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torgeaux posted:She is 33, he is 49, and God bless America for going for a new model. But, he wrote a gazillion books married to another author who he'd known his whole adult life, and now he's married to a corset model. I think he may be less of a machine cranking out the books. So, like, seven more years then. That's enough time for some books.
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Feb 15, 2021 15:45
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:So, like, seven more years then. That's enough time for some books. Fingers crossed. It'll be interesting to see if any of the new marriage dynamic is visible on the page.
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Feb 15, 2021 15:47
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HisMajestyBOB posted:To be fair, that's not a very long period of time. The average life span is 20+ Confederacies. Most people go through high school and college in two Confederacies. The age difference between Jim Butcher and his new wife is 3.2 Confederacies.
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Feb 15, 2021 15:49
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biracial bear for uncut posted:The age difference between Jim Butcher and his new wife is 3.2 Confederacies. It doesn't violate the "half your age plus 2 Confederacies" rule.
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Feb 15, 2021 16:14
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biracial bear for uncut posted:The age difference between Jim Butcher and his new wife is 3.2 Confederacies. That's 495 Scaramucci's
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Feb 15, 2021 16:29
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 Bim Jutcher if yall wanna talk to him is on youtube!
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Feb 19, 2021 19:31
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I think Brief Cases is a stronger collection that Side Jobs. The bigfoot trilogy was great, Marcone's short story was fantastic, and the second Molly's story started off well but had a memorable chilling ending. Luccio's short story felt more like an intro to a spin-off series than a story on its own, though. Would be great to see Wyatt Earp somewhere again. But he's probably dead. At the release of Peace Talks, do the fans know there's another novel coming in 2.5 months? Because if not, I can't imagine anyone liking this novel. It had the usual starting point, with an intensely personal problem for Dresden within a large, massive problem, but it ended so suddenly. I love the development between Harry and his mentor and friends, but as a whole the events can't stand on its own. Butcher had written great stories at this length (eg Summer Knight), but this novel is just too fluffy. Battle Ground is super heavy in both physical and emotional sense. It's exhausting reading a book-length action scene, but man, the scenes are worth it. Butters once again did his courageous stand like in Dead Beat, and I love every moment, but really any scene with him and Sanya is great. I'm still in denial about Murphy's death. Marcone as a Denarian is a top twist. Moving Demonreach is utterly ridiculous andI love it. The developments in this novel is on the level of Changes, and I'm excited to see where Butcher is going next. Overall, my favourite book is a tie between Skin Game and Dead Beat, followed by Summer Knight. I love Michael the most and Mab the least. I've never read 19 books this quickly before. Question about the genre: Are there urban fantasy novels set in the 1950s to 80s? I've wondered about fantasy novels set during the Civil Rights Movement, but that's probably too recent and too important an era to set a fantasy novel on, huh?
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Feb 22, 2021 12:59
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toanoradian posted:At the release of Peace Talks, do the fans know there's another novel coming in 2.5 months? Because if not, I can't imagine anyone liking this novel. We did, yeah. It's either known or strongly suspected that this started as one book, but together it was too big to be cost effectively printed as one volume, so it was hacked in twain and padded to puff up the halves a bit.
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Feb 22, 2021 13:07
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Beachcomber posted:We did, yeah. I thought Butcher confirmed that somewhere that it was supposed to be one big book. I think he said that it would be literally too big to be printed as a paperback, so they split it into two. I think he said he wanted to release both books within a week or so of each other, but his publisher didn't want to compete with themselves and they wanted a year between the two. They compromised on the 2.5 months. Frankly I was glad for the delay because I do a complete series re-read every time a new book comes out and I was just slow enough that I didn't get to Peace Talks until a week or so before Battle Grounds was due to come out.
