site banner
PaperclipPerfector  7d ago (text post)   2750 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 22, 2026

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.

3
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

So, what are you reading?

I'm adding Voegelin's A New Science of Politics to my list.

Working through Christopher Ruocchio's Sun Eater saga. Not bad at all, though I find comparisons with Tolkien, Herbert and other giants unwarranted so far. I mean, it's not bad - it's pretty good, actually - and probably would make an excellent TV series if anybody (outside woke Hollywood) would take it, but it's not Tolkien. Still, it's a good read - even if excessively long-winded at times - so I plan to spend some time on it.

As a side note, he is one of the good examples how one can handle "progressive" settings without falling into annoying wokeness. In his world, Christian sexual limitations do not exist. There are gay people, hermaphrodites, sexless creatures, and all other combinations you can imagine - and it's not treated as some kind of huge deal. It is described very early that the protagonist's own mother is a lesbian, and there are several gay characters along the story, and other "deviant" characters too, and it's not like everybody is woke there - there's prejudice, hate, bigotry, various phobias, all the normal stuff - but it's handled in-world, as stuff that normal humans do, good or bad or neither, and none of it is used to badger the reader into something contemporary political. That's how fiction used to be, but a lot of it isn't anymore. Good to see people still know how to do things properly.

Also started Lying for Money - extremely interesting and fascinating so far.

Final book in Toll's Pacific War Trilogy! Also still chugging on the Golden Compass in Italian, and we've started After Virtue in philosophy book club.

The Noob Returns (Noobtown Book 9) by Ryan Rimmel. Haven't quite finished it yet but fuck, it's fun to return to this world after a decent stretch between books.

What the Hell Did I Just Read ended up disappointing me, mostly because Pargin ultimately only played around with the differing perspectives of the characters, leading to a pointless, dare I say ruined, climax and no real resolution. I was hoping with the way it was going that it'd be an Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade sort of situation but instead, it felt more like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. And I can't help but notice that the original John Dies at the End has, overall, been funnier than the subsequent books combined.

All of Pargin's books have interesting titles but, from what I see on tvtropes, are filled with a type of humor I don't really care for. I'd see a new title on the shelf, start to pick it up and then go, "Oh, not him again. FFS."

Yeah, I can see that. Thinking about the humor angle specifically, there's definitely a strong thread of what I tend to think of as sophomoric humor in the style of Kevin Smith--sexual, crass, body-based humor, and this is consistent throughout all of the books. But there's also a strong thread of absurdist humor in the original John Dies at the End that, for me at least, works much better than the more juvenile humor does by itself. I found John's band, Three Armed Sally, with its three bass players and memorable introductory theater, to be hilarious in general and the lyrics to the song Camel Holocaust to be so ridiculous that they're utterly hysterical genius, for example, and that's just one part of the book. The closest thing that I can point to in the sequels is detective Lance Falconer from This Book is Full of Spiders, who is a great touch, but can't carry the book by himself.

Superior humor aside, in the more general sense, I think that the original John Dies at the End also benefited from its origin as a long-running serial fiction on Cracked.com and the long overall gestation period that it had. Not only is the humor better, but the jagged edges between scenes, characters, and overall narrative are sharper and drive the overall plot forward. The world it builds is fun, convoluted, and ripe for further exploration. The ending nails its aesthetic and completely sticks its landing. The sequels, by contrast, lack the additional subplots, polish, and humor of the original. Both end with at least a touch of glurge and lack the punch of the original. Worse, the world that the original built lies mostly untapped in the sequel and is, by the time of What the Hell Did I Just Read, completely vestigial. It felt to me like the literary equivalent of watching another episode of Scooby Doo instead of the rollicking, crank fueled bender through a modern Lovecraftian-inspired horrific universe that is the original. The sharp edges and social commentary of the original are largely missing and replaced instead by typical soy-based "humor" and, in the case of What the Hell Did I Just Read, a Very Special Episode feel as well.

Oh yeah I wanted to recommend Bog Standard Isekai. I've only read the first two books but it's the best pure litrpg I've found yet.

Thanks, I'll check it out!

Guy Gavriel Kay's Children of Earth and Sky. I'm about 80% through and while well written it honestly hasn't really grabbed me.

This is my least favorite of his books to be honest. The best in my opinion is A Brightness Long Ago

Finished my third read of Lying for Money yesterday. I've realised that I have a particular fascination with stories about liars and frauds getting found out and exposed. I loved reading the Wikipedia article about Theranos (and have been meaning to watch the miniseries about the company, The Dropout). Shattered Glass is not an especially well-made film, suffering from a wholly unnecessary "cinematic" framing device, but I find the story so fascinating that I've watched it four or five times in addition to reading its source material about that many times.

Debating what to read next. I was thinking of reading The Mothman Prophecies, but I'm loath to read two works of non-fiction (I suppose I should say, two books which were marketed as non-fiction) back to back. However, none of the novels in my to-read list are really piquing my interest: Hey Zoey? A Canticle for Leibowitz? After Long Silence?

In the end I opted for Jack Kerouac's Tristessa, which I'd forgotten a friend gave to me a few weeks ago.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats