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Ok So Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert are coming to my office to promote their new book and do a Q&A. That they're still writing says to me that they're pretty much immune to criticism. Taking all suggestions on what to ask them. Here's the awesome publisher's weekly blurb from the amazon page (12.99 kindle edition, too. Yuk) quote:Bestselling authors Herbert and Anderson (The Winds of Dune) start a space opera series with a tale quite similar to Frank Herbert's Dune in setting, theme, and conflict. On the dangerous frontier planet Hellhole, defeated and exiled rebel Gen. Tiber Adolphus continues his honorable opposition to the political scheming and selfish machinations of the Crown Jewel worlds and grandmotherly Diadem Michella Duchenet. Adolphus and his companions work in secret to undermine the royal space travel monopoly and form a coalition of Deep Zone planets. Diadem Michella, embroiled in the schemes of the ancient noble families on the decadent capital planet Sonjeera, is too distracted to recognize the danger Adolphus poses. Repeated mentions of minor details bloat the novel's length, characters are one-dimensional, and the tale has an unsatisfying cliffhanger conclusion. (Mar.)
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Mar 11, 2011 20:15
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Hellhole? Really??
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Mar 11, 2011 23:14
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How many superweapons is he going to hamfist into the story, will one of them look like a gigantic handgun?
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Mar 12, 2011 03:52
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freebooter posted:OK, I was right - Borders is 20% off today and Angus & Robertson is 50% off. Why, that's almost as cheap as ordering from overseas in the first place! Just an update on this, it's only the stores that are closing. Which is none near me (although apparently the Town Hall Square A&R store in the Sydney CBD is one, so I might go check that out some day soon).
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Mar 12, 2011 15:06
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Fuzzy Mammal posted:Ok So Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert are coming to my office to promote their new book and do a Q&A. That they're still writing says to me that they're pretty much immune to criticism. Taking all suggestions on what to ask them. goddamnit sci-fi
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Mar 12, 2011 20:27
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Hedrigall posted:Just an update on this, it's only the stores that are closing. Which is none near me (although apparently the Town Hall Square A&R store in the Sydney CBD is one, so I might go check that out some day soon). That may just be Angus & Robertson - I'm pretty sure the Borders I went to wasn't closing down. Like I said, though, it's not really worth getting excited about, because even with huge markdowns the prices are still about the same as buying from overseas. Australia is a silly country.
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Mar 13, 2011 08:39
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freebooter posted:That may just be Angus & Robertson - I'm pretty sure the Borders I went to wasn't closing down. 37 A&R stores are closing and only 1 Borders store. I think most of the closing ones are in Victoria. Sometimes I will buy a book in an Aus. bookstore because I simply MUST have it that day because I'm dying to read it, but I'll at least go to the CBD, Sydney has a ton of excellent bookstores (Kinokuniya, massive Dymocks, Abbeys, sci-fi specialist Galaxy Books, gay bookstore in Taylor Square, etc) and I can find it as cheap as possible. The $5-10 more that I end up paying is worth having it now instead of waiting 2 weeks for Book Depository to deliver.
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Mar 13, 2011 08:46
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I only shop at independent and second-hand bookstores now, and only out of guilt. On another note, I know the Booker nominees are usually announced towards the end of the year, but is there anyway to get a good guess as to what they will be beforehand? Just once I'd like to have read the entire shortlist, so I can actually have a proper opinion about how badly the judges hosed it up.
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Mar 14, 2011 13:51
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I've convinced myself that next month's book needs to be truly awful so I'm looking through the worst book ever and books you couldn't finish thread. You are warned.
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Mar 14, 2011 20:26
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Also, Goon Aurthur's should be showcased for one month. gimmi a list!
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Mar 15, 2011 00:26
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it's me. I'm the goon author.
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Mar 15, 2011 02:21
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LooseChanj posted:Also, Goon Aurthur's should be showcased for one month. gimmi a list! Felix Gilman. I want to say he is/was on here as FJG - I know he posted about his debut fantasy novel Thunderer in TBB as that was how I heard about it. Edit: Robert Jackson Bennett (aka Spiny Norman) - author of Mr. Shivers. Encryptic fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Mar 15, 2011 |
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Mar 15, 2011 05:05
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Hey guys, im looking for a piece of Gonzo journalism not by HST. I dont know the title but it was doing a bunch of ridiculous things while speeding. A link would be much appreciated. Thanks.
