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Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
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ticktockman
06/27/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
I like the reviews here, too. If I want to know what Tor is putting out then I can look at the Tor website, or at the sci-fi section at the borders down the street. There's no good independent bookstore in town here for sci-fi, so all I see on the big book chain shelves are novels by Bujold--who I like, don't get me wrong--and Mcaffery and stack upon stack of awful licensed books. I'm more interested in reading about books I might not find on my own and in new editions of works by older writers that I might not see sitting on the shelf of a book store (Jack Vance, here I come).
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ticktockman
06/27/09

@ticktockman: It seems my newborn son disagrees. He vomited all over me just as I finished writing that last post.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
06/27/09

@ticktockman: Your kid won't be a hipster then. WTF are you feeding him?
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secretmission
06/27/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
David Hartwell's Year's Best SF 14 is even better than Dozois' anthologies...
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Franknbeans
06/27/09

@secretmission: Nope, wrong. All the best stories of the year are repeated in both anthologies, but Hartwell's unique picks are uniformly sub-par. Plus Dozois has more bang for your buck, more stories equals more enjoyment
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
06/27/09

@Franknbeans: Exactly. Dozois picks better quality and a wider variety. Always has.
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AileenPaterculus
06/27/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
I actually enjoy the way you guys do reviews because book specific sites and forums have always held tons of references for the less "arty" stuff. This site turns me on to stuff I wouldn't normally find that would fall through the cracks, and maybe I am just in tune with your style of hipster sci-fi lit, but your choices seem spot on to me.
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Grey_Area
06/27/09

@AileenPaterculus: "Hipster"? Ouch! well, as long as we are turning you on to stuff you like, cool.
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AlessandroGiraffe
06/26/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
The Strain sounds an awful lot like Scott Westerfeld's Peeps, with vampirism portrayed as a parisitic disease that threatens civilization.
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Grey_Area
06/27/09

@AlessandroGiraffe: The vampirisim as disease thing is hardly new and has been done better.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
06/26/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
The Dozois Year's Best anthologies are always, always a delight. Sooo worth picking up and reading. All excellent, across all genres; stuff you already like and a good way to discover authors/genres you wouldn't have given a thought to.

If you can only afford one of these books, get that one.
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EbeneezerSquid
06/26/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
You know, I've been lurking here on i09 for quite some time, and these book posts have always seemed odd to me.

It seems that the authors I tend to read never end up here.

No John Ringo, Harry Turteldove, Anne (or Todd) McCaffery, Louis McMaster Bujold.

Thinking about it, most of the Writers that I've started reading over the past few years I got started on by the Baen Free Library (free e-books, usually the first in a series).

Have any Baen Books been mentioned on these "New Books" posts?
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Charlie Jane Anders
06/26/09

@EbeneezerSquid: We make a point of being as inclusive as possible, especially in our monthly roundup of new books. At the same time, it's probably fair to say that none of those authors has put out a book recently that any of us contributing to the site has felt like reading or reviewing, for whatever reason. We only have a limited amount of time to devote to new books, and we pick the ones we're personally most excited about to write about. I love older Anne McCaffrey, especially The Ship Who Sang, but haven't read anything she and Todd have written in the past decade or so. As for Bujold, we've mentioned her work a lot.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
06/26/09

@Charlie Jane Anders: io9 does tend to go a little arty-er and more "literary". ESquid has a good point.

Maybe you just need more reviewers with wider taste/preferences? Reviewing books that are Ripping Yarns, but not going to be up for awards?

(Perhaps someone who was already adult and going to cons in the 80's and has been a fan since Star Trek was brand new?)
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Klebert L. Hall
06/27/09

@Charlie Jane Anders:

I could swear you reviewed something from Baen last fall, but I can't remember what.

-Kle.
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brentbent: C.O.C.K.R.O.A.C.H. )for all the queer super villians out there(
06/27/09

@Klebert L. Hall: The Baen Free Library definitely got a shout out during the last year as did some of the books on its e-shelves. I do recall the one with the Fast Elves on the cover.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
06/27/09

@brentbent: I think that was a post making fun of their cover art.

Which is indefensible -- I kinda feel sorry for the authors sometimes.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
06/26/09

In reply to Steampunk Brothel Spies And Million-Year Quests, In June Books
Jeez, I got my copy of House of Suns like two months ago, and it barely took a week to arrive. Mmmmm....

Can't wait for The Women of Nell Gwynne's to arrive, though.
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vkevlar
06/18/09

In reply to A Druid Saves The World In Jacqueline Carey's Latest
I really, really hated Kushiel's Dart. Like, impossible levels of hatred. It's kind of disturbing to me, seeing as how my wife, and friends, all seem to at least like it.

I'll never read anything by Carey again, and it frustrates me that I don't know why I hated it so much.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
06/18/09

@vkevlar: I don't think it matters why -- her stuff just doesn't click with you, and it's not like you're going to spend years and dollars in therapy just so you'll be able to read a few books.

I like the world-building, but have never cared for the actual books.
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osrek
06/18/09

In reply to A Druid Saves The World In Jacqueline Carey's Latest
Would you recommend to start with the first trilogy or can I just dive into the story?
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Annalee Newitz
06/18/09

@osrek: I would actually recommend starting with the first trilogy, simply because it is so cool. But you definitely don't really need the back story from it in order to enjoy this novel.
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braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.
06/18/09

In reply to A Druid Saves The World In Jacqueline Carey's Latest
Well, any book the review of which contains at least three uses of the word "awesome" is probably...pretty awesome.
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Annalee Newitz
06/18/09

@braak: or at least it inspires me to regress into this speech pattern from my youth. You know, when everything was awesome and tubular.
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braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.
06/18/09

@Annalee Newitz: AWESOME!!!
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Rasselas
06/18/09

@braak: Don't you ever get the feeling that "awesome" has become more than a bit overused? Whatever happened to words like "superb" and "a rollicking good time" and "better than Cats"?
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braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.
06/18/09

@Rasselas: I want "jolly good" to come back into usage.
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Rasselas
06/18/09

@braak: Smashing, old boy.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
06/18/09

@braak: I want "the bee's knees" to become commonplace.
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Rasselas
06/18/09

In reply to A Druid Saves The World In Jacqueline Carey's Latest
Do people in modern fantasy novels ever have predictable, boring sex lives full of petty lies and hurt feelings, like John Updike's suburbanites?
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limber
06/18/09

@Rasselas: That's one of the better parts of scifi/fantasty -- there's too much going on all the time, and people rarely have enough time to focus on the petty lies and hurt feelings. For instance, I am unaware of a fantasy novel where three chapters are devoted to one character resenting another for neglecting to make a big enough deal out of a birthday.

Big lies and betrayals, of course, are a different story entirely.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
06/18/09

@Rasselas: Well, I wish I could say that about the later Wheel of Time books, but that applies more towards descriptions of tea parties and clothes than sex.
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