[Abyss]

 Aptorian, on 24 October 2021 - 10:26 AM, said:

Read halfway through Cthulhu reloaded by David Conyers. It's a re-edited re-release of a series of stories about n Australian soldier who gets into lovecraft troubles.

It's not great. It doesn't do enough with the premises and the supporting characters aren't great. Stopped needing to read more when he introduced an old fashioned damsel in distress. Mostly reads like fanfiction.

That 2 - 2 of disappointing Lovecraft inspired stories. I think I need to try something different.

I read a different collection of Conyers' a while back that had the same stories and a few others. They genuinely ran the spectrum from great to 'this is stupid'. I did enjoy the weaponized Shoggoth trying to eat Sydney.

 Salt-Man Z, on 24 October 2021 - 08:46 PM, said:

 Aptorian, on 24 October 2021 - 10:26 AM, said:

That 2 - 2 of disappointing Lovecraft inspired stories. I think I need to try something different.

For Lovecraft mythos stuff, I can recommend Ruthanna Emrys' INNSMOUTH LEGACY series, and Kij Johnson's THE DREAM QUEST OF VELLITT BOE. Also Premee Mohamed's BENEATH THE RISING books, though those are definitely more "inspired by" than dealing directly with the mythos like Emrys or Johnson.

Seconding Emrys for a genuinely novel take on the mythos. The familiar pieces are all there, but she takes them in an entirely new direction that still makes sense. Worth a look.

[Abyss]

Am presently struggling with something called 88 NAMES by Matt Ruff, who also wrote LOVECRAFT COUNTRY.
The blurb put it somewhere between NEUROMANCER and READY PLAYER 1.
It's way way closer to RP1 without any of that book's charm or effective pacing. The characters are unlikeable, which is fine, but also boring, which is not. The 'action' is predictable and toothless, and the amount of infodump is annoying. At 90min in not quite in DNFland yet but not far.

[worry]

That's too many names to keep track of anyway.

[Abyss]

 Abyss, on 25 October 2021 - 02:45 AM, said:

Am presently struggling with something called 88 NAMES by Matt Ruff, who also wrote LOVECRAFT COUNTRY.
The blurb put it somewhere between NEUROMANCER and READY PLAYER 1.
It's way way closer to RP1 without any of that book's charm or effective pacing. The characters are unlikeable, which is fine, but also boring, which is not. The 'action' is predictable and toothless, and the amount of infodump is annoying. At 90min in not quite in DNFland yet but not far.

 worry, on 25 October 2021 - 03:07 AM, said:

That's too many names to keep track of anyway.

It's the number of gaming accounts the protag has at the start of the story but not otherwise significant so far. It may become hugely important any minute now but i'm so utterly thrown out by the fact that the protag has a mom who is a spymaster who spends her free time giving her son online espionage lessons that i do not care. I should just stop... this author has written a bunch of books and me slapping this one is pointless... but it's almost hateread territory... i just want to see what he does 'wrong' (in my worthless opinion) next.

[Cyphon]

Finished THE BIRD KING by G. Willow Wilson. Lovely prose and some well constructed characters but the plot didn't grip me as much. A historical fiction in the style of GGK set in the fall of the last emirate in the Iberian peninsula. I'd say pick up with you want an alt-GGK. Not as good as Lions of Rassan though.

Have been WHY IM NO LONGER TALKING TO WHITE PEOPLE ABOUT RACE as its BHM. As uncomfortable reading as I expected but nothing surprising.

To lighen that up I read DEADLY EDUCATION by Naomi Novik which exactly the kind of school fantasy you can chomp through quickly. I did get lots of Gideon the Ninth echoes as I read it though. Recommended for a darker take on the boarding school take.

As I tore through that I'm now starting MIDDLEGAME by Seanan McGuire.

[Abyss]

 Cyphon, on 25 October 2021 - 07:10 PM, said:

...

As I tore through that I'm now starting MIDDLEGAME by Seanan McGuire.

You are in for a treat.
GREAT book.

