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What are you reading? |
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seerauna |
Mar 17 2009, 10:30 PM
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Finder
Joined: 18-June 08
From: Nashville
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QUOTE(The Metal Mallet @ Mar 17 2009, 02:40 PM) Well this is a forum about a fantasy-type game. I wouldn't be surprised if fantasy novels are the preferred genre of fans of this game. For the most part, all I usually read is fantasy though recently I've been checking out popular sci-fi books as well.
Fantasy is almost all I read too, but I do read some others. I've read Twilight and the Inheritance series. I loved them, especially Twilight .
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The arrow flies to kill From the string it races It’s only moments until, It strikes. Shadow in Darkness- My first ongoing FanFic!
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jack cloudy |
Mar 17 2009, 11:02 PM
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Master
Joined: 11-February 06
From: In a cold place.
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I used to be a fantasy junkie in my early days, though nowadays that has been pretty much fully replaced by sci-fi junkiness. For example, I've recently come into the situation where I can buy books as I please. With moderation, although I've thrown over a hundred euros at it by now. Err...am I becoming addicted? Then again, those hundred euros are spread out over more than thirty books and some of it went into education books. And I guess my personall motto is also to blame. "If it's a good book, better buy the whole series in one go before some sneaky honoured user runs off with parts 3 and 5." I swear though, it's amazing what kind of stuff you can find in the used section. Books from all the great ones and the more obscure ones. Often even in pristine quality! By comparison, the brand-new section is just filled with Star Wars novels based on the last film, the last (and only the last) book in the Wheel of Time series and the latest reprint of Lord of the Rings. All that, fills half a rack. The used section barely makes it to two racks. One of those racks is filled with nothing but the older reprints of Tolkien. The guy even gets his own section. Man, I know that he's been pretty influential but I think that it's now getting a bit too crazy. Anyway, the closest to fantasy in my personal library would be the John Carter of Mars series. I got the first three books in the series for the price of one. Awesome. I think it's sword and sorcery to be more specific. Now getting back on topic. I have not yet started reading, but am planning to read: Hyperion, by Dan Simmons. I've read the sequel to it years ago in the library and while confusing as heck, it did have its share of moments that made me go "HOLY CRAP, THAT'S AWESOME!" I've also read Endymion which is supposed to be the sequel to the Hyperion series, but that one only managed to confuse me. Still, it was nice to see the Shrike, aka 'the bad guy' from Hyperion turn into the totally awesome silent saviour and stuff. Speaking of which, I remember a conversation I had a few years ago with some friends. Basically, we were trying to decide on the greatest badass in sci-fi. For a while, Darth Vader led because of his calm and ruthless behaviour, and his awesome mask. But when we moved onto less well known badasses, we eventually settled on the following. The Shrike is the ultimate badass ever, period. I mean, we're talking here about a three metres tall...thing made out of nothing but indestructible beyond razorsharp spikes, blades, barbed wire etc. Add in four arms (I think, the covers only ever show two), two creepy red glowing eyes, bullet-time that makes Neo go "That's impossible!" and a habit of standing still just long enough to catch a grenade to the face, just so it can watch people crap their pants when they realize said grenade didn't do a damn thing. Oh, and then there is the gigantic tree-version of itself which it uses to impale its victims on. The victims never die and are doomed to suffer for eternity. So yeah, he's either badass, or some sort of god of hell. Your choice. It kind of makes me wonder how Simmons ever came up with it.
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Fabulous hairneedle attack! I'm gonna be bald before I hit twenty.
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canis216 |
Mar 18 2009, 04:18 AM
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Knower
Joined: 28-March 06
From: Desert canyons without end.
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Heh, I don't read fantasy at all. A lot of Ed Abbey's awesome anarchistic wilderness-centered non-fiction and novels, a fair brace of "nature writing" non-fiction (Aldo Leopold, Craig Childs, Terry Tempest Williams, etc.), and a passel of Tony Hillerman's southwest-centered mysteries, but no fantasy (or sci-fi, for that matter). I think I'm a bit of an anachronism on TES-related forums.
Currently re-reading Abbey's Black Sun, by the way. As he writes in the Preface:
Black Sun is a novel about love. And about sex, and the forest, and love under the sun in the forest, and about disappearance. The vanishing of a loved one. About mystery, that is, and the bewildering grief of death. Like most honest novels, it is partly autobiographical, mostly invention, and entirely true. I wrote this book in four weeks, hacking away on a borrowed typrewriter, at night, after work, in a strange place in Arizona.
Yes, and I have spent many a summer in what the Forest Service calls a "fire lookout". A tower in the woods. Far away from all that sustains sanity. The voice that speaks in this book is the passionate voice of the forest, that sound the wind makes wailing through the yellow pines. You'll see what I mean. The madness of desire, and the joy of love, and the anguish of final loss--so much, and no more, was my modest ambition in the creation of the book Black Sun.
