Muninn

"Dick Laurent is dead."

2 followers follows 0 users joined 2024 August 23 18:38:09 UTC

Burnt out, over the hill autistic IT nerd and longtime SSC lurker

User ID: 3219

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Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 9, 2026

Muninn "Dick Laurent is dead." 1hr ago · Edited 1hr ago

Oh, I completely agree, and this is what makes the moment so poignant for me: Harry knew exactly what we was doing when he asked, knew that what he needed, what he was asking for was completely unfair to ask of Molly, and he asked it anyway. And as a result, things got a lot worse, for Chicago in general as well as for his friends in particular. If Butcher hadn't spent so much time and so many novels developing those relationships, the book never would have worked, but because he did, that book in general and the climax in particular played my personal heart strings like a fiddle, and that's what makes me love him as an author so much: he tends to put the work into his character development, making those moments pay off when they hit. Throughout the series, Harry fucks up a lot, his choices have consequences, sometimes big ones, and sometimes, like in Ghost Story he has good reason for his choices, like, y'know, saving his daughter from the Red Court at all costs, selling his soul to do so, and trying to cheat Mab herself out her prize! YMMV and all, but for me, when I think of the things that I've read that have personally moved me, Clive Barker's Imajica is the only one that comes quickly to mind that isn't a Dresden Files book.

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Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 9, 2026

Muninn "Dick Laurent is dead." 7hr ago

On the lighter side, continued my quest through the Dresden Files with the Ghost Story. Dresden seems to reach peek goofiness in this one, it's a fun read but in the terms of universe/character development it seems to walk in circles.

IDK, for my money, Ghost Story does develop most of the main characters of the series, It's a Wonderful Life Style, but moreover, it contains one of, if not the, most powerful scene(s) in the series at its climax thus far -- revealing to Harry the pain and suffering he caused Molly, specifically, by asking her to bear the burden of assisting him in his attempt at suicide-by-proxy via calling in the favor that Kincaid owed him, and having her erase it from his memory so he wouldn't know to look out for his own assassination. It's still my favorite of the series, and may well stay that way unless Butcher pulls another rabbit out of his hat like that one.

And FTR, the other two scenes that, for me, compete with the previous one are Harry's first meeting with Uriel in Small Favor and Murphy's Death and Butter's subsequent intervention preventing Harry from killing Murphy's murderer in Battle Ground.

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Friday Fun Thread for August 7, 2026

Muninn "Dick Laurent is dead." 11hr ago

TY kind Mottizen, it's good to know that my memory isn't subtly off on every single damn thing, just a lot of things!

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Friday Fun Thread for August 7, 2026

Muninn "Dick Laurent is dead." 23hr ago

So I recently had a chance to sample the Fried Apple Pie that McDonald's brought back to celebrate America's 250th anniversary. I am old enough to have been around when the original was a Thing, though I happened to prefer the fried cherry pie. That said, my verdict is that it was a faithful reproduction of the original, right down to the box art, and the only difference that I noted was that I seemed to remember the pies coming in sleeves instead of boxes BITD, and that could well be a confabulation on my part.

I have never been so thrilled to burn the roof of my mouth in my entire life--the apple pie delivered that part of the experience as well! 10/10, need to repeat while I still can. If you're thinking about giving it a shot, just do it!