Reading at t'moment?

#7821 amphibian

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Posted 05 February 2012 - 10:18 PM

Binder of Demons, on 05 February 2012 - 01:58 AM, said:

And what's even cooler is that the style shifts again for the 3rd one, which is also awesome. I wish he'd write some more Kovacs novels.

He did. They're called The Steel Remains and The Cold Commands.

I survived the Permian and all I got was this t-shirt.

#7822 amphibian

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Posted 05 February 2012 - 11:46 PM

Briar King, on 05 February 2012 - 11:00 PM, said:

Amp: is Kovacs in the 2 fantasy books? The most I know is that the are set in Kovacs uni and Ive been curios about that.

Obliquely.

The books are kind of a mostly fantasy universe but with some hard sci-fi underpinnings.

I survived the Permian and all I got was this t-shirt.

#7823 Mentalist

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 01:29 AM

settled on my next few reads--started "the Skinner" by Neal Asher. I'm probably gonna read the entire Spatterjay sequence next.

so far, about 20 pages into Skinner (damn school), and it's a fun Asher read, as usual.

many kudos to Abyss + co for recommending Asher to me.

The problem with the gene pool is that there's no lifeguard
THE CONTESTtm WINNER--чемпіон самоконтролю

Jump Around, on 23 October 2011 - 11:04 AM, said:

And I want to state that Ment has out-weaseled me by far in this game.

#7824 Baco Xtath

Wait. What?

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 02:30 AM

Just finished Blood Rites; best Dresden yet.

"Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life." - Terry Pratchett, Jingo"Just erotic. Nothing kinky. It's the difference between using a feather and using a chicken." - Terry Pratchett, Eric
"Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of a lack of wisdom." - Terry Pratchett

#7825 Mentalist

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 03:13 AM

Briar King, on 06 February 2012 - 03:03 AM, said:

Baco Xtath, on 06 February 2012 - 02:30 AM, said:

Just finished Blood Rites; best Dresden yet.

Hurry up and get to White Night. Thats my fav of the series so far.

heathens

Death masks is the best Dresden work.

The problem with the gene pool is that there's no lifeguard
THE CONTESTtm WINNER--чемпіон самоконтролю

Jump Around, on 23 October 2011 - 11:04 AM, said:

And I want to state that Ment has out-weaseled me by far in this game.

#7826 QuickTidal

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 05:22 AM

Mentalist, on 06 February 2012 - 03:13 AM, said:

Briar King, on 06 February 2012 - 03:03 AM, said:

Baco Xtath, on 06 February 2012 - 02:30 AM, said:

Just finished Blood Rites; best Dresden yet.

Hurry up and get to White Night. Thats my fav of the series so far.

heathens

Death masks is the best Dresden work.

^^This.

Oh and PROVEN GUILTY.

And if Abyss were here he'd say DEAD BEAT.

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

"Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone." ~Ursula Vernon

#7827 amphibian

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 05:33 AM

Ghost Story was my favorite Dresden book.

Butcher figured out how to emotionally connect in that book in a way he's not previously shown before AND it had a higher degree of difficulty given what had gone down in Changes and before.

I survived the Permian and all I got was this t-shirt.

#7828 Mentalist

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 08:15 AM

amphibian, on 06 February 2012 - 05:33 AM, said:

still haven't read it ( I keep my dresdencrack addiction purely in mmpb format), so can't comment.

The problem with the gene pool is that there's no lifeguard
THE CONTESTtm WINNER--чемпіон самоконтролю

Jump Around, on 23 October 2011 - 11:04 AM, said:

And I want to state that Ment has out-weaseled me by far in this game.

#7829 McLovin

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 01:41 PM

Currently reading THE COMING OF CONAN THE CIMMERIAN by Robert E. Howard.

The original, unbastardized Conan stories, in the order they were originally published.

OK, I think I got it, but just in case, can you say the whole thing over again? I wasn't really listening.

#7830 QuickTidal

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 02:02 PM

MOON OVER SOHO by Ben Aaronovitch, I read the first one and quite enjoyed it. A few chapters in and this one looks to be more of the goods. Pleased.

