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Aardvark! posted:I'm like 2 chapters in but I'll let you know It's on my too read list, and if it's basically "The Martian 2" I would be completely satisfied with that.
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May 11, 2021 23:18
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BurningBeard posted:Are those novellas cool to read if you’ve not finished Paladin of Souls and Hallowed Hunt? Absolutely. Just start with Penric's Demon.
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May 11, 2021 23:44
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Speaking of high school science fiction classes, I took one where we read the anthology Decades of Science Fiction and I regard it as one of the best semesters I had. The book did a great job of placing each story into the context of the time it was written and really made me appreciate SF as a cultural artifact.
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May 12, 2021 00:00
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Aardvark! posted:I'm like 2 chapters in but I'll let you know It is and it isn't, and the points of divergence are what give me mixed feelings about it.
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May 12, 2021 00:06
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Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XG6MG3Y/ Topical
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May 12, 2021 00:27
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Is there a good (edit: or really just any) re-imaginging of Journey to the West? I'm not looking for one of the actual translations but an entertaining remake of it. Like how I might read Cursed for an alternate take on the Arthurian tales or the Song of Achilles for a different point of view of the events in the Illiad. Something that is drawing directly from book in some way and not re-telling the themes in a different world altogether, or even just remaking the story in a modern format.
nessin fucked around with this message at 01:31 on May 12, 2021 |
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May 12, 2021 01:27
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nessin posted:Is there a good (edit: or really just any) re-imaginging of Journey to the West? I'm not looking for one of the actual translations but an entertaining remake of it. Like how I might read Cursed for an alternate take on the Arthurian tales or the Song of Achilles for a different point of view of the events in the Illiad. Something that is drawing directly from book in some way and not re-telling the themes in a different world altogether, or even just remaking the story in a modern format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdoNlV9GH6E Learn spanish
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May 12, 2021 03:43
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Paddyo posted:It is and it isn't, and the points of divergence are what give me mixed feelings about it. I haven't read it, but the Penny Arcade guys think it is pretty similar. https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2021/05/10/
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May 12, 2021 03:43
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Finished SFL Archives Volume 20b and immediately dived into Volume 21a (1996). It was a tough call, but the Godzilla vs Gamera cage-match at Osaka Expo 1971 was my favorite weird thing mentioned in Vol 20b. Stunt-actors wearing the actual Godzilla & Gamera kaiju suits fought each other on-stage. Within the first two weeks in SFL Archives Volume 21a, someone has made a joking-not-joking plea for the Unabomber to bomb NBC Televisions offices in California for the horrific crimes of greenlighting the following SFF tv series: SeaQuest DSV/Earth 2/3rd Rock from the Sun, and some utter dumbass named Harry Knowles has started bombarding the SFL mailing list with tons of upcoming movie & tv show news/movie & tv show casting rumors.
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May 12, 2021 04:08
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I'm always jealous of people who said they got to read classic or even good literature in high school. I remember having a breakdown in the middle of class after having to read countless awful novels and novelizations of theater plays.
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May 12, 2021 04:53
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Coquito Ergo Sum posted:I'm always jealous of people who said they got to read classic or even good literature in high school. I remember having a breakdown in the middle of class after having to read countless awful novels and novelizations of theater plays. Nothing beats the joy of spending a month of classes listening to classmates sound out their way through "Julius Caesar" and "Romeo and Juliet" one. wo-wo-word. at. a. time. I didn't touch a novel for fun for 7 or 8 years after high school.
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May 12, 2021 06:47
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John Lee posted:Bret Devereaux is also good for stuff like this! Here's a link to one of my favorites: Yup love it!
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May 12, 2021 07:23
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BurningBeard posted:Are those novellas cool to read if you’ve not finished Paladin of Souls and Hallowed Hunt? The Penric novellas are standalones set somewhere between Hallowed Hunt and Curse/Paladin Gats Akimbo posted:He wrote some awesome short stories too, but yeah, it's definitely best to believe he only ever wrote 2 novels. For the longest time,d ecades, I've had a copy of all old SF amagazine with the first part of a really bizarre, totally off the wall novel in it. I never laid hands on the next couple of issues to find out where that bizarre plot was going. Eventually it settled into this minor literary mystery that popped into my head occasionally. Then a couple of years ago I picked up a SF ebook bundle and discovered that what I had was part one of Bester's The Computer Connection. I'd have been happier carrying that mystery to my grave. Don't be like me. Don't read The Computer Connection. Just loving don't go there. There's nothing wrong with the prose, but most of those sentences just shouldn't be. To say nothing of the paragraphs and chapters.
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May 12, 2021 07:44
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BurningBeard posted:Are those novellas cool to read if you’ve not finished Paladin of Souls and Hallowed Hunt? There are spoilers for how the metaphysics of the setting works (which are usually treated as big revelations in the non-Penric novels but in the Penric novellas are just kind of explained) but other than that you're good.
