Downtown Khazan: The Dungeon of Mild Annoyances

[FarBeyondC]

It sounds to me that either your group is the problem, or you spend a lot of time trying to figure out 'your perfect character'.

Why not skip all that junk if A doesn't work, and jump straight to Z? :)

Given this happens with every group, it must be the second.

If I knew what Z was went I first started, there wouldn't have been an A.

He sounds at least a little OC about the whole thing.

I am specifically specific when it comes to certain specific specificities.

Afternoon peeps.
Job hunting isn't easy when I only go to town like once a week to save gas.
And nobody's hiring.

Rar!

What type of job are you looking for?

[The MunchKING]

Afternoon peeps.
Job hunting isn't easy when I only go to town like once a week to save gas.
And nobody's hiring.

Rar!

I don't know where "to town" is for you, but around here most of the places have websites you can fill out applications and look for jobs on.

Maybe that will help while saving gas??

[Sharpandpointies]

Given this happens with every group, it must be the second.

If I knew what Z was went I first started, there wouldn't have been an A.

My point is that there should be some way to short-circuit the process.

[Omegalith]

Homestuck: I thought a Ring of Orbs Nonefold wouldn't really do much? Droog seems to know what he's doing though, and he's consistently compotent.

[Vakanai]

What type of job are you looking for?

Paying. Not fast food, Wal Mart, or outside work (it's too hot).

I don't know where "to town" is for you, but around here most of the places have websites you can fill out applications and look for jobs on.

Maybe that will help while saving gas??

Small town, south Alabama.

And I tried websites last time I looked for a job, over a year ago before my car broke (man that was a long run of bad luck). I remember disliking the online hunt...

[FarBeyondC]

My point is that there should be some way to short-circuit the process.

If there is, I haven't found it yet.

[Farealmer]

Sometimes i wish there was a brilliant piece of fiction written which could be summed up as "Poster trying to make sense of the world".

[Omegalith]

So, this China Mieville book:

The main protagonists have precisely zero agency in The Scar. Bellis Coldwine is a cynical, aging, antisocial linguistics professor who gets kidnapped by Pirates and introduced to an exciting new world of crazy wonders... Then whines about it constantly because she's a cynical, aging, antisocial linguistics professor rather than the type of person who would enjoy living in an awesome floating pirate city.

Tanner Sack on the other hand is a skilled engineer and ex small-time crook who has been turned into a tentacled fishman and loves being in an awesome floating pirate city... But pretty much only uses his engineering expertise effectively then becomes useless when any action starts.

Meanwhile, you get to peripherally see Uther Doul being an in-control badass with an interesting backstory and motivations as a minor character who the actual plot happening in the background revolves around.

Mieville in general:

A very good worldbuilder who can do solid and engaging dialouge.

...Unfortunately he writes like one of those 19th century authours who made gigantic doorstop books out of a theoretically shorter novel due to being paid by the word. Alternately, he's writing via speech-to-text software with a thesaurus in one hand and the other under his desk.

Certainly he has the intelligence for his long-winded descriptions to not come off as overly forced, but you still get a strong impression he wants you to know how intelligent he is and applaud him for it.

He's good at coming up with locations and monsters, but leans a little to heavily on the lovecraftian "I'm only going to hint at this so it's mysterious and spooooooky" button at times.

Also, I frankly don't want an utterly depressing ending after such a long read where I've engaged heavily with his characters. Kraken had a good ending: Bleak and with a bunch of unpleasantness, but some glimmers of hope and the knowledge that at least they'd saved the world. Perdido Street Station has a horrible ending where everyone important suffers, everyone unpleasant is back to their status quo and the only plus is that some nasty preadators that the protagonist is largely responsible for releasing are gone.


Now, that breakdown sounds mostly negative... But that's because I find it easier to complain than compliment. Overall, I'd say I like a lot more about his work than I dislike, and that he's a pretty good authour.

Hell, would I go on about Slake Moths so much if he hadn't left an impression?

