epic bump time
I was just about to ask what a good Moorcock starting point is when I decided to just search and look for an Eric P post; didn't expect an entire thread. My concern was indeed about the Amazon reviews, which you addressed luckily. I'll be buying this soon.
Also I'm curious about The Swords trilogy and whether I should start with Elric first.
I'll probably get that Stealer of Souls one too, with all the essays and shit. I read Epic Pooh today and it was etherous.
Sounds like some shit that Dennis Dyack would write. Just because you're putting a twist on generic tropes doesn't mean you aren't using generic tropes. But maybe the storytelling is good enough to overcome this.:kobeyuck
see first post
I still enjoy LOTR for the worldbuilding which is top notch, among other things. But in terms of story I look at it very different now, compared to when I was a kid. It's one of (not The, as Eric P will point out in all caps) the original originators, but I moved beyond good v bad stuff really quickly. And while many argue the characters make LOTR, to me...many of the characters aren't that great... *runs*
LOTR, Earthsea, and Narnia introduced me to the genre, then I moved on to some Feist, R. A. Salvatore and later Harry Potter. Then I read The Shadow of the Torturer...
:holeup :lawd :gladbron
Then obviously ASOIAF, some Malazan, etc.
Claiming 1984 isnt also for children :gurl
Also one thing that irks me in ASOIAF that isn't mentioned enough (and ironically I saw some Reddit neck beard complaining about how this happens in the tv show) is the way people 1000s of miles away magically know when a major event happened. There's no fucking sense of time in those books. Gurm writes 5000 words about food and stupid fucking flags and then hand waves the fact that everyone has instant, reliable, text messaging.
Examples? Didn't take a decent amount of time for Tyrion to hear about the Red Wedding for instance. Likewise Robert/Varys put out a hit on Varys that doesn't reach Essos until months later.
Also one thing that irks me in ASOIAF that isn't mentioned enough (and ironically I saw some Reddit neck beard complaining about how this happens in the tv show) is the way people 1000s of miles away magically know when a major event happened. There's no fucking sense of time in those books. Gurm writes 5000 words about food and stupid fucking flags and then hand waves the fact that everyone has instant, reliable, text messaging.
Seriously (http://i.imgur.com/3LY9Aup.gif)
You're going to have to define "instant" as something other than something happening then the next chapter taking place a bit aways knowing that thing happened. Especially when we're into the territory where the last two books were mostly happening concurrently.
Gotta give you an L for this bluemax...
Gardens of the Moon is such a better read the second time through.
Gardens of the Moon is such a better read the second time through.
Gardens of the Moon is the worst in that entire series.
Claiming 1984 isnt also for children :gurl
:mynicca
One of the few authors whose book with talking animals is more mature than their other works.
Talking about this elsewhere on the internet but I think at this point my favorite thing of his is Shooting an Elephant.
Not really because it's great by any criteria but the picture it paints of Orwell's anti-imperalist / racist #dualities ends up being the most entertaining thing he's ever written, even if unintentional.
Overall i like his short stories more than his novels :yeshrug
TOP TEN
(http://i.imgur.com/mFvBQnj.jpg)
Not according to the establishment.
TOP TEN
(http://i.imgur.com/mFvBQnj.jpg)
Someone asked if "Howland, Eddard and Jon were the only people to leave the Tower of Joy alive," and GRRM amusedly said that, "Howland and Eddard" were the only people to leave the Tower of Joy alive. Which seems to throw a wrench in some versions of R+L=J.
TOP TENWhat the actual fucking-fuckity fuck?
(http://i.imgur.com/mFvBQnj.jpg)
Talking about this elsewhere on the internet but I think at this point my favorite thing of his is Shooting an Elephant.he's prob the most touched on fiction author in the poli theory/sci literature I've read, but I see this and Catalonia drawn from way more than AF/1984. let me pull up a passage when I'm capacitated
Not really because it's great by any criteria but the picture it paints of Orwell's anti-imperalist / racist #dualities ends up being the most entertaining thing he's ever written, even if unintentional.
