Tiassa, by Steve Brust

[lazarus]

is now out. Not sure how long, I'm kicking myself for missing this. Just downloaded it on my Kindle, will be buying the hardcover next weekend.

This is another in the Vlad/Dragaera books. If you haven't read the series, start with Jhereg. It's very, very good fantasy.

[lazarus]

1. finished it

hilarious book. It takes place in several different times along the timeline, from just before Vlad and Cawti's marriage to the current point (where the last book left off, or a bit after).

For real fun, a good chunk of it is written by Paarfi of Roundwood!

[travelingtypist]

2. Thanks buddy.

I could use a laugh after that last Jennifer Fallon series that I finished.

[lazarus]

3. you'll enjoy it

I can't remember, didn't you like the Khaavren romances? The last 2/3 of this book is written in that style. I love the wordplay.

[travelingtypist]

4. Don't remember.

I'm not as detail-oriented as you are on these things. I just know that Brust writes in a minimalist style that's easy to read -- he doesn't burden you with three pages of detail and description for the snippets of dialogue that make the story go. You know what I mean?

[lazarus]

5. the Khaavren romances

were historical pieces written a thousand years before Vlad's time, in a very florid style. Very much a Dumas pastiche. Lots of dialogue.

[travelingtypist]

6. That sounds like pure eye candy.

:evilgrin:

[lazarus]

7. So much fun

Starts with The Phoenix Guards. You can tell Brust is just having fun with language in those books, taking twenty words where three would do it.

[travelingtypist]

8. Are you familiar with PC Hodgell?

That's what annoys me about her. I love her protagonist, who is the ultimate anti-heroine, but with my speed-reading habit, I miss shit going from one section of dialogue to the next.

Have you ever written anything? I mean, a short story or a book proposal? I've had dreams of that for years, dude.

[lazarus]

9. Not heard of her

if she does good dialogue, I'll check her out.

I haven't written any fiction since my old college days in creative writing. I'm a fantastic editor, but I'm not creative enough to break away from my influences. I can't really come up with anything new, I guess because I've read so much already and I'm just not that creative.

[travelingtypist]

10. Have you tried, though?

To do that creative thing?

I think she does great dialogue. I love Jame, her heroine, who is described throughout as mad. She makes the people around her do crazy things.

[lazarus]

11. I've tried

actually, I've been trying since this conversation to come up with some germ of an idea.

That's what kills me. I think I could actually write something if I could come up with a new idea. :(

OTOH, when I was doing creative writing in college, I always felt very self-conscious, especially with dialogue. I never thought it was as good as other people thought. :D

[travelingtypist]

12. Oh, I understand totally.

I have problems with doing LOLcats, for crying out loud. It's like when I stop and look at it, nothing filters up. It's like coming out of a really good dream, you know, and the dream is great and seems like a fun story, but the second you think of anything other than the dream, it's gone. It's maddening. And even when I buckle down consciously and try, there's like a filter that these things go through, and the stuff that gets through seems silted and horrible.

I'd love to write a revenge on-the-run caper story, kind of mixing up Bourne, Hackers (the movie), that kind of stuff.

So any germs?

[lazarus]

14. nothing

Not even a hint.

Stephen R Donaldson says his series always come from the intersection of two ideas. I like that, but I can't even get one to pop up. I could do fantasy (high or low), space opera, or cyberpunk, as those are my favourite genres, but it feels like all the ideas have been taken already. :D

[travelingtypist]

15. You are such a cynic.

This is such a fun grok-ing experience, if you could/would play with my germ.

Have you experienced Millienium or The Girl Who series yet?

[lazarus]

16. haven't seen those

admittedly, my fiction reading has tapered off the last few years. I spent that year reading a biography of every president, then the autobiography of Twain, then volume one of Heinlein's biography. I've probably only read two or three fiction books in the last three years. (Except I do have the Barsoom books and HP Lovecraft on my Kindle that I periodically dip into.)

I am indeed a cynic. I don't know why, but there it is.

And playing with your germ sounds so dirty. :D

[travelingtypist]

18. You made a pun on my germ.

And you say you're not creative.

:evilgrin:

I made it a point to collect every book Heinlein wrote. I hated Cat/Walls, but Time Enough For Love and Number of the Beast are two of my all-time favorites, along with the Notebooks of Lazarus Long.

So Brust is your only nod to fiction? I love Lisbeth Salander, the protagonist of Millennium. She so antisocial, has such a hard time understanding people. I so relate.

I've probably got five or six books started right now, but I have a hard time concentrating long enough or making myself actually read the descriptive paragraphs that clog up the works between the dialogue.

[travelingtypist]

13. Besides, I want to know more about your prog-rock phase.

Knowing prog the way I do, it's not a phase you ever end willingly.

[lazarus]

17. lol

pure joke, as I'm not a fan of the prog rock.

Of course, nobody else on the board knows what we're talking about at this point, do they? :evilgrin: