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I'm looking for a change of pace from Space Opera, something where the main character(s) are thief's, pirates or something along those lines. If it's fantasy then something where they pick locks, break into rich folk homes etc. If it's science fiction then perhaps ~space pirates~ or something similar to Firefly. I'm honestly not really sure what I'm looking for and am pretty open to suggestions, I'm mostly just after something where the main character goes around robbing poo poo. Can anyone recommend me something?
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Jun 20, 2013 22:40
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Ornamented Death posted:You probably want The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Jedit posted:The Stainless Steel Rat. Srice posted:The Lies of Locke Lamora if you want fantasy, or The Quantum Thief if you want sci-fi. Thanks folks, they all sound interesting and I'll eventually try them all but The Lies of Locke Lamora sounds closest to what I think I want so I'll start with that. Echo Cian posted:The Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling. Main characters are spies and get into all sorts of mischief breaking and entering. The first three books are great; what follows, not so much. Nightrunner series sounds interesting. I'm not sure if I'm really into the sword fights of Among Thieves though, I'll see how I get along with the others and might give it a try if I'm still into this thief theme after I have read the others. Xik fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Jun 21, 2013 |
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Jun 21, 2013 00:01
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I've been reading fantasy for the last little while, but I really feel like getting immersed in some sci-fi again and am looking for recommendations. To be more specific, I'm looking for some recommendations where bio/organic/living ships (sentient or not) play a major role. The Leviathan race from Farscape, Wraith hive ships from Stargate and Tin Man from Star Trek are examples from Television, but I don't think I've ever read anything where they are a major theme. I'm sure they've been mentioned in stuff I've read before, but I'm looking for something where they really explore the concept and maybe go into the "mechanical" detail of it all. Does anything like this exist? Or I suppose more importantly, does anything like this exist that is worth reading?
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Jan 23, 2014 08:32
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Venusian Weasel posted:It's a short story, but Boojum might be up your alley. I certainly enjoyed it. I just read this, holy poo poo yes. The "drinking wine in a hot tub" ~space pirate~ bit was a bit embarrassing to read, but apart from that, it was literally exactly what I was looking for. Thank you! I wish there was more in this universe. Cardiac posted:Iain Banks is the go-to author for living ships and it is the whole basis for his Culture series. Thanks, I just hit up Wikipedia. I've unsurprisingly heard of Iain Banks and the Culture series, but have never looked into it much. From what I can tell, the concept of Minds isn't exactly what I had in mind (heh) when thinking of "living ships", but still sounds really appealing anyway. The Edenist culture in The Reality Dysfunction seem to be a better fit with their bio-tech and sentient starships. How much sex is in there? It must be a fair amount for you to mention it? I prefer that sex just be "implied" when it has to be mentioned at all, basically the equivalent of "fading to black". I'm willing to suffer through some lovely sex scenes if it means I would otherwise enjoy the books though. Quickly going though summaries of some stuff by Neal Asher, I can't really see any mention of living ships or anything similar?
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Jan 24, 2014 03:08
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Oh gosh. I guess I'll put it in the "consider reading when you've got nothing better to read" pile. I started Star Soldiers (which you can grab for free) the other day to get a sci-fi fix while I'm looking for something "living ship" related. I think I'll do as Cardiac recommended and get stuck into the Culture series when I've finished up with this book.
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Jan 24, 2014 04:14
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Heh, so there are enough negative opinions here to make me pass on Hamilton. That just leaves me with Culture. While it's not exactly what I had in mind regarding the living ship thing, it's fairly close and setting/concept sounds really interesting so I probably won't be disappointed anyway.
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Jan 24, 2014 21:32
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I finished up Star Soldiers last night. It's actually two fairly short novels back to back (Star Guard and Star Rangers) which are suppose to be in the same fictional universe. There was supposedly thousands of years between them, but the "Central Control" in both books sound like entirely different entities and it's the only thing really linking them. I found the second novel (Star Rangers) a more enjoyable read. The characters were more interesting and it made a bit of effort to actually establish relationships. This was also my first time reading Andre Norton, I'll probably be reading a lot more of her stuff in the future since it's really easy to read. Despite wanting to get invested in the Culture series as was recommended a few posts up, I decided to finish up what I haven't read of The Lost Fleet first. I finished the original six books almost two years ago and figured I would catch up now before moving on.
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Jan 29, 2014 03:50
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fritz posted:I read an incredible amount of Andre Norton in jr high/high school and Star Rangers was my absolute favorite. Good call on a starting Norton. The group dynamic of the rangers was probably what made the book for me, there was just something really satisfying about them. Perhaps it was what seemed like unconditional trust between them that made it? I'm not really sure, but it was great. I've probably got enough reading material for the next couple months at the moment, but if you've got any other Andre Norton favourites you'd like to recommend, I'd definitely be interested in adding them to my "to-read" pile for the near future.
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Jan 30, 2014 07:30
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Thanks fritz, The Zero Stone sounds like it would be an interesting read. I added them both to my to-read shelf.
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Jan 30, 2014 08:54
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I haven't read Ivory, but I like Mike Resnick from reading his Starship series. It looks like it's settings is future Africa though instead of uh, space, so that pretty much squashes any interest I had.
