>Recommended reading charts. (Look here before asking for vague recs)https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ/folder/4rAmSZxb>Archivehttps://warosu.org/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=sffg>Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1029811-sffgPrevious Thread: >>23543175
first for zyzz
First for Bakker.
Truth shines
What the dark and mature version of Lord of the Rings would be, and does it exist?
The slog of slogs boys
>>23554646The second apocalypse series by Bakker
https://youtu.be/no-8gSQCVls?si=PMIDNNgLWT9Xx0v1 https://youtu.be/OA3KiBCmf1E?si=X7Fpaab0DUABEF2t https://youtu.be/fXR7piB6D_U?si=BVMWg5gB03ANn9Hu https://youtu.be/R35XVTUv6vo?si=rBRDqrJpTcLM8i1G https://youtu.be/s6PwUF9luo4?si=XIcV-JeamU3rSy_N
>>23554646The Broken Sword
>>23554751Is Simon Green any good?
>>23554751>Outlaw BooksellerBased, youtube needs more unhinged boomers talking about vintage scifi
>>23554830He is an older gen x. The kind who actually talk about vintage stuff, instead of just Stephen King.
>>23554660>>23554651>>23554612>>23554506this is why no one likes you.
>>23554868>>23554868
>>23554494Mirin
>>23554646Objectively, Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone. That entire series only exists because Moorcock explicitly wanted to respond to Tolkien by taking what he did and making the opposite. It's really quite petty honestly.
>>23554910he wanted to do the opposite of ROBERT HOWARD not tolkienAnd he loves conan, he said in interviews that conan and john carter are the reasons why he became a writer
Rec me some unabashed power fantasy books that also have good prose, please.
>>23554949Yes I very much saw the influence. Even the opening intro to Elric reads very much like the whole Hither Came Conan thing.
I'm starting to read Arthur C. Clark for the first time, what should I expect /sffg/? I'm more used to Eastern European, American and Asian sci-fi.
>>23554878All of you.
>>23554646>What the dark and mature version of Lord of the Rings would be, and does it exist?Isn't that like 75% of fantasy?
>>23554646>>23555609>Mature
>>23554646As opposed to the light and immature version of The Lord of the Rings...
What would the dark and mature version of Reverend Insanity be like?
OH NO NO NO
>>23555673Nobody in this general likes his books.
>>23555615Yes, The Lord of The Rings is extremely immature. There are no descriptions of shit and dicks, it doesn't subvert expectations, it doesn't have many feminist characters, lack of diversity, all the characters are shallow because they don't have Daddy Issues or are alcoholics.
>>23555673Pretty much expected if you have ever seen his weird interactions at signings, comicon, wherever.Also his name is Kneel GayMan, pretty obvious hes a sexual predator.
>>23555679Why?
>>23554868i just love bakker
>>23555699Because this general is pro feminism and anti rape
>>23554651THE COFFERSTRUTH SHINES
>>23554660TRUTH SHINES
>>23555057This is an underrated one
>>23555699Because we don't have vaginas.
>>23555790I have.
>>23555811Can I see it?
>>23555652>Reverend InsanityHigh quality post.
>>23555847Why do you have this image saved
>>23555673
>>23555942I have Good Omens and I honestly remember almost nothing about the book and I thought it was very weak. I read this almost 15 years ago to be fair. But I know it has become very popular in recent times among old femcels and fat zoomer girls.>>23555057Based
>>23554488>That end reveal about the Storm Troopers being clonesSo has Zahn ever commented on how Lucas seemed to have been "inspired" by this particular aspect of his books?
>>23554506>>23554612>>23554651>>23554660>>23555754>>23555756pic related>>23554959Karl Edward Wagner's Kane books>>23555057honestly I really enjoyed the 2001 novelization. I think he wrote this book the same time that him and Kubrick were writing the screenplay for the movie. You can stop at 2001, btw.>>23555673I do not care but have a (You) anyway
“together they entered the large glory hole”Welp, I wanted a comfy 80s fantasy and that is exactly what I received. One that coincidentally has the worst name for a lead character in all of fantasy literature (seriously what kind of fucking name is Pug? Sounds like a grubby little orphan you just want to kick in the mud when you’re on the way to the Inn to sample the local working girls). Anyway I’m on Master now which is proving to be much less derivative though I didn’t necessarily mind that this series read like a comfy pair of old shoes anyway. Previously I had planned on just reading the Magician book and then the Empire trilogy and leaving off due to consensus but now I think I’ll just continue on the series in publication order until I get bored. Probably go at least up to Serpentwar, maybe further.And for fans of this thing maybe looking for something similar but different check out Spellmonger. It has many similar qualities and more and is just good simple fun. Also the series is very, very White btw. Its rarely talked about here for some reason though its kind of a mix between epic fantasy with a bit of power fantasy + a lot of cool worldbuilding and especially kingdom building aspects. Well narrated too if you like to listen while doing other things. Keep in mind book 1 is a bit weak but decent enough. Two is notably better and Magelord is when the magic really starts to kick in imo.
>>23556262>and especially kingdom building aspectsThis shit is the absolute fucking worst. I hate it. I hate this base building bullshit that crops up in modern fantasy so much. It's so incredibly autistic. Instead of an adventure, the story just gets bogged down in the bureaucratic minutiae of managing a town/castle/base/dungeon/farm/whatever with a bunch of meaningless side characters who offer nothing interesting to the story and do nothing interesting in the story.It's the literary equivalent of building Dioramas as a hobby, it's so incredibly dull while having none of the craftsmanship of doing it for real. You'd think someone would do the obvious interesting thing and transition it to managing a Ship or something, but no, it's always a static location so the author never has to write any sort of real plot.