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May 12, 2021 08:37
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No. No more dancing! posted:Nothing beats the joy of spending a month of classes listening to classmates sound out their way through "Julius Caesar" and "Romeo and Juliet" one. wo-wo-word. at. a. time. I didn't touch a novel for fun for 7 or 8 years after high school. Maybe being 14 and yelled at for not understanding dactylic hexameter? I would rate that as pretty joyful myself
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May 12, 2021 08:50
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Rand Brittain posted:I mostly recall Bradbury just completely losing his mind over the concept of e-books. Yeah, Bradbury was a cantankerous nutter in his late years. I remember him getting into a spat with Michael Moore because Moore had the temerity to title one of his movies Fahrenheit 9/11. On the other hand, I think The Halloween Tree and Something Wicked This Way Comes are wonderful, so.... artist and art, once again. Gats Akimbo posted:He wrote some awesome short stories too, but yeah, it's definitely best to believe he only ever wrote 2 novels. Golem100 has some interesting ideas, I think, but it's mostly just bizarre and downbeat. But "Fondly Fahrenheit" is still one of my favorite SF short stories.
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May 12, 2021 14:35
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nessin posted:Is there a good (edit: or really just any) re-imaginging of Journey to the West? I'm not looking for one of the actual translations but an entertaining remake of it. Mr. Nemo posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdoNlV9GH6E Counterpoint: learn Cantonese! https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1459024/ I watched this as a kid with my parents who videotaped all of the episodes in VHS and it was the best thing ever.
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May 12, 2021 15:12
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Leng posted:Counterpoint: learn Cantonese! There's no way that's ever going to be better than Monkey.
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May 12, 2021 15:22
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nessin posted:Is there a good (edit: or really just any) re-imaginging of Journey to the West? I'm not looking for one of the actual translations but an entertaining remake of it. Like how I might read Cursed for an alternate take on the Arthurian tales or the Song of Achilles for a different point of view of the events in the Illiad. Something that is drawing directly from book in some way and not re-telling the themes in a different world altogether, or even just remaking the story in a modern format. Not what you are asking for but I was interested to find out that the JttW sci fi video game adaptation Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was co-written by Alex Garland who went on to write and direct the movies Dredd, Annihilation, Ex Machina, etc.
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May 12, 2021 15:30
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Selachian posted:"Fondly Fahrenheit" is still one of my favorite SF short stories. The Flowered Thundermug or GTFO. I love that idiotic story so much. Still surprised no-one's ever done an adaptation, though I suppose there aren't many directors who could go as gonzo as it deserves.
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May 12, 2021 16:03
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I remember a while back someone was looking for gay romance fantasy or something like that. Just got a recommendation for Jordan Hawk, specifically his Whyborne series. Haven't read it myself but it's apparently supposed to be good. Looks like it's set in Victorian times, so I dunno if it's steampunk or straight up urban fantasy or what, but it probably contains some gay smoochin' at least. First book is 99 cents on Amazon currently.
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May 12, 2021 16:09
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:I remember a while back someone was looking for gay romance fantasy or something like that. Just got a recommendation for Jordan Hawk, specifically his Whyborne series. Haven't read it myself but it's apparently supposed to be good. Looks like it's set in Victorian times, so I dunno if it's steampunk or straight up urban fantasy or what, but it probably contains some gay smoochin' at least. First book is 99 cents on Amazon currently. I believe it's just magic/paranormal in a Victorian setting. It's an extremely large niche in the MM Romance scene... I read way too may trash romances dear god why do I know this.
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May 12, 2021 16:51
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Selachian posted:Yeah, Bradbury was a cantankerous nutter in his late years. I remember him getting into a spat with Michael Moore because Moore had the temerity to title one of his movies Fahrenheit 9/11. Bradbury also famously despised the whole concept of video games, and felt he didn't ever need a computer since he already had a typewriter, he was a very weird sort of paradoxical luddite that wanted an imaginative sci-fi future, but only one that ensconced and perpetuated a very specific slice of zeitgeist from his childhood. I think in some ways he may fall out of context faster than a lot of his contemporaries (if he hasn't already, I don't have a great read on that), since his sci-fi stories tend to depict a very specific vision of the future that has already been made pretty silly and obsolete by modern technology, even moreso than some of Clarke or Asimov's ideas. Bradbury's non-sci-fi stuff definitely holds up better.
