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[Book]: Rhymes With

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  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    edited September 2021
    I had quite a sensible chuckle when I reached the appendices at the end of Shadow and was informed that no terms were invented and that a destrier is like a horse but not a horse. ;)

    I feel like there should be a mandatory notification at the beginning of a novel that there is an appendix/glossary/something at the end of the book, and you might actually want to peruse it while reading a book. Because I don't think "hey, maybe there's an appendix" when reading every book, because in the vast majority there aren't. But then I get to the end and find one, and then, "well, fuck that would have been helpful 300 pages ago."

    I recently read the Chronicles of Prydain series to my son. Imagine my joy when I came to the end of the first one and found a pronunciation guide for all the oddly spelled Welsh names that I'd been puzzling out this whole time. Especially when finding out I'd been mispronouncing the main character's name for the entire book.

    dennis on
  • Fuzzy Cumulonimbus CloudFuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud Registered User regular
    dennis wrote: »
    I had quite a sensible chuckle when I reached the appendices at the end of Shadow and was informed that no terms were invented and that a destrier is like a horse but not a horse. ;)

    I feel like there should be a mandatory notification at the beginning of a novel that there is an appendix/glossary/something at the end of the book, and you might actually want to peruse it while reading a book. Because I don't think "hey, maybe there's an appendix" when reading every book, because in the vast majority there aren't. But then I get to the end and find one, and then, "well, fuck that would have been helpful 300 pages ago."

    I recently read the Chronicles of Prydain series to my son. Imagine my joy when I came to the end of the first one and found a pronunciation guide for all the oddly spelled Welsh names that I'd been puzzling out this whole time. Especially when finding out I'd been mispronouncing the main character's name for the entire book.
    This happens to me all the time!!!

  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    I literally check the back of every book first at this stage of my life

  • Fuzzy Cumulonimbus CloudFuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud Registered User regular
    I literally check the back of every book first at this stage of my life
    I always forget this on e books.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    I've been trained by sci-fi and fantasy novels to always check for appendices, maps, glossaries, character lists, etc when I first open a book.

  • AutomautocratesAutomautocrates Registered User regular
    shryke wrote: »
    I've been trained by sci-fi and fantasy novels to always check for appendices, maps, glossaries, character lists, etc when I first open a book.

    I have learned a lesson that I will soon forget.

    The dictum that truth always triumphs over persecution is one of the pleasant falsehoods which men repeat after one another till they pass into commonplaces, but which all experience refutes.
    -John Stuart Mill
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    I literally check the back of every book first at this stage of my life
    I always forget this on e books.

    Yeah, it's the worst, there. "Will this cause it to think I've read to the end and sync me there next time??" I still don't know the answer.
    shryke wrote: »
    I've been trained by sci-fi and fantasy novels to always check for appendices, maps, glossaries, character lists, etc when I first open a book.

    Well, you'd think I'd have learned, considering 99% of my reading is from those genres. But no, decades of reading have not taught me this, so like Automautocrates I will again soon forget.

  • knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    I’m at the point where I get a little perturbed if there isn’t a map at the start of a fantasy book

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    On this topic, I don't remember their being an appendix in the copies of the Book of the New Sun I read. Is it a newer edition thing?

  • AutomautocratesAutomautocrates Registered User regular
    edited September 2021
    shryke wrote: »
    On this topic, I don't remember their being an appendix in the copies of the Book of the New Sun I read. Is it a newer edition thing?

    I cannot say whether it is older or newer but I ere to the later. Shadow features an appendix "a note on the translation" and Claw features a similar appendix about the social castes and hierarchy.

    Each is written from the perspective of they who translated Severians work into something for us.

    Automautocrates on
    The dictum that truth always triumphs over persecution is one of the pleasant falsehoods which men repeat after one another till they pass into commonplaces, but which all experience refutes.
    -John Stuart Mill
  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    shryke wrote: »
    On this topic, I don't remember their being an appendix in the copies of the Book of the New Sun I read. Is it a newer edition thing?

    I cannot say whether it is older or newer but I ere to the later. Shadow features an appendix "a note on the translation" and Claw features a similar appendix about the social castes and hierarchy.