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

"Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone." ~Ursula Vernon

#7831 End of Disc One

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 02:35 PM

1. Changes
2. Dead Beat
3. Small Favor

Those are the three that blew me away the most

#7832 acesn8s

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 03:49 PM

Finished The Darkness that Comes Before and have moved on to The Warrior Prophet. I loved his description of the Skafra landing during Nautzera's dream.

Quote

With the force of a toppled tower, the dragon thundered to earth, his descent yanking smoke and ash into towering veils. Portcullis jaws clacked shut. Wings like war-galley sails stretched out. The light of burning corpses shimmered across iridescent scales of black.

hide me!

“The others followed, and found themselves in a small, stuffy basement, which would have been damp, smelly, close, and dark, were it not, in fact, well-lit, which prevented it from being dark.”
― Steven Brust, The Phoenix Guards

#7833 Salt-Man Z

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 04:06 PM

Finished Stover's Test of Metal. Fantastic, even if I didn't "get it" at the end. Lots of double-, triple-, and quadruple-crossing. Good stuff. I kinda want to read more about Tezzeret now, even though I just know any other non-Stover M:tG book I read will be a total disappointment.

"Here is light. You will say that it is not a living entity, but you miss the point that it is more, not less. Without occupying space, it fills the universe. It nourishes everything, yet itself feeds upon destruction. We claim to control it, but does it not perhaps cultivate us as a source of food? May it not be that all wood grows so that it can be set ablaze, and that men and women are born to kindle fires?"
―Gene Wolfe, The Citadel of the Autarch

#7834 Abyss

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 07:30 PM

amphibian, on 05 February 2012 - 10:18 PM, said:

Binder of Demons, on 05 February 2012 - 01:58 AM, said:

And what's even cooler is that the style shifts again for the 3rd one, which is also awesome. I wish he'd write some more Kovacs novels.

He did. They're called The Steel Remains and The Cold Commands.

amphibian, on 05 February 2012 - 11:46 PM, said:

Briar King, on 05 February 2012 - 11:00 PM, said:

Amp: is Kovacs in the 2 fantasy books? The most I know is that the are set in Kovacs uni and Ive been curios about that.

Obliquely.

The books are kind of a mostly fantasy universe but with some hard sci-fi underpinnings.

Watch the spoilers people. treading on the edge there.

Mentalist, on 06 February 2012 - 01:29 AM, said:

You're welcome.
The second one, VOYAGE, isn't quite as awesome as the first, but still good super-pirate vs alien fun.

QuickTidal, on 06 February 2012 - 05:22 AM, said:

Mentalist, on 06 February 2012 - 03:13 AM, said:

Briar King, on 06 February 2012 - 03:03 AM, said:

Baco Xtath, on 06 February 2012 - 02:30 AM, said:

Just finished Blood Rites; best Dresden yet.

Hurry up and get to White Night. Thats my fav of the series so far.

heathens

Death masks is the best Dresden work.

^^This.

Oh and PROVEN GUILTY.

And if Abyss were here he'd say DEAD BEAT.

Emphatically.

QuickTidal, on 06 February 2012 - 02:02 PM, said:

MOON OVER SOHO by Ben Aaronovitch, I read the first one and quite enjoyed it. A few chapters in and this one looks to be more of the goods. Pleased.

backthreading...

Abyss, on 23 January 2012 - 07:05 AM, said:

MOON OVER SOHO by Ben Aaronovitch.
Good fun. Sort of Dresden's bastard child in London.

should have it done just in time for OST to arrive.

...totally enjoyed it. Arguably BETTER than MIDNIGHT RIVERS RIOT OF LONDON.

So OST didn't arrive in time and i grabbed some random mmpbs from the TRP to take on the road....

FRAGMENT by Warren Fahy. I'm spoiling nothing by revealing that this is, more or less, Jurassic Park with giant bugs. It has its flaws and is anything but original (planet full of homicidal bugs was done to death in the 70s and again in the last decade by the mil sf crowd) but generally works well and amps up the tension nicely. The author is fairly merciless in killing off cast members, including some you think will live, so that adds a nice touch to the well written actions scenes. He also does a good job of explaining the science of it without overdoing it. Not brilliant, but fun enough.

