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Anyone got recs for good horror sci-fi? Last thing I read (for the second time) that came close was Blindsight. Also, some sections of The Expanse.
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Jan 13, 2020 17:37
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Thanks for the sci-horror recs, keep them coming if you have them!90s Cringe Rock posted:Steel Frame has a few horror elements, since you mentioned the Expanse and may not need full-on horror. It's a neat book about mechs and giant rusting battleships. Read mech and giant rusting battleships, headed to the store page and read "centuries old mech" and "permanent unnerving storm in space" and bought it without thinking twice. It's like all my favorite food at once. How did you know.
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Jan 13, 2020 19:14
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Anyone read Winter World by A. G. Riddle and have thoughts? Premise seems cool, reviews drawing similarities with Dan Brown makes me skeptical.
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Jan 14, 2020 06:50
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Black Griffon posted:Anyone read Winter World by A. G. Riddle and have thoughts? Premise seems cool, reviews drawing similarities with Dan Brown makes me skeptical. I picked this up, and I'm 49% in now. In many ways it feels like babby's first sci-fi because you've got characters explaining the most basic concepts of gravity and orbital mechanics to people who absolutely know that poo poo, and in many ways it substitutes statistics for actual hard science, but it has that dumb little spark of mystery that makes poo poo like Dan Brown actually fun for some people (like me) even though it is, as I said, dumb. The author is pretty good at dropping small hints that lets you puzzle together the mystery before it's revealed, whilst still keeping it vague enough to keep you guessing. It's not particularly well written, but it's perfectly functional language, and there's way worse out there. I'm gonna finish this book, but it remains to be seen if it ends on a good enough note to buy the second one.
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Jan 15, 2020 19:51
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Murderbot is so good. I've only read the first two because I need to pace my purchases, but it's absolutely lovely.
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Jan 16, 2020 04:30
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The more I read about it the more loving God awful the whole situation is.
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Jan 17, 2020 10:26
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BananaNutkins posted:Stop the sensitivity wars. That man just had heart surgery and had to type all that crap. I hate 2020 internet. Let's go back to bbsing. what in the world are you trying to say here
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Jan 17, 2020 16:29
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BananaNutkins posted:Forgot to quote the pertinent post in my post ; ; I had a bit of a knee jerk reaction to be honest, I understood which post you were referring to, but I assumed the worst of intentions. With some distance, I'm still struggling to see which viewpoint you're advocating, but in any case I'm with the author. Speaking as a non-binary person, for what it's worth Well. Yep! Ok.
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Jan 17, 2020 19:31
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accidentally reading an 1800 page book sure is something
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Jan 19, 2020 00:04
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What's my next Sanderson if the first I've read is Elantris?
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Jan 19, 2020 15:50
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So Emperor's Soul, Warbreaker and Mistborn in that order then?
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Jan 19, 2020 17:32
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Gotta get to Red Country and A Little Hatred, but part of me wants to just straight up re-read the whole series. Borrowed them from a friend first time I read them (apart from The Heroes), but owning the books is by no means a loss. I think I should go for paperback despite my newfound Kindle addiction though, because the thought of having one out of (eventually) nine books in a different format stresses me out.
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Jan 21, 2020 16:40
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Steel Frame was loving incredible, by the way. Ending felt a little bit rushed, but the whole book was just so intense, dynamic, wild and breathtaking. Punishing in its pace and tempo. Big, big rec for anyone who likes mechs and Titanfall 2. Oh and I never read Black Company, but I remember it being compared to some of the 40k books I've read. How does it hold up these days?
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Jan 21, 2020 19:54
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Also if you check his twitter feed, Gibson is a dull blade having sensible chuckles at resistance drivel these days.
