Nothing intelligent from me!

I just need to gush over The Final Empire a bit.

*gushes*

(Seriously this is so awesome I would paint my room in full wall murals of it)

Anyone familiar with the Puppygate controversy?

I'm really tired of all this -gate nonsense, but I sometimes check out George R.R.Martin's personal blog and he's been addressing the issue, and it caught my eye. More explanation here.

While I haven't been reading much SF lately and don't know the present state of the genre, the argument these ''Sad Puppies'' are making smells of bs to me. SF as a genre, in my opinion at least, thrives when addressing difficult social matters. I trust that any reader could easily tell the difference between social and political ranting and an honest attempt to tackle a difficult subject. I don't think blasters, princesses, beefcake heroes and sexy alien chicks are really the reason we go to SF these days.

I don't remember the name of it right now, but years ago I read a short SF novel by L.M.Bujold of a man traveling space to deliver an artificial womb for his all male planet. It blew my mind that such a different and (to me, back then) daring take on SF exists, and I remember enjoying the book very much. Am I an idiot for thinking the genre would be poorer without that? Or people like me, who find space battles and blaster showdowns insanely boring, really have nothing to look for in SF?

Oh, for crying out--

Who says there can't be alien chicks and beefcake heroes in a work addressing difficult social issues?  And who says that a work that doesn't address issues doesn't endorse any ideology?  This seems like a matter of "I don't like when I read something that disagrees with me!  It should stop existing!" and that, I have very little sympathy for.

I mean, it's not as if the backwards sci-fi of yesteryear just stopped existing, so… if that's what you want to read, by all means, go read it and stop bothering the rest of us.

Aside from that, hey, this is what lobbying looks like!  And like most selection systems, the Hugo Awards aren't structured to prevent it!  The take-away: if you care who gets the award, get on the ball before the nominations are announced.

Also: Good lord, George R. R. Martin is insufferable.  Nothing he says there is flat-out wrong, but… wow was it a pain to read.  Like, "It might be wiser to do this thing, but no, that is the path of cowardice".  Like, what?  Wiser men are all cowards?  What the shit?  Or are you trying to say that thinking wiser men would do the thing is a cowardly way to get out of not doing it?  Also, INTRODUCE YOUR SUBJECT AT THE BEGINNING, DAMNIT, not 2/3 of the way through be like, "Oh, this won't make sense to some of you, let me explain it."  NO.  THAT IS SHITTY WRITING.  I know this is just a personal blog, but… that is just really, really shitty writing.  Also, he clearly doesn't know how the term SJW is used, generally, and… I just… it's really bad.  MARTIN, YOU ARE A BESTSELLING AUTHOR.  YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER.

Last edited by Kita-Ysabell (04-10-2015 03:42:15 PM)

Decrescent Daytripper wrote:

I love the assertion, usually from very Conservative rightwingers and always from MRAs, that their view is never "political" or "politicized," it's just good old-fashioned fun and true to life. Asshats.

Didn't you know?  What you believe is politics; what I believe is fact. 

Kita wrote:

Also: Good lord, George R. R. Martin is insufferable.  Nothing he says there is flat-out wrong, but… wow was it a pain to read.  Like, "It might be wiser to do this thing, but no, that is the path of cowardice".  Like, what?  Wiser men are all cowards?  What the shit?  Or are you trying to say that thinking wiser men would do the thing is a cowardly way to get out of not doing it?

My favorite part was at the end, when he invoked Yeats' "The Second Coming" to describe the controversy.  I must have missed the part of the Book of Revelation where the coming of the Beast is heralded by some middling authors winning Hugo Awards.  That said, I didn't see the part where he said that the wise path is the path of cowardice, and the posts seemed reasonably well organized to me, but maybe that's because I read Snow's second link first.

Ashnod wrote:

I've finished reading Steven Brust's To Reign in Hell.

Not sure what I think. Some interesting moments of inevitability, and decisions made during circumstances where one would wish to be uninvolved.

I dunno...will need to ponder this for a bit.