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Mar 15, 2011 17:03
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Preoptopus posted:Hey guys, im looking for a piece of Gonzo journalism not by HST. I dont know the title but it was doing a bunch of ridiculous things while speeding. A link would be much appreciated. Thanks. Happy to help. Here's the link http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Muppets/Muppetbabies.htm
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Mar 16, 2011 04:55
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LooseChanj posted:I've convinced myself that next month's book needs to be truly awful so I'm looking through the worst book ever and books you couldn't finish thread. You are warned. Now, most people may not consider Brad Thor "fantasy." But any novel written during the George W. Bush administration that contains these elements is clearly fantasy: 1. A top military/intelligence agent ("Scott Harvath") who is "framed" by Al Jazeera beating up a civilian 2. Who the strong, resolute president wants to forgive because he knows he's really a good person, but 3. Is hounded out of office by an evil, ambitious, America-hating and, as I recall, secretly lesbian senator who might as well be named Millary Mlinton. (I think her initials are actually H.R.C. in the book). She gets hers in the end, of course, because Havrath thwarts her ambition of running for President, which she wants to do because she Hates Freedom, basically. 4. The agent being brought back in, secretly, by the Hero-President, to investigate their top-secret knowledge about weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East that they can't prove they know about for policy reasons, 5. Assisted by an incredibly hot schoolteacher who of course comes with him on a covert mission (a school teacher is of course the most educated person who might still be a Real American), 6. The mission being to thwart that favorite Jack Bauer fantasy, an imminent attack on the United States that can only be thwarted by shredding the Constitution and using it for toilet paper. But it gets better...the evil villain trying to destroy the world using the WMDs is...the Ottoman Empire, for which al-Qaeda and Iraq are both secretly working. Who has acquired a bioweapon developed by Hannibal. (Yes, that Hannibal). Now, this is all clearly happening in an alternate universe at least as creative as anything Robert Jordan could dream up. But there's also magic! You see, Thor makes is embarassingly clear that he doesn't actually know what a biological weapon is or what the difference is between biological or chemical weapons. Which is especially worrying since he claims to have worked as an intelligence agent for Homeland Security. No; the magical substance Hannibal developed with his advanced WMD skills in fact has been genetically engineered so that anyone exposed to it has their brains leak out of their nose and dies...unless they're a muslim. That's right. It's a magical "bio" weapon that kills everyone but muslims...and the only way it can be stopped is by defeating Hillary Clinton and torturing muslims! Throughout the book, the protagonist also makes it clear that he not only loves hurting and killing people, but that he hates pretty much anyone who's not American. The book actually contains, non-ironically, a statement along the lines of "Not all Muslims are terrorists, but without exception every single terrorist is Muslim." (Because Homeland Security has apparently never been to Oklahoma City). And that's just the tip of the racist iceberg here. So we have a book set in an alternate world, where a hero must go on a quest to stop a magical weapon from giving the evil Ottoman empire from destroying the world. That's what makes it a fantasy novel. And the hero is a violent, racist right-wing thug while the villain is a thinly disguised Hillary Clinton, in a political hack job so one-sided it would make Leni Riefenstahl blush. I could practically hear the awful flopping sound of Dick Cheney masturbating as I read it. That's what makes it the worst fantasy novel I've ever read.
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Mar 17, 2011 05:51
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From Hornblower and the 'Hotspur' by C.S. Forester:quote:"Will you be having dinner on board, sir?" asked Doughty. What is the classical reference to which his joke alludes? It's bugging me because it feels familiar, but I can't figure it out.
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Mar 18, 2011 07:00
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there was a technical/computer science book thread (somewhere in SHSC or YOSPOS I believe) but I can't seem to find it again and my google-fu fails me. If anyone has any idea what I'm talking about, please be kind and link it 
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Mar 18, 2011 10:02
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Edit: sorted. Thanks!
Imagined fucked around with this message at 18:52 on Mar 19, 2011 |
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Mar 19, 2011 15:16
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I hope this is the right place to ask you all. My little cousin is eating up YA fantasy and sci-fi and I have been trying to track down a book that my fifth grade teacher read to my class in 1994-95. It was a YA fantasy book. There was a talking bear in it, and he had made a deal with a woman to not eat her because she made really good fruit compote. I think they were trying to get a boy back to our world, and I also believe there was a flute that could unfreeze rivers. I wish I could remember more, but if this rings ANY bells to anyone who might have a name, I'd really appreciate it.
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Mar 19, 2011 22:16
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Hedrigall posted:Won't they return most of their stock to the publishers for a tiny amount of the money they paid for it in the first place? Keshik posted:From Hornblower and the 'Hotspur' by C.S. Forester: coyo7e fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Mar 21, 2011 |
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Mar 21, 2011 23:05
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Paperbacks get the front cover ripped off, right?
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Mar 21, 2011 23:07
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Juanito posted:Paperbacks get the front cover ripped off, right? That truckload of lovely paperbacks lasted me for a decade, and saved untold amounts of money and library overdue fines... 
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Mar 21, 2011 23:10
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That's awesome. I believe that the cover goes back to the publisher for partial credit or something like that.. I don't think they just rip off the front to damage it. A few years ago, someone posted in Craigslist about a shitload of books being in an apartment dumpster. I went, and there was a dumpster full of banana boxes, full of mostly old books. And there were 20-30 boxes of books piled next to the dumpster. I guess some bookseller was getting married and had to get rid of a lot. I didn't get a lot of great stuff, but still some interesting stuff, including some old first editions that I could make a quick buck off. It was a glorious 2 hours. If I had a car.. I'd probably still check Craigslist for things like that. For now I just hoard books that I get from paperbackswap.
