Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.

Old Book Club Thread - Check out the New One!

Comments

  • CitizenErased14CitizenErased14 Posts: 12,187 Member
    edited January 2018
    I have a question :)

    For legacies, it will still be possible for them to be revisited at some point, right?

    I just ask because this will be the third time A2A has been featured in book club (I'm so flattered, so thank you!) and the first time it was featured, I was in the middle of my second generation (so generations one and two were the focus of the discussions that time around). And the second time, the questions were very general, so my Gen 2 heiress was also mentioned quite a bit in that discussion as well.

    So I feel like Mari's generation has already been discussed SO much. I'm not saying that I wouldn't enjoy discussing it again, just that I am sure I'll be repeating lots of things I've already said about that character and her storyl :) I'd love for the opportunity to talk about some of my other characters and their storylines, so I am hoping that it will still be a possibility for the future :)

    Just wanted to ask/clarify! :blush:
    snvAF3B.png
  • CathyTeaCathyTea Posts: 23,088 Member
    I have a question :)

    For legacies, it will still be possible for them to be revisited at some point, right?

    I just ask because this will be the third time A2A has been featured in book club (I'm so flattered, so thank you!) and the first time it was featured, I was in the middle of my second generation (so generations one and two were the focus of the discussions that time around). And the second time, the questions were very general, so my Gen 2 heiress was also mentioned quite a bit in that discussion as well.

    So I feel like Mari's generation has already been discussed SO much. I'm not saying that I wouldn't enjoy discussing it again, just that I am sure I'll be repeating lots of things I've already said about that character and her storyl :) I'd love for the opportunity to talk about some of my other characters and their storylines, so I am hoping that it will still be a possibility for the future :)

    Just wanted to ask/clarify! :blush:

    Hi, @CitizenErased14 ! Please talk with the person who nominated you--or, since I'm not sure who that is, with the Coffee Hour host, who is @Simslover163 -- and decide with that person which generation or group of chapters will be selected.

    It's important that it's a selection that you feel excited about, so I feel the writer should have the deciding vote on the selection! Just talk with @Simslover163 and let me know what the selection will be, and I'll update the list! :)
    Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology

    Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
  • CitizenErased14CitizenErased14 Posts: 12,187 Member
    Okay thank you @CathyTea :) I'm not until June anyway, so there is plenty of time to decide haha I just wasn't sure about the selection process and all that :)
    snvAF3B.png
  • CathyTeaCathyTea Posts: 23,088 Member
    @CitizenErased14 Also, since A2A is scheduled for June, it's fine to wait until the end of April or beginning of May to decide--who knows what exciting things the story will be up to by then? (Well, you probably do!)

    Anyway, I've updated the listing to say "Season TBD", so just let me know by the beginning of May which season it will be! :) Thanks!
    Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology

    Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
  • CitizenErased14CitizenErased14 Posts: 12,187 Member
    CathyTea wrote: »
    @CitizenErased14 Also, since A2A is scheduled for June, it's fine to wait until the end of April or beginning of May to decide--who knows what exciting things the story will be up to by then? (Well, you probably do!)

    Anyway, I've updated the listing to say "Season TBD", so just let me know by the beginning of May which season it will be! :) Thanks!

    Whoops, we cross-posted @CathyTea ! But I was thinking the same thing -- lots of time to decide :) Thank you again
    snvAF3B.png
  • CathyTeaCathyTea Posts: 23,088 Member
    Okay thank you @CathyTea :) I'm not until June anyway, so there is plenty of time to decide haha I just wasn't sure about the selection process and all that :)

    Yeah, the nominator chose. But I feel it's super important for the writer to have the ultimate say.
    Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology

    Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
  • BlackUndecimberBlackUndecimber Posts: 1,116 Member
    Yes! I'm so glad this is coming back :) I recently started reading No Stars Over Uptown, so this is perfect timing xD I can keep reading it and discuss it with others. Thank you, @CathyTea and others who made this possible! Very excited :D
  • CathyTeaCathyTea Posts: 23,088 Member
    So we decided that we'd include all of "No Stars over Uptown" for our selection these next two weeks. If you're not caught up on all of it by the time the coffee hour conversation starts, that's fine! You can just join in with your thoughts and responses for the parts you have read!