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Feb 22, 2021 14:33
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Yeah, we knew it was one book split into two. I, personally, didn't realize that it was almost literally one book split into two. As in, I had no clue Peace Talks was going to end right when it was finally getting to the god drat point. Usually when one book (or movie) is split like that, there's at least a token effort to move scenes around and make sure the first isn't a dull slog. But whatever.
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Feb 22, 2021 16:05
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Beachcomber posted:We did, yeah. If proper editing had been done, both books could've easily been one volume.
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Feb 22, 2021 16:28
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Yeah it's not like he had written enough story for 2 separate books, he just couldn't or wouldn't either cut it down or rewrite it proper.
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Feb 23, 2021 03:35
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My favorite part is when Listens-To-Wind turns to the camera and says “I promise I’ll explain the starborn thing in the next book, okay?”
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Feb 23, 2021 03:45
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biracial bear for uncut posted:If proper editing had been done, both books could've easily been one volume. It was probably the publisher. I know one big issue with the later Wheel of Time books was that there was often less than a month from finished draft to books on shelves, and I imagine with Butcher it's similar. Normal titles it's like a year. When a title gets big enough and delayed enough, getting it out the door is a bigger priority than quality.
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Feb 23, 2021 03:46
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torgeaux posted:Fingers crossed. It'll be interesting to see if any of the new marriage dynamic is visible on the page. Might explain why Murphy's gone and suddenly Lara is being thrown into the equation  Nemo posted:My favorite part is when Listens-To-Wind turns to the camera and says “I promise I’ll explain the starborn thing in the next book, okay?” Which is going to be interesting considering that Harry is basically Wizard Council Enemy #1 again. Even someone with as much "I can do what I want" clout as Listens is going to have to be careful consorting with him. Which will probably also be the excuse to drag out the Starborn reveal for even longer Edit: Not gonna lie, something I hope to see in a future book is Ramirez getting called out on the real reason he's got such a Hate-On for Winter.
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Feb 23, 2021 04:22
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the_steve posted:Might explain why Murphy's gone and suddenly Lara is being thrown into the equation I hope Ramirez tells Harry exactly what happened to him, because he's got plenty of in-context reason to have that Hate-On for Winter.
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Feb 23, 2021 16:26
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biracial bear for uncut posted:I hope Ramirez tells Harry exactly what happened to him, because he's got plenty of in-context reason to have that Hate-On for Winter. Yeah, I never got the impression that Ramirez had done anything wrong. It's been a while since I read that story, but it seemed pretty clear that he wasn't overstepping and Molly the person wanted the same thing, even if the mantle made her stop.
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Feb 23, 2021 19:45
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Yeah, I did a lovely job of making the point I thought I was making and left out a lot of train-of-thought "here's where my brain was going with this" context. Butcher is pushing the narrative that even though Dresden keeps getting in over his head with Mab, he's still in the right and is just the martyr making hard choices so other people can keep their hands clean(ish), so he isn't going to let Ramirez have the moral high ground on this. He's already telegraphed pretty hard that Carlos is going to be DASGDC for the foreseeable future. Ramirez is going to keep going "You're a monster Harry, you're a ticking time bomb, a loose cannon, etc" for however long, until Harry eventually figures out what happened between him and Molly, and it's going to be framed in the most reductive way possible, stripped of drat near all context, and I'm fully expecting a hilariously bad crack at a MeToo moment of "So you tried to take advantage of a girl with a literally uncontrollable and magically supercharged libido, got forcibly shot down, and I'm the bad guy because of it."
