[ SECRET POST #4070 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4070 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



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02.
[Futurama]


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03.
[Cheers]


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04.
[Classic Hollywood cinema]


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05.
[Xena: Warrior Princess]


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06.
[Altered Carbon, Kristin Ortega]


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07.
[Game of Thrones/ASOIAF (OP's note: more for the books, but the art was too pretty not to use)]











Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 42 secrets from Secret Submission Post #583.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

01. https://i.imgur.com/LKm5BLg.png

[(Anonymous)]

Or maybe it's just a book that you don't like and other people do.

[(Anonymous)]

It makes me giggle that someone read that secret, got so butthurt that they decided stating the obvious would TOTALLY teach the OP a lesson.

[(Anonymous)]

From your description it sounds preachy af and therefore boring.

[(Anonymous)]

Tell me more about these rapid puppies. Are they superpowered? Over-caffeinated? Subway drivers?

[(Anonymous)]

Think Gamergaters but in science fiction fandom instead of video games.

[(Anonymous)]

More like a group of pathetic mostly straight, white dudes who are scared that SF/F is being taken over by minorities, liberals and feminazis - a catastrophic event that only they have the power to stop before the world ends. Right up there with Gamergaters and red pill types.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sad_Puppies

The Wikipedia entry doesn't really communicate just how hilariously pathetic they are, but it gives you a rundown of the timeline and major players.

[(Anonymous)]

For reference, this guy’s a Rabid Puppy: https://fandomsecrets.dreamwidth.org/923340.html?replyto=703134156

[silverr]

Puppies who gobble their kibble.

[(Anonymous)]

https://78.media.tumblr.com/d9bcddeeb39ad6768d3a1265efa84f08/tumblr_p4ojdsMZJf1rgpizvo6_400.gif

[(Anonymous)]

I enjoyed the hell out of this book. The only problem I had with it was its bad case of Ridiculous Fantasy Name Syndrome, which means I can only remember the protagonist's name (because it's short), and everyone else just gets descriptive labels in my head.

[(Anonymous)]

yeah, I wanted to love this book, but I listened to the audio version and trying to keep all the names straight was a nightmare.

[kaffy_r]

This is one of my go-to comfort books. I swear I've read it about five times, and will probably read it again in the next few weeks, if not days. Because I take what's probably an overabundance of delight (possibly Tolkienian in strength) in the naming of things and people, I was able to differentiate among all the characters, and I loved the way she set up the nomenclature. I know I'm in the minority, though.

[lily_everhart]

I loved this book a lot. Only read it once since I borrowed it from the library. Actually thinking I need to buy it since I want to reread it badly.

[(Anonymous)]

Same. I LOVED it and I had never heard of the sad puppies etc. before and didn't care. Probably read it after the whole thing was over, since it usually takes a bit till foreign books come out here (not American).

So basically this book is Maja (or was it Maya?) and his two bodyguard dudes, his abusive uncle dude, his advisor dude and his new children. Also the girl he'll marry I guess?

[litalex]

I really like the book as well, but I feel like it ended too abruptly, without a true resolution to some of the plotlines. Anyway, the author does have really complicated character names and lots and lots of characters. She did that with her first book series as well.

[(Anonymous)]

I haven't read this, but generally I dislike any fiction that's preachy. There's a difference between exploring an issue like racism, and just shoving an obvious moral down the reader's throat. I prefer stories to be authentic stories, not soapbox platforms for any political-social agenda.

That being said, I also am all for positive fantasy stories with a "good" protagonist. I'm pretty much over grimdark stuff that's so "gray" that there's not a single likable character, such as Game of Thrones. I don't think that's any more realistic than the typical good vs. evil backdrop, they are both two extremes of a spectrum. And in the end, while I can appreciate antiheroes and such, I prefer a hero I like and can root for.

[kaffy_r]

This is from someone who's an unabashed fan of the book, so take it with however large a rock of salt you want to, but it's definitely not preachy, IMO. You see things going on, you watch as various characters act in certain ways, but it's all relevant to the plot, or to the world-building, or both. And the main character, while being a truly good person, still has flaws, and those include some that come from the society in which he was raised.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I'm glad this book is comfort reading for many, but I found it bland and insipid, way too "everyone is nice and nothing hurts" for my tastes. The characters who interested me most, to be honest, were the protagonist's abusive guardian and his wife; for me at least, they had the most interesting and complicated relationship in the book, full of sharp edges and tragic implications. So of course they were quickly shuffled offstage to make room for a parade of blandly pleasant characters.

It's really just a matter of reading tastes, though.

[(Anonymous)]

"everyone is nice and nothing hurts"

...I'm not sure whether we read the same book, but I seem to remember a few small issues like 'protagonist is abducted from his bed by traitorous courtiers who are 100% planning to murder him' and 'protagonist has 0 friends and a scant handful of allies' and, yeah? Did you want Game of Thrones?

[(Anonymous)]

People still read fantasy novels?

[(Anonymous)]

Welp I've been trying to find some good recent fantasy that's not based on a crapsack world full of boring torture and rape and antiheroes, so thanks for the rec.

[(Anonymous)]

you have fundamentally failed to understand the appeal of the book

it's BECAUSE it's just about a good person, trudging on trying to be good, even though he's in way over his head, and things eventually getting gradually better, that people love it

not because it's ~SJ~ enough, but because optimism and determination and integrity and quiet progress are really, really rare in genre fiction and for many people, it felt hugely refreshing.

I get if that's not your thing, but...yeah. it won awards because it did something really different from its peers that people responded to, not because of the very simplified fantasy racism or the scraps of background gay. there's way better stuff out there now for *that*.

[cbrachyrhynchos]

Yeah, that's not what happened.

Wikipedia says Goblin Emperor won the Locus Fantasy and was nominated for a Hugo, Nebula, and WFA. So let's talk this out:

Locus Fantasy: It's a juried award from a magazine.

Hugo: This has been the award most vulnerable to gaming by anyone able to spend a small sum of cash for an absentee Worldcon ballot. It's possible that Goblin Emperor benefited from a Puppy backlash here.

Nebula: The Nebulas are nominated and voted on by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). To start with, the timing is off because Nebula nominations run Nov 15 - Feb 15 and Torgensen announced his Puppy slate Feb 1. There's an argument to be made that the SFWA is anti-puppy due to professional fuckery by Teddy Beale and Wright rage-quitting, but there were dozens of non-puppy works to choose from that year.

World Fantasy Award: This seems to be a more selective group than Worldcon, and hasn't been actively gamed yet.

While anti-puppy sentiment may have explained the Hugo nomination, it's dubious regarding the Nebula or WFA nominations, and probably irrelevant to the Locus.

Nor was it the "de facto" anti-puppy alternative given dozens of other books published the same year: Three-Body Problem, Ancillary Sword, Annihilation, The Girl in the Road, My Real Children, and Lagoon.

I suspect big factors in its nomination include:

1. not grimdark
2. not obviously part of a trilogy or more
3. a nice coming-of-age character.

I’m going to take the opportunity to ask

[(Anonymous)]

I’ve seen the term once before and couldn’t find any reference for what it means. So: what the fuck is a “Puppy”?