The Reading Room

[akajomiha]

I read the first issue of H2SH yesterday. Is it just me or is this not Jim Lee's best work? The ad they keep using has Batman's neck stuck way out.

I agree! It’s an interesting phenomenon to sometimes see older artists’ later work kind of “devolve” in a sense. I know it’s all subjective, of course, but with other artists, their styles evolve into something many don’t like (JRJR for example, even though I personally still like most of his work). It seems to me that Jim Lee isn’t changing his style as much as just not executing it at the same level he used to. Having said that, I haven’t seen his pencils; if he isn’t penciling as tight, that leaves a lot up to Scott Williams. In that case, it may not be all on Jim.

 

[akajomiha]

Haven’t read a lot of current/newish comics (last 15 years or so) but I’ve been picking up all the DC Compact editions. Surprisingly I’m really enjoying Far Sector. Sci-Fi was never my favorite genre and I’m unfamiliar with the writer’s previous work, but I must say I’m getting Alan Moore vibes from Jemisin and Campbell’s art/coloring is super cool and compelling. Granted I’m only about three issues in, but really liking it thus far.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

N.K. Jemisin is one of our best living authors. I loved Far Sector, too. It gets a little goofy near the end, but she's the first author to make me care about a Green Lantern.

 

[akajomiha]

N.K. Jemisin is one of our best living authors. I loved Far Sector, too. It gets a little goofy near the end, but she's the first author to make me care about a Green Lantern.

Same (re caring about a GL). I was wholly unfamiliar with N.K. Jemisin. Gave her a Goog and will definitely be picking up some of her books. She has a great style of writing and some unique and far out concepts.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

Same (re caring about a GL). I was wholly unfamiliar with N.K. Jemisin. Gave her a Goog and will definitely be picking up some of her books. She has a great style of writing and some unique and far out concepts.

Her Broken Earth trilogy rules. Among my favorite books.

 

[Ru1977]

I guess this is the place to take this?

I did. Not to derail the happy GI Joe talk, but nine of my eleven books were confirmed fed into Meta's AI grist so I tend to track all the shenanigans (plus I'm still writing about cybersecurity a lil bit on the side even though AI pretty much convinced me to leave that industry). It's like the third time this month an author's been caught leaving their prompts in their manuscript. Pro or anti-tech, I just don't know why anyone gives up the joy of writing to a robot. We should be building robots that clean toilets for us so we have MORE time to make cool shit.

I agree! I love shortcutting all day at work, writing is where I really want to chew! I saw one who basically churned out a book every two weeks? I guess the goal is simply quantity. Just flood the market to increase your chances at a hit?

 

[docsilence]

Honestly, we're seeing it most in sub-industries (romantasy especially) where authors are under pressure to put a book out at least every quarter the churn in some genres is impossible. Fortunately I work in YA and NA (diving into an adult dark fantasy novel next actually) and there's a LOT more leeway to put a book out every couple of years instead of every couple of months. But knowing what I do about how generative AI works, I won't let it anywhere near anything I work on.

The nut punch about the most recent author who got caught? She asked it TO WRITE LIKE A COMPETITOR. So it mined pirated books to mimic her competition to rewrite some of her work. If that's not next-level ethically bankrupt behavior I don't know what is. That's tech inventing ways to be unethical. (The ironic thing is most working writers I know actively avoid reading authors they like while working so that they don't accidentally ape their style and here was someone asking a computer to do it for her. Wild stuff, man, wild stuff. I've lived too long, I swear.)

UNRELATED to the nightmare of AI in publishing, I'm reading Joe Abercrombie's new book, "Devils," and he's still Joe Abercrombie. Which is a good thing. Readable as hell, funny AF, some of the cleanest, best action sequences in grimdark, a crew of misfits who are likable when the world would prefer they weren't.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

I'm reading Abercrombie's The Heroes right now. It's been a bit of a slog for me. My eyes glaze over when it comes to wars over the same 100-yard parcel of land. That's more about my taste than Abercrombie's skill. I've come to realize that not only do I like almost exclusively high fantasy, but I mostly like books that focus on a person or party on an adventure. Almost D&D campaign style.

