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Messages - WriterDan

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76
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: June 15, 2010, 04:32:34 AM »
Didn't much care for Snow Crash.  Lots of cool ideas, I just never got into the book.  Cryptonomicon was really good.  I also tried Quicksilver.  Didn't much care for it though, and bailed after a few hundred pages.

I bailed on the Painted Man after about 60 pages.  Pretty poor writing and failed my 10% rule (hook me by then).

Stopped reading Watcher of the Dead.  Will have to pick it up later.

I'm about halfway through Red Wolf Conspiracy, and conflicted.  Great writing, but seriously hard to get into any of the characters.

I also just bought John Scalzi's God Engines.  Thought it looked pretty good and was only $5 on my Kindle.  Woo-hoo!  Amazon reviews look pretty split.  Will have to clear things up for them sometime in the near future.

77
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: June 08, 2010, 05:25:02 AM »
Okay, so yes, the fact that the climax came through a freaking letter was horrific.  King to you.  In fact, that point was the "one problem" that I had with the book.  Well, with the last third or so actually.  :D  Letters and story summary overcome the actual stuff thats more character interactive, which really bothered me.  I was pretty disappointed the first time through because of this fact.  And the ending just felt blah because of it.  This time through though, I kind of stepped back and just enjoyed the way the thing was written.  The ending bothered me a bit, but not so much this time.  Though there is something that is important:  Basso just got his sister's son killed.  He loved his sister more than anything or anyone.  Maybe that was why he gave up?  Who knows.  It's not in the book, as some would say.  As a whole, I thought the story was decent, and I really enjoyed the way it was written.  Of course, if it comes to picking a book with a decent story with great writing OR a great story with mediocre writing, I'll take the first option every time.  Why?  Mostly because the way a story is written is such an integral part of the reading experience for me.  I completely agree with Steve about The Company though.  That ending was just horrible.  No matter how good the book could have been.  Yeah.

And huzzahs to you as well, Nessa.  Thou art an Elitist.  While I'm only coming in somewhere around third place...  8)

78
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: June 07, 2010, 10:47:35 PM »
Leviathan Wept has been delayed.   :'(  But it's only for 2-3 weeks.  I guess I can manage.

Quote from: Nessa on May 20, 2010, 05:30:08 PM
Quote from: WriterDan on May 20, 2010, 04:20:24 PM
Put it down for a bit to re-read The Folding Knife though.

So....the ending makes sense to you? You liked it?

After finishing my re-read, I have to ask:  What was wrong with the ending?  :)  I thought it was fully satisfying.  All in all, I enjoyed the book more this time through than I did the first.

Quote from: Silk on June 07, 2010, 08:12:40 PM
Haha. Be nice, Dan!

I guess there are two ways to interpret my sarcasm there.  In this case, I meant it in the most positive way possible.  As in:  Who wouldn't be interested?  Not:  Who would?

79
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: June 07, 2010, 06:53:14 PM »
Quote from: Bookstore Guy on June 07, 2010, 03:50:41 PM
And if anyone cares, the winners of the Elitist Book Reviews contest will be announced today.  Sometime.

As if.

80
Everything Else / Re: New Writer Advances
« on: May 20, 2010, 11:13:09 PM »
I tried to read The Fifth Sorceress once, and even though it was a long time ago, the only thing I remember about it was that it was bad.  Wizard's First Rule was actually a pretty good book.  It's the ones that come after it that devolve so quickly into rubbish.  Unfortunately, Tor has signed him back up for more books.  Guess there are enough people that will buy his stuff.  I've been forever cured of that certain malady, however.

81
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: May 20, 2010, 11:04:15 PM »
Quote from: Nessa on May 20, 2010, 05:30:08 PM
Quote from: WriterDan on May 20, 2010, 04:20:24 PM
Put it down for a bit to re-read The Folding Knife though.
So....the ending makes sense to you? You liked it?

As Steve said,  I love to read KJ Parker.   8)  Although, I have to admit that the first time that I read this one I was left a bit...flat, shall we say.  I'm actually looking forward to going through this one for a second time.  I'm hoping that my rose-colored glasses will be  a little less tinted this time, and that I'll be able to develop a more unbiased opinion of it.  Taht being said, I'm about 20 pages into the re-read and thoroughly loving it.  lol.  She does character development right; if not character consistency or justification perfectly.  I wasn't thoroughly impressed with the ending of The Company, though I fully enjoyed that story.  Yes she has a number of imperfections inherent in her books, but the things that she does well, she does really well, imho.  Honestly, the only reason I'm re-reading this one so soon after the first time through (March 1st) is because of a little impetus that has arisen involving a particular book review site I frequent...

