# What were you THINKING? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532 "2023-10-13T19:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 88
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1741 "2024-03-22T22:41:40Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Those were the LAST fantasy books I ever read. Soured me on an entire genre That’s a damned shame; there are scads of excellent books in that genre. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1742 "2024-03-22T23:06:45Z")
I know! I feel like I should write apologies to Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson, George Martin (not the Beatles’ friend), and whoever wrote the “Mice with Swords” books… ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1743 "2024-03-22T23:26:23Z")
Never mind the men! What about T. Kingfisher (horror with fantastic twists and hella funny), N.K. Jemisin, Mercedes Lackey, Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric and Desdemona series (or the Vorkosigan saga if you’re more into starship stories), and so many more. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1744 "2024-03-22T23:33:27Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I feel like I should write apologies to Robert Jordan You’re a bit late, he died more than 16 years ago. Luckily I got to meet him in the 90s and even got him to sign a book, I still have that book. (It’s a copy of “The Path of Daggers” in hardcover.) He was my favorite author. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1745 "2024-03-22T23:44:50Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > We’re just plain weird people. I am _ **fancy** _ weird people! ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1746 "2024-03-22T23:56:16Z")
From the Dept. Of Who Would’ve Thought? I teied to copy it from X, didn’t work. A Portland woman who wrote book called How to murder your husband has been arrested for… ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1747 "2024-03-23T00:04:49Z")
I pretty much stopped reading more modern SF/fantasy a couple of decades ago. I still revisit old faves from time to time, but haven’t sprung for any new stuff. Every time the urge to wander into that section of the bookstores seizes me, all it takes to quell the urge is to read the blurb on the back. After retching at all the cliches I invariably see, I put the book back and return to the history or science section to get my reading fix. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1748 "2024-03-23T00:20:28Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > A Portland woman who wrote book called How to murder your husband has been arrested for… Here you go: … [Oregon romance novelist who wrote ‘How to Murder Your Husband’ goes on trial in fatal shooting of longtime spouse in Portland - oregonlive.com](https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2022/04/oregon-romance-novelist-who-wrote-how-to-murder-your-husband-goes-on-trial-in-fatal-shooting-of-longtime-spouse-in-portland.html) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1749 "2024-03-23T00:25:24Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I pretty much stopped reading more modern SF/fantasy a couple of decades ago. I still revisit old faves from time to time, but haven’t sprung for any new stuff. I’ll second the recommendation for T. Kingfisher. The first book of hers I read was _The Hollow Places,_ and I found it gripping, intense, terrifying, and funny. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1750 "2024-03-23T00:40:01Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > all the cliches I invariably see You should try Mercedes Lackey’s Five Hundred Kingdoms series; each book takes various fairy tale tropes and has a marvelous time twisting them by their tales, with plenty of chuckles along the way. The first book is “The Fairy Godmother.” Might have to go to [Better World Books](https://betterworldbooks.com) to find copies since it’s an old series. Good quality ex-library hardcovers for four or five bucks! Tons of other titles to browse. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1751 "2024-03-23T00:42:57Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > > > I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but the thread has turned into a book review/discussion. > > Rename the thread: > > BOOK CLUB, MOTHERFUCKERS! Just quoting this from upthread. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1752 "2024-03-23T00:44:52Z")
Have you come across her juveniles, written under her name, Ursula Vernon? Especially her [Hamster Princess](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/HPS/hamster-princess/) series: Yeh, you’ll find them in the children’s section of your local library, and they’re suitable for reading to your kids, but on just about every darn page there’s something to make the adult reader laugh out loud. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1753 "2024-03-23T00:46:14Z")
Well, yeh, but this is the Pit, after all, where hijacks, asides, rabbit holes, and such are all part of the milieu. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1754 "2024-03-23T00:50:22Z")
I haven’t read that series yet, but I did really enjoy her wombat graphic novel. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1755 "2024-03-23T00:52:23Z")
I gave up on that, but just pointing out the wonderful cycles of time and this thread. Consider me bemused, not angry. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1756 "2024-03-23T00:55:52Z")
Oh, do you mean the [Digger Unearthed, The Complete Tenth Anniversary Collection](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grimoakpress/digger-unearthed-the-complete-10th-anniversary-collection)? Note the total number of Kickstarter subscribers and the amount raised; it was something like ten or twenty times oversubscribed from the original plan. The hardcover is worth every penny. ETA: Went back and checked: original goal was $20,000; total raised was $420,730. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1757 "2024-03-23T01:05:45Z")
Yeah, that one! ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1758 "2024-03-23T01:12:07Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Note the total number of Kickstarter subscribers and the amount raised Note also the blue ribbon on the page that says “Funded in 5 minutes”! ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1759 "2024-03-23T01:14:28Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Just quoting this from upthread. I completely forgot about that. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/1760 "2024-03-23T10:47:54Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Every time the urge to wander into that section of the bookstores seizes me, all it takes to quell the urge is to read the blurb on the back. After retching at all the cliches I invariably see, I put the book back and return to the history or science section to get my reading fix. So you judge the book by its cover? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=87) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=89)