like The Book Rapport and, to a lesser extent, Science Fiction Reads and BookJack.
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May 24, 2024 01:47
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