    Each is written from the perspective of they who translated Severians work into something for us.

    I poked around google and found comments on reddit from other people who had no appendices in the books so I'm thinking this might be something added to later editions. But I can't be sure. The copies I read were old but also from the library and thus I can't just go back and check.

  • AutomautocratesAutomautocrates Registered User regular
    edited September 2021
    shryke wrote: »
    shryke wrote: »
    On this topic, I don't remember their being an appendix in the copies of the Book of the New Sun I read. Is it a newer edition thing?

    I cannot say whether it is older or newer but I ere to the later. Shadow features an appendix "a note on the translation" and Claw features a similar appendix about the social castes and hierarchy.

    Each is written from the perspective of they who translated Severians work into something for us.

    I poked around google and found comments on reddit from other people who had no appendices in the books so I'm thinking this might be something added to later editions. But I can't be sure. The copies I read were old but also from the library and thus I can't just go back and check.

    I believe I was rapidly making the same search and found that there were some publications with them as "appendixes". I also found a few reviews with them specifically mentioned? It must be new.

    Also saw a one off post that seemed to imply their inclusion was part of the lexicon urthus being published and gosh every bit of this damnable book is rabbit hole.

    Automautocrates on
    The dictum that truth always triumphs over persecution is one of the pleasant falsehoods which men repeat after one another till they pass into commonplaces, but which all experience refutes.
    -John Stuart Mill
  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    I was just introduced to Aislyn in the city we became

    Aislyn can go to hell.

  • pezgenpezgen Registered User regular
    I literally check the back of every book first at this stage of my life
    I always forget this on e books.

    What I would like is for my e-reader’s dictionary function to also check the glossary of the book I’m reading as well as the standard dictionary, so I can find out if a word is made up, archaic, or just being used in a different way.

  • redxredx I(x)=2(x)+1 whole numbersRegistered User regular
    edited September 2021
    pezgen wrote: »
    I literally check the back of every book first at this stage of my life
    I always forget this on e books.

    What I would like is for my e-reader’s dictionary function to also check the glossary of the book I’m reading as well as the standard dictionary, so I can find out if a word is made up, archaic, or just being used in a different way.

    Ugh... can it cross reference the damn dramatis personae too?

    redx on
    They moistly come out at night, moistly.
  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    I just finished Ancillary Sword, and it was pretty good but not nearly as compelling as Ancillary Justice. It felt very much like a second book in a trilogy, just sort of keeping the characters in one spot and setting up the third book without much movement from the first book at all.

    How's the third book? Do things get moving?

  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    Still catching up with Interzone, this time an issue from 2019. Really good issue. Stories about someone who keeps drowning themselves to trigger changes in reality and a giant robot crew whose drug addict pilot is told by someone everyone else thinks is an enemy assassin that he's just in a video game and should open the hatch. Basically that scene in Total Recall with the guy who unwisely lets a single bead of sweat fall down his forehead. My favourite was about a Schrödinger box inside a strip club.

  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    edited September 2021
    I just finished Ancillary Sword, and it was pretty good but not nearly as compelling as Ancillary Justice. It felt very much like a second book in a trilogy, just sort of keeping the characters in one spot and setting up the third book without much movement from the first book at all.

    How's the third book? Do things get moving?

    My memory (and a refresh from wikipedia) remembers it as moving along very well. It has been a couple of years, though. Moving in terms of plot, not necessarily moving in terms of setting. I remember it being a good ending to the trilogy, but then sometimes I'm easily satisfied.

    dennis on
  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    Justice was the most actiony book of the series IRRC. The 2nd and 3rd ones leaned more into the space politicking.

  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    knitdan wrote: »
    I’m at the point where I get a little perturbed if there isn’t a map at the start of a fantasy book

    That's actually gotten really annoying with my switch to e-books. Seems publishers just go "OK, here's a 320x240 image the author faxed us, good enough".

  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    Echo wrote: »
    knitdan wrote: »
    I’m at the point where I get a little perturbed if there isn’t a map at the start of a fantasy book

    That's actually gotten really annoying with my switch to e-books. Seems publishers just go "OK, here's a 320x240 image the author faxed us, good enough".

    And (if you're on a kindle), prepare to not be able to zoom.

