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I'd suggest adding links to Jim Butcher's Reddit account (so people can refer to his AMA answers) and the big "Word of Jim" repository on the JB forums. What he has said about the series gets referenced often enough it could be handy.Tornhelm posted:Also, Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International (the next book is out in July) are a pretty fun too. That guy is utter human garbage though, so gently caress supporting him. If you must read his poo poo, pirate it so he doesn't see a single cent.
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May 22, 2014 12:59
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Tornhelm posted:Sure you're not confusing him with John Ringo? Larry saying that the Hugo voters are left-biased doesn't exactly make him human garbage (hint - they are). No, I'm remembering the guy who is on the side of open white supremacists. Backing rants about how black people are literally subhuman does make him human garbage. Clinton1011 posted:Can you elaborate on this, becease that sucks to hear. I loved his Grimnoir Chronicles series. It gets covered better here http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3554972&pagenumber=107 Basically he is part of a group unofficially led by Theodore Beale/Vox Day that has been stirring a lot of poo poo in SFWA lately, trying to harass and drive out women and nonwhite authors. Fried Chicken fucked around with this message at 13:39 on May 22, 2014 |
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May 22, 2014 13:35
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Captain Capacitor posted:I'm going to be meeting Jim next week when he wanders by Seattle, so if you have any pressing questions I'll Ask him if since the formor are back does that mean we will be seeing the Dagdah and other Members of the Tuatha Dé Danann?
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May 23, 2014 19:01
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Man, Nick would be the kind of rear end in a top hat to have his evil entourage meetings professionally catered, wouldn't he? I always Imagine Jon Hamm as him.
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May 27, 2014 05:32
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Head full of rage kept me from sleeping, read the book instead Pretty good. I had some complaints developing through it but then the book had some reveals that nuked those gripes from orbit and made it all make sense in a way that didn't involve what I thought it did. The climax reveal* means I'm going to have to re-read it to see what was really going on in all those conversations. Really twisting my arm there. Trying to figure out the angle Tessa was playing there. Her comment about not throwing away 15 centuries of work means it wasn't her trying to save her daughter's life. Without knowing what Nick is planning with the grail we don't know how it will gently caress up her work or how it will, per Deirdre, save the world (though it actually saving the world would be the opposite of the apocalypse, and would presumably happen in #20, the prelude to the final trilogy and thus be counter to Nemesis, who Tessa appears to be allied with). Another possibility though is she could see this was a trap and assumed Nick would get caught in it, resulting in a rolling up of their whole operation. Which is what happened. That night torched a few millennia of work. *i'm assuming that is the climax. I got taught that "the climax is the most exciting part" which is an incredibly lovely and entirely subjective definition. There are loads of really exciting parts in any good book.
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May 27, 2014 14:38
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ImpAtom posted:Maybe you should try rereading it. It's both. This is Nick, he structures his plans so he gets incremental pickups along the way. He was after the McGuffin while hoping that let him grab something else, just like he was after Marcone while hoping that it let him grab Ivy in Small Favor
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May 27, 2014 14:57
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ImpAtom posted:That isn't what the book says though. Nick obviously wanted and took the Grail but it wasn't his primary objective. Which is different from what I said, how? He was after something more than the immediate McGuffin, just like how in SmF he was after something more than turning Marcone. He just set it up so if he "only" ended up with the McGuffin/Marcone he still came out ahead.
