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Arglebargle III posted:The only other thing I've really liked from Nix is his Keys to the Kingdom series which has a really interesting premise: It mostly takes place in heaven, which turns out to be a completely messed-up place because God left seven angels in charge, each with one of the seven deadly sins, and the sin eventually takes over their character and their realm of heaven and also the Devil is God's ex husband and the kids got kind of messed up by the divorce aand it's pretty interesting. Unfortunately Nix seems to become unsure about what he wants to do with it after book 3. He has a short story collection that has a pretty good Old Kingdom novella and a brilliant parody of choose-your-own adventure/fighting fantasy gamebooks in it. That’s worth looking into. I’ve never gotten into his other novels as much as Sabriel and its sequels. He has a really bad habit of throwing a lot of interesting ideas and the kitchen sink into the mix and then not developing them. His pacing can get a bit too manic for my taste. And he has trouble trouble with endings. The last couple of books in the Keys series become an exhaustive series of And Then’s and from what I remember from most of his other books they all start blitzing through plot points in the final stretch and just cut off abruptly. Neil Gaiman has a new book out which is getting a lot of good buzz. Has anyone checked it out yet? High Warlord Zog fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Jun 23, 2013 |
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Jun 22, 2013 22:37
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Why are we supposed to hate Dan Simmons so much anyway? I know he has some fairly lovely views on a couple of subjects and that he sometimes inserts them into his books but as far as I know he's not like Orson Scott Card who has lovely views and funds lovely organisations that are making the world a shittier place for people who don't share them. Also, Orson Scott Card wrote a book where the protagonist (who in the afterword Card admits is just himself with a different name) discovers that a co-worker is a paedophile who has molested their bosses kid and wants to molest his daughter and doesn't report him to the police because he decides that apart from that he's not a bad person. Orson Scott Card is awful. High Warlord Zog fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Jan 5, 2014 |
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Jan 5, 2014 02:43
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The problem with writing and reading sex scenes is that we’ve been conditioned to find a lot of the terminology used to describe it as either funny or offensive.
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Mar 10, 2014 13:14
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Another direction you could go would be to read some of the stuff like H. Rider Haggard's She or King Solomon's Mines or the other pulp-horror stuff that Goon and Hellboy are drawing on. If you don't mind wading through lots of the mock-high heroic dialog - with it's thee's and the thou's and melodramatic phrasing - that the native and ancient characters speak in She and King Solomon's Mines then Nada The Lily is another Haggard book worth checking out. It’s a fun spear and sorcery story built around the rise and fall of the Zulu leader Shaka. It's unique amongst the "high-adventure in the dark heart of Africa!" tales that Haggard popularized in that narrator and almost all of the characters are natives. There’s also some weird stuff going on with the romantic plot-line which involves an almost interracial and almost incestuous coupling. It’s dated. It’s absolutely a sensationalised and simplified look at culture and the historical events that it’s about. And like a lot of Haggard – or at least the one’s I’ve read, which isn’t a lot, I’ll admit – it can be a bit of a chore between set-pieces. It is however pacier and more action heavy than most of his other stuff - and certainly moreso than She and Solomon - so if your thinking of reading a Haggard this is a good one to go with. High Warlord Zog fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Apr 18, 2014 |
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Apr 18, 2014 06:41
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Fried Chicken posted:Also apparently Ayn Rand's Anthem is up for a "retro-Hugo". Bleh. Even setting aside it is Rand, Atlas Shrugged is more scifi with its magic energy machines and gulch cloaking device Atlas Shrugged is unmitigated poo poo though. Anthem, if still pretty crappy, is short and fairly inoffensive. It also, if read as a sequel to Atlas, makes that book the slightest teensiest bit better which is, I think, an achievement worth recognizing. Anthem tell us that the civilization that emerges from Galt's Apocalypse isn't the Objectivist utopia that Shrugged seems to imply; instead, it's a dystopian hell from Rand's worst nightmares. Galt and those like him are soon wiped out by the surviving "looters" and those who have become disenfranchised with their philosophy, who quite rightly blame them for engineering their current misery. The civilization that the heroes of Atlas Shrugged end up creating is the antithesis of everything they believe in. Basically, someone needs to write the bridging story between the two books. It'll be Bioshock meets Mad Max.