>>23555673I think he's guilty, every ounce of him screams "male feminist creep" and I'm hearing a lot of bad stories about his interactions with young female fans at cons and events
>>23556285That's only because you haven't read/listened to Spellmonger. I mean I can't think of another series that actually does this particularly well though I've been curious about Safehold. Actually that's a lie Destiny's Crucible was decent as well. I think part of the problem is Kingdom Building can’t just be done for its own sake otherwise you fall into the autistic kid playing with action figures problem you mentioned. There needs to be other things going on like fun worldbuilding, adventures, romances, betrayal, politicking, credible threats from various factions that force you to advance tech or your people get wiped off the map. You know, like you have to actually be fucking immersed in a well told story in a living world that matters and both Spellmonger and Destiny’s Crucible accomplish this in my opinion. Anyway I don’t want to go into too much detail so as not to spoil but it also has Scifi elements, great small and large scale battles and is also just very comfy and White so that’s my pitch. If that doesn’t pique your interest well not every flavor of slop is going to suit your plate so fair enough.
>>23556512I should mention btw there are a couple of critiques I could make but I generally try not to take things too seriously with slop. The idea here is to have fun and only take notice of flaws when they really start to grate or become egregious enough to take one out of a story.
>>23556230Right, I'm sure that Timothy Zahn "inspired' George Lucas with a book written in 1993, a full twenty years after George Lucas wrote a draft of Star Wars in which stormtroopers were clones. Tell me, where do you think Timothy Zahn got his idea of "Clone Wars" from?
>>23556558My guy I'm not saying Zahn invented the concept of the clone wars, but the idea that the storm troopers were the clones cannot be older than Zahn's books. If you have a source showing Lucas having the idea of the clones being the predecessors to the storm troopers please share it with me.
>>23556512It peaked somewhere around book 8. After that it became shit, the entire scifi element ruined it, making the mc impotent and turning into some kind of couples fantasy ruined the series completely. It's garbage.
what can I do that will guarantee YOU will read book one of my science fiction trilogy
>>23556713Make it medieval fantasy instead
>>23556713Fuckable aliens
>>23556684>but the idea that the storm troopers were the clones cannot be older than Zahn's booksHow much are you willing to wager on this claim? I'm giving you a chance to back down before I humiliate you.
>>23556713make it sci-fi medieval fantasy with fuckable everything
>>23556800This and add homosex
there's little to no sex in the series
>>23556979Anon, get a grip. I have no investment on whether or not I'm wrong. In fact as a star wars fan I would appreciate you shedding some light on this for me.
>>23556713Mandatory tranx representation.
>>23556979>>23557141Nevermind anon did my own research and you are correct. Always fun digging into the history of this slop.
>>23556708>>23556708Eh, everything is garbage according to 4chan. But a series being entertaining up through the eighth novel is already a win in my book. I thought the scifi elements, expanded world building and genre mixeups reinvigorated a series that could have gotten tiresome. Even the couples fantasy is alright by me though it isn’t my preferred deal. Mancour seems like to mix things up with different subgenres kind of like Abercrombies standalones and it helps keep things fresh. For instance I think things were about to start getting stale but then in comes book 13 which was a game changer. And the MC being impotent is definitely outdated - he’s pretty much the boss hog now with only a few threats which is to be expected because the original series ends with book 20 so things are wrapping up.
>>23557161awww you found it before I could troll you, damn you for being intelligent, forthright and courteous
i tried reading wuxia. tons of dumbass technique names that can be boiled down to i swing my sword then i swing my sword then i swing my sword. why does anyone enjoy this
>>23557195ESLs
>>23557195What novel did you read?
>>23557195>why does anyone enjoy thisThey like to swing their sword, I guess.
>>23557203A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation
>>23551647theOriginalE
>>23557210
>>23557206Is it any good (I mean story and writing, not fighting techniques) ? I tried reading it but the beginning was so bad I had to drop it.
>>23557235not a big fan of timeloop stories so i dropped it at chapter 48. the writer tries to make the story feel emotional but when the dude is just gonna die and loop in two chapters you really dont care anymore. i cant put up with any more fighting scenes or half-baked explanations on how the dumbass magic/martial system works, picrel
>>23557247Read Eternal Sacred King
>>23557247
I'm only 2 books into the black company but this girl is a cutie patootie
>>23557288No joke, bugs seriously think this is quality entertainment.
Just read this, it's pretty good even though there's 47 chapters out and it feels like not much has happened.It has sort of a comedic vibe at times but it's not a comedy. Just one of those stories that caught my interest from the first chapter and kept me reading
Book of the new sun ends in such a weird way. And I mean Return to the Whorl. Not the original quadrilogy.
Any of you guys know any good (or at least entertaining) sci-fi that has a grimy industrial aesthetic?
>>23557495I've only read the original series. Are the long and short sun any good?
>>23557525They're not much like the original New Sun story, that's for sure. They are good imo. Before I got started with them many anons were shitting on them. They're not as good as the original series I'll just say that.
>>23557427Ow
I've written a little snippet of a sci-fi story, what do you anons think of the writing style/technology in this sample?
>>23557600
>>23557602>because he heard her>herGo fuck yourself.
>>23557600>05:35zalready stopped reading, if you wanted me to drop it any faster you can put "Stardate: 6969 CE" at the beginning of the paragraph
>>23557499Warhammer Crime
>>23555057What a beast of a man!
With hate, all things are possible.
