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Yet another novel I will no longer write

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Re: Yet another novel I will no longer write

#101

Post by chippy »

rapind wrote: post #53

What always bugged me about zombie movies is that no one seems to figure out a way to take advantage of it beyond total anarchy. I would expect enterprising individuals to see zombies as a potential tool. Like maybe figure out what makes them tick (they never seem to possess intelligent thought) and leverage them for a labour force or army. What are they fuelled by? Can they be taught to perform complex tasks through…

the early zombie movies covered this too. It was a major plot point of the research of living with the virus (and training them) via intelligence vs eliminating it via brute strength

Re: Yet another novel I will no longer write

#102

Post by empath75 »

pjc50 wrote: post #70
d_burfoot wrote: post #31

[flagged]

You're accusing a Jewish writer of Holocaust denial, which should be a bannable offence.

And also saying that it was Jewish elites that were killed. I’m sorry, no definition of ‘elite’ includes six million people. Grotesque and offensive on every level.

Re: Yet another novel I will no longer write

#104

Post by sangnoir »

StavrosK wrote: post #34
fhars wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you missed a joke at the expense of the toothsome nightmare of après ski culture.

Maybe, but I don't think I did, mainly because "expatriate" isn't spelled with a hyphen.

I thought that was pretty obviously tongue-in-cheek: ex-zombie...ex-skier...ex-patriate. And this was disclaimed as a very rough first draft - I'm guessing the author (in subsequent drafts),an editor or a test-reader would have caught it & have it revised (it's pretty low-effort wordplay - but that's more than OK for a first draft as disclaimed, and the author could even keep it if they feel strongly about it)

Re: Yet another novel I will no longer write

#105

Post by StavrosK »

sangnoir wrote: post #104
StavrosK wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, but I don't think I did, mainly because "expatriate" isn't spelled with a hyphen.

I thought that was pretty obviously tongue-in-cheek: ex-zombie...ex-skier...ex-patriate . And this was disclaimed as a very rough first draft - I'm guessing the author (in subsequent drafts),an editor or a test-reader would have caught it & have it revised (it's pretty low-effort wordplay - but that's more than OK for a first draft as disclaimed, and the author could even keep it if they feel strongly about it)

Hmm, yes, it could be. I've seen it written like that too often for it to be a good joke, but who knows what the intention was.

Re: Yet another novel I will no longer write

#106

Post by chippy »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #33
the8472 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the media zombie scenarios create very hostile environments and rapid breakdown of society. They're essentially engineered to create this situation. The zombies spread the disease actively. Near 100% conversion rate (immunities or asymptomatic cases are extremely rare). Incubating individuals will turn on those around them. And of course there often is a lack of genre awareness, the very concept of a zombie a…

Most of the infected aren't going out of their way and infecting people. A small number of the infected are acting with, at least, reckless disregard for the possibility of infecting others.

There has been one study on the influenza virus that says that people who are asymptomatic are more social than normal.

The simple hypotheses is that the virus wants the host to spread as much as possible.

Re: Yet another novel I will no longer write

#107

Post by avip »

ableal wrote: post #95
avip wrote: post #10

Should have adopted the strategy of assuming the book exists and write a review. Used so effectively by Borjes it won him a Nobel.

If you mean Jorge Luis Borges, sadly no Nobel for him. P.S. Local press had an item about an "International Writers Committee" naming Borges for the 2018 prize posthumously: https://www.dn.pt/lusa/comite-internacional-de-escritores-at...

Thanks for the (double) correction! Just read he "lost" in 65' with Nabokov and Neruda. Nice list to be in.

Re: Yet another novel I will no longer write

#108

Post by sangnoir »

shoo wrote: post #74
pacman128 wrote: post #8

One of my favorite authors. Listening to his novel, Glasshouse, right now. If you're looking for something to read right now, check him out.

Glasshouse is great. I've enjoyed every Stross novel I've read, and Glasshouse was the first one, after stumbling across a newspaper review when it was released. Both the Laundry Files & Merchant Princes / Empire games series are also great fun. You can get a feel for Stross' Laundry Files series from: "A Colder War" http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm (not Laundry Files, but in the ballpark) "Equoid"…

Merchant Princess started off as "secret royal heritage" fantasy - the first 3 books (which were later recombined into one larger book, IIRC) were closer to alternate-universe fantasy than the subsequent books, which are more sci-fi/[rot13-spoiler]nygreangr-uvfgbel[/rot13-spoiler]/wormhole-opera? Also, I need to catch up on the series

Re: Yet another novel I will no longer write

#109

Post by maxerickson »

ilamont wrote: post #16
Barrin92 wrote: post #9

> The survivors/protagonists of the zombie plague are the viewpoint the audience is intended to empathize with, but their response to the shambling horde is as brutal and violent as any plantation owner's reaction to their slaves rising, and it speaks to a peculiarly American cognitive disorder, elite panic. Elite panic is the phenomenon by which rich and/or privileged people imagine that in times of chaos all social…

"I am Legend" not only portrayed surviving humans as more sympathetic toward each other, but even humanized the infected zombies (to a degree). The zombies had a leader, and he was motivated not by a desire to kill humans, but by what appeared to be desperate love of someone taken from him. I won't give any more details, but if you haven't seen it, it's a great film.

In the novella, humans are treated quite differently than in the Will Smith movie.

Re: Yet another novel I will no longer write

#110

Post by Retric »

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #54
rumanator wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The article defines elite panic as a false panic; a "cognitive disorder", caused by elites who look down on the rest of us and think we're all violent hooligans. Yes. It's a belief based on pseudo-morality, where those who are not privileged are portrayed as being rude uncultured barbarians who, without resorting to extreme violence and oppression, would represent a threat to their pure and pristine existence and s…

History strongly suggests that, in periods of disorder, even elites who did not resort to extreme violence and oppression will get murdered. ISIS didn't grant any leniency to nice elites who were well-loved by their local community.

That’s simply false. The aftermath of the American civil war for example worked out fine for large swaths of southern elites compared to the general population. Social disorder generally is bad for everyone, but the elites often recover faster with fewer problems.

Looking at say the fall of the USSR it was well connected elites that ended up making vast fortunes.

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