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Apr 20, 2014 06:15
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Chairchucker posted:BTW Wikipedia tells me that a couple of years ago, Orson Scott Card changed his mind about the whole gay thing or something. Anyone know what that's about? His views on the subject are apparently a little more progressive now (Or at the very least he can overlook his prejudices enough to give an overtly pro LGBT books like David Levithan's Every Day a glowing review). He's still pretty batty though. As I understand it, while these days he probably wouldn't write anything like the Hypocrites of Homosexuality he still believes all the rear end-backwards nonsense that he beats the reader over the head with in books like Empire.
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May 9, 2014 22:53
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fritz posted:you have to be careful with Chalker because of the whole transformation / mind control fetish thing. On a scale of Freaky Friday to I Will Fear No Evil, how bad is he?
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May 15, 2014 08:45
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Have any Rugged Individualist Wank authors ever written an unofficial version of what happens after Atlas Shrugged. Where the Randian ubermensch wander the wasteland that is post-Atlas America killing the remaining looters who have grouped together into Mad Max-esque degenerate hoon gangs and wolverining away the invading Ruskies and/or Chinks (who, communist monsters that they are, have decided to take advantage of the situation and invade). This seems like a thing that should exist.
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May 23, 2014 02:17
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Someone has donated box loads of Poul Anderson and Michael Moorcock books to my local second hand store. I know of these guys by reputation and have read some of their more well known stuff (Loved the Broken Sword and Tau Zero, Elric was fun but disposable). Were/Are they consistent writers, or should I just stick with the better known stuff? Are there any stinkers I should look out for?
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Jun 20, 2014 10:52
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fritz posted:The Dave Duncan is the first in a trilogy that I remember as being reasonably popular back in the 80s, I didn't really care for it but 'our-world protagonist His historical novels aren't bad, depending on your tolerance for Stephen King endings and your interest in the setting and people being written about (Simmons did research for those novels and by gum does he want you to know it and by gum you will read every tiniest factiod that he found out about Hemmingway/ Dickens/ Artic Exploration/ Dying of scurvy/ 1930's climbing equipment/ And more!). Carrion Comfort is one of the best Epic Horror and Balls to the Wall action/adventure novels ever written. The 100ish page Most Dangerous Game inspired climax is really something. Summer of Night is an It knock off but it's pacey and has lots of cool monster bits.
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Jul 10, 2014 00:26
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Dan Simmons started his career with an India is Hellhole (and Poors are Scary) novel. His current politics should come as no surprise to anyone.
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Jul 10, 2014 00:37
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zoux posted:Have you read it? That's not what it is at all. I'll take you word for it. I read Song of Kali years ago and haven't revisited. From what I recall it felt like a book that could at any point devolve into a racist tirade, but never quite did. And it's not a bad book, I remember it being really disciplined and tightly written in a way Simmons books haven't been for a long time.
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Jul 10, 2014 03:08
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mallamp posted:Good adult fiction = good YA fiction. I'd argue that the overall quality of current mass market YA is better than the overall quality of mass market adult fiction. And it's OK to enjoy both these types of books, but it shouldn't be all you read. mallamp posted:I've actually tried reading John Green, maybe 50 pages or so. Reading whole book of that would be like visiting tumblr unironically. I really want to like John Green, but his Manic Pixie Dream Uncle online persona rubs me the wrong way, and which each book he writes, his characters sound more and more like he does in his YouTube videos.
