Subject: Hello, Newbie
Author:
Posted on: 2012-08-09 16:39:00 UTC
So, greetings and a quick question: Are there any particular books/genres you're interested in/recommend?
I'm always up for discussing books, but only really read fantasy.
Um... Hi. I'm Sevenswans. I read a lot of books. (The second part is probably par for the course around here, I have no idea about the first.) I like talking about books, and sometimes even movies. Provided they don't ruin the book. If you trap me in a linking book I'll probably die of geeking out before anything else catches up to me, since I've been playing the Myst series since I was about seven.
Oh yeah. I should say how I got here. I've done some sporkings with friends, (never give a room full of sarcastic college girls mountain dew and access to the internet at the same time,) and wandered over here after appearing one day at the original series after a prolonged wiki walk that involved TV tropes and a rubber chicken.
I'll be on the lookout for badfic and probably pop in here occasionally for other semi-constructive stuff.
If this is the wrong place to post, I'll scoot over.
You read a lot of books? So do I! We should definitely be friends!
I all seriousness though, or at least as close to seriousness that the PPC will ever get, welcome to the Board! Since you seem to have come from the relative direction of TV Tropes, your welcome gift shall be a Nice Hat. It automatically morphs into whatever style or color you prefer at just the push of a button. I recommend not using it in confined areas, as it has a tendency towards showing off, and will likely turn into an enormous top hat.
Have a bag of pebbles and a Random Shiny Object.
Oooh, shiny.
Welcome to the PPC, please leave your shoes and sanity at the door. As a new member you are entitled to a number of things, some of which you have already received like discussions of fandoms and pleas to read the Constitution and the Original Series. One thing that you have yet to receive is a gift from me which I always try to make as relevant or ironic as possible. Since the only fandom I've seen that we have in common is Discworld and I can't think of anything related to that, I grant you some Pockets of Holding* for storing all your new gifts and books that you're looking to read. Enjoy!
*Pockets of Holding are not compatible with ponchos or tie-dyed clothing. ThatOne is not responsible for items lost in the Pockets of Holding.
I was needing some new pockets! (I've already got an evil bird, so having a swamp dragon lying around would be right out.)
I always hold that if a bag can't hold at least one book, preferably two, it's too small.
And I was fairly certain that I left my sanity in the coat check, but since I've never written my name in the tag, I can't ever be sure from now on whether or not the sanity there is really mine, or just looks like mine and has stains in the same places.
Welcome to the PPC! You'll like it here. By the way, I'm a Young Wizards fan too (bit behind, but that's life).
Hey, maybe someday we can go on errantry a mission together. :)
My first mission has been in the works for ... almost a year now. I've been procrastinating.
Yeah... so have most of my stories. One of them is going on nine years old by now, but I should probably only count the current edit, so I'll say it's three.
I noticed you popped into the IRC for about a minute a few days ago. You should swing by sometime. We don't bite (well, I don't).
I'm currently on this while shoving stuff into corners, so I can keep up with posts, but I'll stop in to chat at some point when my hands are less full. (I'm home from college for less than a month and for some reason my mother wants me to "put things away" so we can dig them all back out in two and a half weeks. Mothers, huh?)
-throws graduated cylinder- Have fun measuring things!
I needed one of those. *Sciences away with new glassware.*
Here's some Swiss Chocolate and some Bleepka. You'll need them both pretty soon.
Thank you, though. I need to get more pockets for all the welcome gifts.
Oh, hello. Nice to see a budding sporker join our ranks, and I see you're a fellow fan of Pratchett's Vimes books. Have you read 'Thud!'? It's the sequel to Night Watch, so if you're reading in order you might want to read that first, if you haven't already. Anyway, have a diurnal owl. Great for if any Agents you get ever need to blend in in a Harry Potter fic.