Overall i like his short stories more than his novels :yeshrug
Nowhere has the "act of power" been more successfully examined than in Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant," from his days as a subinspector of police in the 1920s in colonial Burma...What frustrates logic for Orwell is that there are now more than two thousand colonial subjects who have followed and are watching him:https://books.google.com/books?id=ixkfcbWanf0C&pg=PA1&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false (https://books.google.com/books?id=ixkfcbWanf0C&pg=PA1&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false)QuoteAnd suddenly I realized that I should have to shoot the elephant after all. The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly. And it was at this moment, as I stood there with the rifle in my hands, that I first grasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man's dominion in the East. Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd-seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind. I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow posing dummy, the conventionalized figure of a sahib. For it is the condition of his rule that he shall spend his life in trying to impress the "natives", and so in every crisis he as to do what the "natives" expect of him. He wears a mask and his face grows to fit it. . . . A sahib has got to act like a sahib; he has got to appear resolute, to know his own mind and do definite things. To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing-no, that was impossible. The crowd would laugh at me. And my whole life, every white man's life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at.Orwell's use of the theatrical metaphor is pervasive: he speaks of himself as "leading actor of the piece," of hollow dummys, puppets, masks, appearances, and an audience poised to jeer if he doesn't follow the established script. As he experiences it, Orwell is no more free to be himself, to break convention, than a slave would be in the presence of a tyrannical master. If subordination requires a credible performance of humility and deference, so domination seems to require a credible performance of haughtiness and mastery. There are, however, two differences. If a slave transgresses the script he risks a beating, while Orwell risks only ridicule. Another important distinction is that the necessary posing of the dominant derives not from weaknesses but from the ideas behind their rule, the kinds of claims they make to legitimacy. A divine king must act like a god, a warrior king like a brave general; an elected head of a republic must appear to respect the citizenry and their opinions; a judge must seem to venerate the law. Actions by elites that publicly contradict the basis of a claim to power are threatening. The cynicism of the taped Oval Office conversations in the Nixon White House was a devastating blow to the public transcript claim to legality and high-mindedness. Similarly, the poorly concealed existence of special shops and hospitals for the party elites in the socialist bloc profoundly undercut the ruling party's public claim to rule on behalf of the working class.
Have I complained about Robin Hobb here yet? I love her writing, but all the Assassin stuff was just misery porn. I gave up when I realized she was just a big sadist.
MTV picking up Shannara and actually making that shit look real fucking impressive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjkQHnDYu0
:whoo
Not a single Puppy-endorsed candidate took home a rocket. In the five categories that had only Puppy-provided nominees on the ballot—Best Novella, Best Short Story, Best Related Work, and Best Editor for Short and for Long Form—voters instead preferred “No Award.
At the seventy-third annual Worldcon science fiction convention on Saturday night, social justice warriors did their best impression of the nightmare firemen of Ray Bradbury’s classic Fahrenheit 451, choosing to burn down the Hugo Awards and damage science fiction instead of seeing works of heretical authors outside of their exclusive clique winning awards.
I'd be very interested in hearing Brandon Sanderson's views on this. I know Martin has ethered them on multiple occasions, including at the event this year as the article states.
The idea that social commentary is some recent phenomenon in sci-fi (or fantasy) is ludicrous btw. Sci fi has explored social issues for decades. The fact that it's suddenly a problem now that the protagonist isn't a white male scientist tells you everything you need to know.
Daps to GRRM btw.
What don't you like about Scalzi?
Quote from: http://www.wired.com/2015/08/won-science-fictions-hugo-awards-matters/Not a single Puppy-endorsed candidate took home a rocket. In the five categories that had only Puppy-provided nominees on the ballot—Best Novella, Best Short Story, Best Related Work, and Best Editor for Short and for Long Form—voters instead preferred “No Award.
:obama
But Terry Pratchett? Get real. It’s time we stopped this pretence that mediocrity is equal to genius.
I have never read a single one of his books and I never plan to.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=180851260&postcount=19855
Oh PD, why.