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Has anyone read The Angel of the Crows? I enjoyed the author's other book, The Goblin Emperor, a lot, but I'm seeing a lot of 2 and 3 star reviews on Goodreads for this one...
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Sep 21, 2020 20:17
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PawParole posted:I really like generation ships and first contact scenarios. I’m into the sociology of sci-fi far more than the whiz-bang technology. i'm here for the alien politics personally. i like seeing far out takes on sentient societies ala Tchaikovsky or the Zones of Thought, or some of the Culture books
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Sep 21, 2020 20:24
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quantumfoam posted:<reposted from off-site SFL Archives readthrough blog> I'm looking forward to hearing how they react to the finished film. It's such an unconventional sci fi movie, no fight scenes or battles and no real enemy, just pure uncut environmentalism and social messaging with Star Trek characters in our world.
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Sep 21, 2020 21:23
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quantumfoam posted:
It was by Bruce Sterling and some others. You can read it here https://fanac.org/fanzines/Cheap_Truth/
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Sep 21, 2020 22:20
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Promise of Blood (Powder Mage #1) by Brian McClellan - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0092XHPIG/ Age of Myth (Legends of the First Empire #1) by Michael J Sullivan - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015BCX0S0/
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Sep 21, 2020 22:34
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Marshal Radisic posted:Ironically, Trek's first female captain would appear in STIV as the unnamed captain of the USS Saratoga whose ship gets disabled by the Whale Probe at the beginning of the movie. We naturally got a lot more female captains in TNG and onward, but as SFDebris has noted they have a troubling habit of either getting killed off or having their ships get destroyed. coathat posted:It was by Bruce Sterling and some others. You can read it here https://fanac.org/fanzines/Cheap_Truth/ Informative responses like these and <reaching way back to SFL Vol 03 aka 1981> people here digging into the unicorn-goat thing and finding out the people behind the unicorn-goat ALSO founded an actual school of Wizardry deserve to be archived in a place where they can be easily found. Was thinking of doing a few standalone update posts on the off-site blog listing these responses, anyone willing to help me out and collect a master list of all the SFL readthrough responses posted in this thread? Feel free to pitch names for the proposed reader-responses because the cleverest I've been able to get is "SA Readers respond back" or something similar. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Sep 21, 2020 |
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Sep 21, 2020 23:27
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Black Griffon posted:all Science Fiction Fantasy MegaThread 3: 1 kg = 2.2 lb = .157 stone knows to do is talk about baru, ask about generation ships and LIE what if baru was on a generation ship
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Sep 21, 2020 23:44
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quantumfoam posted:Feel free to pitch names for the proposed reader-responses because the cleverest I've been able to get is "SA Readers respond back" or something similar. Something about opening time capsules, maybe?
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Sep 22, 2020 00:22
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PawParole posted:I really like generation ships and first contact scenarios. I’m into the sociology of sci-fi far more than the whiz-bang technology. oh absolutely same, both are wonderful ways to tell a story Horizon Burning posted:what if baru was on a generation ship General I thought I was the only one you spoiled Baru 4 to?!
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Sep 22, 2020 01:28
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Black Griffon posted:General I thought I was the only one you spoiled Baru 4 to?! The Spaceship Baru Cormorant
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Sep 22, 2020 01:34
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cptn_dr posted:The Spaceship Baru Cormorant 
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Sep 22, 2020 01:38
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coathat posted:It was by Bruce Sterling and some others. You can read it here https://fanac.org/fanzines/Cheap_Truth/  (the opening to issue 13)
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Sep 22, 2020 01:41
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C.M. Kruger posted:
drat, talk about a hook.
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Sep 22, 2020 02:12
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The real one is number 3 where there's a picture of ada lovelace and an interview with the ghost of lovecraft. The world has not changed an ounce
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Sep 22, 2020 02:45
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Silver2195 posted:Yep. Which makes it ironic that the inspiration for A Wizard of Earthsea was LeGuin wondering how Gandalf learned his magic. IIRC, Gandalf never went east to Rhun or the lands beyond (I don't think Radagast or Saurman did either). The two Blue Wizards did but we never got any stories about them beyond a mention somewhere that they acted during the war of the ring to thwart Sauron's activity out there as well. Presumably contributing to the success of destroying the ring by thwarting forces from fully mustering there much like how Thorin's return to Erebor meant there was no Smaug and the northern force of orcs and men were stuck fighting at Erebor instead of helping wipe out Gondor and Rohan. Evil Fluffy fucked around with this message at 04:18 on Sep 22, 2020 |
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Sep 22, 2020 04:16
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C.M. Kruger posted:
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Sep 22, 2020 07:06
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New offsite SFL readthrough up blah blah blah. 54% completion, 152 slightly consolidated bookmarks. Read it there or wait 36 hrs or so until I repost it here. 2 teasers for it. -The Tucker Award from my last update post wasn't a gimmick apparently. And it has the same rigged feeling as the Hugo and Nebula awards to boot. Surely the 2 people nominated with the last name of Tucker [sarcasm]are there by random chance and not nepotism[/sarcasm]) -Reading 1986 SFLers reactions to news leaking about Paramount being in the earlier stages of producing a new Star Trek tv-series is dope as hell, so much anger, so many prediction-expectations that were 130% off track.
