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Nomnom Cookie posted:I always thought ghola sounded like something that would have a headcannon. Like mentat heads are computers, ghola heads are cannons. Then warring houses would do battle with their ghola fleets, like Jutland on a football field I always imagined that Hayt's robot eyes were dimpled, like silver golf balls. And that each dimple would be a different focal-length, so whenever he moved to look at something they'd spin slightly more than they would if they were just normal eyes moving from side to side. I have no idea what textual basis there is for any of this, other than "silver".
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Apr 20, 2021 20:27
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I think there was something in the book that described em as dimpled. Mainly cause I had the same mental image, albeit without the spinny bit.
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Apr 20, 2021 20:30
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Strom Cuzewon posted:I always imagined that Hayt's robot eyes were dimpled, like silver golf balls. And that each dimple would be a different focal-length, so whenever he moved to look at something they'd spin slightly more than they would if they were just normal eyes moving from side to side. You’re telling me he Hayts to see it
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Apr 20, 2021 20:46
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Just finished reading Taken by Lilith Saintcrow, and by god that was a great horror/urban fantasy read. I loved it. Have my review. Ignore the cover, this ain't paranormal romance except in the strictest sense of the genre. Instead it's a powerful story about an abused, battered woman living with the trauma of having an ex who beat her, and then being violently thrust into the world of vampires and were-critters and her best friend dying. Sophie is the strongest protagonist I think I've read, in how she's completely traumatized but hasn't given up and won't give up, even when she flirts with the concept. She's kidnapped for most of the novel, still escapes, still finds out what the truth is and finds her own life. And here's the fascinating problematic aspect of the story that I love: Zach, our hero, is a gently caress-up. Most of the conflict in this book is between Sophie and Zach because she saw her best friend get brutally murdered and then was kidnapped and held captive and Zach could not figure out how to explain what the hell was going on without sounding crazy. He's in love with her instantly, but she spends a lot of the novel thinking he's a monster, and it's fascinating. It's entirely a culture clash, as he's been living on the run, hunting violent vampires and doing his best to keep his family alive, and he has NO idea how to keep Sophie safe without sometimes manhandling her, or, well, kidnapping her. And it isn't instantly forgiven. It isn't immediately solved. Sophie comes around (of course) but it takes time and Zach nearly dying, and the warmth I felt at the ending was all the more poignant because it was earned. These two EARN their happy ending despite wading through a muck of troubles, and by god I loved it. But of course: read this one with caution as it gets right inside the head of someone who has been abused and it shows the abuse, and it's not shy about what trauma can do. Hence the horror tag. Last comment: I love Saintcrow's standalone romances as she fills them with interesting worldbuilding that I want to read more of. Werebear sleuths! Upir as a concept! I want to see more - same as I did with the angels in Incorruptible - but alas, this is a standalone. What a wonderful glimpse of a vibrant urban fantasy setting.
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Apr 20, 2021 20:55
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General Battuta posted:You’re telling me he Hayts to see it I have not got around to your books yet but this makes me feel I should
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Apr 20, 2021 21:00
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General Battuta posted:You’re telling me he Hayts to see it Guess we know who the real monster is. its you
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Apr 20, 2021 21:59
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Pushing Ice by Alistair Reynolds - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0819W1L1W/ The Way trilogy by Greg Bear - $2.99/$2.99/$1.99 Eon - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J3EU5RC/ Eternity - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J48FH2A/ Legacy - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J3EU3WE/
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Apr 20, 2021 22:09
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pradmer posted:The Way trilogy by Greg Bear - $2.99/$2.99/$1.99 The first one of these, at least, is peak Cold War big dumb object SF as far as I'm concerned. Also one of the first English-language books for adults I read, when I was like 13. So it's the early 21st century and the USSR is still going strong, there's been one close call where a couple of cities got nuked and tensions are pretty high. So a new asteroid appears and goddamn well brakes into orbit around the Earth. And it's not actually a new asteroid, it's a duplicate of one we know already, only it's modified. Hollowed-out. With airlocks and poo poo. (The original one is still there in its usual orbit not doing anything weird.) So the US sends up an expedition to examine it, while the Soviets are a bit behind the curve and trying to get in on the action. So inside are mile-long chambers with cities and stuff, abandoned, but clearly built by humans. In the distant future. After civilization barely managed to claw its way back from the aftermath of a horrible nuclear war. Which is due to happen JUST ABOUT ANY DAY NOW. And then poo poo starts actually getting weird.