    As a reminder, here's how this first week will work:

    Read through (or reread, if you want) "No Stars over Uptown." Feel free to share responses, ideas, and thoughts here, in an informal manner. Keep track of specific questions that you want to talk about and explore during the Coffee Hour week. You can jot them down here, tagging our Coffee Hour host, @chocis , or you can PM them to her.

    Then, the second week, we'll have a more structured conversation based on the questions you've submitted for Coffee Hour.

    The questions can be for readers and for the writer.

    As the writer, @InfraGreen is welcome to pose questions to the readers, and, of course, to share all sorts of insights into the writing experience and process!

    (*Also, I bet this sounds sort of "Lit-class-like," right? Apologies! I am a college English teacher, and the semester starts Tuesday, so I'm very much in English-teacher mode. Really, this doesn't need to be formal, and it's best for it to be relaxed and friendly! I just tend to default into formal and polite when I attempt to explain things... Please just carry on in whatever way you're most comfortable with! :) * )
    Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology

    Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
  • AdamsEve1231AdamsEve1231 Posts: 7,035 Member
    @CathyTea is there a schedule for the year? I noticed something on the home page of this thread, but it says 2017. I wanted to clarify so I can figure out how to best keep up with the readings. :)
    With these forums closing down, stay connected.

    Find me elsewhere:
    My EA App ID: livinasimminlife
    Livin' A Simmin' Life Stories
    My Worldbuilding Blog
    Simblr
    My Sims Pinterest
  • friendsfan367friendsfan367 Posts: 29,362 Member
    CathyTea wrote: »
    So we decided that we'd include all of "No Stars over Uptown" for our selection these next two weeks. If you're not caught up on all of it by the time the coffee hour conversation starts, that's fine! You can just join in with your thoughts and responses for the parts you have read!

    As a reminder, here's how this first week will work:

    Read through (or reread, if you want) "No Stars over Uptown." Feel free to share responses, ideas, and thoughts here, in an informal manner. Keep track of specific questions that you want to talk about and explore during the Coffee Hour week. You can jot them down here, tagging our Coffee Hour host, @chocis , or you can PM them to her.

    Then, the second week, we'll have a more structured conversation based on the questions you've submitted for Coffee Hour.

    The questions can be for readers and for the writer.

    As the writer, @InfraGreen is welcome to pose questions to the readers, and, of course, to share all sorts of insights into the writing experience and process!

    (*Also, I bet this sounds sort of "Lit-class-like," right? Apologies! I am a college English teacher, and the semester starts Tuesday, so I'm very much in English-teacher mode. Really, this doesn't need to be formal, and it's best for it to be relaxed and friendly! I just tend to default into formal and polite when I attempt to explain things... Please just carry on in whatever way you're most comfortable with! :) * )

    yeah that means i can pick on you til monday. i said i'd stop once you went back. :) good luck though.
  • friendsfan367friendsfan367 Posts: 29,362 Member
    Okay thank you @CathyTea :) I'm not until June anyway, so there is plenty of time to decide haha I just wasn't sure about the selection process and all that :)

    we could discuss harper she seems fun.
  • CathyTeaCathyTea Posts: 23,088 Member
    @CathyTea is there a schedule for the year? I noticed something on the home page of this thread, but it says 2017. I wanted to clarify so I can figure out how to best keep up with the readings. :)

    Oops! Beginning-of-the-year typo. Should be Jan. 2018.

    The schedule near the top of the home page for this thread is correct. We're scheduled through June!
    Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology

    Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
  • AdamsEve1231AdamsEve1231 Posts: 7,035 Member
    edited January 2018
    @CathyTea or @swcheppes Oh one more question... I can't remember... are coffee hour questions for the writer or the readers?
    With these forums closing down, stay connected.

