|
silvergoose posted:"eigenvalues make me irrationally angry" sounds like a line that could have been lifted directly from Exordia Blindsight vampires rule at calculus but drool at linear algebra.
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2024 08:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 13:31 |
|
|
Arsenic Lupin posted:I finished Hell Bent, the second in Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House ("dark academia") books. It's gripping, the characters actually develop and change -- not always for the good -- the stakes are much higher, and the heroine, bless her, is just as flawed as ever. And she knows it. I just finished the first book yesterday and had the same thoughts. I can believe in the supernatural stuff but struggle with the main character at an Ivy League school hardly doing any school work. It’s there but just gets skimmed over. The book was decent. Some of the main mystery was predictable, some was surprising. The last third of the book was very good and I enjoyed the whole ending climax. I’ll add the next one to my list to read.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2024 11:28
|
|
|
Danhenge posted:I can generally see why that would be interesting to mathematicians without really understanding it. Mathematicians don't really understand why there is a connection, so you are in good company! quote:
The values they contain (matrix entries) are all random variables. The example that people usually compare the zeta function is the GUE (Gaussian Unitary Ensemble) where the entries are all complex Gaussian random variables, but due to a phenomenon known as "universality" you can replace the Gaussian assumption with other probability distributions. The dimension is fixed but large, and the equality only holds in the limit of large dimension.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2024 12:22
|
|
|
branedotorg posted:https://play.acast.com/s/offmenu/ep-212-garth-marenghi The Alan Patridge audibles (books and the conceit that Alan Partridge was asked to create a podcast for Audible) are truly sensational. Can't listen to them outside because wild giggling is apparently offputting to others at the store. Every pause, breath, exclamation by Coogan is sublime.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2024 12:35
|
|
|
StumblyWumbly posted:I'm good at a variety of engineering math ranging from Fourier to Bayes to complexity, and eigenvalues have always made me irrationally angry, partly because of stuff like that. I can't tell if it means something, or if it is the mathematical equivalent of 2 people wearing the same outfit to a party. The zeta function absolutely Means A Lot, but we don't know exactly what.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2024 14:57
|
|
|
The Pride of Chanur by C. J. Cherryh - $0.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F3KXN1U/
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2024 15:30
|
|
|
ringu0 posted:The Pride of Chanur by C. J. Cherryh - $0.99 Great way into a loving great series. This is basically the rpg Traveller but a book.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2024 20:16
|
|
|
Today I learned someone made a ten minute-long death metal song about Baru https://open.spotify.com/track/3MSZjoMfIJzEHs4P78MGAH?si=dyqbLbUIQrWkXwGc705i9g
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2024 20:21
|
|
|
The Last Witness by KJ Parker - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WDVL0NU/ Gods of the Wyrdwood (Forsaken #1) by RJ Barker - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BH4KHZSS/ The Devil You Know (Felix Castor #1) by Mike (MR) Carey - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QRIGVM/ I Am Legend by Richard Matheson - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XB49BG4/ Escape from Kathmandu by Kim Stanley Robinson - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HBPXS2E/ The Coldest War (Milkweed Triptych #2) by Ian Tregillis - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007CJ8CUC/ Necessary Evil (Milkweed Triptych #3) by Ian Tregillis - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AEC9IZW/ We Can Build You by Philip K Dick - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LVQYWG/ The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (VALIS #3) by Philip K Dick - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LVR6P0/
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2024 22:54
|
|
|
pradmer posted:The Coldest War (Milkweed Triptych #2) by Ian Tregillis - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007CJ8CUC/ Thanks for this! I liked the first book and was hoping to see these on sale. I even looked at my Amazon list earlier and missed the reduced price.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 02:44
|
|
|
