Heijoushin Posted March 26, 2017 Posted March 26, 2017 Busy reading The Shadow Campaigns by Django Welxer. I'm not a SJW or anything but I must admit that the dude writes really good quality female characters. I mean, I find that authors aren't usually very good at writing the opposite gender. Men in books by a female author sometimes strike me as very effeminate in their thinking, and well, women in fantasy books are often described as 2-dimensional, right?
the_dog_days Posted March 26, 2017 Posted March 26, 2017 (edited) I've read plenty of authors who can write excellent characters who don't share traits with the author, really just depends on the author's outlook. If he or she looks at their characters by gender first rather than by dominate personality traits, then the character usually endings up being a sucky spokesperson for their gender. Same goes with politics, religion, and sports (and I'm not even joking about that last one). Edited March 26, 2017 by the_dog_days
Raithe Posted March 28, 2017 Author Posted March 28, 2017 Heh. Tor - How many times does braid tugging and skirt smoothing happen in the Wheel of Time? You’re a few books into Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time epic fantasy series and then you realize… the characters in this series tug their hair braids a lot. More than seems particularly natural. And they smooth their skirts quite a bit and…oh goodness the sniffing, the endless sniffing! What is going on here?!? Lots of authors have idiosyncratic phrases and character actions that get repeated in their work, either consciously or subconsciously. In a multi-volume epic like The Wheel of Time those idiosyncrasies over time become charming; an indication of authenticity, an in-joke that you share between yourself, the author, and the fiction. Reddit user Nadyin recently conducted a simple condition phrase search through all 15 books of The Wheel of Time to see just how often Jordan used his idiosyncrasies. And what Nadyin found was a whole lotta skirt-smoothing. 2 "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Varana Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 Hehe. It also shows that Sanderson surely likes his skirts unsmoothed. Therefore I have sailed the seas and come To the holy city of Byzantium. -W.B. Yeats Χριστός ἀνέστη!
Gfted1 Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 I wish they would finally release the Riftwar Saga (Raymond Feist) in ebook. 1 "I'm your biggest fan, Ill follow you until you love me, Papa"
Raithe Posted March 28, 2017 Author Posted March 28, 2017 For one of those odd things, I actually read the Acoma trilogy (Daughter / Servant / Mistress) before I saw the Riftwar Saga itself. "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Bartimaeus Posted March 28, 2017 Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) Hehe. It also shows that Sanderson surely likes his skirts unsmoothed. Yeah, and that's why Sanderson's work has never really lived up to Jordan's. Just couldn't commit to the job, I guess. [/s] Edited March 28, 2017 by Bartimaeus 1 Quote How I have existed fills me with horror. For I have failed in everything - spelling, arithmetic, riding, tennis, golf; dancing, singing, acting; wife, mistress, whore, friend. Even cooking. And I do not excuse myself with the usual escape of 'not trying'. I tried with all my heart. In my dreams, I am not crippled. In my dreams, I dance.