>>23557600I don't read sci-fi, so I can't tell you about the technology stuff, but there's one sentence that bothers me in the third paragraph. I'd change it to>To the untrained eye, the picture conveyed nothing but two white lines jutting out etc
I am reading Conan right now, the 2nd book in the Del Rey publication of Howard's Conan stories.
>>23554646Lord of the Rings is already mature no?
>Successful long running series has new people take over after the original author dieshas this EVER worked out?
>>23557600>>23557602>>23553964
>>23557761Enjoying it so far? Which stories has the series covered so far?
>>23557765No, it doesn't fulfil my nietzschean ubermensch spirit.>-t. chinless 280 pound fedora-trenchcoat-cargo-shorts-and-socks-with-sandals-wearing neckbeard
>>23557782I'm enjoying it, it's very fun.The 1st book, The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian coveredThe Phoenix on the SwordThe Frost Giant's DaughterThe God in the BowlThe Tower of the ElephantThe Scarlet CitadelQueen of the Black CoastBlack ColossusIron Shadows in the MoonXuthal of the DuskThe Pool of the Black OneRogues in the HouseThe Vale of Lost WomenThe Devil in IronThe 2nd book, The Bloody Crown of Conan, coversThe People of the Black CircleThe Hour of the DragonA Witch Shall Be BornI have read The People of the Black Circle and I will begin Hour of the Dragon todayThe third and final volume of which I haven't read anything, The Conquering Sword of Conan, coversThe Servants of Bit-YakinBeyond the Black RiverThe Black StrangerMan-Eaters of ZamboulaRed NailsAll of them have untitled essays, unfinished stuff and other smaller thingsMy favorite stories so far:The God in the BowlTower of the ElephantScarlet CitadelQueen of the Black CoastThe Devil in IronBut it has been a while since I have read the stories from the first volume of this trilogy set so I cannot really say for sure. People of the Black Circle was also good. I think all of them are probably good.
>>23557802Kenshiro is good
>>23557773Not really. If you're lucky you might get a Conan pastiche situation where it's just easier to point at who wrote what and how to sort shit in your own mental canon.
What's the best way to read Edgar RIce Burrough's Barsoom and John Carter stuff?
>>23557832I recently read, from the third volume, "People of the black Circle." That was always one of my favorites. I always liked the way Conan and the love interest of the day, Yasmina parted.
>>23557851For the first volume I have the Penguin Classic edition. I haven't read the other stories in a while so I can't comment.
I will offer some advice on ERB reading though? If you ever want to read At the Earth's Core and Pellucidar, which you should, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE GET PIC RELATED! It has the smallest font of any book I think I've ever read. It is quite literally unreadable.
gurm general is fucking dead, sanderson won
>see trailer for cool Polish sci fi movie>it's based on a a book>get this version>complete. unreadable. trashI am not kidding when I say this is machine translated, this is completely and utterly fucking dogshit, it doesn't make sense at all. It's google translated.They literally say in the book that the translation is dogshit, it's that bad.Is there any actual readable translation of this?
>>23557851The trilogy is on ebook
>>23557832That's awesome, anon. Pic related is one of my most cherished books. You're gonna love Hour of the Dragon. >Tower of the Elephant >Scarlet Citadel>Queen of the Black CoastNice those are some of my favorites as well. >>23557852Always been a Valeria guy myself.
>>23557879?
>>23557865Isn't Princess of Mars just the first book of the trilogy? The story is a pulp serial that ends on cliffhangers every chapter, including the endings of books 1 and 2, until John and Dejah finally get their happy ending in book 3. >>23557851the B&N leatherbound has the first 3 John Carter/Dejah Thoris novels as well as the first two books detailing the adventures of their children, Thuvia Maid of Mars and Chessmen of Mars
>>23557889For the record for my money it's very much Belit. These comics were kind of crap BTW
>>23557902>Isn't Princess of Mars just the first book of the trilogy?Yeah. I mostly just got that version because I liked the cover and saw it in a local Ollie's for cheap.
The Wheel of Time wikipedia entry is being slowly and systematically scrubbed to more reflect the worldbuilding portrayed by the Amazon show rather than the one from the books. Gender dichotomy and saidin are barely mentioned now compared to previous versions.
>>23557917Wikis are always a cancer
>>23557832Conan is bad>>23557686
>>23557909Ablaze did do some decent adaptations. The series was called The Cimmerian.
>>23557938He's objectively the best fantasy character. Seethe
>>23557945Lol Conan can't reach the feet of any Sanderson, Martin, Erickson and Abercrombie characters. no only that, but the author literally killed himself and his buring in hell right now lol
>>23557940Oh yeah, those were great. I wish they did more.
>>23557956Naw all that shit is gay. Get better taste.
There was going to be an animated adaptation of Red Nails that never came out. Ron Pearlman was going to be Conan. Kind of a shame. If I ever had fuck you money Red Nails is very much the story I would adapt. Like you can just imagine someone going Dredd with that right? It's all mostly in that one location which can't be hard to make a set for. The toughest thing would be the Dinosaur effect and we figured that shit out in like 92.
>>23556713Hot older women
What are some fantasy books that are the complete opposite of grimdarkI'm tired if muh dark and gritty, I need something with more political and personal intrigue, light on fighitng, bonus points for (good) romance
>>23557773Yes. Brandon Sanderson taking over Wheel of Time worked out. It sold quite a lot, was well received, and launched Sanderson's career. It worked out for everyone involved.
>>23558000The Curse of Chalion
>make a perfect outline>book is middling>some retard just writes without thinking>edits it once or twice>bestsellerNo justice, bros.
>>23558000See https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/romantasy
>>23558000Are you basically asking for grimbright?
>>23558018The other person is very talented while you have no talent at all.Just work hard, anon.
