i don't know anything about Wright. i just went by cover/blurbs.
― scott seward, Thursday, 4 May 2017 18:13 (seven years ago) link
feel bad that half the paperbacks i read are blurbed by spider robinson and i don't think i've ever bought a spider robinson book. he is blurb king.
― scott seward, Thursday, 4 May 2017 18:14 (seven years ago) link
> alastair reynolds - the prefect, chasm city
> you don't have to worry about order with alastair reynolds books do you? they are all in the same future, right?
not those two, no. there is a trilogy and chasm city is set in the same universe (and was released just before/after/during it) but isn't part of the trilogy so...
the prefect is a bit of a romp, reminds me of rendezvous with rama. outside of revelation space it might be the one i'd recommend to curious people.
― koogs, Thursday, 4 May 2017 19:36 (seven years ago) link
Robert Charles Wilson's Spin is pretty good
― Brad C., Thursday, 4 May 2017 19:37 (seven years ago) link
still making my way through Ramsey Campbell - The Darkest Part of the Woods. Really great, my first thing by him, I'm taking my time and savoring it.
― gimmesomehawnz (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 4 May 2017 20:42 (seven years ago) link
At his best he's great, I love "The Brood" and "The Fit". There's a fairly clear consensus that his short stories are better but I haven't read any of his novels yet.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 4 May 2017 21:00 (seven years ago) link
Never read a bad Ramsey Campbell story but there's quite a lot that didn't do much for me.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 4 May 2017 21:02 (seven years ago) link
okay, the other bag of books i got from the sale. i actually got myself nice barely-read U.K. Mandarin paperbacks of the Gormenghast trilogy which i've never read. they are nice. will read!
robert j. sawyer - rollback, calculating god leigh brackett - alpha centauri or die!, the nemesis from terra, the coming of the terrans
neal asher - gridlinked
zenna anderson - the anything box, holding wonder, the people: no different flesh, pilgrimage
roger zelazny - the last defender of camelot, isle of the dead
ace double: john rackham - treasure of tau ceti/k.m. o'donnell - final war and other fantasies
neal stephenson - snow crash
robert silverberg - the alien years
allen steele - lunar descent
jack williamson - seetee ship/seetee shock
ace double - lan wright - the pictures of pavanne/ellen wobig - the youth monopoly
nancy kress - yesterday's kin
― scott seward, Thursday, 4 May 2017 22:59 (seven years ago) link
Re Scott's haul pt 1:
greg bear - quantico : this is superior snear-future scf-gi crime/technothriller stuff: not winning any awards for prose (not that it's bad, just functional), but it does its thing with inventiveness and is pretty clever
robert charles wilson - spin, axis : these are excellent
jack mcdevitt - chindi, omega : these have some nice ideas, but dodgy prose, and dangers of space/intriguing alien life repeatedly undermined by inadvertent bathos
stephen baxter - moonseed : probably one of his better non-series books
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Friday, 5 May 2017 01:17 (seven years ago) link
have you ever heard of those zenna henderson books? i VERY MISTAKENLY wrote "Anderson" above. they look so cool. very much of their time. they've probably been in that store for years and i just never noticed them.
https://www.blackgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/The-People-No-Different-Flesh-Zenna-Henderson.jpg
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 02:00 (seven years ago) link
http://ofearna.us/books/henderson/anything.jpg
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51ODVReKSiL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
http://www.adherents.com/lit/images/aut_Hendeson_AboutAuthors.jpg
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 02:04 (seven years ago) link
i haven't even read them and i already want to find the hardcovers...
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51q1tQlCJpL.jpg
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51zQUsn-e0L.jpg
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 02:07 (seven years ago) link
Hmm. SF Encyclopedia gives her as a recommendation. plus we have a winner for least flattering author photo ever.
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Friday, 5 May 2017 03:13 (seven years ago) link
they made one of her People stories into a t.v. movie with william shatner that i vaguely remember.
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 03:40 (seven years ago) link
list from January:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/5/13811144/sci-fi-fantasy-book-recommendations-2017
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 16:41 (seven years ago) link
Those Zenna Henderson stories show up in some classy anthologies. Have yet to read one though.
― Trelayne Staley (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 5 May 2017 16:47 (seven years ago) link
hmm some interesting stuff there. along w the usual space opera and quest fantasy dross
xp
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 16:48 (seven years ago) link
yeah, that list is a mixed bag.
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 16:55 (seven years ago) link
is there one person making all the money with cover art like this or do people just rip off this style a lot.
https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/w3bejbkhFL3x7SzeM_9qA-a1x24=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7709363/C0DanoDWIAAlaDe.jpg
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 16:57 (seven years ago) link
haha yeah so many shitty giant font designs, kind of a bummer
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 16:59 (seven years ago) link
no i mean the art. it might just be one person.
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 17:01 (seven years ago) link
okay, its a john harris thing. i didn't know his name. he did the cover for ender's game even. he's been around the block.
