The Sword and Laser discussion

I don't know how many of you access Goodreads by the app only, but there is a poll up for the June sword pick. I saw the tweet, otherwise I wouldn't have known. It doesn't show up for me through the app and it's at the very bottom of the group homepage on the Web.

Just FYI.

Hounded is a blast Im actually reading the sixth book in that series now. It gets really silly sometimes but its a lot of fun.

Blackbirds is on my shelf waiting

I was curious about Moth and Spark

My vote can be bought :)

I'm just commenting to get this moved back into the first 8 comments. We seem to have very low voter turnout this month.

I think it's because it wasn't "stickied". A lot of people probably didn't know it was there.

Adelaide wrote: "I'm just commenting to get this moved back into the first 8 comments. We seem to have very low voter turnout this month."
You say that like its a bad thing.

It could also be that none of them look that interesting. Most of them also have some very bad one star reviews.

Almost 20,000 members - 301 votes. Kinda pathetic people! Vote vote vote!

Thank you for re-posting about this. I missed it the first time.

I often seem to be in the minority on these polls, as is the case this time.

It hasn't been decided yet? I would like to get started.

I like the idea of discussing a Kevin Hearne book, but several of the others look interesting.

Michele wrote: "Almost 20,000 members - 301 votes. Kinda pathetic people! Vote vote vote!"

If they'd nominate Guards! Guards! for the poll, I'd put up 302 votes for it by myself ;)

Actually, I think it's a good slate for a book club; they all seem at least somewhat intriguing but, other than Promise of Blood, I wouldn't have added any of them to my TBR without prompting.

Humm. If we encourage the lower ranks to vote next thing you know they'll be demanding more gruel and fresh water. Well if you insist.

Sandi wrote: "It hasn't been decided yet? I would like to get started."

The poll closes on the 25th. It'll either be the Game of Thrones with guns or the Dresden with druid.

Phil wrote: "The poll closes on the 25th. It'll either be the Game of Thrones with guns or the Dresden with druid."

Unless people start gaming the vote (which has already happened a little), changing their vote because they see their original choice is not going to win.

Phil wrote: "Sandi wrote: "It hasn't been decided yet? I would like to get started."

The poll closes on the 25th. It'll either be the Game of Thrones with guns or the Dresden with druid."

Come on Druid Dresden.

Personally I enjoyed Promise of Blood, and didn't care for Iron Druid.

I didn't vote because I didn't have strong feelings about the entries. So....

Rob wrote: "Personally I enjoyed Promise of Blood, and didn't care for Iron Druid."

I'm surprised about this. Iron Druid is my recommendation whenever someone liked The Dresden Files. It's similar enough to be comfortable, and original enough that it is still surprising. For example, it has a lot of the same elements (great first person voice in Iron Druid and Dresden), but the story structure is very different.

Yeah, it doesn't hold a candle to Dresden for me. I gave it two books and liked the second book less.

Rob wrote: "Yeah, it doesn't hold a candle to Dresden for me. I gave it two books and liked the second book less."

Well, now I really want it to be Hounded, so we can hash all this out.

Lol. If it's hounded, I probably won't be discussing it. I don't spend much time discussing books I don't like.

Just because I don't like something doesn't make it bad, and it's not my mission in life to get people to agree with me.

Rob wrote: "Just because I don't like something doesn't make it bad, and it's not my mission in life to get people to agree with me. "

UH? Excuse me? What the hell is this? Is this a reasonable opinion on a chat forum on the Internet? What the hell? This doesn't belong here? What were you thinking? Must be drunk.... ;)

I know, I know. I'll just turn my internet card in at the door on my way out.

Did this have the write-in feature?

@Casey: Nope.

Rob wrote: "Lol. If it's hounded, I probably won't be discussing it. I don't spend much time discussing books I don't like.

Just because I don't like something doesn't make it bad, and it's not my mission in ..."

I was more hoping to refine recommendations. I'm surprised at the number of people that find Chicago to be integral to the Dresden Files, while I think it could be set anywhere with no real change.

Ive only been to Chicago twice. I don't know enough about it to feel like it matters, but people who know the city may find a lot that does.

Rob wrote: "Ive only been to Chicago twice. I don't know enough about it to feel like it matters, but people who know the city may find a lot that does."

It's interesting to me that people that like Dresden but don't like Iron Druid, like other stories set in big cities like New York or London. For people like that I recommend London Falling, or the Bobby Dollar series by Tad Williams.

