šŸ‘½šŸš€ pew pew let's have a sci-fi thread pew pew šŸ‘½šŸš€

For sure that context is important but it still read really uncomfortably for me. Obviously everyone is going to have different mileage with their ability to look past that and thatā€™s cool.

The science part of the science fiction was too janky for me to suspend my disbelief as well. Again, gonna be different for others (yourself! :slightly_smiling_face:)

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Donā€™t read God Emperor then :smiley: Acually, just donā€™t read it. Itā€™s not very good.

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Iā€™m from the fringes of this country, an area where life isnā€™t easy for those raised there but which is massively exploited for its natural benefits by a distant, bigger, and often much wealthier, population mass so I am Belter all the way! #MebyonKernow

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Fantasy really. People with superpowers, huge mythology spanning centuries. Just with spice and space folding instead of rings and hawks. It isnā€™t a criticism of it - just doesnā€™t feel like sci Fi to me

Are you talking about Dune or RD? Tough to tell from the boardā€™s interface and my back-to-back messagesā€¦

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Ah, on laptop now and it seems you mean the Reality Dysfunction. Will let you know how I get on from that regard,

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Finished Roadside Picnic, which might now be one of my favourite books, after giving up on Lovecraft, who I canā€™t help but feel is actually a terrible writer, and am now finally diving into le Guin. Went for Forever Coming Home, which is just so pleasant to spend time with, and it made me spit out imaginary tea at the Grannyā€™s Twat bit. Iā€™ve ordered the Complete Earthsea in hardback because I imagine itā€™ll be equally as pleasant to keep next to me on my bedside table for a good while.

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Lovecraft is a terrible writer at the ā€œbeing able to write a decent sentenceā€ level, but had an incredible vision. Enjoying the Cthulhu mythos in other media and by other writers is perhaps a better way to experience, and thrill at, the uncaring cosmic horror he saw, without having to fight through his dismal prose and dreadful racism.

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Yeah, his dedication to the mythos is what Iā€™ve admired the most, canā€™t help but love stuff like that, but the core of his stories are so flimsy, and when he half-heartedly plays dumb itā€™s pretty eye-rolling. And as you said: racist. I couldnā€™t help but feel that it all represented some kind of colonial anxiety. Iā€™ve got a collection of Blackwood stories so Iā€™ll try them instead!

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Absolutely

You what m9? Lovecraft was a superb writer IMHO. Yes the plots were often scanty but for building up brooding atmosphere he was the (no pun intended) king.

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Yeah I think the prose style is good but he has no ability to really render characters so thereā€™s almost never (maybe never?) direct dialogue related because of his limitations around two characters talking.

I think in general his stories are great but they are definitely (maybe with the exception of At The Mountains of Madness due to its length) less impressive than all the talk of them would lead you to believe.

That said, I read The Colour Out of Space in advance of seeing the film and it was still a good ā€˜weird sci-fiā€™ tale, I think. But Iā€™ve definitely got more out of reading the various sourcebooks for Call of Cthulhu role-playing game than actually reading his stuff, I think. :grimacing:

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each to their own and all that, but for my money he had an amazing and unique vision that he couldnā€™t express on paper as well as it should have been. The fact that itā€™s still part of the cultural currency today is a testament to how strong it is.

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Huh I feel almost exactly the opposite. I think that the power of his prose style makes up for a lot of deficiencies in his writing (weak characterisation, lack of women, sameyness etc). He does the same old ideas over and over but the power of his writing keeps it fresh and engaging despite the obvious flaws :man_shrugging:

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Agree with MLH here. I find Lovecraftā€™s actual prose lumpen and indigestible to a degree that stands out even in genre fiction. That the central ideas remain interesting is quite something.

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Since it always comes up in relation to him itā€™s worth saying Lovecraft repented his racism later in life, and appeared to be on the path to becoming a socialist according to his personal letters.

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Interesting, Iā€™d not heard of that before.

A quick google suggests that ā€˜repentā€™ is maybe a bit strong (the lengthy answers to this and this) but if you have any better links or references Iā€™d love to read them.

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Yes, when I say later in life I mean literally his last year - some of the last letters he ever wrote, mentioned here (from the Lovecraft wiki, which is a thing):

I read the extracts in a twitter thread I canā€™t get at anymore a while back, and they seemed pretty compelling. Ultimately it is a footnote; Iā€™d never question his work is inflected by racism thatā€™s overt even for his time. I just thought Iā€™d mention it because I feel somewhat sorry for the guy and the cage of fear and suffering he lived in for most of his life.

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Bit of a jag but me and some pals are starting a Coriolis RPG stream on Twitch at 8pm if anyone is interested.

For those whoā€™re not familiar itā€™s like Firefly but swap out the Western bit for Arabian Nights. Should be some good fun. Itā€™ll also be uploaded to YouTube in a few days if youā€™re not around at 8pm BST.

Link here Twitch

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Any fans of Starfleet here (not the Trekkie version)?

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Just finished More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon, as it was another SF Masterworks book that looked good. It was written back in 1953, but luckily didnā€™t feel too dated (maybe because the ā€˜sciā€™ bit wasnā€™t too scientific, mind reading/teleporting type stuff). I really quite enjoyed it.

Before that was Jeff Noonā€™s Pollen, which is the second book in his Vurt series. Iā€™d read the first one years ago, and only just got around to this one. I was loving the first half, although it dropped away a bit at the end, so it put me off from diving into the next books straight away. Very weird kind of alternative Manchester, where feathers are a kind of drug/payment system/reality altering kind of thing.

And before that was Make Room! Make Room! By Harry Harrison. Iā€™ve read some of his previous books (he seemed to churn them out back in the 50s and 60s or whenever he wrote), and they were quite good fun. This was imagining a super populated New York at the end of the century, with 35 million people living there, and following a few characters around. It started off good, but then dropped off quite a bit. Iā€™ve since seen that itā€™s one of the updated penguin classic sci fi books, but Iā€™m not too sure why they picked it really.