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Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazney is the canonical "driving through weird post-apocalyptic America" book.
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Mar 25, 2024 00:47
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Prolonged Panorama posted:All of Simon Stalenhag's narrative artbooks have this vibe, but particularly The Electric State. poo poo, this is actually the correct answer. Occluded, go check out Simon Stalenhag's books. Tales from the Loop is so good they made a (fantastic) tabletop roleplaying game out of it, which then got picked up by Amazon for a TV series that I can also highly recommend. They're not super long, unfortunately, but they're so, so beautiful and they nail that feel.
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Mar 25, 2024 01:15
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Kestral posted:I dearly wish reading Roadside Picnic would scratch that STALKER itch, but it’s mostly Being Sad And Russian And a Scumbag and less about exploring the weird place. learn Russian and read the 100+ (crappy) tie-in novelizations STALKER got in Russian
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Mar 25, 2024 09:23
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occluded posted:Read the first couple of pages of Last Call and yup, this is the poo poo. Thanks! Couch by Benjamin Parzybok
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Mar 25, 2024 14:25
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occluded posted:Another request for suggestions: I've been really enjoying the video game Pacific Drive, where you drive a station wagon through the pacific northwest of the USA with a kind of Stalker / Annihiliation vibe with all anomalies and weird hazards and science and that. I like the southern reach trilogy a lot and spent a weekend once totally obsessed with Mystery Flesh Pit National Park, so I guess I really like stories about navigating through fantastical worlds in kind of a mundane way? Any good recommendations? Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem?
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Mar 25, 2024 14:51
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Big JRR Tolkien sale going on. Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion, and all his other works. https://www.amazon.com/s?rh=n%3A120337246011&fs=true The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DHJT92Q/ Ithaca (Songs of Penelope #1) by Claire North - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HQMF3M2/ Skward Flight: The Collection: Sunreach, ReDawn, Evershore by Brandon Sanderson - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LRXBPTF/
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Mar 25, 2024 22:43
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Mikojan posted:I'm on a space opera binge lately and I'm curious if there are any obvious suggestions. Based on what you've read I think you'd get a kick out of the Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio. It's basically a Red Rising / Dune mash-up. I don't think it's in the same league as either of those series, but it's still super entertaining and has it's own narrative voice.
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Mar 26, 2024 01:35
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Kestral posted:poo poo, this is actually the correct answer. Occluded, go check out Simon Stalenhag's books. Tales from the Loop is so good they made a (fantastic) tabletop roleplaying game out of it, which then got picked up by Amazon for a TV series that I can also highly recommend. They're not super long, unfortunately, but they're so, so beautiful and they nail that feel. As someone who grew up in 80's and 90's Stockholm suburbia, Tales From the Loop hits hard.
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Mar 26, 2024 03:42
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I got recommended Ender's Game by a friend. I checked it out and apparently it's a series as well so unsure where to start. Or if it's even worth it.
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Mar 26, 2024 08:22
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Mikojan posted:I got recommended Ender's Game by a friend. I checked it out and apparently it's a series as well so unsure where to start. It's a book aimed at middle schoolers by a conservative Mormon homophobe who mostly keeps his opinions out of the book but if you're 13 you might enjoy it. There's a movie you can watch, it gets the story across. The sequels to Ender's Game are all bad. Posting on forums saves humanity.
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Mar 26, 2024 08:34
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Can confirm I enjoyed it when I was 13 or thereabouts
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Mar 26, 2024 08:40
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Mikojan posted:I got recommended Ender's Game by a friend. I checked it out and apparently it's a series as well so unsure where to start. you would start with the book "Ender's Game". i think you might even like it if you're older than 13. the first sequel, Speaker For The Dead, is also not like, AWFUL. many of the other sequels are awful though
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Mar 26, 2024 08:50
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Hyphen-ated posted:you would start with the book "Ender's Game". The original novella is way better than the book it became.
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Mar 26, 2024 09:28
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Lmao that its a book for 13 year olds and on a suggested list for the US marine corps or something
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Mar 26, 2024 10:38
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I went to college in North Carolina and a guy I knew interviewed Card for a class, and said he was exactly how you imagined him. This was early 00s so peak level of post-9/11 derangement, too. Other than Ender’s Game, has Card written anything worth reading? I read the Ender sequels and I think one of the terrible Bean prequels, and the short story sequel to Foundation he wrote that was of course just some family drama. I that that’s basically it for my exposure to him, but at least growing up he always seemed like a huge name in the genre. I guess thanks to Ender’s Game. Oh, only now am I recovering the suppressed memories of trying to read that terrible right wing fantasy novel about liberal professors starting a new civil war. I do like the Lucasfilm games he did dialogue for, to give him credit.