    Find me elsewhere:
    My EA App ID: livinasimminlife
    Livin' A Simmin' Life Stories
    My Worldbuilding Blog
    Simblr
    My Sims Pinterest
  • AdamsEve1231AdamsEve1231 Posts: 7,035 Member
    CathyTea wrote: »
    @CathyTea is there a schedule for the year? I noticed something on the home page of this thread, but it says 2017. I wanted to clarify so I can figure out how to best keep up with the readings. :)

    Oops! Beginning-of-the-year typo. Should be Jan. 2018.

    The schedule near the top of the home page for this thread is correct. We're scheduled through June!

    Thanks CT.
    With these forums closing down, stay connected.

    Find me elsewhere:
    My EA App ID: livinasimminlife
    Livin' A Simmin' Life Stories
    My Worldbuilding Blog
    Simblr
    My Sims Pinterest
  • friendsfan367friendsfan367 Posts: 29,362 Member
    Oh one more question... I can't remember... are coffee hour questions for the writer or the readers?

    both i think theres a set for readers and another set for writers.
  • swcheppesswcheppes Posts: 3,027 Member
    @CathyTea or @swcheppes Oh one more question... I can't remember... are coffee hour questions for the writer or the readers?

    Yes as @friendsfan367 their should be questions for both the author and the readers :)
    suRdkSd.jpg
  • AdamsEve1231AdamsEve1231 Posts: 7,035 Member
    With these forums closing down, stay connected.

    Find me elsewhere:
    My EA App ID: livinasimminlife
    Livin' A Simmin' Life Stories
    My Worldbuilding Blog
    Simblr
    My Sims Pinterest
  • CathyTeaCathyTea Posts: 23,088 Member
    Hi, Book Clubbers! How are you enjoying "No Stars Over Uptown?"

    This is the week when we can share informally our responses and what we especially like about the reading.

    What are your responses? What do you especially like?

    I'm not able to read every chapter, for some of it is a bit too heavy for me. But I can still share what I love and appreciate about the chapters I've read!

    One of the things I love most about this story, and something that I find inspiring is the fullness of the world that Trip has created. This city, with all its cultures, races, subcultures, groups and subgroups, feels very much like cities I've lived in. The dynamics between all the different groups--families, friends, co-workers, colleagues, neighbors, and more--feels very real with all the subtle connections that exist between members of various cultures and groups.

    And, one thing I really love is that food is a big part of creating these cultures and subcultures! (Fashion, too...)

    Reminder: This is also the week to submit questions for next week's Coffee Hour. You can post them here or send them to @chocis

    I'm really looking forward to hearing your responses!
    Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology

    Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
  • simscognitosimscognito Posts: 16,599 Member
    CathyTea wrote: »
    Hi, Book Clubbers! How are you enjoying "No Stars Over Uptown?"

    This is the week when we can share informally our responses and what we especially like about the reading.

    What are your responses? What do you especially like?

    I'm not able to read every chapter, for some of it is a bit too heavy for me. But I can still share what I love and appreciate about the chapters I've read!

    One of the things I love most about this story, and something that I find inspiring is the fullness of the world that Trip has created. This city, with all its cultures, races, subcultures, groups and subgroups, feels very much like cities I've lived in. The dynamics between all the different groups--families, friends, co-workers, colleagues, neighbors, and more--feels very real with all the subtle connections that exist between members of various cultures and groups.

    And, one thing I really love is that food is a big part of creating these cultures and subcultures! (Fashion, too...)

    Reminder: This is also the week to submit questions for next week's Coffee Hour. You can post them here or send them to @chocis

    I'm really looking forward to hearing your responses!

    I'm only a couple of chapters in, but what I'm really loving so far is how Trip takes you by the hand with each chapter. Everything is so easy to read and I feel like I don't need to go back and read everything again, because I have understood it the first time round.

    What I also like is the use of me to describe, as far as I understand it, Axel's internal self. I've not come across that technique before, but I find it quite interesting.

    Just a question about next week, are we still submitting questions for No Stars Over Uptown?

    If so, I am really interested to know how you came up with the title, Trip? It's a very captivating name.
  • CathyTeaCathyTea Posts: 23,088 Member

    Just a question about next week, are we still submitting questions for No Stars Over Uptown?

    If so, I am really interested to know how you came up with the title, Trip? It's a very captivating name.

