[Aptorian]

Oh I got the HK47 reference. I just thought you might be getting the wrong association from the name Murderbot.

[QuickTidal]

Bought PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir on kindle (it's only $17) because I hear nothing but praise of it, and even people commenting that while his second book (ARTEMIS) was not good, and THE MARTIAN was excellent that this might be his magnum opus.

Anyways, will chime in when I read it.

[Abyss]

Aptorian, on 05 May 2021 - 09:52 AM, said:

Oh I got the HK47 reference. I just thought you might be getting the wrong association from the name Murderbot.

Same same.

Funny. Was rewatching YOUNG JUSTICE earlier, and an android trying to wipe out humanity (as they do) kept using the term too.

[QuickTidal]

SONGS OF THE DARK Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow short fiction collection is out for ebook and paperback, so I nabbed a paperback copy for my collection of his work.

[champ]

QuickTidal, on 10 May 2021 - 01:52 PM, said:

SONGS OF THE DARK Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow short fiction collection is out for ebook and paperback, so I nabbed a paperback copy for my collection of his work.

Have you per chance read The Wolf's Call or The Black Song, set after The Raven's Shadow? Interested to see what those books are like.

[QuickTidal]

champ, on 10 May 2021 - 02:37 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 10 May 2021 - 01:52 PM, said:

SONGS OF THE DARK Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow short fiction collection is out for ebook and paperback, so I nabbed a paperback copy for my collection of his work.

Have you per chance read The Wolf's Call or The Black Song, set after The Raven's Shadow? Interested to see what those books are like.

So I've not read them yet (I was getting through DRACONIS first before heading back into that world), but I have BLACK SONG on a kindle sale, and I'll be getting THE WOLF'S CALL eventually. I've heard they are also good, but not quite as good as the first trilogy, which I was expecting to be the case anyways.

[Chance]

Finished up The Violent Century and I really enjoyed it, my type of alternativ history and one of the best superhero books I've read.

Also went through Winds of Wraith the last Destroyermen book and the latest Murderbot book recently and found them both rather ok but nothing special. The opposition in the murderbot book did not feel that interesting for one.

champ, on 10 May 2021 - 02:37 PM, said:

Have you per chance read The Wolf's Call or The Black Song, set after The Raven's Shadow? Interested to see what those books are like.

Found Wolf's Call pretty good if you want more of the world and main character but was a bit disappointed with The Black Song a bit too predictable.

This post has been edited by Chance: 10 May 2021 - 07:03 PM

[QuickTidal]

Always on the hunt for Crusades-based fantasy (as it's rare) and had completely forgotten someone recommended me Judith Tarr's stuff, so I grabbed ALAMUT for $5 on kindle. Sounds like a great book.

[Tiste Simeon]

QuickTidal, on 11 May 2021 - 03:29 PM, said:

Always on the hunt for Crusades-based fantasy (as it's rare) and had completely forgotten someone recommended me Judith Tarr's stuff, so I grabbed ALAMUT for $5 on kindle. Sounds like a great book.

I can't remember if we've griped about this before (I think we have) but Jack Whyte's Templar series was terrible. Also not fantasy now I think about it but it could have been so good.

[QuickTidal]

Tiste Simeon, on 11 May 2021 - 06:39 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 11 May 2021 - 03:29 PM, said:

Always on the hunt for Crusades-based fantasy (as it's rare) and had completely forgotten someone recommended me Judith Tarr's stuff, so I grabbed ALAMUT for $5 on kindle. Sounds like a great book.

I can't remember if we've griped about this before (I think we have) but Jack Whyte's Templar series was terrible. Also not fantasy now I think about it but it could have been so good.

We have griped about it, and I own it all in hardcover...as much as I loved his Camulod series, I hated his Templar series.

What bothered me most about it is that the first book has such potential...but then he did time jumps for book 2 and 3 and left a tonne of the plots from book 1 out...it's such a weird trilogy.

