The Science Fiction and Fantasy Thread: Read the OP, Bridge of Birds, and Murderbot

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The Science Fiction and Fantasy Thread: Read the OP, Bridge of Birds, and Murderbot

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Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Never read it myself, but the Ketty Jay books are often described as "Firefly but not quite", so they might be worth checking out.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2013 00:22

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 14:57

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Just finished up Grim Reaping by Anthony Lund.

Pretty damned good. LONG, but pretty good.

Basically, if you like Pratchett's Death, this book is basically him.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2013 02:33

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Well, poo poo. Richard Matheson has passed away.

I think I have seen more of his books and stories made into movies and twilight zone episodes than any other author I have ever read.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2013 01:18

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Amortals by Matt Forbeck was pretty good.

Basically, it's sort of like Altered Carbon without the :argh:

CATHOLICS! and sex.

It's more of a murder mystery kinda thing, where the guy has to investigate who killed him in a previous body.

I dug it

# ¿ Jun 29, 2013 21:45

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Correia also has a series out that's sorta... urban fantasy noirish set in the 1920s. It's a 3 book series, and fairly good.

It's called the Grimnoir Chronicles. The first book is Hard Magic.

There's also a newer series (think the 3rd book is coming out this month?) about a world where elves and gnomes and goblins and vamps and whatnot all exist (in public), and there's a special police force that handles the cases. Basically, if a vamp bites a non willing person, they catch em and put em in jail. If a person kills a vampire, they catch the rear end in a top hat who killed em and put em in jail. It's an interesting twist on the whole OH GOD WE CAN'T LET THE PUBLIC KNOW BLAH BLAH crap.

First book is called Hard Spell, by Justin Gustainis.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2013 09:42

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

It also has one of my favorite lines in a book.

"The learned gentlemen from the university have asked me if I relied on Einstein�s General Theory of Relativity or if I used the simpler rules of Newton�s Law of Universal Gravitation on the evening in question when I accidentally took Sheriff Johnson�s life . poo poo. I don�t know. I just got angry and squished the fucker. But I've gotten better at running things and I promise not to do it no more."

# ¿ Jul 5, 2013 14:11

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Echo Cian posted:

And though I haven't read it myself, Kristin Cashore's Graceling series is supposed to be good.

It's pretty good. I haven't read the sequel to it though.

Basically, it's about on the same level of "badass lead" that Mistborn has with Vin.

I kinda liked it better though, cause it was sort of the reverse. Mistborn had Vin slowly becoming a badass over the course of the series, and Graceling had an already badass character learning to be more human.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2013 02:59

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

So, apparently Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles has gotten optioned for a tv series by Fox.

That's... going to be the most incredibly boring show ever.

Has anyone read Seventh Son or whatever the series is that the movie is coming out soon? Looked interesting, even though it had Jeff Bridges doing a horrible Bane impression.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2013 10:05

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Looked her up on wikipedia, and I gotta say, she is definitely a unique author simply because of this notation :

quote:

Kiernan is a transsexual,[6] a lesbian, and an atheist pagan.[7] She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. with her partner: photographer and doll maker Kathryn A. Pollnac.[8]

A transsexual lesbian atheist pagan horror writer.

That's gotta give you a unique perspective when writing.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2013 02:24

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Read Demonspawn and A Witch To Live by Glenn Bullion, and both were pretty good.

Demonspawn wasn't terrific, but AWTL was pretty good.

I'm kinda digging this guy's little universe he's making.

Urban Fantasy/OMG VAMPS AND WITCHES ARE REAL kinda genre.

Up next is a re-read of Jack Kursed, and then to the new one he has out, something like Demons and Doorways.

The covers kinda suck, but at least the books are decent.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2013 19:53

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Ferret posted:

Rachel Aaron is today's Kindle Daily Deal, and I really enjoyed the Eli Monpress stories - they're a bit similar to the Gentlemen Bastards in that the main character is a charming thief.

Interesting magic system, enjoyable characters - give it a shot!

The Legend of Eli Monpress includes the novels: The Spirit Thief, The Sprit Rebellion, and The Spirit Eater and is on the Kindle store today for $1.99. The story continues in The Spirit War and concludes in Spirit's End

Also, it's a CRYING SHAME that Paul S. Kemp is not mentioned in the Sword and Sorcery section of the OP. He's probably best known as a Forgotten Realms author, but his original stuff is The Tales of Egil and Nix ( book 1: The Hammer and the Blade, book 2 (just out last week): A Discourse in Steel). These are pulp S&S tales and are just GREAT fun.

