Just a quick rant. I’m a big lover of fantasy series. I’ve just read the latest Brandon Sanderson (Rhythms of War) and finished up Brent Weeks’ Lightbringer pentalogy and was recommended to read the Witcher books or the ‘Wheel of Time’. I’ve been looking in bookstores and all the new ones have these irremovable ‘stickers’ on them saying ‘Now available on Netflix’ or ‘Now streaming on Amazon Prime’. I made the mistake of buying a copy of ‘Good Omens’, thinking the sticker could be removed and was annoyed to find that it wasn’t a sticker at all, but printed onto the actual cover art.
I understand that these streaming services want to advertise, I just hate it. It’s ugly. I think I’ll scour some second hand bookstores to find older editions.
There’s no point to this post, just needed to vent!
Note: Yes, there was a post about this two days ago. No, this is not about that post. Nor is it about yesterday’s post. Nor is it about today’s post criticizing yesterday’s post.
I wrote the first draft of this in May on Patreon, by the request of one of my patrons. I have been trying to find a good time to post a version of it over here. However, there doesn’t seem a time without it coming across like I’m trying to make a point about something recent or specific. From my note above, it’s clear there will never be a good time to post this, as these topics come up all of the time. Which, I suppose, is why I wrote this in the first place.
Earlier in the spring, I was asked to re-visit some of my old Reddit posts and comments. After nearly nine years of posts, you can appreciate I didn’t remember several of the exchanges in my history! However, there are a few themes to my comment replies that pop out when skimming through them. One of them is …
Sometimes I just really enjoy reading/listening to fantasy books that were obviously written for a younger audience. Examples include Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain (where else would the main character proudly be a pig keeper’s assistant?), Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in time, and I am currently enjoying Christopher G Nullall’s Zero Enigma Series. I would not even go so far and describe these young adult books as being a guilty pleasure, just a pleasure. What are some YA books you’ve enjoyed?
I feel like there’s this stigma surrounding Fantasy, people I have met seem to look odd at me for a split second, having a hunch that when I say I’m into Fantasy, it usually means kids’ stories or any popular YA-coming of age story.
Thus, I rarely directly mention that my favorite genre is Fantasy because I’m concerned people will eyeball me, assuming that I’m some kind underdeveloped person that enjoys stories with fairies and what not. And whilst on the surface, it seems that way, as a consumer of Fantasy, I feel that they are more than that…
Is it just me?
Wife and I moved into our house recently and I foolishly put all of our possessions into the basement so that we could unpack one box at a time to avoid an overwhelming mess.
Well, life gets busy and sometimes boxes find a way to not get unpacked.
Basement flooded yesterday and of course every box of books was on the floor so as to provide a sturdy base for the rest of the boxes.
We lost a lot of stuff yesterday due to water damage but the only thing truly making my heart hurt is the books. I keep opening soggy boxes and finding waterlogged books given to me with loving inscriptions from my dad or grandparents going all the way back to 1992.
It’s just stuff so it’s truly not a big deal but goddamn…it’s really surreal to spend a lifetime being around the same books wherever you’re living through life and then one day be hucking them all in the trash. My dad and I spent years going to different used bookstores collecting all the Ian Fleming Bond books when I was a kid. They’re 50 …
Cherryh isn’t one of the first names I think of when it comes to influential authors in the genre. But lately I’ve been noticing that a lot of the most successful younger writers in the field list her works as a major influence. Two of the novels which won Hugo in the last decade - Ancillary Justice and A Memory Called Empire - are largely inspired and in dialogue with Cherryh’s Foreigner series. Both Ann Leckie and Arkady Martine have repeatedly acknowledged Cherryh as the writer who influenced their work the most, for example here and here. Martine’s post from the link above also mentions that one of the main characters in A Desolation Named Peace was her version of Ari Emory II from Cyteen.
Jo Walton, another Best Hugo winner from the last decade, is also a big Cherryh fan, as anyone who’s read her reviews on Tor.com knows.
Elizabeth Bear also lists Cherryh as a major influence on her work. RJ Barker, a fantasy writer, acknowledges Cherryh’s …
I run the D&D club at the school where I teach English, and one of my favorite players came to me today at lunch, and confessed that when his teacher took his class to the library, he had no idea how to find a book, because he has never read one.
Sure, when he was small he read Dr. Seuss, but he has avoided reading anything since. He has seen others enjoy reading, and would like to give it a shot, but doesn’t know where to start. He has read informational material, and likes likes the stories in tv and movies, but has never read a novel.
There are so many great choices out there. Since he’s a D&D player, I’m thinking that perhaps Pratchett, while not strictly scifi, might be a great place to start, or perhaps Enders Game, or the Hitchhikers Guide… Some of Ted Chiang’s short stories might work, but they can get a bit dense for a newbie. Hmmm. Could go cyberpunk, and do Snow Crash, or Neuromancer… I’m thinking that if I want to get …
As the title states, I just started this book expecting a mind blowing scifi space opera but instead I am reading a medieval adventure with sentient wolves? I am usually very patient with the beginning of long epics, but this one is bothering me more than usual. Was expecting a story with advanced alien empires and a massive cosmic threat, but instead I feel like I discovered a medieval world while playing a game of Stellaris. I just hope we can get off this wolf planet soon and get back to space. If half the book is here then I’m out.
Forgive my venting.
PS I love Stellaris. I am not making a dig at it.
Ok so normally I wouldn’t make a post about should I continue x. I usually stick it out to the end of a book so I can truly pass judgment or drop it right away if it doesn’t click immediately. This book tho. It’s insidious. I am nearly half way through and every damn time I think the story is FINALLY going somewhere it just devolves onto mundane details about things that are seemingly irrelevant. I just can’t grasp if there’s any real central thing that these characters are supposed to be doing other than looking for the Anathem’ed guy or going to tell (someone? some group?) about the spaceship. And why did it take 1⁄4 of the book just to establish that people noticed a spaceship?
I’ll admit the the world building is cool and some of the concepts are enjoyable like the Thousanders making thatched roofs to keep Nukes from corrosion. But, like, what the hell am I reading??? Main character has NO personality or maybe one that comes …
Hi guys. New here so sorry if I’m unaware of rules/customs.
I’m in that horrible place when life feels pointless because you just finished a great SF series and you’re not sure what to do with yourself. I’m looking for some recommendations, ideally for an epic series with a huge world.
I’ve read and loved, relevant to this question, in no particular order:
Dune series Foundation and Empire The Dark Tower Hunger Games The Maze Runner Divergent Brave New World
If you have any great recommendations I would be grateful!