The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

Hi! I'm Wemnix. I've been hiding amongst the pages of the wiki for a few months now and decided to join the Board! I have read the Constitution and variety of helpful materials prepared, and am glad to be here. Now to go through that list in the FAQ for what I should put here... I have quite a few fandoms I enjoy, including Harry Potter, Star Wars, the LOTR books, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Pokemon, and many more! I believe I found the PPC through a random link on TVTropes, can't quite remember. My favorite agents are probably the Aviator and Zeb, partially due to the sheer number of missions they have completed. For fun, I tend to play video games way too much, and watch the chaos that my cats tend to cause. I am currently hoping to go into game design in the future, and I live in the US. Thanks for reading my introduction, have a great day!

Someone asking you not to respond to them is a personal boundary and a pretty big one too. And would you please stop with the passive aggressive comments? I don’t know if it’s just me being over sensitive to people being passive aggressive but it really is starting to irritate me.

                                                                      Scarlett is trying not to interfere but is getting annoyed 

The Golden One by Deborah Chester, part of LucasFilm's Alien Chronicles. Nothing to do with Star Wars, as far as I can recall, which TBH isn't much. I don't know if this was a good book, but the reviews seem positive, and impressions of the two leads have stuck in my mind, and I remember using gel pens to draw the very shiny lizard-girl villain. ^_^ The themes might not be quite on point for you, but as it's 90s YA, I'm pretty sure good triumphs!

~Neshomeh

If you're looking for something with a generally positive outlook where the heroes win in the end, then maybe the Sector General series by James White? It's set in a giant medical facility in space, it has some of the best, most alien aliens I've ever seen, and it's one of the most wholesome sci-fi universes I've come across. It is an older series, though, and its progressivism shows its age. Also, it doesn't hold back on hospital jargon, so it might not be at the right reading level, which is why I didn't suggest it to begin with. Definitely recommend giving it a look for yourself, though. {= )

Unfortunately, the most space-adventure-y Greg Bear duology I can think of involves most of humanity being wiped out save for an "Ark" full of kids drifting through space on a revenge mission, soooooo yeah. ^_^;

I was actually thinking about McCaffrey's Talent series, which I'd describe in four words as "horny telepaths in space." There's also the Freedom trilogy, but again with the horniness. There's a sex scene that has stuck in my head for years—not in a bad way, but still—and I wasn't that young when I read those books. Like, up to you whether you think that's okay or not, but I would probably tell myself at 12 to wait a few years, haha.

For Pern, Moreta is adventure-y, but also involves a big plague and heroes dying? IDK if there's another good place to jump in besides DFlight or DSong. The Chronicles anthology, maybe...?

~Neshomeh

says the nerdy bookworm who has been reading far above their grade level for years and first read Lord of the Rings when they were around 12

Maybe Lyrec by Gregory Frost? Maybe not, actually. Not really a kids book either: there's some violence (it is something of a rock 'em sock 'em adventure) and one not too graphic sex scene.

You mentioned the Constitution, but not which Article you believed I violated. Were you referring to Article Four, which states:

“4. The community will not tolerate any form of harassment between members of the PPC, whether it manifests as attacking, bullying, or pestering. Respect people's personal boundaries just as much as you do everything else about them. This rule particularly includes interactions outside of PPC community spaces: harassing someone by email is just as serious as doing so in public, if not more so, and will be treated as such. If you find yourself being harassed or bullied by another PPCer, please make the community aware! We cannot help with a situation if we don't know it exists.” ?

I would argue that telling people that they’re not allowed to respond to you doesn’t count as a personal boundary, but rather an imposition on them. At least, when the subject is one of public debate.

As for “that’s your problem”, you are saying, as it appears to me, that my problem is not agreeing with your characterization of my actions.

—Ls

I’ll just add that I’ve read all the other books you’ve mentioned.

—Ls

I recommend Doraemon – a children's series about a robot cat who goes back in time from Generic Sci-fi Future to live with a book-dumb boy and ultimately help him avoid a horrible future fate. One of the main draw of the series is the vast array of cool and funny futuristic gadgets the titular character has a habit of using – a door that opens to literally anywhere and flashlights that grow and shrink the body all Alice in Wonderland like, to name two examples.

I've read Wikipedia's very extensive summary, and you're right that it pushes all the buttons - but it's also solidly in the YA Dystopia bracket (alongside Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent etc etc). He's already nudging at that genre - he read The Giver over summer, and is after Ready Player One (because games) - so I want to try something different. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

hS

The Culture was in the back of my mind when I typed this, but I've only read a couple of them, so wasn't sure how well they'd fit. I actually have read Player of Games, and since his current criteria for library books seems to be "does the title reference chess?", I think it might be a hit. Thanks!

hS

We bought him his own copy of H2G2 over the summer, and he flatly refused to open it. I don't understand why, but I have to accept the empirical data.

Greg Bear is one of the writers I was thinking of! Thank you. I think the only ones I have in the house are Darwin's Radio/Children, which are not what I want, but I'll definitely keep an eye out.

I really want to give him Dragonsong, but I think it falls foul of the slow-start issue: the first three chapters are mostly grumbling about feeding toffees to the elderly. I don't think, at this stage, it would hook him well enough to get him to read it. Is there a Pern book that starts with dragons rather than squalour? (I also want to give him White Dragon, but I think some of Jaxom's activities would raise serious eyebrows.)