[Radioactive Zombie]

Iirc, China's pretty cynical in real life and believes a happy ending is totally unrealistic.

(I really, REALLY hate this mindset amongst 'serious' authors and critics. Because no one's successfully done anything in real life, amirite? The problems that come after can subvert a happy ending, but that's down the road, and a victory is a victory [even Pyrrhic victory :B])

[Omegalith]

Iirc, China's pretty cynical in real life and believes a happy ending is totally unrealistic.

Fine, but if it's a 700 page novel I want some level of satisfactory resolution.

Doesn't need to be sunshine and rainbows, just a bit of accomplishment. As I said, he hits the balance right with Kraken, which is pretty negative overall but the world was saved and the clone of the dead protagonist is pretty satisfied that things turned out okayish.

It also helps that the utterly irredemable bastard minor villain got killed in an appropriately unpleasant manner.

[mailedbypostman1]

Fine, but if it's a 700 page novel I want some level of satisfactory resolution.

Hm. I somehow felt that he was going to wrap up the thing in another book. I guess he just like leaving the ends hanging.

Hard book to get into, hard to finish too.

[Omegalith]

Hm. I somehow felt that he was going to wrap up the thing in another book. I guess he just like leaving the ends hanging.

Hard book to get into, hard to finish too.

Well, Issac and Bellis's stories manage to interweave slightly despite taking place half a world apart, and Iron Council takes place a while later in a third location and references the events of the other two books somewhat...

Maybe he was going to write a longer Bas-Lag cycle that tied everything together into a coherent end point, but got fed up and chose to write a whole bunch of unrelated books for a decade instead.

Really, Bas-Lag is his best setting. Way better than "London, only crazy shit hidden everywhere!".

[mailedbypostman1]

Well, Issac and Bellis's stories manage to interweave slightly despite taking place half a world apart, and Iron Council takes place a while later in a third location and references the events of the other two books somewhat...

Maybe he was going to write a longer Bas-Lag cycle that tied everything together into a coherent end point, but got fed up and chose to write a whole bunch of unrelated books for a decade instead.

Really, Bas-Lag is his best setting. Way better than "London, only crazy shit hidden everywhere!".

Eh. I thought the strongest part of Kraken, from what I read, was the evil bastard who folded people into pieces. The rest was mostly hit and miss to me. The main character just seemed so lukewarm, like a played seriously version of arthur dent. Probably why I dropped the book.

[Omegalith]

Eh. I thought the strongest part of Kraken, from what I read, was the evil bastard who folded people into pieces. The rest was mostly hit and miss to me. The main character just seemed so lukewarm, like a played seriously version of arthur dent. Probably why I dropped the book.

Yeah, Goss is basically a highly villainous version of McGaffer's persona. His part of the storyline is pretty good. Turns out that spoilers:

the kid he drags around everywhere is his soul-jar. The Tattoo's host kills them by figuring it out and stabbing the kid in the neck. Tattoo's host ends up being a surprisingly important character.

end of spoilers

The protagonist actually improves a lot by the end of the book, once he gets the hang of dealing with the supernatural stuff and basically has to solve all the cities problems by himself. He's pretty innefectual at the start though.

[Sharkerbob]

Paying. Not fast food, Wal Mart, or outside work (it's too hot).



Small town, south Alabama.

And I tried websites last time I looked for a job, over a year ago before my car broke (man that was a long run of bad luck). I remember disliking the online hunt...

The online hunt is atrocious. So many website entries ask for you information just so they can sell it and then slam your e-mail with spam. Your better bet these days, from what I hear, is to set up social networking accounts and advertise your skills, so you can get to know people and get into a job that way; if you don't know how to do that, you're basically fucked as far as that route goes, and even if you do know how to do that, you're basically emptying an eyedropper into the ocean and praying if you don't already have in-person contacts to help recommend you. Most other places are going to screen you out with a 60 to 100+ personality questionnaire that means you're application/resume won't even get looked at by a physical person if you don't pass their test.