Jean Muir Puns

Hey, r/fantasy! I wrote a post like this last year, and it seemed to have gone down well, so here's some more short reviews/recommendations of lesser-known/underappreciated fantasy books - this time from my 2021 reading list.

CJ Cherryh - A Fortress in the Eye of Time

It's always scary to pick up 800-page-long openers of obscure fantasy series. What if I get bored halfway through (surely it's obscure for a reason)? What shall I do then — mourn the wasted time or plod along with gritted teeth? Fortress, however, allayed these concerns pretty quickly. Despite a rather slow beginning, this high-diction novel quickly enthralls you and makes you care for its tabula rasa of a protagonist — the youth Tristen, created by an aging mage for a mysterious purpose. On the one hand, Tristen's naivety and inexperience help the reader acclimatise to the author's setting and discover it together with the hero; on the other hand, those qualities fuel interesting dynamics between Tristen and other characters, who either try to use him in their intrigues, or convince themselves that something is hiding behind his façade of awkward straightforwardness. You'll find out what exactly is hiding in Tristen's mind only at the end of the book, by which point Cherryh's world with all its schemes and schemers will surely become a cherished second home.

Jack Vance - The Dying Earth

Somehow I had convinced myself that this book was something sardonic and postapocalyptic akin to A Canticle for Leibowitz, but it actually turned out to be a boisterous collection of old-fashioned fantasy adventures, where the impending end of the world isn't the central theme but merely one of the components of its decadent fairy-tale atmosphere. The eponymous opener of the series is a string of interconnected stories about wizards and wanderers, and their appeal is built on both the twisting narratives and Vance's trademark language shenanigans. The text is peppered with both archaisms and neologisms, and his style seems to gently mock high fantasy diction while remaining consistent and literary. Later down the line the series morphs into a picaresque starring a charming rascal by the name of Cugel: while the first book had plenty of genuine blue-eyed heroism, Cugel's only concern is his own well-being, which he often tends to gamble away chasing

Hello beautiful people of r/fantasy. I have been lucky enough to read 72 books so far in 2021, most of them in the SFF genre, which is by far a personal best for me. I should actually be able to make it up to 74 as I am more than midway through Dune Messiah (Frank Herbert) and Moving Pictures (Terry Pratchett), but since I do not see either of those two books cracking into my top 10, I figured I could start writing about the best books I have read this year and share with you all 10 mini reviews of the 10 best books I have read in 2021, because like so many others, I just need to talk about it! I would love to read your thoughts on what I read this year.

Most of them are fantasy, although two out of the ten would probably be better described as sci-fi but with enough fantasy elements to them that I figure they can count as is. I will try to keep my reviews as spoiler free as possible and will mark any spoilers with the proper tags.

First, a few honorable mentions that just missed the cut for me but I still found to be fantastic reads that I cannot recommend enough: 11/22/63 by Stephen King, The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter, Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett, Tiamat's Wrath by James A Corey, Watchmen by Allan Moore and Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence. In a few of those cases, you will find other books from the same series listed bellow. So with that being said, let's begin!

10. NEMESIS GAMES (The Expense #5) by James A Corey

I read Leviathan Wakes, the first book of the series, at the end of last year and upon finding out that the conclusion Leviathan Fall was due for the spring of 2021, I have spent most of the year pacing myself and reading about one book every month to be caught up for the release of the finale. This series isn't what I would call ground breaking. It doesn't reinvent the wheel and plays on a trope that has been well established, that of humanity tearing itself apart while a bigger world-ending threat is looming in the background, but it does what it does extremely well. The characters are interesting and fun to follow and all of the books are at the very least firmly planted in the "entertaining as hell" category for me. Nemesis Games is the middle book in this 9-books series and is, to my taste at least, the very best one. This book follows the crew of the Rocinante as they are split apart for significant amount of time for the first time in the series, which gives some of Jim Holden's friends

...is found in a recent Journal of CESNUR article:

1. Abrahams, Kyria. I’m Perfect, You’re Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah’s Witness Upbringing. New York: Touchstone, 2009.
2. Allen-Wilske, Brandi. The Invisible Jehovah’s Witness Girl: My Rise Above Life as a Witness. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace, 2014.
3. Anderson, Barbara, with Richard E. Kelly. Barbara Anderson Uncensored: Eyewitness to Deceit: Discoveries of a Former Jehovah’s Witness Insider. Tucson, AZ: Parker Ridge Publishing, 2018.
4. Brooks, Christine. Crazy Town: Growing Up a Jehovah’s Witness. N.p.: the Author, 2018.
5. Buitron, Steve. Blinded by the (New) Light: My Personal Journey from High School Dropout to Attorney. 2014. Kindle only.
6. Burns, Jason. Born a Jehovah’s Witness, Book 1. 2019. Kindle edition only.
7. Casarona, Keith. New Boy: Life and Death at the World Headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Sedona, AZ: the Author, 2019.
8. Castro, Joy. Island of Bones: Essays. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 2012.
9. Castro, Joy. Truth Book: Escaping a Childhood of Abuse Among Jehovah’s Witnesses. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 2012.
10. Clark, Daniel. I, Witness: The Shocking Insider’s Story of Jehovah’s Witnesses. N.p.: Villa Press, 2015.
11. Clarke, Gulfrey. Aquamarine Blues. Berne, Switz.: Cacoon Publishers, 2014.
12. Coburn, William. The Spanking Room: A Child’s Eye View of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Enumclaw, WA: Winepress Publishing, 2008.
13. Curtis, Linda A. Shunned: How I Lost my Religion and Found Myself. Berkeley, CA: She Writes Press, 2018.
14. Daniels, Vincent. Holly Jolly Nothing. Detroit, MI: Tiny Word Books, 2016.
15. Davies, Alexis. Toxic Faith: Yet Another Traumatic Tale of Leaving the Cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses. N.p.: the Author, 2018.
16. Dixon, Jean S. Thirty-Five Years a Jehovah’s Witness. N.p.: the Author, 2019.
17. Ellis, Beth. Bad Things in the Night. London: Ebury Press, 2010.
18. Evans, Lloyd. The Reluctant Apostate: Leaving Jehovah’s Witnesses Comes at a Price. N.p.: JLE Publishing, 2017.
19. Foreman, Joanna. The Know-it-all Girl: A Memoir by a Former Jehovah’s Witness. Corydon, IN: Per Basket Publications, 2013.
20. Frye, Roald E. My Christian Quest from Jehovah’s Witness to Son of God. Christian Respondent, 2006.
21. Hale, Christopher. *Disfellowshipped! Forced Exile and Liberation: A True Story of Finding My Truth an