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Apr 20, 2021 22:33
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pradmer posted:Pushing Ice by Alistair Reynolds - $2.99 I've been a big fan of Reynolds for a long time, and I just couldn't get into this one. There's a really bad, nearly nonsensical interpersonal conflict that just sits in front of all the good ideas and fun bits.
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Apr 20, 2021 23:03
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Groke posted:The first one of these, at least, is peak Cold War big dumb object SF as far as I'm concerned. Also one of the first English-language books for adults I read, when I was like 13. I really like Eon.
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Apr 20, 2021 23:08
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The two of youse's recommendations is enough for me to pick up Eon and add it to my ever-expanding backlog!
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Apr 20, 2021 23:16
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That just got me thinking about how back in the 80s all the near-future SF either had a US/Soviet WW3 in the backstory or else had the Cold War still going in some form. At best, you got some "agree to disagree, let's split the observable universe among us" kind of situations. The most amusing example I can think of was Norman Spinrad's Russian Spring where it's a ways into the 21st century and the Soviets have gotten their poo poo together and pulled ahead in most every metric and the USA is increasingly hosed up and diplomatically isolated, and so on. In reality, the Soviet Union evaporated while the book was at the printers', so by the time it hit the shelves it was piping hot alternate history.
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Apr 20, 2021 23:35
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On the flip side, back in the 1970s there was this idea of the United States and the Soviet Union evolving towards the same cult, both becoming dominated by gray statist bureaucracies with little functional difference. Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium books are the most obvious example, where a permanent US-Soviet alliance spearheads the exploration and settlement of the galaxy, but puts politics on Earth into a deep freeze and spurs the growth of a planetary underclass that eventually tears the whole thing down.Groke posted:That just got me thinking about how back in the 80s all the near-future SF either had a US/Soviet WW3 in the backstory or else had the Cold War still going in some form. At best, you got some "agree to disagree, let's split the observable universe among us" kind of situations. Russian Spring really was a victim of circumstance. I ended up reading it sometime in the late 2000s, and it really came off like a period piece that encapsulated the utopian hopes that the Western left had for Gorbachev and perestroika and glasnost. In retrospect the book comes off as naive, since the end result of Gorby's reforms was not a revitalized and humanized Soviet state but its dissolution and the collapse of basic civil order under Yeltsin. I don't hold it against Spinrad for not being able to predict the future, but it does sour the book for me a bit.
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Apr 21, 2021 00:22
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Mauser posted:Just finished Strange Bird and thought this was kind of appropriate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH1wKqwZ9_w
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Apr 21, 2021 00:30
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General Battuta posted:I really like Eon.  my favorite part is ralph nader lol Eternity is how long it took me to finish that boring rear end book
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Apr 21, 2021 02:53
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hello, friends! I've heard this is the place to come discuss Blindsight:
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Apr 21, 2021 03:34
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Poopelyse posted:
haha, predicting the future is hard!
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Apr 21, 2021 03:45
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Groke posted:That just got me thinking about how back in the 80s all the near-future SF either had a US/Soviet WW3 in the backstory or else had the Cold War still going in some form. At best, you got some "agree to disagree, let's split the observable universe among us" kind of situations. I do think the "Fortress America" from Russian Spring -- an America that's in economic failure and diplomatically isolated, but still wielding power in the world through its oversized military -- is a bit more accurate. And then there's John Shirley's "A Song Called Youth" trilogy, set in a near-future Europe devastated by a non-nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union. The real USSR started melting down two books into the series. (On the other hand, ASCY also has strong parallels to what happened in Iraq -- the US can't be bothered to clean up Europe, so they hand the job over to a Blackwater-esque paramilitary corporation. And said corporation happens to be run by fanatical right-wingers eager to reshape Europe into the way they think it should be.) Marshal Radisic posted:Russian Spring really was a victim of circumstance. I ended up reading it sometime in the late 2000s, and it really came off like a period piece that encapsulated the utopian hopes that the Western left had for Gorbachev and perestroika and glasnost. In retrospect the book comes off as naive, since the end result of Gorby's reforms was not a revitalized and humanized Soviet state but its dissolution and the collapse of basic civil order under Yeltsin. I don't hold it against Spinrad for not being able to predict the future, but it does sour the book for me a bit. Try Bug Jack Barron sometime. Spinrad's view of how media would work in the future is hilariously naive. Selachian fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Apr 21, 2021 |
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Apr 21, 2021 05:32
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Finished reading Gideon the Ninth, which I picked up at the recommendation of this thread, and I honestly really enjoyed my time with it... mostly. I did not care for the ending and have no real interest in reading the sequel when it comes out. It wasn't quite 'bad enough to ruin my experience with the rest of the book' but it was close to such. Edit: easily took it from a 9/10 to a 7ish. KittyEmpress fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Apr 21, 2021 |
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Apr 21, 2021 06:37
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Khizan posted:Nooooooope. They even put a very helpful indicator somewhere on the front of each book, so that you can tell in advance that you shouldn't waste your time with it. Here's a picture of it for future reference. Fuuuuck I recently found a couple hardcover copies of the new dune books in my old moving boxes and was like "jesus why did I buy these". They are so irredeemably horrible KittyEmpress posted:Finished reading Gideon the Ninth, which I picked up at the recommendation of this thread, and I honestly really enjoyed my time with it... mostly. The sequel was released months ago and is very different in tone because it follows Harrow instead of Gideon.. and for other reasons
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Apr 21, 2021 07:01
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The sequel is good despite the ending of Gideon the Ninth, despite having some exceptionally painful dad jokes. It also features some good flashbacks to the events of the first novel and some wonderful Gideon action.