Gromnir Posted March 30, 2017 Posted March 30, 2017 I'm for it I've been trying to find a decent urban fantasy book but it's like 95% romance stuff that I have negative zero interest in neverwhere by neil gaiman. can't think o' other options we would genuine recommend. perhaps a few charles de lint books? had the dresden books suggested to us. terrible. 'course terrible can be fun and entertaining if you ignore obvious shortcomings. heck, we enjoyed a few seasons o' buffy and angel. in fact, the final episode o' angel is one o' our all-time favorite tv series finales. much o' the buffy and angel writing were terrible, but it could be fun. not an obvious option, but we will note how there is more than two decade's worth o' hellboy comics. am not much o' a comic fan our self (with a few graphic novel exceptions) but we thought a number o' hellboy story arcs were entertaining. HA! Good Fun! ps am thinking the graveyard book by gaiman would be worth shady's time. is only borderline urban fantasy, and is technical for young readers, but is actual well-written and evocative. "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) "Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)
Raithe Posted March 31, 2017 Author Posted March 31, 2017 Tor - Why the original Ghost in the Shell remains a cyberpunk classic for the ages "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Wrath of Dagon Posted March 31, 2017 Posted March 31, 2017 If anyone liked the Bloody Baron story in "The Witcher 3", here's a similar story, with a similar protagonist, called "The Last Room of All". https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11721 There's also a fantastic story called "Butterflies" and other very good stories. "Moral indignation is a standard strategy for endowing the idiot with dignity." Marshall McLuhan
Guard Dog Posted March 31, 2017 Posted March 31, 2017 Now reading The North Water by Ian McGuire. Holy Crap is this good! It's like Cormac McCarthy and Jack London collaborated on a book. "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell
Fionavar Posted April 1, 2017 Posted April 1, 2017 Not a lot of time for fiction, at the moment. Reading latest Time Issue by geez magazine ... The universe is change; your life is what our thoughts make it - Marcus Aurelius (161)
Blarghagh Posted April 4, 2017 Posted April 4, 2017 When the teaser to the new adaptation to Stephen King's IT came out I realized I'd never actually read a Stephen King novel and that'd be a good place to start. It's pretty good, only occassionally scary, bit too long. But it's made me laugh at one thing - when pictures of the new Pennywise came out, I saw a lot of people complaining that Pennywise was too over the top, trying too hard to be scary, that it wasn't subtle enough. Reading the book, that sounds like EXACTLY what Pennywise would do - he spends 90% of his appearances in the book transforming into zombie hobos, giant birds, spiders and classic monsters like the Mummy, a Werewolf and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. There's only a few instances of more subtle horror - he's mostly in it to try too hard so he can scare little children.
Azdeus Posted April 5, 2017 Posted April 5, 2017 (edited) When the teaser to the new adaptation to Stephen King's IT came out I realized I'd never actually read a Stephen King novel and that'd be a good place to start. It's pretty good, only occassionally scary, bit too long. But it's made me laugh at one thing - when pictures of the new Pennywise came out, I saw a lot of people complaining that Pennywise was too over the top, trying too hard to be scary, that it wasn't subtle enough. Reading the book, that sounds like EXACTLY what Pennywise would do - he spends 90% of his appearances in the book transforming into zombie hobos, giant birds, spiders and classic monsters like the Mummy, a Werewolf and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. There's only a few instances of more subtle horror - he's mostly in it to try too hard so he can scare little children. We used to get a mobile library come by my school when I was in 5'th or 6'th grade (11 or 12), and I decided that one of the books that I had to borrow was Stephen Kings Misery. Dear god did that book review go horribly right when I read the hobbling section out loud while staring my worst bully in the eyes. Edited April 5, 2017 by Azdeus 1 Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. - H.L. Mencken
LittleRose Posted April 23, 2017 Posted April 23, 2017 (edited) Here in Germany, it's World Book's Day today. So feel free to grab a book an join us in celebrating some wonderful stories, without which I'd probably never endet up playing RPGs. Happy reading, guys. Edited April 23, 2017 by LittleRose 2
Luridis Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 (edited) IMO Wheel of Time is a mediocre story at best. And, of his personally stated goals for the series, the author really only achieved one of the two I know of. The one that failed, in my opinion, is women having privilege. If an author really intends to do such a thing, the characters should at least be consistent with the real world. i.e. Just because someone has privilege doesn't mean they can't also be brilliant, capable, etc. However, Jordan seems to think privilege means those characters that have said privilege must also be stupid, petty, chaotic, cynical, utterly illogical and/or display no subtlety at all. These universal female character flaws go extremes so fantastic that these people appear almost caricature in nature. There are many more glaring holes in the series: Why would anyone side with the dark one? They get nothing out of it, except abuse, a contradictory chain of command and death upon the smallest failure. Throughout that whole series I don't think I saw a single "dark friend" (goodness he needed help with naming things) be rewarded with anything save not getting killed or punished. Don't even get me started on the "Seanchan". Common sense would tell anyone that not only would such an empire survive only by the skin of its teeth, but simply could not exist as a "power" due to the chaos its leadership would breed with its behavior. Anyhow, the books are so much nonsense that on my second read through I wondered how they survived without scathing peer review. Edited April 24, 2017 by Luridis Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. - Julius Caesar #define TRUE (!FALSE) I ran across an article where the above statement was found in a release tarball. LOL! Who does something like this? Predictably, this oddity was found when the article's author tried to build said tarball and the compiler promptly went into cardiac arrest. If you're not a developer, imagine telling someone the literal meaning of up is "not down". Such nonsense makes computers, and developers... angry.
