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Author Topic: What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?  (Read 7054 times)

GeekEclectic

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What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #90 on: July 31, 2020, 04:16:36 PM »
Update on The Savior's Champion(yeah, I read slow . . . a book a month is a good month for me). I'm about 1/3 of the way through, and I think I've already guessed "The Twist." Including the fact that this is the kind of a book that makes use of . . . "The Twist." I hope I'm wrong, or that at least if I'm right that there's some *other* kind of twist to make it somehow stand out from other stories that use the same kind of Twist. You know? It's kind of how I felt when "The Thing" happened in the final episode of I Am Not Okay with This. I hope I'm wrong, and that it surprises me. I like recognizing patterns in media and making predictions as much as the next person, but I want to be surprised at least a little, you know? *crosses fingers*
« Last Edit: July 31, 2020, 04:17:25 PM by GeekEclectic »
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LiferGamer

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What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #91 on: August 03, 2020, 09:20:20 AM »
Quote from: arcanuum;1142461
I've been reading Man of Gold by M.A.R Barker and Battlefield Earth by the crazy alien guy L. Ron Hubbard. Luckily Battlefield Earth isn't anywhere as awful as people say it is, at least in my opinion.


Eh.  Battlefield Earth has some decent stuff in it, but at best its implausible as Gamma World with old tech somehow working fine...
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Ghostmaker

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What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #92 on: August 03, 2020, 09:59:08 AM »
The novel was way better than the movie, and I say that knowing about Hubbard's scientific incompetence and the zeerust in the book.

For starters, the only 'old tech' that works after a thousand years is strictly mechanical stuff that had been sealed in cosmoline. I think humans had to remanufacture their own ammo as well. Harriers? Jets? LOLnope.

I still wonder if John Travolta is some kind of deep-cover double agent who got Scientology to waste money on that fiasco as a way to hurt them.

Maelish

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What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #93 on: August 03, 2020, 10:57:06 AM »
The Frontlines series by Marko Kloos.  

It's military science fiction which isn't normally something I'd enjoy.  But I just finished book 6 and am eagerly waiting for book 7 to come out in December.
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danskmacabre

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What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #94 on: August 03, 2020, 06:15:36 PM »
Currently reading "Bram Stoker's Dracula".
I got a nice hardback of that novel, which also contains other stories written by Stoker.
Image below of the book.
Is a great read and whilst it was written in 1897, it reads as a modern novel.
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GeekEclectic

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Re: What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #95 on: November 26, 2020, 10:28:29 PM »
I already forgot about The Savior's Champion before remembering this thread. It was apparently just that memorable. Needless to say, the twist was exactly what I thought it was going to be. Possibly the most predictable book I've ever read. I feel like the spoiler-free reviews I checked out just plain lied to me.

So update:

On the gaming front, I got my Cortex Prime Game Handbook in the mail a while back. Severe depression being what it is, I've only made it through a small portion of it. It's good stuff, though. Very thorough. With tons of options to make something very traditional like the older Cortex material, or something less traditional like Cortex Plus Dramatic, or . . . well, a lot of things at both ends of the spectrum and anywhere in between.

And in non-gaming, I'm now reading Rhythm of War, book 4 of The Stormlight Archive. Fuck. Yes. After the past couple months, I need this so much. Only a couple chapters in, and already captivated.
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Runeblogger

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Re: What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #96 on: November 27, 2020, 10:40:53 AM »
I'm currently reading the 4th book in The Witcher series, Time of Contempt.

I'm also reading Armies & Enemies of Dragon Pass, which is like an Osprey book about this central region of Glorantha.
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Eric Diaz

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Re: What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #97 on: November 28, 2020, 02:57:13 PM »
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, and inspired me to write this post - a dark fantasy location for D&D-ish games

http://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-dead-in-woods.html

(the book's "videogame" setting is a lot more interesting than my post, TBH)
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Pat
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Re: What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #98 on: November 28, 2020, 04:52:55 PM »
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, and inspired me to write this post - a dark fantasy location for D&D-ish games

http://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-dead-in-woods.html

(the book's "videogame" setting is a lot more interesting than my post, TBH)
The video game was the dullest part of the book.

