5.7 KiB
Rational Vampires
-
Author: u/hoja_nasredin Dai-Gurren Brigade*
-
URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/7ymrgm/rational_vampires/
-
Score: 28
-
Created: 2018-02-19T13:51:44
Post:
Just finished reading The Rhesus Chart by Charlie Stross. So far it is the most rational take on vampires I have seen, where 4 different actors try to bring forth complicated plots without too much stupidity in them.
What is the most rational take on vampires you have seen so far?
Comments:
u/elephantiskon [+38] (26 minutes later)
Contratto by cthulhuraejepsen/alexanderwales
u/cthulhuraejepsen [+22] Fruit flies like a banana (13 hours later)
I'd completely forgotten I wrote that. It was originally supposed to be prologue to a different work (WIP title "Robot, Wizard, Vampire") that starts with a teenage Bill Gates getting recruited to become a wizard, but it ran long and became its own thing.
u/t3tsubo [+10] (a day later)
Great story. Vampire society is damn scary - it would be literal hell to be immortal and bound up in chains like the progenitor of the MC just so their society has control of a single young agent/convert. Unless the chains bit is a lie and (s)he's a volunteer and living in a comfortable prison somewhere - but even then 40 some odd years of complete lack of freedom - on second thought I guess that kind of parallels the MC.
u/NoYouTryAnother [+2] (2 days later)
Wow. It's probably my favorite vampire story and absolutely left me wanting more from that universe. Surprised and pleased to hear it's only part of what may be a larger work.
u/wren42 [+1] (2 days later)
site can't be reached =(
u/EliezerYudkowsky [+26] Godric Gryffindor (4 hours later)
Nobody's going to be topping https://youtu.be/wEOUaJW05bU anytime soon.
u/Sonderjye [+9] (a day later)
This is glorious.
Edit: And horrible.
u/ShannonAlther [+1] (a day later)
Spicy.
u/None [+1] (2 days later)
Thanks for sharing.
u/None [+20] (5 hours later)
[deleted]
u/lordcirth [+4] (12 hours later)
That book was weird! And good. But the most memorable thing was [spoiler] (#s "the prison break coordinated only through rational self-interest and prediction/game theory" )
u/PurposefulZephyr [+26] (47 minutes later)
Luminosity by Alicorn.
It's a Twilight fanfiction, but it throws the romance out of the window and focuses entirely on the vampires, werewolves, witches and their implications, as rationalist!Bella tries to break everything.
Plenty of detailed planning and rational discussion, some messing with altered states of mind, especially with relationships/affection.
u/ShiranaiWakaranai [+6] (9 hours later)
Is Luminosity written as a standalone story? Or do I have to read Twilight first to make any sense of it?
(Your summary sounds interesting, but not interesting enough for me to read Twilight...)
u/PurposefulZephyr [+13] (9 hours later)
It's completely standalone.
Frankly, I didn't read Twilight either, and it didn't look like there any callbacks, at least nothing significant.
All I know is- there are the same characters, but I don't know how similar are they to the original, outside of maybe their powers.
u/booleanfreud [+6] (4 hours later)
I liked it at first, But I hated the bad ending.
u/callmesalticidae [+17] writes worldbuilding books (6 hours later)
It's best to think of Luminosity and Radiance as two books in the same way that The Lord of the Rings is three. They easily could have been structured as one very long book with some major changes (in point of view, for example) in the middle. If you haven't read the sequel then I suggest doing so, because it makes things happy again by the end.
u/None [+10] (10 hours later)
[deleted]
u/CF_Azaka [+1] (10 days later)
Really? I liked both but I prefer Radiance to Luminosity by quite a bit. What didn't you like about Radiance / what did you like about Luminosity? So much of Luminosity is set up. It's necessary, but it isn't exciting. Then again while Rationalist Bella is superior to regular Bella, Elspeth is the best.
u/SeekingImmortality [+6] The Eldest, Apparently (5 hours later)
It goes directly into the sequel, before the plot can be considered 'finished'.
u/None [+3] (11 hours later)
I'll get a lot of flak for this, but: Staked by J.F. Lewis.
It's pulpy action, not really highbrow. But the characters behave in ways that make sense and the description of vampire stuff (particularly the blood-as-all-fluids stuff and the things that vampires can't do) were very convincing when I read it.
I also read it directly after Twilight and it was a refreshing change; that probably colored it for me.
u/OnlyEvonix [+2] (a day later)
I forget where exactly it is but there's section like this in ffn.nodwick.com where they do munchkining in a "modern vampire" setting, stuff like their politics resembling an embezzlement scheme, blood draining being marketed as a beauty treatment with no clear association with any vampires and using the fact that most vampires are incredibly vain to use kahki shorts and hawian print T-shirts as a nigh impenetrable disguise from other vampires.
u/wren42 [+2] (2 days later)
blindsight was discussed recently, and though several readers complained it wasn't in the SciFi genre or was gimmicky, I actually liked the vampires in that universe, once I got past the initial shock.