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Decius posted:I disagree that the last few Vorkosigan books are lovely (although I can understand if others don't like the more domestic/romance focus), but the Chalion books are indeed amazingly good and rather unique in the Fantasy genre I don't mind romance-centered stuff at all (for another Bujold example, I liked all four Sharing Knife books), but I thought the Ivan book was just plain bad, and all I remember about Diplomatic Immunity is: basically nothing. Cryoburn was ok tho. I'm not sure if I'm done with the series, but it's a close thing.
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Jan 13, 2014 04:14
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:But she doesn't have a single scene in any of her books that doesn't have a woman present This is the gooniest thing I've seen all month.
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Jan 22, 2014 04:58
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fermun posted:While it is worth mentioning his political leanings when Mieville comes up, it's not exactly difficult to find extremely far right-wing genre fiction. How many Toms Kratmen does a single China Mieville balance out.
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Jan 24, 2014 15:28
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Xik posted: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. 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.
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Jan 30, 2014 06:15
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Xik posted: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. It's been closing in on 30 years and the only ones I can remember with any clarity and fondness (besides 'Star Guard/Rangers') are 'Storm Over Warlock' and 'The Zero Stone.'
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Jan 30, 2014 08:02
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calandryll posted:I really enjoyed Lawrence Watt-Evans' earlier books, The Misenchanted Sword and a few others. It's been awhile since I've read them but I remember they were similar. Though may be hard to find. Read the first three Ethshar books, and the sixth, and then you might as well stop. They should be in print from one small press or another, but you'll probably have to get them online or at a used book store.
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Feb 1, 2014 05:34
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Cardiovorax posted:That sounds pretty much exactly like what I had in mind, so I'll check those out right away. Thanks to you too. From a couple pages back: fritz posted:Read the first three Ethshar books, and the sixth, and then you might as well stop. They should be in print from one small press or another, but you'll probably have to get them online or at a used book store. That's a little bit harsh, and I'm still buying them, but some of them are just better than others.
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Feb 4, 2014 05:19
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:The only one I thought was a waste of time was the dragon one with the kid. He was an annoying little poo poo and the story didn't go anywhere. There's something about the voice in the last several that's just been off, starting from about The Spriggan Mirror.
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Feb 4, 2014 05:35
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Cardiovorax posted:Nobody has that bad of a taste. Discworld novels have generally pretty distinct and awesome covers and they sell like hot potatoes. The nicest thing you can say about the covers of the US editions of early Discworld novels was that they protected the pages inside from getting torn and smudged, and that was followed by several years where there were no US editions of Discworld at all, and you had to import them from the UK or Canada.
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Feb 10, 2014 00:22
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coyo7e posted:I'd rather give either series to a kid over Twilight or Goosebumps or Piers Anthony. Giving Piers Anthony books to a kid in 2014 is a pretty cruel thing to do.
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Feb 11, 2014 16:28
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BananaNutkins posted:All this argument and these are the readership numbers: It got mentioned upthread, but it's worth reiterating. This is for the magazines. When's the last time you saw one of those magazines in a B&N? When's the last time you read one of those magazines? They've been hard to find for years and years and years.
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Feb 22, 2014 03:51
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Coldforge posted:Translation: If you try to ban it, say through a blacklist, it just goes underground and becomes harder to keep track of, and probably gets even worse through the magic of "positive" reinforcement loops. What makes you think it's not there already? I found this at a used book store that was closing down a few years ago: http://www.amazon.com/The-Savaged-States-America-Futuristic/dp/B000OT1T3O/ only in a much more polished looking edition. (I wasn't paying attention and actually bought it, once I realized what I had it went in the trash, which was the first book I threw out for reasons not involving "mold" or "pages fallen out all over" as an adult)
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Feb 22, 2014 04:00
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anathenema posted:Anyway, can anyone recommend me something fun in fantasy that isn't totally stupid? It doesn't have to be brilliant, but something along the lines of the energy of the Gentlemen Bastards stories would be good. You know what doesn't get recommended often enough? This book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_for_the_Morning_Glory savinhill posted:Try Robert VS Reddick's Chathrand Voyage series. It's fun, has a ton of awesome adventure, and it also has a large scope with world building and history that has a lot of impact on the greater story and plot. These too! (I thought things sort of fell apart in book 4 but the first couple are just great)
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Feb 22, 2014 04:00
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Zola posted:I do still trot out the True Game series once in a blue moon, though. The full nine set or just the Peter books? Northshore/Southshore are good too, but I read the reviews of her latest and I'm not touching that.