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Sep 14, 2014 09:05
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Jedit posted:If you are still feeling critical of YA fiction, then mark the page in what you are reading, go to your nearest bookshop or the Kindle store, buy Dodger and Nation by Terry Pratchett, and read them. No to the first. Yes to the second. Dodger is a dull, stodgy book that is written for people who give out awards for YA fiction and that I can't imagine any actual young adult - or for that matter anyone who was disappointed by books like Snuff and Raising Steam and who is on the lookout for some top tier Pratchett - actually liking. Nation and the Tiffany Aching series a kind of prize-baity as well, but they're compelling reads. If you want to get any young person in your life into PTerry, go with the Johnny Maxwell books, or the Nomes Trilogy, or any of the early Disc novels (which are far more age appropriate, and more importantly, age accessible than anything the guy has published for kids in the last decade). High Warlord Zog fucked around with this message at 11:34 on Sep 18, 2014 |
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Sep 18, 2014 11:30
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MockingQuantum posted:So I don't know if this is the right thread for this, since it's more horror than sci-fi, but I started reading The Strain. I'm about halfway through, and it's kind of fatiguing reading over and over about how people keep being eaten by vampires that we already knew were going to become vampires. Does the book ever pick up pace, or develop much? I'm already pretty late in the book, and it kind of feels like it's stalling for time to pad out the trilogy. That is not a good book. Read Robert McCammon's They Thirst instead.
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Jan 14, 2015 12:52
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:It *could* be done as an anime. If any doorstop fantasy/sci-fi novels are to be adapted into anime it should be Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy.
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Feb 10, 2015 23:20
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ulmont posted:No later than 1996 with Executive Orders and Clancy jerking off about how he'd love to redesign the US government along right-wing lines. Clinton getting elected broke Clancy's brain.
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Jul 21, 2015 22:44
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If you want to read a series of stories told by a unreliable self-aggrandising narrator in a bar, read Arthur Conan Doyle's Exploits and Adventures Brigadier Gerard. The guy who did the British audiobook of The Name Of the Wind does a excellent reading of them too.
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Sep 23, 2015 21:35
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angel opportunity posted:What was the love interest's name again? Denna? I wonder if Rothfuss had a crush on a girl in high school named Jenna who ended up marrying some loving jock Never forget.
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Oct 2, 2015 21:00
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Crab Destroyer posted:Has anybody read Slade House yet? I haven't read all of David Mitchell's books so I'm not sure if the reader is supposed to know who Norah transferred her soul to at the end. Is it a character that has already appeared in an earlier book? Or is it a character Mitchell is saving for a future novel, since I guess Marinus' story isn't over yet. I think it's a loose end that he may or may not return to in a future book. I was surprised that The Bone Clocks didn't get showered with genre awards. As A Very Important Literary Novel it's kind of a bust, but I can't imagine many in the Hugo set who wouldn't be totally on board with an exuberant doorstop thick homage to Doctor Who, Susan Cooper, John Wyndham, the new-age wackiness of the New Wave, and Doctor Who. High Warlord Zog fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Oct 31, 2015 |
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Oct 31, 2015 23:23
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taser rates posted:I really liked it overall, but the one chapter that was the most fantasy heavy part of the book was by far the weakest. But wasn't it just tremendous fun to read?
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Nov 1, 2015 01:53
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muscles like this? posted:One of the later books in the series has a real loving bizarre reveal as to why the Foundation setting didn't have any aliens. And it goes a little something like this: Hi, I am Daneel Olivaw. I am a robot. Did you know that aliens are out there. I have no proof but my logic tells me this is true. Aliens are out there and they are coming. They want to kill us all! My mighty robot logic cannot be wrong! I must now upload my consciousness into a flesh body so I can prepare us all to fight them! Because this is an Asmov book I will talk and talk and talk and talk. Did you actually want to see Aliens and cool space wars poo poo? Well gently caress you! I'm linking up All The Books here! Is that not enough for you?
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Nov 6, 2015 21:56
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RCarr posted:... just good old sword and shield violence and Medieval era life. While they're historical fiction and not fantasy, Bernard Cornwell has written lots of books like this.
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Nov 21, 2015 00:03
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Orson Scott Card is a garbage person with garbage opinions. Many of these are repugnant. Sometimes they are hilarious.Orson Scott Card posted:But it’s Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman that I want to talk about. These guys understand storytelling, and while I can’t begin to guess which of them does what, or how their collaboration works, I can tell you that it does work.
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Jan 22, 2016 13:43
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Antti posted:This is why it bugs me when people are all "that silly old GRRM killing characters left and right!" So far there are only two viewpoint characters we can point to and say "that person is definitely dead", excluding prologue POVs. High Warlord Zog fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Mar 29, 2016 |
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Mar 28, 2016 23:53
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There are audiobook versions of Chuck Tingle's stories, that's... not something I associate with self published erotica. They seem really competently read too.
