 Nyx Smith, How did you like his novels? |
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 Sep 18 2007, 07:17 AM
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#1
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Target  Group: Members Posts: 18 Joined: 13-September 07 Member No.: 13,241  |
How did you like the Nyx Smith novels? I found that he's a very controversial author. You either hate or love him. I for one loved all his novels, the favorites being Fade to Black and Steel Rain, though the latter one feels like the ending was a bit rushed. I love his characters and how he uses and also expands the SR slang. Only Stackpole ever did anything similar.
And where/who is he? Is Nyx Smith a pseudonym for Bob Weller/Robert.C Weller? Did he write any other novels? Did anybody read the following book? Does it even exist? (The description seems to fit for Fade to Black.) Bust Out (Roc, 1994.) A Shadowrun novel. A group of friends team up to help a man escape a corporate contract that is tantamount to slavery. (from this site) |
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Sep 18 2007, 08:30 AM
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#2
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
Definitely Fisty's favorite author, Shadowrun or otherwise. :D
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Sep 18 2007, 09:09 AM
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#3
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Great, I'm a Dragon... Group: Retired Admins Posts: 6,699 Joined: 8-October 03 From: North Germany Member No.: 5,698 |
I don't like his novels. They're written in a style that I can't enjoy to read and the main characters of his books are uber-npcs with no personality and zero charisma.
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Sep 18 2007, 09:15 AM
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#4
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,640 Joined: 6-June 04 Member No.: 6,383 |
But people like that. Look at the action heroes of the 80s. Van Damme. Ahhnold. Segal. I dunno, that's fun for me. |
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Sep 18 2007, 09:24 AM
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#5
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Great, I'm a Dragon... Group: Retired Admins Posts: 6,699 Joined: 8-October 03 From: North Germany Member No.: 5,698 |
That guys have charisma! :grinbig:
I fact, I really like the 80s movies. |
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Sep 18 2007, 09:24 AM
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#6
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Target Group: Members Posts: 18 Joined: 13-September 07 Member No.: 13,241 |
I've often heard the complaint about the writing style and i can see what you mean. But uber-NPCs? How are Bandit or Rico uber? |
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Sep 18 2007, 09:28 AM
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#7
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Great, I'm a Dragon... Group: Retired Admins Posts: 6,699 Joined: 8-October 03 From: North Germany Member No.: 5,698 |
I was thinking of Stryper. And Bandit simply sucks.
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Sep 18 2007, 01:55 PM
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#8
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ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333 |
I'm not overly fond of Nyx Smith's books, and especially disliked Stryper Assassin. My favorite SR (and the other stuff he did) author is (was :() Nigel Findley.
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Sep 18 2007, 02:09 PM
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#9
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 151 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Reutlingen.de Member No.: 677 |
I pretty much disliked anything with Stryper in it, but I was pretty surprised how much I liked Steel Rain.
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Sep 18 2007, 02:52 PM
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#10
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 249 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Orlando Member No.: 815 |
Johnny--Bandit was a Grade SIX initiate. Rico ran a team of super mercs on a rampage through New Jersey. That can be rather uber compared to many protagonists of other SR books.