[Tiste Simeon]

 Cyphon, on 25 October 2021 - 07:10 PM, said:

To lighen that up I read DEADLY EDUCATION by Naomi Novik which exactly the kind of school fantasy you can chomp through quickly. I did get lots of Gideon the Ninth echoes as I read it though. Recommended for a darker take on the boarding school take.

Now read the sequel! So good, my favourite find it the past couple of years!

[Imperial Historian]

I read hands of the emperor after recommendations on here. How a book about middle aged men doing bureaucracy with no action, romance or indeed any real peril, can be quite so riveting I can't quite figure out but I loved it.

[Stalker]

 Imperial Historian, on 25 October 2021 - 10:53 PM, said:

I read hands of the emperor after recommendations on here. How a book about middle aged men doing bureaucracy with no action, romance or indeed any real peril, can be quite so riveting I can't quite figure out but I loved it.

Right? I couldn’t put it down. Glad you found it to be the same.

[Abyss]

 Abyss, on 25 October 2021 - 06:43 PM, said:

 Abyss, on 25 October 2021 - 02:45 AM, said:

Am presently struggling with something called 88 NAMES by Matt Ruff, who also wrote LOVECRAFT COUNTRY.
The blurb put it somewhere between NEUROMANCER and READY PLAYER 1.
It's way way closer to RP1 without any of that book's charm or effective pacing. The characters are unlikeable, which is fine, but also boring, which is not. The 'action' is predictable and toothless, and the amount of infodump is annoying. At 90min in not quite in DNFland yet but not far.

 worry, on 25 October 2021 - 03:07 AM, said:

That's too many names to keep track of anyway.

It's the number of gaming accounts the protag has at the start of the story but not otherwise significant so far. It may become hugely important any minute now but i'm so utterly thrown out by the fact that the protag has a mom who is a spymaster who spends her free time giving her son online espionage lessons that i do not care. I should just stop... this author has written a bunch of books and me slapping this one is pointless... but it's almost hateread territory... i just want to see what he does 'wrong' (in my worthless opinion) next.

Gah. I should really trust my book sense by now.
That was a waste of brain. Just Finished. DNR.

Starting THE SHADOW POLICE bk 1 LONDON FALLING.
Urban fantasy but wow, 30min in and it's pure cop story so far.

[Tiste Simeon]

 Abyss, on 05 October 2021 - 02:52 PM, said:

Just Finished audible's SANDMAN ACT 2.
It was stunning. There are moments of sheer horror and absolute wonderment. The voicecast is perfect. The adaptation of a comic into a soundstage production is... words fail me at describing how well they did this. And keep in mind, i've read the comics, i knew what would happen next most of the time, i knew how the various stories ended... still stunning.

This Act covered the Season of Mists (Morpheus goes to Hell on a rescue mission, ends up owning real estate... and the first Dead Boy Detectives story), A Game of You (girl has personal dreamland, must save it, things go... very very wrong), and a few one-floppy tales (a Russian werewolf story and a beautiful Persian myth).

If you liked ACT 1, you need this.
If you liked the comics, you need this.
If you have not read the comics but just feel like hearing an amazing story told in audio, you need this (but maybe start w ACT 1).

Utterly worth the audible credit.

I have now finished and more or less agree with everything Abyss says here. I think I didn't full on enjoy it as much as Act I but then I think Fables and Reflections is not my favourite set of stories in the Sandman canon. I LOVE the Persian/Arabian Nights story so much but some of them are a wee bit dull IMO. I will say that David Tennant as Loki was utter perfection.

Am so in for the inevitable Act III!

Not started a new audiobook as I have a few episodes of the Scrubs podcast to catch up with again.

[QuickTidal]

 Tiste Simeon, on 01 November 2021 - 04:12 PM, said:

I LOVE the Persian/Arabian Nights story so much

This is the singular Sandman story I had Gaiman sign in my ABSOLUTE edition when I met him.

[Tiste Simeon]

 QuickTidal, on 01 November 2021 - 04:16 PM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 01 November 2021 - 04:12 PM, said:

I LOVE the Persian/Arabian Nights story so much

This is the singular Sandman story I had Gaiman sign in my ABSOLUTE edition when I met him.