My point being I don't want to change your opinion. I want to dissect your opinion, for Science!

I didn't like bobby dollar either.

I have reviews on all these books which state some of the reasons I didn't like them.

I just think I don't like Urban Fantasy apart from Dresden.

I tried to read Hounded and stopped after only one chapter. I think it was because it's been too much held up as "lf you like Dresden, try this!" and what I really wanted is more Dresden.

Not because it was bad, but it just wasn't Harry. Like drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth. Ack!

I will definitely try it again once I stop expecting it to be something it isn't. Because I like orange juice.

Rob wrote: "Ive only been to Chicago twice. I don't know enough about it to feel like it matters, but people who know the city may find a lot that does."

I live in Chicago! Been here all my life. I've only read the first book of the Dresden Files so I can't state much but from what I have read, I did have moments of "Hey, that's not there". For the most part though the city itself seems pretty generic. That might change in future novels though. This is a really long series. ^_^;

IIRC the origianl concept Butcher had was to base Dresden in St. Louis (or was it Kansas City), since that was where he was from. But a writing teacher convinced him to move it to Chicago, but that was a city Butcher didn't know as well, except for basically looking at a map. That is why Storm Front doesn't quite have the feel of Chicago. You can see he tries a bit harder in some of the other books I've read. It still doesn't always feel right, (and I only lived there for a few months), but it gets much better.

@John: Well that explains that! Thanks for the info! I was wondering why the city seemed so generic. I'll be interested to see how the city develops through future books. ^_^

I remember that Butcher said that it wasn't until Grave Peril that he took a trip to Chicago with a mind toward mapping out landmarks for the series. That's about when you start to Chicago play an important role in the story.

my point was that for some readers of urban fantasy, urban means a big city, not Tempe. Though I think Tempe is almost too big a place to live. Though it's nice to visit. Rula Bula does have good fish and chips.

Daran wrote: "My point being I don't want to change your opinion. I want to dissect your opinion, for Science! "

Okay you guys. This is going to far now. That is two reasonable opinions during one discussion. I'm beginning to think this group isn't on the Internet at all. Or maybe we are in a parallel universe....

Micah wrote: "Okay you guys. This is going to far now. That is two reasonable opinions during one discussion. I'm beginning to think this group isn't on the Internet at all. Or maybe we are in a parallel universe...."

This group is a bubble of decency in the vast filth of the internet. Keep it secret. Keep it safe.

I think I read somewhere that Butcher was convinced to not set the book in St. Louis because Laurell Hamilton was already using that territory for her Anita Blake books. A Dresden/Blake crossover would be pretty cool though :)

AndrewP wrote: "A Dresden/Blake crossover would be pretty cool though :)..."

Would that be before or after she started having sex with anything that walked on two legs and looked male?

Question: Without giving away any spoilers, of these choices, which ones have a reasonably satisfying ending? I'd rather not vote for something that requires another book (or books) in series to finish the story. Just to clarify...I don't mind if it is part of a series. I just would like to find out how important it is to continue the series or is it satisfying to stop at just the first book.

I wish goodreads had a separate rating system just for the 'standalonedness' of series books :)

Zach wrote: "Question: Without giving away any spoilers, of these choices, which ones have a reasonably satisfying ending? I'd rather not vote for something that requires another book (or books) in series t..."
I alredy finished Promise of Blood and felt like the story was complete.

Israel wrote: "Dresden could only be set in Chicago. Otherwise, you lose one of the coolest things ever: [spoilers removed]"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhYIY...

For what it's worth I really really enjoyed Promise of Blood..it'd be a fun pick. I voted for Iron Druid though because it's still on my to read list.

I picked Promise of Blood. The new Dresden is coming out in a few days and reading Hounded right after would probably cloud my opinion of it.

Kami wrote: "The new Dresden is coming out in a few days."
Thanks for the reminder. I need to double check that I'm at the top of the list for that one

Moving this back up again to get those last votes before the poll ends.

It looks like we're reading Promise of Blood.

Is the vote binding? Altered Carbon was #2 in the March poll...

Altered Carbon was #1 if you add in all the people that used the "write-in" feature.

Keidy wrote: "Altered Carbon was #1 if you add in all the people that used the "write-in" feature."

Correct. "Altered Carbon" had 129 Votes to "Long Earth" 92.

Tom and Veronica made an executive decision to combine the write-ins.