The rest of the trilogy is an interesting read, too.

Eric Diaz

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Re: What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #99 on: November 28, 2020, 05:12:47 PM »
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, and inspired me to write this post - a dark fantasy location for D&D-ish games

http://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-dead-in-woods.html

(the book's "videogame" setting is a lot more interesting than my post, TBH)
The video game was the dullest part of the book.

The rest of the trilogy is an interesting read, too.

I like the video game as a post-apoc setting.... something like Dark Sun or Tékumel.

Was considering getting the other books, will take a look, thanks!
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Pat
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Re: What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #100 on: November 28, 2020, 05:30:21 PM »
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, and inspired me to write this post - a dark fantasy location for D&D-ish games

http://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-dead-in-woods.html

(the book's "videogame" setting is a lot more interesting than my post, TBH)
The video game was the dullest part of the book.

The rest of the trilogy is an interesting read, too.

I like the video game as a post-apoc setting.... something like Dark Sun or Tékumel.

Was considering getting the other books, will take a look, thanks!
The problem is nothing much happens in the video game, except a lot of exposition, and there's no real character development. The part about the Cultural Revolution in China was much better.

The title of your blog post reminded me of the key concept of the second volume (which is also the title: The Dark Forest), but aside from the similar names, they appear entirely different.

zircher

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Re: What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #101 on: November 30, 2020, 02:40:02 PM »
If RPG books count, Battle Century G is my current title of interest.
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Mercurius

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Re: What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #102 on: November 30, 2020, 02:48:04 PM »
For fiction, I'm finishing up a re-read of Patricia McKillip's Riddle-Master trilogy, one of my all-time favorites. After that, I have too many to list, but am thinking of diving into John Crowley, Clark Ashton Smith (especially Zothique), and a bunch of others.

For non-fiction, I am reading Jamie Williamson's The Evolution of Modern Fantasy, an excellent discussion of the roots of modern fantasy, particularly as it pertains to the canonical Ballantine Adult Fantasy classics published in 1969-74.

For rpgs, I've cashed in a bunch of store credit from Noble Knight, so have a ton of new books that I'm browing through, including stuff from Symbaroum, the Forbidden Lands, the Eris Gazetteer, the Megadungeon zine, and a few mega-dungeons (including Rappan Athuk).

jhkim

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Re: What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #103 on: November 30, 2020, 03:25:08 PM »
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, and inspired me to write this post - a dark fantasy location for D&D-ish game
http://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-dead-in-woods.html

The problem is nothing much happens in the video game, except a lot of exposition, and there's no real character development. The part about the Cultural Revolution in China was much better.

The title of your blog post reminded me of the key concept of the second volume (which is also the title: The Dark Forest), but aside from the similar names, they appear entirely different.

I enjoyed The Three-Body Problem a lot. I'm currently reading The Dark Forest, but I'm struggling to keep up interest - though I'm still just in the early parts of it. In general, while the first book is a great novel, I don't think it makes for a good RPG setting. Too much of it is in big reveal, flashback, and commentary.

For fun, right now I'm greatly enjoying the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. It's a fascinating take on a non-human central character. In RPG terms, it is interesting as a mix of cyberpunk and space opera. There are mega-corporations controlling various colonies - but they're across an interstellar network of wormholes, and there are alien remnants though no intelligent aliens. For action, there's a lot of hacking/netrunning and clouds of drones, as well as traditional shooting.

zircher

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Re: What Books Are You Reading (July 2020)?
« Reply #104 on: November 30, 2020, 04:23:39 PM »
I'll second the Murder Bot Diaries.  I devoured every one of them.
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