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Mar 26, 2024 11:03
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Mikojan posted:I got recommended Ender's Game by a friend. I checked it out and apparently it's a series as well so unsure where to start. Ender’s Game is the first book and arguably the only one worth reading in the main series. However it was written so that Card could write Speaker for the Dead, which is the start of a follow-up series, and that is also very much worth a read, although it can stand alone if Ender’s Game doesn’t click for you. fermun posted:It's a book aimed at middle schoolers by a conservative Mormon homophobe who mostly keeps his opinions out of the book but if you're 13 you might enjoy it. There's a movie you can watch, it gets the story across. The sequels to Ender's Game are all bad. Posting on forums saves humanity. Correction: written by a deeply closeted Mormon gay or bi man who is also either a pedophile or powerfully influenced by a particular strain of 70s gay male hookup culture. That said, Ender’s Game is near and dear to my heart and IMO holds up as good YA fiction, and Speaker for the Dead is a sci-fi classic for a reason.
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Mar 26, 2024 11:20
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Mikojan posted:Lmao that its a book for 13 year olds and on a suggested list for the US marine corps or something It was on the USMC Commandant's list for junior enlisted Marines up until 2020 when everything was revised, Starship Troopers also got cut. https://taskandpurpose.com/news/starship-troopers-marine-commandant-reading-list/ For some reason Ready Player One was also on the list for several years.
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Mar 26, 2024 12:07
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C.M. Kruger posted:It was on the USMC Commandant's list for junior enlisted Marines up until 2020 when everything was revised, Starship Troopers also got cut. They finally figured out starship troopers was a satire huh?
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Mar 26, 2024 12:11
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C.M. Kruger posted:It was on the USMC Commandant's list for junior enlisted Marines up until 2020 when everything was revised, Starship Troopers also got cut. Video games are good for desensitization, recruitment and, supposedly, training.
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Mar 26, 2024 12:15
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Mikojan posted:They finally figured out starship troopers was a satire huh? anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 12:26 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 12:20
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Kestral posted:Ender’s Game is the first book and arguably the only one worth reading in the main series. However it was written so that Card could write Speaker for the Dead, which is the start of a follow-up series, and that is also very much worth a read, although it can stand alone if Ender’s Game doesn’t click for you. Basically he wrote a lot of interesting stuff in the 70s and 80s but after 1990 it gets increasingly dubious. The stereotype of homophobes as self-hating closeted gay etc. people is not generally true but examples certainly exist, and in Card's case.... well... he wrote Songmaster which is less heterosexual than some actual gay porn I've seen (which is not much but more than none).
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Mar 26, 2024 12:31
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Hot Take: Speaker for the Dead is a better book than Ender's Game, and also expresses the now controversial view that genocide is always a failure on the part of the genocidal party and never the fault of the victim, no matter what they were doing beforehand.
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Mar 26, 2024 12:31
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He wrote non-fiction advice columns to people "struggling with homosexuality" where he talks at length about how like all men you just have to find a woman you can barely tolerate, somehow get her pregnant for jesus, and then go back to spending all your time with the men you love while making sure to resist the ever-present temptation to love them more than just as brothers. Satan will fortunately never bother tempting you towards other women, at least.
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Mar 26, 2024 12:34
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The “ender Wiggins is hitler” essay is one of the great posts of all time. https://peachfront.diaryland.com/enderhitlte.html
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Mar 26, 2024 12:52
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So I’m hoping to get some suggestions on what to read after I finish The Murderbot series. Here are some of the books I’m considering. Blindsight - thanks to this thread for bringing it to my attention Dune - this has been on my backlog for years now. Harrow the Ninth - I wasn’t completely sold on Gideon, but was still intrigued enough to continue if that makes sense. Downbelow Station/Cyteen - again, thanks to this thread for suggesting C.J. Cherryh. Not sure if should read one before the other. Thanks 
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Mar 26, 2024 12:58
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Those are all good choices, but Blindsight is the shortest one and while it does stand alone it also leads into the shortest series, if you just want something quick.
