There’s a new notablog post from GRRM.
Briefly:
this is a lengthy post about Winds.
He is working on it.
It’s hard! But progress has been made and he sounds very upbeat.
The books are different to the show, and getting even moreso. ”Some things will be the same. A lot will not.”
Some characters who die in the show will live in the books and vice versa.
He also explains in some detail his “gardening” writing style and the impact it has had on his writing, and why it takes so long. ”Things twist, things change, new ideas come to me (thank you, muse), old ideas prove unworkable, I write, I rewrite, I restructure, I rip everything apart and rewrite again, I go through doors that lead nowhere, and doors that open on marvels.”
It’s his biggest update in years, maybe ever.
I don’t know what ASOAIF is offhand. Nor ACOTAR, nor KKC. Nor the other collections of capitol letters that are frequently used in this sub.
Am I asking too much to require a full, written out name of a book or series somewhere in the post? Use your acronyms, go crazy, but somewhere in there, give us poor unwashed ignoramuses some context? Via a name.
It’s not helpful to me, and if it hadn’t been for one kind soul giving me the actual name for ACOTAR in a recent post, I’d still not know what was being referenced. Although “Anyone Can Out-Tango A Radiologist” is my favorite take on what ACOTAR stands for. I instantly assumed the first comment regarding dancing radiologists was for real.
Am I being overly reactive about this? Or just sensical in wanting to have some sort of accessible handle to understand what is being discussed?
edit - missing capitols.
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Second edit - Apparently I cannot spell capital. Well, that’s …
A lot of the takes are icy cold. If an opinion is repeated every time in one of these threads and it gets a shit ton of upvotes and everyone agrees, is it actually unpopular?An obvious example here is “not everything about magic needs to be explained”, and this opinion is usually met with unanimous approval. If you think about it, an opinion with hundreds of upvotes couldn’t be unpopular.
Found this question over on r/harrypotter and thought it would be fun to post here.
Make them spicy
I’m Brandon Sanderson, a bestselling fantasy author. Best known for The Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, and for finishing Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, I’m now also known for having the highest-funded campaign in Kickstarter’s history for four books I wrote during the quarantine. If you want to stay up to date with me, you should check out my YouTube channel (where you can watch me give my answers to the questions below) and my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Ask me any questions you like, but I’m less likely to answer questions with massive spoilers for the books. I’ll be taking questions today only.
PROOF: https://i.redd.it/b41y1xaiq7a91.jpg
EDIT: I’m off the livestream and have had some dinner. The transcription of some questions is still coming, as…well, I talk a lot. Those answers will be posted soon, or you can see them on the VOD of my answers on the YouTube channel.
Apologies for the stream-of-consciousness wall-of-text answers. This was a new thing for …
Every novel I have read recently (five novels, two by the same author) the story takes disruptive jumps from chapter to chapter. Sometimes the jumps are different characters speaking in the first person, sometimes different points in time or history, sometimes different locations.
Is my experience just coincidence, or does this describe everything being published today? Is this a fad like “shaky camera” movies were 20 years ago. Or, worst case, is there a reason writers prefer this approach and it is going to be harder and harder to avoid?
I also wonder if movies and TV have influenced novelists. They tend not to be edited chronologically, either.
I know this is a structure that has been around a long time because I remember being shaken I was when I first encountered Mitchener’s The Source and the second story line was introduced after I had completely lost myself in the first, but that turned out amazing. What I’m reading lately is just jarring.
Anyway, I …
I recently picked up *Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe* on recommendation of my friend, it is touting 4 awards on the front cover and it’s super annoying because I really like the cover design. I don’t like that its unremovable, I don’t need to be sold this books every time I look at it after I’ve already purchased it. It feels to me like it’s just there so people can bring it up when telling others about a book so it makes them seem smart. It’s one of those things like “NYT #1 Bestseller” or having a bunch of reviews on the front cover (something I have seen before) and it just makes it feel less classy. I also think it’s unnecessary, awards shouldn’t be what sells a book because an award is based on other people’s opinions. I as the customer don’t gain anything from it after purchasing the item because they cover up the beautiful cover art. It’s great in some situations where there’s plenty of negative space in the cover illustration (like The Hate U Give) …
As title says. Please try to avoided the obvious e.g. Stephanie Myer is very obviously NOT critically acclaimed.
For my worth, I think Hanya Yanagihara is pretty much the biggest exploitive hack going today. He prose is… Okay, sure. But man, plot after plot of male rape ALL the time depicted in a self indulgent misery and torture porn fashion is embarrassing. I shouldn’t be reading a novel thinking how cliche it is for a rape to occur. A Little Life is the worst of her indulges.
Who’s your critically acclaimed author that you just don’t think is very good?
Edit: Glad for most answers. Going to be honest, Ayn Rand, L Ron Hubbard, Dan Brown and certain others aren’t critically acclaimed in any way. Again, see my first sentence in which I tried to emphasise avoiding these types of authors who aren’t critically acclaimed. At all.
This story by E. M. Forster totally blew my mind when I first read it last year and I just haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. If you like 1984 or Brave New World, this one is for you.
The comparisons to pandemic life are obvious - but even beyond that, it absolutely feels like E. M. Forster predicted the general, gradual movement of our lives online - and he did it more than a hundred years ago! It feels like this story will keep being prescient for another hundred years too.
In addition to being an eerily-spot on dystopian story, its also about ritual & superstition, resistance to change, the dangers of reliance on an all-powerful authority, the origins of knowledge and creativity, and a tumultuous relationship between a mother and son who see the world in very different ways.
It’s also old enough to be in the public domain, which means you can read it for free!
Here’s the pdf of the full story: …
As a totally uneducated guess, I assume that algebra will not flow backward the same way it does going forward but.. Im struggling to see how it is fundamentally different in that respect from any other branch of math.
Go easy on me, I only went as high as Algebra II and that was 20 years ago.
I did one of these a few years back and it blew up and people enjoyed it so I thought I’d bring it around again!
Not asking for a retelling of Moby Dick in space, although….
Haha. But no, I’m pretty sure that’s a Futurama episode.
Anyway, I know space is a pretty well-trod literary device. But who are some authors who take it to its ultimate conclusion the way Melville did with the sea and the whales that traverse it?
Weird question maybe, but I need these books in my life. Thanks.
Here’s the list:
Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
A River Called Time by Courttia Newland
Wergen: The Alien Love War by Mercurio D Rivera
Deep Wheel Orcadia by Harry Josephine Giles
The winner will be announced on the 26th October.
I’m looking for a setting with functional magic that has a magic system where obtaining said magic has NO genetic component. Meaning anybody can potentially use magic, but there exists some other form of limitation that keeps it from being ubiquitous…. Such as, like the wizard in D&D, the requirement of years of difficult study and training.
I personally think the “magic gene” is a lazy and overused trope in fantasy… as well as the idea of a “magic race” being kinda problematic IMO.