Guard Dog Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 (edited) There were a lot of plot holes. A lot of unresolved storylines (who the hell was that woman at the end and in the waste anyway?). There was a lot of braid tugging, skirt smoothing, ear boxing, hundreds and hundreds of pages of reading where the plot does not get advanced at all, and the final confrontation with the main character and the main antagonist was totally underwhelming. But despite all that was wrong with it, WoT was an enjoyable distraction over 18 years or so. I think WoT is one of those rare things where the whole is greater than the sum of all it's parts. I wouldn't call it great fiction or even great fantasy. I certainly would not compare it to Tolkien or even Rothfuss or George RR Martin. But it was good enough to entertain. Edited April 24, 2017 by Guard Dog "While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before" Thomas Sowell
Azdeus Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Also; Goosing. You forgot goosing. Whatever the hell that is. I much prefer it to Tolkien and George Martins books personally. I will acknowledge that the ending was unsatisfactory though. 2 Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. - H.L. Mencken
Raithe Posted April 24, 2017 Author Posted April 24, 2017 Also; Goosing. You forgot goosing. Whatever the hell that is. I much prefer it to Tolkien and George Martins books personally. I will acknowledge that the ending was unsatisfactory though. Goosing. Basically pinching an arse. Or prodding it with a finger. Used usually in either a method of joking surprise on an unaware person, or in sexist appreciation of a fine rear (note : I have been aware of both men and women getting goosed - by both men and women). 1 "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Azdeus Posted April 25, 2017 Posted April 25, 2017 (edited) Also; Goosing. You forgot goosing. Whatever the hell that is. I much prefer it to Tolkien and George Martins books personally. I will acknowledge that the ending was unsatisfactory though. Goosing. Basically pinching an arse. Or prodding it with a finger. Used usually in either a method of joking surprise on an unaware person, or in sexist appreciation of a fine rear (note : I have been aware of both men and women getting goosed - by both men and women). Thank you, I've been wondering about that for about a decade to be honest Edited April 25, 2017 by Azdeus Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. - H.L. Mencken
the_dog_days Posted April 25, 2017 Posted April 25, 2017 Any time someone mentions goosing the first thing I think of is middle school. Back in middle school there was a pack of girls who went on about a six month kick where they would constantly try to surpise one another with goosing.
Azdeus Posted April 25, 2017 Posted April 25, 2017 Nippletwisters were more a thing at my schools for some reason, I reckon there was some movie/TV show where it was done alot wich started it and they. Never. Stopped. Civilization, in fact, grows more and more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. - H.L. Mencken
the_dog_days Posted May 15, 2017 Posted May 15, 2017 Just finished reading the Beyonders by Brandon Mull. (Yes, it is YA, and no that doesn't bother me.) It's probably my favorite epic fantasy trilogy in the last decade. Very good stuff.
the_dog_days Posted May 30, 2017 Posted May 30, 2017 Just finished reading Acacia (book one). by David Anothony Durham. Not usually my cup of tea, but it makes for a pretty good epic fantasy especially if you like A Song of Fire and Ice (which I don't).
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