Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
So, what are you reading?
I'm still on the Iliad, Dialectic of Enlightenment and McLuhan's The Classical Trivium. Picking up Nudge: The Final Edition.
Alongside a re-read of Reverend Insanity, at o3's suggestion, I'm halfway through The Outside by Ada Hoffman.
The core conceit of the novel should be like crack to me. AI Gods? Said Gods fighting against eldritch abominations? Sign me the fuck up, I had independently considered writing my own novel along those lines before finding this one.
Unfortunately, the real deal is incredibly mid. The protagonist is a capital-A Autistic genius woman, written by an autistic female author, who hasn't heard of "show, don't tell".
If I have to read another line about her sensory issues and inability to function in normal or posthuman society, I'll lose it.
Beyond that, the pace is achingly slow, and the prose not very tight for the most part.
I'd call it a 6/10 novel, barely worth reading. I'm just out of the kind of hard scifi I normally enjoy, they just don't write those fast enough.
Fang Yuan let out a breath of turbid air. He was an old fox, the aspect of how [a particular aspect of cultivation that isn't even relevant much to the current narration], it was extremely clear to him. As for so-called conciseness and elegance, he did not give a damn. Beauty, ugly, did that really matter to Fang Yuan? He he he... The only thing that mattered was eternal life!
(I will not let this go)
I hate you so much, but you have a point.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link