  • Dizzy DDizzy D NetherlandsRegistered User regular
    Just finished up Whit in my reread of Iain Banks books (and in this case a first read).

    The premise is that Isis Whit is part of a cult in Scotland, a cult that disavows all use of modern technology. Isis cousin Morag is successful musician and is intended to be the guest of honour at the cult's big quadrennial festival, but just before the festival, Morag sends a letter that she has left the cult and won't come to the festival. Isis is sent to persuade her cousin.

    Not my favourite Banks book, but I enjoyed it well enough. Isis is naive and has lead a sheltered life within the cult, but she is likable and definitely not dumb. It fits in with Banks other non-sci-fi books, where family (the cult is basically a larger family) and their secrets are central. As cults go, their cult does not seem to be too bad (though we see their darker side more and more as the story progresses).

    Steam/Origin: davydizzy
  • Evil MultifariousEvil Multifarious Registered User regular
    Justice was the most actiony book of the series IRRC. The 2nd and 3rd ones leaned more into the space politicking.

    I like the space politicking, but this one was so limited in scope and focused on one system even as the issues raised are so vast and pangalactic

    But
    please tell me we get a bit more on the Presger in 3, I'm already fascinated

  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    edited September 2021
    Justice was the most actiony book of the series IRRC. The 2nd and 3rd ones leaned more into the space politicking.

    I like the space politicking, but this one was so limited in scope and focused on one system even as the issues raised are so vast and pangalactic

    But
    please tell me we get a bit more on the Presger in 3, I'm already fascinated
    A bit, though to my memory not much beyond their human emissary. But yes, it definitely plays a vital role in the story. But it is still limited to one system with vaster ramifications.

    dennis on
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    I just finished up a couple of books.

    First off, The Galaxy and the Ground Within. Great story, with low stakes that are simultaneously the most important stakes in the galaxy (depending on your POV, of course). This one didn't get me tearing up quite as much as some of the others (especially that bit in Record where everything comes together). But regardless, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I can't believe that's supposed to be the last Wayfarers book. I get an author not wanting to have to keep cranking out the "same" thing, but it feels like a universe that has so many stories and species and worlds, and we just barely scratched the surface. That's probably a good way to go out, though.

    It was definitely the best book to read after Asher's Lockdown Tales, though. I needed some friendly aliens by that point.

    Then I went back to murder, with Rogue Protocol. My god those stories just barrel along and are suddenly over, but not in a bad way where it doesn't make sense. It's non-stop, but I can actually track in my mind what is going on the whole time. Compare that to something like Asher where I get a bit of battle fatigue at times and glaze over. I'm kicking myself for not having Exit Strategy ready, as I already have Network Effect and Fugitive Telemetry lined up. Apparently I borrowed it on August 20th and then returned it without ever having transferred it to my kindle (it's in OpenEPUB, so no DRM). Now I'm waiting on a copy again.

    I think next I'll read Machine by Elizabeth Bear. Does anyone know if it ends there, or if it's open ended and another sequel planned? I'm trying to finish off Murderbot before jumping into another series, especially one that might take years to finish up.

  • Fuzzy Cumulonimbus CloudFuzzy Cumulonimbus Cloud Registered User regular
    I wonder if Becky Chambers is capable of writing them in depth in a serial fashion? Her chapters are also extremely brief. Not complaining. I love the books. But I also wonder why anyone would just abandon a big money making universe like that.

  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    I wonder if Becky Chambers is capable of writing them in depth in a serial fashion? Her chapters are also extremely brief. Not complaining. I love the books. But I also wonder why anyone would just abandon a big money making universe like that.

    People want to write what people want to write.

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    I wonder if Becky Chambers is capable of writing them in depth in a serial fashion? Her chapters are also extremely brief. Not complaining. I love the books. But I also wonder why anyone would just abandon a big money making universe like that.

    I don't really see any need for her to change the way she's written them. I don't crave so much a serial, per se, as I do tales in a shared universe. Kind of like how almost every Culture book is in a totally different time/space and with different characters. I just want more stories in the world.