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Feb 24, 2021 04:35
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the_steve posted:Yeah, I did a lovely job of making the point I thought I was making and left out a lot of train-of-thought "here's where my brain was going with this" context. Giant lovely shitpost ahead: "Stars and stones, I'm a bad, awful, lovely person," I told Ramirez. "I'm just the worst. And I'm the worst so nobody else has to be." "You're awful and did everything evil on purpose," he muttered jealously at me. "Everything I did wrong is your fault. You are the worst because you are the worst." "That's not true," interjected Molly, barging through a nearby door with the tips of her breasts. She was the teenaged daughter of my best friend, and so were the tips of her breasts. "You're actually the best. Just the absolute best person, who takes all the weight of the world on his shoulders because that's your tragic flaw. And you're the most special." "No, I'm awful," I sighed. "I'm so tragic and doomed." "Yes," said the tips of Molly's breasts, "but you're also a starchild and the chosen one." "I can't tell you what I'm thinking because you're better off safe and ignorant," I said. There was a large explosion and some super ancient evil satans or cthulhus or whatever barged in. "We are going to win, mortal, your world is at an end," they said. "Doom is upon thee." "Heh. 'Do or do not, there is no try'" I quipped. LOL. "Now we're going to eat this baby," they said. "FUEGO," I wolfed snarlishly. The bad guys and the baby were on fire and it wasn't my fault. "This is all my fault," I wailed. "Oh noooo, it wasn't your fault," said Murphy. "You're the best, most heroic person I know, and I love you so much for destroying my career." "Oh yeah, you're right. Thanks." "No problem." "Heh. 'Hasta la vista, baby.' Get it? Get it?" "No. I am dead." "Oh right, you're dead." Because of me. It was all my fault; if only I'd held open more doors for her. Stars and stones I was such a bad person, ugh. Gosh. At least I don't judge gay people, even if I don't understand them at all. I surveyed the burning wreckage of the latest huge disaster I'd caused and would've tipped my hat if I wore one. Which I don't. I told the illustrator that. I don't wear a hat. I'm a six foot six starchild who isn't handsome just good-looking and I have no skill I'm just the strongest guy of my generation and getting stronger all the time and nobody understands my pain and I'm a rogue wizard and a loose cannon but god drat I get results and I don't trust the government and I don't wear a hat. And I am a nerd. My name is Harry Harley-Davidson Copperfield Dark'ness Dresden and these are my files.
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Feb 24, 2021 15:33
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Unironically isn't too far off from a regular Dresden Files book, TBH.
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Feb 24, 2021 16:11
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Finally got the Battle Ground audiobook from the library. this dude really put Aurora south of Chicago and "released a freakin' kraken" inside of like the first five minutes, huh. gonna be a long few dozen hours, I guess!!
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Mar 1, 2021 16:05
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Deathlove posted:Finally got the Battle Ground audiobook from the library. this dude really put Aurora south of Chicago and "released a freakin' kraken" inside of like the first five minutes, huh. gonna be a long few dozen hours, I guess!! Yep, buckle up because the ride doesn't stop.
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Mar 1, 2021 16:45
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I don't think I've ever had a book just mentally exhaust me the way Battle Ground did. The mayhem just kept going and the pauses in the action were few and far between.
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Mar 1, 2021 17:33
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I've been reading a lot of Christopher Buehlman books lately. I think he's marketed as a horror writer but The Necromancer's House and The Lesser Dead could also be classified as urban fantasy. They're great, some of the tightest writing and character work I've seen in a while. He hasn't blown up as an author yet despite many accolades for his currently published work, I assume because he doesn't have a series out yet.
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Mar 1, 2021 19:37
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I was interested, but looking at the goodreads page for Necromancer's house:quote:“You think you got away with something, don’t you? But your time has run out. We know where you are. And we are coming.” Does it get better than that? Because that killed all my interest in the book.
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Mar 1, 2021 22:35
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That's sort of the style of that book, one sentence paragraphs, very staccato. He tries a different style in every book, but whatever way he chooses to write works for me after a chapter or so. He cranks down the staccato in that book when something bad isn't about to happen. The Lesser Dead is written in first person with longer paragraphs and might be easier to get into. It really twists the knife in the final section though, even though the narrator leaves clues to what will happen throughout.
