Ooh, I like Speech Sounds, but my two favorite Butler stories are “Bloodchild” and Morning, Evening and the Night (title’s not quite right, but it’s in the Bloodchild collection. )

Just read that—such an incredibly strange book. The Prisoner remake’s not the only rip-off/homage. I came to the book after watching the anime “Haibene Renmai” which uses a Glie-like setting for what appears to be some sort of afterlife/protected realm for reincarnating young people. It’s actually a really beautifully…

Sigh. I’ve been one quarter through that book for six months now . . . people online seem to like it, my friends in real life can’t get through it . . .

I was thinking Octavia Butler—though I’d go with Kindred for a non SF reader. It’s a stand-alone and one of the best novels I’ve ever read about slavery. She really makes you think about what you’d do as a slave—and the compromises you’d make in an impossible situation.

I just read Perdido Street Station—it was terrific, but getting into it took commitment and Mieville has a noticeably weird imagination. I’m not sure he should be an entree into any genre—more of something for a jaded palate—you think you’ve read everything? Try this.

Yes to Life After Life—one of the best books I’ve read this year. Really weird, but wears its weirdness lightly—and what can be more speculative than a life that starts over and over?

No. As someone who reads SF, but is more of a general reader than an SF reader, Heinlein’s limitations don’t make him a good crossover candidate—the attitude about women is really hard to take. Like Asimov, he’s sort of the best and worst of SF combined.

I was thinking a huge problem when you have serious poverty is corrumption. The more localized food production is, the less room for systemic corruption. Famines are so often the result of food not getting to the people who are starving.

How on earth has there not been a cheesy B movie of this?

Charlie,

Compared to the books—yes, it was slap-dash. I’m talking overall plot maneuverings, not the scene specifics. I get why the producers did it, but not all swaps work.

I realize you didn’t say it, but that is actually the inference to be drawn from what you did say.

Yeah, I actually trust Martin more than the GOT guys. He’s said he won’t ever write a rape scene from the POV of the victim—I feel with Martin that his violent scenes are there to serve as a counter to the usual fantasy tropes where heroes are heroes and everyone important recovers from their injuries. With the show,…

It’s not. We don’t see Theon being tortured in the books. We just see him afterwards and learn of the torture’s effects.

Sorry, Sansa needed to be raped so as to appreciate Tyrion? Hello?

Bravo! Sometimes a good rant is really needed.

Ugh. I really don’t need to see this anymore than I needed to see Theon getting tortured.

Speaking for myself, I found Theon’s torture hard to take. I think Martin handles the levels of violence much better in the books—Theon’s torture is never seen, just the emotional/physical efficts. Danaerys is never raped—she gives willing consent. Jaime doesn’t rape Cersei. We don’t see Joffrey raping a prostitute.

He killed two children of his old lover to provide bodies for Bran and Rickon. At least in the books, he’s done that. So, yeah, Theon’s got something for which to atone.

It’s an entirely different character—specifically a non POV character—we see the wedding night only from Theon’s POV and the sense is that Theon, a fellow victim of Ramsey, starts to feel empathy that outweighs his deep fear of Ramsey.