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Feb 22, 2014 04:01
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Cardiac posted:Furthermore, the whole AI thing plus biotechnology has made gender kind of irrelevant as an interesting topic in scifi (except of course the backwardness of some authors). Go track down and read "Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation" by Raphael Carter.
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Mar 9, 2014 01:30
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General Battuta posted:A lot of (often bad) fantasy writers have a hard-on for coming up with ~magic systems~ that offer unusual mechanisms for accruing and using power. I think these usually come off as a bit onanistic and pointless, but you occasionally get a story where the mechanisms of magic are actually important to the theme and emotion rather than the puzzle-box plot. One of the selling points I've seen people use on those Sanderson books is "oh it's a really cool magic system!" EDIT: I found this: http://brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-first-law/ by him. fritz fucked around with this message at 01:42 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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Mar 10, 2014 01:38
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Velius posted:For the other two people who ever read the series, the next book in Glen Cook's Instrumentalities of the Night series apparently came out this week. I suspect it's going to be the end of the series, since the sales have been abysmal. I haven't even started it yet to see if it's worth recommending, but the series in general is kind of a tough sell - alternate world Dark/Middle ages with magic and the like, with Cook's typical flawed protagonists. I enjoy it but parts of it are pretty tough to get through, much more so than Cook's other works. I read it last night and it did not at all read like a last-in-the-series book . The first book in the series was really good, and the second was strong, but it's been downhill since.
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Mar 16, 2014 00:39
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:On a side note, started reading a series by Spider Robinson called Callahan's. It's... well it's a weird sci fi series that basically is about a group of people at this bar, and so far it's told in short stories. Callahan's used to have a small but hardcore fan base, I read one of the books and found it just terrible.
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Mar 16, 2014 03:23
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ulmont posted:I completely agree with you that that certainly shouldn't be the last in the series, although you never know with sales. I disagree that it's been downhill; I think the only trouble has been that the scope just keeps expanding, to the point that it's just tougher to juggle. I think the scope is expanding but there's not really more stuff going on, it's just bloating like fantasy books do. The prose is starting to wear on me, but maybe I don't remember the first book or so well enough. I'm also not really into the whole not-Aesir pantheon subplot, the "Piper Hecht is possessed by Thor and / or Tyr" led to a lot of "eh" stuff but at least it wasn't Brother Candle's schlong and all that stuff
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Mar 16, 2014 04:02
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Hedrigall posted:All those drat psychics hounding him day and night He's that dude at the beginning of Ghostbusters that kept getting zapped by Bill Murray.
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Apr 10, 2014 17:07
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Only one I finished reading was Warbound, but at least it was a pretty decent book. If it wins I'll be just as happy as I am now with it. If it loses, I will care just as much as I do now about it. Correia is one of "those loving dudes": http://monsterhunternation.com/2014/03/24/tax-day-customer-service/ http://monsterhunternation.com/2011/04/15/happy-tax-day/
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Apr 20, 2014 03:17
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Velius posted:Man, Sci-fi release dates are really boom/bust. Looks like my current set of pre orders includes: I think the only things on the Locus Forthcoming list ( http://www.locusmag.com/Resources/ForthcomingBooks.html ) that I'm excited about are: Jemisin, N. K. • The Fifth Season • (Orbit US, tpb) Nix, Garth • Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen • (HarperCollins, nvl-ya, hc) Elliott, Kate • The Black Wolves • (Little, Brown UK/Orbit) (I didn't even know there was a new Kate Elliott coming out until I just now checked!)
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May 3, 2014 23:02
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mango sentinel posted:Someone in some random thread forever ago was talking about a fantasy story featuring a city towards which four colossal doom monsters were slowly treading from each cardinal direction. I can't remember much else about the story and am having a tough time tracking it down. Maybe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Land ?
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May 4, 2014 17:09
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Neurosis posted:Is the Greg Bear novel written in homage to it any good? I haven't read it, but it's Greg Bear, and really, what are the odds.