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Sep 22, 2020 08:03
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cptn_dr posted:The Spaceship Baru Cormorant Barustar Galactica.
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Sep 22, 2020 10:14
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Baru Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Cormorants of Dune.
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Sep 22, 2020 10:47
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Baru of Fools/Unto Cormorant
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Sep 22, 2020 10:52
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Blindright
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Sep 22, 2020 10:54
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Krazyface posted:Blindright
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Sep 22, 2020 11:07
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Ccs posted:Has anyone read The Angel of the Crows? I enjoyed the author's other book, The Goblin Emperor, a lot, but I'm seeing a lot of 2 and 3 star reviews on Goodreads for this one... it's fine, I guess, but don't expect much more than sherlock holmes fantasy fanfic
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Sep 22, 2020 12:13
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90s Cringe Rock posted:Baru Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Cormorants of Dune. Are you sure this isn’t a real title?
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Sep 22, 2020 14:38
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Krazyface posted:Blindright 
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Sep 22, 2020 15:46
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The Trader Baru Cormorant
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Sep 22, 2020 16:04
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A Little Hatred (Age of Madness #1) by Joe Abercrombie - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MJ656W9/ The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0079KT81G/ Folding Knife by KJ Parker - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0035IICZO/ Scavenger series by KJ Parker - $2.99/$1.99/$1.99 Shadow - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B3VX3TA/ Pattern - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B3VX3Y0/ Memory - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B3VX3T0/ I don't think any of these KJ Parker books have gone on deep sale before. Probably take advantage if you have any interest.
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Sep 22, 2020 22:20
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Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City ebook is also cheap, $2.99 on US Amazon
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Sep 22, 2020 22:35
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So Adam Roberts, who wrote a bunch of sci fi books and has also done a ton of reviews, started updating his blog again this year. It’s odd, no posts between 2015 and 2020, then he suddenly starts posting again. Some fun reviews of books and films: http://sibilantfricative.blogspot.com/?m=1
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Sep 22, 2020 22:54
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Ccs posted:So Adam Roberts, who wrote a bunch of sci fi books and has also done a ton of reviews, started updating his blog again this year. It’s odd, no posts between 2015 and 2020, then he suddenly starts posting again. Some fun reviews of books and films: http://sibilantfricative.blogspot.com/?m=1
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Sep 22, 2020 23:07
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Oh cool. I found his review of an Abercrombie book Half a King hilarious: “ Half a review. Prince Yarrrvi, descended perchance from pirates, is set the task of regaining his Aberkingdom by an Abercruel fate. Though born an Abercripple (and thus considered the titular 'half' mentioned on the book's abercover) Yarrrvi must use his Abercleverness and his one Abercapable hand to regain the Abercrown he never Abercraved in the first place, overcoming abadversity, hardship, double-abercrossing and the general Abercrappiness of the Abercosmos's attitudes to mortals. Trust no-one; for even those Aberclosest to you can betray you into slabery, sorry, slavery. In a nutshell, this is a lean, chilled, typically well-abercrafted tale. The world Joe has Abercreated is Abercrisply evoked; the Abercharacters work well; the violence, though Abercranked down a notch from First Law (this being YA), is Abercrimson enough for most palates. Most of all it's immensely, rather disgracefully readable: gripping and twisty. An Abercracking yarn. If I had one Abercriticism to make, it would be that”
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Sep 22, 2020 23:12
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Phew. Ringworld Engineers rallied a bit toward the end but overall that was rough. Ringworld for all its faults at least had a strong theme of "playing god" but I got no sense of any such analogous thematic content in Engineers. Something having to do with accounting for the sins of our parents and/or descendents given the Pak revelations? I haven't read a ton of Known Space so it all seemingly came out of nowhere. And the way it was revealed--quickly, via flavorless exposition or the main character musing to himself--diminished the impact of those revelations. Chmeee/Speaker-to-Animals is a neat character, but everyone else felt sketched in at best, and merely an object of sexual gratification for Louis Wu at worst. Some neat ideas, I suppose, but I'm starting to think Larry Niven's not a great writer, and perhaps even kind of a weird dude.
