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Clark Nova posted:It appears that The Market has spoken so I'm going to have to add several paragraphs of exposition to my upcoming mil-scifi project explaining how thanks to the advent of fishbowl helmets, men in the 27th century no longer have to be afraid of spermjacking in public restrooms ftfy
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Feb 16, 2020 03:30
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Huge thanks to whoever recommended Venus Equilateral by George O Smith. If you have a tolerance for mid century male authors for all that implies (although this is on the better side since it has female characters who while they often play the “say it in English” card appear to be very smart and have at least a minimum of scientific education possibly because the author, who worked on radar presumably alongside women like Hedi Lamarr and the extremely many others working as calculators, doesn’t know how to write anyone who doesn’t) and a bit of electrical/electronics engineering education, and know a bit or appreciate the pre-transistor age will see this book like crack. It’s so good.
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Feb 16, 2020 05:32
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American Gods by Neil Gaiman - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YW4L5K/ The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L2VKFP5/ The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ECE9OD4 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004RD8544/
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Feb 16, 2020 18:40
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pradmer posted:2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - $2.99 This looks neat, but I think the only Robinson I've read is Red Mars many many years ago, and I might even be wrong about that. Is 2312 good?
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Feb 16, 2020 20:08
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Black Griffon posted:This looks neat, but I think the only Robinson I've read is Red Mars many many years ago, and I might even be wrong about that. Is 2312 good? It is good but pretty wild IIRC.
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Feb 16, 2020 20:21
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withak posted:It is good but pretty wild IIRC. Wild is my jam, bought. Thanks!
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Feb 16, 2020 20:30
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tiniestacorn posted:Robert Jackson Bennett writes semi-frequent essays on craft, and imo they're very good. Yours for the low, low price of $1. mmm yes writing advice from the man bullied off the forums by FYAD posting excerpts from his book
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Feb 17, 2020 00:32
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fez_machine posted:mmm yes writing advice from the man bullied off the forums by FYAD posting excerpts from his book when did that happen?
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Feb 17, 2020 00:39
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fez_machine posted:mmm yes writing advice from the man bullied off the forums by FYAD posting excerpts from his book RBJ is actually pretty good. The fact FYAD bullied him doesn’t make him bad.
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Feb 17, 2020 00:41
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Leaving because FYAD did anything at all is honestly a decision far better than any of us have ever made.
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Feb 17, 2020 00:44
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Black Griffon posted:This looks neat, but I think the only Robinson I've read is Red Mars many many years ago, and I might even be wrong about that. Is 2312 good? And for those who haven't, Red Mars is also $2.99.
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Feb 17, 2020 00:44
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StrixNebulosa posted:when did that happen? After his first novel, Mr. Shivers, came out.
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Feb 17, 2020 00:46
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StrixNebulosa posted:when did that happen? 2010 (good FYAD pre-eat the eggs, transphobia, and the twitter exodus) soon after the publication of Mr. Shivers there was a writing advice thread or something and RJB was posting in it FYAD discovered it and tore the book to shreds for being phony depression era hobo nonsense
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Feb 17, 2020 00:50
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fez_machine posted:2010 (good FYAD pre-eat the eggs, transphobia, and the twitter exodus) soon after the publication of Mr. Shivers So? That doesn't say anything about the quality of his advice or his writing.
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Feb 17, 2020 00:55
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I never read Mr. Shivers but the "City of" trilogy was quite good.
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Feb 17, 2020 00:57
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Yeah, he writes good books.
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Feb 17, 2020 01:03
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uber_stoat posted:I never read Mr. Shivers but the "City of" trilogy was quite good. Ditto. I only read City of Stairs and it wasn't quite my jam but struck me as the work of a young man who definitely had greater work coming down the line, and his Foundryside trilogy is on my TBR pile for that reason.
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Feb 17, 2020 01:43
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I've got City of Stairs in my backlog, I should bump it up and give it a proper gander... Things is I'm currently having a fling with all of Lilith Saintcrow's works - Jill Kismet 1 is one of the best UFs I've ever read, Incorruptible was a really indulgent roadtrip romance, and Iron Wyrm Affair right now is a fascinating take on steampunk + magic = what if Britannia was a spirit that possessed the queen. So the poor backlog must wait.
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Feb 17, 2020 01:45
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i'm sure the goon who wrote a book called mr shivers is a real giant of writing craft (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Feb 17, 2020 03:40
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He was nominated for a Hugo, so he's not exactly chucking fan fiction up onto a blog.
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Feb 17, 2020 06:20
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A human heart posted:i'm sure the goon who wrote a book called mr shivers is a real giant of writing craft the "canon" includes works titled The Hunting of the Snark, Miss Marjoribanks, and Humphrey Clinker By all means desperately attempt to dunk on people in the SFF thread but do try to suck at it less
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Feb 17, 2020 07:15
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freebooter posted:Ditto. I only read City of Stairs and it wasn't quite my jam but struck me as the work of a young man who definitely had greater work coming down the line, and his Foundryside trilogy is on my TBR pile for that reason. Foundryside is a bit YA and I didn't like as much - may have been the expectations after really enjoying the city of series. I liked the mythology of foundryside sort of steampunk heist but didn't vibe the writing.
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Feb 17, 2020 07:30
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ReWinter posted:the "canon" includes works titled The Hunting of the Snark, Miss Marjoribanks, and Humphrey Clinker Those titles are much less stupid than Mr Shivers, but also being a canonical work doesn't necessarily mean that the writing is good.
