Buffistas

Can't even shout, Can't even cry. The Gentlemen are coming by. Looking in windows, knocking on doors. They need to take seven, and they might take yours. Can't call to mom, can't say a word. You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard.

Dream Girl ,'Bring On The Night'

Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.

Discussion Threads

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."

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Volans - Nov 11, 2012 7:42:32 am PST #20082 of 28372

move out and draw fire

I'm reading Friday by Heinlein. I last read it when it came out, when I was 13. I remember really liking it; now it's on the margins of getting the "thrown across the room" tag.

What's kind of interesting, when I force myself to look past the writing style, word choice, gender issues, etc., is how many of what I think of as the basic SF tropes are in this one book.

Multinational corporations as more powerful nations? check. A restructured United States? Check. Post-oil/post environmental crises? Check. Overpopulation? Check. Designer organisms? Check. Professional sex training? Check.

The Internet exists in this story, in a pretty reasonable facsimile of what it was pre-WWW. Maybe that's why the Internet was so non-surprising to me. He even gets at Big Data analysis and online education options.

I'm still waiting for professional sex coaches though.

Typo Boy - Nov 11, 2012 7:48:58 am PST #20083 of 28372

Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.

In fairness to Heinlein wasn't he suffering mini-strokes at the time he wrote this?

Connie Neil - Nov 11, 2012 7:50:00 am PST #20084 of 28372

brillig

I was starting something about religion, then realized I was remembering "Job", not "Friday."

Tom Scola - Nov 11, 2012 7:55:45 am PST #20085 of 28372

Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.

Arthur C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise (1979), not only talks about the Internet, he describes a crowd-sourced Wikipedia, complete with its accuracy issues.

Volans - Nov 11, 2012 8:12:42 am PST #20086 of 28372

move out and draw fire

Connie, religion's in here too, just not as central. The interesting-to-me part is that he seems happy and comfortable with Scientologists, but really viciously down on Christians.

wasn't he suffering mini-strokes at the time he wrote this?

this would explain so much about the plot, structure, and pacing.

Amy - Nov 11, 2012 12:10:05 pm PST #20087 of 28372

Because books.

Anyone looking for free nonfiction to read should check this out. Long pieces by Susan Orlean and Tom Wolfe.

Kat - Nov 12, 2012 2:59:48 pm PST #20088 of 28372

"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo

Chris Ware's Building Stories arrived in the mail on Saturday. So amazing. Anyone else looked at it?

hippocampus - Nov 13, 2012 4:45:36 am PST #20089 of 28372

not your mom's socks.

Interview with Steven Brust - [link] (xpost with gww)

Polter-Cow - Nov 13, 2012 5:33:32 am PST #20090 of 28372

What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

An Abundance of Katherines and Will Grayson, Will Grayson, both by John Green. Amazing.

I don't know whether you saw that I loved The Fault in Our Stars and liked Looking for Alaska. I just started An Abundance of Katherines, and I love the narrative voice. I have no idea what to expect, but I think I'll like it more than Looking for Alaska.

DavidS - Nov 13, 2012 6:30:52 am PST #20091 of 28372

"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Has anybody read YA author C.J. Omololu?

She's the parent of one of the kids on Emmett's tournament team, and they hosted our season ending party.

Nice quote for a segue: "I almost quit writing my first book when John Green's Looking for Alaska came out because the writing was so good, I figured why bother."

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