snowynight

Recently finished:

Ciaphas Cain: Choose Your Enemies by Sandy Mitchell (Ciaphas Cain #10, Link to the storygraph page):

Summary: Commissar Ciaphas Cain returns! After putting down an uprising on a mining world, he finds evidence that the corruption might have spread to other planets, and the forge world of Ironfound could now be at risk…

Thoughts: Warhammer 40K is famous for being a grimdark dystopian scifi setting. The Ciaphas Cain series is relatively lighthearted and accessible entry from a Everyman's POV. It can feel a bit formulaic as it reached the tenth book, and my favourite Valhallan 597th characters are sidelined, but I appreciate the introduction of eldar as a new faction. Their hit-and-run strategy and planning for the long game makes them a legitimate threat with their agenda.

Are you the type of reader able to stop reading just anywhere? In the middle of a sentence? Paragraph? Or do you need to reach the end of a chapter before stopping?

I can pretty much stop anywhere (too tired, don't have enough time or mental power...). If I'm reading physical books, I'll try to finish the page. If I'm reading ebooks, I'll finish the sentence/paragraph. Ebook readers can remember my last reading position, so it's more convenient. However, if I leave it for too long, I mat give it up because I no longer remember what has happened.

Recently I prefer reading short stories, because they are easier to finish. The writers I have read this week have all influenced modern fantasy and horror genres.

Recently finished:

Lord Dunsany

The Gods of Pegāna: The pantheon of Pegāna is weird, inscrutable, fallible and often petty. Lord Dunsany has created a very intriguing fantasy world with glimpse into its mythology and tales. The mythology is further elaborated in Time and the Gods and other short stories


Robert W. Chambers

Best known for his short stories in The King in Yellow, Robert W. Chambers was so popular alive that he was doomed to obscurity in academics. This article: The Secret Chambers of the Heart: Robert W. Chambers and “The King in Yellow” gives me a lot of insight about him and the King in Yellow mythos. I really want to read Kenneth Hite's annotation. (Kenneth Hite is a writer and role-playing game designer. His discussion of the horror genre sets a very high standard for me)

The first four of the stories in The King in Yellow: "The Repairer of Reputations", "The Mask", "In the Court of the Dragon", and "The Yellow Sign" all reference a play in book form entitled The King in Yellow, an eerie symbol called the Yellow Sign, and a mysterious and dangerous entity called the King in Yellow. They create a harsh world filled with paranoia and danger, filled withy tragic characters trapped in nightmarish horror. It feels very modern despite written earlier than Lovecraft's works 

Ambrose Bierce

Author of the Devil's Dictionary. One of the rare Civil War writers with actual combat experience as a soldier. In 1913, Bierce told reporters that he was travelling to Mexico to gain first-hand experience of the Mexican Revolution. He disappeared and was never seen again.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: It's said to be "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature." Set during the American Civil War, it explores the horror of death with a non-linear narration. I have read that its structure has influence on "In the Court of the Dragon", but can't find further sources. If so, it's interesting to how the writers influence each other.

One Kind of Officer: The general tells his captain that "it is not permitted to you to know anything. It is sufficient that you obey my order". He soon has reason to regret his words. A chilling war tale about institutions that encourages blindly following orders

An Inhabitant of Carcosa: A vivid account of a man from the ancient city of Carcosa found himself in a unfamiliar wilderness. This inspires Robert W. Chambers' stories in The King in Yellow, which in turn influences Cthulhu mythos

I love books. I love collecting books. However, I'm very bad at actually getting to read or re-read my purchased books. It's also very hard for me to let them go even though they have eaten up my physical space. I have to stop visiting book fairs to avoid temptation, especially now that my nephews are overseas, I no longer have the good excuse of gifting books to them.

While E-books make my book hoarding more manageable, they also enable it. I'm filling up two cloud accounts with so many books that I don't know when I will read all of them. Part of them is also healthy paranoia. As a Chinese web novel reader, it's sadly common that if you don't save a copy when it's being published/just finished, it will be deleted/locked away because of censorship. Save everything or regret later.

The biggest book in my collection (in term of mb) is Thousand years Old Vampire, a solo journaling RPG that you chronicle the many centuries of a vampire’s existence, beginning with the loss of mortality and ending with inevitable destruction with prompt-driven play and simple resource management. The game is as much about what is forgotten and lost as what the player records. In my play through my character starts out as a youthful wandering martial artist with his mentor and fellow disciple as his most important people. During the thousand years of his unlife, he no longer remembered that he murdered his mentor on that fateful night of transformation. A family was trying to kill him for generations, but he no longer knew as the record was lost along his diary. He turned his male lover by accident, and I ended it when they still remembered each other. It is a sad and poignant game.

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Rules:

1. Search the web for the cutest cover you come across, ideally an unreleased book
2. Don’t read the synopsis
3. Try to guess what the book is about
4. Read the synopsis and see how close you came

My guess:
( Read more... )

Actual Summary
( Read more... )

My thought:
It doesn't seem to stand out among the cultivation fantasy Chinese novels I have read, so I will give it a pass

Rules:

1. Search the web for the cutest cover you come across, ideally an unreleased book
2. Don’t read the synopsis
3. Try to guess what the book is about
4. Read the synopsis and see how close you came

My guess: I haven't heard of this writer before, and I know nothing about the book. My guess is that it's a mystery with Greek mythology reference, in which a map is somewhat significant (Very literal, I know.)




Actual synopsis (from goodreads):

"The Atlas Paradox is the long-awaited sequel to dark academic sensation The Atlas Six—guaranteed to have even more yearning, backstabbing, betrayal, and chaos.

Six magicians. Two rivalries. One researcher. And a man who can walk through dreams. All must pick a side: do they wish to preserve the world—or destroy it? In this electric sequel to the viral sensation, The Atlas Six, the society of Alexandrians is revealed for what it is: a secret society with raw, world-changing power, headed by a man whose plans to change life as we know it are already under way. But the cost of knowledge is steep, and as the price of power demands each character choose a side, which alliances will hold and which will see their enmity deepen?”

I am out of loop with dark academic as a book genre, and the first review I saw is negative, so I won't try to find out more about this book, but my guess seems to be very far from the truth.

 I like different types of characters, but particularly with these features:

- Kindness, being considerate and decent: I may not love characters just because they are kind, but they are definitely a big plus to me. Kindness usually prompts the character to deepen relationship with others and do things that may not entirely in their self interest, which is useful to add conflict and push the plot forward.

- Competence: I love competent porn. It's attractive for people to be confident and do their job well, especially when there's real stake. Overpowered characters who shred through obstacles like thin papers do nothing for me.

- Loyalty: I have a loyalty kink, especially when it's mutual.

- Enthusiasm. I love characters who are really into what they like, especially when what they like are unconventional.

- Hidden strength: It's a bit hard to define, but I like when characters go against stereotypes or have unexpected sides, for example, tough big guys who are laid back and enjoy playing submissive roles; polite, gentle and physically delicate characters who are actually retired badass; aliens/seemingly simple characters who pretend to be ignorant to gain advantage, etc.