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slippery

<Bronze Donator>
7,910
7,732
The Ship - Jack L Knapp
Inventor finds Nikolai Tesla's lost notes, which include an experimental design for a reactionless drive. He develops the design, producing cheap, light-weight anti-gravity devices and after having trouble selling this to automotive manufacturers*, creates a VC backed endeavor to create a spaceship.

This one was interesting, although it was a lot more manufacturing project-management than I expected. It also claimed to be set in current times, but it was totally the 80s.

Overall was ok, but I don't think I'll read the rest.

I have read multiple books in this series. It's an interesting concept throughout all the books, but the writing is god awful bad. Shame really, because the concept is great.

Also the audiobook narrator is terrible.
 

Ukerric

Bearded Ape
<Silver Donator>
8,320
10,296
Everybody Likes Large Chests- Neven Iliev
I had this one show up on Amazon recommendations a few times, but dismissed it because it looked like a cheesy harem story. As it turns out the title is a joke, the main character is a D&D mimic, and spends most of it's time looking like a chest. The story is actually more black comedy that over time turns into... a cheesy harem story ( tricked dammit ! ).

The humor in this one is twisted, dark and completely tasteless. If you find this funny, you are a bad person. That being said, I found the end of book 1 hilarious, make of that what you will ;p

Unfortunately the rest of the series doesn't live up to the humor of the first book, the second funniest part was probably one of the afterwords where the author revealed he was worried about people thinking he was a SJW, which shows a staggering lack of self-awareness on the level of Hugh Hefner being worried that people think he's a feminist 8).

Overall I enjoyed the series and will probably read new ones that come out.
Half of the fun was looking forward to the next completely twisted sex joke he'd find. Alas, after a while, he ran out, so he entirely shelved the sex parts (there's only very occasional allusions) and focused on the slaughter gallows humor. With the occasional weird joke (like that immensely powerful and expensive waterbreathing artefact he had for his harpy pet)
"It's a duck suit, right?"

This is a series that should absolutely not work. Like never. But it somehow does.
 
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Arbitrary

Tranny Chaser
29,117
80,131
Finished up Uncrowned, book seven of Will Wight's "Cradle" series. The further I got in to the series the less time it took me to finish each one. It's been a while since I decided to just stay up through the night to finish a book but here we are. It's just such a damn treat when each entry in a series is better than the last.

They're just such a good time.
 
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Mudcrush Durtfeet

Hungry Ogre
2,428
-757
Short story called 'Poke'. Sample...

"She was amused by the froth that was produced as she vigorously brushed her teeth; white mixed with blood, bubbling over like the foam of a feral dog’s mouth, before she retracted one set of teeth and redoubled her efforts with the second, being careful around the razor blades and glass shards.


She replaced the toothbrush, wiped the froth away with her hand, then shook off most of it before using the remainder to sort through her hair and get the most offending clumps set down into place. Where hair was too matted or clumped to get her fingers through, she pulled until the offending clump of hair came free of her scalp.


It was hard to know what gunk went where, but she had things kind of figured out. Kind of. One mistake with one spray made her arm stick to her armpit. One bottle had an eye on it and that fucking said ‘contact’, that should have been the stuff to clean her eyes with direct contact. Instead, the traitorous plastic bottle spat out a thin jet of cold liquid that stung like piss, eliciting a screech from her. A neighbor thumped on the ceiling above, and she flipped them the double-bird, hands raised to the ceiling.


I know where you live, she thought, blinking fiercely with trails of the chemicals trailing down her cheek. I will put a lightbulb in your mouth while you sleep and then drop-kick you in the balls. Or cunt, depending."
 

Ritley

Bronze Baron of the Realm
15,999
35,003
Picked up the wandering inn and already through volume 1 which is pretty long, good stuff so far.
Caught up to the current chapter of Wandering Inn that V velk recommended, and I wanted to say that it is probably one of the best self published series I’ve read. And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t like most litrpg series.

All of the characters are great, everytime he introduces a new one im kind of annoyed at having another character to split time with only to be totally engrossed by the time their chapter ends.

By word count alone this series surpasses most completed ones, so not only is it a good story but there is a ton of content.
 
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Slaanesh69

Millie's Staff Member
6,053
17,905
Figured I better leave the Dune movie thread alone, right after doing a quick drive-by.

