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The new season of LDR has changed its gender diversity from two women to no women
General Battuta fucked around with this message at 23:31 on May 14, 2021 |
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May 14, 2021 22:42
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General Battuta posted:The new season of LDR has changed its gender diversity from two women to [spoilers]no women[/spoilers] But they only adapted 3 John Scalzi stories last season, they needed to adapt another one for an even 4 and so couldn’t possibly fit in any women writers. Do women even write about love or death or robots?
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May 14, 2021 23:16
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Ccs posted:But they only adapted 3 John Scalzi stories last season, they needed to adapt another one for an even 4 and so couldn’t possibly fit in any women writers. Do women even write about love or death or robots? i've never read anything written by a woman but it seems unlikely at any rate.
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May 14, 2021 23:19
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StrixNebulosa posted:What circles are you hanging out in that have this problem?
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May 14, 2021 23:31
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Also, like any lefty leaning blog back when those existed.
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May 15, 2021 00:18
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Fart of Presto posted:And there is a new short story collection from Alastair Reynolds coming soon-ish (October) Hooray! I'm halfway through his best-of collection Beyond the Aquila Rift and really enjoying it. Higher ratio of hits to misses in his short fiction than his novels, IMO, and when he's good he's really good.
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May 15, 2021 04:34
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I think that was my favorite one from the first season of robots. Such a good reveal. It's one of the few stories I've seen done where I literally could not think of a single change that would have made it "better" for me.
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May 15, 2021 05:00
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The titular story (Beyond the Aquila Rift) is indeed one of the best in the collection (but it has a lot of competition) and funnily enough I literally just now watched the Love Death Robots adaptation of it! Thoughts: a) why did they do this with Final Fantasy CGI manikins, there's not even any zero g b) I assume it was rotoscoped or something but it's quite melodramatic regardless c) This is pertinent to the next point as well, but I'm pretty sure in the story the narrator had an actual long-term serious relationship with the woman he re-encounters on the station, rather than a "fling" where, to paraphrase, they "hosed so hard" they "broke the bed," which made me immediately imagine a Netflix writers' room discussing why they needed to make that change with regards to their target demographic d) I instinctively think "sexploitation" whenever the tits are out during an exposition scene (and in a Netflix sci-fi series that is absolutely the rationale), but, you know what? People are naked after they have sex and they talk after they have sex, we should normalise that rather than the traditional post-sex L-shaped bedsheet where the man's chest is exposed but the woman's isn't. But by the same logic we should see the hog, I demand to see the big swinging CGI hog e) Nice touch with his beard and hair and being super emaciated when he wakes up in the truth. I overall think it's a great short sci-fi story that's difficult to commit to film, and they actually did a pretty good job with what I thought would be the hardest aspect of it (making it clear that the horrific spider alien is not malevolent but is genuinely trying to help out its "lost souls." But actually, not making it particularly clear that "lost souls" = all kinds of aliens, because this nexus point is like a flytrap for the whole galaxy. I'm still really not sure why they did it in CGI.
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May 15, 2021 12:19
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Cold Iron (Masters and Mages #1) by Miles Cameron - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079L5669Y/ The Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DCGJ6V8/
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May 15, 2021 19:29
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Cold Iron (Masters and Mages #1) by Miles Cameron - $2.99 Man I tried this. I remember The Red Knight being kind of interesting, likewise remembering he was super gross about women, and this absolutely had more of the same. Within the first fifty pages, protagonist is on his way home from a mage university, and stops over at an inn. While there, a carriage arrives. Summarily tossed from the carriage is a woman, presumed to be a consort of royalty, and she’s being treated pretty poorly by the guards, presumably in employ of the duke. Okay, we got damsel in distress, not great, especially considering Cameron’s pedigree, but I’ll roll with it. Our protagonist observes this woman begging after her luggage. The guards don’t want to give it to her. In a jarring fit of weird writing, the protagonist hops up on the side of the carriage, negotiates her luggage out of the clutches of the guards, and genially gives it to her. What a nice guy. Wrong! It’s shortly revealed that our damsel is actually a witchy temptress and controlled the protagonist into doing this. She’s later revealed to be quite the killer herself, sort of justifying? I dunno. The guards’ cruelty? It read fuckin’ weird. Cameron’s whole tone regarding women is like both leering and superior at the same time.
