What book did you just buy?

[chaos]

Well, Rant was awesome. Really, really well done, and the different format really adds to the story. I don't get how you go from Rant to Snuff. Eh whatever, maybe I'll pick up Pygmy but probably not, seems like it would be annoying to try and read that. It's a huge let down because Chuck was my favorite modern author, still is I guess, just for the first time I can't count on his new work being worthwhile and that's kind of depressing.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

That's some great summer reading...if the postal service will just hurry up and get them here now.

[Malice]

Just picked up V. by Thomas Pynchon and At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. Already started the Lovecraft one, really liking it so far.

[Goliath]

Bought the first three "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" children books.

Big mistake, don't do it. I also can't get into The Alchemyst and the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, for the same reason as the above...just way too childish. I don't remember Narnia ever being as childish as both these series are; I'll have to go back and check, but damn...

[Neph]

So I've been getting into the Sandman comic series recently. Just read through "Season of Mists" in one go last night because it was really engaging. Does anyone have any recommendations for a novel series in a similar vein? i.e. deep characters and story-lines that are intertwined, but not obscure.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Lucifer locking up Hell and retiring was a total "holy shit" moment because I kept expecting him to turn around and fight Dream. Then I read somewhere that a spin-off comic was written about Lucifer, so I'll probably read that in the near future.

I read Good Omens like a year ago and really enjoyed that. So I read through The Color of Magic, but that didn't quite catch my attention enough to read the next in the series. The Color of Magic just got too disjointed by the end of it, but maybe the other books in the series are better? (+nets for any help)

[Dynalisia]

The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. Good stuff, although the type of narrative wasn't really my thing.

[Goliath]

Originally Posted by Dynalisia

The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. Good stuff, although the type of narrative wasn't really my thing.

It's basically a cheater's narrative. Don't get me wrong, I love the book; I made the original thread over it when it was first released, and Pat is a great person, but past tense-story mode is the easiest thing in the damn world to write. It's his first book though, so what the hell?

[Jozu]

Just picked up Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. Its been a fucking page turner, I just cant put it down. It isnt a masterpiece of prose or anything, its basically a straightforward account by Luttrell telling the story about Operation Red Wing, which was a spec ops recon operation in the Hindu-Kush mountains of northeastern Afghanastan.

It really tugs on your heart and makes you respect how fucking elite our armed forces are, and how brave they are in the face of danger. Its a pretty sick, harrowing account of him and his Navy Seal fire team which is confronted by 150 Afghani fighters after they were compromised by a trio of goat herders.

There is also a pretty sickening video on the Operation Red Wing wiki page, showing the Afghan fighters displaying the equipment they seized from the dead SEALs. Everything from weapons to laptops, them dudes are fucking savage.

Its a must read though for anyone interested in our armed forces, or anyone who enjoys a gripping true story.

[Dynalisia]

Originally Posted by Goliath

It's basically a cheater's narrative. Don't get me wrong, I love the book; I made the original thread over it when it was first released, and Pat is a great person, but past tense-story mode is the easiest thing in the damn world to write. It's his first book though, so what the hell?

Just out of curiosity, because I'm just a consumer and not a coinnaisseur: why exactly is that the easiest kind of narrative to write?

[Nebuchadnezzar]

It's just an opinion. Some people are better at third, some are better at first, just like anything.

[Daerath]

Originally Posted by Nebuchadnezzar

It's just an opinion. Some people are better at third, some are better at first, just like anything.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi. So far it's a very interesting world he's created.

[Knucklehead]

Originally Posted by Dynalisia

Just out of curiosity, because I'm just a consumer and not a coinnaisseur: why exactly is that the easiest kind of narrative to write?

It's not. Everybody knows first person past is the easiest to write; it's how we all speak to each other. Just look at Twilight. But third person past narratives are stodgy and old-fashioned, so some say. I blame Chuck Palahniuk. For the past ten years first person present narratives have been the hip thing. I don't like it. It's all too often clunky and trite, but it's what people think is edgy. But when I'm reading first person present, I can't help but thinking of some part-time voyeur reading slam-poetry in the middle of a crowded coffee house full of goateed hipsters snapping along obliviously.

Don't get me wrong, first person present can work. It just requires a deft touch. But, honestly, perspective shouldn't matter if you have a good story to begin with.

[Auren]

Just picked up the first 6 issues of the Sandman Paperbacks on recommendation of that other thread. I also got an e-mail today from Amazon about a new paperback coming out that compiles the first 6 issues of War machine. Anyone here read those comics and what did you think of them?

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Daniel Abraham totally pussed out with a Deus Ex in the Price of Spring, some weak shit to end a four book series that was so anti-magic that way.

[T-rex]

Originally Posted by Jozu

Anyways, I havent read it yet, and everyone here has given it rave reviews, meaning I should probably go buy it today. I was just on the fence about Electric Sheep, which i heard was the foundation for BladeRunner.

Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep? is a great book. It is the novel on which BladeRunner is based, and the major differences are few. It is a decent selection from the Philip K Dick bibliography, definitely good for a first time reader of his. Not my favorite, but worth the read if you are at least a minor fan of Science Fiction. He was such a large player in the stylistic transfer away from the 'Golden Age' that it is irresponsible to not familiarize yourself with him at least a bit.


Among other books, I just bought a short story collection of Bruce Sterling's. The most interesting part thus far is the Shaper/Mechanist universe which is completely included in the book Schizmatrix Plus. It is really cool and I look forward to finishing the short stories and moving onto the novel.