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PaperclipPerfector  11d ago (text post)   1604 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 28, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Looking for new books as I approach the end of the Harry Bosch series.

A genre I really enjoy is "competence porn," in which a character or characters overcome challenges and trials via being really good at what they do, either against the uncaring Universe or against an opponent who is also really good at what they do. This was always the appeal of Star Trek, and in books I've enjoyed Andy Weir's novels, the earlier Took Clancy books, Bosch and Reacher, Starship Troopers, Sherlock Homes, and nonfiction like The Right Stuff and Failure is Not An Option. Looking for suggestions of a similar nature.

You might get something out of Annals of a Fortress, a fictional history of one particular site in eastern France. It alternates between fortifying and besieging the fortress. Characters on both sides are usually extremely capable. They’d have to be, to get hundreds or thousands of men in position for a siege!

The author was a renowned architect with a strong historical basis. He was also really bitter about the Franco-Prussian war. Understandable, given that he was involved in organizing the final defense of Paris. The last section of the book lays out his theory of the current (circa 1880) state of the art. It’s basically a manual for the kind of strategies which would lead, inevitably, to trench warfare.

Link

While finding that link, I also stumbled across a different work from the same author, How to Build a House. In that work, a fictional architect apparently explains the process of designing an 1870s country house in detail, so it may also match @pusher_robot's desire.

You must know, cousin, that the more rapidly we want a building erected, the more desirable it is that everything should be perfectly arranged beforehand. Remember the trouble your neighbour, Count —— has had, who has been beginning his château again and again every spring for six years, without being able to get it finished, because he could not indicate all that he wanted at first, and his architect had not the courage to insist upon adopting a well-planned design once for all; and because he has listened to all the whims, or rather to all the officious advice which friends of the family did not fail to offer, one respecting the size of the rooms, another about the placing of the staircases, a third on the style and decoration. We have only a year before us, we must therefore not begin till we are certain of not taking false steps; besides, your sister must approve the plan. Let us consider a little; and first let us come to an understanding about the means of construction you decide to adopt. As we are in a hurry we have hardly a choice; we cannot think of building the house with worked stone from top to bottom; that would take too long, and cost too much. We must adopt a method of construction that is simple, and can be rapidly executed. Does that meet your ideas? You introduce columns in your front; for what purpose? If they form a portico, they will make the rooms dark and gloomy; if they are attached to the walls, they are of no use here. And this balustrade on the upper cornices—what does that mean? Do you suppose your lady sister will walk among the gutters? That is for the service of the cats, I suppose. And please to explain this: on the plan I observe that from the entrance-hall you have to go through the dining-room to reach the drawing-room. But if visitors come while you are at table, you will have to ask them to wait at the door, or invite them to see you and your friends eat.

A genre I really enjoy is "competence porn," in which a character or characters overcome challenges and trials via being really good at what they do, either against the uncaring Universe or against an opponent who is also really good at what they do

This is the opposite of competence porn, but you may enjoy this movie called Blue Ruin.

This totally normal average guy discovers that the guy who killed his parents is being released from jail early. Totally normal average guy decides he's going to kill him, but... he's not a skilled assassin or anything. He's got average skills. He struggles to do basic action movie things a hero does effortlessly. He misses a shot at point blank range. He tries to slash tires and hurts himself. Stuff, if you really think about it, most normal people would screw up too.

It makes the movie extremely tense and gripping, IMO.

Sublight Drive is a Star wars fan fiction of the clone wars. Main character is competent and generally so is everyone else in the story. The only times there is anything approaching incompetence is when someone is outside their area of expertise.

A genre I really enjoy is "competence porn," in which a character or characters overcome challenges and trials via being really good at what they do, either against the uncaring Universe or against an opponent who is also really good at what they do

I've just finished Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by Parker. Loved it, fits your genre perfectly, and it was a nice first for me in that it's in a fantasy universe, but there's no magic or monsters. It's a quick read.

There's also an interesting subtheme of the meaning of duty and loyalty - the protagonist defending empire, even though empire is of course fundamentally unjust, even to the protagonist personally.

the protagonist defending empire, even though empire is of course fundamentally unjust, even to the protagonist personally.

well, he is defending it against enemy who is even worse

Is that clear? The enemy certainly is competent, and good-enough to recruit the empire's foreign auxiliary legions, which presumably would have many reasons to stay loyal. And sure, the enemy is straight up genozidal, but that's not terribly outside the ordinary when a city resists a siege.

And besides switching sides, the engineers would always have had the options to just desert, vanishing unopposed into the night, selling their high-value skills to whoever payed most. But they decided to defend empire instead.

OK, I missed successful recruitment parts (have not read this one in full) and I remember repeated mentions of enemy being quite genocidal.

Is there a better way to do spoilers on TheMotte?

There's a "formatting help" button right under the text-input area.

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by Parker.

How cringey is the first-person narration?

How cringey is the first-person narration?

I had already forgotten that it's first person. Flipped through it again, I think it's well done.

Thanks for the insight!

Try Chip War. It's very interesting.

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