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Feb 2, 2014 01:21
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neongrey posted:Future Africa is what the guy's famous for, so... Yeah, I know that's one of his major themes, but it's not one I'm personally interested in. neongrey posted:Well, that and his role in the SFWA hubub last year. Not malicious sexism, I don't think, but some pretty nasty sexism. I'm afraid to look this up because if I find out he is a sexist prick I'm afraid I won't be able to enjoy his books.
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Feb 2, 2014 03:27
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DontMockMySmock posted:Has anyone ever read a book based on a video game/movie/etc. that wasn't awful? I sure haven't, especially not novelizations. This isn't really what you meant, but I've been reading this off and on for a while now. You can grab it in a convenient digital format here. Not really a book based on a video game, but a compilation of all the books within a video game. It's a mixture of both fiction and non-fiction within the Elder Scrolls Universe (all fiction from our point of view) and a lot of it is quite excellent.
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Feb 5, 2014 04:54
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That argument is pretty relevant in New Zealand politics at the moment. One of our right wing nut jobs (that is hell bent on bringing terrible US politics here) expressed his dumb opinion about how "women should stay in the kitchen and gays in the closet". When he was called out as sexist and homophobic for his comments he threatened to sue for defamation. You're all welcome to come to the NZ Megathread and laugh at how terrible he is if you like. Slightly more thread-related: Is there some curated list of sci-fi and fantasy authors who are creeps or bigots? It would be nice to have a reference list so I don't accidentally give them money. I was disappointed when ya'll posted that Mike Resnick was involved in that whole thing, I like what I have read of him so far.
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Feb 19, 2014 21:03
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Venusian Weasel posted:While I understand the urge to not give authors with lovely opinions money, I think setting up a blacklist of authors not to buy is a little extreme. "Blacklist" implies there would be power or force involved and no alternative. Compiling a list on the Internet quoting authors with lovely opinions is a far cry from some sort of active campaign to ruin their lives. You don't seriously believe that consumers are somehow obligated to remain purposely ignorant do you? Should we just be "grateful" and throw money at content without considering the motivations and opinions of the people responsible for creating it? Venusian Weasel posted:Like I said, there's a huge amount of nuance on authors' bad opinions, and I'm kind of worried that people might not look into some of the more borderline cases even though it may be easy for people to separate those authors' politics from their writing in those cases. Oh yeah, those poor people who are only "borderline" bigots, why won't somebody please think of them! 
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Feb 19, 2014 23:59
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Venusian Weasel posted:Thanks for turning my argument into a strawman! You're saying it's fine for consumers to look authors up on Google and judge them based on their views, but just don't compile a list that would make it too convenient? What is the functional difference between having to Google an author to hunt down their opinions and having it all conveniently compiled into a list? They are just ways of displaying information that the authors have already made public. Hell, why even draw the line at Google? That's too easy. Maybe they should have to go to the library, find out the authors website and do it that way? (Ok yeah, that's a strawman sorry) Venusian Weasel posted:My concern is this: a list is an organized attempt to ruin an author's life, because you're attempting a boycott that removes their source of income. You're right, if this hypothetical list become ridiculously popular and somehow publishers and consumers the world over took it at face value, then it would mean lots of people find out that some of the authors they like are sexist, homophobic or racist. It could probably damage their careers, but why is that a problem? Why are social consequences for saying lovely things a problem? Venusian Weasel posted:I completely understand why people would want a list, but I don't know if it would be all that good a thing to have. It has the potential to turn any discussion of authors whose views aren't really that bad into an incredibly toxic affair. Venusian Weasel posted:But there's a huge difference between authors like them and other authors like Mike Reznick and Barry Malzberg who say something stupid but ultimately benign in the bigger picture of things. I honestly don't think any sexist remarks made in a professional setting is "benign". How do objectionably state that what those particular authors said is "ultimately benign" or "really aren't that bad". Maybe you are tolerant of some old guy saying some casually sexist things, but not everyone is.
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Feb 20, 2014 01:27
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Chances are there are a bunch in here that don't follow the Humble Bundle because it's usually for video games, but it's doing an ebook bundle which includes books relevant to this thread. Anyone have anything to say about any of the titles in it?
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Mar 19, 2014 06:06
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Amberskin posted:Hello, Probably not. I love Scalzi's writing style and thoroughly enjoyed the Old Man's War universe, but the books don't really "get better". They are all pretty consistent and pretty much "more of the same". This is obviously great if you enjoyed the first but not so much if you didn't.
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May 16, 2014 22:23
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Charles Stross has a series where FTL travel is possible and Einstein is correct and FTL travel is functionally time travel and therefore the universe is locked in recursive singularity wars and governed by a far-future AI which has reached back into the present to make sure that the future where it exists is preserved. Sorry this is like 10 pages back but what is this series? I just read a little blurb on everything in Charles Stross bibliography and nothing immediately stands out to match this? e: Nevermind, thread continues to chat about it. Looks like it's Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise. Xik fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Apr 21, 2019 |
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Apr 21, 2019 01:21
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PlushCow posted:How does Look to Windward compare to the other Culture novels? I think it’s the only one I haven’t read. You spend time exploring an orbital and the psyche of a hub mind. It's fantastic imo but I guess it will depend on what you read the culture books for.
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Jun 23, 2019 04:32
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