What are you reading right now?

[Alexander Thaut]

I think his attitude on tech has changed in recent years. I've heard somewhere about his switch to a word processor (or maybe it was Asimov...) but he's on Twitter and sometimes annoying.
I would of killed to have read Asimov's mags when they were coming out, I'm sad that form of science fiction print media has all but died out.

I think we still have mags but they're like twice a year and full of modern idpol "diaspora", iirc.

 

[Gilgamesh]

I think we still have mags but they're like twice a year and full of modern idpol "diaspora", iirc.

I’ve participated in competition and have won awards for my writing in university, and we’re always encouraged to submit our piece to a journal or magazine after the fact if the school hadn’t published us first.
There are tons and tons and TONS of journals and periodicals that exist for you to publish in, but you’re probably going to have to apply to like 50 until one accepts you. Still, most of these are for things more fancy, either very serious realistic fiction or creative non fiction. I’ve never seen anything sci-fi or fantasy published by these journals (although I didn’t write in those genres so maybe I’m biased)
Sci-fi periodicals do still exist, but are filled to the brim with woke slop and stories that just recount someone’s EVE Online shipping run or DND session.
We will never get sci-fi equal to Foundation or Neuromancer serialized on release again

 

[Suel Forrester]

Dark Tower part 3

 

[Bulk Bogan]

Decision at Thunder Rift. Gotten into BattleTech in a big way recently and I love my trashy genre fiction.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I’ve participated in competition and have won awards for my writing in university, and we’re always encouraged to submit our piece to a journal or magazine after the fact if the school hadn’t published us first.
There are tons and tons and TONS of journals and periodicals that exist for you to publish in, but you’re probably going to have to apply to like 50 until one accepts you. Still, most of these are for things more fancy, either very serious realistic fiction or creative non fiction. I’ve never seen anything sci-fi or fantasy published by these journals (although I didn’t write in those genres so maybe I’m biased)
Sci-fi periodicals do still exist, but are filled to the brim with woke slop and stories that just recount someone’s EVE Online shipping run or DND session.
We will never get sci-fi equal to Foundation or Neuromancer serialized on release again

fuck that I'd kill to see something on par with like Lin Carter or Gardner Fox, let alone Heinlein or Bradbury.

I've been told that I'm capable at writing, but I have a need to get someone to look over the work and possible edit it all.

Anyways I've been in a personal slump and haven't read much of the novel or non-fic I've been meaning to finish. Stuffed a bunch of short fiction by Fritz Leiber down at 3 AM because that worked out. God, he's quickly becoming a personal favorite of mine. Why haven't I heard of this guy before? Hell, why isn't he as well known any more? He seems to execute everything very well and it's enjoyable. Plus, he apparently was a Lovecraft circle member and that makes a lotta stuff "click" about the way he writes.

Also read a bunch of Robert Sheckley stories. Good writer. Got the NESFA short story collection for 6 bucks which was a steal even if there's a minor condition issue.

Honestly at this rate I'll probably grab as many NESFA (and SFBC) collections as I can if they're cheap. Sub-10 bucks for 500ish pages of good shit is nice if it's someone I enjoy. I know they also published all of Cordwainer Smith's works but the Rediscovery of Man is like 30+ bucks and Norstrilia is like 20. I'll wait on that. It's probably worth it though.

Also surprised to find out that Alfred Bester's works are all still in print lmfao. A buddy of mine popped up with The Stars, My Destination and Demolished Man in these neat black hardcovers.

 

[Commissar Fuklaw]

I've been listening to Raymond E Feist's new book A Darkness Returns since its release on Thursday and I'm about 1/3rd of the way through. So far I'm enjoying it a lot more than the last two books. I get the feeling after the first Firemane book he wanted to skip back to Midkemia and that resulted in half arseing the next two. Holy shit do I have issues with the plot resolutions in Master of Furies that would've been so, so easy to fix.

Since he's a business man and likes money, he probably realised his readers weren't in for this new setting and decided to bridge the two together to keep the readership who's been reading out of habit since the pinnacle of the series, the Serpantwar, ended.

 

[AnOminous]

Stuffed a bunch of short fiction by Fritz Leiber down at 3 AM because that worked out. God, he's quickly becoming a personal favorite of mine. Why haven't I heard of this guy before? Hell, why isn't he as well known any more?

The Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books are one of the best fantasy series ever, just rollicking good fun, and unlike a lot of these, doesn't really go down in quality as it goes on. If you played a lot of D&D you probably encountered Leiber as the background draws heavily from his writings.

You're All Alone/The Sinful Ones (he rewrote this multiple times under one of these two names) is a solipsism/philosophy zombie story but probably one of the only one of these that is actually well done.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

The Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books are one of the best fantasy series ever, just rollicking good fun, and unlike a lot of these, doesn't really go down in quality as it goes on. If you played a lot of D&D you probably encountered Leiber as the background draws heavily from his writings.

You're All Alone/The Sinful Ones (he rewrote this multiple times under one of these two names) is a solipsism/philosophy zombie story but probably one of the only one of these that is actually well done.

You're All Alone/The Sinful Ones is a book I've been trying to find second-hand for a reasonable price.

It'll take a while. I'm probably gonna wind up getting a copy of the Wanderer and the Changewar Stories next year. I'm someone that appreciates a good story first and foremost, but Leiber's execution with the prose and atmosphere are just excellent.

Man if this is what ordinary guys read back in the day for fun, no wonder they say the older generations were more literate.

