Raithe

io9 - 10 Greatest Science Fiction Detective Novels of All Time Best Sci-Fi Books - 23 Best Science Fiction Mystery Books A little bit of crossover on those lists, but it should provide a few thoughts.

When the random bit of silly internet news catches your eye and you read "The Craft - celebrating its 20th Anniversary, where the cast is now, and looking at the upcoming remake...." Damn it, I don't feel old now. Really.

Its funny because its true...

It's one of those interesting areas, you have to wade through a lot of crud, but there are a few gems there. Although even the gems can depend on your tastes and how willing you are to put up with the odd grammar/typo in the book. That and it's nearly always a reminder not to judge the quality of a book by the really crappy cover art. I've found a few incredibly cheesy Mary-Sue type book series that seem to pull me into reading each book in turn even knowing how cheesy bad they are.

Since we seem to be skipping the May the Fourth thread this year... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZcbwz3N2eU

If you want to really get into a convoluted series, or even a mix of series, look at Michelle West and the combination of the Sun Sword series along with her House War series. They're all set in the same universe and chronologically kind of crisscross over each other. Sure there is kind of a dark lord in the form of the god turned lord of all demons but its got a bit of a twist, and the majority of the story tends to slide into a mix of dark but not grim fantasy and political shenanigans along with a certain dose of prophecy manipulation (kind of) with the added supernatural mix of demons returning to a world the gods left to avoid destroying. The Sun Sword series is 6 doorstopper books, and the House War are another batch of doorstopper books. So it's a big plentiful read. But the first three books of the House War are technically set about 16 years before the start of the Sun Sword, and then the rest pick up after the events of the Sun Sword series. There's a bit of crossover of characters and big plotlines and little plotlines...

Glen Cook's Black Company series is worthwhile for that different look at fantasy. It does add a certain flair of grim-darkness, and it has a lot of Vietnam parallels for a fantasy world. It has that blending of dark fantasy and epic fantasy, having the central characters being the small group of mercenaries that due to political circumstances end up working for the "Dark Lord" element in the setting. It also had a certain level of humour that works quite well. However, I will say that some of the later books in the series get a bit hm, I'd almost say wrapped up in themselves. It's pretty much three separate but linked series that cover around 40 odd years of the elite mercenary group. The initial trilogy, the Books of the North focuses on the main characters of the company and their work for the "Dark Lord" type and the shenanigans involved. A follow-on duology that has the company following its 400 year history to rediscover where they originally come from, and then a finale tetralogy that I found not as entertaining but pulls together a lot of strands from all the previous books and chronicles the destiny of the company. There was also a sort of stand-alone book that orbits the series as a whole, and is about some beloved company members who left the group at a certain stage in the story and charts what happened to them.

I think the things that's annoyed me most with most of these new chapters is the amount of scripted mobs appear and attack you even if you are in stealth. So yes, having a chapter where that didn't happen was a nice change.

Beloved pets are part of the family, and in some ways it can be even more shocking when they have that sort of situation since they can't really talk to you about it. So here's to some good news for you soon over it TN. On the flip side, realised I had a stack of old bank records and assorted paperwork, plus a bunch of those slim cardboard/envelope packaging from Amazon laying around... So I added a few pieces from the old apple tree that died and made a fire in the garden. Sat out reading on my kindle as twilight passed into night and the stars filled the night sky with the warmth from said fire.

I've been dabbling along on and off. I have to admit I'm pretty much just spending time on two alts really. The rest I seem to log in just to tidy up their in-game emails.. Although I have my Sith Inquisitor working through all the fresh new chapters I can't seem to psych myself up to get any of my other toons to start it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8gHN3L0djw&feature=youtu.be

The Stallone version of Dredd was great at bringing the wacky, comic plus version to the big screen. But did get lost in the morass and weirdness without really having it gel together completely. The recent Dredd was much more precise, self-contained and focused on the more realistic view and was pretty much on-point in a kind of "day in the life" along with the introduction of the characters of Dredd and Anderson. I'd say part of the issue is that in most movies you expect there to be some form of heroic journey and character evolution. Dredd is pretty much the antithesis of that. He doesn't change, that's part of who he is. It's his superpower. The only change he goes through is from "she failed the grade so why is she here?" to "she passed."

Felt in the mood for some choppy-choppy stab-stab this weekend, so I've been replaying a bit of Shadows of Mordor. Butchering Orks is generally soothing, except for the reminder that multiple context sensitive button commands can be really annoying in combat.

The way I treat the house..

Well, something to be potentially enthusiastic on hearing this, just have to judge how far it'll go...