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Apr 21, 2021 07:11
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KittyEmpress posted:Finished reading Gideon the Ninth, which I picked up at the recommendation of this thread, and I honestly really enjoyed my time with it... mostly. The sequel is pretty different in tone. I really struggled with it despite liking the first book. However, not liking the ending should not be a huge factor in whether or not you read the sequel imo. E: tone might be the wrong word. It’s pretty unclear what is going on a lot of the time is the main thing.
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Apr 21, 2021 07:45
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Selachian posted:
Spinrad's most hilariously dated story to me is Agent of Chaos. Yet Agent of Chaos is hilarious too circa the year 2020/2021 just because the main character is Boris Johnson, a secret terrorist fighting to bring back civil liberties and democracy solar system wide. Meanwhile the IRL Boris Johnson is....? Copernic posted:Mercedes Lackey is still good. I'm trying to think of any other 90s-era author who had a gay protagonist in any book, much less a trilogy, and coming up absolutely empty. Am I missing anybody? I've been meaning to respond to this for awhile, since my SFL Archives readthrough is now deep into 1995. Yes, there was more than a few novels with gay protagonists. For example, Ellen Galford Seal's THE DYKE & THE DYBBUK, ISBN 1-878067-51-6 just got mentioned.
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Apr 21, 2021 07:59
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quantumfoam posted:Spinrad's most hilariously dated story to me is Agent of Chaos. Yet Agent of Chaos is hilarious too circa the year 2020/2021 just because the main character is Boris Johnson, a secret terrorist fighting to bring back civil liberties and democracy solar system wide. Meanwhile the IRL Boris Johnson is....?
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Apr 21, 2021 08:00
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tildes posted:E: tone might be the wrong word. It’s pretty unclear what is going on a lot of the time is the main thing. Honestly tone is the right word. Gideon's just a lot more fun than Harrow.
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Apr 21, 2021 08:06
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quantumfoam posted:Daniel Keys Moran posted a status update to the SFL Archives and it is so delusional I'm just going to copy the whole thing over. Where did you learn about this guy, anyways--specifically whatever happened between him and Bantam and knowing that he was making up stuff about sales and reprints and all that? It isn't even hinted at in his wiki or SFE entries.
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Apr 21, 2021 08:42
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a foolish pianist posted:I've been a big fan of Reynolds for a long time, and I just couldn't get into this one. There's a really bad, nearly nonsensical interpersonal conflict that just sits in front of all the good ideas and fun bits. 100% agree about the bad and nonsensical interpersonal conflict (including a long period of solitary confinement which would simply not be survivable without going insane) but I found it to be a really good read anyway - probably his best novel after House of Suns. It's just a good, thrilling, page-turning story about a sci-fi mystery which keeps on going way past the point where you think it might finish. In fact I think Reynolds would be a better writer if he just stuck to his strengths (writing creepy exciting sci-fi mysteries) and stopped trying to shoehorn character drama into things. The idea for Pushing Ice was obviously "what if best friends... but then enemies... but then best friends again?!" but he just doesn't have the talent to pull it off. Which is fine! I don't need character drama in my very good plot-driven sci-fi book! Just give me some different character traits so I can tell them apart and I'm happy, I'm not here for Dostoyevsky.
