Tassie Dave’s Comments (group member since Mar 27, 2011)

Tassie Dave’s comments from the The Sword and Laser group.

Mark wrote: "I don't know where Warrior Nun was filmed. Looks like somewhere in Europe. The scenery is gorgeous.."

According to wikipedia it was all filmed in Spain

Filming for the first season took place on location in Ronda, Antequera, Málaga, and Sevilla, Spain from March 11, 2019 to July 5, 2019.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrior...

"Grim African Grimm" would be an apt description.

I'm not sure I can get on board with likening it to Wakanda and Black Panther though.

This is an Africa that used to exist and, probably, to some degree still does in places. It's not a nice place and is inhabited by a lot of horrible people. Even the heroes of the stories (Tracker and Leopard) are not always nice people, but they generally do bad things for the right reason.

I'm 25% of the way and agree it is a hard book to read at times, both for the style and the content, but I can see why it has got good reviews (and why it has bad reviews) and I will see it out.

I do hope it lightens up a bit and has more humorous situations to make it a bit more palatable

It.

Bends.

Slightly.

😉

With a book this divisive, a warning is appropriate. People who buy the book won't want to find out 5 pages in that this is not for them.

I'm 20% in and even though it is confronting, it is inside my tolerance levels. The violence (so far) is not glorified and is displayed to show the horror of the situations the characters find themselves in.

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "The other thing I wish I'd said is you might want to develop some kind of way to keep track of the characters because there are a lot of them!"

I have made a list if anyone is interested. It is from the book and is not spoilery. Unless knowing someone's name and description is a spoiler for you.

(view spoiler)[

IN JUBA, KU, GANGATOM

KWASH DARA, son of Kwash Netu; King of the North Kingdom, aka the Spider King
TRACKER, hunter known by no other name
HIS FATHER
HIS MOTHER
BELOVED UNCLE, a great chief of the Ku
KU, a river tribe and territory
GANGATOM, a river tribe, territory, and enemy of the Ku
LUALA LUALA, a river tribe and territory north of the Ku
ABOYAMI, a father
AYODELE, his son
WITCHMAN, necromancer of the Ku
ITAKI, a river witch
KAVA/ASANI, boy of the Ku
LEOPARD, shape-shifting hunter known by a few other names
YUMBOES, bush fairies and guardians of children
THE SANGOMA, an antiwitch
THE MINGI, who are:
Giraffe Boy
Smoke Girl
Albino
Ball Boy
The joined twins
ASANBOSAM, monstrous eater of human flesh
THE GANGATOM CHIEF

IN MALAKAL

THE AESI, chancellor of Kwash Dara
BUNSHI/POPELE, river jengu, mermaid, shape-shifter
SOGOLON, the Moon Witch
SADOGO, of the Ogos, tall, mighty men who are not giants
AMADU KASAWURA, a slaver
BIBI, his manservant
NSAKA NE VAMPI, a mercenary
NYKA, a mercenary
FUMELI, the Leopard’s bowman
BELEKUN THE BIG, a fat elder
ADAGAGI THE WISE, a wise elder
AMAKI THE SLIPPERY, an elder nobody knows
NOOYA, a woman possessed by the lightning bird
THE BULTUNGI, avengers
ZOGBANU, trolls originally from the Blood Swamp
VENIN, a girl raised to be food for the Zogbanu
CHIPFALAMBULA, a great fish
GHOMMIDS, sometimes-nice forest creatures
EWELE, a vicious ghommid
EGBERE, his cousin, vicious when hungry
ANJONU, spirit of the Darklands who reads hearts
THE MAD MONKEY, a deranged primate

IN KONGOR

BASU FUMANGURU, elder of the North Kingdom, murdered
HIS WIFE, murdered
HIS SONS, murdered
THE SEVEN WINGS, mercenaries
KAFUTA, lord of a house
MISS WADADA, owner of a brothel
EKOIYE, a whore who loves civet musk
THE BUFFALO, a very smart buffalo
KONGORI CHIEFTAIN ARMY, local constables
MOSSI OF AZAR, third prefect of the Kongori chieftain army
MAZAMBEZI, a prefect
RED OGO, another Ogo
BLUE OGO, another Ogo
THE MASTER OF ENTERTAINMENTS, the Ogo fight master
LALA, his slave
THE MAWANA WITCHES, dirt mermaids, aka mud jengu
TOKOLOSHE, a small gremlin who makes himself invisible

IN DOLINGO AND THE MWERU

OLD MAN, lord of a hut and southern griot
THE QUEEN OF DOLINGO, as it says
HER CHANCELLOR
DOLINGON SLAVE BOY
THE WHITE SCIENTISTS, darkest of the necromancers and alchemists
BAD IBEJI, a malformed twin
JAKWU, white guard for King Batuta
IPUNDULU, vampire lightning bird
SASABONSAM, winged brother of Asanbosam
ADZE, vampire and bug swarm
ELOKO, grass troll and cannibal
LISSISOLO OF AKUM, sister of Kwash Dara, nun of the divine sisterhood
SHADOWINGS, night demons who serve the Aesi

IN MITU

IKEDE, a southern griot
KAMANGU, a son
NIGULI, a son
KOSU, a son
LOEMBE, a son
NKANGA, a son
KHAMSEEN, a daughter

IN THE MALANGIKA AND THE SOUTH KINGDOM

A YOUNG WITCH
A MERCHANT
HIS WIFE
HIS SON

KAMIKWAYO, a white scientist turned monster

(hide spoiler)]

I think being well read will naturally increase your word usage and word knowledge. As will doing crosswords.

