WTF! Never mind; I'm getting the idea this is more polemic with adventure-as-bait than the other way around. Thank you for the warning, as I'll be sure to steer well clear of this author forever.
Appropriate icon is appropriate, because canon trisexual desert alien steampunk is still, AFAIK, fiction.
...but the thing is -- the reason I felt the need to rant about it -- is that except for the occasional extremely obtrusive descents into polemic, it is SERIOUSLY AWESOME. The triplex worldbuilding, the characters, the good mystery, the battle on the bridge, the massive "barfight" in the house of assignation, the three-way UST... if it had just been rant dressed up as adventure, I'd have turned the book back in to the library and been done with it.
But everything that wasn't was aimed directly at my id, which has a bizarrely high tolerance for all of these elements, particularly in certain AUs.
(I don't seem to remember any overt politicizing in Smith's Lando Calrissian trilogy, possibly as a result of the licensing requirements.)
And considering what Their Majesties' Bucketeers is rather intentionally a pastiche of, appropriate icon remains most certainly appropriate; if said missiles are capable of pinpoint accuracy, theoretically I could enjoy my awesome SF AU novel minus about twenty pages, and could possibly write in some
( ... )
Said missiles took out MiG-17s at a range of 65 miles IRL. That good enough for you?
(There's talk of them being sufficiently accurate that some surface-surface applications didn't even need a warhead - the speed and weight of the missile alone would drive it straight through the deck of a Russian fast missile boat and out through the bottom of the hull for an instant kinetic kill, which would actually be far more destructive than the proximity fuze letting go at the masthead or close to the deck. There was also a nuclear option in the approximate order of a kiloton, IRL for dealing with enemy bomber formations or large Russian cruisers, which in internet land would be good for when the fic achieves Burn It With Fire levels of badness.)
I'm happening upon your rant at a singularly apropos point; about half an hour ago, I got to overhear a conversation involving a young man squeeing at length, and length, and interminable length about Atlas Shrugged; I suspect that libertarian writers with a penchant for Author Filibustering are likely to have picked up the habit from Ayn Rand.
(Personally, I long since arrived at the conclusion that Dr. Seuss told much the same story some years before, and far more succinctly, in Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose.)
//(Personally, I long since arrived at the conclusion that Dr. Seuss told much the same story some years before, and far more succinctly, in Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose.)//
o.O
Is anyone here on metaquotes? That was beautiful.
(And made me smile. And will probably stay in my memory forever after. Thank you.)
Here via metaquotes and want name of book, please... *looks hopeful*
I learned how to skip the ooky parts from my big sister, who would just lean over my shoulder, turn a few pages, and say "you don't need that part, it's just kissin'."
Smith, L. Neil / Their majesties' bucketeers. Del Rey (Ballantine), New York, New York. 1981. ISBN: 0-345-29244-8.
Despite the rantworthy rants, this is a book of great awesomeness, and should be more widely read. And ficced. And REPRINTED SO I DON'T HAVE TO DEPEND ON INTERLIBRARY LOAN. Sheesh. ^_^
I'm sure they'll be much easier to skip on the reread, when I don't need to make sure that they don't contain clues as to who killed Srafen, or more hints as to the female role in society, or character development that I don't remember from the first time.
Comments 20
WTF! Never mind; I'm getting the idea this is more polemic with adventure-as-bait than the other way around. Thank you for the warning, as I'll be sure to steer well clear of this author forever.
Appropriate icon is appropriate, because canon trisexual desert alien steampunk is still, AFAIK, fiction.
Reply
Reply
But everything that wasn't was aimed directly at my id, which has a bizarrely high tolerance for all of these elements, particularly in certain AUs.
(I don't seem to remember any overt politicizing in Smith's Lando Calrissian trilogy, possibly as a result of the licensing requirements.)
And considering what Their Majesties' Bucketeers is rather intentionally a pastiche of, appropriate icon remains most certainly appropriate; if said missiles are capable of pinpoint accuracy, theoretically I could enjoy my awesome SF AU novel minus about twenty pages, and could possibly write in some ( ... )
Reply
(There's talk of them being sufficiently accurate that some surface-surface applications didn't even need a warhead - the speed and weight of the missile alone would drive it straight through the deck of a Russian fast missile boat and out through the bottom of the hull for an instant kinetic kill, which would actually be far more destructive than the proximity fuze letting go at the masthead or close to the deck. There was also a nuclear option in the approximate order of a kiloton, IRL for dealing with enemy bomber formations or large Russian cruisers, which in internet land would be good for when the fic achieves Burn It With Fire levels of badness.)
Reply
(Personally, I long since arrived at the conclusion that Dr. Seuss told much the same story some years before, and far more succinctly, in Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose.)
Reply
o.O
Is anyone here on metaquotes? That was beautiful.
(And made me smile. And will probably stay in my memory forever after. Thank you.)
Reply
(And I find it ridiculously flattering when my bon mots actually succeed; thank you.)
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
I learned how to skip the ooky parts from my big sister, who would just lean over my shoulder, turn a few pages, and say "you don't need that part, it's just kissin'."
Reply
Despite the rantworthy rants, this is a book of great awesomeness, and should be more widely read. And ficced. And REPRINTED SO I DON'T HAVE TO DEPEND ON INTERLIBRARY LOAN. Sheesh. ^_^
I'm sure they'll be much easier to skip on the reread, when I don't need to make sure that they don't contain clues as to who killed Srafen, or more hints as to the female role in society, or character development that I don't remember from the first time.
Reply
Leave a comment