    I could see her abandoning it because she wouldn't want to get pigeonholed as "that author that writes that one series." That's almost all she's done so far, and she had to claw her way into the publishing world to do that. I would say she might also want to explore other work that might not fit the tone of Wayfarers, but it sounds like her next series is being described by Tor as "hopeful science fiction". So maybe she's not taking a very sharp turn. Anyone read A Psalm for the Wild-Built and want to compare and contrast it with Wayfarers?

  • BrodyBrody The Watch The First ShoreRegistered User regular
    I've been trying to read the first High Republic book, but I feel like I've read too much hard sci-fi recently, and its just making the whole thing really hard to get into. The author keeps mentioning borderline hard science concepts, and then ignoring a bunch of the consequences they would generate, and its making my head hurt.

    "I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."

    The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson

    Steam: Korvalain
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    dennis wrote: »
    I wonder if Becky Chambers is capable of writing them in depth in a serial fashion? Her chapters are also extremely brief. Not complaining. I love the books. But I also wonder why anyone would just abandon a big money making universe like that.

    I don't really see any need for her to change the way she's written them. I don't crave so much a serial, per se, as I do tales in a shared universe. Kind of like how almost every Culture book is in a totally different time/space and with different characters. I just want more stories in the world.

    I could see her abandoning it because she wouldn't want to get pigeonholed as "that author that writes that one series." That's almost all she's done so far, and she had to claw her way into the publishing world to do that. I would say she might also want to explore other work that might not fit the tone of Wayfarers, but it sounds like her next series is being described by Tor as "hopeful science fiction". So maybe she's not taking a very sharp turn. Anyone read A Psalm for the Wild-Built and want to compare and contrast it with Wayfarers?

    It's kind of funny because Becky Chambers just started up a brand new series and it is pretty interesting. The Psalm for the Wild Built is once again, a nice feel good society where they explore the history of this world and the characters within. It is explicitly a Book 1 of a new series.

    Fun story and a really low key non-binary protagonist.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • PhantPhant Registered User regular
    dennis wrote: »
    I just finished up a couple of books.

    First off, The Galaxy and the Ground Within. Great story, with low stakes that are simultaneously the most important stakes in the galaxy (depending on your POV, of course). This one didn't get me tearing up quite as much as some of the others (especially that bit in Record where everything comes together). But regardless, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I can't believe that's supposed to be the last Wayfarers book. I get an author not wanting to have to keep cranking out the "same" thing, but it feels like a universe that has so many stories and species and worlds, and we just barely scratched the surface. That's probably a good way to go out, though.

    It was definitely the best book to read after Asher's Lockdown Tales, though. I needed some friendly aliens by that point.

    Then I went back to murder, with Rogue Protocol. My god those stories just barrel along and are suddenly over, but not in a bad way where it doesn't make sense. It's non-stop, but I can actually track in my mind what is going on the whole time. Compare that to something like Asher where I get a bit of battle fatigue at times and glaze over. I'm kicking myself for not having Exit Strategy ready, as I already have Network Effect and Fugitive Telemetry lined up. Apparently I borrowed it on August 20th and then returned it without ever having transferred it to my kindle (it's in OpenEPUB, so no DRM). Now I'm waiting on a copy again.

    I think next I'll read Machine by Elizabeth Bear. Does anyone know if it ends there, or if it's open ended and another sequel planned? I'm trying to finish off Murderbot before jumping into another series, especially one that might take years to finish up.

    The White Space books aren't a series at all so far, Machine is set in the same universe and there is glancing mention of the ship and some of the events from Ancestral Night, but otherwise they are entirely disconnected.

  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    Phant wrote: »
    dennis wrote: »
    I just finished up a couple of books.

    First off, The Galaxy and the Ground Within. Great story, with low stakes that are simultaneously the most important stakes in the galaxy (depending on your POV, of course). This one didn't get me tearing up quite as much as some of the others (especially that bit in Record where everything comes together). But regardless, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I can't believe that's supposed to be the last Wayfarers book. I get an author not wanting to have to keep cranking out the "same" thing, but it feels like a universe that has so many stories and species and worlds, and we just barely scratched the surface. That's probably a good way to go out, though.

    It was definitely the best book to read after Asher's Lockdown Tales, though. I needed some friendly aliens by that point.