You guys convinced me weeks ago to go buy some Witcher and Kings of Wyld. I got it, but the books arrived all fuck up.
>>23558031Amazon?
>>23558031Delivered to a post office?I feel that, bro. We live in a po box area and they jam it in the box instead of putting a yellow card in.
>>23558031>paid money for freely available books on libgenMany such cases.
>>23558048Pirating gaming is a thing, buying books is totally another thing. No everyone can enjoy "reading" by listening to audioslop or having your nigger nose close to a screen.
When does a book stop being fantasy and stop being sci fi?Like, at what tech level is a fantasy book automatically sci fi instead?Is alternate history/DnD rip off Old west level tech fantasy or is it sci fi?When does it become sci fi?When the pregnant elf gives birth in a magitech hospital where penicillin was just invented?
>>23558054Have you heard of ereaders.
>>23558068>a fucking screeniphone addicted zoomoid
>>23558068I don't like e-readers.
>>23558068I prefer physical media unless I'm out and about where carrying a book generally becomes a risk.
>>23558059Generally when magic gets explained by science, the story stops being fantasy.
>>23558085But let's say that science can never explain the magic.It has working theories and even ideas, but it can't say, "magic is caused by this cell or this element"
>>23557909>>23557940For me its the DarkHorse comics by Busiek, Truman and WoodThe original King Conan and Conan The King comics from the eighties were decent too.
>>23557940>>23557974>>23557985>le shirtless conan cliche invented by post howard artists instead of the conan howard actually wroteyikesConan is described as wearing baggy breeches and a silk shirt in red nails (stereotypical pirate clothes) but instead these retarded hacks ignore howards actual writingsthere are basically no accurate depictions of conan anywhere
>>23558036>>23558039Yes. Fucking amazon and for the previous month it constantly happens.It's becoming rare for anything to arrive in good condition, to the extent that I'm now constantly sending it back. Once or twice during this year books have arrived so badly damaged on the third attempt that they decided to just give me a bonus, send one for free and let me keep the previous copy since I donate them to local libraries or schools.I think that's the price of living in a very diverse area.>>23558048.>>23558068I don't like reading through a screen. I only pirate books when it's an author I'm not sure I'll enjoy or if there are no more physical volumes anywhere online at a good price.Plus I have a son and a daughter, and my son is someone I've always dreamed of being able to sit on his bedside and read something like The Silmarillion. I want to leave a physical legacy for them.
>>23556512I literally have read Spellmonger and it's boring as shit with dull obligatory romance.
>>23558103Yeah, I'm pretty fed up with Amazon too. I don't mind like a small corner ding or something insignificant like that, I do worse just putting my books on my own shelf but the way they just toss shit in flimsy envelopes or with no packing at all really frustrates me.
>>23558059>>23558092Theres's an easier way>self-fulfillment power fantasy for chuds with no friendsfantasy>thought provoking literature that tackles social, political and existential issues that are destroying the modern world and dividing mankind more and moreSci-fi, actually don't call it scifi, call it SF (speculative fiction)
>>23558092Then it depends on the story and plot lines. If there are more plot lines that focus on scifi then the story can be considered scifi, if more plot lines focus on magic then it's fantasy. Personally for me if more than 10% of the story is scifi the it's not a fantasy story anymore.
>>23558100Savage Sword of Conan will always be my favorite >Busiek, Truman Love these guys. That Hyperborean story Busiek does early in his run is one of my favorite non Howard stories. >>23558101Eh i guess the comics did kind of give him a standard look they didn't deviate from too often, but there's a good amount where they give him some clothes. Depends on the context.
>>23557851isn't all his stuff public domain at this point? Just get it off project gutenberg
>>23558125I have a lot of love for the old Marvel Barbarian and Savage Sword books. I'd sure like to know what the fuck was up with the Titan reprints though. Good lord those have been pushed back to October which I guess is the for real this time honest date but Crom's Teeth.
>>23558131>isn't all his stuff public domain at this point?Depends on the part of the world. i don't get how public domain law works but I guess the Ablaze books fell under it in europe but in the US it's not pd yet.
>>23558108Romance was the worst part. Mancours obsession with spamming female characters really ruined the series.Prose was ok, people spoke in way that was fitting for a medieval based society.
>>23558139What difference does it make.
>>23558153No idea but publishers and their lawyers are very particular about it.
>>23558103Unfortunately the books Amazon gives me are usually pretty good, even when third party sellers.But every time they get fucking jammed in my PO box.
>>23558116To be clear, by that definition, Starship Troopers is a very though provoking novel rather than something obvious to anyone who can think.
>>23558158So get them delivered to an Amazon locker or some local collection point or something
>>23558071you're looking at a screen right this second
>>23558167I'm going to explain something, just in case you aren't sure about what I mean by 'my po box'.I don't live in an area where mail delivery is standard. I live in an area where they keep your mail at the post office and you come get it.I have to drive at least thirty minutes to get to a 'collection point' or 'amazon locker'.
>>23558173>he doesn't astral project into the World Wide Webngmi
>>23558175Go to the post office and tell them not shove small parcels into the actual box but place them with other large parcels instead.
>>23558193The problem is that that should be basic human dignity.
>>23558173And it is unpleasant
>>23558059scifi is a subgenre of fantasy
>>23557206why the fuck would you approach a chinese genre by reading a korean novel that's adapting a subgenre of a subgenre
>>23556262The original Riftwar trilogy and Empire are worth it, then you can decide in you drop it or keep going. Serpentwar is considered the peak of the series by many.If you like old vidya you can play Betrayal at Krondor.
>>23558202Eink is lovely to look at.
>>23558216The Chinese are dumb and thus foreigners are more likely to produce a better novel.
>>23558218>>23556262Is Riftwar actually good? I'm a big fan of Betrayal at Krondor but the summaries I read of the actual novel series just sounded bad.
>>23558224It's classic old school epic fantasy but with enough new ideas that it makes it feel fresh. This with Dragonlance and Belgariad were huge back in the day.
>>23558224Saga or cycle?The first books are a bit spotty imo but he gets into a groove once Wurts works with him on the Empire trilogy.I've not read many of the Pug protagonist books (he's the Magician of Magician) but the other stuff has been pretty consistent and the empire trilogy is excellent.
>>23558224Terrible writing, bad dialogues, weak characters.
>>23558209So, unless you intend to do hard sci-fi, the difference is negligible?
>>23558246Man I used to eat Dragonlance up.
>>23558250You can use scifi is when it's in space or in the future as a rough guide and understand the genre distinction almost perfectly.Add the "unless there's wizards then its science fantasy" caveat and you probably don't have to think about it again.Hard scifi is when the author can't write characters.
>>23558250For all intents and purposes it really is just a matter of dressing. I'd say with sci fi you should keep a bit more fact checking in mind, but you don't need to be an astrophysicist or shit like that. Just be consistent with your rules. Like if you say you can't beam through your shields then you need to hold to that or come up with plausible reasons why you might need to. But otherwise, yeah, nobody's gonna care too much unless you're hilariously wrong.
>>23558248filtered by the Lifestonemay the Valheru curse your bloodline>>23558251same, it started to derail a bit after Hickman & Weis left but it was still fun
>>23558259Yeah, I'm not really sure when and why I stopped reading them. I think I just sort of fell out of the genre in general. I had a big collection of them t though. I should really see if I can't dig a few of them out for old time's sake.
>>23558101Shirtless unga bunga Conan is so iconic that you basically have to depict him that way or audiences won't recognize him. It doesn't necessarily mean the people doing an adaptation are ignorant of the source material or deliberately disrespecting it.
>>23558268>>23558259It seems lots of people fell out of love with Dragonlance with the Fifth Age shit, and ironically a lot of actual D&D players hated the whole setting because the book characters superseded any characters players made on the tabletop, which I find fucking hilarious if I'm honest.
>>23558276Same probably as Drizz't then.
>>23558270>adaptationsCringe.
>>23557195Literal bugmen>>23557525Yes
>>23557195Chinese people are mindless drones.That's why they tolerate a government with the worst parts of collectivism and the worst parts of individualism.
>>23558281it's slightly different since Drizzzzzzt was made for the Forgotten Realms after it had been established for some time, Dragonlance from the foundation was about the Companions and were Weis, Hickman and their friends tabletop characters. Go to /tg/ even to this day and watch how twisted their testes get.
>>23558224It's pretty derivative high fantasy, but I find it extremely comfy.
>>23557670Better than most other Warhammer slop on average, but a very mixed bag. Bloodlines was fun though, I guess.
>>23558299What does that have to do with magic in Chinese novels? Westerners are way less collectivist and more individualist than Chinese yet most Western fantasy (with few notable exceptions) sucks, most Western magic is just pure garbage.
>>23558276>It seems lots of people fell out of love with Dragonlance with the Fifth Age shitthat's where i dropped it too lol it took me years to go back to it since i didnt really liked Jean Rabe's books, what brought me back was The Bridge of Time series, specifically Legacy of Steel because Steel was my favourite character in DoSF and this book was about Steel's mom creating The Brotherhood of Steel in honor of her son not really the typical pulp fantasy novel and also the knowledge of some readers who told me that the War of Souls trilogy was on the same level as Legend, i still believe Legends is better ("Look, Raist! bunnies!" is still unsurpassed imo) but WoS was really good.>>23558281what killed Drizzt and forgoten realms was the 4th edition D&D and the spellplague. Salvatore had to pull the whole reincarnation thing to save his characters
>>23558360Shut up you slant-eyed bug.
>>23558360And yet Western authors can invent something more complicated than 'wushu' even in the depths of their worst fentanyl binges.
>you have to study for a lifetime a la John Dee AND have the gift to be able to use magicBooks for this feel?
>include several gay characters in first book>include only one of them, the most major one, in second book>reveal that he's a spineless coward who can't be trusted>kick him out of the series, and don't include a single gay character in the next 4+ booksWas it a coincidence, or a cunning trick to get published in Current Year?
>>23558424I'm going to go even further and say it was stunning anti-gay rhetoric (high prevalence of mental illness, irrelevance in larger society, and self-deletion) and he planned to self-publish even if refused from publishing.
>>23558366Most better ones don't invent anything but just copy and reuse Lotr.The rest are plain garbage not even worth mentioning.
>>23558444Still better than Ching Ching Chong Dragon Emperor and worship my father even though he beats me during drunken binges.
Jiasiting Biba
I have the strength of the leaping frog, three boars, a golden pheasant and a bear. You have no chance at winning ha ha ha
Do you guys agree with her???https://youtu.be/yQKpujuJVkM?si=o3ZTwWaBSx18KhKZ
>>23558566That's a man and I'm not going to watch some fat soi talking on the internet.
what do you guys think of CJ Cherryh's fantasy stuff? She's mostly gets praise for her fuckton of sci-fi stuff but looks like she's done quite a lot of fantasy too
>23558566buy an ad
>>23558610I really want to like her but she always lets me down. She has impeccable prose and voice and characterization, but she always just lets her plots peter out into nothing; Cherryh novels don't end, they stop. Right when you think you're about to have a satisfying conclusion and the fulfilment of a character arc...there's just no more text. That was the last sentence. There is no finale, just an endless denoument that cuts off before
>>23558610>female hiding under pen name>hugo novelist>lesbian>major theme: exploration of gender roles>female on the coverNo thanks.