Nigel Findley is the man to read for good SR fiction. He'll be missed. |
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Sep 18 2007, 02:52 PM
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#11
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Target Group: Members Posts: 83 Joined: 26-March 03 Member No.: 4,336 |
steel rain was a fun read, but she was definitely an uber-npc. Yadome-Jutsu against automatic weapons fire? please
Nigel Findley was my favorite, followed by whoever it was that wrote Nosferatu and Black Madonna. |
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Sep 18 2007, 03:21 PM
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#12
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 325 Joined: 9-December 06 From: the Maaatlock-Expressway! Member No.: 10,326 |
AFAIR, Rico led a group of moderate-level, gullible idiots on a rampage through a convoluted corp-conspiracy in the streets of New Jersey "for teh honorz". [ Spoiler ] Now, compare that to some (actually, most) of the protagonists of the other SR novels: You have, in no particular order, a superpowered adept who is also some sort of half-dragon and the Great Dragon Dunkelzahn's right-claw man. An n-th level initiate mage with a magical motorcycle. A snobby super-elf who saves the world from megalomaniac vampires. A leet decker who, right after getting kidnapped from his corp (where he was the pet of the CEO btw), becomes a powerful shaman, gets laid by the most wanted woman in early SR history, and then re-enacts the Great Ghost Dance. To save the world. And so on and so oon... If you look at it, even Findley's "heroes" are kinda uber. That doesn't mean that his books weren't the bestestest of the whole series. But was there one in which there wasn't, in some way, the fate of the world at stake? Oh, and Nyx Smith? Try to avoid the Stryper books. Especially the first. The second at least has that silly sub-plot with the guy from the city services. Fade to Black isn't too awful, and Steel Rain was bearable, although it felt a bit like reading Stryper Assassin again, only without the Shapeshifter-gimmick. |
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Sep 18 2007, 03:54 PM
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#13
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Incertum est quo loco te mors expectet; Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 6,546 Joined: 24-October 03 From: DeeCee, U.S. Member No.: 5,760 |
I enjoy Stryper Assassin, although admitedly, I was fourteen years old and had never read or heard of Shadowrun before. I didn't even realize the novel was connected to the RPG I was introduced to years later until... years later.
I think I read the second one first and thought it was neat, but confusing. I'd have to reread it to say if it's a GOOD book, since initially I was caught up more on the universe of Shadowrun than anything. I believe I read the first one (where the cub is kidnapped? Or is that the second one?) and didn't think it was too bad. I think it takes a certain amount of raw testosterone to read, though. |
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Sep 18 2007, 04:09 PM
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#14
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 325 Joined: 9-December 06 From: the Maaatlock-Expressway! Member No.: 10,326 |
The cub gets kidnapped in the second ook ("Who hunts the hunter" or something like that.)
In the first one, it is made. It's been too long to actually remember, but I think it involved graphic description of weresex. What put me off the Stryper novels (especially the first one) is all that "badass tiger uberness". "Ruthlessly, she put another bullet into the prey. That was the natural order of the world. She was the ruthless hunter, ruthlessly hunting the weak prey, because they are weak and no match for her primal, predatory ruthlessness. Another dead body falls to her feet, riddled with bullets from her ruthless primal submachine gun, manifesting her dominance over the weak prey. Did I mention she is totally ruthless and also super ice cold and a primal killing machine?!" Kinda like that... |
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Sep 18 2007, 04:28 PM
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#15
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 647 Joined: 9-September 03 From: Sorø, Denmark Member No.: 5,604 |
Please stop... it's "Striper", not "Stryper".
And Nosferatu and Black Madonna was written by Carl Sargent and Marc Gascoigne. I've just finished Nosferatu, and personally I was pleased when it was over, not one of the best SR novels IMO. Nigel Findley and Tom Dowd are my favourite SR authors. Lars |
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Sep 18 2007, 04:28 PM
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#16
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 858 Joined: 25-August 03 From: Braunschweig, North German League, Allied German States Member No.: 5,537 |
Actually, I somewhat liked Bandit as an example of a high-level initiate - completely obsessed with magic, totem-shaped personality, almost no connection to the mundane world and its problems... IIRC it took a close relative in severe danger to rip him out of his ego-/mago-centric worldview. |
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Sep 18 2007, 04:33 PM
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#17
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 325 Joined: 9-December 06 From: the Maaatlock-Expressway! Member No.: 10,326 |
Typing that "y" DID feel kind of awkward...
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Sep 18 2007, 04:55 PM
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#18
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Grumpy Old Ork Decker Group: Admin Posts: 3,794 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Orwell, Ohio Member No.: 50 |
I personally didn't like the Striper books. I did like Bandit, but Striper herself always bugged me in much the same way Drizzt does.
