Recommend a book

[End Master]

Looks like it will be an interesting read. He was a well read chap, and it includes quotes by numerous philosophers and poets. He might have fit in here, minus the whole murder thing.

~Katie

I would argue that the murder thing and fitting in here aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

[End Master]

Your title changes when you post more.

Since we're on the subject. I was lurking on a few other forums awhile back where they were slamming mostly a bunch of fantasy, horror and scifi writers.

So as "proper writers" on this site do you feel that the following famous writers (or series) really suck, or were those people just trying to look cool by hating what's considered popular?

Here are a few examples of those mentioned:

The Wheel of Time series (Said it just sucked more as it went along)

The Sword of Shannara series (Said it was just LOTR, but poorly written)

The Xanth series (Piers Anthony was pretty much hated and considered a big pedo since he apparently puts in a lot of underage sex in his stories)

ANYTHING involving the Forgotten Realms (R.A. Salvatore writing about some emo dark elf or Ed Greenwood writing about hims…er I mean Elminster)

David Eddings (Only good for little kids and just repeats himself)

J K Rowling & Harry Potter (Pretty much the same remarks made about David)

L Ron Hubbard (Badly written Scientology propaganda)

Ann Rice (Nothing but a bunch of whiny emo vamps)

Terry Goodkind (Overrated, flat characters, clumsily written)

Robert Heinlein (Male leads are considered annoying and preachy)

Ayn Rand (Considered racist and the philosophy is only embraced by idiotic pseudo-intellectual college kids)

H.P. Lovecraft (Created a better “mythos” rather than actually writing them and sucked at writing dialogue)

Christopher Paolini (Eragon just “ripped off” Star Wars)

Stephen King (I think someone just said he was horrible and that was about it)

[thoric]

I have always liked Eddings. Belgariad was the first series I read and his books aren't as juvenile as people claim. As for the repetition, don't all fantasy writers repeat themselves?

The Belisarius series by Eric Flint and David Drake is good. And entertaining. Notice I say entertaining, not literary masterpiece. It has many flaws but it's a good read nonetheless.

I am also a fan of David Gemmell. He is what could be called, a prolific writer.

As for GRRM, I started reading the first book from SoIaF. Very engrossing. All greys, hardly any black and white. Arguably the best fantasy series ever.

Oh and I couldn't complete the first book of the Shannara series. It was like a more boring version of LotR. And I used to think LotR was the most yawn inducing.

Raymond E. Feist isn't all that bad either. Im still reading Magician: Apprentice though.

[donteatpoop]

Your title changes when you post more.

Since we're on the subject. I was lurking on a few other forums awhile back where they were slamming mostly a bunch of fantasy, horror and scifi writers.

So as "proper writers" on this site do you feel that the following famous writers (or series) really suck, or were those people just trying to look cool by hating what's considered popular?

Here are a few examples of those mentioned:

The Wheel of Time series

I have tried several times to get into this series, but the first few chapters bored me to death. Three times I got the book from the library, and three times I set it down with disappointment. I'd say it sucked from the get go. And I'm glad I never got into it considering that Jordan has died without finishing.

The Xanth series (Piers Anthony was pretty much hated and considered a big pedo since he apparently puts in a lot of underage sex in his stories)

They were fun to read when I was just getting into reading; especially because he has a knack for describing boobs. Not exactly amazing work, but entertaining for young adults.

ANYTHING involving the Forgotten Realms (R.A. Salvatore writing about some emo dark elf or Ed Greenwood writing about hims…er I mean Elminster)

I liked Salvatore's first trilogy in Forgotten Realms, liked the trilogy about the dark elf's origins; but he never seemed to figure out when to put the character down and give up on it.

David Eddings (Only good for little kids and just repeats himself)

This one disappointed the shit out of me. I heard great things about it, and foud it entertaining to read; but it's all so happy-fucking-go-lucky that it disturbed me. And it's definately written for the young-ins. Everything about this series was cliche.

J K Rowling & Harry Potter

I'm glad they made movies out of these, because the stories are great but the writing is terrible.

L Ron Hubbard (Badly written Scientology propaganda)

Terrible terrible terrible sci-fi. I hear he's great at creating religeons, though.

Ann Rice (Nothing but a bunch of whiny emo vamps)

She'd be a great writer if she didn't forget about the story she is telling in the middle of describing something. Her mind seems to just wander off and take three chapters to get through before returning to the actual story.