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May 15, 2021 19:53
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I bought that book a while back and only made it about 30% through sadly. The early parts at the inn didn’t grab me and when he finally went back to the city I thought the narrative would pick up. It didn’t... I’m not sure if it was how the women were written that deterred me though, it was generally the slack pace and that I couldn’t really figure out why I should care about the characters. Also, in unfortunate news, the US version of Amazon experienced some super strange issue related to titles published through Kindle Direct Publishing. Many authors with massive following are showing only one of two of their books still available for download, the rest don’t show up on author pages or through search, even if you know the ISBN or ASIN. Amazon’s eta for a fix is between 48 hours and a week. Ccs fucked around with this message at 21:29 on May 15, 2021 |
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May 15, 2021 20:38
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It's lucky we've freed ourselves from our dependence on big publishing gatekeepers by diversifying our income streams to uhhh
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May 15, 2021 22:03
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BurningBeard posted:Cameron’s whole tone regarding women is like both leering and superior at the same time. Thus, by a constantly shifting rhetorical focus,
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May 15, 2021 22:47
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Ccs posted:But they only adapted 3 John Scalzi stories last season, they needed to adapt another one for an even 4 and so couldn’t possibly fit in any women writers. Do women even write about love or death or robots? James Tiptree Jr's Love is the Plan and the Plan is Death is right there. The Girl Who Was Plugged In would also be a great fit for the vibe of the show. Such a waste to adapt so much Scalzi and leave out one of the genre's most interesting writers on sex, mortality and tech. High Warlord Zog fucked around with this message at 01:45 on May 16, 2021 |
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May 16, 2021 01:38
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High Warlord Zog posted:James Tiptree Jr's Love is the Plan and the Plan is Death It’s no visual adaptation, but if you haven’t heard Stefan Rudnicki’s narration of this story then you owe it a listen. https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/love-is-the-plan-the-plan-is-death/ (Click the Listen link in the top right and strap in.)
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May 16, 2021 01:46
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So I've finished up all of The Stormlight Chronicles (Way of Kings to Rhythm of War). I like them overall, which should be evident that I made it through 4,000 pages of them. The books are at their best when characters are interacting with one another with brief periods of introspection between them. They can however be a chore when the inverse happens. Someone posted a sample of Brandon's weird repetitious style of writing and it was a perfect example of when his prose doesn't work for me and makes the books really feel dragged out. I liked Kaladin and especially Adolin, as well as most of the other characters. I liked Shallan for the other books but not during RoW. I hated Venli's arc, mostly because takes up what feels like half of RoW's page count but I feel like it was entirely unearned by the end of the book. The ending of RoW also just goes bonkers with things like body-swapping, introduction of new characters/threats and universe terms and it just felt really bizarre and jumbled by the end. I'll likely get the next book when it comes out because I am invested in what's happening, but I definitely feel like I'm going to have to deep-dive the wikipedia to remember all of the different types of spren, Knights Radiant, Gods, magic terms, Parshendi terminology, etc. EDIT: Crap, I forgot to put in the spoiler tags originally. Pennsylvanian fucked around with this message at 05:19 on May 16, 2021 |
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May 16, 2021 02:01
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High Warlord Zog posted:James Tiptree Jr's Love is the Plan and the Plan is Death is right there. The Girl Who Was Plugged In would also be a great fit for the vibe of the show. Such a waste to adapt so much Scalzi and leave out one of the genre's most interesting writers on sex, mortality and tech. I think it was John Clute who said that all of Tiptree's stories end in death, whether literal or metaphorical. I'm surprised no one has ever tried to adapt "The Screwfly Solution," myself.
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May 16, 2021 14:18
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Pennsylvanian posted:So I've finished up all of The Stormlight Chronicles (Way of Kings to Rhythm of War). I like them overall, which should be evident that I made it through 4,000 pages of them. The books are at their best when characters are interacting with one another with brief periods of introspection between them. They can however be a chore when the inverse happens. Someone posted a sample of Brandon's weird repetitious style of writing and it was a perfect example of when his prose doesn't work for me and makes the books really feel dragged out. Come on by the Sanderson thread and hate that character’s arc with the rest of us.
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May 16, 2021 14:57
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Finally got around to reading a KJ Parker story and didn't like it(Devices and Desires). None of the characters in Devices and Desires landed for me, especially the lead character. Way too much pages long internal monologuing inside Devices and Desires like Steven Erikson at his most indulgent in the later Malazan books. The engineering descriptions and battle scenes and the multiple "well ..actually" reveals in Devices and Desires felt like KJ Parker/Tom Holt was writing them one-handed. The low-key siege of Masada vibe towards the end of Devices and Desires was cool, however I'm not going to bother reading any of the sequels to it or probably any more KJ Parker stories.