[QuickTidal]

Read an eBook sample of a book a few weeks back (probably the first chapter or two?), and have Not been able to get it out of my head. It was compelling AF, and really scratched an itch for me...so I grabbed it and its sequel in paperback form (the eBooks were on price par, so it only made sense).

WANT and RUSE by Cindy Pon. This is my first foray into her work (I think these are technically considered YA, but the WANT sample I read didn't feel that way), and I'm really impressed.

Basically it's a near-future Taipei, the air is poisoned, rich people wear body suits and sleek helmets that allow them their own "environment", while poorer people struggle to live and eat. Story is about one of said less fortunate guys and his friends who aim to infiltrate the well-off to save their city.

I'm not doing it justice, but yeah, super cool Asian-set near future thriller.

[Tiste Simeon]

You've got me intrigued!

[QuickTidal]

Tiste Simeon, on 13 May 2021 - 06:04 PM, said:

You've got me intrigued!

Check out the sample and see if you dig it.

[QuickTidal]

I fucking splurged and bought all three hardcover Illustrated Special Editions of Robin Hobb’s FARSEER trilogy. For me she belongs next to my special edition Tolkien books, so it’s a BIT of a no-brainer from a collector POV but dropping $140 in one fell swoop always kinda hurts. Oh well. Excited!

[QuickTidal]

Briar King, on 24 May 2021 - 11:58 PM, said:

I wasn’t aware there was any official artwork. I’d like to see some.

Yep, you can find most of it online actually. All of it completely approved by Hobb herself as to how these characters and situations looked in her head. It's funny because things/people I always had in my head a certain way (like Kettricken; below) are completely different from my assumptions but work SO well.

 Kett.jpg (109.53K)
Number of downloads: 0

[QuickTidal]

So I own all 6 of the original DUNE books in the older ACE Books covers....they are mostly good, but the type is exceedingly small in them...so I was wondering if there were more recent bigger versions of the MMPB (in the way of the 7.4" MMPBs that usually exist today with slightly bigger type)...and there are.

And I actually REALLY like this minimalist design ACE came up with...Seen here:

 dune-covers-1.jpg (51.38K)
Number of downloads: 3

Right? Cool. So I thought, okay worth the $60-70 I would spend....

But then I saw the boxed set and saw the spine designs and holy fuck my eyes....

 BadSpines.jpg (109.11K)
Number of downloads: 1

So let's get into this right away becuase as someone who works with printed material, colour, and graphic designs...this is a TRAVESTY of shitty decisions.

1. We all know that DUNE is the shortest titled book, but the thickest and longest by a country mile. So that's a Design challenge when it comes to symmetry....one that even the older ACE Books copies that I have never really solved (in those DUNE is written horizontally in the first book, and vertically in the other 5)

2. The titles of the rest present a challenge because in one case (and the shortest book) DUNE MESSIAH has Dune first and Messiah after obvs....while the other 4 books all have words before DUNE. So they've decided here to "centre align" the titles en masse on the spines...a mistake because they don't line up at all when viewed on the shelf. So as a designer, you need to make the call that only the word DUNE will be centered on all 6 books TO MATCH alignment...and let the other smaller titles words fall where they may on either side of that. This would give this set a uniform look. Please also add in that these clearly have been cut poorly by the printers because notice the ACE logo isn't in the right spot on some)

3. DUNE MESSIAH presents, again due to it's length a problem of even the DUNE words size, as it can only be so big...so either DUNE is bigger than the word on the other 5 books, OR the better choice is to max out the size on MESSIAH and then match all the rest to that size and just leave extra black space on the outside of the first book where it is currently filled with the bigger Dune. AND WHY IS MESSIAH WRITTEN VERTICALLY WHILE CHILDREN...A WORD ONE LETTER LONGER IS WRITTEN SANELY HORIZONTALLY IN THE SAME SET?!