-Ship: A Visual Poem, Terrance Day, 2020
5 Fingers, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1952
After Migration: Calabria, Walé Oyéjidé and Jake Saner, 2019
All About Eve, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950
Alphaville, Jean-Luc Godard, 1965
Antarctica: A Year on Ice, Anthony Powell, 2013
Appropriate Behavior, Desiree Akhavan, 2014
The Asphalt Jungle, John Huston, 1950**
Band of Outsiders, Jean-Luc Godard, 1964**
Battered, Lee Grant, 1989
Brother’s Keeper, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, 1992
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Ken Hughes, 1968
Cleopatra, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1963
Color Adjustment, Marlon Riggs, 1991
Crime of Passion, Gerd Oswald, 1957
Crime Wave, André De Toth, 1953
Danzón, Maria Novaro, 1991
Day for Night, François Truffaut, 1973
Delicatessen, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, 1991
Denver & Rio Grande, Byron Haskin, 1952
Down and Out in America, Lee Grant, 1986
Down Argentine Way, Irving Cummings, 1940
Dragonwyck, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1946
Edward II, Derek Jarman, 1991
The Eternal Sea, John H. Auer, 1955
The Fever, Maya Da-Rin, 2019
Gas Food Lodging, Allison Anders, 1992
Get on the Bus, Spike Lee, 1996
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1947
Guys and Dolls, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1955**
Harvey, Henry Koster, 1950
Holiday Affair, Don Hartman, 1949
The Hours and Times, Christopher Münch, 1991
House of Strangers, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1949
I Am Afraid to Forget Your Face, Sameh Alaa, 2020
In the Soup, Alexandre Rockwell, 1992
Incident at Oglala, Michael Apted, 1992
Intimate Stranger, Alan Berliner, 1991
Johnny Guitar, Nicholas Ray, 1954
Johnny Suede, Tom DiCillo, 1991**
The Killing, Stanley Kubrick, 1956
Lands, Maya Da-Rin, 2009
The Last Command, Frank Lloyd, 1955
The Last Days of Disco, Whit Stillman, 1998
Les Vampires, Louis Feuillade, 1915
Light Sleeper, Paul Schrader, 1992
The Living End, Gregg Araki, 1992
The Load, Ognjen Glavonić, 2018
Man in the Saddle, André De Toth, 1951
The Man from Laramie, Anthony Mann, 1955
Margin, Maya Da-Rin, 2007
Matador, Pedro Almodovar, 1986**
The Nun, Jacques Rivette, 1966
The Quiet American, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1958
People Will Talk, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1951
Pharos of Chaos, Wolf-Eckart Bühler and Manfred Blank, 1983**
Poison Ivy, Katt Shea, 1992
Radio On, Christopher Petit, 1979
Roger and Me, Michael Moore, 1989
She Runs, Qiu Yang, 2019
Some Divine Wind, Roddy Bogawa, 1992
Stormy Weather, Andrew L

I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.

Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.

I have been world-building for my first novel for the past six months or so. Granted, part of that time was hampered by some health issues and then a move from Los Angeles to Texas due to COVID lunacy.

Now that I am finally settling in I feel compelled to share some thoughts regarding the confounding nature of the discipline.

if I were to reduce world-building to its simplest terms; it's foundations are a reflection of the passions I hold most dear.

I am ever fascinated and inspired by the list below. The takeaway is , with such a wide range of eclectic interests, it's no wonder that world-building can be so perplexing .

I am constantly bringing elements of these "worlds" into my world (whether consciously or not) , moving them around like puzzle pieces, figuring out the role they will play in my plot and the evolution of my protagonist.

This is sacred work, and work it is.

Giorgio Vasari, who wrote the Italian Renaissance's two volume masterpiece "The lives of the Artists" noted that an artist (who's name I can't remember) after much failure lamented that he had ended up with a colorful omelette on a marble floor.

All artists, regardless of medium make their messes. It's just part and parcel of the creative process.

As a long time painter I know that sometimes you have to scrape down a day's work to create a solid base for next days painting session. I also know what my mentor ,the great Steven Assael told us in class.

"It takes a thousand bad paintings to finally paint a good one."

One final story for your inspiration and consideration:

Walt Disney would depart the studio every late evening around midnight leaving his junior artists to draw all night. At 7 am he would return to the empty studio and go through the waste paper baskets digging through discarded sketches. More often than not when the young artist came back to work, his crumpled drawing would be flattened out on the table with the following message:

"Stop throwing out the good ones!!!"

We should be very careful when critiquing our own work.

We may throw out the next Mickey Mouse or Pluto.

World History:

• Ancient Egypt
• The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah
• The Greek Polis
• The Reign of Alexander
• The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire
• Florence, Italy during the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

World Religions:

• Buddhism
• Judaism (Particularly Jewish Mysticism)
• Vedantic Philosophy
• Wicca
• Eclectic Witchcraft
• Theosophy
• Luciferianism

**Esote

Do your worst!

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!

Because she wanted to see the task manager.

They’re on standbi

BamBOO!

Pilot on me!!

Nothing, he was gladiator.

