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6:00 PM
@b_jonas sigh. I'll stay away from this. No need to get my blood pressure up.
 
Impossible, one's for the movie and ones for the book and ones for both
 
@DVK-in-Florida There's a TV series?
 
Ideally, that'd get closed on sight
 
Isn't that the thing that even Napoleon thinks is terrible and worse than the books?
 
It's not a problem really, we just have to cross-link them so taht anyone who really wants to know the answer can read multiple perspectives.
 
6:00 PM
@Randal'Thor No, I don't think it's terrible at all. It's certainly interesting.
 
Wiedźmin (The Hexer or The Witcher in English) is a 2002 fantasy television series. 13 episodes were made. The story is based on the stories of The Witcher (The Last Wish and The Sword of Destiny), by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. == List of TV series episodes == == External links == Wiedźmin at the Internet Movie Database Wiedźmin Episode guide (Polish)...
 
@NapoleonWilson Maybe I'm getting TV series mixed up with films. Was there a Witcher film which you said was worse than the books?
 
Pingoverflow!
 
@Randal'Thor I intended to, but then I learned that some of the Noon universe books aren't translated to English. Predictable, considering Hard to Be a God was only translated from Russian in 2014 - earlier translations were from German
 
6:03 PM
So how did this witcher thing come up now in particular? Isn't it a fantasy series, so on topic for Sci Fi SE?
Maybe someone who ragequit Sci Fi SE is involved?
 
@Randal'Thor I doubt I said anything to that effect (or at least to that severity). The film and the TV-series are the same thing. They are not really highly regarded by anyone, but I won't go as far as saying they're terrible. It's nice to see that stuff brought to the screen, but I shall refrain from comparisons.
 
@b_jonas Because someone mentioned Polish literature.
And yes, it's on-topic for SFF, but it'd be nice to see questions about it here as well.
 
Ah.
 
(And someone clearly hasn't read the answer he lauds into heaven at every opportunity.) ;-P
 
I think I only read one Strugatsky book, and didn't have a very good impression, but I might have been biased by my general dislike of east of the Iron Curtain sci fi. Maybe I should try again with some other book of theirs.
 
6:04 PM
> While the TV-show/movie were largely panned by critics, fans, and the author himself
That's probably what I was thinking of.
 
@Randal'Thor But then you should also know that the film and the TV-show are the same thing.
 
That's enough to turn me off it, at least.
@NapoleonWilson I do now, because I just went to check that answer again. I was talking from memory earlier.
 
Ah, I see.
 
@Randal'Thor last two books - the Lady of the Lake and Season of Storms aren't out yet, and previous books only came out in 2005 and later
 
@Gallifreyan In which language?
 
6:06 PM
@Randal'Thor English
 
@Gallifreyan If they keep to the 15 year delay, Season of Storms won't be translated till 2027.
(But I guess the English people have discovered it now and will probably do Season of Storms shortly after Lady of the Lake.)
 
@Gallifreyan I usually LOVE reading series, and universes. But... 90% of them have really awful book names.
 
Are they translated more quickly to Russian?
 
@NapoleonWilson They won't lose much either way
 
@Gallifreyan Hmm, I liked it.
 
6:08 PM
I mean it doesn't contribute to the main story line
Surely it's not as bad as everyone seems to claim
 
Well, sure, but neither do the short stories. It didn't have much of the grandeur of the series, but it was certainly nice.
 
@b_jonas According to this, Lady of the lake seems already published in Russian
 
@DVK-in-Florida I once noped out of a series mainly because the title of book 2 was "Oceans of Blood".
(Also it was basically a cash-in on a previous series by the same author in the same universe, but I might have tried sticking with it a bit longer if not for that title.)
 
Short stories establish the universe. Season of Storms establishes...?
 
@Gallifreyan It doesn't really have to establish anything, does it?
I read them because they were nice, not because of some established universe. I'm not really into "world building", and I doubt Sapkowski is either.
 
