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He should do a surge-binding prologue style sex scene, I am sure we'd all enjoy that! I really don't get why you people think these books need more sex scenes and start blaming Sanderson's religion for the lack of them. Maybe he knows his books work without descriptions of fat pink masts and food related rape scenes. If you're really looking for that I can recommend a Game of Bones by The Bad Thread.
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Aug 11, 2014 14:28
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Who said the books need more sex? What I said was I think Alethi men's nervousness about the safe hand thing might mirror the author's discomfort around the topic of sex. Edit: never mind, found the post that may have prompted yours. Grundulum fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Aug 11, 2014 |
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Aug 11, 2014 17:39
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He's admitted publicly he's not comfortable with sex stuff, but I don't think it takes away from his books any.
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Aug 11, 2014 17:42
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Barreft posted:He's admitted publicly he's not comfortable with sex stuff I think that would be true regardless of his religious affiliation.
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Aug 11, 2014 19:44
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Looks like the Alloy of Law supplement for the Mistborn Adventure Game just came out. They really need to market it.
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Aug 11, 2014 20:06
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TheMadMilkman posted:I think that would be true regardless of his religious affiliation. Agreed, that's why I made no mention of religion.
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Aug 11, 2014 21:18
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The only sex scene in a fantasy book I've read that didn't gross me out in some way was in one of the Wheel of Time books, and the point of view wasn't even from the people doing it. It was played for comedic effect and was very brief. Contrast that with ASoIaF stuff, which is as graphic as the violence, and sometimes drawn out. Those scenes make me uncomfortable not because of the content, but because of the author. I can't help but imagine GRRM sitting there writing those scenes with a hardon, just because he LOOKS like a creep. It's why I stopped reading that series, in fact, and I understand that's my problem, not his. If sex and sexuality aren't the point of a character or story, there's no need for it to be there. That ties in with openly gay characters, as well. The entire point of the gay rights movement is that gay people are no different than straight people, and books don't have to point out that a character is straight. It isn't important if Jasnah is or isn't gay unless a forced marriage comes up, because sexuality will come into play then. It doesn't matter if Dumbledore is or isn't gay, because it changes nothing about his character. The fact that he is is merely a line on a stat sheet, if you will. Nothing about how I perceived his character changed when I found out he was intended to be gay, because his sexuality was completely irrelevant to the story. Part of it also could be that since homosexuality is a hot button issue currently, he may not want to write a gay character and risk loving it up, thus having to deal with backlash from it. It can be a real catch-22 situation, but not writing it is the safer bet until he's comfortable with giving it a shot, if ever.
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Aug 13, 2014 07:13
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I for one am glad that Sanderson's existence means there is at least one prominent fantasist who is probably not some kinda weird sex freak. Kruller posted:The only sex scene in a fantasy book I've read that didn't gross me out in some way was in one of the Wheel of Time books, and the point of view wasn't even from the people doing it. It was played for comedic effect and was very brief. Contrast that with ASoIaF stuff, which is as graphic as the violence, and sometimes drawn out. Those scenes make me uncomfortable not because of the content, but because of the author. I can't help but imagine GRRM sitting there writing those scenes with a hardon, just because he LOOKS like a creep. It's why I stopped reading that series, in fact, and I understand that's my problem, not his.  ban Gurrm from women PupsOfWar fucked around with this message at 07:43 on Aug 13, 2014 |
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Aug 13, 2014 07:40
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Kruller posted:The only sex scene in a fantasy book I've read that didn't gross me out in some way was in one of the Wheel of Time books, and the point of view wasn't even from the people doing it. It was played for comedic effect and was very brief. Contrast that with ASoIaF stuff, which is as graphic as the violence, and sometimes drawn out. Those scenes make me uncomfortable not because of the content, but because of the author. I can't help but imagine GRRM sitting there writing those scenes with a hardon, just because he LOOKS like a creep. It's why I stopped reading that series, in fact, and I understand that's my problem, not his. Yeah, I have the same reaction for most sex scenes in fantasy, all I can see in my head is a far naked guy at a computer, drooling as they type while they speak the words aloud in the stereotypical nasal nerd voice. Not all authors' sex scenes gross me out, though, more literary writers seem to be able to do those scenes without becoming creepy, and on the flip side I found that the sex scenes in Maria Snyder's Yelena Zaltana novels to be alright, though since those were pretty much fantasy romance novels, those scenes were obviously a relevant part of the narrative rather than a creepy diversion.
