Ladies, Gentlemen, Beings of Furritude, I come not to bury grey goo plotting but to yawn at it and to sigh “I don’t care what happens to all these characters” and — occasionally, when a novel rises a little bit above the common style –, to sigh and say “I want them all dead by chapter two.” (Ah, for a minion I could dispatch to story world. “Guido, see to it. I want them all dead by chapter two before they all start the belly button contemplating until it reels the mind. Make them dead. Hide the bodies.” Of course, in many cases this would improve the pacing and action of the plot. In others no one would notice.)The antidote is called Human Wave fiction. The Garage Sale is a list of (mostly) Kindle special deals from authors who have promised not to serve up grey goo or contemplate belly buttons.
Scroll down, but don't skip reading Sarah's post because each and every word is put there with malice aforethought to engage and entertain (even if you refuse to be properly thoughtful.)
You know you need more to read, you know you do! So go.
27 comments:
I have links there. I don't know why they aren't blue.
Althouse posts of a correction to Martin Luther King's I Have a Drum speech.
- Mr. Bond, I need a urine sample. If you could fill this beaker for me ...
- From here?
I recently started reading Sabrina Chase, who's the prime mover behind this "human wave" business - she's a very good pulp writer, which is not as common a skill as you'd think. Too many writers feel the need to be Artists or Important, or, most horribly, Important Artists. So far, she seems beautifully free of that pernicious need to inform or elevate or instruct or impress.
But I'm still reading books on paper, so this sort of kindle sale isn't aimed at me. I suppose I ought to break down and buy a kindle, but... indolence is my driving sin.
I should mention... a lot of these books are free for a day or three, so by "really good deal" I meant... what excuse can you have if the book is free?
Sarah Hoyt is one of my favorite authors and I think I've already got all of her free offers. I haven't tried Sabrina Chase yet and she's got her books listed for free, too, I think. I'll have to see if I can get them with my Nook.
Also, Mitch, I'm told that you can read Kindle files on your computer. I don't know how to do that, but I'm sure it's not hard and that someone else knows!
And if people are getting sucked into reading posts over there (there is a lot to read) I suggest:
http://accordingtohoyt.com/2013/05/12/hearts-pierced-by-swords/
Which is her mother's day post describing her life as a school-girl in Portugal.
If I like Ender's Game, and I don't like Foundation, I might like...?
@ Freeman. Brandon Sanderson. Start with Mistborne.
Not available at the Garage Sale, but totally worth your time
I generally like reading Sara Hoyt's blog, so I guess I might like her books, but I am pretty skeptical. So many people these days think of themselves as writers and self publish or vanity publish stuff that is fairly unreadable. And trust me, I'm no hoity toity lover of prose; I just want something tightly written and edited by someone with a real English editing degree.
Sorry, this post kind of intersects with my personal life a little too much right now. I guess I'm tiring of hearing about so and so being published and then checking out their amazon page or their goodreads feed and seeing that their mom and siblings TOTALLY LOVED the book and gave it 5 stars. Then I read the book and can't make it past page 5 because I'm pretty sure drunk monkeys using a typewriter could make something more interesting.
Rant off.
I love those links. Since my husband bought me a kindle for our anniversary, I've been downloading as many of the free sci fi books as I can. It's a great way to find new authors or those who have been bypassed by the big publishing houses. The internet and self publishing electronically has really changed the publishing industry. For the better I think.
Extinction porn, and those who dream of a world without humans are sad beings, who somehow thought that humans should be infallible and flawless and therefore refuse to love humans as they are.
Yes. Extinction porn has not been of interest to me. However, I do love those post apocalyptic books such as Stirling's Dies the Fire....where people have to cope and use skills that they didn't know they had or that were not valuable until the situation called for them. It is a microcosm of what is good about people and what is bad.
I don't like science fiction.
Cosmology is interesting but only based on the assumption that it's true.
Freeman... have you ever read Lois Bujold?