The only downside to the Monpress series was the covers. For some reason when they came out in paperback, they had these almost romance novel bodice ripper covers.

They are pretty great books though.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2013 01:48

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Wasn't he that shithead who always got into feuds with John Scalzi?

# ¿ Aug 16, 2013 05:01

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Just finished up Black Blade Blues by J.A. Pitts.

It was... weird. It kinda reminds me of the first Dresden Files book, where you get the idea it can be a great series but the book itself kinda sucks.

Has anyone read the series? I'm hoping to hear it goes more into kick rear end territory and less about "oh, woe is me, angsty lesbian with esteem issues".

# ¿ Aug 23, 2013 04:42

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Fried Chicken posted:

On my phone so no link but John "I like nazis and rape" ringo has decided to pick a fight with John scalzi over winning the Hugo.

Interestingly, he says the exact same things as posters in this thread, almost verbatim

Yea, but none of the people said he only won because of LIBERALS!!!! :argh:

# ¿ Sep 4, 2013 08:21

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Dammit. A.C. Crispin is dying of cancer as well.

This has been a horrible year for authors.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2013 22:48

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Just finished up a recommendation from a friend.

The Translators by Gord Rollo.

I already liked Crimson and Jigsaw Man, so I knew there was a good chance I'd like this book, but drat it blew me away.

It's really, really good. It lives up to the description of "apocalyptic thriller" that the author gave. He... I dunno, he takes a LOT of random poo poo and somehow mixes it all together to have it work all perfectly. The book covers stuff from incan temples to pyramids to loch ness and it just somehow gels into this great read.

It's one of the few books I've read this year that I say is worth picking up.

I'd describe it better, but the way he merges everything into the main plot kinda kills the ability to give any more details without spoiling something else about the plot.

5$ on kindle at the moment (and I assume everywhere else) with the paperback being something like 12.95?

Honestly, the cover art sold me on it before the story did. Just loving look at it :

He had a cooler looking pic of an incan temple, but I can't find it at the moment.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2013 16:57

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Kraxxukalf posted:

I was in the book shop the other day and came across "Prince of Thorns" by Mark Lawrence, which seemed pretty interesting. I do enjoy a good fantasy tale, and also anti-heroes, so I was wondering if any of you have read it and/or would recommend it? Reviews seem quite favourable, and from what I can tell its part of a trilogy that's already done?

I tried to read it, but I stopped when I got to the sentence "I don't like being angry, it makes me angry."

That's just horrible writing. I made it through Fool Moon and I couldn't make it through the first few chapters of this book.

Not saying it sucks, cause I haven't read it, but it's not one I recommend to anyone.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2013 13:21

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Srice posted:

Yeah that sentence really stuck out in my mind too.

There are some good qualities buried in the book but it really felt like it was edgy for the sake of edginess. I actually like reading about protagonists that are terrible people, but I couldn't find Jorg compelling at all since he was so ridiculous. I mean, the book opens with him and his army raiding a village. He (a 13 year old boy) rapes a few women, and then slaughters the village by burning them to death.

Lawrence does have some talent as a writer, but sadly he squanders it by going in a stupidly grimdark (ugh I hate that word but it really applies here) direction.

^^^^

This. The entirety of the part I read was how badass this kid was, and how he was gonna stab people in the throat all the time, and he doesn't like being angry, cause it makes him angry. I'm all for batshit protagonists, but the writing in this book is just bad. It's literally written as "angry angsty kid being cool and angry and not taking crap off anyone cause he'll murder em, cause this kid is TOUGH!" and I need a bit more dimension to my books instead of "8th grade nerd's wish fulfillment fantasy cause he'll show those bullies one day, oh yes he will!".

It's just not my cup o tea. Dude may be the biggest and awesomest evil version of Goku that the author could think of, but just being grimdark for sake of being grimdark is just retarded. I would not be surprised in the least if someone said "Oh yea, in book 2 there's a scene of a siege and they are catapulting babies into the wall cause rocks aren't working."

Regarding the black prism series... it's, well, readable. I liked the magic system in there, but the main character continually, always, forever mentions how fat he is. It doesn't even matter if it's related to the scene he is in, or what he is doing, he's fat and the author likes to remind you that he is, as you might have learned from the other 500000 times it's mentioned, fat.

