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Mel Mudkiper posted:Can a paladin be an acorn Not an acorn, but a small tree may be workable: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/90529/how-would-should-under-age-penalties-work
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Mar 4, 2019 17:55
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pseudanonymous posted:I do think there's a lot going on in Blindsight, but to me, that's a strength, not a weakness since it rewards re-reads and some thought about the ideas and implications. It's not light reading (like Hamilton, or I guess Sanderson) where you just sort of follow the plot. Also the book is hilarious with how often Siri starts talking about how love and flowers are just strategies for ensuring your genes live on, and all these hyper advanced cyborgs with a trillion dollars of hardwire bolted to their skulls are all "what the gently caress is wrong with you dude"
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Mar 4, 2019 18:05
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Strom Cuzewon posted:Also the book is hilarious with how often Siri starts talking about how love and flowers are just strategies for ensuring your genes live on, and all these hyper advanced cyborgs with a trillion dollars of hardwire bolted to their skulls are all "what the gently caress is wrong with you dude" I quite enjoyed the whole "birthday strategy" and the person who'd given herself multiple personalities reacting with "I'd have left you on the spot".
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Mar 4, 2019 18:13
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i read the fifth head of cerberus by Gene Wolfe and thought it was really rather good ok bye
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Mar 4, 2019 19:04
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Not an acorn, but a small tree may be workable: I just had to sit down and explain the entire dragons can be acorns discussion to a colleague because he came in and asked why I had a window open about underage DnD characters and this is entirely your fault you gently caress
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Mar 4, 2019 19:10
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Sarern posted:Are there any other simple names rhymed with DnD class in that book? Sage the Mage, Lief the Thief, Biter the Fighter... Full-plate and packing Steel!
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Mar 4, 2019 19:12
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Mel Mudkiper posted:I just had to sit down and explain the entire dragons can be acorns discussion to a colleague because he came in and asked why I had a window open about underage DnD characters and this is entirely your fault you gently caress lol 
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Mar 4, 2019 19:13
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CestMoi posted:i read the fifth head of cerberus by Gene Wolfe and thought it was really rather good ok bye That and Peace are two of his I really need to get around to.
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Mar 4, 2019 20:22
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Strom Cuzewon posted:The fake scientific report on his website is pretty much pure wankery though.i think there's some fun to be had in jokey, speculative science (like HG Wells "willosity", or anything string theorists write) but it's more for the amusement of the writer than anything else. Please do not call string theory, the best of academic fields, 'jokey'. Thanks.
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Mar 4, 2019 20:55
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can a vampire be an acorn
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Mar 4, 2019 21:09
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no, only gourds.
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Mar 4, 2019 21:12
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Things I have learned from the thread: SFF is bad.
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Mar 4, 2019 21:18
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Mel Mudkiper posted:I just had to sit down and explain the entire dragons can be acorns discussion to a colleague because he came in and asked why I had a window open about underage DnD characters and this is entirely your fault you gently caress I can lead whores to culture but I can't help you if you aren't sharp enough to set your desk so the back of the monitor faces the doorway, that's just basics FWIW I (partly) disagree with your central "dragons can be acorns" theory, mostly because of the whole Carl Sagan "Dragons of Eden" theory which posits that dragons aren't just "any given ur-predator", they're specifically a combination of all the greatest dangers a primeval mammal could face: a crawling, snapping jaw, a flying talon, and fire. Of course that theory too has flaws (Asian dragons, etc.) but the larger point is that if you want to sell something as a "dragon" it has to be something that your audience will accept as a dragon. For modern, western audiences that means something vaguely like Smaug (or, if you're getting classical, Fafnir). You can change some of the elements sure -- a Good Dragon, a Reluctant Dragon, a Dragon Allergic to Fire, a Vegetarian Dragon, a Fairy Dragon, etc. -- but if you change ALL of the elements at once, if your dragon neither breathes fire, nor has snakelike skin, nor flies, nor has claws or talons or a hypnotic gaze, etc., then the audience won't accept it as a dragon any more, except perhaps by metaphor. If you start calling an acorn a dragon the audience will just start assuming you're describing the Ur-Acorn metaphorically, or that "Dragon" is the Ur-Acorn's title, etc. OTOH, give your Ur-Acorn big beefy arms and have it burninate a cottage or three, bam, that's a dragon. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Mar 4, 2019 |
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Mar 4, 2019 21:25
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tbh I agree with the spirit of mel's dragon bugbear* and I would feel annoyed if a reader was fundamentally unwilling to engage in metaphorical transposition of the more abstract qualities of a dragon to an unexpected thing called a 'dragon' in a narrative like the tension is interesting and productive, it's the literature of imagination not the literature of dictionaries *a half-dragon bugbear has a strength of 23, 3d10+6 hit dice, and a CR of 4
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Mar 4, 2019 21:34
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Trogdor has only one arm.
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Mar 4, 2019 21:36
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I thougth the whole dragon acorn thing was about the plausibility of plant-based dragon-shaped creatures
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Mar 4, 2019 21:54
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Wondering if Biollante is a dragon.
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Mar 4, 2019 22:18
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RBA Starblade posted:You know, I remember reading the first three Mistborn books and liking the first and third enough (the second is insanely boring), but I could not tell you a single thing about them now. Someone gave me the fourth to read later and I made it like twenty pages in before putting it down. I've read three Sanderson books and the only one I can recall reading is Steelheart, and even then I can only remember very vague details. If pressed, I don't think I could write out the plot with any accuracy and I can't recall more than, like, one character's name (Prof, I think).
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Mar 4, 2019 22:22
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CountFosco posted:That and Peace are two of his I really need to get around to. Its the first one of his ive read, but i am encouragrd to check out book of the new sun based on this
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Mar 4, 2019 22:28
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I started reading Steelheart! I finished the prologue (Superhero stops bank robbery! Expects fealty! Like, this is a plot I'd been looking for an interesting way to do for a while, so the book was super my bag. Read prologue, re-evaluated plot idea. Re-evaluated reading choices.
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Mar 4, 2019 22:33
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CountFosco posted:That and Peace are two of his I really need to get around to. fifth head and peace and short sun are imo his best books relatedly, there is a certain type of reader who cannot grasp the validity and value of literary criticism and sadly the Wolfe fan base is infested with them
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Mar 4, 2019 22:44
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i have become highly attuned to that particular breathless overwrought prose ageing men slip into when they're writing something that makes them rock-hard irl. some try to hide it more than others but nobody can hide it completely that's why i like ligotti, those unmistakeable passages where he gets just as excited as hamilton describing his genetically-engineered nymphets but instead of giggling sex athletes he is usually popping a boner about puppets and the void
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Mar 5, 2019 00:01
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avshalemon posted:i have become highly attuned to that particular breathless overwrought prose ageing men slip into when they're writing something that makes them rock-hard irl. some try to hide it more than others but nobody can hide it completely I'm not sure if Sanderson has ever been aroused or excited in his life. The bigger question is whether he's awake.
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Mar 5, 2019 00:47
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Karia posted:I'm not sure if Sanderson has ever been aroused or excited in his life. The bigger question is whether he's awake. Is his prose the work of a nonsentient intelligence?
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Mar 5, 2019 01:07
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*in an extremely peter watts voice* imagine you are brandon sanderson
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Mar 5, 2019 01:46
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Milkfred E. Moore posted:*in an extremely peter watts voice* imagine you are brandon sanderson Please no I'd rather be an acorn dragon than live in the kind of magical hellscape a Mormon imagines the world to be then comes up with the kind of prosaic fantasy writing he does.
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Mar 5, 2019 01:49
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Sham bam bamina! posted:Wondering if Biollante is a dragon. oh totes
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Mar 5, 2019 02:11
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The odd thing about Sanderson is that when he describes a city or a battle scene, the time taken to read his toast-dry description is the same as the time taken to watch a panning establishing shot in a movie. Milkfred E. Moore posted:*in an extremely peter watts voice* imagine you are brandon sanderson Please nooooo
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Mar 5, 2019 02:51
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pseudanonymous posted:Please no I'd rather be an acorn dragon than live in the kind of magical hellscape a Mormon imagines the world to be then comes up with the kind of prosaic fantasy writing he does.
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Mar 5, 2019 03:15
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Karia posted:I'm not sure if Sanderson has ever been aroused or excited in his life. The bigger question is whether he's awake. there's one point where a little girl's magically trapped in a library and when she's freed and reunites with her father the only physical description whatesoever either of them gets is "she was too young to wear a modesty sleeve", which kind of made me uncomfortable mormons avshalemon fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Mar 5, 2019 |
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Mar 5, 2019 03:17
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"Mormon brandon sanderson" is fun to say at least
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Mar 5, 2019 04:01
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Last time, we established that Sanderson can't write battle scenes. Now, we'll see how he handles a more pastoral setting and look at some of his vaunted worldbuilding. Part two of The Way of Kings opens with an interlude. I will reproduce large parts of this with little comment. You can judge the writing yourselves. The fledgling Brandon Sanderson stumbles through the bushes. While most species would be fully matured at 200 pages, the nascent themes of this young writer are only beginning to bloom. quote:Ishikk splashed towards the meeting with the strange foreigners, whistling softly to himself, his pole with buckets on each end resting on his shoulders. He wore lake sandals on his submerged feet and a pair of knee-length breeches. No shirt. Nu Ralik forbid! A good Purelaker never covered his shoulders when the sun was shining. A man could get sick that way, not getting enough sunlight. This Sanderson is unusually aggressive. The species is well known for extreme caution, often writing circles around its prey - a juicy theme or plot point - for several pages before beginning their slow approach. quote:He nodded to Thaspic, a dark-skinned man who passed him pulling a small raft. It was stacked with a few piles of cloth; he'd probably taken them out for washing. The Sanderson seems about to strike, but gets distracted by one of its favorite morsels: fantasy idioms. EDIT: CORRECTED FROM SWEARING BECAUSE I CAN'T PROOFREAD. quote:"Sun and tides send it!" Thaspic said with a chuckle, continuing on. But after its snack, the Sanderson grows tired and goes to sleep. There will be plenty of time for plot - after it wakes up. quote:Maib stood inside, fixing a pot of fish soup, and she nodded to him. She was a stout woman and had been chasing Ishikk for years, trying to bait him to wed her on account of her fine cooking. He just might let her catch him someday.