>>23558566>>23558573Well, he actually have a good taste
>>23558643I don't think gender roles came up once in any of the Cherryh works I read.
>>23558663I guess her wiki article is wrong then.
>>23558672Her wiki article can say whatever it wants what matters is whats in the actual books.
>>23558672to be fair I've only read 11 of her books and she's written about 200 of the fucking things
>>23558643I've only read Downbelow Station and The Pride of Chanur and didn't sense any of this beyond the cat aliens all being female while the men stayed on the planet
>>23558643>>23558663>>23558672>>23558676>>23558678>>23558681the closest thing to "gender roles" coming up in her fiction I've read are the following:>Fortress series (5 books)Ninevrise is a queen because she's a woman, and can't be a king, so she marries a king, and gets to still be queen. Cefwyn is a king because he's a man, and can't be a queen, so he marries a queen, and gets to still be king.>Morgaine cycle (4 books)Morgaine is a human woman's mind who astral projected into the body of a super-advanced alien elf woman so she could stab or disintegrate every alien elf in the multi-verse to death. Vanye is a superstitious feudal ronin-knight thing that becomes honorbound to accompany her on her quest, and they both want to screw each other.>Faded Sun trilogy (3 books, but part of a larger universe of like 40 books)Melein is the last living female of the alien Mri species (to her knowledge) and as such is required to step into the shoes as "queen/matriarch" of this alien species. When she discovers that there are a few Mri left alive, she has her soldiers kill their queens and becomes over-queen. Niun is her brother and is protective of her and also has sex with some Mri harem girls when they discover their homeworld where they aren't totally extinct.That's really about it.
Anyone here already read The Black Company series? I read only the first book, I still need to buy the last two from the first trilogy. I hear really weird shit about if the rest of the series is good or not. Is fine if only read the three first books and ignore all the rest?
>>23558424>>23558429>reveal in the 6th book that God exists and the big bads are fallen angelsIts a good series
>>23558788what book are you circlejerking faggots talking about
>>23558791the misadventures of a melodramatic based boy
>>23558791Just ignore the samefagger.
>>23558610It's not as good as her scifi but it's still worth the read, Fortress, Rusalka, Goblin Mirror and Paladin all are fun. i do agree with the anon that said her endings can be weak sometimes>>23558643The hugos weren't the clusterfuck that it is today, back then it meant something but i know it's hard for chuds to believe that books existed before 2015>>23558696Her early novels were more focused in gender roles as it was the style at the time, she started writing at the tail end of the New Wave.>>23558697>Is fine if only read the three first books and ignore all the rest?Yes.
>>23558799I was surprised to see someone other than myself talking about it.
>>23558798>YAhaha
>>23558806I honest to god don't see how it's YA
>>23558791Sun Eater series. Gays aside, the first book was criminally slow, felt very derivative, and seemed to be setting up a bunch of cliches I'm very tired of. Second book onward changed things radically. Interesting to see a character's arc have him becoming more accepting of his reactionary imperial homeland rather than yet another rebellion story.>>23558799It's at least two people because one of the posts was me.
>>23558811Hadrian defending the concept of monarchy was a pleasant surprise. He really went from whiney naive faggot to a based tradcath widower father
>>23557499I want to say Stainless Steel Rat, but that is more about a grimy individual attempting to con his way around cities. Cyberpunk stuff would generally fit, but obviously the focus there is more on tech than industry specific, yet the tech can't exist without industry somewhere. Some stories use that as part of the setting. I've not read much steampunk (and I honestly loath the term as an Instagram Etsy BS tag) stuff, but maybe that's worth looking into for you. Most settings like that I can think of are limited to individual cities or sometimes worlds in more expansive settings in books that I enjoyed. The Windup Girl might do it for you too. It focuses more on genetics than other tech or industry, but is definitely a gutter sort of atmosphere, and genetics are applied in industrial sorts of ways, which I thought was kind of cool. The story is good and quite well written.
Sun Eater is a slop that will damage sci-fi for decades to come, just like Star Wars did. Only the most retarded booktubers don't shut up about it.
>>23558828Aren't you a little old...and deceased...to be posting on 4chan, Asimov?
>>23558828I like the series well enough and even I don't think it will have that kind of staying power, you can rest easy.
>>23558828It would be a net benefit if it influenced the larger genre. We need more dune inspired space operas.You're right about the booktuber thing, though. My only question is, why are you watching booktubers anon?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIv4uTDnzNgIT'S OVER
>>23558848>the loss of my sonany books for this feel?
>>23558852
>>23558852in a weird way
She likes it so it must be really good.
Thoughts on this authors other books? I've seen the Siege series come up with some frequency but he has a few other books out like The Two of Swords.
>>23558917I only casually heard someone talk about these books once and according to them the books get very repetitive despite the change of themes, it's probably only good if you're actually "autistic" and loves grand strategy and Ayn Rand
>>23557295SHE WAS ONLY 19 YEARS OLD IN LIKENESS
>>23558224>I'm a big fan of Betrayal at Krondor but the summaries I read of the actual novel series just sounded bad.can you imagine actually being a fan of the series only for it to be continued in video game format and then you have to wait a year for novelization?
>>23558939I prefer the crazy one.
>>23557182You are such a piece of garbage
>>23558857this book had that super weird subplot of a incesty mom who followed her son everywhere
>>23558573Why do they always have these cover images with stupid faces, they look so ugly.