That is for sure the best in that collection of short stories and one of the best "side stories" of the whole collection.

[Abyss]

 Tiste Simeon, on 01 November 2021 - 04:42 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 01 November 2021 - 04:16 PM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 01 November 2021 - 04:12 PM, said:

I LOVE the Persian/Arabian Nights story so much

This is the singular Sandman story I had Gaiman sign in my ABSOLUTE edition when I met him.

That is for sure the best in that collection of short stories and one of the best "side stories" of the whole collection.

i am VERY curious to see what the Netflix live action version does with those short stories.
likely they will skip them entirely and focus on the main Dream storyline.

[Tiste Simeon]

 Abyss, on 01 November 2021 - 07:22 PM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 01 November 2021 - 04:42 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 01 November 2021 - 04:16 PM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 01 November 2021 - 04:12 PM, said:

I LOVE the Persian/Arabian Nights story so much

This is the singular Sandman story I had Gaiman sign in my ABSOLUTE edition when I met him.

That is for sure the best in that collection of short stories and one of the best "side stories" of the whole collection.

i am VERY curious to see what the Netflix live action version does with those short stories.
likely they will skip them entirely and focus on the main Dream storyline.

The only way they'd work in a TV show is if they did a sort of companion anthology bit of shorter stories set in the Sandman universe )- similar I guess to the animated Witcher film. It's not essential to the main storyline but fleshes out the world nicely.

[Abyss]

 Tiste Simeon, on 01 November 2021 - 07:50 PM, said:

 Abyss, on 01 November 2021 - 07:22 PM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 01 November 2021 - 04:42 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 01 November 2021 - 04:16 PM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 01 November 2021 - 04:12 PM, said:

I LOVE the Persian/Arabian Nights story so much

This is the singular Sandman story I had Gaiman sign in my ABSOLUTE edition when I met him.

That is for sure the best in that collection of short stories and one of the best "side stories" of the whole collection.

i am VERY curious to see what the Netflix live action version does with those short stories.
likely they will skip them entirely and focus on the main Dream storyline.

The only way they'd work in a TV show is if they did a sort of companion anthology bit of shorter stories set in the Sandman universe )- similar I guess to the animated Witcher film. It's not essential to the main storyline but fleshes out the world nicely.

Not the only way at all. Any of the single floppy side stories could be a single episode. Even the Persian one with it's glorious cities only requires one long shot of the city and one trip into it, and GoT demonstrated repeatedly how to do those on the relative cheap. ish. and still maintain your fantasy setting.

Not needed, there is a tonne of rich story in the core Morpheus and related stories, or they may depart from that more than not, but it IS do-able and Netflix is sending enough cash at the project to make it work.

[Tiste Simeon]

Hmm you have a good point but for a wider TV audience and I can't see the random stories slipped in every now and then working too well...

[Abyss]

 Tiste Simeon, on 02 November 2021 - 01:40 PM, said:

Hmm you have a good point but for a wider TV audience and I can't see the random stories slipped in every now and then working too well...

I can think of at least three ways around tv audience dumb-down, i'm sure the writers room (which does in fact include Gaiman) can make it work.
If they want to, if the budget alllows, if corporate isn't too freaked out by the idea, etc etc. Netflix is notoriously inconsistent w genre properties so this could very much go any which way.

[Tiste Simeon]

 Abyss, on 02 November 2021 - 02:04 PM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 02 November 2021 - 01:40 PM, said:

Hmm you have a good point but for a wider TV audience and I can't see the random stories slipped in every now and then working too well...

I can think of at least three ways around tv audience dumb-down, i'm sure the writers room (which does in fact include Gaiman) can make it work.
If they want to, if the budget alllows, if corporate isn't too freaked out by the idea, etc etc. Netflix is notoriously inconsistent w genre properties so this could very much go any which way.

Oh I've got every faith in them to do it well but I imagine they'll want to focus on the main story at least at first to establish the fanbase...

[Maark Abbott]

Anyone read The Swan's War? Found it for a quid in a charity shop and it was purple so I couldn't say no...