Kingofpain89 wrote:MetamorphosisSigma wrote:Can't win with military SF, which is why I don't read it anymore.Even though they are far from literary masterpieces, I really enjoyed The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell and a few of John Scalzi's books. Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades were quick and enjoyable to read. Lots of stuff exploding, some decent bloody fighting, and some off-the-wall tech makes all the difference. Who needs deep characterization and feelings when you have nukes and particle beams wiping out entire cities? :twisted:
MetamorphosisSigma wrote:Can't win with military SF, which is why I don't read it anymore.
MetamorphosisSigma wrote:I find it a little ironic that on a site frequented by people who would spend hundreds on several loose leaf pages in a ziploc bag, or 1500% of retail for an adventure module signed in a different color ink by the author, high end small press books seem overpriced .
Nogrod wrote:FormCritic wrote:He wrote Starship Troopers as a commentary on the anti-war movement of the Vietnam Era. Starship Troopers actually includes multiple scenes where characters spew hippy rhetoric and other characters demonstrate how stupid their Leftist arguments are.Not to be nitpicky, buy I am pretty sure Starship Troopers was written in the late 50's and predates Hippies and the Anti-war movement. It doesn't invalidate your point though. He does skewer hippy-esque thinking and was obviously very pro-military.Zach
FormCritic wrote:He wrote Starship Troopers as a commentary on the anti-war movement of the Vietnam Era. Starship Troopers actually includes multiple scenes where characters spew hippy rhetoric and other characters demonstrate how stupid their Leftist arguments are.
MetamorphosisSigma wrote:Yeah, but dead on this time, for the most part . Aslan doesn't get a pass from me, though. Even when I was 11 and reading these, I got to the part where he surrenders himself as a sacrifice to save Edmund, and face met palm. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before that point, and it only goes downhill from there. Lewis was a hamfisted hack, IMO. And except for Dune. There's a whole lot more going on there than commentary on Islam and oil. The book may be allegorical on some level, but it's more complex than that, and there's certainly no one-to-one correspondence between people/organizations/events in the book(s) and real life. Those Fremen (free men) dudes are American-style revolutionaries of some sort, for starters...
The Fremen are great fighters and survivors, but they are wrong about just about everything else. They live on a backward world with a religion about godlike worms and a nasty, fabricated messiah tradition. They explode into jihad and inter-planetary massacre that their supposed messiah doesn't want but is powerless to stop. They upset a feudal, dynastic system that has not accounted for their existence, but they bring no freedom, no peace and no real solutions except the freedom to be considered an infidel if you do not fit their childish misconceptions about the universe.
MetamorphosisSigma wrote:.[sarcasm]Naw, that description doesn't sound like Americans and America at aaaalll.[/sarcasm] Seriously, if you read that three times fast, it sounds a little familiar, doesn't it?
FormCritic wrote:Two novels I read this week on my Nook:Use of Weapons by Iain Banks and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. The two books seem to have been written from a very similar model...although with quite different results.I can see why Slaughterhouse Five is a classic. Vonnegut manages to write an entire book with no plot, no point, no actual storyline and very little to actually say (except that all of us are weak and foolish and the concept of a hero is an illusion)...and still be brilliant. He even inserts himself into the story freely, occasionally crossing paths with his main character, without seeming hopelessly arrogant. Slaughterhouse Five is an accomplishment.
FormCritic wrote:MetamorphosisSigma wrote:.[sarcasm]Naw, that description doesn't sound like Americans and America at aaaalll.[/sarcasm] Seriously, if you read that three times fast, it sounds a little familiar, doesn't it?No, it doesn't sound like the issues of the American Revolution at all.
FormCritic wrote:I can see why Slaughterhouse Five is a classic. Vonnegut manages to write an entire book with no plot, no point, no actual storyline and very little to actually say (except that all of us are weak and foolish and the concept of a hero is an illusion)...and still be brilliant. He even inserts himself into the story freely, occasionally crossing paths with his main character, without seeming hopelessly arrogant. Slaughterhouse Five is an accomplishment.
FormCritic wrote:MetamorphosisSigma wrote:Yeah, but dead on this time, for the most part . Aslan doesn't get a pass from me, though. Even when I was 11 and reading these, I got to the part where he surrenders himself as a sacrifice to save Edmund, and face met palm. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before that point, and it only goes downhill from there. Lewis was a hamfisted hack, IMO. And except for Dune. There's a whole lot more going on there than commentary on Islam and oil. The book may be allegorical on some level, but it's more complex than that, and there's certainly no one-to-one correspondence between people/organizations/events in the book(s) and real life. Those Fremen (free men) dudes are American-style revolutionaries of some sort, for starters...Lewis is a dork, unless the reader is sympathetic to his Christian viewpoint...on which he is both subtle and profound. On a deeper level, in the Narnia novels Lewis isn't just blathering about Jesus. He has a lot to say about moral dilemmas, human nature, the cycles of history, the cynicism of the modern world versus the wonder of childhood and the nature of God.One thing to remember about the Narnia novels: They are not evangelism. They are a Christian thinker talking to other Christians about God. Everyone else is just invited along as guests.One of my favorite moments is in The Silver Chair, when a girl who is new to Narnia tries to reassure herself that Aslan wouldn't harm a young girl. Aslan responds that not only would he harm little girls, he has swallowed entire nations. God, speaking through Aslan, does not offer excuses, justifications or explanations. That isn't kid stuff. It is Lewis saying something about the nature of God that is worth discussing between adults.
Bloom wrote:Some very good short works from Vance for those who prefer The Dying Earth to The Demon Princes but which get little mention are: The Dragon Masters, The Last Castle and the excellent The Miracle Workers from Fantasms and Magics.Im reading The Island of Doctor Moreau again at the moment. I want to plant the guy on a lone mountain in my campaign.
MetamorphosisSigma wrote:Currently reading Jorge Luis Borges, making my way in meandering fashion through the stories in Ficciones ...
MetamorphosisSigma wrote:(just re-read all five Demon Princes recently
MetamorphosisSigma wrote:To my shame, I've yet to read anything by Wells other than The Time Machine, which I need to rectify soon.
MetamorphosisSigma wrote:Currently reading Jorge Luis Borges
Bloom wrote:MetamorphosisSigma wrote:(just re-read all five Demon Princes recentlyDo you prefer Demon Princes to Cugel? Im fairly surprised anyone does - I feel his language, thought and imagination are at their peak in the Dying Earth books (not to mention his PG Wodehouse influence.)
MetamorphosisSigma wrote:Currently reading Jorge Luis BorgesI only read literature in translation if there is evidence that a translation exists to do justice to the original, which is often the case. Borges is one of literary figures I haven't been lucky enough to find a translation which gives me confidence enough to read him. My test is simple - 'Is this a fucking briliiant read?' If the answer is, 'no', then I blame the translator. Maybe you could recommend one.