>>23559052Branding, I assume.
>>23559052Helps with the algorithm
>>23558993What happened to that anon from a few years back who would regularly post about mommycore SF/F (including a big list)? Is he still around?
>>23558945I liked her. It was quite obvious that it was a woman underneath the mask. Knowing that she and the other female Tomados were doing everything because of a Daddy makes me want to read the two remaining books from Books of North.But I doubt I'll read the rest of the saga.
https://youtu.be/e8Mt-eH3VR8?si=NBCaC4e1mkIkdxQyIf I had to really recommend just one channel to you, it would be him.
>>23559100If you end up liking her she has a more prominent antagonistic role in the South and gets way way crazier.
>>23554488Did they accidentally include at least one good book?
>>23557956
>>23556713Make it yuri. I need to COOM.
>>23558288The Arnie movie is worth it for the soundtrack alone. The score should be required listening when reading the Howard stories.
>>23556800>>23556814>>23557070>>23557147>>23557997>>23559183Thanks anons. I'm starting to see why all new books turn to shite now. There's no sex in my series. I might put a sword in there for the medieval anons.
>>23559199Make sure you add a scene where the young male protagonist is made to call an older woman mommy. I don't care why or how, just make it happen.
>>23559186People try to say that Arnold wasn't really THAT much like Conan but I don't think I've ever agreed. A lot of the movie is based around him being a thief. They show him studying. He's not just the ARARARARAA brute people think Arnold is.
>>23559214You have to understand that most people don't remember the movie. They're going off the collective memory of it, which is very heavily memed and influenced by the perception of Arnold and other factors.
>>23559209Maybe I should just write smut...
>>23559224Nono, not smut. Something you'll notice on erotica websites is that the top rated stories arent just smut.Eroticism needs foundation, buildup, passion. This is why nsfw fanfiction is so popular. It utilizes an already established emotional foundation.
>>23559244But women make me sad.
>>23559113I read the wiki when I finished the first book and I only caught one or two spoilers about how some characters keep appearing and dying. I don't know what to feel about this. I heard a lot of people shit talking with Books of South.I think the author fell into the trap of writing more books than necessary. I still need to get my hands on physical copies of the second and third book, but I honestly don't feel like reading 11 books.
>>23559247twinks are also acceptable, you just have to underplay the overtones.
>>23559199Name of the series?
>>23559253Nah. BotS simply don't rehash the same grounds you've already explored and I'm not talking about just the setting change. Like you said read BotN + Silver Spike and then decide if you want to kill it done there. SS is a good send-off.
>>23559257I'm still writing it.
>>23558000Thieves' World by Robert Asprin
>>23558610Well it's a woman author who won a hugo and there is le strong female warrior on the cover. This should be a pretty strong indicator that it's a heaping pile of garbage
Alright, book two of the wheel of time is a lot better than I was expecting it to be after I was disappointed with book one. I can definitely see how the author wraps up the plot threads he lays down. I just hope that going forward we don't have another book that doesn't resolve any plot points at all like book one.Also very based how the author writes women.
>>23559262What is it about?
>>23559443I don't want to say on the 0.0001% chance it gets published and then my fans find out I used to post on 4chan's literature board :(
>>23558993Heinlein wrote a lot of weird shit like that. I don't know how much of it was simply shitposting like his nudist commies (some of which were also incestuous) because of some of the early criticisms about being a right wing Nazi, and how much of it was just because he realized it was fucking funny and fun to write about after the fact. In any case, yeah, he made a lot of weird characters like that, and then adding Mormonism, yeah, it gets weird pretty often.
>>23559478I want to say embrace the suck, but you're probably right.
https://youtu.be/YuUkuJNhB9g?si=tIS0VDPgreFqagPY
I just can't stomach female protagonists desu
>>23559500
>>23559478Does that mean that you are writing pozzed shit for lgbt tranny progressive feminist audience? Are those groups your potential future fans because only they will ever care about you posting on 4chan?
>>23559666no I'm trying to avoid all that shit but I know that reactionary people would assume I am a right winger because I posted here
Guys please enjoy my vídeohttps://youtu.be/EzGLhbPaNV4?si=-zKlvwYIzr2gsCVy
https://www.seattlereviewofbooks.com/notes/2015/07/28/philip-k-dick-the-fortune-teller-and-jrr-tolkien-the-crypto-fascist/
>>23559673Are they going to read your book? Are they the intended audience?
how do you anons find new stuff to read? for me, I find it really difficult because I only really have two avenues:1. Come to /lit/ and read through shit post after shit post in the hopes that someone recommends something that I haven't seen before. I have actually gotten dozen of good books this way, but it takes forever and there's no guarantee2. Awards/runner ups - normally hugo awards. Unfortunately sometimes the top books are pretty mainstream with regard to their appeal/writing, but the runner up lists can be great.How do you normally source your stuff. Do you have friends that you discuss /lit/ with that give you recommendations?
>>23559753If they want? I have no intended audience. This isn't a story meant to appeal to any one group or political leaning. I find that stuff really boring.
>>23559766Unironically watching a few booktubers. It's far from perfect since they love to repeat themselves and some are quite idiotic with a consoomer attitude, but it's already helped me find a few good things.
>>23559766mainly option 1. I only read two new sff books this year, both were obscure /lit/ recs. Pretty much everything mainstream these days is garbage.
