(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Ugh, The Good Wife...was hard to watch tonight. Spent most of it wanting to castrate various male characters.

It is a good sharp satire, concentrating on power plays. And at it's best hilarious.
But lately, it's been a bit too over-the-top or too something, and I've found it aggravating. I know at least one viewer on lj who gave up watching it.

I won't. Because the writing is still better than most television series. But this year has admittedly been a painful one for viewers. And, weirdly? I miss Will Gardner. A lot.
I also miss the dueling firm dynamic.

Once Upon a Time was a bit confusing to start with - because they jumped backwards in time in two - actually make that three worlds, in order to explain a rather complicated back story and plot twist. The Twist however did resolve a plot loop-hole from the previous season, so it worked.

At any rate, while frustrating, I enjoyed it more than the Good Wife.

Regarding Puppygate or Hugo-gate - someone finally clarified which books were nominated for Best Novel by the right-wing conservatives (aka the Rabid Puppies, (Seriously who came up with this name??) ), explaining why Skin Game by Jim Butcher was nominated. I'd wondered. Now, as you probably already know, I actually do enjoy Jim Butcher's Dresden novels - they are snarky entertaining reads, well for the most part. But hardly memorable, and not something I want to think too deeply about - a sort of mix between Raymond Chandler and Harry Potter, yet not quite as well written or imaginative. Of the books he's written, Skin Game was my least favorite. I barely made it through it. It was slow, meandering, and a bit cliche in places. Butcher seemed to lose track of the plot and the characters. It reminded me a little of reading a video game. In my opinion, the writer needs to move on and is getting burned out on Dresden. Then I saw that it had been nominated for a Hugo, and I thought, whoa...the Hugo nominations are sliding rapidly down hill...aren't they? I mean nominating Butcher's Skin Game for a Hugo is a bit like nominating James Patterson for an Edgar Award. (He may have won one...the Edgar's went down hill a while ago. So maybe a Booker Prize?)

I am however curious about The Goblin Emperor (also nominated, albeit not by the Puppies) - which is sort of off the beaten track. And I'd been flirting with.

Now, if I were a voting member of the Hugos...I'd have nominated Neil Gaiman's Ocean at the End of The Lane (although not sure it qualifies, maybe that was last year?). Haven't read enough good sci-fantasy of late to really nominate anything. I did however think Illona Andrews Kate Daniels series was better written than Skin Game. I would have nominated Magic Breaks over Skin Game -- much better book, and far more innovative. (Although I don't think either is worthy of an award. I'm certain there are better books out there. At the very least, I've seen a few better reviewed books. Granted it's all subjective, so probably doesn't matter.)

Also, the discovery that Butcher was nominated by the right-wing fascist contingent makes me wonder if I should stop reading Butcher, just on principal? Like I said, his last book was not that great. So it's not hard to do. Although, it did lean a bit too closely to cliche Christian mythology (sigh), it wasn't offensive. Just terribly cliche.

As an aside...it strikes me that a lot of so-called "Christians" don't seem to understand that Christianity is about kindness, tolerance towards others, healing, caring, and helping others. Not racism, fascism, sexism, misogyny, power, and torture. I know, it can be difficult to figure this out with all the mayhem in the Bible, but it's NOT that hard. And you are giving Christianity a bad name. Stop it! Jesus loved women and minorities and people who are struggling, he had issues with the rich and privileged actually. I hate to say this - but the Sad Puppies have more in common with the Romans who killed Jesus than his followers.

Comments

[rahirah]

I very much enjoyed The Goblin Emperor -- it's got some nifty worldbuilding, and it's a refreshing change from grimdark antiheroes in that the protagonist is a genuinely good person.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I'm toying with it. Not a huge fan of steam-punk, and my co-worker said it was steam-punk heavy with lots of balloons. But the political intrigue...does interest me, along with the world-building.

One of the commentators on GRR Martin's thread said the biggest problem with it - was it needed a sequel. They felt it ended a bit abruptly.

I have, however, friended the writer, truepenny (aka Katherine Addison) on livejournal - mainly because she looks interesting and reviews books. (Actually more interesting than GRR Martin who mostly blogs about foot ball or his theater projects.)