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Wolfie |
Mar 22 2009, 12:34 AM
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Mage
Joined: 14-March 05
From: Dublin, Ireland
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So, bought and read Feist's "Rides a Dread Legion" the other day, and I gotta agree with Alex... good book, but something seems lacking compared to the earlier ones. One thing I was glad to see is that there wasn't any further retconning of multiple trivial to semi-important events. And I'll definitely say that there was certain events at the end of the book that had me double checking to make sure I hadn't mistaken what I just read.
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D�anaim smaoineamh, d� bhr� sin, t�im ann - Descartes Only the dead have seen the end of war ~ Plato Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed. - G.K. Chesterton EnsamVarg
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Olen |
Apr 4 2009, 05:15 PM
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Mouth
Joined: 1-November 07
From: most places
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Well I finished he Stand which took me longer to read than any other book I think. It was excellent (barring the ending), well realised from its principal and well done. But I think the uncut edition was madness, King simply waffled too much for my tastes and I got bored at points. Still generally very good, especially towards the end once it was done with milling around. The end itself was a bit disappointing I thought, it wasn't that satisfying and then drew out a bit to far after the main conflict was done with.
Now I'm reading Iain M Banks, Consider Phlebas. Banks is my favourite author, at least when writing as Iain M Banks - ie SF, when he writes as Iain Banks I find him a bit too obscure. Its quick moving and, like all his books, is full of really cool ideas. I'm enjoying it so much I think I'll follow it with all the other 'culture' novels.
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Look behind you and see an ever decreasing number of ghosts. Currently about 15.
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Kiln |
Apr 11 2009, 09:19 AM
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Forum Bard
Joined: 22-June 05
From: Balmora, Eight Plates
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Yeah its odd that I'm reading anything, I usually don't have time to sit and turn a few pages these days but I'm reading a book inspired by Halo...yes the video game. I know I'm a dork but "The Fall of Reach" has really captured my attention.
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He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee. - Friedrich Nietzsche
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seerauna |
Apr 21 2009, 12:59 PM
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Finder
Joined: 18-June 08
From: Nashville
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Just started Jurassic Park by Michael Crighton. I've seen the movie but will probably get a few surprises along the way, because the movies never stick to the book do they? Anyways, I think it will most likely be a good book.
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The arrow flies to kill From the string it races It’s only moments until, It strikes. Shadow in Darkness- My first ongoing FanFic!
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Wolfie |
Apr 21 2009, 11:42 PM
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Mage
Joined: 14-March 05
From: Dublin, Ireland
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Just bought and read Dan Abnett's Brothers of the Snake recently, a series of interconnected short stories follwing the exploits of a squad of Iron Snakes pace marines, and more specifically the sergeant of the squad, Priad. Great read, if you're into that sort of thing... which I am Reading Heinlein's Starship Troopers now, but since I've read it so often now, it's more a read a page or two when bored than actively trying to get it finished kinda thing. Fantastic book though
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D�anaim smaoineamh, d� bhr� sin, t�im ann - Descartes Only the dead have seen the end of war ~ Plato Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed. - G.K. Chesterton EnsamVarg
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Romanian_Dude2563 |
Apr 22 2009, 09:31 PM
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Associate
Joined: 9-August 05
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Hey this is like my first post here! Time sure has past.
Ok, I've decided to focus my attention for the following year exclusively on urban fantasies or modern fantasies. I'm curently writting three short stories in this theme so I want to get in it as much as I can. One combines Sherlock Holmes with The Master and Margharita and Memento in early 20th century Moscow. One is placed in modern New York, I'm not sure about the theme yet, but I've got most of the main characters shaped up and it has the dark goth feel of World of Darkness. And the last one is in 1921 Bagdad, the theme is the story of Alladin backwards in which a genie (I don't know how to shape him up yet) searches for his master. I might change the location to somewhere in China to stay true to the Arabian Nights, but I want to use ancient arab folklore in the story, so I'm using Bagdad during the british rule.
I'm a big Neil Gaiman fan, so I've read Neverwhere, American Gods and Graveyard book. Then there's The Master and Margharita that did a great job at combining fantasy with 20th century Moscow making it funny without overdoing, but the last 100 or so pages nearly ruined the whole book for me. I guess I could add Good Omes in this lot, but the book doesn't take itself seriously so it doesn't count. I'm going to go through Nine Princes in Ambers soon. And I'm planing on buying a China Mieville soon.
What other books focus on old folklore like American Gods does? And what other urban fantasy books should I read?
This post has been edited by Romanian_Dude2563: Apr 22 2009, 09:32 PM
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milanius |
Aug 27 2009, 10:50 PM
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Agent
Joined: 14-February 05
From: 2.5m x 3.5m
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Zlo činiti od zla se braneći, tu zločinstva nema nikakvoga
Petar II Petrovic Njegos (1813-1851)
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saqin |
Sep 25 2009, 04:22 PM
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Agent
Joined: 22-September 09
From: Stockholm, Sweden
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I have soon finished reading "The wounded land" by Stephen Donaldson, and is thinking of which to read next, as I have got quite a selection of books.
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I no longer use this acoount since I can't do anything with it. New username: Saquira
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