He's come a long way from the galaxy's most annoying Ensign, yes. He writes genuinely funny and insightful blog posts, is a fixture at many gaming and geek culture conventions, and is a true gamer and lover of the lifestyle, as well as one helluva nice guy. His wife makes appearances on Tabletop too and seems like a really great woman herself.

About the only thing Wheaton's done lately that bothers me is his appearances on The Big Bang Theory, which I dislike on the grounds that it does not embrace "geek culture" nor skewer it wittingly but abuses stereotypes and reinforces mainstream impressions of a certain subcultural group. Sort of like how every person TF2/COD/LoL player considers themselves a "Gamer". *Gets off soapbox* Oh my, sorry about that!


I realize there are fans of TBBT who are also self-described geeks.

I wish Wheaton wouldn't have gone the "I'm going to imitate Talk Soup" route, though. I enjoy the show, but that's all I can think of when I watch it.

What kind of "funny" geek comedy would it be if it didn't abuse and reinforce geek stereotype. It would be a very stupid and unfunny show if these characters acted intelligently and broke away from the geek stereotypes.

The In Crowd did it first and much better, in my opinion. They are laughing with geeks rather than at them.

Oh right, the very 'realistic' and bloody series.
I liked that series.

Janny Wurts' Wars of Light and Shadow series is pretty good. I've read up to the fifth book so far. It's refreshing in that it's ultimately not heroes vs. the big blackhearted evil but warring factions of people who pretty much all have realistic motives and can make a case for "we're the good guys" even if it may be more convincing from some of them than others (there is a villain of sorts, but one who largely just sets the situation off and then leaves everyone to fight it out among themselves). Though because of this it can also feel a bit unrelentingly heavy and tragic at times. Still I'd recommend it.

I love me some Abercrombie, that was the first book of his I read, totally on a whim after finding it at a used bookstore.

Just (about) finished re-reading the First Law Trilogy. Probably my favourite series of all time now. The other three are good to, but not quite as good as the first trilogy I think (if only because being shorter they are a little less satisfying)

I can't wait to read his new book, despite it being set in a different world. I do hope he comes back to the First Law characters / world as I think there's a lot more he could do.

Still got Robin Hobbs new book to read first, having kind of got back into reading having not bothered much in a while.

Very good choice, I am reading that too, although for second time.

I love Abercrombie's fresh and realistic style, where you can love and hate the characters at once and the twisting, devious plot he creates. The other single stories are quite outstanding in my opinion, they contain some memorable scenes.

oh. wasn't aware that it was part of a series.. thought it was a standalone. thanks for the headsup.
WHAT A COINCIDENCE! This is my first abercombie book too, and I found it in a 2nd hand bookstore. ahaha. sorta blown away by this.

It kind of is and kind of isn't. The book itself is stand alone but set in the same world as his other books and with some recurring characters. It's kind of the first book in a trilogy of standalone books (if that makes sense) comprising Best Served Cold, The Heroes and Red Country. Chronologically they occur after the First Law Trilogy (which imo is even better)

Nice! I love the book, and especially Murcatto, she's a great character.

Ahh.. thanks for the explanation.. I plan on reading The Heroes next.

I have to HIGHLY recommend the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne. Official Site

Here's a quote from the front of the books:

"A page-turning and often laugh-out-loud-funny caper through a mix of the modern and the mythic." - Air Marmell, author of The Warlords Legacy

From that, you probably gathered (correctly!) that these books are urban fantasy - not my usual literary fare, as I tend to lean more towards pure fantasy.

Mr. Marmell is not kidding when he says, "laugh-out-loud-funny". The series is rife with a humor that never feels forced. Kevin Hearne sucked me in immediately, and after the first paragraph, all I could do is stare in surprise, then burst out laughing. The first word that came to mind to describe the writing style was "delightful", and that feeling has persisted throughout the series.

The story centers around the last real, bona fide druid on Earth, who is living in today's society with 2,000+ years' worth of life and memory. All of the assorted gods are real, from the Norse to the Roman to the Greek and any other god you can imagine... and one in particular has a grudge against our mighty druid... a grudge that no one seems to want to let our protagonist forget.

Add in vampires, witches, werewolfs, demons, a saucy elderly Catholic woman, and our druid's entertaining weakness to the mix, and you have the very beginning of Iron Druid Chronicles.

For the gist of the writing style we're talking about, for the enjoyment of it, and to hopefully pique your interest enough that you just have to go and find out more about this series, following is the first paragraph of book #1, Hounded: Warning for those who care about such things:

There is quite a lot of swearing throughout the books. I'm not one who enjoys or tends to use foul language, but in this case, it really goes with the flow of the story, and is not offensive (to me) at all.

Finally, if the idea of Jesus sitting at a restaurant bar, drinking good Irish whiskey with a pagan druid is offensive to you, these books are not for you ;D