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Jesus Christ who gives a gently caress whether they swing a sword for fun instead of throwing a ball or clicking a mouse
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Feb 23, 2021 17:27
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Would you be happier with "Kendo practitioner" or "martial artist" or some other approved synonym. When we are done with that we can go over the terms of her falconing license to determine if she needs to add the word "amateur."
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Feb 23, 2021 17:30
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Speaking of author bios intended to enrage, I haven't gotten a single angry email about this one  
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Feb 23, 2021 17:33
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This is a weird straw man, especially since the meme I referenced to draw the comparison is about a man and has a picture of a guy on it. It's ok if you disagree with my finding that sort of thing in an author's bio annoying.
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Feb 23, 2021 17:34
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this poo poo SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! heres a different topic: I'm reading Beholder's Eye by Julie Czerneda and I'm actually struggling a little bit here at the 60% mark. Absolutely love the premise, love the alien cultures, like Esen just fine, but I don't like how Paul Ragem wouldn't take "No" for an answer over and over and over. And then calls her "Es"/"Esen" over and over on the ship that is literally hunting her. But it seems like he's being written as the main human character/partner of Esen and not a loving creep like he is in my mind at this point. I keep wishing she would ditch him.
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Feb 23, 2021 17:36
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I think the meme is infuriating because it is about a person claiming moral superiority through a very particular microculture of Transcendent Nerd Ascetic Brain Discipline, a sort of reheated and unshowered cringe-Puritanism combined with high school hangover rationalist-transhumanism. But there is nothing in the author bio making the same kind of claim to be a superior being.
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Feb 23, 2021 17:38
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General Battuta posted:I think the meme is infuriating because it is about a person claiming moral superiority through a very particular microculture of Transcendent Nerd Ascetic Brain Discipline, a sort of reheated and unshowered cringe-Puritanism combined with high school hangover rationalist-transhumanism. But there is nothing in the author bio making the same kind of claim to be a superior being. That's also a valid opinion, and it's good and cool for you to have it. I'm not going to try to shoehorn in calling you a sexist about it or anything.
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Feb 23, 2021 17:40
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General Battuta posted:Speaking of author bios intended to enrage, I haven't gotten a single angry email about this one Hahahaha
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Feb 23, 2021 17:44
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I just finished Six of Crows (it's a fine enough magical heist story) and one thing that I found weirdly annoying was that no one ever swore. The characters are violent murderous gangster teenagers and I don't think anyone even said anything as strong as 'drat' the whole book. There was even a line where one of the characters said he'd teach another one how to swear and I don't know if it was supposed to be a joke or not. I assume it's partly because the book is (I believe) marketed as YA, but there were plenty of fairly graphic descriptions of violence/gore and grimdark character backgrounds (one of the main characters was essentially sold into sex slavery when she was like 14, just as an example) that it just felt really odd to never have anyone swear. DurianGray fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Feb 23, 2021 |
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Feb 23, 2021 17:47
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Aardvark! posted:this poo poo SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! Pretty dumb but kinda hunky guys who need to be taught right by the female (?ish?) protagonist might be a weakness of Czernedas... It's been a while since I read this particular book, but these guys generally don't take up much of the books.
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Feb 23, 2021 17:54
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Captain Monkey posted:That's also a valid opinion, and it's good and cool for you to have it. I'm not going to try to shoehorn in calling you a sexist about it or anything. Sorry, maybe I was too snide.
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Feb 23, 2021 17:55
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General Battuta posted:Sorry, maybe I was too snide. Nah, I get it. I probably got a bit too offended at the implication and should've just admitted that it definitely did look like that. My bad.
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Feb 23, 2021 17:59
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You can deprive me of many things but you can't take away the inherent comedy of someone in 2021 calling themselves a swordsman (or woman) and falconer.
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Feb 23, 2021 18:10
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Buffalo all day is the author of numerous best-selling works, including The Lay of the Goblin Wizard and Four Days Inside an Ice Dragon. He lives and works in the United States, where he is a professional coxswain and skilled ninja.
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Feb 23, 2021 18:13
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That would be a great author bio though!
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Feb 23, 2021 18:23
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General Battuta posted:That would be a great author bio though! I wrote The Lay of the Goblin Wizard while wedged in a coxed eight on the Charles and it really shows.
