Tony’s Comments (group member since Dec 19, 2018)

Tony’s comments from the Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

You could also look at some of the classics. The Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series from Fritz Leiber is low fantasy, as is Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series.

Hi all, welcome to the last month of autumn / fall for the northerners, and the last month of spring for us southerners.

I am continuing to make progress on The Parliament of Blood, which is a YA gaslamp adventure. A bit over halfway through, and enjoying it so far.

Barbara wrote: "I watched the movie "Snowpiercer" so I could compare it with the TV series Snowpiercer I'm currently watching.
"

I enjoyed the movie Snowpiercer, but I haven't watched the series/

Filling the Free Book slot completed both the N row and the 3s column.

N1 Military - Ironclads
N2 900+ pages - Great North Road
N3 Free book - Toonopolis Gemini
N4 Standalone - Alien Space Tentacle Porn
N5 Pre-1950 - The Beast of Space

B3 Author of Colour - Mages by Chance (Terah Edun)
I3 Apocalyptic - Sand
N3 Free book - Toonopolis Gemini
G3 Religion - Screwtape Letters
O3 Anthology - Rogues

I have finished Toonopolis Gemini. It's a LitRPG style dive into Saturday morning cartoons. Suitable for primary school age kids, it also contains plenty of Easter eggs for older readers.

I have started The Parliament of Blood.

I understand why independent authors couldn't do anything about it - as you mentioned they likely wouldn't even know about it. I don't understand why the major publishing houses aren't doing anything about it. I know each special only runs for a couple of days, but they run a special every week, so I'm sure the publishers would be aware of the site. I suppose they must be hosted in a country that isn't a signatory to international copyright agreements.

Andrea wrote: "To bad the TV series forced Smith to write more books and basically messed up the whole storyline"

I had watched (and enjoyed) the first season of the TV show when I discovered a copy of the book in among the books I own but had never read. I was surprised at how different they were.

It does feel like a scam, but I couldn't find any indication of people saying it's a scam. And it works in Australia, so I'm pretty sure it will work in Canada. I have bought 4 or 5 deals from them so far (including this one) and not had any problems other than an initial issue that they responded to and sorted very quickly.

What the authors get would depend on how their royalties contracts are written. This looks to be the equivalent of remaindering for physical books, but I don't see how that would be a thing for ebooks.

It hasn't been released to any of the HBO affiliates in Australia at this stage - it will get cinematic release on Dec 2 here.

As far as I can tell, this website is legitimate:

https://www.bookwarehouse.shop/

They currently have a deal for over 200 books (for about $20 USD) - mostly, but not all, SFF. Including titles such as The Martian and what looks to be all the Expanse titles. Their deals only run for a day or two, and this one has another day and 11 hours to go. I have bought from them before - about 70 Larry Niven titles for around $9 or $10, and a couple of others, and I haven't had any issues. Actually, I had a problem on my first purchase, but they resolved it quickly.

I finished the YA fantasy Mages By Chance. There were some good bits to it, but overall I found it somewhat unsatisfying due to the cliff-hanger ending. It does fill the author of colour slot in my Bingo.

I have finished The Werewolf of Whitechapel - a story set in a different version of late 19th Century Europe, where the royal families of most of the continental powers are not human - the Germans are werewolves, the Russians are vampires, the Greeks are sirens, etc. It's a series starter and I quite enjoyed it. It would probably class as YA, and it also fills my Published in 2021 Bingo slot.

I have finished the 1s column:

B1 Adapted for TV - Lovecraft Country
I1 Genre Blender - What the Dead Said
N1 Military - Ironclads
G1 Published in 2021 - The Werewolf of Whitechapel
O1 Non-human Protagonist - Og-Grim-Dog

With only 7 slots left to fill, I expect most books to complete another row or column.

I have filled 17 of the 25 slots, but still only have 1 column completed. I expect October will see a few more rows and columns completed. Most of the rest I have some ideas for and hope to complete the whole card.

I have started The Werewolf of Whitechapel, which will fill the Published in 2021 Bingo slot.

I finished Og-Grim-Dog: The Three-Headed Ogre. Very funny short fantasy (in the LitRPG sub-genre) that mixes D&D and bureaucracy. It also fills the non-human protagonist slot in my Bingo.

Hi Georgann, the BINGO challenges don't stay the same each year, although they aren't completely different each year either. Probably around late November or early December, we will start a thread (or use this thread) and ask for suggestions for next year's BINGO. Then, towards the end of the year, the mods - Andrea, Jim and myself - will decide on what the slots will be.

I have finished The Screwtape Letters: Letters from a Senior to a Junior Devil, which I enjoyed, particularly the short sequel that Lewis wrote shortly before he died.

I have started Og-Grim-Dog: The Three-Headed Ogre

Welcome here Alan

Interesting list and no surprise about the top two. Although I think they have allowed a fairly broad definition of "dystopian" - there are novels on that list that I don't consider to be dystopian, such as The Man in the High Castle and Ender's Game.