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Feb 17, 2020 07:41
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freebooter posted:He was nominated for a Hugo, so he's not exactly chucking fan fiction up onto a blog.
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Feb 17, 2020 10:11
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I missed that Gareth Hanrahan's sequel to the Gutter Prayer, the Shadow Saint, came out. Looking forward to reading it and continuing to ignore the bit of my brain that really wants to read Starfish again for some reason and also ignoring the rest of my to-read list. Bells and ghouls and gods. The mention of Bennett reminded me about Foundryside and that prompted me to look it up, so thanks for that.
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Feb 17, 2020 11:15
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Haven't got round to Foundryside, but really enjoyed the full 'Cities Of' trilogy.
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Feb 17, 2020 13:33
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Junkenstein posted:Haven't got round to Foundryside, but really enjoyed the full 'Cities Of' trilogy.
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Feb 17, 2020 13:43
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xcheopis posted:So? That doesn't say anything about the quality of his advice or his writing. really defending the idea that easily mocked fake as hell Old-timey hobo dialect horror is unreflective of a person's writing It's much harder to bully an author that has prose quality backing them. I'd like to see someone try to bully Samuel R. Delany out of a forum based purely on his writing style.
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Feb 17, 2020 14:59
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fez_machine posted:really defending the idea that easily mocked fake as hell Old-timey hobo dialect horror is unreflective of a person's writing I, too, like to let my tastes be dictated by ten year old shitposts. Writers tend to improve with time. Read one of his new books or shut the gently caress up. Edit: And for what it's worth, Mr. Shivers won the Shirley Jackson award. I, personally, trust the opinions of SJA jurists over FYAD. Ornamented Death fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Feb 17, 2020 |
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Feb 17, 2020 15:16
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anilEhilated posted:Much as I like Bennett's recent books, this is not a good argument. Anything can get nominated for a Hugo. Generally when people say "hugo nominated" they mean it made it onto the final shortlist of 5/6 works that the final vote chooses between, which is definitely not something that "anything can get", although some real stinkers have made it onto that shortlist (and even won) over the years.
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Feb 17, 2020 15:18
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fez_machine posted:It's much harder to bully an author that has prose quality backing them. thousands of female genre authors roll their eyes unison what a loving stupid victim blaming sentiment, stop celebrating bullying and humiilating people... it's nothing to do with the quality of writing and everything to do with being lovely people fez_machine posted:I'd like to see someone try to bully Samuel R. Delany out of a forum based purely on his writing style. What if he just left because bullying is just plain lovely and he wasn't a fan of it and all the ironic homophobia? How would you tell the difference? Would you be gleefully high-fiving the fact that he got bullied off the forum ten years later? Gravy Jones fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Feb 17, 2020 |
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Feb 17, 2020 15:25
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would love to hear more about the good bullying "good" fyad was doing in 2010 though (during the pre-transphobia golden age when there was absolutely no transphobia and definitely no transphobic bullying in fyad) bullying is so loving entertaining  Gravy Jones fucked around with this message at 15:37 on Feb 17, 2020 |
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Feb 17, 2020 15:31
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ToxicFrog posted:Generally when people say "hugo nominated" they mean it made it onto the final shortlist of 5/6 works that the final vote chooses between, which is definitely not something that "anything can get", although some real stinkers have made it onto that shortlist (and even won) over the years.
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Feb 17, 2020 16:05
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StrixNebulosa posted:I've got City of Stairs in my backlog, I should bump it up and give it a proper gander... The entire trilogy is outstanding and might be my favorite completed fantasy series of the last decade. The ending is profoundly emotional and feels well-earned. Foundryside is mediocre YA shlock :/
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Feb 17, 2020 16:14
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Not sure I get the critique of Foundryside being YA.
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Feb 17, 2020 17:18
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Aggro posted:The entire trilogy is outstanding and might be my favorite completed fantasy series of the last decade. The ending is profoundly emotional and feels well-earned. So far I think foundryside started in a better way than the cities series.
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Feb 17, 2020 17:38
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Gravy Jones posted:would love to hear more about the good bullying "good" fyad was doing in 2010 though (during the pre-transphobia golden age when there was absolutely no transphobia and definitely no transphobic bullying in fyad) boy I sure don't remember slurs being thrown about willy nilly ten to fifteen years ago god the forums were just so pure back then no, not pure in that way. wait, yeah, pure in that way
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Feb 17, 2020 17:49
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fez_machine posted:really defending the idea that easily mocked fake as hell Old-timey hobo dialect horror is unreflective of a person's writing The hilarity of believing everyone thinks of FYAD as the arbiters of good writing, much less anything else.
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Feb 17, 2020 17:56
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gently caress FYAD and good riddance. Bennett improved even in the space from American Elsewhere to the Divine Cities trilogy, he's still in the 'buy on sale or trade for' level for me but definitely readable. Meanwhile I've been reading a weird one, Yarn by Jon Armstrong. It's about an elite tailor in a surreal dystopian fashion-dominated hypercommercial future dominated by corporate warfare. But it's not about that in the usual--it is mostly, constantly, about clothes and how they make you and how they are made. The author manages to create a lot of jargon and slang that's comprehensible but still sounds exotic, and it travels at a pretty brisk pace. It's a world that's hypersexualized and commercialized, where people talk in brand-coded riddles. I don't know if I'm going to keep it when I'm done but it's been an interesting ride so far.
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Feb 17, 2020 18:10
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occamsnailfile posted:
High praise indeed
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Feb 17, 2020 18:21
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