Abagael Abagail Abbe Abbey Abbi Abbie Abby Abigael Abigail Abigale Abra Acacia Ada Adah Adaline Adara Addie Addis Adel Adela Adelaide Adele Adelice Adelina Adelind Adeline Adella Adelle Adena Adey Adi Adiana Adina Adora Adore Adoree Adorne Adrea Adria Adriaens Adrian Adriana Adriane Adrianna Adrianne Adrien Adriena Adrienne Aeriel Aeriela Aeriell Ag Agace Agata Agatha Agathe Aggi Aggie Aggy Agna Agnella Agnes Agnese Agnesse Agneta Agnola Agretha Aida Aidan Aigneis Aila Aile Ailee Aileen Ailene Ailey Aili Ailina Ailyn Aime Aimee Aimil Aina Aindrea Ainslee Ainsley Ainslie Ajay Alaine Alameda Alana Alanah Alane Alanna Alayne Alberta Albertina Albertine Albina Alecia Aleda Aleece Aleecia Aleen Alejandra Alejandrina Alena Alene Alessandra Aleta Alethea Alex Alexa Alexandra Alexandrina Alexi Alexia Alexina Alexine Alexis Alfie Alfreda Ali Alia Alica Alice Alicea Alicia Alida Alidia Alina Aline Alis Alisa Alisha Alison Alissa Alisun Alix Aliza Alla Alleen Allegra Allene Alli Allianora Allie Allina Allis Allison Allissa Allsun Ally Allyce Allyn Allys Allyson Alma Almeda Almeria Almeta Almira Almire Aloise Aloisia Aloysia Alpa Alta Althea Alvera Alvina Alvinia Alvira Alyce Alyda Alys Alysa Alyse Alysia Alyson Alyss Alyssa Amabel Amabelle Amalea Amalee Amaleta Amalia Amalie Amalita Amalle Amanda Amandi Amandie Amandy Amara Amargo Amata Amber Amberly Ambrosia Ambur Ame Amelia Amelie Amelina Ameline Amelita Ami Amie Amity Ammamaria Amy Ana Anabel Anabella Anabelle Anais Analiese Analise Anallese Anallise Anastasia Anastasie Anastassia Anatola Andee Andi Andie Andra Andrea Andreana Andree Andrei Andria Andriana Andriette Andromache Andromeda Andy Anestassia Anet Anett Anetta Anette Ange Angel Angela Angele Angelia Angelica Angelika Angelina Angeline Angelique Angelita Angelle Angie Angil Angy Ania Anica Anissa Anita Anitra Anja Anjanette Anjela Ann Ann-Mari Ann-Marie Anna Anna-Diana Anna-Diane Anna-Maria Annabal Annabel Annabela Annabell Annabella Annabelle Annadiana Annadiane Annalee Annalena Annaliese Annalisa Annalise Annalyse Annamari Annamaria Annamarie Anne Anne-Corinne Anne-Mar Anne-Marie Annecorinne Anneliese Annelise Annemarie Annetta Annette Anni Annice Annie Annissa Annmaria Annmarie Annnora Annora Anny Anselma Ansley Anstice Anthe Anthea Anthia Antoinette Antonella Antonetta Antonia Antonie Antonietta Antonina Anya Aphrodite Appolonia April Aprilette Ara Arabel Arabela Arabele Arabella Arabelle Arda Ardath Ardeen Ardelia Ardelis Ardella Ardelle Arden Ardene

Heard they've been doing some shady business.

Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.

This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.

If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.

Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.

When I got home, they were still there.

What did 0 say to 8 ?

" Nice Belt "

So What did 3 say to 8 ?

" Hey, you two stop making out "

I won't be doing that today!

[Removed]

Where ever you left it 🤷‍♀️🤭

This morning, my 4 year old daughter.

Daughter: I'm hungry

Me: nerves building, smile widening

Me: Hi hungry, I'm dad.

She had no idea what was going on but I finally did it.

Thank you all for listening.

There hasn't been a post all year!

You take away their little brooms

It was about a weak back.

Why

It’s pronounced “Noel.”

After all his first name is No-vac

What, then, is Chinese rap?

Edit:

Notable mentions from the comments:

• Spanish/Swedish/Swiss/Serbian hits

• French/Finnish art

• Country/Canadian rap

• Chinese/Country/Canadian rock

• Turkish/Tunisian/Taiwanese rap