[an0n]

First and foremost, if anyone has the ebook of At All Costs by David Weber: *nudge nudge wink wink*

Secondly: I need a nice, heart-wrenching tale of tragedy, loss, love and mindless hate.

Preferably sci-fi or period, but anything will do. I need my weekly fix of second-hand emotion.

And no, not Romeo and Juliet (unless you've got the DVD - *nudge nudge wink wink*).

[Singh]

Secondly: I need a nice, heart-wrenching tale of tragedy, loss, love and mindless hate.

If you're looking for mass earth-scale disaster tragedy type, then Stephen Braxton's Time's Eye is pretty decent in that department.

[an0n]

Nah, I want something character-driven.

Also: Not Dune Messiah

[delta_7890]

The "A Song of Ice and Fire" books are very tragic in parts.  You learn not to become too attached to characters.  <<;  They could die at pretty much any moment, and usually in terrible ways.

[Ford Prefect]

McTeague, by Frank Norris. A sweeping, naturalistic tale of human beings blindly demolishing their own lives with their inescapable greed and vindictiveness.

Although perhaps a little more humorous than what you're looking for, now that I think about it.

[Rictor]

Secondly: I need a nice, heart-wrenching tale of tragedy, loss, love and mindless hate.

Instructions:

1. Walk into a bookstore.
2. Close your eyes and put your hand out.
3. Make a gripping motion between your thumb and fingers.
4. Pay the nice people for their over-priced wares. Or don't. Remember to shake the chip out of the book, otherwise it starts beeping when you walk out (if it does, walk quickly into the night).

On a slightly more helpful note: anything by Kurt Vonnegut. He does that whole innocence lost thing very well. Tragedy abound. Try Slaughter-House Five.

[Taristin]

Secondly: I need a nice, heart-wrenching tale of tragedy, loss, love and mindless hate.

Preferably sci-fi or period, but anything will do. I need my weekly fix of second-hand emotion.

How bout the Bible?

[Prophet]

Why don't you try Lord of the Rings?

[pyro-manic]

Against a Dark Background by Iain M Banks is very good. Rather bleak at times, and the characters are great.

[an0n]

Tolkien blows. He spends too much time describing useless bull****. Like in ROTK he has like 2 paragraphs explaining the lay of some random land and by the end I was like "Wait, there's a river that bends westward into the east-facing mountains of the south of the river's north - but only between the hours of 9am and 5pm Mon-Fri?"

[Charismatic]

How bout the Bible?

Lol yep.

-not dune? dune is good.. i like dune.. ahhh dune dune..

[an0n]

Yeah, I know Dune is good. I own copies of all the proper books (no ****ty Jihad or House).

But I've already read them all.

[Ace]

Secondly: I need a nice, heart-wrenching tale of tragedy, loss, love and mindless hate.

Preferably sci-fi or period, but anything will do. I need my weekly fix of second-hand emotion.

How bout the Bible?

Too much rape, vagueness, and random violence even for an0n's tastes.

[Prophet]

Tolkien blows. He spends too much time describing useless bull****. Like in ROTK he has like 2 paragraphs explaining the lay of some random land and by the end I was like "Wait, there's a river that bends westward into the east-facing mountains of the south of the river's north - but only between the hours of 9am and 5pm Mon-Fri?"

You should be careful when throwing that kind of statements around. Some people consider Tolkien to be god and LOTR his bible.
For you I recommend Bored of the Rings by Henry N. Beard and Douglas C. Kenney... It should be more fitting for your tastes. Though it too has couple of difficult words

[Flipside]

Heh, LOTR was a drag in places, I've read the books and loved the story, but am still convinced it should have been 2 books at most in it's current form, or a 12-book anthology that covered the Silmarillion, The Hobbit and LOTR all in detail.

[Night Hammer]

I dunno if this would intrest you but im reading through Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose (yes the HBO series was based on the book) but its great, lots of loss, hate all that **** you mentioned

[Flipside]

If you like Fantasy, it's also worth trying the Runelords series by David Farland, lots of graphic scenes of reavers (15ft high Insect things) wading in gore and internal organs, quite a gritty series

[an0n]

I dunno if this would intrest you but im reading through Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose (yes the HBO series was based on the book) but its great, lots of loss, hate all that **** you mentioned

I got halfway through it and decided I didn't like being talked at.

It all just kinda blurs together till the battles don't really present anything different from training or pillaging French towns.

[Sandwich]

*nudge nudge wink wink*

First of all, just because we're not on GS anymore doesn't mean our policy towards nudging and winking has changed, m'kay?

Secondly... have you read The Forge of God, by Greg Bear? All I remember is an immense sense of loss and the vivid description of... said loss at the end. Pretty stunning.

[karajorma]

Secondly... have you read The Forge of God, by Greg Bear? All I remember is an immense sense of loss and the vivid description of... said loss at the end. Pretty stunning.

Good book that. Have you read the sequal Anvil of Stars? It's somewhat different in style but still pretty good