Books...Books...Books....
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The Prophets is a heck of a thing.
"... you'll find the story doesn’t end how you think, and the most important characters aren’t who you expect.” - Penny 40 to Derek, The Magicians S04E07 ‘The Side Effect’
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Murderbot 6 came out a while ago.
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https://michellesagara.com/state-of-the-author-july-2021-edition-ending-an-era/
Michelle West has ended her relationship with her publisher for the West books (the books she writes under Sagara are fine where they are), mostly because they're too long (sigh). She has one more series to write, the conclusion of the arcs of all of these people.
She's going to patreon instead. There won't be physical books most likely, but if she gains enough support (she will, she's blowing up), she'll be able to keep her standard writing/publishing schedule, and we'll all get copies of the ebook when she's done. More directly employed by her fans, basically.
I encourage you to check out her books if you haven't, and if you have and you loved them, this is going to be the best part yet. IT'S THE CONCLUSION.
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@sunny Oh no! I love Michelle West. Admittedly, they're not WRONG that her books are doorstoppers and I've never seen her really resolve a plot so far. XD But that's sort of what I like about them. So...yeah, I might have to join this patreon.
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That's what these last few books are for!
Resolving the plots.
Really, this time.
(maybe not.)
(keep going. I'll read 'em.)
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In much of my adult life I was an avid reader. Even as of a few years ago, while I commuted to work, I would read at least one book per week on the bus - sometimes more.
Then I stopped. YouTube, games, Netflix, Reddit... they were easier, and I grew out of the habit.
I finished my first book in years yesterday. The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman was a fucking treat; really strong characters, an intriguing setting, witty dialogue and great prose. I enjoyed it greatly.
Onwards to catching up with series I had abandoned before finishing! The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winters is next.
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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@arkandel said in Books...Books...Books....:
In much of my adult life I was an avid reader. Even as of a few years ago, while I commuted to work, I would read at least one book per week on the bus - sometimes more.
Then I stopped. YouTube, games, Netflix, Reddit... they were easier, and I grew out of the habit.
I finished my first book in years yesterday. The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman was a fucking treat; really strong characters, an intriguing setting, witty dialogue and great prose. I enjoyed it greatly.
Onwards to catching up with series I had abandoned before finishing! The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winters is next.
I stopped reading too.
This year I buckled down and made a commitment to read a book a week, and so far I've kept to it. It's been pretty great; sometimes it's difficult, but.
"Excuse the hell out of you. He's a bag of dicks. I'm a carefully curated box of cocks." -- to @GirlCalledBlu upon being misrepresented.
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Same issue, but more about mental energy.
Dracula sits at 65%. I started to re-read it along with my spouse so we could talk about it, and compare it to the various Dracula and vampire movies we've been watching because October was approach, October is now.
I have a waggish sense of humor.
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@misadventure said in Books...Books...Books....:
Same issue, but more about mental energy.
Dracula sits at 65%. I started to re-read it along with my spouse so we could talk about it, and compare it to the various Dracula and vampire movies we've been watching because October was approach, October is now.
Dracula is in a format that almost nobody uses anymore, and you kind of have to have an appteciation for that sort of evidentiary storytelling style.
Racism isn't Tinkerbell. It doesn't need you to believe in it for it to exist.
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@derp nah the style doesn't bother me. I've already read it. I llike the format, Dangerous Liasons is also enjoyable.
I've been enjoying looking closer at the character or nature of the heroes, and noting the emotional support that critical to morale and sense of value to the risks taken.
I just can't read for long, which is sad given I have nothing else to do.
I have a waggish sense of humor.
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See, I don't see emotionally supported heroes when I re-read that book.
What I see is a bunch of just-barely-not-kids called adults by the standards of the day. The first of the men is imprisoned, tortured, and presumably sexually assaulted, possibly by multiple individuals. Coming home, he brings his trauma and newfound xenophobia with him to this friend group, where the charming and charismatic central figure gets tangled up with the exact kind of person that they feel is dangerous, and then gets a disease and dies, further cementing their trauma and grief as this group of relative strangers bonds about the one thing they have in common in the only way they know how, lead down a path of increasing conspiracy by a wacky doctor that not even the doctor in their own group takes very seriously.
But he gives them a plausible explanation, and presumably a means of catharsis. Except, as we know -- that catharsis never comes. They act on those fears and paranoia, and they feel just as tainted and weak and afraid afterward as they always had. Mina, in particular, is torn between two worlds -- the exotic and seductive world of the strange and foreign, or the demure role of the housewife to the successful man that she genuinely cares for. Mina's story is probably one of the most tragic of them all, as, in her own words, she never really finds what she was looking for, and always feels outside of herself.
And then the group goes back, finding every scrap of evidence they can find to support their story and justify these objectively terrible things they have done that cost some of them their lives in a quest for revenge and redemption and just general ablution, and weave together this narrative with questionable evidence and few other witnesses.
It's a dark tale, yes, but it's not dark because of the monster.
Racism isn't Tinkerbell. It doesn't need you to believe in it for it to exist.
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@derp said in Books...Books...Books....:
See, I don't see emotionally supported heroes when I re-read that book.
I see, as Louis would put it, the deranged writings of a drunken Irishman. I can think of so many other Gothic books I'd rather read than that one.
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My favorite author says that it is important to be widely read if you want to be a good writer. So, I am attempting to be more widely read and read things that are not just romance or urban fantasy with a touch of romance.
I have no idea why but Amazon suggested Babel-17 to me and goodness. How peculiar a book. I think I will have to read it and then read it again.
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@cobalt said in Books...Books...Books....:
My favorite author says that it is important to be widely read if you want to be a good writer. So, I am attempting to be more widely read and read things that are not just romance or urban fantasy with a touch of romance.
I have no idea why but Amazon suggested Babel-17 to me and goodness. How peculiar a book. I think I will have to read it and then read it again.
It's on my list.
Tangentially, I've been reading a lot of Vonnegut this year.
"Excuse the hell out of you. He's a bag of dicks. I'm a carefully curated box of cocks." -- to @GirlCalledBlu upon being misrepresented.
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@coin I can't do it. Like ONE book of his a year is all I can make myself read through. I like the stories, but..
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@macha said in Books...Books...Books....:
@coin I can't do it. Like ONE book of his a year is all I can make myself read through. I like the stories, but..
... but?
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Currently reading The Queen's Gambit as it is free for kindle for Amazon Prime members. It is remarkable how well the miniseries stuck to the book. Still a few chapters left but can recommend it.
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@coin said in Books...Books...Books....:
@cobalt said in Books...Books...Books....:
My favorite author says that it is important to be widely read if you want to be a good writer. So, I am attempting to be more widely read and read things that are not just romance or urban fantasy with a touch of romance.
I have no idea why but Amazon suggested Babel-17 to me and goodness. How peculiar a book. I think I will have to read it and then read it again.
It's on my list.
It's a very intriguing book. There's some dated language/ideas in it (the main thing that made me cringe was overly detailed negative descriptors about a fat person), but then on the other side shows polyamory in a positive light.
The world it is set in is incredibly intriguing, and it's a very quick read. And the way it's written is ... Wow. I hadn't heard of this guy before (being I'm a terrible person who mostly read smut), but I'll probably pick up some of his other books to read.
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A mid teen relative is just getting into reading and I would like to encourage it.
I am told they enjoyed The Song of Seare YA fantasy series. "Sword and sorcery with a light Christian element" I am told.
Does anyone have any series to recommend that might fit that description well enough?
PS Yes yes, resurrection of a thread, something something with strange aeons even death may die, bleh blableh.
I have a waggish sense of humor.
