[Coco with marshmallows]

Vengeance, on 05 December 2013 - 08:10 PM, said:

Good point, editing.....

[Nicodimas]

Oh to answer whoever asked it. Brent Weeks is really fun and would put his magic systems with Sanderson. I find Magic in most series to be dull, unless it's incredibly complex and not main_character_1 casts spellfire and always wins!

I'm looking foward to the next lightbringer..good times.

[Salt-Man Z]

amphibian, on 05 December 2013 - 06:52 PM, said:

Oh, my firecracker of a post a while ago regarding the Glen Cook/reader dynamic was somewhat jesting, but somewhat serious.

The shift from the more familiar northern European mythology/monsters-style books to the southern Asia/African books within the Black Company series is a big one. The narrators sometimes change, which is important because Cook actually shifts his writing style to match the character writing/speaking, and the references to mythology/monsters/general settings aren't as familiar to most Western readers of SF (usually white people) because thus far, mainstream SF/fiction doesn't play within those sandboxes.

I strongly suspect the strangeness of the setting/mythology turns people off more than Cook's writing or narrator changes - which is kind of a shame because I strongly believe it's the latter books that best live up to Erikson's almighty book blurb: "Vietnam war fiction on peyote".

As someone who thinks the end of the series is better than the beginning, my feeling is that the series decompresses a lot in the second half. The first trilogy is fairly disjointed, feeling like a paste-up of short stories (which some chapters actually were) while also being more throw-you-into-the-deep-end than GotM. (IMHO on that last part; I never had any problems with GotM, but almost bounced off the first BC book, which I read later.) It's much more grunts-on-the-ground, what-the-heck-is-going-on fast-paced action than the Glittering Stone books, which get much broader in scope while simultaneously slowing down in the Things Actually Happening department. (The siege of Dejagore is like a book and a half, if I recall?)

I've always credited the scope/pacing shift as distancing readers more than the change in scenery.

[QuickTidal]

Finished HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE. Really, really entertaining throughout, with a satisfying ending. Will defo be picking up more Wynne Jones books.

Got back into the GRRM edited WILD CARDS Vol I. When I initially bought it I read and enjoyed the Prologue and the first story (THIRTY MINUTES OVER BROADWAY - Waldrop), but I stumbled a bit with the slower-paced Zelazny tale THE SLEEPER (I've never been able to properly get into Zelazny's writing)...so I put it down a while.

Picking it back up I started on the next story, WITNESS by Jon Walter Williams...and holy shitballs what a ripping great story! I love how each successive tale builds on aspects of the one before it in interesting ways.

But yeah, I've started devouring this book now. The story that follows WITNESS, DEGRADATION RITES by Melinda Snodgrass is just as good. At this rate I'll be picking up Vol. 2 next week.

Great stuff!

[End of Disc One]

Finished Leviathan Wakes. As a fantasy fan primarily I enjoyed the bulk of this book, but not as much as others seemed to. It seemed to lack a real sense of wonder. Until the end, that is. As a fantasy fan I thought it was awesome, and I can't wait to see where the series goes next.

[Tiste Simeon]

Finished NoK! Onto BH!

[Solidsnape]

Brent Weeks, on 06 December 2013 - 11:55 PM, said:

Finished NoK! Onto BH!

You're catching me up.
I've got about a third of BH to go. It's the shizzle.

[Overactive Imagination]

finished my teaching practicum today.. finally have some time to read. going to start this river awakens tomorrow. excited!

[Tiste Simeon]

Solidsnape, on 07 December 2013 - 06:48 AM, said:

Brent Weeks, on 06 December 2013 - 11:55 PM, said:

Finished NoK! Onto BH!

You're catching me up.
I've got about a third of BH to go. It's the shizzle.

BH is one of my favourite books in the series. The Y'Ghatan (sp?) Chapter is just outstanding.

[QuickTidal]

Brent Weeks, on 07 December 2013 - 10:43 AM, said:

Solidsnape, on 07 December 2013 - 06:48 AM, said:

Brent Weeks, on 06 December 2013 - 11:55 PM, said:

Finished NoK! Onto BH!

You're catching me up.
I've got about a third of BH to go. It's the shizzle.

BH is one of my favourite books in the series. The Y'Ghatan (sp?) Chapter is just outstanding.

Yeah, that's one of the standout section of the whole series. I recall thinking that it was possibly the greatest set of sequences I'd read since The Chain of Dogs.

[HiddenOne]

Cold Days

yes it is

[QuickTidal]

You guys...the GRRM-edited WILD CARDS anthologies are superhero deconstruction genius!

I am absolutely 100% loving the first anthology. The best bit about it, other than its generational nature (starts post-WWII and moves slowly through the years), is that with multiple author's handling the narrative for different parts, it stays totally fresh throughout. I am literally devouring this book and can't stop reading.

The Mrs. and I are having a Christmas party tonight for friends and she's making a turkey et al....and I'm cleaning....but all I really want to do is go into our room, close the door and read this addictive goddamned book!

Bonus, the TOR Trade Paperbacks are gorgeous with stellar Michael Komarck cover art.

