Comments on: In which a book pisses me off

By: Jennygirl

Jennygirl — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:13:42 +0000

OMG that completely sucks!
And you had to finish the book….I completely feel for you. Find a great book fast to get that bad taste out of your mouth.

By: Lisa Iriarte

Lisa Iriarte — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:04:22 +0000

Oooh, I almost forgot S.L. Viehl’s Stardoc series. Great read.

By: Katee

Katee — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 06:14:11 +0000

I recently read an fantasy romance book. It was so horrible that I ended up throwing it across the room before I got to my normal 100 pages. The author kept switching perspectives and there was no real reason why the two main characters suddenly fell in love within minutes of meeting each other. Also, the “big bad thing” made no sense! Grr. Normally I can keep through a book because they tend to get better (The Talisman had the worst beginning but ended up being a fantastic book) but I couldn’t even do it with this particular one. Woo, that feels good to get off my chest. ;-)

By: Michele Lee

Michele Lee — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:30:56 +0000

I agree with Lisa, it sounds like you aren’t reading the right books :) I suggest Implied spaces by Walter Jon Williams, Unwelcome Bodies by Jennifer Pelland (I think you’d really like it, it’s a book of short stories) and Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year v. 2 from Night Shade books. To the excellent SF writers I’d like to add Nancy Kress and Elizabeth Bear. BTW Jennifer Pelland publishes a lot in ezines, so you might want to google her and try some of those stories. They really are lovely.

By: Lisa Iriarte

Lisa Iriarte — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:11:58 +0000

Heh. I meant “right” people, not “write” people. Although it looks like I intended the pun.

By: Lisa Iriarte

Lisa Iriarte — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:10:35 +0000

Oh. My. God.

Ok, that sounds like some of the worst science fiction ever.

Elizabeth Moon’s science fiction, Tanya Huff’s Valor series, Debra Doyle and James McDonald’s Price of the Stars series, Elizabeth Bear’s Hammered trilogy. These are some great science fiction stories that focus on the characters, and they all have strong female protagonists. Given that I like what you write and I like these authors, I think you would fit well with any of them.

You just aren’t reading the write people.

I also second the person above who mentioned Laura Anne Gilman. She’s not science fiction, but I love her Retrievers books.

By: erin

erin — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:59:18 +0000

Just to clarify-I love Anya Bast, sometimes you need a strong witch, a hot but not necessary human guy and learning new things about the act of boinking. But also, sometimes you need a fast paced, laser beams and starships scif-fi that doesn’t slow down w/ too much relationships stuff. Two sides of the same coin, just depends on what mood I’m in

By: erin

erin — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:53:16 +0000

I’ve found that traditional sci-fi, while trying to create these new, fantastical futuristic worlds, it still can’t break away from the traditional gender stereotypes. However, lately, I’ve been very impressed by some of the new, breakout authors in the urban fantasy category…Lilith Saintcrow, Jenna Black, Kim Harrison, C.E. Murphy, Laura Anne Gilman. All of these authors have created strong, believable, relateable female characters. I consider these separate from some of the fantasy/romance authors like Anya Bast, Cheyenne McCray, Sherrilyn Kenyon–these authors write strong female characters but the story is centered around the romance, the fantasy secondary.

But the first list, Ann definitely included!!, the authors create a fantasy/sci-fi world in which that is primary and the story centers around the conflict the characters find in *the story*, the romance secondary or even background. The story is what hooks you, not the boinking.

The thing that sucked me in about Ann’s Jax world was that it was a new world, provided new experiences and we as readers had to adjust to the sci-fi aspect of it. While I’m as addicted to the Jax/March story as anyone else–it flows as part of the story, it’s not the story entirely.

If anyone ever wants recommendations or wants to trade names, let me know!!

By: Ann Aguirre

Ann Aguirre — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:49:58 +0000

I appreciate your curiosity, but I’m not gonna post title or author. I don’t want people who love this book / author coming over to fill my house with haterade.

Other people seem to like this book. It has 4 & 5 star reviews. Major SF authors (all men) endorsed this book heartily. So maybe I’m just the vaginal minority.

By: MarnieColette

MarnieColette — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:36:05 +0000

Interested to know what you read so I can stay clear of that one. I absolutely hate sexism as an underlying them in any book and dying because having sex is a big one. I would have put the book down – probably thrown it away too. Its a pet peeve of mine. Alpha males are one thing but blatant sexism argh!