    Yes, we're still submitting questions for "No Stars!" This is a great question, Cog--it's a cool title, isn't it?

    Questions can be for the writer and for readers.
    Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology

    Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
  • friendsfan367friendsfan367 Posts: 29,362 Member
    CathyTea wrote: »

    Just a question about next week, are we still submitting questions for No Stars Over Uptown?

    If so, I am really interested to know how you came up with the title, Trip? It's a very captivating name.

    Yes, we're still submitting questions for "No Stars!" This is a great question, Cog--it's a cool title, isn't it?

    Questions can be for the writer and for readers.

    rember last year when i had no idea what a passionate reader was? i get it now. i haven't finished the whole story but plumbob and i threatened to make trip replicas and burn them if anymore bad stuff happens to axel.


    and trip admitted the kitchen fire was not a accident. most of the readers probably read that part already i'm the slowest.
  • BlackUndecimberBlackUndecimber Posts: 1,116 Member
    I've been reading Uptown for a few days straight and I finished it this morning! :)

    My favourite chapter is chapter 37. Everyone in the comments were too busy talking about Axel's many.... problems.... so I'm going to talk about the visuals instead. It is my favourite chapter because of these three beautiful screenshots towards the end. I'm talking about the last three pictures of Axel's daydream, and I love them because of the contrast between the yellow filtered indoors and the blue outside that shows through the window. The contrast is striking- unreal, even. Like its representing Axel's unrealistic ideals.
    ...Then the next screenshot is Axel in the shower having his own private fun time, and we snap out of the daydream. ("He looks really satisfied," commented my roomie.)

    The dream sequences towards the recent chapters are amazing, both visually and content wise, and I feel this chapter is a little teaser of that. It really takes the reader along on a ride. Great chapter.
  • InfraGreenInfraGreen Posts: 6,693 Member
    Thanks guys. :grin:

    @CathyTea: disturbing and troubling...but you've known me for long enough. I always swerve into that direction. ;)

    I was angling for a city job before I started writing this (though I'm more than okay with being in a small town...it pays at least!) so the nuances of city life is just me living out the dream...

    @simscognito: as you'll find out later (?) a lot of the story takes place in the Uptown district. I thought about how cities tend to not have starry skies thanks to light pollution, smog, etc. And more symbolically, Uptown is not the shiny place it seems to be (spoiler but c'mon, easiest trope in the book :tongue:)

    Only later did I actually pan up to the sky over Uptown and find that there's lots of stars. :p

    Fun fact: in Google Drive, my folder for Uptown still bears my working name: Rosaries for Thu.

    @friendsfan367: but I can't hurt Axel nearly as much as he hurts himself. :p

    @chalicen: it's GIMP magic! And congrats on finishing.

    I'm having a lot of fun with dream chapters and hope to revisit them a little. It's fitting for two characters absolutely stuck in their own heads.
    A thousand bared teeth, a thousand bowed heads

    outrun / blog / tunglr
  • CitizenErased14CitizenErased14 Posts: 12,187 Member
    @InfraGreen already knows I’m one of her #1 Uptown fans haha :heart:

    But I’ll still ask about the dream chapters (which I honestly think are the most captivating chapters I have ever read in any Simlit. They were truly masterpieces. Especially Thu’s dreams!)

    What was your inspiration for them? How did you come up with using the mannequins? And what about your approaches to the two different dream worlds? (Thu seeing herself as a child and focusing primarily on the past, Axel seeing himself as an old man and focusing on the future).

    I feel like I could write a whole essay with my thoughts and analysis. But I’d love to hear from the author herself :heart:
    snvAF3B.png
  • AdamsEve1231AdamsEve1231 Posts: 7,035 Member
    I submitted questions to @chocis already. What I've read I like thus far, but I'm not really far in yet, @friendsfan367 so don't worry. You're not the slowest reader. I'm just busy this week.
    With these forums closing down, stay connected.

    Find me elsewhere:
    My EA App ID: livinasimminlife
    Livin' A Simmin' Life Stories
    My Worldbuilding Blog
    Simblr
    My Sims Pinterest
Sign In or Register to comment.
Return to top