SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
Members' Chat
>
One's Gotta Go: A Game
message 51:
by
Allison, Fairy Mod-mother
(new)
Aug 29, 2019 10:07AM
Mod
reply
|
flag
So the challenge here is that I can't just get rid of all 4 and be done, right?But actually I'm going to buck the trend and say portal fantasy, because as creepy as Wild Seed is, I wouldn't want it to not exist.
Allison wrote: "One subject's gotta go:-Time travel
-Portal worlds
-Body hopping
-Telepathy/ESP"
I would have to say Telepathy. I just think it's over done, especially in Sci Fi where they try to pretend that it's a natural thing aliens or future humans can do.
Time travel and then body hopping.Kaa made me think again - I loved Wild Seed.
Kaa wrote: "So the challenge here is that I can't just get rid of all 4 and be done, right?But actually I'm going to buck the trend and say portal fantasy, because as creepy as Wild Seed is, I wouldn't want ..."
Yeah, right! For the first three I instantly have favourite books, if it means they have to go as well, then that's a clear No.
That leaves telepathy - but I'm sure If I think about this a bit longer one book dear to me will have this topic, too.
So I'm skipping this one cause I need them all.
Mod
I haven’t read that many books with body hopping as a subject, but I’ve liked the ones I’ve read well enough and I particularly loved Touch.For me I think it would be between time travel or telepathy/ESP. Both are often used in a poorly-defined manner. I actually tend to enjoy time travel stories as long as they stay internally consistent, but authors almost always screw them up sooner or later.
Telepathy/ESP has even more problems in my experience. It works only when it’s convenient for the story, and the characters are only able to pick up just enough info to reveal or obfuscate as required by the author. It conveniently doesn’t work at key moments in order to lengthen the story, or can conveniently be used in new and previously undefined ways to accomplish some goal.
Now if the word subject hadn’t been included in Allison’s post, and we were deciding which ability we would least want to see possible here in the real world, body hopping would be a definite contender. But time travel seems more potentially disastrous, so I think I’d go with that one. I'd be upset if somebody stole my body, but being wiped out of existence would be worse.
Time travel for me. Too many loose ends and plot holes. I hate the internal logic inconsistencies that 99% of time travel stories have. The rest of them certainly have their issues, but nothing annoys me more than time travel.
I've enjoyed a few successful stories for portal, body hopping (at least as I interpret what that means) and TT. I just have too much trouble with
I do still want the ppl who were so quick to diss body hopping to explain... I might actually agree with them if I get a more info.
I feel pretty indifferent about all of them tbh. I'm not sure if I've ever read a book that envolved body hopping.
I think I choose telepathy, because it tends to be used when it's convenient. Like they're taking the easy way out.
Body hopping is too creepy; I would nix that.
Although I enjoyed Myrren's Gift and the rest of the series. Especially when he hopped into a woman's body and she was having her monthly monster!
Body hopping. It's not a genre I read often enough to remember a book that has it and I think the possibility for ick is just too high. Using someone else's body brings up just too many issues of consent.
Body hopping - very confusing and way to easy for author to get out of a writing corner.
I tired of body hopping, telepathy and time travel at about the same time, even though body hopping wasn't as popular as the other two.
Yeah not sure anymore. I probably would have said body hopping or telepathy but I’ve read a really great book recently that has both done brilliantly and I wouldn’t want to lose that book. Or time travel. Actually the 2nd to last book I read had time travel and more of a mind hopping thing going on. Same author actually. One of our own. Yeah don’t want to lose those. Also I’m a Doctor Who nut so time travel stays anyway.
And I’m quite fond of portals to another world. Dreamt of finding one as a child. I was a very lonely only child who spent the day daydreaming in the big tree in our backyard and reading on my window seat. Anyhoo enough of that shit....
So I’ve decided.....actual Freaky Friday sort of body hopping. Never did like Freaky Friday. The movies or the book. The book was written when I was about 9 in 1972. I remember reading it.
Jacqueline wrote: "Yeah not sure anymore. I probably would have said body hopping or telepathy but I’ve read a really great book recently that has both done brilliantly and I wouldn’t want to lose that book. ..."
So, what's that book??
That book would be Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence. The third book in his Book of the Ancestor series starting with Red Sister.
I would have no problems letting telepathy go the way of the dodo. I love time travel stories, there are several great body hopping books I wouldn’t want to lose (Wild Seed and Trader, by Charles DeLint come to mind) and Portal World’s are fun (Hyperion?). The only book I can think of that I liked with telepathy/ESP is Sundiver by David Brin. I have no personal qualms about any of these things because I don’t tend to think in terms of “how would it be off that happened to me?”
I'm in the middle of Every Heart a Doorway and not hating it, so maybe I have to admit that portal fantasy isn't the worst thing ever.But on the other hand, telepathy always makes me think of all of the books I've loved with telepathic animals. While I can admit that in general, I think ESP gets used in weird ways, I'm also not thrilled about giving up Faithful et al.
I'd drop telepathy. It's too often used to make overpowered characters that we just accept at the top of the food chain.
Amusingly, I have read exactly one book from each of these. And the only one I really liked was Fahrenheit 451. So Bradbury stays. I don't much care for the other three, but they are all big heavy weights that have contributed a lot of foundation material for their genres. However, if we're going just by the most painful to read, I've got to say goodbye to Frank Herbert.
