The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Only feet? My male Maine Coon likes to kerplunk his gigantic noggin on the keyboard.

My big fat cat Penny does that. She'll lay her head on the keyboard as I'm typing.

[ZodWallop]

Not really a rant, but I've started a mystery novel written in 1907 (The Man in Lower 10 by Mary Roberts Rinehart) and now understand why StanadardEbooks does things like change 'to-day' to 'today'. Every time I read the word to-day in the text I stop and think 'how quaint'. So a small thing that does interrupt the reading experience.

No, I'm not looking to have Shakespeare updated nor do I have issue with old-timey verbiage. But 'to-day'/'today'... Go ahead.

[ZodWallop]

Related rant: The Man in Lower 10 by Mary Roberts Rinehart is listed as the first in a two book series: The Miss Cornelia Van Gorder Mysteries. But that character doesn't appear in the book at all.

Related: A book I really enjoy, Kiln People by David Brin is listed as the first in a series called The Kiln Books. But there is no sequel and so far as I know there never was one intended. The book was not marketed as part of a series and I believe the series label is pretty recent.

Who watches this stuff? The publisher? Amazon?

[BookCat]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

My big fat cat Penny does that. She'll lay her head on the keyboard as I'm typing.

Victoria usually sits on my lap when I'm reading and when I'm talking on the phone. My lap and a cardboard box are her favourite places.

I hate disturbing her to go into the kitchen for more hot chocolate.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by BookCat

Victoria usually sits on my lap when I'm reading and when I'm talking on the phone. My lap and a cardboard box are her favourite places.

I hate disturbing her to go into the kitchen for more hot chocolate.

Penny's favorite place is whereever the other cats are not. Any time another cat wanders into her personal space she will reach out and pop them, which is really funny when the other cat doesn't realize she's there. Suddenly the hand of doom appears from nowhere and lets you have it!

She's kind of a jerk, but hey, nobody messes with Penny.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Related rant: The Man in Lower 10 by Mary Roberts Rinehart is listed as the first in a two book series: The Miss Cornelia Van Gorder Mysteries. But that character doesn't appear in the book at all.

Related: A book I really enjoy, Kiln People by David Brin is listed as the first in a series called The Kiln Books. But there is no sequel and so far as I know there never was one intended. The book was not marketed as part of a series and I believe the series label is pretty recent.

Who watches this stuff? The publisher? Amazon?

The publisher is responsible in most if not all cases, I believe.

However, I have purchased some books that are identified as part of a series on the web site but don't appear as such in my Library (even when I've purchased more than one of them), e.g.:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...oreType=ebooks

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Related rant: The Man in Lower 10 by Mary Roberts Rinehart is listed as the first in a two book series: The Miss Cornelia Van Gorder Mysteries. But that character doesn't appear in the book at all.

Related: A book I really enjoy, Kiln People by David Brin is listed as the first in a series called The Kiln Books. But there is no sequel and so far as I know there never was one intended. The book was not marketed as part of a series and I believe the series label is pretty recent.

Who watches this stuff? The publisher? Amazon?

The publisher, I'd expect. I've seen them do weird things like giving an International Standard Book number to a candle, and that results in Goodreads picking them up.

Also, this review on the link amused me enough to repost here

I found this book difficult to hold, regardless of sitting position. I prefer the format of traditional paper books or digital books, rather than this cylindrical shape that the authors have chosen, which is neither. It does not fit well on a bookshelf, nor can I add it to my Calibre library.

It's quite clear that this is a spinoff and doesn't hold a candle to the original. You'll certainly not see me waxing poetic about this. The lack of content meant that I was done reading it, wick as a flash. Despite that, it didn't make much scents. I thought about giving it another go, but my interest has tapered.

Bad shape and poor story, why then was this created? I can't help but think that the author has some ulterior votives.

[ownedbycats]

Reading a sci-fi novel and... no!!! that's not how spaceships work!!!!! I have tolerance for 'soft' sci-fi, but there also was a lot of inconsistencies which made my willing suspension of disbelief fall apart.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Reading a sci-fi novel and... no!!! that's not how spaceships work!!!!! I have tolerance for 'soft' sci-fi, but there also was a lot of inconsistencies which made my willing suspension of disbelief fall apart.

What book is that?

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

What book is that?

Here. Freebie, weirdly short-- ended in a bit of a cliffhanger. I suspect to induce the reader to buy the rest of the series.

This is the part that made me frustrated:

The captain allowed the ship to ride the burn to its peak and just at the moment that the momentum started to ebb, he pulled on the wheel again and swerved violently downward.

If the ship had been in atmosphere, I might buy it. But in vacuum? That's not how momentum works!!!

[andyh2000]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

[url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40203261]...
If the ship had been in atmosphere, I might buy it. But in vacuum? That's not how momentum works!!!

One of the many reasons I liked Babylon 5. They had the little one man 'fighter' ships (can't remember what they were called) behaving exactly as they should do in space. Burn in one direction, cut the engines, spin on your axis and fly sideways or backwards if you like. Unlike certain epics about Wars among the Stars I could mention.

Andrew

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by andyh2000

One of the many reasons I liked Babylon 5. They had the little one man 'fighter' ships (can't remember what they were called)

Starfuries. Great series.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

If the ship had been in atmosphere, I might buy it. But in vacuum? That's not how momentum works!!!

See also Star Trek battles that are less 3D than submarines or aircraft fighting.
Starwars all based on atmosphere fighters.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

Starfuries. Great series.

I told my late sister that B5 was one of the all-time great TV series, really. I mean, if you think of "firsts," it was one of the first, if not the first, to have a multi-year, planned story arc. (Where 4-5 years down the road, soemthing would occur and you'd say "OMG, so that's what that meant in Season 1!)

The "good guys" didn't all look human and the "bad guys" didn't all look alien--the opposite, oftentimes, in fact.

Thanks for reminding me--I keep meaning to re-watch that. And yes--the "fighters" acted as they ought, in space, rather than acting like F16s.

Hitch

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Quoth

See also Star Trek battles that are less 3D than submarines or aircraft fighting.
Starwars all based on atmosphere fighters.

Yup! Why Wings on those fighters? Weapons could be mounted on pylons if they needed to be away from the fuselage.
Banking for turns?
The one that set my teeth on edge was Alien with a space craft with dripping water, chains dangling in a vessel that could go zero gravity in an emergency. (Even a sea going navy has no gear adrift rules)

Hollyweird has so much poor science-practicality that a lot of Authors seem to treat as gospel.
J W Campbell had a rule: If you are going to break known science, the explain why (the known does not apply).