    Then I went back to murder, with Rogue Protocol. My god those stories just barrel along and are suddenly over, but not in a bad way where it doesn't make sense. It's non-stop, but I can actually track in my mind what is going on the whole time. Compare that to something like Asher where I get a bit of battle fatigue at times and glaze over. I'm kicking myself for not having Exit Strategy ready, as I already have Network Effect and Fugitive Telemetry lined up. Apparently I borrowed it on August 20th and then returned it without ever having transferred it to my kindle (it's in OpenEPUB, so no DRM). Now I'm waiting on a copy again.

    I think next I'll read Machine by Elizabeth Bear. Does anyone know if it ends there, or if it's open ended and another sequel planned? I'm trying to finish off Murderbot before jumping into another series, especially one that might take years to finish up.

    The White Space books aren't a series at all so far, Machine is set in the same universe and there is glancing mention of the ship and some of the events from Ancestral Night, but otherwise they are entirely disconnected.

    Huh. I had apparently misread that it contains a couple of the same characters (when in reality, it does not). Kind of odd, as it seemed the first one was building up to an ongoing mystery plotline.

    I wound up getting a couple of pages in today, and just now got notification that Exit Strategy is ready! That was exceedingly quick but I'll take it.

  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    edited September 2021
    As of last night, I finished all of the novellas in the 2021 Hugo Award nominations. "Come Tumbling Down" is apparently the 5th book in a series, so it was strange getting introduced to the tail end of the Wayward Children books by Seanan McGuire in this way, but it intrigued me enough that I'm probably going to track down the other four and give them a go. There were some deft and humorous turns of phrases that I particularly liked, like describing the schoolhouse as "once upon a renovation". I did like other samples of her writing, so I may enjoy the rest of those books.

    I don't know if I can accurately put down thoughts for both "Ring Shout" and "Riot Baby". They are both fantasy novels that deal with racism, and specifically the racism experienced by Black people in the US history. They were pretty tough reads, and I know that from my position of privilege, I can't even begin to connect with the horrible history there. But I'm glad that I've read them, and I was particularly fond of some of the historical scholarship of Ring Shout.

    "Upright Women Wanted" is post-apocalyptic lesbian cowboys... what more do you want? I don't think this book is FOR me, but it does strongly convey the feeling of a Western, with rugged people, death at every corner, and hope through individualism and gumption.

    Among the selections, I think I enjoyed "The Empress of Salt and Fortune" the best, just because it was one of those books that felt like it was taking me to an ancient timeless past. It's a vaguely Asian story that feels authentic even as it is made from whole cloth.

    In other book-reading news, I went to the local library, and I saw that they had Ted Chiang's "Stories of Your Life and Others". It piqued my interest because of other posts in this forum (not sure what thread), so I checked it out and read it tonight. Damn, that's a strong group of short stories... even the single page short-short story. I've already read "Understand" and "Story of Your Life" (which was the basis for the movie "Arrival") before, but all of the stories in it are solid and great (and in one case, personally devastating). "Hell is the Absence of God" has writing that, as a widower, I viscerally felt. And as a former Fundamentalist Evangelical Christian, I knew exactly where the story was leading in the end. I really like the ideas of Angels not as characters, but as capricious forces of Nature that are documented and cause equal parts havoc and blessings.

    Speaking of angels, "The Inaccessibility of Heaven" (one of the Hugo nominated Novelettes) was a different kind of Angel story. It's Angel Noir, and it feels like it rips straight from Constantine or the Tabletop RPG In Nomine. I didn't think it was that compelling, personally, but I like the idea of Lucifer being just this grumpy ancient informant that does favors for a gumshoe.

    The Hugo 2021 reading continues...

    Hahnsoo1 on
    8i1dt37buh2m.png
  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    edited September 2021
    I was just talking to a friend of mine who used to be active in the AggieCon (Texas A&M scifi/fantasy convention) scene back when we were students a few decades ago. We were talking about books we've been reading and I mentioned the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. He said he was (not close) friends with her from those con days when she would come. She was an A&M alum and lived there, so she was a local author.