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Mar 1, 2021 23:23
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the_steve posted:Yeah, I did a lovely job of making the point I thought I was making and left out a lot of train-of-thought "here's where my brain was going with this" context. I think it'll start going that way but then Lara Raith will make everyone sit down and talk it out because she doesn't want two of her big allies (the Winter Court and the White Council) at each others' throat over a soap-opera level misunderstanding
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Mar 3, 2021 03:29
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Everyone posted:I think it'll start going that way but then Lara Raith will make everyone sit down and talk it out because she doesn't want two of her big allies (the Winter Court and the White Council) at each others' throat over a soap-opera level misunderstanding That's a possibility, but I don't think that Jim is going to let Harry lose a chance to dunk on the White Council by calling them out on a perceived hypocrisy. Especially since it's the sort of thing that can lead to Carlos playing ball with Harry again and taking some of the Council pressure off of him
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Mar 3, 2021 06:01
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the_steve posted:That's a possibility, but I don't think that Jim is going to let Harry lose a chance to dunk on the White Council by calling them out on a perceived hypocrisy. Especially since it's the sort of thing that can lead to Carlos playing ball with Harry again and taking some of the Council pressure off of him We're 3-4 books plus an apocalyptic trilogy from the end, plus the White Council being replaced with a new Grey Council has been telegraphed pretty hard. I just don't forsee anything but Council hardball before it's inevitably destroyed, nor time for anything but a rushed halfass reconciliation with Ramirez.
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Mar 3, 2021 13:01
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Soysaucebeast posted:I don't think I've ever had a book just mentally exhaust me the way Battle Ground did. The mayhem just kept going and the pauses in the action were few and far between. You could definitely tell that Peace Talks and Battle Ground were originally one book. I still liked it a lot for what it did, though. Peace Talks was actually a little slow for me, but that's because it was building up toward everything in Battle Ground.
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Mar 13, 2021 15:37
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Ccs posted:I've been reading a lot of Christopher Buehlman books lately. I think he's marketed as a horror writer but The Necromancer's House and The Lesser Dead could also be classified as urban fantasy. They're great, some of the tightest writing and character work I've seen in a while. He hasn't blown up as an author yet despite many accolades for his currently published work, I assume because he doesn't have a series out yet. Just read The Lesser Dead, excellent book. Would second the recommendation.
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Mar 13, 2021 18:58
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Ben Aaronvitch's new novella What Abigail Did That Summer is out now. E-book only for the US (unless you get shipped from the UK). The audiobook isnt available in the US either (and I think the trick for subverting Audible's region locking is fixed now).
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Mar 19, 2021 17:15
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Slanderer posted:Ben Aaronvitch's new novella What Abigail Did That Summer is out now. E-book only for the US (unless you get shipped from the UK). The audiobook isnt available in the US either (and I think the trick for subverting Audible's region locking is fixed now). I think I love the Abigail character most of all. I always kind of liked her, but with what we learn about her in the one short story that she has a younger brother who is dying she just seems so much more real. She comes off at first like a snarkier Hermione Granger who thinks "magic is cool." And she is that, but she's also ruthlessly determined to learn magic to save her brother and neither Peter nor Nightingale seem to have grasped that about her.
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Mar 22, 2021 10:59
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Everyone posted:I think I love the Abigail character most of all. I always kind of liked her, but with what we learn about her in the one short story that she has a younger brother who is dying she just seems so much more real. She comes off at first like a snarkier Hermione Granger who thinks "magic is cool." And she is that, but she's also ruthlessly determined to learn magic to save her brother and neither Peter nor Nightingale seem to have grasped that about her. (What Abigail Did That Summer and a plot point from the main novels spoilers) It's good that Abigail got a practical lesson early on that magic isn't all-powerful and can lead to more problems than solutions. Pretty sure that kind of thinking is what set Lesley off on her betrayal. I think Nightingale actually understands Abigail more than Peter does, though Peter seems a bit jealous of her progress and usually has other things to worry about. What Abigail Did feels like it has a lot more plot and meat to it than The October Man did, though the audiobook running times are similar (~30 minutes more on this one compared to The October Man). That might just be down to having already established characters and a familiar setting/frame of reference, though. Shvorne Marks is good, Postmartin's interjections are good, whoever wrote the chapter titles for Audible is weirdly bad. Does the kindle/physical version have 'mom' and 'grieves' and other odd mis-spellings in the chapter titles? Feels like whoever did the chapters for Audible got them by listening to Marks speak them and then mishearing what she actually says.