Stephen King (I think someone just said he was horrible and that was about it)

I have a love/hate relationship with his writings. He is capable of such genius (Hearts in Atlantis & The Gunslinger, for example) but usually takes shortcuts and puts out garbage (Dreamcatcher & Desperation, for example). He sometimes loses focus on the story in creating uneccessary background information on his characters (if you've read Dreamcatcher, you may recall the half a chapter flashback to one of the protagonists breaking into a neighbors house and walking around with a boner - WTF??). He has potential, but usually shortchanges the reader.

[End Master]

one of the protagonists breaking into a neighbors house and walking around with a boner - WTF??).

That bit sounds like something Chubby or I would've written in a room of a story on here. Hell it sounds like something Chubby's probably done in real life.

I cheated with the Dark Elf thing since I read the graphic novel versions of them. But oddly even in this condensed form, the same thing happened. The first trilogy was cool and then it got a little less interesting after he finally left the underdark.

[Vesnic]

But oddly even

Wow, that blows my mind.

I'm not big into this genre, but I have to say I did get a kick out of Rice's stuff, though I've hardly read all of it, or even most of it. It was sumptuous and thrilling and that's what I was looking for when I picked up Interview.

[apotheosis]

Of People and Panda's is an intelligent design textbook. Good for a few laughs.

[Locke]

I read the Shannara series when I was younger, and really liked it. When Terry Brooks added new stories to the series more recently, I picked up a couple. I could still read it to get through a plane trip or something, but now that I'm older I realize the writing really isn't that great.

I found Harry Potter entertaining and well-written. The language wasn't brilliant or anything, but the story was fresh and well-told, though it became somewhat less so in the later books.

Heinlein can be hit or miss. I probably liked The Moon is a Harsh Mistress best of what I've read, though I've only taken in a few of his novels. The male lead came across as believable and interesting. For Us, the Living, on the other hand, was pretty preachy. It had little in the way of plot; most of the novel was absorbed in discussions between the characters that served to flesh out Heinlein's idea of a utopian society. That's fine, if it's what you're looking to read; I wasn't.

From what I saw in Atlas Shrugged when I read it back in high school, Ayn Rand writes well for the most part. She's so enamored of her philosophy, though, and so bitterly opposed to certain aspects of society that the book tends to get off track and focus single-mindedly on her message. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so very bitter and a bit repetitive. It doesn't help that I disagree with the author's philosophy, and I did skip part of the novel that involves a sixty-something page monologue speech by one of the main characters. If you can stomach the message, the bitterness behind it, and the tangents the book sometimes takes to support it, there is a real and decent story.

Stephen King is definitely hit-or-miss, and that's if you like his style. His stories always tend to "flow" very well; he keeps the pages turning even when, as DEP says, his stories sometimes lose focus. Some of his work is genuinely good; some of it is well-written page to page but not worth reading overall. I was disappointed with much of his Dark Tower writing that followed The Wastelands. His obsession with using the series to tie together all his writing, extending even to including himself as a major part of the plot, didn't help. Probably more often than not, Stephen King writes the literary equivalent of empty calories. It's entertaining, but it doesn't really say anything, and if you don't just have time to burn reading it on a trip or something, it can be quite disappointing. As DEP points out, though, you do come across the occasional diamond in the rough.

[ChubbyTeletubby]

The Wheel of Time. This series came highly recommended to me by a friend years and years ago. However I couldn't get into it. I forget why.

The Sword of Shannara series was horrible. I read a couple of the books, but it was definitely not as convincing a world as Tolkien's stuff. I actually like Tolkien's long and drawn out style

I just picked up Fellowship of the Ring again. While it is true that most of the book is written in an overly verbose "They went from point A to point B and saw some stuff" style, I find that I actually LIKE it.

The first few chapters are especially delightful. Lots of ale quaffing and pipe-weed smoking.

A Fox passing through the woods on business of his own stopped several minutes and sniffed.

'Hobbits' he thought. 'Well? What next? I have heard of strange doing in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There's something mighty queer behind this.' He was quite right, but he never found out any more about it.

Piers Anthony is a total pedo. A lot of his stuff is just plain weird. He's creative, but disturbed. I quit reading his drivel when I encountered the child porn stuff. I can tolerate almost anything but that. Even I have lines that I do not cross.

Forgotten Realms. There's a reason they're forgotten. HORRIBLE.

J K Rowling & Harry Potter. Too mainstream. Too trendy. Never bothered with the movies really OR the books. Not my style. Mildly entertaining to watch.

L Ron Hubbard is a moron.