I have to blasphemous and say Asimov has to go.Perhaps I would vote otherwise once I finally pick up an Asimov again, yet in my youth he was the first author I threw out of my shelves cause I didn't like his novels.
("Dune" was a special favourite of my youth, I remember liking "Mars Chronicles" and first time I read something of Vonnegut was last year and I liked it as well)
I have to say Bradbury. I recently read Dune, and I liked it a lot. I haven't read Asimov in a long time if at all, but I plan to read the Foundation and Robot series at some point.I'm a bit biased on Vonnegut because I have great memories of staying at my grandpa's house and reading some of his old Sci Fi books. Cat's Cradle was probably my favorite of those, so I wouldn't want that to be gone.
I've only read Fahrenheit 451 of Bradbury's books, but I wasn't a huge fan.
Vonnegut - his books are kinda dated nowadays (think old hippie writings). I'd ditch Frank Herbert if it wasn't for Dune as the rest of his books aren't that good. Bradbury is still good and so is Asimov
(I am thoroughly amused that the vote currently stands at one for each) :)
I love Herbert, Asimov, and Bradbury. So I guess Vonnegut is going. I don't dislike his stuff, I just don't love it the way I do the others.
Definitely Herbert for me. Dune is one of the few books that I remember actively disliking from my early genre reading days.
Hoooboy! That’s a tough one. Ive read books by all of them. But I’ve been reading the Foundation Trilogy for years now and the style is so dry and too many info dumps. I think I have to go with Asimov. Loved Dune, and wouldn’t want the world to go without that one. Can’t say anything to Herbert’s other novels though.
I adore Bradbury’s writing and Fahrenheit 451 used to be the only book I ever reread.
And I find Vonnegut’s books hilarious even if they are dated.
Mmmm. Dune captivated my young mind in high school; Asimov was groundbreaking and crucial for AI and other SF ideas;.... I think I’ll have to go with Vonnegut
Mod
Daemons (a la His Dark Materials)
Spren (a la Stormlight Archive)
Pets (a la Harry Potter)
Dragons & fire lizards (a la Pern)
Never read Dark Materials or Stormlight...so I'd vote for either of those!I <3 dragons in basically all forms and I love pets, so...
Mod
I don’t know much about the Spren yet, but they seem pretty interesting. Daemon are essential and Dragons/Fire lizards also becomes a part of their rider.
I’m gonna go with HP pets. Maybe I don’t really know enough about them (I haven’t read the whole series) but they don’t seem that essential.
Dragons, definitely dragons! Meanwhile I get grumpy when I stumble over yet another fantasy 'worldbuilding' with some medieval setting plus your obligatory dragon. This is just too little fantasy in Fantasy.
Okay, first I'm gonna hold on really tight to my dragons so no one can take them, and then I'll probably go with HP pets. I've not read Stormlight but spren sounds like an interesting concept. I have to agree with Diane though, the pets don't have as much impact on the story as the others.
Hmm..Daemons are somewhat interesting. I like dragons. I haven't read a ton of books with dragons, so that might be the reason why I'm not sick of them (yet).
I've never read the stormlight archive, but I'm curious about spren, now that I read about it here.
So, even though I like crookshanks and I'd love to own a pigmy puff, I'll remove the pets from HP. I think the story would still be very plausible without the pets. Aside from maybe the whole Peter Pettigrew storyline.
Mod
I would never give up pets, especially since Allison didn't specify it's HP pets only. Daemons are even more special pets, so they will also stay. I've not read Stormlight or Pern, so I wouldn't miss those, but I wouldn't want to eliminate all dragons, even though I'm not super into them. There are some special dragons, Earthsea for example. So the choice is easy, Stormlight can go!
Pern dragons are mind linked with their riders. Please no one take the thing that filled my girlhood dreams with joy. I’ll cut you. Guess I’ll go with Daemons cause.....not invested at all in those books sorry.
Mod
if it helps, this is the one where i'd go, all of these can stay!
if you've got one you want to ask the group, go for it!
Pern firelizards are also bonded with a person. They will sing with you and snuggle with you and if you forget something they can teleport back and get it for you! Best pet ever
Choose wisely:1. The chosen one
2. The little guy/rebellion taking on the evil empire
3. The intimate relationship between protagonist and antagonist
4. The all powerful McGuffin weapon/tool needed for victory
Which trope is out?
Mod
McGuffin, for me 100%. I get all prickles at deux ex machinas being used to save the day--that's not a twist, that's the author using an extra life for their character. So the McGuffin is a big pet peeve of mine. I wanna see the set up so that the victory is cool, otherwise it's inevitable and I'm not sure why I had to read all that other stuff beforehand!
Intimate relationship between protag and antag. It gets olllldddd. I'm not too into McGuffins but...some of my favorite series are mostly based around locating said McGuffin.
MrsJoseph *grouchy* wrote: "Intimate relationship between protag and antag. It gets olllldddd. I'm not too into McGuffins but...some of my favorite series are mostly based around locating said McGuffin."I agree. Everyone doesn't have to be related to everyone else. I think Han Solo literally knows every other Star Wars character at this point.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (other topics)Star Wars (other topics)
The Way of Kings (other topics)
A Game of Thrones (other topics)
The 100 (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Frank Herbert (other topics)Frank Herbert (other topics)
Isaac Asimov (other topics)
Ray Bradbury (other topics)
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (other topics)