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Apr 27, 2016 05:20
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MrSlam posted:Unfortunately, he wants a fantasy novel with zero magic, no potions, no fantasy races, no dragons or unrealistic animals, no gods, no dream sequences or prophecies. I think he wants historical fiction but it in a made up place? David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. The King Must Die by Mary Renault. Shardik by Richard Adams. Kindred by Octavia Butler. Abercrombie's The Heroes. Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. There, you should be able to find something suited to your friend's tastes in all of that. Baru Cormorant is good too.
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Jun 10, 2016 01:49
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None. Here's how you should decided whether or not to read an Asimov book: Is it a short story/novella collection (i.e. I Robot, The Foundation Trilogy)? If so, it's almost certainly worth your time. Asimov isn't a good writer. His prose is dry. His characters are cardboard. But in short form, the ideas are usually strong enough to carry you through that and leave you satisfied. Is it a short novel (i.e. Caves of Steel)? It could be good, it could be bad. How much fun you'll have with it is largely dependent on how much you think his strengths make up for his flaws. Is it a long novel (i.e. The Foundation books after the original trilogy)? It's poo poo. Don't read it.
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Jun 15, 2016 22:42
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If I remember right, both of those are under 300 pages, so short novels.
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Jun 15, 2016 23:20
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Elpato posted:Hey Goons, If you're interested in Howard's antecedents I highly recommend Rider Haggard's Nada The Lily. High Warlord Zog fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Jun 17, 2016 |
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Jun 17, 2016 04:23
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tooterfish posted:That said I actually liked the first film. They got steadily more ridiculous though, and I didn't care for the last one at all. The third Hobbit movie was one of the ugliest blockbusters I've ever seen. A five page fight scene scene from a bedtime story for young children expanded into a two hour death orgy with a four digit body count.
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Nov 8, 2016 09:11
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Selachian posted:Well, there's Arthur Conan Doyle's The Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard, which is a collection of humorous short stories about a French officer. Gerard is a cocky, swaggering rear end in a top hat, a bit like Flashman but nowhere near as much of a coward and creep. These are lot of fun. There's a fair bit in them that you'll have seen crop up in later works, but you don't often get pulpy Napoleonic swashbucklers from the perspective of the French so the stories still feel fresh enough.
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Jun 11, 2019 10:30
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papa horny michael posted:Neal Stephenson's latest thing Fall; or, Dodge in Hell is a worse version of Greg Egan's works. The most laughable portion has been how societies problems are directly solved within tech conferences moderated by Stephen Pinker analogues. You'd think it's parody, except for the treatment. It's predecessor ended with a 300 page gun battle between the evil terrorists and All American survivalists. Does The Fall also drop all pretence of actually being about things and dial up the puplyness to 11?
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Jun 14, 2019 04:21
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Drunk Driver Dad posted:Can someone recommend me some fantasy, specifically audiobooks? Maybe some Tad Williams doorstoppers. The Memory, Sorrow and Thorn books are bit slow, but if you've handled WOT you'll be fine. Otherland is super episodic and a lot of sections don't add much to the overall story, but that might make it fun to dip in and out of for an hour or so a day.
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Jun 17, 2019 10:47
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Dante posted:I just finished the murderbot diaries and I found them really enjoyable. I also read (most of) the Culture series and I found them to be similar in that they're well written, quick reads and good crunchy entertainment. In general I enjoy sci-fi as a genre, but I find the writing to be a bit of a slog at times. What are some other sci-fi books I might enjoy? Ghostwritten/Cloud Atlas/The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
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Jun 21, 2019 09:56
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fashionly snort posted:The author won the Man Booker prize a few years ago, so a pivot into 'genre' fiction is, I guess, sort of a scandal (or whatever passes for one in literary circles)? Def recommended. His work has always been genre though. John Crow's Devil is full blooded splattery horror novel. A Brief History of Seven Killings - which nabbed the booker - is a gangster thriller. High Warlord Zog fucked around with this message at 10:18 on Jul 12, 2019 |
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Jul 12, 2019 10:15
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