H.P. Lovecraff. I only ever read a couple of his stories and I'd say he's stuff reminds me of Tolkien's Simalrillion . Heavy stuff, bogs you down, but still interesting.

Stephen King is creative. Good writer. Over rated, though. I heard his new one is a worthy read.

[apotheosis]

The Wheel of Time. This series came highly recommended to me by a friend years and years ago. However I couldn't get into it. I forget why.

The Sword of Shannara series was horrible. I read a couple of the books, but it was definitely not as convincing a world as Tolkien's stuff. I actually like Tolkien's long and drawn out style

I just picked up Fellowship of the Ring again. While it is true that most of the book is written in an overly verbose "They went from point A to point B and saw some stuff" style, I find that I actually LIKE it.

The first few chapters are especially delightful. Lots of ale quaffing and pipe-weed smoking.

A Fox passing through the woods on business of his own stopped several minutes and sniffed.

'Hobbits' he thought. 'Well? What next? I have heard of strange doing in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There's something mighty queer behind this.' He was quite right, but he never found out any more about it.

Piers Anthony is a total pedo. A lot of his stuff is just plain weird. He's creative, but disturbed. I quit reading his drivel when I encountered the child porn stuff. I can tolerate almost anything but that. Even I have lines that I do not cross.

Forgotten Realms. There's a reason they're forgotten. HORRIBLE.

J K Rowling & Harry Potter. Too mainstream. Too trendy. Never bothered with the movies really OR the books. Not my style. Mildly entertaining to watch.

L Ron Hubbard is a moron.

H.P. Lovecraff. I only ever read a couple of his stories and I'd say he's stuff reminds me of Tolkien's Simalrillion . Heavy stuff, bogs you down, but still interesting.

Stephen King is creative. Good writer. Over rated, though. I heard his new one is a worthy read.

Chubby's words shall live on throughout eternity.

[End Master]

Alright in the efforts to "stir up" intellectual writer related conversation that some have been talking about...

Has anyone here ever read anything by Harry Turtledove? He’s really well known for writing alternate history. (Byzantine Empire never falling/American South winning the civil war etc) The series that first caught my attention of him was his World War series which involved an alien invasion during WW2 and the follow up after the invasion.

The entire storyline stretches out over the course of 8 books. I found it pretty interesting.

Another series I liked was the "Phule series" which was by Robert Asprin. I got the last two books sitting on the shelf which I unfortunately still haven't gotten around to reading yet.

[ChubbyTeletubby]

Alright in the efforts to "stir up" intellectual writer related conversation that some have been talking about...

Has anyone here ever read anything by Harry Turtledove? He’s really well known for writing alternate history. (Byzantine Empire never falling/American South winning the civil war etc) The series that first caught my attention of him was his World War series which involved an alien invasion during WW2 and the follow up after the invasion.

The entire storyline stretches out over the course of 8 books. I found it pretty interesting.

Another series I liked was the "Phule series" which was by Robert Asprin. I got the last two books sitting on the shelf which I unfortunately still haven't gotten around to reading yet.

As I recall I had a skinhead friend in high school who LOVED Turtledove's work. I never got around to reading it, though.

It does fascinate me sometimes. History is so fragile and untempered. The whole world in which we live is based on narrow victories and impossible defeats.

History has always fascinated me. So it's worth reading, eh? Hmmm. Might have to give it a shot!

[Usoki]

I think I've read something by Asprin...it was a book from the Myth Adventure series, and I was drawn to it because of artistic contributions from Phil Foglio. But it was one of the worst things I've read in a while- predicable plot, and the book was literally poorly made- numerous typos, misspellings, and outright typesetting errors. I'm thinking it was a kids series, so I haven't bothered to look at anything else he's done.

Foglio's amazing, though, even if Girl Genius is a comic book series, not an actual novel.

[End Master]

As I recall I had a skinhead friend in high school who LOVED Turtledove's work.

That’s hilarious he liked it, considering that Turtledove’s Jewish.

But given that Turtledove has written a few stories about the Third Reich not being defeated or a similar Confederate “Reich” rising after they lose a third civil war with the US (Which is basically that timeline’s WWI) I can sort of see a skinhead liking the stuff.

I've read some of Foglio's little comics when I used to buy and read Dragon magazine, he usually had some humorous stuff. Never read Girl Genius, but I've seen his artwork in other places. Haven't read Asprin's Myth series either.

[End Master]

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.a...20080310a.html

Discuss.

Or just make gay jokes if you prefer, either way it'll entertain us for a little while!