I am working my way through the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. I'm on The State of the Art which is an anthology. All of the books up to this point have been EXCELLENT, especially Use of Weapons which is one of the best science fiction books I've ever read. Usually with the space opera genre and perhaps sci-fi in general, you land somewhere on a sliding scale between imaginative concepts and good writing, but Banks is one of the few that hits top marks in both areas.
this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2024
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The Twisted Ones.
Not a huge fan of how this author writes, but I think it's an interesting enough mystery so far.
I just finished Lessons in Chemistry. It started of a little dark but quickly turns into a roller coaster slice of life novel that secretly weaves a series of plot points before coming to a heartwarming end.
I am starting Meditations by Marcus Aurelius with annotations for context.
I’ll probably also read a second lighter book in-between sections of Meditation cuz it’s a dense book.
Fiction: Currently reading "The empty chair" from the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffery Deaver. I am liking it so far and it is good distraction.
Non fiction: "The psychedelic explorer's guide. Safe, therapeutic and sacred journeys" by James Fadiman. Some I like, some I don't but it is interesting learning about somebody else's experience.
I just started Alaska by James Michener today. It's very good so far! I am considering rereading The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann after this. Nothing cozier than a nice delve into a good long story.
Just started Blindsight by Peter Watts. Haven't gotten far yet, but so far it seems interesting
Do RPG and skirmish games rulebooks count? If so, I'm currently spending time with Basic Role Playing and Runequest 6ed (planning a hack/homebrew/adaptation of Elder Scrolls), plus Moonstone (Goblin King Games), Conquest (Parabellum) and Warsurge on the skirmish front.
So many rulebooks! Which RPG is your favourite? I have always wanted to play them but was never able to convince enough people.
I personally prefer using Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay when it comes to medieval-ish fantasy, because it's gritty and dirty, so to speak, also more "realistic" than DnD, mainly because combat is brutal, armor simply reduces damage, all kinds of shit can get someone insane and magic is dangerous.
The last time I narrated WFRP one of the characters died in a spectacular way that I never imagined would happen
The player had a dwarf with a large ram for a mount. During one combat inside a mayor's mansion, a group of bandits attacked the ram and lethally wounded it. The player wanted to save the ram at any cost. Every character has some Fate points, which they can burn to escape certain death. I made a deal with the player, "you spend that fate point and the ram lives, BUT- I will roll this dice to determine who saves it". I made it clear that there was a risk an unwanted force could be the one responsible for keeping it alive.
Dice rolls. I smirk and describe a blue-hued raven landing atop the ram and asking the dwarf if he truly wants to save his ram. The deal is made, the raven enters the wound, which closes, but the ram's eyes give an eerie purple glow and it laughs at him. The next day, he finds out the ram started eating small critters like bunnies and squirrels. The rest of the group starts considering leaving the ram wherever.
Some time later, the ram is attracted to a profane totem and refuses to move. The dwarf tries everything to get the animal back on track and gets headbutted. Once he threatens to destroy the totem, he's attacked for real. Second round of combat, the ram charges. On the damage roll, it was a double critical (criticals only happen in damage rolls in WFRP, a 10 on the dice allows you to roll again) and the total damage was twice his total health.
In a single charge, one of the ram's horns went under his chin, piercing his cranium with such force that the head was ripped out of the body, with blood gushing from the now lifeless body. The impaled head remained as a souvenir on the horn. The rest of the group turned tail and fled, then came back later to loot the gold that was with the dwarf.
As to getting people to play with, some places you can look for players are local game stores (if there are any around where you live) or colleges. You can also try playing online via discord, it's much easier to find people looking for groups there. Getting along with everyone outside the game is definitely one of the more important aspects of keeping a group alive and going
I'm reading the Silmarillion, so I can be madder at Rings of Power
How do you keep all the name straight? I have tried couple of times but that's where I got lost. Have been planning to start again, and make a relationship / characters chart as I go along, so that I can remember who's who.