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May 27, 2014 15:02
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Nick didn't come out ahead because he deviated from his plan. He let Dresden press his buttons, broke faith with Mab, triggered the vault safeguards, and then made it personal going after the Carpenter house to hurt Dresden as bad as losing Deirdre hurt him. If he had waited to do his double cross after they were clear of the vault, or not gone after Maggie he would have come out ahead. Nick stopped being the cold calculating bastard we know and hate and let his emotions run the show when he was up against beings who are the anthesis of emotion. That is why he lost
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May 27, 2014 15:19
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Honestly, given the goats in the prep room I was expecting the Golden Fleece to be the target. I was expecting an Oceans Eleven style con heist, not a The Hobbit style burgle heist
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May 27, 2014 15:58
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Mars4523 posted:If Murphy stays nerfed for long I'm going to be pissed. I'm already not happy that Butters, who didn't need to be a superpowered Knight, got a power up, and for it to be in the same book as Murphy getting injured, sidelined, (and knocked down to love interest) felt like a slap in the face. the ability of an immortal to peacefully transfer their mantle to someone else and assume a mortal state seems like a very important plot point to introduce given Harry's goal. In all other cases the bearer had to die, which seems rather inconvenient
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May 27, 2014 18:25
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DiverTwig posted:Still reading this (I love working from home) and oh god chapter 32. loving chapter 32 man. That's the Maggie chapter isn't it? Yep. Direct hit
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May 27, 2014 19:16
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ImpAtom posted:I also think it's worth noting that this book established that the Winter Knight mantel is actually remarkably lovely. It doesn't actually give Harry any form of increased power aside from seemingly a protection against ice and slipping and maybe better ice magic? I get the feeling it's going to be going away fairly soon because Harry does not need it to play with the big leagues. yeah, I find that part really weird though. "Not feeling your limits" doesn't translate to "your spine is healed" - the book was also really clear that as soon as the mantle stopped masking physical ailments they were all still there dragging him down. Plus we've seen him draw on its abilities that go beyond that in terms of magic as well (eg in changes lea notes he is suddenly able to do ice and fire magic simultaneously, or surviving the duel spell the vamp princess landed) and things like some sort of weird ESP/spidey sense for what Summer will do in Cold Days. I get it was needed for the Tessa fight scene to work bit it doesn't jive with some of the other things. Maybe it's that it doesn't do much at the level Harry is willing to commit to it? The idea that it was just "push your limits" first popped up in Cold Days where a big deal was made of the trade off between power and obligation. Harry is fighting his obligation to Mab so he gets little power in return. It wouldn't be the first time Butcher has done the "rules of magic are much more flexible than is widely thought and a lot matters on personal decisions" over the course of several books. Originally mortals were special in their ability to choose their nature, then we got the line about Thomas being in love being mortal enough, then the faerie queens were mortals bearing mantles that manifested differently in their attitudes, and here we got a "good" skin walker and a monstrous Forest Person. Clearly choice and nature, and powers are more flexible that it was indicated earlier in the series Fried Chicken fucked around with this message at 19:52 on May 27, 2014 |
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May 27, 2014 19:42
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ImpAtom posted:The feeling I get from it is basically a quiet retcon of its abilities to justify Dresden giving it up without significant power loss in the near future. It really doesn't mesh with everything that was described up until now. Yeah, the books post Changes have really felt like a whole different world building exercise, seeming much more similar to the rpg material (where things are balanced so the PC has a shot and you sometimes want to play strange race/combos) whereas before it was a lot more stringent about the relative place in the universe. I'm not sure how much of this is Jim checking the sourcebooks as a reference like he says he does and that influencing things, that this is how it always was and he is slowly revealing the world building he did as Harry is learning more which he has mentioned in interviews, and how much of it is retcon necessitated by the story he wants to tell like he has said in his "how to write" stuff. The books are still fun and I am not going to descend to the level of red shirt wow goon and preach about "canon" but it does stick out so I sit here and speculate about possible explanations
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May 27, 2014 20:24
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ImpAtom posted:My biggest problem with Grey is that his voice and general tone was super goddamn Hellhound, right down to hitting on Murphy. I don't think Butcher did a good job distinguishing the character. I suspect the complete lack of distinguishing traits for a shapeshifting character was deliberate. Particularly given that Butcher is really repetitive about setting up and reiterating traits for other characters.
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May 27, 2014 23:09
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Can someone explain "Howard Delroy Oberheit"? I don't get the joke.
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May 28, 2014 00:06
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Screen Door Slams posted:I don't either. All I can think is that the HD is still his initials, and the joke lies in Oberheit. I have no idea what the joke is, though. Oberheit = "Over Height" = "he tall" maybe?
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May 28, 2014 00:13
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So "Genoskwa" apparently translates to "rock man" which explains the earth magic.