Just finishing Book 6 of the Dune series, Chapterhouse. I've read 1 to 6 with one palate cleanser after book 3. I have to say Chapterhouse is the worst of the bunch and I've actually started skipping paragraphs of useless exposition. Herbert goes deep into the politics and religion and a lot of what he says has been a revelation, but I am officially over it and he is getting pedantic now. I think I am getting a little bitter, because I am starting to feel like Herbert is just smelling his own farts at this point now and reveling too much in twisting schemes within schemes and talking about it way too long.

And, as I said in the movie thread, I cannot believe he decided to drop in the Jews at this point in the series. And they are still bitching about persecution millennia later. Sweet Jesus (the prophet and not the son of God, of course, since we are speaking in Hebrew here).

It has been an enjoyable ride, except for this last book.
 
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TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
42,786
109,219
I read the Trapped Mind LitRPG. Had to stop after the second book. I kind of liked it but the author writes it like he never had a girlfriend or woman in his life. I can only take so much of cooing and fucking insufferingable lovey dovey idiocy that NEVER ENDS and isn't funny or endearing. It's just tacky.
 

LachiusTZ

Rogue Deathwalker Box
<Silver Donator>
14,472
27,162
Was there someone that referenced a book regarding westward expansion / cowboy era / the wild west a few months ago?

Remember seeing it somewhere on the forum but cant remember the thread and ditn bookmark it.

THx
 

Randin

Trakanon Raider
1,932
891
Was there someone that referenced a book regarding westward expansion / cowboy era / the wild west a few months ago?

Remember seeing it somewhere on the forum but cant remember the thread and ditn bookmark it.

THx

Was it this one? (I only posted this one about a month ago, but it might be what you were thinking of.)

Wildest Lives of the Frontier by John Richard Stephens. A history of the American frontier primarily told through excerpts from autobiographies, journals, and interviews of major figures of the frontier--Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull, etc--with explanations and interjections from the author/editor. A nice read, and not the usual time commitment you'd expect from a history book.
 
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Arbitrary

Tranny Chaser
29,117
80,131
Alright, I read book one of Everyone Loves Large Chests : Morningwood. I know a guy that has some fondness for RPGLit and this was the first one I've ever read.

I'm way more interested in the mimic getting absurdly powerful than the busty ladies. This was the literary equivalent of eating a snack pack sized bag of Fritos. It is what it is.
 
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jeffvader

it's only castles burning
402
33
just re-read the book of three: chronicles of prydain, lloyd alexander for the first time since i was 12. remember that shit? gonna go ahead and re-read all five. childhood awaits.
 

Oblio

Utah
<Gold Donor>
11,717
25,632
I have about 2 hours left in Sharp Ends and I am loving it. I wish Shev and Javre had been in the prior books.

I am really enjoy Abercrombie's writing style, I will probably pick up that YA Series of his that was mentioned a a few pages back. I am just debating if I should start a new series or go back and give the Mistborn Book 1 another chance. I started Mistborn after listening to all the available Stormlight Archive and was a bit disappointed with it in comparison. Maybe after some time away I will appreciate it more now.
 

Mudcrush Durtfeet

Hungry Ogre
2,428
-757
Caught up to the current chapter of Wandering Inn that V velk recommended, and I wanted to say that it is probably one of the best self published series I’ve read. And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t like most litrpg series.

All of the characters are great, everytime he introduces a new one im kind of annoyed at having another character to split time with only to be totally engrossed by the time their chapter ends.

By word count alone this series surpasses most completed ones, so not only is it a good story but there is a ton of content.

I highly recommend The Wandering Inn, though it starts kind of 'eh' as the author gets his thing going. It's totally worth it.

Wildbow has three completed (quite long) stories, Worm, Pact and Twig and is doing a sequel to the first one. The first one is like 10 novels in length or something. All his stuff gets dark.

A few others I recommend highly are Unsong by Scott Alexander (finished) and A Practical Guide to Evil (ongoing).

Everybody Loves Large Chests is also pretty good. It is not about what you prolly think of by the name, it is NSFW. The protaganist is a mimic (the treasure chest kind) and it is very long and ongoing. You'd think that wouldn't be possible with a near mindless mimic. Different point of view, that's for sure.

These suggested stories will give you a LOT of good reading.
 
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velk

Trakanon Raider
2,642
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Everybody Loves Large Chests is also pretty good. It is not about what you prolly think of by the name, it is NSFW. The protaganist is a mimic (the treasure chest kind) and it is very long and ongoing. You'd think that wouldn't be possible with a near mindless mimic. Different point of view, that's for sure.

Oh, i didn't realise this was a serial too - looks like the amazon books are only half the series. That's convenient.