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May 16, 2021 16:48
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His earlier trilogies have a bagginess to them that doesn’t really work for me. I’m halfway through the first Fencer book and while its still good enough I’m having trouble maintaining the momentum. I’ve never run into that problem with his short stories or with his later works like 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City or The Folding Knife.
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May 16, 2021 17:15
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Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016CQUL4U/
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May 16, 2021 17:36
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Selachian posted:I'm surprised no one has ever tried to adapt "The Screwfly Solution," myself. Make it about Bitcoin mining.
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May 16, 2021 18:47
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quantumfoam posted:Finally got around to reading a KJ Parker story and didn't like it(Devices and Desires). I’m about halfway into Sixteen Ways at this point, and I see where you’re coming from. There’s a weird self-conscious style to his work that screams “Aren’t I clever?” at every opportunity. I think he’s just having a good time, but likewise I can see how it would grate.
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May 16, 2021 19:01
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The books written in third person also have less of that “aren’t I clever” to it. Part of why The Folding Knife is probably my favorite. It hums along at a brisk pace and tells an engrossing story without seeming like it’s patting itself on the back.
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May 16, 2021 19:20
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Ben Nevis posted:I recall we'd talked a couple weeks ago about fantasy with gay male protags, and I just read one that was pretty good. White Trash Warlock by David Slayton is the first in a series. The main character is Adam Binder, a witch from Guthrie, OK who heads out to help his estranged brother. When he gets out to Denver the city has a giant malevolent spirit hanging over it. Obviously Adam needs to fix this. Slayton says he based the character on his own experiences growing up gay in Guthrie, OK. The main plot of this one wraps up, though there's obvious hooks for a sequel (due out in October). I found it to be good, very readable. I got through it faster than expected. I enjoyed the working class protagonist, and being set in Denver, felt like a pretty decent take on the urban fantasy. Just want to quote this to say yeah, I'm enjoying it and it absolutely reads really quickly, I was shocked to see how far I'd gotten when I put it down.
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May 16, 2021 19:21
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Ben Nevis posted:I recall we'd talked a couple weeks ago about fantasy with gay male protags, and I just read one that was pretty good. White Trash Warlock by David Slayton is the first in a series. The main character is Adam Binder, a witch from Guthrie, OK who heads out to help his estranged brother. When he gets out to Denver the city has a giant malevolent spirit hanging over it. Obviously Adam needs to fix this. Slayton says he based the character on his own experiences growing up gay in Guthrie, OK. The main plot of this one wraps up, though there's obvious hooks for a sequel (due out in October). I found it to be good, very readable. I got through it faster than expected. I enjoyed the working class protagonist, and being set in Denver, felt like a pretty decent take on the urban fantasy. Like, years ago, there was a webcomic thread on the forums where someone posted a comic that took place in fantasy version of Pennsyltuckey and starred a sassy talking lich. Every once in a while I try to find it, but no luck as of yet.
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May 16, 2021 23:56
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Pennsylvanian posted:Like, years ago, there was a webcomic thread on the forums where someone posted a comic that took place in fantasy version of Pennsyltuckey and starred a sassy talking lich. Every once in a while I try to find it, but no luck as of yet. Not sure how sassy he is, but are you thinking of Steve Lichman?
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May 17, 2021 00:19
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Selachian posted:I think it was John Clute who said that all of Tiptree's stories end in death, whether literal or metaphorical. Masters of Horror did an adaptation years ago. directed by Joe Dante. i haven't seen it, just heard about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U0LydpeVfI
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May 17, 2021 00:36
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NinjaDebugger posted:Not sure how sassy he is, but are you thinking of Steve Lichman? Nah, it's a different one. The one I'm thinking of was done in black and white.
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May 17, 2021 01:13
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Seed to Harvest: The Complete Patternist Series by Octavia E Butler - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008HALOVO/ The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson - $1.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PI181JI/
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May 17, 2021 17:20
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Finished the EarthSea trilogy, by Le Guin. Very good, but a bit... remote? Distant? The characters are compelling, compassionate, and even praise worthy, but they're almost beyond reproach. Hard to empathize with.
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May 18, 2021 10:10
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tokenbrownguy posted:Finished the EarthSea trilogy, by Le Guin. Very good, but a bit... remote? Distant? The characters are compelling, compassionate, and even praise worthy, but they're almost beyond reproach. Hard to empathize with. Have you read the 3 post-trilogy books?