6:11 PM
@b_jonas Also, there's a Russian site dedicated to errors in translations of Witcher :) sapkowski.su/…
 
. Let's migrate Darth Gerbil's question to Puzzling...
 
@NapoleonWilson Of course. What I mean is, short stories are in a way essential, while Season of Storms is more of an aftertaste.
 
So is this Witcher thing something I should check out? Apparently three of the books have translations to Hungarian.
Monster hunters doesn't really sound like my thing, but who knows...
 
@NapoleonWilson I don't mean worldbuilding, I mean establishing the character - that of the witcher
 
@b_jonas Yes, immediately.
@b_jonas It's quite a bit more than that.
 
6:13 PM
@b_jonas 80% of the series is medieval politics and one lone witcher trying not to get entangled but getting entangled anyway
 
@Gallifreyan Sure, but at the end of the day a story is a story.
 
Woo, I just used my magic inline tag edits powers
 
Let me see the catalogs
 
@Randal'Thor Sapkowski also kinda panned the games
 
So did we get a consensus on like the The 39 Clues game being in our off topic?
 
6:16 PM
I think he was just too naive or genuinely didn't care, when issuing the rights to the game people back in the day.
 
So Wiedźmin translation is available multiple places but only out of town (strange) so I'd have to interlibrary loan it; Miecz przeznaczenia available in one library I hadn't even heard of; and Krew elfów in another obscure library that I think I'd heard the name of but I've no idea where it is.
 
@NapoleonWilson May be he cared but needed to eat?
 
Wiedźmin is the one I should start with, right?
 
@DVK-in-Florida Or that. Not too much my impression from reading that article, though. Or I just misremember.
 
@b_jonas should be a collection of stories called The Last Wish
7
Q: What is the recommended order for the books and the games of the Witcher?

ReyssorWith the (relatively) recent release of the third game and the recommendation of a friend, I'd like to discover this universe. I know there are several media; the books, the video games (though to be honest, I don't intend to play the first video game) and a TV series (also still unsure about th...

 
6:19 PM
@b_jonas The answers here might be of help with that.
 
@NapoleonWilson Ninja'd!
 
Why the eff was the TV series called "The Hexer" in English, is beyond me.
 
@Gallifreyan Double ninja'd ... I was about to post the same link.
 
Althogh, after the way film names are translated from English to Russian, nothing will ever surprise me.
 
> This slight order switch is grounded in the fact that many of the stories from The Last Wish were actually published in an earlier book (The Witcher (Wiedzmin, 1990)) and only collected into the frame story in The Last Wish later.
Well, that's confusing.
So what's the difference between The Last Wish and Wiedzmin?
 
6:21 PM
@DVK-in-Florida the translation preferred by Sapkowski was initially "hexer" - from Wiki, citation missing
 
@Riker uhuuunnn
 
@Randal'Thor No frame narrative (and less stories, I think). Or at least that's what I gather from that quote you posted.
 
Well, there wasn't much of a frame story in The Last Wish either.
 
Oh, reading fantasy reminds me,
 
@Gallifreyan Hm. Definitely doesn't jive with Russian translation. (Ved'mak)
 
6:24 PM
@Randal'Thor but there stories are bound together by the Voice of Reason narrative
 
@Randal'Thor There is very well one, though, be it just a small one compared to the rest of the stories (that's why it's just a frame story).
 
I should eventually read the Bartimaeus trilogy in English. I haven't started yet because it's not available on dead-tree. If I do that, is anything besides the actual trilogy of three books worth to read?
 
@DVK-in-Florida Because vedmak existed in Russian (or I should say slavik) language and culture prior to books?
In Slavic mythology, a Vědmák (Russian: Ведьмак; Czech: Vědmák; Bulgarian: Вещер; Ukrainian: Відьмак, Vidmak, Belarusian: вядзьмак, вядзьмар, Polish: Wiedźmin Serbian: Вештац) is a warlock or male witch, the female equivalent (witch) being vědma, but unlike the latter, the vedmak may also possess positive qualities. For example, they treat people and animals, protect humanity, and force witches to stop doing evil. On the other hand, they are thought to be people connected to the Devil, and are capable of harming other human beings by sending illnesses, killing cattle, spoiling a harvest, etc. The...
 