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May 28, 2014 00:20
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I know he has said any Maggie & Mouse stories would be kids book level rather than short stories, but I still want to learn more about the monster under the bed they slayerized
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May 28, 2014 18:20
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the weird thing with Hectate is that according to Welcome to the Jungle Hectate was a hag. Now she is a faerie queen? Is this a Kringle/Vadderumg thing?
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May 28, 2014 18:55
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Xtanstic posted:I guess Ferrovax is a progressive Dragon seeing as he doesn't hoard everything and banks some of his loot with Marcone And while I'm on that it is really weird Molly only has access to < $1 billion. Maybe Mab doesn't trust her? Or maybe that is just liquid, and the rest is tied up in assets? Because even at average 50 year stock market returns Winter should have wealth approaching the annual GDP of G20 nations
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May 28, 2014 19:35
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Bunnita posted:I'm at a signing and I got to ask how old Murphy is. Murphy is five years older than Dresden and is 42. Per the reddit AMA McCoy knows and isn't happy about it
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May 29, 2014 14:26
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ImpAtom posted:It is in incredibly bad taste, especially considering she spends most of the book trying to get people to sleep with her, being hit on, and has a conveniently exploitative sequence where she has to strip out of her clothes to complete a puzzle. she had a fallen angel who is a temptress in her head and was letting said fallen angel run the show for the most part. Lashiel is completely exploiting her, and that includes running roughshod over the sexual issues Hannah is sensitive to
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May 29, 2014 14:31
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Ragnar34 posted:The real question is what Harry's other daughter's name is going to be. Athena? Roberta? Lashita? I'm betting Susan
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May 29, 2014 14:37
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computer parts posted:As far as I can tell Anduriel is just a made up name, I don't know if the "And-" prefix even exists in hebrew. Anduriel is another translation of Adirael. The manuscripts of The Book of Abramelin are both fragmentary and poorly translated, but supposedly detail much of hell. Anduriel/adirael is one of 49 fallen serving Beezelbub according to it
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May 29, 2014 16:17
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ConfusedUs posted:Yeah the show changed a lot of things and can't really be used as a 1:1 comparison with the books. TV bob was just Giles with special effects when he came onscreen. He was terrible
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May 29, 2014 19:08
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OptimusWang posted:And a dragon moved his apartment to the nevernever, the actresses for Murphy and Susan were swapped, etc. I get that they changed all sorts of stuff needlessly, but in Ghost Story Harry talks about how he practically worshipped Justin even though he constantly hurt him. We know Justin was a master manipulator already, so it wouldn't be a stretch for him to have Harry and Elaine's parents killed if he was looking to enthrall a pair of starborn. Except the fact that we now have WoJ that McCoy asked Justin to train Harry (and didn't know he was evil). That adds like a dozen more layers of manipulation to it there of propositioning himself close to McCoy, getting McCoy to ask him, and the assassination; or he was corrupted when the chance to mentor a Starborn fell into his lap (either his own ambition or infected by Nemesis when they/it learned where and what Harry was/had the potential to be). Justin had Harry before he went looking for and adopted Elaine. And after 18 months it is nice not to have to spoil CD any more
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May 29, 2014 19:16
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Silento posted:Justin took Bob from Kemmler's hideout and hid him from the wardens, so clearly he hasn't been completely on the up-and-up for a while. And Harry took Bob from Justin's hideout and hid him from the wardens. It is certainly possible Justin was long corrupted and the Black Council had Peabody or someone influence McCoy to pick him. But that particular example isn't all that good.
