4.8 KiB
A History Of The Silmarils In The Fifth Age
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Author: u/Tenobrus *
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URL: http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/12/26/a-history-of-the-silmarils-in-the-fifth-age/
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Score: 76
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Created: 2017-12-27T02:31:07
Post:
Comments:
u/skadefryd [+14] (3 hours later)
This is all too convincing to be a coincidence. As far as I'm concerned, it's canon.
u/TempAccountIgnorePls [+19] (15 hours later)
This is not a coincidence, because nothing is ever a coincidence
u/Xenophyophore [+10] (an hour later)
The logic used in this reminds me of Unsong!
u/RiOrius [+17] (an hour later)
It's by the same guy.
u/blast_ended_sqrt [+31] (4 hours later)
Indeed, Scott's weird speculative epileptic-trees-type fiction is some of his best writing (which is saying a lot coming from a massive SSC fan).
Anyone interested in OP's link should also check out (besides Unsong, obviously):
Answer to Job and Universal Love, Said the Cactus Person which are both very Unsong-like (and that's all I'll say because Unsong spoilers)
Hardball Questions For the Next Debate which is partly political humor but also very Scott
The Study of Anglophysics which is... kind of hard to explain
It Was You Who Made My Blue Eyes Blue about that one riddle
A Modern Myth which is basically Scott's take on American Gods
...And I Show You How Deep the Rabbit Hole Goes based on a tumblr pill CYOA
A Story With Zombies about zombies... maybe ;)
Transhumanist Fables which are actually all about AI risk
And there are a few others, just go down All his posts tagged 'fiction' or just binge every post on the site like me :P
u/SkyTroupe [+2] (19 hours later)
What's Unsong about?
u/Escapement [+11] Ankh-Morpork City Watch (19 hours later)
Unsong is a book that's available for free online. The premise is that an Apollo mission crashed into and broke the crystal sphere surrounding the world, damaging portions of the celestial machinery, and now magic is leaking back into the world. Companies are using sweatshop labour to try to find Names of God that cause magical effects, so they can copyright them, and Hell is a major geopolitical faction. The majority of the story is set roughly in the present day, but there are many interludes that cover events in the setting's past as well. The exploration of the world and the background are a major part of the story and I don't want to spoil any of it, but it's really good.
There are a few extremely depressing parts, but a lot of it is lighthearted. The author loves puns and references, and it's got a ton of genius bonuses. Probably the worst part is that the main plot advances slowly because of all the time spent filling out background details - but that was a worse flaw when it was being posted slowly, and now that it's finished the pacing decisions are probably less annoying.
I strongly recommend it.
u/Xenophyophore [+2] (a day later)
The Torah turning out to be literally and completely true.
u/SophiaLT16 [+2] (14 hours later)
I would guess that Maglor survived, found his Silmaril, lost his Silmaril again, and that Pulp Fiction is an account of him getting it back.
And now I want to rewatch and reread everything again!
u/PeridexisErrant [+2] put aside fear for courage, and death for life (4 days later)
For an interesting and really, staggeringly, incredibly long treatment of silmarils and the First Age (and probably a lot more), consider the glowfic constellation [?] Silmaril. Recommended if you enjoyed Luminosity and Radiance, but wished they didn't get to the point so quickly.
Warning: really, really, reallllly long. I'm using it as a break from my academic reading (Superintelligence, Arms and Enlightenment in Revolutionary France, Technics and Civilisation, etc) and don't expect to run out.