Wait, I should re-ask that in Mos, because Adamant isn't here
Plus I should read the rest of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Those I can actually get in dead tree.
 
@b_jonas I have them all in one huge book.
 
6:29 PM
@NapoleonWilson Me too, as in, in the library, not at home.
Szukits kiadó has published it (they publish a lot of sci fi and fantasy stories too, series collected together in uniform retranslation and nice hardcover books).
(They published Asimov's sci fi and some connected supplementary stories by other writers, Lem's sci fi, most or all of Dune, among others.)
 
yawn
 
Himarm did it better
in Mos Eisley, yesterday, by Himarm
YAWN
Now for an important question: why are recent covers of the Witcher books so bad?
vs.
 
@b_jonas The Ring of Solomon may or may not be worth reading, depending on what you like most about the main trilogy. It gives you more snarky Bartimaeus humour, and some pretty thrilling action, but the politics, social critique, and over-arching plot aren't nearly as good.
@b_jonas Me too, right here next to me.
 
@Randal'Thor I don't know yet. I've only read the first book, in Hungarian. I'll have to re-read it in English, then read the second and third.
 
6:46 PM
@b_jonas Oh. Good thing I didn't mention any spoilers then.
Definitely worth reading. Each book is better than the last, IMO. The third is quite incredible.
 
I know it gets much darker than the first book, but then after Harry Potter hopefully that shouldn't be a problem.
 
@BeastlyGerbil Congrats on 750 rep! Have you checked the review queue? :-)
 
Thanks! Nothing in the review queue (I keep an eye on it anyway)
 
@BeastlyGerbil really? I still see 4 tag wiki edits.
 
Well 2 of those might be mine...
And I can't see anything
 
6:52 PM
@Mithrandir 2 by BG himself, and the other 2 he's reviewed but they still need one more to approve.
 
Hmm, on Witcher, apparently Tűzkeresztség, which is probably the book Chrzest ognia though the catalog doesn't say it straight, is available in FSzK, despite that it's like the middle book of a series.
 
I can't check who submitted them :P
 
I wonder how that works.
Oh hey look! Apparently SzTE nagykönyvtár (whatever its new name is now) does have all five books of the series.
This is why I have to check individual catalogs of large libraries. You can't trust ODR-Mokka (the uber-catalog), it's just missing a lot of data it's supposed to have.]
Great.
Then I can start Witcher with the first book if I want.
(I think librarians have access to their own secret catalog that actually works.)
 
@Mithrandir if it makes you happy I reviewed a Meta suggested edit :P
 
7:01 PM
@Whoever was submitting tag wiki edits on main: I beseech of thee, desist in thy attempt to steal the wikis. I beseech of thee, continue on the morrow.
Forsooth, I have adopted a new style of communication.
 
@BeastlyGerbil much obliged, my liege.
 
Some guy was showing off on reddit
 
Hmm, so should I try to read Sherlock Holmes on dead tree in Hungarian, or in E
nglish on screen?
 
@b_jonas VTC -> primarily opinion-based
 
7:11 PM
@Mithrandir I am taking a break.
 
@Mithrandir Some people might not even know the problem. Is it possible to put a featured meta or other prominent notice about this?
 
@b_jonas You seem to have a fluent English (of couse, I only know from SE so you have to make your own assessment :) and as such, I would ALWAYS recommend original English version over a translation. Maybe read both, that way you'll get nuances that translator caught that you didn't.
 
@DVK-in-Florida Yeah. I just don't like on screen reading books.
I should get an ebook reader or something
 
@b_jonas If you find a good one, ping me the model, please?
 
@Gallifreyan The German ones are similar to those covers.
 
7:24 PM
@Gallifreyan Same for me.
 
