BrutalN00dle's recent activity
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Comment on What are you reading these days? #14 in ~books
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Comment on What are the best science fiction short stories, novellas, and novelettes you have ever read? in ~books
BrutalN00dle LinkThe Region Between, by Harlan Ellison. I encountered it in a scifi collection and got caught up in the prose, and the crazy typesetting. Worth tracking down in print just for how obnoxious it is...The Region Between, by Harlan Ellison. I encountered it in a scifi collection and got caught up in the prose, and the crazy typesetting. Worth tracking down in print just for how obnoxious it is to read (one page has the text as a spiral, and other whacky variations).
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Comment on SF recommendations in ~books
BrutalN00dle LinkCheck out the Three Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin, translated by a couple people. Lots of cool ideas and extremely hard as far as scifi goes. The middle book of the trilogy was my definite...Check out the Three Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin, translated by a couple people. Lots of cool ideas and extremely hard as far as scifi goes. The middle book of the trilogy was my definite favorite.
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Comment on This is a popular question on askreddit, but since Tildes is a slightly different beast I am curious: Have you ever encountered a ghost or UFO before (or something similarly spooky/inexplicable)? in ~talk
BrutalN00dle LinkI was walking my dog 7 or 8 years ago, (northern Virginia area) and as I was nearing home again, saw a shooting star. I had never seen one before and was watching it streak across the sky, and...I was walking my dog 7 or 8 years ago, (northern Virginia area) and as I was nearing home again, saw a shooting star. I had never seen one before and was watching it streak across the sky, and then, in an instant, it made a 90 degree turn. There was no change in speed, brightness, or size of the "shooting star", but it instantly changed course by 90 degrees. I have no idea what it was or how it happened. Some googling has said that it could be debris bouncing off the atmosphere, but the fact that it was a sharp 90 degrees leaves that answer unsatisfying.
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Comment on What’s the best book you’ve read lately? in ~books
BrutalN00dle LinkI've recently finished the Revelation Space novels by Alastair Reynolds, and enjoyed all of them quite a bit. An epic unfolding space opera, great concepts, characters, and prose. There are three...I've recently finished the Revelation Space novels by Alastair Reynolds, and enjoyed all of them quite a bit. An epic unfolding space opera, great concepts, characters, and prose. There are three novels in the main sequence, along with a sidequel between 1 & 2 and a collection of short stories. I found that the sidequel (Chasm City), and the short stories both greatly added to my enjoyment of the series and the universe Reynolds built. Top of the line scifi.
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Comment on Mod cultures - What do we want? in ~tildes
BrutalN00dle LinkI think the largest boon to a healthy mod-culture and overall site function is a clear-cut set of site-wide rules that are consistently and enthusiastically backed by the admin staff. In...I think the largest boon to a healthy mod-culture and overall site function is a clear-cut set of site-wide rules that are consistently and enthusiastically backed by the admin staff. In comparison with reddit, a mod on a subreddit has a small handful of things that they can do to enforce the "rules" but there's nothing to stop an infringing user from making more accounts or simply interfering elsewhere. The reddit setup effectively leaves the volunteer moderators getting the short end of the stick. I think that perhaps this site could engage in a discussion of having less autonomy in the sub-forums, in order to better homogenize site-wide rules to make the moderator function more clear. Perhaps even calculating or electing "directors" and "moderators" to be separate users that have separate functions, directors focused on actual community engagement, and moderators clearing out the trash. Too often on internet forums, moderators attempt to control discussions through "enforcing the rules" but I think stratifying the moderator duty to be far more concrete will increase the quality of Tildes.
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Comment on New sci-fi book recommendations? in ~books
BrutalN00dle LinkPeter Watts just released a new novel/la called The Freeze Frame Revolution, which is about a crew that builds star gates while traveling at relativistic speeds. I enjoyed the book, and have...Peter Watts just released a new novel/la called The Freeze Frame Revolution, which is about a crew that builds star gates while traveling at relativistic speeds. I enjoyed the book, and have enjoyed everything Watts has put out, he can get pretty out-there in his concepts and it's definitely worth looking into his works if hard scifi is in your interests. Blindsight is the book of his that is most often trotted out in scifi discussions.
I just finished The Book of the New Sun + Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. I had a few false starts with the series, attempting the first book, Shadow of the Torturer, twice before finishing it. After changing my approach to the books, and getting deeper in, I realized I was reading something truly fantastic, and by the end of Citadel of the Autarch I had drank Wolfe's kool-aid, as it were. Next I'll be diving straight into Book of the Long Sun, and also picked up the Lexicon Urthus, and it's been awesomely useful to help unpack the novels .
I also just finished The Player of Game by Iain M Banks, the second Culture book I've read. I found this one to be somewhat unsatisfying. I hesitate to call the series overrated, but I hope the other books in the series aren't as one-dimensional as Consider Phlebas & Player of Games. I have Use of Weapons on my shelf that I'm planning on reading eventually.