The only books I really enjoyed reading were Mel Odom's Jack Skater books and Steve Kenson's Talon books. Neither were great writing, but they were enjoyable, and for the most part fit in with how I see Shadowrun in my head, and how I like to play Shadowrun. I liked Into the Shadows. It was a good introduction to SR, and was something my original SR GM handed me when we started playing. I liked Stackpole's Wolf and Raven stuff a lot too, though it really bares very little resemblance to SR in places. His Dark Conspiracy books were often closer in feel to SR than the W&R stories. Beyond that, some of the other novels had neat characters or were ok, but none really stand out as "good". I kinda liked Jak Koke's first couple novels. Jason Hardy's novel was decent, though I really speed read through it, so I'll have to go back and digest it again to get a really good feel for it. Findlay's books were decent in places, but I've had trouble reading any of his work for a long time now. Rereading the Secrets of Power trilogy a few years ago was... painful. I didn;t realize just how bad and hackneyed they were. And the less said about anything Lisa Smedman wrote, the better :) Oh, and Shadowboxer? Seriously, I want the 4 hours it took me to grind through that book back. I demand a refund. :) Bull |
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Sep 18 2007, 07:06 PM
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#19
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MechRigger Delux Group: Retired Admins Posts: 1,151 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Hanger 18, WPAFB Member No.: 1,657 |
They wrote novels?
Jason Hardy Drops of Corruption, I like it. Gives the raw feel that the 4th Ed wanted to bring to the world. Nigel's stuff was the best, and his characters a bit less uber than some of the rest. There were acoupla of others that I really liked, but I'd need to go through the shelf and look at them again. Maybe I'll start rereading them since my collection is almost done. (yes, even the bad ones) |
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Sep 18 2007, 07:18 PM
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#20
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Awakened Asset Group: Members Posts: 4,464 Joined: 9-April 05 From: AGS, North German League Member No.: 7,309 |
I put the Striper books on my SR-top list, right behind 2XS.
"Who hunts the huntress" has clear character motivations. Tikki is not only "leet" because of her abilities, but also acts like a super-intelligent animal. In that aspect she is much more interesting than any powerful human. Plus I like Bandit. |
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Sep 18 2007, 08:17 PM
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#21
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 647 Joined: 9-September 03 From: Sorø, Denmark Member No.: 5,604 |
That would be "Who Hunts the Hunter" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shado...un_books#Novels Lars |
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Sep 18 2007, 10:46 PM
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#22
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Uncle Fisty Group: Admin Posts: 13,891 Joined: 3-January 05 From: Next To Her Member No.: 6,928 |
AAAAAGGGHH!!!!! "..... , say nothing at all." |
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Sep 18 2007, 10:54 PM
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#23
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Uncle Fisty Group: Admin Posts: 13,891 Joined: 3-January 05 From: Next To Her Member No.: 6,928 |
Sorry, here's a constructive post :
[ Spoiler ] I like Tom Dowd, and I like Stackpole, mostly for the writing styles. They're fun. I also liked Lisa Smedman's books for her style. Not so much the content, as I didn't really much care about Romules the shaoe shifter, or the main character from Tails you Lose, but the story oer all was interesting, and the little details she puts in. Skater and crew are my favorite SR crew, and I loved Hardy's Drops of Corruption, both for the obvious reason, and that it was just a cool and unique SR book, and trumpted all the other new ones. I also love Caroline Spector's books, especially Scars although it isn't exactly SR. The ones I didn't mention I have nothing nice to say about. That's my 2 :nuyen: for what it's worth. |
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Sep 19 2007, 04:43 AM
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#24
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
Nobody has mentioned Night's Pawn, which is my personal favorite.
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Sep 19 2007, 07:35 AM
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#25
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Free Spirit Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 3,944 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Bloomington, IN UCAS Member No.: 1,920 |
My top 4 are Into the Shadows, 2XS, Shadowplay, and Burning Bright.
I hate Worlds Without End, everyone I have heard that likes it also likes Earthdawn, which I could care less about. I also dislike all the Sargent/Gasciogne novels. Luckily, I am slow on my reading and still have the last 3 novels to read through, as well as 3 short stories here on dumpshock. |
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