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May 18, 2021 10:34
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Just some brief highlights of what I've read the past few months: Mike Shel's Iconoclasts trilogy: Really enjoyed this series. Read the first one because it was pitched as dungeon delve, adventuring party-focus rather than epic geopolitical fantasy. The other two books expand the narrative a bit more but everything moves along quite quickly. The protagonists are members of an adventuring league dedicated to exploring the tombs and ruins of long dead ancient societies. Alex White's Alien: Cold Forge. Takes place the same time as Aliens (a few easter eggs and shout outs), set aboard a space station conducting experiments. Quick and action packed with a high body count. If you like the setting you'll probably like this, if not then you won't. Ed McDonald's Raven's Mark trilogy: Kind of a bog standard grimdark lite feel to this one but the overall setting was really cool. Humanity fights against the Deep Kings, who are godlike beings from the sea who want to convert everyone into their mindless reptile slaves. Humanity's best "allies" are the Nameless, powerful sorcerer gods who are just using humanity as their pawns - they have no issue with wiping out entire human cities just to stop the Deep Kings. The Nameless were my favorite part of this series - they're clearly influenced by the Black Company's Taken. Caitlin Starling's The Luminous Dead: Just two characters: Gyre, a spelunker wearing an exosuit that she can never remove in order to avoid detection by the massive worms that inhabit this planet, and her mysterious employer, who has not been fully forthcoming with why she has hired Gyre. Starling does a great job making you share in Gyre's claustrophobia and anxiety as she delves deeper into unknown caves and tunnels. CL Werner's Brunner the Bounty Hunter (short story collection): I've never played tabletop WH40/WHFB but I enjoy the rare good video game they get, though I don't know much about the lore. Brunner is fairly generic anti-hero merc/bounty hunter but the stories take place all over the setting and feature lots of the races and nations so it was good for exploring WHFB more.
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May 18, 2021 16:21
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The Alien books work really well on Audible and the two "radio plays" they did with a full cast, inc Rutger Hauer as Ash were brilliant. Out of the Shadows and River of Pain. I listened to them at bedtime and just lay there, peeking over my duvet going "eep" occasionally. They used the same sound effects for the guns, the computers etc. So so atmospheric.
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May 18, 2021 20:37
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The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin - $2.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YBA7PGW/ Lilith's Brood: The Complete Xenogenesis Trilogy by Octavia E Butler - $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008HALOMI/
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May 19, 2021 00:12
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https://twitter.com/midnight_pals/status/1393983860019404800 God I love this twitter account sometimes 
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May 19, 2021 04:56
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Oh hey, the end of the second Fencer book by KJ Parker what the gently caress Edit to be less low content was there something I missed in the first two books that made Bardas seem at all capable of that?
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May 19, 2021 07:19
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I have had the Commonweal stuff by Graydon Saunders on my to-read list for a while now due to comparisons to Glen Cook and finally got around to the first two. The March North is, as expected, a very Glen Cook-esque military fantasy story about the good guys (and a couple of sorcerers) going to fight the evil empire. The second is about some junior sorcerers being put through a training program and doing some civil engineering projects, and I can see why people didn't like it after the first because not a lot happens and they're under constant supervision by actual sorcerers to try and keep them from dying. I'll probably continue with the series later once I finish reducing my to-read stack of physical books. On that note I'm finally reaching the "end" of C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner series (I only have the two recent trilogies left) and was wondering what people might suggest trying after I finish it off. I've already read Bujold's stuff. A few months back I got the re-translated collected edition of Crest of the Stars by Hiroyuki Morioka. It was fine, very golden age style story about a junior military officer and a clerk fleeing a invading fleet to try and bring warning to the empire, and the author really wants to tell you about the empire's language and culture. Translation quality seemed fine but a little clunky in spots. (I've never watched the anime adaption so I can't comment on if it adds anything to the story) I've also got a couple Elric of Melniboné collections on hold at the library so I'm interested to try those out.
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May 19, 2021 09:28
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Elric is very pulpy fun stuff. It’s not for everyone, but I enjoyed it. It’s Moorcock, so the writing is better than what’s expected from the fantasy genre.
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May 19, 2021 09:35
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Don't bother with any Elric stuff written post the 70's, but the original sweep of stories are great. If you like them, check out his Corum books as well.
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May 19, 2021 09:59
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