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Apr 21, 2021 10:25
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Xotl posted:Where did you learn about this guy, anyways--specifically whatever happened between him and Bantam and knowing that he was making up stuff about sales and reprints and all that? It isn't even hinted at in his wiki or SFE entries. Pieced together the disconnect between DKM and Bantam Books from his 1992 status update to the SFL Archives(which I posted here & on the offsite readthrough blog), the dedications/thanks sections in his books Emerald Eyes/The Long Run/The Last Dancer, and the fact that nothing in his much-hyped Continuing Time series was published by Bantam Books after 1993 (as per wikipedia & SFE). To people who haven't seen the dedications/thanks sections inside EE/TLR/TLD, Daniel Keys Moran thanked his new wife & new son in them. It gets red-flaggy here because the lady who eventually became his new wife/bore his child was the person that also talent-scouted him to Bantam Books(?!) and signed him to a Bantam Books contract(?!). Then she became the only book editor at Bantam Books that he ever dealt with(?!)......this is all from the dedications & thanks sections in those 3 DKM books. Employees at a book publisher having sexual relationships with the talent is bad. Talent scouts at a book publisher loving the talent is really bad. Book editors at a book publisher loving the talent is worse. Once Bantam Books found out they were loving each other and having a kid and getting married, is probably when DKM & his new wife became glowingly toxic to management at Bantam Books. And speaking of DKM, he just cropped up again in SFL Archives 1995. This time he's accusing Paramount/Star Trek Voyager of ripping off a story script he submitted. Looked it up because the synopsis sounded just like a memorable "O'Brien must suffer" DS9 episode and yup. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Hard_Time_(episode) ------------------------------ Date: 8 Mar 1995 03:02:00 GMT From: jhewett@ix.netcom.com (Jerry Hewett) Reply-to: sf-lovers-written@Rutgers.Edu Subject: STAR TREK & "Injustice" D.K. Moran asked that the following article he wrote be posted ...so here it is. I want to take the time to let those of you, particularly writers, thinking of dealing with the STAR TREK franchise, know about my recent experience. A couple years ago, when DS9 was young (4-5 episodes old), my friend Lynn Barker and I went down there to pitch. I took two stories with me, "Injustice," and "The Stopping Point." The individuals present at the pitch were Robert Wolf, and Evan Summers. When I finished pitching my two episodes, they were very impressed. Robert Wolf told me that "Injustice" and "Stopping Point" were the two best stories they had seen out of some 200 pitch meetings to that time. "Stopping Point" they felt needed some work; "Injustice," however, they went so far as to say, "This is going to go." (This was hardly a contract, and I didn't take it as one; neither of them had the authority to do that, and they were clear that "Injustice" would have to be approved by Michael Piller.) They asked me to leave a copy of "Injustice" with them; I wouldn't, since D.C. Fontana had warned me not to. I went home from the pitch, and there was a message waiting for me from Evan Summers. I called Paramount; Evan asked me to read "Injustice" to him again, while he typed it up. I hesitated, but went ahead - they seemed so sure it was a sale. What was the story of "Injustice?" Chief O'Brien, having been wrongly convicted of murder by an alien race, rather than being sent to prison, has punishing memories implanted in his brain. The story didn't go. Piller didn't like the idea, I was told. He didn't see how it could be "visualized." Evan appeared to be upset about this; he told me to hang in there, and maybe they'd be able to use it at a later date. Fast forward to last Monday, February 27, 1995. "STAR TREK: Voyager." Lt. Tom Paris is convicted of murder by an alien race, and rather than being sent to prison, has punishing memories implanted into his brain. The story credit is one "Evan Summers." Ignore the fact that I am thoroughly ticked, and let's notice the following: story credit goes for $6K. After purchasing a story, STAR TREK, the most financially successful television franchise *in history,* would have legally and honestly and ethically have had the right to rewrite the story in any fashion it chose. Instead Mr. Summers sat on my story idea for two years and then presented it to the world as his own. This may not be actionable - ideas cannot be copyrighted. And enough changes were rung upon the premise that it is questionable that I could successfully sue Paramount (or Mr. Summers) for plagiarism. But in my own mind there is no question where Mr. Summers' premise came from - my ironically named story "Injustice." There may be nothing I can do in this case except make the truth known, and embarrass the individuals involved, if they have any shame; but I hope I have done that much. ------------------------------ BTW, the best part of SFL Archives Vol 19b excluding the CADBURY THE BEAVER WHO LACKED shout-out was someone mentioning that S.P. Somtow's 1981 short story collection MALLWORLD having references to a space station described as the most fashion and trend oriented spot in the Solar System. That space station: BABYLON 5. JMS, creator of the BABYLON 5 tv-series, had a "WTF?" response to this message. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 11:41 on Apr 21, 2021 |