But yeah, people who loved the EX books, or ONCE CROWDED SKY ect...this is right up your alley.

Also, clever fact: Back when they were publishing the first few in the late 80's Neil Gaiman approached GRRM and Co. with an early SANDMAN, but at the time Gaiman was untested as an author even in comics...so GRRM turned him down...and Gaiman went on to use his idea for SANDMAN instead. So there you go, Sandman was nearly an Ace in WILD CARDS.

[Stalker]

QuickTidal said:

You guys...the GRRM-edited WILD CARDS anthologies are superhero deconstruction genius!

Well that's good to hear. I have this sitting somewhere in the depths of my TRP, but I'm going to have to pull it out. I wasn't sure of the reading order between the older Wild Cards and the new ones from 6ish years ago, so I was just holding onto the book.


Anyway, I'm reading Leiber. I've got the fantasy masterworks First Volume of Lankhmar, so I'm getting my sword and sorcery on. I can already see how this has influenced and inspired a ton of writers, especially of sword and sorcery. It's fun stuff.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

I just finished reading Dawn (book 1 of 3) by Octavia Butler for a sociology class. I thought it would be sort of boring and dry, but I ended up being enthralled and I finished reading it in one sitting.

I just figured I'd mention it after reading through the last few pages of this thread and seeing the discussion on race and culture, as Octavia Butler was a bit of an unusual author for popular science fiction. She was black and a woman and her main character in the book was a black woman, so it really has you look at things from a perspective other than that of the Caucasian male. At first I had some trouble identifying with the main character, but as I read more, I came to understand more, and I ended up debating some interesting (though not new) questions with myself (nature of being human, physical vs mind, emotions vs hormones, etc). Don't worry, none of these questions are overtly discussed in the book — it's not a philosophical treatise thinly veiled by a plot. It's just a well-written story.

Also, the aliens are super fucking interesting and pretty damn alien.


Anyway, just thought I'd drop this in here as I'd never heard of Octavia Butler before this class, but she was apparently a very influential author.

EDIT: Oh, and yes, this sociology class I'm taking is fucking awesome. We've discussed stuff like cyborgs, futurism, electronic music, the Scientific Revolution (and how it's not what we learned it was in school), and how science, technology, and society all interact and shape each other.

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 07 December 2013 - 06:50 PM

[Imperial Historian]

Interesting, octavia butler is one of those authors who I've always felt I should read, but I rarely see her books.

Also I'm curious, whats the difference between the scientific revolution you learnt about in school, to what is taught in your class?

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Imperial Historian, on 07 December 2013 - 06:55 PM, said:

Interesting, octavia butler is one of those authors who I've always felt I should read, but I rarely see her books.

Also I'm curious, whats the difference between the scientific revolution you learnt about in school, to what is taught in your class?

Here's a link to one of the excerpts we read that discusses it: http://books.google....epage&q&f=false

TL;DR Not solely white European males, and not solely occurring in one or two generations. Instead, rooted in Middle East, China, India, etc. and occurred slowly over hundreds of years. Not a single revolutionary period, but a slow evolutionary accumulation.

I suggest reading the excerpt though as it goes into more detail.

EDIT: And Dawn is the only book of hers that I've read. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to finish the trilogy, but I think it's likely that I will at some point.

EDIT2: Also, forgot to mention that the pacing of Dawn is great — there were no lulls or parts that I thought could be taken out. I read it in about 4 hours (245 pages).

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 07 December 2013 - 07:04 PM

[worry]

I've only read a few things by her so far, but they were fantastic. Definitely hoping to read everything she wrote eventually. I read Kindred and Toni Morrison's Beloved in tandem; not an original idea, I know, but definitely a pretty good one that I'd recommend to others. Like most good double features, they compliment each other without repeating each other.

[Baco Xtath]

I'm in the final stretch of Ian Tregillis's Something More than Night - completely different than the Milkweed Triptych - more like a mix of Neverwhere and Quantum Theif (in a metaphysical way) in a 40's detective-noir voice. Very different and very good.

[QuickTidal]

Stalker, on 07 December 2013 - 05:00 PM, said:

QuickTidal said:

You guys...the GRRM-edited WILD CARDS anthologies are superhero deconstruction genius!

Well that's good to hear. I have this sitting somewhere in the depths of my TRP, but I'm going to have to pull it out. I wasn't sure of the reading order between the older Wild Cards and the new ones from 6ish years ago, so I was just holding onto the book.

The latest TOR versions have volume I (WILD CARDS) and II (ACES HIGH) out already... and volume III (JOKERS WILD) comes out in February...and that collects all the old ones...and then I think the latest (also through TOR) continue in INSIDE STRAIGHT and onwards...

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 07 December 2013 - 10:22 PM

[Salt-Man Z]

QuickTidal, on 07 December 2013 - 10:22 PM, said:

The latest TOR versions have volume I (WILD CARDS) and II (ACES HIGH) out already... and volume III (JOKERS WILD) comes out in February...and that collects all the old ones...and then I think the latest (also through TOR) continue in INSIDE STRAIGHT and onwards...

The are/were 17 Wild Cards books before Inside Straight...