newts posted:Sunshine by Robin McKinley, maybe? It gives me some of the same vibes I get from T. Kingfisher. Read it based on your rec & I really enjoyed it. Outlaws of Sherwood is a regular re-read for me; she’s a great writer. Just finished Saevus Corax Deals With The Dead by KJ Parker and it was great - a total bullshitter telling a whole bullshit story about a bunch of bullshitters all bullshitting. Perfect tone for a caper story, and my favorite of the books I’ve read (Sixteen Ways, How to Rule an Empire, and this one)
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 02:48
|
|
|
idiotsavant posted:Read it based on your rec & I really enjoyed it. Outlaws of Sherwood is a regular re-read for me; she’s a great writer. Highly recommend Parker's short story collection The Father of Lies. It probably has some similar vibes.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 11:54
|
|
|
I started Tom Sweterlitsch's The Gone World a few days ago (pretty sure I first heard about it in this thread at some point), and I gotta say, that prologue was a hell of an opening for a novel. I was hooked immediately. I'm about 40% of the way through now, and it's been great so far. Thanks to the people here who have brought it up every now and then.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 13:26
|
|
|
idiotsavant posted:Just finished Saevus Corax Deals With The Dead by KJ Parker and it was great - a total bullshitter telling a whole bullshit story about a bunch of bullshitters all bullshitting. Perfect tone for a caper story, and my favorite of the books I’ve read (Sixteen Ways, How to Rule an Empire, and this one) The next two Corax books are also really good and the trilogy as a whole is my favorite of what I've read of Parker so far. The Company is arguably better, but not more fun.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 15:56
|
|
|
Doobie Keebler posted:Thanks for this! I liked the first book and was hoping to see these on sale. I even looked at my Amazon list earlier and missed the reduced price. Let us know what you think. The Best of Philip K Dick - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NN7S26B/ The Sword of Kaigen by ML Wang - $0.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MNWKF2M/ The Great Way series by Harry Connolly - $0.99 each The Way into Chaos (#1) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R0G480U/ The Way into Magic (#2) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R7399CI/ The Way into Darkness (#3) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R6ZWWGW/
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 17:42
|
|
|
I finished Wicked Problems by Max Gladstone yesterday and it ruled. I wasn't sure how it was going to be. I had enjoyed Dead Country, but it felt very different than many other Craft novels. It reminded me a lot of Last Exit in certain ways, and so I wasn't sure if Gladstone had just fundamentally changed as a writer and the kind of stories he wanted to write. I don't begrudge him his choices as a writer, but I had also been looking forward to something that felt a little closer to the earlier books. Fortunately for me, Wicked Problems feels much closer to the experience of Craft novels. There was a little bit more of the sharp edges under the work that I like so much from the rest of the Craft. At the same time, I think Wicked Problems is also clearly coming from a writer with a lot more experience under their belt, both as a writer and a person. For instance, I think the way he writes from the perspective of parents is stronger. I think the other thing I missed in Dead Country was the way that the novel weaves together different perspectives in very different places and brings them together for the climax. A bunch of the characters who served as a major perspective in previous novels get some time in this book, and it doesn't feel like anyone gets short shrift. Elayne Kevarian gets just a handful of chapters and they're great! Definite recommend for long-time fans.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 19:17
|
|
|
mllaneza posted:The next two Corax books are also really good and the trilogy as a whole is my favorite of what I've read of Parker so far. The Company is arguably better, but not more fun. Yeah I feel like the two Walled City books I’ve read were aiming for a similar tone, and while I liked them they didnt quite hit the mark as well as Corax did. Perfect length for a breezy read, too
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 19:19
|
|
|
idiotsavant posted:Yeah I feel like the two Walled City books I’ve read were aiming for a similar tone, and while I liked them they didnt quite hit the mark as well as Corax did. Perfect length for a breezy read, too The third Walled City book mixes it up some. It's still a member of the trilogy it's in, but Parker plays with the formula some so it's very much not just more of the same.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 19:32
|
|
|
sebmojo posted:Great way into a loving great series. This is basically the rpg Traveller but a book. I need help remembering an SFF book I read recently. A major plot element: it was discovered that a goddess had been turned into a statue, and people were chipping off lumps of her to use in magic. Help?