My love for Milton makes me very curious about this! Do share your thoughts whenever you feel like it

Last edited by Nocturnalux (04-11-2015 08:44:36 PM)

Nocturnalux wrote:

Ashnod wrote:

I've finished reading Steven Brust's To Reign in Hell.

Not sure what I think. Some interesting moments of inevitability, and decisions made during circumstances where one would wish to be uninvolved.

I dunno...will need to ponder this for a bit.

My love for Milton makes me very curious about this! Do share your thoughts whenever you feel like it

Well, the basic plot is thus: Heaven is an area created by the Firstborn (Yaweh, Satan, Belial, Leviathan, Michael, Lucifer, and Raphael) to defend themselves from the raw chaos that exists outside of it. However, this is an imperfect defense, and occasionally, chaos leaks in to wreak havoc on Heaven. This is called a Wave. The First Wave gave birth to the Firstborn, who formed essentially from order trying to form out of the chaos. The first version of Heaven was created by the Firstborn during the First Wave. Subsequent waves have created new angels (those born in the second wave are nominally called Archangels), but at the same time, many more are also killed trying to fight back the chaos. Each subsequent generation of angels are not as powerful as the previous. The Firstborn are several strata above any other, and Yaweh and Satan, being the first two of the Firstborn, are the most powerful and the most respected. As the book opens, Yaweh has developed something called The Plan, which is the intent to build a massive home outside Heaven in the raw chaos that will be impervious to future Waves. It is meant to safeguard all angel-kind from harm, so they can know peace and live without fear. Yaweh's concern, however, is that building this new home in the raw chaos will also mean that many angels will die in its construction, as surely as if another Wave struck Heaven. Thus is the dilemma: is it right that many will die to bring about safety and peace for the others? Satan is tasked with finding a solution to this dilemma.

And...saying anything else about the plot would be spoilerific.

Thoughts from my end...

At times, the characters seem frustratingly naive and trusting. This is expected from intelligences that are, for all intents and purposes, both young and naive but from the perspective of an audience it is sometimes difficult to observe.

There is a lot of build up to the inevitable conflict (it is not a spoiler to say that eventually Heaven is at war), but once things start really getting put in motion, and the major players decide their stances, things go into place quite nicely.

Reading The Fall of Neskaya, more Darkover stuff

Am reading Under The Dome by Stephen King.
I've almost reached bingo on my Stephen King bingo card courtesy of college humor.com and I'm only on page 98! I have actually only ever read one series by sK and that's The Darktower Series which I absoluelty love, one of my favorite all time dark fantasies. So I'm interested to check out his more normal, usual fare. He is the only writer I've ever come across that actually sends chills down my spine and makes me a little nervous when the lights go off.

Decrescent Daytripper wrote:

Alternating reading bursts of Prince Lestat with watching episodes of Airbats, because I am in full nostalgia mode this morning.

I'm probably one of the few people who prefers the later Vampire books to Queen of the Damned or The Body Thief, and found Blood Canticle really funny, but the newest one is really good, so far.

Mmmmm Anne Rice.

Yasha wrote:

You should really check out his older books, I find his newer ones comparatively lacking. For my money, It was probably the best thing he's ever written, although be careful, there's some fucked up shit in it. Everyone who has read it knows exactly which scene I'm talking about. Honorable mentions go to The Stand and The Shining. I'm not sure anyone else agrees with me; the latter two are usually held to be better.

Thanks for the rec! I think I'll check those out.

The Dark Tower was one of my favorite series...until the last volume. I finished it and nearly threw it against a wall.

And I completely agree with Yasha, King's older books tend to be much better than his most recent fare. I also have a soft spot for The Tommyknockers, not as good as the already mentioned books but it freaked me out greatly.

Misery becomes even creepier when we take into consideration that King actually nearly died in traffic accident...*after* writing it.

Last edited by Nocturnalux (05-23-2015 01:11:40 PM)

The Name of the Rose is great. Eco cracks me up, and knows just how to get me teary, too.

I just reread The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana again, the other week. So much feels.