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Mar 22, 2021 16:09
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Schaefer's patreon started a new serial story today. The first one was a tie-in to the Ghosts of Gotham stuff, this one is a Faust spinoff. He let subscribers vote on what he'd write and "elaborate on Chapter Tangerine from The Locust Job" was the winner.
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Mar 24, 2021 05:05
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I am looking for some urban fantasy with smug wizards. Dresden Files has a protagonist who is very good at being Rude, but I'd prefer less creepy male gaze stuff. And probably more time where the main character is actually having fun instead of moping about how edgy things have gotten. I crave D&D-flavored disregard for the consequences of one's actions. I liked Angleton in Laundry Files, I liked Nightingale in Rivers of London. They were both extremely smug British wizards, but their role as mentors limited the amount of time they could spend engaging with the plot hands-on. I really liked Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence, it explored some neat ideas and also had likeable characters. I've heard Skullduggery Pleasant might be fun, and I have a copy of that sitting on a shelf somewhere, but I haven't opened it yet. Any series in particular I might want to consider trying out?
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Mar 25, 2021 06:55
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avoraciopoctules posted:I am looking for some urban fantasy with smug wizards. Would you accept a smug knight? Pax Arcana / John Charming has a similar quippy tone to Dresden, the hero is an arrogant smartass in a good way and it ramps up as the threats get bigger. Less compelling but an actual magic user: Lost Falls. Ozzie wouldn't look out of place in a biker gang, he shoots his mouth off a lot at beings bigger and badder than he is, and actually does (kind of down home) magic. Iron Druid I couldn't finish, if you really want a smug
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Mar 25, 2021 07:32
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I will give a knight a chance, sure. Thanks! Just grabbed Pax Arcana book 1, and I think there's a decent chance I'll have time to read a few chapters tomorrow.
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Mar 25, 2021 08:18
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You might like Sandman Slim? Literally nothing challenges him very much and he's an rear end in a top hat, but I don't remember much in the way of male gaze stuff.
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Mar 25, 2021 11:19
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biracial bear for uncut posted:You might like Sandman Slim? Literally nothing challenges him very much and he's an rear end in a top hat, but I don't remember much in the way of male gaze stuff. I'll take a look. Let's see: The Sandman Slim series is a fantasy/supernatural/occult/noir collection of novels. Each book is narrated by James "Sandman Slim" Stark, a half-human/half-angel magician who returns from Hell to exact revenge on the people who sent him there. I am a little skeptical that this revenge quest is going to avoid angsty edgelord territory. I also feel that Cool But Rude heroes should absolutely get punked periodically. Seems like it could be a really solid noir story, but that's not exactly the genre I'm aiming for. Those Max Gladstone Craft Sequence books definitely have noir elements, but there's a thread of optimism about the potential to build a better future that I really appreciate. Same with Rivers of London, I get pretty hyped about Peter Grant discovering new stuff and hopefully leaving the world a better place. EDIT: I tried out reading Pax Arcana book 1, and it's pretty dire so far. Not only does it go fairly hard on the lady-ogling, the author is giving long and tedious tell-not-show worldbuilding dumps. This valkyrie lady makes a terrible first impression, and I agree with wolf guy that the thing I'd most like to do is just ditch the situation. Thankfully, I can do that simply by closing the book. avoraciopoctules fucked around with this message at 18:03 on Mar 25, 2021 |
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Mar 25, 2021 17:05
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