I'm annoyed because I WANT this set (and I will probably get it...and book outlet has the three prequel novels in this design too, for cheap....so it would be glorious...) but the spines are terrible and Urk the OCD in me.

Anyways....I'll probably still buy them, but I'ma grumble about it.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 23 July 2021 - 12:45 PM

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 23 July 2021 - 12:38 PM, said:

So I own all 6 of the original DUNE books in the older ACE Books covers....I'm annoyed because I WANT this set (and I will probably get it...and book outlet has the three prequel novels in this design too, for cheap....so it would be glorious...) but the spines are terrible and Urk the OCD in me.

Anyways....I'll probably still buy them, but I'ma grumble about it.

Solution: Make your own covers. If anyone asks, tell them it's a Special Limited Edition set you imported from Europe.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 23 July 2021 - 02:04 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 23 July 2021 - 12:38 PM, said:

So I own all 6 of the original DUNE books in the older ACE Books covers....I'm annoyed because I WANT this set (and I will probably get it...and book outlet has the three prequel novels in this design too, for cheap....so it would be glorious...) but the spines are terrible and Urk the OCD in me.

Anyways....I'll probably still buy them, but I'ma grumble about it.

Solution: Make your own covers. If anyone asks, tell them it's a Special Limited Edition set you imported from Europe.

Seeing as I probably WILL buy this set, I may find high res scans of these, bring them into photoshop and fix them myself, print them out and attach the to the existing covers...but I don't know if I'm that crazy.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

QuickTidal, on 23 July 2021 - 02:25 PM, said:

Abyss, on 23 July 2021 - 02:04 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 23 July 2021 - 12:38 PM, said:

So I own all 6 of the original DUNE books in the older ACE Books covers....I'm annoyed because I WANT this set (and I will probably get it...and book outlet has the three prequel novels in this design too, for cheap....so it would be glorious...) but the spines are terrible and Urk the OCD in me.

Anyways....I'll probably still buy them, but I'ma grumble about it.

Solution: Make your own covers. If anyone asks, tell them it's a Special Limited Edition set you imported from Europe.

Seeing as I probably WILL buy this set, I may find high res scans of these, bring them into photoshop and fix them myself, print them out and attach the to the existing covers...but I don't know if I'm that crazy.

"Please don’t try to gainsay an award winning..." cover designer.

😉 JK

[QuickTidal]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 23 July 2021 - 02:47 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 23 July 2021 - 02:25 PM, said:

Abyss, on 23 July 2021 - 02:04 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 23 July 2021 - 12:38 PM, said:

So I own all 6 of the original DUNE books in the older ACE Books covers....I'm annoyed because I WANT this set (and I will probably get it...and book outlet has the three prequel novels in this design too, for cheap....so it would be glorious...) but the spines are terrible and Urk the OCD in me.

Anyways....I'll probably still buy them, but I'ma grumble about it.

Solution: Make your own covers. If anyone asks, tell them it's a Special Limited Edition set you imported from Europe.

Seeing as I probably WILL buy this set, I may find high res scans of these, bring them into photoshop and fix them myself, print them out and attach the to the existing covers...but I don't know if I'm that crazy.

"Please don’t try to gainsay an award winning..." cover designer.

�� JK

Yeah, there's a difference between clearly bad graphic design handled by a publishing company who didn't care enough about it from a graphic design/print angle (my actual industry in which I work everyday), and someone saying (More than once on the thread) "This movie by these industry people who know more than I is poorly color graded (from a trailer) and I'm going to recolour it at home on my commodore 64"

Sorry, that person has only that particular comment to offer repeatedly to that thread, and it irritated me.

EDIT to add: Jim Tierney did these covers and they are lovely...but the publishing house would have designed the spine as Tierney would have only been commissioned for the cover art itself. So I'd never gainsay him, as I think this art is really lovely.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 23 July 2021 - 03:01 PM