The owl seems surprisingly useful, actually. Especially if it catches it's own mice. I doubt I'll have any problem recruiting agents, I'll just make a trap out of a cardboard box and some cheese and recruit whichever of the brain-people wanders in. They need to start earning their keep.
I've read Night Watch, so I'm looking for Thud! right now.
Oh, and hey! Another AVID! Edanna and Spire are the best Ages.
Spire, certainly. But I have a certain fondness for that age with a ship sticking out of a rock, (Stoneship? Myst... been a while since I've played that,) because I always wondered how it got there.
Oh, and Channelwood. Because the first time I beat it, it took forever because I kept getting lost.
I'm not certain I've reached Edanna yet. Must reinstall games... and take over the family PC.
Well, yes, the one with the ship sticking out of the rock is indeed unimaginatively named Stoneship. Also, that's the precise reason why I'm stuck in Channelwood -- I found the blue and red pages, but have no idea how to get past that bridge (well, I do, but I keep getting lost en route).
There's a very well-hidden lever up high, if that is indeed the bridge I remember. It's on one of the buildings I think, so you have to pass it and turn around.
If not, well, no harm in trying. It took me fifteen tries to get a proper map of Channelwood so that I could find my way around.
Have a fat, evil bird.
His name is Deathy McKillCrush III. Ignore his glowing red eyes, his horns, and the fact that he appears to be on fire. He's actually quite well behaved.
But what shall I feed him?
I'd say the souls of 'Sues, but really, do they even have souls?
No, our completely normal bird here eats... other birds.
I'm reminded of Nigel from the film Rio.
Hmmm... I suppose I'll have to order some annoyingly chirpy and unrealistically clean feathered adventuring companions then.
Ahm.
Games. Wizards. Play. Tenth one. Probably you know all about it already but here's the ErrantryWiki article on it anyway. Eeeeeeeeeee! ... no one heard that.
Anyway. I'm Lielac, despite the name I'm not a Flower just a punster, have a bottle of essence of glee because I bought a bow and arrows the other night and there was enough delirious joy around me that I took the time to distill it. Now if you'll excuse me, it is 1:40 AM and I have been up since 7:30 AM.
Actually, I didn't. I've been shamefully behind on things since starting college. Now I need to get it...
I also need to get the last Pendragon book, because my insensitive fraternal unit returned it to the library without asking if I wanted it first...
Oooh, I can see why there's essence of glee around. Are you going to use them or just have them on a shelf with the other pretties?
College is an acceptable reason to be behind!
Hmmm. That series name rings a bell as something on my 'to be read' list. Book titles?
All the essence of glee. I plan to use them at SCA events at least which'll probably come out to once a year (Pennsic) unless I make a concerted effort to beg my parents into taking me to day events. If dad goes ahead and builds an archery butt in front of the broad side of the giant shed/barn in our backyard I'll be having far too much fun there...
The first one is "The Merchant of Death," second one is "The Lost City of Faar," third is "The Never War," and so on... they're all by D. J. Mac Hale, and I'm a couple books behind there as well, except I know for sure that this one is done. And there's a spinoff series. Somewhere.
Oooh, cool! Sounds like a lot of fun. My aim is terrible with a bow and arrows, but then again, I learned when I was working at the renaissance faire.
Interesting bit: I've just been chased away from helping my brother build a six and a half foot tall trebuchet. Go, medieval weapons!
Welcome to the Board! Have some of my hydrophobic water to commemorate the event. Yet another innovation inspired by B.S. Johnson.
So it seems like you've read Pratchett's Night Watch, eh? That's my favourite Watch novel! If you really like the City Watch arc, then I would like to suggest Thud!. It's another Vimes novel that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Funny you should mention hydrophobic water... I've been struggling with the temptation to explain discworld hydrophobes to my research supervisor for a bit now, since we're working with hydrophobic chemicals.
I've been looking for Thud! for a while. That and I need to start the Granny Weatherwax ones, I think I'm all caught up on the Death ones.