Birches... Sarah Hoyt has dozens of novels published by traditional publishers in a few different genres. I can't speak for the Musketeer Mysteries which is her under a pen name - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Q9U4T8
because I haven't read them. But her furniture refinishing mysteries - http://www.amazon.com/Elise-Hyatt/e/B003W3W9WO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1 are some of my favorites.
Anyway, from Baen she's got two series out, one with shape changers that has a new book out last month, and the other that is more science-fictionish starting with Darkship Thieves.
I do hear you on the self-published stuff because I think a lot of it isn't so good, but if something is free or really cheap it makes it easier to check it out yourself.
science fiction - should be an oxymoron, but instead is a fiction genre.
One of the scariest books I've ever read was The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson. Cholera/London/1850's. Anyone else wonder how we would stop something like that if it ever got a hold of a large city nowadays? I know we generally have the science to stop this kind of thing, but it's still a nasty thought.
Birches, your complaint is without context - what do you *like*, only then can we recommend to you other options. The jibe about English degrees suggests that you might be hostile to the very spirit underlying Chase's and Hoyt's "human wave" books, and possibly even John Wright's one-man "space princess" movement.
BTW, I heartily recommend Wright's Count to a Trillion and the Hermetic Millenia, although his approach is a bit more literary and serious than the "human wave" stuff. He couches his high-Catholic didacticism in a pretty nifty future-history satire. I *like* Sarah Hoyt, but have a bit of trouble enjoying what I've read of her stuff. The ideology is a little too close to the surface to make it... properly pulpy. Not Ayn Rand obnoxious, but still kind of Heinlein-in-political-mode. Well, at least she's more readable than Larry Correia, who may have the political credentials, but writes awful Marty Stu rubbish as far as I'm concerned.
Wen Spencer - I have no idea what her politics are, but her books are fun, especially if you're familiar with Pittsburgh.
rhhardin said...
I don't like science fiction.
Cosmology is interesting but only based on the assumption that it's true.
August 1, 2013 at 6:50 PM
Killjoy.
@ Synova Thanks. I'll check it out.
@ Mitch What I meant about the English degrees was that I wanted someone qualified and trained editing, not just some spouse or husband. Sorry, this is where my personal life is conflicting with just enjoying good books. I know some "editors" and some actual editors. And I get kind of annoyed when the "editors" act like they are legitimate and then I read the stuff they "edited" and I could run a red pen through it. That's why I'm wary of self published stuff.
But I'm all for popcorn books. It just needs to be written well.
Freeman:
"If I like Ender's Game, and I don't like Foundation, I might like...?"
Gravity's Rainbow? Haven't read it but it's on my list.
Mitch -- you can download Kindle for your PC and read online.
As for Kindle -- I end up reading most of mine on an iPhone sized screen. Means I always have a book with me.
I have signed up for Pixel of Ink (free and bargain Kindle books). Stinkeroos and pipperoos and some good ones too.
Someone said the problem/plus with Kindle books is that you can pile them up and up and up and-- don't feel guilty because you can't see them (and your horizontal surfaces stay relatively clear). :- )
I have links there. I don't know why they aren't blue.
I'm going to look at that again.
On my blog links are just always blue so I have no idea how to *make* them blue.
Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold is somewhat Ender's Game-like, I think. It's got a young man in over his head and some political intrigue going on and the story telling is excellent... better yet, there's a story!
Miles was injured as a fetus as the result of an assassination attempt and at 17 is five feet tall with brittle bones. His whole society and world is army mad and his father is important enough to get him wavers but he breaks both legs the first day of training and is sent home where he "disappoints his grandfather to death." With his grandfather dead his father becomes "Count" and Miles becomes "Lord" and his parents send him off to spend time with his mom's family on a civilized world since his "other plans fell through."
In truth he was sent to keep him safe from political intrigue at home.
It didn't work.
(There are two books in the same setting before Warrior's Apprentice that feature Mile's parents, and another dozen after, and truly any book is a fine place to start.)
Miles's
Miles'
Or something... just most certainly not Mile's.
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