i love using "brazilian" as a unit of measurement
i think it was one of those conan talking pictures thing with political celebrity saying ridiculous things, dubya if i recall correctly
i feel entirely justified in the whole "that's called being fucking weak" thing
you know how long they stay broken up?
five days
five
days
before she gives him another chance
the first time she sees him everything goes right back to how it was
it's a horrifying portrayal of an abusive relationship, except even moreso because the woman is turned on by the fact that she's being abused
christ
chhrrriiiisssttt
well I think by the end of the series she does properly dump him so I guess that's something
Hahaha nope. I couldn't get through the third one, I gave up on it because the amount of times they BOTH call Christian's biomother 'crack whore' just really put my teeth on edge combined with the fact that she's constantly trying to "cure" his kink and just... ugh. My sisters are both like "oh but in the third book they totally resolve that and Christian gets over his childhood abuse and there's a happy ending" but I just seriously could not handle it anymore. Also come on can't we have a main character who likes kink without it stemming from wanting to abuse his mother or something?
i feel entirely justified in the whole "that's called being fucking weak" thing
you know how long they stay broken up?
five days
five
days
before she gives him another chance
the first time she sees him everything goes right back to how it was
it's a horrifying portrayal of an abusive relationship, except even moreso because the woman is turned on by the fact that she's being abused
christ
chhrrriiiisssttt
well I think by the end of the series she does properly dump him so I guess that's something
Hahaha nope. I couldn't get through the third one, I gave up on it because the amount of times they BOTH call Christian's biomother 'crack whore' just really put my teeth on edge combined with the fact that she's constantly trying to "cure" his kink and just... ugh. My sisters are both like "oh but in the third book they totally resolve that and Christian gets over his childhood abuse and there's a happy ending" but I just seriously could not handle it anymore. Also come on can't we have a main character who likes kink without it stemming from wanting to abuse his mother or something?
yeah I heard about the whole 'Christian likes abusing Ana because she looks like his mother' thing
literally the worst possible representation of an Dom/Sub relationship!
It's really a lot more like a childhood abuse survivor who then seeks partners who will recreate the abuse, feeling that this time they can "fix" him and absolve their childhood trauma.
If the book casually mentioned that Christian reminds her of her father, Ana's (super fucked up) motivations would make a lot more sense.
Although I will say it's a shame that the books are so bad, because "50 shades of gray" is a pretty good title
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
so I looked up what happens in the other two Fifty Shades books
whoa
whooooooooaaaaa
let's hear it
well
among other things
Ana gets knocked up because she's too dumb to remember to take a birth control pill
she and Christian eventually live happily ever after
and
sigh
apparently, Ana interprets the baby kicking and moving around after her and Christian get it on to mean that 'it already enjoys sex'
also there's all sorts of crazy stuff with the woman who taught Christian to be a Dom as well the aforementioned crack whore mother stuff
essentially Ana is consistently jealous of this much older woman, who Ana refers to as a pedophile, a bitch troll, a witch, blah blah blah
at some point this woman gets a concealed weapon permit
so, let's examine how Ana reacts to this, this is a direct quote from the second book I think
"She managed to obtain a concealed weapons permit yesterday." [said Christian]
Oh shit. I gaze at him, blinking, and feel the blood draining from my face as I absorb this news. I may faint. Suppose she wants to kill him? No.
“That means she can just buy a gun,” I whisper.
uh, so, yeah
then the older woman (Leila I guess) shows up at Ana's apartment to be crazy at her and Christian shows up and basically quells her craziness by being dominant at her
and while this is happening, Ana starts getting jealous of Leila
jealous of the crazy woman who Christian is trying to make sure doesn't beat up Ana because Christian is paying attention to her
oh also when Ana discovers the stuff about Christian's mom and her resemblance to him, her reaction:
Then it hit me like a wrecking ball. If he's a sadist, he really needs all that whipping and caning shit. Oh fuck. I put my head in my hands. "So it's true," I whisper, glancing up at him, "I can't give you what you need." This is it - this really does mean we are incompatible.
goddammit
this
that is literally how the first book ends too
and also that is not really an appropriate response to that revelation!
sooooooooooooooooooo yeah at the end Ana tells Christian she's pregnant, he bounces for a bit, gets drunk, makes out with Leila, comes back, they get in a massive screaming match during which Ana hopes Christian doesn't touch her because if she feels his contact her panties will just dissolve right there
annnnd fuck I dunno, some other guy kidnaps Christian's sister and Ana somehow fixes that and everyone's happy and they live happily ever after
My brother and I are interested in reading some good Sci Fi together.
But he doesn't read as much as I do so I wanna ease him into regular reading.
So what books should we try?
It's been a while since I've pimped out Walter Jon Williams
So go read some Walter Jon Williams!
If you can find one of his short story collections especially, but most of his books are good Big Ideas sci-fi, without ever turning into Engineer Sci Fi
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
For that matter, I love reading a book where the characters have deeply fucked up unhealthy relationships and think it's just peachy because they're deeply fucked up.
But the author needs to be in on the joke.
yeah
yeah!
also, the writing is just wretched
it's flowery where it should be straight-forward, and it seems like pretty much all actual raw emotion is hidden by constant interior monologuing or shitty metaphor
she learned to write by reading Stephanie Meyer, so...
Richard Morgan wrote some amazing noir-ish pulp sci-fi. Altered Carbon is the first book.
Neal Asher writes some neat sci-fi. I guess you could most of it post-cyberpunk space opera adventure with a bit of horror. His first novel is Gridlinked.
