Timewaster's Guide Archive

"Newsworthy Content for Every Octant" isn't a calendar reference. Look more closely for another clue.

But... I can't actually remember if there's an 8-day week. Sounds kinda Pratchetty... 

I recommend the new George RR Martin, "A Dance With Dragons". I'm only a bit into it, but so far it's sooo good. 

I did giggle when I read about aluminum lining for hats. It makes sense, this is another world so they are aliens! 

I've read the whole book 3 times now, and somehow I never did catch the link to "tinfoil hats".

Beautiful.

 

I wouldn't suggest an MMO, they're complex and difficult to manage, and honestly I think the world of Scadrial needs a lot more build-up to be suitable for something like that. I'd rather have a directed, focused game with an entertaining narrative and well-designed action centered around a single Mistborn than to open the floodgates and try for everything and then some.

If fans are interested in more wide-ranging MMO-style opportunities, I suggest checking out the tabletop RPG later this year.

I'll tell you for nothin', that sort of decision is not likely to be in Brandon's hands. It's up to whomever licenses the property to determine platforms for release.

The Neverending Story (the movie) covers only one half of the original novel. When Bastien and the Childlike Empress are holding a single shining grain which is all that remains of Fantastica (must confess, Fantasia is a better name), that's barely halfway through the novel.

That terrible sequel film covers the other half, sort of, but it's not very good.

Suggestions for fantasy that defies cliches (aside from Brandon)

China Meiville's Bas-Lag novels (Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council)
Terry Pratchett's Discworld (more like it turns cliches inside out. I like to suggest starting with Guards! Guards! , which is pretty much all about counter-tropes)
Joe Abercrombie's First Law series (though I much prefer the stand-alone sequels Best Served Cold, which is a brilliant revenge novel, and The Heroes, which is a great battle novel).

I found a copy of Warrior's Apprentice, first of the Miles Vorkosigan books, in the Baen Free library, and I've consumed it at a bit of a ridiculous rate, even for me... before I knew it, four hours had gone and I was 3/4 done with it.

It's really good stuff, the plot is a series of scams, bluffs and twists on the part of the main character that continue to spin and branch into the need for more, and I honestly have no sure idea where it'll end up.

If their ultimate plot is to sell more Miles Vorkosigan books by giving the first one away free, it worked... I'm hooked.

The best westerns I've read recently were by Robert Parker, who is more famously known for his crime/detective novels (the Spenser series in particular). Sadly, since Parker passed away earlier this year, I expect they'll be the last westerns I read from him.

He wrote Appaloosa, which was made into a film starring Viggo Mortenson and Ed Harris... I liked the movie a great deal, and bought the novel to see if it matched up, and it turned out that the movie was pretty much a straight adaptation of the book. There's four more in the series, and they're all quite good, it was exactly the sort of western story I was looking for... much as I like my fantasy, Parker's westerns were character-driven, dirty, uncomplicated, and brutally violent. Kind of what Joe Abercrombie might do with a western. Not quite as bleak as Cormac McCarthy, but definitely not a high-fantasy type of western, either.

Alloy of Law is a nice blend. Brandon's not really doing  steampunk (cover notwithstanding), nor is it exactly a western or a straight fantasy novel... it's somewhere in-between all that, and it's unique, and I think people (especially Mistborn fans) will dig it.