Quote from: Bookstore Guy on May 20, 2010, 08:11:59 PM
On a side note, WriterDan, I assume you ordered Parker's new novella from SubPress?  As well as the Daniel Abraham collection?

You scared me there for a bit.  Thought they'd already been released!   :o  So, yes, I'm planning on getting a copy of both of them.  Up until a couple weeks ago though, I'd been without funds to do so.  Thank heaven for birthdays!  Now I'm not-so-broke, instead of just broke.   ;D  Blue & Gold isn't out until December, but I need to order Leviathan Wept today.  Thanks for the reminder, Steve.  

82
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: May 20, 2010, 04:20:24 PM »
Quote from: Recovering_Cynic on May 14, 2010, 08:40:20 PM
I finally picked up Memories of Ice.  It has been sitting on my bookshelf for the last six months or so, but I had a hard time picking it up after Deadhouse Gates (which left a bad taste in my mouth).  I'm only a few dozen pages in and I'm already liking it better than its prequel.

Memories of Ice was, for me, the easiest of the first three to get into.  Think I felt really grounded by about page 75, when for the others it was more like two or three times that many pages before I really understood what was going on.  Memories is worth every minute that you put into it.

I'm  about 3/4th of the way through Twelve and loving it.  Put it down for a bit to re-read The Folding Knife though.

83
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: May 12, 2010, 11:45:47 PM »
Finished Color of Magic.  It was fun.  I definitely won't be crossing Pratchett off my list of authors to read.

And Twelve is awesome so far.  There was a bit of semi-forgivable infodump at the beginning to tell about the MC's life, but now I'm hip-deep in the story and loving it.  Dude knows how to evoke mood.  Wow.  Hoping it'll keep getting better.

84
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: May 06, 2010, 06:40:45 AM »
Quote from: Bookstore Guy on May 03, 2010, 04:34:12 PM
Quote from: WriterDan on May 01, 2010, 04:42:36 AM
Finished Infoquake.  Really good.  I was really surprised at how much I liked it because it all centered around business, of which I'm not a big fan of the details.  But it was good.

Told ya so.

lol.  Yes.  You did.  I shall doff my hat to the master.

<<doffing of hat>>

I'll definitely be continuing that series.

Quote from: Bookstore Guy on May 05, 2010, 04:01:05 PM
Finished DRAGONFLY FALLING, WWW: WAKE, and THE OSIRIS RITUAL.

DRAGONFLY=awesome
WAKE=meh
OSIRIS=awesome

After reading WAKE, my expectations for Hugo nominated novels has sunk to an unprecedented low.  They aren't bad, but they just aren't worthy of the hype.  I only have 2 nominated novels left.  One I expect to suck.  The other (JULIAN COMSTOCK) I am actually excited about.

I also have KRAKEN and NIGHTS OF VILLJAMUR at home to read, along with Alan Campbell's Deepgate Codex series that I imported due to the superior UK covers.

Speaking of awesome covers and books that have me excited, go to Pyr's webpage, and go to their blog.  They have their Fall/Winter catalog announced with covers and descriptions to all their releases.  They ALL look awesome (with 1 exception).  It is a remarkable line-up.

Need to get my hands on Empire in Black and Gold.  No surprise on Wake.  For me, RobertSawyer=meh.  I've heard that Kraken is really quite good. Mieville has an amazing imagination.  Man.  I do wish his endings could be a bit better.  Maybe this time...

The Pyr lineup looks SOOOOOO amazingtastic.  Nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the cover for Spring-heeled Jack.  Whoa.  The covers that Pyr is able to get for their books are just wow.  How cool would it be to get my novel picked up by them?  The idea boggles the mind.  So, your post begs the question:  Which book are you NOT excited about?  :)

Read on the blog that Tchaikovsky is working on Book 7 (are you kidding me?) of his Shadows of the Apt series.  Any idea how long that series is supposed to be?  Or is there even an end?  I looked up the wiki on the series and he's got all sorts of bug-people.  You have any idea how many insects there are in the world?  Essentially unlimited source material here.