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 17:04 (seven years ago) link
hmm some interesting stuff there. along w the usual space opera and quest fantasy drossxp
― Trelayne Staley (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 5 May 2017 17:06 (seven years ago) link
anyway, people really dig his current style these days. i see it on a ton of books.
http://scalzi.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/cropped-ao-john-harris-hi-res-cover1.jpg
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 17:23 (seven years ago) link
So many Tor jack Vance paperbacks with those generic fuckin spaceships on them
― gimmesomehawnz (Jon not Jon), Friday, 5 May 2017 17:54 (seven years ago) link
http://wormwoodiana.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/rip-richard-dalby-1949-2017.html
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:09 (seven years ago) link
Future people gotsta have some way to flee the Dying Earth, Jon not Jon
― Trelayne Staley (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 5 May 2017 18:17 (seven years ago) link
were you asking for which ones I thought were interesting or which ones I thought were generic dross
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:18 (seven years ago) link
Tell us both.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:22 (seven years ago) link
Interesting
― Trelayne Staley (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 5 May 2017 18:23 (seven years ago) link
"Interesting" pile:The Wanderers by Meg HowreyNew York 2140 by Kim Stanley RobinsonAutonomous by Annalee Newitz
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:26 (seven years ago) link
I'm not gonna spend any energy slagging off stuff I haven't read but generally anything involving a "special" protagonist resolving some sort of epic conflict tends to bore me.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:27 (seven years ago) link
I do wish Ted Chiang and Charles Yu were more prolific. So many of my favorite recent-ish authors publish so little. Pelevin cranks 'em out at least, but I have to wait around for translations.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:28 (seven years ago) link
standin' on the corner. some pelevin in your hand. just waiting for your man.
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:31 (seven years ago) link
haha
he's v underrated imo
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:33 (seven years ago) link
"Pelevin's prose is usually devoid of dialogue between the author and the reader, whether through plot, character development, literary form or narrative language. This corresponds to his philosophy (both stated[where?] and unstated) that, for the most part, it is the reader who infuses the text with meaning."
no way, buddy, that's your job, i already have a job.
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:34 (seven years ago) link
he's probably too smart for me.
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:36 (seven years ago) link
"Pelevin's prose is usually devoid of dialogue between the author and the reader
what does this even mean
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:36 (seven years ago) link
I don't think he's "difficult" at all, not compared to, say, Cordwainer Smith or Bolano or idk Alasdair Gray. His actual prose is p simple, even though the plots are often hallucinatory or metaphysical or satirical. It's very Russian. Better than Bulgakov.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:39 (seven years ago) link
he is no longer on speaking terms with us.
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:39 (seven years ago) link
i think that's what it means.
yeah, on the other hand, if i can read van vogt, i can read anybody.
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:40 (seven years ago) link
I think it's just kind of a bitchy way to say "he's a Buddhist"
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:41 (seven years ago) link
i'm really used to reading the first 20 pages of an SF novel and not knowing what the hell is going on or what the hell people are talking about. that's a barrier to entry! its also why people don't like opera. do you guys study the maps at the beginning of SF books? i glance at them. i just figure yeah you're somewhere. you'll go somewhere else. i'll just ride in the back.
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:44 (seven years ago) link
knowing yr tastes scott I'm not sure what you would make of him. I mean, he's definitely not in the American pulp tradition, and he's not really in the inscrutable/highbrow eastern european sf tradition (Strugatsky Bros, Lem etc.) either. But there are enough elements of the fantastic in his books - whether its werewolves or vampires or kafka-esque transformations or bee-worshipping cults or time travel - that he often seems to get slotted into the "speculative fiction" ghetto over here. Too weird/out there for the NYT Book Review crowd (who seem to prefer that way less interesting asshole Vladimir Sorkin) altho this piece is p good: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/books/review/Schillinger-t.html
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 18:48 (seven years ago) link
Think that quote maybe means he is not "in dialogue" with the long-standing, long-running arguments/disputes/discussions so beloved by the sf community.
― Trelayne Staley (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 5 May 2017 18:54 (seven years ago) link
"In her guileful storytelling, the supervixen enfolds the precepts of Confucianism, Buddhism and Sikhism, along with the theories of Wittgenstein, William of Occam, Freud, Foucault and, especially, Berkeley. (A Hu-Li’s lover’s idea of pillow talk: “Everything only exists by virtue of perception.”) While writing her own Internet pornography ad for whores.ru, A Hu-Li teasingly draws from the fairy tales of Aksakov, the poetry of Blok, the writings of Nabokov. To spice up a casual encounter, she daydreams of Suetonius — who inspires one of her especially sadistic group sex sessions."
This is definitely the right kind of thing for SOMEONE. maybe not me though.
― scott seward, Friday, 5 May 2017 19:01 (seven years ago) link
Sounds pretty cool. Why is Sorkin an asshole? (I don't know who he is)
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 5 May 2017 19:11 (seven years ago) link
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 19:27
Yeah these blurbs about a special person rising up to make things right sound awful but I try to ignore them because they can be as misleading as the cover art.
Probably part of the reason Princess Mononoke is a bit overrated.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 5 May 2017 19:20 (seven years ago) link
haha that review does make it sound like a tiresome game of "spot the reference" but idk it didn't really come off that way to me. (That being said, I would rate the werewolf book as second tier Pelevin, nonetheless it seems like the one that got the biggest publicity push in the US)
― Οὖτις, Friday, 5 May 2017 19:46 (seven years ago) link