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May 12, 2021 17:48
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No. No more dancing! posted:Nothing beats the joy of spending a month of classes listening to classmates sound out their way through "Julius Caesar" and "Romeo and Juliet" one. wo-wo-word. at. a. time. I didn't touch a novel for fun for 7 or 8 years after high school. Yeah, I threw kind of a hissy fit when we had to do that for a novel called Tears of a Tiger. The school thought that after three of our classmates were killed by a drunk driver that we needed to read it. It was a pretty bad book. I got a detention for my outburst, but my teacher agreed that it wasn't good and with the help of my mother, they got the school to change its reading curriculum (which didn't go into effect until I graduated). In the meantime, my mom and my teacher recommended Vonnegut to me and he remains my favorite writer to this day.
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May 12, 2021 22:05
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I have pretty fond memories of highschool english classes. We did have to read some Shakespear but our teacher showed us the soviet version of Hamlet which is goddamn great. Some incredible shot composition.
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May 12, 2021 22:23
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Gats Akimbo posted:The Flowered Thundermug or GTFO. It's so good.
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May 12, 2021 22:51
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MockingQuantum posted:Bradbury's non-sci-fi stuff definitely holds up better. A lot of it is really different than I would have thought. I have a short story collection of his non sci-fi stuff. One of them is about an old womanizer who wakes up one day to a rare boner and calls his exes to come over and marvel over it.
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May 12, 2021 23:04
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bagrada posted:Not what you are asking for but I was interested to find out that the JttW sci fi video game adaptation Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was co-written by Alex Garland who went on to write and direct the movies Dredd, Annihilation, Ex Machina, etc. I've heard stories about Garland having to explain basic writing concepts to the Ninja Theory people during the development of that game. Like he had to convince them a main character that whined and threw screaming fits would not actually come across as a tough, stoic and pragmatic character. (And yet somehow these people produced Hellblade, so I guess they did learn something in the end)
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May 12, 2021 23:31
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Finished the Cry Pilot trilogy. Solid 3/5, fun characters, predictable plot, not enough mechs / murder. Way too much bootcamp. Very, very gay.
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May 12, 2021 23:34
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MockingQuantum posted:[Bradbury's] sci-fi stories tend to depict a very specific vision of the future that has already been made pretty silly and obsolete by modern technology Dunno if The Veldt is sci fi exactly, but basically every new technology that catches on reminds me of it!
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May 13, 2021 00:03
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Coquito Ergo Sum posted:Yeah, I threw kind of a hissy fit when we had to do that for a novel called Tears of a Tiger. The school thought that after three of our classmates were killed by a drunk driver that we needed to read it. "Our trauma based curriculum helps students to succeed in life"
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May 13, 2021 00:07
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ninguno posted:Dunno if The Veldt is sci fi exactly, but basically every new technology that catches on reminds me of it! The Veldt is just an episode of Black Mirror
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May 13, 2021 00:10
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tokenbrownguy posted:Finished the Cry Pilot trilogy. Solid 3/5, fun characters, predictable plot, not enough mechs / murder. Way too much bootcamp. Very, very gay. Has anyone figured out who the author is?
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May 13, 2021 04:12
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Spite posted:Has anyone figured out who the author is? Was the bio at the end of the first book fake or something?
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May 13, 2021 04:17
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i read cry pilot and liked it ok and was like "oh well at least in the sequel there won't be a bootcamp or whatever" and audibly said "ARe you loving kidding me" when it started
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May 13, 2021 04:28
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Phobeste posted:i read cry pilot and liked it ok and was like "oh well at least in the sequel there won't be a bootcamp or whatever" and audibly said "ARe you loving kidding me" when it started Wait, he did it again? I only read the first one, and that had plenty of boot camp for me.
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May 13, 2021 04:32
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a foolish pianist posted:Was the bio at the end of the first book fake or something? When I looked up the author last, his website was pretty clear that the name he uses for the Cry Pilot books is a pen name ("Joel Dane is the pseudonym of a full time writer." is what I keep seeing online). But the rest of the bio seems real besides the name? There's an interview where he talks about it a little bit too ( https://paulsemel.com/exclusive-interview-cry-pilot-author-joel-dane/ ) From that interview posted:And is that why your bio also doesn’t say what books, movies, or TV shows you’ve written?
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May 13, 2021 12:28
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a foolish pianist posted:Wait, he did it again? Yeah lol. The second book opens with that same weird like step by step instruction boot camp thing and some exposition.
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May 13, 2021 15:24
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Going to laugh hard if the CryPilot author turns out to be Ernest Cline or Wesley Chu. Read the 1949 novel Witches of Karres then the expanded 1966 novel. Both were good, and had strong female characters. The non-original author follow-up to Witches of Karres by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint and Dave Freer, however had me noping out 2 pages in.
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May 13, 2021 16:30
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quantumfoam posted:Going to laugh hard if the CryPilot author turns out to be Ernest Cline or Wesley Chu. Yeah, Schmitz is usually fun. I could do without male characters commenting on Trigger Argee's arse, but Demon Breed is terrific and anything with Telzey Amberdon is going to be entertaining.
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May 13, 2021 16:43
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