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Feb 23, 2021 18:27
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Captain Monkey posted:Honestly you can tell it's going to be insufferable by this intro - Essa Hansen is an author, swordswoman, and falconer. agreed Has anyone read Persephone Station by Stina Leicht? It's the next item on my wishlist I keep coming back to. Highly recommend Steel Frame by Andrew Skinner. One of the best mecha novels i've read, with a play on big corporations with a hint of Evangelion/40K.
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Feb 23, 2021 21:11
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I know this is hard to believe, but some of the people that write ssf books are nerds.
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Feb 23, 2021 21:18
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buffalo all day posted:Four Days Inside an Ice Dragon. would read
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Feb 23, 2021 21:18
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actually forget it
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Feb 23, 2021 23:18
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ed balls balls man posted:Has anyone read Persephone Station by Stina Leicht? It's the next item on my wishlist I keep coming back to. Yup! I think I posted about it here briefly a little while back. It didn't quite hit for me, even though it has a lot of things that I really like in my sci fi (queer mercenaries, a non-binary crime boss, plentiful action sequences, etc.). But I wouldn't say that makes it bad or anything. I think it's definitely worth checking out if you dig the premise, and it might just be that it didn't mesh with my particular mood when I read it/Leicht's style in it just isn't quite my jam (I haven't read anything else by her yet).
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Feb 23, 2021 23:29
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So I read Hurley's The Stars Are Legion after seeing it recommended in this thread, and I'm a bit confused about it (maybe because I've binged it while doped up on cold medicine). First, the first few sentences of the amazon blurb:quote:Somewhere on the outer rim of the universe, a mass of decaying world-ships known as the Legion is traveling in the seams between the stars. Here in the darkness, a war for control of the Legion has been waged for generations, with no clear resolution. As worlds continue to die, a desperate plan is put into motion. Zan wakes with no memory, prisoner of a people who say they are her family. She is told she is their salvation - the only person capable of boarding the Mokshi, a world-ship with the power to leave the Legion. The book is pretty intense with body horror imagery reminiscent of stuff like Cronenberg's Existenz. There's a lot of gross stuff happening, and lots of weird gross pregnancies among the characters, who are all women. Some stuff I'm wondering about (don't read if you don't want to get spoiled on some important stuff): How big are these planet ships? At first, I was picturing things the size of actual planets, then big gross tentacled blobs a couple of hundred yards in diameter, then as multishelled spheres maybe five miles in diameter? It was very hard for me to get an image of these things. Second, how many times did Zan attempt to get back to Mokshi and fail? From the plan and the timeline, it seems like it happened twice before the events of the book, and the second time, she lost her memory. But then, the other characters talk like it's been done over and over again, a kind of groundhog day thing, and the recordings Zan has left for herself point to dozens of loops (which doesn't make sense, given the plan and the result). This leads into the sense that some other characters are somehow recycled and re-appear to perform their actions over and over again as well - I think Zan remarks that she has to deal with Rasida so she doesn't return and do the whole ship takeover attempt again. I guess I'm confused about how the world works. Is it a straight story with a temporally-confused narrator, or is there some unclear time looping thing happening? Anyway, the book was kinda fun and helped me pass a couple of sick days, but I'd probably wait for a sale rather than paying the full 8 bucks.
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Feb 23, 2021 23:30
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Is it okay to call yourself a swords(wo)man if you do white people swordery like Olympic fencing?
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Feb 23, 2021 23:42
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Captain Monkey posted:No and it’s weird you went there. If a male author put that in his bio I’d feel the same way. No one is a swordsperson in this day and age, it’s twee bullshit. Agreed, real Patrick Rothfuss energy here.
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Feb 23, 2021 23:55
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Finished The White Rose, really enjoyed it! My only problem is I went straight in from book 2 and burned out and then picked it up again recently so some of the beats were kind of lost on me with a 6 month Gap but it all made sense. Basically it's just a simple story with set up and pay offs and twists. That I enjoyed and that is all I want really. The Lady hanging out with Croaker at the end was something I didn't see coming Ordering the Books of the South soon along with the Memory Called Empire sequel.
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Feb 24, 2021 00:26
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pseudorandom name posted:Is it okay to call yourself a swords(wo)man if you do white people swordery like Olympic fencing? I don't think fencers refer to themselves as swords(wo)men, so probably not.
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Feb 24, 2021 00:42
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Re-read the Anne Leckie Ancillary series + Provenance this week. I think the deadliest insult you can give in that shared universe is "Actually, I think tea sucks." There was discussion of deep authors in the scifi & fantasy genres last week or something. Don't think anyone mentioned Joseph Conrad or Umberto Eco, although not strictly SF&F genre authors alot of their stories delve into SF&F.