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Aug 13, 2014 09:20
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Barreft posted:He's admitted publicly he's not comfortable with sex stuff, but I don't think it takes away from his books any. Well poo poo, who is comfortable with sex scenes in their sword and sorcery epic fantasy books? So many of them are cringe-worthy and are basically an attempted favorable rendition of the authors specific fetishes. We have glistening manhoods and rough manly sex from G.R.R Martin, torture bondage insanity from Terry Goodkind, spanking and polygamy from Robert Jordan and hell I don't even know what Scott Bakker's issue is, surreal sex? Patrick Rothfuss had some odd fairy sex tutorial thing for the hero which seems to hint at an experienced older lady fetish too.
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Aug 13, 2014 10:01
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Xachariah posted:Well poo poo, who is comfortable with sex scenes in their sword and sorcery epic fantasy books? So many of them are cringe-worthy and are basically an attempted favorable rendition of the authors specific fetishes. You're forgetting Richard A Knaak's Dragon rape. And Goodkind had a lot worse than bondage a lot worse. I was almost convinced I needed therapy after reading some of his horrible books. Sanderson focuses on what is important and that is one reason I really like his books, I hope he keeps it that way. On the other hand they could come up with awesome sex positions using surge binding!
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Aug 13, 2014 10:13
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Kruller posted:The only sex scene in a fantasy book I've read that didn't gross me out in some way was in one of the Wheel of Time books, and the point of view wasn't even from the people doing it. It was played for comedic effect and was very brief. Contrast that with ASoIaF stuff, which is as graphic as the violence, and sometimes drawn out. Those scenes make me uncomfortable not because of the content, but because of the author. I can't help but imagine GRRM sitting there writing those scenes with a hardon, just because he LOOKS like a creep. It's why I stopped reading that series, in fact, and I understand that's my problem, not his. The issue is that characters are presumed to be straight because the genre has so few gay characters. It's the same as pretty much any media you consume. If you're watching a movie, you pretty much assume all the characters are straight unless it's explicitly stated otherwise. If sexuality isn't your focus, you can casually give a nod to a character being gay without writing a 3 page "OMG he's gay" section.
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Aug 13, 2014 10:18
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Karnegal posted:Speaking generally (not about BS specifically): I totally understand. The question is if it actually adds anything or not. Words of Radiance was literally as thick of a book as Tor could print on the machinery they had reserved for it. Would any sort of subtle description of a character being gay have actually added anything to the story? I'll use Jasnah as an example because she's noticeably unwed considering her position and age in an essentially feudal society. Would her being gay add anything at this point? Would it matter in the long run? Coming off the Wheel of Time, economy of storytelling is something I'm becoming more fond of. I'm not suggesting excising anything that isn't directly relevant to the story being told, but there's a level of world building that can be excessive. Wheel of Time handled it fairly well, with Aes Sedai having "pillow friends" due to the nature of their society. Not all women were actually gay, but needed companionship during their novice period. Most of the Reds were, and I'm sure that stemmed from how women were treated in general and a backlash from it. It added a bit of world building in a universe where that sort of information would make sense, but at the same time Jordan went way overboard with veering off story. I will admit that as a straight white male, not being represented is not a thing I'm familiar with, and I have a lot of trouble seeing it as a big deal. However, are Sanderson's works the right place to fight that battle? He's not really trying to make a statement with his books, so much as he's trying to be a big nerd flinging magic around and having kickass battles with super ninjas. Sometimes he feels like he's writing for 13-year-old Brandon, and what he'd have wanted to read, and sex and sexuality aren't part of it. It could also be because if he writes a character that is gay but who is very minor, people will consider it a token character. If he writes a gay character who is a major protagonist, it will be pandering, and if it's an antagonist, it will be demonizing the filthy gays because he's Mormon. He's in a bad spot due to his religion, his statements about the leaders of his religion, and the statements those leaders make about homosexuality. If I were him, I'd avoid it entirely as well. He at least has the major players in his biggest books as non-whites. Skaa were clearly described as non-white, as were Terrismen. The Alethi are supposed to be darker skinned and have epicanthal folds, so I picture them as possibly Southern Asians, like Cambodians. That alone is vastly better than basically every other fantasy writer.
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Aug 13, 2014 11:04
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Reveilled posted:Yeah, I have the same reaction for most sex scenes in fantasy, all I can see in my head is a far naked guy at a computer, drooling as they type while they speak the words aloud in the stereotypical nasal nerd voice. to be fair, that mental image gets slightly less horrifying when you're talking about a bangable dude like joe abercrombie I always thought Jaqueline Carey was ~alright~ at sex scenes (even some moderately kinky stuff), but that kinda backfires in her case, as her books get repped and marketed as Erotica when they're mostly just pretty normal fantasy adventure. PupsOfWar fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Aug 13, 2014 |
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Aug 13, 2014 16:46
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Bransan's got an open Q&A going in about fifty minutes https://www.goodreads.com/author/38550.Brandon_Sanderson/questions quote:“I’m answering questions from 5-6pm GMT (1-2 PM EST) on Wednesday, August 13th, as part of #GollanczFest. ” Brandon Sanderson 21 hours ago
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Aug 13, 2014 17:12
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Has anyone read the novella that BS just released in the Writing Excuses anthology? Worth picking up the bikk if I don't really care about the other stories?