[rahirah]

I would not call it steampunk at all, myself -- it's a wholly invented fantasy world which has some technology as well as some magic. And yes, it does end rather abruptly. It's much more a character study than strongly plot-driven. What plot there is just sort of piddles along in the background and then wham, is resolved, but the meat of the story is really in how the main character handles the situation he's been thrown into.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...I might actually really like Goblin Emperor then - since I actually prefer character driven to plot driven books. And like you state, be nice to explore a protagonist that isn't an anti-hero for a change.

Getting a bit burned out on the anti-hero trope. Between television and books, I think its been overdone.

Although the Johannas Cabal - The Necromancer novel that I'm reading does read as a bit of a satire of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and various other urban fantasy/steampunk novels. He's about as dark a hero you can get, without flipping towards villain.

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

Seconding the rec for Goblin Emperor! Don't go in it for the plot but enjoy a protagonist who's genuinely a good person. The process nerd in me also strangely appreciated the huge emphasis on paperwork and negotiation that goes into running a government - nothing gets solved with battles or sword fights.

One note of caution: the names and titles are ridiculous. There's a guide in the back of the book about naming conventions, and a cast of characters. But really it's impossible to keep track of who's who for the first half. I just rolled my eyes and kept reading.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

The process nerd in me also strangely appreciated the huge emphasis on paperwork and negotiation that goes into running a government - nothing gets solved with battles or sword fights.

Okay that's another plus in the book's favor. Because I am also a process nerd. It's a lot of what I do for a living - working for a government agency. You would not believe how much negotiation and paperwork are involved. My difficulty with a lot of fantasy novels is there's far too much emphasis on sword fights and battles - which have zip to do with running a government, if anything they just get in the way and pose a distraction, not to mention cost a lot money.

Hmm, character-driven, likable main character, not much emphasis on violence,
and emphasis on process. Sounds like it may be good.

Although, I really should just continue to read the books that I already own. Some 352 or 700 of them. (LOL!)

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

I had similar thoughts on Skin Game, I liked it but it was sort of bubblegum for the brain and I never would have considered it Hugo worthy.

Gaiman won two Hugos in the past for best novel and I think it likely that Ocean was one of the books pushed off the slate by the puppy nominations. We will know in August when the first 15 in every cathegory with number of votes are published.

I tried to ask Jim Butcher on Twitter about his thoughts on being nominated by the puppies. He never answered though. Unlike other authors (who were either not pleased by the puppy nominations or are open supporters) he is staying completely silent on the matter.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Gaiman won two Hugos in the past for best novel and I think it likely that Ocean was one of the books pushed off the slate by the puppy nominations. We will know in August when the first 15 in every cathegory with number of votes are published.

I mentioned it on GRR Martin's thread, and a poster told me that it had actually gotten a nomination in 2014 but Gaiman declined, because he already had three nominations.
Curious as to why he declined - I googled it at lunch and found this:

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2006/08/hugo-words.html

He has been declining for a few years now. Declined for Anasi Boys back in 2006.
And in 2014 declined for Ocean, even though he got a lot of votes.

And now that the nominees list is up on the web, people are asking me why Anansi Boys was withdrawn from Hugo consideration, and whether it was me that withdrew it. Yes, it was me. And I suppose partly I did it because I have three Hugos already, and I felt it was better to get more names on the ballot that weren't mine, and partly because I think I feel more comfortable when the things of mine that get Hugo nominations are marginally closer to SF than to pure fantasy, but mostly because when they told me Anansi Boys was nominated it just felt right to say no thank you, this time. Obviously I'm grateful to everyone who voted for it, and happy for the other awards that it's won and is nominated for, but on this one, well, it just felt right to say no. So I did.

https://chaoshorizon.wordpress.com/2014/10/12/the-hugo-and-nebula-awards-and-repeat-nominees-part-2/

"This list would have been even more pronounced if Neil Gaiman hadn’t turned down two Hugo nominations, one for Anasazi Boys and one for The Ocean at the End of the Lane."

(Of course, the fact that he already won a Nebula, and the National Book Award for Ocean may have had an effect.)

