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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2018 1:26:30 GMT -6
I've not been reading much fantasy lately, to be honest. Slowly working my way through "The Mists of Avalon", and started "Snakewood", by Adrian Selby, which so far has become an extremely cringeworthy Black-Company pastiche. Earlier this year, I revisited some of the "Witcher" short stories, which were a real enjoyment. - Outside of fantasy, though, I've been quite prolific over the summer, I think, reading and rereading some crime novels. Dorothy Sayers, "Lord Peter Whimsey", surprisingly good books.
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Post by rossik on Oct 26, 2018 16:49:42 GMT -6
Im not into AppN right now, but the last one i got was The Dying Earth. Things went so well that i get some calls (or emails, or chat talk, etc), and maybe we will get this book translated here in brazil
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Post by rossik on Oct 26, 2018 16:52:25 GMT -6
[...]Slowly working my way through "The Mists of Avalon",[...] i've read like 4 or 5 books that tells stories before the Mists of Avalon (like Web of Light/Darkness, Ravens of Avalon, etc). never got thru all the series
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2018 1:58:48 GMT -6
"Mists" is the first book in the series, but chronologically the last one, apparently. Got to say, I like it, so far, but I am not sure if I could make it through more of those. Too much 80s-style feminism; it still works here because the book is obviously aiming at a subversion of the Arthurian myth. But another five or six books all based around the same premise, and with increasingly obscure characters - I don't know if that would be enjoyable for me. Pair that with MZB apparently being a pretty terrible person in real life, and there's a solid base for a decent lack of motivation.
That said, "Mists" is EASILY the most influential fantasy book of the 80s, no way around it, even counting in all the famous titles of the D&D-induced Golden Age. - So, as disciples of the art, we all got to read it, sooner or later.
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Post by rossik on Oct 27, 2018 7:18:44 GMT -6
"Mists" is the first book in the series, but chronologically the last one, apparently. Got to say, I like it, so far, but I am not sure if I could make it through more of those. Too much 80s-style feminism; it still works here because the book is obviously aiming at a subversion of the Arthurian myth. But another five or six books all based around the same premise, and with increasingly obscure characters - I don't know if that would be enjoyable for me. Pair that with MZB apparently being a pretty terrible person in real life, and there's a solid base for a decent lack of motivation. That said, "Mists" is EASILY the most influential fantasy book of the 80s, no way around it, even counting in all the famous titles of the D&D-induced Golden Age. - So, as disciples of the art, we all got to read it, sooner or later. yeah, Mists was the first. Then, Marion wrote a couple more, but didnt make it to the end, so her "sucessor", Diana, wrote a bunch more. Ravens of Avalon is about the "barbarian queen" Boudica (Boudicea), so its part history and part fiction. The final battle is amazing, and very close to the real one (as per History Channel, heheh). Other thing i like is the reincarnation of characters. They start as priests or such in Atlantis (Web of Light/Darkness), the they fall (because of a magic stone), and end up on a "island" that eventually will be England. The story goes one , century after century, talking about bards, druids, magic by vocal forces, the construction of the Stonehenge, all the way to Mists.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2018 13:14:31 GMT -6
Hehe, I hope those are good. For all the weird and extremely bewildering issues about her personal life*, MZB was a brilliant writer, and the scope the series is surely extremely ambitious. This being good, especially the Atlantis myth being treated in a dignified way, would be a cool thing. - I'll see if I can finish "Mists", and then I'll check whether the rest of the series is available, say, in audiobook format, I think.
*So the backstory to Marion Zimmer-Bradley is that she was married to a convicted child abuser, and that her children posthumously (?) made claims of rape and abuse against her. That is as terrible as things can get, and while my personal understanding of the facts is that the allegations against her remain unproven, let's just say that it curbs my enthusiasm to really get into this author's work. Y'all know perhaps how much of Thieves' World fanboy I am, so MZB would be a natural writer to follow, especially since so many of the TW motifs come back in her work. Can't bring myself to do it, even the allegations against her remain unproven.
