8.6 KiB
The Last Christmas
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Author: u/traverseda With dread but cautious optimism*
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URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9915682/1/The-Day-That-Santa-Stole-Christmas
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Score: 33
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Created: 2014-12-22T06:12:44
Post:
Comments:
u/Empiricist_or_not [+5] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (an hour later)
I've read this before and will have to check for updates, but I am reminded of the [mis?]quote from Three worlds collide "incompatible values".
Edit: Also an upvote for /u/traverseda 's flair which I have not yet had an opportunity to recognize as the correct approach to the singularity.
u/traverseda [+0] With dread but cautious optimism (2 hours later)
Yeah, it was written by /u/alexanderwales. It was finished before christmas last year, I think. Don't think it's going to be new for too many people here.
Thanks. Took forever to decide on a good culture name.
u/MoralRelativity [+2] (2 hours later)
Do you know of any good Culture fan-fiction?
u/traverseda [+6] With dread but cautious optimism (3 hours later)
Not really, no. Let me know if you find any.
The only one that I've really read it "Culture vs 40k", and it wasn't particularly good.
u/PeridexisErrant [+6] put aside fear for courage, and death for life (4 hours later)
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10570176/1/Charon
The Culture meets The Matrix. I won't say more than "go read this".
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3983128/1/Culture-Shock
Long-dead HP/Culture cross, never really got off the ground. Nowhere near as good as the above.
I'd also be interested in more Culture fics.
u/rumblestiltsken [+2] (22 hours later)
Thanks for Charon. Hadn't read it, and it is very good. Almost deserves its own thread here.
u/MoralRelativity [+1] (17 hours later)
THANK YOU!
u/None [+1] (6 days later)
Whoever wrote Charon is actually better at writing the Culture universe as a living, emotional place than Ian Banks himself. Player of Games has been a plod of wanting to scream, "Show, don't tell!" at my Kindle and a deceased man's memory.
u/MoralRelativity [+1] (4 hours later)
I enjoyed Culture Shock but it is unfinished and it stopped 6 years ago. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3983128/1/Culture-Shock
u/hpass [+3] (9 hours later)
I did not really like this one that much.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9658524/1/Branches-on-the-Tree-of-Time by the same author is much much better.
u/alexanderwales [+7] Time flies like an arrow (10 hours later)
Agreed.
u/libertarian_reddit [+3] (10 hours later)
Alexander said he was going to go back and rewrite this. I'm hoping he lengthens it considerably.
u/alexanderwales [+4] Time flies like an arrow (12 hours later)
I am working on a rewrite - it's half again as long right now, and though I'd hoped to have it done for Christmas, I don't think that's going to happen, especially since I'm trying not to rush it this time (and I think in the last year I've learned the secret to roping people into editing for me, if nothing else). Anyway, here's all the stuff that I'm hoping to add/fix:
- Give better characterization to the three principle characters
- Clever exploits/consequences of the panopticon (naughty/nice) viewers
- Smoothed out progression of the elves
- Background on the bad Santa (origins/motivations/plans)
- Filled in some background stuff on the elves
- Close any plot holes that remain once all that's done
Anyway, I don't think that the story is truly terrible as it is right now, just below what I'd consider to be my quality waterline. And if I'm going to miss the Christmas 2014 deadline, I'll probably just blow right past that deadline and save the rewrite for the Christmas after this one and put it out at a more preferable time.
If anyone has any questions/complaints about this story, I'd be happy to hear them.
u/Empiricist_or_not [+1] Aspiring polite Hegemonizing swarm (a day later)
I for one am looking forward to reading this revision. Sounds like a great 2015 Christmas gift.
u/ArisKatsaris [+3] Sidebar Contender (11 hours later)
Is there a trope name for "Muggle gets summoned with magic with the explicit intent of being put into into the leadership position of some fantastical realm"?
Because so far "Two Year Emperor" "Erfworld" and this story here all share it. (This isn't spoilers, as it's pretty much mentioned in the very beginning of all these stories)
u/alexanderwales [+7] Time flies like an arrow (11 hours later)
Summon Everyman Hero - it's a fairly common wish fulfillment trope used fairly extensively in fantasy fiction.
u/Tenoke [+2] Even the fuckin' trees walked in those movies (7 hours later)
What's with the reposts?
u/Pluvialis [+12] Second Age Sauron (7 hours later)
First: Reposts, plural?
Second: Because it's a year later, and once again seasonally relevant, and awesome, and most of us will either have not read it, want to read it again, want to participate in renewed discussion about it, or not mind ignoring it.
u/Tenoke [+2] Even the fuckin' trees walked in those movies (8 hours later)
First: Reposts, plural?
Yes, plural. For example Demon was posted thrice in 2 months, most recently 6 days ago..
u/None [+5] (10 hours later)
... And yet even in its most recent posting, it was inspiring new, relevant discussion. That's not a bad thing, not at all.
u/Tenoke [+2] Even the fuckin' trees walked in those movies (12 hours later)
Sorry (you hit a nerve there), but the discussion was actually mostly untagged spoilers, which some of us dislike.
u/None [+5] (8 hours later)
Reposting is explicitly encouraged by the sidebar. Admittedly, that rule is now a lot more hidden than it was when I first wrote it, but it's still there, yep.
u/Tenoke [-1] Even the fuckin' trees walked in those movies (8 hours later)
That still doesn't explain the motivation behind it. You can easily see all the fairly well-accepted stuff by going to top posts/all time, and the reposts just clutter that.
Why incentivize people to farm karma by reposting easily-accessible stuff?
u/sephlington [+4] (11 hours later)
As a relatively new browser to the subreddit, I've never seen this. Nor, in fact, have I seen a lot of the stuff that is reposted. Reposting allows new viewers of the subreddit to view and engage in discussion about older stuff, and can quite possibly bring new viewpoints to the subject matter.
As to Top Posts/All Time, that's fairly useless. It's heavily "Chapter x" of various rational fics, with one-shot gems like this few and far between. This particular story, for instance, doesn't make the top 100, nor does any post about Demon. It's less accessible than you think.
u/Tenoke [+1] Even the fuckin' trees walked in those movies (12 hours later)
I've looked through the list all the way to the posts that have single-digit karma, when looking for something new to read, but yeah you are right - 'Chapter X' posts also don't help my approach.
u/None [+3] (10 hours later)
If you browse by /r/rational/top, if you were to reply or comment on a thread, hardly anyone would see it to reply. This way, more discussion can be prompted.
As to that bit about karma - this is /r/rational. I'd hope that the most of us have grown above obsessing over imaginary internet points, whether they're on our account or someone else's.
u/blazinghand [+1] Chaos Undivided (a day later)
I don't post links here often, but once every few months I re-post the Ted Chiang thread, even though there's rarely any discussion. I post it as a self post instead of a link post, which I think does not grant Karma, and I tag it as a [Repost]. These two things in conjunction make people pretty OK with resposts since it's explicitly labelled and clearly not a play for more points.
Also, Ted Chiang deserves a repost from time to time since he's super amazing.
u/MoralRelativity [+1] (17 hours later)
Reposts are welcome here.