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Mar 21, 2011 23:15
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Juanito posted:That's awesome. I believe that the cover goes back to the publisher for partial credit or something like that.. I don't think they just rip off the front to damage it. Originally the idea was to send the cover back to the publisher as proof that you completely destroyed the book rather than selling it or giving it away. Maybe this still happens sometimes but I've never worked anywhere that actually does this; the covers get ripped off and tossed in one garbage can and the books go in another (to be surreptitiously fished out after work by savvy employees, typically).
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Mar 22, 2011 07:35
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Juanito posted:That's awesome. I believe that the cover goes back to the publisher for partial credit or something like that.. I don't think they just rip off the front to damage it. I ended up leaving most of those books in a box by the dumpster at my apartment complex a couple years later, and overhearing the bums having conversations about their newfound reading material was pretty 
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Mar 22, 2011 20:04
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coyo7e posted:"Spartans: tonight we dine in hell!"  I had wondered whether some joker would suggest that.
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Mar 23, 2011 22:07
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Quick question Where do you guys and gals buy your books? Is there any good online option?
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Mar 24, 2011 02:31
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Ulio posted:Quick question http://betterworldbooks.com Free shipping on everything (even though it can sometimes take a bit to get your stuff) and it's all pretty cheap. There are always great bargain bin sales, too.
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Mar 24, 2011 02:41
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Ulio posted:Quick question In Australia there's an awesome price comparison website called Booko. I'd be surprised if there weren't foreign versions, though I have yet to hear of them. Maybe there's less demand - is it actually any cheaper in Europe and North America to buy books online? In Australia it is almost always more then 50% cheaper, even taking into account exchange rates and shipping. I still shop at indies and secondhand stores, more out of compulsion than any kind of loyalty. I just like being in bookshops and can't resist impulse buys.
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Mar 24, 2011 10:02
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vegaji posted:Other than the usual suspects, you really, really should check out Better World Books: Oh, is their free worldwide shipping thing new? I remember buying from them ages ago but I thought I paid for shipping. Basically it's good to know there's an alternative to Bookdepository, because I'm sick of my books arriving damaged or, in one case, with a live cricket sealed inside the packaging.
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Mar 24, 2011 13:22
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Ulio posted:Quick question
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Mar 25, 2011 08:19
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I was curious if there is an ongoing book trading/for sale thread up? I didn't read through the answers here, so my apologies if I missed it. Thanks. Also, if anyone feels like chatting I dig military history literature, Russian lit, and drat near anything non-fiction. Along with the standard classics. AIM: Crazycracker74 Skype: mtthacke
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Mar 28, 2011 02:26
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Friend just emailed me this : http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2011/03/greek-seaman-jacqueline-howett.html It's not every day you see an author do their level best to commit career suicide. I haven't laughed this hard in years.
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Mar 30, 2011 04:55
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The best part is when the reviewer quotes some awful sentences from the book and the author says they have no flaws. It was funny watching her flail around and defend herself with Amazon reviews, but even if she hadn't flipped out, it's hard to see someone who self-publishes their terrible early stuff scraping together enough of a career to really ruin.
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Mar 30, 2011 05:49
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Here is the author reading an excerpt from her book. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ou_oOGuDBw She seems to even struggle with it.
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Mar 30, 2011 06:53
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Not only is her writing a mess, her voice is painfully grating too. Urgh. I don't know where she gets her gumption from. I'm in the daunting research phase of writing my first book and I am riddled with self doubt about my ability and my lack of authority in the subject I wish to write about. I'm humbled whenever I speak to professional authors, creative writers and anybody who knows their poo poo about writing. When somebody says "Yeah not bad, but this sentence is pretty horrible. Maybe cut out this word and put a semi colon there?" I am overjoyed to have fresh eyes spotting mistakes that my weary eyes have missed. The idea of getting angry and defensive about it is embarrassing.
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Mar 30, 2011 08:34
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:Friend just emailed me this : Oh, this is goin' on next month's poll.
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Mar 30, 2011 19:12
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I didn't see a thread here or in GBS (though I totally could have missed it), but I just learned that Diana Wynne Jones died on 26 March. Time to re-read the Chrestomanci books in her honor.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8414429/Diana-Wynne-Jones.html
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Mar 30, 2011 20:06
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Fire In The Disco posted:I didn't see a thread here or in GBS (though I totally could have missed it), but I just learned that Diana Wynne Jones died on 26 March. Time to re-read the Chrestomanci books in her honor. Re-read Archer's Goon instead.
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Mar 30, 2011 21:07
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Maybe I'll read them all.  Maybe. If I can find them.
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Mar 30, 2011 21:20
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