Getting to Know You, May 2018

[Crowley]

5 hours ago, Morihalda said:

May 10: Do you have a favorite book genre? What do you like about it?

SciFi, followed closely by fantasy, then history and historical fiction. 

 

I dream of seeing the stars, having us stretch out from this pale blue dot and explore the grand beauty that is all of creation. 

 

And to not fudge it up completely.

 

Which honestly feels more fantasy than dragons.

[TGP]

6 hours ago, Morihalda said:

May 10: Do you have a favorite book genre? What do you like about it?

Fantasy / Science Fantasy / Science Fiction

 

Not sure what it is I like. I tried some Stephen King, Clancy (whatever his genre is), a Western... they were all  

[etherial]

6 hours ago, Morihalda said:

May 10: Do you have a favorite book genre? What do you like about it?

AAMOF, no, I read 'em all. I'm currently in the middle of a Fantasy series and need to get back to a near-Future Detective Novel series. After that's done, I have a backlog of humorous SFF anthologies to go through and I just received a sack of LeGuin from a friend who moved out of town. But I also read classical literature, nonfiction, and game books.

[Cranky Dog]

7 hours ago, Morihalda said:

May 10: Do you have a favorite book genre? What do you like about it?

As a gamer, I probably have a predisposition to prefer fantasy (plenty of the original TSR novels), but I've enjoyed historical dramas (Shogun), scifi (Star Wars, Star Trek, Dune), murder mysteries (Sherlock Holmes), and the occasional comedy sub-genre (HHGttG).

 

I think, the lest it resembles real life, the happier I am with my book choice.

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

23 minutes ago, TGP said:

Fantasy / Science Fantasy / Science Fiction

 

Not sure what it is I like. I tried some Stephen King, Clancy (whatever his genre is), a Western... they were all  

Stephen King can be hit or miss, although his short story collections are usually pretty good. I never really got into Clancy so I can't speak on his works, and as to Westerns, Louis L'amor is excellant as a descriptive writer, but his plotting and characterization can get repetitive. Zane Grey is better at plotting, but there's a lot of purple prose to wade thru. I haven't done much digging as yet into westerns, but Shane by Jack Schaefer I would recommend.

Robert E Howard also wrote some Western/Weird and those would be worth seeking out.

[Keianna]

10 hours ago, Morihalda said:

May 10: Do you have a favorite book genre? What do you like about it?

 

I can get into pretty much any kind of fiction, though I tend toward science fiction and fantasy. I have been known to enjoy some historical fantasy and the occasional trashy romance. Very rarely anymore I enjoy some science theory books. The kind with theoretical quantum physics that I only barely understand. 

 

Also, smut and fanfiction. 

 

My favorite books are ones with characters that I get attached to. 

[Darkmeer]

11 hours ago, Morihalda said:

May 10: Do you have a favorite book genre? What do you like about it?

 

Generally, I read fantasy.  This can be anything from the Dresden Files (modern Fantasy) to Dragonlance, to Lord of the Rings. 

 

I also enjoy things like Sun Tzu (yes, I've read his Art of War), and graphic novels too.

[Auberon]

11 hours ago, Morihalda said:

May 10: Do you have a favorite book genre? What do you like about it?

 

By volume from back in the high-school days it would probably be sci-fi/fantasy.  However back when I read regularly I read a lot of different genres from westerns to Shakespeare with guys like Hemingway and Faulkner thrown in.  Now reading competes with all of my other hobbies and tends to lose out.

[Zink]

12 hours ago, Morihalda said:

May 10: Do you have a favorite book genre? What do you like about it?

 

Like so many others here Fantasy first, closely followed by scifi. Then military history. I will read just about anything but these are 90% of my reading.

[Jokemeister]

14 hours ago, Morihalda said:

May 10: Do you have a favorite book genre? What do you like about it?

 

While I can be a bit eclectic with my reading, I do tend to prefer Fantasy or Sci-Fi (actually, more space opera than sci-fi).

 

I'm actually in the middle of reading some Warhammer novels at the moment which I got from Humble Bundle a while back.  Never read the Warhammer books before and, while they aren't great, I have to admit that they are better than I expected. 

 

But then, I initially had very low expectations. 

[Doug's Workshop]

Is there a genre for non-contemporary science fiction/sword & sorcery/Weird fiction?