People here are going to keep giving me stuff, I suppose?
Ah, well. Friendly forum and all.
Glad to meet ya. What manner of stuff do you read?
All sorts of things, really. Fantasy, mystery, scifi, steampunk... about the only thing I don't generally read are romance novels or anything categorized as drama. Exceptions have been made to this rule, but I generally stay away from stuff that proposes to be set in the real world. Because when I like the premise, they start getting the facts wrong, or when they get the facts right, their stories are boring and about people in small towns getting married.
Yeah, I've been the despair of english teachers for most of my high school career.
Right now my reading list is the rest of Dresden Files and Codex Alera, along with the Raffles stories if I can find them and Hercule Poriot, when I can manage to make it to the library.
Glad to meet you, Litany.
Welcome to the board! Have a Schrodinger's cookie. (It contains and does not contain chocolate chips.) Do you read Discworld?
Often. I'm working my way through the Sam Vimes ones. (Just got myself Jingo as a present to myself for actually sticking through my economics final.)
Hmmm... and if I eat it, it will ether contain or not contain chocolate chips? I'll take it.
Yay! Have you read Night Watch? That's my personal favorite of the Vimes books.
Because Commander Keel (Or, alternatively, Vimes himself) kicks some major butt. Oh, and the circles within circles... I know now that PTerry likes playing with time, but the fact is, his books have circles and circles of connection already, the time was like a happy random extra helping of frozen yogurt on top of it all.
Wear that bit of lilac proudly! (Also, anything with history on Ankh-Morpork has the win, in my book. And you can't go a book without referencing Bloody Stupid Johnson anymore, it seems.)
Hi, have some fudge!
I've played Myst and Riven, but haven't been able to find Vista-compatible versions of the other games. (For that matter, I haven't had much luck finding Vista-compatible versions of Myst and Riven, which is one reason the desktop remains on Win98.)
Good old games.com is my best bet, that's where I'm going to be getting Myst from when my laptop next has some freespace. I love the games, I've only ever managed to finish Riven and Uru though. The discs of the later games (Exile and Revelations) work on my windows Vista laptop, but the discs of the pre-2005 games just don't.
What flavor of fudge?
Milk chocolate on the left side of the plate, dark chocolate on the right.
Big Fish Games carries "realMyst", which is supposed to be a 3D version of the original game with an extra Age. And that's all I can say about it, because the game is hard-coded for right-hand mouse use ONLY, and I mouse lefty. :: grrrrr :: They've got a one hour free trial available, if you want to check it out.
Oooh, lovely. I could get fairly far in an hour. Not 100% on the 3D thing, but I suppose anything that improves the lagtime that Myst had on the old PC is good.
Too bad about the mouse thing, that's not fair. And it's really hard to use a wrong-handed mouse.
I used to play Myst and Riven when I was little. I still have the old, old versions (Riven comes in five disks, heh).
I almost finished Myst, by my reckoning -- I'm stuck in Channelwood (which is IMO the best-designed Age. Ever.) and I still have that rocketship Age to go to. I never got really far in Riven -- no idea what I need to do.
It's the fire marbles that had me stuck in Riven for years. Literally years. I actually finally managed to get Channelwood finished (it's like twenty times as big as it looks, which is amazing - and I think that Teledahnn (found in Uru) is a deliberate callback to it, since it has a fairly similar aesthetic,) but I can't get the spaceship opened up. And I should be able to, because I have notes of some sort...
My favorite ages are Spire, Teledahn, and that purple one from Path of the Shell (an Uru expansion pack) which has a name that I constantly forget. But it's pretty, and I'm in love with the stained glass.
I had to use a hint guide on the rocketship Age -- the sound "hints" to get through the exit maze made no sense to me whatsoever. (And I'm not tone-deaf.) Drop me a line if you want, I still have the hint guides for both Myst and Riven.