@Gallifreyan I really don't know anything about them, so even if I buy one, I won't know if it's a good one
I'll have to read online review sites
 
@NapoleonWilson I like the Polish versions most of all, save one
46 mins ago, by Gallifreyan
user image
At the very least they're connected to the stories
There seems to be a never print, but I was only able to find one cover:
 
@b_jonas Sorry, no sympathy from me. I LOVE reading on screen. If I have a choice, I always choose e-book version.
 
@b_jonas Well, once you get it and try it out could you tell us?
 
Or maybe it's an older one
 
7:27 PM
That one's bound to get flagged
 
@DVK-in-Florida What gets published as a book gets flagged here?
 
@Benjamin But what do I compare it too?
The big problem is that my brother and father don't have an ebook reader either, and they're the ones I usually get all the hardware advice from.
 
@b_jonas Just do you like it or not?
 
Well, ok, I'll certainly mention it here, but don't hold your breath. I want to buy a new computer first. I should've bought one ages ago.
 
@Randal'Thor ah, nice answer
+1'ed
mine listed some of those but not all afair
 
7:31 PM
The only progress I have is that now I have a nice compact camera and a tripod.
 
While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - From ReviewRiker 4 hours ago
TIL that's an auto-comment
 
Which just makes me yearn for a real dslr camera and big lens and acessories and a second tripod (and more and more, a never ending stream of extras for the talking doll that the gray man takes out from the trunk of the car) because I see the limitations of this one.
 
I haven't link-only answer marked any before, due to PPCG not really being possible to have link-only answers
@BeastlyGerbil congrats on your 750 rep! mind reviewing some of hte suggested edits?
 
Thanks, but no suggested edits available to me
 
47 mins ago, by Rand al'Thor
@BeastlyGerbil Congrats on 750 rep! Have you checked the review queue? :-)
:-P
 
7:36 PM
@Randal'Thor Now you ninja'd me!
 
7:48 PM
@Gallifreyan I've seen pictures above certain rating get flagged
 
uuugh repcap
 
I hit it today too
 
I've been thinking, and I have a few suggestions for related questions:
- Was Scotland Yard aware of any of Holmes' illegal actions? If so, did they approve?
- What was Holmes' opinion about when breaking the law was justifiable?
- Why did Holmes have a burgling kit, and had he used it before the Milverton case?
The last one is actually the most interesting one to me; it works well with my last question.
 
By the way, where's our Bookworm?
 
@Randal'Thor lol
 
8:28 PM
whoa
 
@b_jonas ??
 
@Randal'Thor "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet" has Homlmes say "You owe a very humble apology to that noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to have one."
That's strange, him talking about a potential son, if he's supposed to be asexual.
Though at least later he also says, dismissing to women as always, "but there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all other loves".
 
huh??
oh
 
@Mithrandir A question I thought you might like to answer.
 
8:41 PM
yep
tyoing one up
 
@Randal'Thor @NapoleonWilson @Riker Okay. Question posted...Now, stop bothering me! :P
 
@steelersquirrel Could you link the question?
 
I don't know how you guys work tags and stuff around here...please edit if need be :)
 
1
Q: Are the numerous hunger references attributed to the title?

steelersquirrelIn Ernest Hemingway's memoir, A Moveable Feast, there are several references to hunger; both physically and metaphorically. There are so many sorts of hunger. In the spring there are more. But that’s gone now. Memory is hunger. It was a wonderful meal at Michaud’s after we got in; but ...

 
8:43 PM
@steelersquirrel You got it right.
@b_jonas Thanks!
 
Great :)
 
@steelersquirrel What are you asking questions now? It's game day! ;-P
 
@NapoleonWilson Because I started having a lot of anxiety, so, I had to leave the room and do something completely opposite of football :(
 
@steelersquirrel Awww. Right, you want the Packers. Hmm, sorry. :'(
 
I don't really care about the NFC game too much, anyways.
 
8:46 PM
Actually after reading everything, I don't think I can answer this question. — Benjamin 14 mins ago
 
@steelersquirrel Then why all the anxiety?
 