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Apr 21, 2021 11:18
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quantumfoam posted:Spinrad's most hilariously dated story to me is Agent of Chaos. Yet Agent of Chaos is hilarious too circa the year 2020/2021 just because the main character is Boris Johnson, a secret terrorist fighting to bring back civil liberties and democracy solar system wide. Meanwhile the IRL Boris Johnson is....? I need to understand--this story follows the speculated future/alternative life of actual Tory creep and current British PM Boris Johnson, or a dude who happens to share the name and not much else? I'm just baffled
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Apr 21, 2021 11:26
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HaitianDivorce posted:I need to understand--this story follows the speculated future/alternative life of actual Tory creep and current British PM Boris Johnson, or a dude who happens to share the name and not much else? Agent of Chaos came out in 1967, and I wanna say the events in it happened around 2020. The IRL Boris Johnson was 3 yrs old in 1967. The shared name makes the extremely aged Agent of Chaos tolerable because the plot-twists in it are extremely dumb, extremely obvious, and telegraphed harder than The Telegraph pimps for the UK Tory party.
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Apr 21, 2021 11:36
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quantumfoam posted:Agent of Chaos came out in 1967, and I wanna say it the events in it happened around 2020. So it's just a weird coincidence then--thanks for the clarification
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Apr 21, 2021 11:39
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On the other hand, future proves past.
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Apr 21, 2021 12:43
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To be fair, Agent of Chaos was what, Spinrad's first or second novel? He's done better since.
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Apr 21, 2021 14:57
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KittyEmpress posted:Finished reading Gideon the Ninth, which I picked up at the recommendation of this thread, and I honestly really enjoyed my time with it... mostly. This is exactly how I felt after finishing Gideon. After much back and forth I decided to give the sequel a shot and ended up liking it quite a bit.
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Apr 21, 2021 15:15
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I enjoyed Harrow a great deal and look forward to the third book, but Gideon can stand without them as a complete work IMO. If you want to be done there, you can be done there.
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Apr 21, 2021 15:24
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wizzardstaff posted:I enjoyed Harrow a great deal and look forward to the third book, but Gideon can stand without them as a complete work IMO. If you want to be done there, you can be done there.
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Apr 21, 2021 15:32
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So how would a good review site work? Thumbs up and down and then people have to actually read your review and decide? I'm curious because I've reviewed some stuff on other sites as a 4 outta 5 kinda thing because whilst I really liked it, I thought it could be better or maybe had a few issues etc. It certainly wasn't because I thought I had to wield my powers of critique wisely, lest too many five star reviews weaken the fabric of the crowdsourced opinion universe.
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Apr 21, 2021 21:00
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I know I’m a little late but thanks for the recommendations from a few pages ago. Helps me out and I want to know you all are appreciated.
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Apr 21, 2021 21:04
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ClydeFrog posted:So how would a good review site work? Thumbs up and down and then people have to actually read your review and decide? I'm curious because I've reviewed some stuff on other sites as a 4 outta 5 kinda thing because whilst I really liked it, I thought it could be better or maybe had a few issues etc. It certainly wasn't because I thought I had to wield my powers of critique wisely, lest too many five star reviews weaken the fabric of the crowdsourced opinion universe. I'm particularly fond of goodreads when the reviewers use it properly - use tags, don't use gifs, explain what's cool or not cool about the book, etc. Great way to flip through some reviews and see what I think. The best review sites though are the individual run blogs where you get to know a blogger's tastes and enjoy their review-writing. This also lets you see stuff like "My top 15 books" as if it contains the Sword of Truth you can run screaming. e: I don't think there's a way to make a public review database consistent with a style guide unless you, well, moderate submissions and stuff and like, eh.
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Apr 21, 2021 21:08
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Sing Along posted:hello, friends! I've heard this is the place to come discuss Blindsight: But wouldn't "I" be meaningless to a Chinese Room, as there is no "I".
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Apr 21, 2021 21:12
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