Just started with Scalzi's Starter Villain. No opinion yet. But it's short, so I should have one soon.
I just finished (audiobook) The Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno. I am not really a regular reader of horror, but I dug this one a lot.
I've checked out (via Libby) Rakesfall by Vjara Chandrasekara, but haven't started it yet.
I'm reading A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time Book 14!). I'm only about halfway through and so far it's been good but I liked the books leading up to it more. We'll see how the second half goes.
I didn't like how the books ended. Felt a bit anti-climatic to me. But at that point I was just glad that we got an ending.
Just finished King's Fairy Tale. Almost started the dark tower series, but then remembered that I needed to read Moby-Dick. So, that's what I'm reading now.
Fairy Tale was great! Talisman is another great book in that vein.
I liked it. It was a fun book. I switched gears to the lotr trilogy now. My son has been wanting to watch the movies with me, but I wanted to read the books first. Little man will have to wait a bit. Lol
I hope you like in depth descriptions of whales
Hmmm, not interested in that. Lol
Is the book fantasy? Like does the whale talk or something? Or is he just talking about going whale hunting(if that's the word).
Most of the book is descriptions of whales, whaling boats, whale skeletons etc. Some of it can be interesting from a historical perspective. I'm sure it was more interesting when people didn't have access to pictures, but it wasn't what I was expecting, that's for sure.
Well, I can't say anything but thank you for saving me a possible week or two of reading something I really have no interest in. I genuinely thought the whale would end up speaking and some fantasy stuff would occur.
Hugo's Hunchback is much the same. There is genuinely a good story, with the gypsy, the priest, Quasimodo himself, and then a good half the center of the book is just a complete history of the Notre Dame cathedral.
Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky. The book that inspired the game. All the characters are so, so wordy, but I'm enjoying it.
It's on my wishlist, didn't like the game much, but the lore seemed interesting specially near the end of first game and in second game. Though having straight up Nazis didn't feel very creative, but maybe they make more sense in the books.
There's a kind of 'repeating the mistakes of the past' theme.
Yeah, I guess that makes sense.
At the moment, I am still reading "Amadeo Bordiga in the Italian Communist Party" by Agustín Guillamón. Additionally, I have started "Anatomy of an Epidemic" by Robert Whitaker, which critiques the solutions that current psychiatry proposes in Western societies; it specifically focuses on the United States.
Oh that second book piqued my interest! Onto the downloading list it goes.
I've been thoroughly enjoying the Infinite Series by Jeremy Robinson. It is a masterwork of scifi, spanning several scifi sub-genres. Each book (that I've read so far) is only loosely connected to the other books - it reminds me a bit of early Marvel movies where at the end Nick Fury shows up. I had read Infinite, not knowing that it was the beginning of a series, and then when I found out I decided I would read the next book, but make no commitments to continue the series. I've not stopped and each book just keeps getting better.
I randomly stumbled across the dark which is much later in the series and really enjoyed it. I've now gone back and started from the beginning with infinite and will be continuing in order. I'm looking forward to it!
"Across the Dark", D for Dark, D for Death. Yeah, makes sense that's the one you stumbled upon. 😀
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Not currently reading anything but just finished The Fisherman by John Langan. I’m just here hoping someone can recommend some good horror from the last few years
I really loathed the fisherman. It felt like a bait and switch, and the framing device felt like I was being asked to accept an insane proposition. Why would they just sit there in that diner for what must have been hours listening to that guy exposit in anachronistic old-timey waffle?
I am baffled by its popularity.
Edit: conversely, and so I’m not being a negative Nancy, The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch was fun and weird and kept me interested.
I read a lot of horror! Here are some of my recent faves:
- Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
- I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
- Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones
- The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
- Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman
What did you think of Ghost Eaters? I found it a bit boring by the end. I finished it and I wouldn't say it was bad but it was a bit of a slog for me by the end.
Finished Words of Radiance, started Oathbringer.
They hit pretty hard back to back with the end of one and right out of the gate in the other.
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