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RichardAbbott
About
- Username
- RichardAbbott
- Joined
- Visits
- 6,074
- Last Active
- Roles
- Member, Administrator, Moderator
- Games I like
- Sundry, mostly board
- Books I like
- Science fiction, fantasy, some historical fiction
Comments
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Yes, totally - one of the great things about this book (and IMHO there were several great things) was the reticence of the author as regards the world. So much more satisfying than a kind of lay-it-all-out-in-chapter-1 pattern which one often sees i…
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> @BurnAfterRunning said: > On a tangential note, in 2020 I started logging the RPGs I play on a big Google Sheet. And this is amazing! I have so many games I might have forgotten about otherwise, and it's definitely made me play more games (…
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Hmmm, I don't believe that Rebecca Deczynski has a real job that actually takes too much of her time...
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> @Apocryphal said: > Announcements go in the Nominations category - make them easier to search for if they're all in one place. Thx Done!
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(Quote) Not a problem... where would you like me to post? Here? Or will you set up a new category?
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It's a bit of a long shot, and may not at all be what you are looking for, but some music album covers fit along these lines. I'm thinking particularly about Roger Dean (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Dean_(artist)#) many of whose album covers …
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(Quote) I suppose in a certain sense, that is (part of) the point of the story... the Paonese at the start are so insipid that they are not only unmemorable, but easily conquered by an absurdly small force. Their only form of revolt is a kind of civ…
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Part-way through, thoroughly enjoying it (and inevitably coming up with my own theories as to what is happening...)
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> @NeilNjae said: > Oops! Mistakes happen. At least it's not as bad as when Queen Victoria asked Lewis Carroll for his next book... > > (Which apparently didn't happen.) What a charming story (which I'd never come across before). …
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(Quote) You'd have needed an awful lot of aqua...
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> @clash_bowley said: > I will confess here that The Languages of Pao selection was a total mistake... :) They say confession is good for the soul, but in this case I wouldn't worry... Languages of Pao might well stimulate some great discu…
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Nothing to comment here, just adding a note so I see updates
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I'm going to post this year because I can't see anywhere else to put it... and it is vaguely relevant to the discussion starter @clash_bowley set... As I read it, pretty much all normal novel criteria are set aside in order to pursue the main thing…
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Again (usual risk assessment) I don't think the book is about individual character development, whether of men or women, except incidentally as serves the arc of cultural development. In that sense pretty much everyone is fridged...
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Again, at the risk of repeating myself, I feel that they were a type of personality, rather than people. Even Palafox doesn't really get much narrative space as a personality, except as seen by others. The oddity in the presentation, I think, was t…
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(Quote) Not quite that far but a decent way in - have to admit I am loving this one, great choice
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It's a problem for an author to try to describe multiple languages all in English, and US English at that, especially here, where the concept is that they differ so much as to reshape their whole culture. In a film or TV show you can do this through…
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I don't think that in this story, Vance was interested in realistic world-building - rather, he wanted to set up a collection of artificial constructs to pit against each other, represented by the languages. Indeed, this artifice (IMHO) took over th…
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The situation (not just the treatment of women, but other areas of abuse very widely) occurs a lot in historical fiction, and is the subject of a lot of conversation amongst authors there. Take for example slavery, forced marriage, institutional cru…
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(Quote) And where's the guy in all-over black?
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There's also a definite article of faith (on the author's part, taken for granted by the characters outside of Planet Earth) that life wil always and invariably find a way to develop and thrive in the most difficult and improbable circumstances. A d…
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(Quote) Done
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> @WildCard said: > No apology necessary. Like I said, I wasn’t involved in that slow read, and it sounds like everyone who involved was okay with the arrangement. Sounds fine to me. Also, this slow read was the only time we've done such a…
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(Quote) yes, I totally agree with you here - I just assumed that it was something which was so much key to the plot that one just had to suspend disbelief or not read the book at all! I suppose you could look at the idea as being a central absurdity…
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Try https://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-fellowship-of-the-read/24504488 That's the link @Michael_S_Miller posted ages ago and it seems to be still live
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(Quote) Yes, it seems slightly odd to do reverse order announcements. But when we know for November, and when there's a category set up, I'll add details. And hi also from me @Ray_Otus :)
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I have no particular preference and will go with whatever decision is made
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@Apocryphal I can put together some intro blurb for the December choice as and when you are ready...
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BTW total kudos to @NeilNjae for selecting a book which has triggered such a stimulating and wide-ranging discussion.
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> @NeilNjae said: > (Quote) > I think we can make some steps towards that. Do you make mistakes while playing, or is the performance technically good? Is the technique itself any good? How well does your part fit with the rest of the ense…