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 19:45
|
|
|
What have the must-reads of (low) fantasy been in the past half-decade or so? Other than keeping up with Joe Abercrombie and continuing a patient ASOIAF vigil I really dropped off.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 21:16
|
|
|
VagueRant posted:What have the must-reads of (low) fantasy been in the past half-decade or so? Jv jones cavern of black ice is gritty af and really good, though unfortunately the series isn't finished. She's working on the final book now i believe.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 21:27
|
|
|
pradmer posted:The Great Way series by Harry Connolly - $0.99 each Pradmer i swear i buy a bunch of the things you post and am not just here to rag on your suggestions, but hey, this series is... let's say $3 is about the most i'd suggest paying for it. I believe it was written serially or something, and ran out of cash at the end, because the last 30 pages of a trilogy is not the right place to introduce, and then resolve, a new villain who was secretly behind all the problems. It has some kinda interesting ideas, some solid character work, but the plot ultimately doesn't really pay off at all.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 23:07
|
|
|
Ceebees posted:Pradmer i swear i buy a bunch of the things you post and am not just here to rag on your suggestions, but hey, this series is... let's say $3 is about the most i'd suggest paying for it. I believe it was written serially or something, and ran out of cash at the end, because the last 30 pages of a trilogy is not the right place to introduce, and then resolve, a new villain who was secretly behind all the problems. It has some kinda interesting ideas, some solid character work, but the plot ultimately doesn't really pay off at all. Disappointing. I really liked his first couple Twenty Palaces books. Hopefully he gets back to stuff like that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 23:33
|
|
|
I also really liked 20 Palaces, which is how i ended up with that trilogy in my library. Still, he did kickstart and ultimately publish books 4 and 5 of Twenty Palaces last year (fake edit, time isn't real, it was 2022), but I wasn't in the KS so they're kind of on the backburner. I didn't hear any buzz about them, so i'm not sure if they were a return to form or not. Either way, Iron Gate and Flood Circle if someone wants to take the plunge and review for the thread. https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Gate-Twenty-Palaces-ebook/dp/B0BGYCYW31 https://www.amazon.com/Flood-Circle-Twenty-Palaces-Novel/dp/1951617053
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2024 23:52
|
|
|
Ceebees posted:Pradmer i swear i buy a bunch of the things you post and am not just here to rag on your suggestions, but hey, this series is... let's say $3 is about the most i'd suggest paying for it. I believe it was written serially or something, and ran out of cash at the end, because the last 30 pages of a trilogy is not the right place to introduce, and then resolve, a new villain who was secretly behind all the problems. It has some kinda interesting ideas, some solid character work, but the plot ultimately doesn't really pay off at all. It wasn't written serially, it was a kickstarter, but you are correct that he ran out of cash and had to wrap it up and get it (self)published. Then he did a decent standalone, A Key, an Egg, an Unfortunate Remark, followed by one of the worst books I've ever read, One Man, and I only finished that out of sheer curiosity because the plot was so blatantly copied from the 2010 Korean movie The Man from Nowhere and I wanted to see if he tried to deviate from that even a little bit (he did not). That said, I enjoyed both Iron Gate and Flood Circle.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2024 01:26
|
|
|
I'm finally getting to Monster Baru and wtf this is an amazing line with exactly zero context needed "By sundown she owned a restaurant and a flophouse, the Fiat Bank branch by the docks was on fire, and two pirate captains were dueling for her hand as she sold prostitutes in lots of half a hundred."
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2024 01:37
|
|
|
Ceebees posted:I also really liked 20 Palaces, which is how i ended up with that trilogy in my library. If I were a giant rich shitstain like Jeff Bezos with control over a streaming platform and production company, I’d make a Twenty Palaces show in a heartbeat.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2024 03:36
|
|
|
silvergoose posted:I'm finally getting to Monster Baru and wtf this is an amazing line with exactly zero context needed Ahaha yes that one's so good
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2024 04:03
|
|
|
Ceebees posted:I also really liked 20 Palaces, which is how i ended up with that trilogy in my library.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2024 09:47
|
|
|
Arsenic Lupin posted:I need help remembering an SFF book I read recently. A major plot element: it was discovered that a goddess had been turned into a statue, and people were chipping off lumps of her to use in magic. Help? A Thousand Recipes for Revenge by Beth Cato
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2024 10:28
|
|
|
sebmojo posted:Ahaha yes that one's so good Ehh, I'm tired of all these obvious author self-inserts. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2024 12:32
|
|
|
Ceebees posted:I also really liked 20 Palaces, which is how i ended up with that trilogy in my library. They're decent, maybe not quite as good as the first three, but still good.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2024 13:07
|
|
|
MisterBear posted:A Thousand Recipes for Revenge by Beth Cato ...I gotta admit, the premise sounds interesting and I see it's also heavy on culinary magic? Any recommendation of if it's worth reading it/the series? I'm struggling to get into some stuff I'd normally love so I'm kinda looking for something different and creative but not super heavy. Hoping that'll reset the weird media funk I'm in!
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2024 13:47
|
|
|
tiniestacorn posted:Today I learned someone made a ten minute-long death metal song about Baru https://open.spotify.com/track/3MSZjoMfIJzEHs4P78MGAH?si=dyqbLbUIQrWkXwGc705i9g Oooh, that's actually some good stuff. Dude seems to have decent taste in both music and nerd-genre literature.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2024 08:20
|
|
|
Just finished The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez. I wasn't really expecting to like it since it's pretty far from the grimdark sci-fi stuff that I usually gravitate towards, but I ended up really enjoying it. Weirdly it reminded me of a children's story I read many decades ago in a different life: Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren, which IIRC was about two brothers who through tragic events are transported from the real world to a fantasy realm ruled by an evil tyrant. The part where the Defect tortoise encounters the half-eaten carcass of its dead tortoise god hit hard, oof 
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2024 21:54
|
|
|
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon (SA) Chakraborty - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3XQBGPS/ The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087C3G2T3/ Century Rain by Alistair Reynolds - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0819VCQKH/ The Dragon Reborn (Wheel of Time #3) by Robert Jordan - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0030AF5DO/ The Shadow Rising (Wheel of Time #4) by Robert Jordan - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00329UWL8/ The Fires of Heaven (Wheel of Time #5) by Robert Jordan - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037V18D2/ The Red Knight (Traitor Son #1) by Miles Cameron - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ZFPUL2/ Leviathan Wakes (Expanse #1) by James SA Corey - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047Y171G/ Seven Blades in Black (Grave of Empires #1) by Sam Sykes - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079RCCRM6/ Zoe's Tale (Old Man's War #4) by John Scalzi - $4.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ENBLM2/ Note: I generally liked this series but I did not like this one. The Book of Merlyn (Once and Future King #3) by TH White - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C7H2YHD/ The Shadow of the Gods (Bloodsworn #1) by John Gwynne - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HLQL1B2/ Age of Ash (Kithamar #1) by Daniel Abraham - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0976XDNF2/
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2024 23:10
|
|
|
MisterBear posted:A Thousand Recipes for Revenge by Beth Cato Injera posted:...I gotta admit, the premise sounds interesting and I see it's also heavy on culinary magic? Any recommendation of if it's worth reading it/the series? I'm struggling to get into some stuff I'd normally love so I'm kinda looking for something different and creative but not super heavy. Hoping that'll reset the weird media funk I'm in! Pet peeve: It was all about food that was magic because of its magical ingredients, not about the methods of preparation. I wanted the magician-cook to be "Nobody knows that if you smoke basil and mix it with cherries, then form the right mudra, you have an invisibility spell that lasts thirty seconds!" Instead it's all about the magical ingredients which turn out to be parts of the bodies of magical creatures.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2024 23:28
|
|
|
pradmer posted:<snip>
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2024 23:41
|
|
|
Admiralty Flag posted:Quite a haul of stuff today. Don't think I've ever seen such a long list. Some special promotion going on? I wonder if they're doing some WoT books since JordanCon is this weekend?
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2024 00:41
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 13:31 |
|
|
https://www.amazon.com/Obsidian-Tower-Rooks-Ruin-Book-ebook/dp/B07YSNDSSS Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso is also on sale for 2.99; I liked her first series but haven't actually tried this one at all
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2024 02:20
|
|