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May 29, 2014 20:24
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Silento posted:I dunno, when Harry picked up Bob he was just a scared, stupid kid. Justin was an experienced warden who knew exactly what he was dealing with, and yet he took Bob anyway. Harry had no clue what to expect when he told Bob to remember the Kemmler stuff in Dead Beat, and his lack of preparation almost killed him. And kept him even after knowing Bob was dangerous, and even after becoming a warden and knowing the wardens would want it destroyed, and even after becoming the winter knight and knowing Mav wants Bob destroyed. Harry has such a strong anti-authority streak he remains anti-authority even when he has become the authority. That's almost zen commander
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May 29, 2014 21:41
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Illuyankas posted:Incidentally which audiobook has James Marsters go 'holy poo poo' while reading a scene out? Changes
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May 30, 2014 14:27
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KellHound posted:So I just got back from Jim Butcher's signing in Portland. I recorded his Q&A if anyone wants to give a listen. Here is a link to download it. Can anyone make out either question that gets asked when he says "the paranetters lost"? Particularly the long question at about 24 minutes? Also wedding proposal at a Q&A? Congrats to them 
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May 30, 2014 15:13
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Wade Wilson posted:What book was it where Harry argues with the Merlin about this? It was right after he did the Zombie Dinosaur stuff, IIRC. Proven guilty he argues with the Merlin, Changes he talks identification of it early with Luccario
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May 30, 2014 17:19
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Getting back to general urban fantasy, there's a Charles Stross Laundry Files short up on Tor.com : Since September, yes. Tor is nice about leaving those up there for years. Also no DRM
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May 30, 2014 17:33
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treeboy posted:i'm guessing he's a scion of some kind, but that just brings up more interesting questions. I'm more curious how he got food out there, given that he can't open a way from there and the lake was iced over so a boat couldn't get out to him
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May 31, 2014 19:24
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Mooktastical posted:I got the feeling that there was more to it. In the 2nd confrontation with Harry, she says, “I have not invested fifteen centuries to see it thrown away!” I guess she just saw the long con coming, so trying to keep him from 'succeeding' was her way of conserving their assets and saving their daughter. That was my thought originally, but in reread I think she was just talking about her daughter. It was a human moment. Deirde must be 1500 years old
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Jun 1, 2014 17:28
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Oroborus posted:I'm curious what Dresden is going to be doing with the money he now has, it's got to be in the hundreds of thousands at least from the diamonds, even though he didn't get the 2 mil from nick. Maybe he will buy a place back in chicago now. I'd have to double check, but I'm pretty sure Nick siad at the first meeting that they were paid the 2 million already, in advance, and the ability to up it another 20 million a piece (or more) was what kept them in the game wheatpuppy posted:College fund. I'm still trying to figure out the math of Charity's comment. 7 kids, but only 5 need college to be paid for (Molly didn't go, Daniel has the GI Bill). Matthew should be fresh out/wrapping it up. That's 4 left, 5 if they are counting Maggie, which puts it between 16 and 20, not 23. Maybe one is getting a doctorate? I dunno Fried Chicken fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 00:55
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Darkrenown posted:Who cares if her coin comes back? Deidre was one of the "partner" Denarians, we know basically nothing about her demon - Deidre was the one driving and if the coin is given to someone else it'll be a completely new character with no affection to or from Nick. Deidre is not coming back, and if her coin does it isn't important. Also he had the Summer Lady there doing something so Slate could do it.
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Jun 3, 2014 21:23
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ConfusedUs posted:That's how pretty much all shapeshifting and summoning works when there is mass change involved. Adding mass sure, and getting rid if the extra you just grabbed is easy, but what about things like Listens to Wind reducing his to less than what a human would have? Edit: A Wizard Did It. Literally
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Jun 5, 2014 16:25
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Tunicate posted:I'm pretty sure you can maintain your ecto-form inside a circle, since the Erlking managed it. Illuyankas posted:Marcone personally murders people, let alone all the deaths and suffering his operations cause in Chicago. Just cause he's the lesser evil (for now) doesn't mean he's not scum. That theory about "the next one" pops up after every book is announced. I'll believe it when I'm reading it
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Jun 5, 2014 18:14
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So what were the "spoilers" in that fan trailer? The things they guessed about that were in SG? I never saw it to compare to the book.
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Jun 5, 2014 21:42
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Lord Hydronium posted:On that note, if Hades (the place) and Valhalla are real, does that mean that the Christian heaven exists in the Nevernever too? And theoretically, could you open a Way there if you find the right spot on earth? In Changes Harry leads the team through an area of pyramids and huge columns if intense light. Later, when Murphy draws the sword he notes that the light if the sword is identical to the light he saw in that area. To me that is fairly suggestive, but your mileage may vary
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Jun 6, 2014 17:52
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