Timewaster's Guide Archive

Ah the perks and pains of the self-employed.  Don't have too much experience in that arena, but kudos to you for doing it.

And Tink:  I was thinking more about the sheer amount of money in taxes that I'm going to have to fork over once my pay increases.  Yes, more dough will be nice.  And for that I'll be incredibly grateful.

In the middle of Dreamcatcher (S. King) and Vol 21 of Writers of the Future.  Need to put together a new pile now that my current one is gone.

Well... I obviously tweaked someone's nerves here.  I really didn't mean to.  If I had wanted to be demeaning, I could have been.  So, I think the whole repentance call was a bit much.  I really don't see myself as some  high-handed control freak that wants everyone to do things "my way".  Neither was I overly bent on showing myself as superior to any other party.  I am, however, a fantasy and sci-fi reader and I expect a publisher to realize that.  If I wanted to read a romance novel, then I'd buy a romance novel.  But I don't read romance.  I want to see fantasy and sci-fi.  And yes,  I know that there is going to be some overlap.  That's to be expected.  There is a major difference, however, between a fantasy novel with some romance in it, and a romance novel with some fantasy in it.  If they want to try their hand in a new genre with a romance novel set in a fantasy world, fine! be my guest!  Just don't market it as a fantasy book.  Market it as a romance.  Now, maybe the wording of my opinion that I have just shared here and the (obviously individually understood) meaning of what I posted earlier might be a tad different.  Ever say something with a little more gusto than usual to get people to respond to you?  I'd be the first to say yes.  So, I apologize if my moment of gusto made me "disturbing" to you Sprig.  Guess I need to do some more homework on the English language before I go bandying it about in such a reckless manner again.  You know, it never ceases to amaze me how radically different people's responses to a single word can be.

Yeah, but since when did Tor start publishing Harlequinn Romance books?

http://www.tor-forge.com/islandheat

So I'm sure that some authors wirte these kinds of books in "Fantasy" worlds, but the least they can do is keep the gratuitous love scene off of the cover of the books.  Is Tor just trying to break into the 50% market share that the Romance genre cerrently owns?  Can you say "sellout"?  What a travesty.

I just went and saw this today.  I don't know if I can even say that this movie was entertaining in the least.    Mostly it was just corny.  I didn't expect all that much though going into it.  Acting was horrible.  Bad guys were pointless.  Little to no plot.  "Suprises" were stupid.  It was pretty bad, to say the least.  If you're going to see it, wait for it to come to Red Box, and then use a free coupon code.  I wouldn't waste your money on it.

Michael Buble, and the new Nora Jones.  This new CD of hers is MUCH more mellow than either of her last two.  Still, incredibly good though, in my opinion.

Dan

Wowsers.  So, I love the fact that I've gotten so many responses to this.  I'd like to make a couple comments, if I may, based on this initial response.

humm, interesting, do you consider the best book you've ever read the book that wowed you the most when you read it years ago even though it may not stand up as well now-a-days (because my tastes tend to change slightly from month to month) or do you only say it has to be something you've read in your current mindset?

If it's #1 it would be either the Dragonlance Trilogy by Weiss and Hickman (when I was 13ish), Magician series by Fiest (when I was 16) or Wizard's First Rule by Goodkind (18), though I'd also add Wizard's Second Rule was the worst book I've ever read and I'm comparing that against textbooks.

If it's #2 it would half to be Information Architecture for Designers by Van Dijck (a few days ago).  I don't read a lot of books, and I also don't like to ever have a "best" or "favorite" book, movie, song because there are so many factors that one could choose for a best (best what?  Paper used? color scheme?) so I never bother thinking in these terms anymore.  There's "I like" and "really like" or "impressed me" and that's about it.

Spriggan:  I think that you captured the essence of what I was hoping for in this reply.  There is definitely a shift in mindset as we grow and as we read more.  At some point, there is always a "best" book that we could sound off on.  I think, according to your categories, I'm looking for "impressed me".  In this case, I especially appreciated your age brackets of when you read them.  I'd also encourage you to try fiction again.  Don't let Goodkind scare you off.  He's a freak of nature, and authors like him (I would like to think) don't come up very often.

Have you tried Steven Erikson's Malazan books -- the first is Gardens of the Moon?  It's another edgy, different take on epic fantasy.

MattD

MattD, I have tried Erikson's stuff.  I read the first book and got the feeling that something was missing, but I couldn't put my finger on it.  When I was about 100 pages into the second book I figured it out:  I didn't care.  I didn't care about any of his characters or what was happening.  I didn't feel like I really understood anything about what was even occurring in the story.  When something big happened, I was thinking "So what?"  Yes, this series is huge, and it's amazingly complex, and it's actually quite well written too.  I just couldn't make myself care about the story at all.  So, I passed on this one.  Thanks for the thought though.

And for everyone else, keep em coming.  List your greats!  You have a needy reader out here.  Help me and others like me who yearn for great material!

I bought the new WotF book (Vol. 22).  So, I'm trying to read that, and I just got a book from the library called "The Tower of Shadows" by some young kid (sophomore in college...young...oh my...) with the last name Bowling that Terry Brooks said was good.  I'm still trying to finish Survival by Czerneda.  It's been so slow; I'm having a difficult time wanting to finish it.