There's an anthology called The Science Fiction Hall of Fame that contains lots of great older SF short stories; it was compiled based on a vote of science fiction writers in the 70s for the best SF stories of all time. The first few stories are from the 30s and feel really dated now, so you might want to skip them on a first read, but pretty much everything in there is excellent. Also, the authors included are pretty much a Who's Who of classic SF, so it may inspire you to look up more of their work!
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AntimatterDevo Was RightGates of SteelRegistered Userregular
There's an anthology called The Science Fiction Hall of Fame that contains lots of great older SF short stories; it was compiled based on a vote of science fiction writers in the 70s for the best SF stories of all time. The first few stories are from the 30s and feel really dated now, so you might want to skip them on a first read, but pretty much everything in there is excellent. Also, the authors included are pretty much a Who's Who of classic SF, so it may inspire you to look up more of their work!
The only thing that makes it popular is talking about sex, and one specific (though horrificly represented) is now just a little more socially acceptable
Fox fucking news did a thing on it, in positive light
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Skylarko7 Vile Rat o7o7 Photon Torpedo o7Registered Userregular
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i feel entirely justified in the whole "that's called being fucking weak" thing
you know how long they stay broken up?
five days
five
days
before she gives him another chance
the first time she sees him everything goes right back to how it was
it's a horrifying portrayal of an abusive relationship, except even moreso because the woman is turned on by the fact that she's being abused
you have to know that watching that after reading the book makes it much, much funnier
christ
chhrrriiiisssttt
well I think by the end of the series she does properly dump him so I guess that's something
i dont want or need that kind of payoff because it's already hysterical
you have no idea
"KINKY FUCKERY?" I SQUEAK
- gilbert gottfried
i love using "brazilian" as a unit of measurement
i think it was one of those conan talking pictures thing with political celebrity saying ridiculous things, dubya if i recall correctly
whoa
whooooooooaaaaa
...
yes
Christian grows a beard.
(Disclaimer: I really have no clue what happens)
Hahaha nope. I couldn't get through the third one, I gave up on it because the amount of times they BOTH call Christian's biomother 'crack whore' just really put my teeth on edge combined with the fact that she's constantly trying to "cure" his kink and just... ugh. My sisters are both like "oh but in the third book they totally resolve that and Christian gets over his childhood abuse and there's a happy ending" but I just seriously could not handle it anymore. Also come on can't we have a main character who likes kink without it stemming from wanting to abuse his mother or something?
yeah I heard about the whole 'Christian likes abusing Ana because she looks like his mother' thing
literally the worst possible representation of an Dom/Sub relationship!
If the book casually mentioned that Christian reminds her of her father, Ana's (super fucked up) motivations would make a lot more sense.
Although I will say it's a shame that the books are so bad, because "50 shades of gray" is a pretty good title
let's hear it
let that fact permeate your minds as your read it
well
among other things
Ana gets knocked up because she's too dumb to remember to take a birth control pill
she and Christian eventually live happily ever after
and
sigh
apparently, Ana interprets the baby kicking and moving around after her and Christian get it on to mean that 'it already enjoys sex'
also there's all sorts of crazy stuff with the woman who taught Christian to be a Dom as well the aforementioned crack whore mother stuff
essentially Ana is consistently jealous of this much older woman, who Ana refers to as a pedophile, a bitch troll, a witch, blah blah blah
at some point this woman gets a concealed weapon permit
so, let's examine how Ana reacts to this, this is a direct quote from the second book I think
uh, so, yeah
then the older woman (Leila I guess) shows up at Ana's apartment to be crazy at her and Christian shows up and basically quells her craziness by being dominant at her
and while this is happening, Ana starts getting jealous of Leila
jealous of the crazy woman who Christian is trying to make sure doesn't beat up Ana because Christian is paying attention to her
oh also when Ana discovers the stuff about Christian's mom and her resemblance to him, her reaction:
goddammit
this
that is literally how the first book ends too
and also that is not really an appropriate response to that revelation!
sooooooooooooooooooo yeah at the end Ana tells Christian she's pregnant, he bounces for a bit, gets drunk, makes out with Leila, comes back, they get in a massive screaming match during which Ana hopes Christian doesn't touch her because if she feels his contact her panties will just dissolve right there
annnnd fuck I dunno, some other guy kidnaps Christian's sister and Ana somehow fixes that and everyone's happy and they live happily ever after
great
my baby already likes sex!
3DS: 1289-8447-4695
That suuuure sounds like a bestseller.
trust me it was on my mind for both books that I managed to read before I gave up
along with "oh my god, why am I doing this" and "that is not how orgasms work"
Morbo: "Orgasms do not work that way! Good night!!"
But he doesn't read as much as I do so I wanna ease him into regular reading.
So what books should we try?
collection of short stories with a framing story
The Martian Chronicles
short stories that are themed together
Cat's Cradle
pretty short novel
It's been a while since I've pimped out Walter Jon Williams
So go read some Walter Jon Williams!
If you can find one of his short story collections especially, but most of his books are good Big Ideas sci-fi, without ever turning into Engineer Sci Fi
she learned to write by reading Stephanie Meyer, so...
Neal Asher writes some neat sci-fi. I guess you could most of it post-cyberpunk space opera adventure with a bit of horror. His first novel is Gridlinked.
empty quote, i own the first volume of this
That's book just sounds so bad...that my desire to read it is increasing rapidly.
But...I don't know if my heart could take it.
yessss I love that book so much
Fox fucking news did a thing on it, in positive light
50 million sold and still going...