Neal Stephenson is the king of verbosity. He never uses a common synonym when an uncommon one will do.

I have to read Neal with a dictionary handy. He uses words I never knew existed :-?

An 'elliptical session' is what you call the party to celebrate Earth completing it's 50th elliptical orbit since your birth.

I'm going to have a "huuuge" elliptical session in about 23 months ;-)

Trike wrote: "I'm assuming you meant “book that looks” rather than “boon that lols” which, while humorous, ends up with a totally different meaning. 🍺"

I think I know why Tom is drinking.

He's in the last few hours of his forties and will join me, you and a few others here in the "Half Century Club" :-)

As it's already Sunday here. Happy 50th Tom :-)

Tamahome wrote: "And what are you drinking, Tom?"

That's what I was thinking ;-) Especially with that first sentence ;-)

Either that or he's using Speech to text or predictive text.

I don't know enough to comment on most of the accusations.

My default where there are multiple victims is to believe them.

I don't discount the single accusers, but I'm more likely to think the truth is someone between the accuser's version and the accused's, until evidence shows differently.

It is depressing that this stuff is happening, but I hope with more people prepared to come forward and telling their stories that it will bring those who have predatory behaviour out into the open.

I have already added many authors over the years to my "never read again" list because of their actions or words. I am prepared to add more to the list.

I have always believed that no matter what group of individuals you look at, 5% are arseholes.

I'll read books by the 95% of authors who do the right thing and aren't creeps.

Rick wrote: "As to the first part... S&L is frankly terrible and exposing us to things we might not otherwise read "

You make fair points in your posts. I would counter, that we are exposed to a wide variety of SFF, not only from the books actually selected, but also through the podcast (interviews, discussions etc) and through recommendations from other readers here (on this forum) and on the Discord and also from the books selected in the various polls. March Madness adds many books to members TBR pile each year.

I've been intrigued by this book since it was in March Madness last year.

I am looking forward to reading it.

Trike wrote: "For T-Dave, fake coronavirus cure: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/ar..."

That is criminal 😠 Some pseudoscience is delusional, that's just plain capitalising on the desperate.

Here we don't even need the fake cures thankfully.
Tassie (the State) has been Covid-19 free for 2 weeks 😃

He didn't make mistakes finishing the Dark Tower. He said he wasn't going to give it an end, then caved in when fans demanded closure.

He basically blamed the fans for the ending. It was a literal "f*** you" to the fans. Not the first time King has done this.

Silvana wrote: "I did not know Hardcore History is still on o_O"

It's taking Dan so long to research them that they take about 6 months per episode to make and go for 4 to 6 hours each.

The only one I'm behind in is the one Tom mentions this week, "Hardcore Histories". I'm 10 Episodes behind.

But as Dan is only releasing 2 shows a year, catching up is not high on my list of things I need to do soon.

Trike wrote: "Number 10 Ox."

Nice S&L call back to 2013 :-)

The most amazing thing I got from your post was.

Digg still exists? :-?

I haven't seen Artemis Fowl, but the reviews don't have me clamouring to watch it ;-)

* What We Do in the Shadow 1, 2 (There is also a NZ movie)
* Dark 1,2 (Final S3 starting soon) German
* His Dark Materials 1
* Kingdom 1,2 (Korean)
? Love, Death & Robots 1
? Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet 1 (Apple TV)
* For All Mankind 1 (Apple TV)
* Ragnarok 1 (Norway)
* Stranger Things 1, 2, 3
* The Rain 1, 2 (Denmark)
Undone 1 (Animated)
Counterpart 1, 2
Humans 1, 2, 3
Misfits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Orphan Back 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
The Last Man on Earth 1, 2, 3, 4
Avatar: The Last Airbender 1, 2, 3
The Legend of Korra 1, 2, 3, 4
Les Revenants (The Returned) 1, 2 (French)

Colin wrote: "Hope that's the current version, not the original podcasts. Earthcore itself was significantly revised a couple of years ago.."

The updated version which was released on Scott's podcast in 2018. I've waited until a release of "Mount Fitzroy" is more likely.

I have the book, but decided to do the free audio podcast.

I listened to the original back in 2005 and Scott was going to release the sequel the following year :-?

At least he has released a tonne of books in between.

Started reading The City of Brass. It is good so far.

Also re-listening to Earthcore by Scott Sigler with the hope the sequel (promised for 2006 :-? ) finally gets released later this year.