 

Howard, Leigh Brackett, Manly Wade Wellman, Clark Ashton Smith, Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, Edgar Rice Burroughs.

 

Why? I think it's because the writers in that era were the beneficiaries of Literature.  These writers are just simply Better^TM.  They certainly had a better understanding of how to tell a story than most contemporary writers (who shall remain nameless, because seriously, go read Robert Howard or CL Moore).

[Lord of the Dish Pit]

2 minutes ago, Doug's Workshop said:

Is there a genre for non-contemporary science fiction/sword & sorcery/Weird fiction?

 

Howard, Leigh Brackett, Manly Wade Wellman, Clark Ashton Smith, Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, Edgar Rice Burroughs.

 

Why? I think it's because the writers in that era were the beneficiaries of Literature.  These writers are just simply Better^TM.  They certainly had a better understanding of how to tell a story than most contemporary writers (who shall remain nameless, because seriously, go read Robert Howard or CL Moore).

I think they could be refered to as "The Ancestors of". 

My theory as to the general high quality of their work is that it was a combination of both writer and audience having a greater familiarity with Literature than is found today, (also a higher rate of literacy in general since it was the primary form of entertainment) so the collective standard was set a bit higher. There wasn't an emphisis on "all action all the time" either, so weaving together atmosphere into the story took on a greater importance. Also they weren't products of an educational system that attempts to relabel a child's natural imagination as a mental disorder or beat it out of them entirely.

Not to say there aren't contemporary writers that are good, but they're also faced with an audience that has ever shrinking attention spans and smartphone addiction. So even if they were to try and go back to something like that, most publishers wouldn't take a chance on it for fear of losing money. 

 

[EldritchEladrin]

16 hours ago, Morihalda said:

May 10: Do you have a favorite book genre? What do you like about it?

16th-17th century Drama, because Shakespeare has written some of the greatest dialogue ever spoken in the English language.

 

Also a big fan of the English fiction authors of the early 20th century (Orwell, Huxley, Forster, etc...) and some non-English authors (Joseph Conrad). I always enjoy reading their novels. The sci-fi ones (Brave New World and 1984) are brilliant, but I really enjoy the novels grounded in our historical reality (Burmese Days, A Passage to India, Heart of Darkness, etc...). Whenever I read (and re-read) these novels, I feel as though I have gained some new, important perspective on life.

 

Finally, anything by H.P. Lovecraft or Hunter S. Thompson: because it's important to get weird, now and then. 

[Morihalda]

Weekend Topic: Museums! Do you like going to museums? What were some of your favorite exhibits, and if you could create your own, what would it cover?

[WhiteWulfe]

11 minutes ago, Morihalda said:

Weekend Topic: Museums! Do you like going to museums? What were some of your favorite exhibits, and if you could create your own, what would it cover?

Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller was always fun to visit when I was a kid, especially the dinosaur exhibits.  Oh wait, it's a... DINOSAUR MUSEUM, of course I loved it as a kid!  Loved it as a teen too, but probably haven't been for at least 15 years now... 

 

I also loved the Royal Alberta MUSEUM while it was open...  It'll re-open sometime this year apparently... I just hope it doesn't suffer the same fate our art gallery did - rates jacked up 3-4x because it was moved to a fancy building downtown, and then they couldn't understand why it wasn't popular.  Gee, you guys made it $26 PER PERSON to get in the door, I wonder why it isn't anywhere near as popular as you were expecting...  That's more expensive for a couple than the movies (with theater food!), or even eating somewhere relatively fancy, for the record. 

 

My favourite exhibits were ones that came to life, or better yet, ones that came to life because you were living them, like the space related ones that I so hope are still there.. .  Man, so many fun days at the Edmonton Space and Science Center before the expansion building was added.  I say it that way because I honestly don't think I've been in since it's become a Telus World of Science... 

 

If I could create my own it would probably be some sort of modular synth connected to laser lights or something because I'm silly like that....  Or better yet, have it be some sort of exhibit on Synesthesia because it's something I  find rather fascinating: the ability to see sound, and/or how it can affect your vision, and perception of the world around you.  That and have it on various rare yet debilitating conditions that are also fascinating, and inspiring because of what they are (aka something along the lines of learning and making use of the good these conditions have, even if some of them have terrible side effects the person has to deal with on a day to day basis)