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May 4, 2014 19:49
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I actually read the John Wright, and it wasn't horrible, but get it used.
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May 4, 2014 19:57
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Zola posted:One female author who doesn't get much press and really deserves better is Melissa Scott. She has put a lot of her books on Kindle recently. The world-building of Five-Twelfths of Heaven is great, very original even twenty years after its original publication (and it's currently $2.99 at Amazon). Sometimes she's categorized as a "gay" author, but I found that while her books do often include LGBT characters, sometimes even as the main character, sexuality is an attribute, not a focus. Fair's Point is coming out literally next week! And anybody not excited about that needs to read Point of Hopes ( http://www.amazon.com/Point-Hopes-Astreiant-Melissa-Scott-ebook/dp/B007Q3W0K2/ ) like right freaking now.
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May 10, 2014 01:38
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Neurosis posted:I like his sci fi books quite a bit but would never defend Wright or his opinions, which are repugnant. "High House" was pretty good, the sequel was just ok.
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May 11, 2014 00:57
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NinjaDebugger posted:Jack Chalker, maybe? you have to be careful with Chalker because of the whole transformation / mind control fetish thing.
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May 15, 2014 07:46
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High Warlord Zog posted:On a scale of Freaky Friday to I Will Fear No Evil, how bad is he? You remember how in DBZ when the guy's scouter exploded because the other dude's power level was so high?
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May 16, 2014 05:51
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Fried Chicken posted:So is there a thread for talking the business side if SFF? I want to discuss Orbit's decision not to include the novels in the Hugo voters packet. I think you're posting in it. Why'd Orbit do that?
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May 16, 2014 16:20
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Sekret posted:I would like to read about humans on an alien planet that have to establish settlements and deal with the native flora and fauna. Bonus points for abandoned ruins and/or alien technology. Can anyone recommend anything like that? Some of Sherri Tepper's earlier stuff, like "Northshore/Southshore" and the "True Game" series, fits and is definitely recommended.
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May 25, 2014 00:43
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Darth Walrus posted:Had the insanity set in by that point, though? Because the lady be really, really crazy. No, it's early stuff and sane.
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May 28, 2014 05:13
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Y'all might be sick of Larry Correia talk but apparently he wrote this in what I have been led to believe was all seriousness: quote:“One of the reasons the whole drat hydrogen-filled ship wasn’t a complete death trap walked past him carrying a tray of food. He could tell that the diminutive Japanese girl had to resist the urge to bow when she saw him. Old habits die hard, but Pirate Bob’s Marauders weren’t big on any habits born in the Imperium. “Hello, Mr. Sullivan.” http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/A9781451639087/A9781451639087___5.htm
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Jun 1, 2014 18:10
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:It's set in the 20s-30s as a noir steampunk xmen series. Do you mean 'pulp'? Because that's coming across as a lot more Sax Roemer than Dashiel Hammet.
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Jun 3, 2014 02:48
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Are y'all ready for more horrible author opinions&behavior: http://dsmoen.livejournal.com/544470.html (warning:  ) (you, uh, might not want to read that)
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Jun 13, 2014 04:48
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regularizer posted:Can anyone recommend good one-off books that aren't part of a series? I'm open to anything except hard military sci-fi. I recently re-read 'Armor of Light' by Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett. Sir Philip Sydney + Christopher Marlowe + Stuart Scotland + spies + magic + etc, how can you not like it.
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Jun 15, 2014 01:57
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systran posted:If you like Joe Abercrombie's lovely novels inspired by videogames and Rothfuss' novels inspired by E/N threads, perhaps you'd also enjoy 14th century Chinese literature? I haven't read RoTK but if you can't enjoy 'The Water Margin' aka 'Outlaws of the Marsh' aka 'All Men are Brothers' then oh geez there ain't no cure for that.
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Jun 19, 2014 15:45
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FastestGunAlive posted:Any good fantasy buckle swashing out there? I've read Locke Lamora. Try The Queen's Necklace, Theresa Edgerton.
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Jun 27, 2014 04:46
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Mars4523 posted:What the hell is it with science fiction writers and sexual deviancy? What the hell is it with the people that buy that stuff?
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Jul 1, 2014 03:00
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Antti posted:Three Worlds Collide So there's
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Jul 5, 2014 01:42
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