Wild monkey love or tender Sarah McLachlan love?

Xander ,'Him'


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

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."


Volans - Mar 11, 2021 10:18:16 am PST #26525 of 28175
move out and draw fire

I tweeted this question but asking here also: are there any stories in which magic exists sort of like technology does IRL and becomes obsolescent due to new and better magic, social changes, etc?


askye - Mar 11, 2021 10:57:30 am PST #26526 of 28175
Thrive to spite them

I will try the Chanur series. I think I tried to read something by Cherryh before and it was a little too alien because I just couldn't keep track of what was going on. I may have picked up a book in a series but not the first book.

I didn get An Empire called Memory today. It came in the same time as the first book in Daniel Abraham's fantasy series. I'm not as into fantasy as sci fi but since I liked The Expanse and he co wrote it I wanted to try it


dcp - Mar 11, 2021 11:53:16 am PST #26527 of 28175
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

I just couldn't keep track of what was going on

I remember having this trouble too. I finally realized that what I wanted was some sort of a little visual hint, like a a line of asterisks, between the paragraphs where scenes/locations/viewpoints changed.


DavidS - Mar 11, 2021 12:16:02 pm PST #26528 of 28175
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

I tweeted this question but asking here also: are there any stories in which magic exists sort of like technology does IRL and becomes obsolescent due to new and better magic, social changes, etc?

In the Borderlands shared story universe they engineered magic to work like technology so they could make motorcycles run etc. I don't know if they lasted long enough to have a Cartesian shift to Magic Based Information Technology.


Toddson - Mar 11, 2021 12:31:38 pm PST #26529 of 28175
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

Wen Spencer's Tinker books have something kind of like that, in that as Tinker learns more about magic, the things she makes/invents get more sophisticated.

And in Tanya Huff's The Silvering, the main character didn't do well at the magic university (magic being understood, teachable and highly desirable) but figures out how to use her supposedly minor abilities to achieve remarkable effects (she never does get the hang of healing, though).


-t - Mar 11, 2021 12:31:39 pm PST #26530 of 28175
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

I feel like that kind of happens in Rivers of London but maybe only for Peter, or for the Folly - definitely doesn't apply to the non-humans although social change is reflected in their magic so maybe. Hm.

I feel like most of the magic systems I can think of are more in the "we used to have more/better magic" vein rather than things are improving.

My personal preference is for systems where no one really understands how magic works and thhere may be big improvements as somebody figures something out but I am not htinking of good examples right now. Will ponder some more.


-t - Mar 11, 2021 12:32:38 pm PST #26531 of 28175
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

There's Ponder Stibbons research in the Discworld, of course.


Dana - Mar 11, 2021 1:12:01 pm PST #26532 of 28175
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

I tweeted this question but asking here also: are there any stories in which magic exists sort of like technology does IRL and becomes obsolescent due to new and better magic, social changes, etc?

Barbara Hambly has a duology where men's magic stops working and women start having the ability, which seriously begins to shake up the society.


Toddson - Mar 11, 2021 1:21:10 pm PST #26533 of 28175
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

Dana, which one is that? I thought I'd read about all of hers.


Dana - Mar 11, 2021 1:54:28 pm PST #26534 of 28175
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

Sisters of the Raven/Circle of the Moon.