Now, I just want to make this clear: this isn't a bad amount of worldbuilding in the space Sanderson gives it. The interlude is only seven pages long. But if this is the depth you're going to hit it at, why bother? The Purelake doesn't show up again in the next 1000 pages of this book. According to the wiki, it's in book 2 as a place for the SKYBREAKERS to hold initiation ceremonies (two chapters out of 122.) And maybe there's a hint that it'll be important in book four. There is no reason that the Purelake needed to be introduced right now. It is nothing but meaningless cruft so he can claim that his novel has depth. He wrote fantasy stereotype Hawaiians with a funny religion for you to laugh at. That's all. I have now covered four out of seven pages in this first (of three) interludes. I'm going to pause for now, because I've got a full-on rant about the next three. This interlude is really hitting my buttons. Anticipate that tomorrow. Karia fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Mar 5, 2019 |
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Mar 5, 2019 04:15
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Mar 5, 2019 04:23
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The thing I never get about fantasy swearing is that it never sounds like swearing. Think of how we curse. The words are short and sharp and sound good when you're frustrated. poo poo! gently caress! Prick! rear end! Maybe it's a bit longer, like, motherfucker or goddamnit. Battlestar Galactica got it right with 'frak' but that's because it's just gently caress with some different words in the middle. "Sun and tides send it?" It's like Staveley's "Shael take it!" It's just nonsense.
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Mar 5, 2019 04:25
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To be fair, the character isn't actually angry. It's a cheerfully wry line. There are plenty of people who will yell, "Dammit!" if they're mad about something immediate but sigh, "Lord have mercy..." if they've just been having a generally bad day.
Sham bam bamina! fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Mar 5, 2019 |
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Mar 5, 2019 04:32
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Milkfred E. Moore posted:The thing I never get about fantasy swearing is that it never sounds like swearing. Actually... I'm gonna do a mea culpa on that one. I think I misread the line. In full context: quote:"Vun Makak send they don't eat her out of home," Ishikk said, continuing on his way. "Or infect her with their constant worries." I initially thought it was something along the lines of "screw them", referring to the foreigners, it's vague enough that it's really not clear what it means. But in other contexts in the chapter, it's made more clear that it means something along the lines of "god willing." I figured that out pretty quickly, but I guess I forgot to fix my draft to say "idioms" rather than "swears." quote:Nu Ralik send that they don't, he thought. It's an awkward line, but I read it wrong. I'll fix that.
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Mar 5, 2019 04:41
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Karia posted:its glassy surface perfectly transparent the redundancy in this stuff just seems engineered for skim reading
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Mar 5, 2019 08:17
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Can you imagine that, a loving shallow lake hundreds of miles wide, supporting a diverse ecosystem, set in a magical world. How wonderful it would be. However, “glasslike” and “transparent” is all the space that Sanderson is prepared to waste on describing the lake. How does he pad his thousands of pages then?
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Mar 5, 2019 08:47
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Zoracle Zed posted:the redundancy in this stuff just seems engineered for skim reading Bingo. In the words of a publisher I've spoken to, there's a growing market of selling books to people who don't like reading. I'd say Sanderson was just ahead of the curve. Like, I'm really not kidding when I say I can't recall anything about Steelheart. I know I finished it and I know I got a few pages into the sequel before putting it down with the distinct feeling I'd read everything Sanderson could offer me in this genre. I could rattle off all sorts of stuff about my opinion of Traitor Baru. I've been spending the past few pages defending the honor of Watts' dumb fictional vampires. The Expanse books, well, I've mentioned the noted repeated line about people wasting half-eaten meals. But Steelheart is literally a void in my memory. Even The Emperor's Blades has some space in my brain, simply because I can recall how much I disliked it and why I disliked it.
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Mar 5, 2019 08:55
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So why was he whistling?
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Mar 5, 2019 09:40
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