S.E.’s Comments (group member since Nov 01, 2012)

S.E.’s comments from the Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" group.

Nik wrote: "I was in the middle of Le Guin's No Time to Spare when she passed. Currently reading The Other Wind. Next stop is Language of the Night. I stumbled on that one in a used bookstore years ago."

Curses.... The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction is super expensive right now!

Occasionally I recap trends in the group from the past year or so. In short, feel welcome to chime in to steer the direction of the group.

- For about 5 years we gained ~100 new members per year, but the past year has slowed a bit (50-70). There is no formal target group size to maintain--so this is just an observation.

- Any dampening of membership may be reflective of greater Goodreads trends (for that matter, even social media). Many of us in the US have experienced changes to frequency of Facebook interactions (apathy from the past year's evil politics----which we won't get into here--- combined with new algorithms for placing content are likely responsible). Ironically, the Facebook portal page for this group seems to draw some new members.

- Amazon bought GR in 2013, and since many things have not changed (i.e., GR's clunky interface) and others have evolved (the mobile App continues to evolve nicely).

- GR did just change their Giveaway policy in Jan 2018, and now charges >$60 just to run an event. This is irritating for many authors, and may have encouraged some folks to bail.

- Group reads have been occurring since Jan 2013. Check the banners out via Pinterest. Our groupreads are consistently drawing ~40 voters on the poll. Commentary is hit or miss, but I am always impressed by the number of members actually participating by reading books and tracking progress in GR (even though many do not check in to say anything). Introverts rock.

- We've had near zero members kicked-out or shunned from this group. We've had a couple reprimanded for over zealous spamming, which prompted a post on etiquette. By enlarge, the group has held to the "be civil" mantra. You guys rock.

Anyway, unless folks pipe in, we'll continue to man the rudders like normal.

If members desire to add/evolve features, just comment.

Sweet Joseph and Mary! ( love it when you two chime in back to back).

Didn’t know Le Guin had a book of essays; looks good enough to track down.

I was lucky enough to be a on a panel with Charles Vess (World Fantasy 2016) regarding art in fantasy fiction. He was already deep into the project for illustrating the 2018 Earthsea omnibus. His comments focused on Ursula's wishes for Ged to be portrayed a genuine islander (not a white-washed protagonist as per the TV series 2004 on the Sci-Fi cable channel).

It has been decades since I read the original trilogy, as was too young to notice/remember the ethnicity of Ged. (1) Was curious if anyone watched that Sci-Fi show, and had feedback.

(2) Also curious, what non-Earthsea LeGuin work would be recommended? I've only read her 6 Earthsea novels.

March-April 2018 Groupread Topics:

A) Ursula K. Le Guin: Link to Ursula K. Le Guin groupread
Honor her passing by reading and discussing anything by her, like A Wizard of Earthsea or The Left Hand of Darkness

B) Thieves: Link to groupread on "thieves": Books like: The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble's Braids, The Legend of Eli Monpress, Broken Blade, The Hammer and the Blade

Banner Credits:
2018 Charles Vess illustrations for forthcoming Earthsea omnibus
1979 Walter Velez's Cover for Thieves World
2015 Arman Akopian Cover for Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues

A) Ursula K. Le Guin - anything by her: A Wizard of EarthseaThe Left Hand of Darkness

July 2018, an omnibus edition with art by Charles Vess is scheduled.
http://bookviewcafe.com/blog/2017/05/...

Ursula K. Le Guin: The Earthsea Trilogy

B) Thieves: Pilfer from your own-to-read pile! Seek out and steal some treasures.

,

Jordan, nice posts!

Director lineup looks high quality, and GOT influenced

“The project hails from Colony co-creator Ryan Condal, Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik, Fargo and The Handmaid’s Tale executive producer Warren Littlefield, Pathfinder Media ...”

Only 1day left. Like dark Sword n Sorcery miniatures and tactical games? This is for you

http://deadline.com/2018/02/amazon-de...

“Created and written by Condal, Conan retells the classic character’s story via a return to his literary origins. Driven out of his tribal homelands, Conan wanders the mysterious and treacherous world of civilization where he searches for purpose in a place that rejects him as a mindless savage”



http://deadline.com/2017/11/amazon-th...

From black library / Warhammer:

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2...

"We are delighted to announce that the 24th of February will be Black Library Day in Games Workshop and Warhammer stores worldwide, with new releases, exclusive merchandise – and an amazing Citadel Miniature of none other than Inquisitor Eisenhorn himself! Find out more on Warhammer Community."

Ok, poll is up. Here is the widget:

Ursula K. Le Guin theme might be in order

Next group read will have a Le Guin option

Me too. Even the second trilogy. This July, an omnibus edition with art by Charles Vess is scheduled.


http://bookviewcafe.com/blog/2017/05/...

NY times post link - obiturary

Ursula K. Le Guin passed away.

Just finished Challenge! Discovery

review Link

Here's the take away:

The concept is cool, but the entries range in quality, and I disagree with the judges. Apparently the last two won 1st and 2nd place by the judges, but if I were to rate by (a) inspiration from cover and (b) storytelling (good pacing, show not tell, etc.) then I would have chosen 2 of the below:
- "Inner Nature" by JOHN KILIAN
- "Someplace Cool and Dark" by FREDERIC S. DURBIN
- "Witch with Bronze Teeth brushed" by KEITH J. TAYLOR

Just finished Chronicles of Hate, Volume 2, which inspired me to back the Kickstarter game.

And for the groupread, I'm trekking away on Challenge! Discovery...75% done....pretty good

Will have to put out a poll soon for Group read topic(s) for the March-April read(s). Any ideas?