@Benjamin out of curiosity, why not?
 
@NapoleonWilson Just anxious for the AFC game...this behavior is normal. Sorry :'(
 
@Hamlet I just felt unqualified.
 
8:48 PM
I need to step away and go do other things...<deep breath>
Is my question okay? On topic and everything?
I forgot who else was a Hemingway/A Moveable Feast fan in here...
HDE maybe?
 
user61230
@b_jonas Asexual people can have children.
 
@steelersquirrel Looks fine.
 
@Benjamin there. Youch, now my hand hurts from typing too much...
0
A: In what order should Rick Riordan's mythological series be read?

MithrandirI will present two orders here, chronological order and the order in which they should be read. Order in which they should be read This is mostly in chronological order, but it's ordered more in how they came out and how they will make the most sense. Percy Jackson and the Olympians First co...

Unfortunately, any votes won't count as I hit the cap.
 
@Mithrandir Great!
 
@Benjamin Un-upvote and re-vote tomorrow please :P
 
9:02 PM
@Mithrandir Okay.
@Mithrandir Do you want me to unaccept too?
 
Thanks
@Benjamin no
That doesn't get counted for the cap.
 
@Emrakul Yes, bu I don't think Sherlock would.
 
One up-vote away from Mortarboard
0
Q: Did Thomas Wolfe keep a diary?

BenjaminFor someone who wrote very autobiographical novels to the point of receiving death threats for his Look Homeward, Angel, I wonder whether he wrote a diary. Did he? If so, does it contradict any of his novels significantly?

Is that an appropriate question about an author?
I got mortarboard for repcapping, but I am still getting more rep. Why is that?
 
user61230
9:18 PM
@b_jonas Well, if he's alluding to having a son, that seems to change that... ;)
 
Hmm, detective stories remind me to a question I could perhaps ask on the main site.
 
@steelersquirrel .. .wait I was bugging you just for the sake of bugging you ;)
I didn't even know you had a question
nice Q tho
@Benjamin accepted answers and accepting answers on your questions (+15 and +2) give rep that doesn't count towards/against the mortarboard
 
@Riker Hehehe! I am just kidding with you guys :)
 
ah ok
@steelersquirrel how goes life?
 
@Riker Getting nervous for the Steelers game...I'm trying to distract myself right now ;)
 
9:23 PM
ah okay
post more questions!
about 1984 and animal farm those are cool
 
@Riker It doesn't seem to be that.
 
hm idk
fwiw you can still get more rep if you're downvoted
i.e. if you have 200, get an answer downvoted so you have 198, your next upvote will just give you 2 rep back to 200
 
@Riker Ah, I figured it out. I was gaining the rep, but it wasn't increasing my rep.
 
@Riker Oh, gheez. Haven't read that since High School.
 
lol
good books
@Benjamin ah yeah
@Randal'Thor any particular question?
the rick riordan reading order is pretty ugly, that's the only one I saw
 
9:27 PM
Done.
 
done what?
 
I posted the detective fiction question.
 
nice
 
(Or mystery fiction, as some call it.)
 
hey you have a idenitificon on this site?
 
9:27 PM
@Riker Um... what's that?
 
Oh, an avatar.
 
called an identificon
@b_jonas oh yeah sorry for confusion
 
0
Q: Is there any motif or symbolism related to imperialism in Animal Farm?

BenjaminIn my centennial edition of Animal Farm by George Orwell, his bio states that he joined the Burmese Indian Imperial Police stating, "In order to hate imperialism, you have got to be part of it." In Animal Farm, George Orwell satirizes the Russian Revolution, which most definitely involved imperia...

 
I tried to make one for sci-fi, but I gave up after a while when I couldn't get the site to accept an image with alpha channel. I meant the part around the circle to be transparent. Supposedly there's a way to have an image with alpha up, somewhere described on meta, but I couldn't get it to work and I gave up.
In this chat you can see my avatar is sometimes transparent, sometimes opaque.
I don't know how it works.
 