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Feb 24, 2021 02:35
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a foolish pianist posted:So I read Hurley's The Stars Are Legion after seeing it recommended in this thread, and I'm a bit confused about it (maybe because I've binged it while doped up on cold medicine). First, the first few sentences of the amazon blurb: My memory sucks poo poo especially with the hellish groundhog day that has been a year of COVID, but my headcanon was that the ships were maybe space station-sized? I don't think Hurley goes into extensive detail or anything small that you missed. In my mind they were the size of Deep Space Nine or something, but somewhat spherical and layered. As to your other question, I'm pretty sure it's the former, with Zan getting recycled repeatedly, and this iteration being meaningfully different. I got the sense the number of attempts was somewhat irrelevant, but that's just my take rather than a specific bit that I recall. It's definitely a novel that focused more on the specific story told rather than trying to make everything make sense or hold water. I found that freeing for me as a reader, in the same way that I tend to view Cronenberg movies, just to round this entire post out.
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Feb 24, 2021 03:21
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pseudorandom name posted:Is it okay to call yourself a swords(wo)man if you do white people swordery like Olympic fencing? no and don't call yourself a blademaster either
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Feb 24, 2021 03:39
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Any advance word on this by the way? I finally got around to reading Children of Ruin which was...fine, definitely felt like a padded out novella. I started laughing when he first mentioned the octopuses though. I wonder what multi-legged creature will get its day in the sun in this new book.
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Feb 24, 2021 03:41
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ed balls balls man posted:I bounced straight off Nophek Gloss. It went from 0 to 60 with all the character descriptions/backgrounds into the first planet and more cultural/race descriptions I just immediately forgot everything that had happened and lost all interest. Worth another try? Disagree, above average, good try. A great editor could’ve made it a great book. It was such a near miss that it was almost painful.
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Feb 24, 2021 03:58
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ed balls balls man posted:agreed Bought then wondered why. Read Cry Pilot instead.
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Feb 24, 2021 04:00
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a foolish pianist posted:So I read Hurley's The Stars Are Legion after seeing it recommended in this thread, and I'm a bit confused about it (maybe because I've binged it while doped up on cold medicine). First, the first few sentences of the amazon blurb: Book owns, I’d pay full price again 3 times for something this weird and awesome. You are kidding yourself if you think the future will not be weird.
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Feb 24, 2021 04:04
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Remulak posted:Disagree, above average, good try. I don’t disagree with this. It was mediocre but could’ve been great. But if you aren’t feeling it, you’re not gonna feel it.
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Feb 24, 2021 04:33
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Remulak posted:Bought then wondered why. Read Cry Pilot instead. I've read Cry Pilot and Burn Cycle, thought they were pretty good, not perfect but more than satisfied I paid full price. Not tried Kill Orbit yet. Personally thought Steel Frame was more up my street though!
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Feb 24, 2021 06:06
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Steel Frame was good.
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Feb 24, 2021 06:41
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ed balls balls man posted:I've read Cry Pilot and Burn Cycle, thought they were pretty good, not perfect but more than satisfied I paid full price. Not tried Kill Orbit yet. Read all three and they're firmly ok. Steel frame much better imo. I find author nerds hobbies laughable too but I'm also well aware that many would have an eye roll at some of my habits and foibles
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Feb 24, 2021 10:51
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Based on some goon recommending it for BotM I started Carrier Wave. It's absolutely awesome and everyone should read it. But I feel like it should have a content warning for violence. Nothing sexual yet. I know we are quite used to violence in all our media, and a little surprised to find myself posting this, but this is one of the most brutal books I've ever read. (I haven't read the red wolf or whatever everyone talks about) I'm sure you'll all be fine. In lighter reading, I'd like to recommend Sue Burke's Semiosis and Interference. They are about a new colony on an Earthlike planet. Not quite as comfy cozy as, say, Becky Chambers but it's very much towards that end of the spectrum. Harold Fjord fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Feb 24, 2021 |
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Feb 24, 2021 17:41
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Sally Forth posted:Ancillary Justice seems like a natural fit. A person who's a spaceship tries to kill the emperor of the universe, similar themes to Murderbot and Memory Called Empire.
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Feb 24, 2021 19:58
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Harold Fjord posted:Based on some goon recommending it for BotM I started Carrier Wave. On a scale of Becky Chambers to Kameron Hurley, how violent / brutal is Carrier Wave?
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Feb 24, 2021 20:40
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