 

[Skyline]

I read Butcher's Crossing recently. The most enjoyable parts for me where those set in the valley. I have a soft spot for stories that are about surviving in a harsh environment. On the other hand, I felt somewhat disappointed that it wasn't more similar to Blood Meridian, but by my own fault, I shouldn't have read a book wanting it to be something else.

I haven't read Stoner yet, now I want to.

 

[sarna]

The Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books are one of the best fantasy series ever, just rollicking good fun, and unlike a lot of these, doesn't really go down in quality as it goes on.

It does get appreciably hornier. But yeah, even when Leiber is into his dirty old man phase he can still spin a yarn.

Dark Horse still has the Marvel Comics adaptation of the series in print, drawn by a young Mike Mignola, worth checking out for anyone who enjoyed the prose stories.

 

[part timer]

Picking the Devil’s Flute Murders back up after putting it on temporary hold, it’s a nice little Japanese murder mystery novel by Seishi Yokomizo

 

[Bland Crumbs]

Almost finished with a Cryptonomicon reread.

Revisiting '99 Stephenson has been nice. I will probably reread something else of his next.

 

[ScurvyRat]

Just finished up The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie.
Great read. Really enjoyed it. It was a slow burn so I had a little trouble getting into it. The character driven writing of Abercrombie really shines through in this one. I have a co-worker who has also been reading so I get lots of discussion about it. As a big fantasy fan, I really like the grimdark low magic setting of the world.
He also has a way of making me think "oh no how will this fall apart" when anything good happens to the characters. It really is just a world of bad stuff happening to good people.

Hyperion Cantos

How are you liking it?

Been meaning to go back and read some of the Chuck Palahniuks novels I hadn't read yet. Just finished Rant.

Fucking weird ass book but I liked it. The format makes it really easy to get immersed but I do think it could have dropped the NAME - SHIFT - PROFESSION thing after a bit, at least for main characters.

The premise is utterly psychotic and didn't end up being anything like what I imagined it would be based on the back of the book. In a good way mostly. I think a lot of the stuff with Echo could have been cut. As usual with Palahniuk lots of weird little factoids spread throughout.

I'd put it up there with some of Palahniuks better stuff like Fight Club and Survivor. Definitely the most fucked up version of a time travel story I've seen. Are any of his newer books any good? I've only heard bad things.

I really liked Choke! Highly recommend. Palahniuk is a big inspiration for me and I love how his books are short and sweet.

The God Deletion by Richard Dawkins and The Sexual Contract by Carole Pateman

lmao fag

 

[DoomsdayElite]

 

[Gilgamesh]

Almost finished with a Cryptonomicon reread.

Revisiting '99 Stephenson has been nice. I will probably reread something else of his next.

Is Cryptonomicon good? I’ve wanted to read more Stephenson but haven’t after Snow Crash

onto All the Pretty Horses now , very good but Cormac’s style of dialogue throws me off
Also picking through The Cheese and the Worms, an essayish thing about the in depth life of a 16th century Italian miller who rejected many Catholic beliefs, and had an interesting spin to things. His life and thoughts are so well documented because in this Inquisition they were required to write down everything the accused said.

 

[Bland Crumbs]

Is Cryptonomicon good? I’ve wanted to read more Stephenson but haven’t after Snow Crash

onto All the Pretty Horses now , very good but Cormac’s style of dialogue throws me off
Also picking through The Cheese and the Worms, an essayish thing about the in depth life of a 16th century Italian miller who rejected many Catholic beliefs, and had an interesting spin to things. His life and thoughts are so well documented because in this Inquisition they were required to write down everything the accused said.

Depending on what you liked about Snow Crash you might like Cryptonomicon. It is much more grounded in reality.

Of Neal's stuff I can highly recommend that and The Baroque Cycle(be prepared to read for awhile because it is around 2300 pages over three books).

The Diamond Age is definitely worth reading.

Zodiac is...meh.

Anathem is long. It is really long and you really feel it but I kind of like it.

Reamde and Seveneves were tough to finish. Not really sure about his last two books.

I really feel like he peaked hard with The Baroque Cycle and honestly it is enough.

 

[Betonhaus]

Finally getting around to reading Earth Dreams, the third Book in Janet Morris's Kerrion Empire trilogy. It's a difficult read not only because it uses obscure terminology, but because the epub is a OCR transcription of a scanned pdf and it has multiple errors, like typos and extra line breaks in the middle of sentences - and even words. Trying to fix my copy as I go

 

[AnOminous]

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The title story is one of the best SF short stories ever written. And the rest aren't too shabby either.

Is Cryptonomicon good? I’ve wanted to read more Stephenson but haven’t after Snow Crash

I am probably a weird person but I read and loved Cryptonomicon and have never read Snow Crash. I read it in a phase of reading gigantic incomprehensible novels like Gravity's Rainbow and Foucault's Pendulum.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

View attachment 6276128

I've been meaning to get a copy someday, but I'm waiting to find it in the wild or get lucky in an ebay lot that gets me a bunch of good asimovs like this at a deal.

So far I've got the Foundation trilogy, The Gods Themselves, and the first volume of "The Collected Fiction of Asimov" that's got Pebble in the Sky/Ends of Eternity/The Earth is Room Enough in it. I'll read the Foundation trilogy this year, at least.

I wish they published all of Asimov's works in a set. I'd totally buy them.

 

[AnOminous]

I wish they published all of Asimov's works in a set. I'd totally buy them.

He literally wrote more than 500 books. It would be a very huge set.