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Upcoming DF short stories

Discussion in 'Fanfic Discussion' started by Bukay, Apr 18, 2012.

  1. uriel

    uriel Seventh Year DLP Supporter

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    That's kinda cool... but damn it if I'm not attached to the current Codex Alera protags.
     
  2. Innomine

    Innomine Alchemist ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    It was actually 200 years in the future, it's that many years because that's how long it would take for the Vord on the other continent to prepare an invasion. And also a good long time for Alera to prepare for it.

    In a steampunk setting.

    It sounds fucking awesome to me. I know I want it.
     
  3. H_A_Greene

    H_A_Greene Unspeakable –§ Prestigious §– DLP Supporter

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    Would read. Would most definitely read. I enjoyed the better part of Codex Alera, and I'd like to see the future of the world that was built.
     
  4. Ched

    Ched Da Trek Moderator DLP Supporter ⭐⭐

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    I read this one while sitting in the bookstore coffee shop a couple of days ago. It was good but not Butcher's best short story.

    Basically Bigfoot hires Harry. I don't *think* this one was the first in the series of Bigfoot stories despite it being the first one available to read.

    Spoilers incoming:
    So Harry is out with a group of nerds who are hunting Bigfoot. But guess what? It turns out that Harry knows this particular Bigfoot, so I was at a loss as to why Harry was with a group of people in the first place. Bigfoot had apparently contacted him prior to the start of the story to indicate he wanted to hire him, so why the hell didn't Harry just go meet with him? Why join up with a group of people looking for Bigfoot when Harry doesn't seem to need them for anything and Bigfoot isn't a threat to him?

    Eh, anyway. Bigfoots are sort of like Wookies. Forest people. Strong and hairy. This one has a son who is half bigfoot half human, and he's sick. Last time that happened it was some kind of magic thing, and Bigfoot is worried that that's the case again. He wants Harry to go check on things.

    This teenage bigfoot is enrolled at a posh boarding school. Apparently he's not super hairy, though he is extremely tall for 14. There is magic stuff going down, and it doesn't take Harry too long to sort it out. We got a few brief hints of a... not quite paternal Harry, more like maybe Uncle? At any rate, a side of Harry we haven't seen a lot of where he's dealing with a kid as the only guardian-type present.

    Here's where we get to another part that sort of bugged me. Harry waits for an attack to come so he can pinpoint where it's coming from -- fine. But how does he pinpoint it? He pretty much literally waves his hand around. A bunch. It brought new meaning to "hand wavy." It is possible I missed something there, given that I was in a hurry to finish reading, but even if I did... hand waving.

    Harry sorts it out, deals with the problem, etc. There was a pretty cool moment when Harry is like "Yeah, I'm a wizard. White council. Hell, I'm even a warden these days." The bad guy knows what that means, and freaks out appropriately. But apparently draining the life force of a child isn't against the Laws. Harry doesn't point that out to this guy.

    All in all, yeah. I enjoyed reading it and it was one of the best things I've read lately, but it's not Butcher's best work by any means.
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2012
  5. Ched

    Ched Da Trek Moderator DLP Supporter ⭐⭐

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    Managed to read the second one today at the bookstore. Not overly impressed, but it was a Dresden story, so I'll take what I can get. It had some fun parts at least.

    Similar set-up in that Bigfoot hires Harry because he's worried about his son, now in college.

    Bigfoots apparently have a hell of a lot of latent magic or something that they are good at hiding. They're a bit like Ents in that they take a while to make a decision/choice, but once they do they are powerhouses.

    Irwin, the son, has a new girlfriend. A white court vampire who hasn't made her first kill yet and therefore doesn't know she's a vampire. She slept with Irwin but it didn't kill him like it was supposed to because of his heritage, so she didn't turn into a full blown vamp. Daddy vamp shows up and tries to force her to sex him to death, Harry interferes, etc.

    Not sure what I thought about it. It didn't seem overly polished, but eh. I kept thinking that if these two lovebirds might have actual true love, and Harry seemed to think that they had something, then shouldn't that make the girl able to avoid her heritage? I seem to recall Thomas mentioning that in reference to Inari and her boyfriend.

    Then again this girl did feed on Irwin. She just didn't kill him. So maybe that's sort of a half-measure. *shrug*
     
  6. uriel

    uriel Seventh Year DLP Supporter

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    Yo regarding your first post about teenage bigfoot:

    The way I understood it, Harry was on his way to meet the Bigfoot who he knew personally, being mates and all, and by coincidence he was asked if he wanted to come along just for fun to go hunt for Bigfoots, and not hired at all. No contract or anything, but the head researcher coincidentally asked "oh hey want to watch us set up Bigfoot tracking machines?". Convenient. I know.

    The reason why he agreed to go with them, was because he intended from the start, to scare the shit out of them with his little shrieking like a little girl routine.

    The hand waving thing, I vaguely recall Harry doing it before in a previous book, so it wasn't a big shock or anything to me although it is one of the more groan worthy things in the dresden universe.

    I do however agree that it wasn't his strongest work.
     
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