Yeah, I can't even get the rocketship Age open... when I've got Myst re-downloaded, I'll pester you if I still need it. I do remember how to beat Channelwood and Stoneship, at least.
Oh, and the grate-with-boxes thing. That was really hard the first time.
After I've done Myst I'm going to try to do all the newer ones in order, because I've still got Exile and it should run on something in this house. Hopefully my laptop, but you never know.
Hi there! If you haven't done so already, read the Constitution (there's a link in the top of the page). Also, what SingingTheThunder said. Last but not least, have a gift: a cup of green tea. Just don't let the leaves eat you.
I'm sensing a theme with this...
And I just now realized that the replies start at the bottom.
I'll just wip out my tea strainer, then.
Read it while trying to get my computer to find the logon widget (stupid dorm wifi...) so I'm all set to go and I promise to be nice. :)
So, greetings and a quick question: Are there any particular books/genres you're interested in/recommend?
I'm always up for discussing books, but only really read fantasy.
Oh, so you really want the list, do you?
In the last few months, I've read
Codex Alera (by Jim Butcher, I'm up to book four)
Dresden Files (I'm on book five or six)
Most of the fourth Pellinor book (not entirely certain I'll make the effort to find it and finish it out of the library,)
A lovely book by Christine Hinwood, called The Returning, which I still need to write my review of,
Some noir fantasy detective books by Mark Del Franco (Unshapely Things and Unquiet Dreams,) and Nightlife by Rob Thurman
And assorted Terry Pratchett books, along with rereading the Neverending Story again.
Some of my favorites in the fantasy category will always be the Young Wizards and Diana Wynne Jones (Year of the Griffin and Conrad's fate in particular stand out among those as favorites,) as well as the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Oh, and I'm always looking for good steampunk fantasy or non-medieval era fantasy.
I read a lot of fantasy, sci-fi and mystery, for which you can blame the librarian at my elementary school when she twigged to the fact that books written for first graders annoyed me.
I'm trying to catch up on the Dresden Files and Codex Alera in particular, as well as... well, I have a list somewhere. Likely taped to the underside of my last desk. I eat a lot of books. I don't finish all of the series though, because some of them either I forget about when it's time to find the new one or the first book just doesn't make an immpression on me.
So, mention a book, I've probably heard of it. Especially in the fantasy genere.
One book I haven't read and probably won't read is any of the sequels to Hunger Games. They've been spoiled for me very thoroughly.
That was probably more information than you really required. At least you didn't try to pawn man-eating food off on me. :)
Because I read quite a lot, too.
-Checks his library-
Have you read Dark Warrior Rising by Ed Greenwood? Or Lord Demon by Roger Zelazny? Or Inversions by Iain M. Banks?
Dark Warrior Rising - No
Lord Demon - No
Inversions - I swear I've seen it, I'd probably remember if I read it.
Hmmm... I must resume my habit of wandering randomly through the library. On the other hand, I've read all the Witch World books, so a lack of randomness for a bit hasn't hurt me much.
Have you read Sargasso of Space? (Andre Norton. Except that you can still find it under her pen-name Andrew North.) Or how about The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley or Sunshine also by Robin McKinley? I can recommend all of those. And The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, but I know better than to ask about that one. People either have read it or they get it mixed up with some other book with the word "Thief" in the title.
I normally read medieval era fantasy, but one good series with a more technical setting is the Engineer trilogy by K. J. Parker.
Also have you read any non-Discworld Terry Pratchett books, e.g Nation, The Carpet People or the nome trilogy?
Hey, welcome! We're in the midst of a quiet period at the moment but we're always hiring. Take a desk anywhere on the shop floor; if it isn't free you'll know it. While you're waiting for orientation, have a copy of our in-house adventurers' periodical, Wayfarer's Monthly. In this issue, "Pixel Navigation for the Agent-in-Training". Here's to a long and fruitful career.
I'll make sure not to sit on anyone, then. Thanks!