I got The Maze Runner from the library and am almost through it.  Bunch of freaking disgruntled, uncommunicative teenagers.  It's like a not-so-great version of Lord of the Flies in TechnoWorld.  Eh.  I'm mostly just confused by what is going on in it.  Spot-on review at EBR, Steve.

Quote from: Recovering_Cynic on May 03, 2010, 04:49:48 PM
Don't be put off by The Color of Magic.  Pratchett didn't really hit his stride until about ten books later in the series.  When I recommend him, I usually say to start with the book Guards!  Guards!.

So far the story is all over the place.  Construction is horrible, but the world/story so far is okay.  Bout 15% in.  I don't think I could really be all that critical of it because of the tone of the story though.  Just too...whimsical.  I tend to give those kinds of stories a lot of leeway.  Tone reminds me a bit of what I tried to put into the story I just sent to WotF.


85
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: May 01, 2010, 04:42:36 AM »
Finished Infoquake.  Really good.  I was really surprised at how much I liked it because it all centered around business, of which I'm not a big fan of the details.  But it was good.

Reading Twelve by Jasper Kent now, with some Color of Magic by Pratchett sprinkled in here and there.  Haven't read any Discworld stuff before and a friend of mine nearly went off the handle when I told him so.  Reading both on my Kindle.

86
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: April 28, 2010, 06:38:29 PM »
Quote from: Sigyn on April 27, 2010, 05:00:35 PM
I'm reading Memories of Ice. I am so happy.

Memories of Ice is an amazingly freaking awesome hunk of fantastical love.  Enjoy it!

87
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: April 27, 2010, 05:53:32 AM »
Hey Steve,

Are you going to be reviewing Watcher of the Dead by J.V. Jones sometime soon?  I just read a review that Don D'Ammassa did and I'm not at all encouraged by it.  The line that killed me was:  "Most of their personal stories come to some sort of resolution during the course of the novel, but the greater conflict remains open ended..."  The third book just stagnated for me.  And here I was hoping for something great.  This series is beginning to sound a whole lot like the Kingdoms of Thorn and bone series by Greg Keyes that I read .  After getting through all four books in that series, I still never had any kind of concrete idea as to who was the bad guy and why everything was happening.  Jones is much the better writer in my opinion, but this lack of real story progression is just killing me.

88
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: April 27, 2010, 04:50:14 AM »
Quote from: Peter Ahlstrom on April 24, 2010, 08:34:08 PM
LOL, this is the silliest thing I've read in weeks. :)

Of course it was!  I am the King of Silly.  Well, okay, maybe just a minor Duke...  LOL

89
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: April 23, 2010, 09:08:30 PM »
Finished The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray and will definitely be reading Retribution Falls now.  :)

Back to Infoquake.

Just ordered the triplet-book of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach along with a copy of Patrick Rothfuss's Not-a-children's-storybook.  Really intrigued by the Rothfuss book and quite looking forward to it.

Saw mention a couple weeks ago too that KJ Parker has a new novella coming from Subterranean Press:  Blue and Gold.  Hope it's as good as Purple and Black was.  Man.  I still get urges to go back and read that one all the time.

90
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: April 21, 2010, 05:18:25 AM »
Quote from: Bookstore Guy on April 20, 2010, 08:29:13 PM
I also finished Jim Butcher's CHANGES.  It was awesome.

I find this extremely interesting.  With how many things Butcher has been working on lately, and how horrible the last two books seemed to have been, do you think there's any chance that Butcher tried a ghost writer on the last two books but decided that it wasn't working after all?  :D  How different are the last two books from this most recent one?  Crazy that there could be soooooo much variation within a single series by a single author.  I should probably try to read another one of these.

PS--I finished Servant of a Dark God and was pretty underwhelmed by it.  There seemed to be a decent story/world-building/characters, but the story-telling was really hard for me to enjoy.  Took all the tension and mystery out of it.  So, I pretty much lost interest early on, but pushed through to the end because of the good review from EBR.  The conversations in it are well done, the action scenes not so much, and the prose was decent.  All the sentences that began with conjunctions didn't change though.  I mean, I do this to a certain extent in my own writing, but this was really distracting.  Frustrating, more like.

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