    My friend said he had classed her with many local authors that would come, who may have been nice people, but whose work was more likely to be more akin to fan fiction (and I have no idea if her early work was more in that league). As such, he had never read any of her books and was surprised when I was talking positively about the Murderbot series. So I got to steer him back towards here, all these decades later.

    dennis on
  • htmhtm Registered User regular
    dennis wrote: »
    I was just talking to a friend of mine who used to be active in the AggieCon (Texas A&M scifi/fantasy convention) scene back when we were students a few decades ago. We were talking about books we've been reading and I mentioned the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. He said he was (not close) friends with her from those con days when she would come. She was an A&M alum and lived there, so she was a local author.

    My friend said he had classed her with many local authors that would come, who may have been nice people, but whose work was more likely to be more akin to fan fiction (and I have no idea if her early work was more in that league). As such, he had never read any of her books and was surprised when I was talking positively about the Murderbot series. So I got to steer him back towards here, all these decades later.

    He's seriously underrating her. She was great from the start. The first novel she ever published was Elements of Fire and it's still one of my favorite fantasy books.

  • dennisdennis aka bingley Registered User regular
    htm wrote: »
    dennis wrote: »
    I was just talking to a friend of mine who used to be active in the AggieCon (Texas A&M scifi/fantasy convention) scene back when we were students a few decades ago. We were talking about books we've been reading and I mentioned the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. He said he was (not close) friends with her from those con days when she would come. She was an A&M alum and lived there, so she was a local author.

    My friend said he had classed her with many local authors that would come, who may have been nice people, but whose work was more likely to be more akin to fan fiction (and I have no idea if her early work was more in that league). As such, he had never read any of her books and was surprised when I was talking positively about the Murderbot series. So I got to steer him back towards here, all these decades later.

    He's seriously underrating her. She was great from the start. The first novel she ever published was Elements of Fire and it's still one of my favorite fantasy books.

    Sorry if I wrote that poorly. He didn't rate her based on any of her work. It was all assumption based on her being in the larger group of "local authors." Keep in mind this was at the dawn of the WWW, so it was a lot harder to find out what the nerd hivemind thought of things. :biggrin:

    Speaking of Wells, I finished Exit Strategy, which wrapped up that arc of Murderbot really nicely. I'm cracking open Network Effect next, and I'll be interested in how the move from novella to novel affects the pacing. The first four were pretty non-stop once the action ramped up at the beginning.

  • htmhtm Registered User regular
    edited September 2021
    dennis wrote: »
    htm wrote: »
    dennis wrote: »
    I was just talking to a friend of mine who used to be active in the AggieCon (Texas A&M scifi/fantasy convention) scene back when we were students a few decades ago. We were talking about books we've been reading and I mentioned the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. He said he was (not close) friends with her from those con days when she would come. She was an A&M alum and lived there, so she was a local author.

    My friend said he had classed her with many local authors that would come, who may have been nice people, but whose work was more likely to be more akin to fan fiction (and I have no idea if her early work was more in that league). As such, he had never read any of her books and was surprised when I was talking positively about the Murderbot series. So I got to steer him back towards here, all these decades later.

    He's seriously underrating her. She was great from the start. The first novel she ever published was Elements of Fire and it's still one of my favorite fantasy books.

    Sorry if I wrote that poorly. He didn't rate her based on any of her work. It was all assumption based on her being in the larger group of "local authors." Keep in mind this was at the dawn of the WWW, so it was a lot harder to find out what the nerd hivemind thought of things. :biggrin:

    Yeah, I only discovered her when the owner of a local bookstore that specialized in SF&F personally recommended Element of Fire to me. I'm in TX, but not College Station, and I think he knew her through the various TX cons.

    htm on
  • PailryderPailryder Registered User regular
    finished A Gentleman in Moscow, was a delightful read.

  • credeikicredeiki Registered User regular
    edited September 2021
    Pailryder wrote: »
    finished A Gentleman in Moscow, was a delightful read.

    The complete romance of living in a fine hotel; so compelling

    credeiki on
    Steam, LoL: credeiki
  • HonkHonk Honk is this poster. Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    I wanted to say I’ve now read half of The Western Wind which I started in 2019. I also just received copies of Lamplighters and Phantoms (Koontz). The cover of Lamplighters looks amazing.

    See you all in 2023!

    PSN: Honkalot
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