The GMG SF/Fantasy/Horror Club

[Roy Bland]

Has anyone read? What is opinion?

[DavidW]

Someone on this forum recommended Malazan Book of the Fallen a million years ago.  I would like to say that it was bwv1080?  Anyway it has become my favorite fantasy, I finished the series a few years ago.  Loved it.  A few months ago I read Erikson's sequel.  And it is great, exactly what it needed to be to stand out from the original.

[DavidW]

Well, it has been two years to post again and then watch tumbleweeds blow by this thread!

I read an excellent SF novel and a surprisingly underwhelming, mediocre one:

While this novel owes a lot to Foundation for at least the setup, the Empire is wonderfully realized and unique as far as the SF I've read. Language and intrigue follow poetry and very subtle use of language.


James SA Corey's new series is no Expanse. It has a decent but very derivative idea, weak characterization, poor pacing and a lack of a good climax. They seemed to be banking so hard on their reputation that they couldn't be bothered to make the novel stand on its own two feet.

[Roy Bland]

very good!!!

[NumberSix]

Book 5 of Sanderson's Way of Kings comes out in December. I guess I should get off my duff and finally ready Book 4 soon. 

[DavidW]

Book 5 of Sanderson's Way of Kings comes out in December. I guess I should get off my duff and finally ready Book 4 soon. 

*in comic book guy voice* actually, the first book is called Way of Kings, and the series is called The Stormlight Archive.

I will finally begin the series sometime this fall. I read Mistborn era 1 and 2 first.

[Kalevala]

The last ones that I read were:  Dreamsongs, Vol. I by George R.R. Martin and If It Bleeds by Stephen King.  Stories that stand out in my memory:  Remembering Melody and The Sandkings and Mr. Harrigan's Phone.

Also (book):  Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin [Sci Fi].

K

[DavidW]

The last ones that I read were:  Dreamsongs, Vol. I by George R.R. Martin and If It Bleeds by Stephen King.  Stories that stand out in my memory:  Remembering Melody and The Sandkings and Mr. Harrigan's Phone.

Also (book):  Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin [Sci Fi].

K

I like early Martin. His sf and horror were pretty good. In particular, I enjoyed Fevre Dream, about vampires on a riverboat, and Nightflyers, which was adapted twice (in the 80s as a movie and a few years ago as a TV series).

[Kalevala]

I like early Martin. His sf and horror were pretty good. In particular, I enjoyed Fevre Dream, about vampires on a riverboat, and Nightflyers, which was adapted twice (in the 80s as a movie and a few years ago as a TV series).

Are those two short stories.  If so, which compilations were they in?

And do try "Mr. Harrigan's Phone".

K

[DavidW]

Are those two short stories.  If so, which compilations were they in?

And do try "Mr. Harrigan's Phone".

K

Fevre Dream is a novel, and Nightflyers is a short story that I think I recall is in Dreamsongs v 2.

[Kalevala]

Fevre Dream is a novel, and Nightflyers is a short story that I think I recall is in Dreamsongs v 2.

Thanks.  I'll see if I can borrow them through my library system. 

K

[DavidW]

I read Swan Song, a post-apocalyptic novel about nuclear war and winter set on a grand stage with supernatural elements. One of my fav booktubers described it aptly as never reaching the heights of the best parts of King's The Stand but never being as bad as the worst parts of The Stand either. I really liked it. Despite the length (920 pages), it was an easy read.

[NumberSix]

*in comic book guy voice* actually, the first book is called Way of Kings, and the series is called The Stormlight Archive.

I am glad that DavidW guy got banned. What a jerk, correcting me like that and in that voice. 

[DavidW]

I finished rereading The Gathering Storm book 12 of The Wheel of Time. Even though Brandon Sanderson is using detailed notes from Robert Jordan, I think that this novel is so good because of Sanderson. It sees multiple major plot threads and character arcs completed. In each chapter either a plot is advanced, a character is developed or something exciting happens. And the ending has Sanderson's "Sanderlanche" where all the separate plot threads hit their climax simultaneously.

Rereading now that I've read several Brandon Sanderson novels... I have to say I think he is just a better writer than Robert Jordan. This novel eclipses everything that came before.

[VonStupp]

Drawing of the Three (1987)

Read the first entry of the Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger, about a year ago or so. Finally got round to its successor.

There is a major event about halfway through, and it floors me how many pages it takes Stephen King to describe what really only takes a rather short time. I am not a regular King reader, so maybe that is par for the course for the author.

The other notable feature is how King interjects nastiness unexpectedly. I cruise along reading, and then all of a sudden and out of nowhere, ickyness is thrown at me. Again, perhaps this is how King's writing works.
VS

Per the LMYW thread, I realize I haven't read any Stephen King. I avoided him mainly because I heard his writing is dense and horror isn't really my scene.

My wife picked up a random assortment of used novels back when she was with child, so I am trying my hand at SK's The Gunslinger (1982/2003) and The Eyes of the Dragon (1984).

VS

 

[Karl Henning]

The other notable feature is how King interjects nastiness unexpectedly. I cruise along reading, and then all of a sudden and out of nowhere, ickyness is thrown at me. Again, perhaps this is how King's writing works.

I've never succeeded in reading an entire King work, but I've been noticing this tic in perhaps every screen adaptation I've seen.

[JBS]

The only King book I've managed to read is The Talisman.

Significantly, he didn't do it alone: his co-author was Peter Straub.

[Jo498]

I've read 2 by King, I think. That vampire novel (Salem's lot?) I found quite disappointing, partly because the "revelation" that it's vampires seems to come as a surprise, but it doesn't. The other one was better but too long. It's about a crime/thriller writer of whom a fictional character becomes somehow real as a kind of evil twin. That one was more original, more exciting but still not good enough for me to search out more. And this was >25 years ago, nowadays I am far less interested in that kind of stuff, not at all, really. I also think horror/supernatural works generally better in short stories like short stories of Poe or MR James.

[Ganondorf]

I've never succeeded in reading an entire King work, but I've been noticing this tic in perhaps every screen adaptation I've seen.

The 'hobbling' scene in film adaptation Misery has the dubious honor of being one of the only film scenes able to make me feel sick. I generally dont get easily affected by violent movies but Jesus Christ.

[DavidW]

I've never succeeded in reading an entire King work, but I've been noticing this tic in perhaps every screen adaptation I've seen.

You hadn't seen anything then! He will include completely unnecessary, gratuitous, nasty stuff in his books that never make it to film. I think that one expects it in horror, but it is another thing to find it in what should be fantasy, which is what VonStupp is reading.

Anyway, Stephen King's prose is a regular in the menwritingwomen subreddit. He has quite the talent for the male gaze plus disgusting imagery. That is not actually a compliment btw.