 

[docsilence]

I'm reading Abercrombie's The Heroes right now. It's been a bit of a slog for me. My eyes glaze over when it comes to wars over the same 100-yard parcel of land. That's more about my taste than Abercrombie's skill. I've come to realize that not only do I like almost exclusively high fantasy, but I mostly like books that focus on a person or party on an adventure. Almost D&D campaign style.

Have you read his other stuff? I love the Heroes but I'm also a sucker for low-stakes fantasy, and it really is a stupid fight over a useless piece of land and how dumb it is to be fighting over it in the first place. I actually read the Heroes first and liked it better the second time around after I realized that the First Law trilogy and Best Served Cold actually came first, because a lot of the dumbasses in the Heroes are in those other books, too.

I will say that Red Country was the slog for me in terms of Joe's books. His attempt at a fantasy western was a good shot, but a bit too erratic for my tastes. Devils is also erratic, but moves VERY fast so it doesn't feel like it drags. (Also of all his books, Devils is the one where you go "this dude DEFINITELY plays a lot of D&D.")

 

[Ru1977]

put a book out every couple of years

My goal is one a year, but every other year is another in my ongoing series, with something else unrelated inbetween. I had a little backlog of three before I even put the first one up on Amazon, just to give myself a buffer in case I have a year-long writer's block sometime. But I think the only way I'll be able to publish multiple books in one year is to stop publishing for several years and sit on them.

 

[docsilence]

My goal is one a year, but every other year is another in my ongoing series, with something else unrelated inbetween. I had a little backlog of three before I even put the first one up on Amazon, just to give myself a buffer in case I have a year-long writer's block sometime. But I think the only way I'll be able to publish multiple books in one year is to stop publishing for several years and sit on them.

When I first started I put a book out every six months, but I had a publisher and I had a backlog. Ideally I like to have a release every 12-18 months but after ten years of more than a book a year I burned myself down to a nub. I want to say if one hit big enough I could stop doing other writing I'd get back into two a year, but I know guys who have had feature films made of their books who still need full-time jobs to support their families, so at this point I figure I'll just write til I'm dead at whatever pace I can keep up with.

 

[Ru1977]

That sounds like a good plan for me as well. Right now, I have eight more books planned, then maybe I'll stop. Or, more likely, I'll have come up with eight more ideas at that point, heh.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

Have you read his other stuff? I love the Heroes but I'm also a sucker for low-stakes fantasy, and it really is a stupid fight over a useless piece of land and how dumb it is to be fighting over it in the first place. I actually read the Heroes first and liked it better the second time around after I realized that the First Law trilogy and Best Served Cold actually came first, because a lot of the dumbasses in the Heroes are in those other books, too.

I'm reading in publication order. I haven't enjoyed the stand-alone work nearly as much as the First Law trilogy, particularly Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings.

BTAH is one of my favorite books ever, so I have "season tickets" for Abercrombie. I'm going to read all of his stuff eventually.

 

[docsilence]

I'm reading in publication order. I haven't enjoyed the stand-alone work nearly as much as the First Law trilogy, particularly Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings.

BTAH is one of my favorite books ever, so I have "season tickets" for Abercrombie. I'm going to read all of his stuff eventually.

Hard agree that the First Law books were stronger than his standalone stuff. I need to go back and read his quasi-YA stuff at some point - I skipped it because it felt like a weird space for him to be in, but I can't imagine they don't still sound like Joe.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

Hard agree that the First Law books were stronger than his standalone stuff. I need to go back and read his quasi-YA stuff at some point - I skipped it because it felt like a weird space for him to be in, but I can't imagine they don't still sound like Joe.

I raised an eyebrow when I heard about them. It feels like a peculiar fit, but I can't wait to read them.

I also read The Blacktongue Thief since I last posted in this thread. It took me a while to get a feel for the tone/humor. Good book.