>>23559766Check out the regular Hugo/Nebula Awards winners pre-1980s. Check out the famous SF anthology editors and their works (Ben Bova, Damon Knight, Lester Del Rey, John Campbell, etc. It's worthwhile)Trace the roots of the genre. Olaf Stapledon, Wells, Verne, London, etc. Look at weird fiction, pulps, horror, fantasy. A lot of this intermingles. Trace the people who had collections made on their work back in the day. Also don't forget earlier guys like Murray Leinster, Edmond Hamilton, Stanley Weinbaum, Jack Williamson. There's also guys that fall under the radar a bit, but check out NESFA's collections that they've been doing since the '90s of a lot of these guys, like Chad Oliver, William Tenn, Cordwainer Smith, C M Kornbluth, Louis Bujold, Judith Merril, etc. Remember, they're keeping plenty of stuff alive. I've gotten fond of Fredric Brown and Robert Sheckley and NESFA has collected their works too. Don't forget to look up Robert Bloch as he did plenty of SF.Check out non-english works too. Stanislaw Lem, The Strugatsky Bros, Hesse, and Borges all have had SF/F/ "Weird tales" that could be up your alley. As for modern stuff, just look for the ones that pass the test of time. People forget about the shilled garbage pretty fast. But Cixin Liu's 3 Body Problem , China Mieville- Jeff Vandermeer-NEal Stephenson-Greg Egan are all sf/f/"weird" writers that get talked about by modern genre fans.
>>23559792Red Rising and Sun Eater are literally the two best sci-fi series ever created.But I know you need to be a pseudo idiot and live in a bubble of your own ignorance.
>>23558424>>23558429>>23558788have you fags read any of the side stuff? any good? curious about the non-hadrian pov
>>23559795>>23559792>>23559781thanks, anons. I appreciate you guys giving me some additional color>China Mieville>Jeff Vandermeernever heard of these two, any recommendations from their books? I will place some orders
>>23559812I have not and probably won't ever. Except for maybe the first one, with his brother. But only because I'm 5% sure the sister is going to be relevant at some point. Why the fuck else would she be referenced so god damn often?
>>23559797Anony I love both of those and will happily talk about them until it derails ths thread, but no...
>>23559830Veniss Undergroundand the Ambergris books (City of Saints and Madmen, Shriek: An Afterword, and Finch). can't personally confirm, but the "Ambergris" omnibus apparently cuts some stuff from CoSaM according to some review comments>>23559853yeah she was brought up multiple times. guess we'll see
>>23559772>This isn't a story meant to appeal to any one groupIt doesn't work like that. If you try to appeal to all groups then you will appeal to none.
>>23559925You misunderstand me. I'm not trying to make a bland story to appeal to everyone, I'm just writing the story I want to write. I don't care about "groups" or demographics.
>>23559940Then the answer is whatever demographic you belong to.
>>23559940If you were an outside third party observer and you read (not)your story, how would you categorise it? Who would be the most likely audience for it?
>>23559953No. I'm not thinking about that shit. It's ruined every other piece of media its touched and I don't want it ruining mine.>>23559956Sci-fi. People who like sci-fi.
>>23559962>I'm just writing the story I want to writeWhoever I is is the fucking answer to illiterate twat.
>>23559971I must be illiterate because I don't know what you are saying. Are you saying I must appeal to the demographic I fall into?Or that I should write for myself?Because the second one is what I am already doing.
>>23559976I'm saying you should kill yourself
>>23559982Useful. Thanks.
>>23559983np
>>23559962It's irrelevant what you think about it (or if you think about it at all). Your story will get categorised by different groups of readers whether you like it or not. If it's a mixed bag of various political, cultural and ideological ideas then it's nobody is going to like it and nobody will read it, if you stick to one particular ideology then at least you will have one group reading your story.
>>23559940Good job and good luck, anon, don't listen to the rotten brains in here. They're just like the rotten brains they claim to be against.
>>23559995>Your story will get categorised by different groups of readers whether you like it or not. If it's a mixed bag of various political, cultural and ideological ideas then it's nobody is going to like it and nobody will read it, if you stick to one particular ideology then at least you will have one group reading your story.I understand that's the way publishers like to play it but I reject that philosophy. I don't really care about money or sending a political message or embedding my ideology in the story. I COULD add those things but then my story won''t be the story I want any more.>>23559996Thanks anon. I appreciate it.
>>23559812>>23559853I read the one about his brother and enjoyed it, but the extent to which that will be true for you prob depends on whether you also thought Hadrian was being a dipshit to his brother in the first book, and how much Catholicism is too much for you (I have high Catholicism tolerance). Haven't read the novel-length novella about the crippled midget dude bc I don't really care much about that guy.
Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls,great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion,feasts for the dogs and birds,and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles.
>>23560040>rage not wrath
>>23560008I thought Hadrian was entirely justified in his actions against his brother. The dude was a sadistic rapist who threatened to hurt a woman for the sole reason that it would emotionally hurt his brother.
>>23560040>read The Darkness That Comes Before>rosy-fingered dawn>wine-dark seaHack.>man like a GodNot hack.
>>23559830if you don't wanna check thrift stores irl, Thriftbooks is an okay alternative for physical copies. Just try to scam them into letting you get the "educator" discount. Otherwise, pirate everything because most mainstream authors are wealthy and all the dead ones won't care. Vandermeer does editing of a few big anthology books on sci-fi, fantasy, and weird fiction. Mieville is idk. I hear he's a shitlib, but his writing's good. I'd also hard recommend Clark Ashton Smith and Seabury Quinn if you want more weird fiction from the 20s-40s.
Hey guys I wanna buy a Jack Williamson book because I'm autistically in love with collecting old hardcovers with dust jackets. Do I grab The Humanoids or Darker Than You Think as a read first?
Read Tenebroum
>>23560113And pirate everythinf anyway because nobody is entitled to be compensated for reproductions of their work.
