Return of the Book Thread

[HaemishM]

You can put my hatefulness down to having an actual interest in eBook sales - big name people shitting on eBook sales makes me stabby, especially in a way that tries to discredit the medium as somehow less valid than a giant ream of dead trees.

At least Amazon's behind it, and they are a bit of a gorilla on it.

I've been astonished by how fast it's taken off.

I'm actually quite dismayed at how much ass Amazon is kicking in the eBook market. Frankly, I do not like the monopoly position on eBooks Amazon is working itself into because as someone who makes money selling eBooks, the idea that Amazon could just tell me to "get bent" one day because they don't like my books is terrifying. It's just that everyone else selling a device and the eBooks is doing SO BADLY AT IT. Barnes and Noble has done almost nothing to help indie authors market the ebooks they sell on the Nook, instead preferring to keep pimping the big name publisher releases. The publishers keep tripping over their own dicks and looking like price gouging assholes instead of consumer focused entities who actually WANT people to buy and read their books - and the widow Jordan up there is helping that along with her choices.

[Quinton]

The good news is that provided they don't insist on DRM (which doesn't actually prevent piracy anyway), it's pretty easy for others to get into the ebook sales/distribution business -- and since kindle supports side-loading non-DRM'd content, even people in Amazon's ecosystem don't have a huge hurdle to buy books from elsewhere.

Sadly the publishers did this to themselves with their insistence on DRM -- it is what creates significant friction for people to migrate to another ecosystem -- I have 150+ kindle ebooks, I think, and while they can be converted (and DRM broken), it's a pain in the butt, so I'm likely to stick with Amazon unless somebody turns up with a significantly better offering.

I've told the Google Books folks that there's simply no way I'm going to buy from them unless I can get stuff DRM-free and usable on other devices.  There's zero value in me getting stuck in *two* DRM-encrusted ecosystems, especially when the second one's content is not usable on the Kindle (the actual e-ink Kindle is a big selling point for me -- haven't seen a decently competitive e-ink e-reader yet).

More content is generally in Amazon's interest, so I'm doubtful they're going to start chasing authors away, but I definitely understand not wanting to *count* on that if publishing books was how I was making a living.  And from a end-user/customer standpoint, lack of competition means less incentive to improve things.

[lamaros]

A few publishers are doing drm-less stuff.

It's still slow going though, publishers simply don't make enough money from ebooks to justify cannibalising any of their print market as yet.

Also they all hate Amazons dominance: it's why penguin and random are merging, and others will likely do similar.

[Sky]

Librarians cringe when someone brings in a Nook for instruction.

Most had originally bought into the Nook, and our Director keeps buying them for prizes...but by now everyone has pretty much converted to the kindle because it's actually easy to use for ebooks (especially library ebooks).

On the nook, you need a computer and downloaded software (adobe digital editions). With the kindle, you can do everything right on the device.

[JWIV]

Continuing the trip though early fantasy/SF - I've moved on to Clark Ashton Smith and a collection of his short stories, "The Maze of the Enchanter ". I haven't loved all of the stories here, but they are very much written with a certain flair and love of the English language that I absolutely appreciate.

[Bzalthek]

Peter F. Hamilton's new Great North Road is really engaging (and huge).

[ghost]

Peter F. Hamilton's new Great North Road is really engaging (and huge).

Can you give a rough synopsis without giving much away?

[rattran]

The newish final Dread Empire "A Path to Coldness of Heart" book was a letdown. Ties up most of the loose ends, but not all, and not in a very satisfying way. At least the series is finally finished.

[Shannow]

Peter F. Hamilton's new Great North Road is really engaging (and huge).

I've read a number of Hamilton's books and rather enjoyed them (and yes I bought GNR) but where do people fall on him. Is it considered great sci-fi or just space opera?

The Commonwealth series, Pandora's star etc . Really enjoyed the first two books but the last felt a little silly? Void series felt a bit the same way.

Also feels like he recycles the hidden alien plot device a bit too much. (really I'm just looking for confirmation that it's alright to like his books... )

[Bzalthek]

I think it's safe to like Peter F. Hamilton, yeah.  His books tend to be long winded but I enjoy them tremendously.  His endings are a bit rushed, I think, but still enjoyable.

As for the Great North Road synopsis:  I'm covering basically 3 pages of timeline info, not much of a spoiler.
    

[Rendakor]

Thanks for that Bzalthek, sounds pretty interesting. I liked everything I've read by Hamilton save his Void series which I couldn't really get into, so I'll have to pick this one up.