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Post by rossik on Oct 29, 2018 15:29:35 GMT -6
Hehe, I hope those are good. For all the weird and extremely bewildering issues about her personal life*, MZB was a brilliant writer, and the scope the series is surely extremely ambitious. This being good, especially the Atlantis myth being treated in a dignified way, would be a cool thing. - I'll see if I can finish "Mists", and then I'll check whether the rest of the series is available, say, in audiobook format, I think. *So the backstory to Marion Zimmer-Bradley is that she was married to a convicted child abuser, and that her children posthumously (?) made claims of rape and abuse against her. That is as terrible as things can get, and while my personal understanding of the facts is that the allegations against her remain unproven, let's just say that it curbs my enthusiasm to really get into this author's work. Y'all know perhaps how much of Thieves' World fanboy I am, so MZB would be a natural writer to follow, especially since so many of the TW motifs come back in her work. Can't bring myself to do it, even the allegations against her remain unproven. Have you read Lythande? Short sword n sorcery book, and have a TW fiction on it
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2018 1:02:48 GMT -6
I read some of the stories, as part of other anthologies. Not bad, for all I could tell, even if Lythande's story suffers a bit from the character's eventual removal from Sanctuary. I haven't come around to buying the original book, though, if only because I am more of a fan of Andrew Offutt's creations than of the other TW characters. - For example, checking for used books on the web, I bought "Swords Against Darkness III", even though there were other TW-related titles that were in better estate, and cheaper.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2018 15:14:19 GMT -6
Probably a question for this thread: Has anyone of you ever tried Stan Nicholls and his Orcs/Blood saga? - I keep hearing that those books are pretty good, but they don't seem to have to big of a following, and are nine in total. ...And I haven't finished Paksenarrion yet.
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Post by hamurai on Dec 7, 2018 2:34:08 GMT -6
I've read the first Orcs book. It was a fast and fun read, but nothing overly creative or special. I never bothered with the rest.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2018 2:44:43 GMT -6
Yeah, seemed to me like a mix between "The Last Ringbearer" and "Warcraft 2", but with few original touches. It was released in Germany in the wake of the bombastic success of Markus Heitz' "The Dwarves". almost as a companion book to that series. My perception from a few chapters that I have read so far is that, like "The Dwarves", it's a YA book, at its core. Which is not bad, but perhaps not what I personally had been looking for. - Reading "The Grey Bastards", by Jonathan French right now, at a friend's behest: Also a book about orcs, but more complex; reminds me a bit of Steven Erikson.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2018 4:01:02 GMT -6
grrm.livejournal.com/147038.htmlSo, George Martin wrote a short story. About Jaime Lannister and Rand al'Thor kicking the shirt out of each other. Here you have it. *Continues to stare at screen, with blank expression.*
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Post by rossik on Dec 20, 2018 5:29:29 GMT -6
grrm.livejournal.com/147038.htmlSo, George Martin wrote a short story. About Jaime Lannister and Rand al'Thor kicking the nuts out of each other. Here you have it. *Continues to stare at screen, with blank expression.* So...its a Game of Rashambo
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Post by Falconer on Dec 20, 2018 13:30:07 GMT -6
grrm.livejournal.com/147038.htmlSo, George Martin wrote a short story. About Jaime Lannister and Rand al'Thor kicking the nuts out of each other. Here you have it. *Continues to stare at screen, with blank expression.* I have a certain zen about GRRM’s books. He created a really, really great world. He wrote some cool stuff about it. He never wrote the coolest parts. So I plan to play out those parts in a RPG. I’m currently working on a Westeros “OD&D Supplement” and plan to pick up the gaming where GRRM left off, or as I prefer to think of it, “5 years after A Storm of Swords.”So really at this point anything he writes is just icing on the cake. Though I notice this was written in 2010, probably soon after ADwD was officially done.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2019 16:44:27 GMT -6
