Iggy's Book Nook

[gravedigger]

Reading REAMDE. It's insane. You should read it. Everyone should read it. It should not work in the least, the premise is so insane, but it's gangbusters. A former weed smuggler turned his ill begotten fortune into a ski resort, game addiction, and subsequent MMO that promotes gold farming. And then net security and Russian mobsters show up. DAT SHIT CRAY

This sounds insane. Must read soon.

[IggytheBorg]

I forgot to mention that the company that published "Pink Floyd & Philosophy" publishes a whole line of like 40 "X & Philosophy" titles. They range from such subjects as baseball, The Beatles, Super Heroes, Super Villains, Star Trek and Star Wars to Bruce Springsteen and Monty Python. I'm intrigued by and want to read all the above, and maybe a few more.

[Martin]

This sounds insane. Must read soon.

Also heard great things abou REMDE. Thing is: Snow Crash was okay at best for me, and I had trouble starting Anathem.

[BillyG]

Finally finished REAMDE today. Holy shit. That book is WAY crazier than I described. The final 150 pages or so is an incredible climax, with 4 different threads all coming together literally at the same place and shit coming to a super nuts head. The tensest I have ever been reading a book. I can't comment on this compared to other books by Stephenson, this was my first, but I've read that he used REAMDE to improve on all the things critics had said about his other novels.

[Martin]

REMDE's description's kinda reminds me of the book I jsut started reading.

Ready Player One

So far so good. Here's the synopsis from the website:

At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.

A quest for the ultimate prize.

Are you ready?

[BillyG]

The only thing Ready Player One and REAMDE have in common is the MMO being used as a plot device. REAMDE is not sci-fi at all.

[IggytheBorg]

RPO does sound interesting. Keep us abreast, MarTEEN, if ya please.

[BillyG]

Reading the first Sandman Slim novel. Not bad, it's basically the Constantine movie except instead of being a gumshoe for the paranormal he is a magician. It's a quick easy read, and has some interesting ideas like the pit arenas in hell and alchemist that curses himself with immortality.

[BillyG]

Finished Tales from Development Hell. It had some good stories, but a good chunk of the book just talked about movies that were difficult to make, and ended up being made. I was much more interested in the movies that were never produced, like Total Recall 2 and Crusade.

[Martin]

Damn. I wanted more of those. I saw the Total Recall 2 part online, and it was fantastic. Arnold is such a moron...

Ive been meanign to read Sandman Slim. Glad to see your review is like those I saw.

So far, Ready Player One is great.

[BillyG]

I'm going to read either the second Sandman Slim book or Ready Player One next. Brittany is reading the second Sandman Slim and digging it.

[IggytheBorg]

Just finished The Best Dark Fantasy & Horror of th Year, 2010. It was edited by Paula GUran, & I have to say: I was thoroughly impressed. This volme was probably even better than my beloved Mammoth Books of Best New Horror most years that tome has been published. Banner years like V 18 & 20 may be exceptions, but a lot of installments of MBBNH are yawners, by & large. This new volume, however, was almost uniformly great. Not good, GREAT. I haven't been this enthused about a horror collection since Mehitobel Wilson's "Dangerous Red", which I reviewed in these pages in 2010. One story actully got me teary in the back of a courtroom (I was waiting for my mater to be called, and had to quickly put the book down after rading a story called "Vic", and grab a boring legal document before I started weeping in the gallery; this story was nothing short of amazing, because it managed o be creepy and disturbing and pognantly sad all at the same time. Brilliant.). It's rare a book moves me like that. A FB friend that is a huge fan of horror took em up on my recommendation & is reading this book now I'm going to have her & her husband over for dinner when she's finished, so we can compare notes I suggest you follow her example & get this book. here's a 2011 volume available as well, & you can bet Ill be buying that one before too long.

[Martin]

Ready Player One?

Both an homage and a GREAT 80's movie, oozing with geekiness. I loved it.

[BillyG]

I finished Snow Crash last night, and started Ready Player One.

[Martin]

I was kinda let down by Snow Crash. Maybe I felt it was overhyped, but the cool ideas were obstructed by the writing (I know Stephenson is a good writer, but the style fell flat for me).