What are you reading?

[SveNitoR]

Yep. Chiang has only ever written short fiction and non-fiction (about AI n struff). That's one of his claims to fame, that he's massively respected and has an impressive number of awards for someone who only ever dabbles in the short form.

Ted Chiang - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Alright, thanks.

I had hoped Exhalations could give me a taste of what his novels might be like, but since that's not the case his writing is not for me

 

[Carnifex]

I wrapped up Court of Thorns and Roses this morning, it leaned a bit too much into romance for my liking yet overall the story of humans and fae interacting and sharing the world was enjoyable. I've a bit of a wait for the next book so I might be going back to the Spenser tales.

 

[Redglyph]

Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey is a strange mix. I spent 3/4 of the book laughing at the deadpan dark humour, but the last part is more engaged, with a slightly different mood. This last part corresponds to the last two books of the series (it was first published as 5 consecutive books), but the books were published in a quick succession, so I don't think it's accidental. It must reflect the change in the main protagonist, and it feels a little strange but not in a bad way.

I enjoyed it, even though it's shorter and more casual that what I'm used to. The greater part of the book has a completely different style from Silo.

 

[Carnifex]

I made quick work of the Spenser Christmas tale, which was a good yarn. I think it's one of Parker's last manuscripts, so I know I'm getting to the point where the substitute writers will be taking over. I hope they can live up to the past stellar quality.

 

[Hurls]

Alright, thanks.

I had hoped Exhalations could give me a taste of what his novels might be like, but since that's not the case his writing is not for me

Many of his awards are for translation

 

[SveNitoR]

Many of his awards are for translation

Yeah, but since it's a short-story, I doubt I'll like it. I prefer longer investigations of philosophical and scientific matters either through a longer story or pure discussion.

 

[Hurls]

Ditto. Tried Linda Nagata?

 

[soola]

Many of his awards are for translation

Evidence would be interesting to have here.

Everything on Wikipedia aren’t translations and are the most prestigious awards for sci-fi…

 

[SveNitoR]

Ditto. Tried Linda Nagata?

No, I'll look up her writing a bit. What do you like about her style?

 

[Shagnak]

No, I'll look up her writing a bit. What do you like about her style?

I'm not who you're asking, but FWIW, I think Linda Nagata is pretty good. I've read Vast and Limit of Vision, and I have Memory but have yet to read it.
Plenty of cool stuff around nanotechnology, etc.
The ones I've read are from over 20 years ago, and I got the impression that her more recent stuff is almost military SF (but with lots of sciency stuff), but I could be wrong, or it could have been a brief phase.

 

[Shagnak]

Evidence would be interesting to have here.

Everything on Wikipedia aren’t translations and are the most prestigious awards for sci-fi…

I think @Hurls might be confusing him with Ken Liu, who has won stuff for his short fiction but is also a notable translator of SF (which is why he shares a Hugo with Cixin Liu for The Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu is the original author, Ken is the translator).

 

[soola]

I think @Hurls might be confusing him with Ken Liu, who has won stuff for his short fiction but is also a notable translator of SF (which is why he shares a Hugo with Cixin Liu for The Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu is the original author, Ken is the translator).

Figured as such.

Translating isn’t easy work either. Ken Liu is a pretty fantastic writer as well.

I interpreted @Hurls comment as an insult but all it really showed was a smallmindedness.

 

[Carnifex]

I've finished the first two Spenser books written by Atkins, who took over after the original author passed. I'd say he's doing a fine job so far, and those are tough boots to fill, imo.

I picked up Rally Cry, book one in the Lost Regiment series. I've read this series maybe a dozen times over the past thirty-four or so years, it's always a good time.

 

[duerer]

Rob Swigart - Portal
Again. Having read through Neuromancer for the nth time, I wanted something less bleak to read for the nth time.
Portal fits the bill nicely - this is a polar opposite of Neuromancer: an optimistic cyberpunk novel.
Highly recommended, especially for fans of experimental narratives.

 

[Shagnak]

Rob Swigart - Portal
Again. Having read through Neuromancer for the nth time, I wanted something less bleak to read for the nth time.
Portal fits the bill nicely - this is a polar opposite of Neuromancer: an optimistic cyberpunk novel.
Highly recommended, especially for fans of experimental narratives.

Haven't heard of this, so I looked it up on Goodreads. "Originally published as an interactive novel on computer disk in 1986". Cool.
I'll have to find this one.

Also saw this on Wikipedia:
"In April 2012, Subliminal Games launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to recreate Portal as a modern third-person adventure game. The project was cancelled in June 2012 after falling short of the funding target."
Pity!

 

[Hurls]

Evidence would be interesting to have here.

Everything on Wikipedia aren’t translations and are the most prestigious awards for sci-fi…

Hugo and most similar awards are popularity contests. Awards chosen by panels, such as the Clarke, or Kitchies, are much more about the book

Look at sad puppies to understand the bias being promoted

 

[Hurls]

I'm

I think @Hurls might be confusing him with Ken Liu, who has won stuff for his short fiction but is also a notable translator of SF (which is why he shares a Hugo with Cixin Liu for The Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu is the original author, Ken is the translator).

aware of the difference but the us popularity awards (Hugo etc) seem confused as well.

 

[Hurls]

I'm not who you're asking, but FWIW, I think Linda Nagata is pretty good. I've read Vast and Limit of Vision, and I have Memory but have yet to read it.
Plenty of cool stuff around nanotechnology, etc.
The ones I've read are from over 20 years ago, and I got the impression that her more recent stuff is almost military SF (but with lots of sciency stuff), but I could be wrong, or it could have been a brief phase.

She moved to a lot of military sf looking about 10-20 years away and implication of ai on battlefields and people. She has just gone back to long (thousands of years) in the future sf. I am not as great fan of her fantasy work.

 

[Shagnak]

aware of the difference but the us popularity awards (Hugo etc) seem confused as well

If you're aware of the difference then why type what you typed?
Please don't bring Sad Puppies into this...

 

[Hurls]

No, I'll look up her writing a bit. What do you like about her style?

Her recent military ai sf looked hard at real implications around ethics and responsibility. Another author returning to sf is Nicolla Griffith, her first two books Ammonite and Slow River in my opinion explore the impact of the past and responsibility.

If you're aware of the difference then why type what you typed?
Please don't bring Sad Puppies into this...

Because I think it's true of both of them. But I've only read 5000+ sf & fantasy, including every Hugo, nebula and Clark winner since inception.

Sad puppies very much illustrates the issue with personal attacks replacing reason argument.

Re Hugo, as an example, the number of people able to vote is far higher from the us than anywhere else, hence bias.