[dd0029]

Finished up several good ones recently.

Someone many pages ago recommended Immortal by Gene Doucette. I'd been holding off on it due to the $8 ebook cost. Shouldn't have, that was rather fun. Crossing the $8 ebook barrier for the second one is still a challenge, but less so.

After that I read the second two Peter Grant books by Ben Aaronovitch, Moon Over Soho and Whispers Underground. Soho was really good. Lots of neat things there, the second was not as good, but still decent. These seem more police procedurals with urban fantasy overlays. I was thinking near the end of Whispers, he seemed to be wrapping up the series, but the end left it open for more.

Stray Souls is Kate Griffin's stand alone in the Matthew Swift series. Both Griffin and Aarononvitch set their books in London and the city itself is a strong character. This one continues the strong tone of the series, even though Swift is a secondary character in the book.

[Bzalthek]

Thanks for that Bzalthek, sounds pretty interesting. I liked everything I've read by Hamilton save his Void series which I couldn't really get into, so I'll have to pick this one up.

If I remember correctly, I had a bunch of false starts with the Void triloogy.  The first chapter started off with some douchebag I didn't know about, and pontificating about technologies I had no frame of reference for.  Fortunately, the rest of the book was much better once I finally got past that shit.

[lamaros]

Hamilton is ok if you don't have a problem with:

His obsession with immortality, sex (male, heterosexual, somewhat sexist/mysoginistc), and youth.
His inability to finish most works without a deus ex machina.

And you do like:

Crime/mystery elements, epic length, masses of characters, imaginative (but not necessarily plausible) constructions on every page, pretty well written action.

His worst book is far and away Mispent Youth. The best self contained one is IMO Fallen Dragon.

[Ironwood]

The Great North Road wasn't up to much either.

Sigh.

I found this one to be predictable and pedestrian bullshit with an ending you see coming in the first act.

YMMV

[bhodi]

I started the final (re)listen of the wheel of time. 700+ hours!

[Johny Cee]

After that I read the second two Peter Grant books by Ben Aaronovitch, Moon Over Soho and Whispers Underground. Soho was really good. Lots of neat things there, the second was not as good, but still decent. These seem more police procedurals with urban fantasy overlays. I was thinking near the end of Whispers, he seemed to be wrapping up the series, but the end left it open for more.

I had the exact opposite reaction to Whispers:  He isn't wrapping up the series, he's now finished the introduction to the world and will be moving into overarching storylines. He's established where the Black Hats (the magicians trained by the rogue dude at Oxford) came from, and that there are an unknown number of them out there.  He's also now moved magic-type things from where civilian authority could safely ignore them to where now civilian authority is forced to deal with them in the way the Underground people were dealt with.  

The big draw for me is that they are police procedurals with urban fantasy overlays, so we're avoiding the wretched UF tropes and dealing with magic-things in a more realistic fashion.

The next book is actually called Broken Homes, though I can't find any release date.

Edit:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9970042-whispers-underground#

Some good comments, and among the people giving the series five stars is Lois "Tied for most Hugo Awards ever" Bujold.

[ghost]

I started the final (re)listen of the wheel of time. 700+ hours!

I'm on book 7 right now in my current re-listen.   

[dd0029]

Just finished up Terry Brooks' Running with the Demon. While technically the very beginning of the Shanara series, it can be read as a stand alone. It walks the line between what's now "traditional" urban fantasy and supernatural horror. While very low key and slow paced, it's still very good, much better than most of his other material.

I find it mildly interesting that I haven't seen much comment about the last Jordan book.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Just finished up Terry Brooks' Running with the Demon. While technically the very beginning of the Shanara series, it can be read as a stand alone. It walks the line between what's now "traditional" urban fantasy and supernatural horror. While very low key and slow paced, it's still very good, much better than most of his other material.

I find it mildly interesting that I haven't seen much comment about the last Jordan book.

Huh?

I've read the whole trilogy (Running with the Demon, A Knight of the Word, Angel Fire East) and I never realized they were any way related to the Shannara series.  I'm kind of struggling to see where the connection would be, tbh.  Looking at wiki though, it says it's supposed to be a prequel of sorts, which baffles me.  I never got the vibe that Shannara was set in some kind of post apocalyptic Earth.

[Viin]

I haven't read the Shannara books in a long time, but I do remember hints of an older higher tech society being found in ruins.

