Whatcha reading redux.

Everything cultural, pop or otherwise. Books, movies, music, comics, poetry, random cultural geekery.
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First Shirt
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by First Shirt »

Weetabix wrote:I lost interest after Dune Messiah. Can't remember why, though.
Mainly because it got boring after that. I'd have read John Ringo's grocery list before I'd have tackled the later novels.
But there ain't many troubles that a man caint fix, with seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six."
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Weetabix
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Weetabix »

First Shirt wrote:
Weetabix wrote:I lost interest after Dune Messiah. Can't remember why, though.
Mainly because it got boring after that. I'd have read John Ringo's grocery list before I'd have tackled the later novels.
Cheap instant coffee?! Oh, John Ringo, no! :lol:
Note to self: start reading sig lines. They're actually quite amusing. :D
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randy
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by randy »

I read Children of Dune, primarily because it was serialized in Analog magazine and I was a subscriber. Never considered going further.
...even before I read MHI, my response to seeing a poster for the stars of the latest Twilight movies was "I see 2 targets and a collaborator".
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dfwmtx
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by dfwmtx »

Dune Messiah seems to be the stopping point for most readers. It just gets boring after that book. Read the Wikipedia summaries if you want to know how it ends; you'll thank me for saving the wasted time in your life.
"Arms are honor; slaves have neither."

"I am Chaos, I am alive...and I tell you that you are free!" -Eris Discordia
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First Shirt
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by First Shirt »

Monster Hunter: Grunge a collaboration between John Ringo and Larry Corriea. Not a combination I would have picked, and not entirely sure how it's all going to work out, since the main character is not like any of Larry's previous main characters. But it's fun, so far.
But there ain't many troubles that a man caint fix, with seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six."
Lindy Cooper Wisdom
Rich Jordan
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Rich Jordan »

Book sale again. I found H. Beam Piper's "The Fuzzy Papers" (a first edition hardcover with jacket in decent shape) next to Scalzi's "Fuzzy Nation", his 'reboot' of the storyline.

Scalzi really bugs me. He is actually a good writer; his prose is tight, stories engaging... "Old Man's War" was flat awesome. But the guy is so full of anger and I've learned the last few years, blazing contempt for those who don't agree with and follow fairly leftist doctrine, and it bleeds out in the Fuzzy story in the massive changes he made to Piper's universe. Multi planetary corporations, disgraced protagonists, inbred 'families of wealth' with generational power, nobody is just a decent person.

Piper's work had some points that rub wrong now after re-reading it. Fuzzies survive as small-clan-based wandering hunter-gatherers with toolmaking skills (bone and wood), are obviously capable at surviving, working together, etc. But the response once they are declared sapient is for .gov to start 'adopting them' out to humans, and their life attitude described as 'Fuzzies just want to have fun' and they have the mentation of 8-10 year old humans. Likely this was aimed at younger readers, but it still seems an odd way to treat a truly sapient being.

Piper's Federation, based on this and other books, sounds like a place a lot of this boards' membership could be happy living. Honorable and duty-driven military, decent people who are actually decent and not just horribly flawed people who occasionally do the right thing, 'Rule of Law' that matters and is supported... sure there are bad people, but they don't drive and dominate the story, or the Federation. Piper was also a firearm enthusiast, and it shows in this story. He also has no problem with killing them what needs killing; the protagonist has a reputation as someone you don't mess with, and law enforcement is clearly ok with the results because he _is_ a good guy and the actions were justified. Come on in, hang up your gunbelt and have a drink! A very Western ethos.

Scalzi's colonial universe is clearly more problematic; the law and its systems are flawed and have to be 'gamed', the giant corporation is seriously likely to win unless everyone stoops to their level, the good guys are kinda bad (just not as bad as the really bad ones)... and Scalzi is apparently not a gun person so even on this dangerous colonial world there's little mention made. Scalzi's colonial world is full of New York/European ethos.

I'll take the Federation, thanks, even if its a little unrealistically decent given all the humans in it.

So I'm glad I read it but Fuzzy Nation got donated to charity, while The Fuzzy Papers takes a place on our shelves, replacing the two badly worn paperbacks.
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Netpackrat
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Netpackrat »

Netpackrat wrote:I'm most of the way through "C Stories" by Jeff Cooper. The first of several books my brother and his wife gave me for my birthday.
Finished that, and then read "A Long Time Until Now" by Mad Mike. Not really reading anything now... I'd been working my way through "Fry The Brain" for a while but the author kind of lost me when he started presenting the JFK assassination conspiracy theory stuff as though it were established fact.

I have one of BS Levy's racing novels waiting along with some other stuff but not sure what I am going to read next.
Cognosce teipsum et disce pati

"People come and go in our lives, especially the online ones. Some leave a fond memory, and some a bad taste." -Aesop
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Netpackrat
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by Netpackrat »

Oh, and Fuck Scalzi. Not interested in reading anything of his even for free.
Cognosce teipsum et disce pati

"People come and go in our lives, especially the online ones. Some leave a fond memory, and some a bad taste." -Aesop
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First Shirt
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by First Shirt »

I've muddled through a bit of Scalzi's stuff (for free) enough to convince me that I'm never going to pay for it.
But there ain't many troubles that a man caint fix, with seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six."
Lindy Cooper Wisdom
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dfwmtx
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Re: Whatcha reading redux.

Post by dfwmtx »

I've only read "Red Shirts" and the short story of his in the "Black Tide Rising" short story collection. What's the most odious Scalzi works, the ones that would get me on this "Oh, that's why he sucks!" page?
Like I said, only read two bits of his, but I'm impressed by his work on a technical level. Few people every write a decent 2nd person POV, and doing an entire story in dialog with no other narration or exposition is pretty good too.
"Arms are honor; slaves have neither."

"I am Chaos, I am alive...and I tell you that you are free!" -Eris Discordia
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