Probably a question for this thread: Has anyone of you ever tried Stan Nicholls and his Orcs/Blood saga? - I keep hearing that those books are pretty good, but they don't seem to have to big of a following, and are nine in total. ...And I haven't finished Paksenarrion yet. FTR, I came around and bought the audiobook version of this one. Germany, in general, is a nation of audiophiles, and audioplays and audiobooks made in Germany are usually of outstanding quality. So, while, at worst, the experience lacks entertainment, the value of the audiobook/-play as a product by its own standards is usually worth the while. - And my verdict so far is... Surprisingly positive. "Orcs" seems like a pretty oldschool fantasy romp, with the general premise ("we're all badass orcs, and our world is basically LotR stripped down for copyright reasons") limiting its own narrative. However, within those limits, the story delivers. This book, more than anything else, might have been pretty influential with respect to the general development of modern fantasy, as the orcs of "World of Warcraft" are clearly inspired by the way that Nicholls' orcs behave and develop as a race. Not saying that this is a "must-have" title, but it is not the trainwreck that I feared it would be - at least not until now. I read Jonathan French's "Grey Bastards" last year, a book that deals with a warband of half-orcs, and that title is far better and way, way more sophisticated than Nicholls' book; if you have the choice, read French over Nicholls, any day.Still so, Nicholls remains readable/easy to listen to, so far, which is perhaps not the worst thing to say about a twenty-year-old genre title.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2019 6:17:40 GMT -6
www.goodreads.com/group/show/864626-the-redcloak-book-clubStarted a "group" page on Goodreads. Not trying to "ursurp" OD&D, but if I am going to make this a thing, then it will be, well, a thing influenced by my choices. "Redcloak" refers to the color many heroes (and villains) in my home campaign have worn. Kind of "that unique thing" about my games, regardless of setting, or ruleset. Let's make this a, uhm, thing, if you like!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2019 6:58:11 GMT -6
If, what, ten people join, I'll make a headstart and do a story-by-story review of the "Ithkar" series, for your reading pleasure. "Why on Goodreads, and not here, Rafe?" - Because I want to lure a few of my friends in, as well - people that usually don't post on traditional fora.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2019 9:54:51 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2019 2:43:36 GMT -6
Went ahead and bought this one. Arrived this morning; honestly, I am not at all about this "humble-bragging" thing, usually, but - get this one, folks! It's a bible-size book, and there are less illustrations than the name might suggest, yes. The point of this edition, though, is the same that you have with complete editions of Poe or Lovecraft - everything is stored in one place, and everything is made to be really durable. Couldn't be happier right now. Outside of audiobooks and the occasional "Prince Valiant" (and late-night "Hearthstone" card packs ) , I don't buy much stuff for myself. This one I bought. I'll admit that I am predisposed to like "Earthsea"; it's a series that has stuck with me, among other things, through the BBC audio dramas that I still consider pretty excellent. Also, I wanna be like Ged. Aaaaaaaaaaah. Emotion.
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Post by Falconer on Feb 7, 2019 11:29:06 GMT -6
Glad for you. Personally, I would have said no. Vess’s style is cartooney for my tastes; I don’t prefer omnibuses in general; and Earthsea, well, it started off okay but dropped off in my opinion. But, a nice book is always a delight, regardless of the above factors. Is the binding sewn?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2019 14:40:28 GMT -6
Glad for you. Personally, I would have said no. Vess’s style is cartooney for my tastes; I don’t prefer omnibuses in general; and Earthsea, well, it started off okay but dropped off in my opinion. But, a nice book is always a delight, regardless of the above factors. Is the binding sewn? The binding looks sewn, but I am pretty sure it's a hybrid, of sorts, as the book is pretty heavy. - Charles Vess, in turn, doesn't bug me - but it's not like I bought this book for his illustrations. - The cool thing about the omnibus is, though, that it really collects all relevant texts and short stories on Earthsea. I like this "all in one"-thing... ...Especially since I am probably not going to touch the series in a while. This is a book that I buy to keep it, not so much to read it any time soon. Because, as you say, the series took a turn for the worse around the... Fourth book? - From there, it never quite recovers, and a lot of the initial charm is lost. I am happy to read some of Le Guin's comments on the series that are included in the omnibus, but were not part of the paperback editions I read as a kid - but I still can't shake the feeling that she started this series as one thing, and finished it as another. Especially the last ever "Earthsea" story, "Firelight, very, very hard to shake for me. Still so, I remain a fan of Ged the same way I'll always remain a fan of Wedge Antilles, Menion Leah, and Sigurd the Dragonslayer. -- This book will be with be with me as long as I am me.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2019 14:43:50 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2019 6:41:19 GMT -6
After a binge on full novels (The Goblin Emperor, The 1000 Deaths of Ardor Benn, City of Lies, The Winter Road) I read the free short story Elephants and Corpses yesterday, which handles worldbuilding, character backstory and magic with a deft touch: www.tor.com/2015/05/13/elephants-and-corpses-kameron-hurley/
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2020 10:12:47 GMT -6
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