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Aug 13, 2014 17:16
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Karnegal posted:It's the same as pretty much any media you consume. If you're watching a movie, you pretty much assume all the characters are straight unless it's explicitly stated otherwise. Yeah, but... when I meet random people in real life I pretty much assume they're straight until demonstrated otherwise, too, for the simple and obvious reason that most people are. But then again I don't really give a poo poo because it doesn't matter, and it usually doesn't matter in literature either.
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Aug 13, 2014 20:44
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I found the stories with the birds pretty interesting, the description after of how they got there not so much. The short story itself did make me wish there was more, but then I get that with everything Sanderson writes.
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Aug 14, 2014 08:02
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After just 60 pages, I feel like more has happened in Mistborn than in the first 600+ pages of The Kingkiller Chronicles.
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Aug 21, 2014 13:41
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Tunicate posted:Bransan's got an open Q&A going in about fifty minutes There is a lot of really good information in here.
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Aug 21, 2014 23:51
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Calidus posted:There is a lot of really good information in here. Human-Parshendi hybrids eh? Time to ship Kaladin/Eshonai.
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Aug 22, 2014 14:11
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While I love his books, that's one thing that annoys me about Sanderson. He adds so much back story and lore with his Q&A's that even though I've read all of his books, I often have no idea what the gently caress people are talking about when discussing his universe. Sometimes a minor, unnamed character from his books will have a whole history and abilities that are only revealed through snippets of conversation on the internet.
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Aug 22, 2014 18:16
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For the most part, though, you don't need to know that backstory to enjoy the work you're reading. If you dig behind the curtain and really get into Cosmere stuff, you'll see all kinds of connections, but they're almost never necessary to read that particular book. Example: the character Hoid pops up a few times over Sanderson's first few books, but it in no way diminishes the works if you don't know/look up that it really is the same person (rather than a common name), with X backstory.
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Aug 22, 2014 20:53
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I agree. It seems like everyone knows all this poo poo about the Stormlight world that leaves me wondering where the gently caress they got it from. I'm just hoping eventually he'll spell it out in the books so I don't need to do mad research on wiki's and poo poo to learn about that stuff. And I'm not talking about the basic poo poo like Hoid and the Cosmere and whatnot.
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Aug 22, 2014 22:16
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I just finished WoR. Holy loving poo poo the end of that book. I am so goddamn hyped for the next book. Dalinar owns so hard, and now he's bonded the loving Stormfather.As if he couldn't get any more bad rear end. No more Sanderson left to read =( Read all the Cosmere books. Time to play the waiting game...
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Aug 25, 2014 23:55
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Damo posted:I just finished WoR. Including the unpublished stuff? Lemme actually do a rundown of them, since I've got nothing better to do. As far as complete works go, Brandon will send you a copy of Aether of Night, White Sand, Mistborn Prime, or Final Empire Prime if you use the contact form on the website and are polite. Aether of Night has decent magic, extremely uneven tone, and a bunch of half-formed cosmere stuff that ended up working way better in mistborn. Mistborn Prime has a weird form of allomancy, evil 'mistborn' assassins who follow what's basically the Sith Code, and giant riding salamanders. Plot's kind of thin, the reveal of the tenth metal is silly... it's basically what you'd expect a mistborn anime to be like if the writing staff's only copy of the novels got stuck in a garbage disposal and they had to improvise for the rest. The magic in Final Empire Prime is pretty kitchen-sink, with stuff like steel inquisitors having demons bound to their eyes, and proto-feruchemy letting you convert sleep into deathbeams. It's a fun read so long as you don't expect it to be good. The first chapter is here. White Sand's going to be made into a graphic novel, which is good because the plot is much better than the execution. Magic's a bit thin - you've got sand mastering, which is pretty generic, and that's it. The world is a giant desert on a tidally locked planet, which is kind of interesting. The Sanderson Avalanche involves about eight people revealing they were actually working for someone else, and that's pretty funny. Mythwalker is incomplete, but the whole thing is on the website. It suffers from an overpowered protagonist and the magic having too few drawbacks. Also, bad names - there are Kkolloss with kkell powers. Liar of Partinel is incomplete as well. It details a young Hoid's life in a world slowly being choked to death by a malevolent zombie fungus. The website has about a dozen chapters, which stop just as it's getting good. Also features a cameo of the Aethers from Aether of Night. Dragonsteel only exists as a frequently-stolen copy of Brandon's honors thesis in the BYU library. It's not very good, it involves a magic system that focuses on micro-manipulation so you shoot lasers by manipulating photons, and play with individual atoms. The entire shattered plains segment of Stormlight was originally from here.