[Khaldun]

It's actually rather explicit in the very first book he wrote in the series. I just assumed that it was his way of saying "See I am not Tolkien!" since it was a difference that made no difference. (Third Age Middle-Earth also being a post-apocalyptic world of sorts.)

[dd0029]

Huh?

I've read the whole trilogy (Running with the Demon, A Knight of the Word, Angel Fire East) and I never realized they were any way related to the Shannara series.  I'm kind of struggling to see where the connection would be, tbh.  Looking at wiki though, it says it's supposed to be a prequel of sorts, which baffles me.  I never got the vibe that Shannara was set in some kind of post apocalyptic Earth.

It sounds like you are missing the bridge series, The Genesis of Shannara.

[Chimpy]

Post-apocalypse was pretty much spelled out in a couple of the early Shannara books. Hell, The Druid of Shannara has most of its story set in a petrified city full of skyscrapers, subway tunnels, and an arena that is pretty much a carbon-copy of Madison Square Garden.

[Rendakor]

I never got the post-apocalypse setting from Shannara either, but then I've only read the first few and I was ~13 when I did so.

[dd0029]

I vaguely recall a couple of toss off lines in either Sword or maybe Elfstones that suggested it as well.

[Khaldun]

Man, it's not a toss-off, it's all over Sword of Shannara. The thing that confuses maybe is that Brooks has magic as well, rather than just settling for the usual "advanced technology after the holocaust seems like magic" thing. But his trolls, dwarves, elves etc. are all set out to be post-holocaust mutants and there's a scene that definitely has a robot or something of the sort in it in Sword.

[Johny Cee]

Man, it's not a toss-off, it's all over Sword of Shannara. The thing that confuses maybe is that Brooks has magic as well, rather than just settling for the usual "advanced technology after the holocaust seems like magic" thing. But his trolls, dwarves, elves etc. are all set out to be post-holocaust mutants and there's a scene that definitely has a robot or something of the sort in it in Sword.

In general, if something is labeled "fantasy" readers will ignore sf elements and if something is labeled "sf" readers will ignore fantasy elements.  Right up until they can't and then readers usually experience RAGE because someone got peanut butter in their chocolate.

In that vein, Prince of Thorns and King of Thorns were two pretty decent reads by Mark Lawrence.  Prince is a bit weaker I think, being a bit too much Clockwork Orange meets medieval historical fiction... and then things get weird. 

[Ingmar]

Of course it is post-apocalyptic, he had to cram every single cliche he could in there.

[Cyrrex]

Speaking of Post Apocalyptic, I am currently reading The Stand.  Never read it in the past.  Have really only read a few Stephen King books, which is fucking strange considering the Dark Tower stuff is probably my favorite stuff of all time.  Less than a quarter of the way through it, and man...I know it isn't popular to say so, but crap, I really love the way he writes.  It is overly wordy and self-indulgent, but I'll admit that I can gobble it up all day long. 

I think I have only read two other works of his.  The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and some other one that I have forgotten the title of. 

[ghost]

Man, it's not a toss-off, it's all over Sword of Shannara. The thing that confuses maybe is that Brooks has magic as well, rather than just settling for the usual "advanced technology after the holocaust seems like magic" thing. But his trolls, dwarves, elves etc. are all set out to be post-holocaust mutants and there's a scene that definitely has a robot or something of the sort in it in Sword.

Mechano-Shelob, IIRC.

[Khaldun]

Speaking of Post Apocalyptic, I am currently reading The Stand.  Never read it in the past.  Have really only read a few Stephen King books, which is fucking strange considering the Dark Tower stuff is probably my favorite stuff of all time.  Less than a quarter of the way through it, and man...I know it isn't popular to say so, but crap, I really love the way he writes.  It is overly wordy and self-indulgent, but I'll admit that I can gobble it up all day long. 

I think I have only read two other works of his.  The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and some other one that I have forgotten the title of. 

I think King is actually a very skilled writer. I think he's our Charles Dickens.

[Cyrrex]

Yeah.  I prefaced it the way I did because there are always about 10 neckbeards lined up to shit on a statement like the one I made.  I am really going to make an effort to read a lot more of his stuff.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Yeah, I've never even heard of the bridge series for Shannara, but with these "new" revelations and considering how long it's been since I've read the first book/series, I think I'll reread them again.  Certainly can't hurt.

[Rishathra]

Yeah, I don't remember the post-apocalypse stuff at all from Shannara, but then I only read the first two or three and I was maybe 13 or 14 at the time.