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Mar 26, 2024 13:03
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Weissey posted:Harrow the Ninth - I wasn’t completely sold on Gideon, but was still intrigued enough to continue if that makes sense. As for Cherryh I like both of those and would read Cyteen before Downbelow, but you don't need to.
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Mar 26, 2024 13:04
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Weissey posted:
If your problem with Gideon was “the plot is too propulsive” or “the main character is too compelling” then Harrow will definitely fix those problems. Cherryh is good. Cyteen can be read as a standalone. Dune is worth checking out, it’s a foundational SF novel, is a gripping read, and it still holds up unlike a lot of others.
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Mar 26, 2024 13:12
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My Dune bookset arrived today, and even if you're not gonna read it immediatly, the covers and the set as a whole are a very fun thing to own.
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Mar 26, 2024 13:13
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thotsky posted:Video games are good for desensitization, recruitment and, supposedly, training. Video games are fantastic for training, but that doesn't meant that CoD = supersoldier, which is kind of how it's viewed. I won't derail the thread though.
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Mar 26, 2024 15:59
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I'm about halfway through Exordia, and the story is good, but the non-linear narrative is annoying. I think it would be more interesting if it didn't get to an exciting plot point then jump into a few chapters of back story that have already been spoiled.
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Mar 26, 2024 18:10
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buffalo all day posted:If your problem with Gideon was “the plot is too propulsive” or “the main character is too compelling” then Harrow will definitely fix those problems. This is true of Nona, but not Harrow imo. But yeah for real if you didn't really like Gideon, I don't think you'll like Harrow. At its core it's a very similar story.
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Mar 26, 2024 18:32
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pradmer posted:Big JRR Tolkien sale going on. Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion, and all his other works. The Hobbit for $1.99? Yes, please. Thank you Pradmer
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Mar 26, 2024 21:15
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Weissey posted:Downbelow Station/Cyteen - again, thanks to this thread for suggesting C.J. Cherryh. Not sure if should read one before the other. Those are in the same setting, but can be read in any order; personally I'd recommend Cyteen over Downbelow Station (but the latter is also one of her books I'm lukewarm-at-best on, while I loved Cyteen).
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Mar 26, 2024 23:09
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Groke posted:Basically he wrote a lot of interesting stuff in the 70s and 80s but after 1990 it gets increasingly dubious. Yeah, that's the thing, Songmaster is not a novel a straight man could write, and is not a novel anyone could write today, for good reason. It's not "gayer" than some novels, it is a Gay Novel of the late 1970s, it is extremely of its time, and that time is when NAMBLA was founded, just a year or two before. This is an icky uncomfortable subject to discuss here so I'm not going to go into it at any length or detail, but if you want a lot of insight into Orson Scott Card, read up on the gay male sexual culture of the 70s, or talk to people who were there. Card is my favorite example of an author who is deeply problematic, but whose work was so important to me as a nerdy queer kid in the 80s/90s that I can't tell people "don't read Orson Scott Card." Do read OSC, at least Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, but you'll need to exercise your Death of the Author powers to their fullest because he's a monster.
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Mar 27, 2024 03:19
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I recall the first few of the Seventh Son books being pretty interesting, or at least having a great premise. Basically, Jesus is reborn in an alternative 18th century America where magic is real and Britain won the American Revolution. But the protagonist is just a kid, albeit one with immense potential, and the Adversary keeps trying to kill him. Of course the series falls off fast and hard. I think we’re all used to series that just limp on and on, or authors who had one good book amid a mediocre careers, but Card has an particular talent for a strong start and exponentially decaying sequels.
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Mar 27, 2024 03:34
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Card is a hell of a writer. I'm partial to his Worthing Saga, science fiction where the rich sleep years or decades between bouts of waking life. Lots of time for compound interest to make them richer. You don't live any more, but you do get to see the future. And lose touch with anyone you know who isn't on the same schedule. He takes the concept to some very strange places. It's a collection of short stories and I think it's worth the timeto read.
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Mar 27, 2024 03:36
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I think he could have been a good writer in a parallel universe where he wasn't a bigot and didn't write series
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Mar 27, 2024 03:37
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I never read his fiction as a kid but he wrote a book about writing that I absolutely adored. Eventually I read Ender’s Game and I thought it was fine but it didn’t stick with me.
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Mar 27, 2024 03:41
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He wrote a truly terrible pentology about space Mormons that's battlefield earth level bad and one of my great regrets is that I've read the entire stupid thing
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Mar 27, 2024 04:10
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