Exactly. One of the reasons why Dune holds up better is that it doesn't make a direct connection to "contemporary" Earth. The rest of them with their flying cars, cities on the moon, robots... I don't know. I don't dislike it, but it feels kind of lame now.
Good argument for not using specific dates. If it’s some vague future point in time and there are cities on the moon, fine. If it’s 2010 and there are cities on the moon, er….
I knew a guy who got the vanity plate SPACE and was planning to buy a 2001 Honda Odyssey when they came out. Lost touch with him before that year rolled around so I don't know what became of the plan.
True, keeping your technology separate from any connection to this time works so much better in that regard. I guess you could stray into a kind of fantasy science fiction, if there is such a genre. Another reason fantasy stands the test of time much better than science fiction.
Book recommendations! Books I read recently I would recommend: Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro. Very intriguing period fantasy in the 19th century. Very gothic and spiritual. Not a predictable plotline, if you dislike obviousness. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. Historic epic set in historical China, based on real events. At once tragic, uplifting, dark and funny. Bonus for LGBT themes. The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant. A stylish alternative history in early 19th century France (think Le Mis). Slightly YA-ish but good, still mature themes. The world-building and writing style are the best parts. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I recommend Night Circus before which I love, love, loved. This one is about as good. Very unique modern fantasy. Think Night Circus without the period element and three times weirder. That persistent feeling of subtle mystery about Night Circus is here too and almost stronger. Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May. This one wins the prise for most unique alternative history concept I've seen in a while. 1920's but with a magic Prohibition instead of alcohol. Very women-centric. Emotionally intense. Bonus points for LGBT themes.
I've also read the Night Circus and loved it, well written, original story. Haven't got around to The Starless Sea yet.
It's weird! And good! I would consider it something of an ode to storytelling itself, and to the idea of a story.
The White Rose was actually fantastic. Satisfying ending. I had forgotten how dedicated Cook was to undermining fantasy tropes. I'm 30% through the third Wheel of Time book. Calling them books is starting to feel like calling a wedding cake just 'a cake.' I can't tell if I'm fatigued or Jordan is fatigued at this point (he's deceased right now, but you know what I mean), but the prose is particularly getting on my nerves in this book. One bit that stands out as illustrative is a character "opened his mouth angrily." It just seems low effort, and I really thought the first book did a better job on that. Maybe the editor gave that one more love, I don't know. I'll stick with it though. The story is still engaging and I do want to see it through.
@Not the Territory Have you read Peter McLean’s War for the Rose Throne series? You might enjoy it — I’ve really liked what I’ve read. It has a grim fantasy soldier premise and feel similar to Cook’s Black Company books.
No, but I checked out the first few pages on Amazon and it seems pretty good. It's going on the big to-read list.
Finished three more books, none of which were particularly long. (1) The Time of Contempt, Andrzej Sapkowski. The more I read of Ciri, the less I want to read. At this point I simply don’t care for her as a protagonist. And the main characters I actually like — Geralt, Yennefer, and Dandelion — didn’t receive the level of development I expected from this book. This is the first Witcher installment I’ve judged as not worth reading. Rating: 2.5 stars. (2) The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov. Just good enough characters. Just good enough prose. And just good enough worldbuilding, plot and themes. Rating: 3 stars. (3) The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway. My wife recently picked this book up at a garage sale. I wasn’t required to read it while in school, so I decided to squeeze it into my TBR list. And I’m glad I did. I’ve always admired Hemingway’s prose, and the themes and characters in this story are timeless. Rating: 4 stars. Currently reading: Dead Man’s Walk, Larry McMurtry.
The 50th Law by Robert Greene and 50 Cent The Black Hand: The Story of Rene "Boxer" Enriquez and His Life in the Mexican Mafia by Chris Blatchford
The Power of Point of View by Alicia Rasley. Best POV book I've found by a long shot, and I've read (/am reading) several others. I highly recommend this to anybody wanting to really develop their understanding on the subject.
Just read an old article in the Journal of Library Administration & Management about Ernest Shackleton. I knew the guy existed and i knew he was famous for getting stranded in Antarctica (literally all knew about him mostly from handling books here), but this article went into detail about who he was before, during, and after the Endurance went down and how he managed his crew threw it all. How did i not learn about this dude in school???
I remember reading about Shackleton for the first time in some National Geographic type magazine as a kid. So many crazy things about the Endurance story, but the thing that sticks with me is how part of their plan was literally to just get stuck in the ice and let it drift them a ways. Like "Yep, we've got our specially designed boat, we're just gonna relax here for two years in the freezing darkness, what else would we do?" Oh, and then at the end when he makes it back to South Georgia and he asks somebody, basically, "So, how'd World War I turn out?" and the guy is like "Uhh...it's still going...millions of people have died..." Oof. Anyway I'm reading Ken Liu, The Grace of Kings. It's quite good in many ways. It's definitely very gripping and doesn't slack, and he does a good job of giving characters complex motivations, and also giving each "side" (the story is some people are rebelling against a big empire) complex characters. As in, some rebels just want to loot stuff, some rebels are principled and want to make life better for the common people, some rebels are displaced nobles from the old system who want their privileges back--and they all have to coexist on the same "side". Same with the empire, some are cruel bastards who are just as likely to undercut their own side, some are true patriots, some are boring but competent administrators just getting a paycheck. If anything, though, I think it suffers from being a bit overwritten. Maybe he didn't need to show us quite this much complexity, because I think his prose suffers a bit for it. He tends to over-explain everything, and often times it's really just clunky.
The Body. It's the novela (-ette?) by Stephen King on which the movie Stand By Me was based. I also bought the movie on Amazon Prime earlier and watched it. Can't believe I had never seen it before. What an amazing cast! I'm only a little way into the story, but there's more of a foreboding element of death suffusing everything. It was there in the movie but very subtly. In the book it's more foregrounded and ominous. But then, it's Stephen King, what would you expect? It's an object lesson in first-person autobiography-style storytelling.
American History for Home Schools, 1607 to 1885, with a Focus on Our Civil War (Nine authors listed) Available on Kindle Unlimited. It's a history textbook intended for homeschooled kids that briefly covers the years in question from the point of view of the Southern States and eventually of the Confederacy. Slaves are referred to throughout as 'African American bonded people'. A fascinating example of historical facts (so far as I could tell) spun to advance a narrative.