I tried to ask Jim Butcher on Twitter about his thoughts on being nominated by the puppies. He never answered though. Unlike other authors (who were either not pleased by the puppy nominations or are open supporters) he is staying completely silent on the matter.

I noticed that too. I went hunting for a response or something from Butcher, but nothing. It's not clear whether he agreed to be included or knew about the nomination.
Or what he feels about it. (Probably wise to stay silent - a lot of his fans are most likely in the Sick Sad aka Rabid Puppy contingent. ) I did however notice that there were one or two people nominated by the Sad Puppies who declined their nominations.

Right now, I'm toying with picking up either The Goblin Emperor (although not a huge fan of steam punk and multi-cast books with hard to remember names) or Anne Leckie's Ancillary Justice - then Ancillary Sword. (She won last year.) They appear to be the only two interesting nominations this year...everyone else looks a bit, well hardly noteworthy.

Although a friend of mine is touting "The Martian by Martin Weir" - which I'm considering borrowing from her.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I had similar thoughts on Skin Game, I liked it but it was sort of bubblegum for the brain and I never would have considered it Hugo worthy.

Oh, the book I'm reading now feels a bit like a parody or a satire of Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, specifically Skin Game. Not exact, but there are elements.
The main character is a magician with no conscience to speak of, while his younger brother, a handsome vampire, has one. They are running a carnival of discord in order to trade 100 souls to Satan in exchange for the hero's. It's very tongue in cheek.

The writer appears to be making fun of various urban fantasy tropes.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I don't know how much I think Skin Game set on Christian Theology... I guess it did but it seems in a very "Supernatural" way. They had had Uriel (?... I forget) around before. And they've had the Knights of the Cross thing before. Plus, the Grail and the Speer of Destiny. That said, they also had Hades being very much the Greek Mythology character and in no way Satan. (He actually reminded me a bit of Roberta Gellis' Hades in "Dazzling Darkness" (or whatever the name was) where Hades was actually the hero in love with Persephone (albeit with some kidnapping involved). At any rate, Hades didn't come off as a bad guy.

That said, I agree that Skin Game was not memorable, and I had no clue that the whole "puppy gate" involved Butcher getting nominated for a Hugo by Tea Party types. That does make me shudder a little. I agree that Skin Game meandered and wasn't particularly compelling.

And since we were discussing it, I have been reading Johannes Cabal The Necromancer, and thus far it's seriously suffering from the same thing. So far it's been like a series of vignettes rather than an ongoing story. And while it seems to strive for Gaiman and Pratchett wit and humor... it just isn't as amusing. That said, it's enough that I'll finish it... eventually. I don't find Johannes all that interesting so far (actually find his brother more interesting to this point) but I also can't help thinking there's an Odd Thomas mislead going on. I figure there's something more than a drop to Cabal's brother saying that Johannes went nuts (even though Johannes doesn't appear to think so).

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It was admittedly a while ago that I read "Skin Game" - but it had the "fallen angels" in it again and the Carpenters, which are two threads in the series that really don't work for me. (They lean towards cliche "Christian" mythos, which my uncle amongst others loves to write about, shhhh...don't tell him. I have similar issues with Supernatural, and it's partly why I couldn't read Kelly Armstrong's take on Angel (via the comics), there were other reasons, that's just one of them.)

That said, I agree, Hades wasn't Christian, but Greek. And what I like about Butcher is his tendency to merge mythologies - ie. Norse mythology with Greek and Judeo/Christian. (I liked Hades, he was actually amongst the few bits in the book that I sort of liked.)

That said, I agree that Skin Game was not memorable, and I had no clue that the whole "puppy gate" involved Butcher getting nominated for a Hugo by Tea Party types. That does make me shudder a little. I agree that Skin Game meandered and wasn't particularly compelling.