I liked it because of the magic system, and the plot is vaguely interesting enough for me to finish the series, but the writing can be much, much better. I read the book though, I cannot imagine listening to it. That adds hours and hours to the amount of crap you'd have to put up with instead of just the 2 hours it takes to read the book.

It's still leagues above the Night Angel trilogy though. God that was a pile of suck.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2013 02:24

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

I got a copy of it to read but I dunno if it's good or not.

Hoping it is though. The plot sounds neat enough.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2013 04:27

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

I liked it better than the game.

Wasn't massively OH SWEET JESUS I THINK I CAME kinda great, but it was decent enough.

Worth a read if you like the games, I guess.

# ¿ Oct 12, 2013 00:51

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Victorkm posted:

gently caress you! Lightning was awesome.

What this guy said. :colbert:

Koontz can be awesome, so long as he leaves that loving dog out of the book.

The series about the guy who can't be in sunlight is pretty badass and weird. Same with a few of his other books. Once he got into the dog years though, the quality loving tanked.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2013 03:44

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Yea, but it fit in with the whole genetic engineering aspect of the book. Same with Watchers (a good book).

When the superdog just shows up (Canus ex machina) and saves the day is when it gets incredibly annoying. The last decade or so of his writing has been "If a dog shows up, that dog is gonna save the day" plot development.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2013 04:29

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

I really hope this sorta makes a switch flip in his brain to where he goes "Hmm, kickstarter for a new 20p book might be a good idea!".

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 23:48

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Megazver posted:

I'll throw in one final plug of Harry Connolly's Kickstarter for his epic fantasy novel The Great Way because I have no shame .

It hit the final stretch goal yesterday and now everyone who pledges $12+ will get the Twenty Palaces prequel novel, the to-be-finished-next-year pacifist UF novel (think Dresden Files meets Auntie Mame) and, now, the short story collection with almost every short story he wrote so far which will include new Twenty Palaces story (all in ebook format) in addition to the other stuff you'd get depending on the tier. There are also some cool-sounding RPG supplements for FATE Core and some wallpapers and a map, but the books are the exciting bit.

It's a hell of a deal from an excellent writer.

Last few hours on there, so get in while you can.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2013 23:07

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Bremen posted:

I'm not sure if this is the best thread for this, but it was the closest I could find.

Lately I've been in the mood for a certain sort of book. Monster thrillers I guess would be the term, where there's something in the dark trying to eat you. Relic (Which I loved as a kid) would be a good example, but just any of the type of book where something in the dark is trying to eat the main characters. Would anyone have recommendations for recent books in this vein? Note that I'm not asking for great literature (possibly the opposite, in fact); just good pulpy thrillers.

Wolf Hunt by Jeff Strand is pretty good. Not really an "in the dark" but the main monster is a werewolf, and it's not some emo-esque woe is me I am hairy and cursed werewolf. He's a complete prick and acts like one.

The Desert by Bryon Morrigan is pretty good. Sort of a lovecraftian vibe to it, but basically it's a monsters in the desert eating soldiers kinda book.

I'll update the post as I think of new ones.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2013 10:40

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Bremen posted:

I'm not sure if this is the best thread for this, but it was the closest I could find.

Lately I've been in the mood for a certain sort of book. Monster thrillers I guess would be the term, where there's something in the dark trying to eat you. Relic (Which I loved as a kid) would be a good example, but just any of the type of book where something in the dark is trying to eat the main characters. Would anyone have recommendations for recent books in this vein? Note that I'm not asking for great literature (possibly the opposite, in fact); just good pulpy thrillers.

Crimson and Valley of the Scarecrow by Gord Rollo are also both really good scary books. Crimson is what IT would be if IT didn't go full retard on the ending, and Scarecrow is just loving spooky. It reads like an 80s horror movie. It's pretty awesome.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2013 20:38

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

I bought that one from some online book outlet retailer for 2$ or so. Worth every penny.

Got it for the cover art, but the story was pretty great as well.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2013 06:27

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Just finished up Fortune's Pawn by Rachel ~~Aaron~~Bach.

Surprisingly good.

Nice to see an actual kick rear end female protagonist that isn't all weepy and retarded and girly at the drop of a hat because of plot handwaving. The Eli Monpress series was pretty good, and except for the horrible covers of the first 3, I didn't really have any complaints. All the female characters were multi dimensional, not really a single cardboard cutout mouthpiece kinda character. Extra special bonus points for having female characters in a fantasy novel and have them NOT only exist to be rape bait.