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Aug 26, 2014 00:21
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Wow, thanks for the info. While I think it's really cool that he gives out the unpublished stuff, I don't think I'm hardcore enough to read it. Especially considering I didn't even much like some of the published stuff (mainly just Warbreaker, although I'm glad I read it for the connections to WoR). I think your little summaries are more than enough. Also, I don't think this has been mentioned in the thread -- it seems Brandon has changed the order of what he's working on. He's committed to write Shadows of Self (Alloy #2) before Stormlight 3 now, so it looks like Stormlight 3 is likely a Mid 2016 release at best. Which sucks, but at least we'll have Alloy of Law #2 to tide us over....for the day that it takes to finish it =( Think I'll start the First Law trilogy to keep me busy for a while.
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Aug 27, 2014 00:28
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Damo posted:I just finished WoR. Same here! Same reaction. Couple of quick questions: Why does Szeth count ten heartbeats to summon his blade? I thought he had an honour blade.. Or is it only instant with an erm spren blade? Did I miss an explanation as to why Shinovar holds so many honour blades? Or any theories?
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Aug 27, 2014 00:36
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jax posted:Did I miss an explanation as to why Shinovar holds so many honour blades? Or any theories? I seem to recall that Shinovar received those honor blades intentionally, that they were left there for safekeeping. My guess is that this was because the Shin are less likely to use those blades in an active fashion.
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Aug 27, 2014 00:39
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jax posted:Same here! Same reaction. There is a theory that the order of Stonewards kept their oaths and his with the honour blades.
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Aug 27, 2014 00:39
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jax posted:Same here! Same reaction. Because he thinks he needs to. Just like how Shallan suppressing her memories means she has to count to ten as well.
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Aug 27, 2014 00:59
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That's what I thought, the Oath keeping idea makes sense too. I hope the next book reveals more about Shinovar. It seems more earth like so it should be interesting to see why it seems to be favoured and so alien to the rest of Roshar.
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Aug 27, 2014 01:13
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jax posted:That's what I thought, the Oath keeping idea makes sense too. I'm certain it will, since we'll be seeing Szeth's backstory in it. EDIT: unless he's a wannabe Shin.
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Aug 27, 2014 01:16
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Damo posted:He's committed to write Shadows of Self (Alloy #2) before Stormlight 3 now I had thought this was the case already. However, didn't he write the entirety of Alloy of Law on a flight or something? The man is a monster, I seriously doubt Shadows of Self will significantly delay Stormlight 3.
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Aug 27, 2014 14:52
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Holy_Zarquon posted:I had thought this was the case already. However, didn't he write the entirety of Alloy of Law on a flight or something? The man is a monster, I seriously doubt Shadows of Self will significantly delay Stormlight 3. I think it was the short story that then expanded to the book we got. Shadows of self is basically finished now anyway. He has already started writing Stones Unhallowed.
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Aug 27, 2014 15:17
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Rumda posted:I think it was the short story that then expanded to the book we got. I think everything through the ballroom scene was on the plane. Speaking of which, the Allomancer Jak short in the alloy rpg book was also written on the plane.
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Aug 27, 2014 19:12
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PSA: Noted Sandersonlike Brent Weeks released The Broken Eye yesterday (book 3 of Lightbringer). Haven't finished it yet but the first two were good.
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Aug 28, 2014 06:19
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Cicero posted:PSA: Noted Sandersonlike Brent Weeks released The Broken Eye yesterday (book 3 of Lightbringer). Haven't finished it yet but the first two were good. I'm in the same spot. I got the email notification that it was delivered to my kindle, I've been burning through it. Really good stuff.
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Aug 30, 2014 00:46
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Cicero posted:PSA: Noted Sandersonlike Brent Weeks released The Broken Eye yesterday (book 3 of Lightbringer). Haven't finished it yet but the first two were good. When does the audiobook come out because the graphic audio version is pretty great.
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Aug 30, 2014 10:34
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Cicero posted:PSA: Noted Sandersonlike Brent Weeks released The Broken Eye yesterday (book 3 of Lightbringer). Haven't finished it yet but the first two were good. It's pretty good. Audiobook is also out, and the first third of the graphicaudio thing is out. This is definitely the darkest hour book, and I'm pretty sure if anything happens to the baby Blackguards I'm going to be very sad.
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Aug 30, 2014 17:05
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