Corrosive Rabbit's page

I'd be up for IRC. Call it dmtools or something similar?

I'm in!

I'm an engineer? Does that mean I get to blow stuff up, or do I spend all my time at the base building shiny toys for Cpl. Pygon?

Chat room withdrawal makes Rabbit something something ...

Withdrawal pangs ... all-consuming!

Don't we blame everything on cheapy?

There's a simple joy in consistency.

I'm going to blame this one on cheapy.

Oladon broke it again.

I started a re-reading of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books in January and have been interspersing his books with other authors. After the sad news of his passing I have finished up the forgettable military thriller I had been reading and am now reading Guards, Guards. It's the first book with the Night Watch characters, and having read all of them, it's pretty amazing to go back and realize just how much some of the characters developed over the series, while others (Sgt. Colon and Cpl. Nobby) remain familiar and somehow comforting constants of the Disc.

Hi James,

Do you play many boardgames, and if so, what are some of your favourites?

Did Olabot break the chat again?

Enters thread without bothering to read previous posts and writes lengthy off-topic screed.

Corrosive Rabbit wrote:

Hello James,

What's your favourite type of fictional apocalypse or post-apocalyptic world?

I actually quite enjoy all of them. I love seeing how different types of apocalypses generate different types of post-apocalyptic worlds.

What are some of your favourite post-apocalyptic works of fiction?

Oladon broke the chat room again, and all because we were chatting about the work she should be doing ...

Hello James,

What's your favourite type of fictional apocalypse or post-apocalyptic world?

I'm about 1/5 of the way through Simon Morden's Arcanum, and would definitely recommend it based on what I've read so far. I greatly enjoyed Arcanum's cyberpunk books, and Arcanum is similarly intriguing. It's a bit of a slow build at first, but hanging in through the first 50 pages is worth it.

Are you enjoying Wasteland 2 so far? Are you still playing your original characters, or have you restarted a couple of times once you got a feel for the game (I did.)?

Wait, we're not blaming Oladon? When did that happen?

Wasteland 2 was just released. Are you going to have a chance to pick it up and try it out anytime soon?

I apologize for not really having a question beyond, "Have you seen this yet?", but I thought you might find this interesting.

Dreadnoughtus dinosaur may be largest land animal ever

I finished Three by Jack Posey today. It was enjoyable, although my one gripe would be that the author introduced a lot of characters, and some of them seemed underdeveloped. Next up will likely be Brian Ruckley's The Edinburgh Dead, although I haven't committed to anything yet.

Just started Anathem. I found a hardback copy in a used book store today (as well as a copy of Saturn's Children with the British cover ^_^) and decided to reread it because for the life of me I cannot remember anything but slivers of its story.

Can anyone recommend any fantasy where the protagonist isn't a very special snowflake? I've been having trouble finding stuff that doesn't engage in Great Man fiction.

You might like The Lies of Locke Lamora. Although it seems to be moving more towards the protagonist having a secret heritage in later books, earlier books are very much about the protagonist surviving by virtue of his wits and charisma. It's made very clear that he is, at best, a passable swordsman, and entirely lacking in extraordinary powers or virtues.

So it's been a while since I've posted (end of May or so?) The highlights of my reading since then have included:

Jim Butcher's Skin Game
Ben H. Winters' The Last Policeman and Countdown City
Myke Cole's Fortress Frontier and Breach Zone
Simon Morden's Equations of Life, Theories of Flight, Degrees of Freedom, and The Curve of the Earth
Stephanie Saulter's Gemsigns
Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice

I'm currently reading Jay Posey's Three. So far it's a fun post apocalyptic / sci-fi story, but I'm only a few pages in, so too early to tell as to overall quality.

I also blame Oladon.

Oladon broke the chat again!

Hello James,

What is the kindest thing that someone has done for you in your life so far?

I finished Countdown City by Ben Winters this morning, and have now started Spycatcher by Matthew Dunn, a retired member of the MI6 clandestine service. It's pretty good so far, but I'm only about 60 pages in.

I finished Deaver's XO, The Kill Room, and Skin Collector over the last week or so. Now I'm digging into Countdown City by Ben H. Winters.

I finished The Last Policeman today and would definitely recommend it. It's not a feel-good book, but the concept (murder mystery set in a contemporary Earth in which a planet-killer asteroid is six months out) is excellent, and is carried out well throughout the book.

I started Deaver's XO today, as I managed to snag his most recent two books from the library as well, and my obsessive need to read books in order requires that I read XO first. This may or may not work out, as I enjoy Deaver's stuff, but reading them in quick succession can make them feel a bit repetitive.

I'm reading The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters. It's a murder mystery / cop serial set against the backdrop of a present-day Earth that is six months away from being struck by a planet-killer asteroid. I'm about a third of the way through it, and am really enjoying it so far. I'll likely pick up the sequel from the library later today.

Corrosive Rabbit wrote:

I finished Chimera by David Wellington. It's wasn't horrible, but I wouldn't recommend it, given the number of better books out there in a similar vein (Preston and Child's stuff or Jonathan Maberry's Ledger books, as an example). I picked up my copy of Butcher's Skin Game yesterday, and probably won't pick up anything else until I finish it. I also started Warren Fahy's Pandemonium yesterday before getting Skin Game. It's the sequel to Fragment which was a lot of fun, but Pandemonim will probably sit abandoned until I finish Skin Game

I read the Fahy duology, and it (they?) were pretty good.

Is Chimera about special forces fighting a ** spoiler omitted **? I think I read that, too, and it was very Syfy channelly.