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Jan 22, 2020 13:12
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StrixNebulosa posted:
This reminds me of why I probably won't pick up the Winter World sequels. Like I mentioned upthread, it's clumsy and amateurish as far as sci-fi goes, but an interesting and engaging mystery story. But then I finished it, and I realized that the concept–a world overrun by a strange ice age, erasing cities and changing the entire fate of humanity–was just a backdrop. I want to know about the consequences of something like that. How it shapes and forms humanity, but the author just sort of dives into it and then past it, never really exploring it in full. I'm sure it's explored in the sequels, but the potential of the timeline covered in the first book is still wasted. Also, the author deftly sidesteps exposition about the situation on earth by sending the main characters on two separate trips to space, each lasting months, and on both trips they can't communicate with earth because of plot reasons. Black Griffon fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Jan 23, 2020 |
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Jan 22, 2020 23:41
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This should be clear and obvious to everyone, but if you haven't read I Am Legend and your only experience with the work is the various adaptations, it's a classic that cannot be missed. I read it after picking it up on a whim on a class trip to London years ago, consumed it on the tube, at chip shops and at museums. I treasure it dearly.
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Feb 1, 2020 22:17
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The sex stuff in IHNMIMS (boy that's not more elegant) was weird to me the first time I read it too, probably more than fifteen years ago. The whole monologue about hate is still just an exceptionally fun piece of writing, but the story is pretty weird when viewed through a contemporary lens.
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Feb 2, 2020 18:02
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I also adore big dumb object stories. What's your favorite (and everyone else's too)?
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Feb 3, 2020 18:20
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Oh yeah I'm a big sphere fan. I saw the film when I was young enough to not care that it was bad, and hence read it (while only a few years older) with way more excitement. Also, my dad insisted I see and read 2001 as soon as my proficiency with English was good enough (second language), and thus that one means a lot to me as well.
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Feb 3, 2020 20:24
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Okay, so on Kindle, Unto Leviathan has 440 pages or something and Ship of Fools has 388 but more reviews. They're the same book, but are they (they are, but...)? Please help.
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Feb 3, 2020 22:27
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freebooter posted:Pushing Ice. The story goes on so much longer than I thought it would; not in the sense that it's too long, in the sense of "a lot of other writers would find their imagination runs out here and they'd just end it on a vaguely mysterious note." Reynolds just keeps pushing (hey-o!) and it's enthralling. Oh this sounds so much like my poo poo. I love a mystery, but I've got such a soft spot for SF with long explorations of explanations.
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Feb 3, 2020 23:54
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pseudanonymous posted:Does Blindsight count as a big dumb object? Cause if so, that. Otherwise Ringworld I guess, though that certainly has a lot of flaws. I mean, in some ways, the dumbness of things is a theme in and of itself in Blindsight, but anyway it's good so yeah gently caress it
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Feb 4, 2020 16:14
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Oh and also I bought Pushing Ice way before any of your warnings, but I'm reading Baru Cormorant atm, and with all that well written cruelty, I can probably stomach some poorly written cruelty.
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Feb 4, 2020 21:30
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What's your favorite "scientist sci-fi"? By this I'm talking about sci-fi that takes a scientific, exploratory approach to the plot, in either characters, writing style or both. It would probably involve discovery (see earlier Big Dumb Object discussion), but not necessarily always. In my opinion, what makes a good story in this style is that it conveys the joy and excitement, or even better, terror of scientific discovery without turning into a fictional textbook or writing so dry it'd self-combust. It gives answers willingly, while leaving unexplained mysteries with compelling reasons for why they can't be explained. Blindsight, one of my favorite books and also mentioned in the BDO discussion, is the candidate I can come up with right now.
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Feb 8, 2020 21:04
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foutre posted:So to be clear, the idea isn't that the subject matter is scientists/doing science, but that the writing/approach to the plot is in a 'scientific style'? Nah I'm thinking a subject matter of scientists doing science is very much it. A "scientific style" would far too easily end up dry as kindling, as I alluded to, but the exploration of a fictional scientific discover would by necessity have some scientific flair, I think.
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Feb 8, 2020 23:33
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It's certainly a variant/subgenre of hard sci-fi, hard to imagine it isn't, though I'd certainly like to see it.
