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I'm on a massive Haruki Murakami binge at the moment.
Read 1Q84 (pretty good), Norwegian Wood (okay) and currently reading Kafka by the Shore (seems decent so far)
Considering thee are translated from Japanese they are mainly excellently written. Very surreal plots(1Q84 was batshit mental in places) and very dark. Enjoyable but not groundbreaking.
(09-12-2011 11:14 PM)Hesperitus Wrote: [ -> ]...But I had to know the what they felt happened to the characters.
This. Brian Herbert's books may be of less value, but I just wanted to know the ideas behind it and enjoyed them for that.
btw, this being your one and only post I'm not conversing with a very clever spambot, am I?
(12-12-2011 10:00 AM)LemmingofDoom Wrote: [ -> ] (12-12-2011 12:08 AM)Turbø Vish Wrote: [ -> ]Been reading copious amounts, finished reading The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Was a fucking good laugh, lots of hilarious deaths due to poor design of weapon systems...
Haha, the waste heat fin and the ice block. Epic lulz.
looool, don't slip on that helium. Hahahaha. Kaboom!
(12-12-2011 12:00 PM)Plodslut Wrote: [ -> ]Did you see they're making a film of the Forever War? Ridley Scott at the helm, so it should have SFX and action done well, plot / acting is a coin toss. Apparently Haldeman's on board so if nothing else he can't complain if it's garbage. Also, it's in 3D so they're throwing some money at it.
Both the GF and I are enormous Haldeman fans so really hoping this will be good. (Esp after the excitement of WWZ and then seeing the utter fucking hash Pitt is making of it.)
No fucking way! Ridley Scott is a fucking legend so I hope it's cool. Man, this is some funny shit. I wonder how they handle some of the more controversial shit in the film. "Welcome to the future, everyone's homo! Want to join in?"
That's awesome news, I never knew you read it. You and the other half are fucking gangsters. Would you recommend anything along a similar vein? I can't find good sci-fi and I only really go on other people's reflections.
Allow WWZ, they are gashing it up. What were they thinking?
(12-12-2011 05:42 PM)Turbø Vish Wrote: [ -> ]Would you recommend anything along a similar vein? I can't find good sci-fi and I only really go on other people's reflections.
If you like Forever War you might like Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It relies on similar principles of long-distance interstellar warfare, although it focuses almost entirely on the training leading up to the war. Think the first bit of Full Metal Jacket, but with child soldiers, in space.
Sounds awesome, I'll give that a read tonight. Cheers Cal.
Hammer's Slammers is also pretty good stuff if you're looking for semi-realistic military scifi.
(12-12-2011 05:26 PM)Ish Wrote: [ -> ]btw, this being your one and only post I'm not conversing with a very clever spambot, am I?
Haha, thanks for that. If you are, then I'm sleeping with one ...
Hesperitus is my other half. She got so overexcited that people were discussing Dune that she registered on the site just to big it up (and slag off the whores that have continued the series). That's how much of a fanboi(-grrl) she is.
I'm not going to tell her you said she's smart though. Don't want her getting too big for her boots.
On topic, I'm now hugely entrenched in Charles Stross' stuff. His first couple of books are stunning ideas-driven sci-fi. Some of his other stuff is, to put it bluntly, a bit self-indulgent. However, the self-indulgence is in writing whole sci-fi novels specifically for gamer-geeks. He's an ex-RPGer (waxes lyrical about D&D and Call of Cthulu then Delta Green in post-scripts) and is very affectionate towards those of us in the smart/socially-challenged/toy soldier owning section of the community!
Also, I recently re-encountered Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It's a kind of alt-history set around the period of the Napoleonic wars where gentleman magicians frequent London. Nothing entirely new, but very nicely written and worth a read. Bear in mind it's a pretty hefty tome so not to be encountered without having some time on your hands.
On a slightly different note, has anyone NOT read Fatherland by Robert Harris? Utter utter brilliance. The film was OK but the book has so much going on. The best (ie worst) bit is when you realise that Harris is an historian, and all the background isn't imaginative writing - it's actual detail from the real Third Reich, eg stuff like the actual legal detail behind the discrimination against, incarceration and then murder of Jews and other groups in the Holocaust etc. Oh, I should say - if you don't want to hear about the Holocaust, then avoid this, although I take the view that this sort of incredibly intelligent analysis of what could have been is better than wishing it away. Anyway, fair warning. Archangel is also worth a read, though not as good as Fatherland. It's another alt-history masquerading as a detective story, this time about Stalin.
Haha, nice one Nick, thanks for clearing that up.
Your girlfriend's cool, mine uses
my account to lurk..
(14-12-2011 06:47 PM)Ish Wrote: [ -> ]Haha, nice one Nick, thanks for clearing that up.
Your girlfriend's cool, mine uses my account to lurk..
I'd been watching you chaps for ages that way.
Hahaha, excellent. Well, it could have been worse. You could have been the reincarnation of Mary Ann Cotton.
I got through
God Emperor of Dune the other day, and it was pretty good. It freaked me out a little with the whole weirdness with the sandtrout+human combo deal but was a good read. The question is, where is best to end the series? I mean, I heard some atrocious shit about the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson stuff thanks to my nemesis (The Archviolator).
I'd carry on as far as your curiosity prevails, frankly. :-)
Cool, I'll probably get Eye, Hellstrom's Hive, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune next.
At some point I will have to read the second and third books. I actually ended up reading the Brian Herbert ones first, then picked up a beautiful copy of dune and realised why they are panned. The original just messes with your head
Heh. Dunecat is awesome.
Bookwise, I am currently reading The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie. Some friends were raving about this fantasy series so I decided to give it a try. So far - roughly 81% in according to the Kindle - I'm enjoying it.
I picked up my dog-eared copy of The Eye Of The World over Christmas, and I'm about half-way through already. I've not read this for years, and I'm really enjoying it.
It's weird - having followed this since the mid 90s, and knowing how much they all develop in their respective abilities over the next dozen or so books, I'm having these strangely paternal feelings for the characters - awww, look! He's just killed his first trolloc. Bless.
Anyway, I reckon this should give me ample time, with plenty of sci-fi interludes, to have the series read again for the final book to come out in November.
I got given China Mieville's books King Rat and Un Lun Don for Christmas.
I have finished Un Lun Don and while I know it is for younger readers I still enjoyed it. Not so much for the story which is pretty simple but for the setting, the craziness of Un Lun Don was great and who does not like Binja (a cross between a dustbin and a ninja ).
I have nearly finished King Rat and I really enjoying it. I am pretty sure someone involved with Malifaux read this when they where making Hamlin. The descriptions of London are great and the adding of Drum and Bass to the fantasy genre is pretty interesting,
I am trying to read all of Mievilles books, only got Kraken and Embassytown left
The word bearers trilogy by Anthony Reynolds is pretty good. You'll be rooting for the bad guys alright.
A lot of Bernard cornwell's stuff is good reading. The sharpe series, and harlequin, vagabond, and heretic.
Stalin: court of the red tsar is a really good read.
Craig.
Amazing find Ish, better read it all another time.
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