Nope, this Chimera was about:

I finished Skin Game this morning and am back into Pandemonium. I'm enjoying it so far, but the book does do one thing that I find annoying, which is to say that the early chapters are trying to be mysterious about a setup that is clearly summarized in the back-of-the-book-blurb. I'm guessing that the back of the book text is written by someone with the publisher as opposed to the author, but it's always jarring when that happens.

I finished Chimera by David Wellington. It's wasn't horrible, but I wouldn't recommend it, given the number of better books out there in a similar vein (Preston and Child's stuff or Jonathan Maberry's Ledger books, as an example). I picked up my copy of Butcher's Skin Game yesterday, and probably won't pick up anything else until I finish it. I also started Warren Fahy's Pandemonium yesterday before getting Skin Game. It's the sequel to Fragment which was a lot of fun, but Pandemonim will probably sit abandoned until I finish Skin Game

I started Chimera by David Wellington yesterday. I'm a little over halfway through it, but it's not really grabbing me. I'm going to try to finish it tonight, as otherwise I'll get my copy of Skin Game tomorrow and will end up putting Chimera aside and likely not picking it up again.

I'm reading Lee Child's latest Jack Reacher book - Never Go Back. I'll probably finish it today, start something else, and then abandon it on Tuesday when I get my copy of Skin Game

Has anybody read 'Ancillary Justice'? With it winning the Clarke and Nebula awards, it sounds promising.

It's on my to-read shelf, along with Mira Grant's Parasite (another Hugo nominee). I've only heard good things, and a lot of those have been from people who aren't necessarily huge fans of the SF genre.

I broke down and bought The Lies of Locke Lamora yesterday based on several enthusiastic recommendations. We'll see how it goes. Little Locke has just grown up, so I'm not all that far into the book.

I hope you enjoy it -- it's one of my favourite recent reads.

Currently I'm reading Code Zero by Jonathan Maberry and Amongst Thieves by Douglas Hulick.

Depends on how the earth is destroyed.

If the ideas of Global Warming/Cooling/Whatever environmental disaster is your favorite are correct, then we could expect the Oceans may become PHd Intolerant for a majority of the species in it, the earth itself will have drastic changes...and it could be some of the smaller and more resistant creatures that survive. Cockroaches probably have just as many chances as some sort of ant...though some snakes seem pretty resilient as well.

If we nuke the planet to kingdom come and back...I don't think anything will be inheriting the earth...everything will die eventually from the radiation...well...there is a small chance. The Ocean seems to clear radiation faster than most things, so we may see some of the sea creatures come into the dominant species eventually. For a while, some liked Octopus's as a favored creature.

If we wipe ourselves out from some sort of biological weapons, if it only affects humans, who knows, maybe some other form of ape will take our place.

I don't know if it would be the octopodes, but I'd definitely cheer for them. They're such awesome animals.

Up until recently, I would have answered "cockroaches", which I think would be a pretty common answer. Since then, I've read that some scientists believe that cockroaches actually wouldn't survive outside of equatorial/tropical regions, once humans disappeared and heated buildings went away with them.

I think rats are a pretty solid bet, but in terms of mass colonization of the planet, I think I'm going to go with ants.

I finished Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood this morning, and have started R. S Belcher's The Six-Gun Tarot. It's a western that includes "pirates, Armageddon, fallen angels, talking coyotes and two entirely ancient cults", according to the dust jacket. So far, it's looking pretty good.

Only sixteen days left until the release of Skin Game. I've been looking forward to this one for a long time, but I have a weird feeling that there's going to be a major death or tragedy in this one. I've got no evidence to back it up, but it's a strange feeling that has been growing on me all through the re-reading of the series I did lately.

I recently finished a re-read of the Dresden Files series in preparation for the release of Skin Game later this month. I'm now almost finished Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood. It's been on my shelves for a while, but I was reminded of it by reading chatter about the recent release of the sequel. Promise of Blood is the author's first published work and is really enjoyable. I'd definitely recommend it, especially to anyone who enjoys Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastards series, as it has a similar feel to me in some ways.

RFP_Susan wrote:

Hey guys! I feel I speak for all of team Removed From Play when I say that, when we win the Gauntet, we will totally let you borrow it to punch Jason in the face. :)

Yay! No matter whom wins or loses the children come out on top. And Jason gets punched in the face.

I guess that updates the slogan to RIVALS HELPING US TO HELP THE CHILDREN AND PUNCH JASON IN THE FACE

Woo! And Cpl. Treppa begins her climb up the ranks again...

I'm enlisting at the same time as Treppa? I'm so dead ...

This thread has inspired me to start an XCOM playthrough. That said, I will be playing on Easy, so I probably won't have as many fatalities to report. In honor of the inspiration, my first non-rookie has been named Squaddie Pirate Rob.

I can only hope that the next iteration of Corrosive Rabbit will avenge his progenitor's death.

When you say "That Place", does Zith know what that means?

I noticed that Kassil is leaning towards playing the host of a survival-exploration show. I kind of like the idea of all of us being associated with the show in some way as cast, crew, or "other." It would give us a nice strong group mechanic to start with, but still allow for a variety of character types and concepts. This way too, we can have some agitation or conflict between characters while still providing an overarching reason for everyone to stick around.

As far as conspiracy/secret-keeping -- do you mean secrets unique to individual characters, or in the game world at large?

I have some nebulous thoughts on character concepts, but I need to re-read some of the source material before I land on any options.

I too am present.

I'm working on the magic items for Mythic Adventures, making sure they're all clear and function how they're supposed to.

Also, does anyone else find it eerie in the warehouse when it's dark and empty?

Why do you assume that it's empty?

*cue faint ominous music*

Hi James,

I know you've discussed how you'd like to write a novel some day, but I was wondering, if you were to research and write a work of non-fiction, what kind of topics would you choose?