When I saw it was nominated for a Hugo, I thought, "okaaay, that's really odd, I didn't think it was that good. Okay maybe, but nothing memorable." (I've read a lot of the Hugo nominees and award winners in former years, and while there are a few head scratchers in the bunch (aren't there always?), most have something interesting going on.) Then right after that, the Sad PuppyGate scandal broke and I wondered, hmmm...would this explain why "Skin Game" was nominated. (Apparently it does. Although John Scalzi and GRR Martin do go out of their way to state on their blogs (or journals) that there is no evidence that Jim was supporting this and we should give him the benefit of the doubt. That just because the Sad Puppies put him on the ballot, doesn't mean that he supported them. There's a bit of disagreement about that on Scalzi's board, one responder disagreed - and said everyone they nominated was contacted and agreed to be put on the ballot by the Puppies. But Scalzi said - there was no way of knowing and that's basically hearsay. So...who knows? Butcher is being silent. Smart man. Although unlike Martin, Butcher rarely blogs and lets his marketing team handle it.)

[Will discuss Johannas Cable in a separate response. - TBC]

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I have been reading Johannes Cabal The Necromancer, and thus far it's seriously suffering from the same thing. So far it's been like a series of vignettes rather than an ongoing story. And while it seems to strive for Gaiman and Pratchett wit and humor... it just isn't as amusing. That said, it's enough that I'll finish it... eventually.

Having exactly the same response. It's okay, I'll finish it. But I'm plodding through. (I've fallen into a bit of a book rut, this is the second book I've found to be less than compelling. Although at least it's shorter.)

A reviewer on Good Reads said that it read like a video game. (It does. So too did Skin Game - which is why, when I found out that it was nominated for a Hugo by a bunch of Tea Party Video-Gamers...I thought, okay, that makes sense.)

And I'm not sure the vignettes hold together well...I keep losing track of the story.

I don't find Johannes all that interesting so far (actually find his brother more interesting to this point) but I also can't help thinking there's an Odd Thomas mislead going on. I figure there's something more than a drop to Cabal's brother saying that Johannes went nuts (even though Johannes doesn't appear to think so).

Agreed. The best thing about the book so far is the relationship between the two brothers. Also, I'm intrigued as to why Johannas got obsessed with bringing back the dead. Apparently there's something there. Also...the story seems to be about finding anything redeemable in Johannas..does he care about anyone but himself?

Johannas remembers hating his brother for being more charismatic and better at everything - and it seems Horst is the older of the two.

It's oddly written book, uneven in places. For instance - we jump into a couple (Ted and Rachel) point of view for a sort of Twilight Zone style horror story, then out again. Or the vignette about the ghost solider - which seems out of place somehow.
Now? He's trapped in a pocket dimension, after fighting with a bunch of insane HP Lovecraft Wizards.

Odd book. Not quite gripping me, but interesting enough to keep me plugging along, mainly because I want to find out three things:

1. How he wins the game/quest
2. Why he wants to bring the dead back
3. Does he care about anyone outside of himself

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yeah I just finished the pocket universe bit and when it and the ghost soldier first came up I was o. Wth? Where did that come from. It doesn't seem all that connected to the plot. That's what I mean by ''wanders' . And I think we're going to find that the desperate to raise the dead is a 'went kind of crazy after losing someone he loved." That's Fha Odd Thomas gibe I get ( in the story of Odd Thomas he could see ghosts. When his girlfriend died, he went a bit nuts and didn't allow himself to recognize that she was dead and a ghost throughout the a large chunk of the novel. I think he sold his soul to get someone back and that's what the brother meant by Johannes going nuts. But its just a guess. I'm at the pocket universe bit

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm still pocket universe bit, myself.

And I had exactly the same reaction (except I don't think I've read Odd Thomas -although it is a popular trope and sounds incredibly familiar.). I've been thinking it for a while...that he lost someone, either a sister, a parent, a girlfriend...someone, and he went crazy. (Very Constantine - Constantine became a warlock in order to bring back his mom in order to talk to her.)

Since we're both thinking the same thing? I think we may be right...there's certainly a lot of anvils. (Solider killing himself because everyone he loved was dead - and that's why Johannas takes pity on his ghost, because the ghost just wants to see Katy again. And then there's the couple, Rachel and Ted -and Ted needing the doll.) This writer lacks subtlety.

Wth? Where did that come from. It doesn't seem all that connected to the plot. That's what I mean by ''wanders' .

Agreed. It reminds me a little bit of Ready Player One and Skin Game - which did the same thing. It's like the writer strings together a series of adventures under one heading...which I suppose can work. Although I think it worked a lot better in "The Night Circus" - where the writer was more deliberate about it.