Relatedly this and various works by Rollings and Lee have opened my eyes to this entire category of sf-actioners that are located in 'fiction' as opposed to 'sf'.

DEATH DAY by William C Dietz. Couldn't get into it. Too many tropes i'm too familiar with to get me past the first 50 pages or so. Nothing really wrong with it - standard aliens invade, survivors form resistance sort of thing - but not what i was in the mood for.

On the other hand, STARFISH by Peter Watts has me by the guts in the first ten pages. It was a struggle to put it aside for...

ORB SCEPTRE THRONE... which was finally, FINALLY waiting for me on my return. 150 pages on the first read and am totally on board. ICE is doing rock solid work with SE characters and settings.

Post OST i now have have the RIYRIA set standing by, but may finish STARFISH first. Watts is a genius. And probably insane. But in a good way.

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#7835 Fist Gamet

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 09:23 PM

amphibian, on 05 February 2012 - 11:46 PM, said:

Briar King, on 05 February 2012 - 11:00 PM, said:

Amp: is Kovacs in the 2 fantasy books? The most I know is that the are set in Kovacs uni and Ive been curios about that.

Obliquely.

The books are kind of a mostly fantasy universe but with some hard sci-fi underpinnings.

WTF, did I miss something here, guys? These books have nothing to do with Kovacs whatsoever.

Victory is mine!

#7836 QuickTidal

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 09:37 PM

Fist Gamet, on 06 February 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

amphibian, on 05 February 2012 - 11:46 PM, said:

Briar King, on 05 February 2012 - 11:00 PM, said:

Amp: is Kovacs in the 2 fantasy books? The most I know is that the are set in Kovacs uni and Ive been curios about that.

Obliquely.

The books are kind of a mostly fantasy universe but with some hard sci-fi underpinnings.

WTF, did I miss something here, guys?

Yes you did. :Oops:

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

"Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone." ~Ursula Vernon

#7837 Abyss

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 09:55 PM

QuickTidal, on 06 February 2012 - 09:37 PM, said:

Fist Gamet, on 06 February 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

amphibian, on 05 February 2012 - 11:46 PM, said:

Briar King, on 05 February 2012 - 11:00 PM, said:

Amp: is Kovacs in the 2 fantasy books? The most I know is that the are set in Kovacs uni and Ive been curios about that.

Obliquely.

The books are kind of a mostly fantasy universe but with some hard sci-fi underpinnings.

WTF, did I miss something here, guys?

Yes you did. :Oops:

Go to the ded'thread. All will be revealed.

Maybe.

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#7838 stone monkey

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Posted 06 February 2012 - 11:33 PM

This morning the Amazon Fairy brought me:

In the Mouth of the Whale by Paul MacAuley
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

Both seem to be fairly solid and enjoyable reads from my dip into them during my well earned lunch break.

The MacAuley seems like a return to the stellar form he showed in Eternal Light (which btw is well worth a read if you haven't already), if on a slightly less cosmic scale so far. He's probably, technically, a better writer than he was back then, as it's amazing what 20 years of practice can help you with - although I haven't read all that many of his recent (in the last 10 years or so) books but I've heard good things about Cowboy Angels so I may give that a go at some stage. For fans of his, the universe does appear to be the same one as in his Quiet War sequence.

The Harkaway has the makings of being at least as good, and as mental, a yarn as The Gone Away World. If anything in this, admittedly early, stage (I'm only 40 or so pages in) he seems to be channelling the China Mieville of Kraken and King Rat in his depiction of a modern London full of, shall we say, unusual attributes and people, which isn't a bad thing. He definitely leavens far more outright comedy into the mix though. And I'm intrigued to see where he goes with it next.

This post has been edited by stone monkey: 06 February 2012 - 11:35 PM

If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. … So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants. Bertrand Russell

#7839 polishgenius

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Posted 07 February 2012 - 12:00 AM

I'm not sure I enjoyed Angelmaker as much as The Gone-Away World, but 'not quite as much as TG-AW' is still 'a very great deal'. It doesn't tie together all the various insanity quite as satisfyingly, imo, but is otherwise just as bursting with joyfull bonkers-ness.

I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you.