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Sep 22, 2020 23:45
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Ben Nerevarine posted:Phew. Ringworld Engineers rallied a bit toward the end but overall that was rough. The Ringworld books only get worse. Instead of going further in the Ringworld series, read Niven's abandoned Down In Flames. SFL Archives....man Takei has been campaigning for a Captain Sulu series for a loooooooong time. And for the in-the-works Star Trek show that would become Star Trek: TNG, SFLers are saying import the writing staff of M.A.S.H.
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Sep 23, 2020 00:31
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Ccs posted:So Adam Roberts, who wrote a bunch of sci fi books and has also done a ton of reviews, started updating his blog again this year. It’s odd, no posts between 2015 and 2020, then he suddenly starts posting again. Some fun reviews of books and films: http://sibilantfricative.blogspot.com/?m=1 I think he removed a bunch of his stuff a few years ago because he was publishing it. In particular he removed his very good, very funny hatchet job reviews of Wheel of Time.
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Sep 23, 2020 00:46
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pradmer posted:A Little Hatred (Age of Madness #1) by Joe Abercrombie - $3.99 Dang, thanks for pointing out those KJ Parker ones. I pretty closely check the daily kindle deal but I missed those, and I absolutely loved 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City. If that holds up, this will have been <$10 well spent!
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Sep 23, 2020 01:49
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Ccs posted:So Adam Roberts, who wrote a bunch of sci fi books and has also done a ton of reviews, started updating his blog again this year. It’s odd, no posts between 2015 and 2020, then he suddenly starts posting again. Some fun reviews of books and films: http://sibilantfricative.blogspot.com/?m=1 freebooter posted:I think he removed a bunch of his stuff a few years ago because he was publishing it. In particular he removed his very good, very funny hatchet job reviews of Wheel of Time. Yeah, Roberts tends to delete older material from his blogs if he decides to put them in a small-press collection of reviews. He also has a habit of creating multiple blogs, bouncing between them, then abandoning them at a moment's notice. Aside from Sibilant Fricative he also has Morphosis, and while that one isn't strictly SF/F there is some content, including a massive review of Peter Higgins' Wolfhound Empire trilogy that convinced me to properly read the three books and understand what they were doing. He also has a sideblog dedicated to his 2017-8 project of reading through the entire bibliography of HG Wells. There's also this sideblog, which only has a single review of Justin Call's Master of Sorrows from February on it.
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Sep 23, 2020 04:22
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Ccs posted:Has anyone read The Angel of the Crows? I enjoyed the author's other book, The Goblin Emperor, a lot, but I'm seeing a lot of 2 and 3 star reviews on Goodreads for this one... Katherine Addison, author of The Goblin Emperor, returns with The Angel of the Crows, a fantasy novel of alternate 1880s London, where killers stalk the night and the ultimate power is naming. This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting. In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings in a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent. Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows. TBH doesn't sound like my thing
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Sep 23, 2020 05:32
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I've read some stuff Addison has written under her other (real?) name, Sarah Monette, and a lot of it was pretty underwhelming, honestly. I loved Goblin Emperor but I think it might be kind of the odd one out in her bibliography.
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Sep 23, 2020 06:07
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I wasn't a fan of TGE when I first read it, but that's because I was expecting some sort of fantasy book, and instead I got a lifetime movie set in a fantasyland. It's great for a heartwarming kinda book, but pretty much sweet gently caress all happens in it. It makes me a lil nervous to check out the new one, but this one actually seems to have the sort of plot where SOMETHING is gonna happen. I think I'll wait till someone else takes a shot at it first, and lets me know if it's action adventure-y sort of fantasy or more of the "feel good" fantasy.
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Sep 23, 2020 06:37
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Hubbardologist posted:Dang, thanks for pointing out those KJ Parker ones. I pretty closely check the daily kindle deal but I missed those, and I absolutely loved 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City. If that holds up, this will have been <$10 well spent! The "Scavenger" series is my favourite twist ever on the "main character wakes up with amnesia" plot.
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Sep 23, 2020 08:56
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