Fortune's Pawn is a sci fi book that is kinda half star wars, half Warhammer 40k. There's battle scenes where people in giant armor are loving up other aliens or people in battle armor, and there's scenes were people are talking about the universe and how it's all one big mystery. I really liked it though. It had me laughing a few times in the beginning, and the story kept it's pace up pretty well.

Gonna grab the sequel when it comes out.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2013 11:16

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Megazver posted:

Is it less, uh, light-weight than the Eli Monpress books? I've read half of the first one and while there was nothing bad to say about it, it was kinda... fluff. Reading so light it floated.

Eh, it's about the same.

It's not gonna change your world view or anything, but it's a decent enough book. I just dig novels with actual kick rear end female protags. It's like finding a unicorn. Gotta treasure em when you find em.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2013 15:35

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

I read some books from a series about space marines (legionaries?) where they had brain in a jar style marine robots and I think ships as well.

Think the author's name was William something?

The only thing I remember for sure was the point of being a brain in a jar was a punishment or something for criminals, and they had their own little holodeck matrixy world to live in while not piloting killer robots or doing other brain in a jar stuff.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2013 21:23

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Hedrigall posted:

Try Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear.

Personally, for my space horror fix I can't wait for next March's The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher:

God drat that's the most patriotic name since George Washington Texas :911:

# ¿ Nov 11, 2013 05:25

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Can I interest you in a modest proposal?

# ¿ Nov 11, 2013 21:46

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Just a heads up, less than a day left at storybundle.com for 13 books for one cheap price.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2013 07:48

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Just a heads up. Joe Nassise is doing a giveaway at the moment. If you buy the new book he has out (Watcher in the Dark), email him a copy of the receipt and he will give you a free ebook. There's some pretty good ones to choose from.

I think the giveaway ends tomorrow at midnight.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2013 16:15

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Hate to derail the "Sci Fi authors are hosed up people" train, but just found this :

http://angryrobotbooks.com/2013/11/...&utm_medium=web

Basically it's a 50% off coupon for 3 diff publishers. Lots of great books.

Go forth and save!

# ¿ Nov 29, 2013 21:54

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

I vaguely remember a book called something like Ironhand's Daughter by David Gemmell where she grew up to be an rear end kicking lady or queen or something.

Can't remember if she was evil. I kinda doubt it though. Pretty sure she was tough though.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2013 22:05

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

I think that was the sequel to it.

Can't remember much besides her meeting her dad's ghost at a fountain or something.

I need to re-read those books.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2013 00:26

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

nessin posted:

Anyone read Jon Sprunk's Shadow Saga books? I made it through book 1 despite the completely contradictory main character and near Rothfuss levels of "romance" between the male and female protagnist, but I've got a soft heart for any sort of legitimate assassin type character in the hopes someone may write one as well as Brust. However book 2 is killing me, the main character goes even more brain dead, including forgetting some of the major revelations of his past he learns at the end of book 1, and I can only assume the author realized how ridiculous the romance was and is trying to right the ship but in even more ridiculous fashion. Is it worth finishing, or do I just chalk it up as a lost cause now?

Eh, they weren't great but they weren't horrible.

If you are already through most of book 2, just finish the series out. There's only one book left.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2013 00:46

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

fritz posted:

This loving genre: �Instead of insulting us, [Hines] could be using whatever influence he has in social media to help recruit more PoC into our circles. They need to know they�d probably be much more welcome here than they might be elsewhere. (After all, many of us would love to befriend extra terrestrials or anthromorphs.)�

(http://www.jimchines.com/2013/12/recruiter-of-poc/ first seen at James Nicoll's live journal)

(ETA: fixed link, thanks RoboCicero)

The last thing I read by Hines was the first book in the goblin series.

Can someone explain to me how somehow now black people are considered aliens, and how Hines has enough influence to try and somehow "win" more black people over to literacy?

I just feel like I am missing a HUGE chunk of this.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2013 16:19

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 14:57

Stupid_Sexy_Flander: Mar 14, 2007; Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?; Grimey Drawer

Ah. That almost makes sense.

I rarely read about authors I like to read because there has almost NEVER been a moment where I have learned something about an author that wasn't "Boy that guy's a shithead and I just gave him some money".

Still haven't figured out how to recruit black people, but that apparently comes into play later after animorphs.

I kinda feel like Kyle in that CHIMPOKOMON episode of South Park, where I'm just always late to the cool thing :saddowns:

# ¿ Dec 7, 2013 22:32

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The Science Fiction and Fantasy Thread: Read the OP, Bridge of Birds, and Murderbot

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