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S&L Podcast - #217 - Apply John Scalzi Directly to Forehead
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Wow, somebody needs to Check Their Terran Privilege At The Door (at low earth orbit? At reentry?)
I now imagine John Scalzi and Alastair Reynolds meeting in an exclusive "million club" a la the SNL "five-timers club" (Alastair got a similar deal).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W2ap...
Veronica and Tom: A shelf for books that are put on the back burner is a good idea. When I needed to name my back burner shelf I googled "back burnered". Don't go looking at the Urban Dictionary's definition of "back burnered".
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I prefer the term "on hiatus." I haven't abandoned reading Ulysses, not at all, its just on an indefinite hiatus, that will probably never end.
I too think that the idea of a backburner shelf is fantastic. It's why I love this group, always new ideas.
I have an abandoned shelf. Not as a way of passing judgment but to help me remember books I've already tried and why they weren't for me. A well written, thoughtful "review" about abandoning can help another reader. Maybe what drives me crazy doesn't bug them! So often books just aren't for me.I also have an on-hold shelf so my currently reading shelf doesn't get to 100 the way Tamahome's does. :P
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I also have an on-hold shelf so my currently reading shelf doesn't get to 100 the way Tamahome's does. :P"It's only 100? ;)
Sword of Rhiannon was set in more-or-less 1940s pulp SF consensus future -- at some point (probably by the 1970s) we'd build rocket ships and fly out to the planets, all of which would have breathable atmospheres and aliens with whom we could communicate. Mars would be a dying desert world, crisscrossed with canals and littered with the ruins of million-year-old cities, and Venus would be permanently overcast, covered with swamps, jungles, primitive tribes and (if you're lucky) dinosaurs. I don't know if Edgar Rice Burroughs actually created the images of Mars & Venus, but he certainly popularized them with the John Carter of Mars and Carson of Venus books. Otis Adelbert Kline had very similar settings; and then there was Red Planet, Between Planets and The Martian Chronicles, amongst many, many others. Even up into the 1960s & 1970s there were still authors writing books with Martians, although by that point the canals had vanished and the Martians themselves were generally either long-extinct or scattered remnants hiding underground. Then the first probes landed and that was the end of that.(The one tricksy thing about Sword of Rhiannon is that it started in that consensus future, but then Carse went back a million years to when Mars was still green and wet.)
To get my brain over the 'but Mars isn't like that!' problem, I just imagined that in the sometime in the future where folk were travelling about in space, Earthy-type people happened across a planet that reminded them of the old 'Mars' stories of pulp sci-fi fame, and called this entirely different planet 'Mars' in honour of those. Problem solved! :D
People still write those kind of Mars stories today, for nostalgia's sake, like S.M. Stirling's "In the Courts of the Crimson Kings" and GRRM's "Old Mars" anthology.
Tamahome wrote: "People still write those kind of Mars stories today, for nostalgia's sake, like S.M. Stirling's "In the Courts of the Crimson Kings" and GRRM's "Old Mars" anthology."Yep. I do need to check some of those out.
Tamahome wrote: "People still write those kind of Mars stories today, for nostalgia's sake, like S.M. Stirling's "In the Courts of the Crimson Kings" and GRRM's "Old Mars" anthology."How do these deal with the 'but Mars isn't like that!' problem? Just curious.
Ruth (tilltab) wrote: "Works for me! :D"Alternate cosmology!
To be honest, I'm happy with whatever bullshit explanation allows my brain to shush so I can enjoy a silly story.
I always liked (IIRC) that Roger Zelazny wrote "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" specifically because they'd just found out Venus couldn't be like that, so he wanted to write one last Colonial Venus story as a farewell.
No offence to Veronica but I got more and more frustrated the more she spoke about her problem with the book. All fiction is ultimately fantasy - it's stuff that didn't happen, you have to suspend disbelief. So what if what we know of Mars isn't like the Mars of this book? Is that any more believable/unbelievable than creatures with telepathy and time travel? They all require a conscious effort to enter the world of the story.Sorry just had to get that out. Not really blaming Veronica, when something bothers you it bothers you. I get that.
Paul wrote: "Sorry just had to get that out. Not really blaming Veronica, when something bothers you it bothers you. I get that. "Like how her complaint bothered you? ;) I know it when I see it.
For a story like this I just think "Alternate Universe!" and go on from there.
Although for Brackett I think "Terrible Writer!" and leave the book/movie on the shelf. (Yes, including the one everyone loooves.)
Mod
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Mod
Android M? :-D
Actually it says, "¯\_(tsu)_/¯" in Japanese. There are several possible meanings, but the most likely here is "spit."May, Paul, you really got Veronica mad.
Paul wrote: "No offence to Veronica but I got more and more frustrated the more she spoke about her problem with the book. All fiction is ultimately fantasy - it's stuff that didn't happen, you have to suspend ..."The problem is how much disbelief you need to suspend, and if that effort is worth what you ultimately get out of the story. If the effort of suspending disbelief doesn't pay off, it's not worth it IMO. I read fantasy, no problem. I (for the most part) hate historical fiction. It's made up, too, but I just can't deal - which may in part be because I'm a historian, but I can deal with Actual Historical Influences in my fantasy so who knows.
It's a shruggy face. Sort of "Oh well!" No idea what Android M is about (yes, I followed the link, maybe if I follow it on a desktop?).
Mod
Android nerds like me know that Google always puts an Easter Egg in the System page.
For Android M, it's that shruggy face apparently. That page I linked doesn't talk about any of the actual features of Android M, just the new Easter Egg.
It could be entirely coincidental that Veronica used that exact thing, but the timing is suspect. And Veronica is more knowledgeable on Tech stuff than I am, since it's part of her job.
Mod
Android ne..."
Nope, just my fav ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Mod
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I have an abandoned shelf. Not as a way of passing judgment but to help me remember books I've already tried and why they weren't for me. A well written, thoughtful "review" about abandoning can help another reader. Maybe what drives me crazy doesn't bug them! So often books just aren't for me."I have a "did not finish" shelf for that reason as well.
I like the "backburner" idea as well. I had a "temporarily lemmed" shelf but I renamed it to "backburner". Thanks for the great idea, V!
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Books mentioned in this topic
In the Courts of the Crimson Kings (other topics)Old Mars (other topics)
In the Courts of the Crimson Kings (other topics)
Old Mars (other topics)
In the Courts of the Crimson Kings (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Edgar Rice Burroughs (other topics)Otis Adelbert Kline (other topics)
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