Help offset server costs by donating. This is totally optional. Any overages will go to library fines or new books.
Apocryphal
About
- Username
- Apocryphal
- Joined
- Visits
- 11,667
- Last Active
- Roles
- Member, Administrator, Moderator
Comments
-
The may have been multi-ethnic but not multi-national. Maddie herself wasn't French - just descended from someone who was French, I could have sworn she said at one point. Americans can be very multi-ethnic and yet all be very American thanks to the…
-
Which edition is that a back cover blurb for? It appears to give away the ending. Here's what I find available on Amazon Dover Books edition: A reclusive man, retreating to the Irish countryside with his sister, finds himself one day at the portal…
-
To @NeilNjae 's point, in this sense at least, I do feel the motives did feel rather Russian, where individual life is cheap and duty to the national project has greater meaning. As I said in the world-building question, I rather liked the bleak, ha…
-
I like the two distinctive voices and they were well-delivered in the audio version. The pacing was mostly fine. Overall rather liked the plot and the tensions between the crews. I suppose I thought that the episode of the exile being the wedge tha…
-
I enjoyed the novel itself reasonably well, apart from the nagging 'how come these Russians are so American?' doubts. It was probably a bit longer than it needed to be, but not too egregiously.
-
Plot wise, you could easily take this whole novel and plunk it into an episodic space opera game rather seamlessly, I think. Also, considering a rough colony environment, the reason for the kidnappings could vary. Gene farming. Protein farming (Arkh…
-
While I understand and agree with Richard's points, I have to say this aspect of the book didn't really bother me during the read - I had no trouble accepting this as presented. This may have been because I was more fixated on wondering why none of …
-
I didn't get noir from this at all. Where were the colourful similes?
-
Yes, I'd agree - the rest of the characters definitely blended. No, I did the audio book for this one (out of necessity - the library only had a reference copy of this book, and Amazon.ca only had a hardcover for over $50). The audio used two narrat…
-
I thought the world-building was fine. Settlement in space should be difficult - I'm sure like Roanoke, lots of colonies will gradually peter out.
-
This was the main thing - probably the only thing - that bugged me about the novel, but it bugged me a lot. Both ship crews were from Russia - future Russia, granted - but noting about the Russian character really came through. To me it was a clear …
-
By the 2/3 mark, I definitely thought they were heading into a romantic relationship. By the end I wasn't so sure they go there, but maybe. I'm glad it was ambiguous - every author and their aunt wants to write lesbian relationships these days. It h…
-
I'm thinking of The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgeson for October. Penguin recently released this in a new 'weird fiction' line, so it should be readily available despite it's age. Let me know if you have any comments.
-
BTW I saw this for the first time on Friday in a used bookshop.
-
Now you must read the others - Wisdom's Daughter (a prequel), Ayesha: The Return of She, and She and Allan.
-
Interesting - I think I've only heard of this in non-fiction terms, like in an illuminati, masons, grand ancient mystery kind of way.
-
Like breaking the fourth wall in reverse?
-
Have it. Been meaning to read it for some time, but haven’t so far.
-
THE NEXT SEVEN YEARS Monthly Selections 72. Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff 73. Lyonesse by Jack Vance 74. Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives Gilman 75. The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Leguin 76. Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement 77. Hiero's Journey b…
-
@kcaryths Looks like you're up in September. Anything brewing?
-
😂
-
UK is the 51st state - I heard it in punk rock. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dw_aj68Gqg
-
But surely you agree an invasion Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Kaliningrad, or Greenland is not entirely off the table...
-
Cool!
-
Getting lost in real life is one thing, getting lost in an RPG is another. What choices to the players have if they get lost, and do all those possible solutions result in good gaming? 1. Pick one of these paths and keep going - presumably if they p…
-
I’m not really that keen on the random encounter method. For one thing, it pays no respect to pacing. A GM will know better when an action scene is needed than the dice will. But in general I much prefer some set-piece encounters in specific plac…
-
Yes, as Neil says, the investigation aspect is well-trod in gaming. Emulating travel is less so. It’s usually abstracted and glossed over. With the resource depletion examples Neil gave, the actual travel is glossed over. Terrain descriptions get bo…
-
I think it’s a thriller, just a low key early version. The moving with Michael York did a better job at ramping up the tension, with dark mysterious characters skulking in the night, near boat rammings, a chase scene on a catwalk etc. Whatever you …
-
I found the characters convincing for the most part.
-
I can see it coming into vogue again, given current circumstances. The other kind of invasion sometimes explored is the immigrant invasion (like Priest’s Fugue for a Darkening Island. It’s not super common, but it exists.