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Feb 8, 2020 23:49
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I enjoyed Eon somewhat until everyone started to have sex with everyone else at the same time or something. It's been a few years. Edit: there's tons of good suggestions here though I'm cataloguing everything. Black Griffon fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Feb 10, 2020 |
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Feb 10, 2020 20:16
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Groke posted:I read that when I was a hormonal teenager and I can only recall one sex scene. Sure, it was superfluous and awkward as hell (like 99%+ of sex scenes in SF) but it was like one paragraph. As far as I can remember. It wasn't just the sex scene though, it was also the way Bear went "oh and now these people are loving too!". It just killed the momentum because of how lame it was.
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Feb 11, 2020 13:55
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I'm really enjoying Pushing Ice. The dialogue is a bit stilted, but also I read a lot of good dialogue in January, so it's more that I'm back to ordinary prose. The sci-fi elements are fantastic though. I'm enjoying the intrigue and the mystery, and it's a book that lets you come up with theories of your own and isn't afraid to use terms and jargon without explanation.
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Feb 11, 2020 16:42
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pradmer posted:2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - $2.99 This looks neat, but I think the only Robinson I've read is Red Mars many many years ago, and I might even be wrong about that. Is 2312 good?
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Feb 16, 2020 20:08
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withak posted:It is good but pretty wild IIRC. Wild is my jam, bought. Thanks!
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Feb 16, 2020 20:30
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Leaving because FYAD did anything at all is honestly a decision far better than any of us have ever made.
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Feb 17, 2020 00:44
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Gravy Jones posted:would love to hear more about the good bullying "good" fyad was doing in 2010 though (during the pre-transphobia golden age when there was absolutely no transphobia and definitely no transphobic bullying in fyad) boy I sure don't remember slurs being thrown about willy nilly ten to fifteen years ago god the forums were just so pure back then no, not pure in that way. wait, yeah, pure in that way
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Feb 17, 2020 17:49
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Crimpolioni posted:High praise indeed Okay so I'm mostly here attacking FYAD, not defending Bennet, so I'm forced to agree with this.
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Feb 17, 2020 18:52
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biracial bear for uncut posted:You can always go here and click the necessary button if you feel that way about it. Won't hurt my feelings one way or the other. Since you seem to have forgotten how assheaded your initial post was, here's a reminder: biracial bear for uncut posted:Hey guys, has anybody read any of the Elder Scrolls books? Or Warhammer 40k tie-ins?
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Feb 18, 2020 21:44
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Speaking of Griddle Nueve, I read SurreptitiousMuffin's The Dawnhounds and I loving love it. It also has weird lesbian supernatural poo poo, but reading it I realized it hit more and more of my favorite fantasy beats. If I want y'all to experience it the same way I did, I can't list everything, but a short list could be something like: 1) A world built on something that is obviously far older and way more extinct, and the implications of that. 2) Technology based on Weird Stuff (outside of Dawnhounds we'd be talking about something like magitek from Final Fantasy, in Dawnhounds itself it's mushrooms). 3) Queer people. 4) Some really grody and brutal action scenes. On the surface it's a story about a disillusioned cop, stuck on a lovely patrol, in a terrible city full of assholes and how she gets a new lease on life by, uh, coming back to life, but it's also about the nature of authority, family, "true" magic in a magical world and unfathomably powerful forces on the edge of your consciousness. Yat, after coming back to life, goes on somewhat of a Support goon authors, but also support Dawnhounds because it rocks butt.
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Feb 23, 2020 03:44
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Also I finished Pushing Ice and loved it. The whole scope of it was astonishing. What else is good by Reynolds?
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Feb 24, 2020 00:04
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pradmer posted:Revenger by Alistair Reynolds - $2.99 Is there some way to trick Amazon when the deals aren't international? It's always such a bummer.
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Feb 26, 2020 01:22
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Doesn't seem to be working.
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Feb 26, 2020 02:19
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Oh hey it's working, thanks!
Black Griffon fucked around with this message at 13:15 on Feb 26, 2020 |
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Feb 26, 2020 13:12
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