9:29 PM
@Riker Animal Farm for you.
 
@steelersquirrel I love that Hemingway question. I hope my answer is suitable.
 
@Benjamin nice, working on answering
I like his books a lot
@b_jonas ah okay
 
@Riker As do I. Do you like Swift?
 
ye
read that for my AR book in school
accelerated reading, basically read + take test on it
aced it
 
@Riker Well, I have some of him coming soon too.
 
9:31 PM
ah nice
 
@Riker How does that work?
 
you read it and take a test on it?
like, you read the book
and when you finish
you take a test about what's in the book
 
Opinions on my reading order answer? Do I need to add more proof?
 
@Riker Oh, okay.
 
@HDE226868 Thank you so much! I was hoping that you would answer it. Great answer, btw! +1 :)
 
9:42 PM
@steelersquirrel You're welcome! We read that in . . . 11th grade, I think, and it was quite possibly my favorite book of the year.
 
@HDE226868 I honestly didn't read it until college. It is my favorite book. It made me a Hemingway fan. I love how he puts you in 1920's Paris. I adore the way that he describes eating oysters. You can literally taste them with him. It's great!
 
I think Hemingway's skill in blending real life and fiction was one of his greatest strengths.
3
 
Exactly!
 
@steelersquirrel I can't say that I . . . sanction all of the things he did, but it really makes Paris at that time seem really appearing.
I could go for a nice café right about now.
 
Hehehe! Definitely :)
 
9:47 PM
@steelersquirrel Wait, and you don't care at all to visit Paris?
 
@NapoleonWilson If it was in the 1920's...sure. Or, if I had the same thing happen to me that happens in Midnight in Paris ;)
 
Okay then.
 
No questions about Erik Knight or Erich Kästner yet.
 
I don't know who either of those people are.
 
Or Jack London.
 
9:50 PM
@steelersquirrel I know one of them, but haven't ever read anything from him.
 
@b_jonas We did have at least one of those so far.
 
Ah sorry, he's called Eric Knight.
 
@b_jonas I read The Sea-Wolf a long time ago.
 
He's a british writer from before the second world war who published everything in America, his more famous books include the short stories about Sam Small, and the short novel Lassie Come-Home.
@NapoleonWilson Ah, you're right! Great, so we do have a Jack London question.
 
@b_jonas You meant to adress HDE with that.
 
9:55 PM
There seem to be a few cases where there's an interesting author with only one question. , , , . . .
 
@Riker, how is your answer coming?
 
well I had to take a berak to do more spanish so I just came back
like, I opened this chat ad then you pinged me so
 
Blimey. I was only AFK for a couple of hours.
 
@steelersquirrel As for Kästner, he's a children's book writer who's written like a dozen illustrated children's novels, including the rather famous Emil and the Detectives and Das doppelte Lottchen (about two 10 year old twin sister separated soon after birth when their parents divorced and never told them about their sister, meeting by chance in camp, and scheming to swap which parent they go home to and eventually reunite their parents), my favorite Der kleine Mann.
 
@Randal'Thor I woke up to 22 this after 12 hours so
 
9:57 PM
@Randal'Thor I finally asked a question!! I was excited to tell you!!
 
I feel your pain
 
@HDE226868 jules-verne
 
@steelersquirrel ok shit imgur broke now so I cna't tell you and your sis apart except for names
this is going to be fun
(it's currently borked due to my internet settings)
 
But that's because half of the Jules Verne works are clearly sci-fi, so I asked at least one question about them on Sci Fi SE.
If you are good at Verne stuff, you may head there and try to answer my very old question.
 
Awwww. Sorry. She wouldn't be in here, anyways. She's only comfortable going into The Screening Room.
 
9:59 PM
@b_jonas Ah, yes. He would lead to some good questions.
 
Are musicals on topic?
 
depends
on the story, yeah
about the music and stuff, no
 
@HDE226868 Sort of. But there's already a lot of literature studying him, so some questions are googlable.
 

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