Animorphs might be worth a shot, though would you believe they don't have a single one in the library? It's also a bit bleak at times (I'm trying to pull him out of the 'everything dies, life is meaningless' orbit he seems to be falling into). Wrinkle in Time I... think he's read, actually? As for Asimov, I remember him as too heavy for me, so I'm not going there as yet.

hS

Sorry for the late reply to this thread, but - as I pointed out - I have serious anger management issues, so after reading your response I needed to step away from this thread before I said anything that would jeopardise my recovery. Anyway: I don't quite know how to explain the idea of No Meaning No to you in simpler terms than I already have, since despite your claims to the contrary you clearly do not grasp the concept, or at least that it applies even when you personally might not want it to do so.

I'm not okay with leaving this alone. While this conversation might be going in circles, that's your problem, because you're the one who - by their own admission - is refusing to understand what you're doing wrong and why it isn't conduct becoming of a PPC member. There is perhaps a little irony in belabouring this point as much as we are given the subject at hand, but community conduct rules are something we take pretty seriously around here. Where else has a Constitution these days, after all, that they actually bother to enforce? =]

I rewrote her name into its French counterpart.

I just don’t think it applies in these circumstances.

Do you get why seeming not to understand it is a valid cause for concern?

~Neshomeh

I regret having said it, it was unnecessary, and unhelpful.

And I don’t think we’re going to get any resolution with this, no matter how many times we rephrase things.

I really think it’s best to let the matter drop.

—Ls

I'm afraid I don't have much sci-fi on my bookshelves, and what I do have is probably a bit old for a 12-year-old. Like, Asimov is awesome, and Greg Bear is awesome, but even when there are robots, the focus isn't really the shiny toys? And I might have started reading McCaffrey at about 12-13, but I probably shouldn't have. {= P

Hold on, I saved some Animorphs. That's got the occasional space romp. And, oh, Madeleine L'Engle! That's definitely in the demographic range, though less future-tech, more questioning the nature of reality as we know it. But it's fun, though!

~Neshomeh generally prefers to watch sci-fi and read fantasy.

And I find it troubling that you don't seem to grasp that not stopping when being (as we saw it) clearly asked to stop is a valid cause for concern.

Also, do you honestly not understand the meaning of "to railroad" in this context, where there's really only one definition that fits? I ask because, rather than phrasing your question in terms of you not understanding, you chose a phrasing that reads like you're questioning Scape's faculty with words. Either way is not a good look for you, but the latter would be quite the passive-aggressive insult.

~Neshomeh is getting angry.

I really liked it, The idea of the agents being stuck as rats...yes. 100%. I love that. And I hope we see more of Emily too!

Also, Sue, malnourishment does NOT equal being skinny! I felt that the agents should object to that.

Nice job incorporating a good amount of badfic text.

—Ls

They're, I think, reasonably canonical high-tech nearly-Utopia. I'd give the starting reading order as Player of Games into Excession (which has some fantastic AI spaceship banter and is, IMO, best in the series, but generally needs some context).

More to follow when I haven't just woken up and so I stand a chance of remembering half the stuff I read in middle school.

• Tomash

I don’t agree with your logic here—just because you said “no” doesn’t mean I can’t try to change your mind. But neither does it require that you reply. My counterargument doesn’t invalidate your saying “no”.

I think it’s reasonable to try to clarify one’s logic in such cases, but that doesn’t force people to respond.

I can’t make people discuss things. I can try and change their opinions, but that doesn’t mean I’m owed a reply. No one had to reply or read any of what I was saying. I don’t see how posting my own opinion is forcing people to be my audience.

Frankly, I don’t have any problem with you having used Grundleplith (who I have never interacted with, not that it’s particularly relevant) to beta your Board post expressing your opinion. It isn’t a discussion of my behavior, so it would be quite unreasonable of me to demand the transcript, though I thank you for your full disclosure.

—Ls, Not Angry

PS: which definition of railroad were you trying to use?

It might be a little much for a twelve-year-old, but the Arc of a Scythe series fits the "Death is abolished, there's no scarcity, and AI is floating around" to a T. However, the main concept is rather dark. Essentially, in order to reduce overpopulation, there's a special group of assassins called "scythes" who do all the killing.

--Ls

When I was younger, I remember reading swathes of sci-fi that took place in ultra-high-technology environments. Death was basically abolished, scarcity didn't exist, there's usually strong AI floating around the place - you know the sort. Unfortunately, none of it seems to have made its way onto my bookshelves - most of my collection is more Grumpy Sci-Fi, where half the population lives in squalour, there's governments and corporations ruining everything, and in the case of the two large collections, There Is Only War. (The other one is the chunks of the old Star Wars EU that I've felt worth keeping out.)

I now have a 12-year-old who is into reading, but not when it comes to... y'know... actually picking up a book. We keep recommending things, and he reads for one evening before abandoning them on a random surface. So it goes; but for other reasons I think what he really needs & would enjoy is that sort of sci-fi I started out talking about. But... I can't remember any books. ^_^ I'm drawing a total blank. Halp?

(I do have a few things that kind of fit - some Clarke, and James Blish's Cities in Flight - but he's only just pulling away from the short-chapter books that slam you straight into wacky action and never let up, I don't think the older stuff will work yet.)

Any recommendations are welcome, though it's most useful if our library system would probably have it in stock.

hS

Set between their first mission and the mission into Strawberry Shortcake, Urato and Inasuke are in a rather ratty situation…